^3om> /IrH^ *i Remains of Lough Oughter Castle, -where Bishop Bedell was confined in 1641. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, FHOM THE REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION; WITH A PRELIMINARY SURVEY, FROM THE PAPAL USURPATION, IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY, TO ITS LEGAL ABOLITION IN THE SIXTEENTH. BY THE RIGHT REV D RICHARD MANT, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR. THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XLI. H3 LONDON : HARRISON AND Co., PRINTERS, ST. MARTIN'S LANK. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, CATHOLICK AND APOSTOLICK, UNDER HIS PROVIDENCE IN IRELAND BY LAW ESTABLISHED : SPECIALLY TO THE BISHOPS AND CURATES, AND THE CONGREGATIONS COMMITTED TO THEIR CHARGE : THIS HISTORICAL SKETCH, INTERESTING PROBABLY FROM ITS SUBJECT, HOWEVER DEFECTIVE IN EXECUTION, IS, AFTER ALMOST TWENTY YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL CONNEXION, PRESENTED AS THE AUTHOR'S RESPECTFUL OFFERING OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP AND BROTHERLY LOVE. DOWN AXI) CONNOR. HOUSE, October, 1839. 851642 ADVERTISEMENT. MY opinion of the utility of a work on the subject of the present undertaking is briefly stated at its commencement. Ignorance of the existence of such an one induced me to engage in this attempt to supply the deficiency ; and I may add, that it cer- tainly would not have been undertaken, if I had hoped to see the realizing of the prospect, several years ago held out to the publick, that a History of the Church of Ireland would be put forth by one so well qualified to execute it, as the present Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin. Having, however, been assured by Dr. Elrington, that prolonged ill- health, and other literary and professional occupations, prevented him from fulfilling his intention ; and that he should be happy to be released from his promise by the task falling into other hands ; I have ventured to do that, with which the reader, as well as myself, might have had better reason to be satisfied, if it had been done by another. In constructing my work, much difficulty has been encoun- tered, and much information withheld, by the absence of a fuller supply of materials. Of such as I could command, I have endeavoured to make the best use in my power. In some cases advantage has been now and then taken of kind assistance, which VI ADVERTISEMENT. has been for the most part acknowledged on the occasion. But for the friendly zeal and intelligence, by which my attention has been directed to many valuable channels of information in the University Library, as well as for the free use of a copy of WARE'S History of the Bishops, enriched with a large collection of curious manuscript annotations, derived from various sources, my special thanks are due to its learned possessor, the Reverend James Henthorn Todd, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. R. D. AND C. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, FROM THE PAPAL USURPATION, IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION, IN THE SIXTEENTH. SECTION I. PAGE Introduction. Polity and Independence of the Church. Commence- ment of the Pope's Interference. The Archiepiscopal Pall. No- mination to Bishopricks. Papal Encroachments on the Royal Prerogative . . . . . . .1 SECTION II, Encroachments by the Irish Hierarchy on the King's Prerogative. Arrogance and violence of the Prelates towards each other. Other Enormities in the Hierarchy. Abuses of Excommunication. Treatment of Hereticks . . . . .14 SECTION III. Moral Character of the Clergy in general. Abuse of Ecclesiastical Privileges. Celibacy. Concubinage. Intellectual Character. Defective means of Education . . . . .30 SECTION IV. Monastick Institutions. Their Number. Orders. Some of their Rulers Lords of Parliament. Monks and Friars, how distinguished from each other. False Principles in the Foundation of these Establishments. Practical evil in them predominant over good . 39 SECTION V. Superstitions prevailing in the Church. Veneration for Saints. Tra- ditionary Legends. Modes of celebrating Divine Worship. Vene- ration for outward Signs of the Holy Communion. Canonization of Saints. Reverence for their Reliques. Reverence for other sorts of Reliques. Reverence for Crosses and Images. Belief in fictitious Miracles . . . . . .53 SECTION VI. Superstitions continued. Pilgrimages. Penances. Indulgences. Dramatick Representations of Scripture. Assumption of a Monas- tick Habit before Death. Masses for the Dead. Patron Days. Depressed Condition of the Lay-members of the Church. Need of Reformation 81 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. LATTER PART OF THE REIGN OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 15351547. SECTION I. PA OB Review of the Condition of the Church. Recognition of the King's Supremacy intended. Archbishop Cromer's Opposition. Co- operating Obstacles. George Browne made Archbishop of Dublin. Ineffectual Effort of the King's Commissioners. Parliament of 1537. Acts relative to the Church . . . . .106 SECTION II. Difficulty of carrying the foregoing Acts of Parliament into execution. Archbishop of Dublin's Endeavours to remove False Objects of Worship. King's Correspondence with him. Inquest of Com- missioners into the State of the Kingdom. Impediments opposed to the Archbishop's Exertions by the Lord Deputy. Necessity of fresh Support from England . . . . .124 SECTION III. Pope's encouragement to resist the King's Claims. Bull of Excom- munication. Removal of Images from Churches. Image Worship encouraged by Lord Deputy. Archbishop Browne's Diligence in Preaching. Form of Beads or Prayers. Resistance of the Clergy. Visitation by the Privy Council. Archbishop Browne's purpose of visiting remote parts of the Country . . . .137 SECTION IV. Dissolution of Monasteries. Ineffectual Recommendation for some to be continued. Twenty-four of the high class suppressed. Let- ters Patents, ordering Inquiry concerning Images and Reliques, and other Monastick Property. Provision for Parish Churches deprived of Divine Service. King of England declared by Parlia- ment King, instead of Lord, of Ireland. Effect of King's Supre- macy in Nomination to Bishopricks. Provision for Improvement of Religion. Death of Archbishop Cromer. Dowdall appointed by the King to succeed him. Death of King Henry the Eighth. Effect of his Reign on the Irish Church .... 155 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER III. KEIGN OF KING EDWARD THE SIXTH. 15471553. SECTION I. PAGB Slow Progress of Reformation in Ireland. Divided Sentiments of the Clergy. Exercise of Ecclesiastical patronage. Order for intro- ducing the English Liturgy. Viceroy convenes the Bishops and Clergy. Order resisted by Primate Dowdall : approved by Arch- bishop Browne : carried into effect in Dublin. Sir Anthony Saint- leger recalled, and Sir James Crofts appointed Lord Deputy. Liturgy the first Book printed in Dublin .... 187 SECTION II. Correspondence between the Lord Deputy and the Primate. Con- ference between them. Primacy taken from Archbishop Dowdall, and conferred on Archbishop Browne. Withdrawal of Archbishop Dowdall from the Kingdom. Appointment of Goodacre to the Archbishoprick of Armagh, and of Bale to the Bishoprick of Ossory. Circumstances of their Consecration. State of Religious Instruction. Activity of Bishop Bale. Death of Archbishop Goodacre. Death of King Edward VI. State of the Church. . 205 CHAPTER IV. REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 15531558. Proclamations on Queen Mary's Accession. Reinstatement of Arch- bishop Dowdall. Deprivation of the Protestant Bishops. Their places occupied by Papists. Hugh Curwin, archbishop of Dublin. Revival of Popish superstitions. Encouraged by the Lord Deputy. Pope Paul's Bull. Acts of Parliament for suppressing Heresy and Lollardy. The Queen's purpose of persecuting the Protestants interrupted by her Death . . , . 229 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 15881603. SECTION I. PAGE Dilatory Proceedings with respect to the Irish Church. Revival of the English Liturgy. Remarkable occurrence on the Singing of the Litany in Christ Church. Queen Elizabeth's first Parliament. Act for Restoring the Jurisdiction of the Crown. Act of Uni- formity. Remarkable clause of it. Acts relating to the First Fruits and the Election of Bishops. Alterations in Ecclesiastical matters during the last Reigns. Removal of Popish Images and Reliques. Appointment of Adam Loftus to the Primacy. Apo- stolical Succession in the Church of Ireland. Declaration of Chief Articles of Religion ....... 252 SECTION II. Two Bishops deprived for refusing the Oath of Supremacy. Con- formity of the others. Abuse of Episcopal Property. Deprecia- tion of Bishopricks. Exercise of the Royal Prerogative in appointing Bishops. Titular Bishops. Act of Parliament caused by clerical irregularities. General Immorality and Irreligion. Act for erecting Free Schools. Opposition to attempts at propagating the Reformed Religion. Irish Liturgy and Catechism. Irish New Testament. Bull of the Pope, and its consequences . . 276 SECTION III. Sir Henry Sidney's Letter to the Queen. Her Commission for the supply of Churches and Curates. Instances of Popish Insubordi- nation. Sir John Perrot's Instructions concerning the Church. Appointment of a Bishop for Kilmore. Failure of Plan for an University. Act against Witchcraft. Foundation of University of Dublin ........ 297 SECTION IV. Edmund Spenser's Account of the Irish Church, Sir Francis Bacon's Plan for Its Improvement. Difficulty of the Subject. Henry Ussher. James Ussher; An eminent Controversialist and Preacher. Conduct of the Government towards the Papists. Act of Uniformity not enforced. Forebodings of Ussher. Benefaction to the University. State of the Church at the Queen's Death . 320 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER VI. REIGN OF KING JAMES THE FIRST. 16031625. SECTION I. PAGE Favourable circumstances at the King's Accession. Popish Disturb- ances notwithstanding. Proclamation of Indemnity'and Oblivion. Efforts of the Jesuits and Seminary Priests. Trial and Conviction of Robert Lalor. Progress of Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, through three Counties of Ulster. Sir John Davies's account of their condition ....... 343 SECTION II. Conspiracies and Rebellions in the North. Forfeiture of Lands. Plantation of the Northern Counties. The King's care for the Improvement of the Religious Establishment. Emigrants from Scotland. Their prepossessions, and the effect of them on the Church. Proclamation against Popish Emissaries. Report of his Diocese by the Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin . . . 360 SECTION III. Christopher Hampton advanced to the Primacy. A Parliament and Convocation of the Clergy. Articles of Religion. Summary of their contents. Their discursive character. Exceptions taken to them at the time. Their discrepancy with those of the Church of England. Regal Visitation of the Province of Dublin. Arro- gant conduct of the Papists ..... 379 SECTION IV. Elevation of James Ussher to the Bishoprick of Meath. His Efforts for the Conversion of Papists. King's Commission for Inquiring into the State of the Province of Armagh. Reports from Seven Dioceses in that Province. Presumption of the Popish Clergy exemplified. Bishop Ussher's Sermon on the Swearing-in of Lord Deputy Viscount Falkland. Primate Hampton's Letter on the occasion. Proceedings concerning the Papists. Death of Primate Hampton. Bishop of Meath appointed to succeed him. Death of the King. State of the Church . . . . .392 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE FIRST. 16251649. SECTION I. PAGE Accession of the King followed by a Bull of the Pope. Condition of the Church in general ; particularly of the Diocese of Armagh. Project of allowing Privileges to the Papists. Judgment of the Primate and other Bishops thereupon. Published by the Bishop of Deny. Its consequences. Measures of the Government. Pro- clamation irreverently received. Danger of the Archbishop of Dublin from an insurrection. Proceedings concerning the Papists. 418 SECTION II. William Bedell, bishop of Kilmore. State of his Diocese. Neglect of Ecclesiastical Processes. The King's Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops on affairs of the Church. Diligence of the Primate. His Injunctions to his Clergy. Exemplary conduct of Bishop Bedell. Some of his Measures questionable . . 433 SECTION III. A Regal Visitation under Lord Wentworth. Report of it by Dr. Bramhall. Bishop Laud's Letter of Instructions to the Lord Deputy. Bramhairs account of the state of the Church. Growth of Protestant Sectarianism. Irregular Ordinations. Reprehensible conduct imputed to two Northern Bishops. Noncoiiforming Ministers ........ 444 SECTION IV. Increase of Popery in Ireland. Bishop Bedell's plan for converting the Natives. Sentiments of the Government on the subject. Qualification of age for Bishopricks. Bramhall made Bishop of Derry. Commission for repair of Churches. Lord Wentworth's exhibition of the state of the Church. Archbishop Laud's answer. Settlement of question of Precedence between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin ...... 464 SECTION V. Acts of Parliament for improving the Temporal Estates of the Church. Convocation. Petition to the King in behalf of the inferior Clergy. Proposed adoption of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Difficulty of carrying it, surmounted by the Lord De- puty. Conduct of Primate Ussher. Proceedings in Convocation. Canon for manifestation of Agreement between the two Churches. Effect on the former Articles of the Irish Church. Subscription CONTENTS. Xlll to them abandoned. Proposal to adopt the English Canons. Com- position of a new Book committed to Bishop Bramhall. Wherein differing from English Book. Omissions. Additions. Publication of the Canons. Congratulatory Letter of Archbishop Laud . 482 SECTION VI. Measures for improving the Temporalties of the Church. Bishop BramhalPs valuable services. Petition from the Clergy in Convoca- tion, 1636. Improvements relative to the Clergy and Church Service. Repair of Cathedrals. Final sentence of Deposition by Bishop Echlin on the Nonconfonning Ministers. Henry Leslie, bishop of Down and Connor. Five of the Clergy of that diocese refuse to subscribe to the Canons. The Bishop's solicitude to retain them in the Church. His Visitation Sermon, 1636. His conference with the Dissentients, and sentence upon them. His exemplary conduct ....... 507 SECTION VII. Scotch Covenant introduced into Ireland. Precautions of the Govern- ment. Case of a Clergyman named Galbrath. Northern Counties infected. Correspondence of Bishop of Down and Connor with Lord Deputy. High character of the Bishop. His Speech, or Visitation Charge, at Lisnegarvey, 1638. Its important contents in connexion with the History of the Church. His continued intercourse with the Government ..... 523 SECTION VIII. Renunciation of the Covenant, and Petition from divers Inhabitants of the North of Ireland. An Oath framed in consequence. Ire- land an Asylum for Scottish Episcopal Refugees. Case of Archi- bald Adair, bishop of Killalla. Irregular Conduct of a Clergyman of Raphoe. Correspondence of the Bishop with the Government. Loyalty of the Irish Clergy. Earl of Strafford's withdrawal from the Viceroyalty. Petition to the English Parliament against Pre- lates and Prelacy. Petitions to the Irish Parliament against the Bishops of Raphoe, Down, and Derry. Persecution of Bishop of Deny and his Deliverance ...... 539 SKCTION IX. Rebellion of 1641. Previous circumstances. Its objects. Its effects on the Church. Destruction of her Members. Fate of her Go- vernors. Her Desolation. Conduct of Romish Clergy. Their Temper and Projects exemplified. Protestants Sectarists. West- minster Assembly of Divines. Solemn League and Covenant. Its prevalence in Ireland. Suspension of the Royal Authority . 554 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. THE USURPATION. 16471660. PAGI Royal Power suspended. Dublin surrendered to Parliamentary Com- missioners. Order for discontinuing the Liturgy. Declaration of Dublin Clergy. Episcopal Signatures. Memorable Examples of continued use of the Liturgy. Personal dangers of Ministers of the Church. Revenues of vacant Bishopricks sequestered. Legal- ized Plunder of Episcopal Property. Opportunities of exercising private Malice against the Clergy . . . . . 58( CHAPTER IX. REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND, FROM THE RESTORATION. 16601685. SECTION I. Restoration and Proclamation of the King. Church restored to her Station. Surviving Bishops. Satisfaction at Bishop BramhalPs elevation to the Primacy. Opposition to the Church. King determined to support it. Appointments to Vacant Bishopricks. Solemnity of the Consecration of the new Bishops. New Arrange- ments of certain Sees. Hostility of Church of Rome in Ireland. Bishop Taylor's Sketch of Popery as then existing. Protestant Sectarists. The Law concerning them. How treated by the Pri- mate ; and by Bishop Taylor, and the other Northern Bishops . 602 SECTION II. Prevailing Sentiment in favour of the Church. The Primate Speaker of the House of Lords. His Usefulness to the Clergy. Declara- tion of Parliament for Episcopacy and the Liturgy. Reprobation of the Solemn League and Covenant. Manifestation of Opinion on late Events. Symptoms of Discontent in the Presbyterians. Death of Archbishop Bramhall. His recommendation of Bishop Margetson for his Successor. ..... 628 SECTION III. Act of Uniformity . Act for preventing Benefices being holden together in England and in Ireland. Sectarian Plot. Popish Synod. The Remonstrance. Instructions to Lord Berkley about the Church. Violence of the Anti-Remonstrants. Interposition of the English Parliament. Proclamations against the Papists. Excellent Go- vernment of the Duke of Ormonde . 645 CONTENTS. XV SECTION IV. fMljtm Sectarists. New Covenant. Scarcity of Churches. Poverty of Bene- fices. Mr. Boyle's attempt at Converting the Irish Papists. Death of Distinguished Churchmen. Primate Margetson. Bishop John Leslie. Bishop Jeremy Taylor , , . 661 CHAPTER X. REIGN OF KING JAMES THE SECOND. 16851690. SECTION I. Accession of the King. Earl of Clarendon Lord Lieutenant. Army new-modelled. Papists in Civil Offices. Earl of Tyrconnel Lord Deputy. Changes in favour of Popery. Oppression of the Clergy. Vacant Bishopricks not filled. Clergy encouraged to apostatize. King's Declaration of Liberty of Conscience. Dispensing power attempted. Sufferings of Protestants. Expulsion of Bishops and Clergy. Dublin Clergy . . . , . .679 SECTION II. The King's Arrival in Ireland. A Parliament. Mode of calling it. Its composition. Repeal of the Act of Settlement. Act of Attainder. Proscriptions under it. Its atrocity . . . 702 SECTION III. Contributions for the Relief of the distressed Irish Protestants. Act annulling the Jurisdiction of the Church. Act for vesting Eccle- siastical Dues in Priests of the Romish Church. Clergy deprived of their Churches. Protestants prevented from meeting together. Oppression of the University. Character of King James's reign. Re-establishment of the Church . . 716 APPENDIX. I. Catalogue of the Archbishops and Bishops who are ascertained to have occupied the Sees of the Church of Ireland, during the period comprised within the foregoing narrative .... 735 II. Question whether any Bishops resigned at Queen Elizabeth's accession ........ 743 III. Original Document relating to Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, in the reign of King James II. ..... 747 INDEX. , 755 THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. CHAPTER I. SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, FROM THE PAPAL USURPATION, IN THE TWELFTH CEN- TURY, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION, IN THE SIXTEENTH. SECTION I. Introduction. Polity and Independence of the Church. Commencement of the Popes Interference. The Archie- piscopal Pall. Nomination to Bisliopriclts. Papal Encroachments on the Royal Prerogative. AN acquaintance with the history of the Reformed introduction. Church of Ireland is necessary for completing an acquaintance with the history of the British empire in general, as well as with that of Ireland in par- ticular. It is also necessary for completing an acquaintance with the history of that National Church, of which the Irish Church forms an integral member, the United Church of England and Ireland. But an acquaintance with the history of the Reformed Church of Ireland is not readily attainable : for, whilst England and Scotland each possess its eccle- siastical histories, Ireland is destitute of similar channels of intelligence. Those, indeed, who are solicitous on the subject, and have the various sources of information at hand, may search it out, where it lies overwhelmed, as a secondary topick, among the records of the general history of the country ; or B 2 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. imperfectly blended with the biographies of eminent political or ecclesiastical characters: or mixed up with heaps of miscellaneous documents. But it is not easy thus to procure a copious, detailed, entire, and continuous view : and in all likelihood the con- sequence is, that the history of the Reformed Irish Church is known, with any considerable degree of accuracy md' fulness, by a few only; and by the many is hardly known at all. And the design The design of the present undertaking is to give a regular narrative of events in the Church of Ire- land, and thus to supply a defect in the ecclesiastical history of the British empire, during the important period that intervened between the commencement of the Reformation, in the reign of King Henry the Eighth, and its final establishment by the abdication of King James the Second. Information on this subject may be found, as already intimated, dispersed over several quarters, but it requires to be collected, combined, and arranged : and although, after all, it be incomplete, from the failure of many valuable documents, still, perhaps, sufficient may be brought forward to engage and reward attention. The cir- cumstances of my professional life naturally made me desirous of becoming possessed of this informa- tion ; and that, which I in the first place endeavoured to procure and digest for my own satisfaction, I thought might be so increased and constructed as to be riot unacceptable to others. But before we enter on the proposed narrative, it will be useful to take a brief survey of the condition of the Irish Church at the beginning of the proposed period, or rather during the three or four centuries that preceded it. primitive polity The polity of the Church of Ireland, like that of SEC. I.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 3 all national members of the Church Catholick, \vas of the cimrch of from the first episcopal, comprising the three orders of ministers : bishops, priests, and deacons. At the era of the Reformation, its episcopate consisted of four archbishops and twenty-six suffragan bishops. Each of the archbishops had metropolitan authority and jurisdiction in his own province ; and the Arch- bishop of Armagh, being the Primate of all Ireland, possessed a visitatorial power over the other three provinces. The suffragan bishops had been in former times much more numerous. In the earliest ages, indeed, of the existence of the Irish Church, they are said to have exceeded three hundred : but many of these were situated in small villages or districts, and their number was soon reduced. In the year 1152, or about four centuries before the Reforma- tion, in a national synod, they amounted to thirty- four : of whom ten were in the province of Armagh, five in that of Dublin, twelve of Cashel, and seven of Tuam. Of some of these the names were retained at the time of the Reformation, and indeed are still preserved ; but of the greater number the names had at that period been changed into others of a simpler form and more easy pronuncia- tion, or had been merged in the names of other contiguous bishopricks, with which the smaller and. less important had been united 1 . Until about the middle of the twelfth century independence of * the Irish Church. the Church of Ireland maintained its character, as an independent national church, without acknow- ledging any pre-eminence, authority, or jurisdiction, of the See of Rome. The Archbishops of Armagh exercised a spiritual power throughout the country ; 1 History and Antiquities of \ Kniglit ; edited by Walter Harris, Ireland, by Sir JAMES WARE, I Esq. Dublin, 1764. Vol. ii. p. 285. B 2 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Appointment of bishops. First interfe- rence of the Pope. Archiepiscopal palls solicited by Archbishop Ma- lachy. 11 3? and erected archbishopricks and bishopricks without consultation or communication with the Roman Pontiff. For the supply of vacant bishopricks persons were elected by the clergy, or by the clergy and laity, of the diocese, recommending them to the king ; or by the king's nomination or influence, con- curring with the good will of the clergy and people: whereupon the bishop-elect was sent to the arch- bishop for consecration : to the Archbishops of Armagh for the most part, except in the case of those colonies of Ostmen from the north of Europe, who inhabited the cities of Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick ; and who, esteeming themselves country- men of the Normans, now in possession of England and of its highest ecclesiastical dignities, sent their bishops to be consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But in every case these appointments and consecrations were altogether independent of the Papal See 2 . The earliest interference of the Pope on such occasions in Ireland was in the twelfth century. The pallium, or pall, is an ensign of dignity, which the Pope had taken upon himself to confer upon archbishops. But this ensign was never worn by an Irish archbishop until the year 1152 3 . Mala- chy O'Morgair had occupied the archiepiscopal see of Armagh by the joint suffrages of the clergy and people, and resigned it afterwards by his own volun- Lord tary act in 1137, retiring to the suffragan bishoprick of Down. What was his motive to the step, which he took two years later, has not been distinctly 2 Discourse on the Religion of 3 WARE'S Hislory of tlie Irish the Ancient Irish. By Dr. JAMES Bishops, being- vol. i. of his History USSHER, Archbishop of Armagh ; and Antiquities, p. 55. edit. Dublin, 1815, chap. viii. SEC. 1. 1 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 5 stated; but it is most probably to be found in a desire to assimilate the usages and discipline of the Irish Church more nearly to those of Rome ; espe- cially by introducing among the clergy an obligation to celibacy, which was not required of them at the time in question, but was, at an early period after, most earnestly imposed upon them by Malachy in his new capacity, in which he soon made his appear- ance among them. However this be, the step, which he now took, was that of a journey to Rome, for the purpose of soliciting from the Pope two palls : one for the metropolitan see of Armagh, which, though possessed from the beginning of archi episcopal dignity and authority, had never borne the archiepiscopal pall ; the other, for the newly-constituted metropo- litical church of Cashel, which was indebted for its creation to his almost immediate predecessor Celsus. Innocent the Second, who at that time filled the Thcpopc-s _^ 11 . 1 -m /r i i -i teous reception Papal chair, received Malachy very courteously, of informed himself accurately by his means of the condition of the Irish Church, confirmed the estab- lishment of the archbishoprick, invested him with the office of his legate in Ireland, an office recently instituted, and previously filled by only one occupant 4 , and dismissed him with tokens of singular respect and benevolence : but with regard to the palls, he acquainted him, that a matter of that consequence ought to be transacted with great solemnity, and by the common suffrages of a National Council, which the Pope advised him to call on his return into Ireland, with a promise that, upon their request, the palls should be granted. The Papal policy appears to have been to encourage the zeal of the voluntary agent, so as eventually to produce the desired 4 Abp. USSHER'S Religion of ths Ancient Irish, p. 74. 6 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. L consummation, but to be cautious of adopting any measure without being previously assured that it would be acceptable to the Irish Church. Q n hj s re tum to Ireland, Malachy, in his cha- tions to promote the Papal autho- ractei* of Papal legate, proceeded to exercise his function in all parts of the country, and was indefa- tigable in his efforts to reduce the Irish Church to a conformity with that of Rome. Gelasius had suc- ceeded to the vacancy which he had made in the archbishoprick of Armagh. And matters being at length judged ripe for prosecuting the application for the palls, with the concurrence of the primate and the legate, a national synod was assembled at n48 rof ourLord Holmpatrick, in the year 1148, when fifteen bishops, two hundred priests, and a considerable number of the inferior clergy, are said to have attended, and joined in making a solicitation to the Pope. Euge- nius the Third had in the interval succeeded to the Papal chair. To him, therefore, the request of the assembly was addressed; and Malachy, at his own urgent entreaty, was deputed to convey it. His sudden illness and death upon his journey caused an interruption in the progress of the business com- mitted to him, But the delay was of no long duration. The opportunity for the Pope's interposi- tion, afforded by the previous transactions, was not to be omitted. And accordingly, in the year 1152, John Paparo, Cardinal Priest, having been appointed by the Pope his apostolick legate to Ireland, arrived with four palls, which he was commanded to confer on the four Irish archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam 5 . pans conferred For the more solemn execution of the Papal on the four arch- bishops by card i- commission, another national synod was convened at nal Paparo. 5 WAKE'S Bishops, p. 58. SEC. I.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 7 Kells, on the 9th of March, 1152. To the mandate Year O f our Lord which ordered this convention, the greater part of the Irish bishops yielded obedience; there were some, however, of them, as well as of the inferior clergy, among whom those of Armagh and of Down are particularly noticed, who refused to sanction, by their presence, the acts of the council. But the legate, regardless of the opposition, proceeded to execute his instructions in the presence of those clergy who were assembled: and he accordingly conferred the pall on each of the four archbishops, distinguishing, at the same time, the See of Armagh with its peculiar honour, and recognising Gelasius, in accordance with ancient usage, as the Primate of all Ireland. "The Annals of St. Mary's Abbey," says Harris, n n. T ^TT , T -IT Archbishop of in his edition of Sir JAMES WARE s Lives, " and those Armagh who at the end of Camden, call this prelate 'the first us Archbishop of Armagh; that is, the first who used the pall : although others before him were called archbishops and primates out of reverence to St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, whose see was, from the beginning, held in the greatest honour, not only by bishops and priests, but by kings and princes.' r The fact is as we have seen; he was the first arch- bishop who compromised the independence of the National Church of Ireland by accepting the stamp and ensign of his ecclesiastical dignity from the hands of a foreign prelate. A foundation was thus laid for the Bishop of Progress of the 1 Pope's interfe- Rome's interference with the vacant Irish Sees; but renoetrithtta Irish Church. it does not appear to have been extended further than the bestowing of the archiepiscopal pall till the year 1206. In the mean time, King Henry the 8 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Second had acquired the dominion of Holland, in "^ 1172; and soon after the acquisition, namely, in "75. 1175, had exercised his prerogative in a council held at Windsor, by giving the bishoprick of Waterford, then vacant, to an Irishman named Augustin, and sending him to the Archbishop of Cashel for con- 1202. secration. But in 1202, the lordship of Ireland having, in the mean time, passed to King John, on a vacancy which occurred in the archbishoprick of Armagh, a competition for the succession ensued among Simon Rochford, bishop of Meath; Ralph, le Petit, or the Little, archdeacon of Meath : and Humphrey de Tickhull, each of them pretending to be the candidate on whom the choice of the electors had fallen. The king decided in favour of Tickhull, on the 4th of May, 1202. But another candidate, Eugene MacGillivider, was declared archbishop by the Pope. The king, incensed by this usurpation of his authority, sent mandatory letters, on the 22nd of 1203. May, 1203, to all the suffragan bishops of that province, forbidding them to acknowledge Eugene for their metropolitan: and circulated duplicates among all his faithful subjects of the province, imposing on them the like prohibition 6 . First archbishop About the end of that year, however, the appointed by the . Pope. archbishop died ; and his authority was then exerted in confirming the election of Ralph, archdeacon of Meath. But Eugene, who, by his Irish extraction and his personal good qualities, was rendered popu- lar with the clergy and laity, had on the very first occasion hastened to the Court of Rome, and secured a publick acknowledgment and formal ratification of his claim from the Papal See. A powerful influence was also set in motion by himself or his friends for 6 WARE'S Bishops, p. 62. SEC. I.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 9 counteracting the opposition of the king: three hundred marks of silver and three marks of gold, presented in Eugene's behalf by two friars of Melli- font, for restitution of the lands and liberties appur- tenant to the archbishoprick, dispersed the indigna- tion, and secured the acquiescence of the unworthy sovereign. In the grants made to British adven- turers, the donation of bishopricks and abbeys had been expressly reserved to the Lord of Ireland ; but the honour of the crown and the dignity of the country weighed light against the necessities of the King John's weak and venal John; his wrath was appeased by v 4 /&., pp. 271, 288. SEC. II.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 21 Iii 1353 a contest arose between the Archbishop contest between of Cashel and his suffragan, the Bishop of Water- casMan? Ol ford, who had burned two Irishmen for heresy, fordT without the licence of the metropolitan : or, accord- ing to another account, for a contumely offered to the Virgin Mary. Thereupon "on Thursday after St. Francis's day, a little before midnight, the arch- bishop entered privately into the church-yard of the blessed Trinity at Waterford, with a numerous guard of armed men ; and made an assault on the bishop in his lodgings, and grievously wounded him and many others in his company, and robbed him of his goods 15 ." This was an outrage of a metropolitan orf his outrage of the inferior; the following is that of a suffragan on his fhJonthe Arch- superior. In 1369, a Bishop of Limerick having bishopoi been accused of violating t"he privileges of the Fran- ciscan Friars, the matter was referred, by the Pope, to the Archbishop of Cashel. But on a citation being issued for an answer to the alleged grievances, the bishop laid violent hands on the archbishop, tore the citation from him with such force that he drew his blood, and ordered him to be gone, with menaces of further injury to him and his attendants. In the end, after much litigation, the archbishop being compelled to fly from Limerick by the danger of fresh personal assaults, the bishop, clothed in his pontifical ornaments, entered the city with his ac- complices ; and by bell, book, and candle, publickly excommunicated every person who had supplied the archbishop with food or entertainment. And when the archbishop, on a day of solemnity, repaired to Limerick, according to custom, to preach, the bishop caused publick proclamation to be made, that no 15 WARE, p. 533, 22 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. person, under pain of excommunication, should hear his sermon; and excommunicated by name those who attended it ; and when the archbishop left the city, the bishop sent after him some of his servants, who laid violent hands upon him, and forced the bridle from his horse 16 . Allusion to other enormities. Extortion of Archbishop of Dublin. Trials by battle. Action between Some acquaintance with these enormities is necessary for giving an insight into the condition of the Irish Church, during the ages preceding the Reformation : but it is painful to dwell upon them in detail. It may suffice, therefore, to allude in passing to the extortion of the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Loundres, in 1212, whom " they nicknamed, as the Irish do commonly give additions to their governors, in respect of some fact or quality, 4 scorch- villain' and e burn-bill,' because he required to peruse the writings of his tenants, colourably pre- tending to learn the kind of each man's several tenure, and burned the same before their faces, causing them either to renew their estates or to hold at will 17 :" To the trial by battle, in 1284, waged in a writ of right for a disputed manor, between the champion of the Bishop of Ossory, and the champion of his competitor 18 ; and to a similar trial by combat, appointed in 1446, in Smithfield, between Thomas Fitzgerald, prior of Kilmainham, and James Butler, earl of Ormond, the former having impeached the latter of high treason 19 : To the action brought in 1309, by the prior of 6 WARE, p. 508. 1 7 CAMPION'S History of Ireland* c. iii. 58 WARE'S Bishops, 40G. Cox, i. 76. 19 WARBURTOK'S History of Dublin, i. 180. SEC, II.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 23 the Abbey of Ardfert, against the bishop of that 3.1 id. I)isli0p diocese, and the chaplain of the church, for forcibly taking from the friars of the convent the corpse of John de Cantelupe, and burying it elsewhere, and also for beating and otherwise ill-using sundry friars of the house ; the bishop, at the same time, pro- hibiting all persons, under pain of excommunication, from furnishing the friars with any necessaries, either through charity or otherwise 20 : To the great controversy which arose in 1337, controversy te- J ' tween Arch- between the Archbishop of Armagh and the regulars, wshopof AT- 7 magh, and friars. when at length, by favour of the Pope, the friars got the better of the prelate 21 : To the resistance made in 1381, by the prior and Assault of Prior of St. Saviour's brethren of St. Saviour's Friary, Dublin, against the Friary on pro- vincial of the appointment, by the Pope and the general master of order. the Dominicans, of a provincial of that order ; opposing him by force of arms on his arrival at the monastery, meeting him at the door in coats of mail, with swords, clubs, and other weapons, assaulting him, and, with the assistance of the people, who rushed in on the ringing of the bell, seizing the pro- vincial and his partizans, dragging them like common malefactors through the city, and imprisoning them in the castle 22 : To the articles of impeachment alleged in parlia- impeachment of 1 . Archbishop of ment, in 1421, by the Bishop of Waterford and Lis- c. !S hei for scan- dalous cnonni- more against the Archbishop of. Casliel, charging ties. him, among other offences, with the scandalous enormities of counterfeiting the King of England's seal, and his letters patent, and sacrilegiously taking a ring from the image of St. Patrick, and giving it to his concubine 23 : 300. ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, -p. 21 Cox, i. 124. i'2 208. ARCHDALL'S Monastieon, p. WARE'S Bishops, p. 480. 24 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Irregularities and publick adul- tery of Bishop of Down. Rival claimants of bishoprick of Kilmore. Rival claimants of Priory of Kil- mainham. Controversy be- tween the two cathedrals of Dublin. Murder of Bishop of Leighlin by his archdeacon. To tlie numerous irregularities of the Bishop of Down, in 1434; and especially his criminal con- versation, and publick cohabitation, with a married woman, in the castle of Kilclief, his episcopal resi- dence 24 : To the contest, in 1489, between two rival claimants of one and the same bishoprick, botli as- serting their right to the episcopal dignity, and both strangely entitled, at a provincial synod, "by the grace of God, Bishops of Kilmore":" To the no less remarkable contention in 1485, between two claimants of the priory of Kilmainham, prosecuted with violence and outrage, and termi- nating in their ignominious ejection from their dignity, and in the death of one in imprisonment, and of the other in poverty and disgrace 20 : To the pertinacious and irreconcileable contro- versy between the two cathedrals of Dublin, con- cerning the election of their archbishop, which continued to be carried on between the contending parties, notwithstanding the efforts of the Pope for their reconciliation 27 : And to the murder, in 1525, of a Bishop of Leighlin, by his archdeacon, because he had rebuked him for his insolence, obstinacy, and other crimes, and threatened him with further correction 28 . Incidental mention was just now made of ex- communication, and the greater excommunication also was specifically noticed. This penalty was of two sorts : the less and the greater. The effect of the less was to separate the subjects of it from a 26 WARE'S Annals, Hen. VII. 24 HARRIS'S State of the County of Down, 1744, p. 24. " WAKE'S Bisliops, p. 229. 27 WARE'S Bishops, p. 320. 28 Ib. 9 p. 461. SEC. II.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 25 participation of all the sacraments of the Church, and to retain them in that condition, until they were assoiled or absolved, The greater excommunication AIM the greater. was much more formidable. For its effect was a separation of those against whom it was pronounced, " from God, and from all holy Church, and also from the company of all Christian folk, never to be saved by the passion of Christ, nor to be holpen by the sacraments that be done in holy Church, nor to have part with any Christian man 29 ." I cite the descrip- tion from an English writer, but I suppose it to be equally applicable to the Irish Church. This power- ful engine of ecclesiastical discipline, in both its divisions, was not unfrequently wielded against indi- viduals or communities by the rulers of the Church : if sometimes in visitation of offences, which required severe reprobation, at others in a manner the most arbitrary, for the gratification of personal revenge or avarice, and in a degree which was much more than commensurate with the offence, and to an extent which comprehended the innocent with the offender. The exclusion of individuals from the communion Excommunica- tion of iuclivi- of the church was a common exercise of episcopal duals, jurisdiction. Thus, early in the thirteenth century, for the most outrageous treatment of the Bishop of Lismore, followed by contumacy towards the Pope's delegates : first, the partizans of Robert, bishop of Waterford, then the Bishop of Waterford himself, and lastly the clergy of his diocese, were excommu- nicated by the Archbishop of Cashel, and under the Pope's authority, with the solemnity of a publick proclamation, and the accompaniments of bell, book, and candle 30 . 29 BECON'S ReKques of Rome. Works, vol. iii e fol. 378, b. 33 WARE'S Bishops, p. 529. 26 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. By an Arch- bishop of Cashel and his suffra- gans ; By a Bishop of Limerick ; By au Arch- bishop of Armagh ; By an Arch- bishop of Ar- magh ; In 1346, Ralph Kelly, archbishop of Cashel, with three of his suffragan bishops, decreed that all their tenants who should contribute to a certain sub- sidy, should be, ipso facto, excommunicated 31 . Peter, bishop of Limerick, in the year 1376, treated the brethren of the Gray Friary in that city with great indignity; and excommunicated every per- son who should either repair thither to hear divine service, or desire sepulture within their church. And afterwards, having been cited to appear before the Archbishop of Cashel for heresy, the same bishop in his pontificals entered the city of Lime- rick, and by bell, book, and candle, excommunicated every person who had supplied the archbishop with food or entertainment 32 . In 1424, a sentence of the greater excommuni- cation was denounced by John Svvayn, archbishop of Armagh, on Catharine O'Farrel and Cornelius, her son, in case of disobedience to a claim for some of the principal goods, such as his horse, his ring, and his cup, which belonged to a deceased Bishop of Ardfert ; and a similar claim was made on the exe- cutor of a deceased Bishop of Clogher, in pursuance, as the citation states, of a prescriptive custom 33 . In or about 1442, O'Donnel, prince of his clan, having seized the profits of the bishoprick of Raphoe, of which Archbishop Prene was the guardian, and being aided in his usurpation by the dean and chap- ter, the archbishop prosecuted them to a suspension, excommunication, and interdict, declared O'Donnel an heretick, and deprived the dean and chapter of their benefices 34 . General excom- munication ; A general interdict, or the excommunication of 31 WARE, P . 478, 3 * Ib., p. 508, 33 /., p. 253, 185, ^ /., p. 274. SEC. II.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 27 an entire province or district, was of less ordinary occurrence, though some examples of it are on re- cord. Thus, early in the thirteenth century, in re- venge for certain injuries inflicted on him by Hamo de Valoniis, lord justice of Ireland, John Corny n, archbishop of Dublin, not onlv pronounced a sen- . . , bishop of Dublin; tence or excommunication against the offender and his associates, but, by an interdict on the unoffending city and diocese, suspended therein the celebration of all religious rites 35 . In or about 1220, his successor, Henry de By another Arch- bishop of Dublin; Loundres, in vindication of some exorbitant de- mands of his clergy, which were resisted by the magistrates and citizens, together with particular de- nunciations of the offenders, combined a general interdict upon the whole city :!G . And in 1267, the Archbishop of Dublin, Fulk de By another Arch- Saunford, highly resented certain encroachments made by the mayor and citizens on the ecclesiastical immunities, and having ineffectually admonished them to forbearance, by his ordinary authority, pro- mulgated against them the sentence of excommuni- cation, and put the city under an interdict ; in con- firmation of which the Pope's legate sent orders to the Bishops of Lismore and Waterford, to denounce by bell, book, and candle, the excommunicated mayor and citizens in all publick places within the city of Dublin 37 . About 1222, Donat, archbishop of Casliel, inter- By an Arch- bishop of Cashcl. dieted the king's tenants and lands within his dio- cese ; which interdict, being without any reasonable cause, he was enjoined by the Pope to relax in fifteen days 38 . The use of "bell, book, and candle," specified in BCH, book, and candle. 35 WARE, p, 317. ao Ib. 37 Ib., p. 322. 38 Ib., p. 471. 28 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cfl. I. some of the foregoing references, was an awful and alarming accompaniment, sometimes annexed to the sentence of excommunication for the purpose of giving additional terror to a denunciation, terrible as it was in itself. A circumstantial account of this ceremony, as practised in Ireland, does not occur to my recollection ; but it probably did not differ in any material particulars from that which was used at the same period in England ; and of which the fol- lowing narrative is supplied by STAVELEY'S History of Churches in England, on the authority of one of the early Reformers. He observes, that " an extraordi- nary and dreadful use was made of bells, and that was the cursing by bell, book, and candle." And he Manner of curs- proceeds to "relate the manner thereof, out of an ancient festival, and the articles of the General Great Curse, found at Canterbury, in the year of our Lord 1562, as it is set down by Thomas Becon, in the ' Reliqiies of Rome' This was solemnly thun- dered out once in every quarter. ... At which action the prelate stands in the pulpit, in his aulbe, the cross being lifted up before him, and the candles lighted on both sides of it, and begins thus : ' By authority of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the glorious mother and maiden, our Lady St. Mary, and the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and all apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and the hallows of God, all those be accursed,' whereon the book records the offenders against whom the curse is de- nounced ; and then concludes all with the curse itself, thus : ''And now by authority aforesaid, we denounce all those accursed that are so founden guilty, and all those that maintain them in their sins, or give them hereto either help or counsel, so they be departed from God and all holy Church ; and that SEC. II.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 29 they have no part of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor of no sacraments, nor no part of the prayers among Christian folk. But that they be accursed of God, and of the Church, from the sole of their foot to the crown of their head, sleeping and waking, sitting and standing; and in all their words, and in all their works; but if they have no grace of God to amend them here in this life, for to dwell in the pain of hell for ever without end. Fiat, fiat. Do to the book; quench the candles; ring the bell; amen, amen.' And then the book is clapped to- gether, the candles blown out, and the bells rung, with a most dreadful noise made by the congregation present, bewailing the accursed persons concerned in that black doom denounced against them" 9 ." During this period the fire of persecution against Burning of heresy was lighted in Ireland, and the first victim was one Adam Niger, or Adam Duff, of the family of the O'Tools, in Leinster; who, in the year 1326 or 1327, being possessed, as was said, with a diabolical spirit, denying the incarnation of Christ, the Trinity of Persons, and the resurrection of the flesh, professing also that the Scriptures were fabulous, and that the See of Rome did affirm these errors, was by the Church adjudged to death, and was burned and hanged in the fire in Hoggin-green, near Dublin 40 . About the same time a charge was brought by the Bishop of Ossory against the Lady Alice Kettle, with two accomplices, of " enchanting and witch- craft." One of the latter, Petronilla, a female ser- vant, was convicted and burned at Kilkenny. What 39 History of Churches in Eng- <0 Loft/us MS., Marsh's Library, land. By THOMAS STAVELEY, Esq. Dublin. 3712 ; pp. 235, 238. 30 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. became of the lady herself, and of the other accom- plice, does not clearly appear. It has been stated, both that she escaped, and that she suffered death ; and together with the charge of sorcery, has been blended that of heresy, which was alleged also against Arnold le Power, lord of Donnoil, and then seneschal of Kilkenny, and eventually against the Lord Justice of Ireland. On a solemn investigation of the charge, the lord justice was pronounced "a zealous and faithful child of the Catholiek church ;" but before the acquittal of the unfortunate Le Power, he died in confinement ; and because he died unas- soiled, his corpse was left for a long time without burial 41 . TWO irishmen of Somewhat later in the same century, about 1353, the Clankellans t J3 burnt. two Irishmen of the Clankellans were convicted of heresy, or, according to another account, of con- tumely, offered to the Virgin Mary, before the Bishop of Waterford, and burned by his order 42 . These were the earliest severe visitations of heresy in the Irish Church. Meanwhile, as to that particular form of heresy, so called, which in the ensuing centuries excited the jealous vengeance of the Papal power, that did not show itself in Ireland till long after its first appearance in England, nor even till the era of the Reformation. SECTION III. Moral character of tlie Clergy in general. Abuse of Eccle- siastical Privileges. Celibacy. Concubinage. Intellec- tual character. Defective means of Education. THE characters of the clergy in general seem not to liave stood high in the scale of moral improvement, 1 MASON'S St. Patricks Cathedral, pp. 120, 121. 2 WARE'S Bishops t p. 533. SEC. III.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 31 being depressed botli by an exemption which they claimed as belonging to their profession, and by the restraints which it imposed upon them. Their ecclesiastical privileges appear to have been Ecclesiastical abused by them, and used as a shelter for dishonesty abased, and outrage in the ordinary transactions of life. Thus a clerk, being indicted in 1310 for secreting himself in the church of the Holy Trinity in Dublin in defence of sacrilege, by night, and breaking open a chest wherein were deposited the alms given for the relief of the Holy Land, and carrying away the greater part of the money ; and also for breaking open a coffer, and taking books thereout; and at the same time de- spoiling the image of St. Catherine of part of its ornaments, appeared, and pleaded that he was a clerk, and could not answer 1 . The same plea was alleged in 1307 by the prior and of mm-der, of the canons regular of Newtown, who was accused of inhumanly murdering a canon of his house, by stabbing him with a knife, and of assisting his brother to kill another friar. The prior pleaded that as a clerk he was not obliged to answer 2 . Letters patent having been issued by the king in and of violence and outrage. 1390, for inquiry into divers extortions and offences committed in the Cistertian Abbey of Dunbrody, the royal commissioner on his arrival was assaulted with force and violence by the abbot and six of his monks, aided by their associates, who seized and destroyed the king's letters, and secured the commissioner in the abbot's prison for sixteen days, and compelled him to swear that he would never prosecute any of the persons concerned in the transaction 3 . After the same manner the clergy deemed their 1 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, p. 163. 2 7., p. 561. 3 Ib. t p. 738. 32 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. privileges infringed and violated, and were roused to expressions of deep indignation by a canon enacted clerical resist- m a provincial synod at Limerick in 1529 ; whereby jince to a canon against ecciesias- authority was G^ven to the mayor or that city tor tical debtors. * ,,-, .1,1 111 imprisoning ecclesiastical debtors until they should make due satisfaction to their creditors, without danger to the magistrates of incurring the censure of excommunication. The inference from this profes- sional tenacity of exemption from a civil penalty in such a case is not favourable to a character for inte- grity in those who maintained it 4 . celibacy. Meanwhile the consequences which have been commonly found to result from a forcible restraint imposed upon the innate and lawful appetites of human nature, did not fail to contaminate the purity of the Irish clergy. its induction So late as the twelfth century, the celibacy of the and effects. . . p , . . - , , ministers of religion was not required nor generally practised in the Church of Ireland. About that period it was encouraged, and matrimony earnestly discountenanced, by the same legate of the Roman See, who was the prime promoter of Papal authority in that kingdom. And it is not a little remarkable, that about fifty years afterwards, in 1185, Albin O'Mallory, abbot of Baltinglass, and subsequently bishop of Ferns, preaching on the subject of the continency of clergymen at the synod in Dublin, lamented how the probity and innocence of the Irish clergy had been of late vitiated. The cause of this indeed he referred to the evil examples of the clergy of England and Wales, against whom he bitterly in- veighed, and showed how great had been the chastity of the Irish clergy before they had contracted con- 4 WARE'S BisJiops y p. 482. SEC. III.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 33 tagion from corrupt strangers. Giraldus Cambrensis, Report of airai- , -i -. , IT- dus Cambrensis. the celebrated historian, archdeacon of St. David's, who was present at the sermon, took upon him to rebuke the preacher for his censure of the English clergy, confessing that the Irish clergy were com- mendable enough for their religion, and among other virtues, for their chastity ; but he hinted that their long fasts were concluded with drunkenness, and that their virtue was something rather in appearance than in reality 5 . Thus, according to the testimony of Giraldus, canonofArch- ' bishop Comyu. the character of the Irish clergy was open to other charges of irregularity : whilst, as to that of incon- tinence, to whatever cause it be attributed, the fact of its prevalence, and of the recent deterioration of their characters in that respect, is too sufficiently attested by the complaint of the preacher ; corro- borated as it is by a canon of John Comyn, arch- bishop of Dublin, made at this same synod, which " under the penalty of losing both benefice and office, forbids that any priest, deacon, or subdeacon, should keep any woman in his house either under the pretence of necessary service, or any other colour whatsoever ; unless a mother, own sister, or such a person whose age shall remove all suspicion of any unlawful commerce ." An occurrence, which had taken place not long before, may serve still further to corroborate the allegation in the sermon, and to justify the prohibition of the archbishop ; for of his immediate predecessor in the archiepiscopal see it is related that so high w r as his esteem for chastity, and so determined was his opposition to the contrary vice in his clergy that on one occasion he sent to Rome for the purpose of procuring their absolution 5 WARE'S Bishops, p. 409. 6 /., p. 017. D 34 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. from the Pope, one hundred and forty clerks, who had been convicted of incontinency 7 . It were needless, as it is revolting, to dwell on individual examples of this profligacy. Its extensive prevalence appears from such attestations as these. And it is a proof of the prevalence and the notoriety of the vice, that among the municipal regulations, enacted for the good order of the town of Galway, by the corporation, in the year 1520, such a law should be found on the books of records, as the following : " That no priest, monk, nor canon, nor friar, shall have no w e nor leman, in any man's house within the town, and that man which keepeth or hosteth the said W T e or leman, to forfeit twenty shillings." And again, in the year 1530, "enacted that any priest or vicar of the college, found with any fault or crime, to lose one hundred shillings, and his benefice : and also if he or they keep any w e, being with child, or bearing him children, to pay the above penalty 8 ." The author, from whose work those extracts are cited, observes, that this is the only imputation which occurs, affecting the moral character of the town of Galway. Perhaps it should be regarded less as a local imputation than as an indication of the besetting sin of that class of men against whom the regulations are directed. The sin, indeed, appears to have been so lightly esteemed of, that of those who were taught to believe marriage unprofessional and dishonourable, and who had recourse instead to illegitimate con- cubinage, there were some who made, and seduced others to make, a glory of their shame. Such is the 7 WARE, p. 314. 8 HARDIMAN'S History of Galway, pp. 202, 2C8. SEC. III.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 35 purport of an anecdote, related by Bishop Bale, who, on his first arrival in Ireland, at an early stage of the Reformation, in 1552, had the following memor- able conversation with a Popish priest relative to the parentage of the latter: "The parish priest/' he says, u of Knocktoner, called Sir Philip, was very serviceable, and in familiar talk described to me the house of the White Friars, which some time was in that town: concluding in the end that the last prior thereof, called William, was his natural father. I asked him, if that were in marriage ? He made answer, No : for that was, he said, against his profession. Then counselled I him, that he should never boast of it more. Why, saith he, it is an To be th l illegi - * timate offspring honour in this land to have a spiritual man, as a of a clergyman esteemed an bishop, an abbot, a monk, a friar, or a priest, to honour. father. With that I greatly marvelled: not so much of his unshamefaced talk, as I did that adultery, forbidden by God, and of all honest men detested, should there have both praise and prefer- ment 9 ." In further exemplification of which it may be noticed, that Ralph Kelley, who died archbishop of Cashel, in 1361, is recorded as the illegitimate son of a Carmelite friar, by the wife of a merchant named Kelley, of Drogheda. The authority is that of John de Bloxham, Vicar-General of that order in Ireland about the year 1325. And that, in 1444, Bishop M'Coughlan and James, the bishop's son, archdeacon of Clonmacnois, were slain in battle with another sept of their name 10 . And in confirmation of the 9 Vccacyon of John Sale to the Bishoprick of Ossory. Repuh- lislied in the Harleian Miscellany, 10 WARE'S Bishops, p. 478, and his JFriters of Ireland, pp. 85, 320. Bishops, p. 173. vol. vi, p. 412. D 2 36 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. same may be cited the charge made by the jury of Clonmel to the king's commissioners, in 1537, of several of the regular priests in that part, who kept lemans or harlots, and had wives and children ; as well as an Act of Parliament, which was passed not many years after, namely, in the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth, 1569, in consequence of a disco- very made by Sir Henry Sydney, the lord deputy, of the great abuse of the clergy of Minister and Connaught, in admitting unworthy persons to eccle- siastical dignities, which had not lawfulness of birth ; but were descended of unchaste and unmarried abbots, priors, deans, chaunters, and such like, get- ting into the said dignities either with force, simony, friendship, or other corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church, and the evil example of all honest congregations 11 ." LOW intellectual The intellectual condition of the clergy seems state of the O* to have been at this period one of great depression. The character given of them in that respect by Archbishop Browne, in the reign of King Henry the Eighth, 1535, appears just, and applicable to those of the preceding ages. "This island hath been for a long time held in ignorance by the Romish orders ; and as for their secular orders, they be in a manner as ignorant as the people, being not able to say mass, or pronounce the words, they not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman tongue 12 ." And when a similar character of ignorance and illiteracy was attributed to the priests shortly after 11 Irish stat., 11 Eliz. c. G. } * ROBERT WARE'S Reformation of the Church of Ireland, in the Life and Death of George Browne, Archbishop of DuUin. SEC. III.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKY. 37 by the Lord Deputy, Sir Anthony St. Leger in the presence of Archbishop Dowdall, the great advocate of the Papacy, it met with no contradiction. Some of the higher dignitaries, indeed, are recorded as constant and assiduous in exercising the office of preachers 13 , and as possessed of learn- ing, which they probably acquired by their education tit the English or continental universities. But, for want O f places the instruction of the great body of the parochial clergy, provision must have been hardly at all attain- able. About the middle of the fourteenth century, Richard Fitz-Ralph, archbishop of Armagh, who is commemorated as a learned divine and an able and diligent preacher, and who left behind him testi- monies of his literary qualifications in a manuscript book of sermons, which he preached partly in Lon- .don, Lichfield, and other places in England ; partly at Drogheda, Dundalk, Trim, and other churches in his province; and partly at Avignon in France; appears to have been desirous of procuring for others similar advantages of education to those which he had himself enjoyed. He accordingly sent three or four of the secular priests of his diocese into England to study divinity at Oxford ; but they were forced soon to return, because they could not find there a Bible to be sold 14 . Facilities of that kind were hardly likely to be more purchasable in Ire- land ; meanwhile in the latter country places of domestick education were few and ill provided. From ancient writers of reputation and credit we university O f are informed, that there were of old time schools or academies in Ireland, to which not natives only, but 13 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 82, 291. 14 LEWIS'S History of the Translations of the Bible. 88 FROM THE TWELFTH TO ICn. I. the British, Saxons, and Scots, resorted for educa- tion 15 . But in the comparatively modern times now under review, or the three or four centuries preced- ing the Reformation, these had for the most part passed away, with the exception of that of Armagh, the high estimation of which was attested by a synod of twenty-six bishops, convened by the primate in 1162, who decreed, that " no person for the time to come should be admitted a public reader in divinity, unless he had been a student, fostered or adopted by Armagh 16 ." But this single institution was insufficient for the necessities of the country ; and the places of others, which had fallen into decay > were not effectively supplied by new foundations, notwithstanding the attempts which had been occa- sionally made for that purpose. Attempts to esta- Thus in 1310, John Lech, archbishop of Dublin, blish an univer- sity in Dublin ; formed a plan for founding an university for scholars, in that city; and procured a bull from Pope Clement the Fifth, dated July 10, 1311. But the arch- bishop's death in 1313, before the project had been matured, prevented its execution 17 . In 1320, the scheme was again undertaken by the succeeding archbishop, Alexander Bicknor, who renewed the foundation, and procured a confirmation of it from the Pope, John the Twenty-second. The instrument, which contains the rules for its govern- ment, by a chancellor and two proctors, is to be seen in WARE'S Antiquities of Ireland, page 37 ; and a divinity lecture was afterwards instituted by King Edward the Third, and his protection extended to all students resorting to this university, " conscious," 15 WARE'S Annals, p. 36. 18 WARE'S Bishops, page 60; STUART'S History of Armagh, pp. 140, 592. 17 WARE'S Bishops, p. 330. SEC. III.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 39 as his majesty expresses himself, " of the benefits arising from such studies, and especially as thereby virtue was propagated and peace maintained 18 ." But there appears to have been no provision of a special endowment; and thus, the maintenance of the scholars failing, the university, by degrees, came to nothing, though some traces of it remained in the time of King Henry the Eighth; for in the provincial synod, holden in Christ Church, Dublin, Walter Fitzsimons, then archbishop, the suffragan bishops, and the clergy of the province, granted certain stipends to be paid annually to the lecturers or readers of the university 19 . In 1465 also, at a parliament, convened in Drog- heda, by Thomas, earl of Desmond, an act was passed for founding an university in that town, and endow- ing it with privileges similar to those of the univer- sity of Oxford 20 . The want, however, of sufficient revenues seems to have been fatal to this as to the former project. SECTION IV. Monastick Institutions. Their number. Orders. Some of their Rulers Lords of Parliament. Monks and Friars, how distinguished from each other. False principles in the foundation of these establishments. Practical evil in them predominant over good. SOME substitute for the defect of schools and univer- Great number of .-,... monastick insti- sities was supplied by the monastick institutions, tutions.atan , . , T T l Till, early period. which were very numerous in Ireland ; and had been at an early period much cherished and frequented, so that in the seventh century the monks had multi- 18 Rot. Pat. 32 Echv. III., cited in MASON'S $t, Patrick's Cathedral, p. 101. 19 WARE'S Bishops, p. 3-14. 20 Mat. Roll, 5 Edw. IV. LOF- TUS' MS. Marsh's -Library. of them at the dissolution. 40 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. plied to such an extent, as to have been supposed equal to all the other inhabitants of the kingdom. Such is the computation of Bishop Nicholson, as quoted by Archdall in the introduction to his "Mo- nasticon Hibernicum" p. 11 : which contains an account of above eleven hundred of these institu- tions; augmented by his subsequent inquiries, as stated in the introduction to GROSE'S Irish Antiqui- ties, p. 16, by about three hundred more. Of many of these, however, very little, not even the exact situation, is known ; and many others had lost their monastick character, or had been incorporated with others, before the era of the Reformation. probable amount Sir James Ware, in his "Annals" enumerates three hundred and eighty-two, purposely omitting those which had been erected in the first times of the Church of Ireland, and were afterwards con- verted into parish churches; indeed, by far the greater number of those, which he enumerates, had been founded within three or four centuries of their dissolution, in the reign of King Henry the Eighth. Several abbeys and monasteries, which had been omitted in this enumeration, were added, partly from records, and partly from subsequent writers, by Harris, in his edition of WARE'S History and Anti- quities ; and he also supplied from records, as far as they gave light to the subject, the names of the grantees or assignees of the several monastick lands after the suppression. The catalogue thus supplied amounts to about five hundred and sixty-five, among which several of an early date are specified as having been made parish churches and bishops' sees, and several have no notice of their ultimate assignment. Thus the number of those, which were suppressed by King Henry the Eighth, according to this enumera- SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 41 tion, does not vary materially from Ware's enume- ration of three hundred and eighty-two. Possibly this ought to be increased by the addition of some of those contained in ARCHDALL'S Monasticon. Otherwise the sum of the monastick institutions in Ireland, at the period in question, falls short of four hundred. These contained devotees of a variety of orders : various monas- Augustinians, Benedictines, and Cistercians, Domi- nicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites; in the poet's language : Eremites and friars, White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery 1 . Of all the monastick establishments of Ireland, those of the Augustinian order were the most nume- rous : the more so in outward appearance, because the several monasteries, which had been founded in that country whilst the Irish Church continued to be independent of the Roman See, were required by Pope Innocent the Second, in the Lateran council of 1139, to submit to the rule of St. Augustine; so that they became afterwards reckoned among the institutions of that order. Inclusive of those, the houses for regular canons were two hundred and twenty, and for nuns sixty-five. However, ex- clusively of those, the monasteries of the regular canons of St. Augustine exceeded most others in number. And including the Aroasian canons, who were a branch of the Augustines, reformed about 1097, in Aroasia, an abbey in the diocese of Arras, they amounted at the dissolution to about seventy. At the same time, the houses of the nuns, or regular canonesses of the order, were about twenty. Under the same general head of Augustinians, 1 MILTON'S Paradise Lost. 13. iii, v. 474. 42 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [On. I, Piemonstraten- cians. Knights Hos- pitallers, or of St. John of Jeru- galem. G libertines. Benedictines. Cistercians. Mendicant Friars. Dominicans. Franciscans. came the regular canons of St. Victor, of whom little seems to be known; and the Premonstraten- cian, or White Canons, who derived their name from Premonstre, in the diocese of Laon, in Picardy. Of each of these there were about seven establish- ments at the dissolution. The military order of Knights Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who succeeded to the possessions of the Knights Templars, on their abolition in 1312, also adopted the rule of St. Augustine : as did that of St. Gilbert, a rule composed of those of St. Augus- tine and St. Benedict. At the suppression there were about twenty-three establishments of the Knights of St. John: of the Gilbertines there was only one. Of the Benedictine order there were about ten establishments of monks, and about half that number of nuns. The Cistercian, or, as it was also called, the Barnardine, being a reformed order of the Bene- dictines, comprised about forty institutions for men, who were likewise known by the appellation of White Monks. There appear to have been only two establishments for nuns of this order, which were dedicated, as usual in such cases of Cistercian nunneries to the Virgin Mary. There were, also, the four orders of Mendicant or Begging Friars, bound, as their name imports, to live upon gratuitous contributions. These were, first, the Dominicans, so called from their founder, St. Dominic ; or black friars, from the colour of their habit; or preaching friars, or predicants, from their chief professional occupation : their establishments were about forty. Secondly, the Franciscans, whose establishments were about a hundred and fourteen. Their name, SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 43 likewise, was derived from their founder, St. Francis; and, from an affectation of humility, they termed themselves friars minor, and from the colour of their dresses they were named gray friars. Their rule of discipline, having been somewhat relaxed, had been brought back to its primitive severity; when they who preferred it in its relaxed state acquired the distinction of Conventuals, and they who admitted the stricter form were denominated Observantines : there was also another division, which was called the third order of St. Francis. Of the whole number of their brotherhoods, the Conventuals con- stituted about sixty-nine ; and the Observantines, or strict order, about nine ; and the remaining thirty- six were of the third order. Thirdly, Carmelites, or White Friars, to the number of about twenty monasteries, denominated from Mount Carmel, the first abode of their order, or from the colour of their dress. Lastly, Eremites of St. Augustine, or Austin Austin Friars. Friars, as subject to the Augustine rule ; and under the same rule, and sometimes identified with them, the Crossed or Crutched Friars, or Cross-bearers ; the former having twenty-two, the latter fourteen houses : and with these may also be classified the Trinitarians, for the ransoming of Christians who were in captivity to Pagans ; but of this order there appears to have been only one fraternity, which was likewise under the rule of St. Augustine. There were other denominations of monastick Friars de pni- tentia Jesn orders in England, and on the Continent: but the preceding comprise all such establishments in Ire- land, unless it be the Friars de Pcenitentia Jesu Christi, also named the Sax Friars, of whom men- tion is once made in the reign of King Edward the 44 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. Second, about the year 1330. This order was com- menced in the year 1245; it appeared in England, in 1258, at Cambridge; and was transferred to Ireland, where it seems to have had one establish- ment in Dublin, in 1268. But it was of no long duration: in England it was ' condemned in 1307, and its houses passed to other fraternities, or to private persons; and in Ireland the traces of its existence are obscure and uncertain. several abbots, Several of the rulers of these establishments parliament? possessed, upon summons, a place and a voice among the Lords of Parliament. Ware has particularly mentioned fourteen abbots and ten priors; but observes, that, as to their certain number, it is far short of what appears in the records. Of the epi- scopal vacancies, a large proportion was filled from the same quarter. Thus, of about twenty-six pre- lates who occupied the archiepiscopal see of Armagh in the three centuries before the Reformation, three had been previously abbots, and seven others inferior members of some regular religious community. After such elevation, they appear to have been fond of exhibiting an outward sign of attachment to their former society, by wearing the habit of their respec- tive orders, such being the common practice of the bishops who had been so elevated : and the laying- aside of the monastick dress was regarded as a scan- dalous act, and one which by the canons deserved censure of the greater excommunication; so that for such omission, at a Provincial Synod holden by the Archbishop of Armagh, in 1427, a Bishop of Down was called to account, and admonished to amend the scandal; and, on his neglect of the admonition, was peremptorily cited, in 1430, to SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 45 show cause why he should not be formally excom- municated 2 . The members of the different orders that have Distinction of been recited occupied their several abodes of monas- teries, abbeys, priories, friaries, convents, cells, pre- ceptories, commanderies, hospitals, and nunneries. The different rules which regulated their dress, their diet, their habits, their modes of living, their occu- pations, their devotions, and other particulars, dis- tinguished them from each other. One general dis- tinction, however, prevailed between the monks and Difference be- T tween monks the mars: the essential difference seems to have and friars. been this, that whereas the monks possessed pro- perty, which belonged to them, however, in common, the friars had originally no property, either private or in common, but begged their subsistence from the charity of others; although eventually they likewise became proprietors of large possessions. In practice, also, the friars had more latitude, as to going about and preaching in their neighbouring parishes, whilst the monks were chiefly confined to their cloisters. Of these institutions the four orders of mendi- Modem origin , . . . n of the mendicant cant friars were or comparatively modern introcluc- orders. tion ; being, as Archbishop Ussher says, " a kind of creatures unknown to the Church for twelve hun- dred years after Christ, and instituted contrary to the general Council of Lateran, held under Innocent the Third, which prohibited the bringing in of any more religious orders, into the Church." And he thus describes their character after the example of one of his predecessors : " Now there is started up a new generation of men, that refuse to eat their a WARE'S Bishops, pp. 202, 415. 46 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. Character of them by Arch- bishop Fitz- Ralph. Early forms of monachism degenerated. Monastick insti- tutions deemed meritorious. own bread, and count it a high point of sanctity to live by begging of other men's bread; if yet the course they take may rightly be termed begging. For, as Richard Fitz-Ralph, that famous archbishop of Armagh, objected to their faces, before the Pope himself and his cardinals in his time, (and the matter is little amended, I wiss, in our's,) 'scarce could any great or poor man of the clergy or the laity eat his meat, but such kind of beggars would intrude on him : not like other poor folks, humbly craving alms at the gate or door (as Francis com- manded and taught them in his testament,) by begging ; but without shame introducing themselves into courts or houses, and lodging there, where, without any invitation, they eat and drink what they find among them : and not content with such conduct, carry away with them either wheat or meal, or bread, or flesh, or cheese, (although there were but two in an house,) in an extorting manner ; there being no one who can refuse their petitions unless he would divest himself of natural shame 3 '* Meanwhile the early forms of monachism, which the ecclesiastical historians of Ireland are fond of connecting with the first introduction of Christianity into the country, were, with many modifications and innovations on the original plan, and with new con- stitutions, and under new denominations, perpetu- ated in the monasteries, which had greatly degene- rated from their prototypes; and with a portion of the good, originally contemplated by the primitive institutions, mingled, in the lapse of time, a larger share of concomitant evil. The principle, indeed, which actuated the foun- dation and maintenance of these institutions, as it 3 Religion of the Ancient Irish, p. 58. SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 47 continually shows itself in the terms of their endow- ments, was essentially faulty and mischievous : for they were considered as treasures of merit, pro- pitiatory offerings, whereby their founders and bene- factors might expiate the sins and purchase the salvation, not of themselves only, but of others whom they might comprise with them in their deed of gift ; whether dead, living, or not yet born. Of this principle profession is continually made in a very usual form of expression, whereby the gift is said to be granted "for the health of the soul" of the granter, and of those of his family and friends, or his official predecessors or successors. For example, in 1178, William Fitz-Andelm Examples of this o mi false principle at gave, on the king's part, to the abbey of St. Thomas, different times. Dublin, recently founded by him, certain lands " for we. the health of the souls of Geoffry, earl of Anjou, father to the king, his mother the empress, and all his ancestors, and for the king himself and his sons ;" and in 1180, "Felix, bishop of Lismore, for the 118 - health of the soul of the king, and his son John, and also of his own, did grant to this priory the church of St. John in Lismore, paying two candles of wax, each weighing two pounds, yearly 4 ." In 1200, " Johanna, countess of Pembroke, for 1200. the health of the souls of her father, Earl Richard, and her lord, William Mariscall, bestowed on the Priory of the Holy Trinity certain tithes for the support of one canon to say masses for their souls 5 ." In the same year, Walter de Lacie granted a 1200. piece of land to St. Thomas's Abbey, ^" in pure and perpetual alms, for the health of his soul, and of Hugh his father, and of his mother, Rose de Munem- nene, who lies buried in the church 6 ." 4 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, p. 178. 6 //>., p. 152. c /., p. 181. 48 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. ISOB. Theobald, the son of Walter, butler of Ireland, who died in 1206, confirmed to God and the blessed Virgin, and certain monks of the Cistercian order, all his possessions in Arklow, " for the love of God and the blessed Virgin, and for the health of the souls of Henry the Second, king of England, King Richard, and King John, and those of Runulph de Glainvill, Earl William Mareschal, the Lord Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, his (Theobald's) brother, Hervey Fitz waiter, his father, Matilda, his mother, and for his own soul and that of his wife, Matilda 7 ." 1207. Roger de Pippard, lord of Atherdee, founded an hospital there for croutched friars, in 1207, "for the health of his own soul, and the souls of his wife Alicia, his father William, his mother Joan, and his brethren Gilbert and Peter ." 12 i6. Milo le Bret, " for the health of his soul, and the souls of Lord Hugh Tyrril, and his sons Roger and Richard," made grants in 1216 to the Priory of the Holy Trinity". i23o. In 1230, Geoffrey de Tureville assigned two marks out of certain lands to the priest who, in the same priory, "should daily say a mass at the new altar of the blessed Virgin, for the health of his own soul and those of his friends 10 ." 1374. The " great expence and burden of supporting divers chaplains and clerks, to say divine offices for the king's health and for the souls of his ancestors," was assigned, in 1374, as a ground for certain immu- nities granted by King Edward the Third to the priory of St. John the Baptist, Dublin 11 . woo. The monastery of the Dominican friars at Cashel 7 ARCIIDALL, p. 759. 8 /., p. 445. 9 /., p. 155. 10 7&., p. ]5G. J1 lb., p. 200. SEC. IV.l THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 49 having been destroyed by fire in 1480, it was rebuilt by the Archbishop John Cantwell ; and the instru- ment for its re-erection declared, "That all persons assisting and agreeing to this new foundation should be brethren and sisters of the order; and should partake of all masses, prayers, sermons, vigils, and other good deeds of the brotherhood throughout the kingdom in this life, and afterwards they should enjoy eternal happiness 12 ." In 1484, the Archbishop of Dublin having im. released certain contested rights to the priory of Holmpatrick, it was ordered that " the said convent should keep yearly an anniversary for the archbishop and his successors, on the morrow of All Souls, by singing a placebo and a dirige 13 ." And in 1513, Gerald, earl of Kildare, by his last 1513. will, " bequeathed his best gown of cloth of gold and purple, to make dresses for the priests of the priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin ; he also bequeathed to the prior and canons the town of Caparaw, with its appurtenances, for the support of the canon who should celebrate mass for the health of his soul; and pray for the soul of Thomas Plunket, sometime Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the souls of all the faithful. A yearly commemoration, with an office of nine lessons, was appointed for the earl 14 ." But examples of the avowed operation of this principle of imaginary merit, on behalf of founders, benefactors, their friends, their ancestors, and their posterity, are beyond number : and a few only have been cited almost at random during a succession of ages, and under various modes of application. Another pernicious departure from the truth Derogatory to K ARCHDALL, p. 047. 1! //>., p. 219. u /*., p. ]08. E FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. the honour of God. Monasteries founded under the invocation of the Deity ; And of other patrons ; Of the Virgin Mary; attended the foundation of these establishments, consisting in the confusion which was introduced o between the claims of the divine Being and those of his creatures, and even of the works of his creatures' hands. A monastery was wont to be placed under the guardianship of a chosen protector, " under the invocation," for such was the phrase, of this or that particular patron. The patronage of the Godhead, however, was not accounted sufficient, but was seconded or superseded by that of a sainted mortal or deified stock of wood. Thus, for example : whilst the Franciscan mo- nastery at Clonkeen, and that of the Augustinian eremites at Inistormor, were " under the invocation of the Holy Trinity;" and that of the Dominican friars at Arklow, " under the invocation of the Holy Ghost;" two chantries or chapels in the church of Callan were founded "under the invocation of the Holy Trinity and St. Catherine ;" and the Augusti- nian priory at Aghrim, " under the invocation of St. Catherine" alone 15 . Examples of foundations, made " under the invo- cation of the Virgin Mary," are the most frequent, Such were the monasteries of regular canons at Navan and at Killagh, and the nunnery of regular canonesses at Termon-Fechan ; the Cistercian abbeys of Fermoy, of Shrule, and of Bee tiff; to which may be added the Cistercian monastery of Gray Abbey, remarkable for being " under the invocation of the Virgin Mary, of the Yoke of God ;" the Dominican friary of Burishoel, and the Carmelite friaries of Clara and of Frankford, were also " under the invo- cation of the Virgin Mary." The priory of regular canons at Great Conall was devoted to a joint 15 ARCHDALL, pp. 281, 602, 750, 340, 270. SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 51 patronage, being " under the invocation of the Virgin Mary and St. David 16 ." "Under the invocation," severally "of St. John, or various saints; St. Peter, and St. Paul, St. John the Baptist, St. Michael, Mary Magdalen, St. Columba, St. Brigid, and St. Edmund the King and Martyr," were founded the Augustine hospital for cross-bearers, or crouched friars at Ardee; the Augustine abbey for regular canons at Clare ; the Augustine hospital for crouched friars at Kells ; and the priory of the knights of .St. John of Jerusalem, at Kilmainham, the abbey of regular canons at Mayo ; the Dominican friary at Drogheda ; the priory of regular canons at Monain- cha ; the monastery of the black nuns of St. Augus- tine at Moylagh ; and the priory of canons regular at Athassel 17 . The two Dominican friaries of Tralee and Sligo, ofthecrow. and the Franciscan friary of Strade, were founda- tions "under the invocation of the Holy Cross 18 ." No incidental good, arising out of these institu- Preponderance of evil over good. tions, could have compensated for the essential evil inflicted on religious truth by prominently professing these principles, as the motives and objects of mo- nastick endowments. But in truth, there was no small portion of practical evil also interwoven in- trinsically with whatever incidental good they may have occasioned. On a general view they militated against God's opposition to the divine ^Yill and purpose in the creation or man ; for whatever may law. be pleaded in favour of celibacy under particular aspects, and in particular circumstances, it was not 16 ARCHDALL, pp. 558, 004, 491, 69, 43(5, 516, 120, 498, 396, 318. >7 II)., pp. 446, 43, 548, 222, 505, 455, 667, 669, 640. ' 8 lb., pp. 307, 637, 509. E 2 52 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. according to the Divine will, that a very large pro- portion of human kind should be shut up in cloistered seclusion; bound by indissoluble obligations to ab- stain from honourable marriage, the first law of man's Creator: and precluded from exercising the duties, the virtues, and the charities of social and domestick life. practical effects. Further, if regard be had to their particular operation, and to the effects which practically they produced, the evil greatly preponderated. For, whilst on the one hand they may have been instru- mental in producing habits of labour and industry ; on the other, they gave encouragement to inactivity and indolence, luxury and self-indulgence in their inmates, leaving to the parochial clergy, the vicars who were charged with the care of the parishes, a very disproportionate share of emolument, and seek- ing to lower them in publick estimation. Whilst in some cases, under wholesome laws steadily enforced, they may have assisted a spirit of devotion, and cor- responding holiness and chastity of life ; in others, under a system faulty in itself, or faultily adminis- tered, they led to the substitution of outward mor- tification for inward sanctity, gave occasion to hypocrisy, spiritual pride, and vain glory, or induced usages of intemperance, licentiousness, and impurity. Whilst in some cases, by the exercise of a free hospitality and bounty, they may have contributed to the relief of the traveller and the stranger, in need of temporary aid; and been the means of sustaining the sufferer under honest poverty and unavoidable distress ; in others the promiscuous dis- pensation of their doles supported only those, who did not need, or did not deserve it, and was lavished in perpetuating the indigence, with its concomitant SEC. IV.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 53 vices, which they themselves had made. Whilst in some cases, they afforded a refuge for the sick, the infirm, and the afflicted, they in others were privi- leged sanctuaries for criminals, and encouragers of crime. Whilst in some cases they may have laid the foundation of useful learning, of philosophy and divinity, in others they only filled the mind with legendary tales, and the creations of a fond imagina- tion. Whilst in some cases they may have preserved and dispensed what remained of the knowledge of God, and true religion, in others they only more firmly established the reign of false doctrine and superstition; and were especially instrumental in maintaining the corrupt views and deceitful usages, which at those times overloaded the Church's pro- fession of Christianity. Some of those views and usages shall now be specified, as enabling us better to understand the religious condition of Ireland during the centuries at present under review. SECTION V. Superstitions prevailing in the Church. Veneration for Saints. Traditionary Legends. Modes of celebrating Divine Worship. Veneration for outward signs of the Holy Communion. Canonization of Saints. Reverence for their reliques. Reverence for other sorts of reliques. Reverence for crosses and images. Belief in fictitious miracles. AMONG the superstitions which superseded true Prevailing super- religion in the Irish Church, and showed themselves in the conduct and marked the character of the people, the following are the most conspicuous. They do not materially differ from those which pre- tures. 54 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cu. J. vailed at the same period in England, and in other parts of Papal Christendom : but they are needful to be specified here for the purpose of impressing on the reader that Ireland was not exempt from the general contagion. veneration of 1. The inordinate veneration of saints was car- ried to such an extent, as to associate them on the God's honour most solemn occasions with the Godhead, as if they given to his crea- wefe partakerg o f t j ie Divine nature and attributes. Thus, not to insist upon the ordinary and well-known Offices of the Church, upon the erection of the build- ing, which afterwards became one of the cathedrals of Dublin, the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, 9i- together with the Pope's legate, in 1191, consecrated the new edifice with great pomp and ceremony " to God, our Blessed Lady Mary, and St. Patrick 1 . 1220. j n 1220, Henry de Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, made certain grants to the said church, which he described as " devoted to God, and Saint Mary, and the Blessed Peter, and the Blessed Patrick, our patron 2 ." In 1202, a priory was founded by William de Burgh, in the country of Antrim, " to the honour of 1220. God and the Virgin Mary 3 ." And about 1220, William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, founded an abbey at Kilkenny "in honour of God and St. John 4 ." 1432. In 1432, Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, decreed certain ordinances for some of the officers of the church, " to the honour of God the Father Almighty, and of the glorious Virgin his Mother MASON'S $5. Patrick's Cathe- dral, p. 2. 2 MASON, App. p. xxxvi. ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, p. 11. * GROSE'S Irish Antiquities, i. 32. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 55 the Blessed Mary, and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of our patron Saint Patrick 5 ." John Alleyn, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, by 1*0. his will, in 1505, "committed his sinful soul to the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, the Maker and Redeemer of him and of all mankind ; and to the most blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother; and to all Saints 6 ." And, in 1515, a bull, addressed to the Bishops of 1513. Meath, Waterford, and Leighlin, by Pope Leo the Tenth, denounces upon every one who shall infringe it, " the indignation of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Peter and Paul, his Apostles 7 ." 2. Traditionary legends of the most palpable Traditionary falsehood, in default or rivalry of Scriptural know- legends ' ledge, were taught for the religious instruction of the people. Of these, the two following may serve for speci- mens : the former being an account of a prophetical vision, witnessed by St. Patrick, of the future con- dition of the Irish Church ; the latter, a narrative of the conquest of another saint over the Prince of Darkness. The former of these is copied from a " History of A vision of st. Ireland, Ancient and Modern, taken from the most authentick Record*, by the ABBE MAC GEOHEGAN ; published at Paris, in 1758, under the authority of the King of France, and dedicated to the Irish Brigade. Translated from the French by P. O'Kelly, late Professor of Languages in the city of Versailles- Dublin, 1831." "St. Patrick," says Jocelirie, as quoted by the Abbe, " filled with apprehensions for 5 MASON, App. p. xxxiv. 6 /&., p. xiv. 7 Ib.j p. xviii. FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cif. I. Future state of the church fcupernaturally revealed to him. A miracle of St. Nessan. the church he had founded, offered up a fervent prayer to God, to know what its destiny would be in future ages. The Lord, having heard his prayer, first presented to his view an island, as if all on fire, and covered with a flame which raised itself to the skies: he afterwards beheld only the tops of the mountains burning. Those first visions may be applied to the four first ages of Christianity in this island, when religion was still in all its splendour. But the eclipse, occasioned by the incursions of the barbarians of the north in the ninth and tenth cen- turies, is strongly represented by the darkness, which, according to the vision, had succeeded to the light, and by the thinly-scattered sparks which the saint beheld in the valleys, and the still lighted coals which lay concealed beneath the ashes. The light which the apostle saw coming from the north, and which, after dispelling the darkness, lighted the whole island, implies the re-establishment of religion after the expulsion of the Danes ; which that author ascribes to the zeal of the learned Celse, otherwise, Celestine, Ceallach, or, in the language of the coun- try, Kellach, who was Archbishop of Armagh in the beginning of the twelfth century, and of his suc- cessor St. Maiachi 8 ." The latter legend is cited by the modern his- torian of St. Patrick's Cathedral from the Register of John Alan, the last Archbishop of Dublin before the Reformation, and it is said to have been written with the archbishop's own hand. Mr. Mason adds, that this story of Satan flying from the holy man, and escaping into the earth at Puck's Rock, is preserved among the neighbouring people by tra- dition. 8 MAC GEOHEGAN'S Hint. vol. i. p. 457. SEC. V.J THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 57 It seems that on an island, called " Ireland's Eye," not far from the main land, a monastery was founded, in 570, by St. Nessan, thence denominated St. Nessan's Isle in the Bull of Pope Alexander the Third, which was issued in 1179. Alluding to this island, the archbishop describes it as the spot " where that holy man, St. Nessan, was instant in frequent prayers, fasting and watching. In which place," he continues, "there appeared to him the ms powonni evil spirit in the form of a very black man, whom e with some indignation he pursued, with hyssop full of holy water ; walking over the sea for the space of about a mile, and bidding the Devil to enter the rock at a place which is called Howth, where that hill is vulgarly named ' Powkes-rock,' and outside is seen his image in stone of a very common appear- ance. Where it is related, that, at the time when he put the devil to flight, there fell into the sea his own book of the Gospel, called by the inhabitants ' The Keslowre,' which afterwards being found by sailors uninjured, it has thenceforth, and to this day, been there held in great value, and no common veneration : so that scarce a religious man dares to swear upon it, on account of the vengeance of God hitherto manifested on men, who have sworn on it falsely 9 ." But these, perhaps, may be regarded as mere pri- vate tales. One, therefore, shall be added from the authorised publick services of the Church. It relates to a very distinguished Irish saint; and is taken from the supplement annexed to the Roman Breviary, and containing proper offices commemorative of cer- tain of the saints of Ireland, published by the MASON'S St. Patrick's Cathedral, p. (54. FllOM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. Miraculous legend of St. Bridget, or Brigid. Her miraculous Miraculous resto- printer and bookseller of the Royal College of May- nooth, Dublin, 1808. "Brigid," says the lesson for the 1st of February, being the festival of St. Brigid, virgin, patroness of Ireland, "Brigid, a holy virgin of the province of Leinster, in Ireland, born of noble and Christian parents, became the mother of many holy virgins in Christ. When she was yet a little infant, her father saw men, clothed in white garments, pour oil upon her head, thus prefiguring the future purity and holi- ness of the virgin. Arriving at the first years of childhood, she so earnestly, from the bottom of her heart, clung to Christ the Saviour, whom she chose for her spouse, that, for love of him, she expended on the poor whatever she could acquire. And lest the suitors, by many of whom, on account of her incom- parable beauty, she was sought in marriage, should compel her to break the vow of virginity, by which she had bound herself to God, she prayed God to make her deformed, and presently she was heard; for one of her eyes immediately became swollen, and her whole face was so altered, that she was permitted to send back a message to her suitors, and to conse- crate her virginity to Christ by a solemn vow. " Having then taken to her three maidens, she proceeded forth to the Bishop Macheas, St. Patrick's disciple, who seeing over her head a pillar of fire, put on her a shining vest, and a white robe, and having read holy prayers, admitted her to the cano- nical profession, which the blessed Patrick had intro- duced into Ireland. Whereupon, whilst she was stooping her head to receive the sacred veil, when she had touched with her hand the wood at the foot of the altar, that dry wood, on a sudden, became green again, and her eye was healed, and her face SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 59 restored to its pristine beauty. And afterwards, by her example, such a multitude of maidens embraced that institution of a regular life, that in a short time, it filled all Ireland with convents of virgins : amongst which that, over which Brigid herself presided, was the chief, and on that as their head, all the rest depended. " Moreover the holiness of this virgin is attested Miracles per- -,,-1. i -i. c formed by her. by the miracles wrought by her both during her lite, and after its termination. For ofttimes she cleansed lepers, and, by her prayers, procured health for those who were afflicted with various infirmities ; yea, she also gave sight to a man blind from his birth. And when Bishop Broon was falsely accused, by an un- chaste woman that she was with child by him, by making the sign of the cross on the mouth of the new-born infant, who thereupon announced his real father, she rescued the accused from calumny. Nor was she wanting in the spirit of prophecy, whereby Her spirit of she foretold many future things, as if they were pre- sent. To St. Patrick, also, the apostle of the Irish, to whom she was joined in the most holy intimacy, she foreshowed the clay of his departure from this life, and the place of his burial, and was present at his departure, and gave him a linen cloth, which she had prepared beforehand for swathing his body. At length, yielding up her beautiful soul to her spouse Christ, she was buried in the same tomb with the blessed Patrick." 3. For the scriptural and primitive modes of wor- celebration of ship, publick prayers, and the ministration of the sacraments, were celebrated in an unknown tongue, with the inventions of a fond imagination. Some of these are described feelingly and for- 60 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cti. I. Remnants of brlun r ni f a lc " cibly, but, as it should seem, not untruly, by Bishop Bale, who, on his arrival in Ireland in 1552, found the remnants of the Romish superstition still in ope- ration, notwithstanding the progress of the Reforma- tion, and thus speaks of the religious rites which first fell under his notice in Waterford. " In beholding the face and order of that city, I saw many abominable idolatries maintained by the priests for their worldly interests. The communion, or supper of the Lord, was there altogether used like a popish mass, with the old apish toys of antichrist, in bowings and beckonings, kneelings and knockings. . . . There wailed they over their dead with pro- digious bowlings and patterings, as though their souls had not been quieted in Christ, and redeemed by his passion, but that they must come after, and help at a pinch with requiem eternam, to deliver them out of hell by their sorrowful sorceries." And when, by the removal of the restraint imposed by the Re- formation under King Edward the Sixth, the former observances revived, and " the clergy resumed again the whole possession, or heap of superstitions of the Bishop of Rome," " they brought forth their copes, candlesticks, holy water-stocks, crosses, and censers; they mustered forth in general procession, most gor- geously, all the town over, with ' Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis? and the rest' of the Latin Liturgy; they again deceived the people as aforetime, with their Latin mumblings; they made the witless sort be- lieve that they could make, every day, new gods of their little white cakes, and that they could fetch their friends' souls from flaming purgatory, if need be, with other great miracles else 10 ." P articu l ai 'ty tne manner of celebrating the 10 BALE'S Vocacyon. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 61 mass. " Of all occupations," says the same writer, " methinks it is the most foolish ; for there standeth the priest disguised, like one that would show some conveyance or juggling play. He turneth his back to the people, and telleth a tale to the wall in a foreign language. If he turn his face to them, it is either to receive the offering, either to desire them to give him a good word, with Ora pro me,fratres, (Pray for me, brethren,) for he is a poor brother of theirs ; either to bid them God speed, with Dominus vobiscum (the Lord be with you), for they get no part of his banquet ; either else to bless them with the bottom of the cup, with Benedictio Dei (the blessing of God), when all the breakfast is done." 4. The veneration for the outward signs of the Religious pro- sacrament of our Lord's Supper was shown, not only by the lifting up and worshipping of the sacramental bread in the celebration of the mass, but by solemn exhibitions of it in publick processions, amid a con- course of gazing votaries, and with all the pomp and circumstance of the most superstitious observances. These processions were wont to be conducted on several occasions, with much imposing pageantry: both in the case of the holy sacrament, which was of thehoiy carried about among numerous appendages of ban- ners, crosses, torches, censers, and vessels of frank- incense, so as to attract the reverence of the people ; and in that of biers, which held the reliques of saints, and which were brought before the attention of the publick on certain festivals, as the days of Ro- gation, Palms, and Corpus Christi, for soliciting and collecting alms towards the rebuilding of churches, or the supply of other necessities. A publication of curious extracts from the proctor's accounts of the 62 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [On. I. Carrying of the host through the kingdom. 1156. receipts and disbursements of money for St. Patrick's Cathedral 11 , in the year 1509, contained in Mason's history of that church, records certain payments made to the persons employed in those processions, as well as for the sacramental bread and wine, and the other exigencies of the Church. In connexion with these processions may be men- tioned the enterprise of Turlogh, monarch of Ireland in 1156, who caused the host to be carried with great solemnity to the abbey of Roscommon, through the kingdom, attended by a large concourse of clergy and other religious men : and there to be deposited in a tabernacle prepared for it of immense value 12 . Canonization of saints. St. Malachy. St. Laurence OToole. 5. The canonization of saints, whereby, after the example and in the manner of the ancient heathens' apotheosis, or deification of their heroes, favoured individuals were declared worthy, after their death, of publick honour and veneration in the Popish Church, was a ceremony observed in the Church of Ireland. Thus, for the first time, this distinction was con- ferred in the twelfth century upon Malachy, arch- bishop of Armagh, whose claims upon the gratitude of the Papal See have already been mentioned ; and who, having been the first of the Irish hierarchy to submit the independent Church of his own country to the authority of the Bishop of Rome, may have been well thought entitled to be the first to receive from him in recompense the distinction of a cano- nized saint 13 . And soon after, Laurence O'Toole, 11 MASON'S /St. Patrick's Cathe- dral, Appendix ; pp. xxix. xxxi, No. XVII. 12 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, p. 619. 13 WARE'S JEtetfop, p. 31. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 63 archbishop of Dublin, was admitted to the same honour by Pope Honorius the Third 14 . "The holy prelate," says a modern Romanist historian, " fell sick in the town of Eu, where he died in the odour of sanctity, on the 14th of November, 1180, and was interred in the church of Our Lady in that city. . . The miracles which God wrought by his intercession, both before and after his death, induced Pope Honorius the Third to place him amongst the num- ber of saints, 1225, by a bull, dated the third of the ides of December, and the tenth year of his pontifi- cate The reliques of this saint were removed to Dublin, and deposited in the cathedral of the Holy Trinity 15 ." After this event, a chapel, adjoining the high choir in the cathedral, previously dedicated to the Holy Ghost, was dedicated to the canonized archbishop, and called St. Laurence O'Toole's chapel ; as the name of the cathedral church of Down, originally consecrated to the Holy and Blessed Trinity, and so denominated, was, on its transformation into a Benedictine monastery in 1183, changed to the name of St. Patrick, to whom, on that occasion, it was dedicated 10 . 6. The veneration for saints was transmitted to veneration for reliques. their reliques or mortal remains. The above-named St. Laurence O'Toole having died in Normandy, some of his bones, as already noticed, were translated to the church of the Holy Their translation from one place Trinity, Dublin: as those of the Archbishop ot to another. Armagh, Richard Fitz-Ralph, commonly called St. Richard of Dundalk, those, at least, which passed for 14 WARE, 'p. 3J3. I 16 HARRIS'S History of the 15 ABBE MAC GEOHEGAN'S His- \ County of Down, p. 27. tory of Ireland, v, i. p. 175, G4 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cif. I. Specification of distinguished teliques. his, for, as Pembrige observes, " it is yet a question whether they were his bones, or another man's 17 ," were conveyed about 1360 from Avignon, the place of his death, to Dundalk, the place of his birth, where they were deposited in a monument in the parish church: and as those of St. Malachy in 1194 had near fifty years after his death been translated from Clareval, where he was interred, and deposited with great reverence and devotion in the abbey of Mellifont, and other monasteries of the Cistercian orcler 18 . In a chapter held at Louth, in 1242, by Albert of Cologne, archbishop of Armagh, at which were present all the abbots and priors of regular canons in the kingdom, the veneration of the people was excited by an exhibition of many reliques of saints brought from Rome by St. Mochtra. The abbey of Ardboe derived particular sanctity from its preser- vation of the remains of St. Colman, as did that of Roscommon from the shrine which contained the reliques of its founder; and the interment of St. Ibar, in the monastery of Begery, procured the like esteem for the place, where his reliques continued to be honoured. The hand of St. Rundhan, preserved in a silver case in the abbey of Lorrah, and a piece of a bone of one of St. Kiaran's hands in the cathe- dral of Clonmacnois, sufficed for impressing on each a stamp of peculiar reverence ; and a single tooth of St. Patrick gave a name and dignity to the church of Clonfeakle, " the Church," as the name signifies, "of the Tooth 19 ." Minute portions of the mortal remains of these holy men were deposited in various 17 Annals of Ireland. App. to CAMDEN'S Britannia, M.CCC.IX. 19 WAKE'S Bishops, p. r>7. 19 ARCH BALL'S Monasticon, pp. 678, 619, 733, 667, 33. WARE, p. 166. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 65 places, and cherished with reverential regard. We are informed by a modern Romanist writer, that on the translation of the reliques of St. Malachi to the abbey of Mellifont, " particles of them were dis- tributed to the different Cistercian monasteries 20 . Of the veneration, which was at this period veneration for , -i ill ,1 ,i /,. reliques remark- tliougnt due to the mortal remains of saints, an abi y exemplified. instance may be given, as supplied by a transaction in the life of St. Malachy, about the middle of the twelfth century. The transaction shall be related, word for word, as it is given in a work composed for .the instruction of the Irish students of the Romish Church, and entitled "An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, from the Introduction of Christianity into that country, to the commencement of the tenth century. By Rev. P. J. CAREW, Professor of Divinity, Royal College, Maynooth." " During the incursions of the Danes," says the unknown buriai- Professor of Divinity, the remains of St. Brigid and K f 1t^d f St. Columba were, as we here see, transferred to and st - Columba - Down, and placed in the same grave with those of the illustrious apostle of Ireland. The memory of this event was indeed faithfully preserved ; but the recollection of the particular spot, where the sacred reliques of those three holy personages lay, became gradually obliterated from the minds both of the clergy and people. It would seem probable, that care had been taken to confine the knowledge of this circumstance to a few persons only : for had it been generally disseminated throughout the country, it must, in a short time, have reached the Danes, whose savage impiety appeared particularly to delight in dishonouring the reliques of the saints. "The extraordinary veneration which St. Mala- 20 MAC GEOGHEGAN'S History, v. i. p. 193. 66 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Discovered by clij entertained for St. Patrick, St. Brigicl, and St. Columba, made him anxious to discover the grave where the bodies of those holy persons reposed. But every effort which his ingenuity could devise proved unavailing, for no memorial remained which could assist him in the inquiry. All human means having failed, the good bishop had recourse to prayer; and with a holy importunity he earnestly besought God to make known to him the place in which the earthly remains of those three distin- guished favourites of heaven were deposited. The prayer of the venerable prelate was at length favour- ably heard. On a certain night, while he offered up in the church his fervent petition to the Almighty, a ray of light, like a sunbeam, was seen by him to pass along the church, until it reached a particular part of the temple, when it ceased to advance. Persuaded that heaven had chosen this mode to reveal to him the subject which he so ardently desired to know, St. Malachy caused the place to which his attention had been thus drawn, to be immediately examined. His exertions were re- warded with the success which they so well deserved ; for when the earth was removed, the bodies of the three saints were found deposited together in the Removed to a same grave. By the bishop's direction the precious more honourable . grave by papal remains were then raised up, and placed in coffins which he had provided for them. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the bodies were consigned to the same tomb. De Courcy, the Lord of Down, being informed by the bishop of what had taken place, it was resolved that messengers should be sent to the Holy See to solicit permission to remove these sacred reliques from the grave where they reposed, to a more honourable part of the church. uthority. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. C7 Urban the Third then filled St. Peter's chair ; and it happened that De Courcy and St. Malachy were both personally known to him. That pontiff re- ceived their petition favourably, and immediately ordered Vivian, the Cardinal Priest of St. Stephen, to repair to Ireland, and assist at the celebration of the intended ceremony. The day fixed for the per- Pope-s festival in commemoration formance of the sacred rite was that on which the thereof. Church honours the memory of St. Columba. On that day the venerable remains of the three most illustrious saints of Ireland were accordingly trans- ported, with the usual solemnities, to the place which had been prepared for them. At the cere- mony, fifteen bishops and a numerous assemblage of other ecclesiastics attended; and in order that the memory of this interesting event might be preserved, they ordained that the anniversary of the translation should be kept thenceforward as a solemn festiyal throughout the churches of Ireland." 7. Other sorts of reliques partook of the vene- veneration for other sorts of ration shown to the mortal remains of saints. reiiques. Among these may be mentioned the mitre, the crosier, and some of the vestments of St. Cormac, which belonged to the church of the Franciscan monastery at Thurles 21 ; the mitre of St. Ailbe, pre- served for many ages, with great veneration, in the abbey of Emly ; the bells of St. Senan, St. Nenn, and St. Evin, preserved respectively in the islands of Inniscattery, and Inis M'Saint, and in the abbey of Monasterevan ; and the pastoral staffs of St. Finchu in Brigoun, and St. Muran in Fahan, richly ornamented with jewels and gilding; all of which were held to be endowed with miraculous powers, 21 GROSE'S Irisli Atitiq.^ ii. 85. F 2 68 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. The Staff of Jesus; Miraculous do- nation of it to St. Patrick ; and used for the common people to swear by 22 , an oath as recorded by Giraldus Cambreiisis in 1185, esteemed much more binding than one upon the holy Gospels 23 . But the most distinguished of these was the supposed crosier of St. Patrick, commonly known by the name of " the staff of Jesus," and held in the greatest respect ; not only on account of the belief that it had been used by the apostle of Ireland, but from the traditionary legend which connected it with our Saviour himself. No mention is made of this by the saint's most ancient biographers; but the following is the history of this celebrated staff, as delivered by Joceline, in 1185 : " St. Patrick, moved by divine instinct, or angelick revelation, visited one Justus, an ascetick, who inha- bited an island in the Tyrrhene sea, a man of ex- emplary virtue and most holy life. After mutual salutations and discourse, he presented the Irish apostle with a staff, which he averred he had received from the hands of Jesus Christ himself. In this island were some men in the bloom of youth, and others who appeared aged and decrepit ; St. Patrick, conversing with them, found that these aged persons were the sons of the seemingly young. Astonished at this miraculous appearance, he was told, that from their infancy they had served God ; that they were constantly employed in works of charity, and their doors were open to the traveller and distressed; that one night a stranger came to them, with a staff in his hand, and they accommodated him to the best of their power ; that in the morning he blessed them and said, * I am Jesus Christ, whom you have always faithfully served, but last night you received 22 ARCHDALL, pp. G56, 50, 262, 333, 58, 90. 23 GROSE, ii. 25. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. GO nie in my proper person.' He then gave his staff to their spiritual father, with directions to deliver it to a stranger named Patrick, who would shortly visit them ; ' in saying this he ascended into heaven, and left us in that state of juvenility in which you behold us ; and our sons, then young, are the old decrepit persons you now see.' " Joceline goes on to relate that with this staff our apostle collected every venomous creature in the inland to the top of the mountain of Cruagh Phadraig, in the county of Mayo, and then precipitated them into the ocean 24 . " When St. Malachy became primate," as re- JjJ*. puted lated by an author lately cited", " Nigellus, who had usurped the primatial see, carried the staff away from Armagh; and such was the importance at- tached to the possession of it, that many persons in consequence adhered to the usurper. But Nigel- lus did not retain it long ; it was again restored to Armagh," where it was made an object of super- stitious veneration. In the time of Giraldus Cam- brensis, in 1179, during a pillage of the city and abbey, it was stolen and carried to Dublin ; a theft of such great importance in the estimation of that superstitious age, as to merit a record in the annals of the country, as the breaking of it had been recorded on a former occasion in 1027 26 . Having then been presented to the cathedral of the Blessed Trinity, it was there preserved with reverential care, being the subject of a miracle on occasion of a great The subject of a tempest in 1461; when the chest, which contained the staff of Jesus and other reliques, being broken to pieces by the falling-in of the east window, the staff was found lying, without the least damage, on 24 ARCHD ALL'S Monasticon, p. 150. 25 CAREW'S Ecccles, Hist. 26 ARCHDALL, p. 21. 70 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cli. I. Pieces of the true cross in Ireland. Veneration for crosses and images. Specimens of images, favou- rite objects of idolatry. the top of the rubbish ; but the other reliques were entirely buried under it. And there it remained till the suppression of the monasteries; and in 1538 was removed from thence with the other reliques, and in the publick high street destroyed by fire' 27 . A piece of the true cross, also, was preserved in several places with religious veneration. One of these had been presented by Pope Pascal the Second about 1110 to Murtogh, monarch of Ireland, and gave occasion for his founding, near Thurles, a Cis- tercian abbey, with the name, and in honour, of the " Holy Cross 28 ." Another piece of it, which was pre- sented to the Cistercian abbey of Tracton, in the county of Cork, by Barry Oge, in 1380, became there the object of popular devotion 29 . Another was preserved in the neighbourhood of Dublin ; for in a contest between two competitors for the priory of Kilmainham in 1482, it is related that one had been deprived by the great master of the order, under an accusation of pawning or selling divers ornaments of the house, particularly a piece of the cross 30 . 8. Crosses of stone, and images, were dispersed generally over the country, and made objects of spe- cial reverence, and treated with all the outward de- monstrations of religious worship. Out of the vast variety of each of these, a few individual instances may be Selected. As a specimen of the general propensity to this idolatrous form of religion, it may be briefly noticed, that the walls of St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin contained several niches, which the superstition of the times furnished with images of saints 31 . Parti- 27 WARBURTON'S Hist, of Dub- \ SMITH'S Hist, of Cork, i. 218. lin, vol. i. 181. 30 Cox, i. 177. 28 GROSE'S Antiq., i. G7. 31 MASON, p. 8. SEC. Y.J THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 71 cular images are occasionally mentioned, as of St. John the Baptist, in the priory which bore his name in Dublin 32 ; of St. Dominick, in the monastery of the Dominican Friars at Cork 33 ; of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba, over the east window of the cathedral church of Down 34 ; and of St. Patrick, in his pontifical habiliments, and St. Francis and St. Dominick in the habits of their respective orders, over the northern door of the principal church of Clonmacnois. Below these were portraits of the same three saints 55 . Not to venture, however, on an extended ex- images of our . 4 ' - I blessed Lord, amplification of general image- worship, it may suffice and the virgin to specify a few instances from the chief class of " Christian idolatry, as practised in Ireland; and to observe that the image of our blessed Saviour in the cathedral of the Holy Trinity, or Christ Church, Dublin, and that of his virgin mother in the same cathedral, the latter wearing a crown, which was bor- rowed for the purpose of crowning Lambert Simnell in 1487, when he assumed the character of the murdered Richard, duke of York ; another beautiful image of the Virgin with the child Jesus in her arms, in the abbey of the same city, which bore her name; another in the abbey of Trim, and another in that of Irrelagh, and another in the Dominican monastery of Youghal, all gifted with miraculous endowments ; and another of the same character at Kilcorban; are distinguished examples of the reve- rence paid to images. Concerning the last of these, namely, that which was worshipped in the chapel-, called the chapel of the Blessed Virgin of the 32 ARCHDALL, p. 405. 33 Ib., p. 67. 34 HARRIS'S Down, p. 27 35 LEDWICH'S Antiq. of Ireland, p.7o. 72 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cu. I. Examples of crosses, distin- guished as ob- jects of religious veneration. The sanctified resorts of nume- rous devotees. Rosary, at Kilcorban, Burke, in his History of the Dominicans, gives the following citation from Heyn : " The frequent miracles which God performs through that statue, daily confirm the Catholicks in the true faith, and in the worship of the queen of heaven 33 ." With respect to the former objects of religious veneration mentioned under this head, in Armagh alone there were, about the middle of the twelfth century, four stone crosses, and the fragment of a fifth, besides two in the burying-ground annexed to the cathedral. In the fifteenth century, about the year 1441, the primate removed to Armagh from the cathedral of Raphoe, another cross, which is sup- posed to have been the source of considerable profit to the dean and chapter of Raphoe from the mira- culous power attributed to it 37 . Many of these objects of misguided devotion, either singly or associated with each other, gave a character of sanctity to different parts of the coun- try, where they had been erected^ and which were frequented by numerous devotees. In the cemetery of the principal of the seven churches at Glendaloch, and near Temple Mac Dermot, one of the nine churches of Clonmacnois, were several of these erec- tions, one of which, in each case, being formed of a single entire stone, and distinguished from its com- panions by superior height, respectively of eleven and fifteen feet, was a favourite object of popular adoration 88 . The still greater altitude of eighteen feet contributed, with its rude sculpture, to give additional celebrity to the ancient cross of St. Boyne, with which the abbey of Monasterboice was deco- 36 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, pp. 167, 147, 577, 303, 289, 82. 37 STEWART'S Hist, of Armagh, pp. 143, 197. 38 ARCHDALL, 773, 292, 491. LEDWICH, 76. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 73 rated. The cross of Clonmacnois likewise was orna- mented on its face, and on the sides of the shaft, with handsome but rude commemorative sculpture, representing, in a succession of relieved compart- Forms and other ments, the principal events in the life of St. Kiaran, ar ' the founder and patron of the neighbouring abbey. A more usual erection was a simple shaft, with a cruciform head; adorned with no carving at all, as in the cross of Finglas, which gives a name to two baro- nies of the county, or at least with no carved figure, as in the above-named example at Glendaloch, or with a figure intended to represent our blessed Saviour's crucifixion, such as I have seen at Kilfe- nora. A circular mass of solid stone, with one ver- tical and two lateral projections, was a common form of the upper part of the monument, as in the last- mentioned instance, and in that of Finglas; in some instances, as at Clonmacnois, and at Kilclispeen,inTip- perary, whither the cross was brought by supernatural agency, the stone was cut away, and intervals left be- tween the straight pieces and the circular. These intervals had their appropriate use. In the church- Their miraculous yard of Tallagh, near Dublin, were various crosses ; e one of which, mounted on a pedestal, had in its head four perforations, through which it. was usual to draw childbed linen, for securing the easy delivery of the parent, and health to the infant 39 . A similar pro- vision, and applied to the like purpose of affording relief and comfort to the wearers, by drawing through the perforations their articles of dress, distinguished another remarkable cross at Monaincha 40 . 9. Fictitious miracles are another article in the Fictitious miracles. catalogue of the superstitions of the Irish Church. Gs GHQSE'S Irish Antiq., p. 15. 4 LEDWICH'S Antiq., p. 116. 74 1'llOM THE TWELFTH TO [Ca. I. These were attributed, sometimes to the efficacy of their material objects of veneration, and sometimes to the agency of their saints. With respect to the former, in the nunnery of St. Brigid, at Kildare, was a fire, which had been preserved for many ages by the nuns, and was said to be unextinguishable, though it had been extin- guished by the Archbishop of Dublin in 1220. The fire, however, was re-lighted, and continued to burn till the suppression of monasteries; one miracle attendant on it was, that, notwithstanding its per- petual consumption of fuel, ashes never increased 41 . About 1321, a great flood in the river Nore destroyed all the bridges and mills in Kilkenny, but dared not approach the high altar of the Franciscan abbey-church 42 . Miraculous cures I* 1 1397, the Annals of the Four Masters relate, Sl ltby that Hugh Matthews, by fasting and prayers in honour of the miraculous cross of Raphoe, and of the image of the Blessed Virgin at Trim, recovered his lost eye-sight. And in the year 141 1,- that from the five wounds of the crucified figure there flowed forth a stream of blood, whereby various kinds of infirmity were healed 43 . Displeasure indi- Indications of displeasure, also, as well as of good will, were supposed to be thus supernaturally attested. When Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, in the early part of the thirteenth century, visited an offence committed against him by the Lord Justice with the extremest ecclesiastical vengeance, he caused the crucifixes and images in the cathedral to be taken down and laid upon thorns, as if the passion of the Redeemer were renewed in the per- 11 GROSE'S Irish Antiq., i. 37. jb. i. 37. 43 COLGAX, Trias Thmnwturga. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 75 seeution of the minister; and his sufferings were supposed to be reiterated in one of the figures, which was exhibited to the beholders with the face inflamed, the eyes shedding tears, the body bathed in sweat, and the side pouring forth blood and water 44 . It was from the same feeling of veneration for images, and belief in their potency, that, at a some- what later period, namely, in 1611, a fabulous story, the sequel of the history of early times, was told of Babbington, bishop of Derry: that he in vain attempted to burn an image of the Virgin Mary, which belonged to the Dominican friary of Coleraine; and that, thereupon, he was instantly seized with a violent illness, and died 45 . With respect to the miracles attributed to the Miracles agency of saints, may be particularly mentioned what ensued, when, in 1108, the great altar of the abbey of Clonmacnois was robbed of many valuable effects. " Whereupon," as related by a Romish his- torian, "the clergy of the abbey made incessant prayers to God and St. Kieran to enable them to discover the guilty person. Twelve years after- wards, in 1120, the stolen jewels were found in the possession of a Dane of Limerick, who was delivered by the King of Munster to the community of Clon- macnois for execution : when he openly confessed, that he had been at the several ports of Cork, Lis- more, and Waterford, and continued some time at each, expecting a passage to another kingdom : that all the other ships left their harbours with fair winds ; but as soon as any vessel which he had entered into had set sail, he saw St. Kieran with his 44 HOVEDEN, referred to by WARE, Bishops, p. 317. 45 ARCHDALL, p. 84, 76 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. a worker of miracles. A lady brought to life, that she might receive extreme unction. staff return it back again ; and that the saint con- tinued so to do till he was taken 46 . Among miracles of this class, allusion may be made in general to those related to have been wrought by Matthew O'lleney, archbishop of Cashel, who died in the year 1206; by John Comyn, arch- bishop of Dublin, who died in 1212 ; and by Richard Fitz-Ralph, archbishop of Armagh, who died in I860 47 . But pre-eminent in this respect, as well as in all others calculated to elevate the pretensions of the Romish Church in Ireland, was Archbishop Malachy O'Morgair, who cured a madman with holy water 48 ; and by whom the performance of a miracle to impart the benefit of extreme unction to a lady, who was unexpectedly deprived of life before she received it, is thus related by the before-cited " Professor of Divinity in the Royal College of Maynooth." " The lady of a certain knight, who resided near Bangor, being at the point of death, the saint was sent for to prepare her for the awful moment of dis- solution. When he arrived at her place of abode, her sickness had somewhat abated, and her friends besought the saint to defer until the morning the discharge of his sacred office. Malachy yielded with reluctance to their request. But the holy man had soon occasion to repent of his condescension; for in a short time after he had retired from her house, he was overtaken by some of the attendants, who proclaimed, by their lamentations, the melan- choly intelligence that their mistress was now no more. Overwhelmed with grief and remorse for 46 MAC GEOGHEGAN, quoted by ARCHDALL, pp. 387, 388. 47 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 470, 317, 83. 48 BISHOP TAYLOR'S Diss, Popery, p. 337. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 77 the facility with which he had yielded to the impor- tunity of the lady's friends, the holy bishop returned to her apartment ; and raising his hands to heaven, exclaimed, ' It is I who have sinned by this delay, and not the poor creature.' Then, standing by the bed of the deceased lady, the afflicted pastor, with tears and sighs, poured forth his prayers to God in her behalf. The remaining part of the night the saint employed in supplicating the Divine mercy, and in conjuring those who were present to watch and pray along with him. At length, towards the break of day, the lady opened her eyes, raised her- self in the bed, and reverently saluted the saint. Elated with joy, the good bishop then administered to her the sacrament of extreme unction. The sin- gular favour, which God had shown to her at the intercession of his minister, was prolonged until she had performed the penance, which the saint had enjoined her. As soon as this obligation was com- plied with, the lady, after receiving with devotion the holy rites of religion, relapsed into her former state of debility, and departed in peace 49 . Before we quit this enumeration of reliques, catalogue of re- images, and miracles, it may be desirable to exhibit churcii%ubiin, a catalogue of the treasures of that kind possessed by the church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin. It is taken from a manu- script of the fourteenth century, now in the library of Trinity College : and the Latin original is faith- fully represented in the following version. " These are the venerable arid miraculous reliques of the cathedral metropolitan church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin. 49 CAREW'S Eccks. Hist, of Ireland, pp. 311, 312. 78 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Account of the sort of altar- stone, on which a leper swam from England to Ireland. " First, the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, cru- cified, which is said to have twice uttered words. " Also the staff of Jesus, which the angel con- ferred on the Blessed Patrick. "Also the marble altar-stone of St. Patrick, upon which a leper was transported, miraculously swimming from Britain to Ireland." I pause a little, to explain the vehicle, on which the leper made his miraculous and very memorable passage across the Irish Channel. The original word is superaltare ; equivalent with which are the phrases, " Altare Portatile" " Altar e Viaticum? and " Tabula consecrata." According to these names, it appears to have been " an itinerary, portable altar," made of a "neat stone," as Staveley says, in his History of Churches, "insigned with the cross, and duly consecrated ; of such a length and breadth as might conveniently hold the holy cup and consecrated host, with an apt frame of wood whereon to set it 50 ." Such altars were designed to be carried from place to place, for the celebration of mass, but they were not common ; the bishops were cautioned to be very careful and wary in consecrating them; and they were very hardly and rarely granted but by the Pope himself or his penitentiary. The English name was that, by which I have translated it above, as appears from BECON'S Reliques of Rome, cited in Dr. WORDS- WORTH'S Ecclesiastical Biography* 1 . "Also, should have licence to carry about with them an altar-stone, whereby they might have a priest to say them mass, or other divine service, where they would, without prejudice of any other church or chapel, though it were also before day, yea and at three of the clock after midnight in the summer time." Further 10 P. 219. 5I Vol. ii. p. 2,>0. SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 79 information, if desired, may be found in Du CANGE'S Glossary, and DUGD ALE'S Monasticon, where, bow- ever, the friend who has examined them for me informs me that all the documents quoted for the use of the word are English ; and probably the par- ticular altar-stone in question, used as it was for a conveyance from Britain to Ireland, was of English fabrication. The subject, however, may be further illustrated by an Irish authority, which describes very much the some sort of altar, as that to which the foregoing- English authorities have directed us. Of the con- stitutions and canons, made by John Corny n, arch- bishop of Dublin, at a provincial synod, in 1186, the first "prohibits priests from celebrating mass on a wooden table, according to the usage of Ireland; and enjoins, that in all monasteries and baptismal churches altars should be made of stone; and if a stone of sufficient size to cover the whole surface of the altar cannot be had, that in such case a square entire and polished stone be fixed in the middle of the altar, where Christ's body is consecrated, of a compass broad enough to contain five crosses, and also to bear the foot of the largest chalice. But in chapels, chauntries, or oratories, if they are neces- sarily obliged to use wooden altars, let the mass be celebrated upon plates of stone of the before-men- tioned size, firmly fixed in the wood 52 ." We proceed with the catalogue of the Christ catalogue of re- _^ .. . liques continued. Church Kehques: "Also, the girdle of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also, some of the milk of the Blessed Virgin Mary. " Also, a thorn of the crown of our Lord Jesus WARE'S Bishops, p. 310. 80 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Christ, Also, some of the bones of St. Peter and St. Andrew, the Apostles. "Also, reliques of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr. " Also, reliques of St. Clement, Martyr. " Also, reliques of St. Oswald, Bishop, and of St. Faith, Virgin. " Also, reliques of St. Brandan, Abbot. "Also, reliques of St. Wulstan, Bishop. Also, reliques of St. Thomas, Martyr. Also, reliques of St. Edmund the Confessor. "Also, reliques of St. Lucy, Virgin. Also, reliques of St. Anastatia, Virgin and Martyr. Also, of the stone where the law was given. " Also, of the wood of the golden gate. Also, of the sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin Mary. " Also, of a bone of St. Blase. Also, of the manger of the Lord. Also, of the oil of St. Nicholas. " Also, of the cloak of the Lord, in which he lay in the manger. Also, a bone of the bones of St. Patrick. Also, a bone of the bones of St. Columba, Abbot. Also, a bone of the bones of St. Brigid, Virgin. Also, a bone of the bones of St. Laurence, Martyr. " Also, a bone of the bones of St. Oswald, Martyr. tc Also, more reliques from St. Laurence, Arch- bishop. " Also, of the reliques of St. Silvester, Pope. "Also, of the reliques of the eleven thousand virgins. "Also, of the reliques of St. Pannosa, Virgin and Martyr. "Also, of the reliques of St. Herbert, Bishop. Also, of the reliques of St. Daunt, Bishop. " Also, of the sepulchre of Lazarus. Also, of SEC. V.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 81 the reliques of St. Audoen, Bishop and Confessor. Also, of the reliques of St. Benedict, Abbot. " Also, of the reliques of St. Basil, Bishop. And of St. Germanus, Bishop. " Also, of the reliques of St. Olave, King. "Also, other reliques innumerable, of which it were tedious to make special mention." SECTION VI. Superstitions continued. Pilgrimages. Penances. Indul- gences. Dramatick representations of Scripture, As- sumption of a monastick habit before death. Masses for the dead. Patron Days. Depressed condition of the lay-members of the Church. Need of Reformation. 10. THE practice of going on pilgrimages, intimately pilgrimages: connected with some of the foregoing superstitions, was observed at the same time to a very great extent and with earnest diligence and zeal. These were undertaken sometimes to the Con- TO Rome; tinent, as in the instance of the Abbot Imar, who in the year 1134 died on a pilgrimage to Rome 1 ; and in that of fifty persons, who went from the diocese of Dublin in 1451, with recommendatory certificates from the archbishop to Pope Nicholas the Fifth, to celebrate the jubilee then kept under the Pope's authority ; of which number seven were pressed to death, together with many other pilgrims from all parts of Christendom, besides those who died on their return 2 . More commonly such journeys were undertaken TO different parts from one part to another of Ireland, from various motives dictated by a blind superstition, and with different objects of spiritual or temporal advantage. 1 ARCJIDALL, p. 24, 2 WARE'S Bishops, p. 341. G 82 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. To places chosen by celebrated saints ; To pieces of handicraft by saints ; TO memorials of antiquity, called by saints' names; Sometimes the attraction w as the peculiar sanctity attributed to a particular spot, which had been blessed by the choice of some celebrated saint, as the site of some religious edifice of his foundation : thus, in the twelfth century an opinion generally prevailed, that no person could die in the Isle of Monaincha, be his malady ever so extreme, or his fate ever so urgent, secured as it was in the enjoy- ment of this privilege, by the merits of its patron saint Colomba, and thence called " Insula viventium" the island of the living. This legendary celebrity brought from the remotest parts innumerable pil- grims to expiate their sins at the altar of the saint, and was the occasion of a gainful trade for several centuries 3 . Sometimes the special attraction w r as some piece of handicraft, the supposed workmanship of the saint's own hand ; thus, in Cape Clear Island was a pillar of stone, bearing towards the top a cross rudely carved, as tradition reported, by St. Kieran ; and greatly venerated by incredible crouds of pilgrims, who assembled around it on the 5th of March, which was his festival 4 . Sometimes a memorial of antiquity, bearing a saint's name, and imagined to be possessed of some peculiar miraculous property, drew together the itinerant multitudes ; thus on the day of St. Patrick, the saint's penitential bed, and other similar ancient monuments, fit objects as they were deemed for the devotion of pilgrims, filled with devotees the parish church of Domnach Glinne Tochuir, in Inisoen; while Devenish was rendered alike attractive by the stone coffin, called the bed of St. Molaise, the usual place of his devotions, and celebrated for the relief 8 ARCHDALL, p. GG8. 4 /., p. 60. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 83 which it was said to afford to pains in the backs of those who reposed in it ; and to women in a state of pregnancy a similar inducement was offered by an assurance, that such as should enter and turn thrice round in the cavity of a rock, near the door of the church of Inismore, called our Lady's Bed, saying at the same time certain prayers, should be safely delivered from the perils of child-birth 5 . Sometimes a church or churches built by some TO churches, distinguished worker of miracles, with other rem- nants of his devotion whilst alive, gathered together large concourses of his posthumous admirers ; thus, multitudes of persons of every age and either sex continually flocked to the valley of Glendaloch ; and there, among his seven churches and his nume- rous crosses of stone, celebrated the festival of their venerable founder, St. Keivin 6 . Sometimes the place of a saint's interment was TO places of the cause of a like assemblage ; thus, in the monas- Sent; tery of Begery, where were deposited the mortal remains of St. Ivar, and where his reliques continued to be kept in honourable preservation, crowds were assembled to unite in the litany of St. -ZEngus, which invoked the departed saint, together with one hun- dred and fifty of his disciples 7 . Sometimes a favourite image, celebrated for its TO miraculous miraculous powers, became equally memorable for *' the multitudinous pilgrimages, and the costly offer- ings with which it was honoured. This was the case, in a remarkable degree, with the wonders attributed, and the adoration paid, to an image of the Blessed Virgin preserved in the abbey of Trim ; which, in the year 1444, is said to have wrought great miracles ; particularly to have restored eyes to 5 ARCHDALL, pp. 97, 200, 034. 6 //>., p. 700. 7 Ib. } p. 733. G 2 84 FROM THE TWELFTH TO n. I. To holy wells ; To reliques. Pilgrimages, acts of penance, or for indulgences. the blind, tongues to the dumb, and limbs to the weak and decrepit. The narrative adds that "in the same year a woman is said to have brought forth cats 8 ." Holy wells, imagined to enjoy the special patron- age and benediction of some tutelary saint, and to be endued with salutary or healing properties, attracted to their miraculous waters annual crowds of infirm and diseased visitants, in pursuit of preter- natural health and vigour. These wells were gene- rally dispersed over the country, and the pilgrims who visited them were numerous in proportion; and, as examples, may be mentioned, especially St. Patrick's at Finglass, St. Colomb's at Swords, St. Francis's at Kilkenny, and St. Conald's at Iniskeel ; St. Finian's at Erynagh, St. Thomas the Martyr's near Down, St. Kalian's at Fenaugh, and others equally celebrated and frequented ; for instance, those of Kilmacduagh, St. Michael's Mount, and InMounagh 9 . Probably a mere feeling of ignorant and inde- finite devotion in favour of some valued relique on some occasions animated the enterprise : as appears to have been the case with those, who resorted on every Holy Thursday to pay their offerings to a piece of the holy cross preserved in the abbey of Tracton ; and with the great rebel chief O'Neil, when, in 1579, he made a pilgrimage, as did one of the Desmonds in 1599, to visit a piece of the same original instrument of our blessed Saviour's death, said to be preserved in the abbey of the Holy Cross 10 . In some cases, again, the pilgrimage was con- 8 ARCHDALL, p. 577. 8 MASON'S, St. Patrick, p. 49. ARCHDALL, pp. 216, 100, 375, 119, 129, 409, 292, 301,603. 10 ARCHDALL, pp. 79, 000. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 85 nected with acts of penance and mortification for the expiation of sins ; and in others was regarded as the price paid for indulgences granted as in remuneration of a meritorious act. For the protection of persons thus engaged, the Protected by interposition of the ruling powers had been solicited and procured. In a petition preferred by Nicholas Dovedale, prebendary of Clonmethan, to parliament, in 1476, it was stated, that " divers persons, aliens, strangers, and denizens, did frequent, in considerable numbers, by way of pilgrimage, the chapel of St. Catherine, the virgin and martyr of Feldstown, which was appropriated and annexed to his prebend, being for the health and safety of their souls, and accomplishment of their petitions and prayers ; and upon his complaint that they had been at clivers times vexed and molested, on divers pretences; by reason of which they were obliged to lay aside such devotions and pilgrimages ; it was thereupon enacted, that the persons and properties of all such pilgrims should, during their pilgrimage, be under the king's protection ; nor should the persons of any such be arrested, on any writ or authority whatever, for debt, treason, felony, or trespass, until said pilgrimage be accomplished 11 ." 11. Penances, whether in connexion with pil- Penances, grimages, or otherwise inflicted on the sinner by his ecclesiastical superior, in punishment and expiation of his sins, were among the other characteri sticks of the Church at the season under review. One of the most notorious theatres of this sort of superstitious infliction was St. Patrick's purgatory, on an island of Lough Dearg, in the county of 11 Stat. Roll, 14 Edw. IV., cited in MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 54. 86 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cii. I. Donegal, about which the penitent was compelled to crawl, bare-legged and bare-armed, painfully lacerating his knees and hands as he slowly effected his passage over the sharp stones 12 . Another was the high mountain of Slieve Donard, in the county of Down, to the top of which he was sentenced to climb under the heat of a midsummer sun, and there to offer his devotions to the saint from whom the mountain derives its name 9 s . st. Patrick's pur- But of these superstitions the former seems to require more particular notice. It was founded upon a vision, ascribed by Matthew Paris to the fraud or illusion of an Irish soldier in the twelfth century, adopted by a Cistercian monk, and embel- lished with all his powers of ingenuity ; and thence publickly set forth, and impressed upon the minds of the uneducated and credulous natives, with circum- stances calculated to work upon their hopes and fears, and thus to bring them under more absolute thraldom to their priests by the influence of stimu- lating and deceitful imaginations. Christ, as the soldier is reported to have told his vision seen in St. Patrick's purgatory, appeared to St. Patrick, but whether to the primitive apostle of Ireland, or to one who bore the name of his more illustrious pre- decessor, about the year 850, the legend has not determined; and leading him to a desert place, showed him a deep hole, and instructed him that whoever repented and was armed with true faith, and entering into that pit continued there a night and a day, should, during his abode there, behold the pains of purgatory and of hell, and the joys of heaven, and be thereby purged and cleansed from 12 ARCIIDALL, p. 102; LEDWICH, p. 134. 1J HARRIS'S County of Down^ p. 121. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 87 all his sins. A church and monastery, founded by the saint; seven chapels or cells in different parts of the island, which is only one hundred and twenty- six yards long and forty-four broad, or about the size of an English acre ; about the same number of circular inclosures or conical piles of stones, dis- tinguished by the names of the beds or circles of St. Patrick, St. Abage, St. Molass, St. Brendan, St. Columba, St. Catherine, and St. Brigid, were the results of this impious invention ; above all, the purgatory of St. Patrick, which was a cave sixteen feet and a half long by about two wide; so low, that a tall man could not stand in it upright ; so confined, that it could not contain more than nine persons ; and so closed, that no light could enter in, except through the doorway, or a small window in one corner. In and round these structures, at stated seasons of the year, for two or three weeks in suc- cession, and from every district of the land, vast multitudes of pilgrims promiscuously crawled : pain- fully exercising their bodies with penitentiary inflic- tions, but crowning the tortures of the day with nightly scenes of revelry, intemperance, debauchery, and riot; and exhibiting by their subsequent con- duct scant fruits of penitence. There were other favourite spots, where the other places of macerations of self-tormenting were succeeded by F the orgies of self-indulgence : such, for example, as the valley of Glendaloch, and the islands of Innis- cattery and Inniscaltra : but the small isle of Lough Dearg appears to have been pre-eminent in evil at least in a scandalous notoriety. For much to the discontent and loss of the priests, who throve upon the sufferings and sins of the deluded people, the shameful imposture and enormities of the place 88 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Ca. I. excited, at length, papal displeasure; and by a decree of Pope Alexander the Sixth, in 1497, it incurred a sentence of demolition ; which, however, was not effectually accomplished, for in the year 1630, the government of Ireland gave orders for its final suppression 14 . occasional Such penances as these, that have been now mentioned, were in ordinary course. An example of occasional penance is furnished by the narrative of an assault made on the Earl of Ormonde, in 1434, by the citizens of Dublin, who, at the same time, furiously attacked and broke open the gates of St. Mary's abbey, and carried off the abbot by force, " bearing him up, some by his feet, and others by his hands and arms." A publick penance was in consequence enjoined upon the mayor and citi- zens to proceed barefoot to the cathedrals of the Holy Trinity and St. Patrick's, and to the monastery of the Blessed Virgin, begging pardon for the offences committed by them in their churches. And, in 1492, another treacherous and violent assault was made on another Earl of Ormonde, in St. Patrick's cathedral, by the citizens of Dublin, with circumstances of sacrilegious outrage ; which was visited by the Pope's legate with this sentence, that " in detestation of _so horrible a fact, and in perpetual memory of the transaction, the mayor of Dublin should go barefoot throughout the city in open procession, before the sacrament, on Corpus Christi's day, which penitent satisfaction was after in every such procession, duly accomplished 15 . 12. Indulgences by the Pope have been already 14 Cox, vol. ii. p. 54. 15 MASON'S St. Patrick, pp. 132, 141. SEC. VI. J THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 89 /ntimated to have been connected with the practice c i j i ! oi'ii gences in reward of undertaking pilgrimages. Such indulgences were of pilgrimages; granted in 1399 and 1401, to all who should visit 'he monastery of Sligo on certain festivals, and to all who should visit the friary of Drogheda ; and, in 1415, to all persons who should visit the friary of Arklow, and give alms to the friars ; and, in 1450, to all who should make a pilgrimage to the abbey of Navan, or contribute to repair or adorn it. Other similar privileges were granted in 1400 and 1423, to all persons who should visit the Dominican friary of Galway on particular festivals, and contribute to its repairs ; and, in 1426, to all who had contributed to the building of the monastery of Portumna ; and, in 1450, to all who should undertake pilgrimages to the abbey of Navan 16 . Papal indulgences were also given for purposes And for other differing in kind from the preceding. In 1476, P Octavian del .Palatio, the Pope's nuncio in Ireland and the adjoining isles, granted an indulgence of two months to all inhabitants of this kingdom who should give subsidies towards the propagation of the Christian faith and the Crusades; provided they should visit the Cathedral of St. Patrick's and the Holy Trinity, the chapel of St. Mary near the old bridge, belonging to the preaching friars, and that of St. Thomas, and should there say thrice seven psalms with litanies, or else the Lord's Prayer three score times, with the angel's salutation. The sub- sidies required were, from archbishops, bishops, earls, and countesses, two marks each; from abbots, barons, and baronesses, one mark and a half; from nobles of inferior quality, doctors and their wives, one mark ; and from other persons, half a mark each. 16 ARCHDALL, pp. 638, 760, 550, 274, 275, 295, 559. 