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 https://archive.org/details/historyofscotlanOOcorn 
 
THE HISTORY 
 
 0 F 
 
 SCOTLAND AUD IRELAND. 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS. 
 
 BY MISS CORNER, 
 
 author or 
 
 THE HI9TOBT OP ROME, 
 
 THU HI'IIORT OF ITALY ANO SWITZERLAND, 
 
 THK HUTORY OF FKANCE,— OF SPAIN AND PORTUG A L, — 1 RE L A N D, - SCOTLANO, 
 ANGLAND and walks, - r.PNMAHK, SWKDKN, AND N C RW AY G K BM A N Y AND THK GERMAN 
 KM PIRE,— TUkKKT and THE OTTOMAN E M FIR K, — PO L A N D AND RUSSIA, 
 
 HOLLAND AND B B LG I U M G R K KCE,— C H INA AND INDIA, -AND 
 QUESTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 Nc. Nc. 
 
 JTargi '^^n (lEiiitimi, 
 
 IllUSTRATED WITH A MAP, AHITFIVE PLATES, FROM DESIGNS BY J. GILBERT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 DEAN AND SON, THREADNEEDLE - STREET. 
 
I 
 
9 4 \ 
 c ait, 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 467249 
 

 iS€OTIjAi>fBo 
 
 rr" - - 
 

THE ANCIENT CALEDONIANS, 
 
 PICTS, AND SCOTS. 
 
 In ancient times, Scotland was a wild country, covered 
 with forests, the western part being quite uninhabited, while 
 the north and east were peopled by barbarian tribes, sup- 
 posed to have emigrated from that part of Europe formerly 
 known by the name of Scandinavia, which comprised the 
 three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. At 
 length it happened that a different race of people, called 
 Scoti, or Scots, many of whom had settled in Ireland, 
 passed from that country to the west of Scotland, where, 
 finding there were no inhabitants to dispute possession of 
 the soil with them, they fixed their abode, and became the 
 founders of the Scottish nation. 
 
 The Romans gave to the people of North Britain the 
 name of Caledonians, which word means, dwellers in the 
 woods; and after they had made themselves masters of South 
 Britain, they led their armies into the southern part of Cale- 
 donia, which they conquered, and made subject to the Roman 
 government. They built a line of forts across the country 
 from the mouth of the Forth to that of the Clyde, in order 
 to confine the natives to the mountainous regions beyond; 
 and colonies of South Britons then settled on the conquered 
 lands; but the Caledonians soon broke through the line of 
 forts, and recovered some part of their territories. After 
 this, the Romans constructed another wall, from the mouth 
 of the Tyne, in Northumberland, to the Solway Frith, 
 
 B 3 
 
332 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 6 SCOTLAND. 
 
 which they agreed to consider as the boundary of their 
 dominions, although they still kept possession of some 
 military stations beyond it, in order to guard South Britain 
 from the inroads of the Caledonians. 
 
 The Romans ruled in Britain nearly four hundred years, 
 during which period, very little was known of the fierce 
 natives of Caledonia, except that they sometimes forced 
 their way into the south, for the sake of plunder; and as 
 these incursions became more frequent, after the departure 
 of the Romans, Vortigern, and other British princes, applied 
 to the Saxons, begging they would come and help them to 
 defend their country. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Scots from Ireland had planted a colony 
 in the west of Scotland, and had become so numerous, that 
 they formed quite a distinct nation from the original people, 
 who were known by the name of Piets, as well as Cale- 
 donians; so that the country was divided between two 
 nations, the Piets being in possession of the eastern, the 
 Scots of the western, shores. 
 
 There were also some descendants of the British colonists 
 in that part which had been possessed by the Romans, and 
 was called Clydesdale; and when the Saxons had established 
 themselves in Britain, they also obtained a large tract of the 
 midland country, over which they long held dominion. It 
 was the Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria, Edwin, who 
 built the castle of Edinburgh, and founded that town, 
 which, at first, was called Edwinsburgh; and the High- 
 landers to this day call the people of the Lowlands, Saxons. 
 
 It was probably about sixty years after the departure of 
 the Romans, that an Irish prince, named Fergus, emigrated 
 with a number of the Irish from Ulster, and joining his 
 countrymen in the mountainous district now called Argyll- 
 shire, was elected king of the Scots, about the year 503; 
 and from him descended a long line of Scoto-Irish monarchs, 
 who ruled over that part of the country for several centuries. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 333 
 
 SCOTLAND. 7 
 
 These people had brought with them the laws, man- 
 ners, and customs of the Irish. They were divided into 
 clans, each of which was headed by a chieftain, who was 
 elected according to the Irish law of tanistry, and paid 
 tribute to the king. * Like the Irish, too, they had their 
 Brehons and their bards; they built their huts of wattles; 
 wore sheep skins, and coarse woollen garments manufac- 
 tured by the women; and subsisted by feeding sheep and 
 cattle. 
 
 We do not hear much of the wars between the Scots and 
 Piets, till after the arrival of Fergus; therefore, we may 
 suppose the Piets did not, till then, look upon the Scots in 
 the light of intruding rivals; but when it was found that 
 they were growing into a powerful nation, under the domi- 
 nion of warlike princes, who shewed an inclination to 
 extend their sovereignty over the whole country, they were 
 regarded by the Piets with hatred and jealousy, and, for 
 more than three hundred years, perpetual wars were carried 
 on between the Scottish and Pictish kings; till, at length, 
 towards the middle of the ninth century, Kenneth Macal- 
 pine, a Scottish prince, became master of the whole of the 
 country, which then first took the name of Scotland. This 
 event is said to have taken place in the year 842. 
 
 In the meantime, both the Piets and the Scots had been 
 converted to Christianity by missionaries from Ireland. St. 
 Columba, an Irishman of noble birth, was the first who 
 visited Scotland on this holy errand, where his labours met 
 with great success among the Piets, whose sovereign was 
 the first person who renounced his pagan worship, and was 
 baptized. It is very probable there were some Christians in 
 North Britain in the time of the Romans, and most likely 
 the Scots were not totally ignorant of the doctrines of 
 Christianity, as many Christians must have come among 
 them from Ireland, after the time of St. Patrick, who flou- 
 rished a century before Columba; but, however that might 
 
334 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 8 SCOTLAND. 
 
 be, the Christian religion was not fully established till the 
 middle of the sixth century. 
 
 St. Columba founded a celebrated monastery in the island 
 of Iona, one of the Hebrides ; and there are still to be seen 
 monastic ruins belonging to that establishment. There also 
 he instituted an order of monks, called Culdees, who were 
 subjected to very strict rules, wore sheep-skin clothing, 
 and supported themselves entirely by the labour of their 
 own hands. They were the clergy of Scotland in the early 
 days of Christianity in that country; but as they differed 
 in some respects from the church of Rome, and did not 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, they were, in 
 after years, verj^ much persecuted. St. Columba founded 
 as many as a hundred monasteries on different small islands, 
 which were chosen in preference to the mainland, that the 
 holy inmates might be the more secluded from the busy 
 world. 
 
 After the accession of Renneth Macalpine to the united 
 kingdom of the Piets and Scots, we hear no more of the 
 Piets; and this has caused some writers to affirm, that they 
 were all destroyed; but it is far more likely that the two 
 nations then mingled together under the common name of 
 Scots, and became one people; so that the customs of the 
 Piets, and even their very language, were soon entirely lost. 
 It is not to be believed that Kenneth, who did not gain the 
 throne altogether by conquest, but partly by inheritance, 
 (his grandfather being a Scot, and his grandmother a Piet,) 
 would exterminate a race of people to which his ancestors, 
 on one side at least, had belonged. 
 
 It was not long after Kenneth had established the Scot- 
 tish monarchy, that the warlike natives of Scandinavia, 
 who were, at that period, called Danes, began to invade the 
 coasts and islands of Scotland. Their chiefs were usually 
 styled Sea kings, for they were, at one time, the only people 
 in Europe who properly understood the art of navigating 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 335 
 
 SCOTLAND 9 
 
 vessels on distant voyages, and of equipping them so as to 
 ■withstand the dangers of the seas. 
 
 Norway, about this time, had fallen under the dominion 
 of Harold Harfagre, a great warrior, who forced many of 
 the Danish and Norwegian princes to submit to his au- 
 thority; but there were a great number of bold chiefs and 
 others, who were too proud to become the vassals of the 
 conqueror; they therefore sought their fortune on the sea; 
 and, by their daring deeds on this element, became the 
 terror of all the maritime nations of Europe. 
 
 A band of these adventurers had settled in Ireland, where 
 they had formed themselves into a free and independent 
 nation; while others had taken possession of the Orkney 
 Shetland Islands, formerly inhabited by the Piets. They 
 were followed thither by Harold, the king, with a powerful 
 fleet, who deprived them of these islands, and gave them to 
 one of his nobles, on whom he bestowed the title of Earl of 
 Orkney, on condition that he should hold his earldom in 
 vassalage to the crown of Norway. This first earl of 
 Orkney was the father of Rollo, the first duke of Normandy. 
 
 Thus the northern isles were peopled and governed by 
 Norwegians; and the western islands, which included the 
 isle of Man and the Hebrides, were also conquered, and 
 taken possession of about the same time, by another band of 
 the same people, under the command of a nobleman, named 
 Ketil, who was sent on this expedition from the Orkneys, by 
 Harold Harfagre, with instructions to subdue and govern 
 them, as the king's lieutenant. But when Ketil had com- 
 pleted the conquest, he was tempted to keep the islands for 
 himself ; and therefore made friends with the Irish, who were 
 their principal inhabitants, promoted marriages between his 
 soldiers and the maidens of the islands, and made himself 
 an independent sovereign, with the title of Lord of the Isles. 
 
 From Ketil descended a long line of petty princes, who 
 maintained their independence for many centuries, during 
 
336 CORNER’S 
 
 10 SCOTLAND. 
 
 which, the islands under their government became populous 
 and flourishing. They are even said to have been famed for 
 several manufacturing arts; so that some ancient poet, in 
 describing the magnificent dress of one of his heroes, says 
 that his garments were spun by the Sudereyans, or southern 
 islanders, meaning the inhabitants of the isle of Man and 
 the Hebrides; by which, it would appear that they made a 
 finer sort of cloth than the coarse woollen generally used. 
 
 The Danes and Norwegians made frequent voyages to 
 and from the isles, adopting the most simple contrivances to 
 guide their course on the ocean. For instance, there was a 
 celebrated Norwegian chief, who being about to make a 
 voyage from the Shetland Isles to Iceland, took on board 
 his vessel some crows; and when he had sailed, as he 
 supposed, a considerable distance, and had himself lost 
 sight of land for some time, he sent up one of his crows, 
 which immedately flew towards the point from which he 
 had departed; and by this the chief was able to guess how 
 far he had gone, as it was calculated that the bird, when on 
 high, could see the land from which it had been brought. 
 
 The chief kept on his course, and, after some time, sent 
 up another crow, which came back to the vessel; so that 
 he knew there was no land in sight. A third time he tried 
 the same experiment, and then the bird flew directly 
 onward, and the chief, steering his ship in the direction 
 taken by his winged guide, arrived in safety at the island. 
 
 MACBETH AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 
 
 1039 to 1286. 
 
 During a period of two hundred years, which elapsed be- 
 tween the reign of Kenneth Macalpine and that of Macbeth, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 337 
 
 SCOTLAND. 11 
 
 the history of Scotland recounts little but one continued 
 series of wars with the Danes; therefore it was not likely 
 there should have been any great improvement in the in- 
 ternal state of the country, or the manners of the people, 
 v/ho still lived according to the rude habits of the Irish clans. 
 In the interval, however, the Saxons, who inhabited the ter- 
 ritories of Strathclyde, Teviotdale, and the three Lothians, 
 that is. East, West, and Mid Lothian, were subjected to 
 the crown of Scotland; but the Scottish king held this part 
 of the country, and some possessions in the north of Eng- 
 land, in vassalage of the king of England; and this was 
 the plea on which Edward the First, at a subsequent 
 period, founded his claim to the sovereignty of Scotland. 
 
 There are few who have not heard of Macbeth; but many 
 know nothing more about him than that he is stigmatized 
 as being the murderer of the good king Duncan, and the 
 usurper of his throne. These crimes are laid to his charge, 
 but it is by no means certain that he was guilty of them, 
 for Duncan and Macbeth were cousins, both being grand- 
 sons of Malcolm the Second; and, according to the rules of 
 Scottish succession, Macbeth had the better right to the 
 throne. Duncan, however, succeeded, and had reigned six 
 years, when he w'as murdered, while on a journey, but not 
 in Macbeth’s castle, as it is represented in the play of our 
 great poet, Shakspere, who did not adhere strictly to his- 
 torical facts. Duncan, however, was murdered; and it was 
 generally believed that the deed was done at the instigation 
 jf his cousin; but as it was never proved, many persons 
 doubt whether Macbeth had any participation in it. 
 
 When Duncan was dead, his two sons, Malcolm and 
 Donald Bane, fled from Scotland, the one to England, 
 \vhere Edward the Confessor was then reigning, the other 
 CO the Western Islands, while Macbeth took possession of 
 the throne. His reign was tranquil and prosperous; he was 
 beloved by the people, and gave so much encouragement to 
 
338 CORNEU^S 
 
 12 SCOTLAND 
 
 agriculture and commerce, that Scotland had never before 
 enjoyed so much peace and plenty, and had never been 
 governed by a wiser or milder prince. Macbeth gave great 
 attention to the encouragement of the herring fisheries, 
 which supplied one of the chief articles of Scottish trade at 
 that time, and was of great importance, as indeed was every 
 thing that helped to bring money into so poor a country. 
 When Macbeth had been on the throne about twelve years, 
 he assumed the pilgrim’s gown and staff, and made a 
 journey to Rome, perhaps to atone for the murder of 
 Duncan, if he had really been a participator in that deed; 
 and, it is said that his charities to the poor during his pil- 
 grimage, caused his name to be celebrated with praise 
 throughout all Christian countries. 
 
 In the meantime, Malcolm Caen Mohr, or Canmore, 
 had been endeavouring to raise a party in his favour in 
 England, in which he was assisted by the king, Edward the 
 Confessor, at whose court he spent some time. Here it 
 was that he saw a great deal of the polished manners of 
 the French, and learned to speak their language; for Edward 
 the Confessor had been brought up in France, and had 
 introduced into his court the habits and manners of the 
 society to which he had been accustomed in that country. 
 Malcolm remained about fifteen years in England, which 
 gave him an opportunity of observing the difference between 
 the rude habits of the Scots, and the refined manners of 
 the more civilized Normans. 
 
 At length, Malcolm re-entered Scotland at the head of a 
 large army, to dispute the crown with Macbeth, who had 
 returned from his pilgrimage, and who gave him battle near 
 his castle at Dunsinane, but was defeated, and obliged to 
 retire to another castle at some distance. Here he carried 
 on the war for two years longer, when he was slain, and 
 Malcolm ascended the throne in the year 1056. 
 
 This monarch was very desirous of introducing into 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 339 
 
 SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 Scotland the same sort of laws and government that had 
 been estabhshed by the Saxons in England; but some time 
 elapsed before the feudal system superseded the laws that 
 had been brought from Ireland by Fergus, and maintained 
 by his successors; for it is not an easy matter to change 
 the ancient institutions of a country, as the majority of the 
 people are sure to be attached to the habits of their fore- 
 fathers. At the time of the Norman conquest of England, 
 a great number of persons fled into Scotland; and, amongst 
 others. Prince Edgar Atheling, the heir of the Saxon kings 
 of England, with his sister Margaret, one of the best and 
 most beautiful of England’s maidens, who, in a very short 
 time, became the bride of Malcolm, and queen of Scotland. 
 
 Being now allied to the Saxon royal race by the ties of 
 relationship, as well as those of gratitude and friendship, 
 Malcolm took up arms in their cause against WiUiam the 
 Conqueror, and went into the north of England. The 
 Normans, however, were too powerful to have much to fear 
 from the opposition of the Scots, so that Malcolm could do 
 no more than ravage the northern part of the country, and 
 carry away a great many people, whom he afterwards 
 reduced to the condition of slaves; and, for many years 
 afterwards, there was not a village in the south of Scotland, 
 where English slaves were not to be found. 
 
 At this period, the towns in Scotland were so mean and 
 inconsiderable, that they would hardly be regarded as vil- 
 lages in the present day. People were deterred from build- 
 ing good houses while they were so constantly exposed to 
 the invasions of enemies like the Danes, whose general 
 practice it was to set fire to buildings of every description. 
 Nevertheless, the Scots were indebted to Malcolm and his 
 queen for great improvements, both in manners and morals, 
 for Margaret was as pious and virtuous as she was accom- 
 plished, and dismissed from her service all those who did 
 not conduct themselves with the utmost propriety, which 
 
 c 
 
340 CORNEE^S 
 
 14 SCOTLAND. 
 
 had a good effect upon the whole nation, as the people are 
 always influenced by the example of their rulers. 
 
 The king had in his service many Norman knights, who, 
 from various causes of complaint against William the Con- 
 queror, had left England, and would have been very willing 
 to join in any scheme to replace the Saxons on the throne; 
 but the cause was hopeless, and the attempt too hazardous 
 to be tried. 
 
 Malcolm was too prudent to continue in a war that would 
 only have served to draw the vengeance of the fierce Nor- 
 man conqueror on the Scottish people, without benefiting 
 those for whom it was undertaken. In 1072, he was 
 obliged to make a treaty of alliance with the English king ; 
 and Edgar Atheling, who was included in the pacification, 
 put himself under the protection of his too-powerful rival. 
 Still Malcolm was very glad to have at his court so many 
 Norman nobles, because they were a check upon his ene- 
 mies; therefore, he bestowed high honours and offices on 
 them, as well as on the Anglo-Saxon, or English nobility, 
 who had also sought refuge in Scotland. 
 
 As a taste for the luxuries of life was now beginning to 
 dawn upon this hitherto uncultivated land, foreign mer- 
 chants were encouraged to bring thither various com- 
 modities that had been before unknown among the Scots; 
 and although none were rich enough to buy silk, and other 
 elegant materials for dress, except the king and his nobles, 
 yet the mere introduction of these costly articles into the 
 country, was a great step towards refinement of manners, 
 and, in a measure, conduced to the increase of commerce. 
 It is very probable that some of the English and Norman 
 nobles who settled in Scotland at this time, had grants of 
 land made to them under feudal tenures, although the Scots 
 themselves continued to hold their land by the Brehon laws, 
 which did not bind them, like the feudal tenure, to military 
 service; hence, it is probable that Malcolm laid the founda- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 341 
 
 SCOTLAND. 15 
 
 ation of the feudal system in Scotland, although it did not 
 become general till long afterwards. 
 
 Malcolm was killed in the year 1093, in a battle at Aln- 
 wick, fought in consequence of some disagreement with 
 William Rufus; and his amiable wife died on the day she 
 received the news of this fatal event. In the same year, 
 Magnus, king of Norway, made some expeditions against 
 the Scottish islands: he landed first on the Mainland, 
 the largest of the Orkneys, and having deposed the earl, he 
 proceeded to the Western islands, all of which he attacked 
 and plundered, except Iona, which was reverenced as a place 
 of peculiar sanctity, even by the fierce and warlike Northmen. 
 
 Magnus next directed his hostihties against Scotland, but 
 after having committed some few depredations, a peace was 
 concluded, on condition that the Scottish monarch should 
 resign all the islands between which and the main land a 
 vessel could be steered with a rudder. When this agree- 
 ment was concluded, the artful Norwegian caused a very 
 slight barque to be conveyed to a narrow neck of land 
 which joins Cantire to Argyll, but which being covered with 
 the sea at high water, the peninsula is, for a short time, 
 transformed into an island. Here he sat in his little boat 
 till the tide came in, with the helm in his hand, ready to 
 seize the favourable moment; which having arrived, he 
 actually steered himself over the isthmus; and, in conse- 
 quence of this feat, claimed Cantire, as coming within the 
 terms of the covenant. 
 
 The Scottish historians do not quite agree as to which 
 king it was who gave up the sovereignty of the islands, 
 which seems sometimes to have belonged to the kings of 
 Norway, sometimes to those of Scotland; but, according to 
 the most probable account, it was Donald Bane, the brother 
 of Malcolm, who, ever since his father’s death, had led a 
 wild kind of life in the Hebrides, not liking the new fashions 
 
 z 
 
342 CORNER’S 
 
 16 SCOTLAND. 
 
 that had been introduced into Scotland by his polished 
 brother, whom he never visited. 
 
 As soon, however, as he heard that Malcolm was dead, he 
 hastened to Scotland, in the hope of being made king, for 
 his brother's sons were still very young; and, on that 
 account, Donald Bane is sometimes called an usurper; but 
 the laws of Scotland admitted of an uncle reigning before 
 his nephew, if the latter were not of age to govern; there- 
 fore, it does not appear that Donald Bane acted without a 
 very plausible pretext. 
 
 This prince was too barbarous to approve of the alter- 
 ations that had been made by the elegant taste of Malcolm 
 and Margaret, and was angry at finding so many foreigners 
 about the court, instead of the rude natives of the country. 
 He therefore issued a decree, the object of which was to 
 banish all the English and Normans from Scotland; but as 
 moT of them held lands, and had great numbers of vassals, 
 whom they could arm in their defence, they would not quit 
 the country, but deposed the king, who was obliged to take 
 refuge in the isles; and Duncan the Second, probably a 
 natural son of Malcolm, was made king; but he being 
 shortly after assassinated, Donald was restored. He was 
 again dethroned, through the influence of the English, and 
 was imprisoned, and deprived of his eye-sight; and Edgar, 
 a son of Malcolm, was placed on the throne. 
 
 Edgar reigned about nine years, when he died, and was 
 succeeded by his brother, Alexander the First, who ascended 
 the throne in the year 1106 . 
 
 Scotland, at this period, was divided into thirteen dis- 
 tricts, each under the government of a thane, or lord, whose 
 power was almost independent of that of the king. Each 
 clan had its own particular customs, and was governed by 
 its own regulations or laws; so that a national assembly, or 
 parliament, to make laws for the whole country, was in 
 Scotland entirely unknown. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND JRELAND. 343 
 
 SCOTLAND. 17 
 
 The foreign trade of Scotland, in the time of Alexander 
 the First, must have been considerable, as he possessed 
 luxuries that were highly esteemed even in richer and more 
 civilized kingdoms. He rode a fine Arabian steed, with 
 splendid velvet trappings, and he had a rich suit of Turkish 
 armour, of great value. We may, therefore, suppose that 
 he had more wealth than most of his predecessors. His 
 riches were partly derived from the valuable pearls that 
 were found in the rivers of Scotland, many of which are 
 said to have equalled those of the east in size and beauty; 
 therefore it is highly probable that the king made a profit of 
 them, since they were much esteemed over the whole of 
 Europe. It is supposed that money was first coined in 
 Scotland in the reign of Alexander the First; but it was 
 not in general use, for almost all trade was carried on by 
 barter, or by traffic, which consisted of the interchange of 
 cattle and slaves, which bore a fixed value, and were called 
 live money. 
 
 Alexander the First distinguished himself also by his 
 liberal donations of land and jewels to the church. The 
 word jewel, in those days, did not mean exactly what we 
 should understand by it now, but was applied to many 
 things that were rich and valuable; so that various articles 
 were called jewels, merely because they were ornamented 
 with gold. This king reigned about eighteen years, and 
 died in 1124. 
 
 The next king of Scotland was David the First, the 
 youngest son of Malcolm Caen Mohr, a prince who pos- 
 sessed great advantages of education, having been brought 
 up in the court of Henry the First, of England, who married 
 Malcolm’s daughter, the good queen Matilda. 
 
 About this time, Ronald, earl of Orkney, built the mag- 
 nificent cathedral of St. Magnus, in Kirkwall, the capital 
 of Pomona, the chief of the Orkney islands, which was 
 regarded as a very wonderful structure, considering the 
 
 c 3 
 
344 CORNER’S 
 
 18 SCOTLAND. 
 
 poverty of the territory in which it was erected. The earl, 
 unable to build so fine and costly an edifice out of his own 
 private wealth, raised a sufficient sum, by making an ar- 
 rangement with his tenants, by which they were to pay him 
 down a small fee for every acre, or, as it was then called, 
 every ploughate, of land they held, which was then to 
 descend to their heirs without the payment of the accus- 
 tomed fines to their liege lord. 
 
 Most of the land in the Orkney islands was held by 
 feudal tenure; and whenever a proprietor died, his estate 
 went back to the earl, who kept possession of it till it was 
 redeemed by the heir at any price the earl chose to set upon 
 it. The tenants, therefore, were not averse to the abolition 
 of this arbitrary custom, by a present payment for their 
 lands; and thus the funds were raised for building the 
 cathedral. 
 
 The fate of the earl of Orkney was singular, and is 
 connected with the story of Sweyn, the Danish pirate, cele- 
 brated in the history of Ireland as the hero of the scarlet 
 cruise. This bold chief was one of those who were called 
 Sea Kings, and was the lord of Gairsay, a little island, 
 about four miles from the bay of Kirkwall, where he dwelt 
 in the midst of his lawless people, who seem to have been 
 farmers at home and robbers abroad; for before the chief 
 and his men set out on their summer cruise, they sowed 
 their seed, and left it to ripen while they were plundering 
 the neighbouring shores. On their return, they shared the 
 spoils they had taken, reaped their crops, and settled them- 
 selves for the winter with their families, in Gairsay. 
 
 It happened on one occasion, that Sweyn, being alone in 
 his boat, was chased by the earl of Orkney, with whom he 
 was at variance, and was obliged to row with all his might 
 till he reached a small uninhabited island, where he ran his 
 boat into a cave formed in the rock by the action of the 
 sea, and thus concealed himself from view till his pursuers 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 345 
 
 SCOTLAND. 19 
 
 had passed ; and as the tide had risen by the time they came 
 up, so as to hide the entrance of the cave, he heard them 
 expressing their wonder at his sudden and mysterious disap- 
 pearance, for they could not discern any place where it 
 seemed possible that he could have hidden himself. 
 
 As Sweyn was not seen in the Orkney islands for some 
 years afterwards, it was supposed he was dead ; till, one day, 
 a vessel, having the appearance of a merchant ship, was seen 
 coming from the west with two or three men on deck, who 
 pushed their vessel towards the shore of the island of 
 Rousay, where the earl of Orkney dwelt, and hailed the 
 people who were walking quietly about, and asked if there 
 was any news. The people said the earl was gone to the 
 other side^ of the island to hunt seals, on which the men 
 directed the ship’s course towards the spot named, and as 
 soon as they discovered the earl and his hunting party, 
 Sweyn himself, with a number of armed men, rushed from 
 the hold of the vessel, where they had been concealed, and 
 slew every one except the earl, whom they made prisoner, 
 and carried away with them. 
 
 He was never heard of again ; but it is supposed he was 
 placed in a monastery by Sweyn, who, on being reconciled 
 to his successors, returned to his little island of Gairsay, 
 and, for many years, was the most formidable pirate of the 
 age. He was killed at last, in an attack on the city of 
 Dublin, in the year 1159. 
 
 Whilst David was in England, he had engaged to main- 
 tain the right of king Henry’s daughter, the empress 
 Matilda, to the English throne. Matilda was his niece, 
 and about eleven years after he had become king of Scot- 
 land, he was called upon to fulfil his promise, for Henry 
 had died, and Stephen had usurped the crown of England. 
 Matilda came from France, with a numerous train of nobles, 
 to assert her claim, and the whole country was distressed 
 by the civil wars that followed in consequence. King 
 
346 CORNER^S 
 
 20 SCOTLAND. 
 
 David engaged in these wars, but was defeated in a famous 
 battle, fought on Cuton Moor, near North AUerton, in 
 Yorkshire, known in history as the Battle of the Standard; 
 and so called, from the English ensign, which was the mast 
 of a ship fixed on a four-wheeled carriage, to which were 
 attached several banners, which were then considered to 
 be sacred, and were seen waving on high, in the midst of 
 the field of battle. 
 
 David the First was one of the best kings who ever 
 reigned over the country. During his residence in England, 
 he had acquired a knowledge of several branches of science 
 which had hitherto been unknown in Scotland, and which 
 enabled him to introduce great improvements in agriculture, 
 horticulture, and architecture. He gave encouragement 
 to foreign commerce, and was extremely liberal in the en- 
 dowment of religious establishments, which was a benefit to 
 the country, in its then rude and unsettled state, as afford- 
 ing to the members of those establishments abundant means 
 for extending their charities towards the numerous poor. 
 
 By this time, monasteries had become very numerous 
 over the whole of Scotland, and many of them were richly 
 endowed with lands, which were more highly cultivated than 
 any other lands in the kingdom, the vassals and bondmen 
 of the monks being secured in the possession of their farms 
 and homesteads so long as they fulfilled the conditions on 
 which they were held. As church and abbey lands were 
 generally respected in time of war, it was then thought 
 good policy in a monarch to make large grants to the 
 church, since, by so doing, he was, in fact, protecting so 
 much of his territories from the ravages that so often turn a 
 fertile country into a melancholy wilderness. In those 
 days, a convent was the surest place of refuge for those who 
 were oppressed; and the safest resting-place for travellers. 
 
 It was this monarch who founded the abbey of Holy 
 Rood, afterwards one of the royal palaces; and he was the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 347 
 
 SCOTLAND. 21 
 
 first king who made Edinburgh one of his places of re- 
 sidence, Perth being, at this time, the capital of Scotland. 
 This excellent monarch used to sit, on certain days, at the 
 gate of his palace, and listen to the complaints of all those 
 who chose to appeal to him for justice; for the king was, in 
 those days, the supreme judge of his people. David died 
 in the year 1153, after a prosperous reign of twenty-nine 
 years. 
 
 Malcolm the Fourth, the grandson of the late king, does 
 not make much figure in history, for he was only twelve 
 years of age when he ascended the throne, and died when 
 he was twenty-four. The pirates of the Western Isles 
 were, at this time, very troublesome neighbours to the 
 Scots, for they had taken advantage of the weakness of the 
 monarchy to establish among themselves a kind of inde- 
 pendence, and they made no scruple of plundering the 
 Scottish coasts, which they could easily approach in their 
 light armed galleys, to the great annoyance of those who 
 dwelt near the sea shore. The young king was absent for a 
 long time in Normandy, with Henry the Second, who either 
 persuaded or compelled him to give up his title to the 
 territories his ancestors had held in Northumberland and 
 Cumberland. He also did homage for his own district of 
 Lothian, which had formerly belonged to the Saxons, but 
 he never did homage for the whole kingdom of Scotland, as 
 was asserted by Edward the First, when he claimed the 
 right of sovereignty over that country. 
 
 The next king was William the Lion, a brother of Mal- 
 colm, and a much more noted personage than his young 
 and timid predecessor. William had not been long on the 
 throne before he quarrelled with the king of England, who 
 refused to restore the territory of Northumberland, which 
 Malcolm had been weak enough to surrender. In conse- 
 quence of this quarrel, the Scottish monarch led his army 
 across the border, and laid siege to Alnwick castle, where 
 
348 CORNER^S 
 
 22 SCOTLAND. 
 
 he was made prisoner, by some English barons, and sent 
 captive to the king, who would not restore him to liberty 
 until he had consented to do homage for his whole kingdom, 
 to acknowledge him as his lord paramount, and to place the 
 strong castles of Berwick and Roxburgh in his hands, as a 
 security for his fealty. On these hard terms he regained 
 his freedom, and returned to Scotland as a vassal king. 
 
 Richard the First having succeeded his father on the 
 English throne, gave up his right of sovereignty over Scot- 
 land, for a very large sum of money, to aid him in his ex- 
 pedition to the Holy land. 
 
 This was the age of chivalry in Scotland, as well as in 
 England, and there were many brave Scottish knights 
 among the heroes of Palestine; but the country was im- 
 poverished on this account, as the richest nobles went away 
 to seek renown in the east, taking with them all the money 
 they could raise, instead of remaining at home to employ 
 their wealth in improving the condition of their lands and 
 people. 
 
 The population of Scotland was composed of several dis- 
 tinct nations. The Norwegians were in possession of the 
 isles ; the Gaelic, or Celtic race, who were the descendants of 
 the early inhabitants, occupied all the north, or highlands; 
 while the people of Saxon and Norman origin possessed all 
 the southern districts, and were thence called Lowlanders. 
 Among the last were found the chief nobility, who had, by 
 this time, become very powerful. Every Scottish baron had 
 his strong castle and feudal domain; his vassals, retainers, 
 and bondmen, like the English lords ; and the language of 
 the South was nearly the same as that of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 while the Highlanders continued to use the original Gaelic, 
 to wear the ancient dress, and to live according to the rude 
 customs of their ancestors. They hated the Lowlanders, 
 whom they called Saxons, and considered as intruders into 
 the lands once belonging to their forefathers; and they held 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 349 
 
 SCOTLAND. 23 
 
 in scorn the peaceful arts introduced by that people into the 
 south, where trade and manufactures were making great 
 progress, owing to the charters granted by the kings to the 
 inhabitants of the royal burghs. 
 
 These burghs arose from small colonies of traders and 
 artizans, who, in most cases, had purchased their freedom 
 of their lords; for, in early times, every baron had a num- 
 ber of vassals, who worked for him at their several trades, 
 and lived in hamlets close to the walls of his castle. At 
 first they were slaves, and all they possessed or earned 
 belonged to their masters; but, by degrees, they were al- 
 lowed a share of the profits of their industry, and many 
 grew rich enough to buy their liberty. These freedmen 
 formed themselves into trading communities, and improved 
 their villages, until they grew into towns; to which great 
 privileges were, from time to time, granted by the kings, 
 who knew how much the prosperity of the country de- 
 pended on the encouragement given to arts and commerce. 
 The earliest burghs in Scotland were Edinburgh, Roxburgh, 
 Berwick, and Stirling. 
 
 The inhabitants of royal burghs were tenants of the king, 
 and the rents belonged to him, besides which, he derived a 
 revenue from the duties on articles of traffic, and the custom 
 called thirlage, by which the lord of the land was entitled 
 to set up a mill, and the people were obliged to take their 
 corn to it to be ground, and to pay a tax on every measure. 
 
 The population of the royal burghs was increased by the 
 English, who were encouraged to settle in them, on account 
 of the skill displayed by their inhabitants in various arts, 
 particularly the manufacture of woollen cloth, which was 
 carried on in several of the towns. Linen was also made 
 in some places, but not in any considerable quantity. The 
 trades, however, must have been numerous, for a charter 
 was granted by William the Lion to the burgesses of 
 Perth, which was still considered the capital of Scotland, 
 
350 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 
 
 24 SCOTLAND. 
 
 authorizing them to form themselves into guilds, or com- 
 panies, of their several callings. 
 
 This wise and good monarch also granted to the inha- 
 bitants of Glasgow, then only a village, the privilege of 
 holding a weekly market and an annual fair, which were 
 great advantages in those days, when trade in general was 
 carried on at fairs and markets; and this charter gave the 
 first impulse to the rise of this now great commercial city. 
 
 William, who was more distinguished as a legislator than 
 a warrior, was called the Lion, because he adopted a lion 
 as the armorial bearing of Scotland; for, as every knight 
 had his ensign, or coat of arms, so had every country. 
 
 William the Lion, after a reign of half a century, was 
 succeeded by his son, Alexander the Second, whose reign 
 was one continued series of wars with the lords of the Isles 
 and the kings of England; for he wanted to reduce the 
 former to dependence on the crown of Scotland, and to 
 obtain from the latter the restitution of Northumberland and 
 other English possessions. The Western Isles were still 
 considered as belonging to Norway; and although the king 
 of Norway had but little real authority over them, the 
 Scottish king was anxious that he should resign his claim. 
 
 Alexander, therefore, offered to purchase the Hebrides, 
 and the isle of Man, from Haco, king of Norway; but the 
 latter refused to part with them, saying he did not want 
 money, and was not inclined to dispose of any part of his 
 dominions. Alexander, in consequence of this refusal, 
 undertook an expedition against the Hebrides, where he 
 was taken ill, and died in 1249, leaving a son, of his own 
 name, only eight years old, to succeed him. 
 
 In earlier times, when the ancient laws brought from Ire- 
 land were in force, a child so young would have been ex- 
 cluded from the throne, and some other relative of the 
 deceased monarch chosen to succeed him; but these laws 
 were now discontinued, and the eldest son was the only 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 351 
 
 SCOTLAND. 25 
 
 lawful heir; and if he happened to be an infant, a council 
 was formed of the chief barons to conduct the government 
 during his minority. 
 
 Henry the Third was reigning in England at this time ; 
 and as he had a daughter of about the same age as that of 
 the young Alexander, it was thought desirable for both king- 
 doms that the royal children, neither of whom were yet ten 
 years old, should be united. The marriage, therefore, was 
 celebrated with great splendour and rejoicings, at the castle 
 of the archbishop of York, who had the honour of enter- 
 taining an assemblage of the English, Scottish, and French 
 nobility, on the occasion. Probably the archbishop would 
 rather have dispensed with so expensive a mark of distinc- 
 tion, for, besides the many valuable presents he was obliged 
 to make, of plate, jewels, and costly dresses, there were no 
 less than sixty of his finest oxen killed for the wedding 
 feast; and every other article of good cheer must have 
 borne some proportion to this enormous quantity of beef. 
 
 Henry the I'hird was so ungenerous as to take advantage 
 of the youth of the Scottish prince, to try to persuade him 
 to do. homage for his kingdom, thinking, by that means, to 
 obtain a right of sovereignty over Scotland; but the noble 
 boy replied, with a spirit beyond his years, that he had 
 come to England to be married, not to discuss state affairs, 
 which, at present, he should leave to his council. Henry 
 was therefore thwarted in his ambitious designs. 
 
 One of the principal events in the reign of Alexander the 
 Third, was his entering into a treaty with Magnus the 
 Fourth, king of Norway, by which the Western Islands be- 
 came united to Scotland. Haco, who had refused to sell 
 these islands to Alexander the Second, continued, after the 
 death of that monarch, to invade and plunder the coasts of 
 Scotland; but Alexander the Third, as soon as he came of 
 age, put himself at the head of his army, and the first time 
 the Danes landed, he marched against them, and gained a 
 
 B 
 
352 CORNER’S 
 
 26 SCOTLAND. 
 
 great victory over them, near the mouth of the Clyde; which 
 was so severe a mortification to Haco, that he fled to the 
 Orkney islands, where he died of grief, His son, Magnus, 
 made peace with Alexander, and agreed to give him the 
 Western Islands for a certain sum of money, to be paid as 
 agreed on between them; so that these islands were an- 
 nexed to Scotland, not by conquest, but by purchase; and 
 the friendship between the two kings was strengthened by 
 the marriage of their children, Eric, the prince of Norway, 
 and Margaret, the princess of Scotland. The Orkney and 
 Zetland islands still belonged to Norway, and were in- 
 habited principally by people of that country. 
 
 Alexander was an excellent monarch, and was much be- 
 loved by his people. It was his custom to make an annual 
 progress through his dominions, attended by his chief judge, 
 his principal nobles, and a strong military force, and to hold 
 a court of appeal in each county for the redress of griev- 
 ances. All persons, without distinction of rank, might 
 bring their cases before this court, and were heard by the 
 king in person, who never failed to do justice to every one. 
 
 Many useful arts were cultivated in this reign, and some 
 trade was carried on, particularly at Berwick, which was 
 the principal port for foreign merchants. It was governed 
 by a mayor and four provosts, who were magistrates ; there- 
 fore, we may suppose it was a place of some importance. 
 
 About this time, coals began to be used in Scotland; but 
 it is uncertsdn whether any mines were worked in that 
 country till about seven years after the death of Alexander 
 the Third, when one of the barons granted liberty to the 
 monks of Dunfermline, to dig coals for their own use on his 
 lands; but they were prohibited from selling any, by which 
 it is evident, that coals were an article of trade at this 
 period. 
 
 Alexander the Third was very unfortunate in his domestic 
 affairs. His wife and all his children died before him, and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 353 
 
 SCOTLAND. 27 
 
 no one was left to inherit his dominions but a grand- 
 daughter, the only child of Eric and Margaret, called in 
 history the Maid of Norway. The king married again, 
 but very soon afterwards he was accidentally killed by 
 falling down a precipice as he was riding along its edge on 
 horseback, in 1286 , after having reigned thirty-seven years. 
 
 This was a most melancholy accident for the Scottish 
 nation, and the more so as the Maiden of Norway, the 
 heiress to the throne, died on her voyage from that country; 
 an event that left the crown open for disputation by all 
 that could claim relationship with the royal race, and led to 
 those unhappy wars that so long desolated the country. 
 
 The oldest Scottish song yet discovered is, a monody on 
 the death of Alexander the Third. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 
 
 1290 to 1305. 
 
 Up to this period, the history of Scotland possesses no 
 greater degree of interest than belongs generally to the 
 early history of any civilised nation; but we are now about 
 to enter on a course of events that distinguishes this nation 
 from most others, and wiU serve to prove that the Scots 
 may rank among the bravest people in the world. 
 
 I have already noticed the various attempts that were 
 made by the kings of England to establish a supremacy over 
 those of Scotland, and to reduce them to the condition of 
 vassal princes ; but the Scottish monarchs succeeded in pre- 
 serving their independence, till William the Lion, in order 
 to regain his liberty, consented to do homage to Henry the 
 Second. This act certainly placed Scotland, for the time. 
 
354 CORNER^S 
 
 28 SCOTLAND, 
 
 under the dominion of the English sovereign; but its inde- 
 pendence was fully restored by Richard the First, for a sum 
 of money; in fact, it was bought back by William; and, 
 after that, the kings of England had no longer any right or 
 pretext to interfere in the affairs of Scotland. This consi- 
 deration, however, did not prevent Edward the First from 
 taking upon himself to decide the dispute that arose on 
 the death of the Maid of Norway, and he asserted his 
 right to do so, on the false ground of being lord paramount 
 of Scotland. 
 
 Among the numerous candidates for the vacant throne 
 were two, whose claims were superior to those of the others, 
 so that the choice rested between them; the one was 
 Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale; the other, John Baliol, 
 the lord of Galloway; both were related to William the 
 Lion, and the question was, which was the nearer relative. 
 
 The case stood thus; William the Lion had a brother 
 David, who had three daughters, all of whom married, and 
 left children. Baliol was the grandson of the eldest sister, 
 Bruce was the son of the second; therefore, the question 
 to be decided was, whether the right of inheritance belonged 
 to the next of kin, who was the grandson, or to the heir of 
 the elder branch, who was the great grandson of Earl 
 David. There would be no doubt now in such a case; but, 
 in those days, the law of succession was not very clearly 
 defined; therefore, each party had his adherents, and pre- 
 pared to support his pretensions by arms. 
 
 It was now that Edward the First came forward as um- 
 pire, and the Scottish nobles, being willing to avoid the 
 miseries of a civil war, consented to leave the point to his 
 decision ; and, after much delay, and a careful investigation 
 of all the circumstances, he pronounced in favour of John 
 Baliol, who was crowned accordingly, not as an independent 
 sovereign, but as a vassal king, subject to the authority of 
 the king of England. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 355 
 
 SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 The new monarch soon found that he had a very tyran- 
 nical master; for it seems to have been the intention of 
 King Edward to provoke him, by injurious treatment, into 
 a rebellion, and then to seize on his dominions as forfeited 
 to the crown of England, according to the feudal law, by 
 which the estates of a rebellious vassal became the property 
 of his liege lord. The scheme was, so far, successful; for 
 Baliol soon grew tired of his vassalage, and entered into a 
 league with the king of France, Philip the Fair, who pro- 
 mised to assist him to throw off his bondage; but Philip 
 did not keep his promise; and Edward, who had only been 
 waiting for some such opportunity, immediately prepared to 
 punish his disobedient vassal ; and, with that view, set out 
 for Scotland at the head of his army. 
 
 Berwick was, at this time, on account of its trade, the 
 richest and most populous town in Scotland, and it was the 
 first that felt the evils of the war; for the king had no 
 sooner reached the borders, than he laid siege to this opu- 
 lent place, which was taken by storm; its inhabitants, to 
 the amount of seventeen thousand men, were cruelly slaugh- 
 tered, and the town itself was plundered by the soldiers. 
 
 Among the remarkable events that occurred during the 
 siege of Berwick, was the defence of the Red Hall, which 
 belonged to a company of thirty Flemish merchants, who 
 held it under the obligation to defend it against the Eng- 
 lish, which they did with a valour that would have done 
 honour to the most renowned heroes of the age; for they 
 fought bravely to the last, and every one of them perished, 
 in the hopeless attempt to save the hall from falling into the 
 hands of the English. 
 
 A few of the Scottish nobles, whose territories were on 
 the borders, joined with Edward for the sake, probably, 
 of saving their lands from being laid waste; and, among 
 others, was Robert Bruce, the former rival of Baliol, who 
 
 D 3 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 356 
 
 30 SCOTLAND. 
 
 was now in hopes that Edward might place him on the 
 throne, should Baliol be deposed. 
 
 But he was disappointed in this expectation, for the 
 English monarch intended that he himself should be king 
 of Scotland. Edward, therefore, when he had gained a 
 decisive victory over the Scots at Dunbar, and dethroned 
 John Baliol, made a progress through the country as far as 
 Aberdeen, to receive the submission of all the nobles, which 
 was tendered with surprising readiness ; for they saw it was 
 useless to oppose him, supported as he was by an army far 
 more powerful than any that could be raised in Scotland. 
 
 Having placed English soldiers in all the garrisons, and 
 appointed officers to govern and keep possession of the 
 country, the king returned to England, fully satisfied that 
 his conquest was complete. But in that he was mistaken; 
 ^for the Scots did not long tamely submit to the loss of their 
 liberty, and different parties were soon formed, ready to 
 revolt as soon as they could find an able leader; and such a 
 one soon appeared. This was the celebrated William Wal- 
 lace, a young man, of good family but small fortune, 
 strongly attached to his country, and of a bold adventurous 
 disposition. He was, therefore, the very man who was 
 wanted to take the lead in restoring the Scots to liberty. 
 Wallace was not only possessed of undaunted courage, but 
 of great personal prowess, being tall and strong, and ca- 
 pable of bearing considerable fatigue. His mental qualities, 
 like those of all great heroes, are sometimes overrated; but 
 there is little doubt he possessed talents of a higher order 
 than were commonly met with among the Scottish war- 
 riors of the age; and as soon as he came forward as the 
 champion of his country, thousands gathered around his 
 standard; so that he was soon at the head of a considerable 
 army, consisting chiefly of the lesser barons, with their 
 tenants, and volunteers of every description. 
 
 King Edward was, at that time, in Flanders; a circum- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 357 
 
 SCOTLAND. 31 
 
 stance that was favourable to the designs of the Scots; 
 who, under the command of their chieftain, for some time 
 met with unvaried success, and were joined by many of the 
 greater nobles. Every day, the fame of Wallace increased; 
 he gained a great victory at Stirling; and obliged the Eng- 
 lish governor to leave Scotland. The fortresses were sur- 
 rendered to him ; and he was made guardian of the king- 
 dom, and conducted the government in the name of the 
 king, John Baliol, who was a captive in England. 
 
 All these events occupied many months ; and in the mean 
 time, Edward, having heard of the insurrection, returned 
 from Flanders, and marched towards the north, at the head 
 of the finest army that had ever been seen in Scotland; for 
 he was now resolutely bent on reducing the Scots to 
 subjection. 
 
 When Wallace heard of the approach of this vast army, 
 he ordered the whole country to h6 laid waste, from Stirling 
 to the frontiers, that the English might find no provisions 
 within that district; and they suffered severe distress in 
 consequence; till some vessels arrived from Ireland, with 
 supplies of meal, oats, and ale, which enabled them to con- 
 tinue their march to Falkirk, where Wallace and his army 
 were encamped. Here a celebrated battle was fought, on 
 the twenty-second of July, 1298, in which the Scots were 
 totally defeated; a sad reverse for their brave and hitherto 
 victorious chieftain, who immediately resigned his high 
 office of Guardian of the Kingdom,^ and retired to the woods, 
 hoping to rally his forces. 
 
 Edward had now very little difficulty in re-establishing 
 his authority; and he took such measures as he thought 
 best calculated to secure it, by abolishing all remains of the 
 old Celtic customs, extending the feudal laws, and institut- 
 ing a form of government as much like that of England as 
 possible. Most of the revolted barons took the oath of 
 allegiance to him, and were pardoned; but Wallace still 
 
 A a 
 
358 CORNER’S 
 
 32 SCOTLAND. 
 
 refused to submit, and, for a while, maintained the contest 
 against the English king, who offered a reward for his 
 apprehension; and he was eventually betrayed by one whom 
 he had thought his friend. This occurred in 1304, when 
 he was conveyed as a prisoner to London, and was most 
 ungenerously tried, and executed, for treason; although it 
 was quite evident that, as he never had acknowledged 
 Edward as his sovereign, he could not, with justice, be 
 called a traitor. 
 
 ROBERT BRUCE. 
 
 1305 to 1314. 
 
 The death of Wallace was a great loss to the Scottish 
 patriots, who felt as if their last hope had vanished for 
 ever ; but there was another hero in Scotland, who proved a 
 far more dangerous enemy to the English monarch, than 
 the great chief he had put to death so unjustly; one who, 
 as yet, had gained no credit among his countrymen, nor 
 excited any fear in the mind of King Edward. This was 
 Robert Bruce, the grandson of Bruce, the rival of Baliol; 
 but he had not distinguished himself by any act of patriot- 
 ism, and, at the time of Wallace’s execution, was serving in 
 the English army. 
 
 This young man was now heir to the crown of Scotland; 
 and he saw no reason why he should quietly submit to be 
 deprived of an inheritance to which he thought himself 
 entitled. He therefore entered into a secret correspondence 
 with the archbishop of St. Andrew’s, who was the Primate 
 of Scotland, to settle with him as to what course of conduct 
 it would be best to pursue, in order to destroy the English 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 359 
 
 SCOTLAND. 33 
 
 supremacy, and obtain the throne as his own lawful inhe- 
 ritance. 
 
 There was, however, another nobleman, named Sir John 
 Comyn, who was related to the royal family in a degree 
 that made it questionable which of the two had the better 
 right to be king. 'Circumstances made it necessary to re- 
 veal the designs of Bruce to this baron, who agreed to give 
 up his own claim, and support that of his rival, on condition 
 that the latter, if successful in gaining the crown, should 
 surrender to him all his private estates. This compact 
 being made, Bruce returned to the English court, there to 
 stay till all was arranged for the execution of the plot. 
 
 In the meantime, Comyn, repenting of the agreement he 
 had made, gave secret information of the whole conspiracy 
 to King Edward; and Bruce would have been arrested, had 
 not some kind friend given him timely warning of his dan- 
 ger; on which he set off, with all secresy and speed, to 
 Scotland, pressing forward, night and day, till he reached 
 the borders. 
 
 Under the circumstances, it was hardly possible for him 
 to avoid a quarrel with his cousin, Comyn, who had acted 
 so dishonourable a part; still it was necessary they should 
 meet, that they might come to an understanding with re- 
 gard to their former agreement, for Bruce was now at a loss 
 to know whether Comyn intended to oppose his preten- 
 sions to the throne. As both were fiery in temper, it was 
 thought best for their mutual safety that the interview 
 should take place in a church, which few men would dare to 
 violate by shedding blood; and they met, accordingly, in 
 the church of the Minorite Friars, at Dumfries, each leaving 
 his attendants outside. What took place between them, is 
 not certainly known; but Bruce presently came forth alone, 
 and much agitated. “ I doubt,” said he, “I have slain 
 Comyn.” “You doubt,” exclaimed one of his fierce fol- 
 lowers, “ then I will make sure;” and entering the church, 
 
360 CORNER’S 
 
 34 SCOTLAND. 
 
 he killed the unfortunate baron, whom Bruce had only 
 wounded. 
 
 The act of murdering a man in a place so sacred, was 
 regarded with such horror, that Bruce lost many friends in 
 consequence; yet he had now no alternative but to go to 
 war without further delay, or to submit to the punishment 
 due to his crime. He therefore took up his abode in a 
 peasant’s hut, where he managed to conceal himself from 
 his enemies, till he had collected a sufficient force to enable 
 him to come forth boldly, and declare his purpose of freeing 
 Scotland from the power of the English, and of taking 
 possession of the throne of his ancestors. 
 
 Robert Bruce was crowned at Scone, on the twenty- 
 seventh of March, 1306, and immediately took the field 
 with all the partizans he could assemble ; but they were few, 
 and his cause was generally regarded as hopeless. He was 
 defeated in his first engagement with the English, by the 
 earl of Pembroke, near Perth, and obliged to seek shelter 
 in the woods, with about five hundred followers; and, for 
 many months, these noble fugitives subsisted by hunting, 
 and had no better houses than they could themselves form 
 of the trees of the forest. To add to their difficulties, they 
 were joined by a party of their wives and daughters, who 
 preferred sharing the distresses of their husbands and 
 fathers, to the risk of falling into the hands of the English. 
 
 The care of providing for their kinswomen was a far 
 greater source of anxiety to the houseless wanderers, than 
 their own difficulties; and, at length, it was found necessary 
 to send them away; therefore, Nigel Bruce, one of the 
 king’s brothers, was deputed to conduct them to the castle 
 of Kildrummie, in Aberdeenshire, which he was to defend as 
 he best could. 
 
 The winter was now approaching, and Bruce became 
 anxious to find a place of retreat, where he and his friends 
 might remain in safety during that inclement season. He 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 361 
 
 SCOTLAND. 35 
 
 thought of the Western Isles, but it was difficult to reach 
 them; for almost the whole of Argylshire was under the 
 dominion of the lord of Lorn, a powerful chief, whose wife 
 was an aunt of that Comyn whom Bruce had killed; conse- 
 quently, she was one of his bitterest enemies. 
 
 Many were the dangers encountered by the patriotic 
 band, in crossing this hostile country. At length, the greater 
 part of them succeeded in reaching the island of Rachrin, 
 on the coast of Ireland, the inhabitants of which were a 
 simple people, who lived by feeding cattle, and were so kind 
 and hospitable, that they readily consented to furnish pro- 
 visions for the king and his followers during their stay. 
 
 Meanwhile, many of Bruce's friends had been made pri- 
 soners, and sent to England, where they had been put to 
 death. Among these unhappy victims was the young and 
 gallant Nigel Bruce, who had been forced to surrender 
 Kildrummie Castle, from which the ladies had escaped to 
 some place of sanctuary; but in this barbarous war, so little 
 regard was paid to sacred rights, that most of them were 
 forcibly taken away, and confined in different prisons. 
 
 On the arrival of spring, Bruce quitted his little island, 
 by the assistance of Christiana, queen of the Isles, who 
 lent him thirty galleys, to convey him and his men from 
 Rachrin to Scotland; but before he ventured to embark, he 
 sent a trusty vassal to reconnoitre the coast, who was to 
 light up a fire on a height, as soon as he found it would 
 be safe to land. 
 
 For several days, Bruce looked out anxiously for the 
 expected signal, which at length appeared, and he joyfully 
 set sail; but when he reached the shore, he found the fire 
 had not been kindled by his messenger, and that the whole 
 coast Was in possession of the English. Thus disappointed, 
 he resolved on returning; but his brother, Edward, the bold 
 hero who was afterwards made king of Ireland, declared he 
 was willing to pursue the enterprise at all hazards; and. 
 
362 
 
 COENER^S 
 
 36 SCOTLAND. 
 
 being seconded by others of the same dauntless spirit, they 
 immediately attacked a body of English who were near, 
 and put them all to the sword. 
 
 From this time, success attended the patriots; but as 
 Bruce’s army was not strong enough to venture openly into 
 the field, he was compelled to carry on a kind of irregular 
 warfare, keeping with his nobles and adherents in the green 
 woods, whence they issued forth to attack the enemy, when- 
 ever there was a prospect of doing so with advantage. 
 
 In this war, all feelings of self-interest were forgotten. 
 Every man was ready to sacrifice his life and property to 
 support the freedom of his country; and, in this spirit, 
 many of the friends of Bruce destroyed their own castles, 
 that they might not serve as fortresses for the English 
 troops. Douglas castle, among others, was entirely dis- 
 mantled by command of its owner: and when only the bare 
 walls were left, he entertained within them the royal fu- 
 gitive and his followers in the best manner he was able, 
 and they were too happy in obtaining a good meal, to 
 quarrel with the manner in which it was served up. The 
 meat was placed on the board in huge masses, and the 
 guests hacked it in pieces with their daggers. 
 
 At length, Bruce was relieved from his most formidable 
 foe, Edward the First, who died at Burgh-upon-Sands, near 
 Carlisle, on his way to Scotland with a large army; after 
 which, the Scots quickly regained most of the principal 
 fortresses, destroyed the English garrisons, took town after 
 town, gained a great victory over the lord of Lorn ; and, at 
 length, Bruce was acknowledged throughout Scotland as 
 the true and lawful sovereign of the kingdom. 
 
 Edward the Second then adopted measures for redsing 
 such an army as he thought the Scots would not be able to 
 withstand. His vassals, from every part of his dominions, 
 were called to his aid, each with a train of knights, squires, 
 and retainers of every description; many of the Irish chiefs 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 363 
 
 SCOTLAND. 37 
 
 brought over their hardy clans, who were a match for the 
 Scottish Highlanders; and, in short, there had scarcely 
 before been seen in England, so numerous and so splendid 
 an army 
 
 The rendezvous was at Berwick, where, it is said, no less 
 than a hundred thousand men were assembled ; forty thou- 
 sand were horsemen, three thousand of whom were clad in 
 complete armour; and at the head of this mighty host 
 Edward the Second entered Scotland. He marched on 
 towards Stirling, where Bruce, who had been preparing to 
 oppose him, could not muster more than forty thousand men, 
 and most of these were on foot; yet so brave were they, 
 and so highly animated by the cause in which they were en- 
 gaged, that they beheld, without dismay, the approach of 
 the English army, and made ready for the important conflict 
 that was to decide the fate of Scotland. The battle which 
 ensued was that of Bannockburn, fought on the twenty* 
 fourth of June, 1314, and won by the Scots. 
 
 The battle of Bannockburn cost the lives of many brave 
 English knights and nobles ; but it was the means of restor- 
 ing the independence of Scotland, and of securing Robert 
 Bruce in full possession of the throne. During this time, 
 the queen and her daughter, with some other ladies of dis- 
 tinction, had been prisoners in England; therefore, the 
 gaining of the battle of Bannockburn must have been joyful 
 news to them : nor was it long before they were restored to 
 their anxious friends, for the earl of Hereford had been 
 made prisoner by Edward Bruce, who would not consent to 
 liberate him, until the ladies were released, and sent back to 
 Scotland; the exchange was therefore made, and the royal 
 warrior had again the happiness of embracing his beloved 
 wife and daughter, from whom he had parted, nearly eight 
 years before, under very different circumstances. 
 
 The noble Bruce was now really king of Scotland; but 
 he was lord of a rude country, and a still ruder people, for 
 
 E 
 
364 CORNER^S 
 
 38 SCOTLAND 
 
 the former had been much neglected, and the long wars had 
 left the Scots far behind the English in point of civilisation ; 
 and their habits and manners had acquired a degree of 
 ferocity and rudeness, such as might naturally be expected 
 from the rough mode of life to which they had so long been 
 accustomed. The residences of the nobility were often in a 
 shattered state, and many of them were not habitable. The 
 towns were composed of the meanest and cheapest habita- 
 tions that could be constructed; and even in the city of 
 Edinburgh, many of the houses were mere wooden hovels, 
 covered with straw, to which the inmates did not hesitate 
 to set fire at the approach of an enemy, as the Caledonians 
 used to do in the time of the Romans; and the dwellings of 
 those who lived on the borders, and were, therefore, con- 
 stantly liable to invasion, were but huts, constructed of 
 poles and leaves, or with walls of clay ; so that if they were 
 destroyed, they could be built up again in a few hours. 
 
 The town of Berwick still belonged to the English, who 
 were anxious to keep possession of it, because, from its 
 position between the two kingdoms, it was a sort of key to 
 both; therefore, Edward the Second had fortified the castle, 
 and placed in it a strong garrison. It happened, however, 
 that the governor gave some offence to one of the guards, 
 who, in revenge, sent a secret message to the Scottish earl 
 of March, offering to betray the town into his hands on a 
 certain night, when it would be his turn to keep watch on 
 the walls. The earl hastened to communicate this intelli- 
 gence to the king, who sent his two trusty barons, Douglas 
 and Randolph, to conduct the enterprise. The traitorous 
 guard was true to his promise; the wdls were scaled, and 
 the castle and town, after some fighting, were taken. Bruce 
 bestowed the government on Walter, the Lord High Steward 
 of Scotland, who was married to the princess Marjory, his 
 daughter; and, shortly afterwards, a truce was concluded 
 between the English and Scots for two years; the first 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 365 
 
 SCOTLAND. 39 
 
 tseason of peace that Scotland had enjoyed for a very long 
 period. 
 
 This cessation of hostilities gave the king leisure to regu- 
 late the affairs of the kingdom, which had fallen into a state 
 of sad confusion. He summoned a parliament at Scone, 
 consisting of the earls, barons, and bishops, for no com- 
 moners were yet admitted into the Scottish parliament ; and 
 one of the first acts passed, was that for settling the suc- 
 cession to the crown, as the evil effects of a dispute on that 
 point had been sufficiently experienced. 
 
 All the king’s brothers were now dead; and he had also 
 just lost his only child, the wife of the lord high steward; 
 but she had left an infant son, named Robert, who was to 
 succeed his grandfather, in case the latter should have no 
 more children. This point being settled, the next object 
 was to provide for the defence of the country; a law was* 
 therefore, made, which enacted that every man should fur- 
 nish himself with weapons and armour according to his 
 station ; and in order to prevent the evils arising from the 
 absence of landholders from their estates, it was decreed 
 that no Scot residing in a foreign country should be allowed 
 to have the rents paid by his tenants sent abroad to him; a 
 regulation which had the effect of obliging the most wealthy 
 persons to live among their own people, and to spend their 
 money in Scotland, instead of enriching foreign nations. 
 
 When the period of the truce was ended, Edward the 
 Second again invaded Scotland, but was soon obliged to re- 
 treat for want of provisions, and being pursued into England 
 by the Scots, he was again defeated, and the victors returned 
 to Scotland laden with spoil. 
 
 This kind of warfare continued for some time, and was 
 conducted chiefly by Randolph and Douglas, whose exploits, 
 though they corresponded with the manners of the times, 
 were often more like the feats of banditti captains than of 
 military commanders; yet those doughty heroes were re- 
 
366 CORNER’S 
 
 40 SCOTLAND. 
 
 garded as the best knights in Scotland. As long as they 
 avoided coming to a regular battle, the Scots had great ad- 
 vantages over the English, because the hardy mode of living 
 to which they were accustomed, enabled them to bear with- 
 out inconvenience, fatigues and privations which would have 
 been fatal to their opponents. 
 
 Their movements were not impeded by a quantity of bag- 
 gage, for they trusted to chance for the supply of their 
 wants, which were but few; a bag of oatmeal slung to their 
 belts, or saddles, and a small flat piece of iron, on which to 
 bake their cakes, were all they found needful to carry with 
 them. For other food, they depended on plunder; but if 
 oxen or sheep were not to be had, they could subsist for 
 days on their oatmeal bread. They could sleep, in the 
 worst weather, on the bare ground, wrapped up in their 
 plaids, without tents, or shelter of any kind; and the ex- 
 posure to rain and snow appeared to have no ill effect on 
 the health of these hardy sons of the mountains. 
 
 In the meanwhile, there were great rejoicings in Scotland, 
 on account of the birth of a prince, who was named David, 
 and who was acknowledged throughout the kingdom as the 
 only lawful heir to the throne. It was a great happiness to 
 the king to have a son to inherit the crown that had been so 
 dearly won; and in the year 1326, he assembled a Parlia- 
 ment, in which every member took the oath of fealty to the 
 infant prince. This is believed to have been the first Scot- 
 tish parliament to which the Burghs, or Boroughs, were 
 allowed to send representatives, and it was assembled about 
 sixty years later than the time when commoners were first 
 admitted into the parliament of England. 
 
 Shortly before this, Edward the Second had agreed to a 
 truce with the Scots for thirteen years; but soon after the 
 miserable death of that unfortunate prince, hostilities were 
 renewed by his warlike son, Edward the Third, who, for 
 some time, met with so little success, that he was glad to 
 

THE CORONATION OF THE 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 367 
 
 SCOTLAND. 41 
 
 make peace ; and, not long afterwards, the Scots lost their 
 heroic and much beloved king, Robert Bruce. He died 
 on the seventh of June, 1329, at his castle of Cardross, 
 near Dumbarton, whither he had gone for change of air, his 
 health having been ^much impaired by the hardships he had 
 undergone. 
 
 His well-tried friend and companion. Lord James of 
 Douglas, attended him in his last moments, and, at his 
 solemn request, undertook to convey his heart to Palestine, 
 by way of fulfilling a vow made by Bruce during the wars, 
 that, if they should terminate favourably, he would make a 
 pilgrimage to the Holy land. Douglas, true to his promise, 
 set sail with the precious relic ; but it never reached its des- 
 tination; for the noble knight landed in Spain on his way, 
 and was induced to join in an expedition against the Moors, 
 in which he lost his life. 
 
 USURPATION OF EDWARD BALIOL, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DEATH OF DAVID THE SECOND. 
 
 1329 to 1370. 
 
 The Scots had now an infant king, who had a little bride, 
 nearly of his own age; for one of the conditions of peace 
 made between Robert Bruce and Edward the Third was, 
 that the son of the former should marry the sister of the 
 latter; and the marriage took place accordingly. The two 
 children were crowned at Scone; while Randolph, earl oi 
 Moray, assumed the government of the kingdom, as regent 
 agreeably to the will of the late king. 
 
 E 3 
 
368 
 
 COENER’S 
 
 42 SCOTLAND. 
 
 And now I must go back a little in my history, to tell you 
 that John Baliol, who had been deposed by Edward the 
 First, died in Normandy, shortly after the battle of Bannock- 
 burn. He left an only son, named Edward, who also resided 
 in Normandy, but occasionally visited the English court. It 
 happened that there were two English barons. Lord Wake, 
 and Lord Henry de Beaumont, who had great cause of com- 
 plaint against the Scottish government, on account of some 
 estates to which they were entitled, being withheld from 
 them, although Robert Bruce had promised to restore them 
 when he made peace with Edward the Third. 
 
 The restitution of these lands had been delayed from 
 time to time by the Scottish king, and now the regent 
 seemed inclined to refuse the claim altogether; in conse- 
 quence of which, the disinherited barons, with other lords in 
 the north, who had also forfeited their lands in Scotland, 
 formed a plot to dethrone the young king David, and place 
 Edward Baliol on the throne. The English king was very 
 well aware of this conspiracy, but was ashamed openly to 
 countenance it, because he had engaged to protect the rights 
 of David; and moreover, his own sister was the queen of 
 Scotland; yet there is little doubt he wished to see Edward 
 Baliol in the place of David, because he knew that Baliol 
 would not resist his claim to the supremacy of Scotland, 
 which he was sure would never be acknowledged by the 
 family of Bruce. 
 
 The conspirators, therefore, with Baliol at their head, 
 assembled in the north of England, and setting sail from the 
 Humber, landed on the coast of Fife, whither an army of 
 Scots was marching to oppose them, commanded by the 
 earl of Mar, the new regent. The former regent, Randolph, 
 earl of Moray, had died suddenly ; and his death was a great 
 affliction to Scotland, as he was the last of her three famous 
 champions; Bruce and Douglas being the other two. 
 
 The earl of Mar had encamped upon Dupplin Moor, with 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 369 
 
 SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 an army nearly ten times as numerous as that of Baliol, who 
 did not muster more than three thousand men. The situa- 
 tion of Baliol was rendered still more hopeless, by the ap- 
 proach of another body of soldiers in an opposite direction ; 
 so that he found himself between two armies, each far 
 stronger than his own. Becoming desperate at the prospect 
 of his danger, he resolved upon the execution of a bold 
 expedient. Followed by his men, he repaired, in the dead 
 of the night, as silently as possible, to the Scottish camp, 
 and fell suddenly on the sleeping soldiers, who were cut in 
 pieces by hundreds ; for they had not even time to get their 
 weapons, or to discover that their assailants were inferior 
 in numbers to themselves. 
 
 As soon as the day dawned, and the regent saw how 
 many of his brave soldiers had been slain by a mere handful 
 of men, he was so enraged, that he did not wait to form his 
 remaining troops into any regular order of battle, but rushed 
 on the enemy at once; and, by his imprudence, sacrificed 
 some thousands more lives, together with his own, and gave 
 Baliol a most unexpected victory. 
 
