Ireland

IRELAND

PART I—GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.

IRELAND , a large island to the west of Great Britain, and along with it forming the United Kingdom, extends from 51° 26' to 55° 2Γ N. lat., and from 5° 25' to 10’ 30' W. long. It is encircled by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east is separated from Great Britain towards the north by the North Channel, whose width at the narrowest part, between the Mull of Cantyre and Torr Head, is only 13⅜ miles; in the centre by the Irish Sea, whose width is 130 miles; and in the south by St George’s Channel, which has a width of 69 miles between Dublin and Holyhead, and of 47 miles at its southern extremity. The island has the form of an irregular rhomboid, the largest diagonal of which, from Torr Head in the north-east to Mizen Head in the south-west, measures 302 miles. The greatest breadth of the island is 174 miles, and the average breadth about 110 miles. The total area comprises 32,535 square miles, or 20,822,494 acres. Territorially it is divided into 4 provinces—Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connaught— and 32 counties, the number of counties included in the different provinces being 12, 6, 9, and 5 respectively. These 32 counties are divided into 316 baronies, comprising 2532 parishes, which are further divided into townlands or ploughlands numbering about 60,760, with an average size of over 300 acres each. Table I. shows the area and distribution of land by provinces and counties in 1880.

Geology.— The central part of Ireland is occupied by a great undulating plain, whose highest elevation is 300 and average elevation about 200 feet. In the centre of the country, from Dublin Bay on the east to Galway Bay on the west, this plain stretches from shore to shore, but towards the south and north it is enclosed by an irregular semicircular belt of mountainous country. The surface of the plain is broken occasionally by isolated hills. Throughout nearly the whole of its extent it rests on the Carboniferous Limestone, and in several places there are remains of the Upper Carboniferous strata or Coal-measures, by which the Carboniferous Limestone was at one time overlaid, and which have been carried away during a vast period of denudation chiefly by the action of subaerial agents. The strata of limestone are nearly horizontal, except where they are contorted by local disturbances. In the central plain it is only occasionally that the limestone crops to the surface, as it is generally overlaid by boulder clay, the result of glacial action, by the middle sands and gravels formed on the bed of the shallow sea by which the plain was at one time occupied, or by the peat bogs resting on the beds of previous lakes. At one period the Carboniferous beds must have extended widely beyond their present limits, and have formed the surface strata of the uplands to the north-west and south-east. In the north-western highlands of Sligo, Leitrim, and Fermanagh they still form a lofty table-land, which occasionally rises into peaks about 2000 feet in height.

The mountain masses of Ireland are generally traversed by deep and narrow valleys running both north and south and east and west, and frequently giving rise to high and isolated peaks. The districts of Donegal and Derry in the north-west, and those of Galway and Mayo in the west, consist chiefly of metamorphosed Lower Silurian rocks, and are believed to form part of the same geological system as that of the Highlands of Scotland. Those of Donegal and Derry, lying between Donegal Bay and Lough Foyle, consist of granite, gneiss, and hornblendic and other schists, with crystalline limestones and quartzites. Their principal peaks are the isolated summit of Errigal (2466 feet) and Blue Stack (2219 feet). In West Galway and Mayo the rocks consist chiefly of quartzite, or of alternating beds of quartzite and granite or gneiss schist. They include the Twelve Pins of Connemara (2395 feet), Croagh Patrick on the shores of Clew Bay (2510 feet), the Nephin Beg mountains, and the Ox mountains. The range of hills between Killary Harbour and Lough Mask—the highest summit of which, Muilrea, has an elevation of 2688 feet—belongs to the Upper Silurian formation. The fact that these rocks do not share in the metamorphism of the Lower Silurian beds shows that the alteration must have taken place at some time between the Lower Silurian and Upper Silurian periods. Rocksof Cambrian age occur in Wexford, Wicklow, and Dublin. The principal elevations of these districts are formed of granite, and belong to an earlier epoch than that of the Old Red Sandstone. The highest summit is Lugnaquilla (3039 feet), composed of altered Silurian rocks lying on the granite. In the south-western districts of Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, the mountains are composed of broad bands of Old Red Sandstone, the valleys being formed of narrow bands of Carboniferous rocks. The lie of the strata is nearly east and west, since they have been plicated by forces acting in a transverse direction, the time of disturbance being some unknown date between the Carboniferous and the Permian periods. This district includes the rugged range of Macgillicuddy’s Reeks, which rise abruptly from the Carboniferous Limestone surrounding the Killarney lakes, and, occupying the greater part of the peninsula between Dingle Bay and Kenmare River, attain at Carntual a height of 3414 feet above sea-level. Many of the most conspicuous mountain groups in the southern half of the island consist of central cores of Silurian strata wrapped round with thick folds of Old Red Sandstone. Such are Slieve Aughty, Slieve Bernagh, the Silver Mine mountains, and Slievenaman in Clare and Tipperary, Galtymore in Limerick, which has an elevation of 3015 feet, and the Slieve Bloom mountains in Queen’s county. The principal mountain groups in the north-east are the Carlingford mountains, composed of felspathic and pyroxenic rocks, and attaining in Slieve Foy a height of nearly 2000 feet; the Mourne mountains to the north of Carlingford Lough, composed of granite, with veins of basalt, felstone, mica trap, and porphyry, the highest summit being Slieve Donard (2796 feet); and the Slieve Croob mountains, to the north of the Mourne range, composed of granite of a much earlier origin. Both the Mourne and Carlingford mountains are of intrusive origin, and probably belong to the Permian period. A considerable extent of low country in Down, Armagh, and Cavan is occupied by Silurian rocks in the form of grits and slates. The estuary of Belfast Lough lies in Triassic rocks, containing beds of rock salt. Rocks of similar age extend west of Lough Neagh, and thence, north to Lough Foyle. They are overlaid by Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, which, however, are almost wholly concealed under the great basalt flood of the northeastern counties. The greater part of Antrim and the eastern portion of Derry are occupied by basalt rock forming an elevated plateau, for the most part bounded towards the sea by precipitous escarpments, consisting of Upper Greensand and Chalk, surmounted by the black basalt which, often crowning their summits, stands in striking contrast Table I.— Area and Distribution of Land in 1880, and Population in 1881. [table]

with the light-coloured strata below. In some places, however, as at the Giant’s Causeway, the Cretaceous rocks disappear, and the basalt slopes gradually to the sea, displaying a series of terraces formed of hexagonal pillars, and occasionally separated by bands of volcanic ash.

Coast-Line.— Along the present coast-line there are to be seen in several places traces of ancient sea margins, the most continuous being those on the northern and eastern coasts, especially in county Antrim. Of still more ancient sea margins there are evidences in the terraces at the base or on the flanks of the mountains. The present coast-line, especially on the west and south, is very much indented by bays and inlets, which Hull, in his Geology of Ireland, attributes in many cases to the chemical action of the sea-water on the limestone rocks. On the south coast they most commonly run in a northerly direction with a westerly inclination at the upper end, and on the west coast the direction of the larger inlets is easterly, although several of the smaller ones run north, south, and north-east. Their troughs have mostly been excavated in the synclinal folds of the rocks, which therefore frequently project far into the sea in the form of high and bold headlands. On the northern coast the inlets generally run in a southerly or south-westerly direction. Most of those on the east coast have by the accumulation of sand been either wholly or partly formed into lagoons; and on the south east coast the sea has made considerable encroachments on the land.

The principal inlets are—on the east coast Belfast Lough, Strangford Lough, Carlingford Lough, Dundalk Bay, Dublin Bay, and Wexford Harbour; on the south coast Waterford Harbour, Dungarvan Harbour, Youghal Bay, and Cork Harbour; on the south-west coast Roaring Water Bay, Dunmanus Bay, Bantry Bay, Kenmare River, and Dingle Bay; on the west coast Tralee Bay, the mouth of the Shannon, Galway Bay, Clew Bay, Blacksod Bay, Killala Bay, Sligo Bay, and Donegal Bay; and on the north coast Sheep Haven, Lough Swilly, and Lough Foyle. In all, Ireland possesses fourteen harbours suitable for the largest ships, seventeen for frigates, and over thirty for coasters, besides an immense number suitable for fishing boats.

The islands of Ireland are small in size, and are situated near the mainland, most of them being formed of rocks from which, according to Hull, the adjoining Carboniferous strata had been denuded by the action of the sea-water. They are most numerous on the west coast, especially opposite Galway, Mayo, and Donegal. Off the Donegal coast the largest is Neish Aran. Separated from the mainland of Mayo by a narrow isthmus is Achill, the largest island of Ireland, and in Clew Bay there are an immense number of islets all formed of drift. An archipelago of granite rocks off the coast of Galway is formed of continuations of the mountains, and at the mouth of Galway Bay are the three islands of Aran, composed of Carboniferous Limestone. Among the picturesque stacks of rocks off the coast of Kerry the most notable are the Skellings. The largest islands opposite Cork are Dursey Island, Bear Island, and Clear Island, south of which is a picturesque rock called the Fastnet, on which there is a lighthouse. On the east coast the principal are Lambay Island, Innis-patrick, and Ireland’s Eye off county Dublin, and Copeland Island at the mouth of Belfast Lough. On the northern coast the principal are Rathlin Island off Antrim, and Tory Island off Donegal.

Divers and Canals.— Several of the rivers of Ireland, including the largest of them, have had their channels determined by a previous physical condition of the land surface, and must have been formed during a long period of denudation. Many of the valleys are dried-up river beds, and along various of the present river valleys traces of old river terraces may still be seen. In some cases the alterations of the courses by breaks and dislocations of the strata are of very recent occurrence. In the districts of Sligo and Fermanagh, as well as of Galway, Clare, Kerry, and Cork, the rivers and streams have frequently cut out subterraneous passages through the limestone, in some cases altogether disappearing; and along their courses turloughs or blind lakes, and abrupt deep holes called sluggas are frequently formed.

Owing to the moistness of the climate and the lie of the surface of the country, Ireland is more intersected by large rivers than England or Scotland, and it is a remarkable circumstance that in several cases there are groups of rivers with closely contiguous sources, which, however, flow in widely different directions. The largest river is the Shannon, which has its source in the Carboniferous mountains of Fermanagh and Leitrim, and flows southward through Lough Allen, Lough Ree, and Lough Dearg to Limerick, where it opens out into a wide estuary and takes a westerly course to the ocean. Up to Limerick, where it becomes tidal, it is navigable for large vessels, and for vessels of small tonnage it is navigable within 5 miles of Lough Allen. Its course above Lough Dearg is very sluggish, but from that lake to Limerick its descent is very rapid. Its total length is 240 miles, and it drains an area of 4544 square miles. The Suir, the Nore, and the Barrow, which have their sources not far from each other in the Slieve Bloom mountains, and unite at Waterford, drain together an area of 3400 square miles. The Suir is navigable for boats as far as to Clonmel, and the Nore to Innistioge. The Barrow, by means of a branch of the Grand Canal, forms a line of 120 miles of inland navigation between Dublin and Waterford. The other principal rivers, all of which are to some extent navigable, are—debouching on the west coast the Erne, the Moy, and the Corrib; on the south coast the Blackwater and the Lee; on the east coast the Lagan, the Boyne, the Liffey, and the Slaney; and on the north coast the Bann and the Foyle.

The Grand Canal, which with its various branches has a length of 165 miles, connects Dublin with the Shannon at Shannon Harbour; and the Royal Canal, with a length of 76 miles, connects Dublin with the Shannon at Cloondora. Lines of inland navigation, partly natural and partly artificial, connect Lough Neagh with Belfast, Newry, and Lough Erne. From the sea at Galway there is communication by Lough Mask and Lough Corrib to Lough Carra. Since the introduction of railways the passenger traffic on the canals has wholly ceased, but the goods traffic is still considerable.

Lakes.— Many lakes of considerable extent exist both in the mountainous and lowland districts of Ireland, and the number of small lakes is very great. Altogether the area covered by lakes amounts to 711 square miles, of which 287 are in Ulster, 305 in Connaught, 69 in Munster, and 50 in Leinster. Lough Neagh in Ulster is the largest inland lake in the United Kingdom, and has an area of 153 square miles, with a general depth of from 20 to 40 feet. Lough Erne in Fermanagh has a length of upwards of 40 miles, but a breadth of only 8 miles. Properly speaking, it consists of two lakes 5 miles apart and connected by a river, the upper lake being 13 miles in length with an area of 9278 acres, and the lower 24 miles in length with an area of 28,000 acres. Both lakes are dotted with numerous islets, and the lower one is famed for its picturesque beauty. Lough Corrib and Lough Mask have respectively an area of 43,484 and 22,219 acres. The country to the west of Lough Corrib contains about 130 lakes, 25 of which are more than a mile in length. The lakes of Killamey in Kerry, which are three in number and closely adjoin each other, are situated in the midst of wild and picturesque mountain scenery. The area of the lower lake is 5001 acres, of the middle one 680, and of the upper one 430, Lough Dearg, a small lake in the south of Donegal, has been resorted to from time immemorial as a place of penance by Roman Catholics. The other lake of the same name in the course of the Shannon has an area of 29,570 acres. The other principal lake districts are Sligo, Cavan, Westmeath, and Longford. Hull, in his Geology of Ireland, makes a classification of the lakes, according to their modes of formation, under the three heads of—(1) lakes of mechanical origin, (2) lakes of glacial origin, and (3) lakes of chemical solution. Of the first group, which are those whose formation is due chiefly to faults or dislocation of the strata, he mentions as special examples Lough Neagh and Lough Allen, both of which originated before the Glacial period, and probably between the Miocene and Pliocene periods. Those of glacial origin occur in the mountainous districts, and are due either to the scooping out of the rocks by the passage of ice over their surface, or to the accumulation of embankments at the end of the valleys or hollows. Those due to chemical solution are situated either on the limestone plain or in districts where the limestone formation has penetrated, and have been produced by the solution of the limestone through the action of water containing carbonic acid gas. , Coal.— Of the Upper Carboniferous beds which at one time overspread the central plain of Ireland, only small patches remain in isolated spots, serving chiefly as an indication of the immense loss that has been sustained in an important element of material prosperity. The principal coal-fields are the Leinster, the Munster, the Connaught, and the Tyrone.

The Leinster or Castlecomer field, situated between the Nore and Barrow, consists of a range of hills varying from 800 to 1000 feet high, and extending over portions of Kilkenny, Queen’s county, and Carlow. It lies in the form of a basin, its most productive beds occupying the centre. These are the Middle Measures, but in the field both the Middle and Lower are represented. The coal is anthracite. The most common fossils are either terrestrial or freshwater, marine fossils being found chiefly in some of the upper beds. Above the Barrow coal in county Kilkenny several remarkable reptilian remains have been found. The Lower Measures consist of gannister beds resting upon Carlow flags, and contain some beds of shale and a few thin seams of coal, with several beds of marine fossils. This field is the most important in Ireland, and yields a larger weight of coal than all the others together.

The West Munster coal-field occupies portions of Clare, Limerick, Kerry, and Cork, and consists of a series of low hills extending from near Galway Bay in the north to Killarney in the south. All the three measures are represented, but there are only a very few workable seams, as most of the coal is very thin, and the strata very much inverted. The principal collieries are at Dunhallow in Cork, and the coal, which is anthracite, is used chiefly for lime-burning. Many of the Lower Measures are very rich both in terrestrial and in marine fossils.

The East Munster coal-field consists of a low range of hills in Tipperary, closely adjoining the Carboniferous hills in Leinster, from which they are separated by the river Nore. Thence it extends to near Cashel, a distance of about 20 miles, and its average breadth is about 5 miles. All the measures are represented. The productive portion of the field is at Killenaule, and consists of two thin seams in the Upper Measure. In the Lower Measures the principal fossils are marine; and plant impressions, especially those of ferns, are very numerous.

The Connaught coal-field embraces the mountainous district round Lough Allen, and includes portions of Sligo, Roscommon, and Leitrim in Connaught, and of Fermanagh and Cavan in Ulster. Both the Middle and Lower Measures are represented. They are composed chiefly of yellow sandstone and shale, and are overlaid by beds of grit. The coal is bituminous, and a large portion of it is workable.

The Tyrone coal-field includes the district between Dungannon and Lough Neagh, having a length of 6 and a breadth of 1 to 2 miles, and the small basin of Annaghone a little to the north. All the measures are represented. The coals have been worked only near the surface, but it is believed that very extensive and valuable seams of workable coal exist at lower depths.

The average quantity of coal raised in Ireland annually is about 130,000 tons, of which about 80,000 are raised in Leinster, 30,000 in Munster, 16,000 in Antrim and Tyrone, and 6000 in Leitrim and Roscommon. As the annual importation of coal exceeds 2,000,000 tons, it is evident that the coal supply obtained from Ireland’s own mines is quite a minor element in its prosperity; but the industry might be much more largely developed, the total available amount of coal being estimated at 180,000,000 tons.

Peat.— For the absence of coal the country is to some extent compensated by the supply of peat fuel obtained from the red bogs situated in the central plain, and occupying a large tract included within two lines drawn across the island, the one from the Hill of Howth to Sligo, and the other from Wicklow to Galway. Originally this district was occupied by a forest, principally of oak trees, which after being gradually killed by the growth of mosses and other peat-producing plants, were succeeded by a forest of firs, these also in turn perishing. The average depth of the bog is 25 feet, but in some cases it is over 40 feet. According to its depth it varies in colour, from whitish brown to a brown-black closely resembling coal. The brown or red turf in the centre forms the best fuel. The lower strata sometimes pass into lignite. Lignite of an immense thickness is found around the southern shores of Lough Neagh. In the ιpountain districts the bogs usually consist of brown turf of only about 12 inches thickness. Γreglacial or interglacial peat has been found in Queen’s county, county Galway, and county Tipperary, and submarine bogs with remains of an ancient pine forest have been discovered off the south-west coast. The bogs of the central plain contain in a state of good preservation animal and human skeletons, tree canoes, gold and silver coins and ornaments, crannogs or lake dwellings, log houses, and wooden roadways. The total area occupied by bog is 2,830,000 acres, or about one-seventh of the surface of the island, mountain bog occupying 1,254,000 acres, and flat red bog 1,576,000 acres.

Iron.— The deficiency in coal supply is the more to be regretted in the case of Ireland on account of its immense stores of iron, which for want of proper fuel remain unutilized. Red hematitic iron of a very rich kind is found associated with the coal-fields in the districts of Tyrone, and in Cork and Waterford. Valuable pisolitic ore occurs between the sheets of basalt in Antrim. Iron is met with in great quantities in the bogs, and is easily fusible, but the quality is not nearly so good as that of the clay iron which occurs in great abundance in the coal districts of Connaught. Some centuries ago the manufacture of iron was one of the most important industries of Ireland, the surface of the country being dotted over with small ironworks, in which the ore was smelted by wood charcoal; but as the supply of wood became exhausted the industry was wholly discontinued, the last of the old furnaces having been put out more than a hundred years ago. On the discovery of coal at the Arigna river near Lough Allen,, iron-works were established there in 1788 which were carried on until 1808, and again revived in 1825, when the undertaking failed on account of the insufficiency of capital with which the company started. Of late years iron-mining has been prosecuted with some briskness in Antrim, as well as in Down and Londonderry. The quantity produced in the country has risen from 106 tons in 1860 to 77,600 in 1870 and 155,833 in 1879; but for the proper development of the industry the available supply of coke is wholly insufficient, and until other methods or materials of smelting have been discovered, the valuable iron ores of the country will contribute a very small modicum to its prosperity.

Gold.— From the gold ornaments and crucible ladles and other implements used in the purifying of gold that have been discovered in a bog on the borders of Limerick and Tipperary, it would appear that that metal was manufactured there at a very early period; and there is a tradition that gold was smelted for King Tighearnmas about 1620 (or 915) b.c. in one of the valleys of the Liffey. About the end of last century a nugget of gold 22 oz. in weight was found in a tributary of the Ovoca, and, the Government having shortly afterwards taken up the enterprise, placer mining was carried on for some years. The gold was from 21f to 21⅞ carats fine, the alloy being silver. The total value of the gold obtained at the Government works was £3675, while gold to the value of over £10,000 was obtained by private enterprise. All the gold has been found in shallow places. Very little gold is found in the iron or quartz veins, although pieces of iron are always found with the gold, and quartz is sometimes attached to the nuggets. The gold usually occurs in small grains, but nuggets of considerable weight are sometimes found.

Silver and Lead.— In very ancient times there were silver mines at Argetros, county Kilkenny, and near Toomavara, county Tipperary. The metal occurs both as native silver and in the lead ore, which sometimes yields as much as 80 oz. of silver to the ton. Lead is found in a greater number of localities than any other metal. Its most usual form is galenite, which occurs sometimes alone, but generally with sulphide of zinc, sometimes with the sulphides of iron and copper, and occasionally with sulphate of baryta and sulphate of strontium. In 1854 the lead mines of Ireland were wrought by ten companies, and the amount of ore raised was 3069 tons 15 cwts., yielding 2210 tons 15 cwts. lead and 18,096 oz. silver. Since that period the industry has gradually declined, until in 1875 it was prosecuted by only one company, that of Luganure in Wicklow; but since 1877 two mines have also been wrought at Carahan in Clare. Table II. gives returns from 1876 to 1879.

Copper.— The principal copper-mines are at Knock-mahon in Waterford, at Cronebane and Conn ary. in Wicklow, and at Bearhaven, Ballycommisk, and Cosheen [table] [table]

in Cork. Chalcopyrite or yellow copper is the most common, but melaconite or black copper is found at Cronebane and Connary, and tetrahedrite or grey ore in the small beds to the south of Bearhaven. Native copper is common in most of the districts where the ore is found, and in many places large quantities of copper are collected from the streams by precipitation on iron. In 1854 the quantity of copper raised in Ireland was 12,171 tons, value £104,882. Since 1874 the industry has been on the decline, as may be seen from Table III.

Other Minerals.— There is a large lode of pyrites associated with the iron ore at Ovoca, county Wicklow, and native sulphur is found in the limestone in various districts as well as in some of the copper-mines. The produce of the sulphur mines of Wicklow amounted in 1860 to 99,259 tons, in 1870 to 38,634 tons, and in 1879 to only 8262 tons. Tin stone has been found in a leaden lode at Dalkey, county Dublin, and also in the auriferous soil of Wicklow, but no lodes or workable deposits have been discovered. Salt is found at Carrickfergus and Larne in Antrim, and gypsum suitable for manure in the same districts. Molybdenite is found in a vein of granite near Roundstone in county Galway. Antimony, arsenic, sulphate of barytes, cobalt, magnesia, alum, and steatite, all occur in several districts. Clays suitable for porcelain, as well as those used for coarse pottery, are not uncommon, and there are a great many quarries for building stone, flags, and slate, and also some for granite and marble. Lime is of course plentiful almost everywhere. Mineral springs, chiefly chalybeate, exist in the Upper Limestone in many parts of the country, the principal being Mallow in Cork, Ballynahinch in Down, Swanlinbar in Cavan, Castleconnel near Limerick, and Lucan near Dublin.

Climate.— The climate of Ireland is more equable than that of Great Britain, both as regards temperature and rainfall. No district in Ireland has a rainfall rising so high as that of large portions of the Highlands of Scotland, or falling so low as that of several large districts in the east of Great Britain. In January the mean temperature rises but little above 37° over the larger portion of the eastern slope of Great Britain, whereas in the same month it scarcely falls below 40° in any part of Ireland; and in July, whilst in Great Britain the extremes in the mean temperature are 64° in the London district and 54° in Shetland, the extremes in Ireland are 59° in the north and 62° in Kilkenny. Latitude accounts only for a part of these differences, which are mainly occasioned by the physical configuration of the surface in its relations to the prevailing moist W.S.W. winds. Ireland presents to these winds no unbroken mountain ridge running north and south, which would result in two climates as distinct as those of the east and the west of Ross-shire; but it presents instead only a series of isolated groups, with the result that it is only a few limited districts which enjoy climates approaching in dryness the climates of the whole of the eastern side of Great Britain.

Agriculture.— In wet years the excessive moisture is very prejudicial to cereal crops, especially in the southern and western parts of the island. Probably the returns either of com or of green crop would in exceptional cases be very deficient under any mode of culture, and they might on the average, in the south-western district, be less remunerative than those of grass; but undoubtedly, if tillage were more practised on pasturage farms, the rearing and feeding of cattle would be more satisfactorily performed. Moreover, the soil in many cases is such that most kinds of crops thrive in the moist climate, and much might be done by drainage to procure a drier atmosphere and to mitigate the prejudicial influences of rainfall at the period of ripening. In regard to the natural fertility of the soil, and the ease with which it can be cultivated, Ireland as a whole has great advantages over Great Britain. Strong retentive clay soils, sandy soils, chalky and gravelly soils, are almost wholly absent, and the mixture of soils resulting from the great variety of stratification, as well as from the detritus carried down to the plains, has created many extensive districts of remarkable richness. The most fertile part of the country is the tract in Munster known as the “Golden Vein,” stretching from Cashel in Tipperary to near Limerick. Along the banks of the Shannon there are long stretches of flat lands formed by deposits chiefly of calcareous and peaty matter carried down by floods, and at the estuary of the river this matter has been largely mixed with blue silt deposited by the sea. Extensive districts of similar formation are connected with the Suit, Nore, and Barrow, and with the Bann. In other parts of the limestone plain a rich soil has been formed by the decomposition of drift accumulated by the Esker Sea, mingled in some cases with the remains of granite; and a mixture of a variety of rocks has also greatly benefited many of the other limestone soils. The red bogs contain underneath them abundant marl admirably adapted for use in reclaiming the land. In many of the mountain districts the soil above the hard rocks consists of a thin stratum of vegetable matter. On the clay slate formations in Louth, Down, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, the soil is generally poor, except in the hollows, where rich patches have frequently been formed by rocky deposits. Similar remarks apply to the soils above mica slate. In the districts of the Old and New Red Sandstone, including the greater part of Cork, and portions of Kerry, Waterford, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Mayo, and Tipperary, the soil in the hollows is generally of remarkable fertility. Where gneiss and schist rocks prevail a finely productive soil frequently occurs, resting on inliers of limestone and other calcareous rocks. Indeed, Ireland contains comparatively little irreclaimable land, and even in the mountainous districts which are unsuitable for tillage there is often soil sufficient, with the aid of the moist climate, to yield pasturage of superior quality in great abundance; and more than two-thirds of the surface of the country, being less than 500 feet above sea-level, possesses a temperature well adapted to all the usual kinds of crop.

But, although enjoying such favourable natural conditions, Ireland as a whole lags far behind most other portions of the United Kingdom in agricultural progress, both as regards the circumstances of the peasantry and the development of the capabilities of the soil for producing food. The causes of this state of things are somewhat complex; and, having their chief connexion either directly or indirectly with the procedure of the legislature, they have been in operation for several centuries, during which, instead of diminishing in influence, they have apparently gained strength by intermixing and entangling with each other. Until a comparatively recent period the system of landholding in Ireland was the tanistry or communal, governed by the ancient Brehon code. According to this code the land belonged primarily to the tribe or commune, and was vested in the chief or tanist, who, from his rank as a noble, held a portion of it as his own property, had a life interest in a second portion from the office to which he had been elected, and possessed jurisdiction over a third portion, the commonal land, which was divided annually. The nobles from among whom the tanist was chosen had the right of ownership of land, and another class had the right of ownership of chattels, which went to their sons by gavelkind. Only certain classes of the tribe—the Saer Ceili or “free tenants,” and Daer Céili or “base tenants”—could obtain security of tenure for life, the others being either yearly tenants, free labourers, or slaves. The interests even of the yearly tenant were preserved by stringent regulations, and in the course of generations it was possible to rise from the lowest social grade to the rank of a “free tenant.” The lands of the tenants went to their male descendants by gavelkind. Even the free labourers and the slaves, with the exception of those who were convicts or prisoners, had the right of sustenance and shelter on the estate of their lord. Unlike those of Great Britain, the ancient laws of Ireland remained uninfluenced by Roman legislation; and, although the Danish invasions caused some disturbance of the old order of things, the regulations so far as the possession and tenure of land were concerned remained practically unmodified until the invasion of Henry II. The natural consequence was that the pastoral mode of life associated from the beginning with the Brehon code should also remain unchanged, the more especially as soil and climate alike were favourable to the growth of luxuriant pasturage; but, as pastoral employment is that which is least able to support a dense population, a large proportion of the servant class gradually sank into a condition of Idleness and wretched poverty. Unhappily the result of the Anglo-Norman invasion was not to improve this state of things by the gradual influence of other laws and customs, but to introduce into the social system disturbing and irritating elements, which kept alive all the old evils in a more aggravated form. Henry II. nominally bestowed the entire land of Ireland upon ten of his followers, but practically, with the exception of the small district of the Pale, it remained in the possession of its ancient lords. Confiscations became more frequent as the power of the English increased, and within that portion of the territory over which English rule did not extend the tenants and labourers, in the unsettled condition of society, suffered severely from the irresponsible authority of the nobles. Henry VIII., the first English sovereign who really held sway over the whole island, induced the nobles to acknowledge him on condition that their ancient rights and privileges were left intact; but this arrangement was set aside by Elizabeth, whose reign was signalized by the great wars, resulting in the composition of Connaught and the planting of Munster. By the former of these, while possession was secured to the nobles in their estates, the lands in the province were alienated from the clan to the chief, and the free tenants became virtually proprietors of their farms; and by the latter 574,628 acres, the estate of the earl of Desmond, were parcelled out to be peopled according to a plan founded wholly on English customs. Soon after the accession of James I. in 1603, tanistry and gavelkind were abolished by decision of Queen’s Bench, and the estates of the Ulster nobles—511,465 acres in extent—were forfeited to the crown, to make way for the great plantation of Ulster. The custom of gavelkind was, however, revived by the Act of Queen Anne against the Catholics, and the statute was not repealed till the reign of George III. The confiscations were repeated on a larger scale during the Stuart and Cromwellian periods, from which time may be dated the complete practical overthrow of the Brehon system except in Ulster and a few isolated districts where the shadow of it still lingers in the custom known as tenant-right. Even, however, after the subjugation of Ireland by Cromwell, Sir William Petty, in his Political Anatomy, written in 1672, estimated the value of the tenant’s claims for improvements and benefit of leases at one-third of his annual rental. The same writer calculated that, whereas in 1641 about two-thirds of the good land belonged to the Irish or Catholics, at the time he was writing the proportion was as nearly as possible reversed, the figures being as follows :—Purchased by the Protestants of Connaught of the transplanters 80,000 acres, possessed by the English and Protestants and Church 5,140,000, possessed by the Irish 2,280,000. Of the 1,100,000 inhabitants, the proportion of Irish to English was as 9 to 3; and 6 out of every 8 of the Irish lived in a “brutish nasty condition.” After the confiscations which followed the wars of William HI., the Catholics did not possess more than one-seventh of the soil. The penal laws by which the Catholics were disabled from holding freehold property tended to effect a still further transference of proprietorship to the Protestants. The functions of the proprietor were generally performed by the large Protestant tenant, to whom a long lease of the property was granted, and who sublet to the Irish farmer. Frequently the farms were subdivided and sublet to the third, fourth, or fifth degree, and, as the Catholics were disabled from holding leases for more than thirty-one years, and at less than two-thirds of a rackrent, they necessarily occupied the lowest step in this peculiar social scale. Instead of an industrious and thriving class of peasant proprietors, which the Brehon system left to itself would in all probability have gradually developed, a race of wretched cottiers sprang up, whose only inheritance now guaranteed to them by the remains of the old Brehon system was their deep-seated conviction as to their inalienable rights to the soil; the custom which, without now recognizing these rights, threw upon them the expense not only of fencing, draining, and other improvements, but of the erection of all the dwellings on the farm; and their dependence on the proprietor, one, however, who was now generally an alien, and from whom they held their small patches of soil on payment in labour according to conditions strung to the utmost degree of severity by the process of subletting and an unlimited competition. Support by any other form of industry than agriculture was rendered impossible by laws which practically paralysed the commerce and manufactures of the country, and agriculture itself was additionally hampered by the enactments passed in the reign of Charles II. against the exportation to England of cattle, sheep, and pigs, of salt beef and bacon, and even of butter and cheese. These enactments, combined with that final one by which the prohibition formerly passed against the exportation of woollen manufactures to England or the colonies was extended also to foreign countries, caused the “middle men” to turn their attention to woollen smuggling; and, finding it a more lucrative means of livelihood than that of squeezing money from impoverished tenants, they in many instances drove the cottiers from their farms, which they changed into sheep walks.

The Acts of 1771, 1778, and 1782, which removed the Roman Catholic disabilities in regard to the holding of leases and property, and the Act of 1793, which extended to the Catholics the forty shillings franchise, had, on account of the peculiar social condition created by f >rmer legislation, practically as disastrous effects as even the penal laws which they superseded. The landlords for election purposes created an immense number of the lowest kind of freeholds, which they let at exorbitant rents owing to the high price of provisions during the great war. These prices indeed gave a temporary stimulus to agriculture, and led to the conversion of a considerable amount of pasturage into tillage, but practically the position of the freeholder was more servile than that of the previous tenant-at-will, and when prices sank to their normal rate at the close of the war he found himself in a condition of absolute ruin. At the same time, by this minute subdivision of leaseholds, an immense increase had taken place in the agricultural population, whose numbers could perhaps scarcely have found support under any system of agriculture, although undoubtedly under a system of peasant proprietorship support would have been possible to a much larger number, inasmuch as the principal profits of tillage would have fallen into the hands of the tillers of the soil instead of those of absentee proprietors. To aid the landlords in freeing themselves from the incubus of impoverished tenants an eviction Act was passed in 1816, and further protection was afforded them by the Subletting Act of 1826, but it was not until after the abolition of the forty shilling leasehold suffrage in 1829 that any important diminution took place in the leaseholds. Undertenancy-at-will, which was then generally substituted, the subdivision of holdings was not materially diminished, although for some years previous to the occurrence of the potato blight and the repeal of the Corn Laws more than one-fourth of the population stood in need generally of relief, and the landlord, in order to escape the burdensome taxation consequent upon the Poor Law Act of 1838, had begun the transformation of small holdings into large farms. Table IV., compiled from special parliamentaryreturns givingthe number of freeholds by counties, will illustrate the influence of various acts of legislation on the growth of freeholds, and especially their rapid increase after 1793 and their rapid decline after 1829.

The potato blight and the repeal of the Corn Laws, occurring nearly simultaneously, caused an immediate and almost complete sweep to be made of the smaller class of holdings. The consequence was an enormously rapid diminution of the population, which made whole districts of the country almost tenantless, but which, great as it was, only removed the abnormal strain of hardship under which the peasant was suffering, and brought him no permanent relief from his burdens by an increase of wages or more favourable terms of occupancy. Indeed, tenancy-at-will was still further increased by the Parliamentary Votes Act of 1850, which granted the suffrage to those who for twelve months were rated as occupiers of land valued at £12 a year.

The change which has taken place in the size of the holdings since 1841 is sufficiently indicated in Tables V., VI. and VII. [table] [table]

[table] [table] [table] [table]

The number of holdings of less than one acre is not given in the census returns of 1841, but the number of persons occupying the holdings is given in Kennedy’s Digest of the .Evidence of the Devon Commission. Reckoning that no one possessed more than one holding, the total diminution in the number of holdings between 1841 and 1880 would thus be 252,294, or, not including holdings under 1 acre, 167,593. The number of occupiers in 1880.. was 527,444, or 46,778 fewer than the number of holdings. The diminution in holdings took place chiefly between 1841 and 1851, that is, practically betw’een 1846 and 1851, this decline being 218,450. It was confined to farms not exceeding 15 acres in extent, which between these years declined as much as 380,884, and between 1851 and 1880 have declined by only 41,425. Those not exceeding 1 acre, principally the potato gardens of the cottiers, between 1841 and 1851 declined by 97,586,or nearly three-fourths; since 1851 they have increased by more than one-fourth. Farms above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres declined between 1841 and 1851 by 222,353, or nearly three-fourths; and those above 5 and not exceeding 15 acres by 60,945, or nearly one-fourth. Between 1851 and 1880 the decline in farms of the former class has been 23,791 and of the latter class 30,519, there having been a slight increase in this class in the province of Connaught. The largest increase in the number of holdings took place in those exceeding 30 acres, the additions between 1841 and 1851 being 100,465, and between 1851 and 1880 only amounting to 12,374, the greatest proportional increase between 1841 and 1880 being in the provinces of Connaught and Ulster. The increase between 1841 and 1851 in farms above 15 and not exceeding 30 acres was 61,969, and between 1851 and 1880 there has been a decrease of 4793, there having been a slight increase in Connaught. In farms above 30 acres in extent, the increase between 1851 and 1880 has been greatest, both in numbers and in proportion, in those above 50 and not exceeding 100 acres. »Since 1861 the decrease in the total number of holdings has been gradual but continuous; and the slight increase between 1851 and 1861 is more than accounted for by an increase in the gardens of the cottiers. The largest proportional decrease in the number of holdings, 8 per cent, above that for Ireland, has been in Munster, where, as will be seen from subsequent statistics, the increase of the acreage under pasture has also been greatest.

The relation which the decrease in the number of holdings has had to the decrease in tillage may be to some extent understood from Table VIII., which gives the percentages of acreage in the various classes of holdings for 1854, 1861, and 1871, with the percentage of land in each class under crops, grass, fallow, woods, and bog or waste respectiyely. The registrar-general’s returns do not supply materials for such a table for 1851. It will be seen that there is an uninterrupted decline in the proportion of land under crops according to the increase in the size of the holdings, it being over 80 per cent, in those less than 1 acre, over 60 per cent, in those above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres, and only a little over 3 per cent, in those above 500 acres. On the other hand, the acreage under grass is in farms between 1 and 5 acres only about 28 per cent., and reaches its maximum, nearly 60 per cent., in farms above 200 and under 500 acres; and, while the extent of bog and waste is scarcely 8 per cent, in farms between 1 and 5 acres, it gradually increases with the increase in the size of the farm until it is over 60 per cent, in those above 500 acres. The acreage under crops remained nearly stationary between 1854 and 1871 in all the classes of farms, but the acreage under grass increased 2 ’ 5 per cent., the increase being wholly in farms of above 30 acres, while there was a decrease of about 1 per cent, in the case of all classes of farms below 15 acres in extent. The increase may almost be accounted for by reclamations, the decline in the acreage under bog and waste being between the same periods about 2 ’ 4 per cent., which occurs principally in farms above 50 acres in extent, there being a considerable increase in the case of some of the other classes of farms. The nature of the change in regard to cropping and tillage which has taken place since 1847 is shown more distinctly in Table IX., which gives the acreage under the different kinds of crop in 1847, 1851,1861,1871, 1879, and 1880. Table X. gives the acreage under crops, grass, fallow, woods, and waste for 1851 and 1880, and Table XI. shows in detail the proportions per cent.

The general result of Table IX. is to show a total decline between 1847 and 1880 in the area under crops amounting to 157,351 acres, the decrease having taken place after 1861, up to which year there was from 1847 an increase of 651,961, the decline between 1861 and 1880 being 809,312, or more than one-seventh. The stated area under crop in 1847 conveys, however, a misleading impression, as the area under potatoes was only 284,116 acres, whereas in 1846 it was estimated at 1,237,441, the difference being undoubtedly due to the fact that in 1847 a great portion of this area was left out of cultivation. Thus, if 1846 had been substituted for 1847 it would have been found that in the area under crops there was a decrease between 1846 and 1851 probably as great as that which occurred between 1851 and 1880. This latter decrease amounted to 777,727 acres or 3 , 8 per cent, of the area of the country, the decrease in Leinster being 383,143 or 7 ’ 6 per cent., in Munster 268,351 or 4 ’ 5 per cent., in Ulster 107,750 or 2 per cent., and in Connaught 18,623 or - 4 per cent. Unfortunately the [table]

commissioners’ reports do not give the acreage in 1847 under grass, and the census returns of 1841, though they give the acreage of arable land, do not distinguish between that under grass and that under crop. If, however, we deduct the amount under crop in 1847 from the total arable area in 1841, which is stated at 13,464,000 acres, we have only β,225,425 acres under grass, the increase of grass land between 1841 and 1851 being, according to this calculation, 523,152 acres, while if we add the acreage left out of crop in 1847 it is probably 1,000,000 acres more. Since 1851 the acreage under grass has been gradually but uninterruptedly increasing, the increase between that year and 1880 being 1,510,531 acres or 7 - 5 per cent, of the whole country, there being thus in all probability about 2,500,000 more acres under grass in 1880 than in 1841. In Leinster the increase has been 470,842 acres or 9 ’ 7 per cent., in Munster 572,746 or 9 ’ 6 per cent., in Ulster 98,422 or 1*7 per cent., and in Connaught 368,521 or 8∙8 per cent. The largest percentage under grass is in Munster, and the smallest in Ulster, the proportionate difference between the two being 14 ’ 5 per cent. But in addition to this stated increase of acreage under grass, it is to be remembered that a large proportion of the acreage under meadow and clover comes properly under this category, being really untilled land, and that this has increased between 1847 and 1880 by 770,961 acres, the increase in Leinster being 146,227, in Munster 253,866, in Ulster 211,334, andin Connaught 159,534. Thus if we deduct the area under meadow, the decrease in the area under crops between 1847 and 1880 would, even according to this table, be 928,312 acres, there being a decrease in cereals of 1,547,145, and an apparent increase in the area of green crops of 519,611 acres, and in flax of 99,222. As, however, about 1,000,000 acres formerly under potatoes were in 1847 left out of cultivation, it is probable that between 1846 and 1880 there was a decrease in the acreage under green crops as large as the apparent increase between 1847 and 1851. If, on the other hand, the acreage under meadow and clover be added to that under grass, the increase between 1851 and 1880 of the two combined is 2,175,552 acres, and between 1841 and 1880 it is probably nearly 3,500,000.