00 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. All indulgences to other churches were to cease For eight months 17 . And of the same nature appears to be a docu- ment in the archives of Christ Church, Dublin, being a later indulgence and plenary pardon of all sins, however enormous, granted by Donald O'Fallon to Richard Skyret, then canon, but afterwards prior, of that cathedral, for contributions to the Crusade. He entitles himself Deputy of the Order of Minors, being an observantine Franciscan, and on the seal is called the Guardian of Youghal. In the year 1485, he was advanced to the see of Derry by the provision of Pope Innocent the Eighth ; but it was not in his episcopal capacity that he granted the foregoing indulgence, which was dated in 1482 18 . Episcopal indui- But there were other "indulgences," of which frequent mention is made in the history of this period of the Irish Church, and which require some explanation: for, as Harris observes, "-possibly every reader may not know what is meant by these indul- gences. Fuller, in his Worthies of Cambridgeshire, declares his ignorance of them : ' unless,' says he, 'they signified a promise of a pardon of so many days to such who should go on pilgrimage to such a church, or be contributors to the repairs or building of it.' And this he thinks an over-papal act for a plain bishop. But," continues Harris, " it was usual with the Pope to grant faculties to bishops for this purpose. Thus Maurice de Portu, archbishop of Tuam, in 1506, obtained a faculty from the Pope for granting indulgences to all who should hear his first mass at Tuam, after his return from Rome; but he died on his journey before he had the oppor- tunity of celebrating his first mass. These indul- 17 MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 139, 18 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 197, 198. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 91 gences were a relaxation of so many clays' penance Explanation of enjoined upon any person who should do such or such an act. This seems to be the true meaning of these indulgences;" on which it may be further remarked, that, " when a bishop took upon him to grant them, the confirmation of the archbishop of the province was necessary for giving them effect 19 ." The manner in which this power was exercised, and the nature of the acts to which it was applied, will be better understood from the following exemplification. About the year 1220, Henry de Loundres, arch- In what mannerf bishop of Dublin, having founded in his diocese an ^^5' hospital of the Holy Ghost, granted such indul- By Archbishop gences to those who should visit and give alms or ^ISo; largesses to the said hospital, in these words, " Of the penance enjoined to them we relax thirty days;" words which set forth the meaning of the privilege to the effect already explained. The same arch- bishop granted thirteen days' indulgences to the abbey of Glastonbury, in England 20 . About 1227, Walter, bishop of Waterford, By Bishop of granted twenty days' indulgences to the abbey of A **iSj'; Glastonbury, as many to the church of the Blessed Virgin, ten days to the church of Basseleke, ten days to the chapel of Horty, thirteen days to the church of Torre, twenty days to the church of the Holy Trinity of Godenie, all belonging to the said abbey, and thirteen days to the reliques of it 21 . About 1233, Jocelin O'Tormaig, bishop of Ar- By Bishop of dagh, granted to Glastonbury Abbey fifteen days' lag ^33 ; indulgences, and as many to that of St. Albans 22 . In 1237, Christian, bishop of Emly, granted By Bishop of indulgences of twenty days to the promoters of the ' mly 'i237; 19 WARE'S Bishops, p. 203. 20 76., p. 320. 21 76., p. 530. * lb., pp. 251, 252. 92 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. By Bishop of Killaloo, By Bishop of Connor, 1257; By Bishop of Elphin, 1262; By Archbishop of Cashel, 1268; By Bishop of Waterford, 1280; By Bishop of Lismore, building of St. Paul's Church, London. And in 1252,; the like grant was given to St. Paul's, by Gil- bert, successor of Christian, in the see of Emly. In 1255, Isaac, bishop of Killaloe, made a grant of eight days to the same building. In 1257, a similar grant of forty days' indulgence was given to the con- tributors to the building of St. Paul's, by William, of Port Royal, bishop of Connor 23 . In or about 1262, Thomas Mac Ferall, bishop of Elphin, granted indulgences of fifty days to the chapel of the Virgin Mary in the Temple of Lon- don ; and forty days more to those, who, out of a motive of devotion, should visit the tomb of Roger, in St. Paul's, in the same city 24 . In 1268, David Mac Carwill, archbishop of Cashel, granted forty days' indulgence to St. Paul's, London; and in 1270, the same grant was made for the same purpose, by Thomas Liddell, bishop of Down 25 . About 1280, Stephen of Fulburn, bishop of Waterford, granted the church of Glastonbury forty days to the abbey, ten days to those who should visit the reliques, twenty days to those who should visit the cross, ten days to those who should visit the sapphire, (a stone of some virtues there preserved,) twenty days to the church of Torre, twenty days to the hospital, and as many to the church of the Holy Trinity of Godenie, all belonging to the said abbey, amounting, on the whole, to one hundred and forty days 26 . In 1289, Richard Cor, bishop of Lismore, granted forty days' indulgences to any person who should hear mass from any canon of Christ Church, Dublin; 83 WARE, pp. 494, 295, 591, 220. 25 /&., pp. 474, 197. 24 II., p. 630. 86 II)., p. 553. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 93 or should say the Lord's Prayer, or an Ave-Mary for the benefactors of the said church ; and Nicholas de Effingham, bishop of Cloyne, made the same grant. And in 1291, the same grant was made severally by Matthew O'Heothy, bishop of Ardagh, and William O'Duffy, bishop of Clonmacnoise 27 - In 1414, John Cely, bishop of Down, having s y Bishop of erected and consecrated an altar in Christ Church, Vn 'i4i4 ; Dublin, to the honour of the Virgin Mary, granted forty days' indulgences to all the canons who should celebrate mass, and devoutly pray at the said altar 28 . Between the years 1417 and 1439, John Swayn, By Archbishop archbishop of Armagh, made a grant of forty days' ^ Tm u\ indulgences to any person who should give relief to Moyn Mackennery, a man who had been reduced to poverty ; and a similar grant to any one who should contribute to the ransom of Nicholas Chamberlain, who had been taken prisoner by the Irish enemies ; and many of the like sort e9 . In 1442, John Prene, archbishop of Armagh, 1442; being highly incensed against the dean and chapter of Raphoe, and having deprived them of their bene- fices, granted moreover forty clays' indulgences to all who should fall upon their persons, and seize or dissipate their substance 30 . In 1443, on the petition of the dean and chapter 1413 . of St. Patrick's, Dublin, John Mey, archbishop of Armagh, granted forty days' indulgences to all per- sons who should contribute to the providing a great bell for that cathedral, and to making some new windows and other repairs therein 31 . In 1453, on the arrival of the melancholy news By Archbishop that Constantinople was taken by the Turks, and the * ii Emperor Constantine Paleologus slain, Michael Tre- f7 WARE, pp. 553, -570, 2o2, 171. ~ s Ib. 9 p. 202. 89 7Y>., p. 108, 30 Ib., p. 274. 31 //>., p. 8(>. 04 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. Theatrical repre- sentations of Scripture events, and of legends, and mythological stories. Christmas exhi- bitions by the diffeient trades of Dublin. gury, archbishop of -Dublin, proclaimed a fast to be strictly observed throughout his diocese for three days together, and granted indulgences of an hun- dred years to the observers of it ; and he himself went before the clergy in procession to Christ Church, clothed in sackcloth and ashes 3 '. 13. Dramatick representations of scriptural events of the most serious and solemn kinds were made the subjects of publick exhibition, on the great festi- vals of the church, as means, it is to be presumed, of combining religious instruction with popular entertainment. Thus in the year 1506, the awful occurrences of our blessed Saviour's passion were set forth in a play in the Hoggin Green, since called College Green, near Dublin 33 . And the like method was employed for impressing upon the publick mind the subjects of their superstitious legends. Thus at the same place, in 1523, the life of St. Laurence, one of the cano- nized objects of Irish veneration, was played for the edification or amusement of the admiring mul- titude. With subjects of these kinds were sometimes blended others derived from the heathen mythology. Thus in the year 1528, Arland Ussher being then mayor, and Francis Herbert, and John Squire, bailiffs, the Earl of Ossory, being lord deputy of Ire- land, was invited every day in Christmas to a new play ; wherein the tailors acted the part of Adam and Eve ; the shoemakers represented the story of Crispin and Crispianus ; the vintners acted Bacchus and his story; the carpenters that of Joseph and Mary ; Vulcan, and what related to him, was acted by the smiths ; and the comedy of Ceres, the god- 32 WARE, p. 341 . Loftm MS., Marsh's Library. , SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 95 dess of corn, by the bakers. Their stage was erected on Hoggin Green, now called College Green; and on it the Priors of St. John of Jerusalem, of the Blessed Trinity, and of All Hallows, caused two plays to be acted, the one representing the passion of our Saviour, and the other the several deaths which the apostles suffered 34 . A similar exhibition is recorded, as accompanying Exhibition on the procession of Corpus Christi day, on which the day?" 8 glovers were to represent Adam and Eve, with an angel bearing a sword before them; the corrisees, perhaps the curriers, were to represent Cain and Abel, with an altar and their offering ; mariners and vintners, Noah and the persons in his ark, apparelled in the habits of carpenters and salmon-takers; the weavers represented Abraham and Isaac with their offering and altar; the smiths represented Pharaoh with his host ; the skinners the camel with the children of Israel ; the goldsmiths were to find the King of Cullen, (qu. the kings of Cologne, that is, the Eastern Magi?) the hoopers were to find the shepherds, with an angel singing Gloria in cwcdsis Deo ; Corpus Christi guild was to find Christ in his passion, with the Maries and Angels ; the tailors were to find Pilate with his fellowship, and his wife clothed accordingly ; the barbers, Annas and Caia- phas ; the fishers, the Apostles ; the merchants, the Prophets; and the butchers, the tormentors 35 . The same sort of entertainment appears to be proctor's account intended by the Proctor's account, already referred to, in St. Patrick's cathedral in the year 1509; where an allowance is required of "three shillings and one penny paid to Thomas Mayowe, playing 34 ROBT. WARE, MS. quoted in WARBURTON'S Hist, of Dublin, i. 108. 85 Hixt. of Dublin, i. 110. 96 PROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. with seven candles, on the feast of the Lord's Nati- vity, and the Purification, this year; and of four shillings and sevenpence paid to those who played with the great and little Angel, and the Dragon, on the feast of Pentecost ; and four shillings and two- pence paid for victuals to the same, who played on the days of the same feast, this year 38 , characters of the The plays, here spoken of, seem to have been drama repre- sentedbypup- performed by the machinery of puppets, which were made to personate the characters of the drama. And this interpretation is illustrated and confirmed by a curious passage, quoted in WARTON'S Plistorij of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 240, 4to., from LAM- BARDE'S Topographical Dictionary, written about the year 1570. "In the days of ceremonial religion, they used at Wytney, in Oxfordshire, to set forth yearly, in manner of a show or interlude, the resur- rection of our Lord, &c. For the which purposes, and the more lively hereby to exhibit to the eye the whole action of the resurrection, the priests garnished out certain small puppets, representing the persons of Christ, the watchmen, Mary, and others ; amongst the which one bare the part of a waking watchman, who espying Christ to arise, made a continual noise, like to the sound that is caused by the meeting of two sticks. The like toy I myself, being then a child, once saw in Paul's Church at London, at a feast of Whitsuntide, where the coming down of the Holy Ghost was set forth by a white pigeon, that was let to fly out of a hole, that yet is to be seen in the midst of the roof of the great aisle." Bishop Bale's at- John Bale, bishop of Ossory, in King Edward tempt to improve , o . . , . . . the {Sixth s reign, endeavoured to improve these dramatick exhibitions of religious subjects ; and under 3C MASON'S St. Patricks, App. pp. xxviii, xxix. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 97 his patronage a tragedy of God's promises in the old law, and a comedy of St. John Baptist's preach- ings, of Christ's baptising, and of his temptation in the wilderness, were played at Kilkenny, after the manner of some pieces of his composition, which are still extant. But these subjects are manifestly unfit for such representations. The very association has an air of profaneness ; and they gradually fell into disuse, and at length became obsolete, under the light diffused by the Reformation. 14. To mitigate the terrors of approaching death, Assumption of i , . i , , monastick dress and to secure future happiness, recourse was had to before death; several superstitious observances; to one in parti- cular, which, although not so prevalent as to be represented, like pilgrimages, of general adoption, was by no means uncommon even amongst persons of distinction; namely, that by which they attempted to secure a passport to heaven under a borrowed semblance ; and, as Milton says : To be sure of Paradise, Dying put on the weeds of Dominick, Or in Franciscan thought to pass disguised 37 . During the period under consideration, two arch- bishops of Cash el, and three bishops respectively of By several Raphoe, Derry, and Ross, are named in Sir JAMES WARE'S History, as having assumed on their death- beds the Franciscan, Cistercian, or Dominican habit, and being buried in that attire, and in a monastery of the same order 38 ; a practice, which is observed by Ware's continuator, Harris, to have been " according to the humour of those times, and thought to be of great consequence ;" and which in fact was not con- 37 Paradise Lost. B. iii. v. 478. . 38 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 475, 478, 274, 291, 588. H 98 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. ed laymen. fined to ecclesiastical persons, as we are elsewliere And distinguish- informed of a Lord Justice of Ireland, who in 1257 died, and was buried in the monastery of Youghall, in the habit of a Franciscan friar; of Dermot O'Brien, prince of Thomond, who in 1313 had recourse at Ennis to the like passport to happiness, which was adopted in 1343, by Matthew M'Comara, who built the refectory and sacristy of the monastery, and was there buried in the habit of the order ; and of Alexander of the Ashgrove, who assumed the same habit in 1348, and was interred in the Fran- ciscan friary of Kilkenny 3. Private masses. Examples founded by Abp. of Armagh. 15. Private masses, or masses performed by the priest alone, for the benefit of the dead, and in which the living had no participation, were universally pre- valent, and had become the source of large revenues to the clergy, by reason of the donations and be- quests, given for the perpetual maintenance of these expiatory ceremonies. Examples of these are too abundant for enume- ration. Two or three, however, may be briefly noticed : as for instance, that John Swayn, arch- bishop of Armagh, having founded a chapel and chantry, dedicated to St. Anne, in St. Peter's church, Drogheda, early in the fifteenth century, John May, one of his successors, soon afterwards "annexed a large portion of the archiepiscopal tithes to the chapel, in pure alms, for ever, as a compensation for a greater number of priests, to pray perpetually for his soul, and the souls of his predecessors and suc- cessors, and of all the benefactors to the same Church 40 ." 89 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, pp. 81, 45, 374. 40 WARE'S Bisliops, p, 8G. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 99 And a curious manuscript in the library of Tri- And in Christ nity College, Dublin, contains a list of the names of Church> Dublin ' the deceased, whose bodies, in the fourteenth cen- tury, rested in the dust in the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, and in the precinct of the same ; with a prayer that God would be propitious to their souls: for which, it goes on to say, "the prior and canons of the same place are bound to pray; and especially once in the year solemnly to celebrate for them exequies and masses, with bells sounded and candles lighted about them." After the like manner, in 1244, Luke, arch- bishop of Dublin, having at the instance of Warin, one of the canons of St. Patrick's, granted a piece of ground for ever to the vicars; the vicars bound themselves to celebrate one mass in the church every day, for the souls of the fathers and mothers of the archbishop and of the said Warin, and like- wise for their souls, when they should die ; and that on their anniversaries they would celebrate mass in a solemn manner, subject to deprivation of their benefices in the event of non-performance. And in 1364, in consideration of an acre of land granted by King Edward the Third, through his son Lionel, duke of Clarence, the clean and chapter incurred a similar obligation of performing anniversaries for the souls of the king and queen, of the duke and duchess, and of their ancestors and posterity for ever 41 . For these formalities a single altar was not suf- Multitude of ficient, but in the same church a multitudinous same church. provision was made for their observance. Thus at a great synod, holden in 1157, for the purpose of con- secrating the church of Mellifont, at which were 41 MASON'S A^, Patrick, pp. 108, 124. H 2 100 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. Mass celebrated at several at the same time. present the Archbishop of Armagh, then apostolick legate, and divers other princes and bishops, amongst numerous rich gifts to the abbey was included a chalice of gold for the high altar, and holy furniture for nine other altars in the same church 42 . These masses were frequently celebrated, many in the same church and at the same time. Thus in the church of Gal way were the following chapels and altars: 1. The high altar of St. Nicholas, in the choir; 2. The altar of Jesus Christ, in the chapel of Christ Judging; 3. The altar of St. Michael, in the chapel of the Guardian Angels ; 4. The altar of St. Mary Major, in the ancient chapel of the Lynches ; 5. The altar of the blessed Mary, in the new and great chapel of the Blessed Mary, under the title of the Blessed Mary, mother of G od ; 6. The altar of St. James ; 7. The altar of St. Ca- therine, in her gilt chapel ; 8. The altar of St. John the Baptist, joined to the column of the pulpit ; 9. The altar of St. Bridget; 10. The altar of St. Martin ; 11. The altar of the Blessed Sacrament, in the chapel dedicated to it; 12. The altar of St. Anne, in her chapel; 13. The altar of St. Patrick, in his chapel, originally dedicated to him; 14. The altar of the Holy Trinity, in its chapel. These fourteen chapels and altars are specified by a modern historian of the town, as a criterion for estimating the magnificence of the church of Galway before the Reformation; and he adds the remark, that in almost all of these the same time was often employed for the celebration of divine service 43 . comparative re- 15. In this enumeration it may be noticed, that * 2 ARCHDALL, p. 479. 43 HARDIMAX'S Hist, of Galway, p. 240, note. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 101 whilst one chapel and altar were erected in honour of the holy Trinity, and one in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, there were two in honou-rof the Virgin Mary, one of St. Michael, one of St. James, and one of St. John the Baptist, and attest: the cnt'ie of the remainder, being nearly a moiety of the whole, were in honour of canonized saints. The proportionate regard shown, during the times in question, to the uncreated and created objects of religious veneration, might be illustrated by this appropriation; and a similar illustration might be drawn from the appropriation of time: for the festival days of the several patron saints were solemnly observed, whereas small regard was paid to the Lord's-day, that being the day selected in several places for the holding of publick markets 44 . A failure in the reverence due to this day was Tournaments on evidenced in the year 1541, when the parliament having passed an act declaring Henry the Eighth king of Ireland, the Sunday following was selected for proclaiming him king, in St. Patrick's church, and the next Sunday for "having tournaments and running at the ring with spears, on horseback 45 ." Whereas the guilt of the murder of five innocent unoffending persons, on Friday, the 8th of Septem- ber, 1556, during their occupation in the hay field, "after they had served God according to the day, was coloured by the priests, who caused it to be noised all the country round, that it was by the hand of God these persons were slain, for that they had broken, they said, the great holyday of our Lady's nativity 46 ." 44 Cox, i. 103. 45 Hist, of Dublin, i. 109, from a MS. in the Coll. Library. 46 BALE'S Vocacyon. 102 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [CH. I. Condition of tho members of tho Church in general. 16. It remains to be briefly noticed, that under the circumstances to which we have adverted, the *. : condition' io:tiie members of the church in general 'could not be expected to be, and in reality was not, .''.: ;4is : tfrigiiteBe(Jl)y: sound religion and useful learning. Revealed truth was inaccessible to them at its source in the Holy Scripture; and in its trans- mission through the channels of ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies, and ministerial instruction, it had, for the most part, lost its primitive and essential character ; so that the spiritual worship of God, and belief in the Gospel of his blessed Son, and cor- responding holiness and purity of life, were well nigh superseded and obliterated by fabulous legends and superstitions, and unedifying observances. Mean- while with a clergy too commonly illiterate, with scanty means and opportunities of intellectual im- provement, and amid the continual agitation of intestine tumults and warfare, illiteracy was the general state both of their chief men and of the people; so that we need hardly wonder at the statement of history that, even in the year 1546, there were men of high rank and station in the country so destitute of the elements of education as to be incapable of writing their names. Their conduct, indeed, during this period exhibited palpa- ble symptoms of brutality and ferocity; and was marked by a contemptuous disregard, not only for ingenuous learning, but for religion, whose abodes and ministers they often desecrated with sacrilegious outrage. outrages upon ^ one perfidious Irishman, indeed, an unbap- reiigious edifices. t j ze( j marau( j er> or cor fa as he was called, because he had never been christened, one M'Adam, or Hugh M'Gilmori, we are informed, who, in 1407, SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 103 destroyed forty churches, and was afterwards killed in that of Carrickfergus, his previous ravaging of which, by breaking the windows, and carrying off* the iron-bars, had disabled it for affording him pro- tection from assault 47 . But the outrages of this lawless barbarian had their counterparts in the violence of those from whom, professors as they were of the Christian faith, better things might have been hoped and expected. Thus the destruction of the inhabitants of the irreligious con- town and abbey of Kildare by a King of Leinster, ofrank. per in 1135, the forcible abstraction of the abbess from her cloister, and her compulsory marriage with one of his own followers 48 : the plunder, in 1171, by a chieftain, named Manus M'Dunleve, of several churches 49 : the conversion of the church of Milick into a stable, by William de Burgh, in 1203, who appears to have committed sacrilege with as little compunction as he ate flesh meat during Lent 50 : the plunder of the abbey of Innisfallen, in 1180, and the slaughter of the clergy in their cemetery by the Macarthys 51 ; the destruction of the monastery of Lough Dearg, which, notwithstanding its celebrity and reputed holiness, was reduced to ashes by Bra- tachas O'Boyle and JVTMahon, in 1207 5 ' 2 : the assault made by John de Rathcogan, in 1306, upon the Abbot k of Crossmalyne, the imprisonment of his person, and the rifling of his monastery 53 : " the hea- thenish riot of the citizens of Dublin, in 1492, in rushing into St. Patrick's church armed, polluting with slaughter the consecrated place, defacing the 47 MARLEBURGH'S Annals, App. to CAMDEN'S Britannia. 48 ARCHDALL, p. 328. 49 Ib., p. 83. 50 Ib., p. 294. 51 Ib., p. 302. 52 Ib., p. 102. 53 Ib., p. 501, 104 FROM THE TWELFTH TO [Cn. I. images, prostrating the reliques, rasing down altars, with barbarous outcries, more like miscreant Sara- cens than Christian Catholicks 54 :" the attack, in 1392, upon the abbey of St. Thomas, by the mayor of Dublin and the bailiffs, and others of the citizens, armed, " with intent and malice aforethought," " to drag thereout John Serjeant, the abbot, and all his party, or to kill them there ;" and their persistance in their evil designs, notwithstanding the interposi- tion of the government, " bringing fire to burn the abbey, destroying several hosts, breaking the win- dows, surrounding the king's officers, and forcibly rescuing their prisoners 55 :" the burning of the cathe- dral church of Cashel, in 1503, by the Earl of Kildare, who acknowledged the sacrilegious action, and affirmed, with a solemn oath, that he would not have committed it, had he not supposed that the archbishop himself was in the church 56 : and the murder, in 1513, of Edmund Burke in the monastery of Rathbran, where he had sought protection from the unnatural malice of his brother's sons 57 : these and similar outrages mark the ecclesiastical annals of the country, and leave the brand of barbarism and irreligion on the character of its inhabitants of rank, from which it is hardly to be supposed that the inferior instruments of iniquity could be exempted. Moral condition Of the moral condition, indeed, of the lower of the lower T i i Irish. Irish, during the period in question, a sketch has been drawn in recent times by an ecclesiastick of high dignity in the Romish church in Ireland, as cited by Dr. Phelan, in his History, p. 128 ; and by 54 HOLLINGSHED, cited by MA- SON, St. Patrick's Cathedral, p. 141, Note h. 55 ARCHDALL, p. 194. 56 M'GEOHEGAN'S Hist. i. 421. 57 ARCHDALL, p. 508. SEC. VI.] THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 105 him they are represented as exhibiting ferocity combined with cunning, and astuteness with cruelty, as characterized by individual bravery and collective cowardice, and as generally estranged from honesty and truth. The features of this portrait, it is to be hoped, are exaggerated: but the delineation had probably too near a resemblance to the original, as it may be traced in the occurrences of the times. Upon the whole, whatever pretensions may have General charac- been justly advanced by Ireland, in previous ages, church. 6 to the title of " the Island of Saints," an examina- tion of its subsequent condition shows, that its profession of Christianity had become such as to preclude its continued claim to that appellation; that it had fallen many degrees below the standard of evangelical purity and simplicity, and was weighed down by a burden of corruption and error during the centuries under review ; and was abundantly in need of improvement in its profession and practice of religion, in the character of its clergy and people, and in the ordinances of its church, at the era of the Reformation. 106 Depressed state of the Church of Ireland before the Reformation. CHAPTER II. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE LATTER PART OF THE REIGN OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH .... 1535 1537- GEORGE CROMER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE 15351542. GEORGE DOWDALL, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE 1543. SECTION I. Review of the Condition of the Church. Recognition of the Kings Supremacy intended. Archbishop Crome^s oppo- sition. Co-operating obstacles. George Browne made Archbishop of Dublin. Ineffectual effort of the Kin(fs Commissioners. Parliament of 1537. Acts relative to the Church. AT the era of the Reformation, the Church of Ire- land partook of those marks which were inherent in the Church of England also, as well as in the other churches of western Christendom. The true word of God was not preached by her ministers, nor acknowledged by her people, through the general ignorance or prohibition of the Holy Scriptures. Legendary tales maintained an ascendency over the Christian verity. Transubstantiation, wafer-worship, and half-communion ; auricular confession, and dis- cretionary absolution ; purgatory, pilgrimages, pen- ances, and indulgences; the invocation of saints, and the adoration of images and reliques : all con- spiring to derogate from God's honour, and to lay false foundations for man's hope of salvation ; were some of the enormities which deformed her creed SEC. I.] THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. 107 and religious practice. The sacraments of Christ were partly withheld, or superstitiously administered : they, as likewise the publick prayers of the Church, were celebrated in a strange tongue: and certain other ecclesiastical ordinances were raised to the dignity of the two sacraments of Christ. Celibacy was enjoined upon her clergy. They, as well as her people, were little distinguished for moral or intel- lectual improvement. Monastick establishments existed to a great and very detrimental extent. And of those who bore the episcopal office in her communion, her four archbishops and twenty-six bishops, the appointment was conferred, the allegi- ance claimed,, and the rights and privileges circum- scribed by a foreign potentate: from whom the metropolitans had submitted to receive their archie- piscopal palls from the middle of the twelfth cen- tury, in acknowledgment of the Papal supremacy. It was by the abrogation of this supremacy, and mng-s supw- the assertion of the sovereign's right to the undi- toReformltton. vided dominion over all his subjects, as well eccle- siastical as civil, that the first advance was made towards the reformation of religion, the providence of God converting the counsels of the monarch for the maintenance of his own r^al prerogative into the means of purifying and renovating his Church. King Henry the Eighth having succeeded in causing Year of our Lord his supremacy in the Church of England to be "recognised by the clergy, and authorized by Par- liament," was desirous of establishing the like supremacy in the Church of Ireland, " forasmuch as Ireland was depending and belonging justly and rightfully to the imperial crown of England 1 ." 1 Eng. Stat, 26 Henry VIII., c. 1. Irish Stat. 26 Henry VIII., c. 5. 108 THE REIGN OF [CH. II. Opposition of Archbishop Cromcr. Difficulties arising from the general state of the country. But his desire met with a powerful opponent in Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, who had lately held the highest civil office of Lord Chancellor in the kingdom; and who, still occupying the first eccle- siastical dignity of Primate of all Ireland, exerted the influence derived from his publick stations, aided by the personal qualities, which he is related to have borne, " of great gravity, learning, and a sweet demeanour," in alluring his suffragan bishops and inferior clergy to support the Pope's supremacy in despite of the pretensions of the king 2 . The general condition of the country; the dis- union, dissensions, and mutual jealousies which pre- vailed among different classes of its inhabitants, especially between those of different national origin or parentage; the hereditary antipathy in the descendants of the earlier inhabitants against the sovereign, as not of indigenous extraction, nor a native of the soil; their prevalent disposition to indulge in resistance to his authority, and to seek assistance from foreign powers to support them in their resistance; the remoteness of their situation, which rendered them less accessible to the visitations of the king's power, and less fearful of his indigna- tion; their continual intestine agitations, which had indisposed the mind, and afforded little convenient occasion for speculative inquiries, and for intellectual or spiritual improvement ; the absence of any per- vious extraordinary impulse for directing the mind to seek for knowledge, and the want of literary institutions for giving efficacy to the impulse if it had existed; the people's habitual subjection to their clergy, and the ignorance of the clergy them- selves, and their blind and superstitious devotion to * WARE'S Bishops, p. 91. SEC. I.] KING HENRY VIII. ] 09 their ecclesiastical superiors; the long and deep- rooted prepossession in favour of one, who had pre- tended to supreme authority in the church for three or four centuries, and whose character they had been accustomed to venerate as all but divine ; and with all this a persuasion of the fact, that the earliest English king, who had claimed dominion in Ireland, derived his claim in the first place from a Papal grant, so that the royal authority, however it may have been afterwards upheld, had been origi- nally, as they were taught to believe, founded on a power which it now sought to displace and super- sede : these and the like impediments in the state and prepossessions of the inhabitants co-operated with the zeal of the primate, in obstructing the inroad, which the dominion of the sovereign was attempting to make on that of the Pope. Upon the difficulties arising from the circum- stances of the country it is not proposed to dwell ; but as to the sentiment of the English sovereignty being derived from a foreign source, it may be briefly the dominion <* remarked, that the claim of the kings of England to the dominion of Ireland was independent of any Papal authority. Whatever right Pope Adrian may have pretended to possess or to exercise in the bestowal of that kingdom on King Henry the Second, he had by right, as Sir John Davies has remarked, "no more interest in this kingdom than he which offered to Christ all the kingdoms of the earth 3 ." And in point of fact, to use the words of Archbishop Ussher, "Whatsoever become of the Pope's idle challenges, the crown of England hath otherwise obtained an undoubted right unto the sovereignty 3 Discovert/ why Ireland was never entirely Subdued, by Sir J. DAVIES, p. 15. Edit. 1747. 110 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Appointment cf George Browne to the Arch- bishoprick of Dublin. of this country ; partly by conquest, prosecuted at first upon occasion of a social war, partly by the several submissions of the chieftains of the land made afterwards. For 'whereas it is free for all men, although they have been formerly quit from all subjection, to renounce their own right, yet now in these our days, (saith Giraldus Cambrensis, in his History of the Conquest of Ireland,) all the princes of Ireland did voluntarily submit, and bind them- selves with firm bonds of faith and oath unto Henry the Second, king of England 4 .'" With respect, indeed, to the Pope's imaginary right, and the con- sequent grant to Henry the Second, it has been stated that "the Irish parliament had occasionally acknowledged this to be the only legitimate founda- tion of the authority of the crown of England 5 ." But neither by the statutes of King Edward the Fourth, to which reference is made as the founda- tion of this statement, nor by any other of the Irish statutes, can I authenticate this position. So that there appears to have been at no time any parlia- mentary recognition of the hypothesis, which repre- sented the king as the feoffee of the Pope in dero- gation of the royal supremacy. When, however, the king had determined to assert and establish his supremacy, in opposition to the Pope's usurped authority, there were not wanting numerous adversaries, and at the head of these was Archbishop Cromer. Meanwhile, an opportunity had been afforded for introducing into the Church a counteracting force in the person of a man, not inferior to the primate in moral and intellectual faculties, but whose 4 Abp. USSHER'S Religion of the Ancient Irish, p. 115. 5 History of Ireland, by THOMAS LELAND, D.D.. vol. ii. p. 160. SEC. I.] KING HEN&Y VIII. Ill bishop Browne. mind was happily emancipated from the thraldom of Popery, and awakened to the genuine truths of the Christian faith : a man who has been handed down to posterity as of " a cheerful countenance, in his actions plain and downright, to the poor merciful and compassionate, pitying the state and condition of the souls of the people : and who, while he ma character. was Provincial of the Augustin Order in England, advised the people to make their application for aid to Christ alone, and for which doctrine he was much taken notice of, and not to the Virgin Mary and other saints 6 ." George Browne, whose character is thus briefly Notice of TT -i i sketched by Archbishop Ussher, who is commemo- rated by Sir James Ware, as " the first of the clergy who embraced the Reformation in Ireland," and to whose exertions, seconding his example, the Church of Ireland was mainly indebted, under divine Provi- dence, for the commencement of her restoration to the primitive faith and worship, had been an Augus- tin friar of London, having received his academical education in the house belonging to his order at Holywell, in Oxford. Having become eminent among his brethren, he was made provincial of that Provincial of the . _ Augustin friars order in England ; and afterwards taking his degree in England. of Doctor of Divinity, in some foreign university, he was incorporated in the same at Oxford in 1534, and at Cambridge soon afterwards. In the following March, he was advanced by King Henry the Eighth Archbishop of L , Dublin, March, to the archbishoprick of Dublin, which had been 1535. vacant since the preceding July. It is reasonable to 6 Sir JAMES WARE'S Bishops, pp. 349, 152. ROBT. WARE'S Life of Abp. Browne, contained in the English edition of Sir JAMES WARE'S Annals, and inserted be- tween those of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. 112 THE REIGN OF n. II. Patronized by Lord Cromwell. 1535. suppose that the interval had been employed in making choice of a fit person for this elevated station, the arduousness and importance of which were greatly enhanced by the peculiar circumstances of the time. An acquaintance with the writings of Luther, and an attachment to the principles of the Reformation, together with his good personal quali- ties, recommended him to the king's favour; but his principal patron was the Lord Privy Seal, Crom- well, who, under the peculiar title of the king's vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters, administered all the powers annexed to the king's supremacy in England. Thus nominated by the royal authority, HIS election and having been elected to the see by the chapters of the Holy Trinity and St. Patrick's, and having received the royal assent on the 12th of March, before his consecration, the mandate for which had been issued the day after the royal assent, he was invested by Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, and Fisher and Shaxton, respectively bishops of Roches- ter and Salisbury, according to an act then lately passed, with the pall and other archiepiscopal ensigns; and on the 23rd of March, writs were issued for restoring to him the temporalties of the see. Commencement of the Reforma- tion in Ireland. The arrival of the archbishop in his diocese was the first step taken by the Reformation in Ireland. There is an assertion indeed in Dr.LELAND's//wforj/ 7 . that "the spirit of religious disquisition had forced its way into Ireland with the succession of English settlers. So that in the famous parliament of the tenth year of Henry the Seventh, laws had been revived to prevent the growth of lollardism and 7 Vol. ii. p. 158. SEC. I.J KING HENRY VIII. 113 heresy." But the printed statutes of Henry the Seventh's reign, as well as Dr. BULLINGBROKE'S Collection of Ecclesiastical Law in Ireland, which embraces all the statutes affecting the Church, alike fail in supplying any proof of the latter position; except so far as it may be involved in the act, chap. 22, of the tenth year of that king, the year of our Lord 1495, which, following the precedent of an act of 1468, the eighth year of King Edward the Fourth, chap. 1, "ordained all statutes late made within the realm of England, concerning the com- mon and publick weal of the same, to be accepted, used, and executed in Ireland." By this enactment, the English statute of the second of Henry the Fifth, chap. 7, which was directed against " hereticks and lollards," was adopted into the Irish code, in common with all other acts of parliament previously made in England. But amidst the mass of English statutes this act of Henry the Fifth was not specially noticed ; nor was any new law established, nor old law revived, whence the growth of " lollardism and heresy" in Ireland may be reasonably inferred; whilst in the earlier narratives of the occurrences in that country, no vestiges appear of the spirit of religious disquisition having forced its way by means of settlers from England, and led to the entertain- ment of the reformed opinions, until the appearance of the new archbishop in the metropolis of his diocese and of the kingdom. The archbishop soon found his new seat of Difficulties of .,...,, , . his situation. dignity to be by no means one or repose and inac- tion, being promptly called upon to take a prominent and resolute part on the question of the supremacy, as well as on other matters which were judged to i 114 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. need correction in the Church. A body of commis- sioners was about this time appointed by the king, to confer with the principal persons in the country, for removing the Pope's authority from Ireland, and for reducing that kingdom to a conformity with England in acknowledging the sovereign power of the Crown, whether in things spiritual or temporal. Cromwell, the lord privy seal, who was the princi- pal minister in the conduct of this affair, seems to have anticipated no serious impediment in early arriving at a favourable result. But the difficulties and perils of the undertaking were soon experi- mentally felt by the archbishop, by whom the insuf- ficiency of the commission, the obstacles which it had to surmount, and the best method of supplying its defect and giving efficacy to the king's intention, were pointed out in a letter to his patron, of Sep- tember the 6th, 1535, which at the same time sets forth in a striking light the illiteracy of the clergy, and the blind and superstitious zeal of the people 8 . Letter from Abp. " My most honoured Lord, Browne to the , f -*T i t t -i Lord cromweii, Your humble servant receiving your mandate, as sept, e, 1535. one Q f ki s JjfgJmQgg'g commissioners, hath endeavoured, almost to the danger and hazard of this temporal life, to procure the nobility and gentry of this nation to due obedi- ence, in owning of his highness their supreme head, as well spiritual as temporal ; and do find much oppugning therein, violent opposi- especially by my brother Armagh, who hath been the main oppugner, and so withdrawn most of his suffragans and clergy, with his see and jurisdiction. He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the people, whosoever should own his highnesses supremacy : saying that this isle, as it is in their Irish Chronicles, Insula Sacra, belongs to none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was the Bishop of Rome's predecessors gave it to the king's ancestors. There be two 8 Life of Alp. Browne. Cox, i. 246. SEC. I,] KING HENRY VIII. 115 messengers by the priests of Armagh, and by that arch- bishop, now lately sent to the Bishop of Rome. " Your lordship may inform his highness, that it is con- A parliament venient to call a parliament in this nation to pass the commended - supremacy by act ; for they do not much matter his high- ness's commission, which your lordship sent us over. " This island hath been for along time held in ignorance Extreme reiigi- by the Romish orders. And as for their secular orders, ousi norance - they be in a manner as ignorant as the people, being hot able to say mass, or pronounce the words, they not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman tongue. The common people of this island are more zealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs were in the truth at the beginning of the Gospel. I send you, my very good lord, these things, that your lordship and his highness may consult what is to be done. It is feared O'Neal will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to oppose your lordship's orders from the king's highness : for the natives are much in numbers within his powers. I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your lordship from your enemies." In pursuance of the archbishop's advice, a Pat- liament was holden at Dublin in the spring of the year 1537, under Leonard Lord Gray, the lord de- May, 1537. puty. By a statute of the tenth year of King Henry the Seventh, chap. 4, commonly called Poyn ing's Act, it had been ordained, " that no Parliament should thenceforth be holden in Ireland, till the king's lieutenant and council should first have certi- fied to the king, under the great seal of the land, the causes and considerations, and all such acts as them seemed should pass in the Parliament; and should have received the king's affirmation of their goodness and expediency, and his licence to summon the Parliament under the great seal of England." But soon after the commencement of the present Parliament, "by the pleasure and content of his I 2 116 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Repeal of royn- majesty," Poyiiing's Act was repealed; and it was ing-s Act. "enacted that this Parliament, and all its acts and ordinances should be valid, provided they should be thought expedient for the king's honour, the in- crease of his revenue, and the common weal o. Ireland 9 ." Confidential communications from the king's ecclesiastical vicegerent most probably made known what measures would be acceptable to the king. Act for the king's And hereupon a bill was introduced for enacting, suprcniucy. " that the king, his heirs and successors, should be the supreme head on earth of the church of Ireland, and should have power and authority, from time to time, to visit, reform, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts and enor- mities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner, spiritual authority, or jurisdiction, ought or may law- fully be reformed, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of vir- tue in Christ's religion, and for the conservation of peace, unity, and tranquillity of this land of Ireland ; any usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the con- trary notwithstanding 10 ." Another bill was introduced for taking away all appeals to Rome in spiritual causes, and referring all Act against the such appeals to the crown 11 ; and another, specifically authority of the x J " against the authority of the Bishop of Rome ;" recounting the various mischiefs, temporal and spiri- tual, which attended the usurped authority of the Bishop of Rome 12 , by some called the pope, and the necessity of excluding such foreign pretended Act cf Appeals. uithority liishop of Rome. Irish Stat., 28th Henry VIII., c. 4. . 13. SEC. I.] KING HENRY VIII. 117 power, forbidding all persons, on pain of premunire, to extol or maintain, by writing or any act, the authority, jurisdiction, or power of the Bishop of Rome within this realm ; giving order to the jus- tices of assize and of peace, to inquire of offences against this act, as of other offences against the king's peace; commanding all archbishops, bishops, and archdeacons, their commissaries, vicars-general, and other their ministers, to make inquiry of such ecclesiastical persons as offend ; imposing an oath of supremacy on all ecclesiastical and lay officers ; and enacting that an obstinate refusal so to do, be, and be punished as, high treason. The passing of these bills, in assertion of the Difficulty of king's supremacy, and in contradiction and to the acts. annihilation of the Pope's, was attended with much difficulty, especially from the daring opposition of the spiritual peers. But the foresight which had dictated the measure was not wanting in energy to enforce it; and the occasion called forth from the Archbishop of Dublin the following speech, distin- guished more for its straightforwardness, brevity, and decision, than for deep argument or rhetorical display. " My lords and gentry of his majesty's kingdom of Archbishop J J J Browne's speech. Ireland, " Behold, your obedience to your king is the observing of your Lord and Saviour Christ; for that High Priest of our souls, paid tribute to Caesar, though no Christian. Greater honour then surely is due to your prince, his highness the king, and a Christian one. Rome and her bishops, in the fathers' days, acknowledged emperors, kings, and princes to 118 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Its efficacy. Summons of proctors to attend at Parlia- ments. be supreme over their dominions, nay, Christ's vicars ; and it is much to the Bishop of Rome's shame to deny what their precedent bishops owned. There- fore his highness claims but what he can justify the Bishop Eleutherius gave to St. Lucius, the first Christian king of the Britons; so that I shall, with- out scrupling, vote his highness King Henry my supreme, over ecclesiastical matters as well as tem- poral, and head thereof, even of both isles, England and Ireland ; and that without guilt of conscience, or sin to God. And he who will not pass this act, as I do, is no true subject to his highness." This speech of the archbishop was well seconded by Justice Brabazon; and whether the assembly was invited by his example, or won by his reasoning, or controlled by his firmness, or startled by his de- nunciation, the bills overcame all opposition, and were passed into laws. One particular species of opposition, however, was made to give way before a distinct enactment, which requires some words of explanation. It had been usual for two proctors of every dio- cese to be summoned to Parliament, " to be there as councillors and assistants to the same, and upon such things of learning as should happen in contro- versy, to declare their opinions, much like as the convocation within the realm of England is com- monly at every Parliament begun and holclen by the king's highness' special licence, as his majesty's judges of his said realm of England, and divers other sub- stantial and learned men, having groundly inquired and examined the root and first establishment of the same, do clearly determine." But these proctors were now alleged to be " of their ambitious minds SEC. I.] KING HENRY VIII. 119 and presumption inordinately desiring to have autho- Their claims to rity, taking upon themselves to be parcels of the members! body, and claiming that nothing can be enacted at any Parliament without their assent." And this they were thought to do, " not without the procure- ment and maintenance of some of their superiors, to the only intent that the said proctors for the most part, being now their chaplains, and of mean degree, should be the stop and let, that the devilish abuses and usurped authority and jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, nor of themselves, should not come to light or knowledge, that some good and godly reformation thereof might be had and provided 1 "." The impediments caused by this opposition were Letter from the set forth in a letter from the Lord Deputy Gray and S cromwen Justice Brabazon to Lord Cromwell, as given in the ^MayHW. correspondence between the governments of Eng- land and Ireland 14 ; "advertising his lordship, that the Wednesday before Pentecost, being the sixteenth day of this month, the Parliament was prorogued prorogation of until the 20th day of July next coming, albeit that the Commons and Lords made instant petition that it might have been prorogued until Crastino Ani- marum. But considering both the obstinacy of the spiritualty used in this session, and having remem- bered, if the king's highness would send any com- missioner hither, w r e thought it good to have the Parliament open at his coming, to the intent that the wilfulness of the spiritualty being refrained, things for the king's honour and profit, and the com- mon weal of this land, now by them denied to be granted, may then pass accordingly. The froward- ness and obstinacy of the proctors of the clergy, obstinacy of the 13 Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c. 12. 14 State Papers, Henry VIII., Part iii., p. 437. 120 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. proctors of the from the beginning of this Parliament, and at this session, both of them, the bishops and abbots, hath been such, that we think we can no less do than advertise your lordship thereof. "After the assembly of the parliament at this session some bills were passed the Common House, and by the speaker delivered to the high house, to be debated there. The spiritual lords thereupon made a general answer, that they would not come opposition of the in, nor debate upon any bill, till they knew whether spiritual lords. . , i i i the proctors in the convocation had a voice or not. Whereupon we perceiving that by this means they sought an occasion to deny all things that should be presented unto the upper house, where they were the most in number, and at every other session divers of them either came out, or else within three or four days many of them would ask license to depart; at this time nevertheless appearing, and having like licence continued (of a set course), wholly together, every day, in the parliament house; I, the king's deputy, called to me all the king's learned counsel, to debate with them about their proctors shown doubt of their proctors ; who not only showed unto to vote! R them the opinions of the learned men of England, together with their own reasons, that the said proc- tors had no voice in the parliament, but also proved unto them by parliaments holden there, that it should seem by the entries of the rolls, that their denial or assent was not material, but that it was written under divers acts, ' procurators cleri non consenserunt,' yet were the same acts good and effectual in law." Some imperfect sentences follow in the letter, which afterwards continues and concludes the sub- ject thus : SEC. I.] KING HENRY VIII. 121 " Whereupon, considering their obstinacy, we continuation of thought good to prorogue the parliament for this ty letter** 1 time ; and against the next session provide a remedy for them. And therefore, my lord, it were well done that some mean be devised whereby they may be brought to remember their duties better. Except the mean may be found that these proctors Necessity for may be put from voice in the parliament, there shall proctor"? but few things pass for the king's profit. For hitherto, since this parliament, have they shewed themselves in nothing conformable. We think that no reasonable man would judge them to have such pre-eminence in a parliament, that though the king, the lords, and the commons, assent to an act, the proctors in the Convocation House, though they were but seven or eight in number, as sometime they be here no more, shall stay the same at their pleasure, be the matter never so good, honest, and reasonable. But it doth well appear that it is a crafty cast, devised betwixt their masters, the bishops, and them. It is good that we, have against Means proposed the next session a declaration from thence, under the king's great seal of England, of this question, whether the proctors have a voice in the parliament, or not? and that every act, passed without their assents, is nevertheless good and effectual." In pursuance of this letter, amongst the other Act passed for acts " drawn and delivered to commissioners under the great seal of England," in July following, "to posl be conveyed to Ireland, and passed there by parlia- ment, which shall be holden at the being there of the said commissioners," there was provided " an act to determine the authority of the proctors of the convocation, which take upon them now to direct the whole parliament." It was thereupon enacted, 122 THE KEIGN OF | CH. II. Proctors de- clared not mem- bers of parlia- ment. Act for first fruits. First-fruits of re- ligious houses. Pensions to ab- bots. Twentieth part of benefices. that the proctors should not be deemed or taken, from the first clay of the present parliament, as parcels or members of the same, but only as coun- sellors and assistants ; and that they should give no voice, nor should their assent be requisite or neces- sary to any act 15 ." And thus a fatal blow was inflicted on that ecclesiastical opposition, which otherwise, in the persons of these representatives of the clergy, and under the management and dictation of their spiritual rulers, might have been effectual in defeating the proposed alterations, and in perpetuat- ing the abuses and ascendency of the papacy. In the same parliament several other acts were passed, which had reference to ecclesiastical property, and materially affected the church and the clergy. The act for first fruits, taking for its precedent a similar act in England, enacted that all persons, nominated to any ecclesiastical preferment, should pay to the king the profits for one year, to whom- soever the foundation, patronage, or gift belong 16 . Another vested in him the first-fruits of abbeys, priories, and hospitals : a previous act having pro- vided for the suppression of thirteen religious houses by name ; for the assurance of pensions to the abbots during their respective lives, and for the enjoyment of the possessions by the patentees, to whom the king should have granted them 17 . Another ordained, that the twentieth part of the profit of all spiritual promotions be paid yearly to the king for ever : an enactment so well pleasing to the king, that he sent a particular letter of thanks to the lords spiritual for the grant 18 . 15 Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c. 12. J7 76., c. 16 and 26. 16 Ib. 9 c. 8. 18 Ib. 9 c. 14. SEC. I.] KING HENRY VIII. 123 Another prohibited the payment of Peter-pence, Prohibition of pensions, and other impositions, to the bishop or see habit, and lan- guage. of Rome, and the procuring of dispensations, licences, and faculties from thence ; and authorized the grant- ing of them by commissioners appointed by the king, in the same manner as by the Archbishop of Canterbury in England 19 . By another act of the same parliament, for English order, encouraging "the English order, habit, and lan- guage," spiritual promotions were directed to be given " only to such as could speak English, unless, after four proclamations in the next market town, such could not be had." And an oath was to be administered to "such as take orders, and to such as are instituted to any benefice, that he would endeavour to learn and teach the English tongue to all and every being under his rule ; and to bid the beads in the English tongue, and preach the word of God in English, if he can preach ; and to keep or cause to be kept within his parish a school for to learn English, if any children of his parish come to him to learn the same, taking for the keeping of the same school such convenient stipend or salary as in the same land is accustomably used to be taken 20 :" an engagement this which, by persons grossly igno- rant of the purport of the statute in general, as well as of this specifick enactment, has been invidiously and injuriously misinterpreted into an obligation incurred by every parochial incumbent, of providing at his own cost a general gratuitous education for all the poor children of his parish ! 19 Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c, 19. lb., c. 15, 124 TPIE REIGN OF [Cn. II. SECTION II. Difficulty of carrying the foregoing Acts of Parliament into execution. Archbishop of Dublin's endeavours to remove false objects of worship. King's Correspondence with him. Inquest of Commissioners into the State of the Kingdom. Impediments opposed to the Archbishop s exertions by the Lord Deputy. Necessity of fresh sup- port from England. Foregoing acts IT has been judged convenient to notice together Ss S h d P arty h and these several acts relating to ecclesiastical persons, the primate. as ^ e y we re all passed in the same parliament of 1537, which passed the acts of Supremacy, and of prohibition of the Pope's usurped authority. Revert- ing, however, to these most important acts we must observe, that although the efforts for enacting them triumphed over powerful resistance, still in the execution of them no small difficulty remained. And this indeed was to be expected. For long- standing prepossessions, whether personal or national, though they have not their foundation in reason, are not quickly to be eradicated; and, however little could reasonably be pleaded for an Italian bishop's claim to pre-eminence and power in the British isles, the idea of submission to his usurped authority was not more preposterous than it was inveterate. Thus a Popish party, opposed to the rightful prero- gative of the sovereign, recognised as it now ex- pressly was and strengthened by the law of the land, still persevered in its resistance ; and at the head of that party was the primate, who, if he did not venture to act in open defiance of this two-fold authority, yet forbore to exert his influence in con- firming and extending it ; and was sedulous rather SEC. II."1 KING HENRY VIII. 125 and active in giving what secret countenance and patronage he dared to the opposition. To such opposition an additional stimulus was Archbishop of doubtless given by the endeavours, made at the same wmse"f toa'boiisu time by the Archbishop of Dublin, for abolishing the ;ls! andre ~ false objects of Romish worship from the churches within his jurisdiction. His two cathedrals in par- ticular, as there has been already occasion to observe 1 , abounded with these symbols of corrup- tion. In the church of the Holy Trinity, or Christ's Church, the reliques and statutes were innumerable ; and in the walls of St. Patrick's a multitude of niches had been furnished by the superstition of the times with images of saints. These endeavours were about coincident in time with similar proceedings carried on under the royal authority in England ; and the archbishop acted under the like authority, which had been recently acknowledged in Ireland by the late statutes, having received instructions from the Lord Cromwell to that effect 2 . But in executing these instructions he was met with oppo- sition, not only from the primate, but from those who were next in authority to himself within his own diocese ; namely, the prior of the church of the Resisted by the Holy Trinity, Robert Castele, alias Paynes wick, and Edward Bassenet, dean of St. Patrick, who were tempted by the emoluments accruing from those superstitious objects of veneration to resist the king and the archbishop, and to seek support in their resistance from the Pope 3 . This conduct of Archbishop Browne does not unaccountable prepare us for finding him about this time the dlsple ' 1 Above, pp. 70, 77. 2 Cox, i. 25G. 3 MASON'S $?. Patricks, p. 148. 120 THE REIGN OF ICn. II. the king against object of a solemn expostulation for neglect of the the archbishop. _ / . . _ 1537. king s interest and of his own duty, and or a conse- quent menace of removal from his dignity, in a letter addressed to him by the king. On the contrary, when we have regard to his previous behaviour, as well as to the vagueness of the charges, and the uncertain and obscure evidence on which they are alleged, we may probably not err in ascribing them to the disingenuous artifice of some secret enemy, working upon the irritable, suspicious, and capricious temper of the arbitrary sovereign. The letter, how- ever, which is transcribed from the State Papers, correspondence between the English and Irish governments, part III. page 465, is as follows, having been written the 31st of July, 1537. " To the Archbishop of Dublin. Letter from King " Right reverend Father in God, trusty and well-beloved, ArSshopof "We greet you well. Signifying unto you, that whereas, before your promotion and advancement to that July si, 1537. order, dignity, and authority of an archbishop, ye shewed an appearance of such entire zeal and affection, as well to the setting forth and preaching the sincere word of God, and avoiding of all superstition used against the honour of the same, as to employ yourself always diligently for your part to procure the good furtherance of any our affairs, as much as in you lay, and might appear to be to our contentment and satisfaction, that thinking your mind to be so earnestly fixed upon the same, that ye would persevere and continue Expression of still in that your good purpose ; yet nevertheless, as we do both partly perceive, and partly by sundry advertisements and ways be informed, the good opinion that we had con- ceived of you is, in manner, utterly frustrate. For neither do ye give yourself to the instruction of our people there in the word of God, nor frame yourself to stand us in any stead for the furtherance of our affairs ; such is your light- ness in behaviour, and such is the elation of your mind in pride, that glorying in foolish ceremonies, and delighting in SEC. II.] KING HENRY VIII. 127 we and us^ in your dream comparing yourself so near to a prince in honour and estimation, that all virtue and honesty is almost banished from you. Reform yourself, therefore, with this gentle advertisement: and do first your duty towards God in the due execution of your office ; do then your duty towards us, in the advancement of our affairs there, and in the signification hither, from time to time, of the state of the same : and we shall put your former negli- gence in oblivion. " If this will not serve to induce you to it, but that ye The king will still so persevere in your fond folly and ingrate un- gentleness that ye cannot remember what we have done, and how much above many others ye be bound, in all the points before touched, to do your duty, let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not doing thereof, to remove you again, and to put another man of more virtue and honesty in your place, both for our discharge against God, and for the comfort of our good subjects there, as we were at the beginning to prefer you, upon hope that you would in the same do your office, as to your profession, and our opinion conceived of you, appertaineth." A letter, in many respects similar, was at the King-s letter to 9 t the Bishop of same time written by the king* to Staples, bishop of Meath. Meath. It states that the king had advanced him to his bishoprick, on account of his zeal in preaching the pure word of God. It charges him with slack- ness and negligence, but not with affecting princely appellations : and contains no further threat, than that, "if he does not ensue this advertisment, the king will look upon him for his remissness, as shall appertain." In what manner Bishop Staples received this reproof does not appear : but the following answer from Archbishop Browne is copied from the 512th page of the volume above cited. " May it please your most excellent highness to be Archbishop of advertised, that the llth of September I received your most 128 THE REIGN OF [On. II. gracious letters, bearing date at your majesty's manor of Sunninghill the last day of July : which perused did not only cause me to take fruitful and gracious monitions, but justifies himself also made rne to tremble in body for fear of incurring your majesty's displeasures. And where your majesty writeth unto me, I have not endeavoured myself in setting forth and preaching the sincere word of God, avoiding all super- stition used against the honour of the same, I may signify unto your highness, of verity, that for my small abode here, there hath not these many years any of my predecessors so much exercised in declaring to the people the only Gospel of Christ, persuading and inducing the hearers unto the true meaning of the same, utterly despising the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome, being a thing not a little rooted amongst the inhabitants here. Asserts his acti- " Touching the second article in your grace's letter, con- S cerning your majesty's affairs here, I refer me to judgment of the most part of your highnesses council here, how in that behalf I have used myself, being the first spiritual man that moved the twentieth part and first-fruits ; setting forth, what in me lay, the like first-fruits of all monasteries, being before not motioned. But given it is to this land miserable, of behaviour or gesture soever men be, to have malignors : yea, and those that be of such subtle nature, that of others good proceedings themselves can find means to win the praises, which, if their doings were apparent, God knoweth right unworthy ; that I beseech God send once amongst us more charity. Explains his use "Concerning the third and last article of your grace's nouns. Pluralpl " letters, that I should use writing we and us, I trust it hath not been seen in me, unless it were at such times as I, with my two chapters of Christ Church and St. Patrick's, directed our humble letter unto your highness, subscribed with all our names, concerning the accomplishment of your grace's letters, to the said chapters and me addressed, for electing the Dean of St. Patrick's: which if I did, most humbly beseech your highness to take it in good part, for assuredly it was by remissness of the writer, and great oblivion of my foreseeing the same ; submitting my negli- gence unto your grace, upon my demeanours hereafter. SEC. II.] KING HENRY VIII. 129 " Finally, certifying your majesty, that I received your Humbly pro- grace's other letters, at this season to me addressed, in the fesscs llis duty * behalf of Edward Vaughan, the queen's grace's servant, the contents whereof I have fully accomplished. Beseeching your highness, of your most accustomed goodness, to accept this my rude letter ; answerable, even as I were personally doing my duty, proaching on knees before your majesty ; declaring the certainty of all the premises with knowledging my ignorancies, desiring of God, that hour or minute I should prefix myself to declare the Gospel of Christ after any other sort, than of my part most unworthy have here- tofore done before your majesty, in rebuking the papistical power, or in any other point concerning the advancement of your grace's affairs should not be prompt to set forth benignly, that the ground should open and swallow me. Certain sacramentaries there be here, which indeed I have spoken against, perceiving well that I have been the more maligned at ; beseeching the blessed Trinity to give them better grace, and that your grace may see redress, as, when it shall be your determinated pleasure, your majesty may. So knoweth God, who preserve your excellent highness in your regality, long to persevere. From your grace's city of Dublin, the 27th day of September. " Your grace's obedient subject, (Signed.) " GEORGE DUBLINS." (Superscribed.) " To the king's majesty, his most dread sovereign lord, be these delivered." . The archbishop wrote a letter to the same effect to Lord Cromwell, but no further result of the imputations brought against him is on record. At the same time the commissioners, who had inquest of the . , . . . i . commissioners en appointed to inquire into the state or the king- into the state of , , 7i . , , the kingdom. dom, proceeded on their journey, and pursued its object, by holding inquests relative to the several counties and towns that they visited. A summary result of those inquests, taken from the State-Paper K 130 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Complaints against the clergy. Portion canon, explained. Archbishop of Dublin's cause for dissatisfac- tion with the government. Office, is given in the correspondence between the two governments 4 . Whence it is shown, that besides numerous complaints against the laity, some were preferred also against the clergy. Undue fees were exacted by the bishops and their officials for the probate of wills, and for judgment in matri- monial and other causes. Various priests were charged with extortion in the fees demanded for baptisms, for weddings, for the purification of women, and for burials. Some are accused for taking portion canon, which is explained, in one parish, to have been the taking, on a man's death, of his best array, arms, sword, and knife ; and the same, even on the death of a wife during her husband's life : in another parish, to have been the taking from the husband, on his wife's death, of the fifth penny, if his goods were under twenty shillings; and five shillings, if above that amount : and in a third parish, the taking of one penny three farthings in the shilling. Some parsons, abbots, and priors, were charged with not singing mass, though they took the profits of their benefices : and the jury of Clonmell charged several of the regular priests in that part with keeping lemans or harlots, and having wives and children. But, reverting to the position of Archbishop Browne, it may be remarked, that, although he had incurred the censure of the king for some imaginary neglect of duty, he seems to have thought that he had himself more real cause of remonstrance with the government, for want of the requisite encourage- ment to give efficacy to his exertions in his most difficult and invidious office. He was evidently impressed with a deep sense of the arduousness of his task, and the necessity of powerful co-operation : 4 Part in. p, 510., note. SEC. II.] KING HENRY VIII. 131 a strong testimony to which is borne by the following- letter to Lord Cromwell, dated January the 8th, 1538 ; and copied from the Lambeth library into the State Papers 5 . "Right honourable, and my singular good lord, my His letter to the bounden duty premised. jan^T*' " It may please your lordship to be advertised, that within the parties of Ireland, which grieveth me very sore, yea, and that within the diocese of Dublin, and province of the same, where the king's power ought to be best known, where it hath pleased his most excellent highness, through your good lordship's preferment, to make me, under his grace, a spiritual officer, and chief over the clergy; yet, that notwithstanding, neither by gentle exhortations, evan- ni s complaint gelical instruction, neither by oaths of them solemnly taken, nwoft"*' nor yet by threats of sharp correction, can I persuade or in- cler y- duce any, either religious or secular, sithence my coming over, once to preach the word of God, or the just title of our most illustrious prince. And yet, before that our most dread sovereign was declared to be, as he ever was indeed, supreme head over the Church committed unto his princely care, they that then could and would, very often even till the right Christians were weary of them, preach after the old sort and fashion, will now not once open their lips in any pulpit, for the manifestation of the same, but in corners, and such company as them liketh, they can full earnestly utter their opinions ; and so much as in them lyeth, hinder and pluck back amongst the people the labour that I do take in that behalf. And yet they be borne against me, and especially the observants, which be worst of all others ; for I can neither make them swear, ne yet preach amongst us, so little regard they my authority. And that cometh, so far as I can judge, of the extreme handling that my lord deputy hath used towards me, what by often imprisonment, His m-treatment and also expelling me my own house, keeping there no hospitality at all. And so contemptuously he vilipendeth me, that I take God to record, I had, but that hope com- 5 Vol. ii., p. 539. K 2 132 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Prevalence of popish influence. A vicar-general recommended. Arrival of a par- don from Rome. forteth me, rather forsake all, than abide so many igno- minious reproaches. " But if your lordship would, for the good love and mind that you bear unto the mere and sincere doctrine of God's word, and also unto the advancement and setting for- ward of our most excellent prince's just title, send either unto master treasurer, the chief justice, the master of the rolls, or any two of them, whom I think meet for that pur- pose, such a strait commandment over me and all other ecclesiastical persons, as I perceive the king's grace hath sent of late into England to the sheriffs of every shire ; I would, God willing, so execute my own office, and prick other forwards, that be underneath me, by the authority thereof, that his grace and your lordship should well allow my faithful heart and diligent service. For until that such a thing, or more vehement, come amongst us, it is but vain to look after any amendment here, but always expectation of the former abuses. And to prove the same, there is never an archbishop nor bishop but myself, made by the king, but he is repelled, even now, by provision. Again, for all that ever I could do, might I not make them once, but as I send my own servants to do it, to cancel out of the canon of the mass, or other books, the name of the Bishop of Rome ; whereby your lordship may perceive that my authority is little regarded. " I have advertised your lordship divers times, what in- convenience might fall for lack of dispensations ; for in that point they be compelled to sue to Rome. Wherefore I think good, that with all celerity and speed it were neces- sary that we had dispensations, a vicar-general, and a master of the faculties. " There is of late come into Ireland from Rome a par- don, much consonant to that pardon granted by Julius the Second, in time of the wars between the French king and him ; and that was, that they that would enjoy it, should fast Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, next after they heard first of it, and on the Sunday consequently ensuing to receive the communion. And many, as it is reported, have received the same. But if so traditorous a fact, and like flagitious iniquities, should pass, neither justly exa- SEC. II.] KING HENRY VIII. 133 mined nor condignly punished, being committed while the king's grace's high commissioners be here, seeing these men so ready and prompt to admit the Bishop of Rome's letters, and so sturdy and flinty against our prince's power ; what will men think ? I cannot in my conscience, considering my oath and allegiance, let such enormities escape, but make justf relation, that the king's majesty may have sure knowledge how unfaithful a sort he hath in this land ; and namely, the spiritualty, which seduceth the rest. The living God knoweth my heart, who ever prosper your lord- ship with immortal felicity. Amen. From the king's city of Dublin, the 8th day of January. " Your lordship's at commandment, (Signed.) "GEORGE DUBLIN." (Superscribed.) " To the right honourable and his most especial good lord, the Lord Privy Seal, be these letters delivered." Early in the year 1538, Cowley, the king's soli- inspection of the citor, and White, "exercising the office of justice of his highness' liberty of the county of Wexford," in- spected the said county, and also the counties of Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary ; and " by vir- tue of the king's commission taxed and made an ex- tent of the value of the twentieth part, and the first- fruits, of all benefices in the said counties, and re- turned the same into the king's chancery in Ireland." In a letter to the Lord Privy Seal 6 , White gives a justice white* report of their proceedings, and introduces an ac- count of a sermon which he had heard at Waterford from one Dr. Sail, a gray friar, who had inveighed against " the breaking or putting clown of churches, and making them prophane places, as they do now- adays in divers places ;" and had in consequence been apprehended by the mayor of the city, and sent to the Lord Deputy and council, and by them impri- 6 State Papers, vol. ii., part iii., p. 562. 134 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Commendation of the Lord Butler. His family and parentage. soned in the castle of Dublin. "So as now," ob- serves the narrator, "what for fear they have to preach their old traditions, and the little or no good will they have to preach the verity, all is put to silence. Yet, thanks be to God," he adds, "his king's majesty hath .one Catholick city, and one champion, the Lord Butler, in the land, that dare repugn against the detestable abusions of so sundry sects, as this miserable land is in manner overflowed withal, whose pharisaical ceremonies and hypocrisy, of so long time continued here, hath not only trained and brought the people, in manner, wholly from the knowledge of God, but also in an evil and erroneous opinion of the king's most noble grace, and of all those that, under his majesty, be the setters forth of the true word of God, and repugnators against those abuses 7 ." The family of Butler, which was settled in Eng- land under the Norman William, had accompanied Henry the Second to Ireland in 1172. Pierce, earl of Ormonde and Ossory, was at the head of the family at this time ; and the Lord Butler, here men- tioned with such honour, was the son of the Earl of Ossory. He was himself treasurer of Ireland, and admiral of the kingdom. It is matter of no common interest to read the testimony of such a nobleman, as conveyed under his own hand in a letter to the king, concerning the necessity of the religious instruction, in order to the civil improvement, of Ireland ; and it is not unpleasing to speculate on the impression, which may have been made on the king's mind by Lord Butler's ingenuous commendation of one, on whom the king had been induced to look with disapprobation. 7 State Papers, as above p. 5G3. SEC. II.] KING HENRY VIII. 1 35 " My most humble duty premised to your most excel- Letter from Lord T .1 -I i . i James Butler to lent majesty. It may please the same to be advertised, the king. that your grace's commissioners here have consulted with my lord, my father, me, and others of your majesty's privy council here, coveting the subversion and extinguishing of abusions and enormities used here ; and finally have devised certain rules and orders, whereby your highnesses laws and good civility may be planted and established, to the increase of your majesty's honour and profit, and the common weal of your grace's subjects, which proceedeth in good sort, trusting consequently to have good success. To the fur- thering whereof I shall endeavour me to do my diligence, as your grace's commissioners here may more amply express to your highness. " And, undoubtedly, I think nothing more necessary to induce the people to good civility, than sincerely and truly to set forth the word of God to the people here, as hath by Preaching the your most excellent highness been dilated and pronounced within your grace's realm of England, as a lanthorn to all m eJ other good Christian princes to use the same ; whereby they people, might see and perceive the long fraudulent traditions, and detestable abusions, of the papistical sect and pharisaical sort, of the which there be too many of high degrees here ; and the good people to be led by true doctrine to the very infallible light of truth. And for my part, I, as one pro- fessed of Christ's religion, shall not omit for any fear, perse- cution, or other respect, to further and set forth the same effectually, to the uttermost of my power, according my bounden duty to Christ, and under him to your majesty; wherein the Archbishop of Dublin hath, by many predica- commendation tions, very fruitful now of late dilated, more than ever I heard in your grace's land, of the truth and plainness worthy high thanks. " Beseeching Almighty God to continue your most excellent majesty long in felicity. Written at your high- ness's city of Dublin, the last day of March. " Your most humble and bounden " Subject and servant, (Superscribed.) (Signed.) "JAMES BUTLER." " To our Sovereign Lord the King's most excellent Majesty." 136 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Archbishop Browne's sense of his singular position. Letter from the Archbishop of Dublin to the Lord Cromwell. April, 1538. Character of the Popish clergy and people. His prayer for support from England. In his correspondence with the Lord Privy Seal, between two and three months antecedent to the date of Lord Butler's letter to the king, the arch- bishop had disclosed his views of his singular position. Similar feelings manifestly dictated the following letter, written by him on the 8th of April, 1538, to the Lord Cromwell, showing his strong conviction of the obstacles which beset him from his opponents, and of the necessity of additional support from England, and of more active co-operation from the Irish government 8 . " Right honourable, and my singular good Lord, " I acknowledge my bounden duty to your lordship's good-will to me, next to my Saviour Christ's, for the place I now possess. I pray God to give me his grace, to execute the same to his glory, and his highnesses honour, with your lordship's instructions. " The people of this nation be zealous, yet blind and unknowing : most of the clergy, as your lordship hath had from me before, being ignorant, and not able to speak right words in the mass or liturgy ; as being not skilled in the Latin grammar, so that a bird might be taught to speak with as much sense as several of them do in this country ; these sorts, though not scholars, yet crafty to cozen the poor common people, and to dissuade them from following his highness's orders. George, my brother of Armagh, doth under-hand occasion quarrels, and is not active to execute his highness's orders in his diocese. " I have observed your lordship's letter of commission, and do find several of my pupils leave me for so doing. I will not put others in their livings, till I do know your lordship's pleasure ; for it is meet I acquaint you first. The Romish reliques and images of both my cathedrals in Dublin took off the common people from the true worship ; but the prior and the dean find them so sweet for their gain, that they heed not my words. Therefore send, in your lordship's next to me, an order more full, and a chide 8 Life of Abp. Browne. SEC, II.] KING HENRY VIII. 137 to them and their canons, that they might be removed. Let the order be, that the chief governors may assist me in it. The prior and dean have written to Rome, to be encouraged ; and, if it be not hindered, before they have a Apprehension of mandate from the Bishop of Rome, the people will be bold, and then tug long, before his highness can submit them to his grace's orders. The country folk here much hate your lordship, and despitefully call you, in their Irish tongue, The Blacksmiths Son. " The Duke of Norfolk is, by Armagh and the clergy, desired to assist them, not to suffer his highness to alter church-rates here in Ireland. As a friend, I desire your lordship to look to your noble person ; for Rome hath a great kindness for that duke, for it is so talked here, and will reward him and his children. Rome hath great favour for this nation, purposely to oppose his highness ; and so have got, since the act passed, great indulgences for rebel- lion ; therefore my hopes are lost, yet my zeal is to do according to your lordship's orders. God keep your lord- ship from your enemies here and in England 9 ." SECTION III. Pope's encouragement to resist the Kings claims. Bull of Excommunication. Removal of Images from Churches. Image worship encouraged by Lord Deputy. Archbishop Browne's diligence in preaching. Form of Beads or Prayers. Resistance of the Clergy. Visitation by the Privy Council. Archbishop Browne s purpose of visiting remote parts of the country. THE anticipated encouragement from the Pope, in opposition to the king's claim on the allegiance of l n the people, was not long in coming; and it came after that manner, according to which it has ever been the presumptuous policy of the papal power, to protect an usurpation the most unjust and tyran- 9 Life of Alp. Browne. 138 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. May, 1538. Popish vow of obedience. nical by the most profane and bitter imprecations. The information was conveyed by the archbishop to the Lord Cromwell, the ensuing May, in the follow- ing letter : Letter from " Right honourable, 1 Browne Sh to P the " Mv dut 7 premised : it may please your lordship to be Lord cromwcii. advertised, sithence my last, there has come to Armagh and his clergy, a private commission from the Bishop of Rome, prohibiting his gracious highnesses people, here in this nation, to own his royal supremacy ; and joining a curse to all them and theirs, who shall not within forty days confess to their confessors, after the publishing of it to them, that they have done amiss in so doing. The substance, as our secretary hath translated the same into English, is thus : "'I, A.B., from this present hour forward, in the pre- sence of the Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin, mother of God, of St. Peter, of the holy apostles, archangels, angels, saints, and of all the holy host of heaven, shall and will be always obedient to the Holy See of St. Peter of Rome, and to my holy lord the Pope of Rome, and his successors, in all things, as well spiritual as temporal, not consenting in the least that his holiness shall lose the least title or dignity belonging to the papacy of our mother church, or to the regality of St. Peter. " c I do vow and swear to maintain, help, and assist the just laws, liberties, and rights of the mother church of Rome. " ' I do likewise promise to confer, defend, and promote, if not personally, yet willingly, as in ability able, either by advice, skill, estate, money, or otherwise, the Church of Rome, and her laws, against all whatsoever resisting the same. " ' I further vow to oppugn all hereticks, either in making or setting forth edicts or commands, contrary to the mother church of Rome ; and in case any such to be moved or composed, to resist it to the uttermost of my power, with the first convenience and opportunity I can possess. " 4 1 count all acts, made or to be made by heretical SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 139 powers, of no force, or to be practised or obeyed by myself, or any other son of the mother Church of Rome. " ' I do further declare him or her, father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or wife, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, kinsman or kinswoman, master or mistress, and all others, nearest or dearest relations, friend or acquaintance whatsoever, accursed, that either do or shall hold, for time to come, any ecclesiastical or civil, above the authority of the mother Church ; or that do or shall obey, for the time to come, any of her the mother Churches op- posers or enemies, or contrary to the same, of which I have here sworn unto ; so God, the blessed Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the holy evangelists help, &C. 1 " His highness the viceroy of this nation, is of little or no power with the old natives ; therefore your lordship will expect of me no more than I am able. This nation is poor in wealth, and not sufficient now at present to oppose them. It is observed that ever since his highnesses ancestors had this nation in possession, the old natives have been craving foreign powers, to assist and rule them. And now both p rac tice of the English race and Irish begin to oppose your lordship's ^Jm foreign aid orders, and do lay aside their national old quarrels, which powers. I fear will, if anything will, cause a foreigner to invade this nation. I pray God I may be a false prophet ; yet your good lordship must pardon mine opinion, for I write it to your lordship as a warning 1 ." This bull of excommunication from the Pope was intended not to be a mere brutum fulmen, but to be the harbinger of more open and determined hostility against the king and his liege subjects, who dared to resist the aggressions of the papal tyranny. About Midsummer a Franciscan friar, named Thady Birne, was apprehended ; and, having been put into the pil- Apprehension of lory, was confined in prison, until the king's order should arrive for his transmission to England. But terrified by the report that he was to be put to death, he committed suicide on the 24th of July in the 1 Cox's Hist., i., 257, 258. 140 THE KEIGN OF [CH. II, Letter to O'Neal "from the Bishop of Metz. April, 1538. Charge to sup- press heresy. O'Neal declares himself cham- pion of the papacy. 1539. castle of Dublin; and amongst other papers, was found in his possession the following letter to O'Neal, dated at Rome April the 28th, 1538, exciting him to rebellion in the names of the Pope and cardi- nals, and under the signature of the bishop of Metz. " My son O'Neal, " Thou and thy fathers are all along faithful to the mother Church of Rome. His Holiness Paul, now Pope, and the council of the holy fathers there, have lately found out a prophecy there remaining, of one St. Laserianus, an Irish Bishop of Cashel, wherein he saith, that the mother Church of Rome falletb, when in Ireland the Catholick faith is overcome. Therefore, for the glory of the mother Church, the honour of St. Peter, and your own secureness, suppress heresy and his holiness'' enemies; for when the Roman faith there perisheth, the see of Rome falleth also. There- fore the council of Cardinals have thought fit to encourage your country of Ireland as a sacred island ; being certified, whilst the mother Church hath a son of worth as yourself, and those that shall succour you and join therein, that she will never fall ; but have more or less a holding in Britain, in spite of fate. " Thus having obeyed the order of the most sacred coun- cil, we recommend your princely person to the [care of the] Holy Trinity, of the blessed Virgin, of St. Peter, St. Paul, and all the heavenly host of heaven. Amen. " EPISCOPUS METENSIS 2 ." This and the like solicitations to rebellion and treason, in behalf of the Bishop and Church of Rome, were not lost upon O'Neal, who early in the follow- ing year, declared himself the champion of the papacy ; or upon others of the Irish leaders, to whom they appear to have been addressed, and who, en- gaging in a confederacy, took the field, and committed great devastations, till they were defeated by the fore- sight and valour of the Lord Deputy and Sir William 2 WARE'S Life of Alp. Browne. Cox's Hist., i., 258. SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 141 Brereton. But, instead of dwelling on these trans- actions, our business rather is to relate that, notwith- standing all opposition both from within and from without, the reformation of the Church was slowly but progressively advancing, and thus giving an earnest and opening the way of further improvements. In particular, the Archbishop of Dublin at images and re- _ . liques removed length succeeded in the accomplishment or his from churches. design of removing the monuments of superstition from his two cathedrals, and from the rest of the churches in his diocese : and especially the miracu- lous staff of St. Patrick, which had been plundered from the cathedral of Armagh, and presented to that of the Holy Trinity in Dublin, in 1180, and had since been treasured up as one of its most valuable reliques, was publickly committed to the flames and burnt ; and the images in general were displaced, and in their room were substituted the creed, the Lord's-prayer, and the ten command- ments, decently framed and ornamented 3 . About the same time these objects of idolatrous worship elsewhere were generally defaced or removed, after the example which had been set in England. Thus an image of our blessed Saviour on the cross, in the abbey of Ballybogan, in the diocese of Meath, which had been held in great veneration, was pub- lickly destroyed by fire 4 ; and the same fate befell the equally venerated image of the blessed Virgin, in the abbey of the canons regular, at Trim, in the same diocese ; and the oblations and treasures, which many superstitious votaries had offered there, were at the same time taken and carried away. But in these latter instances, whatever may have been the archbishop's good will on the occasion, he 3 WARE'S Bishops. 4 ARCHDALL, p. 515. 142 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. appears to have had no concern in the transaction. He had been accused, indeed, of such an intention early in the year in which it occurred; but had defended himself against the charge in a letter to the Lord Privy Seal, dated the 20th of June, 1538 : Letter from For that I endeavour myself, and also cause Browne to Lord others of my clergy, to preach the Gospel of Christ, Cromwell on the ' occasion. and to set forth the kings causes, there goeth a June, 1528. common bruit among the Irishmen, that 1 intend to pluck down our Lady of Trim, with other places of pilgrimages, as the Holy Cross, and such like; which, indeed, I never attempted, although my con- science would right well serve me to oppress such idols. But undoubted they be the adversaries of God's word, which have kindled the same, thinking it will be to my reproach, that I pray God amend them ; fearing, that all those of this country, being now there, which feign themselves outwardly to be the maintainers of the Gospel, it is not inwardly conceived in their hearts 5 ." The Lord Deputy But, however this be, in any attempt, which had in favour of P . , . , -i r -i i image-worship, for its object the removal of idolatry from the country, no assistance was rendered by the Lord Deputy. For, although in an incursion into the north, he had burned the cathedral church of Down, and converted it into a stable 6 , and defaced the monuments of the Saints Patrick, Brigid, and Co- lumba 7 ; and rifled the abbey of Ballyclare, and left neither chalice, cross, nor bell in it 8 ; and seized and confiscated the ornaments of the church of Galway on an incursion into the west 9 ; and committed many 5 State Papers, vol. iii. part iii. p. 35. 6 LOFTUS MS. Marsh's Library. 7 WARE'S Annals. 8 Cox, i. 265. 9 HARDIMAN'S Galway, p. 239. SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 143 other acts of sacrilege for which he was afterwards brought to trial ; nevertheless he was a favourer and practiser of image- worship, and generally well-dis- posed to the Popish corruptions. "This last week," Lord Butier-s let- says Lord Butler, in a letter to Lord Cromwell, the w*u,Angats6, i too 26th of August, 1538 10 , " the vicar of Chester, sitting at my Lord Deputy's board, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, with others of the king's council, and I, there pre- sent, said openly before us all, that the king's Report of the king's order in majesty had commanded that images should be set favour of image- up again, and honoured, and worshipped, as much as ever they were ; and we held us all in silence in my Lord Deputy's presence, to see what he would say thereto. He held his peace, and said nothing : and then my Lord of Dublin, the Master of the Rolls, and I, said, among other things, that, if he were in any other place, out of my Lord Deputy's presence, we would put him fast by the heels, and that he had deserved grievous punishment. His lordship kept his tongue, and said nothing all the while. Surely he hath a special zeal to the Papists. My lord of Dublin promised me, at my departure out of Dublin, to put the said vicar in a castle." And in a letter of October the 20th, from Tho- Letter rom Tho- mas Allen to Lord Cromwell, we read 11 , "Here was a bishop and a friar put in the castle of Dublin for their high and notorious offences against the king's majesty; and at the last sessions were brought to Trim, to have been indicted, arraigned, and suffered accordingly. Yet our masters of the law, and all other, (in good faith, except my Lord Treasurer, and very few besides,) be such papists, hypocrites, 10 State Papers, vol. iii. part iii. p. 95. - 11 /&., vol. iii. part ii. p. 103. 144 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. and worshippers of idols, that they were not in- dicted : whereat my Lord of Dublin, Mr. Treasurer, and the Master of the Rolls, were very angry. Howbeit they could not remedy it. They three would not come in the chapel, where the idol of Trim stood, to the intent they would not occasion The Lord De- the people '. notwithstanding my Lord Deputy, very devoutly kneeling before her, heard three or four masses." Archbishop Another method for promoting the Reformation, Browne's dili- A gence in preach- practised by the archbishop, was the diligent preach- ing of the Gospel, in which he employed himself assiduously; but under what obstacles and hin- drances may be partly collected from the following Thomas Agard's extract of B, letter, addressed the 5th of April, 1538, cromweii, April, to Lord Cromwell, by Thomas Agard 12 : "Here as 1538. yet the blood of Christ is clean blotted out of all men's hearts, what with that monster, the Bishop of Rome, and his adherents, in especial the false and crafty bloodsuckers, the Observants, as they will be called most holiest, so that there remains more virtue in one of their coats and knotted girdles, than ever was in Christ and his passion. It is hard, my good lord, for any poor man to speak against their Encouragement abusions here. For, except it be the Archbishop of pope's adherents. Dublin, which doth here in preaching set forth God's word, with due obedience to their prince, and my good Lord Butler, the Master of the Rolls, Mr. Treasurer, and one or two more which are of small reputations, here is else none, from the highest, may abide the hearing of it, spiritual, as they call them, nor temporal; and in especial, they that here rule all, that be the temporal lawyers, which have the king's fee." 12 State Papers, vol. ii. part iii, 570. SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 145 Another method used by the archbishop was Form of prayers . put out by Arch- tliat of putting forth, as Ordinary, under his seal, a bishop Browne. certificate of the lawful supremacy of the king, and of the nullity of the Pope's supremacy, under the title of "The Form of the Beads," or prayers, to be addressed by all the clergy to the people, directing them what they should pray for. " Ye shall pray for the universal Catholick Church, churches of England and Tre- both quick and dead ; and especially for the Church land identified. of England and Ireland." The phrase is not in the plural " churches," but in the singular " church ;" and it occurs five times more in the course of the instru- ment. First the Form calls upon the people to " pray for the king, supreme head in earth, immediate under God, Of the Said Church." It SetS forth, that "the Duty of acknow- ledging the king's unlawful jurisdiction, long usurped by the Bishop of supremacy. Rome, then called Pope, is now by God's law, by authority of parliament, and by and with the whole consent and agreement of all the bishops, prelates, and both the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and also the whole clergy both of England and Ireland, extinct and ceased for ever, as of no strength, value, or effect in the Church of England and Ireland." It alleges the like acknowledgment of the king's supremacy : and accordingly it declares that " every true Christian subject of this land ought, not only to acknowledge and obediently re- cognise the king's highness to be supreme head in earth of the Church of England and Ireland, but also to speak, publish, and teach their children and servants the same, and to show unto them, how that the said Bishop of Rome hath heretofore usurped not only upon God, but also upon our princes." It declares this to be true, not only of the speaker's nowledge, but " that the same is certified unto me L 146 THE REIGN OF [CH. II. Exhortation to deface the Bishop of Rome from primers and other books : And to put all trust in our Saviour. Prayer for the different orders of men ; from the might of my ordinary, the Archbishop of Dublin, under his seal, which I have here ready to show you." " Therefore," continues the Form, " I exhort you all, that ye deface him, the said Bishop of Rome, in all your primers, and other books, where he is named Pope; and that ye shall have from henceforth no confidence nor trust in him, nor in his bulls, or letters of pardons, which beforetime with his jug- gling casts of binding and loosing, he sold unto you for your money, promising you therefore forgiveness of your sins, where of truth no man can forgive sins, but God only; and also that ye fear not his great thunder-claps of excommunication or inter- diction, for they cannot hurt you : but let us put all our confidence and trust in our Saviour Jesus Christ, which is gentle and loving, and requireth nothing of us, when we have offended him, but that we should repent and forsake our sins, and believe steadfastly, that He is Christ, the Son of the living God, and that He died for our sins, and so forth, as it is con- tained in the Credo ; and that through Him, and by Him, and by none other, we shall have remission of our sins, a pena et culpa, according to his promises made to us in many and divers places of Scripture." The Form then directs prayer for Prince Edward, for the king's issue, for the bishops, for all the clergy, "and namely for all them that preach the Word of God purely and sincerely :" then for the nobility, in especial for the Lord Deputy and the king's most honourable council, for the mayor of the city, and his brethren, with all the commonalty of the same ; or for the parishioners of the parish, and generally for all the temporalty : lastly, "for the souls that be departed out of this world in the faith SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 147 of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which sleep in rest and And for the . n departed in the peace, that they may rise again ana reign with faith of Christ. - Christ in eternal life. For these, and for grace, every man say a Paternoster and an Ave." But this provision of the Ordinary did not receive Disobedience of the obedience of all his clergy. One example to cier gy . the contrary is furnished by a letter of the 8th of May 13 , wherein he advertises the Lord Privy Seal, that "On the first Sunday in May, being with us the Letter from the . i-i Archbishop to translation of St. Owen, in whose church a prebendary of Lord cromweii, St. Patrick's, named Humfrey, of whose nature and con- May8 ' dition I have partly declared unto your lordship heretofore, the very occasioner and author of the vilipension and con- tempt that I am in, besides discord and debate sown between me and my friends ; this man singing high mass, as that A contumacious day, because that he is there parson, at the time when that pre1 the beads is customably red, after the form and manner as I have devised, and set them forth for all curates ; he him- self thought scorn to read them. Wherefore his parish priest, according unto his oath, went up into the pulpit, and there began to read them unto the people. He had imnethes red a three or four lines, but the parson began the preface, and the quire sang, in so much that the beads were unbidden. And certain of the parish presented it unto me. "Then I considered this man, first, how that he did severe measures himself stick to swear unto the king, and also moved other the same ; seeing him also contemning my articles, devised for the furtherance of God's word, and the advancement of ma y- our sovereign's title of supremacy, being one of my chief church, promoted also within the city so nearhand me ; I could no less do, but committed him unto ward, till I hear further of the king's pleasure. They be in a manner all at the same point with me. There is an twenty-eight of them, and amongst them all there is not three learned of them, nor yet scarce one that favoureth God's word. Your lordship might do a good deed to have a little thing 13 State Papers, vol. iii, part iii, p. 6. L 2 148 THE REIGN OP II. Mischief of auri- cular confession. Archbishop Browne's letter to Lord Crom- well, May 20. put in practice with them, and that is de non idoneis remo- vendis: else it is but vain for me, or any other, to take pains in our prince's causes." The latter part of the letter is on a different subject, but still having relation to, and illustrating the state of, the church : " On the first day of this term there was a letter brought unto me, intercipate, which should have been conveyed from the Father of Trim unto another of the same coat, which I have sent unto your lordship ; wherein you may perceive their towardness, and yet great men in these parts may evil spare them for their auricular confession : for they may be bold to utter unto them treason and other. If they lacked them, I suppose they should lack much boldness to do evil. Where they rule, God and the king cannot justly reign. As knoweth God, unto whom I commit your lord- ship perpetually. " Your lordship's, (Signed.) "GEORGE DUBLINS. (Superscribed.) " To the Right Honourable and my singular good Lord, my Lord Private Seal." [" In haste." The case of the disobedient clergyman, and its sequel, are thus pursued in another letter from the archbishop to Lord Cromwell, of the 20th of May 14 : " It may please your lordship to be advertised, that in my last letter, directed unto your lordship, I signified unto the same, that for his pervicacity and negligence I com- mitted one Humfrey, a prebendary of St. Patrick's, unto ward, till time that I knew further the king's pleasure in correcting of such obstinate and sturdy papists ; thinking that in so doing I should have been aided and assisted by my Lord Deputy and the council. Howbeit, spite of my beard, yea, and to my great rebuke, whiles that I was at an house of Observants, to swear them, and also to extinct that name, naming them Conventuals, my Lord Deputy 14 As above, p. 147. SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 149 hath set him at liberty. (So doth his lordship aid me in opposition made my prince's causes.) I think the simplest holy- water clerk Lord^cputy? is better esteemed than I am. I beseech your lordship in the way of charity, either cause my authority to take effect, or else let me return home again unto the cloister. When that I was at the worst, I was in better case than I am now, what with^my Lord Deputy, the Bishop of Meath, and the pecuniose Prior of Kilmainham (Rawson.) God send remedy, who ever have your lordship in his safe tuition. At Dublin, the 20th of May. " Your lordship may give credit unto this bearer, for he Difference be- is my chaplain. I have committed now of late into ward bishop of Dublin the Bishop of Heath's suffragan, which in his sermon %!?"* * prayed, first for the Bishop of Rome, then for the emperor, and at last for the king's grace, saying : ' I pray God, he never depart this world, until that he hath made amends.' What shall a man think of the bishop that hath such a suffragan I Howbeit, I doubt] not but that he shall be dis- charged ; ask, and nought believe. (Signed.) " GEORGIUS DUBLIN." ( Superscribed. ) " To the Right Honourable and my most singular good Lord, the Lord Private Seal." The allusion made in the foregoing letter to Staples, bishop of Meath, arose from an unhappy difference which prevailed between the archbishop and him, caused by certain sermons which they had delivered in the preceding Lent, and in which each was said to have maligned the other, on the evidence of insufficient, perhaps slanderous, witnesses, of whom Humfrey was one. Much crimination and its adjustment, recrimination followed, and hard words were used on both sides, little creditable in truth to the Christian profession, or the dignified station of either. In the end, articles, drawn up by each party, were sent to the Lord Privy Seal; but the dispute seems to have been adjusted between them 150 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. by his interposition, without pronouncing on its merits. visitation of four On the 12th of December, 1538, the council of Ireland, but without the Lord Deputy, with whom they were on terms of mutual dissatisfaction and distrust, addressed to the Lord Privy Seal a letter, in answer to a communication recently received from him. The answer was signed by Allen, the lord chancellor; the Archbishop of Dublin; the Bishop of Meath ; T. Rawson, prior of Kilmainham ; Brabazon, vice-treasurer; Justice Aylmer; and three other members of the council : wherein they say, "Touching your lordship's advertisement for the setting forth of the word of God, abolishing of the Bishop of Rome's usurped authority, and extin- guishing of idolatry, we have well begun therein already, and to our power shall persevere with all industry and diligence. Beseeching your lordship, from time to time, to ascertain us of such devices, as shall be there executed for that purpose, to the intent the same may take like effect here." And in pursuance of this assurance, the Lord Chancellor, Brabazon, and Aylmer, accompanied by the arch- bishop, repaired, in the vacant time about Christmas, into " the four shires above the Barrow," namely, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, for the several ecclesiastical purposes above enumerated, as well as for " the keeping of sessions, and redress of detailed in a the people's complaints." An ample detail of all Lord Prffy seal, their proceedings is given to the Lord Privy Seal, in rather a voluminous letter from Clonmell, January the 18th, 1539; to be found, as well as the pre- ceding, in the State Papers, vol. iii., part 3, pp. 108 116. Omitting the civil affairs which employed SEC. III."] KING HENRY VIII. 151 them, I extract the following account of their operations, as connected with the Church. They resorted first to Carlagh, where the Lord James Butler kept his Christmas: and being there very well entertained, from thence they went to Kilkenny, where they were no less entertained by the Earl of Ormonde. There, on New Year's Day, Preaching of the Archbishop of Dublin preached the word of God, Browne at mi- having very good audience, publishing the king's said injunctions, and the king's translation of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, the Articles of Faith, and Ten Commandments, in English: divers papers whereof they delivered to the bishop, and other pre- lates of the diocese, commanding them to do the like through all their jurisdictions. The Saturday following they repaired to Ross. At ROSS; There, the morn after, the archbishop preached : which done, that night they went to Wexford, where the archbishop preached on the Epiphany Day, having a great audience, publishing the said injunc- tions, and doing all things there as they did at Kil- kenny. The Saturday following the Epiphany they came to Waterford, where the mayor and his brethren, during their abode, both well entertained them, and used themselves obediently, in conforming them- selves to their orders and directions. There the Sunday my Lord of Dublin preached, having a very great audience; where, also, they published the king's said injunctions, and the residue of his plea- sure likewise, as they did in Kilkenny, Ross, and Wexford. There four felons were executed, accom- panied with another thief, a friar ; whom, among the residue, they commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain upon the gallows, for a mirror to all other his brethren to live truly. 152 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. At Clonmell. Oath of supre- macy taken by two archbishops and eight bi- shops. At the writing of the letter they were at Clon- mell, where, on the Sunday, the Archbishop of Dublin was to preach, likewise as he did in other places before mentioned, in the presence of all the bishops of Minister ; " who, upon our command- ment," it is observed, "be repaired hither for the most part already ; and, or they depart, they shall be sworn to the supremacy of the king, and against the Bishop of Rome." The letter concludes with a desire, " that it may please his lordship, by his next letters, to give thanks to my Lord of Dublin for his pains and diligence he hath used in this journey with us, in the setting forth of the word of God." And in another letter of February the 8th, written after they returned to Dublin, and signed by the archbishop, as well as his three companions, it is reported : " At Clonmell was with us two archbishops and eight bishops, in whose presence my Lord of Dublin preached, in advancing the king's supremacy, and the extinguishment of the Bishop of Rome. And, his sermon finished, all the said bishops, in all the open audience, took the oath mentioned in the Acts of Parliament, both touching the king's succession and supremacy, before me, the king's chancellor; and divers others there present did the like." Archbishop Browne's com- plaint of the Lord Deputy, for seizing his house and fur- niture. A letter from the Archbishop to the Lord Privy Seal, about a week after the preceding, complains that, during his absence in the parts of Munster, " the Lord Deputy had repaired to Dublin, and there entered, not only into his place of Saint Pulcars, but also did take, and was still using, such his household stuff, as his said house was furnished withal, not only to his great hindrance, but also, on SEC. III.] KING HENRY VIII. 153 his part, the debilitating of the word of God, which grieved him full sore. Nevertheless he did what he [might in accomplishing his duty ; trusting that Lord Cromwell, when opportunity of time should serve, would obtain the king's grace's letters to the said deputy, for the restorance of his said house." Much of this letter is occupied in commendation of the Lord Chancellor Allen, and in complaints of the Lord Deputy. But what is more important to our subject is the concluding paragraph, in which he says, "At such season as your lordship's pleasure HIS purpose of shall be to send hither authority ad causas ecclesias- dSSs^ha ticas, God willing, I intend to travel the country as s far as any English is to be understanded ; and where as I may not be understanded, I have pro- vided a suffragan, named Doctor Nangle, bishop of Clonfert, who is not only well learned, but also a right honest man, and undoubtedly will set forth as well the word of God as our prince's causes, in the Irish tongue, to the discharge, I trust, of my con- science. Which said bishop was promoted to the Expulsion of said benefice, by the king's majesty and you; and, Bish P Nan s l0 - by commandment of the king's highness, and your good lordship, by me consecrated ; although as now he is expulsed, and a Rome runner, who came in by provision, supported in the same by one M'William, a naughty traitorous person, governor of those parts, to whom the said Doctor Nangle, my suffragan, showed the king's broad seal, for justifying of his authority, which the said M' William little esteemed, but threw it away and vilipended the same. Not- The Lord De- withstanding that, my lord deputy will see no redress, for that his lordship is so affectioned to the said M'William, although his lordship had the king's highness letters in the favour of iny said suffragan. 154 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Nevertheless his lordship did a greater enterprise ms deposition of than that, in Obrenes country. He there deposed a bishop, which was likewise promoted by the king's highness ; which bishop was at Clonmell at our last journey, and there, in presence of the Lord Chan* cellor, Lord Treasurer, Master Sub-Treasurer, and me, declared unto us the truth thereof. And, for as much as we could perceive, he was a right fatherly person; and he, that the Lord Deputy hath now promoted to the same, is a gray friar, one of the holy confessors of the late Garrantynes, even as rank a traditor as ever they were." What was the issue of the intention above declared, does not appear ; nor what was the result of the remonstrance in favour of Bishop Nangle. conjecture as to The deposed bishop was possibly Dominick Tirrey, bishop. who had been raised to the See of Cork and Cloyne, by the king's mandate in 1538, and was a favourer of the Reformation. Sir James Ware, however, does not notice his deposition, nor any papal inter- ference with him so early as 1538, though he speaks of the Pope's appointment of a Franciscan friar in 1540, which, however, Bishop Tirrey successfully resisted 15 . 15 WARE'S Bishops, p. 564. SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 155 SECTION IV. Dissolution of Monasteries. Ineffectual recommendation for some to be continued. Twenty-four of the higher class suppressed. Letters patents, ordering inquiry concerning Images and Reliques, and other monastick property. Provision for Parish Churches deprived of Divine Ser- vice. King of England declared by Parliament King, instead of Lord, of Ireland. Effect of King's supremacy in nomination to Bishopricks. Provision for improve- ment of Religion. Death of Archbishop Cromer. Dowdall appointed by the King to succeed him. Death of King Henry the Eighth. Effect of his reign on the Irish Church. MEANWHILE the dissolution of the monasteries, Dissolution of which had been commenced at an earlier period, was vigorously prosecuted, and effected to a large extent. During his occupancy of the see of Dublin, about the year 1528, Archbishop Alan had been one of " Cardinal Wolsey's instruments in procuring the dis- solution of forty of the lesser monasteries \ Subse- quently other abbeys and religious houses had been suppressed, and their property given to other persons by the king's letters patent, or vested in the crown by Act of Parliament, the provision of a yearly pension being made for their respective chief go- vernors 2 . Thus in the Loftus MS., Marsh's Library, under a nd P rogres. 1536, it is stated, that "This year the religious houses and monasteries in Ireland were granted to the king, by the authority of parliament, to the number of three hundred and seventy : the yearly value whereof amounted to 32,000/., and their 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 347. s Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c. 16. 156 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. moveables were rated at 100,000/." However this be, it is certain that, in 1537, as appears from a commissions for letter to the Lord Privy Seal, Cromwell, from the their suppression. iw7. Lord Deputy, and Brabazon the Vice Treasurer 3 , by virtue of a commission under the great seal of England, and according to the king's pleasure, the Irish government had then lately suppressed eight abbeys, named in the commission, and had effected the assurance to the king of the lands and posses- 1538. sions formerly appertaining to them. And, in 1538, a report was made of a commission for the suppres- sion of all abbeys, which called forth a recommend a- tion from th e Lord Deputy and council, that "six commendation j. houses should stand and continue, changing their gious houses. clothing and rule in such sort and order, as the king's grace should will them : which are named St. Mary Abbey, adjoining to Dublin, a house of white monks; Christ's Church, a house of canons, situate in the midst of the city of Dublin ; the nunnery of Grace Dieu, in the county of Dublin; Connal, in the county of Kildare ; Kenlys and Gere- pont, in the county of Kilkenny. For in those houses commonly, and other such like, in default of "common inns, which are not in this land, the king's deputy, and all other his grace's council and officers, also Irishmen, and others resorting to the Their alleged king's deputy in their quarters, is and hath been most commonly lodged at the cost of the said houses. Also in them young men and children, both gentlemen children, and other, both of man- kind and womenkind, be brought up in virtue, learning, and in the English tongue, and behaviour^ to the great charges of the said houses ; that is to say, the womenkind of the whole Englishry of this 3 State Papers, vol. ii. part iii. p. 438. SEC. IV.] KINO HENRY VIII. 157 land, for the more part, in the said nunnery, and the mankind in the other said houses. And in the said house of St. Mary Abbey hath been the common resort of all such of reputation, as have repaired hither out of England. And in Christ's Church, parliaments, councils, and the common resort, in term time, for definitions of matters by judges and learned men, is, for the most part, used For which causes, and others moved and reasoned amongst the council, it was thought, the king's most gracious pleasure standing therewith, more for the common weal of this land, and the king's honour and profit, that the said six houses, changing their habit and rules, after such sort as shall please the king's majesty, should stand, than the profits that should to the king's grace grow by their suppres- sion 4 ." A petition to the same effect, relative to their petition from st. own house, was sent to the Lord Privy Seal by the abbot and convent of St. Mary, pleading, amongst other things, that "verily they were but stewards and purveyors to other men's uses, for the king's honour: keeping hospitality, and many poor men, scholars, and orphans 5 ." But no concession appears to have been made to this recommendation and petition. Accordingly, we find most of the superiors of the houses just enume- rated in the list of those abbots and priors, who upon assurance of pensions during their respective lives, as provided by the late Act of Parliament, began General surren- now to surrender their religious houses to the king. The number of those surrendered was very great ; and it would be tedious to particularise them : but, 4 State Papers, vol. iii. part iii. p. 180. 5 Tl. 9 p. 142. 158 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Twenty-four of the higher order suppressed. 1539. besides others of inferior note, a catalogue is here annexed of no less than twenty-four monasteries of a higher class, which are recorded to have been sup- pressed in 1539 ; and of which the fourteen abbots and ten priors were lords of parliament, and entitled to a seat and suffrage amongst the spiritual peers 6 . On this occasion, the prior and convent of the Holy Trinity, in Dublin, were converted and changed, as expressed by the charter, into a dean and chapter ; the new foundation, which has been since known by the name of Christ Church, being confirmed by the king in possession of the ancient estates and immu- nities 7 . The following is a list of the governors of reli- gious houses, whose abbeys and priories were sup- pressed, as above stated. Mellifont, The Abbots of Dunbrody, St. Thomas 1 Abbey, near Dublin, St. Mary Abbey, near Dublin, Baltinglass, Jeripont, Tintern, in the county of Wexford, Douske, Tracton, in the county of Cork, Mage, alias Nenai, in the county of Limerick, Wony, alias Wethney, same county, Rossglass, alias Monaster- even, Bectif, Bathto, in the county of Kerry, The Priors of St. John of Jerusalem, Christ's Church, Dublin, St. Peter's, near Trim, Conal, Kells, in Ossory, Kenlis, St. Patrick's, in Down, All Saints', near Dublin, Athassel, Killagh, St. Mary, in Louth. 6 Cox, Hist., i. 260. 7 WARE'S Annah. ARCHDALL'S Monas. p, J69. SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 159 Of the abbeys here named, all belonged to the orders to winch Cistercian order, except that of St. Thomas, near priori** belonged Dublin, and that of Rathto, or Rattoo, which belonged respectively to the orders of St. Victor, and of Aroacia. All the ten priories belonged to the regular canons of St. Angustin, except that of St. John of Jerusalem ; those of Christ's Church and All Saints', Dublin, which belonged to the regular canons of Aroacia : and that of St. Patrick, Down, which belonged to the Benedictines. If, however, a voluntary surrender of a monastery compulsory , , , , means sometimes was refused, compulsory means appear to have been resorted to. enforced against the recusant. Thus, when Manus O'Fihily, the last abbot of St. Mary's, Thurles, would not surrender, he was carried a prisoner to Dublin, where he suffered a long confinement 8 . Still an entire dissolution of these establishments Dissolution not was not effected at the present time. For so we are informed by Sir John Davies, who, in his account of Ireland, written in the reign of King James the First, remarks, that " the abbaies and religious houses in Tirone, Tirconnell, and Fermanagh, though they were dissolved in the 33rd year of King Henry the Eighth, were never surveyed nor reduced into charge, but were continually possest by the reli- gious persons, until his majesty, that now is, came to the crown 9 ." On the 3rd of February, in the 30th year of the Letters patents king, being the year of our Lord 1539, letters patents under the privy seal were issued to William Braba- reiiqueJ. zon, sub-treasurer of Ireland, together with John Aleyn, chancellor ; George, archbishop of Dublin ; Robert Cowley, master of the rolls; and Thomas Cusak, Esq., appointing, amongst other things, " that 8 GROSS'S Irish Antiq., ii. 85. Edit. 1747, p. 25,3. 160 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. they should investigate, inquire, and search out, where, within the said land of Ireland, there were any notable images or reliques, at which the simple people of the said lord the king were wont super- stitiously to meet together; and wandering as on pilgrimage, to walk and stray about them, or other- wise to kiss, lick, or honour them, contrary to the honour of God; and that they should break in pieces, deform, and bear away the same : and thus with all things pertaining, annexed, and adjoined thereto, they should utterly abolish them, so that no fooleries of this kind might thenceforth for ever be in use in the said land or dominion of the aforesaid lord the king 10 ." The commission also directed, with respect to such monasteries and religious houses, as were willingly surrendered into the hands of the king, "and thereupon dissolved, that the commissioners should take for the king's use and possession all goods, moveable things, and chattels, lands, and revenues thereof; and sell and alienate the same, except gold and silver plate, jewels, principal orna- ments, lead, and bells ; and from the proceeds, and also from the revenues of the said monasteries and houses, if the goods and moveables thereof were insufficient, should pay all just debts, and all other reasonable charges, incidental to the said monasteries or religious houses. It also gave authority to the commissioners, to allow the chief governors and heads of the said houses such portion of the things, aforesaid, as might be fitting for their rank, and appear convenient in the commissioners' discretion. And it directed them to provide for the sufficient and secure keeping of the jewels and other move- 10 Public*: Records of Ireland, 1 8] 0181 5. PI. VI. No. 3, SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 161 ables in their custody, to the use and behoof of the said lord the king. In the Record Office, Custom-house Buildings, Ron in Record Dublin, is preserved a roll, which contains the fore- going commission, and, subjoined to it, the account rendered by the commissioners of the execution of their trust. By the kindness of Mr. Hardinge, the gentleman who has the official charge of this un- published document, I have been very obligingly furnished with a translation of it, and am thus enabled to state the following particulars of the commissioners' inquiry. The roll contains three distinct accounts, made commissioners- by Sir William Brabazon, in pursuance of the com- mission directed to him and the other commis- sioners. The first account gives a detail of the sum of price of property 326/. 2s. lid., returned by the commissioners in form following : " for the price of divers pieces of F gold and silver in mass and bullion, and also of certain precious stones set in gold and silver, and of silver ornaments and other things upon divers images, pictures, and reliques, in the late monasteries, priories, cathedral and parish churches, and other places, within said land of Ireland under-written lately existing, broken and destroyed, and by said commis- sioners, by virtue of the commission of the lord the king aforesaid, into the hands of the lord the king taken, and appraised, and by the before-recited title sold." Of the thirty-five articles, which comprise this account, about six or seven are specified as the price of property belonging to religious houses, amounting to about 130/. ; three, of property belong- ing to the cathedral churches of St. Patrick, Dublin, of Leoglilin, and of Ferns, amounting to 381. 3s. Sd. ; M 162 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Property in abbeys, priories, and hospitals. Property in friaries. Total amount. and the remainder amounting to about 160/., as the price of property belonging to parish churches and chapels. One article, without naming any place, specifies 20/., as being "the price of l,0001bs. weight of wax, manufactured into candles, tapers, images, and pictures." The same account also details by name thirty- nine monasteries, abbeys, priories, and hospitals, out of which arose a sum of 1710/. 2s., " the price of divers vases, jewels, and ornaments of gold and silver, and bells, and the utensils and household stuff of superstitious buildings, and other goods and chattels." Whilst some of the articles here enume- rated did not exceed a few pounds, and were as low even as three, two, or one. others were of consider- able magnitude : for example, the price of the pro- perty found in the monastery of Mellyfounte was 141/. 7s. 3d. ; in the monastery of Kells was 191/. Is. 8d. ; in the abbey of the Blessed Virgin at Trim was 186/. 15s. 2d., besides 40/., accounted for in the preceding list ; and in the monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Dublin, was 38f>/. 17s. 8d., besides 211. 2s. 6d. also before accounted for. The same account further details by name thirty- seven houses of brothers or friars, out of which arose a sum of 487L 16s. $\d., being the price of property similar to the foregoing, and varying in the several houses, from I/, in the house of the Carmelites at Kildare, to 57/. 17s. 5d. in that of the Dominicans at Kilkenny. The sum total of this first account was 2544Z. Is. 7^d. A second and a third account follow, consisting of the like particulars, to the amount respectively of 35/. 11s. and ISO/. 2s. 3d. : in all, 2709/. 14s. SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 163 This is the whole amount of the property seized, NO detail of as returned by the commissioners, who however give thepropertyt no detail of the property, nor communicate any information of its nature, other than by the general terms above reported : except that, in the first list, an account is rendered of 31. 7s. 6d., " for the price of divers silver or holy crosses, in the late abbeys of Kilcooley and Innislannagh ;" and elsewhere notice is taken of sundry bells, appertaining to the dif- ferent monasteries, which were committed to the custody of various persons, named in the account, who were to render an account of the same. Amongst these the following entry occurs : " Nor do they" (the said accountants) "render any price for a bell, to the late house of brothers of Clane, at the time of the dissolution, appertaining, inasmuch as said bell came into the hands of Lord Leonard Gray, late deputy of the lord the king of his land of Ireland aforesaid, so that no produce in respect thereof came to the hands of said accountants, as they say upon their oaths." A detail of the property might have presented images and . . P . . ' reliques not us with some curious information concerning- those specified m detail. " notable images and reliques," the objects of the " superstitious reverence of the simple people of the lord the king," the investigation of which was one special object of the commission. These no doubt were numerous. But it is most probable, that very few of the former were of any more valuable mate- rial than wood, stone, or composition ; in which case they were broken in pieces, and destroyed by the express orders of the king's commission : if of gold or silver, they would likewise be broken and defaced, and then sold as " gold and silver in mass." As to the reliques, they also would probably be HOW disposed of. M 2 164 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. destroyed: or, if valuable, be disposed of in the same manner as the images. It should be observed, that the commission, of which the above account has been given, appears to have been issued in pursuance of the act of the 28th of King Henry the Eighth, chap. 16 ; which, whilst it invested the possessions of the monasteries therein recited in the king for the publick use, enacted also, that " the king's highness should have and enjoy to his own proper use all such ornaments, jewels, goods, cattails, and debts, which appertaineth or belongeth to any of the chief governors of the said monasteries or religious houses, in the right of the said monasteries or religious houses." And the foregoing report of the commissioners is a return of an inventory and sale of the chattels, reserved by this Act of Parliament for " the king's own proper use" specially: the reason of the commissioners taking upon themselves so to sell being expressed in the account, namely, " the great need of the king in his wars with the Earl of Desmond and others," and the sale being made with the consent of the privy council. It should be observed, also, that the account includes the ornaments and other possessions, not only of the monasteries dissolved under the aforesaid act of the 28th of King Henry the Eighth, but of those likewise dissolved under the act of the 33rd, chap. 5 : consequently it embraces a general collec- tion of such chattels of most, if not of all, of the monasteries, and appears therefore to be a complete account, so far as regards the ornaments and other things, of which an exception was made in favour of the king. Provision for The dissolution of several religious houses, to SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 165 which parish churches had been appropriated, having parish churches ...*. . ~ ^ ' connected with caused an interruption in the service of the cures, them. which had been served by members of the commu- nity, whereto they had been appropriated, in 1542 an act was passed for empowering the Lord Deputy, the Lord Chancellor, the Vice-Treasurer, the Chief Justice, and other persons of high official and legal stations, to erect and incorporate a vicarage in each of the several parish churches, which had been appropriated to religious houses dissolved, having no vicar endowed 11 : a provision, which eventually proved very incommensurate with the evil. Mean- while, in 1540, a commission had been issued, for granting annual stipends to the monks of the sup- pressed abbeys 12 . In the same year, 1542, an act was passed, that Kings of Eng- the King of England should in future bear the name Kings of Ireland. of king, instead of lord, of Ireland, which had been previously his title 13 : an act, which, whilst it was especially pleasing to the king, was welcomed also with singular demonstrations of joy in Dublin, as one of great publick advantage. And "its publica- tion was celebrated with memorable solemnity in St. Patrick's cathedral the following Sunday, in the presence of the Lord Deputy, the Earls of Ormonde and Desmond, and others of the nobility, in their parliament robes, and of several of the bishops and clergy, where a solemn mass was performed by the proclamation of Archbishop of Dublin ; and after the mass, the act " was proclaimed in presence of the assembly, and Te Deum sung with great joy and gladness to all men. Publi The same Sunday, great bonfires were made in the occasion. 11 Irish Stat., 33 Hen. VIII. c. 14. 12 WARE'S Annals, p. 103. 13 Irish Stat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 1. 166 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. The cause of them. Motives to this act. city, wine set in the streets, great feasting in their houses, with a goodly sort of guns 14 ." To give more cause for rejoicing, the Lord Deputy and council thought it good, that all prisoners, not confined for debt, or for any very heinous crime, should be set at liberty. And the king himself issued a proclamation for a general pardon. The cause of this exultation was, that, though it was manifest, as the act declares, that the Kings of England had, by the name of Lords of Ireland, possessed all manner of " kingly jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, and authority royal, belonging or ap- pertaining to the royal estate and majesty of a king ;" yet occasion had been taken upon this dif- ference of names to found a supposed difference of authority, and to seduce the inhabitants of this portion of the king's dominions from showing that obedience to his person and laws, which was accord- ing to their allegiance and bounden duties. This recognition of the supreme dominion of the king by his royal title had been recommended to the king's commissioners in 1537, by Allen, master of the rolls, as recorded in the State Papers 15 , on the special ground, that " Irishmen of long continuance have supposed the royal estate of this land to con- sist in the Bishop of Rome for the time being, and the lordship of the Kings of England here to be but a governance under the obedience of the same, which causeth them to have more respect of due subjection unto the said bishop, than to our sovereign lord." The same consideration had been urged upon the Lord Deputy Saintleger, both personally and in writing, by Staples, bishop of Meath, in 1538, " as u Cox, i.270. History of Dublin, i. 193. 16 Vol. ii. partiii. p. 480, SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. . 167 doubting not, in short time, to have all Ireland then sworn to due obedience, the lack whereof, in my opinion, doth much hinder their duties to be done 16 ." And Sir Anthony Saintleger being now lord deputy, for Lord Gray had been recalled early in 1540, the same recommendation was submitted by him and the council to the king's consideration the same year, as a recognition, to which all the nobility and other inhabitants of the land would agree, and which would cause those of the Irishry more gladly to obey his majesty, on account of their foolish opinion, that the Bishop of Rome should be King of Ireland. The act was accordingly passed, to the great * attending its satisfaction of the kingdom. The proclamation of it proclamation in Munster. in every shire of Ireland was one of its enactments. Jul y 1542 - But in Munster particularly, the proclamation of it was accompanied by certain special ordinances, founded on the avowed state of general incivilization, lawlessness, and insubordination, prevalent in that part of the kingdom ; and bearing melancholy testi- mony to the depressed condition of religion, and to the necessity of instant improvement : for such is the obvious inference from such instructions as these, "That bishops may exercise their jurisdiction in their diocese, according to the law of God and the canons ;" " that laymen nor boys be not admitted to ecclesiastical preferments, and that such as be in already, shall be immediately deprived;" and " that all those who have dignities or benefices ecclesias- tical, shall take orders and reside 17 ." The legal establishment of the king's supremacy King* macy shown in in matters ecclesiastical was now operating in a very appointment to vacant bishop- 16 State Papers, vol. iii. p. 30. '* Cox, i, 270. ricks ' 168 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. important department, and producing a sensible effect on the appointment to vacant bishopricks. Before this period, such appointments had been of late made by papal nomination, the temporalties of the see being restored to the new bishop by the king's writ. But now the appointment proceeded from the crown; and if, as appears in a few cases, it is referred to a provision or provisional bull of the Pope, the nomination was rendered valid by the con- firmation of the king, consequent on " the oath of allegiance being taken," or "homage being clone," or " submission being made and fealty sworn" to the king by the individual nominated 18 . From 1536 to Thus in the interval often or eleven years, which 1547. elapsed between the enactment of the king's supre- macy in 1536, and his demise in 1547, of about thir- teen vacancies, which are recorded as having occurred in sees where Sir James Ware has ascertained the circumstances of succession,tlie appointments toClonmacnoise in 1589, Zpopr ntsby to Down and Connor, and to Clonfert, in 1541, and to Clogher in 1542, appear to have been made "by provision of Pope Paul the Third," and to have been confirmed by King Henry the Eighth, on submission being formally plighted : agreeably to which, in his letter from Greenwich, October 8th, 1542, the king expresses his will in this manner concerning Clogher; " Ye shall understand that we have taken the sub- mission of the Bishop of Clogher, and caused our council to receive of him his bulls and his oath here, which he yielded unto us, and we have given also unto him a new grant of the same, and 4QL in and by the king, money 19 ." On the other hand, the appointments to Tuam, to Cork and Cloyne, and to Clonfert, in 1536, 18 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 174, 187, 205, 642. > 9 Rot. Can., 32, 33, Hen. VIII. SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 169 to Kildare in 1540, to Arclagh in 1541, to Armagh and to Emly in 1543, to Elpbin in 1544, and to Kil- laloe in 1546, were primarily and entirely of the king's nomination and donation. Particularly as to the cases of Emly and Elphin : in the letter from Greenwich, October 8th, 1542, the king directs to elect and consecrate jEneas O'Hifernan, "and to take his oath and homage according to the minute, which you shall receive herewith ; which oath, our pleasure is, that all bishops, to be hereafter made in that our realm of Ireland, shall make unto us." The oath follows upon the roll 20 . And with respect to Elphin, the king, oath of bishops TT -ir-r-TT /? on consecration. Henry VIIL, sent his conge d'ehre to the dean and chapter of that cathedral, to choose Conatius O'Shy- agal bishop. But they refusing to comply with the king's mandate, he directed a writ to Christopher, archbishop of Tuam, to admit, institute, consecrate, and invest him therein, March 23, 1545 21 , pursuant to letters under the privy seal to the Lord Deputy Saintleger, Westminster, July 1, 1544, "willing that by virtue thereof, as well you our said deputy shall make, or cause to be made, in our name, all such writings, as in such case be requisite, for the assu- rance of the said Conatius O'Shyagal to the same bishoprick, and also to take his oath according to our laws in that behalf ordained." In certain instances, indeed, there were rival RCSUU of rival . , , -f-, , /-N i appointments by appointments by the Pope, as for example, to Cork and Cloyne in 1536, to Clonfert in the same year, to Kildare in 1540, and to Armagh in 1542 ; but these were rejected and rendered null by the king's autho- rity, and the bishops of the royal nomination were seated in their respective sees with the exception of 20 Rot. de Annis, 32, 33, Hen. VIII. 2l lb., 36, Hen. VIIL 170 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Remarkable ex- Clonfei't, " where the king's majesty preferred one fert. 1 Dr. Nangle to the bishoprick, but one Rowland Burke purchased bulls from the Bishop of Rome, whereby he expulsed the king's presentee. Whereupon, as I heard say," observes Robert Cowley in a letter to Lord Cromwell, " the king's highness wrote to the Lord Deputy to prosecute the pro visor, and to see the king's presentee restored to his possession. Nothing was executed of the king's pleasure in that behalf, whereby general recourse is daily to Rome by religious men of Irish nation and papisticals; so that where, in time past, they repaired to the king's highness, to obtain his grace's determination, they go immediately to Rome, and obtain what they pursue, so that there be now lately five bishops in Ireland by the Bishop of Rome's authority, besides abbots and priors. And never so much suit from Ireland as now to Rome, all by permission and sufferance, without any prosecuting." However, with respect to this particular case of Clonfert, Burke, who had been advanced to the see by the Pope's bull, afterwards submitted and swore fealty to the king, and obtained the royal assent in October, 1541, the Pope's bull having been first can- celled. With respect to the other bishops by the Pope's authority, if appointed since the act for the king's supremacy, they must have been those already enumerated, of Clonmacnois, Down and Connor, and Clogher, as having subsequently made submission and taken the oath to the king. Of two or three other sees, which were vacant during the before-mentioned period, between 1536 and 1547, but in which the circumstances of the suc- cession have not been distinctly recorded, it is to be presumed with a high degree of probability, that the SEC. IV.] KINO HENRY VIII. 171 appointment was made exclusively by the king, as^to Ferns in 1539, and to Ross in 1544. Kilmore is peculiar condi- the only see which can be positively alleged as SlJtaSj 22 forming an exception to the general rule ; of which Harris has stated it to be " observable that lying in an unsettled and tumultuous country it had been much neglected by the crown of England ; and that even after the Reformation, the bishops of it suc- ceeded either by usurpation or by papal authority 22 ." And from this there was no deviation till 1585, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Meanwhile a convincing example of the practical Re markabio c effect of the transfer of the supremacy from the Pope to the king, and of the consequent subsitu- tion of the royal instead of the papal patronage, is furnished by the life of a certain individual. In 1521, on a vacancy in the see of Limerick, King Henry the Eighth felt great anxiety, and laboured earnestly, in stead of the deceased prelate, to intro- duce Walter Wellesley or Wesley, for whom he entertained a high regard. But the king's favourite was rejected, and another person promoted by the Pope. Ten years after, namely, in 1531, Wellesley obtained the See of Kildare by the provision of the Pope, Clement the Eighth, at the instance of the king, who again exerted himself for his advance- ment. On Bishop Wellesley's death in 1540, by the like provision of the Pope, a successor was nomi- nated ; and as he survived only a few days, a second received the Pope's nomination. But the king*, having been now declared supreme head of the Church of Ireland, rejected the nomination ; and a successor of his own choice, William Miagh, was 82 WARE'S Bishops, p. 230. 172 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Remittance by the king of a debt from Arch- bishop Browne. The king grants the favour sought for the Arch- bishop. consecrated, and maintained undisturbed possession of the see 23 . In 1542, the king having made a grant of cer- tain lands, which in great part belonged to the Arch- bishop of Dublin, but which the archbishop was con- tented liberally to release to his majesty, the Lord Deputy and Council prayed the king to remit to him a debt of 280/., " in respect of his said conformity, and that he hath, sithence his repair into this your realm, sustained great charges in your highness' ser- vice, and came very poor to his said promotion, having no manner dilapidations of the goods of his predecessor ; whereby he shall not only be the more able to serve your majesty, and be well requited for his said conformity, but also bind him, according to his most bounden duty, to pray to Almighty God for the long preservation of your most royal estate ; otherwise we think the man shall not be able to pay your majesty, and live in any honourable estate 24 ." The king granted the prayer in the archbishop's favour : " not doubting but he will the better apply his charge and office, and provide that there may be some good preachers to instruct and teach the people in those parts. Willing, therefore, you, our deputy and council, that you. have a special regard also to this point ; and as you may provide that they may learn by good and catholick teaching, and the ministration of justice, to know God's laws and ours together ; which shall daily more and more frame and confirm them in honest living and due obedience, to their own benefits, and the universal good of the country 25 ." 23 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 510, 389. 24 State Papers, vol. iii., part iii., p. 390, 25 II., p. 39G, SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 173 In the same year 26 , the Lord Deputy and Council Assistance of Ireland applied to the Privy Council in England ingti,e clergy-/ for their assistance in checking an abuse which was * Ilc i542. ncc prevalent among the Irish clergy. " Being adver- tised that some beneficed persons have resort thither, intending to sue for licences of non-residence, con- trary to the laws of this realm, which, if they should obtain, were great hindrance to the common weal here; we shall, therefore, beseech your good lord- ships to move the king's majesty to stay such suits for licenses of non-residence." In the same year 27 , among "certain devices for pian for dissemi- J nating Christian the reformation of Ireland," by John Travers, to- truth by the bishops. gether with others for its civil improvement, we 1542. find the following directed to its spiritual good. " Whereas the inhabitants of this realm, for the more part, have of long time, and yet hitherto be, igno- rant of the true doctrine of Christ, for lack of preach- ing the same, which hath caused them to neglect due obedience to God and the king, ; it shall be, for the remedy hereof, necessary that the Archbishop of Dublin, my Lord of Meath, and such others as favour the Gospel, do instruct the Irish bishops of this realm ; causing them to relinquish and renounce all popish or papistical doctrine, and to set forth sin- cerely, within each of their dioceses, the true word of God." In the same year 28 , the king- wrote to the Lord Acts for the con- J tinency of priests. Deputy and council. " We think it meet, that see- ing we have passed here the act for the continency of priests, you should in like manner follow, and do the same there ; or, at the least, upon consideration of the state of the country, cause such a reasonable 2(3 State Papers, vol. iii., part iii., p. 418. 27 /., p. 431. 28 Ib. 9 p. 428. 