UC-NRLF 
 
 B M D71 4TM 
 
 ^ 
 
 flBidN&rifi 
 
 A. O'Connor Morris. 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 niiiiuidivn 
 
 ^^^^^..; 
 
 vA 
 
 ^ ,'; 
 
 ...^ 
 
 M'^ 
 

 .f?^w^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HAS.E.LAURlATeo, 
 
Dublin Castle 
 
 BY 
 
 M. O'CONNOR MORRIS 
 
 AUTUOR OF "EAMBLES IN THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS," "TRIVIATA," ETC. 
 
 f 
 
 Xon^on 
 
 HARRISON AND SONS, 59 PALL MALL 
 
 BOOKSELLERS TO THE QUEEN AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE Of WALES 
 
 1889 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 In presenting this slight historical sketch of 
 Dublin Castle, which at this moment is supposed 
 to be somewhat in the parlous position described 
 by Hamlet, " To be or not to be, that is the 
 question," and is, therefore, invested with extrinsic 
 interest, the author begs to disclaim any pretence 
 to oriofinal research or insight, or, indeed, to 
 originality of any kind. He has, however, 
 gone to the most generally accepted sources of 
 authentic information, has read a great many 
 volumes connected with the subject, by such 
 writers as Bagwell, Lecky, Gilbert, Plowden, 
 Carte, Wraxall, Prendergast, Eorster, Spencer- 
 Walpole, Halliday, Macaulay, Charles Greville, 
 and many more, and endeavoured to set forth 
 a fairly accurate picture of the Castle and its 
 Gesta, and of the more remarkable tenants of its 
 venerable walls, neither extenuating anvthing, 
 
 819 
 
nor setting down aught of malice, whether pre- 
 pense or otherwise. 
 
 To ilkistrate the reigns of the Castelhins it 
 was necessary to make a sort of running com- 
 mentary on the events of Irish history — history 
 which has been written with varying aims — with 
 pohtical purpose by some writers, and without 
 the knowledge which recent work in the Record 
 Office has made accessible ; for instance, Lingard 
 minimises the massacre of Protestants in Ulster 
 in 1 64 1, while many writers exaggerate, even 
 to the point of absurdity, that terrible calamity. 
 Clarendon is silent as to the Glamors^an Treaty, 
 which is a guiding light in the study of that 
 crisis of our Constitution, while, to come to minor 
 matters, that very clever and interesting author, 
 Mr. Spencer Walpole, shows a nescience of the 
 topography of Dublin when he talks of the 
 views to be gained from that very minor mound, 
 " The Hill of Clontarf," which O'Connell pro- 
 posed to make his bema — when he gathered to- 
 gether his braves at Clontarf — like King Brian 
 Borhoime. 
 
It is the fashion of the day to blame English 
 misrule for any poverty, turbulence, and im- 
 patience of law that is witnessed in modern 
 Ireland ; and certainly the teaching of history 
 confirms the injusta noverca argument up to 
 a certain point ; but ever since the Reform Bill 
 Ireland has been dealt with with fair liberality — at 
 least with liberal intentions by the English Legis- 
 lature ; and it may be questioned whether, if 
 Ireland had been subjected to any other great 
 power she would have fared half so well, while 
 the political enmity to England which permeates 
 a portion of Ireland, and which is sedulously 
 fostered by a section of her Press, that has 
 apparently adopted the role of the ancient bards, 
 poets, and rhymers, who kept up the odium 
 Anglicamim at fever heat in Wales, Scotland, 
 and Ireland alike for so many decades, is shared 
 in a mitigated form by Wales and Scotland, for 
 the Welsh and Irish have been bitterer foes, 
 though claiming kindred, than ever were English 
 and Irish ; moreover, English statesmen may 
 claim that they have raised the people of Ireland 
 
to ;i far hiL^hcr l('\-c:l than they would probably 
 hav'j attained, or ever did attain, under autoc- 
 thonous chiefs, or an oligarchical Parliament, 
 from which they were entirely excluded. Histo- 
 rical perspective requires a distant standpoint, 
 and we are still comparatively very near to the 
 much-debated Union ; whereas Scotland, where 
 the fires of national hatred burnt even more 
 fiercely than in Ireland, is a long way removed 
 from the date of her union and incorporation which 
 is generally pronounced to have been an immense 
 boon to both countries. Yet Scotland has not 
 renounced one jot of her nationality or traditions ; 
 though we believe the public display at the last 
 Glasgow Exhibition of such English perfidies as 
 the order for the Massacre of Glencoe, or the 
 view of the personal paraphernalia of the Bruce 
 of Bannockburn, did not lead even to indignant 
 newspaper leaders, or to more appeals to " Scots 
 wha hae," &c. Protestant ascendency, the almost 
 necessary consequence and corollary of unfortunate 
 rebellions and revolutions in Ireland, is haply a 
 thing of the past, ignored in theory or practice, a 
 
hatchet to be burled by both belHgerents, who 
 have each had their triumphs and reverses, and 
 should allow Benburb to balance the Boyne, and 
 Londonderry Limerick. 
 
 The territorial system of Ireland, which had 
 a certain element of feudalism in it, is fast 
 crumbling to pieces under enlightened legislation 
 and the spread of free trade, aided by increased 
 facilities of transport. The plausible fiction, that 
 the landlords of Ireland were a grasping, griping, 
 rapacious class, is dispelled by the testimony of 
 Gladstone, and the evidence of a generous adver- 
 sary, who wrote thus apropos of the famine era : — 
 " The majority of resident landlords really did 
 all in their power. When the famine appeared 
 many landowners found themselves on the verge 
 of ruin. They had inherited property that was 
 already heavily mortgaged. The money paid 
 for rent did not remain in their hands, but went 
 to pay their creditors. The loss of a year's rent 
 brought them fatally near seizure and bankruptcy. 
 They knew this, and yet it must be acknowledged 
 that a great many of them who might have 
 
csc;i[jcd disaster by harshness towards their 
 tenants [)referred their own ruin." It may be 
 doubted if a fairer tribute was ever paid to the 
 magnanimity of a body of men. 
 
 To the credit of their poHtical consistency, if 
 to the disparagement of their financial foresight, 
 the hmdlords of Ireland rejected unanimously 
 I\Ir. Gladstone's Bill for Home Rule, coupled 
 with the magnificent compensatory offer of 
 ^150,000,000 as a solatium — 
 
 "Gladstone has proved the Inndlord's friend, 
 Let truth be ever told ; 
 AVhen patriots said — let's give them lead, 
 The old man said— give gold." 
 
 The landlords, at least those of old stock, were 
 not harsh, but they were imprudent and reckless, 
 and made a ductile people, to whom they were 
 examples, reckless too. Tiger Fitzgerald and fight- 
 ing Fitzgerald were sure to find replicas in a lower 
 social stratum ; and such magnificoes as " Buck 
 Whalley," who for a bet walked to Jerusalem 
 and played ball against its walls, or Beauchamp 
 Bagenal, who inter alia fought a royal duke and 
 
carried off a nun from a convent, raised false stan- 
 dards, vitiis imitatibiles, though we cannot forbear 
 some admiration of their dare-devil dash and 
 gallantry. Where the landlords of Ireland failed 
 was in the neglect of their own people and their 
 want of cohesion and esp?'it de corps. Following 
 the Court and Courtiers of England — Wills o' 
 the Wisp that led them into sad scrapes — they 
 grew to despise their own country and country- 
 men, to their own sore hurt and impoverish- 
 ment. Ireland might, merely to take pastime 
 for illustration, have been as good a game ground 
 as Scotland or England ; we know how bare 
 of game it is now generally — as a theatre for 
 hunting it is miles in front of England, yet 
 Melton was ever an irresistible magnet to hunting 
 Hibernians. Whether because Ulster, like Attica, 
 8ia 70 XeTTToyeajv del dcTTacTLaaTa ovcra, escaped to 
 a great extent the constant storm of war that 
 swept over richer Leinster and Munster, or 
 whether she got inured to industry from her 
 frequent Scotch infusions, we know not ; but 
 Ulster points a moral to the rest of Ireland, 
 
which \vc trust will not be lost in the general 
 attornment of the people to ways of peace and 
 industry. Nor would w'e attempt to say more 
 than "Jam satis," to those w^ho have been the 
 leaders of the popular movement, that with its 
 abominable excesses and immoral aims still had 
 something to admire in it — " The resurrection of 
 a nation " as an English peer styled it. Yet even 
 these leaders, mainly hybrid Hibernians, might 
 reflect that none, or hardly any, of the old Celtic 
 families are with them — O'Connells, Kavanaghs, 
 O'Conors, O'Donohues, O'Mores, O'Callaghans, 
 O'Neils, O'Cahans, &c., &c. Paul of Tarsus 
 was not less a patriot in that he was proud of 
 his Roman citizenship. 
 
 I have abandoned my original intention of 
 devoting a chapter to Anecdotes referring to the 
 Castle and its tenants, though at first I thought 
 that such a chapter would be the piece de resist- 
 ance of the volume ; and perhaps, if all the bon 
 mots uttered in and about the Castle could be 
 collected together, they would be very lively 
 reading indeed ; but such a thing is practically 
 
XI 
 
 impossible ; nor would it — to take a few samples 
 — be worth the trouble to record many such 
 items as that the Castle courtiers declared that 
 Lord A. was the most hospitable Viceroy ever 
 known, because, while others invited their guests 
 to dine only, he asked his friends to "dine and 
 sleep " (but then he did the post-prandial sleeping 
 himself) ; or how the Duke of B. found that some 
 ladies in Dublin were so hypnotised or mesme- 
 rised by their Fonche a la Romaine (to which it 
 seems they were partial) that its formal use was 
 discontinued ; nor how some mischievous maidens 
 played a silly trick on a gallant A.D.C., who, they 
 fancied, did not show sufficient empresseuient to 
 join his corps in the field, by sending him an 
 official envelope, marked " Urgent," which, when 
 opened in a public place, revealed nothing but a 
 cloud of small white feathers ; nor yet how a 
 provident spinster was seen folding the wing of 
 a cold capon in her cambric handkerchief by a 
 Castle official, who brought her a few slices of 
 ham to add to her little hoard. Every Court 
 has its little repertoire of jokes, and why should 
 
Dublin claim exception ? But these chronicles 
 of small beer hardly shine in print, though 
 amusing enough to listen to. The readers of 
 Sir Bernard Burke's Anecdotes and Reminis- 
 cences will learn that the splendour of the 
 Dublin Court was acknowledged in the days of 
 the Georges and Queen Anne, and that though 
 occasionally suffering from partial eclipse, it has 
 had splendid recent revivals. 
 
 I had also purposed to write a chapter on 
 the topography of Dublin, and to show the 
 great growth of the city and its environs from 
 the time when the Liffey was approached by 
 marshes, while so erratic was its flood at times 
 that not very much more than a hundred years 
 have elapsed since the Duke of Leinster's yacht 
 made a suburban cruise in a flood tide over what 
 is now the Mayfair of the capital — Merrion 
 Square. It would have led too far, so I gave it up. 
 
 Bishops, and Archbishops, too, played no 
 unimportant part on the stage of Irish politics, 
 from Henri de Loundres, the King's kinsman, who 
 almost built the Castle, to Stone and Boulter, 
 
who were practically the rulers of Ireland for 
 many years, and some notice of the Church might 
 have been expected, but the roll of political 
 prelates was not a very bright one, and the non- 
 political divines, such as Usher, Berkeley, and 
 Bedell have attained a more enduring fame, even 
 if they did not leave fortunes of several hundred 
 thousand pounds, acquired by the arts of the 
 money changer, that in one or two cases have 
 become historical. The Church of Ireland has 
 been lately shorn of much temporal power : the 
 spiritual domain is beyond the power of Prince or 
 Parliament, and here it may be stated that one 
 of the difficulties of the ruler of Ireland consists 
 in the anomaly that in three provinces out of its 
 four, and partially in the fourth, the Govern- 
 ment of the island is a quasi-theocracy, adminis- 
 tered by a hierarchy, that has immense power for 
 good and evil, and has generally wielded it pro 
 bono republicce, as all statesmen will, I think, 
 allow. One of the stock arguments for the dis- 
 establishment of the present state of things is 
 the assumed chronic misery of the island ; it may 
 
 A 
 
be questioned whether agricultural distress has 
 been ainthing like so severe in Ireland as in 
 l^igland, though there is more squalor, while Mr. 
 Davitt very recently testified to the buoyant 
 prosperity of the woollen trade, which England 
 sought to extinguish many years ago. Altered 
 conditions have, no doubt, affected a few indus- 
 tries most cruelly, but so they have all over 
 the world, especially in England. Ireland still 
 recognises what Shakespeare calls "degree," 
 
 "Take but degree away, untune that string, 
 and then what follows ? " 
 
 for close to the Castle is a tramcar line with 
 three classes, the only one I ever saw ; a hint 
 that the aristocratic element is still strong, though 
 temporarily suppressed. The history of the 
 Castle is practically the history of Ireland. This 
 remains to be written, though much good work 
 has been done in preparation for it. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The " intelligent " foreigner (as the phrase goes) 
 arriving in Dublin for the first time would be 
 pretty sure to direct his steps to College Green 
 to view the al fresco Valhalla of native genius, 
 exemplified by Grattan, Goldsmith, Tommy 
 Moore, and Edmund Burke, appositely placed 
 near the national Alma Mater ; to see foreign con- 
 quest represented by William of Orange sitting 
 on a carty charger ; and the several great banking 
 emporia, headed by the Bank of Ireland, the ci- 
 devant Parliament House of the Kingdom of 
 Ireland, where, however, the memorial tapestries 
 are hardly in keeping with existing national 
 sentiment, while the stone-cut legend on its vis- 
 a-vis, the National Bank, " Erin-go-Bragh " is in 
 
direct opposition to Sydney Smith's counsel of 
 perfection " Erin go bread and cheese." Then 
 in his career of curiosity and sight-seeing he 
 would walk through Dame Street congratu 
 lating himself, if a Gaul, that even here a 
 tribute was paid to his native tongue, till he 
 reached the Castle of which he had read so 
 much, not only in the insular records, but 
 more recently in the daily diatribes of the 
 patriotic press, in which it was represented as 
 the " fons et origo" of the many miseries of 
 misgovernment, and a British bastille which 
 public indignation had long ago stormed (on 
 paper), a Jericho against which the trumpets of 
 "the leaders of the people" and of Joshua 
 himself had blown blasts of defiance for many 
 a day, which, however, from want of faith or 
 some other cause, had proved inoperative ; but 
 to our visitor, on passing through the portals 
 of the upper or lower Castle yards, the first 
 impression of this stone symbol of the might 
 and majesty of Great Britain would be one of 
 
disillusion most complete — a galimatias of gro- 
 tesque Greek, Gothic, Plantagenet, and Queen 
 Anne architectural styles. He had conceived 
 a Place d'Armes, with all its characteristics, 
 whereas a half dozen sentries and as many con- 
 stables were the only outward and visible signs 
 of that force majeure which for centuries had 
 held the heroic race of Hibernia in thrall. 
 St. James' Palace and the Tower had seemed most 
 mesquin mansions to his eye in London the other 
 day, but here in the bureaucracy of brick build- 
 ings and the pettiness of the " palatial " apart- 
 ments, at least externally, he could discover no 
 outward and visible sign of the wealth and power 
 of victorious, if perfidious, Albion ! True, he 
 thought the chapel looked something of a fair 
 Gothic shrine while the Birmingham, or Ward- 
 robe or Record tower, though all unarmed, 
 and without even a gun en barbette, seemed a 
 link with a most polemical past, but for the pur- 
 poses of defence or aggression, or even for the 
 semblance of inspiring awe, the whole thing was 
 
to his mind, a ghastly faihire and imposition, far 
 more bourgeois than baronial ! yN]\\\&, pour comb le, 
 the Castle yards were hemmed in by a network of 
 mean streets, the homes apparently of a poor 
 proletariat. The best feature to his eye, how- 
 ever, was the ample space enclosed by these two 
 irregular quadrangles, for the upper yard was 280 
 feet long by 130 feet in breadth, while the lower 
 was 250 feet by 220. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I. — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Origin of Dublin Castle— its Sieges 
 and Uses as a Fortress, a Mint, a Forum, 
 a Prison — an Arena for Single Combats — 
 the Viceregal Lodge and Phcenix Park — 
 the O'Donnel, his Escape, and Career ... 1-43 
 
 Chapter II. (Plantagenet Period). — 
 
 First Lords Deputy — The Butlers and Fitz- 
 geralds — Knockdoe and the Earls of 
 Howth 44-68 
 
 Chapter III. (Tudor Times).— 
 
 Fate of the Fitzgeralds— the O'Mores and 
 O'Connors of Faly— Sir Leonard Grey, 
 St. Leger, Sidney, Sussex, and Shane 
 O'Neil — Queen Elizabeth, her Wisemen 
 and Warriors ... ... ■ - ••• 69-92 
 
 Chapter IV. — 
 
 Desmond, Desolation, and Decay — Confisca- 
 tions and Plantations— The Stuart Cycle— 
 Strafford — Cromwell — the Restoration — 
 William of Orange- the Rebellion of '98 
 — the Union— the Irish People— the Land 
 Question— Ulster and Sir Cahir O'Doherty 93- 1 30 
 
 a 
 
Chapter V. 
 
 Royal Rule in Ireland — the Duke of York — 
 Strafford — James, Duke of Ormonde — 
 Oliver Cromwell — Tyrconnell — The Earl 
 of Essex — Irish Horse Culture— Pembroke 
 — Carteret — Swift — Chesterfield — Towns- 
 end — Portland — Temple — Rutland — 
 Buckingham — Beresford and Fitzwilliam — 
 Cornwallis — Hardwicke — Bedford — Rich- 
 mond — Whitworth — the Wellesleys — ■ 
 Anglesey — Normanby — Bessborough — 
 Clarendon — Eglinton — St. Germans — 
 Carlisle — Kimberley — Abercorn^Spencer 
 — Marlborough — Carnarvon — Aberdeen — - 
 Londonderry — Zetland ... ... ... 131-282 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 Secretaries Castlereagh, Mayo, Hicks- Beach, 
 
 Forster, Stanley, Balfour 283--295 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 Sir William Sidney going forth from the Castle in 
 
 Armour. From an old Engraving ... ... 86 
 
 (late of the U])])er Castle Yard ... ... ... 195 
 
 Upper Castle Yard ... ... ... ... .. 203 
 
 Lower Castle Yard, with Record Tower and Chapel 237 
 
 The Marquis of Londonderry, K.(L... ... ... 278 
 
 The Marchioness of Londonderry ... .. ... 279 
 
 The late Lord Mayo ... .. 286 
 
 The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M. P. 292 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 " This castle hath a pleasant se^iC— Macbeth. 
 
 Very little is known about the Castle of Dublin 
 prior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion, nor has it, 
 I believe, been decided whether the Dun or 
 Citadel of the Scandinavians is identical with 
 what has been the place forte of the capital of 
 Ireland for many centuries. The balance of 
 probability seems to be that the fort which Milo 
 de Cogan captured, by a coup de main, was on the 
 same site, though about as much the same castle as 
 the Norman keep — as Queen Elizabeth's famous 
 knife, which had new blades, and a new handle, 
 added to the old foundation at various intervals. 
 We know that the Ostmen had been more or less 
 
2 DUI5LIN CASTLE. 
 
 in occupation of Dul^lin ever since the 9th century, 
 and that if the Battle of Clontarf crippled them 
 for a period, it by no means extirpated them 
 from their ancient haunts, or interfered with their 
 supremacy at sea. 
 
 Having had our historical faith rudely shaken 
 hy the philosophical iconoclasm of Niebuhr and 
 the German school, we are very apt to question 
 the authenticity of annals which are more or less 
 interwoven with legendary exaggerations, the 
 screeching of scalds, and the poetic licenses of local 
 poets laureate, whose raison d'etre was the glorifi- 
 cation of the chieftains and dynasts to whose 
 personal staff they were attached ; but I believe 
 there is little more reason to doubt the fact of the 
 l)attle of Clontarf having taken place than of that 
 of Borodino or Pultowa, and a chronicler gives it 
 the further verisimilitude of exactness by telling 
 us how Sitric was married to a daughter of Brian 
 Borhoime, and that her woman's heart went out to 
 her husband and adopted countrymen rather than 
 to her own people ; while the two-handed sword 
 of the Irish Generalissimo is still preserved at 
 Clontarf Castle, Mr. Vernon's residence — a 
 witness of the faithful workmanship of the 
 armourers of those days, and the sinewy strength 
 of the arms that could wield such weapons. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 3 
 
 The excavations made for building purposes 
 in the neighbourhood of College Green, once 
 Hoggen's Green, where the bloody battle 
 between Milo de Cogan and Hasculph long 
 surged and wavered, revealed, centuries after- 
 wards, broken weapons and human remains, 
 faithful records of the fierce fray, and the 
 Virgilian hexameter — 
 
 " Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris" 
 was literally exemplified. 
 
 Moreover, it is a fact that the strong strategic 
 points picked out by the early Irish and the Ost- 
 men have for the most part been retained by 
 subsequent conquerors ; a corresponding fact is 
 recognised very often on the Continent. 
 
 Thus Sadowa was erst a battlefield of 
 Frederick the Great. 
 
 I think it is Walter Scott who complains of 
 the general mistrust of ancient records and 
 traditions. We often hear, says the W' izard of 
 the North, of vulgar credulity, but there is such 
 a thing as vulgar incredulity too, which finds the 
 task of absolute rejection far easier, less tedious 
 and exacting than that of examining and investi- 
 gating, and so it is with regard to the Scandinavian 
 conquests and annexations in Ireland, to which 
 Mr. Halliday's researches have given us so good 
 
4 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 a key ; but even supposing that the present 
 castle occupies the Scandinavian site — and its 
 position on the top of the hog-backed ridge, 
 close to the river's edge and with a good supply 
 of water ("jugis aqua^ ") within its area, would 
 seem to confirm this idea — we know that the 
 Normans were nothing if not castle-builders, for 
 *' the castle " was not only their fortress and 
 defence, but their means of pushing on their 
 conquests and annexing fresh pastures — a fact 
 which a few drives through Meath, de Lacy's 
 country — would confirm, ruined castles there 
 beino^ almost as common as cottages and cabins. 
 Harris, the historian and topographer, has 
 given us documental proof that King Henry sent 
 instructions to his representative in Dublin — 
 Meiler Fitzhenry — -to add to and improve the 
 buildings already in existence : " The King, to 
 his beloved and faithful subject, Meiler Fitzhenry 
 Lord Justice of Ireland, greeting. You have 
 given us to understand that you have not a con- 
 venient place wherein our treasure may be safely 
 deposited, and forasmuch as well for that use, as 
 for many others, a fortress would be necessary for 
 us at Dublin, we command you to erect a castle 
 there in such competent place as you shall judge 
 most expedient, as well to curb the city as to 
 
DUIJLIN CASTLE. 5 
 
 defend it if occasion shall so require, and that you 
 make it as strong as you can, with good and 
 durable walls. But you are first to finish one 
 tower, unless afterwards a castle and palace and 
 other works that may require greater leisure may 
 be more conveniently raised, and that we should 
 command you so to do : for which you have our 
 pleasure, according to your desire — at present you 
 may take to this use 300 marks from G. Fitz- 
 Robert, in which he stands indebted to us. We 
 command also our citizens of Dublin that they 
 strengthen their city, and that you compel them 
 thereunto if they should prove refractory. It is 
 our pleasure also that a fair be held in Dublin 
 every year, to continue for eight days, and to 
 begin on the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 
 another at Drogheda, on St. John Baptist's Day, 
 to continue also for eight days, with toll and 
 custom thereunto belonging ; another at Water- 
 ford, on the Festival of St. Peter ad Vincula, for 
 eight days ; and another at Limerick, on the 
 Festival of St. Martin, for eight days ; and we 
 command you that you give public notice thereot 
 by proclamation, that merchants may resort 
 thereto. Witness, the Lord Bishop of Norwich, 
 at Geddington, 21st August, 1205." There is no 
 record of the progress made by Meiler Fitzhenry, 
 
6 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 but we know that Henry Loundres. Archbishop 
 of Dublin, refounded the Castle, so to speak — 
 and the subsequent necessities of the age caused 
 an infinite number of improvements and altera- 
 tions to be effected from time to time, especially 
 by Lionel, Duke of Clarence. 
 
 The Castle, from its position and prestige, was 
 more than once besieged, but the most memorable 
 attempt to take it was in 1534, when Thomas 
 Fitzgerald, eldest son of the Earl of Kildare, 
 was created Lord Deputy by his father, who had 
 been summoned to London, History tells us 
 how a rumour had been circulated that the Earl 
 had been beheaded in London, and on this his 
 hot-headed son, known as " Silken Thomas," 
 hastily summoned the Council, and having 
 surrendered the Sword of State into their hands, 
 broke out into overt rebellion. The plague had 
 raged in the town and thinned its population, but 
 for all that, when news was brought that the 
 O'Tooles were driving cattle they had captured in 
 their raids through " Fingall " to the co. Wicklow, 
 the Dubliners turned out and attacked the 
 reivers, but were grievously discomfited and lost 
 heavily. This caused something of a panic, and 
 Fitzgerald, taking advantage of it, craved from 
 the citizens leave to march through their streets to 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 7 
 
 besiege the Castle. This leave was reluctantly 
 granted, and with the aid of a good citizen, 
 Alderman Fitzsimmons, the Castle was victualled 
 for the leaguer, of which supplies the Alderman 
 contributed, we learn, 20 ton of wine, 24 ton of 
 beer, 2,000 dried ling, and 16 hogsheads of 
 powdered beef. He also gave 20 chambers for 
 mines, and an iron chain for the drawbridge, 
 which he had caused to be forged in his own 
 house that it might not excite suspicion. Six 
 hundred men were now introduced by Fitzgerald 
 under six captains ; three pieces of cannon were 
 planted near Preston's Inn, opposite to the Castle 
 Gate, and at the same time strong entrenchments, 
 with ramparts, were made to protect them from 
 the Castle fire. In addition to this Fitzgerald 
 threatened to place the youths of the city on top 
 of the trenches. While this was going on, Sir 
 Francis Herbert, Alderman, who had been 
 knighted by the King, to whom he had gone for 
 advice, returned with promise of speedy succour 
 from his Majesty, and on this encouragement the 
 gates of the city were closed, and many of Fitz- 
 gerald's troops surrendered, 
 
 " Silken Thomas," hearing of this disaster, 
 marched to Dublin, and commenced the siege 
 from Ship Street, but the Castle ordnance was 
 
8 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 well served, and an engineer named White set 
 fire to the thatched roofs round the Castle by 
 means of some artificial compound, of the nature 
 of Greek fire probably. These vigorous measures 
 caused the siege to be raised, and the loyalty of 
 the citizens was rewarded subsequently by his 
 Majesty. 
 
 It may be mentioned parenthetically here 
 that Silken Thomas had abandoned his siege- 
 works to the care of a Lieutenant, when he heard 
 of some cattle that were on the move, and could 
 therefore probably be looted. He was successful 
 in his stock-raid though not in his siege, and he 
 had presently to undergo one himself in his 
 " Crom a boo " Keep at Maynooth. The epithet 
 " Silken" was applied to this Hibernian Hotspur, 
 or Paddyland Percy, not from any effeminacy or 
 softness in his composition, but from the fringes 
 of silk worn by his warriors on their morions. 
 
 The Castle had the narrowest escape from 
 being burnt by the imprudence of Dean Swift, 
 who would read in bed, a very dangerous custom, 
 especially when curtains were in vogue. The 
 Dean's backsheesh and blandishments hushed 
 up the mishap we are told. 
 
 The following account gives a fair idea of the 
 old fortress, which, in 1783, it was proposed to 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 9 
 
 supersede by a regularly planned modern citadel, 
 designed by Sir Bernard Gomme, but which was 
 never erected. The entrance to the Castle was 
 then, as it is now, from the north side, but there 
 are no remains of the drawbridge that led to it by 
 two strong towers, called the " Gate Towers." 
 The gateway between them was furnished with a 
 portcullis armed with iron, such as may be seen on 
 the Somerset Shield — this was intended as a 
 second defence in the event of an enem}- surprising 
 and " rushing " the drawbridge. To these two 
 was added in later times a platform surmounted 
 with two pieces of heavy ordnance. 
 
 From the Gate tower on the west a strono- and 
 
 o 
 
 high curtain extended in a line parallel to Castle 
 Street, till it connected it with Cork tower, so 
 named because it was mainly the work of Richard 
 Boyle, first Earl of Cork, of whom it might be 
 said — 
 
 " Di tibi divitias dederunt, artemque fruendi." 
 
 This tower replaced an old one that fell in May, 
 1624. 
 
 From Cork tower the castle wall continued 
 in one curtain of equal height with the former, 
 till it joined the Birmingham tower, said to have 
 
lO DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 been built either by John Birmingham, Earl of 
 Louth and Atherlee, Lord Justice in 1321, or else 
 by Walter Birmingham, who filled the same office 
 in 1548; while others trace its name to William 
 Birmingham, who, with his son Walter, endured 
 in 1 33 1 a long imprisonment within its walls. 
 (Some of the cells are still to be seen.) 
 
 From the Birmingham tower the curtain goes 
 on to the Eastern Gateway tower at the entrance 
 into the castle — a building oblong and quad- 
 rangular, which was strengthened by a broad, 
 deep moat, in which a detenu, who was making his 
 escape, now and then spent the greater part of 
 the night, till rescued by some marauding 
 O'Byrnesor O'Tooles early next morning. 
 
 Beyond the Castle walls, towards the east, 
 was a chapel, the Provost Marshal's prison, an 
 armoury, the workhouses of the armourers and 
 smiths attached to the artillery train, and the 
 stables of the chief Governor. There also at one 
 time were the quarters of the groom-porter or 
 croupier — an office not now recognised — and the 
 offices of the Ordnance Department, for that of 
 War and the Treasury, and for the Registry of 
 Deeds and Conveyances throughout the island. 
 Formerly there were two sallyports or postern 
 gates in the Castle walls — the one near the Bir- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I I 
 
 mingham tower, the other affording a passage to 
 the Castle yard. The former was closed in 1663 
 by order of the Duke of Ormonde, then Lord 
 Lieutenant, on discovering the plot of Jephson, 
 Blood, and others, to surprise the Castle by 
 its means. The other remained for years, till 
 the North tower and its curtain were pulled 
 down. 
 
 In early times the guard of the Castle was 
 entrusted to a constable, a gendeman-porter, and 
 a body of warders, consisting of archers and 
 pikemen : the constable receiving ^18 5-s-. per 
 annum, each warder £2 55-. 6^/. In the days of 
 gunpowder, arquebusiers and artillerymen were 
 added. The two '" Gate Towers " were reserved 
 for the constable and the State prisoners, but 
 their custody was not always very secure, as in 
 the instance of Lord Delvin, who conspired with 
 Tyrone, Tyrconnel, Maguire, O'Cahan, and other 
 Ulster chiefs to surprise the Castle, but were 
 frustrated by the loyalty of a Roman Catholic, 
 who revealed the plot to the authorities. There 
 was a mint in the Castle as well as at Trim in the 
 CO. Meath ; and the importance of Dublin Castle 
 is shown by the fact that its keeper or constable 
 must be a full-born Englishman. We learn from 
 the letter-press of J. Rocque's map — a most 
 
 B 
 
12 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 interesting illustrated chart — that Dulilin Castle 
 was not converted into a regular residence 
 for the Viceroys till the reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth. They sometimes lodged in Thomas Court, 
 sometimes in the palace of the Archbishop of 
 Dublin at St. Sepulchres, sometimes at St. 
 Mary's Abbey, and sometimes at the Castle of 
 Kilmainham. Thus in 1488 the Earl of Kildare 
 received Sir Richard Edgcumb in the King's 
 great chamber, in Thomas Court, and there did 
 homage and took the oath of allegiance to 
 Henry VII., in the person of Sir Richard. We 
 read of Kildare in 1524 taking the oath of office 
 in Christ Church, and proceeding thence in state 
 to the Abbey of St. Thomas, Conn O'Neil 
 carrying the sword of state before him, as the 
 Chief Secretary of the time being — at present 
 Mr. Balfour — now does. When Kilmainham 
 Castle had been dismantled by a violent storm, 
 Queen Elizabeth directed the Castle of Dublin to 
 be repaired and enlarged for the reception of 
 the chief Governor, her frugal mind discovering 
 this was cheaper than repairing Kilmainham. Sir 
 Henry Sidney put the coping stone on the reno- 
 vated edifice. Among the Rolls may be found 
 extant the Indenture between the deputy and 
 other officers, and George Ardglass, to do all the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 3 
 
 keeping and maintenance of the Castle — including 
 its clock — for i6^. per diem. 
 
 The Irish Parliament seems for some time to 
 have been peripatetic, and to have had no local 
 habitation. Thus Sessions were held at Trim in 
 Meath, and at Kilkenny, too, and in the latter 
 some of the most important enactments, and the 
 most far-reaching in their consequences, were 
 made ; but Dublin appears to have been, so to 
 speak, the central Parliamentary station, though, 
 judging by the attendance, the questions of the 
 day were not often considered burning ones by 
 the burgesses and knights of the shire, to whom 
 attendance at the Session was often a work of 
 great danger. A curious record remains of Par- 
 liamentary peril from the stores of gunpowder in 
 the Castle, which latterly became the Parliamen- 
 tary home, as well as a forensic theatre ; for in 
 1606 Chichester thus writes to the English 
 Council : — 
 
 " To bring the Court of Law again into this 
 Castle were to draw them just over the store of 
 munitions which not only by practice (as formerly 
 hath been attempted) but by using of fire, by 
 burning of some prisoners in the hand, may be 
 fired, to the exceeding detriment of the State, and 
 ruin of this Castle. In which respects we doubt 
 
 R 2 
 
14 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 not but your Lordships will think it exceeding 
 inconvenient ; and for our parts we know it to be 
 so dangerous, and at no time more than now, as 
 we cannot, without almost incredible hazard, ad- 
 venture upon it." Chichester seems to have had 
 the Gunpowder Plot on the brain, but his despatch 
 led to no result, and Dublin Castle continued 
 to be the ordinary hall of convocation for the 
 makino;- as well as the administration of law till the 
 rebellion of 1641, and thence to the Restoration. 
 
 During the past century the Castle has been 
 almost entirely rebuilt, and the Wardrobe Tower 
 is almost the sole sur\'ival of what Harris saw 
 and described. The Viceregal apartments appear 
 to have been in a semi-ruinous state in 1631, and 
 indeed for another century were in hardly a civilised 
 condition. Thus the apartment under the sitting- 
 room of the Lord Deputy was a bake-house, while 
 fuel was piled up in front of the gallery windows, 
 and the remains of St. Andrew's Church — then in 
 Dame Street — served for a stable. The Gate 
 Towers — so salient a feature of the building — were 
 not finally pulled down till 1750; and the old 
 Birmingham tower would probably have remained 
 to the present day but for a fearful explosion of 
 gunpowder (such as Chichester dreaded) which 
 split it into fissures, and, owing to the goodness 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 5 
 
 of the masonry, it was only with much labour 
 demolished. The Castle is divided into two 
 courts, commonly called yards, and the upper 
 contains the apartments of the Lord Lieutenant 
 and his suite ; " between the principal or Eastern 
 gate, and the corresponding one (artificial only), 
 the interval is occupied by a building of two 
 stories, exhibiting Ionic columns, or rusticated 
 arches supporting a pediment ; and from this rises 
 a circular of the Corinthian order terminating in a 
 cupola. This is called the Bedford Tower. It is 
 appropriated to the use of the master of the cere- 
 monies and aides-de-camp of the chief Governor, 
 and here since the demolition of the old Birming- 
 ham tower the flag has been displayed on State 
 days; and here also on the ist January, 1801, 
 the Imperial united standard waved for the first 
 time upon the union of the two countries. The 
 Presence Chamber is over the colonnade, and was 
 formerly the Yeoman's Hall. The throne and 
 canopy are covered with crimson velvet, richly 
 ornamented with gold lace. From a richly-fretted 
 ceiling hangs a glass lustre of Waterford manu- 
 factory, purchased by the Duke of Rutland. 
 St. Patrick's Hall, used for the installation of the 
 Knights of the Order of St. Patrick, is also a 
 ball room, of fine proportions, 82 feet long, 41 feet 
 
1 6 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 broad, and 38 feet in height. It was begun by 
 Lord Temple during his Viceroyalty, and con- 
 tains some good paintings, among which is one 
 of St. Patrick converting the natives ; of Henry 
 the Second receiving the submissions of the Irish 
 chieftains; and an allegory representing George the 
 Third as a benefactor to Ireland (with which view 
 contemporary Catholics find it hard to coincide). 
 At the back of the apartments of the Viceroy is 
 a small Italian garden, to which a flight of granite 
 steps leads." The lower court or yard, though 
 larger than the upper, is irregular in outline, and 
 built on uneven, unlevel ground. Here is the 
 Ordnance Office, the Arsenal, with stores for 
 40,000 men, and sundry offices. 
 
 In the corner is the Chapel Royal, built in the 
 florid style of pointed Gothic architecture, with a 
 rather handsome interior. This chapel was erected 
 m the reign of John, Duke of Bedford, 1807, as 
 the following tablet tells us : — 
 
 Hanc sedem, 
 
 Deo Optimo maximo olim dicatam 
 
 vetustate penitus dirutam 
 
 denuo extrui jussit 
 
 Johannes, Bedfordise dux, Hibernise prorex, 
 
 Ipseque fundamenta posuit, anno a Christo 
 
 nato MDCCCVII. 
 
 The Chapel of the Castle of Dublin is men- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 7 
 
 tioned as early as 1225, in a close roll of England, 
 from which we learn that William de Radcliffe, 
 then King Henry's Chaplain, received 50 marks 
 as a gift from the Crown. On an Exchequer 
 account of 1250 are entered payments for improv- 
 ing and repairing the Royal Wardrobe in Dublin 
 Castle, for repairs of the Great Hall, kitchen 
 windows by the houses, chapel, and chambers of 
 the Exchequer. A Plea Roll of 1728 records the 
 indictment of " Frigola," wife of Walter Mac- 
 Torkoyl, for having carried to the Castle of 
 Dublin linen cloths, with which he and others 
 made ropes to descend the walls of the fortress. 
 
 The chaplain of the Lord Lieutenant is now 
 styled Dean of the Chapel Royal. 
 
 The Castle seems occasionally to have been 
 turned into a gladiatorial arena, or prize-fighting 
 ring. Thus, in 1528, Connor MacCormack 
 O'Connor brought Teig McGilpatrick O'Connor 
 before the Lords Justices (Adam Loftus, Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallop) and 
 Council for killing his men who were under 
 protection. Teig, the defendant, pleaded that 
 the appellant's men had, since they had taken 
 protection, confederated with the rebel Cahir 
 O'Connor, and therefore were also rebels, and 
 that he was ready to maintain his plea by combat. 
 
15 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 The challenge being accepted by the appellant, 
 all things were prepared to try the issue, and time 
 and place appointed, according to precedents 
 drawn from the laws of England in such cases. 
 The weapons, being sword and target, were 
 chosen by the defendant, and the next day ap- 
 pointed for the combat. 
 
 The Lords Justices, the Judge and Councillors, 
 attended in places set apart for them, every man 
 according to his rank, and most of the military 
 officers, for the greater solemnity of the trial, 
 were present. The combatants were seated on 
 two stools, one at each end of the inner court of 
 the Castle. 
 
 The court being called, the appellant was led 
 forward from his stool within the lists, stripped 
 to his shirt, and searched by the Secretary of 
 State, leaving no arms but his sword and target ; 
 and taking a corporal oath that his quarrel was 
 just, he made his reverence to the Lords Justices 
 and the Court, and then was conducted back to 
 his stool. The same ceremony was observed as 
 to the defendant. Then the pleadings were 
 openly read, and the appellant was demanded 
 whether he would aver his appeal ? to which he 
 answered in the affirmative. The defendant was 
 next asked whether he would confess the action, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 9 
 
 or abide the trial of the same ? He also answered 
 that he would aver his plea by the sword. The 
 signal being given by the sound of the trumpet, 
 they began the combat with great resolution. 
 The appellant received two wounds in his leg and 
 one in his eye, and thereupon attempted to close 
 the defendant, who being too strong for him he 
 pummelled till he loosened his hold, and then 
 with his sword cut off his head, and on the point 
 thereof presented it to the Lords Justices, and so 
 his acquittal was recorded. Hooker remarks, "that 
 the combat was fought with such valour and 
 resolution on both sides that the spectators wished 
 that it had rather fallen on the whole sept of the 
 O'Connors than on those two gentlemen." 
 
 The account of this Judicial duel reminds one 
 of Voltaire's description of that between Conde 
 and Turenne, in the " Henriade." 
 
 " Mais la trompette sonne, ils s'elancent tous les deux, 
 lis commencent enfin ce combat dangereux." 
 
 The fitness of things, regal and vice-regal, 
 demands that kings and vice-kings should have 
 changes of air and scene like meaner mortals ; 
 and for this reason country and suburban palaces 
 have ever been found for the rulers of our realms. 
 
20 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 The Majesty of England has quite a wealth of 
 Royal residences at its disposal : Windsor and 
 Hampton Court in the semi-suburban zone, 
 Buckingham Palace and St. James' in the urban, 
 Holyrood and Balmoral in Northern Britain, 
 Osborne in the Isle of Wight, but unfortunately 
 none in Ireland ; though perhaps in that unfor- 
 tunate island she lives as much in the hearts of 
 her neglected people as in more favoured and 
 prosperous pUces. We have seen that the Lord 
 Deputy or Lord Lieutenant had, in early times, 
 a considerable choice of lodgings besides Dublin 
 Castle — St. Mary's Abbey, St. Sepulchres, St. 
 Thomas' Court, and Kilmainham Priory and 
 Castle, were at his service ; but Queen Elizabeth 
 was the first sovereign who meditated a move 
 into comparative country for her hard-tasked 
 servants ; and, if records be reliable, the happy 
 thouo^ht of " Parkinq- " the Manors of Newtown 
 and the Phoenix was an inspiration of hers, and 
 makino^ it a sort of official *' Pale." However, 
 what good Queen Bess might have done had 
 Ireland been England, and Dublin London, we 
 know not ; but can guess that if she really " meant 
 it," the work would have sped on pretty fast, but 
 Her Majesty's proreges had to content themselves 
 with the Castle in Dublin ; nor was it till Charles 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 21 
 
 the Second's era that the Phoenix Park con- 
 ception emerged from its embryo form. 
 
 Meanwhile, Strafford, whom contemporary 
 Irishmen styled " Black Tom," began to build 
 himself a brick palace or mansion about a mile 
 from Naas, on the Newbridge and Kildare high 
 Road, and the remains of its massive masonry 
 are still to be seen on the banks of the " Grand " 
 Canal ; nor am I quite sure the Kennels of the 
 Kildare Hunt, which abut upon the gaunt and 
 ruinous structure, do not occupy some of the 
 space dedicated to its once princely pile. In 
 Charles the Second's reign, the mansion which 
 is now known far and wide as the Viceregal 
 Lodge, was bought, with its curtilages, from 
 Clements, Earl of Leitrim. The Royal Standard 
 floats over it whenever the Lord Lieutenant is in 
 occupation — when he goes away it is taken down. 
 But, though this is now the sole Viceregal resi- 
 dence within the Park walls, it is certain that 
 General Fleetwood, Cromwell's representative, 
 lived in some lodge or other that was temporarily 
 viceregal, while in Ireland, and not campaigning; 
 and history also records that Henry Cromwell, 
 the Lord Lieutenant, who by all accounts was a 
 popular governor, retired from the Castle to this 
 Lodge, and adds that, so straitened was this 
 
2 2 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Liberal Lieutenant in his ways and means, that 
 the cash necessary for his transit to England was 
 not at the moment forthcoming. 
 
 Of the 1,760 acres that form the area of the 
 Phoenix Park, the wail of which is said to be 7 miles 
 in extent, 209 have been reserved for the little Park 
 within a Park — Imperium in Imperio — that forms 
 the Viceroy's domain. This is well planted, and 
 laid out with gardens in the Italian style, and 
 fenced off from the surrounding Park by a deep 
 and broad ha-ha — a sunken fence, which would 
 stop all cavalry permanently, and would arrest 
 infantry for some minutes, till fascines were thrown 
 into the fosse, or planks for crossing it were pro- 
 cured, to serve as a temporary bridge. The 
 Vicereo^al Lodq-e somehow recalls the White 
 House at Washington, U.S., the President's resi- 
 dence, to my memory, though the former is con- 
 siderably larger and more ornate, having, like 
 Janus' temple at Rome (and not a few public 
 characters in Ireland), two fronts or faces — that 
 looking to the north, built by Lord Whitworth 
 during his viceroyalty, is ornamented by a pedi- 
 ment supported by four Ionic pillars of Port- 
 land stone, from a design by Johnson. The view 
 to the northward, however, is quite borne, and 
 very inferior to that to the south, which takes in 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 23 
 
 the sierra of the Dublin and Wicklow Range, 
 sometimes snow-capped, but more generally of 
 purple tints. The viceregal range helps to form 
 a sort of official quadrilateral, consisting of the 
 Parks and Pleasaunces of the Chief, Under, and 
 Private Secretaries' Lodges, covering an area of 
 about 130 acres, more or less. The Chief Secre- 
 tary's is the largest in area, and has the biggest 
 mansion. 
 