 After some further successes, Baliol was crowned at 
 Scone, but his glory was quickly overcast, for the Scots 
 were not disposed to see the heir of their gallant deliverer, 
 Bruce, robbed of his inheritance by the son of one, who, in 
 former times, had given them up to slavery ; so that in less 
 than three months, he was dethroned, and obliged to make 
 his escape to the English border. 
 
 During his brief reign, he had made all the submissions to 
 the king of England which that monarch expected ; and had 
 promised to give up the town of Berwick, to strengthen the 
 English frontiers. 
 
 The young king and queen were now removed to France 
 for safety, while Edward the Third went to the aid of his 
 vassal, Baliol, and laid siege to Berwick. The garrison 
 made a brave defence, and might have continued to hold out. 
 
370 
 
 COKNEE^S 
 
 44 SCOTLAND. 
 
 but that the regent determined to hazard a battle, which he 
 lost, and the place was obliged to surrender. This was the 
 battle of Halidon Hill, in which the Scots were so entirely 
 defeated, and lost so many of their best leaders, that it was 
 supposed they would not be able to offer any further resist- 
 ance. Baliol was replaced on the throne, and not only did 
 homage to King Edward, and took upon himself all the 
 obligations of a feudal vassal, but surrendered to him all 
 the southern portion of Scotland, as far as the old Roman 
 line of forts. He restored the lands of the disinherited 
 lords, to whom he owed his present dignity, and granted 
 fiefs to other English barons. 
 
 But the friends of the young king again rallied ; and again 
 Baliol was driven from the kingdom; but I need not relate 
 all the changes of fortune that befel the Scots during this 
 variable contest, which was continued by Edward the Third, 
 until he undertook his grander enterprise against France, 
 when he left the Scottish war to be carried on by some of 
 his barons. 
 
 At this time, the great leader of the Scots, and regent of 
 the kingdom, was Sir Andrew Moray, a brave knight, who 
 had fought side by side with Wallace, and had married a 
 sister of Robert Bruce, the lady Christina, who was one of 
 the heroines of the age. Sir Andrew was among the pri- 
 soners taken at the battle of Halidon Hill; and his lady, in 
 the absence of her captive lord, defended the castle of Kil- 
 drummie, with the utmost bravery; nor was she the only 
 lady endued with the martial spirit of the age; for Agnes, 
 countess of March, a daughter of the noble Randolph, sus- 
 tained a long siege in the castle of Dunbar, and was so fear- 
 less, that she used to go round the ramparts every day, 
 directing the operations, in sight of the besiegers, and even 
 speaking to them, sometimes in words of defiance. 
 
 At length, the young king, who had reached the age of 
 eighteen, returned with his wife to Scotland, and resumed 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 371 
 
 SCOTLAND. 45 
 
 his place at the head of the nation; but the country was, as 
 you may imagine, in consequence of these wars, in a 
 wretched state ; and David was too young and inexperienced 
 to remedy its disorders, as his father had done, by vigorous 
 measures; so that some of the barons, taking advantage of 
 his inability, raised themselves to power by the most un- 
 worthy means. There was a nobleman of the Douglas 
 family, called the knight of Liddisdale, who, being jealous of 
 some favours that had been granted by the king to Sir 
 Alexander Ramsay, one of the bravest warriors in Scotland, 
 watched an opportunity, to stab the good knight, and 
 conveyed him, thus wounded, to a solitary castle, where he 
 confined him in a dungeon, and starved him to death; yet 
 this cruel and wicked man was raised to the honours that 
 had been enjoyed by his victim, because the king was afraid 
 of him, and dared not refuse his demands. Nor was this 
 the only instance of such deeds of violence, for the govern- 
 ment was so weak, that titled offenders were in no dread of 
 punishment. But there were still greater evils to be en- 
 dured than the unruly conduct of discontented nobles. The 
 agriculture of the country had been so entirely interrupted 
 by the war, that, in many parts, famine prevailed to a 
 frightful extent. Large tracts of land that used to yield 
 abundant crops, were now uncultivated, and overgrown with 
 brambles and briers; for in all the wars of Bruce and his 
 successors, the unvaried policy pursued by the Scots was, 
 that of laying waste the country through which the enemy 
 had to pass, in order that they might find neither food nor 
 shelter. 
 
 As to Baliol, he was deposed for the third time; after 
 which, he settled in the north of England, where he lived 
 upon a pension granted him by Edward the Third, for doing 
 the duty of keeping watch and ward against the Scottish 
 borderers. He never returned to Scotland, and he left no 
 children to perpetuate his claims. 
 
372 CORNER^S 
 
 46 SCOTLAND. 
 
 DAVID THE SECOND. 
 
 1341 to 1371. 
 
 David the Second had been king of Scotland from the 
 time he was five years of age, but we can hardly say that 
 his reign commenced till his return from France, and, even 
 then, he was too young to govern a country that was suffer- 
 ing under so many calamities. He had not been long in 
 the possession of power, before he assembled all the military 
 forces of the kingdom to invade England; thinking he 
 could not have a better opportunity of doing so, than while 
 King Edward was absent in France; he, therefore, marched 
 his army across the border, and encamped near Durham, 
 where he was met by the English northern barons, with their 
 vassals, and a body of troops from the south, led, or rather 
 accompanied, by Queen Philippa, of England, who greatly 
 distinguished herself on this occasion; for although she did 
 not appear in the field during this engagement, she accom- 
 panied the troops till they came in sight of the enemy, and 
 made an animating speech to them; but the story of her 
 being present at the battle of Nevilles Cross, is, I believe, 
 without foundation. 
 
 At this battle, David the Second was made prisoner, and 
 was taken to the Tower of London, with several of the most 
 distinguished of the Scottish barons ; amongst whom was the 
 fierce knight of Liddisdale, who had so cruelly put to death 
 Sir Alexander Ramsay. As soon as it became known in 
 Scotland that the king was a prisoner, the Scots appointed 
 as regent, during his absence, Robert, the Steward of Scot- 
 land, grandson of Robert Bruce. You may remember, that 
 Marjory Bruce had a son, on whom King Robert settled the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 373 
 
 SCOTLAND. 47 
 
 succession, in case he should have no more children; but 
 Prince David was born after that provision; so that Robert, 
 the son of Marjory, although he was David’s nephew, was 
 much older than his uncle, and he it was who was now 
 chosen regent of Scotland. 
 
 He was a far better ruler than the king, and immediately 
 adopted the most prudent measures for strengthening and 
 defending the northern portion of the country; but he was 
 obliged to give up a great part of the south to the English, 
 which was guarded by wardens stationed in castles on the 
 frontiers. Much of this Lowland territory belonged to the 
 house of Douglas, whose chief, William lord Douglas, had 
 been bred up in France, and was still there, serving in the 
 wars against Edward the Third. He was as great a warrior 
 as his renowned ancestor, and no sooner did he return to 
 his own dominions, than every Scot of his clan rallied 
 around him, and the English were very speedily expelled 
 from the lands of Douglasdale, Teviotdale, and Ettrick 
 forest, of which Douglas was the lord. 
 
 About this time, the king of England began to find it 
 impossible to sustain . the expenses of being at war both 
 with France and Scotland; therefore, he consented to a 
 truce with the latter, and offered liberty to the captive 
 monarch, on condition that he would acknowledge the de- 
 pendence of the crown of Scotland on that of England. 
 He even permitted him to visit Scotland, that he might 
 consult his parliament on the subject; but the proposal was 
 firmly rejected by that body; and the disappointed king, 
 who was selfish enough to wish to surrender the freedom of 
 his country, in order to regain his crown, was obliged to 
 return to England. 
 
 Edward the Third was as anxious to establish his su- 
 premacy over Scotland, as Edward the First had been; and 
 as he had failed with David, he made a treaty with the 
 captive knight of Liddisdale, who was restored to his liberty 
 
 B b 
 
374 COENER’S 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 and possessions, on condition of allowing Englishmen to 
 pass, at all times, through his estates; but the treacherous 
 knight did not long live to enjoy the freedom he had so 
 meanly obtained ; for he was assassinated as he was hunting 
 in Ettrick forest, and no one lamented his fate. Edward 
 resolved to make another attempt to reduce the Scots to 
 subjection, while he yet had their king in his power; there- 
 fore, he once more led his army in person towards the 
 north, and crossed the borders, with a determination to 
 destroy all before him ; but this was almost a vain resolve, 
 for he found little else but barren heaths, and deserted 
 villages. 
 
 Not a farm was. tenanted, nor a living creature to be seen, 
 except now and then a band of Scottish soldiers, who would 
 rush out, from some hidden retreat, upon a party of Eng- 
 lishmen, to whom they gave no quarter. Edward was so 
 enraged at the little prospect there was of success, that 
 when he did come to any inhabited place, he set fire to it 
 without hesitation; and thus were destroyed several mo- 
 nasteries, and the town of Haddington, with its fine abbey 
 church. 
 
 But, during this cruel violence, his soldiers were perish- 
 ing with hunger; for it happened that some vessels which 
 ought to have come to Berwick with a supply of provisions, 
 had been lost in a storm; and the Scots took great care, by 
 laying waste the country, that their enemies should find no 
 food in any of the districts through which they were likely 
 to pass; in consequence of which, the king was, at last, 
 obliged to return, without having gained the least advantage 
 by this disastrous expedition. 
 
 David had now been eleven years in England, but we are 
 not to suppose he had passed all his time in prison; on the 
 contrary, he had been treated with much courtesy, and had 
 shared in most of the gaieties of the court; and was one of 
 the four kings who dined with the Lord Mayor of London, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 375 
 
 SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 in the year 1357; but, at last, when Edward found he was 
 not likely to gain any advantage by detaining him, he made 
 an agreement with the Scots for his ransom, and suffered 
 him to return to his own country. The payment of this 
 ransom occasioned great distress in Scotland. The amount 
 was one hundred thousand pounds, an enormous sum in 
 those days, when money was about twenty times its present 
 value; and this was to be raised among the people of a 
 country impoverished by desolating wars, of which scarcely 
 any man was old enough to remember the beginning; yet 
 the Scottish parliament promised to pay it within ten years ; 
 and as this obligation was entered into by the burgesses, as 
 well as by the clergy and nobles, we may conclude that all 
 classes of people were equally willing to contribute towards 
 the peace of the kingdom, and the release of their sove- 
 reign. 
 
 I’hat sovereign, however, was scarcely worthy of the ex- 
 ertions that were made in his behalf, for while his subjects 
 were depriving themselves of many a comfort for his sake, 
 he was spending the greater part of his time in England, 
 where he could indulge in a more luxurious style of living 
 than in his own poor land; and he was of a disposition to 
 care more about his own personal comforts, than the welfare 
 of his people. 
 
 Scotland and England being now at peace, the intercourse 
 between them became very general. Many of the sons of 
 the Scottish nobles were sent to England for education; 
 merchants carried their goods thither for sale, travelling in 
 large companies for security; and persons who could afford 
 to do so, went often on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. 
 Thomas a Becket, at Canterbury. The taste for such pious 
 journeys was so prevalent at this time, that nobles, prelates, 
 merchants, and even ladies of high rank, made journeys to 
 England, to pay their devotions at the shrine of this saint, 
 in Canterbury Cathedral. The people of Scotland, already 
 
 F 
 
376 CORNER’S 
 
 50 SCOTLAND. 
 
 dissatisfied with the conduct of their sovereign, were ren- 
 dered still more so by a proposal he made to the parliament 
 that, at his death, the king of England’s son, Lionel, duke 
 of Clarence, should succeed him, instead of Robert, the 
 grandson of Bruce, who had governed as regent during his 
 captivity, and was much beloved by the people. 
 
 The parhament rejected his proposal with disdain, being 
 indignant at his want of patriotism, in preferring a foreigner 
 to the grandson of a hero who had bled for the indepen- 
 dence of his country. They also thought he was very un- 
 grateful to his subjects, who were still greatly distressed 
 through paying his ransom; for, instead of selling their 
 wool for a large price, as they used to do, they were com- 
 pelled to send it all to the king, who gave them little or 
 nothing for it, while he sold it to the Flemish merchants for 
 its full value, and employed the profits to pay the price of 
 his liberty; yet, notwithstanding this sacrifice, as well as 
 the tax levied on their property, the debt was not discharged 
 till seven years after the death of Edward the Third. 
 
 David the Second died in 1370, leaving no children. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SCOTS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 At the time of which I am here speaking, Scotland w^as a 
 very different country from what it is in the present age. 
 Its now desolate moors w^ere then covered with extensive 
 forests, which formed part of the domains of the feudal 
 barons and wealthy churchmen, who derived great profits 
 from their timber; while the deer, and other animals with 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 377 
 
 SCOTLAND. 51 
 
 which they abounded, furnished objects for the chase. In 
 the midst of these woods, stood the castles and monasteries 
 of the lords of the soil, around each of which, a large tract 
 was usually cleared and cultivated by their vassals and 
 bondmen, each labourer being master of a little cottage and 
 piece of ground for his own maintenance, for which he paid 
 a trifling rent to his lord. Many of the cotters were em- 
 ployed as shepherds and herdsmen, for sheep and cattle 
 were reared on every great domain, and the wool was a 
 considerable source of wealth to the nobles, who exported 
 it to Flanders, in exchange for the fine cloths of that coun- 
 try, as the cloth manufactured in Scotland was of a coarse 
 texture, and used only for the clothing of the lower orders, 
 except in the highlands, where they had no other. 
 
 The several nations that formerly composed the popula- 
 tion had, by this time, become so mingled together, that we 
 only find two distinct races, the Gael, or Highlanders, and 
 the Saxons, or Lowlanders. The latter were a far more 
 polished people than the former, and cultivated, as far as 
 the unsettled state of the country would permit, those use- 
 ful arts that add so much to the wealth and comfort of 
 mankind ; while their northern neighbours held in contempt 
 the customs and pursuits of civilised life, considered them- 
 selves independent of the laws, and looked to their chief- 
 tains as their only legitimate rulers. The system of clan- 
 ship prevailed in the lowlands as well as in the highlands, 
 and the great nobles were, in reality, as independent of the 
 monarch as the highland chiefs, for each could muster his 
 clan around him to defend his castle and his lands, and it 
 was seldom that a clansman was found who would not fight 
 to the last extremity for his liege lord, and obey his com- 
 mands in preference to the laws of the land. 
 
 The power of a feudal superior over his vassals and bond- 
 men, was much the same among the Scots as the English, 
 and the mode of life pursued by the great, was very similar 
 
378 CORNER^S 
 
 52 SCOTLAND. 
 
 in both countries. Their castles were crowded with 
 knights, esquires, pages, and retainers of every degree; 
 feasting and minstrelsy were the amusements of their 
 princely halls; while out of doors they sought the bolder 
 pastimes of hunting, hawking, and chivalric sports. Many 
 of the offices in noble families were hereditary, such as 
 those of the minstrel, the baker, brewer, miller, and fo- 
 rester, the last of whom held a very important employment, 
 as he had the care of all the game in his master’s woods. 
 It was customary for a young chieftain, on returning from 
 his first hunting expedition, to give his hunting suit and 
 arms to the forester; and there were perquisites attached to 
 all the other hereditary offices; as, for instance, when a 
 tenant brought his com to be ground at the baronial mill, a 
 certain portion was due to the baron, half as much to the 
 miller, and a quarter to the miller’s man. 
 
 The clergy of those days were hunters and warriors, and 
 led their vassals to battle and the chase, like the chiefs, 
 and were only distinguished from the lay nobles in the 
 field, by wearing cassocks over their armour. The bishops 
 and abbots of Scotland too, like those of England, had long 
 been the principal traders of the community, for they alone 
 had sufficient capital to embark in commerce to much ex- 
 tent; most of the ships belonged to them; and they, at 
 first, had the exclusive right of carrying on the fisheries. 
 They frequently made larger profits than other merchants, 
 because, in many cases, they were exempted from the cus- 
 tomary duties. The great wealth of the churchmen enabled 
 them to encourage the industry of their tenants and vassals, 
 who were generally in a better condition than the people of 
 the temporal barons, in consequence of not being so often 
 called from the useful labours of agriculture to build or 
 strengthen castles, or to follow their lord in warlike expedi- 
 tions. There were mills and brewhouses on the convent 
 lands, from which the abbot took his dues, like the feudal 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 379 
 
 SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 chiefs; and thus the monks were furnished with bread and 
 ale, the latter being the universal beverage of all classes, 
 and made from oats, in large quantities, over the whole 
 country. 
 
 On all the feudal .estates, some of the tenants were free 
 farmers, who rented their lands, and could remove at their 
 pleasure; but a great proportion w’ere still in bondage; nor 
 was it till long afterwards, that all vestiges of slavery were 
 entirely lost. The changes that took place during the wars 
 had given liberty to many, and the masters themselves often 
 conferred the gift of freedom on their bondmen; but the 
 work of emancipation went on very gradually, and there 
 were slaves in Scotland till towards the end of the fifteenth 
 century. 
 
 In the meantime, the burghers were fast rising to wealth 
 and consequence. New privileges were, from time to time, 
 granted to them; they had the right of choosing their own 
 magistrates, and of sending representatives to parliament. 
 The houses in the towns and burghs were built of wood, 
 but those of the opulent tradesmen and merchants, although 
 mean in appearance, were good substantial dwellings, fur- 
 nished with all the comforts known in those days, which 
 were not many in comparison with the luxuries enjoyed in 
 the present times. The chief trades w’ere those of the 
 smith, armourer, goldsmith, tanner, dyer, and cap-maker; 
 but the Scottish smiths and armourers were not so skilful as 
 those of England, which caused the English government to 
 make a law, that no armour should be taken into Scotland ; 
 and this was always mentioned in the passports. The 
 Scots were then considered as foreigners, and none but pri- 
 vileged persons could travel from England to Scotland with- 
 out some protection or passport. 
 
 The state of education was much the same as in other 
 countries during the feudal ages, when learning was con- 
 fined entirely to the monks and clergy, and few could even 
 
 F 3 
 
380 CORNER^S 
 
 54 SCOTLAND. 
 
 read or write, except those educated for the church. There 
 were schools in the principal towns, conducted by the 
 monks, to which boys were sent who were intended for the 
 clerical profession, and they usually went to Oxford or 
 Paris to complete their studies, as there was no university 
 in Scotland until after the reign of Robert the Third. It is 
 supposed that, at this period, there was not a single Scot- 
 tish baron who knew how to write his own name; nor was it 
 thought any disgrace to be thus deficient, as learning was 
 not held in much estimation by the warlike nobles of those 
 rude times. It must also be remembered, that there were 
 no printed books at that period, and that the greater part of 
 those written by the monks were on subjects connected 
 with the church. 
 
 The costume of the higher classes in Scotland differed 
 but little from that of the nobility of England and France 
 at the same period; but there is no particular account of 
 the dress of the burghers, although, in the following cen- 
 tury, they are described as wearing the cloth tunic, hose, 
 and round cloth cap, or bonnet, as it was called, like the 
 English citizens. The ladies displayed much taste and ele- 
 gance in their attire; over a full robe, they wore a close 
 boddice of cloth or velvet, with tight sleeves edged with 
 gold embroidery. The boddice was fastened down the 
 front, with gold buttons or precious stones, and was some- 
 times adorned with rich fur. The throat alone was left 
 uncovered, and the head dress was either a small circlet of 
 gold, a wreath of flowers, or merely a ribbon, from beneath 
 which, the hair either hung down in graceful ringlets, or 
 W£is braided in various forms. Very light auburn hair was 
 esteemed as being the most beautiful, especially among the 
 highlanders, whose preference for this colour was of very 
 ancient date, as in the time of the Romans the Caledonians 
 were very proud of their long yellow locks. 
 
 Every clan, both in the highlands and the lowlands, was 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 381 
 
 SCOTLAND. 55 
 
 distinguished by the colours and pattern of the plaid, a 
 garment worn by all ranks and both sexes. Each clansman 
 bore the name, and wore the plaid of his chief; and thus it 
 was known whether the man was a Douglas, a Campbell, a 
 Macdonald, or the ^clansman of any other chieftain, by the 
 colours and pattern of his plaid; some having only two 
 colours, others, three or four, while the fashion of the che- 
 quering was also varied. The making of plaids was a never- 
 failing source of female industry, as the wool was not only 
 spun, but dyed and woven by the gudewives and their las- 
 sies, who also made coarse linen for the use of their families. 
 
 The Scottish national costume worn by the highlanders, 
 and, at that period, by the peasantry in most parts of the 
 country, is familiar to most readers, though we may here 
 add a short description. They carried a broad sword and 
 dirk in the belt of their kilt or philibeg, which was a kind 
 of plaided petticoat, and to which was also fastened the 
 large leather purse which was worn in front. The bonnets 
 of the chiefs were distinguished by an eagle’s plume, the 
 most esteemed badge of highland nobility. 
 
 The cottages of the highland tenantry were constructed 
 of wattle- work, and the few articles of furniture they con- 
 tained were of the rudest description ; but they were content 
 to live like their forefathers, and were seldom disturbed in 
 the possession of their little tenements, which was, perhaps, 
 one reason of that devoted attachment to their chiefs for 
 which they have ever been remarkable. 
 
 The Scots were always famous for their hospitality. In 
 the highlands, this was carried to such an excess, that a 
 stranger, presenting himself as a guest, was entertained as 
 long as he chose to stay; and if he did not think proper to 
 tell his name, or the object of his visit, he was hot required 
 to do so, unless he prolonged his stay beyond a year and a 
 day. If it happened that the host had exhausted his stock 
 of provisions, he took his visitor to the house of some 
 
382 COENER’S 
 
 56 SCOTLAND. 
 
 neighbouring chieftain, who was bound to receive and en- 
 tertain him in the same friendly manner; and it was also 
 customary at his departure to make him a present in token 
 of remembrance. Every chief had a large hall attached to 
 his dwelling for the accommodation of his guests, which 
 was commonly decorated with various trophies of war or 
 the chase, and served both for feasting and sleeping; for 
 when the banquet was over, and the hall cleared, some dried 
 leaves or mountain heather spread on the ground, formed 
 a sufficient bed for any highlander, who wanted no covering 
 but his plaid. 
 
 It was customary for the chiefs to give a great entertain- 
 ment on their return from a successful expedition ; on which 
 occasion, they roasted whole oxen, and made long tables, by 
 placing boards on the trunks of trees. The chief sat at the 
 head, with the principal persons of the clan on each side of 
 him, while his more humble followers occupied the lower 
 end of the board. These feasts were enlivened with the 
 songs of the minstrels, and generally concluded with merry 
 dances, to the music of the bagpipes; for the maidens and 
 matrons all shared in these festivities. Dancing was also a 
 favourite amusement among the Scottish peasantry of the 
 lowlands; but the most esteemed sports were racing, wrest- 
 ling, throwing the bar, and other feats of a similar nature, 
 calculated to display the strength of the competitors. 
 
 Each of the great highland chiefs, like the lowland ba- 
 rons, had certain dependents attached to him, whose offices 
 were hereditary, such as his bard, his piper, and his quarter- 
 master, the duty of the last being to regulate the places 
 where the huts of the clansmen should be built, and allot 
 the ground to them; for which service he was entitled to 
 the hides of all the cattle killed within the clanship. The 
 head belonged to the smith, and certain shares were also 
 given to the piper and the bard, the latter being obliged to 
 compose a verse on receiving his portion, otherwise, it was 
 forfeited. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 383 
 
 SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 A great quantity of cattle was reared in the highlands for 
 the English markets, as well as for exportation to Flanders; 
 and thus the drovers, who were entrusted to take herds of 
 cattle even as far as London, for sale, became a large and 
 important class of the highland community. The care of 
 pasturing the cattle at home, was left to the boys; that of 
 tending the sheep and goats, to the young girls; and it was 
 only when a highlandman wished to gain favour in the eyes 
 of some bonnie lassie, that he would condescend to so un- 
 warlike an employment as helping to tend the flocks. 
 
 The chase was considered of so much importance in the 
 highlands, that every young chieftain, on first attaining to 
 that dignity, was expected to give a proof of his strength 
 and valour, by leading a grand hunting expedition, which 
 was always attended with considerable danger in that wild 
 and mountainous country; and every one of the clansmen 
 was as much bound to follow him on this occasion, as if he 
 were going on a foray. 
 
 The highlanders held it a point of honour to give pro- 
 tection, under any circumstances, to those who claimed it, 
 whether friends or foes. The extent to which this chi- 
 valrous feeling was carried among them, might be illustrated 
 by many an interesting anecdote, of which the following 
 may serve as an instance. A chief, named Lamond, quar- 
 relled with the son of another chief, named Mac Gregor, 
 and, in the true spirit of the times, the disputants had 
 recourse to their broadswords, when young Mac Gregor was 
 slain. Lamond fled from the fatal spot, but being closely 
 pursued, rushed into the house of his victim’s father, claim- 
 ing protection, which the old man readily promised, without 
 knowing what was the occasion of his distress; but even 
 when he discovered that his only son had been slain by the 
 fugitive, although overwhelmed with grief, he scorned to 
 take advantage of the chance that had placed his enemy in 
 his power, but, true to his promise, aided him to escape. 
 
384 COENEE’S 
 
 58 SCOTLAND. 
 
 ROBERT THE SECOND. 
 
 THE FIRST KING OF THE 
 
 HOUSE OF STUART. 
 
 1371 to 1389 
 
 The family name of Steward, or Stuart, which distinguished 
 all the sovereigns of Scotland, from this period, was derived 
 from the office of High Steward, held by the husband of 
 Marjory Bruce, whose son, now an elderly man, ascended 
 the Scottish throne, by the title of Robert the Second. 
 
 The peace between England and Scotland lasted several 
 years, and this period was employed by the king in enacting 
 wise laws for the better administration of justice; but such 
 was the state of the country, that laws, when made, were 
 not to be enforced without much difficulty. The right pos- 
 sessed by the barons of going to war on their own account, 
 produced constant disorders, as they were but too apt to 
 avenge, by force of arms, any trifling injury offered to their 
 vassals. Feuds of this nature often arose between the 
 Scottish nobles and the English wardens, so that the border 
 countries were subject to constant inroads, which were al- 
 ways attended with plunder and bloodshed. In consequence 
 of these continued depredations, new laws were made ex- 
 pressly for the borderers, but they were not much regarded, 
 and every dispute was followed by a “ raid,” as an expedi- 
 tion of this kind was termed, when a large booty, consisting 
 of cattle and prisoners, was usually carried off. A hostile 
 feeling was thus kept up between the two countries, which 
 was encouraged by the king of France, who entered into an 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 385 
 
 SCOTLAND. 59 
 
 alliance with the Scottish sovereign; and, at last, the war 
 was renewed, soon after the accession of Richard the Second 
 to the throne of England. 
 
 A French army was sent into Scotland, under the com- 
 mand of John de Vienne, admiral of France, and one of the 
 greatest warriors of the age, who took with him fourteen 
 hundred suits of armour for the Scottish nobles. But the 
 French and Scots did not agree well together; for the 
 courtly and chivalric knights of France viewed with distaste 
 the blunt, coarse manners of their allies; nor could they 
 understand the advantages of their mode of carrying on 
 war, which was widely different from that pursued on the 
 continent. The French were fond of displaying their 
 valour in a field of battle, and treated with contempt the 
 cautious conduct of the Scots, whose policy it was to post- 
 pone coming to a decided engagement with the enemy till 
 the very last, while they plundered and laid waste the 
 country. The French soldiers, too, were discontented and 
 displeased with the poor living and scanty accommodation)^ 
 they found in Scotland ; so that after one campaign in the 
 northern counties of England, in which much booty though 
 but very little glory was obtained, they returned to their 
 own country, leaving the Scots to themselves. 
 
 In the mean time. King Richard made an expedition into 
 Scotland at the head of a large army, and advanced as far 
 as Edinburgh, which was burned and plundered, nothing 
 being spared but the monastery of Holyrood. Many other 
 edifices were also destroyed by the invaders, and, among 
 them, the beautiful abbey of Melrose; but no advantage 
 was gained by the invasion, for the country was in such a 
 state of desolation, that the English were obliged to retreat 
 for want of provisions. 
 
 The earls of Douglas were the great leaders of all the 
 incursions made into England at this period; and the earls 
 of Northumberland were distinguished among the English 
 
386 CORNER^S 
 
 60 SCOTLAND. 
 
 chiefs. They were all renowned for their high sentiments 
 of chivalry, which led them to behave with the greatest 
 courtesy towards each other, when not engaged in oj3en 
 hostilities; so that they would tilt together, in sport, like 
 knights who were not at enmity; and, in such encounters, 
 it would have been deemed highly disgraceful for a com- 
 batant to have availed himself of any advantage he might 
 chance to gain, even over the deadliest of his foes. 
 
 You have, heard, perhaps, of Chevy Chase. It was a 
 name given to the battle of Otterboume, fought between 
 Henry Percy, usually called Hotspur, and Lord James of 
 Douglas, one of the bravest chiefs of that noble family. It 
 happened that Douglas, in returning from a successful inroad 
 into Northumberland, passed close by the gates of New- 
 castle, where Hotspur and some other nobles had shut 
 themselves up, because they had not a sufficient force to 
 give battle to the Scots. The English knights, however, 
 angry at seeing their enemies passing by in triumph, chah 
 lenged the Scots to a personal encounter; and the challenge 
 being accepted, the two parties met to tilt with each other. 
 In the course of the combat, Douglas possessed himself of 
 Hotspur’s lance, which he brandished aloft, declaring he 
 would place it as a trophy on the highest tower of his 
 castle, at Dalkeith. “ That you shall never do I” exclaimed 
 Percy. “ Then,’’ said Douglas, “ come this night, and 
 take it from my tent.” Percy did not go that night, but 
 hastily collecting his vassals, he pursued Douglas into Scot- 
 land, and overtook him at Otterboume; and it was this 
 pursuit that was celebrated in old ballads, under the name 
 of Chevy Chase. The battle that ensued was desperate. 
 Douglas was killed, but the Scots were victorious, and 
 Hotspur was made prisoner. 
 
 This was the most remarkable event in the time of Robert 
 the Second; who being now old, and unfit for the fatigues 
 of state, invested his second son, the earl of Fife, afterwards 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 387 
 
 SCOTLAND. 61 
 
 duke of Albany, with the regency, and retired to his castle, 
 in Ayrshire, where he died, in the year 1389, at the ad- 
 vanced age of seventy-five. 
 
 Edinburgh had latterly become a royal residence, yet it 
 was not a very fine city; for being situated near the borders, 
 and, consequently, much exposed to the English invasions, 
 few thought it worth their while to build their houses of 
 any thing but wood; and these were mean, and mostly 
 thatched with straw. Yet Edinburgh and Perth were then 
 the best towns in Scotland; and the former was soon re- 
 paired after the mischief done by Richard the Second, for 
 the people returned from the woods with their cattle and 
 household goods, which they had carried olF with them on 
 the approach of the English army, and cheerfully set about 
 re-building their houses, and effacing, as far as possible, £ill 
 traces of the enemy’s devastation. 
 
 ROBERT THE THIRD. 
 
 1389 to 1406. 
 
 Robert the Third was a good man, pious, just, and hu- 
 mane; but he was feeble, both in body and mind; therefore, 
 ill qualified to rule over a fierce and almost ungovernable 
 people, who were impatient of the slightest restraint, and 
 were ready to dispute the authority of a much abler monarch 
 than himself. 
 
 The nobles were as unruly as the barons of England in 
 the days of King Stephen; they frequently went to war 
 with each other; they fearlessly broke through the laws; 
 and, in fact, the power of the king was little more than 
 nominal. 
 
 o 
 
388 CORNER^S 
 
 62 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott has drawn an animated picture of the 
 times of Robert the Third, in his interesting story of the 
 Fair Maid of Perth, in which the melancholy fate of the 
 king's eldest son, David, duke of Rothsay, is beautifully told. 
 This young prince was gay and thoughtless, but high- 
 spirited, brave, and not altogether unamiable; but he had 
 an artful, ambitious uncle, the duke of Albany, who had 
 been regent during the latter pa^t of the reign of the late 
 king, who had chosen him in preference to his elder bro- 
 ther, because he had far greater abilities as a statesman. 
 This circumstance had, probably, given him a taste for regal 
 dignity, and led him to meditate the crime of which he 
 was afterwards guilty, and the particulars of which we shall 
 presently relate. The dukes of Rothsay and Albany were 
 the first who bore that title in Scotland. It was brought 
 into England by the Normans, but not used among the 
 Scots till conferred by Robert the Third on his son and 
 brother, in a parliament held in 1398. 
 
 At the period of which we are now writing, the whole 
 country was disturbed by the depredations of the Highland 
 chiefs, who took advantage of the weakness of the govern- 
 ment, to break into different parts of the lower country, 
 carrying off whatever valuables they could seize, and laying 
 in ashes the villages they had plundered. Among the most 
 noted of these chieftains was Alexander Stewart, son of the 
 earl of Buchan, who was at the head of a fierce band of 
 Highland freebooters, or robbers, called Catherans, who he- 
 sitated not to commit any deeds, however desperate. Yet, 
 by a train of strange events, the leader of this banditti 
 became, at length, one of the first nobles of Scotland, and 
 was celebrated as a promoter of good order. 
 
 His history is told thus : He was nearly related to the 
 royal family, but he had chosen to lead a wild and lawless 
 life in the Highlands, where he had raised himself, by vio- 
 lence, to great power. The bandits over whom he ruled. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 389 
 
 SCOTLAND. 63 
 
 had surprised and taken the castle of Sir Malcolm Drum- 
 mond, who was brother to the queen of Robert the Third. 
 Sir Malcolm died in consequence of the cruel treatment he 
 had experienced from the Highlanders, and his widow, the 
 lady Isabel, who was countess of Mar in her own right, 
 sought safety in the strong castle of Kildrummie, in Aber- 
 deenshire. 
 
 Now Stewart, of Buchan, had not appeared in the course 
 of this outrage, but it was strongly suspected he was con- 
 cerned in it; and the more so, as shortly afterwards, he pre- 
 sented himself before the walls of Kildrummie castle, at the 
 head of a numerous band of armed Catherans, who stormed 
 and took possession of the castle; and, strange to say, he 
 prevailed on the lady Isabel to marry him; and thus be- 
 came earl of Mar in right of his wife. 
 
 It seems, however, that he was afraid his title might, at 
 some future time, be disputed, on the ground that it had 
 been obtained by force; he adopted, therefore, the following 
 expedient, to obviate this objection, which clearly proves 
 that he had full confidence in the affection of his bride; 
 therefore, we may justly suppose that she was convinced he 
 had no share in the murder of her former husband. 
 
 A few weeks after his extraordinary marriage, he restored 
 to the countess her castle, with all its furniture and title 
 deeds, by which he gave up all right to it whatever, and 
 coming before the gates, surrendered the keys; so that it 
 was, once more, her own absolute property, which she might 
 dispose of as she pleased. Then the lady invited him to 
 enter, declared that she freely accepted him as her husband, 
 and invested him with all the possessions belonging to the 
 earldom of Mar; on which, he assumed the title; nor had 
 any person then a right to question it. 
 
 The new earl now entered on a course of life more befit- 
 ting his rank. He distinguished himself by his gallant 
 feats at the tournaments, held both in Scotland and Eng- 
 
390 CORNER’S 
 
 64 SCOTLAND. 
 
 land, and was accounted one of the bravest knights of the 
 times. He also went abroad, and served with great renown 
 in France and the Netherlands; and on his return to Scot- 
 land he did all in his power to maintain that peace and good 
 order which, in his early career, he had been the most for- 
 ward to disturb. 
 
 The Catherans were not the only Highlanders whose utter 
 disregard of the laws kept the whole country in a state of 
 confusion. The constant feuds of different clans became a 
 very serious evil, and one that it was not easy to remedy ; 
 for it was useless to make laws for men who would not obey 
 them. Every attempt to subjugate them by force, would 
 have been impolitic, as serving to foment a civil war; since 
 it was most probable that, although they quarrelled among 
 themselves, and invaded each other’s lands, they would 
 unite to repel a foe that was hostile to them all. 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the fearless character of 
 these highlanders, from the following anecdote. There were 
 two families in Aberdeen, the Lesleys and the Leiths, be- 
 tween whom was a quarrel of long standing; and it is well 
 known that wherever the system of clanship prevailed, the 
 enmity of the chiefs extended itself to the whole clan. It 
 liappened that a Lesley was present at an entertainment at 
 the castle of a nobleman, who did not know who he was, 
 and where he found himself in company with a great num- 
 ber of the Leiths, to whom also he was personally unknown. 
 He partook of the banquet, and, in the evening, danced 
 with the rest; till, watching an opportunity, he suddenly 
 drew his dirk, and fled through the hall, stabbing right and 
 left as he went, and at last jumped out of a window, and 
 made his escape. 
 
 There were two great clans also at variance, called the 
 Clan Chattan, and the Clan Quhele. Both these tribes 
 were numerous and brave; but their constant wars kept a 
 great part of the country in a state of perpetual alarm; and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 391 
 
 SCOTLAND. 65 
 
 as it was found impracticable to reduce them to order by 
 force, some of the Scottish commanders proposed that they 
 should be allowed to settle their quarrel by a pitched battle, 
 between an equal nuijiber of the best men of each clan. 
 This offer being accepted by the respective chiefs, it was 
 agreed that thirty of the clan Chattan should fight with 
 thirty of the clan Quhele, in a meadow called the North Inch 
 of Perth, on the banks of the Tay. They were to use no 
 weapons but swords, and the king, and the chief nobles, 
 were to be spectators of the combat. 
 
 The real object of the government in giving encourage- 
 ment to this battle, was to weaken both clans, by bringing 
 all their bravest men into a situation where they might 
 destroy each other. The day was appointed, and the two 
 parties came into the field; when, just as the signal was 
 about to be given for commencing the engagement, it was 
 discovered that one of the Clan Chattan was missing, on 
 which a tradesman of Perth, one Henry Wynd, a saddler, 
 although he had no connexion with the Highlanders, nor 
 any interest in their quarrels, and had only come to the 
 spot, among others, to witness the fight, stepped forward, 
 and offered to supply the place of the absent clansman for a 
 small piece of money, equal to about seven or eight shil- 
 lings. No better proof than this could be afforded of the 
 love of fighting, and of the little value which men set upon 
 their own lives, in those days. 
 
 The battle was fought with such fury, that all but one of 
 the Clan Quhele were killed, and that one escaped by swim- 
 ming across the Tayj while of the Clan Chattan, but very 
 few were left alive, and most of them were badly wounded. 
 Among the survivors, was the bold saddler who had joined 
 in this deadly strife for so small a compensation; and, it is 
 said, that it was in a great measure owing to his valour, 
 that his party won the victory; though it was but a melan- 
 choly victory that was purchased by so many lives. 
 
392 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 66 SCOTLAND. 
 
 The duke of Albany was now at the head of the state, 
 and had grown so jealous of the young duke of Rothsay, 
 that, by various arts, he contrived to raise up enemies 
 against him among some of the most powerful of the Scot- 
 tish earls; and, at last, he persuaded the imbecile king, that 
 the prince was of so wild and untractable a disposition, that 
 it would be advisable to place him, for a time, under some 
 restraint; and the king, who was too timid to oppose the 
 will of his designing brother, consented that the prince 
 should be deprived, for a short time, of his liberty, until he 
 should be made fully sensible of some errors of which his 
 uncle had accused him, but which, at the same time, he had 
 very much exaggerated. 
 
 As soon as the king had given permission to the duke of 
 Albany to exercise so much authority over his nephew, the 
 unnatural uncle, in conjunction with the earl of Douglas, 
 arrested the prince as he was travelling through Fifeshire, 
 and conveyed him by force to Falkland castle, where they 
 confined him in a miserable dungeon, and starved him to 
 death. 
 
 It was given out that the unfortunate young man had 
 died suddenly of illness, but all persons who knew the cha- 
 racter of the duke of Albany, had no doubt of the truth; 
 and the wretched but weak-minded father, although he 
 reproached himself bitterly with having placed his son in 
 the power of those whose interest it was that he should 
 die, dared not hint a suspicion that his death had been 
 caused by violence, or exhibit any signs of resentment 
 against his murderers. 
 
 After the death of the duke of Rothsay, the earl of 
 Douglas, who was called Archibald the Grim, renewed the 
 border warfare, in which he was opposed by Earl Percy’s 
 son. Hotspur, the enemy of his predecessor, who defeated 
 the Scots in a great battle at Homildon Hill, and took 
 Douglas prisoner, with several other Scottish noblemen, for 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 393 
 
 SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 whom he hoped to obtain a large ransom. This, as I have 
 before observed, was, in those barbarous times, one of the 
 most valuable privileges of warfare, every soldier having a 
 right to make a profit of his prisoners; and the higher the 
 rank of his captive, the greater, of course, was the sum 
 required. 
 
 It was, therefore, a great disappointment to the Percies, 
 both father and son, when they received an express com- 
 mand from Henry the Fourth, that they should not ransom 
 their prisoners. Their dissatisfaction, on this account, in- 
 duced them to liberate Douglas without ransom, on con- 
 dition that he should bring his vassals and join Owen Glen- 
 dour, the Welsh chieftain, in his rebellion, against King 
 Henry; which he did, and fought by the side of Hotspur, 
 who fell at the battle of Shrewsbury, where Lord Douglas 
 was taken prisoner. 
 
 Robert the Third had another son, named James, who 
 was only eleven years of age. The king was afraid that, 
 if he should die during his son's minority, the boy would 
 not be safe under the guardianship of his uncle. He re- 
 solved, therefore, to send the child to France, under a 
 pretext that he required a better education than he could 
 obtain in Scotland. 
 
 The young prince embarked with his governor, the earl of 
 Orkney, and a considerable number of gentlemen, forming a 
 retinue befitting the heir to the crown; but the vessel was 
 captured, on the voyage, by an English cruiser, and the 
 prince was taken to King Henry's court, who detained him, 
 not exactly as a prisoner, but as a hostage, thinking he 
 might make any terms with the Scots, while he had their 
 prince in his power. 
 
 This new misfortune almost broke the heart of the un- 
 happy king of Scotland, who died about a twelvemonth 
 afterwards, when the duke of Albany again became regent 
 of the kingdom. James remained nineteen years in Eng- 
 
394 CORNER^S 
 
 68 SCOTLAND. 
 
 land, living a great part of the time in Windsor castle, 
 where he was treated with much kindness, and his education 
 carefully attended to; so that he became one of the most 
 accomplished princes of the age. 
 
 THE REGENCY. 
 
 1406 to 1424. 
 
 The duke of Albany, notwithstanding his cruel and unna- 
 tural conduct .towards his relative, contrived to make him- 
 self very popular among the people, by his liberahty to the 
 church, his profuse entertainments to the nobles, and his 
 affability to the lower classes. 
 
 The Lords of the Isles had, by this time, again freed 
 themselves from that dependence on the government of 
 Scotland, to which Robert Bruce had obliged them to sub- 
 mit. They possessed a fleet of galleys, which enabled them 
 to harass the opposite coast, and Donald, then Lord of the 
 Isles, ranked himself among the allies of England, and 
 acted like an independent sovereign, making peace or war 
 at his own pleasure. 
 
 Soon after the death of Robert the Third, Donald of the 
 Isles laid claim to the earldom of Ross, which was one of 
 the largest baronies in the West of Scotland, and was a 
 very valuable acquisition to him, as it included the island of 
 Skye, which stretched out into the sea, almost to his own 
 islands. He made the claim in right of his wife, who was a 
 daughter of the earl of Ross; but his title was disputed by 
 an earl of Buchan, who seems to have had a better right 
 to the estates than Donald’s lady. The two competitors, 
 therefore, went to war, Donald being joined by most of the 
 Highland clans; and Buchan, by the nobles and gentry of 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 395 
 
 SCOTLAND. 69 
 
 the Lowlands, the chief of whom was that earl of Mar, who 
 had married the countess Isabel. 
 
 It is remarkable that this adventurous knight should now 
 take the command against those very clans of which he was 
 formerly one of the chief, though most unprincipled leaders. 
 A great battle was fought near Harlaw; and although it 
 was doubtful to which side the victory belonged, the High- 
 landers lost so many of their best soldiers, that Donald was 
 compelled to retreat to the Isles, and, shortly afterwards, to 
 withdraw his claim to the barony of Ross, and give hostages 
 for his future obedience to the Scottish laws. 
 
 It is this battle, which is still celebrated in old Scottish 
 ballads, that first gave to the more civilised part of Scotland 
 a decided pre-eminence over the rude uncultivated people of 
 the north, who never again ventured to take the field openly 
 against those to whom they reluctantly owned submission; 
 although in their own territories, they continued to pay as 
 little regard to the laws as ever. 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Harlaw, a council was held 
 by the regent, in which it was enacted that the heirs of all 
 who had fallen should be permitted to enter into possession 
 of their estates without payment of the feudal fines usually 
 exacted. 
 
 The regency of the duke of Albany was distinguished 
 by the foundation of the university of St. Andrews, the first 
 seminary of learning instituted in Scotland. Its founder 
 was Henry Wardlaw, Bishop of St. Andrews, who had been 
 the tutor of James the First, in his early boyhood, before he 
 became a prisoner in England. This excellent bishop, see- 
 ing the inconvenience of being obliged to send young men 
 to other countries for instruction, formed the plan of estab- 
 lishing an university in Scotland, where they might be 
 taught theology, law, and the liberal arts, without going 
 abroad. The college was opened in 1410, but did not re- 
 ceive the formal sanction of the Pope till three years after- 
 
396 COENEH^S 
 
 70 SCOTLAND. 
 
 wards, when the papal bull arrived, endowing the new 
 establishment with the important privileges of an university. 
 This event was celebrated with great public rejoicings. All 
 the dignitaries of the church went in procession to the 
 cathedral, where high mass was celebrated, and Te Deum 
 sung by the whole assembly; after which the townspeople 
 manifested their joy by ringing the bells, lighting bonfires, 
 feasting, dancing, and other festivities; thus proving how 
 truly they estimated the benefit of an institution which af- 
 forded the means of acquiring learning within the kingdom. 
 
 The duke of Albany died in the year 1419, and was suc- 
 ceeded, as regent, by his son, Murdoch Stuart, as the young 
 king was still a captive in England, where Henry the Fifth 
 was then reigning. 
 
 The new regent was of an indolent temper, and allowed 
 the nobles, and the chiefs of the Highlands and Isles, again 
 to assume the power which his father had abolished. At 
 length, he grew weary of the task of governing a people, 
 who were so unwilling to yield submission to civil rulers, 
 and earnestly sought to obtain the liberation of King James, 
 who was now thirty years of age, and generally spoken of 
 as a prince of great talent, highly cultivated mind, and 
 excellent understanding. 
 
 This prince was skilled in all the elegant accomplishments 
 of the age, and had studied with attention the laws and re- 
 gulations of England, as a model on which to conduct his 
 own system of government, when he should be allowed to 
 return to his kingdom. The people of Scotland had just 
 cause for deploring the absence of such a sovereign; and 
 negociations for his liberty were entered into with the regent 
 of England; for Henry the Fifth had died, and Henry the 
 Sixth was an infant. The sum demanded for the liberation 
 of the king of Scotland was forty thousand pounds, and six 
 years were allowed for its payment. 
 
 But before James returned to his native land, he mairied 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 397 
 
 SCOTLAND. 71 
 
 a young lady, who had been the object of a romantic attach- 
 ment, which had tended to lighten his captivity. She was 
 a daughter of the earl of Somerset, and grand- daughter of 
 John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, so that she was, by 
 birth, a fitting match for the king of Scotland, whose mar- 
 riage was celebrated with great splendor in London. The 
 illustrious pair then set out for Scotland, accompanied by 
 many of the English nobility, and were met at Durham by 
 all the chief Scottish barons and gentry, forming a brilliant 
 train to grace the entry of the monarch into his own domi- 
 nions, where he was received with tumultuous joy by all 
 classes of his people. 
 
 JAMES THE FIRST. 
 
 1424 to 1437. 
 
 The restored monarch and his queen were crowned at 
 Scone, on the twenty-first of May, 1424, which may be 
 considered as the commencement of a new era in the history 
 of Scotland, as the first great check was now given to the 
 feudal power of the aristocracy, and an entire revolution 
 effected in the whole system of government. 
 
 James found the country in the utmost confusion. It 
 was ruled entirely by haughty barons, not according to the 
 laws, but by force of arms; their castles were filled with 
 armed vassals, and they rode about the country with nume- 
 rous trains of followers, who lived at free cost wherever they 
 went. The middle and lower classes found no protection 
 whatever from the laws, because their oppressors were those 
 to whom alone they could apply for redress ; therefore, they 
 had no alternative, but to submit with patience to robbery 
 and insult. 
 
398 CORNER’S 
 
 72 SCOTLAND. 
 
 On almost every height stood a castle, where dwelt some 
 chief, whose board and purse were both supplied by the 
 plunder of his neighbour’s vassals; while his own were 
 subject to similar depredations from the lords of other do- 
 mains. I'he disorderly conduct of the nobles, afforded an 
 opportunity, and even gave encouragement, to men of all 
 ranks, to live by robbing others; for whenever a baron rode 
 out upon a marauding expedition, his train was joined 
 by many who were not his own vassals, but who entered 
 into his service for the time, that they might live free of 
 cost, in the houses of the farmers and peasantry, who were 
 compelled to find food and lodging for him and his fol- 
 lowers. Some of these supernumeraries were known rob- 
 bers by profession; yet, they boldly rode in the train of 
 a chieftain, scarcely caring to disguise their real characters. 
 
 During the regency, and the two preceding reigns, some 
 of the great nobles, particularly the family of the duke of 
 Albany, had usurped, and obtained grants of lands that for- 
 merly had belonged to the crown, by which the royal power 
 and revenue were materially diminished. 
 
 It had been the plan of the duke of Albany, to keep in 
 favour with the lower classes of the people, by exempting 
 them from many taxes; but to make up the deficiency, he 
 had seized on all the patrimonial estates of the Stuart 
 family; which were very considerable, and belonged by right 
 to James, who ought to have received the revenues arising 
 from them for his support, while detained in England. 
 
 Duke Murdoch, too, the last regent, had granted parts of 
 these estates to different persons of high rank ; so that when 
 James came back, he found that all his private property had 
 been alienated, as well as that which belonged to the crown. 
 He resolved, however, that all this should be restored; that 
 the family of Albany should be punished for the bad use 
 they had made of the sovereign power; and that the nobles 
 should be brought under subjection to the laws, and tlie 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 399 
 
 SCOTLAND. 73 
 
 authority of the crown. He began by holding a parliament, 
 and making a number of new laws, to facilitate his designs. 
 It was enacted, that the sheriffs of counties should send in 
 accounts of all the lands within their districts that had be- 
 longed to the king’fi ancestors, with the names of their 
 present possessors, who were to give up the estates, unless 
 they could shew that they had obtained grants from the 
 king himself. Private warfare was forbidden; and it was 
 ordained that every nobleman should limit his retinue to 
 such a number as he could maintain at his own cost; so 
 that the people might be relieved from the burthen of find- 
 ing entertainment for the rabble that constituted the greater 
 part of a baron’s train. 
 
 The next object of the king was to extend his own 
 power, which he did by instituting n body of legislators, 
 called Lords of the Articles, whose business it was to settle 
 what measures should, or should not, be proposed in the 
 parliament. For instance, if any member intended to pro- 
 pose a new law, he was obliged to make known that inten- 
 tion, beforehand, to the Lords of the Articles, who might 
 forbid him to do so, if they did not approve of it; and as 
 the members of this council were nominated by the king 
 himself, they were not likely to consent to the proposal of 
 any measure which was not in accordance with his wishes ; 
 so that he became, in fact, almost an absolute monarch. 
 
 Still the nobles paid no attention to the new laws, either 
 by giving up the crown lands, or dismissing any of their 
 retainers; for they had been used to disobey the sovereign’s 
 commands, and were not aware of the determined character 
 of the king, or the storm that was ready to burst over their 
 heads. They, consequently, did not hesitate to attend the 
 next parliament, which James summoned in a few months, 
 with a secret determination to punish, as rebels and traitors, 
 those who had not submitted to the laws. The late 
 regent, with his sons, and his father-in-law, the earl of 
 
 H 
 
400 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 74 SCOTLAND 
 
 Lennox, who was nearly eighty years of age, were suddenly 
 arrested, and sent to Stirling, where they were tried in the 
 presence of the king, and publicly executed in front of the 
 castle. Many other members of the ill-fated family of 
 Albany afterwards met with a similar fate, and all their 
 estates were forfeited to the crown; so that this once- 
 powerful house, which had so long been at the head of the 
 state, was totally overthrown; and thus was removed the 
 chief rival to the sovereign authority. 
 
 These acts of severity were followed up by such nume- 
 rous executions and confiscations, that, although the king 
 might have been influenced by wise motives, yet the means 
 he took to accomplish his object can be regarded only 
 as cruel and tyrannical. Yet, it may be said in extenu- 
 ation of his severe measures, that a more lenient course 
 would never have remedied the disorders that prevailed in 
 the state ; and if the power of the feudal barons had not 
 been thus violently crushed, the mass of the people must 
 have continued to suffer from their oppressions. 
 
 The king formed his parliament as nearly as he could, on 
 the model of that of England, making it to consist of 
 nobles, clergy, burgesses, and commissioners of the counties, 
 the last corresponding to the English knights of the shire. 
 He instituted regular courts of justice, to hold sittings three 
 times a year, and thus limited the power of the lords over 
 their vassals, by taking from them the right of acting as 
 sole judges on their own estates; a privilege long enjoyed 
 by the feudal nobles of every country in Europe, and one 
 that had given them absolute control over the lives and pro- 
 perty of their dependents. By such means, James, in the 
 course of time, accomplished his grand design of bringing 
 the great under subordination, and improving the condition 
 of the middle and lower classes. He had, however, a still 
 more difficult task to perform, in reducing the highlanders 
 10 subjection; yet this he also effected by pursuing the same 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 401 
 
 SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 decided course that had been successful in all other parts of 
 his dominions. 
 
 The state of the highlands was, at this period, lawless 
 and disorderly in the highest degree. Besides the Gaels, 
 who considered themselves the true heirs of the soil, there 
 were many powerful chiefs of Norman origin, who had 
 penetrated into the remote northern districts, where they 
 occupied castles and lands, and ruled over multitudes of 
 vassals and serfs in all the pride of feudal greatness. These 
 Scoto-Norman barons were hated by the fierce aboriginal 
 chiefs, who were constantly at war with them; and the 
 ravages and murders committed by both parties, kept the 
 whole country beyond the Grampian hills in a state of per- 
 petual anarchy. 
 
 The barons held themselves quite as independent of the 
 king and the laws, as the Gaelic chieftains, and, among 
 other acts of insubordination, refused to pay their share of 
 the tax imposed on all property throughout the kingdom, 
 for the payment of the king’s ransom. James proceeded to 
 the north with a sufficient force, and having fortified the 
 castle of Inverness, he called a parliament there, and sum- 
 moned about fifty chiefs to attend it. On their arrival, they 
 were all seized and imprisoned. Those who had been most 
 rebellious, were executed, and the rest were obliged to make 
 promises of future obedience, on which they were set at 
 liberty. Among these was Alexander, the Lord of the Isles, 
 who had no sooner recovered his freedom, than he revolted, 
 and collecting a large force, marched to Inverness, and 
 burnt the city. He was again made prisoner; and, after 
 submitting to beg his life in the most humble manner, was 
 confined, for a long time, in Tantallon castle, but was even- 
 tually restored to his principality. 
 
 When James the First had fully established his authority, 
 he devoted his attention to the improvement of his king- 
 dom. With the assistance of his parliament, which was 
 
402 CORNER^S 
 
 76 SCOTLAND. 
 
 summoned every year, he revised all the laws, and made 
 many new ones, all of which he caused to be written in the 
 language of the country, instead of in Latin, as they for- 
 merly had been. It was ordained by the new laws, that 
 every man and youth above the age of twelve, should learn 
 to use a bow and arrow; and to that end, the peasants, 
 who were accustomed on holidays to amuse themselves with 
 running races, throwing bars, leaping, and wrestling, were 
 enjoined to practise archery instead of their usual sports. 
 Butts were set up near each parish church, at which every 
 man was to shoot, at least six times on a holiday; a fine 
 of two pence was imposed on those who did not attend, to 
 be spent in ale for those who did. 
 
 Another law related to a class of beggars called Somers, 
 
 • who pretended to the rank of gentlemen, and wandered 
 from place to place, intruding into people’s houses, where 
 they took their seat at the table, and received what was 
 given to them, as a right, rather than as a favour. They 
 all claimed to be of gentle birth, and some of them did not 
 scruple to ride about the country with attendants, who were 
 beggars also. To remedy this evil, it was enacted, that no 
 such persons should be permitted to beg, or insist on being 
 entertained in any farm-houses, or other dwellings; an ex- 
 ception, however, being made in favour of the royal, or 
 licensed beggars, known as the blue-gowns, or king’s bedes- 
 men. These were old men above the age of seventy, or 
 worthy persons, who were, by some misfortune, disabled 
 from supporting themselves in any other way. They were 
 distinguished by a badge, granted by the chief magistrate 
 of the burgh; and this venerable order of privileged men- 
 dicants were well known in Scotland until a very late 
 period. 
 
 Many laws were also made with regard to foreign trade,, 
 which was still carried on by the nobility and clergy. They 
 sent out ships to the ports of France and Flanders, laden 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 403 
 
 SCOTLAND. 77 
 
 with wool and hides, in exchange for which they received 
 the manufactured goods of those countries; and this led to 
 the institution of sumptuary laws, to check the extrava- 
 gance of those who were inclined to indulge too much in 
 such superfluities. The king ordained that no silks or fine 
 furs should be worn by any persons below the rank of 
 knights, except they were aldermen, bailies, or members of 
 a town council. Country gentlemen, or lairds, were for- 
 bidden to wear scarlet, and were required to see that their 
 wives and daughters did not imitate the ladies of the court, 
 but that they dressed according to their station, with short 
 curches on their heads, small hoods, and gowns without 
 trains or fur. The farmers and labourers were prohibited 
 from wearing garments of any colours but grey or white, 
 except on holidays, when they were permitted to display a 
 suit of green, or light blue. All men were obliged to fur- 
 nish themselves with armour and weapons according to 
 their rank; and there were many laws made with a view to 
 improve the agriculture of the country. 
 
 James the First had reigned over Scotland thirteen years; 
 and, in that time, had done more towards the civilization of 
 the country, than had been effected by his predecessors in 
 the course of ages; yet it was not to be expected that he 
 could have many friends among the nobility; and, at length, 
 a conspiracy was formed against his life, which, unhappily, 
 proved but too successful. The chief conspirators were the 
 earl of Athole, his grandson. Sir Robert Stewart, and Sir 
 Robert Grahame, all of whom had been deprived of some 
 ill-gotten estates by the new laws; and the time chosen 
 for the execution of their plot, was during the Christmas 
 festivities, a season of great gaiety in Scotland, where it was 
 celebrated, as in England, with feasting, dancing, masks, 
 mummings, and games of all kinds. 
 
 The king was keeping his Christmas at Perth, in the mo- 
 nastery of the Black Friars, which he had chosen for his re- 
 
 H 3 
 
404 CORNER^S 
 
 78 SCOTLAND. 
 
 sidence, during his stay, and where he was surrounded by 
 a numerous and brilhant court. It appears that he had re- 
 ceived several warnings of his danger, to which he had paid 
 no attention, until one night, as he was about to retire to 
 rest, he was alarmed by the sound of armed men coming 
 towards his apartment. The terrified queen, and several of 
 her ladies, who were in the room, assisted him to descend 
 into a vault, and succeeded in covering up the aperture 
 through which he had passed, before the ruffians had ef- 
 fected an entrance. The latter, surprised at not finding 
 him in the room, went to search for him elsewhere; but, 
 unfortunately, in a few minutes, some of them returned, 
 and discovered the ladies in the act of drawing him from 
 his hiding-place, that he might make his escape. They in- 
 stantly leaped down into the vault, where the unfortunate 
 monarch defended himself valiantly to the last; but three 
 against one were fearful odds; and he fell, at length, co- 
 vered with wounds. The three principal conspirators fled; 
 but the queen was resolved not to rest till she had avenged 
 the cruel death of her beloved husband, and, for that end, 
 instituted so diligent a search, that they were all taken, and 
 put to death with cruel tortures; according to the revolting 
 custom of that barbarous age, in cases of treason. 
 
 This melancholy event took place at the beginning of the 
 year 1437, soon after the commencement of the civil wars 
 in England between the houses of York and Lancaster. 
 
 JAMES THE SECOND. 
 
 1437 to 1460. 
 
 The heir of the murdered king was only five years of age ; 
 therefore, another long regency threw the whole kingdom 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 405 
 
 SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 again into confusion, and revived many of the evils the late 
 monarch had taken so much pains to suppress. There were 
 two great statesmen, who had been the principal ministers 
 of James the First, the one was the chancellor Crichton, the 
 other. Sir Alexander Livingstone, both men of good family, 
 although they did not rank among the nobility of the king- 
 dom; but James chose his ministers, not for their high 
 birth, but for their talents, with which these two men were 
 eminently gifted, and had risen, in consequence, to the 
 highest offices of the state. 
 
 To them was now entrusted the care of the young king’s 
 person, and they were appointed joint regents; for the 
 queen withdrew herself entirely from public affairs, and, 
 soon afterwards, married Sir James Stuart, called the Black 
 Knight of Lorn. 
 
 The events of the next few years are very confused, 
 and uninteresting. Unfortunately for the country, the two 
 regents were enemies to each other; and both had a power- 
 ful foe in the earl of Douglas, who, during the minority of 
 the king, attained to a degree of power and opulence, 
 scarcely possessed by the sovereign himself. His estates ex- 
 tended over a great part of the west of Scotland, and his 
 vassals were so numerous, that he could at any time raise an 
 army that might enable him to defy any authority. 
 
 Before the king was of age, this mighty earl died; and 
 his son, William, a youth of fourteen, succeeded to his 
 titles and possessions, both in Scotland and France; for 
 Earl Douglas had been created earl of Touraine, for ser- 
 vices rendered to Charles the Seventh. The young earl, 
 William, was extremely haughty and vain of his state. 
 He seldom rode without a thousand horsemen in his train; 
 and, as you may suppose, the vassals of so young a chief 
 were not under much control, so that they were a nuisance 
 to the whole country; for none dared resent an injury done 
 by a follower of the Douglas, for fear of drawing upon 
 
406 CORNER^S 
 
 80 SCOTLAND. 
 
 themselves the vengeance of the whole clan. The arrogance 
 of the boy chieftain gave great offence to the regents, parti- 
 cularly to Crichton, who, with all his abilities, was a cruel, 
 vindictive man; and he made use of the following stratagem 
 to get Douglas into his power, and deprive him of life. 
 
 Pretending to be desirous of promoting an intimacy be- 
 tween the king and the earl, who were nearly of an age, he 
 invited the latter to visit the young monarch at Edinburgh 
 castle. Douglas, not suspecting any treachery, went, ac- 
 companied by his younger brother, when both were seized, 
 and beheaded in the castle-yard. 
 
 The two regents had hoped, by this cruel deed, to weaken 
 the power of the Douglas family, because they knew that if 
 these two brothers should die without children, part of the 
 lands would go to their sister, who was called the Fair 
 Maiden of Galloway; and the rest, with the title, to the 
 next male heir, a cousin of the deceased earl; but their 
 designs were frustrated by the marriage of the Fair Maiden 
 of Galloway with her cousin, by which the division of the 
 estates was prevented, and the new earl was in possession 
 of full as much power and territory as his predecessors. 
 He was determined, however, to revenge the death of his 
 young kinsmen ; and, with that object in view, made a great 
 show of submission to the king, who was now advancing to- 
 wards an age when he could take the government into his 
 own hands. ^ 
 
 James, delighted at the unexpected humility of the 
 greatest vassal in the kingdom, took him into favour, dis- 
 solved the regency, and made him his chief minister. The 
 first use which Douglas made of his authority, was to lay 
 siege to the baronial castles of Sir William Crichton, which 
 he entirely destroyed; and to arrest Sir Alexander Living- 
 stone, whom he imprisoned, confiscated his estates, and be- 
 headed his two sons. Crichton, after defending himself for 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 407 
 
 SCOTLAND. 81 
 
 nine weeks in the castle of Edinburgh, surrendered, and was 
 restored to his estates and honours. 
 
 In the meantime, a border war had commenced, in spite 
 of a truce with England, and a great deal of mischief was 
 done on both sides, unsanctioned by the sovereign of either 
 country. The brothers of Earl Douglas were among the 
 principal aggressors; and as that nobleman and his whole 
 family were again growing as haughty and presumptuous 
 as their predecessors, the king began to withdraw his favour 
 from him. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of consulting him upon all affairs of 
 importance, he took the advice of his father’s minister. Sir 
 William Crichton. By the counsel of this experienced 
 statesman, the courts of justice instituted by James the 
 First, were revived; private warfare, so destructive of all 
 order and happiness, was forbidden, under severe pains and 
 penalties; strict laws were made against spoilers and ma- 
 rauders, or, in other words, against titled robbers and their 
 retainers; and other statutes enacted, which were by no 
 means pleasing to Douglas, who withdrew from court to his 
 owm dominions, where he pursued a course of conduct so 
 directly in opposition to the laws of the country, that, at 
 last, he found that it would be prudent to absent himself for 
 a time. He went, therefore, on a pilgrimage to Rome, at- 
 tended by a splendid retinue, and was received every where 
 on his route . with marked distinction ; for the name of 
 Douglas was renowned throughout Europe. 
 
 In the meantime, Crichton had negociated an alliance be- 
 tween France and Scotland, and obtained the hand of Mary 
 of Gueldres, a near relative of Philip, duke of Burgundy, 
 for his royal master. This young lady had been brought up 
 at the court of Burgundy, and accustomed to all its luxuries ; 
 so that she was very much disappointed, on her arrival in 
 Scotland, to find it was so different from the country she 
 had left. Even the table of the monarch himself, was woe- 
 
I 
 
 i 408 CORNER’S 
 
 82 SCOTLAND. 
 
 fully deficient in refinement. The first dish placed on it, 
 was a boar’s head, painted, and stuck all over with bits of 
 flax. It was served up on a platter surrounded with ban- 
 ners ; and as soon as it was put on the table, the flax was 
 set on fire, amid the loud shouts of the company. The wine 
 was served in wooden bowls; and the whole entertainment 
 appeared so barbarous to the new queen, in comparison with 
 the more refined customs of France, that she wept bitterly 
 at parting with the knights who had escorted her to Scot- 
 land, and would gladly have gone back with them. Mean- 
 time, the state of society was not likely to improve at such 
 a troubled period. 
 
 While Douglas was absent, his brothers and vassals dis- 
 turbed the whole country with their lawless deeds, and com- 
 mitted so many acts of violence, that the king himself 
 marched with his army into Douglasdale, laid waste a great 
 portion of the lands, and took possession of some of the 
 castles. When Douglas heard this bad news, he made 
 hasty preparations for his return ; and many of his followers, 
 anxious to learn the fate of the friends they had left behind, 
 set off immediately for their own country, without waiting 
 for their chief. 
 
 At last, Douglas himself re- appeared in Scotland, and on 
 making submission to the king, was again restored to fa- 
 vour; for James was of a milder disposition than his father, 
 and was always more ready to pardon than to punish. The 
 earl, however, was not grateful for his kindness ; and on his 
 return to his territories, paid little attention to the laws 
 of the land, or the commands of his sovereign. He waylaid, 
 and attempted to assassinate, the aged Chancellor Crichton ; 
 he endeavoured to force all men of rank and influence re- 
 siding within his territories, to enter into a league to sup- 
 port him against the crown, and those who refused he 
 treated with great severity, even putting some to death, on 
 liis own authority. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 409 
 
 SCOTLAND. 83 
 
 The king was highly displeased at these proceedings ; yet 
 he wished to avoid an open quarrel; wherefore, by the advice 
 of his ministers, he invited the earl to court, intending to 
 remonstrate with him on his bad conduct. Douglas was not 
 very willing to trust himself within the reach of his ene- 
 mies, especially after the violence he had offered to Sir 
 William Crichton; however, on receiving solemn assur- 
 ances of safety, under the king’s own seal, he went to 
 Stirling-castle, where the king then held his court, and was 
 most graciously received by James; who made him sup at 
 his own table, which was esteemed a mark of high favour. 
 
 At the conclusion of the supper, as the company were 
 leaving the hall, the king called Douglas aside, and began to 
 talk to him about his mode of life, telling him how much 
 better it would be, if, instead of keeping his country in a 
 state of constant turmoil, he were to employ his power and 
 talents for its benefit; but the haughty earl replied, in a very 
 unbecoming manner, to the effect, that he should continue 
 to act as he thought proper. 
 
