An Essay on the Antient and Modern State of Ireland

In this shining Period were Cathedrals and Churches erected, Universities founded and established, Colleges, Seminaries and Schools propagated in many Parts of this Kingdom, which, at the same Time, became a peaceful and hospitable Retreat to religious and learned Men, disturbed on the Continent of Europe, by the frequent Invasions, and cruel Hostilities of the North-men, whose Piracies and Barbarity, even Ireland could not always escape! For, from the Time of Artigrius, Archbishop of Ardmagh in 822, for near 200 Years the cruel Danes miserably ravaged this Kingdom, destroying, by Fire and Sword, every Establishment, as well of Piety as Learning, (to both which, and to all religious Maxims of civilized Society, they had been avowed implacable Enemies) till they were themselves, in 1014, totally defeated at Clontarf, by the invincible Arms of the Great Monarch, Bryan Borou, from whom descended a Race conspicuous for exemplary Prelates, heroick Leaders, and steady Patriots.

The learned Author of the Dissertations before-mentioned, charges this Hero with a Violation of the Constitution of his Country: Yet the Violation seems of far earlier Date, when the supreme Monarchy was, by the Hugonian Law, inalienably united to one Family, whose Sovereignty, however founded originally, whether by Birth, or Election, was essential to the public Welfare: For we must allow that the Preservation of the People is the principal Law to which all others are subordinate. Salus Populi suprema Lex; and equally, that not only the Necessities, but the Safety also of the People, at that Time of Danger and Distraction, eagerly called forth the Conduct and Valour, the protective and restorative Abilities of that great and virtuous Man, of whom a faithful Historian, in his Detail of the Battle of Clontarf, says; Integrâ prius adept a Victoriâ rebus humanis eodem Diê excessit vir Bellô ac Pacê summus, Justitiæ, Religionis, Literarum, Cultor eximius, et cum Carolo Magno utique comparandus.

In the 239th Page of the Dissertations, the excellent Author expresseth himself as follows:

“I now proceed to give some Account of the second Royal House of Scots, the oldest of the Milesian Race, and the Posterity of Eber.” This Race then being avowed the oldest, in Respect of Primogeniture, must, of Course, have been prior in Point of Dignity and Sway, or at least, equally entitled to the Election of the People to such Ranks; were not those by violent Measures annexed to the Heremonian Line: Yet, however this might have been, certain it is, that no Houses that we read of, ancient or modern, have produced a greater Number of truly heroick Princes, or of longer Continuance, than those of the North and South Hy-Nial; from whom also issued many noble Families of real Worth, and equal Renown. With Bryan, the happy Genius of Ireland, in a great Measure, expired: For the cruel Danes had, for near 200 Years before, so wofully overturned the Universities of Ardmagh, Dondaleith-Glass, Mongret, and Lismore, with all other Seminaries of Piety and Learning, (the only genuine Sources of national Greatness, Concord, good Discipline, and Happiness) had obliged, in the 8th Century, so many learned Men to seek that Shelter and Security on the Continent, which the barbarous Hostilities, and impious Manners of those Northerns, denied them at Home; had made such frequent lamentable Breaches in the antient, wise Constitution of the Kingdom; had, by the fatal Example of their profligate dissolute Lives, so vitiated the national Morality; and finally, had left behind them so many noxious Seeds of Faction and Anarchy, as, in less than two Centuries, gave up a Kingdom, of above 2000 Years Establishment, the unaccountable Prey of a few adventurous Normans!

Patrick governed the See of Dublin about ten Years, and, in a Voyage to England, perished by Shipwreck, in the British Sea, on the 16th of October, 1084; having been sent to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, by King Tirdelvac.

