and stones and hunted by an enraged populace, yet a destre to keep down Catholics was continually manifested. De Burgo, indeed, avows that during the Hanoverian rule the laws against Catholics were not carried out with severity, and that all general persecution ceased till the year 1744, when it was renewed with great fierceness, owing, he adds, to the spread of Jansenism.2

The Oath of Abjuration, however, against "the Pretended Prince of Wales," and in sustainment and acknowledgment of the Hanoverian succession, and its limitation to the heirs of the Princess Sophia, was enacted and vigorously enforced; but this Oath contained no reference whatever to the subject matter of religion.

It was with difficulty, notwithstanding this vaunted mildness of the Hanoverian rule, that a priest could exist independently. In the country he was a mark for the villiage tyrant. In the city, he did not move beyond the precincts of his small oratory or chapel. As an instance, in illustration of the state of things in and about Limerick, at this period, we may observe that during the sieges of 1690 and 1691, the Church of Kilmore or Kilmurry Magdalene in the Eastern Liberties had become a complete ruin. It was close by the site of the Williamite camp. Colonel Kilner Brazier, the resident landlord, made an effort to rebuild the fallen church-a laudable enterprise no doubt, if properly conceived and honestly carried into effect. Mr. Loyd, the rector, and Dr. Smyth, the Bishop, were interested in the project; but they do not appear to have been as zealous or as earnest, or rather as unscrupulous as Colonel Kilner Brazier desired that they should be. Mr. Loyd was either too poor or had too many other demands on him to contribute £30 yearly, towards the maintenance of a curate, and the Bishop had no disposable funds to give towards the building. After vestry meetings had failed to achieve the desired object, a resolution was adopted at one of those meetings by which a sum of £60 was ordered to be levied off the Catholic inhabitants of Kilmurry. Brazier had recourse to the Rev. Bryan O'Donnell, the then parish priest of Kilmurry, to raise the required sum. Father O'Donnell did not feel bound to call upon his parishioners to contribute. The result was that he was threatened by Colonel Brazier in letters which bespeak the temper of the times and the unenviable position of a Catholic Clergyman."

Mr. O'Donnell,

You may remember I sent for you to discourse you about the sixty pound we the Pars. and Churchwardens presented at the Vestry, the 21st of April, to be levied off ye Parish for building of Kilmurry Church, if any of your congregation do refuse I opin you will acquaint them wh. wt. I told you, and sent me their answer for no time I will lose in forwarding the woork and preseeding (proceeding?) agst. them as I told you if they did not comply is what offers from your friend and Sarvant,

To Ffathar Bryan O'Donnell.

1 Hibernia Dominicana, pp. 160-161.

2 Hibernia Dominicana, 160-161.

K. Brazier.

3 See Hibernia Dominicana, where the Oath is fully set out.

1 From Original Papers of the Right Rev. Dr. Smyth, in the Corporation of Limerick.

This blandly persuasive and significant missive had not the desired effect; and another, couched in more menacing words was forwarded:

Mr. O'Donnell, a little would make me resolve, you never should say mass here again. I am not to be sarved as you think; this is in relation to what I writt to you about: and more, you have not put all you brought with me of your Parish to there Oaths as I'd desire about the boards and the things stollen from me and my woork men, I expect your immediate answer to

To Mr. Bryan O'Donnell, Priest.

K. Brazier,

Saterday.