 The king was so angry at this reply, that, in the heat of 
 the moment, he forgot the duties of hospitality, and the 
 promise of safety he had given to his guest, and drawing 
 his dagger, laid him dead at his feet. This unfortunate oc- 
 currence brought on a civil war; for the whole clan was 
 soon in arms to revenge the death of their chief, whose title 
 was assumed by the eldest of his five brothers. The whole 
 country was now divided into two parties, some siding with 
 the Douglases, and others with the king; whilst all the 
 inferior vassals, of course, took the part of their leaders. 
 
 For three years, this unhappy contest was carried on, to 
 the great injury of trade, agriculture, and the general wel- 
 fare, when it was, at last, terminated suddenly by the fol- 
 lowing circumstance. The bishop of St. Andrews, who 
 fought in the king’s army, entered into a secret correspond- 
 ence with Sir James Hamilton, a nobleman in the earl’s 
 
410 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 84 SCOTLAND. 
 
 army, a man of prudence and good sense, in the hope of 
 detaching him from the earl's party. 
 
 The event was favourable; for while Hamilton was still 
 undecided on the course he should pursue, a dispute arose 
 between him and Douglas, on the eve of a battle, in conse- 
 quence of which, he went over to the camp of the royalists, 
 with all the troops under his command. This desertion of 
 one of their most considerable leaders, spread such dismay 
 among the followers of Douglas, that they imitated the 
 example of Hamilton; and, by the morning, Douglas found 
 he had so few men left, that he was obliged to quit the field, 
 and seek refuge in England, where he remained in exile for 
 many years. 
 
 The king then made a tour through the earl’s vast terri- 
 tories, demolished many of the castles, and divided the lands, 
 with the exception of some that he annexed to the crown, 
 amongst those persons who had rendered him the best ser- 
 vice, one of whom was Sir James Hamilton, whose conduct, 
 in returning to his allegiance, had probably saved muck 
 bloodshed. He was the first of the present noble house of 
 Hamilton, the head of which bears the title of duke, and he 
 became the founder of the university of Glasgow. The 
 castle of Douglas, together with its broad lands, was be- 
 stowed on the earl of Angus, who was nearly related to 
 the banished earl, but had sided with the king; and thus 
 another branch of the Douglas family became lords of a 
 jmrt of its ancient domains, but did not bear the title of 
 the former possessors. 
 
 While the civil war was going on in Scotland between 
 Douglas and his sovereign, the War of the Roses, in Eng- 
 land, was at its height; and about four years after the 
 defeat of Douglas, Queen Margaret, the wife of Henry the 
 Sixth, sought assistance in Scotland, and was joined by 
 some of the Scottish barons; by whose aid, she was ena- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 411 
 
 SCOTLAND. 85 
 
 bled to give battle to the Yorkists, at Wakefield, where 
 Richard, duke of York, was killed. 
 
 The king of Scotland took advantage of the troubled state 
 of England, to attempt the recovery of several possessions 
 held by the English in' Scotland, and above all, of Roxburgh 
 town and castle, to which he laid siege; and here an unfor- 
 tunate accident terminated his life, in the twenty-third year 
 of his age. 
 
 One day, he was showing the arrangement of his bat- 
 teries to a friend, who had just arrived in the camp, and 
 they were both standing near a cannon, which, on being 
 discharged, burst in pieces, and some of the fragments 
 striking the king, killed him on the spot. 
 
 This sad catastrophe so depressed the spirits of the ba- 
 rons, that they began to think of raising the siege, when the 
 queen, Mary of Gueldres, suddenly appeared in the camp 
 with her son James, the infant sovereign, and begged them 
 to support him as they would have done his father, and 
 not to remove from before the castle, till it was razed to 
 the ground. They listened to her entreaties; the young 
 monarch was crowned with as much ceremony as the cir- 
 cumstances would admit; and the siege being prosecuted 
 with renewed vigour, the castle was taken, and demolished. 
 
 This happened in 1460; and, in the following year, the 
 Scots tried to restore Henry the Sixth, the dethroned king 
 of England; but it need scarcely be said, that the attempt 
 was unsuccessful; and, soon, afterwards, a truce was con- 
 cluded between England and Scotland for fifty-four years. 
 
4] 2 
 
 COENER^S 
 
 86 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 JAMES THE THIRD 
 
 1460 to 1487. 
 
 The first occurrence worthy of notice in the reign of James 
 the Third, was the final union of the Orkney and Zetland 
 Isles with Scotland, which took place on the marriage of 
 the young king with the princess of Denmark, in the year 
 1468. James then granted a charter to the inhabitants of 
 Kirkwall, which was the only town of note in these islands, 
 confirming all the ancient rights given them by the Norwe- 
 gian kings, and allowing them to hold a market twice a 
 year, and three fairs annually. 
 
 This town was governed by a provost, a mayor, four 
 bailiffs, and a common council. The fairs were looked for- 
 ward to with eager delight by the whole population of these 
 barren and thinly-inhabited islands, particularly by the Zet- 
 landers, who had few other opportunities of learning what 
 was passing in the world, but from the merchants of dif- 
 ferent countries, who brought goods for sale to the fair of 
 Kirkwall. It was here, too, that the maidens and matrons 
 came to purchase such articles of finery or utihty as they 
 could afford, and which they had no means of procuring 
 elsewhere. 
 
 James the Third was a prince of pacific disposition, a 
 patron of various arts, but not fond of hunting, tourna- 
 ments, and knightly accomplishments, in which all persons 
 of rank, in those days, were expected to excel, and which, 
 in a king, were regarded as indispensable ; he was, there- 
 fore, not very popular; while his brothers, the duke of 
 Albany and the earl of Mar, who were remarkable for the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 413 
 
 SCOTLAND. 87 
 
 warlike qualities in which he was deficient, were great 
 favourites with the people. 
 
 At this period, a belief in astrology was prevalent all over 
 Europe, and there were few princes who did not, at times, 
 seek information with regard to future events from men 
 said to be skilled in this imaginary science. The Scottish 
 monarch was much addicted to this, and other superstitious 
 beliefs, and was induced, by the prophecy of a soothsayer, 
 who declared that he should fall by the hand of his nearest 
 of kin, to imprison his two brothers on different charges of 
 treason. This act made him still more unpopular than 
 before, particularly as he admitted to his confidence, and 
 exalted to high offices, men who had no pretensions, either 
 by birth or education, to fill such situations. 
 
 The duke of Albany, who was confined in Edinburgh 
 castle, contrived to escape, by letting himself down from the 
 battlements, and got safely over to France; but the earl of 
 Mar died, it was said, by violent means, and some sus- 
 picion fell on the king, who unwisely bestowed the earldom 
 and estates of his deceased brother on a man named Coch- 
 rane, an architect, whom he had lately taken into favour. 
 
 In the meantime, the duke of Albany had gone to Eng- 
 land, at the invitation of Edward the Fourth, who was on 
 the point of invading Scotland, and had promised to seat 
 Albany on the throne of that kingdom, on condition that he 
 should hold it in vassalage of the English crown; to which 
 the duke had consented, and had induced the banished earl 
 of Douglas to join in the expedition. Some of the great 
 nobles in Scotland secretly favoured their designs, and, 
 moreover, formed a conspiracy among themselves for the 
 destruction of Cochrane, the newly-created earl of Mar, 
 whose presumption, avarice, and oppressive conduct towards 
 the lower orders, had made him equally detested by rich 
 and poor. The English, headed by the duke of Gloucester, 
 afterwards Richard the Third, with Albany and Douglas, 
 
414 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 88 SCOTLAND. 
 
 marched towards Berwick, while James assembled his forces, 
 and advanced to meet them, little suspecting the plot that 
 existed among his principal officers. His army had reached 
 Lauder, when it was joined by the earl of Mar, with so 
 • pompous a retinue, that the indignation of the barons was 
 excited to the utmost, and they held a council in the 
 church, to consider how they should rid themselves of an 
 individual who was obnoxious to the whole nation. 
 
 In the course of the debate, some one alluded to the old 
 fable of the cat and the mice, in which it is related, that the 
 mice formed a plan for tying a bell round the cat’s neck, 
 that they might know when she was coming. Yes,” said 
 another, “ but we must remember that the mice could not 
 execute their fine project, because none of them had the 
 courage to make the perilous attempt of tying on the bell.” 
 “ If that be all,” said Douglas, the earl of Angus, “ I will 
 undertake to bell the cat;” a speech which caused this no- 
 bleman to be called ever afterwards, Archibald Bell the Cat. 
 
 Scarcely had Angus made this well-known reply, before 
 the earl of Mar entered the assembly, when Earl Archibald 
 first attacked him, and he was treated by all with the ut- 
 most scorn, reproached with his misdeeds, and finally ar- 
 rested, and placed under a strong guard, while a party was 
 despatched to the royal tent, to secure the person of the 
 king, and seize on several of his unworthy favourites. All 
 this was done so suddenly, that no resistance was offered. 
 The king was guarded like a prisoner, while Mar and the 
 rest of the wretched victims were dragged to the bridge of 
 Lauder, and there hanged without any form of trial. 
 
 Though these persons had been guilty of great miscon- 
 duct, yet the fault rested not so much with themselves, as 
 with the monarch, who had placed them in a station they 
 were so totally unfit to fill, and wherein they were exposed 
 to temptations they had not sufficient greatness of mind to 
 resist. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 415 
 
 SCOTLAND. 89 
 
 The nobles who had been guilty of this cruel conduct, 
 then disbanded the army, and shut up the king in Edin- 
 burgh castle, while the English took possession of Berwick, 
 and advanced towards the capital. Albany now thought 
 himself sure of the' crown, but so powerful a party was 
 opposed to his ambitious views, that he found himself com- 
 pelled to abandon the intention of deposing his brother, and 
 a pretended reconciliation took place between them. The 
 English army was withdrawn, and Albany was raised to 
 great power; but being afterwards detected in a treason- 
 able correspondence with the king of England, he was 
 banished, and his estates were confiscated to the crown. 
 
 James the Third, with all his faults, was a great patron 
 of the arts, particularly that of architecture, to which he de- 
 voted the chief portion of his time and attention. He took 
 great pleasure in embellishing and improving Stirling castle*, 
 and erected several chapels and palaces in a style hitherto 
 unknown in Scotland. He also founded musical academies, 
 and was the first who introduced organs into chapels. But 
 he indulged his refined taste in so expensive a manner, that 
 his subjects were dissatisfied, as they had to contribute a 
 great part of the money required, in the shape of taxes; 
 besides which, the king seized on certain revenues belonging 
 to the church, which gave much offence to the clergy. 
 
 At length, he began to adopt some measures for curtailing 
 the power of the nobility, which again had reached a great 
 height ; and a rebellion broke out in consequence, in which 
 the earl of Angus, or Bell the Cat, took a leading part. All 
 the nobles of the south were now in league to depose the 
 king, and place his eldest son, the duke of Rothsay, on the 
 throne; and the young prince, misguided by their evil 
 counsels, appeared at their head, in arms against his father. 
 The northern barons adhered to James; and the two parties 
 met in order of battle, about a mile from the memorable field 
 of Bannockburn. 
 
 I 3 
 
416 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 90 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 It is said, that when, in the midst of the fight, the king 
 saw his son opposed to him, he thought of the prophecy, 
 that he should fall by the hand of his nearest of kin; and 
 this recollection had such an effect upon him, that he lost 
 all courage, and fled; but it is more likely that the shock 
 of seeing his son among his enemies, drove the unhappy 
 father from the field, when the accident occurred which was 
 the cause of his death, and which gave the superstitious 
 an opportunity of declaring that the prophecy had been 
 fulfilled. 
 
 His death followed almost immediately after he had com- 
 menced his flight; for whilst he was passing the brook of 
 Bannock upon horseback, a poor woman who was getting 
 water from it, being terrified at the approach of a horse at 
 full gallop, threw down her pitcher before him, which 
 frightened the animal so much, that he suddenly reared and 
 threw his rider, who was severely injured by the fall. There 
 was a mill near at hand, to which the woman who had 
 caused the accident, ran for assistance ; and the king was 
 carried into it, but being so imprudent as to declare who he 
 was, the poor woman, still more alarmed, went to the 
 door, and called out aloud to beg that somebody would 
 come to the assistance of the king. 
 
 One of the rebels, who were in pursuit of James, hap- 
 pening to be near, rushed into the mill, and stabbed the 
 unfortunate monarch to the heart. Others entering, they 
 carried the body away with them, and some say it was 
 never found ; while others assert that it was discovered in a 
 thicket, and buried in the abbey of Cambus Kenneth. 
 
 Thus perished another of the ill-fated Stuarts, who was 
 succeeded by his son James, a ptince endowed by nature 
 with a gay and joyous temper, but whose life was frequently 
 embittered by remorse for the unnatural part he had taken 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 417 
 
 SCOTLAND. 91 
 
 every year, for a certain period to a monastery, hoping to 
 expiate his crime by penitence and prayer. 
 
 In the reign of James the Third, beer was first made in 
 Scotland, the hops being imported from Flanders. This 
 beverage, the name of which signifies “ bitter,” was not 
 made in England till the time of Henry the Eighth. 
 
 JAMES THE FOURTH. 
 
 1487 to 1513. 
 
 There had not yet been known in Scotland a period so 
 peaceable and so prosperous, as the reign of James the 
 Fourth, a monarch who was beloved by all classes of his 
 subjects, and who was desirous of promoting the happiness 
 both of rich and poor; and, to this end, enacted wise laws, 
 and used his own personal exertions for the general benefit; 
 but it required a long exercise of good government, to re- 
 medy all the evils that had arisen from those incessant wars, 
 which had stopped the progress of civilisation, ruined the 
 trade, and destroyed the agriculture of the country. It was 
 not possible for the lands to prosper, when the farmers, in- 
 stead of attending to their crops, were constantly riding 
 about the country with their lords, while their farms were 
 left to the management of women, children, and bondmen. 
 
 Much of this private warfare had been occasioned by the 
 ill-will that had usually subsisted between the king and his 
 barons; therefore, the present monarch wisely determined 
 to remove this cause of disorder, by living on terms of 
 friendship with his nobles, and providing amusements for 
 them, that suited the taste of the times, and kept them from 
 resorting to war for want of better occupation. He made 
 
418 CORNER^S 
 
 92 SCOTLAND. 
 
 frequent hunting matches, held tournaments, gave balls and 
 banquets, encouraged all kinds of princely sports, and won 
 every heart by the ease, freedom, and gaiety of his manners. 
 He kept his court at Stirling castle, in a style of magni- 
 ficence that had not been equalled by any of his predeces- 
 sors ; and by promoting elegant and social amusements, and 
 leaving neither leisure nor inclination for the rougher pur- 
 suits of war, he produced a great alteration in the manners 
 of society generally; for the habits of the higher ranks 
 must always influence, to a certain degree, those of all 
 other classes. 
 
 Yet James the Fourth was not addicted entirely to plea- 
 sure; on the contrary, he studied much how to improve 
 the country, and better the condition of the people; and, 
 with these views, made a law that every laird, as a landed 
 proprietor in Scotland, should plant an acre of wood on his 
 estate, to supply the deficiency of timber occasioned by the 
 destruction of forest trees during the war, when the woods 
 were often set on fire that a passage might be cleared 
 through them. 
 
 Every nobleman, too, was expected to stock a park with 
 deer, to plant an orchard, to enclose his fields with hedges, 
 and to have fish-ponds and rabbit-warrens. In fact, the 
 object of these laws was that gentlemen should spend 
 their money in improving their estates; and although they 
 did not comply exactly in all the points mentioned, still 
 enough was done to produce a great alteration in the gen- 
 eral appearance of the country. The change in the man- 
 ners of the great, soon had a very material elFect upon the 
 condition of the middle classes. The nobles had no longer 
 the same occasion for the services of military vassals, as 
 they had when they were in the habit of storming each 
 other’s castles, or of setting themselves in array against the 
 king; therefore, many of them, as well as the clergy, gladly 
 availed themselves of a new law, by which they were al- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 419 
 
 SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 lowed to let their lands to persons who could pay rent for 
 them, instead of performing any feudal service; and thus 
 the old system of lordship and vassalage was beginning to 
 decay. 
 
 Another great improvement of this period, was the at- 
 tention paid by the government to the education of the 
 people, who were, in general, so ignorant, that very few, 
 except the clergy, could read or write. 
 
 The lamentable ignorance of the magistrates, and other 
 officers generally, was taken into consideration by the par- 
 liament, and a law was made, that all persons of rank 
 should send their eldest sons to a grammar school, before 
 they were nine years of age, that they might be taught 
 Latin ; after which, they were to study law and philosophy 
 at one of the universities, for three years, that they might be 
 qualified for the important offices of sheriffs, provosts, and 
 judges; but although those who neglected this regulation 
 were subjected to a penalty of twenty pounds, it was, by 
 no means, strictly attended to. 
 
 Knowledge, at length, b4gan to make some progress. 
 The art of printing had become known; several writers of 
 eminence had appeared in Scotland, and another university 
 had been founded at Aberdeen, by Bishop Elphinstone, 
 whose father was an eminent merchant of Glasgow, and 
 has the reputation of having been the founder of the com- 
 merce of that now opulent city. His trade consisted in 
 exporting large quantities of salmon, caught in the river 
 Clyde, which were sent to France and Flanders; and this, 
 at the time of which I am now speaking, was almost the 
 only trade carried on in Glasgow; a town that is now as 
 busy, in proportion to its size, as London itself. 
 
 James the Fourth paid great attention to the improve- 
 ment of the Scottish navy, and under his superintendence, 
 was built the largest ship then known in the world. 
 
 It was about eight years after the accession of this mo- 
 
420 CORNER^S 
 
 94 SCOTLAND. 
 
 narch, that Perkin Warbeck, the pretendei to the throne of 
 England, came to Scotland, to solicit his aid in that ro- 
 mantic enterprise, which terminated so fatally for its hero. 
 James was of a very romantic disposition, so much so, that 
 he used sometimes to indulge himself in a species of knight- 
 errantry, going out, disguised, in search of adventures. 
 The story of Perkin Warbeck, together with his interesting 
 appearance and elegant manners, could not fail to excite the 
 sympathy of a young and chivalrous prince; and James, 
 therefore, received him with the highest marks of distinc- 
 tion, promising to give him all the aid in his power. 
 
 At the court of Scotland, Warbeck saw the beautiful 
 lady, Catherine Gordon, a near relative of the king, who 
 consented that he should marry her; and through most of 
 the misfortunes that afterwards befel him, the affection of 
 this amiable young lady was his chief comfort and con- 
 solation. 
 
 Soon after his marriage, Warbeck, accompanied by the 
 Scottish monarch, marched across the borders, at the head 
 of a considerable army, expecting that the people in the 
 north of England would be ready to enlist in his cause ; but 
 no one seemed disposed to do so, which was a great disap- 
 pointment to the king, who had been taught to believe that 
 the English were very desirous of establishing Warbeck on 
 the throne; but when he found there was no movement in 
 his favour, he would proceed no farther; for he saw that it 
 would be a great folly to go to war with the English, for 
 the purpose of forcing on them a king, whom they were not 
 willing to receive. He, therefore, gave up the project, and 
 concluded a truce with Henry the Seventh, which obliged 
 him to withdraw his protection from Warbeck, who went 
 back to Ireland, accompanied by his beautiful bride. His 
 subsequent adventures may be found in the history of that 
 country. 
 
 Among the important events of this reign, was the total 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 421 
 
 SCOTLAND. 95 
 
 suppression of the Lords of the Isles, who had always been 
 rebellious vassals, and although sometimes compelled to 
 submit to the king, their liege lord, never failed to rebel 
 again as soon as they were in a condition to do so. At 
 length, in the year 1502, a formidable insurrection broke 
 out, the object of which was to liberate Donald Dhu, the 
 rightful Lord of the Isles, who had been a captive in the 
 castle of Inchconnal for forty years. A party, headed by 
 the chiefs of Glenco, effected his deliverance, and carried 
 him off in safety to a castle in the island of Lewis, belong- 
 ing to a chief named Macleod. Measures were then con- 
 certed amongst the inhabitants of the islands for the re- 
 covery of their independence; and this rebellion assumed so 
 dangerous a character, that the whole military and naval 
 force of the country was put in array against the islesmen. 
 Macleod’s castle was taken by storm, Donald Dhu fled to 
 Ireland, and the islands were declared forfeited to the crown; 
 since which time, they have formed a part of the Scottish 
 dominions. 
 
 The king now formed a closer alliance with England, by 
 marrying the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry the 
 Seventh; and it was in consequence of this marriage, that 
 the treaty of peace was made between the two kingdoms, 
 by which the town of Berwick was given up to England for 
 ever. 
 
 The union of James and Margaret, was an event that had 
 great influence over the future history of both kingdoms; 
 for Margaret was the grandmother of Mary, queen of Scots, 
 who, in her right, had some claim to the English crown; 
 and this was the cause of all the persecution she suffered 
 from Queen Elizabeth. When Elizabeth died, the nearest 
 heir to the throne of England, was James the Sixth, the 
 son of Mary, queen of Scots, and the great grandson of 
 Margaret; so that he was the lawful sovereign of both 
 kingdoms, which have been ruled by one king ever since. 
 
 E e 
 
422 CORNER’S 
 
 96 SCOTLAND. 
 
 As long as Henry the Seventh lived, the peace lasted; 
 but after his death, many causes of disagreement arose be- 
 tween King James and Henry the Eighth, which led to a 
 renewal of the war. One of these causes originated in the 
 capture of two fine Scottish vessels by the English, on the 
 plea of their being pirates, although it was well known that 
 they were ships of war belonging to the king. 
 
 It appears that about thirty years before this time, a 
 Scottish ship and two Portuguese ships sailed from one of 
 the ports of Flanders together; but when they got a little 
 way out to sea, the Portuguese attacked the Scottish vessel, 
 and carried her away as a prize, to Portugal, where the 
 commander, whose name was Barton, was imprisoned. 
 James the Fourth, who took great interest in all matters 
 connected with the sea, wrote to the king of Portugal, com- 
 plaining of the injury; but no notice of his complaint being 
 taken, he granted letters of reprisal to Barton’s two sons, 
 that is, he gave them a written permission to take revenge 
 on any Portuguese ships they might chance to meet; in 
 consequence of which, they set out on a piratical cruise, 
 for, unfortunately, they did not confine their hostilities to 
 the vessels belonging to Portugal, which gave the king of 
 England an excuse for sending out some of his naval officers 
 against them, and an action took place, in which Sir Andrew 
 Barton, the elder brother, was killed. 
 
 The loss of his favourite commander was a great grief to 
 the king of Scotland, and this injury, together with some 
 outrages that had been committed on the borders, made him 
 resolve to go to war with England. All his wisest mi- 
 nisters endeavoured to dissuade him from so rash a step, 
 but he was bent upon indulging his resentment, and sum- 
 moned all Scottish men capable of bearing arms, to meet 
 him at Edinburgh at a certain time, each man bringing with 
 him provisions for forty days. 
 
 The people obeyed with sorrow, for they foresaw the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 423 
 
 SCOTLAND. 97 
 
 probability of a fatal termination to this unnecessary in- 
 vasion. James marched into England at the head of his 
 army> and was attended by all the chief nobility of the 
 kingdom ; for the monarch was so much beloved, that none 
 hesitated to follow him, although they disapproved of the 
 expedition. Henry the Eighth was in France, but the earl 
 of Surrey was entrusted with the command of the forces 
 destined to oppose the Scots, and was already in Northum- 
 berland when James crossed the border. The Scottish 
 nobles would, even then, have persuaded their monarch to 
 return; but he heard their advice with impatience, being 
 resolved to hazard a battle : and dearly did he pay for his 
 imprudence^ 
 
 On the eve of the fatal engagement at Flodden Field, the 
 earl of Angus, the same who was called Bell the Cat, 
 strongly advised James not to give battle to the English. 
 “ If you are afraid, Angus,” said the king, “ you had better 
 go home.” The old man was so much hurt at this unkind 
 retort from a prince to whom he was so faithfully attached, 
 that he burst into tears ; and charging his two sons to stand 
 by the king> whatever might happen, he left the camp^ 
 saying, “ Age has rendered me useless in the fight, and my 
 counsel is despised; therefore, I will depart; but I leave my 
 sons, and the vassals of Douglas, in the field, and may old 
 Angus’s foreboding prove unfounded!” 
 
 Under these circumstances of ill omen, was fought, in 
 September, 1513, the battle of Flodden Field, in which fell 
 the brave but imprudent king, with most of the principal 
 nobility of Scotland ; and thus did the rashness and obsti- 
 nacy of one person plunge a whole nation into the deepest 
 affliction; for there was scarcely an individual, gentle or 
 simple, throughout the country, but had to mourn for some 
 dear friend who had fallen in the battle; and many of the 
 high families had lost every male relative, except such as 
 were either too old or too young to bear arms. 
 
424 CORNER’S 
 
 98 SCOTLAND. 
 
 It was thus that another of the Stuarts was cut off in the 
 prime of life, for he was scarcely more than forty, and was 
 the fourth James who died a violent death. The earl of 
 Angus, on hearing the melancholy tidings, retired to a 
 monastery, where he passed the rest of his days. 
 
 JAMES THE FIFTH. 
 
 1513 to 1542. 
 
 The disasters of Flodden-field spread a gloom over the 
 country that time alone could dispel. The people regretted 
 the loss of a good monarch, and looked forward with anxiety 
 and fear to a long regency, for the son of the late king was 
 yet an infant, and sad experience had shown that, in such a 
 case, Scotland was not likely to enjoy much peace or pros- 
 perity. 
 
 A parliament assembled, and the queen was appointed to 
 the regency; but she did not long retain that high office, 
 for she very soon married again ; and, in becoming the wife 
 of a subject, disqualified herself for ruling the state. The 
 husband she chose was the earl of Angus, a grandson of 
 Archibald Bell the Cat, and chief of the house of Douglas, 
 for his father had fallen on the field of Flodden, and his 
 grandfather had retired into a cloister. The Scots were not 
 sorry to be released from the government of the queen, who 
 was no favourite with them, for she was an Englishwoman, 
 and, moreover, was the sister of Henry the Eighth ; there- 
 fore, they sent to the duke of Albany, the young king’s 
 nearest relative, begging he would return from France, 
 where he was engaged in the service of Francis the First, 
 and take charge of the government till James should be 
 of age. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 425 
 
 SCOTLAND 99 
 
 It is needless to particularize all the different political 
 parties that now arose in Scotland, each trying to obtain 
 the sovereign power, and to gain the custody of the young 
 king’s person. It may merely be observed, that the duke of 
 Albany became very unpopular, and returned to France; 
 and that the earl of Angus, after divorcing his wife, who 
 had interfered too much with state affairs, and behaved with 
 great impropriety, both in public and private life, obtained 
 the guardianship of the king, and the absolute control of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 Thus the Douglases were once more in power, and again 
 their followers were held in dread, as they used to be for- 
 merly, over the whole couutry. The border chiefs, too, no 
 longer kept in check by royal authority, resumed their old 
 habits of plundering the lowland country; and, in short, 
 there was neither peace nor order in any part of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 For some years, the Douglases retained all the power in 
 their own hands, and kept a strict watch over the young 
 king, who was never suffered to go out without one of 
 them being by his side, and a number of their vassals in 
 his train. At length, weary of restraint, and desirous of as- 
 suming the dignity to which he was entitled, he resolved to 
 effect his own liberation, and avenge himself upon those 
 who had so long kept him a prisoner, and usurped the sove- 
 reign power. In order to put the regent off his guard, 
 James pretended to be so completely engrossed by the plea- 
 sures of the chase, as to think of nothing else; and this 
 stratagem succeeded so well, that Angus, having occasion 
 to visit Douglasdale, left his royal charge at Falkland castle, 
 near which was a famous wood, where he might indulge in 
 his favourite sport. James appeared to be so delighted with 
 the prospect of a few weeks of good hunting, that no one 
 had the least suspicion he was meditating an escape, except 
 one trusty servant, who alone was acquainted with his 
 
426 CORNER’S 
 
 100 ' SCOTLAND. 
 
 master’s design, and on whom he depended, in great mea> 
 sure, for his success. All the day before this exploit, the 
 king talked of a great hunting match, which he intended to 
 hold on the morrow; and when he retired for the night, re- 
 peated his commands, that everybody should be ready to 
 attend him at an early hour in the morning. The lords and 
 people in the castle went to sleep very comfortably, dream- 
 ing only of sylvan sports; while James stole quietly to the 
 stables, where he and his faithful esquire mounted their 
 horses, and galloped off towards Stirling castle, which they 
 reached in safety. 
 
 The governor, who was no friend to the Douglas faction, 
 received his sovereign with the utmost respect, and lost no 
 time in making known his arrival to all those nobles who 
 were believed to be opposed to the regent. 
 
 The reign of James the Fifth may be dated from his ar- 
 rival at Stirling castle, where he speedily assembled around 
 him a party strong enough to support his authority, and 
 declared his intention of taking the government into his 
 own hands. When he had fully established his authority, 
 the first use he made of it was to banish the earl of Douglas, 
 together with every member of the Douglas family, and to 
 confiscate their extensive possessions, which he united to 
 the crown. 
 
 Having thus gratified his resentment against the Dou- 
 glases, he began to consider how he might best re-establish 
 peace on the border, and bring the unruly chiefs under sub- 
 jection to the laws. This he knew to be a difficult task, 
 and only to be accomplished by very severe measures ; there- 
 fore, he put himself at the head of an irregular army, com- 
 posed partly of soldiers and partly of huntsmen, and made a 
 progress through the marches, under pretence of hunting, 
 when he took several castles by force, and put to death 
 those chiefs who had made themselves the most obnoxious. 
 Their lands were converted into sheej)- walks by the king. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 427 
 
 SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 who derived great profits from his flocks; which caused his 
 uncle, Henry the Eighth, to call him a farmer; but all the 
 great people, the king, nobles, bishops, and abbots, were, at 
 that period, accustomed to keep sheep, and send their wool 
 to be sold in foreign countries ; so that they were all traders, 
 and many of them owed the greater part of their wealth to 
 their commercial dealings. The Scots, however, were not 
 generally so rich as the English ; and although their man- 
 ners and mode of living underwent a gradual improvement, 
 owing to the progress of education; yet the English were 
 able to live more luxuriously, on account of their superior 
 wealth. 
 
 As soon as the king had established peace and good order 
 throughout the southern part of his dominions, he pro- 
 ceeded to the Isles and Highlands, where he held courts of 
 justice, punished those who had been guilty of misde- 
 meanors, and obliged all the lairds to show the title-deeds 
 of their estates, that he might see they had a right to the 
 lands they held; and those who could not prove their right, 
 were compelled to surrender their possessions, which were 
 then annexed to the crown. The king also took away hos- 
 tages to ensure the future obedience of the chiefs; and, in 
 consequence of these judicious measures, there was a longer 
 duration of tranquillity in the Highlands, than had ever 
 been known before. 
 
 Peace and good order being now established, James had 
 leisure to turn his attention to the cultivation of those arts 
 which are best calculated to adorn a country, and increase 
 its prosperity. Architecture was one of his favourite pur- 
 suits; and several eminent French architects were employed 
 by him to rebuild and embellish some of the royal palaces, 
 particularly Stirling castle, which was his favourite resi- 
 dence. He also encouraged foreign artisans to settle in 
 Scotland, that the Scots might improve in those useful 
 
 K 3 
 
428 CORNER^S 
 
 102 SCOTLAND. 
 
 branches of trade, and mechanical arts, which were then 
 better understood in France and Flanders, than in Britain. 
 
 The fisheries constituted a chief branch of Scottish com- 
 merce; for there were no goods for exportation manufac- 
 tured in Scotland; consequently, the foreign trade depended 
 almost entirely on the sale of fish, wool, and hides, which 
 were what are called raw commodities, that is, the goods 
 which are exported in the state in which they are naturally 
 produced. 
 
 In the Hebrides, and on the western coast, herring fishing 
 was, at that time, carried on to a great extent. King James 
 the Fifth paid much attention to the improvement of the 
 fisheries, which not only added to the general prosperity of 
 the kingdom, but were of individual benefit to thousands of 
 poor families, who had no other means of exerting their 
 industry. The lives of the fishermen were extremely simple. 
 During the whole of the fishing season, which lasted from 
 July to January, they lived almost entirely in their boats, 
 one end being covered over with sail-cloth, to shelter them 
 during sleep, and as a protection against rough weather. 
 Night was their time for fishing; and during the day, they 
 took their rest, or sang Celtic songs to the sound of the bag- 
 pipes ; and, on Sundays, those whose cottages were not very 
 far distant, usually went home to spend the day with their 
 wives and children. 
 
 The women made all the clothing and the fishing nets; 
 and the whole family lived on oatmeal, milk, and fish, with 
 now and then a little mutton, for most of the fishermen kept 
 a few sheep, which furnished them with food as well as rai- 
 ment. Sometimes they would sell two or three of their 
 flock, to obtain the means of purchasing what they could 
 not manufacture for themselves, or to enable the lasses to 
 buy a little finery at the next fair. Every burgh and town 
 of any note in Scotland had its fair, when the people re- 
 paired in their holiday dresses, to some meadow or large 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.- 429 
 
 SCOTLAND. 103 
 
 open space, to enjoy the various sports that were practised, 
 in those days, among the commoners. 
 
 The king was often present at these games, and some- 
 times distributed with his own hand prizes to such as dis- 
 played extraordinary skill in archery, wrestling, throwing 
 the bar, and other feats of strength; which made him a 
 great favourite with the people, as in truth he deserved to 
 be, and this was one reason why he was called King of the 
 Commons. 
 
 A law was made by this good monarch, that none but 
 respectable burgesses should serve as magistrates in the 
 burghs; a regulation intended to remedy an evil that had 
 crept in during the misrule that preceded his escape from 
 captivity, when the feudal barons in the neighbourhood of a 
 town caused themselves to be elected magistrates, and then 
 used their authority in the most tyrannical manner. 
 
 The king was so anxious to see that justice was properly 
 administered, and that the people were not oppressed, that 
 he used to go about in disguise, and enter into conversation 
 with the poor, that he might acquaint himself with their 
 true condition; and thereby be able to judge what it would 
 be best to do for them. 
 
 One night, whilst he was thus rambling about, dressed as 
 a peasant, he happened to engage in a quarrel with four 
 men, who made a furious attack upon him suddenly; and if 
 he had not been a good swordsman, he must have been 
 killed, for he did not choose to say who he was. The noise 
 of the affray attracted the attention of a man who was at 
 work in a neighbouring field, who repaired to the spot, and 
 finding that one man was fighting against four, he took the 
 weaker side, and luckily having his flail in his hand, he 
 helped the king to put his assailants to flight. 
 
 When James had rested himself, he went with his de- 
 liverer to a barn, to wash the blood from his face and hands ; 
 and while he was thus engaged, he learnt by his enquiries 
 
430 CORNER’S 
 
 104 SCOTLAND. 
 
 that the man to whose timely aid he was so much indebted, 
 was a bondman, belonging to a farm on an estate called 
 Braehead, and that his greatest wish on earth was, to be 
 master of the farm on which he then laboured. 
 
 Now as these lands of Braehead happened to belong to 
 the crown, the king could do what he pleased with them ; 
 he did not, however, give the least hint of his ability to 
 gratify the desire of his humble friend, but only told him 
 that if he would come to the palace of Holyrood, and ask 
 for the Gudeman of Ballenguich, he should be very glad to 
 show his gratitude for the service he had received: and so 
 they parted. 
 
 A short time afterwards, the poor bondman, thinking, 
 perhaps, he should obtain some refreshment, went to the 
 palace, and enquired at the gates if he could see the Gude- 
 man of Ballenguich, on which the warder, who had re- 
 ceived his instructions, said, “ Yes, he might see the Gude- 
 man, if he wished it.’* He therefore entered, and on being 
 conducted into the royal presence, found, to his surprise, 
 that the Gudeman of Ballenguich was no other than King 
 James himself. 
 
 It is needless to say the king gave him his freedom, and 
 the lands he was so desirous to possess, which he was to 
 hold by the service of presenting a basin and ewer for the 
 king to wash his hands whenever he should cross the bridge 
 of Cramond. The farm is still held on this whimsical 
 tenure by the descendants of the fortunate bondman; and 
 the service was actually performed by the proprietor fur 
 George the Fourth, when he visited Scotland in 1821. 
 
 James had been several years on the throne, before he 
 thought of choosing a wife; but, at last, he went over to 
 France for that purpose, where he married the princess 
 Magdalen, daughter of Francis the First, a beautiful young 
 lady, only sixteen years of age; but she was in a decline, 
 and died a few months after her arrival in Scotland, to the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 431 
 
 SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 great grief of her husband, who was much attached to her. 
 Some time afterwards, he married another French princess, 
 Mary of Guise, a sister of the famous duke of Guise, who 
 took so leading a part in the persecution of the French 
 Protestants; and it was, perhaps, owing to his alliance with 
 that powerful family, that he was so decided an enemy to 
 the Reformation, which, at this time, was making great 
 progress in Scotland. 
 
 Henry the Eighth was very desirous that James, who 
 you must remember, was his nephew, should set aside the 
 authority of the Pope in his dominions, advising him to give 
 up his farming pursuits, as he called them, and adopt an 
 easier means of increasing his revenue, by suppressing the 
 monasteries, and taking to himself the lands and property of 
 the monks. James, however, suffered the Protestants to be 
 very cruelly treated in Scotland, and made several penal 
 statutes against them; that is, he made laws, by which 
 they were subjected to severe penalties, such as loss of pro- 
 perty, imprisonment, and death; so much did the intolerant 
 spirit that prevailed among both Catholics and Protestants 
 influence even the wisest and best of men. 
 
 The disputes that arose between the two monarchs, on 
 account of their differences in religious opinions, proceeded 
 to such a height, that preparations were made on both sides 
 for war; but James had become unpopular among the no- 
 bility, because he had excluded most of them from his 
 councils, which were formed chiefly of the clergy; besides 
 which, he had made enemies of all who favoured the Re- 
 formation. From these causes, he could not raise a force 
 sufficiently strong to prosecute the war he had begun, for 
 some of the lords would not summon their vassals to assist 
 him; and those who attended, did not yield their cordial 
 support, but suffered themselves to be defeated by a force 
 so inferior in point of numbers, that the king felt that he 
 was both deserted and disgraced. 
 
432 CORNER’S 
 
 106 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Deeply dejected at the easy triumph of the Enghsh, and 
 the contemptuous behaviour of his own nobles, he retired to 
 Falkland castle, where the news of another defeat, under 
 still more mortifying circumstances, brought on a nervous 
 irritation, which terminated his life in a few days. This 
 event, by which Scotland was deprived of a highly talented 
 and amiable prince, who died at the early age of thirty, took 
 place in the year 1542, six days after the birth of his unfor- 
 tunate daughter, Mary, queen of Scots. The hopes of the 
 monarch had been sadly blighted in the preceding year, by 
 the death of two infant sons, and on being informed that 
 the new-born babe was a girl, he remembered that the 
 crown was brought into the Stuart family by a female, and 
 felt a mournful presentiment that the downfall of his house 
 was near: 
 
 ‘‘ It came with a lass, and with a lass it will go,” 
 
 said the dying monarch; and although the prediction was 
 not exactly fulfilled, still the Scottish monarchy, as an inde- 
 pendent government, was not destined to be of much longer 
 duration. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 The crown of Scotland having now descended to a female 
 infant, Henry the Eighth, of England, was desirous of 
 uniting the two countries, by a marriage between the youth- 
 ful queen and his son, Edward, to which the Scottish par- 
 liament would probably have agreed, but that he wanted 
 also to take upon himself the management of the kingdom, 
 during the minority. The disputes that arose on this point 
 led to a declaration of war on the part of the English mo- 
 narch, and Mary was sent for safety to France, where she 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 433 
 
 SCOTLAND. 107 
 
 was educated, and married to the Dauphin, son of Henry 
 the Second. 
 
 Seventeen years elapsed between the death of James the 
 Fifth and the return of Mary to her native country; and it 
 was during this interval, that the important change took 
 place in the Scottish church, known by the name of the 
 Reformation. In England, the Catholic religion had been 
 abolished by an arbitrary act of the king; in Scotland, the 
 same end was accomplished by the preaching of the cele- 
 brated reformer, John Knox, who introduced a form of re- 
 ligion more strict than that established in England, although 
 the professors of both were equally termed Protestants. 
 
 Knox was a disciple of a celebrated preacher of the re- 
 formed doctrines named Calvin, who took the lead among 
 the Protestants of Switzerland, and was a man of a much 
 sterner character than Martin Luther, the great teacher of 
 the Reformation in Germany. Calvin was of opinion that 
 the government of the church and state ought to be entirely 
 separated from each other; that is, that the king and his 
 parliament ought not to interfere with the regulation of re- 
 ligious affairs; a plan which differed from that of the Re- 
 formation established in England by Henry the Eighth, who, 
 himself, assumed the title of Head of the Church, and ruled 
 over it absolutely. 
 
 Calvin desired also to abolish all gradations of rank 
 among the clergy, so that there should be no bishops in 
 connexion with the government; but that all pastors should 
 be upon an equality, each taking the charge of his own 
 flock; and on this system, the Presbyterian church of Scot- 
 land was afterwards established. He thought it sinful to 
 observe any religious festivals, or use any outward signs or 
 ceremonies in religion, or introduce music into divine ser- 
 vice ; and he taught his followers to believe that it was not 
 right to enter into any of the gaieties of the world. These 
 opinions gave rise to the sect, called Puritans, who made 
 
434 CORNER^S 
 
 108 SCOTLAND. 
 
 SO conspicuous a figure in England in the time of Oliver 
 Cromwell. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the government of Scotland was con- 
 ducted first by the earl of Arran, and afterwards by the 
 Queen Dowager, Mary of Guise. The former, in the early 
 part of his administration, was a friend to the Reformation; 
 but the queen regent used every effort to stop its progress 
 in Scotland, where the number of Protestants had been 
 daily increasing since the death of the late king. Many of 
 the chief nobles had adopted the new religion, and had 
 formed a league, under the name of the Lords of the Con- 
 gregation, to protect the Protestant preachers from the 
 punishments to which they were subjected by the penal 
 statutes : therefore, whenever an attempt was made to put 
 the laws in force, a tumult was sure to arise, and much 
 blood was frequently shed on both sides. 
 
 In short, the history of Scotland, during the long re- 
 gency, presents little but a series of religious contentions, 
 which had been going on seventeen years, when John 
 Knox returned from Geneva, just after the succession of 
 Queen Elizabeth to the throne of England. Knox began 
 to preach the Reformation, according to the austere doc- 
 trines of Calvin, and soon became very popular among the 
 Scottish people, who flocked in crowds to hear his dis- 
 courses, which he rendered the most impressive by his pow- 
 erful language, and the vehemence of his gestures. 
 
 It was on the eleventh of May, 1559, that a numerous 
 congregation assembled in the parish church of Perth, to 
 hear a discourse from the lips of this extraordinary man. 
 The date is of importance, because it was on this occasion that 
 the first direct attack was made on the Catholic churches 
 and monasteries in Scotland; for no sooner had Knox 
 finished his sermon, than the people, excited by what they 
 had just heard, tore down the fine pictures with which 
 the church was adorned, overturned the altar, broke the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 435 
 
 SCOTLAND. 109 
 
 images in pieces, and destroyed the relics that were held 
 so sacred by the Catholics. After this outrage, they pro- 
 ceeded in a body to the monastery of the Dominicans, or 
 Black Friars, which they also nearly demolished, putting the 
 inmates to flight, and carrying off all their provisions. In 
 the like riotous manner, they broke into every religious 
 house in Perth, which they completely ransacked, and 
 partly demolished. 
 
 When the queen regent heard of the violent conduct of 
 the Protestants of Perth, she assembled her troops, which 
 consisted chiefly of French soldiers; while the lords of the 
 congregation summoned their vassals to oppose the Catholic 
 forces, and marched towards Edinburgh, pulling down or 
 defacing all the churches and monasteries in their way. A 
 destructive civil war then commenced, and was carried on 
 for some months, when it was terminated by the death of 
 Mary of Guise; soon after which, the Protestant religion 
 was fully established by the Scottish parliament; and an 
 act was passed, declaring that any priest fiDund celebrating 
 mass should be punished, either by forfeiture of property, 
 banishment, imprisonment, or death. 
 
 Most of the fine old abbeys were then dismantled, as they 
 had previously been in England, and some of them were 
 totally destroyed; all the monastic orders were abolished; 
 and a great number of the monks and nuns sought refuge 
 abroad; while the lands that had belonged to their estab- 
 lishments became, for the most part, the property of the 
 different noblemen near to whose domains they stood. 
 
436 CORNER^S 
 
 110 SCOTLAND. 
 
 MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 1560 to 1568. 
 
 It was just at this period, when Scotland was changed from 
 a Catholic to a Protestant country, that the king of France, 
 Francis the Second, died] and his young widow, Mary, 
 Queen of Scots, then only nineteen years of age, was re- 
 called to her own kingdom. 
 
 Mary had passed her childhood, and her early youth, in 
 France ; all her dearest connections had been there formed j 
 there she had married, and there she had reigned; and, to 
 her, Scotland was as a foreign land, while France was en- 
 deared to her by every tie that is wont to attach us to our 
 own native home. But circumstances were changed in 
 France, since the death of her consort. Charles the Ninth, 
 a child of nine years of age, was now king, and Catherine 
 of Medicis, his mother, who was regent of the kingdom, 
 did not behave kindly to Mary, who was obliged to retire 
 from the court; therefore, she had less inducement to re- 
 main in France than to return to Scotland. 
 
 It must be remembered, that Mary and Queen Elizabeth 
 were cousins, and that the former was considered by many 
 as having a better claim to the crown of England, than 
 Elizabeth, whose mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed on a 
 charge of treason; a circumstance which, in the opinion of 
 the opposing party, ought to have excluded her daughter 
 from the throne, to which the queen of Scots would then 
 have been the next heiress. Mary had therefore been per- 
 suaded, while her husband was living, to assume the title 
 of Queen of France and England; an offence that Queen 
 Elizabeth never forgave. She was even so ungenerous as 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 437 
 
 SCOTLAND. Ill 
 
 to refuse to let Mary pass through England on her way to 
 Scotland; so that the latter was obliged to go the whole 
 way by sea, which, at that time, was a slow and dangerous 
 voyage. 
 
 The people of Scotland were, at first, very much pleased 
 at the arrival of the youthful sovereign ; but they soon began 
 to be dissatisfied, because she would not abandon the re- 
 ligion in which she had been educated, to adopt a form of 
 worship she had been taught from her earliest childhood to 
 abhor. It was not enough for the Reformers that she pro- 
 mised she would not interfere with their religion, nor at- 
 tempt to re-establish the Catholic faith in Scotland; they 
 wanted to have a Protestant sovereign, being sensible that 
 a young woman, whose heart and mind had been formed 
 under the tuition of those who were strongly attached to 
 the Romish church, could not, at once, be convinced that 
 all she had hitherto believed to be right, was erroneous. 
 
 A violent attempt was made to prevent the queen from 
 hearing mass in her own private chapel at Holyrood-house ; 
 and Knox, himself, had several interviews with her on the 
 subject; but the harsh manner in which he spoke, and the 
 little respect he paid to her rank, defeated the object he had 
 in view; for however she might have been inclined to listen 
 to mild reasoning, the severity of the Scottish reformer only 
 excited feelings of resentment, and, instead of tending to- 
 wards her conversion, had a contrary effect. 
 
 You may imagine there could not be much happiness in a 
 country where religious differences existed between the 
 sovereign and a great portion of the people; added to 
 which, every part of the kingdom was unsettled by the 
 continuance of domestic warfare between rival chieftains; 
 besides which, in many places, there were troops of armed 
 banditti regularly associated together, with a captain at 
 their head, who took up their abode in the ruins of old 
 castles or dismantled abbeys, which afforded security for 
 
438 CORNER’S 
 
 112 SCOTLAND. 
 
 themselves and their plunder. Travelling was unsafe; and 
 the peasantry had no safeguard, either for their lives or 
 property; therefore the queen, who was anxious to restore 
 public tranquillity, found herself obliged to employ a mili- 
 tary force to clear the country of these formidable bands of 
 robbers. She gave the command of the expedition to one 
 who was her near relative, the lord James Stuart, better 
 known at that time as the prior of St. Andrew’s, one of the 
 most talented noblemen of the Scottish court, and a dis- 
 tinguished promoter of the Reformation. 
 
 Lord James, although a Protestant, was highly esteemed 
 by the queen, who, in return for the services he performed, 
 by destroying the strongholds of the banditti, and bringing 
 to justice some of their most notorious leaders, bestowed on 
 him the earldom of Mar, and appointed him one of her 
 chief councillors. He was afterwards made earl of Murray, 
 and, under that title, ruled as regent in Scotland during the 
 first part of Mary’s long captivity. 
 
 The prudent conduct of the queen in not interfering with 
 the new religion, was a great means of keeping peace be- 
 between herself and her subjects; and all might have pro- 
 ceeded well, but for an unfortunate marriage she contracted 
 with Lord Darnley, a Scottish nobleman, which proved the 
 cause of all her future sorrows. She chose this young lord 
 in preference to any of the princes of Europe who had 
 sought her hand, because he was a native of Scotland, and 
 because he, like herself, had some claim to the crown of 
 England, in case Queen Elizabeth should die unmarried. 
 
 Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was the son of the earl of 
 Lennox, who was, at that time, an exile in England, having 
 been banished many years before by the Scottish parliament, 
 for endeavouring to promote an union between Mary and 
 the English prince, Edward the Sixth. The wife of Earl 
 Lennox was a niece of Henry the Eighth; consequently. 
 Lord Darnley, her son, was the nearest male heir to the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 439 
 
 SCOTLAND. 113 
 
 throne; which, therefore, might possibly have been disputed 
 between him and the Scottish queen, provided Elizabeth 
 died, as I said before, unmarried. This consideration pro- 
 bably influenced Mary in her choice; and although the 
 marriage proved a most unhappy one for herself, yet it 
 was very likely the means of preventing a future civil war; 
 for James the Sixth, the son of this ill-fated pair, succeeded 
 Queen Elizabeth in England, without opposition; whereas, 
 if Mary had married any other than Darnley, there might 
 have been other claimants ; and such disputes have not often 
 been decided without bloodshed. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth did every thing in her power to prevent 
 the match; and all the Protestant nobles were opposed to it, 
 on account of Lord Darnley being a Catholic; but Mary 
 had chosen from affection as well as from motives of policy; 
 and the marriage took place just four years from her first 
 arrival in Scotland. The first evil consequent on this union 
 was, an insurrection among the Protestant lords, headed by 
 the earl of Murray, so lately the queen’s prime minister; 
 and then Mary was obliged to raise an army against her 
 own nobility. She herself rode at the head of her troops, 
 arrayed in a kind of light armour, and so well did she 
 conduct her campaign, that the discontented lords, after 
 being pursued from place to place, were glad to flee for 
 safety to England. 
 
 It was not long before Mary found that, in choosing 
 Darnley for her husband, she had not added to her own 
 happiness; for he was a selfish, ill-tempered, weak-minded 
 young man, and treated her with so little kindness or re- 
 spect, that he soon lost her affection, and, instead of trying 
 to regain it, by altering his conduct, he grew jealous of 
 every body in whose society she appeared to take the 
 slightest pleasure. 
 
 Mary had a talented secretary, named David Rizzio, an 
 Italian, who had come to Scotland in the suite of the am- 
 
 L 3 
 
440 CORNER’S 
 
 114 SCOTLAND. 
 
 bassador of Savoy, and being an accomplished musician, as 
 well as a man of good education, he was honoured with the 
 notice of the queen, who detained him at her court, and be- 
 stowed on him a degree of favour that excited the envy of 
 many of the courtiers, and caused him to have a number of 
 enemies. Mary was advised by her good and faithful mi- 
 nister, Sir Robert Melville, to treat this Italian with less 
 distinction; but, unfortunately for the favourite, she did not 
 attend to this prudent counsel; and the consequence was, 
 that poor Rizzio was assassinated in a most cruel manner; 
 for lord Darnley himself, and some of the barons, came one 
 night into an apartment, where he was at supper with the 
 queen and several of her ladies, dragged him from the table, 
 and stabbed him in the presence of his royal mistress, who 
 in vain endeavoured to save his life. 
 
 Mary being resolved to revenge this cruel outrage, left 
 Holy rood -house, and went to Dunbar castle, where she as- 
 sembled together those nobles who were most attached to 
 her interest, and soon raised an army of eight thousand 
 men, with a view of punishing the murderers of Rizzio; 
 while Darnley, affecting repentance for his share of the 
 crime, joined with her against the rest of the conspirators. 
 
 The principal of these were the earl of Morton and lord 
 Ruthven, who fled to England; while the earl of Murray, 
 and others, who had been banished for their opposition to a 
 marriage of which Mary herself now heartily repented, re- 
 turned, and were taken again into favour. Among these 
 was James Hepburne, earl of Both well, related to the Dou- 
 glas family; for the Douglasses, since the death of James 
 the Fifth, had returned to Scotland, and had been restored 
 to a great part of their former possessions. 
 
 This earl of Bothwell was a bold, ambitious man, and a 
 decided foe to Lord Darnley ; yet the queen was imprudent 
 enough to bestow high honours upon him, which every- 
 body thought was wrong, considering the enmity that sub- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 441 
 
 SCOTLAND. 115 
 
 sisted between him and her husband. It was about this 
 time, that the queen gave birth to a son, who became our 
 King James the First; and not long after this event, lord 
 Darnley took the small-pox at Glasgow, and was very ill 
 for some time. >When he got better, he was removed for 
 change of air to a place called the Kirk of Field, close to 
 the town of Edinburgh ; and there Mary went often to see 
 him, for she had been afraid to visit him in his former 
 abode, lest her infant might take the infection. 
 
 Sometimes, she staid all night at the Kirk of Field, and, 
 at others, she returned to sleep at the palace; but, in either 
 case, she usually remained till a late hour with her husband, 
 to whom she appeared to be perfectly reconciled. It hap- 
 pened, one evening, that a ball was to be given at Holyrood 
 house, to celebrate the marriage of one of the ladies belong- 
 ing to the household ; and as the queen had promised to be 
 present at it, she left her husband rather earlier than usual; 
 a circumstance that is brought against her by all who are of 
 opinion that she was aware of the conspiracy that had been 
 formed against his life; although it may reasonably be said, 
 on the other hand, that the conspirators took the oppor- 
 tunity of her absence to execute their wicked plot. 
 
 It seems that a quantity of gunpowder had been placed 
 under the apartment in which Darnley slept, and a train, 
 w'hich had been laid from it to some distance, was set fire to 
 in the dead of the night, and the house was blown up. It 
 was soon known, beyond a doubt, that the earl of Bothwell 
 was the author of this atrocious act, and he was brought 
 to trial for the murder of Darnley ; but, according to the cus- 
 tom of those times, he entered the court surrounded by a 
 number of his friends, who were all well armed, and backed 
 by hired soldiers; so that the judges dared not venture to 
 find him guilty, and he was acquitted. 
 
 The subsequent conduct of the queen is not easily to be 
 accounted for. A few months only had elapsed from the 
 
443 CORNER^S 
 
 116 SCOTLAND. 
 
 night of Darnley’s miserable fate, when Mary became the 
 wife of Bothwell, and thus lost the respect, as well as the 
 affection, of the greater portion of her subjects; for, what- 
 ever causes of complaint she might have had against her 
 husband, and however little she might have regretted his 
 death, still, people were naturally shocked that she should 
 marry his murderer; nor can we be surprised to find that 
 many suspected her of being a participator in the death of 
 Darnley, although her guilt was never actually proved. 
 
 The young prince, James, was kept in Stirling- castle, 
 under the guardianship of the earl of Mar; and so great 
 was the indignation of the people at the queen’s disgraceful 
 marriage, that a great many of the lords joined together, 
 and collected a body of armed men, for the purpose of ex- 
 pelling her from the throne, and crowning the infant James. 
 
 Mary and Bothwell then fled to Duhbar-castle, where 
 they, with some difficulty, assembled a few troops, "intend- 
 ing to give battle to the insurgents, and for that purpose, 
 marched to meet them at Carberry-hill; but the disaffection 
 was so general, that Mary’s own party refused to act in her 
 behalf, unless she consented to banish Bothwell from the 
 country. To this she, at length, agreed; and on quitting 
 the field, he went to the Orkney islands, where he was af- 
 terwards taken prisoner by the Danes, and died in the 
 castle of Malmoe, in Norway. 
 
 As soon as Bothwell had departed, Mary expressed her 
 willingness to make terms with the insurgents; who, wish- 
 ing to get her into their power, pretended to receive her 
 again as their queen; on which, she rode over to their 
 ranks, and was conducted back to Edinburgh; but no one 
 treated her with the least shew of respect; and, as she 
 passed through the streets of the city, many insults were 
 offered to her by the mob. In fact, the noblemen who had 
 taken up arms against her, had determind that she should 
 never reign in Scotland again. They therefore sent her. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 443 
 
 SCOTLAND 117 
 
 under a strong guard, to Lochleven castle, which stands on 
 a little island, in a lake, in Kinrosshire, where she was 
 under the control of two of the most ferocious barons in 
 the kingdom. Lord Lindsay and Lord Ruthven; and, after 
 enduring some Weeks of captivity and harsh treatment, she 
 was compelled, by threats, to sign a deed resigning the 
 crown to her infant son. This occurred in the year 1567, 
 so that Mary had reigned in Scotland about seven years; 
 and although she had been married three times, had yet 
 seen scarcely six-and- twenty summers. 
 
 The earl of Murray was appointed regent, and the queen 
 was kept a prisoner in Lochleven castle for many months; 
 till, at length, she escaped, by the aid of a young gentle- 
 man, named George Douglas, a younger brother of Sir 
 William Douglas, the owner of the castle, and was joined 
 by several earls, barons, and gentlemen, who presently raised 
 an army of five thousand men to support her cause, their 
 object being to replace her on the throne. This little army 
 of undisciplined troops met the superior forces of the regent 
 Murray, at Langside, a village between Glasgow and Dum- 
 barton, and a battle was fought in sight of the queen, who 
 anxiously watched it from a neighbouring hill; but when 
 she saw her party giving way on all sides, she hastened 
 from the spot, attended by a few friends, and took shelter in 
 the abbey of Dundiciman, in Galloway, one of the very few 
 religious houses then remaining in the country. 
 
 Yet, even here she was not safe, for the days were over 
 when such a sanctuary was respected; therefore, it was ne- 
 cessary for her to decide whether she should remain in 
 Scotland, and try to make peace with her enemies, by giv- 
 ing up all pretensions to the crown, or go back to France, 
 which was still governed by the proud and vindictive Ca- 
 therine of Medicis; or whether she should repair to England, 
 and trust to the generosity of Queen Elizabeth, to afford 
 her protection in her adversity. After much deliberation. 
 
444 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 118 SCOTLAND. 
 
 she chose the last alternative, against the advice of many 
 of her friends, who were better acquainted with Elizabeth’s 
 character than she was, and foresaw the fate she was pre- 
 paring for herself. 
 
 She crossed the Solway Frith with six attendants, in a 
 fishing-boat, and arrived in Cumberland on the sixteenth of 
 May, 1568, without money, or even a change of raiment, 
 for she had taken nothing away with her from Lochleven 
 castle, on the eventful evening of her flight. She imme- 
 diately wrote to Queen Elizabeth to inform her that she had 
 come to her dominions, to crave shelter and protection. 
 
 How that appeal was answered by the harsh, unfeeling 
 sovereign, forms a melancholy episode in the history of 
 England, but has little to do with that of Scotland, as the 
 reign of Mary ended with her departure from the country ; 
 but whatever may have been the failings of the unfortunate 
 queen of Scots, her long captivity and cruel death must ever 
 be remembered with grief and pity. 
 
 JAMES THE SIXTH. 
 
 1568 to 1625. 
 
 The flight of the queen was followed by another long civil 
 war in Scotland, which produced the usual efiects of poverty, 
 famine, and domestic misery, of every kind. There was 
 great confusion, too, in the government. Murray, the re- 
 gent, who was a clever statesman and a good man, consi- 
 dering the state of the times, was shot from a window as he 
 was riding through the streets of Linlithgow, by the lord of 
 Bothwellhaugh, in revenge for some private injury. Lord 
 Lennox was then appointed to the regency, but he was soon 
 killed in a battle with the queen’s partizans; and the earl of 
 
'.ga-jis' expesirp-Eyu-q.i’ggiJiti-O ^ xreocr' '-UTptLO 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 445 
 
 . SCOTLAND. 119 
 
 Mar, who succeeded him, died shortly afterwards, under cir- 
 cumstances which occasioned a suspicion that poison had 
 been given him at a banquet, to which he had been invited 
 by the earl of Morton, on whom the regency next devolved. 
 
 The country was, during this time, in a very miserable 
 state. The people were divided into two factions, known 
 as the queen’s men and the king’s men; a fatal distinction, 
 which caused fathers to fight against their sons, and brothers 
 against their brothers. All peaceful occupations were sus- 
 pended; commerce and agriculture were neglected; villages 
 were burned ; the prisoners taken on both sides were barba- 
 rously executed; and, in short, the horrors of civil warfare 
 were never more fully exemplified than in Scotland at this 
 unhappy period, during which, the government was divided; 
 for the regent held one parliament at Stirling, while the 
 queen’s party held another at Edinburgh, where they kept 
 possession of the castle. 
 
 It is said that the earl of Morton held a secret corres- 
 pondence with Queen Elizabeth, and acted according to her 
 instructions; by which means, she exercised an indirect au- 
 thority over Scotland, while she detained the Scottish queen 
 in prison. But, however that might be, the cause of Mary 
 gradually declined; till, at length, the castle of Edinburgh, 
 the last place that had been defended for her, was taken by 
 the regent in 1573; and, from that moment, her party 
 abandoned a cause that was evidently hopeless. 
 
 The young king was, at this time, only seven years old. 
 His education was entrusted to the care of the celebrated 
 Scottish historian, Buchanan, one of the best scholars of the 
 age; but, unfortunately, his royal pupil, although gifted by 
 nature with a good capacity, and although he evinced a 
 fondness for study, was deficient in that ease of manner and 
 decision of character, which are so essential in a sovereign 
 prince. He was awkward and timid from his boyhood; but 
 
446 COENER’S 
 
 120 SCOTLAND. 
 
 he acquired a vast deal of learning, of which he loved to 
 make a display. 
 
 At the age of fifteen, he took the government into his 
 own hands; and then the earl of Morton, who, for many 
 reasons, had become hateful to him, as well as to the ma- 
 jority of the nobility, was accused of having been concerned 
 in the murder of Lord Darnley; and although the chsirge 
 was never satisfactorily proved, he was put to death, and his 
 estates were confiscated. 
 
 One might suppose that, as soon as James was in a 
 condition to act for himself, he would have taken some 
 active steps to procure the release of his mother, who was 
 still languishing in captivity in England; but he made no 
 effort to accomplish this object, or to revenge her injuries; 
 an apathy which can only be accounted for by his constitu- 
 tional timidity, and his fear of Queen Elizabeth. He was 
 of an indolent disposition, and fond of his own personal 
 comfort, which led him to trust the business of the state 
 to others, for the double purpose of saving himself from the 
 trouDle of government, and gaining more time for his fa- 
 vourite pursuits of hunting and hawking. 
 
 He had two chief favourites, the earl of Arran, and the 
 young duke of Lennox, who were at the head of all affairs, 
 to the great discontent of the rest of the nobles, who re- 
 solved to get rid of them. A certain party, therefore, who 
 were not in favour at court, formed a plan to get the king 
 into their power, and oblige him to dismiss these obnoxious 
 ministers. An opportunity favourable to their project soon 
 occurred; for one day, as James was returning from hunt- 
 ing, the earl of Gowrie, a nobleman possessing large estates 
 in the county of Athol, invited him to stop at his castle of 
 Ruthven, to rest and refresh himself; an invitation that was 
 readily accepted. 
 
 It was not long, however, before James found that he had 
 been entrapped into imprisonment; and was compelled not 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 447 
 
 SCOTLAND. 121 
 
 only to banish his favourite ministers and councillors, but to 
 appoint in their places the contrivers of this plot, who it 
 seems were instigated by Queen Elizabeth, she being de- 
 sirous of having at the head of the government of Scotland 
 such men as would not interfere with her conduct towards 
 the Scottish queen. Nearly two years elapsed before King 
 James made his escape from the castle of Ruthven and re- 
 gained his authority; soon after which, the earl of Gowrie 
 was beheaded, and the rest of the conspirators were ban- 
 ished, and their estates forfeited to the crown. 
 
 Not long after this conspiracy, which was called the Raid 
 of Ruthven, Mary, queen of Scots, ended her earthly 
 career; an event that had but little effect on the affairs of 
 Scotland, or on the minds of the people generally; for time 
 had nearly banished her from the remembrance of all, except 
 those who had been immediately attached to her court. 
 
 During the whole of this time, the country was very far 
 from being in a peaceable state, for the chiefs, both of the 
 Highlands and Lowlands, were still engaged in those endless 
 wars which had been carried on, at every opportunity, from 
 time immemorial. There were families whose feuds had 
 lasted for centuries, and who were still at variance, in con- 
 sequence of quarrels that had taken place between their an- 
 cestors many centuries back ; and such was the disorder that 
 now prevailed, that regular battles were fought in the streets 
 of Edinburgh, which all the authority of the magistrates was 
 not able to prevent. In other large towns, similar scenes of 
 confusion frequently occurred; and as such affrays often 
 arose from very slight causes, and when they were least ex- 
 pected, none, except the serfs and the meanest cottagers, 
 ever thought of going abroad unarmed. 
 
 The good-natured monarch tried to restore peace, by in- 
 viting all the nobles who were at enmity to a banquet, pre- 
 pared at the expense of the citizens of Edinburgh, where he 
 addressed to them a long speech, on the impropriety of their 
 
 M 
 
448 CORNER’S 
 
 122 SCOTLAND. 
 
 conduct, and persuaded them all to shake hands, and drink 
 to the health of each other; but it was not by such simple 
 means as these, that violent and long standing animosities 
 could be subdued ; and the well-meaning but mistaken king, 
 did no good by his entertainment or the power of his ora- 
 tory, on which he chiefly prided himself, so that the peaceful 
 mood of the nobles did not last much longer than the 
 feast. 
 
 At this period, the Scottish parliament consisted of the 
 king, lay lords, and commons; for the bishops, and other 
 dignified ecclesiastics, had been excluded from the legis- 
 lature, at the Reformation. Anciently, all who held lands of 
 the king, that is, all freeholders, were required to give per- 
 sonal attendance at all parliaments or national councils; but 
 in the reign of James the First, the smaller lairds, and other 
 freeholders, were exempted from attending in person, on 
 condition of sending to every parliament two or more com- 
 missioners from each county, according to its size and im- 
 portance. Still the right of voting at the election of parli- 
 mentary commissioners belonged to all freeholders, however 
 small the valuation of their property might be; but, by a 
 statute made in 1507, it was enacted, that none should be 
 entitled to vote for county members, but such as were pos- 
 sessed of a forty shilling land ; thus the constitution of the 
 great national council in Scotland, in the reign of King 
 James, approximated more nearly than before to that of the 
 English parliament. 
 
 There were some sumptuary laws made in this reign, 
 which serve to shew that, however poor the country might 
 be, the people were inclined to dress and live better than 
 they could aflford. An act was passed to restrain all per- 
 sons, except the highest nobility, from wearing gold, silver, 
 velvet, or any costly material of foreign manufacture, such 
 as lawn, cambric, or lace; neither were any but the rich 
 to use confections and spices: luxuries in which it appears 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 449 
 
 SCOTLAND. 123 
 
 that persons, in very poor circumstances were apt to indulge 
 on festive occasions. 
 
 By another law, it was ordained that no wool should be 
 taken out of the country, in order that all persons might 
 be able to obtairi cloths and stuffs of home manufacture, 
 and that the poor might get employment as spinners and 
 weavers; while workmen were forbidden to carry on their 
 trades any where but within the free burghs ; a law probably 
 made for their own particular interests, by the freemen who 
 had lately been admitted into the parliament. 
 
 Soon after the death of Mary queen of Scots, James 
 made a voyage to Denmark, on purpose to seek a bride, or 
 rather, to marry the lady on whom he had already fixed his 
 choice. This was Anne, the daughter of Frederick the 
 Second, king of Denmark, who returned with him to Scot- 
 land, where she was crowned in the year 1590. 
 
 From this event to the accession of James to the throne 
 of England, a period of thirteen years, the pages of Scottish 
 history are filled with the conspiracies of discontented ba- 
 rons, the feuds of the border clans and Highlanders, and the 
 disputes of the king with the Presbyterian clergy on the 
 subject of Episcopacy, he being very desirous of restoring 
 the bishops to their former dignity, while the Presbyterians 
 wanted to abolish the order of bishops altogether; for there 
 were still bishops in Scotland, although they did not enjoy 
 large revenues, great political influence, and high consider- 
 ation, as before the Reformation. 
 