 The Viceregal Lodge may now be considered 
 the permanent official home of the Viceroy, as 
 it is said to be more healthy than the Castle, 
 which, as a matter of fact, is only occupied 
 now during the Dublin season ; a season which 
 generally sets in "with extreme severity" 
 during the Lenten term, and lasts lor some six 
 weeks, finding its natural close on the 1 7th of 
 March, St. Patrick's native day according to 
 current tradition. Then all " the courtiers " of 
 the season assemble in St. Patrick's Hall and 
 keep the Saint's anniversary jollily, if not ab- 
 solutely holily (according to some standards), 
 and baptise their shamrocks in something 
 stronger than the pure lymph from the holy 
 well honoured by his venerable name. It is a 
 spacious mansion and can put up a number of 
 guests, while the gardens and grounds form a 
 
24 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 charming and ample theatre for the little 
 comedies that are created by afternoon garden 
 parties, the largest of which, and perhaps the 
 most promiscuous, was given by Lord and Lady 
 Aberdeen, during the Viceroyalty of the former, 
 when Irish manufacture in costumes and toilettes 
 was absolutely de i^ig'tiettr. I have already men- 
 tioned that a large sunken fence or ha-ha 
 demarcates the viceregal ground from the 
 Phcenix Park. On the day of Lord Spencer's 
 second formal entry into his Dublin dominions as 
 Viceroy, just a little more than seven years ago, the 
 assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and 
 Mr. Tom Burke, the permanent Under-Secretary, 
 was perpetrated, before the windows of the Lodge, 
 at a distance of some 2,00 yards or less from them. 
 It is said that Lord Spencer, who had only 
 entered the Viceregal Lodge a few minutes pre- 
 viously, having been engaged in looking at a 
 game of polo played on the All Ireland Polo 
 Ground, a part of the " 9 acres " on the verge of 
 the Viceregal grounds, and almost under the 
 shadow of the Chesterfield Avenue of elms, was 
 with one or two officials gazing out of the win- 
 dows of the sitting room that looks southwards, 
 when they saw what they took to be a drunken 
 brawl, but something by-and-bye, whether it was 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 25 
 
 the flash of steel or not, opened their eyes to the true 
 character of the foul fray, then they rushed through 
 the French windows to the ha-ha, and some of 
 them scrambled down it, but too late to avail, as 
 the murderers had driven off; curiously enough 
 the foul murder was viewed by a young cavalry 
 officer from a little tope of trees about as far 
 off as the Lodge, and he too thought it was a 
 mere brawl or fight for several seconds. It 
 seems strange to reflect that there was a guard 
 of soldiers within hail of the spot where the 
 assassination was perpetrated, and constabulary 
 barracks less than 600 yards distant, not to 
 speak of park-keepers and rangers. Reverting to 
 the Viceregal Lodge, it may be mentioned that 
 Lord Hardwicke, in 1802, during his Viceroyalty 
 added wings to the building. Between the house 
 and the Chief Secretary's Lodge is the racquet 
 court, and just beyond that, in a delightful glade, 
 is the cricket ground, where many a good match 
 has been played since Lord Carlisle's time, who, I 
 think, first associated the Lodge with this great 
 Pan-Anglican summer pastime. Lord Carlisle did 
 not play himself while Viceroy, but took the 
 liveliest interest in the matches and scored them. 
 Lord Spencer also relaxed the tension of the 
 official bow by a little mild play, but the 
 
26 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Strongest eleven that the Viceregal grounds 
 have known for some time has been got together 
 (luring Lord Londonderry's reign. His Ex- 
 cellency plays a good deal himself, and is the 
 cause of much play in others, as he always has the 
 I Zingari men over in August, and puts them up at 
 the Lodge, and is equally hospitable to their Irish 
 imitators, the " Na Shulers." Half way between 
 the Viceroy's Lodge and that occupied by the 
 Chief Secretary is the column erected by Lord 
 Chesterfield during his reign, on the top of which 
 is a stone presentation of the fabulous Phoenix, 
 the bird which took such a hold of Herodotus' 
 fancy, and that possibly may have suggested to 
 the Aryan mind the rite (or wrong) of " Suttee ; " 
 the Phoenix on the column is in the act of fanning 
 with its wings the pyre that is the source of suc- 
 cession for future Phoenixes. On one side is the 
 inscription : — 
 
 " Civium oblectamento 
 
 Campum rudem et incultum 
 
 Ornari Jussit 
 
 Philippus Stanhope 
 
 Comes de Chesterfield 
 
 Prorex." 
 
 On the other the tablet declares that — 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 2/ 
 
 " Impensis suis posuit 
 
 Philippiis Stanhope 
 
 Comes de Chesterfield 
 
 Prorex," 
 
 We need not pause to offer conjectures on the 
 curious title to the Park, namely " Phoenix ; " 
 certain it is that the manor that formed a large 
 portion of it was early styled as " Phoenix," 
 though there is a spring within it known to Irish 
 scholars as Fion Uiske, which pronounced rapidly 
 has some similitude of sound to " Phoenix." In 
 1787 that most social satrap, the Duke of Rutland, 
 died at the Lodge, and very prematurely too. Lord 
 Lifford was his chancellor, and, according to the 
 precedents, he issued a summons to the Privy 
 Councillors in Ireland to attend, for the election of 
 a Lord Justice ; but prior to their assemblage the 
 Duke of Buckingham received the appointment. 
 
 In 1783 Sarah, Countess of Westmoreland, died 
 in the Lodge, of what was called a " miliary''^ fever, 
 possibly now it might be called a military fever, 
 from the comparative proximity of that military 
 nest of the typhoid plague, the Royal Barracks. 
 
 The records of the Irish House of Commons 
 tell us how that Mr. Thomas Conolly of Casde- 
 town brought in a bill to settle the Viceregal 
 Lodge on Grattan and his heirs. The bill, how- 
 
28 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 c\'cr, did not pass, as might have been anticipated. 
 Passing to the history of the Phoenix Park, most 
 of it appears to have originally belonged to the 
 Templars, from whom it was taken at their 
 degradation and disestablishment,. and transferred 
 to the Knights' Hospitallers of St. John, located 
 at Kilmainham Priory. The lands of Chapel Izod 
 (or of La belle Isolde or Isode) were acquired from 
 Sir Maurice Eustace, those of Upper Castlenock 
 from J. Warren of Corduff, Ashtown from Corcan 
 of Pelletstown, and so on as to the other portions. 
 Certain it is that the Manors of Newtown and 
 Phoenix were annexed by the Duke of Ormonde, 
 (by command) for ^3,000, which must be con- 
 sidered cheap for 467 acres near a city. The 
 whole area, it seems, cost the Government some 
 ^40,000. Sir John Temple built the wall round 
 it, and Lord Palmerston's family hence derived 
 their droits of park pasturage. The Lord Lieu- 
 tenant originally derived 100 guineas from the 
 pasturage, a right waived by the Duke of 
 Devonshire while Viceroy. The Duchess of 
 Cleveland was said to have had a settlement of 
 ^1,000 a year out of the undisposed lands round 
 the Park. This was during the reign of Essex. 
 The house where William IIL, the Irish William 
 the Conqueror, sojourned after the battle of the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 29 
 
 Boyne, is still pointed out by the banks of the 
 Liffey, but it is not now within the Phoenix 
 Park. 
 
 Just now, owing to the mysterious prevalence 
 of enteric fever in the Royal and Richmond 
 Barracks, which seems to baffle sanitary engineer- 
 ing science so far, the garrison of Dublin is living 
 under canvas in a southern corner of the Phoenix 
 Park, and not far from the powder magazine, 
 which provoked one of the last flickers of Jonathan 
 Swift's most mordent wit. But prior to giving 
 his quatrain, we may remark that the storage of 
 powder near the Castle of Dublin had nearly 
 shaken that part of the city to its foundations when 
 an order went forth from the Caesar of the day 
 to store the gunpowder in the new magazine. 
 Swift's impromptu ran thus : — 
 
 " Behold a proof of Irish wit, 
 Here Irish sense is seen, 
 When nothing's left that's worth defence 
 They build a magazine ! " 
 
 Close by it are the remains or outline rather of 
 the fort projected by the Duke of Wharton, who, 
 during his tenure of the sword of State, took into 
 his head that an attack would be made on the 
 Castle, and proposed to build this fort and entrench 
 
30 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 himself therein. It is known as "Wharton's 
 folly." 
 
 It is curious how history repeats itself; in 1788 
 the Marquis of Buckingham, then Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, ordered a camp to be formed in the 
 Phoenix Park, and nine years later Lord Camden 
 formed another on the same ground. It must be 
 recollected that the Curragh had not then been 
 annexed by the Crown for military purposes and 
 made an Hibernian Campus Martius. 
 
 I have searched and searched but have been 
 unable to find any trace of Irish Kings as domi- 
 ciled or habitues in Dublin Castle, or even in 
 Dublin itself ; for though Dublin has been for 
 centuries the capital of Ireland, its heart, and to a 
 certain extent its ville de lumiere, like Paris, there 
 is no reason whatever why it should have been a 
 place of primary importance in the ante-Norman 
 era, when the sons of Heremon and Heber, 
 according to the tradition, were monarchs of all 
 they surveyed. Indeed, there is every reason 
 why it should not have been so esteemed, for the 
 Irish do not seem to have been a ship-building or 
 commercial race of men, in spite of the legends of 
 Niall of the nine hostages, and Dublin was but one 
 of many hundred ports equally adapted for their 
 petty enterprises on the ocean and by the coast. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 3 I 
 
 They were a race of cattle-rearers and dealers, 
 and their descendants understand this business as 
 well as most men, and can buy and sell and get 
 gain where animals of all kinds are concerned, 
 from horses to hogs. Their kings and dynasts 
 were merely glorified graziers who had more stock 
 of all kinds than their clansmen, and who occa- 
 sionally let out these herds, or parts of them, to 
 their poorer dependents, very much as ^ the 
 modern salesmaster undertakes to stock a farm 
 of pasture-land for a grazier of slender capital 
 and little credit. Kinkora, illustrated by Moore's 
 ballad-notice, " He returns to Kinkora no more," 
 was the palace and farm of the Munster 
 monarchs. Galway or Galvy, well known in the 
 days of Strabo and Ptolemy, was probably a far 
 more important place than Dublin ; at any rate, 
 only a kw hundred years ago, a writer described 
 it, if I recollect right, as the third city in the 
 king's dominions, and from its petty port there 
 was much trade to and from the Iberian peninsula. 
 It probably divided with Croghan, Athlone, and 
 Roscommon the patronage of the Kings of Con- 
 naught. Ardmagh, the Primatial city, probably 
 was the capital of the O'Neils, of Ulster. Killeigh, 
 or Geashill, was probably the chief town of the 
 O'Connors of Faly ; Birr of the O'Carrolls, of 
 
32 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Ely ; Campa, now changed to Maryborough, 
 of the O'Moores, and so on ; but it was not so 
 with the Ostmen, styled Danes in Ireland, 
 including the white and the dark Gaels. Dublin 
 was to them a port of great price, connecting 
 their chain of harbours along the eastern coast, 
 still recognisable by their names — such as Wex- 
 ford, Carlingford, Waterford, Strangford, &c., 
 and very handy for the Isle of Man, their great 
 stronghold, and the Hebrides, as well as for the 
 Welsh coast. They were traders and pirates, a 
 combination as common as in early Greece, when, 
 according to Thucydides, piracy was anything 
 rather than discreditable ; so to the Danes Dublin 
 was very dear, and after fighting for it with the 
 Anglo-Normans, they bargained with them for 
 certain rights and privileges, when they were 
 beaten. To the Danes the interior of the country 
 was comparatively valueless, though we know 
 that inboth England and Ireland theyhad won their 
 victorious way much more extensively, probably 
 with a view to trade, than was generally estimated. 
 In point of fact, the Scandinavian element is far 
 stronger in the inhabitants of both islands than we 
 imagine. In the loth century we have Malachy, 
 the monarch of all Ireland, winning a golden 
 torque or collar from one Danish champion, a 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 33 
 
 sword from another — a fact that Moore alludes to 
 — " When Malacby wore the collar of gold, which 
 he won from the proud invader." 
 
 This Malachy was deposed by Brian Bor- 
 hoime, or " Boromy," as Warner calls him, the 
 Alfred of Ireland who for some 50 years fought 
 them constantly and beat the Danes consecu- 
 tively in 29 battles ; in the great fight at Clontarf, 
 Leinster and its legion was arrayed on the 
 Danish side, but victory at last inclined to Brian's 
 braves, though it cost the gallant old warrior the 
 remainder of his span of existence. He was said 
 to be 76 when he died. 
 
 Brian, as the King of Ireland, was bound to 
 attend the Tara Wittenagemot when the pro- 
 vincial dynasts and chiefs of septs met together 
 with their bards and musicians to take sweet 
 council together (and perhaps something stronger 
 too) as to affairs of State. 
 
 From the total absence of masonry or brick 
 round Tara it would appear that the Royalties held 
 a sort of Feast of Tabernacles, and dwelt in 
 " boolies," or wicker houses similar to those put up 
 in Dame Street when Richard II. feasted " the cap- 
 tains and great estates " of the island in Dublin ; 
 but the record of the contributions paid in annually 
 by the men of IMunster to Brian at Kinkora 
 
34 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 (independently of provincial tributes) is interest- 
 ing, as showing something of the manners and 
 customs of the age — these were : 1,450 oxen, 
 3,650 cows, 4,800 hogs, 2,600 wedders, 100 
 horses, 1,150 mantles, a fleet, well manned and 
 equipped, besides guards, foot and horse soldiers, 
 &c., when required. The Dalgais seem to have 
 been a kind of corps of Janissaries for special 
 services. 
 
 In addition to these supplies we read that 
 the Danes of Limerick sent him 325 hogsheads 
 of claret per ayinum ; the Danes of Dublin, 
 150 pipes of wines of various sorts. We 
 learn, too, that " the Book of Rights of 
 Munster " is, with the exception of the histories of 
 Greece and Rome, the oldest historical record 
 extant. 
 
 That gold was not wanting at the Court ot 
 Kinkora we learn from the fact that King Brian 
 offered 20 ounces of that metal for the shrine at 
 " Ardmagh ; " while Malachy's torque was but 
 one of many similar ones to be seen at the time, 
 in a perfect state, as they are now to be viewed 
 in an imperfect condition, in museums. The 
 Danes had, while still Pagan, a habit of plunder- 
 ing abbeys, churches, and monasteries where 
 records were kept, and then setting fire to the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 35 
 
 buildings by way of a feu de joie. Hence the 
 difficulty of painting anything like a picture of 
 that past period with such scanty materials to 
 hand. The English captains, too, were not 
 quite free from this species of sacrilege, and 
 we read that the Abbey of Killeigh, in the 
 King's Co., of which only a gable or two and 
 some arches survive, was burnt down by the 
 Elizabethan soldiery, with all its wealth of painted 
 glass. 
 
 These observations have been made to dispel 
 the erroneous impression that Ireland was wholly 
 uncivilised and barbarous before its annexation 
 by the English Crown, and to show how there was 
 no continuity of Government and institutions in 
 Ireland as in England. 
 
 The fatal arrow that tore through Harold's 
 armour at the Battle of Hastings and robbed him 
 of life may be said to have achieved the conquest 
 of England. London, the Tower, and West- 
 minster Abbey were adopted by the victors as a 
 Royal fane Castle and City, where the functions 
 of the Crown were held. In Ireland it was 
 wholly different. Kinkora and Tara sink into 
 insignificance, and the Castle of Dublin, with the 
 subsidiary ones at Trim and Kilkenny, rise into 
 importance and note ; yet it would be a great 
 
36 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 mistake to depreciate bye-gone grace and greatness 
 because the erosion of time and the storm of war 
 have left Httle trace of their existence and import- 
 ance. The Cinque Ports are very tiny towns now 
 — a few hundred years ago they were strong 
 points on our southern coasts, and keys to 
 England, more or less. Cashel of the Kings, in 
 the same way, is little more now than an historic 
 landmark and beacon ; even the Tower of London 
 owes its grandeur to association alone. Apropos of 
 the Abbey of Killeigh, in Offaly, the historian 
 gives us in his pa.ges a presentment of the 
 Lady Margaret O'Connor at a great function 
 held there in March, 1447, which certainly 
 indicates a fair amount of civilisation and 
 refinement, in mind as well as in manner and 
 costume. 
 
 " Rich and rare were the robes she wore" as 
 she appeared seated in queenly style, and in 
 raiment of cloth of gold ; and we learn that she 
 opened the Congress by presenting two massive 
 chalices of gold on the high altar of the church 
 as an act of duty towards God, as the chronicler 
 points out, and then she took two orphan chil- 
 dren to rear and nurse, an act of charity to her 
 neighbour. Moreover, one of the Elizabethan 
 Viceroys records that in his progress from Clare 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. ^^J 
 
 to Connaught he was with his suite very hand- 
 somely entertained by a country gentleman of 
 the period, Sir John O'Shaughnessy, whose style 
 of living made a considerable impression on the 
 Deputy's mind — possibly it may have been /e 
 bojikeur de Cimpi-evu, the less expected the more 
 welcomed ! 
 
 We have noticed one or two escapes from 
 the duresse of the Castle, probably due to the 
 disloyalty of some of the warders to their 
 Sovereign (or loyalty, if it may be so called, 
 to their own race), just as Stephens, the 
 Fenian " Head-Centre," was allowed to escape 
 from Richmond State Prison, and, after re- 
 maining perdu for a considerable time in 
 Dublin he made his escape in disguise to the 
 Continent. 
 
 A more dangerous rebel, or patriot (from 
 whichever standpoint you judge), than any we 
 have noticed was allowed to make his escape 
 from Dublin Castle, to deal death and destruction 
 by-and-bye to the English and Scotch who 
 were arrayed against him. " This enterprising 
 chieftain," says a writer in the " Dublin Penny 
 Journal." date 1832-33, "was the son of Hugh, 
 Chieftain of Tyrconnell ; his mother's name was 
 Inneen Duff (dark Ina), daughter of Macdonnell, 
 
38 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Lord of tlic Isles. He was born in the year 
 1571 ; in early life he not only displayed con- 
 sideral^le genius and independence of spirit, but 
 he made these qualities acceptable to his country- 
 men by the noble generosity of his manners and 
 the matchless symmetry of his form. In former 
 times the O'Donnels of Tyrconnell and the 
 O' Neils of Tyrone were often addressed by the 
 English Monarch as equals, and sometimes called 
 on for aid against foreign foes, and occasionally 
 written to as Kings, and it was therefore natural 
 that young Hugh should desire to substantiate his 
 independence, so often acknowledged. He made 
 no secret of his intentions, which were soon the 
 subject of conversation all through Ireland, and, 
 reaching the ears of the Lord Justice, created no 
 small alarm at Dublin Castle. Sir John Perrot, 
 then the head of the Irish Government, instead of 
 endeavouring to gain over the young chieftain by 
 honours and concession, laid a plot to seize him, 
 which, though successful for the time, was as 
 unworthy as it afterwards proved injurious. In 
 the year 1587 a ship was fitted out and stowed 
 with Spanish wine, and directed to sail to one of 
 the harbours of Donegal. Accordingly the vessel, 
 fraught with the merchandise most acceptable to a 
 Milesian Chief, put into Lough Swilly and cast 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 39 
 
 anchor off the Castle of Dundonald, near Rath- 
 millan. 
 
 " The captain, disguised as a Spaniard, pro- 
 posed to traffic with the people of the fortress, and 
 they, nothing loth, bought and drank until they 
 became intoxicated. The people of the adjoining 
 district did the same, and all the surrounding septs 
 of O'Donnel, McSwiney, and O'Doherty entered 
 into jolly dealings with the crafty wine merchant. 
 It could not be supposed that when all were laying 
 in stores of Sack and Alicant, the young prince 
 of the county should stay back. No! as was 
 expected, he arrived with his followers at 
 McSwiney's Castle, who sent the captain notice 
 that his chieftain had arrived, and that, therefore, 
 he must prepare to send some of his very best 
 vintages in store for his use. The captain replied 
 that what he purposed to sell was already disposed 
 of, but if the young prince would come on board 
 he would let him taste some of his choicest sack, 
 intended as a present to the Lord Deputy. This 
 invitation was accepted ; the young chief went on 
 board, and he and his followers drank of wine and 
 strong liquor as Irishmen used to drink. When 
 they were all intoxicated, their arms were stolen 
 from them, the hatches were shut down, and next 
 morning saw the vessel clear of Lough Swilly, and 
 
40 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 on its way for Dublin. Thus was the base design 
 acconiphshcd, and Red Hugh, in his i6th year, 
 lound himself a captive in Birmingham Tower, 
 where he remained for 3 years and 3 months, a 
 long pefiod for a fiery impatient spirit at such a 
 period of life. 
 
 " In the year 1591 he and some of his followers 
 descended by means of a rope on the draw- 
 bridge, and getting safe off from the fortress they 
 escaped towards the Wicklow Mountains, and 
 reached the borders of O'Toole's country. There 
 O'Donnel was obliged to stop — his shoes had fallen 
 off his feet, and passing barefooted through the 
 furze and heather that covered the hills he soon 
 broke down, and his companions, consulting their 
 own safety, left him with the one faithful servant 
 who had assisted him and them to descend from 
 the Towen 
 
 "This man, secreting his master as well as he 
 could, proceeded to the residence of Phelim 
 O'Toole, who also had been a prisoner in 
 Birmingham Tower, and while there had entered 
 into bonds of friendship with O'Donnel, and a 
 solemn pledge of affection had passed between 
 them. 
 
 " But the O'Toole betrayed his friend ; and the 
 young chief, heavily chained and under a stricter 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 4T. 
 
 watch, was again consigned to his apartment in 
 the Tower. A second time he effected his escape, 
 having by means of his trusty servant got down 
 through a shore funnel into the Poddle, and 
 creeping along the muddy stream, again took 
 refuo-e in the Wicklow Hills. He did not ao^aiii 
 trust himself to the O'Tooles, but continuing right 
 on over these high and desolate hills endeavoured 
 to reach the fastnesses of Feagh McHugh 
 O' Byrne, in Glen Malur, In the early period of 
 their flight they were separated from Henry 
 O'Neil, who had escaped with him from the 
 prison, and as the night advanced, Arthur O'Neil, 
 another of his companions who had also escaped 
 from prison, being a heavy and inactive man, 
 was obliged to give over, and he laid down 
 drowsily, and slept the sleep of death. Young 
 O'Donnel got a little further and stationed himself 
 under a projecting rock, in order to shelter him- 
 self from the snow hurricanes that swept the 
 hills, and sent his servant to Glen Malur. Feagh 
 McHugh, on the arrival of the servant, sent his 
 servant provided with all possible refreshments 
 and clothes for the relief of the fugitives. O'Neil 
 was found dead, O'Donnel's young blood was still 
 circulating, but his feet were dreadfully frost- 
 bitten. Every hospitality that the O' Byrne 
 
42 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 could show to him he did, and when he 
 was able to ride he forwarded him and 
 his faithful servant, Turlogh Boy O'Hagan, 
 on good horses towards the province of Ulster. 
 On their arrival at the Liffey they found its 
 usual passes guarded, for the Government were 
 on the watch to prevent O'Donnel's escape to his 
 own country. But the Liffey is in so many places 
 fordable that he found no difficulty in passing it 
 and getting through the plains of Meath. On 
 coming to the Boyne they were obliged to throw 
 themselves on the patriotic fidelity of a poor 
 fisherman, who not only faithfully ferried them 
 over, but also, with no small courage and address, 
 drove their horses before him as cattle he 
 intended to sell in the north country, and so 
 driving them to where their owners were lying in 
 secret, he furnished them with the means of 
 reaching the hills of Ulster, thus regaining, after 
 five years' absence, their own principalities. On 
 Red Hugh's arrival, all the different septs of the 
 country — the O'Donnel, the O'Doherty, the 
 O'Boyle, and McSwiney — elected him as The 
 O'Donnel, in the room of his father, who was 
 now much advanced in years and willing to resign 
 his government to a bolder and a steadier hand. 
 "It would completely go beyond our limits to 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 43 
 
 recount all the adventures of Red Hugh O'Donnel 
 after he became the head of the various septs of 
 the country. His long imprisonment had given 
 him a cordial hatred of the English, and for a 
 series of years he was the scourge and terror of 
 the Government. He kept his mountain territory 
 of Donegal in spite of Elizabeth's best generals, 
 carried his incursions even to the remotest parts 
 of Munster, and made his name be respected and 
 his power feared to the very mouth of the 
 Shannon. At last a fatal error — the only military 
 one he was known ever to make, caused by a 
 rivalry between him and O'Neil about leading an 
 onset — was his ruin ; he was totally routed by 
 Lord Mountjoy at Kinsale, fled to Spain, and 
 died in.Valladollid in the year 1602." 
 
44 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "Oh, sir, it is a dolorous country, a very dolorous country." 
 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 The story of the annexation of Ireland to the 
 English Crown by a few semi-French fillibusters, 
 introduced by Dermot MacMorrough, King or 
 Dynast of Leinster, is too like a thrice-told tale to 
 attempt to vex the public ear by its repetition ; 
 Macaulay's typical school-boy knows It well, and 
 so do probably most of the historically crammed 
 candidates for Civil Service employment. It 
 reads like a page from PIzarro, or a chapter in the 
 Cortez conquests, and we only allude to it here 
 apologetically as a necessary preface to a recital 
 of the earlier Viceroys in Ireland who occupied the 
 Castle, and administered the Government of the 
 country, " tam bene quam male," as the " Baillis," 
 Deputies, or Viceroys of the Sovereigns of 
 England, during what we may term the Planta- 
 genet period, when the garrison or colony planted 
 in the Island by strong arms and stout hearts. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 45 
 
 dwindled and waned so perceptibly that by the 
 date of the accession of the first of the Tudor 
 kings, Henry VII., the Lordship of England 
 had become a mere nominis tuiibra, unsupported 
 by wealth, power, or prestige, till — so history 
 repeats itself — the Crown had the utmost diffi- 
 culty in finding great noblemen or men of position 
 to accept the thankless and dispendious position 
 of Viceroy. Lord Salisbury found himself in a 
 similar plight in the present year 1889. 
 
 A few remarks may, however, be made before 
 the long list of Castle tenants is submitted to the 
 reader's notice, of which the first will be that the 
 assumption, often made, that Ireland was in a 
 condition of civilisation very inferior to that of 
 neighbouring countries at the time of the descent 
 of the Norman knights on her eastern coasts, is 
 quite erroneous, though it must be admitted 
 that the Church monopolised much of that culture 
 and civilisation. Dermot MacMorrough cannot 
 be placed on an historical pedestal as a patriot 
 prince, a moral monarch, or a compendium of the 
 cardinal virtues. But he was a strong Sovereign. 
 His wealth absolutely dazzled, by the received 
 accounts, the needy Normans ; and while he had 
 great influence with his lay subjects, he was by 
 no means banned or " boycotted" by his subjects 
 
 D 2 
 
46 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Spiritual ; moreover, his close connection with 
 lOdward the Confessor showed that his position 
 was recognised as a right royal one. No doubt 
 his aid greatly facilitated the Norman conquests, 
 and if it be objected that the Irish were very 
 feeble folk to yield to such slender forces, it must 
 be recollected that the latter had no combination 
 to resist, and that whereas the conquest of 
 England was achieved by a single battle, that of 
 Hastings, the conquest of Ireland has occupied 
 some seven centuries. Moreover, the spiritual 
 puissances were arrayed against them, seeing 
 that Henry II. was the ally and executant 
 of the Pope, and that his title was confirmed by 
 the Bull of a second Bishop of Rome. Looking 
 now to the past through the glasses of experience, 
 we could wish that the invading force had been 
 stronger, or equal at least to the estimate made 
 by Agricola for the conquest of the island, namely 
 a legion, or 10,000 men. 
 
 Hugh de Lacy, then, was the first holder of 
 the Sword of State, and wearer of the Cap of 
 Maintenance, which are the outward and visible 
 signs of Viceroyalty. He was a great castle- 
 builder, and having extended his dominion into 
 what is now the King's County, Faly, or Offaly. 
 he beean to build a castle at Durrow, but in the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 47 
 
 midst of his work he was beheaded by an angry 
 Irishman not far from the place where the Earl of 
 Norbury was assassinated in the " forties." He 
 had married a daughter of Roderick O'Connor, 
 and thus paved the way for the assimilation by 
 the Celts of the Norman adventurers, the con- 
 sequences of which were most disastrous to the 
 English Raj. 
 
 Stroncybow, or Richard Fitzo-islebert, Earl of 
 Strigul, the reputed conqueror of Ireland, was the 
 second Viceroy ; he was married to Eva, King 
 Dermot's dauq^hter and heiress. He died in 
 Dublin, and was buried by Archbishop Torcan 
 O'Tuathal, generally known as St. Lawrence 
 O'Toole, in Christchurch Cathedral, where his 
 tomb remains to this day, preserved with extra 
 care, perhaps, because rents used to be payable 
 upon it. 
 
 The third Viceroy was William Adelm de 
 Burgh, who was the ancestor of the Earls of Ulster, 
 the Earls and the Marquises of Clanricarde. The 
 de Burghs, till they degenerated, were the most 
 powerful subjects of the Crown in Ireland, their 
 precedence was recognised, and they intermarried 
 with Royalty. 
 
 Next, Prince John (afterwards King) occupied 
 Dublin Castle as " Dominus Hibernian," and we 
 
48 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 arc now within the historic pale, for in his suite 
 was Giraud de Barri, generally known as Giraldus 
 Cambrensis, whose account of Ireland is very 
 interesting, if slightly inaccurate. Then came: 
 Hugh de Lacy the Second ; William le Petit ; 
 William, Earl Marechal ; Pierre Pipard ; Hamon 
 de Valoques ; Meiller Fitzhenri, a bastard son 
 of King Henry I. ; John de Gray, Bishop of 
 Norwich, who built Athlone Castle, on the 
 Shannon ; Geoffroi de Marreis, the Justiciary ; 
 and Henri de Londres, a great-grandson of 
 Dermot MacMorrough, and brother-in-law to 
 Henry HI. of England and Alexander II. of 
 Scotland. He was a powerful Governor, and in 
 his reign the Castle of Dublin was greatly im- 
 proved, and almost rebuilt. 
 
 Then Walter and Hugh de Lacy adminis- 
 tered the Government, followed by Geoffroi de 
 Marreis, in 1226. In his time the stipend of the 
 office was fixed at ^580 per annum, a sum 
 seemingly very small, yet not so entirely incon- 
 siderable or disproportionate when measured by 
 the pay of a knight, namely, 2^-. a-day ; but for 
 this stipend he had to find 19 fully-armed or 
 panoplied horse soldiers, himself the 20th. 
 About this time the great Norman families of de 
 Lacy, de Ridelisford, and Gislebert, Marechal, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 49 
 
 Earl of Pembroke, became extinct in the male 
 line. The five daughters of the last-named 
 nobleman were great-granddaughters of Dermot 
 MacMorrough, and co-heiresses. They married 
 into the most powerful families of England, so that 
 the best blood of England is largely infused with 
 Irish ichor, and the process of interfusion has gone 
 on steadily ever since. 
 
 VVe have, then, in the list of Governors — 
 
 Maurice Fitzgerald, 
 
 Prince Edward, nominated Lord of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 Alain de la Zouche, 
 
 Etienne de Longue Epee. 
 
 Guillaume le Dene. 
 
 Sir Richard la Rochelie. 
 
 Jean FitzGeoffroi. 
 
 Davide de Barry, ist Viscount of Butte- 
 vant- 
 
 Sir Robert D'ufforl 
 
 Richard d' Exeter. 
 
 Jaques d'Audeley, 
 
 Sir Jeffroi de Joinville. 
 
 Sir Robert d'Ufford. 
 
 Estevene de Foleburne, Archbishop of 
 Tuam. 
 
50 
 
 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Jean de Saundford, Archbishop of Dublin. 
 Guillaume de Vesci. 
 Guillaume de la Haze. 
 Guillaume d'Odingselle. 
 
 Then Fitzmaurice, father of the first Earl of 
 Desmond, who took an ape for his cognizance, 
 having, when a baby, been rescued in a marvel- 
 lous manner by sympathetic Simian. 
 
 Sir John Wogan. 
 
 In his reign the Templars were disestablished in 
 Ireland, and their temporalities handed over to 
 the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, 
 who thus acquired Kilmainham Priory. He was 
 succeeded by 
 
 Sir Guillaume de Burgh, 
 
 and he by Piers de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall. 
 Then came Sir Edmund le Botiler, of the present 
 " Ormonde " family (though Ormonde is but 
 eponymous of the title), who caused such peace 
 in the country that it was said he could travel from 
 Arklow to Limerick with an escort of three horse- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 5 I 
 
 men, a distance of between one and two hundred 
 miles. Then — 
 
 Theobald de Vaudun, 
 
 and Sir Edmund le Botiler again. He was unable 
 to cope with Robert Bruce, of Scotland, and was 
 succeeded by Roger de Mortimer, who also 
 suffered defeat ; nor was Bruce arrested in his 
 career of conquest till encountered by Jean de 
 Berming'ham, who shattered his power and killed 
 him in battle, but not till the Scots had practically 
 ruled most of Ireland for three years. Thomas 
 Fitzjohn Fitzgerald was the next Viceroy, fol- 
 lowed by Jean de Bermingham, Earl of Louth. 
 Next came — 
 
 Sir Ralph Gorges. 
 
 Sir Jean D'Arcy. 
 
 The Earl of Kildare. 
 
 Roger Utlaugh, Prior of Kilmainham. 
 
 William de Burgh, killed by R. de Man 
 deville. 
 
 Sir Antoine de Lucy, Baron of Cocker- 
 mouth. 
 
 Sir Jean D'Arcy. 
 
 Sir Thomas de Buro^h. 
 
52 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Sir John de Chcrlton, Baron of Powys. 
 
 Thomas cle Cherlton, Bishop of Hereford. 
 
 Roger Utlagh. 
 
 Sir Jean D'Arcy. 
 
 Sir John Moriz (Deputy-Governor). 
 
 Sir Raoul D'Ufford. 
 
 Sir Roger D'Arcy. 
 
 Sir John Moriz. 
 
 Walter de Bermingham. 
 
 John de Carew. 
 
 Thomas de Rokeby (a strong Governor). 
 
 Maurice, first Earl of Desmond. 
 
 Thomas de Rokeby, who died at Kilkea 
 
 Castle. 
 Al marie de St. Amand. 
 Prince Lionel, Earl of Ulster, Duke of 
 
 Clarence. 
 Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond. 
 Sir William de Windsor. 
 Maurice Fitzthomas, fourth Earl of Kildare. 
 
 Prince Lionel added considerably to the Castle 
 of Dublin and its armament. In virtue of his 
 high rank he was allowed 133-. 4^. per day. He 
 married en seconde noces (his first was the de Burgh 
 heiress) Violante, daughter of Galeazzo Visconte, 
 and received with her a dowry of ^200,000, but 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 53 
 
 died soon after his wedding. Gerald, fourth Earl 
 of Desmond, known as " the poet," succeeded to 
 the Viceroyalty. Then — 
 
 Sir Wilham de Windsor. 
 
 Maurice, fourth Earl of Kildare. 
 
 James, Earl of Ormonde. 
 
 Edmund de Mortimer, Earl of March and 
 
 Ulster. (He died at Cork.) 
 Dean John de Colton. 
 Roger de Mortimer. 
 
 Philip de Courtenay, of Powderham Castle. 
 Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, Duke of 
 
 Ireland. 
 Sir John de Stanley. 
 James, third Earl of Ormonde. 
 Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. 
 Roger de Mortimer. 
 Reginald Grey de Ruthyn. 
 Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. 
 
 Then we have — ■ 
 
 Alexander de Bascot. 
 Prince Thomas of Lancaster. 
 Sir John de Stanley. 
 Thomas Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin. 
 141 3. Sir John Talbot. 
 
54 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 James, fourth Earl of Ormonde. 
 
 Edmund dc Mortimer, Earl of March and 
 
 Ulster (killed by the Plague), 
 Sir John Talbot. 
 James, fourth Earl of Ormonde. 
 Sir John de Grey. 
 
 Sir John Sutton, fourth Baron of Dudley. 
 Sir Thomas le StranQ^e. 
 Sir Thomas Stanley. 
 
 Sir Leon de Welles, sixth Baron of Welles. 
 James, fourth Earl of Ormonde. 
 Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford. 
 Archbishop Talbot. 
 Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin. 
 Richard, Duke of York. 
 Earl of Wiltshire. 
 George, Duke of Clarence. 
 Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester. 
 John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. 
 Richard, Duke of York (and of Carlow). 
 Earl of Kildare. 
 Edward Prince of Wales. 
 Earl of Lincoln (John de la Pole). 
 
 During the 300 years and upwards covered by 
 the Plantagenet puissance in Ireland, there seem 
 to have been some hundred deputies, lieutenants 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 55 
 
 or viceroys, baillies or justiciaries, most of whose 
 names and titles I have inserted. 
 
 Of the majority it might be said, as of Colas 
 in the French epigram — 
 
 " Colas est mort de maladie 
 
 Tu veut que je ten plains le sort, 
 Que diable veut tu que je t'en dit ? 
 Colas vivait ; Colas est mort ! " 
 
 These " Colases " played their part on the 
 Irish stage for the most part without any great 
 display of purpose, principle, or energy. A few 
 shine out conspicuously on the pages of history — 
 " velut inter ignes Luna minores." 
 
 Such were the great Talbot and Sir John 
 Rokeby, who said he preferred to eat from 
 wooden dishes and pay his debts, to supping 
 from silver and neglecting his creditors. But 
 the majority were either rois faineants, ex- 
 tortioners, and oppressors, or else, owing to 
 the alliances and connections they had formed 
 with the chiefs of " the Irish enemy," 
 they were divided in their allegiance to their 
 sovereign, and illustrated in their public conduct 
 the impossibility of serving two masters, or even 
 three, for the mastership of Mammon must not be 
 ignored ! Great numbers of the chief vassals ot 
 
56 DURLIN CASTLE. 
 
 the Crown had, by adopting Irish customs and 
 costumes, become more Irish than the Irish. 
 " Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores." 
 
 In Munster there was not much to distinguish 
 the Desmonds from the O'Briens, their kinsmen. 
 The loyal corporation and burgesses of Water- 
 ford had no worse plague than the Poers or 
 Powers. In the west and north the de Burghs 
 had so utterly degenerated that they had even 
 assumed the composite name of " MacWilliam," 
 and, unmindful of their royal race and English 
 qonnection, had thrown themselves into the Irish 
 side ; while merely to mention another historic 
 house, the Berminghams, had openly cast off their 
 loyalty and opposed the action of the Crown 
 where it interfered with their own views and 
 interests ; in fact, every baron had become a petty 
 prince more absolute than his own sovereign. 
 
 The causes of the decline of British power in 
 Ireland in this period may be traced to several 
 sources — first, to maladministration and malversa- 
 tion ; secondly, to the constant absenteeism of the 
 great feudatories ; thirdly, to the bickerings and 
 jealousies of the local lords who called in the Irish 
 to redress the balance of power, and thus estab- 
 lished a caste, so to speak, of native "Free Lances," 
 or wandering warriors, ready to take sides at the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE, 57 
 
 shortest notice. Then the diversion of Robert 
 Bruce of Scotland, who was virtually King com- 
 mandant in most of Ireland for upwards of three 
 years, gave a great blow to the English power 
 and prestige, while the wars of England in Scot- 
 land and France absorbed much of the resources 
 of Ireland in men and money, and if Irishmen 
 shared in the glories of Cressy and Poictiers, they 
 gained nothing solid thereby ; but the great 
 depletion and diminishing of the Imperial Ex- 
 chequer arose from the waste of lands by constant 
 " hostings " and reprisals, and the barbarous cus- 
 tom of quartering horse and foot soldiers on the 
 farmers of the country for lengthened periods, a 
 custom known as " coyne and livery," which had 
 its origin in the dishonesty of the Barons, and led 
 to exactions and spoliations worse than a state of 
 actual warfare. Then religion, instead of being a 
 salve to the sores of the State, proved rather a 
 blister, for the Norman version of the Catholic 
 faith was not the Irish ; and in point of fact, there 
 was nearly as wide a gulf between the English 
 Catholic and the Irish, as between the Irish Pro- 
 testant and the Irish Catholic in later post- 
 reformation days. 
 
 Meanwhile the Irish chieftains, or dynasts, had 
 grown in power and importance. The O'Connors 
 
58 DUDLIN CASTLE. 
 
 of Faly, or Offaly, had frequently worsted the 
 English in the field, and their chieftain, or king, 
 was now regularly subsidised, or "black-rented," 
 by the Government, while the O' Byrnes, O'Tooles, 
 and Kavanaghs, brought home the horrors and 
 harryings of real war to the citizens of Dublin — 
 reiving, killing, and carrying off their prey to 
 their mountain fastnesses from under the very 
 walls of Dublin and its Castle, like the modern 
 brigands of Attica or Italy. The remedy for 
 this state of insecurity was to "pale in" the 
 portion of territory that remained in Leinster to 
 the Crown — hence the term " English pale." But 
 a glance down the Viceregal List shows that the 
 Plantagenet Kings endeavoured constantly to 
 face the evil, not to fly from it. Many of their 
 Princes were appointed Viceroys of Ireland, and 
 several of the kings graduated in the school of 
 Irish Politics — for instance, Henry II., King 
 John, and Richard II., while Mortimers, De 
 la Poles, and Clarences were Proreges or 
 Viceroys. The royal choice of " good men and 
 true " for this office was very limited ; for if they 
 sent English officials, or " English by birth," to 
 fill it, their ignorance neutralised their honesty and 
 thoroughness. If they selected " English by 
 blood," they too often found that the Celtic 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 59 
 
 surroundings of their families had impaired their 
 loyalty and fettered their freedom of action, and 
 that instead of furthering the interests of their 
 sovereign, they were bent upon self aggrandise- 
 ment. 
 
 " The Castle," which had on several occasions 
 been repaired and fortified, seems, during this 
 period, to have been not only the citadel or 
 place forte of the English garrison, for which its 
 situation on the crest or summit of the ri jge 
 running from east to west, and defended on the 
 north by the river LIffey and its marshes, while 
 the Podder, or Poddle, one of the tributaries of 
 the Liffey, filled its fosse to a great depth on the 
 opposite side, qualified it, but was the Treasury and 
 Bank of the Government, as well as its Mint — the 
 Master of the Mint being styled " Percussor 
 Monetae." Here were lodged " the political 
 prisoners " of the day, as well as the hostages 
 taken for the good conduct of State officers — 
 or native chieftains. Here were the offices of 
 the Government Depar-tments, so that " the 
 Castle " was then a very important and populous 
 place. 
 
 We have glimpses every now and then of the 
 superior knowledge of cookery possessed by the 
 Normans, who even then had their chefs and 
 
 £ 
 
6o DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 cordons b/cus, and astonished the more simple- 
 stomached Celts by their splendid entertainments, 
 varieties of plate, and costly raiment ; witness the 
 feastings of "the natives" with Richard II. 
 That good cheer was not lacking to the Viceregal 
 staff even on their journeys is shown by the writ 
 (1393) addressed by the Viceroy, James third Earl 
 of Ormonde, to the Seneschal of " the Liberty " 
 of Wexford. " By this instrument the Seneschal 
 was ordered, under penalty of ;^roo, to have pro- 
 vided at Ross, where the Earl meant to pass 
 Christmas, all needful supplies for the Viceregal 
 housekeeping, including 40 crannocs of pure flour, 
 60 crannocs of oats, 60 good bullocks, 4 boars, 
 80 large and 60 small pigs, 100 geese, 100 ducks, 
 200 pairs of rabbits, 100 trusses of hay, 6,000 
 poultry, 6 lambs, 5 meases of herrings (a mease 
 means 500 fish), 100 cod and ling fish, and 100 
 salted salmons." 
 
 The Irish " Hobbies," meanwhile, were the 
 wonder and admiration of the English knights, 
 as Giraldus tells us. Irish falcons were in the 
 very highest esteem; while Edward III. drew 
 largely, we may conclude, on his Irish resources for 
 the means of hunting --id hawking in his French 
 wars. He had 60 couples of hounds with him ; 
 just as Arthur Wellesley, in the Peninsula, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 6 1 
 
 varied actual war with what Somervllle styled 
 its " image." 
 
 The halo of romance and remoteness begins to 
 disappear with the accession of the Tudors to the 
 throne of England. No longer can the page of 
 history be illustrated by such marvellous hauls fails 
 as the conquest and annexation of the Province 
 of Ulster by such peerless Paladins as John de 
 Courci, and his brother in law as well as in arms, 
 Almeric Tristram St. Lawrence. " That vile " 
 saltpetre and murderous muskets began to displace 
 chain armour and cloth-yard shafts, and the power 
 of the Crown to assert itself over the shattered 
 ranks of the great feudatories whom the Wars of 
 the Roses had decimated and depleted. Of strong 
 will and earnest resolution, the Tudor Sovereigns 
 governed as well as ruled, and admitted no niaires 
 de palais to share their sceptres and undermine 
 their authority. For the most part they had a full 
 share of business capacity, and preferred efficient 
 commoners, or middle-class men, who knew their 
 work, and had shown a faculty of organisation and 
 administration, to the proudest of peers ; and if 
 the spirit of parsimony, carried to the verge of 
 meanness, had not been the conspicuous charac- 
 teristic of the Tudor tenants of the throne, the com- 
 plete conquest of Ireland, and its reclamation from 
 
 E 2 
 
62 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 the tyranny of its chiefs, Anglo-Irish and native, 
 would probably have been effected by the vigorous 
 and faithful lieutenants who occupied the Castle, 
 and wielded the symbol of power — the Sword of 
 State. But the want of pence, which has vexed 
 public men (as well as private), more or less, in 
 all ages, completely paralysed the arms of such 
 deputies as St. Leger and Sidney, who, in addition 
 to Viceregal duties, had to become defenders of 
 that faith which the great offendej" of the Faith 
 of Christendom — Henry VIII. — had substituted 
 for the ancient creeds and forms of ritual ; to 
 act as Leaders of the Parliament, Commanders- 
 in-Chief and Commissary-Generals, Treasurers, 
 Presidents of the Council, and Inspectors of the 
 Provinces with quarters in more than half-a-dozen 
 Posts and Garrisons ; while, through their spies 
 and instruments, they had to keep an unremitting 
 surveillance over traitorous chiefs and rebellious 
 vassals, who were in constant correspondence with 
 the enemies of England abroad, and never lost an 
 opportunity of conspiring against her peace and 
 welfare ! The Tudors were well served by their 
 Lieutenants, but the latter had few to second 
 them ; for the subordinate officers in Church and 
 State were, with rare exceptions, of the worst 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 63 
 
 type — ignorant, incompetent, and very often dis- 
 honest and disloyal. 
 
 The battle of Bosworth, won after two hours' 
 hard fighting, hurled Richard III.- — so cruelly 
 caricatured by Shakespeare — from the throne of 
 England, to be replaced by the victor, Henry VII. 
 The Wars of the Roses were thus practically ended, 
 and though the Anglo- Irish nobility had not 
 suffered to the same extent as that of England, 
 it had lost several gallant representatives, more 
 especially the House of Butler (Botiler), or 
 Ormonde, who were Lancastrians, while their 
 great rivals, the Geraldines, of Leinster and 
 Munster, were staunch Yorkists. The Pretender 
 Lambert Symnel found a strong following in 
 Ireland, who were aided by Margaret, Duchess of 
 Burgundy ; but the battle of Stoke, a Roncevalles 
 to Irish chivalry, disposed of the question finally. 
 Jasper of Hatfield, Duke of Bedford, was 
 Richard's Viceroy. After the accession of Henry 
 and the batde of Stoke, Sir Richard Mount 
 Edgcombe was sent as Commissioner to Ireland 
 to grant an amnesty to the conspirators, including 
 the Deputy Kildare, who was confirmed in his 
 office. Perkin Warbeck now appears as a second 
 Pretender, and gained adherents in Ireland ; but 
 his influence was transient, and Henry nominated 
 
64 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 his youthful son Henry (afterwards the Eighth) to 
 be Viceroy, with Sir Edward Poynings for Deputy. 
 His much quoted Act, which placed the Parlia- 
 ment of Ireland under the control of the King of 
 England, his Council and Viceroy, was the death 
 blow to nascent Irish liberty (and license) ; more- 
 over, it made English law of force in Ireland, and 
 had memorable consequences. The Battle of 
 Knockdoe, fought in 1504, between Kildare and 
 the Lords of the Pale, against de Buro^h and his 
 Irish allies, in which the latter were signally 
 defeated, was the last great event in this reign. 
 