Donat, or Dongus O'Haingly, having spent some Time in the Study of useful Learning in Ireland, went over into England, and became a Benedictine Monk at Canterbury. He was afterwards, (by the Consent of King Tirdelvac, and the Clergy of Dublin) consecrated, A. D. 1085, in the Cathedral of Canterbury, by the before-mentioned Lanfranc, to whom he made the following Profession of Obedience:

“I, Donat, Bishop of the See of Dublin in Ireland, do promise Canonical Obedience to you, O' Lanfranc, Archbishop of the holy Church of Canterbury, and to your Successors.”

It is evident that the Title of the Kings of England to this Kingdom, by Papal Donation, or Appointment, was very insufficient, if not absolutely trifling: Nor could a Right of Conquest be urged in any Period of the Reign of Henry the Second, or his Descendants. But the Great and Royal Families of Ireland, long the Prey of Faction, deliberately preferred a limitted and stipulated Submission to foreign Authority, to the various Evils arising from intestine Feuds and Animosities; and this, had the wise Conditions thereof been constantly attended to, with mutual Observance, had been a sound Title, well and judiciously founded.

True it is, that after the Surrender of the Crown by King John to the See of Rome, the Pope exerted some temporal Authority in this Kingdom, instanced in his having created Mc. Con More Mc. Namaras[2 - This Mac Con More Macnamara, Duke of Klan Cullane, founded, erected, and amply endowed the beautiful Abbey of Quin; as did other Chieftains of his Name and Family, several Parochial Churches, with a great Number of magnificent Castles.] Duke of Klan Cullane, a Man of great Valour and Piety, supported by ample Possessions in the Baronies of Tulla and Bunratty, in the County of Clare; which extensive Districts entirely belonged to that ancient, hospitable, martial, and religious Race, of which Mc. Con More was Chief: The Mc. Namaras, more or less, have in all Ages made, and still continue to make, a distinguished Figure, as well in the Field, as in the learned Professions; and were formerly so warlike a People, that of themselves they formed an heroic Cavalry, justly stiled the Phalanx of that Part of Ireland wherein they resided.

How our Neighbours came to call us waild Ayrish, I am a Loss to conjecture; it being evident we have been a thousand Years, at least, in Possession of Letters, Laws, and Civility, before the Arrival of Julius Cæsar in Britain.

I am equally at a Loss to know why a Man should become a standing Jest for his Ignorance in an alien Tongue, almost the constant Fate of our Countrymen in Britain, where, whoever is not smartly expert in the English Language, is immediately denominated a Teague, a Paddy, or I know not what, in the Stile of Derision: At the same Time that the most awkward-tongued Irishman in London speaks English with far more Propriety, and a better Accent, than the smartest British Petit Maitre in Paris doth French.

Some dramatick Scriblers, (probably of our own degenerate Growth) the better to qualify them for eleemosinary Dinners, gave Rise to this impertinent Treatment of a Nation, which, from the concurrent Testimonies of all the Dispassionate and Learned, can, in Reality, be as little the Object of Scurrility, as any other.

Why should even poor Teague prove so constant a Butt, to Farce-wrights, and Hackney Laughers; when, upon Examination, he is, by a thousand Degrees, preferable to the British Hobbinol, or French Gregoire? For Teague is a very Pattern of Hospitality; so much so, that if a Gentleman should happen to miss his Road, and be nessitated to seek the Shelter of Teague's Cabbin, or Hut, was poor Teague trusting to two Sheep for his worldly Subsistance, he would kill one, and sell the other, at the next Village or Inn, for the better Entertainment of his Guest, and think himself happy in such an Occasion of approving his Generosity and Respect: He would the next Morning abandon his Spade, and chearfully trot ten Miles to shew such bewilder'd Gentleman the right Road. He is naturally civil, generous, and hospitable, (for scarce a Night passeth that poor Travellers are not entertained in his Cottage,) extremely respectful to his Superiors, and to his Lord and Master faithful to Death. The military Annals of Europe proclaim his Capacity and Taste for Fighting; then if you should take this identical Teague's infant Son, and give him a regular liberal Education, it is one hundred to one, but he turns out a Gentleman of Merit, Learning, Worth, and Politeness; whereas it would certainly require more than Herculean Labour to chissel a French Paisan, a primitive Westmoreland, or Devonshire Boor, not only into the Form of an elegant, but even into that of a sociable Creature.