 As to internal warfare, there was scarcely a nobleman in 
 Scotland who was not in arms against some rival chief; and 
 in the Western Isles, the chieftains seldom were long at 
 peace. The quarrels of the gieat barons arose from various 
 causes; but those of the highland chiefs most frequently 
 originated from the purloining of cattle. 
 
 There was a powerful clan called the Macdonalds, who 
 inhabited the wild district of Cantire, a peninsula that 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 450 
 
 124 SCOTLAND. 
 
 stretches from the southern extremity of Argyll far out into 
 the sea. The chief of the Macdonalds had a brother, 
 named Donald, who was married to a sister of the chief of 
 the Macleans, another great tribe living in the island of 
 Mull; and these three chiefs were very friendly with each 
 other, till a quarrel arose under the following circumstances. 
 
 Donald Macdonald had banished, for their bad conduct, 
 two of his clansmen, who concealed themselves in the small 
 island of Jura, half of which belonged to the Macdonalds, 
 and the other half to the Macleans; therefore, the two 
 fugitives took refuge there, hoping to find an opportunity of 
 taking revenge for the punishment inflicted on them, by 
 raising a feud between the chiefs. For some time, they lay 
 in wait, without being able to accomplish their object; till, 
 at length, Donald Macdonald, in going to visit his cousin 
 Angus, at Jura, was driven by contrary winds on that part 
 of the island which belonged to Maclean, where he and his 
 whole suite were most hospitably received; their boats were 
 moored to the shore, and they gladly accepted an invitation 
 to pass the night where they were. 
 
 The two exiled clansmen did not fail to take advantage of 
 this accident, and coming forth from their hiding place in 
 the middle of the night, they drove away some of Maclean's 
 cattle, and putting them on board two of Macdonald's ves- 
 sels, sailed away. 
 
 The next morning, when the cattle were missed, and it 
 was found that two of the boats were gone, it was naturally 
 supposed that the robbery had been committed by some of 
 Macdonald's own people; on which the enraged chief of the 
 Macleans hastily called together his clan, and rushing 
 fiercely on his unsuspecting guests, put to death about sixty 
 of them; the rest, with their chieftain, escaping to their 
 boats with great difficulty. This outrage led to a war that 
 lasted thirteen years, and reduced the islands of Skye and 
 Jura, with Cantire and the smaller isles, to a most miserable 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 451 
 
 SCOTLAND. 125 
 
 condition; for the ferocity with which these people carried 
 on their wars, was almost unequalled. 
 
 At last, the king, anxious to put an end to this terrible 
 strife, summoned the two chiefs to appear before him at 
 Edinburgh, promis'ing them a safe conduct to and from the 
 city. But when they came, they were both shut up in the 
 castle, and told that they must remain there till they should 
 make up their quarrel, and promise to keep at peace for the 
 future. On becoming reconciled, and binding themselves to 
 fulfil this promise, they were set at liberty, and allowed to 
 return to their respective islands. 
 
 For some years, they kept on good terms with one another, 
 when a dispute took place about the possession of the island 
 of Isla, and then the old quarrel was renewed, and a despe- 
 rate battle was fought between them, in which Maclean was 
 slain. This happened in the year 1598, when the earl of 
 Argyll obtained a commission from the king to subdue these 
 islands, and annex them to his estates. 
 
 A new war then commenced between the Macdonalds and 
 the Campbells, the latter being the name of the earl of 
 Argyll’s clan; and, in the end, the chieftain Macdonald, 
 finding that he was overpowered, fled to Spain, and his vast 
 domains were joined to the territory of Argyll, to which 
 they have belonged ever since. 
 
 Tranquillity being thus restored to this portion of the 
 kingdom, ’James made an attempt to civilise the Hebrides, 
 by establishing colonies for the introduction of arts and 
 manufactures among them; but the attempt was as unsuc- 
 cessful as it was in Ireland some years afterwards, and the 
 colonists were all either killed, or driven out of the country. 
 
 And now we are approaching the time when the king- 
 doms of Scotland and England were united by the accession 
 of James the Sixth to the English throne on the death of 
 his cousin, Queen Elizabeth, who had no nearer relative 
 than himself to succeed her. 
 
 M 3 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 452 
 
 126 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Elizabeth died on the twenty-fourth of March, 1603, and 
 an ambassador immediately set out for the court of Scot- 
 land, with the news that James had been fully acknow- 
 ledged in England as her lawful successor. About ten days 
 afterwards, the king bade adieu to his native country, and, 
 attended by his chief nobility, proceeded to take possessioij 
 of his new dominions; and, from this period, we may date 
 the termination of the Scottish monarchy. 
 
 It was not likely that the Scots should feel any immediate 
 advantage from an event that caused the departure of the 
 principal men of rank and talent from the country. The 
 tradespeople of Edinburgh, in particular, suffered by the 
 removal of the king and his court; and in almost every part 
 of Scotland, for many years, till manufactures were more 
 extensively introduced, the pressure of poverty was so se- 
 verely felt, that thousands of families emigrated to Poland, 
 where they obtained the means of subsistence, by travelling 
 about in caravans with various articles of merchandise. 
 
 In fact, this change, like all great revolutions, was at- 
 tended in the beginning with many inconveniences to a 
 large portion of the community; but, in the course of time, 
 the benefits of peace and union were felt by all, and few 
 were the Scots who would have wished to see their separate 
 monarchy restored. 
 
 England and Scotland being now governed by one king, 
 it was no longer necessary to defend the borders ; and as it 
 was thought desirable to remove some of the most turbulent 
 clans, they were sent, under the command of the duke of 
 Buccleugh, to serve in the wars of the Netherlands, where 
 the people were fighting to free themselves from the do- 
 minion of the Spaniards. This measure put an end to the 
 feuds^which had so long disturbed that part of the country, 
 which was now brought under cultivation; and the debate- 
 able lands, that is, those tracts which had been claimed both 
 by England and Scotland, and in consequence of not be- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 453 
 
 SCOTLAND. 127 
 
 longing properly to either, had become an asylum for 
 outlaws and robbers, were divided between the two king- 
 doms, and their inhabitants made amenable to the laws. 
 
 The cities of Scotland, at this period, were very small and 
 poor, compared with what they are now. There were no 
 great manufacturing towns, and Edinburgh itself, which is 
 now, in the New Town, one of the most noble cities in 
 Europe, presented at that time but a mean appearance. The 
 houses, which were raised to a great height, were roofed 
 with straw or rough boards, and were without glass win- 
 dows ; and on each floor was lodged a separate family, as is 
 the case even at the present day, in many parts of the Old 
 Town. The streets were not lighted, and as there were 
 no regulations for cleansing them, they were always very 
 dirty. 
 
 The shops were only little booths, like those at a fair, and 
 the supply of goods was very limited; yet Edinburgh was 
 the best town in Scotland. The parliament was still held 
 there; for until the reign of Queen Anne, England and 
 Scotland were governed by separate parliaments, although 
 they had but one sovereign; so that “ the Union ” does not 
 mean the accession of King James, but the Union of the 
 two parliaments at a later period. 
 
 Some of the boldest of the highland clans had been sup- 
 pressed by the government; and, amongst others, that of 
 the Mac Gregors, a lawless tribe, who, some years before 
 James became king of England, entered the Low Coun- 
 try, and committed great outrages and depredations in the 
 territories of the Colquhouns, a border clan, inhabiting the 
 district of Lennox, in Dumbartonshire. 
 
 In 1602 , Humphry Colquhoun raised his vassals to op- 
 pose them, and was joined by several other lairds of the 
 neighbourhood, whose property had also suffered from their 
 attacks. The two parties met at Glen Fruin, and a battle 
 was fought, in which many were killed on both sides; but 
 
454. CORNER’S 
 
 128 SCOTLAND. 
 
 the loss being greatest on the part of the Colquhouns, they 
 were compelled to give way, and the laird escaped to a 
 castle on the banks of the lake, whither he was pursued by 
 the Highlanders, who found him in a vault, and put him to 
 death in a horrible manner. 
 
 I'he Colquhouns, fearing further violence, applied to the 
 king for protection; on which, the marquis of Argyll was 
 commissioned to undertake an expedition into the High- 
 lands, and, if possible, to exterminate the whole of this 
 fierce clan. The Mac Gregors were now driven from their 
 habitations, declared to be rebels and outlaws, their name 
 was forbidden to be any longer used, and their chief, who 
 surrendered himself to the marquis of Argyll, on condition 
 of being allowed to depart in safety from the country, was 
 publicly executed at Edinburgh; an act which reflected 
 the greatest disgrace upon those who thus violated their 
 promise. 
 
 The unfortunate clan being utterly proscribed, retired 
 with their wives and children to caves and forests, where 
 they suffered the extremes of famine and fatigue for many 
 years; and wherever they were discovered, they were put to 
 death without remorse by Argyll’s followers, till but few 
 of their once powerful race was remaining; and, from these 
 survivors, who were mostly children, came the band of free- 
 booters, afterwards headed by the well-known chieftain, 
 Rob Roy Mac Gregor. The act of parliament by which 
 the name was abolished, has been since repealed, and the 
 Mac Gregors have long been restored to their rights, as 
 subjects and citizens. 
 
 The country was greatly oppressed at this period by the 
 exactions of the nobility, who required so much money to 
 support the expenses of their attendance at the court in 
 London, that they almost ruined their tenants by the heavy 
 contributions they levied on them; for the Scottish nobles 
 still possessed their ancient feudal privileges, which gave 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 455 
 
 SCOTLAND. 129 
 
 them absolute power over the property of their vassals; and 
 this power they did not fail to exercise in a most oppressive 
 manner, now that they stood less in need of military services 
 than in former times; and thus arose between the lords and 
 their vassals a different feeling from that which subsisted 
 while the vassals looked up to their chiefs for protection 
 against hostile clans, and the chiefs depended on the aid of 
 their vassals for maintaining their own power. There was 
 one point, however, on which most people of all ranks 
 agreed, and that was, the protection of the independence of 
 their church, or kirk, as it is generally called in Scotland. 
 
 It was a favourite project with King James, and also with 
 his son, Charles the First, to revive the order of bishops, 
 and to compel the Scots to adopt the form of worship of the 
 English church, instead of their own. For as both these 
 sovereigns entertained an opinion that the power of kings 
 should be absolute, they were opposed to any form of 
 church government that was not under their own control; 
 and I have already explained that the Presbyterians denied 
 the right of the king to interfere at all with the ministers of 
 the church. All festivals had been abolished in Scotland; 
 while, in England, many holydays observed by the Catholics 
 were also kept by the Protestants, as Easter and Christmas; 
 for such observances were not prohibited by Luther, from 
 whom the English Protestants took their church discipline, 
 although they were strictly forbidden by Calvin and Knox, 
 whose ideas of a reformation went to the extent of abolish- 
 ing all forms and ceremonies used by the Catholics. 
 
 James was so bent upon assimilating the government of 
 the church of Scotland to that of England, that he paid a 
 visit to his native country in the year 1617, entirely with 
 that view; but, upon the whole, the attempt failed, and 
 served to render him very unpopular. The people would 
 not observe Christmas-day, or Easter, or any other festival, 
 but persisted, upon those occasions, in opening their shops, 
 
456 CORNER’S 
 
 130 SCOTLAND 
 
 and going to work as usual, in defiance of the positive com^ 
 mands of the king, who, notwithstanding all his persevering 
 endeavours, was never able to effect, to any extent, the alte- 
 rations he so much desired; and the church of Scotland 
 continued to be quite different from that of England. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SCOTS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 At the memorable period when Scotland and England were 
 united under one sovereign, the former, owing to the want 
 of manufactures and the inferiority of its trade, was a poor 
 country in comparison with the latter; and to this cause 
 may be traced the little improvement which was made in 
 the towns, as the tradesmen were not rich enough to have 
 good houses, and the best shops were nothing but wooden 
 sheds with thatched roofs, built up without the least at- 
 tention to regularity, wherever there happened to be vacant 
 spaces. This was the case even in Edinburgh itself, al- 
 though that city had lately been improved by the erection 
 of many handsome houses that were inhabited by the no- 
 bility, chief magistrates, and head churchmen ; but the town 
 was neither paved nor lighted at this period; for, we are told 
 long afterwards, in the reign of Charles the Second, that 
 the town council of Edinburgh ordered that a candle and 
 lantern should be hung out at the first floor window of every 
 house, to light the streets at night. About the same time, 
 coaches were first used in Scotland by the chief magistrates 
 of Edinburgh; so that till the period of which I am now 
 speaking, the people rode only on horseback, and the ladies 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 457 
 
 SCOTLAND. 131 
 
 were mounted on pillions, behind their husbands, on the 
 same horse, as was the fashion in England before the intro- 
 duction of coaches. The people in the towns dressed now 
 in the English fashion, but the country people still wore the 
 Scottish bonnet and Tartan plaid. 
 
 The residences of the citizens generally were gloomy, 
 uncomfortable houses, several stories high, each floor being 
 let to a separate family; and as there was only one staircase 
 in common for all, it was generally very dirty. To this 
 want of cleanliness, and to the crowded state of the dwell- 
 ings, may be attributed the frequent recurrence of the 
 plague, which visited Edinburgh almost every year. 
 
 The shops, or booths as they were called, were separate 
 from the dwelling-houses; and it was usual for all persons 
 of the same trade, to have their shops together in the same 
 street or lane. There were but few trades practised, as all 
 articles of luxury were brought from abroad, and only those 
 of necessity made at home ; so that the principal tradesmen 
 were those of the ordinary kind, as tailors, shoemakers, cap- 
 makers, and smiths. 
 
 Nevertheless, the residence of Queen Mary in France, 
 and the increased intercourse of the Scots with the English, 
 had been the means of introducing much refinement into 
 the manners and style of living in Scotland. The chief 
 nobility used plate or gilt metal at their tables, instead 
 of the wooden platters and pewter drinking cups, with 
 which they were contented in former times; but it was still 
 usual for the whole family, masters, guests, and servants, to 
 sit down at the same table; a custom that lasted as long as 
 the servants were the vassals of the great; but when vassal- 
 age was abolished, and servants were freemen, hired and 
 paid for their labour, and not related to their master by the 
 ties of clanship, they no longer sat at his board. 
 
 The tables of the rich, at this period, were more sump- 
 tuously furnished with delicacies, than they had been in 
 
458 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 132 SCOTLAND. 
 
 former times, owing to the introduction of spices, confec- 
 tionary, and wine, which were now plentifully used by 
 those who could afford them; but there were many lairds 
 and nobles who were so poor, that their tables were fur- 
 nished with nothing better than messes of oatmeal porridge, 
 with a little piece of meat in each for their retainers, and, 
 perhaps, at the upper end, a single dish of a better kind, 
 for the entertainers and their guests. 
 
 James the Sixth, himself, had not, at all times, a plentiful 
 larder; and when his son, Charles, was christened, he was 
 obliged to write to some of his wealthy subjects, begging 
 they would send him supplies of venison and poultry for 
 the feast, as he had invited some foreign princes and am- 
 bassadors, and had not the means of entertaining them 
 handsomely; but it is only fair to state, that he accompanied 
 his request with invitations to those to whom he wrote to 
 partake of the good cheer they were themselves to provide. 
 
 The dinner hour among the great was eleven, and they 
 supped at six, as in England; and it was usual at the hour 
 of retiring to rest, to present each guest with a full cup of 
 wine, which was called the sleeping cup. 
 
 The houses of country farmers were generally built of 
 loose stones, piled one upon an other, without any cement or 
 mortar, and were separated into two apartments, called the 
 butt and ben ends of the house, which seldom had any 
 articles of furniture beyond a table, a few wooden stools and 
 pots, bowls, &c. Every farmer’s wife spun" the yarn for 
 the clothing of the family, and also dyed it of the various 
 hues of which their tartans were composed; for no gudewife 
 in Scotland was ignorant of the art of dyeing red, green, 
 and blue, being well acquainted with certain herbs and 
 flowers, from which those colours could be extracted. 
 
 There was a great deal of flax grown in the Highlands, 
 where the women also spun their own cloth, both linen and 
 woollen; and when it was woven and taken home to the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 459 
 
 SCOTLAND. 133 
 
 Gudemfe, to whom it belonged, she sent round to her female 
 neighbours, who came in to help her to full it. This process 
 of fulling was performed by the parties sitting round a 
 table, and rubbing the cloth hard against a board, till it 
 became close and soft; and after they had rubbed it for a 
 long time in this way, they put the board and cloth on the 
 ground, and worked it with their feet, singing Celtic songs 
 during the process; for the people of the Highlands accom- 
 panied all their work with songs. 
 
 Marriages among the Scottish peasantry were celebrated 
 in a very peculiar manner, and are known by the name of 
 penny weddings; and very merry weddings they were. 
 The young couple were generally accompanied to the kirk 
 by their friends and neighbours ; and when they had agreed, 
 in the presence of the clergyman, to become man and wife, 
 which was all the ceremony necessary, they returned home, 
 the pipers playing before them all the way, and the rest 
 of the day was spent in feasting and dancing on the green. 
 Before the party separated, all who were present contributed 
 a small sum towards paying the expences, and furnishing 
 the newly-married pair with money, to enable them to take 
 a little cottage, and, perhaps, to buy a few sheep. 
 
 An attempt was made at the Reformation to suppress 
 penny weddings altogether, because the early reformers in 
 Scotland disapproved of all kinds of gaiety; but this was 
 infringing so much upon the comforts of the rustic swains 
 and maidens, that the innovation was successfully resisted ; 
 and the only alteration made, was that of limiting the sub- 
 scriptions, no person being allowed to give more than five 
 shillings. 
 
 The change in the religion of the country produced a 
 visible alteration in the manners of the people generally, 
 as most of the holiday sports that had been so popular in 
 the time of James the Fifth, were abolished; no festivals 
 were held, as they used to be; and tournaments, the pride 
 
 N 
 
1 460 
 
 COUNER^S 
 
 134 SCOTLAND. 
 
 and glory of the Scottish knights for so many centuries, 
 were now entirely abandoned. 
 
 When James the Sixth left Scotland, he passed a law, 
 called the disarming act, with the view of putting a stop to 
 the depredations of the borderers, who, since the death of 
 the regent Murray, had become as unruly as ever. The 
 new act forbade any dweller on the borders, either of Scot- 
 land, or England, to wear any kind of weapon, except a 
 knife of a specified length, wherewith to cut victuals. It 
 also prohibited his keeping a horse above the value of forty 
 shillings ; so that the border robbers, for they were nothing 
 better, being now almost disarmed and dismounted, were 
 obliged to give up their lawless habits; and the border 
 countries became as peaceable as any other part of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 With regard to the Highlanders and Islesmen, I have no- 
 thing to add to what has been already said about them, for 
 they were but little affected by the changes that had taken 
 place in the Lowlands; and to this day, in some parts of 
 the Highlands, the people are as uncivilized as they were 
 three centuries ago. 
 
 CHARLES THE FIRST. 
 
 1625 to 1649. 
 
 For twelve years after the death of James the First, there 
 was peace in Scotland, and a consequent improvement in 
 the condition of the people, who were thereby left at leisure 
 to attend to commerce and agriculture. But this state of 
 tranquillity was interrupted by the king, Charles the First, 
 who unhappily fancied that his prerogatives were infringed 
 'ipon by the regulations of the Scottish church; therefore. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 461 
 
 SCOTLAND, 135 
 
 he resolved to re-establish Episcopacy, and compel the clergy 
 of Scotland to use the English form of prayer. 
 
 New bishops were appointed, and prayer-books were sent 
 into Scotland, with positive commands that the Liturgy 
 should be read in nil the churches; but the attempt made 
 by the dean of Edinburgh, and other clergymen, to obey 
 this order, was followed by such serious disturbances, that 
 petitions were sent to the king to withdraw his command; 
 to which he replied, that the parliament, and courts of law, 
 should be removed to Linlithgow, that he might punish the 
 citizens of Edinburgh for what he termed their rebellion. 
 
 This answer only served to increase the popular discon- 
 tent, not only in the capital, but in Glasgow, and all the 
 principal towns, where, on every attempt to read the Liturgy 
 in the churches, a violent clamour was raised, to drown the 
 voice of the minister; and in these tumults, the most re- 
 spectable females, such as the wives, sisters, and daughters 
 of the chief citizens, took an active part. 
 
 It was at this time, when the popular excitement was at 
 its height, that the Scottish people of all ranks, male and 
 female, entered into a solemn covenant to maintain, at all 
 hazards, the Presbyterian form of worship. This famous 
 covenant was signed by multitudes of the people of Edin- 
 burgh, noblemen, clergy, and citizens, of all classes; and 
 copies of it were then sent to all the principal towns, where 
 the same enthusiasm prevailed, the people flocking to sub- 
 scribe their names to the compact. 
 
 The whole nation was thus leagued together for the de- 
 fence of their church; yet the king was so unwise and ob- 
 stinate as to persist in his commands that the service should 
 be performed in the same manner as in England; although 
 it was clear that a civil war must inevitably be the conse- 
 quence of his folly. 
 
 The Scots, being aware of this, made preparations for 
 defending themselves, by employing pedlars, or travelling 
 
 
 
462 CORNER’S 
 
 136 SCOTLAND. 
 
 merchants, on the continent, to purchase arms and ammu- 
 nition for them; and a secret correspondence was held with 
 the Puritans in England, who being of the same faith, and 
 equally persecuted, were willing to lend all the aid in 
 their power, hoping to find an asylum in Scotland if the 
 Scots should succeed in maintaining their covenant. These 
 were indeed most unhappy times for both kingdoms; more 
 unhappy than we, who are strangers to the horrors of civil 
 warfare, can well imagine. 
 
 A regular military force was then raised in Scotland, 
 under the command of able leaders ; some of the royal cas- 
 tles were seized ; and the people brought their plate to the 
 mint, to be coined into money for the support of the troops. 
 In the meanwhile, the bishops fied into England, and the 
 king approached towards the north at the head of his army, 
 thinking to terrify the Covenanters into obedience. But 
 this was not to be done; for the Scots, while they professed 
 the utmost respect for the king personally, declared they 
 would never abandon the covenant into which they had 
 entered, as long as they had arms to defend it. 
 
 Still Charles seemed unwilling to come to extremities, 
 and the war was interrupted by tedious negociations. A 
 second time he marched towards Scotland; and the Scots, 
 under the command of a brave general, named Leslie, 
 crossed the border in formidable array, and near Newcastle 
 gained a victory over a detachment of the royal troops, who 
 had disputed with them the passage of a river. Every 
 advantage, however trifiing, was of great importance to the 
 cause of the Scots; for there were many soldiers in the 
 king’s army who were secretly of opinion that the king was 
 in the wrong, and as they did not desire to continue the 
 war, they made the worst of any defeat they sustained. 
 
 Other circumstances, however, occurred, which obliged 
 Charles to give up all thoughts of prosecuting his designs 
 in Scotland, for he began to fear that he should very soon be 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 463 
 
 SCOTLAND, 137 
 
 involved in a civil war at home; he was, therefore, obliged 
 at last to make peace with the Scots, yielding to all their 
 demands. If he had done this at first, he would probably 
 have found them friends instead of enemies, in the subse- 
 quent war with his' parliament; but few persons gave him 
 much credit for concessions that had been so unwillingly 
 made ; and we find the Scots afterwards engaged in the civil 
 wars in England, taking the part of the parliamentarians 
 against the king. 
 
 While the war was proceeding in England between King 
 Charles and his parliament, the marquis of Montrose, a 
 Scottish nobleman, who was very much attached to the 
 king, raised a body of troops in the Highlands, hoping to 
 afford him some assistance. His plan was, by commencing 
 a furious war against the Covenanters, to oblige them to 
 recal their forces from England, which would relieve Charles 
 of some of his enemies; and then he reckoned, that if he 
 were successful in Scotland, he might be able to pass into 
 England with his Highlanders, and join the royalists there. 
 
 One of the principal leaders of the Covenanters was, the 
 marquis of Argyll, who, with the whole clan of the Camp- 
 bells, was hated by many of the Highland clans, particularly 
 by the Macleans, Macdonalds, and Mac Gregors, who had 
 sufficient reason for their enmity; and this it was, more 
 than any consideration of loyalty or religion, that made 
 them very ready to enlist under the banners of Montrose, 
 who was considered one of the greatest heroes of his time. 
 
 In the course of this war, he gained some splendid vic- 
 tories, and laid waste nearly the whole of Perthshire and 
 Argyllshire; but at length he was defeated, and obliged to 
 return to the Highlands; and many gentlemen who had 
 fought with him were made prisoners, and executed by the 
 Scottish parliament. The failure of Montrose was a great 
 disappointment to the king and the royalists generally, who 
 had depended very much on his success. This was almost 
 
 N 3 
 
464 CORNER’S 
 
 138 SCOTLAND. 
 
 the last effort made in favour of Charles the First, whose 
 melancholy fate is known to all; therefore, I shall now 
 proceed to relate what happened in Scotland after his 
 execution. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 DEATH OF CHARLES THE FIRST. 
 
 TO 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 1649 to 1688, 
 
 The people of Scotland in general were very much shocked 
 at the death of Charles the First, and they proclaimed his 
 son, Charles the Second, as their lawful sovereign ; for they 
 were, for the most part, friends to the monarchy, though 
 they wished to have a king who would not interfere with 
 their religion. 
 
 Charles, at the time of his father’s death, was on the 
 continent; and England was converted into a Republic, or 
 Commonwealth, governed by the parliament, without a 
 king; but there was a great number of royalists still, both 
 in England and Scotland; and, among others, Montrose, 
 who went abroad, to solicit the aid of the king of Denmark, 
 and Christina, queen of Sweden, in order to place Charles 
 the Second on his throne. 
 
 Some assistance was obtained, and Montrose soon re- 
 turned with a small army, composed of Germans and Scot- 
 tish exiles, and landed in the Orkney islands, where the 
 inhabitants, a quiet race of people, descended from the 
 ancient Norwegians, had long lived in profound repose, and 
 were so secluded from the rest of the world, that they did 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 465 
 
 SCOTLAND. 139 
 
 not know, except from vague reports circulated at the fair 
 of Kirkwall, that a civil war was raging in the heart of the 
 country. Now Montrose was very desirous of increasing 
 his army, and although the people of the Orkneys were not 
 at all disposed to engage in the war, he pressed them into 
 his service, forcing every man capable of bearing arms, to 
 march away with him into the Highlands. 
 
 This was a fatal blow to the happiness of the simple 
 Norsemen and their families, who had hitherto been accus- 
 tomed to peace and comfort. Fathers, brothers, and hus- 
 bands, were obliged to leave their peaceful homes, and the 
 objects of their dearest affections; and many tearful eyes 
 witnessed the departure of the beloved friends they might 
 never see again. Yet Montrose is called a great-minded 
 man, and a noble soldier; for history seldom takes into 
 account the domestic miseries these wonderful heroes occa- 
 sion ; but tells only of the battles they won, and the daring 
 deeds they performed. 
 
 The general had hoped to augment his forces in the 
 Highlands, but the people, having heard of the impressment 
 in the Orkneys, fled in terror at his approach, so that he 
 found only deserted villages; and being met by a party of 
 his enemies, was defeated, made prisoner, and sent to Edin- 
 burgh, where he was tried, condemned, and executed as a 
 traitor for his former conduct against the Covenanters. 
 
 It was not long after the death of Montrose, that Charles 
 the Second arrived in Scotland, where he was received with 
 outward respect; but none of the nobles would take the 
 oath of fealty to him, until he had signed the covenant, and 
 made the most solemn promises to support the form of re- 
 ligion then established in Scotland; but when he had sub- 
 mitted to this requisition, which he did merely for the sake 
 of gaining the good-will of his Scottish subjects, and not 
 with the least sincerity of heart, men of all classes were 
 ready to support him. 
 
466 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 140 SCOTLAND. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Oliver Cromwell had been employed 
 by the English parliament to complete the conquest of Ire- 
 land, where he had been eminently successful, and he was 
 now recalled home, to take the command of the army that 
 was about to march for Scotland against Charles and those 
 who supported him. 
 
 The Scots could not contemplate with indifference the 
 approach of such a general as Ohver Cromwell, whose stern 
 character was well known, and who had so lately spread 
 ruin throughout Ireland with fire and sword. They pre- 
 pared for his arrival, by clearing the country through which 
 he must pass, of all the grain and cattle, destroying the 
 habitations, and leaving it a vast tract of desolated waste 
 land, that could afford the enemy neither food nor shelter. 
 The Scottish forces were then assembled, under the com- 
 mand of General Leslie, an officer who, in point of talent, 
 was perhaps not inferior to Cromwell himself; and who, if 
 he had been allowed to pursue his own prudent course, 
 might probably not have been defeated. 
 
 The English army entered Scotland, where they found 
 neither food to eat, nor men to fight; for Leslie acted on 
 the plan of Bruce, who always avoided giving battle as 
 long as possible, because he thought it more advantageous 
 to weaken the enemy, by cutting off their supplies of food, 
 and exhausting them with long and fruitless marches, than 
 to hazard the loss of his own army, by a precipitate en- 
 gagement. 
 
 The Scots, therefore, remained safe in their trenches, only 
 altering their position now and then, to intercept the pro- 
 gress of the English, who were, at length, so reduced by 
 famine and fatigue, that Cromwell began to think of re- 
 treating. At this juncture, Leslie was persuaded, much 
 against his will, to venture a battle at Dunbar, which was 
 lost by the Scots, of whom ten thousand were made pri- 
 soners, and driven, like herds of cattle, into England, from 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 467 
 
 SCOTLAND. 141 
 
 whence they were sent, as slaves, to the American plan- 
 tations. 
 
 Cromwell wintered in Edinburgh, and then continued his 
 march northward, hoping, perhaps, to encounter the king, 
 who had been crowned at Scone, and was at the head of 
 about eighteen thousand men; but Charles thought he 
 should do better by going to England at once; and, accord- 
 ingly, while Cromwell was advancing northward, he was 
 proceeding towards the south. His hopes, however, were 
 speedily terminated by the loss of the battle of Worcester; 
 and he eventually escaped to the Continent. 
 
 When Cromwell found that the king had quitted Scot- 
 land, he left General Monk to reduce the country to sub- 
 jection, and followed the royal army; while Monk, without 
 much difficulty, soon suppressed the rest of the king’s 
 party, and declared Scotland to be a part of the Common- 
 wealth. From that time to the restoration, a period of 
 about nine years, the country was governed by commis- 
 sioners, who, by the aid of a military force, established a 
 union with England; so that no parliaments were held in 
 Scotland during that period, but twenty-eight members 
 were sent to London, from the different counties, cities, and 
 burghs, to sit in the English parliament. 
 
 The people did not like the union, but it was useless to 
 attempt to resist governors, whose power was supported by 
 a standing army, and by a chain of forts, which gave them 
 the command of the coast, and the trade of Scotland. 
 During the whole of the Commonwealth, the people were 
 much burthened with oppressive taxes; but. many advantages 
 followed from the change of government, among which may 
 be noticed the total abolition of vassalage, with other re- 
 mains of the ancient feudal customs and services. 
 
 One of the worst features of these times, was a belief in 
 witchcraft, that prevailed to a shocking extent, not only 
 among the poor and ignorant, but also among those whose 
 
468 CORNER^S 
 
 143 SCOTLAND. 
 
 rank and education ought to have raised them above such 
 absurd credulity. Every disaster that happened was attri- 
 buted to supernatural influence ; and many a poor helpless 
 old woman was burnt as a witch, both in England and 
 Scotland, on no other real grounds than her age and infir- 
 mities, which ought rather to have ensured her protection, 
 than have exposed her to persecution. 
 
 At length. King Charles the Second was restored to the 
 throne, an event that occasioned great rejoicing at first 
 among the people of Scotland, who trusted that, as they 
 had received and crowned him when disowned by the Eng- 
 lish, he would show his gratitude on his accession to power. 
 They hoped, too, that as he had signed the covenant, and 
 promised solemnly to defend their church, he w’ould at least 
 not interfere with it; hut Charles, who was not famed either 
 for gratitude or steadiness of principle, and, moreover, dis- 
 liked the strictness of the Presbyterian religion, was no 
 sooner at the head of the state, than he began to pursue the 
 same course of conduct, with regard to Scotland, that had 
 proved so fatal to his father. 
 
 He resolved to destroy the Presbyterian form of worship, 
 to re-establish bishops, and to assimilate, in every respect, 
 the Scottish church to that of England, although he knew 
 this could only be done by the most violent and cruel 
 means. The persecution of the Presbyterians was begun 
 by the execution of the marquis of Argyll, who wjus their 
 great supporter, and had made himself particularly obnox- 
 ious to the king, by the part he had taken in forcing him to 
 sign the covenant, and submit to other religious forms that 
 were distasteful to him, when he was in Scotland. 
 
 The power of this nobleman, who, being the chief of a 
 large clan, had a great many dependents at his commEind, 
 was the principal support of the Presbyterians, who looked 
 up to him as their leader; and as the king was well 
 aware that if he attempted to restore the order of bishops 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 469 
 
 SCOTLAND. 143 
 
 in Scotland while Argyll was there to oppose him, he 
 should be very likely to fail, he was base enough to invite 
 him to court as a friend; and when he came, to send him 
 to the Tower as a prisoner. A charge of treason was 
 brought against him, and as the Scottish parliament had 
 been restored, he was conveyed to Edinburgh to take his 
 trial. There is little doubt that his judges were in- 
 structed to find him guilty, for he was condemned to die, 
 although the charge was groundless; and on his requesting 
 that his execution might be delayed for ten days, to give 
 him time for an appeal to the king, his petition was refused ; 
 which would favour the belief that Charles did not wish to 
 receive the appeal, but rather wanted to make it appear that 
 the parliament of Scotland, and not himself, had passed 
 judgment on him. 
 
 Argyll was beheaded on the second day after his trial. 
 There were several circumstances connected with this un- 
 just execution, that exhibit the king’s ingratitude and want 
 of feeling in a striking point of view. When he was in 
 Scotland, he had professed so much regard for Argyll’s 
 daughter, that it was generally believed he intended to 
 make her his bride; and on the occasion of his coronation 
 at Scone, it was the marquis himself who placed the crown 
 on his head; which caused that unfortunate nobleman to 
 Bay, on hearing sentence of death pronounced against him, — 
 ‘ I placed the crown on his head, and this is my reward! 
 but he hastens me to a better crown than his own.” 
 
 As soon as all fear of opposition from the marquis of 
 Argyll was over, Charles appointed an archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, and several new bishops, and sent them to Scot- 
 land, to take possession of their sees; and very soon after- 
 wards, they took their seats in the Scottish parliament, like 
 the bishops of England. Now all this was contrary to 
 what had been the established religion of Scotland, and 
 the people were so panic-struck at the violent innovation. 
 
470 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 144 SCOTLAND, 
 
 that they made no resistance, till the parliament began to 
 pass acts which occasioned the utmost consternation. 
 
 In the first place, it was ordained that every one should 
 acknowledge the king as supreme head of the church; and 
 secondly, that all persons, male and female, of every age, 
 should abandon the covenant; and those who refused to do 
 so, were subjected to the following heavy penalties. Land- 
 holders were to forfeit a fourth part of their rents; tenants 
 and citizens, a fourth part of their property, and the latter 
 were to be prohibited from trading, and to be liable to any 
 kind of punishment the council should think proper to 
 inflict. 
 
 The governor of Scotland, at this time, was Lord Lauder 
 dale, a man of a very tyrannical disposition, who sent com- 
 missioners into every district to enforce the new acts of 
 parliament, with bodies of soldiers to assist them, who lived 
 at free quarters on all who resisted the innovations of the 
 government. You may easily imagine the wretched state of 
 the country, when official persons were at liberty to enter 
 any man’s house, and oblige him to swear to what he disbe- 
 lieved, and were allowed to imprison those who would not 
 do so, or to fine them, which was almost worse; for in that 
 case, soldiers were quartered in the house to eat, drink, and 
 lodge, till the fine was paid; and these unwelcome guests 
 were not very scrupulous in their behaviour, for they knew 
 they should not be punished for any thing they might do. 
 
 In the west of Scotland, more than three hundred Pres- 
 byterian clergymen, with their families, were expelled from 
 their homes, and driven to seek shelter in caves and among 
 the mountains ; for no one dared to afford them any relief, 
 as that was accounted a crime, for which any person might 
 be imprisoned. 
 
 The persecution of the Huguenots in France, was not more 
 dreadful than that of the Presbyterians in Scotland, during 
 these unhappy times. The prisons were crowded with Non- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 471 
 
 SCOTLAND 145 
 
 conformists, tnat is, with the people who would not go to 
 church, and use the common prayer-hook; and when these 
 melancholy habitations were so full that they could hold no 
 more, the miserable prisoners were sent to the American 
 plantations, and sold as slaves. 
 
 Still the majority of the people were so attached to their 
 religion, that, as they were not permitted to meet for worship 
 publicly, they held meetings on the mountains, or in the 
 glens, and went well armed and mounted, that in case of 
 being surprised by the government troops, they might be 
 able to defend themselves; and it not unfrequently hap- 
 pened that they were interrupted in the midst of their devo- 
 tions, and the clashing of swords succeeded to the voice of 
 prayer. Great efforts were made by the government to 
 abolish the meeting houses, or conventicles, as they were 
 called, by declaring that all persons suspected of attending 
 them, should be considered outlaws, and that, whoever 
 should give food or shelter to the offenders, should be out- 
 lawed also; but notwithstanding this act, many received aid 
 from their friends, and were often concealed from the vigi- 
 lant search of the commissioners, in secret apartments, built 
 in the thickness of the walls, which might be entered 
 through sliding pannels, undiscernible by strangers. Such 
 recesses were common in ancient buildings, and were used 
 by Catholic families at the time of the Reformation, for the 
 concealment of Catholic priests. 
 
 Spies were appointed by the government in every direc- 
 tion, to give information of any suspicious circumstances; 
 and every innkeeper was at liberty to require travellers to 
 state whence they came, whither they were going, and even 
 to ask their name and business. Some gentlemen of rank 
 and fortune, weary of such tyranny, emigrated to the Ame- 
 rican colonies; while others, to save themselves and their 
 families from total ruin, consented to attend the episcopal 
 churches. All the most respectable people were wise enough 
 
 o 
 
472 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 146 SCOTLAND. 
 
 to adopt the latter course ; so that in time the Covenanters, 
 instead of being the great body of the nation, were reduced 
 to a few bands of enthusiasts, whose conventicles became 
 more like congregations of furious fanatics, than meetings 
 held for the purpose of serious worship. 
 
 These unhappy people were hunted down by the soldiers, 
 who had orders to shoot them wherever they were found; 
 nor were they backward in retaliating upon their oppressors, 
 whenever an opportunity offered. A tragical instance of 
 this occurred, in the murder of Dr. Sharpe, archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, who was accidentally met by a party of Cove- 
 nanters, as he was riding along the road in a carriage with 
 his daughter. This prelate had been originally a Cove- 
 nanter, but was induced to desert from that party, and ac- 
 cept the archbishopric of St. Andrews; after which, he be- 
 came a severe and merciless persecutor of those who still 
 adhered to the principles which he had himself professed. 
 His conduct excited a spirit of hatred and revenge against 
 him; the opportunity for gratifying it was not lost, and the 
 old man was dragged from the arms of his daughter, and 
 left dead in the road. After this murder, the assassins were 
 joined by great numbers of their brethren, well armed, and 
 ready for any desperate deeds. 
 
 A celebrated general, Graham of Claverhouse, was sent 
 with three troops of horse, to disperse them ; but they had 
 collected so strong a force, that he was driven back, and 
 the insurgents took possession of the city of Glasgow, 
 declaring their determination to destroy the enemies of their 
 faith by fire and sword. 
 
 The king being informed of this insurrection, sent down 
 to Scotland the duke of Monmouth, who immediately put 
 himself at the head of the army, and marched towards 
 Glasgow, where he gained a victory over the Covenanters, 
 in the battle of Both well-bridge; on which occasion, above 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 473 
 
 SCOTLAND. 147 
 
 five hundred of them were killed, and double that number 
 taken prisoners. This battle took place in the year 1679. 
 
 From this time to the Revolution, when the Stuarts, in 
 the person of James the Second, were expelled from the 
 throne, and William, Prince of Orange, became king of 
 England, the history of Scotland consists entirely of the 
 troubles occasioned by religious disputes. James the Second 
 made several attempts to re-establish the Catholic religion; 
 and when he was opposed by the parliament, he deprived 
 the Scottish royal burghs of their privilege of electing their 
 own magistrates annually; taking upon himself the power of 
 naming the provost, and giving him the right of choosing 
 the other magistrates and the common council; by which 
 means he was enabled to secure the election of such mem- 
 bers of parliament as would not oppose him. 
 
 But he did not succeed in his favourite object, and the 
 attempt only served to make him unpopular among the 
 Scots, who were not sorry when, after having exercised the 
 sovereign authority for three years, he was deposed, and 
 William of Orange chosen king in his stead. Still there 
 were persons in Scotland, as well as in England, always 
 ready to aid the cause of the Stuarts, and this party ob- 
 tained the name of Jacobites, from the Latin word Jacobus, 
 James. 
 
 Among the chief of these was, Graham of Claverhouse, 
 who was now Viscount Dundee, and was one of the same 
 family as the celebrated Montrose. As soon as this brave 
 nobleman knew that King James had been compelled to fly 
 from England, he undertook to raise ten thousand men in 
 the Highlands, and march with them into England, to expel 
 William and his Dutchmen, and replace James on the 
 throne. 
 
 The Highland clans were assembled; but their leader 
 was killed in a battle, fought at Killicrankie, near Dunk eld; 
 and as he was the man on whom the Jacobites of Scotland 
 
474 CORNER^S 
 
 148 SCOTLAND 
 
 placed their chief dependence, no further efforts were made 
 to restore the king, and the Highlanders returned to their 
 mountains. About this time, there was a terrible famine in 
 the Highlands, and many families perished, in consequence 
 of a failure of the crops for three successive seasons. 
 
 During this calamity, an affecting incident took place in 
 the county of Inverness. Here, in a sequestered spot among 
 the mountains, called Clunes, dwelt several families, who, 
 after subsisting for two years on the herbs they had collected 
 in the summer, and the wild mustard-seed which they had 
 ground into meal for their winter food, were reduced to so 
 miserable a condition, that they agreed at length to desert 
 their dwellings ; and coming down all together to the plains, 
 they tenderly embraced each other, and dispersed, with 
 hearts half broken, to go wherever chance might direct 
 them, with scarcely a hope of ever meeting again. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE REVOLUTION TO THE UNION. 
 
 1688 to 1707. 
 
 The change effected by the revolution in England, was the 
 happy means of restoring peace to Scotland, as the new 
 king, William the Third, was too just and too good a man 
 to continue the persecution, which had disgraced the reigns 
 of his predecessors, Charles and James; therefore, he re- 
 moved the bishops, and allowed the people to settle the 
 church as it was before the Restoration of Charles the 
 Second. 
 
 Still there was a party in Scotland, as well as in England, 
 that remained attached to the exiled royal family of the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 475 
 
 SCOTLAND. 149 
 
 Stuarts; and several conspiracies were formed in the begin- 
 ning of William’s reign, with a view of replacing James the 
 Second on the throne; but they were detected and sup- 
 pressed; and in less than two years after the revolution, the 
 whole of Scotland, except the Highlands, had peacefully 
 submitted to the new government. 
 
 I must not omit to mention one of the first and happiest 
 consequences of the revolution to the Scots, which was, the 
 total abolition of the horrible practice of using torture, to 
 extort confessions. The disuse of this barbarous custom 
 must indeed have been a most invaluable blessing, for there 
 was no country in which it had been more frequently or 
 more cruelly practised. 
 
 The government in the Lowland part of Scotland was 
 settled upon the same principles as in England; but the 
 Highlanders, who were not easily reconciled to the expulsion 
 of their ancient race of monarchs, were many of them in 
 open rebellion. 
 
 The earl of Breadalbane, a nobleman who had extensive 
 possessions and great influence in the Highlands, was en- 
 trusted with a large sum of money to distribute among the 
 chiefs, for the purpose of inducing them the more readily to 
 submit, thus to prevent the necessity of resorting to any 
 harsh measures; for William the Third, as compared with 
 some others, was a merciful prince, and was unwilling to 
 exercise severity, where it could be avoided. But the earl 
 of Breadalbane, and other officers in Scotland, were not 
 quite so scrupulous; and the former, it is believed, withheld 
 the money, intending to appropriate it to his own use, in 
 the hope that he should be able, by some other means, to 
 oblige the Highlanders to lay down their arms. He, there- 
 fore, privately endeavoured to persuade the chiefs to pretend 
 to submit to the present government, till some opportunity 
 should offer of resuming their arms with advantage to the 
 banished king. 
 
 o 3 
 
476 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 150 SCOTLAND. 
 
 In the meantime, however, it was discovered that the 
 chiefs had themselves sent to James the Second, who was an 
 exile in France, requesting him to permit them to make a 
 show of submission to the new king, with the understand- 
 ing that they would be ready, at any time, to take up arms 
 again in his cause, whenever he should command them to do 
 so. When this secret correspondence was discovered, a 
 proclamation was issued, that all the heads of the clans who 
 did not appear before the sheriffs or the earl, on or before a 
 certain day appointed, to take the oath of fealty to the 
 king and queen, should be liable to military execution; 
 which meant that they might be killed by the soldiers with- 
 out a trial; and this was the fate of the unfortunate clan 
 of the Macdonalds, who inhabited the valley of Glencoe. 
 
 The massacre of Glencoe is one of the principal events 
 that occurred in Scotland during the reign of William the 
 Third, and has affixed a stigma on the memory of that mo^ 
 narch, although it is said that he was deceived by false re- 
 presentations, and persuaded to give his consent to an act 
 he would have abhorred, had he been made aware of the true 
 circumstances. Macdonald, the chief of the devoted clan, 
 had incurred the hatred of the earl of Breadalbane, by having 
 plundered his lands, and driven away his cattle, at various 
 times; and also by having given private information that 
 the earl had proposed to him, and others, to make a pre- 
 tended submission to King William. 
 
 No notice had been taken of the information, but the 
 earl, who knew that he had betrayed him, determined to be 
 revenged on him and his whole clan. The day fixed for 
 taking the oaths had nearly arrived, and every Highland 
 laird had appeared except Macdonald of Glencoe, who, 
 however, presented himself for that purpose before the go- 
 vernor of Fort William within the time specified; but as the 
 governor was not a civil magistrate, he could not receive his 
 submission, but sent him to the sheriff of Argyll, recom- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 477 
 
 SCOTLAND. 151 
 
 mending him to make what speed he could, lest he should 
 be too late for the appointed day; in which case, he would 
 lose the benefit of the pardon. 
 
 The chief set forward in haste towards Inverary, but hav- 
 ing to travel in the depth of winter, and the roads being 
 bad, he did not arrive till after the time stated. The sheriflp, 
 at first, told him the day was past, and he must abide by 
 the consequences of his neglect; but when he heard how 
 the delay had been occasioned, and saw the tears streaming 
 down the cheeks of the rough old warrior, he consented to 
 receive his oath of allegiance, and promised to put his name 
 in the list of those who had complied with the terms of the 
 proclamation; on which Macdonald returned to his native 
 valley with a light heart, thinking that he and his clan 
 were safe. 
 
 But he little foresaw the consequences of his tardiness. 
 Had he taken care to have been in time, the circumstance of 
 his submission could not have been concealed from the king, 
 and then he would have been secure; but as it was, his 
 name was either suppressed altogether, or mentioned so as 
 to make it appear that he was a dangerous rebel, and that 
 his example influenced the rest of the Highanders, and en- 
 couraged them to break the laws. The king, therefore, was 
 induced to give an order, signed with his own hand, for the 
 extermination of the whole clan of the Macdonalds; and 
 most fearfully were his orders executed. 
 
 A detachment of soldiers was conducted to the valley of 
 Glencoe, by an officer named Campbell, whose niece was 
 married to one of Macdonald’s sons; consequently, he was 
 looked upon as a relation, and he and his followers were 
 received with the utmost kindness. They were to wait for 
 orders from their superior officers, before they made any 
 attack on their unsuspecting hosts; and for a whole fort- 
 night, they partook of the rude hospitality of the Highland 
 chief and his clansmen; eating and drinking with them, and 
 
478 CORNER’S 
 
 152 SCOTLAND. 
 
 joining in all their amusements. At last arrived the fatal 
 order; the unfortunate inhabitants of Glencoe were attacked 
 and murdered at midnight, in their sleep, by the guests they 
 had been entertaining, and who suffered none under the age 
 of seventy to escape. 
 
 I will not describe the horrors of this fatal night, nor the 
 scene of desolation that presented itself in the morning. 
 Suffice it to say, that the chief and his people, men, women, 
 and children, had all been slain; the cottages were con- 
 verted into a heap of ashes; the cattle were all gone, and a 
 gloomy silence reigned in that late happy valley. 
 
 From the massacre of Glencoe, which took place in the 
 year 1692, to the union of the English and Scottish parlia- 
 ments in 1707, nothing very remarkable occurred. It was 
 after the union that trade began to flourish, that manufac- 
 tures were introduced, and that the people of Scotland be- 
 gan to enjoy the freedom of commerce which contributes, in 
 the highest degree, to the wealth and prosperity of a nation. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST REBELLION. 
 
 1707 to 1715. 
 
 From the time of the union of the two crowns, it had been 
 the earnest desire of the English government, to unite the 
 two kingdoms more completely, by having only one legisla- 
 tive assembly for both; by making their interest the same; 
 and by giving one general name to the whole island. The 
 Scots had always opposed this measure, because they 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 479 
 
 SCOTLAND. 153 
 
 thought that, by submitting to it, they should be giving up 
 their independence as a nation, and suffering their country 
 to become a mere province of England; but if they could 
 have foreseen all the benefits that were fated to arise from 
 the projected union, they would have been as anxious as 
 the English were to promote it. 
 
 Hitherto, the merchants of Scotland had not been al- 
 lowed to trade to America, or to any of the English colonies 
 in the East or West Indies, and their commerce with Eng- 
 land had been very limited; but by the treaty of union, 
 they were allowed to have the same privileges in trading to 
 all English possessions in every part of the world, as the 
 English themselves enjoyed, which was manifestly of great 
 advantage to them. Still the people of Scotland, generally, 
 were but little disposed to join themselves with a people 
 who had been their enemies during so many centuries; and 
 while the question was being debated in the Scottish parlia- 
 ment, there were terrible riots in Edinburgh, where the mob 
 paraded the streets at night, put out the lights, and broke 
 the windows of all the members who were favourable to the 
 union. 
 
 Nor were these disturbances confined to the capital. 
 Glasgow, Perth, Dumfries, and most of the principal towns, 
 were in a state of tumult. Happily, however, the people 
 were brought, by degrees, to reflect on the good that was 
 likely to result from entering, as it were, into partnership 
 with a more wealthy nation; and, at last, the treaty of union 
 was concluded, in the fifth year of the reign of Queen Anne, 
 and England and Scotland became one kingdom, under the 
 name of Great Britain. The last Scottish parliament was 
 dissolved on the twenty-fifth of March, 1707; and on the 
 first of May in the same year, the Scottish members took 
 their seats in the English Houses of Parliament; sixteen 
 peers in the House of Lords, and forty-five representatives 
 of counties, cities, and boroughs, in the House of Commons. 
 
480 CORNER’S 
 
 154 SCOTLAND. 
 
 The chief articles of the treaty were, that no alterations 
 should be made in the church of Scotland; that the laws 
 and customs, with regard to trade, should be made the same 
 in all parts of the united kingdom; that the Scotch cattle 
 taken into England should not be liable to a higher duty 
 than English cattle; that money should be granted by par- 
 liament to promote manufactures in Scotland; that the 
 Scottish royal burghs should retain all their ancient privi- 
 leges ; and that no persons should be deprived of those here- 
 ditary rights and offices which they had enjoyed by the laws 
 of Scotland; so that private individuals were not injured by 
 the change in the constitution of the country; while a pros- 
 pect was opened to the community at large of becoming, 
 what the Scots had never yet been, a great commercial 
 nation. 
 
 However, we must not suppose that the advantages of the 
 union have been all in favour of our northern neighbours. 
 It W'as of great advantage to England that she had thus 
 been able to secure the important co-operation of the Scots, 
 whose assistance, in time of war, has proved of most es- 
 sential service; and whose skill and industry has contri- 
 buted, in a high degree, towards the prosperity of both 
 nations. 
 
 But a long time elapsed before the blessings of the union 
 were duly felt and appreciated in Scotland, and its first 
 effects were not such as to reconcile the people to the new 
 order of things. Most of the principal families removed to 
 London; for they had now no parliamentary duties to call 
 them to Edinburgh; and their absence was a source of great 
 discontent to the shopkeepers. 
 
 The taxes, too, were increased; and, certainly, it was but 
 fair, that those who were to share in the national profits, 
 should also bear a part of the expenses; but the taxes had 
 to be paid at once, while the profits to be derived from a 
 more extended commerce, were yet only prospective ; where- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 481 
 
 SCOTLAND. 155 
 
 fore the people, generally, were discontented, and again 
 began to form conspiracies for restoring the exiled Stuarts 
 to the throne. 
 
 James the Second was dead, but he had left a son, now 
 about nineteen, who was called the Chevalier de St. George ; 
 and it was he whom the Jacobites of Scotland wished to 
 place on the throne, in the hope of dissolving the union. 
 Their first conspiracy was discovered, and many gentlemen 
 of rank were arrested, and confined in different prisons and 
 fortresses in Scotland; while others were sent to the Tower 
 of London; but although the rebellion was suppressed for 
 the present, it broke out again with more violence, shortly 
 after the accession of George the First. 
 
 The great leaders of the Jacobites in Scotland, were the 
 dukes of Athol and Hamilton; and there were many other 
 persons of rank and fortune, who were disposed to take up 
 arms for the Chevalier; but the Lowland gentry were not so 
 powerful as they used to be in former days, when all the 
 lower orders were under their control. The feudal times 
 were past, and every peasant was at liberty to use his own 
 free will, on such occasions as the present; therefore, no 
 nobleman or gentleman could reckon, with certainty, upon 
 any very great number of troops among his tenantry. 
 
 In the Highlands, the case was different. Every chief 
 had his whole clan at his absolute command, and most of 
 them were attached to the exiled royal family. These 
 Highland lairds were now, generally, men of good educa- 
 tion; and when they mixed in Lowland society, there was 
 nothing, either in their manners or appearance, to distin- 
 guish them from their southern neighbours ; but not so with 
 the Highland peasantry, who still retained their ancient 
 usages, wore their national costume, and spoke only the 
 Gaelic language. 
 
 It was, therefore, on the Highlanders that the Scottish 
 Jacobites depended for their chief support, whenever they 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 482 
 
 156 SCOTLAND. 
 
 should raise the standard of the Stuarts. The Pretender, 
 as he was called, held a secret correspondence with the earl 
 of Mar, who was at the court of London, and from whom 
 the leaders of the conspiracy in Scotland received their in- 
 structions. 
 
 It was in the month of August, 1715, that the earl of 
 Mar, in obedience to the command of the Chevalier, em- 
 barked, in disguise, in a coal vessel at Gravesend, whence 
 he sailed for Scotland, and landed in Fifeshire, where he 
 was joyfully received by the Jacobite party, and began to 
 take active but secret measures for raising troops. He dis- 
 patched messengers to invite all the Highland chieftains, and 
 other lairds, who were known to be friendly to the Stuart 
 cause, to join him in a great hunting match in the forest of 
 Braemar. To this pretended hunt, the clans marched down 
 in great numbers : and the Lowland lairds, at the head of as 
 many men as they could collect, all habited in the Highland 
 costume, repaired to the place of meeting, where, while their 
 followers were engaged in chasing the red deer, the chiefs 
 were occupied in arranging their plans. 
 
 The result of this meeting was, that the earl of Mar 
 erected the banner of the Chevalier de St. George at Castle- 
 ton, in Braemar, and proclaimed him as James the Eighth 
 of Scotland, and Third of England, Ireland, and the British 
 Colonies. Thus commenced the fatal contest that ruined, 
 for many years, the domestic peace of Scotland; for there 
 was scarcely a family the members of which were all of the 
 same political opinions; so that the nearest relatives became 
 foes, and many parents, who were attached to the existing 
 government, had the misery of seeing their sons in the ranks 
 of the rebels. 
 
 The merchants, and better class of citizens, who were 
 just beginning to derive some benefit from their newly- 
 established trading intercourse with America and the Indies, 
 were not desirous of any change; therefore, the principal 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 483 
 
 SCOTLAND. 157 
 
 men of Edinburgh and Glasgow raised regiments of volun- 
 teers for King George; and this example was soon followed 
 in most of the great towns; while the main army, under the 
 command of the duke of Argyll, was held in readiness for 
 action. The insurgents, however, gained possession of 
 Perth, and made it their head quarters, intending to wait 
 for the arrival of the Chevalier. 
 
 It was about this time, that the Jacobites met with a 
 severe misfortune in the death of Louis the Fourteenth, who 
 had been their most powerful supporter, and on whose aid 
 they had relied, for the success of their present enterprise. 
 The troops were disheartened by this event, for they had 
 been taught to expect a large reinforcement of men, money, 
 arms, and provisions from France; and when they found 
 that no supplies came, and that the great monarch who was 
 CO have sent them, was dead, they deserted the camp; and 
 several of the Highland clans returned to the mountains. 
 
 The earl of Mar now became very uneasy at the gloomy 
 prospect before him ; and seeing that nothing but the pre- 
 sence of the Chevalier himself, could save his cause from 
 ruin, he wrote to him, earnestly entreating that he would 
 hasten to place himself at the head of his army. 
 
 In the meanwhile, several engagements took place be- 
 tween the troops of Mar and those of Argyll, in which nei- 
 ther gained any very decided advantage ; but each encounter 
 weakened the Jacobite forces, as they never quitted the field 
 without considerable loss, and gained no fresh partizans to 
 supply the place of their slain. While the friends of the 
 Pretender were thus losing ground in Scotland, they were 
 not more fortunate in England, where the rising had been 
 very general in the northern counties. 
 
 But I need not enlarge upon their disasters; their defeat 
 at Preston, the melancholy fate of their companions who 
 were made prisoners there, and the suppression of the re- 
 bellion in England ; all which is related in the history of that 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 484 
 
 158 SCOTLAND. 
 
 country ; therefore, I shall only refer to the ill-fortune of the 
 English Jacobites, as another reason why many of them in 
 Scotland abandoned the cause in despair, and returned to 
 their homes, hoping, by that means, to avoid the fatal con- 
 sequences of having joined in the rebellion. 
 
 Still, the earl of Mar thought it his duty to keep his 
 troops together till the arrival of the Chevalier, who, at 
 length, made his appearance; but instead of bringing with 
 him the expected succours, he arrived almost alone, having 
 with him only six gentlemen, and being quite destitute of 
 money and arms to aid his cause. The earl of Mar, with 
 a few other noblemen and officers, went to meet him at 
 Aberdeen; but they had no cheering intelligence to give to 
 the disappointed prince, who accompanied them to Perth, 
 with a sad heart, and with an air of dejection which was 
 little likely to revive the drooping spirits of the soldiers. 
 In fact, the unhappy prince, who had been neglected abroad 
 since the death of his patron, Louis, saw from the moment 
 of his landing in Scotland, that his cause was hopeless; and 
 being naturally of a desponding temper, he gave himself up 
 to despair, and appeared amongst his partizans as a weak- 
 hearted, incompetent leader, instead of a spirited hero, 
 ready to animate them by his example, and to share in the 
 dangers they had shewn themselves willing to encounter for 
 his sake. 
 
 As soon as the duke of Argyll knew that the Pretender 
 was in Scotland, he thought it was time to take more active 
 measures than he had yet adopted. He, therefore, con- 
 ducted his army towards Perth, and entered the city with- 
 out opposition; for the news of his approach spread such 
 alarm among the insurgents, that they did not attempt to 
 defend their position, but marched quietly out of the town, 
 and retreated to the sea-port of Montrose. Whilst here, 
 the Chevalier, with the earl of Mar and other persons of 
 distinction, left their apartments privately in the night, and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 485 
 
 SCOTLAND. 159 
 
 embarked on board a vessel, which conveyed them from the 
 scene of misery and confusion they had themselves created, 
 leaving others to suffer the fatal consequences of their rash 
 enterprise. 
 
 Great was the indignation of the insurgents on finding 
 they were deserted not only by their general, but by the 
 prince for whom they had risked so much. The rebel army 
 was immediately disbanded; the Highlanders marched away 
 to their native wilds, and the Lowlanders endeavoured to 
 conceal themselves in various hiding places, until they could 
 meet with some opportunity of leaving the country; and 
 thus ended the Great Rebellion of 1715, which proved the 
 ruin of some of the most ancient and most illustrious 
 families in Scotland; for those who escaped death were out- 
 lawed, and their estates were forfeited to the crown. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 FIRST TO THE SECOND GREAT REBELLION. 
 1715 to 1745. 
 
 One of the most remarkable characters in Scotland at this 
 period was the celebrated Rob Roy, the chief of the Mac 
 Gregor clan, which had been outlawed by James the Sixth. 
 Rob Roy had been engaged in the late rebellion, but he 
 seems to have played a double part, for while he apparently 
 sided with Mar and the Highlanders, it is suspected he gave 
 information of their movements to the duke of Argyll. 
 
 This bold freebooter and his clan inhabited the lands ad- 
 joining Ben Lomond, where they lived like Robin Hood and 
 his lawless band, robbing the rich, and giving freely to the 
 poor. There are some curious anecdotes told of this re- 
 
486 CORNER’S 
 
 160 SCOTLAND. 
 
 nowned Highland chieftain, which may serve to amuse, as 
 also to give some insight into the manners of the High- 
 landers at this period. 
 
 Just after the termination of the Rebellion, Rob Roy and 
 a neighbouring chief, named Macdonald, borrowed some 
 money from the duke of Montrose to buy cattle; but Mac- 
 donald contriving to get the money into his possession, dis- 
 appeared, leaving Rob Roy to pay the debt, which he was 
 unable to do; the duke, therefore, seized on his lands, and 
 turned his tenants out of their cottages, which he gave to 
 his own people. 
 
 The bold chief being determined to take revenge for 
 this injury, caused it to be reported that he had gone to 
 Ireland, while, in reality, he had concealed himself, with a 
 few trusty clansmen, in the passes of Ben Lomond, waiting 
 for an opportuninity of putting his threat into execution. 
 When rent day arrived, the duke’s factor went round to the 
 new tenants to collect their rents ; but as he was returning, 
 he was suddenly surrounded by a party of armed High- 
 landers, and, to his great astonishment, beheld Rob Roy at 
 their head, who demanded the rents as his right; and as it 
 was useless for the factor, who was alone, to make any 
 resistance, he gave up the money, for which Rob gave him 
 a regular receipt as though for the payment of a just debt. 
 
 After this exploit, Rob Roy went into Argyllshire, where 
 he dwelt for years, under the protection of the duke of 
 Argyll, and never ceased to annoy the duke of Montrose, 
 who was at variance with his patron. He frequently sent 
 out parties of men, to carry off his corn, meal, and cattle, 
 and obliged the tenants to pay black mail, as a security for 
 their property. This black mail was a tax levied by the 
 robber chief on every farmer on Montrose’s estate. Those 
 who paid it, were not molested; but those who did not, 
 were liable to the constant depredations of the daring out- 
 laws. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 487 
 
 SCOTLAND. 161 
 
 Rob Roy, however, was not without good nature, though 
 he sometimes exercised it in a rather whimsical manner ; for 
 instance: — Being told that a poor farmer was about to be 
 turned out of his farm, because he could not pay his rent, 
 he sent him a sufficient sum to do so ; taking care, at the 
 same time, to learn when the factor would call to receive it. 
 The rent was paid, and the factor was going home very con- 
 tentedly, when he was met by Rob, who re-possessed him- 
 self of the money he had given to the farmer. 
 
 Many of the ancient customs were now fast wearing away, 
 and great improvements were being made in many parts of 
 the Highlands, both with regard to the country and its in- 
 habitants. Immediately after the suppression of the rebel- 
 lion, commissioners were appointed by government, to make 
 a progress through the northern districts, and see what 
 might be done to improve the country, and establish peace 
 and order amongst the clans. 
 
 One of the chief obstacles to the progress of civilization 
 in the Highlands, was the want of roads, many parts being 
 quite inaccessible to any but those who had been accus- 
 tomed, from childhood, to climb the pathless mountains. 
 It w^as the wildness of the country that had enabled the 
 Highlanders to maintain their freedom, which was more 
 prized by them, than any advantages they might gain 
 through a more ready intercourse with their neighbours; 
 therefore they were far from being pleased at seeing men 
 employed in making good roads through every part of the 
 Highlands, though the work was done at the expense of the 
 government. The plan, however, succeeded; and in the 
 course of a few years, it was as easy to travel in that part 
 of Scotland, as in any other. 
 
 In consequence of the expenses incurred in making these 
 roads, and establishing schools in the. Highlands, several 
 new taxes were imposed ; and, besides others, a duty upon 
 ale, which occasioned many disturbances in the towns, be- 
 
 p 3 
 
488 CORNER’S 
 
 162 SCOTLAND. 
 
 cause it was laid on the common beverage of the working 
 people. The town of Glasgow was the principal scene of 
 tumult. The excise officers, whose duty it was to enforce 
 the payment of this tax, were threatened by the mob; nor 
 was the riot suppressed till the military had been called out, 
 and some lives were lost; after which, tranquillity was re- 
 stored, and the tax was ultimately continued. 
 
 The Custom-house and excise duties to which Scotland 
 had been subjected since the Union, had given rise to an 
 extensive contraband trade, and many parts of the coast 
 were frequented by smugglers of the most desperate cha- 
 racter. Two of these men, named Robertson and Wilson, 
 who were well known in Fifeshire, were detected in landing 
 some brandy and tea, for which they had not paid the duty, 
 and their goods were therefore seized, and taken to the 
 Custom-house by the revenue officers. The smugglers, irri- 
 tated at the loss, made an attempt to recover the forfeited 
 goods, by robbing the Custom-house, for which they were 
 tried, and condemned to death. Their fate excited much 
 compassion, for smuggling was not regarded as a very se- 
 rious offence by a people who hated the revenue officers, and 
 looked upon custom-house dues as a grievous imposition; 
 and it was this feeling, of which advantage was taken by 
 one of the prisoners to escape, and this led to a terrible ca- 
 tastrophe, which will scarcely ever be forgotten in Scotland. 
 
 On the Sunday before the day appointed for the execution 
 of the two culprits, they were taken to church, according 
 to a usual custom, attended by a guard of four soldiers. 
 The service being ended, they were returning through the 
 church to the prison, when Wilson, who was a tall, power- 
 ful man, seized two of the guards with his hands, and 
 shouting to his companion to flee, seized, with his teeth, 
 another of the guards, who was marching before. Robert- 
 son instantly sprang forwards, leaped over the pews, and 
 being favoured by the crowd, made his escape, and was 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 489 
 
 SCOTLAND. 163 
 
 never heard of more; while his generous friend, who had 
 made this bold effort to save him, suffered the penalty of 
 his offences. 
 
 The mob, on the occasion of his execution, being rather 
 tumultuous. Captain Porteous, the commander of the city 
 guard, which had^been called out to prevent the rescue of 
 the prisoner, ordered the soldiers to fire, and many persons 
 were killed. Porteous was arrested, and tried for murder; 
 and there being several citizens among the jury, whose 
 friends were in the number of the slain, he was pronounced 
 guilty, and sentenced to death. His case, however, was 
 taken into consideration by the government, and a reprieve 
 was sent to Edinburgh the night before his execution was 
 to have taken place, which occasioned so much disappoint- 
 ment among the people, that a party assembled in the 
 middle of the night, broke into the prison, dragged the 
 unfortunate man from the chimney, in which he had endea- 
 voured to conceal himself, and accompanied by a large mob, 
 carried him in triumph to the usual place of execution, 
 where they hanged him. The crowd then dispersed; and it 
 is remarkable, that, although every exertion was used to find 
 out who had been concerned in this dreadful deed, not one 
 of the conspirators was ever discovered; which gave rise to 
 suspicion, that the Porteous mob, as this disturbance is 
 usually called, was composed of persons far above the 
 common order. 
 
 From this time, to the rebellion of 1745, nothing requir- 
 ing notice occurred in Scotland. The country had not 
 yet had time to grow rich by means of commerce, which, 
 nevertheless, was gradually increasing; and a council was 
 instituted in 1727, at Edinburgh, for the encouragement 
 of the linen and woollen manufactures, which, however, 
 were not carried on, to any great extent, till a later period. 
 