 At the close of the reign of the 7th Henry, 
 the real English Raj was contracted within the 
 narrow limits of the four semi-obedient counties, 
 Meath, Louth, Dublin, and Kildare. The Kings 
 of England still styled themselves " Earls of 
 Ulster," a title derived from the de Burgh 
 alliance ; but instead of gaining any revenue from 
 that now fertile and rich province, they were put 
 to considerable expense by the maintenance of 
 garrisons and outposts there, and the insane 
 policy of not recognising the facts of the case, and 
 contemporary circumstances, still obtained in the 
 Royal Councils. The statutes of Kilkenny were 
 still renewed in spirit if not in letter. By these 
 statutes a gulf was established on parchment 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 65 
 
 between the ruling race of Englishmen and the 
 alleged inferior race of Irish-born men, on whom 
 the brand of Cain was stamped, if they did not 
 comply with the sumptuary and capillary ukases 
 emanating from Dublin, that proscribed Irish 
 customs and clothes, and made the ordinary mode 
 of Irish equitation [i.e., without stirrups, a custom 
 William of Orange is depicted as having adopted 
 in his statue in Dublin) absolutely penal — but qiiis 
 ciistodiet ipsos custodes ? At this time marriage was 
 not honourable in all, for polygamy was more the 
 rule than the exception among many of the 
 dynasts and their followers. It was a case of 
 Utah, without the clever commercial code of 
 Brigham Young, who made Utah an earthly 
 paradise. Peculation prevailed in official circles. 
 Diogenes might have been puzzled, even with the 
 brightest of lanthorns, to discover the honest man 
 of the community, while the three great leaders of 
 men and manners, the representatives of the 
 Kildare, Desmond, and Ormonde families, were 
 mostly steeped in Irish vice and prejudices, and 
 were largely allied with Irish families. A hand- 
 full of strong Saxons and Celts have held an 
 Indian Empire against external foes, and internal 
 rebellion, but these Celts and Saxons had never 
 degenerated or become Orientals in mind or body 
 
66 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 like the Roman legionaries of Consul Crassus or 
 the Anglo-Normans ; and, as a rule, their authority 
 was strengthened by the exercise and display of 
 the chief cardinal virtues. In Ireland it was 
 wholly different. " The natives " became strong 
 as the invaders grew weak, and when Celtic 
 acumen became allied to the superior learning and 
 civilisation introduced by the conquerors, it had 
 not much trouble in practically casting off the 
 foreign yoke and emancipating itself from a tyranny 
 that almost denied it the heritage of a common 
 humanity, treating the "Irish enemy" as Helots 
 or perioikoy. 
 
 It would be impossible in this abstract or brief 
 chronicle to follow the windings and intricacies of 
 Irish politics and polemics minutely. As a sample, 
 however, of the lawlessness of the men who 
 administered the King's Government in this law- 
 less land we may cite the case of the Earl of 
 Kildare, who, when summoned to E norland to 
 account to the King and Council for his eccen- 
 tricities of conduct, more especially in the matter 
 of burning the Cathedral of Cashel, whose Arch- 
 bishop was a Butler partisan, at once acknowledged 
 the sacrilege, but added the justificatory plea, " By 
 Jesus, I would never have done it had it not been 
 told me that the Archbishop was within." So 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 6/ 
 
 much for Imrning zeal ! When told to select a 
 " counsel " to defend himself, his answer was, that 
 he would select His Majesty, "as he saw no 
 better man in England." When Payne, Bishop 
 of Meath, averred that " all Ireland could not rule 
 this Earl," Henry, who seems to have been 
 fascinated by this man of ready hand and ready 
 reply, declared that "this Earl shall rule all 
 Ireland." A warrant is extant, in which Henry 
 directs the Keeper of his Great Wardrobe to 
 deliver for the use of Gerald, the son and heir of 
 the King's cousin, the Earl of Kildare, " 8 yards 
 of black velvet for a robe, furred with white lambs' 
 wool ; 2\ yards of a tawney medley for a gown, 
 lined with white lambs' wool ; 2 doublets, one of 
 black velvet and the other of tawney satin ; 
 
 2 pair of tawney hose, and another pair of crimson ; 
 a hat and two bonnets, one of crimson and the 
 other black ; 2 yards of silk ribbon for girdles, and 
 
 3 dozen of silk point." 
 
 This well-dressed young Geraldine married 
 Elizabeth, daughter of John, Lord Zouch of 
 Codnor, and returned with his f^ither to Ireland in 
 1503. Like many more well-dressed dandies in 
 our insular story, this Gerald fought gallantly with 
 his father and Lord Howth at Cnoc-Tuagh, or 
 Knockdoe, against the de Burgh levies. Curiously 
 
68 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 enough, in the whirHgig of time, Lord St. Law- 
 rence, now Earl of Howth and Knight of St. 
 Patrick, a nephew of the Lord Clanricarde of the 
 day, represented the borough of Galway for 
 several years, and instituted annual races not ver)^ 
 far from this sanguinary spot. It is also somewhat 
 of an historical curiosity that the St. Lawrence 
 family, founded by the Conquistador Almeric Tris- 
 tram, never once swerved in its loyalty to the 
 Crown — " among the faithless, faithful only they ; " 
 for the far greater and more historic house of 
 Ormonde — another pillar of the State — produced, 
 among a cloud of loyal leaders and splendid 
 soldier-statesmen, a few defaulters and waverers. 
 Both families, too, amidst the seismic shocks of 
 civil discord, and the clashings of civil and religious 
 warfare, have preserved their ancestral lands and 
 homesteads, keeps, and castles. We read that 
 the miserly and mean Henry VI L was so 
 taken with the straightness and loyalty of the 
 Lord Howth of his day that he made him a 
 present of 300/., chiefly, perhaps, for his suspicion 
 of the spuriousness of Symnel, " the Pretender." 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Oh hapless nation ! hapless land 
 Oh heap of uncementing sand." 
 
 Henry VHI. was proclaimed king in 1509, 
 Kildare remaining his Viceroy, and when the 
 latter was killed by the bullet of an O'More, 
 near Kilkea Castle, his own residence (the castle 
 is still inhabited by the Leinster family), his son 
 Gerald succeeded him in an office, the chief pay- 
 ment of which depended on the lands recovered 
 from rebels — a style of salary that suggested 
 action and vigour if not strict justice or impar- 
 tiality. Meanwhile, Thomas, the seventh Earl of 
 Ormonde, died, leaving an immense fortune in 
 money and manors to two daughters, to one of 
 whom Sir William Boleyn was married, while 
 Sir James St. Leger claimed the other. To Sir 
 William Boleyn the king granted the Ormonde 
 title of Earl of Wiltshire. Sir Piers Butler was 
 heir apparent to that of Ormonde as well as to 
 the Irish settled estates. He was ultimately 
 forced to accept that of Ossory, Ormonde being 
 
yO DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 added to tlic honours of the Boleyns, whose court 
 star was greatly in the ascendant. At last, or 
 perhaps after marriage, Henry awoke to the 
 folly of entrusting the government of Ireland to 
 Kildare, and it was handed over to Thomas, Earl 
 of Surrey, of Flodden fame. This soldier-states- 
 man swept the country, but he had no means of 
 holding his conquests, and at his own request was 
 relieved of office in 152 1 to the universal regret 
 of " the Pale." Sir Piers Butler was then named 
 Deputy. The Ormonde family had the misfortune 
 of being more scrupulous than the Geraldines, 
 and their estates were sandwiched between those 
 of the Desmonds and Kildares — a prey to both. 
 After a year or two of Butler rule, Kildare was 
 once more restored to office, and the war between 
 Butlers and Geraldines broke out anew and a 
 oiUrance. Kildare and Sir Piers were, in conse- 
 quence, both summoned to London, and the 
 former was sent to the Tower, Lord Delvin 
 being appointed Vice-Deputy. He was, however, 
 presently captured by O'Connor Faly, and held 
 to ransom. In 1529 Henry appointed his son, 
 the Duke of Richmond, Viceroy, with Sir William 
 Skeffington as Deputy. Kildare, on his release 
 from the Tower, superseded Skeffington, but 
 public opinion was against the selection, and 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 7 I 
 
 Kildare was afjain summoned to EnHand and 
 committed to the Tower, where he died, and 
 "Silken" Thomas, his son, broke out into overt 
 rebelHon, one of the first acts of his followers 
 being the murder of Archbishop Alen. In such 
 a plight was Dublin that the Castle was plundered 
 by the O'Tooles, prior to its siege by " Silken " 
 Thomas. Meanwhile, Skeffington was sent over 
 from England with troops. The Castle siege 
 was raised. Maynooth was taken, and in a few 
 weeks Kildare was forced to surrender, to be sent 
 to the Tower. 
 
 In Munster Desmond was negotiating with 
 the Emperor Charles V., whom he acknowledged 
 as his Sovereign. At his death the succession 
 was disputed, but an English force was well 
 received all through the south. Skeffington was 
 again invested with the Viceregal power, with 
 Lord Leonard Grey as Marshal. On the former's 
 death the latter became Deputy, and a Parliament 
 was held in 1536. The Act of Royal Supremacy 
 in church matters, and that forfeiting the estates 
 of absentee landlords to the Crown, were its chief 
 performances. 
 
 Coyne and Livery having been discounte- 
 nanced and vetoed, money payments to the troops 
 became absolutely necessary ; but money was not 
 
7 2 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 forthcoming, and the troops mutinied in DubHn. 
 However, Lord Leonard Grey adopted palliative 
 measures, and led his victorious little army 
 throuo-h the south and north-west, but sustained 
 a check in " Faly." Having seized on the Earl 
 of Kildare's five brethren somewhat treacherously, 
 he sent them off to the Tower, whence they were 
 taken to Tyburn and executed, together with 
 " Silken " Thomas. The family, however, were 
 not extinct in the male line, for Gerald, after a 
 series of adventures, found his way to the court 
 and camp of Cosmo de Medici in Milan, and 
 Lady Kildare (a sister of Lord Leonard Grey's) 
 brought up the second boy at Beaumanoir, in 
 Leicestershire. 
 
 Lord Leonard Grey's government of Ireland 
 was, if nothing else, energetic and vigorous ; his 
 raids and " hostings " were short, sharp, and 
 successful, but led to no permanent results. He 
 was accused of a very decided leaning to the 
 Geraldine faction, through his marriage, to the 
 injury of the Butlers ; and soon after his recall to 
 London he was executed. In 1540 James Fitz- 
 maurice, Earl of Desmond, was murdered, and was 
 succeeded by James Fitzjohn. Cromwell, the 
 famous Minister, next fell into disfavour, and was 
 executed, and Sir Anthony St. Leger was made 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 'J T^ 
 
 Deputy in 1541. One of his first acts was to 
 conciliate Tirlogh O'Toole, and to send him to 
 London, where he was well received by Henry, 
 who granted him Powerscourt. From this time 
 the O'Tooles cease to be a chief factor in the 
 politics of the Pale. Desmond and MacWilliam 
 also made their humble submission. In a Parlia- 
 ment held in Dublin Henry VHI. was proclaimed 
 King of Ireland — a sovereignty hitherto claimed 
 by the Pope. This Kingship required a sup- 
 porting revenue, and as a condition precedent, 
 St. Leger's policy created a general, if temporary, 
 peace. O'Neil was made Earl of Tyrone, 
 MacWilliam of Clanricarde, and O'Brien of 
 Thomond ; but the pay of the army was still 
 sadly in arrear. France and Scotland were 
 hostile, and Irish soldiers were required for both 
 countries. After a short absence in England 
 St. Leger returned to Ireland as Deputy, but he 
 took offence at the growing power of Ormonde, 
 who, after a short campaign in Scotland, went to 
 London to confront St. Leger. Here he was 
 poisoned, and St. Leger returned to Ireland as 
 Deputy. 
 
 It may be a matter of some surprise that the 
 compulsory volte face made in ritual and religion 
 in Ireland led to such slight excitement and 
 
74 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 agitation ; the island had been the isle of saints, 
 in name, at any rate ; for some centuries it had 
 become the isle of sinners, of which not a few 
 churchmen were like the unregenerate St. Paul, 
 the chief. Contemporary chroniclers have declared 
 that the Mendicant Friars alone preached the 
 Gospel of the kingdom, and as the petty plunder 
 of the religious houses was pretty generally dis- 
 tributed, the greedy Gallios of the day readily 
 acquiesced in the State arrangement — just as the 
 Russells and Cavendishes did in that Godliness 
 which to them, at least, was "' ^7^eat gain'' — while 
 ecclesiastics found as little difficulty in conform- 
 ing to the religion of " Rimmon," as Theodore 
 Hook did, when asked to sign the Thirty-nine 
 Articles at his Oxford matriculation : " forty, sir, 
 if you choose," being, according to the Ana, his 
 free-and-easy reply. No one proved a more 
 zealous iconoclast than Lord Leonard Grey — Our 
 Lady of Trim, who numbered pilgrims by the 
 hundred, and St. Patrick's celebrated crozier, 
 wherewith, according to popular tradition, he had 
 banished the snakes from the island, counting 
 among his spolia opinia. 
 
 On the death of Henry VHL, Edward VL 
 succeeded to the throne, par di^oit de naissance ; 
 and St. Leger continued Lord Deputy, hi 1547 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 7S 
 
 he was superseded by Sir Edward Bellingham, to 
 whom the unwontedly large salary of £2 per 
 diem was given. He was a strong and honest 
 governor, ever " in harness," and his attention 
 was fully occupied by piracy on the coasts, and 
 the necessity for almost ubiquitous " hostings." 
 Against O'Connor Faly he was signally suc- 
 cessful, and riding with a small company from 
 Leighlin into Munster he surprised Desmond, 
 and carried him off to Dublin, where he taught 
 him some lessons in lip loyalty that were not 
 forgotten. On his departure from Ireland in 
 1549, Sir Francis Bryan, Lady Ormonde's hus- 
 band, was made Lord Justice, but ere a year was 
 over he was poisoned, and Lady Ormonde married 
 "the Desmond." Sir Anthony St. Leger was 
 again sent to Ireland, which was honeycombed 
 with conspiracies promoted by religious difficul- 
 ties and foreign spies. 
 
 Sir James Croft succeeded St. Leger. His 
 attempt to dislodge the Scot settlement at Rathlin 
 Island proved abortive. St. Leger was recalled 
 in 1552. Meanwhile King Edward's death led 
 to general risings against the English power. 
 The revenue of Ireland at this time was about 
 ^10,000 a year, the cost of government about 
 ^50,000. The Viceroy's salary £1,000 a year. 
 
 F 
 
76 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 The great curse of English Government in 
 Ireland has ever been its lamentable lack of con- 
 tinuity! It seems, like the faith of some pro- 
 fessors denounced by the Apostle, "driven about 
 by every wind of doctrine," and to " one thing 
 constant never." It was so in Henry Vlllth's 
 time, who declared that his plan of conciliating 
 the Irish was by " sober ways, politic drifts, and 
 amiable persuasions of law and reason." His 
 success with the O'Toole tribe, who infested the 
 spurs of the Dublin and Wicklow Range, and 
 swooped down on the environs of Dublin when- 
 ever opportunity availed, was most conspicuous 
 and signal, and might have been tried on a larger 
 scale in the case of the more distant Earls and 
 feudatories. His " plan " bore little fruit, and his 
 niggardliness in the matter of means and men 
 prevented the spread of loyalty to the Crown, as 
 the loyal seemed to fare worse than the rebellious. 
 " Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos," was a 
 motto of Imperial Government apparently for- 
 gotten or ignored. Nevertheless, exhaustion 
 was coming on the native chieftains, and the 
 O'Mores and O'Connors Paly must have 
 seen the prospective period to their gallant 
 struggle against huge odds in the absorption of 
 their territory into the shires of the King's and 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 'J'] 
 
 Queen's County ; while Dangan was named 
 Philip'^rown, and Campa, Maryborough — Offaly, 
 Fercal, Ely, Leix, and Ossory becoming mere 
 historical names. The circle of fire was pressing 
 the natives all round. 
 
 Mary succeeded her half-brother in 1553, and 
 St. Leger was Deputy. With true Tudor instinct 
 the new Queen bated not a jot of her Father's 
 claims to supremacy in things ecclesiastical ; 
 though zealous for the ancient faith and ritual, 
 reversing the recent policy. " Et antiquum 
 documentum novo cedat ritui." St. Leger de- 
 scribes himself as a Tantalus condemned to forego 
 the due maintenance of the government from 
 want of means, and at his own request he was 
 superseded by Sir Thomas Radcliffe, Lord Fitz- 
 walter, afterwards Earl of Sussex, Mdiile Sir 
 Henry Sidney came with him as Vice-Treasurer, 
 with ^25,000 in hand. A raid was made into 
 Ulster, and the O' Mores were granted " reser- 
 vations," like Red Indians under the American 
 Government. When Sussex went on leave, 
 Sidney took his place as Lord Justice, but he was 
 paralysed for want of pounds and pence. In 
 1558 Sussex returned, and a "spirited policy" 
 was inaugurated ; for the army had been increased, 
 and so had its pay ; and the Deputy's honorarium 
 
78 DUI5LIN CASTLE. 
 
 was raised to ^1,500 a-year. An expedition 
 against " the Lord of the Isles " proved a failure. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mary had entrusted a commission 
 to Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, to persecute the 
 Protestants of Dublin and Ireland, who had 
 hitherto been overlooked, perhaps on the de 
 minunis principle. The ready wit of his landlady 
 at Chester, where " he lay," averted this horror, 
 for she substituted a Pack of Cards in the Dean's 
 wallet for the Mandate. Ere another could be 
 procured Mary had died, and Elizabeth had been 
 proclaimed Queen. Sidney, as we have seen, 
 was Lord Justice, and his initial difficulty was in 
 arranging the O'Neil succession. Shane, the 
 Tanist, claiming the Earldom, vice Matthew 
 O'Neill, Lord Dungannon, who was decidedly 
 illegitimate. Law, usage, and common sense 
 seemed on Shane's side as well as the vox populi, 
 but his rival was preferred before him by the vox 
 p7^oregis — hence much bloodshed. 
 
 Elizabeth insisted on Sussex's reassumino^ the 
 Irish Viceroyalty ; he acquiesced unwillingly, and 
 held his first Parliament in 1560 in Dublin. 
 Kilmainham Hospital or Priory having been 
 dismantled by a storm, the Viceregal residence 
 was retransferred to the Castle, and was occupied 
 by Lord Justice Fitzwilliam, who had come over 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 79 
 
 as Treasurer-at-\Yar, in Sussex's temporary 
 absence In Enjjland. When the latter returned 
 it was as Lord Lieutenant, a title disused since 
 the Duke of Richmond's time. 
 
 Shane O'Neil now occupies all the canvas. 
 He was a semi-savage, full of lust and lubricity. 
 He had some — nay, great — brains, and much 
 cunning, few scruples, and intense overweening 
 pride. To women he proved a sensual savage, 
 as cruel as a Kurd, and his clay was habitually 
 moistened with wine or usquebaugh to such an 
 extent that, to get rid of the fumes, he would 
 bury himself in earth up to the chin for hours. 
 He certainly had the gift of government, and 
 Ulstermen looked upon him as their chief. 
 Sussex's first expedition proved abortive, and it 
 was agreed that Shane should go to the Queen to 
 state his case and claims ; there he was confronted 
 by Sussex, but the Queen rather sided with 
 Shane, the specious and the stalwart. 
 
 In Sussex's absence Fitzwilliam occupied the 
 Castle, while Desmond and Ormonde went to the 
 Queen. When the Lord Lieutenant returned to 
 Ireland he made raids on O'Neil, which cost 
 much treasure, but were barren of results, and, at 
 the mediation of Kildare, a peace was made with 
 Shane On the retirement of Sussex, Sir 
 
So DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Nicholas Arnold, who had been on the Financial 
 Commission, took up the Government. Sussex, 
 with all his vigour, had been a failure. " Imperii 
 capax, consensu omnium, nisi imperasset." 
 
 The jealousies and incursions of the Desmonds 
 and Ormondes led to a pitched battle at Affane, 
 the last great /r/W/^ battle, or faction fight, of the 
 Icind, save one, in Ireland. Desmond was beaten, 
 wounded, and captured ; and the Earls were 
 ordered to London. Meanwhile, Shane O'Neil 
 defeats the Macdonnells, takes Dunluce, and 
 reigns supreme in Ulster, Sidney is now urged 
 to accept the Viceroyalty, but endeavours to make 
 his own terms, in which he partially succeeds. 
 He landed in Ireland in 1566, after along deten- 
 tion on the borders of Wales, of which he was 
 Lord President, and after losing part of his outfit 
 by casualties at sea. Shane O' Neil's pretensions 
 were now so overweening, that a winter campaign 
 against him became a State necessity. Randolph, 
 with a small force, encamped by Londonderry, on 
 Lough Foyie, where he was attacked by Shane, 
 who was badly beaten, however. Randolph was 
 killed (the only man on his side), and the 
 Foyle garrison became demoralised from the 
 want of a general, and was subsequently broken 
 up, owing to the explosion of their powder maga- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 8 I 
 
 zine. Meanwhile, Sidney made a tour round 
 Ireland, and for the time beinQf broucjht it to sub- 
 mission ; and Shane O'Neil, after a bloody defeat 
 by the O'Donnels, was killed by the Scots in a 
 drunken brawl. His death caused a temporary 
 lull in the tale of raids, rapines, and rievings. 
 Desmond was now in London, and/r^ tanto safe ; 
 but a confederacy between Tirlogh Luinach and 
 O'Donnel with the Scots mercenaries boded ill 
 for peace. In 1557, the Massacre at Mullagh- 
 mast, by Cosby and Hartpole, whereby some 
 70 O' Mores were murdered, recalls the ghast- 
 liness of Glencoe in later times. 
 
 While Sidney was in London, and Fitzwilliam 
 administered the government, the country began 
 to relapse, and the English garrisons to grow 
 weaker from neglect. " The well affected," quoth 
 Maltby, ''gaped for the Deputy's return ;" nor 
 were matters mended by the extraordinary decision 
 of the Law Courts in favour of Sir Peter Carew's 
 claims to vast territories in Munster and Carlow ; 
 regardless of the prescription of 1 70 years against 
 them, and the faultiness of his own title. Sir Peter 
 was adjudged I drone. This set the younger 
 brother (Edward) of the Earl of Ormonde in open 
 rebellion, as the decision about I drone affected 
 his title to his Castle of Clogrennan, in Cather- 
 
82 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 lough, or Carlow, and with James Fitzmauricc 
 (wiio had been defeated by Fitzmaurice, Lord of 
 Lixnaw) and the Southern Geraldines for alHes, 
 the flames of civil war and rapine were rapidly 
 rekindled. But the return of Ormonde and Sidney 
 to Ireland smoothed matters; the rebel Butlers 
 submitted, and James Fitzmaurice was driven to 
 the woods and glens of Aherlow, while Colonel 
 Humphrey Gilbert brought the Munster malcon- 
 tents to their knees. 
 
 The plan of placing Presidents in the Pro- 
 vinces, long discussed, now took shape, and Sir 
 Edward Fitton was sent to Connaught, with Ralph 
 Rokeby for a Chief Justice. In 1570, Sidney's 
 Parliament met in Dublin, and passed Acts of 
 Attainder against the rebel Butlers, but the Queen 
 respited and forgave them. Diocesan schools 
 were established, and some Protective Acts were 
 passed for Irish produce, to encourage the growth 
 of manufactures. Sir John Perrot was named 
 President of Munster. 
 
 The materials for a religious war were now 
 not wanting, nor adventurers such as Stukeley 
 to fan the flame, but though no Foreign Office 
 then existed in England, her diplomatic agents, 
 such as Walsingham, unravelled and counteracted 
 the intrigues on foot. James Fitzmaurice still 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. S^, 
 
 Stirred up strife in desolated Munster, and, after 
 some protocols, Perrot agreed to fight him on his 
 own terms. The wily Geraldine, however, 
 backed out of the enofao-ement. 
 
 The scheme of " Plantation " in Ulster had 
 long been entertained ; it was now put or 
 attempted to be put in practice by the grant of 
 " Ards " in the co. Down to Sir Thomas Smith. 
 The plan, however, was a failure from the first, 
 and cemented the Ulster chiefs in the face of a 
 common peril. The Savage family still own 
 most of it as they have for centuries. In Galway 
 and Connaught Sir Edward Fitton fared badly. 
 Clanricarde showed his loyalty by a holocaust 
 hanging of his son, his brother's son, his cousin 
 german's son, one of the captains of his gallow- 
 glasses, and 50 followers, but his sons were in open 
 rebellion and besieged him. Perrot, however, was 
 victorious in the south-west, though impeded by 
 the mutiny of his moneyless troops. Fitzwilliam. 
 the Deputy, was in sad straits for money, when a 
 new project of Plantation in Antrim was started 
 by Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford. It led, 
 of course, to a counter-combination of Ulster land- 
 owners, and failure was inscribed on its banners 
 from the start. Meanvv'hile Desmond was suffered 
 to leave London, but managed to escape from 
 
84 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Dublin, where he had been detained in the Castle ; 
 while Perrot having gone to England under 
 stress of ill health, the south and west threatened 
 to rise, for the Geraldines " knew no God, no 
 Prince but the Earl, no law but his behests." 
 As a sign of recrudescent lawlessness, Sir 
 Barnaby FitzPatrick's wife and daughter were 
 carried off by the Graces to Kilkenny and 
 Tipperary for ransom ; there was brigandage on 
 land — piracy at Sea ! Some of the deeds done at 
 this time were a foul blot on the fair fame of 
 England and her high officials. It is not disguised 
 that Sussex essayed to get Shane O'Neil 
 murdered more than once. The Cosby- Hartpole 
 massacre of the O'Mores reads like Pelissier's 
 smokings and suffocations of Arabs, or the whole- 
 sale murders of Red Indians (counted " pison ") 
 by the Western Pioneers of commerce and " civi- 
 lisation ; " and their infamy is the more conspicuous 
 by the contrasting brightness of men like Sir 
 John Perrot, who was beloved by the harried poor, 
 ever " entre le marteau et I'enclume " of native 
 chiefs and English rulers, or Cowley, the Governor 
 of Philipstown, whose religion was something 
 more than a lip litany (he was ancestor of the Iron 
 Duke). And now comes the murder by Essex of 
 Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neil, and numbers of his 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 85 
 
 clan and race. In a few months more Essex and 
 his troops were no more a menace to Ulster, as 
 the latter were disbanded. His last feat was 
 taking Rathlin Island from the Scots with the 
 aid of Drake and N orris. 
 
 Fitzwilliam's ill health and infirmities of body 
 and mind called for a successor, who appeared in 
 the perennial Sidney. The Lord Deputy soon 
 started for a tour. He found Leinster in a 
 wretched state, but Waterford was fairly pros- 
 perous, while the Lords Power, or Le Poer, had 
 administered Curraghmore to good advantage. 
 No pessimist, Sidney found much to admire 
 in the MacCarthys of Muskerry. Sir John 
 Desmond and his brothers James and Sir Thomas 
 Roe waited on him, as did also some "mean 
 whites," originally well conditioned, such as the 
 Arundels, Rochfords, Barretts, Flemings, Lom- 
 bards, Terries. &c. James Fitzmaurice was, 
 meantime, active in France. P>om Thomond 
 Sidney went on to Connaught and was well 
 received by MacWilliam (Clanricarde), a man of 
 ability, though unequal to the control of his 
 bastard sons, who overran the country, having 
 levelled Athenry, unmindful of the fact that here 
 was their mother's tomb. In Connaught five 
 English families claiming to be " barons of family " 
 
86 DUIU.IX CASTLE. 
 
 hiid adopted Irish names and custonis, but so 
 reduced were they, says the Chronicle, "that they 
 have not three hackneys to carry them and their 
 train home." In Meath at this time so lax was 
 church discipline and doctrine that Sidney be- 
 lieved " the very sacrament of baptism had fallen 
 into disuse." The see of Meath, we may remark, 
 has ever been cathedralless. 
 
 Sir W'illiam Sidney, whose son Philip appears 
 on the scene for the first time now, appointed Sir 
 William Drury President of Munster, who began 
 an active career. The death of Sir Peter Carew, 
 an Elizabethan magnate, occurs about this time, 
 and soon afterwards Essex, who had recovered his 
 favour with the Queen by a visit to Whitehall, died 
 of dysentery. Hardly a very great man, certainly 
 not a very successful one, but a great man 
 manque, and " nothing in his life became him like 
 the leaving." Sidney now devoted himself to 
 finance and revenue, and met his greatest oppo- 
 sition from the sturdy Palemen, with whom he had 
 to compromise, but "the Army" was placed on 
 a rather better pay footing. 
 
 Gerard the Lord Chancellor now becomes a 
 prominent figyire, while Maltby in Connaught 
 ravaged the property of two Clanricardes, though 
 he failed to secure their persons, while Rory Oge 
 
I 
 
 
 1' ^iiiiiiipiiiMiuiini 
 
 HUIIlll'l llllMfMll 
 11)1 Mi|i)P)innnn\W 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 8/ 
 
 O'More, who seemed to flit about like an aurora 
 borealis, ravaged Leinster and burnt Naas, the 
 capital of Kildare. In 1558 he was killed by the 
 Fitzpatricks. Sidney's term was drawing to a 
 close ; his government was expensive, and the 
 Queen objected to expense. Gerard succeeded 
 him. No brighter name in the roll of Viceroys 
 is to be found than Sidney's. In those days the 
 Lords Deputies did not receive ^5,000 for outfit, 
 as now. Sidney's, valued at ^1,500, was lost in 
 crossing the channel, besides which his losses 
 while in office were estimated at ^9,000 ; and so 
 " casually " did Britannia rule the waves of the 
 Channel then, that he had to run the gauntlet of 
 pirates in crossing it. 
 
 We have seen how the Lords Deputy were 
 expected to further the cause of the Reformed 
 faith ; that that faith did not spread and increase 
 among the people cannot be a matter of surprise, 
 when we find that the new ritual was nowhere 
 printed or read in Irish, and Irish was then the 
 vernacular tongue, whereas the English was not, 
 save in a small area. Even the Earl of Clanrl- 
 carde conversed with Sidney in Latin, being 
 probably more at home in that tongue than in 
 that of the Saxon. But that a good deal of the 
 morality of the Vicar of ESray was abroad is 
 
88 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 shown by the somcwhcit pregnant fact that the 
 mitred Meiler Magrath was at one and the same 
 time Protestant Archbishop of Cashel and Papal 
 Bishop of Down and Connor, a supremacy in 
 mony not often reached. It is recorded that 
 the greater part of the Chapter of Armagh, the 
 primatial seat, were " temporal men and Shane 
 O'Neil's horsemen." The Jesuit David Wolfe 
 was the most dih'gent workman in the Pope's 
 vineyard. Another sign of the versatility and 
 adaptability of the parsons may be seen in the 
 manner in which, after that the ecclesiastical law 
 or its expounders of the time being had declared 
 that marriage might be dignified in all laymen, but 
 not in the priest, these clerics confided their caras 
 sposas to the fiduciary care of friends, receiving 
 them back generally a plus rather than a minus 
 quantity ("love's usury," as styled by the wits of 
 the day), once the celibate tyranny was overpast. 
 I should also have mentioned that another purpose 
 of the Castle was to serve as a quasi Temple Bar 
 for a frame for rebel heads which the English 
 then preferred entire, while the Indian braves were 
 satisfied with scalps ; it was also a place of torment, 
 though it was for some time, at any rate, unpro- 
 vided with the fashionable instruments of torture 
 such as the rack, thumb-screw, or boot, as we read 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 89 
 
 that the only means of questioning a recusant was 
 by toasting his toes before the fire, which was 
 actually done in the case of an ecclesiastical 
 " suspect." 
 
 " E pur si muove " was the muttering of 
 Gallileo when the Pope and his Council, who 
 arrogating infallibility in things celestial, showed 
 their utter fallibility in the diagnosis they made 
 of the planetary system. Ireland, too, moved, 
 though slowly and hardly perceptibly, under the 
 sway of the Elizabethan rulers. We read that 
 juries could be got to condemn malefactors in 
 some few towns, however obstinate and contuma- 
 cious they might prove, in the case of certain 
 families who were almost sacrosanct and supra 
 legem. It is true that the land in the track of 
 raids and hostings was as bare and desolate as 
 Germany after the requisitions of Tilly and 
 Wallenstein, but wherever the war chariots had 
 not passed there seemed to be peace and plenty, 
 and good store of corn, milk and butter, and if the 
 conquest of Ireland and its reduction seems a slow 
 process to us in the 19th century, it must be 
 recollected that the means entrusted to the 
 Deputies were generally wholly inadequate to the 
 end proposed, while those who have read about 
 the Maroon War in Jamaica, where a handful of 
 
90 DUBLIxM CASTLE. 
 
 refugee slaves or their descendants, aided by 
 jungle and rough country, mocked the might of 
 England for a long time, till dogs effected what 
 7nan could not, will understand the situation. 
 
 It should not be forgotten that the best of the 
 English officers acknowledged that only first-rate 
 fnen zvere of any avail in Ireland, whereas the 
 rank and file sent were very inefficient, and con- 
 ceit and ignorance are often found in close 
 combination! Wherever the Irish "enemy" 
 picked up its education it was not deficient, some 
 of the chiefs being bi-lingual, some tri-lingual, 
 and perhaps they could write Latin in many cases 
 nearly as well as a public schoolboy of modern days. 
 All authorities bear witness to the fertile beauty 
 of many parts of the island, which Body styles 
 "an earthly paradise," a combination of mountain 
 and mere, rich woods and prairie-like pastures. 
 
 Insularity of position often tends to insularity 
 of mind, and both English and Irish were very 
 insulated ; but in addition to narrowness of mind, 
 the English were painfully Procrustean in their 
 methods, and would insist on moulding the Irish 
 at once into their own ways and customs, dress and 
 deportment — hence hatred and recurrent rebellion. 
 But the few larger minded Englishmen, who 
 added observation to experience and were not 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 9 I 
 
 enslaved by prejudice, insisted that the natives 
 had the makings in them of good farmers, as well 
 as first-rate soldiers, and that their power of lying 
 was not, on the whole, much superior to that of 
 other peoples ; but the men who said these 
 things were the wiser of their party and people, 
 and the voices of the wise have too often been 
 condemned " clamare in eremo." It is curious to 
 trace how often history repeats itself. The 
 tenure of land then, as now, was the tetcrriuia 
 causa belli. The same impatience of taxation was 
 to be seen in the denizens of the Pale, who 
 resisted " cessing," while the detestation of 
 " landgrabbing " was evinced by the odium against 
 those who occupied confiscated estates. 
 
 The conquest of Ireland during the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth was infinitely more important to 
 England, and more effective, than the annexation 
 of the island by the Anglo-Norman adventurers 
 in the reign of Henry II. The latter was writ 
 in water, the former in blood, and to the former 
 we owe the possibility of the real incorporation of 
 Ireland into the Empire. Great minds illustrated 
 this long reign. The world acknowledges but 
 one Shakespeare, and in the galaxy of great men 
 who lent splendour and power to the Court were 
 Burghley, Walsingham, the Sidneys, Drake, 
 
 G 
 
92 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Hawkins, Raleigh, Gilbert, and scores more, too 
 numerous to mention, many of whom were 
 interested in Irish affairs, like Sir Walter Raleigh ; 
 but English and European politics engrossed the 
 major part of the attention of statesmen, and 
 Ireland was comparatively neglected in the daily 
 administration. She was placed " en parergou," as 
 the Greek historian styles it. The few soldiers 
 in garrison were half starved and in such constant 
 arrears of pay that they had to pawn thei7' arms 
 to maintain themselves^ but whenever they were 
 effectively led they did wonders. 
 
 If this reign taught nothing else, it ought to 
 have stamped one lesson deep on the minds of all 
 English statesmen, namely, that Ireland is the 
 vulnerable point in England's mail — the heel of 
 Achilles that can be easily pierced — and that no 
 nation, or chain, or fortification, can be stronger 
 than its weakest point. 
 
 ■ At the commencement of the reign of the 
 Tudors, the English were almost cooped up within 
 their Pale, to which their real realm was con- 
 tracted. At its close they were the actual rulers of 
 Ireland, powerful against all external combina- 
 tions, though liable to disintegration from within. 
 Nearly the whole area of the island was now shire 
 land, with sheriffs and English Courts of Law. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 93 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Let Erin remember the days of old 
 E'er her faithless sons betrayed her, 
 When Malachy wore the collar of gold 
 Which he won from the proud invader." 
 
 That time must have been very different to the present, for 
 the faithless sons have long abounded. — O'Connor. 
 
 In July, 1579, the result of the plottings of 
 James Fitzmaurice and others was seen in the 
 landing at Smerwick of a Spanish force. Their 
 first exploit was the murder of two English 
 officers — Henry Darvell, and Carter, the Marshal 
 of Munster. Sir Nicholas Maltby attacked the 
 Desmonds, who had risen eii masse. Fitzmaurice 
 was killed, his adherents routed ! Sir William 
 Drury, on the other hand, was badly beaten in the 
 wood between Mallow and Limerick. He died 
 soon*after this in Cork. Lord Ormonde was now 
 sent over from London as Governor of Munster, 
 while Sir William Pelham and Sir Henry Wallop 
 
 G 2 
 
94 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 co-operated with him. In the month of March, 
 Sir W. Pelham and Ormonde marched in two 
 columns to attack the invaders in their Castle of 
 Carrigafoyle, which they took by assault, and 
 killed the garrison. Meanwhile, Lord Grey de 
 Wilton came over as deputy to Dublin, and to 
 signalise his advent attacked the rebel O' Byrnes 
 in Glenmalure, but with terribly disastrous results. 
 Another party of Spaniards and Italians occupied 
 Smerwick and fortified themselves. They, too, 
 had to surrender, and were massacred (while the 
 officers were reserved for ransom) — 600 in all. 
 Strong stern measures were now necessary, and 
 a conspiracy to seize the Castle and liberate 
 Kildare and Delvin, hatched in the Pale, was 
 punished on the scaffold, and Kildare was sent on 
 to London. The end of the Desmond conspiracy 
 was approaching ; for the Earl, left with but 
 a few followers, who were plucked off like the 
 leaves of an artichoke, was presently betrayed 
 and killed, and his head sent to moulder on 
 London bridge. Hurley, sent over by the Pope 
 to occupy the see of Cashel, was caught and 
 extra-judicially hanged, and on the retirement of 
 Lord Grey, Sir John Perrot resumed the Sword 
 of State. His first act was to cause the word 
 "churle" to be suppressed in favour of franklin. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 95 
 
 yeoman, or husbandman ; he fell under royal 
 suspicion and died in the Tower, 
 
 The condition of Southern Ireland for some 
 time after the crushing of the Desmonds was even 
 worse than in the potato famine of 1847-48, 
 according to the testimony of such witnesses as 
 Edmund Spenser! Cannibalism is said to have 
 largely prevailed, and if this seems incredible it 
 may be replied that the ci-devant cannibal, by 
 force of circumstances, was not wholly unknown 
 in the best English society even during the 
 present generation. Two acts of attainder were 
 passed, and arrangements were made for the 
 partition of the Desmond's inheritance, nearly a 
 million of statute acres ! Sir John Perrot was 
 ordered to repair to London, where the gallant 
 officer died in the Tower, and was succeeded by 
 Sir William Fitzwilliam, a grasping rather than 
 a gracious governor. He was followed by Sir 
 William Russell in 1594, and the executive soon 
 became embroiled with Hugh O'Neil (Tyrone) 
 and Red Hugh O'Donnel, with whom sided 
 nearly all the aggrieved natives in Ireland, till, 
 so powerful grew the Celtic coalition, that the 
 Queen sent over Essex with 20,000 foot and 
 1,300 horse to crush it! His career was calami- 
 tous, and Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, super- 
 
96 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 seded him, forcing the Spaniards, who had fortified 
 Kinsale, to evacuate it, and Tyrone to sue for 
 peace. Meanwhile, the cleavage lines of creeds 
 and parties were increasing fast, and when Mount- 
 joy the meritorious retired to England, as Earl 
 of Devonshire, a successor, cast in somewhat 
 similar mould, was found in Sir Arthur Chichester 
 (1603), who was to carry out King James I.'s 
 behests as to the devolution of land on the 
 English system. Conscious guilt or fear for the 
 future now forced Lords Tyrone and Tyrconnel 
 to fly the country — the act was known as "the 
 flight of the Earls." This " new departure " left 
 the coast clear for the Ulster Plantation, in which 
 the land grants were made on a far smaller scale 
 than in Munster. However, the letter of the law 
 was not carried out, and many natives remained 
 on the land as labourers or squatters. 
 
 In the reign of James, first of the ill-starred 
 Stuarts in England (the sixth of that name in 
 Scotland), the Viceroys were Lord Mountjoy, Sir 
 George Carew, Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Oliver 
 St. John (Lord Grandison), and Lord Falkland, 
 who retained office during the earlier years of 
 Charles L's reign. Ireland was prostrate at the 
 conquerors' feet, and the division of the spoils by 
 Act of Parliament and legal chicane was the most 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE, 97 
 
 pressing business. The plantation of Ulster, as 
 we have seen, was organised on a more frugal 
 scale than that of Munster, but the " magnum 
 opus" of the plantation " in these unreformed and 
 waste countries " was the establishment of the 
 Irish Society, which divided the greater part of 
 Londonderry into twelve great territorial guilds, 
 known as the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fish- 
 monorers, Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, 
 Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, 
 and Clothworkers. Three of these companies 
 have lately sold their lands to their tenants, at 
 about half a million sterling, under the Ashbourne 
 Act, a proof of the magnitude of the interests 
 involved. The confiscated area covered nearly 
 four million acres ! In the Parliament convened 
 in 161 3, obstruction was most prominent, but it 
 gave the initiative to the fusion of the King's 
 subjects in Ireland, and putting all on a common 
 footing with a common charter of rights. In 
 Leinster an inquisition into title caused further 
 confiscations, and it was proposed to carry out a 
 similar system in Connaught. It was at this time 
 that the Boyles, Earls of Cork ; Parsonses, Earls 
 of Rosse ; Loftuses, Marquises of Ely ; Wing- 
 fields, Lords of Powerscourt, rose to territorial 
 and titled greatness. 
 
98 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 It seems to have been the curse of the Stuart 
 mind to fail utterly to perceive the signs of the 
 times as their Tudor predecessors had done. In 
 1632 Sir Thomas Wentworth took over the office 
 and duties of Lord Deputy from Lord Falkland, 
 and collaborating with Laud, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, they raised a storm in England and 
 Ireland that cost the King his life and crown, as 
 well as forfeited their own lives. James had left 
 Charles, his son, an inheritance of debt. Money 
 had to be raised, and the landlords of Ireland 
 were willing to purchase at the price of ^120,000 
 the civil and religious rights to which they were 
 de jure entitled. Charles took the first instalment 
 of ^40,000, but no "graces" were granted. In 
 Ireland Protestantism had crystallised into a sort 
 of modified Puritanism, and with the exception of 
 official Dublin, and the planters and undertakers, 
 the inhabitants were, nearly all, not only Catholic, 
 but Papistical. On these materials Laud and 
 Wentworth went to work ; the latter cajoled the 
 Parliament out of a large subsidy for the King, 
 but granted no corresponding "graces." He 
 raised an army in Ireland, increased the revenue 
 many fold, and if he discouraged the woollen 
 trade, he fostered the linen industry greatly, 
 embarking much capital in it. The King made 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 99 
 
 him Lord Lieutenant and Earl of Strafford. His 
 palace near Naas — at Jigginstown— was nearly 
 completed, but as he was going to take the field 
 against the Scots, he found the King had made 
 peace, and attainder and death awaited him. On 
 the death of Strafford, Sir William Parsons and 
 Sir John Borlase became justices, and they had 
 but 2,000 troops wherewith to confront a general 
 Catholic rising, headed by Rory O'More and Sir 
 Phelim O'Neil. The Castle of Dublin it was 
 intended to take by a cottp de main, but the 
 scheme failed. However, Ulster, excepting a 
 few towns, was in the power of the rebels, 
 and, instigated by Sir Phelim O'Neil, a bar- 
 barous and bloody massacre of planters and 
 Protestants ensued. In a few months a few 
 forts and towns alone represented English power 
 in Ireland. 
 
 The Irish troops were, however, little better 
 than a mob till unexpected succour came from 
 the continent under Colonel Owen O'Neil and 
 Colonel Preston, who soon changed their fighting 
 condition. Meantime, Ormonde commanded the 
 royalist forces in Ireland, and when war was 
 proclaimed between the Long Parliament and the 
 King, a curious coalition took place between the 
 rebels and royalists, a measure which widened the 
 
lOO DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 breach between the King and people in England. 
 Ormonde Avas now made a Marquis and Lord 
 Lieutenant, and Kilkenny was the headquarters 
 of the rebel-royalist Parliament and council. The 
 latter, however, was divided into two factions, of 
 which one, led by Rinucini, the Pope's Nuncio, 
 insisted on Papal supremacy ; while Ormonde 
 and his friends were content with toleration and 
 certain restitutions and reforms. Meanwhile 
 O'Neil had gained a decided victory at Benburb, 
 but the King was in the hands of the Parliament 
 — his cause in England lost. However, the 
 disunion in the rebel camp led to curious com- 
 plications, and Ormonde, who had returned from 
 Versailles, joined with Prince Rupert, who had 
 sailed with a fleet of sixteen frigates to Kinsale, 
 in making a stand, aided by Lords Inchiquin, 
 Clanricarde, and Castlehaven. Soon after the 
 King's execution, the successes of the royalists in 
 Ireland forced the Parliament to counteract them 
 by sending over Oliver Cromwell, as Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, to Dublin with 8,000 foot 
 and 4,000 horse. Here he found Ormonde had 
 been routed and forced back to Kilkenny. The 
 sieges and massacres at Drogheda and Wexford 
 were the preludes to Cromwell's triumphant 
 progress. Ireton and Coote completed his work, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. lOI 
 
 and in 1652 Ireland was subdued and Ormonde 
 again in exile. i i >\J I y^ \j\' 
 
 Ireton was Cromwell's- deputy 'in I r.eknd:;- en 
 his death the office passed to Fleetwood ; and in 
 1652 a new shuffling of the cards, or the land of 
 Ireland, commenced. Transplaiitation, which had 
 before been attempted by sending " rebels " into 
 Kerry, was substituted for Plantation, for the 
 migration of the magnates into Connaught pre- 
 scribed by 1654, was postponed or prolonged for 
 a couple of years. The soldiers and subscribers 
 to the war loan were paid in land debentures, 
 and, according to Sir William Petty, nearly 
 five millions and a half acres were confiscated. 
 Henry Cromwell, the Protector's son, was now 
 Lord Lieutenant, but most of the records of his 
 brief reign have perished by fire. Then came 
 the Restoration — a re-shuffling of the cards, and 
 a quasi-settlement of the land question. Ormonde 
 was made a duke, went to Ireland as Lord 
 Lieutenant in 1662, but he was soon superseded 
 by the more facile Lord Robarts, who again in 
 turn made way for Lord Berkeley, a slave of the 
 "Cabal" Ministry. Like the restored Bourbons 
 Charles II. seemed to have learned little in exile, 
 for his policy was a close alliance with France, 
 and a restoration of Roman Catholics to power. 
 