The Insignificancy of those Jesters and Spatterers, will more clearly appear, if we look back to the wise, free, and truly parliamentary Constitution of this Kingdom; if we recollect the vast Length of its Duration, as a free and independant State; the military Prowess of its Inhabitants in all Ages; their victorious Conflicts with the Romans, and with the French under Henry the Vth, and the Black Prince; their having founded a Monarchy in North Britain, whence, by a Right of Descent, in Addition to every other, his present Majesty, (whom God long preserve,) by the special Providence and infinite Mercy of Heaven, ruleth over us: If we consider the Number of our Universities, Colleges, and Academies, religious Monasteries and pious Seminaries, resorted to from all civilized Parts of Europe, our Metropolitical and Diocesan Cathedrals; on such impartial Review, surely, the foregoing Tribe of Sneerers and Flouters must dwindle into deserved Contempt.

I shall close this feeble Attempt on the antient State of Ireland, with the Description thereof by Donat, Bishop of Fesulæ, near Florence, in the 7th or 8th Century; referring, at the same Time, to the most authentick British Antiquaries, Campden, Giraldus Cambrensis, Buchanan, Ware, &c. for Confirmation of what hath been previously observed on the same Subject.

Finibus Occiduis describitur optima Tellus,
Nomine et Antiquis Scotia scripta Libris —
Insula dives Opum, Gemmarum, Vestis et Auri,
Commoda Corporibus, Aere sole Solo;
Melle fluit pulchris et lacteis Scotia Campis
Vestibus atque Armis, frugibus, arte viris.
Ursorum Rabies, nulla est ibi; sæva Leonum
Semina, nec unquam Scotica Terra tulit
Nulla Venena nocent, nec Serpens serpit in Herbâ,
Nec conquesta canit Garula Rana Lacu;
In qua Scotorum Gentes habitare merentur
Inclita Gens Hominum Milite, Pace, Fide.

Thus Englished by the Ingenius and Reverend Mr. Dunkin:

“Far Westward, lies an Isle of antient Fame,
By Nature bless'd, and Scotia is her Name;
Enroll'd in Books: Exhaustless is her Store
Of veiny Silver, and of Golden Ore:
Her fruitful Soil for ever teams with Wealth,
With Gems her Waters, and her Air with Health:
Her verdant Fields with Milk and Honey flow;
Her woolly Fleeces vie with Virgin Snow:
Her waving Furrows float with bearded Corn,
And Arms and Arts her envy'd Sons adorn.
No savage Bear, with lawless Fury, roves;
No rav'nous Lion, thro' her peaceful Groves;
No Poison there infects; no scaly Snake
Creeps thro' the Grass, nor Frog annoys the Lake:
An Island worthy of its pious Race,
In War triumphant, and unmatch'd in Peace.”

This Donat, Bishop of Fesula, was an Irishman, of the antient and hospitable Family, afterwards O Hogan; a Family which held ample and fair Possessions in the Province of Munster, and which, in former Times, adorned the See of Killaloe, with four very learned and exemplary Prelates; namely, with Matthew O Hogan, who succeeded to this Bishoprick, in the Reign of Henry the IIId, and in the Year of our Lord 1267; and who, having much enlarged his Diocese, and done many signal Acts of popular Charity, died in the Year, 1281, and was buried in Limerick, in a Convent of Dominican Friars. To this Bishop succeeded Maurice O Hogan, who governed this See with peculiar Zeal and Charity, upwards of sixteen Years, and died in 1298, or the Year following, and was buried in his own Church. Thomas O Hogan, Canon of Killaloe, was consecrated in 1343, and died on the 30th of October, 1354; five Days after which, he was buried among his worthy Ancestors at Nenagh; as may be seen in the Annals of that Place.