 The landholders, with a few exceptions, were poor, and as 
 money was scarce, they were obliged to receive a great part 
 
490 COENER^S 
 
 164 SCOTLAND. 
 
 of tlieir rents in kind. The inconvenience attendant on a 
 want of money, was so severely felt among the Scottish 
 nobility, that many of them had recourse to old feudal cus- 
 toms, to increase their incomes, and the tenants, on some 
 estates, were bound to take all their corn to be ground at 
 the landlord's mill, and to pay him a heavy duty for every 
 measure. They were also obliged to perform certain ser- 
 vices, one of which was digging coals and peat, for firing. 
 As this often hindered them from attending to their own 
 fields, they were kept very poor; and as they had no leases 
 of their farms, but only held them from year to year, they 
 were at the mercy of the lords, whom they dared not 
 disobey. 
 
 In the rural districts, the poverty of the people was visible 
 in the wretchedness of their habitations, and the slovenly 
 way in which agriculture was carried on. There were no 
 inclosures, except about gentlemen's gardens; the fiu'mers 
 had no carts, and their implements of husbandry were few, 
 and of the commonest kind. The wages of a man-servant 
 did not exceed fifteen shillings for half a year, and a woman 
 was allowed only ten. They had no wheaten bread; and in 
 many places, only three cows were killed, to supply beef for 
 a whole parish through the winter. 
 
 The gentry in the country had no carriages, but rode to 
 church on horseback ; but in the great towns, carriages were 
 used, and before the breaking out of the rebellion, hackney- 
 coaches were introduced into Edinburgh. 
 
 THE REBELLION OF 1745. 
 
 I NOW purpose to give you an account of the rebellion that 
 took place in the time of George the Second, the hero of 
 which was Charles Edwaid Stuart, the eldest son of the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 491 
 
 SCOTLAND. 165 
 
 Chevalier de St. George. This prince, an elegant and ac- 
 complished young man, was born in Italy, and at the time 
 of his rash attempt to obtain the sovereignty of Great 
 Britain, was about twenty-five years of age. 
 
 He was stimulated to the enterprise by the French go- 
 vernment, and provided with two ships and a few troops, 
 with which he embarked for Scotland early in the year 
 1745; but losing one of his vessels on the voyage, in conse- 
 quence of an engagement with an English ship of war, he 
 reached the Hebrides with a very slender train. Here he 
 was joined by several friendly clans, for the spirit of Ja- 
 cobitism was far from being extinguished in Scotland, and 
 prevailed more particularly in the Highlands, where most of 
 the chiefs were hostile to the existing government. 
 
 The Chevalier de St. George was still living, therefore his 
 son announced himself as the champion of his father’s rights, 
 for whom he was to act as regent, in the event of his restor- 
 ation, of which he appeared very confident. The gallant 
 bearing and affable manners of the young prince, were pecu- 
 liarly adapted to the taste of the Highlanders; and there 
 were many chiefs, who though they had, perhaps, but faint 
 hopes of the success of the undertaking, yet were induced to 
 join the young adventurer, and promise to stand by him to 
 the last. 
 
 For some time, the arrival of the Chevalier was kept a 
 secret, except from those who were known to be his friends ; 
 but the excitement that prevailed among the Jacobite party, 
 attracted the suspicions of the government authorities, so 
 that several persons were arrested, while troops were sent 
 from different forts to reconnoitre the Highlands, where 
 parties of men had been seen carrying arms. 
 
 Several skirmishes had taken place, even before it was 
 generally known that the prince was in Scotland, or that 
 any rising in favour of the Stuarts was contemplated. At 
 length the standard of rebellion was raised at Glenfinnan, 
 
493 CORNEE^S 
 
 166 SCOTLAND. 
 
 and the Highland clans assembled in such numbers, that 
 the prince soon found himself at the head of a considerable 
 army, and marching boldly down from the mountains, took 
 possession of Perth, where he caused his father to be pro- 
 claimed as James the Eighth, and himself as Regent of 
 Britain. His followers were enthusiastic in his cause, for he 
 wisely accommodated himself to their habits and prejudices, 
 wearing the Highland costume, sleeping on the bare ground 
 wrapped in his plaid, and sharing their rude and simple fare. 
 
 When the people of Edinburgh heard of the approach of 
 Charles and his Highland troops, the confusion was extreme. 
 The magistrates called meetings of the principal citizens, to 
 deliberate whether it would be better to attempt to defend 
 the city, or to surrender it quietly to the rebels ; and as 
 there were many who were Jacobites in their hearts, and 
 really wished to see the prince in possession of the capital; 
 and many others who were terrified at the idea of the city 
 being plundered by the wild Highlanders, whom they pic- 
 tured to themselves as a horde of savages, the prevailing 
 opinion was in favour of giving up the city, as there was not 
 a military force sufficient to defend it. 
 
 A deputation was then sent to the prince, who was en- 
 camped within two miles of the town, to make the best 
 terms they could; but scarcely had they set forth, when 
 news was brought that a fleet had arrived from England 
 with troops, who were hastening to the relief of the city. 
 
 The magistrates and friends of the government were then 
 sorry they had offered to capitulate, and sent off another 
 deputation to gain time ; but the prince, who had also heard 
 of the arrival of the English fleet, and knew that there was 
 no time to be lost, sent word that, if the gates were not 
 opened before two o’clock in the morning, he should take 
 the city by storm. 
 
 The gates were opened before the appointed time, but 
 whether by design or accident, does not clearly appear. A 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 493 
 
 SCOTLAND. 167 
 
 party of Highlanders, however, entered in the night, and on 
 the following morning, Charles Edward rode into the capi- 
 tal, where he was received with loud acclamations, and took 
 up his abode at Holy rood- house, the palace of his ancestors. 
 
 The prince had many gentlemen of rank in his train, 
 though his followers were, for the most part, but scantily 
 clothed and badly armed. He ordered that his father should 
 be proclaimed at the market- cross, and that the magistrates 
 should sanction the ceremony, by attending in their official 
 robes; and in the evening, he gave a grand ball at the 
 palace, which was attended by most of the great families 
 then in Edinburgh. The ladies of Scotland were as much 
 interested in the politics of the times as their male relatives, 
 and the sentiments of either party were denoted by a par- 
 cular manner of wearing their plaids. 
 
 Meanwhile, the English troops, under the command of 
 Sir John Cope, had landed, and were advancing towards the 
 capital. The prince eagerly set forth to meet them, and 
 gained a great victory at the battle of Prestonpans; after 
 which he returned to Edinburgh in triumph. This success 
 gave new and bright hopes to the Jacobites, and induced 
 many who had hitherto remained neuter to join the rebel 
 army. 
 
 Charles now held a regular court at Holyrood, and 
 published his mandates, as though he had been really a 
 sovereign prince. He was surrounded by noblemen and 
 ladies of distinction, and was at this time exceedingly po- 
 pular. But his glory was only short-lived, and all the ad- 
 vantages he had gained were lost as soon as he ventured 
 into England. His sanguine temper had led him to expect 
 that he should there be joined by a host of friends; but al- 
 though he and his Highland soldiers were suffered to pass 
 from town to town with little opposition, very few persons 
 seemed disposed to embrace a cause so dangerous, more 
 
494. CORNER'S 
 
 168 SCOTLAND. 
 
 particularly as active preparations were making in England 
 to suppress the insurrection. 
 
 The absence of the young Chevalier had given the Scot- 
 tish authorities time to recover from their consternation, and 
 provide means of defence; for the Jacobites, though nume- 
 rous, were far from being the strongest party in the Low- 
 lands, where the towns were garrisoned, and new regiments 
 were raised all over the country. 
 
 Charles Edward had advanced as far as Derby, when his 
 chief officers, who saw that in England, at least, his cause 
 was hopeless, persuaded him to return ; and he very reluc- 
 tantly retraced his steps to Scotland, where he no longer 
 had the command of the capital, and was, in all respects, in 
 a much worse position than when he quitted it. 
 
 The rest of this unhappy war may be related in a few 
 words. The duke of Cumberland, who had taken the com- 
 mand of the English army, crossed the borders at the head 
 of a considerable force, and marched direct to Edinburgh; 
 while prince Charles took quite a different route towards 
 the Highlands. In his way, he several times encountered 
 parties of his enemies, and on one occasion, gained a victory 
 at Falkirk, which renewed his hopes and spirits; but he was 
 obliged to retreat from Stirling-castle, to which he had laid 
 siege, and take up his quarters at Inverness. 
 
 The duke of Cumberland had, in the mean time, removed 
 his troops to Aberdeen, where he remained till the spring, 
 when he resolved to endeavour to put an end to the war, 
 at once, by a decisive battle. The two armies met at Cul- 
 loden, where the Chevalier was totally defeated, and, with 
 difficulty, made his escape to the Hebrides. 
 
 The battle of Culloden was fought on the sixteenth of 
 April, 1746, and was followed by all those sanguinary pun- 
 ishments which are consequent upon an unsuccessful re- 
 bellion. A great number of military executions took place 
 on the spot, by command of the royal duke, who is thought 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 495 
 
 SCOTLAND. 169 
 
 to have acted with too much severity on the occasion ; the 
 prisons, both in England and Scotland, were filled with 
 Jacobites, who were arrested in all parts of the kingdom; 
 and a large reward was offered for the prince * himself, who 
 had taken refuge in South Uist, among the people of Clan- 
 ronald, a chief who had been one of the first to take up 
 arms in his cause, and was now faithful to him in his mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 The island, however, was soon beset by the government 
 soldiers, and Charles was compelled to seek some other re- 
 treat. During five months, the unhappy prince wandered 
 from place to place, sometimes disguised in female attire, 
 sometimes in the garb of a serving man, and was even re- 
 duced to such extremity, as to be obliged to walk barefooted. 
 
 But wherever chance directed his steps, he was always 
 kindly received, and protected by those to whom he revealed 
 his name; which was the more honourable on their part, as 
 they were mostly poor people, to whom it might be sup- 
 posed the reward of thirty thousand pounds offered for his 
 apprehension would have been an irresistible temptation; 
 but not even for that large sum was any one found ungene- 
 rous enough to betray him into the hands of his enemies. 
 At length, Charles received intelligence that a ship was in 
 readiness to convey him to France; and he embarked in it, 
 with a number of gentlemen, who were glad to save their 
 lives by banishing themselves from the country. 
 
 The trials, executions, and confiscations of property, that 
 followed this fatal rebellion, give a melancholy character to 
 this part of the history of the United Kingdom; and many 
 years elapsed before the families of those who had been im- 
 plicated in it recovered from the sad effects of their impru- 
 dence. But as there is seldom an evil without some attendant 
 good, so it will be found that the wild attempt of Charles 
 Stuart to recover the throne of his ancestors, which, had it 
 proved successful, would most likely have been a very un- 
 
 Q 
 
496 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 170 SCOTLAND. 
 
 fortunate event for the kingdom, was, in the end, the means 
 of terminating that rude state of society in the Highlands, 
 which had always been a bar to the peace and civilization 
 of that part of the country. The system of improvement, 
 that had been begun after the first rebellion, was carried to a 
 much greater extent. The number of schools was consi- 
 derably increased; and every means adopted to facilitate 
 the intercourse of the highlanders with the more civilized 
 districts. 
 
 The rebellion of 1745, is the last historical event of im- 
 portance that occurred in Scotland. All that remains to be 
 told, relates to the rapid growth of the peaceful arts, the 
 extension of commerce, the refinement of manners, the in^ 
 troduction of manufactures, the wonderful improvement of 
 the towns, and the progress of the country generally, in 
 wealth, prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 PRESENT STATE OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 When we contrast the present prosperous and happy con- 
 dition of Scotland with its former state of poverty and 
 wretchedness, we must at once feel convinced, that it would 
 have been a great misfortune to the country, if the princes 
 of the House of Stuart had been restored to the Scottish 
 throne, and thus have dissolved the Union which is so bene- 
 ficial to both countries. 
 
 Nothing appears more obvious than that it is the interest 
 of two nations inhabiting the same island, to unite in all 
 things for their mutual benefit and defence; yet national 
 prejudices are not easily overcome; and it is not surprising 
 that the Scots should, at first, have been dissatisfied with a 
 measure which put an end to their political independence. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 497 
 
 SCOTLAND. 171 
 
 and of which the advantages were not likely to be felt for a 
 number of years. 
 
 It was this dissatisfaction that induced so many persons 
 to join in the rebellions; and there is little doubt, that some 
 of the chiefs who took a part in them, did so rather with 
 the hope of recovering their ancient influence and authority 
 over their clans, than from any strong feelings of attach- 
 ment to the exiled Stuarts. 
 
 Little had hitherto been done by the government for the 
 encouragement of trade and manufactures in Scotland. 
 English merchants were unwilling that the Scots should 
 share in their foreign trade, whilst no advances were made 
 in agriculture. The Scots had little commerce, and conse- 
 quently were too poor to carry on manufactures to any great 
 extent; nor was it till some time after the termination of the 
 second rebellion, that the blessings of the union began to be 
 generally felt, and that the Scots became fully aware of the 
 advantage of being incorporated with a people more wealthy, 
 more powerful, and more advanced in arts, than themselves. 
 
 You have already seen how complete a revolution took 
 place in Scotland, through the dissolution of that system of 
 clanship which was, in the first instance, brought from Ire- 
 land, and had existed ever since the time of the Scoto-Irish 
 kings. Many of the chiefs who had been concerned in the 
 rebellion, went abroad, to escape the fatal consequences of 
 their treasonable conduct; and their estates, which then be- 
 came the property of the crown, were placed under the su- 
 perintendence of a committee, appointed by government to 
 manage all the forfeited lands to the best advantage. The 
 profits arising from them were employed in forming roads, 
 more particularly into and through the Highlands, estab- 
 lishing schools, and improving the manufactures of the 
 country, which soon began to make an astonishing progress. 
 
 The merchants of Scotland were also admitted to an 
 equitable share in the trade with America, and were soon 
 
498 CORNEE^S 
 
 172 SCOTLAND. 
 
 able to send out their own manufactures from Glasgow and 
 other towns, in return for which, they imported large quan- 
 tities of tobacco; and as their commerce was extended, so 
 their wealth and prosperity was gradually increased. The 
 abolition of clanship, by putting an end to private warfare, 
 left the people at liberty to exert themselves for the improve- 
 ment of their own condition; and as they were no longer in 
 fear of English invasion, they were encouraged to improve 
 their lands, to which they had no sufficient inducement 
 while they were in daily fear that their crops might be de- 
 stroyed by a hostile army. Before the union, no man had 
 any certain security for life or property; either of which was 
 liable to be destroyed by any clan with which he happened 
 to be at feud; but after the kingdom had been united, 
 justice was more equitably administered, and lives as well as 
 property were protected. 
 
 The people of Scotland are now enriched by a just par- 
 ticipation in the foreign trade of England, and by the intro- 
 duction of various manufactures: whilst the value of their 
 soil has been greatly increased by an additional demand for 
 agricultural produce consequent upon the increase of com- 
 merce and manufactures, which has induced a more constant 
 cultivation; and by the adoption of the improvements that 
 have been made in agriculture. There are extensive cotton 
 factories in and about Glasgow, which is the chief manufac- 
 turing and trading town in Scotland, and which has lately 
 been much improved, both in extent and beauty. Silks are 
 made at Paisley, Glasgow, and Edinburgh; and there are 
 large woollen factories in Aberdeen, Stirling, Argyll, and 
 several other counties. The tartans that are so much ad- 
 mired, are made at Stirling and Bannockburn. 
 
 In short, the manufactures of Scotland, like those of 
 England, are now various and extensive; but these would 
 not be of much use to the people, indeed they would never 
 have been established, if they could not find a ready sale for 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 499 
 
 SCOTLAND. 172 
 
 them in England and the British colonies ; and these markets 
 would not be open to the Scots, were it not for the friendly 
 bond of union that has made them and the English one 
 people. 
 
 The increasing prosperity of Scotland is nowhere more 
 strikingly visible than in the rural districts, in which, in- 
 stead of the miserable huts that, previously to the end of the 
 last century, served as habitations for the peasantry, there 
 may now be seen numerous cottages, as clean and as com- 
 fortable as any to be met with in English villages; whilst 
 the farm-houses, in every part of the country, excepting in 
 the Isles, and some of the Highland districts, are of a much 
 better description than those of former times. 
 
 The rise of manufactures, and the improvement of agri- 
 culture, created employment for the lower classes; and as 
 the farmers and manufacturers became more opulent, they 
 could afford to pay higher wages to their labourers, who, in 
 consequence, were able to procure better food and clothing; 
 so that the condition of all classes of people, from the 
 greatest landholders to the poorest peasants, is abundantly 
 improved since the time of the rebellion; and the Scots 
 would now be as unwilling to sever the tie that binds the 
 two nations so closely together, as their ancestors were to 
 consent that it should be formed. 
 
 After the suppression of the last rebellion, the govern- 
 ment, being anxious to put an end, as far as possible, to all 
 distinction between the Highland and Lowland Scots, made 
 a law, prohibiting the former from wearing their national 
 dress, or carrying arms. This, at first, was considered a 
 great hardship; but, in time, the Highlanders became so 
 reconciled to the new fashion, that when the prohibition was 
 withdrawn, some years afterwards, very few resumed the 
 picturesque costume that had graced their ancestors, finding 
 the less elegant but more convenient and comfortable dress 
 
 Q 3 
 
500 CORNER^S 
 
 174 SCOTLAND. 
 
 of the Lowlanders better suited to their present peaceful 
 mode of life. 
 
 In many parts of the Highlands, the people are chiefly 
 employed in feeding sheep and cattle for the London mar- 
 kets; but in the more northern districts, where the soil is 
 very poor and barren, and the pasturage scanty, the general 
 occupation is fishing. 
 
 A few years before the Union, the Scottish parliament 
 passed an act for the establishment of schools in all the 
 parishes throughout the kingdom; and the order was gene- 
 rally obeyed, except in the remote Highland districts. The 
 masters are appointed by the landholders and clergy, and 
 each is provided with a dwelling-house and school-room, 
 and receives a small salary from the parish in addition to a 
 trifling fee from every pupil. These schools were originally 
 intended as preparatory seminaries for the universities, but 
 they have now happily become more generally applicable to 
 all classes and conditions of the people, all of whose children 
 receive excellent useful education at them, free, or almost 
 entirely free, of any expense. The schoolmasters have 
 always formed a very respectable class of the community, 
 and many of them have been distinguished as eminent 
 scholars. There are also grammar schools in all the cities 
 and burghs, besides numerous private academies. There 
 are in the highlands a great number of parochial schools en- 
 dowed by the government; and, in short, every exertion has 
 been made to extend the benefits of education to the most 
 remote parts of the country. 
 
 The four universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, 
 and St. Andrews, afford ample means for high attainments; 
 and we all know, that some of the most eminent literary 
 characters of modern times have been natives of Scotland. 
 
 Steam navigation, railway travelling, and other improve- 
 ments of modern times, are making, as in England, a rapid 
 progress, and the only difference of importance now subsist- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 501 
 
 SCOTLAND. 175 
 
 ing between the two countries, relates to affairs connected 
 with the Scottish national religion. It is to be regretted 
 that any circumstances should have arisen to disturb the 
 harmony that had so long subsisted; but we have already 
 seen in many instances, that the Scots are peculiarly averse 
 to any interference on the part of the government with re- 
 gard to their religion, and that when they agreed to the 
 treaty of union, they did so expressly on condition that they 
 should be allowed to maintain the Presbyterian forms of 
 worship, and to rule their church in their own way. 
 
 The Scots are strongly attached to their national religion. 
 They pay strict attention to the observance of the sabbath ; 
 and are extremely particular with regard to the choice of 
 their ministers; so that it has been the custom not to ap- 
 point any individual to that office, not approved by the 
 parishioners; and it was owing to a proposed departure 
 from this custom, together with other acts on the part of 
 government, wffiich the Scots looked upon as encroachments 
 on their religious liberties, that a powerful contest arose, 
 the nature of which I shall endeavour to explain. 
 
 At the time of the Union, the ministers were chosen by 
 the presbyteries and the heads of families in the several pa- 
 rishes, and no one could be a candidate who had not gone 
 through a certain course of study at an university, and re- 
 ceived from the professors a certificate of his fitness for the 
 sacred office, both as regarded learning and moral conduct. 
 Thus qualified, his claims were made known to the synod, 
 and, if approved by that assembly, he was put upon his 
 trials; that is, he was examined in various branches of 
 knowledge, and obliged to deliver a certain number of dis- 
 courses before the presbytery, after which, if it were decided 
 that he was a fit person to have the charge of a parish, he 
 received a license to preach, that the people might have the 
 opportunity of judging whether they would approve of him 
 for their minister. Then, if the congregation were satisfied. 
 
502 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 176 SCOTLAND. 
 
 he was ordained, and appointed to the living, to which be- 
 longed a house, called the manse, with a glebe or piece of 
 land attached to it, and a salary, paid out of the tithes of 
 the parish. 
 
 The privilege of choosing their own ministers, was highly 
 prized by the people of Scotland; so that when the Union 
 took place in the time of Queen Anne, it was expressly 
 stipulated that they should not be deprived of it, but that 
 the church government should remain exactly as it then 
 was; and this promise was one great means of reconciling 
 the Scots to the union. But it was not long before an act 
 was passed by the parliament for the restoration of patron- 
 age, by which certain persons were allowed the right of 
 presenting ministers to vacant benefices in Scotland, a cus. 
 tom which, it appears, had formerly existed, but had been 
 abolished at the Revolution, by William the Third. This 
 innovation caused general dissatisfaction at the time, and 
 was protested against by the General Assembly, both then 
 and at all its subsequent meetings ; but as the persons pre- 
 sented were subject to the examinations of the presbytery, 
 and might be rejected on any reasonable ground, the oppo- 
 sition gradually subsided, and the annual protest of the 
 General Assembly became a mere matter of form. 
 
 This state of things lasted till the year 1834, when an 
 act was passed in the General Assembly, called the Veto 
 act, by which the heads of families in any parish were 
 empowered to reject a presentee if they did not consider him 
 a proper person to be their minister; so that when a patron 
 presented any one to a living, the parishioners were con- 
 sulted as to whether they approved of him or not ; and if a 
 majority of the heads of families declared they would rather 
 not accept him, the presbytery was directed not to take him 
 upon trials. This new law was acted upon in several pa- 
 rishes, where presentees were refused on the ground that 
 they were not acceptable to the majority of the parishioners 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 503 
 
 SCOTLAND. 177 
 
 but aa this proceeding was contrary to the act of parliament 
 that restored or bestowed the right of patronage in the time 
 of Queen Anne, the rejected presentees and their patrons 
 applied to the Court of Session for redress. Five of the 
 thirteen judges voted against them, but eight were in their 
 favour. The church courts, however, denied the right of a 
 civil court to interfere, and an appeal was made to the House 
 of Lords, where the question was taken into consideration, 
 and, in 1839, it was decided that the Veto act passed 
 by the General Assembly, was illegal, and that every pres- 
 bytery was bound to take a presentee upon trial, and if he 
 should be found duly qualified, to admit him to the ministry, 
 without regard to the wishes of the parishioners. 
 
 I’he interference of the civil courts gave rise to a general 
 feeling of dissatisfaction among the people of Scotland. 
 Frequent disputes took place between the Court of Session 
 and the presbyteries; and, at length, in November 1842, a 
 meeting was held at Edinburgh, when about five hundred 
 ministers assembled to consider of the best means for preserv- 
 ing the independence of the church. The decision of this 
 assembly was, that if the government would grant no redress, 
 it would be the duty of the ministers to give up their liv- 
 ings, and establish a church of their own. A very large 
 proportion did so at once, on failing to obtain the redress 
 they sought, and many more have since followed their ex- 
 ample. The livings thus voluntarily abandoned, were im- 
 mediately bestowed on ministers who do not object to the 
 interference of the state in religious affairs; so that there 
 are now two parties among the Scottish clergy or ministry, 
 violently opposed to each other. 
 
 These Seceders, that is, those who have quitted the estab- 
 blished church, are powerfully supported. Immense sums 
 have been subscribed both in England and Scotland, for 
 building new churches, supporting the ministers, and estab- 
 lishing schools on free-church principles. A great number 
 
504 CORNER’S 
 
 178 SCOTLAND. 
 
 of churches were erected, and a regular government estab- 
 lished for the free church, which bolds its General Assembly 
 separate from the General Assembly of the state church, and 
 its presbyteries exercise the right of accepting or rejecting 
 candidates for the ministry, upon their own authority alone. 
 The same division has taken place among the Scottish peo- 
 ple in India and America, from whence large contributions 
 have been sent to Scotland, in aid of the free church, which 
 has been gaining strength ever since. 
 
 This seism was the cause of great excitement throughout 
 all Scotland; and we are the more gratified to record, that 
 the good sense of the Scottish people has caused the issue 
 of the contest to result in more extended establishments 
 and means for the promotion of religion and education. 
 
 The church of Scotland is entirely different in its consti- 
 tution from that of England. There is no distinction of 
 rank among the clergy, or ministers, as they are more usu- 
 ally termed, for the word clergy is not used among the Pres- 
 byterians any more than among the Quakers, and every 
 preacher is called a minister. There are no bishops, nor any 
 other high dignitaries, but the government of the church 
 IS entrusted to certain persons, called elders, who may 
 be either churchmen or laymen, and are chosen by the peo- 
 ple of their respective parishes. There are three classes of 
 elders. The first class consists of the professors of divinity 
 in the universities; the second of the ministers; and the 
 third of the ruling elders, who are not preachers, but whose 
 duty it is to watch over the conduct of the parishioners, and 
 likewise to see that the minister attends to his duty. 
 
 There are also certain courts for the regulation of all 
 things concerning the church, which have always been quite 
 separate from, and independent of, the civil courts of Scot- 
 land. These are the Presbyteries, the Synods, and the 
 General Assembly. A Presbytery is composed of the min- 
 isters of several parishes, with a ruling elder from each 
 parish. It is the business of this court to see that the min- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 505 
 
 SCOTLAND. 179 
 
 isters preach according to the established principles of the 
 Scottish church ; that the people attend to their instructions ; 
 that proper masters are provided for the parish schools, and 
 that the children are sent regularly to them. The presby- 
 tery has also the power of ejecting any minister who is neg- 
 ligent of his duty. The Synod is a provincial assembly 
 formed by the meeting of delegates from several presby- 
 teries, who elect a president, styled the Moderator, and 
 consult together for the general interest of religion within 
 their jurisdiction. 
 
 The General Assembly, which may be termed the Parlia- 
 ment of the Scottish church, is held at Edinburgh once a 
 year, in the presence of a High Commissioner, who repre- 
 sents the sovereign. It is composed of ministers and ruling 
 elders, sent by the presbyteries, the universities, and some 
 of the town councils, as their representatives. This assem- 
 bly makes and enforces all laws relating to the established 
 religion of the country; but its power is limited by an act 
 made in the reign of William the Third, called the Barrier 
 Act, by which any new law proposed must be transmitted 
 to the different presbyteries, and approved by a majority of 
 them before it can pass; but the acts that are so approved 
 and passed, become the permanent laws of the church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 From the time of the events before related, to the present 
 year, 1851, improvements have been going on in every part 
 of Scotland ; which, like England, is now traversed by rail- 
 roads, and, accordingly, in every direction the intercourse 
 with large towns has increased ; and many remote and poor 
 districts have been converted into busy scenes of resort and 
 traffic. The sanitary regulations that have proved so bene- 
 ficial in England, have also been introduced into Scotland 
 with like good effect. 
 
 Measures were taken by the government Commissioners to 
 ensure a plentiful supply of water to all the cities ; to improve 
 
506 CORNEE^S 
 
 180 SCOTLAND. 
 
 the mode of drainage and ventilation in neighbourhoods in- 
 habited by the poorer classes ; to establish baths and wash- 
 houses for the use of those who, however much they may 
 be disposed to cleanly habits, could not otherwise have the 
 means of exercising them ; and further, it being one of the 
 most important efforts to promote and secure health, the 
 authorities put a restraint on all persons from suffering an 
 accumulation of dirt and rubbish adjoining, or adjacent to 
 their dwellings; as they had before suffered it to collect, to 
 the great detriment of the health of the inhabitants. Under 
 the general head of improvement, the cities and towns are 
 also better paved and lighted than formerly. 
 
 Parochial boards were established in 1845, for a more 
 perfect and salutary administration of the poor laws ; and 
 it is gratifying to know that those boards have, on many 
 occasions, been enabled to check the advance of distress 
 arising from the short produce of the potato crops, or other 
 causes, especially in the mountain districts and islands. 
 
 Most of the large towns have been considerably beautified 
 within the last ten years, by the erection of many handsome 
 public buildings, introducing a better style of architecture 
 into the country. Among those deserving particular notice, 
 three are at Edinburgh, namely, the new Corn Exchange, 
 opened in 1 849 ; the new Physician’s Hall ; and Donaldson’s 
 Hospital, founded by a printer of that name, who died in 
 1830, leaving £200,000 for the erection and endowment of 
 an institution for the maintenance and education of three 
 hundred poor children, of both sexes ; none being admitted 
 whose parents are able to support them. 
 
 General reference has already been made to the amount 
 of education furnished to the poor children of Scotland. 
 Very many districts and towns, having a meritorious share 
 jn such provisions, might claim particular mention; but the 
 limits of these pages, and their historical, rather than their 
 statistical character, are a restraint upon the desire to enu- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 507 
 
 SCOTLAND. I8I 
 
 merate. Notwithstanding this restriction, however, there 
 are some prominent examples of liberal contributions of this 
 nature, too important to be passed wholly unnoticed i of 
 these, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, may properly be 
 the representatives. 
 
 The Scottish motropolis, Edinburgh, besides its many 
 public seminaries for the dissemination of the higher matters 
 of learning, and schools on Dr. BelFs system for the general 
 poor, possesses an institution of extraordinary magnitude 
 and moral power. A gift of George Heriot, a merchant in 
 the reign of James the Fifth of Scotland, w'as the com- 
 mencement of this school ; the building, some years in 
 hand, finished in 1660, cost £27,000. The founder pur- 
 posed it mainly for the education of poor and indigent 
 children, and this, his intention, is happily perpetuated and 
 enlarged upon ; for a recent act of parliament enabled the 
 governors to extend the benevolent design, by the erection of 
 ten branch schools, forming accommodation for three thou- 
 sand more poor children. 
 
 Glasgow and Aberdeen, besides the presence of their 
 Universities, and the usual amount of high class sources of 
 education, have also abundant means for the humbler in- 
 struction of their poor inhabitants. They have their me- 
 chanics* institutes, cheap reading rooms, schools for poor 
 and orphan children, and ragged schools. Glasgow, alone, 
 can number, taking together day, evening, and Sunday 
 schools, no less than 71,000 attendants, seeking and re- 
 ceiving instruction. 
 
 To record the ultimate effects of such multiplied moral 
 agencies, history waits : — quietly but irresistably they move 
 towards the production of the combination of circumstances 
 that will make up society of an age to come. Discriminat- 
 ing education is a matter of the utmost importance, and of 
 this fact, Scotland is not unmindful. 
 
 . The city of Glasgow, also exhibits a vast extent of new 
 
 B 
 
508 CORNER^S 
 
 183 SCOTLAND. 
 
 and healthy open streets, and great architectural improve- 
 ments ; as do Perth and other towns of note, in the erection 
 of buildings, by banking establishments, and other trading 
 firms ; as well as several beginnings for the erection of more 
 comfortable and more healthy habitations for the working 
 classes of society. 
 
 The Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Archi- 
 tecture, at Edinburgh, founded in 1826, was incorporated 
 by royal charter in 1838; and nine years later, a royal 
 association was formed for the promotion of the fine arts in 
 Scotland ; indeed, nothing seems wanting to promote the 
 extension of taste in this direction, the Queen having be- 
 come a liberal patroness of several Scottish societies tending 
 to encourage the arts and sciences. 
 
 It is not an unimportant feature in the present history of 
 Scotland, that it has become, once more, the abode of royalty, 
 her Majesty having purchased Balmoral Castle and lands, 
 situate in Strathdee, Aberdeenshire; making it her residence 
 for a few weeks periodically : — the presence of the Queen 
 and her court is a gratifying circumstance to the people; as 
 few of our sovereigns, since the union of the two kingdoms, 
 have made even an occasional visit to that part of their 
 dominions. 
 

 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 509 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE AND INDEX 
 
 
 TO THE 
 
 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Settlement of the Gael or Kelts in Scotland, — arrival 
 
 page 
 
 
 of the Piets or Pechts from Scandinavia. . 
 
 5 
 
 80 to 
 
 85 Invasion of Scotland by the Romans, under Agricola 
 
 5 
 
 209 
 
 Second Invasion, by the emperor Severus 
 
 5 
 
 258 
 
 Scots or Attacotti from Ireland settled in Argyll. 
 
 6 
 
 410 
 
 Departure of the Romans • . • . 
 
 6 
 
 abt. 470 Fergus led a colony of Scots from Ireland to Argyll 
 
 6 
 
 565 
 
 Christianity introduced into Scotland , . 
 
 8 
 
 595 
 
 Death of St. Columba 
 
 
 after 617 Edinburgh supposed to have been founded by 
 
 
 
 Edwin, king of Northumbria 
 
 6 
 
 842 or 843 Union of the Piets and Scots under Kenneth II. 
 
 7 
 
 910 
 
 Settlements of the Danes or Northmen in the Orkney 
 
 9 
 
 
 and Shetland Isles . . 
 
 9 
 
 1040 
 
 Murder of king Duncan I. and accession of Macbeth 
 
 11 
 
 1056 
 
 Death of Macbeth, succeeded by Malcolm III. 
 
 12 
 
 1093 
 
 Malcolm killed at the Siege of Alnwick 
 
 15 
 
 
 Donald Bane chosen king 
 
 16 
 
 1094 
 
 Donald deposed j and Duncan II. made king.. 
 
 16 
 
 — 
 
 Assassination of Duncan, and restoration of Donald. , 
 
 16 
 
 1097 
 
 Accession of Edgar 
 
 16 
 
 1106 
 
 Accession of Alexander I. . . . . . . . , 
 
 16 
 
 1124 
 
 Death of Alexander, succeeded by David I. . , 
 
 17 
 
 abt. 1130 Erection of the Cathedral of St. Magnus 
 
 17 
 
 1153 
 
 Death of David, succeeded by Malcolm IV. . , 
 
 21 
 
510 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 
 184 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 page 
 
 1159 
 
 Sweyn, a famous Danish Pirate, killed in an attack 
 
 
 
 on Dublin . . • • • • . • 
 
 19 
 
 1165 
 
 Accession of William the Lion . . 
 
 21 
 
 1214 
 
 Alexander II. ascended the throne 
 
 24 
 
 1249 
 
 Alexander III. 
 
 24 
 
 1263 
 
 Defeat of Haco, king of Norway, by Alexander III. in 
 
 
 
 the Battle of Largs. 
 
 25 
 
 1270 
 
 The Western Isles sold to Alexander, by the king of 
 
 
 
 Norway 
 
 26 
 
 1286 
 
 Death of Alexander III. 
 
 27 
 
 1290 
 
 Death of his heiress, Margaret, of Norway . . 
 
 27 
 
 1292 
 
 Interregnum. — Disputes about the succession to the 
 
 
 
 Crown 
 
 28 
 
 — 
 
 John Balliol appointed king, by Edward I. of England, 
 
 
 
 the Umpire . . • • 
 
 28 
 
 1295 
 
 Treaty between the Scots and Philip IV, of France 
 
 29 
 
 1296 
 
 Invasion of Scotland by Edward I. 
 
 30 
 
 1297 
 
 Resignation of the Scottish Crown, by Balliol 
 
 
 1298 
 
 The English defeated at Falkirk, by William Wallace, 
 
 
 
 Guardian of Scotland 
 
 31 
 
 1304 
 
 Wallace taken prisoner, and executed 
 
 32 
 
 1305 
 
 Robert Bruce claimed the kingdom , . , , 
 
 32 
 
 1306 
 
 Assassination of the Regent, John Comyn 
 
 33 
 
 1306 
 
 Coronation of Robert Bruce , . 
 
 34 
 
 — 
 
 War with England .. 
 
 35 
 
 1307 
 
 Death of Edward I. 
 
 36 
 
 1314 
 
 Defeat of the English at Bannockburn 
 
 37 
 
 1329 
 
 Death of Robert Bruce, succeeded by his son David II. 
 
 41 
 
 — 
 
 The Crown claimed by Edward Balliol 
 
 42 
 
 1332 
 
 Defeat of the Regent of Scotland, at Dupplin Moor, 
 
 
 
 by Balliol 
 
 43 
 
 1333 
 
 The Scots defeated at Halidon Hill 
 
 44 
 
 i341 
 
 David II., a minor at his accession, assumed the 
 
 
 
 government . . 
 
 46 
 
 1346 
 
 David defeated and taken prisoner by the English at 
 
 
 
 the battle of NevilPs Cross 
 
 46 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 511 
 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 185 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 pogh 
 
 1358 
 
 Ransomed, and restored to liberty 
 
 .. 49 
 
 1370 
 
 Death of David II. 
 
 .. 50 
 
 1370 
 
 Accession of Robert Stuart • • . . . • 
 
 .. 58 
 
 1388 
 
 Battle of Otterbourne . . 
 
 
 1390 
 
 Robert III. became king 
 
 
 — 
 
 Civil wars in Scotland. . 
 
 62,-66 
 
 1406 
 
 Death of Robert III. 
 
 
 1406 to 1424 Regency of the Dukes of Albany 
 
 68,-70 
 
 1424 
 
 May 21 — Coronation of James I. 
 
 .. 71 
 
 1437 
 
 Assassination of James I., and accession of James II. 78 
 
 1460 
 
 Death of James II., succeeded by James III. 
 
 85,-86 
 
 1487 
 
 Insurrection against James III., and his assassi- 
 
 
 nation 
 
 87,-90 
 
 1487 
 
 Accession of James IV. . , 
 
 .. 
 
 1502 
 
 Insurrection in the Western Isles 
 
 .. 95 
 
 1511 
 
 Death of Sir Andrew Barton . . 
 
 .. 96 
 
 1513 
 
 James IV. defeated and slain at the battle of Flodden 97 
 
 — 
 
 Accession of James V. . . 
 
 .. 98 
 
 1542 
 
 Death of king James; and birth of his heiress, Mary 106 
 
 1558 
 
 Marriage of Mary Queen of Scots with Francis, 
 
 
 Dauphin, and afterwards King, of France 
 
 .. 107 
 
 1559 
 
 Insurrection of the Scots Protestants 
 
 .. 108 
 
 1560 
 
 Return of Queen Mary from France to Scotland 
 
 .. 110 
 
 1564 
 
 Her (2nd) marriage, with LordDarnley 
 
 .. 113 
 
 
 Assassination of David Rizzio. , 
 
 .. 114 
 
 
 Murder of Lord Darnley 
 
 
 
 The queen’s (3rd) marriage, with Lord Bothwell 
 
 .. 116 
 
 1568 
 
 Her flight to England .. 
 
 
 1587 
 
 Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots . . 
 
 .. 121 
 
 1603 
 
 Death of queen Elizabeth, and accession of James VI. 
 
 
 to the throne of England , . 
 
 .. 126 
 
 1625 
 
 Death of James, succeeded by Charles T. 
 
 .. 134 
 
 1639 
 
 Insurrection of the Scots Covenanters, or Presbyte- 
 
 
 rians, and their Invasion of England 
 
 .. 136 
 
 1649 
 
 Execution of Charles I. . . 
 
 .. 138 
 
512 COENER’S 
 
 186 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1650 
 
 1651 
 
 1660 
 
 1679 
 
 1688 
 
 1707 
 
 1715 
 
 1736 
 
 1745 
 
 1746 
 1834 
 
 1839 
 
 1842 
 
 paec 
 
 Charles II., proclaimed King of Scotland . . . . 139 
 
 Defeat of the Royalists, by Cromwell, in the battle 
 
 of Worcester .. .. .. 141 
 
 Restoration of Charles II. .. .. .. 142 
 
 Execution of the Marquis of Argyll .. ,, .. 143 
 
 Assassination of Archbishop Sharpe .. .. .. 146 
 
 Battle of Bothwell Bridge .. .. .. 147 
 
 Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 
 
 Massacre of Glencoe . . . . . . . . . . 150 
 
 Union of England and Scotland .. .. ,, 152 
 
 Invasion of Scotland, by the Earl of Mar . . . . 156 
 
 Insurrection at Edinburgh .. .. ..162 
 
 Rebellion in Scotland . . . . . , . . . . 164 
 
 Defeat of the Rebels at Culloden .. .. .. 168 
 
 Disputes relative to the patronage of Church Livings: 
 
 the Veto Act .. .. .. .. 176 
 
 The Act declared illegal, by the House of Lords 177 
 
 Schism in the Church of Scotland .. .. .. 177 
 
IRELAND. 
 
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GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 515 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 This beautiful and fertile country seems to have been, at 
 some very remote period, the abode of a wealthy, learned, 
 and polished nation; but, in the absence of authentic 
 records, it is impossible to say by what race of people it 
 was originally inhabited. It is most probable that, for 
 some ages, its coasts were alone peopled by adventurers 
 from foreign countries; and at the time of the Roman 
 invasion of Britain, it is most likely that the possessors of 
 the country, like those of Gaul and Britain, were Celts, one 
 of those races which originally migrated from the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Euxene and the Caspian Seas, since a 
 dialect of the Celtic language is still universally spoken by 
 the lower orders of Ireland, as it also is by those of Wales, 
 Scotland, and part of the north of France. 
 
 That the Celts formed the main proportion of the Irish 
 population, and have continued so to the present time, is as 
 evident, from certain characteristics of language, &c., as 
 that they still form the staple population of Wales and 
 Scotland. 
 
 It is most probable that parts of Ireland were extensively 
 colonized by a more polished people from the east, as we 
 read of its early wealth, prosperity, and its cultivation of 
 literature and the arts; and these eastern people were most 
 probably the Phoenicians, the great traders and navigators 
 of the east, whose country was situated on the easteri 
 extremity of the Mediterranean sea. 
 
CORNER^S 
 
 516 
 
 6 IRELAND. 
 
 The Phoenicians did not visit other countries for the pur- 
 pose of plundering and destroying, but with the laudable 
 intention of founding peaceable trading colonies on the 
 coasts, and establishing a commercial intercourse between 
 their own country and that in which they settled. The co- 
 lonies formed by these enterprising and industrious people 
 consisted of rich merchants, skilful manufacturers, clever ar- 
 tisans, and bold hardy mariners; and in the early days of 
 the ancient Grecian states, they had towns and factories 
 on the coast of Spain, and made voyages to the British isles, 
 to some of which they gave the name of the Cassiterides, 
 or Tin Islands. 
 
 It is probable that Ireland, at that time, was either quite 
 uninhabited, or only peopled by a few savages, and that the 
 Phoenicians, being pleased with its fertility and beauty, took 
 possession of it, and in the course of time, filled it with 
 people from their Spanish settlements, who carried with 
 them all the arts that were known in their own country of 
 Phoenicia; and thus the civilization of oriental nations was 
 introduced into Ireland, although, in fact, the population 
 derived its origin from Spain. 
 
 There are no ancient histories, or writings of any kind, 
 which afford us this information; but there have been anti- 
 quities discovered at different times, in various parts of the 
 country, that must have lain buried in the earth for many 
 ages, and by their resemblance to things that were in use 
 among the Phoenicians and other people of Asia, serve to 
 prove that there must have been such people in Ireland at 
 some very remote period. Weapons, and golden ornaments, 
 of beautiful workmanship, have been dug up out of the 
 ground or bogs; and it is said there are traces still remain- 
 ing of ancient roads or causeways, and also of extensive coal 
 works, and mines that have probably produced gold and sil- 
 ver, but must have been worked in ages long prior to the 
 date of any historical account we have of this island. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 517 
 
 IRELAND. _ 7 
 
 Of all the antiquities existing in Ireland, those which 
 afford perhaps the strongest evidence of its early connexion 
 with other parts of the world, are a number of curious stone 
 buildings, called Round Towers. Many learned antiquaries 
 have endeavoured to discover for what purpose these towers 
 were built, and by whom they were erected. Some suppose 
 them to have been built by the Norwegians or Danes during 
 their invasions, and to have been used either as beacons or 
 lighthouses, or as stations whence they might descry the 
 approach of an enemy; but there never were any build- 
 ings like them discovered in other parts of Europe, although 
 there are similar edifices both in Persia and India, which 
 countries anciently exhibited a highly- civilized people, called 
 “ Fire worshippers.” Some conjecture that they might 
 have been constructed for the purpose of keeping burning 
 on them what these people called the Holy fire;” or else, 
 if they were not used by the fire worshippers, they were 
 certainly erected either for religious or astronomical pur- 
 poses, by people who came from the east. Many persons, 
 however, think that they were also used as sepulchres, from 
 the circumstance of there having been lately skeletons found 
 at the foundations of some of them. 
 
 We are told by Irish historians, that long before the 
 beginning of the Christian era, the Milesians, a tribe of 
 warriors, of Grecian origin, from the north of Spain, led by 
 a prince called Milesius, made themselves masters of the 
 whole country, and are the ancestors of a considerable por- 
 tion of the present Irish people, who in their habits, laws, 
 and institutions, appear to have closely resembled the an- 
 cient Britons. They were divided into many tribes, each 
 governed by a chieftain; but the laws were made by the 
 Druids; whence it may be inferred that the Milesians nei- 
 ther destroyed nor interfered with the authority of the 
 priesthood, as it existed at the time of their arrival. How- 
 ever this might be, their religious rites were extremely 
 
518 CORNER’S 
 
 8 IRELAND. 
 
 cruel; and among other horrid customs, was that of 
 sacrificing what they called “First Fruits,*’ to their idols; 
 by which was meant, not only the earliest corn, fruit, and 
 other produce of the earth that ripened, but the first of all 
 animals, and, dreadful to relate, the first child of every 
 family. It is said to have been the custom for parents to 
 carry their first-born babe to be burnt as an offering to the 
 fire, or to whatever else they worshipped; and that, in so 
 doing, they believed they were performing an act of piety 
 that would bring a blessing upon them and their posterity. 
 
 The Romans, who put an end to the authority of the 
 Druids in Britain, never made any settlement in Ireland, 
 though they w^ere acquainted with its geographical position, 
 and gave it the name of Hibernia. Thus, though they 
 were such close neighbours during a space of nearly four 
 hundred years, yet the people of Ireland remained unmo- 
 lested by them, and continued to practise their idolatrous 
 worship, and to live according to the customs introduced by 
 their ancestors. 
 
 A long time after the establishment of the Milesians in 
 Ireland, it happened that another tribe, the Scoti, a race of 
 Scythians, visited its shores, thinking they should be al- 
 lowed to settle upon them ; but those who were in possession 
 of the land were not willing to divide it with any new 
 comers ; wherefore they persuaded them to go farther 
 towards the north, telling them they would find in that 
 quarter a fine country but little inhabited, and where they 
 might establish themselves without difficulty. The adven- 
 turers listened to this advice, and having chosen wives from 
 among the Irish people, they took their departure, and went 
 to the west of Scotland, where they built habitations, and 
 founded the kingdom of the Scots. In the early ages, 
 historians, in alluding to the Scots, or Scoti, meant the 
 people of Ireland, from whom, however, Scotland took its 
 name. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 519 
 
 IRELAND. 9 
 
 Ireland had many names among the ancient nations; but 
 that which is most familiar to us, and still continues in use 
 as a poetical name for the island, is Erin, which signifies 
 the West Country; and this was the appellation by which 
 the bards were wont to celebrate its fame in their songs. 
 Erin is most probably a corruption of lerne, the ancient 
 name of Ireland among the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND LAWS, 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ANCIENT IRISH. 
 
 While the Romans were civilizing and improving Britain, 
 Ireland remained in the same rude state in which it had 
 been since the first settlements of the Milesians. The 
 country was divided into five provinces, Ulster, Munster, 
 Leinster, Connaught, and Meath. The latter was the chief 
 seat of government, where the supreme sovereign of the 
 whole island resided ; but each of the other provinces had a 
 king, who was inferior to the king of Meath, and paid him 
 tribute. Besides these five kings, there were numerous 
 princes, or chiefs, who called themselves kings also, and 
 ruled their own septs or clans with absolute authority, like 
 the Highland chieftains of Scotland; but they were all 
 tributary to the kings of their respective provinces, though 
 they held themselves independent in all other respects; and 
 payment of the tribute was often obtained only by force. 
 
 The kings of the five provinces were almost always at war 
 with each other, and their quarrels generally arose from the 
 non-payment of tribute. The petty chiefs were expected to 
 assist their kings in these wars; but this was a duty very 
 
520 CORNER’S 
 
 10 IRELAND. 
 
 often neglected, for they were not like feudal vassals, who 
 held their lands for military service, but only gave their aid 
 when it suited them so to do, and when they thought they 
 should get part of the plunder for themselves. 
 
 In the province of Meath is supposed to have stood the 
 Hall of Tara, celebrated as being the palace of the ancient 
 Irish kings; and I believe there is no doubt that on the hill 
 of Tara, the national assemblies met once a year, to consult 
 on the affairs of the kingdom, and to make laws. The 
 lawgivers were a class of Druids called Brehons, who acted 
 as magistrates and judges. They did not hold their courts 
 of justice in any hall, but seated themselves on the top of a 
 hill, in the open air, where they heard all complaints that 
 were brought before them, and decided every cause accord- 
 ing to their own ideas of right and wrong. The hill of 
 Tara is also famous in Irish history as the spot on which 
 the kings were crowned. The throne, or seat of inaugura- 
 tion, was a black stone, which was called Lea Fail, or the 
 fatal stone, said to have been brought in the early ages from 
 Spain; and it was therefore held in high veneration. It 
 was either borrowed by Feargus the Great, an Irish chief, 
 who had conquered Scotland, on which to be crowned; or 
 else it was carried away, among other spoils, by the Scots, 
 in one of their invasions of Ireland, and was ever afterwards 
 used as the coronation seat of the kings of Scotland, at the 
 abbey of Scone, until it was conveyed away by force of arms, 
 together with the crown and sceptre, by Edward the First, 
 to England, who placed it in Westminster-abbey, where it 
 still exists, and forms the basis of the coronation chair to 
 this day. 
 
 The Brehon laws related chiefly to the inheritance of 
 lands ; which was regulated in a manner that caused frequent 
 quarrelling and bloodshed among these barbarians, whose 
 great object was to obtain power over others; and as their 
 power depended on the extent of their territory, every chief 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 521 
 
 - IRELAND. II 
 
 was desirous of getting as large a portion of land as he 
 could. It seems just, that, at the death of a father, his 
 property should be divided among his children; but the 
 Brehons thought otherwise, for when the chief of a family 
 died, all his male relatives were called together, sons, bro- 
 thers, uncles, nephews, and cousins, and the lands of the 
 deceased were shared among them, according to their ages, 
 and their different degrees of relationship. The peace of 
 families was often disturbed in consequence of this law; for 
 when a chief grew old, his relations used to quarrel and 
 fight till some of the party were slain, on purpose to lessen 
 the number of claimants to a share of his land. 
 
 Another frequent cause of dispute was, the election of a 
 new tanist, or heir; for the law said, that he should be 
 chosen from among the oldest and most worthy of the 
 family of the deceased chief. This was a point on which 
 they seldom agreed, as there were usually several whose age 
 entitled them to the distinction; and as every one of these 
 was sure to think himself the most worthy, it not unfre- 
 quently happened that those who were rejected drew their 
 swords against him who was chosen; for murder among 
 savage nations is seldom held in that abhorrence which it 
 deserves, and but too frequently escapes its just punishment. 
 
 The dwelling of a chief was usually built on an elevated 
 spot of ground, surrounded by a rampart of earth, which 
 served as a fortification. The house itself was merely a 
 large wicker hut, erected of branches of trees stuck into 
 the ground, with the smaller branches woven amongst them, 
 in the manner of wattles: it was covered with straw or 
 rushes, and sods, to keep out the rain, and plastered on the 
 outside with clay or loam ; and in such a dwelling, the chief 
 resided with his family, and exercised a sovereign control 
 over the poor people on his land, who were called his 
 tenants. They clothed themselves in sheep skins, and 
 subsisted by feeding flocks and herds, and growing oat« 
 
522 
 
 COENER^S 
 
 12 IRELAND. 
 
 Those of higher rank, however, were more gay in their 
 attire, for they wore parti- coloured mantles and trowsers, 
 and adorned the handles of their swords with the teeth of 
 fishes polished as brightly as ivory. It is probable that they 
 knew how to make and dye their own cloth; for they had 
 plenty of sheep to furnish them with wool, and one of the 
 first steps towards the arts among barbarous nations is, 
 generally, the manufacture of some article for their own 
 personal use and decoration. War chariots were in use 
 among the ancient Irish, and small boats of wicker work, 
 covered with leather, called Corroghs, similar to those of 
 the ancient Britons, and common at that time to all northern 
 nations. 
 
 The ancient Irish, it is believed, took their principal meal 
 in the evening; and their method of cooking was very 
 peculiar. They made a fire, on which they heated large 
 stones, until they became red hot; then having previously 
 dug a pit, they threw into it a layer of stone, then a layer 
 of meat, and on that more hot stones, after which, they 
 covered the pit with sedges or rushes, and left the meat to 
 bake ; and when sufficiently done, they took it out, and ate 
 it with black bread. Their beds, for females and children, 
 were made by first placing on the ground small branches of 
 trees, upon which was strewed a quantity of moss, and over 
 all were laid rushes, upon which they slept, covered with 
 their mantles. The robust males usually lay on the ground, 
 wrapped in their thick woollen mantles. 
 
 The harbours of Ireland appear to have been visited in 
 those times by foreign merchants, but the nature of the 
 trade they carried on is not exactly known. All we are told 
 is, that the Irish had no money, and that they made most of 
 their payments in cattle; but they probably used gold and 
 silver also in their dealings with foreigners, as there is very 
 little doubt that these metals were formerly found in consi- 
 derable quantities in Ireland. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 523 
 
 IRELAND. 13 
 
 Among themselves, however, cattle was the substitute for 
 money, and was used in paying rents, tributes, and debts of 
 all kinds. Sometimes, however, the lesser kings and chiefs 
 were very backward in paying their dues to the greater ones, 
 in which case, the latter adopted a mode of collecting them 
 very similar to a custom that prevailed in England at a 
 much later period. The sovereign, claiming the tribute, 
 used to go with a numerous band of followers to the dwell- 
 ing of him who owed it, and feast his whole retinue at the 
 expense of his debtor, till he was satisfied that an amount 
 equivalent to the debt was consumed. Such visitors were 
 not always very peaceably received; and they were then 
 driven to the alternative of seizing on all that was within 
 their reach, and carrying it away, which generally occasioned 
 a war; but still they were often allowed to regale themselves 
 till the debt was paid. 
 
 The Irish bards had been celebrated, from the most re- 
 mote ages, for their skill in playing on the harp; and as 
 they were held in great estimation, they had lands assigned 
 them for their maintenance. 
 
 Another order of men consisted of the keepers of houses 
 of hospitality, which were a kind of rude inns for the 
 accommodation of strangers who visited the island, where 
 they were entertained free of expense. These houses were 
 endowed with lands, the produce of which furnished the 
 means of entertainment; and the office of keeper was here- 
 ditary, as were also the offices of all whose employments 
 were professional, as the bard's, the physicians, or the histo- 
 rians, the son succeeding always to his father's occupation. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The Druids continued to be the priests and lawgivers of 
 
 c 
 
524 
 
 CORNEE^S 
 
 14 IRELAND. 
 
 Ireland, and the people to practise their idolatrous worship, 
 with all the horrid rites attending it, till towards the 
 middle of the fifth century; when, just as the Saxons were 
 abolishing the Christian religion in Britain, where it had 
 been introduced by the Romans, and re-establishing pagan- 
 ism in that country, a more happy change was taking place 
 among the inhabitants of Erin, who were being converted 
 from pagans to Christians. There seldom was so remark- 
 able a change in the religion of a country as this, for it was 
 effected without bloodshed, almost without opposition, and 
 in a very short time, chiefly by a single individual, who is 
 venerated by the Irish under the name of St. Patrick, and of 
 whom is told the following remarkable history. 
 
 It was about the time when the Romans were leaving 
 Britain, that an Irish king, named Nial, or Mac Nial, in- 
 vaded the coast of Brittany, in France, and carried off a 
 number of captives to Ireland, amongst whom was a youth, 
 about sixteen years of age, who was sold, with the other 
 prisoners, as a slave, and was employed by his master to 
 tend sheep. His name was Patrick. Being of a religious 
 turn of mind, the young Patrick used to wander through 
 the forests and over the mountains with his flocks, meditat- 
 ing on the idolatrous worship of the people amongst whom 
 he was brought, pitying their errors, and thinking that it 
 would be both good and glorious to teach them a better 
 faith, and convince them that it was cruel to sacrifice their 
 children, and foolish to believe that stone images could have 
 the power of doing them good. 
 
 For six years, young Patrick remained a slave in Ireland, 
 his thoughts being engaged on this subject, when, at last, 
 he escaped from bondage, and returned to France; but he 
 could not forget the land he had left; and having devoted 
 himself to the study of religion and learning, till he was 
 forty-five years of age, he applied to the Pope for leave to 
 re Hsit Ireland, -for the purpose of preaching Christianity 
 
PATH I CK PR P. ACH = MC CH R I ST I A N ITY TOTHEKINC^f NOBLES AT TARA 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 525 
 
 IRELAND. 15 
 
 among the natives. The Pope very readily granted his re- 
 quest, and having received this permission, Patrick returned 
 to Ireland about the year 432, and landed in Ulster with a 
 few companions, missionaries, appointed to assist him in the 
 work he had undertaken. Some herdsmen, who chanced to 
 be driving their cattle near the spot on which the mission- 
 aries landed, were so terrified at their singular appearance, 
 that they ran in haste to their chief, and told him that 
 pirates had landed on his territory. On hearing which, he 
 assembled his people, and went out to attack the invaders; 
 but when he saw the little party approaching, he was so 
 struck with the mild and dignified countenance of Patrick, 
 that he invited him with his brethren to his house, where 
 St. Patrick’s eloquent discourse, in their own language, 
 made converts of the chief and his whole family. 
 
 The work being thus happily begun, the good saint pro- 
 ceeded to Tara, where he preached before the king and 
 many chiefs, who, it is said, listened with attention and de- 
 light to such new and pleasing doctrines. In short, to 
 whatever place St. Patrick proceeded, the people flocked to 
 hear him; and, in a short space of time, the worshipping 
 of fire ceased, human sacrifices were abolished, and the 
 Christian religion was established throughout the country. 
 St. Patrick founded a great number of churches, appointed 
 bishops and priests, and fixed the metropolitan see of Ire- 
 land; that is, he ordained that the archbishop of Armagh 
 should always be the head of the Irish church ; and he was 
 himself the first prelate of that see. 
 
 It is rather singular that the Druids do not seem to have 
 offered much opposition to these innovations on their au- 
 thority and doctrines ; for although we are told they once or 
 twice attempted to take away the life of the saint, we never 
 hear of their having made any resolute stand in defence of 
 the ancient religion, nor are we told what became of them. 
 It is stated, however, that St. Patrick caused all their 
 
526 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 16 IRELAND. 
 
 records, and writings of every description, to be destroyed, 
 that there might remain no vestige of Paganism. 
 
 On the introduction of Christianity, monasteries were 
 founded in different parts of the island. An astonishing 
 number of these establishments appeared in a short time, 
 which were soon filled with religious devotees; and there 
 were no monks of that particular period more celebrated 
 for their learning and sanctity, than those of Ireland. St. 
 Patrick was himself a great scholar, and from the works 
 ascribed to him, has been gathered what little is known of 
 the Irish people at this time. He states that they had 
 water-mills for grinding corn, and speaks of chariots as 
 being used for purposes of war. He also describes their 
 dress as being composed chiefly of woollen stuff, dyed of 
 various colours, and says that the rank of all persons was 
 distinguished by the number of colours they were allowed 
 to wear. Thus kings and queens might have seven colours 
 in their dresses; bards, six; nobles, five; governors, four; 
 sons of nobles, three; common soldiers, two; and the 
 herdsmen, shepherds, and labourers, only one; that being, 
 in fact, the natural colour of the fleece, or of the cloth made 
 from its wool. 
 
 Among the monasteries founded by St. Patrick, was one, 
 the ruins of which are still to be seen, in a beautiful little 
 island, named Inniscattery, at the mouth of the Shannon, 
 the superior of which was the renowned saint, Senanus, 
 who, according to a popular tradition, made a vow that no 
 woman’s foot should ever touch his sacred isle. 
 
 For three hundred years after the introduction of Christi- 
 anity into Ireland, there is little to be told of that country, 
 but what relates to the progress of religion, and the wars of 
 the chiefs. The five kings, and such of the nobles as were 
 able to do so, founded monasteries; and the monks we are 
 told cultivated medicinal herbs and plants in their gardens. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 527 
 
 IRELAND. 17 
 
 as well as roots and herbs for their own sustenance, and 
 that their orchards were well stocked with fruit trees. 
 
 About the middle of the sixth century, St. Columba, a 
 native of Ireland, introduced the Christian religion into 
 Scotland, and founded a very celebrated monastery in the 
 little island of ^ Iona, off the western coast of that country; 
 and another saint, named Kevin, built an abbey at Glenda- 
 lough, a few miles from Dublin, where he died at the 
 advanced age of one hundred and twenty years; and this 
 abbey was held in such veneration, that, on the third day of 
 June, every year, crowds of pilgrims flocked to Glen da- 
 lough, to offer up their prayers and gifts at the shrine of 
 St. Kevin. It is still a place of pilgrimage, and although 
 so near the capital, is a wild and desert spot. 
 
 Music, as I have before observed, had flourished in Ire- 
 land from remote antiquity, as the Scottish and Welsh 
 music may be traced to the melodies of the old Irish bards; 
 and the church music was so famed, that the daughter of 
 King Pepin, of France, sent to Ireland for teachers to 
 instruct the nuns of Nivelle in psalmody. The Irish, it is 
 said, had two kinds of harps ; one bold and quick, the other 
 soft and pleasing. Yet, notwithstanding all that has been 
 said of the antiquity of Irish music, it is certain that all the 
 really good airs with which which we are so greatly de- 
 lighted, are modern, and most of them of the last century. 
 
 INVASION OF THE DANES. 
 
 It was about the year 717, that the Northmen, or Danes, 
 (who suffered no maritime country within their reach to 
 remain free from their ravages,) began to make their unwel- 
 come visits to the shores of Ireland. 
 
 At this period, a great similarity existed between the 
 
528 CORNER’S 
 
 18 IRELAND. 
 
 political state of Ireland and that of England, which was 
 then under the dominion of the Saxons, and divided into 
 the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. Each country contained 
 several separate states, governed by their respective mo- 
 narchs, one of whom was superior to the rest; and in every 
 one of these states were a number of petty princes, who 
 ruled over their own domains, but were tributary to the king 
 of that division of the countiy in which they resided. War 
 and religion were the chief occupations of the free, while the 
 cultivation of the soil and the tending of sheep and cattle, 
 were generally the employments of slaves. In point of civi- 
 lisation, however, the Irish in general were far inferior to the 
 Saxons of England; nor did they possess the means of living 
 in an equal degree of ease and plenty. But there can be no 
 doubt that the Irish ecclesiastics excelled the English in 
 learning; for it was customary for the English people of 
 high rank to send their sons into Ireland to be educated, 
 and the great St. Aldhelm, and other renowned churchmen of 
 England in the Saxon times, were brought up under the 
 tuition of Irishmen. 
 
 At the time of the invasion of the Danes, there were so 
 many kings in Ireland, that we are told of two hundred 
 being killed in one battle; but we must here consider that 
 the term king was applied to every petty chief possessed of 
 a small territory, and a few half-clothed followers; yet 
 every one of these was as proud and independent as if he 
 had been the sovereign of a vast realm. We may therefore 
 limit the number of the Irish kings to five; namely, the 
 king of Meath, who w^as the supreme monarch of Ireland, 
 and the tributary princes of the four provinces, Ulster, 
 Leinster, Munster, and Connaught. 
 
 The royal domain of Meath, although the smallest of the 
 five divisions, had been long set apart as the seat of the su- 
 preme government, on account of its position in the centre 
 of the country; but its extent was gradually increased by 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 529 
 
 IRELAND. 19 
 
 tracts of land which were taken in from each of the other 
 provinces, till at length it became a large district also; and 
 the object of all the most ambitious rulers of the inferior 
 states was to obtain the sovereignty of Meath; so that the 
 king was usually engaged in defending his right with his 
 sword. 
 
 It was this constant warfare among the Irish chieftains 
 that rendered them such an easy prey to any foreign in- 
 vader; for they could never agree to unite together for the 
 protection and defence of their country. A people so di- 
 vided were not likely to prosper; and it was to the per- 
 petual discord among their native princes that the misfor- 
 tunes of the Irish were in a great measure to be attributed. 
 
 The Danes had made several piratical inroads into the 
 country, and carried off whatever they could find that was 
 valuable to them; but they do not seem to have formed any 
 design of conquering the island or settling in it, till about 
 the year 795, when they began to appear in more formidable 
 numbers than before, and to fight regular battles with the 
 natives. On one ocasion, as many as one hundred and 
 twenty ships arrived at one time. These bold pirates sailed 
 up the river Boyne, or steered their course along the Liffey; 
 landing, and pouring in swarms over the whole country. 
 The monks and nuns fled in terror to conceal themselves in 
 the woods ; for wherever these fierce invaders landed, their 
 first act was to set fire to the churches and convents; as 
 they were professed enemies to Christianity, and in their 
 wars treated all Christians with the utmost barbarity. We 
 need not wonder, therefore, that the monasteries were de- 
 serted as soon as they appeared ; but sometimes they came 
 so suddenly, that many of the unfortunate inmates of these 
 dwellings had not time to escape, and were unmercifully 
 put to death. The superiors, however, were usually spared, 
 and were reserved for the sake of ransom. 
 
 The natives of Ireland had many fierce combats with the 
 
530 CORNER^S 
 
 20 IRELAND. 
 
 Danes, and often defeated them ; so that many years elapsed 
 before the latter were able to make any permanent settle- 
 ment in the country ; and it is very likely they never would 
 have accomplished their purpose, if the whole nation had 
 united to oppose them ; but instead of doing so, the Irish 
 chiefs frequently leagued with them for the purpose of as- 
 sistance in their wars against each other. If, for instance, a 
 party of Danes had landed in Munster when the king of 
 that country was at war with the king of Connaught, the 
 former would immediately enter into an alliance with the 
 Danish chief; to whose forces he would join his own, and 
 invade the territory of Connaught; the foolish prince for- 
 getting, in his eagerness to avenge his private quarrel, that 
 he was helping his own enemies to subdue his native land. 
 
 The Irish were accustomed, on any sudden invasion, to 
 give notice of it to the country around, by lighting up a fire 
 on the highest hill, so that it could be seen for miles in 
 every direction. Those who saw it, did the same, and in 
 that way the intelligence was quickly spread through the 
 country. 
 
 As the Danes became more acquainted with the interior 
 of the island, and saw how beautiful and fertile it was, 
 compared with their own country, they were still more de- 
 sirous of possessing themselves of it, and about the year 
 815, succeeded in making a settlement in Armagh. About 
 thirty years later, a Norwegian chief, named Turgesius, ar- 
 rived with a powerful fleet, and after a violent contest, sub- 
 dued a great part of the country, built towns and fortresses 
 all round the coast, and finally assumed the title of King 
 of Ireland. Whenever you read of the Danes of this period, 
 you must remember that they were not merely the people of 
 Denmark, but of Norway, Sweden, and, in fact, of all that 
 northern part of Europe which in ancient times was called 
 Scandinavia. 
 
 As soon as Turgesius had invested himself with the sove- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 531 
 
 IRELAND. 21 
 
 reignty of Ireland, he began to conduct himself in the most 
 tyrannical manner. He not only obliged the Irish kings to 
 pay him a large tribute, but imposed a tax upon all the na- 
 tives, which was called nose money, because those who ne- 
 glected to pay it, or perhaps had not the means of doing so, 
 had their noses cut off. 
 
 Turgesius was at length killed by a stratagem of one of 
 the Irish kings, named O’Melachlin, and a general massacre 
 of the Danes soon followed, which gave a temporary check 
 to their power; but not long afterwards, three princes of 
 Norway, Olaf, Sitric, and Ivar, came with fresh hordes of 
 Danes into Ireland, and took possession of the three princi- 
 pal towns, which were Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford, 
 and soon converted them into great trading cities. To these 
 cities, then inhabited by Danes, came foreign merchants 
 with corn, wine, articles of clothing, household utensils, and 
 English slaves, brought chiefly from the slave market at 
 Bristol; for the Danish families of rank were all served by 
 slaves, and preferred those of England to any others. 
 