I02 DUl^LIN CASTLE. 
 
 This led to the reaction of Titus Oates, and the 
 judicial .'murder ol'- Dr. Plunkett, Lord Fingall's 
 brother. 'Onvionde was again appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant, but was recalled on Charles's death, 
 and after an interregnum Lord Clarendon was 
 named Viceroy, who in turn made way — when 
 the pear was ripe — for Dick Talbot, Earl of 
 Tyrconnel, with the title of Lord Deputy. 
 Catholic "ascendancy" was now universal in 
 Ireland, and James landed at Kinsale from 
 Versailles, with a French fleet, some men, and 
 munitions. A Parliament was held, and proscrip- 
 tions made. But the siege of Derry was raised, 
 and at Newtown-Butler the Enniskilleners routed 
 the Stuarts and their Celts, and Schomberg stood 
 boldly at bay at Dundalk. 
 
 William of Orange, who landed at Carrick- 
 fergus in June, fought the battle of the Boyne on 
 the I St July, and then occupied Dublin. James 
 fled to France, and the sieges of Limerick and 
 Athlone were attempted, the latter successfully. 
 At Aughrim St. Ruth was killed, and his army 
 defeated with considerable slaughter. Limerick 
 was now the last hope of the Stuart party. 
 
 De Ginkel made a tremendous attack on 
 the town from the Clare shore ; it was re- 
 pulsed, but with great slaughter on either side, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. IO3 
 
 and then came overtures for peace, which were 
 accepted. 
 
 The articles of the Treaty were only kept in 
 part, and the city of the violated treaty has 
 become an historical bye-word. 20,000 men of 
 the garrison migrated to France to form the 
 nucleus of the Irish Brigade ; 3,000 joined King 
 William. The rebellion was followed by the 
 customary confiscations and the cruel Code of 
 Penal Laws, inoperative from their mere severity. 
 The commercial jealousy and intolerance of 
 England was now directed to the ruin of the 
 staples of Ireland — wool, provisions, corn — and 
 the impoverishment of "the English garrison." 
 Of course this led to universal smuggling and 
 the defeat of iniquitous legislation, whose motto 
 was " Vise victis " all over the world then. 
 
 The Lords Lieutenants during this inglorious 
 period were Henry, Viscount Sydney, Lord Capel, 
 the Earl of Rochester, James Duke of Ormonde, 
 the Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Wharton, 
 James Duke of Ormonde again, Charles Talbot, 
 Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Sunderland, 
 Lord Carteret, Lionel Sackville, Duke of Dorset, 
 the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Chesterfield, 
 the Earl of Harrington, the Marquis of Harting- 
 ton, the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Halifax, 
 
I04 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Weymouth, 
 the Earl of Hertford, the Earl of Bristol, Lord 
 Townshend, Lord Harcourt, the Earl of Buck- 
 incrhamshire, the Earl of Carlisle, the Duke of 
 Portland, Earl Temple, the Duke of Rutland, the 
 Marquis of Buckingham, the Earl of Westmore- 
 land, the Earl of Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Camden, 
 the Marquis of Clanricarde. These noblemen 
 carried out, as best they might, the policy of the 
 Prime Minister of England. They originated 
 next to nothing, and their official headstones, with 
 very few exceptions, require neither chronicle nor 
 inscription. 
 
 Lord Westmoreland succeeded Lord Bucking- 
 ham, and his reign bridges over a most interesting 
 period, when the Catholics claimed some participa- 
 tion in the Constitution and a partial reversal of 
 their sentence of outlawry. They were backed 
 by Pitt and Dundas in England, by Grattan and 
 Langrishe in Ireland, but there was danger 
 obviously in offending the " Junto of Jobbers " who 
 monopolised political power in that island, while 
 there was also peril in denying the just and 
 clear claims of the Catholics, who accentuated 
 their arguments by arms, and pointed their pro- 
 positions by parks of artillery, while France was 
 intriguing for their support, and the concessions 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. IO5 
 
 to Catholics in Encjland through Mitford's Bill cut 
 the ground from under the opponents of relief 
 and emancipation. The Relief Bill was passed, 
 Fitzgibbon being its ablest opponent, and the 
 vSession of 1793 was a long and memorable one ; 
 but the north was in staunch sympathy with the 
 French Revolutionists, and there was a strong 
 party of " Irreconcilables " forming among the 
 United Irishmen, whose ranks were deserted by 
 the Patriciate. The most remarkable circum- 
 stance of the time was the non-intervention of 
 the Catholic clergy in the politics of the period, 
 for Burke writes of them, "Though not wholly 
 without influence, they have rather less than any 
 clergy I know." The Viceroy of the period, it is 
 evident, though representing his Sovereign, was 
 little more than the Secretary of the Prime 
 Minister in London. 
 
 From the vast welter of corruption, class 
 legislation, favoritism, and oppression, a few great 
 great names emerge conspicuously — " rari nantes 
 in gurgite vasto." Such were those of Swift, 
 Molyneux, and Lucas, who initiated the reaction 
 in favour of purity, Roman Catholic restoration 
 to citizenship, and Constitutional Government, 
 that bore fruit by-and-bye. Meanwhile absen- 
 teeism, tithes, middlemen, and agents were driving 
 
I06 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 the country towards that awful precipice — the wild 
 justice of redress by revenge and crime, and 
 " Whiteboys," "Hearts of Steel" boys, and 
 "Oak boys" sprung up to point the protests 
 of the poor. Parliamentary Government in Ire- 
 land had become a mere mockery. One Parlia- 
 ment, for instance, lasted thirty-three years. 
 In Lord Townshend's time an Octennial Act 
 was passed, but still Parliamentary Government 
 meant Government by place and pension. The 
 Nemesis came from America, to whose shores 
 numbers of the Protestant farmers of Ulster had 
 emigrated. Paul Jones was ravaging the coast of 
 Ireland. Volunteers started up to defend their 
 native shores, English aid not being available. 
 Arms now accentuated arguments, and Free 
 Trade was conceded to Ireland in 1779. This 
 was followed by the emancipation of the Irish 
 Parliament from the fetters of Poyning's Act and 
 its practical freedom, and the " Nation " granted 
 Grattan ^100,000, of which he only accepted half. 
 Pitt now became Premier at the age of twenty- 
 three, and tried to liberate Irish trade more fully, 
 but English opposition proved too strong for him, 
 and Catholic disabilities were still unrepealed. 
 Naper Tandy and Theobald Wolf Tone now 
 appear prominently on the political proscennium, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. lO/ 
 
 partial Catholic emancipation was granted, and 
 some partial reforms made. Further and fuller 
 emancipation seemed imminent now. John 
 Beresford was dismissed from ofhce, Lord Fltz- 
 wllllam was sent over as Lord Lieutenant, but 
 George IIL obstinately vetoed all progress in 
 this direction. One result was the reappearance 
 of the " United Irishmen." Meanwhile, Tone 
 and Arthur O'Connor had moved Carnot to make 
 a descent on Ireland. Hoche had the command, 
 but a storm prevented the landing. Duncan's 
 victory at Camperdown in 1797 again prevented 
 the diversion. General Lake commanded in 
 Ulster, Lord Carhampton In chief, and martial 
 law was proclaimed. 
 
 We are now nearing the goal of " '98," which, 
 though poets and poetasters may profess to regard 
 it with cynical indifference or a light heart, — 
 
 "Who fears to speak of '98, 
 Who blushes at the name ? " 
 
 was a revolting episode of civil and religious war, 
 in Avhich atrocities of the most fearful type were 
 perpetrated on both sides. Meanwhile Lord 
 Camden was the Viceroy of the hour ; Sir Ralph 
 Abercromby the Commander of the Army, which 
 was in a state of the greatest indiscipline. The 
 
 H 
 
I08 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 latter was superseded presently by General Lake, 
 but it was written that a man's foes should be 
 those of his own household, and by an expen- 
 diture of nearly ^400,000, the Government 
 learnt every move of the conspirators. Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, unwarned by the fate of his 
 ancestor, "Silken Thomas," was in open rebellion. 
 He was wounded in the act of arrestation, and 
 died from the effects of his hurt. Without com- 
 petent leaders, the rebels overpowered some 
 scattered garrisons, as at Prosperous, in the Co, 
 Kildare, but the Militia regiments soon rallied. 
 In the north the rising was very promptly put 
 down by Nugent and Barber. In Meath Lord 
 Fingall and Colonel Preston routed the rebels at 
 Tara Hill, but in Wexford the insurgents took 
 possession of the county town, and two columns 
 were commanded by those militant Priests, Father 
 J. Murphy and Father Philip Roche. The 
 barbarous massacre of women and children at 
 Scullabogue has been often described and often 
 viewed in engravings. With reinforcements, 
 however, Enniscorthy and Wexford were soon 
 recovered, and "the rising" stamped out in 
 blood. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis now succeeded Lord Cam- 
 den, acting as Lord Lieutenant and Commander- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. IO9 
 
 In-Chief. His conciliatory policy bore good fruit 
 and restored confidence. Hoche at Killala now 
 occupies attention. Lake's militia at Castlebar 
 ran away from the foe, but Cornwallis and Lake 
 hemmed him in, and made him surrender at 
 Ballinamuck. General Hardi's ship, " the 
 Hoche," was taken off Lough Swilley, and in it 
 Wolfe Tone ; he cut his throat in prison. 
 
 The necessity of an incorporating union with 
 England now commended itself to the mind of 
 Pitt and his colleagues, and on the meeting of 
 Parliament in Dublin, the Government brought 
 in a resolution affirming this view, but after 
 a protracted debate of twenty-two hours, had 
 but a majority of one. The next time that the 
 Bill was brought in it was carried by a larger 
 majority of forty-two, the burrough owners having 
 been compensated at the rate of ^15,000 for 
 each seat in the meantime, and strong arguments 
 having been used to convince the recalcitrant. 
 
 The Parliament of Ireland — a nest of cor- 
 ruption, and representing extreme oligarchical 
 narrowness — though leavened by some liberality, 
 and not without its share of talent, may be said 
 to have suffered the happy despatch to save its 
 own life, just as sick cattle are slaughtered 
 every clay "to save their lives" (for their owners) ; 
 
 H 2 
 
no DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 it must have been swamped entirely by the 
 Roman Catholic electors and members, for the 
 right of voting having been granted to the 
 Catholics in 1793, membership must have fol- 
 lowed, as a necessary corollary, in a year or two. 
 That the Government put pressure on the mem- 
 bers is quite true, but it was a State necessity, 
 and pressure nearly as strong, perhaps even 
 stronger, in money bids, was brought to bear on 
 the Opposition. Judging by petitions and move- 
 ments outside of Parliament, the measure had 
 something akin to a plebiscite in its favour, and 
 nearly the entire Catholic population. Arrayed 
 against this were the representatives of Protestant 
 Ascendancy. Much has been written about the 
 bribery and corruption by which the Union was 
 carried, but there is little or no positive evidence 
 adduced in confirmation of these loose assertions, 
 and there is much negative evidence on the other 
 side. If it was corruption to take money for seats 
 in a house that represented nobody but the patron, 
 then were the anti-unionists most corrupt. For 
 instance, the Marquis of Downshire took ^52,000 
 for his seats ! Lord Cornwallis, a man of the 
 highest integrity, public and private, wTote, 
 " This country could not be saved without 
 the Union." Peerages were given with a free 
 
DUBLIN CASTLF. I I I 
 
 hand, but not nearly so freely as on many other 
 occasions. 
 
 Much, we repeat, has been said and written 
 about the corruption that carried the Union. 
 Sir Robert Walpole was styled " the Grand 
 Corrupter ;" but he was the engineer hoist with 
 his own petard, for he was overti'iLmped, as 
 Mr. Glover tells us in his Memoirs. 
 
 "Don Carlos" (Frederick, Prince of Wales) 
 " told me that it cost him ^12,000 in corruption, 
 particularly among the Tories, to carry the West- 
 minster and Chippenham elections in 1742, and 
 other points, which compelled Lord Orford, at 
 that time Sir Robert Walpole, to quit the House 
 of Commons." 
 
 Wraxall tells us how " Roberts avowed without 
 reserve, that while he remained at the Treasury 
 there were a number of members who regularly 
 received from him their payment, or stipend, at 
 the end of every session, in bank notes. The 
 sums, which varied according to the merits, 
 ability, and attendance of the respective indi- 
 viduals, amounted usually from ^500 to ^Soo 
 per annum. This largess I distributed, added 
 Roberts, in the Court of Requests, on the day 
 of the Prorogation of Parliament, I took my 
 stand there ; and as the gentlemen passed me, 
 
112 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 in going to, or returning from, the House, I 
 conveyed the money in a squeeze of the hand. 
 Whatever person declined the Ministerial bounty 
 in the manner thus related, I entered his name 
 in a book, which was preserved in the deepest 
 secrecy ; it being never inspected by any human 
 being except the King and Mr. Pelhajn.'' 
 
 Other suasions were tried in other cases, as 
 we learn from a curious proposal made in the 
 House by Lord Nugent, with a view of bringing 
 Fox and Pitt together. "He stated that he 
 had accomplished, more than -i^o years before, a 
 similar undertaking, by means of a personal inter- 
 view between Lord Granville and Mr. Pelham, 
 which took place at his own residence. These 
 two candidates for power, said Lord Nugent, 
 came to the appointment disguised. I introduced 
 them to each other, and then left them alone — 
 a good supper and excellent wine, which I had 
 provided, soon banished mutual reserve. They 
 spoke freely, became friends, and so remained. 
 Thus was the Coalition effected in a single night. 
 I am not much acquainted with the two gentle- 
 men now sitting opposite each other, but if they 
 will meet at my house, they shall have a delicate 
 supper, with the finest wines. They may even, 
 if they please, get gloriously drunk ; and I will 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. T I 3 
 
 answer for it, over the bottle, their punctiHos and 
 distrust will vanish ; while confidence will spring 
 up where difficulties previously existed." 
 
 'H/xet? rot varepcop [xey afxeLPOue^ evyoiieO' elpau. 
 
 At any rate, our bribery and corruption is done 
 more discreetly in the few places where it is 
 possible to do it at all. 
 
 Once the Union became an accomplished fact 
 the separate history of Ireland ceased to exist ; the 
 greatness of the Empire to which she contributed 
 immensely, was her greatness, Imperial disasters 
 were also her misfortunes. Henceforward, and 
 for nearly nine decades, she has had no separate 
 life and no independence ; Ireland being in one 
 sense EnQ^land, and Enoland Ireland. To be 
 sure, there were not wanting many among her 
 sons who deemed the marriage a miserably 
 Mezentian one, and considered that — 
 
 " Freedom's battle once begun, 
 Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son, 
 Tho' often lost at last is won," 
 
 and spasmodic, ill-directed efforts have been made 
 to burst away from the bondage and thraldom ; 
 but these efforts hardly attained even local 
 
114 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 success, and only tended to consolidate the 
 Union by showing its necessity. Since the 
 Union thirty-two Lord Lieutenants have ad- 
 ministered the affairs of Ireland with varied 
 success and unsuccess. Among them were not 
 a few able, earnest, and conscientious Governors, 
 but their ability was not equal to their will. 
 They were the slaves, or servants if the term 
 be preferred, of a party. " A vote could mar 
 them as a vote had made," to paraphrase the 
 language of a national bard, for their tenure of 
 office was dependent on a division, and during 
 office their duty was to observe and report rather 
 than inchoate reforms or devise measures of 
 amelioration ; while latterly this role has been 
 almost entirely taken out of their hands by the 
 preponderating influence of the Chief Secretary, 
 who represents the Department of Ireland in the 
 House of Commons, where he can gauge popular 
 feeling and keep his fingers on the pulse of the 
 people, and having his own brief filled in by the 
 ofificial and topical knowledge of his permanent 
 Under Secretary, who is generally selected for his 
 business and official capacity, and may be, as in 
 the case of Thomas Drummond and Sir Robert 
 Hamilton, a man somewhat Jiors ligne. 
 
 Thus the constitutional fiction, " le roi reene 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. II5 
 
 mais il ne gouverne pas," is extended to Western 
 Britain, and the Lord Lieutenant, Prorex, Viceroy, 
 or Deputy as he may be, has the smallest possible 
 share in moulding the destinies of the country 
 over which he presides ; having little left him 
 save the task of "entertaining" (which, to their 
 credit, many Viceroys have accomplished in right 
 royal fashion) or leading a small section of society 
 that makes the Castle its focus, and acting, in fact, 
 as the Master of the Ceremonies and " Arbiter 
 Elegantiarum " in Ireland, a role, which with its 
 corresponding corvees, has become so utterly 
 anachronistic and half ridiculous that the Prime 
 Minister, even with the bait of ^20,000 a-year, 
 some patronage, and the glamour of a great 
 position, finds it hard to procure a Viceroy for 
 Ireland, though no chief of the Foreign Office 
 has ever, I believe, had the smallest difficulty in 
 finding a representative of England at any great 
 foreign port. Hence for some time social talents, 
 a sounding name, a pleasant presence, a liberal 
 hand, and a power of pleasing have been more 
 sought for in the selection of Viceroys than 
 commanding talents or great gifts of eloquence 
 and argumentative power, and it redounds to the 
 credit of the Peerage of England, no matter to 
 what party they professed allegiance, that noble- 
 
Il6 DUBLIN CASTLE, 
 
 men have been found to fill the anomalous 
 position adequately, and even well, sacrificing, in 
 many cases, their own predilections on the altar 
 of Patriotism (party patriotism, if you will), and 
 making sacrifices of time and money that were 
 by no means light ; while, as a rule, the atmos- 
 phere of Dublin Castle and Court has been as pure 
 as that of the Court of Queen Charlotte, Queen 
 Adelaide, or their greater successor, the Empress 
 Victoria ! Of Wm. de Windsor we need not speak. 
 In the Pre-Union period the chronicler's 
 theme was mainl}^ of war — wars external and 
 internal! Since the Union the chief area of con- 
 tention has been the House of Commons ; and 
 the bitterness of this contention was intensified 
 a thousand-fold by the bigoted and obstinate 
 defence, by a privileged oligarchy, of monopolies 
 in Church and State, which were at once a peril 
 to the Empire, and indefensible in themselves. 
 The denial of Catholic Emancipation for twenty- 
 nine years, partly through the unfortunate mental 
 aberration of the Sovereign, raised up an 
 O'Connell, who shattered the pretentious fabric, 
 and taught the people, whom he led like sheep, 
 the power of organisation and constitutional 
 agitation. No one now disputes the justness of 
 O'Connell's claims, or denies the peerless powers 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I I 7 
 
 of persuasion by which he gained their tardy 
 concession. But the arrogant and selfish spirit 
 which, under Lord North (a minister who never 
 lost his jocosity, though he lost a continent to our 
 Empire), had stung the North-American colonists 
 into rebellion, widened the breach between the 
 citizens of a common country, and left scars 
 which are not yet healed. It is true that Ireland, 
 though visited by two out of the three divine 
 scourges — the Famine and the Pestilence — while 
 spared the sword — has made wonderful material 
 and intellectual progress during these decades. 
 India, which, though, in some measure, won for 
 England by Irish brain and bone, was rather a 
 Scotch stronghold and close borough, has been 
 opened out to Irishmen, where the Lawrences, 
 the Goughs, the Bourkes, the Blackwoods, 
 Montgomeries, Gillespies, the Fitzmaurices, and 
 many others, have won fame and treasure. In 
 Parliament the Irish voice has been more po- 
 tent than the Irish vote ; but the country has 
 seen the levies of the Empire led to victory 
 by a WeHesley, a Wolseley, and a Roberts ; 
 while the pioneer ship, the " Teutonic," lately 
 launched from a Belfast dock, and the Brennan 
 torpedo, show that even in ruling the waves Irish 
 co-operation is a useful ally to Britannia. Possibly 
 
Il8 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 owing to the want of subterranean treasure in 
 coal and metals Ireland cannot boast of such a 
 port as Cardiff, with her miles of docks and 
 affluence of commerce ; but Belfast has sprung 
 into commercial greatness within the last fifty 
 years, and annihilated by the persevering enter- 
 prise of her sturdy sons the niggardliness of 
 nature, till the Lagan has grown into something 
 like a Celtic Clyde! Is the Union a failure? 
 (As is asserted by some of Marriage.) Decidedly 
 not ! Let those who are still sceptical on this 
 point read Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland, and 
 judge for themselves. Let them turn over the 
 pages of " Ireland 90 years ago," and read the 
 record of habitual bloody battles in the streets 
 of Dublin, the maiming and mutilation of men 
 there in open day, and the insecurity of life and 
 property, even in the capital, and then let them 
 draw their conclusions. Hundreds, if not thou- 
 sands, whose grandfathers were in the humblest 
 condition are now affluent and independent in 
 Ireland, and if no bloody revolution has effected 
 this, " la carriere est ouverte au talent " in this 
 island. 
 
 Much is said about the cruelty of coercion — 
 always a misfortune— but, for all that, foreigners 
 are filled with admiration at the practical freedom 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I I 9 
 
 of the country nnd its inhabitants ; while it is 
 forgotten that the Habeas Corpus Act has been 
 suspended in England, while still operative in the 
 smaller island, and that Peterloo and Bristol are 
 vividly recollected by living men. It is certainly 
 a pity that the Victorian eye does not oftener see 
 the triumphs and progress of the Victorian age in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Little remains to be said about the modern 
 history of Ireland that is not referred to in the 
 sketches of Viceroys and Secretaries. One of 
 the finest passages in our Church Service is the 
 text brought into the offertory — " Not grudg- 
 ingly, nor of necessity, for God (and man too) 
 loveth a cheerful giver." English Kings gave 
 their "graces" grudgingly to Ireland. Par- 
 liament seems willing and eager now to repair 
 this fault, and "Justice to Ireland" seems its 
 motto ; but the Nemesis of giving grudgingly is 
 seen in the success of agitation, and the organised 
 resistance of the masses to legal enactments. 
 Englishmen in many cases detested O'Connell ; 
 now they laud him, and extol the patriotism that 
 erected a statue to his memory — 
 
 " A leur dresser une statue 
 Pour la gloire du genre humain ! " 
 
 To all political parties the word " Irish 
 
I20 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 enemy" has ceased to exist, and "Irish friend" 
 is substituted for it, and we may see " laborantes 
 in unum Penelopen vitreamque Circen " — say Mr. 
 Gladstone and ]Mr. Balfour. Political triumphs 
 are empty things if they do not bring prosperity 
 in their train. Ireland has been nauseated with 
 politics. She wants prosperity, and Lord George 
 Bentinck saw that when he proposed a vote of 
 ;^ 1 6,000,000 for covering the island with a net- 
 work of railways ; but a far smaller sum than that 
 would convert Galway into a " static bene fida 
 carinis," with a ship canal to convey the raw 
 material to the western ports of England, while 
 much of it would probably be worked up in 
 Galway where there is ample population and 
 cheap labour for factories. An Irish regiment 
 of Guards would be a sentimental yet solid con- 
 cession. 
 
 There are many simple-minded people in 
 England to whom the history of Ireland presents 
 little but a series of enigmas. They cannot 
 believe that their countrymen could ever have 
 been guilty of the most flagrant atrocities, or been 
 parties to enormous injustice through a series 
 of long years. The high-handed proceedings of 
 the Israelites towards the Canaanites are explained 
 away to our educated and reverential under- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 121 
 
 Standings by the fact that the Jews were ordained 
 by Providence to be the instruments of a terrible 
 retribution on those nations for their breaches of 
 written or unwritten laws ; we bow our heads 
 in reverence, but we confess our inability to 
 fathom the dispensation, and can only re-echo the 
 Patriarch's words, " Shall not the Judge of all the 
 earth do right ?" When we read Irish history we 
 cannot help being struck by some analogies 
 between the English and the Irish " nations," and 
 the Jews and the pristine occupants of Palestine ; 
 the conquerors swept away the natives from the 
 fertile grassy valleys, and relegated them to the 
 hills, woods, and morasses ; building castles and 
 forts and strong towns to maintain their conquests, 
 but consenting to leave a fraction of the sons of 
 the soil to act as their hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water, their herdsmen and farmers— 
 their charter and license for these proceedings 
 being an alliance with one of the Kings of Ireland 
 and a Bull of the Pope of Rome. The little leaven 
 oi Irishmen left in these plains and valleys acted 
 precisely as the contaminating influence of the 
 Canaanites did in the sacred story ; the Jews had 
 been commanded to extirpate the natives root 
 and branch ; they disobeyed the precept. The 
 Anglo-Normans did the same thing, and in the 
 
122 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 course of a few generations degenerated from their 
 ancient standard, and adopted the manners and 
 customs of the Celts. All this seemed an infamy 
 to their kinsmen in England, who every now and 
 then pulled them up very sharply and made the 
 line of demarcation between English and Irish 
 wider than ever. Native customs were denounced 
 as deadly sins, and even the natural bond of a 
 common faith, and a common baptism into one 
 church, was powerless to effect any reconciliation 
 of races. The Irish "enemy" was to get no 
 quarter if he did not conform to the Saxon 
 standard, but the Irish enemy was very numerous, 
 and " malo assuetus." It began to wax while the 
 English element, depleted by intestine feuds, 
 foreign service, and a Scottish invasion, waned 
 perceptibly. The fine farms which the con- 
 querors had seized began to revert to their 
 ancient owners, and the descendants of Strongf- 
 bow were cooped up in a corner, which they had 
 some difficulty in defending. The Canaanites 
 were more or less triumphant and the chosen 
 race was in sore straits, though it still bated little 
 of its arrogance and tone of superiority. 
 
 The absurdity of these pretensions to be 
 Lords of Ireland, which they were able to ravage 
 chronically but not to keep, became joatent to the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 23 
 
 Tudors, of whom the greatest, Queen Ehzabeth, 
 may be said to have really brought both the 
 Anglo-Irish and the Celts themselves to sub- 
 mission. This monarch really ruled. She did 
 not hearken to the reports of interested subjects 
 but had several Irish chieftains over to London, 
 and if Her Majesty had had a freer hand the 
 subjugation of the island would have been com- 
 pleted in her reign, but Her Majesty had foes, 
 many abroad and at home, and the Irish question 
 was often left in abeyance from want of time and 
 means. 
 
 It was not till the reign of James I. that 
 citizenship was accorded to the Irish, who for 
 nearly five centuries had been the victims of 
 anarchy, tempered by tyranny. 
 
 That the analogy of the pretensions of the 
 English and those of the Jews is not alto- 
 gether fanciful or far-fetched may be seen in 
 the admirable memorandum or " discoverie of the 
 true causes why Ireland was never entirely sub- 
 dued," &c., by Sir John Davis, " His Majestie's 
 Atturney Generall of Ireland," wherein, after 
 rehearsing the causes which had made the 
 island the land of Ire, he indulges a hope that 
 " it will hereafter be as fruitfull as the land of 
 Canaan, the description whereof, in the 8 of 
 
 I 
 
124 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Deuteronomie, cloth in every part agree with 
 Ireland." 
 
 It can hardly be imagined that such a thing as 
 patriotism existed in Ireland at the time of the 
 conquest. Patriotism, such as it is in Ireland, 
 means a sort of ignorant abhorrence of England 
 and her customs, which for the most part is 
 hereditary, but which is kept up to a certain 
 extent by what is called religion, and also by the 
 ranklino^ of some unredressed wrongs ; but in all 
 ages we may be assured that a nation of graziers 
 and cattle and horse rearers felt it to be a very 
 sore and immediate grievance to be forcibly 
 expelled from their ancient and hereditary feeding 
 grounds, and relegated to comparatively bare 
 tracts, where life for m.an and beast was hard to 
 sustain. Then it was hardly conciliatory to have 
 all the laws and ordinances and customs of one's 
 race denounced as damnable and demoniacal, while 
 the more excellent way was not made accessible. 
 Granting that the Brehon law was not a wise or 
 edifying code, that it made crime common by the 
 facility of expiation, still it was the law of the land, 
 and was more or less a terror to evil doers, and a 
 praise to them that did well, and pro tanto useful 
 till a purer and wiser system was introduced. 
 Under the old tribal system every kerne, or 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 25 
 
 clansman, was a joint tenant with his chief of the 
 common stock of land, and shared with the royal 
 family the plenty and prosperity of " the nation," 
 whether in war or peace. 
 
 The chief who accepted land under the feudal 
 tenure introduced by De Lacy and Strongbow, 
 was simply a traitor to his race and " nation," as, 
 for his own private aggrandisement, he consented 
 to waive the rights of his subjects and followers 
 of the sept ; and the title of the Norman Strong- 
 bow and other knights to vast tracts of country 
 acquired by marriage was purely fictitious, and 
 only sustainable by the strong arm — in fact the 
 Irish in Ireland were bound by interest and policy 
 to extirpate the English invaders if possible — 
 
 " Conjurata tuas rumpere nuptias 
 Et regnum Priami vetus." 
 
 It is impossible to understand Irish history 
 unless these things are taken into full considera- 
 tion, but it may be said that the conquest of Ireland 
 delivered the natives from a worse tyranny and a 
 more unsettled existence. This is hard to confirm, 
 and bad as was the ancicn rl'gime we may be sure 
 it commended itself to the natives — " A tyrant, 
 but our tyrants then were at the least our country- 
 men," and so it was probably with the Milesian 
 
 I 2 
 
126 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Miltiades of the day. To make men outlaws and 
 then expect them to behave Hke law-abiding 
 citizens and respecters of pacts and treaties, is 
 rather unreasonable ; to condemn men to lead a 
 life of squalor in "boolies," and then to blame them 
 for the savageness of their habits and customs, is 
 somewhat inconsistent, and to expect a crop of 
 cardinal virtues when the seed sown is murder, 
 theft, and rapine, is a somewhat hyper-sanguine 
 hope. 
 
 The land question was then as now the 
 primary one, and evictions were as little relished 
 in those days as in the present. When Shylock 
 declared that taking away the means of living was 
 much the same thing as taking a life, he stated 
 the case of the Irish. Of course the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant had to foster the English interest, but to 
 the credit of many, be it said, they recognised the 
 evils of the system, and gave the natives credit 
 for not a few good qualities, cultivated with 
 difficulty in such an uncongenial soil and atmos- 
 phere! The words of Sir John Davis, an English- 
 man, are indeed a signal tribute to the surviving 
 sense of justice among the Celtic Canaanites : 
 " For there is no nation of people under the 
 sunne, that doth love equal and indifferent justice, 
 better than the Irish ; or will rest better satisfied 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 27 
 
 with the execution thereof, akhough it be against 
 themselves ; so as they may have the protection 
 and benefit of the law, when uppon just cause 
 they do desire it." 
 
 Perhaps the following sketch will illustrate to 
 a certain extent the fearful condition of Ulster 
 even in the comparatively peaceful reign of King 
 James I. Sir Cahir O'Doherty had broken out 
 into rebellion, and had burnt Derry and mur- 
 dered Sir Amias Paulett. O'Neil was expected 
 at the head of Spanish troops, and in the mean- 
 time the rebels and their chief were lurking about 
 the Rock of Kilmacrenan. "The plantation of 
 Ulster had not yet taken place, but already many 
 Scots had settled themselves along the rich 
 alluvial lands that border the Loughs Foyle and 
 Swilly, and it was Sir Cahir's most desired end 
 and aim to extirpate these intruders, hateful as 
 strangers, detestable as heretics. He was the 
 Scotsman's curse and scourge. One of these indus- 
 trious Scots had settled in the Valley of the 
 Lennon ; Rory O'Donnel, the Queen's Earl of 
 Tyrconnel had given him part of that fertile 
 valley, and he there built his bawn. But Sir 
 Cahir, in the midst of night and in Sandy Ram- 
 say's absence, attacked his enclosure, drew off his 
 cattle, slaughtered his wife and children, and left 
 
128 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 his pleasant homestead a heap of smoking ruins. 
 The Scot, on his return home, saw himself 
 bereaved, left desolate in a foreign land, without 
 property, kindred, or home, nothing but his true 
 gun and dirk. He knew that 500 marks was the 
 reward offered by the Lord Deputy for Sir 
 Cahir's head. He knew that this outlaw was the 
 foe that had quenched the fire on his hearth with 
 the blood of his wife and little ones, and with a 
 head maddened by revenge, with hope resting on 
 the promised reward, he retired to the wooded 
 hills that run parallel to the hill of Doune. There 
 under covert of a rock, his gun resting on the 
 withered branch of a stunted oak, he waited day 
 by day, with all the patience and expectancy of a 
 tiger in its lair. Sir Cahir was a man to be 
 marked in a thousand ; he was the loftiest and 
 proudest in his bearing of any man in the Pro- 
 vince of Ulster. His Spanish hat with the 
 heron's plume was too often the terror of his 
 enemies, the rallying point of his friends, not to 
 bespeak the O'Doherty, Even the high breast- 
 work of stone, added to the natural defences of 
 the rock, could not hide the chieftain from 
 observation. On Holy Thursday, as he rested 
 on the eastern face of the rock looking towards 
 the Abbey of Kilmacrenan, expecting a venerable 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 29 
 
 friar to come from this favoured foundation of 
 Columbkill to shrive him and celebrate mass, and 
 as he was chatting to his men beside him, the 
 Scotsman apphed the fire to his levelled match- 
 lock, and before the report began to roll its 
 echoes through the woods and hills, the ball 
 passed through Sir Cahir's forehead, and he lay- 
 lifeless on the ramparts. His followers were panic 
 struck ; they thought that the rising of the Scotch 
 and English was upon them, and deserting the 
 lifeless body of their leader, they dispersed 
 through the mountains. In the meantime the 
 Scotsman approached the rock ; he saw his foe 
 fall ; he saw his followers flee. He soon severed 
 the head from the body, and wrapping it in his 
 plaid, off he set in the direction of Dublin. He 
 travelled all that day, and at night took shelter 
 in a cabin belonging to one Terence Gallagher, 
 situated at one of the fords of the River Finno. 
 Here Ramsay sought a night's lodging, which 
 Irishmen never refuse ; and partaking of an oaten 
 cake and some sweet milk, he went to rest with 
 Sir Cahir's head under his own as a pillow. The 
 Scotsman slept sound, and Terence was up at 
 break of day. He saw blood oozing out through 
 the plaid that served as his guest's pillow, and 
 suspected all was not right ; so, shifting the 
 
130 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 tartan plaid, he saw the head and hair of a man. 
 Slowly drawing it out, he recognised the features 
 well known to every man in Tyrconnel. They 
 were Sir Cahir's. Terence knew as well as any 
 man that there was a price set on this very head, 
 a price abundant to make his fortune, a price he 
 now resolved to try and gain. So off Terence 
 started, and the broad Tyrone was almost crossed 
 by O'Gallagher before the Scotchman awoke to 
 resume his journey. The story is still told with 
 triumph through the country, how the Irishman, 
 without the treason, reaped the reward of Sir 
 Cahir's death." The chronicle declares that Sir 
 Cahir was killed in battle by Marshal Wingfield, 
 I have given the tale because it illustrates the age. 
 It is ghastly enough for a transpontine theatre ; 
 but it shows how strong the motives for hereditary 
 hatred were, and how legal lawlessness, so to 
 speak, could warp and estrange the best impulses 
 of human nature. Ramsay, finding his eviction a 
 sentence of death to himself, made it one to his 
 spoiler. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 'Plus 9a change plus c'est toujours la meme chose. 
 
 French Prover 
 
 1360. 
 
 So many of the leading organs of public 
 opinion — by which periphrasis we mean the daily 
 and weekly press of London and the provinces — 
 have so lately advocated in their columns the 
 experiment of a royal residence in Ireland, and 
 its tenure for at least a portion of the year by a 
 royal prince at any rate, if not by the Empire's 
 heir himself, that it may be well to point out now 
 that the Viceregal throne has already had for its 
 occupant more than one royal prince, who appar- 
 ently wielded the " gladius authoritatis," as the 
 sword of State was termed, by no means ineffici- 
 ently. King John seems to have been an active 
 Lord of Ireland, travelling long distances, and un- 
 daunted by difficulties on sea or shore. Henry V, 
 was an Irish Viceroy, or Dominus Hibernian, long 
 
132 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 before he was King of England. He occupied 
 part of Trim Castle in his youth — but there is no 
 need to multiply instances to prove an admitted 
 historical fact. It is only since the Stuarts came 
 to the throne of England that Ireland has lacked 
 the rays of royalty, and been forced to accept 
 instead the Viceregal sunshine and subdued 
 splendour ! No people in the world were ever 
 so liable to suffer severely from this protracted 
 eclipse of royalty, for none are more sensitive to 
 slights, or more naturally monarchical by educa- 
 tion, faith, and instinct ; to none does personal 
 presence and prowess more strongly commend 
 itself or appeal to national sentiment, and the 
 fountains of loyal devotion ; and Irishmen can 
 point to history in confirmation of their fidelity to 
 their sovereigns, shedding their blood like water 
 for Charles I, and James II., whom, like Mary 
 Tudor, they held to be their rightful monarch, 
 while they recall the pregnant fact that the Queen's 
 life was never attempted in Ireland or by Irishmen, 
 as it was in England by Englishmen ; and that 
 the Irish press, however viciously virulent against 
 Viceroys and ministers, never spoke disrespectfully 
 of Her Majesty, while she herself was almost as 
 warmly welcomed to the shores of Green Erin 
 as her uncle Georq-e IV. had been. Whether 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 33 
 
 the experiment would prove operative again, after 
 the long years of neglect and absence, may be 
 problematical, but it might be worth a trial. The 
 Prince of Wales carries popularity with him, and 
 his Princess is an idol in most parts of Ireland, in 
 spite of the misleading of the popular mind ; and 
 the mere fact of Irishmen loyally clinging to their 
 self-elected chiefs shows how faithful they might 
 be to their legitimate authorities, if the latter would 
 but appeal in person to their suppressed sentiment! 
 It may be that the burden of the general cry 
 would be " too late, ye come too late ; " but, at 
 any rate, it may be no harm here to record the 
 happy results of the government of Ireland by the 
 Duke of York, who fell in 1449, and whose epitaph, 
 written in a French doggrel couplet, ran thus — 
 
 " En Errlande mist tal gouvernement 
 Tant le pays vygla paissiblement." 
 
 While a contemporary poet thus writes of hmi. 
 speaking in propria persona — 
 
 " And maugre him (Somerset) so choyse, lo ! was my chaunce, 
 
 Yea the' the Quene, that all rulde, took his part, 
 
 I twice bare rule in Normandy and France, 
 
 And Lord Lieutenant in Irelande ; where my hart 
 
 Found remedy for every kind of smart : 
 
 For thro' the love my doings there did breede 
 
 I had their help at all times in my neede." 
 
134 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 This Duke of York was followed by Genildines 
 and Desmonds, The Ormondes adhered to the 
 Lancastrian banner. 
 
 Moreover, the Duke of York, who rejoiced 
 so greatly in having gained the love and affection 
 of his Irish subjects, was married to Lady Rose 
 Nevill, daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland, 
 who was popularly known as the " Rose of Raby." 
 She seems to have captivated the Irish by her 
 beauty, charm, and grace, as we read of Brian 
 O' Byrne, chief of his sept in the co. Wicklow, 
 in addition to an offering of 400 beeves, giving 
 her two "hobbies" for her special use. Now a 
 good hobby was often an animal of some value 
 then as now ; for we read of MacMurrough's 
 having paid 400 cows for his, wherewith he be- 
 witched the camp of Richard II. with his noble 
 horsemanship and spear-throwing. The " Rose 
 of Raby " probably contributed considerably to 
 the Duke's success in Ireland, if all Moore wrote 
 about his countrymen be true. She was the 
 mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. The 
 historian tells us "that so beloved was this Duke 
 of York in Ireland that it was reputed in England 
 that the wildest Irishman would, in less than 
 twelve months, be sworn English." 
 
 Something like this enthusiasm was shown in 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 35 
 
 the West of Ireland when H.R.H. the Duke of 
 Connaught, who was serving in Ireland with his 
 corps, the Rifle Brigade, spent a week or two in 
 the CO. Galway, the guest of the late Mr. Burton 
 Persse, of Moyode Castle, for men came from 
 immense distances merely to get a glimpse of him 
 at a meet of the county hounds. 
 
 In the Lieutenancy of one of the earlier Earls 
 of Ormonde, a circumstance occurred which will 
 seem so curious to many readers, and at the same 
 time illustrates so well the wildness of the wars in 
 Ireland and the semi-savagery of the septs, not 
 unmixed with much native kindness and courtesy, 
 that we give it here in brief. Henry de Crystede 
 told it to Sir John Froissart, the chronicler, whom 
 he met at Eltham in the palace of Richard IT., 
 the conversation originating in his accounting for 
 his intimate knowledge of the Irish language! 
 Crystede, it seems, was on a " hosting " with the 
 Earl of Ormonde, and riding one of his chargers, 
 a fast galloper, if a bit of a puller; the Irish 
 having been put to flight, the Ormonde party 
 pursuing, Crystede's horse ran away with him, 
 when, presto! an Irish kerne jumped up behind 
 his saddle, and, without attempting to kill him, 
 bound his arms, and steered the horse for two 
 hours from his perch on the croup till they came 
 
136 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 to a town or vilhige called " Herpelipin," where 
 his captor, Brian or Brin Costenec, claimed his 
 captive, treating him well, and giving him his 
 daughter in marriage ! Two girls were born in 
 the course of seven years. Brin Costenec was a 
 follower of Art MacMurrough, King of Leinster, 
 and in one of the border frays he took Crystede 
 with him. Both were taken prisoners by Lionel, 
 Duke of Clarence, or his captain, and Brin was 
 only ransomed by the surrender of Crystede's 
 wife and one child ; the other was retained by 
 the grandfather. Crystede and his family subse- 
 quently settled near Bristol. His identity was 
 established by the recognition of Lord Ormonde's 
 old charger. This reads like a page in one of 
 Cooper's Indian romances. 
 
 1639. 
 
 The character, career, and the personality of 
 Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, Baron 
 Raby, of Wentworth Wodehouse, stands out so 
 conspicuously among minor men and ministers, 
 and had such an influence on the destinies of the 
 kingdom, that they merit something more than the 
 transient notice we have been able to give it in 
 summarising the gesta and policy of the Viceroys 
 of Ireland. By Royalist writers he is bracketed 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 37 
 
 with his master, Charles L, as a martyr! By 
 Whig and Radical writers he is described as the 
 foe to freedom and the panderer to privilege and 
 prerogative, who expiated an evil career on the 
 scaffold ! All sides, however, combine to do 
 honour to his great talents and powers of organi- 
 sation, wherein, according to the latter category 
 of chroniclers, lay his danger to the State and to 
 freedom. Certain it is that few princes have ever 
 had so able, so devoted, so zealous a servant and 
 councillor ; few have ever proved so unworthy of 
 such faithful loyalty and love ! Macaulay calls him 
 an apostate, never stating how he had been driven 
 into the ranks of opposition and "patriotism" 
 by gross injustice and persecution. On the death 
 of the Duke of Buckingham the raison d'etre of 
 his opposition ceased, and the Court party claimed 
 him. He was now a peer and privy councillor, 
 and was next made President of the Northern 
 Council, where his arbitrary authority soon became 
 absolute. Retaining this office he was sent over 
 to Ireland as Lord Deputy, and Carte, the 
 chronicler, tells us how the Proconsul proceeded 
 forthwith to his province, landed at " Lousie'" 
 Hill," and rejecting the splendid escort offered 
 him by Lord Howth and the other nobles of the 
 * Lazar Hill, probably. 
 
138 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 neighbourhood, walked quietly to the Castle, 
 where he took the oaths, &c., &c. In Dublin 
 he met an old friend, Miss Rhodes, the vetei'is 
 vestigia flainincB were rekindled, and he made 
 her his third wife, being almost the only Deputy 
 who was married at the Castle, with the exception 
 of his successors the Earl of Eglinton and Lord 
 Fortescue. Here Lord Strafford initiated the 
 social side of Viceregal rule in Dublin with much 
 state and splendour. The finances of the island 
 were in hopeless confusion when he arrived ; in a 
 few years they were comparatively flourishing. 
 Piracy was swept from the coasts ; the Church 
 was in wretched want of money and morale — 
 he re-endowed and made it efficient for good. 
 The customs increased nearly four-fold. The 
 King had a good standing army of nearly 9,000 
 men, and there was a balance of ^30,000 to the 
 King's credit in the exchequer. All this was 
 not done without some despotism and high- 
 handedness ; but, while he flouted the great and 
 arrogant, he was very good to the poor, and was 
 beloved by them. He made hosts of enemies, 
 and the King his friend betrayed him. He died 
 with dignity and composure. 
 
 According to the Chronicles, Lord Strafford 
 found out early that the Irish were not to be 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 39 
 
 governed by lenity, but could only be kept in 
 subjection by severity. 
 
 It is worth observing that Lord Strafford 
 soared infinitely above the littleness of despising 
 anything because it was Irish. His own genius 
 could appreciate genius wherever it cropped up, 
 and as the wits say in Ireland, " He never 
 judged the book by its binding, but by its con- 
 tentsT Therefore, we find Turlough Carolan, 
 said to be the last of the Irish harpists or 
 bards, knew his way to Jigginstown, Strafford's 
 castle in Kildare, where he ever found a 
 warm welcome, as he has himself recorded in 
 a poem, of which the initial stanza runs thus 
 (in translation) — 
 
 " When by sicknesn or sorrow assail'd, 
 To the mansion of Strafford I hied, 
 His advice and his cordial ne'er fail'd 
 To reheve me, nor e'er was denied." 
 
 Carolan could resent rough treatment or in- 
 hospitality ; for, like Archilochus, whom ''propria 
 rabies armavit ianibo,'" according to the satirist, 
 he denounced one Mr. O'Flynn, who had been 
 discourteous to him, in a couplet that has survived 
 the erosive centuries — 
 
 K 
 
140 DUBLIN CASTLE, 
 
 "What a ]Mty licll's gates were not kept by O'Flynn, 
 So surly a dog would let nobody in." 
 
 Probably Strafford encouraged national dances, 
 for we read that James II. was much entertained by 
 a real Irish figure dance (not a jig), in which each 
 partner held the ends of handkerchiefs, showing 
 that kerchiefs had come into vogue since the time 
 of Grace O'Malley or Gran Uaille, that piratical 
 Princess of the West, who appeared at Queen 
 Elizabeth's Court with a bad cold and a primi- 
 tive fashion of nose-blowing that offended Queen 
 Bess's sense of the to Trpeirov so much that she 
 ordered a maid of honour to hand Grace a cam- 
 bric kerchief. Grace used it, but threw it 
 directly into the fire, and repeated the process 
 several times to the intense amusement of all the 
 fine lords and ladies of the Court. 
 