Priests and people continued to suffer; and where the Jack in office dressed up in a little brief authority issued his mandate, however oppressive or intolerable, he was imperative and inflexible, and disobedience was certain to receive its quick retribution. The arm of the exterminator, it is true, was not raised; but there were other and galling trials endured in abundance by the people. Owing to the war between England and France, the value of land fell considerably, and districts became tenantless. Holdings, which were valuable in other circumstances were surrendered, and leases would not be taken out even on low terms. The wages of the artizan and labourer, were not low, considering the depression which prevailed, but land became a drug-and was offered at any price that could be obtained from the farmer. The case of Pritrich, in the first instance, and of Bruce, the representative of Pritrich, afterwards, against Chidly Coote, Esq., of the County of Limerick, arose out of this fluctuating value of land, and occupied the Court of Chancery for many years. Pritrich, who was tenant of the lands of Garrincoony, and Rathnahilty, in the County of Limerick, had allowed his interest. to lapse on a representation made by Mr. Coote, that he could not obtain a certain sum of money which he required to raise on a marriage settlement, if Pritrich's lease was on record against him. Mr. Coote, on the other hand had contended that Pritrich voluntarily surrendered his interest, and allowed large arrears of rent to accrue, which he was unable to discharge, owing, as he (Pritrich) alleged, to the decline in the value of land. Mr. Coote, during Pritrich's unoccupancy, let the lands to one Godsill, at 6s. 6d. an acre. Pritrich's rent was 6s. The Chancellor decided in favor of Pritrich and Bruce, and directed a new lease to be given. Mr. Coote appealed to the House of Lords; but was unsuccessful.3

Whilst the state of things was thus disheartening and disagreeable, the corporators of Limerick having had time to cool down, commenced to make some improvements. On the large strand, which was then westward of the west water gate mill, they built the new quay, now known by the name of the Mardyke.

Wages of Carpenters, Masons, Plasterers, &c., 1s. 6d. a day—Labourers, 6d. a day. 2 From Contemporaneous records.

At this time Licadoon, Boherload, Ballinafrankey, and Lismullanebeg, were let to Mr. Hunt for £300 per annum-real value then £512, "and after the present war with France, a fat beefe at Xmas, or £2 in lieu thereof." The tenant was obliged to build a house, and make other improvements. Licadoon contains 850 acres and about 40 acres of bog. Caheravala contains 297 acres, was set to Mr. Hunt at the yearly rent of £80, with a lease of lives. Other denominations were held under these lettings-the total rent out of all was £531 9s. 04d.--the real estimated value in 1728, was £923 3s. 2d. In 1865, the lettings amount to a far higher sum in proportion-while taxes are immeasurably higher at present than they were in the times of which we are writing.

White's MSS. state that the Proprietors of it were the Vincent Family, and the heirs of Alderman Foord.

The interests of education were also pretty well cared for: at this period the Rev. Robert Cashin was the head master of a first class Diocesan School, in Limerick, and the teacher of many men of eminence, including Dr. Sylvester O'Halloran, the Historian; the Rev. Joseph Ignatius O'Halloran, S.J.; Charles Johnston, Author of Chrysal or the Adventures of a Guinea; Charles Smyth, Esq., M.P., and several others. He was afterwards appointed to the Rectory of Dromin and Athlace, in the gift of Lady Robarts, on the recommendation of Dr. Smyth. The school fees in those times, appear not very large, and the school-master's salary was but £10 per annum.2

On the 9th of April, this year (1719), a highly distinguished Irishman, Edmond Sexton Pery, was born at Limerick."

CHAPTER XL.

PERSEVERANCE OF THE CATHOLICS OF LIMERICK IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION. THE FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP SINCE THE SIEGES-CORPORATE MISDEEDS— LIEUTENANT-GENERAL THOMAS PEARCE-EXECUTION OF THE REV. TIMOTHY RYAN-EXTRAORDINARY DOINGS.

NOTWITHSTANDING the presisting enmity of the Orange faction irrespectively of every consideration of decency, truth, and honor, and the contumely and scorn with which Catholics and the Catholic Clergy continued to be treated, the old faith lived in the hearts of the people, and the year 1720 became remarkable in the Annals of Limerick in a pre-eminent degree. Until that year there had not been a Catholic Bishop appointed to the diocese of Limerick since the death in Paris, of the Right Rev. Dr. Moloney; when the Court of Rome at length adjudged it proper to appoint a Bishop to govern the diocese. The selection of the Holy See was made in the person of the Right Rev. Cornelius O'Keeffe, a native of the diocese of Cork, and of the family of the O'Keeffes of Clouna Phircane, in that county. The day that witnessed the advent of a Catholic Prelate to a clergy and a people, who had been so long severely suffering, and so many years without a spiritual ruler, was a joyous one indeed. While to all the Catholic citizens of every degree, nothing could have been more acceptable.