 Meanwhile, the natives were confined to the central parts 
 of the country, and were in a very miserable condition. 
 Perpetually at war with the Danes, their lands were laid 
 waste, their flocks and herds destroyed, and many were re- 
 duced to such misery, that they were driven by hunger to 
 sell their children that they might obtain food. In the 
 course of time, however, as the original conquerors died, 
 and other generations succeeded, the two nations grew more 
 friendly with each other. The Irish Danes gradually had 
 adopted the Christian religion. Many marriages, too, had 
 taken place between the natives and the strangers, so that 
 the latter ceased to be regarded as the enemies of the 
 country. 
 
 During all this period, there were kings of the several 
 provinces, who, notwithstanding the unhappy state of the 
 country, had never ceased to fight with each other for su- 
 
532 CORNER^S 
 
 22 IRELAND 
 
 periority. By degrees, they had recovered much of theii 
 power and territory; but you must understand that the 
 people of the Danish towns were always governed by kings 
 i)f their own nation. 
 
 Owing to the commerce which was carried on by the 
 Danes with foreign countries, the Irish were supplied with 
 splendid decorations for their churches, and rich dresses 
 for their priests. The bishops of Ireland sometimes became 
 kings; and there was a bishop of Cashel, named Cormac, 
 who was king of Munster in the beginning of the tenth 
 century; and who left a will bequeathing to different 
 churches chalices of gold and silver, and silken vestments 
 for the priests, which were probably brought into Ireland by 
 merchants from Italy. The will of Cormac proves that, al- 
 though the Irish were in general very poor, some of them 
 must have possessed considerable wealth, or they could not 
 have been able to purchase such costly things as these ; and 
 we are told besides, that they sometimes paid large sums in 
 gold to ransom prisoners of high rank. Gold was most of 
 it probably obtained by commercial interchange, but some 
 from their own mines or stream-works, which might have 
 been worked at this early period, as we know they were in 
 later times. 
 
 Considerable masses of native gold were found at dif- 
 ferent places in the county of Wicklow, about fifty years 
 ago; but the silver mines of Ireland appear to have been 
 the most important. There was a mine of this metal in 
 the county of Antrim, from which much silver was ob- 
 tained; and others in Sligo and Tipperary. The works 
 were ruined during the insurrection in the reign of Charles 
 the First. The washings of the rivers in Wicklow still 
 produce small quantities of gold, but not sufficient to pay 
 the expenses; and a guard has been placed there, to prevent 
 the country people from raking up and spoiling the face of 
 the country in searching for it. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 533 
 
 IRELAND. 23 
 
 BRIEN THE BRAVE, AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 
 
 989 to 1100 
 
 The Danes had been settled in Ireland about two hundred 
 years, when their power, which had been maintained to a 
 considerable extent, received a final overthrow, in conse- 
 quence of the heroic deeds of a great warrior, named Brien 
 Boru, who is celebrated in Irish song by the title of Brien 
 the Brave. He was king of Munster only in the early part 
 his career, though he afterwards became supreme monarch 
 of Ireland. The kings of Munster at this period, although 
 they were considered inferior to those of Meath, and were 
 expected to pay them tribute, were scarcely inferior to them 
 in point of real power, and often resisted with success the 
 payment of the tribute. 
 
 When Brien was king of Munster, the throne of Meath 
 was occupied by Malachi, a warlike king, who had gained 
 several great victories over the Danes, particularly at the 
 battle of Tara, where they were totally defeated with great 
 loss, and obliged to make peace on the conqueror’s own 
 terms, and to release all the natives who were held in bond- 
 age by them. You will see by this, that although the 
 Danes were no longer considered in the light of invaders, 
 they were not suffered to remain at peace, but were often at 
 war with the native princes, in the same way that the 
 princes were at war with each other. 
 
 In consequence of the treaty between Malachi and the 
 Danes, above two thousand captives were released from sla- 
 very; for it was the custom in Ireland, as in other coun- 
 tries, to make slaves of all prisoners taken during war. 
 Most of the great Danish chiefs were killed at the battle of 
 
 M m 
 
534 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 24 IRELAND. 
 
 Tara; and, among others, Prince Reginald, the son of 
 Olaf, king of Dublin. The loss of this brave youth so 
 afflicted his father, that he went on a pilgrimage to the 
 tomb of St. Columba, in the isle of Iona, where he died of 
 grief. Malachi, therefore, was esteemed a great hero; but 
 Brien the Brave was still more renowned; and the Irish, to 
 this day, tell of his exploits with pride and exultation. 
 
 While Brien was king of Munster alone, he had made 
 himself so terrible to his foes, that the Danes of Dublin 
 were glad to purchase peace, by paying him an annual tri- 
 bute of an ounce of gold from every house in the city, 
 which w'as presented on Christmas night; and he had also 
 enlarged his territory, and increased his wealth, by many 
 conquests over the native princes. But his ambition was 
 not yet satisfied: he aspired to the throne of Ireland, and, 
 undaunted by the fame of Malachi, went to war with that 
 valiant monarch. Malachi, after a hard struggle, was 
 obliged to give up the contest, and do homage to the con- 
 queror in the halls of Tara, which had been the palace of 
 his ancestors for more than five hundred years. 
 
 As soon as Brien had attained the object of his wishes, 
 he made a tour through the whole country, to receive the 
 submission of the chiefs, and make them give hostages for 
 their future fealty; for he knew that few of them would like 
 to see the throne of Ireland occupied by any but a descen- 
 dant of their ancient sovereigns, who had ruled over the 
 land for so many ages. Several of these chiefs even declared 
 their readiness to take up arms in the cause of their deposed 
 monarch; but Malachi was generous enough to entreat that 
 they would submit to the usurper, rather than add to the 
 troubles of the country, by plunging it into a civil war for 
 his sake. This remonstrance had the desired effect: the 
 people acknowledged the sovereignty of the new monarch ; 
 while Malachi retained the title of king of Meath, and paid 
 tribute like the petty princes. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 535 
 
 IRELAND 25 
 
 Brien Boru was, in all respects except his usurpation, a 
 very good king, and the country during his reign was kept 
 in better order than it had ever been before. The chief 
 reason of this was, that he would be obeyed; and although 
 he was no tyrant, none dared to dispute his commands. 
 The lesser kings were all held in complete subjection to this 
 powerful monarch; and as he positively forbade them to go 
 to war with each other, there was peace throughout the 
 country. He also made laws to protect the people from the 
 oppression of the chiefs, who were sometimes very tyrannical 
 in their own dominions; and if they acted contrary to his 
 laws, they were imprisoned in the royal fortress at Kin 
 Kora, in Munster, which was his favourite residence. 
 
 Brien repaired all the fortresses that had been destroyed 
 in the Danish wars; and although the Danes were still in 
 possession of the sea-port towns, they occupied themselves 
 entirely in commercial pursuits, and never once attempted 
 to disturb the peace of the country for many years. Brien 
 was a very liberal benefactor to the church; he made many 
 magnificent donations of lands and money, and greatly ex- 
 tended the privileges of the clergy. He also founded several 
 monasteries, and restored to their former condition the 
 schools and colleges that had been ruined by the Danes. 
 
 There is no doubt that Brien was a very great and a very 
 brave prince; but his wonderful exploits and good deeds, 
 like those of all the favourite heroes of old, were much ex- 
 aggerated by the bards of his time, whose songs being pre- 
 served to after ages, were listened to as truth by the people; 
 Bo that many marvellous tales are told of the happy and 
 prosperous state of Ireland, while under the government of 
 Brien Boru. One of these relates that a lady travelled 
 alone through the island, adorned with jewels, and bearing 
 in her hand a white wand with a golden ring at the top of 
 it, and that this fine lady performed her journey without 
 being robbed by the way, so well were the laws of the king 
 
 D 
 
536 CORNER’S 
 
 26 IRELAND. 
 
 observed. There is a similar tale told of the time of Alfred 
 the Great, and of Robert, the first duke of Normandy, 
 both of whom are said to have kept their subjects in such 
 excellent order, that golden bracelets were hung up by the 
 way side, and remained there untouched for three years; 
 but all such stories are without the least foundation, and are 
 only meant to impress on our minds that there was less 
 robbery in the time of those good princes, because they 
 took pains to improve the condition and morals of the 
 people. 
 
 Twenty years had passed treinquilly away, and Brien and 
 Malachi were both grown old; when the people of Leinster, 
 to their shame be it spoken, made an alliance with the 
 Danes against their own countrymen; and joining their 
 forces with those of Sitric, the Danish king of Dublin, in- 
 vaded the province of Meath, for no other purpose it would 
 seem but that of plundering it; which proves that their 
 good conduct was but temporary, and that they were relap- 
 sing into their former bad habits. 
 
 Malachi, being aged and infirm, applied for aid to his old 
 enemy, Brien, who at first refused to grant it to him. But 
 about the same time, a fresh invasion of the Northmen, who 
 landed in Munster, threatened the safety of the whole is- 
 land; and all the chiefs and princes, with Brien at their 
 head, united together to repel the intruders, who were 
 marching with all speed towards Dublin to join their coun- 
 trymen of that city. This new army of Danes had brought 
 ivith them their wives and families, and came for the express 
 purpose of subduing the Irish, and occupying the whole 
 country. 
 
 The people of Leinster, who were still in alliance with the 
 Danes of Dublin, allowed the invaders to pass through their 
 province, and were ready to assist them in battle against 
 Brien and the rest of the chiefs. In order to weaken the 
 power of these allies, and punish the rebel king of Leinster, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 537 
 
 IRELAND 27 
 
 Brien sent his son Donough into that territory with a select 
 body of troops, to lay waste the land, and destroy the cattle, 
 so that the enemy might be distressed for want of provisions ; 
 but he charged the young prince not to be absent more than 
 three days, as he did not think it prudent to risk a battle 
 with the Danes until the return of the soldiers whom Do- 
 nough purposed to take with him. 
 
 No sooner, however, had Donough departed on this expe- 
 dition, than some traitor in Brien's camp went over to the 
 Danes, and told them that now was the fittest time to attack 
 the Irish army, as all the best troops were away. The 
 Danes hastened to profit by this favourable opportunity, and 
 prepared to give battle the next day, when the advantage 
 was greatly on their side, for their numbers had been 
 strengthened by parties of Britons from Wales, headed by 
 their respective princes, and by Lodar, ' the Danish earl of 
 the Orkney Islands; for the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and the 
 Isle of Man, were all at this time in the possession of the 
 Danes and Norwegians. 
 
 On the morning of the battle that was to decide the fate 
 of the country, the venerable monarch, then ninety years of 
 age, rode along the ranks, and addressed his soldiers in a 
 bold and spirited harangue. He reminded them of the 
 wrongs the Irish had formerly sustained from the Danes; 
 that they had desolated the country, murdered the priests, 
 despoiled the churches, and violated the shrines of the 
 saints; and in concluding his address, he held up a crucifix 
 in one hand, and waving his sword over his head with 
 the other, gave the signal for the onset. 
 
 The battle lasted from sunrise till the dusk of the evening. 
 After some hours, Brien was obhged, from fatigue, to retire 
 to his tent, from which he sent his orders to the chiefs, 
 many of whom fell on that dreadful day; but, at length, the 
 Danes began to give way, and cries of victory resounded 
 
538 CORNER^S 
 
 28 IRELAND. 
 
 from the Irish ; while the vanquished were seen flying from 
 the field in all directions. 
 
 The shades of evening were falling, and the noise of the 
 battle had ceased, when an old man was seen kneeling in 
 prayer within his tent, attended only by a single page : — It 
 was Brien the Brave. He had heard the victorious shouts 
 of his army, and commanded his own body guard to join in 
 pursuit of the Danes; so that he was left alone, and was 
 offering up his thanks to heaven for this almost unhoped-for 
 success. While he was thus piously engaged, one of the 
 Danish chieftains, who had escaped from the field of battle, 
 and taken shelter in a little wood, saw from his retreat that 
 the king’s tent was left unguarded. Instantly making a 
 sign to the few soldiers who were with him, they rushed 
 forward, and killed the aged warrior, while he was yet in 
 the attitude of prayer. Thus fell Brien the Brave, at the 
 famous battle of Clontarf, fought on the twenty-third of 
 April, 1014. 
 
 It is a remarkable coincidence, that this great defeat of 
 the Danes in Ireland took place in the same year that they 
 were victorious in England, where Canute, their chief, was 
 proclaimed king. In Ireland, however, they never recovered 
 their power, and as no fresh reinforcements arrived, they 
 mingled more and more with the native Irish, till at length 
 they ceased to be considered as a distinct people. 
 
 After the death of Brien, Malachi was restored to the 
 throne, which he occupied till the year 1022, and is rec- 
 koned the forty-second Christian king of Ireland. The 
 death of Malachi was the commencement of a series of civil 
 wars and national calamities, arising from disputes between 
 his relatives and those of Brien Boru, about their respective 
 rights to the throne. A number of candidates came for- 
 ward, and were successively driven out of the field, till the 
 contest at last remained to be decided between Donchad, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 539 
 
 IRELAND. 29 
 
 the king of Munster, who was the son of Brien the Brave, 
 and Turlough, a great chief, who was Donchad’s nephew. 
 
 Donchad was married to a daughter of the great Saxon, 
 Earl Godwin, father of Harold the Second, king of England, 
 consequently, he was Harold’s brother-in-law. You may 
 remember that the earl and his son rebelled against Edward 
 the Confessor; and that the former escaped into Flanders. 
 Harold, also, was obliged to leave England, and w^ent over 
 to Ireland, where he was kindly received by Donchad, who 
 lent him nine ships for his return. The war between Don- 
 chad and Turlough for the supremacy of Ireland, was at 
 length decided in favour of the latter; on which Donchad 
 gave up the crown of Munster, and set out on a pilgrimage 
 to Rome, where he finished his days in a monastery ; partly 
 in consequence of his disappointed ambition, and partly 
 from repentance for his sins. 
 
 Turlough was king of Ireland during the reigns of our 
 William the Conqueror and William Rufus. He was a 
 powerful prince, and kept his court at the palace of Kin 
 Kora, in the county of Clare; but he was a tyrant, and im- 
 posed very heavy tributes on the other princes; who were, 
 in their turn, obliged to raise supplies among their owm 
 people, in order to be able to make those payments. The 
 tribute consisted of cattle, gold, and party-coloured mantles. 
 
 We have seen how Brien the Brave kept the Danes in 
 subjection for many years, without interfering with their 
 established customs. He allowed them to carry on trade, 
 and to be governed by their own princes, and only restrained 
 them from making war on the natives; but Turlough, not 
 being content with this limited share of authority, deposed 
 and banished Godfred, the king of Dublin, and gave the 
 government of that city to his own son Murkertach; and 
 very soon afterwards, he placed Irish princes over all the 
 Danish towns. 
 
 It is said that the forests of Ireland were so extensive at 
 
 D 3 
 
540 CORNEE^S 
 
 30 IRELAND. 
 
 this period, and produced such fine timber, that William 
 Rufus sent to King Turlough for a quantity of oak to make 
 the roof of Westminster-hall. 
 
 Turlough died in the year 1086. The kingdom of Mun- 
 ster was divided between his three sons, one of whom died; 
 when Murkertach, who had been made king of Dublin by 
 his father, defeated and banished his brother Dermot, and 
 thus gained possession of the whole kingdom of Munster. 
 But the principal chiefs of Ireland, wishing to see the an- 
 cient line of sovereigns restored, opposed the claims of 
 Murkertach to the supreme throne, and declared in favour 
 of Donald Mac Loughlin, a chief of the ancient royal race. 
 This war had continued for eight years, when it was termi- 
 nated by an agreement that the country should be divided 
 between the rival princes. The southern half therefore 
 remained under the dominion of Murkertach; while the 
 northern division was given to Mac Loughlin; and these 
 two kings enjoyed an equal share of power and indepen- 
 dence. But the love of warfare seems to have been so 
 great, that even this compact failed to restore tranquillity; 
 for these two monarchs were constantly armed against each 
 other, till, in the year 1103, Murkertach suffered a total 
 defeat, and retired into a monastery to end his life in peace. 
 
 While these wars were going on, the coasts of Ireland 
 were several times invaded by different Norwegian chiefs, 
 and one of their great kings, Magnus, who was also Lord of 
 the Isles, that is, of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, had 
 made himself master of Dublin; when he was enticed into 
 an ambuscade, and killed by a sudden attack of the Irish. 
 
 The palace of Kin Kora was destroyed at this time; so 
 that nothing of it is now to be seen but the ramparts and 
 moat. It was probably little superior to those buildings 
 that were called castles in Ireland, which were far inferior 
 to the Saxon castles in England, as they consisted only of a 
 tower with narrow loop holes for windows, and a hall 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 541 
 
 IRELAND. 31 
 
 adjoining, built of wattles and plastered with clay, and 
 thatched; to which was added a large yard called a bawn, 
 with a hedge and a ditch round it to preserve the cattle 
 from invaders. 
 
 Some years before the death of Murkertach, a national 
 assembly was held, to regulate the affairs of the church. 
 The clergy, at this period, possessed extensive lands, which, 
 by a decree of this assembly, they were henceforth to hold 
 free of all tributes or public contributions of any kind; so 
 that the churchmen of Ireland became richer than the kings 
 and chiefs; for they were not obliged to keep all this land 
 for their own use, but might let a part of it to farmers; and 
 they generally received their rents in gold and silver, instead 
 of taking them in kind, as was usual among landlords who 
 were not ecclesiastics. It was also very usual to make rich 
 donations to new churches, at their consecration. On one 
 occasion, Murha OLoughlin, the king of Ireland, in 1157, 
 gave a town, one hundred and fifty cows, and sixty ounces 
 of gold, to the bishop of the district; and the wife of ano- 
 ther king was equally liberal. 
 
 Murkertach bestowed the extensive domain of Cashel on 
 the church, and made it an archbishopric ; so that there were 
 two archbishops in Ireland, as in England, and twenty-four 
 bishops. The churches and monasteries of Ireland were, at 
 this time, all built of wood, for stone buildings were so un- 
 common, even as late as the twelfth century, that when 
 Roderick O’Connor, king of Connaught, constructed a stone 
 tower, or palace, as he styled it, the natives called it the 
 Wonderful Tower. 
 
 At this time, there must have been a considerable trade 
 carried on between England and Ireland; and it is probable 
 that scarlet cloth was much in request among the kings and 
 chieftains of Ireland, being perhaps partly used for their 
 robes ; for in the time of Henry the First, there was a daring 
 pirate of the Orkney islands, named Sweyn, who captured 
 two merchant vessels that were sailing for Dublin, laden 
 
542 CORNER’S 
 
 32 IRELAND. 
 
 with English cloths and other valuable goods; and this 
 Sweyn was so pleased with his prize, that on his voyage 
 home he covered his sails with the scarlet cloth, and called 
 the expedition his scarlet cruise. This cloth was manufac- 
 tured in England, and must have been made by the Flemish 
 weavers who settled in Wales in the time of Henry the 
 First. 
 
 THE NORMAN-ENGLISH CONQUEST. 
 
 1100 to 1172. 
 
 The little that is known of the internal state of Ireland be- 
 fore it was conquered by the English, may lead us to con- 
 clude that it was a poor, and, in most respects, an uncivil- 
 ized country. There can be no doubt that the clergy and 
 monks were highly learned ; but their learning was confined 
 to their own class ; while the kings and chiefs studied no art 
 but that of conquering and plundering their neighbours. 
 
 The middle classes consisted partly of the farmers who 
 rented lands of the clergy and chiefs, and partly of the 
 small proprietors who had land of their own; for it was 
 still the custom to divide estates according to the Brehon 
 law, which I have before described; so that there were 
 great numbers of small landholders, who lived chiefly on the 
 produce of their own little possessions. The very lowest 
 classes were extremely poor and wretched, and were sup- 
 ported principally by the charity of the monks and nuns 
 Freedom, however, was general, as there was no feuda 
 system in Ireland, and no bondmen were attached to the 
 soil. The only slaves were those who were purchased, or 
 the prisoners taken in battle. The Irish, therefore, though 
 barbarous in their habits of life, were a proud race of people. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 543 
 
 IRELAND. 33 
 
 for none were degraded by slavery, nor compelled to perform 
 menial offices for their lords, like the feudal vassals in some 
 other countries of Europe. 
 
 At the time when Henry the Second was reigning in 
 England, there was a king of Leinster, named Dermot Mac 
 Murrough, a ferocious, cruel man, whose violenc conduct 
 had created him many enemies, among whom was a noble- 
 man of Connaught, whose name was O’Ruark, the lord ot 
 Breffney. Dermot had done many injuries to O’Ruark, and 
 at last took away his wife; on which O’Ruark applied to 
 Roderick O’Connor, the supreme king of Ireland, for re- 
 dress; and they both together went to war with Dermot, 
 and drove him from his kingdom. 
 
 The deposed monarch fled to England, hoping to get as- 
 sistance there for the recovery of his dominions ; and deter- 
 mined to let nothing stand in the way of the revenge he 
 meditated, which was no less than to betray his country 
 into the hands of the English. Henry the Second was at 
 this time in Normandy, and his mind was much occupied 
 with his own troubles at home, being involved in disputes 
 with Thomas a Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury; ne- 
 vertheless, he received the Irish monarch, who had repaired 
 to Normandy, with great courtesy, for the conquest of Ire- 
 land was an object he had long had in contemplation; and 
 an opportunity like this for the accomplishment of his wishes 
 was not to be neglected. He therefore told Dermot that he 
 had no objection to give him all the assistance he required, 
 on condition that if, by that means, he should recover his 
 kingdom of Leinster, he would consent to hold it in vassal- 
 age of the crown of England, and would also aid the Eng- 
 lish to conquer the rest of the island. 
 
 Dermot readily accepted the proposals of Henry, who 
 several years previously had obtained from the Pope per- 
 mission to undertake the conquest of Ireland; promising 
 that, in case of success, he would engage that the Irish 
 
544 CORNEE’S 
 
 34 IRELAND. 
 
 should pay the annual tax of Peter pence to the see of 
 Rome, which they never yet had done. 
 
 The Pope who granted this licence, Adrian the Fourth, 
 was an Englishman, and the only one who ever attained to 
 that dignity; he therefore naturally took more interest in 
 the affairs of England than he would have done had he 
 been a foreigner; and not only gave the required permission, 
 and invested Henry with the sovereignty of Ireland, but 
 sent him a gold ring adorned with a fine emerald; an em- 
 blematical gift, signifying that he made the king a present 
 of the Emerald Island, a name by which Ireland was some- 
 times distinguished, on account of its verdant beauty. 
 
 Henry, having thus secured the support of the Pope and 
 the alliance of the traitorous Irish monarch, furnished the 
 latter with letters to carry with him to England, written in 
 these terms ; 
 
 “ Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aqui- 
 taine, and earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen, English, Nor- 
 man, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nations under his 
 dominion, sends greeting; As soon as the present letters 
 shall come to your hands, know that Dermot, prince of 
 Leinster, has been received into the bosom of our grace and 
 benevolence ; wherefore, whosoever within the ample extent 
 of our territories shall be willing to lend aid to the restora- 
 tion of this prince, as our faithful and liege subject, let such 
 person know that we do hereby grant to him for the said 
 purpose our licence and favour.” 
 
 Thus qualified, Dermot returned to England, but made 
 very little progress in raising forces till he happened to be- 
 come acquainted with Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, a 
 nobleman who had ruined his fortune by a reckless liber- 
 ality, and who had obtained the surname of Strongbow, 
 from his skill in archery. Dermot was very glad to meet 
 with a man so well fitted for his purpose, nor was Earl 
 Strongbow less pleased to be engaged in such an enterprise 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 545 
 
 IRELAND. 35 
 
 The affair was speedily arranged between them. It was sti- 
 pulated that, if Dermot should regain his kingdom by the 
 earfs assistance, the latter was to be rewarded with broad 
 lands in Ireland, and to marry the lady Eva, Dermot ’s 
 young and lovely daughter, and his heirs were to succeed to 
 the throne of Leinster. 
 
 As soon as it was known that the valiant earl of Pem- 
 broke had entered into an alliance with the Irish king, two 
 young Norman knights, Maurice Fitzgerald and Robert 
 Fitz- Stephen, who were half-brothers, and both of whom 
 depended on their swords for preferment, offered their ser- 
 vices, which were joyfully accepted; and they were to re- 
 ceive as a remuneration the town of Waterford and the ad- 
 joining land, to be held in fief of the king of Leinster; so 
 that at length the feudal system was about to find its way 
 into Ireland. 
 
 When all their plans were arranged, Dermot returned to 
 Leinster, and concealed himself all the winter in a monas- 
 tery, as the invasion was not to take place till the spring. 
 The secret was only communicated to a few persons, who 
 were known to be devoted to his interest; and who employed 
 the interval in collecting his friends together, that they 
 might be ready at a moment’s notice to join the expected 
 forces from England as soon as they should arrive. This 
 arrangement had nearly proved fatal to the whole plot; for 
 early in the spring a small party came over from Wales, in- 
 tending to wait quietly for the arrival of the main army; 
 but the intelligence being communicated, with some exagge- 
 rations, to Dermot, he concluded that all his allies were 
 come; and quitting his retreat, boldly put himself at the 
 head of his little band of Irish. The mistake was quickly 
 discovered, but not before King Roderick and O’Ruark, the 
 lord of Breffney, had become aware that Dermot was in ^ 
 Ireland, and making preparations for war; but they had not 
 the least suspicion of his negociations in England, or they 
 
546 
 
 CORNERS 
 
 36 IRELAND. 
 
 would not have dealt so leniently with him as they did; for 
 they accepted his offers of submission, and even gave him 
 back a portion of his kingdom, on condition that he would 
 do homage to Roderick, and give seven hostages for his 
 future good behaviour. To all these terms, Dermot con- 
 sented with pretended humility, for he only wanted to gain 
 time; and as soon as the English army arrived, which was 
 in May, he hastened to join it with all the troops he could 
 muster. The first party that landed was under the com- 
 mand of Fitz-Stephen; who brought with him thirty 
 knights of his own family; sixty men in coats of mail, and 
 three hundred archers; and these were soon followed by 
 another band of equal strength. 
 
 They first laid siege to Waterford, which soon surren- 
 dered, through the advice of the priests, who were disposed 
 to favour Dermot, because he was liberal in his gifts to the 
 church. As soon as Waterford was taken, Dermot fulfilled 
 his engagement with the two Norman brothers, by invest- 
 ing them with the lordship of the city and its domain; and 
 he bestowed fiefs on several other knights and nobles who 
 had accompanied the expedition ; so that there were now 
 feudal barons in Ireland; and the inhabitants of these baro- 
 nial lands remained for ages a community distinct from the 
 natives, both in language and manners. 
 
 The possession of Waterford was a grand acquisition for 
 Dermot, because it served him for a garrison, from which he 
 could issue forth whenever he pleased, to make attacks on 
 the neighbouring chiefs. The cruelties committed by the 
 Normans in these incursions, aroused Roderick, who was 
 neither very brave nor very active, to some degree of exer- 
 tion ; and he called together an assembly of the princes and 
 chiefs, at Tara, to consult about the best means of defend- 
 ing the country, and freeing it from the presence of the 
 Normans. But the chieftains, as usual, instead of adopting 
 means to repel the enemy, quarrelled with each other; and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 547 
 
 IRELAND. 37 
 
 many of them drew off their troops from the king's army, 
 and returned home. Roderick himself, who, as I said 
 before, was not distinguished for courage, preferred making 
 peace to fighting battles with the warlike Normans; there- 
 fore he sent proposals of peace to Dermot, by which he 
 agreed to acknowledge him as king of Leinster, provided he, 
 Dermot, would dismiss all the foreigners in his service, and 
 do homage to him for his kingdom. Dermot, who was 
 very anxious to be reinstated on his throne by any means 
 whatever, consented to these terms as the readiest way of 
 attaining that object; and even placed his favourite son, 
 Connor, as a hostage in the hands of the king, who pro- 
 mised, on his part, to treat the youth well, so long as his 
 father performed his part of the contract; which the faith- 
 less monarch had no intention of doing, as we shall 
 soon see. 
 
 Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Dublin had elected for 
 themselves a king of Danish origin; and refused to pay the 
 customary tribute to Dermot, as king of Leinster: there- 
 fore, instead of dismissing his English allies, according to 
 his agreement with Roderick, Dermot sent them to besiege 
 Dublin, and welcomed with joy a fresh reinforcement that 
 was brought over by Maurice Fitzgerald. The citizens of 
 Dublin being unaccustomed to war, and not prepared for a 
 long siege, were soon reduced to most dreadful distress, and 
 were obliged to open their gates to the besiegers. 
 
 Dermot, being thus master of Dublin, threw off his alle- 
 giance to Roderick; who was compelled to retire to Con- 
 naught. Dermot, elated with success, now began to think 
 of usurping the throne of Ireland; and on consulting his 
 English friends as to this ambitious project, they encouraged 
 his design, and advised him to write to the earl of Pembroke 
 about it. This nobleman, although he had affected to treat 
 the affairs of Ireland with carelessness, had been secretly 
 watching with great anxiety the progress made by his coun- 
 
 h 
 
548 CORNER^S 
 
 38 IRELAND. 
 
 trymen; and as soon as he found there was a prospect of 
 ultimate success, he sent over a great number of his own 
 vassals, who landed near Waterford, and erected a fortress 
 of wood and turf at the foot of a rock, where they could 
 await the arrival of Strongbow himself, who was ready to 
 make his appearance on the scene. 
 
 During this time. King Henry had been so busy with his 
 own affairs, that he had found no leisure to think much 
 about Ireland; but when he learned that some of the Eng- 
 lish barons were gaining ground in that country, he resolved 
 to put a stop to their proceedings; as it was not unlikely, 
 that if they conquered the country, they might be inclined 
 to keep possession of it. He therefore sent a positive com- 
 mand to Strongbow not to leave England on any account, 
 and to recall immediately all his vassals from Ireland. The 
 bold earl, however, did not think proper to abandon so pro- 
 mising an enterprise; therefore, in defiance of the royal 
 mandate, he set sail from Milford-haven with a large army, 
 composed partly of his own retainers, and partly of volun- 
 teers who had joined him in his march through Wales. 
 
 It was on St. Bartholomew’s eve that the earl of Pem- 
 broke landed at the fort near Waterford, and joined the 
 little band that was stationed there. Dermot had not 
 been able to keep possession of the city of Waterford, but 
 after it had been closely besieged by Strongbow, it was 
 again taken, and all the wretched inhabitants, including 
 women and children, were put to the sword. In the midst 
 of this shocking scene, Dermot arrived, accompanied by 
 Fitzgerald and Fitz- Stephen, and the lady Eva, the destined 
 bride of the English earl. Scarcely had the royal party en- 
 tered the city, when news arrived of a revolt in DubUn; and 
 that the new governor, so lately appointed by Dermot, had 
 declared for Roderick and the lord of Breffney, who were on 
 their march thither. This unwelcome inteUigence made it 
 necessary to proceed to Dublin without delay; therefore the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 549 
 
 IRELAND. 39 
 
 marriage of Strongbow and Eva was celebrated in haste, 
 while the dead bodies of the murdered citizens and their 
 children were yet lying unburied in the streets. 
 
 Meanwhile, the people of Dublin, expecting the approach 
 of Dermot and his allies, had posted all their soldiers in the 
 woods, to intercept' them, and prevent them from reaching 
 the city; but Dermot was apprised of this manoeuvre, and 
 instead of leading his troops through the woods, took his 
 course along the tops of the Wicklow mountains, and sud- 
 denly appeared before the gates of the city. The conster- 
 nation of the citizens may readily be imagined. Some of 
 the priests mounted the walls, to hold a conference with the 
 enemy, and try to make terms by which the lives of the 
 citizens might be spared; but while they were speaking, 
 the soldiers having found a part of the wall undefended, 
 had entered the streets, where they were repeating the 
 horrid scenes that had taken place at Waterford. Amidst 
 the confusion, Hasculf, the governor, and many of the prin- 
 cipal men in the city, with their wives and children, es- 
 caped in some boats that were lying in the bay, and sailed 
 for the Orkney islands, while the priests and monks were 
 exerting themselves to check the fury of the soldiers. 
 
 Meanwhile, King Roderick, instead of coming to the aid 
 of Dublin, had gone on some other enterprise into Meath, 
 whither he was pursued by Strongbow, whose track was 
 marked with fire and slaughter; for the Normans, as we 
 have seen in the histories of other countries, were very cruel 
 in their mode of warfare. Roderick now sent word to 
 Dermot, that if he did not return to his allegiance, his son 
 Connor’s head should be cut off; but Dermot returned a 
 haughty answ’^er; on which the innocent youth, with two 
 other hostages, was put to death. 
 
 The Irish, began to think that this Norman invasion 
 was a scourge sent by God to punish them for their sins; 
 they therefore resolved to perform some signal act of piety 
 
 N n 
 
550 CORNER’S 
 
 40 IRELAND. 
 
 to avert the wrath of heaven; and a council was held 
 at Armagh to consider the subject. It was the general 
 opinion, that the present misfortunes of the people were 
 owing to their wickedness in buying slaves of the English 
 merchants; therefore, it was resolved that all the English 
 who were in bondage should be restored to liberty; a reso- 
 lution which was carried into effect. 
 
 When Henry the Second heard that the earl of Pembroke 
 had gone to Ireland in disobedience to his commands, he 
 was so much displeased, that he stopped all communication 
 between the two countries, at the same time sending orders 
 that all his subjects in Ireland should return home before 
 Easter, on pain of banishment, and the forfeiture of their es- 
 tates. The effect of this mandate were soon felt by Strong- 
 bow, who received no more supplies from home, while many 
 of his knights and soldiers deserted him and returned to 
 England. In this emergency, he wrote to King Henry, 
 reminding him that his majesty had himself, in the first in- 
 stance, invited his subjects to aid in replacing Dermot on 
 his throne, and declaring that whatever conquests he might 
 make, he should consider them as not belonging to himself, 
 but to the king. 
 
 To this letter he received no answer, for Henry was 
 labouring under great anxiety of mind in consequence of the 
 murder of Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury; and as 
 Dermot died just about this time, Strongbow succeeded to 
 the throne of Leinster, in right of his wife Eva, according 
 to his treaty with her father. The people of Ireland were 
 averse to seeing an Englishman reigning in any part of their 
 country, and the natives who had served in his army while 
 Dermot was alive, began to desert him in great numbers. 
 Added to these misfortunes, Hasculf, the governor of Dub- 
 lin, who had fled to the Orkney islands, now returned and 
 sailed up the Liffey with sixty ships filled with troops armed 
 in the Danish manner, with coats of mail, and red shields. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 551 
 
 IRELAND. 41 
 
 They laid siege to Dublin, but were defeated with great 
 loss, and Haseulf was taken and beheaded; but, notwith- 
 standing this success, the English force Was very much 
 weakened, and one able Irish chieftain, such as Brien Boru, 
 might have driven them all out of the country. 
 
 The only hero who distinguished himself at this period, 
 was the archbishop of Dublin, celebrated in Irish history as 
 St. Lawrence O’Toole. This patriotic churchman went from 
 province to province, exhorting the chiefs to forget their 
 private quarrels, and unite, under one banner, to preserve 
 the freedom of their native land. He also despatched emis- 
 saries to Godfred, the king of Man, begging he would send 
 ships to aid in wresting the city of Dublin from the captors. 
 The English, therefore, were soon surrounded by an army of 
 besiegers, headed by the prelate clad in armour, who ani- 
 mated the troops by his courage and patriotic exhortations. 
 The siege had lasted two months, and the English were re- 
 duced almost to despair for want of food, when Strongbow 
 received intelligence that his ally, Fitz- Stephen, was in the 
 utmost distress, being shut up in a fort at Garrick, with his 
 wife and children, and being so completely surrounded by 
 foes, that they must all inevitably perish, if not relieved in 
 two or three days. 
 
 In this unfavourable state of affairs, Strongbow sum- 
 moned a council of \var to deliberate upon the means of 
 escaping from the city. After some consultation, it was 
 decided that the only chance of escape left was to throw the 
 gates suddenly open, and force their way through the 
 enemy’s camp. The besiegers, totally unprepared for such 
 an enterprise, no sooner beheld the gates flung open, and 
 the soldiers rushing forth upon them, than they fled in the 
 utmost confusion; while Strongbow and his men plundered 
 their tents, and returned to the city in the evening laden 
 with suflSlcient provisions for a twelvemonth. Having thus 
 unexpectedly dispersed his foes, the earl hastened to the 
 
552 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 42 IRELAND. 
 
 relief of his iriend Fitz-Stephen; but he was too late, for 
 the gallant knight had fallen into the hands of the people 
 of Waterford, through the following stratagem, which they 
 cunningly employed to entrap him. A messenger had 
 been sent to his castle with the false intelligence that 
 Roderick was in possession of Dublin, that Strongbow, 
 Fitzgerald, and all the English knights, were killed, and 
 that the king was on his march towards Wexford, with the 
 full intent of putting every Englishman to the sword. Fitz- 
 Stephen was in sad distress at this news, expecting soon to 
 see his wife and children murdered before his face; he there- 
 fore eagerly accepted the offer of his treacherous foes, to aid 
 him in making his escape, and imprudently quitted his 
 strong castle to put himself, his family, and friends, into 
 their hands. No sooner, however, were the credulous vic- 
 tims in their power, than they put some to death, and 
 threw Fitz-Stephen with the rest into prison. 
 
 Scarcely had this treacherous deed been accomplished, 
 when those who had laid the plot were thrown into the 
 utmost consternation at hearing that the Irish had been 
 driven from the walls of Dublin, and that Earl Strongbow 
 was coming to Garrick with all speed, to the rescue of Fitz- 
 Stephen and his companions. The people of Waterford 
 hastily collected their most valuable effects, set fire to the 
 town, and taking their prisoners wkh them, retired to a 
 small island near the harbour. Strongbow regretted the 
 fate of his friends, and would have attacked the little island, 
 but was deterred from doing so, by being told that if either 
 of his vessels should be seen approaching, the heads of all 
 the English prisoners would be struck off. 
 
 In the meantime. King Henry, not being satisfied with 
 the proceedings in Ireland, had raised a large army for the 
 purpose of repairing thither. The expenses of this expe- 
 dition were very great, and as he had not money to defray 
 them, he had levied a tax on all landed estates, called 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 553 
 
 IRELAND. 43 
 
 scutage, which meant that the holders of lands should pay 
 certain sums, proportioned to the value of their estates, in- 
 stead of going to the wars themselves. This tax having 
 been collected, the king was able to pay hired soldiers; so 
 that he soon raised a very sufficient army, and had advanced 
 as far as Gloucestershire, when he received a message from 
 Earl Strongbow, requesting to be admitted to his presence. 
 The earl had come thus hastily to England, hoping to effect 
 a reconciliation with the king before his landing, as he knew 
 he must eventually submit. 
 
 It was some time before Henry would consent to see him ; 
 being still much displeased at his conduct; but at last he 
 was pardoned, on condition that he should give up to the 
 king the town of Dublin, with all the sea ports and for- 
 tresses he had gained in Ireland. The king on his part 
 agreed that all the rest of the earFs possessions should re- 
 main to him and his heirs for ever, to be held in fief of the 
 English crown. This treaty being concluded, they both 
 embarked with the army for Ireland, and landed at Water- 
 ford on the eighteenth of October, 1171. The arrival of 
 the king of England in person had a wonderful effect upon 
 the Irish, who did not make the slightest attempt to op- 
 pose him. The citizens of Waterford, who had behaved so 
 dishonourably with regard to the surrender of Garrick castle, 
 now meanly came to offer their submission to the king, and 
 gave up to him Fitz-Stephen and the rest of the prisoners. 
 
 There never was a conquest more easily made than that 
 of Ireland by Henry the Second. He had not occasion to 
 fight a single battle, for every prince and chief in the island 
 came forward to acknowledge his sovereignty. The form 
 prescribed by Henry was, that each chief should do homage, 
 surrender his domain, and receive it back again in vassal- 
 age, so that the Irish princes, who had so long ruled as so 
 many independent sovereigns, were from that time vassals 
 of the king of England. Roderick himself, the last of the 
 
554 CORNER^S 
 
 44 IRKLAND. 
 
 native monarchs of Ireland, submitted to the same form; 
 and Ireland became dependant on the English crown until 
 the Union, when it was made part of the United Kingdom. 
 
 As Christmas was approaching, Henry proposed to cele- 
 brate that festival at Dublin, and invited to it King Rode- 
 rick, and all the Irish princes, who had reason to be satisfied 
 with their reception, as they were treated with great cour- 
 tesy, and feasted with the most sumptuous hospitality. 
 The banquet was held in a temporary pavilion, which had 
 been constructed of wattles for the occasion, as there was 
 no building in Dublin large enough to contain such an as- 
 semblage. Before the king quitted Ireland he held a synod, 
 or council, at Cashel, for the purpose of making laws for 
 the future government of the country. In the formation of 
 these laws his chief care was to extend the power and re- 
 venues of the clergy, as he well knew that his own authority 
 depended very much upon the support of a class of men 
 who had so much influence over the people. It was there- 
 fore decreed that every land-owner should pay a tithe, that 
 is, a tenth part of the produce of his estate to the church 
 of his own parish; that no church lands should pay taxes 
 or tribute of any kind to laymen; that no petty king or 
 chieftain should exact victuals or enforce hospitality in dis- 
 tricts belonging to the church, and that certain contributions 
 which used to be levied by the chiefs four times a year, 
 on the tenants whose farms were on ecclesiastical estates, 
 should no longer be paid. 
 
 All marriages were prohibited within the degrees of rela- 
 tionship forbidden by the church of Rome ; and with respect 
 to the disposal of property, it was ordained that when a man 
 was ill, and likely to die, he should send for his confessor 
 and his neighbours, and make a will, by which his debts 
 were first to be paid, and the remainder of his property 
 divided into three shares, the first for his wife, the second 
 for his children, and the third part to pay the expenses of 
 his funeral. Although these new regulations of Henry tne 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 555 
 
 IRELAND. 45 
 
 Second seemed to apply to the natives of the country, you 
 must understand that all the laws made for Ireland both by 
 him and his immediate successors down to the beginning of 
 the reign of Edward the First, were made chiefly for the be- 
 nefit of the English settlers, and afforded but little protection 
 to the natives. This was one great cause of the discontent 
 and misery of the Irish, for they very soon found they had 
 no power left to enforce their own ancient laws, and not 
 being protected by any others, they were, in those times, 
 subjected to all kinds of tyranny and oppression. 
 
 It is said by some historians, that Henry the Second 
 divided Ireland into shires, and appointed sheriff’s and other 
 officers over them, as in England; but it is doubtful whether 
 this division was made before the reign of King John. It 
 was Henry, however, who established the feudal system in 
 Ireland, as it existed in other countries, by granting estates 
 to his officers for military services, homage, and fealty; and 
 he considered it of so much importance that lands should be 
 held by this tenure, that he obliged Earl Strongbow to 
 resign his principality of Leinster, which he had acquired by 
 marriage, and accept it on a new grant for military service. 
 
 Earl Strongbow was at this period the most powerful 
 Englishman in Ireland, both on account of the extent of his 
 possessions and his military talents; therefore Henry, to 
 counterbalance the power of this daring baron, which he 
 thought might hereafter endanger his own authority, gave 
 the baron Hugh de Lacy and his heirs for ever, the territory 
 of Meath, to be held by the service of fifty knights. The 
 granting of Meath to an English lord, gave more dissatis- 
 faction to the Irish than any thing the king had yet done. 
 Meath had been the seat of their ancient monarchy, and 
 they could not, without dissatisfaction, view the English 
 baron usurping, as it were, the very throne of their native 
 sovereigns. Large territories, too, had been given to other 
 English nobles in Limerick, Cork, and Kerry; and to 
 strengthen their authority, the king had created the high 
 
i 
 
 I 556 CORNER^S 
 
 46 IRELAND. 
 
 offices of Lord High Constable, Earl Marshal, and High 
 Steward, or Seneschal; so that, in fact, a Norman-English 
 government was established in Ireland. 
 
 I have already mentioned that during the siege of Dublin 
 the principal citizens had fled with their families and all the 
 property they could carry away, to the Orkney islands and 
 the isle of Man. They made several ineffectual attempts to 
 regain possession of the city, but finding they were not likely 
 to succeed, they settled themselves quietly in those islands. 
 King Henry, therefore, desirous that Dublin should still be 
 a commercial city, gave it to the inhabitants of Bristol, 
 because they were a trading people, and had long carried on 
 an extensive commerce with Ireland, particularly with Dub- 
 lin and Waterford. History does not tell us whether any 
 colonists were sent from Bristol to Dublin; but as Dublin is 
 soon afterwards noticed as a fine flourishing town, and the 
 metropolis of Ireland, we may reasonably suppose that the 
 citizens of Bristol did not slight the royal donation. The 
 king was obliged to return suddenly to England, before he 
 had quite completed the settlement of his new kingdom; 
 and having given orders for the building of several strong 
 castles, he left Ireland in April, 1172. On landing in 
 Wales, he assumed the dress and staff of a pilgrim, and 
 went on foot to the church of St. David, to return thanks 
 for the prosperous termination of his enterprise. 
 
 FROM THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DEATH OF ITS LAST KING, RODERICK. 
 1172 to 1198. 
 
 '.I’he Romans used to say, that the day on which they con- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 557 
 
 IRELAND. 47 
 
 quered a people was the last day of their enmity with them, 
 as the vanquished then became their fellow citizens, were 
 made partakers of their rights and privileges, and shared in 
 the advantages of a free and independent government. The 
 same noble spirit led them to improve the countries they 
 had subdued, and to civilise and instruct the people. If 
 such a system had been pursued towards the Irish, they 
 would probably have become a more prosperous and a hap- 
 pier nation. 
 
 After the departure of the king, the animosity against the 
 English, which had been suppressed while he was present, 
 began to show itself among the Irish chiefs, who found 
 themselves dispossessed of much of their lands by the unjust 
 usurpation of strangers. Rebellions broke out over the 
 whole country, and as Strongbow was regarded as the prin- 
 cipal cause of every evil that had occurred, all hostilities 
 were directed against him, and he soon found himself in a 
 perilous situation. Just at this time, too, a spirit of dis- 
 content had arisen among the English soldiers, who were 
 not regularly paid, and were commanded by an officer 
 named Fitz- Maurice, who had made himself very unpopular 
 with them, because he would not suffer them to ravage the 
 country to pay themselves. 
 
 But there was another officer in the army, named Ray- 
 mond le Gros, who was much in favour with the troops, 
 because he was by no means so scrupulous as Fitz- Maurice, 
 the commander; they therefore all declared that unless 
 Raymond was appointed general, instead of Fitz- Maurice, 
 they would return to England without delay. Strongbow 
 had a beautiful sister, the lady Basilia, to whom Raymond 
 was much attached, but as his rank was far inferior to that 
 of the noble earl, he had never presumed to make his at- 
 tachment known. But as soon as he found how much in- 
 fluence he had with the soldiers, he thought he should be 
 able to bring the earl to any terms, as the loss of the army 
 
558 CORNER’S 
 
 48 IRELAND. 
 
 at a time when the Irish were ready to seize every oppor- 
 tunity of revenge, would leave him without the means of 
 defence. He therefore boldly demanded the hand of the 
 lady Basilia in marriage, as well as the appointment of 
 constable and standard bearer, which was the highest office 
 in Leinster. 
 
 The earl was very much surprised at such a proposal, and 
 haughtily rejected the suit; on which Raymond resigned 
 his command and went over to Wales, followed by numbers 
 of the soldiers, many of whom were his own retainers. 
 Strongbow was soon reduced to such straits, that he was 
 obliged to send for Raymond, promising that if he would 
 return, and bring all the assistance in his power, he should 
 wed the lady, and receive the appointments he desired. The 
 delighted lover soon collected a considerable force, and ar- 
 rived at Waterford just in time to save the English garrison, 
 which was on the point of being taken by the Irish, who 
 would have put every Englishman in the place to death. 
 His seasonable appearance was hailed with joy; and his 
 marriage was celebrated with much splendour. 
 
 Raymond, however, was soon obliged to leave his bride, 
 for news came that Roderick was in arms, and advancing 
 towards Dublin; and although an Irish army was at this 
 period little more than a collection of undisciplined half- 
 naked barbarians, who were no match for the Norman- 
 English soldiers, still it was necessary to stop their pro- 
 gress. Raymond, therefore, marched off at the head of his 
 troops to meet Roderick, who was quickly defeated, and the 
 cruel victor suffered his soldiers to go in pursuit of the fugi- 
 tives, and plunder the country. 
 
 It would be useless to tell of all the rebellions that broke 
 out, and all the battles in which Raymond le Gros distin- 
 guished himself, till at length a new treaty was made be- 
 tween King Henry and King Roderick, by which the former 
 promised that as long as Roderick should serve him as a 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 559 
 
 IRELAND. 49 
 
 faithful vassal, he should hold his hereditary dominions as 
 firmly and peaceably as he had held them before he took 
 the oath of allegiance. He was also promised the sove- 
 reignty over all the rest of the native kings and princes; 
 but, in return, was bound to compel them to pay tribute to 
 the king of England. The Irish kings and princes also 
 were to hold their territories in peace, so long as they paid 
 their tribute, and remained faithful vassals to the English 
 monarch; but if they failed to do so, or were otherwise re- 
 bellious, they were to forfeit their domains. 
 
 The annual tribute that was to be paid to Henry by the 
 Irish was one hide for every tenth head of cattle killed in 
 Ireland; which tax, in a country where cattle were nume- 
 rous, produced in the course of a year an immense number 
 of hides, which were sold to make leather, and yielded a 
 considerable revenue. By this compact, it was also deter- 
 mined that all future kings of England should be lords 
 paramount of Ireland, and that all future kings of Ireland 
 should hold their dominions as vassals of the English crown. 
 You will see by this that Roderick was still sovereign of 
 Ireland, but his authority did not extend over any part of 
 the country possessed by the English barons, which was 
 called the English Pale, and comprised the whole of Meath 
 and Leinster, Dublin, Waterford, and all the country from 
 Waterford to Dungarvan. The pale may therefore be con- 
 sidered as the English part of Ireland, and all the rest of 
 the country the Irish part, or Irishry, as it was then called. 
 
 In the year 1174, the Pope’s bull or decree, granting the 
 kingdom of Ireland to Henry the Second, was first pro- 
 claimed in that country; and also a brief from Pope Alex- 
 ander the Third, who succeeded Adrian the Fourth, con- 
 firming the decree of his predecessor, on condition of the 
 payment of Peter pence. In the following year died Richard 
 de Clare, earl of Pembroke, who, under the name of Strong- 
 bow, had made so conspicuous a figure in the conquest of 
 
 F 
 
560 CORNER’S 
 
 50 IRELAND. 
 
 Ireland. He left an only daughter, Isabel, heiress of all his 
 vast possessions. The taste for building churches and mo- 
 nasteries prevailed at this period to a great extent among 
 the wealthy in Ireland, whether they were natives of the 
 country or English settlers. Strongbow founded a priory at 
 Kilmoinham for the Knights Templars, and endowed it with 
 lands; and, indeed, there were few of the English nobles 
 who were not the founders or benefactors of religious esta- 
 blishments. 
 
 Great numbers of the Irish females of rank were, at this 
 time, nuns; which is not surprising, since the world could 
 have had but few attractions for them in a country con- 
 stantly harassed by warfare, where even life was uncertain, 
 and where the comforts of domestic life were utterly un- 
 known. Most of the abbesses were the daughters of kings 
 or princes; and during the middle ages, many of the kings 
 themselves, weary of fighting, were glad to seek repose in 
 the calm retreat of a cloister. There was a famous abbey, 
 called the Abbey of the Virgin Mary, at Dublin, supposed 
 to have been founded by the Danes. It was very rich, and 
 celebrated for the number of its saints and learned men. 
 Fitz- Stephen gave to this abbey an altar of stone, and the 
 staff that St. Patrick used to carry in his hand. This staff 
 was covered with gold, and inlaid or studded with pearls, 
 and it was taken by Fitz- Stephen from Armagh, at the time 
 of the wars. 
 
 During all the troubles that I have narrated, the province 
 of Ulster had remained at peace. This division of the 
 country, particularly those parts of it that were nearest to 
 Scotland, was inhabited, as it is now, principally by Scots, 
 who here fed their cattle, and lived in comparative tranquil- 
 lity, till a knight, named De Courcy, who came over from 
 England with the new governor, Fitz Aldelm, after the death 
 of Strongbow, fancied he was destined to subdue this hi- 
 therto unconquered province. De Courcy was one of those 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 561 
 
 IRELAND. 51 
 
 romantic knights who were fond of seeking adventures; and 
 his present wild scheme of undertaking the conquest of 
 Ulster originated in an ancient prophecy relating to that 
 kingdom, which pretended to foretell that it would be sub- 
 dued by a white knight on a white horse, bearing birds on 
 his shield. Now this knight was so firmly persuaded that 
 he was the very person alluded to in the prophecy, that he 
 furnished himself with a milk white steed, and decorated his 
 shield with a quantity of bees, thinking, perhaps, that bees, 
 being furnished with wings, bore a sufficient resemblance to 
 birds, to correspond with the prophecy; and he also carried 
 about with him the book in which the destiny of the white 
 knight was written, and never went to rest without placing 
 it under his pillow. 
 
 The governor had expressly commanded De Courcy to 
 abandon his project, for he knew that the king would be 
 much displeased if the peace of any province should be 
 invaded while the people remained quiet, and paid their tri- 
 bute; but the knight was resolved to try his fortune, and in 
 defiance of all authority, set off at the head of a band of 
 soldiers, into Ulster, and proceeded forthwith to Down- 
 patrick, the capital. 
 
 The inhabitants of the city were aroused at daybreak from 
 their sleep by the sound of the English bugles, and, starting 
 up, saw the streets filled with armed troops. The houses 
 were forced open and plundered, and many of the inmates 
 fell victims to the cruelty and rapacity of the soldiers, who 
 were soon masters of the town, for the people had been too 
 suddenly surprised to offer any resistance. The Pope’s 
 legate. Cardinal Vivian, who had just arrived in Ulster, did 
 every thing in his power to make peace ; but De Courcy was 
 so bent upon fulfilling the prophecy, that nothing could in- 
 duce him to relinquish his design. O’Niel, the king of 
 Ulster, by the advice of the cardinal, came forward boldly 
 to oppose the invader; and a hard-fought battle took place. 
 
562 CORNER^S 
 
 52 IRELAND. 
 
 which ended in the defeat of the Irish, and the triumph of 
 the Norman knight. All the petty chiefs of Ulster were 
 now in arms, and although De Courcy was generally victo- 
 rious, he several times very narrowly escaped being captured. 
 On one occasion, he had taken a number of cattle, and was 
 driving them to his own quarters, when he was suddenly 
 attacked by two of the chiefs. His whole party was cut to 
 pieces, and he himself w'as obliged to flee. He was closely 
 pursued, but after two days and nights, during which he 
 neither tasted food nor took rest, he reached his castle at 
 Downpatrick, almost dead with hunger and fatigue. 
 
 Meanwhile, the disturbances caused in Ireland by the 
 wars of De Courcy, and the quarrels among some of the 
 Irish princes, induced King Henry to apply to the Pope for 
 permission to make his second surviving son, John, king of 
 Ireland, in vassalage to the English crown. The Pope gave 
 the permission, but Henry changed his mind, and instead of 
 making John king, he only made him lord, of Ireland, and 
 sent him over to receive anew the submission of the Irish 
 princes. He also framed more laws for the English settled 
 in Ireland, and appointed as their governor, Hugh de Lacy, 
 the lord of Meath, in the place of Fitz-Aldelm, who was 
 much disliked. The new governor employed himself in 
 building castles to defend the English pale from the inroads 
 of the native chiefs, who were constantly on the watch for 
 opportunities of regaining the ground they had lost. 
 
 In the year 1186, Prince John of England, then about 
 nineteen years of age, arrived in Ireland, with a fleet of 
 twenty ships. He was accompanied by a train of nobles, 
 mostly young men, and ill qualified to promote a friendly 
 feeling between the conquerors and the conquered, which 
 might have been a means of preserving peace in the country. 
 When Henry was in Ireland, his affable manners towards 
 the rude chieftains had pleased and flattered them, so that 
 many had ever since lived very contentedly under the Eng- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 563 
 
 IRELAND. 53 
 
 lisn dominion; and as soon as they heard of the arrival of 
 the king’s son, they hastened to pay their respects to him, 
 as they had done to his father. The reception they met 
 with, however, was so different from what they had ex- 
 pected, that they all went away with feelings of hatred to- 
 wards the English which no time could subdue. Nor was 
 this surprising, considering the rudeness with which they 
 were treated by Prince John and his companions. 
 
 It appears, that when the chiefs were introduced into the 
 presence of the prince, they were dressed, according to the 
 fashion of the country, in a linen garment dyed with saffron, 
 the sleeves of which were large and loose, and hung down 
 as low as their knees; over this they wore tight woollen 
 jackets and trowsers, and coarse mantles fringed with a 
 variety of colours. They wore no covering upon their 
 heads, but their hair was very long, and curled down their 
 backs, and their beards also were long and bushy, so that, 
 altogether, they presented a singular appearance; but this 
 costume, being national, should not have been made a sub- 
 ject for ridicule; yet the ill-mannered English noblemen 
 burst into loud laughter, and when the Irish princes ap- 
 proached to offer the kiss of peace, according to the custom 
 of their country, they were rudely repelled, and some of 
 the attendants pulled their beards. These unmerited insults 
 made a deep and lasting impression on the indignant chiefs; 
 who returned to their homes bent on revenge; and imme- 
 diately withdrawing with their families from the English 
 pale, they went into other parts of the country to join those 
 kings and princes who were hostile to the English govern- 
 ment. The conduct of Prince John aroused the indignation 
 of the natives over the whole country. All the great chiefs 
 assembled together, and bound themselves by solemn oaths 
 to stand by each other for the recovery of their indepen- 
 dence ; and the terrible insurrection that followed had nearly 
 proved fatal to the English cause in Ireland, for the greater 
 
 f3 
 
564 . 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 54 IRELAND. 
 
 part of the army, and many of the inhabitants of the pale 
 were destroyed, their houses burned down, and their lands 
 wasted. 
 
 When King Henry heard of this revolt, he sent to recall 
 the prince, with his companions, who had been the cause of 
 all the mischief, and placed the entire management of the 
 government, both civil and military, in the hands of De 
 Courcy; who had succeeded in gaining a great deal of power 
 and territory in Ulster, and was well fitted to overcome dif- 
 ficulties. The late governor, Baron de Lacy, had met his 
 death in the following dreadful manner He was engaged in 
 building a castle at a place called Darmaigh, in the south of 
 Meath, and being in the habit of superintending the works 
 himself, he was out with three soldiers and a native labourer, 
 giving directions about the outer wall, when, as he was 
 stooping down to mark out the line for it, the Irishman 
 drew forth a battle-axe he had contrived to hide under his 
 clothes, and struck off his head. The murderer escaped 
 into the woods, and was never discovered. 
 
 Lawrence O’Toole, the celebrated archbishop of Dublin, 
 died during the government of the Baron de Lacy. He had 
 struggled hard to preserve the freedom of his country, and 
 when all hope of success was over, and he had given up the 
 contest, he was chosen as ambassador on particular occa- 
 sions to the court of England, where he was always treated 
 with the respect due to his elevated character. He was 
 brave, patriotic, learned, pious, and benevolent. He spent 
 large sums in charity, and every day gave away food to those 
 who were in want, so that his death was much regretted by 
 the poor in his diocese ; who, in sickness, famine, or dis- 
 tress of any kind, had always found a benefactor in the good 
 archbishop. He was succeeded by an Englishman. 
 
 After the death of the baron de Lacy, De Courcy, now 
 earl of Ulster, was the most powerful English chief in Ire- 
 land, but the conquests he made w^ere more owing to the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 565 
 
 IRELAND. 55 
 
 dissentions among the native princes than to any extraordi- 
 nary ability of his own; for when two Irish chiefs quar- 
 relled, each was so eager to gain advantage over the other, 
 that he never failed to employ the readiest means of obtain- 
 ing it, without stopping to consider what future evils he 
 might bring upon himself. Thus De Courcy was often in 
 league with one prince against another; and as they became 
 weaker by their own wars with each other, they were more 
 easily conquered by him, whenever he chose to turn his 
 arms against them. 
 
 This was the state of Ireland when Henry the Second 
 died, in 1189. He was succeeded by Richard Coeur de 
 Lion, who left his brother John in undisturbed possession 
 of that country; for he was too busy with the Crusades and 
 his disputes with Philip, king of France, to pay much atten- 
 tion to the condition of Ireland. 
 
 But during these events, what had become of Roderick, 
 the king? About the time that Prince John visited Ireland, 
 this unfortunate sovereign retired from the world, and spent 
 the last thirteen years of his life in a monastery. The best 
 act of his life was an effort that he made to revive in Ireland 
 the learning for which it had been so famous ; and with that 
 laudable view, he gave great encouragement to the schools 
 of Armagh, and established an annual pension for the head 
 master, which was paid in oxen, a very common mode of 
 payment at that time, but rather an odd pension to be paid 
 to a schoolmaster. However, the fact of having endowed a 
 school reflects great credit on Roderick O'Connor. He 
 died in 1198, since which time, there has been no king of 
 Ireland till the time of Henry the Eighth, unless we add to 
 the list of its sovereigns the Scottish prince, Edward Bruce, 
 who, some time after the death of Roderick, invaded the 
 country, and assumed the title of king, which he bore for 
 the brief space of three years, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 o o 
 
566 CORNER’S 
 
 56 IRELANJ). 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF RODERICK, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FALL OF EDWARD BRUCE. 
 
 1198 to 1318. 
 
 The history of Ireland, as an independent nation, ceases from 
 this time, as all that follows, from the retirement of Rode- 
 rick to the present period, is rather the history of the Eng- 
 lish in Ireland, and of their descendants, than that of the 
 original people. The latter were, in general, expelled from 
 the best parts of the country, which were occupied by the 
 invaders, who thus became the ancestors of what are now 
 considered by us as the Irish people, the real people of the 
 country being driven to the mountainous parts of the island, 
 and, after a few years, looked upon as an inferior race, and 
 called, in allusion to the barbarous manners they had ac- 
 quired in their mountain fastnesses, the wild Irish. 
 
 It is to be regretted that there is so little known of the 
 social condition of the natives of Ireland while they were 
 the lords of their own land; but no early writer has given 
 any accurate account of their domestic habits, or the extent 
 of their knowledge in the useful arts. For a long period 
 after the conquest, we only hear of the Irish in connection 
 with their frequent revolts against their invaders, and the 
 attempts they made to recover the land that had been so 
 unjustly wrested from them. 
 
 While Richard the First was engaged in the Crusades, 
 the greatest confusion prevailed in Ireland; for the chiefs, 
 knowing that all the best English warriors were away in 
 the Holy Land, took advantage of their absence to invade 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 567 
 
 IRELAND. 57 
 
 the English pale; while De Courcy set all laws at defiance, 
 and carried on war at his own will and pleasure, without 
 paying the slightest attention to any commands he received 
 from England. This daring soldier built several convents, 
 and among them, a Benedictine priory, in an island off the 
 coast of Down ; for it was the fashion of the times to attempt 
 atonement for all sorts of evil deeds by erecting religious 
 houses ; and few noblemen at that time, and for ages after- 
 wards, remained long in Ireland without having many mis- 
 deeds to answer for; therefore the number of abbeys and 
 churches was continually increasing. 
 
 When King John came to the throne of England, De 
 Courcy refused to acknowledge his sovereignty, and was at 
 last, for his many acts of disobedience to the royal au- 
 thority, arrested, and sent over to England as a prisoner; 
 where it is probable he died, as he never returned to Ireland ; 
 and the earldom of Ulster was given to Hugh de Lacy, the 
 son of that baron who was killed by the Irish labourer. 
 
 The next royal visit paid to Ireland was that of King 
 John; who, while his own kingdom was suffering under the 
 Pope’s interdict, crossed the Channel with a large army, for 
 the purpose of restoring Ireland to some degree of order. 
 His presence produced the desired effect; for although he 
 had behaved so ill to the chiefs on a former occasion, no less 
 than twenty of them now came to do him homage, and take 
 the oath of allegiance; but I cannot tell you whether any of 
 them were the same who had been so rudely treated by him 
 when a thoughtless youth. At any rate, he acted more 
 wisely now than at that early period, for he took some pains 
 to make friends of them; and, among other civilities, pre- 
 sented each of them with a sufficient quantity of scarlet 
 cloth for a robe, with which, as history states, they were 
 much pleased. 
 
 The laws made in Ireland by King John were very similar 
 to those established in England ; but they afforded no pro- 
 
568 CORNER’S 
 
 58 IRELAND. 
 
 tection to the native Irish, who would now have been 
 very willing to submit to English domination, provided they 
 might have been governed by those laws; but this policy 
 was not pursued, and they were left open to all manner of 
 oppression, without any means of redress, excepting by their 
 own swords. 
 
 John divided the provinces of Leinster and Munster into 
 twelve counties, over which he appointed sheriffs and other 
 officers. He also ordered money to be coined for the use of 
 his subjects in Ireland; caused the laws to be written, and 
 constituted the bishop of Norwich lord chief justice of Ire- 
 land, with powers to see that all the laws were duly en- 
 forced. Having done this, he returned to England, and 
 when he signed the Magna Charta, or the Great Charter, 
 the privileges secured by it to the people of England were 
 also extended to the English inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 Among the many religious buildings erected at this period 
 was the celebrated monastery called Tin tern abbey; built 
 by William, Earl Marshal of England, who married Isabel, 
 the daughter of Strongbow, and on that account became earl 
 of Pembroke. This nobleman was appointed governor of 
 Ireland, and built the abbey in consequence of a vow he had 
 made during a storm at sea, that if he should reach the land 
 in safety, he would found a monastery on the spot where his 
 foot first touched dry ground. This favoured spot was in 
 the Bay of Bannon, and there he built the monastery; to 
 which has since been given the name of Tintern abbey, be- 
 cause it was first inhabited by monks from Tintern, in 
 Monmouthshire. Near this abbey was the fine commercial 
 town of Ross, fortified by the lady Isabel with a strong 
 wall, which is all that now remains of this once flourishing 
 city. 
 
 The barons who had acquired lands in Ireland, built cas- 
 tles on their estates, and exercised the same feudal authority 
 over their bondmen, vassals, and retainers, of all descrip- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 569 
 
 IRELAND. 59 
 
 tions, as was customary in England. New grants of land 
 were frequently made; and fresh lords came over, with their 
 retinues, to occupy more of the country, leaving to the Irish 
 still less and less of the land of their forefathers : and even 
 that was only retained by force. Those who remained on 
 the English territories became the feudal vassals of their 
 oppressors, while the only body of people strong enough to 
 assert their rights were the clergy, who still preserved much 
 of their former power. 
 
 During the long reign of Henry the Third, the state of 
 Ireland may be described as presenting one continued scene 
 of strife and bloodshed. The natives, who were every year 
 becoming poorer and more wretched, made many desperate 
 efforts to rid themselves of a tyranny that was growing 
 more and more insupportable ; but, without organization and 
 without funds, what could they do against such a powerful 
 people as the English ? they could but set fire to the castles, 
 and murder all who came within their reach in this desul- 
 tory warfare, which they usually did; and for which they 
 were sure to meet with fearful reprisals. 
 
 What they chiefly complained of was, that they were 
 unprotected by the laws; so that no injury inflicted on 
 an Irishman was a punishable offence; therefore, when 
 Edward the First ascended the English throne, a petition 
 was addressed to him by the Irish chiefs, praying that he 
 would extend to the natives of Ireland the benefit of the 
 laws and usages of England, that the Irish might have some 
 defence against the wrongs that were now heaped upon 
 them; since any Englishman, whether freeman or slave, 
 was at liberty to rob the Irish, and even murder them, with 
 impunity, whilst any complaints of such outrages were 
 treated with contempt and ridicule. The petition further 
 stated, that if the king would be graciously pleased to grant 
 this request, his Irish vassals would pay a sum of eight 
 thousand marks into the treasury; for justice in those times 
 
570 
 
 COENER^S 
 
 60 IRELAND. 
 
 was not to be had in any country in Europe without being 
 purchased, even at the hands of the king himself. Edward 
 was not unwilling to grant this petition, but he knew that 
 it would be useless for him to do so, unless the nobles in 
 Ireland would also agree to it; he, therefore, decided that, 
 provided the barons and church dignitaries of Ireland should 
 give their consent, the laws established in that country- 
 should have reference equally to the colonists, and to the 
 natives; but this decision was not carried into effect. 
 