Richard O Hogan succeeded to the See of Killaloe, in 1525, and was in 1539 translated to Clon Mac Nois: He was a Prelate of great Learning and Capacity, in all spiritual and ecclesiastical Matters.

This antient Family is, at this Time, represented by Edmund O Hogan, Esq; High Sheriff of the County of Clare, a Gentleman, who, by the whole Tenor of his Life, hath proved Generosity of Heart, Charity, and Hospitality, to be Qualities inherent.

Dermod Mac Murchad, sovereign Prince of Hy-Kinsellagh, banished by Roderick O Connor, King of Ireland, for his various and high State Crimes, sought Sanctuary and Redress in the Court of England; where, in the Absence of Henry, then in Normandy, diverse adventurous Normans, Flemings, Saxons, and old Britons, (being themselves unsettled, and unestablished) acceded to the Fate and Fortunes of Dermod, under the Conduct of Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke; whose casual Success in Ireland, against Roderick (owing more to the general Defection, at that fatal Period, of the Irish Chiefs against their lawful Sovereign, than to any superior Valour or Address of those Adventurers) induced Henry to a deliberate and grand Invasion of a Kingdom, to which he could lay no Claim on the Score of Nature, Reason, or Right, and whither his pretended Mission, on the Score of collecting St. Peter's Dues, (which St. Peter himself never once thought of, or imagined) was as ridiculous as groundless. The Summa Dies, however, arrived: and the People of Ireland, wearied out with intestine Strife, acknowledged Henry for their Sovereign Lord; and a grand Charter of Rights and Covenants, mutual Protection and Allegiance, was entered into, anteriorly to that of England. How well this Charter was observed on the protective Side, the absolute Anarchy of near four Centuries, from its original Date and Perfection, to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, demonstrates: A whole Nation, that sought Protection, and that agreed for quiet, regular, and lawful Government, upon rationable Terms, deprived of the Power of ordaining Laws for its own Security and Well-being, and precluded (all to four or five great and favourite Families) from the Benefits and Advantages accruing from those of that Kingdom, to which it had voluntarily united itself; exposed, through such a Length of Time, to arbitary Depredations, and unpunished, unredressed, uncensured Rapine, Quis talia sando temperet a Lachrymis!

King Henry called back into England, to lay the Storms raised by his rebellious Sons, with whom and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was so constantly embroiled to the End of his Life, that he could little attend to the Settlement of the Affairs of this new acquired Sovereignty.

Richard the First, his immediate Successor, called away to the Holy Wars against the Saracens, had as little Leisure as his Predecessor to promote the Quiet, or Happiness of Ireland.

From the usurped Authority of King John, a continued Series of Papal Animosity, Bloodshed, Calamities and Piracies, closed at last by Poison; little beside political Disasters of all Sorts, could be expected.

Henry the Third, through a Reign of Fifty-six Years, was continually involved in Troubles and Hostilities, with his inflexible English Barons.

Edward the First, a great and warlike Prince, was, throughout his whole Reign, engaged in the Reduction of the Welch and Scots, and so intent thereon, that he could turn his Thoughts to no other Object.

Edward the Second, indeed, sent Gaveston hither, more to screen him from the implacable Resentments of the stubborn English Nobility, than to render any good Offices to the Inhabitants of this Country; who, indiscriminately, (Strongbownians as well as Irish) felt the Severity of that insolent Favourite's Measures.