Sir William Petty estimated the area of Ireland in 1641 at 10,500,000 Irish acres, or 17,008,264 English acres, of which he classed 1,500,000 Irish acres, or 2,429,752 English acres, as rivers, highways, bogs; an area of similar extent as very coarse land; and 7,500,000 Irish acres, or 12,148,760 English acres, as good meadow, arable, and pasture. According to the returns of the Census Commissioners of 1841, the area of arable land comprehended 13,464,000 acres, plantations 374,482, water 630,825, and uncultivated land 6,295,735. Between 1841 and 1851, owing to works undertaken both by Government and private proprietors in order to give relief at the period of famine, the area of arable land showed the large increase of 1,338,581 acres, there being a decrease in the extent of waste land amounting to 1,086,493 acres, and in the area underwoods amounting to 69,476, while the area under waste includes a large acreage under water. The returns of 1841 are, however, much less accurate than those from 1847. Between 1851 and 1880 the arable lands increased from 14,802,581 to 15,355,598 acres, or by 553,017, there being a decrease in the waste land of 577,184 acres, and an increase of the area under woods of 34,952 acres, while the total acreage of the country is stated in somewhat larger figures. The percentage of decline in waste land for the whole acreage of the country was 2 9, there being a decline of *6 in Leinster, and of 4 5 in Munster, an increase, strange to say, of ’ 7 in Ulster, and a decline of 7 - 8 in Connaught, where there is still the large percentage of 33 2. Of the 4,632,308 acres returned for Ireland under the head of waste land in 1880, 1,718,386 acres were returned as bog and marsh, viz., 325,864 in Leinster, 324,826 in Munster, 372,387 in Ulster, and 695,309 in Connaught; and 2,064,361 acres as barren mountain land, 157,618 being in Leinster, 699,732 in Munster, 679,285 in Ulster, and 527,726 in Connaught. According to the report of Sir Richard Griffith, the total number of acres improvable in 1844 was 3,755,000, of which 1,425,000 were improvable for cultivation and 2,330,000 for pasturage. The reclamations of waste between 1841 and 1851 nearly all took place after 1844, and the total acreage of reclamations between 1841 and 1880 is 1,663,427, leaving therefore an acreage in 1880 of waste but reclaimable land amounting to 2,091,573. The term waste land is, however, used in a rather vague sense, and might without much exaggeration be made to include a considerable portion of the area now classed as arable. The significance of the change which has taken place in the acreage of the principal crops will be better understood if the tables already given are compared with Tables XII. and XIII.

The area under cereals has declined between 1847 and 1880 by 1,547,145 acres, or nearly one-half; while in 1847 the produce of cereals reached 2,548,723 tons, in 1878 it amounted to only 1,226,655 tons, and in 1880 to 1,275,678 tons, the difference between 1847 and 1878 amounting to 1,322,068, and between 1847 and 1880 to 1,273,045. Allowance must, however, be made for the fact that since 1855 the estimates of produce, having been corrected by the Poor Law Guardians, have generally been lowered; and of course the weather introduces a very variable element. In any case it would appear that generally there has been a decline in productive power from 1856 until 1871. For the five years up to and including 1860 there is a much lower average than for the five previous years, and the decline still continues for the ten years up to and including 1870; but, except in the case of potatoes and cabbage, there is an increase for the ten years following, due to the high averages of 1874 and the two subsequent years. The decline in the productive power may doubtless in a considerable degree be accounted for by the fact that the increase in the acreage under pasturage took place chiefly in the richer districts of the country, but it is also attributable, as is the low average still attained, to inadequate manuring, insufficient draining, inattention to the destruction of weeds, over-cropping, or in a word, to general ignorance in regard to the proper methods of culture. In some isolated instances the system of agriculture practised is quite on a par with that on the best farms of England and Scotland, and within recent years considerable progress has been made; but as a whole an approach to a satisfactory state of things exists only in Ulster, where [table]

agriculture has the stimulus both of tenant-right and of manufactures. In Ulster the average produce per acre is now equal to the average of Ireland, although in 1642 it was rated to the “adventurers” as worth only 4s. an acre, while land in Leinster was rated at 12s., in Munster at 9s., and in Connaught at 6s. The southern and western districts of the country lag farthest behind, and generally proximity to Great Britain seems to exercise an advantageous influence. Griffith’s valuation, apart from other objections, of course supplies no test as to the agricultural value of the land at the present time, and has the disadvantage that the southern and western districts were valued immediately after the famine. By it the total annual value of Ireland was given as £11,439,575, that of Ulster being £2,533,265, of Munster £3,247,177, of Leinster £4,305,413, and Connaught £1,353,720.

An increase in the average produce of wheat per acre might naturally be expected from the fact that its area is now restricted to those districts where soil and climate are specially suitable. The decline in the area under wheat between 1847 and 1880 has been 595,235 acres, or more than four-fifths. It has been specially large in Leinster and Munster, but the fact that it has also been considerable in Ulster and Connaught shows that it must be attributed to other causes besides a real or supposed unsuitability of climate. In 1878 the amount of wheat produce was less by 499,191 tons than in 1847, and in 1880 it was less by 503,190 tons. The decrease in the acreage under oats has not been proportionally so great; but, inasmuch as oats are the staple crop of the country, it is perhaps even more significant. Between 1847 and 1880 the decrease in area was 818,927 acres; and the decline in amount of produce in 1878 as compared with 1847 was 705,689 tons, and in 1880 it was 634,998 tons. The decrease in the acreage under cereals has by some been accounted for by an increase in that under potatoes, but although between 1851 and 1861 this increased by 265,003 acres, it has since gradually diminished, being 47,773 less in 1880 than in 1851. The increased productiveness of the potato in 1880 is attributed both to the favourable season and the . importation of new varieties, especially the “Champion.” The report of the special potato inquiry of 1880 shows that “Champions” were grown on 220,934 acres, “White Rocks” on 194,778, “Skerry Blues” on 116,959, and “Scotch Downs” on 98,342. Between 1851 and 1880 there has been a diminution in the total area under green crops of 125,247 acres. It is certainly remarkable that, while the number of cattle has so largely increased, not only the area but until recent years the average produce per acre of turnips and mangolds, the staple winter food of cattle, has been diminishing. The aggregate produce of turnips was less by 1,395,100 tons in 1878 than in 1851, in 1879 by 4,023,522 tons, and in 1880 by 1,741,638.

The nature of the increase which has taken place in live stock since 1841 is brought out in Tables XIV.-XVIL

The returns for 1851 give no information as to the number of horses used for agricultural purposes, but Table XV. supplies this information for 1861, 1871, 1879, and 1880. Table XVI. gives the total value of each kind of live stock for 1841, 1851, and 1871 on holdings above one acre, and the average value of the same on each holding, the valuation given agreeing with the rate originally fixed by the commissioners, according to which horses were estimated at £8 each, asses at £1, cattle £6, 10s., sheep £1, 2s., pigs £1, 5s., goats 7s., and poultry 6d. The value of all classes of live stock has of course greatly increased within recent years, but although [table]

a table representing the actual increase of value in live stock would throw an important light on certain aspects of Irish agriculture, these considerations cannot be entered into here, and as the increase is due almost entirely to other causes than increased merits in the live stock, a table at a fixed rate more exactly represents the change in value so far as it depends upon the agriculturist.

As horses and mules are classed together in the returns of 1841, no comparison can be made as to the difference in the number of horses between that year and 1880; besides, the returns of 1841 are much more inaccurate than those since 1847. Between 1851 and 1880 horses increased by 35,447, but between 1861 and 1880 they decreased by 57,079, agricultural horses diminishing by 66,853, undoubtedly an indication of a diminution in tillage, but not a criterion as to its amount, both because the horses are not fully occupied, especially on small farms, and because a considerable amount of farm work is done by bullocks, which are much better suited for this work than the small and weak horses kept on most farms. Asses have more than doubled in numbers since 1841, and have increased between 1851 and 1880 by 49,264, a sign both of poverty and of lazy and inefficient work.

Cattle have increased between 1841 and 1880 by 2,080,471, or have more than doubled in numbers, and between 1851 and 1880 by 953,565, or scarcely so much as between 1841 and 1851. The only pure native breed of cattle now in Ireland is the “Kerry,” a light handsome animal, black or red in colour, with upturned horns. It is easily kept, and in quality both its flesh and its milk resemble those of the finer West Highlands. The variety known as the “Dexter,” a cross between the “Kerry” and some unknown breed, is shorter and plumper than the pure “Kerry,” and has none of its finer points; and [table] [table]

in Connaught there is another breed of cattle which is also a coarse variety of the “Kerry.” In some parts of the country the Scotch West Highland breed has been introduced. The “old Irish” breed which existed in the central parts of the country has now been all but eradicated by crossing. The English Longhorn was at first the animal principally used to improve the breed of the Irish cattle, but it was ultimately supplanted by the Shorthorn, and the greater number of Irish cattle are now crosses with that breed. Polled Scotch cattle have also been largely introduced into the mountain districts, and iu Ulster and Cork the Ayrshire or a cross between it and the Shorthorn is the breed chiefly used for dairy purposes. Milch cows in 1880 exceeded a third of the total number of cattle,—the numbers of the three classes of other cattle (those under one year, those above one and under two years, and those above two years) being pretty nearly equal. The proportion of milch cows to the total number of cattle in Leinster was less than one-fourth, in Munster nearly one-half, in Ulster above nine-twentieths, and in Connaught about three-eighths. Since 1861 the number of milch cows has decreased by 148,335, the decrease having nearly all taken place since 1871. Dairy farming is carried on chiefly in the south, more especially in Cork, where the methods practised are generally greatly superior to those of the other districts. In Cork the cows are generally wintered partly on turnips or cabbage, and to some extent also on artificial feeding stuffs, but in other districts they are often not housed even in winter, and what they gather from the winter pastures is supplemented only by an allowance of hay. The milk is used chiefly in the manufacture of butter, the buttermilk being employed for feeding pigs, and forming also along with potatoes or stirabout an important element of family diet. On account of the bad household arrangements of the small farms, the butter manufactured is often dirty and unwholesome; and it is also frequently oversalted. Cheese is not manufactured except by some of the Scotch or English farmers for their own use. The proportion of calves kept may be gathered from the number of cattle under one year old, which in 1880 was less than the number of cows by 555,813. On the best farms the cow calves are generally kept. Only a very small number of calves are fattened for the butcher, but many are killed when only a few days old. Those that are kept scarcely ever receive warm milk after the first week, but are fed chiefly on buttermilk, hay-tea, and similar substitutes. This early process of half starvation, joined to imperfect winter housing and feeding, leaves effects on the constitution of the animals which greatly lessen their value for the butcher; and, although the breed of cattle in Ireland is one which fattens quickly on good pasturage, the animals, besides being smaller than they would otherwise have been, are always deficient in “tallow,” and generally weigh about 2 stones less than those of apparently similar dimensions reared in England or Scotland. Scientific cattlefeeding is only practised in exceptional cases.

Sheep have increased between 1851 and 1880 by 1,439,233, there having been very little increase between 1841 and 1851. The number is smallest in Ulster, which possesses only about one-eighth of the whole. The old native breed has been greatly improved by the introduction of Leicesters, and within recent years Border Leicesters have been largely introduced, as well as Shropshire Downs. In the mountain western districts there are large flocks of Cheviots and Scotch Blackfaced. The sheep possessed by the small farmer are generally of a very mongrel character.

Pigs between 1841 and 1851 decreased by 268,244, but between 1851 and 1861 increased by 17,185, and between 1861 and 1871 by 519,381, while between 1871 and 1880 they declined by 772,377. They constitute a very important item in the economy of the small farmer, and their carcases are largely sold to supply the English market. The old Irish “grey-hound” pigs, which were very nearly allied in race to the wild boar, are now almost extinct, their place having been taken chiefly by Berkshires, although Yorkshire and Cumberland breeds are not uncommon.

Table XVIII. shows the progress of the cattle export trade to the United Kingdom since 1790.

Between 1841 and 1851 poultry diminished by 863,733, much less than might have been expected from the decrease in small farms; and between 1851 and 1880 their numbers have nearly doubled, the larger portion of the small farmers’ returns being now often obtained from the rearing of geese and turkeys and the produce of eggs. The breed of domestic fowls is somewhat mixed, but Dorking and Spanish fowls are becoming more common. [table] [table]

An approximation to a proper estimate of the deficiencies of the chief branch of Irish agriculture, the rearing of cattle, may be obtained by a computation founded on a comparison of its statistics with those of Great Britain. In 1880 the average number of cattle to every 100 acres under cultivation was 25'5, the average of England being 1β ’ 9, of Wales 23 ’ 7, of Scotland 23 ’ 2, and of Great Britain 18 ’ 4. Horses in the same year had an average in Ireland of 3 ’ 3, that of England being 4 ’ 4, of Wales 4 , 9, of Scotland 4'1, and of Great Britain 4 , 4. The average of sheep was for Ireland only 23 , 2, while for England it was 68 , 4, for Wales 98 ’ 2, for Scotland 149’3, and for Great Britain 82*9. Of pigs the average in Ireland was 5 ’ 5, in England 6*9, in Wales 6 ’ 6, in Scotland 2 ’ 6, and in Great Britain 6 ’ 2. While in Great Britain, with a permanent pasturage of 14,426,959 acres, the number of cattle amounted to 5,912,046, in Ireland, with a permanent pasturage of 10,259,108 acres, they amounted to 3,921,026, the number of cattle in England to every 100 acres under grass being 41Ό, while in Ireland it was 38 ’ 2. But in addition to this the pasturage of Great Britain supported 26,619,050 sheep, while that of Ireland supported only 3,561,361, or rather fewer sheep than cattle, and less than one-seventh of the number of sheep supported in Great Britain; and if we regard six sheep as equal to one of the cattle, which is less than the estimated value, the number of cattle supported on every 100 acres in Great Britain would be 71 ’ 7, the number in Ireland being only 44 ’ 6. It would certainly not be exaggeration to estimate the cattle of Great Britain as on an average one-fourth better than those of Ireland, and if this be so it follows that compared with Ireland at least double the value of cattle and sheep are supported on the same amount of pasturage in Great Britain. (Thom’s Almanac gives the value of cattle, sheep, and pigs of Ireland in 1880 as £60,904,429, and those of Great Britain as <£138,559,045, reckoning those of each country as individually of equal value.) In Great Britain, however, the combined area under rotation grasses and under green crops, excluding potatoes, is 7,360,060 acres, as against only 2,326,538 in Ireland, the area devoted chiefly to the rearing of cattle and sheep being in Great Britain 21,787,019 acres, while in Ireland it is only 12,585,646, the average, reckoning six sheep as equal to one of the cattle, being thus 47 , 5 animals to every 100 acres devoted to rearing them in Great Britain as against 35 ’ 9 in Ireland; or, reckoning the animals in England as one-fourth better, the proportions are 59 ’ 3 to 35 ’ 9.

If, moreover, it be remembered that in Ireland pasturage occupies nearly all the richer districts of the country, and that where tillage is carried on the first principles of scientific agriculture are generally unknown, we cannot be underestimating the food produce of Ireland in stating it as about two-fifths less for the acreage than that of Great Britain; and since 1847 there has, owing to the increase of pasturage, been a great decline in the production of [table] [table]

food. From the inadequacy of the information given by the Board of Trade it cannot be determined with accuracy to what extent Ireland is dependent on other countries for supplies of corn and meal. From special parliamentary returns we learn that the total foreign imports of grain in 1850 were 1,683,687 qrs,, and of meal and flour 220,107 cwts., and that the exports to Great Britain from Ireland exceeded the imports from it in the case of grain by 242,287 qrs., and of flour by 708,008 cwts. In 1855 the exports of corn and meal to Great Britain exceeded the imports from Great Britain and foreign countries together by 451,627 qrs. In the yearly returns of imports of foreign corn and meal into the United Kingdom no separate column is given for Ireland; and, in addition to this, since 1867 no return has been given of the trade in corn and meal between Ireland and Great Britain. Weekly returns of the imports of foreign grain into Ireland are, however, published in the London Gazette, and Table XIX., founded on a special parliamentary return and on the Gazette returns, gives the total amount of foreign imports of grain and meal in 1865, and in each year from 1870.

Notwithstanding that much of the land now under pasturage is well adapted for turnips or mangolds, the amount of green crop grown is generally quite insufficient for scientific cattle-rearing. In many cases also the grass is laid down after the soil has been exhausted by over-cropping, and little pains generally are taken to improve the soil by draining or manures. The increase in pastoral farming has indeed been largely due to the desire to save trouble, one of the principal difficulties of the large farmer being to obtain, notwithstanding a low general average of wages, the worth of his expenditure in hired labour. The indolent habits of the peasantry, due to long ill fortune, constitute also a principal obstacle to the introduction of spade culture, which has been advocated as well suited for the climate and soil of Ireland, and as affording employment to the largest possible agricultural population. As it is, the small farmer, living in a wretched hovel which he shares with a considerable proportion of his live stock, is able, on account of the fewness and simplicity of his wants, to succeed, though making use of very primitive methods of culture, where the larger farmer wholly dependent on hired labour would fail if he attempted a system of tillage even according to the most approved methods.

For the promotion of the agricultural progress of the country grants of various kinds are bestowed by Government. Since 1847 an Act for granting land improvement loans has been in operation, and since the passing of the Act up to the 31st March 1881 the total number of loans issued has been 7328, amounting to £3,278,762,—the applications for the year 1880-81 being 638, amounting to £161,575. The quantity of land drained since the commencement in 1847 until the 31st March 1881, has been 274,827 acres, at an average cost of £7 per acre. The number of loans for farm buildings sanctioned since the passing of the Act 13 & 14 Vict., c. 31, until the 31st March 1881, has been 1528, amounting to £771,360, —the number of loans sanctioned during the year ending 31st March 1881 being 133, amounting to £53,670. Under 23 Vict., e. 19, the number of loans sanctioned for dwellings for agricultural labourers has been 462, amounting to £263,465,—the cases for the year up to 31st March 1881 being 16, amounting to £11,155. The whole expenditure charged against the different undertakings commenced under the Arterial Drainage Acts (prior to 1863), including £70,201 for rent chargeable to counties, amounted at the close of the operations to £2,390,612, 12s. 4d., of which £2,249,540 was advanced on loan, and £141,073 by way of free grant, and the repayments in respect thereof, including interest, amounted on 31st of March 1881 to £1,413,944. The loans sanctioned since the passing of the Acts in 1863 amount to £553,295. The advances on account thereof, including interest charged during the operations of the works, amount to £411,116, and repayments, including interest, to £103,448. The total area of land drained and improved is 55,311 acres, at a cost of £325,705. In view of the prevalent agricultural distress, the Government on 29th November 1879 offered to landlords within the radius of distressed districts certain facilities of obtaining loans under the Lands Improvement Acts, and on 12th January 1880 offered additional inducements. Of the sum of £1,500,000 borrowed from the Church Temporalities Commissioners for relief works, £1,166,385 had up to March 1881 been sanctioned as loans to landlords, and of this sum £702,857 had been issued. The amount issued as Seeds Loans, under the Seed Supply Act of 1880, was for year ending 31st March 1881 £494,317, making a total of £647,490 since the passing of the Act.

One of the chief obstacles to agricultural improvement in Ireland has been the unsatisfactory relations between landlord and tenant. The legislation bearing on the subject has been of a very various and contradictory character. An immense number of holdings was created by the Freehold Votes Act of 1793; but in 1816 an Act was passed to facilitate the working of the Ejectment Act first passed in the reign of Queen Anne. In 1851 an Act was passed to facilitate ejectments in cases of implied tenancies from year to year under £50 rental, and in 1860 these facilities were increased and extended to all tenancies. There are no records of evictions earlier than 1849. A special return presented to the House of Commons in April 1881 gives by provinces and counties the number of evictions for each year from 1849 to 1880, as ascertained by the police* The numbers are of course only approximately correct, but err by defect, not by excess. The total number of families evicted during that period was 90,107, comprising 460,570 persons; but of these, 21,340 families, comprising 115,859 persons, were readmitted. Deducting readmissions, the numbers in 1849 were 13,384 families, 72,065 persons; in 1850 they were 14,546 families, 74,171 persons; in 1851 they declined to 8815 families, 43,449 persons; and they gradually diminished until 1856, from which year until 1862 the numbers though fluctuating fell short in each year of 1000 families. There was a considerable diminution from 1865 till 1878, when they rose to 834 families, or 3916 persons, while in 1879 the numbers were 1098 families, or 5576 persons, and in 1880 they were 1893, or 9036 persons. During the half year ending 30th June 1881 the numbers evicted were 1433 families or 6557 persons. In 1865 it. was enacted that no evictions should take place without the intervention of the sheriff; but, although a means was thus supplied of obtaining records absolutely correct, the sheriffs in some instances neglect to send in returns. In Table XX. the figures for 1870-79 are taken from the judicial statistics, and those for 1880 from a special return. These ejectments do not include thosp of cottiers and weekly tenants in towns whose cases are decided by petty sessions. The large increase of ejectments since 1870 shows that the Landlord and Tenant Act of that year has failed in ordinary circumstances to improve the relations between landlord and tenant; and, while some of its provisions have had in certain respects a beneficial effect, it has also exercised a variety of prejudicial influences, and not only broke completely down under the strain of the famine of 1879, but in many cases led to the almost unavoidable infliction of great hardship on the tenant. The salient principle of the Act was the abandonment of the position assumed in the Act of 1860, which endeavoured to place the relation of landlord and tenant on the simple basis of contract. Stated positively, its leading features were the legal confirmation of the Ulster tenant-right and other ancient customs, the provision made for compensation for loss on quitting and for improvements, and the sanctioning of grants on loan and other facilities to tenants to aid in the purchase of their holdings. Since the passing of the Act the average sum adjudged annually in cases between landlord and tenant has been over £18,000, of which more than a third has been for Ulster tenant-right. The amount adjudged annually has varied considerably but irregularly, and of late years there has been a diminution in the number of cases. The judicial statistics give information, in reference to the several counties and provinces, as to the number of cases, the amount charged where decrees were made, the amount reduced or added on appeal, and the amount adjudged, distinguishing also between compensation for loss on quitting holdings and improvements together, for loss on quitting holdings alone, and for improvements alone. In 1877 and 1878 an additional column was added, giving also the total sum claimed. The sum claimed in 1877 was £225,225 for the 598 cases, an average of £425, the gross sum adjudged being only £15,401, or an average of £25, 10s.; in 1878 the sum claimed was £176,954, an average of £344 for the 514 cases, the gross sum adjudged being £17,063, or an average of £33; in 1879 the gross sum adjudged was £12,654. The total number of loans made to aid tenants in purchasing their holdings up to 31st March 1881 was only 849, and the gross sum granted £492,370. Table XXL gives various details. According to a special return made to the House of Commons in April 1881, the number of holdings sold by the Church Temporalities Commission up to 30th December 1880 was 2444 to the public, and 6195 to tenants. Of the 411 purchasers who had fallen in arrears, 332 were purchasing tenants, arrears £4619, and 79 other purchasers, arrears £3813.

To remedy the defects of the Act of 1870, a new Act was passed in 1881. Practically it secures to the tenant a near approximation to the “three F’s ”—“free sale,” “fair rent,” and “fixity of tenure.” “Free sale” is granted so far as is compatible with a due regard to the rights of the proprietor. The “fairness” of a rent may be decided by the “intervention of court,” and, while on certain conditions a “fixed tenancy” may be agreed upon between landlord and tenant, an approximation to this is obtained in other cases by provisions in regard to rent and “compensation.” Additional facilities have also been given to tenants to purchase their holdings, and provision has been made for grants of money to aid in the reclamation of land and in emigration. A feature of the Act is the creation of a land commission as a supreme court of appeal except in special cases, in questions between landlord and tenant, and with the power of sanctioning loans.

Leases are not held by so many as one-tenth of the total number of farmers, tenancy-at-will being preferred, partly for the freedom it allows, and partly because it is thought to involve a tacit consent to permanent occupancy. [table]

One of the chief hindrances to agricultural progress in Ireland has been absenteeism. According to Sir William Petty, who wrote in 1672, one-fourth of the real and personal property of Ireland was possessed by absentees. Prior, in his List of Absentees, published in 1729, divides them into three classes—those who are seldom or never seen in Ireland, those who visit Ireland for a month or two, and those who are occasionally absent. The money spent out of Ireland by the first class he estimated at .£204,200, by the second at £91,800, and by the third at £54,000. According to another account, published in 1769, the income of the first class is placed at £371,900, of the second at £117,800, and of the third at £92,000. Arthur Young gives the rental of absentees in his time as £732,200, about one-seventh of the whole estimated rental, and Swift declared that one-third of the rental of Ireland was spent in England. Absenteeism continued to increase until the close of the great war in 1816, and although it diminished from that time, a substitute for many of its evils was supplied by the rapid impoverishment of a large number of idle and extravagant squireens. To help in freeing the country from this incubus, an Act was passed in 1848 to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates, in Ireland, which however proved wholly ineffectual, and was superseded by another in the following year appointing a commission of three persons to constitute a court for the purpose. This court commenced its sittings in October 1849, and, from that period until it closed its sittings in August 1859, 3547 sales were effected, the gross amount of which was £25,190,839. In 1859 the court was reconstituted on a permanent footing under the title of the “Landed Estates Court,” power being conferred on it to deal with unencumbered as well as encumbered estates. Up to January 1880 the sales in this court amounted to £27,277,140, so that probably about one-sixth of the whole area has changed hands through the action of the two courts. The average price for the five years ending 1867 was 17 j years’ purchase; in 1870, the year of the passing of the Land Act, it fell to 16^ years’ purchase, but in 1873 it had risen to 20 years’ purchase, and for the six years ending 1877 it was 19*4, while for 1878 it was 18 ’ 9, [table]

and for 1879 only 17'7. The action of the Encumbered Estates Court was of a somewhat arbitrary kind, and in the beginning of its operations it forced the sale of estates at a time when their market value was much below the average. In addition to this it introduced a large number of proprietors who looked at their purchase entirely from a business point of view, and who, though quite alive to the importance of agricultural progress, had little regard for the feelings of their tenants; having bought the improvements which the tenant had effected, they naturally had no scruples in raising the rents so as to make them represent the value of these. It is not probable that the land sales have increased very much the number of proprietors; for, although they caused a subdivision of many large estates, a number of small estates have been consolidated, and in many cases more than one estate has been purchased by the same person. On the whole, however, the result has been to increase the estates of a medium size, and also probably to lessen the number of absentees. From a return presented to the House of Commons in 1872, it would appear that the number of proprietors resident on their estates in 1870 was 5589, possessing 8,880,549 acres, with an annual value of £4,718,497, while there were 4842 proprietors resident either usually or constantly elsewhere in Ireland, who possessed 5,215,264 acres, with an annual value of £2,499,343; 2973 rarely or not usually or never resident in Ireland, who possessed 5,129,169 acres, with an annual value of £2,470,816; and 5982 unclassed, who possessed each less than 100 acres, and together 236,872 acres, with an annual value of £257,100. 25 ’ 5 per cent, of the soil is thus owned by absentee proprietors, and 26 per cent, by proprietors who though resident in Ireland are not resident on their properties.

According to the classified summary return of owners of land in Ireland laid before the House of Commons in 1876, the land in 1873 was divided among 68,716 proprietors, who together possessed 20,157,557 acres, with a rateable annual value of £13,418,357, or, according to the corrected statement of 1878, 68,755 proprietors, possessing 20,162,050 acres, with a rateable value of £13,420,022. Table XXII. gives a classification of proprietors according to the area of their estates, and their numbers in the several provinces and in all Ireland, with the acreage possessed by each class collectively, and its rateable valuation, —the result of the corrected statement of 1878 being also added.

According to the returns presented to the House of Commons in 1872, which have the advantage of omitting cities and towns, the total number of rural proprietors in 1870 was only 19,547, possessing a total area of 20,046,182 acres, with a rateable value of £10,180,434. A return obtained [table]

by the Irish Government in 1870, and ordered by the House of Commons to be printed in 1876, gives the number of rural proprietors as 19,288. It also shows that only 2377 possessed less than 25 acres, so that nearly all the proprietors of less than 1 acre must be in towns. The classified returns of 1876 show that nearly one-half of the whole acreage of the country is possessed by 749 proprietors holding each upwards of 5000 acres, and that more than four-fifths of the land is possessed by 3750 proprietors holding upwards of 1000 acres. Compared with Great Britain, the number of proprietors is strikingly small, Scotland having twice as many, and England nearly fourteen times as many. The proportion of landowners possessing less than 1 acre is very much smaller, and that of those possessing less than 500 acres is also smaller. Further details of comparison with England and Scotland will be found in the article England, vol. viii. p. 223-225.

Woollen Manufacture.— Though Ireland is without the stimulus to industry produced by an abundant supply of coal, yet with its great command of water power it might have widely developed its manufactures before the introduction of steam, had not special causes been in operation to check their progress. The unsatisfactory political and social relations of the country, and the unhappy legislation which had blighted its agriculture, would necessarily in any case have indirectly stunted its manufactures also; but, in addition to this, they were specially discouraged by various restrictive and repressive Acts. For a considerable period after the Auglo-Norman invasion Ireland was, however, in this respect placed on an entire equality with England, and in Acts passed in the reigns of Edward I., Edward III., and Edward IV. is specially exempted from the duties or prohibitions imposed on foreign manufactures.

At an early period the woollen manufactures of Ireland were exported in considerable quantities to foreign countries. In a posthumous poem. Dita Mundi (two copies of which are in the British Museum, of dates 1474 and 1501), by Bonifazio Uberti, who died about 1367, mention is made of “the noble serge” which Ireland sent to Italy; and Irish frieze is specially excepted by name in an English statute of 1376. Five mantles made of Irish frieze are mentioned in a list of goods exported duty free from England to Pope Urban VI. Considerable impulse was given to the manufacture in the reign of James I. by the establishment of a colony from the Palatinate, in Germany, at Carrick-on-Suir, but in the reign of Charles I. the clothing trade was discouraged by the earl of Strafford, lord-deputy, who to prevent it interfering with that of England endeavoured to foster the linen manufacture instead. The Act of the 12th of Charles IT., which prohibited the export of raw wool both from Ireland and England to foreign countries, was in the case of Ireland not only harmless but ineffectual; but, in addition to this, Ireland was virtually debarred from the English market by the heavy duties imposed on her woollen manufactures, and, being left out in the Navigation Act of 1663, she was also debarred from the colonial market. The foreign market was, however, left open to her; and after the prohibition of the export of Irish cattle to England the Irish farmer was led to turn his attention to the breeding of sheep, when not only did the woollen manufacture increase with great rapidity, but, owing to the superiority of the wool, the materials manufactured were of such a quality as to awaken the alarm of the English manufacturer, at whose instance both Houses of Parliament petitioned William III. to come to the rescue. In accordance with his wishes, the Irish parliament in 1698 imposed additional heavy duties on all woollen clothing with the exception of friezes exported out of Ireland, and in the following year an Act was passed by the British Government prohibiting the export from Ireland of all woollen goods to any country save England, to any port in England save six, and from any town in Ireland save six. Sir William Petty in 1641 estimated the number of woollen workers and their wives at 30,000, but the result of these Acts was so disastrous as practically to annihilate the manufacture, to reduce large districts and towns to the last verge of poverty, and seriously to cripple the revenues of the kingdom. Notwithstanding, however, that Ireland ceased to make even for her home supply any but the coarser articles, and was forced to import her finer goods from England, the Acts were almost as injurious to the English as to the Irish manufacturer; for not only did many of the skilled Irish workmen settle in France, Spain, and the Netherlands, but by means of smuggled Irish wool, to the extent of four-fifths of the Irish fleeces annually, the foreign manufacturer was able at a much smaller cost to fabricate materials quite equal to those of England, and for a time almost to swallow up her Turkey wool trade. According to the tables given by Newenham, the annual average of new drapery exported from Ireland for three years ending 25th March 1702 was only twenty pieces, and that of old drapery 4 yards, while the export of woollen yarn, worsted yarn, and wool, which to England was free, amounted to 349,410 stones. The annual average export for the three years ending 1722 had risen to 5494 yards for new drapery and 364 yards for old drapery, while that of yarn, worsted, and wool, owing doubtless to smuggling, had fallen to 188,450 stones, and for the three years ending in March 1732 fell as low as 96,953 stones, but for the three years ending in 1772 had risen to 129,191 stones, of which wool amounted only to 2247 stones. The returns as to the exports of new and old draperies from 1722 to 1777 are incomplete. Arthur Dobbs, in his Essay on the Trade of Ireland, published in 1729, estimated the medium exports of wool, worsted, and woollen yarn at 227,049 stones, which he valued at £117,554, 15s. I0d.,— the other exports of manufactures made from sheep, such as friezes, flannel, gloves, &c., being estimated at £2353, 5s. On the other hand, the annual average of new drapery imported for three years ending in 1702 was 29,329 yards, and of old drapery 15,787 yards; and the averages gradually rose till they were 84,631 yards and 18,726 respectively for the three years ending in 1722; 379,766 and 206,875 for the three years ending in 1772; and, according to Arthur Young, 485,609 and 259,466 for the seven years ending in 1777. Between 1779 and 1782 the various Acts which had hampered the woollen trade of Ireland were repealed or greatly modified; but, although a temporary impulse was thus given to the manufacture, the imprudent manner in which it was prosecuted and the influence of the remaining statutes led in the majority of cases to disappointment, and after a short period of deceptive prosperity, followed by failure and distress, the expansion of the trade was limited to the supply of the home market. Thus, while the annual average of new drapery exported for the three years ending in 1792 had risen to 352,309 yards and of old drapery to 10,688 yards, the averages fell for the three years ending in January 1802 to 18,028 and 2007 respectively; while the average imports of new drapery for three years rose from 379,989 in 1782 to 1,077,471 in 1802, and of old drapery from 251,251 to 1,474,000. In 1823 the imports of new draperies into Ireland had risen since 1801 from 967,225 yards, valued at £120,903 in Irish currency, to 1,437,652 yards, valued at £179,706; while the import of old draperies had risen from 911,082 yards, valued in Irish currency at £637,757, to 1,188,366 yards, valued at £831,856. Since 1825, owing to the cessation of duties, returns of the exports and imports of Ireland to and from Great Britain have ceased to be issued. According to the evidence laid before the House of Commons in 1822, one-third of the quantity of woollen cloth used in Ireland was imported from England, the value being about one-half. The number of persons employed in the manufacture was 6500, while worsted stuff's and flannels employed each about 3000 more, in addition to which probably other 35,000 were dependent on these workers for their livelihood. According to a return presented to parliament in 1837, the number of woollen or worsted factories in Ireland was 46, all situated in Dublin or in the southern counties of Ireland, the number of workers employed being 1321; and in a special return relating to factories for 1839 the number of woollen mills is stated as 31, employing 5 .steam engines with a horse-power of 58, and 39 waterwheels with a horse-power of 523, the number of workers being 1231. Table XXIII. gives the number of factories, spindles, power-looms, and persons employed in the woollen and worsted manufacture at various periods from 1850. In addition to this, a large number of persons are employed in handloom weaving,—farming in many cases also occupying part of their time.

Linen Manufacture.— The linen manufacture oflreland has suffered from legislation chiefly indirectly—from the trade restrictions which hampered the commerce of the country generally, and from the depressing influence of an unsatisfactory socialsystem and unfavourable agricultural relations. At a very early period flax was to some extent cultivated in Ireland, and was both spun into thread, which was exported to foreign countries, and manufactured into cloth, which was made use of for cloaks, for the headdresses of women, and for shrouds. But although the manufacture was so well known in the beginning of the 15th century as to be noticed in an English poem of that period, and is mentioned in a statute of Henry VIIL as constituting along with that of wool one of the principal branches of the trade of Ireland, there is no probability that it would have rivalled that of wool unless it had been artificially fostered and the latter artificially all but annihilated. The earl of Strafford, lorddeputy in the reign of Charles I., with a view both to discourage the woollen manufacture of Ireland and to obtain for England a cheaper supply of linen than was to be had from France or Holland, as well as probably to benefit himself, invested as much as <£30,000 of his fortune in the promotion of the linen trade, and not only imported flaxseed in large quantities from Holland, but offered premiums to induce skilled workmen from France and the Netherlands to settle in Ireland. A similar policy was vigorously prosecuted by his successor the duke of Ormond, who in 1665 procured the passing of an Act by the Irish parliament to encourage the growth of flax and the manufacture of linen. In addition to this he despatched persons to the Netherlands to obtain a knowledge of the best mode of manufacture, and he brought over a number of families from Brabant and others from France and Jersey whom he settled at Carrick and at Chapelizod near Dublin, in both which places he established flourishing factories. Following the same line of policy, an Act was passed by the English parliament inviting foreign workmen to settle in Ireland, and admitting all articles made of flax or hemp into England duty free, a privilege which, according to the report of the Irish House of Commons in 1774, gave Ireland an advantage over foreign nations of 25 per cent. In 1698 the Irish parliament, in answer to the representations of England, promised that they would “heartily endeavour to establish a linen and hempen manufacture,” but this promise was at first only fulfilled by levying prohibitory duties on the exports of woollens, and the linen trade in 1701 had made such comparatively small progress that the value of the exports of cloth was only £14,112, and of the exports of linen thread £39,106, 18s. 4d. In 1705 the Irish were, however, permitted to export their white and brown linens to the British colonies, but not their striped and dyed linens, which were also excluded from England by a prohibitory duty of 30 per cent. In 1710, in accordance with an arrangement entered into between the two kingdoms, a board of trustees was appointed to whom a considerable sum was granted annually for the promotion of the manufacture; but the jealousy of England nevertheless interposed to check the manufacture whenever it threatened to interfere with her own trade, and by an Act of the 23d of George II., which imposed a tax on Irish sailcloth imported into England, the hempen manufacture was virtually annihilated. From 1700 to 1777 the sum expended by the Board of Trustees on the promotion of the linen trade, according to tables given by Arthur Young, amounted to £847,504, the annual average amount for the fifteen years up to 1772 being £14,100. In addition to this bounties were granted for the import of flaxseed, which during seven years up to 1777 averaged £15,094 annually; and a special parliamentary bounty was also paid annually, which in 1777 amounted to £4000, and from 1700 to that date to £192,540. At first the total sum applied to the encouragement of the trade was very small, being in 1700 only £100, and in 1703 £430; but the grants increased rapidly from 1716, and altogether between 1700 and 1777 they amounted to £1,295,560, the total annual average grant for the seven years ending 1777 being £33,540. The linen manufacture of England was, however, also encouraged by bounties, which according to the statistics of M. César Moreau amounted in 1824 to £73,392, those of Ireland amounting only to £17,528. Table XXIV., compiled from [table] [table]

statistics supplied by Arthur Young and Μ. Moreau, shows the increase of the linen manufacture so far as this can be judged from a comparison of the exports of linen cloth and yarn to all parts of the world at various periods from 1710 to 1823. Arthur Dobbs estimated that in 1727 the value of the whole linen manufacture, including both that exported and that used for home consumption, was about £1,000,000 sterling.

The Linen Board ceased to act in 1830, the trade having since 1825 been in a very depressed condition owing to the importation of English and Scotch yarns made by machinery, which undersold the home-made article. A flax-spinning factory had indeed been erected at Cork in 1805, but appears to have been unsuccessful, and no further attempt to introduce machinery seems to have been made until after the discontinuance of the Linen Board, when an experiment on a large scale was made on the Bann near Belfast, from which period may be dated the rise of the great linen trade of Ulster, where, with the gradual disappearance of the hand spinning in the other provinces, nearly the whole linen manufacture of Ireland became concentrated. Statistics as to the acreage and produce of flax will be found under “Agriculture,” supra. It is in the province of Ulster that flax is chiefly grown, but the soil has in many instances been much deteriorated by a too frequent rotation of the crop. The flax of Irish production in 1880 was estimated at 24,508 tons, of British production at 1398, while the foreign imports of flax into the United Kingdom amounted to 94,812 tons. The cessation of the duties on exports from Ireland to Great Britain deprives us of the means of tracing the progress of the modern development of the linen industry. It was calculated that in 1855 the total exports of linen from Ireland to Great Britain and foreign countries was 106,000,000 yards, valued at £4,400,000, and undoubtedly since that period it has more than doubled. According to the report of the Flax Supply Association of Belfast for 1876, it was estimated that in 1875 the consumption of fibre in all the mills of Ireland was about 45,897 tons, or about one-seventh of that consumed by all the flax mills in existence. It was also estimated that the total quantity of yarns produced per annum was 21,373,700 bundles, of which 10,479,040 were supposed to be manufactured into cloth by powerlooms, and 5,850,000 by hand-looms, in addition to which about 2,000,000 bundles were supposed to be imported from Great Britain and the Continent, leaving for export 7,044,660 bundles,—fully two-thirds of the production and imports into Ireland of yarn being converted into linen fabrics in Ireland. According to the report made to parliament in 1837, the number of workers employed in the .flax factories of Ireland was 7810, and according to the returns relating to factories for 1839 the number of mills engaged in the manufacture was 40, employing 32 steam engines with a horse-power of 928, and 37 water-wheels with a horse-power of 1052, the total number of persons employed being 9017. Table XXV. gives returns at various periods from 1850. In the report of the Flax Supply Association for 1881 the number of spindles is estimated in 1881 at 927,295 and of power-looms at 21,177.

In 1880 there were 1182 scutching mills, a decrease of 317 as compared with 1871. The number of persons employed in the jute and hemp factories is over 1000.

Cotton Manufacture.— The cotton manufacture was introduced into Ireland in 1777, and a mill for spinning twist with water-power was erected in 1784. Under the protection of high import duties and bounties the manufacture increased with such rapidity that in 1800 it gave employment to 13,500 workers, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Belfast. At the Union it was arranged that the duties, which then stood at 68 per cent, ad valorem, should remain unchanged for eight years, when they were gradually lowered by eight annual reductions, until in 1816 they stood at 8 per cent., and were shortly afterwards abolished. According to the statistics given by M. César Moreau, the manufacture between 1804 and 1820 had more than doubled, the cotton, cotton yarn, and twist imported into Ireland for the three years ending in 1804 amounting to 2,244,582 ft), whereas for the three years ending in 1820 it was 4,787,071 lb. The value of cotton goods exported from Ireland to Great Britain rose from £708 in 1814 to £347,606 in 1823, and between 1814 and 1826 the value of those exported to other parts of the world rose from £37,569 to £201,196. According to a statement made to the House of Commons in 1817, the number of hands employed in the manufacture was 12,091; and in 1822 they had increased to 17,756. It is evident that the introduction of machinery had prejudicial effects on this industry as well as on the linen trade, for, according to the returns relating to factories for 1839, the number of cotton mills is given as 24, employing 19 steam engines with a horse-power of 517, and 22 water-wheels with a horsepower of 572, the number of persons engaged being only 4622. The manufacture of course suffered greatly during the famine of 1846, and in 1850 the number of factories was only 11, employing 2937 persons. In 1861 the number had declined to 9, employing 2734 persons, and, although in 1870 it had risen to 14, employing 4157 persons, the check experienced during the American war has never been surmounted, the number of factories in 1874 being only 8, employing 3075 persons, and in 1879 declining to 6, employing 1620 persons.

For some time a large manufacture of lace and sewed muslin has been carried on in Ulster and some parts of Munster and Connaught—the sewed muslin trade being much the more extensive of the two. More than 300,000 persons, chiefly females, are employed in it, many of them being girls in the convent schools. Of late the trade has, however, been declining.