 While the Irish were thus left without any defence from 
 oppression but their swords, the English barons were per- 
 petually engaged in wars with each other. Besides other 
 differences, there was a violent feud between Fitzgerald, the 
 baron of Offaley, who held the title of earl of Kildare, and 
 the lord chief justice, De Vescy, who had married one of 
 the three daughters of the lady Isabel, heiress of Strongbow, 
 and by this union had come into possession of the territory 
 of Kildare; so that Fitzgerald held the title, while De 
 Vescy enjoyed the lands. 
 
 A mutual jealousy and dislike arose between the parties; 
 and, at length, they both went to England to lay their com- 
 plaints before the king; when Fitzgerald accused his rival 
 of treason, and, according to the custom of the times, threw 
 down his gauntlet, as a token that he challenged him to 
 answer the accusation by single combat; which was then an 
 usual mode of trying such cases. De Vescy took up the 
 glove as a sign that he accepted the challenge, and a day 
 was fixed for the trial. The time arrived, and the king and 
 nobles were assembled to witness the fight, but no De 
 Vescy appeared; and as his absence was regarded as an ac- 
 knowledgement of guilt, the king bestowed the lands of 
 Kildare on Fitzgerald, who immediately returned to Ireland, 
 and declared war against every baron who had given his 
 support to De Vescy. 
 
 He took the earl of Ulster and his sons prisoners, and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 571 
 
 IRELAND. 61 
 
 confined them in a strong castle; and created so much dis- 
 turbance throughout the English pale, that the new lord 
 chief justice thought it necessary to adopt some effectual 
 ..means of putting a stop to the scenes of violence that every 
 day occurred. He therefore assembled a parliament, con- 
 sisting of the noble's, the bishops, and a few other principal 
 tenants of the crown, who passed certain laws to restrain 
 the barons from engaging in private warfare without the 
 permission of the king or governor; and who also enacted 
 that no nobleman should have more retainers than he could 
 maintain at his own expense, and that he should be an- 
 swerable for all misdemeanours committed by his depen- 
 dents, or kerns, as they were usually called. 
 
 The attention of this parliament was also directed to the 
 unprotected state of the English territory, owing to the ab- 
 sence of those lords whose estates were on the borders; 
 therefore it was ordained that all absentees should give up a 
 part of the revenues derived from their Irish estates, for the 
 purpose of keeping on them a military force to defend the 
 English pale from the inroads of the natives; or if they 
 failed to do so, they were to forfeit their lands. 
 
 It is not quite certain at what time parliaments were first 
 held in Ireland, or whether, before this of which I am now 
 speaking, there were any assemblies worthy of being so 
 called; but in the time of Edward the Second, it was 
 enacted that parliaments should be held in Ireland once a 
 year. 
 
 Edward the First was engaged during a great part of his 
 reign in carrying on wars in Scotland, with a view of 
 making a conquest of that kingdom. It was in these wars 
 that the celebrated heroes, William Wallace and Robert 
 Bruce distinguished themselves as defenders of the liberty 
 of their native land, and in these brave chiefs the king had 
 formidable enemies to encounter. But his greatest difficul- 
 ties arose from the nature of the country, the mountainous 
 
572 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 62 IRELAND. 
 
 districts of which presented continual obstacles to the pro- 
 gress of the English soldiers. Edward, therefore, thought 
 it would be advisable to have in his army a number of Irish 
 troops; because the Irish were accustomed to the wild 
 mountainous regions of their own land; he therefore sent 
 a letter to the lord chief justice of Ireland, desiring him to 
 summon all the English barons, as well as the Irish princes, 
 and order them to furnish themselves with horses and arms, 
 and repair without delay to serve against the Scots, bring- 
 ing with them all the forces they could muster. Few, how- 
 ever, of the native princes obeyed the command; and as 
 most of the barons were obliged to go, the Irish did not fail 
 to take advantage of their absence, by raising insurrections, 
 and making attacks on the inhabitants of the English pale. 
 
 In the meantime, Wallace had been made prisoner, and 
 executed, and Robert Bruce had been crowned king of Scot- 
 land. Still the war was proceeding with more fury than 
 ever; and Bruce was at one time reduced to such straits, 
 that he was obliged to fly from Scotland, and take shelter, 
 with about three hundred faithful followers, in the small 
 island of Rachrin, near the coast of Antrim. The inha- 
 bitants of this place, who were simple shepherds and herds- 
 men, were at first terrified at the sight of so many armed 
 men, thinking that they had arrived as hostile invaders ; but 
 the kind and gentle manners of the noble Bruce soon gained 
 their good will, and they readily agreed to furnish him with 
 food for himself and his men as long as he should find it 
 necessary to remain. He staid among these hospitable 
 people all the winter; and, early in the spring, he returned 
 to Scotland with a much larger army; having been joined 
 by many of the Irish princes, who did not wish to see the 
 English power increased by the conquest of Scotland. 
 
 About this time, Edward the First died; and as the war 
 was not carried on with the same spirit by his son, Bruce 
 established himself on the throne of Scotland, and in th-3 
 
GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 573 
 
 IRELAND 63 
 
 year 1314, gained the celebrated battle of Bannockburn. 
 The news of his successes had raised hopes in the hearts of 
 the Irish that they might now be able to recover their long- 
 lost freedom, and expel the English from the land. 
 
 In consequence of the many rebellions in Ireland, Edward 
 the Second wrote to' the Pope, complaining of the disloyalty 
 of the Irish clergy, who, he said, encouraged the people to 
 rebel against his authority; wherefore the Pope sent letters 
 to the archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, granting them full 
 power to excommunicate all who should place themselves in 
 opposition to the English government. 
 
 This rigorous measure aroused the indignation of the 
 Irish chieftains against the Pope himself, and they addressed 
 to him a spirited remonstrance, representing the injuries 
 they had sustained from the English ever since the con- 
 quest; and praying him to take into consideration that they 
 were made the prey of foreigners, who were trying to ex- 
 terminate the native race, that they might appropriate to 
 themselves the whole of the land; and that while all the 
 best parts of the island were usurped by them, the rightful 
 heirs of the soil were driven to the bogs and mountains, 
 where they were obliged to fight for some dreary spot upon 
 which they might exist. 
 
 They also reminded him that the kings of England had 
 not fulfilled the conditions on which Adrian the Fourth had 
 granted the sovereignty of Ireland to Henry the Second; 
 for instead of having enlarged the territories of the church, 
 they had constantly encroached on them ; and had deprived 
 many of the cathedrals of great part of their territory : they 
 stated the great hardship of having no laws to protect their 
 persons or property, unless they would submit to become 
 vassals and villains to the English lords ; so that they were 
 exposed to insult, murder and robbery, without any means 
 of obtaining redress or compensation, excepting by their 
 owii good swords ; and ended by* declaring, that in order to 
 
574 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 64 IRELAND 
 
 free themselves from their present unhappy condition, they 
 had sent to Edward Bruce, the brother of Robert, king of 
 Scotland, to beg he would come and be their king, and help 
 them to recover their country from the English. This letter 
 was written by O’Niel, the prince of Tyrone. It was long, 
 and displayed much eloquence and good sense; but the 
 Pope took no notice of it. The chieftains had, how^ever, 
 sent to Robert Bruce, the Scottish king, offering to place 
 themselves and their country entirely at his disposal, if he 
 would aid them to expel the English, and appoint his bro- 
 ther to rule over them; and in consequence of this appeal, 
 Edward Bruce, at the head of six thousand men, landed at 
 Ulster, in the month of May, 1315. 
 
 He was young, brave, and sanguine, but had much of the 
 ferocity that characterized the warriors of that age. The 
 Irish princes flocked to his standard, and again war, with all 
 its attendant horrors, devastated the country from one end 
 to the other; for it was no sooner known that the Scots 
 were in Ireland, than the natives of nearly all the provinces 
 flew to arms, and the English were thrown into the utmost 
 confusion and dismay. Many of the barons were made pri- 
 soners, some of the strongest castles were taken, the town 
 of Dundalk w^as stormed and burned down, and the church 
 of the Carmelite friars, in which some hundreds of the 
 townspeople had taken refuge, in the hope of saving their 
 lives, was savagely set on fire, and all the poor creatures 
 who had fled thither to shelter themselves and their helpless 
 children, perished in the flames. Such was the warfare car- 
 ried on by Edward Bruce in Ireland, where he was crowned 
 king, and acknowledged by all the native princes, except 
 Fiedlim O’Connor, king of Connaught. This prince still 
 adhered to the English, and thereby drew upon himself the 
 enmity of the rest, who regarded him as being deficient in 
 patriotism ; and while he was absent, helping the English to 
 defend themselves, one of his relations, Roderick O’Connor, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 575 
 
 IRELAND. 65 
 
 usurped his principality, and obliged the people of Con- 
 naught to give him hostages for their fealty. 
 
 As soon as Fiedlim heard of this usurpation, he hurried 
 back, and fought a battle with Roderick, who was slain; 
 but as Fiedlim had become aware that, if he continued in 
 league with the English, he must not expect to retain the 
 good will of his people, he declared for Bruce, to the great 
 joy of all the other chieftains, as well as of Bruce himself. 
 Bruce received his oath of fealty at Northburg castle, in 
 Ulster, where he held his court, and administered the go- 
 vernment with as much authority as if there had been no 
 one to dispute his title to the throne. 
 
 At the beginning of the following year, reinforcements 
 arrived from Scotland, and the war, which had been sus- 
 pended during the winter, was renewed with greater vio- 
 lence. Many of the English nobles who distinguished 
 themselves in the contest were rewarded with lands and 
 Irish titles, some of which are borne by their descendants 
 to this very day. Hitherto the Scots and Irish had met 
 with almost uninterrupted success, but fortune now began 
 to favour the English; and Bruce, though generally vic- 
 torious in battle, lost so many of his troops, that his high 
 hopes began to fail, and he sent for more aid from his 
 brother Robert, who came himself, bringing with him a 
 strong reinforcement of Scots. 
 
 The English garrison of Carrickfergus was, at the time of 
 Bruce’s landing, in a state of siege, and so pressed by fa- 
 mine, that the soldiers were obliged to feed on the bodies 
 of the horses that had died of starvation. Yet even this 
 misery would scarcely have induced them to surrender, but 
 for the arrival of a fresh army, which deprived them of all 
 chance of saving the town. They therefore agreed to open 
 their gates to the king of Scotland, on condition that he 
 would spare the lives of the soldiers who had so bravely de- 
 fended the fortress, which he promised to do, for he wa« 
 
 G 3 
 
576 COENER’S 
 
 66 IRELAND, 
 
 more merciful than his brother Edward. The gates of (Jar- 
 rickfergus were therefore thrown open to the Scots, who im- 
 mediately took possession of the place. When the gallant 
 Bruce had made himself master of this strong town, he 
 threatened to lay siege to Dublin unless it were surrendered 
 to him; but the citizens declared they would defend it to 
 the last man; and, by order of the mayor, set fire to the 
 suburbs, although in doing so, several churches were de- 
 stroyed. By the suburbs, I mean all that part of the city 
 which was outside the walls; and the mayor caused them to 
 be set on fire that the enemy might thus be deprived of food 
 and quarters. This spirited conduct saved the inhabitants 
 from the horrors of a siege, for Bruce gave up the project, 
 and being joined by his brother, marched southward to 
 invade Kilkenny. 
 
 The track of the army through the country was marked 
 with desolation. Churches were broken open and plun- 
 dered by the soldiers, the cattle and sheep seized to furnish 
 them with provisions, the villages set on fire, and all kinds 
 of outrage committed; so that many were reduced to beg- 
 gary, and meat and corn became so scarce, that hundreds 
 of people died of hunger. In this manner the Scots pro- 
 ceeded through the south of Ireland, till, at last, they began 
 to feel the same distress for want of supplies to which they 
 had reduced others; and Robert Bruce, finding there was 
 not the least chance of being able to expel the English, 
 resolved to return to Scotland, where his presence was much 
 required; and leave his brother to fight his own battles, 
 if he chose to pursue so hopeless an enterprise. 
 
 The quarrels and divisions among the Irish chiefs had, as 
 usual, been the great means of preventing them from profit- 
 ing by their alliance with the Scots; and although Robert 
 Bruce left the greater part of his army in Ireland, the cause 
 of freedom did not advance one step further after his de- 
 parture; and, in 1318, Edward Bruce was killed at the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 577 
 
 IRELAND. 67 
 
 battle of Dundalk, having borne the title of king of Ireland 
 for three years. 
 
 The manner of his death was very remarkable. There 
 was a brave Anglo-Irish knight, named Sir John Maupas, 
 who, with all the superstition of the age, had become 
 strongly possessed with a belief that nothing but the death 
 of Bruce himself would give security or peace to Ire- 
 land; he therefore resolved to sacrifice himself for the good 
 of his country; and in the battle of Dundalk, heroically 
 rushed to certain death for the purpose, according to his 
 own belief, of ending this calamitous war. Undaunted by 
 the certainty of his fate, he urged forward his steed through 
 the ranks of the enemy; and where the body of Bruce was 
 found, that of the self-devoted knight was stretched across 
 it. A plain stone pillar, in the burial-place of Faughard, 
 near Dundalk, marks the spot where the Scoto-Irish king, 
 Edward Bruce, was interred; and if you should ever visit 
 that part of Ireland, some peasant will be sure to point out 
 his grave. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE DEATH OF EDWARD BRUCE, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ACCESSION OF HENRY THE SEVENTH. 
 
 1318 to 1485. 
 
 During the troubles that had been caused by the late wars, 
 the Irish clergy had exerted themselves to the utmost to 
 keep up the spirits of the people, and encourage them in 
 their endeavours to liberate their country. I say the Irish 
 
578 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 68 IRELAND. 
 
 clergy, because you must understand that there was a great 
 difference between the clergy of the native Irish and that of 
 the Anglo-Irish; for, although both parties were at that 
 time Catholics, they were as much at variance with each 
 other as the English barons were with the Irish princes; and 
 in most of the abbeys, a regulation was made not to admit 
 any member of the other nation; so that an Englishman 
 could no more be received as a monk into an Irish monas- 
 tery, than an Irishman could into one belonging to the 
 English; and thus, instead of any means being taken to 
 promote a better understanding between the two people, 
 even the clergy, by this mode of proceeding, assisted to 
 keep up the feelings of animosity which had sprung up 
 among them. 
 
 The authority of the king, in Ireland, had of late very 
 much diminished; for almost the whole of the English pos- 
 sessions were in the hands of nine or ten barons, who were 
 utterly regardless of any laws that had been made for the 
 country, and ruled in their own domains with all the abso- 
 lute power of despotic princes. The feudal system was now 
 in full force among the Anglo-Irish. The barons had the 
 right of holding courts of judicature in their own territories, 
 and trying and punishing their vassals, even for capital of- 
 fences, — that is, offences for which the punishment is death, 
 and a similar right was then exercised by feudal lords in 
 England, France, and Germany. Each baron had a strong 
 castle, extensive domains, and numerous trains of vassals at 
 his command; therefore, it is not likely he would pay more 
 respect than suited him to the authority of a monarch who 
 was at too great a distance to be able to enforce obedience. 
 
 In a country so ill-governed, there could not be much 
 peace or good order. The nobles were continually at war 
 with one another, and the natives were always in rebellion. 
 Many of the landowners, too, whose estates were on the 
 borders of the English pale, were absent in England, and 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 579 
 
 IRELAND. 69 
 
 neglected to protect their possessions by a military force, as 
 they were required by the law; consequently, the natives 
 made frequent inroads into the English territories, and 
 committed dreadful devastations, often even setting fire to 
 the churches when they were full of people; and as these 
 buildings were then' constructed of wood, they were very 
 easily destroyed, and those who escaped from the flames, 
 fell either by the sword or the spear. 
 
 The land of the knights and nobles was, at this time, as 
 in England, occupied and cultivated by that class of men 
 called villains, who were attached to the estate, and who 
 held farms on condition of performing for their lords works 
 in husbandry, furnishing them with poultry, eggs, or other 
 provisions, and doing various other services, most of which 
 have been commuted for money rents. Some of them were 
 Englishmen, or Anglo-Irish, and some were natives of the 
 country; but they were all subject to the same feudal laws 
 and customs as the villains of England. Those who came 
 over with the lords had, of course, brought with them the 
 trades which they had pursued in their own country; there- 
 fore we may presume that many useful arts were, by this 
 time, introduced into Ireland, and practised in those parts 
 of the country that were under the dominion of the Eng- 
 lish. The Wild Irish, like the Scottish highlanders and 
 the Welsh mountaineers, still retaining their native lan- 
 guage, remained in their former rude state among the hills, 
 their poverty increasing in proportion to the loss of their 
 commerce, and the prosperity of those who dwelt within the 
 English pale, for the latter were in possession of all the 
 principal ports, and carried on a great trade; their chief 
 exports to England being hides, cattle, and corn; for, not- 
 withstanding the mischief done to the country by the late 
 wars, corn was grown in such abundance, that, about four 
 years after the death of Edward Bruce, the English king, 
 being about to undertake a new expedition into Scotland, 
 
580 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 70 IRELAND. 
 
 sent an order to the governor of Ireland for nine thousand 
 quarters of wheat for the supply of his army. 
 
 In the time of Edward the Third, some considerable ma- 
 nufactories of woollen stuffs were established in Ireland. 
 Some of these stuffs were of such a fine fabric, that they 
 were exported to Italy, and worn by the ladies of Florence. 
 As Italy was at that time famous for the beauty of its own 
 manufactures, the Irish stuffs must have been of a superior 
 quality, or they would not have met with a market in Italy, 
 nor have been patronized by the Italian ladies. 
 
 When Edward the Third came to the throne, he resolved 
 to improve the condition of Ireland, and secure to himself a 
 larger share of authority in that country. He therefore 
 ordained that all officers appointed to conduct the govern- 
 ment, should be men who possessed estates in England, and 
 not those who held lands in Ireland; because, in case the 
 former rebelled against his will, he could punish them by 
 confiscating their property; but he knew very well it would 
 he of little use to declare the Irish estates of the nobles 
 forfeited, because they would refuse to give them up, and he 
 could only force them to do so, by sending troops to Ireland, 
 which would be both troublesome and expensive. 
 
 The barons, however, would not submit to this decree; 
 which would have deprived them not only of the govern- 
 ment, but also of many grants of lordships and manors that 
 had been made by Edward the Second; they, therefore, 
 called a general assembly, or parliament, to meet at Kil- 
 kenny. Now, although it had been ordained that parlia- 
 ments should meet once a year, this decree, like many 
 others, had been disregarded; but a parliament having been 
 thus assembled, and the nobles having consulted together, 
 they addressed a spirited petition to the king. Edward, 
 however, was on the point of engaging in the war with 
 France ; and could therefore pay very little attention to the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 581 j 
 
 IRELAND. 71 
 
 petition, or indeed to the affairs of Ireland generally, which 
 proceeded as before. 
 
 It happened about six years after the accession of Edward 
 the Third, that the young earl of Ulster was murdered by 
 some of his own retainers ; and his widow, the lady Matilda, 
 with her infant daughter, went to England; for she was 
 averse to remaining in a country where her husband had 
 met with so melancholy a fate. The government of Eng- 
 land took possession of all her lands, castles, and tenements, 
 in Ulster, giving her in exchange an equal portion in Eng- 
 land. This became the inheritance of her daughter; who 
 afterwards married one of the king’s sons, Lionel, duke of 
 Clarence, and he, in his wife’s right, was created Earl of 
 Ulster. 
 
 In the year 1361, this prince was appointed lord lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland; and he went over to that country fully 
 determined, if possible, to make such alterations in the laws 
 as were necessary to secure its future peace and prosperity. 
 But it is to be lamented that the jealousy between the two 
 nations too often counteracted the measures proposed by 
 their rulers for the benefit of the country; and when such 
 measures in any degree succeeded, their effects were not 
 felt far from those parts where the English authority pre- 
 vailed. The absentees were again required to contribute 
 for the defence of the borders, and among those who were 
 thus taxed, were several ladies of high rank, as the countess 
 of Norfolk, the countess of Pembroke, and others, who re- 
 sided at the English court; and employed agents to collect 
 the rents and dues of their tenants, and remit the amount 
 to them in England. The army was raised, and went over 
 to Ireland under the conduct of the duke of Clarence, and, 
 in addition to the contributions of the laity for the support 
 of this military force, the clergy also granted all their tithes 
 for two years. 
 
 Whilst the duke of Clarence was governor of Ireland, a 
 
583 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 72 IRELAND. 
 
 famous parliament was held at Kilkenny, and an act passed 
 which is known under the title of the statute of Kilkenny; 
 but, before I speak of the substance of it, we must take 
 some notice of the condition of the people at that period. 
 Two hundred years had elapsed since the English first 
 made a settlement in Ireland, and in that long period it 
 may naturally be supposed, that, although the main bodies 
 of the two nations had remained distinct from, and at 
 enmity with, each other; there had been many intermar- 
 riages, and many friendships formed, from various causes, 
 so that several families descended from the first English 
 settlers, were now completely Irish, had adopted Irish 
 names, or obtained them by matrimonial alliances; and not 
 only spoke the Irish language, but also wore the dress of 
 the country, and acknowledged the Brehon laws. There 
 Was also a custom, called fostering, that prevailed in Ireland 
 to an extraordinary extent; and formed a tie between the 
 ..atives and the English who mixed with them, that was 
 field stronger and more sacred than the nearest relationship. 
 It was this : — The children of the English, as soon as they 
 were born, were sent to be nursed by native Irish women, 
 who brought them up till they were of an age to return to 
 their parents. Nothing could exceed the affection of these 
 nurses for their foster children; they, as well as their hus- 
 bands, loving them as their own offspring; and bestowing 
 every care and attention upon them. The children of the 
 nurses, and the nurslings, too, generally became warmly 
 attached to each other; and more affection often existed be- 
 tween foster brothers, than between brothers by birth, al- 
 though one might be the son of a lord, and the other of a 
 poor peasant. The attachment often lasted till the latest 
 period of their existence, and was a bond of union that was 
 seldom broken. 
 
 This custom, and, indeed, every thing that tended to pro- 
 mote a friendly intercourse between the English and Irishj 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 583 
 
 IRELAND. 73 
 
 was discountenanced by the English government; and the 
 statute of Kilkenny was made for the express purpose of 
 preventing the intermixture of the two nations. This cele- 
 brated act declared, that fostering, and intermarriages with 
 the natives, should be considered high treason, and punished 
 accordingly; and that any man of English descent, who 
 should assume an Irish name, speak the Irish language, or 
 adopt the laws, customs, or dress of the natives, should for- 
 feit all his lands and tenements; or be imprisoned. The 
 English were by its enactment even forbidden to entertain 
 the Irish minstrels and bards, or to listen to their songs or 
 tales; nor were they to allow the Irish to graze cattle on 
 their land, nor to admit them into religious houses, nor 
 to present them to any ecclesiastical benefices. 
 
 Although this famous statute of Kilkenny was principally 
 intended to prevent the English and the descendants of the 
 English settlers from intermarrying with, or adopting the 
 manners and language of, the Irish people, it totally failed 
 in that object, if it did not accelerate it; but it removed 
 a grevious feudal oppression under which the English, and 
 all who dwelt within the English pale, had hitherto been 
 exposed. 
 
 For instance, there was a very burthensome tax, called 
 Coyne and Livery, meaning food and lodging for soldiers 
 and their horses, which all housekeepers, except the nobles 
 and the clergy, were obliged to furnish without payment. 
 By the new act, it was decreed, that soldiers should not be 
 quartered in private houses against the will of the owners; 
 and four inspectors were appointed in every county, to see 
 that the lords and principal tenants contributed their proper 
 share of men, horses, and armour, for the public service; for 
 sometimes the wealthy nobles sent very few soldiers into the 
 field, while their tenants or vassals were obliged to furnish 
 more than their just share; so that it was necessary there 
 should be proper officers to regulate this matter fairly. 
 
 u 
 
584 CORNER’S 
 
 74 IRELAND. 
 
 Another part of the statute gave power to the sheriffs to 
 search for criminals in some of the royal demesnes, that had 
 been considered as sanctuary, and had become, in conse- 
 quence, filled with bad characters, who did not scruple to 
 violate the laws, because it was so easy to escape from 
 justice. 
 
 During the whole reign of Edward the Third, and, indeed, 
 through many succeeding reigns, the Irish government had 
 in no way improved since the conquest; for although new 
 laws had been frequently made, they had as frequently been 
 broken ; and the office of chief governor had become so dif- 
 ficult and dangerous, that no one liked to undertake it, ex- 
 cept such as did so with a view of bettering their own for- 
 tunes; whilst others looked upon it as entailing a kind 
 of honourable banishment upon them. The natives had, 
 by this time, recovered a great deal of the country; and, 
 stimulated by their priests, they opposed all taxes levied on 
 them by the English government, so that warfare was per- 
 petually going on.' 
 
 The next English sovereign who visited Ireland, was 
 Richard the Second. He took over with him a large army, 
 that he might be prepared to act in case of opposition; but 
 the chiefs made their submission without the least difficulty ; 
 laying aside their girdles, and falling on their knees at his 
 feet. It is remarkable that these native princes, notwith- 
 standing their hatred of the English, and their love of war- 
 fare, were always ready, and even eager, to submit to the 
 sovereign whenever he made his appearance among them, so 
 great was their veneration for royalty. The chiefs who thus 
 did homage to Richard the Second were seventy-five in 
 number. They agreed to surrender all their lands, and to 
 serve in his wars against all the Irish who did not acknow- 
 ledge his authority; and, in return, they were to receive 
 pensions for their lives, and all the lands they could take 
 from rebel chiefs in other parts of the country. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 585 
 
 IRCLAND. 75 
 
 Richard was pleased with the ready obedience of his Irish 
 vassals, and wished, as a mark of his approbation, to bestow 
 on the four Irish kings the dignity of knighthood; which 
 was esteemed a great honour in the days of chivalry. But 
 they were not willing to accept this favour; saying they 
 were knights already, as it was the custom for every Irish 
 king to knight his sons at a very early age, and some of 
 them had been admitted to the distinction of knighthood 
 when they were only seven years old. The English nobles 
 could not help smiling when they heard that those barbarous 
 chiefs claimed for themselves, at seven years of age, an 
 honour which it cost an Englishman or a Norman so many 
 years of manhood and hard service to obtain; and they were 
 curious to know in what manner such very youthful candi- 
 dates prepared themselves for knighthood. The mode, as 
 they described it, was simple enough; the candidates had 
 merely to run with small spears at a shield set up in a 
 meadow, and try which could break the greatest number. 
 
 I’hese rude chieftains were so attached to their own cus- 
 toms, that it was with great difficulty they could be per- 
 suaded to suffer the king to make knights of them according 
 to the usages of chivalry ; but they consented at last, and kept 
 watch by their armour all night in a church, which was one 
 of the requisite preliminaries. The ceremony was performed 
 in the cathedral of Dublin; and was followed by a banquet, 
 at which the new knights attended, in robes of state, and sat 
 at the same table with King Richard; but here again there 
 had been a great deal of persuasion used before they could 
 be induced to exchange their coarse woollen mantles for 
 more courtly apparel, or sif down at table without their 
 own servants and minstrels. At length, at the request of 
 the duke of Ormond, who spoke their language, and was 
 much esteemed by them, they put oh robes of silk, trimmed 
 with fur, and took their appointed places at the banquet. 
 
 As long as Richard remained m Ireland, affairs proceeded 
 
586 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 76 IRELAND. 
 
 well; but no sooner had he gone, than the Irish chiefs re- 
 newed the wars, and were as unruly as ever. The govern- 
 ment was at this time in the hands of Roger, earl of March, 
 whose father had married Philippa, the daughter of the duke 
 of Clarence, and on the death of the duke, had succeeded to 
 the earldom of Ulster, in right of his wife. The earls of 
 March, therefore, were earls of Ulster also, and were 
 governors of Ireland for a long time. 
 
 It happened, in the rebellions that followed the departure 
 of Richard the Second from Ireland, that Roger, earl of 
 March, the son of Philippa, and the grandfather of that 
 Richard, duke of York, who commenced the War of the 
 Roses in England, was murdered by the Irish ; wherefore, to 
 avenge his death, and punish the rebellious chiefs, the king 
 went over to Ireland again, about five years after his first 
 expedition. 
 
 He took with him this time a larger army than before, 
 and the Irish, as usual, retreated to their bogs and moun- 
 tains, where they were quite safe from pursuit; as the Eng- 
 lish did not know enough of the country to venture into the 
 wild parts of it. In these haunts the Irish remained, shel- 
 tering themselves in caves or mud cabins, and feeding on 
 their cattle and the wild herbage that grew around them, 
 with no better beds than what their woollen mantles and the 
 bare ground afforded them. This, however, was a kind of 
 life to which the Irish were accustomed; therefore, when the 
 king found they would not come out to give him battle, he 
 determined to hunt them from their native wilds, and or- 
 dered his men to set fire to the deserted villages, and cut a 
 passage through the forests. The order was obeyed ; but the 
 soldiers, not knowing the ground upon which they were ven- 
 turing, sank up to their knees in the bogs; while the Irish, 
 who knew very well where there was safe footing, hovered 
 around, hurling their darts with unerring aim, amidst the 
 loud (Ties with which they always accompanied an attack on 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 587 
 
 IRELAND 77 
 
 their enemies. This kind of warfare was very destructive to 
 the English ; and the more so, as their provisions began to 
 fail. At one time, they were so distressed by hunger, that 
 when news came that three vessels had arrived from Eng- 
 land with supplies, the impatience of the soldiers was so 
 great, that they threw themselves into the sea to swim to 
 the ships; and as they reached them, fought with each 
 other, in their eagerness to obtain the food. 
 
 At last, most of the chiefs offered to submit, on condition 
 of receiving a free pardon, which was granted; and they 
 went before the king, to do homage and promise obedience, 
 as they had so often done before. There was one, however, 
 who refused to appear with the rest, declaring that all the 
 gold in the world would not tempt him to own himself the 
 vassal of an English king; but that he was resolved to con- 
 tinue the war, and do all the injury in his power to his ene- 
 mies. This chief was Mac Marrough, a descendant of 
 Dermot Mac Murrough, that faithless king of Leinster who 
 betrayed his country to Henry the Second, and assisted the 
 valiant earl Strongbow to conquer it; but the present heir of 
 the royal race of Leinster had no disposition to follow the 
 example of his unworthy ancestor; although, after a time, 
 he sent word to the king, that he was willing to make peace, 
 if they could agree on the terms. The English were glad to 
 hear that Mac Murrough was likely to cease hostilities, for 
 they were heartily tired of the war, and he had throughout 
 been the most formidable of their foes. Richard himself 
 was not sorry to see some prospect of peace; and sent the 
 earl of Gloucester to hold a conference with Mac Murrough 
 on the subject. 
 
 The interview was very singular; and may serve to give 
 you an idea of the manner in which the Irish chieftains con- 
 ducted their negociations. The meeting was to take place 
 on the margin of a little brook; and thither the earl or 
 Gloucester repaired, with a strong guard, and as he ad- 
 
 H 3 
 
588 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 78 IRELAND. 
 
 vanced towards the rendezvous, he saw the chieftain de- 
 scending from a mountain, followed by an immense con- 
 course of people. He was a tall, powerful man, of fierce 
 aspect, dressed in the large saffron coloured shirt of the 
 country, and mounted on a fine horse without any saddle. 
 This horse, it was said, cost him /our hundred cows; for 
 horses were highly valued in Ireland ; and so much care was 
 taken of them, that when bread- corn was scarce, it was 
 saved for the horses, while the people were content to eat 
 oatmeal and herbs. Mac Murrough carried in his hand a 
 long spear, which he threw from him as he advanced alone 
 to meet the English earl, his crowd of followers remaining 
 behind. 
 
 The conference lasted a long time; but as the haughty 
 chief refused to comply with any of the terms proposed to 
 him, the earl was obliged to return to his royal master with 
 very unsatisfactory intelligence, while Mac Murrough re- 
 paired to his woods with feelings as hostile as before the in- 
 terview. The king was highly enraged at the obstinacy of 
 Mac Murrough, declaring that he would never leave Ireland 
 till the rebel chief was in his power. The unfortunate 
 monarch little thought, at the moment he said this, of the 
 calamities which were hanging over his own head, and that 
 he himself would soon be a prisoner. In this angry mood, 
 he proceeded to Dublin, where he fixed his head quarters; 
 and issued a proclamation, that whoever should deliver Mac 
 Murrough into his hands, alive or dead, should be rewarded 
 with a hundred marks in gold. Just at this time, however, 
 the king received intelligence that his cousin, Henry, duke 
 of Lancaster, whom he had banished from England, had re- 
 turned, and was in arms against him at the head of a power- 
 ful faction. This alarming news obliged him to leave Ire- 
 land without delay; and he was soon afterwards made a 
 prisoner, and deposed, while the duke of Lancaster ascended 
 the throne, and assumed the title of Henry the Fourth. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 589 
 
 IRELAND. 79 
 
 During the reign of this monarch, the governors of Ire- 
 land found it necessary, in order to keep peace, to withdraw 
 the chief restrictions that had been imposed on the na- 
 tives by the statute of Kilkenny. They were again per- 
 mitted to go to the markets in the English territories, to 
 take children to nurse, to intermarry with the English, and 
 to become tenants on their lands; but even these privi- 
 leges did not induce them to regard their rulers with more 
 kindly feelings; for they knew it was fear alone that had 
 caused them to be more indulgent. The native Irish, 
 therefore, from the hills, still continued to invade the Pale; 
 and the English were at this period so little able to resist 
 them, that they were driven to the necessity of granting 
 annual pensions, called Black Rent, to some of the chiefs, to 
 keep them quiet. 
 
 The whole time that Henry the Fourth reigned in Eng- 
 land, the greatest confusion prevailed in every part of 
 Ireland. The northern districts were frequently invaded by 
 the Scots, for the sake of plunder; the Irish were watching 
 every opportunity of recovering their lands, and lessening 
 the power and possessions of the English ; while the English 
 themselves were shamefully oppressed by the misconduct of 
 their own governors, whose chief object in going to Ireland 
 seemed to be, to rob those who had acquired property in 
 that country. 
 
 Noblemen, gentlemen, and churchmen, were frequently 
 imprisoned, by order of those governors, on the most fri- 
 volous pretences, and their estates seized; and oppressive 
 taxes were frequently levied, both on the English and the 
 Irish. Several petitions were addressed to the king, begging 
 that he would come over to make some regulations for the 
 better government of Ireland ; but he never found leisure to 
 do so, and concerned himself so little about Irish affairs, 
 that the English power in the country was considerably 
 diminished during his reign; and so much of the land was 
 
590 
 
 COENER’S 
 
 80 IRELAND. 
 
 won back by the natives, that the English pale was reduced 
 to a very small compass, which remained nearly in the same 
 condition till Henry the Seventh ascended the English 
 throne. 
 
 The best governor during this period, was Richard, duke 
 of York, nephew and heir to the last earl of March, and 
 father of Edward the Fourth, king of England. This 
 amiable nobleman owned estates in Ireland that compre- 
 hended nearly cne-third of the kingdom, for he was earl of 
 Ulster, lord of Meath, of Connaught, and Clare, besides 
 being earl of Cork; but with all these lands and titles, his 
 revenues were but small; for most of the territories I have 
 mentioned were in the possession of the natives, who would 
 pay no rent to English landlords, unless it was extorted 
 from them by force of arms, a proceeding to which the good 
 duke was averse. 
 
 He thought the Irish had not been justly treated, and, 
 perhaps, felt that they had more right to the land than he 
 had; wherefore, instead of going to war for his rents, he 
 wrote to England, to beg that his pay as chief governor 
 might be sent to him more regularly than it had been, as he 
 was much distressed for money, but would rather live 
 meanly, and go without fitting garments, than increase the 
 misery of the natives, by taking away their cattle for the 
 payment of rent. 
 
 Circumstances, however, recalled the duke into England, 
 where he appeared as a claimant for the throne, in opposi- 
 tion to Henry the Sixth, who was then reigning; and this 
 was the commencement of the unhappy wars between the 
 houses of York and Lancaster. Great numbers of Irish 
 troops went over to the assistance of their late governor; 
 being anxious, no doubt, to see on the English throne a 
 prince who had shown himself a true friend to Ireland. But 
 their hopes were disappointed by the death of the duke, who 
 was killed at the battle of Wakefield. His son, Edward, 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 591 
 
 IRELAND. 81 
 
 arried on the civil wars in England, and eventually ob- 
 tained the crown; but the Irish did not rejoice in his suc- 
 cess, as he was not possessed of those good qualities that 
 had endeared his father to a large body of the people, both 
 in England and Ireland. 
 
 In the meantime, many of the English settlers, probably 
 in consequence of the tyranny of those who were in power, 
 had gone to live among the natives, had adopted their cus- 
 toms, and married among them; so that a new race of Irish 
 was springing up, in their children ; who were as much at- 
 tached to the land of their birth, and as much the enemies 
 of the English, as were the rude descendants of the ancient 
 Milesians. The intermixture of the two nations was now 
 carried on to a greater extent than it had ever been before 
 and, what was very singular, the more civilized race adopted 
 the language, dress, habits, and laws, of the barbarians, 
 instead of teaching them the arts of civilization, which 
 would seem to have been the more natural course. 
 
 At this time, (I am speaking of the reign of Edward the 
 Fourth,) the English Pale consisted of only four counties, 
 Dublin, Louth, Kildare, and Meath; and in no other part 
 of Ireland was the English law acknowledged or obeyed. 
 This may be accounted for, by considering that a great 
 many of the lords and gentlemen of the Pale had accom- 
 panied the duke of York to England; which had left the 
 English territories open to the attacks of the Irish chiefs, 
 who never failed to take advantage of any circumstances 
 that afforded them an opportunity of regaining any portion 
 of the lands which they considered as their just inheritance. 
 
 The English who dwelt on the borders were in a most 
 unfortunate situation, and obliged to pay very large sums of 
 money to preserve their estates from being ruined by their 
 assailants. Every chief was paid according to his power of 
 doing mischief; so that the O’Niels, the O’Conners, and 
 
592 
 
 COENER’S 
 
 82 IRELAND. 
 
 other heads of the great septs, received large incomes as the 
 price of their forbearance. 
 
 You will, perhaps, wonder why they did not endeavour to 
 drive the English quite out of the country; but the Irish 
 were still divided into many different septs, all jealous of 
 each other, and some at open warfare; therefore they never 
 cordially united for the same object. The quarrels of 
 many of the chiefs were hereditary; that is, the sons were 
 enemies, because their fathers had been so; and thus their 
 hatred descended from generation to generation, and was 
 imbibed by their respective clans, the lowest members of 
 which regarded each other with the same spirit of hostility 
 that animated the chieftains, whose names they bore: and 
 to this day, the same system of clanship exists among the 
 native Irish ; so that you will sometimes find, in the west of 
 Ireland, the people of a county, who bear one name uni- 
 versally among themselves, ready at any time to quarrel and 
 fight with those of some other name, equally universal, 
 merely because the two families were at variance in ancient 
 times. 
 
 When Edward the Fourth came to the throne, he ap- 
 pointed to the government of Ireland his brother, that un- 
 fortunate Duke of Clarence who was afterwards imprisoned 
 in the tower, and died in a mysterious manner, either by 
 falling into, or being forced into, a butt of Malmsey wine. 
 The earl of Desmond, an Anglo-Irish lord, who held great 
 estates in Munster, was appointed deputy governor. A par- 
 liament was now summoned, and new laws were enacted, 
 for the better defence of the inhabitants who dwelt within 
 the English Pale. It was ordained that all Irish families 
 residing within its limits, should wear the English dress, 
 take English names, and swear allegiance to the king, or 
 else they were to forfeit all their property. Every English- 
 man, and every Irishman who spoke English, was to furnish 
 himself with a good bow and arrows, or be fined two-pence; 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 593 
 
 IRELAND. 83 
 
 and it was either in this or in a preceding parliament, that 
 an act was passed, to oblige all men living under the Eng- 
 lish laws, to shave the upper lip; because it was the custom 
 of the Irish to let their hair grow on the upper, and shave 
 the under lip; and this law continued in force till the time 
 of Charles the First. 
 
 The bows and arrows were brought to Ireland by English 
 merchants trading to Dublin, Waterford, and other sea- 
 ports; who were obliged to bring twenty shillings’ worth of 
 these weapons for eveiy twenty pounds worth of other 
 goods. 
 
 HENRY THE SEVENTH. 
 
 1485 to 1509. 
 
 The War of the Roses was at an end, and Henry the 
 Seventh, was peaceably settled on the throne of England; 
 but the people of Ireland, who had from the beginning of 
 of the dispute supported the cause of the House of York, 
 were not pleased with the result of the war, for they 
 looked upon the new monarch as belonging to the house of 
 Lancaster; and, notwithstanding his marriage with the 
 grand- daughter of their favourite duke, Richard, of York, 
 they were very much inclined to dispute his title to the 
 throne. When I say the people of Ireland, I mean all the 
 inhabitants, English as well as Irish, living under the Eng- 
 lish government. 
 
 All readers of English history are acquainted with the 
 adventures of Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, two 
 young men who were brought forward, at different periods 
 of the reign of Henry the Seventh, as claimants for the 
 crown. The former personated the young Earl of Warwick, 
 
594 CORNER^S 
 
 84 IRELAND. 
 
 who was the nephew of Edward the Fourth, and considered 
 by all the partizans of the house of York as the true heir 
 to the throne of England. This unhappy prince had been 
 a prisoner in the Tower of London for many years, and most 
 people had forgotten his existence, when Lambert Simnel, 
 was brought to Dublin by a priest, who gave out that the 
 youth was no other than the injured earl of Warwick, who, 
 he said, had just made his escape from the Towei 
 
 The Irish were very ready to believe this tale, because 
 they wanted an excuse for making an attempt to dethrone 
 the king: therefore, the earl of Kildare, with all the prin- 
 cipal nobles and gentry of the Pale, and the greater part of 
 the Irish clergy, received Lambert Simnel, who w’as only the 
 son of a baker, as their rightful sovereign, and proclaimed 
 him king of England, and lord of Ireland. 
 
 The youth was graceful and handsome, and had been so 
 well instructed in the part he was to play, that many per- 
 sons were really deceived; and although the king took 
 Warwick from the Tower, and made him ride about in 
 public, that people might see he was in London, and not in 
 Ireland, still the Irish persisted in their belief, saying that 
 the king had exhibited some other lad to the populace of 
 London, but that their lad, as they called him, was certainly 
 the son of their late governor, the duke of Clarence. In- 
 deed, so fully persuaded were they of this being the fact, 
 that Simnel was solemnly crowned in Dublin cathedral by 
 the bishop of Meath; and then carried in triumph to the 
 castle, on the shoulders of a gigantic man, who, on account 
 of his enormous stature, was called Great Darcy. The no- 
 bles paid homage to the king they had set up, and made 
 immediate preparations for invading England, with all the 
 troops of the Pale, a vast multitude of wild Irish, and some 
 German soldiers who had been sent to their assistance by 
 the duchess of Burgundy, a sister of Edward the Fourth, 
 who was supposed to be the contriver of the plot. The 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 595 
 
 IRELAND. 85 
 
 most lamentable part of this expedition was the fate of the 
 poor Irish troops, who were not accustomed to wear armour, 
 like the English troops; but, on the contrary, used to throw 
 off the greater part of their clothing in battle, so that they 
 were easily cut in pieces by the well disciplined, steel-clad 
 English soldiers; and few of them ever saw their native 
 country again.' 
 
 The king, who rather wished to be on friendly terms with 
 the Irish nobles than to punish them for their rebellion, sent 
 over Sir Richard Edgecomb, with a free pardon to all who 
 had been concerned in it, and with authority to receive their 
 oaths of allegiance for him. When Sir Richard arrived at 
 Dublin, he found the mayor and citizens waiting to receive 
 him at the abbey gate of the Preaching Friars, where he was 
 to be lodged and entertained during his stay; and there he 
 had an interview with the earl of Kildare, to whom he pre- 
 sented the king’s letters containing his pardon, and hung 
 round his neck a chain of gold, which Henry had sent him. 
 The earl and the rest of the nobles then did homage, and 
 they all went into the cathedral, accompanied by the arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, the bishops, and the priests, and Te Deum 
 was sung to the solemn strains of the organ ; after which, 
 the bells of the churches were rung, and Sir Richard invited 
 the nobles and prelates to partake of a feast in the great 
 hall of the Preaching Friars; and so ended this first conspi- 
 racy against Henry the Seventh 
 
 Some time afterwards, the king issued his royal mandate, 
 that all the Irish lords should repair to England, that he 
 might receive in person their homage and oaths of fealty. 
 They obeyed the summons, and visited the king at his 
 palace at Greenwich, where they were entertained with great 
 splendour. But imagine their surprise and mortification, at 
 seeing Simnel, before whom they had knelt as their sove- 
 reign lord, waiting upon them at dinner among the rest 
 of the servants: for Henry, who had not thought it re- 
 
596 CORNER^S 
 
 86 IRELAND. 
 
 quisite to punish so insignificant a person, had given orders 
 that he should be employed in the kitchens of the palace; 
 and he thought it would be a good plan that might make 
 thr Irish nobles ashamed of their folly, to let them see, in 
 his proper station, the young man on whose brows they had 
 so lately placed a crown; and no doubt they looked much 
 disconcerted on the occasion. 
 
 While these events were passing at the court of England, 
 the native clans in Ireland were carrying on furious wars 
 among themselves. They were even then as far removed 
 from civilization as ever, living in wattled huts of the 
 rudest description, while their lands, in many parts, were 
 common to all. The earth was only cultivated in small 
 patches, and the people had no fixed dwellings, but moved 
 about from place to place with their herds, like the wan- 
 dering Arabs; building up their hovels, which they could 
 do in two or three hours, wherever they found most grass, 
 wood, and water; and when their cattle had eaten all 
 the grass, they would again set out in search of fresh 
 pasture. They usually slept on the bare ground, wrapped 
 up in coarse woollen mantles, which were worn both by 
 men and women; and their food consisted of wild herbage 
 of various kinds, milk, bread cakes made of oatmeal, and 
 baked meats. 
 
 After the visit of the lords of the Pale to King Henry, at 
 Greenwich, the English government discovered there was 
 another conspiracy forming against the crown; and as there 
 was some reason to believe that the earl of Kildare was con- 
 cerned in it, he was suddenly dismissed from his high office 
 of lord lieutenant of Ireland. The earl, in revenge, secretly 
 aided O'Niel, O’Donnell, and some other Wild Irish chief- 
 tains, to capture the cattle, burn the dwellings, and lay 
 waste the lands of the people occupying the borders of the 
 English Pale. 
 
 About this time, Perkin Warbeck, another pretender 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 597 
 
 IRELAND. 87 
 
 the English crown, came from abroad, and landed at Cork; 
 where he announced himself as Richard, duke of York, one 
 of the princes generally believed to have been murdered in 
 the Tower, by order of Richard the Third. A merchant of 
 Cork, named John Water, who had lately been mayor of 
 that city, warmly espoused the cause of this second pre- 
 tender, and persuaded the citizens to join him. Perkin, 
 however, did not remain long in Ireland; for the king of 
 France sent to invite him to his court, whither he imme- 
 diately proceeded. 
 
 I may here observe, that, when the duke of York was 
 governor of Ireland, he made a law, that Ireland should be 
 a sanctuary for foreigners ; so that any person, having of- 
 fended against the law in England, Scotland, or Wales, 
 might place himself under Irish protection. His motive 
 was that those who supported him in his claim to the sove- 
 reignty of England, might be able, in case of any emer- 
 gency, to fly for refuge to Ireland ; but it was a dangerous 
 law, because it encouraged treason, and crimes of all sorts, 
 by affording shelter to traitors and criminals. 
 
 King Henry, therefore, after having displaced the earl of 
 Kildare, sent over a gentleman, named Sir Edward Poynings, 
 to make several alterations that he thought necessary; 
 and, among them, to repeal this pernicious law of sanc- 
 tuary. I call it a pernicious law, because it cannot be 
 thought right that criminals should be screened from justice. 
 There is a wide difference between protecting a man from 
 oppression, and shielding him from the punishment due to 
 his crimes ; but by this law of sanctuary, there was no dis- 
 tinction observed between crime and misfortune; so that a 
 robber or a murderer found the same protection as one who 
 had committed no real crime, but was persecuted either for 
 his religious or political opinions. Sir Edward Poynings, 
 however, came to Ireland to repeal this law; and he also 
 decreed that no acts should be passed by any future parlia- 
 
598 CORNER’S 
 
 88 IRELAND. 
 
 ment in Ireland, until they had received the consent of the 
 English legislature. This was called Poynings’ law; and a 
 very important one it was, since it took from the legislators 
 of Ireland the privilege they had hitherto enjoyed, of making 
 laws or that country, independent of England. Sir Edward 
 Poynings also revived the statutes of Kilkenny, before 
 spoken of as having been made with a view to prevent too 
 intimate an intercourse between the English and the Irish ; 
 but he left out that clause which prohibited the use of the 
 Irish language; which was now universally spoken, except 
 in Dublin and its immediate vicinity. 
 
 But the Anglo-Irish were forbidden to use the war-cries 
 of the Wild Irish; who all had cries peculiar to their re- 
 spective clans; and those cries had been very generally 
 adopted by the new race of Irish people, w^ho, from being 
 frequently called out in arms to defend their possessions, and 
 to preserve their cattle from the sudden forays of different 
 clans, were now almost as wild as the Irish themselves. 
 Some of the great lords had so completely identified them- 
 selves with the original Irish, by wearing the dress, speaking 
 the language, and living according to the customs of the 
 country, that they were regarded as though they had been 
 kings of the ancient race. 
 
 The earls of Desmond were among this number. They 
 had lived, for some generations, entirely on their princely 
 domains in Munster, surrounded by the native septs, mak- 
 ing wars upon, and treaties with, the chiefs of different 
 clans, at pleasure, and keeping up the rude grandeur of the 
 Irish monarchs of former days. I mention this particular 
 family, because the lords of Desmond were noted for their 
 rebellions in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and a portion of 
 their confiscated lands was given to Sir Walter Raleigh; 
 who is said to have been the first who planted potatoes in 
 their country. 
 
 While Sir Edward Poynings was making laws by the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 599 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 authority of the king, with a view to lessen the power of the 
 lords of the Pale, he had also caused the earl of Kildare to 
 be arrested, and sent as a prisoner to England. This had 
 such an effect upon the earl’s wife, that she died of grief; 
 expecting, no doubt, that he would lose his head; but he 
 was not only pardoned, but restored to all his dignities, to 
 the great surprise of every one. 
 
 It is said, he owed his escape to his ready wit in making 
 answers which pleased the king. Thus, when Henry said, 
 he would advise him to choose good counsel, as his case 
 was a serious one, the earl replied boldly, I will choose 
 the best counsel in England, may it please Your Grace.” 
 
 And who is that.^” said the king. “ Why, the king him- 
 self,” said the earl; at which the king laughed; and al- 
 though Kildare was tried for the sake of form, he was ac- 
 quitted, and re-appointed to the government of Ireland. 
 
 From that time, he was a loyal subject, and carried on a 
 perpetual warfare against the Irish chiefs, from whom he 
 took several castles, and fortified places. But the castles of 
 the Irish chiefs were not like those of England. They were 
 generally nothing more than four high walls thatched with 
 straw, with small loop holes for windows; and possessed 
 scarcely any furniture, save the rushes which strewed the 
 floor, and the green boughs that were suspended, by way of 
 ornament, from the rough beams of the ceiling. 
 
 In the year 1497, Perkin Warbeck again appeared in 
 Ireland, with his beautiful bride, whom he had married at 
 the court of Scotland; and he was joined by the earl of 
 Desmond, who helped him to besiege Waterford, but with- 
 out success. The remainder of his unhappy career, and his 
 ultimate fate, must be sought in the history of England. 
 The earl of Desmond was pardoned by the king for the as- 
 sistance he had given him; but the poor mayor of Cork, 
 Warbeck’s first friend in Ireland, was executed with him. 
 
 I 3 
 
600 CORNERS S 
 
 90 IRELAND. 
 
 REBELLION OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE. 
 1509 to 1558. 
 
 At the time that Henry the Eighth ascended the English 
 throne, the earl of Kildare was still governor of Ireland. At 
 his death, his son succeeded to his high office, and continued 
 to carry on wars with the natives, but Cardinal Wolsey, not 
 thinking it good policy to suffer an Irishman so devoted to 
 fighting, to be the ruler of Ireland, appointed another gov- 
 ernor, and sent for the young earl to England, where he 
 married Lady Elizabeth Gray, who was nearly related to the 
 king; and he accompanied the monarch to the Field of the 
 Cloth of Gold. However, in 1530, he returned to Ireland, 
 and was received with great joy in Dublin, where he was 
 very popular. He resumed the government of the English 
 Pale, which, at this time, had become considerably reduced 
 in size ; at least, it was only within a small space to what it 
 had formerly been, that the English laws were obeyed, the 
 language spoken, the dress worn, or the customs followed. 
 
 The earl of Kildare had allied himself with the most 
 powerful of the Irish chieftains, O’Connor and O’Carroll, by 
 giving them his daughters in marriage, although they were 
 both enemies to the king and the English government. The 
 earl was therefore summoned to England, to answer for his 
 misconduct; and he went thither very reluctantly, leaving 
 his son. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, a young man not much 
 more than twenty years of age, to conduct the government 
 in his absence. This, in the present state of the country, 
 was a very arduous task, and far beyond the abihty of so 
 young a man; particularly as his father, owing to his alli- 
 ance with the great Irish chiefs, had many enemies, wiio 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 601 
 
 IRELAND. 9i 
 
 were only watching an opportunity to involve his whole 
 family in ruin. 
 
 I will now endeavour to give you an idea of the state of 
 the country at this time; and then you will perceive how 
 impossible it was for so young a man as Lord Thomas Fitz- 
 gerald to preserve any degree of order. There w^ere several 
 Anglo-Irish noblemen who possessed very extensive do- 
 mains; where they ruled like absolute princes, caring very 
 little for the laws made by the English government, and 
 connected by ties of relationship with the greatest chieftains 
 of the country. These nobles, who exacted rents or feudal 
 services from their tenants, would pay nothing for their 
 lands to the king, and frequently gave asylum to offenders 
 against the laws ; nor did any magistrate dare to seize any 
 of their tenants, or their retainers, however guilty, without 
 their express permission. 
 
 A great deal of the land belonging to them was let out to 
 small farmers, chiefly Irish; and these unruly lords took 
 advantage of an old Irish custom, called Coshery, by which 
 the kings in ancient times were privileged to go round 
 among their tenants with a troop of horsemen and servants 
 of various descriptions, and oblige the poor farmers to find 
 them in meat, drink, and lodging; every tenant being com- 
 pelled to entertain the whole retinue for two days and two 
 nights. 
 
 The train usually consisted of a number of Irish soldiers, 
 called kerns, and a disorderly set of men, called horse-boys, 
 whose business was to take care of the horses; for there 
 were no inns in Ireland then, , and these men, protected as 
 they were by their masters badge or livery, committed all 
 sorts of depredations wherever they went, with perfect im- 
 punity. Nor were the farmers only subjected to this annoy- 
 ance, but the monasteries and the gentlemen’s houses in the 
 counties over which the dominion of these lords extended, 
 were equally obliged to open their gates to the unwelcome 
 
602 
 
 COENEH^S 
 
 92 IRELAND. 
 
 visitors. Nearly the whole of Munster, and great part of 
 Leinster, belonged to such nobles as these, who lived half 
 the year at the expense of their tenants, in the manner 
 before described. 
 
 A great part of Ulster was occupied by the Scots; who, 
 at different periods, had made conquests and settlements in 
 that province; and Connaught, with the rest of Ulster, was 
 possessed by the Wild Irish, whose chiefs extorted black 
 mail, or tribute, from the English; into whose territories 
 they had easy access, by a bridge which the chiefs of the 
 O’Briens had built across the Shannon. An account of the 
 disorderly state of the whole country was sent to the king; 
 and it was also stated that the evils complained of arose as 
 much from the arbitrary conduct of the Anglo-Irish, and 
 their wars with each other, as from the foraging excursions 
 and rebellions of the Irish chieftains themselves. 
 
 The earl of Kildare was still a prisoner in England, and 
 his son, as before stated, was surrounded by enemies, who 
 wished to see the downfall of a family whose influence and 
 immense possessions in Ireland had excited their envy and 
 ill-will. The easiest way of accomplishing the ruin of 
 Lord Thomas was to provoke him to rebellion; they were 
 therefore, wicked enough to spread a report that his father 
 had been beheaded, and that orders had been given to arrest 
 him and others of his family for treason. 
 
 The unsuspicious young man, not doubting the truth of 
 the story, was transported with grief and rage, and arming 
 his vassals, he rode through Dublin at the head of them, till 
 he reached St. Mary’s abbey, where the council of state 
 was assembled. He entered the hall, where he gave up 
 the sword of office, which was always carried before the 
 governor, and solemnly renounced his allegiance to the king. 
 
 Those who had invented the tale of his father’s death 
 were delighted at its success; but the lord chancellor, with 
 tears in his eyes, begged Lord Thomas Fitzgerald to con- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 603 
 
 IRELAND. 03 
 
 Bider well, before he decided on taking so rash a step; and 
 the remonstrance might have had some effect, had not an 
 Irish bard just at this critical moment struck the chords of 
 his harp, and begun in loud strains to sing the praises of 
 the earls of Kildare, passionately calling on the young lord 
 to revenge his father’s shameful death. The excited youth 
 listened for awhile; then, throwing away his sword of office, 
 he rushed forth at the head of his wild followers, to wage 
 war against a government of which he had till this moment 
 been at the head. 
 
 The first measure of the council was to send an order to 
 the mayor of Dublin to arrest Lord Thomas Fitzgerald. 
 But the plague was at that time raging so dreadfully in 
 Dublin, and had so depopulated the city, that there was not 
 a sufficient force to act against so large a body of rebels as 
 Fitzgerald had collected around him; the order, therefore, 
 could not be obeyed, but the gates of the town were shut 
 against them. Lord Thomas, being anxious to get posses- 
 sion of Dublin- castle, sent a proposal to the citizens, that 
 if they would allow him to enter the place, and lay siege 
 to the castle, he would not suffer any injury to be done 
 either to themselves or their property. They consented to 
 this proposition; for they were so weakened by the pesti- 
 ence, that they were not in a condition to make much 
 resistance, and thought it would be more prudent to let 
 the rebels enter on those terms, than to attempt to oppose 
 hem with an inefficient force. 
 
 The castle was at this time occupied by the archbishop of 
 Dublin ; who was so terrified at the prospect of a siege, that 
 he tried to make his escape to England, by means of a 
 vessel that was lying close under the castle walls. He went 
 on board in the middle of the night, and set sail; but, un- 
 fortunately, the ship was stranded near Clontarf, and the 
 reverend prelate taken prisoner, at a little village to which 
 he had fled for safety. He was instantly put to death by 
 
604 COENER^S 
 
 94 IRELAND. 
 
 order of Lord Thomas, who stood by to see this barbarous 
 command executed. 
 
 After this cruel murder, part of the rebel army was left 
 to besiege the castle; while Fitzgerald led the rest to invade 
 the domains of the earl of Ossory, in Kilkenny : but, at the 
 same time, he sent word to that nobleman, that if he would 
 enter into an alliance with him, and help him to conquer the 
 country, he was willing to agree that it should be divided 
 between them. The earl, however, would not listen to this 
 proposal; returning for answer, that nothing would ever 
 tempt him to become a traitor to his king. He was already 
 preparing to defend his estates, when Lord Thomas found 
 himself obliged to march back to Dublin, having received 
 intelligence that the citizens had withdrawn their permission 
 for the siege of the castle, had closed their gates, and seized 
 all the rebels within the walls of the city. 
 
 This news was quite true. The gates were shut, and the 
 walls so defended, that there was no possibility of effecting 
 an entrance. Then some among the rebel forces, who began 
 to wish themselves in a safer position, wrote letters giving 
 information of the designs of the besiegers, and affixing 
 them to headless arrows, shot them over the walls into the 
 city; by which, the citizens learning that there was not 
 much to be feared from the troops without, resolved to come 
 out and try to disperse them. First, however, in order to 
 alarm the rebels, they sent some soldiers to proclaim from 
 the top of the walls, that succours had arrived from Eng- 
 land ; and immediately throwing open the gates, they rushed 
 forth, while the besiegers, thinking they were beset by an 
 English army, fled on all sides in the utmost dismay. 
 
 Fitzgerald hid himself all night in a friary, and escaped 
 at day-break to his camp. He then sent to the mayor of 
 Dublin, to propose terms of peace; but they could not agree 
 on the conditions, for Lord Thomas had carried off, and 
 still detained, a number of children who had been removed 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 605 
 
 IRELAND. 95 
 
 from Dublin to a village at some distance, on account of the 
 plague : and he would not restore them until he was assured 
 of the king’s pardon; therefore the people of Dublin, who 
 were sadly distressed about their children, would not release 
 Fitzgerald’s soldiers, whom they had made prisoners. 
 
 The old earl of Kildare was now really dead, having died 
 in the Tower of London; for the conduct of his son had 
 broken his heart. The rebellion might, at this time, be 
 termed a civil war; for all the country had joined in it, and 
 a terrible war it was; for, in many instances, the nearest 
 relatives took dilferent sides; and thus, while the great 
 chief, O’Brien, was fighting under the banner of Lord 
 Thomas Fitzgerald, his eldest son, who had joined Lord 
 Ossory, was opposed to him in the field of battle. All the 
 northern chiefs took the part of the "king; but the principal 
 object of most of those who were engaged in the strife was 
 plunder; and if we consider that, in addition to the horrors 
 of civil war, the pestilence was still raging, not only in 
 Dublin, but more or less throughout all Ireland, we may 
 form some idea of the wretched state of the people. 
 
 At length, Lord Thomas was obliged to surrender him- 
 self, and was sent prisoner to England; about six months 
 having elapsed from the day on which he indignantly sur- 
 rendered the sword of state. The defeat of this misguided 
 young man was owing to the new governor. Lord Leonard 
 Gray; w'ho also made prisoners of Fitzgerald’s five uncles, 
 all of whom had been deeply concerned in the rebellion ; and 
 although they had been induced to submit, by a promise of 
 pardon, they were, in violation of that promise, executed in 
 London, with their ill-fated nephew, in 1535. 
 
 Lord Thomas left two younger brothers, Gerald, about 
 twelve years of age, who was now heir to the earldom of 
 Kildare, and Edward, who was rather younger. Diligent 
 search was made for these poor boys; but Gerald was con- 
 
606 CORNER’S 
 
 96 IRELAND. 
 
 cealed in the country by O’Brien, the lord of Thomond; and 
 Edward was conveyed to his mother, in Leicestershire. 
 
 Some time afterwards, Gerald was placed under the care 
 of his aunt, Lady Eleanor of Desmond, widow of the chief 
 of south Munster; who was about to marry the great chief, 
 O’Donnel, in the hope that he would be a friend to her out- 
 lawed nephew. O^Donnel’s territories were in the north, 
 where there was also another powerful chieftain, O’Niel, a 
 descendant of the ancient Irish monarchs, and a kinsman of 
 the young Gerald, who was now styled by his friends, earl 
 of Kildare. Gerald accompanied the bridal party in their 
 journey through Ireland, from Desmond to O’Donners man- 
 sion in Tyrconnel, at present the county of Donegal, in 
 Ulster. 
 
 A large party was assembled to cebrate the nuptials; and, 
 among others who were present, was O’Niel, who together 
 with the bridegroom, swore to protect the rights of the 
 youthful earl of Kildare, and endeavour to restore him to 
 his father’s estates. 
 
 O’Niel, it is said, entertained still more ambitious designs, 
 than those of merely winning back for Gerald his confiscated 
 inheritance; he meditated the restoration of the ancient 
 monarchy of Ireland; and already, in fancy, beheld himself 
 seated on the throne of his ancestors. But before the plot 
 in favour of the youthful Kildare was ripe for execution, it 
 was discovered; and the lord lieutenant. Lord Leonard 
 Gray, the same who had captured Fitzgerald and his five 
 uncles, was now beheaded, on suspicion of being concerned 
 in the conspiracy. 
 
 As it was no longer safe to keep poor Gerald in the 
 country, he was confided to the care of some monks; who 
 dressed him in a saffron shirt, like those worn by the Wild 
 Irish; and, in that disguise, got him safely on board a 
 vessel, which conveyed him to France. Thence he passed 
 into Italy, and was most kindly received, and carefully 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 607 
 
 IRELAND. 97 
 
 educated, by Cardinal Pole, who was related to his mother. 
 It was generally believed in Italy, that he was the true heir 
 to the kingdom of Ireland, and had been defrauded of his 
 right by Henry the Eighth; and great was the interest he 
 excited, in consequence of this supposition. However, in 
 the reign of Edward the Sixth, he was recalled to England; 
 and when Queen Mary came to the throne, she restored to 
 him the estates and titles of his ancestors. 
 
 His sister, Margaret Fitzgerald, was married to the earl 
 of Ormond, in whose magnificent castle at Kilkenny she re- 
 sided. This noble and amiable couple endeavoured to enrich 
 the city of Kilkenny, which was already a place of consider- 
 able trade; by introducing manufactures into it; and with 
 this laudable view, they brought from Flanders a number 
 of artificers, whom they employed, at their own cost, in 
 making carpets, cushions, and a variety of other handsome 
 articles of household furniture, which remained in the Or- 
 mond family for many years; but the times were unsettled, 
 and the nation was not sufficiently civilized to patronize 
 works of art and taste; therefore the scheme of establishing 
 permanent manufactories in Ireland was abandoned. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 
 
 It was about the time of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald’s rebellion, 
 that Henry the Eighth was engaged in making that great 
 and important change in the religion of the church of Eng- 
 land, which we call the Reformation. He was very desirous 
 of destroying the authority of the Pope in Ireland, and of 
 establishing there the Protestant instead of the Catholic re- 
 ligion: and with this view he had, just before the breaking 
 out of the rebellion, granted to the earl of Ossory, the 
 counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, on con- 
 
608 CORNER’S 
 
 98 IRELAND. 
 
 dition that he should do all in his power to forward the 
 reformed faith. The civil war had, for the time it lasted, 
 suspended the progress of all other affairs; but as soon as it 
 was over, the king again turned his attention towards the 
 religion of Ireland, and the archbishop of Dublin was the 
 first to declare in favour of Protestantism, and advise the 
 calling of a parliament to enforce it. The parliament met 
 in Dublin, and passed an act ordaining that all first fruits, 
 that is, the first year’s profits of all benefices, and all other 
 dues, which had hitherto been paid to the Pope, should in 
 future be paid to the king, who had assumed the title of 
 Head of the Church. 
 
 Soon after this, Henry the Eighth sent over commissioners 
 to suppress some of the monasteries, as he had suppressed 
 them in England. Subsequently, they were all shut up, and 
 the monks and nuns belonging to them expelled, whilst the 
 lands were granted or given away to nobles and their de- 
 pendents, just as lavishly as the lands belonging to the 
 monasteries had been in England. 
 
 I need not tell you what a sad thing this was for the 
 lower classes of people, who in a country so poor as Ireland, 
 could find but little employment. As long as there were 
 monastic establishments, the hungry had only to go to the 
 abbey gates, and they were fed; but when the religious 
 houses were shut up and deserted, many poor creatures died 
 from want, because there were none to give them bread. 
 The tenants on church and abbey lands had in Ireland, as in 
 England and other countries, held their tenures at much 
 lower rents, and had been more lightly taxed for feudal 
 services, than the tenants of the nobles and chiefs; it was, 
 therefore, a serious misfortune to them that these lands 
 should be taken away from those under whom they had 
 lived so comfortably, to be given to men who exacted the 
 utmost amount of rent, and gave in charity none of the 
 money they had extorted from them. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 609 
 
 IRELAND 99 
 
 Notwithstanding the suppression of the monasteries, the 
 Protestant religion was never established in Ireland, where 
 the monastic orders still existed, although their houses and 
 lands had been taken from them; and, to this day, the 
 majority of the peaple are Catholics; but it is a pleasure to 
 be able to state that persons were not executed nor burnt to 
 death on account of their religious opinions, as they were in 
 England. The most severe punishment inflicted on those 
 who openly upheld the authority of the Pope, or disputed 
 the king's title to supremacy in the church, was imprison- 
 ment for a time in Dublin castle. 
 