Richard the Second visited this Kingdom in Person, with the good Intentions of establishing Peace, Order, and Harmony, in a valuable but long neglected Estate: Yet his own adverse Fate, conspiring with that of this Land, called him back, before he could carry his favourable Resolutions into Execution, to defend his English Dominions from the hostile Attacks of Henry, Earl of Hereford, who, with the Duke of Norfolk, Son to John of Gaunt, had some Years before been banished by Richard, to prevent a personal Combat: This King, worthy more propitious Stars, long agitated and afflicted by the Turbulence and irreconcilable Obstinacy of his British Subjects, perished at last under the impious Hands of Sir Pierce of Exton, who, at the Head of eight barbarous armed Assassins, rushed into his Chamber, and murdered him.

The Reign of Henry the Fourth was short, tumultuous, and bloody; Deluges of noble Blood having been shed by the bare Hands of the common Executioner, to confirm a Throne acquired by abominable Crimes, and Violence! And no sooner had these dreadful Storms begun to abate, than Henry was forced to depart from a Scene he had more adorned, (for he was, without Question, a great and valiant Man) had not his Ambition blindly hurried him beyond the Bounds of Justice and Nature.

Henry the Fifth, his Son and Successor, and truly Inheritor of his Ambition and warlike Genius, imagining himself aggrieved by the Salique Law, which excluded his Great Great-Grandmother, Isabel, from the Monarchy of France, turned his elevated Thoughts intirely to the Conquest of that Kingdom: Wherein, by his own vast Merit in martial Affairs, and the Co-operation of the Queen of France, (Consort of Charles the Sixth, then frantick,) and that of the Duke of Burgundy, a great and powerful Prince, he so far succeeded, as, after his Marriage with Catharine de Valois, Daughter of Charles the Sixth, to be crowned, and acknowledged King of France.

To this great and victorious Monarch succeeded Henry the Sixth, who, through a long, various, and constantly clouded Reign, seemed the very Play of Fortune! This Day a King, the next a Prisoner! One Day acknowleged by his Parliament, the next attainted! One Day a Conqueror, and the next a Captive!

Fierce, frequent, and bloody, were the Conflicts between the Houses of York and Lancaster, the White and Red Roses; the former endeavouring to recover its Loss, the latter to maintain its usurped Authority. In this dreadful Quarrel perished two hundred thousand of private Soldiers; ten thousand of the Nobility, Gentry, and Persons of Distinction; three Kings; and, at last, the entire Race of Plantagenet.

Edward the Fourth soon fell, by his natural Intemperance, or rather by the insatiable Cruelty of Gloucester; who had already sacrificed his Brother Clarence, to pave his Way to the Throne. Nor better fared it with Edward the Fifth, who, by all the Arts of Seduction and Delusion, which his unnatural Uncle and Guardian, Richard, practised on the Fears and Weakness of the Queen Dowager; was, with his Brother the Duke of York, conveyed with great Pomp to the Tower; where the bloody Tyrant, aided by the Duke of Buckingham, soon sacrificed those young, innocent and hopeful Princes to his wicked and boundless Ambition. But he soon after lost his own flagitious Life, and a most cruelly-acquired Crown, on the Plains of Bosworth.

To him succeeded Henry the Seventh, and the first of the Race of Tudor, a great, wise and valiant Prince, but rather too much inclined to Rigour, and Avarice; Imperfections which extremely blemished his other great Qualities.

In the tenth Year of this Reign, the Parliamentary Constitution of Ireland received a deeper Stab than had ever before, or since, been inflicted thereon, by a Statute Law, commonly called Poynin's Act; by which a new, and, till that wretched Period, an unheard of Order, was added to the three established Ranks of the State. By this Law, the English Privy-Council may impose a Negative on the free and unanimous Parliamentary Ordinances of the representative Body of the Kingdom of Ireland; a manifest Injury to the Authority and Dignity of Parliament; and an equal Diminution of the Royal Prerogative, that only should include, and should alone exert, a Power so important.

In Times dark, tumultuated and dangerous, no Wonder extraordinary Laws should pass: Desperate Diseases require desperate Remedies: But when the Fever is removed, it certainly is a horrid Management to leave the blistering Plaister still sticking to the recovered Patient's Back.