subjects newly reformed and brought under obedience, by granting markets and fairs to be holden in their countries, and by erecting of corporate towns among them.

Briefly, the clock of the civil government is now well set, and all the wheels thereof do move in order. The strings of this Irish harp which the civil magistrate doth finger are all in tune ;for I omit to speak of the State Ecclesiastical;-and make a good harmony in this Commonweal. So as we may well conceive a hope that Ireland, which heretofore might properly be called the Land of Ire, because the irascible power was predominant there for the space of four hundred years together, will from henceforth prove a Land of Peace and Concord. And though heretofore it hath been like the lean cow of Egypt in Pharaoh's dream, devouring the fat of England, and yet remaining as lean as it was before, it will hereafter be as fruitful as the land of Canaan; the description whereof in the eighth of Deuteronomy doth in every part agree with Ireland, being,1 " Terra rivorum, aquarumque, et fontium; in cuius campis, et montibus, erumpunt fluviorum abyssi; terra frumenti, et hordei; terra lactis, et mellis; ubi absque ulla penuria comedes panem tuum, et rerum abundantia perfrueris."

And thus I have discovered and expressed the defects and errors as well in the managing of the martial affairs as of the civil, which in former ages gave impediment to the reducing of all Ireland to the obedience and subjection of the Crown of England. I have likewise observed what courses have been taken to reform the defects and errors in government and to reduce the people of this land to obedience since the beginning of the reign of King Edward the Third till the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

1 "A land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, a land of milk and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it." Sir John Davies, omitting from the quotation vines, figs, pomegranates, and olives, fitly puts milk in their place.

And, lastly, I have declared and set forth how all the said errors have been corrected and the defects supplied under the prosperous government of His Majesty. So as I may positively conclude in the same words which I have used in the title of this discourse, that until the beginning of His Majesty's reign Ireland was never entirely subdued and brought under the obedience of the Crown of England. But since the crown of this kingdom, with the undoubted right and title thereof, descended upon His Majesty, the whole island from sea to sea hath been brought into His Highness's peaceable possession, and all the inhabitants in every corner thereof have been absolutely reduced under his immediate subjection. In which condition of subjects they will gladly continue without defection or adhering to any other Lord or King, as long as they may be protected and justly governed without oppression on the one side or impunity on the other. For there is no nation of people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves; so as they may have the protection and benefit of the law when upon just cause they do desire it.

A

LETTER

FROM

SIR JOHN DAVIES, KNIGHT,

ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF IRELAND,

ΤΟ

ROBERT EARL OF SALISBURY,

TOUCHING THE STATE OF MONAGHAN, FERMANAGH, AND
CAVAN, WHEREIN IS A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
THE CORBES AND IRENAHS OF IRELAND.

MDCVII.

A LETTER.

I

MY MOST HONOurable Good Lord,—

AM not ignorant how little my advertisements do add unto your Lordship's knowledge of the affairs of this kingdom; forasmuch as I know your Lordship doth receive such frequent despatches from the Lord Deputy and Council here as nothing worthy of any consideration is left by them unadvertised. Besides, they knowing things a priori, in that they see the causes and grounds of all accidents, can give your Lordship more full and perfect intelligence than such an inferior Minister as I am, which come to understand things a posteriori only by the effect and by the success. Notwithstanding, because the diligence of others cannot excuse my negligence if I omit duty in this behalf, I presume still to write to your Lordship; and though I write the same things to your Lordship as are written by others in substance, yet perhaps I may sometimes add a circumstance which may give light to the matter of substance and make it clearer unto your Lordship.

After the end of the last term my Lord Deputy took a resolution to visit three counties in Ulster, namely, Monaghan, Fermanagh, and Cavan, which, being the most unsettled and unreformed parts of that province, did most of all need his Lordship's visitation at this time.

For Monaghan, otherwise called M'Mahon's country: Sir William Fitzwilliams, upon the attainder and execution of Hugh