174 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Plan for con- verting Christ's Church into a free school. August, 1542. book to be devised and sent hither for that purpose, as may be to God's pleasure in the avoiding of that sin, and to the advancement of the honest name and fame of our clergy of that realm." By the English statute of 31 Henry VIII., c. 14, the incontinency of priests was made felony; but by chapter 10 of the next session, this statute, on account of its severity, was repealed for the first and second offences; and the crime was, in the first instance, made punishable with loss of goods, and, if the offender had more than one benefice, with the forfeiture of the revenues of all but one ; the second offence subjected him to the forfeiture of all his revenues ; and the third to perpetual imprisonment. The Lord Deputy had devised a scheme, which he communicated in a letter from himself and the council to the king, August the 27th, 1542, for having the perpetual residence of a council in Dub- lin; and as a house for their residence and their entertainment, he proposed to appropriate Christ's Church, which had formerly been a house of regular canons, and was lately converted into a cathedral with a dean and chapter, but which he thought might be spared for that purpose, as less well en- dowed, and less meet to be preserved and main- tained, than the other cathedral of St. Patrick. Out of the revenues thus appropriated, a free-school also was to be founded, " whereof there is great lack in this land, having never a one within the same ;" and for maintenance of the church of Christ's Church the parishioners of three or four small churches*, nigh adjoining, were to be annexed to the parish of Christ's Church, and their own churches turned to some other use, and provision to be thus made for SEC.;iV.] KING HENRY VIII. 175 preserving and maintaining the building, and for the necessary supply of ministers. The plan was again brought forward by the Lord Deputy, and pressed pian again upon the king's attention, in a communication of June! 1543. June the 4th, 1543. The . ' _r, in his answer, admitted "the device to King not un- i -! ? i , i f , t favourable to it ; have a good appearance, and that " some fruit and benefit migfit thereby ensue to the realm ;" and he expressed his pleasure to have a more particular declaration of the revenues, and of their intended employment : that he might resolve and determine the matter, as he should think most expedient. Further deliberation, however, changed the sen- its failure. timents of the Lord Deputy. The revenues on investigation proved to be less than had been imagined. Christ's Church was " the metropolitan church, in whose name or title much of the arch- bishop's lands was annexed to the see." The mayor also and commons of the city, having heard " that the same was moved to be changed from the name of a college and to be made a parish church, and that there were no more colleges of the king's new erection within the whole realm, and that their city would be totally defaced and disparaged," made earnest suit that the said Christ Church might stand as it then was. The result was a change in the purpose of the government, and thus Christ Church retained its character of a cathedral. The whole particulars may be found in the correspondence between the two governments ; State Papers, vol. iii., part iii., pp. 414, 468, 484, 489. The 15th of March, 1543, died Archbishop Death of Primate Cromer. Regard being had to the impediments March is, 1543. 176 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II, Surmises as to his successor. Motives to the new appoint- ment. offered by him to the king's measures, it was to be expected that a man of different principles would be selected to succeed him in the primacy; and ac- cordingly that a successor would be sent from England, as on the vacancy of the archbishoprick of Dublin, eight years before ; or that Archbishop Browne, who had so diligently and efficiently filled that vacancy, would be advanced to the superior dignity of Primate of all Ireland ; or that the station would be conferred on some other of the actual prelates, such as Staples, bishop of Meath, or Miagh of Kiidare, or Sanders of Leighlin, or Tirrey of Cork and Cloyne, who are on record as favourers and promoters of the Reformation, and of whom Bishop Staples, in particular, seems to have been distin- guished for his zeal and activity in the promotion of true religion, and to have enjoyed the king's good opinion and favour, being employed in several com- missions issued at different times by the crown for ecclesiastical purposes. But whether the principles of the future primate had not yet been disclosed, which indeed is hardly probable; or that the animating force, which actuated the king in the exercise of his ecclesiastical patron- age, had been removed by the fall of Cromwell ; or that the king himself, having succeeded in accom- plishing his projects for his own aggrandizement, cared not for the spiritual improvement of the Church, and abandoned the cause of the Reformation, of which he had given indications, not in England only, by his conduct about " The Six Articles," but in Ireland by bestowing a special mark of favour and confidence on Archbishop Cromer, in his appoint- ment, together with the Lord of Louth, as arbitrator SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 177 of such controversies as might arise in Ulster, on certain subjects specified in the edict 29 ; a very different nomination to the primacy now took place. Another person had been recommended for the Baron of DeMn-a station in 1541, the son of a nobleman, the Lord mended!" 1541 Delvin, who had been Lord Deputy fourteen years before, possibly in anticipation of an earlier vacancy : for in an answer of the king to the letters of the Lord Deputy and council, dated the 21st of February, in that year, we find, " Where you desire to have a son of the late Baron of Delvins preferred to the archbishoprick of Armachan ; we do consider the said bishoprick to be there a great and principal dignity, and therefore before we shall determine our pleasure in it, we would be glad to have the party sent hither, that we might both see him, and further know, how he is qualified for such an office : where- upon we shall more certainly signify our pleasure unto you in that behalf 30 ." In the following year, however, 1542, things were promise of the changed. For in another letter from the king we to George Dow- read, " We have granted, at your request, to Parson ' 1542. Doudall, both a pension of 20/. sterling, till he shall be promoted by us to a benefice exceeding that sum, or enjoy the bishoprick of Armacon, which we have also granted unto him, when it shall first and next be vacant 31 ." This grant had been made on Dow- dall's voluntary surrender of the Crouched Friary of Ardee, of which he was the prior' 2 . Accordingly, George Dowdall, a native of the county of Louth, and official to his predecessor Archbishop Cromer, 29 WARE'S Annals, Hen. VIII., p. 106. 30 State Papers, vol. Hi. part iii. p. 299. 31 Ib., p. 429. 32 ARCIIDALL, p. 447. N 178 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. 1643; And consecra- tion. succeeded to the primacy, by the interest of the ins nomination, Lord Deputy, Sir Anthony St. Leger 33 , who had also procured for him the guardianship of the spiri- tualties of the archbishoprick during the vacancy, in which interval a synod had been held of the clergy of the diocese; and by the king's mandate 3 *, bearing date the 28th of November, 1543, he was in the early part of the following December consecrated by Edward Staples, bishop of Meath, and other assistant bishops : the mandate for his confirmation and con- secration having been directed to Edward, bishop of Meath ; Cornelius bishop of Raphoe ; Eugenius, bishop of Down and Connor; Edmund bishop of Kilmore ; Hugh, bishop of Clogher ; Florence, bishop of Clonmacnois ; Richard, bishop of Ardagh ; and Thady, suffragan bishop to the Archbishop of Dublin. Who this " Thady, suffragan bishop to the Arch- bishop of Dublin," may have been, is by no means certain. The other seven, named in the mandate, were suffragans to the Archbishop of Armagh, in the sense of diocesan bishops, under that metropolitan. But in the province of Dublin there was, at that time, no bishop of the name of Thady. It is true, that on the death of Wellesley, bishop of Kildare, in 1540, a Franciscan friar was, by the Pope's provision, declared bishop on the 16th of July, but died in a few days. " Whereupon," as Sir James Ware states 35 , " on the 15th of November following, Thady Rey- nolds, doctor of the civil and canon law, was by the like provision nominated. But the king, (being now declared supreme head of the Church of Ireland,) rejected this election, and advanced William Miagh to the bishoprick, and afterwards called him into his Question con- cerning one of Abp. Dowdall's consecrators. 3 WARE'S Bishops, p. 91. 34 Rolls, 3G Hen. VIII. 35 WARE'S Bishops, p. 390. SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 179 privy council of Ireland." In endeavouring to ascer- tain who was the individual mentioned in the king's mandate, I have been struck by this identity of name : and it has occurred to me, as a possible, but hardly as a probable, case, that in drawing up the instrument a confusion may have arisen between the names of him who had been nominated to the see ? and of him who actually occupied it. It appears, however, more probable, that Thady suffragan bisho pa was suffragan bishop to the Archbishop of Dublin, in the sense of an assistant. The English statute of 26 Henry VIII. chap. 14, had " enacted that every archbishop and bishop of this realm, (of England,) and elsewhere within the king's domi- nions, being disposed to have any suffragan, shall name two persons to the king, who shall choose one." The preamble speaks of such suffragans, as " having been accustomed to be had within this realm ;" and Dr. Bullingbroke, in his Ecclesiastical Law of Ireland, vol. i. p. 189, remarks upon this, that " These were the same with the ancient chor- episcopi, or bishops of the country ; so called by way of distinction from the proper bishops of the city or see. And they were very common," he adds, "in England; taking their titles from places ' in partibus infidelium,' or from places in which ? though there were fixed sees, and they had been ordained to them, they could not remain with safety ; and upon this account we find several Irish bishops, from time to time, received and acting as suffragans, under English bishops." After this manner, it appears from a letter of Example of one A T" under the Arch- Archbishop Browne, quoted above, page 153, that, to bishop of Dub- assist him in preaching to the Irish natives, he had " provided a suffragan, named Dr. Nangle, bishop of N 2 180 THE REIGN OP [Cn. II. Clonfert," who had been " expulsed" from his own diocese by a lawless governor of those parts, coun- tenanced by the then Lord Deputy, Lord Gray. Of this Bishop Nangle, the archbishop afterwards re- peatedly speaks as " his suffragan." It should seem, therefore, by no means improbable that he may have subsequently had the assistance of another " suffra- gan," besides or instead of Nangle, and that this Thady may have been the man ; and this probability is increased by evidence furnished by Sir James And under the Ware's report, that a Bishop of Ardagh, who suc- ceeded to his see in 1553, had been "before a suf- fragan to Dowdall, archbishop of Armagh 36 ." This question has been examined somewhat more than on its own account it might deserve, if it did not appear to throw some light upon the administration of ecclesiastical offices at this period by means of suf- fragan bishops. As to the nomination of this indi- vidual, in the mandate for the consecration of the new archbishop, together with seven bishops of the province of Armagh, and the non-insertion of the name of the Archbishop of Dublin, whilst that of his suffragan was inserted, the case under both aspects is remarkable, but any inquiry in search of explanation could be answered only by conjecture. To revert then to the Archbishop of Armagh ; his consecration was solemnized in obedience to the mandate, by the Bishop of Meath, as the consecrat- ing bishop, with the assistance of some of the other prelates named in the commission. Archbishop Archbishop DOW- Dowdall is related to have been a man of gravity dall's character. _ , . , and learning, and a very assiduous preacher, but withal a most zealous advocate for popery : not- withstanding which, he was contented to accept his 3C WARE'S Bishops, p. 255. .Sec. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 181 advancement from the king; and could never suc- ceed in obtaining a provision from Pope Paul the Third, who had conferred the archbishoprick on Robert Waucop, by others called Venantius, a Scot, who assisted at the Council of Trent, from 1545 to 1547 ; and is transmitted by history with the glory or the shame, of having, about two years before, been the first to introduce the Jesuits into Ireland, with the favour and countenance of the Pope 37 ; and the observing reader, as is well remarked by Cox, in his history, written in 1689, "will easily perceive the dismal and horrible effects of that mission, which hath ever since embroiled Ireland, even to this day 38 ." The conduct of Archbishop Dowdall, first in His unsteadiness accepting the primacy from the king, notwithstand- dpS* 1 ** 1 * ing his attachment to the papacy, and then in seek- ing a nomination from the Pope, notwithstanding his acknowledgment of the king's supremacy, leaves him with a character which it were difficult to vin- dicate from the charge of instability, if not of dis- regard and dereliction of principle, unless indeed in accordance with the rules of morals which his rival, the titular primate, had lately introduced into the kingdom, as means of undermining the simplicity and godly sincerity of the Gospel. For the present, however, the new primate seems not to have had much opportunity of manifesting his Popish predilections by any act directly hostile and offensive to the advocates of the reformed religion ; and the only measure attributed to him at this period is, that in a synod holden by him in St. provincial sy- Peter's Church, Drogheda, June 20, 1545, it was nod ' June ' 1545 ' appointed and ordained, " that the festival of St. Richard, archbishop of Armagh, should be cele- 37 WARE'S Bishops, p. 93. Cox's Hist., i. 272. a * Ibid. 182 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Canonization of Richard Fitz- ralph. Commission for the resignation of St. Patrick's. Death of the lung, January, 28, 1547. brated with nine lessons yearly, in crastino JoJiannis et Pauli 3 \ that is, the day following the 26th of June. The canonization of the celebrated primate, Richard Fitzralph, under the designation of " St. Richard of Armagh," seems to have been the act of Dowdall himself: for when, in consequence of the miracles attributed to Fitzralph after his death, Pope Boni- face the Ninth had issued a commission to certain prelates for holding an inquiry concerning their truth, the whole matter was permitted to vanish away in silence under the commission 40 . Thus by recognising the saintship of his illustri- ous predecessor, and by appointing a rule for cele- brating his festival, Archbishop Dowdall gave a convincing testimony of his own religious predilec- tions ; but he appears to have had no occasion for placing himself in an attitude of resistance to the Reformation, as no fresh efforts were made for its advancement in the Church of Ireland till after the year 1546, when the death of King Henry made way for that youth of blessed memory, his son and successor, King Edward the Sixth. One of the last acts of King Henry the Eighth with respect to the Church of Ireland, was a com- mission for the resignation of the opulent cathedral of St. Patrick, Dublin, and the taking of the lands and possessions from the dean and chapter. The chapter at first refused, but soon after they yielded ; and in January, 1547, the month in which the king died, the resignation was made by the dean, Edward Basnet, and the chapter. But these possessions, having been given to the Exchequer, were restored by Queen Mary to the Church, in 1554 41 . 39 Reg. Dowdall, p. 89. 40 WARE'S Bishops, p. 83. 41 WARE'S Annals. SEC, IV.] ^KING HENRY VIII. 183 Before, however, we take a final leave of King Recapitulation TT , , . of chief trans- HenryS reign, a compendious reference to some of actions affecting its principal transactions, which have been already inland m King , _ , f , - . Henry's reign. passing before us, may be useful as supplying us with a general view at this epoch of the Irish Church, The establishment of the king's supremacy upon The supremacy. the ruin of the Pope's was of infinite importance toward future religious improvement, inasmuch as it released the Church from the shackles w r hich bound her, hand and foot, to the burden of the Romish corruptions, and must have precluded her from making any progress in the discovery and pro- fession of the truth. Thus far benefit accrued from this most momentous action of King Henry's reign, though little perhaps with his good will, at least toward the close of it : for had he been desirous of effecting a reformation from Popish error, he never would have placed such a primate as he actually did at the head of the Irish Church. Nor was it at all a symptom of good will, that Dissolution of monasteries. when he relieved the Church from the impediment of the monastick institutions, he forbore to provide thereby for the religious education of her people, as well as to bestow upon her any secular benefit, and left her incapacitated for necessary activity, and beset by difficulties, which were in a great degree created or augmented by the disappropriation of the ecclesiastical revenues for his own gratification and the enrichment of his favourites, and the con- signment of them for ever to the hands of lay possessors. The appropriation to himself of the first-fruits and annual portions of the value of bene- fices was another injury which he inflicted on the Church, 184 THE REIGN OF [Cn, II. Still a progressive improvement in spiritual rela- tions was slowly, but perceptibly, making way. Abolition of In many places, especially in the metropolis of the kingdom, idolatry had been to a great extent abolished : and the symbols and objects of idolatry had been superseded in the churches by the founda- tion, the means, and the sanctions of a purified worship, which were expressed in the admission of an English translation of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, as proper embellishments of their walls, and as parts of the divine service celebrated within them. proper principle ^e Form of Prayer, introduced by the arch- bishop into his diocese of Dublin, valuable in itself, was especially useful in setting forth and exempli- fying the principle of Common Prayer, to be con- ducted in the language of the people, and liberated from anti-Scriptural innovations; although a further appplication of the principle was needed in adapting such a form to the circumstances of the Irish popula- tion, and in renouncing the superstitious rites of the mass, and the invocation of the Virgin Mary. I am not aware whether the English translation of the Bible had been hitherto introduced into Ire- land : probably, indeed, it had not ; though on that subject may arise a question, to which there will be occasion to advert in the succeeding reign. But it * s plain tli at the preaching of the Word of God, as ' od ' distinguished from Romish corruptions, especially with respect to the proper object of religious trust and worship, and to the merits of our blessed Redeemer as the only ground of Christian hope, had been practised with earnestness by the Arch- bishop of Dublin, the Bishop of Meath, and some other bishops and clergy, notwithstanding the obsti- SEC. IV.] KING HENRY VIII. 185 nacy and perverseness, or the infatuation and reck- lessness, of the majority: and that it had been preached not inefficaciously appears, not only from the support given to the archbishop in Dublin, but from the numerous assemblies which attended his sermons at Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, and Clonmell. Whether the two archbishops, of Cash el and Questions as to Tuam, and the eight other southern bishops who attended at the last town, were themselves imprest with a conviction of the truth of the Archbishop of Dublin's preaching, as was the case with Tirrey, bishop of Cork and Cloyne, and Nangle, bishop of Clonfert: whether, on their return to their respective dioceses, they took measures, and with what success, for spreading the truth among their clergy and their people : whether they distributed the copies of the - Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command- ments in English, which had been committed to them for that purpose : and whether by such means, and in pursuance of the statute for the establishment of parochial schools, under the superintendence and direction of the clergy, any religious instruction was conveyed to the spiritual edification of the rising generation : we have, I apprehend, little opportunity of information. Nor are we informed, what was the issue of Archbishop Browne's intention of preaching the Gospel in the remote parts of the kingdom ; and of employing the aid of a suffragan, capable of addressing the people in Irish, where the English language was not understood. In his own immediate charge he was undoubtedly assiduous: and together with his, are transmitted with honour- able distinction, as advocates and promoters of the Reformation, the names of two bishops of his pro- 186 REIGN OF KING HENRY VIII. [Cn. II. vince, Sanders of Leighlin, and Miagh of Kildare. In the province of Armagh, Staples, bishop of Meath, is the only known exception to the episcopal adhe- rents to the Papacy, acting under the influence of the admonitions and example of the two successive primates, Cromer and Dowdall. 187 CHAPTER III. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING EDWARD THE SIXTH . . 1547 1553. GEORGE DOWDALL, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE . . '. . . 1551. GEORGE BROWNE, ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, AND PRIMATE ..... 1551 1553. SECTION I. Slow progress of Reformation in Ireland. Divided senti- ments of the Clergy. Exercise of Ecclesiastical patronage. Order for introducing the English Liturgy. Viceroy convenes the Bishops and Clergy. Order resisted by Primate Dowdall: approved by Archbishop Browne: carried into effect in Dublin. Sir Anthony Saintleger recalled, and Sir James Crofts appointed Lord Deputy. Liturgy the first book printed in Dublin. THE first years of' the reign of King Edward the Reformation not Sixth appear to have produced little effect in the inthefliTyeaia religious improvement of the Church of Ireland. In fact we are at a loss for satisfactory documentary evidence on the subject, and must be content with what few particulars we can glean for our informa- tion. Thus in the LOFTUS MS., Marsh's Library, Questionable it is stated, that, "in the year 1549, the mass was put down, and divine service was performed in English." But more than this I do not find any account of such an alteration ; and the occurrences, which will presently be noticed, appear hardly con- sistent with the statement. 188 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. No parliaments nt this time in Ireland. No parliament was called during this period; and no efforts are recorded to have been made, either by the English or the Irish government, not- withstanding the zeal and diligence with which the Reformation was promoted in England, and the effectual means employed there in its behalf. That England, the more powerful kingdom, and the seat of the imperial government, should take the lead in framing an ecclesiastical system, which should be the future rule of the two churches, was indeed natural and reasonable ; and it was probably deemed the safest, the surest, and the wisest course, to make good the cause of the Reformation by the requisite provisions in that country, where it met with a ready compliance and support from the popular sentiment, before fresh experiments were tried in Ireland, where they were less likely to be acceptable either to the clergy or people. The majority, indeed, of the bishops, as well as clergy to ropery, of the inferior clergy, were decidedly attached to the Popish creed and practice, under the patronage of Primate Dowel all. To wean them from their pre- possessions, and to use them as instruments for propagating the Reformed faith among their fellow- countrymen, would have been a most desirable consummation. But, much as it was to be desired, it was as little to be expected. For they were wrought on by a powerful influence, both at home and from abroad ; and, although there may have been among them some men of learning and intel- lectual improvement, they may be thought to have been generally ignorant and illiterate ; whilst of the fond superstition, to which some of them were devoted, a particular example 1 is related in a Bishop 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 291. Attachment of the bishops and SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 189 of Deny, who died and was buried at the very period of which we are now speaking, in the habit 1550. of a Francisian friar, as a passport to heaven. Other examples of the same idle fancy are recorded of other bishops of the Irish Church, as occurring at no dis- tant dates, by Sir James Ware ; who, or rather his continuator Harris, remarks it to have been " ac- cording to the humour of those times, and to have been thought to be of much consequence V With respect to the less numerous class of Limited powers prelates, who are known to have been favourable to bishops. the Reformation, from them exertions in its favour were to be expected, and may be presumed to have been made. But even as to the first and principal of these, the Archbishop of Dublin, although con- vincing evidence, in the course of the preceding reign, has been adduced, of his disposition to avail himself of every practicable opportunity for disse- minating the truth of the Gospel, and for calling in other preachers to his aid, still his exertions must have been, for the most part, limited within his own sphere of ecclesiastical duty, his own diocese and province: whilst in the cases of the bishops of Meath, Kildare, and other suffragans, their sphere must have been still more reduced ; so that, what- ever may have been the effect of their efforts within their own respective charges, they can hardly have been capable of producing a general change in the religious sentiments of the kingdom, and great need existed for a supply of additional ministers anxious for the suppression of the Popish corruptions, and for the advancement of pure and tmdefiled religion. In the meantime, however, the royal authority Exercise of was directed to this end in the exercise of ecclesias- 2 See above, p. 97. 190 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. tical patronage ; and the appointment to bishopricks, as they became vacant, gave proof of the actual superiority of the crown over the Papal pretensions, and was an earnest of more in future. Cox, indeed, has remarked, that " the Reformation made at this time small progress in Ireland, since the same year, 1550, produced bishops of each sort; for on the 10th of May, Arthur Macgenis was, by provision of the Pope, constituted Bishop of Dromore, and confirmed therein by the king ; and Thomas Lan- caster, a Protestant, was, on the 3rd day of Septem- ber, made Bishop of Kildare 3 ." But this appears to be incomplete as to the facts, and erroneous as to the inference. For, in the first place, however Macgenis may have been constituted Bishop of Dromore, he w r as " confirmed by the king," as Ware adds, " upon taking the oath of allegiance 4 ;" and it is to be moreover remarked, on the authority of the Rolls 5 , that "on the 10th of May, 1550, he had a pardon granted to him, under the great seal, for having received the Pope's bull, arid for other misdemean- ours;" whereas Lancaster was consecrated to the bishoprick of Kildare by the absolute commission of the king. Secondly, at or soon after the same time, six other appointments are on record, as having been made by the king, and carried by his authority into effect : whereas I find no other exam- ple of a bishop about this time being appointed by a Papal provision. This is a more complete state- ment of facts. And thus we may perceive a proof of the progress of the Reformation, so far as relates to the maintenance and extension of the king's 3 History of Ireland, i. 288. 4 WARE'S Bishops, p. 264. 5 Rolls, 6 Edw. VI, SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 191 supremacy, and to the exercise of it on behalf of men favourable to the improvement of the Church; Appointment of for in the appointments to which I have just alluded, bishops. of seven bishops to vacant sees, by King Edward the Sixth, in 1550 and the two following years, namely, to Kildare, Leighlin, Limerick, Waterford and Lismore, Elphin, and Ossory, as well as to the archbishoprick of Armagh, five at least of the number, for instance, the Bishops Lancaster of Kil- dare, Travers of Leighlin, Casey of Limerick, and Bale of Ossory, and finally Archbishop Goodacre, will hereafter fall under notice as friends and sup- porters of the Reformation. In connexion, however, with these episcopal vacancy in the . 11 archbishoprick promotions, a case may be here mentioned, the ofcasheinot explanation of which is not obvious. In March, 1551, the archbishoprick of Cashel was vacated by the death of Archbishop Butler, who had occu- pied the see twenty-three years. It was naturally to be expected that a successor would be at once appointed, as in other cases of vacancy ; but, in fact, although King Edward survived till July, 1553, the place was not supplied till after his demise. Thus for an interval of more than two years, this archi- episcopal see continued without an occupant ; and the Church and the kingdom lost that benefit in the cause of the Reformation, which might have ensued from the appointment of an advocate of that measure to one of the highest ecclesiastical dignities in Ireland. During the vacancy of the see, four of the prelates just mentioned, one of them a suffragan of Cashel, were appointed by the crown and consecrated. What was the cause of this omission? Could not there be found a per- son qualified and willing to undertake the charge? 192 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. Order for intro- ducing the English liturgy into Ireland. 1551. Question whe- ther the English Bible was intro- duced by King Henry the Eighth into Ireland. Our knowledge of the non-appointment is derived from Ware ; but he neither attempts to account for it, nor indeed makes any comment on the fact. The choice of a fit person to fill the see of Armagh, which was vacant about the same time, was, as we shall hereafter see, a matter of great difficulty. But in noticing these episcopal appointments, we are partly anticipating occurrences, which fol- lowed the important measure that now demands our attention. By authority of the late king, the Holy Scriptures had been translated into English, and copies placed in all the parish churches of that kingdom, for the general instruction of the people by means of their vernacular language. And, im- mediately after the accession of King Edward the Sixth, a form of Common Prayer in the same lan- guage had been undertaken and composed ; ratified by Parliament and convocation the 15th of January, 1549 ; and thereupon brought into use in all the parish churches. The latter of those improvements was now, after a delay of two years, not perhaps very easy to be accounted for, proposed to be made in Ireland; and on the 6th of February, 1551, an order was addressed to the Lord Deputy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, for introducing the same liturgy into all the churches of Ireland 6 . This order seems to say, that the translation of the Holy Scriptures had been introduced by King Henry's authority into Ireland at a former period : for it recounts the evils which his subjects had sus- tained " in both his realms of England and Ireland," under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome ; and it specifies, as a remedy for these evils, the transla- 6 Life of Archbishop Browne, 13. Cox's Hist. i. 288. SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 193 lion of the Holy Scriptures, which the same king had " thought most fit and convenient to be placed in all parish churches within his dominions for his faithful subjects," in Ireland therefore, it is to be presumed, as well as in England. This presumption is further countenanced by the substance of the order : for whilst, on the one hand, it gives no direc- tions concerning the procuring of copies of the Holy Scriptures, which, unless previously ordered, was to be expected on such an occasion; it does, on the other hand, direct the new Liturgy to be used in all the churches of Ireland ; and as one of the provisions of the Liturgy is the reading of lessons from Holy Scripture, the direction seems to pre-suppose the existence of books whence to read them. It does not appear, however, from other documents, that any injunction or provision of this kind had been made in the former reign with respect to Ireland, nor any thing indeed beyond " the king's translation of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, the Articles of Faith, and Ten Commandments in English 7 :" and such instructions concerning the Bible, as have fallen under my notice in this respect, speak of England only 8 . Another expression is remarkable in this order, statement that namely, that the king had "caused the Liturgy and StJS^a Prayers of the Church to be translated" into Eng- tran9lation - lish : an expression which imports, not the construc- tion of a new Liturgy, but the translation of an old one; and which was probably introduced for the purpose of refraining, as much as possible, from doing violence to the prejudices and feelings of those for whose use the Liturgy was intended. Certainly 7 Above, p. 151. 3 BURXET'S Hist. Records, vol. i. part ii. p. 377. O 194 THE RETGN OF [Cfl. III. Copy of the order. Recounts the vices occasioned by the jurisdic- tion of the hi- shops of Rome. Consequent dis- solution of mo- nasteries, And translation of the Scriptures. the assertion could not be in strictness made, that this Liturgy was a translation of " the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church" into the English language: for the Liturgy, as now put forth, had not existence in any other language ; and though many of the prayers had previously existed, their retention much redounding to the credit of the Reformers in piety, sober-mindedness, and wisdom, yet in numerous instances they were purified and amended, they were accompanied with additional compositions, and wore a different form and structure as a whole. But advantage seems to have been taken of the identity, so far as it existed, in the hope of avoiding alarm or offence in the people of Ireland, and of conciliating their good will. The order was as follows 9 : " Edward, by the grace of God, &c. " Whereas our gracious father, King Henry the Eighth, of happy memory, taking into consideration the bondage and heavy yoke that his true and faithful subjects sustained under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Rome, as also the ignorance the commonalty were in, how several fabulous stories and lying wonders misled our subjects in both our realms of England and Ireland, grasping thereby the means thereof into their hands, also dispensing with the sins of our nations by their indulgences and pardons for gain, purposely to cherish all ill vices, as robberies, rebel- lions, thefts, whoredoms, blasphemy, idolatry, &c. : He, our gracious father, King Henry, of happy memory, here- upon dissolved all priories, monasteries, abbeys, and other pretended religious houses, as being but nurseries for vice and luxury, more than for sacred learning : therefore, that it might more plainly appear to the world, that those orders had kept the light of the Gospel from his people, he thought it most fit and convenient, for the preservation of their souls and bodies, that the Holy Scriptures should be translated 9 Cox, i. 288. SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 195 printed, and placed in all parish-churches within his dominions, for his faithful subjects to increase their know- ledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We there- fore, for the general benefit of our well-beloved subjects' understandings, whenever assembled and met together in the said several parish churches, either to pray or hear prayers read, that they may the better join therein in unity, hearts and voice, have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of Translation of the church to be translated into our mother-tongue of this realm of England, according to the assembly of divines lately met within the same for that purpose. We therefore will and command, as also authorise you, Sir Anthony Saint Leger, Knight, our viceroy of that our kingdom of Ireland, to give special notice to all our clergy, as well arch- bishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, as others our secular parish priests within that our said kingdom of Ireland, to perfect, execute, and obey this our royal will and pleasure accordingly. " Given at our manor of Greenwich, the 6th of Febru- ary, in the fifth year of our reign. "E. R. " To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Anthony Saint Leger, Knight, our chief governor of our kingdom of Ire- land." The first step taken by the viceroy on receiving Assembly of the this order, and before he proceeded to notify it by a general proclamation, was to call together an assembly of the archbishops and bishops, and of the clergy of Ireland, on the 1st of March, 1551: and March 1,1551. to acquaint them with his majesty's order, as also with the opinions of those bishops and clergy of England who had acceded to the order. And he thereupon told them, that " it was his majesty's will and pleasure, consenting unto their serious conside- rations and opinions, then acted and agreed on in England, as to ecclesiastical matters, that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed." 02 196 THE REIGN OF [CH. III. Opposition o; Archbishop Dovvdall. The order sup- ported by the Lord Deputy. The Primate has iccourse to menaces. To this communication of the Lord Deputy an answer was returned by the primate, Archbishop Dowdall, who promptly availed himself of the oppor- tunity, the first which seems to have occurred, in a general meeting of the prelates and clergy of the kingdom, since his elevation, for oppugning the royal authority, and testifying his zeal for the Pope, and discrediting the proposed improvement in reli- gious worship. He accordingly expressed himself in strong terms opposed to the provision caused by the king to be made, and now set forth by his autho- rity: he contended against the Liturgy, that it might not be read or sung in the church : and he accom- panied his opposition with the contemptuous reflec- tion, substituting the word " mass" for " service," " Then shall every illiterate fellow read mass." The Primate's reflection was readily met by the Lord Deputy, who made a judicious and sufficient reply ; briefly alleging where the charge of illiteracy properly rested, and propounding one incontro- vertible argument in favour of a form of prayer in the vernacular tongue, as mutually intelligible both to the minister and to the people. " No," said he, " your grace is mistaken ; for we have too many illi- terate priests amongst us already, who neither can pronounce the Latin, nor know what it means, no more than the common people that hear them ; but when the people hear the Liturgy in English, they and the priests will then understand what they pray for." The primate seems to have felt the force of the appeal, for he did not attempt to refute it; but adopting a course which is no unusual substitute for argument with those who are sensible of the weak- ness of their cause, he had recourse to the language SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 11)7 of menace and intimidation, and bade the viceroy " beware of the clergy's curse." And indeed, in so doing, he was only following the instruction and example of his acknowledged lord and master, the Bishop of Rome, in his commission to his subjects in King Henry the Eighth's reign, and was adopting the usual practice of the papal authorities on similar occasions. The cautionary charge, however, was lost on the The Lord Deputy tt T c 4 m x<. alights the viceroy. " 1 fear no strange curse, said he, " so menace, long as I have the blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one." " Can there be a truer Church," the archbishop Altercation con- thereupon demanded, " than the church of St. Peter, church of Rome. the mother Church of Rome?" " I thought," returned the Lord Deputy, " we had all been of the Church of Christ : for he calls all true believers in him his Church, and himself the head thereof." The archbishop again demanded, "And is not St. Peters church the Church of Christ?" To which the Lord Deputy calmly replied, " St. Peter was a member of Christ's Church ; but the church was not St. Peter's ; neither was St. Peter, but Christ, the head thereof." Thus ceased this very remarkable altercation. The Primate and his party leave For the primate, indignant, as it should seem, at the the assembly. counteraction offered to his resistance of the pro- posed measure, and to his zeal for the papal church, and the pretended successor of St. Peter, thereupon rose up and left the assembly, accompanied by several, perhaps all, of the bishops within his jurisdiction who were present, except the Bishop of Meath, who continued behind, together with the other clergy who remained. 198 THE REIGN OF [CH. III. Order received by Archbishop Browne. Concurrence of other bishops. Bishop Staples. Bishops Lan- caster and Travers. Bishop Coyn. The viceroy then took the order, and held it forth to the Archbishop of Dublin, who stood up, and re- ceived it with these words: "This order, good brethren, is from our gracious king, and from the rest of our brethren, the fathers and clergy of Eng- land, who have consulted herein, and compared the holy Scriptures with what they have done; unto whom I submit, as Jesus did to Csesar, in all things just and lawful, making no question why or where- fore, as we own him our true and lawful king 10 ." Several of the more moderate bishops and clergy adhered to Archbishop Browne ; among whom were Staples, bishop of Meath ; Lancaster, bishop of Kil- dare ; Travers, bishop of Leighlin ; and Coyn, bishop of Limerick. If there were any other bishops, their names have not been recorded. Of these, Staples, who was an Englishman, and had been educated at Cambridge, and had afterwards become one of the canons of Cardinal Wolsey's new foundation in Oxford, was promoted to his bishoprick twenty years before, during the Pope's usurpation. But he appears to have been early instrumental and active in promoting the changes in religion ; and had been placed in several offices of trust by King Henry, and latterly been called to the Privy Council, and made Judge of the Faculties, by the reigning sove- reign 11 . The Bishops Lancaster and Travers had been recently promoted to their sees, namely, in 1550, both being married men 12 ; and were probably selected for their respective stations from regard to their approval of the Reformation. Bishop Coyn had occupied his see near thirty years, having been promoted in 1522 by the Pope, in opposition to the '<> WARE'S Bishops, p. 350. Ib. 9 p. 152, 12 /., p. 390, 461, SEC. I.] KING EDWA11D VI. 199 king, who was earnest in his endeavour to place Walter Wellesley, a favourite of his own, in the vacant bishoprick ' ', as before related. What may have been his opinion *on the changes now in agita- tion does not appear ; nor what other prelates took part with those who joined the Archbishop of Dub- lin in acceding to the king's order. Soon afterwards age and infirmity caused Bishop Coyn to resign his see, in which he was succeeded by William Casey, an advocate of the Reformation. The result of this -assembly was a proclamation order carried issued by the Lord Deputy for carrying the order Easter day, 1551. into effect, and the consequent celebration of divine worship according to the English Liturgy on Easter Day, in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in the pre- sence of the viceroy, the archbishop, and the mayor and bailiffs of the city, when the archbishop preached a sermon on the eighteenth verse of the 119th Psalm, " Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy law." In this sermon, which has been transmitted to Archbishop of us, with commendation not unmerited 14 , he set forth the-injuriousuess of the Church of Rome in not per- mitting the use of the Holy Scriptures in any other tongue but the Latin ; and the blindness, the folly, and the artifices of her image-worship. But the most memorable feature of it is that sort of pro- phetick spirit with which he describes the future emissaries of Rome, "false prophets, that shall de- H is anticipation ceive you with false doctrines, whom you shall take cinShJm as your friends, but they shall be your greatest ene- d mies; speaking against the tenets of Rome, and yet be set on by Rome ; these shall be a rigid people, full of fury and envy." The conduct of those fana- 33 WARE'S Bishops, p. 510, 14 Cox, i. 290. 200 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. His description of the Jesuits ; of their influ- ence. and their fall. ticks and hypocrites, who soon after attempted to subvert the Anglican church, will probably be here present to the reader's mind. And again : " But there are a new fraternity of late sprung up, who call themselves Jesuits, which will deceive many ; who are much after the scribes and pharisees' manner. Amongst the Jews they shall strive to abolish the truth, and shall come very near to do it. For these sorts will turn themselves into several forms ; with the heathen, an heathenist ; with atheists, an atheist ; with the Jews, a Jew ; and with the reformers, a reformade ; purposely to know your intentions, your minds, your hearts, and your inclinations, and thereby bring you at last to be like the fool that said in his heart, there ivas no God. These shall spread over the whole world ; shall be admitted into the council of princes, and they never the wiser; charming of them, yea, making your princes reveal their hearts, and the secrets therein, unto them, and yet they not perceive it; which will happen from falling from the law of God, by neglect of fulfilling of the law of God, and by winking at their sins ; yet in the end, God to justify his law shall suddenly cut off this society, even by the hands of those who have most succoured them, and made use of them, so that at the end they shall become odious to all nations. They shall be worse than Jews, having no resting-place upon the earth ; and then shall a Jew have more favour than a Jesuit 15 ." Recall of Sir Anthony St. Leger. In the whole of the foregoing transactions, the conduct of the Lord Deputy appears unexception- able. Shortly afterwards, however, he was recalled : and his removal has been attributed to some repre- 15 WARE'S Life of Archbishop Browne. SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 201 sentations made in bis disfavour by tbe archbishop, though tbe precise cause or nature of the want of harmony between them has not been satisfactorily Allege( i diffe . specified. Ware, in his Annals 1 ', says, "The arch- IT^'ST bishop accused him of treason; what the article a alleged against him was, I cannot tell ; but he was recalled, and, in all probability cleared himself; for in the reign of Queen Mary, he was again preferred to this government." It is the more recent state- ment of Cox, " Whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation, or what other differences there were between him and the archbishop, I cannot find ; but it is certain, the arch- bishop sent complaints against him into England, and thereupon he was recalled 17 .' Admitting the fact to have been as here stated, various accounts the solution may possibly be found in the earnest- ness with which the archbishop was desirous of carry- ing on the work of the Reformation, in accordance with the views now prevailing in England, with the king and his advisers ; and a want of corresponding energy on the part of Sir Anthony St. Leger, in for- warding the same views ; for, although he put in action the king's order, as we have seen, he may have been reluctant to proceed forward in urging it on the observance of those who were unwilling to obey it, such as the primate and the popish party. The fact of his being reinstated in his situation of viceroy by Queen Mary in the succeeding reign, when the arch- bishop was deprived of his see for his attachment to the Reformation, may give countenance to the sur- mise that Sir Anthony St. Leger was not altogether decided in his religious principles, or at least was not resolute in exercising his authority for the execution 18 P. 123. J ? Cox, i. 291. 202 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. probably not dissatisfaction, Appointment of of the king's order. It is remarkable, however, that soon after his re-appointment by Queen Mary, he was again displaced, in consequence, as was supposed, of a charge against him, that he had ridiculed the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation. But the cause of his being recalled at this time by King Edward may have been altogether misap- prehended. For, without intimating any dissatisfac- tion as the cause of it, Strype simply says, " It was thought fit to send for home Sir Anthony St. Leger, the king's chief officer in Ireland ; the king declaring by letters, that he intended to make use of him, and to employ him nearer home." And a little below he adds an extract from the king's Warrant Book, " A letter to Sir Anthony St. Leger, to repair home to the king's presence ; and that before his departure, he see Sir James Crofts placed there. . . . Four- and-twenty letters were also sent, all of one effect, declaring that, for divers considerations, the king minded to occupy Sir Anthony St. Leger about cer- tain his necessary businesses here at home. There- fore presently sendeth, to supply the office of deputy there, Sir James Crofts, as by his letters patent to them shall more plainly appear 18 ." However this may have been, Sir James Crofts, a gentleman of his majesty's privy chamber, was appointed to the government of Ireland by letters patent, the 29th of April, 1551; and soon afterwards arrived, bringing with him instructions for himself and the council, amongst which those that relate to ecclesiastical affairs are the following: "1. To pro- pagate the worship of God in the English tongue ; and the service to be translated into Irish in those places which need it. 2. To prevent the sale of 18 Memorials Ecclesiastical) vol. ii,, b. ii., c. 3, p. 264, SEC. I.] KINO EDWARD VI. 203 bells, church goods, chantry lands, &c., and to inventory them 19 ." The latter of these instructions was intended to instruction con check official or private peculation, which, under O f church pro- the semblance of promoting the Reformation, or under shelter of the confusion that attended it, had been directed against objects of superstition, and withal against other things, perfectly inoffensive and unobjectionable ; and that in the way of plunder, and for the personal emolument of the perpetrators. An example of the sort of enormity here intended, is supposed to have occurred about this time, when the English garrison of Athlone, or more probably some lawless spoilers from a distance, pillaged the celebrated abbey and church of Clonmacnoise, to a most scandalous extent; so that, "as the Annals of Dunnagatt" quoted by Ware, relate, " they took away the bells, destroyed the images and altars, not sparing the church books nor the window-glass." This outrage, however, did not take place until the following year; and it was, in all probability, less against such acts of lawless and barbarous violence, than against the abuse or pretence of official autho- rity that this instruction was directed. The former of the two instructions was in fur- instruction con- therance of the king's order promulgated by Sir ship ofGmuu >n Anthony St. Leger ; charging the new vice-regal government with the duty of carrying into effect that order for the introduction of the English liturgy into the churches of Ireland ; but at the same time applying the principle of the order, in a modified form, to cases in which it could not be strictly employed as originally propounded. For the prin- ciple that both the minister and the people should 19 Cox, i. 200, 204 THE 11EIGN OF [Cn. 111. Direction for an understand the prayers in which they mutually of the nturgy. joined, required no less that the liturgy should be used in the Irish language, in parish churches where the Irish only was understood, than it did that in parish churches, where the English was the verna- cular language, it should be used in English. And, however the time may have been hoped to arrive, when the English tongue should have become the common language of the people of both realms, it was for the present a wise ordinance, that divine service, according to the authorized form of prayer, should be provided for in the native Irish tongue in places where the circumstances of the case made it needful. Such an ordinance was, indeed, necessary for the advancement of the Reformation, and the spiritual improvement of the people, in those parts of the kingdom where the English language was not known ; nor could those parts have profited by the recent introduction and increased propagation of the liturgy, if the celebration of it had been restricted to that language. It would have been well, had this purpose been as promptly and vigorously executed as it was happily and prudently projected. The short duration of the reign of King Edward probably prevented its execution. Meanwhile this instruc- tion may serve, in some degree, as an answer to the remark of Bishop Burnet ; who having stated, under this date, that " the Reformation made but a small progress in that kingdom," adds, " it was received among the English, but I do not find any endeavours were used to bring it in among the Irish 20 .") Book of common The arrival of the new viceroy in Dublin coin- Praycr, first book printed in cided with an occurrence of oreat interest to the Dublin. 1551 - man of letters and the typographer, as well as to the 20 Hist, of the Reformation, part II. b. i. p. 37i>. SEC. I.] KING EDWARD VI. 205 churchman: namely, the appearance of the first book printed in Dublin, being an edition of the recently established liturgy. The title-page of the volume describes it as The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church : after the use of the Church of England. DuUinia, in officina Hamfredi Powell. Cum privilegio ad imprimendam solum. Anno Domini, M.D.LI. It professes to be "printed at the com- mandment of the Right Worshipful Sir Anthony Sentleger, Knight of the Order, late Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Council of the same." At the end of the volume is a prayer for the Lord Deputy, mentioning by name " Sir James Croft, now governour over this realm, under our most dread and sovereign Lord, Edward the Sixth." A handsome copy of this book is preserved in its fittest repository, the library of Trinity College, Dublin ; and it is doubted by the Rev. James Henthorn Todd, the learned under- librarian, and one of the junior fellows of the college, whether there be another in existence. SECTION II. Correspondence between the Lord Deputy and the Primate. Conference between them. Primacy taken from Arch- bishop Dowdall, and conferred on Archbishop Browne. Withdrawal of Archbishop Dowdall from the kingdom. Appointment of Goodacre to the Archbishoprick of Ar- magh, and of Bale to the Blshoprick of Ossory. Cir- cumstances of their consecration. State of religious instruction. Activity of Bishop Bale. Death of Arch- bishop Goodacre. Death of King Edward VI. State of the Church. THE new viceroy, Sir James Crofts, has the character The Lord Deputy of having been " a zealous Protestant 1 ;" and agree- cnce^ith Arch- bishop Dowdall. 1 Cox, i. 291. 206 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. ably to that character, as well as in dutiful discharge of the trust reposed in him by his sovereign, he lost no time on his arrival in endeavouring to persuade the primate into submission to the king's order con- cerning the liturgy. Having, therefore, been sworn i55i. into office on the 23rd of May, he wrote an earnest letter to Archbishop Dowdall, on the 16th of June, inviting him to a conference with the other pre- lates ; and sending his letter, in testimony of respect, by the principal of the primate's suffragans, Staples, bishop of Meath. This letter, and the primate's answer follow, copies of them being preserved among the HARRIS MSS., in the Royal Dublin Society's Library, vol. iv. p. 472. Letter from Lord Sir James Crofts, lord deputy, to George Dow- piTmSe! *' dall, bishop of Armagh : " Reverend Sir, " We understand you are a reverend father of the Church, and do know full well that you are not ignorant of the obedience due unto kings and princes ; for the chief of bishops, namely, Christ, the bishop of our souls, shewed you the way by his tribute given unto Caesar, the same being formerly confessed and acknowledged to he so due by the hishops of Rome themselves ; therefore if your Lord- ship will appoint a place where I may conveniently have the happiness of appeasing wrath between the fathers of the Church and your grace, I shall think my labour well spent to make a brotherly love therein, as I profess myself to he a Christian. Yet as I am employed under my most gracious sovereign lord, within this his majesty's realm, I needed not have sought this request ; but fearing we shall have an order ere long to alter church matters, as well in offices as in ceremonies, which I would prevent if possible, therefore out of my hearty affections unto your paternal gravity and dignity, I have written by the chief of the bishops under your jurisdiction, (viz.) the Bishop of Meath, by whom we entreat your grace's answer. From his SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 207 majesty's castle of Dublin, June 6th, 1552." (Apparently a mistake in the MS. for June 16th, 1551.) (Signed.) " JAMES CROFTS." (Superscribed). " To the Reverend Father in God, George, archbishop of Armagh, at St. Mary's Abbey, by Dublin." The Archbishop of Armagh's answer to the Lord Deputy. " Right Honourable, "Your kind and hearty overtures came unto me Primate's answer unexpected. I fear it is in vain for me to converse with an DepuV* obstinate number of churchmen, and in vain for your lord- ship to 'suppose the difference between us can be so soon appeased, as our judgments, opinions, and consciences are different ; yet do accept of your honour's friendly proffers. I shall rejoice to see your lordship, and would have waited on you in person : but having withdrawn myself for a long space during your predecessor's government, and for a while since, it is not so meet for me to appear at your lordship's palace. This, I hope, is a sufficient reason from " Your lordship's humble servant, 46 GEORGE ARMACHANUS." " To the Right Honourable Sir James Crofts, Knight, his Majesty's Viceroy of Ireland 2 ." In pursuance of this negotiation, the proposed conference of , , ^ c . , . ;-, . the Lord Deputy conference took place the following day, in the great and Bishop of hall of St. Mary's Abbey, where the primate had for primate. some time resided in a state of dignified or sullen seclusion, and where the Lord Deputy condescended to his humour, and attended him, accompanied by the Bishop of Meath, and Lancaster, bishop of Kil- dare. In the debate which ensued, the particulars of which are extant in a manuscript of the British Museum 3 , the principal interlocutors were the Pri- 2 HARRIS'S MSS., Ro3^al Dub- | 3 Tract. Variantes Hibernicas lin Society., vol. iv. p. 472. j Spectantes. Cod. Clarendon, xx. 208 THE REIGN OF fCn. III. Their respectful demeanour to- wards him. Objection to the substitution of the liturgy for the mass. Vindication of the liturgy. mate and the Bishop of Meath, and occasionally the Lord Deputy. And although neither party gave way to the sentiments of his opponent, and no pro- fitable result accrued from the discussion, it is grati- fying to notice the viceroy's demeanour of respectful courteousness towards the dignified ecclesiastick, whose opinions he disapproved ; and how the suffra- gan bishop, whilst he frankly controverted and effectually repelled the positions of his metropolitan, accosted him with the most becoming inoffensive- ness, temperance, and reverence of language and of manner. The conference was opened by this question from the archbishop : " My lord, why is your honour so for my compliance with these clergymen, who are fallen from the mother Church f Lord Deputy. " Because, reverend father, I would fain unite you and them, if possible." Archbishop. " How can that be expected, when you have demolished the mass, to bring in another service of England's making ?" Lord Deputy. " Most reverend father, I make no doubt but here be those, who will answer your grace, which behoofs them best to answer in this case, as it belongs to their function." Bishop of Meath. "My lord says well, as your grace was talking of the mass, and of the antiquities of it." Archbishop. " Is it not ancienter than the liturgy, now established without the consent of the mother Church ?" Bishop of Meath. " No, may it please your grace: for the liturgy, established by our gracious King Edward and his English clergy, is but the mass reformed and cleansed from idolatry." Archbishop. " We shall fly too bigh, we suppose, if we continue in this strain. I could wish you would hearken unto reason, and so be united." SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 209 Bishop of Meath. " That is my prayer, reverend sir, if you will come to it." Archbishop. "The way then to be in unity is not to The mass unai- i. ,1 tered the only alter the mass. way to unity. Bishop of Meath. " There is no Church, upon the face of the whole earth, hath altered the mass more oftener than the Church of Rome : which hath been the reason, that causeth the rationaller sort of men to desire the liturgy to be established in a known tongue, that they may know what additions have been added, and what they pray for." Archbishop. " Was not the mass from the Apostles' days ? how can it be proved, that the Church of Rome hath altered it F Bishop of Meath. "It is easily proved by our records Frequent aitera- of England. For Coelestinus, bishop of Rome, in the fourth century after Christ, gave the first introit of the mass, which the clergy was to. use for preparation; even the psalm, 'Judica me Deus, &c.;' Rome not owning the word mass till then." Archbishop. " Yes, long before that time : for there was a mass called St. Ambrose's mass." Bishop of Meath. " St. A mbrose was before Coelestinus : A forgery added but the two prayers, which the Church of Rome had foisted ' and added unto St. Ambrose's works, are not in his general works : which hath caused a wise and a learned man lately to write, that those two prayers were forged, and not to be really St. Ambrose's." Archbishop. " What writer dares write, or doth say for Bishop of Meath. "Erasmus, a man who may well be Authority of compared to either of us, or the standers by. Nay, my Erasmus; lord, no disparagement if I say so to yourself: for he was a wise and a judicious man, otherwise I would not have been so bold, as to parallel your lordship with him." Lord Deputy. " As for Erasmus's parts, would I were such another : for his parts may parallel him a companion for a prince." Archbishop. " Pray, my lord, do not hinder our dis- course ; for I have a question or two to ask Mr. Staples." Lord Deputy, " By all means, reverend father, proceed." P 210 THE REIGN OF |_CH. III. Compared with that of the Church of Rome. Church of Rome errs in praying to the Blessed Virgin as to a goddess; Not exclusively called "Blessed." Christ the only mediator. Archbishop. " Is Erasmus's writings more powerful than the precepts of the mother Church ?" Bishop of Meat7i. "Not more than the holy Catholick one, yet more than the Church of Rome, as that Church hath run into several errors since St. Ambrose's clays." Archbishop. " How hath the Church erred since St. Ambrose's days? Take heed lest you be not excommu- nicated." Bishop of Meath. " I have excommunicated myself already from thence. Therefore with Erasmus I shall aver, that the prayers in St. Ambrose's mass, especially that to the Blessed Virgin Mary, appears not to be in his ancient works : for he had more of the truth and of God's Spirit in him, than our latter bishops of Rome ever had, as to pray to the Blessed Virgin, as if she had been a goddess." Archbishop. " Was she not called c blessed ;' and did she not prophesy of herself, when she was to bear our Saviour Jesus Christ, that she would be called by all men 'blessed?'" Bishop of Meath. " Yes, she did so. But others be called ' blessed,' even by Christ himself. In his first sermon, made by him in the mount, ' blessed,' saith he, * be the meek, be the merciful, be the pure of heart : blessed be those persecuted for righteousness' sake, and those that hunger and thirst after the same :' and he blessed the low- minded sort, of which few or none of the Bishops of Rome can be said to be called since Constantino's reign. Christ also to all those, who shall partake of his heavenly king- dom, will likewise say unto them, * Come, ye blessed of my Father, &c.'" Archbishop. " Why, pray, is it not probable, that St. Ambrose desired the Blessed Virgin's mediation for him, as she is the mother of Christ ? Are not children commanded by God's commandments to reverence and obey their parents? therefore, as he is a man, why may he not be subject ?" Bishop of Meath. " St. Ambrose knew better, that he ought to apply to Jesus, the sole and only mediator between him and God ; and that, as Christ is man, he is the me- diator. If the Blessed Virgin, therefore, can command her SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 211 son in heaven to mediate, then St. Ambrose would have made her a goddess, or a coadjutor with God, who is himself omnipotent. And lastly, if we make her a mediator as well as Christ, we do not only suspect Christ's insuffi- ciency, but mistrust God's ordinances, thinking ourselves not sure by his promises to us and our forefathers, that Christ should be our mediator." Archbishop to the Lord Deputy. " My lord, I signified to your honour, that all was in vain, when two parties should meet of a contrary opinion ; and that your lordship's pains therein would be lost, for which I am heartily sorry." Lord Deputy. " The sorrow is mine, that your grace cannot be convinced." Archbishop. "Did your lordship but know the oaths oath of Popish we bishops do take at our consecrations, signed under our cratum** hands, you would not blame my steadfastness. This oath, Mr. Staples, you took with others, before you were per- mitted to be consecrated. Consider hereon yourself, and blame not me for persisting as I do." Bishop of Meath. " My Lord Deputy, I am not ashamed to declare the oath, and to confess my error in so swearing thereunto. Yet I hold it safer for my conscience to break the same, than to observe the same. For when your lordship sees the copy thereof, and seriously considers, you will say it is hard for that clergyman, so swearing, to be a true subject to his king if he observe the same : for Abolished by that was the oath, which our gracious king's royal father macy? S ' caused to be demolished, for to set up another, now called the oath of supremacy, to make the clergy the surer to his royal person, his heirs, and successors." "Then," as the manuscript narrative concludes the account, " the Lord Deputy rose and took leave ; so likewise did the Bishops of Meath and Kildare, who waited on his lordship." A contest for precedence had for some centuries Archbishop Dowdall deprived been agitated between the Archbishops of Armagh of the primacy; and Dublin, each claiming it in right of his see : but latterly it had been enjoyed with little or no opposi- p 2 212 THE REIGN OF [Co. III. AVhicli Avas con- ferred on Arch- bishop Browne. Oct. 15:11. Withdrawal of Archbishop Dowdall from the kingdom ; tion by the Archbishop of Armagh, who was distin- guished by the title of Primate of all Ireland, from the Archbishop of Dublin, who styled himself only Primate of Ireland, after the manner used for dis- tinguishing in the like respect the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in England. But in conse- quence of the parts respectively taken by the two archbishops on the recent occasion ; in testimony of disapprobation of the obstinate opposition made by Archbishop Dowdall to the Reformation, and specially to the introduction of the liturgy ; and in acknow- ledgment of the zeal, resolution, and extraordinary services of Archbishop Browne; by an act of the 20th of October, 1551, the king and council of England deprived the former of the primacy of all Ireland, and by letters patent conferred the title on the latter and his successors, and annexed it to the see of Dublin for ever : a transfer of dignity, which seems to explain an ambiguous expression in the Lord Deputy's letter, where he represents himself as " fearing they should have an order ere long to alter Church matters, as well in offices as in ceremonies, which," he adds, "I would prevent if possible." What occurred further on this question in the suc- ceeding reigns, until it was finally settled by decree of King Charles the First, may be noticed on the fitting occasions. At present it remains to be related, that Arch- bishop Dowdall, being deprived of the primacy, with- drew beyond the seas : or, as stated by the LOFTUS MS. Collection of Annals relating to Ireland, in Marsh's Library, Dublin, that he "fled the realm 4 ." "I do not find," says Harris 5 , " that he was stripped of his Year 1553. WARE'S Bishops, p. 317. 5 P. 157. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 213 bishoprick : but his high stomach could not digest this affront. He went into voluntary banishment, and lived an exile for a time in foreign parts, during the remainder of the reign of King Edward the Sixth." This banishment of his is alluded to by him in his epitaph, where he attributes it to the banishment of the holy faith : Exul sacra fides patriot mefinzbus egit. The sacred faith exiled me from my country drove. The self-imposed banishment of the archbishop, Differently re- being a withdrawal of himself from his official station, JSfaLwm"* and a dereliction of his official duties, seems to have been regarded by the government as a virtual resig- nation of his office. Or, on the hypothesis, noticed by Sir James Ware's son, in his Life of Archbishop Browne*, that Dowdall was really banished, a remo- val from his station by the king may have formed part of his punishment, according to what, in the opinion of the last cited writer, "was then held lawful ;" and according to the power, which the late King Henry the Eighth professed to belong to him, and threatened to exercise against the then Arch- bishop of Dublin, who had incurred his displeasure. In either case the archbishoprick of Armagh was considered vacant; and measures were accordingly taken for providing a successor. It was thought convenient that this place, as care taken in well as the vacant bishoprick of Ossory, recently flt made so by the death of its former occupant, should rick? 1 be filled by divines from England, for the purpose, no doubt, of supplying them with known advocates of the Reformation. And with this view, Arch- bishop Cranmer was consulted, that so, " by the influence of very wise and learned men, and good 6 P. 157. 214 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. Four persons His preference of Whitehead. preachers, the Gospel might be the better propagated in that dark region. But because," says Strype, "it was foreseen to be difficult to procure any Englishmen, so endowed, to go over thither, there- fore Secretary Cecil, being then with the king in his progress, sent a letter to the archbishop, to nominate some worthy persons for those preferments, and whom he thought would be willing to undertake them. He returned him the names of four, and said, 'he knew many others in England, that would be meet persons for those places, but very few that would be gladly persuaded to go thither:' for it seems the English were never very fond of living in Ireland. But he added, concerning those four which he had named, ' that he thought they, being ordinarily called, for conscience sake would not refuse to bestow the talent committed unto them, wheresoever it should please the king's majesty to bestow them.' He recommended, likewise, a fifth person for this promotion, a wise and well-learned man ; but he doubted whether he would be per- suaded to take it upon him." Of these four, the archbishop judged Whitehead the fittest for the archbishoprick of Armagh, giving him this character, "that he was endued with good knowledge, special honesty, fervent zeal, and politick wisdom." And of his fitness and high character, as well as of Cranmer's anxiety to supply the Irish archbishoprick with a worthy occupant, a proof is added by the fact, which is stated by Dr. Words- worth to have been related afterwards : namely, that, " on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, White- head was solicited to accept the see of Canterbury, but refused 7 ." Next to Whitehead in fitness, Ecclesiastical Biography , i. 112, note. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 215 Cranmer judged Turner: of whom he gives this relation, "That he was merry and witty withal, Nihil appetit, nihil ardet, nihil somniat, nisi Jesum Christum: and in the lively preaching of him and his word, declared such diligence, faithfulness, and wisdom, as for the same deserveth much commenda- tion." The king concluded upon Turner. But he, on Turner, selected the preferment being proposed to him, and pressed SwSu upon him, by the archbishop, showed the utmost repugnance to accept it. And the objections which he made, and the arguments with which they were met, as related by the above-named ecclesiastical historian, are worthy of being here reported, as showing the impressions at that time made on sentiments of English minds by the supposed condition of Ireland. cernfn'S^nd. "He urged to the archbishop, that, if he went thither, he should have no auditors, but must preach to the walls and stalls: for the people understood no English." The archbishop, on the other hand, endeavoured to answer all his objections, though evidently himself very imperfectly informed on the subject. He told him, " They did understand English in Ireland ; though, whether they did in the diocese of Armagh, he did indeed doubt. But, to remedy that, he advised him to learn the Irish tongue : which with diligence, he told him, he might do in a year or two ; and that there would this advantage arise thereby, that both his person and doctrine would be more acceptable, not only unto his diocese, but also throughout all Ireland." Turner, however, was resolute in his refusal. Appointment of And in the end the charge fell upon Hugh Good- acre, the fifth person named by the archbishop, and represented as " a wise and well-learned man," but 216 THE REIGN OF [Cu. III. of whom Craumer doubted " whether he would be persuaded to undertake the charge." He had been vicar of Shadfleet in the Isle of Wight, and chaplain to Bishop Poynet, of Winchester. Strype supposes him to have been at first chaplain to the Lady Eliza- beth : at least he had been long known to her. And about the year 1548, or 1549, she had procured for him a licence to preach from the Protector, to whom she bore this testimony in his favour: character of him " That he had been long time known unto her, to Elizabeth. be as well of honest conversation and sober living, as of sufficient learning and judgment in the Scrip- tures, to preach the Word of God. The advance- ment whereof she so desired, that she wished there were many such to set forth God's glory. She therefore desired Cecil, who was in attendance upon the Protector, and to whom she wrote, that as here- tofore at her request he had obtained licence to preach for divers other honest men, so he would recommend this man's case unto my lord, and there- with procure for him the like licence, as to the other had been granted." Whilst Goodacre was thus appointed to the Appointment of archbislioprick of Armagh, Bale was fixed on for the -, . , . -, / /-\ bishoprick or (Jssory, by the special selection and designation of the king himself. And that they might find the better countenance and authority in the exercise of their functions, the privy council wrote two letters to the Lord Deputy and council of Ireland : the one dated October 27, in commen- dation of the bishop elect of Ossory ; and the other dated November 4, in commendation of the bishop elect of Armachan 8 . 8 STRYPE'S Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, vol. i. pp. 392401 Oxford, 1812. Bale to Ossor. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 217 Soon after his arrival in Ireland, the archbishop consecration of .. _., , TX i i Archbishop elect was consecrated in Christ Church, Dublin, on Goodacre, the 2nd of February, 1553, by the Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of Kildare, and of Down and Connor. And together with him was consecrated his friend and brother chaplain, the cele- brated John Bale. Bale, a native of Suffolk, had been educated, And Bishop first in the Carmelites' convent at Norwich, and afterwards at Jesus' College, Cambridge ; at which time, according to his own confession, "ignorance m s account of and blindness had wholly possessed him;" till by the instrumentality, not of a monk or a priest, but of a temporal lord, the Lord Went worth, he betook himself to the source of all true knowledge, the written word of God ; and thus was converted from the error of his ways, and shook off the yoke of his former superstitious profession, and, as he expresses it, " to throw off all marks of the beast, and accord- ing to the divine precept," (1 Cor. vii. 9,) he married a faithful wife, who proved his inseparable com- panion and co-partner in all his following troubles and exilements. He had been thrown into prison, in the reign of incidents of MS King Henry the Eighth, first by Lee, archbishop of eirlylife ' York, and afterwards by Stokesly, bishop of London, for preaching against the Romish religion : especially the invocation of saints, and the worshipping of images. In one of his books, speaking concerning the practisers of these Popish superstitions, he added, " Yea, I ask God mercy a thousand times, I have been one of them myself." Thus his own experience qualified him to bear testimony to the true character of these enormities: nor less to the unchaste, licentious, and shameful practices, used 218 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. Circumstances of his consecra- tion. Use of the Eng- lish form. too commonly in the monastick life, into one order of which he had been initiated. When imprisoned for this testimony, he escaped from his persecutors, by supplicating the protection of the Lord Cromwell, the king's vicar-general. But, on Cromwell's death, he had thought it not safe for him to abide longer in the country, and had withdrawn himself into Lower Germany, where he lived eight years, avoiding the persecution which arose in the latter part of King Henry's reign on account of the Six Articles. Thence, on the succession of King Edward, he returned to England: and having resided for some time in the family of Poynet, bishop of Winchester, whose chaplain he was, and then at his parsonage of Bishop's Stoke, near South- ampton, he was shortly after promoted, on the king's own motion, and without the solicitation of any other person, to the bishoprick of Ossory, whither he proceeded immediately, freely at the king's own charge, and now received consecration. His consecration was not effected without oppo- sition from the popishly-inclined clergy 9 : and it was attended by some circumstances, which whilst they exemplify the determined character of Bale, give some information as to certain practices then exist- ing in the Church of Ireland. It should seem that the consecration of the Irish bishops had hitherto been solemnised according to the Pontifical and unreformed rites, for the First Book of Common Prayer, there used by the king's order, contained no form of ordination or consecration. But in England, in the year 1552, a new form of ordination had been introduced, constructed on the principles of Scripture and primitive antiquity, and stripped of all 9 WARE'S Bishops, p. 415. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 219 those superadded ceremonies, which in later times had been introduced with a view of giving more pomp to the celebration. This form, which was the only one now used in England, had been annexed to the Act of Parliament, which authorized the Second Book of Common Prayer of King Edward the Sixth 10 : it had not, however, been brought into action in Ireland by the laws of the kingdom, iior was it authorised there by Act of Parliament until the second year of Queen Elizabeth : nor does it appear that any order from the king had been sent to Ireland for the use of his Second Book, to which this ordinal was annexed. It is said that, at the instance of Lock wood, dean of Christ's Church, the Archbishop of Dublin intended to use the old Pon- tifical on this occasion ; that the Lord Chancellor, a Protestant, concurred ; and that Goodacre was easily persuaded to it : Bishop Burnet adds, " the two Different op i- others, Irishmen, who were now to be consecrated ;" but this is a mistake, for there were no others besides Goodacre and Bale : possibly he means the two assistant bishops : and on the proposal being made to use the English form, the dean very ear- nestly protested against its use, alleging, "that it would be an occasion of tumult, as well as that it wanted authority by the Irish laws." But a con- trary sentiment was maintained by others, especially by the Bishop-elect of Ossory, who contended, that "if England and Ireland be under one king, they are both bound to the obedience of one law under him," and who absolutely refused to be consecrated by the old Pontifical. In the end he was supported by the Lord Chancellor, who was also one of the Lords Justices, and the archbishop consented to 10 COLLIER'S Jccf. /tatf., vol. ii. p. 321, THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. solemnize the consecration by the English form, which he had at first declined, apparently because it did not stand upon the same footing of the king's order as the Liturgy which he had received : and so the consecration was celebrated, " there being no tumult among the people, and every man, saving the priests, being well contented 11 ." Question con- Another alteration was made on the same occa- corning the mi- _ , - , , . sion in one of the rites of the church, in consequence of the resistance of the new bishop, who refuted all opposition, by declaring that they might " set their hearts at rest, for he came to the church of Ossory to execute nothing, but according to the rules of the Book of Common Prayer." The holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper being about to be administered, " he refused to communicate in the wafer or printed bread, but caused a white manchet to be set on the altar 12 ." In explanation of this statement, it will be convenient for the reader to be apprised of an article of the Rubrick, appended to " the ministration of the Holy Communion," in the Liturgy, which, as we have seen, the king had ordered to be observed in all the churches of Ireland. " For avoiding of all matters and occasions of dissension, it is meet that the bread prepared for the Communion be made through all this realm after one sort and fashion: that is to say, unleavened and round, as it was before, but without all manner of print, and something more large and thicker than it was, so that it may be aptly divided in divers pieces ; and every one shall be divided into two pieces at the least, or more, by the discretion of the minister, and so distributed." 11 Vocacyon of John Bale to the Bishoprick of Osso-ry, in Harleian Misc. vol. vi. BURNET'S Hist, of Reform., part. ii. b. i. 379. 12 WARE'S Bishops, p. 417. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 221 The distinction here mentioned is precisely that Bal which Bale intended, between " the wafer or printed bread," and "the white manchet," or small loaf, " bread without all manner of print," which another Rubrick of the same liturgy also directed to be " set forth upon the altar." King Edward's second book is less particular ; but says, " it shall suffice that the bread is such as is usual to be eaten at the table with other meats, but the best and purest wheat-bread that conveniently may be gotten." Both directions, however, were introduced for the purpose of laying down a rule, which should distinguish the reformed from the Popish mode of ministering the Holy Com- munion. And it is difficult to understand, how the consecrating Archbishop of Dublin, any more than the Bishop-elect of Ossory, can have been consent- ing to the use of the Popish mode. I am not aware that we possess means of much Defect 9 in giving ./, A . , , . i i T i i popular instruc- luiormation as to the manner in which individual tion m religion. bishops and other clergymen exerted themselves in promoting the truths of the Reformation, or in which their exertions were received and turned to account by those for whose instruction they were made. If zeal and diligence existed in the instructors, theii language for the most part did not qualify them for conveying instruction to the popular mind. And indeed it is to be feared, that there was a very meagre supply of such instruction as the circumstances of the country made peculiarly requisite. This is stated in a letter of the 8th of May, Letter from the Lord Chancellor 1552, from Thomas Cusacke, Lord Chancellor of t> the Duke of Northumberland. Ireland, to the Duke of Northumberland ; wherein May, 1552. he delivers his opinion, " that the poor and simple people be as soon brought to good order as to evil, 222 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. if they were taught accordingly ; for hard it is for such men to know their duties to God and to the king, when they shall not hear teaching or preaching through all the year, to edify the poor ignorant to know his duty. So as, if these poor people were taught to know their duties, and brought up as other subjects be, it is like that they would be good sub- jects, whereas now they show theirselves obedient through honest exhortation, and most part for fear." And he afterwards says, that "preachers should be appointed amongst them, to tell them their duties towards God and their king, that they may know what they ought to do. And as for preaching," he again complains, "we have none, which is our lack : without which the ignorant can have no knowledge, and which were very needful to be redressed 13 ." Bishop Bale's In the case, however, of the new Bishop of port V of y the SU1 Ossory, so far at least as his ignorance of the Irish lon ' language did not incapacitate him, that energy which was to be expected from a man of his ardent tem- perament, of his zeal, assiduity, activity, and devotion to the reformed faith, in opposition to the Romish errors, and which he had already long and repeatedly manifested, was put forth in its full force, and not without effect, on his transplantation to the Church of Ireland. For immediately after his consecration, he betook himself to Kilkenny, the place of his cathedral church, and his episcopal residence ; and engaged in preaching the Gospel, in which practice he constantly persevered, notwithstanding the oppo- sition and contradiction which assailed him from the greater part of his prebendaries, and from the advo- cates of the Papacy in general. 13 MSS. T, C, D, F. 3, 16, p. 70. SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 223 The principles, indeed, and practices of the Reformation appear to have taken very faint hold of the minds of the people at this period: and, even where the provisions of the English liturgy were Principles of tuo Reformation avowedly adopted, they were corrupted by an inter- mixed with mixture of Romish superstitions. The holy Com- tions. munion of the Lord's Supper was " used like a Popish mass, with the old apish toys of anti-Christ, in bowings and beckings, kneelings and knockings ; the Lord's death, after St. Paul's doctrine, neither preached, nor yet spoken of." On his arrival from England at Waterford, Bale had been forcibly im- pressed by the appearance of these remnants of the Remnants of Popery in Divine old idolatry, as well as by the " prodigious bowlings service. and pattering?" with which they wailed over the dead, as if the redemption by Christ's passion were not sufficient to procure quiet for the souls of the deceased, and to deliver them out of hell without these " sorrowful sorceries." His appearance soon afterwards in Dublin, and that of his friend and former associate the Archbishop of Armagh elect, are stated by him to have been cordially welcomed in the metropolis : where " much of the people," he observes, " did greatly rejoice of our coming thither, thinking by our preachings the Pope's superstitions would diminish, and the true Christian religion increase 14 ." Thus instigated on the one hand by horror of the subjects of enormities which he had witnessed, and cheered on the other by the friends of the reformed doctrines 1 , Bishop Bale, immediately after his consecration, went forward to his charge. " My first proceedings," he says, " in that doing 14 BALE'S Vocacyon, printed in the Harleian Miscellanies, vol. vi. pp, 411, 412. 224 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. clergy Opposed by the Popish priests. were these: I earnestly exhorted the people to repentance for sin, and required them to give credit to the Gospel of salvation: to acknowledge and believe, that there was but one God ; and Him alone, without any other, sincerely to worship : to confess one Christ for an only Saviour and Redeemer, and to trust in none other man's prayers, merits, nor yet deservings, but in his alone for salvation. I treated at large both of the heavenly and political state of Not aided by his the Christian Church ; and helpers I found none nlpro-v. among my prebendaries and clergy, but adversaries a great number. " I preached the Gospel of the knowledge and right invocation of God : I maintained the political order by doctrine, and moved the Commons always to obey their magistrates. But when I once sought to destroy the idolatries, and dissolve the 'hypocrites' yokes, then followed angers, slanders, conspiracies, and, in the end, the slaughter of men. Much ado I had with the priests: for that I had said among other, that the white gods of their making, such as they offered to the people to be worshipped, were no gods, but idols ; and that their prayers for the dead procured no redemption to the souls departed, redemption of souls being only in Christ, of Christ, and by Christ. I added that their office, by Christ's straight commandment, was chiefly to preach and instruct the people in the doctrine and ways of God, and not to occupy so much of the time in chaunting, piping, and singing." Together with the foregoing cause of displeasure which he gave the priests, was connected the free- dom wherewith he animadverted on the licentious- ness of their lives. " Much were the priests offended also, for that I had in my preachings willed them to His animadver- sions on their licentiousness ; SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 225 have wives of their own, and to leave the unshame- faced occupying of other men's wives, daughters, and servants. But hear what answer they made me always, yea, the most vicious men among them : ' What ! should we marry,' said they, ' for half a year, and so lose our livings?' .... Well, the truth is, I could never yet, by any godly or honest persuasion, bring any of them to marriage ; neither yet cause them to leave that filthy and abominable occupying, what though I most earnestly laboured it." The English liturgy was another subject of the HIS admonitions J t . on the English bishop s earnest admonitions, and another cause of liturgy. scandal to the clergy. "Another thing was there, that much had displeased the prebendaries and other priests. I had earnestly, ever since my first coming, required them to observe and follow that only Book of Common Prayer, which the king and his council had that year put forth by Act of Parliament. But that would they at no hand obey ; alleging, for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Arch- bishop of Dublin, which was always slack in things pertaining to God's glory : alleging also, the want of books, and that their own justices and lawyers had not consented thereunto : as though it had been lawful for their justices to have denied the same, or as though they had rather have hanged upon them, than upon the king's authority, and commandment of his council 15 ." These allegations, however, had more in their obstacles to the favour than the bishop was willing to allow : for the . , , , , , 111 of 5 and 6 Edward clergy might have reasonably and properly had vi.,m>tunrea- regard to the example of their metropolitan, and to the authority of the government of the country, 15 BALE'S Vocacyon, as above, pp. 413, 414. Q 220 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. which was now administered by the Lord Chancellor Cusack, and Aylmer, lord chief justice of the King's Bench, who had been appointed Lords Justices of the kingdom in the preceding December. As to " the lewd example," meaning, I suppose, the foolish or ignorant example, " of the Archbishop of Dublin," the case appears to have been this : he had received the First Book of King Edward, in obedience to the king's order, through the Irish government, but he had not received the king's Second Book, lately authorised by the English parliament, but hitherto, so far as is recorded, not ordered to be received in Ireland. Had the order been given, the same motives now, as before, would doubtless have secured the archbishop's obedience. But with respect to the writer of the foregoing accusation, it may be remarked, that with an uncommon warmth of tem- perament, he allowed himself in the use of an unbecoming coarseness, and even grossness of ex- pression, in speaking of those who had incurred his displeasure. And that his displeasure had been incurred in no slight degree by Archbishop Browne, is evident from this and other passages in this treatise," where his character is censured in no mea- sured terms, but without a statement of reasons sufficient to justify the charges. Bale's continued But however these things may have been, the Bishop of Ossory was diligent in discharging his pas- toral duties, preaching continually in his cathedral of Kilkenny till after Midsummer, though not without much opposition. Still the period during which he presided over his diocese, " quietly preaching Christ and salvation by him alone to his people, and labour- ing to withdraw them from popish superstitions," seems to have been a season of satisfaction to him- SEC. II.] KING EDWARD VI. 227 self, and of profit to his flock. And he speaks with complacency of that "half-hour's silence," as he styles it, alluding to St. John's expression in the Revelation, chap, viii., 1, "and those few years of rest that God's people here enjoyed under that blessed servant of Christ, King Edward." But the period was short. For he had scarcely Death of the king and of occupied his seat six months, when the king died, Archbishop and Queen Mary ascended the regal throne. The 1553. Archbishop of Armagh, Good acre, who had been consecrated with Bishop Bale in February, had died in the following May, a few weeks before the king's demise ; " that godly preacher, and virtuous learned man," as he is characterised by Bale in his Vocacyon; who alleges that he was "poisoned at Dublin by Alleged cause of * Archbishop procurement of certain priests of his diocese, for Goodacre-s death. preaching God's verity, and rebuking their common vices." The account, which conveyed to him this intelligence, warned him also that a similar plot was laid against his own life. It ought, however, in jus- tice to be stated that no evidence is given of the allegation ; and that Sir James Ware, in his brief sketch of the archbishop's life, does not adopt the charge, but merely records his death, without at- tempting to assign the cause ; wherein he is followed by Mr. Stuart, the historian of the city of Armagh. Bale also relates, what he probably could do with greater certainty, that the archbishop left behind him many writings of great value; if, however, any of them were published, their publication had escaped the researches of the industrious ecclesiastical anti- quary, Strype 16 ; nor is his name included in Harris's edition of Sir James Ware's history of English writers who flourished in Ireland, where may be 1(3 Memorials of Abp. Cranmer, vol. i. p. 400. Q 2 228 REIGN OF EDWARD VI. [Cn. III. found a long catalogue of Bale's own publica- tions 17 . summary of re- The death of the king on the 6th of July, 1553, ligious improve- ment during this put a stop for the present to the improvement of the Church of Ireland. Not much, indeed, had been done or attempted by the English government in that behalf, during his six years' reign ; a forbear- ance which is probably to be attributed to a pru- dence or timidity of counsels during the king's mino- rity, and to a sense of the intractable temper of the people, and their inveterate attachment to the super- stitions of the Church of Rome. The foundations, however, for future improvement had been laid, in the maintenance of the king's supremacy, in the ap- pointment of men of high character to the episco- pacy, in the introduction of the English Liturgy, and in the initiative step for its being set forth in the Irish language. By these means, as well as by a careful and due administration of the laws of Eng- land, great countenance and encouragement were given to those who embraced the Reformed religion, especially within those counties known by the name of the English pale ; the Common Prayer Book of England being brought over thither, and used in most of the churches of the English plantation, by authority of the king, there being hitherto no law of their own parliaments to enforce it on their observance' 8 . '7 Book II. p. 325. 18 HEYLYN'S History of the Reformation, p. 123. 229 CHAPTER IV. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY . . . 15531558. GEORGE DOWDALL, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE .... 1553 1558. Proclamations on Queen Mary's accession. Reinstatement of Archbishop Dowdall. Deprivation of the Protestant Bishops. Their places occupied by Papists. Hugh Curwen, archbishop of Dublin. Revival of popish super- stitions. Encouraged by the Lord Deputy. Pope PauTs Bull. Acts of Parliament for suppressing heresy and Lollardy. The Queen's purpose of persecuting the Pro' testants interrupted by her Death, THE succession of Queen Mary to the crown of succession to the T , , , . , . , crown of Ireland Ireland did not encounter the temporary mterrup- regulated by that tiori which was opposed to her claim upon the crown of England. The crown of Ireland, indeed, had been entailed upon the Lady Elizabeth by name, by the Irish statute of the 28th year of King Henry the Eighth, chapter 2 ; and that statute had not been subsequently repealed by any Irish act. But the English statute of the 35th year of King Henry the Eighth, chapter 2, was, in effect, a repeal of the aforesaid Irish statute, as it was avowedly a repeal of the English statutes to the same effect. For Ireland was a kingdom subordinate to that of England, and forming a part of its dominion. Whoever was king of England, was, in fact, king of Ireland, as much as he was of any of the minor dependent islands, the Isle of Sheppy, for example, or the Isle of Wight, This was the case at common law ; and it had been explained to be so by the Irish statute of 230 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. Proclamations on the queen's accession. Rejoicings at Kilkenny. Bishop Bale's ac- count of them. August, 1553. 33rd Henry the Eighth, chapter 1, wherein it was enacted that the king and his successors, kings of England, shall be " kings of Ireland, as united and knit to the imperial crown of the realm of England." Thus Ireland was bound to submit to the same dis- posal of the crown, which might be made in Eng- land ; so that when after twelve days' disturbance, which had been raised in opposition to Queen Mary, she was peaceably seated on the English throne, her succession to that of Ireland followed as a regular consequence ', Intelligence of this event having been commu- nicated by the council of England to the lords jus- tices of Ireland, the queen's succession was announced in Ireland by a proclamation, which had been sent over from the council of England on the 20th of July, 1553 ; wherein she was styled " supreme head of the church." This was read in Dublin, and in other cities and towns of the kingdom, as is usual on such occasions ; and was soon after followed by another proclamation, giving to all persons who would, liberty to attend the mass, but not compelling thereunto those who were unwilling. 1 It what way this event may have been celebrated by the friends of the papacy in other towns of Ire- land, I am not aware that we have information. But the following account of the proceedings at Kil- kenny, given by Bishop Bale, is curious, and may, perhaps, be taken as a specimen of what occurred elsewhere. " On the 20th day of August," he says, "was the Lady Mary with us at Kilkenny proclaimed queen of England, France, and Ireland, with the greatest solemnity that could be devised, of processions^ J Cox, i. 29. Cn. IV.] QUEEN MARY. ^ol musters, and disguisings, all the noble captains and gentlemen thereabout being present. What ado I had that day with the prebendaries and priests, about wearing the cope, crosier, and mitre, in pro- cession, it were too much to write. " I told them earnestly, when they would have compelled me thereto, that I was not Moses' minister, but Christ's. I desired them not to compel me to his denial, which is, St. Paul saith, in the repeating of Moses' sacraments and ceremonial shadows. (Gal. v.) With that I took Christ's testament in my hand, and went to the market cross, the people in great num- ber following. There took I the 13th chapter of St. Paul to the Romans, declaring to them briefly what the authority was of the worldly powers and magistrates, what reverence and obedience were due to the same. In the meantime had the prelates \_qu. prebendaries] gotten tw r o disguised priests, one to bear the mitre afore me, and another the crosier, making three procession pageants of one. " The young men in the forenoon played a tra- gedy of God's promises in the old law, at the market cross, with organ, plainges, and songs, very aptly. In the afternoon again they played a comedy of St. John the Baptist's preachings, of Christ's baptising, and of his temptations in the wilderness, to the small contentation of the priests and other papists there 2 ." The bishop was still active, both publickly and Rectors don of Popish tuper- privately, in maintaining, what he believed to be the truths of the Gospel, in opposition to all gainsayers. But " on Thursday the last day of August," he says, " I being absent, the clergy of Kilkenny blas- phemously resumed again the whole Papism, or heap 2 BALE'S Vocac?/on, as above. 232 THE REIGN OF [Cu. IV. of superstitions of the Bishop of Rome : to the utter contempt of Christ and his holy word, of the king and council of England, and of all ecclesias- tical and politick order, without either statute or yet proclamation. They rang all the bells in that cathedral, minster, and parish churches ; they flung up their caps to the battlements of the great temple, with smilings and laughings most dissolutely ; they brought forth their copes, candlesticks, holy-water stocks, crosses, and censers ; they mustered forth in general procession most gorgeously all the town over, with 'Sancta Maria, Ora pro nobis,' and the rest of the Latin Litany. They chattered it, they chaunted it with great noise and devotion ; they banquetted all the day after, for that they were delivered from the grace of God into a warm sun.; " For now they may, now from thenceforth, again deceive the people, as they did aforetime, with their Latin mumblings, and make merchandise of them. 2 Peter ii. " They may make the witless sort believe, that they can make every day new gods of their little white cakes, and that they can fetch their friends' souls from flaming purgatory, if need be, with other great miracles else. " They may now without check" have other men's wives in occupying, and be at an utter defi- ance with marriage, though it be an institution of God, honourable, holy, righteous, and perfect. " I w r rite not this without a cause : for why ? There were some among them, which boasted both of this, and much more too vain to be told. "And when they were demanded, how they would, afore God, be discharged ? They made answer, that ear-confession was able to burnish them Cfi.IV.] QUEEN MARY. 233 again, and to make them so white as snow, though they thus offended never so oft." The death of Archbishop Goodacre, between two Dowdaii restored .to the arch- and three months before the queen's accession, saved wshoprick and primjicy. him from deprivation, and left the see open for the restoration of Archbishop Dowdall ; who, towards the close of the year 1553, and shortly after the arrival of the new viceroy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, was recalled from his voluntary banishment; and on the 12th of March following was by letters March, 1554. patent restored to the title of primate of all Ireland, which King Edward had granted to Archbishop Browne, but the patent for which the queen now obliged him to surrender, and deliver it cancelled into the chancery 3 . The restoration of this dignity to the recalled Declaration of * the appropria- archbishop was accompanied by a declaration of the tionof the primacy to ancient usage, according to which it had been appro- Armagh. priated to the metropolitan see of Armagh. " We restore," said the queen to Archbishop Dowdall, "the primacy of all Ireland, which your predeces- sors, beyond the memory of man, have been known to have held ; and we confirm to you for ever the same, commanding that all other archbishops and bishops shall pay obedience to the primates in the exercise of their primatial office." Thus he reco- vered both the archbishoprick and the style of pre- eminence formerly annexed to it, as it were by a " remitter" or restitution to that right, of which he had been before deprived. On the same day a grant was also made to him in commendam during life, of the precincts of the late dissolved monastery or hospital of St. John of Athirdee, of which he had 3 WARE'S Bishops, p. 640. 234 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. St. Logcr again Lord Deputy. Sept. 1553. Commission for restoring Popery, April, 1554. And punishing the married clergy. Deprivation of the Protestant bishops ; been prior before the dissolution of abbeys, and before his original promotion to the archbishoprick of Armagh. No time was now lost in endeavouring to reduce Ireland again under the entire dominion of Popery. And it is a circumstance not unworthy of remark, that the individual, Sir Anthony St. Leger, under whose government this new religious change was to be effected, was the same who had been entrusted with the viceregal office, for effecting the alteration of the preceding reigns : and who, having been superseded in the reign of King Edward, was now again sent over to Ireland, and resumed his office of Lord Deputy in September, 1553. In pursuance of the plan for re-establishing the Papal dominion, in April, 1554, the month following that in which the primate had been restored, a commission was issued to the archbishop, to Walsh, elect bishop of Meath, Leverous, the future bishop of Kildare, and other delegates, empowering them to take measures for restoring the Papal religion, and especially for re-establishing celibacy among the clergy, by punishing those who had been guilty of violating it by marriage. In execution of this com- mission, on the 29th of June, Staples, bishop of Meath, was deprived of his see, one of his judges being the person previously chosen for his successor ; and in the latter end of the same year the like penalty was inflicted on Browne, archbishop of Dublin; Lancaster, bishop of Kildare; Travers, bishop of Leighlin ; and Casey, bishop of Limerick. Bale, bishop of Ossory, had fled beyond the seas 4 . Of these prelates, Bishop Staples is said to have been " deposed on account of a conspiracy against 4 WARL'S Bishops, p. 92. Cox's Hist., i., 209. CH. IV.] UUEEN MARY. 235 the Roman pontiff," meaning probably that he had taken an active part in the Reformation, especially in maintaining 1 the king's, in preference to the Pope's supremacy. Such is the statement of a roll, cited in Archdall's MS. additions in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. Besides which, the general offence with which they were all charged was, that they were married men : the same offence which had been visited a short time before by the same penalty on their English brethren in the episcopate; and the same which was likewise visited on some of the inferior clergy of Ireland, as in the case of James And of the White ; the particulars of whose trial in 1557, at which Bishop Leverous presided, on an accusation of having contracted matrimony, are still extant in a visitation book of the diocese of Dublin 3 . Of these martyrs of the Reformation in Ireland, popish calumny Archbishop Browne has been the subject of a Popish Sop Browne. aspersion, noticed in his life, page 159, that "he died through joy, having had a bull from the Pope, to be restored to his see of Dublin :" an aspersion, supported by no evidence but the gratuitous affirma- tion of a Romish writer ; inconsistent with the fact, that the Pope, if he had granted such a bull, must likewise have dispensed with his marriage, which rendered him, according to the tenets of Rome, incapable of holding a bishoprick; but above all diametrically opposed to a long course of profes- sional activity, in which he exerted his powers with simplicity and sincerity, and used all faithful dili- gence in repressing the errors and corruptions of the papacy. What remains of his subsequent historv amounts subsequent ws- " m tory of the de- to no more than this: that he, as w r ell as the Bishops MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 162, 236 THE HEIGN OF fCH. IV. Persecutions of Bishop Bale. Substitution of Papists. Staples, Lancaster, and Travers, is supposed to have died not long after deprivation. Bishop Casey sur- vived the reign of the persecuting queen, and was restored to his see by Queen Elizabeth. Bishop Bale, before his flight, had been the object of violent assaults from some Popish priests and others, who sought his life, and attacked him in his house at Bishop's Court, and slew five of his servants before his face. But he defended himself by shutting the iron grate of his castle, and was thus preserved from his enemies till the arrival of the chief magistrate of Kilkenny with a military force ; who, under favour of the night, conveyed him in safety to Kilkenny, and thence sent him to Dublin. But there also his life was hunted after; so that he was again com- pelled to take refuge in flight ; until at length, after numerous perils and disasters, from storms and pirates, from captivity and plunder, he reached Basle ; and thence, after a peaceful abode of five years, returned to England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but never sought a restoration to his see, being contented with a prebend in the cathedral of Canterbury, bestowed on him by the bounty of the queen. In 1559 Bishop Bale was one of the seven bishops named in the warrant for the consecration of Dr. Parker to the archbishoprick of Canterbury, but he was not called upon to officiate at that solemnity. In the room of the deprived bishops, supporters of the Reformation, popish prelates were substituted ; the mode of their appointment being expressed by Sir James Ware in a variety of phraseology, such as " appointed by the queen, and confirmed by the Pope ;" " by a Papal provision ;" " advanced by the Pope at the instance of the queen;" "advanced by CH. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 237 the queen." And they, on their consecration, took the following oath, as appears from the publick records : " I, A. B., bishop of C., elected and con- secrated, do profess that I have and hold all the temporal possessions of the said bishoprick from your hands, and from your successors, kings of England, as in right of the crown of your kingdom of Ireland, and to you and your successors, kings of England, I will be faithful. So help me God, and God's holy gospels 6 ." After the deprivation of Archbishop Browne, the see continued vacant for some time. But on the 22nd of February, 1555, a licence was issued by King Philip and Queen Mary to proceed to the election of a successor: the licence having been, it should seem, preceded by the queen's letter, under her privy signet, to the dean and chapter of Christ Church, dated the 18th of February, in the first and second year of her reign, and signed on the top of the letter with her own hand, " Marye the queene," as cited by Harris in his continuation of Ware, from the chapter-house of that cathedral. The person chosen for the archbishoprick was Hugh Curwen, a native of Westmoreland, doctor of laws, dean of Hereford, and archdeacon of Oxford. He was con- His consecration secrated in St. Paul's cathedral, London, according London. to the form of the Roman pontifical, on the 8th of September, 1555, together with the bishops of Exeter and Bangor; and on the 12th of September, four days after his consecration, he was appointed by the queen, whose chaplain he was, lord chancellor of Ireland, whither he proceeded without delay, taking with him the following charge from her majesty. 6 Cox, i. 300. 238 THE REIGN OF L Cn - IV - Queen's charge " To our trusty and well-beloved dean and chapter of cC^Tchrlt the cathedral of Christ's Church, in Dublin, within our church. rea ] m O f I r eland. " Mary Queen. " Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well : and forasmuch as the right reverend father in God, our right trusty and well-beloved councillor, the Archbishop of Dublin, being lately chosen for that see, repaireth speedily to that our realm of Ireland, as well to reside upon the cure of his bishoprick, wiiich now of long hath been destitute of a Catholick bishop, as also to occupy the office of our high chancellor of that our realm : albeit we have good hopes ye will in all things of yourselves carry yourselves towards him as becometh you; yet to the intent he might govern the clergy committed unto him, to the honour of Almighty God, and for the remain of our service, we have thought fit to require and charge you, that for your part ye reverently receive him, honour, and humbly obey him in all things, as appertaineth to the duties tending to God's glory, our honour, and the common weal of that our realm, whereby ye shall please God, and do us acceptable service. " Given under our signet, at our manor of Greenwich the 15th day of September, in the third year of our reign." incidents in the The new archbishop had formerly been chaplain bishop curwen. *" to King Henry VIII., and in that capacity had preached often before him, so that his sentiments upon the leading articles of controversy at that period were made known, and have been transmitted to posterity. By Strype, in his Life of Parker, vol. i. An advocate for 508, we are informed that "in the year 1532, in the supremacy ; a sermon before the king, he spoke much in behalf of the supremacy; when one Elston, a friar of Greenwich, openly told him in that presence, 'he lied ;' for which he was committed to prison. In 1533, when Friar Peto had, in the king's presence, at Greenwich, inveighed against the king's marriage with Anne Bolen; Dr. Curwin the next Sunday CH. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 239 preached before the king, and spake as much for And for the that marriage ; and added, that he much wondered with Am how a subject dared so audaciously to behave him- Boleyn ' self before the king's face, as he had done. But however he were for the supremacy and the mar- riage, and went along with the king in his other proceedings, yet he was a zealous man for the zeaioiw for the corporal presence ; and the death of the pious Frith nce! a was attributed to him. For in a sermon preached before the king in Lent, he inveighed against the Sacramentaries ; and at length in some heat said, ' It is no marvel, though this abominable heresy so much prevail among us ; for there is one now in the Tower (meaning Frith), so bold as to write in de- fence of that heresy, and yet no man goeth about his reformation.' But this," adds Strype, " was the Bishop of Winchester's device, to put the king upon prosecuting that poor man." On his appointment to the see of Dublin, he set He encourages himself to counteract the effects which had been l wrought by his predecessor ; especially he caused to be re-erected in Christ Church the marble image of our Saviour, which Archbishop Browne had dis- placed ; though, as we shall see in the succeeding reign, he himself again caused the image to be removed. Both of these facts are recorded by Strype, (Life of Parker, i. 90,) who seems to have been not without reason for the character, which he elsewhere gives of Archbishop Curwen, that he was "a compiler in all reigns." (Life of Cranmer, A compiler in an reigns. p. 54.) The following extract from a contemporaneous Favourable im- pression made letter, dated December 4, 1555, gives an account by MS first BC r- . . . mon, December, of the impression made in his favour by his first 1555. appearance in his new situation ; but the accom- 240 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. Other sees taken possession of by the Popish bishops. Primate Dowdaii r,igp e opery! stor " panying notice that it was written "from Martin PeJly, or Pellys, or Pells, to the Lo " leaves *us in ignorance of the author, except as to his name, as well as of the nobleman to whom it was addressed. " Also please it your lordship to be advertised, that the Archbishop of Dublin did preach his first sermon that he made in this land the Sunday after St. Andrew, in Christ Church in Dublin, and did set forth the word of God in his sermon sincerely and after such a sort, that those men that be learned and unlearned both do give him as high praise, as I have heard given to any one man ; so that those men, that favour the word of God, are very glad of him, and prayeth for him so to continue 7 ." At or about the same time the other newly appointed bishops took possession of the vacant sees : Walsh, of Meath ; Leverous, of Kildare : OTihely, or Field, of Loughlin; Lacy, or Lees, of Limerick ; and Thorney, of Kilkenny. All of these appear to have been natives of Ireland. Roland Baron, likewise a native, had been previously ap- pointed by the queen to the archbishoprick of Cashel, vacant at the time of her succession ; being elected by the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's, of Cashel, at the command of her majesty, by a conge d'elire, dated the 20th of November, in the first year of her reign. Meanwhile the restored primate was not remiss in testifying his zeal for the peculiarities of his religion, which had been shaken by the inroads of the Reformation. In 1554, the same year in which he acted in 7 WARE'S MSS. v. 75, p. 180, ex Collect. D. Geo. Carew, Lambeth MSS. Library, No. 002, p. 13G. CH. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 241 the same cause under the royal commission, he held Provincial synod a provincial synod in St. Peter's church, Drogheda, a 1554. or Tredagh, as the town was then called ; l&e con- stitutions of which chiefly tended to the restoration of Popery and the deprivation of the married clergy, and of which one article laid an obligation upon all rectors and vicars who did not know how to preach, of engaging a substitute to preach for them four times a year. The next year he caused a day of juwiee for re- jubilee to be observed through all Ireland for the popety. n< i555. restoration of the Romish religion. And in 1556 he held another provincial synod at Drogheda, in provincial synod which little more was done than the giving of liberty a Drc S! a ' to husbandmen and labourers to work on certain festivals during harvest. In the second of these years the Archbishop of Provincial synod Dublin also, it being the year of his appointment, " held a synod of his province, "as he pretended for reformation of religion 8 ," and therein made some constitutions about the rites and ceremonies to be used in the Church. Of the value of some of these ceremonies a judgment may be formed from their probable similarity to those of which notice is inci- dentally given as being in use under the revived Revival of Romish ritual. On the swearing-in of the Lord l 107?* Chancellor (Archbishop Cur wen,) and Sir Henry Sydney, as lords justices in 1557, "mass was cele- brated, and they were censed and sprinkled with holy water." And on occasion of a rebellion in Thomond being quelled by the Lord Deputy in the same year, "the Earl of Thomond, together with the freeholders of that country, did, on Sunday, the 10th of July, swear on the sacrament, and by all the reliques of the church, as book, bell, and candle- LOFTUS MS., Marsh's Library. R 242 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. Lord Fitzwalter, lord deputy. substantiation. light, (they are, says Cox, the very words of the herald's certificate,) to continue loyal to the queen, and to perform their agreements with the Lord Deputy 8 ." The Lord Deputy here mentioned was Thomas Ratcliff, Viscount Fitzwalter, afterwards Earl of Sussex, who had entered on his office in May, 1556, as the successor of Sir Anthony St. Leger, who, by st. Leger re- some satirical verses in ridicule of the Popish doc- 8ati V rizin g r tran- trine of traiisubstantiation, had given occasion to his enemies at the English court for effecting his removal. "Queen Mary," says Campion, in his History of Ireland, chapter 10, "established in her crown, committed her government once more to St. Leger, whom sundry not known pelted and lifted at, till they shouldered him quite out of all credit. He, to be counted forward and pliable to the taste of King Edward the Sixth's reign, rhymed against the real presence for his pastime, and let the papers fall where courtiers might light thereon, who greatly magnified the pith and conveyance of that noble sonnet. But the original of his own hand-writing had the same firmly, though contrary to his own judgment, wandering in so many hands, that his adversaries caught it, and tripped it in his way ; the spot whereof he could never wipe out. Thus was he removed, a discreet gentleman, very studious of the state of Ireland, enriched, stout enough, without gall." For this, or for some other reasons, St. Leger was recalled ; and his place was filled by the Lord Fitzwalter, who, on his arrival, showed that he had no anti-popish prepossessions, by taking the usual oath of office at the altar in Christ Church, on a 8 Cox, i., 305, 307. The Lord Deputy no enemy to Popery; Cn. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 243 mass-book 10 . And soon after, on the 2nd of July, he proceeded to St. Patrick's Cathedral, nobly accom- panied, and was received at the door under a canopy of state by the archbishop, arrayed in his pontificals, the clergy also being habited in rich copes : and kneeling there, he was censed, and having kissed the cross, received the archiepiscopal blessing; after which, proceeding to the high altar, he continued kneeling there while the Te Deum was singing ; and was there again censed and blessed, and mass was celebrated by the archbishop 11 . But the religious principles of the new viceroy, HIS instructions T . i n , -n , . in favour of and the views and purposes of the English govern- Popery. mont, were formidably testified by the instructions, of which he was the bearer, to himself and the council. These, bearing the superscription of " Mary the Queen," by their first article require the Lord Deputy and council, " by their example and all good means possible to advance the honour of God and the Catholick faith ; to set forth the honour and dignity of the Pope's holiness and see apostolick of Rome ; and from time to time be ready with their aid and secular force, at the request of all spiritual ministers and ordinaries there, to punish and repress all hereticks and Lollards, and their damnable sects, opinions, and errors, and to assist the commissioners of the legate, Cardinal Poole, which he designed to send into Ireland to visit the clergy." The spirit of these instructions was transfused Their spirit into the Acts passed in the Parliament that was soon AC** Parffe- after assembled, namely, on the 1st of June, 1556; June, 1556. and which, in fact, are the earliest Irish Acts, directed against the doctrines of the Reformed Church. For it appears to be an erroneous statement of a modern 10 Cox, i. 303. n MASON'S St. Patrick's Cathedral, p. 160. R 2 244 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. historian of Ireland, at least the printed collection of the Irish Statutes does not verify the statement, that, in the famous parliament, held in the 10th year of King Henry the Seventh, or in 1495, laws had been revived to prevent the growth of Lollard- ism and heresy. Queen Mary, therefore, is intitled to hold " the bad eminence" of reviving the laws in question by her new acts. As the forerunner of which, however, BUII from pope about this time arrived a bull from the Pope, Paul Paul IV. . the Fourth, transmitted through Cardinal Poole, promising pardon and forgiveness to the spiritualty, as well as the temporalty of her highness's realms and dominions, who had swerved from the obedience of the See Apostolical, and declined from the unity of Christ's Church. This bull, as related in the preamble to the Act of 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, Manner in which chap. 8, " having been delivered by the Lord Deputy to the Lord Chancellor, Archbishop Curwin, was by him devoutly and reverendly received and read upon his knees, in open parliament deliberately and dis- tinctly, in an high voice. And the Lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons, in the name of themselves particularly, and also of the whole body of the realm, hearing the same, embraced it right reverendly and humbly kneeling upon their knees, being repentant : and yielding thanks, had Te Deum solemnly sung. And further, for a due proof of their repentance, immediately proceeded to abrogate and repeal all the acts and statutes made in parlia- ment, since the 20th year of King Henry the Eighth, against the See Apostolical of Rome, ac- cording to the tenour and effect of the said bull." By this Act, the 3 and 4 of Philip and Mary, chap. 8, much false and erroneous doctrine Avas CH. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 245 acknowledged to have been taught, preached, and purport of the Act for repealing written, partly by divers the natural born subjects of statutes against the see of Rome. the realm, and partly being brought in hither from sundry other foreign countries: the providence of God was commemorated, for having raised up and set in the seat royal their majesties, as "persons undefined, and by God's goodness preserved from the common infection aforesaid :" the title of supreme head of the Church was pronounced to be not justly attributable to any king or governor; but writs, letters patents, commissions, and other documents, whether the title of supremacy were contained or omitted, were declared good: bulls and dispensations from Rome, not prejudicial to authority royal, or the laws in force, and not repealed in this parliament, were allowed to be put in execution: and the Pope's Pope's authority restored. holiness and See Apostolick were ordained to be restored, and to have and enjoy such authority, pre- eminence, and jurisdiction, as his Holiness used and exercised, or might have lawfully used and exercised by the authority of his supremacy, the said 20th year of the reign of the king, her majesty's father, within this her realm of Ireland and other her dominions." And by another Act of the same Parliament, Act for reviving intitled, " An Act for reviving of three Statutes made hm?. * for the Punishment of Heresies," being 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, c. 9, " for the eschewing and avoid- ing of errors and heresies, which of late have risen, grown, and much increased, within this realm, for that the ordinaries have wanted authority to proceed against those that were infected therewith," it was enacted, that " the three statutes made respectively in the reigns of King Richard the Second, King tenry the Fourth, and King Henry the Fifth, ' con- 246 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. Penalties de- nounced by the revived statutes. Act for the dis- charge of first fruits. cerning the arresting arid apprehension of erroneous and heretical preachers,' and ' concerning repressing of heresies and punishment of hereticks,' and ' con-^ cerning the suppression of heresy and Lollardy,' and every article, branch, and sentence contained in the same three several acts, and every of them, shall from the first day of this present parliament be revived, and be in full force, strength, and effect, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatever." The reader may probably not be aware of the enactments of the statutes thus revived, " made for the punishment of heresy." It is requisite, there- fore, to be added in explanation, and for the proper understanding of the tender mercies of his Holiness the Pope, and of her gracious majesty the queen, and of the true nature of that " right way" of religion which they professed, that by the revival of these statutes, the severest penalties were denounced upon all persons preaching or teaching, or evidently sus- pected of preaching or teaching, against the Catho- lick, whereby, by the arrogant ascription to a particular church, of the name which belonged to the Church universal, was meant the Romish faith ; and that all such persons might be arrested by the diocesan ; and on conviction be kept in prison and tried at his discretion ; and refusing to abjure, or on relapsing, be delivered to the secular arm and burnt for the terror of others. Two or three other enactments, respecting the Church, were made in this parliament. By the act, chap. 10, " for the discharge of the first fruits," pay- ments of first fruits to the crown on ^ecclesiastical benefices were in future to cease, as well as of the yearly tenths : and certain rectories, glebes, and other emoluments, spiritual and ecclesiastical, latterly CH. IV.J qUEEN MA11V. 247 possessed by the crown, were now renounced and relinquished ; with a proviso, however, that the act should not extend to any grants made by letters patent to any persons or bodies, other than to spiritual and ecclesiastical corporations. Thus the spoils of the Church, previously bestowed on the laity, were confirmed and perpetuated. Yet an exception to this appears in the case of the priorship of St. John's of Jerusalem, commonly called Kilmainham, which, at the request of the king and queen, Cardinal Poole, by his legatine power, restored to its former possessors in 1557, and made Oswald Messingberd the prior. This appointment and institution was confirmed by the queen's patent in the ensuing month. But in 1559, the first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the new prior fled the country ; and within a year, by a new act of parlia- ment, the priorship was again suppressed, and the whole disposal of it left to the crown 12 . In the same parliament, a petition from the new Act branding Archbishop of Dublin, complaining of devastations Bmwmv made by his predecessor in the archiepiscopal pro- bastarS. as perty, was favourably received : and an act (which however will be sought in vain, in chap. 10 of this parliament, to which reference is given for it by Dr. Leland, or anywhere else among the printed statutes,) was passed, whereby all grants, made by Archbishop Browne, of any parcel of the archbishoprick, either to his own use, or that of his " bastards," (for such was the term of ignominy, with which the legislature thought it well to brand his children born in honour- able wedlock,) were declared utterly void 13 . Meanwhile a commission had been issued, bear- ing date December the 3rd, 1556, to the Archbishop u WAKE'S Annals, p. 143. n History, vol. ii- p. 2L3. 248 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. commission of Dublin, and the deans of Christ Church and St. about Church ^^ -i i l property and Patrick s, together with other commissioners who u Dec. 1556. were laymen, for taking* account of all lands or tene- ments, alt plate, bells, and other utensils or sums of money, which had lately belonged to the churches or chapels of the diocese of Dublin : and for inquir- ing into the state of such churches or chapels as were ruinous, and reporting by whose fault they became so : similar commissions were issued about the same time, for the like purpose, in other dioceses 14 . Gloomy project Reverting, however, to the act for reviving the for Protestants. ^^ gtatuteg f or t k e punishment of heresy, it may be remarked, that the revival of these statutes, fol- lowing on the instructions given to the Lord Deputy arid privy council, opened a fearful and gloomy prospect to those, who should be so presumptuous as to teach, or so unhappy as to incur the suspicion of teaching, what the subjects and agents of the Pope should deem heretical, or not agreeable to the Popish creed. Penalties It may be said, perhaps, that no hereticks were actually visited with the penalties denounced by these formidable statutes. If the assertion be ad- mitted, the cause may be found rather in the wisdom and caution of the friends of the Reformation, than in the forbearance and dove-like harrnlessness of the champions of the papacy. Thus in the year 1554, on account of prosecutions then instituted against their religion, several English Protestants had fled into Ireland from Cheshire ; and bringing with them their families, goods, and chattels, lived in Dublin, and became citizens of that city. They had with them a Welshman, a Protestant priest, who secretly }4 Rot. Pat. CMC., quoted by MASON, p. 1C3. CH. IV.] QUEEN MARY. 249 read to them on Sundays, and other days, the Eng- lish service and the Scriptures. But the cause of their coming, and this their private occupation, were not discovered till after Queen Mary's death 15 . Should it be further said, that the penalties were intended perse- not intended to be, and would not, in the course of time, have been inflicted ; proof may be required of the assertion. And on the other hand, that it was intended for the act not to sleep in peaceful inaction, may be inferred from the simple fact of its having been enacted: for if otherwise, why was it enacted shown by various at all ? The same is to be inferred from the con- comitant and consistent instructions to the Lord Deputy and the council ; if otherwise, what was their use, and why were they given ? The conduct also of the queen, with respect to the friends of the Refor- mation in England, is an argument for the conduct which would be pursued in Ireland, if occasion were found to exist. The character of Popery at all times is a corroborative proof of the same. On the whole, it is strictly in accordance with the parliamentary enactments now under consideration, with the proceedings of the government, with the habits of the queen, and with the genius of her religion, that means should have been taken for inflicting severe punishment on the dissentients from the Romish faith. There is, therefore, no cause of astonishment in reading, that a commission was commission issued for the purpose, although that purpose was happily frustrated by a remarkable incident, con- cerning which Cox observes, " Because the author quotes the most reverend and learned primate, Ussher, and the memorials of the most noble and industrious Richard, earl of Cork, for the following 15 WARE'S Annals, p. 135. 250 THE KE1GN OF [Cii. J.V. story, I will insert it verbatim, as it is already printed in the life of Archbishop Browne. in what manner " Queen Mary, having dealt severely with the Pro- testants in England, about the latter end of her reign signed a commission for to take the same course with them in Ireland ; and to execute the same with greater force, she nominated Dr. Cole one of the commissioners, sending the commission by this doctor : who in his journey coming to Chester, the mayor of that city, hearing that her majesty was sending a messenger into Ireland, and he being a Churchman, waited on the doctor : who, in discourse with the mayor, taketh out of a cloak- bag a leather box, saying unto him, * Here is a commission, that shall lash the here- ticks of Ireland, 1 calling the Protestants by that title. The good woman of the house, being well affected to the Pro- testant religion, and also having a brother, named John Edmonds, of the same, then a citizen of Dublin, was much By the ingenuity troubled at the doctors words. But watching her conve- woman! lgliaih nient time, whilst the mayor took his leave, and the doctor complimenting him down the stairs, she opens the box, and takes the commission out, placing in lieu thereof a sheet of paper, with a pack of cards, the knave of clubs faced upper- most, wrapt up. The doctor, coming up to his chamber, suspecting nothing of what had been done, put up the box as formerly. The next day going to the water-side, wind and weather serving him, he sails towards Ireland, and landed on the 7th of October, 1558, at Dublin : then coming to the castle, the Lord Fitzwalter, being the Lord Deputy, sent for him to come before him and the privy council. Who coming in, after he had made a speech, relating upon what account lie came over, he presents the box unto the Lord Deputy : who causing it to be opened, that the secretary might read the commission, there was nothing save a pack of cards, with the knave of clubs upper- most ; which not only startled the Lord Deputy and council, but the doctor, who assured them he had a commission, but knew not how it was gone. Then the Lord Deputy made answer, ' Let us have another commission, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean while/ The doctor being CH. IV.] QUEliN MAKY. 251 troubled in his mind went his way, and returned into Eng- land, and coming to the court obtained another commission ; but staying for the wind at the water-side, news came unto him that Queen Mary was dead. And thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland 16 ." The sequel of the story is, that, on the recalling of the Lord Deputy into England, Queen Elizabeth, discoursing with him concerning several passages in Ireland, amongst other things he related the fore- going narrative : which so delighted the queen, that her majesty sent for the good woman, Elizabeth Edmonds, or by her husband's name. Mattershed, Elizabeth. and gave her a pension of forty pounds a year during her life, for saving her majesty's Protestant subjects of Ireland 17 . Queen Mary died on the 17th of November, Death of Queen 1558 ; leaving behind her a character of unexampled NOV. 17. IMS. intolerance and cruelty towards those of her sub- jects who differed from her religious faith. She was most probably a sincere and zealous Papist ; " and verily thought with herself that she ought to do many things contrary" to the profession of the reformed creed. But the more her evil deeds are extenuated by a supposition of the sincerity of her zeal, the more deep and dark is the brand of igno- miny stamped upon that form of Christianity, which actuated her in so nefarious a career. Jc Cox, i, 308. 17 WARE'S Annals, p. 164. 252 CHAPTER V. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH .... 15581603. ADAM LOFTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE ..... 1562 1568. THOMAS LANCASTER .... 15681584. JOHN LONG ...... 1584 1589. JOHN GARVEY ..... 1589 1594. HENRY USSHER . 1595 Queen Eliza- beth's accession a relief to the Church. SECTION I. Dilatory Proceedings with respect to the Irish Church. Revival of the English Liturgy. Remarkable occurrence on the singing of the Litany in Christ Church. Queen Elizabeths first Parliament. Act for restoring the jurisdiction of the Crown. Act of Uniformity. Re- markable clause of it. Acts relating to the First Fruits and the election of Bishops. Alterations in Ecclesiastical matters during the last reigns. Removal of Popish Images and Reliques. Appointment of Adam Loftus to the Primacy. Apostolical Succession in the Church of Ireland. Declaration of Chief Articles of Religion. THE restoration of the royal power to a Protestant sovereign in the person of Queen Elizabeth, whose religious principles were soon avowed in favour of the Reformation, relieved the friends of that altera- tion in the Church of Ireland from such terrors as they may have felt from the dominion of a Popish queen, armed with power, as she was possessed with the inclination, to enforce the tyrannical claims of Popery by severe penal inflictions ; and opened another door for the revival and further extension SEC. I.] REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 253 of the true Catholick faith of the Gospel. Eliza- beth succeeded to the crown on the 17th of No- NOV., 1553. vember, 1558. It was not, however, until six months after her succession that any particular measure was decided on immediately affecting the Irish church ; nor until three months later that the intended measure was put into operation. The Earl of Sussex, who had been Lord Deputy Earl of Su8sex> during the latter part of the preceding reign, and LordDe P ut - v ' been continued in that office at the commencement of Queen Elizabeth's, was in a short time recalled : but again appointed, and charged, in May, 1559, 1559. with his new instructions, with which, however, he did not return to Ireland so as to be sworn into office till the 30th of August. The service in English had ceased to be read Restoration of publickly from the death of Edward the Sixth until LiuS^ 81 this second arrival of the Earl of Sussex. But then on his going to Christ Church to receive the same, " the Litany was sung in English, and afterwards the Lord Deputy took his oath ; and then they began to sing, * We praise Thee, O God,' at which the trumpets sounded." In the mean time it appears, that "orders had been sent to new paint the walls of Christ Church and St. Patrick's; and instead of pictures and Popish fancies, to place pas- sages or texts >f Scripture on the walls : and men had been employed for the execution of that work on the 25th of May 1 ." The choice of persons to fill the high station of Religious pnn- Viceroy of Ireland, and to accomplish the important rSd""^ the ecclesiastical, as well as civil, commissions entrusted roys. ee to them, seems to have been less regulated by a regard to their religious principles than might have 1 LOFTUS MS., Marsh's Library. 254 THE RETGX OF [CH. V. Lord Deputy's instructions. English Litany sung in Christ Church. been reasonably expected. In the reign of King Edward the Sixth, Sir Anthony St. Leger had been Lord Deputy, and was charged with those instruc- tions concerning the English Liturgy, which occa- sioned the degradation and flight of the Popish Archbishop Dowdall : and in the succeeding reign of Queen Mary, he was re-appointed to the same vice-regal office by that government, which at the same time issued a commission for the deprivation of the Protestant Archbishop Browne. And now the Earl of Sussex, who had been the instrument of Queen Mary's tyrannical projects in favour of Popery, was employed by Queen Elizabeth for the restoration of the English Protestant worship. The instructions to the Lord Deputy and the council with reference to ecclesiastical matters were, " to set up the worship of God as it is in England, and to make such statutes next Parliament, as were lately made in England, mutatis mutandis*." The Lord Deputy faithfully obeyed these in- structions. But in carrying into effect that which related to the worship of God, a very remarkable case occurred, of which Strype gives the following account in his Life of ArcJibisJiop Parker*. In pur- suance of the queen's instructions, " The Litany," he says, " was sung in English in Christ Church, Dublin. This gave great offence to some of the Popish zealots, reckoning aright, that the use of the mass was in danger of being laid aside in that cathedral. Some- thing, therefore, was to be done, now or never, to keep the reputation of the old superstition : and a miracle was to be shown in the said church the next Sunday, when the lord- lieutenant, the archbishop, and the rest of the privy council, were there at service. 8 Cox, i. 313. 8 Vol. i. p. 90. Oxf. Edit. SEC. I.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 255 'There was in that cathedral an image of Christ in Popish impoa- marble, standing with a reed in his hand,, and the crown of e thorns on his head. And while service was saying before this great assembly, blood was seen to run through the crevices of the crown of thorns, trickling down the face of the crucifix. The people did not perceive it at first : there- fore some, who were in the fraud, cried out to one another, and bade them see, how our Saviour's image sweat blood ! Whereat several of the common people fell down with their beads in their hands, and prayed to the image. Vast numbers flocked to the sight ; and one present, who indeed was the contriver, and formerly belonged to the priory of this cathedral, told the people the cause ; namely, ' That he could not choose but sweat blood, whilst heresy was then come into the church.' The confusion hereupon was so great, that the assembly broke up. But the people still fell upon their knees, thumping their breasts : and particu- larly one of the aldermen, and mayor of the city, whose name was Sedgrave, and who had been at the English service, drew forth his beads, and prayed with the rest before the image. The Lord Sussex and those of the privy council hastened out of the choir, fearing some harm. " But the Archbishop of Dublin, being displeased, The pretended caused a form to be brought out of the choir, and bade the y Archbishop sexton of the church to stand thereon, and to search and Curwen - wash the image, and see if it would bleed afresh. The man soon perceived the cheat, observing a sponge within the hollow of the image's head. This sponge, one Leigh, some- time a monk of this cathedral, had soaked in a bowl of blood : and early on Sunday morning, watching his oppor- tunity, placed the said sponge, so swollen and heavy with blood, over the image's head within the crown ; and so, by little and little, the blood soaked through upon the face. The sponge was presently brought down, and showed to these worshippers : and some of them cursed Father Leigh, who was soon discovered, and three or four others that had been contrivers with him. "The archbishop, the next Sunday, preached in the His sermon on same church before the lord-lieutenant and the council, upon 2 Thess. ii. 11, c God shall send them strong delusions, 25S THE REIGN OF [Ca. V. And removal of the image. Effect of his account of the imposture on the queen. that they should believe a lie :' exposing the cheats, who openly stood there, with Father Leigh, upon a table before the pulpit, with their hands and legs tied, and the crime written on their breasts. This punishment they suffered three Sundays, were imprisoned for some time, and then banished the realm. This converted above one hundred persons present, who swore they would never hear mass more. " And further, upon the 10th of September, 1559, the archbishop caused this image to be broken down, although he himself had caused it to be set up at his coming to that see, after it had been pulled down once before by George Browne, the former archbishop in King Edward's time." Such is the account of this monstrous imposition given by Strype ; who goes on to relate, " The contents of this did Archbishop Corwen write in a letter to Archbishop Parker : who was glad thereof, by reason that the clergy were debating at this present, whether images should stand in the churches or no ; the queen her- self being indifferent in this matter, and rather inclinable to them. But this letter, which the archbishop showed her, wrought on her to consent for the throwing of the images out of the churches, together with many texts of Scripture, which our archbishop and other divines had laid before her for the demolishing of them." A parliament. Jan., 1560. This occurrence, we may presume, was not devoid of effect on the Lord Deputy also, and pro- bably quickened his activity in re-establishing the English Liturgy in pursuance of his instructions. At the same time he was not inattentive to the order relative to his parliamentary duty; and ac- cordingly in the Parliament, which was hoi den in Dublin the following January, 1560, and continued for a month, the following statutes, provided for the future government and worship of the Church, were promptly enacted. SEC. I.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 257 1. An act was passed, "restoring to the crown Act restoring to ...-,.. , , , the crown it* the ancient jurisdiction over the state, ecclesiastical ancient juris- and spiritual, and abrogating all foreign power 2Eii'c. i. repugnant to the same." By this act, the act of repeal of the third and fourth of Philip and Mary was repealed : and the acts of the twenty-eighth of King Henry the Eighth, which had been thereby repealed, were revived ; the act for reviving the three statutes made for the punishment of heresy, and also the said three statutes, were repealed ; all manner of foreign power, jurisdiction, and authority, spiritual or ecclesiastical, within the realm, was abolished for ever; such jurisdiction was annexed to. the crown ; and the queen and her successors were authorized by letters patent under the great seal of England, or of Ireland, or the governors of Ireland, by letters patent under the great seal of Ireland, at the royal pleasure, to assign natural-born subjects to execute the same. The Oath of Supre- macy, acknowledging the queen and her successors to be the only supreme governor of this realm, and renouncing all foreign jurisdiction, was required to be taken by all ecclesiastical persons, officers, and ministers : forfeiture of office and promotion during life was enacted as the penalty for refusing to take the oath : to maintain or defend foreign authority was pronounced an offence, for which an ecclesiastical person should, the first time, lose all his benefices ; the second time, incur the penalties of premunire ; and the third time, be adjudged to suffer the penalty of high treason : no matter to be judged heresy, but such as has been so adjudged by the authority of the canonical Scriptures, or by one of the first four general councils, or by any other general council, or shall be so adjudged by parlia- s 258 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. ment; and the offence to be proved by two witnesses, before the party arraigned, in person, face to face. 2. The next act passed in this parliament, which affected the church, was that " for the uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church, and the Administration of the Sacraments." Act for umfor- The First Book of Common Prayer, provided in *, the first year of King Edward the Sixth, had been introduced, as we have seen, into the Church of Ireland by the king's order. But his Second Book, which had been put forth in England in the fifth and sixth years of the king, does not appear to have been ordered for observance in the Irish Church during the short period that the king survived its enactment. This book, having been repealed in the first year of Queen Mary, had been revived, with certain alterations and additions, by the English parliament, soon after Queen Elizabeth's accession : and the use of it was now enacted by the parliament of Ireland in all the cathedral and parish churches of that kingdom. All ministers were commanded to use it : and on such as should refuse to use it, or should use any other form, or should preach, or speak in derogation of it, penalties were imposed; first, the forfeiture of a year's profit of his benefice, and six months' imprisonment ; for the second offence, imprisonment for one year, and deprivation ; and for the third offence, deprivation and imprison- ment for life. On all persons, also, who should despise or deprave the said book, or cause any other common and open prayer to be said or sung, or interrupt the minister in saying Common Prayer, or ministering the sacraments, fines and imprisonment, varying according to the number of offences, were inflicted. All persons, not having reasonable excuse, SEC. I.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 259 were to resort to their parish churches on all Sim- days and holydays, and there to abide orderly during the service of God, on pain of the censures of the church, and twelve-pence to be levied by the church- wardens for the use of the poor. All archbishops, bishops, and other ordinaries, were earnestly required and charged in God's name to put this act in exe- cution, and to punish offenders by the censures of the church. And the books, concerning the ap- pointed services, were ordered to be procured in every parish and cathedral church before the next ensuing feast of St. John the Baptist, and the said service be put in use within three weeks next after. And all other laws and ordinances, for any other common prayer or administration of the sacraments, were enacted to be utterly void and of none effect. Thus the liturgy of the Church of Ireland for the General compii. future was identified, and placed upon the same statute. footing of parliamentary authority, with that of the Church of England. The general piety, solemnity, and instructive and edifying nature of the prescribed service, and the absence of everything which could be justly thought exceptionable, either in substance or in form, seem to have prevented the injunction for its observance from being regarded as a grievance by the Papists on its first enactment. On the con- trary, the bishops complied with this alteration in the publick worship: and the adherents of the Romish Church in Ireland resorted to the parish churches, where the English service was used, during a great part, if not the whole, of Queen Elizabeth's reign. But all these enactments, and others in this Rsmnrkawe clause uuthoriz- statute not requiring our notice, were followed by ing a Latin one in conclusion, which is so remarkable, that it s 2 260 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. may well deserve to be set before the reader at length. It will be observed to commence and to proceed in a form different from the usual form of enactment, in which all the other clauses are ex- pressed : and thus affords a reasonable ground for the opinion intimated by Dr. Leland, that it was "in- serted by the parliament after the first transmiss of the bill, and possibly was procured by those who had opposed it 4 ." The clause is as follows. " And forasmuch as in most places of this realm, there cannot be found English ministers to serve in the churches, or places appointed for common prayer, or to minister the sacraments to the people; and that if some good mean were provided, that they might use the prayer, service, and administration of sacraments set out and established by this act, in such language as they mought best understand, the due honour of God should be thereby much advanced ; and for that also, that the same may not be in their native language, as well for difficulty to get it printed, as that few in the whole realm can read the Irish letters; we do, therefore, most humbly beseech your majesty, that with your highnesses favour and royal assent it may be enacted, ordained, established, and provided, by the authority of this present parliament, that in every such church or place, where the common minister or priest hath not the use or knowledge of the English tongue, it shall be lawful for the same common minister or priest, to say and use the mat- tens, even-song, celebration of the Lord's Supper, and administration of each of the sacraments, and all their common and open prayer, in the Latin tongue, in such form and order as they be mentioned and set forth in the said book established by this act, and according to the tenour of this act, and none otherwise, nor in other manner ; anything before expressed and contained in this act to the contrary notwithstanding." The clause why As to this remarkable clause, "if," says Dr. Leland, " it did not effectually provide for the edifi- 4 History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 22-5, note. SEC. I.j QUEEN ELIZABETH. 261 cation of the people, it at least served to sheathe the acrimony of their prejudices against the reformed worship, by allowing it to be performed in the usual language of their devotions :" a benefit, dearly pm> chased by the sanction given to a practice, which was " plainly repugnant to the word of God, and to the custom of the primitive Church." Waiving, compromise of . , principle. however, a consideration of the principle compro- mised by this enactment, and admitting the occasion of some substitute for the liturgy in the English tongue, certain questions immediately offer them- selves to the mind, concerning the application and the utility of the proposed substitute. The obvious Liturgy in Irish substitute would have been the same liturgy in the Irish tongue, in the native language of the people. But this " might not be, as well for the difficulty to get it printed, as that few in the whole realm could read Irish letters." Could not these difficulties then have been overcome by supplying the proper types for the printing, and by training persons to read the Irish character, if none were to be found actually qualified ? Such a course was in fact adopted and with good success by a private clergyman, not many years after, so that it should seem to have been by no means impracticable at this time by those in power. But the substitute to be used was the liturgy Now ay0 fpro. " in the Latin tongue." In what way was the Latin version to be provided ? Was it by publick autho- rity? Of that there are no traces of information, nor does it appear at all probable. Was a transla- tion then from English into Latin to be made by each individual minister ? Was each minister then sufficiently conversant with English, to be able to translate from that tongue? If so, why could he ot use it as prescribed in the English service? 