 The feebleness of England on the sea at this 
 period is evidenced by the circumstance that 
 Strafford was detained in Wales for some time 
 by dread of pirates, who actually plundered his 
 servants. 
 
 1642. 
 
 The great house of Ormonde may be said to 
 have reached its zenith in the person of James, 
 Duke of that ilk, who filled the office of Lord 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I4I 
 
 Lieutenant for thirteen or fourteen years, some of 
 which were so troublous and distracting that 
 loyalty to King and country were anything but 
 synonymous or convertible terms. He was the 
 son of Viscount Thurles, eldest son of Walter, 
 eleventh Earl of Ormonde, and of Elizabeth 
 Poyntz, daughter of Sir John Poyntz, of Acton, in 
 Gloucestershire. Recenter historians and chro- 
 nologists than Carte (who wrote many volumes, 
 long enough for a life of Methuseleh, about his 
 career), made out that he was born in 1607, ^"^ 
 not in 1 6 10, as stated. Archbishop Abbott looked 
 after his early education, but, subsequently to his 
 marriage with Lady Elizabeth Preston, the Earl 
 applied himself to improve a mind that had been 
 left rather fallow. A decided difference with 
 Satrap Strafford, who had issued an order that 
 swords were not to be worn at his levee, which 
 Ormonde disobeyed, stating that he was summoned 
 to appear " Cinctus gladio," or " per Cincturam 
 gladii," led to a warm friendship and co-opera- 
 tion in sustaining the Royal prerogative and 
 power in Ireland. 
 
 The Irish rebels were obnoxious alike to Kine 
 and Parliament, and from both powers he received 
 a commission as Lieut.-General for the purpose of 
 stamping out the rebellion, and in the field he was 
 
 K 2 
 
142 
 
 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 very successful against Colonel Preston. When 
 it became evident that Ireland was the focus of 
 fidelity to Royalty, Ormonde was sent there by 
 the King as Lord Lieutenant, and held office for 
 three years, surrendering it to the Parliamentary 
 Commissioners, and retiring to France to watch 
 events, as he would not go all lengths with 
 Rinucini and the rebel party. In 1648 Ormonde 
 returned to Ireland, but failed in an effort to sur- 
 prise Dublin. He had previously joined Rupert 
 at Kinsale and rallied the shattered Royalist 
 forces, causing Charles II. to be proclaimed King, 
 but the Cromwellian advance was irresistible, and 
 Ormonde, owing to his uncompromising Protes- 
 tanism, becoming an object of strong suspicion to 
 the Irish army, again went to France, only to 
 reappear at the restoration and coronation of 
 Charles II., when he officiated as Lord High 
 Steward. He became subsequently Chancellor 
 of Oxford, and was presented with a sum of 
 ^2)^,ooo, but Carte and his contemporary chro- 
 niclers calculate that his loyalty cost him no less 
 than ^900,000 from first to last — a large sum in 
 those days ; but the Ormonde family was among 
 the wealthiest in the Peerage of England ! From 
 1667 till 1685 he for the third time filled the 
 office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with his 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I43 
 
 son, Lord Arran, for Deputy. In 1688 he died, 
 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, having 
 maintained through a long Hfe the famous motto 
 of the De Burghs : — 
 
 " Ung foi, ung loi, ung roi." 
 
 He probably will never be accounted a great 
 strategist or even first-class captain ; but the 
 greatest general, after all, is the man who com- 
 mits the fewest blunders, and Ormonde steered 
 clear of them for the most part, as well as of 
 " the falsehood of extremes." He must ever 
 rank among the great Viceroys of Ireland ; the 
 most conspicuous tenants of the Castle. 
 
 The Ormondes were Princes Palatine of Tip- 
 perary. Carte tells us how both the poetaster 
 and publisher of a libel on Ormonde were publicly 
 flogged, " pour encourager les autres." 
 
 1649. 
 
 In the " Liber Munerum " we find Oliver 
 Cromwell inscribed as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 
 in 1649, and his task was to defeat the combiny- 
 tion of English Royalists and Irish Royalists, and 
 rebels, who refused to acknowledge the supremacy 
 of Parliament ; like Lord Cornwallis, in a some- 
 what similar emergency, he was invested with 
 
144 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 dictatorial powers, and history has told us how 
 
 effectually he wielded them. In less than a year 
 
 Ireland was subdued, and he was enabled to leave 
 
 it in the hands of Ireton, to prosecute even greater 
 
 enterprises in England and Scotland, which he 
 
 subdued even more completely than Ireland. 
 
 The histor)'- of Cromwell is the history of the 
 
 greatness and glory of England on land and sea, 
 
 when 
 
 " the wave, 
 Sonorous witness to his Empire gave." 
 
 He was certainly the greatest Lord Lieutenant 
 that ever set foot in Ireland — perhaps the most 
 liberal and tolerant. In 1658 we find Henry 
 Cromwell installed at the Castle, General Fleet- 
 wood having been the Lord Protector's deputy 
 during part of the interval, and having bated 
 nothing of the pomp and pageantry of his pre- 
 decessor, Strafford, as we find in a record of his 
 official progress from Dublin to Cork, through 
 Naas and by Jigginstown. " Upon their entering 
 the town of Carlow the four trumpeters, bare- 
 headed, kept sounding, then ten of the men in 
 livery, by two and two. The third the High Sheriff, 
 the fourth the Governor of the town, with his 
 officers, all bare-headed. The Lord Deputy, 
 Mr. Corbet (afterwards Chief Baron Miles 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 45 
 
 Corbet), Colonel Tomlinson, the Major-General 
 (the Lord Harry Cromwell), and Colonel Sankey, 
 were in the coach, and were conducted to the 
 Castle, when the Sheriff gave them gallant treat- 
 ment." " Three months afterwards," says Mr. 
 J. Prendergast, " Henry Cromwell, the Lord 
 Harry, the rising sun, was received on a ' pro- 
 gress ' to Kilkenny, with even greater pomp ! " 
 Four miles from the town of Carlow he was met 
 by Major Bolton, with Colonel Pretty's regiment, 
 and a mile further by Colonel Pretty himself, in 
 his civil capacity as Sheriff, with thirty servants 
 in rich liveries. In no point did the Cromwells 
 omit to keep up the splendour of the Castle 
 festivities. Even to the ancient and not very 
 Puritanical custom of sending the gentlemen, on 
 festival days, down to the Castle cellars to broach 
 such casks as they would, and to drink their fill — 
 for one, giving the Duke of Ormonde intelligence 
 in 1663, at the time of the Protestant plot to 
 seize the Castle and restore the Cromwellian 
 rule, has the following concerning the Earl of 
 Kildare. 
 
 " Lord Kildare carried the sword before 
 Henry Cromwell that day Dunkerke was taken, 
 and that night he in the cellar drank a confusion 
 to the family of the Stuarts." 
 
146 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 The records of Henry Cromwell's brief reign 
 are said to have been consumed by fire ; but there 
 is a general concensus that he was a popular 
 Prorex. 
 
 One of the curiosities of the history of Ireland 
 is, that the memory of Cromwell, the tolerant 
 tyrant, is still held in universal execration by the 
 Roman Catholics of the land, while the oligarchical 
 Parliament that imposed and enforced the Penal 
 Code is looked back to with fond (national) 
 remembrance as patriotic and racy of the soil. 
 
 1686. 
 
 Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, may 
 claim this signalcvicnt — that he was the sole 
 representative of the Catholic Creed who filled 
 the office of Viceroy, or held its symbol, 
 " gladium authoritatis," since the Restoration, 
 as Oliver Cromwell and his son Henry were the 
 only Independents who ever acted as Lords 
 Lieutenants. Since the Revolution of 1688, and 
 the Act of Settlement then made, the office has 
 only been tenable by a Protestant, though such 
 Protestant need not necessarily bean Episcopalian 
 or of the churches of England or Ireland, witness 
 its tenure by the Earl of Aberdeen. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 47 
 
 James II. had, to paraphrase a common ex- 
 pression, " abjured the errors of Protestantism, 
 and embraced those of Rome," but he gready 
 miscalculated his own powers of persuasion, or en- 
 forcement of the Royal wishes by stronger measures, 
 as well as the ductility of the English nation, if 
 he seriously considered that he could draw them 
 like a flock of sheep, as Henry VIII. had done 
 in his day. The zeal of convert or pervert is 
 generally great, and King James spared no pains 
 or energy in his campaign of propagandism, with 
 its sequences, penalties, and premiums, The 
 faithful were to fill the high places, the recusants 
 to be removed. With this view he selected 
 Tyrconnell to carry out his royal behests in 
 Ireland, where his pliant but still Protestant 
 brother-in-law, Lord Clarendon, had displaced 
 the Duke of Ormonde in the Lieutenancy, while 
 Tyrconnell filled the office of Commander-in- 
 Chief, with all the substance of power, of which 
 Clarendon retained but the shadow or semblance, 
 but even this shadow was obnoxious to Tyr- 
 connell, who had the poor protesting Protestant 
 removed from his path. 
 
 Something of what Strafford did for Charles I. 
 Tyrconnell attempted to do for James, and in a 
 few months' time. Nor is there any historical 
 
148 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 doubt about his movements or measures, for if 
 Macaulay's picture of Dick Talbot be somewhat 
 black, Liiward confirms his statements to a o^reat 
 extent. 
 
 The colonists, planters, and undertakers now 
 learnt practically that there was a reverse side to 
 " Protestant ascendancy," and that Popish ascen- 
 dancy, well plied, was a powerful political factor. 
 One thousand five hundred families were said to 
 have left Ireland in a single week. Tyrconnell was 
 a tyrant, and did his spiriting well, and without 
 much scruple. The Army was made Catholic — 
 the Bench very nearly. Fitton, said to be a 
 forger, was made Chancellor ; Tom Nugent, 
 Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench ; Nagle was 
 Attorney-General ; Keatinge, who filled the 
 Common Pleas was, 'tis true, a Protestant, but 
 his two assessors were of the Catholic faith ; and 
 Spring Rice presided over the Exchequer, the 
 Court most used, as from it there was no appeal 
 to England. The Corporations were made to 
 send in their charters by writs of " quo warranto," 
 and new ones were granted, in which the faithful 
 were predominant ; in fact, Church, State, and 
 Army were Catholicised, so far as offices and 
 employments went. But for all that, victory was 
 not on the side of the big battalions, even with 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 149 
 
 French auxiliaries and the countenance of the 
 Grand Monarque. French authorities impugned 
 Irish valour, but undisciplined levies under 
 moderate captains are seldom efficacious, and 
 France and Spain had ere long good reason to 
 change their tone, when they learnt the stuff the 
 Irish Brigade was made of; the same sort of 
 soldiers who had erst gained name and fame in 
 France, under English leaders, of one of whom 
 it is recorded that when a valiant Gaul challenged 
 any Englishman to fight him in single combat, an 
 Irishman stept forth, swam across the harbour, 
 and brought back the champion's head ; and thus 
 was a Gallic Goliath overcome by a Celtic Kerne 
 — if records can be relied on. 
 
 The events of the campaigns that found their 
 close in the capitulation of Limerick need no re- 
 capitulation. 
 
 Tyrconnell was, it would seem, no general or 
 strategist ; in opposition to Sarsfield, he held 
 with Lauzun that Limerick was indefensible. 
 We know the gallant stand made there, and its 
 results. Tyrconnell, after this, disappears from 
 history, from the Viceregal scene at any rate. 
 He had the merit of "thoroughness," if few 
 others. Macaulay has gibbeted him as an un- 
 paralleled liar, and braggart too, for he throws 
 
150 DUIILIN CASTLE. 
 
 doubt on the story of the pearl necklace, a sort 
 of companion to the more famous diamond neck- 
 lace legend of the de Rohan family. It is said 
 that, after the Battle of the Boyne, King James 
 spurred hard to Dublin Castle with an escort of 
 Irish cavalry, whom he outstripped, arriving first 
 at the Castle. " How hard your countrymen 
 ride," he remarked to the lovely Lady Tyrconnell, 
 who came out to receive him, " Yes, Sire," was 
 the ready reply, " but you seem to have beaten 
 them hollow." 
 
 1695. 
 
 The Earldom of Essex gave the Commonwealth 
 of England many good representatives in Church 
 and State. There was a halo of romance and 
 chivalrous devotion to king and country In the 
 Devereux family, which, if it did not tend to great 
 personal prosperity, raises several of the tenants 
 of this title far above " the common people of the 
 Peerage," and identifies them with the history of 
 our Empire which they did their devoir in creating 
 and maintaining. When that noble family became 
 extinct the title passed to the Capells, of Suffolk 
 originally, and next of Hertfordshire, who seem to 
 have been masterful people, of strong convictions, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 15I 
 
 to which they clung courageously, even to the 
 scaffold. Two Capells were Lords Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, one from 1672 to 1677, the other was in 
 office in 1696. Their reigns were more remark- 
 able for domestic or urban improvements than for 
 martial exploits or sensational achievements. But 
 that even the more peaceable and commercial 
 portions of the island had not yet settled down in 
 the ways of law and order is proved by the fact 
 that in the year 1671 there was a pitched battle in 
 the city of Dublin, between the apprentices and 
 the authorities, the former having undertaken to 
 destroy a wooden bridge not far from the Castle ; 
 which, though metamorphosed now into stone, 
 still bears the name of " Bloody," in commemora- 
 tion of this fray, in which several perished. It 
 was in this reign that Essex Gate (Dublin) was 
 erected on the site of Izod's tower, and that the 
 foundations of Essex bridge, since ' renamed 
 " Grattan bridge," were laid. 
 
 That Lord Essex was very solicitous to advance 
 the material interests of his Kinq-dom is evidenced 
 by his request to Sir Richard Temple to make a 
 report on the " means and ways he esteemed most 
 proper for the advancing of trade in Ireland." 
 This report, which is drawn at considerable length, 
 shows that Sir Richard Temple had formed a very 
 
152 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 just estimate of the enormous capability of 
 Ireland and its soil if properly developed and 
 husbanded. At this moment we can only make 
 an extract about his views as to the horse-breed- 
 ing capacities of Ireland, because the question of 
 cavalry remounts has lately occupied a large share 
 of public attention, and that something of a panic 
 has been created by the proclamation of a possible 
 or probable horse famine, and also because it 
 shows that a statesman and man of letters, as Sir 
 Richard Temple proved himself to be (he was 
 Swift's patron), can combine literature and art with 
 a due appreciation of the value of the noble 
 animal, and the place he should occupy in a well 
 regulated state. " Horses in Ireland are a drugf," 
 he writes, " but might be improved to a com- 
 modity, not only by a greater use at home, 
 but also fit for exportation into other countries. 
 The soil is of a sweet and plentiful grass, which 
 will raise a large breed ; and the hills, especially 
 near the sea coasts, are hard and rough, and 
 so fit to give them shape and breadth and sound 
 feet. The present defects in them are breeding 
 without choice of stallions, either in shape or size, 
 and trusting so far to the gentleness of the 
 climate as to winter them abroad, without ever 
 handling colts till they are four years old. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 1 53 
 
 This both checks the growth of the common 
 breeds and gives them an incurable shyness, 
 which is the general vice of Irish horses, and 
 is hardly ever seen in Flanders, because the 
 hardship of the winters in those parts forces the 
 breeders there to house and handle their colts 
 for at least six months every year. In the studs 
 of persons of quality in Ireland, where care is 
 taken and cost is not spared, we see horses 
 bred of excellent shape and vigour and size, so 
 as to reach great prices at home, and encourage 
 strangers to find the market here, among whom 
 I met with one this summer that came over 
 on that errand, and bought about twenty horses 
 to carry over into the French army, from twenty 
 to three score pounds price at the first hand. 
 
 "The improvement of horses here may be 
 made by a standard prescribed to all stallions, 
 and all horses that shall be used for draught ; the 
 main point being to make the common breed 
 larger, for then, whether they have shape or no, 
 they have ever some reasonable price both at 
 home and abroad ; and besides being not to be 
 raised without wintering, they will help to force 
 men into improvement of land by a necessity 
 of fodder. But for encouragement of a finer 
 breed, and in the better hands, some other 
 
154 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 institutions may be invented, by which emulation 
 may be raised among the breeders by a prospect 
 both of particular honour and profit to those who 
 succeed best, and of good ordinary gains and 
 ready vent to such as by aiming- at the best, 
 though they fail, yet go beyond the common 
 sorts. 
 
 " To this purpose there may be set up both a 
 horse-fair, and races to be held at a certain time 
 every year for the space of a week ; the first 
 in the fairest Green near the city of Dublin, 
 the latter in that place designed by your 
 Lordship in the Park for some such purpose. 
 During this week the Monday, Wednesday, 
 and Friday may be the races ; the Tuesday, 
 Thursday, and Saturday the fairs may be held. 
 At each race may be two plates given by the 
 King, one of ^30, and the other of ^20 (besides 
 the fashion), as the prizes for the first and second 
 horses, the first engraven with a horse crowned 
 with a crown ; the second with a coronet, and 
 under it the day of the month and the year. 
 Besides these plates the wagers may be as the 
 persons please among themselves, but the horses 
 must be evidenced by good testimonies to have 
 been bred in Ireland. Furthermore, the Lord 
 Lieutenant may even be present himself, or at 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 155 
 
 least name a deputy in his room, and two judges 
 of the field, who shall decide all controversies, 
 and with sound of the trumpet declare the two 
 victors. The masters of these two horses may be 
 admitted to ride from the field to the Castle 
 with the Lord Lieutenant, or his deputy, and to 
 dine with him that day, and there receive all 
 the honour of the table. This to be done what 
 quality soever the persons are of, for the lower 
 that is, the more will be the honour and perhaps 
 the more the sport, and the encouragement of 
 breeding will by that means extend to all sorts of 
 men. 
 
 "In the fairs the Lord Lieutenant may likewise 
 be present every day in the height of them, by 
 himself or deputy, and may, with the advice of the 
 two chief officers of the Army then present, chuse 
 out one of the best horses and two of the best 
 geldings that appear in the fair, not under four, 
 nor above seven years old, for which shall be 
 paid to the owners of them, after sufficient testi- 
 mony of their being bred in Ireland, one hundred 
 pounds for the horse and fifty pounds apiece for 
 the geldings. These sums, as that for the plates, 
 to issue out of the revenue of Ireland, and without 
 trouble or fee, and the three horses to be sent 
 over every year to the King's stables. 
 
 L 
 
156 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 " Both those that win the plate and those which 
 are thus sold, ought immediately to be marked, 
 so as they may never return a second time, either 
 to the race or to the sale. The benefit by such 
 an institution as this will be very great and 
 various, for besides the encouras^ement to breed 
 the best horses, from the honour and gain already 
 mentioned, there will be a sort of public enter- 
 tainment for one whole week, during which the 
 Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Mayor of the city, and 
 the great officers, both civil and military, ought to 
 keep open tables for all strangers. This will draw 
 a confluence of people from all parts of the country. 
 Many, perhaps, from the nearer parts of England 
 may come, not only as to a public kind of solemnity, 
 but as to a great mart of the best horses. This 
 will enrich the city by the expense of such a con- 
 course, and the country by the sale of many 
 horses into England, and in turn (or from thence) 
 into foreign parts. 
 
 " This will make personal acquaintances among 
 the gentry of the kingdom, and bring the Lord 
 Lieutenant to be more personally known and 
 more honoured by his appearing in more great- 
 ness and with more solemnity than usual upon 
 these occasions — and all this with the expense 
 only of two hundred and fifty pounds a year to 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 15/ 
 
 the Crown, for which the King shall have the 
 three best horses sold that year in Ireland." 
 
 This counsel of Sir Richard Temple has a true 
 statesmanlike ring about it, as might be expected 
 in a man so eminent, who was, moreover, the 
 ancestor of a statesman ejiisdem farinas, Lord 
 Palmerston, who commended himself to his 
 countrymen by his courage and common sense, and 
 who, moreover, was of a most " philhippic " turn, 
 practically as well as theoretically. If Sir Richard 
 Temple's spirit could have been transplanted for 
 one hour or two to the premises allocated at Balls' 
 Bridge to horses and horse culture, by the Royal 
 Dublin Society — the oldest, by the way, in the 
 kingdom of its kind (it was incorporated by 
 charter in 1750), on any one of the four days in 
 the last week of August, when the annual horse 
 show is held — he would witness the realisation of 
 his ideas and conceptions on a magnificent scale. 
 He would see delegates and representatives from 
 all parts of the world where horses are held in 
 honour, collected together to witness more than a 
 thousand hunters in esse and posse, with a few 
 hacks, paraded in all their paces, and critically as 
 well as scientifically judged. He would see the 
 Lord Lieutenant of the time being with, perhaps, 
 some of the royalties of the kingdom visiting the 
 
 L 2 
 
150 DUPLIN CASTLE. 
 
 show every day, and such an array of rank, 
 wealth, beauty, and fashion as no similar function 
 in the kingdom can congregate ; and lastly, he 
 would see a number of thoroughbred sires col- 
 lected together and examined as to soundness and 
 symmetry, prior to their distribution among the 
 farmers of the country, to encourage them to 
 breed horses on scientific rather than haphazard 
 methods. In a word, he would see the embodi- 
 ment or fulfilment of his aspirations. 
 
 Lord Pembroke was another Lord Lieutenant 
 who, without any claims to greatness, was a man 
 of some slight mark among the Viceroys, and 
 his literary eminence, superior probably to his 
 greatness as a Governor, is attested by his having 
 been elected a member of the French Academy 
 (•'the Immortals"), and having had the honour 
 of receiving the dedication by Locke of his 
 treatise on "The Human Understanding." 
 
 Swift and His Excellency seem to have been 
 great allies, and the Dean remarked that "he 
 first hit Lord Pembroke with a pun." Dr. 
 Delany, as quoted by Foster, relates how " the 
 Vicar of Laracor found the Viceroy listening to a 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 59 
 
 lecture from a learned physician on the valuable 
 qualities of bees, which in every other sentence he 
 called a commonwealth or a nation. ' Yes,' inter- 
 posed Swift, ' no doubt, and very ancient ; Moses 
 numbers the Hivites amono; the nations loshua 
 was appointed to conquer.' Pembroke was de- 
 lighted, and punning became his great enjoyment 
 after that day." Within the last decade we, too, 
 have heard of apiculture, blackberry wine, tobacco 
 culture, and sericulture advocated as among the 
 panaceas for Paddy Land. 
 
 1724. 
 
 Lord Carteret, afterwards Lord Granville, was 
 among the ablest public servants who held the 
 Sword of State in Ireland. Though living in 
 comparatively peaceful times, It was not his lot to 
 gain the benediction, or rather beatitude, of the 
 Roman philosopher. " Beatos equidem puto 
 quibus deorum munere aut agenda scribere aut 
 scribenda agere, beatissimos autem quibus 
 utrumque contigerit." Even Horace Walpole, his 
 political opponent, styles him the ablest among 
 contemporary statesmen ; and, like his successor 
 in the Lord Lieutenancy, the Marquis Wellesley, 
 he never gave up the charms and cultivation of 
 
l6o DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 scholarship. Of his punnings with Dean Swift, 
 Foster has left us some good examples, and it is 
 recorded that when Swift was in trouble about the 
 Drapier's letters, he went to see Lord Carteret at 
 the Castle, and having been kept " making anti- 
 chamber," as the French put it, for an unconscion- 
 able time, he lost patience, and wrote with his 
 diamond ring on one of the panes of glass — 
 
 " My very good Lord 'tis a very hard task 
 For a man to wait here who has nothing to ask." 
 
 Lord Carteret, coming in soon after the Dean's 
 departure, saw the couplet, and wrote under it — 
 
 " My very good Dean there are few who come here 
 But have something to ask and something to fear." 
 
 On the fall of Sir Robert Walpole, " the Grand 
 Corrupter," he was made Prime Minister of 
 England. 
 
 Lord Carteret was a special favourite of 
 George L, as he was the only minister who could 
 talk with him in German. He was twice Lord 
 Lieutenant, and afterwards Prime Minister. 
 
 1745- 
 
 Among the universally lauded and lamented 
 Lord Lieutenants in Ireland, no name suggests 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. l6l 
 
 Itself with more spontaneity, so to speak, than 
 that of Philip Dormer, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, 
 though his reign was too short for great results, 
 or even for the fruition of the harvest, whose 
 seeds he had scattered on the good soil of his 
 satrgpy. It \yas Chesterfield's privilege, in an 
 age of venality and corruption, to have had clear 
 hands and a. clean conscience. He was not, per- 
 haps, a great statesman, and war he never essayed, 
 but we know that he proved an able diplomatist ; 
 and it was, perhaps, owing to his exceedingly 
 clever conduct of contemporary affairs in Ireland 
 that the advent of the Pretender in the '45 
 created, perhaps, rather less excitement in a most 
 excitable island, than the more recent manoeuvres 
 of the Mahdi, who in the Press and on the plat- 
 form did not lack a strong body of sympathisers. 
 Lord Chesterfield was very much in advance of 
 his age in the spirit of toleration, as well as in the 
 infusion of the maxims and principles of common 
 sense into politics. He was, with that mythic 
 power of whom the Rom^n lyrist tells us, a 
 welcome guest ^t celestial banquets, and also — 
 
 " Gratus et imis," 
 
 for to them he was considerate and kind — in a 
 word, a gentleman. An able I^sh writer talks of 
 
1 62 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 him "as holding the balance even between the 
 Catholics and Protestants, protecting the estab- 
 lishment, yet never wounding religious liberty ; 
 repressing lawlessness, yet never chilling the 
 affections of a turbulent but warm-hearted people ; 
 the arbiter, but not the slave of parties ; " yet he 
 held office in the plenitude of the penal period. 
 Lord Chesterfield was born in 1695 and found 
 his way early to Cambridge, where he became a 
 devotee to classical lore and literature, skilled in 
 the ancients. St. German's, a borough that 
 perhaps gave Lord St. Germans his title, 
 found him a seat in Parliament, where he soon 
 showed that he did not mean to be a "muta 
 persona" or mere " candle - snuffer," for he 
 always held that speech-making, not less than 
 shoemaking, were arts acquirable by all, main- 
 taining that only thirty members hearkened to 
 reasoity while the rest were ^^ pei'ple'^ He sat for 
 Lostwithiel in 1726, was sent as minister to the 
 Hague, and got the Garter for his services. We 
 next find him perorating as a patriot against 
 privilege, and his argument that by our constitu- 
 tion " the King could do no wrong, while he could 
 do any amount of good," was ingenious. He 
 spoke very ably against the proposal that the 
 King should be allowed to levy troops without his 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 1 63 
 
 Parliament, on the freedom of the stage, on the 
 presence of pensioners in ParHament, on the stand- 
 ing army of 18,000, on Hanoverian soldiers being 
 introduced into England, and so on. Neither 
 Mr. Gladstone nor Mr. Shaw-Lefevre could have 
 enunciated more "patriotic" sentiments than he 
 did. For instance, talking of a statesman, he 
 remarked, " I shall never advise him to pursue 
 any measure that is contrary to the sentiments of 
 the majority of his subjects. A free people must 
 be treated like a fine woman. If she has now 
 and then a little caprice, you must not flatly con- 
 tradict her ; you must give way, or at least seem 
 to give way, to her humour, till by good treatment 
 and 'a delicate opposition you find an opportunity 
 to give a turn to her temper. This is the only 
 way by which you can clap a padlock upon her 
 mind, and this, in my opinion, is the only padlock 
 in which there is any security. A free people 
 must be treated in the same manner, for if you do 
 not clap the padlock upon their mind, you must 
 govern them by force, which puts an end to their 
 freedom and, in my opinion, to your security y 
 Able, too, were his denunciations of gin as a 
 medium of revenue (though the Bishops voted in 
 its favour), and of perpetuating the penalties of 
 treason, being very strong in his invective against 
 
164 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 dclatorcs or informers, and the traducers of " the 
 Bonny Traitor," ahas the traitor who would cut 
 up well ! He married a natural daughter of 
 George I.. Melusina de Schulenberg, but his only- 
 family seems to have been by Madame du 
 Bouchet, the mother of that son to whom he 
 devoted his life and letters, He was nominated 
 Plenipotentiary to the Hague and Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland at the same tipie, and addressing 
 the Parliament of Ireland with reference to the 
 Roman Catholics, spoke of their " speculative 
 errors as only deserving pity if their pernicious 
 influence upon civil society did not require and 
 authorise restraint." His first passion was to 
 excel — oliv dptcrrevett' /cat, vnepeKov efifievai aXXwi^ — 
 next to please, in which he greatly succeeded. 
 His speeches, if a trif]e didactic, like Bulwer 
 Lytton's, were very argumentative and forcible. 
 His essays in " the World " of that day would, we 
 fancy, be welcomed in "the World" of this, though 
 rather cynical and slightly Sallustian in tone. 
 His Viceregal style was splendid, and he found 
 the nicome very liberal, as he speaks of that place 
 being one of much more pleasure and profit than 
 that of Secretary of State. He beautified the 
 Phoenix Park greatly, where the Chesterfield 
 column and the fine avenue of secular elms attest 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 65 
 
 his good taste. No poet, he could write good 
 verses. Thus, in his advice to a lady in 
 autumn, is the couplet — 
 
 "The dews of the evening most carefully shun, 
 The tears of the sky for the loss of the sun." 
 
 Dr. Johnson, whose stern criticism of the 
 famous letters is well known, succumbed to the 
 grace and graciousness of Lord Chesterfield's 
 manner. In those libelled letters are yi^w/xai 
 that will live long, perhaps as long as Roche- 
 foucalt's — such as when apropos of foolish customs, 
 he said, " Diogenes, the cynic, was a wise man for 
 despising them, but a fool for showing it." " Be 
 wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell 
 them so." In spite of a milk diet contributed by 
 an ass, a cow, and a goat, he died in 1773. His 
 son predeceased him in 1756. He had seen 
 him an M.P. and Minister to Dresden. His 
 Lordship held London the best place to live in 
 and to die in, or the most convenient, rather ; like 
 Archilaus, he held human nature to be invariably 
 the same everywhere. 
 
 1767 
 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, a chronicler of courts 
 and courtiers, confirms what we have said about 
 
1 66 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Lord Townsend's comparative political impotence, 
 which was shared by nearly all the Viceroys of 
 Ireland henceforward. 
 
 "He was a nobleman of very considerable 
 ability, but of great eccentricity of manners and 
 character, which seemed sometimes to approach 
 almost to alienation of mind. Cheerful in his 
 disposition, void of all pride or affectation, com- 
 municative, affable, convivial, facetious, and en- 
 dowed with uncommon powers of conversation, 
 he was formed to acquire popularity. He 
 eminently possessed the dangerous talent of 
 drawing caricatures, a faculty which he did not 
 always restrain within the limits of severe 
 prudence, though he no more spared himself than 
 he did others. It is \Vell known that he drew his 
 own portrait, habited in the state dress of a Lord 
 Lieutenant, having his hands tied behind him, in 
 order to show hozv destitute he was of political 
 power, or of the means of conferring favours. 
 This allegorical picture, I have been assured, was 
 hung up in a private cabinet of the Castle at 
 Dublin, and when solicited to bestow offices or 
 rewards, over which he had no control, he used to 
 conduct the importunate suitor into the room, at 
 the same time asking him if he recognised the 
 likeness and understood the application. In 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 6/ 
 
 Ireland, while administering the affairs of that 
 kingdom during five years, he gave general satis- 
 faction, and I remember Courtenay eulogising him 
 in the House of Commons in the language which 
 Horace uses to Augustus : — 
 
 " ' Longas, O Utinam, Dux bone, Ferias 
 Prcestes Hibernije ; dicimus integro 
 Sicci mane Die, dicimus uvidi, 
 Cum Sol oceano subest.' 
 
 " Indeed, not one of the Viceroys sent over to 
 Dublin in the course of twelve years, between 
 1772 and 1784 could compete with Lord Town- 
 send in the affection of the Irish. Lord Harcourt 
 was too grave and measured in his manners. 
 The Earl of Buckingharpshire had too cold, stiff, 
 and lofty a deportment. Lord Carlisle was too 
 fine a gentleman, and too highly bred; the Duke 
 of Portland and Earl Temple, both, either from 
 disinclination, or from physical inability, observed 
 too rigorously the virtues of temperance and 
 abstemiousness, virtues by no means congenial to 
 the soil ; lastly, Lord Northington was too infirm 
 in his health to acquire general attachment in a 
 country where no qualities, however meritorious, 
 could recommend to national approbation, unless 
 accompanied by personal sacrifices and exertions 
 
l68 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 C)f various kinds. The Duke of Rutland, whom 
 Pitt sent over to the sister kingdom, early in 1 784, 
 by the magnificence of his establishment, the 
 conviviality of his temper, and the excesses of his 
 table, in all of which particulars he resembled his 
 father, the Marquis of Granby, obliterated or 
 superseded Lord Townsend in their regard ; but 
 he paid for the triumph with his life, falling a 
 victim, within four years, to his irregularities." 
 
 They entertained handsomely in Dublin in those 
 days. Witness the following account drawn from 
 the same reservoir as the last, of Sir John Irwine, 
 who held during several years the post of Com- 
 mander-in-Chief in Ireland, with very ample 
 appointments and advantages, a post now held by 
 General H.S.H. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar 
 with reduced pay and allowances. 
 
 " But, no income, however large, could suffice for 
 his expenses, which, being never restrained within 
 any reasonable limits, finally involved him in 
 irretrievable difficulties. The fact will hardly 
 obtain belief, that at one of the entertainments 
 which he gave to the Lord Lieutenant in the year 
 1 78 1 at Dublin, he displayed on the table, as the 
 principal piece in the dessert, a representation of 
 the fortress of Gibraltar invested by the Spanish 
 forces, executed in confectionery. It exhibited 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 1 69 
 
 a faithful view of that celebrated rock, so dear 
 to the English nation, together with the works, 
 batteries, and artillery of the besiegers, which 
 threw sugar plums against the walls. The 
 expense of this ostentatious piece of magnificence 
 did not fall short of ^1,500, and so incredible 
 must the circumstance appear, that if I had not 
 received the assurance of it from Lord Sackville I 
 should not venture to repeat it in these memoirs." 
 The end of Sir John was ruin and exile, but it 
 is refreshing to read that the king was very good 
 to him in his low estate, and did not forget his 
 widow and orphans. 
 
 1782. 
 
 The Dutch House of Bentinck, which, after the 
 revolution, became naturalised in England and 
 well endowed by a grateful monarch with " lands, 
 tenements, and hereditaments," naturally gave 
 many soldiers and statesmen to his service. 
 Among the first was William H. L. Bentinck, 
 who begun his official life under the Marquis of 
 Rockingham (the only marquis of England at the 
 time it is said). His honesty of purpose was 
 probably greatly in excess of his administrative 
 talents, for we read in Lecky's famous chapters on 
 
170 DUr.LIN CASTLE. 
 
 Ireland, that when Lord Lieutenant in 1782, just 
 after the Act of Emancipation, he was very urgent 
 on the adjustment of the trade treaty between 
 the two islands, suggesting that if this were 
 not done, it miorht be better for E norland to 
 abandon Ireland, thereby showing that his gift 
 of prescience and forecast was very small. How- 
 ever, this Duke of Portland was ever a pillar 
 of the State, for he was the prime minister of 
 North and Fox's coalition government, and was 
 made Chancellor of Oxford University. He 
 subsequently took office under Addington. The 
 Duke was an early adv'ocate pf a union between 
 the tvy:o kingdoms. 
 
 • 1782. 
 
 Lord Temple seems to have been a thoroughly 
 honest Viceroy, to have taken a good measure 
 of the forces at work in Ireland, and to have 
 advocated a policy loyal to the independence of 
 the country ; hence he supported Flood's " Renun- 
 ciation Act." In his reign the Order of the 
 Knights of St. Patrick was instituted. He was 
 Viceroy under Lord Shelburne, afterwards Mar- 
 quis of Lansdowne. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I71 
 
 1783- 
 
 Lord Northington's Viceroyalty was short, and 
 rather uneventful ; the strides made in the Volun- 
 teer movement being its chief feature. 
 
 1784. 
 
 The Duke of Rutland's reign lasted for some 
 three years, and was, on the whole, one of great 
 prosperity. Foster's Press Bill, more coercive 
 than anything in modern times, curbed the 
 effrenata audacia of the newspapers, who had 
 indirectly, perhaps directly, incited to crime. The 
 Duke, who was a bon vivant, succumbed to fever, 
 and Lord Temple, now Duke of Buckingham, 
 
 1787, 
 
 was again made Lord Lieutenant. The Duke of 
 Rutland learnt by practical experience how careful 
 a Viceroy must be in his goings-in and goings-out, 
 for at the theatre "the gods" showed they were 
 no respecters of rank. " When was the Duke at 
 Pegg Plunkett's ? " exclaimed one supernal from 
 one side of the house. " Manners, ye dog ! " was 
 the antistrophe from the other. Now, " Manners " 
 
 M 
 
172 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 w as his own name, and that of a famous beauty 
 not unappreciated by His Excellency was Peg 
 Plunkett. 
 
 1787. 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham's reign was one 
 of peace and prosperity, though the Regency 
 question caused tension, relieved, however, by the 
 King's recovery. The Duke of Buckingham was 
 not a popular Viceroy, though a most conscientious 
 one. To him is due the breaking through of the 
 prescription by which a Chancellor for Ireland was 
 always imported from England. His appointee was 
 the able and eloquent Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare. 
 Apropos of the Duke of Rutland, who seems to 
 have been a very merry monarch, it should be 
 added that one of his convivial crazes was to 
 knight some bon camarade, or survivor of the 
 fittest, in the small hours of the morning, with his 
 Sword of State, or its representative. On one 
 occasion he was making a south-eastern tour in 
 Ireland, and happened to stay at Marlfield, the 
 residence of the Bagwell family, large landed 
 proprietors in the County of Tipperary, and the 
 owners of the greater part of its capital, Clonmel. 
 While staying here he was invited to some public 
 dinner, to which came all sorts and conditions of 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 73 
 
 men ; amongst them a gentleman named Murphy 
 (or whom we shall name Murphy, as it is more or 
 less a "generic" name). This guest " had made 
 his head " early in life, and could appropriately 
 join in the song — 
 
 " For still I think 
 That I can drink 
 With man that wears a hood, sir ! " 
 
 and towards morning few were left in the fierce 
 (liquor) fray save His Excellency, Mr. Murphy, 
 and some seasoned casks on whom liquor had as 
 much effect as water on a duck's back. The 
 Duke admired him greatly for his " staying 
 powers," and insisted on giving him the knightly 
 accolade then and there. Morning brings reflec- 
 tion, and it occurred to His Excellency that he 
 had knighted a subject who could hardly be 
 described as chivalrous. So he sent for him, told 
 him to consider the whole thing a foolish frolic ; 
 and seeing that Murphy hesitated, offered him a 
 handsome douceur " to be off." But the latter 
 replied readily, " I thank your Excellency very 
 much; I do not care for titles myself; but the 
 fact is, I told Lady Murphy of the honour you 
 bestowed upon me, and for that reason we cannot 
 forego it." 
 
 M 2 
 
174 DU15LIN CASTLE. 
 
 The Duke was by no means a water drinker, 
 or " hydropot," to use the current slang, but they 
 gave his name to a pump near the Royal Bar- 
 racks, which has lately been disestablished and 
 demolished. The Duchess of Rutland is said to 
 have been a great beauty. 
 
 1795. 
 
 One of the most sensational scenes in the great 
 Irish drama — a drama in which tragedy and 
 comedy so constantly alternated — took place in 
 1795. The following rough outline of the situ- 
 ation will give some idea of the events that led 
 up to the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam as 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in that year. The 
 Parliamentary wedge that separated parties in the 
 English and Irish Houses of Parliament was the 
 Catholic question, and its solution, whether by 
 absolute or modified emancipation from the fetters 
 that bound the many members of this religious 
 denomination socially, financially, and politically. 
 To a great extent, the bringing forward of this 
 question at all was a declaration of war a outrance 
 with the oligarchical system that obtained gene- 
 rally ; but this was chiefly felt in Dublin, where 
 Protestant ascendancy was not only a spirited 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 175 
 
 slogan and rallying cry, but was also a source of 
 wealth and power to the fortunate few who prob- 
 ably conceived that the very examination of such 
 a question was as heterodoxical as the defamation 
 of Diana by a peripatetic preacher named Paul 
 seemed to the Ephesian silversmiths and shrine- 
 makers ! However, the prophets of Emancipation 
 had great names on their side — amongst them 
 those of Pitt, the Duke of Portland, Lord Fitz- 
 william, Lord Spencer, Edmund Burke, William 
 Wyndham, Grattan, the Ponsonbys (George and 
 William), Sir H. Langrishe, Sir John Parnell, 
 with many more. The inflexibles mainly relied 
 on the immense influence of Lord Clare and John 
 Beresford. Lord Clare was the great and eloquent 
 Fitzgibbon, the Irish Chancellor, Mr. Beresford 
 was the second or third son (Burke says second) 
 of Lord Tyrone, who had married the heiress of 
 the Powers, or De la Poers of Curraghmore, in 
 the CO. Waterford, and was raised to the peerage 
 of Tyrone, which his wife's family had long re- 
 presented. His grandfather had come over in the 
 reign of James L, as the Manager of the Corpo- 
 ration of Londoners, known by the name of the 
 Society of the New Plantation in Ulster; and 
 having a keen eye for advancement, or personal 
 progress, like many of his clever, enterprising 
 
176 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 race, laid the foundations for the future fortunes 
 of his family, to whom Church and State alike 
 yielded rich revenues. John Beresford, barrister- 
 at-law, was appointed in 1770 a Commissioner of 
 the Revenue in Ireland, and presided for many 
 years at the Board. In two years he added to 
 this function the patent office of Taster of the 
 Wines in the Port of Dublin ; but whether by 
 conspicuous ability, dint of hard work, and well 
 directed industry, or by the extension of his per- 
 sonal and family influence, certain it is that his 
 civic greatness became, in many eyes, overween- 
 ing ; and it was popularly said at the time that 
 Dublin was " a Beresford village." His second 
 marriage to Miss Montgomery, of Magpie Hill, 
 N.B., increased vastly the number of his powerful 
 connections, and, in fact, John Beresford was 
 a power in Ireland who had to be reckoned with, 
 not 2ine quantite Jiegligeable by any means. 
 
 With a view of extending Catholic conciliation 
 Lord Fitzwilliam was sent over by Pitt to Ireland 
 as Lord Lieutenant ; and what his exact powers 
 and Instructions from the Prime Minister were is 
 not known, and probably never will be precisely 
 laid down ; but we do know that Lord Fitzwilliam 
 received the warmest welcome on landing in 
 Ireland, and the national enthusiasm was kindled 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 177 
 
 to great heat. Almost his first official act was to 
 break up what Burke called " the Junto," by dis- 
 missing Beresford and the law officers. " Surtout 
 pas trop de zele," was a motto not yet in common 
 currency, perhaps not even coined — if Talleyrand 
 was its real author. Certainly it was not adopted 
 by the new Viceroy ; and Pitt was so worked 
 upon by the King's Protestant proclivities, and 
 perhaps by Beresford's friends and supporters, 
 that Lord Fitzwilliam was, in official parlance, 
 commanded to execute the happy despatch by 
 immediate resignation ; upon which. Lord Clare, 
 Foster, the Speaker, and the Primate, were ap- 
 pointed Lord Justices. Mr. Beresford, too, was 
 reinstated in his office, and all the Catholic hopes 
 and aspirations were dashed to the ground. It 
 would be too long to dwell here on the demon- 
 strations of unfeigned sorrow that marked the 
 25th of March in Dublin and its suburbs. All 
 business was suspended, and a procession miles in 
 length escorted the Earl to the place of embarka- 
 tion for England ; leading citizens yoking them- 
 selves to his carriage, and drawing it to the 
 seashore ! A national funeral to buried hope ! 
 Plowden tells us of an address on the subject 
 from the Students of Dublin University to 
 Grattan ; to which the patriot replied, in the 
 
I 78 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Stilted phrase of the period, commencing: "In- 
 genuous young men, for this effusion of the heart, 
 I owe you more than ordinary gratitude." 
 
 Thus far have we advanced into the bowels of 
 this great quarrel ; the curious sequel remains to 
 be told as briefly as may be. Lord Fitzwilliam 
 had, it seems, printed for private circulation 
 certain vindications, or pieces justificatives of his 
 official career of a few weeks. The reflections on 
 Mr. Beresford's character contained in the sen- 
 tence : " because he was a person under universal 
 and heavy suspicions, subject to the opprobrium 
 and unpopularity attendant on maladministration 
 and much imputed malversation," led to a chal- 
 lenge from the inculpated officer of Revenue, to 
 which Lord Fitzwilliam replied thus : 
 
 " Sunday Morning, 28th June, 1795. 
 " (Delivered by Lord George Cavendish.) 
 
 " Sir, — I have the honour to announce to you 
 my presence in town. As I could not mis- 
 understand the object of your letter, I have 
 only to signify that I am ready to attend your 
 call, and have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " Wentworth Fitzwilliam." 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 79 
 
 Lord Georq-e Cavendish was Lord Fitzwilliam's 
 second, Sir Georc^e Montgomery Mr. Beresford's 
 in the absence of Lord Townshend, who was 
 unable to come in time, and the ground was 
 actually paced — a field beyond Paddington — • 
 when a magistrate intervened, and the duel was 
 prevented. Lord Fitzwilliam subsequently 
 apologised, and hands were shaken. It will be 
 recollected that Sir John Perrot long ago had 
 offered to decide matters with Desmond by 
 the duello, which the latter declined. A few 
 years later the Duke of Wellington fought 
 Lord Winchelsea, and Canning and Castlereagh 
 exchanged shots — these were the palmy days of 
 duelling ! 
 
 1795. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis' predecessor in office was 
 Lord Camden, who had a very difficult part to 
 play in leading up to the Union. He was the 
 son of the famous legist who was raised to the 
 peerage. His son gained a further step in the 
 ladder of honour and dignities, for he was made 
 a marquis. He was also given the Garter in 
 recognition of his Irish services. Wraxall tells 
 us how Georee III., when he learned that the 
 
l8o DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 name of his new knight was to be John Jeffreys, 
 seemed half to repent the appointment, adding 
 that he had never given the accolade to any one 
 with such a name ! 
 
 1798. 
 
