point of the empire in case of invasion from abroad. For some time before the accession of Elizabeth, and all through her reign, there were continual reports, both in England and Ireland, of hostile expeditions from Spain or France to Ireland. These reports, some of which, as we shall see, were well founded, generally caused great terror, sometimes panic, on the part of the government.

358. The best plan to provide against this danger would have been to govern the people so as to attach them to the empire and make them ready to rise in its defence. But the government took the other course: they governed the people by force and kept them down. to prevent them giving aid to an invader; and they made themselves intensely unpopular by needless harshness. The consequence of this was that any invader, no matter from what quarter, would have been welcomed and aided, by both native Irish and Anglo Irish.

359. All this again had a further result. If a chief encouraged by the prospect of help from abroad, rose in rebellion, it was not enough, as it would be under ordinary circumstances, to reduce him to submission, inflict reasonable punishment, and take guarantees for future good behaviour. He was executed or banished, or brought prisoner to London; and the people, who were mostly blameless, were expelled or exterminated, and the whole district turned into a desert, in order that an invader should have neither help nor foothold. For examples of this see paragraphs 407 and 503.

360. A disquieting agency less serious than any of the preceding, but still a decided element of disturbance, was the settled policy of the Tudors to anglicise the Irish people. To accomplish this the government employed all the agencies at their disposal, and employed them in vain. Acts of parliament were passed commanding the natives to drop their Irish language and learn English, and to ride, dress, and live after the English fashion. The legislators undertook to regulate how the hair was to be worn and how the beard was to be clipped; and

for women, the colour of their dresses, the number of yards of material they were to use, the sort of hats they were to wear, with many other such like silly provisions.

These laws were, as might he expected, almost wholly inoperative; for the people went on speaking Irish, shaving, riding, and dressing just the same as before. But like all such laws, they were very exasperating; and they were among the causes that rendered the government of that time so universally odious in Ireland.

CHAPTER II.

THE STATE RELIGION.

361. King Henry died in 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI., then a boy of nine years old. His death removed all check to the Reformation, which was now pushed forward vigorously in England. In 1551, the fifth year of Edward's reign, the chief Protestant doctrines and forms of worship were promulgated in Ireland by Sir Anthony Sentleger.

George Brown archbishop of Dublin exerted himself to forward the Reformation; but he was resolutely opposed by the archbishop of Armagh, George Dowdall, a man of the highest character; whereupon, in 1552, the lord deputy Croft deprived him of the primacy of all Ireland, which had hitherto been held by the archbishops of Armagh (188), and conferred it on Brown and his successors in the see of Dublin.

362. In this same year the venerable monastery of Clonmacnoise was plundered by the English of Athlone, who carried away everything they could lay hands on. But there was on the whole little disturbance in Ireland on the score of religion during Edward's short reign. No serious attempt was made to impose the reformed doctrines on the general body of Catholics, either of

Dublin or elsewhere, and the Reformation took no hold on the country.

363. Queen Mary who succeeded Edward VI. in 1553, restored the Catholic religion in England and Ireland.

During Mary's reign Ireland was quite free from religious persecution. The Catholics were now the masters; but they showed no disposition whatever to molest the few Protestants that lived among them. Ireland indeed was regarded as such a haven of safety, that many Protestant families fled hither during the troubles of Mary's reign.

364. On the death of Mary in 1558, Elizabeth became queen. Henry VIII. had transferred the headship of the church from the Pope to himself; Edward VI. had changed the state religion from Catholic to Protestant; Mary from Protestant to Catholic; and now there was to be a fourth change, followed by results far more serious and lasting than any previously experienced.

365. A parliament was assembled in Dublin in 1560, to restore the Protestant religion; and in a few weeks the whole ecclesiastical system of Mary was reversed. The act of supremacy was revived, and all officials and clergymen were to take the oath or be dismissed. The act of uniformity was also re-introduced; i.e. an act commanding all people to use the Book of Common Prayer (the Protestant Prayer Book), and to attend the new service on Sunday under pain of censure and a fine of twelve pence for each absence-about twelve shillings of our

money.

366. Wherever these new regulations were enforced, the Catholic clergy had of course to abandon their churches, for they could not hold them without taking the oath. But they went among the people, administered the rites of the church, and took good care of religion just the same as before.

367. In many places the new statute of uniformity was now brought sharply into play. In Dublin fines were inflicted on those who absented themselves from church ;

and to avoid the penalty many went to Mass in the morning and to church in the evening. But the church wardens tried to prevent even this by calling a roll of the parishioners at the morning service.

This compulsion prevailed however only in the Pale and in some few other places. In far the greatest part of Ireland the government had no influence, and the Catholics were not interfered with. Even within the Pale the great body of the people took no notice of proclamations, the law could not be enforced, the act of uniformity was a dead letter, and the greater number of the parishes remained in the hands of the priests.

From the time of Elizabeth Protestantism remained the religion of the state in Ireland, till the disestablishment of the church in 1869.

CHAPTER III.

SHANE O'NEILL.

(1547-1567.)

368. On the accession of Edward VI. in 1547, Sentleger was continued as deputy. As there were some serious disturbances in Leinster, Edward Bellingham, an able and active officer, was sent over in May this year as military commander, bringing a small force of 600 horse and 400 foot. He reduced O'Moore of Leix and O'Conor of Offaly, and sent them to London, in 1548, where they were treated kindly and got pensions. Meanwhile the two territories were annexed to the Pale, and Bellingham built a number of castles to keep down the people for the future. How land and people were dealt with is told in Chapter V.

369. We have seen that when Conn Bacach O'Neill was created Earl of Tyrone, his (reputed) son Matthew was made baron of Dungannon with the right to succeed to the earldom (353). Conn had adopted this Matthew, be

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lieving him to be his son, though there was then, as there has been to this day, a doubt about it.

370. The earl's eldest legitimate son Shane, afterwards well known by the name of Shane-an-diomais or John the Proud, was a mere boy when Matthew was made baron. But now that he was come of age and understood his position, he claimed the right to be his father's heir and to succeed to the earldom, alleging that Matthew was not an O'Neill at all. The father, who took Shane's part, was brought prisoner to Dublin: whereupon Shane rose in open war against Matthew and the government. The deputy Croft attempted to reduce him; marching three times to Ulster in 1551 and 1552, but without success.

371. From the earliest time the two leading families of Ulster were the O'Neills of Tyrone and the O'Donnells of Tirconnell, who were rivals and very often at war. In 1557 Shane, meaning to make himself king of all Ulster, invaded Tirconnell with a large army. But Calvagh O'Donnell chief of Tirconnell surprised his camp at night and utterly defeated him.

372. Shane soon recovered this disaster; and in the next year, 1558, the year of queen Elizabeth's accession, some of his people killed his rival, Matthew the baron of Dungannon, in a night attack, so unfairly that it almost. deserved the name of assassination. But Shane himself was not present. In the following year the earl his father died, and Shane was elected "The O'Neill" in open defiance of English law.

373. These movements of the great chief gave the government much uneasiness; and in 1560 they raised up rivals all round him: but he quickly defeated them all. In 1561 the lord deputy-the earl of Sussex-marched north against him; but Shane defeated him, and soon after made himself master of all Ulster.

374. At last the queen invited him to London. He went there in December 1561, much against the wishes of Sussex, who suggested that he should be treated coldly. But the queen received him very graciously. The re