Kilmallock, he was received by the people with acclamations of unbounded joy and congratulation-the streets, doors, windows, even the roofs of the houses, were filled with exulting crowds, all pressing to hail the noble heir of an illustrious race. A strong guard of soldiers could not obtain a passage for him, or extricate him from their tumultuous salutations; but when they saw him go to the Protestant Church, they all forsook him, "yea, cursed him, and spit upon him." Such was their immediate detestation of the man who had not only fallen into the interests of the Queen, but who had so far forgotten the spirit of his ancestors as to abandon the faith for which they had suffered and bled. The young lord, who did not understand the Irish language, passed on to his devotions, but on his return he received in the fullest measure the strongest expression of their rage and disappointment. He was left abandoned-left unnoticed and unattended. By none more than by the English undertakers was his presence regarded with jealousy and alarm. They conceived that he would be restored, not only to the honours, but to the estates of the Desmonds-they trembled for their own safety. Rory Mac Sheehy, the chief Constable of these Geraldines, died this year.2 The President now held a Sessions of Gaol Delivery, rather than a Courtmartial, which had prevailed so long. In Limerick the first Sessions was held; in Cashel and Clonmel the next, where the Earl of Ormond proceeded to meet him; but, owing to a domestic affliction, intended negociations with the President on the subject of suppressing certain disturbances which annoyed him on the borders of Ormond, were deferred. That the people were driven into the most fearful excesses against the Government, and that there were aggravating causes, is a fact admitted by historians who incline altogether to the English side. Leland attributes them, in a great measure, to the grievous compositions laid upon the lands, from which they were not relieved at the stipulated time; the extortions and bribery of the sheriffs; the easiness of English jurors in condemning obnoxious persons on the slightest evidence, and the terrifying executions of innocent Irishmen; the extraordinary devices used to impeach their titles to estates; the rigorous execution of the penal laws against recusants, and the intrusion, as they deemed it, of the English settlers.5 About this time Sir Geoffry Galway, Bart. a lawyer of eminence, Mayor of Limerick, was turned out of his office and made to pay a fine of £500, which was expended in the repair of the castle of Limerick, by the Presi 1 Cox. 2 O'Donovan, in a note in the Annals of the Four Masters, says that the first of the MacSheehys came to this country in 1420, as leader of the gallowglasses of the Earl of Desmond. He built the castle of Lisnacullen, a townland within five miles of Newcastle West, the ruins of which still remain in good preservation. 3 Hib. Pac. 4 Leland's History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 385. Ibid, p. 410. Leland goes on to say that the horrid accounts of famine and distress in these parts of Ireland most exposed to the calamities of war, can scarcely be suspected to contain falsehood or exaggeration when the effects are considered of those civil commotions in the city of Dublin, which are authenticated by the signature of John Tierch, mayor, by which it appears that Wheat had risen from thirty shillings to nine pounds per quarter; Oat malt from five shillings to forty shillings per peck; Oats from three shillings and four-pence to twenty shillings per barrel; Beef from twenty-six shillings and eight-pence to eight pounds per carcass ; A lamb from twelve pence to six shillings; A pork from eight shillings to thirty shillings, dent, whose repeated orders he had slighted to try or enlarge a soldier whom he had formerly imprisoned for petty larceny.' While the Earl of Thomond was occupied against the followers of the Sugane Earl, O'Donnell paid a second visit to the county Clare, where, according to the Four Masters, his soldiers burned the whole of the country, on one Sunday, from the borders of Galway on the north-east, to the Atlantic ocean. After burning Ennis, and ravaging the territories of his enemy, O'Donnell dispatched the abundant spoils which he had taken to Tirconnell, and proceeded next to ravage the territory of another of his enemies, the 1 This affair is thus related in the "Pacata Hibernica." "There was, at this time, one Geoffry Gallway, maior of Limrick, a man that had spent many years in England in studying of the common law, and returning to Ireland about three years since, did so pervert that citie by his malicious counsell and perjurious example, that he withdrew the maior, aldermen, and generally the whole citie from coming to the church, which before, they sometimes frequented. Moreover, about a year since, there happened an affray in Limrick between the soldiers and some of the town, at what time this Gallway came to the then maior, advising him to