" the time of service and sermon. Now when A. D. 1613. service was over, the Lord Deputy returned back to the Castle, [where the parliament was to meet,] and those recusant lords joined themselves again with rest of the estate, and rode to the Castle in manner as before they came from thence." In fact, from the time that notice had been given in the preceding year, of the king's intention of calling a parliament, the leaders of the recusant party had been organizing their plan of opposition; and the nobles of the Pale belonging to that party, who were moreover of the English race,† had begun so early as the 25th of November, 1612, to address The Anglitheir expostulatory letters to the king, remon- the Pale strating against various matters connected with foremost as the approaching parliament, such as the multi- this crisis. plying of new boroughs, &c. "We do humbly pray," say they in their letter of the above date, "that your majesty will benignly content yourself with the service of understanding men to come as knights of the shires out of the chief countries to the parliament," so as not to allow • See "A Chronicle of Lord Chichester's Government of Ireland, for the years 1612-1615. Desid. Cur. i. 167. Dub. 1772. See also p. 204, ib. where it is noted that the same conduct was repeated on Whitsunday, May 23rd. The writer obviously wishes to mark as a novelty the circumstance of the recusant nobility absenting themselves from the reformed worship. From which it would appear that now for the first time they were remarked for so doing. See p. 854, sup. + Vide p. 877 note, sup. VOL. III. C cin lords of agitators, at A. D. 1613. any representatives for the present from "the remote and unsettled countries here." It was indeed no wonder that those lords of the Pale should be highly indignant at a proceeding which went so far to put an end to their own dear monopoly of power. Disorderly proceedings ing of the session. In the House of Lords on this occasion, the at the open- recusants formed "a hopeless minority." In the lower house also, contrary to their anticipations, they found that although the members were more equally divided, their adversaries exceeded them in number by twenty-four voices. Out of 232 members returned, 6 being absent, 125 of the remainder were favourers of the reformed religion, leaving but 101 recusant members. On proceeding to elect a speaker, a disgraceful scene of confusion followed; for the Protestant members who supported the government candidate, Sir J. Davies, having retired from the place of assemblage into an adjoining room, for the purpose of counting numbers, were astonished on their return to find that their adversaries, although clearly in a minority, had placed their own candidate, Sir John Everard, a recusant knight, in the speaker's chair. Whereupon, they having insisted in vain on his leaving it, the proposer and seconder of Davies led him up to the place, and seated him in Everard's lap. After much tumult the chair was left to The A. D. 1613. Davies, and the house to his supporters. recusants finding themselves defeated in this business, and resolving to absent themselves from the house until their demands should be more favourably received, proceeded without delay to organize for the furtherance of their projects, two institutions which have since, on different occasions, attracted much notice: a "Catholic Association" and a "Catholic Rent" -" Catholic" of course only in that restricted and technical sense of the term, in which it is so commonly applied among members of the Italian communion. Meanwhile Dublin became the scene of such fearful agitation and excitement, that to allay the commotion, and gain time The Lord for consulting with the English cabinet, the vice- Deputy proroy thought good to prorogue the parliament. parliament. And now the recusants, resolving to present subsequent to the king in the most urgent form, their appli- proceedings cations for redress of their grievances, made sant party; arrangements for sending over to London an imposing deputation of delegates to advance their cause; and they selected accordingly for this purpose, eight peers, about twice as many members of the lower house, and a number of legal advisers to complete the mission. Of all these noblemen and members of parliament, it * Phelan, 261. See also Cox and Leland, and the old papal writers, O'Sullivan, Rothe, &c. rogues the of the recu A. D. 1613. appears that only two were of the old Irish stock; of the Eng- the others of the English race, and men whose lish blood in fathers had ever cherished for the lower orders particular. A "Catholic of the Irish, the utmost hatred and contempt. But it served their ends at this time to come out as "Irish patriots." To support the mission, which was found to be an expensive kind of affair, the first "Catholic Rent" was imposed, and the collection of it entrusted to the priests and lawyers. The scale of obligatory assessment, to be enforced if necessary by spiritual censures, included three rates; five shillings for a gentleman, two shillings for a yeoman, and fourpence for a peasant. No limits were assigned to the voluntary offerings of the wealthy or the devout; and such was the munificent zeal of the time, that a stock of 200 cows and horses was obtained by a friar in one day from one rustic congregation.* The viceroy at first expected that gentle measures and the private influence of government would be sufficient, in concurrence with the poverty of the people, which how to abolish this novel impost. Such a mode of treating the case proving however insufficient, a more energetic and successful method was resorted to, in the form of a proclamation by the Lord Deputy and council, dated July 9, 1613, which forbade all his Majesty's faithful people ever meets with an im pediment. Vid. Appendix, No. 64 inf. to consent to such extortions, or pay any such A. D. 1613, sums of money on the pretences alleged, or to assist in collecting it; and commanded also that the collectors should, within ten days after the date of the proclamation, pay back all such sums as they had already received, to the parties who had contributed the same. of the poli That this proclamation was not without effect, I success appears from what follows. For the delegates tical mission who had proceeded to London, having obtained to England. little satisfaction from the king, and having rather been publicly exposed as acting in a manner that was both seditious and foolish; and having met on the whole with various discouragements, they were at length, by the treatment which they received, reduced to so submissive a temper, that they addressed to his majesty a memorial, praying, among other things, "that as their means were altogether spent, and the supply of their wants obstructed by his Majesty's deputy in Ireland, they might be permitted to return home;" a request which, not without undisguised contempt, was readily granted. their line The parliament, after this matter had so The recuended, having been re-assembled by the Lord sants alter Deputy, proceeded at length, after many delays, of policy. to its regular business, in A.D. 1615. Recent events, it seems, had led the recusants to alter their plan of operation; and, in place of hosti |