fire was continued until midnight, then taken away, that the place might be cool enough for his men to enter the next morning; at which time they went in, armed with back, breast, and head-pieces, found the man who had fired the pistol dead, put about fifteen to the sword, and brought four or five out alive, with the, priests' robes, a crucifix, chalice, and other furniture of that kind, but no arms. Those within preserved themselves by laying their heads close to a waterfall that ran through a rock. We found two rooms in the place, one of which was large enough to turn a pike.

The reflection of Dr. Curry, on this wretched scene of cowardly barbarity and mean revenge, is worthy of the head and the heart of this most valuable writer. "Such," says Dr. Curry "were the enemies whose lives those gallant regicides were incessantly hunting after; a score of despoiled people lurking in caverns from the fury of their pursuers, and furnished but with one pistol to guard the entrance of their hiding place. From the character of these barbarians, we may well believe, though Ludlow does not mention it, that these four or five wretches whom they brought alive out of the rock, soon after met with the fate of their companions." Wretched indeed are such triumphs to those who have the misfortune to boast of them; and disastrous must that period be to the illfated native Irishman, which exhibited the sanguinary fanatical republicans of England, thus sporting with human blood, and pursuing the brave and unbending Irishman with as much fury as they would the ourang-outang, or the tyger. Such a fact, coming from one of the most distinguished leaders among the fanatical partizans of Cromwell, is a faithful picture of the misery which Ireland experienced during this age of remorseless English despotism. Is the heart of the reader to be relieved hereafter by a cessation of Irish suffering? Alas! every page presents its scene of persecution; and the hand for which they have hitherto endured such cruel pri

vations, will be hereafter seen striking the blow which it was its duty to have averted. The petty tyrants of Cromwell will be forgotten in the base and unprincipled ingratitude of the monarch whom Ireland served with fidelity, and the torture of the bayonet will be found to give way to the more ingenious and more protracted torture of the law. Yet an Englishman has wondered that Ireland is not partial to the connection which has thus driven her to madness.-An Englishman has wondered that Ireland should writhe under the lash, or burn under the fagot; he has smiled at that obstinacy which the Irishman calls fidelity, and has deplored the errors of that judgment which the Irishman dignifies with the name of conscience. Thank God, a better feeling has arisen. The Englishmen of the present day begin to appreciate the Irish character with more justice and a profounder sagacity-they estimate his loyalty in proportion to his attachment to the faith of his fathers, and repose their confidence in his honor, in proportion to the courage and the firmness with which he has repelled the temptations of corruption, or the threats of power.

THE

HISTORY OF IRELAND.

Charles II.

A.D.

1660.

THE reader of the foregoing pages must have long since been wearied with the dismal narrative of suffering which we have endeavored to detail; and which we have struggled to condense into the smallest number of facts that the nature of our work would permit. There has been but little respite from exasperating oppres sion and unmerited cruelty. The eye wanders over a dreary scene of desolation without a single point on which it can rest, the heart of the philanthropist sinks under a hopeless despondency, and passively yields to the unchristian and impious reflection, that the poor people of Ireland are a devoted race, whom providence has abandoned to the malignant ingenuity of an insatiable enemy. It would have been reasonable to suppose that the cup of misfortune was completely filled; that the enemy was exhausted in their efforts to torture and to destroy; that the unhappy native, despoiled and hunted intothe desert, would have been suffered at least to exist, the wretched monument of human change, and the living evidence of human malignity. Hitherto the Irishman has been persecuted by the fanatic and the plunderers. Hitherto the struggle was with the English adventurer who would wade through the blood of Irishmen to the possession of Irish property. Hitherto the Irish had to contend with a rapacious enemy,

from whom no mercy was to be expected or received. The reign of Charles II. however, throws an ingredient into the cup of Irish misfortune, which the ingenuity of ancient tyranny did not discover; which makes the memory of Charles II. rank higher in the annals of infamy, than Nero or Caligula; and which is only to be equalled by the stupid credulity with which a nation so treated has clung to the memory of the most despicable monarch that ever occupied the throne of Great Britain.

The reader has not forgotten the inflexible fidelity with which the Irish people stood by the house of Stuart in all their varied calamity. He has not forgotten the royal promises which were so lavishly poured forth, of indemnification for the past, and security for the future. He does not forget the honest and indignant ardor with which the murderers of Charles I. were pursued by the Irish people, until the fraudulent councils of such friends as Ormond broke their spirit, dissolved their union, and sowed division and distrust in every bosom. The arm of Ireland was still held out to her injured monarch; it maintained his honor and his fame in the ranks of foreign armies; France, Spain, and Germany, bore attestation to the sincerity and truth of her loyalty. At home, the Irish are hunted into the recesses of their mountains by the fanatical regicides of England; abroad they are supporting their sovereign, sharing in his privations, the cheerful partner of his sufferings, and the never desponding advocates of his fortune. What was the reward for this Irish fidelity, which never could be shaken in the most violent tempest of Charles' adversity? What was the return which was made by the monarch of England to the most active and enthusiastic instruments of his restoration? Posterity will scarcely credit that the innocent and deserving people of Ireland were sacrificed by Charles to the suggestions of that abandoned policy which insidiously told him, that

Bbb

he should rob and beggar his most faithful allies the Irish people, in order to conciliate the murderers of his father. It will not be credited, that the Cromwellians who hunted this monarch through Europe, who thirsted for his blood, who brought his best friends to the block or the gallows, should be the very men who found refuge under his patronage, and enjoyed fortune and station under his government. Clarendon, an artful and avaricious minister, prompted this odious determination, and the vicious indolence of the monarch embraced it. We have seen the rapid progress of Cromwellian devastation during the commonwealth. In possession of all the strong` positions through the country, with the accumulated treasures of successful robbery, they corrupted the monarch and minister with their gold, while they intimidated the disarmed nation with their sword. Charles was advised to accept the proffered bribe; and the infamous bargain which sacrificed a loyal and faithful people, was cheerfully struck by the royal hand.

Soon after the restoration of Charles, sir Charles Coote, now earl of Montrath, sent forward commissioners to his majesty with a large present of money, accompanied with professions of loyalty and attachment. These commissioners, whose presence would have insulted a monarch of integrity, were lord Broghil, sir Audley Mervin and sir John Clotworthy; men distinguished, as we have seen, for their inveterate hostility to his father and to himself during the rebellion. The power they enjoyed in Ireland, and their command of money, counterbalanced all considerations in the royal breast drawn from their past disloyalty. "Lord Broghil, now earl of Orrery," writes lord Clarendon in his own memoirs, " appeared so very generous and disinterested, that he obtained immediate credit from his majesty; and having free access to the king, by mingling apologies for what he had done, with promises of what he would do, he made himself so acceptable to his majesty, that he heard him willingly; be