disarm all the soldiers, and then told them that all their lives were in the maior's hands and at his mercy, whereby a gapp was most apparently opened by him to have induced a wicked and barbarous massacre upon her Majestie's forces. With this man, therefore, did the President take occasion to enter into the lists, upon a manifest contempt offered to his office and government as followeth it came to passe that a soldier of the Earl of Thomond's company was imprisoned by the said maior for a supposed petty larceny of a hatchet. The President being upon his journey against the rebells that were now reported to have invaded the province, required to have the said soldier delivered unto him, that he might receive a present tryall and punishment for his default, or else repayre to his colours and goe the journey." Here the mayor is charged with having dallied with the president by demanding a warrant for the release of the prisoner, which was afterwards rejected, as well as a second and third framed after his own directions, till the army began its march, when the mayor declared that the authority given him by the charter, exempted him from the jurisdiction and command of the President and Council. "The President much scorning to be thus deluded and dallyed withall, told the maior that hee would shortly find a time to call him to an account for his contempt, not against his person, but against her Majestie and her government established in this province. Who being now returned from the service, and abiding at Moyallo, directed his warrant to the said Gallway, commanding him, upon his alleageance, that he should immediately appear before him and the Councill at Moyallo, where, making his appearance, he was censured to live as a prisoner in a castle in the country and not to enter into the citie of Limrick, until hee had paid a fine to her Majestie of four hundred pound sterling, which was designed for the reparation of her Majestie's castle there, and lastly, that a new maior should be placed in his room. The townsmen presently sent an agent (as their manner is) to make sute to the Counsell of England, seeking to abuse their lordships with counterfeit humility and false suggestions, to get abatement either in whole or in part of this fine aforesaid; but herein they failed of their expectation, aud having received a check for their proud contumacy against the President; they were commanded from the Court." An old very high Dutch gabled house, No. 3, Nicholas-street, is pointed out to this day as "the Castle House," in which Sir Geoffry Galway is said to have resided. It is also said to have been the house in which Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law, died. An ancient arched door-way forms an entrance into it from Gridiron Lane, which divides it from the Exchange; in front is a baker's shop. It is stated to have been the first brick-fronted house in Limerick. Sir Geoffry Galway's ancestor, John De Burgo, younger brother of Ullick, ancestor of the Marquis of Clanrickarde, called John of Gallway, from having accredited the bills of the citizens of Galway, was knighted by Lionel Duke of Clarence, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for his signal services in defending Ball's Bridge, Limerick, against the great force of the O'Briens in 1361, with permission to him and his heirs to carry the bridge emblazoned on his arms, with the date 1361, with the grant from Henry IV. of the Castles of Dundannion and Lota, county Cork, where he is still represented by William Galway, Esq. The Limerick family is buried in the South aisle of St. Mary's Cathedral, in which there are the mutilated remains of a fine black marble monument, bearing the Galway arms, with the expression, "Quadrant Insignia Galway"— '—no doubt referring to the above. Dr. Thomas Arthur makes this note :-"Sir Geoffry Galway the layor and baronett 20 Maii, 1633, did mortgage unto me all his howses, tenements, and gardines in Mongrett-street and in the south langable thereof, for one hundred pounds ster. And I demised the same unto him dureing the mortgage at ten pounds ster. per annum, he Geoffrey dureing his own life tyme payed me the said reserved rent yearly. He dyed 29 Martii, 1636, and since then one of his executores, William Fitzwilliam Creagh, payed me what rents fell due vntell 23 Maii, 1638, inclusively. But since May, 1638, neither his heyre or executors payed me anie rents, whereby three yeares and a half's rent before the warres, were falen due to me being £35 ster.