Silk Manufacture.— This was introduced into Ireland about the end of the 17th century by French Huguenots, who after the revocation of the edict of Nantes settled in Dublin, where great perfection was attained in the fabrication of a mixture of silk and wool called tabinet or Irish poplin. According to Lord Sheffield, who wrote in 1785, 1500 persons were employed in the manufacture. M. Moreau gives the quantity of raw silk imported into Ireland in 1803 as 27,384 ft), and that of thrown silk as 59,441 ft), while in 1823 the quantities were 27,869 and 21,195 respectively. He also inferred that in 1823 between 3000 and 4000 persons were employed in the manufacture. In 1825 a company was formed in the south of Ireland for the purpose of obtaining a supply of the raw material by rearing the silk-worm, but after considerable expense had been incurred the scheme was abandoned as impracticable. With the abolition of the protective duties in 1826 the manufacture gradually declined. In 1874 the [table]

number of factories was only 2, employing 400 persons, and in 1879 it was represented by 1 factory, which employed 152 persons.

Miscellaneous Manufactures.— There is 1 hosiery factory employing 119 persons, and 2 hair factories employing 38 persons. There is a considerable paper manufacture, which since the repeal of the paper duties in 1860 has been increasing. For most other articles in common use, such as glass, hardware, soap, candles, and many clothing materials, Ireland is nearly altogether dependent on England.

Distillation.— For several centuries Ireland has rivalled Scotland in the manufacture of whisky, the spirit of each country having its own special excellences. Camden states that in Ireland usquebagh was much used to stop the fluxes and catarrhs caused by the excessive moisture of the climate, and that the Irish spirit was much “less heating and more drying” than that of England. An excise duty was first imposed on the manufacture in 1661, the rate charged being 4d. per gallon. This was raised in 1715 to 7d., and in 1717 to 8d. In 1719, when a new method of reckoning by the size and number of stills was introduced, the revenue realized was £5785, 9s. 4d. In 1791 the amount produced by a rate of Is. 2d. was £201,648. Various alterations were subsequently made in the methods of reckoning, and a system of survey was also combined with the old method, but the few capitalists who judged it advantageous to engage in the trade succeeded in baffling all the efforts of the Government to stop the issue of spirits which had not paid duty. The amount of spirits produced by distillation avowedly illicit vastly exceeded that produced by the licensed distilleries. According to Wakefield, stills were erected even in the kitchens of baronets and in the stables of clergymen. More commonly they were placed in retired districts on loose stones, so as to be easily removable on the approach of the revenue officers. In 1685 the number of stills seized was 2974, of heads 2656, and of worms 2378. The duty was gradually raised till it stood at 4s., and, after being reduced in 1811 to 2s. 6d., it was raised in 1814 to 5s. 6d. This addition to the duties added very little to the revenue, while of course it greatly increased the temptations to illicit manufacture. According to M. Moreau, it was the opinion of competent judges that in 1822 the amount produced by the licensed and unlicensed stills was not less than 10,000,000 gallons, while the amount brought to charge in the same year was only 2,950,647. For the six years ending 1818 the number of stills seized was 7233, of heads 5291, and of worms 5109, and for the six years ending 1826 the numbers were 13,017, 9475, and 8014 respectively, the number of prosecutions being nearly 18,000. Since that period illicit distillation has been largely practised up till the present time, the number of cases in 1880 being 685. Table XXVI. gives the amount of Irish spirits brought to charge in various years from 1821.

Breweries.— There are breweries in most of the large towns of Ireland, and Dublin is celebrated for its porter. In 1880 the number of common breweries was 53, and of licensed victuallers 16,686, the malt consumed by the former being 3,965,887 and by the latter 1864 bushels.

Fisheries.— An account of the fisheries of Ireland will be found under the headings Fisheries, vol. ix. p. 262 sq. i and Salmon Fisheries. The salmon fisheries employ between 11,000 and 12,000 persons. The deep sea and coast fisheries now employ only about 6000 boats and 20,000 persons, whereas the numbers in 1860 were 13,483 and 55,630 respectively. A reproductive loan fund for fishery purposes was constituted by the 12th section of the Act 37 & 38 Vict. c. 86, and the loans advanced up to 31st December 1880 amounted to £31,079, of which £20^675 has been repaid. The average annual produce of the oyster fisheries is about £50,000.

Commerce and Shipping.— So far as natural advantages for commerce and shipping are concerned, Ireland is scarcely rivalled by any other country. Her coast is not only surrounded by safe anchorages, but the land is so deeply indented by bays and inlets, and so intersected by a network of internal navigation, that no part is more than 24 miles from water communication with the sea. In regard also to situation, it is difficult if not impossible tα fix on a country whose circumstances are more favourable. Lying contiguous to the coast of Great Britain, and at some points almost touching it, she is nearer than that country to the West Indies, the continent of America, the west coasts of France, the coasts of Spain and Portugal,, and the ports of the Mediterranean. There is abundant evidence to show that Ireland was prepared to make use of these advantages, and that only impolitic trade restrictions have prevented her from developing a commerce which would undoubtedly have vied with that of Great Britain, but from which Great Britain would have gained more than she was in dread of losing. These restrictions, however, imposed when the great manufacturing industries of modern times were in their early in fancy, not onlysnatched from her the possibility of commercial greatness, but, operating along with other legislation, doomed her to agricultural stagnation and centuries of poverty and distress; so that in fact contiguity to Great Britain has proved to be to her a bane rather than a blessing, and America instead of affording her the means of enrichment, has only supplied her with an asylum for her poverty-stricken sons.

From allusions in Strabo, Ptolemy, the northern sagas, Richard of Cirencester, and other old writings, it would appear that Ireland early in the present era had considerable commercial intercourse with various parts of Europe. At the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, the merchants of Dublin having fled from the city, it was given by Henry II. to merchants from Bristol, to whom free trade with other portions of the kingdom was granted, as well as other commercial advantages. During the reigns of the Edwards, Irish ships were frequently employed in supplying the English armies with provisions, and in the Staple Act of Edward III. Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda are mentioned as among the towns where staple goods could be purchased by foreign merchants. The trade of these and other towns had increased in the 15th century with considerable rapidity, and Sir John Davies, writing in 1612, speaks in commendation of the encouragement then given by the Government to the commerce of the maritime towns and cities. The first restriction on the trade of Ireland was an Act passed in 1637 imposing duties on the chief commodities to foreign nations not in league with England. Though included in the Navigation Act of 1660, she was, however, left out in that of 1663, and in the same year was prohibited from exporting her cattle to England in any month previous to July. Gerard [table]

Boate, writing in 1652, gives a description of the various havens of Ireland. Sir William Petty estimated that between 1657 and 1672 her foreign trade had doubled, and that before the statute of 1663 “three-fourths of the Ireland foreign trade was with England, but now not one-fourth part of the same.” The value of exports he computes at £500,000 per annum. About the time he was writing, the inhibition against exports to Great Britain was extended to include both dead meat and also butter and cheese. A trade was, however, carried on at this time with France, Spain, and Italy, not only in cattle and agricultural produce, but in salmon and herrings as well as various kinds of manufacture; but Arthur Dobbs was of opinion that from the Restoration until 1688 the exports of Ireland never exceeded £600,000 per annum. In 1681 the exports amounted to £582,814, and the imports to £433,040. On account of previous wars the exports in 1695 amounted to only £295,592, the imports exceeding them by £95,932; but owing chiefly to the prosperity of the woollen trade they had risen in 1698 to £996,305, the imports amounting to £576,863. Upon the prohibition of the exports of woollen manufactures to foreign countries,. a rapid fall took place in the exports, which, although the value of those to Great Britain remained much the same, did not reach to the amount of 1698 until 1714, the recovery being due in part to the gradual increase of the linen manufacture, the value of whose exports rose between 1700 and 1714 from £14,112 to £313,329. Table XXVII., compiled from statistics given by Newenham, Arthur Young, and M. César Moreau, gives the annual value for 1698, and the average annual value for various periods from 1701 to 1823 of Irish exports and imports from and to all parts of the world, and from and to Great Britain.

A better idea of the commercial progress of the country would have been obtained if space had been available for tables of the different articles of export and import, for, besides giving more detailed information, it would have afforded a more accurate basis for an estimate, since Table XXVII. is so far vitiated by being given in Irish currency, which was altered at various periods, and by the fact that the method of rating at the custom [table]

house has also varied. On the latter account it was reported to the House of Commons in 1811 that the augmentation of trade during the 18th century appeared from such valuations to be greater than it really was. The increase has, however, been considerable, for we find that between 1710 and 1777 the quantity of linen exported had risen from 1,688,574 to 19,714,638 yards, while the export of oats, wheat, and barley had been nearly quadrupled, and there was also a large increase in the exports of live cattle, and of beef, butter, and pork. The table shows a large increase, especially in the value of exports, after the peace in 1748, and, while there is a diminution shortly before the passing of the Acts granting free trade, there is a rapid revival after that period; and there are also very evident signs of the prosperity Ireland was experiencing during the wars with France. Since the cessation of the shipping duties on the cross channel trade in 1825, there are no data for obtaining accurate details regarding the trade with Great Britain; and, in addition to this, the Board of Trade has ceased since 1870 to give returns of the foreign and colonial trade for each of the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Returns are given, however, for the principal ports of each kingdom. Table XXVIII. gives the value of the foreign and colonial trade of Ireland at various periods down to 1870, and of its principal ports for 1875 and 1879.

Another means of estimating the commercial progress of Ireland during this period is supplied by the returns of shipping. Prior in his Observations on the Trade of Ireland gives an estimate of the tonnage of the shipping engaged in the trade of Ireland from 1721 to 1727, according to which the number of ships in the former year was 3499 with a burthen of 158,422 tons, while Arthur Dobbs gives their number for the same year as 3334 with a tonnage of 158,414, and their number in 1714 as 3081 with a tonnage of 161,115. The tonnage of the ships belonging to the. ports of Ireland in 1727 is given by Prior as 40,469, the total number of ships trading with Ireland being 3494, with a tonnage of 173,193. According to the statistics of M. Moreau the number of Irish ships in 1788 was 1016, the tonnage being 60,776, or a third more than in 1727; and in 1826 they had increased to 1391, with a tonnage of 90,768. Table XXIX. gives the number and tonnage of vessels registered in the ports of Ireland in 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880.

According to the statistics of M. Moreau, the number of ships that entered the ports of Ireland in 1795 was 7086, with a tonnage of 630,506, and in 1801 they had increased to 7690, with a tonnage of 711,242. Returns of the trade and navigation of Ireland have since the Union been annually presented to parliament. Table XXX. gives the number of British and Irish and foreign vessels engaged in the foreign and colonial trade that entered and cleared at the ports of Ireland at various periods from 1802; Table XXXI. the number of ships that entered and cleared coastways in various years during the same period; and Table XXXII. the number of ships engaged in intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland that entered and cleared British and Irish ports at various periods from 1835, the figures in this table of course representing about double the number of ships actually engaged in the trade. [table]

Details as to the several articles of foreign trade will be found in the Board of Trade returns of the principal ports; but without information as to the trade with Great Britain it is impossible to estimate their significance. The returns of the foreign trade are unsatisfactory, inasmuch as they show a great excess of imports over exports. The principal export trade to foreign countries is in linen, spirits, and malt liquors; while the imports embrace large quantities of wheat, wheaten flour, Indian corn, and oatmeal. On the other hand the country is dependent chiefly on Great Britain and foreign countries for its manufactured goods. Much of its trade is, however, an indication rather of poverty than prosperity, for it is the absence of manufactures that causes such large imports of textile fabrics, and the large exports of cattle, dead meat, and butter, which would otherwise be consumed by her town population, while at the same time the large imports of corn and wheat into a country chiefly rural are undoubtedly due to wrong or insufficiently advanced methods of agriculture.

Shipbuilding.— About nine-tenths of the· total shipping of Irish construction is built in Belfast, and the whole amount is very small. Next to Belfast come Dundalk, Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, and Galway,—much in the order named. The number of vessels built in Ireland in 1850 was 25 of 1929 tons burthen; in 1860, 42 of 11,582 tons; in 1875, 16 sailing vessels of 18,655 tons, and 5 steam vessels of 3613 tons. In 1880 they numbered respectively 3 of 1873 tons, and 10 with 7131 tons burthen.

Revenue and Expenditure.— Until the time of Henry VIII. the English rule in Ireland was only nominal, except within a very small district; and, while statistics as to the revenue would thus [table]

be of little advantage for comparison with later times, they are not obtainable except in a very fragmentary manner. Henry VIII. levied a subsidy of 13s. 4d. on every ploughland; and, besides reviving the tax upon absentees first enacted by Richard II., he also obtained a considerable sum from the suppression of several of the monasteries. During the first fifteen years of the reign of Elizabeth the expenses of Ireland, on account chiefly of the wars, amounted, according to Sir James Ware, to £490,779, Is. 6d., while the revenue is estimated by some writers at £8000 per annum and by others at only £6000. In the reign of James I. the customs gradually increased from £50 to £9700; but, although he obtained from wardships and other feudal rights about £10,000 per annum, and a considerable sum also accrued from the plantation of Ulster, the revenue is supposed to have fallen short of the expenditure by about £16,000 per annum, the cost of maintaining the troops in Ireland amounting alone to about £50,000. During the reign of Charles I. the proceeds of the customs were nearly quadrupled, but it was found necessary to raise £120,000 by yearly subsidies of £40,000. According to the report of the committee appointed by Cromwell to inquire into the financial condition of Ireland, the revenue in 1654 was £197,304 and the expenditure £630,814, 9s. 8d. At the Restoration the Irish parliament granted an hereditary revenue to the king, an excise for the maintenance of the army, a subsidy of tonnage and poundage for the navy, and a tax on hearths in lieu of feudal burdens. ‘ ζ Additional duties” were granted shortly after the Revolution. “Appropriate duties” were imposed at different periods; stamp duties were first granted in 1773, and the post-office first became a source of revenue in 1783. In 1706 the hereditary revenue with additional duties produced £394,324, Ils. 3d., and for the two years ending in 1729 the amount was £889,351, 4s. llfd. Returns of the ordinary revenue were first presented to the Irish parliament in 1730. Table XXXIII., compiled from the statistics of Μ. Moreau, gives the annual average amount in Irish currency of net and gross produce of the revenue during every ten years up to 1789, the amount for 1790, and the annual average for the ten years 1792-1801. Table XXXI V., compiled from special and other returns presented to the House of Commons, gives the net produce of the excise and customs at intervals from 1720, and of the other branches of ordinary revenue at intervals from the time when they were first imposed. A special return in Accounts and Papers, 1868-69, gives in British currency the annual net public income and expenditure of Ireland from the Revolution to the Union, and Table XXXV., compiled from this return, gives its amount at various intervals between these periods. Table XXXVI., compiled from certain special returns presented to the House of Commons at different periods, gives the net annual income and expenditure at certain intervals from the Union up to 1868.

Returns of the produce of the revenue were annually presented to parliament up to 1870, and, although they have been discontinued since that period, a special return from 1871 to 1875 was presented in 1876, and special returns were also presented in 1878 and 1879, the latter returns, however, not including the produce of the [table] [table] [table]

income tax from the income of officials. According to these returns the net produce of the revenue was in 1870 £7,287,127, in 1871 (not including that of the post-office) £7,291,393, 15s. 4d., in 1875 £7,970,050, 13s. 7d., and in 1879 £6,616,455. The revenue of England in 1879 amounted to £54,456,718, and of Scotland to £7,719,500.

No separate post-office returns have been published since 1870. In 1860 the gross produce of the sale of crown lands amounted to £15,537, and the annual income of land revenue to £48,358; in 1870 they were respectively £1283 and £45,000, and in 1880 £3506 and £41,589. The items of the expenditure of the exchequer of Ireland for 1868 (the last year for which returns are given) are—interest of public funded debt payable in Ireland, £1,188,654; other payments in connexion with the consolidated fund services, £278,015; army, £3,560,000; miscellaneous civil services, £1,594,525. Since 1817 the public debt of Ireland on account of the consolidation of the British and Irish exchequer has ceased to form a separate item in the national account. Table XXXVII. shows its progress from 1716 till that period.

Banking.— A notice of the banks of Ireland will be found in the article Banking, vol. iii. p. 336. The deposits in joint-stock banks amounted in 1840 to £5,567,851, in 1850 to £8,268,838, in 1860 to £15,609,237, in 1870 to £24,366,478, and in 1880 to £29,350,000. The deposits in trustees’ savings banks in 1846 amounted to £2,855,827, but in 1850 had declined to £1,291,798; in 1860 the amount was £2,143,282, in 1870 £2,054,907, and in 1880 £2,100,165. The deposits in post-office savings banks in 1862, the year in which they were founded, were £78,696, in 1870 £583,165, and in 1880 £1,229,000. The amount of Government and India stock held in Ireland amounted in 1870 to £36,549,000, and in 1880 to £33,113,000.

National Wealth. — From a variety of circumstances it is difficult to arrive at an approximate estimate of the wealth of Ireland; and there is no proper basis for a comparison with the other portions of the United Kingdom—among other reasons from the fact that by far the largest part of the wealth of Ireland is derived from agriculture. The Tenement Valuation Act, passed in 1846 and amended in 1852, [table]

according to which the property of Ireland is rated for purposes of local and imperial taxation, has the disadvantage of having been applied in different parts of the country at different periods, and in the southern and western counties at a time when the value of property on account of the famine had veιy much deteriorated. No provision except of an optional kind has been made for a revaluation of property other than buildings and similar external additions to the value of the soil. It is probable therefore that the present valuation, which is a little short of £14,000,000, is deficient by about £5,000,000. The case of Ireland is also exceptional from the large amount of wealth that immediately after it is produced is removed to be spent elsewhere, and of capital invested in Irish undertakings which is held by persons who do not reside in Ireland. The value of the agricultural produce and stock, the chief item of the wealth, is of course variable, and the rise in value is due solely to increase of price and to increase in the number of live stock, which of course represents the produce of more than one year. It is also a fallacious method of calculating its value to add that of produce and live stock together, as a great part of the produce is employed in feeding the live stock. In Ireland a considerable amount of money is probably hoarded privately, and the increase of deposits in banks can scarcely be regarded as altogether a symptom of prosperity, as the money thus deposited might in most cases be more advantageously employed by the farmer in improving his land. On the other hand, since the passing of the Land Act of 187Ό, indebtedness has largely increased among the farmers. A method of estimating the capital of Ireland has been employed by Dr Hancock from the amount of capital passing annually under probate of wills and letters of administration, calculating this capital as 2 - 66 per cent, of the whole. Table XXXVI1I., formed according to this method, shows the annual average amount of capital from 1826 at various periods of five years, and the amount of capital possessed by each head of the population, this being reckoned according to the year most nearly corresponding with those for which the average is given.

Railways.— The railway from Dublin to Kingston, which was opened in the end of 1834, was the first and for several years the only railway in Ireland. The progress of the railway system from that period is shown in Table XXXIX. For a comparison with England and Scotland see England, vol. viii. p. 237; it will be observed that the proportion of traffic in relation to population is very much smaller in Ireland.

Vital Statistics.— In the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy for 1865, part iii., will be found an account by W. H. Hardinge of a copy which he accidentally discovered of a manuscript census survey of Ireland arranged in counties, baronies, parishes, and townlands, and in cities, parishes, and streets, and belonging in [table] [table] [table] [table] [table] [table]

all probability to the year 1659. The population of Leinster is there given as 155,534, of Ulster as 103,923, of Munster as 153,282, of Connaught as 87,352, making a total for Ireland of 500,091. This is the only census return made by Government previous to 1821. Table XL. gives the different parliamentary returns and also various estimates or returns for previous years, to some extent reliable, but either inferential or made in such a manner as to render a very near approach to accuracy impossible. The Government returns are also deficient in accuracy until 1841, but from the table a fairly correct idea may be formed of the growth of the population up to 1841, while it affords a very accurate representation of its decline from that period. Table XLI. exhibits the population of each province for the years in which Government returns have been made; and Table XLII. shows the number of each sex from 1841.

The great increase of population which began towards the close of last century, and continued during the first forty years of the present one, was due in various degrees to improvements in the political condition of the country, to the creation of leaseholds after the abolition of the forty shillings franchise, and to the prosperity caused by the productiveness of the potato and the high prices of produce during the war with France. The decrease from that period began at first with great rapidity owing to the pressure of famine, and has been continuous up to the present time, chiefly owing to the creation of large pasturage farms. Table XLIII. gives the rate of increase or decrease per cent, in the various decades from 1821 to 1881. Table XLIV. gives the proportion of population to the square mile for each county from 1841.

The figures for 1841 indicate a density of population which is unparalleled, considering that it is so largely rural. Table XLV. gives the numbers of the rural and urban population, including the military, for 1841, 1851, 1861, and 1871. The collective population in the parliamentary boroughs was 804,705 in 1841, 878,430 in 1851, 788,866 in 1861, 856,788 in 1871, and 892,505 in 1881. The increase of the urban population between 1841 and 1851, while there was a large decrease in the population generally, was apparently owing to a temporary influx of the rural population into the towns, as in 1861 a large diminution had taken place, the increase of manufactures, however, causing the loss to be nearly recovered in 1871. Excluding the Dublin suburban townships of Rathmines (24,245) and Pembroke (23,184), there were only six [table] [table] [table] [table]

towns whose population in 1881 was over 20,000; Table XLVI. gives their population in the census years from 1841 to 1881. The most noticeable features of the table are the rapid rise of Belfast owing to its prosperous linen trade; the steady progress of Londonderry, also situated in the thriving province of Ulster; the almost stagnant position of Dublin; and the decline of Cork and Limerick, both situated in Munster, the province in which both trade and agriculture are in the most backward condition. Table XLVΠ. gives a classification of the population according to occupation.

The population of Ireland has at various periods been considerably diminished by outbreaks of pestilence and by famine, but its decrease is chiefly attributable to emigration. Since 1847 this has been annually so great as to cause a continuous diminution of the population. The census commissioners estimated the emigration between 1821 and 1831 at 70,000. The total number who emigrated between 1831 and 1841, according to information collected at the various ports, and corrected by comparison with other statistics, was 403,459 (with an addition of 10 per cent, on account of imperfect returns), the number who emigrated from Irish ports being 214,047, and from Liverpool 152,738. Information as to the destination of the emigrants for these years is available only in regard to those emigrating from Irish ports, the numbers who left for British America being 189,225, for the United States 19,775, for the Australian colonies 4553, and for other destinations 494. The census commissioners of 1851 obtained information from the different ports of the United Kingdom regarding the numbers and destination of Irish emigrants from 1841 to 1855. The [table] [table] [table]

returns of emigration and immigration from and into the United Kingdom give full information regarding the destination of emigrants of Irish birth from 1853. Table XLVΠI., compiled from the statistics of the census commissioners, and from the emigration returns, will show the character of the emigration movement, both as to the number of persons of Irish birth emigrating from the United Kingdom at different periods and as to their destination.

The influence of the great famine is very evident in the numbers emigrating between 1846 and 1852, the average being three times that of the preceding period, and more than double that of th«, period from 1853 to 1860. Although also the impulse towards emigration had begun even before 1846, and must be regarded as part of a general tendency towards emigration then prevalent in Europe, and especially in the United Kingdom, it was doubtless strengthened in Ireland by special circumstances which are still operating so as to cause an annual diminution of the population. The number who emigrated in 1841 was only 16,376, and in 184Z it rose to 215,444, more than double that of 1846. The highest number in any year was 249,721 in 1852, and the smallest since 1852 was 22,831 in 1877, the numbers increasing in 1879 to 41,296, and in 1880 to 93,641. This table, however, gives the number of emigrants not from Ireland but from the United Kingdom, and of course includes many of Irish birth who had been for some time living in Great Britain.

The Irish emigration returns, which commence from the 1st May 1851, give the numbers of natives of Ireland who emigrated direct from the country—whether by Irish or British ports—but include those also who emigrated to settle in Britain, and until 1876 gave no information as to the several destinations of the emigrants. Table XLIX. shows the amount of general emigration from Ireland and from its various provinces from 1st May 1851 to 31st December 1879. The number of emigrants in 1852 was 190,322, the annual average for the three years 1852-1854 being over 170,000, from 1855 to 1862 the average was about 80,000, but it rose to 110,000 for 1863-65. From 1865 to 1874 it was about 70,000, in 1876 it was only 37,587, in 1879 it was 47,065, and in 1880 it increased to 95,517. There are no direct means of obtaining information as to the numbers who emigrated to settle in Britain before 1876, but a comparison between the numbers who emigrated from Ireland both to Britain and to foreign countries with those who emigrated from the United Kingdom to foreign countries shows that the number who settled in Great Britain between 1852 and 1880 was about 300,000. The percentage of those who have settled in Britain between 1876 and 1880 was 38. Apparently, however, for several years, the deaths of Irish-born persons and their emigration from Great Britain have more than counterbalanced the influx into it of Irish intending to settle, for, while the number of Irish resident in Great Britain, which in 1841 was 419,256, had increased by 1851 to 733,866, and by 1861 to 811,251, it had diminished by 1871 to 778,638. On the other hand, there has been a gradual increase in the number of British-born immigrants to Ireland, as is seen from Table L.

More than two-thirds of those leaving Ireland for foreign countries emigrate direct to the United States, but to these must be added the large numbers who sail to Canadian ports, and journey thence by rail. From May 5th 1847 to June 1880, according to records of the city, the arrivals of natives of Ireland direct to New York were 2,042,046, the arrivals from all countries being 5,857,025. The total number of Irish-born persons registered, whether in Ireland or foreign countries, about 1871 was 8,506,511,—that is, a larger number than the population of Ireland in 1841, and exceeding the population of 1871 by more than 3,000,000. The proportion of emigrants from Ireland who were labourers was 52 - 6 per cent, in 1877, 60 - 4 per cent, in 1878, 66 ’ 1 per cent, in 1879, and 72Ί per cent, in 1880. Until 1864, when the Act for the registration of births and deaths came into operation, no reliable information was obtainable as to the excess of the one over the other, and of course the large amount of emigration to some extent renders comparison with other countries impossible, as to the inferences to be drawn from the proportion of births and deaths to the population. Table LI. gives the yearly average of marriages, births, deaths, and emigrants for the ten years 1870-79, the numbers for 1880, and the rate per 1000 of estimated population.

The usual theory that the poverty of the Irish is due to early marriages, or to the fact that a larger number marry than in Scotland or England, can be proved by statistics to be wholly unfounded. The average annual number for the ten years ending in 1879 of male minors maιτied was only 2'65 per cent, of the total males married, and in the case of females the percentage was only 12 '26, a much smaller proportion than in Great Britain; and in 1871 the proportion per cent, of the unmarried population above fifteen years was in Ireland—males 47'85, females 42 - 38, the proportion in England and Wales being 38'40 and 36 - 14 respectively, and in Scotland 44 - 41 and 42 ’ 23. In proportion to the number of married women between seventeen and fifty-five years of age, the number of births is very similar to that in Great Britain. The number of illegitimate births is very small, the yearly average for the last ten years being about 2 - 5 per cent. The proportion of the sexes born is about 106 males to 100 females.

Table LIL gives the average annual number of deaths from each of the principal zymotic diseases and from all causes for 1870-79, and also the number for 1880. Table LIII. gives the number of deaths from all causes for four decades, and the number from zymotic diseases, with the percentage from these diseases to the [table]

total number of deaths; and Table LIV. shows the number suffering from the various kinds of serious bodily or mental infirmities in 1851, 1861, and 1871. The total number of deaths in the decade ending in 1881 was 969,110.

The mortality of Ireland is considerably under that of Great Britain, and at the time of the census of 1871 a larger percentage of the population were over sixty years of age. The rate of mortality is no doubt affected by emigration, but its smallness in Ireland is perhaps due to the large proportion of the rural population. At various periods the mortality has been largely increased by famine, and it is also influenced by the insufficient diet and clothing of many of the inhabitants.

Government.— The executive government is vested in a lordlieutenant, assisted by a privy council, and by a chief secretary, who is a member of the House of Commons and frequently also a member of the cabinet. In the absence of the lord-lieutenant his functions are discharged by lord-justices, those generally appointed being the lord-chancellor and the commander of the forces. Each county is in charge of a lieutenant, a number of unpaid deputylieutenants and magistrates, and one or more resident paid magistrates, all appointed by the crown. The counties of cities and towns and the boroughs are governed by their own magistrates. The judicial establishment consists of the high court of chancery, the courts of Queen’s bench, common pleas, and exchequer, the landed estates court, and the probate and matrimonial court, which since 1877 constitute the high court of justice; the court of appeal; the high court of admiralty, which is to be abolished after the death of the present judge; and the court of bankruptcy and insolvency. The decisions of the court of appeal are subject to an appeal to the House of Lords. Assize courts are held in each county by two judges, for which purpose the country is divided into six circuits.

Ireland is represented in the imperial parliament by 28 temporal peers elected for life and 103 commoners,—the counties being represented by 64 members, the small boroughs by 25, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Galway by 2 each, and the university of Dublin by 2. In 1850 the franchise in county elections was extended to occupiers of any tenement assessed for poor rates at a net annual value of £12 and upwards, and also to owners of certain estates of the rated net annual value of £5. In 1868 the franchise in boroughs was extended to occupiers rated at and above £4, and a lodger franchise was also introduced, granting votes to occupiers of lodgings of a clear yearly value, if let Unfurnished, of £10 and upwards.

In Ireland there are four military districts, the headquarters of these being Dublin, Cork, Curragh, and Belfast respectively, and eight military subdistricts, with dépôts at Downpatrick, Omagh, Armagh, Naas, Bin·, Galway, Clonmel, and Tralee. The Irish militia consists of 12 regiments of artillery, 21 regiments of infantry, and 14 rifle corps, numbering when embodied over 31,000 men and officers.

The parish constables of Ireland were in 1814 superseded in proclaimed districts by a peace preservation force, and in 1822 an Act was passed authorizing the formation of a constabulary force of 5000 men, under an inspector-general for each province. In 1836 the entire force was amalgamated under one inspector-general. In all, it numbers between 10,000 and 12,000 mem In addition to the usual duties of policemen, the police are entrusted with the collection of statistics, the preservation of fish and game, and a variety of services connected with the local government. The average annual expense is a little over £1,000,000. In addition to this force there is the Dublin metropolitan police, consisting of about 1100 officers and men, who are maintained at an annual cost of over £130,000, the expense home by the Consolidated Fund being over £80,000.

Crime.— Table LV. gives the number of persons in Ireland sent for trial by jury, and the numbers convicted and acquitted, for every fifth year from 1845 to 1875, and also for 1878 and 1880.

These figures show a very rapid decrease of crime between 1850 and 1855, and a gradual and considerable decrease since that period, partly but not altogether attributable to the decrease in the number of the population. The large number of committals in 1850 and previous years was chiefly owing to the distress then prevailing in the country. A very noticeable feature ofthe statistics is the large proportion of acquittals.

In regard to the more serious crimes, the proportion of offences against the person as compared with that in England is very large, and of offences against property and against the currency .very small, the latter fact being doubtless owing to the small proportion of the town population. The proportion for all Ireland of indictable offences not disposed of summarily was 15 in 10,000 of the population in 1879, while in Dublin it was 110 in 10,000.

Table LVI. gives the number of offences in Ireland for 1879 according to three classes, and the corresponding numbers for 1878 in England and Scotland for an equal population.

Of the minor offences in Ireland over 99,000 were cases of drunkenness, considerably more than double the number of cases in England or Scotland, which were pretty nearly equal. Table LVII. gives the number of agrarian offences from 1870.

Poor Law Authorities.— The legislation connected with making provision for the poor of Ireland dates from 1771, when an Act was passed by the Irish parliament under which 11 houses of industry were erected, 8 in Munster, and 3 in Leinster. The amount of expenditure sanctioned by the Act was £14,400 a year, and probably it always came short of this by at least £10,000. Additional powers were conferred on county authorities in 1806 and 1818, but according to the select report of the House of Commons in 1830 no addition had been made to the houses of industry up to that period. An Act was, however, passed in 1838, which contained [table] [table] [table] [table] [table] [table]

the important provision that if the local authority failed to carry the law into effect they might be superseded by paid vice-guardians. The Act came into operation in 1840, and an Outdoor Relief Act was passed in 1847. Full details regarding subsequent additions to the Act, as well as in reference to the whole subject of Irish local government, will be found in the paper by Dr Hancock contributed to Cobden Club Essays, 1875. Table LVIII. gives the number of unions for every ten years from 1840 to 1870, and for 1878 and 1879, with the number of outdoor and indoor paupers, and the total expenditure. The figures show a much smaller proportion of paupers compared with population than the corresponding statistics' of England and Scotland,—Scotland notwithstanding its smaller population having nearly one-third more paupers, while England has actually about twelve times as many. The difference is to be accounted for by the smaller town population of Ireland, the simpler habits of the Irish, and the prevalence of mendicancy. It is only indeed in years of exceptional famine that there is any great demand on the public purse for the support of the poor: the duchess of Marlborough’s relief fund, 1879-80, amounted to £135,000, and the Mansion House fund to £180,000, probably over £400,000 being spent directly on relief, in addition to the sums advanced on loan for relief works. By the Medical Charities Act, passed in 1851, boards of guardians were empowered to form the poor-law unions into dispensary districts subject to the control of the poor law commissioners. The number of dispensary districts is 720, with nearly 1100 dispensaries and about 800 medical officers. Each district is placed under a committee of management, consisting of the guardians of the unions, the ex officio guardians who reside and have property in the district, and a number of ratepayers elected by the board of guardians, the number of each committee being fixed by the commissioners. The average annual expenditure under this Act during the five years ending 1880 was over £140,000, and the average number of cases very nearly 700,000. The average number of insane in Ireland during the same five years was over 19,000, of which number the average in asylums was over 8000, and in workhouses over 3000. For further information regarding the whole subject of Irish pauperism and lunacy the reader is referred to the Report of the Poor Law Union and Lunacy Commissioners in vol. xxii. of Accounts and Rapers, 1878-79.

County Authorities.— For purposes of local taxation Ireland is placed under the authority of baronial presentment sessions and juries. The former are for baronies or half-baronies, baronies corresponding to the ancient territories inhabited by distinct tribes or families. The number of these sessions is 326, and they are composed partly of justices of the peace and partly of ratepayers, the number of whom is fixed by the grand jury of each county. Since 1836 they have had the primary decision of all questions as to roads and bridges. The power of imposing county rates is, except in the case of the county of Dublin, exercised by the grand juries either at the assizes in the several counties at large, or at the assizes in the several counties of cities and towns. In the county of Dublin this authority is vested in the Easter term grand jury in the court of Queen’s bench, and in the case of the cities of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick it has since 1850 been vested in the town councils. The tax levied under the vote of the grand juries is called grand jury cess, and is employed for the maintenance of roads, and the defrayment of the expenses incurred by the [table]

maintenance of laws and the administration of justice. Infirmaries and hospitals are supported by grand jury presentments, aided by treasury grants, and by subscriptions, donations, and bequests. The origin of the grand jury cess dates from the time of Charles I., when the justices were directed to tax the inhabitants for the maintenance of bridges, with the assent of the grand juries. At the beginning of the reign of George III. power was granted to the grand juries to make presentments also for roads. At first the rate was applied only to the maintenance of cross roads, but in 1857 the turnpike system applicable to main roads was abolished. This early accidental legislation in reference to roads has given Ireland at least one solitary advantage over Great Britain which it still retains.

Authorities for Groups of Counties.— These consist of governors of district lunatic asylums and the trustees of inland navigation and arterial drainage. The asylums number 22 in all, and the governors are nominated by the lord-lieutenant. The navigation works in Ireland were executed at the time of the famine of 1846, and their management isplaced under aboard of trustees originally named by Act of Parliament, the vacancies being filled up by the grand juries.

Town Authorities. ∙~- r Γhe towns of Ireland were under the government of close corporations until 1829, when they were allowed to adopt popular constitutions. By the Municipal Act of 3d & 4th Vict., the towns containing upwards of 12,000 inhabitants are divided into wards, and are governed by a council consisting of a chief magistrate called mayor, that of Dublin being styled lord mayor, and a certain number of aidermen and councillors for each ward. Eighteen towns are governed according to the Act of 9th George IV., and more than 80 have adopted the Towns Improvement Act of 1854. Additional powers were conferred on town authorities by the Local Improvement (Ireland) Act of 1871.

Harbour Authorities are distinct from the town authorities, and consist of a board chosen in accordance with certain special acts.

The town authorities, or in counties the poor law guardians, have the power to constitute themselves a burial board for the purpose of levying rates, to be used in the maintenance of old burial grounds or the purchase of new ones.

By an Act passed in 1872 the functions previously performed by the lord-lieutenant, the privy council, and the chief secretary in reference to local government were transferred to a local government board, formed out of the poor law board which it superseded.

Taxation.— The local taxation of Ireland amounted in 1866, the first year for which returns are available, to £2,538,280, in 1870 to £2,728,327, and in 1879 £3,368,113. The following are the separate items for 1879 :—grand jury cess, £1,128,192; fees of the clerks of the peace (exclusive of salary), £11,585; fees of the clerks of the crown, £2884; petty session stamps and crown fines, £65,086; dog licence duty, £35,945; Dublin metropolitan police taxes, £44,965; court leet presentments, £293; harbour taxation, £380,350; inland navigation, £5679; town taxation under town authorities, £622,871; burial board taxes, £3185; poor rate and local receipts, £1,031,992; light dues and fees, under Merchant Shipping Act, and bridge and ferry tolls, £35,086. The amount of rates on real property was £2,619,183, or 77’8 per cent, of the whole; tolls, fees, stamps, &c., £539,174, or 16 Ό per cent.; and other receipts, £209,756 or 6 - 2 percent. The amount granted from the imperial revenue in aid of local taxation in 1880-81 was £1,856,743, in addition to which an annual sum, £1,189,461 in 1880, is advanced on loan by the Commissioners of Public Works from the Consolidated Fund, while £883,116 was advanced in 1880 from the Irish Church fund.

Religion.— According to the census returns of the commissioners of public instruction in 1834, out of a total population of 7,943,940 inhabitants 852,064 belonged to the Established Church, the number of Roman Catholics being 6,427,712, of Presbyterians 642,356, and of persons of other denominations 21,808. Table LIX. gives returns for 1861 and 1881.

The annual average number of marriages according to the forms of the Episcopalian Church for the ten years 1869-78 was 4208, [table]

and for 1879 it was 3646,—the numbers according to the Presbyterian form being 2556 and 2214 respectively, in other registered buildings 308 and 338, and according to the rites of the Boman Catholic Church 18,567 and 16,578.

The Anglican Episcopal Church of Ireland constituted until 1871 an integral portion of one church, known as the Church of England and Ireland, and established by law in the two countries; but the Irish branch was disestablished and disendowed by an Act which received the royal assent on July 26, 1869. According to this Act, which came into execution on January 1, 1871, all church property became vested in a body of commissioners. All the state grants were to be resumed by the state, provision being made for vested interests, but the church was to receive possession of all endowments obtained from private sources since 1660. To all incumbents the income they formerly possessed was secured for life, minus the amount they might have paid for curates; and compensation was also granted to curates, parish clerks, and sextons, to Maynooth Roman Catholic College in lieu of the continuance of the annual parliamentary grant, and to the Presbyterians in lieu of the continuance of the grant called “Regium Donum.”

According to the report of the commission appointed to inquire into the revenues of the Established Church, Accounts and Papers, 1867-68, the net annual produce and value of the entire property was found to be £616,840, of which the value of the houses of residence and the lands in possession of the clergy was £32,152. The total sum paid or payable by the commissioners of church temporalities as compensation in connexion with the operation of the Irish Church Act is estimated at £11,666,518. To meet the demands upon them the commissioners borrowed £9,000,000 from the National Debt Commissioners. The total sum obtainable by sales of church property is £9,794,790, of which £3,362,648 has been received in cash, the balance, except £797,766, which is secured by mortgage, being payable in terminable annuities. In addition to this there is a permanent income consisting of tithe rent-charges and perpetual rents estimated at £293,455. The work of the commissioners has now been practically completed, and according to their report for 1869-80 the estimated value of the estate is now £12,189,728, exclusive of £200,000, the value of uncommuted glebes and uncollected arrears. The annual income at present is £574,219, but by the termination of annuities it will gradually diminish until 1932, when there will still be the permanent income of £293,455. But for additional burdens laid upon the estate its entire debt would at the end of 1880 have been £5,900,000, leaving a surplus of £6,500,000. These burdens are a sum of £1,000,000 for intermediate education, £1,300,000 to form a pension fund for national school teachers, and the interest at 3⅜ per cent, of £1,500,000 advanced on loan for the purposes of the Relief of Distress (Ireland) Acts, 1880, and involving a loss to the estate of £543,345.

Before its disestablishment the Church of Ireland consisted of 2 archbishoprics, 10 bishoprics, 30 corporations of deans and chapters, 12 minor corporations, 32 deaneries, 33 archdeaconries, 1509 incumbencies, with 500 stipendiary curates. A general convention of the clergy to reorganize the church and to choose a representative body to manage its secular affairs met in February 1870, and the church is now constituted as the Church of Ireland. The amount received from the commissioners for commutation of life interests up to 31st December 1879 was £7,577,477, 6s. 8d., chargeable with annuities amounting to £592,075, 5s. 8d., and of this sum there remained at the end of 1879 £2,783,871,11s. 8d., chargeable with annuities amounting to £201,824, 8s. 9d., the annuities extinguished by composition and advances amounting to £294,054, 9s. 4d. The sums invested by the church in securities amounted to £6,362,433,17s. 5d., yielding an income of £281,577, 11s. 8d., in addition to which £109,162, 10s. has been advanced to the clergy on policies of insurance. The balance of the general [table]

sustentation fund amounted to £194,125, 12s. 8d., yielding au interest of £7753, 7s. 9d., the unappropriated balance of which was £963,7s. 9d. The sum expended on the purchase of glebes has been £499,589, 16s. 10d., of which £214,900, 10s. 8d. has been subscribed; and the net amount received from the sale of glebes was £45,588, 10s. 3d. The contributions to the stipend fund, and the total contributions from all sources from 1876 to 1879, are shown in Table LX. For fuller financial details the reader is referred to the annual report of the representative body and to the Irish Church Directory.

The Roman Catholic Church is governed by 4 archbishops and 27 bishops, the number of parish priests being nearly 1000, and of administrative curates about 1750. The ecclesiastical parishes amount to 1084, and the churches and chapels number nearly 2500. The Maynooth Roman Catholic College, which was founded in 1795, originally received an annual vote from Government of £8000, but latterly a grant from the consolidated fund of £26,360, which was commuted by the payment of £372,331.

