ON THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, (Second Series) FROM A. D. 1534 TO THE DATE OF THE PLANTATION BY 06 ALEXANDER G. RICHEY, ESQ. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. DUBLIN: E. PONSONBY. M.M.B. 25855A THE ruin or prosperity of a state depends so much upon the administration of its government, that, to be acquainted with the merit of a ministry, we need only observe the condition of the people. The multitude, in all countries, are patient to a certain point. Ill-usage may rouse their indignation, or hurry them into excesses, but the original fault is in government.-JUNIUS, Letter i. DUBLIN: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, BY M. H. GILL. INTRODUCTION. THESE Lectures, which were delivered in Trinity College, Dublin, during Hilary Term, 1870, are intended as a continuation of a series of Lectures upon Early Irish History published in 1869. A consecutive narrative of the events which took place in Ireland during the years embraced by these Lectures cannot fail to be monotonous and tedious. The plan adopted in this, as in the previous volume, is to break the history into periods, which are distinguished by successive phases of policy and principles on the part either of the English Government or the natives, and to illustrate them by the leading events in which the character of the struggle is most clearly developed. The Lectures have been enlarged by introducing into the text numerous extracts from Statutes and State Papers, which were originally merely referred to. It is often a legitimate subject of comment that a book should contain so large a proportion of extracts |