262 THE REIGN OP La* in not intel- ligible. King Edward's instruction pre- ferable. Act for restitu- tion of the first fruits. 2Eliz., c.3. Act for confer- ring bishopricks. 2 Eliz., c, 4. [CH, V. Was such minister sufficiently conversant with Latin, to be able to translate into that tongue? Y^t this is hardly consistent with the character of igno- rance and illiteracy ascribed to very many of the clergy, so great that they were supposed not to understand their own mass-books, But suppose the common prayer to be used in the Latin tongue, how could this be taken for " such language, as they mought best understand?" Th people surely must have been left without any benefit from a service, to them as unintelligible as the Popish service which it was to supersede ; the proposed provision, indeed, so far was calculated to ''advance the due honour of God," as it shut out from his service idolatry, and superstition, and other unscrip- tural forms of worship ; but the application of the provision to the benefit of the people is by no means easy to be discovered. That was a wiser and more wholesome provision, which was contained in one of King Edward the Sixth's instructions, that the liturgy in the Irish tongue should be used in places where it was needed ; only care should have been taken to supply the need, by getting .common prayer-books printed in that tongue, and finding or making minis- ters qualified to read them, if such could possibly have been done. 3. A third act, passed in this parliament, with relation to the Church, was that which enacted the restitution of the first fruits and twentieths of eccle- siastical benefices to the crown, reviving the statute of King Henry the Eighth to that effect, and repeal- ing that by which it had been set aside in the reign of Queen Mary. 4. A fourth act recited the delay, costs, and charges attending the election of archbishops and SEC. I.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 263 bishops by deans and chapters; represented that such elections were indeed no elections, but only by a writ of conge d'elire had pretence of elections, Bishops to be a P - pointed by the serving to no purpose, and seeming derogatory to crown without i , 1*1 V i election. the royal prerogative, to which only appertained the collation of all archbishopricks and bishopricks within the realm ; and thereupon enacted, that no such election should be made, or conge d'elire granted ; but that the queen and her successors by letters patent, or the governor of Ireland by warrant, should collate such persons as the queen or her successors shall think meet. Persons so collated are required to be consecrated and invested, without any other election, and without sueing to any foreign power. And the penalty of premunire is enacted against those persons, who shall refuse to invest and conse- crate within twenty days, or shall do any thing to the contrary of this act. With respect to this last-mentioned act, it has Thisactm ^ . . affirmance, of tha been observed by Cox , that in a case, relative to the common law. appointment of a bishop, which came before the court in the reign of Queen Mary, it was adjudged, that the King of England may nominate and appoint bishops in Ireland without the formality of a conge d'elire; and this act of the second of Elizabeth is for so much in affirmation of the common law. Certainly this act was framed on the model of one that had been passed in England for the election of bishops in that kingdom, in the first year of King Edward the Sixth. King Edward's act, however, had been Different laws of repealed, and the earlier act of the 25th of King Henry the Eighth, authorizing the dean and chapter to elect, had been revived and re-established by the English act of the 1st of Queen Elizabeth, passed ? Vol. i. p. 300. 264 THE BEIGN OF L C rm \* flictcdonthe varied according to their offences. Ihe former, Popish bishops. being deprived of his bishoprick, was left at liberty ; and for some time enjoyed the hospitable protection of the Earl and Countess of Desmond, and then earned his livelihood by keeping a school at Lime- rick, and in its neighbourhood : the latter, after his deprivation, was thrown into prison, and some years later was sent into banishment, and died at Alcala in Spain, January 3, 1577, and was there buried in the church of a Cistercian monastery, of which order he was a monk 3 . In a book entitled De Processu Marty riali, &c., Bishop Leve- printed at Cologne, in 1640, and quoted in MASON'S History of St. Patrick's Cathedral^ of which Bishop Leverous was dean, his reason for non-compliance with the demand of acknowledging the queen's supremacy is thus recorded. The Lord Deputy required to know the cause of his refusal to take an oath, already taken by many learned and illustrious men. To whom he made answer, that all ecclesi- astical jurisdiction was derived from Christ: and, since he thought not fit to confer ecclesiastical authority on the Blessed Virgin, his mother, it could not be believed that supremacy, or primacy of eccle- 2 Rolls. 3 WARE'S Bishops, p. 153. 4 P. 1G3. 278 THE REIGN OF L^H. V. siastical power, was meant to be delegated by Christ to any other person of that sex. He added likewise, that St. Paul commanded no woman should speak in the church, much less should one preside and rule there : to confirm this opinion, he adduced authorities from St. Chrysostom and Tertullian. The Deputy then represented to him, that, if he should refuse to comply, he must of necessity be deprived of all his revenues : he quoted in answer the text of Scripture, " What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?" An answer which entitles him to respect for integrity in acting up to his con- viction, however weak and fallacious may be judged the grounds on which his conviction rested. Whilst we lament that the political offences of these two prelates subjected them to such visitations, we cannot but call to mind that they had in the preceding reign assisted in depriving other bishops of their sees, and other clergymen of their livings, and in particular, each his predecessor of his bishop- rick, for the unpardonable offence of being a married only two ae- man. These are the only two Irish prelates who prived bislu ps. , , i i ,1 c ^ appear to have been deprived m the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In the anonymous work indeed, noticed above, as cited in STBYPE'S Ecclesiastical Annals, mention is made of "an uncertain number of other bishops there" being deprived, besides the Arch- bishop of Armagh. But, as the Archbishop of Armagh was certainly not deprived, for from the death of Goodacre the see was vacant for some years, except the time that Dowdall filled it, during the reign of Queen Mary 5 , and he, as we have already seen, died before the accession of Queen Elizabeth ; so there is neither record, nor rational ground of 5 WAKE'S Bishops, p. 04. SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 279 suspicion, of the deprivation of any others, except the two, whose deprivation is matter of historical notoriety. Had any others been deprived, the fact must have been known and recorded, and can hardly have escaped the notice of the ecclesiastical his- torians of the time. Indeed, upon an inspection of the condition of the different sees about this time, it is evident that in about twenty no change of occu- pants occurred : and whatever obscurity may attach to the occupancy of the, remainder, being, as they are, those of the least note and importance, there is not the faintest probability thence given to the hypo- thesis in any case, that either of the bishops under- went a deprivation. The simple fact may be thus stated, without fear Difference i>c- of reasonable contradiction: that whilst many of the poraiandspiri- temporal lords retained their attachment to the reli- gious principles in which they had been educated, and transmitted the same to their descendants, all, with two only exceptions, of the spiritual peers, who had been formerly friends of the Papacy, either saw cause to approve of the recent alterations, or, per- ceiving no disposition in the government to treat them with rigour, contentedly acquiesced in the existing order of things, whilst not a few of them took advantage of the uncontrolled power which they possessed over the property of their sees, for enriching their kindred, and impoverishing the church and their successors. The abuse of episcopal property was so injurious, Lord Deputy "sin- and of such extent, that when Sir Henry Sidney was eccieaSeai sent to Ireland as Lord Deputy in October, 1565, pl P oct y ,i56* amongst other instructions he brought with him this, " That the Church lands and estates be preserved 280 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. from waste and alienation ." Whatever means of preservation may in consequence have been used, they failed of producing the desired effect: for at times subsequent, as well as antecedent, to this instruction several cases are on record, some of which may be cited as examples of the enormity. impoverishment Between the years 1553 and 1565, Thonory, bishop of Ossory, made many fee-farm leases of the manors and possessions of his bishoprick at low and inconsiderable rents, which greatly impoverished the see, and lopped off from the bishoprick large branches of its revenue 7 . Between 1560 and 1564, Craike, Kiidare, bishop of Kildare, exchanged almost all the manors and lands of the bishoprick, for some tythes of little value, by which exchange the very ancient See of Kildare was reduced to a most shameful poverty ; and in the short time of three years he did more mischief to his see, than his successors were ever Ferns, a kl e O re pair 8 . About 1582, Allen, bishop of Ferns, made long leases of many farms, reserving very small rents, and committed many wastes on the lands of the see 9 ; and about the same period, Leighiin, Caveiiagh, bishop of Leighlin, treated the property of his bishoprick in the like manner, leaving it in such a naked condition as to be scarce worth any person's acceptance : so that the poverty of the see caused it, first to be held with some other prefer- ment, and then to be united to the see of Ferns 10 . Archbishop Magragh, who succeeded to the see of cashei, Cashel in 1570, made most scandalous wastes and alienations of the revenues belonging to it ; and im- poverished it by stripping it of much of its ancient estate 11 . And Linch, who obtained the bishoprick Cox, i. 319. 7 WARE'S Bishops, p. 418. D Ib., 391. 9 Ib., p. 44G. 10 lb. y p. 462, J> /., p. 484, SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 281 of Elphin in 1584, so wasted and destroyed it by Eiphin. alienations, fee-farms, and other means, that he left it not worth two hundred marks a year 12 . These examples are bad enough : but they are outdone by certain cases of the original " temporisers," as he terms them, cited by Primate Bramhall, who parti- cularizes one see as left by its possessor so impover- ished, that it had but forty shillings of yearly revenue^ and another but five marks 13 . The value of several other bishopricks was at the Bishoprics re- same time much reduced from other causes, of w r hich causes. the unsettled and lawless condition of the kingdom was apparently amongst the chief; and the conse- quence, as in cases of the former description, was the evil of pluralities to a very pernicious extent. Thus, in 1567, Archbishop Loftus procured his Armagh. translation from Armagh to Dublin; whereupon Harris, in his edition of WARE'S History of the Bishops, remarks, that " it is not to be admired at, that he sought a translation from the primatial see ; for the North was then ruined by the rebellion of Shane O'Neal, and Armagh, which with its cathe- dral had been utterly destroyed, afforded but little profit 14 ." It should, however, be remarked, that this is not cause of Arch- agreeable to the reason, said to have been assigned by the archbishop himself: for it is related in the LOFTUS MS. in Marsh's Library, that " at first there were many who wondered at the archbishop, why he should resign his archbishoprick of Armagh, for to be translated to Dublin, considering that the primacy of Armagh was not only a higher title, but also had a greater revenue and income belonging to it. So 12 WARE, p. 634. 13 Life of Abp. Bramhall, by Abp. VESEY. J4 WARE'S Bishops, p. 95, 282 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Adam Loftus made answer, lie would rather have less honour and less revenue in quietness, than to be in danger, and to live within his diocese so far from the metropolis of Ireland, and to hazard himself especially in those times." curious anecdote There is also a curious fact, noticed by Strype in his Life of Archbishop Parker, which does not appear to have been altogether explained. Under the date of 1561, he observes, that "he meets with a letter, without date of year, but he* supposes near about this time, writ from Adam, archbishop of Armagh, to our Archbishop of Canterbury, dated from Trinity College, Cambridge, Sept. 27. Wherein the Irish archbishop, now not long entered upon his functions, hinted how the Archbishop of Canterbury had pro- mised him his aid in all Church causes of Ireland, at his last being in England ; especially for removing the Bishop of Dublin. He was, as he described him, a known enemy ^ and laboured under open crimes : which although he shamed not to do, I am, said that archbishop, almost ashamed to speak. So he desired him, now being in England again, to put to his helping hand, and to recommend some zealous man to succeed in that bishop's place : and that he, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would write to the court of this matter 15 ." From the foregoing description, it should seem that Archbishop Curwin's character suffered under some heavy moral imputations, as we have already seen his unsteadiness as to religion. It was not, however, until six years after the supposed date of this letter, that he vacated his see: when "being now grown old, he desired to return and die in his own country 16 ," and procured a translation to Oxford, 15 STRYPE'S Life of Alp. Parker, v. i. p. 221. 16 STRYPE, p. 508. SEC. II.] UUEEN ELIZABETH. 283 in the grant of which it is observable that no men- Archbishop ,. _ A i i i / Curwin trans- tion was made of his having been Archbishop of latod to oxford. Dublin 17 . Then it was that Archbishop Loftus, who had before recommended a different successor, was translated from the primacy, on account, as is generally supposed, of the scantiness of its revenues, caused by the outrages of the rebels in the North. For causes, not specified, the archbishoprick of Reduced vatuc Dublin also was in such a state, that in 1572, " Queen Elizabeth, on account of the poverty of the see, granted him a dispensation, to hold any compa- tible sinecure with his archbishoprick, not exceeding one hundred pounds a-year in value 18 ." On account of the poverty of the See of Armagh, Thomas Lan- Armagh. caster, who succeeded to the primacy, on which occasion he preached his own consecration sermon 19 , had a licence, a few days after his consecration, to hold in commendam several benefices, both in Eng- land and Ireland, which at the time of his advance- ment he possessed, and to retain them during such time as he should continue primate ; but under a proviso, that the said churches should not be defrauded of their usual service, but be supplied with a provision of vicars and curates 20 . The See of Meath. Meath was so poor, when Bishop Brady was pre- ferred to it, that in the year following his promotion, the queen sent special letters to the government, ordering them to allow him five years' respite for the payment of his first fruits 21 . But in 1568, and during the remainder of his life, he enjoyed the profits of the See of Clonmacnoise, which was at that time, by Act of Parliament, united to Meath, as by union of Bishop- 7 ricks. 17 WARE'S Bishops, p. 353. 19 Ib., p. 353. 19 MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 170. 2 ' } WARE, p. 95. 21 #., p. 156. 284 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Cloglicr. Ardfert and Aghadce. the same act Emly was united to CasheP 2 . In 1570, Bishop Magragh is related to have received little or nothing out of the See of Clogher, by reason of the long wars in those parts ; and, after his translation, the rebellions, which prevailed there, occasioned the bishoprick to remain vacant for many years, during the whole of the remainder of Queen Elizabeth's reign 23 . And in 1600, John Crosby was nominated to the united Sees of Ardfert and Aghadoe, described in the official document as the bishoprick of Kerry, from the county, or, in old times, the kingdom, in which they were situated. He is there mentioned to be " a graduate in schools of English race, and yet skilled in the Irish tongue : well disposed in religion, and who hath already some other means of living to enable him to bear the countenance of such a pro- motion, which the place hath need of. Because the temporalties of that see, by reason of these rebellions, are wasted and yield little profit, we have thought no other better than he 24 ." With reference to what has been just said con- cerning the vacancy of the see of Clogher, the Queen appointed remark may be added, that in all ordinary cases the queen continually exercised her prerogative of tions. appointing bishops by her letters patent to the with rareexcep- vacant sees, except in the instance of Kilmore, which had been usurped by a Popish intruder until 1585, and then, after an incumbency of four years by the queen's nominee, from the confusion of the times continued without a bishop for the last fourteen years of her reign : and except also in the instances of the two northern bishopricks of Raphoe and Derry, to which she made no collation, unless in the year 1595, when her reign was drawing towards its close. 22 WARE, p. 483. 23 /&., p. 183. i<4 Rolls, 42 Eliz. SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 285 In other cases she made regular donation of the Apparent ruic of . . i i . T T , distribution. sees, as they respectively became void. And in so doing she seems to have followed the rule, for the most part, of placing Englishmen in those sees, the occupiers of which were brought into more imme- diate communication with the government, and occasionally in others, where their services appeared likely to be useful ; but allowing, at the same time, a general preponderance to the natural claims of the Irish clergy. Thus of the five appointments which she made to the primacy, four were given to English- men, one of whom also, Adam Loftus, filled the only vacancy which occurred during her reign in the archbishoprick of Dublin. But two appointments to each of the other archbishopricks of Cashel and Tuam were bestowed on Irishmen. To speak sum- marily : out of about fifty-two nominations to Irish bishopricks, made by Queen Elizabeth, sixteen were of persons from the other side of the channel, including one Welshman in the number; twenty- eight were natives of Ireland, of whom twenty-four were of originally Irish families; the remaining eight are doubtful, at least I have not ascertained them. These were the legitimate prelates of the The legitimate Church of Ireland; and of these the genuine suc- cessors, both by law and by due course of episcopal descent, are the prelates who now constitute the Irish hierarchy in the United Church of England and Ireland. It is true that there existed in the kingdom other intrusive mis- ... .. . i i .1 r- i ^T sionaries from intrusive missionaries, sent by the Bishop of Rome Rome, as opponents of the sovereign, the laws, and the Church of the kingdom, and arrogating for them- selves the jurisdiction, and calling themselves by the usurped titles, of the rightful and duly-recognised 286 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. prelates. . Thus, in the course of history, we read in Titular bishops. 1567, of a titular Archbishop of Cashel, who, because the true archbishop would not surrender to him the administration of his province, wounded him with a skein or Irish dagger, and made his escape for safety into Spain 25 . We read in 1568 of the titular Bishops of Cashel and Emly being sent by certain confederated rebels, as their ambassadors to the Pope and the King of Spain, to implore aid and assistance for rescuing their religion and country from the tyranny and oppression of Queen Eliza- beth 86 . We read in 1593 of the titular Primate of Armagh, importuning a proclaimed traitor to invade Connaught, with the intention of preying upon that country ; of his forces being routed in battle ; and himself with many of them being slain 27 . We read in 1599, of the titular Archbishop of Dublin com- ing to another rebel and traitor, who had publickly and haughtily professed that he would recover the liberty of religion and his country, and bringing to him Papal indulgences for all that would take arms against the English, and a phoenix plume to O'Neal and 22,000 pieces of gold for distribution from the King of Spain 28 . But these, as they derived their ecclesiastical character from a foreign prelate, so were they dissentients and separatists from the Church of Ireland ; and such has ever been the proper character of their successors. Abuse of epi- The bishops of Ireland have, for the most part, scopal patronage. ., / j i " -i t the patronage of the dignities in their respective cathedrals ; and this patronage had been abused by several of those who occupied the southern and WARE'S Bishops, p. 483. 20 Cox, i. 333. 28 Cox, i. 422. i. 403. SEC. II. J QUEEN ELIZABETH. 287 western sees at the accession of Queen Elizabeth, in a manner very injurious to God's honour, and to the moral condition of the people. This is said on the authority of the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, who in the year 1568, made a progress into Munster iw. and Connaught, nearly answering to the ecclesiastical provinces of Cashel and Tuam; and there "found among other experiences," what he stated as the preamble of an Act of Parliament the following year, Act of Pari.a- "the ffreat abuse of the clergy there, in admitting correction, 9 , . ,. , ,. .. llEliz.c.6. of unworthy personages to ecclesiastical dignities; which had neither lawfulness of birth, learning, English habit, nor English language ; but descended of unchaste and unmarried abbots, priors, deans, chanters, and such like; getting into the said dig- nities, either with force, simony, friendship, or other corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church, and the evil ensample of all honest con- gregations." The remedy proposed for this evil was the enactment, which was accordingly made, " that no person or persons be from henceforth admitted or received to be dean, chantor, chancellor, treasurer, or archdeacon of any cathedral church within Mun- ster and Connaught, the cathedral churches of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and Cashel only ex- cepted, but only by the presentation and nomination of the Lord Deputy, or other governor of this realm for the time being, during the time and space of ten years next ensuing." The act also provided, "that no person or per- Benefices hew by sons so to be nominated and presented to any of the dignities aforesaid, shall be able to take any of the said dignities, except he or they be within orders, of full age, can read and speak the English tongue, and shall reside upon the same dignities." The 288 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. General immo- rality and irreligion. 1565. Report of the privy council. abuses, noticed in the last provision, of ecclesiastical benefices, being holden by laymen and by non-resi- dents, appear to be of no uncommon occurrence at this period. It was in the year 1568, that the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, was possessed by Robert Weston, a civilian, who had succeeded Arch- bishop Curwin in the chancellorship of Ireland, but not an ecclesiastick, having received the Archbishop of Canterbury's dispensation from taking holy orders. This dispensation he pleaded at a visitation of the new Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, in the cathedral, this same year, July the 12th. The same plea was alleged in vindication of himself from the like charge, as well as for non-residence, by one of the prebendaries. Against three others, who were charged with non-residence, and who appear not to have had the same subterfuge, sentence of depriva- tiation was proclaimed 29 . The kingdom in general was at this time over- whelmed by the most deplorable immorality and irreligion. On his arrival in Ireland about two years before, the Lord Deputy had consulted with the privy council on the condition of the country, and this was the appalling result of their investi- gations. " The pale was overrun with thieves and robbers ; the countryman so poor, that he hath neither horse, arms, nor victuals for himself; and the soldiers so beggarly, that they could not live without oppressing the subject ; for want of discipline they were grown insolent, loose, and idle ; and, which rendered them suspected to the state, they were allied by marriage to the Irish, and intimate with them in conversation. " Leinster was harassed by the Tooles, Birns, Kinshe- 29 MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 170. SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 289 laghs, O'Morroghs, Cavenaghs, and O'Moors ; but espe- cially the county of Kilkenny was almost desolate. " Minister, by the dissensions between the Earls of Desmond and Ormond, was almost ruined, especially Tip- perary and Kerry ; the barony of Ormond was overrun by Pierce Grace; and Thomond was as bad as the rest by the wars between Sir Daniel CVBrian and the Earl of Thomond. " Connaught was almost wasted by the feuds between the Earl of Clanrickard, and M'William Outer, and other lesser contests. " And Ulster, which for some time had been the recep- tacle and magazine of all the preys and plunder gotten out of the other provinces, and so was richer than the rest, was in open rebellion under Shane O'Neal. "As for religion, there was but small appearance of it; Small appearance the churches uncovered, and the clergy scattered, and scarce the being of a God known to those ignorant and barbarous people 30 / 1 To meet this formidable array of evils, the Lord Deputy and council took such measures as they judged best, and which in general it does not fall within our present province to notice. But with respect to our more immediate subject, amongst the instructions which the Lord Deputy had brought with him from the queen, there was one which enjoined, "That religion and knowledge of the Scriptures should be propagated and encouraged by doctrine, example, &c." Possibly the statute which iiEiiz.,c.6. has been already mentioned as enacted in the parlia- ment next following these instructions, relative to the providing of fit persons, duly qualified by their birth and attainments, for ecclesiastical dignities in Minister and Connaught, may have arisen out of this instruction : it is highly probable that this was the foundation of the act, passed in an adjourned so Cox, i. .319. U 290 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Act for free schools, 12 Eliz. 0.1. 1570. Preamble setting forth the people's rudeness and gross ignorance. Enactment for erecting dio- cesan schools. session of the same parliament, for the erection of free schools throughout the kingdom. The preamble, which is an important document in exposition of the extreme ignorance of the people for want of good school discipline, plainly, strongly, and briefly sets forth the occasion of the act to be, "Forasmuch as the greatest number of this your majesty's realm hath of long time lived in rude and barbarous states, not understanding that Almighty God hath by his divine laws forbidden the manifold and heinous offences, which they spare not daily and hourly to commit and perpetrate, nor that he hath by his holy Scriptures commanded a due and hum- ble obedience from the people to their princes and rulers; whose ignorance in these so high points touching their damnation proceedeth only of lack of good bringing up of the youth of this realm, either in publick or private schools, where through good discipline they might be taught to avoid these loathsome and horrible errors." And then ensues the enactment, in substance to this effect, that there be henceforth a free school within every diocese of Ireland ; that the schoolmaster shall be an English- man, or of the English birth of this realm ; that the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and the Bishops of Meath and Kildare, shall have the nomination of the schoolmasters, each in his own diocese, for ever ; that the Lord Deputy shall have the nomination in every other diocese ; that the school-house shall be erected in the principal shire-town of the diocese, where school-houses are not already built ; and that the Lord Deputy and council shall appoint a con- venient yearly salary, of which one-third part shall be borne by the ordinary, and the other two by the clergy of the diocese. It is also enacted that all SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 291 ecclesiastical livings that have come by any title to the queen, or any of her progenitors, shall be charged to this payment, in whose ever possession the same are or shall come. It seems to have been the policy of the English Poiicyof the . .. , -r i i tt i government for government to civilize the Irish by means of the improvement of English language, and thus to improve their reli- gious and moral character; or rather to take such measures, as might at the same time produce their civil improvement, and instruct them in a knowledge and practice of the Gospel. As instruments well suited for producing this general improvement among their countrymen, regard appears to have been had to the native youth, who, being by the cir- Religious educa- cumstances of their birth acquainted with the Irish native youth. language, should be trained in a knowledge of the English, and at the same time in the sound religious principles and practices of the Church ; that thus in due course they might become efficient in dissemi- nating true religion, and social and moral cultivation over the country, through the medium of either the Irish or the English tongue, as occasions might re- quire, and in a way exempt from all offence on the score of national antipathies. Such an object was highly commendable in the government ; and to the attainment of it the erection of the diocesan free- schools appears calculated to have been conducive. Another measure for the religious improvement Proposed act for 1 . . repair of of the country was proposed to be enacted in this churches. parliament, but from some unassigned cause failed of success. In pursuance of the statute of the 10th of Henry the Seventh, chap. 4, commonly called Poyning's Act, it was necessary that before the meeting of any parliament the acts intended to be proposed should be certified to the king under the U 2 292 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. great seal of Ireland, and affirmed by the king and council as good and expedient for that land, under the great seal of England. Among the bills pro- posed to be enacted in the present parliament, together with that for the erection of free schools, was another for the reparation of parochial churches. The parliament was opened on the 17th day of January, 1569 ; it was not, however, until its fifth session, on the 26th of May, 1570, that the former of these bills became a law: the latter was never its failure. passed 81 . The postponement in the one case, and still more the want of success in the latter, fair and reasonable as its purpose appears, may perhaps be not improperly taken as a proof of a powerful oppo- sition, prepared to counteract or resist every scheme of the government for propagating the reformed religion. Effort for reiigi- Connected in its objects with these measures of ous improvement by individuals, the government, and nearly contemporaneous with them, was an effort made by some zealous individuals, not however without the encouragement and aid of the ruling powers, for the spiritual edification of the people, and the extension of the Irish Church. The waish, bishop of principal of these was Nicholas Walsh, who, about six years after, in 1577, was promoted to the bishop- rick of Ossory. A previous occurrence of the sir- name in this narrative seems to call for the explana- tory remark, that he was the son, not of that Bishop Walsh, who, by virtue of Queen Mary's commission, had been one of the agents in removing his prede- cessor, Bishop Staples, from the See of Meath, and had afterwards incurred the same sentence himself in Queen Elizabeth's reign, for preaching against the 21 LELAND'S Hist., vol. ii p. 245. SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 203 queen's supremacy, and the newly-established Book of Common Prayer; but he was the son of another m s parentage. bishop of the same name, who presided over the united Sees of Waterford and Lismore, by mandate from King Edward the Sixth, and is recorded to have been a man of great repute for his learning and religion. These qualities appear to have been trans- mitted to the son, who, having been educated at Cambridge, and having afterwards possessed the dignity of Chancellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, was consecrated Bishop of Ossory in the beginning of February, 1577. Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, had first recommended for the vacant see, Davy Clure, M.A. of Oxford, a man of learning and commendable conversation, a divine, but not a civi- lian. This, however, not being approved of, he recommended Mr. Walsh, a godly and well-learned preacher 32 . I mention these particulars in relation to a prelate, perhaps not so well known amongst the worthies of the Church of Ireland, as his character and good deeds deserve, for a mark of distinction honourable to one, who in 1571, the period with 1571. which our narrative is now conversant, whilst he was Chancellor of St. Patrick's, together with John joimKeme Kerney, treasurer of that church, the beloved com- panion of his studies, was the first who introduced the Irish types for printing into that kingdom ; and obtained from the government an order, that the prayers of the Church should be printed in that character and language ; and a church set apart in the shire-town of every diocese, where they should be read, and a sermon preached to the common people : a provision, which proved to be an instru- 32 State Papers, vol. i. pp. 127, 158. 294 THE REIGN OF [CM. V. ment. Archbishops Donellaii and Daniel. ment of conversion to the purified faith of the Gospel in many of the previously uninstructed and ignorant Papists, who were thus withdrawn from the modern inventions of Popery, and trained in the profession of the ancient and Catholick Church 33 . Irish New Testa- Nor did the efforts of Bishop Walsh stop here. But desirous of leading his countrymen to the pure well- head of truth, as contained in Holy Scripture, and of showing them the harmony which subsists between the true word of God and the creed and worship of the Church ; with the assistance of his friend, John Kerney, and of Nehemiah Donellaii, afterwards Archbishop of Tuam, he commenced a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Irish ; a work, which was greatly approved of by Queen Elizabeth, and eventually printed in 1603, and dedicated to King James, on its completion by William Daniel, the successor of Donellan in the archiepiscopal see 34 . For the labours of Bishop Walsh had been prema- turely interrupted by the execrable act of a profligate wretch, wiio, whether in revenge at being cited by the bishop into his court, for the crime of adultery, or being prompted to the villany as a means of preventing the bishop from carrying on the proceed- ings which he had commenced for recovering the rights of his see, surprised him in his house, and stabbed him with a skein or dagger. The bishop died of the wound, and was buried in his Cathedral Church of Kilkenny, where a monument was erected to his memory with a Latin inscription, mentioning the date of his death, December 14, 1585, but not specifying the cause. The simplicity and brevity of the inscription preclude also a notice 33 WARE'S Bishops, p. 418. 34 WARE'S Writers of Ireland, pp. 97, 107. Murder of Bishop Walsh December, 1585. SEC. II.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 295 of the valuable undertaking, which is the fairest monument to his memory. On recurring, however, to the point, whence we counteraction of have somewhat digressed, it may be remarked, that whatever exertions were made by the government or under its patronage, they were continually encoun- tered by corresponding energy in the Popish party. And especially at this time a countervailing force was kept in active operation by a confederacy of some of the more licentious of the Irish lords, w r ho were no less diligent in spreading abroad disorder and confusion. Religion was the pretended cloak Religion pre- for their rebellion : in pursuance of which they sent uo the titular Bishops of Cashel and Emly, and the younger brother of the Earl of Desmond, as their ambassadors, to solicit assistance from the Pope and the King of Spain, to rescue their Church and country from the tyranny and oppression of Queen Elizabeth 35 . Shortly after, in March, 1570, Pope Buiiofpope Pius the Fifth fulminated his bull of excommunica- ^MaxX 1570. tion against the queen ; and, as is remarked by a Popish historian of Ireland, Sullevan, as quoted by Cox 36 , "deservedly deprived her of her kingdom;" from which deprivation followed, during the re- mainder of her reign, the natural consequence, that bigotry and rebellion went together hand in hand, and were bound in an indissoluble league for dis- turbing the government of the heretical sovereign, and overthrowing the English laws and the Pro- testant religion, which were to the disaffected alike objects of their supreme hatred and abhorrence. It was not until 1571, fifteen years after his 85 Cox, i. 333. 36 /&., p. 337. 290 THE REIGN OF . V. Restoration of one of the Pro- testant bishops. 1571. Question why the others wer not restored. A coadjutor bishop. Scheme of a Pro- testant planta- tion in the Ards. 15/2. deprivation by Queen Mary's commissioners, and on his successor's resignation of the bishoprick from some cause which is not related, that Bishop Casey was reinstated in his see of Limerick 37 , being the only one of the deprived prelates who was restored : for Thomas Lancaster, bishop of Kildare, who bore the same names, and has sometimes been identified, with him who succeeded Archbishop Loftus in the primacy 38 , was, in fact, a different person ; and neither he, nor any of his fellow-sufferers, was again placed in the episcopal office. Why neither of these, who had incurred the penalty of their confession of the reformed faith, was restored to his dignity on Queen Elizabeth's accession ; or why Bishop Casey was not restored till after the lapse of so long a period of deprivation, has not been fully explained. Bishop Bale is supposed not to have desired restora- tion ; and possibly the others were dead before the opportunity had arrived for restoring them. But, in effect, this conduct of the government rather wears the appearance of lenity and forbearance towards the advocates of Popery, than of a just and equitable consideration for the martyrs of the Reformed Church. Bishop Casey survived his restoration twenty years, having lived to a good old age ; and is a rather uncommon instance of a Pro- testant bishop having his spiritual functions per- formed by a coadjutor, on account of his great age and infirm health, which rendered him unequal to the discharge of his official duties. In 1572, a scheme was formed by Sir Thomas Smith for making a Protestant plantation in the Ards, a peninsular district of the county of Down, under the conduct of his natural son, who was like- 37 WARE'S BisJwps, p. 510. 38 WOOD'S Athen. Oxon., vol. i. p. 175, SEC. II.] UUEEN ELIZABETH. 297 wise a Thomas Smith, assisted by a person of the name of Chatterton : but in consequence of the murder of the leader of the colony, the design proved unsuccessful. In the following year, Hugh Allen, one of the colonists, who had been " much commended to the queen as a good preacher and a zealous man," was promoted to the bishoprick of Down and Connor, on the vacancy made by the death of John Merriman, the first Protestant bishop who occupied that see, to which he had been appointed four years before. The vacancy of the see for more than two years, on Allen's translation to Ferris, in 1582, is a neglect on the part of the government, rather to be lamented than explained. SECTION III. Sir Henry Sidney's Letter to the Queen. Her commission for the supply of Churches and Curates. Instances of Popish Insubordination. Sir John Perrons Instructions concerning the Church. Appointment of a Bishop for Kilmore. Failure of Plan for an University. Act against Witchcraft. Foundation of University of Dublin. IN the autumn of the year 1575, the excellent Sir sir Henry Henry Sidney, who had five times before been at the head of the Irish government, was again intrusted with the office of Lord Deputy. His thoughts and his labour were at once bestowed on the improve- ment of the kingdom : and the result of his investi- gations, respecting the deplorable condition of the church, was made known to the queen in the fol- lowing letter, written in the ensuing spring. 39 WARE'S JBishojts, p. 440. Cox, i. 841. L 298 THE REIGN OF [Cu. V. His letter to the queen. Lamentable state of the church. Diocese of Meath. Destitution of curates. " May it please your most excellent Majesty, " I have in four several discourses, addressed unto the lords of your highnesses most honourable council, cer- tified them how I found this your highnesses realm at mine arrival into the same ; and what I have 'seen and under- stand by my travel these six last months, in which I have passed through each province, and have been almost in eacjh county thereof: the which I would not send to your most excellent majesty, immediately to be read by the same, lest they should have seemed too tedious, partly through the quantity of the matter, but chiefly through the bad delivery thereof by my pen : not doubting but your majesty is, by this time, advertised of the material points contained in them. " And now, most dear mistress and most honoured sovereign, I solely address to you, as to the only sovereign salve-giver to this your sore and sick realm. The lament- able estate of the most noble and principal limb thereof, the church I mean, as foul, deformed, and as cruelly crushed, as any other part thereof, by your only gracious and reli- gious order to be cured, or at least amended, I would not have believed, had I not for a great part viewed the same throughout the whole realm ; and was advertised of the particular estate of each church in the bishoprick of Meath, being the best inhabited country of all this realm, by the honest, zealous, and learned bishop of the same, Mr. Hugh Brady, a godly minister of the Gospel, and a good servant of your highness, who went from church to church himself, and found that there are within his diocese two hundred and twenty-four parish churches, of which number one hundred and five are impropriated to sundry possessions, now of your highness, and now leased out for ' years, or in fee-farm, to several farmers, and great gain reaped out of them above the rent, which your majesty receiveth : no parson or vicar resident upon any of them, and a very simple or sorry curate for the most part appointed to serve them ; among which number of curates only eighteen were found able to speak English, the rest Irish priests, or rather Irish rogues, having very little Latin, less learning or civility. SEC. 111.] WEEN ELIZABETH. 299 " All these live upon the bare altarages" (emoluments Their character arising from the services of the altar) "as they call them ; ^ deof and were wont to live upon the gain of masses, dirges, shrivings, and such like trumpery, goodly abolished by your majesty : no one house standing for any of them to dwell in. In many places the very walls of the churches down : Ruinous state very few chancels covered, windows and doors ruined or spoiled. There are fifty-two other parish-churches in the same diocese, who have vicars endowed upon them, better served and maintained than the other, yet but badly. There are fifty-two parish-churches more, residue of the first number of two hundred and twenty-four, which pertain to divers particular lords ; and these, though in better estate than the rest commonly are, yet far from well. " If this be the estate of the church in the best-peopled worse condition diocese, and best-governed country of this your realm, as in truth it is ; easy is it for your majesty to conjecture in what case the rest is, where little or no reformation, either of religion or manners, hath yet been planted and continued among them: yea, so profane and heathenish are some Their heathenish parts of this your country become, as it hath been preached publickly before me, that the sacrament of baptism is not used among them : and truly I believe it. "If I should write unto your majesty, what spoil hath NO church so been, and is, of the archbishopricks, of which there are four, ofTreland^ and of the bishopricks, whereof there are above thirty, partly by the prelates themselves, partly by the potentates, their noisome neighbours, I should make too long a libel of this my letter. But your majesty may believe it, that upon the face of the earth, where Christ is professed, there is not a church in so miserable a case : the misery of which con- sisteth in these three particulars: the ruin of the very Misery of three temples themselves ; the want of good ministers to serve in parl them when they shall be re-edified ; competent living for the ministers, being well chosen. "For the first, let it like your most gracious majesty Proposed reme- ,, 1,11- , dies as to build- tO write earnestly to me, and to whom else it may best ings, please you, to examine in whom the fault is, that the churches are so ruinous : if it be found in the country or fanners, to compel them speedily to go about the amend- 300 THE REIGN OF [Ca. V. And ministers who can speak Irish, To be sought in the English universities, And in Scotland. Provision recom- mended for the churches of the pale. ment of them ; if the fault, for the churches of your high- ness's inheritance, be not in the farmers, nor they bound to repair them, (and the most ruined of them are such as are of your possession,) it may like you to grant warrant, that some portion may yearly, of the revenue of every parsonage, be bestowed on the church of the same. " For the second and third, which is, that good minis- ters might be found to occupy the places, and they made able to live 'in them : in choice of which ministers, for the remote places, where the English tongue is not understood, it is most necessary that such be chosen as can speak Irish : for which search would be made, first and speedily, in your own universities; and any found there, well affected in religion, and well conditioned beside, they would be sent hither animated by your majesty; yea, though it were somewhat to your highnesses charge: and on peril of my life you shall find it returned with gain, before three years be expired. If there be no such there, or not enough, (for I wish ten or twelve at the least,) to be sent, who might be placed in offices of dignity in the church, in remote places of this realm, then do I wish, (but this most humbly under your highnesses correction,) that you would write to the regent of Scotland, where, as I learn, there are many of the reformed church that are of this language, that he would prefer to your highness so many, as shall seem good to you to demand, of honest, zealous, and learned men, and that could speak this language : and, though for a while your majesty were at some charge, it were w r ell bestowed, for in short time their own preferments would be able to suffice them ; and in the mean time thousands would be gained to Christ, that now are lost, or left at the worst. " And for the ministry of the churches of the English pale of your own inheritance, be contented, most virtuous queen, that some convenient portion for a minister may be allowed to him, out of the farmer's rent ; it will not be much loss to you in your revenue, but gain otherwise ines- timable, and yet the decay of your rent but for a while : for, the years once expired of the leases already granted, there is no donbt but that to be granted to the church will be recovered with increase. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 301 " I wish, and most humbly beseech your majesty, that intreatyfor there may be three or four grave, learned, and venerable En^-in personages of the clergy there, be sent hither, who in short space, being here, would sensibly perceive the enormities of this overthrown church, and easily prescribe orders for the repair and upholding of the same, which I hope God would confirm. And I find no difficulty, but that your officer here might execute the same. Cause the bishops of For English that your realm to undertake this apostleship, and that upon Ireland. their own charges. They be rich enough : and if either they be thankful to your majesty for your immense bounty done to them, or zealous to increase the Christian flock, they will not refuse this honourable and religious travail; and I will undertake their guiding and guarding honourably and safely from place to place : the great desire that I have to have such from thence, is, for that I hope to find them, not only grave in judgment, but void of affections. " I most humbly beseech your majesty, to accept these The Lord De- my rude letters, as figures of a zealous mind for reformation of this your church and country ; wherein me thinketh I work waywardly, when the latter is preferred before the former. When I had come to the end of this my evil- scribbled letter, and beheld the illegible lines and ragged letters of mine own staggering hand, I was ashamed to suffer the same to be sent to your majesty, but made my man to write it out again : for which I most humbly crave pardon, as for the rest of this my tedious petition. And thus from the bottom of my heart wishing to your majesty the long continuance of your most prosperous and godly reign over us, your most happy subjects ; as a most faithful and obedient servant, I recommend myself and service to your most excellent majesty. " From your highness's castle of Dublin this 28th of April, 1576. " Your majesty's faithful, humble, and obedient servant, "H. SYDNEY 1 ." The same year in which this pathetick repre- commission to rectify ecclesias- 1 Sir H. SIDNEY'S Letters and Memorials, 1. 112. tical abuse8t 302 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Causes of the scarcity of churches. sehtation of the disastrous state of ecclesiastical affairs is dated, a commission was sent over from the queen for rectifying it, by providing for the supply of churches and ministers 2 . As to this lamentable scarcity of churches, it is reasonable to inquire, what was the cause of such a defect in a country, so abundant as Ireland had of old times been in the sacred edifices of religion. The cause may probably be found, to no small degree, in the perpetual rebellions and conflicts which agitated the kingdom, illustrated as this con- jecture is by the recorded facts of the desolation by which these intestine outrages were sometimes distinguished. Thus near the commencement of this reign, in 1566, we learn, that in the common ruin which was spread over the north by the rebellion of Shane O'Neal's destruc- O'Neal, the cathedral, together with the metropolitan tion of Armagh cathedral, m town of Armagh, was "utterly destroyed ; an expression which must be taken with some qualifi- cation, as the building, which still exists, is evidently in part the production of an earlier age. Still the demolition must have been fearful and extensive: for in an Act of Parliament, three years after, the church is represented to have been " ruined, broken down, and defaced 4 ;" and it drew from the contem- porary historian, Camden, the following description : "In our memory, the church and city of Armagh w r ere so foully defaced by the rebel Shane O'Neal, that they lost all their ancient beauty and glory ; and nothing remaineth at this day, but a few small wattled cottages, with the ruinous walls of a monas- tery, priory, and the primate's palace 5 ." The cause Rebellions and wars. 1566. 2 Cox, i. 347. Irish Stat., 11 Eliz., Sess, 3, c. 1. W ARE'S Bishops, p. 95. 5 CAMDEN'S Ireland, p. 109, SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 303 assigned for this outrage was, " that he did it, lest the English should lodge therein;" for which fact the sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him by Archbishop Loftus, then Lord Primate of all Ireland, and by the clergy of his diocese 6 . And thus at the very time of which we are Athenry church burnt by the speaking, namely, in 1576, when the town or MacanEarias, Athenry was burnt by the Mac an Earlas, the church itself was not exempt from the common ruin, although it contained the burial-place of the mother of one of the ravagers : a circumstance which was so far from mitigating his fury, that a remonstrance addressed to the son, upon the plea that his mother was buried in that church, was met by the unna- tural and impious answer, that, " if his mother were alive, he would sooner burn her and the church together, than any English church should fortify there 7 ." That the like spirit animated others of the rebel chiefs, is no uncharitable opinion : and that it produced the like fruit, is a conjecture by no means irrational. But indeed without having recourse to the hypothesis of a malicious disposition, exerted against the churches of the Protestant and English faith, we cannot peruse the history of these calamitous times, and follow such men as Rory Oge O'More in their depredations, laying waste large districts of country, and burning and destroying whole towns and villages on their march, without seeing ample cause to believe, that, whether inten- tionally or not, the churches must have fallen in the general conflagration and demolition 8 . Having allowed, however, for the devastation of Natural decay, not promptly war and violence, much is probably to be attributed and effectively resisted. 6 WARE'S Annals, Eliz. p. 10. * Cox, i. 346. 8 /&., 050352. 304 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. to natural decay also, not seasonably encountered and effectually remedied. In ordinary cases the law imposed the charge of repairing churches on the parishioners, and authorized the bishop to take cog- nisance of arid direct the repairs. But under the actual circumstances of the country it may be well imagined, that the parishioners would be remiss in discharging what belonged to them in this respect ; and that the bishops would, in some cases at least, be wanting in inclination to enforce the law, and compel the reparation, even if they possessed the ability, which in the disturbed and lawless state of the country, and amongst agitators and rebels, they of necessity frequently did not. Thus natural decay would come in aid of the desolating influence of warfare ; and its progress, when once commenced, if not promptly and assiduously checked, would advance with accelerated force,, so as to make resto- ration impossible, and to consign the edifices to ruin, as irremediable as that which was produced by the devastation of war. Difficulty of find- But whatever may have been the cause, that the iedy ' evil was widely prevalent appears too plainly from the foregoing letter : not so any practicable remedy. An attempt to introduce such a remedy by a legis- lative enactment, about six years before, failed of success, as has been already shown. The attempt itself is an argument, that a sufficient legal remedy did not at that time exist : and Sir Henry Sidney's letter must be understood as admitting the same defect : otherwise, why such an earnest appeal to the interposition of the queen ? Whether or not she interposed, in compliance with his earnest suit, is not recorded, except so far as is intimated by the subsequent commission. Instances, indeed, of a SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 305 desire in the government to animate the bishops to the exercise of such powers as they possessed, are supplied by the conduct of two of Sir Henry Sid- ney's successors in office, Sir William Drury and Sir John Perrot, who would fain have had means taken for the repair of churches by episcopal authority. But this produced no effect ; at least there will soon appear fresh occasion to lament the unsupplied defi- ciency of parochial edifices for divine worship. The scarcity of curates was another defect, which scarcity of , . , . . 1 , i curates. by the queen s commission was required to be sup- plied. The defect was obvious ; and the causes of it were not far to seek. They were to be found to some extent in the abuse of episcopal patronage; more, in the want of persons properly qualified to discharge the functions of the ministry in a country so peculiarly circumstanced as Ireland ; most of all, perhaps, in the penury of the country, the multitude of lay impropriations, despoiled from the church, and the poverty of the benefices, which afforded no com- petent maintenance for those who might be qualified and willing to engage in the ministry. These causes will be seen more particularly at a period, somewhat later than the present, when occasion will be offered for recurring to these defects in the church : and when it will be seen also, what little remedy for the supply of them was ministered by this commission of the queen. Allusion was just now made to the conduct of sir H. Sidney succeeded by Sir Sir William Drury, in endeavouring to effect the w. reparation of the ruined churches. On the resigna- tion of the government of Ireland by Sir Henry Sidney, who had filled the station eleven years, and seven several times, and left it with the honourable 306 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. testimony of Camden 9 , that " he was one of the most commendable deputies that ever was in Ire- land," he was succeeded by Sir William Drury, in 1578 ; who, in the month of September, a few days after he had been sworn into his office, made a journey through Munster, accompanied by Sir Queen's injunc- Edward Fitton, and others of the council. At tions relative to divine service. Kilkenny, he bound several citizens, by a recogni- zance of forty pounds, to come to church, and hear divine service every Sunday, pursuant to the queen's injunctions; and he advised the Bishop of Ossory " to make a rate for the repair of the church, and to distrain for the payment of it 10 ." I am not aware what were the special instructions of the Lord Deputy; or whether he extended his advice to other bishops ; or what were the particular circumstances which called for his interference at Kilkenny; or what was the result of his advice to the Bishop of Ossory, the same Nicholas Walsh, of whom there has been lately occasion for making respectful men- tion on account of his exertions for the religious improvement of the country. image of st. DO- In the same year, and about the same season, uratat P cork. Matthew Sheyn, who had been promoted to the bishoprick of Cork and Cloyne about four years before, and who is commemorated for his great enmity to the superstitious veneration shown by the Papists for the objects of their idolatrous worship, gave an instance of this enmity, by publickly burning at the high cross of Cork the image of St. Dominick, belonging to the Dominican friary in that city, greatly to the mortification and sorrow of the inha- bitants who were attached to that superstition 11 . 6 CAMDEN, Eliz., 231. 10 Cox, i. 354. WAKE'S Bishop*, 564. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 307 In the same year, on Sunday after St. George's An act of pen- day, James Bedlow, a citizen of Dublin, did penance, ^nof Dublin". standing barefoot before the pulpit in Christ Church, and at the same time publicly confessed his faults, which were these: 1. He had denied the queen to be head of the Church. 2. He alleged that one article of the ten commandments was false. And, 3. That the preachers, when they were out of their matter, and knew not what to say, fell to railing at the Pope. All which particulars were said to be confuted in a learned and eloquent sermon preached by Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin 12 . At or about this time several instances are Pope's patronage recorded of the patronage given by the Pope to the rebels. ns Irish rebels, in aid of their attempts to overthrow the dominion of Queen Elizabeth, and withal the Reformed Church of Ireland. In 1579 the Earl of Desmond had become so EariofDes- . _. mond'3 letter to insolent, that he wrote an arrogant letter to Sir the Lord justice. 1579 William Pelham, who on the death of Sir William Drury had been recently chosen Lord Justice, importing that he and his brethren were entered into the defence of the catholick faith, and advising the Lord Justice to join him : " understanding that we took this matter in hand with great authority, both from the Pope's holiness and from King Philip, who do undertake to further ns in our affairs as we shall need 13 ." Nor was this an idle boast; for in the preceding confederacy of year, the holy father, Gregory the Thirteenth, partly l^ngofspaiL to propagate the Romish faith, and partly to acquire the kingdom of Ireland for his son, had confederated Avith King Philip of Spain to contribute to the charge of the Irish rebellion, to join councils and 111 WARBURTON'S Hist, of Dublin, i. 200, 13 Cox, i. 361. X 2 308 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Papal indul- gences for fight- ing against the queen, 1580. Ireland given by the Pope to the King of Spain. Irreligious and unscrupulous conduct of the Pope. forces, and to send aid into Ireland under the com- mand of an English fugitive, who was invested with a marquisate to qualify him for so high a com- mand 14 . And in the following year, 1580, the same holy father granted to all the Irish, who would fight against the Queen, the same plenary pardon and remission of all their sins, as were granted to those who were engaged in the holy war against the Turks 15 . And in the autumn of the same year, seven hundred Spaniards and Italians, under the command of an Italian, landed in Kerry, being sent by the Pope and King of Spain to propagate the miscalled catholick religion ; and there they built them a fort, which being besieged by the Lord Deputy, Lord Gray of Wilton, and summoned to surrender, they returned for answer, " That they held it for the Pope and the King of Spain, to whom the Pope had given the kingdom of Ireland 16 ." By such courses of disloyalty to their natural sovereign, and of conspiracy with her enemies, of sedition, rebellion, and outrage, did their holy father, the Bishop of Rome, train his Irish children in the knowledge and practice of their Christian duty ; and by such weapons of carnal warfare did his holiness strive to maintain the papal supremacy in Ireland under the pretended semblance of the true catholick faith. Nor did he scruple to authorize the republi- cation of the bulls of his predecessor, Pope Pius the Fifth, against the queen, unthroning her as a bastard and a heretick, and discharging her subjects from their allegiance 17 . 14 Cox, i. p. 352. 10 Ib. 367. [5 Ib., p. 365. 17 Ib. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 309 In 1582 died Robert Daly, bishop of Kildare: a prelate no otherwise memorable than that, in the course of his eighteen years' incumbency, he had been three times turned in a manner almost naked out of his house, and plundered of his goods by the rebels. He died in the winter of this year, soon after the third outrage, which was supposed to have been the cause of his death 18 . And in the same year, to fill the vacancy lately made in the bishoprick of Clonfert, a successor was appointed, with a dispensation to hold the church of Dunmore, in the diocese of Tuam : which is here noticed for the purpose of remarking, that this church had been held by Thomas Laly, a layman; i i . p , / i.. i i * , prived for inabi- who was deprived or it for his inability to exercise m y to exercise ,1 T . i f. ,. 1Q clerical functions. the clerical functions . About Midsummer, 1584, a new Lord Deputy, instructions to Sir John Perrot, arrived in Ireland with instructions, u/dop5^ which had no immediate reference to the Church, except that u no man, ecclesiastical or civil, who had any function or office, be suffered to be absent from his charge above two months, without special licence, on pain of forfeiture 20 ." The Lord Deputy's commission authorized him "to collate and confer all spiritual promotions, except archbishops and bishops 21 ." But this exception was superseded in the instance of the archbishoprick of Armagh, then void, by one of his instructions, which empowered him to "place there such an archbishop as the Lord Deputy and the council should think fit." Primate Lancaster had died a short time before, Death of primato having occupied the see between fifteen and sixteen 18 WARE'S Bishops, p. 391. 19 Rolls. Cox, i. 3G9. 21 /&., i. 368, 310 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. John Long, primate, 1584. The Lord De- puty's endea- vours for the improvement of the Church. A bishop settled at Kilmore. years from his consecration. Three benefices which he held in England, and three in Ireland, to com- pensate for the poverty of his see, constitute his chief memorial. In the ensuing July, John Long, a native of London, and doctor of divinity of King's College, Cambridge, was promoted to the primacy by the Lord Deputy, at whose instance also he was called into the privy council in 1585. Sir John Perrot was active in his government, and soon proceeded to exert all his powers for repairing the ruinous and miserable state of Ireland. For this purpose, together with other measures for the civil improvement of the country, he directed his mind to the supply of its ecclesiastical wants. During the three administrations, which had inter- vened since the death of Sir William Drury in 1570, no efforts are recorded to have been made for the remedy of the crying necessities of the Church, notwithstanding the office of lord justice had been filled by the Archbishop of Dublin, during about a year and a half of that interval. A sense of the arduousness of the undertaking may have repressed exertion. Sir John Perrot, however, encouraged the bishops to carry into effect the repair of the churches in their dioceses, but apparently with little good success; and he recommended the English government that no more bishopricks might be granted in commendam zl . It was during his administration also, that means were taken for bringing the diocese of Kilmore under the royal jurisdiction. This see, lying in an unsettled and tumultuous country, had been much neglected by the crown of England : so that, even after the Reformation, the bishops of it succeeded, 22 Cox, i. 382. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 311 either by usurpation or by papal authority, as is instanced in the cases of those who occupied it from 1529 to 1585. But in the latter year, among other condition of the overtures made to the council of England, for the better advancement of the queen's interest in Ireland, the Lord Deputy set forth the following representa- tion concerning this See of Kilmore : " that it had not been bestowed on any Englishman or Irishman by the queen, or any of her progenitors, within the memory of man ; that of late there was a lewd friar come from Rome," (meaning one John or Richard Brady, who, it seems, had been Bishop of Kilmore, under the Pope's title, before the year 1576,) " as a delegate of the Pope's who usurped it, dispersing usurped by a abroad seditious bulls, and such like trash ; that he, the Lord Deputy, had dispossessed him of the place, and hoped to bring him to submission, or to answer for his lewdness ; and, as he judged it would be an increase of her majesty's authority among those barbarous people to have a bishop placed there by her majesty, so he recommended John Garvey, dean of Christ Church, to supply the place, and to supplant the usurping bishop : and he desired a warrant to in- throne him." By a letter from the Privy Council of John Garvey T -i T% made bishop, England, it appears that the Lord Deputy s recom- im mendation and request were complied with ; and John Garvey was, by letters patent, dated the fol- lowing 27th of January, 1586, advanced to the see of Kilmore 23 . It had been amongst the additional instructions pian -. ing St. Patrick's to the Lord Deputy, "to consider how a college may into a college, be erected ; and St. Patrick's Church, and the revenue thereof, may be appropriated thereunto ; 23 WARE'S Bishops, p. 230. 312 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. and every diocese by Act of Parliament be made contributory out of the leases of impropriations." The Lord Deputy was desirous of obeying this instruction : and accordingly of dissolving the cathe- dral of St. Patrick's, converting it into an university, and applying its revenues to that use. But in this undertaking, he found a formidable opponent in opposed by Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chan- LoftusT cellor, who was deeply interested in the benefices and other estates belonging to the cathedral, by long- leases which had been granted either to himself, or to his children and kinsmen: and, therefore, not- withstanding the measure proceeded from the crown, he exerted all his influence for withstanding the alienation of these revenues 24 . At the same time, in vindication of the archbishop's opposition, it should be added, that there was a good ground for it Pubikk grounds in publick considerations. The crown nominated to wshop'^pposi- all the dignities in Christ Church, the other cathedral in the diocese of Dublin ; and all the prebends in that cathedral were at the disposal of the chapter : so that, if the project for converting St. Patrick's into a college had been accomplished, the arch- bishoprick would have been left, by the alienation of the preferments in that cathedral, with very few and inferior benefices in its patronage. Archbishop King's letters, written more than a century after, are stated to be filled with complaints of the smallness of his patronage, so that he was scarcely able to provide fit ministers for the service of the cures in the several parishes of his diocese, notwithstanding- several parishes were united in some parts, for the purpose of increasing the means 25 . But, whatever were the merits of the case, 24 WAKE'S Bishops, p. 353. " MASON'S St. Patrick, p. 103, note. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 313 unhappily it was contested with no commendable contention be- temper on either side. The archbishop was a man SpTtytndth of high spirit, and used to bear sway in the govern- * ment ; from the highest station in which, namely, that of Lord Justice, he had been removed by the appointment of Sir John Perrot to the viceroyalty. He fell, therefore, into contradiction, and thence into contention, with the Lord Deputy; nor was the Lord Deputy of a temper to brook opposition patiently. There followed between them no slight animosity, which came to the queen's notice, and caused her majesty to interfere by letter for their reconciliation. But the archbishop's enmity con- tinued unabated : and in the end it contributed, with other causes of impeachment, to Sir John Perrot's removal from Ireland, and subsequently to his con- demnation, some of the chief articles against him being that he was severe in his administration, and compelled the people to take the oath of allegiance, and endeavoured to promote laws against recusants 26 . In the mean time, by means of the Lord Treasurer Failure of the of England, who was a fast friend and powerful pr Jed supporter of the archbishop, the projected appropria- tion of the revenues of the cathedral was precluded, notwithstanding the royal authority, by which the Lord Deputy had engaged in the undertaking. Possibly the anticipation of another project, which was soon afterwards brought forward by the arch- bishop himself, may have produced a readier acquies- cence in the relinquishment of that which had been at this time proposed. By way of introduction to an Act of Parliament, Act against * , . , witchcraft. passed in the year 1586, 1 revert to an earlier period, 28 EH*., c. 2. 1586. 16 Cox, i. 887. 314 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Probable cause of it. Preamble of the act. when an incident occurred apparently connected with the act in question. When the Lord Justice, Sir William Drury, was on a progress through the South in 1578, it is related by Cox, that "he executed twenty-two criminals at Limerick, and thirty-six at Kilkenny, one of which was a blackamoor, and two others were witches, who were condemned by the law of nature, for there was no positive law against witchcraft in those days 27 ." The execution of these wretched pretenders to supernatural qualities, with- out the warrant of national law, was surely a strong exercise of arbitrary power. It was, probably, to provide for similar exigences, and to supply the deficiency of the law, that " an Act was passed against witchcraft and sorcery," in the parliament of 1586 : and it is here cited as showing the state of publick opinion on a subject, connected with the religious profession of the king- dom. The preamble to this act, which sets strongly forth, not only the extensive practice of witchcraft, but the belief entertained of its efficacy, runs in the following terms : " Where at this present there is no ordinary nor condign punishment provided against the practices of the wicked offences of conjurations and invocations of evil spirits, and of sorceries, inchantments, charms, and witchcrafts, whereby many fantastical and devilish persons have devised and practised invocations and conjurations of evil and wicked spirits, and have used and practised witchcrafts, inchantments, charms, and sorceries, to the destruction of the persons and goods of their neighbours, and other subjects of this realm, and for other lewd and evil intents and purposes, contrary to the laws of Almighty God, to the peril of their own 2 ? Cox, i, 354. SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 315 souls, and to the great infamy and disquietness of this realm." The penalties enacted were, that persons using Penalties any invocations or conjurations of evil and wicked e spirits, to any intent or purpose, or using any witch- craft, enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed, should be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy : that persons using witchcraft, enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby any one should be wasted, con- sumed, or lamed, in body or member, or his goods or chattels destroyed, wasted, or impaired, should, for the first offence, suffer one year's imprisonment, and the pillory six hours once a quarter; and, for the second, death as a felon : and that persons taking upon them to discover by witchcraft hidden trea- sures, or stolen goods, or to provoke unlawful love, should, for the first offence, suffer one year's impri- sonment and the pillory; and, for the second, for- feiture of goods to the queen, and imprisonment for life. The death of Archbishop Long, in 1589, caused Death of Arch- . ... 011 _ . bishop Long. a vacancy in the prmiacy, which was tilled by the translation of Bishop Garvey from the see of Kil- Bishop Garvey more. He was born in the county of Kilkenny, primacy. 1589. being the only Irishman promoted to the primacy by Queen Elizabeth ; and had been educated in Oxford, where he graduated in King Edward the Sixth's reign 28 . He appears to have been a man of HIS character. high esteem; for, whilst Dean of Christ Church, Dublin, he had been called to the privy council, and afterwards promoted to the bishoprick of Kilmore, on the special recommendation of the Lord Deputy, 28 WARE'S Bishops. 316 THE EEIGN OF [Ca. V. and under the peculiar circumstances already men- tioned. And on the present occasion, by her man- date dated at Westminster, July 12, 1591, the queen gave orders for remitting to this prelate the payment of his first fruits for the archbishoprick, amounting to 137/. 13s. Id., on account of his great hospitality, as also for his painful and true service to the queen of a long time continued, being her ancientest coun- sellor in that kingdom 29 . He is not included in the History of the Writers of Ireland; but, on the authority of the Oxford Antiquary" , there has been His treatise of ascribed to him a small treatise, entitled, The Con- the conversion of ^ -r\t >T ' ^i n rt 1 Philip cumin, version of Philip Ciirwin, a Franciscan Friar, to the Reformation of the Protestant Religion, A. D. 1589, published by Robert Ware, Dublin, 1681, from two copies of the original, remaining among Primate Ussher's and Sir James Ware's papers' 1 . Philip Curwin was a nephew of Hugh Cur win, who suc- ceeded Archbishop Browne in the see of Dublin, on his deprivation by Queen Mary. Kiimore again It should seem that the Lord Deputy, Sir Wil- liam Fitzwilliams, who had succeeded Sir John Perrot the year before the promotion of the new primate, did not attach the same importance as his predecessor to the occupancy of the bishoprick of Kiimore : since, after the promotion of Bishop Garvey, that see continued without a pastor above fourteen years. This defect is said to have been occasioned by the confusion of the times" 2 . But, whatever was the cause, it must have been very inadequately supplied by the custodium of the bishoprick, during the vacancy, being granted to the Bishop of Down and Connor, remote as those 29 Rolls, 31 Eliz. 80 WOOD'S Athen. Oxon., i. 715. 31 WARE'S Bishops, p. 96. 32 WARE, p. 231. SEC. III.]] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 317 charges are from each other, and separated by three intervening dioceses. Though the plan for forming a college in Dublin, xewpianfora as originally projected, under the government of Sir Dublin; John Perrot, had failed of success, principally from the opposition of the archbishop, who resisted such an appropriation of the revenues of one of his cathe- drals, a similar plan was soon afterwards proposed by the same prelate, and accomplished in the founda- Proposed and tion of the college of Dublin, or, to describe it by its bishop Loftus! c more comprehensive and dignified appellation, of the Dublin University. For this purpose, in 1590, 1590. "In Easter holydays," as Sir James Ware defines the time, "Adam Loftus, Lord Archbishop of Dublin, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, with others of the clergy, met the mayor, and aldermen, and commons of the city, at the Tholsel, where he made a speech to them, setting forth ' how advantageous it would be to have a nursery of learning founded here ; and how kindly her majesty would take it, if they would bestow that old decayed monastery of All-Hallows, which her father, King Henry the Eighth, had, at the dissolution of the abbeys, given them, for erecting such a structure;' whereupon the site granted by mayor, aldermen, and commons unanimously granted iueS? M his request 33 ." Within a week after, Henry Ussher, archdeacon of Dublin, went over into England to the queen, in order to procure a licence for the intended founda- tion. The queen readily granted the petition ; and, by warrant, dated the 29th of December, 1591, Queen's warrant, . , December, 1591. ordered a licence ot mortmain to pass the seals tor the grant of the abbey of All-Hallows, which is 33 WARE'S Annals. 318 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Letters patent for the erection. Aid sought from the gentry, recited to be of the yearly value of 20/. ; and for the foundation of such a college by way of corporation, with a power to accept such lands and contributions, for the maintenance thereof, as any of her subjects should be charitably moved to bestow, to the value of 400/. a-year. On the 3rd of March following, letters patent passed in due form, pursuant to the said warrant ; by which, first, a college is appointed to be erected, to be the mother of an university, in a certain place, called All-Hallows, near Dublin, for the education, institution, and instruction of youth in arts and faculties, to endure for ever ; secondly, that it be called "The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, near Dublin, founded by the most serene Queen Elizabeth;" thirdly, that it consist of one provost and three fellows, in the name of more, and three scholars, in the name of more. These were followed by other ordinances, amounting in the whole to twelve, for the constitution and future government of the new incorporation. To provide a fund for the necessary expenses of this infant society, on the llth of March, 1592, the Lord Deputy and the Privy Council issued circular letters to some principal gentlemen in each barony of the kingdom, entreating the benevolence of the well-disposed inhabitants. In these they set forth her majesty's tender care for the good and prosperous estate of her realm of Ireland ; and her knowledge, by experience of the flourishing estate of England, how beneficial it is to any country to have places of learning erected in the same; and they earnestly requested contributions in putting forward so excel- lent a purpose, as the new foundation, " for the benefit of the whole country, whereby knowledge, learning, and civility may be increased, to the banish- SEC. III.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 319 ing of barbarism, tumults, and disorderly living from among them, and whereby their children, and their children's children, especially those that be poor, (as it were in an orphan's hospital freely,) may have their learning and education given them with much more ease, and lesser charges, than in other univer- sities they can obtain it 34 ." What this application without SUCKM. produced in general does not appear ; but the return made to the warrant by a gentleman in the barony, if that be taken for a criterion, leads to the conclu- sion that the sum was very small : " He had applied to all the gentlemen of the barony of Louth, whose answer was, that they were poor, and not able to give anything towards the building of the college." In the meanwhile, the queen's licence having Thanks of the Archbishop to been obtained, "The Archbishop of Dublin went a the Mayor, &c., second time to the Tholsel, and returned to the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city, thanks, not only from the clergy, but from her majesty, whose letter he showed them for their satisfaction. And immediately labourers were set to work, to pull down the old ruinous buildings, which they quite demolished, save only the steeple 35 ." On the 13th of March, 1591, according to the Co iiege corn- computation 'of the Church of England, or 1592 ? m< March, 1592. according to the common computation, Thomas Smith, then mayor of Dublin, laid the first stone of Trinity College; and on the 9th of January, 1593, students' the first students were admitted into it. " Sir Wil- liam Cecil, Lord Baron of Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer of England, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, and one of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council," for he is thus described by Ware in his narrative of the event, " was the 34 History of Dublin, i, 542544. 35 WARE'S Annals. 320 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. first Chancellor thereof; Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, the first Provost ; Lucas Chal loner, Wil- liam Daniel, James Fullerton, and James Hamilton, the first Fellows ; Abel Walsh, James Ussher, and James Lee, the first scholars of the same." " The year 1593," says Sir Richard Cox, with becoming respect for the character of this invaluable institu- tion, the creation of which throws the brightest light upon the reign of Queen Elizabeth over Ireland, " is memorable for the college of Dublin, which was then finished, and made an university ; whereof the Lord Burleigh was the first Chancellor, and Ussher, afterwards the learned primate, was the first," he should have said, one of the three first scholars, "entered there; which proved a good omen, that that noble foundation would produce many good and learned men, for the service of God and King, both in Church and State 36 ." Esto perpetua ! SECTION IV. Edmund Spenser '* Account of the Irish Church. Sir Francis Bacon's Plan for its improvement. Difficulty of the Subject. Henry Ussher. James Ussher. An eminent Controversialist and Preacher. Conduct of the Government towards the Papists. Act of Uniformity not enforced. Forebodings of Ussher. Benefaction to the University. State of the Church at the Queen's Death. Spenser's account THE foundation of Trinity College seems to deter- of the Irish church. mine this to be the proper period for noticing the state of the Irish Church in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as delineated by one who possessed the best means for informing himself on the subject by 36 Cox, i. 402. SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 321 local observation, and who has communicated his information in a form which bears strong testimony to its veracity. Edmund Spenser, the illustrious author of The ms connexion Faerie Queene, accompanied Arthur Lord Gray of Wilton, lord deputy of Ireland, to that country in 1580, in quality of his secretary. In 1585 he ob- tained a grant of above 3000 acres of land at Kil- coleman, in the county of Cork, where he settled and resided with his family, and composed his incomparable poem. There also, he composed, A View of the State of Ireland, written Dialogue-wise, His view of the between Eudomis and Irenceus, the MS. of which, taken from Archbishop Ussher's library, was first published by Sir James Ware, in 1633 1 . His death, Date of the work. in 1596, or 1598, fixes the latest date at which this work can have been written, as the time of his settling in Ireland fixes the earliest. A passage in the Dialogue, where he makes respectful mention of persons "who were lately planted in their new college," reduces the question within the few years which preceded his death ; the college, as we have seen, having been completed in 1593. It is, in truth, a frightful and a painful portrait, Melancholy which the following abstract will exhibit ; but, even if some features should be deemed to be exaggerated, " a want of moderation" being a fault which Harris imputes to Spenser, it is to be feared, nevertheless, that the copy bears too close a general resemblance to the original. Of the ministers of religion he affirms, that " the clergy there, excepting the grave fathers which are *' in high place about the state, and some few others which are lately planted in their new college, are i WARE'S Writers of Ireland, p. 327. 322 THE REIGN OF [Cfl. V. generally bad, licentious, and most disordered." " Whatever disorders you see in the Church of England, ye may find in Ireland, and many more ; namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness, fleshly incontinency, careless sloth, and, generally, all dis- ordered life in the common clergymen. And, besides all these, they have their particular enormi- ties ; for all Irish priests, which now enjoy Church livings, they are in a manner mere laymen, saving that they have taken holy orders : but otherwise they do go and live like laymen, follow all kind of hus- bandry, and other worldly affairs, as other Irishmen do. They neither read the Scriptures nor preach to the people, nor administer the Communion ; but baptism they do : for they christen yet after the popish fashion. Only they take the tythes and offerings, and gather what fruit else they may of their livings, the which they convert as badly ; arid some of them, they say, pay as due tributes and shares of their livings to their bishops, (I speak of those which are Irish,) as they receive them duly." Persons such as these were not likely to forward the English Reformation in Ireland. Arbitrary Nor were the bishops more likely, possessed as they were of absolute power over their clergy, whom, knowing, as they did, their own unworthiness and incapacity, and that they were, therefore, still re- movable at the bishop's will, they kept in extreme awe and subjection under them. That power they exercised, as a mean of procuring what portion they chose for their own emolument of their clergy's benefices ; " yea, and some of them," as Spenser says, " whose dioceses are in remote parts, somewhat out of the world's eye, do not at all bestow the benefices which are in their own donation upon any, but keep SEC. IV.J QUEEN ELIZABETH. 323 them in their own hands, and set their own servants and horseboys to take up the tythes and fruits of them, with the which some of them purchase great lands, and build fair castles upon the same. Of which abuse, if any question be moved, they have a very seemly colour and excuse, that they have no worthy ministers to bestow them upon, and keep them so bestowed for any such sufficient person as any shall bring unto them." It was intended by the first promoters of the intention of the Reformation in Ireland, and it had been provided by the legislature, that vacant benefices should be bestowed upon "persons who could speak English, apt and convenient to occupy the same," in pre- ference to any person not so qualified. The frequent preferment of Englishmen should seem to have been the natural consequence of this provision. But, although the bishops may not have declined now frustrated, to obey this law, the result appears to have been different from the anticipation. Many of the English, who went over to Ireland for the purpose of such preferment, were either unlearned or of questionable character, so as to be justly deemed incapable and insufficient for succeeding to a benefice; for, as Strype remarks, under the year 1563 2 , "the igno- rance of the ordinary sort of clergymen, curates, and ignorance of such like, is commonly said to be great about these English curates. times. Notwithstanding all the pains that were used to deliver the Church of that blindness that enveloped the priests in the late popish times, it would not yet be dispelled. For an instance of this, I bring in here the curate of Cripplegate, one Tem- pest, a well-meaning man; who, having upon some occasion, perhaps the metropolitical visitation, been 2 Life of Parker, vol. i. p. 258. Y 2 324 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. before Peerson, the archbishop's chaplain, was asked by him some questions ; and, among the rest, what was the meaning of the word ' function.' Which hard word he could not tell what to make of; for which it seems he was reprehended." Englishmen of At the same time, those of distinguished worth in their own country shrunk from exposing them- selves to the hazard of rejection by a bishop, who was himself the legal judge of the sufficiency of the minister to be preferred, and who was likely to be influenced in his judgment by his own national and religious prepossessions, and perhaps by a regard to his own interest, which might be advanced by his rejection of the applicant. Besides, the poverty of the benefices was often such, that they would not afford "any competent maintenance for any honest minister to live upon, scarcely to buy him a gown." Add to this the difficulty, which any English minister must have experienced in endeavouring to do good, by teaching or preaching to those, who either could not understand, or would not hear him ; the dis- comfort of living among those, so ill-affected as the common Irish then were to the English ; and the hazard of committing his safety, in the defenceless security of a peaceful occupation, to the hands of those neighbours, whom the boldest members of the profession of arms durst not live near, without means of defence and preservation. opposition from Meanwhile every opposition was to be encoun- tered from the ministers and emissaries of the Romish Church: from natives, who having gone abroad to Rheims, Doway, Lovain, and other foreign universities, thence returned home to propagate the Popish creed ; and from foreigners, who crossed the sea from Italy or Spain into Ireland, there to main- SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 325 tain the authority of the Church of Rome, Both of these lurking secretly in the houses of the inhabit- ants, and in obscure corners of the country, caused more injury and hindrance to true religion by their private persuasions, than English ministers could do good by their publick instructions. Add to this the scarcity of churches, the devasta- scarcity and tion of which must have reached to a most deplorable tkmof the l extent : for, in speaking of " building up and repair- ing all the ruined churches," he remarks, " whereof the most part lie even with the ground." And then, alluding to a recent attempt at their reparation, which had been made probably in pursuance of the queen's commission in 1576, and adding a reflection conceived in a spirit of wisdom and piety, worthy of the author of The Faerie Queene, he subjoins, " And some, that have been lately repaired, are so unhand- somely patched and thatched, that men do even shun the places for the uncomeliness thereof. Therefore I would wish that there were order taken to have them built in some better form, according to the churches of England ; for the outward show, assure yourself, doth greatly draw the rude people to the reverencing and frequenting thereof, whatever some of our late too nice fools say, that there is nothing in the seemly form and comely order of the church." Churchwardens are recognised in the Act for Uni- want of proper .- churchwardens. formity, as existing in Ireland ; but Spenser annexes a remark, which may raise a doubt of the qualifica- tion of those officers, and their fitness to be intrusted with the charge of these hallowed buildings : " And for keeping and continuing them, there should like- wise churchwardens of the gravest men in the parish be appointed, as they be here in England, which 3 Irish Stat. 2 Eliz., c. 2., s. 3. 326 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Scarcity of curates. Proposed union of parishes; An -additional evil. should take the yearly charge both hereof, and also of the school-houses, which I wish to be built near the said churches ; for maintenance of both which it were meet, that some small portion of lands were allotted." The scarcity of curates was another defect, which, as we have seen, the queen's commission had directed to be rectified. But the evil was still craving a remedy : for the defect was more obvious, than was the sufficiency of any proposed mode of supply. "When all is done," demands Spenser's friend, in their imaginary dialogue, with reference to his suggested reparation and preservation of the ruined churches, "When all is done, how will you have your churches served, and your ministers maintained ? Since the livings, as you say, are not sufficient scarce to make their gowns, much less to yield meet main- tenance, according to the dignity of their degree." But Spenser's experience, observation, and judgment, could furnish no better answer than the following, "There is no way to help that, but to lay two or three of them together, until such time as the country grow rich and better inhabited; at which time the tythes, and other oblations, will also be more augmented and better valued." This expedient, however, would in all probability have acted less as a remedy for an existing disease, than as an occasion for introducing new, and aggravating former, evils in the ecclesiastical system. For whatever aid it may have contributed for the temporal maintenance of the ministers, at the same time by enlarging the sphere, it would have extenuated the efficacy, of their ministrations, and impeded the spiritual im- provement of their flocks, and afforded additional openings for the interference of those, who were SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 327 continually at hand, and on the watch for opportu- nities of strengthening and perpetuating the Romish corruptions of the ancient Catholick faith. How fearfully the faith had been corrupted, and into what a degraded state of religious, or rather of thc people> irreligious, ignorance the people of Ireland had fallen, we learn from the melancholy statement of the same eye witness, " that they be all Papists by their profession, but in the same so blindly and brutishly informed, for the most part, that not one amongst an hundred knoweth any ground of religion, or any article of his faith ; but can perhaps say his Pater-Noster, or his Ave-Maria, without any know- ledge or understanding, what one word thereof meaneth." The cause of this most miserable state of things, Distracted . in Spenser's judgment, was to be found, not in the fault of them, " that held the place of government, that they, which are now in the light themselves, suffer a people under their charge to wallow in such deadly darkness," but rather in the distracted temper of the times. "That which you blame is not, I suppose, in any fault of will in those godly fathers, which have charge thereof; but the inconvenience of the time, and troublous occasions, wherewith that wretched realm hath been continually turmoiled. For instruction in religion needeth quiet times ; and ere we seek to settle a sound discipline in the clergy, we must purchase peace unto the laity : for it is ill time to preach among swords, and most hard, or rather impossible, it is to settle a good opinion in the minds of men, for matters of religion doubtful, which have doubtless an evil opinion of us. For, ere the new be brought in, the old must be removed." And the mode of proceeding he thinks to be, 328 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Best, mode of applying a remedy, in Spenser's judg- ment. Sentiments of Sir Francis Bacon. Proper means of instruction necessary. Moral degrada- tion of the people. that "religion should not be sought forcibly to be impressed into them, with terror and sharp penalties, as now is the manner, but rather delivered and intimated with mildness and gentleness, so as it may not be hated before it be understood, and their professors despised and rejected. And therefore it is expedient, that some discreet ministers of their own countrymen be first sent over amongst them, which by their meek persuasions and instructions, as also by their sober lives and conversations, may draw them first to understand, and afterwards to embrace, the doctrine of their salvation." Such was Spenser's view of the existing state of religion in Ireland : of the evil and of the cure. And it appears to have been about the same time, that the same subject received the attention of another illustrious person, a philosopher and a states- man, who was deeply impressed with a sense of the degraded state of the people under the Popish domi- nation. Sir Francis Bacon, in his Considerations touching the Queen's Service in Ireland, Communicated in a letter to Mr. Secretary Cecil, observes on the necessity of taking proper "means of instruction," for " the recovery of the hearts of the people ;" which, he says, they have not yet had. He remarks that "till they be more like reasonable men than they yet are, their society were rather scandalous to the true religion than otherwise; as pearls cast before swine: for till they be cleansed from their blood, incontinency, and theft, which are now not the lapses of particular persons, but the very laws of the nation, they are incompatible with religion reformed." Considering "that one of the principal pretences whereby the heads of the rebellion have prevailed, both with the people and with the foreigner, SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 329 hath been the defence of their religion," he says, that " a toleration of religion, (for a time not Toleration in definite,) except it be in some principal towns aad commended. precincts, seemeth to him a matter warrantable in religion, and in policy of absolute necessity." " Neither," he continues, " if Rome will cozen itself by conceiving it may be some degree to the like toleration in England, do I hold it a matter of any moment, but rather a good mean to take off the fierceness and eagerness of the humour of Rome, and to stay further excommunications or interdic- tions for Ireland. But there would go, hand in hand with this, some course of advancing religion Means recom- indeed, where the people is capable thereof; as the advancing t ,. j , . ,, c ,, . religion. sending over some good preachers, especially of that sort which are vehement and zealous persuaders, and not scholastical, to be resident in principal towns ; endowing them with some stipends out of her majesty's revenues; and the recontinuing and replenishing the college begun at Dublin, the placing of good men to be bishops in the sees there, and the taking care of the versions of bibles and cate- chisms, and other books of instruction, into the Irish language ; and the like religious courses, both for the honour of God, and for the avoiding of scandal and insatisfactlon here, by the shew of a toleration of religion in some parts there 4 ." Tims it was not from inattention or indifference Difficulty feit at all times in to the state of Ireland, especially in respect of enlightening the x L people of Ireland. religion ; it was not from ignorance of the evils which beset the Church, or from an indisposition to remedy them, on the part of some of the most dis- tinguished Englishmen of the age ; that these evils were not corrected. On the contrary, how this state 4 BACON'S Works, vol. iv. p. 505. London, 1730. 330 THE EEIGN OF [Cn. V, Archbishop Gar- vey succeeded in Armagh by Henry Ussher. 1595. His education and character. of unchristian darkness and heathenish dissoluteness of morals could be abolished, and how in their room could be substituted universally throughout the country the pure light and the holy influence of Christianity, by the ministration of a Protestant clergy, and according to the rites of the Reformed Church, was the problem which now, and during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, occupied the thoughts of many wise and good men. The English government probably took different views from those expressed in the foregoing letter: at least they do not appear to have acted upon them ; and the problem, of infinite importance as they must have deemed it, still waited its solution. In 1595, on the death of Archbishop Garvey, the vacant see of the primacy was filled by the appointment of Henry Ussher, of whom honourable mention was lately made as the agent of Archbishop Loftus, in seeking the patronage of the queen for the new university. Though a native of Dublin, he was educated out of Ireland, partly at Cambridge and partly at Paris ; and subsequently had settled himself in University College, Oxford, being incor- porated there in the degree of bachelor of arts, which he had taken at Cambridge. There, by the diligence of his studies, he laid the solid and sure foundation of theological learning which, combined with the qualities of prudence, wisdom, and diligence, raised him to the most elevated station in the Irish Church ; and has caused his name to be transmitted to posterity with the character of one " who sate in the see of Armagh, as long as he lived, in great honour and repute among all Protestants 5 .' 1 5 WARK'S Bishop p. 97. SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH, 331 With the exception, however, of his able and HIS nephew, the , . , -, ., f ,, . %J illustrious James useful services in behalf of the new university* there appears to be little more known of the actions of his life, than of those of several of his predeces- sors ; and his name is almost eclipsed by that of his more illustrious nephew, who has been lately men- tioned as one of the original scholars of Trinity College : and who, in due course of time, succeeded his uncle, after one intervening primate, in the metropolitan see of Armagh. The occasion for adverting to him in this place challenge of the t t * Jesuit Fitz- arises from a celebrated publick dispute which he held with Henry Fitz-Symonds, a learned Jesuit, then in the castle of Dublin, who had said, that " being a prisoner, he was like a bear tied to a stake, and wanted some to bait him:'' words which were interpreted into a challenge of disputation, with the greatest and most learned champion, in the contro- versies between the Romish and the Reformed Churches 6 . James Ussher from his tenderest years, together James t early life and witli strong feelings of devotion, had manifested education. great intellectual powers, which were cultivated and matured by assiduous study: and since his admission to the newly-established college, he had read and digested much of philosophy and history ; had made a great proficiency in chronology; had acquired a sound knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and especially had devoted his mind with the utmost earnestness and care to the volume of the Holy Scriptures, which he was wont to call the Book of Books, and by which he determined to regulate his life ; and thus prepared, he had engaged in the study 6 Life and Death of Archbishop Ussher, by NICHOLAS BERNARD, p. 32. 332 THE REIGN OF [CH. V. His theological attainments. Judged fit to accept the Jesuit's chal- lenge. His letter to Fitz-Symonds, of polemical divinity, had diligently examined the most esteemed works written in defence of Popery, particularly STAPLETON'S Fortress of the Faith ; had perused, here and there, divers books of the Fathers of the Church, as the most ancient and best inter- preters of Holy Writ on points of controversy, on which Stapleton claimed the support of antiquity for the Romish tenets, and charged the advocates of the Reformation with novelty ; and had thus waxed stronger and stronger in his conviction of the errors of Popery, and of the truth of the doctrines professed in his own Church 7 . With a mind thus disciplined and furnished, he was considered the properest person to take up the Jesuit's challenge ; and, although only nineteen years of age, he did not shrink from the combat, thus expressing the grounds of his confidence, notwith- standing his youth, in a letter which he subsequently wrote to his antagonist: "If I am a boy, as it hath pleased you very contemptuously to name me, I give thanks to the Lord, that my carriage towards you hath been such, as could minister no just occa- sion to despise my youth. Your spear belike is, in your own conceit, a weaver's beam, and your abilities such, that you desire to encounter with the stoutest champion in the host of Israel ; and therefore, like the Philistine, you contemn me as being a boy. Yet this I would fain have you know, that I neither came then, nor do come now, unto you in 'any con- fidence of any learning that is in me, in which respect notwithstanding I thank God, I am what I am ; but I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts, whose companies you have reproached, being certainly per- suaded, that even out of the mouths of babes and 7 Life and Letters of Archbishop Ussher, by RICHARD PARR, p. 7. SEC. IV.J QUEEN ELIZABETH. 333 sucklings He was able to show forth his own praises ; for the further manifestation whereof I do earnestly request you, that, setting aside all vain comparison of persons, we may go plainly forward in examining the matters that rest in controversy between us." The subject of the disputation was the contro- subject of tho versies of Bellarmine, for which a meeting of once disput i59 9 n ' a week was agreed on : and it so fell out that the first topick proposed was concerning Antichrist. " Twice or thrice," says Dr. Bernard, " they had solemn disputations, though the Jesuit acknow- ledgeth but one. He was ready to have proceeded, but the Jesuit was weary of it." His biographer says, that "he had confessedly the victory; at Manner of it 3 least the Jesuit was so baffled by his arguments, that termination - he gave >up his cause 8 ." However this may be, dependence may be placed on the following facts, as collected from Ussher's letter above cited : That "at their last meeting, Fitz-Symonds promised to write to Ussher concerning the chief points of his (Fitz-Symonds's) religion;" that, "seeing he had deferred the same, for reasons best known to him- self, Ussher thought it not amiss to inquire further of his mind concerning the continuation of the con- ference betwixt them :" that " he again earnestly requested him, that they might go plainly forward in examining the matters, that rested in contro- versy between them." " Otherwise," he subjoins, "I hope you will not be displeased, if, as for your Differently re- part you have begun, so I also, for my own part, may be bold, for the clearing of myself and the truth which I profess, freely to make known what hath already passed concerning this matter." It seems that no answer was returned to this letter ; certainly WARE'S Bisliops, p. 99. 334 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Select preachers. 1600. there was no continuance of the conference. In the Preface to his Britannomachia, Fitz-Symonds appears desirous of throwing the blame of this upon Ussher, saying, with reference to their former controversy, " he did not again deem me worthy of his presence :" a statement perfectly irreconcileable with the " ear- nest request," most ingenuously urged in the fore- going citation, " that they might go plainly forward in examining the matters that rested in controversy between them." In 1600, by reason of the scarcity of preachers, three young men were selected from the college, and appointed to preach at Christ Church before "the state," or government, of Ireland. One of Bishop Richard- these was John Richardson, afterwards Bishop of Ardagh, a person distinguished for his industry and great abilities in the exposition of Scripture. The name of the second was Welsh, whose charge it was to handle the body of divinity on Sundays in the forenoon. The third was James Ussher, who was intrusted with the task of preaching on the Lord's- days in the afternoon, the chief governors at that time usually attending divine service twice every James Usshei's Sunday. " His part," says Dr. Bernard, " was to Po. 801 handle the controversies for the satisfaction of the Papists: which he did so perspicuously, ever con- cluding with matter of exhortation, that it was much for the confirmation and edification of the Pro- testants : which the elder sort of persons, living in my time, I have heard often acknowledging." In his capacity of catechist reader in the college, to which office he was chosen about the same time, His catechetical Ussher made it the subject of a weekly employment, to explain in the presence of that seminary of reli- gious education the principal articles of Christianity, SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 335 as professed and maintained by the Reformers in concurrence with the ancient church, in opposition to the errors and innovations of Popery. An High Commission Court had been established ,i t i~ f\e\ i-\ i T n i 8 i n Court in in the year 1593, in Dublin, for inspecting and Dublin, reforming all offences committed against the Act of Uniformity, in common with the other Acts of the second year of the queen. And it also appears to have been a regular and ordinary instruction to the government of Ireland, "in all times and all places, instructions to the Irish govern- where any great assembly should be made before ment concerning J the church ser- them, to persuade the people by all good means and vice. ways to them seeming good, and especially by their own examples, to observe orders for divine service ; and to embiace, and devoutly to observe, the order and service of the church established in the realm, by parliament or otherwise ; to execute all manner of statutes of the realm ; and to levy, or cause to be levied, all manner of forfeitures, &c. 9 " In accordance with these injunctions, the Irish oraerforthe Papists to attend government, about the year 1599, saw reason for the church - issuing an order, obliging the Papists to attend divine service in the churches every Sunday, under a pecuniary mulct of twelve-pence, by virtue of a clause in the Act of Uniformity 10 . An additional impulse and greater efficacy were given to this order by the overthrow of the Spaniards, at the celebrated battle of Kinsale, December the 24th, 1601: at promoted by the which time it was designed, that the victory of the * tle ieoi. ins Spaniards, if they had proved successful, should be followed by the slaughter of most of the Protestants, both in Dublin and elsewhere, by the Irish Papists ; but especially of the Protestant ministers, without 9 LELAND'S Hist., vol. ii. p. 382. 10 WATIE'S Bishops, p. 100. 336 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. any distinction 11 . But the hopes of the Irish being- frustrated by the defeat of their confederates, they began to submit themselves to the statute, which was now carried into execution. And, for their better instruction in religion, the lord lieutenant and council directed the clergy to distribute them- selves amongst the different churches of Dublin, in sermons pro- such manner that there might be a sermon for that S r d uction! eir purpose at each church, in the afternoon of every Lord's-day, after the example of what had been already begun at Christ Church before " the state." Amongst the clergymen who engaged in this labour, was James Ussher, who had been recently admitted to the holy orders of deacon and of priest, by his uncle the Archbishop of Armagh, by virtue of a special dispensation, as he had not attained the age prescribed by the canon law, which then regu- lated the church. The scene of his ministry on this occasion was the church of St. Catherine ; where he ussher-s mode of digested the substance of his instruction into brief ,- discourses, an d tnen divided w hat he had delivered into the form of questions and answers for the next Sunday. On which day persons of good esteem voluntarily offered themselves to repeat the answers before the whole congregation, thus more especially Prospect of gain- arousing the attention, and contributing to the edifi- ing the Papists, . . , , -^ . , , 2 catiorn of the Papists . By these labours of this eminent divine, and of others his brethren in the ministry, not only in Dublin, but in divers other parts of the kingdom, where a similar practice was adopted, the Papists were so regular and diligent in attending the service Defeated. of the church, that, if at any time they had occasion to absent themselves, they would send their excuse 11 BERNARD'S Life of UssJier, p. 30. la II. p. 37. SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH, 337 to the churchwardens. But on a sudden, the hopes which had begun to be entertained of bringing the nation to one heart and one mind, and inducing them to glorify God with one mouth, in the creed and worship of the Reformed Church of Ireland, were intercepted and cut off. The queen had always acted towards the Papists upon the principle of treating the peaceably-disposed and obedient with forbearance and indulgence, and " pursuing none for religion." Notwithstanding, therefore, the establishment of the High Commis- sion Court, and the injunctions to the Irish govern- ment, her English ministers interfered, to restrain interposition of the English and counteract what they esteemed an immoderate ministry. exercise of authority in religious matters ; and their directions were received with corresponding senti- ments by Charles Blunt, Lord Mountjoy, the lord deputy, who after an interval of five months, during icoo. ' which the government was administered by Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, and Sir George Carey, lords justices, succeeded the Earl of Essex in the vice- royalty, in February, 1600, and thus expressed him- self in answer to a communication from the lords of the English council. " Whereas it hath pleased your lordships in your last His answer to *, , i i .the English letters to command us to deal moderately in the great privy COU ncii. matter of religion, I had, before the receipt of your lord- ships 1 letters, presumed to advise such as dealt in it, for a time to hold a more restrained hand therein. And we were both thinking ourselves what course to take in the revoca- tion of what was already done, with least encouragement to them and others ; since the fear that this course, begun in Dublin, would fall upon the rest, was apprehended all over the kingdom : so that I think your lordships'* direction is to great purpose, and the other course might have K 838 THE REIGN OP Cn. V. Indisposition to enforce confor- mity by penal- ties. Violation of Act of Uniformity connived at. Ussher's alarm. overthrown the means of our own end of reformation of religion. " Not that I think too great preciseness can be used in the reforming of ourselves, the abuses of our own clergy, church livings, or discipline : nor that the truth of the Gospel can with too great vehemency or industry be set forward, in all places, and by all ordinary means, most proper unto itself, that was first set forth and spread in meekness: nor that I think any corporal prosecution or punishment can be too severe for such as shall be found seditious instruments of foreign or inward practices : nor that I think it fit that any principal magistrates should be chosen without taking the oath of obedience, nor tolerated in 'absenting themselves from publick divine service : but that we may be advised how we do punish in their bodies or goods any such only for religion, as do profess to be faithful subjects to her majesty, and against whom the con- trary cannot be proved 13 ." Thus by the intervention of the executive autho- rity, although not repealed, the Act of Uniformity ceased to be enforced, and the violation of it was connived at: the power of the High Commission, which had been set up at that period only in Ireland in relation to the Papists, was withdrawn : under the reviving and uncontrolled influence of the Popish priests, the Papists forbore to take part in the Reformed worship ; and Popery resumed its ascen- dancy over the unenlightened populace of the nation 14 . The spirit of Ussher was strongly " stirred within him" by this new condition of things. He feared that the allowance of the free exercise of the Popish religion by publick authority would tend to the dis- turbance of the government both in church and state. He was deeply sensible, both of the offen- 13 LELAND'S Hist., vol. ii. p. 382. 14 BERNARD'S Life of Ussher. SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 330 siveness of its idolatrous practices in the sight of God, and of its intolerant and persecuting nature, which made it so dangerous and pestilential to man. And he availed himself of a special solemnity, when ms remarkable it was in his course to preach before the government Son on the 6 " at Christ Church, for delivering a remarkable sermon, in which he plainly expressed his sense of the recent proceeding : choosing for his text the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet, by " lieing on his side," was to " bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days ; I have appointed thee a day for a year ;" a prophecy which he noted, by consent of interpreters, to signify the time of " forty years" to the destruction of Jerusalem, and that nation, for their idolatry : and then making direct application to his own country, in relation to its connivance at Popery, in these impressive words, " From this year will I reckon the sin of Ireland, that those, whom you now embrace, shall be your ruin, and you shall bear their iniquity." This application of the prophecy was made in 1601 ; and in 1641 broke out that rebellion, which was consummated in the massacre of many thou- sands of its Protestant inhabitants by those whose idolatrous religion was now connived at. The fore- boding, in general, may have been no more than the result of judicious conjecture and foresight, actuated by an intimate knowledge of the true character of the Romish religion ; the coincidence of time may have been a fortuitous circumstance ; but it can hardly excite surprise, that many of those, who were apprized of the prediction, and who witnessed its accomplishment, regarded it as an effusion of inspi- ration. In the mean time, he, who had uttered the foreboding, never ceased to entertain a strong pre- z 2 340 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. Constantly ex- pected by Usshcr. Benefaction to the University of Dublin. 1C03. Trinity College Library and Bod- leian Library contemporane- ous. possession of its approaching accomplishment. " What a continued expectation he had of a judg- ment upon that his native country," relates one of his biographers, " I can witness from the year 1624, when I had the happiness first to be known to him ; and the nearer the time every year, the more con- fident, to my often wonder and admiration; there being nothing visibly tending to the fear of it 15 ." In 1603, the University of Dublin received a benefaction, probably as unexpected as it was accept- able to the society, and no less honourable to the benefactors. Not long after the victory of Kinsale, the commanders and officers of the English army contributed 1SOO/. out of their arrears of pay in one sum, to purchase books for the publick library. The employment of the money for that use was committed by Dr. Chaloner and Mr. Ussher, who went to England on the occasion; and there met with Sir Thomas Bodley, who was engaged in the similar occupation of procuring stores for his newly- erected library at Oxford 16 . There was a friendly intercommunion between the two parties in assisting each other with scarce and valuable works : and it is a pleasing reflection to the members of the two universities in after times, as it was to the delegates of each at the time, that the Bodleian Library of Oxford, and the Library of the University of Dublin, designed as they were, each in its respective sphere, to be the instruments of disseminating sound reli- gion and useful learning over the church and empire, began together with an interchange of mutual kind offices. 15 BERNARD'S Life of Ussher, p. 40. 16 WARE'S Bishops, p. 100, SEC. IV.] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 341 On the 24th of March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth Death of Queen died, after a reign of more than forty-four years, pro- lES^i, 1003. ductive of less religious improvement in- her Irish dominions, and of less accession to the well-being of the Church of Ireland, than piety might have reasonably anticipated. Over what portions of the summary view country, and to what amount of its population, the Jl^S^ were difficult to affirm ; probably her influence was not great beyond the most cultivated and civilized parts, and even in those not entirely predominant. The royal supremacy, indeed, was established; and wholesome laws had been enacted for the celebration of her pure worship of God, and for sound religious instruction : and many efforts were made, sometimes of a publick and at others of a private kind, some- times by constraint and at others by persuasion, to bring the professors of a corrupt faith and idolatrous worship into her fold. But these were strenuously counteracted by the edicts and emissaries of the Bishop of Rome ; by the perseverance of the native Romish priesthood, and their associates from abroad ; by the rebellious spirit of the Irish chieftains, which kept the kingdom in a state of constant commotion ; and by the absence of social good order, and habits of moral culture in the people. That at the head of the Church, and in the offices of her ministry, had been placed men of distinguished zeal, ability, and knowledge, suited to the exigency of the times, may have been the fact, but it does not satisfactorily appear. Ossory, indeed, may mention among its bishops the name of Nicholas Walsh, in honourable competition with that of Bale, his more renowned predecessor : but I know not that Dublin can pro- duce a candidate to rival the professional devotion 342 HEIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. [Cir. V. and energy of Archbishop Browne. Meanwhile, notwithstanding partial efforts for the supply of the defect, an avenue to the understanding of the great mass of the population was needed through the medium of a common language in the Church and the people ; and from the indisputable evidence of Sir Henry Sidney, about the middle of the queen's reign, and from that of Spenser and Sir Francis Bacon towards the close of it, we learn how deficient was the Church in material buildings for the cele- bration of her worship, and in ministers to celebrate it. That the queen and her English government were not ignorant of these defects, evidence exists in the communications, which passed between them, and the persons intrusted with the local administra- tion of Irish affairs. Whether they were actuated by that earnest desire which ought to have prompted them to activity in the cause of God and of his truth, but were impeded in their efforts by obstacles insurmountable; or whether they were not fully alive to their duty, and not properly strenuous in the execution of it ; different judgments may be formed : but unhappily, in either case, the melan- choly fact is upon record, that sufficient provision was not made for the ministrations of the Church. 343 CHAPTER VI. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING JAMES THE FIRST . . . 16031625. HENRY USSHER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE . . . . . 1613. CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, AND PRIMATE . . . 16131625. SECTION I. Favourable circumstances at the King's accession. Popish disturbances notwithstanding. Proclamation of Indemnity and Oblivion. Efforts of the Jesuits and Seminary Priests. Trial and conviction of Robert Lalor. Pro- gress of Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, through three Counties of Ulster. Sir John Dames s account of their condition. THE first occurrences, in the reign of King James Natural connex- the First, relative to the state of religion in Ireland, afforded an ill omen of future tranquillity to the Church, notwithstanding many circumstances con- spired to render probable a more peaceable state of things. The royal family of the Stuarts, from whom the new king descended, was partly of Irish blood : and the sovereign himself was not only of Irish extraction, but of the royal line, and entitled by the Irish law to be King of Ireland. Thus the jealousy, which the natives had entertained of the English domination, was calculated to be allayed by the consideration of their now becoming the subjects of their rightful hereditary king. The state of the country also was such as to 344 THE REIGN OF [CH. VI. State of the country favour- nble to tran- quillity. Question con- cerning the obe- dience due to a I'rotesf ant king. Irritation conse- quent in the answers of the universities. ]C03. preclude the apprehension of fresh outrages for the present. The great lords had submitted to the royal authority ; the number of native Irish had been greatly diminished by their many, prolonged, and obstinate rebellions: the remainder in the rural districts were in such a condition of poverty, that the men of property had not wherewithal to stock or cultivate their land, nor had any improvements left upon their estates, except perhaps a dismal castle and a few pitiful cabins. Such a miserable condi- tion of things required a long interval of rest and peace for its amendment : and gave additional ground of expectation that people would live peaceably and loyally under a new king of their own favourite lineage. But a question had been submitted to the universities of Salamanca and Valladolid, " Whether an Irish Papist may obey or assist his Protestant king ?" And this question had been about this time resolved by them in the negative by the two follow- ing assertions: "1st, That since the Earl of Tyrone undertook the war for religion, and by the Pope's approbation, it was as meritorious to aid him against the hereticks, as to fight against the Turks." " And 2nd, That it was a mortal sin in any way to assist the English against him; and that those, who did so, could have neither absolution nor salvation, without deserting the hereticks, and repenting for so great a crime 1 ." This new declaration, aided by the activity of their restless priests, threw the Irish Papists ai>'ain into a state of irritation ; which showed itself first at Cork on the arrival of the commissioners, who luvl been sent thither by the Lord Deputy, the Lord 1 Cox's History , vol. ii. 3. SEC. I.] KING JAMES I. 345 Mountjoy, in common with the other cities and boroughs, to make proclamation of the accession of King James. After some apparent hesitation and Disturbances at delay on the part of the mayor and his brethren, in allowing the proclamation to be made, they in the end assumed an attitude of decided resistance, hos- tility, and rebellion ; and took military measures for setting up their religion by force. In pursuance of this object, they carried the cross in procession about the city, and forced all persons to reverence it ; they ejected the ministers of the reformed faith from their churches, defaced the sentences of Scripture which were written on the church walls, and painted the places with pictures ; they re-consecrated the churches, and went daily in procession ; they seized those religious houses which had been converted to civil uses; they paraded the city in attendance on the ecclesiasticks, who led them on clothed in the habits of their respective orders ; they also took the sacrament to spend their lives in the defence of the Roman Catholick religion ; they disarmed such Pro- testants as were in their power, shot at the episcopal palace and threatened to murder the bishop, and actually killed a Protestant minister ; and having been taught by a secMtious priest, "that he could not be a lawful king who was not approved by the Pope, nor sworn to maintain the Catholick religion," they took a resolution in public k council to excite the other cities and towns to confederate with them for the preservation of the Catholick faith. Other cities and towns showed symptoms of the same rebellious and anti-Protestant spirit. At Waterford, they pulled down their Recorder from At watered ; the cross, where he was reading the proclamation of e king's accession : they broke open the doors of 346 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. At Clonmell and Wexford ; At Limerick ; At Kilkenny. Lord Deputy's progress through the disturbed districts. the hospital, and admitted a Dominican friar to preach a seditious sermon in St. Patrick's Church, where among other injurious aspersions on the late queen, he said " That Jezebel was dead." They also took the keys of the cathedral from the sexton, and caused a priest to celebrate mass there. The towns of Clonmell and Wexford, were not free from the like insolences ; but being weaker and less populous, they became sooner sensible of their danger, if not of their fault, and more promptly restored the churches to the Protestants. Limerick, on the other hand, was one of the most forward and daring in the insurrection, and gave the priests the possession of all the churches, where they erected altars, and publickly celebrated mass. The religious at Kilkenny were not less precipitate and arrogant than their brethren elsewhere. A Dominican headed the sedition in that city ; and broke open the Black- friars, which had for some time been used as a court-house, and pulled down the seats, and erected an altar, forced the keys of his house from the occupier of that part of the abbey, and gave pos- session of the whole abbey to the friars, although by Act of Parliament it had been turned into a lay-fee, and by legal conveyances became the property of others. These rebellious proceedings rendered it neces- sary for the Lord Deputy to undertake a progress into Munster. Waterford, after ineffectually claim- ing some privilege founded upon an ancient charter, tamely opened its gates : having previously sent a young Dominican friar, to discourse with his lordship in matters of religion, and to explain the grounds and reasons of their proceedings; when the friars had the confident audacity to come in their habits, SEC. L] KING JAMES I. 347 with the crucifix exalted before them, and to tell the Lord Deputy, " That the citizens of Waterford could not in conscience obey any prince that persecuted the Catholick faith." After sending a letter to Cork, announcing his Restoration of . . tranquillity. approach, in which, amongst other things, he charged them on their allegiance "to desist from publick breach of his majesty's laws in the celebration of mass prohibited by the same, and to yield due obe- dience to his magistrates," he was received into Cork also without resistance, where the inhabitants, as well as those of Waterford had been, were com- pelled to take the oath of allegiance, and to abjure all foreign dependencies. He did the same at Lime- rick, and thence proceeded to Cashel, where he understood that a certain priest had bound a Pro- testant goldsmith to a tree, and threatened to burn him and his heretick books; that he had really burned some of the books, and kept the man in that miserable condition for six hours, expecting every minute that fire should be set to the fagots; nothing, however, is recorded of his punishment, so that the criminal appears to have made his escape 2 . Thence the Lord Deputy returned to Dublin, Proclamation of , . indemnity and where, in the hope of quieting the people, and oblivion. laying them under an obligation to loyalty, and in- ducing them to an industrious, peaceful, and regular mode of life, he issued a proclamation of general indemnity and oblivion ; and restored all persons, not attainted, to their former possessions; and pro- hibited private actions for trespass committed during the war. Acting on the same principles as his deputy, the king was induced to show marks of favour to some of the Irish chiefs; and by these 2 Cox, ii. pp. 48. 348 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. liing. concessions and indulgences, " which," observes Cox, " the Irish commonly interpret to be granted to them more from fear than love, they were encou- raged to petition the king for toleration of the Encroachments Popish religion. But th e king thought it enough, resisted 'by 'the that the penal laws against that religion were not put in execution, but rather were in effect suspended by a connivance, which differed little from a tole- ration ; and finding he had to do with a people that never missed anything for want of asking, but were apt to take the ell if he gave the inch, he became the more reserved in his concessions to the Irish from thenceforward V Sir Arthur Chichester, lord deputy, 1G04. Activity of the Jesuits in with- drawing the Papists from the churches. Act of Unifor- mity carried into effect in Dublin, In 1604, Sir Arthur Chichester was, for the first time, sworn in lord deputy of Ireland. Until this time the Papists had generally attended divine ser- vice in the churches, and were known by the name of Church-Papists. But now the Jesuits and other seminary priests busied themselves greatly in dis- suading the people from so doing, notwithstanding the Act of Uniformity, and the king's proclamation founded thereupon. The Lord Deputy and Council in consequence convened before them the aldermen of Dublin, and some of the principal citizens, and endeavoured by persuasions and lenity to draw them to their duty. And forasmuch as some material difference w r as found between the .original record and the printed copies of the Act of Uniformity, in order that none might plead ignorance of the oriath of allegi- Oath of supre- macy taken by Jill beneficed clergymen in his diocese. There are several other particulars mentioned in this account, which are valuable and curious, as illustrative of the general condition of the Church, so far as it may be inferred from the affairs of a single diocese. An example of the opinions entertained concern- ing the discharge of episcopal duties is furnished by the statement of the bishop, that he " continually resided either in the diocese of Ferns or Leighlin, sometimes in the one and sometimes in the other ; and, in whichever he had been, he had exercised the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in his own person ; when lie was not there, his official supplied his room :" that, " having been about seven years bishop, he had every year once visited each of his dioceses in person, and had called before him his clergy in each deanery, and two, at the least, of the laity out of every parish, for sidesmen, upon their oaths, to detect all the offences and defects of ecclesiastical cognizance, com- mitted within their several parishes, and had accord- ingly proceeded therein : " that, if he were autho- rized under the seal to tender the oath of allegiance o to every man of sort within his diocese, he was most ready and willing to put it in execution, to persuade them in the best and serious manner that he could to take the oath, and duly and truly to certify the Lord Deputy, from time to time, the names both of the takers and refusers thereof:" and that "there was never any yet admitted, by him or his official, unto any spiritual living within either of his dioceses, but he did distinctly with his mouth pronounce, and," adds the bishop, " I doubt not but truly and willingly with his heart, embrace and take the oath of supremacy." It appears, that there were several popish priests E:. II.] KING JAMES I. 373 at this time resorting to, or harbouring in, the dio- Popish priestg in ceses of Ferns and Leighlin, of whom this document enumerates sixteen in the former, and ten in the latter diocese. Each of these is mentioned with the title of "Sir" prefixed to his name; a title which is commonly understood as generally descriptive of a priest, but of which Fuller, in his Church History, says, "Such priests, as have the addition of Sir why intituled before their Christian name, were men not graduated in the university, being in orders, but not in degrees; whilst others, intituled masters, had commenced in the arts 7 ." And this sense of the word appears probable in its application to the persons here spoken of. Of these two are particularly noted, as having TWO of them been ministers of the Church: "Sir John Quiltey, a ministers of the roving priest, sometime one of our clergy, but long since keeping here and there in the parishes of Old Rosse and the parishes adjoining ; and Sir William Barrick, a very old man, keeping at New Rosse, in the house of William Bennett. This man, about ten years since, was one of our clergy, and was vicar of New Rosse." Another gives occasion for |the following remark : " This Richard is now beginning to build a mass-house in Rosse, upon the land of his brother James. Mine humble suit is, that some objection made to the building present course may be taken for the hindering of new mass- thereof ; as also for the nailing up of the door of another chapel in that town of New Rosse, formerly built by Sir David Dowle aforesaid." " No popish priest " observes the bishop, " hath objection to the . 111.. admitting of ever been admitted either to church living or Popish priests. cure within either of my dioceses during my incum- bency; neither, God willing, | during my time ever shall." 7 Church History, b. vi. p. 352. . 374 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Stats of tho churches. Ferns not a good situation for the cathedral. Account of schools in the diocese. Mischievous interference of the Popish priests. Concerning the state of the churches in these dioceses, the following notice occurs. " All the churches within both my dioceses are builded according to the country fashion, or bonds taken for the building of those few that are uribuilded, except some few parishes, wherein" there is yet little or no habitation, and except the cathedral church of Ferns, which, having been burnt by Feagh JVPHow in the time of rebellion, is so chargeable to re-edify, that the dean and chapter are not able to compass that work, neither is it indeed fit, that the cathedral church should be at Ferns, being now but a poor country village ; but either at Wexford, or at New Rosse, being both incorporate towns, very populous of themselves, especially Wexford, and of much resort by strangers. Yet there is an ile of the cathedral churbh builded, wherein divine service is duly celebrated." The bishop then makes report of two schools, one in Wexford for Ferns, the other in Maryborough for Leighlin ; the schoolmaster being maintained by himself and his clergy, according to the statute. " Neither," he observes, " have I ever licensed any schoolmaster to teach, but such as have first entered bonds to teach none other books, but such as are agreeable to the king's injunctions. But these schools, established by authority, are to small pur- pose, if all the Popish priests in this kingdom take that course, as in all probability they do, which a priest, called Laghlin Oge, took not long since after the celebration of his mass. For he taught the people first, that whosoever did send their children or pupils to be taught by a schoolmaster of our religion, they were excommunicated ipso facto, and should certainly be damned, without they did under- go great penance for their so doing. Next, (though not appertaining to [this branch) that the infants, which were by us baptized, if they were not brought SEC. II.] KING JAMES I. 375 to them to be rebaptized, both the parents so doing, and the children so baptized, were damned." "Lastly," the bishop thus continues, "though I * desiie to root out have used my best endeavour, according to my Po pe r y ,and J plant true simple skill, to reform recusants, yet have I come far religion. short of what I ought to have done; and I must needs acknowledge myself to be an unprofitable servant. But by the grace of God I am what I am ; and by the said grace assisting me, I will endeavour myself more and more to root out Popery, and to sow the seed of true religion in the hearts of all the people committed to my charge : which though I have no hope to effect as I would, yet ' est aliquid prodire tenus, cum non datur ultra. 1 " The bishop, having thus answered particularly vaiueofthe each branch of the first article of inquiry, proceeds dioceee. to return, as near as he can learn, the true value, communibus annis, of the benefices of each diocese, and the names and qualities of present incumbents. Of the bishoprick of Ferns, he states "the Recent improve- mi T i i present incumbent to be Ihomas Kam, who at his first coming to the place found it worth, by the year, one hundred marks, 66. 6s. 8^., sterling penny rent. But by his recovery of the manor of Fethard, by a long and chargeable suit at law, though ended by composition at length, it is now bettered per annum by 40/." "This bishoprick," he adds, "hath been worth injury done to it four or five hundred pounds by the year; but by the many fee-farms made thereof by his predecessors, especially by Alexander Devereux and John Deve- reux to their kindred and bastards, at very small rents, it is reduced unto this small pittance aforesaid. This bishoprick of Ferns and the other of Leighlin lie both together ; and the dwelling-houses of them nient of the bishopr 376 THE REIGN OP [Gn. VI. Value of the bishoprick of Leighlin. Number and average value of the benefices in Ferns. Residence and other particulars of the incum- bents. both, namely Fethard (seated in the remotest part from Leighlin of the whole diocese of Ferns,) and Old Leighlin, are but twenty-seven English miles asunder." He afterwards states himself to hold the bishop- rick of Leighlin, by union with that of Ferns, " durante vita, by virtue of his majesty's letters patent. The annual rent thereof is 241. ster., besides the demesnes, which are very large, if the bishop might enjoy his right. But in respect they are almost all mountain ground, and much of them is withholden by the neighbours thereof, yield very little profit." The benefices in Ferns were twenty-seven, con- sisting of the deanery and seven prebends ; seven rectories and twelve vicarages. The value of them is given in two parallel columns, in time of peace and as reduced by rebellion. The highest value in the former time is 501. , and in the latter 30/. ; being the deanery : the next highest, respectively, is 25/. and 20/. The lowest value is 4/., reduced by re- bellion to 40,?. But in one case 71. is reduced to nothing. The united amount is 380/. or 261 /.: yielding an average in the twenty-seven benefices of about 14/., or 91. 13s. 4d. 9 in peace or rebellion. With two or three exceptions, the incumbents were residing on their benefices. Some are specified as being " preachers," and some as being "reading ministers." One of the incumbents was "a student in Trinity College, near Dublin, aged about twenty years." Of the vicarages one was ' of so small worth, that no man would pass the patent for it, and thereupon the curate enjoyed the profit." Seven of the incumbents are reported as " ministers of Irish birth, skilful in, or having, the English, Irish, and SEC. II.] KING JAMES I. 377 Latin tongues :" two " of Irish birth, having the English and Irish." In Leighlin were the treasurership and arch- deaconry, and four prebends, eleven rectories, and iSgSin. ns thirty-four vicarages ; one of the rectories being as high as 30/. But the benefices in general varied between 121. and 3/. in time of peace ; but so much affected by rebellion, that twenty-five of them are returned as worth nothing. The same distinction occurs between "preachers" and "reading mini- sters," there being, how T ever, very few of the former class. There were about twelve " of Irish birth, having the English, Irish, and Latin tongues." And two are mentioned of " English birth," of whom one had "some skill in the Irish tongue," and the other was " skilful" in that language. One of the vicarages was holden " in commendam by the Bishop of Kerry ;" and two of the rectories of very small value, by two scholars respectively of sixteen and seventeen years of age, or thereabouts, "dispensed withall gratia studii." The bishop explains some of the foregoing par- Explanation of several of tbo ticulars, as well as his own practice in matters con- foregoing par- ticulars. nected with them, in the following observations appended to his return. "At my first preferment unto these bishopricks, and The bishop's finding such want of clergymen within both my dioceses, ministers, especially of Leighlin, that some of the parishioners, being by me blamed for carrying their children to Popish priests to be christened, answered (though rather for excuse, as I found afterwards, in that they reformed not themselves, than for conscience sake), that they were compelled so to do, in regard they had no curate of our religion near unto them : in imitation of the reverend bishops, living in the beginning of the reign of our late queen of happy memory, I entreated three or four men of English birth, and staid English, 378 THE REIGN OF fCn. VI. And Irish. candidates for the ministry carriage, and good report, being well able to give an account of their faith in the English tongue, and to instruct the people by reading, to enter orders of the Church ; and pro- vided for them first cures among the English parishes, afterward small vicarages, which they enjoy at this time, and reside upon them. And whereas two or three of the natives of this country, being well able to speak and read Irish unto their countrymen, sought unto me for holy orders, I thought likewise fit, in the great scarcity of men of that quality, to admit them thereunto (being likewise of honest life, and well reported of amongst their neighbours), and to provide them some small competency of living in the Irish parts. Furthermore, being desirous, serere alteri seculo, His provision of by providing a learned ministry, which shall be able to preach unto the people hereafter, I have also, according to the ancient custom of my diocese, dispensed with three or four youths of fifteen or sixteen years of age, to hold each of them a church living under ten pounds in true value studii gratia, having taken order with the churchmen adjoining, to discharge the cures of the same, and having had a watchful eye over these young men, that they did and do bond fide follow [Rest of the sheet mutilated.] The subjoined recommendation of the bishop's was well worthy of attention, and touched a point which has been fruitful in mischief to the Irish Church. " There being divers impropriations within each of my dioceses, which have no vicars endowed, whose possessioners are bound by their leases, or fee-farms to find sufficient curates : mine earnest request is, that a competent stipend may be raised out of every such impropriation, whereby the curate thereof may be maintained. And that two or three of the impropriations of small value may be united among themselves, if they be together ; and a competency raised out of them all so united for an incumbent. But, if they be asunder, that then they may be united to the next parsonage or vicarage adjoining, and contribute towards the bettering thereof: provided always, that in whichsoever of Impropriations destitute of vicars. The Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin's advice for the supply of the defect. SEC. II.] KING JAMES I. 379 the united churches divine service is celebrated, thither all the parishioners of the churches united be compelled every sabbath and holyday to repair in their course and turn. Now the competency which I conceive will be fittest for the impropriators to yield, and for the curates to receive, is the small tithes of every such parish. (Signed) " THO. FERNESS AND LEIGHLIN." SECTION III. Christopher Hampton advanced to the Primacy. A Par- liament and Convocation of the Clergy. Articles of Religion. Summary of their contents. Their discursive character. Exceptions taken to them at the time. Their discrepancy with those of the Church of England. Regal Visitation of the Province of Dublin. Arrogant con- duct of the Papists. ON the death of Henry Ussher, archbishop of H en ryussher Armagh, in 1613, Christopher Hampton was ad- prl^ty" 1 * vanced to the primacy, and consecrated by the Arch- Hampton.** bishop of Dublin, with three assistant bishops, on the 8th of May. He was born at Calais, had been a student at Christ's College, Cambridge, and elected to the see of Derry, the year of his elevation to the primacy. He is recorded as a prelate of great m s character gravity and learning. A handsome palace at Drog- a heda, then the principal residence of the archbishops of Armagh, was indebted to him for its foundation and erection, as well as an old episcopal house at Armagh for its reparation, the addition of sundry new buildings, and the annexing to the see of three hundred acres of land near the town of Armagh, for mensal lands. By his care also the cathedral of Armagh, which had been destroyed by Shane O'Neal, was restored ; the walls with their windows recon- structed, the aisles reroofed, and the steeple rebuilt, 380 THE REIGN OF [CH. VI. Opening of the parliament. Conduct of the recusant nobility. Sir John D:ivies elected speaker of the House of Commons. and again furnished with the great bell, newly cast for the occasion. And he appears to have been particularly assiduous in repairing and rebuilding the parochial churches of his diocese 1 . A few days after his consecration, on the opening of the parliament in great state by the Lord Deputy, Arthur, Lord Chichester, May the 13th, the primate, after divine service, preached in St. Patrick's cathe- dral before the other prelates and temporal peers of the realm, with the exception of the recusant nobi- lity, who " went not into the church, neither heard divine service or sermon, notwithstanding they were lords of the parliament-house, and rode towards the church with the lords of estate : yet they stayed without during the time of service and sermon. Now when service was done, the Lord Deputy returned back to the castle: and those recusant lords joined themselves again with rest of the estate, and rode to the castle in manner as before they came from thence 2 ." Notwithstanding an ineffectual attempt to place in the chair of the House of Commons a Popish speaker, Sir John Davies was elected to the office : in discharging the duties of which he made an excel- lent speech to the Lord Deputy concerning the con- dition of the country, observing with regard to its former and its actual ecclesiastical state, as repre- sented in parliament, that in 4 former times "the bishops and archbishops, though their number was greater than now it is, in respect to the divers unions made of latter years, yet such as were resident in the more Irish countries, and did not acknowledge the king to be their patron, were never summoned 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 97. * Letter from Sir Christ. Plunket, Desiderata Curiosa Hibern., i. 167. SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 381 to any parliament;" but that "this parliament is called when all the lords spiritual do acknowledge Patronage of the the king of England to be their undoubted patron 8 ." Wed by a ii the f-\ i . spiritual peers. Un the present occasion twenty-five spiritual lords were in attendance. Although the meeting of the parliament had been accompanied by this and some other attempts on the part of the Papists in furtherance of their own projects, it passed without any act or other occurrence particularly affecting the Church. But A convocation of together with the parliament was assembled a con- vocation of the archbishops, bishops, and other clergy of the Church of Ireland, to deliberate solemnly with united efforts and counsels on matters relating to religion. From the language of those, who have trans- Question whe- mitted to us this information, it should seem that ^rtfaM the assembling of a convocation of the clergy was a customary accompaniment of the assembling of a parliament in Ireland as well as in England. Dr. Bernard and Dr. Parr, in their lives of Archbishop Ussher, relate, "Anno 1615, there was a parliament in Dublin, and so a convocation of the clergy:" apparently assuming the latter as a consequence of the former. The writer of the Archbishop's life, among Sir JAMES WARE'S Bishops, says, "A par- The fact liament was held in Ireland, and, according to cus- tom, a convocation of the clergy." And this appears to be the foundation of Dr. Smith's statement, in his life of the same prelate, " Ordinibus regni Hibernise parlamento Dublinii A. M.DCXV. habito coactis, pro more indicta erat nationals archiepis- coporurn, episcoporum, reliquique cleri Hibernise 9 DAVIES'S Tracts, pp. 302, 306. 382 THE REIGN OP [Cn. VI. But question- able. Chnvch of Ire- land in constant agreement with synodus." This statement of the custom may be correct, perhaps also it may be questionable ; at least I find no authority, in fact, for maintaining the existence of the custom ; in other words, I cannot call to mind any earlier example than the present of a convocation being holden. To proceed, however, to the business of this convocation. The Church of Ireland, from the fland * earliest days of the Reformation under King Edward the Sixth, and especially during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had depended in a principal degree, if not altogether, on the Church of England, and had been in agreement with that church in all things. Her bishops had been in a great measure either English- men, sent over from England, or the descendants of English parents, though of Irish birth. Her Liturgy, her forms of ordination, and her sacred rites and ceremonies, were the same. Her clergy practised an entire and regular conformity, so far as the differ- ent customs of the two countries would allow, to the articles and constitutions of the English Church : and whether on their admission to holy orders, or on their appointment to the cure of souls, or on their pro- motion to any ecclesiastical dignity, subscribed from the year 1562, the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth, to the English articles of faith. In common with others, James Ussher had thus subscribed, as appears from his sermon before the parliament of England, in which he most earnestly urges all to maintain the unity and peace of the church, from this just con- sideration, that those very articles ought to be accounted and were the measure, rule, and ground of our communion 4 . 