The Presbyterian Church, which has its principal adherents in Ulster, was originally formed in 1642, and in 1840 a union took place of two divisions of the church which had formerly separated. Previous to the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians received for the support of their ministers an annual sum, first granted in 1672, of about £40,000, known as “Regium Donum,” which was commuted by the Church Disestablishment Act. The church embraces 36 presbyteries and nearly 600 congregations, the number of families connected with the church in 1880 being 79,214, and of communicants 104,769. The total sum at the disposal wf the church in 1880 was £139,840, the sum paid to ministers being £44,922. Candidates for the ministry are trained at Magee College, Londonderry, and at the Presbyterian College, Belfast.

The Methodist Church of Ireland was formed in 1878 by the union of the Wesleyan Methodists with the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists. The number of ministers connected with the Conference in June 1880 was 240, of whom 40 were supernumeraries. The number of principal stations under the charge of ministers was 135, embracing 373 chapels. The number of attendants on public worship was stated to be 60,541, and the membership 24,463. The home mission fund, with an augmentation from the English Conference, amounted to £13,241, and the sum raised for foreign missions to £5533. There is a Methodist college at Belfast for the training of students who have been accepted as candidates for the ministry.

The number of persons connected with the other denominations of Ireland is inconsiderable, amounting in 1881 to only 0'8 per cent Education.— Table LXI. shows the proportion per cent, of persons in Ireland who could read and write, who could read only, and who could neither read nor write at the various census periods. The number of persons in 1871 who could speak Irish only was 103,562, the number in 1841 being 319,602, and the number who could speak both Irish and English was 714,313 in 1871 and 1,204,684 in 1841.

According to the census of 1871 the number of schools for primary instruction was 9495 with 615,785 pupils, of superior schools 574 with 21,225 pupils, of universities and colleges 13 with 2945 students. The oldest university is that of Dublin, established in 1591 by a charter of Queen Elizabeth. The course of study includes mathematics, classics, modern languages, English, logic, ethics, astronomy, experimental science, and natural science. The Catholic University, founded in 1854, has in operation faculties of medicine, philosophy and letters, and science. Queen’s University, established in 1850, with colleges at Belfast, Cork, and Galway, has faculties of law, arts, medicine, and engineering. Queen’s University will be shortly superseded by the Royal University, for which a charter was granted in 1880. A royal college of science was established in 1867, with departments of mining, agriculture, engineering, and manufactures. The higher education of women is represented by Alexandra College, Dublin, founded in 1866, the Governess Association, the Ladies y Institution of Belfast, and the Queen’s Institute for the instruction of women. A list of colleges and intermediate schools will be found in the Intermediate Education Year Book and Directory. By the provisions of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act, 1878, a sum of £1,000,000 of the Irish Church surplus was set apart for the encouragement of intermediate education in Ireland, the money being expended partly in [table]

exhibitions and prizes to students, and partly in the payment of results fees. The total number of pupils examined in 1880 was 5561—4114 boys and 1447 girls, the number who passed being 2899 boys and 1111 girls. Exhibitions of the value of £20 a year for three years were awarded to 96 boys and 40 girls in the junior grade; in the middle grade 32 boys and 13 girls received exhibitions of £30 annually for two years; and in the senior grade 16 boys and 4 girls received exhibitions of £50 for one year. In addition to this 558 boys and 726 girls received prizes in books.

In 1811 a society was formed in Ireland for the education of the· poor, which from 1819 received the assistance of a grant of public money. This, however, was withdrawn in 1830 on account of the Roman Catholics refusing from religious objections to allow their pupils to enter the schools of the society. In 1833 the money formerly given to the society was vested in commissioners of public education, who in 1845 were incorporated under the name of the “Commissioners of National Education of Ireland.”

Table LXII. will show the progress of national education in Ireland from 1833 to 1880; and Table LXIII. gives particulars as to school attendance for 1880.

Table LX IV. shows the Protestant and Roman Catholic attendance at the 4175 mixed schools from which returns were received.

The unmixed schools numbered 3331, of which those taught by Roman Catholic teachers numbered 2779, the number of pupils being 441,612, while those taught by Protestant teachers numbered 552, the total number of pupils being 63,983, of whom 26,283 belonged to the Church of Ireland, 34,348 to the Presbyterian Church, and 3352 to other denominations. Table LXV. shows the attendance at the various classes in the national schools in 1880.

The number of district and minor model schools in 1880— exclusive of those of the metropolitan district—was 26, the number of pupils on the roll 16,997, and the average attendance 8971. Table LXVI. shows the relative proportion of attendance at the various classes.

The workhouse schools under the superintendence of the National Board in 1880 numbered 158, the pupils on the roll being 16,945, and the average attendance 8880. There were 52 industrial schools in 1879, the number of inmates being 4979, and the expenditure [table]

£117,888. The number of school farms connected with the national schools in 1880 was 94, and of school gardens 19, in addition to which there are a large number of agricultural schools under local management, and a large number of pupils were also taught agriculture in the national schools, the total number of pupils who presented themselves for examination in agriculture in 1880 being 33,648, of whom 15,652 passed. The number of pupils who presented themselves at the results examination in the national schools in 1880 was 461,574, of whom 340,871, or 73 ’ 8 per cent.,passed. Table LXVII. shows the various classes of teachers underthe National Board in 1880.

In addition there were 85 junior assistants, 227 work mistresses and industrial teachers, 90 temporary assistants, and 8 temporary work mistresses. The payment to the teaching staff for the year ending 31st March 1881 was £737,631, 4s. 3d. The amount of money raised by school fees was £91,300, 5s. 8d., by subscription £40,516, 6s. 10d., by local rates £8,324, 6s. 7d. The whole amount received from the Board was £597,490, 5s. 2d. The amount of subscriptions other than local for the four years ending 1880 was £151,698, 16s. 6d., which was devoted to building purposes. The total amount of the parliamentary grant for the promotion of education, science, and art in Ireland for the year ending 31st March 1880 was £795,351.

For particulars regarding the endowments, funds, and actual condition of the endowed schools of Ireland, including the royal free schools, diocesan free schools, grammar schools, Erasmus Smith schools, and schools connected with the Church of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church, and the various other denominations, the reader is referred to the Report of the Endowed Schools {Ireland) Commission, vols. i. and ii., 1881.

Antiquities.— The principal objects in Ireland of antiquarian and architectural interest are noticed under the various counties.

Bibliography. Geology. —The Government geological survey of Ireland, begun in 1832, was completed in 1881, and maps of separate portions have been published,accompanied with explanatory memoirs. Among the geological maps of the whole country may be mentioned that by E. Hull, London, 1878. The chief works on the geology of the country as a whole are Sir Richard Griffith’s Physical Geology of Ireland, 2d edition, 1838; Hull’s Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland, London, 1878; and Kinahan's Manual of the Geology of Ireland, London, 1878. An interesting notice of the principal features of Irish geology will be found in Aus Irland, by Dr Arnold von Lasaulx, Bonn, 1877. A list of the more important papers on the special points of Irish geology is given in the work of Hull.

Agriculture.— For information regarding the character of the land systems of Ireland the reader may consult Godkin’s Land War in Ireland, 1870; Sigerson’s History of Land Tenure in Ireland, 1871; O’Curry’s Ancient Manners and Customs of Ireland, 3 vols., 1873; the paper on “The Tenure of Land in Ireland,” by Judge Longfield, in Systems of Land Tenure, published by the Cobden Club, 1876, and with additions in a new edition, 1881; Fisher's History of Land Holding in Ireland, 1877; O’Brien’s History of the Irish Land Question, 1880; Richey’s Irish Land Laws, 1880. The political-economy relations of the subject have been treated, among other writers, by John Stuart Mill, T. E. Cliffe Leslie, and Professor Cairncs. For general information a first place must be [table] [table] [table] [table] [table]

assigned to the evidence given before the Devon Commission, a Digest of which by J. P. Kennedy was published at Dublin in two parts, 1847-48, and the Report of the Bessborouglι Commission, 1881, and of the Commission on the Agriculture of the United Kingdom, 1881. Among other works are—Thornton, Plea for Peasant Proprietors, 1848∙ Duval, Histoire deTÉmigration, Paris, 1882; Dufferin, Irish Emigration and the Tenure of Land in Ireland, 1867; P. Lavelle, Irish Landlords since the Revolution, 1870; H. S. Thompson, Ireland in 1839 and 1869, 1870. The agricultural condition of the country has been described by suclι competent observers as M*Combie, Maclagan, and James Caird; and for minute details regarding it see the “Review of Irish Agriculture,” by R. 0. Pringle, in vol. viii., second series, of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1872, and “Illustrations of Irish Farming,” by the same writer, in vol. ix., 1873.

Manufactures and Commerce.— Lawrence, The Interest of Ireland in her Trade and Wealth, Dublin, 1682; Discourse on the Woollen Manufacture of Ireland, 1698; An Inquiry into the State and Progress of the Linen Manufacture in Ireland, Dublin, 1757; G. E. Howard, Treatise on the Revenue of Ireland, 1776; Hely Hutchinson, Commercial Restraints of Ireland, 1779; Lord Sheffield, observations on the Manufactures, Trade, and Present State of Ireland, 1785; R. B. Clarendon, A Sketch of the Revenue and Finances of Ireland, 1791; wallace, Essay on the Trade and Manufactures of England, Dublin, 1798.

Antiquities.— O'Donovan’s edition of the Annals of the Four Masters; weever, Ancient Funeral Monuments, 1767; Bush, Hibernia Curiosa, 1769; Grose, Antiquities of Ireland, 2 vols., 1791-95; Ed. Ledwich, Antiquities of Ireland, 1804; •O'Brien, Round Towers of Ireland, 1834; G. S. Petrie, Ecclesiastical Antiquities in Ireland, 1845; Godkin, Saxons in Ireland, 1851; Id., Ireland and her Churches, Ac., 1857; Keane, Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland, 1867; Smiddy, Essay on the Druids, Ancient Churches, and Round Towers, 1873; Brash, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, 1874; Joyce, Irish Names of Places, 2d ed., 1870, 2d series, 1875; Lord Dunraven, Notes on Irish Architecture, 1877; H. Gaidoz, Notice sur les Inscriptions Latines de l'Irlande, Paris, 1878.

Miscellaneous.— An account of the condition of the country in the time of Henry II. is given by Giraldus Cambrensis in Topographia Hibernix and Expugnatio Hibernix, 1187; and in the time of Elizabeth, by Robert Payne, in “A Brief

Description of Ireland," 1590, published in vol. 1. of the Tracts or the Archxo-logιcal Association of Ireland, 1841, and by Ed. Hogan in Description of Ireland andthe State thereof in 1598, first published in 1878. The following works, which are included in A Collection of Tracts and Treatises on Ireland, published at Dublin I8f>l, are invaluable for the information they afford in regard to the social and industrial history of the country A View of the State of Ireland, bv Edmund Spenser, 1633; A Discoverie of the State of Ireland, by Sir John Davies,’ 1613 · The Political Anatomy of Ireland, by Sir william Petty, 1691; The Querist, by Bishop Berkeley, 1735-37; A Word to the Wise, by the same, 1752; Prior's List of Absentees, 2d edition, with Appendix, 1729; An Essay on the Trade of Ireland, by Arthur Dobbs, Esq., 1729; An Abstract of the Number of Protestant and Popish Families in Ireland, 1726. The writings of Swift, especially his Short View, cast a variety of cross lights on different aspects of the subject. Among later works a first place must of course be given to the Tour in Ireland, by Arthur 1 oung London, 1780. The Statistical and Political Account of Ireland, by Edward wakefield, London, 1812, is painstaking and accurate; and of similar value are Thomas Newenham's View of the Circumstances of Ireland, 1809 · the same authors Inquiry into the Population of Ireland, 1805; and Mason’s Statistical Account, 1814-19. The laborious work of Μ. C<⅛ar Moreau, Past and Present State of Ireland examined in a Series of Tables, published in lithograph, London, 1827, gives a comprehensive statistical history of the country for twenty years before and twenty years after the Union. Among more modem works are— On Local Disturbances in Ireland, by Sir G. C. Lewis. 1836; Sir Robert Kane, The Industrial Resources of Ireland, 2d edition, Dublin, 1845; George Lewis Smith, Ireland, Historical and Statistical, London. 1844-49; Jonathan Pirn, Condition and Prospects of Ireland, 1848; Gustave de Beaumont, L Irlande, Sociale, Politique, et Religieuse, 1839 (English translation In the same year, and a 7th French edition in 1863); Hancock, Report on the Supposed Progressive Decline of Irish Prosperity, Dublin, 1863; J. Μ. Murphv, Ireland Industrial, Political, and Social, 1870; Burke's Letters, Speeches, and Tracts on Ireland, edited by Matthew Arnold, 1881. Thom's Irish Almanac contains admirable digests of the parliamentary returns of the current years, as well as other statistical tables compiled from original sources. iT. F. H.l

PART II,—HISTORY.

Legendary History of Early Paces.— Circumstances were favourable in Ireland to the growth and preservation of ethnic legends. Among these favourable circumstances were the long continuance of tribal government, and the existence of a special class whose duty it was to preserve the genealogies of the ruling families, and keep in memory the deeds of their ancestors. Long pedigrees and stories of forays and battles were preserved, but under the necessary condition of undergoing gradual phonetic change according as the popular language altered. During many centuries there had been no conquest by foreign races to destroy these traditions; internal conquests and displacements of tribes confuse but do not eradicate traditions and pedigrees. When the Irish were converted to Christianity and became acquainted with the story of the deluge, the confusion of tongues, and the unity of the human race, the sùide (sages) naturally endeavoured to fill up the gap between their eponyms and Noah. The pedigrees now began to be committed to writing, and, as they could for the first time be compared with one another, a wide field was opened to the inventive faculties of the scribes. The result has been the construction of a most extraordinary legendary history, which under the constant care of official sùide acquired a completeness, fulness, and a certain degree of consistency which is wonderful. In the 11th and 12th centuries this legendary history was fitted with a chronology, and synchronized with the annals of historical nations. We may assume with confidence that a history of a group of tribes admittedly of diverse origins, consisting mainly of names of persons and battles transmitted by memory, must necessarily lack all proportion, not alone as regards absolute, but even as regards relative time; that personages and events may appear in the background that should be in the foreground, and the converse; nay, even that the same personages and events may figure at times and places far apart. Keeping these things in view, the Lehar Gabhala, or “Book of Invasions,” a curious compilation, or rather compilations, for there are several editions of it, of the ethnic legends of Ireland, will help us to give the main facts of the early peopling of Ireland. Our guide records the coming of five principal peoples, namely, the followers of Partholan or Bartholomew, those of Nemed, the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Scots or Milesians.

Partholan and his people came from Middle Greece, and landed at Inber Sceine, believed to have been the estuary of Kenmare. After occupying Ireland for three hundred years, they died of a plague, and were buried at Tamlecht Muintire Partholain, the plague Lecht or grave of Partholan’s people, now Tallaght near Dublin. This race divided the coast into four parts, their leader having had four sons. Thirty years after the destruction of Partholan’s people, a race arrived from Scythia under a leader called Nemed, in thirty ships, each containing thirty warriors. We are not told where he landed, but like Partholan’s people Nemed died of a plague at the hill upon which Queenstown in Cork Harbour is situated, and which has on that account been called Ard Nemeid. At this time another people appear on the scene, the Fomorians. It is probable, however, that Fomorian was merely a name for all sea-coming enemies, and that they were not always the same race. The descendants of Nemed’s people suffered much hardship from them, we are told, but at length succeeded in destroying the fortress of their leader Conan at Tor Inis, now Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal, and killing himself and his children; but More, another leader, having arrived soon after from Africa with sixty ships, a second battle was fought, in which both parties were nearly exterminated. Morc, however, escaped, and took possession of the country, while of the Nemedians only the crew of one ship, having the usual number of thirty warriors—among whom were three descendants of Nemed himself—escaped. Each of the three descendants of Nemed went to a different country, and became the eponym of an important race. The five chiefs of the Firbolgs, the next colonizing race, appear to have landed at different places: one party, that of the Fir Galeons, landed at Inber Slangi, so called from their leader Slangi, whose name is still preserved in the river Slaney; another tribe, the Firbolgs, who gave their name to the collective tribes, arrived at what is now Erris in Mayo; and a third section, the Fir Domnand, landed at Tracht Rudraide in Ulster, so called from their leader Rudraide, or rather Rud. All these tribes seem to have been British, a view which is confirmed by their chief fort being Dind Rig, the dun or fort of the kings on the Barrow in Carlow, afterwards the seat of the kings of Leinster, a province which appears to have always had a close relationship with Britain. The Firbolgs had only effected settlements in the country, but had not brought the whole of it into subjection before the arrival of a new tribe called the Tuatha Dé Danann. According to the Nemedian legend, this new tribe was the race of Ibath, grandson of Iarbonel the prophet, son of Nemed. The new-comers under a king called Nuadu demand the sovereignty of the country from the Firbolg king Eochaid Mac Erca, who refuses, and thereupon they fight a battle at Mag Tuired Conga, now Moytura near Cong in the county Mayo, the site of which is still traditionally remembered, and many graves belonging to the period of cremation have been found there. The Firbolgs were worsted in this battle, and, as in all ethnic legends, almost annihilated, and the remainder driven out of the country. Thirty years after the conquest of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann fought a great battle with the Fomorians at another Mag Tuired, which is distinguished from that of Cong by being called the Northern. Its site is placed by tradition near Lough Arrow on the borders of Sligo and Roscommon, at a place where many graves and pillar-stones still exist.

The last of the prehistoric races of Ireland are the so-called Milesians or Scots. The immediate eponym of the new race was Galam from Gal i ti valour,” a name which might be expressed by the Latin miles, a “knight,” whence came the names Milesius and Milesians. Among the names which appear in the pedigree, which is of course carried back without a break to Noah, are several worthy of the attention of archaeologists,—namely, Breogan or Bregân, Eber Scot, Géedal Glas, Fenius Farsaid, Allait, Nùadu, Sru, and Esru. Breogân, according to the legend, was the grandfather of Galam or Milesius, who founded Brigantia in Spain.

With all their drawbacks, the Irish ethnic legends, when stript of their elaborate details and Biblical and classical loans, express the broad facts of the peopling of Ireland, and are in accordance with the results of archaeological investigation. At the earliest period the country was well wooded, and the interior full of marshes and lakes; it was occupied by a sparse population, who appear in later times as “forest tribes” (Tuatha Feda), and were doubtless of the aboriginal (Iberic) race of western and southern Europe. The story of Partholan represents the incoming of the first bronze-armed Celts, who were a Goidelic tribe akin to the later Scots that settled on the sea-coast, and built the fortresses occupying the principal headlands. They formed with the forest tribes the basis of the population in the Early Bronze age. Afterwards came the various tribes known by the general name of Firbolgs. It is not necessary to suppose that all the tribes included under this name came at the same time, or even that they were closely akin. The legend names several tribes, and tells us that they came into Ireland at different places from Britain. The effect of their immigrations now appears to have been that in the north the people were Cruithni, or Picts of the Goidelic branch of the Celts; in the east and centre, British and Belgic tribes; and in Munster, when not distinctly Iberic, of a southern or Gaulish type.

The fertile plain lying between the Wicklow and Carlingford mountains, and especially the part of it south of the Boyne (Mag Breg), was open to tribes coming from the opposite coast, and has accordingly been at all times a landing place of invading tribes. This region was occupied by the tribe of Nemed before the arrival of the Firbolgs, if we believe the legend; but the event certainly belongs to a later period, though still to the time of the movements and displacement of peoples which led to the immigration of those tribes. The Fomorians, with whom the Nemedians fought, may have been merely some of those incoming tribes. The Irish legend brings the Nemedians from the east of Europe, which of course only means that they came from a distance, perhaps from Armorica or some other part of Gaul. Nemed’s tribes were probably the builders of the tumuli of Meath, and the introducers of the worship of Dia and Ana, in other words, they were the mysterious Tuatha Dé Danann (“tribes of Dia and Ana”). Nemed was probably only another name for Dia, and his wife was Macha, an appellative of Ana. The name Nemed itself is of great interest, for it is evidently connected with nem, heaven, used also in the secondary sense of a sacred object upon which oaths were sworn.

The Milesian legend seems to consist of two or perhaps of three events. Eber and Erimon, two sons of Galam, or Milesius, the leaders of the invading forces, fight a battle at Sliab Mis in western Kerry with Eriu, the queen of Ceitheoir or Mac Gréne, “the son of the Sun,” one of the three joint kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann, whom they defeat. Eber or Heber then marches to Tailti in Meath, while his brother Erimon or Heremon sails round to the mouth of the Boyne, where he lands and marches to meet his brother advancing from the south. This skilful strategic movement betrays the late invention of the legend. The first fact that underlies the story is the incoming of some powerful and well-armed tribe who seized upon the plain between the Liffey and the Boyne, and made it the centre of an encroaching power. The eponym of this tribe was Erimon, a name foreign to the pantheon of the tribes of Dia and Ana. The new tribes arrived in Ireland towards the close of the prehistoric period, and not long before the beginning of the Christian era, or possibly as late as the first century of it. They were Goidelic, and were related to the dominant clans of Munster, and the Clanna Rudraide or Ulster clans, though perhaps not so closely to the latter as to the former. When the sons of Galam had defeated the kings of the tribes of Dia and Ana, they partitioned Ireland between themselves and their kinsmen. Erimon got Leinster and Connaught; Eber Find, his brother, North Munster; Lugaid, son of Ith, brother of Galam, South Munster; and Eber, son of Ir, son of Galam, the progenitor of Rud or the Rudraide, the immediate eponym of the Ultonians, Ulster. Eber Find, the leader of the north Munster tribes, and Lugaid of the South Munster ones, were grandsons of Breogân, the stem-father of all the new tribes. A long struggle took place between their descendants, in which those of Eber Find ultimately gained the upper hand, and the descendants of Lugaid were gradually pressed into a comer of the county of Cork. This struggle and the position of the tribes of Eber in the plain of Munster seem to show that the latter were, what the legend pretends, a part of the incoming tribes which we shall henceforward call Scots, and which landed, not in Kerry, but in Meath. The places supposed to have derived their names from the forty captains of the invading Scots, such as the plain of Brega, Sliab Cualand, &c., are all in that part of Ireland already spoken of as the landing place of invading tribes, or in the great central plain stretching west and south-west from it. There seems little doubt that these clans of Breogàn or Scots were closely related to the Brigantes, perhaps they were even tribes of that great clan. The Brigantes who occupied the basin of the Barrow and Nore, and ultimately the county Waterford, according to Ptolemy, support this view. The clan of Lugaid, grandson of Breogân, is almost certainly that which used the Ogam inscribed stones, the last that came into the country, and with which originated the story of the migration from Spain.

The Scoti. — The opening of the historic period was marked by a great struggle of tribes, which took place about the beginning of the Christian era, and of which Irish annalists have left us but very scanty information, and that confused and misleading. This struggle was brought about by the arrival from abroad of a new tribe, or the rise of an old one. The former view seems the more probable, for at that time great displacements of the Celts were taking place everywhere consequent on the conquests of the Romans, and some of the displaced tribes may have migrated to Ireland. The victors in the struggle appear afterwards as Scots; the conquered tribes are called Aithech Tuatha, that is, vassal tribes, because they paid daer or base rent. The names of the free and servile clans have been preserved, and were first published by the present writer. The former consisted of forty-six tribes, among them being the Scotraige or Scotraide. This tribe probably took a foremost place in the subsequent invasions of Britain; and, it having thus acquired the leadership of the free clans, the latter became all known to foreigners as the Scoti, a name which was subsequently extended to the whole people. That this was the way in which the name was first given is shown by its not having been used in Irish, but only in Latin documents. The ending -raige or -raide is a patronymic.

In the struggle between the free and servile tribes the latter appear to have succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the free clans or Scots, but after some time the latter, under the leadership of Tuathal, called 'Tecldmar or “the Legitimate” (oδ. cir. 160 a.d.), recovered their power and took effective measures to preserve it by making some kind of redistribution of the servile tribes, or more probably making a plantation of Scots among them, and building fortresses capable of affording mutual aid. The duns and raths on the great central plain of Ireland to which Tuathal’s measure was probably confined appear to have been erected on some strategic plan of this kind, intended to keep up a chain of communication, and prevent the combination of the servile classes. Tuathal in fact founded a kind of feudal system which ruled Ireland while the Scotic power endured.

Another measure of Tuathal was the formation of the kingdom of Meath to serve as mensal land of the Ard Ri or over-king. Before his time there was, according to legend, a district about the sacred hill of Usnech called Mide, that is, “the middle,” the religious centre of the Irish; this Tuathal enlarged by taking from each of the four provinces—the two Munsters being reckoned as one —a tract of land. In the Munster portion he built his Dun of Tlachtga, a sacred place of the Druids, now called the Hill of Ward, near Athboy. Usnech was considered to be in Olnegmacht (Connaught). Tailti (gen. Tailtenn, now Teltown) was his Ulster residence, and Temair or Tara the Leinster one. Tuathal made each of those places a religious centre for the province from which it had been taken. He was thus not only the founder of the central monarchy, but also it would seem the organizer of the religious system of the people, which he used as a means of securing the allegiance of their princes by holding their chief shrines in his power, while leaving them the rents derived from them. An act of Tuathal, which marks his power, and the firm grasp which he had secured over the country, was the infliction of a heavy fine on the province of Leinster, a legend tells us, for an insult offered to him by one of its kings. This fine, called the Boroim Laigen or Cow-tribute of Leinster, was levied until the 6th century, when at the instance of St Moling it was remitted by the monarch Finachta. It was a constant source of oppression and war while it lasted, and helped to cripple the power of Leinster. Several attempts were made to reimpose it, among others by the celebrated Brian, who, according to some, derived his surname of Boruma from this circumstance. To carry out his measures of conquest and subjugation, Tuathal is credited with having established a kind of permanent military force which afterwards became so celebrated in legendary story as the Fiann or Fenians. He may have seen Roman troops, and attempted as far as his circumstances would permit to form a military tribe organized somewhat after the manner of a legion. Among the other measures attributed to Tuathal was the regulation of the various professions and handicrafts. The former he must necessarily have done as part of his religious organization, for the various professions were merely the grades of the Druidical hierarchy.

The Rival Kingdom of Munster. —If we accept the story of the plantation of the broken Aithech Tuatha, Tuathal’s power must have extended over the whole country; but it was practically confined to Meath and Leinster, and perhaps Olnegmacht. Ulaid was independent. In Munster the clan of Degaid had conquered a large tract of country in the middle of the province, and forced the clan of Dergtind or descendants of Eber into the south-west of Cork and Kerry. The origin of the clan of Degaid is obscure; one story makes it Ultonian, and the other Erimonian. The latter is probably the true one, for among the free clans associated with the Scotraige in the war of the Aithech Tuatha was a tribe called Corco Dega, which seems to be the one we are now discussing. The clan of Degaid, having dispossessed a non-Scotic tribe called the Ernaans, were themselves afterwards known by that name. From their peculiar position in the south they must have acknowledged the supremacy of Tuathal and his successors. In the reign of Cond, surnamed “of the Hundred Battles,” grandson of Tuathal, the clan of Degaid had succeeded in getting the upper hand of the clans both of Eber and Lugaid; and Munster, now divided into three petty kingdoms, was ruled over by three princes of that family. A chief of the Eberians named Eogan, better known as Mug Nιiadat, by the aid of his foster-father the king of Leinster, succeeded in defeating the Degaidian princes and driving them out of Munster. The latter asked the aid of Cond the over-king, who took up their cause, and a fierce war arose, in which Cond was beaten and compelled to divide Ireland with his rival. The boundary line ran from thè Bay of Galway to Dublin along the great ridge of gravel which stretches across Ireland. The northern part was Leth Cuind or Cond’s Half, and the southern part Leth Moga or Mug’s Half. By this arrangement the present county of Clare, which had hitherto belonged to Olnegmacht, was transferred to Munster, to which it has ever since belonged. It was about this time toothat the former province received the name Connacht, now Connaught, from the name of King Cond. In the wars between Mug Nuadat and Cond a considerable number of foreigners are said to have been in the army of the former, among whom are specially named Spaniards. Perhaps these foreigners represent the tribe of Lugaid, and this was really the period of the arrival of that tribe in Ireland out of which grew the Milesian story. The earliest of the Ogam inscriptions are perhaps of this date, and support the view just stated.

Mug Nιiadat must have been an able man, for he established his race so firmly that his descendants ruled Munster for a thousand years. He seems to have been as politic as warlike, for we are told he stored com to save his people from famine. He was also enabled to give some to many chieftains who in a tribal community had no such forethought, and thus made them his vassals. His success, however, created a rivalry which lasted down to the final overthrow of the native government, and led to constant war and devastation, and mainly contributed to the final overthrow of the central monarchy. Although Munster remained nominally in subjection to that power, it was thenceforward in reality an independent kingdom, or rather federation of clans under the king of Cashel.

Scotic Conquest of Ulster.— If the Scots failed to subdue the south thoroughly, they succeeded in crushing the Ultonians, and driving them ultimately into the southeastern corner of the province. One of Cond’s successors, Fiacha Srabtine, was slain by his nephews, known as the three Collas, one of whom, called Colla Uas, “the noble,” became king about 327; but after a reign of four years he and his brothers were driven out of Ireland. They took military service with their maternal grandfather, a certain Ugari, called king of Alba. After three years in this position they returned to Ireland, and succeeded in making peace with their cousin Muiredach Tirech, who became king after the banishment of Colla Ùas. The Ard Ri, in order to give them employment, recommended them to carve out territories for themselves among the Ulaid. Finding an excuse in an insult offered to their grandfather, King Cormac, son of Art, they invaded Ulster, plundered and burned Emain Macha, the ancient seat of the kings of the Ultonians, and made “sword-land” of a large part of the kingdom, which was afterwards known as Airgéill or Oriel. Afterwards the sons of the celebrated Niall of the Nine Hostages, the most powerful monarch of the Scotic dynasty after Tuathal, also carved out principalities for themselves in Ulster which bore their names for centuries :—Tir Conaill, or as it was called in English Tyrconnel, the land of Conall, and Tir Eogain, the land of Eogan, from which has come the name of one of the Ulster counties, Tyrone.

Invasions of Britain by the Irish.— Constant allusions are made in the legends of the prehistoric kings to warlike expeditions to Alba. In the legends of the heroic period an expedition to the Isle of Man forms the subject of one or the tales, in which Cιirui Mac Dairi, of the clan of Degaid, king of West Munster, accompanied by Cuchulaind, carries off Blathnat, daughter of the king of Man. Crimthand, surnamed Nar’s Hero, a prehistoric king just preceding the Aithech Tuatha war, brought back many trophies from abroad which are celebrated in legend. The Annals of the Four Masters, quoting the Annals of Tigernach, tell us at the year 240 that Cormac, son of Art, and grandson of Cond, sailed across the sea and obtained the sovereignty of Alba. This Cormac was a noteworthy king, who ruled with much state at Tara from about 254 to 277 A.D. He is said to have introduced water-mills into Ireland, and to have established schools for the study of law, military matters, and the annals of the country. Laws attributed to him continued in force all through the. Middle Ages. A book of moral precepts for the guidance of princes, called Tecosc na Righ, is attributed to him, a copy of which occurs in the Book of Leinster, a MS. of the 12th century. Another work compiled under his direction, and containing what may be called the history and geography of Ireland, has unfortunately not survived. He was the enemy of the Filid, owing it is said to his having learned something of Christianity in his expeditions. 11 was, however, during the reign of Crimthand son of Fidach (366-379) and of his successor Niall of the Nine Hostages (379-405) that the Irish invasions of Britain acquired for the first time historic importance. The former was a Munster prince, the most powerful of his race, and the only Eberian prince who was king of Ireland until Brian Borama (1002). His successor Niall was also the most powerful of the rival race of the Erimonian Scots.

There appear to have been three distinct settlements of Irish tribes in Britain :—(1) of Munster tribes in South Wales, Devonshire, and Cornwall; (2) of Erimonian Scots in the Isle of Man, Anglesey, and other parts of Gwynedd or North Wales; and (3) of the Erimonian Scots, called the Dal-Biada. The Cruithni or Picts of Galloway seem to have been a fourth settlement, but definite evidence on this point is wanting. The first invasion and the extent of the settlement of the Irish in south-west Britain are established by the Ogam inscriptions, and there is other proof besides. The most important piece of Irish evidence is the article “Mug-Éime”in Cormac’s Glossary, which gives a legend of the introduction of the first lap-dog into Ireland. “Mug-Éime, that is the name of the first lap-dog that was in Ireland. Cairpre Muse, son of Conaire, brought it from the east from Britain; . . . . for when great was the power of the Gael on Britain, they divided Alba between them into districts, and each knew the residence of his friend, and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea quam in Scotica, and their habitations and royal forts were built there. Inde dicitur Din Tradui, i.e., triple-fossed fort of Crimthand the Great, son of Fidach, king of Ireland and Alba to the Ictian Sea, et inde est Glastonbury of the Gael, i.e., a church on the border of the Ictian Sea (the English Channel) And it is in that part is Dinn map Lethain in the lands of the Cornish Britains, i.c., the foτt of Mac Liathain, for Mac is the same as Map in the British. Thus every tribe divided on that side for its property to the east was equal [to that on the west], and they continued in this power till long after the coming of Patrick.” The Cairpre Muse here mentioned was son of Conaire, son of Mug Lama, of the Degaidian race of Munster, and his visit to Britain took place during the reign of Cormac, son of Art, and when Ailill Fland Beg was king of Munster. As the latter began his reign about 260 A.n., and the former died about 277, the visit lies between those dates. It appears therefore that the occupation of south-west Britain by the Munster Goedel began at least a century earlier than Crimthand’s time. The reference to the occupation of Cornwall is curiously corroborated by the story of Tristan and Yseulte, in which Morault is sent by the king of Ireland to collect tribute from the king of Cornwall. British and Welsh records are equally explicit about this occupation. The earliest edition of the Historia Britonum (represented by the Paris MS.) dates from 675, according to the Bev. D. Haigh, who attributes its authorship to Gildas, and gives the date of its composition as 471. If we were certain that we had Gildas’s work we should have almost contemporaneous evidence, but, whoever wrote the work in question, the actual MSS. are of such antiquity that their authority on the point we are discussing is of great value. The passage referring to South Wales is as follows :—“But the sons of Liethan possessed the country of the Demetians (Dyfed), and other provinces Guoher (Gower) and Cetgueli (Kidweli), until they’ were expelled by Cuneda and his sons from all British territories.” This statement bears out that taken from Cormac respecting the name of the leaders of the Goedel in South Wales. The name Lia-tl·an is of great interest, because it is the eponym of an important Munster clan, the Hui Liathain, whose territory Crich Liathain included the barony of Barrymore in the county Cork. The Historia Britonum further tells us that Cuneda and his eight sons came from a region in the north called Manau Guotodin, probably about the end of the 5th century. The Welsh traditions referring to the Goidelic occupation of Britain, though contradictory and irreconcilable in their chronology, confirm all that we have said.

Camden, Edward Llhyd, and others pointed out a Goidelic element in the topographical nomenclature of west Britain, and concluded that the country was once occupied by the Goedel, whence they were driven into Ireland by the advancing Cymri. This was a natural and reasonable conclusion at the time. But our present knowledge compels us to adopt a different view, namely, that, without prejudice to the existence at an anterior period of Goidelic tribes in west Britain, the numerous traces of Goidelic names found there are derived from an Irish occupation in historic times. The Eev. W. Basil Jones (now bishop of St Davids), who by his valuable book, Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynedd (North Wales), has so largely contributed to our knowledge of this subject, came to the conclusion that the Irish occupied the whole of Anglesey, Carnarvon, Merioneth, and Cardiganshire, with a portion at least of Denbighshire, Montgomeryshire, and Radnorshire. The same tribes who occupied Anglesey and Gwynedd also _ occupied the Isle of Man, which, as is well known, was an Irish possession before the Norse invasion. Its colonization is attributed to Manandân, son of Lêr, a sea-god of the tribes of Dia and Ana, and who is associated in the Mabinogion with Gwydion ap Donn and other deities. It would appear that the first occupation of Man, Mona, and Gwynedd took place before the dominance of the Scots, or was the work of Ultonians. But the subsequent importance of Gwydion ap Donn and Arianrod shows that the Erimonian Scots were afterwards the dominant element. South Wales was undoubtedly occupied by South Munster tribes, so that we have the curious historical phenomenon presented in Wales as in Ireland of Mug’s Half and Cond’s Half. The explanation of this as well as of the occupation itself is no doubt the pressure of the clan of Degaid and other Scotic tribes upon the tribes of Lugaid, causing the greater part to emigrate. By the aid of these emigrants, who had become better armed, Mug Nùadat and his successors on the Munster throne were enabled to recover their possessions in Munster again. It was no doubt by their help that Lugaid Mac Cuind of the South Munster clan succeeded in defeating Art, the son of Cond of the Hundred Battles, and becoming king of Ireland. The occupation of North Wales was probably due to a similar pressure of the Scots upon the Ultonians.

We have said that there was probably a fourth settlement of Irish in Britain, but that we had no definite information on the subject. The position of the Goidelic population in Galloway is, however, so peculiar that we have no hesitation in saying that it is derived from an emigration of Irish Cruithni or Picts in the first half of the 4th century, consequent on the Scotic invasion of Ulster. Before that period small settlements of Scots had already taken place, one of which is of very great historical importance. Conaire, son of Mug Lama, the successor of Cond of the Hundred Battles as king of Ireland from about 212 to 220 A.D., had three sons, who, like the later Collas, carved out principalities for themselves in different parts of Ireland. These were—Cairpre Muse, from whom six territories in Munster were called Muscraige, which has been Anglicized Muskerry; Cairpre Baiscinn, who is said to have been the stem of the tribe of Coreo Baiscinn in the west of the county Clare; and Cairpre Riata, who acquired a territory in the northeast of the county Antrim, called Dal Biata or Dal Riada (which is to be distinguished from Dal Araide, the country of the Cruithni or Ultonians), a name which still survives in the local name “the Route.” It is probable that Cairpre Riata or some of his immediate successors passed over into Alba, and acquired territory also there. Bede is the earliest authority for such a migration. Speaking of the inhabitants of Britain, he says :—“In process of time Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation, the Scots, who migrating from Ireland under their leader Reuda, either by fair means or by force of arms secured to themselves those settlements among the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander, they are to this day called Dalreudins; for in their language dal signifies a part.” Bede derived his information from some of the Columban clergy, and knew nothing of Wales, and therefore of any previous settlements of the Irish. About three hundred years after the first settlement a body of the Irish Dalriads of Antrim went to Alba, under the leadership of Fergus Mor, son of Ere, and his brothers, and founded on the basis of the previous colony a new Dal Riata, which became known as Airer Goedel or region of the Gael, a name now pronounced Argyle. This petty kingdom ultimately developed into the kingdom of Scotland, and appropriated to itself the name of the mother country, or at least that which was its Latin name.

The Roman historians are usually assumed to represent that the Scots taking part in the attacks on Roman Britain all came like the Picts from the north. But Ammianus expressly states that the Picts, Atticotti, and Scots arrived by different ways (per diversa vagantes). The basis of the Scotic attacks was their settlements in Wales and south-west Britain, which afforded protection to the invading forces arriving from Ireland in their hide-covered wicker boats.. Argyle may also have served as a point from which to send out piratical expeditions. The Irish Picts or Ultonians who had settled in Galloway, and who with their kinsmen in Ireland were the Gwyddel ffichti of the Welsh, must have also joined in the fray,— their position near the Solway giving them unusual facilities.

Conversion of the Scots to Christianity.— In the beginning of the 4th century there was an organized Christian church in Britain, for there were British bishops at the council of Arles in 314 a,d., one of whom was probably from Wales. At that time the Irish had possession of many places in west and south Britain, and must have come in contact with Christians. These were more numerous and the church better organized in South Wales and south-west Britain, where the Munster or southern Irish were, than in North Wales, held by the Scots proper. Christianity may have therefore found its way into Munster sometime in the 4th century. This would account for the existence of Several Christian Scots before St Patrick, such as Pelagius the heresiarch and his disciple Coelestius, one of whom was certainly a Scot, and Caelius Sedulius (in Irish Siadal or Siudal) the Christian poet, who flourished in Italy about the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century. There is a story of four bishops who, with several priests and anchorites, lived in Munster before the mission of St Patrick, which was credited by such high authorities as Colgan and Ussher, but later inquiries have shown that most if not all these either were contemporaries of St Patrick or belonged to a later time. But, although it is almost certain that no organized church existed in Ireland before the mission of St Patrick, there may have been several scattered communities in the south of Ireland. This might explain the words of St Prosper of Aquitaine in recording the mission of St Palladius in his chronicle for the year 431 :—“Palladius was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent as first bishop to the Scots believing in Christ.” This mission arose out of the visit of St Germanus of Auxerre to Britain. According to Constantius of Lyons, the contemporary and biographer of Germanus, the British bishops, alarmed at the rapid progress of Pelagianism in Britain, sought the aid of the Gaulish Church; a numerous synod summoned for the occasion commissioned Germanus and Lupus to go to Britain, which they accordingly did in 429, according to the usual reckoning. Prosper of Aquitaine on the other hand attributes the mission of Germanus to the pope, and makes no mention of the action of the Gaulish bishops; but he adds that it was done through the action of the deacon Palladius. There is nothing inconsistent in the two accounts, for the acts of the council were probably sent to the pope by a special messenger, who was Palladius. The latter was probably a Briton, but of the Gaulish family of the Palladii. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions a Palladius holding high office in Britain in the middle of the 4th century. Palladius was probably the envoy of the British bishops both to Gaul and to the pope. If he was a Briton, he would naturally have been anxious for the conversion of the Irish as the most effectual way of stopping the Scotic incursions, and was therefore a fitting person to be selected for such a mission. Our information about Palladius is derived from the various lives of St Patrick, of which seven have been printed by Colgan. The earliest of these are the two in the Book of Armagh, a MS. of about the year 800 A.υ.; one is by Murchιi Maccumachtein, the latter part of the name being the equivalent of the “son of Cogitosus,” and was compiled at the suggestion of Aed, bishop of Sletty, who died about the year 698; and the other is known as the Annotations of Ti: echan. According to Murchû’s account, Palladius failed in his mission, and on his way back died in the country of the Britons. Tirechan says that Palladius, who was also known by the name Patricius, suffered martyrdom among the Scots. The second life in Colgan’s collection and the fifth of the same series, which is by Probus, agree with Murchû’s, except that they make him die in the country of the Picts. The other lives give more details, as is usual in all the later acts of saints. The general statement that he died in Pictland is changed into the special one that he went to Mearnes and died, or, as some say, was martyred in Mag Gerginn at a place called Forduu in the east of Scotland. This of course is a late invention, and may have arisen from a confusion of the names of places in Ireland with similar ones in Britain. There was a Pictland in Ireland, namely, Dal-Araide, and, as we learn from the story of a prince Cano, a place named from a certain Gergind (genitive form) somewhere in it. This maybe the place referred to. There was also the Pictland of Galloway, which would be on his way from the north of Ireland to the Roman Britons.