Almost contemporaneously with the arrival of Dr. O'Keeffe a partial relaxation was experienced in the rigors of the penal code. An order was

It is said Johnston wrote this celebrated standard novel, because he was disappointed in obtaining a situation under government. Mr. William Johnson, J.P. of Limerick, is a descendant of the novelist.

2 Limeric, 4th March, 1718, Received of the Right Rev. Thomas, Lord Bishop of Limeric, the sum of Twenty pounds sterling in full of one whole year's school-master's salary, and for a year's schooling of his Lordship's son and Thomas Coulston, ending the Second of February last. Witness my hand. Ro. CASHIN.

He had been speaker of the Irish House of Commons-an indefatigable member of Parliament for the City of Limerick, which he represented for many years, and which he greatly added to and improved, having been the projector of the new town. He had been raised to the Peerage as Viscount Pery, and died at his house in Park-street, London, on the 24th of February, 1806, and was buried in Hunsdon in Herefordshire, in the Calvert's family vault.* • White's MSS.

* His Lordship's second daughter had been married to Mr. Calvert.

2

given by Parliament for liberty to Catholics to dwell in Limerick, without undergoing the process of registration, contrary to the Act of 1703; but the Catholics were compelled to enter into security for their good behaviour.' Toxeth Roche, a bigot and a firebrand3 was particular in enforcing this order; but it may be added, that like many other men equally earnest in enforcing the letter of the law, his own conduct in the Corporation, did not prove to be above suspicion.

During his mayoralty in 1721, a Charter of Incorporation was granted to the Curriers and Tanners of Limerick; but the star of these Orange Roches was not destined to remain much longer in the ascendant. Systematic plunder and oppression had been arousing the resentment, not indeed of the Catholics alone, but of the Protestants themselves, who were not within the magic circle of the Corporation. The gentlemen of the county commenced a lawsuit against the municipal body, on account of the many illegal exactions which were practised in the collection and in the levying of the Customs and the Gateage. The Catholic merchants, taking advantage of this auspicious occasion, contended with the Corporation about the Small Duties, called Cockett duties, which had been paid to the Corporation on the importation of goods, and which were proportioned according to the duties which they paid the Crown. The case went before Parliament; several members of the Corporation were summoned to Dublin; the decision on the point being left to a committee of twenty-four members of the House. The Corporation had a ready excuse for their misconduct, alleging that many Catholics were living in Limerick, and were not registered in accordance with the act of 1703, and that all such should be turned out of the city. Some of the most prosperous merchants were among this number. This was a dangerous plea, as leave had been just given to Catholics to live and trade in Limerick, without registration. The committee, however, decided the question in this way they decreed that it should be optional with the Catholic merchants to pay the small duties to the Corporation as before, or compound by paying £5 each year in lieu of these small duties. By this decree about £100 per annum were gained for the Corporation; and the liberty of dwelling in Limerick, contrary to the Act of 1703, was secured to the Catholics without registry.

1 White's MSS. We speak of his Lordship's high character and great labours for the advancement of religion, in the proper place of our history. Some of this family distinguished themselves as Officers in King James's army, and served afterwards in the Irish Brigade in France. 2 It may be proper to observe that "the Corporation" Roches of Limerick, were not related to the ancient Catholic family of that name, who are a branch of the Fermoy house, and were plundered of their patrimony in Cork county by Cromwell, and driven to Clare, where some of them continued in business, and about the period at which we have arrived in our history, settled in Limerick, where they became eminent merchants and bankers-and one of whom, the late William Roche, Esq., was returned member for the city of Limerick, with David Roche, Esq., created a baronet in 1842 (a descendant of the Corporation Roches)—both liberals, in the first reformed Parliament, in 1833, and represented the city for some years.