 Charles Mann, the first Marquis Cornwallis, if 
 not one of England's greatest men in war or 
 statesmanship, stands very high on her list of 
 worthies as one whose predominant idea in life 
 coincided with that of the great Duke of Welling- 
 ton, " how best to carry on the King's Govern- 
 ment " (by-the bye, it is something of a coincidence 
 that Wellino-ton and Cornwallis each commanded 
 
 o 
 
 the 33rd regiment). Junius in his day made some 
 strictures on the brightness and vio^our of Corn- 
 wallis' intellectual capacity ; no one ever questioned 
 his integrity of purpose, his honour, or sincerity. 
 Like Sir Charles Metcalfe, who at the urgent 
 request of the Premier and Colonial Secretary of 
 the day, accepted the government, first of Jamaica 
 and then of Canada, at a time when he knew that 
 he was stricken by a malady from which recovery 
 was more than doubtful, he was always ready to 
 go to the post of danger and duty at the shortest 
 notice ; and his unselfish acceptance, for the third 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. l8l 
 
 time, of the post of Governor-General of India, 
 when he might well have said, like the worn-out 
 gladiator, Veianuis, cited by Horace — 
 
 "Non eadem est setas, non mens," 
 
 and pleaded like him for a well earned rest, was 
 but a sample of the spirit that animated him 
 through a long and busy career, spent in the 
 service of the State, 
 
 Lord Cornwallis had, as we all know, his 
 brilliant successes and his dark reverses in his 
 American service ; but in India his progress was 
 one of victory, and thoroughly appreciated by his 
 countrymen and the East India Company ; but it is 
 as the Commander-in-Chief and Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland in very troublous times that we are just 
 now interested in Lord Cornwallis ; and it is in a 
 great measure due to the far-reaching wisdom of 
 men of his stamp, who could temper firmness with 
 humanity, and rise above the fury of faction, that 
 we owe that " auspicium melioris sevi," which, 
 though tardy in its coming, still makes sensible 
 progress ; and here Lord Cornwallis may be 
 bracketed with such master minds as Lords 
 Wellesley and Chesterfield (or Sidney before 
 them), who lent a deaf ear to the cuckoo cry,. 
 
I 82 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 "Can any good thing come out of Gallilee ? " 
 and could descry merit even in an Irishman whose 
 faith did not quite conform to their own. " It is 
 said that your Lordship employs a Catholic coach- 
 man," wrote, according to tradition, or it may be 
 history, some great functionary in England to the 
 latter nobleman. " Well, what does it matter," 
 was the reply, "so long as he does not drive me 
 to mass ! " And something of the same spirit and 
 temper was in Lord Cornwallis at a period when 
 sects and factions were nearly as bitter and violent 
 as were those of the ill-fated Jews (from whom 
 some hold the Irish are sprung) at the memorable 
 siege of Jerusalem by Titus. 
 
 The danger that underlay the rebellion of 
 1798, which Lord Cornwallis was sent to quell as 
 Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief, was 
 that no one could precisely gauge its extent or 
 proportions, or say when the many men tainted 
 with disloyalty, and just then " sitting on the 
 fence," as a good many were, would think it 
 opportune to join the malcontents ; and then there 
 was the constant danger of French invasion when 
 the occasion offered. General Moore's successes 
 in Wexford, however, saved the Government 
 from present peril, and when it came to dealing 
 with the prisoners. Lord Cornwallis' combination 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 83 
 
 of great firmness with humanitarian principles 
 proved most conspicuous. " Catholicism " had 
 been generally substituted for ''Jacobinism^' and 
 all his Excellency's efforts were now directed to 
 mitigate the " odium theologicum," for, as he 
 wrote to General Ross : " The violence of our 
 friends and their folly in endeavouring to make it 
 a religious war, added to the ferocity of our 
 troops, zuho delight in murder^ most powerfully 
 counteract all plans of conciliation." His task 
 was not an enviable one, or even satisfactory, as 
 he tells us — "The life of a L-ord Lieutenant in 
 Ireland comes up to my idea of perfect misery, 
 but if I can accomplish the great object of 
 consolidating the British Empire I shall be suffi- 
 ciently repaid." His opinion of the Irish Militia 
 was not favourable: "They are totally without 
 discipline, contemptible before the enemy, when 
 any serious resistance is made to them, but 
 ferocious and cruel in the extreme when any poor 
 wretches, either with or without arms, come 
 within their power; in short, murder appears to be 
 their favourite pastime ;" in fact, like Abercromby, 
 he held this force to be only formidable to their 
 friends. 
 
 Like Pitt, he held the Union to be salvation 
 to Ireland, as we find him writing confidentially 
 
184 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 to General Ross : " People's minds are getting 
 cooler, and I have no doubt of their being 
 sufficiently manageable for all ordinary purposes, 
 but I do not know how they will be brought to 
 act on the great measure of all, on the event of 
 which the safety of Great Britain and Ireland so 
 much depends." The action of the Longford 
 and the Kilkenny Militia at Castlebar confirmed 
 Lord Cornwallis' diagnosis to the letter. But 
 with the able co-operation of General Lake the 
 Castlebar calamity was soon effaced by the 
 capture of the entire French force, whose move- 
 ments seem to have been singularly badly 
 planned by Humbert, who was most reckless of 
 life, unless indeed he was deceived in his expec- 
 tations of Irish aid. 
 
 Early in the autumn Mr. Pelham resigned the 
 Chief Secretaryship, and the place was given to 
 Lord Castlereagh, a man who had quickly won the 
 complete confidence of Lord Cornwallis — by-the- 
 bye. Lord Castlereagh's appointment seems to 
 have been an innovation on the unwritten law 
 that prescribed that an Englishman only should 
 fill this important position. Lord Cornwallis' 
 next year was spent in efforts to educate the 
 public mind towards the Union, but the more 
 violent of the victorious party were strenuously 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 85 
 
 Opposed to him " as an object of disgust and 
 abhorrence," at least in the opinion of Dr. 
 Duigenan, their spokesman. According to the 
 latter, Lord Cornwallis himself, through the 
 odium he had acquired, was a bar to the Union 
 by his very advocacy of it. Meanwhile, the 
 Viceroy writes to General Ross : "How I long 
 to kick those whom my public duty obliges me to 
 court ; if I did not hope to get out of this country 
 I should most earnestly pray for immediate 
 death,"' Death soon afterwards very nearly came 
 to his rescue, as he was fired at by a sentry who 
 challenged him and got no reply. The Union, 
 after a long struggle, was at length carried in 
 spite of the menace of civil war, and so convinced 
 was Colonel Maitland of his Excellency's political 
 foresight, that he wrote to Mr. Huskisson : " If 
 his plans be hereafter steadily followed, Ireland 
 will be a jewel — if changed, a thorn in the British 
 Empire." Words somewhat prophetic ! Here is 
 Lord Cornwallis' opinion of the Act of Union: 
 " This country could not be saved without the 
 Union, but you must not take it for granted that 
 it will be saved by it." After the passing of the 
 measure came the apportionment of rewards. 
 His Excellency was, he said, offered a dukedom, 
 but declined it. One of Lord Cornwallis' last 
 
1 86 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 despatches was to plead for clemency towards 
 Mr. Napper Tandy. His work being finished, 
 the Viceroy longed impatiently for what he styled 
 his release, but there was difficulty in finding a 
 successor for some time. He at last appeared 
 in the person of the Earl of Hardwicke, in 
 whose favour Lord Cornwallis retired for a 
 few days to the Lodge in the park to wind 
 up his business. At his recommendation Lord 
 Clanricarde was appointed " Master of Kilmain- 
 ham," which implied the command of the forces 
 in Ireland. 
 
 It is a matter of history how all Lord Corn 
 wallis' hopes for the Union proving an entrance 
 gate to the penetralia of the Constitution for 
 the Catholics were frustrated. The general 
 opinion attributes the failure of pledges and pro- 
 mises to the inveteracy of His Majesty's obstinacy, 
 and danger to the stability of his mind by or 
 in urging Catholic claims. By some historians 
 Mr. Pitt's sincerity in the matter is questioned, 
 but there seems no valid reason for coming to 
 an unfavourable conclusion. No one, however, 
 can doubt Lord Cornwallis' candour and honesty 
 in the matter, and his correspondence confirms 
 this opinion. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 87 
 
 1800. 
 
 To the Earl of Hardwicke was entrusted the 
 charge of the Province created by Pitt through 
 the Act of Union and incorporation. He was 
 young and eminently handsome, with considerable 
 charm of manner and some felicity of expression, 
 and one of the acts of his earlier life seemed to 
 give some assurance that bigotry and intolerance 
 were foreign to his nature, for when in command 
 of his regiment of Militia (the Cambridgeshire) 
 in England, he had issued an order prohibiting 
 his men from joining the Orange Society, which 
 had its propagandists and missionaries in all 
 directions, with the view of creating a gigantic 
 and overwhelmingly irresistible association both 
 in Church and State. 
 
 Abbott, who was afterwards Speaker, and 
 raised to the Peerage as Baron Colchester, was 
 his Chief Secretary, and there was a general hope 
 cherished that even-handed justice and clemency 
 would tend to obliterate the horrors and atrocities 
 committed freely on both sides in the late rebellion, 
 for the Loyalists were triumphant and victorious 
 — the Catholics quelled and subdued, while their 
 aristocracy and leaders of position, though zealous 
 for emancipation from the fetters imposed upon 
 
 N 
 
t88 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 them by the victors, were very loyal to the Crown, 
 and the bulk of the population followed them 
 with an almost unreasoning fidelity. General 
 Abercrombie's famous dictum, too, was freely 
 quoted, namely, that the state and conduct of the 
 Irish were just what the Government chose to 
 make them — a dictum that threw a great weight 
 of responsibility on the ruling powers. Lord 
 Hardwicke, however, did not "train on," to use 
 a racing metaphor. The Yeomanry were in high 
 favour, and the Yeomanry were almost to a man 
 " Orange." Banquets were exchanged between 
 the Castle and the corps. Majors Sirr and 
 Sandys were powers paramount at the Castle, 
 and the notorious " Jemmy O'Brien," who had 
 earned public execration by his " delations," was 
 in full favour, till he was presently caught red- 
 handed in a murder, and his great " public " 
 services could not save him from the gallows — 
 an execution most grateful to the masses, who 
 attended it, not in their thousands but their hun- 
 dreds of thousands. Meanwhile, Lord Clare, 
 whose power had waned much since the Union, 
 died from the effects of a fall from his horse. 
 Mr. Abbott was made Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, to be succeeded by Sir Evan Nepean, 
 while the crack-brained conspiracy of Colonel 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 1 89 
 
 Despard in London showed the restless impa- 
 tience of the pubhc mind in England. In Ireland 
 things tended no nearer towards a reconciliation 
 and fusion of creeds and classes. Fifty thousand 
 Protestant Yeomanry were anything but a 
 despicable force, and whereas in the elder 
 times the cry was against the Irish enemy, 
 it was now raised against the CatJiolic enemy, 
 and as English ascendancy was once the 
 slogan of Loyalists, it now became changed to 
 Protestant ascendancy ! There was, too, an un- 
 easy apprehension abroad that the salus republiccs 
 required the crushing of Catholicism, because, 
 it was argued, if a rebellion in three counties 
 shook the fabric of the State to its founda- 
 tions, what would be the issue if this rebellion 
 became universal ? So, as the poet puts it, 
 " Timor addidit alas " to the intolerance and 
 bigotry of a dominant and victorious oligarchy ; 
 nor did Lord Hardwicke smooth down suspicious 
 anxieties on the part of the proscribed when it 
 was found that, though he could put a curb on 
 Giffard, he could also promote to a very lucrative 
 post in the Excise Sir Richard Musgrave, who 
 had not spared the Catholics in his history of 
 Irish rebellions. Nor was the reputation for 
 frugality of his government increased when a 
 
 N 2 
 
190 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 new office was created, the Mastership of the 
 Rolls — a post which had hitherto been honorary, 
 and lately filled by Lords Glandore and Carysfort. 
 Then, too, the vindictive but abortive prosecution 
 of two judges, Fox and Johnson, by the Marquis 
 of Abercorn, to a certain extent discredited the 
 Government. 
 
 On the 23rd of July, 1803, and at 10 o'clock 
 at night, Emmett's " rebellion," which had been 
 hatching somewhat overtly for many months pre- 
 viously in Dublin, where warlike stores and 
 munitions for a campaign and siege had been 
 collected within the city, apparently without the 
 knowledge of the city police, broke out, and Lord 
 Kilwarden, his nephew Mr. Wolf, Colonel Brown, 
 and a few more, were brutally murdered, but 
 when it came to attacking the Castle, the rebels 
 shrank, and the rebellion collapsed ignominiously, 
 Emmett and his handsomely - uniformed staff 
 having to fly to the Wicklow Mountains. Lord 
 Hardwicke seems to have been endowed with 
 even a superfluity of spirit ; for though he heard 
 that the Lodge was to be attacked by a co- 
 operating party of conspirators from Kildare, he 
 drove out to dine there, escorted by only a 
 sergeant and twelve dragoons, though Marsden, 
 the Under-Secretary, sent a strong party out later 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I9I 
 
 on, acting on his information. Emmett was soon 
 after taken, tried, and executed, his last speech 
 and dying declaration being an eloquent enuncia- 
 tion of the highest treason. 
 
 As an illustration of the lavish expenditure of 
 the Government of the day, it may be men- 
 tioned that the Yeomanry expenses amounted 
 to ^100,000 a vionth. To a certain extent they 
 policed Ireland ; and it is said that when Sir 
 Robert Peel introduced his Constabulary the 
 Yeomen formed the nucleus of the force, and 
 possibly led to its initial disfavour with " the 
 people." Certainly, in Lord Hardwicke's time, 
 the condition of Ireland could not be termed 
 satisfactory in any sense. The Emmet rebellion, 
 or riot, is said to have cost General Fox his 
 command in Ireland and Dublin. He was suc- 
 ceeded by Lord Cathcart. Motions for enquiry 
 into the condition of things were made by Sir 
 John Wrottesley and Mr. Hutchinson, who pro- 
 posed that .the Prince of Wales should go over 
 with a deputation, to judge for himself, and report 
 what he saw. Nor is the general public perhaps 
 aware that His Royal Highness constantly pleaded 
 with his father to be allowed to work in the State, 
 and not to be a mere hanger on. He recalled to 
 His Majesty that he was the oldest Colonel of 
 
192 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Dragoons in the Army, but got no further, while 
 his younger brother, the Duke of York, was at 
 the head of the Army. Sidney Smith declares 
 that the characteristic of the modern sermon is 
 Decent debility. Addington's government expired 
 of the same complaint ; and then it became neces- 
 sary for Pitt to return to the helm ; but Pitt was 
 no longer qualis erat, and his power went with 
 his energy. Lord Hardwicke deserves credit for 
 opposing Pitt's attempt to increase the semi-sine- 
 cure office of Mr. Barrington from ;^8oo to 
 ^2,500 a-year. Lord Hardwicke, a great stickler 
 for etiquette, was not a popular Prorex ; and when 
 Pitt died, and the Grenville Ministry came in, his 
 departure did not cause much general regret. 
 His successor was the Duke of Bedford, whom 
 he received, then retired to the Pigeon House 
 Fort, and returned to England, his long reign 
 having extended over a very critical and important 
 period in Ireland's history. One of his last acts 
 was to reverse Mr. Rowan Hamilton's outlawry. 
 The present Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava 
 is the granddaughter of that gentleman. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke had secured for himself the 
 reversion of the Clerkship of the Common Pleas, 
 a sinecure of some ^16,000 a-year. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. I 93 
 
 1806. 
 
 When the Duke of Bedford accepted the Lord 
 Lieutenancy of Ireland, he found Orangeism and 
 Protestant Ascendancy in excehis. The Orange- 
 men were actually far more Orange than their 
 great head, who was really, in many respects, 
 most liberal. Thus, at Limerick he offered the 
 garrison representing Catholic Ireland the free 
 exercise of their religion, half the churches in the 
 kingdom, and a moiety of their ancient estates ; 
 a proposal which the Orangemen would probably 
 have scouted in 1807. A Russell is almost a 
 Radical or an advanced Whig, par droit de nais- 
 sance, and the first indication of his views by the 
 new Viceroy was the dismissal of Sir John Mitford 
 (afterwards created Lord Redesdale), the Chan- 
 cellor, who had strong opinions on the other side, 
 while he refilled the vacancy by the very liberally 
 minded George Ponsonby. However, there is 
 an old distich that declares that — 
 
 " As bees on flowers alighting cease to hum, 
 So Whigs when once in office soon grow dumb," 
 
 or words to that effect ; and there was a certain 
 amount of disillusion in the public mind when 
 
194 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 they found the routine of the Castle system little 
 changed. Curran, it is true, got the Mastership 
 of the Rolls, though clogged with conditions, and 
 hardly a congenial post, at best, to the great 
 orator, wit, and patriot ; but the Verners were 
 taught that the Law is no respecter of creeds (in 
 Bedford's hands, at any rate), and the magistracy 
 was weeded and reformed. The Excise and 
 Customs were divided, and some thirty-eight 
 sinecures were abolished. 
 
 The result of the debate on the Catholic 
 Officers' Bill was a heavy blow to that interest ; 
 and to illustrate the harshness of the system, it is 
 mentioned that when Mr. Bryan, of Jenkinstown, 
 CO. Kilkenny, a Catholic, who was in the Foot 
 Guards, being anxious to serve on the Staff 
 of his friend, General Archer, in Dublin, ap- 
 plied for permission to do so, in the regular 
 way, he was peremptorily refused ; and, on a 
 second application, was gazetted out of the 
 Service. The Duke of Bedford was liked in 
 Ireland greatly for his good intentions, rather 
 than actual performance, and when he was re- 
 placed by the Duke of Richmond, he was drawn 
 to the place of embarkation by his enthusiastic 
 admirers. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 1 95 
 
 1807. 
 
 The Duke of Richmond, who succeeded His 
 Grace of Bedford, was the nominee of the 
 Portland-Percival Government, and may therefore 
 be supposed to have taken his colour, or poHtical 
 complexion, from that anti-Catholic combination, 
 or coalition, but to his credit, be it said, he evinced 
 bigotry nowhere, and some of his sentiments and 
 enunciations might have been put into the mouth 
 of his predecessor, or even of Fitzwilliam, the 
 chosen champion of the Catholic cause. For 
 instance, when at Cork (on his Munster tour), 
 the toast of Protestant Ascendancy was given. 
 His Excellency declared that the only ascendancy 
 he wished to see flourish in his dominions was 
 the Ascendancy of Loyalty — brave words, but 
 hardly carried out in practice by "the system" of 
 which he was an integral part. At his accession, 
 or, to speak more correctly, on his arrival, he 
 found two great questions in occupation of the 
 public mind. One was the Catholic claims, more 
 especially in connection with the veto on the 
 appointment of their Bishops, claimed by the 
 British Government, and the state of the Prisons, 
 which was simply scandalous, and very dif- 
 ferent from what it is now — even for first class 
 
196 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 misdemeanants, whose constitutions must have 
 been wonderfully strong to have survived the 
 treatment for any length of time. Sandy's Pre- 
 vost, in the Castle Yard, and Trevor's cells, are 
 said to have gained a bad pre-eminence among 
 these jails. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had 
 managed to push on his Police Bill, was the 
 nominal Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, 
 but he was absent at the Convention of Cintra, 
 already perhaps meditating the famous lines of 
 Torres Vedras for his great base in the campaigns 
 that so soon followed. So great was the avowed 
 corruption in the House of Commons, that when 
 a member — Mr. Maddox — brought charges of 
 bribery against Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Ouintin 
 Dick, even the Opposition showed themselves 
 most lukewarm in their condemnation of an 
 offence so common and so venial, though venal. 
 Then, too, as in the present Session of Parlia- 
 ment, tithes were a very burning question ; for 
 their incidence was fearfully unequal — the rich 
 grazing tracts held by the gentry and middle- 
 men being declared exempt, while the burden fell 
 on the tilth of the small farmer, or cotter, who, 
 to paraphrase Shakespeare, " No revenue had 
 save his strong labour." 
 
 Then the balances allowed (corruptly) to lie 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. IQ7 
 
 perdu (the word was sometimes prophetic) in the 
 hands of well backed collectors of taxes and 
 revenue, were nearly double those of England, and 
 when a commission of enquiry was granted on the 
 occasion of Mr. Beaucham Hill being appointed 
 to a lucrative post in the Revenue, he confessed 
 that when an Excise officer he had levied a tribute 
 of 20 guineas from every still in his "walk;" 
 while of 30 officers examined on this occasion 27 
 acknowledged that they were B7'ibees, driven to it 
 by the smallness of their salaries. A writer of some 
 repute sets down the robbery to the revenue at 
 between one and two millions a year. Nor did 
 the House seem much surprised at these revela- 
 tions. A Government place must have been a fair 
 berth in those days. 
 
 In his Munster tour, or " Progress " (to use a 
 term of more Viceregal sound), the Duke of 
 Richmond seems to have cultivated a tone of 
 liberal impartiality ; thus he was the guest at 
 Limerick of a Catholic banker, Mr. Roche, whom 
 he offered to knight, but Mr. Roche declined the 
 honour. The Duke of Portland's resignation led 
 soon to changes in the ministerial departments. 
 Castlereagh and Canning, who had quarrelled and 
 fought, were, for the time being, in a sort of 
 quarantine; three Irishmen were added to its 
 
198 DUBLIN CASTLE, 
 
 Strength, namely the Marquis of Wellesley, 
 Wellesley Pole, and William Croker, the rather 
 eminent writer, who, the son of a Revenue 
 officer in Ireland, had been educated at Port- 
 arlington, and became a Protagonist in the Tory 
 ranks, 
 
 We have thus had a few glimpses of the Duke 
 of Richmond, who remained at the Castle till 18 10 
 in his official capacity, and, as it were, in his robes 
 of state, proclaiming " Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo 
 discrimine agetur." Contemporary chroniclers 
 maintain that he had a very jovial side, as the 
 following excerpt from a county history, printed for 
 private circulation only, will show. 
 
 " Lord de Blaquiere had been Secretary of State 
 from the year 1772 to 1777, from which period, 
 though he ceased to hold any employment, he 
 enjoyed the confidence of the government, and 
 was extensively engaged and employed in bringing 
 about the Union, for which, besides various offices 
 and pensions, he obtained his peerage. He 
 purchased Pordomon, being part of the Pakenham 
 property. 
 
 "Although having ceased to hold any Govern- 
 ment situation, he by no means wished to 
 relinquish his intimacy with the Castle, and con- 
 tinued to supply his Excellency v/ith the choicest 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 199 
 
 and most exquisite fruits from his hothouses. 
 Upon several occasions he Invited the Viceregal 
 party to pay him a visit, but always without 
 success, until at some period between 1807 and 
 1 8 10 the Duke of Richmond, then Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, very unexpectedly Intimated his intention 
 to accept an invitation to Portlomon, being 
 extremely anxious to witness an Irish ' Pattern,' 
 for which at that period Lough Owel was cele- 
 brated, and which Pattern was annually held on 
 the first Sunday In August in the demesne of 
 Portlomon. It is needless to say a word about the 
 convivial habits of his Grace. The results were 
 in many instances highly amusing, although they 
 at times departed considerably from the dignity of 
 a Court. At an advanced period of the night he 
 has been known to confer the honour of knight- 
 hood for service performed, and to promote a 
 humble clergyman to a rich deanery after a very 
 protracted discussion of spiritual matters. On his 
 Excellency's intention being made known to Lord 
 de Blaquiere, he endeavoured to ascertain from 
 some of the A.D.C.'s the probable duration of 
 his Grace's sojourn at Portlomon, which was 
 fixed, whether by authority or not, to extend two 
 or three days. Lord de Blaquiere immedlatelymade 
 such preparations as the shortness of the period 
 
200 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 would admit of, and furnished the cellar with what 
 he conceived would be an ample supply for the 
 duration of the visit which his Excellency proposed 
 paying. A hogshead of claret, and four dozen of 
 madeira, port, and sherry, all of the best quality and 
 finest vintage, were immediately forwarded and 
 stored in the cellars of Portlomon. His Excel- 
 lency and staff arrived, comprising the usual number 
 of A.D.C.'s — a mischievous, reckless, and jolly set. 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Field Marshal 
 Duke of Wellington, was then Secretary of State. 
 Amongst other gentlemen of the county who were 
 invited to meet his Excellency was Admiral 
 Pakenham, from whom I heard the story. The 
 company next day was numerous, the wine excel- 
 lent and plenty, the cooking varied and superior, 
 being the production of the Soyer of the day, the 
 fruit rare and delicately flavoured. His Excel- 
 lency during the morning transacted his official 
 business and visited the different localities in the 
 neighbourhood. The fourth day arrived, and no 
 intimation of a break up. The claret was visibly 
 decreasing from the united efforts of the party. 
 The other wines were diminishing from the 
 exertions of the household. At the period of which 
 we write the intercourse between the country 
 and the city was not even as expeditious as at 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 20I 
 
 present. Even now, with all our improvements, 
 it is by no means certain when we arrive at the 
 end of our journey, as persons leaving Mullingar 
 at half-past seven in the evening by the railway 
 to attend a ball in Dublin, do not arrive at the 
 beautiful terminus in that city until half-past six 
 next morning. An insurmountable difficulty 
 therefore arose in procuring additional supplies of 
 wine if required. Lord de Blaqulere was in a 
 most woeful predicament. He therefore, in a 
 fatal moment, and as a last resource, resolved to 
 take Admiral Pakenham into his counsel and 
 obtain his advice and assistance. He was no 
 sooner made acquainted with the unfortunate state 
 of the garrison than he gave the Lord a promise 
 of a speedy relief from the exhausting party. This 
 was too good a joke for the Admiral to keep it 
 secret, and immediately communicated the entire 
 to the Duke of Richmond, who instantly agreed 
 not to budge one step. Every morning Lord 
 de Blaquiere and the Admiral held a cabinet 
 council, and the remaining stores were examined. 
 It now became too late to get things from Dublin, 
 and there were only two days' supply in the house. 
 The next day being Saturday, his Excellency 
 expressed his regret at being obliged to leave on 
 Monday after seeing the ' Pattern.' The day of 
 
202 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 the Pattern arrived. His Excellency and his 
 friends enlivened the scene with their presence, 
 and at the accustomed hour sat down to dinner. 
 Everything went on as usual, and late in the 
 evening, but long before the Lord Lieutenant's 
 usual hour for retiring, the circulation of the bottle 
 became tedious, and ultimately entirely ceased. 
 The dreadful truth must be told — the claret was 
 out ! His Grace affected considerable surprise, 
 but told his host he would rather prefer some 
 port. The household had unfortunately had the 
 last bottle. Well ! Sherry or madeira ? All 
 gone! Under such unexpected misfortunes, the 
 Lord Lieutenant really preferred whiskey punch. 
 But, alas ! not a drop in the house. What was to 
 be done ? His Grace, in all horror of sobriety, 
 appeared indignant at such unheard of treatment. 
 The host was for a time speechless, and could 
 not suggest anything. A supply from Mullingar 
 was reported as too tedious, uncertain, and not 
 drinkable if procured. The unfeeling and cutting 
 remarks of the A,D,C.'s were insupportable. The 
 regret and apologies of the host were neither 
 received nor felt. His Excellency declared he 
 could not stir without a supply of something ; he 
 cared not what, but without it he should be ill. 
 The Admiral, I suppose, by way of assisting his 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 203 
 
 friend, said, ' Oh, sooner than your Excellency 
 should incur a fit of illness, we'll sell by auction 
 some of the fellow's furniture and send to Bun- 
 brusna for whiskey. The devil pity him. He 
 should not ask people here without the means of 
 entertaining them ! ' This proposal was loudly 
 cheered, but a difficulty still existed ; where shall 
 we find bidders ? It was suggested that if any 
 of the people that they saw at the Pattern were 
 still there, they would be rejoiced at the oppor- 
 tunity of procuring bargains. Very few moments 
 sufficed to assemble a number of bidders to 
 constitute an auction. Some of the beds and 
 other pieces of furniture were brought out 
 before the hall door, and on a fine summer's 
 night. The Admiral acted as auctioneer, under 
 the superintendence of the Government ; the 
 Chief Secretary as clerk. The terms were 
 money down, for which a supply of ardent spirits 
 was procured from the village of Bunbrusna. 
 The company returned to bed highly pleased 
 (with the exception of the host) with the last 
 night ever passed by a Viceregal party at Port 
 lomon." 
 
 Let me add that Portlomon has long since those 
 days passed into the hands of the Greville Nugent 
 family, whose hospitable head, Lord Greville of 
 
 o 
 
204 DUUI.IN CASTLE. 
 
 Clonhugh, has a far less easily exhaustible cellar 
 at the opposite side of that inland sea, Lough 
 Owell. It seems hard to understand how the 
 train from Mullingar to Dublin could be a whole 
 livelong night compassing some fifty miles ! 
 Under Sir Ralph Cusack's improved management, 
 and metals, the journey now occupies not very 
 much more than an hour by the express trains 
 of the Midland and Great Western Railway. 
 
 i8i 
 
 To the Duke of Richmond succeeded Earl 
 W^hitworth, a nobleman of sound judgment and 
 most varied accomplishments. He had been 
 employed in several diplomatic missions, and 
 while at Paris had foiled Napoleon in his attempt 
 to brow-beat him in the Salle des Anibassadeiirs. 
 In Ireland his reign was much troubled by distur- 
 bance and agitation, the result of the tithe collec- 
 tion, vi^hich was made sometimes with hardship, 
 while its incidence was unfair, the poorer tenants 
 being more severely mulcted than the wealthier 
 sheep and cattle farmers. The peasant soldiers 
 in this campaign against tithe were known as 
 " Caravats " and " Shanavests," while in the 
 King's County the opponents of the system 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 205 
 
 adopted the abominable practice of " carding.' 
 Hence it was necessary to renew the Insurrection 
 Act, and proclaim certain counties, as in the 
 present day. Meanwhile, the agitation for complete 
 Catholic emancipation was proceeding, but with 
 somewhat slow and irregular steps, though young 
 Counsellor O'Connell, who brought a combination 
 of Celtic energy and Celtic subtlety and con- 
 siderable elocution and histrionic ability to bear 
 on the great question in which he himself had a 
 strong personal interest, was certain to accelerate 
 the movement, of which the cautious, courteous, 
 and most moderate Earl of Fingall had hitherto 
 been the fugleman. It was in Lord Whitworth's 
 time that the famous duel between O'Connell and 
 Mr. D'Esterre was fought at Bishopscourt, now 
 the residence of the Earl of Clonmell, but at that 
 time the property of Lord Ponsonby. The 
 Corporation of Dublin was then a very close 
 borough, and Mr. D'Esterre belonged to it. 
 O'Connell was never very guarded or self- 
 restrained in his choice of language (indeed, it 
 may be doubted whether he would ever have 
 acquired and retained his firm grasp of the 
 popular mind had his vocabulary been more select 
 and refined). He characterised the Corporation 
 of Dublin as "beggarly;" he refused to disavow 
 
 o 2 
 
206 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 or qualify the Linouage when called on to do 
 so by Mr. D'Esterre, and the consequence was 
 a hostile meetino;', in which Mr. O'Connell's friend 
 was Major Macnamara, while Mr. D'Esterre's 
 second was Sir Edward Stanley. Mr. D'Esterre 
 fired first and missed his mark ; O'Connell's bullet 
 passed through his opponent's thigh, and the 
 wound proved mortal, for he died the next day, 
 the 3rd of February, 18 15. Some chroniclers 
 relate that while arrangements were being made, 
 Mr, D'Esterre threw an orange in the air and hit 
 it with his pistol bullet, a proceeding properly 
 reprobated by Major Macnamara, who looked 
 upon it as a sort of intimidation ; but the story is 
 improbable in itself, and lacks all contemporary 
 confirmation. Mr. Greville in his valuable 
 " Memoirs," however, tells us that when O'Con- 
 nell's party were driving back to Dublin they met 
 a party of dragoons coming along the road to- 
 wards Bishopscourt. They had been sent by the 
 authorities, it adds, to protect D'Esterre in the 
 event of his killing his adversary, for it was 
 assumed that D'Esterre was sure to come off the 
 conqueror, and it was feared the country people 
 might commit some outrage or assault on the 
 overthrower of their idol. 
 
 Lord Whitworth's tenure of the Viceregal 
 
DUBLIN CASTLF.. 20/ 
 
 office was saddened by a great domestic calamity 
 — the death of his popular young stepson, the 
 Duke of Dorset. The latter had been living in 
 Ireland for about a year and a half, and went on 
 a visit to Powerscourt, whose owner was his 
 friend, and had been his schoolfellow. According 
 to the "Annual Register," His Grace, accom- 
 panied by Lord Powerscourt and Mr. Wingfield, 
 joined some harriers who were drawing for a hare 
 round Killiney, a rough rocky district, full of big 
 boulders, where the fields were divided by rough 
 stone walls of irregular construction. In a run 
 that followed, the Duke jumped a small wall, but 
 the mare he was riding landed among some rocks 
 and fell, and in the struggle His Grace was badly 
 squeezed among the stones, and died an hour 
 after the fall, before Surgeons Crampton (after- 
 wards the famous Sir Philip) and Macklin, who 
 had been summoned to attend by Lord Powers- 
 court, could arrive. The event cast a great 
 gloom over Dublin, as well as its Court and 
 Castle; for the Duke was only 22 at his death. 
 A monument of granite (the stone of the pla^:e) 
 was raised to his memory on the fatal spot, 
 and the following lines, believed to be the 
 composition of Baron Smith, were sculptured 
 upon it : — 
 
208 DUBLIN CASTLK. 
 
 When tne Temple of Freedom by Liberty founded 
 
 Was reared by her mandate on Britain's proud shore. 
 The ark of her glory our fathers surrounded, 
 
 And enshrined in their bosoms the laws they adore. 
 'Twas then from the good, from the brave, were selected 
 
 The nobles of England to pillar the shrine. 
 And bright from each column of her fane were reflected 
 
 The rays of tr-.ith, honour, and freedom divine ! 
 But mourn now, Britannia ! one column of thy glory 
 
 Has fallen in the pride of its beauty and power, 
 While weeping Hibernia repeats the sad story, 
 
 Responsively wailing the ill-fated hour ! 
 'Tis not o'er the statesman or conqueror's urn, 
 
 Nor yet for the chief who in battle has bled 
 No, "tis not for these that the muse bids thee mourn — 
 
 Oh, no ! but, alas ! 'tis thy Dorset is dead ! 
 For his were endowments to claim admiration, 
 
 High courage, pure honour, nobility, truth ; 
 Let the requiem of sorrow resound o'er the nation, 
 
 For Dorset has fall'n in the pride of his youth I 
 Ah, never did Nature with proud emulation 
 
 A heart with more virtue more honour adorn ; 
 And the bright rays of splendour that shone from high 
 station 
 
 Were the faintest of beams that illum'd his young morn. 
 Too early, alas ! has this bright promise faded. 
 
 Too soon are we called to bewail his sad doom ; 
 While his relics with wreaths emblematic are shaded, 
 
 The tears of his country shall fall on his tomb. 
 But be hush'd the loud plaint, and still'd the sad numbers 
 
 Awake not the anguish a parent must feel. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 209 
 
 As she mournfully bends where his cold form slumbers, 
 
 With grief more emphatic than words can reveal ! 
 Be hallowed that grief, and be sacred the tear 
 
 That falls from a heart overcharged with woe ; 
 Let the soul's warmest sympathy ever rt:vere 
 
 The drops which the heart of a mother o'erflow. 
 May hope's brilliant lustre, dispelling dejection. 
 
 With time's lenient hand every sorrow remove ; 
 And this trpth cheer the heart of maternal affection, 
 
 Kindred virtues on earth are united above. 
 
 We trust his " law " was better than his 
 poetry. 
 
 The following lines on the same sad theme are 
 attributed to Lord Whitworth : — 
 
 Useless are all these trappings of the great 
 
 To him who sleeps in death, nor heeds their state ; 
 
 To him who, lying in yon tower, alone. 
 
 Sees not the mother's tears nor hears the mother's mo.in ; 
 
 Nor hears those mournful tones that sadly peal 
 
 Like the low murmurs of an evening gale : 
 
 Now straining into louder notes of grief, 
 
 Then soothing soft to give the heart relief. 
 
 These, may be, speak our sorrow. Can an ear, 
 
 Catching at angel choirs, such dull notes hear? 
 
 No ! If a sound can reach him to yon skies, 
 
 'Tis the sad throbbing of a mother's sighs 
 
 That from a sorrowing bosom, faintly break. 
 
 Heave her full heart and moisten her wan cheek. 
 
 Bright shone his morning — promising his days— 
 
 As Phcebus, glittering in meridian blaze. 
 
2IO DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Pure was his life, and affiable, tho' great, 
 When Heav'n, in pity viewing mortal fate, 
 Quick as the lightning, by one fatal blow, 
 Snatch'd him in mercy from this vale of woe. 
 
 One of the Duke's ancestors had been twice 
 Viceroy of Ireland ; once in 1831, and the second 
 time in 1851. " Sackville Street" and " Dorset 
 Street," in DubHn, are memorials of this Vice- 
 royalty ; the former, which has been styled by a 
 few patriots O'Connell Street, was originally 
 Drogheda Street, called from the Moore family, 
 then Earls, now Marquises of Drogheda. Some 
 say, however, that it was named Sackville, from 
 Sackville Gardiner. Lord Spencer, while hunting 
 with the Ward hounds one day, during his second 
 tenure of office, had rather a narrow escape of 
 being ridden on, and perhaps badly injured, by a 
 hard-riding horse-trainer, who probably could not 
 control the impetuosity of his young hunter, in 
 his eagerness to get over the fence after his pre- 
 decessor — or presaltator. " I missed you, my 
 Lord," said the penitent pursuer, when apologising 
 to his Excellency afterwards, " by just the black 
 of my iiaiiy 
 
 The following extracts from contemporary 
 journals illustrate the formal entry of a Lord 
 Lieutenant into his dominions in 1773 : — 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 2 ] 1 
 
 " Yesterday the great guns were sent from the 
 Castle, to George's Key, to salute his Grace the 
 Duke of Dorset on his landing here, which is 
 expected to be Friday or Saturday next." — " Dub- 
 lin Evg. Post, Sept. nth, 1733." 
 
 " Yesterday arriv'd here from England, his 
 Grace Lionel Cranfield, Duke of Dorset, Lord 
 Lieut, and Gen. Gov. of this Kingdom ; his Grace 
 has brought over with him, her Grace the 
 Dutchess, the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Middlesex, 
 the Rt. Hon. Lord John Sackville, two of his 
 Sons, and the Rt. Hon, the Lady Carolina his 
 only Daughter. They were received about 
 3 O'clock at George's-key, by their Excellencies 
 the Lords Justices, and several of the Lords and 
 Nobility, from whence they were conducted by 
 the Company of Battle-axes, a Regiment of 
 Horse, and the High Sheriffs and Commons of 
 this City, on Horseback to the Castle. The 
 Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and 
 Recorder, as usual, received them at the upper 
 End of Lazers-Hill, and deliver'd to his Grace 
 the Keys of the City, at which time the Recorder 
 made him an excellent Speech. After he arrived 
 at the Castle, he went to his Grace the Lord 
 Primate's to Dinner. 
 
 " There landed at the same time, the Hon. 
 
212 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Col. Lio-onicr, and George Bub-Doddington, Esc}., 
 Clerk of the Pells." — " Dub. Evg. Post, Sept. 
 1 8th. 1733." 
 
 1821, 
 
 Few phenomena are much more remarkable 
 in history than the manner in which hybrid 
 Hibernians, or Anglo-Irish, have moulded the 
 destinies of England. Lord Castlereagh is a 
 conspicuous instance of this plastic power, for 
 he was, for a time, the man endowed with the 
 largest share of political power not o nly in 
 Enq-land and the United Kingrdom, but also in 
 Europe. Canning's meteoric career was cut 
 short by a premature death, but perhaps the 
 Collej'-Wellesley family is the best instance that 
 can be adduced of a patrician gens that has made 
 itself as inseparable from the warp and woof of 
 our insular history as any of the great houses 
 that contributed to the supremacy of Rome. 
 Like Sir William Petty, the founder of the Lans- 
 downe fortune and greatness, the ancestor of the 
 Colley family was a Surveyor-General or Land 
 Commissioner (to use the phrase in modern 
 vogue), and presently we find Sir Henry Colley of 
 Castle Carberry, in the co. Kildare, seneschal of 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 2 [ 3 
 
 the King's County, and an army contractor, a 
 circumstance which the Iron Duke perhaps forgot 
 when he was so hard upon the contracting race in 
 the Peninsula. Of Carberry Castle the gaunt 
 ruins still remain, massive in their masonry. We 
 hear little of these Colleys. They must have 
 had a hard and exciting life on these marches, 
 when the borderers were not unlike those ot 
 whom Sir Walter Scott wrote — 
 
 " Let nobles fight for fame, 
 
 Let vassals follow where they lead, 
 But war's the Borderer's game." 
 
 A Miss Elizabeth CoHey married Garrett 
 Wesley, or Wellesley, of Dangan, co. Meath, 
 and on his death sine prole, Richard Colley his 
 cousin inherited the Meath property and took the 
 name of Wellesley. He sat for the borough of 
 Trini, where the statue of his descendant, Arthur 
 Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, is very con- 
 spicuous. He was raised to the peerage as Baron 
 Mornington, and his eldest son subsequently 
 became Earl of Mornington. He was a well 
 known musical composer, and no less than four 
 of his five sons had their names inscribed in the 
 Libro D'oro of England. "Our affair" as the 
 French idiom goes, however, is with Viscount 
 
214 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Wcllcsley, who rose to be Marquis Wcllcsley, one 
 of the most famous Governor-Generals of India, 
 " who doubled the revenue and more than doubled 
 the dominion of the old East India Company." 
 The tide of war carried out to the East his 
 brother, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, whose career 
 in India, unfortunate in its first essay, is one of 
 the most brilliant illustrations of our military 
 history. 
 
 Lord Wellesley, an autocrat by nature, 
 never quite remembered that his younger 
 brother, Arthur, was at least a co-partner in his 
 fame, for to the last it is said he treated him 
 with the superciliousness engendered by the 
 presumed prestige of primogeniture, as well 
 as by the consciousness of his own great gifts 
 of intellect and beauty of feature if not of form, 
 for he could hold his own even with such a 
 sublime and scintillating scholar as Canning. 
 With such qualifications it will be readily under- 
 stood that the Marquis was through life 
 " Richard le bien-aime," but though twice married 
 he left no son. As a Viceroy he proved 
 rather a brilliant failure than a shininQ; success. 
 " Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coiite " was well 
 illustrated in his first turn of Viceroyalty, for he 
 misconstrued the throwino^ of a bottle iiito his 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 215 
 
 box at the theatre in Dublin into an attempt on 
 his Hfe ; and the loss of dignity and prestige was 
 the natural consequence of his prosecution 
 breaking down, to the joy of the Orangemen, who 
 chorussed, " by Eldon " (the Lord Chancellor) 
 " 'twas well done." He was again appointed 
 Lord Lieutenant in 1833, but though his views 
 were liberally statesmanlike, and even conciliatory, 
 he failed in conciliation. The autocratic satrapy 
 of an Oriental Empire was not a good school 
 for a constitutional Viceroy ally. However, Lord 
 Wellesley met a famine crisis ably, and maintained 
 law and order ; in the Peninsula he did good 
 service. 
 
 In the brief sketches we have presented of 
 Lord Wellesley's government of Ireland as Lord 
 Lieutenant, from which so much was anticipated 
 that the actual results seemed to contemporaries 
 somewhat disappointing, we tried to impress upon 
 the reader thai the autocratic nature of the man 
 had been accentuated and intensified, so to speak, 
 by his tenure of power in India for so long a 
 period, at a time when the Governor-General of 
 our Eastern Empire, untrammelled by the modern 
 resources of science — fast lines of steamers and the 
 electric wire — was in many respects a more abso- 
 lute sovereign than the Grand Monarque himself. 
 
2l6 DUIU.IX CASTLK. 
 
 To descend from such a satrapy to the government 
 of an island like Ireland must have appeared like 
 undertaking an /Edileship at Rome after having 
 filled a Proconsulship ; a fall from a Grand Vizier- 
 ship to a petty Pashalik ; from having to write 
 despatches about kings and kingdoms, to a 
 chronicle of constitutional small beer, and the 
 battles of kites and crows. But Wellesley would 
 never fail to magnify his office and make it 
 honourable in the eyes of men, as will be evidenced 
 by a single fact. He had married en secondes 
 noces, Mrs. Patterson, of Baltimore, so nearly 
 related to Jerome Buonaparte. She was a Roman 
 Catholic, while he was a Protestant who wor- 
 shipped in the Castle chapel, and he always 
 insisted on his wife being escorted from the Castle 
 or Lodge to and from the Roman Catholic 
 Cathedral of Marlborough Street, Dublin, by a 
 troop of Dragoons, Lancers, or Hussars, a new 
 departure that caused some little excitement at 
 the time. 
 
 Lord Wellesley's attempt to remodel whole- 
 sale the local magistracy was a grievous error in 
 judgment and arrayed much of the gentry against 
 him. 
 
 We have alluded to Lord Wellesley as a most 
 accomplished scholar ; indeed, it was in scholarship 
 
DUBLIN CASTLK. 21/ 
 
 that the great consul and administrator of the 
 easternmost and westernmost portions of our 
 empire sought and found that solathun senechttis, 
 which Talleyrand, according to the tale, attributed 
 to Whist, for, when a young friend of the priestly 
 diplomat admitted to him his total ignorance 
 of, and distate for, the game, he remarked, 
 " qt'elle triste vieillesse vous vous preparez." 
 The " Greville Memoirs " tell us of the surprise 
 felt among the Marquis's friends in England at 
 the great vigour he threw into his Irish Govern- 
 ment, when his energies were supposed to be 
 somewhat sapped by his Oriental experiences ; 
 but that vigour of mind was quite exceptional, 
 for in his eightieth year we find him dedicating a 
 small volume of Latin poems to his friend Lord 
 Brougham, another intellectual giant. One of his 
 Latin poems may be given in illustration ; the 
 subject was a Weeping Willow which overhung 
 the banks of the Thames, by which, not unmind- 
 ful, perhaps, of " the schoolboy spot which we 
 remember well, though there we are forgot " — 
 Eton, to wit, he had selected his residence, Fern- 
 side, as a 
 
 " Modus lasso Maris et viarum militiceque." 
 This willow had been brought from the 
 
2l8 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 hanks of the Euphrates — the real " waters of 
 Babylon." 
 
 Passis moesta comis, formosa doloris imago, 
 
 Qu?e flenti similis pendet in amne salix, 
 Euphratis nata in ripa Babylone sub alta 
 
 Dicitur Hebreas sustenuisse lyras : 
 Cum, terra ignota, Proles Solymea refugit 
 
 Djvinum patriae jussa movere melos : 
 Suspensis que lyris, et luctu muta, sedebat, 
 
 In lacrymis memorans, te reverende Sion ! 
 Te dilecte Sion ! frustra sacrata Jehovae, 
 
 Te prsesenti sedes irradiata Deo ! 
 Nunc pede barbarico, et manibus temerata profanis, 
 
 Nunc orbata tuis, et taciturna domus! 
 At tu pulchra salix. Thamesini littoris hospes, 
 
 Sis sacra, et nobis pignora sacra feras ; 
 Qua cecidit Judica, mones, captiva sub ira, 
 
 Victricem stravit quae Babylo^a manus ; 
 Inde doces sacra et ritus servare parentum, 
 
 Juraque, et antiqua vi stabilire fidem. 
 Me quoties curas suadent lenire seniles 
 
 Umbra tua, et viridi ripa beata toro 
 Sit mihi, primitiasque meas, tenuesque triumphos 
 
 Sit revocare tuos dulcis Etona ! dies 
 Auspice te summae mirari culmina fams, 
 
 Et purum antiquae lucis adire jubar 
 Edidici puer, et jam primo in limine vitse, 
 
 Ingenuas veras laudis amare vices. 
 O Juncta Aonidum lauro prcecepta salutis 
 
 ^ternae ! et musis consociata fides ! 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 2iq 
 
 Felix doctrina ! divinaque insita luce ! 
 