The death of Palladius is assumed to have taken place in 431 and the mission of St Patrick to have begun in the following year. Our knowledge of the Irish apostle is, however, so contradictory and unsatisfactory that no reliance can be placed on any dates connected with him. In any case, when we remember the time and the state of Europe, it is not at all likely that the place of Palladius could be so rapidly supplied as the above dates make out. While there are many lives of the saint, these are rather legendary than historical biographies (see Patrick). But although there is much obscurity and confusion in the Acts of St Patrick, there cannot be the slightest doubt of his real existence. He was thoroughly acquainted with the people of Ireland, and consequently knew that he should secure the chief in order to succeed with the clan, and this is what he did. At first the conversion was only apparent, but, although the mass of the people still continued practically pagans, the apostle was enabled to found churches and schools, and educate a priesthood, and thus provide the most effective and certain means of converting the whole people. He was undoubtedly a great missionary, full of zeal but withal prudent, and guided by much good sense. The learned Tillemont, judging Patrick by the writings attributed to him, truly says that he had much of the character of St Paul, and was well read in Scripture. It would be a mistake to suppose that his success was as rapid or as complete as is generally assumed. On the contrary, it is fully apparent that he had much hard work, and ran much danger, that many chiefs refused to hear him, and that much paganism still existed at his death. That this should be so was no doubt an inhetent defect of his system; but on the other hand by no other system could so much real work have been done in so short a time, and that too, so far as we can make out, almost by his own unaided efforts.

The Early Irish Church.— The church founded by St Patrick was identical in doctrine with the churches of Britain and Gaul, and other branches of the "Western Church. There is no evidence that the Pelagian heresy found an entrance there, and least of all is there the slightest foundation for the supposition that it had any connexion with the Eastern Church. Its organization was, however, peculiar; and, as countries in the tribal state of society are very tenacious of their customs, the Irish Church preserved these peculiarities for a long time, and carried them into other countries, by which the Irish were brought into direct collision with a different and more advanced church organization. Wherever the Roman law and municipal institutions had been in force, the church society was modelled on the civil one. The bishops governed ecclesiastical districts coordinate with the civil divisions. In Ireland there were no cities and no municipal institutions; the nation consisted of groups of tribes connected by kinship and loosely held together under a graduated system of tribal government. The church which grew up under such a system was organized exactly like the lay society. When a chief became a Christian and bestowed his dun and his lands upon the church, he at the same time transferred all his rights as a chief. But though by his gift the chief divested himself of his rights, these still remained with his sept or clan, though subordinate to the uses of the church; at first all church offices were exclusively confined to members of the sept or of the clan according as the gift emanated from the head of the one or the other. In this new sept or clan there was consequently a twofold succession. The religious sept or family consisted, in the first instance, not only of the ecclesiastical persons to whom the gift was made, but of all the Céli, or vassals, tenants, and slaves, connected with the land bestowed. The head was the comarba, that is, the co-heir, or inheritor both of the spiritual and temporal rights and privileges of the founder; he in his temporal capacity exacted rent and tribute like other chiefs, and made war not on temporal chiefs only,—the spectacle of two comarpi making war on each other being not unusual. The ecclesiastical colonies that went forth from a parent family generally remained in subordination to it in the same way that the spreading branches of a secular clan remained in general subordinate to it. The heads of the secondary families were also called the comarpi of the original founder of the religious clan. Thus there were comarpi of Cυlumcille at Hi, Kells, Durrow, Derry, and other places. The comarba of the chief family of a great spiritual clan was called the ard-comarba or high comarba. The comarba might be a bishop or only an abbot, but in either case all the ecclesiastics of the family were subject to him; in this way it frequently happened that bishops, though their superior functions were recognized, were in subjection to abbots, who were only priests, nay, even to a woman, as in the instance of St Brigit. This singular association of lay and spiritual powers was liable to the abuse of having the whole succession fall into lay hands, as happened to a large extent in later times. This has led to many misconceptions of the true character and discipline of the Irish mediaeval church. The temporal chief had his steward who superintended the collection of his rents and tributes; in like manner the comarba of a religious sept had his airchinnech (usually written in Anglo-Irish documents Erenach and Herenach), an office which has given rise to many erroneous views. The name was supposed to be a corruption of Archidiaconus, but this is not so. The office of airchinnech or steward of church lands was generally but not necessarily hereditary; it embodied in a certain sense the lay succession in the family.

From the beginning the church of St Patrick was monastic, as is proved by a passage in his Confessio, where, speaking of the success of his mission, he says: “The sons of Scots and daughters of chiefs appear now as monks and virgins of Christ, especially one blessed Scottish lady of noble birth and of great beauty who was adult, and whom I baptized.” But the early Irish monasticism was unlike that known at a later period. An Irish coenobium of the earliest type was simply an ordinary sept or family whose chief had become Christian, and making a gift of his land either retired leaving it in the hands of a comarba, or remained as the religious head himself. The family went on with their usual avocations, but some of the men and women, and in some cases all, practised celibacy, and all joined in fasting and prayer. These communities offer many striking analogies with the Shaker communities of the United States of America. A severer and more exclusive system of monasticism succeeded this primitive one, but its general character never entirely changed.

As all notions of diocesan jurisdiction as understood in countries under Roman law were unknown, there was not that limitation of the number of bishops which territorial jurisdiction renders necessary, and consequently bishops were very numerous. If we were to believe some of the legends of the early church, the bishops were nearly as numerous as the priests. St Mochta, abbot of Lugmad, or Louth, and said to have been a disciple of St Patrick, had one hundred bishops in his monastic family. All the bishops in a coenobium were, as we have said above, subject to the abbot. Besides the bishops in the monastic families, every tuath or tribe had its own bishop. The church in Ireland having been evolved out of the monastic nuclei above described, the tribe-bishop was an episcopal development of a somewhat later period. He was an important personage, having a right to the same retinue as the ri or chief, and though we cannot define exactly the character of his jurisdiction, which extended over the tuath, his power was considerable, as we can judge by the conflicts which took place between them and the kings on that fertile source of dissension, the right of sanctuary." The tuath bishop corresponded to the diocesan bishop as closely as it was possible in two systems so different as tribal and municipal government. When diocesan jurisdiction grew up in Ireland in the 12th and subsequent centuries, the tuath became a diocese. Many of the old dioceses represent ancient tuatha, and even enlarged modern dioceses coincide with the territories of ancient clans. Thus the diocese of Kilmacduagh (Cell-Macc-n Duach) was the territory of the Hùi Fiachrach Aidhne; that of Kilfenora (Cell Find abrach) was the tribe-land of Corco Modruaidh or Corcomroe. Many deaneries also represent tribe territories; thus the deanery of Musgrylin in the county Cork was the ancient Muscraige Mitaine, and no doubt had its tribe-bishop in ancient times. It should be added that bishops without dioceses and monastic bishops were not unknown elsewhere in the church in early times, but had disappeared with very rare exceptions in the 6th century, when the Irish reintroduced the monastic bishops and the monastic church into Britain and the Continent.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, when the great emigration of Irish scholars and ecclesiastics took place, the number of wandering bishops without dioceses became a reproach to the Irish Church; and there can be no doubt that it led to much inconvenience and abuse, and was subversive of the stricter discipline that the popes had succeeded in establishing in the Western Church. They were also accused of ordaining serfs without the consent of their lord, consecrating bishops per saltum, that is, making persons bishops who had not previously received the orders of priests, and of permitting bishops to be consecrated by a single bishop. The latter could hardly be a reproach to the Irish Church, as the practice was never held to be invalid; and, besides, the Nicene canons of discipline were perhaps not known in Ireland until comparatively late times. The isolated position of Ireland, and the existence of tribal organization in full vigour, explain fully the anomalies of Irish discipline, many of which were also survivals of the early Christian practices before the complete organization of the church.

From the nature of the organization of the Irish Church as established by Saint Patrick, it was to be expected that on his death the bond between the numerous church families which his great authority supplied would be greatly relaxed. The Druidic orders too, which there is reason to believe remained still to a large extent pagan, and undoubtedly practised many of their arts even in the 7th century, must have regained much of their old power. A tradition exists that at the instance of St Patrick the laws were purified by a commission of which he himself was a member, and collected into a body called the Senchas Mér. Nevertheless the pagan marriage customs were practised long after St Patrick’s time. Sir Henry S. Maine has well observed that the Christian church did not succeed in substituting its ideas of morality and the canon law for the old natural customs of the Celts, Germans, and Slavs so easily or at so early a period as is usually assumed. It is known, for instance, that traces of sister-marriage still lingered among the south Germans of Bavaria in the 7th century. The transition period which follows the loosening of the faith of a people in its old religion, and before the authority of the new is universally accepted, is always a time of confusion and relaxation of morals. Such a period appears to have followed in the first half of the 6th century the fervour of St Patrick’s time. Another cause, too, powerfully helped to produce and foster disorder. We have seen that from the 2d century, if not earlier, to the middle of the 5th century, the Irish youth betook themselves to piracy, and, like the later Scandinavian vikings, ravaged the coasts of Britain, and perhaps North Gaul, and made permanent settlements in the former. Christianity weakened the warlike and adventurous spirit of the Scots, and led to their expulsion from Wales about the end of the 5th century. The energy which the fierce Scotic youth expended in plundering expeditions when not engaged in intertribal feuds, having no outlet, helped, with the causes just stated, to produce internal disorders and relaxation of morals. This period of reaction after warlike and religious excitement has been magnified into an entire corruption of faith and morals, for which, however, there is no real evidence, and which is incompatible with subsequent events. That the survival of the Druids under the name of the grades or orders of Ecna and Filidecht, which we may describe conventionally as bards, had much to do with the state of disorder we are discussing, is proved by the proposal of the king Aed, son of Ainmire, to get rid of .them on account of their numbers and unreasonable and exorbitant demands. St Columcille, however, advocated a reform of the body, a diminution of their number, and the curtailment of their privileges; these proposals were adopted at the convention of Druimceta in the north of Ireland, called together for this among other purposes.

The encroachments of the Saxons which forced the Cymri of the north into Wales, and the consequent driving out of the Irish from their possessions in Wales and south-west Britain, and the desolation and anarchy of the whole country, appear to have caused many British ecclesiastics to seek a refuge in Ireland, among whom was Gildas, who is said to have been invited over by King Ainmire. But, whether as an invited guest or as a refugee, Gildas certainly helped to reform the Irish Church, at least of Leth Cuind, or Cond’s Half. The chief reform due to the influence of Gildas and the British Church seems to have been that effected in the monastic life, or rather we should say the introduction of monastic life in the strict sense of the word, that is, of comπpιnities entirely separated from the laity, with complete separation of the sexes. To this reformed church of the second half of the 6th century and early part of the 7th belong Columcille, Comgall, and many other saints of renown, who established the schools from which went forth the missionaries and scholars who made the name of Scot and of Ireland so well known throughout Europe. During this period the energy of the youth of Ireland seems to have concentrated itself on religious asceticism and missionary work. St Columcille converted the Picts, and from his monastery of Hi went forth the illustrious Aedân to plant another Iona at Lindisfarne, which, as Mr Hill Burton, the historian of Scotland, says, “long after the poor parent brotherhood had fallen to decay, expanded itself into the bishopric of Durham, or as some will have it the archbishopric of York itself; for of all the Christian missions to England that of Aidan seems to have taken the firmest root.” This was also the period of the great missionaries of the Continent, Columbanus, Gall, Killian, and many others. Nor had the old daring on the sea, which distinguished the Scotic adventurers who had ravaged the coasts of Britain, and which still characterizes the Celtic fishermen of the west of Scotland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Brittany, and the colony of Newfoundland, died out among the Gael of South Munster, for besides St Brendan, whose voyages have given rise to a widespread myth, there was another navigator, Cormac, a disciple of St Columcille, who visited the Orkneys, and discovered the Faroe Islands and Iceland, long before the Northmen set foot on them. Other Irishmen seeking remote places to lead there the lives of anchorites followed in their tracks, and when the Northmen first discovered Iceland they found there books and other traces of the Irish of the early church.

The peculiarities which, owing to Ireland’s isolation, had survived were, as we have said, brought into prominence when the Irish missionaries came into contact with Roman ecclesiastics. Those peculiarities, though only survivals of customs once general in the Christian church, shocked the ecclesiastics of the Roman school accustomed to the order and discipline which were everywhere being introduced into the Western Church. On the Easter question especially a contest arose which waxed hottest in England, and as the Irish monks stubbornly adhered to their traditions they were vehemently attacked by their opponents. This controversy occupies much space in the history of the Western Church, and led to an unequal struggle between the Roman and Scotic clergy in Scotland, England, the east of France, Switzerland, and a considerable part of Germany, which naturally ended in the Irish system giving way before the Roman. The monasteries following the Irish rule were supplanted by or converted into Benedictine ones. Owing to this struggle the real work of the early Irish missionaries in converting the pagans of Britain and central Europe, and sowing the seeds of culture there, has been overlooked when not wilfully misrepresented. Thus, while the real work of the conversion of the pagan Germans was the work of Irishmen, Winifred or, as he is better known, St Boniface, a man of great political ability, reaped the field they had sown, and is called the apostle of Germany, though it is very doubtful if he ever preached to the heathen. The southern Irish, who had been more in contact with the South British and Gauls, were the first to accept the Roman method of reckoning Easter, which they did in 633 a.d. In the north of Ireland, which was in connexion with the Columban church, it was adopted fully only on the community of Iona yielding in 716, one hundred and fifty years after the commencement of the controversy, while Wales only conformed, according to the Welsh annals, in 768.

The Dynasty of the IΓt⅛ Néill. — Niall of the Nine Hostages had many sons, of whom eight became stem-fathers of important clans. Four—I,oegaire, Conall Crimthand, Fiacc, and Maine—settled in Meath and adjoining territories, and their posterity were called the southern Hιii or Hy Néill. The other four—Eogan, Enna Find, Cairprc, and Conall Gulban—like the three Gollas before mentioned, went into Ulster and made sword-land of a large part of it. Theiτ descendants were the northern Hιii Néill. The territory of Eogan was known as Tir Eogain, which has survived in the county of Tyrone; that of Conall Gulban was called Tir Conaill (Tyr Connell) corresponding nearly to the present county of Donegal. The posterity of Eogan were the O’Neills and their numerous kindred septs; the posterity of Conall Gulban were the O’Donnells and their kindred septs. Loegaire the son of Niall was succeeded by Ailill Molt, the son of Niall’s predecessor Dathi. After a reign of twenty years (463-483) he was slain in the battle of Ocha by Lugaid, son of Loegaire. This battle marks an epoch in Irish history, for it made the posterity of Niall the dominant race in Ireland for five hundred years, during which the Hùi Néill held the kingship without a break. The power of the Hùi Néill over Munster, or indeed over any part of Mug’s Half, which included Leinster, was, however, often only nominal. At this period the king of the southern half of Ireland was Oengus son of Natfraech, who is said to have been baptized by St Patrick. Whatever nιay have been the character of Oengus’s religious belief, his wife Ethne “the Terrible” was a pagan. She was the daughter of a Druid, and used Druidical incantations in the battle in which she was slain with her husband. Yet this was the age of St Brigit, St Ailbe, and other saints, who were then laying the foundation of that monasticism which in the following centuries absorbed the intellect and the energy of the nation.

The first king of the southern Hùi Néill was Diarmait, son of Fergus Mac Cerbaill (538-558). He undoubtedly professed Christianity, but still clung to many pagan practices, such as a plurality of wives and the use of Druidical incantations in battle. He quarrelled with the church about the right of sanctuary, with disastrous results for the country. The king held an assembly (fcis or fess) of the kings and princes of Ireland at Tara in 554, at which Curnân, son of the king of Connaught, slew a nobleman. By ancient usage homicide and certain other offences committed at such assemblies were punishable with death without the privilege of compounding for the crime. Curnan, knowing his fate, fled for sanctuary to Columcille; but Diarmait pursued him, and, disregarding the opposition of the saint, seized Curnan and hanged him. The kinsmen of Columcille, the northern Hιii Néill, took up his quarrel, and attacked and defeated the king in a battle in 555. It is probable that the part taken by Columcille in this affair had much to do with his leaving Ireland for his great mission to the Picts two years after. So ardent, energetic, and imperious a spirit must have chafed at any impediment in the way of his work, and, as many of his establishments were under the king’s hand, he must have decided to seek another field. This was not the only quarrel about the right of sanctuary which Diarmait had with the church. The chief of Hùi Maine, having slain the herald of the king, took sanctuary with St Ruadan of Lothra in Lower Ormond. Diarmait, despite the remonstrances of St Ruadan, seized him by force. The saint, accompanied by St Brendan of Birr, followed the king to Tara, and solemnly cursed it. After the death of Diarmait, who was slain in 558, Tara was deserted, and no assembly was again held there. Subsequent kings resided at their hereditary duns—the northern Hùi Néill at Ailech, near Derry, those of the southern branch in Westmeath. The desertion of Tara was one of the chief causes which disintegrated the Irish nation, in which the idea of a central government had taken firm root, and might under favourable circumstances have acquired sufficient force to evolve a higher political state out of the tribal system.

The reign of Aed, son of Ainmire, of the race of Conall Gulban of the northern Hιii Néill (572-599), marks another important epoch in Irish history. The filul, whom we shall conventionally call bards, and who were part of the transformed Druidic order, had increased in number to such an extent that they are said to have included one-third of the freemen. An ollam fili, the highest grade of the order, was entitled to a large retinue of pupil⅝ with their horses and dogs, with free quarters wherever he went. There was thus quite an army of impudent swaggering idlers roaming about the country and quartering themselves on the chiefs and nobles during the winter and spring, story-telling, and lampooning those who dared to refuse, or even to hesitate, to comply with their demands. Aed determined to banish them from Ireland; and, as this could only be done with the consent and cooperation of all the kings and chiefs, he summoned a convention fais or fess), such as formerly met at Tara, to assemble at Druimceta, in the north of Ireland. The political geography of the country at the time may be understood from the princes who attended. Besides Aed himself, the “Ard Ri” or over-king, there came there the over-king of Munster, the king of West Munster or Desmond, the king of Leinster, the king of Ossory, the chiefs of which had. then begun to acquire that power and independence which gave them prominence in the Dano-Irish wars, the kings of the three principalities into which Connaught was then divided, the chief of the Cinel Eogain branch of the northern Hùi Néill (Aed, the over-king, represented the Tir Conaill branch), two kings of the Airgéill, the king of Dal-Araide, the representative of the once powerful kings of the Ulaid, before the conquests of the Scots, and Aedan, son of Gabrân king of the Dalriata of Alba. Two other causes were also to be discussed at the assembly, one of which is of considerable historic interest, namely, Aed’s proposal to impose a tribute payable to the over-king upon the Dalriadic kingdom in Alba, which had hitherto paid no rent, though bound to assist the Irish king in his wars both by sea and land, and to pay him tries or blood fines. In other words, Aed proposed to make the Dalriadic colony an integral part of the Irish kingdom. St Columcille came thither from his island home attended by a large retinue of monks, many of whom were bishops, to plead the cause of the bards and of his kinsman Aedan. His influence seems to have been decisive; the bards were not banished, but were reformed, and the Dalriadic colony was made independent. The decision about the bards was no doubt a reasonable compromise at the time. The schools which the reformed order were obliged to keep mainly contributed to make Ireland a refuge of learning in the 7th and 8th centuries, and created a native literature, such as it was, several centuries before those of the other barbarian nations of Europe. But, on the other hand, professional poets, whose duty it was to sound, the praises of chiefs and clans in rhymes of the most complex and artificial metres and inflated language could not produce a really healthy vigorous literature. Some notion of what that literature might have been if produced in the favourable atmosphere of a growing political and social life may perhaps be formed from works, written it is true in Latin, but yet the genuine outcome of Irish culture, such as those of St Columbanus; the poems of Hibernicus exul, as the unknown exile is called who wrote in the second half of the 8th century the earliest epic of the Middle Ages; the poems of Sedulius Seotus, now brought to light more fully; Adamnan’s life of St Columba, or Columcille, which Pinkerton considered to be “the most complete piece of such biography that all Europe can boast of, not only at so early a period, but even through the whole Middle Ages”; and above all the writings of John Scotus Erigena, undoubtedly the greatest philosopher of the Middle Ages. We are, however, now in a better position to judge of the injurious action of the bardic institution as a whole. Several causes—among others, geographical position—helped to arrest the political and social growth of the Irish people, and crystallize their culture in the tribal stage, but the most powerful of those causes was the existence of the organized professions of the süide, who kept up elaborate systems of pedigrees, and of the filid or bards, whose business it was to flatter the vanity of their patrons and pander to their vices. These kept the clan spirit alive, shut out the influx of new opinions, and stopped the growth of national political ideas. The ephemeral lustre of the Irish mediaeval schools could never compensate for such losses.

The intensity of the tribal spirit even among churchmen is illustrated by an event which took place in the reign of Domnall, son of Aed (628-642). St Carthach, or as he was also called St Mochuda, a West Munster man, wandered into what is now the King’s county, and built a monastery at Raithin, now Rabin, near Tullamore. The clergy of Leth Cuind—that is, of the Hùi Neill—were jealous of the intrusion of the Munster monk into their territory, and accordingly insisted on Mochuda’s expulsion, who sought a refuge among the Dési in Munster, and there founded the monastery of Less Mδr, now Lismore, in Waterford, which became a famous school. Another event of this reign, of great importance, was the battle of Mag Rath, now Moira, in the county Down. Congal Claen, the king of Dal-Araide, who had been in exile, invaded Ireland with an army of foreign adventurers, and aided by Domnall Brec, king of the Albanian Scots, endeavoured to recover the ancient supremacy of the Rudrician race, or (Raid, but was signally defeated. This wanton attack of Domnall Brec weakened the power of the Scots in Alba for a long time, and thus influenced largely the course of events in North Britain.

Joint kingship was one of the most curious features of the Irish system; it frequently occurred in the course of the Hui Neill rule. The reign of the joint kings Diarmait and Blathmac of the northern Hiιi Néill (658-665) is interesting on account of the glimpse which Bede gives us of Irish society in the 7th century. After mentioning the sudden appearance of a great pestilence which depopulated the southern coasts of Britain, and afterwards extended into the province of the Northumbrians, Bede adds {Eccl. Hist., iii. 26), “This pestilence did no less harm in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English nation were there at that time, who in the days of the bishops Finan and Colman, forsaking their native island, retired thither, either for the sake of divine studies or of a more continent life; and some of them presently devoted themselves to a monastical life, others chose rather to apply themselves to study, going about from one master’s cell to another. The Scots willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis.” Later on in the same century (681) the cow-tribute or boraim of Leinster was abolished at the instance of St Moling by the over-king Finnachta; and at the end of it (697) St Adamnan, abbot of Hi, who had come to Ireland in connexion with the still unsettled question of the time of keeping Easter, succeeded in exempting women from military service. The necessity for such a law, which has been called from its author the Cain Adamnain, shows how little affected the tribal system of Ireland was bv Roman civilization, even at this period. In the reign of the over-king Aed Xlaind (733-742), an attempt seems to have been made for the first time to create a national church organization. King Aed and his rival, the king of Munster, Cathal, entered into an agreement regulating the tribute due to the church according to the rules and customs of the see of Armagh. Some time elapsed, however, before the regulation was generally accepted over the whole of Ireland. In the year 803 the over-king Aed Ordnigthe mustered an army composed of “both laity and clergy," but the latter complained of the hardship of being forced to take part in warlike expeditions. King Aed agreed to abide by the advice of a learned priest called Fothud of the Canons, who recommended the exemption of the clergy from the obligation of fighting. This law was called the Cain Pâtraicc or law of Patrick, probably from haying been obtained by the comarbaor successor of St Patrick, that is, the archbishop of Armagh at the time. The exemption may have, however, formed part of the regulations, called also Cain Patraicc, which formed the subject of the agreement between Aed Alaind and Cathal above referred to.

Invasions of the Northmen.— 'The first incursion of the Northmen took place in 795 A.D., when they plundered and burnt the church of Rechrann, now Lambey, an island north of Dublin Bay. When this event occurred, the power of the over-king had become a shadow; the provincial kingdomshad split up into more or less independent principalities, almost constantly at war with each other. Even Mag Breg, which was only part of Meath, was able to rebel against the chief of the latter. The oscillation of the centre of power between Meath and Derry, according as the over-king was of the southern or northern Hûi Néill, which followed the desertion of Tara, produced corresponding perturbations in the balance of parties among the minor kings. The army consisted of a number of clans, each commanded by its own chief, and acting as so many independent units without cohesion. The clansmen owed fealty only to their chiefs, who in turn owed a kind of conditional allegiance to the over-king, depending a good deal upon the ability of the latter to enforce it. A chief might through pique, or from other causes, withdraw his clan even on the eve of a battle, without such defection being deemed dishonourable. What the clan was to the nation or the province, the fine or sept was to the clan itself. The chieftains or heads of septs had a voice, not only in the question of war or peace, for that was determined by the whole clan, but in all subsequent operations. However brave the individual soldiers of such an army might be, the army itself was unreliable against a well organized and disciplined enemy. Again, such clan armies were only levies gathered together for a few weeks at most, unprovided with military stores or the means of transport, and consequently generally unprepared to attack fortifications of any kind, and liable to melt away as quickly as they were gathered together. Admirably adapted for a sudden attack, such an army was wholly unfit to carry on a regular campaign or take advantage of a victory. These defects of the Irish military system were abundantly shown throughout the Dano-Irish wars, and also in Anglo-Norman times.

The first invaders were Norwegians, who sought only plunder and captives. They confined their attacks to the sea-coast, or places at easy distances from it. After some time they erected rude earthen or stockaded forts, which served as magazines and places of retreat. Some served a temporary purpose, while others became in time trading stations, or grew into towns. During the first half of the 9th century the attacks were incessant upon almost every part of the coast. The small bodies who came at first having met with considerable resistance, large fleets commanded by powerful vikings followed. Their well-armed crews—the principal men at least being mail-clad—were able to penetrate into the country, and even to put fleets of boats upon the lakes. An Irish work on the invasions of the Northmen gives an account of one of those vikings named Turges or Turgesius, of whose cruelties many stories are told. Giraldos Cambrensis and the monk Jocelin repeated these stories,—the Irish book being, however, the original source from which the stories came. But Cambrensis goes beyond his source, and makes Turgesius king of Ireland. The Norse saga and chronicles make no mention of Turges, and much speculation has been indulged in as to the Norse equivalent of the name. It has been suggested that he was Thorgils, son of Harold Fair Hair, but this is an anachronism. According to another view, he was the shadowy king Bagnar Lodbrok or “Hairy Breeches,” but this, besides being also an anachronism, is mere groundless guesswork. Dr Todd has suggested that the Celtic form Turges represents the Norse Trygve, but is more likely Thorgcir. The actual story of Turges is a fable, which has grown up by the fusion of the stories of several vikings of the name, helped out by some invention. That there were at least two of the name is proved by an elegy on the death of Eignechân, prince of Tir Conaill, who died about 902, written by Fland Mac Lemin, a poet who lived within fifty years of the supposed historical chief. The poet tells a curious story of three vikings, one of whom was Turgeis and another Tor, who were married to three daughters of the prince. The Turges of history is supposed to have come to Ireland in 815, and to have been made prisoner and drowned by Maelsechlainn, or Malachy, the first king of the name in 845. Garmundus, another king of Ireland spoken of by Cambrensis and Jocelin, is most probably the mythical Garman or Carman of prehistoric times, a view which bears out a sagacious remark of Worsaae, that the Irish accounts of the Northmen frequently bear the stamp of being derived from early poetical legends.

But, even admitting that the story of Turges is a fable, the viking inroads in the first half of the 9th century inflicted untold woes on the country, one of the greatest being the breaking up of the Irish schools, just when they were at their best. Those who escaped fled to other countries; among these we may assume were Sedulius Scotus and John Scotus Erigena. But, whatever may have been the cruelty of the vikings, the work of disorder and ruin was not all theirs. The condition of the country afforded full scope for the jealousy, hatred, cupidity, and vanity which characterize the tribal stage of political society. Fedlimid, king of Munster and archbishop of Cashel, took the opportunit y of the misfortunes of the country to revive the claims of the Munster dynasty to be kings of Ireland. To enforce this claim he ravaged and plundered a large part of the country, took hostages from Niall Caille, the over-king (833-845), drove out the comarba of St Patrick, or archbishop of Armagh, and for a whole year occupied his place as bishop. On his return he plundered the termon lands of Clonmacnoise “up to the church door, ”—an exploit he repeated the following year. There is no mention of his having helped to drive out the foreigners. It is indeed possible that much of the devastation attributed to Turges may have been the work of Fedlimid, yet he is praised by the bards and annalists

About 852 the Dub-gaill or black foreigners, that is, the Danes as distinguished from the Find-gaill or fair foreigners or Norwegians, arrived. They quarrelled with each other at first, but ultimately made common cause. The Scandinavians at this time had effected permanent settlements, and trade had brought the natives and foreigners into friendly contact and intermarriage. Much intermingling of blood had already taken place in consequence of the number of captive women who had been carried away by the invaders. A mixed race grew up, recruited by many Irish of pure blood, whom a love of adventure and a lawless spirit led away. This heterogeneous population were called Gallgôedel or foreign Irish, and like their northern kinsmen betook themselves to the sea and practised piracy, and so were known to the Northmen as Vikingr Scotar. The Christian element in this mixed society soon lapsed to a large extent, if not entirely, into paganism. The Scandinavian settlements were almost wholly confined to the seaport towns, and, except Dublin, included none of the surrounding territory. Owing to its position, and the character of the country about it, especially the coast land to the north of the Liffey, which formed a kind of border land between the territories of the kings of Meath and Leinster, a considerable tract passed into the possession of so powerful a city as Dublin. We have evidence of this occupation in the topographical nomenclature of the district, while there are very few traces to be found elsewhere. The social and political condition of Ireland, and the pastoral occupation of the inhabitants, were unfavourable to the development of foreign commerce, and the absence of coined money among them shows that it did not exist. The foreign articles of dress or ornament they required appear to have been brought to the great oenachs or fairs held periodically in various parts of the country. A flourishing commerce soon grew up in the Scandinavian towns—Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, &c.; mints were established there, and many foreign traders—Flemings, Italians, and others—settled there. It was through these Scandinavian trading communities that Ireland came into contact with the rest of Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, of which the present forms of the names of three of the Irish provinces affords evidence. They are formed from the Irish names by the addition of the ending staδr, ster. The settlers in the Scandinavian towns soon came to be looked upon by the native Irish as so many septs of a clan added to the system of petty states forming the Irish political system. They soon mixed themselves up in the domestic quarrels of neighbouring tribes, at first selling their protection, a method largely followed afterwards by the Anglo-Normans, but afterwards as vassals, sometimes as allies, like the septs and clans of the Goedel among themselves. The latter in turn acted in similar capacities with the powerful Dano-Irish chiefs, Irish clans often forming part of the Scandinavian armies in Britain. This intercouse led to frequent intermarriage between the chiefs and nobility of the two peoples. One .of the earliest and most interesting examples of this is the case of Cerball, king of Osraige or Ossory, from about 858 to 887 or 888. Eyvindr, surnamed Aust-ιnaδr, “the east-man,” son of Bjorn, agreed to defend CerbalΓs territory, which from its position stood much in need of it, on condition of getting his daughter Raforta in marriage. Among the children of this marriage were Helgi Magri, or “the Lean,” one of the early settlers in Iceland, and Thurida, wife of Thorstein “the Red,” son of the celebrated Olaf, ‘ ‘the White,” king of Dublin. Three other daughters of Cerball married foreigners: Gormflaith, called in Norse Kormlo®, married Grimolf, who also settled in Iceland; Fridgerda, married Thoris Hyrna; and Ethne or Edna, married H loo ver, whose son was Earl Sigurd Digri (“the Fat”). CerbalΓs son Domnall, in Norse Dufnialr, was the founder of an Icelandic family; while the names Raudi and Baugr, the son and grandson of another son of Cerball, Cellach, in Norse Kjallakr, show how completely Norse they had become. Many others of the Icelandic settlers were Irish of pure or mixed blood, such as Thorm0 ’ δr, Ketil Bufa, &c. Among the descendants of Reginald (Rognvald) of 'Waterford we find such distinctly Irish names as Gillepatraicc, and Donddubhan or Donavam This intimate connexion of the two peoples explains the occurrence among the Icelanders and Norwegians of Konall, Kjaran, Njall, Kormakr, Brigit, Ka l δlin, and many other Celtic names.

After the arrival of the Dubgaill or Danes about 851, there was a severe struggle between them and the Norwegians, but all ultimately acknowledged Olaf “the White” (the OΓafr hinn Hvite of the Norse saga and the Amhlaebh of the Irish) as king. The overking of Ireland at this time was Maelsechlainn, or Malachy, the first of tire name, a brave soldier who had reduced the Scandinavian possessions in Ireland previous to the coming of Olaf to a few strongholds on the sea; but owing to the character of the Irish armies, which has been dwelt upon above, he was unable to retain the forts he took (among them Dublin). After Olaf came Ivar “Beinlauss,” “the Boneless,” who was afterwards king of the Northumbrians, a circumstance which accounts for the close connexion which afterwards subsisted between the Northumbrian dynasty and the Danish kings of Dublin. On the death of Ivar, Cerball, king of Ossory— the Cerball above mentioned—an Irishman of Goidelic blood, succeeded him, and was acknowledged as Danish king of Dublin until his death in 888. Cerball in alliance with another Ivar made his neighbours feel his power, and practically made Ossory independent. It is curious that, while the Irish annals do not recognize Cerball as king of Dublin, Kjarvalr of Dyflin is enumerated among the principal sovereigns of Europe in the Icelandic Landnâma-bôk. From about the beginning of the reign of Cerball to about 915, corresponding to the reigns of the over-kings Aed Find Liath and Fland Sinna (nephew of Cerball), there were no fresh invasions of the Danes or Northmen. During this period Ireland enjoyed comparative rest, and was regarded elsewhere as a place of comparative safety, notwithstanding the many feuds between the Irish clans in which the Dano-Irish shared, including the campaigns of Cormac, son of Cuilennan, king-bishop of Cashel. After this forty years’ rest the invasions recommenced. Niall Glundub (“Blackknee”), who became over-king in 910, gallantly opposed the invaders, and attempted to get possession of Dublin, but was defeated with great slaughter in the battle of Kilmashoge (Cell-Mosamhog) near Dublin in 919, and himself and twelve chiefs slain. From this time until Maelsechlainn, son of Domnall, or Malachy II. became over-king of Ireland in 980, the country was plundered and desolated by natives and foreigners alike. The most prominent figures of this period were Muircertach, son of Niall “Blackknee,” commonly known as Muircertach “of the Leather Cloaks,” Cellachan or Callaghan of Cashel, and Olaf Cùarân. Muircertach Mac Neill was the most formidable opponent the Scandinavians had yet met. In his famous circuit of Irelajιd he took all the provincial kings, as well as the Danish king of Dublin, as hostages, and, after keeping them for some time at Ailech, he handed them-over to the titular king of Ireland, the weak and inefficient Domnall, showing that his loyalty was greater than his ambition. Callaghan of Cashel, though the hero of a late romance, had in reality no claim to fame. Olaf Cùarân, or Olaf “of the Sandal,” was the son of Sigtryggr, or Sitric, who was king of Dublin about 917. Sigtryggr was expelled from Dublin (about 920), and went to England, where he took, advantage of the death of Rognvald (about 924) to make himself king of the Scandinavian kingdom of Northumbria. On the accession of Athelstan he went to Tamworth (926) and made homage to him, and married Athelstan’s sister, but died the following year. Athelstan then expelled his sons Olaf and GitSroftr or Guored. This Olaf appears to have been the one who married the daughter of Constantine, king of Scotland, and with another Olaf, son of the cruel Gu‰d, king of Dublin, who went away from that city in 834, took part in Constantine’s wars with Athelstan, ending in the bloody battle of Brunanburgh (938a.d.). Olaf, son of Guored, returned to Ireland, but on the death of Athelstan becameking of the Northumbrian kingdom, and on becoming a Christian was acknowledged by Eadmund. Olaf Cuaran, who appears to have been also baptized (844), succeeded to the Northumbrian kingdom for a short time in the reign of Eadred, on the expulsion of Eric Bloody Axe, but on being in turn expelled he appears to have gone to Ireland, where he became king of Dublin, and apparently of Man and the Isles. The Isle of Man belonged to the Goidelic kingdom of Ireland in early times, and was conquered in 588 by Aidan, son of Gabran, king of the Scotic kingdom of Alba, and passed away from the Irish connexion after the convention of Druimceta. During the independence of the Dano-Irish kingdom of Dublin it seems to have formed part of it.

Olaf Cûarân slew Congalach, king of Ireland, in 956. In 973 Domnall, the son of this Congalach, in alliance with Olaf, defeated Domnall O’Neill, king of Ireland, at Cell Mona (Kilmoon near Dun-Shaughlin, county Meath). Domnall O'Neill was the son of “Leather Cloaks,” son of King Niall, from whom he took the surname O’Neill, that is, grandson of Niall, and was the first who used it. The tanists or heirs of the northern and southern Hιii Néill having died, the throne fell to Maelsechlainn or Malachy II. of the Clanu Colmain, the last of the Hûi Néill who was undisputed king of Ireland. Malachy, who became king in 980, had already distinguished himself as king of Meath in war with the Dano-Irish. In the first year of his reign as over-king, he defeated them in a bloody battle at Tara, in which fell Rognvald, son of Olaf Cûarân. This victory, won over the combined forces of the Scandinavians of Dublin, Man, and the Isles, compelled Olaf to deliver up all his captives and hostages, among whom were Domnall Claen, king of Leinster, and several notables, to forego the tribute which he had imposed upon the southern Hûi Néill, and to pay a large contribution of cattle and money. Olaf’s spirit was so broken by this defeat that he went on a pilgrimago to Hi, where he died the same year.

The Dal-Cais Dynasty.— Like the Hûi Néill, the rival family of Ailill 01um of Munster had split into two branches. The descendants of Ailill’s son Eogan were called the Eoganacht or Eugenians, and those of his son Cormac Cas the Dal-Cais. Ailill is said to have ordained that the succession to the throne of Munster should be alternately in the races of Eogan and Cormac Cas. This rule was observed with tolerable regularity for some generations, like the corresponding alternation between the northern and southern Hûi Néill. The Eugenian clans, however, being the more powerful, sue·* ceeded in excluding to a great extent the rival race from the throne. The Dal-Cais, who were seated in North Munster, had necessarily to bear the brunt of the attacks upon Munster, which impoverished and weakened them. A few of them succeeded, however, in asserting their claims to the throne, among whom were Cenneidig or Kennedy (in 954), and his sons Mathgamain or Mahön (slain 976), and Brian, sumamed Borama, who reigned from 976 to 1002, when he became over-king. Properly speaking, the Dal-Cais derived their name not directly from Cormac Cas but from Cas MacTail, king of Thomond, one of his descendants. The grandson of this Cas, Carthann Find, was the first Christian chieftain of the race. The family was seated near Bel na Boruma or the Pass of the Cow-Tribute, and Ath na Boruma or Ford of the Tribute, which suggests that the Dal-Cais were in the habit of “lifting” preys of cattle. It was most probably from this place that Brian was called Boruma, and not, as is usually assumed, from having reimposed the ancient cow-tribute upon Leinster. Kennedy and his sons offered a stubborn resistance to the Dano-Northmen. While king of Thomond, Mahön after a harassing warfare made a truce with the latter, but Brian roused the whole people to war. Mahön crossed the Shannon, and got possession of Cashel on the death of the Eugenian king of Munster, Dunchad. Ivar, Dano-Norse king of Limerick, in conjunction with Maelmuad, or Molloy, king of Desmond, and Donnaban, king of the Hui Fidgeinte and Hûi Cairpri, who were in alliance with Ivar, perhaps even his vassals, determined to carry the war into Thomond, but were met by Mahön at Sulcoit, near the site of the present town of Tipperary, and totally defeated. This decisive victory gave the Dal-Cais Limerick, which they sacked and burnt. Mahön then took hostages of all the chiefs of Munster. Ivar escaped to Britain, but returned after a year with a Lord of the Isles whose name is unknown, but who was called Maccus, son of Harold, probably a misunderstanding of the Irish Mac Arailt, that is, son of Harold. This chieftain had conquered Anglesey, which, however, he was only able to hold for a short time. He was one of the eight kings of Britain who paid homage to Eadgar at Chester in 973, and rowed his boat to and from church. Ivar and MacHarold entrenched themselves at Inis Cathaig, now Scattery Island in the lower Shannon, which they held for three years. In the meantime a conspiracy was formed between Ivaι ’ and his son Dubcenn and the two Eoganacht chieftains, Donoban and Maelmuad, before mentioned. Donoban was married to the daughter of a Danish king of Waterford, and his own daughter was married to Ivar of Waterford. The son of the latter was called Don aban, after his maternal grandfather. The descendants of the Irish prince in the male line were the O’Donovans, those of the Danish prince the O’Donavans. Inis Cathaig, where the Dano-Northmen had entrenched themselves, was attacked in 976 by the Dal-Cais and plundered, and the garrison, including Ivar and his son Dubcenn, slain. According to the Norse saga, MacHarold and his two sons perished there, while Ivar was defeated and put to flight elsewhere. Irish accounts tell us that Ivar’s surviving son Harold was recognized as king of the foreigners of Munster, and that he took refuge with Donoban. This Harold was probably not the son of Ivar, but the above mentioned MacHarold, Lord of the Isles. Brian, now the head of the Dal-Cais, invaded the territories of Donoban, took his fort, Cathir Cuain, and slew himself and Harold. He next attacked the other conspirator, Maelmuad, who by the death of Mahon had become king of Munster, and defeated and slew him. By this event Brian became undisputed king of Munster. He reduced the Dési, who were in alliance with the Dano-Northmen of Waterford and Limerick, and banished their king. In 984 Brian subdued Ossory, and took hostages from the kings of East and West Leinster, for that province, like the others, had now become divided into two principalities, and thus made himself king of Leth Moga, or “Mug’s Half” of Ireland. Brian then appears to have allied himself with the Dano-Northmen of Waterford, or made them his vassals, for they seem to have joined him in his invasion of Westmeath in 989.

