and Walter de Valle, was £110 sterling; a considerable sum for them times, when six pence was the value of an Irish Milesian of the Pale, and no eric for the murder of an Irishman from the Irish countries, denominated, in the style of the settlers, waste countries, i. e. lands, whose owners were considered as dead, to be seized by the invaders, whenever they had the power of exterminating the possessors, and enslaving the remnant escaped from the sword. The English, faithful to their original system of extermination, and the murder of prisoners of war, executed David O'Tool, whom they took by the same dishonourable methods of warfare. Mac Murchad was more fortunate; for he escaped by means of a cord, sent to him by Adam de Nangle, who was hanged for this generous unenglish action. The premium of John Wellesly, for the capture of David O'Tool, is not mentioned.

The chiefs of the settlers were aggrandizing themselves, in the same proportion as the native interest was on the decline. Burke, and Arnold Poer, who had fled from Ireland, to escape the fury of the Butlers, Fitz-Geralds, and Berminghams, were reconciled to each other, by a parliaIment held in Dublin for that purpose.

In the second year of Edward III., James Butler, son of Edmond, earl of Carrick, espoused the daughter of Edward I. In consequence of this alliance, he was created earl of Ormond, by the king, at a parliament held at Northampton, The county of Tipperary was erected into a county palatine, over which he was invested, with

royalties, franchises, military fiefs, and other privileges.

During the administration of Sir John Darcy, lord Thomas Butler, marched to West-meath, with a considerable force, with a view to subject and eject the antient proprietors. On the vigil of St. Laurence, he was met by Mac Geoghagan, at the head of his forces. A furious battle ensued, in which Butler lost victory and life, with many of his chief officers. O'Brien of Thomond, provoked by their encroachments, ravished the English settlements in Tipperary.

These few advantages, gained by the Irish over their enemies, did not hinder the latter to cut each other down. John Bermingham, earl of Louth, with Peter his brother, Talbot, of Malahide, and 160 of their English followers, were massacred at Ballibragan, in the territory of Oriel, by the Savages, Gernons, and others of their own nation. James, son of Robert Keating, Lord Philip Hodnet, with Hugh Condon, and their followers, to the amount of 140, were treated as enemies, in Munster, by the Barrys and the Roches. The English of Meath, under the command of Sir Simon Genevil, made an inroad on the barony of Carbrie, in the county of Kildare, but were defeated by the Berminghams, with the loss of 76 men.

Meanwhile the remnant of the ancient Irish of Leinster, were obliged to be constantly under arms, to resist their exterminators. But these were now too firmly established, and cast too deep roots, in three-fourths of Ireland, to be shaken

by the solitary, divided efforts of disunited clans. Yet some reprisals were here and there made on them. Philip Staunton was killed, and Henry Traherne made prisoner in his house at Kilbeg, by Richard, son of Philip O'Nowlan. This was soon after revenged on the territory of Foghard, in the county of Wexford, which was laid waste, by order of the earl of Ormond.

During the deputyship of Sir John Darcy, serious measures were adopted, to subdue the independent tribes of Leinster. The justice marched with an army towards Wicklow and Newcastle, against the O'Byrnes, who were retaliating on the English settlements. This expedition produced no other effect but effusion of blood on both sides. The justice, sensible of the impossibility of carrying on the war effectually with an empty treasury, desired, with the advice of his counsel, Maurice Fitz-Gerald, son of Thomas of Desmond, to take the command, and carry on the war at his own expence; for which he would be indemnified. He marched at the head of 10,000 men, most of them degenerate Irish, and subdued the Irish enemy in detail. He began with the O'Nowlans, whose country he burned. He treated the Mac Murchads in the same manner, took hostages from them, and retook the castle of Ley from the O'Dempsies. He supported his troops by requisitions in provisions, clothing, and money, levied at discretion on the people. This oppressive method, by the English called coyne and livery, and bonaght by

the Irish, proved ruinous to the house of Desmond afterwards.

The Leinster Irish, seeing themselves without resource, a prey, marked out for destruction, petitioned the king, to admit them as his subjects, and place them under the government and protection of his laws. The king, as usual, referred the decision of this affair to his Irish parliament, who, as usual, rejected it. "We wish to be informed, if we can grant the premises, without injury to others; and we charge you to sound the inclinations of the magnates of that land, in our next parliament to be held there," was the language of Edward III. to his deputy. There was a parliament that year, which certified to the king, that the grant would be injurious to bis and to their interests.

This impolitic, inhuman repulse, spread alarm among the native Irish, and rouzed the indignation of a long provoked and injured people. They now clearly saw, that the infernal policy, hitherto practised towards them, was to be perpetuated, by the united sanction of the English government and settlers. It was not only lawful, but laudable, to kill them and take their property. The perfidious invitation to the murderous banquet, where the dagger or poison concluded the repast, was a choice stratagem. The art of reviving hereditary feuds, and causing them to cut each other down, with their own weapons, was still better. To have a chosen body, for singling

*Davis's Hist. Rel.

out a chief of ability, on the day of battle, was an approved mode of warfare. "No Irishman was safe to enter a walled town, castle, or any settlement, belonging to these enemies."* In short, they were now convinced, that they need not expect to be treated as human beings; but to be exterminated like wild beasts, on the original invariable plan of the English invaders. Resolved to avenge the national affront, of being refused the condition of subjection to the English government, and the protection of the laws, they rose up in arms, in different parts. Not that all the Milesians joined in this petition, but the repulse of those who did, gave all to understand, that they were to be treated like the Canaanites; and their whole race was chalked out for slaughter. Leland gives the following account of this war, with his usual inaccuracy, and contempt of historical truth.

"The resentment of the Irish, naturally violent, and now too justly provoked, broke out in an insurrection, projected with greater concert, and executed with more violence, than for some time had been experienced. O'Brien, the chieftain of Thomond, was chosen leader of the insurgents; and under his standard some powerful septs of Leinster determined to execute their vengeance. The flame of war soon raged in Meath, in Munster, in the fairest English settlements of Leinster : and the first successes of the Irish, which were not inconsiderable, inflamed their pride even to

*Sir John Davies's Disc.