4 Vita Jacoli Vsserii, Script. THOMA SMITHO, pp. 40, 72. Irish clergy sub- scribed the Eng- lish Articles of Religion. SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 383 But whether they wearied of their dependence, Desire of intro- or abated of their reverence for the Church of Eng- articles. land, there were at this time some of the clergy of the Irish Church who were ambitious of establishing an independent character; of framing articles of religion of their own, and by their own authority, and so of distinguishing themselves and their suc- cessors by their own peculiar character as a free national church. But the more powerful and the really actuating motive was that innovating spirit, which, having failed some years before in the attempt to ingraft the doctrine of Calvin on the profession of faith of the Anglican Church by means of the notorious Lambeth Articles, was now to be employed in attempting to substitute in the Irish Church a new profession, with which those articles should be incorporated. The articles, which were accordingly now drawn Their division into heads and up, consisted of one hundred and four paragraphs, sections. or sections, under nineteen heads; each head being divided into several sections. Thus, for example, the first, which is entitled, " Of the Holy Scripture, and the three Creeds," is divided into seven parts, which relate, respectively, to the holy Scripture as the ground of our religion and the rule of faith ; to the canonical books of the Old and New Testament ; to the apocryphal books; to the translation of the Scriptures into all languages, for the common use of all men ; to their clearness ; to their sufficiency for salvation; and to the three creeds, as capable of being proved by most certain warrant of holy Scrip- ture. They comprehended, "almost word for word," The Lambeth -' . . , Articles. as stated in a notice prefixed, "the nine articles agreed on at Lambeth, the 20th of November, anno 884 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Rejected in England, Adopted in Ireland. Distinguished in the general arrangement. 1595:" but whereas it is stated, that they were " agreed on at Lambeth," it is omitted to be added, that they were immediately suppressed by Queen Elizabeth, withdrawn by Archbishop Whitgift, and afterwards, at the instance of such men as Bishops Overall, Andrewes, and other luminaries of the English Church, disapproved and rejected by King James, when proposed to him by Dr. Reynolds, in the conference at Hampton Court. However the attempt, which had been defeated in England, was for the present more successful in Ireland. And accordingly, under the influence of James Ussher, not yet weaned from the consequences which prevailed some time after the Reformation, of studying divinity in the systems of modern divines, instead of learning the true doctrines of Christianity, and the real sense of Scripture in difficult or controverted passages, by having recourse to the guidance of the primitive Church and the writings of the early fathers, the Lambeth Articles were adopted. Each of these Lambeth Articles, and its respec- tive number, are pointed at by an index in the margin: the Nine Articles, sometimes standing apart, and forming each a separate article ; and being sometimes incorporated, or closely connected, with some other proposition. Thus under the third head, which is entitled, " Of God's eternal decree and predestination," the second division is composed entirely of the first and third of the Lambeth Articles, and is expressed as follows : "By the same eternal counsel God hath predestinated some unto life, and reprobated some unto death ; of both which there is a certain number, known only to God, which can neither be increased nor diminished." Whilst SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 385 under the same head the fifth division is compounded of two parts, the latter of which is marked by inverted commas, as here below copied, being the fourth of the Lambeth Articles : Such as are pre- destinated unto life be called according to God's purpose, (his Spirit working in due season,) and through grace they obey the calling, they be justified freely, they be made sons of God by adoption, they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, they walk religiously in good works, and at length by God's mercy they attain to ever- lasting felicity. " But such as are not predestinated to salvation, shall be finally condemned for their sins." Some of these articles are of a more diffuse and Discursive cha- racter of tho discursive character than usually belongs to confes- insu Articles, sions of faith, and approach rather to the nature of the homily : as, for instance the seventh, " Of justi- fication and faith ;" the tenth, " Of the service of God;" and the twelfth, "Of our duty towards our neighbours :" and some refer to topicks not usually unusual topickg made the subject of this sort of composition, such as the primeval state, and the fall of the angels, in the fourth article ; the proper dedication of the first day of the week, or the Lord's-day, in the tenth ; and the state of the souls of men after this life. As to the doctrine of these articles, that we may objections to speak historically of the manner in which they were regarded at the time, " I know no cause," says Dr. Bernard, in his Life of Archbishop Ussher, " of some men's speaking against them, unless for that they do determine, according to St. Augustine's doctrine against the Pelagians, ' the man of sin,' in 2 Thess. ii., ' to be the Bishop of Rome, as the Morality of the Sabbath.' " 2 c 386 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Concerning the Sabbath. Concerning Anti-Christ. The latter of the passages here alluded to, occurs thus in the concluding section of the tenth article : " The first day of the week, which is the Lord's-day, is wholly to be dedicated to the service of God ; and therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon religious exercises, both publick and private :" a sentiment, inoffensive as it might appear to us, and unexceptionable in its general bearing, although, with reference to then existing contro- versies, not unreasonably open to objection, as soon after it was objected to by Dr. Heylin, for appearing to inculcate the Sabbatarian doctrine of a Judaical rest being necessary to be observed on the Lord's- day, and to establish that doctrine as an article of faith 5 . The other excepted passage is at the end of the fourteenth article, which affirms that " the Bishop of Rome is so far from being the supreme head of the church universal of Christ, that his works and doc- trine do plainly discover him to be f that man of sin,' foretold in the Holy Scriptures, ' whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and abolish with the brightness of his coming:' a defi- nitive appropriation of a difficult and much contro- verted text which had recently received that inter- pretation at a Calvinistick synod of the French Reformers at Gappe in Normandy, but concerning which it may be thought that such a decided judg- ment of its bearing was not discreetly introduced into a body of articles of religion, constructed for the purpose of avoiding all diversity of opinion among the ministers of a national church. Hist, of the Sabbath, part ii., cliap. viii., p. 492. SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 387 Other exceptions were taken at the time, or not other exceptions long after, against these articles, as speaking the un &i private opinions of their composer, and as agreeable to the views, for which he also was supposed to have a predilection, both in doctrine and discipline, of many both members and opponents of the Irish church. Some of these exceptions may be seen in COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History, part ii., book viii., p. 708. But not to dwell upon them here, it may suffice strongest objec- to observe, that the strongest and most general objection to this declaration of the faith of the Irish church, whether or not it were, as has been imputed to it, " an absolute plot of the Calvinians of England to make themselves a powerful party in Ireland," was its adoption of the Lambeth Articles, which had been attempted to be introduced into the Church of England, but the attempt had notoriously failed. Concerning the merit or demerit of these Lambeth Articles no opinion needs to be expressed : but it may be remarked, that, whilst much encouragement was thereby given to the puritanical party, who had been lately brought out of Scotland into Ulster, to the discouragement and prejudice of the Church of Ireland, an impediment was thereby laid also in the An impediment way of an unity of sentiment and profession in the theTngiisn InT two Churches of England and Ireland : unless the Church of England, following the example now set, should annul her former decision, and admit the peculiarities of the Lambeth system into her decla- ration of faith ; or unless, what was at the time greatly more probable, and was eventually realized, the Church of Ireland should, by rescinding, or tacitly relinquishing, or letting pass into neglect and disuse, the questionable articles, retrace the steps 2 C 2 388 THE REIGN OF [Crt. VI. which she had imprudently taken, and fall back upon the surer and safer position of the English church. put forth as The Articles, of which some particulars have been now specified, were in the end put forth as Articles of Religion, agreed upon by the Arch- bishops, and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, in the Convocation holden at Dublin, in the year of our Lord God, 1615, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and the establishing of con- sent touching True Religion." And annexed to them was "The Decree of the Synod, If any Minister, of what degree or quality soever he be, shall publickly teach any doctrine contrary to these Articles agreed upon; if after due admonition he do not conform himself, and cease to disturb the peace of the Church, let him be silenced, and deprived of all spiritual promotions he cloth enjoy." A question was mooted at the time relative to the authority of the Articles, but has been answered by the irrefragable evidence of Dr. Bernard, in his Their authority life of Primate Ussher : " Now whereas some have doubted whether they were fully established as the Articles of Ireland ; I can testify that I have heard him say, that in the forenamed year, 1615, he saw them signed by Archbishop Jones, then lord chan- cellor of Ireland, and speaker of the house of bishops in convocation ; signed by the prolocutor of the house of the clergy in their names; and also signed by the then Lord Deputy Chichester, by order from King James, in his name. And," he proceeds, " whereas some have rashly affirmed that they were repealed by Act of Parliament, anno 1634, or recalled by any decree of the synod then, needs no further confutation than the sight of either." But SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 389 we need not now anticipate this question, which Question con. may be more fitly deferred till we come to the trans- ^peai. actions of that year. In the same year, wherein these articles were Regai visitation of the province agreed on, there seems to have been a regal visita- of Dublin, IGI*. tion of the province of Dublin. The MSS. Library of Trinity College contains the following document, with reference to the state of the diocese, and the difficulty of supplying its wants, by reason of the impropriations, and of the scarcity of sufficient mini- sters for the cures. The reader will notice the distinction between "preachers" and "reading mini- sters ;" a distinction which is frequently made in similar documents of this period, as was lately observed in the diocesan report of Ferns and Leigh- lin. The statement is evidently that of the arch- statement of his bishop himself, Thomas Jones, who had been con- bishop Jones. secrated bishop of Meath in 1584, and translated to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin in 1605 ; and the manuscript is apparently his own rough copy of his report to the visitors. "I confess," he says, "here is but a slender account impossibility of yielded of these two last deaneries, Omurthie and Wicklow, which lie in places remote. I humbly pray my true excuse may be considered of; which is, that I cannot possibly get curates to supply the services of these churches. The rec- tories are impropriate, and the farmers cannot be drawn to yield any competent means to administer for serving the cure ; besides, if \ve could get means, we cannot possibly get ministers. The natives of this kingdom, being gene- rally addicted to Popery, do train up their children in superstition and idolatry; so soon as they come to age, they send them beyond seas, from whence they return either priests, Jesuits, or seminaries, enemies to the religion esta- blished, and pernicious members to this state. Such English ministers and preachers> as come 'hither |for relief 390 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Archbishop's care in furnish- ing the Dublin churches with preachers. Number of ministers in the diocese. Repeated insD- lence of the Papists, 1616. Calumnies on the king's go- vernment, dedicated to the prince. out of England, we do but take them but upon credit, and many of them do prove of a dissolute life, which doth much hurt. I do humbly desire a small supply of ministers, and I will have an especial care to their placing in the best manner I can. Some places are fallen void since the begin- ning of this visitation, for which I know not how to provide incumbents ; for the present this is our case. " I might add hereunto that my archiepiscopal jurisdic- tion was granted away by my predecessor to a civilian. The grant was confirmed by both deans and chapters. My jurisdiction hath not yielded me any manner of profit, save only my .... since my preferment to this see ; in which time I have furnished all the churches of Dublin with sufficient preachers, which before they did want. I have preferred none but a preacher in my cathedral church, or other parts. I take God to witness, I have used my best endeavours to place a good ministry; and my care and travail shall be still employed to perform his majesty's religious directions, and to discharge a good conscience before God. " So within this diocese of Dublin there is the number of thirty-eight preachers, and above forty reading ministers ; besides there are two publick schoolmasters within this diocese, one within the city of Dublin, and the other in St. Patrick's ; which teach free schools, and their scholars do prosper well, thanks be]to God 6 ." In 1616 the interposition of the government was again called for, by the insolent conduct of the Papists, of which a specimen was given by the pub- lication of a book, written by David Rootli, vicar apostolick, at the instigation and charge of a Popish nobleman. The book was filled with a multitude of false and malicious accusations of the king's govern- ment in Ireland, and yet dedicated to the Prince of Wales : an example of singular shamelessness and 6 From the MS. E. 3, 14, Trin. I tion Book of the Province of Dub- Coll. Dublin. The Regal Visits \ lin in 1615. SEC. III.] KING JAMES I. 391 folly, to dedicate to the son aspersions and slanders upon the father. But, as if the author intended to mock the son, as well as to insult the father, he added another dedication, by way of appeal, to all foreign emperors, kings, and princes ; wherein he avers, that the Irish look for nothing, but that the king would use them like a king, that is, not like a tyrant : comparing King James to Julian the Apos- tate, and Caius Caligula; and the English to dogs and wild beasts 7 . But generally the exorbitances of the Papists Measures of counteraction by were at the time such as to constrain the govern- the government. ment to act towards them with greater strictness. Two measures were accordingly adopted for their more effectual restraint : one was the banishing of all their regular clergy, who swarmed in vast multi- tudes through almost every part of the kingdom; the other was to permit no magistrates or other officers to discharge their functions, unless they had qualified themselves by taking the oath of supremacy according to law. In pursuance of these resolutions a proclamation was issued against the Popish clergy, proclamation in October, 1617. And, on the 5th of March fol- pop^hc^gy, lowing, the government seized on the liberties of Waterford, with all their rent-rolls, ensigns of autho- rity, and publick revenues ; for that city had ren- dered itself particularly obnoxious to punishment for its magisterial delinquencies. Three mayors in three successive years had refused to take the oath of supremacy, when tendered by the Lord President of the province, acting under a special commission ; one of them, in the mean time, without the assist- niegai conduct . 1 . . Of the Mayor of ance of the Recorder, had presided at a gaol-delivery, and tried and condemned a person accused of felony, 7 Cox, ii. 33. 392 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. and by his own order caused him to be executed. It appeared also on an investigation taken in Sep- tember, 1617, that the statute of Queen Elizabeth for uniformity had not been given in charge at their sessions for two years preceding 8 . Death of Bishop Mountgomery, Contest of the new Bishop of Clogher with the Primate. SECTION IV. Elevation of James Ussher to the Bishoprick of Meath. His Efforts for the Conversion of Papists. King's Commis- sion for inquiring into the State of the Province of Armagh. Reports from Seven Dioceses in that Province. Presumption of the Popish Clergy exemplified. Bishop Ussher's Sermon on the Swearing-in of Lord Deputy Viscount Falkland. Primate Hamptoiis Letter on the occasion. Proceedings concerning the Papists. Death of Primate Hampton. Bishop of Meath appointed to succeed him. Death of the King . State of the Church. IN 1620 died George Mountgomery, bishop of Clogher, during whose incumbency King James annexed many other grants, and especially the abbey of Clogher, with its revenues, to the bishoprick, which thus became one of the richest in the kingdom. His death caused a vacancy at the same time in the see of Meath, which for ten years had been possessed by him together with that of Clogher 1 . In the see of Clogher he was succeeded by James Spottiswood, brother of the celebrated John Spottis- wood, archbishop of St. Andrew's, in Scotland, and chancellor of that kingdom ; but before his consecra- tion he had a contest with Primate Hampton, con- cerning the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction by a bishop before his solemn ordination to that office. The Primate was disposed to bring the matter to a pub- 8 Cox, ii. 34, ! WARE'S Bishops, p. 188. SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 393 lick trial ; but from this he was dissuaded by Ussher, Mediation of who had on the same occasion been elected to sue- l ceed Mountgomery in the see of Meath ; and who, whilst he censured the unadvised contestation of the Bishop of Clogher with his metropolitan, and professed his own determination not to act to the derogation of the archiepiscopal authority, nevertheless doubted the result of a publick trial in the King's Court, however the question might be otherwise decided at a disputation in the schools. The Primate, however, maintained, in answer, his original opinion and pur- pose. Whether he afterwards saw cause to alter his Adjustment of views, or whether the bishop-elect became sensible thedispute - of the scandal of such a question, between the first and an inferior member of the hierarchy, being dis- cussed in a temporal court, and in consequence withdrew from prosecuting the contest : the dispute was not carried to that extremity, but, after some expostulation, was peaceably composed. Meanwhile Ussher, whose election to the see of ussher appointed Meath has been already noticed, was indebted for tL oniieath. his elevation to the good opinion entertained by the king of his piety, wisdom, and exquisite learning. The appointment is attributed to the king's own motion ; and it is said that he used often to boast that Ussher was a bishop of his own making 2 . His conge d'elire being sent over, "he was elected by the dean and chapter there," says Dr. Parr, without naming the cathedral. And the following extract from a letter from Oliver St. John, Viscount Grandi- Letter of con- son, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, testifies the good from viscount will entertained towards him in that kingdom : " I thank God for your preferment to the bishoprick of Meath. His majesty therein hath done a gracious 2 WARE'S Bislops, p, 103, 394 THE REIGN OF . VI. Bishop Usshcr's exertions for the conversion of Papists. 1621. favour to his poor Church here. There is none here but are exceeding glad that you are called there- unto ; even some papists themselves have largely testified their gladness of it 3 ." society "DO The erection of the society, "De Propaganda Fide-Instituted. Fide," at Rome, which has jurisdiction over missions and foreign Churches, and the influence of which has been sensibly felt by the Churches of England and Ireland, was nearly coincident with the elevation of Bishop Ussher to the episcopal order 4 . Mean- while his high promotion rather increased than abated his desire to advance the religious reformation of Ireland, by spreading abroad, both publickly arid privately, the verities of the Christian faith. On his return to his own country, in 1621, having been consecrated at Drogheda by Primate Hampton, he directed his mind and efforts especially to the conversion of the members of the Romish com- munion, who abounded in great numbers in his diocese, and whom he endeavoured to reclaim, by private conversation and gentle methods of reason- ing. He was desirous, also, of preaching to them in publick, to which they objected, from their disin- clination to take part in the Church service ; but at last they consented to hear him preach, provided it were not in a church. He condescended to their exceptions ; and regarding himself, we must suppose, as exempt from that local restriction which in com- mon cases is fitly imposed on the publick ministra- tions of the clergy, preached to them in the sessions- house; and his sermon is said to have had such effect upon the hearers, that their priests prohibited them for the future to hear him in any place. The religious ignorance and prejudices of these 3 Parr's Life, p. 17. 4 Cox, ii, 35. Effects of his preaching. SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 395 poor people were indeed deeply to be deplored. A ignorance and -, , . . . T , i prejudices of tho general obstinacy in clinging to their prepossessions, Papists. and a fond devotion to the reading of idle legends of the lives of their saints, were combined with utter destitution of all true knowledge of the Holy Scrip- tures ; and, blinded as they were by the strong and prevailing influence of these superstitions, the most powerful arguments could draw from them only this answer, " That they followed the religion of their fore- Their pieathat they followed the fathers, and would never depart from it. What, religion of their indeed, the religion of their forefathers had been they little knew ; and it was to confute this error of the Papists, and to give convincing proofs that Popery was not the old religion of the kingdom, that Bishop Ussher about this time composed his "Discourse on the usher's DIS- Religion anciently professed by the Irish and British ;" Religion of their and showed that ignorance of the Holy Scriptures, and purgatory, and image-worship, and the sacrifice of the mass, and half-communion, and transubstan- tiation, and clerical celibacy, and Papal supremacy, and the Bishop of Rome's spiritual jurisdiction in the Christian Church, did not constitute parts of that ancient religion. In the early part of the year 1622, the king R 0ya i visitation issued a commission, in obedience to which the of Armagh! 110 ' several diocesans in the province of Ulster, or speaking ecclesiastically, of Armagh, made a report of the true state of their respective bishopricks and dioceses. These reports, witli the exception of that of the Bishop of Dromore, the absence of which is not accounted for, have been preserved in a manu- script in the library of Trinity College, Dublin ; and contain much curious information upon the usual topicks of visitatorial inquiries, rendered, however, 396 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Account of seven of the northern dioceses. Diocese of Armagh. Benefices. curates. Parsonage- houses. Churches. specially valuable in the present case by the remote- ness of the period, and the general scantiness of detailed intelligence concerning it, as well as by the character of authenticity which belongs to the reports. It is proposed in this place to make an abstract of the document in its leading particulars, and thus to illustrate the condition of the Church, as to several articles of statistical inquiry, in the seven northern dioceses of Armagh, Meath, Kilmore and Ardagh, Clogher, Derry, Raphoe, and Down and Connor. 1. Besides the dignities usually, but not always, appended to an Irish Cathedral, namely the deanery, archdeaconry, precentorship, chancellorship, and treasurership, the Archdiocese of Armagh contained at the time in question forty-six rectories, and thirteen vicarages: the duties of which were dis- charged by forty-seven incumbents, resident or at least serving their respective cures partly or alto- gether, and by thirteen curates; making in the whole sixty officiating ministers, some of whom are especially noted as being "preachers;" there were also about eighteen non-resident incumbents. There appear to have been only twenty parsonage-houses in a habitable state, and six others decayed. The remaining benefices had no such provision for the minister. For the celebration of divine worship there were fifty-one churches in good or sufficient repair, of which twenty-three were newly built, or actually in building. Two or three of these are stated to have been undertaken by private gene- rosity; but in general there is no mention of the manner in which the cost of erection was defrayed. There were also belonging to these benefices about eighteen churches, in a ruinous or decayed state. cures. SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 307 In addition to these rectories and vicarages, thera Appropriate or ,t , ,t . impropriate were thirty-three appropriate, or, as they are now most commonly called, impropriate curacies, ths tithes being in the hands of laymen, who made some small allowance to the curates. On one of these there was a resident curate: in ten the cure was served sometimes, " or according to the means ;" in the remaining twenty-two it seems not to have been EVI served at all. Seven of the churches belonging to these cures were in repair, twenty-five were ruinous. Besides these, five other appropriate cures were without a curate, and without a church. The value of these different benefices varied among themselves, being, on a general view, greater or less according to their respective positions in the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, and Louth. In the in the county of county of Armagh, the highest was 120/.; the lowest SO/., of which there was only one : the next lowest was 50/., of which there were two : then several of 60/. or 80/., and one of 100/. : giving on an average to each of fourteen benefices in that county the yearly income of about 731. Ws. In Tyrone, the or Tyrone? highest was 100/., the lowest 10/., between which extremes the scale was continually changing : thus, on the whole, of twenty-two benefices in that county the average was about 30/. 15s. The Louth livings, And of Louth. which comprised the vicarages, were, again, of in- ferior value : the highest being 261. ; several of the lowest no more than 21. or 31. ; one of no value at all : thus the twenty-five in that county produced on an average not quite 10/. each. The income of the smaii income of impropriate curacies graduated from 5/., of which cm P es? pli there were two, to 5s., of which there were several ; the average income of thirty-one of these curacies being II. 10s.; and the income of eight being nothing. 398 THE REIGN OF |_CH. VI. Irish readers. Diocese of Meath. Sximmary of the diocese. Benefices. curates. Parsonage houses. It may be not unworthy of notice, that there are specified in the diocese three curates, two in the county of Tyrone and one in that of Louth, who could read Irish, as well as English. 2. Of the diocese of Meath, I shall commence with giving the summary, subjoined to the detailed exposition, by Bishop Ussher, and dated the 28th of May, in the year of our Lord God 1622. The exposition itself is voluminous, and supplies the par- ticulars relative to the churches and parsonage- houses, which will be inserted with the summary. " There are in the Diocese of Meath : " Dignities two, both belonging to the patronage of the Bishop of Meath. " Rectories, collative, presentative, and institutive, fifty-one. " Vicarages, collative, presentative, and institutive, sixty-three. " Cnrateships, or cures belonging to impropriate recto- ries and others, in all seventy- three. " Chapels of ease, forty- three. " The patrons of every living, and the farmers of the impropriate rectories, are all set down and specified in the first column, of which such as are recusants are noted in the margent." Thus the total number of benefices in Meath was two hundred and thirty-two. Of the incum- bents, thirty-two were non-resident. The incum- bents of the others, together with twenty curates, discharged the parochial duties in the diocese. It is not, however, by any means to be supposed, that each of these was resident on, or served, the cure of a separate benefice. The want of residences ren- dered the former impossible, for there were only seventy-six parsonage-houses in repair: in parishes SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 399 where there had been any in former times, there remained about twenty-two in a state of ruin or decay; in the rest, forming in fact a considerable majority, there appear to have been none at all. Nor was it possible that each cure could have the smaii income of . . . . , . ITT incumbents. services of a separate minister : this was precluded by the miserable pittance which formed the incum- bent's income, amounting to a few pounds, or a few marks, or in many instances to only a few shillings a year. The practice therefore appears to have been consequent . -, n , . t/T . practice. tor an incumbent to fix himself in his parsonage- house, if he possessed one, otherwise in some other parish of his cure, or in some town as near as pos- sible ; and thence to discharge his duty as he could, often, it is to be feared, very insufficiently. Upon this point the following remarks of the diocesan are most important, and show the difficul- ties which beset him. " If," says Bishop Ussher, "the smallness of the means Diocesan's opi- which cometh to incumbents be regarded, then many of the question of union livings in this diocese are fit to be united, to make up a ofpari competent means for the minister. But if the spaciousness of the parishes which are large, and consist of so many inhabitants, as, if they should : be reformed and brought to the church, would be more in each parish than the church would hold ; and the difference of the patrons, the patron- ages being in several men's hands ; I think none of them fit to be united. But that there were power and authority given to the bishop, for the bettering of the means of the well-deserving ministers, to unite such and so many livings of the value of twenty pounds sterling per annum and under, as he shall think fitting, during the incumbency of the well- deserving minister." In this diocese there appear to have been seventy-eight churches reported as in a state of m repaired repair, and one hundred and fifty ruinous. But the 400 THE REIGN OF [On. VI. Diocese of Kil- more and Ar- dagh. Benefices. Incumbents and curates. Irish ministers or readers. Small incomes of the clergy. Evil of impro- priations. Churches. Parsonage- Glehes laid out not according to the king's direc- tions. diocesan, in his summary, appends this observation : "All the churches specified in this certificate, are fit to be builded, repaired, and re-edified." 3. In the united diocese of Kilmore and Ardagh, besides the two deaneries and archdeaconries, there were sixty-four benefices, on which about twenty of the incumbents were non-resident ; the rest being either resident, or at least serving their respective cures, as already explained, with the assistance of about ten curates. Of these, two are particularly noted, as ministers "of the country by birth," and two others as being "capable of reading divine service in the Irish tongue." Similar cases have been already stated, as existing in the diocese of Armagh; and it may be well to remark in passing, that the date of this document is antecedent to Bishop Bedell's time. Several of the cures in this diocese were served by the same minister ; and some were not served at all for want of means, the tithes in such cases being altogether subtracted from the vicar or curate by the impropriator ; and in one case the curate being locked out of the church, and not suffered to do the duty, by the Earl of Westmeath, an impropriator to a large amount. The churches in repair were four- teen, and one was in building ; those that were not well repaired, or were ruinous, were fifty-five. There were thirteen habitable parsonage-houses ; on the other benefices there were none, but thirteen of the incumbents were "bound to build." The diocesan, Bishop Moygne, appends an observation, that " in the county of Leitrim, the glebes for the most part are laid out in the most unprofitable places, and remotest from the church, howsoever his majesty gave directions to the contrary." SEC. IV.] KING JAMES t. 401 4. In the diocese of Clogher, the diocesan, Diocese of Bishop Spottiswood, reported two dignitaries, the clo * ller ' dean and the archdeacon : and requested resolution and advice upon a difficulty which had arisen from the conduct of his predecessor, Bishop Mount- gomery, who, "without warrant from his majesty, irregular act of or consent of the clergy, had altered the corporation, the late bishop - and to the dean and archdeacon had added a pre- centor and chancellor, with only a verbal inaugura- tion." Besides the two dignities, the diocese con- Benefices. tained twenty-nine rectories and seven vicarages, the cures of which were served by fourteen resident incumbents and six curates. One of the incumbents incumbents ana is stated to have been non-resident, "because there c was no British plantation, but he kept an Irish curate :" and in the case of another, his brother is mentioned as serving the cure, " who, because he is not in orders, hath the primate's licence." There were only four parsonage-houses in repair; none in p a rsonage- the other parishes. The churches in repair were chSes. five ; and there were four new, or in building, mass, in one case, being performed in the old church. The churches in ruin or decay were twenty-eight. In this diocese were few impropriations ; one bene- value of bene- fice was as high as 160/., another as 100/., two as low as 61. and SI. Upon the entire number of thirty-six, the average was about 321. 10s. a year. 5. The diocese of Deny, besides the arch- Diocese of Deny. deaconry and three prebends, contained forty-five Benefices, parishes, divided into four rural deaneries. There appear to have been only two non-resident incum- incumbents and bents; the others, with the assistance of fifteen curates, discharged the parochial duties. One of Irish ministers. the incumbents is described by the diocesan, Bishop Downham, as "an honest man, but no licensed 402 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Irish clerks. Irish scholars. Converted Popish priests. preacher, notwithstanding to catechise, and to speak and read Irish, and sufficient for a parish, wholly consisting of Irish :" and he describes another as "an Irishman of mean gifts, having a little Latin and no English, but thought by my predecessor sufficient for a parish consisting wholly of Irish." The bishop also speaks of a parish where, during the temporary absence of the incumbent recently appointed, " the cure for reading was discharged by an Irish clerk, and for other occasions by neighbour- ing ministers :" of another, where the incumbent " dischargeth the cure as he may with the help of an Irish clerk, the whole parish consisting of Irish recusants :" of another, where the incumbent " dis- chargeth the cure, partly by himself every other Sabbath, and in his absence by an Irish clerk, tole- rated to read either English or Irish :" of another, where, "in the incumbent's absence, if any of his parishioners would come, as I suppose few or none do, the cure would be discharged after a sort by his clerk, being an Irish scholar:" of another, where "the cure is served partly by the incumbent him- self, and partly by an Irish clerk, the parish con- sisting wholly of Irish peasantry." One or two other instances occur, where mention is made of the cure being "partly served by an Irish scholar," without specifying the capacity in which he acted; and in one case it is reported, that in the absence of the incumbent, who repaired to his church every other Sunday, " the clerk taketh upon him, as I now understand, to serve the cure." By "the clerk" in these instances appears to be intended the parish clerk. One example in this diocese is given of a con- verted Popish priest, "late by the Pope's grant SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 403 dean of Deny ; but now, being conformable to the Reformed religion, was by the appointment of the last Lord Deputy preferred to this small parish and another which followeth : the cure of both which is by the incumbent after a sort discharged." There appear to have been thirteen parsonage- Parsonage- houses in the diocese of Derry, none in the other parishes. There appear also to have been nine churches. churches repaired ; seven new or in building ; and thirty-three unrepaired or ruinous. Some of the churches were rebuilt by the London companies ; and there occur several instances of divine service being celebrated in a private house during the temporary want of a church. The diocesan recommends eight parishes to be Diocesan's ad- united, so as to form four : " and in every pair of unfonofpLuhes. these," he says, "one church is sufficient. All other churches are needful to be repaired, and it is lamentable to behold the desolation of the most." He complains of "the jurisdiction usurped by m s complaint of authority from Rome, to the great dishonour of God usurpeTby Ct and hindrance of religion, and shame of government. The chief authority," he says, "is derived in the pretended archbishop of Dublin, and the pretended vice-primate of Armagh, by whom was made a vicar- general of Derry." "By him are priests placed in EVU influence of every parish, to celebrate the mass, and to execute Popishpne all other priestly functions; who, though they be rude, ignorant, and vicious fellows, yet carry the natives after them generally; neither is there any hope of reformation, whiles they are suffered to reside among the people. Under the vicar-general are placed four officials, at the least, in the four deaneries, who, amongst many other abominations that they practise, do for small rewards divorce 2 D 2 404 THE HEIGN OF [Cii. VI. Especially as to marriages. Insufficiency of the laws. Complaint con- cerning the ministers' glebes. Diocese of Ra- phoe. Banefiees. Incumbents and curates. Irish language. Parsonage- houses. Churches. married couples, and set them at liberty to marry others ; insomuch that there is scarce any of years, but he hath more wives living, and few women which have not plurality of husbands." " For the removing of these Popish priests our laws are weak and powerless : neither can I get the assistance of the military men, as I desire. And that which discourageth me most is, that when I have got one of them apprehended and convicted, and committed, they have been by corruption set at liberty to follow their former courses. Or when I have excommunicated them, and procured the writ de excommunicate capicndo, the sheriff of the county of Londonderry, Tyrone, and Donegall, cannot be got to apprehend them, and bring them to prison." Occasion was also taken by the bishop to com- plain, in the names of the ministers, that they were not established in their new glebes by any legal assurance : and that they were laid out, for the most part, in places too remote, and divers of them in other parishes. 6. In the diocese of Raphoe, including the cures of the dean and chapter, the component parts of which are specified, as four prebends, there were twenty-seven parishes, of which the cures were served by twelve incumbents, assisted by ten curates. Two of these incumbents were acquainted with the Irish language, and able to teach therein ; three of the curates were converted priests ; five were read- ing ministers, both in English and Irish ; and there were two parish clerks, who could read the Common Prayer Book in Irish. There seem to have been only two parsonage-houses, the other parishes being destitute of them. Of the churches, nine were repaired or repairing; three were new, or in build- SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 405 ing; seventeen were out of repair or ruinous; among these was the cathedral, of which the walls only were standing, but a new roof had been for two years in preparation, " which, God willing, was to be set up this summer, at the bishop's and parishioners' charge." The deanery of Raphoe was presentative by his patronage of the majesty ; the rest of the dignities and parish churches bencfices ' were at the bishop's collation, except nine, two of which were presentative by private patrons, and seven by the college of Dublin. " Those ministers and incumbents before mentioned have hoi den their several dignities and parishes, of the diocese of Raphoe, being legally instituted and inducted there- unto, since the time of his majesty's new plantation of Ulster. But," adds the bishop, "I cannot find by any record of the said diocese remaining, what admissions, institutions, and inductions, since the 10 th of Henry the Eighth, have been made to the time of the said plantation. And it is like, the want of records , .(. , , . ,. , , since 10 Henry records, it any have been, in war-time were lost. vm. " Of the aforesaid parishes, though the most part Diocesan* ,, ._ _ . , opinion on the be very small, and unable to maintain an honest union of minister, yet can they not be well united, albeit ten- uitatis gratia pro hac vice the incumbents have them by his majesty's most gracious dispensations, for they are next joining and convenient to be united, belong- ing to the presentations of divers patrons, who will not possibly agree together." Several grievances were laid before the commis- Grievances ,.-.. /. stated by the sioners by the bishop and clergy or this diocese, 01 bishop and which two or three may be mentioned. One of them set forth that "whereas the ancient A warrant sought for repairing parish churches of the diocese were for the most churches, part ruinated, and none of them in good and suffi- 406 THE REIGN OF [Cii. VI. Inconvenient situation of the glebe lands. Prayer for thp maintenance of parish clerks. Prayer for in- dulgence towards Irish scholars. cient repair, and the parishioners refractory and unwilling to rectify the same ;" they therefore prayed " a warrant to the bishop, assisted with the minister and churchwardens of every parish, for plotting and levying the equal taxation of the parishioners, as formerly have been done by the Lord Deputy of this kingdom, that the material churches of the said diocese may be finished as they are begun." Another set forth, that " the glebe lands, lately allotted to the parish churches in the diocese, do not lie near the several parish churches, nor any way conveniently for the ministers, but lie in remote places, far from the church, which is the great and only stay of not building of the minister upon the said glebes ;" and they therefore pray, " that some convenient course may be taken for the exchange of parcels of land, being near the churches, with as much of the several ministers' glebes as shall be proportionable for quantity and quality." Another sets forth the custom, " that there shall be parish clerks in every parish, maintained by a certain mean contribution of the parishioners; yet, notwithstanding, in the diocese of Raphoe all the parishioners are refractory and unwilling to yield any benevolence at all for the maintenance of the said clerks ;" and they accordingly pray, " that some mean consideration may be set down, to be levied by yearly distress by the churchwardens from the refusers." And another sets forth, that "whereas in the said diocese there are clivers Irish scholars, who have ponformed themselves in religion, and are curates in divers parishes under the British ministers, and yet are fined as the rest of the multitude of the natives, for that they have their residence upon under- takers' lands, which should be planted with British SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 407 tenants;" whereupon they pray to be "relieved of such fines, seeing they serve in the Church, and endeavour, by all means, the conversion of their country-people." 7. The report of the united diocese of Down and Diocese of DOWU Connor is given with less fulness and precision, and with less of incidental information, bearing on the general history of the Church. It appears, however, that the diocese contained sixteen churches in a churches, state of repair, and about one hundred and ten in a state of decay or ruin : added to which were forty- five chapels, also in a ruinous condition. These C hapeis,aiocai chapels seem to have had some local peculiarity; pec ' for, with reference to the parish of Abbevaddo, alias Belfast, the following remark occurs : " This church is known to have six chapels, all which make but one parish ; and by this it appeareth, evidently, that these small chapels, whereof there are a great num- ber in this diocese, were part and parcel of some church, and must yet of necessity be united and cast to the next adjacent churches." But, besides these, Necessity of there were many other denominations of vicarages, curacies, or chapels, of such small value, by reason of the tithes being impropriate, as to be incapable of i mp ropriations; maintaining a minister ; so that it had been neces- quenceL c n sary to unite no less than six or eight into a single benefice, and in some cases to leave the cure altoge- ther unserved. The whole of the benefices of the Benefices. diocese were under the care of about forty-three resident ministers, of whom four were curates ; Ministers. nearly trebling the number of the churches fit for use, churches. but yielding an insufficient supply for the number and extent of the parishes in an extensive diocese. In 1622, the presumption and arrogance of the 408 THE REIGN OF [Cu. VI. Presumption of Popish clergy and their adherents were exemplified the Popish clergy in the Diocese of by two occurrences in the diocese or Meath, and Meath. . . . 1622. gave occasion to some publick notice and agitation . It was certified to the diocesan by a letter from Mr. John Ankers, preacher of Athlone, (such is the title A clergyman by which the bishop designates him,) "That, going prevented from r--n TXT- L TV r ^i i officiating by a to read prayers at Kilkenny, in West Meath, he found an old priest, and about forty with him, in the church ; who was so bold as to require him, the said Ankers, to depart until the priest had done his Friars of business." The other case concerned the friars of Multifernam. Multifernam, who, not content to possess the house of Multifernam alone, from which they had been dislodged by the late Lord Deputy, Lord Grandison, were going about making collections for the building of another abbey at Mullingar, for the reception of a fresh body of their order. Bishop ussher-8 Soon after these occurrences, uamelv, on the 8th sermon before ^ the Lord Deputy, of September, Henry Gary, viscount Falkland, was sworn in Lord Deputy; on which occasion of his receiving the sword, Bishop Ussher was called upon to preach at Christ Church: when fitting himself, as he says, to the present occasion, he took for his text those words in the 14th to the Romans, "He beareth not the sword in vain." There he showed, Account given 1st, what was meant by this sword; 2ndlv, the of the sermon by the preacher. subject wherein that power rested; ordly, the mat- ters wherein it was exercised ; 4thly, thereupon, what it was to bear the sword in vain. Whereupon, falling upon the duty of the magistrates, in seeing those laws executed, that were made for the fur- therance of God's service, he first declared, that no m ore was to be expected herein from the subordinate magistrate than he had received in commission from the supreme, in whose power it lay to limit the 5 Cox, ii. 30. SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 409 other at his pleasure. Secondly, he wished that, if his majesty, who is, under God, our supreme gover- nour, were pleased to extend his clemency towards his subjects that were recusants, some order, not- withstanding, might be taken with them, that they should not give us publick affronts, and take posses- sion of our churches before our faces. And that it might appear that it was not without cause that he made his motion, he instanced in the two cases, which had lately fallen out, at Athlone and Multi- fernam. These things he only touched in general, not mentioning any circumstances of persons or places. Thirdly, he entreated, that whatsoever con- nivance were used unto others, the laws might be strictly executed against such as revolted from us, that we might at leastwise keep our own, and not suffer them without all fear to fall away from us. Lastly, he made a publick protestation, that it was far from his mind to excite the magistrates unto any violent courses against them, as one that natu- rally abhorred all cruel dealings, and wished that effusion of blood might be held rather the badge of the whore of Babylon, than of the Church of God fi . This is the account, which the preacher gives of his sermon, in a letter of Oct. 1C, 1622, to the Lord Deputy, Viscount Grandison, as a particular, "which partly concerned the bishop himself, and in some sort also the state of the Church in this poor nation." And he then proceeds to state, in few words, the offence which had been taken, and his own vindica- offence taken at tion. " These points, howsoever, they were delivered ^JlSirt by me with such limitations, as in moderate men's vindicatlou - judgments might seem rather to intimate an allow- ance of a toleration in respect of the general, than c PARK'S Life of Utsher, p. 83. 410 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Letter from Prim ate Hamp- ton to Bishop Ussher. to exasperate the state into any extraordinary severity ; yet did the Popish priests persuade their followers that I had said, ' The sword had rusted too long in the sheath,' whereas in my whole sermon I never made mention either of 'rust' or 'sheath:' yea, some also did not stick to give it out, that I did thereby closely tax yourself for being too remiss in prosecuting the Papists, in the time of your govern- ment. I have not such diffidence in your lordship's good opinion of me, neither will I wrong myself so much, as to spend time in repelling so lewd a calum- niation. Only I thought good to mention these things unto your lordship, that if any occasion should be offered hereafter to speak of them, you might be informed in the truth of matters." But the following day produced a letter from the Lord Primate, Archbishop Hampton, to the Bishop of Meath, breathing great mildness and benignity, but evidently written under the persuasion, that the sermon had been delivered indiscreetly, and required an apology in extenuation, " Salutem in Christo. " My Lord, Recommends " ^ n *^ e exceptions taken by the recusants against satisfaction to be your sermon, I cannot be affected, as Gallic was at the beating of Sosthenes, to care nothing for them. I am sensible of that which my brethren suffer : and if my advice had been required, I should have counselled your lordship to give lenitives of your own accord, for all which was conceived over harsh or sharp ; the inquisition, whether an offence were given or taken, may add to the flame already kindled, and provoke further displeasure ; it is not like to pacify anger. But let your case be as good as Peter's was, when the brethren charged him injuriously for preaching to the uncircumcised, the great Apostle was content to give them a fair publjclv satisfaction, Acts xi.: SEC. IV. J KING JAMES I. 411 and it wrought good effects, for the text saith, His audit-is, quieverunt et glorifi-caverunt Deum; 'it brought peace to the congregation, and glory to God. 1 "My noble Lord Deputy hath propounded a way of Lord Deputy's pacification, that your lordship should here satisfy such of tI a n. fpaC1 the lords as would be present, wherein my poor endeavours shall not be wanting. Howbeit, to say ingenuously what I think, that is not like to have success : for the Lord of Kilkenny, and your other friends, trying their strengths in that kind at Trim, prevailed not ; but can tell your lordship what is expected. And, if my wishes may take place, seeing so many men of quality have something against you, course recom- tarry not till they complain, but prevent it by a voluntary retraction, and milder interpretation of the points offensive, and especially of drawing the sword, of which spirit we are not, nor ought to be ; for our weapons are not carnal, but spiritual. Withal it will not be amiss, in mine opinion, for your lordship to withdraw yourself from these parts, and to spend more time in your own diocese ; that such, as will not hear your doctrine, may be drawn to love and reverence your lordship for your hospitality and conversa- tion. Bear with the plainness of an old man's pen ; and leave nothing undone to recover the intercourse of amity between you and the people of your charge. Were it but one that is alienated, you would put on the bowels of the Evangelical shepherd, you would seek him and support his infirmities with your own shoulders : how much more is it to be done when so many are in danger to be lost ? But they are generous and noble, and many of them near unto you in blood or alliance ; which will plead effectually and conclude the matter fully, whensoever you show yourself ready to give them satisfaction. In the mean time, I will not fail to pray God for his blessings unto the business; and so do rest " Your lordship's very loving brother, " Tredagk, October 17, 1622." " ARMAGH 7 ." What was the consequence of this beautiful and consequence of the primate's truly fatherly appeal of the primate, does not appear, letter not known. 7 PARK'S Life of Ussher, p. 84. 412 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VI. Popish magi- strates refuse to take the oath of supremacy. Nov., 1622. Censured in the star chamber. Bishop of Meath's argu- ment on the occasion. The common lives, indeed, of Bishop Ussher take no notice of this expostulation ; and DR. PARR'S Collec- tion of Letters, which contains the foregoing, makes no mention of any answer. Cox, indeed, relates, that, however groundless was the clamour of the Papists, the bishop was fain to preach an explanatory sermon to appease it. Such a sermon, if preached, probably resulted from the archbishop's advice : but I cannot verify Cox's relation. In the following month, November, 1622, some Irish Papists of quality, having been promoted to certain publick offices, refused to take the oath of supremacy, in obedience to the law. For preserving the authority of the law inviolate, and for maintain- ing the publick tranquillity, the Lord Deputy and the privy council thought it necessary to inflict a censure upon them' in the star chamber. The 22nd of November was the day appointed for their appearance. And then, the danger of the law for refusing the oath was opened by the judges ; and the quality and quantity of the offence aggravated to the full by those who spoke of them : whereupon the Bishop of Meath took up the subject, being a member of the council, stating that the part, most proper for him to deal with, was the information of the conscience, touching the truth and equity of the matters contained in the oath. The positive duty of acknowledging the supremacy of the government of these realms, in all causes whatsoever, to rest in the king's highness only; and the negative duty of renouncing all jurisdictions and authorities of any foreign prince or prelate, within his majesty's do- minions ; were calmly and deliberately argued, and in a form calculated, as appears, not only to avoid SEC. IV.] KING JAMES I. 413 offence, but to give satisfaction; for some of the persons, who had been summoned to hear the sentence of premunire pronounced against them, expressed themselves convinced by the bishop's reasoning, and submitted willingly to take the oath 8 . In 1623, January the 21st, another proclamation was published against the Popish clergy, secular and Popish clergy. regular, ordering them to depart the kingdom within forty days, after which all persons were forbidden to converse with them. It was probably executed after the usual manner of such proclamations 9 . In the same year, 1623, Kim? James, by letters Patent to the Archbishop of patent, dated April the 10th, granted to Archbishop Armagh, giving Hampton, and his successors, Archbishops of Armagh, mt special . marriage for ever, among other things, a power or issuing licenses. 1623* licenses, or faculties for marriages at uncanomcal hours and places, with a right of appointing com- missaries for granting such faculties, usually called in Ireland prerogative licenses. The patent was given in virtue of two Irish statutes, which in the beginning of the grant are mentioned as the foun- dation of the several powers therein granted : namely, wise, in preaching publickly against this kind of toleration ; I hope the great charge, laid upon them by yourselves in the parliament, wherein that statute was enacted, will plead their excuse. For there the lords temporal, and al] the commons, do, in God's name, earnestly require and charge all archbishops and bishops, and other ordinaries, that they should endeavour themselves, to the utmost of their know- ledge, that the due and true execution of this statute may Appeal to the be had throughout their dioceses ; and they are charged, as recusants. they will answer it before God, for such evil and plagues, as Almighty God might justly punish his people with, for neglecting these good and wholesome laws. So that, if in this case they had holden their tongues, they might have been [censured little better than atheists, and made them- selves accessory to the drawing down of God's heavy ven- geance upon the people." It will be observed, that in this vindication of Difference of the grounds alleged the Judgment of the bishops, the primate employed forthe jud g - an argument, founded on the law of the land, which prescribed their duty, and personally applicable to his hearers. And this was prudently adapted to the circumstances under which lie spoke. But the Judgment itself had taken the higher and holier ground of the sinfulness of the Popish superstitions and idolatries in God's sight, and of the sinfulness of their being accessory to them, and instrumental in propagating them to the seduction and perdition of the people; especially out of regard to any worldly compensation. This speech of the Lord Primate failed of attain- Effects of the ing the effect, which had been much to be desired. l Dr. Parr, whilst he records, laments the failure, with the remark, that the standing forces, then moved for, which were to have been all Protestants, would in all probability have prevented that cruel rebellion 428 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Publick exercise of Popery dis- allowed. King's accept- ance of contri- butions unsatis- factory. which broke out a few years after. At the request of the Lord Deputy, a copy of the speech was given to him, and transmitted to the king, who received it with an expression of his approbation, as much con- ducing to his service and the publick safety. Mean- while this zealous protestation^ of the bishops drew from the House of Commons of England a remon- strance to his majesty to this effect : "That the Popish religion was publickly professed in every part of Ireland ; and that monasteries and nunneries were there newly erected, and replenished with votaries of both sexes, which would be of evil consequence, unless sea- sonably repressed.' 5 And these two extraordinary actions put a stop to any further attempts for the publick exercise of Popery in Ireland at that time 10 . Still, in consideration of a certain payment undertaken by the Irish agents, the English govern- ment thought it reasonable that the king should signify his gracious acceptance, by conferring some uncommon favour on the agents and contributors. And this accordingly was done, much to the discon- tent of the Protestants, who bore above a third part of the publick charge; and felt themselves greatly aggrieved, that they should be made to purchase graces and immunities for the Papists. Whilst the Papists, on the other hand, made no account of the Protestant part of the contribution, but took to themselves the whole value and merit of the lar- gess : and in the end proceeded to such arrogant and tumultuous behaviour, that the Lord Deputy was compelled to mortify them by a proclamation against the Popish regular clergy. This was issued the 1st of April, 1629, and imported, 10 Cox, ii. 44. SEC. I.] KING CHARLES I. 429 " That the late intermission of legal proceedings against proclamation Popish pretended titular archbishops, bishops, abbots, deans, p g p\"u clergy vicars-general, Jesuits, friars, and others of that sort, who A P rU 1629 - derive their pretended authority and orders from the see of Rome, in contempt of his majesty "s royal power and autho- rity, had bred such an extraordinary insolence and presump- tion in them, as he was necessitated to charge and command them in his majesty's name, to forbear the exercise of their Popish rites and ceremonies 11 . 1 " Of the manner in which this proclamation was Manner in which published and observed, a memorable instance is aldobL U rved hed recorded in a letter from the Lord Deputy to Pri- mate Ussher, dated April the 24th, 1629. " I have received information, both of the unreverend Lord Deputy's manner of publishing the late proclamation at Droghedah, JS^ 1 * and the ill observance of the same since it was published. April 24> 1629t For the first, that it was done in scornful and contemptuous sort, a drunken soldier being first set up to read it, and then a drunken sergeant of the town : both being made, by too much drink, uncapable of that task, (and perhaps purposely put to it,) made the same seem like a May-game. And for the latter, that there is yet very little obedience showed thereto by the friars and priests ; only that they have shut up the fore-doors of some of their mass-houses, but have as ordinary recourse thither by their private passages, and do as frequently use their superstitious service there, as if there were no command to the contrary : those mass-houses being continued in their former use, (though perhaps a little more privately,) without any demolishing of their altars, &c." In continuation, the Lord Deputy prays and authorizes the primate, calling to his assistance Mr. Justice Philpot, who was then resident there, to enter into a serious examination of the premises, and to give him a full information of what he should find thereof, by the first opportunity. No further intelligence, however, appears on the subject. 11 Cox, ii. 53. 430 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII, Irregular pro- ceedings at Kaphoe. Jurisdiction exercised by Popish clergy. Thomas Jones, archbishop of Dublin, 16051619. Meanwhile some irregular proceedings had been reported on the part of the titulary Bishop of Raphoe, and at an assembly of people in that town, concern- ing which the Lord Deputy commends the care and pains taken by the primate in searching out the truth of the matter, and in transmitting information of the proprietors and possessors of the Popish con- ventual-houses in that town : adding withal, "As to their conventual-houses, we have given his majesty's attorney-general a copy of the paper inclosed in your letter to us, and gave him directions to put up infor- mations in his majesty's Court of Exchequer, against the proprietors and possessors of those houses, that thereby way be made for such further course of proceeding as the several cases shall require 1? ." Whether any other consequences followed from this proclamation, I do not find. But Cox, having related the publishing of the proclamation at Drog- hedah, adds the following statement : " It was so despised and contemned by the Popish clergy, that they nevertheless exercised full jurisdiction, even to excommunication : and they not only proceeded in building abbeys and monasteries, but had the confidence to erect an university at Dublin, in the face of the govern- ment, which, it seems, thought itself limited in this matter by instructions from England." On the death of Archbishop Loftus, in 1605, soon after King James's accession, the see of Dublin was occupied by Thomas Jones, an Englishman, who died in 1619 : memorable chiefly for having repaired a great part of the cathedral of Christ Church which fell in his time, and for having restored the steeple which was in a decayed and ruinous condition 13 ; less honourably for the injurious application to his own 12 Cox, ii. 5.3. 13 WARE'S Bishops, p. 355. SEC. I.] KING CHARLES I. 431 private aggrandizement, when Dean of St. Patrick's, of the property of the deanery 14 . He was succeeded Lancelot Buike- i i i i T l e y> archbishop, in the archbishoprick by Lancelot Bulkeley, a native 1219. of Beaumaris, in Anglesey ; but educated at Brazen- nose College, Oxford, and a doctor of divinity of the University of Dublin. About the time with which we are now engaged, ms danger in a this prelate incurred considerable personal danger ?1 UK from an insurrectionary riot of the Jesuits and friars. Having been informed of their continued practice to infuse sedition by their sermons into the Popish inhabitants of the city, the archbishop applied to the lords justices for a warrant and a file of musketeers to seize the offenders. The Carmelites, in Cork Street, together with their assembly, rose in a body to oppose the execution of the warrant. They fell upon the guard, and affronted the archbishop and the mayor, who assisted with his attendants. The archbishop was obliged to cry out for help, and take to flight, and with difficulty saved himself by seeking shelter in a neighbouring house 15 . This riot was committed about Christmas, 1620. Measures of the government in In the following month, the lords justices reported consequence, it to the king and privy council of England, and before the end of the month received the following recognition : " By your letter we understand, how the seditious riot, moved by the friars and their adherents at Dublin, hath by your good order and resolution been happily suppressed: and we doubt not, but by this occasion you will consider, how much it concerneth the good government of that king- dom, to prevent in time the first growing of such evils.' 5 In pursuance of this were added directions from his majesty : ^ MASON, p. 174. 15 WARE, p. 356. 432 THE REIGN OP [Cn. Til. " That the house, where so many friars appeared in their habits, and wherein the reverend archbishop and the mayor of Dublin received the first publick affront, be speedily demolished, and be a mark of terror to the registers of authority: and that the rest of the houses, erected or employed there or elsewhere in Ireland to the use of super- stitious societies, be converted to houses of correction, and to set idle people on work, or to other publick uses, for the advancement of justice, good art, or trade." proceedings The lords justices at this time were Adam Loftus, papists. e Viscount Ely, lord chancellor, and Richard, earl of Cork, lord treasurer ; having been appointed on the recall of the Lord Deputy, Viscount Falkland, in iG29. October of this year. Immediately on coming into office, they had directed that the Papists should be prosecuted for not coining to church : and accord- ingly the statute of the second of Queen Elizabeth was given in charge at the assizes, but by instruc- tions from England such prosecutions were super- st. Patrick's Pm- sedecl. Nevertheless, the lords justices, being exceedingly zealous against Popery, caused St. Patrick's Purgatory, in a small island of Lough Dergh, in the county of Donegal!, to be digged up ; and thereby laid open to the world that notorious imposition, to the great loss and disgrace of the Popish clergy, who had derived a high reputation and vast emoluments from that fraudulent and shameful superstition 16 . Restless spirit But notwithstanding this exposure and loss, and ci f e tgy Poplsl although the Popish clergy in general were so depraved and ignorant, that the severest censure ever pronounced upon the clergy of the Church of Ireland, was muttered by an Irishman, who said, "That the king's priests were as bad as the Pope's 16 Cox, ii. 53, 54. SEC. II. J KING CHARLES I. 433 priests ;" yet did their restless spirit of tumult and outrage rise again at this time to such a height, that a priest, being seized for some unlawful practices in Dublin, was forcibly rescued by the populace. Thus steps necessary .1 i i i -11 i i i i f r their repres- the lords justices were compelled by their insolence sion. to take steps for their repression : and, by direction of the council of England, they seized upon fifteen of the religious houses, lately erected by the Papists in Dublin, for the king's use; and, in 1632, their principal house in Back Lane was disposed of to the University of Dublin, who placed therein a rector and scholars, and maintained there a weekly lecture, which the lords justices often countenanced by their presence. But afterwards, in the time of the next Lord Deputy, the building was allowed to return to its former use, and again became a mass-house. SECTION II. William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore. State of his Diocese. Neglect of Ecclesiastical Processes. The Kings Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops on Affairs of the Church. Diligence of the Primate. His Injunctions to his Clergy. Exemplary Conduct of Bishop Bedell. Some of his Measures questionable. IT was about this period that another distinguished Bedeir* early ornament was added to the episcopate of the Church of Ireland, in the person of William Bedell, a native of Essex, and in 1593 a fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he took his degree of B.D. in 1599, with the reputation of singular knowledge in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages; subse- quently the chaplain and honoured companion of Sir Henry Wotton, King James's ambassador at Venice ; and the bosom friend and most intimate intercom- 2 F 434 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Provost of Tri- nity College, Dublin. Bishop of Kilmoreand Ardagh. 1629. Disadvantages of hisbishopriek. municant of learning, of Father Paul Sarpi, the illustrious historian of the Council of Trent. From a retired and obscure benefice in the diocese of Norwich, whither he had withdrawn on his return from Italy, by an unanimous election of the fellows, he was called to the provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, which, after some difficulty, he was persuaded to accept by the king's positive commands : and he applied himself to the govern- ment of the college with a vigour of mind peculiar to him; composing differences among the fellows, rectifying disorders, and improving discipline; and training the youth in religious knowledge by weekly lectures on the Church Catechism, with such a mixture of matters speculative and practical, that his discourses were regarded both as learned lectures of divinity, and excellent exhortations to piety and virtue 1 . He continued in this employment about two years; when, on the recommendation of Laud, at that time Bishop of London, he was, in the fifty- ninth year of his age, advanced to the united see of Kilmore and Ardagh : the king, in the letters for his promotion, making honourable mention of the ser- vices he had done, and the reformation he had wrought in the university. There has been former occasion for remarking that the bishoprick of Kilmore had, from different causes, been subject to peculiar disadvantages. It had indeed been possessed by two successive bishops of King James's appointment since 1 603 ; and that king, by a commission in the seventeenth year of his reign, had ordered that all lands in the county of Cavan, or within the new plantation of Longford 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 232. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES I. 435 and Leitrim, which should be found by inquisition to have formerly belonged to the sees of Kilmore and Ardagh, should be restored to them. But, not- withstanding these means of improvement, little or no benefit had accrued from them for the publick good, however instrumental they may have been made to the emolument of Bishop Bedell's prede- cessors. " He found his diocese," says Bishop Burnet, in Bishop Bumet-a his very copious life of him, "under so many dis- accountofit - orders, that there was scarce a sound part remaining. The revenue was wasted by excessive dilapidations, and all sacred things had been exposed to sale in so sordid a manner, that it was grown to a proverb ; and there was scarce enough remaining of both these revenues to support a bishop, who was resolved not to supply himself by indirect and base methods 2 ." But the general state of his diocese will be best Bishop Bedeii-s represented by transcribing a letter, which he ad- Laud? dressed to Bishop Laud a few months after his * promotion. " Right reverend Father, my honourable good Lord, Since my coming to this place, which was a little before Michaelmas, (till which time the settling of the state of the college, and my Lord Primate's visitation, deferred my consecration,) I have not been unmindful of your lord- ship's commands, to advertise you, as my experience should inform me, of the state of the Church ; which I shall now the better do, because I have been about my dioceses, and can set down, out of my knowledge and view, what I shall relate ; and shortly to speak much ill matter in a few Miserable state words, it is very miserable. of the diocese ' " The cathedral church of Ardagh, one of the most Dilapidated ancient in Ireland, and said to be built by St. Patrick, churches - 2 BISHOP BURNET'S Life of Bishop Bedell, pp. 3436. 2 F 2 436 THE REIGN OF [On. VII. Popish recu- Popish clergy numerous and powerful. Mass-houses. Friars. Poverty of the people. English minis- ters. Clerks. together with the bishop's house there, down to the ground. The church here, built, but without bell or steeple, font or chalice. The parish churches all in a manner ruined, and unroofed, and unrepaired. " The people, saving a few British planters here and there, (which are not the tenth part of the remnant,) obsti- nate recusants. A Popish clergy, more numerous by far than we, and in full exercise of all jurisdiction ecclesias- tical by their vicar-general and officials ; who are so con- fident, as they excommunicate those that come to our courts, even in matrimonial causes : which affront hath been offered myself by the Popish primate's vicar-general, for which I have begun a process against him. The primate himself lives in my parish, within two miles of my house : the bishop in another part of my diocese, fur- ther off. " Every parish hath its priest ; and some two or three a-piece, and so their mass-houses also ; and in some places mass is said in the churches. " Friars there are in diverse places, who go about, though not in their habits, and by their importunate beg- ging impoverish the people ; who indeed are generally very poor, as from that cause, so from their paying double tithes to their own clergy and ours, from the dearth of corn, and the death of their cattle these last years, with the contri- butions to their soldiers and their agents : and which, they forget not to reckon among other causes, the oppression of the court ecclesiastical, which in very truth, my lord, I cannot excuse, and do seek to reform. " For our own, there are seven or eight ministers in each diocese of good sufficiency ; and, (which is no small cause of the continuance of the people in Popery still,) English ; which have not the tongue of the people, nor can perform any divine offices, or converse with them ; and which hold, many of them, two, or three, four, or more vicarages a-piece. Even the clerkships themselves are in like manner conferred upon the English; and sometimes two or three, or more, upon one man, and ordinarily bought and sold, or let to farm. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES I. 437 "His majesty is now, with the greatest part of this country, as to their hearts and consciences, King, but at the Pope's discretion. " WILL. KILMORE AND ARDAGH. "Kilmore, April 1, 1630." The description in the foregoing letter, which Application of concerns the state of the bishopricks of Kilmore and toThc^ther^ Ardagh at that time, is applied by Cox generally to the Irish sees 3 . But whatever cause may have existed for complaint in other dioceses, and no doubt there was cause enough, the language of Bishop Bedell, true as it certainly was in his use of it, would probably have been an exaggerated representation in a general application. With respect, however, to his complaint of the Neglect of eccie- neglect of ecclesiastical processes in his court, that S2f p seems to have been experienced in others likewise : and an example is supplied in the case of Bishop Downham, of Derry, who, during the government of instanced in uu the Lord Chancellor Loftus and the Earl of Cork, diocese of Deny ' obtained a commission, by immediate warrant from himself, to arrest, apprehend, and attach the bodies of all people within his jurisdiction, who should decline the same, or should refuse to appear upon lawful citation, or, appearing, should refuse to obey the sentence given against them ; and authority to bind them in recognizances, with sureties or without, to appear at the council table, to answer such con- tempts. The like commission was renewed to him by the Lord Deputy, Viscount Wentworth, October 23, 1633. Both were obtained on his information, that his diocese abounded with all manner of delin- quents, who refused obedience to all spiritual pro- cesses 4 . 3 Cox, ii, 53. 4 WARE'S Bishops, p. 292. 438 THE REIGN OF |_Cn. VII. General cause of complaint. Letter of the King to the Archbishops. 1631. Growth of the Romish faction. Want of care in the clergy. Special charge to ,the bishops. Generally, also, there appears to have been too much cause for complaint, with respect to other ecclesiastical charges, affecting the ministers of the Church, both the bishops and their clergy. Such was the representation made by the Lords Com- mittees for Irish Affairs to his majesty, who thereupon sent over his letters to all the archbishops of Ireland, to remind them of their duty, and to strengthen their authority. " CHARLES REX. " Most Heverend Father in God, right trusty, and entirely beloved, we greet yon well. " Among such disorders as the Lords of our Privy Council, deputed by us to a particular care of our realm of Ireland and the affairs thereof, have observed and repre- sented to us in that government, as well ecclesiastical as civil, we have taken in special consideration the growth and increase of the Romish faction there, and cannot but from thence collect that the clergy of that Church are not so careful as they ought to be, either of God's service or the honour of themselves and their profession, in removing all pretences of scandal in their lives and conversation. Where- fore, as we have by all means endeavoured to provide for them a competency of maintenance, so we shall hereafter expect on their part a reciprocal diligence ; both by their teaching and example to win that ignorant and superstitious people to join with them in the true worship of God. " And for that purpose we have thought fit, by these our letters, not only to excite your care of these things, according to your duty and dignity of your place in that Church ; but further to authorize you, in our name, to give, by your letters, to the several bishops in your province, a special charge, requiring them to give notice to their clergy under them, in their dioceses respectively, that all of them be careful to do their duty, by preaching and catechising in the parishes committed to their charge ; and that they live answerable to the doctrine which they preach to the people. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES I. 439 "And further we will, that in our name you write to Bishops forbid- every bishop within your province, that none of them pre- sume to hold with their bishopricks any benefice, or other ecclesiastical dignity whatsoever in their own hands, or to their own use, save only such as we have given leave, under our broad seal of that our kingdom, to hold in commendam. And of this we require you to be very careful, because there is a complaint brought to the said Lords Committees for complaint to the Irish Affairs, that some bishops there, when livings fall void in their gift, do either not dispose them so soon as they Affairs, might, but keep the profits in their own hands, to the hinderance of God's service, and great offence of good people ; or else they give them to young and mean men, which only bear the name, reserving the greater part of the benefice to themselves; by which means that Church must needs be very ill and weakly served. " Of which abuses and the like, (if any shall be prac- tised,) we require you to take special care for the present redress of them, and shall expect from you such account of your endeavours herein, as may discharge you, not to us only, but to God, whose honour and service it concerns. " Given, under our signet, at our palace at Westmin- ster, the twelfth of April, in the sixth year of our reign 5 ." This command of the king fully agreed with the desires of the Lord Primate, who accordingly dili- ueouttaf tu gently engaged in the execution of the office com- mitted to his care. He therefore endeavoured to reform, in the first place, the disorders complained of in his province, and which had been already under his correcting hand. And, in the next place, he made it his business to reclaim those deluded people from the religion to which they had been bred : and by frequent and familiar conversation with the nobility and gentry of that persuasion, as well as his ms exertion* to * . . reclaim Popish neighbours of the inferior sort ; by inviting them to his house, and mildly discoursing with them on the 5 PARR'S Life, of rssJier, p. "8. 440 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. And Protestant sectaries. Hie injunctions on his clergy. Catechetical instruction. chief tenets of their religion ; he convinced many of their errors, and brought them to a knowledge of the truth. He also advised the bishops and clergy of his province to deal with the Popish recusants in their several dioceses and cures after the same man- ner ; the best, if not the only means, in the absence of penal laws, to restrain the publick profession of that religion. Nor was his care confined only to the conversion of the ignorant and deluded Irish Papists ; but he also aimed at the reduction of the Scotch and English sectaries to the communion of the Church ; conferring and arguing with divers of them, as Avell ministers as laymen, and showing them the weakness of their scruples and objections against joining the publick services of the Church, and submitting to its government and discipline 6 . The injunctions laid by the Lord Primate on his clergy, as their guide in the instruction of their flocks, are also not undeserving of being specified, and may illustrate this portion of our narrative. Having related his practice of preaching himself every Lord's-day in the forenoon, " In the after- noon," continues Dr. Bernard, " this was his order to me; that, besides the catechising of the youth before publiek prayers, I should, after the first and second lesson, spend about half an hour in a brief and plain opening of the principles of religion in the publick catechism; and after that I was to preach also. First, he directed me to go through the Creed at once, giving but the sum of each article ; then, next time, at thrice ; and, afterwards, each time an article, as they might be more able to bear it; and so proportionably the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and the doctrine of the Sacraments. The 6 WARE'S Bishops, p. 108. PARR'S Life of Ussher, p. 89. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES I. 441 good fruit of which was apparent in the vulgar Good fruit of people, upon their approach unto the Communion, when, as by the then order the names of the receivers were to be given in, so some account was constantly taken of their fitness for it. An exemplary injunc- tion for this age, having been too much neglected. His order throughout the diocese to the ministers was, to go through the body of divinity once a-year, which he had drawn out accordingly into fifty heads 7 ." Such was the exemplary diligence of the Lord Exemplary con- . duct of Bishop Primate; and, in regard to one of his suffragans, the uedeiunthe history of the whole Church of Christ does not in of MS diocese. all probability contain a more perfect pattern of a Christian bishop, than may be contemplated in the life of Bishop Bedell, as to the care with which he supplied all vacancies within his diocese ; the strict- ness with which he conducted his examinations for holy orders; his constant refusal to ordain any, without a title to a particular flock ; his studious observation of the behaviour of his clergy, mixed with paternal tenderness and compassion for their weaknesses ; his earnest endeavours in counteracting pluralities, and in prevailing upon all to observe parochial residence; and his constant business at his ms visitations, visitations in investigating the state of his diocese, and in giving good instructions and advice both to the clergy and the laity. " The visitations in Ireland," observes Bishop Burnet, " had been matters of great pomp and much luxury, which lay heavy on the inferior clergy. Some slight inquiries were made, and those chiefly for form's sake ; and, indeed, nothing was so much minded, as that winch was the 7 BERNARD'S Life of Usstier, p. 8-1. 442 THE EEIGN OF [Cn. VII. Episcopal, me- tropolitical, and royal visitations. Questionable alterations pro- posed by Bishop Bedell. Diocesan synods and synodical canons. reproach of them, the fees, that were exacted to such an intolerable degree, that they were a heavy grievance to the clergy. And, as the bishop's visitation came about every year, so every third year the archbishop made his metropo- litical visitation, and every seventh year the king's visitation went round ; and in all these, as they were then managed, nothing seemed so much aimed at, as how to squeeze and oppress the clergy, who were glad to purchase their peace by paying all that was imposed on them by those severe exactors. But our bishop reformed all these excesses, and took nothing but what was by law and custom established, and that was employed in entertaining the clergy ; and, when there was any overplus, he sent it always to the prisons for the relief of the poor."" There were, however, two or three alterations of a questionable character, which Bishop Bedell was anxious to introduce into his diocese, and which should hardly be passed without notice, constituting, as they do, memorable occurrences in the history of the Church. I allude to his diocesan synods of his clergy and his synodical canons ; his indignation at the undue extent, to which in his opinion the arch- bishop carried the exercise of the metropolitical power over his suffragans ; and his attempt to intro- duce a correction of abuses in the ecclesiastical courts, by going, and sitting, and judging in his own courts himself. These, indeed, are matters of history as well as of biography. But, as chiefly connected with the personal events of Bishop Bedell's life, it may suffice briefly to observe, that in the first of these attempts at diocesan improvement, the legality of which was controverted at the time, he has not been imitated in subsequent periods, when convenient opportunities might have been taken, if individual bishops had judged the example fit for imitation: that, with SEC. II.] KING CHA&LES I. 443 respect to the second, the archbishop's power of Archbishop's suspending the bishop's jurisdiction in his diocese, in Sop-sjudLc- the year of the metropolitical visitation, has been constantly perpetuated without offence or molesta- tion, though the period, during which the suspension is continued, is now, at least in practice, limited to a few weeks, instead of being extended throughout the year, as was the case when it encountered Bishop Bedell's reprobation: and that, with respect to the third particular, namely, that of the bishop's acting Bishop acting a3 . T.I. . i i ,1 , , ,1 judge in his own as judge in his own court, though at the time "the court. other bishops were glad at this step our bishop had made," as Bishop Burnet relates, "and encouraged him to go on resolutely in it, and assured him they would stand by him ;" yet in the end, as related by the same biographer, "they did not stand by him, but were contented to let him fall under censure, wjthout interposing in it as in a cause of common concern ; and even the excellent primate told him, the tide went so high that he could assist him no more ; for he stood by him longer than any other of the order had done ;" and although the bishop " con- tinued, notwithstanding his censure, to go into his court, as he had done before, and although an order was given underhand to let him go on as he had begun," it has not been subsequently deemed fitting, either by the makers or the interpreters of the laws, to confer that power on the bishops, or to declare that it belongs to them ; or by the bishops, in imita- tion of Bedell's example, to claim that power for themselves. 444 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. J633. SECTION III. A Royal Visitation under Lord Wentworth. Report of it by Dr. Bramhall. Bishop Laud^s Letter of Instructions to the Lord Deputy. BramhalTs account of the state of the Church. Growth of Protestant Sectarianism. Irre- gular Ordinations. Reprehensible conduct imputed to two Northern Bishops. Non-conforming Ministers. visitation. IN 1638, was holden a regal visitation, of which John Bramhall, who afterwards became successively Bishop of Deny and Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the commissioners, or at least one of the chief assistants and directors. Bramhall was a man of high distinction in his own country, whence he had been recently brought into Ireland by the new Lord Deputy, Thomas Viscount Wentworth, afterwards the illustrious but ill-fated Earl of Strafford. Having been educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and thence removed into Yorkshire, of which county he was a native, he had become so celebrated for a disputation with three Romish priests of the order of Jesuits, that he was appointed chaplain to the famous Primate of York, Archbishop Mathews, to whom he endeared himself by great dexterity in the conduct of ecclesiastical and civil affairs. And, after the archbishop's death, by his wisdom, eloquence, and deportment, he so gained the affections of the nobility, gentry, and commoners, of that country, that Sir Thomas Wentworth, then Lord President of York, selected him for his chaplain, and after a short time conveyed him to Ireland, as the fittest instrument to serve in the design, which for two years before his arrival he had meditated and resolved ; namely, the reformation of religion, Early life of John Bramhall. Patronized by Lord Went- wurth. SEC. III.] KIN T G CHARLES I. 445 and the reparation of the broken fortunes of the Church 1 . In the visitation, which now ensued, the reve- Result of the nues of the Church were found to be miserably wasted, the discipline scandalously despised, and the ministers but meanly considered. The bishopricks Reduced .-eve- were wretchedly dilapidated by fee-farms and long leases at small rents : granted partly by the Popish bishops in Queen Elizabeth's reign, who resolved to carry away with them as much as they could, like the wise but unjust steward, gratifying their friends, that they might receive them into their habitations ; and partly by their Protestant successors, who might fear, perhaps, another turn of affairs ; and, following the example of their predecessors, condescended to the same arts. By these means many bishopricks were made as low as sacrilege could make them. Cloyne was reduced to five marks ; hence the bishop of that see was called " Episcopus quinque marca- rum." Aghadoe and Ardfert, in the county of Kerry, were reduced respectively, the latter to about 601. a year, and the former to II. Is. 8d. Of Limerick about five parts in six were made away in fee-farms or encroached on by the undertakers. Cash el, Emly, Waterford, Lismore, and Killaloe, all made the same complaint. Cork and Ross fared the best of any ; a very good man, Bishop Lyon, having been placed there early in the Reformation, prevented any diminution in the revenues of those churches ; and he was succeeded by two" prelates of the family of the Boyles, who were distinguished by the like uprightness of character. But with this exception, " there was not," adds Bishop Vesey, the biographer of Primate Bramhall, " one bishoprick in the pro- 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 118. 446 THE EEIGN OF [CH. VII. Prevalence of Bimony. vince of Cashel, that had not the print of the sacri- legious paw upon it : and on some of them, ' ves- tigia nullo retrorsum.' " Simony also was another evil, which was found to prevail very generally with the patrons of ecclesiastical benefices. This state of things, however, was discovered not to be limited to the southern bishopricks ; for on his appointment to the see of . Derry in the following year, and on his inquiry into the condition of that diocese, Bishop Bramhall discovered there the existence of the same evils, which had been disclosed by the regal visitations. A report of this visitation was duly made to the Lord Deputy, who had entered upon his office the 25th of July in the same year, 1633. The result of this report will be noticed in the parliamentary proceedings of the year 1635 ; in the mean time Lora;wentworth, attention may be given to some other occurrences lord deputy, * July, 1633. more nearly coincident with the Lord Deputy's appointment and arrival. Report to the Lord Dep_uty. Letter from Bishop Laud, April, 1633. The king's wil- lingness to give up impropria- tions; In anticipation of his early settlement in his viceroyal station, Laud, then bishop of London, had written him a letter, April 30, 1633, wherein he prayed him " to consider of so many particulars as concern the Church and religion, with as much favour as justice can give way unto 2 ." The particulars of most publick concern are these : " That in the great cause of impropriations, which are yet remaining in his majesty's gift, and which he is most graciously willing to give back to God and his service, you will do whatsoever may justly be done for the honour and service of our two great masters, God and the king ; that you would 2 Strafford Letters, vol. i. p. 82. SEC. III.J KING CHARLES I. 447 countenance and assist the Lord Primate of Armagh in all things belonging to this great service; and particularly for the procuring of a true and just valuation, that the king may know what he gives the Church." After an interval, he adds, "I am likewise com- And to establish the jurisdiction manded by his majesty to deliver your lordship a of the church. clause of a letter, sent unto me by the Lord Primate of Armagh, March 1st, 1632, with which I acquainted leas, common his majesty. At which time his princely pleasure was that your lordship should assure the Lord Primate that he would see the jurisdiction of the Church established there to be maintained against both recusants and other factionists whatsoever; and that you should do your best endeavour to stop all such rumours as may dishearten the bishops in God's service and his." He adds, after another interval, " I further pray Means devised A for the mainte- your lordship to take notice by the Lord Primate nance of curate* of Armagh, of the readiness of the Lord Chief Jus- tice of Ireland, to set forwards the maintenance of the ministers in that kingdom, and to encourage him to advance the same. As also to move the Lord Chief Justice for his opinion, what legal course he shall think fittest may be held for the present means of curates, out of the impropriations in Ire- land : which I am credibly informed his lordship is very able and willing to give." Together with those salutary instructions on A Jewish school- subjects of general application, the letter embraces " others, which relate to particular persons or places ; of these the following is remarkable. "There is one Christopher Sands, who, as I am informed, dwells now in Londonderry, and teaches an English school there ; and I much fear he cloth many things 448 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Letter from Bramhall to Bishop Laud, August, 1633. State of the poor church of Ire- land. Churches ruin- ous and sordid. Parochial church the Lord De- puty's stable. Vaults of Christ's Church tippling- rooms. there to the dishonour of God, and the endangering of many poor souls. For the party is a Jew, and denies both Christ and his Gospel, as I shall be able to prove, if I had him here. I humbly pray your lordship that he may be seized on by authority, and sent over in safe custody, and delivered either to myself or to Mr. Mottershed, the registrar of the High Commission, that he may not live there to infect his majesty's subjects." Nearly coincident with the regal visitation, and explanatory of several particulars mentioned in the report of it, as well as communicative of information sought by the Bishop of London, is the following important letter written in the course of this sum- mer by Dr. Bramhall to Bishop Laud, concerning the condition of the Church of Ireland. " Right Reverend Feather, "My most honoured lord, Presuming partly upon your licence, but especially directed by my Lord Deputy 's commands, I am to give your fatherhood a brief account of the present state of the poor Church of Ireland, such as our short intelligence here, and your lordship's weightier employments there, will permit. " First, for the fabricks, it is hard to say, whether the churches be more ruinous and sordid, or the people irreve- rent, even in Dublin, the metropolis of this kingdom and seat of justice. To begin the inquisition, where the refor- mation will begin, we find our parochial church converted to the Lord Deputy's stable, a second to a nobleman's dwelling-house, the choir of a third to a tennis-court, and the vicar acts the keeper. " In Christ's Church, the principal church in Ireland, whither the Lord Deputy and Council repair every Sunday, the vaults, from one end of the minster to the other, are made into tippling-rooms for beer, wine and tobacco, demised all to Popish recusants, and by them and others so much frequented in time of divine service, that though SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 440 there is no danger of blowing up the assembly above their heads, yet there is of poisoning them with the fumes. The Profanation of table, used for the administration of the blessed Sacrament l a w e ( ; offimunion in the midst of the choir, made an ordinary seat for maids and apprentices. " I cannot omit the glorious tomb in the other cathedral church of St. Patrick, in the proper place of the altar, just opposite to his majesty's seat, having his father's name superscribed upon it, as if it were on purpose to gain the worship and reverence, which the chapter and whole church are bound by special statute to give towards the east. And either the soil itself, or a licence to build and bury, and make a vault in the place of the altar, under seal, which is a tantamount, passed to the earl and his heirs. ' Credimus esse Deos f This being the case in Dublin, your lordship will judge what we may expect in the country." The tomb here complained of had been erected by the Earl of Cork, with a vault of hewn stone beneath it. As to its usurping the place of the altar, Archbishop Ussher explained, that the place of its erection was an ancient passage into a chapel within the church, which had time out of mind been stopped up with a partition of boards and lime, and he considered it a great ornament to the church. His explanation, however, did not give entire satis- faction ; and in the end the monument was removed to another less offensive situation 3 . I now proceed with Dr. Bramhall's letter : " Next, for the clergy : I find few footsteps yet of The clergy, their foreign differences, so I hope it will be an easier task not to dou admit them than to have them ejected. But I doubt much whether the clergy be very orthodox : and could wish both the articles and canons of the Church of England were established here by Act of Parliament or State ; that, as we live all under one king, so we might both in doctrine and discipline observe an uniformity. 3 MASON'S St. Patrick., notes Liii. L!V. 2 Or 450 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Poverty and igno- "The inferior sort of ministers are below all degrees of ranee of inferior . , , . mi ministers. contempt, in respect of their poverty and ignorance. I he boundless heaping together of benefices by commendams and dispensations in the superiors is but too apparent : yea, even often by plain usurpation, and indirect compositions made between the patrons, as well ecclesiastiek as lay, and the incumbents; by which the least part, many times not above 40s., rarely 10/., in the year, is reserved for him that Eviiofpiuraii- should serve at the altar : insomuch that it is affirmed, that by all or some of these means one bishop in the remoter parts of the kingdom doth hold three-and-twenty benefices Andmm-resi- w ith cure. Generally their residence is as little as their livings. Seldom any suitor petitions for less than three vicarages at a time. And it is a main prejudice to his majesty's service, and an hindrance to the right establish- ment of his church, that the clergy have in a manner no dependence upon the Lord Deputy, nor he any means left to prefer those that are deserving amongst them. For besides all those advowsons, which were given by that good Abuse of the late patron of the church, King James, of happy memory, to bishops and the college here, many also were conferred upon the plantations, (never was so good a gift so infinitely abused :) and I know not how, or by what order, even in these blessed days of his sacred majesty, all the rest of any note have been given or passed away in the time of the late Lord Deputy." (Viscount Falkland.) church revenues. "Lastly, for the revenues: how small care hath been taken for the service of his majesty, or the good of the church, is hereby apparent, that no officer, or other person, can inform my lord, what deanery or benefices are in his majesty's gift ; and about three hundred livings are omitted out of the book of tax for first-fruits and twentieth parts ; sundry of them of good value, two or three bishopricks, and Alienations of the whole diocese of Killfannore. The alienations of church church property. . > -, , , , , . . possessions, by long leases and deeds, are infinite : yea, even since the Act of State to restrain them, it is believed tha.t divers are bold, still to practise in hopes of secresy and impunity, and will adventure until their hands be tied by act of parliament, or some of the delinquents censured in the Star Chamber. The Earl of Cork holds the whole SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 451 bishoprick of Lismore, at the rent of 40s., or five marks, by the year: many benefices, that ought to be presenta- tive, are by negligence enjoyed as though they were appro- priate. " For the remedying of these evils, next to God and his Remedies for sacred majesty, I know my lord depends on your father- * hood's wisdom and zeal for the church. My duty binds me to pray for a blessing upon both your good endeavours. For the present, my lord hath pulled down the deputy's seat in his own chapel, and restored the altar to its ancient place, which was thrust out of doors. The like is done in Christ's Church. The purgation and restitution of the stable to the right owners and uses will follow next ; and strict mandates to my lords the bishops, to see the churches repaired, adorned, and preserved from profanation, through- out the kingdom. " For the clergy and their revenues, my lord is careful Lord Deputy's that no petitions be admitted without good certificate and church, diligent inquiry, (thought a strange course here:) and to enable himself and the succeeding deputies, to encourage such as shall deserve well in the church, his lordship intends, as well in the commission for defective titles, as for the plantations, to reserve the right of advowson to his majesty, and as well by diligent search in the records, as by a selected commission of many branches, to regain such advowson s as have been usurped through the negligence of officers, change of deputies, or power of great men ; and by the same to inform himself of the true state of the church and clergy, to provide for the cures and residence, to perfect his majesty's tax, to prevent and remedy alienations, to restore illegal impropriations, to dispose, by way of lapse, of all those supernumerary benefices which are held unjustly, and not without infinite scandal, under the pretence of com- mendams and dispensations, and to settle, as much as in present is possible, the whole state of the church. This testimony I must give of his care, that it is not possible for the intentions of a mortal man to be more serious and sin- cere than his in those things, that concern the good of the poor church. 2 G 2 452 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII, Disunion of the Romish ecclesi- asticks. " It is some comfort to see the Romish ecclesiasticks cannot laugh at us, who come behind none in point of dis- union and scandal. " I know my tediousness will be offensive, unless your lordship's licence, and my Lord Deputy's command, procure my pardon. I will not add a word more, but the pro- fession of my humble thanks and bounden service ; and so being ready to receive your lordship's commands, I desire to remain, as your noble favours have for ever bound me, " Your lordship's " Daily and devoted servant, " JOHN BRAMHALI/." " Dublin Castle, August the 10th, 1633." Growth of Pro- testant secta- rianism. Of the ecclesiastical evils, which at this time were beginning to require the attention of the government, though not specified in the foregoing report, one was the activity and growth of Protestant sectarianism, which had been for some time gaining a firmer footing in the North, where its ministers were distinguished for their opposition to the Church. But though these persons objected to the constitu- to the tion and discipline of the Church, they were willing Church compa- . tibie with accept- to accept or her appointments and emoluments; and appointments, for that purpose allowed themselves in the use of an expedient, which may well excite astonishment in the conduct of those, who made peculiar preten- sions to the character of "godly" men. The case shall be set forth, as exemplified especially in two distinguished members of the body : and it shall be set forth in the most unexceptionable form, namely, that of their own narratives. It may be convenient, however, in the first place, to submit the following brief statement to the con- sideration of the reader. COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History, part ii. b. ix. p. 700. SEC, III.] KING CHARLES I. 453 Among the records of the Sovereign's Court of Record of ordi- Prerogative in Dublin is deposited a Regal Visita- dfo^eVrfDown tion Book of the diocese of Down and Connor, in ofnaphoe.' the year 1633. From this it appears, that amongst several other clergymen, ordained by Robert Echlin, the bishop of the diocese at that period, Robert Blair had been admitted by him in 1623 to the holy orders of deacon and of priest: and John Livies- towne had been admitted, in 1630, to the same orders by Andrew [Knox], bishop of Raphoe. This authentick document takes no notice of any devia- tion from the regular form of ordination as prescribed by law ; that is, the form of ordination, contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and no other, pre- scribed by the Act of Uniformity, 2nd year of Elizabeth, chap. 2, with a solemn charge of obedience on all archbishops and bishops, as they will answer before God for their neglect. No other authority for alleging such deviation exists, so far as I am aware, except in the narratives which are about to be cited. It might be reasonably questioned, there- fore, how far these narratives are worthy of credit, involving, as they will be found to do, the faithful- ness of two bishops, in maintaining their sacred engagements to the Church. We now proceed to the narratives, contained in Authorities for the lives of Mr. Robert Blair, written by himself, iarrathT" 8 and of Mr. Edward Brice, by Mr. John Livingston ; and of which an abstract is given in "An Historical Essay upon the Loyalty of Presbyterians in Great Britain and Ireland, from the Reformation to this present year 1713." Mr. Robert Blair, it seems, had been invited Mr. Robert from Scotland, in 1623, by the Lord Claneboy, son "" of a Presbyterian minister in Scotland, to settle in 454 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VIL Mode of effec- tuating it. the parish of Bangor, in the county of Down ; but he declined the offer, because he " could not submit to the use of the English liturgy, nor to episcopal government." He was assured, however, that his lordship was " confident of procuring a free entry for him, which he quickly effectuated. So all my devices," he observes, " to obstruct a settlement there did evanish, and take no effect, the counsel of the Lord standing fast in all generations : yea, his wisdom overruled all this, both to procure me a free and safe entry to the holy ministry ; and that, when after some years I met with trials for my non- conformity, neither patron nor prelate could say that I had broken any condition to them." The mode of " effectuating this free entry" to the holy ministry is thus related. " The Viscount Claneboy, my noble patron, did, on my request, inform the bishop how opposite I was to episco- pacy and their liturgy, and had the influence to procure my admission on easy and honourable terms. Yet, lest his lordship had not been plain enough, I declared my opinion fully to the bishop at our first meeting, and found him conference with yielding: beyond my expectation. The bishop said to me, the Bishop of Down and Connor. ' I hear good of you, and will impose no conditions on you : I am old, and can teach you ceremonies, and you can teach me substance ; only I must ordain you, else neither I nor you can answer the law nor brook the land." I answered him, that his sole ordination did utterly contradict my principles: but he replied both wittily and submissively, ' Whatever you account of episcopacy, yet I know you account a presbytery to have divine warrant ; will you not receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham, and the adjacent brethren, and let me come in among them in no other relation, than a presbyter T This I could not refuse, and so the matter was performed." Thus an avowed opponent of episcopacy and the P^nglish liturgy was, according to his own account, in SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 455 compliance with his "principles," and by an "old," a 44 yielding," and a " submissive" bishop, whose prin- ciples are left to conjecture, " easily and honourably" admitted to the ministry of an episcopal Church, with which the English Hturgy was the exclusive rule of publick worship. The complacency and self- sufficiency of the narrative might provoke a smile, if it did not relate to so sacred a subject, and excite more grave and serious feelings. But leaving the style and tone to the reader's perception, I would offer two or three remarks on the fallacy, which dis- tinguishes this whole alleged proceeding. The bishop " would impose no conditions" on Mr. ms supposed -w-n . , ..-i . 11 unconditional Blair : and so " neither patron nor prelate could say ordination. that he had broken any condition to them." But this is a perfect delusion. In conferring Fallacy of the holy orders, a bishop is personally nothing : he has 01 nothing whatever to say or to do about " conditions" on his own account. He is the trustee, the repre- A bishop i3 sentative, the minister, the organ of the Church: in her name he acts ; his course of proceeding is pre- scribed by her, and he has promised, and is pledged to, "faithfulness" in following it. Thus he is appointed by the Church to confer " episcopal ordi- nation:" and in so doing he is to conduct himself " by lawful authority," and according to the form of ordination, which the Church has provided ; he is to enforce on the candidate the duties which the Church requires, and to demand of him an acknow- ledgment of the conditions which the Church imposes ; he is not to " come in among others in no other relation than as a presbyter" among presbyters, an equal among equals, but he is to come promi- nently forward, a bishop above presbyters, a superior above ministers of a lower order; he is not to see 456 THE REIGN OF [Ca. VII, the candidate " receive ordination" from others, but he is himself to ordain him. The bishop, who should tru. yingh1 ' err from this line, would betray his trust, compro- mise the Church's character, assume an unlawful power, break his promise, and forfeit his pledge of fidelity. Thus he would commit a grievous sin. And any person, who should seduce, or tempt, or encourage him to the commission, would be a par- taker of the sin; nor could he, by the supposed absence of a condition imposed by the bishop, be held excused from observing the conditions, virtually and implicitly imposed by the Church. This general view is submitted to the reader, and with him is left the particular application. Mr. The other case is that of Mr. John Livingston, sienclThi'scot- who, " in consequence of his opposition to prelacy, opposition^ was silenced by Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews, in 1627 ; but still continued to preach in Scotland occasionally and by stealth, his settlement in any parish being constantly opposed by the bishops." He however likewise had an opening in Ireland ; and his mode of procuring " a free entry into the ministry" is thus described by himself. His admission to " About August, 1630, I got letters from the Viscount ire e iar stryin Clanniboy to come to Ireland, in reference to a call to Kil- August.icso. li nc hy: whither I went, and got an unanimous call from the parish. And because it was needful I should be or- dained to the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was, being a corrupt, humorous," [or, for different editions read differently,] " timorous man, would require some engagement; therefore my Lord Clanniboy Application to sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew Knox, bishop RaVoe. OI of Raphoe : who, when I came and had delivered the letters from my Lord Clanniboy, and from the Earl of Wigton, and some others, that I had for that purpose brought out of Scotland, told me he knew my errand : that I came to him SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 457 because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies' according as Mr. Josias Welsh and some others had done before ; and that he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose but to do such offices : that if I scrupled to call him ' my lord, 1 he cared not much for it ; all he would desire of me, because they got there but few sermons, was, that I would preach at Ramallen the first Sabbath ; and that he would send for Mr. William Cunningham, and His expedients two or three other neighbouring ministers, to be present ; S?3S* who after sermon should give me imposition of hands. But, although they performed the work, he behoved to be present ; and although he durst not answer it to the state, he gave me the Book of Ordination; and desired that anything I scrupled at, I should draw a line over it on the margin, and that Mr. Cunningham should not read it. But I found that it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark anything : so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond anything that I had thought, or almost ever desired." Here, then, we have a ceremony, tinder the pre- pretended episco- text of an episcopal ordination by the Church's P authority, performed in the presence, indeed, but without the participation of the bishop, by inferior ministers ; the service being read, so much of it, at least, as the candidate's "scruples" allowed to be read, by one of those ministers, and imposition of hands being given by him and the rest : a practice, as it appears, not unusually sanctioned by the feeble old man, of whom it is most charitable to believe that, if the narrative be true, he was at the time in his dotage. And this dereliction of the bishop's function, and this usurpation of it by inferiors, and this violation of the law, and this treachery and fraud upon the Church, is gravely attributed to the special pleasure, the signal interposition and agency of the Lord ! These two cases have been set forth as examples 458 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Similar ordina- tion of other Presbyterians. Manner of their ministrations. of a practice which was prevalent, so at least it was represented, among persons of a particular class. The same "compromise," I use the phrase em- ployed by the author of Presbyterian Loyalty, to describe the transaction, which has been detailed in the more notorious examples of Mr. Blair and Mr. Livingston, was the resort 5 of their obscurer brethren. Such a grievous charge however, for a grievous charge indeed it is, ought not to be alleged, but on the most unexceptionable authority. I cite, there- fore, the words of the historian of the Loyalty of the Presbyterians, when I repeat the charge, that "all those of the same persuasion who were ordained in Ireland between that time," the time, namely, of Mr. Blair's ordination in 1622, "and the year 1642, were ordained after the same method." " And all of them," adds my author, "(Blair and all the rest,) enjoyed the churches and tithes, though they re- mained Presbyterians still, and used not the Liturgy." (Part I. chap. iii. p. 162.) Let one word be added on the manner in which the persons thus admitted to the ministry obeyed the injunctions of the Church. One of the first acts of Mr. Blair was to rebuke his patron for kneeling at the Lord's supper, the practice of those godly ministers being to communicate in a sitting posture : and " in my congregation," says he, " we had both deacons for the poor and elders for discipline." And Mr. Livingston relates, "not only had we publick worship, free of any inventions of men, but we had also a tolerable discipline." In a word, their dis- cipline and their mode of worship appear to have been Presbyterian. Was this according to the sti- pulation required by the Church in her Form of Ordination, that her ministers " will give all faithful Other ministers connected with SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 459 diligence to minister the discipline and the sacra- ments of Christ, as this Church hath received the same ?" Or was this stipulation one which scrupu- lous consciences evaded by "drawing a line over it in the Ordination Book ?" But there is, perhaps, little cause of astonish- ment that persons, who had thus procured admission them? into the Church, should afterwards, whilst they partook of her dignities and emoluments, and were nominally comprehended within her pale, have per- severed in maintaining the peculiarities of discipline and worship, which marked those who were in avowed dissent and separation from her. With these others were connected, attached to the prin- ciples of nonconformity, and adopting, in some degree, its practices, especially where they could escape detection in the retirement of rural parishes, but conforming so far as seemed necessary to meet the requisitions of the diocesans, under whose super- intendence they held their preferments. Little disposed, however, as some of these pre- lates were to strain too tight the obligation to conformity, and inclined rather to regard such devia- tions with indulgence, and to treat them with unwar- rantable laxity of discipline, the boldness and reck- lessness, with which the rules of the Church were set at nought, and the Presbyterian peculiarities pressed upon the people, called for a stronger exercise of authority even from the more lenient bishops, upon those lawless ministrations. Even Bishop Echlin, Bishop Ecnim of Down and Connor, who had been guilty, or at duty, least is under the imputation, of such criminal weak- ness in Mr. Robert Blair's case, was hereby taught a lesson of greater prudence and caution, and recalled to the practice of his duty: and it appears to have 460 THE REIGN OF of his [Cn. VII. what the cause of appiica- been in consequence o s requrng tion to Bishop Church enjoyed, a strict conformity to her provisions from candidates for the ministry, and of his refusing to admit those who would not pledge themselves to its observance, that Mr. John Livingston and some of his brethren in irregularity, had recourse to the Bishop of Raphoe for ordination. Exercise of epi- scopal jurisdic- tion by Bishop Echlin. Insult offered by Mr. Blair to the bishops and epi- scopal clergy. Bishop of Dro- more's conduct on the occasion. Bishop Echlin indeed proceeded to exercise episcopal jurisdiction over some of those non-con- forming ministers of the church : as is shown in a remarkable example in the year 1626, when he called upon Mr. Blair to preach at the Lord Pri- mate's triennial visitation of the diocese. Primate Ussher was then absent in England ; but the visita- tion was holden by his officials, two of whom were bishops. And the preacher took occasion to insult those episcopal representatives of the metropolitan, his own diocesan, and the assembled episcopal clergy, by a discourse, wherein, as lie bears testi- mony himself, " I endeavoured specially to show, that Christ our Lord had instituted no bishops, but presbyters, or ministers : and proved this first from the Holy Scriptures ; next from the testimonies of the more pure among the ancient fathers and divines, that have been seeking reformation these thirteen hundred years ; and lastly, from the testimonies of the more moderate divines, both over sea and in England : not for- getting to rank the learned Dr. Ussher, their primate, among the chief. And then I concluded with an exhorta- tion to them, to use moderately that power, which custom and human laws had put in their hand. And indeed they took with the advice, without challenging my freedom. Only the Bishop of Dromore, who was brother-in-law to Dr. Ussher, exhorted me privately to behave as moderately towards them, as they had done to me, and then bade me farewell." 1630. SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 461 Theophilus Buckworth was at that time Bishop of Dromore. Some time afterwards, in 1630, the bishop again Mr. called upon the same minister to preach an assize sermon before the lords justices, who came annually to the northern circuit. One of these, it seems, Sir Richard Beaton, the lord chief baron of the Ex- chequer, was " a violent urger of conformity to the English ceremonies:" and so the preacher most uncharitably represents the call, as "a more dan- gerous web, woven by the crafty bishop, the former snare being broken ;" but he triumphantly subjoins, " the only wise Lord, to whom I had committed myself and my ministry, did break this snare also, and brought me off with comfort and credit." It is not a little remarkable with what arrogant Language of the self-sufficiency these irregular ministers habitually speak of their own proceedings, frequently attri- buting their irregularities and lawlessness to a special divine interposition; and how continually they ascribe to the worst motives the conduct of the bishops and other friends of the Church, who acted agreeably to their principles and engagements as episcopalians. Episcopacy, and everything connected with it, appeared in their eyes, and is represented in their writings as a sort of spiritual leprosy; and even their most favoured Ussher could obtain from Mr. Livingston no better character than that of being "a godly man, although a bishop." No wonder, Messrs Living- then, that when this person and Mr. Blair had Sl^ttedto* availed themselves of their ministerial character in 1631, for encouraging by their presence and partici- pation certain irregular proceedings in Scotland, and their diocesan, the Bishop of Down and Connor, had in consequence suspended them from the tein- Presbyterian ministers in de- scribing these occurrences. 462 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Mr. Blair seeks relief from the Lord Primate. His statement of the primate's opinions. Doubts suggested by this narra- tive. porary exercise of their ministerial functions, lie is stated by one of the delinquents to have been urged to it "by the means of one Mr. Henry Leslie, dean, and afterwards bishop, of Down, a violent and vain- glorious man ; and of Mr. John Maxwell, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, who was gaping for a bishoprick." On this occasion Mr. Blair sought relief from the interference of the Lord Primate, to whom it seems that he had been made known by Lord Clane- boy, but whose courteous invitation to his table he had excused himself from accepting, because he had " once met with the English Liturgy there, and he expected other things than formal liturgies in the family of so learned and pious a man." It seems, also, that on some previous occasion the primate had " tried Mr. Blair's mind concerning ceremonies, wherein," he says, " we were not so far from agree- ing as I feared. But when I had freely opened my grievances, he admitted that all these things ought to have been removed, but the constitution and laws of the place and time would not permit that to be done. He added, that he was afraid our strong dis- affection to these would mar our ministry ; that he had himself been importuned to stretch forth his hand against us ; and that, though he would not for the world do that, he feared instruments would be found who would do it ; and he added, that it would break his heart if our successful ministry in the north were interrupted. Our conference ending, he dismissed me very kindly, though I gave him no high titles; and, when trouble came upon us, he proved our very good friend." Such an admission concerning the provisions of the Church, and such patronage and commendation SEC. III.] KING CHARLES I. 463 of men, who were schism aticks from her communion, and avowedly hostile to her polity and laws, were surely not agreeable to one in the primate's station of dignity and trust ; so that in perusing this nar- rative, the mind of the reader, if it does not repu- diate the account at once and altogether, will pro- bably fluctuate between doubts of the accuracy of the narrator, and misgivings as to the discretion and wisdom, not to say the integrity, of the distinguished subject of the recital. But, however this be, the friendship of the primate is stated by Mr. Blair to have been experienced on occasion of the suspension of himself and his companion: for Archbishop Primate's inter- Ussher wrote to Bishop Echlin in terms which, if favom! n correctly reported, combined a vindication of these irregular ministers with a stricture on the judgment of their diocesan, for he required Bishop Echlin to " relax his erroneous censure." They were less successful, however, in a case which soon after occurred, in 1632, when the bishop cited the same two offenders before him, and urged them, with two others of their sect, "to conform, and give their subscription to that effect. We answered, that there was then no law nor canon in that kingdom requiring this. Notwithstanding he Afterwards sus- had the cruelty to depose us all four from the office conformity. of the holy ministry :" an office, be it observed, to which they had been admitted upon their promise to the Church, if not expressly given, yet positively due and substantially pledged, of conformity to her laws, and from which promise no authority, but that of the Church herself, had power to exempt them. Application, however, was now again made in ineffectual their behalf to the primate. " But he told us," says Mr. Blair, "he could not interpose, because the 464 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. lords justices had an order from the king respecting us. And, when we had recourse to their lordships, they remitted us to the king, from whom only remedy could be had." The interference, therefore, of his majesty was in consequence solicited : but the bishop's sentence of deposition was not removed, and for that time, at least, the non-conforming ministers were silenced. SECTION IV. Increase of Popery in Ireland. Bishop BedeWs plan for converting the Natives. Sentiments of the Government on the subject. Qualification of Age for Bishopricks. Bramhall made Bishop of Derry. Commission for repair of Churches. Lord Wentwortlis exhibition of the state of the ChurcJi. Archbishop Laud^s answer. Settlement of question of precedence between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin. increase of WHILST these efforts were making by the Protestant non-conformists, there was a general increase of Popery throughout the kingdom ; even in some ' parts which had been most conspicuous for attach- ment to the Church. Letter to Lord "^ find," says Mr. Justice Cressy, in a letter to the J^puty from Mr. Lord Deputy, dated Wexford, August the 15th, 'J633, August, 1633. " that this country, which doth contain the most ancient English plantators, who were lately the most forward pro- fessors of the Reformed Christian religion in the kingdom, by the pernicious confluence of priests, who here have Romish hier- raised amongst them a Romish hierarchy of bishops, com- fort mWe * missaries, vicars-general, and other officials, to the over- throwing of the royal power, and to the establishing of a foreign state and jurisdiction in all causes ecclesiastical, are now in a sort become principally Romish and Popish ; and so, as themselves confess, do even groan under the burden, SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 465 I mean the secular and common people. Now, my lord, this being directly against the laws established, not invading only, but even abrogating, his majesty's princely government over them of his states of this kingdom of Ireland, I held myself bound, not only by my oath as a judge, and as a its illegality servant to the king, but even by my allegiance, to oppose ST dbyth this with all the force and strength that my place could afford; and therefore in my charge upon the jury, did declare unto them the quality and fearful consequences thereof; and, as far as I could, did endeavour to anticipate and prevent the policy of their priest's absolutions from perjury and wilful breach of their oaths : but, I fear, all in vain ; for they are all recusants, not one Protestant among them 1 ." Such is the testimony to the increase of Popery General incr^e in a particular district, borne by a layman of high legal station, who appears to have incurred, for the discharge of his duty, the risk of assassination, of a plot for effecting which he was kindly warned by a friend. Testimony to its general increase is thus borne by Bishop Bedell, who, in a letter to the Lord Bishop Bedeir* Deputy, significantly bearing date, " the clay of our Cr 'ic33. joyful deliverance from the Popish Powder Plot, 1633," affirms his knowledge, " That, in this kingdom of his majesty, the Pope hath Pope's kingdom another kingdom far greater in number, and (as I have heretofore signified to the lords justices and council, which is also since justified by themselves in print,) constantly guided and directed by the orders of the new congregations ' de propaganda fide, 1 lately erected at Rome, and by the means of the Pope's nuncios residing at Brussels or Paris : that the Pope hath here a clergy, if I may guess by my own diocese, double in number to us, the hands whereof are by corporal oath bound to him, to maintain him and his regalities ' contra omnem homincm,' and to execute his mandates to their utmost forces ; which accordingly they 1 Stra/ord Letters, \, 103. 2 H 466 THE REIGN OF [G'H. VII. lire-nil ar regulars. Popish college in Dublin. New friaries. O;\th of allegi- ance decreed to be not lawful. Purpose of Bishop Bedell's statement. do, styling themselves in print, ' Ego, N. Dei et Apostolicse sedis gratia, Episcopus Fernen, Ossorien, &C. 1 " I know that there is in this kingdom, for the moulding of the people to the Pope"s ohedience, a rabble of irregular regulars, commonly younger brothers of good houses, who are grown to that insolency, as to advance themselves to be members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, in better ranks than priests, insomuch that the censure of the Sorbonne is fain to be employed to curb them, which yet is called in again, so tender is the Pope of these his own creatures. " I know that his holiness hath erected a new university at Dublin, to confront his majesty 's college there, and to breed up the youth of this kingdom to his devotion. " I know, and have given advertisements to the state, that these regulars dare erect new friaries in the country, since the dissolving of these in the city ; that they have brought the people to such a sottish senselessness, as that they care not to learn the Ten Commandments, as God himself spake and writ them, but flock in great numbers to the preaching of new superstitions, and detestable doc- trines, such as their own priests are ashamed of, and at these they levy collections, three, four, five, and six pounds, at a sermon. " Shortly I know, that this clergy and these regulars have at a general meeting, like to a synod, as they them- selves style it, holden at Drogheda, decreed that it is not lawful to take the oath of allegiance ; and, if they be con- stant to their own learning, do account his majesty in their own hearts to be king, but at the Pope's discretion 8 ." This statement of the Bishop of Kilmore was made for the purpose of refuting an accusation, that he had opposed the service of his majesty, by object- ing to the maintenance and upholding of the army. He therefore introduces his statement with the pre- face, " If I should have had such an intention, this had been not only to oppose the service of his majesty, but that of the Highest Majesty, and to 2 Stra/wd Letters, i. 147. SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 467 expose with the publick peace mine own neck to the scaines of the Romish cut-throats:" and he con- cludes it with the inference, " In this estate of this kingdom, to think the bridle of the army may be taken away, it should be thought, not of a brainsick, but a brainless man." But whilst with this persuasion, founded on m* mode of pro- experience and careful inquiry, of the Popish interest 2' then in Ireland, and of the numbers, the tempers, and the principles of the Papists, he was convinced of the necessity of a strong military force for their repression, it was not by any compulsory measures that Bishop Bedell aimed at their conversion. His endeavours for that end were prosecuted throughout his episcopal life, and were of the gentlest, and most conciliatory, and most persuasive kind. And oppor- tunity may be taken of the foregoing representation of the state of Popery at a particular period, for drawing the reader's attention to the bishop's modes of proceeding, which may be found more fully detailed in Bishop Burnet's life of him. He lamented to observe, that the native Irish conversion of Popish priests. were little regarded by the clergy of the church, but were left almost entirely in the hands of their own priests. He was aware also of the extreme igno- rance of these priests, most of whom could only read their offices without understanding them, and could teach them no more than to recite their " Paters and Aves" in Latin. He therefore determined to attempt the conversion of the natives. The quickest way appeared to be the gaining of some of the better informed of the Romish priesthood: and thence the hope was entertained of spreading amongst the native Irish the knowledge of the 2 H 2 468 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. Religious publi- cations in Englibh and Irish. Irish Liturgy in Translation of the Old Testa- ment. Reformed religion, or, to speak more strictly, of Christianity itself: for of Christianity they had no other notion, except what consisted in giving their entire confidence, and confessing their sins, and paying their tythes, to their priests. He therefore persuaded several priests to change their religious profession ; and, being satisfied of the truth of their conversion, provided some with ecclesiastical bene- fices. Near him, also, was a convent of friars, on which he bestowed much care in instructing them, and with good success. And, in order to furnish his converts with the means of instructing others, he reduced the elements and most necessary truths of Christian knowledge into a short catechism ; which he printed, together with some forms of prayer, and some instructive and edifying passages of Holy Scripture, on a sheet, one page of which was English, and the other Irish, and circulated it through the diocese, where the Irish joyfully received it. By his directions, also, the Common Prayer Book was read in Irish in his cathedral, for the benefit of his converts ; and all his clergy w r ere encouraged in setting-up parish schools. Besides, the New Testament, and the Book of Common Prayer, having been already translated into Irish, he determined on placing in the hands of the natives the Old Testament also in the same lan- guage. And he procured a person qualified for the work; and, having made himself acquainted with the language, he employed his diligence in revising and correcting the translation, and in a few years finished it, and engaged for and set out the business of having it printed, when, by the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was interrupted before the accom- plishment of this great design. fcjiC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 469 Of the attempts thus made by Bishop Bedell for Previous am- the religious improvement of his diocese, similar 1 examples have, for the most part, already fallen under our notice. The peculiar merit of his attempts appears to have been, that they were instituted on a more methodical system, and conducted on a more comprehensive scale, than those which preceded ; and they have had the advantage of being recorded and set forth at length by the pen of a biographer, who to favourable opportunities of procuring intelli- gence added a zealous disposition in detailing it. What would have been the result of this experi- ment, if it had not been thus interrupted : whether it would have succeeded to any considerable extent in the diocese of Kilmore, under the patronage of its exemplary bishop ; whether it would have been thus recommended to the adoption of other dioceses, and thus ultimately have been the instrument in God's hand for propagating a holier faith throughout the kingdom, if full time and opportunity had been allowed for its trial : or whether, on the other hand, as in the case of Price, bishop of Kildare, and arch- bishop of Cashel, at a somewhat later period, who " was very diligent and laborious in reclaiming the Papists to the communion of the Church, and for that end maintained many Irish clergymen to preach to them in their country language 3 ," the praise- worthy experiment would have been defeated by the restless activity and persevering efforts of the Popish priests to counteract the design : may, after all, be matter of speculation, and probably the occasion of a variety of opinions in the speculators. But, in any ^t due^ result, history owes its tribute of respectful and for the attempt. honourable notice to the calm solicitude, the dispas- 3 WARE'S Bishops, p. 487. 470 THE REIGN OF 1_CH. VII. Principle of the Government as sionate meditation, the unwearied energy, and the Christian piety and benevolence of the venerable prelate who conceived, and, to the extent of his abilities, prosecuted and effected his design. Meanwhile it should be noticed, that this plan of to religious unity. re ligiotis reformation appears not to have been ap- proved by the Government ; certainly it was not countenanced by Lord Went worth during his vice- royalty, the principle of whose administration was, t3 enforce religious unity by Church discipline, and to invigorate Church discipline with the secular arm. It was in those days, indeed, the prevailing and general opinion, that for suppressing vice and pro- faneness, for counteracting schism and sacrilege, the dishonour and bane of the Reformation, as well as for extirpating the earlier evils from which the Reformation sprang; the most effectual, if not the only expedient, was to allow the Church the free exercise of that spiritual power, which she derives from Christ only, and to render it significant and operative by civil penalties. "This," says Archbishop Vesey, the biographer of Bishop Bramhall, " was indeed a great part of the Lord Deputy's errand into this kingdom. The policy of that age was to make the monarchy strong and redoubtable to its neighbours; and the Protestant religion healthy and long- lived, by an entire union of all his majesty's subjects in the same confession and worship : and he knew all men are not to be preached and disputed, but to be governed, into virtue and piety, peace and unity ; and, but that those endeavours were unhappily misunderstood, we should not have had reason to complain of that valetudinary state which the Church now labours under."" In the present age such policy will be deemed an infringement of personal privileges; but thus much may be observed, that surely no obligations Bishop Vesoy's account nt L.>rd "Wi-ntworth's errand. Tyranny of I ) o 1 isli yrit' SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 471 or restraints of the most compulsory and penal statutes could equal the tyranny exercised by Popish priests over their subjects; binding their wills as with a cart-rope, and searing their consciences with a hot iron. In a letter from Archbishop Laud to the Lord Archbishop Deputy, dated Lambeth, Oct. 14, 1633, the follow- t^ ing remarks occur about the manner proposed for supplying vacancies in the Irish Episcopate. " 1 heartily thank your lordship for the inclosed paper that you sent me, though you might have spared the pains; for I was never jealous that you would do anything against the good of the Church, or such intentions as I have towards it. For I am most confident (and I protest my heart and pen go together) that since the Reformation there was never any deputy in that kingdom intended the good of the Church so much as your lordship doth. And I hope you i , .-, i , / ji T worth's care for are as resolute in your thoughts for me, that, since I was the church. the first man that humbly besought his majesty to send of his chaplains to be bishops in that kingdom, I shall not The king's now recede from it, unless it be at some times, and on some particular occasions, when I may receive information from your lordship of some very able and discerning men on that side. " Concerning the age of such as should be made bishops Fit ape for tho in those parts, I see your lordship and I shall not differ e much ; for I did never intend, may I have free use of my own judgment, to send you any decrepid man amongst you. For I very well know, that in places where less action is necessary than in Ireland, a man may be as well too old as too young for a bishoprick. Your lordship would not have any there under thirty-five, nor above forty-five. And, truly, my lord, I am in the middle way, and that useth to be best; for 1 would have no man a bishop anywhere under forty. And if your lordship understood clergymen as well as I do, I know you would in this be wholly of my judgment. I never in all my life knew any more than one 472 THE REIGN OF [Cii. VII. Bramhall made Bishop of Berry. 1634. On Archbishop Laud's recom- mendation. Observations on his age. made a bishop before forty ; and he proved so well, that I shall never desire to see more, nor will, if I can hinder it ; but this way that I have expressed, have with you for all occasions, both for Church and State. And, if at any time I send you any of my acquaintance, and break rule of age, life, or doctrine, lay it upon me home 4 ." It is not a little remarkable, that the first vacancy, which occurred amongst the Irish bishops, caused a deviation from the rule thus formally announced. But it so happened, that precisely seven months after the date of the preceding*, on the 14th of May, 1634, the archbishop wrote thus to the Lord Deputy: " Now, my lord, to your great business. Since the Bishop of Deny is dead, I have (though against the rule which I have lodged with his majesty) moved earnestly for Dr. Bramliall to succeed him ; and given him the reasons why, for his own service, and the good of the Church in that kingdom, he should dispense in this particular for the doctor's being a little too young. His majesty, after some arguing on the business, and with great testimony of your lordship's good service to himself and the Church, granted him the bishoprick, as you will see by the letters which accompany these. This I have readily done to serve you, with some departure from my own judgment in matter of age, hoping the doctor will supply it with temper ; and then he hath the more strength for his business, which he says he will not, and I say he must not, leave, till that Church be better settled ; which I dare say must be now, when a king, a lord deputy, and a poor archbishop, set jointly to it, or never." Bramhall's biographers relate him to have been born in or about the year 1593 ; in which case, at the time in question, he 4 Si ra/ord Letters, i. 124. SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 473 must have been hard upon, if not rather more than, forty years of age; beyond the limit, therefore, which the archbishop had defined for the episcopal qualification. The case gave occasion for another important objection to general observation from Archbishop Laud: "What holding m- Dr. Bramhall holds in England, he must leave : that England. bishoprick, being good, needs no commendam ; if it did, it must be helped there. For I foresee marvel- lous great inconvenience, and very little less than mischief, if way be given to bishops there to hold commendams here 5 ." In the interval between the dates of the two commissions for repair of letters, just cited, a communication of December, churches. 1633, from the Lord Deputy, informs the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, " Commissions for repair of churches are issued over the whole kingdom, and all the life shall be given to it that possibly I can : and yet it may be, some hot-heated prelate may think, there is no good intent to religion. But I must answer him, that his brain-sick zeal would work a goodly Reformation surely, to force a conformity to a religion, whereas yet there is hardly to be found a church to receive, or an able minister to teach the people. No, no, let us fit ourselves in these two." The Lord Deputy had evidently turned to the best account the time and opportunity, afforded him for investigating the state of the Church, since his arrival in Ireland. About this time, he threw together the particulars of the information he had collected, and transmitted it to Archbishop Laud, in a letter of January 31, 1634; which it is hardly 5 Stra/ord Letters, i. 255. 474 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Desire of religi- ous conformity betwci n England and Ireland. Propositions for improving tl.e Church of Ireland. Distempered state of the Church. Places of educa- tion ill-con- ducted. possible to peruse without feelings of disappointment and astonishment, as well as of pain and sorrow. " May it please your Grace, " The reducing of this kingdom to a conformity in religion with the Church of England is no doubt deeply set in his majesty's pious and prudent heart, as well in perfect zeal to the service of the Almighty, as out of other weighty reasons of state and government. " But to attempt it before the decays of the material churches be repaired, and an able clergy be provided, that so there might be both, wherewith to receive, instruct, and keep the people, were as a man going to warfare without munition or arms. It being, therefore, most certain, that this to-he-wished Reformation must first work from our- selves, I am bold to transmit over to your grace these few propositions, for the better ordering this poor Church, which hath thus long laid in the silent dark : and thereupon crave your counsel, that I may understand what his majesty will be pleased to ordain further herein. " The best entrance to the cure will be clearly to dis- cover the state of the patient, which I find many ways distempered : an unlearned clergy, which have not so much as the outward form of churchmen to cover themselves with, nor their persons any ways reverenced or protected ; the churches unbuilt; the parsonage and vicarage-houses utterly ruined; the people untaught, through the non- residency of the clergy, occasioned by the unlimited shame- ful numbers of spiritual promotions with cure of souls, which they hold by commendams; the rites and ceremonies of the Church run over without all decency of habit, order, or gravity, in the course of their service ; the possessions of the Church, to a great proportion, in lay-hands ; the bishops aliening their very principal houses and demesnes to their children, to strangers; farming out their jurisdictions to mean and unworthy persons; the Popish titulars exercising the whilst a foreign jurisdiction much greater than theirs. " The schools, which might be a means to season the youth in virtue and religion, either ill-provided, ill-governed in the most part, or, which is worse, applied sometimes SEC. IVY) KING CHARLES I. 475 underhand to the maintenance of Popish school-masters ; lands, given to these charitable uses, and that in a bountiful proportion, especially by King James of ever blessed memory, dissipated, leased forth for little or nothing, con- cealed contrary to all conscience, and the excellent purposes of the founders. The college here, which should be the seminary of arts and civility in the elder sort, extremely out of order, partly by means of their statutes which rnusfc be amended, and partly under the government of a weak provost. "All the monies, raised for charitable uses, converted Abuse of to private benefits ; many patronages unjustly, and by practice, gotten from the crown. "Many of the Church livings never so much as once Neglect of first- mentioned in the office of first-fruits ; whereby the crown doth not only lose what belongs unto it, but the Church a protection and safety, which ever follows it, where her interests and the interests of the crown are thus woven together. " Here are divers of the clergy, whose wives and children Famiiiesof the are recusants : and there I observe the Church goes most JJSSJntJ^ lamentably to wreck, and hath suffered extremely under the wicked alienations of this sort of pastors, wherein I could already give many instances. Therefore, I judge it fit this should be inquired after, and themselves avoided and deprived, if by any legal means it can possibly be effected. " They are accustomed here to have all their christen- private christen- ings and marriages in their private houses; and, which is JJ^ odd, they never marry till after supper, and so to bed. This breeds a great mischief in the commonwealth, which is seen in this ; that, because these rites of the Church are not solemnized in the pubiick and open assemblies, there is nothing so common as for a man to deny his wife and children, abandon the former, and betake himself to a new task. I conceive it were fit, that these particulars should be reduced to the custom of England, which is, not only much better for the pubiick, but the more civil and comely. And, indeed, I hold it most needful, your lordship would take a course, that all the canons, now in force in England, 476 THE KEIGN OF [Cn. VII. Adoption of the English canons recommended. Use of a high commission ill Dublin. Archbishop Laud's answer. March, 1634. Repair both of recommended. should be imposed upon this clergy; and the Church altogether governed under those rules for the future, for as yet they have no canons set by publick authority at all. " And, finally, I hold it very fit, there were a high com- mission settled here in Dublin, conceiving the use of it might be very great, to countenance the despised state of the clergy; to support ecclesiastical courts and officers, much suffering by means of the overgrowth of Popery in this kingdom ; to restrain the extreme extortions of officials, registers, and such like; to annul all foreign jurisdiction, which daily grows more insolent than other ; to punish the abominable polygamies, incests, and adulteries, which, both in respect of the exercise of a foreign jurisdiction, and for the fore-mentioned reasons, are here too, too frequent ; to provide for the maintenance of the clergy, and for their residence, either by themselves or able curates ; to take an account, how monies given to pious uses are bestowed ; to bring the people here to a conformity in religion ; and, in the way to all these, raise, perhaps, a good revenue to the crown. But then I could wish, there be good choice had in naming of commissioners ; and that it be not set on foot, till we see what may become of a parliament, in case his majesty shall hold it fit to assemble that council 6 .' 