sharp skeans. There was nothing for it but retreat. Pursued and harassed by the now triumphant enemy, the disheartened chivalry of England at last won the shore, and were gladdened by the sight of their transport ships in the offing. So this gallantly-equipped army, which might have made history on the fields of Europe, had all but gone down before the wild woodmen and hillsmen of Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny. Richard, however, had the sense to alter his tactics, and was engaged in despatching flying columns through the country, the only practical mode of campaign, when the fatal news arrived of the landing of Bolingbroke at Ravenspur. And he hastened back to England and to death, leaving the Irish septs to work out their own salvation.

CHAPTER VI.

IRELAND UNDER THE LANCASTRIAN KINGS.

DURING the reign of Henry IV. his gallant son, Lord Thomas of Lancaster, was Lieutenant of Ireland, but only stayed here some seven months, during which time he was wounded in an encounter with the O'Byrnes of the Dublin hills, a mile from Dublin. In the reign of Henry V., whose whole attention was given to France, Lord Furnival, the Lieutenant, went round the Pale receiving submission from the Byrnes, Tooles and Kavanaghs in the South, and passing on to the Moores, O'Connors, and O'Farrels in the West, and concluding with the O'Reillys, MacMahons, O'Neills, and O'Hanlons in the North. A record of his services was sent as a memorial to Henry V., then in France, by the grateful lords and gentlemen of the Pale, which Sir John Davis says he saw recorded in the White Book of the Exchequer at Dublin. But he was able to effect little permanent work owing to the small pay and worse discipline of his troops.

From this date the O'Connors became formidable foes of the English and such of their own countrymen who ventured to oppose their designs. Their forays became bolder and more extensive. Up to the very walls of Dublin they came, and Cahir O'Connor succeeded in improving upon the exploit of Murrough O'Connor, who took captive the Sheriff of Meath, by carrying off no less a personage than the Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1439. The account in the Four Masters

is that "the King of England's Viceroy arrived in Ireland, and was taken prisoner by Cahir, the son of O'Conor Faily, and after he had remained some time in confinement, he was ransomed by the English in Dublin, who delivered the son of Plunket in his stead to Cahir." Sir Christopher Plunket was a former Deputy (1432). But it is not certain who the notable prisoner of Cahir O'Connor was. He can not have been the Lord Wells who was appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1438, for he never came over. But it was probably Richard Talbot who was then in Ireland. The distinguished prisoner was detained in the castle at Killucan on the borders of the county.

The capture of the King's chief officer in Ireland shows to what a low ebb the fortunes of the English Colony which was now reduced to the county of Dublin with parts of Meath, Louth, and Kildare, had fallen. The towns of ths sea coast were completely isolated, and owing to the disturbed nature of the country it was impossible for the great lords to attend the Parliament while the remaining colonists were compelled to pay tribute and "black rent" to the surrounding Irish chieftains. The fact was that the

English nobles who tried to govern England and Ireland in the reign of the pious but weak-minded Henry VI. were unable to cope with the difficulties of the French campaign and the Irish rebels owing to their own divisions which eventually culminated in the great schism between the houses of York and Lancaster. This civil war was hailed with delight by the native Irish as well as by the English colonists; and the two houses had no keener adherents than their Irish allies. The Butlers of Ormonde fought for

the Red; the Geraldines of Desmond and Kildare contended for the White Rose. But the Irish chiefs who fought for Richard of York must not be forgotten. Their presence at Wakefield Green serves to illustrate the weakness of the Celtic system. At the time when the English colonists of the Pale were at their last gasp, and a sudden and well-combined movement of the Irish septs would have swept them into the sea, the opportunity of liberating their country was allowed to pass while the Irish chieftains carried on their petty feuds with one another, or allowed their sympathies to get the better of their reason.

The Irish statutes of the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV. fully reveal the feebleness of the Executive and the persecution to which the colonists of the Pale were subjected. For instance, in the 25th, Henry VI., Cap. 24 (1447) we read that as there was "no diversity in array between the English marchers and the Irish enemies," and that the latter under colour of being English marchers, or troops for the defence of the frontiers, entered into the Pale, robbing and murdering the common people by night, it was ordered that an Englishman shall have "no beard above his mouth, that is to say, that he shall have no hairs upon his upper lip." For the moustache was a favourite appendage of the Irishman. Although some such regulation was necessary in order that the Irish highwayman masquerading as a loyal trooper might be more easily detected, it was hard on the English settlers to be ordered to remove these hirsute embellishments, if they chose to wear them, under pain of being seized, as Irish rebels and held to ransom as Irish enemies. Were the Privy Council of 1908 to

issue such an order it might create as much stir in the country as the Old Age Pensions Act.

From the same statute we learn that the lieutenants and justices of the land received divers Irish as liegemen and retainers doubtless because they were more easily hired and kept than English soldiers, and that these people, instead of acting loyally, "do rob, burn, and destroy the King's liegemen." For this the poor colonists had little or no redress. They were afraid even of defending themselves and their property against the Irish-who are not to be blamed "for fear, as the statute says, "to be impeached," that means, to be brought to trial before the judges. What greater proof of the unjust conduct of the English officials of those days could be desired?

A statute of 1450 tells us how the marchers of the different countries maintained their horsemen and footmen, Irish as well as English. "They do coyne them upon the poor husbands (husbandmen) and tenants of the land of Ireland and oppress and destroy them." The expression "coyne and livery" is frequently met in the Statute Book, and will be referred to in another place. Suffice it to say here that coyne and livery meant the food for themselves and their horses which the soldiers billeted upon the unfortunate farmer seized. It is certain that coyne has nothing to do with the English coin, but means man's meat, while livery means horse-meat and stabling, the accommodation that was delivered to a traveller. This, however, was a case of "stand and deliver." Spenser informs us that "a servant's livery is so called from his being required to deliver it up when dismissed from his master's service." An expression