-Arthur MSS. Earl of Clanrickarde. Some Ulstermen, the followers of O'Donnell, now settled in Clare and founded families of various ranks. The country, however, on each side of the Fergus, as far as Clonroad and Ballyalley, was shortly afterwards plundered by Teige O'Brien, son of Sir Turlogh of Ennystimon, and Redmond and William Burke; but these outrages committed on the loyalists were severely punished, John, brother of the Burkes, being executed in revenge, and Teige O'Brien, being mortally wounded while carrying off his prey. 1601. In this year died MacIBrien of Ara, whose son Murtagh was bishop of Killaloe, and, according to Ware, died in 1613, having resigned his charge a year before his death. In order to frustrate the plans of the national party in Munster, who only awaited the arrival of the Spaniards to break out into open hostility, the President appointed an assize to be held at Cork, and, under pretence of trying civil and criminal causes, sent circulars to all the nobility and landholders requesting their attendance, by which means he was enabled to arrest and cast into prison some of the MacCarthys and O'Mahonies whose allegiance he doubted. The Deputy crossed the Blackwater in the beginning of August, and proceeded towards Dungannon, but he was compelled by the badness of the roads, and the frequent skirmishes which he had with O'Neill, to direct his march towards Armagh. Danvers was driven back with loss to the English camp which the Irish attacked a few days after: but they fell into an ambush laid for them by the Deputy, on which occasion several Irish were slain, and amongst the rest Peter or Pierce Lacy, Lord of Bruff,2 equally illustrious," as MacGeoghegan remarks of him, by his virtue as by his birth, and one of the most zealous defenders of catholicity. 3 During a session held at Ennis on the feast of St. Bridget in this year, Feb. 20th, 1601, sixteen persons suffered the penalty of death, after which the Earl of Thomond departed for England, taking with him his younger brother Donald, whom he presented to the Queen. They returned, however, to Ireland shortly after, having been dispatched by the Queen and Council with reinforcements to Mountjoy, who was at that time engaged in the siege of Kinsale. In the meantime the Spaniards had sent dispatches to the north to O'Neill and Donnell, intreating them to march to their assistance, the number of Spanish troops who had landed at Castlehaven not exceeding 700. O'Donnell soon made his appearance in Ormond with an army chiefly collected in Connaught and Leinster. A reinforcement of two thousand Spanish troops with cannon and supplies afterwards arrived, and O'Neill occupied a position which enabled him to cut off all supplies from Cork, I M'Curtin and John Loyd's History of Clare. 2 LASEY, OR DE LACY, OF BRUFF:-Members of this celebrated family were among the first generals of the Russian Empire in the wars against the Turks in the years 1736, 1737, and 1738. At this period Russia possessed as great generals as any other of the European powers, and first among those generals were the Limerick De Laseys (Memoirs Historique sur la Russie, 2 vols. A Lyon. 1772). Among the generals who commanded under the Mareschal de Lasey, were, Comte Lacy, his son, and Browne of Camus, another illustrious Limerick man. The conduct of the Mareschal de Lasey throughout the great campaigns in the Crimea in the years above mentioned, is spoken of in the most glowing terms by the historian of the wars. He entered Poland, commenced the Siege of Dantzig, marched on the Rhine, made the Siege of Azoph, and conducted many other great operations by land and sea. His son also was an illustrious general in these memorable campaigns. The military fame of the family was well sustained during the late Crimean War, &c, by Sir De Lacy Evans. 3 The ruins of Pierce Lacy's Castle may yet be seen near the Bridge over the Morning Star River at Bruff. while O'Donnell established a communication with the Spaniards at Castlehaven. Altogether, however, the whole Irish army, according even to English authorities, amounted to only 600 foot and 500 horse with 300 Spaniards, under Captain Alphonso Ocampo, whilst the English force is generally supposed to have amounted to at least 10,000 men. O'Neill and O'Donnell differed in opinion as to the propriety of attacking the English camp on a certain night, proposed by the commander of the Spaniards, Don Juan Del Aguila, who wrote pressingly to the Irish leaders entreating them to come to his assistance at once; O'Donnell thought they were bound to accede to this request. An immediate attack was resolved on, and by the treachery of Brian MacHugh Oge MacMahon, Carew was apprized of the intended onslaught. On the night of the 23rd, the Irish set out in three divisions, Captains Tyrrell, O'Neill and O'Donnell respectively, commanding the van, the centre, and the rere. The guides missed their way, and after wandering through the night, O'Neill found himself separated from O'Donnell, at the very entrenchments of the English, who were fully prepared for the attack. O'Donnell was now at a considerable distance, and just as O'Neill was preparing either to retreat or put his men in order of battle, the English cavalry charged their broken lines, and notwithstanding the stout resistance of the Irish and the gallantry of the Spaniards, O'Neill's command were either cut down or compelled to retreat. O'Donnell came at last and repulsed the English wing. O'Neill made extraordinary exertions to rally his flying