1 On the llth of March following, the archbishop answered the Lord Deputy, in part to this effect. " The anatomy, which you make of the Irish ecclesias- tical disease, makes it apparent, that it is spread so univer- sally over the body, that a very wise physician can scarce tell where to begin his cure. But if you would have my foolish judgment, thus it is. " I would set upon the repair of the material and the spiritual Church together ; and first I would have a general an( j gtr j ct C o mm and issued out, that every minister should read all divine service wholly and distinctly, in a grave and religious manner, to the people ; and this I take it may be presently done without any noise, because they have the English liturgy already. And at the same time would I have an act made, that no man of what degree soever 6 Stra/ord Letters, i. 187, 188. SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 477 should hold above two benefices with cure, and those within a limited distance, that they may the better take care of them. If these two were once settled, the rest would follow in order, especially if your lordship can reduce some more of their temporaries for maintenance ; and keep them, especially the bishops, from their sacrilegious alienations, about which you are in a very good way, and his majesty commands me to thank you for that care. " For the schools, if your lordship will remedy any thin <*, Remedy con- , i ,1 P . ,-, . , . cerning schools. you must take the same way for restoring their temporalties, without which reward no man will take pains ; and there are not many men, which deserve better or worse of a state than schoolmasters. And where abuses are grown so many and great, I do not see any Reformation possible, without some severity. Therefore, if your lordship will rectify this, you must turn out the insufficient, and especially those, which train up the youth in Popery. "For the third thing your lordship mentions, I con- Remedy, to ceive the remedy is more easy : for there you have nothing pub to do, but to turn the money, given to charitable uses, to the use intended by the donor ; to reduce such patronages, as are unjustly gotten from the crown ; and to enter into the first -fruit office all such benefices as are not there already, and yet are valuable in that account : which I mention so, because with us in England no benefice pays any subsidy, which is not above 67. value in the king's books. "As for the college, I am very sorry they have chosen Archbishop o me chancellor ; and, if they will follow the directions I Jtiio have given them by my Lord Primate, I hope they will colle s e - send me a resignation, that I may give it over, and your lordship be chosen, being upon the place, and able to do them much more good. As for their statutes, if they need any mending, I shall not refuse that pains : but, before I can enter upon that service, if they have a confirmation of its statutes to be their statutes under the broad seal of that, kingdom, or a this, I must have a commission under the same seal, to authorize me to alter or do what (I think fit with them; else I may not meddle. If this shall be thought fit, I will presently send for a copy of their statutes, and such excep- tions, as the wisest men in that society can make against 478 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. The provost to be changed. New body of statutes lor the university. Robert Usslier made Bishup of Kildare. them, and so proceed. For the provost, if he be a weak one, the fault is not mine : for, when the Bishop of Kilmore was preferred from that government, I was resolved to make the Dean of Cashel, that now is, his successor ; and though my Lord Primate writ very earnestly for a native and his kinsman, that now is provost, with assurance of his sufficiency; and though two of the fellows came over and petitioned his majesty; yet all this should hardly have taken me off, had not the Dean of Cashel at that time absolutely refused me : and, if now your lordship think him as fit for the place as I do, I will join with you for the preferring of the present provost ; and, to be revenged of his former refusal, put in the Dean of Cashel, alway provided, that for his better encouragement, he may hold his deanery 7 ." Some of the foregoing topicks will fall again under our notice hereafter. For the present, it may be stated with respect to the last paragraph of Arch- bishop Laud's answer, that the statutes of the university having been referred to his consideration, he drew up a body of laws for the university of Dublin, as he had already done for that of Oxford, and procured the royal authority for their establish- ment : and with respect to the provost>hip, that the Dean of Cashel, William Chappel, afterwards pro- moted to the united bishopricks of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, was, in the year following the date of this correspondence, placed at the head of the academical body, on the removal of Robert Us^her, son of the former Primate of that name, and cousin of the actual Primate, to the See of Kildare. The removal of Ussher to this superior station in the Church may be judged not unmerited, if he has been correctly reported by his biographer, "as a prelate orthodox, unblameable, learned, of a meek, modest, conscien- tious, and gentle behaviour ; constant and assiduous 7 Strafford Letters, i. 212, SEC. IV.J KING CHARLES I. 479 as a preacher, and eminent for his abilities in the pulpit 8 :" although he may have been deficient in " the vigour and activity," for which his successor in wnn a m chap- ,, . . pel, hi < successor the provostship was conspicuous, and "which he showed in enforcing uniformity and strict Church discipline in the college, in opposition to the schism and fanaticism of the times ; in his eminent know- ledge of the science of government, and his exact temper in the administration of it, which appeared in the mildness and regularity of his management of the society, and in the perfect obedience of the scholars to the rules and statutes of the house 9 ." Here also it may be convenient to mention, as sion court. resulting from this correspondence, that a high com- mission court was at no distant period established in Dublin, after the pattern of that in London, and possessed of similar powers, the principal of which are specified in the concluding paragraph of the Lord Deputy's letter to the archbishop. But the appointment of this court was suspended, according to the intention there indicated, until after the meeting of the parliament at that time in contem- plation. In the mean time, it was determined to hold a Question of pre- cedence bet ween parliament, and withal a convocation of the clergy: theArchbi*hoi.s of Armagh and and as a preliminary, to settle the question concern- Dublin, ing the precedence of the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, which had not been agitated since the reign of Queen Mary, who restored to Archbishop Dowdall the primacy, of which he had been deprived by King Edward. Recently it had been again revived by the Archbishops of Dublin, first by Thomas Jones, and then by Lancelot Bulkeley ; the 8 WARE'S Bishops, p. 392. /&., p. 567. 480 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Rights of his see maintained by Archbishop Hampton. By order of the king, 1626. The claims ex- amined by Lord Went worth, June, 1C34. latter of whom, soon after his consecration, took up the controversy with Primate Hampton, and now again resumed it with Primate Ussher. The ground, on which he rested his claim, was the presumption, that "a Protestant king and council would confirm the patent, granted by a Protestant king to his pre- decessor, Archbishop Browne, and abolish that of a Popish queen to Primate Dowdall." Against each of these claimants in succession, Archbishop Hampton maintained the rights of his see to precedence, both in parliament and in con- vocation. Among the MSS. of Trinity College, Dublin, are extant in his own hand-writing all the proofs which he drew on this occasion, and which he thus concludes : " I am weary, and a little ashamed, of spending so much time in matters merely formal. The Archbishop of Dublin hath compelled me. He challengeth that which is not due to him. I defend the long-continued right of my see. My defence is necessary : his challenges and encroachments are superfluous, and more than needed." The death of Primate Hampton caused at that time the suspension of the dispute. But, on its resumption against Ussher, King Charles the First, on the 8th of July, 1626, directed letters to the Lord Deputy, Viscount Falkland, and the privy council, to examine into and finally determine the difference, that the scandal, arising from such an unseemly contention between prelates, might be avoided. But nothing was done in execution of this command until June, 1634, a little before the meeting of parliament: when the Lord Deputy, Viscount Wentworth, summoned the two arch- bishops before the council board, and during two successive days narrowly examined into the differ- SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES I. 481 ences; viewed the records; and heard all the allegations on either side 10 . He then declared, "that it appeared from divers m* decision in evidences, that from all antiquity the See of Armagh had been acknowledged the prime see of the whole kingdom ; and the archbishop thereof reputed, not a provincial primate, like the other three metropo- litans, but a national; that is, the sole Primate of Ireland, properly so called. That in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Dublin did con- stantly subscribe after the Archbishop of Armagh. That in the statute for -free-schools, in the 12th of Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Armagh is nominated before the Archbishop of Dublin, as he is in that of the 27th of Elizabeth, where all the archbishops and bishops were ranked in their order, as appeared by the Parliament Rolls. For which reasons he decreed, that the Archbishop of Armagh, and his successors for ever, should have precedency, and be ranked before the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors, as well in parliament and convocation house, as in all other meetings; and in all com- missions, where they should be mentioned; and in all places, as well within the diocese or province of Dublin, as elsewhere ; until upon better proof, on the part of the Archbishop of Dublin, it should be adjudged otherwise." And thus was finally con- cluded this dispute, which had from time to time perplexed and disturbed both Church and State for many hundred years. It may be here incidentally noticed, that the same dispute having been perpetuated between the two titular archbishops, as late as the year 1670, the question was referred to the See of Rome ; when the 10 WAKE'S Bi*hops t p. 7^. 2 I 482 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. matter was solemnly considered, in a full meeting of Cardinals ; and the congregation de propaganda fide, with the approbation of the Pope, decided, that "Armagh was the chief see and metropolis of the whole island 11 ." SECTION V. Acts of Parliament for improving the Temporal Estates of the Church. Convocation. Petition to the King in behalf of the inferior Clergy. Proposed adoption of the Thirty- Nine Articles of the Church of England. Difficulty of carrying it, surmounted by the Lord Deputy. Conduct of Primate Ussher. Proceedings in Convocation. Canon for manifestation of Agreement between the two Churches. Effect on the former Articles of the Irish Church. Sub- scription to them abandoned. Proposal to adopt the English Canons. Composition of a new Book committed to Bishop Bramhall. Wherein differing from English Book. Omissions. Additions. Publication of the Canons. Congratulatory Letter of Archbishop Laud. Parliament ana ON the 14th of July, 1635, a Parliament met, and Convocation, * '- * July, 1635. a ] so a Convocation of the Clergy. Acts for improv- In this Parliament several acts were passed for ing the temporal . . . -, i . , x-v,, , estates of the improving the temporal estates of the Church, more, it has been said, than in any other parliament. The first was for the maintenance and execution of pious uses ; obliging all archbishops and bishops to per- form every such trust, according to the true intent of the deeds, in that behalf made or to be made. The next was a statute for confirmation of leases, made by the Lord Primate and other prelates of Ulster, of such endowments as had been granted by King James to the sees of Armagh, Deny, Clogher, Raphoe, and Kilmore; giving them power, at any 11 STUART'S ArmayJi, p. 36o. SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 488 time within five years, to make leases for sixty years of such lands. In another session of this parliament, a third and very important act was passed for the preserva- tion of the inheritance, rights, and profits of lands belonging to the Church and persons ecclesiastical. This limited them to term and rent ; prescribed what they might set, for what and how long; and was the great security of succession. Also in the same adjourned session another act was passed for the benefit of the inferior clergy ; enabling restitu- tion of impropriations, and tythes, and other rights ecclesiastical to the clergy, with a restraint from alienating the same, and directions for the presenta- tions to churches 1 . Meanwhile business was transacting in the con- convocation. vocation, affecting both the temporalties and spiri- tualties of the Church. With respect to the former, the archbishops and Petition of the prelates to the bishops, in behalf of the inferior clergy, agreed on wg. the following humble petition to the king. It set forth, "That in the whole Christian world, the rural clergy Distress of the have not been reduced to such extreme contempt and beg- il gary as in this your highnesses kingdom, by the means of the frequent appropriations, commendams, and violent intru- sions into their undoubted rights in times of confusion ; having their churches ruined, their habitations left desolate, their tythes detained, their glebes concealed, and, by inevit- able consequence, an invincible necessity of a general non- residence imposed upon them, whereby the ordinary sub- ject has been left wholly destitute of all possible means to learn true piety to God, loyalty to their prince, civility 1 Irish Stat., 10 Charles I., sess, iii., chap. 1 & 5 ; and 10 & 11 Charles I., chap. 2 3. 2 I 2 484 THE &EIGN OF [CH. VII. Prayer for the appropriations. towards one another, and whereby former wars and insurrec- tions have been occasionally both procreated and main- tained. Whereas by settling a rural clergy, endowed with competency to serve God at his altar, besides the general protection of the Almighty, which it will most surely bring upon your majesty and this kingdom, barbarism and superstition will be expelled, the subject shall learn his duty to God and his sovereign, and true religion be pro- pagated. "Our most humble suit is, that your highness would be graciously pleased, for God^s cause and for his Church's cause, and for the encouragement of others by your royal example, to so good a work, to perfect the pious intentions of your blessed Father, and your sacred majesty, by esta- blishing upon a rural and resident clergy, those appropria- tions which are yet in the crown undisposed. So as the same may bring no diminution to your revenue, nor con- siderable prejudice to the rights of the imperial crown of this realm, as by a representation of the true state of these benefices made to the Lord Deputy, and hereunto annexed, may appear 2 ." Spiritual mat- ters. General confor- mity of the two Churches. The convocation was, at the same time, actively engaged in questions affecting the spiritual condi- tion of the Church. The two Churches of England and Ireland were actuated by the same spirit, and presented, in a great degree, the same appearance as to their reli- gious provisions ; for indeed the reformation of the latter had followed the direction of the former. But in the construction of their respective Articles of Religion, the Church of Ireland had declined the example of the sister church ; and, in particular, had defined certain speculative questions which had been in England, more wisely, perhaps, and tenderly, left undetermined. By many sincere and zealous friends 2 COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 7G3. SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 485 of both churches, this absence of perfect unity was lamented, and an entire harmony of profession de- sired. The course to be pursued was the adoption Proposed ado P - by the Irish Church of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Twrty-Niiw the Church of England. This measure was strongly recommended by Bishop Bramhall : it was cordially encouraged by the- English and Irish Governments: it received the concurrence, if not the zealous co- operation, of the Lord Primate : and to procure the general consent of the bishops and clergy, and so to establish a perfect and unequivocal identity in the profession of Christian doctrine, was a principal ob- ject of the present convocation. The chief, if not the only, difficulty, which at- Difficulty P ro- . sent.ed by the tended the measure, seems to have arisen out of the wsh Articles of different body of Articles which the Church of Ire- land had agreed upon in 1615. The history of the proceedings taken for accomplishing the measure, as deduced from the correspondence between the two governments, is extremely curious; and derived, as it is, from such a source, cannot but be aut hen tick. The subject must have been discussed in earlier Letter to the , . , -, f, c At Lord Deputy letters, which do not appear; for in one from the from Arch- Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lord Deputy, dated October 20, 1634, manifest reference is made to a former communication, to which this is an answer. " I knew how you would find my Lord Primate affected to the Articles of Ireland ; but I am glad the trouble that hath been in it will end there, without advertising of it over to us. And course with re - spect to them. whereas you propose to have the Articles of England received in ipsissimis verbis, and leave the other as no way concerned, neither affirmed nor denied, you are certainly in the right ; awl so says the king, to 486 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. Letter from the Lord Deputy to the Archbishop. Dec. 1634. Suggestion of the Primate. Lord Deputy's alarm. His previous security. Artifice of the lower house of convocation. whom I imparted it, as well as I. Go, hold close, and you will do a great service in it 3 ." But in a letter of December the 16th, 1634, the whole business is more fully opened to the Arch- bishop by the Lord Deputy, who expresses his desire of " certifying to his grace how all hath gone with us in the convocation-house." " In a former letter of mine," remarks Lord Weut- worth, " I mentioned a way propounded by my Lord Pri- mate, how to bring upon this clergy the Articles of Eng- land, and silence those of Ireland without noise, as it were ali ud agens, which he was confident would pass among them. " In my last I related to you how his grace grew fear- ful he should not be able to effect it ; which awakened me, that had rested hitherto secure upon that judgment of his, and had indeed leaned upon that belief so long as, had I not bestirred myself, though I say it, like a man, I had been fatally surprised, to my extreme grief, for as many days as I have to live. " The Popish party growing extreme perverse in the Commons House, and the Parliament thereby in great danger to have been lost in a storm, had so taken up all my thoughts and endeavours, that, for five or six days, it was not almost possible for me to take an accompt how business went among them of the clergy. Besides I reposed secure upon the Primate, who all this while said not a word to me of the matter. At length I got a little time, and that most happily too ; informed myself of the state of those affairs ; and found that the lower house of convocation had ap- pointed a select committee to consider the Canons of the Church of England ; that they did proceed in the exami- nation without conferring at all with their bishops; that they had gone through the Book of Canons, and noted in the margin such as they allowed with an A ; and on others they had entered a D, which stood for deliberandum ; that into the fifth article they had brought the Articles of Ire- land, to be allowed and received under the pain of excom- * Strafffrt letters, i. 320. KING CHAliLES I. 487 municatioii ; and that they had drawn up their canons into a body, and were ready that afternoon to make report in the convocation." Highly displeased at this contrivance, the Lord Lord Deputy's T^ , , interview with .Deputy, as he goes on to relate, sent for the chair- the chairman t f n . -i ... the committee. man of the committee, requiring him to bring the Book of Canons, so noted in the margin, together with the draught he was that afternoon to present to the house ; expressed his indignation at the pro- ceedings, at which he felt above measure ashamed and scandalized; and commanded him on his alle- giance to report nothing from that committee to the house, till he had heard from the Lord Deputy. Thereupon he called a meeting of the Primate, Mating of the the Bishops of Meath, Raphoe, Kilmore, and Derry, * the prolocutor of the house, and all those who had been of the committee, and publickly told them, " how unlike clergymen, that owed canonical obe- dience to their superiors, they had proceeded in their committee ; how unheard a part it was, for a few r petty clerks to presume to make articles of faith without the privity or consent of state or bishop ; what a spirit of Brownism and contradiction he ob- served in their deliberandums, as if, indeed, they pur- posed at once to take away all government and order forth of the Church, and leave every man to choose his own high place, which liked him best." The Lord Deputy then laid his injunctions, of The Lord DO- wirich these were the most important: that the turn* prolocutor should put no question at all in the house touching the receiving or not of the Articles of the Church of Ireland ; that he should put the question for allowing and receiving the Articles of England, barely, content or not content. And, because there should be no question in the canon 488 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. The Primate's supposed know- ledge of the transaction. Canon framed to meet the exi- gence. Lord Deputy's jealousy of the Primate. Canon passed hy both houses. thus to be voted, he desired the Lord Primate would be pleased to frame it : and, after the Lord Deputy had perused it, he would send the prolocutor a draught of the canon to be propounded, enclosed in a letter of his own. "It is very true," observes the Lord Deputy, making his own comment on the transaction, " that, for all the Primate's silence, it was not possible but he knew how near they were to have brought in those Articles of Ireland to the infinite disturbance and scandal of the Church, as I conceive : and certainly could have been content I had been surprised. But he is so learned a Primate, and so good a man, as I do beseech your grace it may never be imputed to him. Howbeit I will always write your lord- ship the truth, whomsoever it concerns. " The Primate," he continues, " accordingly framed a canon, a copy whereof you have here, which I not so well approving, drew up one myself, more after the words of the canon in England, which I held best for me to keep to, as close as I could, and then sent it to my lord. His grace came instantly to me, and told me, he feared the canon would not pass in such form, as I had made it, but he was hopeful, as he had drawn it, it might ; besought me there- fore to think a little better of it. " But I confess, having taken a little jealousy that his proceedings were not open and free to those ends I had my eyes upon, it was too late now, either to persuade or affright me. I told his lordship I was resolved to put it to them in those very words ; and was most confident there were not six in the houses that would refuse them, telling him, by the sequel we should see, whether his lordship or myself better understood their minds on that point, and by that I would be content to be judged: only, for order sake, I desired his lordship would vote this canon first in the upper house of convocation ; and, so voted, then to pass the ques- tion beneath also. " Without any delay then I writ a letter to Dean Leis- ley, (the prolocutor,) with the canon enclosed, which accordingly was that afternoon unanimously voted, first SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 489 with the bishops, and then with the clergy, excepting one man : you shall find his name amongst the committees, who singly did deliberate upon the receiving the Articles of England 4 ." The foregoing account of the proceedings of the Lord Deputy, made, as he solemnly affirms, "with an upright heart, to prevent a breach, seeming at least, betwixt the Churches of England and Ireland," discloses some of the secret springs by which their agreement was attempted respectively to be pro- moted or retarded. What follows is a narrative of Bishop vesey-s some of the proceedings in the convocation, recorded in Bishop Vesey's Life of Primate Bramhall, and derived in substance from the report of Thomas Price, archbishop of Cashel, who was at the time archdeacon of Kilmore, and consequently one of the lower house of convocation. " The Bishop of Derry," says his biographer, "laboured Bi*hopBram- in the convocation, to have the correspondence between the in convocation ' two churches more entire and accurate : and discoursed, ninc Articles - with great moderation and sobriety, of the convenience of having the Articles of peace and communion in every national Church, worded in that latitude, that dissenting persons in those things, that concerned not the Christian faith, might subscribe, and the Church not lose the benefit of their labours, for an opinion, which, it may be, they could not help : that it were to be wished that such Articles might be contrived for the whole Christian world, but especially that the Protestant Churches under his majesty^s dominion might ' all speak the same language ;"* and particularly that those of England and Ireland, being reformed by the same principle and rule of Scripture, expounded by universal tradition, councils, fathers, and other ways of conveyance, might confess their faith in the same form. For, if they were of the same opinion, wh did they not express themselves in the same words 2" 4 Stra/ord Letters, i. 342 ; ii. 10. 490 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Answer in favour of the Articles of 1615. Bishop Bram- hall's reply. The first of the Irish canons passed by the convocation. But he was answered, " that, because their sense was the same, it was not material if the expressions differed; and therefore it was fitter to confirm and strengthen the Articles of this Church, passed in convocation, and confirmed by King James, in 1615, by the authority of this present synod." To this the Bishop of Derry replied, "That though the sense might be the same, yet our adver- saries clamoured much that they were dissonant confessions ; and it was reasonable to take away the offence, when it might be done easily : but for the confirmation of the Articles of 1615, he knew not what they meant by it : and wished the propounder to consider, whether such an act would not, instead of ratifying what was desired, rather tend to the diminution of that authority, by which they were enacted, and seem to question the value of that synod, and consequently of this : for that this had no more power than that, and therefore could add no moments to it, but by so doing might help to enervate both." By this prudent dressing of this objection, he avoided the blow he most feared; and therefore again earnestly pressed the receiving of the English Articles, which were at last admit ed. Whereupon immediately " drawing up a canon," says his biogra- pher, rather perhaps we may suppose, bringing for- ward the canon which had been previously drawn up by the Lord Deputy, and with a copy of which he would naturally be intrusted for the occasion, "and proposing it, it passed accordingly." The canon is the first of those that were made in that convocation: namely, " of the agreement of the Church of England and Ireland in the profession of the same Christian religion ;" and is expressed in the following terms. SEC. V.] KINC4 CHARLES I. 491 "For the manifestation of our agreement with the English Articles Church of England in the confession of the same Christian receivedand f . , , . approved. faith, and the doctrine of the Sacraments ; we do receive and approve the Book of Articles of Religion, agreed upon by the archbishops, and bishops, and the whole clergy, in the convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord, 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion. And there- fore if any hereafter shall affirm, that any of those Articles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let him be excommunicated, and not absolved before he make a publick recantation of his error." Thus the English Articles were received and Question as to approved by the Irish convocation with the single dissentient voice of a nonconformist minister from the diocese of Down. But the agreement being thus affirmed between the two Churches, by the Irish Church's adoption of the Articles of the Church of England, a question arose, as to the effect pro- duced by this adoption on the former Articles of the Irish Church. On this question much difference of opinion prevailed, as related by writers contempo- raneous, or nearly contemporaneous. Some persons affirmed that "the Irish Articles were formally annulled by this adoption 5 ," and "the h whole book now called in 6 :" but these affirmations are disproved by the preceding narrative, which shows that no proposition at all was put upon that subject. Some alleged that those Articles were intended to be, and, in fact, were, if not formally, yet virtually repealed ; others maintained that the act was in- tended only as a recognition of the truth of the English doctrines, but did not affect the privilege of 5 COLLIER, Eccl. Hist. v. ii. 762. 8 HEYLIN'S Tracts, p. 492. 492 THE REIGN OF [Cii. VII. Fuller. Collier. Opinion of Primate Ussher. the Irish Church, to express her own sentiments in her own form of words. Some held that the entire receiving of the nine- and-thirty Articles, without the least reserve, implied a virtual abrogation of their own ; (and this is pro- bably the meaning of Fuller when he states them to have been "utterly excluded 7 :") that "this was the necessary consequence, as far as there was any inconsistency between the English and the Irish Articles; for this canon, being the last act of the Irish Church, it must, like a last will, stand in force against all prior declarations of a contrary import 8 :" that, in point of fact, there was an inconsistency between the English Articles and those, which, under the title of the Lambeth Articles, had been rejected by the English Church, though subsequently embraced by the Church of Ireland, and incor- porated with her own Articles of 1615 ; and they accordingly contended, that the adoption of the English Articles was in reality a repudiation of the Irish. Others disputed, that there was no inconsistency between the two bodies thus brought into compari- son ; that the English and the Irish, or Lambeth, Articles might well stand together ; that the latter only contained the doctrine of the English more fully set forth ; and that, in short, the Articles of the Church of England were only received in the sense of, and as they might be expounded by, those of the Church of Ireland. This seems to have been the opinion of Primate Ussher, who had been the original framer of the Articles, now supposed to be silently repealed. In a letter to a friend, giving, a few months afterwards, an account of the late convoca- 7 Church History, b. xi. p. 149. 3 COLLIEK, ii. 763. SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 493 tion, lie observes, "The Articles of Religion, agreed upon in our former synod, anno 1615, we let stand as they did before. But, for the manifesting of our agreement with the Church of England, we have received and approved your Articles also, concluded in the year 1562, as you may see in the first of our Canons." And some pains were taken by both his chaplains, Dr. Bernard and Dr. Parr, in their several import of MS lives of the primate, to show that, in his judgment, chaplai the Articles of 1615 preserved their original au- thority.] On the other hand, it appears to have been the Apparent inten- tion of the intention or the two Governments, that, whilst no Governments. violence should be offered to the Primate's feelings, nor any slur cast upon his character, by the avowed repeal of the Articles, which he had himself com- posed, the establishment, nevertheless, of the English Articles, being, as they conceived them to be, incon- sistent with the others, should give silently and effectually a death-blow to those previously esta- blished in the Church of Ireland. And such appears to liave been the purpose of Bishop Bramhall, as r ur posoof intimated by the course above attributed to. him by *?** his biographer, Archbishop Vesey; and as confirmed in his funeral sermon, by Bishop Jeremy Taylor, who commends his care in " causing the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the rule of publick confessions and persuasions here ; that they and we might be popidus unius labii, of one heart and one lip, building up our hopes of heaven on a most holy faith ; and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently ; or rather in some little degree to speak the speech of Ashdod, and not the language of Canaan." This difference of opinion led for a time to a dif- 494 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Consequent difference of practice. Impropriety of two sets of Articles. Ineffectual peti- tion for ratifica- tion of Irish Articles. ference of practice amongst the rulers of the Church. " The Lord Primate, with most of the rest of the bishops at that time," says Dr. Bernard ; " some few bishops," says Bishop Vesey ; required of their clergy for some time subscriptions to both sets of Articles ; the others seem to have been contented with the subscription to the English only, as prescribed by the first Irish Canon. And well might they be so contented ; and well might the other practice have been, as it soon was, abandoned. For, as hath been properly observed by Dr. Smith, in his Life of Ussher, " it must seem highly ridiculous, not to say scandalous, that two Confessions, disagreeing in various doctrines of theo- logy, should be retained in the same Church; or that the faith and doctrine of the English Church, very recently received and approved with great solemnity, should by the admission of those former doctrines, be again disapproved and rejected." The double subscription was felt, indeed, by those who had adopted it, to be an insufficient sub- terfuge. They, therefore, petitioned the Lord Deputy that he would allow and procure the Irish Articles, which had been framed nineteen years before, to be ratified by Act of Parliament. But he was so far from granting, or patiently listening to, this unsea- sonable petition, which he, with his wonted sagacity, foresaw would be greatly detrimental to the publick peace, that he rejected it with extreme indignation ; and in the end, if credit may be given to the Scotch Commissioners, in the articles of the most bitter crimination, which they exhibited to the English Parliament, in 1641, against Lord Strafford, he threatened Ussher, and the other advocates of the proposal, that, unless they desisted from it ? he would SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 495 order those Articles to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman 9 . But, however this be, the latest period, to which Difference in the difference in subscriptions was continued, was SnuSin that of the confusion introduced into the Church by the Irish Rebellion in 1641, about six or seven years after the adoption of the Articles of the Church of England. On the restoration of the Church, after that disastrous period, no attempt seems to have been made for reviving the Articles of 1615 ; but Smith, in his Life of Ussher, affirms, that he had " often and often heard, from bishops and presbyters of the Church of Ireland, that they recognised and used the English Articles only. The others naturally fell into neglect, desuetude, and oblivion, as if they had never existed 9 ;" carrying with them the rem- nant or the semblance of disagreement between the two sister Churches, in all things affecting the purity of their faith. The agreement with the Church of England in Proposal to adopt the English doctrine having been settled in the convocation, it C:in ns - was further moved by the Bishop of Derry, that, as they had received the Articles, so they would like- wise the Canons, of the Church of England, in order that the two Churches might have the same rule of government as well as of belief. An objection to this proposal was made with great earnestness by the Lord Primate, that it would appear to be the betray- objections of the ing of the privileges of a national Church : that it might lead to placing the Church of England in a state of absolute superintendence and dominion over that of Ireland : that it was convenient for some dis- crepancy to appear, if it were but to declare the free 9 Vita Jac. Uswrii, scrip, THOM. SMITH, p. 7'3. 496 THE REIGN OF [Cit. VII. Predisposition of the convocation in their favour. Construction of Book of Canons committed to Bishop Brain- hall. agency of the Church of Ireland, and to express her sense of rites and ceremonies, that there is no neces- sity of the same in all Churches, which are inde- pendent of each other ; and that different canons and modes might co-exist with the same faith, charity, and communion. By these and similar arguments the Lord Pri- mate prevailed with the convocation, in which the prepossessions of many of its members inclined them to a favourable reception of his reasonings. The fact, indeed, seems to have been in some degree agreeable to the statement of Mr. Carte, in his Life of the Duke of Ormonde, that the convocation contained many members inclined in their hearts to the puri- tanical peculiarities, as distinguished from 'the more sober and chastised ordinances of the Church of England, and of themselves prepared to object to some of the English Canons, now offered to their judgment and approbation; particularly to such as concerned the solemnity and uniformity of divine worship, the administration of the Sacraments, and the ornaments used therein; the qualifications for holy orders, for benefices, and for pluralities ; the oath against simony, the times of ordination, and the obligations to residency and subscription 10 . It was accordingly concluded, that such canons as were fit to be transplanted should be adopted in the Church of Ireland, and others be added to them, having been constructed afresh for the purpose, so as to form a complete rule peculiarly suited to the circumstances of the country. The execution of this task was committed to the Bishop of Berry ; and the result was the Book of Constitutions and Canons for the regulation of the 10 CARTE'S Life ofOnnonde, v. i. p. 78, SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 497 Church of Ireland, which, having been passed in convocation, received its final confirmation and au- thority from his majesty's assent, according to the form of the statute, or Act of Parliament, made in that behalf. These canons for the most part agreed in sub- Agreement ana stance and intention with the English Canons, from tie^gusT which, however, they differed much in arrangement and construction, without any obvious improvement, rather perhaps the contrary. In number also they were less, amounting to one hundred only, whereas the English code comprised one hundred and forty- one. This diminution is attributable in a consider- able degree to a combination, occasionally, of more than one of the English into one only of the Irish Canons. Of their contents in general it were needless and Leading points of difference. superfluous to attempt an abstract. But it is de- sirable to state the leading points, wherein they differed from the English ; especially in regard to the objections, which are alluded to above as having been entertained by many members of the Irish convocation against the canons of the Church of England. Some differences will appear to have been introduced, probably in compliance with the pre- possessions specified above ; if the differences be less numerous or less important, than might have been expected, that result is reasonably to be attri- buted to the earnest desire for conformity between the two Churches, which actuated the distinguished prelate, to whom the construction of the new code was committed. I. As to "the solemnity and uniformity of substantial, but not circumstan- clivine worship." That "that form of liturgy or ai, uniformity t of divine divine service, and no other, shall be used in any worship, nized. 498 THE REIGN OF L^n. VII. church of this realm, but which is established by law, and comprised in the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the sacraments," was as dis- tinctly affirmed by the 3rd Irish canon, as it could possibly be by the 36th, or any other of the English ; so that uniformity of divine worship was thus far apparently secured. Yet a difference is observable in the rules which relate to circumstantial uniformity, or at least to the solemnity, of such worship. special dh-ec- In pursuance of the Apostle's rule, " Let all tions for outward reverence. things be done decently, and according to order," the 18th English canon distinctly judged and directed, that in divine service " all manner of persons then present shall reverently kneel upon their knees, when the general confession, litany, and other prayers are read; and shall stand up at the saying of the belief, according to the rules in that behalf prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer; and likewise, when in time of divine service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed." It also ordains, that every "man, woman, and child," shall "say in their clue places, audibly with the minister, the confession, the Lord's prayer, and the creed ; and make such other answers to the publick prayers, as are appointed in the Book -of Common Prayer." The corresponding Irish canon, which is the 7th, directs, that all persons attending divine service, shall " use all such reverent gestures and actions as by the Book of Common Prayer are prescribed in that behalf, and the com- mendable use of the Church received." Thus it refrains from special notice of the postures appointed omitted in tuo for divine service ; and it omits the direction con- Irish canons. cermng " bowing a t the name of Jesus, and an SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 499 audible participation in the service, by every " man, woman, and child." 2. As to " the administration of the sacraments," Explanation of the 13th English canon, which explains "the lawful c use of the cross in baptism," not without an expres- sion of sorrow at the inefficacy of the care and pains taken by King James the First, at the Hampton Court conference, for satisfying those who stuck at and impugned it, was altogether omitted from the Irish body of canons. And together with the expla- nation was, of course, omitted the clear language, in which the canon lays down the duty of every private man, both minister and other, to submit to publick Duty of sub- x mitting to auth authority in all things of themselves indifferent, nt y in things . * ' indifferent. which in some sort alter their nature, when lawfully commanded or forbidden. In the administration of the Lord's supper, on comparing the canons of the two Churches, I have not been struck by any deviation in the later from the solemn provisions of the earlier code. But I may remark incidentally, that the 18th Irish canon, instead of deviating from, does concur with the 27th and the 21st English in two important injunctions: namely, that "no minister, when he celebrateth the Kneeling at tiie holy communion. communion, shall wittingly administer the same to any but such as kneel;" and that "the minister shall deliver both the bread and the wine to every Delivery to each . 11 ij communicant communicant severally. severally. 3. As to "the ornaments used in divine service," use of the whereas the 58th English canon enjoins, that " every minister saying the publick prayers, or ministering the sacraments or other rites of the Church, shall wear a decent and comely surplice," there appears no corresponding Irish injunction, although in the 7th, notice is taken of the surplice, as worn in 2 K 2 500 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. Ten command- Form of prayer before sermons. What Articles the test of the candidate's faith. Add tional canons. Provision of divine worship in Irish. cathedral and collegiate churches. And under this head it may be remarked, that there is no corre- sponding Irish to the 82nd English canon, which orders "that the ten commandments be set up on the east end of every church and chapel, where the people may best see and read the same ; and other chosen sentences written upon the walls of the said churches and chapels in places convenient." The 55th English canon also, intitled "The Form of a Prayer to be used by all preachers before their sermons," has not any counterpart in the Irish body. These are its chief, if not its only, omissions upon the specifick articles of divine worship. In the other particulars enumerated above, I have perceived no deviations of moment, unless it be, that, in relation to " the quality of such as are to be made ministers," an account of the candidate's faith is required by the 34th English canon, " accord- ing to the Articles of Religion, approved in the synod of the bishops and clergy of this realm, one thousand five hundred and sixty-two ;" and by the 31st Irish, " according to the Articles of Religion, generally received in the Church of England and Ireland." The question, which has been already stated, con- cerning the effect of the recent adoption of the English Articles, and the jealousy which prevailed in some minds concerning them, may have given occasion for the indefinite terms of this condition. Additional canons, suggested by the peculiar exigencies of the Irish Church, were also interwoven with those of the English code. The 8th canon directed, that the parochial minister, subject to the judgment of the ordinary, should " endeavour, that the confession of sins, and SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 501 absolution, and all the second service at or before the communion, to the homily or sermon, where the people all, or most, are Irish, shall be used in Eng- lish first, and after in Irish." The 86th canon directed, that " where the minister is an Englishman, and many Irish in the parish, such a parish clerk parish clerks shall be chosen, as shall be able to read those parts of the service, which shall be appointed to be read in Irish, if it may be." And in the 94th canon, which directs the churchwardens to provide two Books of Common Prayer and a Bible in every church, for the minister and for the clerk, it is added, that " where all or the most part of the people are Irish, they shall provide also the said books in the Irish tongue, so soon as they may be had. The charge of these Irish books being to be borne also, wholly by the parish." These provisions were suggested by the exigen- cies of the country, arising out of its peculiar condi- tion with respect to the language of its inhabitants. But one of them in particular, the second, is a striking evidence of the obstruction presented to the reformed religion, seeing that it was deemed neces- sary to allow part of the service of the Church to be read by one, who was not an ordained minister. The folio win of were designed to counteract the counteractions f of the prevailing prevailing religious ignorance and superstition, and religious igno- to be instrumental in substituting an acquaintance with the true religion of the Gospel. By the 9th canon, preachers were instructed caution against J A heresies and to "teach no vain opinions, no heresies, nor Popish Popish errors. errors, disagreeing from the Articles of Religion, generally received in the Churches of England and Ireland ; nor anything at all, whereby the people may be stirred up to the desire of novelties or con- 502 THE REIGN OF [Cii. VII. Catechizing enforced by spe- cial conditions. Rules of preach- ing and cate- chizing. Superstitious customs to be rooted out. tention: but shall soberly and sincerely divide the word of truth, to the glory of God, and to the best edification of the people." The canon, which provided for the catechizing of the young and ignorant every * Sunday, being the llth, prohibited the minister from "admitting any to be married, or to be godfathers or godmothers at the baptism of any child, or to receive the holy communion, before they can say the articles of belief, the Lord's Prayer, and the commandments, in such a language as they understand." " For the better grounding of the people in the principles of Christian religion," it was by the 12th canon ordained, "that the heads of the cate- chism, being divided into as many parts as there are Sundays in the year, shall be explained to the people in every parish church. In the handling whereof the ministers and curates are to use such moderation, that they do not run into curious ques- tions or unnecessary controversies, but shortly declare and confirm the doctrine proposed, and make appli- cation thereof, to the behoof of their hearers. The ministers also in all their preachings, and catechiz- ings, and private conferences, when need requireth, shall t each the peopleto place their whole trust and confidence in God, and not in creatures, neither in the habit or scapular of any friar, or in hallowed beads, medals, reliques, or such like trumperies. They shall do their endeavour likewise to root out all ungodly, superstitious, and barbarous customs, as using of charms, sorcery, enchantments, witchcraft, or soothsaying ; and generally to reform the manners of the people committed to their charge, unto a Christian, sober, and civil conversation." And by the 97th canon, the churchwardens were SEC. V.] KING CHARLES I. 503 directed, "with the approbation of the ordinary of Monuments of the place, to see that all rood-lofts, in which wooden b taken awy. crosses stood ; all shrines, and all coverings of shrines, and all other monuments of feigned miracles, pil- grimages, idolatry, and superstitions, be clean taken away and removed." There were three or four other additional ordi- other S u PP ie- iiances, supplemental to those of the English Church. * "For remedy of the smallness of the mainte- unions of rec- nance of the clergy," it was ordained by the 36th " canon, " that when there is in one parish a rectory and vicarage, or portion of tythes collative, the bishop shall unite them perpetually; and those unions the deans and chapters shall be bound to confirm, to remain perpetually as one entire benefice." The 43rd directed, that "as often as churches consecration of were newly built, where formerly there were not, or churchyards appointed for burial, they shall be dedicated and consecrated : provided that the ancient churches and churchyards shall not be put to any base and unworthy use." By the 19th, the afternoon before the admi- Preparation for the holy commu- nistration of the holy communion, the minister was num. directed to "give warning by the tolling of a bell, or otherwise, to the intent that if any have any scruple of conscience, or desire the special ministry of reconciliation, he may afford it to those who need it." And the people were exhorted to special examination of the state of their own souls ; and that, " finding themselves either extreme dull, or much troubled in mind, they resort unto God's ministers, as well for advice and counsel, as for the quieting of their consciences by the power of the keys which Christ hath committed to his ministers for that purpose." 504 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Prohibited times of marriage. Character of the alterations. A preferable mode. Relative posi- tion of the two Churches. And by the 49th, persons were directed to marry, " neither in the time of Lent, nor of any publick fast, nor of the solemn festivities of the nativity, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, or of the descension of the Holy Ghost." That these additions, considered in their appli- cation to the state of religion in Ireland, were generally improvements to the English canons, may be readily admitted: that the omissions likewise were improvements, may be questioned at least, perhaps denied. Nor can I think that any good purpose was answered by the dismemberment and reconstruction of the entire body upon a different plan. If the object was to maintain the independ- ence and free agency of the Irish Church, that object might have been attained by appending to the English canons, or interweaving with them, such additions as appeared requisite for national purposes, and then adopting the code, in pursuance of Bishop Bramhall's proposal, in its original form, with those additions. Such a code would have been more complete in itself, and better fitted for preserving that unity of Christian profession, which was avow- edly manifested by the adoption of the English Articles, than by rejecting some of the English canons, and new-modelling the whole. For, whilst the wisdom of these objections is by no means palpable or indisputable, the new-modelling of the code gives an appearance of discrepancy, which really does not exist. I have judged it expedient to go into some detail on this subject. And the reader may thus be made aware of the general agreement between the two Churches, in their Canons as well as in their Articles ; and better apprehend the position of the SEC. V.] KING CHAKLES I. 505 Church of Ireland after the accomplishment of these important acts of legislation. Thus various affairs of no small difficulty and congratulatory delicacy, and deeply affecting the character and well- l ^$?J being of the Church, were finally completed : and the S 3 b r i , shop Lord Primate had soon afterwards the satisfaction May 10 ' 1G35> of receiving the following letter of congratulation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. " Salutem in Christo. " My very good Lord, " I thank you heartily for your letters; and am as p rospectso f heartily glad that your parliament and convocation are so j^ 11 ^* tbe happily ended, especially for the Church ; and that, both for the particular of your letting leases, which is for main- tenance, and for the quiet, and well ordering, and ending of your book of canons. I hope now the Church of Ireland will begin to flourish again, and that both with inward sufficiency and outward means to support it. " And for your canons, to speak truth, and with wonted m s opinion of liberty and prudence, though I cannot but think the English *' canons, especially with some few amendments, would have done better ; yet since you, and that Church, have thought otherwise, I do very easily submit to it, and you shall have my prayers, that God would bless it. As for the particular And of subscrip- about subscription, I think you have couched that well, since, as it seems, there was some necessity to carry that article closely. And God forbid you should, upon any occasion, have rolled back upon your former controversy about the Articles. For, if you should have risen from this convention in heat, God knows when or how that church would have cooled again, had the cause of difference been never so slight. By which means the Romanist, which is too strong a party already, would both have strengthened, and made a scorn of you. And therefore ye cause of thank- . . . -I'-ii fulness to God. are much bound to God that, in this nice and picked age, you have ended all things canonically, and yet in peace. And I hope you will be all careful to continue and 506 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Letter from Sir G. Radcliffe to Bishop Bram- hall, September 22, 1635. Alarm at the' publication of the Canons. maintain that which God hath thus mercifully bestowed upon you. " Your Grace's very loving Friend and Brother, " W. CANT. " Lambeth, May 10, J635." But if these proceedings were an occasion of thankfulness and congratulation to the Church and her friends, they produced different sentiments in her enemies. This appeared on their publication in the ensuing autumn* For in a letter from Sir George Radcliffe, principal secretary to the Lord Deputy, Dublin Castle, September 22, 1635, he observes to the Bishop of Derry, " The Canons are published in print this week : and by occasion of speaking thereof, here is a panick fear risen in this town, as if a new persecution, so they call it, were instantly to be set on foot. Here is also much talk of a book, newly come over, out of England, printed at Cam- bridge. The author, a country ministry, styles him- self priest: and of five treatises which the book contains, one is, that charity is to be preferred before faith, hope, or knowledge: another, that Antichrist is yet to come : and a third, that the law of God, as it is qualified in the Gospel, may be performed in this life. This startles a Puritan as much as the Canons do a Papist 11 ." 1 1 Rawdon Papers, p. 23. SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES 1. 507 SECTION VI. Measures for improving the Temporaries of the Church. Bishop Bramhall's valuable services. Petition from the Clergy in Convocation, 1636. Improvements relative to the Clergy and Church Service. Repair of Cathedrals. Final sentence of deposition by Bishop Echlin on the Non- con forming Ministers. Henry Leslie , bishop of Down and Connor. Five of the Clergy of that Diocese refuse to subscribe to the Canons. The Bishop's solicitude to retain them in the Church. His Visitation Sermon, 1636. His conference with the Dissentients^ and sentence upon them. His exemplary conduct. IN pursuance of the Acts of Parliament, recounted Measures for im. in the last section, and with the support of the Lord ponSs^thT" Deputy, means were promptly taken for improving the temporaries of the Church. The Bishop of Derry was employed for this useful purpose : and Sir James Ware, or rather Mr. Harris, bears the following honourable testimony to the zeal and efficacy with which he executed his undertaking. "The foundations being laid, t the bishop immediately Bishop Bram- applied himself to the building, which he carried up with ^ice& lua incredible expedition. The fee-farms and impropriations stuck like ivy to the old walls, and it was hard to separate them. In all the numerous controversies arising from thence, he was the moderator to state the rents, and com- promise the whole differences ; generally by consent of parties, sometimes by order from the council-table, which then determined many matters, especially where forms and niceties had rendered the laws incompetent for that end. "But, to carry on the work with effect, he recom- Fit persons re- mended able and prudent persons to the Lord Deputy for S prefer f the higher preferments of the Church. Dean Sing was made mcnts> Bishop of Cloyne, of which he soon gave a good account, and raised every mark of the revenue to an hundred 508 THE REIGN OF [Cir. VII. Improvement of the primacy. Letter from Archbishop Ussher to Bishop Bramhall. Benefits pro- cured for the inferior clergy. Forwarded by the King. By the Lord Deputy. pounds ; and Dean Lesly was made Bishop of Down and Connor : both prelates of parts and learning." To these specifick instances of Bishop Brain- hall's profitable exertions, Sir JAMES WARE'S History adds the following, in correspondence with his Life by Bishop VESEY. " It would be an endless labour to be particular in all the services he did the Church. I shall mention only one instance of what he did in this sort, in relation to the pri- macy, as it appears in a letter from Archbishop Ussher to him, dated the 25th of February, 1635, not a year after the statute had passed. ' I find,' says he, ' by the catalogue of compositions, that the augmentation of the rents of this see amounteth to 735/. 4s. 4d. per annum, and that you have now passed the greater part of your journey. Not only myself, but all my successors, will have cause to honour the memory of the Lord Deputy, and yours, whom God hath used as an instrument to bring this work to such per- fection.' If," observes the biographer, "so great an im- provement was made in this one see, by the surrendering of fee-farms, and compositions for the rents, and that this was only the half of his journey, what may w r e judge was done by him through the kingdom 1 2" But they were not the episcopal revenues only, which were improved by Bishop Bramhall. " He was not less industrious or successful," continues the same writer, " in behalf of the inferior clergy, whose case he often lamented, and often singly sustained. He obtained for them some few impropriations, by power of reason and persuasion ; more by the law ; but most of all by purchase. The king's example was of great influence upon the occasion. He had by his letter restored all im- propriate tythes, as fast as the leases should expire. The Lord Deputy, in pursuance thereof, restored several livings kept by his predecessors for their provisions, reserving something to be annually paid out of them for that end ; and this noble precedent had its influence on some of the 1 WAKE'S Bishops, p. 120. VESEY'SZ/C of Bramhall. SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 509 nobility and gentry. He persuaded some into a full resti- tution, and others into a competent endowment of the vicarage, or at least an allocation of a decent salary for the curate. Where neither reason, religion, nor law could pre- vail, he dealt in the way of purchase ; and, to raise a suffi- cient fund for this purpose, he employed his own income very liberally. "The Archbishop of Canterbury countenanced the By the Arch- work, and lent him both his hand, head, and purse, having designed 40,000/. for it. His majesty gave some money for pious uses, which his grace procured to be committed to our bishop's management. He borrowed great sums of various expe- , . , , . . , . dients used by several rich men, and secured them repayment out of the Bishop Brain- issues of the impropriations which he bought; putting LaU< them into the hands of such creditors, for a certain number of years, upon the expiration of which they were to revert to the Church. He also got money by voluntary subscrip- tions; and he so ordered matters, on the surrendry of fee-farms, that the surplus rents, which he gained for several bishops, should be for some years in this way employed. From such of the clergy as were rich, he had great assist- ance by procuring loans, which he was very just in repaying. By these and other prudent methods, he regained to the Church, in the compass of four years, 30,000/., some say 40,000^., per annum, whereof he gave an account to the Archbishop of Canterbury at his going into England. Many poor vicars now eat of the tree which the Bishop of Derry planted ; and many have their grounds refreshed by his care and labour, who know not the source of the river that makes them fruitful 2 ." " With so much care and assiduous labour," says Bishop BUI? Jeremy Jeremy Taylor in his Funeral Sermon, " did the Bishop of Derry endeavour to restore the Church of Ireland to that splendour and fulness, which, as it is much conducing to the honour of God and of religion, God himself being the judge, so it is much more necessary for you, than it is for us. And so this wise prelate rarely well understood it ; and having the advantage and blessing of a gracious king, and a lieutenant, patron of religion and the Church, he 2 WARE'S Bishops, p. 120. 510 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Some of them intercepted. improved the deposita pietatis, as Origen calls them, the gages of piety, which the religion of the ancient princes and nobles of this kingdom had bountifully given, to such a comfortable competency, that, though there be place left for present and future piety to enlarge itself, yet no man hath reason to be discouraged in his duty. " But the goods of this world are called waters by Solo- mon. Stolen waters are sweet, and they are too unstable to be stopt : some of these waters, in the recovery of which he had been greatly and principally instrumental, did run back from their proper channel, and return to another course than God and the laws intended. Yet his labours and pious counsels were not the less acceptable to God and good men : and therefore, by a thankful and honourable the convocation.* 7 recognition, the convocation of the Church of Ireland hath transmitted in record to posterity their deep resentment of his singular services and great abilities in this whole affair. And this honour will for ever remain to that Bishop of Derry : he had a Zerubbabel, who repaired the temple, and restored its beauty ; but he was the Joshua, the high priest, who under him ministered this blessing to the congregations of the Lord." Ilis services acknowledged by Petition from the clergy in convocation. Acceded to by Lord Deputy. In 1636, the clergy in convocation presented to the government a humble petition, that all Popish schoolmasters might be suppressed ; that inquiry should be made by fit commissioners into the abuses of free-schools, and speedy orders given for their reformation ; and that, whereas frequent burials in abbeys occasion the great contempt and neglect of parish-churches, and are mainly prejudicial to the clergy, some good course might be taken to restrain that abuse by Act of State. The Lord Deputy in consequence expressed his approbation of this peti- tion, in a letter of June 2, 1636, to the Lord Pri- mate and the rest of the commissioners for eccle- siastical causes ; and required and authorized them to advise of some good means for preventing the SEC. VJ.J KING CHARLES I. .") 1 ] said abuses in future : especially to see that publick schools, whether founded by statute or by his majesty's princely endowment, be not so extremely neglected as they are, or served by Popish, or other stipendiaries, and to proceed to the deprivation of such persons as should be found to be grossly cul- pable in this kind 3 . The Lord Deputy proceeded hereupon to take Measures for cor- notice of the general non-residence of clergymen, residence^ to the dishonour of God, the disservice of their cures, the vain expense of their means in cities and corporate towns, and the great scandal of the Church. And he required and authorized the commissioners to proceed instantly with all severity to the refor- mation of this great abuse ; to cause all those whom they should find living idly about Dublin, or other cities or towns, or upon their farms, to repair instantly to their parish-churches, to attend that charge, whereof they owe an account both to God and man : if they should disobey commands in this respect, to sequester their livings for a year ; and, if they be still negligent, to deprive them: "pur- posing," he adds, "upon our return to this kingdom, if it shall so please God and his majesty, to take a strict account of your proceeding and good endea- vours in each of these particulars." Another reformation, affecting the church service, Nezicctof keep- . , . ing the holydays is thus mentioned by the Lord Deputy in a letter to remedied, the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated Dublin, this last of December, 1636: "After speech with my Lord Primate, concerning the due keeping of the holydays, according to the rules ecclesiastical, we re- solved to recommend it to the four archbishops, and they to their suffragans, which I have done very 3 Ftrajjord Letters, ii. 7. 512 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. effectually: so as I am confident the former omis- sion or neglect thereof will be recompensed by a heedful observance of them for the future 4 ." Correspondence concerning the Irish cathedrals. August, 1637* Down Cathedral lying waste. Christ Church, Dublin, ruinous. Rebuilding of Down Cathedral proposed. October, 1637. In 1637 and the following year, some correspon- dence took place between the Lord Deputy and the Archbishop of Canterbury, relative to the repair of some of the Irish cathedrals. In a letter of August 28, 1637, the archbishop says, " My Lord of Down hath written unto me that the cathedral of his dio- cese lyes waste, and cannot possibly be built without the aid of a general purse, or his majesty's special favour in granting some part of the fines imposed in the Court of High Commission, towards so pious a work. I am heartily glad to see the bishop's care of that his church, but am not willing to stir far in that business, till I hear from your lordship what possi- bility you find for it ; and the rather because you gave me a touch in your last letters of the ruinous- ness of Christ Church in Dublin ; and whether you would be content another cathedral should be thought on before it, is in my thoughts worth asking you the question ; and as I hear from you, so shall I proceed." In a letter to the archbishop, October 18, 1637, the Lord Deputy thus proposes to provide for that and for similar exigencies. " For the cathedral of Down, if it shall be thought fit, (as stands with rea- son in my opinion,) there should be an Act of State enjoining that whole diocese to contribute their seve- ral proportions of the charge it shall be estimated at, and to be raised upon the abler sort, not upon the poor people, I assent it with all my heart ; neither for that alone, but for all the cathedrals throughout 4 Stra/ord Letters, ii. 42. SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 513 the whole kingdom. If his majesty therefore write a letter for the purpose, I will do all the service therein possible." In a letter of the following month, November King-s pleasure 11, 1637, the archbishop informs the Lord Deputy th< No* f , 1537. that he had acquainted the king with the proposal concerning the cathedral of Down ; that the king was well pleased that such an act should be made as had been mentioned; and prayed his lordship to cause the letter, which he would have for the cathe- dral, drawn here under his own eye, and sent over ready for his majesty's hand. And on the 20th of April, 1638, the Lord De- Bunding of puty writes, " For the building of Christ Church, now that his majesty and your lordship approve of the way, I trust to show you, I neither sleep nor forget it ;" and again, in the same letter, " By this pacquet you have the letter for the building of the cathedral of Down ; which returned shall be put into action." But this subject of the cathedrals does not appear to have been resumed 5 . It was during the progress of the events last sentence of de- . position on the recited, and not long after the convocation of the non-conforming n f -i ministers in clergy, that the final sentence of deposition was pro- Down. nounced by the diocesan, Bishop Echlin, against those non-conforming ministers of the Church in the diocese of Down, who had fallen under the censure of the bishop, as already related, and been suspended from their ministerial functions, In consequence of the earnest intercession of interval of six , . . , -, n i . 1 months between Lord Castlestewart, distinguished tor his zealous suspension and patronage of the Presbyterians of the north, the Lord Deputy was willing that the suspended mini- 6 Stra/vrd Letters, ii., 101, 120, 132, 157. 2 L 514 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Deposition pro- nounced. sters should be restored, though only for a limited time ; and he thereupon expressed his wish to the bishop, that they might be relieved from the sen- tence of suspension for six months. On the arrival of that period, Lord Castlestewart renewed his en- treaty for a prolongation of the term. But this was not agreeable to the governing powers : and accord- ingly, at the instance of the Lord Deputy, the bishop revived the sentence of suspension upon Mr. Blair, and another of the delinquents ; a third having died in the interval, and Mr. Livingston, the fourth, being, for some unknown reason, not comprehended in the renewed proceedings. The sentence of suspension was soon afterwards followed by that of deposition, for which they were cited to appear before the bishop at Belfast, and the sentence was read to them by the regular officer. To a remonstrance of Mr. Blair, that this sentence, as well as the preceding, was without authority, the bishop prayed that he would appeal from him, and over again prayed him to appeal. But all other ap- peal was declined, except to the tribunal of Christ ; " and there," said Mr. Blair, " I cite you to appear, that ye may answer for your ill deeds of this kind, and for what ye are now going to do. And this citation," he adds in his narrative of the transaction, " ere long took effect, the bishop dying in fearful dumps of conscience." The death of Bishop Echlin, on the 15th of July, 1635, gave occasion for the promotion of Henry Lesley, from the deanery of Down to the bishoprick of Down and Connor, to which he was consecrated at Drogheda on the 4th of the following October, character of his He is recorded as a man of vigorous mind and large successor, Bishop . Henry Lesley, acquirements; conversant with the history and Death of Bishop Echlin. July 15, 16a r >. SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 515 writings of the ancient ecclesiastical fathers, and well acquainted with the constitution and qualities of the primitive Church Catholick, the features of which he saw reflected, and earnestly admired and loved them, in the national churches of Britain. As a bishop of the Irish church, he knew that she had laid upon him, and that he had undertaken, the duty of maintaining her discipline, and of punishing those "that were unquiet, disobedient, and criminous in his diocese;" he carried, therefore, at oiice into effect against the fourth of those ministers of the Church who had refused to submit and conform themselves to her laws, the sentence of deposition, which his predecessor had omitted with respect to that indi- vidual, who was accordingly deposed in the Novem- ber following. And, in pursuance of the order of the late convocation, at his primary visitation, holden visitation, at Lisnegarvie, or Lisburn, according to its modern appellation, in July, 1636, he called upon his clergy Refusal of five for their subscription to the canons, which was refused sib^Se* by five of the number. The bishop was desirous of retaining these men Bishop's soiici- . . ., . . . ., i , , tude to retain in the Church, if it were possible; and, in order to them m the this, of removing their scruples, of satisfying their minds of the fitness of the Church's provisions, of persuading them to conformity, and of reconciling them to the proposed subscription. Instead, there- fore, of proceeding judicially against them, he took the gentler and more conciliatory method of a pri- vate conference ; which not only proved ineffectual, but the report of which was put forth and spread abroad with so partial a representation of the trans- action, as to deter him from repeating a similar attempt. Thus recourse to other expedients became his duty, to the discharge of which, although per- 2 L 2 516 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. Assembly of the The bishop's its text and principal articles. ceiving its necessity, he showed manifest reluctance, till animated and encouraged to the painful task by his brother in the episcopacy, Bishop Bramhall of Derry. With this purpose, then, he convened an assem- bly of his clergy at Belfast, on the 10th of August; and addressed them in a discourse, which he pub- lished next year, 1637, at Dublin, under the title of "A Treatise of the Authority of the Church, the sum whereof was delivered in a Sermon preached at Belfast, at the Visitation of the Diocese of Down and Connor, the tenth day of August, 1636. By Henry Leslie, Bishop of the Diocese : together with an Answer to certain Objections made against the Orders of our Church, especially kneeling at the Communion." The text of this sermon was the 18th chapter of ^ Matthew> and the I7th yerse . ut j f he neg lect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." And the principal articles of it set forth the power committed to the Church, and vested in the bishops, for keeping and propounding the sacred oracles, and applying them, by preaching and administration of the sacraments ; for ordaining ministers, and appointing them their stations, and directing them in their duty; for de- ciding controversies ; for making laws, and enacting circumstances and ceremonies in the outward wor- ship of God ; and for censuring offenders : all which articles are discussed at length. He descants upon the sin of those who take upon them the office of ministers, not being called by the Church ; who, having no ordination to our calling, have taken upon them to preach ; a sin the same as that of Uzziah, who intruded himself into the office of the priest- SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 517 hood. And lie takes occasion to specify the errors of those sectarists, by whom many simple people are deceived, and led from the wholesome pastures of the Church, to wander in the principles of schism. "This," he says, "must not be suffered any longer, objections of But you will say, ' The difference is only about small mat- ters, and it is a pity to deprive ministers, who are painful verte(L and laborious, for a ceremony.' " For answer, I shall desire you to consider, that they do not only oppose the ceremonies, but the whole Liturgy of the Church, wherein the soul of God's publick worship doth consist. Besides, their doctrine is not sound. For they have taught that the order of bishops is anti-Christian ; which we know to be apostolick : that our ceremonies are damnable ; which we can prove to be both lawful and decent : that our service-book is a heap of errors ; which we can justify to be the most absolute liturgy that any Church in the world hath that the sign of the cross in baptism, and kneeling in the act of receiving the commu- nion, is plain idolatry; than which hell itself could not have devised a more shameless calumny : that the Eucha- rist being a supper and a feast, no gesture should be used at it but a table gesture, to express our co-heirship and equality with Christ ; which, if it smell not strong of Arianism, I have lost my scent : that all festival days, besides the Lord's day, and all set fasts, are Jewish, and contrary to our Christian liberty ; which is the condemned heresy of Aerius. They have cried down the most whole- some orders of the Church, as Popish superstitions-, namely, confirmation of children, absolution of penitents, private baptism of infants in case of necessity, the communion of the sick, and almost whatsoever hath any conformity with the ancient Church." " If you have slandered your neighbour, you are bound in conscience to make him satis- faction ; what satisfaction, then, can you make unto the Church, your mother, whom you have slandered with no less than whoredom ? Whereas, even strangers have given her this testimony, that she is, of all Churches this day, for doctrine most pure ; for discipline most conform unto the 518 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Danger of con- niving at objec- tions. Uniformity in national Church necessary. Intolerance of the sestarists. primitive and apostolick Churches ; for learning most emi- nent ; for good works most fruitful ; for martyrs most glorious. "2. Albeit, their strife were only for ceremonies, yet were it not safe for the Church to wink at such persons, though they contend but for trifles ; for, if the contentious humour be not let out, it will fester and spread, like a gan- grene. Contention will grow a schism, and a schism will prove an heresy. So it was with the Corinthians, 1 Cor. xi. : where the Apostle complains, first of their unreverent beha- viour in the church, ver. 16 ; then of schisms, ver. 18 ; after that of heresies, ver. 19. If men be suffered to dis- grace ceremonies, they will proceed further to contemn and profane the Sacraments, as in Corinth : when they had sit covered at prayer, they grew as unreverent and bold with the Sacrament, eate and drunk as if they had been in their own houses, ver. 22. It is, therefore, good to quench the spark when it is first kindled, lest it increase into a great flame, and burn up Church, religion, and all. "3. Consider, that albeit in Churches of divers king- doms/the unity of faith may subsist, with diversity of cere- monies and orders; yet in the same national Church we must labour, not only for unity in faith, but also for uni- formity in discipline ; otherwise order cannot be maintained, peace cannot be preserved : when every man hath a fashion by himself, there will follow infinite distraction and con- fusion "Finally, I pray you to remember, that when those men had the government in their hands, there was never any Church more zealous to vindicate her orders from con- tempt, nor more forward to inflict severe censures for small offences, than they were. And so much did they profess. The Church of Scotland, in their Constitutions, which were printed with their Psalm Books, say, A small offence may justly deserve excommunication, because of the offender's contempt and contumacy. 1 And, again, ' Any sin may be pardoned, rather than contempt of wholesome admonitions, and lawful constitutions of the Church/ Now, shall they inforce others to the observation of their orders, and punish the disobedient with severest censures? and shall not the SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 519 king's majesty, and the governors of our Church, inforce Necessity of them to the observation of our orders, which have been established by the whole Church in a lawful Synod, and confirmed by Act of Parliament, and by his majesty's royal authority ? Oh, my brethren, deceive not yourselves ; think not that the Church, the king, the state, the law, and all, will stoop to your fancies ! No, if you will not obey the constitutions of the Church, you must feel the weight of her censures : if you will not submit yourselves unto the Church, as to your mother, she will not own you for her children, but cast you out, as Hagar and Ismael were cast out of Abraham's house, for their mocking and proud disobedience." The sermon, or treatise, from which these ex- tracts have been taken, being rare and little known, * but containing at the same time much valuable mat- ter, clearly expressed and forcibly urged ; and being, at the same time, not merely conversant with the concerns of a particular diocese, but immediately connected with the general controversy between the Church and the non-conformists, and throwing light upon the points in controversy ; it has been judged not amiss to introduce the foregoing arguments of Bishop Leslie, delivered, with many others, for the purpose of keeping, if possible, the dissentient ministers in his fold. The following affectionate appeal con- cluded the sermon ; and it cannot be read without sentiments of respect for this faithful pastor, and of concern that his exertions were rendered ineffectual by the unhappy prepossessions and pertinacity of his hearers. "All these things," he concluded, "deserve your con- Affectionate a P - f, pevi at its con- sideration, and may give you occasion to repent hereafter, clusion . when it will be too late. I thought it, therefore, my duty to warn you, as Reuben did his brethren ; beseeching you, for God's sake, if there be any bowels of compassion in you towards the Church your mother, your brethren, your 520 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. The bishop's willingness to hear and discuss objections. His conference with the dissen- tients. friends, your flock, yourselves, that you would yet lay aside all prejudice and partiality, and the spirit of contradiction, and compose yourselves to peace, unity, and love. ' O pray for the peace of Jerusalem ! Let peace be within her walls, and prosperity within her palaces ! ' Think not that you are wiser than the Church, than all Churches; as if the Word of God had come only from you, or to you, and to none besides. But remember that you are men, and so may err ; that better men have erred, and have thought no shame to acknowledge the same, and retract their error. In this life we shall never be resolved of all doubts The safest course is, where you doubt, especially about matters of this kind, concerning order and church polity, to submit yourselves peaceably to the judgment of the Church ; and then, ' if ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even the same unto you.' Phil. iii. 5. * Now the God of peace and consolation give us, that we may be like-minded one towards another; that we may all speak one thing, and that there be no dissensions amongst us ; but that we be knit together in one mind, and in one judgment, endeavour- ing to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace/ Amen." The bishop, having concluded his discourse, called upon the five non-conforming ministers to come forward : when, declining to hold any private conference with them, by reason of the misrepre- sentation which had been made of what had passed on the former occasion, he professed his willingness to meet them the following day in the presence of the persons then assembled, and to hear and discuss their objections. On meeting next day in the church, agreeably to this proposal, the bishop called upon the five dissen- tients "to know, if they would subscribe the first four canons ; or, if they were ready to Jay open their objections, and he would answer in behalf of the Church to defend all that was commanded." It was SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 521 answered by one of the party, that " seeing he had done them that favour to offer them an hearing, they were ready to lay open their doubts ; and, that there might be no confusion, the company had intrusted to one of their number to lay open their minds, to whom they prayed the bishop to give audience with patience." And this he accordingly did, with patience most account of it. admirable. But of the conference which ensued there is no authentick account, and such as is alto- gether worthy to be relied on. There appears, indeed, to have been one by Mr. Patrick Adair, cir- culated in manuscript by the Presbyterian party, and since printed ; but the bishop impeached its accuracy at the time, and contradicted its statements, and de- scribed it as a " libel," and as " falsely traducing all his proceedings." Such a document therefore is not of historical authority, and is calculated to de- ceive and mislead rather than to instruct and inform. So far, indeed, as it sets forth the opinions of objections made the party which it was intended to favour, it may, perhaps, be admitted : and thus it makes us ac- quainted with the objections of these non-conformists, being indeed the usual objections of the sectarists of the time ; such as alleged corruptions in the autho- rized translation of the Holy Scriptures, the untruths contained in the Apocrypha, the publick reading of the Apocrypha in the Church service, the omis- sion of reading much of the canonical Scripture, the avouching of the day of Christ's nativity, the avouch- ing that Christ was born seven days together, the kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's supper, which was the chief stumbling-block, and most fully and strongly urged. The Bishop of Derry, who is said to have been 522 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Result of the meeting. Painfulness of the sentence. Necessity of the act of deposition. Exemplary con- duct of the bishop. not present during the greater part of the debate, but to have come into the church when the six first topicks had been discussed, is reported to have expostulated with his brother of Down, commending his charity, but not his wisdom, in suffering such open objections against the orders of the Church; and assuring him that he could not answer it, that he had given the objectors such liberty that day. The result was an adjournment of the meeting, first to the afternoon, and then to the following morning; when the non-conformists still continuing to refuse subscription to the canons, the bishop pronounced upon them the sentence of deposition. This sentence, distressing as it may have been and doubtless was, not to the deposed ministers only, but to their friends and partisans, was, it may be safely affirmed, to no one more painful than to the bishop whose office called upon him to pronounce it. His conduct throughout the discussion was marked by patience, moderation, and forbearance, and by a spirit of good will and conciliation, which prompted him to make concessions to the prejudices of the dissentients, exceeding the strict line of his duty. As to the act itself of deposition, it was ren- dered necessary by the circumstances. For to have permitted these ministers to persist in their non- conformity, still professing themselves nevertheless ministers of the Church, would have been to aban- don all pretence to ecclesiastical authority and discipline. At the same time his language in answer to one of the deposed delinquents, who appealed to the consciences of all present concerning his life and doctrine during his ministry, was kind and respectful to the individual, at the same time that it intimated the proper ground on which the whole question SEC. VI.] KING CHARLES I. 523 should be made to rest. Mr. Cunningham, I con- fess your life and doctrine hath both been good, But I must say to you that which was said to a certain man at Rome, who was to be put to death for a mutiny. Some pleaded for his life, alleging that he had done good service to the commonwealth, and could do more afterwards. But one of the council replied, 'Non opus est reipublicae eo cive qui parere nescit.' And so say I to you, am not able to make proof against them, if they should deny it ; for of late I have had no intelligence out of Scot- land ; all letters that come unto me are intercepted. Be- sides, my friends, from whom I had wont to receive my information, live at Edinburgh and Aberdeen ; and know not what is done in the west parts of that country, whither only our people do resort, yet I will use all means to dis- cover them. And, in the mean time, I dare say that these persons, whom I present to your lordship, are guilty : because they are notable non-conformists, and have been lately in Scotland. " As for those who contemn my process, and oppose my wiifuiness of the jurisdiction, they are more in number than would fill all c the gaols in Ireland ; but the churchwardens are the deepest in that guilt, who will present none that are disobedient to the Government ; and to that purpose they are chosen. As 538 THE REIGN OF VII. Petition of the Irish Presbyte- rians. Maltreatment of the bishop's officers. Bishop Leslie's letter submitted to the king. King's directions to the Lord Deputy. Nov. 2, 1638. in Scotland they are entered into a bond to defend one another by arms, so it seems that in my diocese they have joined in a bond, to defend one another by their oaths. I have, therefore, in obedience to your lordship's commands, sent a list of these churchwardens, extracted out of my registry. If it may please your good lordship to make all or some of them examples, it will strike a terror in the rest of that faction. " Since his majesty has been pleased to condescend so far unto them in Scotland by his last proclamation, against which, notwithstanding, they have protested ; there is such insulting amongst them here, that they make me weary of my life. And, as I am informed, they are now drawing a petition to his majesty, that they may have the like favour in Ireland as is granted to their fellows in Scotland ; which I hope your lordship, in your deep wisdom, will prevent. My officers have been lately beaten in open court. I have sent a warrant for apprehending the parties, by virtue of a writ of assistance from your lordship, whereof I never made use before ; and, if I apprehend them, I will keep them in restraint till your lordship's pleasure be known. They do threaten me for my life ; but, by the grace of God, all their brags shall never make me faint in doing service to God and the king." This letter from the Bishop of Down was, accord- ing to the Lord Deputy's desire, submitted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the king. The general directions, concerning the lawless proceedings of the Scotch in Ireland, were comprised in the king's resolute answer to the Lord Deputy, " that you take what order you in your \visdom may think fittest, with your refractory Scottishmen there, so you do it in time, and suppress them before they get the bit between their teeth." With respect to their prayer for special indul- gence, the answer is more specifick. " Whereas," says Archbishop Laud to Lord Wentworth, Nov. 2, 1638, "the bishop writes, he is informed, that some SEC. VII,] KING CHARLES I. 539 Scots in Ireland are drawing a petition to his ma- jesty, that they may have the like favour in Ireland which is granted to them in Scotland ; to this his majesty says that you may make this answer : 'That, special indui- whatsoever he hath indulged to Scotland, is because to Presbyterians _ ,111 , . 11 in Ireland, and they have there had sometime a church-government, why. such as it was, confused enough, without bishops. But for Ireland, it hath ever been reformed by, and to, the Church of England. And your lordship, his majesty hopes, will keep the people steady to that ; and the Scottishmen, who will live there, your lord- ship must see that they conform themselves to it ; or, if they will, they may return into Scotland, and leave honester men to fill the plantations.' " SECTION VIII. Renunciation of the Covenant, and Petition from divers Inhabitants of the North of Ireland. An oath framed in consequence. Ireland an asylum for Scottish Episcopal Refugees. Case of Archibald Adair, Bishop ofKillalla. Irregular Conduct of a Clergyman of Raphoe. Cor- respondence of the Bishop with the Government. Loyalty of the Irish Clergy. Earl of Stratford's Withdrawal from the Viceroy alty. Petition to the English Parlia- ment against Prelates and Prelacy. Petitions to the Irish Parliament against the Bishops of Raphoe, Down, and Derry. Persecution of Bishop of Derry, and his Deliverance. CONSIDERING the distempers of the time, and the Renunciation of lawless and portentous conduct of the Covenanters, * M*. it was judged fit for the Government to receive from the Scottish on the Irish side of the Channel, a renunciation of the frantick Covenant contracted by some of their countrymen on the other side. This 540 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Petition from divers Scottii-h inhabitants of Ireland. Their dislike of the Covenant. Prayer to be per- mitted to vindi- cate themselves. Petition received with commenda- tions by the Lord Deputy. was prepared in the form of a humble petition, ad- dressed to the Lord Deputy and Council, by " divers lords spiritual and temporal, knights, gentlemen, and others of the Scottish nation, inhabiting in the king- dom of Ireland." The petitioners " declared their inward sorrow, with which they had observed the disorders in Scot- land, occasioned by a late Covenant, entered into by some of their countrymen there, without his majesty's authority ; they avowed their utter dislike of such courses, and their apprehension that, perhaps, those inconsiderate proceedings of that faction might be understood as reflecting upon them, though innocent thereof: they, therefore, craved leave to be admitted to vindicate themselves from so great a blemish, as the contagion and malignity of the lewd and despe- rate trangressions of that faction ; and begged their lordships to prescribe some way, whereby they might not only declare themselves free from any imputa- tion or suspicion of consent to those proceedings, but also testify their bounden duty, faith, and allegiance to the king, and their dislike of that Covenant, and of all other covenants entered into without his majesty's authority, in vindication of which they offer their lives and fortunes against all persons whatso- ever : they signify their confidence, that no man of charitable disposition will impute to the whole nation the disloyalty of that faction, and their hope that the Covenant will appear to have been by force imposed on very great numbers, who, when occasion shall enable them, will express their loyalty to the king, as becometh all Christian and faithful subjects." This petition was signed by above forty of the most respectable names in that part of Ireland ; including the Viscounts Montgomery and Claneboy, SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 541 the Bishops of Clogher, Raphoe, and Down, and the Archdeacons of Down and Armagh. It was received by the Lord Deputy and council with com- mendations of the wisdom of the petitioners, and of the testimony thus given of their loyalty and faith- fulness to the king. An oath was accordingly oath framed in framed, promising all due submission and obedience to the king ; and not to bear arms, or do any rebel- lious or hostile act against his royal commands ; and renouncing and abjuring all oaths and covenants con- trary to what was therein sworn, professed, and pro- mised. This was required to be taken by all persons of the Scottish nation, of sixteen years and upwards, inhabiting or having any estate in the kingdom of Ireland ; and commissioners were appointed, and sent through the country, to administer it. The Church of Ireland, at a somewhat later Ireland an asy - lum for Scotch period, suffered under the acrimonious persecution episcopalians. of the intolerant sect, whose covenant was thus formally abjured by many, who were sensible of its factious and malignant nature. At the present crisis, when the flame of disaffection was so overwhelming in Scotland, as to drive many of her orthodox and loyal clergy to seek refuge in other lands, Ireland conspired with England in affording an asylum to the fugitives. In particular, the Archbishop of St. Hospitality of Andrews, the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of haii! P Ross, and other lawful rulers of the Church of Scot- land, being driven from their episcopal seats by schismatical intruders, sought shelter in the hos- pitable dwelling of the Bishop of Derry, and sought it not in vain. His hospitality and bounty were largely acknowledged by them in several letters, " praying God to reward him for the relief which he gave to his distressed and persecuted brethren, of 542 THE REIGN OF [On. VII. whom their own country was not worthy ; not doubt- ing but succeeding ages would mention it to his honour 1 ." bald Adair, bishop of Kii- One of the Irish episcopacy at this time, Archi- t r r J bald Adair, a native of Scotland, and bishop of Kil- lalla, fell under a charge of being favourable to the Covenanters. His character, as transmitted by his- tory, is equivocal. If charity hesitates to adopt the appellation, which stigmatises him as a "wretched hypocrite 2 ," candour can hardly deny that his claim to uprightness and sincerity comes in a very ques- tionable shape. The case was this. A Scotch re- fugee, of the name of Corbet, had, with much learn- ing and ingenuity, written a book, under the title of Lysimachm Nicanor, showing the parallel between the Jesuits and the Scotch Covenanters. He was in consequence removed with favour by other friends of the Church, and especially by the Bishop of Derry ; and recommended for a considerable benefice, then vacant, in the gift of the Bishop of Killalla. The bishop, it seems, had a great affection for his own country; and, though he condemned the courses taken by his countrymen, he disapproved of their exposure in a strange nation, and was displeased with the man who had exposed them. This is the favourable view of his conduct. His sentiments, at the same time, were expressed in lan- guage personally offensive to Corbet. " He told him he was a corby, (with allusion to his name, that word signifying in their language, a crow or raven,) that fled out of the ark, and that he should not have where to set his foot in his diocese." He told him also, "that it was an ill bird that defiled 1 VESEY'S Life of BramhalL 2 LELAND'S History, vol. iii. p. 52, 72. SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 543 its own nest ;" adding othere xpressions of virulence against such men as refused to covenant with their brethren 3 . Corbet, in consequence, laid informations before information laid the High Commission Court against the bishop, whom he accused of being a partisan of the Covenanters ; which, indeed, he had given some reason to suspect from the tenour of his speech, which was calculated to extenuate, at least, if not to justify, the lawless and seditious 'conduct of men, who had broken out into open rebellion against the sovereign, and con- tumaciously extirpated episcopacy from their coun- try. His indulgence towards the conduct of his countrymen leads to the opinion, that, whatever were his profession and his station, in principle he was friendly to their cause. It was thought dangerous, therefore, whilst the Covenant was in full force in Scotland, and every exertion was making for its establishment and further propagation in Ireland, to suffer a man of his supposed principles to continue in power, and in a capacity to corrupt his clergy, and encourage such noxious principles in his diocese. The consequence was his deprivation on the 18th ms deprivation, of May, 1640 ; but the administration having soon after fallen into the hands of two puritanical lords justices, Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase, the king was induced to regard the sentence as ex- ceeding the measure of the offence. He therefore directed it to be expunged; and advantage was taken of a vacancy which soon afterwards occurred in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, for ad- vancing the deprived prelate to that bishoprick in July, 1641. 3 VESEI'S Life of Bramhall. SUBNET'S Life of Bedell. 544 THE REIGN OF [On. VII. Irregularity of one of his clergy. On the death of Bishop Knox in 1632, the See of Raphoe was filled by John Lesley, or Leslie, a sound and consistent churchman, as will appear on several future occasions : and who, about this time, was called on to interpose for the correction of a gross irregularity in his diocese, committed by one of his clergy, who, to other disorderly and uncanonical actions, added a vehement attack from the pulpit on the bishop's jurisdiction. His offence was aggra- vated by some misconduct of his wife, which is not' exactly specified, but which appears to have con- sisted of some ecclesiastical enormities, the encou- ragement probably of unlawful religious assemblies ; and it was patronized by a neighbouring gentleman, Sir William Steward, or Stewart, whose character lay under the imputation of some previous immo- rality, which, as well as the countenance afforded by him to the irregularity of the minister, seems to have exposed him to legal animadversion. The bishop, perceiving the necessity of inter- posing in behalf of the episcopal authority, but cau- tious of moving without due support, reported the case to the Lord Deputy, to whom the following ex- tract of a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, significantly dated " Lambeth, Wednesday, Novem- ber 21st, 1638, the day of the sitting down of the Assembly in Scotland," conveyed the king's pleasure upon the subject. " These are briefly to let you know that I am so sen- sible of the business of Pont and his wife in the diocese of Raphoe, that I have put it again to his majesty's serious consideration, and thus he hath commanded me to write to your lordship. " He would have the Bishop of Raphoe to deprive Pont of his benefice for the wild sermon he made against the bishop's jurisdiction ; and to proceed against his wife in SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 545 such way as her fault deserves, and the laws will bear; and, if the crime be not of too old a date, his majesty would have Sir William Stewart questioned for the whoredom and bastardy. But howsoever that fall out, his majesty's command is, that if Sir William Stewart do not give your letters a good answer, and yourself satisfaction in the pub- lick way, you are to remove him from being a counsellor in that state which he serves no better. Yet if all or any part of this his majesty's direction shall seem too sharp, it is left wholly to your judgment to moderate, as you find cause upon the place 4 ." A letter to the Archbishop from the Lord Deputy, Letter from Lord on the 12th of January following, shows the further progress of this aftair. " As for this business betwixt my Lord of Raphoe and Sir William Stewart, it is put into a way of examination, and the cause will have publication this next term. There shall be all possible care taken, and if the bishop make good his charge, as in truth I am persuaded he will, believe me, the other shall smart ; my eyes are open upon it, as well knowing what the consequences of such beginnings show themselves, if not early prevented and stopped. " Font's wife is here in the castle ; and for the exami- nation and punishment of that conventicle, I have put it to the high commission, who will effectually and roundly pro- ceed therein. Pont himself, and some other of the princi- pal, are gone into Scotland ; and as for the bastardy, I con- ceive it will be best to see how Sir William acquits himself in this business, and thereupon to stir the prosecution, or let it rest, as occasion shall serve 5 ." It should have been noticed, that besides the Disturbance of charge against Sir William Steward, arising out of jurisdiction. Font's misconduct, he was accused with having him- self disturbed the bishop's jurisdiction, by a sum- mons issued by him, as a justice of peace, to bring before him an officer of the bishop, whilst in attend- ance on the bishop's court. Ignorance of this last 4 Stro/ord Letters, ii. 245. & Ib., ii. 270. 2 N 546 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Ignorance pleaded in excuse. Lord Deputy's letter. May, 1639. Grant of three subsidies to the king from the clergy. circumstance was pleaded, and admitted as an excuse. " The cause betwixt my Lord of Raphoe and Sir William Stewart," says the Lord Deputy, in a letter of May 10, 1639, " hath been heard at the board. The bishop proved the fact as he had alleged in his petition, saving that it was not made appear, Sir William knew the bishop's court was sitting, when he and the rest of the justices sent for the apparitor, being the only circumstance that should have made it amount to a crime. Only some words Sir William spake, scandalous to the proceeding of the ecclesi- astical courts, on which I took hold, and gave him a very round and publick rebuke for his pains ; and in plain terms let him know that I should not endure to have those pro- ceedings, ordained for the good government and peace of the Church, discountenanced by any persons or subjects what- soever; and that, if it had appeared he had known the bishop's court had been sitting, when he sent to fetch their officer before him, I would have been the means to have removed him from the council board. And so the matter was ended with advantage to the bishop ; and will, I am persuaded, move that sort of people to be more cir- cumspect what they do to the prejudice of the ecclesiastical courts. " This in present I hold sufficient, in regard Sir William took the oath readily, hath in his own person been con- formable, and that his two sons, whom your lordship had heard had been Covenanters in Glasgow, have for certain been in this kingdom these last fourteen months, and,, that one of his sons took the oath with his father 6 ." About this time the loyalty and zeal of the Irish clergy in the king's service were testified by an act, of which honourable mention is made in a letter from the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Strafford, to his majesty, who had, about a twelvemonth before, graced his then well-beloved and worthily-trusted counsellor, with these additional titles of official 6 Stra/ord Letters, ii, 337. SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 547 and transmissive dignity. The letter was written Dublin, Good-Friday morning, 1640, being the 3rd of April, when the writer was going on ship-board ; thus, as in the end it proved, taking his last farewell of his vieeroyalty : from which, after about a year's interval, he was transferred to the block by the enemies of the Church and monarchy. "The clergy," he says, "have given your majesty the Letter from Earl ../,,i ,1 of Strafford, lord greatest gift, that was ever given the crown in our memory; lieutenant, for there being three subsidies of the former remaining A P ril3 1640 - payable these next three years, they have given six subsidies more, to be paid in three years. So as now there are nine subsidies that will be due, and come into the Exchequer, in that time. Nor doth it rest so : for they have also con- sented a new tax of all ecclesiastical livings in the kingdom, to be rated and set at in the king's books, at the sixth part of the full value thereof: which I am confident will double their subsidies, and so also exceedingly improve the first- fruits and twentieth parts futurely. " In few words, Sir, your person and authority here is His favourable infinitely honoured and reverenced : this people abundantly kingdom? *' comforted and satisfied in your justice, set with exceeding alacrity to serve the crown the right way in these doubtful times, and much trusting and believing us, your majesty's poor ministers. All this in as high a measure as your own princely heart can wish. And if all this be not literally true, let the shame be mine, so wretchedly to have misin- formed your majesty 7 ." How different from the picture, drawn by the controverted by fond imagination of this generous-minded man, was the actual condition of the people's inclination, we shall soon perceive melancholy evidence ! The withdrawal of the virtuous and noble Earl of Petition of the Straiford from the viceroyalty of Ireland encouraged the Presbyterians of the North to indulge without ll i Stra/ord Letters, ii, 202, 2 N 2 548 THE REIGN OF [Ctt. VII. Complaint of IU prelates. General accusa- tions Particulars ex- hibited in thirty- one articles. reserve their bitter enmity against the Church, the essence of which they concentrated in an address to the English Parliament under the appellation of " The petition of some Protestant inhabitants of the counties of Antrim, Down, Deny, Tyrone, &c., in the province of Ulster in the kingdom of Ireland 8 ." The petitioners set forth, that "partly by the cruel seventy and arbitrary proceedings of the civil magistrate, but principally through the unblest way of the prelacy with their faction, our souls are starved, our estates undone, our families impove- rished, and many lives among us cut off and de- stroyed." " The prelates," they proceed to say, " have by their canons, of late, their fines, fees, and imprison- ments at their pleasure ; their silencing, suspending, banishing, and excommunicating of our learned and conscionable ministers; their obtruding upon us ignorant, erroneous, and profane persons to be our teachers ; their censuring of many hundreds, even to excommunication, for matters acknowledged by all to be indifferent, and not necessary ; their favouring Popery, in this kingdom a double fault; their per- secuting of purity, and endeavouring to bring all to a lifeless formality ; divers of them being notorious incendiaries of the unquietness and unsettled estate between these kingdoms ; with many the like too tedious to relate, as more fully in our ensuing grievances doth appear. These our cruel task- masters have made of us, who were once a people, to become as it were no people," &c. Then, after a prayer " for reparation, in some measure, of their unutterable damages," they go on to exhibit " a particular of manifold evils and heavy 8 A Sample of Jet-black Prelatick Calumny, c. ? p. 133. SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 549 pressures, caused and occasioned by the prelacy and their dependants;" this is comprised in thirty-one accusatory or rather condemnatory articles, which stand on record a disgraceful and melancholy monu- ment of the mind and sentiments of non-conformity, as it existed in Ireland in the year 1641 ; of the spirit of ecclesiastical antipathy the most virulent and malevolent, expressed with the utmost acerbity of invective; and of slander putting forth her fic- tions, distortions, and exaggerations, with all the fearless confidence of simplicity and truth. These allegations are wound up and concluded with the following brief peroration. "Thus they," that is, the prelates, the continual subject of the foregoing charges, "publishing and proclaiming themselves the children of Ishmael and Esau, we most humbly beseech you, as the true sons of Israel, to take order with them as God shall direct, whom we shall ever pray to be aiding and assisting unto you, in this great and glorious work of reformation." This petition was soon afterwards printed in a petition printed . in a tract. tract, for more convenient circulation, as an expo- sition of the bishops' " overruling lordly power." It was presented by Sir John Clotworthy to the Long Parliament, and accepted by them ; but with what particular result does not appear, though little doubt can le entertained of the favourable inclination of those whose prepossessions are so well known con- cerning episcopacy and the Church. In the Irish Parliament also, where the High petitions to the ~ i T i i ii i i Irish 1'arliaaient Commission Court was abolished as illegal -and against the unconstitutional, several petitions were presented against the Bishops of Raphoe, Down and Deny. With respect to the first in particular, a petition 550 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. from the widow of the irregular preacher, Pont, was referred to a selected committee, who made on it a report prejudicial to the bishop; which, however, being adopted by the house, and sent up to the Lords, was not made the ground of any further pro- ceedings. impeachment of Upon Bishop Bramhall of Derry the most vehe- BishopBramhall. . . ment assault was made, an impeachment being lodged against him, together with the Lord Chan- cellor Bolton, the Lord Chief Justice Lowther, and Sir George Radcliffe, by Sir Bryan O'Neil, the re- presentative of the Popish party, supported by Pro- testant non-conformists. The bishop's friends advised him to continue in Derry, where he was super- intending his charge, and not expose himself to trial in Dublin. But, conscious of his integrity and innocence, he hastened to the metropolis; and ap- peared the next day in the parliament-house, greatly to the astonishment of his enemies, by whom he was made a close prisoner. The course of this persecution shall be related in the forcible and eloquent language of Bishop Taylor, who thus describes the discomfiture of malignity before uprightness and truth. " When the numerous armies of vexed people heaped up catalogues of accusations ; when the parliament of Ire- land imitated the violent proceedings of the disordered English; when his glorious patron was taken from his head, and he was disrobed of his great defences ; when petitions were invited, and accusations furnished, and calumny was rewarded and managed with art and power ; when there were above two hundred petitions put in against him, and himself denied leave to answer by word of mouth; when he was long imprisoned and treated so that a guilty man would have been broken into aifrightment, and pitiful and low considerations : yet then he himself, standing SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 551 almost alone, like Calliraachus at Marathon, invested with enemies and covered with arrows, defended himself beyond all the powers of guiltiness, even with the defences of truth and the bravery of innocence, and answered the petitions in writing, sometimes twenty in a day, with so much clear- ness, evidence of truth, reality of fact, and testimony of law, that his very enemies were ashamed and convinced. They were therefore forced to leave their muster-rolls, and decline the particulars, and fall to their ev //,eya, to accuse him for going about to subvert the fundamental laws ; the way by which great Strafford and Canterbury fell ; which was a device, when all reasons failed, to oppress the enemy by the bold affirmation of a conclusion they could not prove." A letter written at this time, April the 26th, Letter from BJ- 1641, by the bishop to the Lord Primate, contains toPrima a much of the charge against him, and of the defence Apm 26, i64i. which he pleaded: and an extract from it may be here fitly inserted from BISHOP VESEY'S Life. "It would have been a great comfort and contentment HIS zeal for the to me, to have received a few lines of counsel or comfort in cSucSf *' this my great affliction, which has befallen me for my zeal to the service of his majesty, and the good of this Church ; in being a poor instrument to restore the usurped advow- sons and appropriations to the crown, and to increase the revenue of the Church, in a fair just way, always with the consent of the parties, which did ever use to take away errors. "But now it is said to be obtained by threatening and charge against force. What force did I ever use to any ? What one man hirarefuted - ever suffered for not consenting ? My force was only force of reason and law. The scale must needs yield when weight is put into it. And your grace knows to what pass many bishopricks were brought, some to 100/. per annum : some 50/., as Waterford, Kilfenoragh, and some others; some to five marks, as Cloyne and Kilmacduagh : How in some dioceses, as in Ferns and Leighlin, there was scarce a living left that was not farmed out to the patron, or to some for his use, at 2J., 31., 4/., or 51. per annum, for a long 552 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. His vindication of his conduct. The Primate's assurance of his sympathy and exertions. His mediation with the king. time, three lives, or a hundred years : How the chantries of Ardee, Dondalk, &c., were employed to maintain priests and friars, which are now the chief maintenance of the incumbents. " In all this, my part was only labour and expense : but I find that losses make a deeper impression than bene- fits. I cannot stop men^s mouths : but I challenge all the world for one farthing I ever got, either by references or church preferments. I fly to your grace as an anchor at this time, when my friends cannot help me. God knows how I have exulted at night, that day I had gained any considerable revenue to the Church, little dreaming that in future times that act should be questioned as treasonable. I never took the oath of judge or counsellor ; yet do I not know, wherein I ever in all these passages deviated from the rule of justice. My trust is in God, that, as my inten- tions were sincere, so He will deliver me Since I was a bishop, I never displaced any man in my diocese, but Mr. Noble for his professed Popery, Mr. Hugh for confessed simony, and Mr. Dunkine, an illiterate curate, for refusing to pray for his majesty. " Almighty God bless your grace, even as the Church stands in need of you at this time ; which is the hearty and faithful prayer " Of your grace's obedient servant and suffragan, " Jo: DERENSIS. "April 26, 164i;\ The Primate in his answer gave the bishop, among other things, an assurance of his own sym- pathy and exertions in his behalf; of the good will of the king; and of the interest taken in his wel- fare by the excellent nobleman, who had recently fallen a sacrifice to the malevolence of their ene- mies. " I assure you my care never slackened in soliciting your cause at court, with as great vigilancy as if it did touch my own proper person. I never intermitted an occasion of mediating with his majesty in your behalf, who still pitied SEC. VIII.] KING CHARLES I. 553 your case, acknowledged the faithfulness of your services both to the Church and to him, avowed that you were no more guilty of treason than himself, and assured me that he would do for you all that lay in his power My Lord' Strafford, the night before his suffering, (which was most Christian and magnanimous, ad stuporem usque,) sent me to the king, giving me in charge, among other par- ticulars, to put him in mind of you, and of the other two lords that are under the same pressure." In the end, the king, being anxious that the bishop's death should not be added to that of the noble earl, who had made his safety one of the objects of his dying request to his majesty, sent over to Ireland a letter, to provide for the bishop's deli- verance. But the word of a king was scarcely powerful enough to procure obedience. However, at length, the bishop was restored to liberty, though without any publick acquittal, the charge still lying dormant against him, to be awakened when his enemies should please. "But, alas!" says Bishop BramhalFs biographer, "these were flashes that caused more fear than hurt : the fiery matter at last burst into such thunder-claps, that the foundation of the whole kingdom reeled." It will be our business to advert immediately to the tempest, the fury of which is thus emphatically anticipated by the biographer of the Bishop of Derry. But a contemplation of the virtues and charities of domestick life, blended with qualities of a more commanding kind, and shedding a gleam over the darkness of publick or private calamity, is soothing* Letter from the , , , .;: Bishop of Derry to the mind of the observer: and the reader will toMr 8 .Bmm- pardon me for pausing to lay before him the fol- March 12, 1640. lowing letter to Mrs. Bramhall, written by the Bishop of Derry in his confinement, the 12th of March, 1640. 554 THE REIGN OF fCn. VII. " My dearest joy, " Thou mayest see by my delay in writing that I am not willing to write while things are in these conditions. But shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive ill? He gives and takes away, blessed be his holy name ! I have been near a fortnight at the black rod, charged with a treason. Never any man was more innocent of that foul crime : the ground is only my reserved- ness. God in his mercy, I do not doubt, will send us many merry and happy days together after this, when this storm is blown over. But this is a time of humiliation for the present. By all the love between us, I require thee that thou do not cast down thyself, but bear it with a cheerful mind, and trust in God that He will deliver us 9 ." Rebellion of 1641. Previous general tranquillity. SECTION IX. Rebellion of 1641. Previous circumstances. Its objects. Its effects on the Church. Destruction of her Members. Fate of her Governors. Her Desolation. Conduct of Romish Clergy. Their temper and projects exemplified* Protestant Sectarists. Westminster Assembly of Dim ties. Solemn League and Covenant. Its prevalence in Ireland. Suspension of the Royal Authority. THE thunder-storm, to which the biographer of Bishop Bramhall alludes in the extract near the conclusion of the last section, was now about to burst upon the Church. At the period preceding the year 1641, there appears to have been a general tranquillity through- out the kingdom, unless where it was molested by the Scotch innovators, and a general good agree- ment between the Irish and English inhabitants. The two nations had lived together for many suc- cessive years in security and comfort, and with a 9 Rawdon Papers, p. 76. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 555 mutual interchange of friendly offices. Their inter- marriages were frequent, their manners had acquired a great degree of similarity, and there was much probability in the prospect of a long endurance of peace and good-will. In particular, the Papists were enjoying the free Free exercise of ff 4.1, ' V T> xU J 1 theP P^reli. exercise of their religion. By the excessive indul- gion. gence of the late governments, their titular arch- bishops, bishops, vicars-general, provincial con- sistories, deans, abbots, priors, and nuns, all lived unrestrainedly, if somewhat covertly, amongst them ; and exercised over them an uncontrolled and volun- tary jurisdiction. Their priests, Jesuits, and friars, had of late years exceedingly multiplied ; and returned in vast numbers from Italy, Spain, and other foreign countries, whither the children of the native Irish, who were devoted to the sacred pro- fession, were usually sent for education. These, without interruption, had quietly settled themselves in the chief towns and villages, as well as in the houses of the noblemen and private gentlemen throughout the kingdom: so that, notwithstanding any penalties which they might have suffered from a strict enforcement of the laws, they were allowed in fact the private, but undisturbed, exercise of all their religious rites and ceremonies. It was under such circumstances as these, that riot for Rebel- lion and for several years a deep plot was laid for a general massacre. Rebellion, and massacre of the English and Protestant inhabitants, by Popish priests and Jesuits of the Continent, in conjunction with those of Ireland. For carrying it into execution, they were accustomed in their publick devotions to recommend the good success of a great design, calculated to promote the prosperity of the kingdom and the advancement of 556 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Its religious motives. Secular motives. Encouragement of the people by the priests. Objects of the Rebellion. the Catholick cause. For exciting the people to accomplish the undertaking with greater animation, they loudly declaimed everywhere against English- men and Protestants, impressing on the people that to kill a heretick \vas no more sinful than to kill a dog, but that to relieve or protect one would be an unpardonable sin. They represented also most invi- diously the severe courses taken by the English Parliament for suppressing the Romish religion : and they most falsely invented a story of a secret con- spiracy for seizing the principal Irish noblemen and gentlemen of that persuasion, in the ensuing No- vember, and compelling them, under the dread of a general massacre, to embrace the Protestant faith 6 . Together with these religious motives to ani- mosity, they combined others of a secular kind. The prosperity of the English settlers ; their large possessions and goodly improvements ; the English property in the soil withdrawn from themselves, the ancient proprietors, and only true owners, as they esteemed themselves, whose present condition was in comparison one of extreme degradation and wretchedness ; were additional motives to animosity and hostility. Add to these the liberty, given by the priests to the people, upon dismissing them at mass on the eve of the Rebellion, to go forth, and take possession of all their lands, which were unjustly detained by the English ; and to plunder, strip, and despoil the invaders of all their cattle and goods. And surely the incentive must have been power- ful, to prompt a whole nation, as it were, to do despite to our common nature; and to cast from them all the feelings of humanity ; and to combine 1 7mA Rebellion, by Sir JOHN TEMPLE, p. 15, 4to. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 557 together, for the purpose of involving all the English, man, woman, and child, old and young, in one sweeping destruction, and thus extirpate them utterly from the country. Such, however, was the purpose, and such the its explosion, attempt, of that barbarous massacre, which, having been plotted with Jesuitical malignity and artifice, and carried forward to the period of its consumma- tion with secresy the most marvellous, at length, on the 23rd of October, 1641, suddenly burst forth and filled large districts of Ireland, more especially in the northern counties, with human sacrifices, so that " the land was defiled with blood." The period was especially favourable to the seasonable op- enterprise by reason of the difficulties and dangers * which pre-occupied and beset the government in the other parts of the empire. This sentiment is strongly put forward by Dean Swift, in his sermon on the martyrdom of King Charles the First. " The Irish rebellion was wholly owing to that wicked English Parliament. For the leaders in the Irish Popish massacre would never have dared to stir a finger, if they had not been encouraged by that rebellious spirit in the English House of Commons, which they very well knew must disable the king from sending any supplies to his Protestant subjects here : and, therefore, we may truly say, that the English Parlia- ment held the king's hands, while the Irish Papists here were cutting our grandfathers' throats 2 ." The detail of horrible atrocities, which were then nombie atroci- ties perpetrated, is too painful to be needlessly contem- plated : and it is not intended in the present pages to offer them to the reader's observation. They may * SWIFT'S Works., v. is:, p. 170. 558 THE REIGN OF [CH. VII. Its effects on the Church. Ruin of her sacred edifices. Instances of plunder and sacrilege. be found by those who seek them, in the histories of Ireland, where they stand established on the evidence of eye-witnesses, who attested them in answer to judicial inquiries, and on oath. Their general character may be set forth in language, designed to depict the revolutionary horrors of infidel France about a century and a half later : The savage, panting under Indian skies, Red with the blood of human sacrifice, Would list in dread amaze the wondrous tales, And bless his gentler tribes and happier vales 3 . Our more immediate business, however, with this nefarious conspiracy is to regard it in its effects upon the Church of Ireland, to the well-being of which, and even to its very being, in many parts of the kingdom, it must for a time have been fatal. In numerous instances no doubt the Church was despoiled of her sacred edifices for divine worship. When we read that " the cathedral church and town of Armagh were burnt, many towns laid waste, all the fair plantations made by the British left desolate," and that fire was one of the instruments of this general waste and desolation, we can hardly refrain from the inference, that other churches were involved in a similar fate to that which destroyed the cathedral of Armagh ; and it is but reasonable to suppose, that in other cases the like result would follow from that spirit of plunder and sacrilege, which "forcibly broke open the doors of the cathe- dral church of Kilkenny; and plundered it of its property there deposited, its chalices, surplices, ornaments, books, records, and writings;" whilst " the general remonstrance of the distressed Pro- testants in the province of Munster," pouring forth 3 RICHARDS'S Modern France, SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 559 to the king their griefs and supplications, com- memorated the previous improvement of religion, testified " by the enlarged congregations both in cathedral and parochial churches," and lamented over " their temples demolished, or worse, prophaned by sacrifices to idols 4 ." But into whatever condition, or into whosesoever Diminution of hands, the churches may have fallen, their congrega- tions. ngrega " tions were deplorably diminished by this sudden devastation. Of the number of the members of the Church, Different state- who were swept off by this besom of destruction, it is not possible to speak with precision. The Act of Parliament, which was subsequently passed for cele- brating the 23rd of October, as an anniversary of thanksgiving for deliverance from the conspiracy, recites that " many thousand British and Protestants were massacred, and many thousand others of them were afflicted and tormented with the most exquisite torments that malice could suggest." The sworn testimony of Robert Maxwell, clerk, archdeacon of Down, and subsequently bishop of Kilmore, declares, August 22nd, 1642, that "the diary, which he wrote amongst the rebels, being burned, with his house, books, and all his papers, he referreth himself to the number in gross, which the rebels themselves have upon enquiry found out and acknowledged ; which, notwithstanding, will come short of all that have been murdered in Ireland, there being above one hundred and fifty-four thousand now wanting of the British, within the very precinct of Ulster." As a general summary of the whole, Sir John Temple sir John Temple, states, that " since the Rebellion first broke out, unto the time of the cessation, made September 15, 1643, 4 TEMPLE, pp, 99102. 560 THE KEIGN OF [CH. VII. umbers re- duced Sir William Petty. which was not full two years after, above three hundred thousand British and Protestants were cruelly murdered in cold blood, destroyed some other way, or expelled out of their habitations, according to the strictest conjecture and computa- tion of those who seemed best to understand the numbers of English planted in Ireland, besides those few who perished in the heat of fight during the war." It appears, however, to be by later writers more commonly thought, that those numbers are great exaggerations of the truth. A Popish writer, indeed, has extenuated the amount to eight thousand in all. But it was the calculation of Sir William Petty, who surveyed the kingdom soon after the war, arid had, therefore, sufficient means of information, and was neither by interest nor inclination disposed to favour the Irish, that there were only thirty-seven thousand British massacred in all the first year of the troubles. This calculation is reported, discussed, and approved by Carte ; and it does not vary to a great extent Lord clarendon, from the account of Lord Clarendon, adopted by Hume, that above forty thousand were murdered at the first outbreak, before any danger was appre- hended. It should be observed, however, that these calculations do not extend beyond a limited space of time, and must, no doubt, receive a considerable accession, in order to reach the total amount of the British slaughter. Of the British and Protestants thus slaughtered, whatever may have been the amount, a very large proportion, it cannot be doubted, were members of the Church of Ireland. Of the parochial clergy, at the same time, it is evident that a great number became victims of the general extermination. Several Carte. Hume. Members of the Church. Parochial clergy. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 561 of these, their names, their sufferings, and their in- dignities, are on record; as of one who was inhumanly murdered at Killyman, in the county of Tyrone, and another, who, with his wife and four children, under- went the same fate at Limerick ; of one who was stripped, and driven, like a wild beast, through Cashel, the rebels following, and pricking him on with darts and rapiers, till he fell down dead; of others, at the same place, who were thrust into a loathsome dungeon, and kept there for many weeks in abject and miserable bondage; and of others, again, who were hanged, at the same place, with cir- cumstances of unfeeling and pitiless barbarity; of others, who, having been barbarously slaughtered, were exposed in their remains to laceration and mutilation, to indignity and insult, at Kilkenny: and of others who were refused Christian burial, after being murdered, or, having been buried, were dug out of their graves, as patrons of heresy, at Kil- laloe. The Vicar of Urras, in the county of Mayo, having been terrified into a profession of Popery, became a drummer in the company of an insur- rectionary officer, and was then slaughtered for a recompense by the rebels 5 . Upon one of these ministers, in particular, was peculiar outrage inflicted an act of peculiar outrage, which requires especial notice. Seven Protestant heads being triumphantly erected, on a market-day, upon the market-cross of Kilkenny, slashed, stabbed, and mangled, into the mouth of one of them, being that of a clergyman, with his cheeks slit up to the ears, was inserted a gag or carrot ; and a leaf of the Bible being placed before him, he was bidden to preach, being insultingly told that his mouth was wide 5 TEMPLE'S Irish Rebellion, pp. 94, 87, 111, 100, 95. 2 O 562 THE REIGN OF [On. VII. Outrages on the Holy Scriptures. Disasters of the bishops. Primate Ussher. enough. The outrage, thus offered to the minister of God's word, harmonized with that which was offered to the word of God 6 . Of the irreligious treatment of the latter many other examples are recorded. In the counties of Wicklow, Tyrone, Cavan, Fermanagh, and in the Queen's County, instances might be specified of the Holy Volume being cut or torn to pieces, being cast into the fire and burned, being plunged into, and soiled with, filthy water, being leaped upon and trampled under foot, with exclamations of bitter reproach and imprecation; as that this Book was the cause of all the strife and contention in the country, and that there was good hope of all the Bibles in Ireland being polluted and trodden on, as that was, and of there being soon not one suffered to remain in the kingdom 7 . During such acts of animosity against the Church, and everything connected with it, perpetrated by the Irish Papists, under the auspices of their hier- archy and their priesthood, who participated or abetted these atrocities, it is not to be supposed that the governors of the Church escaped uninjured. The disasters, indeed, which befel them in these days of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, may be traced with considerable particularity, though not with perfect precision. The Primate, in the preceding year, had gone on a short visit of private business to England ; whence, however, he never returned to his native country. But his absence did not exempt him from a share of the common affliction. In a very few days after the breaking out of the rebellion, his houses in the country were plundered by the rebels; his rents 6 TEMPLE, p. 07. 7 Ib., p. 99. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 563 seized; his tenements quite ruined or destroyed; his numerous flocks and herds of cattle, to a very great value, driven away ; in a word, nothing escaped their devastation, but his library and the furniture of his house at Drogheda, which were secured by the strength of the place, notwithstanding a long and dangerous siege, and the library with much difficulty transmitted to him the following year. To pawn all the jewels and plate in his possession was necessary for his present supply. Bulkeley, archbishop of Dublin, remained in that Archbishop city, which, by a marvellous interposition of God's E providence, had been preserved from imminent de- struction, and became the sole place of refuge for the persecuted Protestants of the country. He died some years afterwards, at Taulaght, his country resi- dence in the neighbourhood, spent with age and grief for the calamities of the times. Hamilton, archbishop of Cashel, appears to have Archbishop sought safety in a remote country ; at least, he died at Stockholm, a very aged man, in 1659. Boyle, archbishop of Tuam, and with him Max- Archbishop well, bishop of Killalla, retired for protection to Gal way, in 1641 ; and were in great peril of their lives from an insurrection of the townsmen, who took up arms against the garrison. Bishop Maxwell had been forced from his episcopal palace by the rebels, plundered of his goods, attacked, with his wife, three children, and a number of Protestants, in all about a hundred, at the bridge of Shruel, when several were slain, and the bishop himself, with others, was wounded ; but happily escaped, under the protec- tion of a neighbouring gentleman, who took them to his house, and afforded them signal assistance 8 . 8 CLANRICKARDE'S Memoirs, pp. 72, 73. 202 564 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. larly known. several bishops, Of several, no incidents are related, beyond the date, and, perhaps, the place, of the death of each. Spottiswood, bishop of Clogher, died at Westmin- ster, in 1644. Richardson, bishop of Ardagh, is supposed to have died in London, August, 1654. He had taken early alarm at the Rebellion, and withdrawn, with all his substance, into England, in the summer of 1641. Buckworth, bishop of Dro- more, on the breaking out of the Rebellion, also retired to England, and died in 1652. Under similar circumstances, Ussher, bishop of Kildare, died in 1642 ; and Adair, bishop of Waterford, at Bristol, in 1647; and Synge, bishop of Cloyne, at Bridge- north, in 1653, having, however, not gone to Eng- land till 1647 ; and Dawson, bishop of Clonfert, at Kendal, his native place, 1643. Of these no par- ticulars, having reference to the Rebellion, are related, save the fact of their having apparently sought a refuge from the storm in England. Of the following, more particulars are related. As that Martin, bishop of Meath, having had his house pillaged and burnt in the beginning of the troubles, and all his property seized by the rebels, who left him nothing, capable of being converted into money, but a few old gowns, continued in Dublin, under circumstances of which we shall have occasion hereafter to make honourable mention, till he died there, oppressed with poverty, and a victim to the plague, in 1650 : That Lesley, bishop of Down and Connor, pa- tiently and magnanimously endured the loss of all his substance in the common calamity; and having loyally attended his sovereign in his distress, was, on the restoration of that sovereign's son, promoted to the see of Meath, in 1660 : Bishop Martin. Bishop Henry Lesley. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 565 That Bramhall, bishop of Deny, having narrowly escaped a plot to circumvent him by Sir Phelim O'Neale, under a pretence of secret intelligence between them, which was intended to bring upon him a dishonourable death ; and having had his car- nages searched and plundered; took ship privately for England, and was of great service, by his faithful adherence to the king; and, in the end, after escaping from many and great dangers, became Archbishop of Armagh at the Restoration : That Willams, bishop of Ossory, having been Bishop wmiams. compelled to flee from his see within a few months of his consecration in 1641, whence he had derived no emolument, and having passed through a long succession of poverty, suffering, and persecutions, survived them all, and was reinstated in his bishop- rick in 1660: That Chappel, bishop t)f Cork and Ross, fled to Bishop chappei. England in December, 1641, to avoid the fury of the Rebellion, which had commenced about two months before ; and having suffered much from captivity in his voyage, and afterwards from the loss of a choice and valuable library, died in 1649 at Derby; having, during the troubles in England, been relieved out of the alms of well-disposed persons : And that Henry Tilson, bishop of Elphin, re- Bishop Tiun. tired to England, having undergone the pillage of his library and goods by the titular bishop ; and was buried at Dewsbury in 1655. One of the Irish prelates, Lesley, bishop of ni S i,o P joim Raphoe, continued in the country under circum- stances hereafter to be mentioned; and one other, Jones, bishop of Killaloe, appears not to have quitted the country, as he is related to have died in Dublin in 1646. The same may perhaps be said of Sib- 566 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Bishop Webb and Bishop Bedell. Persecutions of Bishop Bedell. Exclamation of a Romish priest concerning him. thorp, bishop of Kilfenora, who was translated to Limerick in 1642, and died in 1649 at Dublin. In the mean time, by reason of the wars, he never re- ceived the slightest emolument from his preferment. Two were taken prisoners by the rebels, Webb, bishop of Limerick, and Bedell, bishop of Kilmore ; of whom Bishop Webb died the same year in cap- tivity; and Bishop Bedell was seized and carried with his family to the castle of Loughouter, built in a small island, and encompassed with deep water, at a few miles distance. He suffered much from the ruinous state of the building, and its exposure to the inclemency of the weather and the winter's severity. There, after about twenty days' imprisonment, he was exchanged for certain prisoners of distinction among the rebels; but, although previously promised, he was not allowed to proceed to Dublin, the usual place of refuge for the outcast and distressed ; and he died shortly after, his death having been hastened by the weight of his sorrow, and the hardships of his confinement. The persecutions of that excellent man are related at length. in his life by Bishop Bur- net ; and they offer an example of piety, resignation, fortitude, and forbearance, worthy of the primitive and best days of Christian martyrdom : an example which, though it was lost upon the titular intruder, who supplanted him in his dwelling, and for a while, in a fit of intoxication, excepted against the burying of the here tick's body in the consecrated ground of his own churchyard, was more duly estimated by another minister of that communion; and contri- buted with his exemplary life, in drawing forth that memorable exclamation, "O may my soul be with Bedell!" And surely the wish might reasonably be in- SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 567 dulged, for if it be allowable to express an opinion upon the probable condition of a departed spirit, that of Bedell may have been well supposed to be translated to the abodes of blessedness. Meanwhile over the grave, wherein were deposited his mortal re- mains, was laid a tombstone, with a shield, distin- Description of MS guished by his armorial bearings, and surmounted by * a mitre ; with an open book, and an hour-glass, and other emblems of mortality beneath ; and with an ill-arranged, ill-spelt, and coarsely-carved inscription, which has been recorded by Bishop Burnet, though with some inaccuracy, and still exists, but is hardly legible. In the year 1820, a gentleman visited the spot, and communicated the result in a letter dated July the 8th, from Cavan, about three miles distant from Kilmore, to his brother, whose kindness empowers me to mention these particulars. " I had," he observes, " in consequence of the gross ig- norance regarding Bishop Bedell in this county and town, determined to set this day apart for inquiry at the place of his remains, and in tracing accurately the inscription, and I accordingly succeeded beyond my idea. The annexed is a tolerably correct sketch of the slab. I had much difficulty in reading the inscription ; indeed, it puzzled me twice, and I was perplexed, but determined to make it clear. The letters are all raised on a brownish slab, broken in pieces, and the edges of the letters are so rounded by time, that there is little shade from them, so as to recognize them from the plane surface. I accordingly awaited the bursting out of the sun, which, as the shadows from the index of a dial, relieved the letters a little for me, and made my success complete. The inscription then is truly and really this : Gulielmi Bideli quondem Kilmorens is Episcopi Depositum. 568 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Bedell's tree. Decayed state of the inscription. " As a few years will remove all, I wish you to keep this as the fruit of accurate inquiry, and the more especially as I could not obtain any aid in making the matter more easy. I have seen some notices of the inscription, but they are all incorrect. The grave is in a retired part of the church- yard, and a sycamore-tree, of at least twelve feet in circum- ference, the growth of ages, is flourishing near it, and fling- ing its time-honoured arms over the hallowed spot." The sycamore tree here mentioned has the tra- ditionary character of having been planted by the hand of Bishop Bedell, and is known by the name of Bedell's tree; being situated on the outside of the churchyard wall, and at one end of a noble terrace, contiguous to the old episcopal residence. When I visited the scene in 1833, about thirteen years after the date of the foregoing narrative, it presented an appearance of singular stateliness and beauty, and extended its branches far beyond the boundary which separated the churchyard from the bishop's demesne, and over the last resting-place of the venerable prelate whose name it bore. I then transcribed the inscription with difficulty, which has been increased, no doubt, by the decay of the inter- vening years ; for a copy of it, recently made by my desire (October, 1839), has been forwarded with the remark, " I send it as it stands : the first letter, like C, is of course G, and the first word in the second line quondam. But the inscription is not at first sight intelligible, and it took half an hour's constant kneeling over the stone to make out the sense by means of fingers as well as eyes." To those who can pass with "frigid philosophy" over " scenes that have been dignified by virtue, wis- dom, and piety," the foregoing detail may need some apology. To those who are alive to the influence of local associations, this digression to the resting-place SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 569 of Bedell will plead its own excuse. And they will receive with indulgence, at least, and complacency, the annexed engraving, of which the upper part exhibits the arms and accompaniments, as sketched by the visitor of 1820, and recently examined and corrected on the spot, and the lower the inscription in its actual state of decay and imperfection. The extent of the decay may be inferred from the fact, that in the two copies of the inscription, so carefully traced, the spelling of the bishop's name does not tally. 570 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Burial of Bishop At the interment of Bishop Bedell many of the chief rebels assembled, out of their singular value for his excellence, and discharged a volley of shot over his grave, crying out in Latin, " Requiescat in pace ultimus Anglorum!" "May the last of the English rest in peace !" For they had often said, that as they esteemed him the best of the English bishops, so he should be the last to survive among them. And one of a pensive and desponding mind, pondering the actual state and the immediate pro- spects of the Church, of which he was so distinguished a governor, might not unreasonably, perhaps, have caught in that sound the requiem for the Church Depressed con- herself. She was well nigh spent with her afflic- dition of the church. tion. During the six years, indeed, of war and tumult, which filled up the interval between the Irish massacre and the murder of the king, she struggled, mutilated as she was and enfeebled, to keep up a precarious existence. But although, on the one side, the noble Marquis of Ormonde, the lord lieutenant of Ireland, was exerting his influence to secure or recover for her all that was possible of her rights and privileges, her buildings, her benefices, and jurisdiction; on the other side, the Popish hierarchy were here assuming the titles of the episcopacy of the kingdom, and occupying the Church's palaces and temples, and claiming her pos- sessions, and asserting a paramount dominion; and there the parliament of England was putting forth its powers for depriving her of her apostolical emi- nence and her beauty of holiness, and reducing her to a level with the sects and systems of human and modern invention : till at length the iron hand of Cromwell, red with the blood of his sovereign, laid its strong grasp upon her, and extinguished nearly SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 571 all that remained of her spirit, and left her but the shadow of a name. The Romish clergy, who, as the lords justices say, synod of Popish "had hitherto walked somewhat invisibly in these SS^ 8811 * works of darkness," now began openly to justify March 22> 1642 ' that Rebellion, which they were before supposed underhand to promote. Hugh O'Neile, titular pri- mate of Armagh, summoned the bishops and clergy of his province to a synod at Kells. They met on the 22nd of March, 1642; and, after making some constitutions against murderers, plunderers, and the usurpers of other people's estates, they declared the war, so they called the Rebellion of the Irish, to be lawful and pious, and exhorted all persons to join in support of the cause. Thomas Diaz, or Desse, titular bishop of Meath, Absence of tuu- had been summoned to this synod ; but neither Meatu. P came in person, nor sent a proxy to appear for him. He had not offered so much as an excuse for his absence, nor admonished any of the dignitaries of his Church to go thither. He had laboured earnestly to keep the nobility and gentry of his diocese from embarking in the war, which he maintained to be groundless and unjust: and had succeeded so well, particularly with the Earl of Westmeath, in whose house he lived, and with several gentlemen of the Nugent family, that they had not stirred. It was necessary in policy to censure a prelate, who had censure passed done them so much mischief, and to destroy the credit which he had with his flock. They ordered him to recant an opinion, so contradictory to their own ; to subscribe the acts of the synod ; and to submit himself in three weeks, under pain of incur- ring suspicion of heresy, and of being informed 572 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. against to the Pope ; and in case he did not submit within that time they declared him suspended ab officio. General sj-nod. To the authority of a provincial synod it was thought proper to add that of a general synod of all the Romish bishops and clergy in Ireland, which met on the 10th of May at Kilkenny. The three titular Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, with six other bishops, and the proxies of five more, besides The war declared vicars-general and other dignitaries, were present, just and lawful. and declared the war to be just and lawful. provisions for its Among other constitutions, they ordered an exact register to be kept in each province of the burnings, murders, and cruelties committed by the Protestant forces, and passed censures on such of their people as were guilty of the like outrages. They provided that no distinction should be made of old and new Irish, and that all who had taken arms should be united by a common oath of association : that all who should refuse to take the oath, or were neuters, or who assisted the enemy with victuals, arms, advice, or intelligence, should be excommu- nicated, and deemed enemies of the cause and betrayers of their country. They directed all eccle- siastical revenues to be received by particular col- lectors; and, after a competency being allowed to the proprietor, the rest to be applied for the service of the war. Regulation for For the better exercise and support of their confederacy, they made several regulations with regard to the provinces ; appointing provincial coun- cils, composed of clergy and laity together, to be settled in each, and a general council of the nation to be formed at Kilkenny, to which the others were subordinate. They resolved also to apply to foreign SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 573 potentates; and ordered that, in the next general assembly a prelate, a nobleman, and a lawyer should be deputed to the Pope, the Emperor, and the King of France, to solicit for assistance. These were acts purely of the clergy ; but the nobility and gentry, then at Kilkenny, joined in forming the oath of association ; in naming the members of the supreme council, of which Lord Mountgarret was chosen president ; and in appointing a general assembly of the whole nation to meet in that city in the October folio win of 9 . o Of the temper and the projects of the Popish specimen/ the hierarchy, with respect to the Church of Ireland, at rP i8h hierar - this season, the following may be cited as specimens, which represent the objects of its ambition under various aspects, all of them, however, looking to- wards the same end. In 1642, the 24th of October, a general assem- Possessions of the Protestant bly of the lords spiritual and temporal, and others, cier gy apP ro^ the representatives of the confederates, was held at October, 1042. Kilkenny, where, amongst many other ordinances it was decreed, "That the possessions of the Pro- testant clergy, in right of the Church, shall be deemed the possessions of the Catholick clergy." And on the 14th of November they named their supreme council, which contained, together with others, the following prelates, thus absolutely de- Titles of the scribed : " Archbishop of Dublin," " Archbishop of l Tuam," " Bishop of Clonfert," " Archbishop of Ar- magh." And to the same effect in 1650, occurs a " Declaration of the undernamed bishops, in the name of themselves and the rest of the bishops, convoked at Limerick, as deputed by them." It professes to be " from ourselves, as the sense like- 9 CARTE'S Life of Ormonde, v. i, p. 310. 574 THE REIGN OP [Cn. VII. Churches seized, June, 1645. Jurisdiction and patronage of benefices claimed, January, 16 i7 Exhortations of the Pope by his nuncio, 1645. wise and true meaning of the rest of our brethren, other bishops of this kingdom :" and it bears an- nexed the signatures of persons' 1 calling themselves absolutely and without qualification, Archbishop of Tuam, Bishop of Clonfert, of Killalla, of Cork and Cloyne, Bishop of Kilmacduagh 10 . In a meeting of the Popish clergy, June 1, 1.645, for the purpose of considering certain terms of agreement with the king, it was determined, " abso- lutely, expressly, and clearly to set down in the said treaty of peace a special article, to the effect of keeping in their hands such churches, abbeys, monas- teries, and chapels now in their hands, and reco- vered by them for the true worship of God ;" and at a general assembly of the confederates, on the 9th of the same month, in pursuance of the foregoing decision of the clergy, it was voted, " That as to the demand of restoring the Protestant churches, there should be given a positive denial." And in another congregation of the Popish clergy, in January, 1647, a paper of proposals was agreed upon, which was submitted to the general assembly of the confederates on the first day of their meeting, and contained this demand, "That they should have all manner of jurisdiction, privileges, and immunities, as amply as they had in the time of King Henry the Seventh, and have all the church livings, &c., conferred upon them." Such was the spirit with which the Popish clergy regarded the Church of Ireland, and such the pro- jects which they meditated for its overthrow, in accordance with the exhortation of the pope, Inno- cent the Tenth, communicated to them by his nuncio at one of their assemblies in 1645, who had been 10 Cox's Hist., v. ii. pp.124, 161, 185. SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 575 instructed to assemble the bishops and prelates of the kingdom ; to unite and encourage them to per- sist in the war, till their religion should be esta- blished, and a Romanist appointed lord lieutenant ; and to induce them to receive the decrees of the Council of Trent 11 . And the overthrow of the Church, considered in the character of a National Church, must have been the consequence of the privations, to which it was their aim that she should be submitted. The Marquis of Ormonde, the lord lieutenant, sentiment? of seems to have been duly sensible of this, and to have tenant? 1 L made that conviction the rule of his own determina- tion: for in a letter, addressed to the Lord Digby, msietterto on Christmas Day, 1646, he thus plainly and Dec. S/iew. resolutely indicates his sentiments. " I shall be- seech you to be careful of one thing, which is, to take order that the commands, that shall be directed to me touching this people, if any be, thwart not the grounds I have laid to myself in point of religion, for in that and in that only I shall resort to the liberty left to a subject, to obey by suffering : and particularly that there be no concession to the Papists, to perpetuate churches or church livings to them, or to take ecclesiastical jurisdiction from us. And as for other freedoms from penalties, for the quiet exercise of their religion, I am clear of opinion, it not only may, but ought to, be given them, if his majesty shall find cause to own them for anything but rebels." The Church, however, had enemies, little less Protestant sec- acrimonious or dangerous than the Papists, to be * encountered in the Protestant sectarian faction. 11 CARTE'S Ormonde, i. 559. 576 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. English proceed- ings against prelacy. 