fearful of cutting their hands and feet. But the result was evidently regarded not as due to an error of judgment but as the consequence of a sacrilege, very much as the stout De Courcy of Ulster was thought to have brought a curse upon himself for having altered the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Down into "an Abbey of Black Monks from Chester, and dedicated the same to the honour of S. Patrick."

The same eternal feuds continued in spite of all the English could do, for the Celtic blood is irrepressible, so that the colonists once more turned their faces towards home, but were checked in 1438 by the statutes against absentees.

In 1449, a firm hand was laid upon the neck of the unmanageable Celt, and by kindness and firmness his spirit was tamed. But the same ruler-Richard Duke of York, in his letter to his brother the Earl of Shrewsbury-complained of Magoghigan (MacGeoghegan) and his turbulence. "With him," he wrote, "three or four Irish Captaines associate with a great fellowship of English rebells. . . They have burnt down a great towne of thine inheritance, Ramore, and other villages thereabouts, and murdered and brent both men, women, and children without mercy. The which enemies be yet assembled in woods and forts wayting to doe the hurt or grievance to the King's subjects that they can thinke or imagine."

This is a fair picture of the difficulties with which a Lord Lieutenant of those days had to cope; and when badly paid and worse supported by the King and his Council we cannot be surprised if few reached the high standard of our best English ViceroyRichard Duke of York.

CHAPTER VII.

ACTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

We have followed the O'Connor clan from comparative obscurity to considerable importance. We shall see how they gradually fell from the pinnacle of their pride. Their fall is to be ascribed to their connexions, hostile and friendly, with the Geraldines, and to their own unhappy dissensions. Some time after the capture of the King's Deputy the Fitzgeralds of Kildare and Desmond began to cast longing glances upon the rich pastures of Offaly, and to make themselves strong, with a view not only to repel their "rash intruding neighbour, but also to seize his lands. The Earl of Desmond followed hard on the heels of the O'Connor as he was returning from one of the forays in Leix (1440). Twelve years afterwards (1452) James, Earl of Ormond, Lord Justice of Ireland, was compelled to put down the Midland septs with a firm hand. He overran Leix, burnt Airem, the property of O'Dempsey, and marched into Offaly, where the O'Connor submitted to him. Seven years pass and Con O'Connor was defeated by Thomas, Earl of Kildare, and taken prisoner. The next year (1460) the restless Con defeated the English, when Hussey or Hose Baron of Galtrim was killed. These Husseys claimed Birr under the grant of the town and the neighbouring lands of Ely O'Carroll made by King John to Theobald Fitzwalter, and by him transferred in part, i.e., Villam de Birre, to Hugh de Hose or Hussey, for military tenure. The Husseys of Galtrim were great

warriors. Their war cry, Cor-deragh-aboe, or the cause of the great cast, was won by the courage of the Hussey, who slew O'Kelly and his squire at the battle of Athenry, already described.

And two years afterwards the O'Connor made his memorable incursion at the head of a thousand horsemen into Meath, when he laid the whole country waste and departed laden with spoils and gifts.

The English, accordingly, began in self-defence to plan a complete removal of this thorn in their side. John Fitzgerald, who was said to be "the best and most renowned general of the English," marshalled his forces in Kildare and the Deputy, Thomas, Earl of Desmond, arranged to meet him at a certain place with the Dublin contingent. But Con was on the alert and completely frustrated his enemy's plans by attacking the men of Kildare before they were joined by the Deputy, and defeating them with much loss. The next day he followed up his advantage by giving battle to the army that was on the march from Dublin and fighting on his own terms succeeded in putting it to a complete rout and taking prisoner the Deputy, Thomas, Earl of Desmond. The latter was taken to Carbury Castle, but was soon afterwards rescued by his own party. However, in 1468, the brave Con ventured too far into the mouth of the Norman lion and was taken prisoner himself, and Teige O'Connor, "the conqueror of both English and Irish," died of the plague.

Furthermore, as we frequently find in Irish history, tribal feuds and family troubles were effectual where foreign combination was unavailing. In the first place, a quarrel between the MacGeoghegans of Moycashel,

Westmeath, and the O'Connors of Offaly led to a series of disasters for the latter, and then MacGeoghegan, who had hitherto assisted the O'Connors against the English, and had themselves in 1329 defeated an English force under Lord Thomas le Botiller, now allied themselves to the English of the Pale; and although the O'Connors were able to hold their own against the lords of Moycastle and Kilbeggan, they suffered a severe defeat in 1493, when Cahir O'Connor Faly and many of his kinsmen were taken prisoners by the MacGeoghegans.

About this same time it appears that the O'Connor had two of his own relations, Torlogh O'Connor and Cathal O'Connor hanged. It is from this point that we may date the downfall of the clan, which was so powerful when united, but when divided by internal disputes lay completely at the mercy of its foes. For Cahir himself was murdered in 1511 by his own kinsmen, doubtless in revenge for friends Cahir had caused to be murdered. From that murder, the feud which eventually split up the O'Connors in Queen Elizabeth's reign into the Queen's O'Connors and the Irish O'Connors, began in real earnest. This Cahir O'Connor, who is described as "a general entertainer of learned men and a distinguished military leader among the English and Irish," was attacked near the Monastery of Monasteroris, called after the Irish name MacFeoris, adopted, as we have already seen, by Sir John Bermingham, just as the names McWilliam Iochtar and McWilliam Uachtar were taken by the Connaught Burkes, who became more Irish than the Irish themselves, and affected Irish dress, customs and language. Within sight of the consecrated walls and

hallowed ground of the abbey, which the hereditary foe of the O'Connors had built nearly two centuries before, the head of the clan was slain by his own relations, the sons of Teige. This was in the year

1511.

The seed of dissension thus sown bore a bitter fruit in the family of the reigning Prince of Offaly. Brian and Cahir were brothers. Of these Brian seems to have been the elder, but not necessarily the heir. They do not appear to have been very loyal or affectionate to one another. However, Brian, undisturbed by this family disagreement, which was nothing out of the beaten track of an O'Connor's life, arranged with the O'Moores and O'Carrolls to invade the English Pale (1521).

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The Lord Lieutenant, at the time, was Surrey, a most capable and enterprising officer, who had already written a very strong letter to Henry VIII. in which he insisted that Ireland should be conquered by arms, and that to attempt to kill rebellion by pacific measures was impracticable. The King had advised his officer to win the Irish chieftains "by circumspect and politic ways," to obey the English laws, and 'following justice, to forbear to detain rebelliously such lands and dominions as to us in right appertaineth." And his deputy is urged to appeal to the reason of these chieftains and their sense of fair play, and "to show unto them that of necessity it is requisite that every reasonable creature be governed by a law." By this means the King thought an entry could be made into the inaccessible parts of the country, and that "our lands detained by usurpation might be reduced to our possession." But he directs