troops, but all to no purpose, nearly a thousand of the Irish fell. The prisoners were immediately hung; and three days after the battle of Kinsale, the heroic Red Hugh O'Donnell had sailed in a Spanish ship from Castlehaven for Spain, where he was received with the greatest honors. O'Neill returned to Ulster. The Spaniards capitulated, marching out of Kinsale with colors flying, and with arms, ammunition, and all their property. On the return of Don Juan, who was suspected by the Irish of treachery, probably owing to the friendship which suddenly sprung up between him and Sir George Carew, he was placed under arrest and died of grief. The famous defence of Dunboy castle by Richard MacGeoghegan and Father Collins, to whom O'Sullivan had committed that fortalice, is an event too well known to require particular description. The President having levelled its fortifications returned to Cork; and after a series of marvellous adventures and romantic escapes, O'Sullivan, O'Connor Kerry, and William Burke reached the Shannon at Terryglass, and having caused their followers to make corraghs or basket boats they crossed the river, and eventually arrived safely in the county of Leitrim, though perpetually harassed by enemies. Garret Stack still held the Castle of Ballygarry from the Confederates, but Sir Charles Wilmot having advanced from Limerick by water to attack it, the garrison surrendered at discretion. In the year 1602, forty-two of the religious having begged of the Queen to be transported, were ordered to Scattery island, where, having embarked on board a man-of-war, when at sea, by the queen's orders, they were all thrown over board, and the perpetrators were rewarded by abbey lands.2 The Queen's forces who attacked O'Sullivan's Castle of Dunboy were commanded by the Earl of Thomond, and during the attack the last chief of the MacMahons of Corcovaskin (Teigh Calch) was accidentally shot by his own son, who proceeded after the fall of Dunboy with the other exiles to Spain, thus apparently terminating a line, which was supposed to be extinct until the publication of the pedigrees of MacMahon, the illustrious Duke of Magenta, proved that it is still well represented. 2 Hibernia Dominicana. 1603. The "pacification" of Munster thus appeared complete, and that of Ulster took place nearly at the same time. The Annals of the Four Masters mention that before his departure for Spain, Hugh Roe O'Donnell advised O'Neill and the Irish who remained in Ireland after the defeat at Kinsale, to exert their bravery in defending their patrimony against the English, until he should return with forces to their relief, and to remain in the camp in which they then were, because their loss was small. He also pointed out the difficulties of a return to their own country, and the ill-treatment that awaited them in such an eventuality—but the chiefs of the Irish, the annalists add, did not like his advice, but resolved on returning to their territories. "They afterwards," the historians continue, "set out in separate hosts, without ceding the leadership to any, and after suffering much from declared enemies and treacherous friends during their march, reached their homes without any remarkable loss." The Annals of the Masters for this year end with this entry, "an intolerable famine prevailed all over Ireland." Moryson gives a frightful account of this famine, which the English caused in Ireland "by destroying the rebels' corn, and using all means to punish them ;" and, no doubt, the Irish had been utterly destroyed by famine, had not a general peace shortly followed Tyrone's submission. There was a survey made of the lands in the county of Limerick which were forfeited in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.3 CHAPTER XX. REJOICINGS IN LIMERICK ON THE THE death of Elizabeth was very acceptable news in Ireland. In Limerick the intelligence gave great hopes to the Catholics, who believed that they could henceforward freely enjoy the exercise of their religion. Her successor, James, was the first English monarch who had Irish blood in his veins, and the impression was all but universal that King James would restore the ancient religion which, for reasons of state, that worthless monarch had affected to favor. In some places indeed the Catholics had taken possession once more of their ancient churches; and the mayors of Cork and Waterford even refused or postponed the proclamation of the new king, supposing that the deputy's power had died out with the Queen. The citizens of Waterford went so far as to close their gates against the soldiers of Mountjoy, who had rapidly marched to Munster with a strong force, but he quickly undeceived them as to the privileges conferred by their charter, which exempted them from quartering soldiers; for the deputy threatened that "with King James' sword he would cut the charter of King John to pieces"—and Limerick, Ad. an. 1602. 2 Vol. II. pp. 283, 284. First Report of the Commissioners of Public Records, p. 122. Report 1810 to 1815. 4 Arthur MSS. |