 Quae tuleras animo lumina fausta meo ; 
 Incorrupta precor maneas, atque Integra, seu te, 
 
 Aura regat populi, seu novitatis amor 
 Stet quoque prisca domus (neque enim manus impia 
 tangat) 
 
 Floreat in niediis intemerata minis ; 
 Det patribus patres, populoque det inclyta cives 
 
 Eioquiumque foro, Judiciisque decus. 
 Conciliisque animos, magnseque det ordine genti 
 
 Immortalem alta cum pietate fidem. 
 Floreat, intacta per postera saecula fama, 
 
 Cura diu patriae, cura paterna Dei. 
 
 1828. 
 
 After Lord Wellesley's departure from Ireland 
 for the first time, the Viceregal succession was 
 carried on by the Marquis of Anglesey, who was 
 of European reputation as a deaic sabreiir, a man 
 of great gallantry and intrepidity, who had done 
 the State good service as an infantry as well as 
 a cavalry leader, of clear head and fine judgment, 
 and a mind rather freer from political prejudice 
 than was commonly to be found at that time. 
 Lord Anglesey was the Prorex of Ireland twice: 
 once in 1828, and then again in 1830, the Duke 
 of Northumberland having held office in the 
 interval. Lord Anglesey's first term of office 
 
 r 
 
220 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 was comparatively smooth, but in his second he 
 had to encounter the whole weight of O'Connell's 
 opposition, said, whether correctly or not, to 
 have been envenomed by certain forensic appoint- 
 ments, as it was certainly accentuated by the legal 
 victories of Mr. Attorney-General Blackburne 
 (afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland) over the 
 shifty efforts of Mr. O'Connell to circumvent the 
 proclamations of the Lord Lieutenant against 
 illegal assemblies. For a long time the historical 
 individuality of the Viceroy has been eclipsed 
 or overshadowed by his Chief Secretary, who 
 manages the affairs of the island in the House of 
 Commons, and is, therefore, constantly in evi- 
 dence and action, while the Viceroy's official 
 existence can only be gauged by reading his 
 despatches. That Lord Anglesey, however, took 
 the deepest interest in everything relating to his 
 Proconsulate, and that his great aim was to 
 hold the balance of justice between the warring 
 factions, ever struggling for ascendancy, we learn 
 from his letters. The tithe war, "bequeathed 
 from bleeding sire to son," was carried on more 
 boldly and audaciously in his reign than ever, and 
 the murders, massacres, or victories, from which- 
 ever standpoint they are regarded, of Newtown 
 Barry, in the co. Wexford, and of Carrickshock, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 22 t 
 
 in the co. Kilkenny, where a police inspector of 
 the name of Gibbons, and a number of con- 
 stables on their way to levy a distress for tithes 
 due to the Rector of Innistiogue, were led into a 
 sort of local Kyber Pass and stoned to death, 
 were the precursors of the tithe settlement 
 effected by the act of Mr. Stanley, the Chief 
 Secretary to Lord Anglesey. The Cap of Main- 
 tenance does not enter into the daily costume of 
 a Lord Lieutenant, but, I believe, the Anglesey 
 Hat was generally esteemed by contemporary 
 critics a masterpiece of art and design. 
 
 That his Excellency was a true patriot or 
 lover of the land he had ruled is shown by a letter 
 which he addressed from Rome to the Attorney- 
 General, Blackburne, after his resignation of 
 the Lord Lieutenancy. He is dilating on the 
 solidity of the works of the Imperial city, which 
 appear to have been "destined for eternity." 
 "They would have made you a ship canal from 
 Galway to your bay in a month. How a Roman 
 Emperor would have smiled at the difficulty of 
 forming one from Kingstown to Dublin ! " A 
 very wise and prophetic remark is added in this 
 letter : "It is ecclesiastical wealth that will 
 destroy Church establishments, and at no distant 
 period." — Written in 1834. 
 
 p 2 
 
222 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 1829. 
 
 The Duke of Northumberland, who was sand- 
 wiched in between the two periods of Lord Angle- 
 sey's government, ruled right royally — with a 
 magnificent liberality — often, no doubt, deplored 
 by less wealthy occupants of the Viceregal throne. 
 He handed back ^10,000 of his honorarium, 
 hitherto ^30,000 per annum, to the Treasury, 
 Since then the salary has been ^20,000. 
 
 As something of an illustration of the magni- 
 ficent munificence of the Duke of Northumber- 
 land's Viceroyalty, it may be mentioned that when 
 he was leaving Dublin he sent an invitation to his 
 Dublin tradesmen to pay him a visit at his Palace 
 there and view the lions of London. The great 
 majority accepted his hospitable suggestion, but 
 one or two of the old-fashioned " stick-to-your 
 business " sort stayed in Dublin, and when the 
 travelled tradesmen returned to Ireland the "stay- 
 at-homes" were very anxious to know all about 
 the visit and how they had fared. One more 
 outspoken than the others told them that nothing 
 could have been better than their reception by 
 his Grace, that they had had the best of every- 
 thing, and every facility for seeing and enjoying 
 "life in London;" but, he added, "in spite of all 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 223 
 
 his Grace's liberality, the visit was a most costly 
 affair, and for my own part I could have econo- 
 mised at a first-class hotel, so exorbitant were 
 the expectations of the Northumberland servants, 
 so large the gratifications given." It is just 
 possible, however, that these gratifications were 
 looked on as " commissions " by the household of 
 the dispendious Duke. 
 
 1835. 
 
 The Viceroyalty of the Earl of Mulgrave, 
 afterwards Marquis of Normanby, is viewed in 
 very different lights by the extremists on either 
 side in Ireland, by whom the temperate via fuedia 
 is seldom kept in matters political or polemical, for, 
 like George Villiers, they prove — 
 
 " So over violent, or over civil, 
 That every man with them is God or devil." 
 
 To the Protestant ascendancy clique, of whom 
 the coryphaeus in the House of Lords was the 
 Earl of Roden, Lord Mulgrave appeared only a 
 few degrees less abominable than the apocryphal 
 beast. But to the great bulk of the inhabitants of 
 Ireland, who were Liberal, because their hopes 
 and expectations were based on Liberal support, 
 
2 24 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Lord ^lulgrave was a right-minded and impartial 
 X^iceroy, who, while he put a curb on Orange 
 violence, was equally unfavourable to secret 
 societies — the Ribbon especially — on the other 
 side. Hence the country party eschewed the 
 levees and functions at the Castle, thereby throw- 
 ing his Excellency still more into Catholic hands. 
 O'Connell gave him his strenuous support, and for 
 that reason probably the country, save for the 
 tithe agitation, was restored to some temporary 
 tranquillity. The wholesale gaol deliveries autho- 
 rised by his Excellency on his progresses through 
 the country, gave rise to no slight scandal ; but 
 almost anything seemed preferable to " the bloody 
 assizes " so common previously. Lord Mul- 
 grave's personal staff, which included Mr. Frank 
 Sheridan, Mr. Bernal Osborne, Sir Thomas 
 Burke, and men of that calibre, was very popular, 
 and the Viceroy shared In Its popularity. His 
 Excellency, moreover, like Lord Anglesea, joined 
 in the sports and pastimes of the country, par- 
 ticularly in racing, and as the Curragh was not 
 then made quite so accessible by train as it is 
 now from Dublin, the Lord Lieutenant spent 
 much of his time at Normanby Lodge at its edge, 
 which he either bought or rented for a sporting 
 home In summer. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 225 
 
 His Excellency was very fortunate In his 
 Secretaries, for the Chief Secretary was Lord 
 Morpeth, afterwards Earl of Carlisle, so long 
 identified with the Castle and Viceregal Lodge ; 
 while the Under-Secretary was Mr. Thomas 
 Drummond, decidedly the ablest man, and, per- 
 haps, the most earnest and devoted that ever 
 filled that post. He may be said to have struck 
 the hardest blows that ever were aimed at the 
 odious oligarchical system of exclusivism, known 
 as " Protestant Ascendancy," and to have done 
 much to enlist the people to the side of govern- 
 ment by the administration of unswerving and 
 evenhanded justice. Mr. Drummond, who Wc'S 
 the scion of a Scotch family almost as old as the 
 Courtenays in England, began his career in the 
 Royal Engineers, and very soon stepped out 
 of the crowd by his clever invention of the 
 limelight (of which the modern light is only 
 an adaptation) for the scientific surveying and 
 illumination of the coast. Lord Brougham 
 introduced him to the political arena, and Lord 
 Althorp persuaded him to become his private 
 secretary. This, probably, led to his appoint- 
 ment as permanent Under-Secretary to the Lord 
 Lieutenant of the time being. Some will say that 
 his zeal for a still unenfranchised and half emanci- 
 
2 26 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 pated peasantry led him too far in the opposite 
 direction, but no one ever doubted his philan- 
 thropic highmindedness and rectitude of purpose. 
 He was married to Miss Kinnaird just before 
 settHng In the lodge in the Phoenix Park. 
 Whatever may be thought of Lord Mulgrave's 
 political views, he was not wanting in ability, 
 and he had the courage of his convictions. 
 
 Lord Normanby was Governor of Jamaica 
 prior to his Viceroyalty, and his son succeeded 
 him in that post. 
 
 1846. 
 
 The pestilence which " walketh in darkness" 
 and destroys human beings finds a replica In the 
 blight which sometimes In a mysterious and 
 sudden manner attacks the food staples of a 
 nation, and paralyses its industry. The vine Is 
 especially subject to such a canker, but then 
 the vine, though It may minister greatly to the 
 wealth and power of a population, is not its sole 
 subsistence and stay, and so to speak Its raison 
 d'etre; but the potato In Ireland, the gift of an 
 English adventurer, fulfilled all these conditions, 
 and was practically the life of about four millions 
 of men, women, and children. In 1845 the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 22 7 
 
 potato plant was struck with consumption, and the 
 existence of milHons was thus placed in jeopardy. 
 Experts tell us that an improvident peasantry had 
 brought this Nemesis on themselves by sowing 
 bad seed year after year, and never changing 
 or renewing it. They tell us, too, that Nature 
 had given indications of the approaching decay 
 some years previously, which were all unheeded, 
 but the revelation of the potato rot, which 
 extended all over Ireland, was as sudden and 
 overwhelming as a shock of earthquake or the in- 
 road of an overwhelming flood. Malthus' theories 
 about the pressure of population, and the increase 
 of the latter in a geometrical ratio, while the in- 
 crease of the means of subsistence was only on an 
 arithmetical scale of proportion, found no favour 
 in Ireland, where politics, population, and potatoes 
 formed an inseparable Trinity, the multiplication 
 of forty-shilling freeholds to increase the political 
 power of the landowners being xh^fojts et ori^o of 
 this perilous and precarious combination. When 
 the emancipated freeholders refused to be driven 
 to the poll like sheep, at least by their landlords, 
 though they submitted cheerfully to the goad of 
 "their natural leaders," secular and spiritual, 
 these freeholders, on getting into almost inevitable 
 arrear, were evicted freely, to swell the ranks 
 
228 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 of the lazy, listless loafers of the towns, who, 
 like the ideal idlers in the market place referred 
 to by the Evangelist, maintained that attitude 
 because " no man had hired them." A system of 
 cheap emigration had not then been devised, the 
 Poor Law had not been introduced, and the 
 clearance of a county side was then what it is 
 not now, as asserted by Mr. Gladstone and his 
 followers, something akin to a "sentence of death." 
 Our Indian Empire experiences have taught us 
 what it is to have a strong, capable, and humane 
 Governor at the helm when a famine is threatened^ 
 or the industries of a population are suddenly 
 arrested and paralysed. Fortunate was it for the 
 United Kingdom that the Viceroy of Ireland — 
 John William Ponsonby, fourth Earl of Bess- 
 borough- — -was an Irishman of heart and brains, 
 who could master the situation and do his best to 
 alleviate it, and who, moreover, was acceptable to 
 the people he ruled and to their chiefs, while fully 
 prepared to maintain the constitution and to 
 respect the rights of property and the traditions of 
 the Empire. 
 
 A Conservative Ponsonby would be something 
 of a " rara avis" in politics — that is to say, a 
 Conservative by public profession, for in practice 
 the family are Conservative enough in many 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 229 
 
 respects, but in the Irish as well as in the English 
 Parliaments the Ponsonbys ever proved oppo- 
 nents to privilege and strenuous vindicators of 
 popular rights. The Prodigal Son is a typical 
 picture for all times, but fortunately the Ponsonby 
 family had few such erratic, if sublimely repentant, 
 members, and it seems to have been characterised 
 by prudence, policy, and common sense for 
 generations, since the Cromwellian Colonel pru- 
 dently purchased up the land debentures in which 
 the disbanded Parliamentary army was paid. In 
 Church and State, in war, and its image, the 
 chase, the Ponsonbys illustrate history and county 
 annals. We know from the Greville " Memoirs" 
 that the fourth Earl, while Liberal as any 
 hereditary Whig, was as opposed to anarchy and 
 lawlessness as — say Mr. Arthur Balfour or his 
 uncle Lord Salisbury. " He wants the Proclam- 
 ation Act to be renewed ; the Conciliation Hall 
 has its agents everywhere, and governs Ireland 
 more than the Government does. If he had been 
 Lord Lieutenant he would not have consented to 
 divide authority with that body." Here is Charles 
 Greville's commentary on Lord Bessborough's 
 reign: — "In Ireland Bessborough has done 
 admirably well, with a mixture of wisdom and 
 firmness which has gained him great applause. 
 
230 DUBLLM CASTLE. 
 
 Even Lord Roden says he is the best Lord 
 Lieutenant they ever had. The state of Ireland 
 meanwhile is most deplorable, not so much from 
 the magnitude of the prevailing calamity as from 
 the utter corruption and demori^lisation of the 
 whole people from top to bottom. Obstinacy, 
 ignorance, cupidity, and idleness overspread the 
 land. Nobody thinks of anything but how they 
 can turn the evil of the times to their own 
 advantage. The upper classes are intent on 
 jobbery, and the lower on being provided with 
 everything, and doing nothing. It sickens and 
 disgusts me, and it is necessary to bear constantly 
 in mind how much we have to reproach ourselves 
 for letting Ireland become so degraded and cor- 
 rupt, to endure the spectacle with any sort of 
 patience." Again, he writes : — " There is no 
 doubt whatever that while English charity and 
 commiseration have been so loudly invoked, and 
 we have been harrowed with stories of Irish 
 starvation, in many parts of Ireland the people 
 have been suffered to die for want of food when 
 there was all the time plenty of food to give them, 
 but which was hoarded on speculation ; but what 
 is still more extraordinary, people have died of 
 starvation with money enough to buy food in 
 their pockets. I was told the night before last 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 23 T 
 
 that Lord de Vesci had written to his son that 
 since the Government had positively declared they 
 would not furnish seed, abundance of seed had 
 come forth, and, what was more extraordinary, 
 plenty of potatoes ; and Labouchere told me there 
 had been three coroners' inquests, with verdicts 
 ' Starvation,' and in each case the sufferers had 
 been found to have considerable sums of money 
 in their possession ; and in one, if not more, still 
 more considerable sums in the savings bank — yet 
 they died rather than spend their money in the 
 purchase of food." Without questioning these 
 eccentricities and hoarding hallucinations, the 
 awful nature and extent of the national calamity, 
 with the sequent pestilence, cannot be gainsayed. 
 The readers of Thucydides know that the com- 
 bination of XtjLtos and \oi}x6^ lead to strange 
 consequences and very moderate manifestations 
 of human nature. 
 
 It is something of a coincidence that the 
 deaths of Lord Bessborough and O'Connell took 
 place almost simultaneously. " The departure of 
 the latter, which not lonof ao^o would have excited 
 the greatest interest, and filled the world with 
 political speculations, was heard almost with un- 
 concern, so entirely had his importance vanished ; 
 he had, in fact, been for some time morallv and 
 
232 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 politically defunct, and nobody seems to know 
 whether his death is likely to prove a good or 
 an evil, or a mere matter of indifference. The 
 death of Bessborough excited far greater interest, 
 and no man ever quitted the world more sur- 
 rounded by sympathy, approbation, respect, and 
 affection than he did — during his last illness, 
 which he himself and all about him knew to be 
 fatal, he was surrounded by a numerous and 
 devoted family, and the people of Dublin univer- 
 sally testified their regard for him, and their grief 
 at losinof him. He continued in the uninter- 
 rupted possession of his faculties almost to the 
 last hour of his existence, and he calmly discussed 
 every matter of public and private interest in 
 conversation with his children and friends, and 
 dictated letters to John Russell and his colleagues 
 at home. He expired at eleven o'clock at night ; 
 at nine he felt his pulse, and said he saw the end 
 was approaching. He then sent for all his family, 
 seventeen in number, saw them, and took leave 
 of them separately, and gave to each a small 
 present he had prepared, and then calmly lay 
 down to die ; in less than two hours all was over. 
 They say his funeral was one of the finest and 
 most striking sights possible, from the countless 
 multitudes which attended it, and the decorum 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 233 
 
 and good feeling which were displayed. Claren- 
 don has kept the whole of Bessborough's staff 
 and household, with one exception, and he told 
 them that he kept them on account of their 
 attachment to his predecessor. The reputation 
 which Bessborough had acquired, which, at the 
 time of his death, and since his Irish adminis- 
 tration, was very considerable, affords a remark- 
 able example of the success which may be 
 obtained by qualities of a superior description, 
 without great talents, without knowledge and 
 information, and without any power of speaking 
 in Parliament. He had long- been addicted to 
 politics, and was closely connected by relationship 
 or friendship with the most eminent Whig leaders. 
 His opinions had always been strongly Liberal, 
 and he seemed to have found the place exactly 
 adapted to his capacity and disposition, when he 
 became the Whig whipper-in of the House of 
 Commons ; he was gradually initiated in all the 
 secrets of that party, and he soon became a 
 very important member of it, from his various 
 intimacies, and the personal influence he was 
 enabled to exercise. He had a remarkably calm 
 and unruffled temper, and very good sound sense. 
 The consequence was that he was consulted 
 by everybody, and usually and constantly em- 
 
234 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 ployed in the arrangement of difficulties, the 
 adjustment of rival pretensions, and the recon- 
 ciliation of differences, for which purposes some 
 such man is indispensable and invaluable in 
 every great political association. He continued to 
 acquire fresh weight and influence, and at length 
 nothing could be done without Duncannon, as 
 he then was ; everybody liked him, and King 
 William, when he hated the rest of the Whlofs, 
 always testified good humour and regard for 
 him. He took office and became a Cabinet 
 minister, and he continued to do a vast deal 
 of Parliamentary business, especially in the 
 House of Lords, and carry bills through Par- 
 liament without ever making the semblance 
 of a speech. In this way, by his good nature 
 and good sense, and an extreme liveliness 
 and elasticity of spirits, which made him a 
 very pleasant and acceptable member of society, 
 he continued to increase in public reputation 
 and private favour, and when the Govern- 
 ment was formed last year his appointment to 
 the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland was generally 
 approved of. He had almost always been on 
 good terms with O'Connell ; indeed, he never was 
 on bad terms with anybody, and as an Irishman 
 he was agreeable to the people. In his adminis- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 235 
 
 tration, adverse and unhappy as the times were, 
 he displayed great industry, firmness, and know- 
 ledge of the character and circumstances of the 
 Irish people, and he conciliated the good will 
 of those to whom he had been all his life opposed. 
 Lord Roden, the head of the Orange party, who 
 has all along acted a very honourable and patriotic 
 part, afforded ample testimony to his merits, and 
 gave him a very frank and generous support." 
 
 After Lord John Russell had given up his pet 
 project of abolishing the Viceroyalty in favour 
 of a Secretaryship, there was some difficulty in 
 selecting a successor, the favourites for the post 
 being the Duke of Bedford, Clarendon, and Lord 
 Morpeth. Lord Bessborough's request to the 
 Premier was " to appoint a inaji to succeed Jiini 
 zu/io shall be firm and bold, and, above all, who will 
 not seek for populaj'ityy These were, indeed, 
 counsels of perfection. 
 
 Lord Bessborough's popularity in Ireland was 
 the spontaneous offering of all he came in contact 
 with, not sought by the usual arts and artifices, 
 much less by pandering to popular prejudices and 
 passions ; some of it, no doubt, may be accounted 
 for by the cordial relations between himself and 
 O'Connell, who was occasionally his guest, and by 
 his intimacy with that great benefactor of the 
 
 Q 
 
236 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 people, Father Mathew ; in fact, Lord Bess- 
 borough, in his largeness of view with regard 
 to religious toleration, was almost as much in 
 advance of his age as his predecessor, Lord 
 Chesterfield, who, it is said, warned his Govern- 
 ment to be far more afraid o{ poverty in Ireland 
 than of Popery. 
 
 Lord Bessborough played Maecenas to several 
 Horaces (if not quite of the calibre of the great 
 Ouintus Flaccus). Fanny Kemble was among 
 the invites to the Castle, and among literary 
 habitues at his Court were Moncton Milnes, Mr. 
 Abraham Hayward, and Eliot Warburton, whose 
 "Crescent and Cross" is still of great and general 
 interest. Of course, the social brilliancy of Dublin 
 Castle was much eclipsed by the national calamity 
 that cast its dark shadow over everything, but for 
 all that the Levees and Drawing-Rooms were 
 extremely well attended in the time of Lord Bess- 
 borouofh, whose death is attributed in a ijreat 
 measure to official anxiety and care. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Among the vigorous Viceroys of Ireland since 
 the Union, the Earl of Clarendon must ever take 
 a leading position. He may be said to have been 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 237 
 
 born in the purple of office, and his natural 
 acumen was sharpened by the various functions 
 which from an early age he was called upon to 
 perform.- His very title suggests Constitutionalism 
 and political liberality, for " the constitutions of 
 Clarendon " are amongst the earliest bulwarks of 
 the State against the encroachments and aggres- 
 sions of sacerdotalism. They were passed in 
 1 1 64, in a general council of peers and prelates, in 
 a park called Clarendon, near Salisbury, and had 
 their effect in shaping the destinies of England, 
 
 We are reminded -of Dr. Johnson's sonorous 
 line — 
 
 " Is now no more than Tully or than Hyde," 
 
 by the decay of the former tenants of the title of 
 Earls of Clarendon, to whom, however, the sub- 
 ject of our sketch was connected by a maternal 
 ancestress, his own family tracing their lineage 
 from the famous Duke of Buckingham. Lord 
 Clarendon was educated at Cambridge, and passed 
 into the diplomatic ranks after leaving the Univer- 
 sity, getting attached to the Embassy at St. Peters- 
 burg. From 1823 to 1833 he was a commissioner 
 of excise, and in that capacity he was sent to 
 Dublin to consolidate the excise boards, thouo-h 
 
 o 
 
 Q 2 
 
238 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 it is hinted in the Cloncurry memoirs that he had 
 an ev^en more important mission in preparing for 
 the Emancipation Act. A commercial treaty with 
 France was his next achievement, and then we 
 find he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary and 
 Minister Plenipotentiary to Madrid, where he 
 acquired a thorough knowledge of Spanish 
 affairs, as evidenced by his subsequent speech on 
 the subject in the House of Lords. On the 
 death of an uncle he succeeded to the Earldom, 
 and we next find him in the Melbourne Cabinet as 
 Lord Privy Seal, and temporarily Chancellor of 
 the Duchy of Lancaster. These offices he held 
 till Sir Robert Peel's ministry in 1841 ; when this 
 was replaced in 1846 by Lord John Russell's 
 administration, Lord Clarendon was given the 
 Board of Trade, and on Lord Bessborough's 
 death at the Castle (Dublin) he was sent to fill 
 the Viceroyalty of Ireland. The times were 
 critical, Chartism was rampant in England, with an 
 Irishman, Fergus O'Connor, for its coryphaeus ; 
 and in Ireland O'Connell, the champion of con- 
 stitutional agitation, had been practically deposed 
 and degraded by a more advanced party of 
 separatists, headed by Smith-O'Brien, Duffy, 
 Mitchell, and Meagher, who openly advocated 
 violence or the sword as the only means of re- 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 23 9 
 
 dressina: the wronofs of Ireland. How the bubble 
 burst at Ballingarry, without the intervention of a 
 single soldier, is now matter of history, too trite to 
 repeat ; nor did the sanguinary retaliations that 
 followed the Emmett einciUe find any place 
 consule Clarendon. The chiefs were banished, 
 the followers were pardoned, and the anarchical 
 scenes which deluged the continent with blood, and 
 hurled monarchs from the thrones were unknown 
 in Ireland ; this happy consummation was due very 
 much to the vigilance and boldness of the Viceroy, 
 who only struck when it was absolutely necessary 
 to do so, and proved himself a most efficient head 
 of the Executive, never afraid of assuming re- 
 sponsibility when it was absolutely necessary in his 
 opinion to act boldly, as In the suppression of 
 certain prints whose patriotism tended to treason. 
 It was during Lord Clarendon's term of office that 
 Her Majesty Queen Victoria paid her first visit to 
 Ireland with Prince Albert and the young princes 
 and princesses. Their reception was enthusiastic, 
 but unfortunately the stay of the royal visitors was 
 limited to five days, during which there was a 
 grand review of the garrison in the Phoenix Park, 
 excursions were made to Howth and Carton, the 
 chief institutions of Dublin were visited, and Her 
 Majesty and the Prince Consort inscribed their 
 
240 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 names in the Book of Kells at the Library of 
 Trinity College. Lord John Russell, it was well 
 known, was strongly opposed to the continuance 
 of the Viceroyalty, and Lord Clarendon certainly 
 considered himself the last of the tenants of the 
 Castle, but a great outcry was made in Dublin 
 about the proposed disestablishment, and the 
 institution has "brokenly lived on" ever since, 
 reminding one of Dr)^den's line in his poem "The 
 Hind and the Panther " — 
 
 " Still doomed to death tho' fated not to die." 
 
 In August, 1849, Her Majesty the Queen 
 granted a charter for the foundation of a new 
 university, to be called " the Queen's University 
 in Ireland" — of this Lord Clarendon was the 
 first chancellor. 
 
 Lord Clarendon's private secretar)' was the 
 witty Corry Conellan, whom Thackeray, in his 
 satire on the Viceregal office and its satellites, 
 described as " Corry, the bould Conellan." It is 
 said that on one occasion the Duke of Devonshire 
 paid a visit to the Viceroy at the Castle. Lord 
 Clarendon was at the moment of his announce- 
 ment absorbed in some affair of State that brooked 
 no delay, and he deputed Mr. Conellan to receive 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 24 I 
 
 his Grace till he could get a release from his 
 preoccupying business. When this time came 
 the Viceroy hurried to meet his Grace, and apolo- 
 gised profusely for his apparent neglect. "Pray 
 make no apologies," said the Duke, "I have 
 been entertained in your absence by a most kind, 
 agreeable, and condescending gentleman, who 
 made me feel perfectly at home." This was Corry 
 Conellan, who, till he eclipsed himself for ever, 
 was the ornament and despot of most dinner tables 
 in Dublin. In 1825 (March the 2nd) Lord 
 Clarendon left his capital on the resignation of 
 his chief, Lord John Russell. 
 
 In Lord Clarendon's time the entente cordialc 
 which for centuries had existed between the Irish 
 or Castle Executive and the head of the Cor- 
 poration of Dublin — its Lord Mayor — had not 
 been severed by political antagonism ; and the 
 Mansion House in Dawson Street, bought in 
 1 71 5 from the Dawson family, was a great meet- 
 ing place for the leading citizens of Dublin, the 
 Lord Lieutenant of the time being, and the 
 nobility of the country. On the 21st of January, 
 1 85 1, the then Lord Mayor, Benjamin Lee 
 Guinness, entertained his Excellency at a banquet 
 of unusual splendour. On the ist of August of 
 that year the Midland Great Western Railway of 
 
242 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Ireland was opened for traffic between Dublin 
 and Galway — an event of higher importance, 
 perhaps, to "the kingdom of Connaught" than 
 any since Cromwell's " Plantation." Whether 
 Lord Clarendon was offered the Premiership after 
 his departure from Ireland we are unable to state 
 positively, but his ability as Secretary of State 
 for P'oreign Affairs was most conspicuous. The 
 gossipy Charles Greville tells us how, on his 
 accepting the Foreign Office in Lord John 
 Russell's ministry, Lord Aberdeen told him "that 
 of all the new Cabinet, it was to him that the 
 Queen and the Prince looked with the greatest 
 confidence ; they cared little for any of the others, 
 but had a great opinion of him, and a great 
 reliance on him, and mainly counted on his judg- 
 ment and influence to make matters go on 
 smoothly abroad. He said that Peel entertained 
 the same opinion, and had said that Clarendon in 
 the Cabinet was the best security for peace." It 
 may be mentioned here that when Lord John 
 Russell conceived that the death of Lord Bess- 
 borough gave him an opportunity of bringing in 
 a bill for the abolition of the Viceroyalty and 
 putting the government of Ireland into the hands 
 of a Secretary, it was his intention to offer that 
 Secretaryship to Lord Clarendon. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 243 
 
 The Earl of Egiinton 1852 and 1858. 
 
 " Pour bien vivre," according to the Gallic 
 proverb, which may bear the hall mark of Roch- 
 foucauld or La Bruyere, or some such witty 
 worthy, " il faut avoir mauvais cceur et bon 
 estomac." There is a certain sardonic verity 
 in the antithesis, however abhorrent to our 
 better feelings, but we may lay down a cognate 
 axiom, or law of life, for Viceroys in Ireland, that 
 "pour bien vivre il faut avoir bon chef, et bon cru," 
 and withal a largeness of hand and heart that 
 are generally irresistible in the Green Isle. All 
 these admirable qualifications were united in the 
 handsome person of Archibald William, Earl of 
 Egiinton and Winton, Knight of the Thistle, a 
 Doctor of Civil Law, and an LL.D. Of his 
 orthodoxy in jurisprudence much proof was never 
 given or required by the world, so that the LL.D. 
 may not be greatly insisted on in marshalling the 
 titles and honours of this popular peer ; but the 
 possession of L.S.D. is, even in the Chesterfield 
 code, no bad letter of recommendation when 
 coupled with good looks, winning manners, a 
 chivalrous spirit, and a ready wit. Ireland has a 
 wonderful power of recuperation. Even in the 
 Elizabethan age, after the scourgings and hostings 
 
244 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 of Strong representatives of the Crown, when. 
 according to contemporary chronicle, the low of 
 kine was not to be heard throughout the land for 
 many scores of miles, say from Cashel to Cork ; 
 when wolves multiplied and waxed more and 
 more audacious, as man their master began to 
 wane, and the common kerne were fain to satisfy 
 the cravings of hunger with such messes of 
 pottage as the wild sorrel which the woods 
 afforded, a few years of rest and respite sufficed 
 to renew the face of the earth ; and now, in the 
 second half of the 19th century, the potato- 
 plague, the famine, and the pestilence and 
 the financial disorganisation that followed, were 
 being fast forgotten in returning plenty and 
 prosperity, and society having supped full of 
 horrors was fain once more to eat, drink, and be 
 merry, and to look hopefully towards a better and 
 brighter future. It was at such a time that Lord 
 Eglinton was selected for the Viceregal throne in 
 the Castle of Dublin by a Conservative premier, 
 and Lord Naas, M.P. for Kildare, Coleraine, and 
 Cockermouth in succession, was his Chief Secre- 
 tary, while General Dunne, of an old Celtic stock, 
 was the Permanent Secretary. Lord Eglinton came 
 to govern a people for whom chivalry had not yet 
 lost its charm, and in whom the passion for sport 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 245 
 
 is predominant. Horsemen by nature, and bred 
 up among horses, the Irish could not but feel a 
 leanino: towards a nobleman who owned the best 
 horse of the century (so far), the Flying Dutch- 
 man, who had defeated another great rival, the 
 champion of the north, " Voltigeur," and who had 
 summoned his brother peers and paladins to a 
 splendid tournament at Eglinton Castle, where one 
 of the chief jousters was an Earl from Erin, another 
 a Milesian Marquis, Henry Lord Waterford ; 
 and the Queen of Beauty represented Irish wit 
 and Irish loveliness, while he himself wore a 
 cuirass inlaid wath gold. Moreover, Lord Eglin- 
 ton was indirectly connected with Ireland. At 
 Killester, on the road to Howth, about a mile from 
 Clontarf, was an Irish country house, not unlike a 
 French chateau, where were reared two comely 
 Irish maidens, the daughters of Lord Newcomen, 
 whose town house, just opposite the upper gate 
 of Dublin Castle, shows that architecture flourished 
 in Ireland at that period. One of these ladies 
 married Archdeacon Gould ; the second, Theresa, 
 after an Indian experience as the wife of Captain 
 Cockerell, R.N., became the wife of Lord 
 Eglinton. It is said that when Charles Kean, 
 the great son of the greater Edmund Kean, 
 came to Dublin, then as always a favorite his- 
 
246 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 trionic hunting ground, he became devoted to 
 JMiss Theresa Newcomen, but her brother, a 
 Captain Newcomen, gave the actor his cojigc in a 
 rather summary fashion. Theresa seems to have 
 Hked her Charles, for 18 months after, she sent 
 him a message to York to say she was going out 
 to \\\'Ki\2iinalgre. He instantly left the stage where 
 he was actually playing, and got leave to see his 
 enchantress for ten minutes, and tried to persuade 
 her not to sail, " But my trunks are all on board," 
 she piteously pleaded. " Never mind, don't go ; " 
 love laughs at locks we know, but trunks and 
 locks prevailed in this case, and on the passage out 
 she met Captain Cockerel!, " her fate," and he 
 became her mate. On his death she became a 
 wealthy widow, and in time won and wore, though 
 for a short time only, the coronets of Eglinton 
 and Winton. Lord Eglinton married en secondes 
 noces Lady Adela Caroline Harriet Capel at 
 Dublin Castle. 
 
 Lord Eglinton's transition from the world of 
 sport to that of politics was nearly as sudden 
 as that of Lord George Bentinck, and if Lord 
 Eglinton never attained the heights reached by 
 the owner of Crucifix and Surplice, the terror of 
 the turf, and the iconoclast of its brigands and 
 ruffians, he developed into a graceful speaker 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 247 
 
 and an oratorical ornament of the gilded chamber. 
 " Happy the country that has no annals," said a 
 well-known writer ; and the history of Ireland 
 during the Eglinton regime, repeated as it was, 
 proved comparatively uneventful, and may be 
 summed up, in the language of Scripture, " The 
 land had rest." It was his privilege to lay the 
 first pillar of the exhibition of industrial art in 
 the Leinster lawn of the Royal Dublin Society, 
 and he lent his willing aid to the projects of Mr. 
 Lever for establishing a regular line of Trans- 
 Atlantic steamers between Galway and her nearest 
 western neighbour. New York. 
 
 But it was socially that Lord Eglinton shone 
 most brilliantly. It was in his day that the big 
 banquets that have ever since obtained at the 
 Castle were inaugurated, and that champagne 
 was discovered to be a capital solvent of political 
 and polemical acerbities. It flowed most freely 
 under his auspices, and all sorts and conditions of 
 men ate, drank, and were merry, which is, at any 
 rate, a better and a more hopeful state of things 
 than everlasting brooding over an impossible 
 past, or plotting for a more impossible future. 
 In fact, the order of the day was — 
 
 " Dona prnesentis cape Icetus horce, et 
 Linque sevcra." 
 
248 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 His Excellency's skill as a cueist (in which 
 he was almost unrivalled) was well and widely 
 known, but at racquets he was almost equally 
 good, and this manly game found great encourage- 
 ment in his reign, and became quite the fashion. 
 One of the living ornaments and buttresses of the 
 Irish Bench is said to have owed something of 
 his precocious promotion to great skill and science 
 in the racquet court, where his tall figure was 
 almost as familiar as in that of Themis. He 
 failed, however, to win the beautiful pin, in which 
 a big pearl represented the ball, given by his 
 Excellency as a prize in a racquet tournament ; 
 it was won by Mr. Alexander, of Carlow, who 
 belonged to a family ahvays prominent in manly 
 sports of every kind. 
 
 On the resignation of Lord Derby's ministry, 
 Lord Eglinton, to the great regret of most Irish- 
 men who had ever come in contact with him, 
 left Dublin Castle for the second time. This was 
 in June. In August we find the Lord Mayor 
 of Dublin calling a meeting of citizens at the 
 Mansion House to pay a tribute of respect to 
 the memory of a Viceroyalty conspicuous for its 
 efforts to advance the material interests of Ireland. 
 
 The idea took concrete form in the statue 
 erected in Stephens Green, which, however. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 249 
 
 does scant justice to the manly beauty of Lord 
 Eglinton, for, like Tom Bowling's — 
 
 " His form was of the manliest beauty, 
 His heart was kind and soft, 
 Faithful below he did his duty, 
 But now he^s gone aloft." 
 
 1853. 
 Lord Eglinton's first successor was Lord St. 
 Germans, the lineal descendant of the great 
 confessor for liberty, Sir John Eliot. He, as 
 Lord Elliot, had been Chief Secretary in Ireland, 
 and had shown good aptitude for official business, 
 having first proved himself in Spain a most able 
 diplomatist ; but the business side of Viceroyalty 
 is, perhaps, the smallest, and Lord St. Germans, 
 with somewhat slender means, was not capable of 
 sustaining that splendid style that had charac- 
 terised the reign of his predecessor. 
 
 " Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat 
 Res augusta domi ; Eblana durius illis 
 Conatus." 
 
 For at Eblana, as well as at Imperial Rome, the 
 style makes the man [le style fait rjiomine), and 
 a poor prorex is something rather anomalous ! 
 His Excellency had the honour of entertaining 
 Her Majesty when she came over to visit the 
 
250 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Industrial Exhibition with the Prince Consort 
 and the Prince of Wales. This exhibition was 
 mainly the work of Mr. Dargan, the railway con- 
 tractor ; and another great work of his was the 
 Dublin and Wicklow Railway, which in the reign 
 of his Excellency was thrown open as far as 
 Bray. In his Excellency's reign, too, was opened 
 the Roman Catholic University in Stephens 
 Green, involving in its title two inconsistencies, 
 for " the Catholic " must have a wider sphere 
 than Rome, while a University implies admittance 
 to the general, rather than the particular. 
 
 1855- 
 
 Lord Carlisle, who as Viscount Morpeth had 
 filled the office of Chief Secretary to the Lord 
 Lieutenant under Lords Normanby, Fortescue, 
 and de Grey, renewed his acquaintance with 
 Ireland and the Irish as Lord Lieutenant, on 
 the resignation of Lord St. Germans in 1855. 
 Now Lord Morpeth had been an avowedly 
 able Chief Secretary ; his despatches were those 
 of a thorough scholar and gentleman, as well as 
 of a man of large and liberal views ; but it does 
 not follow that a first-rate Secretary should always 
 develop into a first-rate Viceroy. The men of 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 25 I 
 
 Corinth complained that while St. Paul's letters 
 were " weighty and powerful his bodily presence 
 was weak," and the lack of power and dignity was 
 possibly the one thing which prevented Lord 
 Carlisle from being a model prorex or pro-consul, 
 for he had great gifts, ample fortune, an un- 
 impeachable pedigree, and a most kindly and 
 genial disposition, combined with a power of 
 happy expression that almost amounted at timss 
 to classical eloquence ; indeed. Lord Carlisle, 
 whose nature it was to be happy and to confer 
 happiness on others, was perhaps happiest when 
 he was pointing periods and making felicitous 
 allusions in his ornate orations, whether the 
 occasion was the opening of a monster ware- 
 house in Grafton or Sackville Street, or laying 
 the foundation stone of the new College of 
 Physicians. Lord Carlisle, too, was as hos- 
 pitable as the typical Prelate as sketched b\' 
 the Apostle to the Gentiles, and if the majority 
 of his guests did not belong to the territorial 
 aristocracy, whose supremacy in Church and 
 State was contrary to all his notions, there 
 was a tolerable blend of men and women of 
 all creeds and conditions at the Castle and the 
 Lodge. Every reign has been illustrated by 
 " the might, the majesty of loveliness " in some 
 
252 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 elected Queen of Beauty. Thus in the days of 
 Lord Chesterfield the universal toast was Miss 
 Ambrose, " the dangerous Papist," who after- 
 wards became Lady Palmer. Walpole has told 
 us of the remarkable trio of girls, the graceful 
 Gunninofs, who were " Countessed and double 
 Duchessed." They were born at Castle Coote, 
 and became successively Duchesses of Hamilton 
 and Argyll, Countess of Coventry, and Mrs. 
 Travers ; but beauty, grace, and that indes- 
 cribable fascination w^hich we call "charm" 
 were united at the Carlisle Court in Miss Rose 
 O'Hara, who afterwards became Mrs. Forbes, of 
 Callender, N.B. 
 
 In Lord Carlisle's Viceroyalty the Queen and 
 the Prince Consort paid one of their angelic visits 
 to Ireland. Her Majesty reviewed the troops at 
 the Curragh, where H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 
 had been quartered for a few months, and. after a 
 short survey of Killarney, where the royal party 
 were entertained by Mr. Herbert, of Muckross, 
 and Lord Castlerosse, returned to England via 
 Dublin. 
 
 Lord Carlisle's affectionate disposition was 
 shown by the liberal legacies he bequeathed in his 
 will to several of the members of his personal staff. 
 He shares with Lord Eglington the posthumous 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 253 
 
 honour of a statue in the grounds of " the 
 People's Park," part of the Phoenix Park. Lord 
 Cariisle had great faith in the reformatory system 
 which was carried out on an extensive scale in the 
 vicinity of Dublin by Sir John Lentaigne. Sir 
 John used to promote some of the "radically 
 reformed " to domestic service in his own house, 
 and when a wise and witty but agnostic official 
 ventured to point out to the philanthropic 
 reformer that it was hardly safe to entrust plate 
 to such hands, Sir John indignantly asked, 
 "Why not, when I can thoroughly trust them." 
 •' Because," was the reply, " you and his Excel- 
 lency will very soon be the sole spoons left in 
 the house." Lord Carlisle talked poetically and 
 wrote verses, but he was no poet any more than 
 Cicero, who claimed the double crown of poet and 
 orator. 
 
 To show how urgent Lord Carlisle was in the 
 cause of his many friends, the following letter to 
 him from Lord Palmerston will serve for an 
 example : — 
 
 *' Broadlands, 
 
 '' April 2Q), 1862. 
 " My dear Carlisle, 
 
 " I have received your letter of the 19th. I 
 remember a sarcastic critic exclaiming, ' Here 
 
 R 2 
 
254 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 comes Dudley Stuart with his eternal Poles.' 
 I shall parody the exclamation by saying, ' Here 
 
 comes Carlisle with his eternal X ; ' but I 
 
 think the Poles better entitled to their freedom 
 than X. is to the Commandership, and so let us 
 adjourn the debate. 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Palmerston." 
 
 1864. 
 
 To the genial and generous Carlisle succeeded 
 a man made of somewhat sterner stuff, John 
 Wodehouse, third Baron Wodehouse, who at- 
 tained to the Earldom of Kimberley in 1866. 
 Comparatively small socially (for his fortune was 
 unequal to the task of entertaining magnificently, 
 and on a sumptuous scale, like some of his pre- 
 decessors in office), he was great administratively, 
 and proved a Viceroy of transcendant vigour 
 where strength of purpose and determination 
 were required for the safety of the State, seeing 
 that many thousands of American Irish — desceiivrcs 
 since the enforced reunion of Columbia's pro- 
 vinces and " territories " — were banded together 
 to dismember the Empire of England, though 
 they had in most cases shed their blood freely for 
 the consolidation of America. These men had 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 ■D^D 
 
 the advantage of numbers and military training, 
 whether under Grant, Lee, or Jackson, and the 
 friction between America and her Motherland, 
 on account of the Alabama adventures, was 
 availed of on the principle, first, I believe, enun- 
 ciated by Grattan, " that England's difficulty or 
 danger was Ireland's opportunity." Of course 
 they had the support and sympathy of the 
 thousands in Ireland whose chief creed was, 
 " Ano-lia delenda est " — England must be blotted 
 out — the same men who later on cheered for 
 the Mahdi, and " hosannah'd " for Arabi. And 
 so a dangerous conspiracy, in which it was hoped 
 and believed some of our soldiers would join, was 
 being hatched in Ireland and America simul- 
 taneously by men of action as well as by men of 
 thoughts and ideas. Canada and Ireland were 
 to be the prizes of victory. The standard of 
 rebellion was unfurled on a cold night of March 
 by the Fenian Executive on Tallaght Hill, a spur 
 of the larger Dublin range that with the Wicklow 
 mountains forms a long chain in which the 
 O'Tooles and O'Byrnes found bases of operations 
 and natural fastnesses in their long war with the 
 English garrison in Dublin. A more foolhardy 
 proceeding could hardly be conceived, unless 
 indeed, as in the case of Hoche, strong supports, 
 
256 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 which were not forthcoming, had been promised 
 and counted on. The poHce of the district were 
 strong enough to cope with the outburst, for 
 Lord Strathnairn and his staff represented the 
 Cavalry of Great Britain on the occasion. The 
 Fenian bubble burst when pricked ever so gently, 
 and, as in the case of the Spanish Armada, when 
 the storms in their courses fought against the 
 invaders, " afflavit Deus et dissipantur." The 
 spring snows and the want of necessaries extin- 
 guished the rising more effectually than arms of 
 precision and gunpowder. Consul Kimberley 
 was not decreed a triumph, but there was no 
 doubt he had shown much promptness and 
 decision, especially when he ordered the offices 
 of "The People," an incendiary publication, to be 
 entered and the plant of the paper seized forcibly. 
 Next day a couple of commissariat wagons carted 
 it off to some military store in Dublin. 
 
 Like his predecessor in office. Lord Kim- 
 berley was a fine scholar, and won distinction at 
 Oxford, where his " First " was generally held 
 to be a brilliant one, for, as everyone knows, 
 there are firsts and firsts. It was in Lord 
 Kimberley's "reign" that H.R.H. the Prince of 
 Wales paid his first visit to the races of Punches- 
 town — ever since then known as Princely 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 257 
 
 Punchestown. From that time the annual Vice- 
 regal procession to these peerless plains, or 
 rather undulations, has been de rigiieiir. Most 
 Viceroys consider this portion of their duties 
 among the pleasantest. 
 
 1866. 
 