1642, 1643. Westminster Assembly of ' Divines. Primate Ussher named a member. His non-attend- ance. By the English Houses of Parliament, first a de- claration had been made "for the taking away of bishops, deans, and chapters," and then a bill was passed for " the utter abolishing and taking away" of prelacy, having been introduced into the Lower House in December, 1642, and agreed to by the Upper on the 20th of January, 1643. To these measures, however, the king refused his assent. They also first framed a bill, which they afterwards changed into an ordinance, for "an Assembly of Divines, to meet at Westminster ; and assist the Parliament in settling such a government in the Church, as may be agreeable to God's holy word, and bring it into nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland, and other reformed Churches abroad." The assembly was forbidden by the king's proclama- tion to meet; but on the 1st of July it met notwithstanding. Of this assembly the Archbishop of Armagh was nominated a member : but he approved, neither of the authority by which it was appointed, nor of the business which it was designed to execute : " so that he never troubled himself to go thither. But when that mock assembly found that he scorned to come among them, they complained of him to the House of Commons, who soon voted him out again ; which yet the archbishop took more kindly," says his biographer, who might have added, which was much more to the archbishop's credit and honour, " than their choosing him into it." And it may be here noticed, as an honour to the Church of Ireland and her clergy, that of that body either no one was judged fit to be associated with the Westminster divines, or no one demeaned himself by admitting the association, with the single exception of John SKC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 577 Hoyle, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and Pro- fessor of Divinity in that university. But let not the university or the Church feel ashamed of the fact, when it can be added : Faithless found Among the faithful ; faithless only he ! For what less than faithlessness can be attributed to any minister of the Church, who sanctioned the acts of an assembly, which substituted the Directory for the Book of Common Prayer, and modern Sectarian- ism for the Apostolical Church Polity; and insti- tuted and established "The Solemn League and Covenant." But although the Church of Ireland is exempt its influence ex- from any participation in " that bad eminence," the kingdom of Ireland was not exempt from its con- tamination. Among the ten peers and twenty commoners, who were lay assessors of the clerical members of the assembly, there was at least one delegate from Ireland, Sir John Clotworthy, of Antrim. Measures were taken also at an early stage of its proceedings for extending its influence to that kingdom ; and there wanted not a deter- mined band of dissenters and separatists from the Church, to strengthen by a new bond of union their efforts for the Church's destruction. The Solemn League and Covenant became* the solemn great instrument which was employed to forward the objects of that faction: the Solemn League and Covenant, of which the two leading articles, bound upon the confederates by oath, were these. 1. "That we shall sincerely, really, and constantly, it* two first through the grace of God, endeavour, in our several places a and callings, the preservation of the reformed religion in 2 P 578 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, against our common enemies ; the refor- mation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the word of God, and the example of the best reformed Churches ; and we shall endeavour to bring the Churches of God, in the three kingdoms, to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of Church-government, directory for worship, and catechising, that we, and our posterity after us, may, as brethren, live in faith and love, and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us. 2. " That we shall in like manner, without respect of persons, endeavour the extirpation of Popery, prelacy, (that is, Church -government by archbishops, bishops, their chan- cellors and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, arch- deacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy,) superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness, and whatsoever else shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine, and the power of godliness, lest we partake in other men's sins, and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues ; and that the Lord may be one, and his name one, in the three kingdoms." These articles \vill make sufficiently apparent the tendency of the Solemn League and Covenant, as affecting the Church of Ireland, in common with King's prociama- that of England. The king, by a proclamation on the covenant, the 9th of October, 1644, had declared it " to be a Oct. 9, 1644. traitorous and seditious combination against him, o and against the established religion and laws of the kingdom, in pursuance of a traitorous design and endeavour to bring in a foreign force to invade England ;" and had commanded all his subjects not to take it. Measures to pre- The Marquis of Ormonde sent directions to ' all the officers in those parts, that were under his command, to refuse it, showing the iniquity of the SEC. IX.] KING CHARLES I. 579 oatli. The lords justices and council wrote the same day to General Monroe, charging him not to suffer the Covenant to be taken by any of the officers or soldiers under his command ; and four days after, on the 18th of December, they published a proclama- tion, condemning it as a seditious combination against his majesty, contrary to the municipal laws of the kingdom, destructive to the government of the Church established, inconsistent with the liberty of the subject, and tending to create great unquiet- ness and distraction in the kingdom; and so they forbade all persons either to tender or take it. This was followed soon after by a long declaration from the same authority ; wherein, for the information of the people, they entered into a particular examina- tion of all parts of the Covenant, fully demonstrated the unlawfulness thereof, and renewed their charge upon all persons to refuse it 12 . But these orders and arguments were too weak inclination of the troops in its to oppose the passion, with which the Covenant was favour. received in the North, where most of the old officers of the Scottish troops were inclined to it ; and the inhabitants were so eager for its adoption, that they had dispatched a messenger to Scotland, expressly to desire that it might be sent over to them. The colonels, indeed, of all the regiments under the Marquis of Ormonde's command were averse to it ; and at a meeting at Belfast, on the 2nd of January, Resolution of , . i ii T i * commanding 1615, at which were present the Lord Montgomery, ., p. SoG. 11. CH. VIII.] THE USURPATION. 595 During these times of consternation to the Dangers of . . P . ministers of the ministers or the Church, they were exposed to personal dangers alike from Papists and Puritans. Thus in 1648, Bishop Bramhall was in imminent Bishop Bram- peril of his life from the Romanists of Limerick, because the Earl of Roscommon, who, having met with a fatal accident, survived only so long as to make open declaration of his faith, professed, at the instance of the bishop, that he died in communion with the Church of Ireland. On his departure from Ireland, he experienced another great deliverance from the other faction ; for he was closely pursued by two parliamentarian frigates; and, being nearly overtaken, was only preserved by a sudden and pro- vidential change of the wind. Soon afterwards, Remarkable intending a journey into Spain, he stopped for re- s P am. freshment at a house, where the hostess addressed him by his name. On his expressing astonishment at being discovered, she revealed to him the secret, showed him his picture, and assured him there were several of them on the road, in order that being thus made known, he might be carried before the Inqui- sition. She informed him also, that her husband, amongst others, had power to apprehend him, and would certainly execute the commission, if he found him 9 . This narrative has been lately commented upon Probably ac- counted for. by Dr. Kippis, in his new edition of the Biographia Britannica, as "very extraordinary: for unless he had done something relative to that kingdom, of which we have now no account, it seems scarcely conceivable that such measures should have been adopted for apprehending him." Yet the well- known character of the individual, his station in the 9 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 123, 127. 2 Q 2 596 THE USURPATION. [Cn. VIII. Church, his former connexion with those of the highest authority in his own country, and the influ- ence of which he was probably still possessed, may be sufficient to account for the hostility of that jealous and watchful tribunal, and leave unsuspected the statement of the contemporaneous historian. His journey should seem to have been connected with some object relating to the then state of religion. But whether "the purpose of drawing a parallel, between the Liturgy of the Church of Eng- land and the publick forms of the Protestant Churches," was likely, as has been stated (in the Rawdon Papers, p. 107, note), to lead to the design of a journey into Spain, may seem questionable. Dean Margcison. Thus, again, Margetson, dean of Christ Church, having fled into England in 1647, was overtaken by unexpected evils, as great and general as those from which he fled. Amongst other sufferings, he was by the parliamentary party taken prisoner and thrown into confinement, until he was at last set at liberty Bishop Williams, in exchange for some military officers. The like disaster befell Williams, bishop of Ossory, on his flight from Ireland, in 1641 ; being intercepted by a party of the parliamentary troops, and carried a prisoner to Northampton 10 . Episcopal Of the sees, which became vacant during the Usurpation, it was the sacrilegious practice of the then rulers of the state, to sequestrate the revenues, and to leave the bishopricks unoccupied : partly that the property of the Church might be confiscated and appropriated by power, as it could not be by right, to secular purposes ; and partly, that the constitution of the Church might be broken up and annihilated, as her episcopacy by degrees should cease to exist. 10 WARE'S Bishops, p. 422. Cn. VIII.] THE USURPATION. 597 Of sixteen vacancies, which had occurred at various sixteen vacant periods, between the assumption of the sovereign 8 power by the parliament, and the restoration of the lawful king, all continued unsupplied at the latter epoch ; so that eight bishops only were at that time surviving, to maintain and perpetuate the Apostolical succession and government in the Church. In the mean time, the property of those, who Lgnuzed rightfully possessed it, was liable to a sort of r legalized plunder. Thus the possessions of the Archbishop of Dublin and of the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's Cathedral, were confided to certain trustees, by whom the church was occasionally converted to profane uses 11 . The church of Galway was greatly injured by the soldiery, who converted the chapels and aisles into stables, and destroyed almost the entire of the ancient and venerable monuments, insomuch that at the Restoration it was found altogether in a state of dilapidation, and in total want of repair 12 . Of this abuse a memorable example also is re- corded in the case of Williams, bishop of Ossory, to whose see belonged several houses and lands in the immediate neighbourhood of Kilkenny, rendered especially valuable by that situation. Certain com- missioners having been appointed by the parliament to dispose of the land of delinquents, for paying the arrears of the soldiers, made no difference between the Church lands and the lands of the rebels; but distributed among the indigent soldiery the best houses, gardens, orchards, and lands, of the bishop, and other clergy, which one of the com- 11 MASON'S St. Patricks, p. 191. 13 HARDIMAN'S Galway, p. 247. 598 THE USURPATION. [CH. VIII. General distress of the clergy. Archbishop Ussher. Bishop Bram- hall. Allowance to bishops from the government. 158. missioners bought up at an easy and inconsiderable value 13 . But, not to dwell upon such cases as this, the condition of the clergy was, no doubt, one in general of great penury and distress. Archbishop Ussher, after various situations of more or less embarrass- ment, was fain to accept a home from the hospitable bounty of the Countess of Peterborough, whose lord lie had, many years before, been the happy instru- ment of converting from Popery, and who now gratefully acknowledged her obligation by an asylum in her house for nine or ten years preceding his death u . The unexpected payment of a debt of 700/., long due to Bishop Bramhall, and made " in his greatest necessity," was a very seasonable relief, both to himself and to many confessors of the royal cause, "to whom even of his penury he distributed so liberally, that the blessing of such as were ready to perish fell upon him 15 ." A case, however, of such self-evident truth, as the privations and distresses, to which the clergy of the Church of Ireland must have been exposed during the Usurpation, hardly needs a fuller exem- plification. But that, however, is a memorable fact, as stated in the life of Williams, bishop of Ossory, that Henry Cromwell, governor of Ireland under his brother Richard, in 1658, being informed that the bishop often preached in Dublin, was desirous of hearing him at his own house : and that, when the sermon was ended, Henry Cromwell invited him to dinner, and afterwards sent him a message, that, as he allowed the rest of the bishops each a hundred pounds a year for their maintenance, so he offered 13 WARE'S Bishops, p. 425. 14 PARR'S Life of Ussher. 15 VESEY'S Life of Bramkall CH. VIII.] THE USURPATION. 599 the like to him. The bishop owned the obligation, but answered, that he was resolved to live contented with the small means he had of his own." Bishop Heber, in his Life of Bishop Jeremy opportunities Taylor, incidentally notices the peculiar evils of mXt^ the times," as giving occasion for " the effects of private malice," in disturbing the tranquillity and happiness of the clergy. " A person named Tandy, whom Taylor calls a mad- man, and who appears, by Lord Con way's letters, to have been something like an agent to different noble families, out of pure jealousy that the new-comer stood more in favour with his patrons than himself, and was a more welcome and frequent guest at their houses, denounced him to the Irish privy council as a dangerous and disaffected Jeremy Taylor character, and more particularly, as having used the sign of the cross in the ceremony of private baptism. Taylor him- self does not seem to have been much alarmed : but Con way expresses himself on the subject with a degree of feeling which does him honour; and with an indignation against the informer, not unnatural in one who conceived, that, in attacking his friend, that informer was treating himself with ingratitude. In consequence of the information laid against Taylor, a warrant was issued to the governor of Carrikfergus, by the Irish privy council, to bring him before them for examination. In the minutes of the council no other entry occurs relating to him ; and it is, therefore, probable, that his friends had power to obtain his speedy discharge. The journey, however, to Dublin, in the heart of winter, was sufficient to throw him into a severe illness, which perhaps was admitted by the government as a plea for letting him off so easily." In illustration of the foregoing narrative, it may illustration of ,1 ... the foregoing be here mentioned, by the way, tnat, at the time in narrative. question, Taylor had been recently established in a lectureship at Lisburn, in the county of Antrim, residing principally at Portmore, the property of the 600 THE USURPATION. [Cn. VIII Earl of Con way, about eight miles distant from that town. " Perhaps, indeed," says Bishop Heber, " he only visited Lisburn for the discharge of his weekly lectureship ; since the tradition of his descendants determines him to have chiefly, if not always, occu- pied a house in the immediate neighbourhood of his patron's mansion ; and to have often preached to a small congregation of loyalists in the half-ruined church of Kilulta." correction of I copy the statement as I find it; wishing, at part of the state- the same time, to oner a correction ot one not very important particular in it, and to accompany it with an observation upon another. church in which There is in the diocese of Down and Connor no Taylor officiated. / TT-I i TT-MI i parish of the name of Kilulta, or Killultagh ; but there is a townland of that name, from which the manor takes its designation ; and my informant, the Rev. Edward Cupples, vicar-general of the diocese, remarks that he cannot find that there is any church- yard, or ruin of a church, in that townland. It appears, however, that the church of Ballinderry, which was used before the building of the present one, was built in the time of King Charles the Second, and was always called " the new church," in contradistinction, as is supposed, to an old church, the ruins of which stand in an ancient churchyard, still an extensive burial-ground, on the margin of Lough Beg, at a very short distance from Portmore, where Bishop Taylor formerly resided. " This," adds my correspondent, " I take to have been the church in which Bishop Taylor officiated." Remark notwithstanding the violent courses which had been lawlessly pursued for the overthrow of each, no law had at any time been regularly enacted, which might give a colour for the annulling of either. It followed, of course, that, when the king resumed his throne, the Church resumed her station. The best method, accordingly, was judged to be to fill up all vacant ecclesiastical preferments with men of worth, character, abilities, and learning, zealously affected to the constitution of the Church, and well SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. G05 qualified to maintain their possession. And thus, on the recommendation and persuasion of the Marquis of Ormonde, the king was induced, in the first week of August, to nominate for the occupation of the vacant sees the most eminent men that could be found among the clergy of Ireland 1 . At this period the Church of Ireland had pre- Eight surviving served only eight of her former bishops : Bramhall, of Deny ; John Lesley, of Raphoe ; Henry Lesley, of Down and Connor ; Maxwell, of Kilmore ; Baily, of Clonfert ; Williams, of Ossory ; Jones, of Clogher ; and Fulwar, of Ardfert. Of these, the Bishop of Deny in particular was well known and highly esteemed for his previous ecclesiastical services : so that the general sense of the Church and of the kingdom concurred with the judgment of the government, which made an early selection of him Bwhop Bramiiaii * nominated to tho for the archbishoprick of Armagh, and the primacy p a j^ 1GGO and metropolitical dignity of all Ireland, to which he was nominated in August, 1660, and formally appointed on the 18th of January, 1661. How acceptable this nomination of Bishop ms nomination 1 acceptable to the Bramhall was to the friends of the Church, appears frfcndsofthe Church. from the following letter of congratulation, which was addressed by Lord Caulfield, afterwards known by the honourable epithet of the good Lord Charle- mont, to the new Primate, on the 22nd of October, 1660. "As the news of your lordship's safe arrival is most Letter of congra- . / ... . . ... tulation from welcome to me, so it is likewise occasion of great rejoicing Lord cauificw, to all those in the kingdom who truly fear God and pray for c the welfare of his Church : it being yet fresh in the memo- ries of us all, how eminent an instrument your lordship hath been long since in the propagating the true ancient Protes- tant religion in this kingdom. 1 CARTE'S Life of Ormonde, ii. 207. 606 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Prevalence of schisms and heresies. Nomination of the new bishops. Delay in their consecration. " My lord, never bad the Church more need of such a champion than now that the looseness of the late times hath been the occasion of so many schisms, and given opportunity to such numberless number of heresies to creep in amongst us, that not many days ago it was hardly possible to find two of one religion. And therein are these unhappy north- ern quarters most miserable, abounding with all sorts of licentious persons ; but those whom we esteem most danger- ous are the Presbyterian factions, who do not- like publickly to preach up the authority of the kirk to be above that of the crown and our dread sovereign. I have myself dis- coursed with divers of their ministers, both in publick and private, who have maintained that the kirk hath power to excommunicate their kings : and when the oaths of allegi- ance and supremacy were administered here, one of them told me that we had pulled down one pope and set up another. But I made bold to inflict such punishments as I thought were proper for their offences ; and hindered their meetings where I considered there might be anything con- sulted of, tending to the breach of the peace, either in church or commonwealth 8 ."' At the same early period of the nomination of the new Primate, the new bishops also were named, yet the same space of time elapsed before their con- secration ; during which interval it was impossible to remedy the irregularities and confusion which had become incorporated with the affairs of the Church. It has been stated that, for a want of a new great seal, which was in the first place necessary to be made, the new bishops could not take out their patents, and of course could not be sooner possessed of their sees. The king's declaration, however, of his resolution to support Episcopacy was esteemed of great importance in the existing crisis; and his letters, therefore, were issued for them under the signet. 2 Rawdon Papers, p. 127. SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. (J07 Still this was not sufficient to annihilate the Hopes of the hopes of those who were solicitous for the extirpa- ut episcopa ~ tion of the episcopal order : and the delay of the consecration encouraged them to circulate a report, that the king had determined not to have any bishops, and to flatter themselves with an expecta- tion of attaining their end. For this purpose, addresses were set on foot in the name of the Pro- testant inhabitants of the kingdom, and of the adven- turers and officers, civil and military, to beseech his majesty, that the godly ministers of the Gospel, who had long laboured amongst them, might be con- tinued and countenanced. There were also greater men than these, who Attempts to di- secretly maligned the Church, though they forbore nuesofthe^ to make open avowal of their disaffection ; and thus gave such clandestine encouragement to the sectaries, that they became more and more presumptuous in petitioning against the bishops, and more refractory in insulting the laws for conformity. Finding, how- ever, the episcopal order and the polity of the Church to be impregnable, they then betook them- selves to the expedient of attempting to lessen the influence of the bishops, by diminishing their reve- nues, and depriving them of their means of support- ing their dignity, a state ot indigence being com- monly attended with contempt 3 . Their efforts with the king in that respect pro- Petition from the duced from the Lord Primate elect, and the other bishops, then resident in Dublin, a countervailing petition, in the name of all the orthodox clergy of Ireland ; wherein they besought the protection of the king, as a nursing father, by the divine law, to 9 CARTE'S Ormonde, ii. 209. 608 THE REIGN OF [Cu. IX. Presented to the king, Dec 5, 1660. King'sletter in answei, Dec. 24. Restoration of temporalties to the Church. Mandate for consecration of bishops, Jan. 1GG1. the churches within his dominions, and, by the laws of the land, the great patron of the clergy. To this petition, presented to the king on the 5th of December, his majesty, in a letter of the 24th of the same month, returned a gracious answer; assuring the petitioners, " That he would, by all the ways and means in his power, preserve their rights and those of the Church of Ireland, so far as by law and justice he might ; and that nothing could give him more content than, when occasion should be offered, to add to the revenues thereof, which had been too much diminished by rapacious or improvident hands, and to restore it to its ancient patrimony ; so as they needed not either to fear the taking away of the rents raised in Lord Strafford^s time, or to doubt of any endea- vours of his which might tend to make that Church flourish ; as they might perceive by his late letters sent to Ireland for the settling of the impropriate and forfeited tythes in his gift upon the respective incumbents 4 ." In fine, the king restored to the Church all her temporalties, in as full and ample a degree as she had possessed them in the year 1641, since which time the actually ruling powers had extended over them an usurped authority. In right, also, of his prerogative of investiture, he proceeded, by his letters patent of the 25th of January, 1661, to appoint bishops to the several vacant sees, and issued his regal mandate to the Archbishop of Armagh for their consecration. With him were associated as assistants the bishops of Raphoe, Kilmore, Clogher, and Ossory; the Bishop of Down and Connor having been on the 18th of January translated to the see of Meath, vacated by the death of Bishop Martin; and thus making an opening, which from its situation in the north-eastern counties of the 4 CARTE'S Ormonde y ii. 210. SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. 609 kingdom, with which Jeremy Taylor had already Jeremy T.i>ior, . ./ T Al bishop of Down formed a connexion, and from its embracing the property of his patron, the Earl of Conway, may have been especially recommended to his accept- ance ; and for which he also may have been judged singularly well qualified by his piety, suavity of manners, and great theological attainments ; that diocese being at the time infested more than any other in the kingdom with the most virulent and clamorous, because the most ignorant and prejudiced, of the sectaries. The same distinguished person was entrusted And vi r cellor of the TJni- also with the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Uni- versityofDubim. versity of Dublin, for the purpose of reducing into order that important body, which had been thrown into great confusion by the agitation of the late troublous times, and needed the mind and hand of a master for restoring it to its former discipline and usefulness. To fill the vacancies in the archiepiscopal sees of Names of the new archbishops. Dublin and Tuam, Margetson, who had been Dean of Christ Church before the Rebellion in 1641, and Pullen, chaplain to the Marquis of Ormonde, were selected for consecration : the other archbishop rick of Cashel being filled by the translation of Bishop Fulwar from the see of Ardfert. Together with these, ten others were chosen for consecration to that number of the vacant sees, on the 27th of January, 1661 : men for the most part recommended by their loyalty to their king, and their attachment to the faith, the polity, and the worship of the Church ; and several of whom had, during the late season of Popish and Puritanical persecution, in maintenance of their principles, gone through fire 2 R 610 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. and water, had lost their possessions, and jeopardied their lives. The names of these new bishops, and of their re- spective appointments, are the following: Michael Boyle, dean of Cloyne, to the bishoprick of Cork and Ross ; John Parker, dean of Killala, and chap- lain to the Marquis of Ormonde, who had been plundered and imprisoned for his loyalty under the tyranny of Cromwell ; Robert Price, dean of Con- nor, who, in that capacity, had been a great sufferer for the royal cause ; and George Wild, who, for his adherence to the king, had been stripped of his fel- lowship in St. John's College, Oxford, by the parlia- mentarian visitors in 1648, and otherwise underwent much privation for the same cause ; severally to the bishopricks of Elphin, of Ferns and Leighlin, and of Derry ; Edward Synge, dean of Elphin, and Henry Hall, chantor of Christ Church, Dublin, who had signed the petition in favour of the Liturgy, and against the Directory, to the bishopricks of Lime- rick and Killala ; George Baker, doctor of divinity, of Trinity College, Dublin, to the bishoprick of Waterford and Lismore ; Robert Lesley, a young man of great promise, son of the Bishop of Down, to the bishoprick of Dromore ; Edward Worth, dean of Cork, to that of Killaloe ; and Jeremy Taylor, to that of Down and Connor. To Taylor was com- mitted the conspicuous and honourable office of preaching the consecration sermon in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin ; and it was published at the re- quest of the lords justices, the bishops, and gene- ral convention ; and is reported, by a contemporary authority, to have given " great and general satisfac- tion, so elegantly, religiously, and prudently was it composed, and so convincing to the judgments of those SEC - L ] KING CHARLES II. Gil who opposed the order and jurisdiction of episco- pacy 5 ." An anthem, subsequently celebrated under the title of Quam denuo exaltamt Dominus coronam, was specially composed by Dr. William Fuller, then dean of St. Patrick's, and afterwards Bishop of An hem. Limerick, and sung on the occasion ; and the cere- mony was solemnized according to the desire and solemnity O f th special order of the Primate, "as decency and the c dignity of so holy an office did require," in the pre- sence of the deans, and dignitaries, and other mem- bers of the two cathedrals ; of the pro-vice-chancel- lor and members of the university; of the ministers and civilians of the city ; of the lords justices and the nobility ; the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and com- mon council ; and the general convention of Ireland, led by their speaker ; all these, without the least in- vitation, voluntarily gave their attendance at the whole solemnity, from a desire to show their respect to the bishops. Let it be added, as not the least gratifying circumstance of the day, that " the whole ceremony was conducted without any confusion or the least clamour heard, save many prayers and bless- ings from the people, although the throng was great, and the windows throughout the whole passage of the procession to and from the cathedral filled with spectators 5 ." The consecration, at the same time, and by itn- ceremony un pa position of the same hands, of twelve Christian r bishops, two of the number being of metropolitan eminence, to their apostolical superintendence of the Church of Christ, is an event probably without a parallel in the Church. The event, and its conse- quences, with reference to the illustrious Primate 5 MASON'S $t. Patrick's, pp. 192,194. 2 R 2 612 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. funeral. engaged in the consecration, is thus noticed by commemorated Bishop Taylor in his sermon preached at the funeral at the Primate's of Archbishop Bramhall in the year 1663. ' There are great things spoken of his predecessor, St. Patrick, that he founded seven hundred churches and religious convents ; that he ordained five thou- sand priests; and with his own hands consecrated three hundred and fifty bishops. How true the story is I know not ; but we were all witnesses that the late Primate, whose memory we now celebrate, did by an extraordinary contingency of Providence, in one day, consecrate two archbishops and ten bishops; and did benefit to almost all the churches of Ireland; and was greatly instrumental in the re-endowments of the whole clergy ; and in the greatest abilities and incomparable industry was inferior to none of his antecessors." A suitable and affecting sequel to this solemnity, immediately before the separation of those now invested with the apostolical character, and their dis- persion into their several dioceses to the flocks " over whom the Holy Ghost had made them over- seers," was another collective meeting of the body in Christ Church cathedral ; when the new bishop of Limerick, Edward Synge, a learned and zealous preacher, distinguished for his impressive elocution in the pulpit, and for the peculiar efficacy of his ap- peals to each individual in a congregation, delivered a most apposite discourse ; and pressed upon the assembly the exhortation of the apostle, words pecu- liarly calculated, on such an occasion, to strike the imagination, and to raise the devotion, of a con- siderate mind : " Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you ; and that we may Assembly of the bishops. Bishop Synge's sermon. SEC. L] KING CHARLES II. 613 be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith." Before quitting this subject of the consecration unions of n , i i i , i bishopricks. of the new bishops, this seems a convenient place for remarking, that the bishoprick of Cloyne was now united to Cork and Ross, and the minor bishopricks of Ardagh, of Ardfert and Aghadoe, and of Kilfenora, respectively, to the more important and contiguous sees of Kilmore, Limerick, and Tuam. Kildare alone remained unsupplied, having been stripped of its manors and estates a hundred years before, and left without sufficient provision for a bishop. But soon after this, the prebend of May- nooth in St. Patrick's cathedral was annexed to it in commendam, when Thomas Price, chaplain to the Thomas price Marquis of Ormonde, and archdeacon of Kilmore, was promoted to the bishoprick; and consecrated on the 6th of March in the same year, 1661, by the Archbishop of Dublin. Thus the episcopate of the Church of Ireland MBD episcopate A completed. was again completed, consisting of four archbishops, and seventeen suffragans, or twenty-one prelates in the whole ; and so it continued for the next one hundred and seventy years, with but few, and those not very material, modifications, of which the princi- pal were, that, in the year 1662, the administration of the small diocese of Dromore, adjacent to those of Down and Connor, was intrusted to Bishop Tay- lor, " on account of his virtue, wisdom, and industry," but was restored on his death in 1667 to the station of a distinct see ; and that of Cloyne, which was now, in 1661, united to Cork and Ross, was again sepa- rated from them in 1678, and so continued for the above-mentioned period of one hundred and seventy years. 614 THE REIGN OF [CH. IX. The Church, however, in this her renovated state, was opposed by powerful and determined antago- nists ; the same who had brought her to the brink of temporal ruin, and who were not likely to regard her restitution and recovery with complacency. On one side were the Popish separatists, the members of the Church of Rome in Ireland, who were banded together by all their old obligations of Papal supremacy, priestly domination, inveterate pe- culiarities of belief and practice, national as well as religious antipathies; irritated moreover by a con- sciousness of the barbarities which they had lately inflicted on the Church of Ireland in the persons of her people ; by a sense of their own recent defeat, and of the loss which they had sustained in the con- flict, both of ecclesiastical ascendency, and of tem- poral property and prosperity ; and by the anticipa- tion of being enabled, perhaps, on some future more fortunate occasion, to assert their national supe- riority, to claim their alienated possessions, and to wreak a still more formidable vengeance upon those by whom they had been despoiled of what they fondly cherished in their memories as their ancient and hereditary rights. It was no slight task for the Church to stand her ground against these opponents ; to have succeeded in making an inroad into their territories, and at- taching any of them to her cause, appears hardly possible. Speculation, indeed, upon such cases is easy. Upon the basis of fancied analogies, corre- sponding, perhaps, in two or three particulars, but separated from each other by many more, we may satisfy ourselves with raising an imaginary structure, as if the cases of Wales or of the Norman isles SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. G]5 were generally applicable to the condition of Ireland. Or from a few particular instances, attended by cir- cumstances peculiarly favourable, we may be pleased with drawing a general conclusion ; as in reasoning from Bishop Bedell's partial success to the universal conversion of the people". In truth, much per- plexity attends every view of this important ques- tion. And the problem still remains to be solved, whether at all, and by what means, could the Church of Ireland, at the Restoration, have succeeded in overcoming the numerous and powerful preposses- sions of the Romish population of the country under the dominion of their hierarchy, and attaching them to a purer profession of religion. Of the attention bestowed by the governors of Bishop Taylor's the Church on this evil, and of their solicitude to %!"*"* provide a remedy, there exists a palpable and perma- nent testimony in a celebrated work of one of the most eminent of their body ; for the Dissuasive from Popery was at this time composed by Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in compliance with the earnest entreaties of written at the his episcopal brethren. And it stands, and ever will stand, an imperishable monument, amongst many others, of the intellectual powers and theological treasures of its illustrious author, and is, at the same time, an incontrovertible historical record of the sense entertained by his brethren in the episcopate, as well as by himself, of the duty imposed on them by the growing numbers and strength of the emis- saries of the Church of Rome, " to run to arms, I mean," he says, " to the weapons of our warfare, to the armour of the Spirit, to the works of our calling ; and to tell the people of their peril, to warn them of the enemy, and to lead them in the ways of truth, 6 HEBER'S Life of Taylor, p. cxix 616 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Its capability of usefulness. Condition of the Irish Papists. and peace, and holiness ; that, if they would be admonished, they might be safe; if they would not, they should be without excuse, because they could not say but the prophets have been amongst them 7 ." It is as a document in proof of the sentiments and wishes of the bishops of the Church of Ireland at that period, as to working a change in the religious character of the deluded Romanists of the country, that this work has been noticed. A discussion of the merits of the composition would withdraw us too far from our immediate subject ; but it may be inci- dentally remarked, that if " this discourse be too long and too learned to penetrate among the moun- tains and into the cottages," as judged by Bishop Taylor's excellent biographer Bishop Heber, " yet," in the judgment of the same eminent writer, " as furnish- ing the agents in the work of conversion with argu- ments adapted alike to the ignorant and the learned ; with zeal increased in proportion to their own know- ledge of the importance of the truths which they conveyed ; and with that celestial armoury of spiritual Weapons, which his admirable knowledge of Scripture has supplied, it might have itself been a source of light to thousands ; a means, in God's hand, of dry- ing up the waters of bitterness, and removing the greatest obstacle which has existed to the peace and prosperity of the empire 8 ." As an historical document, also, this "Preface" of Bishop Taylor is in another respect conducive to our purpose; namely, as supplying an authentick exposition of the condition of the Irish Papist, as presented to the actual observation of so intelligent 7 Preface to the Dissuasive from Popery. K HKBER'S Life of Ten/lor, p. cxxii. SEC. I.J KING CHARLES II. 617 and able a witness. Of the religious belief and practices of those, who were trained in the profession of that which they were instructed to hold " as the only true religion," the author of the Dissuasive from Popery has bequeathed to us the following description. " We have observed amongst the generality of the Irish Their supersti- such a declension of Christianity, so great credulity to ness.*"" 3 believe every superstitious story, such confidence in vanity, such groundless pertinacity, such vicious lives, so little sense of true religion and the fear of God, so much care to obey the priests, and so little to obey God ; such intolerable ignorance, such foul oaths and manners of swearing, think- ing themselves more obliged by swearing on the Mass-book than the four Gospels, and St. Patrick's Mass-book more than any new one ; swearing by their father's soul., by their gossip's hand, by other things which are the product of those many tales that are told them ; their not knowing upon what account they refuse to come to church, but only that now they are old, and never did, or their countrymen do not, or their fathers or grandfathers never did, or that their ancestors were priests, and they will not alter from their religion ; and, after all, can give no account of their religion, what it is ; only they believe as their priest bids them, and go to mass, which they understand not, and reckon their beads to tell the number and the tale of their prayers, and abstain from eggs and flesh in Lent, and visit St. Patrick's well, and leave pins and ribbons, yarn or thread, in their holy wells, and pray to God, St. Mary and St. Patrick, St, Columbanus and St. Bridget, and desire to be buried with St. Francis's cord about them, and to fast on Saturdays in honour of our Lady. " These, and so many other things of like nature, we see charity to P er- claily, that we, being conscious of the infinite distance which these things have from the spirit of Christianity, know that no charity can be greater than to persuade the people to come to our churches, where they shall be taught all the ways of godly wisdom, of peace and safety to their souls ; whereas, now there are many of them that know not how 618 THE REIGN OF [CH..IX, to say their prayers, but mutter, like pies and parrots, words which they are taught, but not pretend to under- stand; 1 Remarkable The bishop then proceeds to give one particu- stition. lar instance of their miserable superstition and blindness Sanctity of a beii. "I was lately," he relates, "within a few months very much troubled with petitions and earnest requests for the restoring a bell, which a person of quality had in his hands in the time of, and ever since, the late Rebellion. I could not guess at the reasons of their so great and violent impor- tunity ; but told the petitioners, if they could prove that bell to be theirs, the gentleman was willing to pay the full value for it, though he had no obligation to do so, that I know of, but charity. But this was so far from satisfying them, that still the importunity increased, which made me diligently inquire into the secret of it. The first cause, I found, was, that a dying person in the parish desired to have it rung before him to church, and pretended he could not die in peace if it were denied him ; and that the keep- ing of that bell did anciently belong to that family, from father to son. But, because this seemed nothing but a fond and an unreasonable superstition, I inquired further; and at last found that they believed this bell came from heaven, and that it used to be carried from place to place, and to end controversies by oath, which the worst men durst not violate, if they swore upon that bell, and the best men amongst them durst not but believe him ; that if this bell was rung before the corpse to the grave, it would help him out of purgatory ; and that, therefore, when any one died, the friends of the deceased did, whilst the bell was in their possession, hire it for the behoof of their dead, and that by this means that family was in part maintained. influence of " I was troubled," continues the bishop, "to see under what spirit of delusion these poor souls do lie; how infi- nitely their credulity is abused ; how certainly they believe in trifles, and perfectly rely on vanity, and how little they regard the truths of God, and how not at all they drink of SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. 619 the waters of salvation. For the numerous companies of priests and friars amongst them take care they shall know nothing of religion but what they design for them ; they use all means to keep them to the use of the Irish tongue, lest, if they learn English, they might be supplied with persons fitter to instruct them. The people are taught to make that, also, their excuse for not coining to our churches, to hear our advices, or converse with us in religious inter- courses, because they understand us not, and they will not understand us, neither will they learn that they may under- stand and live. And this and many other evils are made greater and more irremediable, by the affrightment which cal J urisdiction - their priests put upon them by the issues of their ecclesias- tical jurisdiction, by which, they now exercising it too pub- lickly, they give them laws, not only for religion, but even for temporal things, and turn their proselytes from the mass, if they become farmers of the tythes from the minister or proprietary without their leave." Some observations follow, indicating the charac- The Romish religion political. ter of the religion thus prevailing, as an instrument of political, as well as of religious, partisanship. " I speak that which I know to be true, by their own confession and unconstrained and uninvited narratives : so that, as it is certain that the Romish religion, as it stands in distinction and separation from us, is a body of strange pro- positions, having but little relish of true and pure Christi- anity, as will be made manifest, if the importunity of our adversaries extort it ; so it is here amongst us a faction and a state-party, and design to recover their old laws and bar- barous manner of living, a device to enable them to dwell alone, and to be 'populus unius labii, 1 a people of one language, and unmingled with others. And if this be religion, it is such an one as ought to be reproved by all the severities of reason and religion, lest the people perish, and their souls be cheaply given away to them that make mer- chandize of souls, who were the purchase and price of Christ's blood/ 1 The truth appears to be that at the time in 620 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Chief i ment to con sion. Protestant dis- senters and sec- tarists. Scottish Cove- nanters. question, as well as at other times, the cause of the bondage of " the poor deluded Irish" was the domi- nation of the Popish hierarchy and priesthoood, who " shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.'' And accordingly Bishop Taylor subjoins a charitable and humble prayer to God, "to accept and bless his well-meant labour of love; and that., by some admirable ways of his Providence, He will be pleased to convey to them the notices of their danger and their sin, and to deobstruct the passages of necessary truth to them : for we know/' he says, " the arts of their guides, and that it will be very hard that the notice of these things shall ever be suffered to arrive to the common people, but ' that which hinders will hinder, until it be taken away.' However, we be- lieve and hope in God for remedy." With these her old opponents on one side, on the other there w r ere not wanting those who had no less animosity to the Church, though of recent introduction. These were the Protestant dissenters and separatists ; in doctrine, absolute predestinarians, espousing the Calvinistick system in all its fearful enormity: in their notions of Church polity anti- episcopal ; in their modes of religious worship anti- liturgical: whether English commonwealth's men, settled under the protection of the usurping govern- ment for the most part in the neighbourhood of Dublin; or Scottish Covenanters, who had passed over from the opposite coast, and taken possession of the parishes in the more northerly parts. Of these some had probably settled in Ireland in the early part of the century, and had either con- tinued there, in a persevering separation from the Church, without interruption ; or, after a temporary SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. 621 withdrawal to Scotland, had returned with their prepossessions in favour of the Presbyterian disci- pline and worship, confirmed by intercourse with its original professors. Others in the capacity of chap- lains had attended the Scotch regiments, which were sent to Ireland during the Rebellion. Others had been commissioned by the Assembly of Scotland to establish themselves in Ulster : and others had spon- taneously accepted invitations from particular con- gregations. Connected however by common anti- Hostility to the * Church and her pathy to the ecclesiastical polity of England and governor* Ireland, and devoted to their peculiar views, for the maintenance of which they were solemnly pledged by what they fondly deemed a sacred, though in truth an irreligious and illegal engagement, but which were essentially at variance with the consti- tution and principles of the Church, these men afforded a discouraging prospect to her members, especially to her governors ; personally obnoxious as the latter were to these gainsayers, but whose duty it nevertheless was to maintain and extend her polity, her doctrines, and her ordinances. To counteract this hostility, and to bring to their Ne^of counter- right minds those who had been long in a condition of religious delusion, much argument and persuasion, much gentleness and lenity, much caution and pru- dence, much reproof, and long-suffering, and doctrine, were needed, in conjunction with a steady exercise of their legitimate authority, on the part of the governors of the Church. Bv the restoration of the monarchy, the law for Restoration of J the law for the regulating the ordinances and ministrations of the church* mini- o strations. Church, which had been arbitrarily precluded from operation, and kept in a temporary abeyance, by the usurping government, but which had not been 622 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. annulled or superseded by any other legal enact- ment, was of course restored to its former rightful jurisdiction. It may be convenient, that its provi- sions be here called to recollection, in explanation of the duty imposed upon the bishops, and of the pro- ceedings which they in consequence pursued. Provisions of the By the Irish Act of Uniformity, 2 Eliz., chap. 2, it was enacted, that no other form of ordination shall be used in the Church of Ireland, but what is contained in the Book of Common Prayer : neither shall any Liturgy be used by ministers, except the Liturgy of that book, on pain of forfeiting for the first offence one year's profit of the offender's bene- fice, with six months' imprisonment ; for the second offence, deprivation of benefice, with a year's impri- sonment ; for the third, imprisonment for life : if not beneficed, the party convicted shall, for the first offence, be imprisoned a year ; for the second, during life. fcC And for the due execution thereof, the queen's majesty, the lords temporal, and commons, do, in God's name, earnestly require and charge all archbishops and other ordinaries, that they shall endeavour to the utmost to put the same into exe- cution, as they will answer before God for such evils and plagues, wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his people for neglecting their good and wholesome law." This, which was afterwards further ratified and enforced by the act of 17 and 18 Charles II., was the actual law of the land at the time of the kind's o conditions of Restoration. And thus we perceive the form, by Btersintotto " which alone men could lawfully be admitted to the office of ministers in the Church ; the condition of divine service, on which alone they could lawfully retain their stations ; and the obligation imposed, by SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. 623 the most solemn admonition and earnest charge, upon the bishops, of enforcing the enactments of the law, in respect both of episcopal ordination and of conformity to the Book of Common Prayer. Upon these principles, in discharge of their Principles and , conduct of the boimclen duty, the bishops now proceeded to act: bishops. regulating their conduct by the requisitions of the law, which they at the same time administered with prudence and kindness. The Primate appears to have set an excellent example of these qualities on a memorable occasion, " in turning the edge of the most popular objection of that time against con- formity ;" and it is here related in the language of Vesey, bishop of Limerick, and afterwards arch- bishop of Tuam, in his Life of Primate Bramhall "When the benefices were called at the visitation, Primate Bram- several appeared, and exhibited only such titles as they had me ntofhi 3 received from the late powers. He told them, they were clergy * no legal titles : but in regard he heard well of them, he was willing to make such to them by institution and induc- tion, which they humbly acknowledged, and intreated his lordship so to do. But, desiring to see their letters of orders, some had no other but their certificates of ordination by some Presbyterian classes, which, he told them, did not qualify them for any preferment in the Church. Where- upon the question immediately arose, ' Are we not ministers of the Gospel T To which his grace answered, that that was not the question : at least he desired for peace sake, of which he hoped they were ministers too, that that might not be the question for that time. ' I dispute not," said he, ' the value of your ordination, nor those acts you have exercised by virtue of it : what you are, or might do, here when there was no law, or in other churches abroad. But we are now to consider ourselves as a National Church, limited by law, which among other things takes chief care to prescribe about ordination : and I do not know, how you could recover the means of the Church, if any should refuse to pay you your tithes, if you are not ordained, as the law 624 THE REIGN OF [Ctr. IX. His letters of orders. Proper meaning of the foregoing narrative. of this Church requireth. And I am desirous, that she may have your labours, and you such portions of her reve- nue, as shall be allotted you in a legal and assured way. 1 By this means he gained such as were learned and sober ; and for the rest it was not much matter." " Just as I was about to close up this particular," con- tinues the biographer, " I received full assurance of all that I offered in it, which for the reader's sake I thought fit to add, being the very words which his grace caused to be inserted into the letters of one Mr. Edward Parkinson, whom he ordained at that time, and from whom I had them by my reverend brother and neighbour, the Lord Bishop of Killalow. ' Non annihilantes priores ordines, (si quos habuit,) nee validitatem aut invaliditatem eorum de- terminantes, multo minus omnes ordines sacros ecclesiarum forensicarum condemnantes, quos proprio judici relinquimus : sed solummodo supplentes, quicquid prius defuit, per Canones Ecclesise Anglicanse requisitum ; et providentes paci ecclesise, ut schismatis tollatur occasio, et conscientiis fklelium satisfiat, nee ullo modo dubitent de ejus ordinatione, aut actus suos Presbyteriales tanquam invalidos aversentur : in cujus rei testimonium, &c.'" From this statement and document the reader will understand, that, on admitting to episcopal orders a person who had been previously ordained by Presbyterians, Primate Bramhall made profession, " that he did not annul the minister's former orders, if he had any, nor determine their validity or inva- lidity; much less did he condemn all the sacred orders of the foreign Churches, whom he left to their own Judge : but that he only supplied whatever was before wanting, as required by the canons of the Anglican Church ; and that he provided for the peace of the Church, that occasion of schism might be removed, and the consciences of the faithful satisfied, and that they might have no manner of doubt of his ordination, nor decline his presbyterial SEC - I-] KING CHARLES II. 625 acts as being invalid." And this profession the Primate inserted in the newly-ordained minister's " letters," his letters of orders, as they are technically called ; being the regular certificate, or formal official testimonial, which every clergyman of the Church receives, of his having been lawfully ordained. It is, therefore, not a little remarkable, that this Erroneous repre. account should have been taken by a respectable * historian of the Church of England, as the ground for an assertion, that, with regard to any ministers who had received Presbyterian orders in the con- fusion of the great Rebellion, the method, employed by Archbishop Bramhall, was, not to cause them to " undergo a new ordination, but to admit them into the ministry of the Church, by a conditional ordina- tion, as we do in the baptism of those, of whom it is uncertain, whether they are baptized or not 9 ." But this assertion is not supported by the state- ment of Bishop Vesey, and the document alleged by him : on the contrary it is directly opposed to both. For they give us to understand, that the archbishop did "ordain" the persons in question, "as the law of this Church requireth ;" therefore not conditionally, for the law of this Church recognises no conditional ordination : but that subsequently he introduced into his " letters" of orders an explanatory remark. The historian seems to identify the form of ordination with the subsequent letters of orders, or certificate. But, whatever be the cause, the error is manifest : and it requires correction, both that the character of such a man, as Primate Bramhall, may be vindicated from the allegation, and even from the suspicion, of illegally deviating from the prescript forms of the Church, whereas he acted professedly and strictly, 9 NICHOLS'S Defence of the Church of England, Introd. p. 112. 2 S 626 THE HEIGN OF [Cn. IX. " as the law of the Church requireth ;" and that the principles and provisions of the Church herself may not be misapprehended, in a matter of such infinite importance as the due ordination of candidates for the sacred ministry. Bishop Taylor's l n the mean time, the conduct of Bishop Taylor, exemplary con- duct - in endeavouring to remove the irregularities, which had spread over his diocese of Down and Connor, was exemplary, and confirmed the judgment of those, who had been instrumental in placing him in that most arduous and responsible situation. The ob- structions which there assailed him, the persevering assiduity with which he endeavoured to surmount them, the wisdom and gentleness of his personal deportment, and the happy success, which to a great extent blessed his exertions, are thus stated by Carte, in his Life of the Duke of Ormonde. " The pulpits of the diocese, filled with Scots Covenant- ers, rang with nothing but warm exhortations to stand by the Covenant even unto blood, violent invectives against the bishop's person, and vehement harangues against epi- scopacy and liturgies. These were the only subjects of their preachings for four months together, notwithstanding all the endeavours of that excellent man, who soon gained upon all the nobility and gentry, one only excepted, but still found the ministers implacable. He invited them to friendly con- ferences, desired earnestly to speak with them, went to them, sent some of their own sect to invite them, offered to satisfy them in anything that was reasonable, preached every Sunday among them in the several churches of his diocese, and courted them with the kindest offers. All the effect which this had upon the ministers, was, that it put them upon entering into a new Covenant, whereby they pledged themselves to speak with no bishop, and to endure neither their government nor their persons. But it wrought very differently upon the better sort of people : who by Violent invec- tives of the sectarists. Conciliatory conduct of the bishop. SEC. I.] KING CHARLES II. 627 these methods, and by the refusal of the ministers to dis- pute, (to which their own followers urged them, and inter- preted their declining to be ignorance and tergiversation,) were so far gained, that the bishop, in less than two years, found his diocese generally conformable." With respect to the ministers, whom he found m s course with in possession of the churches, there was only one of minSf" 1 two courses which it was possible for him to pursue. The course, chosen by the Primate, we have seen was that of giving episcopal ordination to the indi- viduals, and so permitting them to retain the benefices. The same course might have been adopted by Bishop Taylor, had it depended upon his choice. But the Presbyterian ministers in his diocese assumed from the first an attitude of deter- mined hostility against him. They refused to submit themselves to his episcopal jurisdiction; and when the day of his visitation was announced, they con- federated together, and in a body agreed not to attend it. The obvious consequence followed. Not prescribed by having received episcopal ordination, these persons could not be recognised, as ministers of the Church of Ireland : and the benefices, which they were thus not qualified to hold, were declared to be, what in law they were, actually vacant, and the vacancies were supplied by the bishop in the exercise of his legitimate authority. The same course was taken in the other northern SImil;ir course in dioceses, especially in those of Raphoe and Clogher. In the whole, fifty-nine persons declined to qualify themselves for ministering in the Church in such ways as the laws prescribed, and were of course precluded from the enjoyment of her privileges : of these thirty-eight were in the united diocese of Down and Connor, eight in that of Clogher, and thirteen in 2 S 2 628 THE REIGN OF [CH. IX. that of Raphoe 10 . The disinclination to treat them with undue severity, and the inclination on the con- trary to treat them with indulgence, lenity, and kindness, and to receive them into the ministry of the Church on their becoming properly qualified, are sufficiently proved by the fact of several persons, similarly circumstanced, being ordained by Bishop Taylor, on their conforming, and thereupon collated to benefices in his diocese. SECTION II. Prevailing sentiment in favour of the Church. The Primate Speaker of the House of Lords. His usefulness to the Clergy. Declaration of Parliament for Episcopacy and the Liturgy. Reprobation of the Solemn League and Covenant. Manifestation of opinion on late Events. Symptoms of discontent in the Presbyterians. Death of Archbishop Bramhall. His recommendation of Bishop Margetsonfor his succcessor. THE tyranny of anti-episcopal and anti-liturgical, as well as of anti-monarchical, frenzy was now over- past; and the tide of publick favour, in the most respectable portions, at least, of the community, was flowing strongly in support of the polity and ordi- nances of the Church. The executive government especially, and the legislature of the kingdom, gave satisfactory evidence of this sentiment. Eari of orrery's The government was at this time administered letter to the Mar- _ , . ^ . , _ ._. quis of Ormonde, by lords justices : namely, Sir Maurice Eustace, lord chancellor, and Roger Boyle and Charles Coote, earls of Orrery and Mountrath. Their determina- tion to support the Church was expressed on the 2nd of January, 1661, by one of the number, to the tried and effective friend of the Church, the Mar- 10 WODROW'S Hist, of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. Appendix, p. 72. Sentiment in favour of the Church. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II. 629 quis of Ormonde, on occasion of some dissatisfaction shown by the Presbyterian body at a recent procla- mation of the government. In this letter, the writer signified his assurance that " The Protestants of this province will be on all occa- sions, and in all places, ready to lay down their lives and fortunes in obedience to any of his majesty"^ commands. We are now generally in these parts all common prayer men ; and I hope we shall have a'general conformity there- unto throughout all the kingdom." Such was the prevailing sentiment as conveyed by the Earl of Orrery's letter, wherein was enclosed the following narrative. " We have had these two days four ministers before us, Desire of the which were sent from the several Presbyteries in Ulster to e^cSTSek* the lords justices and council, desiring liberty to exercise min istry. their ministry in their respective parishes, according to the way they have hitherto exercised it in : and expressing their great sorrow to find themselves numbered with Papists and fanaticks in our late proclamation, which prohibited unlawful assemblies. "After many debates upon several proposals how to Answer of the answer them, we resolved on this answer : That we neither u could nor would allow any discipline to be exercised in Church affairs, but what was warranted and commanded by the laws of the land. That they were punishable for having exercised any other. That we should not take any advan- tage of them for the past, if they would comport themselves conformably for the time to come. That if they were dis- pensed withal, by pleading that a submission thereunto was against their consciences, Papists and fanaticks would expect the like indulgence from the like plea, which we knew their own practice, as well as judgments, led them to disallow of. That we took it very ill, divers of those, which had sent them, had not observed the time set apart for humbling themselves for the barbarous murder of his late majesty, a sin which no honest man could avoid being sorry for. That some of their number had preached sedi- 630 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. tiously, in crying up the Covenant, the seeds of all our miseries ; and in lamenting his majesty's breach of it, as set- ting up Episcopacy as introductory to Popery, which they had not punished in exercising any of their pretended discipline over such notorious offenders. And lastly, that, if they conformed themselves to the discipline of the Church, they should want no fitting countenance and encouragement in carrying on their ministry ; so, if they continued refractory, they must expect the penalties the law did prescribe. Reply of the " To all which they answered, that, as far as their con- sciences would permit them, they would comply, and what it would not, they would patiently suffer. That it was their religion to obey a lawful authority, and such they ownedjhis majesty;] was, either actively or passively. That if any of their judgment had preached sedition, they left them to themselves, and disowned them : and if they had the exercising of their discipline, they w T ould punish severely all such. That many of them had according to the procla- mation kept the fast for the king's murder, which they heartily detested ; and for the doing thereof in the usurper's government many of them had been imprisoned and se- questered ; and that, to the last of their lives, they would continue loyal to his majesty. And lest they might offend against our proclamation, they desired to know what was meant by unlawful assemblies, because some were so severe as to interpret their meetings to pray and preach on the LordVday, to come under that head. To which we told them, that by unlawful meetings was only meant such assemblies as were to exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdic- tions, which were not warranted by the laws of the king- dom, and not to hinder their meetings in performing" paro- chial duties in those benefices, of which they were possessed legally or illegally. " They seemed much comforted with the last assurance: so that, having again exhorted them to conformity, and promised them therein all encouragement, we dismissed them to try what this usage and the admonition will pro- duce. I have had several private discourses with them, and I leave no honest means unessayed to gain them 1 ." 1 ORRERY'S State Letters, vol. i. p. 29. SEC. 1L] KING CHARLES II. 031 Early in the spring of this year, 1661, a parlia- A parliament, ment was convened ; and met on the appointed day May> J in the usual manner, riding on horseback in great solemnity to St. Patrick's cathedral, where a sermon was preached by the Bishop of Down and Connor ; and thence to Chichester House, the place of their sitting. The office of Speaker of the House of Lords, The Lord Pn- being inconsistent with the station, which the Lord S^o^T Chancellor held, as one of the lords justices, that Lords< dignity was conferred on the Lord Primate: con- cerning whose appointment to the office, and the motives which actuated it, the Earl of Orrery, on the 8th of May, thus wrote to his former corre- spondent, recently created Duke of Ormonde. "His majesty having empowered the lords justices to Motives to his appoint a fit person to be Speaker of the House of Lords," appoir I proposed " my Lord Primate, well known in the orders and proceedings of that House, having sat in two parlia- ments ; a constant eminent sufferer for his late and now majesty ; and that in such a choice we might let the dis- senters and fanaticks see, what we intend as to Church government. Besides it was but requisite, the Church, which had so long suffered, should now, in the chief of it, receive all the honours we could confer on it. My Lord Chancellor for some days dissented therein, but at last con- curred : and this day my Lord Primate sate in that cha- racter 2 ." By means of the Primate's diligence and activity, H is usefulness many advantages were obtained for the Church tc during this session of parliament. Several of the bishops procured an augmentation of their revenues ; and the inferior clergy recovered much of the for- feited impropriate tythes. The Convocation, w r hich also was now assembled, were so deeply impressed 2 ORRERY'S State Papers, i. 34. 632 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IX. Declaration of the Lords for Episcopacy and the Liturgy, May 14. Adopted by the Commons. Reprobation of the Solemn League'and Covenant. Communicated to, and promptly received by, the Commons. with a grateful sense of his good services to the Church, that they acknowledged them in a solemn instrument of recognition. Previous to the procuring of these benefits, how- ever, and the first action of the Lords in this parlia- ment, was, at the motion of the Lord Viscount Montgomery, soon afterwards created Earl of Mount- Alexander, an order on the 14th of May for drawing up a Declaration, by which all subjects of the king- dom of Ireland were required to conform to the episcopal model of Church Government, and to the Liturgy as established by law. This matter was thus promptly moved, with a view of anticipating objections from the Presbyterians and other sectaries, of whom there were too considerable a division among the Commons, and who might be expected to object to the Declaration, if it were deferred till they felt themselves fully secured in their estates. The Declaration, thus seasonably proposed and adopted in the Upper House, was sent down to the Commons, and readily agreed to, and returned to the Lords without alteration. They concurred with the like readiness in pronouncing a judgment of the utmost reprobation on that oath and bond of asso- ciation, to the introduction and prevalence of which they attributed the late Rebellion, and which they now ordered to be branded with marks of the greatest ignominy, pronouncing a justification of it an act of hostility and injury to the king, the Church, and the kingdom. The following is the strong, but not unmerited language, in which this order was expressed, on the 25th of May, 1661 : and the Declaration was com- municated to the Commons, and their concurrence SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II. 633 desired on the 27th, on which day the Declaration was thrice read in that house and passed. And thus the forwardness of the Parliament outran even the zeal of the Convocation, with respect to this iniqui- tous confederacy 3 . " We, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Ireland, in order for bum- Parliament assembled, being deeply sensible of the sad and ^oVentnt. miserable effects of that horrid confederacy and conjuration, commonly called ' The Solemn League and Covenant, 1 as the great incentive of the Rebellion in all his majesty's dominions, do adjudge and declare, nemine contradicente, that the same was and is against the laws of God, and the fundamental constitution of this kingdom ; and, therefore, do condemn it as schismatical, seditious, and treasonable ; and, therefore, order, that it be burned in all cities, towns corporate, and market-towns, within this kingdom, by the hand of the common hangman, or officer to be appointed by the magistrate of the place; who is also required to be present, and see the execution hereof on the next market- day after the receipt of this order. " And do further declare, that whosoever shall, by word Defence of it ,,. .. i i ' 'i condemned. or deed, by sign or writing, go about to defend or justify the said treasonable Covenant, shall be accounted and esteemed as an enemy to his sacred majesty, and to the public peace and tranquillity of this Church and kingdom 4 ." This session was marked by several other inci- sentiments of parliament on dents, which bore testimony to the sentiments of late events, both houses of parliament concerning the late disastrous events. The members of the Lower House took an early House of com- . . . f, mons receive the opportunity of manifesting their wish to give proof iioiycom- ., , . . , ~. , munion from tho of their conformity and obedience to the Church. LordPrimate, For, on the 31st of May, the Master of the Wards reported to the house, that according to their order he had waited on the Lord Primate with an intima- 3 VESEY'S Life of Bramhall. * Lords Journals, May 25, 1661. 634 THE REIGN OF [CH. IX. Characters of Lord Strafford, Archbishop Bramhall, and others, vindi- cated. r T 1 June 18, July 15. 01 J UlJ", tion of their request, that the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper might be administered to them by his hands; that he had accordingly appointed the Sabbath Day next come fortnight for the celebration at St. Patrick's Church, according to the Liturgy of the Church of Ireland, and the Friday before for a preparatory sermon between nine and ten in the morning. The subject of the sermon, delivered in pursuance of this appointment, was the duty of repentance, as testified by the forsaking and amend- ment of former sins. By order of the house, on the 17th of June, thanks were returned to his grace for his great pains on the occasion, with a request that he would cause the sermon to be printed, which was in consequence done, and the sermon remains amongst his works under the title of " The right way to safety after Shipwreck"" On the 18th of June, an order was entered on the journals of the House of Lords, and a corre- sponding one on those of the Commons, the 15th Order concern- ing Primers and Bibles. July 27, " That such matters as may seem to be intrenchments on the honour, worth, and integrity of Thomas Earl of Strafford, the Lord Primate, the Lord Chancellor Bolton, and the Lord Chief Justice Lowther, whose memory this house cannot in justice suffer to be sullied with the least stain of evil report, be totally and absolutely expunged and obliterated from the journals and records of the house." On the 27th of July, an order was made in the Upper House, " That the lords bishops have a care, that the Primer, which hath a prayer in it for the Lord Protector, be not taught in any of their respective dioceses ; and that Dr. John Sterne do make a search for them among the stationers in this city." SEC. 1L] KING CHARLES II. 635 And on the 29th of July, ; ' That all the Bibles printed by the late Usurper's printer, calling himself ' Printer to his Highness the Lord Protector,' shall have the title-page, where these words are printed, torn from them ; and that no sale be made within this kingdom of any Bibles with the said title-page." On the same 29th of July, an order was entered Puni 8 hmentof on the journals, "That the mayor of Carrickfergus be brought to the bar of this house, on his knees, for not burning the Covenant, and fined 100. sterling; to be taken off on his bringing sufficient certificate of having burned it." And on the same day another order, " That Mr. Boyd, of Ahadowy, for holding a con- venticle at Desertoel, in the county of Derry, contrary to the Declaration of this house, be examined by the Judges of Assize, who ride that circuit, who are to proceed against him according to the nature of his offence." On the 12th of April, 1662, the parliament Anniversary f . Thanksgivings passed an act tor a perpetual anniversary Thanks- enacted for the giving to be celebrated in Ireland, on the 29th of May of each year, for the power and goodness of God shown in the King's Restoration. It records his majesty's forced extermination into foreign parts by the most traitorous conspiracies and armed power of usurping tyrants, and execrable perfidious traitors: his Restoration, without the least opposition or effusion of blood, through the unanimous, cordial, loyal votes and passionate desires of his majesty's subjects ; and it enacts the annual solemnizing of the day, by all ministers of God's word and sacra- ments celebrating divine worship in their churches ; and by all the inhabitants of the kingdom, resorting to the churches, and devoutly abiding there during such celebration, With reference to the late mas- 636 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. October. Manifestation of the sentiments of parliament. Perplexity of the government in dealing with nonconformists. sacre and rebellion, a similar act was passed for celebrating the 23rd of October, as an anniversary Thanksgiving-day, for the preservation of the lords justices and council; and of all the British and Protestant inhabitants in Dublin, and in other cities, towns, and castles ; and of sundry other British and Protestants, from falling into the hands of those rebellious conspirators. Thus by a variety of orders and enactments, the parliament seized the first occasion for manifesting their sentiments upon the late course of publick events, and the alterations which had recently occurred in it : their disgust at the Usurpation, by which the Church, as well as the monarchy, had been violated; and their satisfaction, accompanied by solemn expressions of gratitude to the Author and Giver of all good, at the re-establishment of the legitimate civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the kingdom. In the mean time, the government were thrown into some perplexity, as to the best mode of dealing with the refractory enemies of the Church. This appears from the following letter of Lord Orrery, to the Duke of Ormonde, April 16, 1662. " Lately, upon a petition from the recusants of Ireland, who had been indicted on the statute of the 2nd of Elizabeth, for not coming to church, we ordered the judges in their several circuits to suspend the execution of that penal statute, till his majesty^s pleasure were signified, or further orders from ourselves. Soon after the noncon- formists of the North, being also indicted for the same offences, we gave the like orders for them ; but would not dispense with the penalties of the law to such as should hold unlawful assemblies or conventicles. Though we would connive at their not doing what they should, yet we SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II. 637 would not connive at their doing what they should not. The good bishops soon found the bad effects of these indul- gences, and acquainted us with them : which made us call them to advise what was fit to be done The thing is very weighty in its consequences, and difficult in the resolution : and, therefore, your grace's judgment is most requisite for our guidance. If the laws be fully put Presbyterian in execution, ten parts of eleven of the people will be dis- satisfied ; if they be not put in execution, the Church will be dissatisfied, and sects and heresies continued, I doubt not, for ever : and if any of the sects be indulged, it will be partiality not to indulge all ; if none be favoured, it may be unsafe. This is to me a short state of the case, and too true a one. If England and Scotland fall roundly upon the Their vacancies Papists and non-conformists, and we do not, Ireland will be 8U PP lied - the sink to receive them all. If they are fallen upon equally in the three kingdoms, may not they all unite to disturb the peace? God direct your grace, but I am sure your com- mands shall be my rule 5 ." In the course of this year some alarming symp- symptoms of au- . . . , affection in Ire- toms or disaffection and insurrection appeared in land. Ireland, in consequence of a conspiracy between the fanaticks of England and Scotland, and the rigid Scotch Presbyterians in the Irish counties of the north. In explanation of this, our attention must be turned to an account of certain ecclesiastical occurrences in England, which gave occasion for the exercise of such an insurrectionary spirit. The Act of Uniformity recently passed in Eng- English Act of * * Uniformity. land (for in Ireland the corresponding Act was not passed till about three years afterwards) had caused much dissatisfaction to the Presbyterians. The court had given them some grounds to expect that a part of that Act would be suspended in their favour : and they had in consequence conducted themselves with such insolence, as to offend the members of the 6 ORRERY'S State Papers, i. 109. 638 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. King's inclina- tion in favour of the non-con- formists. Opposed by par- liament. House of Commons, who were very zealous in the cause of Episcopacy. The ensuing festival of St. Bartholomew was the day appointed for the mini- sters of that sect in England to declare their resolu- tion, whether or not they would conform to the Book of Common Prayer. And the hopes, which they had conceived of being suffered to continue after the appointed day, induced the greatest and most considerable of their number to declare that they would quit their livings rather than conform. The bishops forthwith acted upon their refusal, and proceeded to supply the benefices which had thus become vacant. Most of those who had quitted their benefices would have willingly con- formed for their recovery : but finding that it was too late, they exclaimed bitterly against the court, imagining that hopes had been held out with the sole intention of deceiving them. It had indeed been much debated in council, whether the Presby- terian ministers should be allowed to retain their benefices, according to what was by some supposed to have been promised by the king in the Decla- ration at Breda ; or the Act of Uniformity should be observed in all its force and strictness. The result was a consultation with Sheldon, bishop of London ; and a declaration on his part, in the name of all the bishops, that they would not comply with any resolution contrary to the meaning and intent of that Act. The council, though it contained several lords favourable to the Presbyterians, thought it not advisable after this for the king to continue their ministers ; the rather for fear of disobliging the parliament. The Act was carried into execution : the clergy of the Church of England took possession SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II, 639 of the pulpits : the churches of London were no less fully attended : the people appeared well satisfied with their new pastors, and behaved themselves with an orderly and decent observance of the Rubrick ; so that his majesty began to be released from his apprehensions of the consequences of offending a powerful body of men. The ministers, indeed, in their farewell sermons, strove to inflame the people, but with little effect ; and being thus the more exasperated, became too much inclined to favour the turbulent designs of other sectarists. Their cause, on the other hand, was espoused at the court by the queen-mother, a foreign Papist, and the Countess of Castlemain, a Protestant by education, but recently a convert to Popery ; till in the end the king, overcome by their importunity, or desirous of appeasing the spirit of discontent apparently at work in the kingdom, and having in fact no sincere attachment to the Church, was persuaded, on the 26th of December, to set forth a Declaration ; wherein he expressed his incli- nation to make good his promises at Breda, and to grant an indulgence to the non-conformists, if it could be done by the consent of parliament. But the sentiments of parliament were directly opposed to such indulgence. The House of Com- mons was composed of members zealous for the con- stitution of the Church : and they, in alarm at the proposal, represented to his majesty that " The Declaration of Breda contained in it no promise, but only an expression of his intentions to do what a parlia- ment should advise him in that matter, and no such advice was ever given, or thought fit to be offered ; and for any to pretend a right to the benefit of that Declaration, after their Eyiis of corn- representatives had passed, and his majesty assented to, the p 610 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Benefits of non- compliance. Mutual feelings of the Church and the sec- tarists. Act of Uniformity, was to dissolve the very bonds of govern- ment, and to suppose a disability in the king and parlia- ment to make a law contrary to any part of that Declara- tion, though both Houses should advise his majesty thereto ; that the indulgence proposed would render the whole go- vernment of the Church precarious, and its censures of no moment or consideration at all ; that it did not become the wisdom of parliament to pass in one session a law for Uni- formity, and in the next to pass another to frustrate or weaken the execution of it ; that it would expose his majesty to the restless importunity of every sect or opinion that should presume to dissent from the Church of England ; that it would be the cause of increasing sects and sectaries, would take away all means of convicting recusants, was inconsistent with the method and proceedings of the law of England, and would be so far from tending to the peace of the kingdom, that it was rather likely to occasion great disturbance. Whereas, on the contrary, the asserting of the laws and the religion established was the most probable means to produce a settled peace and obedience throughout the kingdom ; because the variety of professions in religion when openly indulged, must directly distinguish men into parties, and withal give them opportunity to count their numbers ; which, considering the animosities, that out of a religious pride would be kept on foot by the several factions, tended directly and inevitably to open disturbance ; nor could his majesty have any security, that the doctrine or worship of the several factions, which were all governed by a several rule, would be consistent with the peace of his kingdom.'" The foregoing view is suggested by Carte, of the considerations which actuated the English House of Commons to resist the indulgence proposed for the sectaries. The following may be added as to the mutual feelings of the contending parties. The long and violent persecution which the members of the Church of England had so lately suffered from the tyrannical power of the sectarists, SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II. indisposed them for any measures which might natter their late oppressors in their obstinacy, or encourage them to aim again at the superiority. The sectarists, on the other hand, less patiently submitted to the disappointment, because they had been so lately in possession of the government, and were indignant at being controlled by laws imposed upon them by those, whom they had not long before seen at their feet, and who, having divested them of all their power, had stripped many of them like- wise of their ill-gotten estates. They resolved, therefore, to collect all their strength, and to make an insurrection, before the nation should be better instructed in the principles, and thoroughly settled in a course, of obedience : but, before putting their hopes on the issue of a trial, it was judged prudent to engage their partisans in Scotland and Ireland to second their attempt. The re-establishment of English Presby- tcrians seek aid Episcopacy in Scotland had caused some discontent from Scotland and Ireland. in that kingdom ; but less than they had expected. Their hopes from Ireland were more sanguine: for those who belonged to their faction in that country were both more numerous; and they were at the same time animated to resistance by the fear of losing their estates, as well as their conventicles, and encouraged by the unhappy divisions and unsettled condition of the kingdom. The consequence of this appeal to the Scoto-Irish consequence in Presbyterians was, in the first place, a plot to seize the castle of Dublin ; and, secondly, a design for a general insurrection. The progress of this conspiracy, and the measures for its counteraction taken by the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Ormonde, who arrived in Ireland about the time of its commencement, may be sought in Carte's life of that illustrious loyalist 2 T 642 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. and conscientious supporter of the Church. The foregoing allusion has appeared necessary, in proof of the spirit then existing, and ready to be brought into action, as opportunity should be offered, against the Church's polity and worship. Death of primate On the 25th of June, 1 663, the Church of Ireland "S 1663. was deprived of her Primate, Archbishop Bramhall, who died on that day, in the 70th year of his age; a prelate, to whom, perhaps, more than to any other, HIS valuable set- the Church is indebted for the most valuable ser- vices, especially for his exertions in relieving her from the dilemma into which she had fallen with respect to her articles of religion ; in improving the condition of her clergy ; and in repairing the breaches and inroads, which had been made upon her disci- pline and good order before his advancement to the Primacy. Bishop Taylor's But a few sentences, selected from Bishop chSef. to] Taylor's sermon, preached at his funeral, will be the most acceptable testimony to his value. His impediments "At his coming to the Primacy, he knew he should first espy little besides the ruins of discipline, a harvest of thorns and heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people, the churches possessed by wolves and intruders, men's hearts greatly estranged from true religion ; and, therefore, he set himself to weed the fields of the Church. He treated the adversaries sometimes sweetly, sometimes he confuted them learnedly, sometimes he rebuked them sharply. He visited his charges diligently, and in his own person, not by proxies and instrumental deputations. He designed nothing that we knew of, but the redintegration of religion, the honour of God and the King, the restoring of collapsed dis- cipline, and the renovation of faith and the service of God in the churches. And still he was indefatigable ; and, even at the last scene of his life, intended to undertake a regal visitation. SEC. II.] KING CHARLES II. 643 " Upon a brisk alarm of death, which God sent him the m. attachment last January, he gave thanks that God had permitted him So^oftho 011 *" to live to see the blessed llestoration of his majesty and the Church Church of England, confessed his faith to be the same as ever, gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this religion, and prayed to God, and hoped he should die in the communion of this Church, which he declared to be the most pure and Apostolical Church in the whole world : ' To sum up all, he was a wise prelate, a learned doctor, ms personal a just man, a true friend, a great benefactor to others, a thankful beneficiary where he was obliged himself. He was a faithful servant to his masters, a loyal subject to the king, a zealous assertor of his religion, against Popery on one side and fanaticism on the other. The practice of his religion was not so much in forms arid exterior ministeries, although he was a great observer of all the publick rites and ministeries of the Church, as it was in doing good to others " He was a man of great business and great resort. He His occupations, divided his life into labour and his book. He took care of his churches, when he was alive, and even after his death, having left five hundred pounds for the repair of his cathe- dral of Armagh, and St. Peter's church in Drogheda. He was an excellent scholar, and rarely well accomplished; first instructed to great excellency by natural parts, and then consummated by study and experience " It will be hard to find his equal in all things. For in His high estima- him were visible the great lines of Hooker's judiciousness, of Jewel's; learning, of the acuteness of Bishop Andrewes^ He showed his equanimity in poverty, and his justice in riches : he was useful in his country, and profit- able in his banishment He received publick thanks from the Convocation, of which he was president, and publick justification from the Parliament, where he was speaker ; so that, although no man had greater enemies, no man had greater justifications." The death of Archbishop Bramhall caused a vacancy in the Primacy, which, on the 29th of 2 T 2 644 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Recommended by his predeces- sor. Harris's objec- tion answered. August, was supplied by the translation of Arch- bishop Margetson from the metropolitan see of Dublin : to his merit no higher testimony can be borne, than the earnest recommendation which is said to have been made of him to the Duke of Ormonde by Primate Bramhali on his death-bed, as the worthiest person for his successor. In a Latin funeral oration, spoken over his hearse by William Palisser, Fellow of Trinity College at the time, and afterwards Archbishop of Cashel, this recommenda- tion is commemorated. By Harris, however, in his edition of Sir JAMES WARE'S History of the Bishops, this is regarded as " a rhetorical flourish ;" and the truth of the asser- tion is questioned, on the ground that Primate Bram- hali was seized with an apoplectick fit in a court of justice, and carried thence senseless, and so con- tinued till he died. But it was only about three months before this final seizure, that he had suffered so violent a shock of paralysis, that he "put his house in order, having received the sentence of death within himself, and knowing that he was shortly to render an account of his stewardship 6 ." In his own judgment at the time, as well as in that of his attendants, this was his death-bed," though, in fact, it pleased God to protract his life a little longer; and from this, his death-bed, it is by no means im- probable, that the recommendation of his successor in the Primacy, as affirmed by so respectable an attestation, was conveyed to the Lord Lieutenant. 6 BISHOP TAYLOR'S Funeral Sermon. SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 645 SECTION III. Act of Uniformity. Act for preventing Benefices being holden together in England and in Ireland. Sectarian Plot. Popish Synod. The Remonstrance. Instructions to Lord Berkley about the Church. Violence of the Anti- Remonstrants. Interposition of the English Parliament. Proclamations against the Papists. Excellent govern- ment of the Duke of Ormonde. IN 1665, two Acts of Parliament were passed, both T important of them intimately affecting the welfare of the mot!'' Church; the former in respect of the due ministra- 17, 10 cuarics n. tion of publick worship, the latter in its operation upon ecclesiastical discipline, and the respectability and efficiency of the clergy. The former of these was the Act for the Uniform- Act for tiicuni- ity of Publick Prayers : of which the preamble sets uckpj. forth, that for the peace and advancement of reli- preamble, gion by unanimous agreement in the publick worship of God, it had been recommended to both houses of Convocation to consider whether the form used in England, meaning the revised Liturgy, might not be profitably received in Ireland : and that it had been approved by them, who presented to the Lord Lieu- tenant and council the Book of Common Prayer. Accordingly the act ordains that the said Book Assent to the shall be used in all places of publick worship ; and p y er. that all ministers enjoying ecclesiastical benefices, shall read and declare assent to the same, under pain of deprivation ; and the like shall be done by every person hereafter promoted. It ordains that all per- sons in holy orders, schoolmasters, and private tutors, shall subscribe a declaration, "that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatever, to take arms against THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Declaration against the Solemn League and Covenant. Episcopal ordi- nation necessary for holding a benefice. Penalty of ad- ministering the Lord's Supper by persons not episcopal ly or- dained. Application of the leading prin- ciple of the Act. the king ; and that I do abhor that traitorous posi- tion of taking arms by his authority against his per- son, and against those that are commissioned by him; and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of Ireland, as it is now by law established. And I do declare," (these following words of the declara- tion were to be omitted after the year 1682,) " that I do hold that there lies no obligation upon me, or on any other person, from the oath commonly called 'The Solemn League and Covenant,' to endeavour any change or alteration of government, either in church or state ; and that the same was in itself an unlawful oath." The act further ordains, " that from the 29th of September, 1667, no person who is now incumbent, and in possession of any benefice ; and who is not already in holy orders by episcopal ordination ; or shall not, before the said 29th of September, be ordained priest or deacon according to said form of episcopal ordination; shall hold said ecclesiastical benefice, but shall be utterly disabled, and ipso facto deprived of the same." Also, it ordains, that " no person shall consecrate and administer the Lord's Supper before ordained priest by episcopal ordination; under penalty of 100/., and disability of being admitted to the order of priest for one whole year." Upon the leading principle of this act, in its general application, it were needless to dwell. But with respect to its application to ministers, actually in possession of benefices, by rendering obligatory upon them conformity to the Liturgy, and episcopal ordination, it may be observed that these enactments were demanded by the circumstances of the times, and were essential to the well-being, not to say the SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 647 being, of the Church. For to suppose a society, con- stituted on certain principles, and governed by cer- tain regulations, with its offices of trust and emolu- ment occupied, and its concerns administered, by persons who disavow its principles, and condemn its regulations, and profess others in direct opposition ; or, in other words, to suppose an episcopal Church, with a liturgical worship, having its benefices pos- sessed by anti-episcopal and anti-liturgical ministers ; is to suppose an anomaly, calculated to produce any effect rather than the Church's edification, and to introduce every sort of unseemliness, disorder, and confusion. The operation of the act on the nonconforming its operation on non conforming Presbyterian ministers, though in truth it only de- ministers. prived them of that to which they were not lawfully entitled, was nevertheless much to be lamented. In pursuance of the laws previously in existence, the benefices of some of the nonconformists who had refused to submit themselves to episcopal ordination and jurisdiction, and thus virtually vacated their benefices, had been already declared void, and sup- plied by fresh appointments under the episcopal authority. Others appear to have been ejected, as disqualified for their stations by the absence of the conditions which the law required. The rest were removed agreeably to this enactment, which ordained the alternative of conformity or deprivation. In the mean time some, though not a large pro- ^ portion, of those who had been admitted to the Pres- nan ministers. byterian ministry, conformed to the Church. These, of course, incurred the severe reprehension of their more inflexible brethren, and have been stigmatized with some opprobrious language. Yet, whilst an impartial and temperate observer would concede in 648 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX Bishop Taylor's works on episco- pacy and Litur- gies ; and mini- sterial duties. Enactment against unepi- scopal ministers not enforced. favour of those, who adhered to their earlier views and engagements, the credit of a conscientious, though perhaps an erroneous consistency, he would hold it not unreasonable, and certainly more charit- able, to believe, in the case of those ministers of the Presbyterians, who received episcopal ordination, and assented to the Book of Common Prayer, that they may have, by the grace of God on honest and dili- gent investigation, been enabled to discover the fal- lacy of the modern imaginations, under the influence of which they had been educated ; and to discern in the Church of Ireland, the apostolical constitution, and the scriptural worship, of the primitive and Catholick Church of Christ, equally remote from the corruptions of Rome, and the latitudinarian licen- tiousness of Geneva. To guide and assist their investigation upon these topicks, such inquirers may naturally have had re- course to Bishop Taylor's exposition of the " Divine Institution, Apostolical Tradition, and Catholick Practice of the Sacred Order and Offices of Episco- pacy," and to his "Apology for authorized and set Forms of Liturgy against the pretence of the Spirit;" at the same time, his two sermons on "The Mini- ster's Duty in Life and Doctrine," or the same in- structions methodically arranged into an admirable manual of " Rules and Advices to the Clergy of his Diocese," were well adapted to the purpose of im- proving them in the practice of their profession, and of guarding them against some mistakes, into which, as Presbyterian ministers, they were in danger of being betrayed. The last enactment, above cited from the Act for Uniformity, that, namely, which inflicted a heavy penalty on the administration of the Lord's Supper SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 649 by a person not episcopally ordained, was of undue severity ; a sense of which was probably the cause of its being but little carried into execution. The Presbyterian ministers, therefore, when deprived of the benefices of the Church, continued their irre- gular proceedings, to the perpetual and irremediable injury of " the apostles' doctrine and fellowship " in Ireland, and of the peace and unity of the Church. In the same parliament of the 17th and 18th Acffor disabling year of King Charles the Second, an act, chapter 10, bwdtoMbetkia was passed, calculated to be of great benefit to both frcfand? the Churches of England and Ireland, but more especially to the latter. A practice had long pre- vailed among persons, holding ecclesiastical benefices in England or Wales, to accept bishopricks or other benefices in Ireland, and to retain with them their former preferments, notwithstanding their inability to discharge properly the duties of both. It was now therefore enacted, that from the 24th of June, 1666, every person, having an ecclesiastical benefice in England or Wales, be incapable of holding a benefice in Ireland : that all grants of benefices in Ireland, to all persons having benefices in England, be null and void to all intents and purposes what- soever ; and that, if any person, having an ecclesias- tical benefice in Ireland, shall accept of a benefice in England or Wales, his benefice in Ireland shall be absolutely null and void. In the early part of the year 1666, another Another m*- J J , . , bytcrinn plot, fanatick plot was discovered: according to which there was " a general design in England, Ireland, and Scotland, to rise at once in all the three king- doms; to set up the Long Parliament, of which above forty members were engaged; and to pull 650 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IX, Assembly of Popish clergy. The Remon- strance. down the king, with the House of Lords, and instead of the bishops to set up a sober and painful ministry." By the vigilance, however, of the Duke of Ormonde, lord lieutenant, and the activity of his son, the Earl of Arran, the project was discovered and defeated 1 . Nearly coincident with this disaffection of the rigid Scotch Presbyterians in the North, was an assembly of the Popish clergy, who, on the llth of June in the same year, met in a sort of convocation or national synod in Dublin 2 , by connivance of the Lord Lieutenant, pursuant to his majesty's order: when it was expected that they would ask pardon for the Rebellion of 1641, and give the king new assurance of their allegiance by taking an oath, framed to that effect by their procurator, Peter Welsh, and called " The Loyal Formulary," or " The Irish Remonstrance." This Remonstrance comprised an acknowledgment of the king, as supreme lord and rightful sovereign of the realm k of Ireland ; of the obligation to obey him in all civil and temporal affairs, and to pay him faithful loyalty and allegiance, notwithstanding any power or pretension, any sen- tence or declaration, of the Pope or see of Rome ; with other corresponding disclamations, resolutions, professions, and protestations, confirmatory of such acknowledgment. So far, however, were the Popish clergy from fulfilling the expectation previously formed of them, that one of their bishops said, Refusal to adopt "They knew no crime of which they were guilty, and therefore they needed no pardon :" and they not only refused to give the expected pledge of allegiance, but prevailed with many, who had sub- scribed "The Remonstrance," to withdraw their subscriptions, and to renounce that oath. In truth, 1 CARTE'S Ormonde, ii. 324. 2 Cox, Charles //., p. 8. SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 651 they were then ready for a new rebellion, and in daily hope of an invasion from France ; and were thus disinclined for an oath of allegiance". The aspiring arrogance of the Popish sect, dis- Popish arrogance . exemplified. contented with indulgence, and emulous of publicity and power, was about this time evidenced at Cork by occurrences, of which the following communi- cation was made by a letter of the 2nd of July, 1667, by Lord Orrery to the Duke of Ormonde. "Because masses are daily said in that city, and con- Letter from Eari venticles daily held there, I did, having therein advised Duke of or- with the bishop, publickly order the mayor and governor, J^ 6 ' Ju that, if any masses or conventicles were henceforth held in that city and suburbs, they should disperse such meetings, and seize on the chiefest in them, and proceed against them according to law : it being a sufficient indulgence, that all families within themselves may serve God in their own way, and that they have their meetings in the country, it being both an affront to authority, and a hazarding of his majesty's garrisons, to have such confluences of people gathered together, even in his majesty's garrisons. The like I intend to do in the other garrisons of this province, if your grace does not disapprove it V The government of the noble Duke of Ormonde was in the following year superseded by influence in England, favourable to the Popish faction ; and he was succeeded in the lord lieutenancy by John, Lord .Roberts of Truro, who also, after a brief tenure of the viceregal office, was recalled, and his place sup- plied by John, Lord Berkley, baron of Stratton, L(m i Berkley, * .,i lord lieutenant, esteemed a more efficient agent of the purposes wit 1,570. which he was to be intrusted. He was sworn into office on the 21st of May, 1670. His instructions expressed a strong interest for the religious pro- 3 CAMK'S Ormonde. * ORRERY'S State Papers, ii. 196. 652 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. His instructions for maintaining the established religion. sperity of the kingdom, and were after the following manner. < Forasmuch as all good success doth rest upon the service of God, above all things you are to settle good orders in the Church, that God may be better served in the true established religion, and the people by that means be reduced from their errors in religion, wherein they have been too long most unhappily and perniciously seduced ; and never more than since the late fatal Rebellion, which hath produced too plentiful a seed-time of atheism, super- stition, and schism. " But in your care of religion, be sure to moderate the precipitation and preposterous zeal of any, on what specious pretences soever, who, under the name of Christ's king- dom, the Church, and religion, disturb both the Church and state, and may endanger the peace thereof. Whereas, by wisdom and moderation, the established religion will not only be more firmly settled again, but by a wise and diligent hand the tares and cockle, which many years' war and con- fusion have sowed, will be most safely picked out. " In order to this, proceed, as in the beginning of the Lord Chichester's time, to the building and repair of churches. And, because good preachers will be difficultly obtained without competent means, inspect the ecclesiastical livings, with assistance of some of the Church, and others of skill, and raise them as you can, and supply those in our gift with pious, apt, and able persons, men of good respect, and residents, and persuade all patrons to do the like, and to eschew corruption. Observe the directions about the Church of Ireland, anno 1623, and see that the clergy lose nothing designed for them in the several plantations. And that fit and diligent schoolmasters may have the benefit of our donations, and the Act of Parliament. And that you encourage the people to send their youth to the college of Dublin 5 ." This instruction was the second in order, follow- Further instruc- tions for effecting conformity. ing immediately upon the usual formal notification 6 Cox, diaries II., p. 9. Sisc. III.] KING CHARLES II. 653 relative to the appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy In the 14th the subject of religion is again enforced: " Endeavour to bring all to a conformity in the religion by law established, and acquaint us with what difficulties you meet with therein." And the 20th and last instruction is this : " Several Popish clergy, since the return of the Duke of Ormonde hither, have exercised their jurisdiction to the great grief of the remonstrants. If so, execute the laws against the titular archbishops, bishops, and vicars-general, that have threatened or excommunicated the remonstrants ; and that you protect such remonstrants as have not with- drawn their subscriptions." But, however specious were these instructions in these instruc behalf of the established religion and Church of tions - Ireland, they were in reality all false and hollow. For the design, which showed itself less equivocally in the succeeding reign, was already entertained, of establishing arbitrary power upon the foundation of Popery ; and the experiment, of which England was to be eventually the scene, was first to be tried in Ireland. The mystery of iniquity was at work, and soon began to appear. Notwithstanding, then, these pubtick instruc- A tions, the prospect of Lord Berkley's arrival greatly elevated the Popish party, who opposed the Remon- strance, which had been signed by many of the nobility, gentry, and clergy of that communion, and contained a profession of their duty and resolution to obey the king, as their only chief governor in tem- poral matters. Before the end of May, provincial councils were holden in all the provinces of the kingdom, and diocesan synods in most of the dioceses. The object was the prosecution of those regulars and seculars who had subscribed the Remonstrance and nant's arrival an 654 THE REIGN OF [Cn.IX. Remonstrants discouraged. Befriended by the Duke of Ormonde. Interposition of the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin inef- fectual. the total suppression of them and their adherents. These were in consequence denounced as excommu- nicate, and persecuted with so much violence and fury that starvation beset them in their own country ; and their only means of preservation was submission to their persecutors, or flight into foreign countries, with the danger there of being compelled to retract, or of being burned as hereticks for denying the Pope's temporal power. Thus in imminent danger of being extirpated, they applied to the Lord Lieutenant for his protec- tion. But when they waited on him with petitions, they were not able to obtain an audience. And Archbishop Margetson, the Lord Primate, who en- deavoured to speak in their behalf, was checked by the Lord Lieutenant for his interposition. In this extremity they had recourse to the Duke of Ormonde ; and on his powerful solicitation the king gave particular instructions to Lord Berkley to restrain the irregular actions of the persecuting party, and to relieve the Remonstrants from oppres- sion for their loyalty. The duke gave notice of this to the Lord Primate, and to the Lord Chancellor, who also was Archbishop of Dublin. And, "Give me leave," said he, addressing the latter, " to believe, that when such jurisdiction is usurped in the very seat of your diocese, and employed with such circum- stances of arrogance, in defiance of the government, and with such oppression to those of that clergy who have manifested most affection and duty to it, more may be expected from you than to sit still till you are called upon." The two archbishops accordingly made applica- tion to the Lord Lieutenant, but met with so unfa- vourable a reception that they were discouraged SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 655 from any further attempt. And, although the Re- monstrants represented their grievances in a petition to the king, and sought the royal protection, and his majesty sent fresh orders to the Lord Lieutenant to observe his former instructions, the Lord Lieutenant did not interpose his authority in their behalf. They were left to be crushed by the power and vio- lence of their adversaries ; who were allowed to go on securely in the exercise of a foreign jurisdiction, and to re-unite all the Irish Papists under the direc- tion of spiritual guides, who considered the Pope as sole supremacy of the Pope. the supreme judge of conscience, and the only sove- reign to whom, even in temporal matters, their allegiance was due. Nor was this indulgence in ecclesiastical jurisdiction the only favour now ex- tended to the Irish Papists ; it was soon followed by orders for their admission to inhabit and trade in corporations: many of them also procured admit- tance into the commission of the peace, and it was, moreover, attempted to bring them into the army. Such were the sentiments manifested by the sentiments of Government to- Government of King Charles the Second, towards wards its enemies and friends. the enemies and the friends of the royal supre- macy in matters merely temporal: to its enemies, manifold indulgences; to its friends, neglect and abandonment to the penalty of heresy, incurred for paying to the king the temporal allegiance claimed for the Pope. The Pope, meanwhile, had elevated to the titular J^ archbishoprick of Dublin a powerful partisan, in the *<** Dublin. person of Peter Talbot, who was a strenuous abettor of the Anti-Remonstrant faction in their persecution of the advocates of loyalty to the king, in contradis- tinction to the Pope's temporal authority. This man, upon the favour which he actually possessed at the 656 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. English Court, founded the pretension of being the king's commissioner for superintending the whole order of the Popish clergy. And not only did that body regard him with confidence and veneration, but the Lord Lieutenant was wrought upon by his arrogance, and suffered him to appear before the Council in his hierarchal and archiepiscopal vest- ments, and to retire without molestation for this daring violation of the laws, accompanied, as it was, by a refusal to join in any acknowledgment of loyalty. Nor only this ; but, on his application for the use of some of the plate and hangings, the furniture of the castle in order to the celebration of mass in Dublin with uncommon magnificence, the secretary of the Lord Lieutenant sent him the articles required for this illegal celebration of the superstitious rite, add- ing withal, as was said, an expression of his wish, that high mass might soon be performed in Christ Church cathedral 6 . Petition of the English Parlia- ment to the king, March 9, 1673. The jealousy of the parliament of England was aroused by the indulgences shown to the Irish Papists ; and, anxious as they generally were to give effectual support to the English interest, and withal to the religion of the Church in Ireland, the House of Commons, on the 9th of May, 1673, addressed his majesty in a petition 7 , wherein, having adverted to the great calamities which had formerly befallen the king's subjects of the kingdom of Ireland, from the Popish recusants there, and to their increased insolence and presumption, apparently endangering that kingdom, and his majesty's Protestant subjects there, they made, amongst others, the following prayers. 6 CARTE'S Ormonde, ii. 413, 420. * Cox, Charles //., p. 11, SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 657 'That your majesty would give order, that no Papist pa be either continued, or hereafter admitted to be judges, juJses< justices of the peace, sheriffs, coroners or mayors, sovereigns or portreeves in that kingdom : ''That the titular Popish archbishops, bishops, vicars p op ih cccicsias. general, abbots, and all others exercising ecclesiastical juris- !*blSS? diction by the Pope's authority; and in particular Peter Talbot, pretended Archbishop of Dublin, for his notorious disloyalty to your majesty, and disobedience and contempt of your laws ; be commanded by proclamation forthwith to depart out of Ireland, and all other your majesty's do- minions, or otherwise to be prosecuted according to law ; and that all convents, seminaries, and publick Popish schools, may be dissolved and suppressed ; and the secular priests commanded to depart under the like penalty : "That no Irish Papist be admitted to inhabit in any Papists not to part of that kingdom, unless duly licensed, according to the 1^^. W1 Act of Settlement ; and that your majesty would be pleased to recall your letters of the 26th of February, 1671, and the proclamation thereupon, whereby general licence is given to such Papists as inhabit in corporations there : "That your majesty's letters of the 28th of September, Irish rebels not 1672, and the order of council thereupon, whereby your mroStL subjects are required not to prosecute any actions against the Irish, for any wrongs or injuries committed during the late Rebellion, may likewise be recalled : "That your majesty would be pleased from time to English rro- . . . , , tjstantstobe time, out of your princely wisdom, to give such further encouraged. order and directions to the Lord Lieutenant, or other governor of Ireland, for the time being, as may best con- duce to the encouragement of the English planters and Protestant interest there, and the suppression of the inso- lencies and disorders of the Irish Papists 8 ." Meanwhile, the Duke of Ormonde had been Dukeofomonde again Viceroy. reinstated in the viceroyalty of Ireland. And in 1678, fresh alarm being excited on the report of the plot, which was then said to have broken out in 8 Cox's History, vol. ii., Charles II, p. 12. 2 U 658 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Proclamation for soldiers to repair to their garri- sons; For Popish bishops to quit the kingdom ; For masters of ships to convey them; For disarming the Papists. England, the Council of Ireland met on the 14th of October; and the Lord Lieutenant immediately published a proclamation, commanding all officers and soldiers in the army to repair to their respective garrisons, there to remain, and not absent them- selves without a particular and express licence from his grace. On the 16th, another proclamation issued, com- manding all titular Popish bishops and dignitaries, all others exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction by authority from the See of Rome, all Jesuits, and other regular priests, to depart the kingdom by the 20th of November following. Orders were given in the same proclamation, that all Popish societies, convents, seminaries, and schools, should be forthwith dissolved, and thenceforth utterly sup- pressed. To prevent all excuses for not obeying the pro- clamation for the banishment of the Popish clergy, another was issued on the 16th of November, requiring all owners and masters of ships, bound for foreign parts, to receive them on board, and to transport them accordingly. The question of disarming the Papists admitted some debate, not as to the thing itself, but as to the manner of doing it. And this being agreed upon, on the 2nd of November a proclamation issued, that no persons of the Popish religion should carry, buy, use, or keep in their houses any arms without licence; and that all such, within twenty days, should bring in all their arms to persons appointed to receive them; and that all justices of the peace were to search for such arms as should not be brought in, and bind over the offenders to be prosecuted at the next assizes. All persons also were to make a SEC. III.] KING CHARLES II. 659 return of the quantity of gun-powder in their pos- session. That the several proclamations issued might Reinforced by have all the proposed effect, they were reinforced by further orders from the Lord Lieutenant and council. Thus letters were sent on the 2nd of December, Neglect of ., i /Y r i t sheriffs, Sic., to the sheriffs of the several counties, to be com- censm-cd, as to . . Popish clergy ; mumcated to the justices of peace, " taking notice of their neglect in not apprehending such of the Popish regular clergy, as did not transport themselves, and requiring them to be more diligent ; and to return, not only their names, but the names also of such as received, relieved, and harboured them." Similar letters were sent, with a further procla- AS to persons mation, " requiring all sheriffs, justices of peace, and c< officers of the army, to be more diligent in executing the proclamation of the 2nd of November; to return the names of all persons licensed to carry arms ; and to prosecute all those, who had not de- livered in their arms according to that proclamation." Directions were given to all magistrates, and officers of the customs and revenue in sea-ports, to amis; be careful in searching for and securing all arms and ammunition, which should be brought into the kingdom. Orders were given for the suppression of mass- For suppression A * of mass-houses. houses, and meetings for Popish services, in the cities and suburbs of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Water- ford, Kinsale, Wexford, Athlone, Rosse, Gal way, Drogheda, Youghall, Clonmell, and Kilkenny; as being the most considerable towns in the kingdom, in which too many precautions could not be taken. And, to omit no precaution in any respect, though there was no soldier ever admitted into the army, 2 U 2 660 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Papists forbidc'en to enter Dublin castle or other forts. High opinion entertained of the Duke of Ormonde. till he had taken the oaths of allegiance and supre- macy, yet, as some of them might possibly have been since perverted, a proclamation was issued on the 20th of November, promising rewards for the dis- covery of any officer or soldier, who had heard mass or been so perverted to the Popish religion. By a proclamation, issued on the 20th of No- vember, it was moreover ordered, that none of the Popish religion, or so reputed, should come into the castle of Dublin, or any other fort or citadel, without special order from the Lord Lieutenant: that markets and fairs should be kept without the walls of Drog- heda, Wexford, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Youghall, and Galway : that no persons of the Romish religion should be suffered to reside in the said towns, or in any other corporation, who had not for the greatest part of twelve months past inhabited therein : that no Papists should come to fairs and markets with swords, pistols, or any other weapons and fire-arms ; and that all of that religion should forbear meeting by day or night in any great or unusual numbers. Thus every precaution was employed for checking insurrectionary attempts. But, after all, the great security for the peace and quiet of the kingdom lay in the general opinion, entertained by all parties, of the Duke of Ormonde: the Protestants resting secure under his protection and care for their safety ; and the Papists being, under his government, in no apprehension of any violent or injurious measures 9 . 9 CARTE'S Ormonde, v. ii. pp. 478 481. Sr.c. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 661 SECTION IV. Sectarisls. New Covenant. Scarcity of Churches. Poverty of Benefices. Mr. Boyle's attempt at Converting the Irish Papists. Death of distinguished Churchmen. Primate Margetson. Bishop John Leslie. Bishop Jeremy Taylor. FROM the foregoing enumeration of particulars, an Protect rcc- estimate may be formed of the continual activity of iIlTncw c the Popish spirit in pushing forward its encroach- ments ; and of the necessity, which was felt by the best and most enlightened friends of the Church, for unremitting vigilance and diligence in her sup- port and defence. But, in 1680, new cause of uneasiness arose from a different quarter: namely, the fanaticks and disaffected sectarists through the kingdom, who" were engaging in a new Covenant, and forming a combination, which, unless promptly impeded, might be as destructive to the peace of the nation, and produce consequences as pernicious to the well-being of the Church, as those which had not long before resulted from the Solemn League and Covenant. This new Covenant was spread with great assi- its extension ii duity over several parts of Ireland, especially in the northern counties, where the Presbyterian ministers were generally of that class, called in Scotland Remonstrators, and several of them had actually subscribed it. The Oath of Supremacy was now decried as unlawful by those men, some of whom had lately visited Scotland, where the Archbishop of St. Andrews had been barbarously assassinated under the pretext of religion, the true character of which was attested by its fruits ; and where a new Ireland. 662 THE REIGN OP [Cn. IX. insurrection was fermenting and appeared likely to break forth among the people, especially the ignorant fanaticks of the west. In consequence, probably, of this correspondence with the Scotch Cameronians, a solemn day of fasting and humiliation was soon Presbyterian after wards kept at St. Johnstown, in the county of Johnstown! st ' Donegall, and barony of Raphoe, where were assem- bled sixteen Presbyterian ministers, and six or seven thousand persons from that barony, and the neigh- bouring counties of Deny, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. in effect counter- The Lord Lieutenant knew by experience the Lord lieutenant, mischief of such meetings, and took effectual care for preventing their continuance and evil conse- quences. One Nathaniel Johnson, who had been engaged in the late Scotch rebellion, and had passed over into Ireland for the purpose of creating dis- turbances in Ulster, being apprehended, made some discoveries; and offering to make more upon an assurance of pardon, he was removed to Dublin from the north, having been kept some days in custody under a strong guard, for fear of his being killed by the Presbyterians, who were apprehensive of their secrets being revealed by him. From this man the government received such intelligence as proved the means of keeping in awe and subjection the unquiet and turbulent spirit of those sectarists : and of giving a proper direction to that vigilance, which the Lord Lieutenant constantly employed, and which enabled him, silently and without alarm, to intercept whatever designs were formed for raising disturbances in that quarter of the kingdom 1 . Thus the watchfulness, the zeal, and the discre- tion of this excellent viceroy were blessed by Divine 1 CARTE'S Life of Ormonde, ii. 508. SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 663 Providence for the protection of the Church against both classes of her restless enemies. And thus, not- withstanding the evil meditated in the English court, the latter years of the reign of King Charles the Second passed quietly away with little of incident to fix the mind on the history of the Irish Church, but not without the too customary causes for concern at the insufficient supply of sacred buildings and of want of . . , ..n,i . . -i churches and ministers, to make provision for the spiritual wants ministers. and necessities of the people. An example of a dilapidated church, laudably Kilkenny cathe- dral repaired by re-edmed by the exertions of one of the restored pre- Bishop wiiiiams. lates, is thus recorded by Williams, bishop of Ossory, in the narrative of his persecutions and oppressions. " Things being somewhat settled, I went to live upon my bishoprick, in Kilkenny, where I found the cathedral church and the bishop's house all ruined; and nothing standing but the bare walls, without roofs, without windows but the holes, and without doors : yet I resolved presently to mend and repair one room, and to live in the bishop's house ; and, as I had vowed, that if I should ever come to my bishoprick, I would wholly and fully bestow the first year's profit for the reparation of the church, so my wit- nesses in heaven know that I have done it : and have since bestowed more, as 40. the last summer for repairing the steeple of the cathedral, and yet 1000/. more will not suffi- ciently repair that church. And an instance of the defect on a larger scale, General sad condition of and in both particulars, is detailed by the same churches and prelate, in his tract on "the sad condition of the Church and Clergy in the Diocese of Ossory ; and I fear," as his title-page adds, " not much better in all Ireland." " If you walk through Ireland, 11 he observes, "as I rode ^JJJJf ^ from Carlingford to Dublin, and from Dublin to Kilkenny, Sed churches. and in my visitation thrice over the diocese of Ossory ; I believe, that throughout all your travel you shall find it, as G64 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Insufficiency of ministers and of benefices. Ecclesiastics 1 livings given to laymen. Two classes of benefices. I found it, in all the ways that I went ; scarce one church standing and sufficiently repaired, for seven, I speak within compass, that are ruined, and have only walls, without ornaments, and most of them without roofs, without doors, without windows, but the holes to receive the winds to entertain the congregation." (Page 2.) And again : " What shame and what punishment do we deserve, for suffering the tombs and the sepulchres of our heroick fathers, and the temples, houses, and altars, of our good God and our Redeemer Jesus Christ, to lie so waste, so ruined, and so defiled, as they are here in this kingdom of Ireland ! For I do believe, that of about a hundred churches that our forefathers built and sufficiently endowed in the diocese of Ossory, there are not twenty standing, nor ten well repaired at this day." (Page 6.) Then, with respect to the deficiency of ministers, he observes, " As God is without churches for his people to meet in to serve him, so He is without servants, enabled to do him service, to praise his name, and to teach his people ; and to have churches, and no churchmen, is to no purpose. But why have we not such churchmen as are able to instruct God's people ? I say it is easily answered : that it is not so easy to get able, worthy, and sufficient churchmen, unless there were sufficient means and livings to maintain them." After some intermediate remarks on the insuffi- ciency of the means for educating the clergy, " since Henry the Eighth overthrew the abbies and monas- teries, which were as universities to breed scholars," he then proceeds to show the insufficiency of the maintenance of the clergy, in consequence of "the ecclesiastical livings of the Church having been given to the king's nobility and lay gentry." To exemplify his position, he then divides the benefices of his own diocese into two classes ; nam- ing the denomination and the holder of each. SEC. IV.] RING CHARLES II. CG5 In the first class are "the rectories, the best Rectories kept and the chiefest livings, that are of any worth, or of fromthcChurch - any note within the diocese : and, as I showed you, the nobility, gentry, and cities do hold them from the Church, and do yield little or nothing for the service of God in those churches ; neither dare the poor vicars and curates, according to the bishop's appointment, ask them anything for the serving of those churches, nor is it to any purpose for any incumbent to sue for any tythes or rights that belong unto his church." (Page 18.) The second class contains "what livings the Livings HCM by poor clergymen hold in their possession ; and of d what value they are unto them, deductis dcducendis, communibus annis, as by the inquisition of three or four of the ablest clergymen in my diocese, with myself, I have understood the same in my visitation; and thereby the reader may understand the mean- ness of our Irish livings, and judge, whether these many livings, that each clergyman holds, are more or enough to make one competent living for a worthy and able man, that will constantly reside, and con- scionably preach unto God's people." In illustration of these livings of the second class Avmgc number . . .of parishes in a it should be stated, that a " living, in about six living, instances, according to Bishop Williams's digest, consists of a single " parish ;" that in two instances a "living" comprises as many as nine "parishes;" and that the number of "parishes" constituting a " living," continually varies between these two ex- tremes : that the entire number of " livings" is twenty-two, and the number of "parishes" seventy- seven, forming therefore on an average an union of three parishes and a half to one living. Also, that the value of the livings continually 666 THE REIGN OP [Cn. IX. Average value of varies from ten pounds, which is the lowest, to sixty- six, one hundred and one, and one hundred and twenty-five pounds, which are the three highest values : and that the total value of the twenty-two livings is nine hundred and sixty-one pounds, ten shillings ; being forty-three pounds, fourteen shil- lings, and a small fraction, to each upon the average. condition of the This brief summary of particulars, abstracted ergy< from Bishop Williams's detailed exposition of the condition of his diocese, may perhaps assist in open- ing the reader's mind to a clearer perception of the situation of the parochial clergy of Ireland at the time under review, of the nature and extent of their charges, and of the occasion and necessity of those unions, which have brought such obloquy on the Church : at the same time that it may enable him to render a just answer to the bishop's pertinent inquiry, " Do you think that this value is sufficient to maintain an able ministry, to supply all these churches and parishes as they ought to be ; or that Popery shall be supprest, and the true Protestant religion planted amongst the people, by the unition of parishes, and the diminution of churches, with- out any augmentation of their means ? . . . . Credat Judseus Apella ; Non ego 2 ." Bishop Mossom's The diocese of Ossory, which is the subject of representation of . the diocese of the foregoing relation, is situated in the province of Leinster, in one of the south-eastern districts of the kingdom. An example of a similar state of things in the North, or in the province of Ulster, is supplied by an incident that occurred in the diocese of Deny, of which the diocesan, Bishop Mossom, 2 Page 25. SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 667 having, in his petition to the king in council, pro- cured on the 13th of May, 1670, a recommendation of his case to the Irish Society, made this represen- tation of the ecclesiastical condition of the city and county of Londonderry. " First, that the churches, especially those within the similar state of twelve London proportions, were generally ruinous, and not thechurche8; one, except that within the city, w r as in repair, and accom- modation fit for God's worship ; neither were the inhabi- tants, such was their extreme poverty, any ways able to rebuild or repair them ; so that the holy offices of God's publick worship were, for the most part, administered either in a dirty cabin or in a common alehouse ; and also that not only were the churches ruinous, but likewise the mini- And ministers. sters were generally and necessarily non-resident, not having any houses upon their cures ; not being able, through meanness of estate and numerousness of their families, to build themselves houses, nor could they find habitations to be hired upon the place 3 ." What means were taken for the remedy of these instructions to local evils, does not appear. But they seem to have corresponding - ,. , , , P with these repre- been regarded as an example of the general state or the country, in the particular defects complained of. And the coincidence of dates makes it not impro- bable, that they gave occasion for the instructions concerning the building and repair of churches, and the encouragement of resident ministers, which were enjoined upon Lord Berkley, as before mentioned, on the 21st of May, 1670. The desolation, indeed, appears to have been _^ very extensive and complete. In a sermon of Dean Swift, on the martyrdom of King Charles I. 4 , wherein he delineates the evils of puritanical zeal, as evidenced by the Great Rebellion, is a forcible 3 MSS. British Museum, Donat., No. 4763, fol. 508, &c. * Works, ix. 181. mon on King ch*.**. mar 668 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. description of the utter demolition of the Irish parochial churches by that devastating scourge, as compared with the traces of less complete ruin visible in England. utter demolition " Another consequence," he says, " of this horrid rebel- chm-chesln the ^ I0li an( ^ murder was, the destroying or defacing of such Rebellion. V ast numbers of God^s houses. ' In their self-will they digged down a wall.' If a stranger should now travel in England, and observe the churches in his way, he could not otherwise conclude, than that some vast army of Turks or heathens had been sent on purpose to ruin and blot out all marks of Christianity. They spared neither the statues of saints, nor ancient prelates, nor kings, nor benefactors : broke down the tombs and monuments of men famous in their generations : seized the vessels of silver set apart for the holiest use : tore down the most innocent ornaments both within and without: made the houses of prayer dens of thieves, or stables for cattle. These were the mildest effects of Puritan zeal and devotion for Christ : and this was what themselves affected to call a thorough reformation. In this kingdom (Ireland), those ravages were not so easily seen : for, the people here being too poor to raise such noble temples, the mean ones we had, were not defaced, but totally destroyed." Fresh experi- In the mean time, the experiment which had ment for convert- , ,, , . _ _ ing the Irish by been formerly tried of converting the native Irish means of the c t c T- Irish language, ii'om the errors of Popery to the belief and profes- sion of primitive Christian truth, as maintained in the Church of Ireland, was again attempted by means of the Irish language. suchexreri- The Rebellion of 1641 had put an entire stop to men ts stopped onc4i Rcbenion ex P eri ent s of this kind; and the times which im- mediately succeeded were not favourable to their resumption, although it appears that in the year 1652 was published a catechism, under the title of The Christian Doctrine, in two opposite parallel columns in the English and Irish languages. With this SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 669 ' exception, if any effort had been made for the conver- sion of the Irish until about twenty years after the king's restoration, it had escaped the inquiries of Dr. Richardson, as stated by him in his Short History of such attempts: an omission, which he attributes Probable cause. partly to the remembrance of the past Rebellion, ^;; ointeilup - " which made so deep an impression upon the minds of many Protestants, who suffered in their own per- sons, estates, and relations ; and produced such keen resentments, that the thoughts of this work seem to have been laid aside for some time ;" and partly to " the great scarcity of clergy, which may be reason- ably supposed to have contributed not a little to the omission 5 ." The arduousness and defective success of the work, as experienced on former trials, should be also considered to have presented, in all proba- bility an obstacle to a repetition of the experiment ; for that those who presided over the Church imme- diately after the Restoration, were not indifferent to the religious condition of the Irish population, has already been evidenced by the exertions made by Bishop Taylor, in compliance with the wishes of his brethren in the episcopate, although the course which they saw cause to adopt was not of the par- ticular kind now passing under our notice. But however this be, the work was about this work resumed period again taken in hand by the Honourable Robert Boyle : honourable by descent and parentage ; more to be honoured for his intellectual and moral endow- ments ; still more worthy of honour as " the great Christian philosopher," for so Dr. Richardson terms him, who laboured to advance the truth and glory of God. By this illustrious and excellent man, a fount 5 A Short History of the At- ligion. By JOHN RICHARDSON, tempts to Convert the Popish Natives Rector of Belturbet, 17l2t Page of Ireland to the Established Re- 26. 670 THE REIGN OP [Cn. IX. Irish Catechism and Bible printed in 1680. Care taken for making the edition of the Bible perfect. of Irish types was caused to be cast at his own charge, and an able printer to be instructed for pro- viding in that language the books necessary for the spiritual improvement of the people. In 1680, he thus printed in Irish the Church Catechism, together with the elements of that language. Soon after, he resolved on reprinting Archbishop Daniel's Transla- tion of the New Testament at his own expense; and, by a subscription of 50/. on his own part, bountifully encouraged a proposal for printing Bishop Bedell's Translation of the Old Testament likewise; his efforts, as regarded the defraying of the expense of the press, being liberally aided by Dr. William Wake, after- wards Archbishop of Canterbury. For rendering this edition of the Bible more perfect, the translation was first revised and corrected by Mr. Kirk, a beneficed clergyman in England, but a native of Scotland, and well skilled in the Irish tongue. It was then transmitted to Ireland, and confided to the care of Narcissus Marsh, at that time provost of Trinity College, and subsequently, in succession, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, and archbishop of Cashel, of Dublin, and of Armagh; who, that he might make such amendments as were requisite, and bring it to the nearest possible conformity to the original, procured the assistance of the most learned natives, and himself carefully superintended the re- vision of the entire translation. In particular, a convert from the Church of Rome, of the name of Higgins, was useful in completing the work. He was employed, at the expense of the Primate, in teaching the Irish language to the students of Trinity College; and being afterwards admitted into holy orders, and settled in a parish in the county of Tip- perary, is related to have been the instrument of SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 671 much spiritual good by the conversion of many natives to the truth. By this zeal and diligence in its patrons, the edi- N CW Testament tion of the Holy Scriptures in Irish was soon accom- SSf* plished. In the year of our Lord 1681, the New Testament, introduced by a copious preface, was first published; and after it the Old Testament in 1685. ou Testament Many copies of them were sent from England, both in m5 ' to Ireland and to the highlands of Scotland. But whatever happy results may have been otherwise likely to accrue in Ireland from the exertions of the pious and benevolent projector and patrons of the experiment, they were counteracted by a great politi- Go0 d result. cal event contemporaneous with the latter publica- SSTStog tion ; for the same year, which witnessed the putting JamesIL forth of the entire word of God, as completed by the addition of the Old to the New Testament, wit- nessed also the accession of an anti-Scriptural sove- reign to the throne. During the period which is the subject of our Deaths of dis- present inquiry, some eminent rulers of the Church clTSm^n. were removed from their scene of probation. 1 Of these the first in rank was Archbishop Mar- primate Marget- getson, who died in 1678, being succeeded in the pri- * ' 1678. macy as he had been in the archiepiscopal See of Dublin, by Michael Boyle. His character, as deli- HIS character, neated by the friendly, but, to all appearance, the impartial and honest hands of contemporaneous ad- mirers, Palliser, archbishop of Cashel, and Jones, bishop of Meath, represents that he administered his pastoral office with undissembled, sincere, and solid wisdom ; that he was to his clergy mild and gentle ; yet, where they deserved it, severe ; that their faults touched him to the quick, yet he could scarce reprove 672 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Bishop John Leslie. Bishop Jeremy Taylor. any of them with dry eyes ; so that his conduct could not fail to conciliate to him both their love and veneration;^ that in his legislative capacity, if anything affected the Church, he was her true patron and active champion ; that he pleaded her cause in the supreme council with the most ardent zeal and persuasive eloquence ; and that his great labour was to preserve her revenues from sacrilegious hands, to establish and secure the pure Protestant religion by the fence of publick laws, and protect it from the insults both of its Popish and its schismatical enemies. During this period, also, but a few years before Private Margetson, had died John Leslie, distin- guished for his steadfast attachment to the Church and her services, when Bishop of llaphoe, in defiance of the Popish Rebellion, and of the puritanical tyranny; and subsequently, in 1661, translated to the See of Clogher, where he continued to maintain his character as an exemplary prelate, as well as a man of perfect disinterestedness, and a scholar of learning and research. He was supposed, at his death in 1671, to be the oldest bishop then in the world, having passed above fifty years from his con- secration. And to his own personal claims upon the grateful recollection of posterity, may be added, that his merits were reflected in his son, the illustrious Charles Leslie, chancellor of Connor, one of the soundest divines, and most powerful controversialists of his age. During the same period, but still a few years earlier than Bishop Leslie, the Church had been deprived of a still brighter ornament in the person of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, of whom his friend, and successor in the See of Dromore, Bishop Rust, has SEC. IV.] KING CHARLES II. 673 emphatically pronounced, that "had his parts and endowments been parcelled out among his clergy, it would perhaps have made one of the best dioceses in the world." The funeral sermon, from which this high commendation is extracted, is characterized by Bishop Heber, as " in itself no bad copy of Taylor's peculiar style of eloquence, and as well calculated to show the veneration in which he was held, the sweetness of his temper, and the variety of his accomplishments." He died at Lisburn, on the 3rd of August, 1667, ms death and in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the seventh of ia ieo7. his episcopacy. " His remains," adds Bishop Heber, " were removed to Dromore, to the church of which he had been a liberal benefactor. No monument, however, was erected to his memory; and, about a century afterwards, his bones, and HIS bones said to those of his friend Rust, were disturbed from their vault to make room for the coffin of another bishop. The late venerable Bishop Percy had them carefully collected and replaced. That their repose was ever violated, or that they were suffered to lie neglected so long, is not to be recorded without indignation." In the sentiments thus expressed, the present writer entirely concurs, on the supposition of the facts having been correctly represented to the biographer. But this is by no means clear. The only bishop, who died in possession of the See of Dromore, from 1713 to 1781, the date of Bishop Percy's appointment, was George Marlay. He died suddenly in Dublin, April 13, 1763. The place of his burial I have in vain attempted to discover : but by his present lineal representative it is thought, that he was not buried at Dromore. Nor can I find Qucst ion about any evidence, either recorded or traditionary, to warrant the supposition, that it was to make room for his remains, that Bishop Taylor's were displaced : an 2 x the fact. 674 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IX. Probabilities against it. Bishop Taylor's coffin. occurrence, than which, in the opinion of Bishop Mar- ley's family, nothing could have been more unlikely. Concerning Bishop Percy's alleged share in the transaction, the Rev. H. Elgee Boyd, curate of Dromore, in Bishop Percy's time, and domestick chaplain of the bishop, now Prebendary of Dromara, has stated to the Rev. Edward Cupples, vicar-general of Down and Connor, by whom it has been reported to me, that although Bishop Percy frequently made his illustrious predecessor the subject of his conver- sation, he never gave the slightest intimation of the remains having been collected by him, after they had been disturbed: an incident, which he could hardly have failed of occasionally noticing, if he had been a party in the transaction. Indeed, the narra-^ tive of the transaction in some degree confutes itself: for, if the bones were so "disturbed" as to require to be " collected," it is difficult to conceive how, after that lapse of time, they could be dis- tinguished and identified. Some alterations were made in Dromore cathe- dral by Bishop Percy in 1782, and again in 1807; but these did not invade the spot, which general tradition pointed out as the resting-place of Jeremy Taylor, nearly under the communion-table, at the east end of the church : in which spot, about twenty years ago, when his vault was opened for a particular purpose, a leaden coffin was discovered with the initials J. T. inscribed on the lid. The coffin, with these initials, Mr. Boyd affirms that he himself saw : and he considers, that the fact of its having been so found is a decisive refutation of the statement in Bishop Heber's Life. Concerning this gentleman, it is the opinion of the present Bishop of Elphin, who succeeded Bishop SEC ' IV -] KING CHARLES II. G75 Percy, at Dromore, in 1811, that if such an event, as we are investigating, had taken place, it must have been known to Mr. Boyd, from his long and confidential intercourse with Bishop Percy. The Bishop of Elphin has also obligingly informed me for his own part, that he has no recollection of ever having heard of the occurrence during the seven years that he occupied the See of Dromore. And, on the whole, after much inquiry, I can find no evidence, documentary or personal, in support of the statement n - statement in question. That the source, whence wl>l>ortc y Papists. valuable qualification. But the real offence was a disinclination to be used as instruments for betray- ing their Church or their country; and Papists were easily found to supply the vacancies thus 682 THE REIGN OF [Cn. X. Civil alterations. to offices of trust and honour. opened 1 . Accordingly, neither the price which they had paid for their commissions, nor the blood which they had shed in behalf of the crown, sufficed to save from dismissal above 300 Protestant officers, and 4000 Protestant soldiers, whose places were supplied chiefly with Popish natives, the fathers of whom had lost their estates for their rebellion 2 . Considerable alterations were made in civil affairs also during the Earl of Clarendon's govern- ment. The hasty demand from the Lord Primate of the Great Seal of Ireland caused an opening for the appointment of a new Lord Chancellor, whose em- barrassed circumstances made probable his implicit submission to his patrons. In the room of three Protestant judges, wantonly and arbitrarily displaced, papists admitted successors were appointed, one of questionable cha- racter, and two, at least, Papists, of Irish birth, not- withstanding the protestation by the Lord Lieutenant of the illegality of Papists being admitted to offices of trust and honour, without having taken the oath of supremacy. The municipal corporations, the offices of the magistracy, and the Privy Council of Ireland, were also in part supplied by persons of the same religious profession. If a professorship of the Irish language had existed in the university of Dublin, it would have been occupied by a Papist also, under the authority of the king's mandate; for a king's letter to that effect was presented to the governors of the univer- sity during the viceroyalty of the Earl of Clarendon* The document still remains among the archives of that learned body, a monument of the ignorance which supposed the existence of a nonentity, as well 1 Cox's History, ii. 17. 2 DALRYMPLE'S Memoirs, Part I. b. iv. p. 112. Attempt to ob- trude a Popish professor on the University. SEC. I.] KING JAMES II. 683 as of the tyranny which would have obtruded such an inmate on the society 3 . The reluctance, however, of a Protestant Lord , . . . nel made Lord Lieutenant probably threw impediments in the way Deputy. February, 1687. of the projected changes. A commencement, too, having been once made, and a firm footing apparently established, a convenient season seemed to have arrived for casting off all disguise ; and the Earl of Tyrconnel, a Popish nobleman, who had been trained in principles of politicks most hostile to the English Government, and of religion most widely estranged from the tenets of the Reformed Church, was placed at the head of the Irish administration, in February, 1687, with augmented powers, though with the less imposing title of Lord Deputy. The appointment of a Popish Viceroy was no in- speech of Lord Clarendon on re- distinct symptom of the projects of the Popish sove- imquishmg the ... government. reign : and must have aroused dismal anticipations in the members of the Church, to whose character and conduct at this period the Earl of Clarendon's speech in council, on leaving the government of Ireland, bears the following honourable testimony. "The English in this country have been aspersed with the character of being generally fanaticks, which is a great injury to them. I must do them the justice to say, that they are of the Church of England, as appears by their actions as well as professions. The churches here arc as much frequented, and the discipline of the Church as well observed as in England itself; which is to be attributed to the piety and labour of my lords the bishops. We of the Loyalty of the Church of England can brag, that, when rebellion over- CUurch * spread the three kingdoms, not an orthodox member of our Church was engaged against the crown. And in our late disorders we can boast, we were opposers of the, bills of 3 LELAND'S Hist., iii. 504. 684 THE RI:IGN OF [Cii. x. exclusion; and the sense, his majesty has been pleased to express of our loyalty, will never be forgotten by us. I had the happiness to be born a member of the Church of Eng- land ; and I hope God will give me the grace to die one. One thing the English of this country have to glory in : that, of all his majesty's subjects, they made the earliest advances towards his majesty's restoration, when the three kingdoms were governed by usurpers. And after all the endeavours of his loyal subjects in England seemed to be disappointed, and there appeared no hopes, the English then of this kingdom offered to submit to his majesty's authority. I do not say this, my lord, to detract from his majesty's Roman Catholick loyal subjects; but I speak it injustice to the others, who did their duty 4 ." It was a melancholy prognostick and forerunner Ireland. of the evils about to fall on those who were the sub- ject of this well-merited commendation, that the withdrawal of fifteen hundred Protestant families from a country, where they despaired of their future security, accompanied Lord Clarendon's departure from Ireland. Meanwhile, this high testimony to the value of those, who were objects of the new Vice- roy's bigoted aversion, can hardly have been accept- able to one whose appointment had originated in a determinate project for their persecution. i.ora Deputy's Having now gotten possession of the sword of church. 