This last exploit of Brian brought him into contact with Malachy, who after his great victory at Tara had gained other successes. In 983, in alliance with his half brother Gluniarind or “Iron-Knee,” son of his former foe Olaf Cûarân, he defeated Domnall Claen, king of Leinster, whom he had released from hostageship by his victory at Tara, and who was now in league with Ivar of Waterford. In 985 he slew the chieftains of Connaught, and plundered the country. In 989 he took Dublin, and imposed an annual tribute upon the city. Malachy thought it high time to check Brian, so he invaded Thomond, and defeated the latter. In 992 Brian, who evidently aimed at the over-kingship, invaded Meath, and advanced as far as Loch Ainind (Lough Ennel), at which was one of the residences of the southern Hûi Néill, whereupon Malachy invaded Connaught and then compelled Brian to retire. In 996 Malachy advanced into Munster, plundered Nenagh, and defeated Brian. He next attacked Dublin, and carried off the ring or chain of Tomar and the sword of “Carlus,” two heirlooms much prized by the Danes of Dublin

In 998 Brian ascended the Shannon with a large force, intending to attack Connaught. Malachy, who received no support from the northern Hûi Néill, came to terms with Brian. All hostages held by the over-king from the Danes and Irish of Leth Moga were to be given up to Brian, which was a virtual surrender of all his rights over the southern half of Ireland. Brian on his part recognized Malachy as sole king of Leth Cuind, or Cond’s half, “without war or trespass from Brian.” This treaty was thus the exact counterpart of that made centuries before by their ancestors Cond and Mug Nûadat. In 1000 Leinster revolted against Brian, and entered into alliance with the Danes of Dublin. Brian advanced towards the latter place with the intention of blockading it, but halted on the way at a place called Glenn-Mama or Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin, the ancient fortress of the kings of Leinster, in the county of Wicklow. It is said, though there is not sufficient ground for the opinion, that Malachy joined him here. The Dano-lrish allies attacked him, but were defeated with a loss of 4000 slain, including Aralt or Harold, son of Olaf Cûarân. Brian entered Dublin with his victorious army, where he found immense booty, and made captives and slaves of a great number of women and boys and girls. Making Dublin his headquarters, he then easily reduced the greater part of Leinster.

After his defeat at Glen Mama, Sigtryggr or Sitric fled for protection to the northern Hûi Néill at Ailech, but, failing to induce them or the kings of the Ulaid to enter into an alliance with him, he submitted to Brian three months after his defeat. The latter, seeing the advantage the Dane would be to himself, not only restored him to power in Dublin, but gave him his daughter in marriage, and took the mother of Sigtryggr as his wife or concubine. Gormflaith or Gormlaith was the sister of Maelmorda, the king of Leinster, whom Brian had defeated at Glen Mama. She was married first to Olaf Cûarân, by whom she had Sigtryggr, and then to Malachy, by whom she was divorced or repudiated, after she had borne him a son Conchobar. It is probable that her connexion with Brian dates before this, for her son Donnehad by Brian was grown up at the time of the battle of Clontarf.

Sigtryggr’s confederate Maelmorda, brother of Gormflaith, was also taken into favour by Brian and restored to the kingship of Leinster. Brian then returned to his residence, Cenn Coradh, and there matured his plan for deposing Malachy, and making himself overking. When everything was ready he entered Bregia (Mag Breg) with an army consisting of his own troops, those of Ossory, his South Connaught vassals, and the Dano-Irish of Munster. His allies the Dublin Danes appear to have advanced into Meath before him, but their cavalry was defeated by Malachy. The latter, feeling himself unequal to the contest with Brian, endeavoured to gain time for the purpose of seeking allies, for he had evidently been taken by surprise. With this view he concluded an armistice, during which he was to decide whether he would give Brian hostages (that is, abdicate) or not. He applied to the northern Hui Néill to come to his assistance, and even offered to abdicate in favour of Aed O’Neill, chief of theθinel Eogain; but the latter clan refused unless Malachy undertook to cede half the territory of his own clan—the Clann Colmain—to them. The attempt to unite the whole of the Heremonian race against the Eberian race, and preserve a dynasty that had ruled Ireland for six hundred years, having failed, Malachy submitted to Brian, and without any formal act of cession the latter became over-king, for the annalist Tigernach, who was himself of the Hιii Néill, records at the end of the year 1001, “Brian regnat.” The Four Masters, also of the northern Hùi Néill, begin his reign in 1002. During a reign of twelve years (1002-1014) he is said to have effected much improvement in the country by the erection and repair of churches, the construction of bridges, causeways, and roads, and the strengthening of the royal forts and “crannogs” or island fortresses. We are also told that he administered rigid and impartial justice, and dispensed royal hospitality, and, as he was liberal to the bards, they have not forgotten his merits.

Towards the end of Brian’s reign a conspiracy was entered into between Maelmorda, king of Leinster, and his nephew, Sitric of Dublin, who was married to Brian’s daughter. This conspiracy was instigated by Gormflaith, Maelmorda’s sister, and Brian’s wife or concubine, who seems to have used all her arts to secure allies. In the spring of 1014 they had collected a considerable army in Dublin, composed of Maelmorda’s own Leinster troops and Welsh allies, the Danes of Dublin, and considerable contingents from Man, the Isles, Orkney, and in fact from all the Scandinavians of the west. Some Saxons and Flemings interested in the trade of Dublin seem to have also joined the expedition. Its leader was Sigurd, earl of Orkney and Caithness, son of Earl Hlo ’ δver or Lewis, by an Irish princess (Ethne or Edna, daughter of Cerball, king of Ossory), whom he succeeded in 98θ. Sigurd, who aimed at the supreme command of all the Scandinavian settlements of the west, succeeded in the course of a few years in conquering the Sudreys, and even Sutherland, Hoss, Moray, and Argyll. He had accidentally fallen into the power of Olaf Tryggvason, when the latter was on his way from Dublin to be king of Norway, who only set him free on condition of his becoming a Christian and swearing fealty to him. Another leader of the Dano-Hibernian army was an apostate deacon called Brodir, who, according to Maurer’s conjecture, was the Danish viking Gutring. To meet this formidable force, Brian, who was then an old man, unable to lead his troops in person, mustered all the forces of Munster and Connaught, and was joined by the forces of Meath under Malachy the deposed king. The northern Hùi Néill and the Ulaid took no part in the struggle. Brian advanced into the plain of the Fine-gaill, north of Dublin, where a council of war was held. It is said that Malachy differed with Brian on the plan of battle, and did not join his troops with Brian’s. He is further accused of treachery and of being in league with the enemy. This is, however, a calumny of the Munster bards. The probability is that his troops had not yet come up when the battle began, and that he held them in reserve. There is no doubt, however, that he mainly contributed to the victory by keeping the strong garrison under Sitric, which held Dublin, in check, and at a critical moment falling upon the Leinster wing of the enemy, which he crushed, and preventing the Danes from rallying, by which numbers were forced back to the shore and drowned by the advancing tide. The battle, which in the Norse saga is called Brian’s Battle, and in Irish history the battle of Clontarf, though the chief fighting took place close to Dublin, about the small river Tolka, was fought on Good Friday 1014. In it fell most of the leaders on both sides, and also Brian himself, who wds slain in his tent by Brodir when a fugitive from the field of battle.

The Irish as usual did not follow up their victory by taking Dublin, which remained a Danish city until the advent of the Normans. This probably arose from the dissensions which immediately broke out among the Munster men about the kingship of Munster, each party hastening home as quickly as possible in order to get possession of the prize. On the way the Dal-Cais were opposed by the men of Ossory, but no battle took place owing to the heroic conduct of the wounded. This unpatriotic conduct of the king of Ossory has been made much of; but nationality in the modern sense had nothing whatever to do with the affair. In the following year, 1015, Malachy, who was again recognized as king of Ireland, with the aid this time of the northern Hιii Néill, burned Dublin and handed the Leinster clan the Hui Cennselaig. But the effects of Brian’s revolution were permanent; the prescriptive rights of the Hùi Néill were disputed, and after Clontarf, until the coming of the Normans, the history of Ireland consisted of a struggle for ascendency between the O’Brians of Munster, the O’Neills of Ulster, and the O’Connors of Connaught. The power of the western Scandinavians was broken at Clontarf; no new invasion took place, chiefly no doubt because of their conversion to Christianity. They continued to hold their strongholds on the coasts, and occasional conflicts took place between them and their neighbours. Gradually, however, they assumed the position of native tribes; but, owing to the distinction of language, they did not readily fuse with the G0edel, though intermarriages were frequent They fused much more readily with the Normans and English, not so much from any affinity of language, as from their civic life and commercial spirit being alike. The next generation saw Christianity the recognized faith of the Dano-Irish, who founded bishoprics, at first in connexion with the church in Norway, but wholly unconnected with the Irish clan-bishops until a short time before the Anglo-Norman invasion.

From the Battle of Clontarf to the Anglo-Norman Invasion.— The death of Malachy, the last over-king acknowledged by the whole country, afforded an opportunity for an able and ambitious man to subdue Ireland, establish a strong central government, break up the tribal system, and assist the gradual fusion of factions into a homogeneous nation. Such a man did not, however, arise; those who afterwards claimed to be ard ri lacked the qualities of founders of strong dynasties, and, though sometimes acknowledged by the greater part of the country, were never accepted as the legitimate rulers of the whole of Ireland. Even the Scandinavian towns of Ireland ceased to cooperate as one people. Their native chiefs were sometimes expelled and replaced by Irish ones, and the fusion of the two races went rapidly on. In 1052, Diarmait (called Mac Mael na mBo), king of Leinster, defeated the Dano-Irish king of Dublin, Echmargach (Marga‰ in the Sagas), son of Rögnvaldr (Reginald), and became king of Dublin, and was succeeded by his son Murchad, who defeated Sigtryggr, son of Rögnvaldr, king of Man, and made that island tributary to Dublin, a relation it generally stood in under Scandinavian rulers. After an ineffectual attempt of Donnchad, son of Brian, king of Munster, to become ard ri, Diarmait, king of Leinster, gained the upper hand. At the commencement of Donnchad’s reign great lawlessness prevailed in Munster, which was further intensified by a dearth. The king held an assembly of the chiefs and clergy at Killaloe in 1050, to devise measures for its repression, and appears to have succeeded, for Munster was peaceable for a long time, and many Saxon and Welsh nobles found refuge there. Much intercourse appears to have existed between the southern Irish and the Anglo-Saxons, and many Irish nobles λvere mixed up with English feuds. Intermarriages were also frequent, the king himself being married to Driella, sister of Editha, queen of Edward the Confessor. In the rebellion of Earl Godwine, Harold took refuge with his brother-in-law, who gave him nine ships on his return to England. Tordelbach (Torlough), in revenge for the death of his father Tadg, whom his uncle Donnchad had slain, attacked the latter and defeated him in 1063.

On the death of Diarmait Mac Mael na mBo, who was killed in a battle with the king of Meath in 1072, the Tordelbach just mentioned was generally recognized as ard ri, but he did not succeed in gaining the allegiance of the northern Hùi Néill. He appears to have appointed his son Muirceτtach (Murtough) lord of Dublin; but the latter must have only had precarious possession of it from about 1075 or 1076 to 1079; for, immediately after the death of Diarmait, Godred, son of Sigtryggr (Sitric), was king. This Godred requested Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, to consecrate a certain Gillepatrick bishop of Dublin, in succession to Duncan, a fact which shows that at this period the Danish cities acknowledged the supremacy of the see of Canterbury. Lanfranc in his answer calls Godred “Rex Hiberniae,” a title which he also gave to Tordelbach. On the death of the latter, Muircertach succeeded him as king of Munster, and while he was establishing himself on the throne, Godred Mananach (i.c,, of Man) got possession of Dublin, which he ruled till 1094, when he was defeated by Muircertach. This is the Godred usually called Crovan, a name which, however, properly belongs to an earlier king of Man. A fierce war broke out between Muircertach and Domnall O’Loughlin, king of Ailech (of the northern Hùi Néill). Godred took the side of Domnall with ninety ships, and Muircertach was defeated; but in the end he succeeded, and in 1094 he drove Godred out of Dublin. It is probable that Muircertach had received assistance to do this from Magnus “Bare-leg,” who made his first expedition to the west about this time. As the Isle of Man was always an apanage to the Scandinavian kingdom of Dublin, the Manxmen on the defeat of Godred Crovan naturally applied to Muircertach for a governor; he sent them his kinsman Domnall, who was, however, expelled some time after for his tyranny. The struggle for the sovereignty between the rivals Muircertach and Domnall O’Loughlin continued, with intervals of truce negotiated by the clergy, without any decisive advantage on either side. In 1102 Magnus “Bare-leg” made his third and last expedition to the west, with the express design of conquering Ireland. His former ally Muircertach had meanwhile joined in a league against the king of England. The Norman lords, Robert of Bclesme and Arnulph, brothers of Earl Hugh Montgomery, who had been killed by Magnus in his attack on Anglesey, on the occasion of his first expedition to the west, having espoused the cause of Robert, duke of Normandy, against his brother Henry Beauclerc, leagued with some Welsh princes against the king. Arnulph entered into alliance with Muircertach, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and even, it is said, promised to make him his successor. The league was unsuccessful, and Arnulph betook himself to the court of Muircertach, who so far from being able to give his son-in-law assistance, expected help from him against Magnus, who appears to have threatened Muircertach with war, probably on account of his relations with Dublin. There is a story of Magnus sending his shoes to Muircertach, and of the latter submitting unconditionally, which is, however, a mere fable; but the latter in his desire to crush his rival Domnall may have done homage to Magnus as suzerain of the kingdom of Dublin. Magnus and Muircertach came, however, to terms; they exchanged hostages, and Sigurd the son of the king of Norway was betrothed to Biadhmuin, the daughter of the Irish king. Magnus then became the guest of the latter at Cenncoradh in the winter of 1102; and in the following spring they invaded Ulster, but were signally defeated by Domnall O’Loughlin, and Magnus was killed shortly after in a foraging expedition in the present county of Down. Muircertach then courted the friendship of Henry, king of England, took back his daughter from Arnulph, and gave her to another man; and, faithless, like most of the princes and nobles of that time, he even plotted against the life of Arnulph. St Anselm nevertheless compliments him upon his good government, and passes a high eulogium on some of the Munster bishops. Ideas of a higher political life and church organization appear at this time to have made considerable progress in Ireland, and to have had an appreciable influence on the policy of Muircertach himself.

After the death of Muircertach the power of the O’Briens was for a time broken by Tordelbach (Turlough) O’Connor, king of Connaught, and a pretender to the over-kingship,—a man whom no tie or obligation bound. Conchobar (Connor) O’Brien, grandson of Muircertach, succeeded however in defeating O’Connor; and his brother Tordelbach, who succeeded him, carried on the war until the whole country was reduced to that state so graphically described by the Four Masters as “a trembling sod.” In the midst of this almost continuous war and devastation morals became relaxed, and the practice of religion almost ceased. The church property had passed into the hands of the lay successors, and no provision was made for the service of the churches, most of which were in rains. A true reformer, however, appeared in Maelmaedog Ua Morgair, or St Malachy, who was appointed legate by Innocent II. Through his exertions a great synod was held at Kells under Cardinal Paparo (Malachy having died at Clairvaux in 1148) in 1152, at which true diocesan jurisdiction was established, Dublin being brought into connexion with the Irish Church, and raised to the rank of an archiépiscopal city; another archbishopric was founded at Tuam, to the great discontent of the northern and southern parties representing “Cond’sHalf” and “Mug’s Half” in the church,—the cardinal, as papal legate, having brought the palliums for the four archbishops. Tithes were also ordained to be levied for the support of the clergy, and many reforms decreed. Many churches and monasteries were built, and great advance took place in architecture and artistic metal work, which were not mere imitations of foreign art, but the true outcome of the earlier period of Celtic art.

Between 1148 and 1150 Muircertach (Maurice or Murtough) O’Loughlin was acknowledged as over-king in three out of the four provinces. Tordelbach O’Brien, however, renewed the struggle between the north and south, but after he had received the homage of the Dano-Irish of Dublin, a trace was arranged between the rivals. In 1151 the Munster king was deposed by his brother Tadg, who was supported by Tordelbach O’Connor, king of Connaught, with the assistance of Diarmait MacMurchada (Dermot MacMurrough). O’Loughlin took up the cause of his former rival, but was defeated by O’Connor. The latter died in 1156 after a long reign, and O’Loughlin remained undisputed over-king. Ruadri (Roderick) O’Connor succeeded his father Tordelbach, and signalized the beginning of his reign by blinding one brother and imprisoning two others. Muircertach O’Loughlin, having blinded the chief of Dal-Araide, a savage mode of mutilation very much in fashion at the time, a league was formed against him, and he was defeated and slain, whereupon Ruadri claimed to be over-king, and, there being no serious opposition, he was inaugurated with great pomp at Dublin, which already began to have considerable weight in Irish affairs, and had now for the first time assumed somewhat of the character of a metropolis.

The Diarmait MacMurchada above mentioned was the great-grandson of Diarmait Mac Mael na mBo, and was consequently both by descent and position much mixed up with foreigners, and generally in a state of latent if not of open hostility with the overkings of the Hùi Néill and Dal-Cais dynasties. He was a tyrant, and a man of bad character. In 1152 Tigenιan O’Rourke, prince of Brefni, had been dispossessed of his territory by Tordelbach O’Connor aided by Diarmait, and the latter is accused of also carrying off Derbforgaill (Dervorgilla), O’Rourke’s wife. It is probable, however, that the latter event has been entirely misrepresented, and that the lady had merely thrown herself, in accordance with Irish law, upon the protection of the Leinster king. However this may have been, the accession of Ruadri to the chief kingship warned Diarmait of his danger; and accordingly, on learning that O’Rourke was leading an army against him with the support of the over-king, he burnt his castle of Ferns, and went to Henry II. to ask his assistance. The results which followed belong to the next section, but here we may point out that many Irish princes before Diarmait had sought the aid of foreigners, and that at that time, and especially in a tribal society, this was not regarded in the same light as in modern times.

Political and Social State of Ireland in the early Middle Ages.— To complete our account of pre-Norman Ireland, we shall give hero a brief account of the social life of the Irish at the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century, which indeed substantially represents the state of things during the whole period from the 7th to the I2th century.

In the Middle Ages there were considerable forests in Ireland encompassing broad expanses of upland pastures and marshy meadows, unbroken up to the 7th century by ditch or dyke. There were no cities or large towns at the mouths of the rivers; no stone bridges spanned the latter; stepping stones or hurdle bridges at the fords or shallows offered the only mode of crossing the broadest rivers and connecting the unpaved roads or bridle paths which crossed the country over hill and dale from the principal kingly dti,ine (sing. dun). The forests abounded in game—the red deer and wild boar were common; and wolves ravaged the flocks, for the most part unprotected by fences even in comparatively later times. Scattered over the country were numerous small hamlets, composed mainly of wicker cabins, among which were some which might be called houses; other hamlets were composed of huts of the rudest kind. Here and there were some large hamlets or villages that had grown up about groups of houses surrounded by an earthen mound or rampart; similar groups of houses enclosed in this manner were also to be found without any annexed hamlet. Sometimes the rampart was double, with a deep ditch between. The simple rampart and ditch enclosed a les or cattleyard and the groups of houses of the owners, for every room was a separate house. The enclosed houses (ratha, sing, rath) belonged to the free men called airig (sing. aire). The sizes of the houses and of the enclosing mound and ditch marked the rank (that is, the wealth) of the aire. If his wealth consisted of chattels only, he was a bb-aire, or cow-aire. When he possessed ancestral land, which was no doubt one of the consequences of the Scotic conquest, he was ά faith or lord, and was entitled to let his lands for grazing, to have a hamlet in which lived labourers, and to keep slaves. The larger fort with two or more ditches and ramparts was a dun, where the chieftain or ri lived, and kept his hostages if he had subreguli. The houses of all classes were of wood, chiefly wattles and wicker-work enclosing clay, and cylindrical in shape, with conical roofs thatched with rushes. The oratories were of the same form and material, but the larger churches and kingly banqueting halls were made of sawn boards. Bede, speaking of a church built by Finan at Lindesfarne, says, “nevertheless, after the manner of the Scots, he made it not of stone but of hewn oak and covered it with reeds.” When St Malachy, who lived in the first half of the 12th century, thought of building a stone oratory at Bangor, it was deemed a novelty by the people, saying, “we are Scoti, not Galli.” Long before this, however, stone churches had been built in other parts of Ireland, and many round towers. In some of the cathraig (sing, cathir), or stone forts, of the south-west of Ireland, the houses within the ramparts were made of stone in the form of a beehive, and similar “cloghans,” as they are called, are found in the western islands of Scotland.

Here and there in the neighbourhood of the hamlets were patches of corn grown upon allotments that were annually exchangeable among the inhabitants. Around the dùine and ratha the cultivation was better, for the corn land was the fixed property of the lord, and began to be enclosed by fences in the 7th and succeeding centuries. Oats was the chief corn crop, but wheat and barley were also grown, —chiefly, however, by the higher classes. The onion and the parsnip also were cultivated, and mark the first stage in kitchen gardening, which, as well as bee-keeping, was introduced by the church. Flax and the dye-plants (woad for blue and ru, a kind of madder, for red) were the chief industrial plants. Portions of the pasture lands were reserved as meadows. Tillage was rude, the spade and fork being of wood, though sometimes shod with iron. There are native names for the different parts of the plough, so we may assume that some form of that implement worked by oxen yoked together by a simple straight yoke was in use in the very early times. Wheeled carts were also known; the wheels were often probably only solid disks, though wheels formed of a hub, spokes, and felloes were used for chariots. The tilled land was manured. Droves of swine under the charge of swineherds wandered through the forests; some belonged to the chiefs, others to flatha or lords, and others again to village communities. The house-fed pig was also an important object of domestic economy; its flesh—fresh,, pickled, or in bacon— was much prized. Indeed, fresh pork was one of the inducements held out to visitors to Tir Tairngirc or Elysium. Horned cattle constituted the chief wealth of the country, and were the standard for estimating the worth of anything; for the Irish had no coined money, and carried on all commerce by barter. The unit of value was called a sét (pl. séuti), which appears to mean literally a jewel or precious object of any kind. There were several kinds of séuti, differing somewhat in value. The king sét was a full-grown cow after her third calf; the normal set was an average milch cow. Gold, silver, bronze, tin, clothes, and all other kinds of property were estimated in séuti, referred to the milch-cow as the standard. Three séuti, that is, three cows, were equal to a cumal, a word signifying a female slave, which reveals an important feature of Irish society to which we shall revert. Sheep formed an important element of wealth in some parts of the country, and goats were numerous. The old laws draw a distinction between the working horse and the riding horse; both kinds appear to have been numerous and of good breed. Bee-cultivation was carefully attended to, the honey being used both for a kind of confectionery and for making metheglin or mead. So important a place did bee-culture hold in the rural economy of the ancient Irish that the laws regarding bees still extant would fill a goodly volume.

The ancient Irish were a pastoral people, and therefore had certain nomadic habits. When they had sown their corn, they drove their herds and flocks to the mountains, where such existed, and spent the summer there, returning in autumn to reap their corn and take up their residence in their sheltered winter residences. Where the tribe had land on the sea-coast they also appear to have migrated thither in summer. These habits explain the presence of duine, cathraig, and other forts on mountains and headlands. The chase in the summer occupied the freemen, not only as a source of enjoyment, but also as a matter of necessity, for wolves were very numerous. For this purpose they bred dogs of great swiftness, strength, and sagacity, which seem to have been much admired by the Romans.

We have said that the residences within enclosing ramparts did not consist of one house with several apartments, but every room was a separate house. Thus, to take the residence of an aire, he had the living house, in which he slept as well as took his meals, the women’s house, in which spinning and other domestic work was carried on, the kitchen, the barn, the calf-house, the pigsty, and the sheep-house. In the residence of chiefs and flatha a sunchamber or grianan was also provided for the mistress of the house, which in the lar<m duine appears to have been put on the rampart, so as to escape the shadow of the latter. The round houses were made by making two basket-like cylinders, one within the other, and separated by an annular space of about a foot, by inserting upright posts in the ground and interweaving hazel wattles between, the annular space being filled with clay. Upon this cylinder was placed a conical cap, thatched with reeds or straw. The kreel houses of many Highland gentlemen in the last century were made in this way, except that they were not round. The early Irish houses had no chimney; the fire was made in the centre of the house, and the smoke made its exit through the door or through a hole in the roof, as in the corresponding Gaulish and German houses. The introduction of chimneys probably led to the change in the form of the houses from round to oblong. Near the fire, fixed in a kind of candlestick, was a candle of tallow or raw bees-wax, which gave a lurid smoky flame; this marked a notable advance upon the use of a piece of bog-deal. Around the wall in the houses of the wealthy and higher classes were arranged the bedsteads, or rather compartments, with testers and fronts, which were sometimes of carved yew. The beds were made of skin stuffed with feathers. Wooden platters, drinking horns, and vessels of yew and bronze were displayed on dressers. Of pottery there was none. Large chests and cupboards for holding clothes, meal, and other things were placed in convenient places. In the halls of the kings, of whom there were several grades, the position of each person’s bed and seat, and the joint of meat which he was entitled to receive from the ranaire, or distributor, were regulated according to a rigid rule of precedence. The arms and horse trappings of the master of the house were also displayed on the walls; and in the king’s house each person who had a seat in it had his shield suspended over him. Every king had hostages for the fealty of his vassals, who sat unarmed in the hall, and those who had become forfeited by a breach of treaty or allegiance were placed along the wall in fetters. The position of a hostage in ancient times was at best unpleasant, but when those who gave him in hostageship broke their engagements his lot was truly a hard one; he was fettered and his life was forfeited. There were places in the king’s hall for the judge, the fill or poet, the harper, the various craftsmen, the juggler, and fool. The king had his bodyguard of four men always around him; these were freed men whom the king had delivered from slavery inherited from birth, or to which they had been condemned for crime or debt, for an insolvent debtor became in Ireland, as in Rome and indeed in most ancient societies, the property of his creditor. In an age of perpetual warfare and violence, the gratitude of a slave was esteemed a greater safeguard than even the ties of blood,—a fact which suggests some curious reflexions concerning the origin of offices at the courts of kings.

There were also numerous attendants about a king’s house and a flaith’s house; these were a very miscellaneous body; among them were many Saxon slaves and the descendants of former slaves, for after the cessation of the Irish incursions a regular slave trade grew up, which was only abolished by the action of the church not long before the Norman invasion. These attendants slept on the ground, in the kitchen, or in cabins outside the fort. It was only the higher classes who were provided with beds, and in early times not even these. In the Pfalz MS. of Chunrat’s Song of Kaiser Karl there is a picture of the emperor sleeping on the floor, so that the habit of the whole family sleeping in the hall in which they ate and drank was rather the rule than the exception among all the northern nations. The living room or hall we have been describing also served in part as a kitchen, for joints were roasted at the fire in winter, the soup boiler was suspended over it, the brewing vat was in it. The house we have called the kitchen was rather a room for grinding meal in hand-mills, a work done by females (who were slaves in the houses of flatha and kings), the making of bread, cheese, &c.

The children of the upper classes in Ireland were not reared at home, but were sent to some one else to be fostered. The children of the greater kings were generally fostered by minor kings, and even by kings of their own rank. The ollam fili, or chief poet, ranked in some respects with a tribe king, sent his sons to be fostered by the king of his own territory. The fosterage might be done for friendship or for some special advantage, but it was generally a matter of profit, and there are numerous laws extant fixing the cost, and regulating the food and dress of the foster child according to his rank. It was customary to educate together a number of youths of very different ranks, and the laws laid down regulations for the clothing, food, and other expenses of each grade. In like manner a number of maidens were fostered together, those of inferior rank serving as companions for the daughter of a king. The cost of the fosterage of boys seems to have been borne by the mother’s property, that of the daughters by the father’s. The ties created by fosterage were nearly as close and as binding on the children as those of blood. Fosterage was apparently the consequence of the marriage customs.

It has been stated above that pagan marriage customs survived the introduction of Christianity. Of this there is ample evidence. As among all tribal communities, the wealth of the contracting parties constituted the primary element of a legitimate marriage. The bride and bridegroom should be provided with a joint fortune proportionate to their rank. When the bride and bridegroom were of equal rank, and the sept of each contributed an equal share to the marriage portion, the marriage was legal in the full sense, and the wife was a wife of equal rank. If the bride were noble and the bridegroom not, the former had to contribute one-third of the marriage portion to fulfil the condition of equality. If the bridegroom was the son of a flaith, and the bride the daughter of a cow-aire, the former contributed one-third and the latter two-thirds. In this kind of marriage the husband and wife had equal rights over the joint property. The wife of equal rank was the chief wife in pagan times, and where the conditions were not fulfilled the woman occupied an inferior position, and might have another woman placed over her as principal wife. The church endeavoured to make the wife of a first marriage, that is, the wife according to canon law, the only true wife according to Irish law, but in this it is clear it did not at once succeed. The struggle between the marriage laws of the church and the ancient customs is curiously illustrated by the continuance of what according to canon and feudal law was concubinage, as a recognized condition of things according to Irish law. These marriages may be called contract marriages, and were of various kinds, depending mainly on questions of property, and were entered into with the cognizance of the man’s chief wife and of his sept. When a woman had sons her position was greatly altered, and her position did not materially differ in some respects from that of a chief wife. As the tie of the sept was blood, all the acknowledged children of a man, whether legitimate or illegitimate according to canon and feudal law, belonged equally to his sept. Even adulterine bastardy was no bar to a man becoming chief or ri of his tualh, or tribe, as was shown in the case of Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone. As all the children of a chief of household, of whatever rank, had equal rights in the sept, notwithstanding the efforts of the church to restrict those rights to the children of marriages according to canon law, it was necessary to commit their rearing and education to some one outside their own sept; hence the system of fosterage, which at one time prevailed in all Aryan communities, as did also no doubt the whole of the Irish marriage customs, which are a survival in a singularly complete and archaic form of customs which had died out elsewhere under the influence of Roman and canon law.

The food of the ancient Irish was very simple, and their table service equally so. The former consisted mainly of cakes of oaten bread, cheese, curds, milk, butter, and the flesh of all the domestic animals fresh and salted. In the 8th century at all events wheat and barley meal were also used by the better classes. The legendary food of the Land of Promise consisted of fresh pork, new milk, and ale. Of course fish, especially the salmon, and game are also to be added to the list. The opsonia were very limited—onions and watercresses. The food of the monks was chiefly oaten bread, milk, and curd-cheese. The chief drink was ale, the right to brew it being apparently confined to flatha, as was the case in many parts of Germany down to the end of the Middle Ages. It seems to have been expected that a flaith should be generous to his vassals, retainers, and all those about him; the word for open-handedness in Irish, flaitheamhuil, is derived from his name; an aphorism fixes the time at which he was expected to be bountiful, “for he is not a lawful flaith who does not distribute ale on a Sunday.” All the business of the sept and tribe was conducted in the ale-house or cuirrntech, as the chief men of the tribe were called its props,— sobald cuirrntigi. The bards chanted poems, and songs were sung to the music of a kind of harp, called a cruot, or of a bowed instrument called a timpan∖ stories were also told, and the guests of the ale-house were content to hear the same story over and over again. The ollam fili, who only told his story to kings, was, however, expected to know more than seven times fifty great and small stories. The amusements were also varied by the jokes of the fool and the tricks of the juggler, as in the baronial halls of the Normans at a later period.

The dress of the upper classes was similar to that of a Scottish Highlander before it degenerated into the present conventional garb of a Highland regiment. It consisted first of the lenn, a kind of loose shirt generally of woollen cloth (but linen ones are mentioned), reaching a little below the knees of men, and forming what is now called the kilt. This garment was of different colours, some being spotted, checkered, and variegated, each tribe or clan having apparently special colours. It would also seem that the number of colours in the dress indicated the rank of the wearer. The lenna of kings and the wealthy flatha were embroidered, furnished with borders, and even fringe of gold is mentioned. Over the lenn came the inar, a kind of closely fitting tunic reaching to the hips, and bound around the waist by the cτiss, a girdle or scarf often of some rich colour, especially purple, and frequently, in the case of the men’s, the gift of a woman. The inar or jacket appears to have been open at the breast so as to show off the embroidery of the lenn. Over the left shoulder, and fastened with a brooch, hung the brat, a shawl or plaid like the modern Scottish one. This garment replaced the skin or fur of a wild beast of earlier times, and the brooch the thorn with which it was fastened. The brooches were often of beautiful workmanship, as is shown by the numerous examples exhibiting endless variety of design which are now preserved in museums. The legs were bare or covered with a kind of legging or hose fastened by thongs; the feet were entirely naked or encased in shoes of raw-hide also fastened with thongs. The only difference between the dress of men and women was that the lenn of the latter reached nearly to the ankles and formed a petticoat instead of a kilt. The freemen wore their hair long and prided themselves on its curling into ringlets. They sometimes confined it at the back of the head in a conical spiral of bronze, silver, or gold. The women also wore their hair long, and braided it into tresses, which they confined with a pin. The beard was worn long, and was carefully cultivated, being often plaited into tresses. The men as well as women, like all ancient and semi-barbarous people, were fond of ornaments. They tatooed figures with woad on their bodies like the Britons and Picts, as we learn from a gloss in a MS. of St Gall, quales Scotti pingunt.”—Gloss in a St Gall MS. in Hattemar's Denkmale, i. 227, 233. ] and also from Isidore. They covered their fingers with rings, their arms with bracelets; they wore torques or twisted rings of gold about the neck, such as we see on the celebrated antique sculpture of the Gaul, known as the ‘ ‘ Dying Gladiator.” The richer and more powerful kings wore a similar torque about the waist, and a golden mind or diadem on state occasions. Every woman of rank wore finger rings, bracelets, earrings, and a w lann or crescent-shaped blade of gold on the front of the head, from which hung behind a veil. The queens also wore a golden mind or diadem on state occasions. The mind was so attached to a veil or some kind of headdress that it seems to have formed a complete covering for the head. Ladies also had carved combs, and ornamental work boxes; they used oil for the hair, and dyed their eyelashes black with the juice of a berry, and their nails crimson with a dye like archil. The lenn or kilt seems to have been the garb of freemen only; the men of the servile classes wore braccae or tight-fitting breeches reaching to near the ankles, the upper part of the body being either left altogether naked, or covered by a short cloak without sleeves. In winter all classes appear to have worn a long coat or cloak with a cochull or hood. The Gauls used a similar kind of hooded cloak, which became fashionable in Rome. Coats or cloaks of this kind made of a brown frieze were regarded in the 7th and 8th centuries as peculiarly Irish, owing no doubt to the great number of missionaries and scholars from Ireland who wandered over Europe clothed in such long cloaks, with a book wallet and a kind of leather bottle slung on their shoulders, and a thick knotted staff in the hand. It is from them the Benedictine monks borrowed the dress which has since become the characteristic habit of religious orders. The name cowl in English, and all the cognate forms in other languages, are no doubt from the Gaulish word corresponding to the Irish cochull. The two Irishmen who accompanied the Icelander, Thorfinn Karlsefnisson, in his voyage from Greenland when he discovered America in the 9th century, wore coats which are called by the same name which the Northmen gave the monk’s cowl.

The principal weapon of the Irish soldiers was a pike or lance with a very long handle; some were also armed with a short sword suspended by a belt across the shoulder, and a shield. It is probable that bronze lance-heads and swords were used down to early Christian times, and even later, though the use of iron weapons must have been known from the period of the Scotic invasions of Britain. The shields were of two kinds :—one a light round or slightly oval wooden target covered with hide, and in earlier times in the case of rich warriors a bronze disk with numerous bosses, backed with wood; and the other the sciath or oblong bulged shield of wicker work covered with hide. Some carried stone hammers or war axes, and in the 9th and succeeding centuries an iron one, the use of which was learned from the Northmen. War-hats, cuirasses, and other defensive armour were very little if at all used before the Danish wars. In Irish legendary tales some of the heroes are equipped in leather cuirasses, and wear crested helmets and war-hats, but these are no doubt interpolations in the narrative of later times.

The tuath or territory of a ri or king was divided among the septs. The lands of a sept {fine) consisted of the estates in severalty of the lords {flatha), and of the ferand duthaig or common lands of the sept. The dwellers on each of these kinds of land differed materially from each other. On the former lived a motley population of slaves, horse boys, and mercenaries composed of broken men of other clans, many of whom were fugitives from justice {rnacca bais, literally “sons of death”), &c., possessing no rights either in the sept or tribe, and entirely dependent on the bounty of the lord, and consequently living about his fortified residence. The poorer servile classes, or cottiers, wood cutters, swine herds, &c., who had right of domicile (acquired after three generations), lived here and there in small hamlets on the mountains and poorer lands of the estate. The good lands were let to a class of tenants called fuidirs, of whom there were several kinds, some grazing the land with their own cattle, others receiving both land and cattle from the lord. Fuidirs had no rights in the clan or sept; some were true serfs, others tenants-at-will; they lived in scattered homesteads like the farmers of the present time. The lord was responsible before the law for the acts of all the servile classes on his estates, both new comers and senehleithe, i.e., descendants of fuidirs, slaves, &c., whose families had lived on the estate during the time of three lords. He paid their blood-fines, &c., and received compensation for their slaughter, maiming, or plunder. The fuidirs were the chief source of a lord’s wealth, and he was consequently always anxious to increase them.

As every man in a fine or sept had a right to build a house on the ferand duthaig or common land, the size of the house and extent of land which might be permanently enclosed as a yard or lawn depending upon the rank of the man, that is, upon his wealth, the clansmen occupied chiefly isolated homesteads and cabins; some of the latter being occasionally grouped in hamlets. Clansmen who possessed twenty-one cows and upwards were airig (sing, aire), or as we should say had the franchise, and might fulfil the functions of bail, witness, &c. When an aire died his family did not always divide the inheritance, but formed “a joint and undivided family” the head of which was an aire, and thus kept up the rank of the family. Three or four poor clansmen might combine their property and agree to form a “joint family,” one of whom as the head would be an aire. In consequence of this organization the homesteads of airig included several families—those of his brothers, sons, &c. A rich bo-aire (cow-aire, i.e., an aire whose wealth consisted in cattle) was allotted a certain portion of the common land in consideration of affording hospitality to travellers entitled to free quarters from the clan; he was called a briugu (gen. briugad) or bruigfer, that is, man of the brog or burg. He acted as a kind of rural magistrate, and the meetings of a clan for the election of the ri took place at his house or brog. The stock of a bo-aire was partly his own and partly the gift of the chief. Eveιy man was bound to accept stock from the chieι proportionate to his rank; in return he was obliged to pay a certain customary tribute {bes tigi, house tribute). A man might also agree to take more stock and pay rent in kind. Such men, whose position was, however, thereby much altered, were called biathachs (from bind, food). A man might with the consent of his sept enter into a similar contract with the flaith of another sept, so that the biathachs or victuallers included also some of those called fuidirs. A lord might receive his biad or food at his own residence, or go to the house of his biathach accompanied by a retinue and eat it there, or send his mercenaries, horses, dogs, &c., there, to be supported, which was the usual way. The biathachs were consequently liable to suffer great oppression.

The professions accounted noble, such as those of ecna (wisdom), which included law and medicine, an&filidecht or divination, which in Christian times was that of the bards or rhymesters, formed a number of schools each under an ollam or doctor, who was provided with mensal land for the support of himself and his scholars. He was also entitled to free quarters for himself and a retinue, including dogs and horses, so that when he travelled he had a kind of ambulatory school with him. The ollam bretheman or chief of a law school was the chief brithem (brehon or judge) of his tuath. The liag or leech had also his apprentices, and treated his surgical patients in his own house. The harper, the cerd or artist in metals, and the smith were also provided with mensal land, and gave their skill and the product of their labour as their bés tigi or customary tribute in return for the gifts bestowed by their chief.

Popular assemblies, which were held in the open air, were of various kinds; thus the methel flatha was a gathering of the vassals of a lord to reap his corn, clear his roads, &c. The fine or sept had its special meeting, summoned by the aire fine or chief of the sept for many purposes, such as the assessment of blood-fines due from the sept, and the distribution of those due to it. The clan had also its gathering to deliberate on important questions, such as peace and war, in which every aire or fully qualified clansman had a voice. The most important of all popular assemblies was, however, the oenach or fair, summoned by a king, those summoned by the kings of provinces having the character of national assemblies. The oenach had a fourfold object:—(1) the promulgation of laws, and the rehearsal of pedigrees upon which depended the succession of the princes; (2) the recitation of poetry and tales, musical contests, exhibition of works of artists in metals, &c., and the award of prizes to the professional classes; (3) popular sports, such as horse-racing, wrestling, &c.; and (4) the barter of all kinds of wares. The oenach in pagan times was an essentially religious festival celebrated in the great cemeteries, each clan, and in the minor fairs each sept, holding its assembly on the grave mound of their ancestors. Nor did it entirely lose its religious character in Christian times, for the oenach opened and closed with religious ceremonies. The women and men assembled in separate airechta or gatherings, and no man durst enter the women’s airecht under pain of death. The brithem (brehon) or judge seated on a stone chair raised above the heads of the people delivered his judgment, the sιiide recounted the pedigrees of the chiefs, the filid sounded theirpraises and told the deeds oι the clans in verse, the c&rda or artists in metal exhibited their work. Foreign traders came thither with their wares, which they exchanged for native produce, especially for the coarse woollen fabrics which even in the 8th century were celebrated on the continent. Every one was expected to appear at the oenach or fair in his or her best clothes and ornaments, and careful provision was made by the law to prevent creditors from unjustly withholding ornaments pledged with them on the occasion of a fair. Crimes committed at an oenach or other solemn assembly could not be commuted by payment of fines. The inauguration of a king took place at some sacred place where there was an ancient tree or grove, the* vernet of the clan, the cutting down of which was the greatest insult a conqueror could offer to the conquered. (W. K. S.)

History from the Anglo-Norman Invasion.

Nicholas Breakspeare, known in history as Hadrian IV., was the only Englishman who ever filled the papal chair. Urged by the ambition proper to his office, and perhaps by an Englishman’s natural pride in being able to confer favours on a king of England, he granted a bull to Henry II. in 1155 which contains this passage :— “There is no doubt, and your nobility acknowledges, that Ireland and all islands upon which Christ the Sun of righteousness has shone, and which have received the teachings of the Christian faith, rightfully belong to the blessed Peter and the most holy Roman Church.” Believing that Henry was likely to use his power for the good of religion and of the church, he granted Ireland to him, reserving all ecclesiastical rights, and making one penny from each house payable yearly to St Peter.