 On the fall of the Russell Administration, 
 tripped up by that talented tactician Mr. Benjamin 
 D' Israeli, the Marquis of Abercorn came to the 
 Castle of D.ublin as Lord Lieutenant. If Her 
 Majesty's Constitutional advisers had ransacked 
 the realm they could hardly have found a subject 
 better qualified to represent his Sovereign than 
 James Hamilton, who subsequently became the first 
 Duke of Abercorn. He had this advantage over 
 many Viceroys before him and after him, namely, 
 that he wsls 2i persona grata at Court, and honoured 
 by the personal friendship of the Queen. An Irish 
 nobleman, with a pedigree and quarterings that 
 even the hierarchy of the Hofburgh at Vienna, 
 who are apt to scoff at our bourgeois barons and 
 parvenu peerage, must have respected, and an 
 estate of very large acreage in Ulster (nearly 50,000 
 in Tyrone alone) ; he had great gifts of mind and 
 body, one of the pleasantest and kindliest pre- 
 sences in the House of Lords or the Queen's 
 
258 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Drawing- Room, together with a happy art of 
 expressing agreeably the ideas and conceptions 
 of a busy brain. Of him in his early manhood it 
 might be said — 
 
 " Quid voveat dulci majus nutricula alumno 
 Quam qui scit fari recte quae sentiat, et cui 
 Gratia, fama, valetudo, conlingat abunde." 
 
 Lord Abercorn imbibed the atmosphere of 
 Courts early, for we find him filling the official 
 position of Groom of the Stole to the Prince 
 Consort ; but most of his time was spent at his 
 beautiful family place, Baronscourt, in the co. 
 Tyrone, fulfilling the duties of a country gentle- 
 man and ma2:istrate, beinaf Custos Rotulorum for 
 the neighbouring county of Donegal. The Duke 
 (though we are anticipating his higher title) was 
 not a gambler or the owner of a stud of race- 
 horses, but he patronised with a liberal hand all 
 country sports, and the shooting parties at 
 Baronscourt were not only looked forward to 
 as capital sources of sport but as opening the 
 portals to the pleasantest country-house society, 
 where the sister arts of dancing, singing, and the 
 
 drama flourished greatly. " What has Lord 
 
 ever done?" said a cynic one day to a friend of 
 the noble Lord. " I don't know what he's done," 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 259 
 
 was the reply, " but I know he's the father of the 
 most charming girls of our time." This might 
 have been said truly in the present case ; indeed, 
 few fathers or mothers ever had more reason to 
 be proud of their progeny, both men and women, 
 and here we may mention that the Duchess, 
 a daughter of John, sixth Duke of Bedford, was 
 a member of the Royal Order of Victoria and 
 Albert, a distinction that speaks for itself. 
 
 The Duke made his entry into disturbed 
 Dublin on the 20th of July, and took up his 
 quarters at the Viceregal Lodge. Lord Kim- 
 berley had boldly grasped the nettle conspiracy 
 in Ireland, and nearly crushed it as a national 
 effort. There were, however, a few hot-headed, 
 foolish Fenians who, unable to calculate the pro- 
 portion of means to an end, resolved to strike a 
 blow for Ireland, and this they did at Tallaght Hill 
 on the 5th of March, a fact we noticed in sketch- 
 ing Lord Kimberley's Viceroyalty. The police 
 dealt with the belligerents. Lord Strathnairn, who 
 had had some experience of rebellions, dealt, it is 
 said, with the prisoners by ordering their brace 
 buttons to be cut off on the spot, so that they 
 were marched into Dublin without handcuffs, but 
 all fully occupied in the difficult task of preserving 
 personal dignity and decency by having to hold 
 
26o DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 up their trowsers as they marched along ; thus 
 the dangers incurred by a possible rescue en route 
 were minimised. 
 
 In this " reign " a great work, the foundations 
 of which were laid by Sir John Gray, was com- 
 pleted on the introduction into Dublin of the 
 Vartry water ; but the most splendidly successful 
 social pageant was the installation of the Prince 
 of Wales, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, as a Knight 
 of St. Patrick, in the presence of the Princess of 
 Wales, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, the 
 Duke of Cambrido^e, the Duke of Teck, and a 
 cloud of coronets. 
 
 Sir Bernard Burke, who has so happily illus- 
 trated the Court life of the Castle, must be heard 
 on the subject — " Ireland welcomed with acclaim 
 the Royal Prince, who makes himself loved 
 wherever he goes, and Ireland accepted as a 
 special compliment his enrolment in her own 
 Order of St. Patrick. The presence, too, of the 
 youthful Princess of Wales in all the pride of her 
 early beauty, ' glittering like the morning star, full 
 of life and splendour and joy,' gave a peculiar 
 charm to the event, and the popularity of the 
 Lord Lieutenant, then Marquis of Abercorn, did 
 not detract from the general excitement. The 
 knightly pageant brought all contending parties — 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 26 1 
 
 Celt and Saxon, Protestant and Catholic^ — into 
 one mighty and friendly assemblage, and for one 
 day, at all events. Irishmen, united by the 
 patriotic and harmonious spirit of chivalry, cast 
 every bitter remembrance away." A well known 
 and accomplished writer, Percy Fitzgerald, catch- 
 ing the spirit of the scene, wrote with graphic 
 pen a sparkling description of it, and concluded 
 with these words, " Every knight passes to his 
 stall ; in front of him stand his two esquires ; 
 over his head his own banner and sword. Then 
 the new knight is brought to the Grand Master 
 and kneels before him while the sword is girded 
 on, and the blue collar and robe are adjusted ; 
 other blue mantles cluster round, and archbishops 
 read the mystic forms. The most picturesque 
 moment is when the esquire stands in the middle 
 and unfurls the knight's gaudy banner, swinging 
 it in defiance, and the trumpets twang out a 
 cheerful blast, and Ulster, coming to the front, 
 proclaims the style and titles of the most puissant 
 knight. Then it begins to pass away. 
 
 " The tall knights and their esquires, the little 
 blue pages, supplemented by more to bear up 
 the new knight's train ; the dignified Grand 
 Master, the three brilliant ladies in snowy white 
 (the Ladies Hamilton), the pale lady in blue 
 
262 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 (H.R.H. the Princess of Wales), who is most 
 interested, vanish in succession. It seems hke a 
 soft dream, and we are sorry the spell has been 
 broken. It looks like going back to mediaeval 
 times, and with so much poetry going out of the 
 world, it was pleasant to have such a relic left : 
 even a doctrinaire would have been moved. It 
 may have disturbed the grim ghost of the great 
 dead Dean, but to the crowd, Celtic and perfervid, 
 it was deeply and poetically interesting." 
 
 In the evening his Excellency gave a grand 
 installation banquet in St. Patrick's Hall, at which 
 were seen, besides the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, almost all 
 the Knights of St. Patrick, the Earl of Shrews- 
 bury, who, as Great Seneschal of Ireland, had 
 precedence next to royalty ; the principal nobility 
 of the country, and Sir Benjamin Guinness, the 
 munificent restorer of St. Patrick's Cathedral. In 
 December, iS68, on the fall of Mr. D'Israeli's 
 ministry. Lord Abercorn was succeeded by Lord 
 Spencer. In 1872 the Duke of Abercorn returned 
 to the Castle, but resigned in 1876. Dublin 
 never knew a more splendid Court than that of 
 the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn. The capital 
 filled, for the gentry of the country took houses 
 there as in the old times of a College Green 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 263 
 
 Parliament, and a great impetus was given to 
 local trade ; but it was the Duke's special glory 
 to have laid the foundation of Ireland's splendid 
 successes at Wimbledon, and to have assisted in 
 transferring the Elcho Shield so often to Ireland. 
 
 1868. 
 
 With the turn of the tide political in favour 
 of Mr. Gladstone, the Right Hon. John Poyntz 
 Spencer, K.G., who had succeeded to the Earldom 
 of Spencer on the death of the fourth Earl, came 
 to the Castle as Lord Lieutenant, with all the 
 prestige that large territorial possessions (17,000 
 acres in Northamptonshire alone), the high 
 estimation of his uncle as a statesman and 
 politician, and some personal prowess in the 
 hunting field gained while Master of the Pytchley 
 Hunt, one of the crackest packs and crackest 
 countries in England, can confer. Added to this, 
 he brought to the Viceregal throne a wife whose 
 high- caste beauty and grace caused her to be 
 styled by the wits of Dublin " Spencer's Faery 
 Queen," and who rivalled, if she did not actually 
 eclipse, the loveliness of her connection by 
 marriage, and predecessor at Dublin Castle — the 
 Duchess of Tyrconnel, Count de Grammont's 
 "la belle Jennings," sister to Sarah, Duchess of 
 
264 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Marlborough. AH these advantages, coupled 
 with magnificent plate, which was kept constantly 
 bright by use, for his Excellency held that — 
 
 *' Nullus argento color est avaris 
 Abdito terris, nisi temperate 
 
 Splendeat usu," 
 
 and a staff of sterling sportsmen made Lord 
 Spencer a most popular Viceroy at starting, while 
 every month of his reign increased his favour with 
 his subjects, gentle and simple ; for his Lordship, 
 while netrlectinsf none of the details and minutiee 
 of his office, which he determined to master 
 thoroughly, found time to join In the sports of the 
 country, to pay visits to country houses, and to 
 make several hunting progresses through his terri- 
 tory, acquiring a better insight into its wants and 
 capabilities than if he had remained in Dublin and 
 been satisfied with the reports of his subordinates. 
 In this way Lord Spencer was very often a con- 
 spicuous figure with the Meath, Louth, Kildare, 
 Queen's County, Carlow, Curraghmore, Ward 
 Union, and Kilkenny packs, while Mr, Burton 
 Persse, of IMoyode Castle, gave him some good 
 gallops with " the Blazers," whom Lever has 
 immortalised. Lord Spencer was well mounted 
 and had a fine eye for country and the runs 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 265 
 
 of foxes, if not quite in the first class of cross- 
 country Centaurs. In fact, Lord Spencer did 
 much to raise the fame of the chase as con- 
 ducted in Ireland all over the world, and it was 
 mainly through his Excellency's representations 
 and glowing eulogies that the Kaiserin of 
 Austria came from Vienna to enjo)^ such sport 
 as Ireland afforded, and which with a long and 
 varied experience Her Majesty pronounced 
 unapproachable in any part of the world. 
 Lord Spencer, moreover, was not unfrequently 
 accompanied in the field by Major Whyte- 
 Melville, the poet of pursuit, who wrote several 
 of his best known songs on Irish themes, and 
 introduced Irish men, women, and horses into his 
 fascinating novels. His Excellency, too, did his 
 best to improve the breed of horses in Ireland 
 by introducing a sire or two of promise and 
 performance, while the Castle and the Viceregal 
 Lodge were social centres, distinguished by a 
 splendid hospitality. In his first reign the Castle 
 was honoured by a visit from the Prince of 
 Wales, the Princess Louise, the Marquess of 
 Lome, and Prince Arthur. The Dublin Exhi- 
 bition of Arts, Industries, and Manufactures, 
 originated by the Guinness family, wds opened. 
 New docks for Dublin were made, and the Gaiety 
 
266 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Theatre took the place of the Theatre Royal, 
 which had perished by fire, as so many theatres 
 have perished. In 1874 Lord Spencer left the 
 Castle on the fall of the Gladstone Ministry. 
 
 1874. 
 
 On the resignation of the Duke of Abercorn, 
 John Winston Spencer Churchill, Duke of Marl- 
 borough, was sent to the Castle. As his name 
 suggests, he was rather closely related to Lord 
 Spencer, though his hereditary politics (for 
 politics are often an heirloom in a family with 
 religions, pictures, and statues), reminding one of 
 the couplet — - 
 
 " And in another would as kindly go 
 Had but his nurse or mother told him to," 
 
 were different in title, at any rate. His Grace of 
 Marlborough was a man of earnest religious 
 enquiry and thought, determined to do his duty 
 impartially ; but he had somewhat passed the 
 meridian of active official life, and with such men 
 the phrase " quieta non movere " becomes some- 
 thing of a cult — often a wise and sensible one, 
 and his Grace was wise and sensible. He was 
 not a sportsman, save in the matter of salmon 
 fishing, of which he was as fond as John Bright, 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 26/ 
 
 and to get scope for this pastime, he took Bhick- 
 castle-on-the-Boyne, as did Lord Spencer before 
 him ; but if he was no foxhunter, his son, Lord 
 Randolph Churchill, who was his private secre- 
 tary, was extremely fond of this national pastime, 
 as was his accomplished wife, and his sister, the 
 present Lady Curzon, who found nothing insur- 
 mountable in the severest lines of Meath and 
 Dublin. The Duchess of Marlborough, a woman 
 of talent and energy, played the rule of Vice-Queen 
 right royally, and patronised in every possible way 
 the industries and arts of Ireland, showing, too, 
 how strong she could be in the cause of humanity 
 by the splendid service she did to the congested 
 and famine-menaced districts of Connaught. In 
 the Duke's reign Moore's centenary was cele- 
 brated with great pomp and pageantry as that of 
 the national poet. Byron says something very 
 strong and pithy as to the consequences of 
 Platonism " to all posterity." "Mooreism" is pro- 
 bably responsible for much rebellion and revolt 
 in Ireland. The poet had no idea of kindling 
 anything of the sort, and his patriotism was of 
 that lukewarm order that led him to settle in 
 England, and maintain that Ireland was a very 
 good country "to live out of" The Duke of 
 Marlborough did not care much latterly for the 
 
 s 
 
268 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Viceregal l^odge, and leased the lovely Knock- 
 drin, the property of the Levinge family, near the 
 midland town of Mullingar, as a summer and 
 autumnal residence — a rhododendron retreat, for 
 in few places on this side of the Himalayas are 
 rhododendrons more magnificently luxuriant than 
 there. It may be worth while here to relate a 
 personal experience which illustrates to some 
 extent the former condition of things in Ireland, 
 and shows what a germ of truth there w^as in 
 Mr. Forster's assignment of the greater part of 
 the crime and outrages of the country to "village 
 tyrants." Many years ago I was staying at a 
 country house close to Knockdrin, and left it for 
 a day or two to pay a visit in another part of the 
 country. On my return I found that a barbarous 
 murder had been committed close to the lodge 
 gates of both places. The victim was a bailiff, or 
 something of the sort, and what struck me more 
 than anything else was the matter-of-fact way in 
 which the bloody deed was spoken about and 
 commented on in the neighbourhood. It really 
 seemed to be a mere incident in every-day life. 
 I believe the murderers, though well known in the 
 county, were never brought to the bar of justice ; 
 but as murder and intimidation grew pretty rife 
 in the county, an Act giving the police further 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 269 
 
 powers was passed. The gang of village ruffians 
 disappeared from the county, and the Knockdrin 
 neighbourhood has remained ever since as 
 peaceable and well disposed to law and order as 
 any portion of Kent or Middlesex — "only more 
 so," to quote a forcible bit of current slang. 
 
 1880. 
 
 The re-appearance of a Liberal Administration 
 introduced Lord Cowper as Lord Lieutenant and 
 Mr. Forster as his Chief Secretary, with Cabinet 
 rank. Lord Cowper was a fair and fearless 
 Prorex : he, like the Duke of Abercorn before 
 him, showed no dread of the people, and mingled 
 in crowds without police protection. It is a 
 fact, I believe, that conspirators of an advanced 
 pattern actually took a house that commanded 
 the avenues to the Castle, and close to where 
 Lord Kilwarden was done to death in the Emmett 
 "rising," with the intention of shooting him — but 
 no shot was fired. Lord Cowper supported his 
 nominal subordinate most loyally in his efforts to 
 restrain outrage and enforce law, but neither 
 were supported by their chiefs in London, and, in 
 
 1882, 
 
 on their resignations, Lord Spencer and Lord 
 
 s 2 
 
2;0 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Frederick Cavendish took their places. The 
 awful events of the 6th of May will long be 
 recollected in Ireland, while in England the Com- 
 mission Court has lately revived the ghastly 
 memory. From an intended conciliator, Lord 
 Spencer had the r6le of coercionist forced upon 
 him. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman was his coad- 
 jutor in the Secretariat, and, after "the Invin- 
 cibles " had terrorised Dublin for some time, one 
 or two apparently trifling clues were gained as 
 to the conspiracy and its members, and justice 
 was done on the gang. 
 
 To commence a Government under such awful 
 auspices was a severe ordeal ; but Lord Spencer 
 was equal to the occasion, and strengthened by 
 the counsel and ability of his Lord Chancellor, 
 Sir Edward Sullivan, and backed by the spon- 
 taneous support of all patriots in the island, 
 whether Liberal, Radical, or Conservative, he 
 managed to steer an even keel through billows 
 and breakers. Lord Spencer at this time was a 
 Satrap of whom any country might be proud. 
 He inquired into everything, allowed nothing to 
 pass by unnoticed, and lent the weight of his 
 presence and support to every useful project — 
 such as State-aided emigration — riding as long 
 distances as Sidney, Bellingham, or Sir J. Perrot. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 2/1 
 
 But " be thou pure as ice, chaste as snow, thou 
 shalt not escape cakimny," was as true of vigilant 
 Viceroys as of" the ideal Ophelia. Lord Spencer 
 was overwhelmed with venomous vituperation by 
 the Patriotic press, in which premeditated murder 
 was one of the smallest offences laid to his charge, 
 and the abominable conduct of one or two officials 
 in Dublin handicapped the Lord Lieutenant con- 
 siderably. It is a pity that Lord Spencer hunted 
 during his second term of office ; every time he 
 went out a little legion of soldiers, police, and 
 detectives were told off to keep watch and ward 
 over the pursuing Prorex, who, rather ill-mounted, 
 no longer rode over the peerless pastures of 
 Meath and Dublin in his old form, and learnt 
 the depth of several ditches by personal plumbing. 
 His Excellency at this time was greatly esteemed 
 by the gentry of Ireland, with whom he mixed 
 very freely. This was quite reason enough for 
 his cordial detestation by " the people," not that 
 individually anyone particularly disliked him, but 
 obedience even of thought, and the surrender of 
 opinion was the mot d'ordre in the Patriotic ranks 
 and the ukase had gone forth that Lord Spencer 
 had offended the majesty of the people, and was 
 to be abhorred by them, ad majorem Hibernio'- 
 glorianil It is a curious commentary on the 
 
272 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 coercion of the country that its Press — pictorial 
 and printed — was suffered to lampoon, libel, 
 deride, and pasquinade the authorities of the land, 
 and Her Majesty's representative especially, in a 
 style that no other free country in the world 
 would tolerate. To disrupted Dublin, no doubt 
 with olive-branch intentions, came their Royal 
 Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
 with Prince Eddie, and were Lord and Lady 
 Spencer's guests at the Casile. They were 
 magnificently entertained by their Excellencies, 
 and their reception throughout the country, in 
 whatever direction they went, was enthusiastic, 
 though in one or two places disloyal emblems 
 were displayed, and perhaps words were spoken 
 of unseemly purport ; but, on the whole, to speak 
 in telegraphese style, " the great heart of the island 
 went out to them," while the Prince increased his 
 popularity by persistently refusing police protec- 
 tion, and insisting on being allowed to trust his 
 mother's subjects, no matter how surcxcitatcd 
 their mood. The balls given in their Royal 
 Highnesses' honour at Dublin and Belfast were 
 a credit to the taste and public feeling of the 
 country. 
 
 Lord Spencer's volte face on retiring from 
 office was a painful surprise to many, who had 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 273 
 
 not observed that his leanings latterly had been 
 towards Home Rule. It shows fidelity to his 
 political or party leader pushed to very extreme 
 lengths, and has, of course, alienated the majority 
 of his old friends and allies, while, amongst others, 
 it has gained him the support of Mr. W. O'Brien, 
 who, having once blackened his reputation, now 
 professes his readiness to blacken his boots ; but 
 if a strong administrator. Lord Spencer can 
 hardly rank as a profound politician, as any one 
 who reads his Preface to " The Handbook of 
 Home Rule " will probably think. That Lord 
 Spencer felt his position acutely is most probable. 
 His looks for some time showed it, as the follow- 
 ing contemporary couplet indicates : — 
 
 " x^las, poor Spencer's grown quite thin — his legs scarce fill 
 his cords, 
 Quoth Mr. Pat whoe'er grew fat by eating his own words ?" 
 
 One or two funny things happened in the hunting 
 field during Lord Spencer's second occupation of 
 the Castle. One of his Excellency's A.D.C.'s, a 
 full-bearded and very jolly tar, who was about 
 the same height, make, and shape as the Lord 
 Lieutenant, was pursuing the fox with him and 
 a number of sportsmen in Meath. A gallant 
 gunner was among them, riding a hard puller 
 
274 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 who was a little above himself, and was soon 
 above the lately-mentioned jolly tar, whom he 
 knocked over at a fence. The gunner, as soon 
 as he could pull up his fiery and untamed steed, 
 was profuse in protestations and apologies, and 
 thinking it was the Red Earl whom he had 
 temporarily disabled and very nearly stiffened, 
 he thought it necessary, after pouring forth his 
 regrets, to back out of the Viceroyal presence bare- 
 headed, as he might have done at St. James's ! ! 
 
 Lord Spencer originated the cross-country 
 races between members of his staff and escort, 
 which have since become most fashionable, and 
 afford one of the pleasantest reunions of the year. 
 The idea enlarged has led to some very exciting 
 competitions, of which perhaps the most memorable 
 was between a battalion of the Grenadier Guards 
 and the i6th Lancers, ending as it did very 
 nearly in a dead heat, though the i6th just won 
 it. It should be mentioned, however, that one of 
 their best horses met with a fatal accident in the 
 race. 
 
 Lord Spencer left Dublin on the retirement of 
 Mr. Gladstone's Government and the advent to 
 power of that of Lord Salisbury, who sent Lord 
 Carnarvon to the Castle. It was 7iot a felicitous 
 choice, and a very able, if crotchetty, public 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 275 
 
 servant was placed in a position for which he was 
 not fitted either by nature or training, though not 
 a few of his ancestors had been Lord Lieutenants 
 in Ireland. Mr. Parnell has reiterated his state- 
 ment that Lord Carnarvon opened negotiations 
 with him, or proposed to do so, with reference to 
 Home Rule. His Lordship has denied it in his 
 place in the House of Lords, and so the matter 
 stands at present, but the mere fact of the charge 
 being made shows that the Earl must have been 
 a little incautious in dealing with a question that 
 should not have been touched by him at all. Then 
 Lord Carnarvon disregarded the canon that a 
 Viceroy nnist have a first-rate cook and cellar ; and 
 his speeches in his progresses through the country 
 were more erudite and archaeological than apposite. 
 The Dons of Trinity College, I believe, maintain 
 that his scholarship was absolutely unimpeach- 
 able, and they ought to be able to form a good 
 opinion, but scholarship and statesmanship are 
 very different entities. There can be no doubt 
 that his Excellency meant to devote himself to the 
 welfare of Ireland, but he hardly understood the 
 subject. Dr. Whately declared that English- 
 men, as a rule, in his time fancied they could 
 solve the Irish problem after the briefest study ; 
 in five or six weeks they began to grow sceptical 
 
276 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 of their ability, and ultimately abandoned it in 
 despair, as incomprehensible as the Schlesvvig- 
 Holstein mystery or the Eastern Question. 
 
 1886. 
 
 When Lord Salisbury's Government was 
 turned out of office on Mr. Jesse Collings's 
 amendment, popularly known as " three acres 
 and a cow," Mr. Gladstone, whose followers had 
 severely called the Conservative Cabinet to task 
 for not renewing the Irish Coercion Act, was 
 made Premier, and his friend the Earl of Aber- 
 deen became Lord Lieutenant, with Mr. John 
 Morley for Secretary. The latter gentleman 
 was mainly an absentee from Ireland, but the 
 terribly violent riots in Belfast, that caused 
 civic blood to be shed freely, recalled him to 
 the Lodge, and to the more active administration 
 of his important office. Meanwhile, Lord Aber- 
 deen felt that the Fitzwilliam mantle had fallen 
 upon him, that he was the Lieutenant of General 
 Gladstone, the chosen champion of the Irish 
 people, and in all his acts and words he mani- 
 fested a decided wish to foster this feeling of 
 intense faith in Gladstone government, and its 
 administration by himself. Indeed, his severer 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 277 
 
 critics maintained that he made it far too evident 
 that he was rather Mr. Gladstone's Viceroy or 
 officer than the Queen's representative ; but be 
 these strictures just or unjust, certain it is that 
 he gained the undivided affection of the masses, 
 while the classes, as a rule, held somewhat aloof. 
 Lady Aberdeen, a clever, enthusiastic lady with 
 some talent and much inclination for practice in 
 public speaking, seconded his Excellency's views 
 with much power and persistence ; nor will the 
 afternoon Garden Party which they gave at the 
 Lodge, when national woollens and silks of St. 
 Patrick's special hue, all, of course, of native 
 manufacture, were worn, fade from the recollection 
 of those who attended it for years. 
 
 The Home Rule Bill for Ireland introduced 
 by Mr. Gladstone was so distasteful to the House 
 of Commons that it was thrown out by a majority 
 of thirty. This led to a dissolution, and the 
 eventual "disruption and dismemberment" of 
 the great Liberal party, the " Unionists " con- 
 ceiving that in such an Imperial crisis it was 
 their duty to forsake a leader who in their 
 judgment menaced the disruption and dismember- 
 ment of the Kingdom. In the meantime. Lord 
 and Lady Aberdeen left Dublin Casde, and for 
 some days before this event it was known 
 
278 DUniJN CASTLE. 
 
 throuo'hout Dublin that the occasion would be 
 
 o 
 
 made use of for a leave-taking such as no Viceroy 
 since Lord Fitzwilliam had ever received. The 
 procession of the trades and guilds of Dublin 
 City reminded the spectator of the imposing page- 
 antry of the O'Connell Centenary celebrated eleven 
 years previously, and even the carmen and jarvies 
 of the city formed an imposing mounted escort 
 to do honour to the departing Vice- King and 
 Vice-Queen. 
 
 1886.. 
 
 On the 1 8th September Lord Salisbury's 
 new Viceroy, the Marquis of Londonderry, 
 with his Marchioness, made their public entry 
 into Dublin and took possession of the Castle 
 and the Viceregal Lodge. There was no 
 popular demonstration of joy or welcome, 
 though the Conservative element in the city 
 cheered the carriages as they passed through the 
 thoroughfares, but the tone of the " National " 
 and Radical press soon made it apparent that, 
 no matter what his personal merits might be, 
 the new Viceroy was not to be considered a 
 "persona grata" to the Hibernian race. Had 
 he not borne in early life that title so abhorrent 
 
The Marquis of Londonderry. K.G. 
 
%-Sr 
 
 ^S>; t^' 
 
 The Marchioness of Londonderrv 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 279 
 
 to national aspirations — "Castlereagh," which had 
 been that of his talented kinsman — 
 
 " That Castlereagh 
 (Who) stole the Union away;" 
 
 and the fact that he was eminently popular in 
 Ulster where he had been one of the repre- 
 sentatives, in the Lower House, of his county, 
 was rather an argument for the negation to him 
 of the " popularis aura " in the other provinces of 
 his pro-Consulate ; while his good reputation as a 
 rider across country, and his liberality as a sports- 
 man and encourager of one of Ireland's most 
 famous products — high class horses — was turned 
 to his disparagement, and one hebdomadal oracle 
 likened him to Heliogabalus, meaning, probably, 
 his predecessor on the throne of the Caesars, 
 Caligula, a most Philhippic Prince ! Considering 
 the great ability in organisation shown by the 
 National party in Ireland, and the professed 
 liberality of their cult, it must be admitted even by 
 their own partisans, that they injured their cause 
 considerably by such pettinesses as the proscrip- 
 tion of fox-hunting, whereby if a certain amount 
 of punishment was inflicted upon a few landlords 
 infinitely severer punishment was inflicted upon a 
 number of hard-workinq-, meritorious men to whom 
 
28o DUBLIN CASTI.E. 
 
 this popular pastime was a source of livelihood. 
 After a few years the fatuousness of such proscrip- 
 tion became evident, and it was discontinued, but 
 a special exception was made against the venatic 
 Viceroy, who individually had conquered pre- 
 judice and conciliated esteem and regard. His 
 Excellency, feeling that the chase should always 
 be regarded as a permissive pastime, at once aban- 
 doned pursuit, in which he had ever manifested his 
 thorough confidence in the honour of the people, 
 by coming out without any escort or protection. 
 Such conduct was the direct antithesis of that of 
 his great Gladstonian predecessor, in whose case 
 the chase was made, at least in its external present- 
 ment, something more than " the image of war." 
 
 Lord Londonderry showed on several occa- 
 sions that he could take broad and statesmanlike 
 views, and that he could enunciate them in clear, 
 well expressed language. He performed all the 
 duties connected with his office punctually and 
 fairly, but with a Cabinet Minister for Secretary 
 he felt that It was his duty to leave the govern- 
 ment of the country mainly to him, and so cause 
 no loss of power by any possible appearance of 
 diveroence of views. Hence, to a certain extent, 
 the Viceregal policy was one of unselfish self- 
 effacement. In the interests of his Queen and 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 28 I 
 
 country. How well, how right royally, the social 
 side of the Castle rule was conducted Lord 
 Londonderry's many visitors from England and 
 his Irish guests will all admit. His court will 
 take rank with those of Lord Eglinton, Lord 
 Spencer, and the Duke of Abercorn, while Lady 
 Londonderry kept up the stately succession of 
 Vice-Queens, who were Queens of Beauty as 
 well as social leaders. In September, 1889, Lord 
 Londonderry left the Castle of Dublin (where he 
 had held office for some months, only at Lord 
 Salisbury's special request), for his estates in 
 England imperatively called for his presence. 
 The undress Levee of their Excellencies was 
 more largely attended than any similar previous 
 one, and the procession from the Castle to the 
 railway station was cheered lustily as it passed 
 through Nassau Street. In fact. Lord London- 
 derry's popularity had grown greatly in his three 
 years of office, if unacknowledged. To show 
 how completely and cordially his Excellency 
 and Mr. Balfour pulled together it may be here 
 mentioned that he lent the Hall of St. Patrick 
 to his Secretary when the latter wished to 
 entertain a larger number of guests than the 
 Lodge in the Park could accommodate. The 
 ball proved a thorough social success. 
 
282 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 1889. 
 
 Sir Laurence Dundas, Earl of Zetland, who, 
 at a time when, owing chiefly to the immense 
 depreciation in landed estate and the silent decre- 
 ment of agricultural produce, there was some little 
 difficulty experienced by Lord Salisbury in find- 
 ing an adequate successor to Lord Londonderry 
 in the Viceregal office, came forward manfully to 
 fill a post which his predecessor's splendidly lavish 
 liberality had made a more costly corvee than 
 ever, belongs to a family who have been con- 
 spicuous for official ability through many genera- 
 tions. His Excellency and Lady Zetland are not 
 unknown in Ireland, for they were frequent 
 guests of Lord and Lady Londonderry, and Lord 
 Zetland occupied a leading position in several 
 good gallops with the Meath hounds during two 
 seasons. It seems a little hard that what is 
 called (rather curiously) by one or two leading 
 Radical prints "his first official act," namely, the 
 purchase of an Irish jaunting car, should be 
 attributed to the most paltry and pitiful motives. 
 "Noblesse," in his case was " obligeante;" all 
 his tastes and interests prompted him not to go 
 to Ireland. Lord Zetland is connected with the 
 old and honourable family of Talbot in Ireland. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 283 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A Selection of Secretaries. 
 
 " Lives of great men all remind us 
 We can make our lives sublime, 
 And departing leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time." 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 With the progress of civiHsation comes the 
 division of labour in all its departments, material 
 as well as intellectual. In the earlier times of the 
 Viceroyalty, the holder of the Sword of State, or 
 " gladius authoritatis," had to fill many parts. He 
 presided at Parliaments and " Star Chambers," and 
 in the Law Courts ; led the Army against the foe, 
 and in one or two instances was expected to be, 
 like his sovereign in England, " fidei defensor," 
 a propagandist and evangeliser, in fact he had to 
 fill as many functions as occasionally fall to the lot 
 of the Chief Justice of Sierra- Leone, a British 
 Consul in remote regions, or the Deputy Governor 
 of that turtle territory, the island of Ruatan ! 
 
 T 
 
284 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 When Ireland became more or less assimilated to 
 England (in theory if not absolutely in practice), 
 this plurality of functions was found impossible, 
 and Presidents of the Provinces at first relieved 
 the Lord Lieutenant of the time being from a 
 portion of his heavy burdens. Then when 
 Parliament became the Power, and the bureau and 
 desk supplanted the guard room and parade 
 ground, there arose a necessity for the creation of 
 Departments or " Portfolios," whose holders were 
 responsible to the Viceroy, though each Chief of 
 Department was tolerably absolute within its pur- 
 views and limits. A Commander-in-Chief ad- 
 ministered the forces of the island ; Religion had 
 its Hierarchy; Law its chancellor, judges, and 
 official exponents ; but for the actual administration 
 of the affairs of the island, the Chief Secretary 
 had to answer to Parliament, on which he depended 
 for his " supply." 
 
 It seems now almost impossible to fix a date for 
 the creation of the Chief Secretary's Department. 
 It is very possible that in comparatively remote 
 times the Lord Lieutenant of the time being 
 desirous of having a representative in the House 
 of Commons got his Private Secretary returned 
 for some borough or other that was amenable to 
 Crown influence ; but this is only a conjecture. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 285 
 
 However, there is an actual record of the office in 
 the year 1623, when, however, it had not become 
 a power much less the power in Ireland, seeing 
 that patronage, the chief lever available, was 
 entirely vested in the Lord Lieutenant. In 1798 
 Lord Castlereagh, I believe the first Irishman 
 appointed, held the office on the resignation of 
 Pelham ; Charles Abbott held it in 1801 ; Mr. 
 Wickham in 1802 ; while in a few cases we find 
 that the Secretariat was the portal to the Vice- 
 royalty, as, for instance, in the case of Lord St. 
 Germans, Lord Camden, and Lord Morpeth, 
 afterwards Lord Carlisle. Of these men Lord 
 Castlereagh yN^i?, facile princeps, and to show the 
 confidential nature of the office which w^as always 
 before his time entrusted to English hands, it 
 may be mentioned that Lord Camden, in writing 
 to Lord Castlereagh prior to the appointment, 
 says '' there appeared to be every inclina- 
 tion in Jiis (i.e., Lord Cornwallis') mind to 
 overcome the prejudice which is felt here 
 against the Secretary being an Irishman in your 
 favour, and he felt all the delicacy and responsi- 
 bility of your situation now, as deserving every 
 attention hereafter." We know the great work 
 that Castlereagh accomplished in effecting the 
 union of the islands ; we know, too, how " he who 
 
286 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Stands upon a slippery place makes nice of no 
 vile hold to stay him up." He had to deal with 
 " Patriots " — he knew them well — and he acted 
 according to his estimate. At the Congress of 
 Vienna Lord Castlereagh was perhaps the most 
 powerful subject in Europe. As an intrepid clear- 
 headed official, capable of immense toil in the 
 service of the State, he will ever be a conspicuous 
 exemplar. 
 
 Another Irishman who filled the office of Chief 
 Secretary with great ability — an ability not to be 
 wholly measured by his speeches in Parliament, 
 though some of them were powerful and per- 
 suasive too — was Lord Naas, afterwards Earl of 
 Mayo, who died in discharging the duties of 
 Viceroy of India. 
 
 The Earls of Mayo and Marquises of Clan- 
 ricarde claim a common ancestor, and Mayo was 
 one of the titles of the Clanricardes. Richard 
 Southwell Bourke, the eldest of a band of brothers 
 who have one and all fought the battle of life 
 bravely and well, was not born titularly noble or 
 rich, and as he owed his early education, as well 
 as his academic teaching, to Ireland, so he may 
 be said to have remained a thorough Irishman, 
 and racy of her soil, all his life ; for he dearly 
 loved his native land, of which he was proud, and 
 
The late Lord Mayo. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 287 
 
 which he strove to benefit; advance, and improve 
 accordino- to the HHit that was in him, thouoh 
 that hght may seem tenebrous to some wlio 
 arrogate for themselves and their co- thinkers a 
 quasi-patent of patriotism and Hibernian heroism. 
 After travelhng for some months through Russia, 
 Mr. Bourke — a Conservative by profession and 
 tracHtion — wrote an account of his experiences 
 in the land of the Tzar, which might be termed 
 by many Radical in tone, but which is perhaps 
 a proof that true liberty is the basis of the Con- 
 servative party, which, avoiding declamations on 
 the natural rights of man, and such sickly senti- 
 mentalities, proved itself the friend of liberality 
 and progress on many occasions, though perhaps 
 it occasionally made shipwreck on such rocks as 
 Protection, both in Church and State. 
 
 The generous and liberal views enunciated by 
 Mr. Bourke brought him into some notice, and 
 his pleasant personality did the rest ; for it made 
 him hosts of friends wherever he went, and his 
 good judgment, solid sense, and attention to 
 detail marked him for future office. His great 
 uncle, the Earl of Mayo, had given him a com- 
 mission in the County Militia — the Kildare Rifles 
 — a corps d' elite, composed, for the most part, of 
 xkiQ. fine flciLV oi the noblemen and gentlemen of 
 
288 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 that aristocratic county. Lord Heytesbury had 
 attached him to his Staff as " orcntleman at lars^e," 
 which was a pleasant introduction to the best 
 Dublin society, in a becoming uniform, whose 
 YiQ-ht blue facino^-s found much favour, 'tis said, 
 with the belles of the period ; but farming was 
 his trade when the potato blight set in, and made 
 every man, woman, and child in Ireland an 
 almoner to relieve the surrounding distress. In 
 this labour of love Mr. Bourke did yeoman's 
 service, and, though Conservatism was not 
 popular in Kildare, he gained the suffrages of 
 his countrymen in an election for its representa- 
 tion in the House of Commons, in spite of strong 
 opposition. 
 
 On his father's inheriting the title of Mayo, 
 Mr. Bourke became Lord Naas, and soon after 
 his entrance into the House of Commons found 
 his fate in Miss Blanche Wyndham, who proved 
 a true helpmeet in all his triumphs and difficulties. 
 When Lord Derby came into office in 1 849 he 
 offered him the post of Chief Secretary — a signal 
 compliment to a comparatively untried man — 
 he accepted it ; and getting returned for Coleraine 
 represented it for five years, when Cockermouth 
 made him her M.P., and retained him for eleven 
 vears in her service. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 289 
 
 Lord Naas was fortunate in his chief, the Earl 
 of Eglinton, as well as in the permanent Under- 
 Secretary, Sir Thomas Larcom, who may be 
 compared to the solicitor who gets up all the facts 
 of the case for the counsels' opinion and review. 
 Lord Derby's ministry was not long-lived, but it 
 returned to place and power in 1858, and again 
 Lords Eglinton and Naas filled the same official 
 positions with the same complete harmony. Lord 
 Naas' liberality of views is proved by his having 
 anticipated Mr. Gladstone in his efforts at land 
 reform and compensation to tenants for improve- 
 ments, but his views proved premature then. In 
 1866 Mr. D'Israeli came into office, and with 
 the Duke of Abercorn for chief, Lord Naas 
 was again the occupant of the Chief Secretary's 
 Lodge, where Lady Naas' great social talents 
 found splendid scope, and her reunions were 
 universally voted delightful. The Fenian rising 
 at Tallaght Hill was promptly put down by a 
 Government that was well-informed and could 
 hardly be taken by surprise; but if the feeble 
 Fenians had not been quickly crushed at the first 
 hostile movement, an insurrection might have 
 grown out of the attempt, and the tragedies of 
 '98 been repeated. However, the constabulary 
 and the climate promptly gave it the coup de grace. 
 
290 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 With the complete crushing of this Fenian 
 fiasco, which took its origin and colour from the 
 greater Ireland in America, Lord Mayo's (for his 
 father's death had put him in possession of the first 
 title) official connection with Ireland ceased, as he 
 was offered the Governor-Generalship of Canada, 
 or the reversion of the Viceroyalty of India, by 
 the Premier, and he accepted the latter. It is a 
 matter of history how, in the midst of a most 
 successful administration of our Oriental Empire, 
 Lord Mayo was assassinated by a fanatic while 
 inspecting some prisons in the Andaman Islands, 
 his Lordship having ever taken the deepest 
 interest in prison discipline and prison ameliora- 
 tion as a system. The enormous crowds that 
 attended the funeral of one who to many was a 
 political opponent, attest the estimate formed of 
 him in his native country. His remains rest in 
 the old cemetery overlooked by an ivy-mantled 
 ruin — once a church — at the Gate of Palmerstown, 
 his Kildare residence. 
 
 " The dust of some is Irish earth, 
 Among their own they rest ; 
 And the same land that gave them birth 
 Has caught them to her breast." 
 
 As a sportsman Lord Mayo was quite in the 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 29 I 
 
 first rank ; he took the Kildare hounds at a time 
 when the finances of the Hunt were at a very low 
 ebb. He showed splendid sport, though a welter 
 weight, and left the association to his successor 
 in a flourishing financial condition. He was as 
 earnest in sport as he was at his official work. 
 " Omnis in hoc sum," his motto ; he wished, as an 
 j\I F.H., to win the Kildare Hunt Cup, and he 
 won it with a horse called Hornpipe. The Peel, 
 known as "Archie," rode him. 
 
 Another Conservative Secretary to whom 
 the Chief Secretaryship was a step in the 
 official ladder was Sir Michael Edward Hicks- 
 Beach, who twice filled the arduous office and 
 very nearly lost his eyesight from too close 
 attention to the business of his office. Modera 
 tion is often voted Laodicean lukewarmness when 
 political passion is at fever heat ; we know 
 by their unseemly exultation at Sir Michael's 
 affliction (an exultation, we trust, confined to a 
 very small circle) that the Nationalists did not 
 love him, and as a body the Irish landowners did 
 not regard him very highly, because they con- 
 sidered that he did not lend them sufficient armed 
 force to enforce the decrees of the law in their 
 favour ; no one, however, ever questioned Sir 
 Michael's assiduity and anxiety to do right under 
 
292 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 circumstances of extreme difficulty. Sir Michael 
 was a member of the Cabinet while Chief Secre- 
 tary. He hunted while in office, and rode hard 
 and straight. His successor, the Right Hon. 
 Arthur James Balfour, stands forth on the page 
 of contemporary history as having earned more 
 odium from the Nationalist party in Ireland than 
 any of his predecessors in office, by his un- 
 swerving enforcement of the law under all 
 circumstances, and his total disregard of the 
 angry voices of citizens prava jtibentiuin ; he has 
 not sought popularity, and he certainly has not 
 gained it, but his subordinates admire him greatly 
 because they feel confident of his thorough support 
 if they endeavour to do their duty. He has not 
 done anything for the landowners save in the way 
 of support of legal claims, but they feel the strength 
 of even that support, moral as well as physical, 
 and rally round him. Whether "post hoc" or 
 "propter hoc" comparative prosperity has re- 
 turned to Ireland. Under his firm sway coercion 
 is in reality felt to be emancipation from tyranny 
 by many thousands, and no law-abiding subject 
 has as yet suffered from its administration. 
 
 Among great Chief Secretaries the Right 
 Hon. W. E. Forster certainly merits mention. 
 No braver man ever kept the Privy Seal or 
 
The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour. M.P. 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 293 
 
 endeavoured to serve Ireland more heartily or 
 effectively. He had earned the gratitude of 
 thousands in the west by his liberality and 
 philanthropy in the famine years, but politics 
 know no gratitude. In 1880 he accepted the 
 appointment of Chief Secretary to Ireland, from 
 an innate belief that he understood the needs 
 of the nation, and could brinof her back to the 
 paths of law and order. Armed with coercive 
 powers more anti-constitutional than had ever 
 been claimed before, he suppressed the Land 
 League, imprisoned the leaders of the National 
 party, and filled the gaols with men whom he 
 "suspected," though sometimes without any 
 rational cause whatever. These high-handed 
 measures brought on him the intense hatred of 
 the more advanced politicians, and his life was 
 often in great danger, his escapes marvellous, 
 for he took no precautions and recklessly risked 
 his life, hardly knowing the meaning of the word 
 fear. His chief was Lord Cowper, a most intrepid 
 Governor, and when his Excellency and his Chief 
 Secretary found that they were not supported, as 
 they expected, by the Government, they resigned. 
 Mr. Forster took an early opportunity of vindi- 
 cating his official conduct in Parliament, and his 
 indictment of Mr. Parnell in the House was 
 
294 DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 Ciceronianly strong. That Mr. F'orster was quite 
 right in his diagnosis of Ireland, and that the rank 
 and file of her countrymen were misled by what 
 he called "village ruffians" seems true, but his 
 methods of meeting the evil appears questionable 
 and pedagoguish. He was a brave statesmanlike 
 man, most liberal in hand and heart, in purse as 
 well as in profession, "integer vitce scelerisque 
 purus," a Quaker with the virtues of "the Friends" 
 and few of their faults. 
 
 Another historical Chief Secretary was Edward 
 Geoffrey Smith Stanley, who did much towards 
 settling the terrible tithe war, and establishing 
 mixed education in Ireland, noble monuments to 
 statesmanship, but almost eclipsed by his sub- 
 sequent share in the great measure of negro 
 emancipation. O'Connell and he were rival 
 orators and fierce Parliamentary foes. Perhaps 
 his fame as Lord Stanley was even greater than 
 that which he gained as Lord Derby and Premier 
 of England twice, but Lord Derby had many 
 crowns, and was as eminent in literature as in 
 politics. With the Chief Secretaryship of Sir 
 Robert Peel, one of the ablest and honestest 
 statesmen of the century, will ever be associated 
 the establishment of the Irish Constabulary, a 
 body that has done almost more to civilise Ireland 
 
DUBLIN CASTLE. 295 
 
 than any other, and which has ever proved 
 a credit to the country. His eldest son and 
 successor, Sir Robert Peel, was also Chief Secre- 
 tary in Ireland during Lord Derby's Administra- 
 tion. He was popular with many, and " the 
 Rollicking Robert," as he has been called, left 
 many friends in Ireland, where he was very 
 outspoken and liberal in hand and heart. 
 
 It may not be generally known that the 
 preliminaries of a duel were actually arranged 
 between Sir Robert Peel and Daniel O'Connell, 
 to come off in France or Belgium, and that both 
 belligerents were on their way thither, when the 
 latter was arrested in Jermyn Street, London, 
 and, of course, bound over to keep the peace. 
 
 Lord Carlingford, better known as Chichester 
 Fortescue, was another eminent Chief Secretary, 
 and his wife, Lady Waldegrave, a queen of 
 society. 
 
 In connection with Lord Naas' Secretaryship 
 it may be mentioned here that he was constantly 
 threatened, and that his friends feared that in his 
 nightly rides between his office at the Castle and 
 the Lodge in the Phoenix Park he might be fired 
 at, but he took no precautions beyond riding at a 
 brisk pace, and had no police protection. 
 
LONEON : 
 
 HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS 
 
 ST, MARTIN'S LANE. 
 
recharges may t>e<^ — rXTTT 
 
 FORf^NO.DD6,60m, 1-'/ 
 
 

 
 U, C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDMEMSb^MT 
 
 
 
 i-^' „ .►''. _"ii,-.