00 state, Lord Tyrconnel quickly turned the edge of it upon the members of the Church. Treatment of the With respect to the army, the English, who remained in it after the former schemes for their removal, were not only for the most part disbanded : but their misery was insulted, and their affliction aggravated, by being dismissed at a distance from their friends and habitations ; and by being deprived 4 State of the Protestants in Ireland, by WM. KING, D.D., p. 805. SEC. I.] KING JAMES II. C85 partly of their clothes, and partly of their horses and arms, without any proportionate recompense. With respect to the civil government, that was changes in the immediately made the subject of great alterations. c The uprightness and impartiality of the Lord Chan- cellor, whose refusal to prostitute his office to any sinister projects disappointed expectation, caused him to be removed from his station, in which he was succeeded by Sir Alexander Fitton, a person Lord Chancellor recommended by his recent conversion to the * Romish communion, but utterly incompetent from natural incapacity and legal ignorance, and who had been convicted of forgery, and passed several years in gaol. Most of the Protestants, who had hitherto con- Privy council. tinned in the privy council, amongst others Dopping, bishop of Meath, and Moreton, bishop of Kildare, were superseded, or outnumbered, by an accession of Papists. More Popish judges were raised to the popish judges i i i i 1-1-1 and attorney- judicial bench, two at least in every court, that they general. might depend on a majority on all occasions. In particular, at the head of the two courts of King's Bench and the Exchequer were placed two men, of very exceptionable character, but with qualifica- tions suited to the services expected from them. These were Mr. Thomas Nugent, afterwards created Baron Riverstown, and Mr., afterwards Sir Stephen, Rice: the former, the son of one who had been Earl of Westmeath, but had lost his honour and estate for his activity in the Rebellion of 1641, the son being noted in his profession for nothing but ignorance of the law combined with more than ordinary nationality of elocution, but whose igno- rance did not prevent him from being fixed upon by the king as a fit arbiter to judge whether the out- 686 THE REIGN OF [Cn. X. lawries against his father and his fellow-rebels should be reversed, and whether the settlement of Ireland, founded on those outlawries, should stand good ; the latter, Mr. Rice, formerly infamous as a game- ster and a cheat at the inns of court, a man not deficient in understanding, and sufficiently con- versant with the law, but most conspicuous for his inveteracy against the Protestant interest and set- tlement in Ireland, and notorious for the declaration, that in all suits between Protestants and Papists, the former should have no favour, but summum jus, or the utmost rigour of the law 5 . These two men were respectively constituted the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Each of them was sup- ported by an assistant judge, distinguished by the like hostility to the reformed Church. And in aid of these, instead of a Protestant attorney-general, Sir William Domvile, who, after a service of thirty years, was superseded, because he would not consent to reverse the Popish outlawries, nor otherwise take part in destroying the settlement of Ireland, was substituted Mr. Richard Nagle, afterwards knighted, and made secretary of state ; who had been origi- nally designed for the clerical profession, and received his education among the Jesuits, but afterwards applied to the study of the law, in which a com- petent proficiency had recommended him to the em- ployment of many Protestants, and thus brought him acquainted with the peculiarities of their property, which he was able to employ to their prejudice 6 . Into such hands was committed the general acllninistrati n of justice and the laws. At the same time Popish high sheriffs were appointed throughout 6 State of the Protestants, pp. C8, 70. 6 Ib., p. 72. SEC. LQ KING JAMES II. 687 the kingdom : and an overwhelming number of Papists put into the commission of the peace, from which many of the Protestant magistrates were excluded, so that the former could at all times command a majority, and exercise a predominant authority. All charters were called in and con- demned, without attributing any particular fault to one or more corporations, or for the avowed purpose of punishing or reforming them, but with the mani- fest design of subverting them all: and Popish mayors, aldermen, burgesses, and other members, Popish corpora- were put into the original charters, with a mixture, however, of English Quakers, or other Dissenters, but so limited in their power, especially in that of choosing members of parliament, as not to offer any effectual obstruction to the Irish Papists. Thus were all things disposed and regulated for the elec- tion of a parliament, prepared to carry on the designs of the king, and to model the laws in the way most conducive to the advancement of Popery, and to the depression of the Church. Meanwhile, with respect to ecclesiastical affairs, Ecclesiastical affairs. care was taken that the laws, provided for protecting the property of the Church, and for enabling the clergy to recover their dues, should be of little or no significance. The Popish inhabitants of the country were soon taught to think scorn of the sentences of the judges in the spiritual courts as innocent and harmless, and to slight and set at nought an heretical excommu- nication. In causes of small dues and offerings, -the cier gy precluded Lord Chancellor absolutely refused to grant the necessary writs for enforcing a sentence of excom- munication : and thus the clergy lost at once a very 688 THE REIGN OF [Cn. X. considerable source of their income. When writs were procured against the natives for their refusal to pay their tythes to the clergy, the high sheriffs seldom or never executed them : but, on the con- trary, several released those whom, on their entrance into office, they found in custody on those accounts. The recovery of debts by Protestants in general, had been rendered extremely difficult or impossible under the new system of administering the laws : in this respect, also, the clergy experienced even greater hardship than the other members of the Church. And thus, upon the whole, during the greater part of this unconstitutional, tyrannical, and miserable reign, in the more Popish parts of the country, though many of the clergy were possessed of considerable benefices, they received from their lawful property scarcely sufficient to purchase bread for their families : whilst their enemies were daily increasing in insolence ; and offering them continued affronts, insults, and injuries; and, indeed, waited only for the opportunity which might be afforded by a parliament for voting them "the main grievance of the nation 7 ." churches and Many particular instances likewise occurred of chapels seized by , , papists. the oppression practised on the Church. Several of the places set aside for divine service according to the rites of the Church, especially such as were built on consecrated ground, where the chapels of abbeys formerly stood, were violently taken away. For several acts of state had passed in Ireland, for the building of that kind of places of publick worship, partly because they were more con- veniently situated, and partly as being more easily Protestant Religion, c., pp. 5, 6. By a clergyman lately escaped from thence. London, 1689. View of the methods made use of in Ireland for the Subversion and Destruction of the SKC - L 3 KING JAMES II. G89 repaired than the ancient parish-churches. In most, if not in all, instances where the proprietors of the abbeys were Papists, these churches or chapels were rudely and violently seized, and converted into mass- houses, on pretence that they belonged to those pro- prietors, as, for example, at Portumna, Athenry, and many other places ; though the consecrated ground, belonging to all such abbeys, had been expressly exempted from the grants by Act of Parliament. Provisions for Protestant education also were interference applied to Popish uses. By the Act of the 12th of ** Queen Elizabeth, chap. 1, provision had been made for the encouragement of education in diocesan schools, by means of Englishmen and Protestants: and the nomination of the schoolmasters in every diocese, except four, had been committed to the Chief Governor of Ireland for the time being. But now, on any such school becoming vacant, the Lord Deputy abused the power committed to him ; for he either left the place unsupplied, or filled it with a Papist. Care was also taken to discourage other Protestant schools, and to set up in opposition to them similar Popish establishments. Thus, in the instance of the school of Kilkenny, founded and endowed by the late Duke of Ormonde, a Jesuit's school was instituted in the town, and a charter procured for a college : whilst the Protestant, who had industriously and successfully taught in the duke's school, was driven away, and the school- house violently usurped, and converted into a mili- tary hospital. An attempt was also made to change Attempt on the * . f T* University of the University of Dublin into a seminary ot Popery, D ubun. and to fill up vacant fellowships with Papists, con- trary to the fundamental design of the institution, 2 Y 690 THE REIGN OF [Cn. VII. Vacant sees not filled up. Their revenues given to titular bishops. Similar appro- priation of other benefices. and under the plea that the king had power to dis- pense with its statutes 8 . The archbishoprick of Cashel had become vacant by the death of Archbishop Price, in the year 1684, not Jong before the accession of King James to the throne : and in the same year a vacancy had also occurred in the bishoprick of Clonfert. In the fol- lowing year the diocese of Elphin, and in 1687 that of Clogher, were likewise respectively deprived by death of their spiritual overseers. The intention of the king had been notified at an early period, not to supply the places of these prelates: in accordance with which arbitrary and illegal determination, these four dioceses, one of them being of metropolitan dignity, continued during the king's reign destitute of their proper pastoral superintendence 9 . Mean- while the episcopal revenues were received by col- lectors under authority from the crown, and paid into the exchequer; and thence distributed by the king's order amongst the titular bishops, acting by Papal appointment, in salaries of 100/. or 200/. a year. To the Romish primate an annual pension of 2000J. is said to have been assigned from these funds. The bishops at the same time were instructed to wear in publick the habits of their orders : and thus a regular Popish hierarchy was established under the sanction of the royal authority 10 . A similar appropriation was made of the income of other ecclesiastical benefices which became vacant, and were in the king's gift. With respect to such benefices it was the law, and it had been the regular 8 KING'S State of Protestants, p. 217. 9 WARE'S Bishops, pp. 487, 645, 191, 636. DALRYMPLE'S Memoirs, part i., book iv., p. 112. SEC ' J '] KING JAMES II. 601 practice, for the revenues to be sequestered on a vacancy by the bishop of the diocese for the supply of the cure during the interval, and for the use of the next incumbent. The crown had no concern with them. But now they were taken arbitrary possession of by the king, and the churches left desolate, without incumbent or curate : or if sup- plied with curates, the persons employed were men little qualified to do God or the Church good service ; who from insufficiency had not arrived at previous preferment, or had been removed from their stations for misconduct 11 . Impediments were at the same time thrown in interference i _ with the clergy tne way 01 the regular ministrations of the clergy, in tucir who were prohibited from discussing controversial topicks in their pulpits. It would no doubt have been highly acceptable to the government, if they could have procured the countenance and sanction of any of the clergy of the Church respectable for character and station. And accordingly, in the hope of seducing some from their fidelity, the king had ventured on an unprecedented exercise of his pre- rogative, and proffered a dispensation, with the pri- vilege of retaining their former benefices, to such as adopt Popwy. should renounce their profession as ministers of the Church of Ireland, and attach themselves to the Romish communion. One name only is on record, or, at the utmost, two, as having been found faithless in the present season of trial to the Church and her ministers. Peter Manby, dean of Derry, had solicited and gof expected a bishoprick in the Church: disappoint- ment in that pursuit is supposed to have co-operated 11 Short View, p. 10. 2 Y 2 692 THE REIGN OF [Cn. X. answered by Dr. King, 1687. Declaration for Liberty of Conscience. April 4, 1687. Defeated in England. with hope of a more successful result in another quarter, so that, in 1686, he became a convert to Popery. He justified his conduct in a tract, entitled, "Considerations which induced Peter Manby, dean of Derry, to embrace the Catholique Religion :" which was answered by the Rev. W. King, chan- cellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, subsequently in suc- cession Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Dublin, in another tract, entitled, " An Answer to the Con- siderations which obliged Peter Manby, dean of Derry, (as he pretends,) to embrace what he calls the Catholique Religion." Both of those pamphlets were published in Dublin, in the year 1687. Dr. King was an able and powerful opponent of the Popish claims, as he afterwards proved himself of those of the Presbyterians. On this occasion he manifested great resolution and decision of mind, by coming boldly forward at a season when Popery, under the royal patronage, was in the ascendant, and the Church, with her faithful advocates, perse- cuted and endangered. The sole participator in the unenviable distinction of Manby was a clergyman of the diocese of Connor, of the name of Alexander Moore, precentor of that cathedral, and vicar of Glenavy and Crnmlin, in 1688. On the 4th of April, 1687, the king put forth his " Declaration for Liberty of Conscience :" thereby assuming to himself the power, by virtue of his royal prerogative, of granting a general indulgence, and of suspending at once all the penal statutes, by which a conformity was required to the established reli- gion. This exercise of arbitrary authority, calling forth the publick opposition of the English bishops and SJC ' L ] KIXG JAMES II. 693 clergy who declined to lend their aid to the further- ance of an illegal and unconstitutional act, led the way to the overthrow of King James's dominion in England, not without much intermediate peril to the venerable men, whose conscientious sense of their imperative and indispensable duty placed them in a position of unwilling resistance to the royal will. To Ireland, also, the influence of the "Declaration" was designed to extend. But the government of Inln that kingdom was too firmly settled in the hands of the Popish viceroy, by means of his military and official instruments, to allow the question between the crown and the country to be decided by so sum- mary a process, as that which took effect under the patronage of the nobility and gentry of England, devoted as they were to their national Church, and capable of maintaining her rights and privileges. A knowledge, indeed, of the success which had attended her exertions was a source of consolation and encou- ragement to the sister Church of Ireland : but the latter had many severe trials to encounter, and was well nigh overwhelmed by the flood of Popish despotism, before, by the blessing of a gracious Pro- vidence, she was released from the tyranny of her arbitrary oppressor. In one instance, however, at least, resistance was i . the Dean anil effectually offered by a venerable body to an experi- chapter <>f.4 possessions given by it to the king, partly for the publick, and partly for his private use, 164 31 Henry VIIL, chap. 14, and 32 Henry VIIL, chap. 10, for punishing the incontincncy of priests, 1 74 33 Henry VIIL, chap. 5, for the suppression of Kilmaiuham and other religious houses, 1 64 33 Henry VIIL, chap. 14, for endowing vicarages in parishes appropriated to religious houses, 1 65 33 Henry VIIL, chap, 1, for entitling the King of England King of Ireland, 165 the earliest in Ireland directed against the reformed doctrines, 243 3 c 2 756 INDEX. Acts of Parliament, 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, chap. 9, for reviving three statutes for punishment of heresy, 245 explanation of the three statutes, 246 gloomy prospect opened by them to Protestants, 248 purpose of carrying them into effect, 249 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, chap. 8, for repealing statutes against the See of Rome, 244 its provisions, 245 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, chap. 10, for the discharge of the first- fruits, 246 its provisions, 247 2 Eliz. chap. 1, for restoring the Crown's ancient jurisdiction, 257 2 Eliz. chap. 2, for the uniformity of Common Prayer, 258 for Uniformity, remarkable enactment at its conclusion, 259 impropriety and inapplicability of it, 260 for Uniformity, of Queen Elizabeth, still in force when the Liturgy was superseded by the Directory, 586 2 Eliz. chap. 3, for restitution of first-fruits to the Crown, 262 2 Eliz. chap. 4, for annulling election of bishops by deans and chapters, and vesting it in the crown, 263 hesitation about carrying it into effect, 266 correspondence between the queen and council about it, 267 deviation from the rule, and probable causes of it, 268 1 1 Eliz. chap. 6, to prevent the nomination of improper persons to cathedral dignities, 287 12 Eliz. chap. 1, for the erection of free-schools, 290 its occasion, 290 and provisions, 290 28 Eliz. chap. 2, against witchcraft and sorcery, 313 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, prohibited the bringing of the Scots into Ireland, 367 repealed by 11 James I., 367 10 Charles I., for improving the estates of the Church, 483 in Ireland, for Uniformity of Publick Prayers, 17 and 18 Charles II., its preamble, 645 and principal enactments, 645, 646 its operation on nonconformist ministers, 647 17 and 18 Charles II., chap. 10, for disabling persons to hold benefices both in England and Ireland, 649 of Charles II., enacting an annual thanksgiving for the King's Restoration, 635 ditto for preservation from the late Rebellion, 636 of Uniformity in England, proceedings connected with it, their effect in Ireland, 637 of Attainder, passed in the parliament of King James II., 709 its preamble, 709 its enactments, 710 five lists of persons proscribed by it, 710 713 its spirit of fraud, violence, and cruelty, 713 of Repeal of the Act of Settlement, its injustice, 708 opposition made to it, 709 its effect on Protestants, 710 INDEX. 757 Acts of Parliament, of James II., for annulling the jurisdiction of the Church, 718 of James II., concerning tythes and ecclesiastical dues, 719 of Settlement and Explanation, promises that they should be maintained inviolable, 704 lands of Ireland for the most part held under them, 705 means for compelling the repeal, 705 ADAIR, Archibald, bishop of Killalla, suspected of favouring the Scotch Covenanters, 542 deprived of his bishoprick, 543 appointed to Waterford, 543 ADAIR, Mr. Patrick, his account of the conference between Bishop Leslie and the nonconforming ministers, 521 AD A i RE, Robert, signs the Scotch Covenant, 527 correspondence concerning him, 528 ADRIAN, Pope, had no right to the kingdom of Ireland, 109. AGARD, Thomas, his letter to Lord Cromwell concerning the preaching of the Gospel, 144 Aghadoe and Ardfert, bishopricks of, their extreme poverty, 445 ALAN, John, archbishop of Dublin, his narrative of a miraculous con- quest gained over the prince of darkness, 56 Cardinal Wolsey's instrument for dissolving some of the lesser monasteries, 155 ALLEN, Lord Chancellor, joins in an answer to Lord Cromwell, touch- ing religious matters, 150 with other members of the privy council visits the four counties above the Barrow, 150 detail of their proceedings, 151 ALLEN, Thomas, informs Lord Cromwell of favour shown to the Papists, 143 ALLEN, Master of the Rolls, recommends the king's supreme dominion to be recognized by the regal title, 166 All-Hallows, monastery of, given by the Corporation of Dublin as a site for an university, 318 Altars and chapels, numerous in the same place, 100 Altar-stone, on" which a leper passed from England to Ireland, 78 AMBROSE, St., two forged prayers attributed to him by the Church of Rome, 209 Anniversaries for celebrating private masses, 99 Antichrist, doctrine concerning, in the Irish Articles of Religion, of questionable propriety, 386 Anti-remonstrants, refuse to acknowledge the king's temporal power, G53 Antrim, county of, earliest Presbyterian congregation formed at Broad Island, 367 Apolooy for authorized and set forms of Liturgy against the pretence of the Spirit, by Bishop Taylor, 648 Apostolical succession, how maintained in the Church of Ireland, 270 unquestioned and unquestionable, 271 in what persons maintained, 285 how maintained at the Restoration, 597 Archbishops, commanded by the king to be careful of the improve- ment of the clergy, 438 758 INDEX. Archbishops and bishops, their full attendance on parliament in 1615, 381 their judgment against toleration of religion, 422 their sees and family names, 423, 424 their petition to King Charles I., in behalf of the inferior clergy, 483 disasters which befell them in the Rebellion of 1641, 562 proscribed by the Act of Attainder, 709 Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, question of precedence between them finally settled, 479481 Archbishopricks, how filled by Queen Elizabeth, 284 Ardagh, bishoprick of, united to Kilmore, 613 cathedral church of, its antiquity and ruinous condition, 435 Ardfert, abbey of, contest between its prior and the bishop of the diocese, 23 Ardfert and Aghadoe, bishoprick of, united to Limerick, 613 ARMAGPI, Archbishop of, Primacy restored to him by Queen Mary, 233 his precedency before Dublin decided, 481 Archbishops of, their jurisdiction independent of the Pope, 4 the first among the Irish prelates, 7 rivalry between them and Archbishops of Dublin, 18 archbishoprick of, five persons nominated for it to King Edward, 213 difficulty of providing a fit person, 215 Goodacre appointed to it, 216 injured by rebellion, 283 improved by Lord Wentworth and Bishop Bramhall, 508 cathedral of, destroyed by Shane O'Neal, 281 restored by Archbishop Hampton, 379 cathedral and town of, destroyed in 1566, 302 , laid waste in the Rebellion of 1641, 558 clergy of, opposed to the king's supremacy, 114 diocese of, report of its state, as to ministers, parsonage-houses, churches, benefices, &c., in 1622, 396 province of, commission for inquiring into the state of its several dioceses, 395 detailed reports of the dioceses with only one exception, 395 abstract of the report, 396 university of, its celebrity, 37 Army, new-modelled for the promotion of James's purposes, 681 Protestants displaced and Papists substituted, 682 Aroasian monks, a branch of the Augustinians, 41 Articles of Faith, with respect to candidates for the ministry, described differently in English and Irish Canons, 500 Articles of Religion, brief declaration of, in 1566, 272 its object and contents, 272 275 corresponding to one in England, 275 general conformity of the Irish clergy to those of the Church of England, 382 plan of forming new Articles for the Church of Ireland carried into effect, 383 INDEX. 750 Articles of Religion, account of these Articles, 383 388 their incorporation of the Lambeth Articles, 384 their diffuse and excursive character, 385 exceptions taken to them at the time, 387 the impediment they presented to an union between the Chtir- of England and Ireland, 387 put forth by the Convocation, 388 question concerning their authority answered, 388 question concerning their repeal, 389 those of England proposed to be adopted in Ireland, 484 account of the proceedings connected with their adoption, 485 41) I Articles of Church of England adopted by Church of Ireland, 490 question of the effect thus produced on the Articles of the Church of Ireland, 49 1494 Articles of 1615, proposal for confirming them in 1G35, 490 answer to the proposal, 490 question as to the effect produced on them by the adoption of the Thirty-nine Articles, 491 different opinions recounted, 491 opinion of Archbishop Ussher, 492 intention of the governments and Bishop Bramhall, 493 different practices consequent thereupon, 493 attempt to procure a ratification of them by Act of Parliament, 494 rejected by Lord Deputy with indignation, 495 fell into neglect after the Restoration, 49G Assembly of Divines at Westminster, Ireland not free from its con- tamination, 576 nominates Archbishop Ussher one of its members, 575 causes him to be voted out again, 576 Athenry, church of, burnt by the Mac an Earlas, 303 unnatural and impious answer on the occasion, 303 Augustinian monks, why particularly numerous, 41 Auricular confession, mischief of it, 148 Austin or Crutched Friars, their establishments, 43 Authority of the Church, set forth in a sermon, delivered to hifl Clergy and published by Henry Leslie, bishop of Down and Connor, 516 BACON, Sir Francis, his letter to Secretary Cecil on the state of Ireland, 328 recommends toleration of religion, 329 BALE, John, bishop of Ossory, his description of the Popish c tion of divine worship, 60 his early life, 217 his promotion by King Edward VI., 2U his consecration, and circumstances of it, 2 his zeal in preaching the gospel at Kilkenny, 2: his horror at the Popish enormities, and description ot them, 2 his account of the subjects of his preaching L>-J4 his charge against Archbishop Browne for not using Kin. Edward's Second Book, '2'J.J his unbecoming grossness of manner, "2'2(> 760 INDEX. BALE, John, bishop of Ossory, his diligence in his charge, 227 his account of the proclamation of Queen Mary at Kilkenny, 230 his flight beyond the seas, 234 his persecutions and dangers, 236 named in the warrant for consecrating Archbishop Parker, 236 Ballinderry, old church of, where Jeremy Taylor officiated, 600 Ballybogan, abbey of, an image of our Saviour there destroyed, 141 Baptism, sacrament of, not used in some parts in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 299 canons relating to it, variation between them, 499 BARON, Roland, appointed to the Archbishoprick of Cashel, 240 BASSENET, Edward, dean of St. Patrick's, a supporter of Romish superstitions, 125 Bastards, Archbishop Browne's children, born in lawful wedlock, so called by parliament, 247 BEDELL, William, his early life, 433 made Provost of Trinity College, 434 and Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, 434 his letter to Bishop Laud, giving an account of his diocese, 435 his exemplary conduct in the management of his diocese, 441 some of his alterations of a questionable nature, 442 his letter to the Lord Deputy on the increase of Popery, 465 his sense of the necessity of a strong military force for the repres- sion of Papists, 466 his gentle and persuasive means for their conversion, 467 his attempt to convert the Romish priesthood, 467 and to circulate religious books in Irish, 468 his experiment a subject of speculation, 469 his peculiar merit in making it, 469 his plan of religious improvement not approved by the Govern- ment, 470 his captivity and sufferings in the Rebellion of 1641, 566 Popish testimony to his character, 566 description of his tomb, and the inscription on it, 567 mark of respect shown by the rebels, 570 BEDLOW, James, does penance in Dublin, 307 Bell, book, and candle, manner of cursing by, 28 Bell, narrative of the remarkable sanctity of one, 618 Benedictine monks, their establishments, 42 Benefices to be given to such as could speak English, 123 in England or Wales made not tenable with benefices in Ireland, 649 BERKLEY, Lord, lord lieutenant, his instructions concerning reli- gion, 651 his arrival welcomed by the Popish party, 653 refuses to support the Remonstrants, 655 his submission to the arrogance of the Popish Archbishop Talbot, 656 BERNARD, Dr., his life of Archbishop Ussher, 331 his account of the method of catechising practised in his time, 440 Bibles, large, placed in the choir of the two Dublin cathedrals, 265 small, their scarcity in Dublin, 266 INDEX. 761 Bibles, large number of them sold in 1559, 266 Bigotry and rebellion in Ireland went hand in hand, 295 BIRNE, Thady, a Franciscan friar, his apprehension for disloyalty, and suicide, 139 Bishop of Rome, Pope so called, 114116, &c. his supremacy, unreasonableness and inveteracy of the sentiments in its favour, 124 Bishop, his character and duty in the admission of candidates for the ministry, 455 sinfulness of deviating from the prescribed line of duty, 456 Bishops, consecrated by Archbishop of Armagh or Archbishop of Can- terbury, 4 ancient mode of their election, 4 alterations in the mode, 9 three parties concerned in it, 1 1 Irish, why consecrated in England, 12 their opposition to the royal prerogative, 15 their discreditable conduct to each other, 18 authorized by the Pope to grant indulgences, 90 two rival, scandalous contention between them, 20 their attachment to the Popish Creed and practice under King Edward VI., 188 insufficiency of those attached to the reformed doctrines, 189 their appointment in this reign by the Crown, 190 who supported the Reformation in the reign of King Edward VI., 191 those who received the English Liturgy, 198 Popish, oath taken by them at consecration at variance with loyalty to the king, 211 removal of, supposed to be in the king's power, 213 their consecration according to the Pontifical, 218 introduction of the new form, 219 circumstances of its first use in Ireland, 220 two archbishops, and eight bishops, together took the Oath of Supremacy, 152 of Munster, sworn to the King's Supremacy and against the Bishop of Rome, 152 appointment of, after the Act for the King's Supremacy, 168 oath of submission taken by them, 169 difference of proceeding with respect to those appointed by the King and the Pope, 169 plan of instructing them in true religion, 173 Popish, substituted for Protestants by Queen Mary, 236 their mode of appointment, 237 charged to put the Act for Uniformity into execution, 259 required to be collated by the Crown, 263 different enactments on that subject in England and in Ireland, 264 hesitation in appointing them by collation, 266 canonical age for their consecration, 269 form of declaration at their consecration, 271 ^ two deprived of their sees in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 276 causes of their deprivation, 276 762 INDEX. Bishops, appointed to vacant sees by Queen Elizabeth, 284 the legitimate, in Ireland, 285 deprived by Queen Mary, not in general restored by Queen Eliza- beth, 296 in Queen Elizabeth's time, their power over their clergy, and abuse of it, 322 Popish, generally conformed, 259, 279 impoverished the Church and their successors, 279 Popish, assisted at the consecration of Protestant bishops, 271 their unwillingness to be interfered with by laymen, 354 not to presume to hold any other benefice, except in commendam, 439 charged with misconduct as to the livings in their gift, 439 called upon to repress lawless ministrations, 459 age fit for those to be made in Ireland, 471 eight, survived the Usurpation, 597 legalized plunder of their property, 597 nominated to the vacant sees, 606 delay in their consecration, 606 advantage taken of it by the sectaries, 607 attempt to diminish their revenues, 607 their petition for the king's protection, 607 their consecration in St. Patrick's, 610 dignity and decency of the solemnity, 611 their entreaty that Bishop Taylor would undertake his Dissuasive from Popery, 615 the law the rule of their conduct, and their obligations for enforcing it, 622 who were driven from Ireland in the reign of King James II., 693 profits of their sequestered estates, 698, 699 who remained in Ireland, 699 and clergy seek the patronage of the Marquis of Ormonde, 603 of Raphoe, Kilmore, Clogher, and Ossory, associated with the Primate in consecrating the new bishops, 608 titular, intrusive missionaries in Ireland, 285 their unauthorized claims, 285 notices of them in history, 286 Bishopricks, impoverished by their holders, 280 and by other causes, 281 how filled by Queen Elizabeth, 284 their despoiled condition in Queen Elizabeth's time, 299 greatly injured by their occupiers, 445 particular examples of it, 445 general extent of the evil, 446 vacant, not filled during the Usurpation, 596 sixteen left unoccupied, 597 supplied with the most eminent men, 605 cause of delay in their appointment, 606 advantage taken of the delay by the sectaries, 607 vacated in James the Second's reign, not supplied, 609 their revenues appropriated for Romish bishops, 609 BLAIR, Mr. Robert, his life written by himself, 453 his objection to the Liturgy and Episcopacy, 453 INDEX. 703 BLAIR, Mr. Robert, his narrative of his admission into the Church, 454 his self-delusion, 455 and sin, 456 his disobedience to the Church after his ordination, 458 his insulting discourse at the Primate's visitation, 4GO his uncharitable representation of a call to preach before the lords justices, 461 his irregular proceedings in Scotland, 461 suspended by his diocesan, 462 seeks relief from Primate Ussher, 462 his account of a conversation which he had with the Primate, 462 questionable character of that account, 463 his appeal to the Primate against the censure of his diocesan, 463 his subsequent ineffectual appeal to the Primate and the govern- ment, 464 sentence of suspension against him revived, and followed by depo- sition, 514 his language to the bishop on that occasion, 514 Blessed, the term, not confined to the Blessed Virgin, 210 Book of Common Prayer, King Edward's Second, revived by Queen Elizabeth, 258 as used in England, received by Act of Uniformity in Ireland, 645 BOOTH, David, vicar-apostolick, his false and insolent book against King James the First, 390 Bos WELL, prebendary of Christ Church, signs the declaration in favour of the Liturgy, 591 is present at one of the last publick readings of it, 594 BOYLE, Richard, archbishop of Tuam, his life endangered in 1641, 5G3 BOYLE, Michael, archbishop of Armagh, his losses in James the Second's time, 699 BOYLE, the Honourable Robert, his attempts to instruct the Irish by means of their own language, 669 prints the Church Catechism in Irish, 670 causes to be made an edition of the Bible, 670 BRABAZON, Justice, seconds Archbishop Browne in supporting the king's supremacy, 118 concurs with the council in a letter to Lord Cromwell, and in a progress through the country, 150 BRABAZON, William, letters patent to him and others for inquiring about images, reliques, &c., 159 account rendered of their inquest, 161 BRADY, Hugh, bishop of Meath, testimony to his worth by Queen Elizabeth, 276 reports the state of his diocese to Sir H. Sidney, 298 BR AM ii ALL, John, one of the chief directors of a regal visitation, 444 his early life, 444 important letter from him to Bishop Laud, 448 recommends the establishment of the English Articles and Canons, 449 recommended for the bishoprick of Derry, 472 question about his age at the time, 472 his labours in convocation to effect a conformity between the Churches of England and Ireland, 489 764 INDEX. BRAMHALL, John, his labours to effect a correspondence between the Churches of England and Ireland, 489 argues for the adoption of the English Articles, 490 proposes a canon for their adoption, 490 his purpose in procuring the adoption of the English xYrticles, 493 commended for it by Bishop Taylor, 493 proposes to adopt the Canons of the Church of England, 495 his proposal resisted by Archbishop Ussher, 495 appointed by convocation to form a body of Canons for the Church of Ireland, 496 his proposal \vith respect to the Irish Canons better than the course followed, 504 his exertions for the improvement of the temporalties of the Church, 507 his labours commemorated by Jeremy Taylor, 509 encourages Bishop Lesley to proceed against his nonconforming clergy, 516 expostulates with him for his too great indulgence, 522 his hospitality to the persecuted clergy of Scotland, 54 1 petition against him to parliament, 550 his impeachment and persecution, 550 his letter of vindication to Archbishop Ussher, 551 his letter to Mrs. Bramhall, 554 his restoration to liberty, 553 his danger and losses in 1641, 565 allowed to use the Book of Common Prayer, 592 his offensiveness to Cromwell, 593 persecuted by Papists and Puritans, 595 his danger of apprehension in Spain, 595 remarks on the narrative, 596 relieved by the unexpected payment of a debt due to him, 598 his appointment to the Primacy, 605 cause of general satisfaction, 605 with the other bishops, petitions for the king's protection, 607 commanded to consecrate the new bishops, 608 his care for the maintenance of decency and dignity at the consecration, 611 his mode of treating the nonconforming ministers of his diocese, 623 his ordination of them, and form of letters of orders, 623 meaning of the language used in them, 624 strange misrepresentation of it, 625 vindication of his conduct and character, 625 appointed Speaker of the House of Lords, 631 advantages obtained by him for the Church, 631 solemnly recognised by the Convocation, 632 requested to administer the Holy Communion to the House of Commons, and preach on the occasion, 633 his death and character, 641 his funeral sermon by Bishop Taylor, 641, 642 Bread and wine at the Communion, to be delivered to every commu- nicant severally, by both the English and the Irish Canons, 499 INDEX. 765 BRICE, Mr. Edward, his life by Mr. John Livingston, 453 BRIGID, St., her miracles, commemorated on her festival in the Breviary, 57 narrative of some of her miraculous performances, 58 her burial place miraculously discovered, 65 BROWNE, George, his character and early life, 111 his election to the archbishoprick of Dublin, 112 his consecration by Archbishop Cranmer, 1 1 2 difficulties attending his first arrival in his diocese, 1 1 3 his letter representing the religious condition of the country, and praying for support, 114 recommends the calling of a parliament to enact the king's supremacy, 115 his speech in parliament in support of the king's supremacy, 1 1 7 his endeavours to abolish false objects of worship, 125 censured by the king for neglect of his duty, 126 justifies himself from the censures, 127 his earnestness in preaching the Gospel, 128 his activity in the king's service, 128 his cause of complaint against the Government, 130 his letter to Lord Cromwell on the subject, 131 his diligence in preaching commended, 135 his further application to Lord Cromwell for additional support, 136 communicates to Lord Cromwell the Pope's commission to the clergy against the king, 138 removes the signs of superstition from his churches, 141 his diligence in preaching the Gospel, 144 obstacles and hindrances opposed to him, 144 enforces the king's supremacy and nullity of the Pope's, 145 opposed by the Lord Deputy, 148 complains to Lord Cromwell of the disobedience of his clergy, 147 difference between him and Bishop Staples, 149 reconciled by Lord Cromwell, 150 accompanies the council on a progress, 150 preaches at Kilkenny, and other places, 151 commended by the council for his diligence in preaching, 152 complains of the Lord Deputy's injustice, 152 purposes to visit the remote parts, 153 remission of a debt from him to the Crown, 172 receives the king's order for receiving the English Liturgy, 198 his sermon in Christ Church on the celebration of divine service according to the English Liturgy, 199 his remarkable denunciation of the Jesuits, 200 appointed by letters patent to the Primacy, 212 reasons for his using the old Pontifical at the consecration of bishops, 214 and for his not using King Edward's Second Book, 226 compelled to surrender his patent for the Primacy, 233 deprived of his archbishoprick, for matrimony, 234 Popish calumny against him, 235 his death, 236 766 INDEX. BROWNE, George, his children born in wedlock declared bastards by Act of Parliament, 247 BUCKWORTH, Theophilus, bishop of Dromore, his exhortation to Mr. Blair, 460 BULKELEY, Lancelot, archbishop of Dublin, his danger in an insurrec- tion of Jesuits and Friars, 431 his controversy with Primate Hampton about precedence, 480 his sufferings from the Rebellion of 1641, 563 anecdote of his use of the Liturgy, 594 censured and confined for the offence, 594 BULLINGBROKE, Dr., his collection of ecclesiastical law in Ireland embraces all statutes relating to the Church, 113 BURNET, Bishop, answer to his remark, as to endeavours for intro- ducing the Reformation into Ireland, 204 a mistake of his corrected, 219 his detail of Bishop Bedell's method for converting Papists, 467 his narrative of the persecutions of Bishop Bedell, 566 BUTLER, Lord, a champion of the Reformation, 134 his opinion in favour of religious instruction, 135 his commendation of Archbishop Browne, 1 35 reports to Lord Cromwell a conversation concerning image-worship at Lord Gray's table, 143 CALVIN, his doctrines, failure of the attempt to ingraft them on the English Articles, 383 similar attempt prosecuted in Ireland, 383 wanted nothing of a bishop but the title, 535 CAMDEN, his account of the destruction of Armagh, 302 his character of Sir Henry Sidney, 306 Canon of the agreement of the Churches of England and Ireland, account of its being past, 490 Canons, English, their introduction into Ireland recommended, 475 proposal to adopt them by the Church of Ireland, opposed, 495 Irish, in what respect improved from the English, 504 question whether any good purpose answered by new modelling the code, 504 body of them framed by Bishop Bramhall, and passed in convoca- tion, 496 their general agreement with the English Canons, 497 leading points of difference stated, 498 alarm taken by the Papists at their publication, 506 36th English compared with 3rd Irish, 498 18th English compared with 7th Irish, 498 27th and 21st English compared with 18th Irish, 499 13th, 55th, 58th, and 82nd English, no corresponding Irish Canon, 499, 500 34th English compared with 31st Irish, 500 the 8th, 86th, 94th, 9th, llth, 12th, 97th Irish, suggested by the peculiar circumstances of the Church, 500503 36th, 43rd, 19th, and 49th Irish, supplemental to the English Canons, 503, 504 INDEX. 767 CANTERBURY, Archbishop of, consecrated some of the Irish bishops, 4 CAREW, P. J., Professor of Divinity, Royal College, Maynooth, his Ecclesiastical History of Ireland quoted, 65, 76 Carmelites, or White Friars, their establishments, 43 Carrickfergus, Solemn League and Covenant taken in the church with great solemnity, 580 Mayor of, ordered to the bar of the House of Commons for not burning the Covenant, 635 CARTE, his Life of the Duke of Ormonde, 3G5 his judgment on the extent of the massacre committed on Pro- testants in 1641, 560 CASEY, bishop of Limerick, deprived of his see, 234 restored to his bishoprick, 236, 296 assisted therein by a coadjutor, 296 Cashel, an Archbishop of, his impeachment for sundry enormities, 23 Archbishoprick of, remarkable vacancy of, 191 Emly united to it, 283 province of, reduced revenues of bishopricks, 446 CASTELE, Robert, prior of the Holy Trinity, supports the superstitions of Rome, 125 CASTLE-STEWART, Lord, a zealous patron of the Presbyterians of the North, 513 his repeated intercession for the nonconforming ministers of Down, 514 Catechising and preaching, evils resulting from neglect of, 422 instructions for the conduct of it, 440 directions for the manner of it, 502 obligation on the clergy to practise it, and its great importance, 531 Cathedral of St. Patrick's, its possessions resigned to the Crown, 182 afterwards restored, 183 Cathedral and parish-churches, price of things found in them bf U king's commissioners, 161 Cathedrals of Dublin, large bibles placed in them, 2G5 Cathedrals, correspondence between Lord Deputy and AjrcfcWihop Laud relative to the repair of them, 512 Cavan, county of, visited in 1611 by Lord Deputy, 353 its condition, 358 its parsonages in a great degree appropriate in 16013. poor endowment of its vicarages, 358 ruinous state of its churches, 358 poverty and ignorance of its incumbents, 358 CECIL, Secretary, consults Archbishop Cramncr on a vacancy (* avcbbishoprick of Armagh, 214 Celibacy, first introduced among the Irish clergy, 5 when first encouraged among ^the clergy^ 3 2 in general, not agreeable to God's will, 51 re-established among the clergy, 234 Ccvcrronics, objections to them productive of serious evils, ;>1 / Ck'plams of the king recommended for Irish bishopric!^, -171 768 INDEX. CHAPPEL, William, Bishop of Cork and Ross, his distresses and poverty in 1641, 565 his vigour and activity in presiding over Trinity College, 479 Chapters, their part in the appointment of bishops, 10 soon superseded, 1 1 Charity, none greater than to persuade the Papists to come to Church, 617 CHARLEMONT, Lord, his letter of congratulation to Archbishop Bram- hall, 605 CHARLES I., King, his accession followed by a bull of the Pope, 418 his commendation of Primate Ussher's speech in the Castle Chamber, 428 his directions to the Lords Justices concerning a riot in Dublin by the Papists, 431 his letter to the archbishops, concerning the conduct of the clergy, 438 his desire to promote the improvement of the Church and religion, 446 petitioned to improve the condition of the rural clergy, 483 improvement of the revenues of the Church under his auspices, 50.9 his directions concerning the Scotch nonconformists, 539 his testimony to Bishop Bramhall's merit, 552 his proclamation against the Solemn League and Covenant, 578 his authority annulled in Ireland two years before his death, 581 CHARLES II., King, first eleven years of his reign only nominal, 581 his proclamation in Dublin, 603 nominates the most eminent men for the vacant bishopricks, 605 his gracious answer to the bishops' petition, 608 restores to the Church all her temporalties, 608 disposed to indulge the English Presbyterians, 639 design of establishing Popery and arbitrary power, 653 sentiments of his government towards the enemies and friends of the royal supremacy, 655 CHESTER, Vicar of, reports an order of King Henry in favour of image worship, 143 CHICHESTER, Sir Arthur, Lord Deputy, his treatment of the Papists, 348 his visitation of three counties of Ulster, 353 his journey after the manner of a military progress, 353 good effects anticipated from his progress, 359 results questionable, 359 opens the parliament of 1615 in great state, 380 signed the Articles of Religion of 1615 by order of King James I. 388 Christ Church, Dublin, enumeration of its reliques, 77 formerly priory of the Holy Trinity, 158 plan for converting it into a house of residence for a council, 1 74 causes of its failure, 1 75 instances of its desecration, 448 its ruinousness, 512 project for its rebuilding, 513 seized for the Papists, and mass performed in it, in reign of King James II., 723 INDEX. 7C9 Christenings and marriages, evil practice of having them in private houses, 475 Christian doctrine, a catechism so called, in English and Irish, 668 Christianity, pure, how to be disseminated through Ireland, difficulty of determining, 330 Church of Christ distinguished from Church of Rome, 197 Church of England and Ireland, use of the phrase in time of King- Henry VIII., 145 Church of Ireland, its polity episcopal, 2 its episcopate at the Reformation, 3 its independence, 3 how brought into connexion with Rome, 4 its independence, how first compromised, 7 summary view of, at the era of the Reformation, 106 how improved in the reign of King Henry VIII., 183 questions as to the extent of improvement, 184 its condition in the early part of King Edward Sixth's reign, 187 its improvement postponed to that of the Church of England, 1 88 improvement of it stopped by the death of King Edward VI., 228 spoils of, conferred on the laity, perpetuated by Queen Mary's parliament, 247 friends of the Reformation in it relieved by the accession of Queen Elizabeth, 252 no particular measures taken immediately in their favour, 253 true episcopal character of its hierarchy indisputable, 271 the lawful prelates of, 285 its lamentable state in the time of Queen Elizabeth, as represented by Sir H. Sidney, 298 none in so miserable a case in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 299 attempts of the Pope in Queen Elizabeth's reign to overthrow it, 307 attempts of the rebels to overthrow it, 307 state of it in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 320 less improved during Queen Elizabeth's reign than might have been expected, 341 summary view of it during that period, 341 its peace disturbed by the plantation of Ulster, 365 cause which has impeded her effect on Popish recusants, 368 its general dependence on the Church of England and conformity to the English Articles, 382 a new profession of faith devised for it, 383 summary view of it in the reign of King James I., 415 increased impediments to its growth, 419 additional light thrown on its condition, 421 instructions to Lord Deputy Wentworth for its improvement, 446 its jurisdiction to be established against all sectarists, 447 its unhappy state detailed by Dr. Bramhall to Bishop Laud, 448 sectarian expedient for procuring her appointments, 452 desirableness of reducing it to a conformity with the Church of England, 474 impediments to effecting it, 474 3 D 770 INDEX. Church of Ireland, lamentable state of it, as described by Lord Deputy Wentworth, 474476 propositions for its improvement, 474 its distempered state, 474476 Archbishop Laud's suggestions for remedy of its evils, 476 several Acts of Parliament in 1635 for improving its temporal estate, 483 improvement of its temporal ties by Bishop Bramhall, 508 improvement of its revenues in King Charles the First's reign, 509 testimony borne to her by strangers, 517 effects on it of the Rebellion of 1641, 558 ruin of its material buildings, 558 diminution of its congregations, 559 calculations of the number destroyed, 559 its exhausted state and different enemies, 569 has no need of those who cannot obey, 523 resumed her station on the king's Restoration, 604 eight of her bishops survived the Usurpation, 605 special need of exertion in its favour after the Restoration, 606 her episcopate completed at the Restoration, 613 difficulty of her situation after the Restoration, 614 difficulty to say how she could have overcome the prepossessions of the Romish population, 615 her arduous position with respect to Protestant sectaries, 620 law for regulating it restored with the monarchy, 621 its provisions, the guide of her governors, recital of them, 622 specious instructions in favour of it, false and hollow, 653 its melancholy prospects on the accession of James II., 679 testimony in its favour by Lord Clarendon, 683 hostility shown to it by Lord Tyrconnel, 684 her clergy deprived of their rights in favour of the Popish clergy, 688 act of James II. for annulling its jurisdiction, 718 series of evils inflicted on it by King James II., 731 her deliverance, 732 obstacles still in the way of her progress, 733 and nonconformists, points in controversy between them, 519 history of, uses of acquaintance with it, 1 how to be learned, 1 Churches of England and Ireland, uniformity between them recom- mended, 449 Canon declaring the agreement between them, 490 general agreement between them as to their Canons greater than it appears, 504 Church of Scotland, bishops of, driven from their sees, sought shelter in Ireland, 541 Church goods, bells, &c., order to prevent the sale of, 203 Churches, forty, destroyed by an unbaptized marauder, 102 his death in that of Carrickfergus, 103 importance of their good outward appearance, 325 in Cork, ordered to be shut up, and Protestants excluded, 723 in Dublin, ordered to be seized for the Papists, 723 INDEX. 771 Church lands, instructions for preserving them from waste and aliena- tion, 279 examples of such abuse, 280 Churchwardens, appointment of fit persons recommended, 325 censured for neglect of duty, 532 Cistercian, or white monks, their establishments, 42 nuns, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 42 CLANEBOY, Viscount, instrumental in introducing nonconformists into the ministry of the Church, 454 456 signs the petition against the Scotch Covenant, 541 CLANRICKARD, Marquis of, Book of Common Prayer used under his protection, 593 CLARENDON, Henry, Earl of, his appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, 680 a blind, to hide the intended proceedings, 681 displaced from the government, 683 his speech on leaving the country, 683 Clergy, their remarkable agreement to resist all lay power and juris- diction, 17 their abuse of their privileges, 31 indignation at being liable to civil penalties, 32 their innocence, how said to have been vitiated, 32 before the Reformation, their moral character, 30 their intellectual character, 36 concubinage no discredit to them, 34 complaints against them, before King Henry's commissioners, 130 before the Reformation, their great ignorance, 136 their disobedience to Archbishop Browne, 147 their non-residence corrected, 173 required to use the English Liturgy, 1 95 illiteracy attributed to them, 196 married, deprived of their benefices, 234 declaration to be made by them in 1566, 272 improvement of their condition recommended, 300 in Queen Elizabeth's time, their disordered lives and unprofessional behaviour, 321 their orthodoxy questioned by Bramhall, 449 their mean condition, 474 many of their wives and children recusants, 475 the rural, their extreme contempt and beggary, 4: inferior, their condition improved by Bishop Bramhall, oO: instructed to preach against the disorders of the disaffected, 524 their liberal gift to King Charles I., 457 miseries inflicted on them in the Rebellion of 1641, 560 parochial, their condition in 1660, 666 Irish, one only a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, obstructed in the recovery of their property in reign of James II., 687 their increased difficulties of living, 688 their persecutions from the Irish Papists in the reign of James II., 700 3 D 2 772 INDEX. Clergy, ineffectual attempts to attach them to the Romish commu- nion, 691 congratulate King William on his victory at the Boyne, 731 of Dublin, sermons preached by them for the instruction of the Papists, 335 of Dublin express their gratitude to the Marquis of Ormonde for his care of the Church, 584 of Dublin, their declaration to the Parliamentary Commissioners concerning the Book of Common Prayer, 587 reasons for their adherence to it, 588 their petition to be still allowed to use it, 590 names and stations of the Clergy who signed the declaration, 591 of Dublin, acts of violence inflicted on them by the Papists in James the Second's reign, 701 illegitimate, evil of their admission to cathedral dignities, 287 checked by Act of Parliament, 287 of Scotland, driven from their country by the Covenanters, and hospitably received in Ireland, 541 Clergyman, peculiar outrage upon one in 1641, 561 Clogher, bishoprick of, vacant several years by reason of the wars, 284 bishoprick of, its revenues augmented by King James the First, so as to become one of the richest in the kingdom, 392 diocese of, its neglected state from the absence of the diocesan, 355 its poverty and augmented revenues, 356 diocese, held together with Derry and Raphoe, 355 held together with Meath, 356 diocese of, account of its benefices, ministers, churches, parsonages &c., in 1622,401 Presbyterian ministers who refused to qualify for the Church, 627 Clonmacnoise, cathedral of, scandalously pillaged, 203 Clonmel, jury of, their charge against the clergy, 36 CLOTWORTHY, Sir John, presents to the Long Parliament a petition from some Protestants of Ulster, 549 a lay assessor of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 576 CLOYNE, bishop of, how called from his poverty,* 445 bishoprick of, united to Cork and Ross, 613 again separated, 613 COLE, Dr., commissioner for lashing the Irish hereticks, 250 his disappointment, 251 Coleraine refuses the Solemn League and Covenant, 580 COLLIER, his statement respecting the Articles of the Irish Church, 491 COLLYER, Jeremy, his Ecclesiastical History, objections stated in it against the Irish Articles of 1615, 387 Commission for the suppression of abbeys, 156 for restoring Popery, 234 for punishing the hereticks of Ireland defeated by a remarkable incident, 250 for inquiring concerning repair of churches and supply of incum- bents, 354 Commissions for inquiring into the state of churches, 247 Commissioners for inquiring into the state of the kingdom, result of their inquest, 129 INDEX. 773 Commissioners of Publick Records in Ireland, a document from their report cited, 369 COMYN, John, archbishop of Dublin, his canon at a provincial synod, relative to the clergy, 33 Conference between Lord Deputy and Primate Dowdall, 208 211 Confession, auricular, its supposed efficacy, 232 Conge d'elire, its inutility and absurdity, 1 1 adjudged not necessary by common law, 263 annulled by Act of Parliament, 263 Consecration of bishops, different forms of, 218 dispute about the use of them, 219 Conforming Presbyterian ministers justified in so doing, 647 Conformity to the established religion required of the undertakers in Ulster, 362 to Episcopacy and the Liturgy declared by the Lords, and agreed to by the Commons, 632 Consecration of new churches directed by the Commons, 503 of twelve bishops unparalleled, 611 notice of the fact by Bishop Taylor, 612 affecting sequel to it, 612 Conspiracy in Ulster by the Irish nobles, 360 their pretext of religion answered, 361 how actuated by religion, 361 Convocation of the clergy, question whether it usually accompanied a Parliament, 381 calling of one in 1615, and the important business transacted by it, 382 of clergy in 1635, business in it affecting the temporalties and spiritualities of the Church, 484 narrative of some of the proceedings in it, 489 recognise Bishop Bramhall's services for the clergy, 510 petition the Government concerning schools, 510 Lower House of, their contrivance with respect to the Articles of Religion, 486 counteracted by Lord Wentworth, 487 CONWAY, Earl of, his feeling on the apprehension of Bishop Taylor, 5 CORBET, author of Lysimachus Nicanor, recommended for a b to the Bishop of Killalla, 542 consequences of that recommendation, 543 Cork, disturbances there by the Papists at King James the accession, 345 churches of, shut up, and Protestants excluded from them, 723 Earl of, complaint of the erection of his tomb in St. Patrick s cathedral, 449 explanation of the fact not satisfactory, 449 and Ross, bishoprick of, an exception to the general dilapidation of bishopricks, 445 Council of Ireland, their letter to Lord Cromwell touching the formation, 150 their progress through the four shires above the Barrow, 15 Counties of Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and fipperary inspected by commissioners, and reported on, 133 774 INDEX. Counties, four above the Barrow, visited by the Privy Council, 150 Covenant, national, of Scotland, attempts for introducing it into Ireland, 524 precursor of the Solemn League and Covenant, 524 Scotch, a full confutation of it, in a speech addressed by Bishop Lesley to his clergy, and published in 1638, 531 renunciation of it by some of the Scottish nation in Ireland, 539 new, spread over Ireland in 1680, put down by the Duke of Ormonde, 661 Cox, his History of Ireland, incorrect statement in it rectified, 190 his narrative of the defeat of the Commission for punishing the hereticks of Ireland, 250 his error in applying to the Irish dioceses in general, Bishop Bedell's description of Kilmore, 437 COYN, bishop of Limerick, receives the English Liturgy, 198 CRAIKE, bishop of Kildare, injury done by him to his successors, 276 CRANMER, Archbishop, nominates five persons for the archbishoprick of Armagh, 213 Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, set up in the Dublin churches, 141 CRESSY, Mr. Justice, his letter on the increase of Popery, 464 danger incurred by him in discharging his duty, 465 CROFTS, Sir James, appointed Lord Deputy, 202 his instructions, 203 named in the prayer for the Lord Deputy, 205 invites the Primate to a conference, 205 his letter on the occasion, 206 his conference with the Primate, 208 CUSACKE, Thomas, Lord Chancellor, complains of the scarcity of preachers in King Edward's reign, 221 CROMER, George, archbishop of Armagh, opposed the establishment of the king's supremacy, 108 his vehement opposition to the king's supremacy, 114 his opposition to the king's prerogative as established by law, 124 his remissness in executing the king's orders, 136 seeks aid from the Duke of Norfolk, 137 encouraged by commission from the Pope, 138 his death, 175 remarks on the appointment of his successor, 176 CROMWELL, Henry, allowed pensions to the bishops during the Usur- pation, 598 CROMWELL, Lord, the patron of Archbishop Browne, 112 his instructions for abolishing images, 125 hated and reviled by the common Irish, 137 CROMWELL, Oliver, his tyranny over the Irish Church, 570 his declaration concerning Bishop Bramhall, 593 Primers and Bibles, recognizing him as Protector, disallc 634, 635 Cross, the true, pieces of it religiously preserved, 70 Crosses, objects of religious veneration, 70 several examples specified, 72 r INDEX. 77.-, Crusades, indulgences granted for their encouragement 89 CULME, Benjamin, dean of St. Patrick's, unites with the clemy in thanking the Marquis of Ormonde for his care of the Church, oo4 signed the Declaration concerning the Book of Common Prayer, 592 CUNNINGHAM, Mr., deposed from the ministry, 522 insufficiency of his vindication, 523 satisfactory answer to his appeal, 523 Curates, insufficient supply of, in Queen Elizabeth's time, 305 causes of it, 305 recommended for impropriate parishes, 378 amount of provision to be made for them, 379 Curse, form of, pronounced for disobedience to the Pope, 138 CURWEN, Hugh, archbishop of Dublin, 237 recommended to the Chapter of Christ Church, 238 his religious and political sentiments, 238 supposed cause of the death of Frith, 239 counteracts the efforts of his predecessor, 239 a complier in all reigns, 239 favourable impression made by his first sermon in Dublin, 240 I rovincial synod holden by him, 241 detects a pretended Popish miracle, 255 his sermon on the occasion, 256 causes the miraculous image to be taken down, 255 project for removing him, 282 his translation to Oxford, 282 DALY, Robert, bishop of Kildare, his persecutions by rebels, 309 DALIEEL, Major, refuses to take the Covenant, 579 DANIEL, William, archbishop of Tuam, engaged in an Irish translation of the New Testament, 294 DA VIES, Sir John, his remark on the Pope's claim to the kingdom of Ireland, 109 his letter to Lord Salisbury with account of Sir Arthur Chiches- ter's progress in Ulster, 353 elected Speaker of the House of Commons in opposition to the Papists, 380 his excellent speech to the Lord Deputy, 381 Dead lady, miraculously brought to life, that she might receive extreme unction, 77 Declaration by the Dublin clergy in favour of the Common Prayer Book and against the Directory, 588 590 names of those who signed it, 591 Di LVIN, Baron of, his son proposed for the archbishoprick of Armagh, 177 Deposition, sentence of, on certain nonconforming ministers, its neces- sity, 523 Di--rrv, bishoprick of, not regularly filled by Queen Elizabeth, 284 Us reduced value, 446 d'ocese of, state of its ministers, churches, &c., in 1622, 401 ruinous state of its churches, and poverty of its ministers, in 1670, 667 776 INDEX. Berry, factious and seditious character of its inhabitants, 580 their favourable disposition towards the Solemn League and Covenant, 581 Governor and Protestants of, murdered by Sir Cahir O'Dogharty, 362 DESMOND, Earl of, his arrogant letter to the Lord Justice, 307 DEVEREUX, Alexander and John, bishops of Ferns, injury done by them to the bishoprick, 375 DIAZ, Thomas, titular bishop of Meath, disapproves of the Rebellion of 1641, 570 Diocesan reports, important information to be derived from them, 369 Directory, ordered to be used instead of the Liturgy, 585 Discourse on the ancient religion of the British and Irish by Bishop Ussher, its occasion and contents, 395 Dispensations, necessary to be granted, 132 Dissenters and separatists, united for the Church's destruction, 577 Dissuasive from Popery, written by Bishop Taylor at the entreaty of the bishops, 615 a record of the sense entertained by them of the growing strength of the Church of Rome, 615 a fund of argument for controversialists, 616 an authentick exposition of the condition of Irish Papists, 617 Divine institution, apostolical tradition, and Catholick practice of the sacred order and offices of Episcopacy, by Bishop Taylor, 648 worship, difference between the English and Irish Canons relating to it, 498 Dominican, or black friars, their establishments, 42 DOMINICK, St., image of, burnt at Cork, 306 DONELLAN, Nehemiah, archbishop of Tuam, engaged in a translation of the New Testament into Irish, 294 DOPPING, Anthony, bishop of Meath, removed by James II. from the Privy Council, 685 his activity in the absence of the Archbishop of Dublin, 701 his honourable conduct in parliament, 702 resists the repeal of the Act of Settlement, 702 presents the congratulations of the clergy to King William on his victory at the Boyne, 732 DOWDALL, George, designed for the archbishoprick of Armagh on a vacancy, 177 his previous condition, 177 mandate for his consecration, 178 his consecration and character, 180 ambiguity of his conduct, 181 holds a synod at Drogheda, 181 canonizes Richard Fitz-Ralph, 182 restored to the Primacy by Queen Mary, 233 commissioned with others to restore the Papal religion, 234 his zeal in restoring Popery, 240 opposes the introduction of the English Liturgy into Ireland, 196 his altercation with the Lord Deputy, 197 quits the assembly with indignation, 197 INDEX. 777 DOWDALL, invited by Lord Deputy to a conference, 206 accepts the invitation, 207 his debate with Lord Deputy and Bishop Staples, 208 deprived of the primacy, 212 question as to the cause of his leaving Ireland, 213 his successor appointed, 214 his death in the reign of Queen Mary, 266 untruly said to have been deprived by Queen Elizabeth, 267 Down, a bishop of, his irregularities, 24 censured for not wearing his monastick dress, 44 a titular bishop of, apprehended in consequence of a proclamation. 369 cathedral of, burned by Lord Gray, 142 its ruinous condition, 512 letters relative to it between Lord Deputy and Archbishop Laud, 512 county of, an early Presbyterian congregation formed at Holy- wood, 367 and Antrim, counties of, principally exposed to infection from Scotland, 527 receive the Solemn League and Covenant, 580 diocese of, transactions in it relative to non- conformist ministers, 513 and Connor, diocese of, its condition as to parishes, churches, minis- ters, &c., in 1622, 407 its peculiarity as to chapels, 407 some of the clergy of, refuse to subscribe the Canons, 515 ineffectual attempts of the bishop to retain them in the Church, 515 their objections to conformity, 521 their deposition, 522 Presbyterian ministers who refused to qualify themselves for the Church, 627 DOWNIIAM, George, bishop of Derry, publishes the judgment of the bishops concerning toleration, 424 receives the acclamation of the people, 425 justifies the judgment against objection, 425 obtains a commission for apprehending those who declined his jurisdiction, 437 Dramatick representations of Scriptural events and legendary tales publickly exhibited, 94 and of heathen mythology, 94 by machinery of puppets, 96 attempted improvement of them, 97 banished by the Reformation, 97 DRAPER, Robert, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, special reasons for his appointment, 357 his inattention to his charge, 358 Drogheda, attempt to found an university there, 39 St. Peter's church, chapel there for perpetual masses, 98 Dromore, see of, united to Down and Connor, and again separated, 613 778 INDEX. DRURY, Sir William, Lord Deputy, binds the citizens of Kilkenny to attend divine service on Sundays, 306 his execution of two persons for witchcraft, 314 Dublin, archbishoprick of, some time vacant after the deprivation of Archbishop Browne, 237 its poverty in 1572, 283 its condition with respect to patronage, 312 the two cathedrals of, their controversy, 249 city of, impossibility of defending, 583 surrendered to the parliamentary commissioners, 584 diocese of, particulars concerning it, arising out of a regal visita- tion in 1615, 389 impossibility of supplying the churches wi.th ministers, 390 Popish university erected there, 430, 466 province of, under regal visitation in 1615, 389 aldermen of, means taken for inducing them to comply with the Act of Uniformity, 348 mayor and aldermen of, grant a site for an university, 317 university in, failure of a project for establishing one, 312 a succeeding attempt more prosperous, 317 receives a benefaction of books from the English army, 340 unsuccessful attempts to establish an university there, 38 mayor and citizens of, penances inflicted on them, 88 DUFF, Adam, first person punished for heresy, 29 ECCLESIASTICAL alterations in four successive reigns, 264 difficulties consequent thereon, 265 benefices, holden by laymen on dispensation, 287 attempts to correct the evil, 287 disposal of, by King James the Second, 691 courts, Papists coming to them excommunicated by their clergy, 436 commission for enforcing their authority, 437 question as to the fitness of bishops presiding in them, 443 livings, evil consequences of their having been given to the laity, 664 privileges, abused by the clergy, 31 ECHLIN, Robert, bishop of Down and Connor, his faithfulness to the Church, called in question, 453 his conversation with an opponent of the Church, 454 his admission of him to holy orders by an unlawful form of ordi- nation, 455 recalled to the practice of his duty, 459 requires Mr. Blair to preach at the Primate's visitation, 460 and at an assize before the Lords Justices, 461 his sentence of deposition on the non-conforming ministers, and his death, 514 EDMUNDS, or MATTERSHED, Elizabeth, narrative of her preservation of the Irish Protestants, 250 Education, difficult to be procured, 37 attempts at improving it, 38 EDWARD VI., King, little improvement in the early part of his reign, 187 INDEX. 779 EDWARD VI., King, his authority maintained in the exercise of eccle- siastical patronage, 189 his order for introducing the English Book of Common Prayer into Ireland, 192. See English Book," &c. copy of the order, 194 his Second Book, objections to receiving it in Ireland, 225 not unreasonable, 226 summary of religious improvement during his reign, 228 his Second Book, use of it enacted in all churches of Ireland, 258 penalties for refusing or despising it, 258 bishops required to enforce it, 259 copies to be procured in all churches, 259 ecclesiastical alterations in his reign, 264 ELIZABETH, Queen, rewards the woman who saved her Majesty's Protestant subjects of Ireland, 251 her accession a relief to the Irish Protestants, 252 no steps taken immediately for their benefit, 253 effect produced on her by a pretended Popish miracle, 256 her revival of King Edward's Second Book of Common Prayer, 258 ecclesiastical alterations in her reign, 264 her letters for the establishment of the Protestant religion, 265 gives directions for the establishment of the Protestant religion in Ireland, 265 only two bishops deprived in her reign, 276, App. No. II. regularly made collations to vacant bishopricks, 284 made appointment to sees as they became vacant, 285 her apparent rule of appointment to sees as they became vacant, 285 number of Englishmen and Irishmen appointed by her, 285 deprived of her kingdom by bull of Pope Pius V., 295 her government rather indulgent to Papists than just to Pro- testants, 296 depressed state of the Church of Ireland in her reign, 298 her commission for supplying the want of churches and ministers, 301 attempts made by the Pope to overthrow her dominion, 307 grants her licence for founding an university in Dublin, 317 her indulgence of the Papists, 337 her death, 341 effect of her reign on the Irish Church, 341 English, not fond of living in Ireland, 214 in Ireland, testimony to their value by the Earl of Claren- don, 683 army in Ireland, its officers make a benefaction of books to the University of Dublin, 340 bishops and clergy, project of Sir H. Sidney for employing them in Ireland, 301 Book of Common Prayer introduced into Ireland, 191 not correctly called a translation, 193 probable motive for so representing it, 193 ordered to be used by the clergy of Ireland, 1 94 780 INDEX. English Book of Common Prayer, rejected by Archbishop Dowdall, 197 received by Archbishop Browne and other bishops, 198 Book of Common Prayer, used in Dublin in 1551, 199 Liturgy, order for translating it into Irish, 202 first book printed in Dublin, 205 a copy of it in Trinity College library, 205 vindicated from Popish objections, 208 of 5 and 6 Edward the Sixth, objections to its being received in Ireland, 225 ceased since King Edward the Sixth, revived after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, 253 ordered by the queen to be restored in Dublin, 254 remarkable case attending its restoration, 255 clergymen, causes of their not succeeding in Queen Elizabeth's time, 323 curates, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, remarkable examples of their ignorance, 323 language, a qualification for admission to cathedral dignities, 287 means chosen for civilizing the Irish, 290 order, habit, and language, encouraged by Act of Parliament, 1 23 gross ignorance and misrepresentation of it, 123 Pater Noster, &c., delivered to the bishops for distribution, 151 Protestants fled into Ireland, in Queen Mary's reign, 248 cause not discovered till afterwards, 249 statutes, accepted by law in Ireland, 113 Episcopacy and the Liturgy, part of the legal establishment at the Restoration, 604 Episcopal duties, opinion of the discharge of them exemplified in 1612, 372 ordination, necessary for holding a benefice, 646 called for by the circumstances of the country, 647 also necessary for administering the Lord's Supper, under penalty, 646 of undue severity, and little carried into execution, 648 patronage, great abuse of, 439 ERASMUS, his character, 209 a forgery alleged by him against the Church of Rome, 209 his writings more powerful than those of the Church of Rome, 210 Eremites of St. Augustin, or Austin Friars, 43 Excommunication, general, instances of, 27 of individuals exemplified, 25 the less and the greater, 24, 25 Extreme unction, its importance miraculously attested, 76 EZEKIEL, a prophecy of, applied by Ussher to the condition of Ireland, 339 its accomplishment, 339 FACULTIES for granting indulgences, given by the Pope to bishops, 90 FALKLAND, Viscount, Lord Deputy, remarkable sermon on his being sworn in, 408 censures Papists of quality for refusing to take the oath of supre- macy, 412 INDEX. 781 FALKLAND, Viscount, his letter to Primate Ussher on the ill conduct of the Papists, 429 his instructions concerning irregularities at llaphoe, 430 compelled to issue a proclamation against the Popish clergy, 428 solicits Primate Ussher to make a speech in the Castle Chamber, 426 transmits a copy of it to the king, 428 Fermanagh, county of, visited by Lord Deputy in 1611, 353 particulars of its ecclesiastical condition, 357 not one fixed village in the county, 357 Ferns and Leighlin, diocese of, report of it in 1612, a valuable docu- ment, 369 particulars of it, 370 379 several Popish priests harbouring in the diocese in 1612, 373 state of the churches therein, 374 value of the benefices, 375 depreciation of the bishopricks, 375 united by King James the First's letters patent, 376 comparative value of the benefices in peace, and as reduced by rebellion, 376 First fruits of ecclesiastical preferments, act relating to, 122 neglect of, 475 FITTON, Sir Alexander, lord chancellor, motives to his appointment, 685 FITZRALPH, archbishop of Armagh, attempts to improve education, 37 his character of the mendicant friars, 46 a festival ordained in his honour, 1 82 FITZ-SYMONDS, Henry, the Jesuit, his challenge to a disputation, 331 controversy between him and James Ussher, 332 subject of it, 333 throws the blame of discontinuing it on Ussher, 334 FITZWILLIAM, Sir William, Lord Deputy, his neglect of the bishoprick of Kilmore, 316 Foreign powers, Irish practice to seek aid from, 139 Form of beads, or prayers, directing what the clergy should pray for, 145 Form of prayer before sermons not contained in the Irish Canons, 500 Franciscans or friars minor, their establishments, 42 three orders of them, 43 Friar, hanged in his habit, 151 Friars, their interference with the rule of God and the king, 148 de Penitentia Jesu, or Sax Friars, 43 Friars mendicant, four orders of, 42 of modern institution, 45 their shameless conduct, 46 and Popish priests in Dublin, proclamation against their meeting, 271 Friaries, price of things found in them by the king's commissioners, 165 FULLER, his statement respecting the Articles of the Irish Church, 492 FULWAR, bishop of Ardfert, made archbishop of Tuam, 609 GALBRATH, correspondence relative to his preferment, 524 result of the correspondence, and its sequel, 526 Galway, church of, its ornaments confiscated by Lord Gray, 142 782 INDEX. Galway, church of, contained fourteen chapels and altars, 100 corporation of, laws relative to the clergy, 34 GARVEY, John, made Bishop of Kilmore, 311 promoted to the primacy, 315 his character, 315 GELASIUS, archbishop of Armagh, the first who accepted the archie- piscopal pall, 6, 7 Geneva, its church-government episcopal, 535 Gilbertian monks, 42 GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, his opinion of the Irish clergy, 33 his history of the conquest of Ireland, 110 Glebes, not selected according to King James's directions, 400 GOD, his honour confounded with his creatures, 56 spiritual worship of, superseded by superstition, 102 and the saints, comparative honour shown to each, 101 GOOD ACRE, Hugh, archbishop of Armagh, 215 opinion entertained of him by Cranmer, 215 and by Queen Elizabeth, 216 recommended by the English Privy Council, 216 his consecration, 217 his death attributed to poison, probably without cause, 227 valuable writings ascribed to him, 227 GORE, Hugh, bishop of Waterford, his inhuman treatment from the Irish Papists, 699 GRANDISON, Viscount, Lord Deputy, congratulates Ussher on his being made bishop of Meath, 393 GRAY, Arthur Lord, Lord Deputy, accompanied to Ireland by Spenser, 320 GRAY, Leonard Lord, Lord Deputy, parliament called under him, 115 advertises Lord Cromwell of the prorogation of parliament, and its cause, 120 his harsh treatment of Archbishop Browne, 131 sacrilegious acts ascribed to him, 142 a favourer of the Popish corruptions, 143 hears masses, kneeling before the idol of Trim, 144 his opposition to Archbishop Browne, 148 his seizure of Archbishop Browne's house and furniture, 152 supports a provincial governor in opposition to the king, 153 deposes a bishop of the king's promotion, 154 HALL, Henry, bishop of Killalla, signed the declaration concerning the Book of Common Prayer, 592 HAMILTON, archbishop of Cashel, fled from the rebellion of 1641, 563 HAMPTON, Christopher, his elevation to the primacy, 379 his character and benefactions to his see, 379 his sermon at St. Patrick's on opening the parliament, 380 his letter to Bishop Ussher on account of a sermon before the Lord Deputy, 410 his advice on the subject, 411 his death and character, 413 his patent for issuing marriage licences at uncanonical hours, 413 appointed king's almoner, 414 INDEX. 783 HAMPTON, maintains his right of precedence against the archbishops of Dublin, 479 his remarks on the dispute, 480 Hearers, a congregation not properly so described, 601 HEATH, archbishop of York, his gift of bibles to the cathedrals of Dublin, 265 HEBER, Bishop, his notice of the peculiar evils of the times of the usurpation instanced in Bishop Taylor, 599 his inaccurate description of the church where Bishop Taylor preached, 599 his language not of his own choosing, 600 correctness of his narrative concerning Bishop Taylor's remains questioned, 673 HENRY II., King, his appointment of a bishop to Waterford, 8 his right to the kingdom of Ireland, 109 his acquisition of the kingdom of Ireland, independent of the Pope, 109 HENRY V., King, statute in his reign against hereticks and Lollards, remarks on its adoption in Ireland, 113 HENRY VIII., King, his desire to establish his supremacy in the Church of Ireland, 107 opposition which he encountered, 108 charges Archbishop Browne with neglect of duty, and threatens to displace him, 126, 127 report of monastick possessions given to him for his own proper use, 164 little careful of the spiritual improvement of the Church, 176 benefit of his reign to the Church, 183 his good-will to it questionable, 183 alterations in ecclesiastical affairs in his reign, 264 Heresy, first instance of its punishment, 29 two Irishmen burned for, 30 and Lollardy, acts against, revived by the Parliament of Queen Mary, 246 acts for the punishment of, repealed, 257 what to be so adjudged, 257 Hereticks, vow to oppugn them, 138 and Lollards, Queen Mary's instructions for their punishment, 2 fearful prospect of those deemed such in Queen Mary's reign, 249 proofs of intention to inflict the penalties of the law upon them in Queen Mary's reign, 249 HEYLIN, Dr., his objection to the Irish Article on the morality of the Sabbath, 386 Hierarchy, Irish, at the era of the Reformation, 107 of the Irish Church, its true episcopal character, 27 1 catalogue of, from the Reformation to Revolution, A pp. No. I. HIGGINS, a convert from Popery, useful in completing an edition of the Scriptures in Irish, 670 High Commission Court in Dublin, for enforcing the Act of Unit' mity, 335 its power withdrawn by the English Government, 338 in Dublin, recommended, 476 784 INDEX. High Commission Court in Dublin, uses to which applicable, 476 Holy Communion, directions in "preparation for it, 503 Holydays of the Church, the due keeping of them recommended, 511 Holy Scriptures, translation of, question whether introduced by Henry the Eighth's authority into Ireland, 192 irreligiously treated in 1641, 562 plan for publishing an edition of them in Irish by Mr. Boyle, 671 history and success of it, 671 Holy Trinity, cathedral of, list of persons deposited there in the four- teenth century, 99 obligation on the prior and canons to celebrate their anniversa- ries, 99 prior and convent of, made dean and chapter of Christ Church, 158 House of Commons, artifices used for its composition in the time of King James the Second, 707 consisted mostly of Papists, 707 counties and boroughs not represented, 708 House of Lords, in James the Second's reign, its composition, 705 Housekeepers required to go to church on Sundays, 271 HOYLE, Joshua, the only Irish clergyman a member of the West- minster Assembly of Divines, 576 HUMFREY, prebendary of St. Patrick's, his opposition to his ordinary as to divine service, 147 confined by the archbishop, and liberated by Lord Deputy, 148 IGNORANCE of the people, extreme, provision for counteracting it, 290 Image of Christ, displaced by Archbishop Browne, restored by Arch- bishop Curwen, in Christ's Church, 239 the subject of a Popish miracle in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 255 Images, objects of special veneration, 70 some remarkable examples, 71 and reliques, difficulty of removing them, 136 removed from the Dublin churches, 141 generally defaced or removed, 141 reliques, &c., commission for searching out, and destroying, 150 no specification of them in the report, 163 Impropriations, evil consequences of them, 298, 378 how recommended to be remedied, 379 evil of them in the diocese of Dublin, in 1615, 389 evil of them, 400 their ill-consequences, 407 means taken for restoring them to the Church, 508 in some respects frustrated, 510 Incontinency of priests, laws for correcting it, 173 Indulgences of bishops, 89 meaning and nature of them, 90 numerous examples of them, 91 94 by the Pope, 88 occasions and conditions of them, 89 Invocation, " under the invocation of," a form in the foundation of monasteries, 50 Ireland, view of the state of it by Spenser, 321 INDEX. 785 Ireland, state of, at the accession of King James the First, 343 crown of, its dependence on that of England, 229 common people of, their want of instruction, 327 their immoral habits incompatible with reformed religion, 328 king of, statute for enacting the title, 1 65 kingdom of, overrun by immorality and irreligion, 288 proceedings of Lord Deputy and council with regard to its con- dition, 289 kingdom of, given by the Pope to the King of Spain, 308 northern counties of, assailed by the Scotch Covenant, 527 princes of, their voluntary submission to the crown of England, 110 Irish people, their extreme ignorance before the Reformation, 115 their applications to foreign powers for aid against the English, 139 clerks employed to supply the place of incumbents, 402 language, order for the use of it, where English was not under- stood, 203 propriety of the instruction for translating the Liturgy into it, 204 ministers who could speak it, recommended, 300 principle of instructing the people in it, exemplified, 359 more practised than generally supposed, 360 esteemed a good instrument for converting the Irish Papists, 468 provisions for celebrating divine service in it, inserted in the Irish Canons, 500, 501 fresh experiment for instructing the natives by means of it, 668 letters, alleged difficulty of printing in, or reading them, 260 ministers or readers, 400 Papists, forbidden to take the oath of allegiance to King Charles the First, 418 readers, examples of, 397 scholars, who had conformed, fines unduly levied on them, 406 tongue, knowledge of, instanced as possessed by several ministers in 1612, 376 translations of the Scriptures and the Liturgy, provided by Bishop Bedell, 468 types for printing introduced into Ireland, 293 versions of the Bible and Catechism recommended, 329 Irreligious state of Ireland referred to the distracted state of the tiir.es, 327 ISAAC, Bartholomew, vicar-choral of St. Patrick's, dismissed from his vicarage for neglect of duty, 693 his appeal to James the Second to reinstate him, 694 Island of Saints, pretensions to that name lost, 105 Ireland so called, and claimed as belonging to the Bishop of Rome, 114 JAMES THE FIRST, King, favourable circumstances of his accession, 343 Popish disturbances that nevertheless ensued, 344 his favour to some Irish chiefs, 347 more reserved in his subsequent concessions, 348 3 E 786 INDEX. JAMES THE FIRST, King, his desire tp instruct the Irish in their own tongue, 360 gives large tracts of land for publick uses in Ulster, 362 remedy applied by him to the religious abuses of Ulster, 364 his grants of lands and advowsons to Trinity College, 365 instructions and interrogations from him to the archbishops and bishops, 370 his instructions concerning Popish recusants, 371 acknowledged by all the spiritual lords as their patron, 381 boasted that Ussher was a bishop of his own making, 393 issues a commission for examining the state of the dioceses in Ulster, 395 his appointment of Bishop Ussher to the primacy, one of the last acts of his reign, 414 summary view of the Church in his reign, 415 JAMES THE SECOND, King, his accession the cause of melancholy fore- bodings, 679 different extent of his reign in England and Ireland, 680, 730 endeavours to reinstate a vicar-choral, displaced from his post in St. Patrick's, 694 attempts to force a fellow on Trinity College, 728 his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, 692 its comparative effects in England and Ireland, 693 his exercise of the dispensing power, 693 his personal misconduct to his subjects, 702 his arrival in Ireland, 703 issues his proclamation for a parliament, 704 real character of his measures disclosed by the Act of Attainder, 704 declines to enforce his own provisions in defence of Protestants, 724 his resolution to establish Popery, 730 calamities inflicted by his reign on the Church of Ireland, 731 Jesuits, their first introduction into Ireland, 181 remarkable description of them by Archbishop Browne, 200 and seminary priests, their efforts in dissuading the people from attending the Church-service, 349 their interference with the decisions of the king's courts, 349 their rebuilding of churches and monasteries, 350 proclaim King James the First to be of their religion, 350 ordered by proclamation to quit the kingdom, 350 and friars, insurrectionary riot of, 431 danger caused by it to Archbishop of Dublin, 431 its penalty, 432 Jesus, staff of, legend concerning it, 68 Jew of London-derry, a schoolmaster there, directions for correcting him, 447 JOHN, King, his contest with the Pope about an archbishop, 8 bribed to compromise the rights of his crown, 9 JONES, archbishop of Dublin, his report of his diocese in 1615, made on occasion of a royal visitation, 389 signs the Irish Articles in 1615, 388 INDEX. 787 JONES, archbishop of Dublin, his ineffectual endeavours to supply his diocese with sufficient ministers, 390 for what actions memorable, 430 JONES, bishop of Killaloe, remained in Ireland during the Rebellion of 1641, 566 Jubilee for the restoration of the Romish religion, 241 Judgment of bishops against the toleration of Popery, 423 remarkable circumstances attending its publication, 424 assented to by the people, 425 vindicated by the statute, 427 as well as on higher grounds, 427 followed by a remonstrance from the English House of Commons, KEATING, chief justice, resists the repeal of the Act of Settlement, 709 KELLEY, Ralph, archbishop of Cashel, his illegitimacy, 35 KERNEY, John, treasurer of St. Patrick's, associated with Walsh in translating the Common Prayer Book and Scriptures, 293 Kerry, bishop of, beneficed in Leighlin, 377 bishoprick of, name given to the sees of Ardfert and Affhadoe, 283 its temporalties wasted by the rebellions, 283 KETTLE, the Lady Alice, charged with witchcraft, 29 KIERAN, St., striking miracle attributed to him, 75 Kilcoleman, place of Spenser's residence, 320 Kildare, bishop appointed to it soon after the Restoration, 613 Kilfenora, bishoprick of, united to Tuam, 613 Kilkenny, particulars of proclamation of Queen Mary there, 230 cathedral church of, broken open and plundered in the Rebellion of 1641, 558 its ruinous state in 1660, 663 school at, superseded by a Jesuits' college, 689 Kilmainham priory, two rival claimants of, 24 restored, and again suppressed, 247 Kilmore, two rival bishops of, 24 bishoprick of, its peculiar circumstances, 171 long unoccupied, 284 diocese of, much neglected by the English government, 310 recommended to be brought under the royal jurisdiction, 311 a bishop appointed to it, 311 again neglected after Bishop Garvey's promotion, 316 a bishop appointed to it in 1603, after a long interval, 357 united with Ardagh, 357 and Ardagh, diocese of, state of its incumbents, churches, parscn- age-houses, &c., in 1622, 400 and Ardagh, diocese of, its general state as represented by Bishop Bedell, 435 miserable condition of its churches, parishes, and ministers, 436 description improperly applied by Cox to the Irish dioceses in general, 437 Kilulta, church of, where Bishop Taylor is said to have preached, none such in existence, 600 3 E 2 788 INDEX. Kilulta, church of, what church intended, 600 King, his original power in the appointment of bishops, 4 interfered with by the Pope, 4 his subsequent conflicts with the Pope, 9 encroachments on his prerogative, 1 2 of England declared King instead of Lord of Ireland, 165 cause of the change of title, 166 rejoicings on the occasion, 165 Kings of England, their claim to the dominion of Ireland independent of Papal authority, 109 founded on conquest and submission, 110 King's supremacy, impediments to its establishment, 109 King, his supremacy established by Act of Parliament, 116 appeals to him in all spiritual causes enacted, 116 King's supremacy, severe measures judged necessary towards the im- pugners of it, 147 effect of its legal establishment in the appointment to bishopricks, 167 King, declaration of unlawfulness of taking arms against him, 646 extraordinary arbitrary power vested in him by Act of James the Second's parliament, 721 King's almoner, institution of the office, 413 KING, William, archbishop of Dublin, his complaint of the smallness of his patronage, 312 his answer to Manby's justification of his conversion, 692 his specification of outrages perpetrated on the Dublin clergy, 701 his activity in supplying the wants of the diocese, 701 preaches at St. Patrick's after the victory at the Boyne, 732 Kinsale, defeat of the Spaniards there, its effect, 335 KIPPIS, Dr., questions a narrative relating to Bishop Bramhall, 595 Kirk of Scotland, ministers of, sent to press the Solemn League and Covenant on the north of Ireland, 579 their violence and success, 580 Scotch, high notions of its authority, 606 KIRK, a beneficed clergyman in England, employed in editing the Scrip- tures in Irish, 670 Kneeling at the Lord's Supper required by both the English and Irish Canons, 499 Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers, 42 KNOX, Andrew, bishop of Raphoe, charge against him involving his faithfulness to the Church, 453 his irregularity in ordaining a candidate who objected to the prin- ciples and practices of the Church, and by an unlawful form, 456 his usual practice, 457 LAGHLIN OGE, a Popish priest, his mischievous interference with the Church, 375 LALOR, Robert, his apprehension and indictment, 351 his submission and confession of his offences, 351 his prevarication, 352 his subsequent indictment and conviction, 353 INDEX. 789 LALY, Thomas, a layman, deprived of a benefice, for inability to exercise the clerical functions, 309 Lambeth Articles, rejected in England, adopted in Ireland, 383 incorporated almost word for word in the Irish Articles, 384 mode of their incorporation, 385 LANCASTER, Thomas, archbishop of Armagh, licensed to hold several benefices in commendam, 283 his numerous benefices, 310 LANCASTER, Thomas, bishop of Kildare, a friend of the Reformation, receives the English Liturgy, 198 attends the conference between the Lord Deputy and Primate Dowdall, 207 deprived of his see, 234 improperly identified with Archbishop of Armagh, 295 Lands forfeited, given by the Crown for publick purposes, 362 Latin version of the English Liturgy suggested, 260 unfitness and inutility of the suggestion, 261 LAUD, William, bishop of London, recommends Bedell for the bishop- rick of Kilmore, 434 his letter to Lord Deputy Went worth concerning the Church, 446 LAUD, Archbishop of Canterbury, his letter to the Lord Deputy on supplying vacancies in the Irish episcopacy, 471 his letter concerning the supply of the bishoprick of Derry, 472 objects to Irish bishops holding commendams in England, 473 his letter to Lord Wentworth on the diseased state of the Church, 476 objects to be Chancellor of the College, 477 his letter to Lord Deputy relative to the Articles of Religion, 485 his letter of congratulation to Primate Ussher, on the ending of the parliament and convocation, 505 contributed to improving the condition of the Irish clergy, 509 his letter to Lord Wentworth concerning the preferment of Gal- brath, 525 his letter to the Lord Deputy concerning irregularities in the diocese of Raphoe, 544 Lawlessness of the kingdom, several bishopricks impoverished by it, 279 Lawyers, their opposition to the Reformation, 143, 144 Laymen and non-residents, statute to prevent ecclesiastical benefices from being holden by them, 287 an abuse not uncommon, 288 LECH, John, archbishop of Dublin, endeavours to found an university, 38 Legends, traditionary, the vehicle of popular instruction, specimens cf them, 55 Leighlin, a bishop of, murdered by his archdeacon, 24 LELAND, Dr., a statement of his concerning the Irish parliament cor- rected, 110 his accuracy questioned with respect to the parliament of the 10th of King Henry VII., 113 790 INDEX. LELAND, Dr., a position of his not verified by the printed Irish statutes, 244247 his opinion about a particular clause of the Act of Uniformity, 260 LE POWER, Arnold, charged with sorcery and heresy, 30 LESLIE, or Lesley, Henry, dean of Down, reviled by a Presbyterian minister, 462 his promotion to the bishoprick of Down and Connor, 508 514 his character, 515 holds his primary visitation, and calls on his clergy for their sub- scriptions to the canons, 515 his CDnciliatory measures towards the refractory, 515 his treatise of the authority of the Church, addressed to his clergy and published, 516 extracts from it, 517520 his affectionate appeal to the dissentient ministers, 519 his subsequent conference with them, 521 and its result, 522 his exemplary conduct towards them, 522 his memorable answer to one of them, 523 his letter to Lord Deputy, relative to insurrectionary movements in his diocese, 528 his loyalty, and other excellent qualities, 530 his charge to his clergy, an important historical document, 531 account of some of its contents, 532 537 impressive earnestness of the conclusion of his charge to his clergy, 536 his continued intercourse with the government, 537 signs the petition against the Scotch Covenant, 541 petition against him to parliament by Presbyterians, 549 his losses from the Rebellion of 1641, 564 translated to Meath, 608 LESLEY, John, bishop of Orkney, translated to Raphoe, 593 LESLEY, or Leslie, John, bishop of Raphoe, signs the petition against the Scotch Covenant, 541 interposes for the correction of an irregular clergyman, 544 his report of the case to Lord Deputy, 544 Presbyterian petition to parliament against him, 549 continued in Ireland during the Rebellion of 1641, 565 supports the king's cause, and maintains a siege against Cromwell, 593 constantly uses the Liturgy and ordinances of the Church, 593 his death and character, 672 supposed to be the oldest bishop in the world, 672 LESLIE, or Lesley, Robert, made bishop of Dromore, 610 Letters of orders, given by Primate Bramhall after ordaining Presby- terian ministers, mistaken, 625 their proper signification, 625 LEVEROUS, bishop of Kildare, deprived for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, 276 reason of his refusing, 277 Liberty of conscience, promised by James the Second, but not main- tained, 724 INDEX. 791 Library of Trinity College, Dublin, a benefaction of books made to it from the English army, 340 its foundation coincident with that of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 340 a second benefaction made to it by an English army in 1656, 729 its contents seized by the adherents of James the Second, 730 regal visitation book of the province of Dublin cited from its MSS., 389 contains a MS. visitation book of the province of Ulster, 395 abstract of its contents, 395 Limerick, its insurrectionary spirit at the accession of King James the First, 346 Liturgy, propriety of the instruction for translating it into Irish, 204 Livings and parishes, relation between them, 665 LIVINGSTON, Mr. John, his irregular conduct in Scotland, 456 his mode of procuring ordination in the Church of Ireland, 456 his conversation with Bishop Knox of Raphoe, and ordination by him, 457 his conduct after ordination, 458 his character of Archbishop Ussher, 461 suspended for irregular proceedings in Scotland, 461 ] sentence of deposition pronounced against him, 515 LOCKWOOD, dean of Christ Church, resists the new form of consecra- tion of bishops, 219 LOFTUS, Adam, his appointment to the see of Armagh, 267 difficulty concerning his election, 267 revenues of the archbishoprick granted to him before his conse- cration, 268 his early life, 268 his favour with Queen Elizabeth and promotion, 268 question about his age, when consecrated, 269 the apostolical succession continued through him, 270 translated from Armagh to Dublin, 281 different causes assigned for it, 281 his letter to Archbishop Parker, 282 preaches in defence of the queen's supremacy, &c., 307 opposes Sir John Perrot's attempt to convert St. Patrick's church into a college, 312 motives to his opposition, 312 recommends to the mayor and aldermen the foundation of an university in Dublin, 317 first Provost of Trinity College, 320 Lollardism and heresy, no proof of their growth in Ireland before the Reformation, 112 Londoners and other undertakers, lands granted to them on special agreement, 362 LONG, John, archbishop of Armagh, his appointment, 310 Lord of Ireland, title changed by Act of Parliament to King, 1 65 Lord's day, not duly observed, 101 less so than human festivals, 101 and festivals of the saints, proportionate regard shown to them, 101 Lough Dearg, St. Patrick's purgatory there, 86, 432 792 INDEX. LOUNDRES, Henry de, archbishop of Dublin, nicknames given to him by the Irish, 22 Lord's Supper, English and Irish Canons relating to it agree together, 499 Lords' Committees for Irish affairs, their representation to King Charles of the state of the Church, 438 complaint made to them of the improper disposal of benefices, 439 Loyalty of Presbyterians, author of, his account of the manner in which Presbyterians were ordained in the Church, 458 historian of, injustice of an opinion given by him, 523 LUTTRELL, Colonel, a member of James the Second's Parliament; 708 seizes the Cathedral of Christ Church, 723 forbids more than five Protestants to meet together, 727 MAC GEOHEGAN, Abbe, his narrative of a supernatural vision of St. Patrick, 55 MAC GILLIVIDER, Eugene, archbishop of Armagh, the first who was appointed by the Pope, 9 MAC MOLISSA, Nicholas, archbishop of Armagh, his extraordinary association of the bishops and clergy against any lay power, 16 MALACHY O'MORGAIR, archbishop of Armagh, applies to the Pope for archiepiscopal palls, 4 appointed the Pope's legate in Ireland, 5 his efforts to subject the Irish Church to the Papacy, 6 his illness and death, 6 MALACHY, St., canonized, and his bones distributed to different mo- nasteries, 64 miraculous revelation to him of certain reliques, 65 wonderful miracle wrought by him, 76 MANBY, Peter, dean of Derry, converted to Popery, 691 his justification of his conversion, 692 answered by Dr. William King, 692 Manchet, distinguished from the wafer at the Holy Communion, 220 rubrick in King Edward's First Liturgy concerning it, 220 use of it insisted on by Bishop Bale at his consecration, 221 MARGETSON, James, dean of Christ Church, signed the Dublin De- claration concerning the Book of Common Prayer, 592 his flight and perils in 1641, 596 made Archbishop of Dublin, 609 promoted to the primacy, 643 recommended for it by Archbishop Bramhall, 644 his ineffectual interposition on the subject of the Remonstrance, 654 his death and character, 671 Marriage, objected to by Popish priests, 225 the offence for which the bishops and clergy were deprived by Queen Mary, 235 licenses, patent for issuing them at uncanonical hours granted to the Primate, 413 and divorce, abuse of by Popish priests in 1622, 403 certain times for it prohibited, 504 certain qualifications prescribed, 502 INDEX. 793 MARSH, Narcissus, his care in superintending an edition of the Bible in Irish, 670 Marsh's Library, Dublin, the Loftus MS. there, being a collection of annals relating to Ireland, 212 MARTIN, Anthony, bishop of Meath, his sufferings from the Rebellion of 1641, 564 one of the last persons who used the Book of Common Prayer during the Usurpation, 694 plundered in the Rebellion, 585 appointed Provost of Trinity College, 586 imprisoned by the Parliamentary Commissioners, 586 uses the Liturgy in his college chapel, 586 his death in poverty, 587 MARY, Queen, her accession to the Crown of Ireland not interrupted, 229 her proclamation of liberty to attend mass, 230 mode of its reception at Kilkenny, 230 her commission for restoring the Papal religion, 234 her letter to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, for elect- ing an Archbishop of Dublin, 237 her letters to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, in favour of Archbishop Curwin, 237, 238 her instructions to Lord Deputy to advance Popery, 243 her instructions to Lord Deputy for punishing all hereticks and Lollards, 243 her revival of Acts for punishing hereticks, 246 her intention to punish the Irish Protestants, 249 her proceedings for that purpose, 250 how defeated, 251 her death and character, 251 ecclesiastical alterations in her reign, 264 Mass, Popish celebration of, 60 compared with the Liturgy, 208 frequently altered by the Church of Rome, 209 question concerning its antiquity, 209 first use of the word, 209 Masses, private, their nature and frequency, 98 donations for maintaining them, 99 many celebrated together at the same place, 100 Mass-houses, superstitious rites continued to be performed in them, 429 MAXWELL, John, bishop of Killalla,in peril of his life from the Rebel- lion of 1641,563 MAXWELL, Robert, archdeacon of Down, signs the petition against the Scotch Covenant, 541 his estimate of the number destroyed in the Rebellion of 1641, 559 Maynooth, royal college of, specimens of the instruction given to the students by the Professor of Divinity, 65, 76 Meath, bishoprick of, Clonmacnoise united to it, 283 its state in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 298 its want of churches and ministers, 299 held together with Clogher, 356 diocese of, report of its benefices, ministers, parsonage-houses, churches, &c., in 1622, 398 794 INDEX. Meath, diocese of, two occurrences there exemplifying the Popish spirit in 1622, 408 Mediator, Christ the only, 211 Members of the Church, before the Reformation, not distinguished by sound religion or useful learning, 102 instances of outrageous conduct in men of rank, 103 moral condition of the lower Irish, 104 Merit, treasuries of, provided by monastick institutions, 47 instanced by numerous examples, 47 Metropolitan, outrage of, on his inferior, 21 Metropolitans, their suspension of their suffragans' jurisdiction, remarks on it, 443 Metz, Bishop of, his letter, in the name of the Pope and cardinals, exciting the Irish to rebellion, 140 MIAGH, William, bishop of Kildare, circumstances of his appointment, 171 a favourer of the Reformation, 176, 186 Ministers of the Church, causes of complaint against them, 438 means taken for their correction, 439 Ministers, their duty as to preaching and catechising, as prescribed by the Canons, 502 Minister s Duty in Life and Doctrine, by Bishop Taylor, 648 Ministers, deficiency of, in 1660, 664 insufficiency for their maintenance, 664 667 Miracle, Popish, in Christ Church, Dublin, 254 particulars of it, and its detection, 255 punishment of its contrivers, 256 its effect on the queen, 256 Miracles, fictitious, belief of them in the Irish Church, 73 remarkable examples, 74 Monaghan, county of, visited by Lord Deputy in 1607, 353 particulars of its ecclesiastical condition, 354 churches for the most part utterly waste, 355 Monasteries, dissolution of, 155 dissolution of, causes assigned for, 194 recommendation from the Lord Deputy and Council for six of them to stand, 156 usefulness attributed to them, 156, 157 the principal ones surrendered, 157 if not voluntarily surrendered, compulsory means used, 159 their dissolution not completely effected, 159 price of things found in them under the king's commission, 162 chattels of, account of them, 1 64 rebuilt by the Jesuits in King James the First's time, 349 Monastick dresses assumed by persons on their death-beds, 97 by distinguished ecclesiasticks, 97 by laymen of high station, 98 institutions, their number and orders, 39 some of their rulers Lords of Parliament, 44 often supplied episcopal vacancies, 44 evil of them preponderated over the good, 46 established on an essentially faulty principle, 47 confounded the Creator's honour with that of his creatures, 47 INDEX. 795 Monastick institutions, " under the invocation" of special patrons, 50 militated against God's purpose in the creation of man, 51 MONTGOMERY, Viscount, signs the petition against the Scotch Cove- nant, 540 proposes in Parliament a declaration of conformity to Episco pacy and the Liturgy, 632 MOORE, Alexander, precentor of Connor, a convert to Papery, 692 MORETON, William, bishop of Kildare, removed by James II. from the Privy Council, 685 MOSSOM, bishop of Derry, his representation of the state of his diocese in 1670, 667 MOUNTGOMERY, George, bishop of Derry, Raphoe, and Clogher, evils of his non-residence, 355 surrenders Derry and Raphoe, and appointed to Meath, 356 irregularly alters the corporation of his diocese, 401 MOUNTJOY, Lord, lord deputy, his letter to the English Govern- ment on the treatment of Papists, 337 his progress into Munster, to repress the rebellious proceedings on King James the First's accession, 346 issues a proclamation of indemnity and oblivion, 347 MOYGNE, Thomas, bishop of Kilmore, his letter of congratulation to Archbishop Ussher, 419 represents to him the depressed state of the Church, and the necessity of exertion, 420 Munster, its irreligious condition inferred from certain special ordi- nances, 167 Protestants of, their remonstrance relative to their distresses from the Rebellion of 1641, 558 NAGLE, Sir Richard, attorney-general, motives to his appointment, 686 precludes the king from pardoning persons proscribed, 715 NANGLE, bishop of Clonfert, a suffragan of Archbishop Browne, 153 forcibly expelled from his benefice, 153 National churches, uniformity of discipline to be maintained in them, 518 NESS AN, St., his personal victory over Satan, 57 NETTERVILLE, Luke, archbishop of Armagh, not confirmed, because not elected with the king's licence, 9 New Testament translated into Irish, 293 NICHOLLS, Dr., in his History of the Church of England, mistakes Primate Bramhall's ordination of Presbyterian ministers, 625 Nonconforming ministers, sentence against them, 513 removed by the Act of Uniformity, 647 Nonconformists, their violence, and opposition to episcopal jurisdic- tion, 537 their petition for the like indulgence in Ireland as in Scotland, 538 the king's objection to their petition, 539 Protestant, support the Popish party in impeaching Bishop Bnun- hall, 550 Nonconformity to the Church's orders, alleged against the clergy ancl laity, 533 Non-residence of clergy, mear\s taken to correct it, 511 796 INDEX. NORFOLK, Duke of, his assistance sought by the Popish clergy, 137 North of Ireland, abundance of all sorts of factions there, 606 NUGENT, Baron Riverstown, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, his character and appointment, 685 OATH of allegiance determined by Papists to be unlawful, 466 of supremacy, enacted in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 257 necessary to be taken by all persons on the lands of the Londoners and other undertakers, 362 Obedience to the king a Christian duty, 117 vow of, to the See and Pope of Rome, 138 Observants, their resistance to authority, 131 their falsehood and craft, 144 virtue attributed to their coats and girdles, 144 their pernicious influence, 144 OCTAVIAN DEL PALATio, Pope's nuncio, indulgences granted by him, 89 O'DocHARTY, Sir Cahir, his atrocities at Kilmore and Deny, 362 O'NEAL, letter exciting him to rebellion, 140 declares himself champion of the Papacy, 140 Shane, his destruction of Armagh, 302 excommunicated for it, 303 O'NEIL, Sir Bryan, his impeachment of Bishop Bramhall and others, 550 O'NEILE, Hugh, titular Primate of Armagh, his measures in justifica- tion of the Rebellion of 1641, 570 Ordination, conditional, not practised by Archbishop Bramhall, 625 nor recognised by the Church, 625 ORMONDE, Marquis of, lord lieutenant, his exertions in behalf of the Church, 569 his determined resistance to the Popish claims, 574 treats for the surrender of Dublin to the Parliamentary Commis- sioners, 583 his exertions in behalf of the Church, 584 acknowledged by an address from the clergy, 584 stands forward in defence of the Church on the king's Restora- tion, 603 recommends the filling of the vacant bishopricks, 604 Duke of, counteracts conspiracy of the Presbyterians asrainst the Church, 641 interposes in favour of the Remonstrants, 654 his proclamations and orders for repressing the Papists, 658, 659 general confidence reposed in his government, 660 intercepts fresh attempts for disturbing the kingdom, 662 withdrawn from the lord lieutenantcy, 680 ORRERY, Earl of, lord justice, his letter to the Marquis of Ormonde, concerning the state of religion in 1661, 629 his letter relating the election of Primate Bramhall to the speaker- ship of the House of Lords 631 his letter to the Duke of Ormonde concerning the Papists and Nonconformists, 636 giving an account of Popish arrogance at Cork, 651 Ossory, diocese of, sad condition of the church and clergy in 1660, described by the bishop, 663 INDEX. 797 Ossory, two classes of benefices, 665 their extent and value, 666 PALL, archiepiscopal, its introduction into Ireland, 4 conferred on the four archbishops, 6 PALLISER, William, his funeral oration on Archbishop Margetson, 644 his account of the character of Archbishop Margetson, 671 Papal indulgences for fighting against the queen, 307 Papists, their pretended miracle to preclude the English Liturgy, 255 their compliance with the statute prescribing the English Liturgy, 259 ordered to attend church every Sunday, 335 their diligence in attending church, 336 forbear to take part in the Protestant worship, 338 their disturbances on the accession of King James I., 344 poorer sort of, their dislike of Popery, and motives for adhering to it, 370 of the richer sort, cause of their adhering to their religion, 371 their insolent conduct in 1616, 390 the government constrained to act with greater strictness towards them, 391 forbidden by their priests to attend on Ussher's preaching, 394 their deplorable ignorance and prejudices, 395 their blind attachment to the supposed religion of their forefathers, 395 design for introducing a more public toleration of their religion, 422 opposed by Primate Ussher, and other prelates, 423 prosecuted for not coming to church, protected by instructions from England, 432 their restless and tumultuous spirit, 432 religious houses erected by them in Dublin, and seized by the government, 433 necessity of a strong military force for repressing them, 466 gentle means to be used for converting them, 467 enjoyed free exercise of their religion before the Rebellion of 1641, 555 an authentick exposition of their belief and practice, 616 their miserable superstition and blindness, 617 instanced in the narrative of a bell, 618 to bring them to church an act of singular charity, 617 indulgences extended to them in the reign of King Charles the Second, 655 interrupted by the Parliament of England, 656 proclamations of the Irish government for repressing them, 658 reinforced by orders of the Lord Lieutenant and council, 659 appointed by King James the Second to military and civil situa- tions, 681, 682 impediments in the way of their religious improvement, 733 of quality, refusing to take the oath of supremacy, censured in the Star Chamber, 412 convinced by Bishop Ussher's reasoning, 413 Parentage of a Popish priest, remarkable anecdote of, 35 798 INDEX. Parishes, lands allotted to the undertakers in Ulster constituted such, 364 number of, comprised in a living, 665 Parish churches, appropriated to religious houses, provision made for the cure of them, 165 in the king's dominions, Holy Scriptures ordered to be placed therein, 193 all persons commanded to resort thither on Sundays and holy- days, 259 their bad condition and necessity of repairing them, 291 bill for effecting it, unsuccessful, 291 Sir H. Sidney's suggestions for repairing them, 299 probable causes of their ruinous condition in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 302 extent of the evil, and difficulty of remedying it, 304 deficiency of legal provisions, 304 bishops encouraged by Lord Deputy to repair them, 310 insufficient attempt at their reparation, 325 in 1611, great need of them, 355 petition for a taxation of the parishioners to repair them, 406 ruinous and irreverently attended in 1633, 448 directions for their repair, 451 commissions issued for their repair, 474 ruinous state of, in 1660, 663, 667 seized by the Papists in King James the Second's time, 723 and Popish priests settled in them, 723 Parish clerks, petition for a parish tax to maintain them, 406 under certain circumstances allowed to read part of the service of the Church, 501 PARKER, Archbishop, makes use of a pretended miracle for deter- mining Queen Elizabeth against images, 256 Parliament of Ireland never recognised the king of England as feoffee of the Pope, 110 of 1537, its enactments relative to ecclesiastical persons, 124 difficulty of carrying them into execution, 124 none called in King Edward's reign, 188 of 1635, acts passed in it for improving the temporal estates of the Church, 482 solemn meeting of, in 1661, 631 of 1661, various orders of, indicating their sentiments on the late events, 633635 in Dublin called by King James the Second, 704 artful management in its composition, 705 Acts of, in James the Second's time, passed in the absence of the spiritual peers, 706 English, its rebellious spirit encouraged the Irish Rebellion of 1641, 557 of England, its oppression of the Irish Church, 570 confiscated vacant bishopricks during the Usurpation, 597 of England, opposes the indulgence of the English Presbyterians, 639 of England petition King Charles the Second against indulgences to Papists, 656 different articles of the petition, 657 INDEX. 799 Parliamentary Commissioners, Dublin surrendered to them, 583 their order for discontinuing- the Liturgy, 585 propose to the clergy of Dublin to use the Directory, instead of the Book of Common Prayer, 587 PARR, Dr., his life and letters of Archbishop Ussher, 332 PARRY, Edward, bishop of Killaloe, signed the Dublin Declaration concerning the Common Prayer Book and Directory, 591 his two sons present at one of the latest readings of it, 594 PARRY, John and Benjamin, bishops of Ossory, present at one of the last publick readings of the Liturgy, 594 PATRICK, St., his vision of the future condition of the Irish Church, 55 his burial-place miraculously discovered, 65 his crosier, miraculous history of it, 68 his purgatory in Lough Dearg, 85 its history, and description of it, 86 Patronage in cathedrals, how abused, 286 made the occasion of an Act of Parliament, 287 Peers and most respectable Commons, in favour of episcopacy, 604 PELHAM, Sir William, lord justice, arrogant letter of Earl of Desmond to him, 307 PELLY or PELLYS, Martin, his letter, giving an account of Archbishop Curwin's first sermon in Dublin, 240 Penances, occasions and theatres of them, 85 PERROT, Sir John, Lord Deputy, his instructions, 309 his activity in his government, 310 brings the diocese of Kilmore under the royal jurisdiction, 310 his exertions for the improvement of the Church, 310 instructed to convert St. Patrick's church into a college, 311 defeated therein by Archbishop Loftus, 3 1 3 his removal from Ireland and condemnation, 313 PETERBOROUGH, Countess of, afforded Primate Ussher an asylum in his exile, 598 Peter pence, payment of, prohibited, 123 Petition to the English Parliament from northern Presbyterians against the bishops, 547 to the Irish Parliament against the bishops of Raphoe, Down, and Derry, 549 for redress of Protestant grievances in vain presented to King James the Second, 725 PETTY, Sir William, his calculation of the massacre of 1641, 560 Pilgrimages, sometimes to the Continent, 81 more frequently to different parts of Ireland, 81 different motives and objects of them, 82 Act of Parliament for protection of pilgrims, 85 PILSWORTH, William, officiated at one of the last publick readings of the Common Prayer, 594 Pluralities, cause of their being lamentably extended, 282 evil of, 450 Plurality of wives and husbands, its commonness, 404 PONT, an irregular clergyman in Raphoe, account of the proceedings concerning him, 544 POOLE, Cardinal, the Pope's legate in Ireland, 244 800 INDEX. Pope, his earliest interference with the Irish Church, 4 progress of his interference, 7 interference of his claims with the king's in the appointment of bishops, 10 his other encroachments on the royal prerogative, 12 prejudicial effects of his claims, 13 remarkable instance of his usurped power, 14 his imaginary right to the kingdom of Ireland not recognised by the Irish Parliament, 110 his authority in Ireland, insufficient commission for removing it, 114 remarked on by Act of Parliament as a name given to the bishop of Rome, 116 rejects a nominee of the king for a bishoprick, 171 his own nominee rejected by the king, 171 deemed an usurper by Popish kings and parliaments, 352 his kingdom in Ireland far greater than the king's, 465 his bull of encouragement to the Irish Papists in December, 1605, 350 considered the only sovereign to whom even temporal allegiance was due, 655 Paul the Fourth, his bull of pardon for disobedience to the see apostolical, 244 narrative of its reception, 244 Pius the Fifth, his bull of excommunication against Queen Eliza- beth, 295 its consequences, 295 Gregory the Thirteenth, his acts for propagating the Romish faith in Ireland, 307 Urban the Eighth, forbids the oath of allegiance to be taken to King Charles the First, 418 Innocent the Tenth, exhorts the Popish bishops to persist in war, 574 Pope's holiness, The, tender mercies of, exemplified, 246 supremacy, abrogation of, first step to the Reformation, 107 supremacy re-established by statute, 245 Popery, efforts for restoring it in Queen Mary's time, 241 proved to be not the old religion of the Irish, 395 why not to be tolerated, 423 check laid on the publick exercise of it, 428 general increase of, through the kingdom, 464 various forms in which its influence was shown, 466 checked for a while by the failure of King James the Second, 731 Popish arrogance exemplified at Cork, 651 clergy, proclamation against them in 1629, 428 clergy, numerous and powerful, 436 clergy, their oath of allegiance to the Pope, 465 clergy justify the rebellion of 1641, 570 their meetings and proceedings in consequence, 571 clergy met in a national synod, 650 ready for a new rebellion, 651 ceremonies, celebrated on the reception of Lord Fitz waiter, 243 INDEX. 801 Popish hierarchy, their assumption of the episcopal titles, 570 specimens of their temper and projects, 572 they claim the possessions of the church, 573 describe themselves as the bishops of the kingdom, 573 assert their right to the churches, 573 and all manner of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 574 and priesthood, their domineering influence over their people, 733 their objects unfolded in the reign of James the Second, 733 established under royal authority, 690 nobility and gentry, join the clergy in justifying the Rebellion of 1641, 572 oath of association, 578 its object the same as that of the Solemn League and Covenant, 581 party opposed to the king's prerogative, 124 their energy in counteracting attempts at religious improve- ment, 294 peers refuse to attend divine service on the opening of Parliament in 1615, 380 priests, their superstitious practices, 224 their licentious lives, 224 their objection to marriage, 225 in 1611, instituted by bishops authorized by Rome, 355 encouragers of rebellion, 361 their influence in keeping up Popery, 371 particulars of several in 1612, 373 their arrogance with respect to the instruction and rites of the Church, 374 abuses caused by them, 403 insufficiency of the laws for correcting them, 404 their presumption and arrogance in 1622 exemplified, 408 clergy, their representations of Bishop Ussher's sermon before the Lord Deputy, 410 priests, their restless activity in counteracting designs for convert- ing the Irish Papists, 469 their tyranny over their subjects unequalled, 471 and Jesuits, their conspiracy for a general rebellion and massacre of Protestants, 555 means taken by them for exciting the people, 556 in time of James the Second, their means of distressing the Protestants, 724 assert their power independently of the king's proclamation, 725 recusants, encouraged in their recusancy by differences among Protestants, 368 instructions concerning them, and mode of treating them in 1612, 371 best means for their restraint, 440 religion, petition to King James the First for its toleration, 348 reliques and images ordered to be removed from Christ Church, 265 rites and ceremonies, exercise of, forbidden, 429 ritual, specimens of, as revived under Queen Mary, 24 1 superstitions, example of their restoration on Queen Mary's acces- sion, 232 3 F 802 INDEX. Popish vow of obedience, 138 " Portion canon," a demand of the clergy, explained, 130 Powerscourt, parish church of, injuries done to it in the Rebellion of 1641, 558 Prayer Book translated into Irish, and read in the shire town of every diocese, 293 " Preachers" distinguished from " reading ministers," 376, 390 good, recommended to be sent over from England to improve the common Irish, 329 instructions concerning their teaching, 501, 502 Preaching, sound, difficulty of effecting it, 131 character of, before the Reformation, 131 and hearing of sermons, undue importance attached to, 532 undue value assigned to it, 601 Premonstratensian or White Canons, 42 Prerogative Court in Dublin, regal visitation book there cited, 453 Presbyterians, Scotch, their settlement in Ireland, 366 legalized by Act of Parliament, 367 their first congregations in Antrim and Down, 367 their sentiments on the authority of the kirk, 606 historical essay upon their loyalty, 453 English, impatient of submitting to the Act of Uniformity, 640 seek support from Scotland and Ireland, 641 of Ulster, their petition to the English Parliament against the bishops, 547 summary of their allegations, 548 printed in a tract for circulation, 549 in Ireland, conspiracy counteracted by the Duke of Ormonde, 641 Presbyterian ministers, their opposition to the Church, 452 their expedient for procuring her appointments, 452 unlawfully ordained, in possession of church benefices, 458 their self-sufficiency and condemnation of others* 461 apply to King Charles the Second for establishing Presbyte- rianism, 603 necessity of their receiving episcopal ordination, 623 judicious conduct of Primate Bramhall in satisfying them, 623 their violent opposition to Bishop Taylor, 626 refuse to attend his visitation, 627 not being episcopally ordained, their benefices of course vacant, 627 number of those who refused to qualify in the northern dioceses, 627 aids in guarding them against mistakes, 648 their new covenant and meetings, 661 their designs of fresh disturbances intercepted, 662 in England vacate their benefices on account of the Act of Uni- formity, 637 seek support from the court, 638 countenanced by the king, 639 opposed by the parliament, 639 Presbyterianism, its origia in Geneva, and its mischievous effects else- where, 534 Presbyteries of Ulster, ministers sent from them to the government in 1661,629 particulars of their conferences with the Lords Justices, 629 INDEX. 803 PRICE, archbishop of Cashel, his attempt to reclaim the Papists de- feated by the priests, 469 his report of proceedings in convocation concerning the Ait!cles, 489 consecrated bishop of Kildare, 613 Priests and friars, their influence, 618 their ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 619 Primate of all Ireland, title disputed between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, 211 taken from Archbishop Dowdall and given to Archbishop Browne, 212 Processions, religious, conducted with much pomp and pageantry, 61 Proclamation for Popish priests to depart from the kingdom, faintly administered, 350 against Romish emissaries in 1616, faintly executed, 369 against the Popish clergy in 1623, 413 against the Popish clergy in 1 629, 428 irreverent manner of publishing it, 429 little obedience shown to it, 429 despised and contemned by the Popish clergy, 430 condemning the Solemn League and Covenant, 578 Proctors, in parliament, their functions, 118 their opposition to the king's measures in parliament, 118 their authority restricted, 121 Prophecy, alleged, concerning the Catholick faith in Ireland, 140 Proscribed persons, lists of, in the Act of Attainder of King James the Second, 710713 in what manner furnished, 713 incapacitated for being pardoned, 714 apparent indulgences annulled by other provisions of the Act, 714 Protestant sectarianism, its activity and growth, 452 dissenters and sectaries, their hostility to the Church after the Restoration, 620 different occasions which brought them into Ireland, 621 Protestants of Ireland, schism introduced amongst them by Scotch emigrants, 367 excluded from the Privy Council, and from civil and military offices, by James the Second, 685 difficulties opposed to their recovery of debts, 687 in the reign of King James the Second, their various sufferings, 716, 721 in the time of King James the Second, their churches seized by the Papists, 722 ineffectually complain to the king, 724 their publick worship interrupted, 726 assembled in private houses, 726 various steps taken for suppressing their religious meetings, 727 more than five forbidden to meet together, 727 Provincial councils and diocesan synods of the Popish clergy, 653 synod at Drogheda, holden by Primate Dowdall, 241 synod by Archbishop Curwin in Dublin, 241 Puritanical zeal in the great Rebellion, its evils, 668 3 F 2 804 INDEX. Puritans in Ireland, desirous of setting up their own discipline, 528 RADCLIFFE, Sir George, his letter to the Bishop of Derry on the pub- lication of the Irish Canons, 506 RAM, Thomas, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, valuable report of his diocese in 1612, 369 his course for suppressing Popery, and planting the truth of reli- gion, 370 never admitted Popish priest to church living or cure, 373 his caution with respect to schoolmasters, 374 his explanation of several particulars in his report, and of his own practice, 377 his recommendation concerning impropriations, 378 Raphoe, bishoprick of, not regularly filled by Queen Elizabeth, 284 diocese of, state of its parishes, ministers, parsonages, churches, &c., in 1622, 404 titular bishop of, his irregular proceedings, 430 Presbyterian ministers who refused to qualify for the Church, 627 RATCLIFF, Thomas, Viscount Fitzwalter, his inclination- for Popery, 242 his reception as Lord Deputy with Popish ceremonies, 243 his instructions to advance the Catholick faith, 243 RATCLIFF, earl of Sussex, his recall and re-appointment by Queen Elizabeth, 253 Restoration of the English service on his second arrival, 253 his instructions for setting up the English Liturgy, 254 active in carrying his instructions into effect, 256 his instructions for the establishment of the Protestant religion, 265 Reading ministers, as distinguished from preachers, 376, 377 distinction frequently made between them and preachers, 390 Rebellions in King James the First's time, consequence of them, 362 Rebellion of 1641, remarkably anticipated by Ussher, 339 general tranquillity preceding it, 554 means taken for exciting it, 555 motives to it, religious and secular, 556 promoted by the rebellious spirit of the English Parliament, 557 its horrible atrocities, 557 its special effect on the Church, 558 justified by the Romish clergy, 570 Record Office, Dublin, curious roll in it, relating to the possessions of monasteries, 161 Records, diocesan, loss of, from Henry the Eighth to James the First, 405 Reformation in Ireland commenced with the arrival of Archbishop Browne, 112 not previously introduced there, 113 its progress in the time of King Edward the Sixth, 190 bishops who supported it, 191 its principles and practices corrupted by intermixture of Romish superstitions, 223 opposition to every scheme for propagating it, 29 1 Reformed religion, how encouraged in King Edward the Sixth's reign, 228 INDEX. 8Q5 Reformed religion, special provisions for promoting it, in the Irish Canons, 501 Ilegal visitation of the province of Armagh in 1622, 395 detailed report from the several dioceses, 396 of the province of Dublin in 1615, 389 in 1633, 444 result of its inquiries, 445 Regular priests charged with keeping harlots, and having wives and children, 130 Reigns, successive, alterations introduced into ecclesiastical affairs, 264 Relief for distressed Protestants in James the Second's time contri- buted from England, 716 Religion to be promoted by mildness and gentleness, 328 toleration of, recommended, 329 little appearance of it in 1565, 288 a certain knowledge of, a qualification for marrying, &c., 502 Religious edifices, outrages upon them, 1 02 instruction, difficulty of conveying it to the native Irish, 221 meagre supply of it in King Edward's reign, 222 Reliques of saints, reverence entertained for them, 63 catalogue of those in Christ Church, 77 of various sorts, mitres, crosiers, vestments, bells, &c., held in religious veneration, 67 of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba, miraculously dis- covered to St. Malachy, 65 translated by order of the Pope, 66 annual festival in commemoration, 67 Remonstrance, an acknowledgment of the king's temporal authority by some of the Popish clergy, 650 Remonstrants, excommunicated, 655 acknowledge the temporal power of the king, 650 their danger from the opposite party, 654 seek protection in vain from the Lord Lieutenant, 654 Revenues of the Church, neglected and alienated, 450 RICE, Sir Stephen, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, his appointment and character, 685, 686 RICHARD, St., celebration of his festival ordained, 182 RICHARDSON, John, bishop of Ardagh, selected to preach before the government, 334 RICHARDSON, Dr. John, his short history of attempts to convert the Popish natives of Ireland, 669 Roman Catholicks, various privileges granted to their clergy by acts of King James the Second, 718 when first denominated by such an instrument, 719 Rome, bishop of, his authority annulled, 116 payments to him prohibited, 123 difficulty of cancelling his name out of the Canon of the Mass, 132 encourages the Irish in opposing the king, 137 his commission to the clergy to that effect, 138 his usurpation condemned in a form of prayer before sermons, 145 his name to be defaced from Primers and other books, 146 his bulls and letters of pardons ineffectual, 146 vices occasioned by his jurisdiction, 194 806 INDEX. Rome, bishop of, intrusive missionaries sent by him into Ireland, 285 his irreligious conduct for maintaining his supremacy, 308 church of, form of a pledge to maintain it, 138 its alterations of the mass, 209 distinguished from the holy Catholick Church, 210 emissaries of, prophetically described, 199 jurisdiction usurped by, in the reign of James the First, 403 Romish Church, its ministers and emissaries, injury done by them to true religion, 325 special hostility to the Church of Ireland after the Restoration, 614 hierarchy, re-establishment of, 464 priesthood, the best means of attempting the conversion of the Irish, 467 religion, its political character, 619 a chief impediment to conversion, 620 worship, false objects of, efforts for abolishing them, 125 Rood-lofts, and other monuments of superstition, ordered by the Canons to be taken away, 503 Royal Dublin Society's Library, copy of letters from the Harris MS 8. preserved there, 206 Rules and advices to the clergy of his diocese, by Bishop Taylor, 648 RUST, George, bishop of Dromore, his panegyrick on Bishop Taylor, 673 SABBATH, morality of, as asserted in the Articles of 1615, why objected to, 385 Sacramental bread, carried in solemn religious procession, 62 Saints, veneration of, carried to an undue extent, 54 improperly associated with the Deity, 54 canonization of, variously exemplified, 62 places chosen by, or containing memorials of them, invested with peculiar sanctity, 82, 83 SAINT LEGER, Sir Anthony, lord deputy, his advice for enacting the title of King of Ireland, 167 receives King Edward's order for introducing the English Liturgy, 194 calls an assembly of the bishops and clergy, 195 his altercation with the Primate, 197 his proclamation for the use of the English Liturgy, 199 his recall attributed to a difference with Archbishop Browne, 200 probably without reason, 201 resumes his office of Lord Deputy, 234 his removal by Queen Mary, and cause of it, 242 Saint Mary's Abbey, petition for its preservation, 157 Patrick's, cathedral of, vicars bound to celebrate an annual mass, 99 cathedral, dean of, a layman, 288 project for converting it into a college, 31 1 its failure, 313 desecrated in time of King James the Second, 723 dean and chapter of, resist the attempt of James the Second to subvert their laws, 693 purgatory, ordered to be destroyed, 432 INDEX. 8 Q7 Saint Patrick's ridges, explained, 420 Saint Saviour's Friary, Dublin, disgraceful conflict there, 23 SALL, Dr., a gray friar, apprehended for his sermon, 133 SANDERS, bishop of Leighlin, a favourer of the Reformation, 176 186 Schisms and heresies, multiplied during the Usurpation, 606 Schools or academies in early times, 37 high character of that in Armagh, 38 attempts to establish one in Dublin, 39 erected for learning English, 123 diocesan, statute for erecting them, particulars relating to them, 290 object of the government in enacting them, 291 erected and endowed in the principal towns of Ulster, 365 abuses of them, 474 petitioned against by Convocation, 510 Protestant, discouraged, and Popish set up, in King James the Second's reign, 689 Scotch Presbyterians, zealous in vindicating their orders, 518 in Ireland, their refractory conduct, 538 petition of some of them, renouncing the Covenant, 539 oath framed in pursuance of the petition, 541 covenanters, their hostility to Bishop Taylor's office and person, 626 violence of their ministers increased by his kindness, 626 their conspiracy with the fanaticks of England and Scotland, 637 their plot for putting down the king, &c., 649 Scotland, Regent of, application to him recommended, for clergymen who could speak Irish, 300 emigrants from, into Ulster, brought with them their religious peculiarities, 365 character of their opinions, 366 congregations formed by them, and a schism instituted among Irish Protestants, 367 its evil consequences, 368 tumultuary spirit spread from Scotland into Ireland, 523 insurrection there, cause of the prevailing disobedience in Ireland, 534 Scottish troops, their influence in spreading the Solemn League and Covenant over the north of Ireland, 580 Scripture, texts of, instead of pictures, &c., painted on the Dublin cathedrals, 253 Sectarianism, its effect in weakening the powers of the Church, 368, 733 six degrees of, 535 Sectaries, endeavours for reducing them to the Church, 440 endeavour to extirpate episcopacy at the Restoration, 607 their sin and errors, 516 difference between them and the Church not about small matters, 517 some of their objections specified and condemned, 517 SEELE, Thomas, dean of St. Patrick's, one of the last persons who took part in the publick reading of the Liturgy, 594 SHEYN, Matthew, bishop of Cork, burns an image of St. Dominick, in 1578, 306 808 INDEX. SIBTHORP, bishop of Limerick, remained in Ireland without emolu- ment from his preferment in 1641, 566 SINGE, or Synge, Edward, bishop of Limerick, signed the Declaration concerning the Book of Common Prayer, 591 continued to use it during the Usurpation, 592 preaches before the newly consecrated bishops at Christ Church, 612 SINGE, or Synge, George, bishop of Cloyne, his improvement of the bishoprick, 507 Sir, meaning of the title, as applied to a clergyman, 373 Slieve Donard, a mountain in the county of Down, a place of pe- nance, 86 SMITH, Sir Thomas, his scheme for planting a Protestant colony in the Ards unsuccessful, 296 Thomas, mayor of Dublin, lays the first stone of Trinity College, 319 Society " de Propaganda Fide" its formation, 394 Solemn League and Covenant, great instrument with sectaries for the destruction of the Church, 577 its leading articles, 577 king's proclamation against it, 578 efforts of the government to repress it, 578 commanders of regiments averse to it, 579 supported by Scottish forces and ministers from Scotland, 579 its adoption in the northern parts of Ireland, 580 akin to the Popish oath of association, 581 condemned by parliament, 632 form of its condemnation, 633 its unlawfulness declared by Act of Parliament, 646 Souls, departed in the faith of Christ, prayer for them ordered, 146 SPENSER, Edmund, his connexion with Ireland, 321 his view of the state of it, 321 his representation of the want of ministers, 321 and of churches, 325 his opinion of the seemliness and comeliness of churches, 325 his expedient for the supply of curates, 326 danger of it, 326 Spiritual and ecclesiastical causes, Jesuitical equivocation concerning them, 352 Spiritual peers, untruly said to have assented to the Acts of James the Second's parliament, 706 their opposition to the acts of King Henry's first parliament, 117 use the proctors as instruments of opposition, 118 Spiritualty, their opposition to the king, 133 SPOTTISWOOD, James, made bishop of Clogher, 392 his contest with Primate Hampton about the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction, 393 signs the petition against the Scotch Covenant, 541 STAPLES, Edward, bishop of Meath, censured by the king for slack- ness and negligence, 127 misconduct of one of his clergy, 149 INDEX. 809 STAPLES, conveys a letter from Sir James Crofts to Primate Dowdall, 206 takes a prominent part in the ensuing- conference, 208 recommends that the King of England be called King of Ireland, 166 active in the Reformation, 198 receives the English Liturgy, 198 deprived of his see, 234 causes assigned for it, 235 Statute of prcemunire^ 16 Richard the Second, chap. 5, a proof that even Popish kings and parliaments deemed the Pope an usurper, 352 STEWARD, or STEWART, Sir William, the subject of episcopal anim- adversion in Raphoe, 544 directions of the government concerning him, 545 result of the proceedings, 546 STR AFFORD, Earl of, his honour, worth, and integrity, vindicated by Parliament, 634. See Wentworth STRYPE, his narrative concerning Archbishop Curwin, 239 his account of a pretended miracle in Christ Church, Dublin, 255 a misstatement of his corrected, concerning the deprivation of Archbishop Dowdall, 267 also concerning that of other Irish bishops, 278 his account of the ignorance of English curates, 323 STUART, royal family of, entitled to the kingdom of Ireland by descent, 343 Subsidy for exigencies of the state, levy of it resisted by Archbishop of Cashel and his suffragans, 1 7 Suffragan bishop, outrage of, on his superior, 21 Suffragan bishops, statute authorizing them, 179 instances of them in England, 1 79 in use in Ireland in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 180 Sunday, desecration of it by public tournament, 101 Supremacy, the Pope's, formal acknowledgment of, by the Irish, 138 of the King enforced in opposition to the Pope's, 145 royal, re-established by Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 257 Surplice, directions concerning it in the English Canons not given in the Irish, 499 SWIFT, Dean, attributes the Irish Rebellion to the English House of Commons, 557 his description of the destruction of churches in the Rebellion, 667 SYDNEY, or SIDNEY, Sir Henry, lord deputy, sets out a declaration of articles of religion, 271 his instructions for preserving the Church lands from waste, 279 his progress into Munster and Connaught, 286 his experiences there, 286 his instructions concerning religion, 288 probable consequences thereof, 289 his solicitude for the improvement of Ireland shown by his letter to the queen, 297 his personal investigation of the country, 298 his excellent character, 305 810 INDEX. Synod, national, assembled in 1148, 6 its solicitation to the Pope, 6 in 1152, receives the archiepiscopal palls, 7 general, of the Popish clergy justifies the Rebellion of 1G41, 571 provincial, of the Popish clergy of Armagh, justifies the Rebel- lion of 1641, 570 Synodical Canons, their propriety questionable, 442 TALBOT, Peter, titular archbishop of Dublin, pretends to be the king's commissioner for superintending the Popish clergy, 655 his arrogance to the Lord Lieutenant and Council, 656 TAYLOR, Bishop Jeremy, his commendation of Bishop Bramhall's labours for the Church, 509 his eloquent relation of the persecutions of Bishop Bramhall, 550 brought before the Privy Council, on a malicious charge, during the Usurpation, 599 his lectureship at Lisburn, and residence at Portmore, 600 church where he is said to have preached, incorrectly described, 600 remark on the phraseology of the narrative, 601 his promotion on the king's restoration, 62 appointed to the bishoprick of Down and Connor, 608 made vice-chancellor of the university, 609 selected to preach the consecration sermon, 610 his notice of the consecration in Archbishop Bramhall's funeral sermon, 612 entrusted with the bishoprick of Dromore, 613 writes his Dissuasive from Popery at the entreaty of the bishops, 615 his prayer to God for its success, 620 his endeavours to remove irregularities from his diocese, 626 opposition encountered by him, 626 his success in surmounting it, 627 supplies the places of those ministers who refused to qualify for holding their benefices, 627 ordains and prefers those who were willing, 628 preaches at the opening of Parliament in 1661, 631 extracts from his funeral sermon on Primate Bramhall, 641, 642 his works on episcopacy, liturgy, and ministerial duty, 648 his death and character, 672 question concerning the violation of his remains, 673 inscription to his memory, 676 TEMPLE, Sir John, his estimate of the massacres in 1641, 559 Temporalties of the Church, means taken for improving them, 507 Ten commandments and sentences of Scripture, Canon concerning them, 500 TENNISON, bishop of Killalla, compelled by the Papists to take refuge in England, 697 THADY, suffragan bishop to the Archbishop of Dublin, included in the mandate for consecrating Archbishop Dowdall, 178 inquiry concerning him, 179 TILSON, Henry, bishop of Elphin, his privations from the Rebellion of 1641, 565 INDEX. 811 TIRREY, bishop of Cork and Cloyne, a favourer of the Reformation, 176 Tournaments, and running at the ring, on a Sunday, 101 TRAVERS, John, his devices for the reformation of Ireland, 1 73 TRAVERS, Robert, bishop of Leighlin, a friend of the Reformation, 191 receives the English Liturgy, 198 deprived of his see, 234 Trials by battle, instances of, 22 Trim, celebrated for an image of the Virgin, 74, 83, 144 our Lady of, destruction of the image, 141 Trinity College, Dublin, first stone laid, 319 first members of it, 320 grants made to it by King James I., 365 purpose of providing it with new statutes', 475 477 insufficiency of the provost, 478 a professor attempted to be forced on it by James the Second, 682 a fellow attempted to be forced upon it by James the Second, 728 provost and fellows driven from it, 729 the library and other property seized, 730 library augmented by Archbishop Ussher's books, 729 seized by King James's troops, 730 curious MS. in it quoted, 99 a copy in it of the first book printed in Dublin, 205 curious MS. document, containing royal visitation of the province of Armagh in 1622, 395 MSS. of, contain Primate Hampton's proofs of the rights of his see to precedence, 480 See Library Tuam, two archbishops of, translation of New Testament into Irish .completed by them, 294 TURLOGH, monarch of Ireland, his carrying of the Host through the kingdom, 62 TURNER, chosen by King Edward for Archbishop of Armagh, 215 motives to his refusal, 215 his objections answered by Cranmer, 215 Twentieth part of spiritual promotions given to the king, 122 TYRCONNEL, Earl of, a Papist, his power in the government of Ireland, 680 appointed Lord Deputy, 683 his hostile proceedings against the Church, 683 orders the churches of Dublin to be taken from the Protestants, 723 TYRONE and TYRCONNEL, Earls of, their conspiracy and rebellion, 3GO Tythes, and other ecclesiastical dues, made payable to Popish priests, 719 ULSTER, plantation of, by King James, 362 forfeited lands in, bestowed by King James the First for publick purposes, 362 undertakers in, required to take the oath of supremacy, and con- form to the established religion, 362 religious evils introduced into it from Scotland, 365 bad state of the bishopricks there, 363 ruinous condition of the cathedral and parish churches, 363 insufficient religious instruction, 364 812 INDEX. Ulster, remedy applied to those abuses by King James the First, 364 province of, report of their bishopricks by the several diocesans in 1622, 395 Uniformity of discipline, as well as unity of faith, to be maintained in national churches, 518 Unions of parishes recommended, 326 danger of the expedient, 326 remarks on their necessity and expediency, 399 directed by the Canons, 503 their occasion and necessity, 666 Universities of Salamanca and Valladolid, their answer as to the obedience due to a Protestant king, 344 Spanish, their judgment encouraged rebellion, 361. University of Dublin, members of, their conduct in the parliament of James the Second, 708 USSHER, Henry, archdeacon of Dublin, procures the queen's licence for founding an university, 317 his early life and character, 330 appointed Archbishop of Armagh, 330 USSHER, James, one of the first scholars of Trinity College, 320 his distinguished character, 331 his early studies, 331 his publick dispute with Fitz-Symonds the Jesuit, 332 defends himself against the contemptuous charge of his adversary, 332 his account of the termination of the controversy, 333 appointed to preach before the government, 334 his conduct as catechist of the college, 334 his statement of the King of England's right to the sovereignty of Ireland, 109 his sermons for the instruction of the Papists, 336 his sermon before the government on occasion of the encourage- ment given to Papists, 339 his foreboding of a judgment on the country, 339 instrumental in incorporating the Lambeth Articles with those of the Church of Ireland, 384 elevated to the see of Meath, 392 interposes to settle a dispute between the Primate and the bishop- elect of Clogher, 393 specially indebted to King James I. for his elevation, 393 elected by the dean and chapter, and congratulated on' his prefer- ment by Lord Deputy, 393 his anxiety to promote the religious reformation of Ireland, by converting the Papists, 394 his publick preaching to them, 394 his discourse on the religion of the ancient Irish, 395 his sermon on the swearing-in of Lord Falkland, 408 his account of it, and the offence taken at it by the Papists, 409 his justification of his sermon, 410 expostulated with by Primate Hampton, 410 uncertain issue of the affair, 411 INDEX. 813 USSHER, James, explains and maintains the oath of supremacy to Popish recusants before the council, 412 in great favour with King James, and appointed Archbishop of Armagh, 414 congratulated on his promotion by Bishop Moygne, 419 his care in inspecting and improving his diocese, 421 his encouragement of catechizing, 422 his opposition to a plan for publick toleration of the Popish religion, 422 his sermon on the judgment of the bishops, 425 his speech in the Castle chamber, 426 unhappy failure of his speech, though commended by the king, 428 his diligence in executing the king's commands for the improve- ment of the Church, 439 his success with Papists and other sectarists, 440 his injunctions on the clergy of his diocese, 440 sentiments concerning the Church attributed to him by a non- conformist minister, 462 stated to have interfered for protecting that minister from his diocesan's censure, 463 his subsequent ineffectual interference, 464 his sentiments concerning the adoption of the Articles of the Church of England, 485 his remarkable conduct in the progress of the business, 488 his opinion on the adoption of the Articles of the Church of Eng- land, 492 opposes Bishop Bramhall's proposal to adopt the English Canons, 495 his testimony to Bramhall's improvement of the see of Armagh, 508 his letter testifying his good will to Bishop Bramhall, 551 his sufferings from the Rebellion of 1641, 562 nominated one of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 575 declines attendance, and is voted out again, 576 found an asylum with the Countess of Peterborough, 598 USSHER, Robert, provost of Trinity College, exceptions to him in that character, 475, 478 his character as a prelate, 478 Usurpation by one bishop of another's rights, 20 between the reigns of Charles I. and Charles II., 581 VESEY, archbishop of Tuam, his account of the reduced revenues of bishopricks, 445 his statement of the prevailing policy with respect to religion, 470 proceedings in convocation concerning the Articles, related by him, 489 his account of Primate Bramhall's letters of orders, 625 rendered himself suspicious to the Papists in reign of King James II., 697 one of the proscribed prelates, 711 original document relating to his troubles in the reign of King James II., Appendix III. 814 INDEX. Viceroy, office of, persons appointed to it with little regard to their religious principles, 253 VICTOR, Saint, regular canons of, 41 VIRGIN MARY, miraculous images of her, 71 her worship confirmed thereby, 72 celebrity of her image at Trim, 74, 83 prayed to as a goddess by the Bishops of Rome, 210 improperly sought as a mediator, 211 Visitations, their abuses corrected, 441 episcopal, metropolitical, and regal, 442 WAFER at the holy communion, how distinguished from the manchet, 220 Wales and the Norman Isles, their cases not analogous to that of Ire- land, 614 WALSH, Nicholas, bishop of Ossory, his parentage, 293 his preferments, 293 introduced Irish types for printing, 294 procured the Liturgy to be printed in that character, and read in the shire towns, 293 commenced a translation of the New Testament into Irish, 294 his death by assassination, 294 WALSH, Patrick, bishop of Waterford and Lismore, father of Bishop Nicholas Walsh, 293 WALSH, William, bishop of Meath, deprived for preaching against the queen's supremacy and the Book of Common Prayer, 276 WARE, Sir James, his History and Antiquities of Ireland, 3 his Annals, 111 WARE, Robert, his Life of Archbishop Brotvne, 111 Waterford, its rebellious and anti- Protestant spirit at the accession of King James I., 345 rendered obnoxious to the government for the delinquencies of its magistrates, 391 WAUCOP, Robert, appointed Archbishop of Armagh by the Pope, 181 first introduced the Jesuits into Ireland, 181 WEBB, bishop of Limerick, his captivity and death in 1641, 566 WELLESLEY, Walter, remarkable circumstances attending his promotion to the episcopate, 171 Wells, holy, much frequented and honoured, 84 WELSH, Peter, frames the Loyal Formulary? or Irish Remonstrance, 650 WENTWORTH, Viscount, lord deputy, his patronage of Bramhall, 444 his appointment to the viceroyalty of Ireland, 446 the Church and religion specially brought under his attention, 446 his care for the improvement of the Church, 451 principle of his administration with respect to religion, 470 informs Archbishop Laud of commissions issued for repair of churches, 473 his letter describing the distempered condition of the Church, 474 examines and decides the question of precedence between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, 480 his letter to Archbishop Laud, recounting proceedings about the Thirty-nine Articles, 486 INDEX. 815 WENTWORTH, Viscount, his displeasure at the conduct of the Lower House of Convocation, 487 his mode of counteracting it, 488 his jealousy of Primate Ussher's conduct, and tenderness towards him, 488 discloses the secret springs of the transactions concerning the Articles, 489 refuses to ratify the Articles of 1615, 494 his precautions in defence of the Church against the Scotch Cove- nant, 524 his letter to Archbishop Laud concerning the preferment of Gal- brath, 525 his answer to Bishop Leslie concerning the insurrectionary move- ments in the North, 528 his sense of the necessity of prompt correction, 529 created Earl of Strafford, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 546 his last letter to the king, reporting the bounty of the clergy and the good condition of the kingdom, 547 exerts himself before his death in defence of Bishop Bramhall, 553 WESTON, Robert, a civilian, but not an ecclesiastick, dean of St. Patrick's by dispensation, 288 WETENHALL, Edward, bishop of Cork and Ross, his sufferings from the Irish Papists, 699 Wexford, most forward in its profession of the reformed religion, 464 overrun by Popery, 464 WHITE, James, a Dublin clergyman, deprived of his benefice for matrimony, 235 WHITE, a commissioner to inspect certain counties, 133 his report of proceedings to Lord Cromwell, 133 WHITEHEAD, selected by Cranmer for the Archbishoprick of Armagh. 214 said to be afterwards chosen for Canterbury, 214 WILLIAMS, Griffith, bishop of Ossory, his sufferings and persecutions in 1641, 565 perils in his flight in 1641, 596 injury to his property, 597 declines a pension offered to him by Henry Cromwell, 598 his account of Kilkenny cathedral, 663 of the ruinous state of the churches in Ireland, 663 and in Ossory especially, 664 Witchcraft, charge of, brought by Bishop of Ossory, 29 two persons executed for it, 314 statute enacted against it, 314 W T ord of God, difficulty of procuring it to be preached, 135 its necessity for the people's improvement, 1 35 rarely preached or listened to, 144 Worship, publick, how celebrated before the Reformation, 60 Young men allowed to hold benefices, as means of prosecuting their studies, 378 LONDON: HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, ST. 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