It is said of Toxeth Roche, that he knocked off a Catholic merchant's hat, because the owner had not obsequiously done homage to the civic autocrat, by humbly taking it off whilst passing him.

The persons named in the Charter as of the Corporation of Curriers and Tanners, are Alderman William Ffranklin, William Brett, Thomas Brett, Charles Taweys, Edward Gray, William Benn, James Fortness, and Joshua Tabb. The draft of the Charter, which is signed by George Roche, Mayor, and Toxeth Roche, Town Clerk, is among the Corporation documents.

The Catholic merchants of Cork had previously succeeded in abolishing the Small Duties.— White's MSS.

White's MSS., which state, in addition, that there was a schedule made, mentioning what goods were to pay customs at the gate, and how much the custom was for each kind.

These proceedings checked the dominant party; and though the Corporation in 1722, in their anxiety to propitiate the Protestant interest, endowed a Protestant school, this endowment was soon afterwards withdrawn, and the Roches were destined to meet further municipal reverses.1

About this time Lieut.-General Thomas Pearce was governor of Limerick. A brave soldier, he had served abroad in the campaigns in Spain and Holland, and was a most unlikely person to quail before the terrors of a civic faction. Between him and these Roches a violent dispute arose, which was carried on with unsparing acrimony, and the interest of which extended to the country. Pearce championed public rights; the Roches and their partizans continued to be the defenders of a degraded monopoly. After a long succession of fights, Pearce succeeded, not only in becoming a member of the Corporation, but in 1726 he forced himself into the mayoralty. He had received slights and affronts from the Roches, and he was resolved on revenge. His first course was to create among the members of the council intestine divisions, and having, by this means, shaken the power of his assailants, he became a candidate for the mayoralty, which, and many violent contests and animosities, he obtained this year, though the contrary party protested against the legality of his election, and therefore would not give up to him the sword of state or the mace. Nor did he get them till the following year when they were necessary for proclaiming King George the Second, who ascended the throne the 11th of June, 1727, in which year Pearce was signally successful in obtaining the representation of the city of Limerick, together with Henry Ingoldsby, Esq. He continued Governor all the time, and the same hostility existed between him and the Roches." In Limerick at this period there were twenty-two companies of soldiers, whilst in Cork there were but eleven companies. The troops selected for these garrisons were all English Protestants or foreigners. The "mild Hanoverian rule" did not recognise the military existence of Papists, nor did the ruling body feel secure without alien mercenaries in addition to English soldiers. The superiority of Limerick over Cork as a garrison town, was acknowledged; and this admitted superiority Limerick continued to hold until, in recent years, the authorities have thought proper to reduce it from its ancient rank and station, and make it second to Cork in this respect." During the mayoralty of Lieutenant General Pearce, a shocking tragedy was enacted in Limerick. The Rev. Timothy Ryan, who is said by White to have been an irregular and excommunicated priest, but who did not deserve the terrible doom to which he was consigned, was committed to gaol by the Mayor (Pearce)." for marrying a Protestant man and a Catholic woman, contrary to an act of Parliament which was passed this year, and which made it death in the priest. He was tried at the following assizes, and condemned, and was the "first" person executed' in Ireland for this "crime" since the

The next year (1723) was a very dry year, there was little or no water in the river Shannon; it commonly flowed salt water up to the Quay; a linge was catch't (ling caught) between the two towers of the Quay, and there was a second growth of fruits - White's MSS.

2 White's MSS.

9 Mr. Edgar, secretary to the Pretender, in reference to the military arrangements of Ireland in 1726-quoted in Croker's Antiquarian Researches.

4 Limerick continued the head quarters of three regiments until the Crimean War in 1853, and had been the residence of the General Officer until 1858. Lieut.-General Sir James Chatterton, Bart. was the last General who commanded in Limerick.

White's MSS.

7 He was executed at Gallows Green White's MSS.

6 Ibid.