In 1156 Dermod MacMurrough, deposed for his tyranny from the kingdom of Leinster, repaired to Henry in Aquitaine. The king was busy with the French, but gladly seized the opportunity of asserting his claim, and gave Dermod a letter authorizing him to raise forces in England. Thus armed, and provided with gold extorted from his former subjects in Leinster, Dermod went to Bristol and sought the acquaintance of Richard de Clare, a Norman noble of great ability but broken fortunes. Earl Richard, whom later usage has named Strongbow, agreed to reconquer Dermod’s kingdom for him. The stipulated consideration was the hand of Eva his only child, and according to feudal law his sole heiress, to whose issue lands and kingdoms would naturally pass. But Irish customs admitted no estates of inheritance, and Eva had no more right to the reversion of Leinster than she had to that of Japan. It is likely that Strongbow had no conception of this, and that his first collision with the tribal system was an unpleasant surprise. Passing through Wales, Dermod agreed with Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Fitzgerald to invade Ireland in the ensuing spring.

About the 1st of May 1169 Fitzstephen landed on the Wexford shore with a small force carefully chosen from among the Welsh youth, and next day Maurice de Prendergast brought another band nearly to the same spot. Dermod joined them, and the Danes of Wexford soon submitted. According to agreement Dermod granted the territory of Wexford, which had never belonged to him, to Robert and Maurice and their heirs for ever. And here begins the conflict between feudal and tribal law, which was destined to deluge Ireland in blood. Maurice Fitzgerald soon followed with a fresh detachment. About a year after the first landing Raymond Le Gros was sent over by Earl Richard with his advanced guard, and Strongbow himself landed near Waterford on the 23d August 1170 with 200 knights and about 1000 other troops.

The natives did not understand that this invasion was quite different from those of the Danes. They made alliances with the strangers to aid them in their intestine wars, and the annalist writing in later years (Annals of Lough Ce) describes with pathetic brevity the change wrought in Ireland :—“Earl Strongbow came into Erin with Dermod M 4 Murrough to avenge his expulsion by Roderick, son of Turlough O’Connor; and Dermod gave him his own daughter and a part of his patrimony, and Saxon foreigners have been in Erin since then.”

Most of the Norman leaders were near relations, many being descended from Nesta, daughter of Rhys Ap Tudor, prince of South Wales, the most beautiful woman of her time, and mistress of Henry I. Her children by that king were called Fitzhenry. She afterwards married Gerald de Windsor, by whom she had three sons:—Maurice, ancestor of all the Geraldines; William, from whom sprang the families of Fitzmaurice, Carew, Grace, and Gerard; and David, who became bishop of St David’s. Nesta’s daughter Angareth, married .to William de Barri, bore Giraldus Cambrensis, and was ancestress of the Irish Barries. Raymond Le Gros, Hervey de Montmorency, and the Cogans were also descendants of Nesta, who, by her second husband Stephen the Castellan, was mother of Robert Fitzstephen. Further details must be sought in Giraldus. His prejudices and credulity make him an unsafe guide about Irish customs, but there is no valid reason to reject his statements as to his own kinsmen.

While waiting for Strongbow’s arrival, Raymond and Hervey were attacked by the Waterford Danes, whom they overthrew. Seventy prisoners were thrown over a cliff into the sea. Strongbow himself took Waterford and Dublin, and the Danish inhabitants of both readily combined with their French-speaking kinsfolk, and became firm supporters of the Anglo-Normans against the native Irish.

Alarmed at the principality forming near him, Henry invaded Ireland in person, having first had Hadrian’s grant confirmed by Alexander III., so as to gain the support of the Irish clergy. He landed near Waterford 18th October 1172. Giraldus says he had 500 knights and many other soldiers; Regan, the metrical chronicler, says he had 4000 men, of whom 400 were knights; the Annals of Lough Cê that he had 240 ships. The Irish writers tell little about these great events, except that the king of the Saxons took the hostages of Munster at Waterford, and of Leinster, Ulster, Thomond, and Meath at Dublin. They did not take in the grave significance of doing homage to a Norman king, and becoming his “man.”

Henry’s farthest point westward was Cashel, where he received the homage of Donald O’Brien, king of Thomond, but does not appear to have been present at the famous synod. Christian O’Conarchy, bishop of Lismore and papal legate, presided, and the archbishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam attended with their suffragans, as did many abbots and other dignitaries. The primate of Armagh, the saintly Gelasius, was absent, and presumably his suffragans also, but Giraldus says he afterwards came to the king at Dublin, and favoured him in all things. Henry’s sovereignty was acknowledged, and constitutions made which drew Ireland closer to Rome. In spite of the “enormities and filthinesses,” which Giraldus says defiled the Irish Church, nothing worse could be found to condemn than marriages within the prohibited degrees, and trifling irregularities about baptism. Most of the details rest on the authority of Giraldus only, but the main facts are clear. The synod is not mentioned by the Irish annalists, nor by Regan, but it is by Hoveden and Ralph de Diceto. The latter says it was held at Lismore, an error arising from the president having been bishop of Lismore. Tradition says the members met in Cormac’s chapel.

Henry at first tried to be suzerain without displacing the natives, and received the homage of Roderick O’Connor, hitherto considered head king. But the adventurers were uncontrollable, and he had to let them conquer what they could, exercising a precarious authority over the Normans only through a viceroy. Fitzadelm and other early governors seemingly had orders to deal as fairly as possible with the natives, and this involved them in quarrels with the “conquerors,” whose object was to carve out principalities for themselve s ≈, and who only nominally respected the sovereign’s wishes. One is forcibly reminded of the squabbles of the crusaders. The mail-clad knights were not uniformly successful against the natives, but they generally managed to occupy the open plains and fertile valleys. Geographical configuration preserved centres of resistance, —the O’Neills in Tyrone and Armagh, the O’Donnells in Donegal, and the Macarthies in Cork being the largest tribes that remained practically unbroken. On the coast from Bray to Dundalk, and by the navigable rivers of the east and south coasts, the Norman put his iron foot firmly down.

Prince John landed at Waterford in 1185, and the neighbouring chiefs hastened to pay their respects to the king’s son. Prince and followers alike soon earned hatred, the former showing the incurable vices of his character, the latter pulling the beards of the chieftains. After eight disgraceful months he left the government to De Courcy, but retained the title “Dominus Hiberniae.” It was even intended to crown him; and Urban III. sent a licence and a crown of peacock’s feathers, which was never placed on his head. Had Richard I. had children Ireland might have become a separate kingdom.

Henry granted Meath, about 800,000 acres, to Hugo de Lacy, reserving scarcely any prerogative to the crown, and making his vassal almost independent. De Lacy sublet the land among kinsmen and retainers, and to his grants the families of Nugent, Tyrell, Nangle, Tuyt, Fleming, and others owe their importance in Irish history. It is not surprising that the Irish bordering on Meath should have thought De Lacy the real king of Ireland; the following passage from the Annals of Lough Cé is worth quoting: —“The son of the king of the Saxons went across afterwards to complain of Hugo de Lacy to his father; for it was Hugo de Lacy that was king of Erin when the son of the king of the Saxons came, and he permitted not the men of Erin to give tribute or hostages to him.”

During his brother’s reign John’s viceroy was William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who married Strongbow’s daughter by Eva, and thus succeeded to his claims in Leinster. John’s reputation was no better in Ireland than in England. He thwarted or encouraged the Anglo-Normans as best suited him, but on the whole they increased their possessions. In 1210 the excommunicated king visited Ireland again, and being joined by Cathal Crovderg O’Conner, king of Connaught, marched almost unchallenged by De Lacy from Waterford by Dublin to Carrickfergus. Thus, with the aid of Irish allies, did Henry H.’s son chastise the sons of those who had given Ireland to the crown. John did not venture farther west than Trim, but most of the Anglo-Norman lords swore fealty to him, and he divided the partially obedient districts into twelve counties—Dublin (with Wicklow), Meath (with Westmeath), Louth, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary. John’s resignation of his kingdom to the pope in 1213 included Ireland, and thus for the second time was the papal claim to Ireland formally recorded.

During Henry III.’s long reign the Anglo-Norman power-increased, but underwent great modifications. Richard, earl marshal, grandson of Strongbow, and to a great extent heir of his power, was foully murdered by his own feudatories—men of his own race; and the colony never quite recovered this blow. On the other hand the De Burghs, partly by alliance with the Irish, partly by sheer hard fighting, made good their claims to the lordship of Connaught, and the western O’Connors henceforth play a very subordinate part in Irish history. Tallage was first imposed on the colony in the first year of this reign, but yielded little, and tithes were not much better paid.

On the 14th January 1217 the kin'g wrote from Oxford to his justiciary, Geoffrey de Marisco, directing that no Irishman should be elected or preferred in any cathedral in Ireland, “since by that means our land might be disturbed, which is to be deprecated.” This order was annulled in 1224 by Honorius III., who declared it “destitute of all colour of right and honesty.” The pope’s efforts failed, for in the 14th century several Cistercian abbeys excluded mere Irishmen, and as late as 1436 the monks of Abington complained bitterly that an Irish abbot had been imposed on them by lay violence. Parliament was not more liberal, for the statute of Kilkenny, passed in 1366, ordained that “no Irishman be admitted into any cathedral or collegiate church, nor to any benefice among the English of the land,” and also “that no religious house situated among the English shall henceforth receive an Irishman to their profession.” This was solemnly confirmed by the English parliament in 1416, and an Irish Act of Richard III. enabled the archbishop of Dublin to collate Irish clerks for two years, an exception proving the rule. Many Irish monasteries admitted no Englishmen, and at least one attempt was made, in 1250, to apply the same rule to cathedrals. The races remained nearly separate, the Irish simply staying outside the feudal system. If an Englishman slew an Irishman (except one of the five regal and privileged bloods) he was not to be tried for murder, for Irish law admitted composition (erick) for murder. In Magna Charta there is a proviso that foreign merchants shall be treated as English merchants are treated in the country whence the travellers came. When Henry III. sent the letter against Irish clerks, Gualo the papal legate was chief minister, and the king a child of eleven years. Yet some enlightened men strove to fuse the two nations together, and the native Irish, or that section which bordered on the settlements and suffered great oppression, offered 8000 marks to Edward I. for the privilege of living under English law. The justiciary supported their petition, but the prelates and nobles refused to consent.

There is a vague tradition that Edward I. visited Ireland - about 1256, when his father ordained that the prince’s seal should have regal authority in that country. A vast number of documents remain to prove that he did not neglect Irish business. Yet this great king cannot be credited with any specially enlightened views as to Ireland. Hearing with anger of enormities committed in his name, he summoned the viceroy D’Ufford to explain, who coolly said that he thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, “whereat the king smiled and bade him return into Ireland.” The colonists were strong enough to send large forces to the king in his Scotch wars, but as there was no corresponding immigration this really weakened the English, whose best hopes lay in agriculture and the arts of peace, while the Celtic race waxed proportionally numerous. Outwardly all seemed fair. The De Burghs were supreme in Connaught, and English families occupied eastern Ulster. The fertile southern and central lands were dominated by strong castles. But Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and the mountains everywhere, sheltered the Celtic race, which, having reached its lowest point under Edward I., began to recover under his son.

In 1315, the year after Bannockburn, Edward Bruce landed near Larne with 6000 men, including some of the best knights in Scotland. Supported by O’Neill and other chiefs, and for a time assisted by his famous brother, Bruce gained many victories. The Scots ranged at will over great part of Ireland, but the brothers never took Dublin, though they came as near it as Castleknock. There was no general effort of the natives in their favour; perhaps the Irish thought one Norman no better than another, and their total incapacity for national organization forbade the idea of a native sovereign. The family quarrels of the O’Connors at this time, and their alliances with the Burkes, or De Burghs, and the Birminghams, may be traced in great detail in the annalists,—the general result being, fatal to the royal tribe of Connaught, which is said to have lost 10,000 warriors in the battle of Templetogher. In other places the English were less successful, the Butlers being beaten by the O’Carrolls in 1318, and Richard de Clare falling about the same time in the decisive battle of Dysert O’Dea. The O’Briens re-established their sway in Thomond and the illustrious name of De Clare disappears from Irish history. Edward Bruce fell in battle near Dundalk, most of his army recrossing the channel, and leaving behind a reputation for cruelty and rapacity. Indeed the invaders were generally hated, and have had little thanks either from Irish or colonial chroniclers. The colonists were victorious, but their organization was undermined, and the authority of the crown, which had never been able to keep the peace, grew rapidly weaker. Within twenty years after the great victory of Dundalk, the quarrels of the barons allowed the Irish to recover much of the land they had lost.

John de Birmingham, earl of Louth, the conqueror of Bruce, was murdered in 1329 by the Gernons, Cusacks, Everards, and other English of that county, who disliked his firm government. The} were never brought to justice. Talbot of Malahide and two hundred of Birmingham’s relations and adherents were massacred at the same time. In 1333 the young earl of Ulster was murdered by the Mandevilles and others; in this case signal vengeance was taken, but the feudal dominion never recovered the blow, and on the north-east coast the English laws and language were soon confined to Drogheda and Dundalk. The earl left one daughter, Elizabeth, who was of course a royal ward. She married Lionel, duke of Clarence, and from her springs the royal line of England from Edward 1V., as well as James V. of Scotland and his descendants.

The two chief men among the De Burghs were loth to hold their lands of a little absentee girl. Having no grounds for opposing the royal title to the wardship of the heiress, they abjured English law and became Irish chieftains. As such they were obeyed, for the king’s arm was short in Ireland. Sir William appropriated Mayo as the Lower (Oughter) M i William, and the earldom of Mayo perpetuates the memory of the event. Sir Edmund as the Upper (Eighter) M t William took Galway, and from him the earls of Clanricarde afterwards sprung.

Edward III. being busy with foreign wars had little time to spare for Ireland, and the native chiefs everywhere seized their opportunity. Dublin was forced to pay blackmail to M 4 Murrough, and the northern settlements fared no better. In 1348 O’Kennedy drove the Cogans and Cantwells from their lands in North Tipperary, and burned Nenagh to the castle walls under the eyes of Ormonde’s governor. In 1318 Brian O’Brien left Clare, and established himself in Tipperary, founding the family of M‘Brien Arra. Perhaps the most remarkable of these aggressive chiefs was Lysaght O’More, who reconquered Leix. Clyn the Franciscan annalist, whose Latinity is so far above the mediaeval level as almost to recall Tacitus, sums up Lysaght’s career epigrammatically :—“He was a slave, he became a master; he was a subject, he became a prince (de servo dominus, de subjecto princeps effectus).”

The two great earldoms whose contests form a large part of the history of the south of Ireland were created by Edward III. James Butler, eldest son of Edmund, earl of Carrick, became earl of Ormonde and palatine of Tipperary in 1328. Next year Maurice Fitzthomas Fitzgerald was made earl of Desmond, and from his three brethren descended the historic houses of the White Knight, the knight of Glyn, and the knight of Kerry. The earldom of Kildare dates from 1316. In this reign too was passed the statute of Kilkenny, a confession by the crown that obedient subjects were the minority. The enactments against Irish dress and customs, and against marriage and fostering proved a dead letter.

In two expeditions to Ireland Richard II. at first overcame all opposition, but neither had any permanent effect. Art M i Murrough, the great hero of the Leinster Celts, practically had the best of the contest. The king in his despatches divided the population into Irish enemies, Irish rebels, and English subjects. As he found them so he left them, lingering in Dublin long enough to lose his own crown. But for M*Murrough and his allies the house of Lancaster might never have reigned. No English king again visited Ireland until James II., declared by his English subjects to have abdicated, and by the more outspoken Scots to have forfeited the crown, appealed to the loyalty or piety of the Catholic Irish.

Henry IV. had a bad title, and his necessities were conducive to the growth of the English constitution, but fatal to the Anglo-Irish. His son Thomas was viceroy in 1401, but did very little. “Your son,” wrote the Irish council to Henry, “is so destitute of money that he has not a penny in the world, nor can borrow a single penny, because all his jewels and his plate that he can spare, and those which he must of necessity keep, are pledged to lie in pawn.” The nobles waged private war unrestrained, and the game of playing off one chieftain against another was carried on with varying success. The provisions of the statute of Kilkenny against trading with the Irish failed, for markets cannot exist without buyers.

The brilliant reign of Henry V. was a time of extreme misery to the colony in Ireland. Half the English-speaking people fled to England, where they were not welcome. The Act of 1 Henry V. c. 8 ordered all “Irishmen and Irish clerks, beggars, called chamber deacons, to depart before the feast of All Souls, for quietness and peace in this realm of England.” Soldiers were drawn by high pay to Henry’s French wars, and a contemporary writer, Robert Redman, recounts how they “with very sharp and missile balls (catapultariis pilis) wounded their enemies severely, easily avoiding their onset by their own swiftness of foot. Their valour in that siege (of Rouen) was remarkable They showed very great animosity to the French, whom they plundered of their goods, and whose children they seized by force as slaves to the English, after the price had been fixed by bargaining.” The Irish wars had not been a good school of humanity.

The disastrous reign of the third Lancastrian completed the discomfiture of the original colony in Ireland. Quarrels between the Ormonde and Talbot parties paralysed the Government, and a “Pale” of 30 miles by 20 was all that remained. Even the walled towns, Kilkenny, Ross, Wexford, Kinsale, Youghal, Clonmel, Kilmallock, Thomastown, Fethard, and Cashel, were almost starved out; Waterford itself was half ruined and half deserted. Only one parliament was held for thirty years, but taxation was not remitted on that account. No viceroy even pretended to reside continuously. The north and west were still worse off than the south. Some thoughtful men saw clearly the danger of leaving Ireland to be seized by the first chance comer and the Libel of English Policy, written about 1436, contains a long and interesting passage declaring England’s interests in protecting Ireland as “aboterasse and a poste” of her own power. Sir John Talbot, immortalized by Shakespeare, was several times viceroy; he was almost uniformly successful in the field, but feeble in council. He held a parliament at Trim which made one law against men of English race wearing moustaches, lest they should be mistaken for Irishmen, and another obliging the sons of agricultural labourers to follow their father’s vocation under pain of fine and imprisonment. The earls of Shrewsbury are still earls of Waterford, and retain the right to carry the white staff as hereditary stewards, but the palatinate jurisdiction over Wexford was taken away by Henry VIII. The Ulster annalists estimate the great Talbot very differently from Shakespeare :—“A sou of curses for his venom and a devil for his evils; and the learned say of him that there came not from the time of Herod, by whom Christ was crucified, any one so wicked in evil deeds” (O’Donovan’s Four Masters').

In 1449 Richard, duke of York, right heir by blood to the throne of Edward III., was forced to yield the regency of France to his rival Somerset, and to accept the Irish viceroyalty. He landed at Howth with his wife Cicely Neville, the beautiful Rose of Raby, and Margaret of Anjou hoped thus to get rid of one who was too great for a subject. The Irish government was given to him for ten years on unusually liberal terms. He ingratiated himself with both races, taking care to avoid identification with any particular family. At the baptism of his son— “false, fleeting, perjured Clarence”—who was born in Dublin Castle, Desmond and Ormonde stood sponsors together. In legislation Richard fared no better than others. The rebellion of Jack Cade, claiming to be a Mortimer and cousin to the duke of York, took place at this time. This adventurer, at once ludicrous and formidable, was a native of Ireland, and was thought to be put forward by Richard to test the popularity of the Yorkist cause. Returning suddenly to England in 1450, Richard left the government to James, earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire, who had married Lady Eleanor Beaufort, and was deeply engaged on the Lancastrian side. This earl begun the deadly feud with the house of Kildare which lasted for generations. After Blore Heath Richard was attainted by the Lancastrian parliament, and returned to Dublin, where the colonial parliament acknowledged him and assumed virtual independence. A separate coinage was established, and the authority of the English parliament was repudiated. William Overy, a bold squire of Ormonde’s, offered to arrest Richard as an attainted traitor, but was seized, tried before the man whom he had come to take, and hanged, drawn, and quartered. The duke' only maintained his separate kingdom about a year. His party triumphed in England, but he himself fell at Wakefield.

Among the few prisoners taken on the bloody field of Towton was Ormonde, whose head long adorned London Bridge. He and his brothers were attainted in England and by the Yorkist parliament in Ireland, but the importance of the family was hardly diminished by this. For the first six years of Edward’s reign the two Geraldine earls engrossed official power. The influence of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, whom Desmond had offended, then made itself felt. Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, became deputy. He was an accomplished Oxonian, who made a speech at Rome in such good Latin as to draw tears from the eyes of that great patron of letters Pope Pius II. (Aeneas Sylvius). But his Latinity did not soften his manners, and he was thought cruel even in that age. Desmond was beheaded, ostensibly for using Irish exactions, really, as the partisans of his family hold, to please Queen Elizabeth. The remarkable lawlessness of this reign was increased by the practice of coining. Several mints had been established since Richard of York’s time; the standards varied, and imitation was easy.

During Richard III.’s short reign the earl of Kildare, head of the Irish Yorkists, was the strongest man in Ireland. He espoused the cause of Lambert Simnel (1487), whom the Irish in general seem always to have thought a true Plantagenet. The Italian primate, Octavian de Palatio,, knew better, and incurred the wrath of Kildare by refusing to officiate at the impostor’s coronation. The local magnates and several distinguished visitors attended, and Lambert was shown to the people borne aloft on “great D’Arcy of Flatten’s” shoulders. His enterprise ended in the battle of Stoke,where the flower of the Anglo-Irish soldiery fell. “The Irish,” says Bacon, “did not fail in courage or fierceness, but, being almost naked men, only armed with darts and skeins, it was rather an execution than a fight upon them.” Conspicuous among Henry’s adherents in Ireland were the citizens of Waterford, who, with the men of Clonmel, Callan, Fethard, and the Butler connexion generally, were prepared to take the field in his favour. Waterford was equally conspicuous some years later in resisting Perkin Warbeck, who besieged it unsuccessfully, and was chased by the citizens, who fitted out a fleet at their own charge. The king conferred honour and rewards on the loyal city, to which he gave the proud title of urbs intacta. Many doubtless believed that Perkin was really the duke of York; but it is now certain that he was an impostor, Mr Gairdner’s researches having quite dispelled the “historic doubts” with which Horace Walpole and many smaller mystery-mongers amused their excessive leisure. Other events of this reign were the parliament of Drogheda, held by Sir Edward Poyning, which gave the control of Irish legislation to the English council (the great bone of contention in the later days of Flood and Grattan), and the battle of Knocktow, in which the earl of Kildare used the viceregal authority to avenge a private quarrel.

Occupied in pleasure or foreign enterprise, Henry VIII. at first paid little attention to Ireland. The royal power was practically confined to what in the previous century had become known as the “Pale,” that is Dublin, Louth, Kildare, and a part of Meath, and within this narrow limit the earls of Kildare were really more powerful than the crown. Waterford, Drogheda, Dundalk, Cork, Limerick, and Galway were not Irish, but rather free cities than an integral part of the kingdom; and many inland towns were in the same position. The house of Ormonde had created a sort of small Pale about Kilkenny, and part of Wexford had been colonized by men of English race. The Desmonds were Irish in all but pride of blood. The Barretts, Condons, Courcies, Savages, Arundels, Carews, and others had disappeared or merged in the Celtic mass. Anglo-Norman nobles became chiefs of pseudo-tribes, which acknowledged only the Brehon law, and paid dues and services in kind. These pseudo-tribes were often called “nations,” and a vast number of exactions were practised by the chiefs. “Coyne and livery ”—the right of free-quarters for man and beast— arose among the Anglo-Normans, and became more oppressive than any native custom. When Henry took to business, he laid the foundation of reconquest. The house of Kildare, which had actually besieged Dublin (1534), was overthrown, and the Pale saved from a standing danger. But the Pale scarcely extended 20 miles from Dublin, a march of uncertain width intervening between it and the Irish districts. Elsewhere, says an elaborate report, all the English folk were of “Irish language and Irish condition,” except in the cities and walled towns. Down and Louth paid bhck rent to O’Neill, Meath and Kildare to O’Connor, Wexford to the Kavanaghs, Kilkenny and Tipperary to O’Carroll, Limerick to the O’Briens, and Cork to the M'Carthies. M ’ Murrough Kavanagh, in Irish eyes the representative of king Dermod, received an annual pension from the exchequer. Henry set steadily to work to reassert the royal title. He assumed the style of king of Ireland, so as to get rid of the notion that he held the island of the pope. The Irish chiefs acknowledged his authority and his ecclesiastical supremacy, abjuring at the same time that of the Holy See. The lands of the earl of Shrewsbury and other absentees, who had performed no duties, were resumed; and both Celtic and feudal nobles were encouraged to come to court. Here begins the long line of official deputies, often men of moderate birth and fortune. Butler and Geriildine, O’Neill and O’Donnell, continued to spill each other’s blood, but the feudal and tribal systems were alike doomed. In the names of these Tudor deputies and other officers we see the origin of many great Irish families— Skeffington, Brabazon, St Leger, Fitzwilliam, Wingfield, Bellingham, Carew, Bingham, Loftus, and others. Nor were the Celts overlooked. O’Neill and O’Brien went to London to be invested as earls of Tyrone and Thomond respectively. O’Donnell, whose descendants became earls of Tyrconnel, went to court and was well received. The pseudo-chief M t William became earl of Clanricarde, and others reached lower steps in the peerage, or were knighted by the king’s own hand. All were encouraged to look to the crown for redress of grievances, and thus the old order slowly gave place to the new.

The moment when Protestantism and Ultramontanism are about to begin their still unfinished struggle is a fit time to notice the chief points in Irish church history. Less than two years before Strongbow’s arrival Pope Eugenius had established an ecclesiastical constitution in Ireland depending on Rome, but the annexation was very imperfectly carried out, and the hope of fully asserting the Petrine claims was a main cause of Hadrian’s gift to Henry II. Hitherto the Scandinavian section of the church in Ireland had been most decidedly inclined to receive the hierarchical and diocesan as distinguished from the monastic and quasi-tribal system. The bishops or abbots of Dublin derived their succession from Canterbury from 1038 to 1162, and the bishops of Waterford and Limerick also sought consecration there. But both Celt and Northman acknowledged the polity of Eugenius, and it was chiefly in the matters of tithe, Peter’s pence, canonical degrees, and the observance of festivals that Rome had still victories to gain. Between churchmen of Irish and English race there was bitter rivalry; but the theory that the ancient Patrician Church remained independent, and as it were Protestant, while the English colony submitted to the Vatican, is a mere controversial figment. The crown was weak and papal aggression made rapid progress. It was in the Irish Church, about the middle of the 13th century, that the system of giving jurisdiction to the bishops “in temporalibus” was adopted by Innocent IV. The vigour of Edward I. obtained a renunciation in particular cases, but the practice continued unabated. The system of provisions was soon introduced at the expense of free election, and was acknowledged by the Statute of Kilkenny. In the more remote districts it must have been almost a matter of necessity. Many Irish parishes grew out of primitive monasteries, but other early settlements remained monastic, and were compelled by the popes to adopt the rule of authorized orders, generally that of the Augustinian canons. That order became much the most numerous in Ireland, having not less than three hundred houses. Allemand, who wrote in the 17th century for the benefit of the Stuart family, remarks with French flippancy that an Irishman who wished to be a bishop first became a canon regular. Of other sedentary orders the Cistercians were the most important, and the mendicants were very numerous. Both Celtic chiefs and Norman nobles founded convents after Henry H.’s time, but the latter being wealthier were most distinguished in this way. Religious houses were useful as abodes of peace in a turbulent country, and the lands attached were better cultivated than those of lay proprietors. It is a reproach to England that after four centuries Ireland was still without a university. Attempts to found one at Dublin (1311) or Drogheda (1465) failed for want of funds. The work was partially done by the great abbeys, boys of good family being brought up by the Cistercians of Dublin and Jerpoint, and by the Augustinians. of Dublin, Kells, and Conall, and girls by the canonesses of Gracedieu. A strong effort was made to save these six houses, but Henry VIII. would not hear of it, and there was no Irish Wolsey partially to supply the king’s omissions.

Ample evidence exists that the Irish Church was full of abuses before the movement under Henry VIII, We have detailed accounts of three sees—Clonmacnoise, Enaghdune, and Ardagh. Ross, also in a wild district, was in rather better case. But even in Dublin strange things happened; thus the archiépiscopal crozier was in pawn for eighty years from 1449. The morals of the clergy were no better than in other countries, and we have evidence of many scandalous irregularities. But perhaps the most severe condemnation is that of the report to Henry VIΠ. in 1515. “There is,” says the document, “no archbishop, ne bishop, abbot, ne prior, parson, ne vicar, ne any other person of the church, high or low, great or small, English or Irish, that useth to preach the word of God, saving the poor friars beggars the church of this land use not to learn any other science, but the law of canon, for covetise of lucre transitory.” Where his hand reached Henry had little difficulty in suppressing the monasteries or taking their lands, which Irish chiefs swallowed as greedily as men of English blood. But the friars, though pretty generally turned out of doors, were themselves beyond Henry’s power, and continued to preach everywhere among the people. Their devotion and energy may be freely admitted; but the mendicant orders, especially the Carmelites, were not uniformly distinguished for morality. Monasticism was momentarily suppressed under Oliver Cromwell, but the Restoration brought them back to their old haunts. The Jesuits, placed by Paul III. under the protection of Con O’Neill, “prince of the Irish of Ulster,” came to Ireland towards the end of Henry’s reign, and helped to keep alive the Roman tradition. It is not surprising that Anglicanism—the gospel light that dawned from Boleyn’s eyes—recommended by such prelates as Browne and Bale, should have been regarded as a symbol of conquest and intrusion. The Four Masters thus describe the Reformation:—“A heresy and new error arising in England, through pride, vain glory, avarice, and lust, and through many strange sciences, so that the men of England went into opposition to the pope and to Rome.” The destruction of relics and images and the establishment of a schismatic hierarchy is thus recorded :—“Though great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the church, scarcely had there ever come so great a persecution from Rome as this.” Such was Roman Catholic opinion in Ireland in the 16 th century, and such it is still. In vulgar Irish the word “Sassenagh” denotes a Protestant as well as an Englishman.

The able opportunist St Leger, who was accused by one party of opposing the Reformation and by the other of lampooning the Real Presence, continued to rule during the early days of the protectorate. To him succeeded Sir Edward Bellingham, a puritan soldier whose hand was heavy on all who disobeyed his dear young master, as he affectionately called the king. He bridled Connaught by a castle at Athlone, and Munster by a garrison at Leighlin Bridge. The O’Mores and O’Connors were brought low, and forts erected where Maryborough and Philipstown now stand. Both chiefs and nobles were forced to respect the king’s representative, but Bellingham was not wont to flatter those in power, and his administration found little favour in England. Sir F. Bryan, Henry VIII.’s favourite, succeeded him, and on his death St Leger was again appointed. Neither St Leger nor his successor Crofts could do anything with Ulster, where the papal primate Wauchop, a Scot by birth, stirred up rebellion among the natives and among the Hebridean invaders. But little was done under Edward VI. to advance the power of the crown, and that little was done by Bellingham.

The English Government long hesitated about the official establishment of Protestantism, and the royal order to that effect was withheld until 1551. Copies of the new liturgy were sent over, and St Leger had the communion service translated into Latin, for the use of priests and others who could read, but not in English. The popular feeling was strong against innovation, as Staples, bishop of Meath, found to his cost. The opinions of Staples, like those of Cranmer, advanced gradually until at last he went to Dublin and preached boldly against the mass. He saw men shrink from him on all sides. “My lord,” said a beneficed priest, whom he had himself promoted, and who wept as he spoke, “before ye went last to Dublin ye were the best beloved man in your diocese that ever came in it, now ye are the worst beloved Ye have preached against the sacrament of the altar and the saints, and will make us worse than Jews The country folk would eat you Ye have more curses than ye have hairs of your head and I advise you for Christ’s sake not to preach at the Navan.” Staples answered that preaching was his duty, and that he would not fail; but he feared for his life. On the same prelate fell the task of conducting a public controversy with Primate Dowdall, which of course ended in the conversion of neither. Dowdall fled; his see was treated as vacant, and Cranmer cast about for a Protestant to fill St Patrick’s chair. His first nominee, Dr Turner, resolutely declined the honour, declaring that he would be unintelligible to the people; and Cranmer could only answer that English was spoken in Ireland, though he did indeed doubt whether it was spoken in the diocese of Armagh. John Bale, a man of great learning and ability, became bishop of Ossory. There is no reason to doubt his sincerity, but he was coarse and intemperate,—Mr Froude roundly calls him a foul-mouthed ruffian,—without the wisdom of the serpent or the harmlessness of the dove. His choice rhetoric stigmatized the dean of St Patrick’s as ass-headed, a blockhead who-cared only for his kitchen and his belly. Archbishop Browne was gluttonous and a great epicure. If Staples was generally hated, what feelings must Bale have excited I

The Reformation having made no real progress, Mary found it easy to recover the old ways. Dowdall was restored; Browne, Staples, and others were deprived. Bale fled for bare life, and his see was treated as vacant. Yet the queen found it impossible to restore the monastic lands, though she showed some disposition to scrutinize the titles of grantees. She was Tudor enough to declare her intention of maintaining the old prerogatives of the crown against the Holy See, and assumed the royal title without papal sanction. Paul IV. was fain to curb his fiery temper, and to confer graciously what he could not withhold. English Protestants fled to Ireland to escape the Marian persecution; but respectable evidence exists to show that, had the reign continued a little longer, Dublin would have been no safe place of refuge.

Mary scarcely varied the civil policy of her brother’s ministers. Gerald of Kildare was restored to his earldom. The plan of settling Leix and Offaly by dividing the country between colonists and natives holding by English tenure failed, owing to the unconquerable love of the people for their own customs. But resistance gradually grew fainter, and we hear little of the O’Connors after this. The O’Mores, reduced almost to brigandage, gave trouble till the end of Elizabeth’s reign, and a member of the clan was chief contriver of the rebellion of 1641. Maryborough and Philipstown, King’s county and Queen’s county, commemorate Mary’s ill-starred marriage.

Anne Boleyn’s daughter succeeded quietly, and Sir Henry Sidney was sworn lord-justice with the full Catholic ritual. When Sussex superseded him as lord-lieutenant, the litany was chanted in English, both cathedrals having been painted, and Scripture texts substituted for “pictures and popish fancies.” At the beginning of 1560 a parliament was held which restored the ecclesiastical legislation of Henry and Edward. In two important points the Irish Church was made more dependent on the state than in England: conges d'élire were abolished, and heretics made amenable to royal commissioners or to parliament without reference to any synod or convocation. According to a contemporary list, this parliament consisted of 3 archbishops, 17 bishops, 23 temporal peers, and members returned by 10 counties and 28 cities and boroughs. We know not whether all were present, and therefore the list throws no light on the dispute as to the conformity of Irish bishops in possession at Elizabeth’s accession. A careful scrutiny shows that Curwen of Dublin and O’Fihily of Leighlin actually conformed. Bodkin of Tuam, De Burgh of Clonfert, and perhaps some others took the oath of supremacy; but the English convocation under Henry VIIL had done no less, and it involved no doctrinal changes. Walsh of Meath, Leverous of Kildare, and probably Thonory of Ossory were deprived. In other cases Elizabeth connived at what she could not prevent, and hardly pretended to enforce uniformity except in the Pale and in the large towns.

Ulster demanded the immediate attention of Elizabeth. Her father had conferred the earldom of Tyrone on Con Bacagh O’Neill, with remainder to his supposed son Matthew, the offspring of a smith’s wife at Dundalk, who in her husband’s lifetime brought the child to Con as his own. When the chief’s legitimate son Shane grew up he declined to be bound by this arrangement, which the king may have made in partial ignorance of the facts. “Being a gentleman,” he said, “my father never refusid no child that any woman namyd to be his.” "When Tyrone died, Matthew, already created baron of Dungannon, claimed his earldom under the patent. Shane being chosen O’Neill by his tribe claimed to be chief by election and earl as Con’s lawful son. Thus the English Government was committed to the cause of one who was at best an adulterine bastard, while Shane appeared as champion of hereditary right. To secure his position he murdered the baron of Dungannon, whose prowess in the field he had reason to dread, and the eldest of two surviving sons became official candidate for the earldom. Shane maintained a contest which had begun under Mary until 1567, with great ability and a total absence of morality, in which Sussex had no advantage over him. The lord-lieutenant twice tried to have Shane murdered; once he proposed to break his safeconduct; and he held out hopes of his sister’s hand as a snare. Shane was induced to visit London, where his strange appearance and followers caused much amusement, and where he spent his time intriguing with the Spanish ambassador and making himself agreeable to Lord Robert Dudley. The Government detained him rather unfairly, and the young baron of Dungannon suffered his father’s fate, leaving a brother who at last gained the coveted earldom, and became a more dangerous enemy to England than even Shane had been. Sussex was outmatched both in war and diplomacy; the loyal chiefs were crushed one by one; and the English suffered checks of which the moral effect was ruinous. Shane always fully acknowledged Elizabeth as his sovereign, and sometimes played the part of a loyal subject, wreaking his private vengeance under colour of expelling the Scots from Ulster. At last, in 1566, the queen placed the sword of state in Sidney’s strong grasp. Shane was driven helplessly from point to point, and perished miserably at the hands of the M ’ Donnells, whom he had so often oppressed and insulted.

Peace was soon broken by disturbances in the south. The earl of Desmond having shown rebellious tendencies was detained for six years in London. Treated leniently, but grievously pressed for money, he tried to escape, and, the attempt being judged treasonable, he was persuaded to surrender his estates,—to receive them back or not at the queen’s discretion. Seizing the opportunity, English adventurers proposed to plant a military colony in the western half of Munster, holding the coast from the Shannon to Cork harbour. Some who held obsolete title deeds were encouraged to go to work at once by the example of Sir Peter Carew, who had established his claims in Carlow. Carew’s title had been in abeyance for a century and a half, yet most of the Kavanaghs attorned to him. Falling foul of Ormonde’s brothers, seizing their property and using great cruelty and violence, Sir Peter drove the Butlers, the only one among the great families really loyal, into rebellion. Ormonde, who was in London, could alone restore peace; all his disputes with Desmond were at once settled in his favour, and he was even allowed to resume the exaction of coyne and livery, the abolition of which had been the darling wish of statesmen. The Butlers returned to their allegiance, but continued to oppose Carew, and great atrocities were committed on both sides. Sir Peter had great but undefined claims in Munster also, and the people there took warning. His imitators .in Cork were swept away. Sidney first, and after him Humphrey Gilbert, could only circumscribe the rebellion. The presidency of Munster, an office the creation of which had long been contemplated, was then conferred on Sir John Perrott, who drove Fitzmaurice into the mountains, reduced castles everywhere, and destroyed a Scottish contingent which had come from Ulster to help the rebels. Fitzmaurice came in and knelt in the mud at the president’s feet, confessing his sins; but he remained the real victor. The colonizing scheme was dropped, and the first presidency of Munster left the Desmonds and their allies in possession. Similar plans were tried unsuccessfully in Ulster, first by a son of Sir Thomas Smith, afterwards by Walter, earl of Essex, a knight-errant rather than a statesman, who was unfortunately guilty of many bloody deeds. He treacherously captured Sir Brian O’Neill and massacred his followers. The Scots in Rathlin were slaughtered wholesale. Essex struggled on for more than three years, seeing his friends gradually drop away, and dying ruined and unsuccessful. Towards the end of 1575 Sidney was again persuaded to become viceroy. The Irish recognized his great qualities,and he went every where without interruption. Henceforth presidencies became permanent institutions. Drury in Munster hanged four hundred persons in one year, Malby in reducing the Connaught Burkes spared neither young nor old, and burned all corn and houses. The Desmonds determined on a great effort. A holy war was declared. Fitzmaurice landed in Kerry with a few followers, and accompanied by the famous Nicholas Sanders, who was armed with a legate’s commission and a banner blessed by the pope. Fitzmaurice fell soon after in an encounter with Malby, but Sanders and Desmond’s brothers still kept the field. When it was too late to act with effect, Desmond himself, a vain man, neither frankly loyal nor a bold rebel, took the field. He surprised Youghal, then an English town, by night, sacked it, and murdered the people. Roused at last, Elizabeth sent over Ormonde as general of Munster, and after long delay gave him the means of conducting a campaign. “I will merely,” wrote Burghley, “say Butler Aboo against all that cry in a new language Papa Aboo.” It was in fact as much a war of Butlers against Geraldines as of loyal subjects against rebels, and Ormonde did his work only too welL Lord Baltinglass raised a hopeless subsidiary revolt in Wicklow (1580), which was signalized by a crushing defeat of Lord-Deputy Grey (Arthegal) in Glenmalure. A force of Italians and Spaniards landing at Smerwick in Kerry, Grey hurried thither, and the foreigners, who had no commission, surrendered at discretion, and were put to the sword. Neither Grey nor the Spanish ambassador seem to have seen anything extraordinary in thus disposing of inconvenient prisoners. Spenser and Raleigh were present. Sanders perished obscurely in 1581, andin 1583 Desmond himself was hunted down and killed in the Kerry mountains. More than 500,000 Irish acres were forfeited to the crown. The horrors of this war it is impossible to exaggerate. The Four Masters say that the lowing of a cow or the voice of a ploughman could scarcely be heard from Cashel to the furthest point of Kerry; Ormonde, who, with all his· severity, was honourably distinguished by good faith, claimed to have killed 5000 men in a few months. Spenser, an eye-witness, says famine slew far more than the sword. The survivors were unable to walk, but crawled out of the woods and glens. “They looked like anatomies of death; they did eat the dead carrion and one another soon after, insomuch as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; . . . . to a plot of watercresses or shamrocks they flocked as to a feast.”

In 1584 Sir John Perrott, the ablest man available after Sidney’s retirement, became lord-deputy. Sir John Norris, famed in the Netherland wars, was president of Munster, and so impressed the Irish that they averred him to be in league with the devil. Perrott held a parliament in 1585 in which the number of members was considerably increased. He made a strenuous effort to found a university in Dublin, and proposed to endow it with the revenues of St Patrick’s, reasonably arguing that one cathedral was enough for any city. Here he was opposed by Loftus, archbishop of Dublin and chancellor, who had expressed his anxiety for a college, but had no idea of endowing it at his own expense. The colonization of the Munster forfeitures was undertaken at this time. It failed chiefly from the grants to individuals who neglected to plant English farmers, and were often absentees themselves. Raleigh obtained 42,000 acres. The quit rents reserved to the crown were less than one penny per acre. Racked with the stone, hated by thp official clique, thwarted on all sides, poor Perrott was goaded into using words capable of a treasonable interpretation. Archbishop Loftus pursued him to the end. He died in the Tower under sentence for treason, and we may charitably hope that Elizabeth would have pardoned him. In his will, written after sentence, he emphatically repudiates any treasonable intention—“I deny my Lord God if ever I proposed the same.”

In 1584 Hugh O’Neill, if O’Neill he was, became chief of part of Tyrone; in 1587 he obtained the coveted earldom, and in 1593 was the admitted head of the whole tribe. A quarrel with the Government was inevitable, and, Hugh Roe O’Donnell having joined him, Ulster was united against the crown. In 1598 James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald assumed the title of Desmond, to which he had some claims by blood, and which he pretended to hold as Tyrone’s gift. Tyrone had received a crown of peacock’s feathers from the pope, who was regarded by many as king of Ireland. The title of Sugan or straw-rope earl has been generally given to the Desmond pretender. Both ends of the island were soon in a blaze, and the Four Masters say that in 1 seventeen days there was not one son of a Saxon left alive in the Desmond territories. Edmund Spenser lost his all, escaping only to die of misery in a London garret. Tyrone more than held his own in the north, completely defeated Sir H. Bagenal in the battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), invaded Munster, and ravaged the lands of Lord Barrymore, who had remained true to his allegiance. Tyrone’s ally, Hugh Roe O’Donnell, overthrew the president of Connaught. “The Irish of Connaught,” say the Four Masters, “were not pleased at Clifford’s death; . . . . he had never told them a falsehood.” Essex came over in 1599 with a great army, but did nothing of moment, was outgeneralled and outwitted by Tyrone, and threw up his command to enter on the mad and criminal career which led to the scaffold. In 1600 Sir George Carew became president of Munster, and, as always happened when the crown was well served, the rebellion was quickly put down. Mountjoy, who succeeded Essex, joined Carew, and a Spanish force which landed at Kinsale surrendered. The destruction of their crops starved the people into submission, and the contest was only less terrible than the first Desmond war because it was much shorter. In Ulster Mountjoy was assisted by Sir Henry Docwra, who founded the second settlement at Derry, the first under Randolph having been abandoned. Hugh O’Donnell sought help in Spain, where he died. Tyrone submitted at last, craving pardon on his knees, renouncing his Celtic chiefry, and abjuring all foreign powers, but still retaining his earldom, and power almost too great for a subject. Scarcely was the ink dry when he was told of the great queen’s death. He burst into tears, not of grief, but of vexation at not having held out for still better terms.

In reviewing the Irish government of Elizabeth we shall find much to blame, a want of truth in her dealings and of steadiness in her policy. Violent efforts of coercion were succeeded by fits of clemency, of parsimony, or of apathy. Yet it is fair to remember that she was surrounded by enemies, that her best energies were expended in the death struggle with Spain, and that she was rarely able to give undivided attention to the Irish problem. After all she conquered Ireland, which her predecessors had failed to do, though many of them were as crooked in action and less upright in intention. Considering the times, Elizabeth cannot be called a persecutor. “Do not,” she said to the elder Essex, “seek too hastily to bring people that have been trained in another religion from that in which they have been brought up.” Such things as the torture of Archbishop O’Hurley cannot and need not be defended, but the statesmen of that day regarded the royal supremacy as a political doctrine, and its active opponents as traitors. And Catholics should not be too ready to remember the tyranny which their forefathers felt, and to forget the plots against Elizabeth’s life, the night of St Bartholomew, and the Spanish Inquisition. Elizabeth saw that the Irish could only be reached through their own language. But for that harvest the labourers were necessarily few. The fate of Bishop Daly of Kildare, who preached in Irish, and who thrice had his house burned over his head, was not likely to encourage missionaries. Neither the best nor the worst of the episcopal body, Adam Loftus must be regarded as a representative man. To preach what he thought true when he could do it safely, to testify against toleration, and in the meantime to make a fortune, was too often the sum and substance of an Anglican prelate’s work in Ireland. In all wild parts divine service was neglected, and wandering friars or subtle Jesuits, supported by every patriotic or religious feeling of the people, kept Ireland faithful to Rome. Against her many shortcomings we must set the queen’s foundation of that university which has been the one successful English institution in Ireland, and which has continually borne the fairest fruit.

i .Great things were expected of James I. He was Mary Stuart’s son, and there was a curious antiquarian notion afloat that, because the Irish were the original “Scoti,” a Scottish king would sympathize with Ireland. Corporate towns set up the mass, and Mountjoy, who could argue as well as fight, had to teach them a sharp lesson. Finding Ireland conquered and in no condition to rise again, James established circuits and a complete system of shires. Sir John Davies was sent over as solicitor-general. The famous book in which he glorifies his own and the king’s exploits gives far too much credit to the latter, and far too little to his great predecessor. When she was still alive to confer favours, Davies in very creditable verse had lavished praises upon Elizabeth which must have seemed exaggerated even to her.

Two legal decisions swept away the customs of tanistry and of Irish gavelkind, and the English land system was violently substituted. Tyrone was harassed by sheriffs and other officers, and the Government, learning that he was engaged in an insurrectionary design, prepared to seize him. The information was probably false, but Tyrone was growing old and nervous, and perhaps despaired of making good his defence. By leaving Ireland he played into his enemies’ hands. Rory O’Donnell, created earl of Tyrconnel, accompanied him. Cuconnaught Maguire had already gone The “flight of the earls,” as it is called, completed the ruin of the Celtic cause. Reasons or pretexts for declaring forfeitures against O’Cahan and O’Reilly were easily found. O’Dogherty, chief of Innishowen, and foreman of the grand jury which found a bill for treason against the earls, received a blow from Paulet the governor of Derry. O’Dogherty rose, Derry was sacked, and. Paulet murdered. O’Dogherty having been killed and O’Hanlon and others being implicated, the whole of northern Ulster was at the disposal of the Government. Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, and Derry were parcelled out among English and Scotch colonists, portions being reserved to the natives. The site of Derry was granted to the citizens of London, who fortified and armed it, and Londonderry became the chief bulwark of the colonists in two great wars. If we look at its morality we shall find little to praise, but in a political point of view the plantation of Ulster was successful. The northern province, which so severely taxed the energies of Elizabeth, has since been the most prosperous and loyal part of Ireland. But the conquered people remained side by side with the settlers; and Sir George Carew, who reported on the plantation in 1611, clearly foresaw that they would rebel again “under the veil of religion and liberty, than which nothing is esteemed so precious in the hearts of men.” Those natives who retained land were often oppressed by their stronger neighbours, and sometimes actually swindled out of their property. It is probable that in the neglect of the grantees to give proper leases to their tenants arose the Ulster tenant-right custom which has attracted so much notice of late years.

It may be convenient to notice here the parliamentary history of the English colony in Ireland, which corresponds pretty closely to that of the mother country. First there are informal meetings of eminent persons; then, in 1295, there is a parliament of which some acts remain, and to which only knights of the shire were summoned to represent the Commons. Burgesses were added as early as 1310. The famous parliament of Kilkenny in 1367 was largely attended, but the details of its composition are not known. That there was substantial identity in the character of original and copy may be inferred from the fact that the well-known tract called Modus Tenendi Parliamentnm was exemplified under the Great Seal of Ireland in 6 Hen. V. The most ancient Irish parliament remaining on record was held in 1374, twenty members in all being summoned to the House of Commons, from the counties of Dublin, Louth, Kildare, and Carlow, the liberties and crosses of Meath, the city of Dublin, and the towns of Drogheda and Dundalk. The liberties were those districts in which the great vassals of the crown exercised palatinate jurisdiction, and the crosses were the church lands, where alone the royal writ usually ran. Writs for another parliament in the same year were addressed in addition to the counties of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick; the liberties and crosses of Ulster, Wexford, Tipperary, and Kerry; the cities of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick; and the towns of Youghal, Kinsale, Ross, Wexford, and Kilkenny. The counties of Clare and Longford, and the towns of Galway and Athenry, were afterwards added, and the number of popular representatives does not appear to have much exceeded sixty during the later Middle Ages. In the House of Lords the temporal peers were largely outnumbered by the bishops and mitred abbots. In the parliament which conferred the royal title on Henry VIIL it was finally decided that the proctors of the clergy had no voice or votes. Elizabeth’s first parliament, held in 1559, was attended by 76 members of the Lower House, which increased to 122 in 1585. In 1613 James I. by a wholesale creation of new boroughs, generally of the last insignificance, increased the House of •Commons to 232, and thus secured an Anglican majority to carry out his policy. He told those who remonstrated to mind their own business. “What is it to you if I had created 40 noblemen and 400 boroughs? The more the merrier, the fewer the better cheer.” In 1639 the House of Commons had 274 members, a number which was further increased to 300 at the Revolution, and so it remained until the Union.

-Steeped in absolutist ideas, James was not likely to tolerate religious dissent. He thought he could “mak what liked him law and gospel.” A proclamation for banishing Romish priests issued in 1605, and was followed by an active and general persecution, which was so far from succeeding that they continued to flock in from abroad, Lord-Deputy Chichester admitting that every house and hamlet was to them a sanctuary. The most severe English statutes against the Catholic laity had never been re-enacted in Ireland, and, in the absence of law, illegal means were taken to enforce uniformity. Privy seals addressed to men of wealth and position commanded their attendance at church before the deputy or the provincial president, on pain of unlimited fine and imprisonment by the Irish Star Chamber. The Catholic gentry and lawyers, headed by Sir Patrick Barnewall, succeeded in proving the flagrant illegality of these mandates, and the Government had to yield. On the whole Protestantism made little progress, though the number of Protestant settlers increased. As late as 1622, when Lord Falkland was installed as deputy, the illustrious Ussher, then bishop of Meath, preached from the text “he beareth not the sword in vain,” and descanted on the over-indulgence shown to recusants. Primate Hampton, in a letter which is a model of Christian eloquence, mildly rebuked his eminent suffragan.

The necessities of Charles I. induced his ministers to propose that a great part of Connaught should be declared forfeited owing to mere technical flaws in title, and planted like Ulster. Such was the general outcry that the scheme had to be given up; and, on receiving a large grant from the Irish parliament, the king promised certain graces, of which the chief were security for titles, a free trade, and the substitution of an oath of allegiance for that of supremacy. Having got the money, Charles as usual broke his word; and in 1635 Lord-Deputy Strafford began a general system of extortion. The Connaught and Munster landowners were shamelessly forced to pay large fines for the confirmation of even recent titles. The Irish woollen manufacture was discouraged as hurtful to England; and, if linen was encouraged, it was only because no linen was made in the greater kingdom. The money obtained by oppressing the Irish nation was employed to create an army for the oppression of the Scotch and English nations. The Roman Catholics were neither awed nor conciliated. Twelve bishops, headed by Primate Ussher, solemnly protested that “to tolerate popery is a grievous sin.” The Ulster Presbyterians were rigorously treated. Of the prelates employed by Strafford in this insane persecution the ablest was Bramhall of Derry, who not only oppressed the ministers but insulted them by coarse language. The “black oath,” - which bound those who took it never to oppose Charles in anything, was enforced on all ministers, and those who refused it were driven from their manses and often stripped of their goods.

Strafford was recalled to expiate his career on the scaffold; the army was disbanded; and the helm of the state remained in the hands of a landjobber and of a superannuated soldier. Disbanded troops are the ready weapons of conspiracy, and the opportunity was not lost. The Catholic insurgents of 1641 just failed to seize Dublin, but quickly became masters of nearly the whole country. That there was no definite design of massacring the Protestants is likely, but it was intended to turn them out.

Great numbers were killed, often in cold blood and with circumstances of great barbarity. The English under Coote and others retaliated. In 1642 a Scottish army under Monro landed in Ulster, and formed a rallying point for the colonists. Londonderry, Enniskillen, Coleraine,Carrickfergus, and some other places defied Sir Phelim O’Neill’s tumultuary host. Trained in foreign wars, Owen Roe O’Neill gradually formed a powerful army among the Ulster Irish, and it is impossible to overestimate his skill and patience. But like other O’Neills, he did little out of Ulster, and his great victory over Monro (1645) had no lasting results. The old English of the Pale were forced into rebellion, but could never get on with the native Irish, who hated them only less than the new colonists. Ormonde throughout maintained the position of a loyal subject, and, as the king’s representative, played a great but hopeless part. The Celts cared nothing for the king except as a weapon against the Protestants; the old Anglo-Irish Catholics cared much, but the nearer Charles approached them the more completely he alienated the Protestants. In 1645 Rinuccini reached Ireland as papal legate. He could never cooperate with the Catholic confederacy at Kilkenny, which was under old English influence, and by throwing in his lot with the Celts only widened the gulf between the two sections. The Royalist confederates were not willing to decide the question of investitures in favour of the pope, still less to restore the abbey lands of which they were the chief holders. Whatever may be thought of Mr Carlyle’s judgments on Ireland generally, he has thoroughly mastered the state of parties during the turmoil which followed 1641 :—“There are,” he says, “Catholics of the Pale, demanding freedom of religion, under my lord this and my lord that. There are Old-Irish Catholics, under pope’s nuncios, under Abba O’Teague of the excommunications, and Owen Roe O’Neill, demanding not religious freedom only, but what we now call , repeal of the union,’ and unable to agree with Catholics of the English Pale. Then there are Ormonde Royalists, of the Episcopalian and mixed creeds, strong for king without covenant; Ulster and other Presbyterians strong for king and covenant; lastly, Michael Jones and the Commonwealth of England, who want neither king nor covenant.”

In all their negotiations with Ormonde and Glamorgan, Henrietta Maria and Digby, the pope and Rinuccini stood out for an arrangement which would have destroyed the royal supremacy and established Romanism in Ireland, leaving to the Anglicans bare toleration, and to the Presbyterians not even that. Charles behaved after his kind, showing, not only his falseness, but also his total want of real dignity. Ormonde was forced to surrender Dublin to the Parliamentarians (1646), and the inextricable knot awaited Cromwell’s sword. The total inability of the Irish Catholics to form anything like a working government during their nine years of power proves that her history, and the discordant ingredients of her population, must ever prevent Ireland from achieving a separate political existence.

Cromwell’s campaign (1649-50) showed how easily a good general with an efficient army might conquer Ireland. Resistance in the field was soon at an end; the starving-out policy of Carew and Mountjoy was employed against the guerillas, and the soldiers were furnished with scythes to cut down the green corn. Bibles were also regularly served out to them. Oliver’s severe conduct at Drogheda and elsewhere is not morally defensible, but much may be urged in his favour. Strict discipline was maintained—he hanged soldiers for stealing chickens; faith was always kept; and short, sharp action was more merciful in the long run than a milder but less effective policy. The character and designs of this great man offer a most difficult problem.

For a time Lord Clarendon had it all his own way; in due course came a reaction so violent that the Protector has been almost deified in some quarters. Ireton was in many respects a copy of his father-in-law, Cromwell’s civil policy, to use Macaulay’s words, was “able, straightforward, and cruel.” He thinned the disaffected population by allowing foreign enlistment, and 40,000 are said to have been thus got rid of. Already Irish Catholics of good family had learned to offer their swords to foreign princes. In Spain, France, and the empire they often rose to the distinction which they were denied at home. About 9000 persons were sent to the West Indies, practically into slavery. Thus, and by the long war, the population was reduced to some 850,000, of whom 150,000 were English and Scots; the marvel is that so many were left. Then came the transplantation beyond the Shannon. The Irish Catholic gentry were removed bodily with their servants and such tenants as consented to follow them, and with what remained of their cattle. They suffered dreadful hardships. To exclude foreign influences, a belt of one mile was reserved to soldiers on the coast from Sligo to the Shannon, but the idea was not fully carried out. The derelict property in the other provinces was divided between adventurers who had advanced money and soldiers who had fought in Ireland. Many of the latter sold their claims to officers or speculators, who were thus enabled to form estates. The majority of Irish labourers stayed to work under the settlers, and the country became peaceful and prosperous. Some fighting Catholics haunted woods and hills under the name of Tories, afterwards given in derision to a great party, and were hunted down with as little compunction as the wolves to which they were compared. Measures of great severity were taken against Catholic priests; but it is said that Cromwell had great numbers in his pay, and that they kept him well informed. All classes of Protestants were tolerated, and Jeremy Taylor preached unmolested. Commercial equality being given to Ireland, the woollen trade at once revived, and a shipping interest sprang up. Were it worth while to prove Cromwell a greater statesman than Strafford, his religious and commercial policy in Ireland would supply ample evidence. A legislative union was also effected, and Irish members attended at Westminster. The following brief record of a debate is worth quoting :— “Mr Bamfield and Mr Robinson—all that serve for Ireland should be on this committee. Sir Gilbert Pickering, Mr Hyland—against any such distinction of members; it is an ill precedent and looks not like an union; name as many as you will, but let them not be exclusively added. Mr Ashe—as they sit in Parliament, they are not Irishmen^ but mere Englishmen. Resolved—that all who serve for Ireland be of the committee.” For further particulars Mr Prendergast’s Cromwellian Settlement and Tory War of Ulster should be consulted.

Charles II. was bound in honour to do something for such Irish Catholics as were innocent of the massacres of 1641, and the claims were not scrutinized too severely. It was found impossible to displace the Cromwellians, but they were shorn of about one-third of their lands. When the Caroline settlement was complete it was found that the great rebellion had resulted in reducing the Catholic share of the fertile parts of Ireland from two-thirds to one-third. Ormonde, whose wife had been allowed by Cromwell’s clemency to make him some remittances from the wreck of his estate, was largely and deservedly rewarded. A revenue of ^30,000 was settled on the king, in consideration of which Ireland was in 1663 excluded from the benefit of the Navigation Act, and her nascent shipping interest ruined. In 1666 the importation of Irish cattle and horses into England was forbidden, the value of the former at once falling five fold, of the latter twenty-fold.

Among other arguments in favour of this atrocious law was that used by Ashley, who said that if the bill did not pass the duke of Ormonde would have a greater estate than the earl of Northumberland. “Achitophel” must have laughed in his sleeve. Buckingham said every opponent of the bill must have “an Irish estate or an Irish understanding,” which nearly cost him a duel with Ossory, and much damaged his reputation for courage. That such a man as Buckingham should have so taunted such a man as Ormonde is characteristic of the most shameless reign in our history. Dead meat, butter, and cheese were also excluded, yet peace brought a certain prosperity. The woollen manufacture grew and flourished, and Macaulay is probably warranted in saying that under Charles II. Ireland was a pleasanter place of residence than it has been before or since. But it was pleasant only for those who conformed to the state religion. Catholicism was tolerated, or rather connived at; but its professors were subject to frequent alarms, and to great severities during the reign of Titus Oates. Bramhall became primate, and his hand was heavy against the Ulster Presbyterians. It is humiliating to record that Jeremy Taylor began a persecution which stopped the influx of Scots into Ireland. Deprived of the means of teaching, the Independents and other sectaries soon disappeared. In a military colony women werescarce, and the “Ironsides” had married natives. To use their own language, they saw the daughters of Moab that they were fair. Women are more religious than men, travelling missionaries more zealous than endowed clerks; and Catholicism held its own. The Quakers became numerous during this reign, and their peaceful industry was most useful. They venerate as their founder Thomas Edmundson, a Westmoreland man who had borne arms for the Parliament, and who settled in Antrim in 1652.

The duke of Ormonde was lord-lieutenant at the death of Charles II. At seventy-five his brain was as clear as ever, and James saw that he was no fit tool for his purpose. “See, gentlemen,” said the old chief, lifting his glass at a military dinner party, “they say at court I am old and doting. But my hand is steady, nor doth my heart fail To the king’s health.” Calculating on his loyal subservience, James appointed his brother-in-law, Lord Clarendon, to succeed Ormonde. Monmouth’s enterprise made no stir, but gave an excuse for disarming the Protestant militia. The Tories at once emerged from their hiding-places, and Clarendon found Ireland in a ferment. It was now the turn of the Protestants to feel what persecution means. Richard Talbot, one of the few survivors of Drogheda, governed the king’s Irish policy, while the lord-lieutenant was kept in the dark. Finally Talbot, created earl of Tyrconnel, himself received the sword of state. Protestants were weeded out of the army, Protestant officers in particular being superseded by idle Catholics of gentle blood, where they could be found, and in any case by Catholics. Bigotry rather than religion was Tyrconnel’s ruling passion, and he filled up offices with Catholics independently of character. Fitton, a man convicted of forgery, became chancellor, and but three Protestant judges were left on the bench. The outlawries growing out of the affairs of 1641 were reversed as quickly as possible. Protestant corporations were dissolved by “quo warrantes”; but James was still Englishman enough to refuse an Irish parliament, which might repeal Poyning’s Act and the Act of Settlement. In 1687 the Church of England discovered that there were limits to passive obedience, and at the close of the following year James was a fugitive in France. By this time Londonderry and Enniskillen had closed their gates, and the final struggle had begun. In March 1689 James reached Ireland with some French troops, and summoned a parliament which repealed the Act of Settlement. The estates of absentees were vested in the crown, and, as only two months law was given, this was nearly equivalent to confiscating the property of all Protestants. Between 2000 and 3000 Protestants were attainted by name, and moreover the Act was not published. The appalling list may be read in the State of the Protestants by. Archbishop King, one of many divines converted by the logic of events to believe in the lawfulness of resistance. Interesting details may be gleaned in Thomas Edmundson’s Diary. The dispossessed Protestants escaped by sea or flocked into Ulster, where a gallant stand was made. The glories of Londonderry and Enniskillen will live as long as the English language. The Irish cause produced one great achievement—the defence of Limerick, and one great leader—Patrick Sarsfield. The Catholic Celts aided by France were entirely beaten, the Protestant colonists aided by England were entirely victorious (battle of the Boyne, 1 1st July 1690; battle of Aughrim, 12th July 1691). ] Even the siege of Limerick showed the irreconcilable divisions which had nullified the efforts of 1641. Hugh Baldearg O’Donnell, last of Irish chiefs, sold his services to William for £500 a year. But it was their king that condemned the Irish to hopeless failure. He called them cowards, whereas the cowardice was really his own, and he deserted them in their utmost need. They repaid him with the opprobrious nickname of “Sheemas-a-Cacagh,” or Dirty James.

Irish rhetoric commonly styles Limerick “the city of the violated treaty.” The articles of capitulation (3d October 1691) may be read in Leland or Plowden; from the first their interpretation was disputed. Hopes of religious liberty were held out, but were not fulfilled. Lords Justices Porter and Coningsby promised to do their utmost to obtain a parliamentary ratification, but the Irish parliament would not be persuaded. There was a paragraph in the original draft which would have protected the property of the great majority of Catholics, but this was left out in the articles actually signed. William thought the omission accidental, but this is hardly possible. At all events he ratified the treaty in the sense most favourable to the Catholics, while the Irish parliament adhered to the letter of the document. Perhaps no breach of faith was intended, but the sorrowful fact remains that the modern settlement of Ireland has the appearance of resting on a broken promise. More than 1,000,000 Irish acres were forfeited, and, though some part returned to Catholic owners, the Catholic interest in the land was further diminished. William III. was the most liberally minded man in his dominions; but the necessities of his position, such is the awful penalty of greatness, forced him into intolerance against his will, and he promised to discourage the Irish woollen trade. His manner of disposing of the Irish forfeitures was inexcusable. Grants to Bentinck, Ruvigny, and Ginckell may be defended, but not that to Elizabeth Villiers, countess of Orkney, the king’s former mistress. The lands were resumed by the English parliament, less perhaps from a sense of justice than from a desire to humiliate the deliverer of England, and were resold to the highest bidder. Nevertheless it became the fashion to reward nameless English services at the expense of Ireland. Pensions and sinecures which would not bear the light in England were charged on the Irish establishment, and even bishoprics were given away on the same principle. The tremendous uproar raised by Swift about Wood’s halfpence was heightened by the fact that Wood shared his profits with the duchess of Kendal.

From the first the victorious colonists determined to make another 1641 impossible, and the English Government failed to moderate their severity (principal Penal Act, 2 Anne, c. 3). In 1708 Swift declared that the Papists were politically as inconsiderable as the women and children. In despair of effecting anything at home, the young and strong enlisted in foreign armies, and the almost incredible number of 450,000 are said to have emigrated for this purpose between 1691 and 1745. This and the hatred felt towards James II. prevented any rising in 1715 or 1745. The panic-stricken severity of minorities is proverbial, but it is not to be forgotten that the Irish Protestants had been turned out of house and home twice within fifty years. The restrictions on Irish commerce provoked Locke’s friend Molyneux to write his famous plea for legislative independence (1698). Much of the learning contained in it now seems obsolete, but the question is less an antiquarian one than he supposed. Later events have shown that the mother country must have supreme authority, or must relax the tie with self-governing colonies merely into a close alliance. In the case of Ireland the latter plan has always been impossible. In 1703 the Irish parliament begged hard for a legislative union, but as that would have involved at least partial free trade the English monopolists prevented it. By Poyning’s law England had a vote on all Irish legislation, and was therefore an accomplice in the penal laws. For details on this disagreeable subject the reader is referred to Denys Scully’s Statement of the Penal Laws. No Papist might teach a school or any child but his own, or send children abroad,—the burden of proof lying on the accused, and the decision being left to magistrates without a jury. Mixed marriages were forbidden between persons of property, and the children might be forcibly brought up Protestants. A Papist could not be a guardian, and all wards in chancery were brought up Protestants. The Protestant eldest son of a landed proprietor might make his father tenant for life and secure his own inheritance. Among Papist children land went in compulsory gavelkind. Papists could not take longer leases than thirty-one years at two-thirds of a rack rent; they were even required to conform within six months of an inheritance accruing, on pain of being ousted by the next Protestant heir. Priests from abroad were banished, and their return declared treason. All priests were required to register and to remain in their own parishes, and informers were to be rewarded at the expense of the Popish inhabitants. No Papist was allowed arms, two justices being empowered to search; and if he had a good horse any Protestant might claim it on tendering £5. These laws were of course systematically evaded. The property of Roman Catholics was often preserved through Protestant trustees, and it is understood that faith was generally kept. Yet the attrition if slow was sure, and by the end of the century the proportion of land belonging to Roman Catholics was probably not more than one-tenth of the whole. We can see now that if the remaining Roman Catholic landlords had been encouraged they would have done much to reconcile the masses to the settlement. Individuals are seldom as bad as corporations, and the very men who made the laws against priests practically shielded them. Nothing was so odious as a priest-hunter, even among Protestants, and this form of delation has doubtless done much to create the Irish horror of informing, or indeed of giving any evidence. The penal laws put a premium on hypocrisy, and many conformed only to preserve their property or to enable them to take office. Proselytizing schools, though supported by public grants, entirely failed.

The restraints placed by English commercial jealousy on Irish trade destroyed manufacturing industry in the south and west. Driven by the Caroline legislation against cattle into breeding sheep, Irish graziers produced the best wool in Europe. Forbidden to export it, or to work it up profitably at home, they took to smuggling, for which the indented coast gave great facilities. The enormous profits of the contraband trade with France enabled Ireland to purchase English goods to an extent greater than her whole lawful traffic. The moral effect was disastrous. The religious penal code it was thought meritorious to evade; the commercial penal code was ostentatiously defied; and both tended to make Ireland the least law-abiding country in Europe. The account of the smugglers is the most interesting and perhaps the most valuable part of Mr Froude’s work on Ireland, and should be compared with Mr Lecky’s Irish and Scotch chapters.

When William III. promised to depress the Irish woollen trade, he promised to do all he could for Irish linen. England did not fulfil the second promise; still the Ulster weavers were not crushed, and their industry flourished. Some Huguenot refugees, headed by Louis Crommelin, were established by William HL at Lisburn, and founded the manufacturing prosperity of Ulster. Other Huguenots attempted other industries, but commercial restraints brought them to nought. The peculiar character of the flax business has prevented it from, crossing the mountains which bound the northern province. Wool was the natural staple of the south.

The Scottish Presbyterians who defended Londonderry were treated little better than the Irish Catholics who besieged it,—the sacramental test of 1704 being the work of the English council rather than of the Irish parliament. In 1715 the Irish House of Commons resolved that any one who should prosecute a Presbyterian for accepting a commission in the army without taking the test was an enemy to the king and to the Protestant interest. Acts of indemnity were regularly passed throughout the reign of George II., and until 1780, when the Test Act was repealed. A bare toleration had been granted in 1720. Various abuses, especially forced labour on roads which were often private jobs, caused the Oakboy insurrection in 1764. Eight years later the Steelboys rose against the exactions of absentee landlords, who often turned out Protestant yeomen to get a higher rent from Roman Catholic cottiers. The dispossessed men carried to America an undying hatred of England which had much to say to the American revolution, and that again reacted on Ireland. Lawless Protestant associations, called Peep o’ Day Boys, terrorized the north and were the progenitors of the Orangemen (1789). Out of the rival “defenders” Ribbonism in part sprung. The United Irishmen drew from both sources (1791).

But the Ulster peasants were never as badly off as those of the south and west. Writers the most unlike each other—Swift and Boulter, Berkeley and Stone, Arthur Young and Dr Thomas Campbell—all tell the same tale. Towards the end of the 17th century Raleigh’s fatal gift had already become the food of the people. When Chief Baron Rice went to London in 1688 to urge the Catholic claims on James II., the hostile populace escorted him in mock state with potatoes stuck on poles. Had manufactures been given fair play in Ireland, population might have preserved some relation to capital. As it was, land became almost the only property, and the necessity of producing wool for smuggling kept the country in grass. The poor squatted where they could, receiving starvation wages, and paying exorbitant rents for their cabins, partly with their own labour. Unable to rise, the wretched people multiplied on their potato plots with perfect recklessness. During the famine which began in the winter of 1739 one-fifth of the population is supposed to have perished; yet it is hardly noticed in literature, and seems not to have touched the conscience of that English public which in 1755 subscribed £100,000 for the sufferers by the Lisbon earthquake. As might be expected where men were allowed to smuggle and forbidden to work, redress was sought in illegal combinations and secret societies. The dreaded name of Whiteboy was first heard in 1761, and agrarian crime has never since been long absent. Since the Union we have had the Threshers, the Terry Alts, the Molly Maguires, the Rockites, and many others. Poverty has been the real cause of all these disturbances, which were often aggravated by the existence of factions profoundly indicative of barbarism. Communism, cupidity, scoundrel-ism of all kinds have contributed to every disturbance. The tendency shown to screen the worst criminals is some-tinιes the result of sympathy, but more often of fear. The cruelties which have generally accompanied Whiteboyism is common to servile insurrections all over the world. No wonder if Irish landlords were formerly tyrannical, for they were in the position of slave-owners. The steady application of modern principles, by extending legal protection to all, has altered the slavish character of the oppressed Irish. The cruelty has not quite died out, but it is much rarer than formerly; and, generally speaking, the worst agrarianism has of late years been seen in the districts which retain most of the old features.

The mediaeval colony in Ireland was profoundly modified by the pressure of the surrounding tribes. While partially adopting their laws and customs, the descendants of the conquerors often spoke the language of the natives, and in so doing nearly lost their own. The Book of Hovvth and many documents composed in the Pale during the 16th century show this clearly. Those who settled in Ireland after 1641 were in a very different mood. They hated, feared, and despised the Irish, and took pride in preserving their pure English speech. Molyneux and Petty, who founded the Royal Society of Dublin in 1683, were equally Englishmen, though the former was born in Ireland. Swift and Berkeley did not consider themselves Irishmen at all. Burke and Goldsmith, coming later, though they might not call themselves Englishmen, were not less free from provincialism. It would be hard to name other four men, who, within the same period, used Shakespeare’s language with equal grace and force. They were all educated at Trinity College, Dublin. The Sheridans were men of Irish race, but with the religion they adopted the literary tone of the dominant caste, which was small and exclusive, with the virtues and the vices of an aristocracy. Systematic infringement of English copyright was discreditable in itself, but sure evidence of an appetite for reading. “The bookseller’s property,” says Gibbon of his first volume, “was twice invaded by the pirates of Dublin.” The oratory of the day was of a high order, and incursions into the wide field of pamphlet literature often repay the student. Handel was appreciated in Dublin at a time when it was still the fashion to decry him in London. The public buildings of the Irish capital have always been allowed great architectural merit, and private houses still preserve much evidence of a refined taste. Angelica Kauffmann worked long in Ireland; Barry and Shee were of Irish birth; and on the whole, considering the small number of educated inhabitants, it must be admitted that the Ireland of Flood and Grattan was intellectually fertile.

The volunteers extorted partial free trade (1779), but manufacturing traditions had perished, and common experience shows how hard these are to recover. The demand for union was succeeded by a craving for independence. Poyning’s law was repealed, and in 1782, in Mr Grattan’s opinion, Ireland was at last a nation. The ensuing period of eighteen years is the best known in Irish history. The quarrel and reconciliation of Flood and Grattan, the kindly patriotism of Charlemont, the eloquence, the devotion, the corruption, are household words. In 1784 out of 300 members 82 formed the regular opposition, of whom 30 were the nominees of Whig potentates and 52 were really elected. The majority contained 29 members considered independent, 44 who expected to be bought, 44 placemen, 12 sitting for regular Government boroughs, and 12 who were supposed to support the Government on public grounds. The remaining seats were proprietary, and were let to Government for valuable consideration. The House of Lords, composed largely of borough-mongers and controlled by political bishops, was even less independent. Only Protestant freeholders had votes, which encouraged leases for lives, about the worst kind of tenure, and the object of each proprietor was to control as many votes as possible. The necessity of finding Protestants checked subdivision for a time, but in 1.793 the Roman Catholics received the franchise, and it became usual to make leases in common, so that each lessee should have a freehold interest of 40s. The landlord indeed had little choice, for his importance depended on the poll book. Salaries, sinecures, even commissions in the army were reserved for those who contributed to the return of some local magnate.

But no political cause swelled the population as much as the potato. Introduced by Raleigh in 1610, the cultivation of this dangerous tuber developed with extraordinary rapidity. The Elizabethan wars were most injurious to industry, for men will not sow unless they hope to reap, and the very essence of military policy had been to deprive a recalcitrant people of the means of living. The Mantuan peasant was grieved at the notion of his harvest being gathered by barbarian soldiers, and the Irishman could not be better pleased to see his destroyed. There was no security for any one, and every one was tempted to live from hand to mouth. The decade of anarchy which followed 1641 stimulated this tendency fearfully. The labour of one man could plant potatoes enough to feed forty, and they could neither be destroyed nor carried away easily. When Petty wrote, early in Charles II.’s reign, this demoralizing esculent was already the national food. Potatoes cannot be kept very long, but there was no attempt to keep them at all; they were left in the ground, and dug as required. A frost which penetrated deep caused the famine of 1739. Even with the modern system of storing in pits the potato does not last through the summer, and the “meal months” —June, July, and August—always brought great hardship. The danger increased as the growing population pressed ever harder upon the available land. Between 1831 and 1842 there were six seasons of dearth, approaching in some places to famine.

The population increased from 2,845,932 in 1785 to 5,356,594 in 1803. They married and were given in marriage. Wise men foresaw the deluge, but people who were already half-starved every summer did not think their case could well be worse. In 1845 the population had swelled to 8,295,061, the greater part of whom depended on the potato only. There was no margin, and when the “precarious exotic” failed an awful famine was the result.

Great public and private efforts were made to meet the case, and relief works were undertaken, on which, in March 1847, 734,000 persons, representing a family aggregate of not less than 3,000,000, were employed. It was found that labour and exposure were not good for half-starved men. The jobbing was frightful, and is probably inseparable from wholesale operations of this kind. The policy of the Government was accordingly changed, and the task of feeding a whole people was undertaken. More than 3,000,000 rations, generally cooked, were at one time distributed, but no exertions could altogether avert death in a country where the usual machinery for carrying, distributing, and preparing food was almost entirely wanting. From 200,000 to 300,000 perished of starvation or of fever caused by insufficient food. An exodus followed which, necessary as it was, caused dreadful hardship, and among the Catholic Irish in America Fenianism took its rise. One good result of the famine was thoroughly to awaken Englishmen to their duty towards Ireland. Since then, purse-strings have been even too readily untied at the call of Irish distress.

Great brutalities disgraced the rebellion of 1798, but the people had suffered much and had French examples before them. The real originator of the movement was Theobald Wolfe Tone, whose proffered services wère rejected by Pitt, and who founded the United Irishmen. His Parisian adventures detailed by himself are most interesting, and his tomb is still the object of an annual pilgrimage. Tone was a Protestant, but he had imbibed socialist ideas, and hated the priests whose influence counteracted his own. In Wexford, where the insurrection went farthest, the ablest leaders were priests, but they acted against the policy of their church.

The inevitable Union followed (1st January 1801). Pitt had long before (1785) offered a commercial partnership which had been rejected on the ground that it involved the ultimate right of England to tax Ireland. He was not less liberally inclined in religious matters, but George HJ. stood in the way, and like William III. the minister would not risk his imperial designs. Carried in great measure by the same corrupt means as the constitution of ’82 had been worked by, the Union earned no gratitude. But it was a political necessity, and Grattan never gave his countrymen worse advice than when he urged them to “keep knocking at the Union.” The advice has, however, been taken. Emmet’s insurrection (1803) was the first emphatic protest. Then came the struggle for emancipation. It was proposed to couple the boon with a veto on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops. It was the ghost of the old question of investitures. The remnant of the Catholic aristocracy would have granted it; even Pius VII. was not invincibly opposed to it; but Daniel O’Connell took the lead against it. Under his guidance the Catholic association became a formidable body. At last the priests gained control of the elections: the victor of Waterloo was obliged to confess that the king’s government could no longer be carried on, and Catholic emancipation had to be granted (1829). The tithe war followed, and this most oppressive of all taxes was unfortunately commuted (1838) only in deference to clamour and violence. The repeal agitation was unsuccessful, but let us not be extreme to mark the faults of O’Connell’s later years. He doubtless believed in repeal at first; probably he ceased to believe in it, but he was already deeply committed, and had abandoned a lucrative profession for politics. With some help from Father Mathew he kept the monster meetings in order, and his constant denunciations of lawless violence distinguish him from his imitators. His trial took place in 1844. There is a sympathetic sketch of O’Connell’s career in Lecky’s Leaders of Opinion', Wyse’s History of the Catholic Association gives the best account of the religious struggle, and much may be learned from Fitzpatrick’s Life of Bishop Doyle.

The national system of education introduced in 1833 was the real recantation of intolerant opinions, but the economic state of Ireland was fearful. The famine, emigration, and the new poor law have nearly got rid of starvation, but the people have not become frankly loyal, for they feel that they owe more to their own importunity, to their own misfortunes, than to the wisdom of their rulers. The literary efforts of young Ireland eventuated in another rebellion (1848); a revolutionary wave could not roll over Europe without touching the unlucky island. After the failure of that wretched outbreak there was peace until the close of the American war released a number of adventurers trained to the use of arms and filled with hatred to England.

Already in 1858 the discovery of the Phoenix conspiracy had shown that the policy of Mitchel and his associates was not forgotten. John O’Mahony, one of the men of ’48, organized a formidable secret society in America, which hi? historical studies led him to call the Fenian brotherhood. The money raised in the United States was perhaps not less than £80,000, but it is due to O’Mahony to say that he died poor. In Ireland the chief direction of the conspiracy was assumed by James Stephens, who had been implicated in the Phoenix affair, and who never cordially agreed with O’Mahony. Stephens was very despotic—a true revolutionary leader. As in all Irish political conspiracies there were traitors in the camp, who kept the authorities well informed, and in September 18C5 the Irish People newspaper, which had been the organ of the movement, was suddenly suppressed by the Government. The arrests of Luby, O’Leary, and O’Donovan Rossa followed, all of whom, with many others, were afterwards prosecuted to conviction. Stephens for a time eluded the police, living with little concealment in a villa near Dublin, and apparently occupied in gardening. But in November he was identified and captured, much evidence being found in his house. Ten days afterwards he escaped from Richmond prison, and it is now known that some of the warders were Fenians. Another conspirator, sometimes called O’Brien and sometimes Osborne, afterwards escaped from Clonmel jail. American papers stated that Stephens was in actual want in New York in the winter of 1880, but he has since been heard of at Paris. The promptitude of the Government perhaps prevented a general insurrection, but there was a partial outbreak in February and March 1867, chiefly in Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary. There was an affray, if it deserves the name, at Tallaght near Dublin, and a plot to seize Chester Castle was discovered and frustrated. The police, who behaved extremely well, were often attacked, but the Fenians abstained from plunder or from any acts which might estrange the rural population. The peasants, however, though for the most part nationalists, did not care to risk their lives in such a wild enterprise, and the young men of the towns furnished the only real force. Weather of extraordinary severity, which will long be remembered as the “Fenian -winter,” completed their discomfiture, and they suffered fearful hardships. There was enough sympathy with the movement to procure the election of O’Donovan Rossa for Tipperary in 1867, when he was actually undergoing penal servitude. John Mitchel, whose old sentence was unreversed, was chosen by the same constituency as late as 1875, but in neither case was the vote a large one. It became the fashion in Ireland to celebrate annually the obsequies of the “Manchester martyrs,” as the three Fenians were called who suffered death for the murder of polic·e-serjeant Brett. The Roman Catholic Church has always opposed secret societies, and some priests had the firmness to discountenance these political funerals, but strong popular excitement in Ireland has generally been beyond clerical control. Even now the Fenian spirit is not extinct, and one of the brotherhood, named Devoy, announced a new departure in January 1879. Devoy and his friends have certainly had considerable influence upon the recent agrarian agitation, which they have from motives of policy placed in the front, while keeping a separatist movement in reserve.

The Fenian movement disclosed much discontent, and was attended by criminal outrages in England. The abolition of the Irish Church Establishment, which had long been condemned by public opinion, was then decreed (1869). The land question was next taken in hand (1870), and many of those who opposed the changes made now think they have done good. These reforms did not, however, put an end to Irish agitation. The Home Rule party, which demanded the restoration of a separate Irish Parliament, showed increased activity, and the general election of 1874 gave it a strong representation at Westminster, where one section of the party developed into the “Obstructionists.”

Bad seasons and distress among the peasantry (1878-1880) added force to the Land League, and agrarian outrages increased to an alarming extent on the expiration of the Peace Preservation Act and the rejection by the Lords of a bill temporarily limiting evictions. In 1881 a Coercion Act was passed, and was immediately followed by a new Land Act of large scope. (r. ba.)

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