 Henry the Eighth, although a great tyrant, was a shrewd 
 and clever man, and he saw that no peace could be expected 
 in Ireland, while so many chieftains were hostile to the gov- 
 ernment; he, therefore, sought to make them his friends, 
 by bestowing on them new dignities, and thus gratifying 
 their pride, while he brought them more under subjection to 
 the royal authority. The Irish chiefs had been taught to 
 believe that the Pope was the real sovereign of Ireland, and 
 that the kings of England only held it in vassalage under 
 him. It had now become necessary to undeceive them on 
 this point, since Henry had assumed the Pope's place as 
 head of the church in his own dominions; he therefore 
 determined to make Ireland a kingdom instead of a lordship, 
 and to take upon himself the title of King. Having made 
 his intention known to the parliament of the Pale, an act 
 was passed to that eflect without the least opposition; for 
 Henry had taken care to guard against any impediments to 
 his measures, by excluding the inferior part of the clergy 
 and chiefs from the parliament altogether, so that it only 
 consisted of those who were subservient to his wishes. 
 
 It was in the year 1541, that Henry the Eighth was 
 declared king of Ireland, and the day on which the bill was 
 passed, was celebrated with great rejoicings in Dublin. All 
 the noblemen and gentry went in state to St. Patrick's 
 
610 CORNER^S 
 
 100 IRELAND. 
 
 church ; grand entertainments were given by the rich, bon- 
 fires were made by the poor, who were also feasted in the 
 streets, and a general pardon was granted to prisoners in the 
 city. The Irish chiefs were then invited to go to London, 
 that the king might bestow on them such favours as he 
 might think fitting; and as this was the origin of a consi- 
 derable part of the Irish peerage, it will not be amiss to 
 describe these new peers of Ireland. 
 
 The first candidate for distinction was the great O’Donnel, 
 the uncle of the outlawed earl of Kildare. I mention him 
 first, because he made a more splendid appearance than the 
 rest, for while some of them had scarcely a garment to cover 
 them, O’Donnel appeared in a crimson velvet coat, adorned 
 with gold, a cloak of crimson satin, bordered with black 
 velvet, and a fine bonnet, which was decorated with golden 
 ornaments and a plume. It does not appear how this 
 gallant chieftain had been able to make so splendid an ap- 
 pearance, but it is likely he had become wealthy, by having 
 received a handsome dowry with his wife, the lady Eleanor. 
 However, he was made earl ot Tyrconnel, a title that ranks 
 high among the Irish noblemen of the present day. 
 
 On the brave O'Niel, Henry bestowed the title of earl of 
 Tyrone, his estates being in that country; and his son was 
 made Lord Duncannon; and titles were granted to many 
 other chiefs. But although O’Donnel and O’Niel were able 
 to appear in a manner suitable to their rank, the latter was 
 obliged to borrow a hundred pounds of the governor to pay 
 the expenses of his journey to London; and so little pros- 
 pect had he of returning the gold, that he made an agree- 
 ment to pay the debt in cattle. Money was so scarce at 
 this time in Ireland, that the governor himself was not pos- 
 sessed of a hundred pounds to lend to O’Niel, but had to 
 borrow it from the merchants of Dublin. This governor, 
 whose name was Sentleger, had succeeded the unfortunate 
 Lord Leonard Gray. He was very popular among the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 611 
 
 IRELAND. 101 
 
 chiefs, for knowing how anxious the king was to make 
 friends of them, he had treated them with the greatest 
 courtesy, and endeavoured to oblige them as much as he 
 possibly could; they all, therefore, came to him whenever 
 they were in any difficulties, and some of the favours they 
 requested, serve to shew the extreme poverty in which the 
 Irish chieftains lived. 
 
 The earl of Desmond, who, though of English race, was 
 regarded as an Irish chief, and one of the noblest men in 
 the realm, sent to the governor, saying he was in great need 
 of decent clothing, on which Sentleger sent him a jacket, 
 doublet, and hose, for which he was very thankful; and af- 
 terwards, when the chiefs, in virtue of their new titles, were 
 expected to attend parliament, the same earl begged he 
 might be provided with proper robes at the king’s expense, 
 and some more apparel for his daily use. Many applied for 
 parliament robes, and one chief, O’Rourke, was very glad to 
 accept a suit of common clothes, having little else to wear 
 but his saffron shirt. 
 
 The regular national dress worn over the saffron shirt 
 was a thick woollen mantle, very nearly resembling a 
 blanket, generally yellow, but sometimes partly coloured, 
 like a Scotch plaid. It had a fringed border, and was of 
 finer or coarser texture, according to the rank of the wearer. 
 The ancient Irish used in fighting to wrap this mantle 
 round the left arm by way of a shield, because it was 
 hard to cut through. The women wore the mantle over a 
 long gown or kirtle, and those of high rank frequently had 
 it made of fine coloured cloth, adorned with silken fringe, 
 of which many rows were sewed on the upper edge, forming 
 a sort of collar or cape round the neck. Sometimes it 
 was put over the head as a hood, for the unmarried women 
 wore no caps, but either tied up the hair in a knot, or let it 
 hang in long braids down the back. The married women 
 had linen kerchiefs, coloured with saffron, rolled round the 
 
 K 3 
 
612 
 
 CORNEH^S 
 
 102 IRELAND. 
 
 head. The chiefs, and all who could afford to do so, still 
 continued to wear the large linen shirts, dyed yellow with 
 saffron, as described in the time of King Henry the Second; 
 and as they usually had as much as fifteen or sixteen yards 
 of cloth in them, it might be supposed that the Irish must 
 have carried on the manufacture of linen from an early 
 period; but this does not appear to have been the case; for 
 it is not likely that an art of such importance should be un- 
 noticed by historians ; therefore we may safely conclude that 
 the Irish did not make their own cloth, but procured it from 
 England or Scotland, in exchange for cattle. 
 
 The linen manufactories for which Ireland has since been 
 famous, were first established by the Scots, in Ulster, in 
 the time of James the First; but the manufacture was not 
 carried on to any great extent till the time of Charles the 
 Second. The Irish, however, probably made linen before 
 that period, though not as much as they required for their 
 own consumption, while they wore their linen garments so 
 enormously large. An act in the time of Henry the Eighth 
 prohibited Irishmen from using more than seven yards of 
 cloth in their shirts, or dying them with saffron. They 
 were also forbidden to wear the woollen mantles, or to let 
 their hair grow long in the Irish fashion. These commands 
 were not much attended to for some years, but in the time 
 of Queen Elizabeth, the Irish nobles and gentry by degrees 
 conformed to the English dress. It was a long time, how- 
 ever, before the common people could be brought to leave 
 off their fringed blankets and long hair; but in the time of 
 Charles the First, these distinguishing marks of the Irish 
 people gradually disappeared; and, at length, the national 
 costume was only to be seen in the wildest parts of western 
 Ireland. 
 
 But let us return to the Irish chiefs and their distresses. 
 The condescension and generosity which the king, for his 
 own purposes, had thought fit to shew towards them, had 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 613 
 
 IRELAND. 103 
 
 won the hearts of the simple chiefs, so that they were all 
 desirous of seeing so gracious a monarch, and of asking 
 some favour from him. Among the rest was one Tirlough 
 O’Toole, one of the poorest, but, at the same time, one of 
 the bravest, of the native chieftains, whose generous spirit 
 would have done honour to the noblest knight of chivalry; 
 a striking instance of which occurred when O’Niel, O’Con- 
 nor, and other great chiefs, were leagued together to invade 
 the English Pale. Tirlough knew of the intended invasion, 
 and was also aware that the governor had not forces suffi- 
 cient for its defence; he therefore sent him word that, as 
 so many were against him, he should take his part, until he 
 was free from other enemies, when he intended to go to 
 war with him himself; and he kept his word. 
 
 The territories of O’Toole consisted only of some uncul- 
 tivated lands among the Wicklow mountains, where he lived 
 in the midst of his clan, having no clothes but the one long 
 linen garment, and no better dwelling than a cave Yet he 
 was proud of his rank, and desirous of going to London to 
 visit the king, to whom he wished to present a petition for 
 some lands to which he considered himself entitled; he 
 therefore made his submission; and begged leave of the 
 governor to go to England, who not only granted his 
 request but, for his timely assistance against O’Niel and 
 O’Connor, sent him twenty pounds to buy a dress, and pay 
 the expenses of his journey. 
 
 O’Brien was made earl of Thomond; Mac William, earl 
 of Clanricarde; Mac Kilpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory; and 
 O’Reilly, viscount of Cavan. All the new peers were pre- 
 sented with robes to wear in parliament; and a house, with 
 a piece of ground attached to it, in the neighbourhood of 
 Dublin, was granted to each, for the purpose of keeping 
 their retinues and horses near them, when their parlia- 
 mentary duties obliged them to be in the capital. King 
 Henry the Eighth thus converted many of the wild warlike 
 
 R r 
 
614 CORNER’S 
 
 104 IRELAND. 
 
 chiefs into a regular Irish nobility; and by giving to most 
 of them grants of the lands belonging to the suppressed 
 abbeys, he silenced their objections to the abolition of the 
 monastic establishments, and made them more willing to 
 acknowledge him, instead of the Pope, as supreme head of 
 the church. 
 
 It had often happened among the Irish chieftains, that, 
 although they cheerfully submitted to the king when he was 
 present, and promised obedience to the English laws, they 
 no sooner found themselves freed from his presence, than 
 they forgot the oaths of fealty they had taken, and were as 
 far as ever from being peaceable and faithful. As soon 
 as they had entered their own territories, they resumed the 
 ancient laws and customs of Ireland, and acted as though 
 they had made no promise whatever. As long as Henry the 
 Eighth lived, however, peace was very generally observed 
 throughout the whole country; but soon after his death, 
 while his young son Edward occupied the English throne, 
 two of the Irish chieftains, O’Moore and O’Connor, went 
 to war with the lords of the Pale, and others began to ex- 
 hibit symptoms of rebellion. 
 
 O’Moore and O’Connor were speedily reduced to submis- 
 sion; but after they had laid down their arms, they were 
 treated with great injustice, for they were persuaded to 
 go to London to receive the royal pardon in person ; and as 
 the favours that had been granted by the late monarch to 
 their countrymen were still fresh in their remembrance, they 
 did not hesitate to adopt this treacherous advice; but no 
 sooner had they arrived in London, than they were arrested, 
 and imprisoned, and all their estates were divided among 
 those who had so basely betrayed them. These estates, 
 which altogether formed an extensive district, were after- 
 wards settled by Queen Mary into King’s county and 
 Queen ’scounty, the chief town of the former being called 
 Philip’s-town, in honour of her husband. King Philip, of 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 615 
 
 IRELAND. 105 
 
 Spain; and that of the latter, Maryborough, in reference to 
 herself. 
 
 Mary restored the Catholic religion in Ireland as well as 
 in England, and gave back to the church that portion of the 
 church lands which remained at her disposal; but little else 
 worthy of mention occurred in Ireland during her reign. 
 
 O’NIEL’S REBELLION, 
 
 AND OTHER EVENTS, 
 
 IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 1558 to 1603. 
 
 The people of Ireland had submitted quietly to the innova- 
 tions made in their religion by Henry the Eighth. They 
 had seen their churches plundered, the monasteries broken 
 into, and all their treasures, which had been held sacred 
 for ages, carried away or wantonly destroyed. Many, in- 
 deed, owing to the influence gained over them by the king, 
 had even consented to renounce their ancient faith, and ac- 
 knowledge the new doctrines; but with all this, there were 
 few who did not gladly return to the old religion; and 
 when Queen Elizabeth wished to re-establish the Protestant 
 church in Ireland, she found it a very difficult task, although 
 an Irish parliament, held in Dublin in the second year of 
 her reign, passed several laws to oblige people to attend 
 Protestant churches, under very severe penalties, such as 
 fines, imprisonment, forfeiture of property, and other punish- 
 ments; but Elizabeth could not accomplish by persecution 
 what her father had done so readily by bribes and flattery, 
 and her severities against the Catholics, like those of her 
 sister Mary against the Protestants, only served to attach 
 the people more firmly to their faith. 
 
616 CORNER’S 
 
 106 IRELAND. 
 
 The Irish lords and chieftains still carried on their depre- 
 dations upon each others territories, and their wars with 
 each others clans, much in the style in which they had 
 been pursued by the English barons of feudal times; riding 
 about the country with troops of those disorderly soldiers 
 called kerns, and their horse-boys, who were generally the 
 foster-children of the clan, and supplied the places of 
 grooms, pages, and esquires. These troops were an intol- 
 erable nuisance, even to their own chiefs’ peasantry and 
 townspeople, for they considered themselves privileged, like 
 the baronial retainers of old in every country, to live at free 
 quarters, wherever they went, and to enter any man’s house 
 to eat and drink at their will ; and instead of being civil or 
 thankful to those at whose expense they were entertained, 
 they only treated them with ridicule or insolence, and some- 
 times with cruelty. There were many lords belonging to 
 the Desmond family, all equally turbulent, who lived in 
 large castles filled with these ruffian bands, ready to make 
 war or reprisals upon the territories of others. 
 
 At this time, the earl of Desmond was at war with the 
 earl of Ormond, who was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 was a great favourite at the court. The dispute between 
 these noblemen was about the boundaries of their respective 
 estates ; and Desmond having obtained permission to see the 
 queen on the subject, arrived in London, when, instead of 
 being admitted to her presence, he was committed to the 
 Tower, where he was kept a close prisoner for several years. 
 At length he was released, and returned to Ireland, where 
 he re- commenced the war, which now took the character of 
 a rebellion, for he was full of resentment at his long and 
 unjust imprisonment. 
 
 At this time the king of Spain, being at war with the 
 queen of England, sent troops to the assistance of the eail 
 of Desmond ; but the mode of warfare in Ireland was so dif- 
 ferent from that to which they had ever been accustomed. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 617 
 
 IRELAND. 107 
 
 that the Spanish soldiers were not of much use, but were 
 rather an impediment, as they consumed food, without being 
 able to aid the cause in which they were engaged. 
 
 At last the earl was defeated, and obliged to fly to the 
 woods, and the Spaniards laid down their arms; but I am 
 sorry to say they were every one shot, and that this bar- 
 barous execution was commanded by two very celebrated 
 men; the one being Sir Walter Raleigh, who served in Ire- 
 land during this war; and the other, the British poet, Spen- 
 ser, who was secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 The earl, himself, who was then an old man, was surprised 
 by some soldiers in a small hut, which he had entered that 
 he might warm himself at the fire, for the weather was cold, 
 and he had been wandering about without food or shelter, 
 till he had become chilled and hungry. The soldiers, not 
 knowing who he was, but seeing that he belonged to the 
 opposite party, instantly surrounded him, when he cried out, 
 “ Spare my life, for I am the earl of Desmond!” But the 
 moment he had uttered the words, he was killed, and his 
 head was sent as a trophy to the earl of Ormond. His im- 
 mense estates were confiscated to the crown, as were also 
 those of one hundred and forty of his relatives, who were all 
 declared rebels and traitors; and many of them went to serve 
 in the Spanish armies. 
 
 The misery occasioned throughout Munster by this rebel- 
 lion exceeds all description. The famine was so dreadful, 
 that the poor creatures who had fled to the woods and wilds 
 to avoid the terrors of war, used to creep out on their hands 
 and knees from the caves in which they had hidden them- 
 selves, to try to find nettles or weeds of any kind to eat, for 
 they had no chance of obtaining other food; and as such 
 wretched nourishment could not long support life, they died 
 in their miserable haunts, and there were none to bury them. 
 
 The greater part of the population who had escaped death 
 from war, thus miserably perished by famine; so that Mun- 
 
618 CORNER^S 
 
 108 IRELAND. 
 
 ster was converted almost into an uninhabited desert. In or- 
 der therefore that it might be re-peopled, forty new lordships 
 were created out of the vacant lands, which were let at very 
 small rents to English nobles, who were willing enough to 
 become Irish landlords on the terms proposed; which were, 
 that they should place a certain number of English families 
 on these estates, and not let any part of them to the Irish. 
 But this was an object of difficult accomplishment, for Eng- 
 lish farmers were not willing to leave their own country to 
 settle in a land where they would be considered as intruders 
 by the natives, and have to defend their possessions by force 
 of arms; very few, therefore, went over, and the new lords 
 were obliged to take Irish tenantry, or they would have had 
 no rents from their lands. Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a 
 grant of a part of these lands, and was the first who planted 
 potatoes and tobacco in Ireland, which were originally 
 brought from America; the former vegetable has become 
 naturalized to the soil, and, with oatmeal, has long formed 
 he chief sustenance of the common people. 
 
 The next rebellion was that of the great northern chief, 
 O’Niel, a far more formidable foe than the earl of Desmond. 
 The O’Niels were of the ancient royal race, and traced back 
 their ancestry to a period earlier than the days of St. Patrick. 
 They were justly proud of their descent from the kings who, 
 for five centuries, had ruled over the country, but they had 
 not made any great figure in Irish history since the English 
 conquest. They had become allied to the earls of Kildare, 
 by the marriage of a daughter of the Fitzgerald family, to 
 Henry, one of the O’Niel chiefs, during the War of the 
 Roses; and it was on account of this relationship, that this 
 sept aided Lord Thomas Fitzgerald in his rebellion, and was 
 friendly to his younger brother, Gerald, in his misfortunes. 
 
 The present head of the sept was Shane O’Niel, the son 
 of that O’Niel who was created earl of Tyrone by Henry the 
 Eighth; but Shane, which is the Irish name for John, had a 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 619 
 
 IRELAND. 109 
 
 half-brother, called Matthew, who was the older of the two, 
 and had received the title of Lord D uncannon from the king 
 of England, at the same time that his father was made an 
 earl. Now these two O’Niels were never friends; for I 
 believe Shane suspected that Matthew was not really his 
 brother, therefore he thought he had the greater right to be 
 Lord Duncannon, and also to inherit his father’s titles at 
 his death. They were therefore constantly quarrelling, and 
 their people fighting, till, at last, Matthew was murdered, 
 and it was believed that his brother was the assassin. 
 Matthew left two sons, Hugh and Cormac, who fled to 
 England, where they were maintained by some of the Eng- 
 lish nobility, who could always find employment for youths 
 of noble birth. When his brother was dead, and the two 
 boys had gone to another country, Shane O’Niel became 
 chief of the sept, and took upon himself all the authority of 
 the ancient kings of Ulster, acting according to the old 
 laws of Ireland, and carrying on wars without the permission 
 of the lord lieutenant, which was contrary to the English 
 law. He was summoned to appear at Dublin to answer 
 for his conduct; but as he did not think it safe to go, he 
 wrote a very respectful letter to the lord lieutenant, saying 
 that circumstances prevented him from obeying the sum- 
 mons, but he hoped his lordship would honour his castle 
 of Strabane, in Tyrone, with his presence, and stand god- 
 father to his little boy. 
 
 The governor went, and was very hospitably entertained, 
 so that he and O’Niel became friends ; and the chief, ven- 
 tured, in consequence, to pay a visit to London, for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining an interview with the queen, that he might 
 represent to her why he considered himself more entitled to 
 inherit his father’s estates than the children of his brother 
 Matthew. He did not enter London as a poor and humble 
 suitor, but rode along in state, richly dressed, and followed 
 by a numerous train of foot guards, all habited according to 
 
 L 
 
620 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 110 IRELAND. 
 
 the fashion of their country, in large loose garments of saf* 
 fron-coloured linen, under which the officers, or chiefs, wore 
 light armour, with a sword, shield, and a weapon like a 
 battle-axe or spear, about four feet long, at the insertion of 
 the head of which into the staff, was a ball of brass, studded 
 with spikes ; the sword, shield, and spear, being of the same 
 metal; and this costume must have been very becoming, for 
 the Irishmen were famed for their size, strength, and per- 
 sonal beauty. The common men wore only the saffron 
 coloured garment, fastened by a belt round the waist; a 
 large fringed woollen mantle hung from the left shoulder, 
 and they were armed with a very long lance or spear. They 
 had no covering on their heads, and their flowing beards 
 gave them a ferocious but dignified appearance. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, who delighted in romance and show, 
 was charmed at receiving a visit from a Wild Irish chief, 
 with his train of kerns, particularly one of such high re- 
 nown as O’Niel; therefore she gave him a most gracious 
 reception, listened with a ready ear to his representations of 
 his own rights, and confirmed him in his title and estates ; 
 so that he returned with triumph to his own country, where, 
 for a short time, he conducted himself very peaceably. But 
 this creditable behaviour was not of long continuance; for 
 unmindful of the oath of allegiance he had so lately taken, 
 he was soon again in arms, and the whole province of Ulster 
 was devastated by his followers. 
 
 At this time, the lord lieutenant was Sir John Perrot, who 
 commenced the foundation, or rather the restoration, of the 
 University of Dublin. He was much beloved by the people, 
 and esteemed a good man, though he was guilty of an act 
 which we cannot regard but as one of treachery. A report 
 was spread abroad that O’Donnel, the chief of Tyrconnel, 
 was on the point of joining in O’NiePs rebellion; the gov- 
 ernor, therefore, was extremely anxious to get hostages that 
 would oblige him to remain quiet; but the difficulty was. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 621 
 
 IRELAND. Ill 
 
 how to obtain such security. In this object, however, he 
 at length succeeded, by means of a stratagem, which is 
 more remarkable for its ingenuity than for its equity. 
 
 He hired a vessel, in which he induced the captain to ship 
 a quantity of Spanish wines, of various sorts. With this 
 cargo, he himself sailed round to O’DonneUs county, Don- 
 egal, and taking care that it should not be known who he 
 was, he sent to invite some of the Donegal gentry to come 
 on board to taste his wines, an invitation which the Irish 
 were not likely to refuse, and, among others, came young 
 O’Donnel, the son of the chieftain, and the very person the 
 governor wanted. A fine entertainment was provided, of 
 which he and one or two of his companions being invited to 
 partake, they all sat down very merrily, and the wine was 
 handed about so freely, that the young men were too much 
 engaged to perceive that the vessel was fast sailing away 
 with them, nor did they discover the trick till they were far 
 out at sea. O’Donnel was kept prisoner for a long time in 
 Dublin castle, as a hostage for his father’s good behaviour; 
 but he, at length, found means to escape, and was ever after 
 a determined enemy to the English. 
 
 O’Donnel became so renowned as a chieftain, that his ad- 
 ventures are worth recording. He married the daughter of 
 Shane O’Niel, and distinguished himself in the rebellions of 
 his father-in-law, who carried on a most destructive warfare 
 against the Scoto-Irish nobles of Ulster. This Shane 
 O’Niel burnt down the church of Armagh, and laid siege to 
 Dundalk; but after having wasted the whole country with 
 fire and sword, he was, at length, defeated in a battle fought 
 at Derry. Being persuaded to make peace with the Scots 
 of Ulster, in the hope that they would unite with him 
 against the English, he ventured among them, and was 
 stabbed at a banquet to which he had been invited. This 
 happened in the year 1567. 
 
 In the meantime, the sons of Matthew O’Niel had grown 
 
CORNER’S 
 
 622 
 
 112 IRELAND. 
 
 up to manhood, and Hugh, the elder of them, being of 
 gentle manners and handsome person, was a great favourite 
 with Queen Elizabeth, who made him captain of a troop of 
 horse, and employed him in the wars against the earl of 
 Desmond. After the death of Shane, she was induced to 
 bestow on him the title of earl of Tyrone, and restore a 
 part of the estates of his uncle, which had been forfeited to 
 the crown. Hugh was very grateful for these favours; he 
 built a fine mansion on his estate, and, for a long time, 
 acted as a dutiful and loyal subject, till a circumstance hap- 
 pened that aroused in him that rebellious spirit which 
 seemed inseparable from his race. 
 
 After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, some of the 
 vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast; and the poor 
 Spaniards, who were saved from the wrecks, were very kindly 
 treated by the earl of Tyrone, which furnished his enemies 
 with an opportunity of persuading the queen that he was in 
 treasonable correspondence with the king of Spain. The 
 accusation was made by a son of Shane O'Niel; and the 
 earl was so enraged at it, that having got his cousin into his 
 power, he caused him to be strangled. 
 
 I’he natural ferocity of his nature being now awakened, 
 he began to form schemes for increasing his own power, and, 
 like all the great chiefs of his race, meditated on the possi- 
 bility of one day occupying the throne of his ancestors. 
 Under the influence of this wild hope, he entered into a 
 secret compact with O’Donnel, and other chieftains of Ulster, 
 to support the Catholic religion against the Protestants, to 
 suffer neither sheriffs nor garrisons within their territories, 
 and to resist, to the utmost of their power, the English laws 
 and government. 
 
 These combined chiefs then entered into a correspondence 
 with Philip the Second, of Spain, who was very ready to 
 assist them, as one means of taking revenge for the defeat 
 of his great armada. Then began another war even more 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 623 
 
 IRELAND. 113 
 
 ruinous than the former one; nor was it confined to the 
 north of Ireland, for O'Niel, being elated with some victories 
 he had gained over the English, sent troops into Munster to 
 excite rebellion in that province, and again the whole 
 country was desolated by fire and sword. The farmers 
 were everywhere robbed of their corn and cattle, the castles 
 and churches were set on fire, and the wretched inhabitants 
 of towns and villages were obliged to fly for shelter to the 
 woods and mountains. 
 
 Such was the deplorable state of Ireland when the earl of 
 Essex was sent over by Queen Elizabeth with a large army, 
 to put an end to the rebellion. He was instructed to pro- 
 ceed directly against the earl of Tyrone; but, instead of 
 doing so, he marched into Munster, where he lost a great 
 part of his army by famine and fatigue. In the meanwhile, 
 O’Niel was gaining many advantages in the north; and 
 made bold by his success, loudly boasted that he would re- 
 store the ancient monarchy of his country. The king of 
 Spain sent him money and troops, and the Pope wrote 
 several encouraging letters to him, which were accompanied 
 by handsome presents. 
 
 When the earl of Essex returned from the south, he found 
 his army too much weakened to risk a battle with O’Niel; 
 therefore, after some delay, he proposed a conference with 
 the formidable chieftain; and they met, each attended by a 
 numerous guard, on the opposite banks of a small river, 
 when O’Niel, to shew his confidence in the English noble- 
 man, plunged with his horse into the stream, and joined 
 him, and they rode together, unattended, along the bank, 
 in earnest conversation. The result of this interview was 
 an agreement that they should suspend hostilities for six 
 weeks. During that time of truce, Essex received a very 
 angry letter from the queen, and embarked suddenly for 
 England, where he was some time afterwards beheaded. 
 
 After Essex’s departure from Ireland, Lord Mountjoy was 
 
 L 3 
 
624 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 114 IRELAND. 
 
 sent to carry on the war, and proved to be a cruel com- 
 mander, for he gave no quarter; that is, after a victory, he 
 did not spare the lives of those who surrendered; and he 
 sent his soldiers in pursuit of the flying, with orders to show 
 mercy to none. It was the policy of this flerce nobleman to 
 create a famine among the Irish, by burning their corn, and 
 destroying their implements of husbandry ; and he succeeded 
 but too well. The tide of fortune now began to turn. 
 Some of the chiefs fled to Spain, while their people dispersed 
 themselves among the mountains; and, at length, O’Niel 
 himself went to Dublin, and made submission to the lord 
 lieutenant Mountjoy, at the same time expressing a hope 
 that the queen would pardon him; but the queen had been 
 dead some days, and her successor, James, not being likely 
 to show any favour to the Irish rebels, O’Niel and O’Donnel 
 both fled to Italy, and all their estates became forfeited to 
 the crown. 
 
 O’Niel spent the remainder of his life in tranquillity at 
 R.ome, supported by a pension from the Pope. He was 
 blind for some time before his death, which happened in the 
 year 1616; and, a few years afterwards, his only son was as- 
 sassinated at Brussels. We shall And, however, that there 
 were O’Niels who distinguished themselves in insurrections 
 and civil wars in Ireland at a later period, but they are 
 descended from another branch of the family. 
 
 During the whole reign of Elizabeth, Ireland was one 
 continued scene of wars and rebellions. The natives in every 
 part of the country were accustomed to hold meetings on 
 the hills, to discourse on the affairs of the nation; and as 
 these assemblies were always held for the purpose of plotting 
 treason against the English government, those who attended 
 them invariably went well armed. They were, in fact, often 
 surprised at these meetings by parties of English soldiers, 
 when skirmishes took place, in which lives were frequently 
 lost on both sides. The Irish had a superstitious venera- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 625 
 
 IRELAND. 115 
 
 tion for high places. Their ancient monarchs were always 
 crowned on the summit of a mount; their castles were built 
 on elevated spots; and the national assemblies of the early 
 ages were held on the hill of Tara; where, until within a 
 few years, it had been generally supposed stood the castle 
 and palace of the kings of Ireland, in former days. 
 
 During the troubled time of ONiel’s wars, every body 
 was, of course, very anxious to know what was going on; 
 and as there were no newspapers to tell them, the deficiency 
 was supplied by a distinct class of men, called news-tellers, 
 who went up and down the country, collecting all the infor- 
 mation they could obtain. Their news was welcomed at 
 the farmers’ and gentlemen’s houses, where their tales were 
 eagerly listened to; and, in return for their information, they 
 were hospitably entertained and lodged for the night; and 
 thus they went about from house to house, with a certainty 
 of meeting with a favourable reception. 
 
 News-tellers were of very ancient date in Ireland; and 
 were as much encouraged by the English as by the Irish ; for 
 both parties were eager to hear what was going on ; and it is 
 very probable that stories were often invented for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining a good meal and a night’s lodging. Laws 
 had been frequently made to prohibit the inhabitants of the 
 English pale from entertaining either news-tellers or min- 
 strels; but the practice was continued in defiance of the 
 laws, and, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, they everywhere 
 met with encouragement. 
 
 They were not likely, however, to get such good and 
 plentiful entertainment as formerly; for the wars had made 
 provisions so dear, that even rich people must have found 
 great difidculty in procuring a bare subsistence. Corn, 
 with all other sorts of grain, and animal food of every kind, 
 had risen to seven or eight times the usual prices, while in 
 many parts of the country, meat and bread could not be 
 obtained at all. 
 
626 COHNER^S 
 
 116 IRELAND. 
 
 In consequence, too, of the unsettled state of the country, 
 and the uncertain tenure of all landed property, those who 
 held estates did not let their land to farmers for terms of 
 years, but only from year to year ; consequently, the tenant, 
 who knew he could be turned out at any time, felt no 
 interest in the improvement of his farm, nor any inducement 
 to build a good house; he therefore only constructed a 
 miserable cabin, just large enough for himself and his 
 family; so that, when they had to quit the farm, they left 
 nothing behind them to regret. 
 
 The clergy, at this time, had become so impoverished, 
 that even those who had the will, had not the power, to re- 
 lieve the wants of the poor, for the lands being neglected, or 
 badly cultivated, the livings were of little value, and the 
 tithes were hardly sufficient to buy gowns for the priests. 
 
 Many of the old Irish families became extinct during the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth ; for the chiefs who had been con- 
 cerned in the rebellions fled into other countries, ^ and their 
 septs were dispersed; so that, although the names of O’Sul- 
 livan, O’Donovan, Mac Carthy, &c. still existed, and do 
 exist in Ireland to this day, yet the persons who bore these 
 names no longer formed large and powerful clans, claiming 
 a part of the country as their territory, and obeying the 
 laws of an hereditary chieftain. 
 
 COLONIZATION OF ULSTER 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES THE FIRST. 
 
 1603 to 1614. 
 
 I HAVE already described the distresses of the people of 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 627 
 
 IRELAND. 117 
 
 Munster, owing to the earl of Desmond’s rebellion; and I 
 have mentioned the dreadful termination of the attempts 
 that were made to introduce agriculture and manufactures 
 and to repeople that part of the country with English coL 
 nists; but a better plan of colonization than any which had 
 been previously adopted, was formed and carried into effect 
 in Ulster, after the flight of O’Niel and O’Donnel, and 
 the consequent forfeiture of their dominions, which had left 
 the whole province at the disposal of the king of England, 
 who thought this was a good opportunity to promote the 
 arts of peace in Ireland, and to civilize its people who were 
 still in a barbarous condition. 
 
 He proposed his plan to the citizens of London, who 
 raised a sum of twenty thousand pounds for the purpose; 
 and as soon as he had obtained this liberal aid, he sent over 
 commissioners to take a survey of the lands, to see how far 
 they were inhabited, and note down proper situations for 
 building towns and castles; and he resolved to dispose of all 
 these lands so as to introduce arts and manufactures into 
 the country, which might have the effect of rendering it 
 populous and wealthy, and of promoting a more friendly in- 
 tercourse between the English and the Irish people. 
 
 Until this time, no part of Ireland, except Leinster and 
 Munster, had been divided into counties; but King James 
 made similar divisions throughout the whole kingdom, 
 granted fairs and markets to towns in every county, ap- 
 pointed regular circuits of Judges, and decreed that thence- 
 forth the laws of England should also be the laws of Ireland. 
 
 Kilkenny had long been a considerable trading town. As 
 early as the time of Edward the Third, the inhabitants had 
 been so fond of dress and good living, that sumptuary laws 
 were made to restrain them in these expensive propensities ; 
 no one being allowed to wear gold, silver, or silk, in his dress, 
 who had not one hundred pounds a-year. In the time of 
 Henry the Seventh, there were glovers, shoemakers, tailors. 
 
628 
 
 COllNER^S 
 
 118 IRELAND. 
 
 and other artisans, in Kilkenny. There were also mer- 
 chants, who sold all kinds of mercery, silks, taffetas, gold 
 and silver stuffs, and fine linens and cambrics; but none of 
 these articles were manufactured in Ireland. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth had granted a charter to this town, per- 
 mitting the burgesses to form themselves into guilds or 
 companies, and to carry on their several trades, free of cus- 
 toms and duties: and James the First granted still more 
 ample favours to its citizens, by appointing for their govern- 
 ment a mayor, aldermen, and common-council, and privileg- 
 ing them to hold three markets every week, and three fairs 
 annually. 
 
 By the decree of King James, the lands in Ulster were to 
 be divided into lots, of three different classes; the largest to 
 contain two thousand acres, the next, fifteen hundred, and 
 the smallest, one thousand acres. Those who obtained a 
 grant of the first class, were to erect a castle and a bawn, 
 the latter being a court yard with a strong wall; those who 
 received a lot belonging to the second class, were to build a 
 house of stone, or a bridge and a bawn; but those to whom 
 the smallest lots were given, were only bound to build a 
 bawn; and were at liberty to make what sort of a dwelling 
 they pleased. 
 
 The English undertakers, as the new proprietors were 
 called, w^ere to people their estates with industrious families 
 from England or the lowlands of Scotland; who were not 
 to live dispersed over the land, but to dwell together in 
 villages for their mutual security; and every man was to be 
 provided with arms for his defence. Some of these lands 
 were given to old Irish chieftains, who were allowed to take 
 Irish tenants, to whom the liberty of religion was granted, 
 provided they would conform to the English mode of tillage 
 and husbandry, and forsake their old custom of wandering 
 about, or creaghting, as they called it, with their cattle, from 
 place to place, in search of pasture. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 629 
 
 IRELAND 119 
 
 A plan of such magnitude required a great deal of clever 
 management; therefore, a committee was established in 
 London, called the Committee of the Irish Society, the 
 members of which were to be elected annually, out of the 
 aldermen and common council, and to conduct all affairs re- 
 lative to the lands and fisheries of the north of Ireland. 
 The fisheries, at this time, formed a considerable branch of 
 trade, and their encouragement was particularly attended to. 
 
 Three hundred mechanics, with their families, were sent 
 out to re-people the towns of Coleraine and Derry, the 
 latter of which was, from that time, called Londonderry, and 
 was erected by King James into a bishopric. Two hundred 
 new houses were built in Londonderry, and one hundred in 
 Coleraine, since famous for its linen trade; while artisans and 
 manufacturers of all descriptions were sent to the new settle- 
 ments; so that what was formerly the most barbarous and 
 wildest part of Ireland, became the most civilized and in- 
 dustrious, notwithstanding the misfortunes I shall presently 
 have occasion to relate. Each portion of land constituted a 
 parish, and contained a church; the rector having, besides 
 his tithes, marriage-fees, and other dues, a certain number 
 of acres of land, according to the extent of his parish. The 
 new colonists were not left without the means of education 
 for their children ; for free schools were established in most 
 of the principal towns; and considerable grants of land were 
 also made, with the same view, to the University of Dublin^ 
 which had been revived by Sir John Ferro t, under the 
 sanction of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 The scheme for the colonization of Ulster was undoubt- 
 edly good, and reflected more credit on King James than 
 any other act of his reign; but the execution of it by no 
 means corresponded with the original plan, and thus much 
 of the anticipated benefit was lost. British tenants were 
 dfficult to be procured in sufficient numbers, wffiile the old 
 natives offered better rents, and were, in consequence, ad- 
 
 s s 
 
630 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 120 IRELAND. 
 
 mitted into these districts, from which it had been intended 
 to exclude them. 
 
 The English and Irish, therefore, were again mixed toge- 
 ther, although, according to the first plan, they were to have 
 been kept separate; for as the Irish were not very well 
 pleased with the new arrangement, which deprived them of 
 a large tract of wild country, where they had been accus- 
 tomed to roam about as they pleased with their cattle and 
 families, it was thought rather dangerous to admit them 
 freely among the British setlers; and so it afterwards proved. 
 The agents, too, who were sent over to Ireland, tried to 
 make a profit for themselves, instead of doing the best they 
 could for the advancement of the new colony. Yet, with all 
 these disadvantages, it did improve; and its beneficial effects 
 are felt in the north of Ireland to this day. James the First 
 incorporated many of the towns; by which they gained the 
 privileges of boroughs, that is, the right of electing their 
 own magistrates and councillors, of watching, cleansing, 
 and paving their towns, and of having the internal manage- 
 ment of all affairs within the boundary of their own bo- 
 rough, and the right of sending members to the Irish 
 parliament. 
 
 The old Brehon laws were now entirely abolished through- 
 out the country, and those of England substituted for them, 
 which was what the Irish, some centuries before, had so ar- 
 dently desired ; but they did not now approve of the change, 
 accompanied, as it was, with the breaking-up of their septs 
 or clans. They viewed the English colonists in the light of 
 intruders; setting very little value on the security, or on 
 the arts and manufactures, they had introduced. 
 
 The new manufacturing population was chiefly of the 
 Protestant religion, and was confined to Ulster; Leinster 
 was still inhabited by the descendants of the old English 
 settlers, who were principally Catholics; Munster was al- 
 most a wilderness, the wars and famines not leaving sufli- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 631 
 
 IRELAND. 121 
 
 cient people to cultivate the earth: and Connaught, the 
 only part of Ireland where the English had never made 
 any settlements, was entirely inhabited by the native Irish, 
 and was the wildest and most uncivilized portion of the 
 country. Those who lived among the English, had left off 
 their saffron shirts, and adopted a costume more suited to 
 their better condition. They wore blue bonnets, something 
 like those of the Scots; a doublet or jacket with skirts 
 reaching half way to the knees; trowsers of white frieze; 
 and shoes, which they called brogues. Their mantles were 
 generally of brown woollen cloth ; and these were also worn 
 by the women, who, when married, still continued the fashion 
 of wrapping round their heads a kerchief of linen cloth. 
 
 The Irish were still remarkable for their hospitality to 
 strangers; a trait that has distinguished them in every age; 
 and the rude chief in his thatched castle, or the poor cotter 
 in his mud cabin, were equally ready to set the best fare 
 before a traveller; particularly if that traveller chanced to 
 offer a little snuff, which was regarded as an especial treat, 
 snuff and tobacco having only a short time previously been 
 introduced into this part of the world from America. The 
 price of an ox was, at this time, about fifteen shillings ; of a 
 sheep, sixteen pence to two shillings; and of a hog, two 
 shillings and two-pence. Oats were four-pence, and barley 
 ten-pence to eleven-pence, per bushel. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE ENGLISH COLONY. 
 
 1641 to 1650. 
 
 The English colonists had been settled in Ulster about thirty 
 years, and during that time had lived on friendly terms with 
 the Irish of that province. The woollen and linen manufac- 
 
 M 
 
632 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 122 IRELAND. 
 
 tories were rising to some importance, the farms were in a 
 thriving state, and all seemed to be prospering; so that the 
 colonists neglected to take much precaution for their own 
 safety, little anticipating the dreadful catastrophe I am about 
 to relate. 
 
 Many of the English proprietors had let small farms to 
 Irish tenants; many who were not proprietors had become 
 tenants of the Irish landowners, and numbers of English 
 families employed Irish servants. So little fear of any trea- 
 chery existed, that the people had long neglected to keep 
 arms, as they had been enjoined to do; and perhaps they 
 never would have needed them, if it had not been for the ar- 
 bitrary conduct of King Charles the First, who certainly 
 acted with great injustice towards the Irish. 
 
 The trade of the Irish with foreign countries, was, at 
 this time, very considerable, particularly with Spain and 
 France; for, in consequence of the long peace, they had 
 much more than enough of produce for their own consump- 
 tion. They were able, therefore, to send abroad ships laden 
 with fish, salt meat, corn, butter, hides, wool, cattle, horses, 
 iron, and some manufactured articles, such as frieze cloths, 
 rugs, and blankets, tallow-candles, and a great deal of 
 woollen and linen yarn, for which they were paid, partly in 
 money, and partly in wine and salt. 
 
 I have mentioned all these commodities, that you may 
 know what kind of trade it was that the Irish carried on, 
 and be enabled to judge what were the principal occupations 
 of the people : who, even at this late period, were still in a 
 most primitive state of civilisation. 
 
 Thus, however, they were gradually growing wealthy by 
 commerce, when Charles the First issued a decree, that no 
 goods should be exported from Ireland to foreign countries, 
 without the payment of a heavy duty, which was, of course, 
 a very great injury to the producers of such goods, and to 
 the merchants, whose trade and, consequently, their profits. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 633 
 
 IRELAND. 123 
 
 were thereby decreased ; for the Spaniards and French would 
 not purchase Irish commodities, when they found they should 
 have to pay dearer for them than they had been accustomed 
 to do; but were supplied from other countries that had not 
 such duties to pay. ' 
 
 This measure probably awakened a spirit of discontent; 
 but it was not the greatest grievance of which the Irish had 
 to complain. You are aware that there were no English 
 plantations in Connaught, and that the whole province was 
 inhabited by native Irish. The English laws, however, were 
 established there, as well as in the other provinces; and the 
 old custom of tanistry had been entirely abolished, by oblig- 
 ing the tanists to surrender their lands, and receive them 
 back from the crown, to be held in future according to the 
 English, and not the Irish law. 
 
 You may remember also, that the lands used to be divided 
 in Ireland among the male relatives of a deceased chief, the 
 eldest having the largest share, and that a new chief, or 
 tanist, was usually elected, instead of the son succeeding 
 the father. This was tanistry; and it w^as on the ground of 
 this ancient law, that the chief, Hugh O’Niel, asserted his 
 right to the lands of Tyrone, in preference to the sons of 
 his brother, although the title of earl had been granted to 
 his grandfather, on condition of his abandoning Irish cus- 
 toms, and adopting those of England. 
 
 This very circumstance showed the bad effects of having 
 two kinds of law in the land; because the Irish chiefs 
 and the Anglo-Irish noblemen, too, were very apt to avail 
 themselves of whichever was most convenient to them. 
 Now, when the chiefs of Connaught gave up their lands to 
 James the First, and received them back on paying large 
 fees, which produced a considerable sum of money for the 
 needy king, these estates ought to have been registered in 
 the Court of Chancery, to show that the proper dues had 
 been paid to the crown, and that they were the legal pro- 
 
634 CORNER^S 
 
 ]24 ' IRELAND. 
 
 perty of the owners. But this had never been done; and 
 although King Charles knew very well that the neglect was 
 attributable to the English government, and not to the pro- 
 prietors, he was ungenerous enough to take advantage of 
 the circumstance; and to declare that the estates were for- 
 feited, because no mention of them was to be found in the 
 Chancery rolls. 
 
 This proceeding of King Charles was both dishonourable 
 and tyrannical, and his subsequent conduct was equally so; 
 for he agreed, instead of seizing the estates, to take a hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand pounds, for the object of the king 
 was only to procure money; in return for which, he was to 
 grant certain favours to the proprietors, which he called 
 “ graces.’’ These graces related to the shipping of cattle 
 free of duty, and other privileges connected with trade ; but 
 so far were they from having been regularly confirmed, al- 
 though the money was paid within the stated time, that 
 the king, on failing to extort more money, actually took 
 them away. 
 
 The proprietors resisted this robbery, and the dispute was 
 to be settled by a jury, who were obliged in those times, 
 whatever might be their private opinions, to give judgment 
 in favour of the king, and declare all the lands in Con- 
 naught forfeited to the crown. We cannot wonder that 
 people thus treated should be dissatisfied; and although no- 
 thing can justify the shocking outrages they committed upon 
 the poor colonists, who had nothing whatever to do with the 
 transaction, and were suffering under the loss of their own 
 trade; still, in reading of the terrible revenge they took, 
 we ought not to forget the extent of the injury inflicted on 
 them by the dishonourable conduct of Charles the First. 
 
 The plan of a general insurrection was formed by Roger 
 O’Moore, who had served in the Spanish armies, and was 
 one of the sept of that O’Moore whose lands were confis- 
 cated for rebellion in the time of Edward the Sixth. Roger 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 635 
 
 IRELAND. 125 
 
 O’Moore thought that by a sudden and general rising of the 
 Catholics all over the kingdom, the English might even yet 
 be expelled, and the Irish might recover their lands. 
 
 As the entire destruction of the Protestants, and the full 
 restoration of the Roman Catholic religion, was a part of his 
 plan, he reckoned upon the assistance of the Catholic lords 
 of the Pale, most of whom actually entered into the conspi- 
 racy, and concerted measures with O’Moore and Phelim 
 O’Niel, now the most powerful chief in Ireland. The in- 
 surrection was to begin in all parts of the country on the 
 same day ; when all the forts were to be seized by the insur- 
 gents, but more particularly Dublin castle, in which were 
 plentiful stores of arms and ammunition. 
 
 The secret had been preserved till the night before the, 
 
 execution of the plot, when it was betrayed by an Irishman, 
 named Conolly, who gave information of the intended attack 
 on the castle, and also pointed out the principal conspirators. 
 
 Two or three of these were immediately arrested; but there 
 was no time to stay the progress of the plot, which burst 
 forth with tremendous violence. 
 
 The colonists of Ulster, who had no suspicion of the ex- 
 istence of such a conspiracy, suddenly found themselves 
 surrounded by mobs of infuriated Irishmen, armed with 
 staves, pitchforks, and other rude weapons, with which they 
 were slaughtered amidst the most frightfi:^.. bowlings of 
 their assailants. The terror of the destined victims may I 
 
 readily be imagined, particularly when they saw among the 
 insurgents their own landlords, tenants, or servants, persons 
 to whom they would naturally have looked for assistance in 
 such an emergency. 
 
 The revolting scenes that followed are too dreadful to be 
 described; therefore, 1 shall only add, that the flourishing 
 manufactories, the farms, and pleasant villages, that had 
 sprung up in Ulster within the previous forty years, were 
 destroyed, and the unfortunate colonists, whose industry 
 
 M 3 
 
 /ii,) 
 
636 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 126 IRELAND. 
 
 and property had so materially improved that part of the 
 country, were barbarously murdered, to the number of fifty 
 thousand; for the Irish had determined on the extermi- 
 nation of the Protestants, and destruction of the English 
 settlements; and so general was this sanguinary feeling^ 
 that women, and even boys and girls, were among the 
 destroyers, helping to set fire to the houses, and adding to 
 the horrors of the scene by those hideous cries peculiar to 
 the native Irish. 
 
 The rebellion began on the 23rd of October, 1641, and 
 settled into a regular war, which lasted ten years ; and again 
 reduced nearly the whole of the people of Ireland to the 
 extreme of want and wretchedness. Where the people 
 were not destroyed by the sword, they were wasted by 
 famine and disease; for when they were driven by a scarcity 
 of food to eat what was unwholesome, the plague ensued ; 
 and it raged in Ireland, more or less, during the whole of 
 this miserable period, so that many parts of the country 
 were entirely depopulated. 
 
 For some time, the war was carried on by the Irish, with- 
 out any regular plan ; for each sept followed its own parti- 
 cular leader, and made attacks on the English whenever 
 and wherever an opportunity offered. Sometimes they would 
 set fire to a house in the dead of the night, and as the 
 wretched inmates rushed out to escape from the blazing 
 walls, they would push them back with their long spears, 
 into the flames; and it is equally true, that the English 
 soldiers were afterwards guilty of similar cruelties towards 
 the Irish, sparing neither men, women, nor children. 
 
 The chief commander of the English forces was the mar- 
 quis of Ormond, who was himself a brave and good noble- 
 man; but there were other English officers who took little 
 pains to restrain the depredations of the troops; while the 
 Irish were encouraged in every kind of barbarity by their 
 principal chieftain. Sir Phelim O’Niel, a man of the most 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 637 
 
 IRELAND. 127 
 
 ferocious disposition. But the most distinguished individual 
 throughout the war was Owen O’Niel, a cousin of Sir 
 Phelim. Owen, who had served abroad in the Spanish and 
 Austrian armies, had raturned to Ireland a few months after 
 the breaking-out of the rebellion ; and immediately assumed 
 the chief command of the Irish armies. He was not so 
 cruel a man as Sir Phelim, and possessed far greater abilities 
 as a general, in consequence of the experience he had gained 
 in foreign service. 
 
 The troubles in England, for this was the time when 
 Charles the First was at war with his parliament, prevented 
 the English government from sending proper supplies to the 
 army in Ireland, which was much distressed for want both 
 of food and clothes. The soldiers were sometimes obliged 
 to march along rough roads, with their feet naked and 
 bleeding, and through a wasted, dreary country, where they 
 could find nothing to eat, and where they became so ex- 
 hausted with fatigue and hunger, that numbers of them fell 
 down and perished by the way. In such a state of destitu- 
 tion, it is not surprising that they should rob the people of 
 what provisions they had; and as the poor cotters all over 
 the country found a difficulty in getting enough food to 
 keep themselves alive, they frequently lost their lives in de- 
 fending their scanty meal. 
 
 Owen O’Niel had instituted a council at Kilkenny, com- 
 posed of Catholic nobles and clergy, with deputies from 
 several of the counties, to deliberate upon the best measures 
 to be pursued. It was, in fact, a kind of parliament; and 
 as the marquis of Ormond was now anxious to gain the 
 support of the Irish for the king, against the English parlia- 
 ment, he entered into a negociation with O’Niels council, 
 and arranged a treaty of peace, by which tranquillity was for 
 a short time restored. 
 
 It appears, however, that the Pope did not approve of this 
 peace, which he considered hurtful to the Catholic religion 
 
638 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 128 IRELAND. 
 
 in Ireland; he therefore sent his nuncio, or ambassador, a 
 priest named Rinuccini, who landed at Kerry, in 1 645, with 
 a retinue of Italians, a quantity of arms and ammunition, 
 aud a large supply of Spanish gold. This priest announced 
 that he had come to support the Catholic faith, and guard 
 the liberties of the Catholic people of Ireland; and he as- 
 sembled a council at Kilkenny, in which he exhorted all 
 good Catholics to continue the war. This dreadful war was, 
 in consequence, very soon renewed. By the authority of 
 the nuncio, many of the abbeys were restored to the monks 
 and friars. The Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmel- 
 ites, and the Jesuits, were reinstated in most of their ancient 
 possessions, and diligently set about repairing and beautify- 
 ing the monasteries all over the country. When Owen 
 O’Niel again took the field. Lord Ormond resigned his 
 command to Colonel Jones, a parliamentary officer, who was 
 governor of Dublin, and commander- in-chief of the anti- 
 royalists in Ireland. Ormond then went to England; and 
 afterwards passed over to the Continent. 
 
 After the execution of Charles the First, the English par- 
 liament appointed Oliver Cromwell lord lieutenant of Ire- 
 land, and commander-in-chief of the forces in that country; 
 and he landed at Dublin in the month of August, 1649, 
 with an army of twelve thousand men, well furnished with 
 artillery and all kinds of stores. Before his arrival, how- 
 ever, Lord Ormond had returned to Ireland; and finding 
 that there was a general feeling in favour of restoring 
 Charles the Second, he raised soldiers for him, and caused 
 him to be proclaimed everywhere except at Dublin; which 
 was the only town that then acknowdedged the authority of 
 the English parliament. 
 
 When Cromwell therefore arrived, he w^as regarded gene- 
 rally as a foe, both by English and Irish, except by the 
 people of Dublin; so that most of those who were before so 
 fiercely and mercilessly opposed to each other, now united 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 639 
 
 IRELAND. 129 
 
 their forces against him. Oliver Cromwell was fitted to 
 succeed in any enterprise which he undertook, because he 
 j)erceived at once the most likely method to ensure success, 
 and always adopted that method without hesitation or delay. 
 Several places had been newly fortified, that they might be 
 able to stand a siege, and particularly the city of Drogheda, 
 in which Lord Ormond had placed a strong garrison; but a 
 siege was too slow an operation for so active a general as 
 Cromwell, who hastened towards Drogheda,, resolving to 
 take it by storm. His enterprise succeeded, but his victory 
 was dreadful, for no sooner had the artillery made a breach 
 in the wall, sufficiently large to admit the soldiers, than they 
 were ordered to storm the town, and put the whole garrison 
 to the sword. This cruel command was reluctantly obeyed, 
 and out of three thousand soldiers not more than thirty 
 were spared, and those were sold us slaves to the West 
 Indian planters. 
 
 This terrible example spread such consternation through- 
 out Ireland, that Cromwell subsequently met with little op- 
 position, and marched onward, taking all the garrison towns 
 in his way. At length he had so far subdued the country, 
 that he thought it safe to leave others to complete the con- 
 quest, while he went to subdue an insurrection that had 
 broken out in Scotland in favour of King Charles. Crom- 
 well had been in Ireland about nine months, during which 
 time, the chieftain, Owen O’Niel, died, and Lord Ormond 
 quitted the country; for the victorious general gave permis- 
 sion to the Irish chiefs who submitted to him, to withdraw 
 from the country, with as many of their followers as they 
 chose to take with them. These voluntary exiles are said 
 to have amounted to forty thousand, and a portion of them 
 formed a famous body of troops in France, called the Irish 
 Brigade. 
 
 The sufferings of the natives during the war w'ere very 
 great; and every where as the English army approached. 
 
640 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 130 IRELAND. 
 
 they were seen flying from their habitations into the woods 
 and wilds, fearfully dreading a retaliation of the cruelties in- 
 flicted on the Protestants in Ulster. Their houses were 
 plundered by the soldiers, and their harps were broken; so 
 that afterwards, although an occasional harp might still be 
 seen, it ceased to be the national instrument of music. 
 
 In Trinity college, Dublin, there is still preserved an an- 
 cient Irish harp, said to have belonged to the great king, 
 Brien Born; and although it is very doubtful whether it is 
 the identical instrument that resounded to the touch of that 
 renowned warrior, it is, from its evident antiquity, an inter- 
 esting relic of former days. 
 
 Great part of the country was so depopulated by these 
 wars, and by the plague and famine which followed in their 
 train, that a traveller at this period might have ridden 
 twenty or thirty miles without seeing a single living crea- 
 ture. It was so rare to see smoke by day, or a light by 
 night, that soldiers used long afterwards to relate anecdotes 
 of such circumstances, and tell how they chanced to see the 
 glimmering of a light, or the bright blaze of a fire at a great 
 distance; and how, when they had crossed some dreary 
 waste, and reached the spot to which they had been at- 
 tracted by a sight so unusual, they found a miserable cabin, 
 with a few children, and some very aged man or woman, or 
 perhaps two or three wretched and destitute human beings, 
 feeding on some substance from which, in better times, they 
 would have turned with disgust. 
 
 Cromwell, finding that there were so many destitute 
 children who had been left orphans through the calamities 
 of the country, caused them to be conveyed, to the number 
 of several thousands, to North America, where they were 
 sold as servants, till they became twenty-one years of age, 
 to defray the expenses of their keeping and voyage. 
 
 There is an anecdote related of Cromwell while he was in 
 Ireland, which shews that even he was sometimes outwitted. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 641 
 
 IRELAND. 131 
 
 During his stay at Clonmell, a gentleman named Magner, 
 waited on him to pay his respects, but the general from 
 some cause had a suspicion that he was not so friendly as he 
 appeared to be. Cromwell, however, treated him with appa- 
 rent cordiality, and gave him a letter to take to the governor 
 of Cork, to which city he was going. But Magner, who was 
 as cunning as the general, opened the letter, and found it 
 was an order to cut off the head of the bearer, whose 
 name was not mentioned. As soon as he had perused the 
 contents, he carefully re-sealed the letter, and gave it to 
 another gentleman, who had done him some injury for 
 which he wished to revenge himself; pretending that Crom- 
 well had desired that he should be the bearer of this fatal 
 epistle; for, unfortunately, every Irish chief or his family 
 had some real or supposed injury to avenge. The gentle- 
 man, not having the least suspicion of the trick, took the 
 letter to the governor of Cork, who luckily was acquainted 
 with him ; and not liking to cut his friend’s head off without 
 knowing wherefore, he sent a messenger to Cromwell, to 
 ask if he really did send the order; and, in consequence of 
 the information received, the poor gentleman’s life was saved, 
 and Magner, meanwhile, had taken care to get beyond the 
 reach of vengeance. 
 
 After the departure of Cromwell from Ireland, the war 
 was carried on in the south by his son-in-law. General 
 I re ton, and in the north by Sir Charles Coote; and the 
 principal enemy they had to contend with, was another 
 chieftain of the house of O’Niel, named Hugh, who, like 
 his kinsman Owen, had come from the continent to esta- 
 blish the old religion, and the old chieftains of his country; 
 but his efforts were vain; and at length the people of 
 Ireland, finding it useless to make any further resistance, 
 gave up the contest in the year 1651; and so ended this 
 melancholy and destructive war, just ten years after its 
 commencement. 
 
642 CORNER^S 
 
 132 IRELAND. 
 
 One good arose out of the great and manifold evils of 
 this insurrection. Military roads were opened, and made 
 into and through many of the mountainous districts of the 
 country, which afterwards became a principal cause of the 
 improvement of the condition of the people, by the induce- 
 ments it offered to settle portions of the wild lands for farms 
 and build habitations upon them; the inhabitants being af- 
 forded security for peaceable possession, by the establish- 
 ment of barracks for soldiers on or near them, who kept 
 open communication with each other and with different 
 parts of the country, thereby promoting peace and trade. 
 These beneficial measures were gradually adopted in other 
 parts. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND. 
 
 The country was now entirely subdued, but there was yet 
 much more to be done; for according to the customs of 
 those times, there were broad lands to be confiscated, rebels 
 to be punished, and services to be repaid. All this was 
 effected by an act of parliament called the Act for the 
 Settlement of Ireland; by which very important changes 
 were made in the condition of that country, as much of the 
 landed property passed into the hands of new proprietors. 
 
 But the first thing to be considered was, how to dispose 
 of those W'ho had taken part in the rebellion. A general 
 pardon was granted to all the lower classes, who had acted 
 in this, and in every previous outbreak, entirely under the 
 influence of their superiors; but most of the native Irish 
 were obliged to remove beyond the Shannon, so as to leave 
 the rest of the country free for English settlers, and to this 
 day, there are more real Irish people in Connaught than in 
 any other part of Ireland. Some persons of higher rank 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 643 
 
 IRELAND. 133 
 
 were also pardoned, and some only subjected to a slight 
 penalty; but there were certain classes of the rebels named, 
 who were to be punished with death, or the loss of a whole 
 or a part of their estates; and these were all who were con- 
 cerned in first causing the massacre of the colonists of 
 Ulster; all who had sat in the assembly at Kilkenny; all 
 priests, monks, and Jesuits, who had taken an active part in 
 the rebellion; and also many noblemen and gentlemen men- 
 tioned by name, amongst whom were the marquis of 
 Ormond and Sir Phelim O’Niel; but of these two, the 
 latter only was executed. 
 
 The large tracts of land that were left vacant by forfeitures 
 and the removal of the Irish to the west of the Shannon, 
 were divided among the officers who had engaged in the war 
 since Cromwell took the command of the troops in Ireland; 
 and among a number of adventurers who had advanced 
 money to parliament for the carrying on of the war, and 
 were willing to accept of Irish estates in payment. 
 
 As to those soldiers who had served in Ireland before 
 Cromwell was made commander-in-chief, since they were 
 considered the king’s troops, and, in consequence, were sus- 
 pected of being Royalists, and enemies of the Common- 
 wealth, they received neither pay nor compensation; which 
 was very unjust, and a sure way of attaching them to the 
 cause of Charles the Second. The vacant lands in the four 
 counties of Dublin, Kildare, Cork, and Carlow, were reserved 
 by the parliament, except some church lands that had be- 
 longed to insurgent bishops, which were granted to the 
 University of Dublin. 
 
 The great chieftain, Hugh O’Niel, was pardoned; and he 
 afterwards led a wandering life, according to the manners..of 
 the Wild Irish, roving about from place to place with ms 
 wife, whom he had brought from France, his children, and 
 the people of his sept. Like the Arabs of the desert, they 
 took with them their flocks and herds, and raised their tem- 
 
 X 
 
644 CORNER^S 
 
 134 IRELAND. 
 
 porary dwellings wherever they found the best pasture. 
 as O’Niel was wont to assert, his wife was a niece of the 
 Duchesse D’Artois, the lady must have had great difficulty 
 in reconciling herself to a mode of life so rude, so comfort- 
 less, and so opposite to that of a Frenchwoman of rank in 
 the refined age of Louis the Fourteenth, who was just then 
 beginning his luxurious career. 
 
 The act of settlement was not very strictly enforced by 
 Cromwell, for many who had been sentenced to death were 
 never executed, and some had their estates restored to them; 
 but he displayed his arbitrary power in one remarkable 
 instance, which was by prohibiting the publication of any 
 books or papers in Dublin, till they had been inspected and 
 approved of, by a person appointed to examine them. The 
 dutie? of this examiner must have been little more than 
 nominal, since there was but one printer in all Dublin, and 
 most probably he was the only one in Ireland; for although 
 a printing press was set up in Kilkenny when the council 
 assembled there, I believe it was not kept at work afterwards. 
 
 During the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, Ireland was 
 governed by his son Henry, who was much beloved for his 
 amiable disposition and good administration. Soon after 
 the death of his father, however, he resigned his high office, 
 happy, like his brother, Richard, to retire from the cares and 
 fatigues of public life, to the enjoyment of domestic tran- 
 quillity; for neither of these young men possessed the am- 
 bition that had exalted their parent to the rank of a sove- 
 reign; and, perhaps, they were more to be envied than he 
 was, with all his greatness. 
 
 This conquest of Ireland in many respects resembled 
 that of England by the Normans, when the land was taken 
 away from its rightful owners to pay the soldiers for their 
 services. As the dispossessed Saxons fled to the forests, 
 and formed bands of robbers, so the Irish sought refuge in 
 their woods and bogs and hills, whence they issued to drive 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 645 
 
 IRELAND. 135 
 
 away the cattle, and commit ravages in the open country. 
 They were called Rapparees, in allusion to their carrying on 
 wars on a small scale, ee and een being used in the Irish 
 language as diminutives; and they became so formidable, 
 that large rewards were offered by the government for their 
 heads, the price for that of a captain being one hundred gui- 
 neas, and for that of a common Rapparee, forty; therefore 
 the soldiers were very anxious to capture them. But they 
 were not easily caught, and it was extremely dangerous to 
 follow them, because their pursuers, who were not very well 
 acquainted with the ground, were often lost in the bogs ; for 
 in some places, although the surface might appear firm to 
 the eye, and be overgrown with grass or moss, yet it would 
 prove so soft, that a person treading on it would immediately 
 sink to such a depth that he would be suffocated. Many of 
 these bogs still remain in the state here described, and cattle 
 are frequently lost in them. 
 
 The bogs of Ireland form one of the most remarkable 
 features of the country. They cover about two millions of 
 acres, extending sometimes up the mountains to the very 
 summit, and are mostly found in places where large forests 
 once stood; as is proved by the remains of trees that are 
 still buried under them, the wood of which is exceedingly 
 valuable for furniture. The bog water acts as a preservative 
 upon substances that lie long in it; so that animals and 
 human bodies that must have lain there, perhaps for ages, 
 have been dug up in a perfect state, the skin being tanned 
 like leather. All wood seems to be improved by these 
 waters, so that bog-timber fetches a high price, because it is 
 more durable, and bears a finer polish than ordinary wood. 
 During the visit of George the Fourth to Ireland in the 
 year 1820, a mether, or Irish drinking vessel, exquisitely 
 carved in bog oak, was presented to him; it had all the 
 appearance of the most beautiful ebony. 
 
 The prevalence of bog-land in Ireland may be thus ac- 
 
646 CORNER’S 
 
 136 IRELAND. 
 
 counted for: The soil is extremely moist, and abounds in 
 springs, which are mostly dry in summer, when the grass 
 and weeds grow thickly about them. In winter, these 
 springs swell and run; and then they loosen the earth 
 around, and rot the roots of the grass, which again dries in 
 the hot weather, and new grass springs through it. As the 
 fresh grass is not cleared away, it is again during the next 
 winter lifted up and loosened by the rising of the water, 
 which again rots the new grass that grew in the summer, 
 and a still thicker substance is formed. This process being 
 repeated every year, the spring becomes more and more 
 impeded ; so that having no vent outwardly, it finds its way 
 underneath the surface, while the crust of vegetable matter 
 that is formed at the top, becomes thicker and thicker, and 
 is every winter forced still higher, by the swelling of the 
 spring beneath. 
 
 The crust of an old bog is sometimes ten or twelve feet in 
 thickness, and, where it is firm enough, forms a very good 
 soil for growing corn.^ The surface is generally covered 
 with moss, except at the edges, where grass often grows; 
 which tempts the cattle by its fresh appearance, so that 
 sometimes they tread upon a part that is unsound, through 
 w^hich they sink, and are lost. As the mud and slime of the 
 water mix with the rotted roots of grass at the bottom of 
 the bog, a thick black substance is formed, which, when left 
 dry in summer, is dug up for fuel, and burns very well. 
 The bogs where this is produced are called peat or 
 turf bogs. 
 
 Bog-land is usually much higher than other ground, 
 which is easily accounted for, by its being constantly forced 
 up by the action of the water under it; and this is the 
 reason why trees are found so far below its surface. If the 
 springs had always been kept free from weeds and grass, it 
 is probable there would have been no bogs in Ireland, and 
 even now they may be, and are, in some places, drained 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 647 
 
 IRELAND. 137 
 
 and made firm, and then they become the best land in the 
 country for tillage. 
 
 The bogs are met with chiefly in the centre of Ireland, 
 extending from west to east. The largest is the Bog of 
 Allen, which is not one continuous morass, but a succession 
 of bogs intersected with ridges of firm dry land. Some fine 
 roads have been made at a great expense through the district 
 of Allen, and there are many parts that might be traversed 
 with safety ; but it requires a perfect acquaintance with the 
 country to know where these safe places are, for the surface 
 of the most dangerous places is overgrown with moss, and 
 sometimes look firms to the eye. The traveller who should 
 be imprudent enough to venture on bog-land without a 
 guide, would most probably be lost. 
 
 That the bogs did not exist in the earliest ages, is quite 
 clear from the nature of objects that are occasionally found 
 in them; such as weapons that were in use among the 
 ancient inhabitants, and were probably left on some battle 
 field; gold-chains, and other ornaments with which they 
 were fond of adorning themselves; boats, wooden tubs, such 
 as the ancient Irish were in the habit of using as receptacles 
 for their butter; and various other curious relics. But the 
 most singular relic was a house of ancient construction, 
 which was discovered not very many years ago, at the 
 bottom of a bog in the county of Donegal. It had all the 
 appearance of a house newly built, and some workmens* 
 tools were found near it; therefore it had, perhaps, been 
 overwhelmed by the descent of a bog from the mountains, 
 which is not an uncommon accident, in Ireland, and is as 
 destructive as an avalanche. 
 
 When Charles the Second was restored to the throne, 
 fresh difficulties arose with regard to the division of lands in 
 Ireland, for the unpaid soldiers who had fought in his cause, 
 and in his father’s army, now came forward, expecting to be 
 remunerated for their services, by grants in the conquered 
 
 N 3 
 
648 CORNER’S 
 
 138 IRELAND. 
 
 country. Some aisagreements took place between the Eng- 
 lish and Irish parliaments on the subject; and at length it 
 was settled by their authority, that those who had received 
 grants from Oliver Cromwell, should give up one-third of 
 them, which, together with the four counties that had been 
 kept at the disposal of the government, should be par- 
 celled out among the new claimants, except such estates as 
 were to be restored to loyalist noblemen, such as Lord 
 Ormond and others, who had been dispossessed on account 
 of their taking part against the English parliament in favour 
 of the king. Lord Ormond was re-appointed lord lieute- 
 nant, but he did not retain that office many years. 
 
 At this period, there was so little gold and silver in 
 Ireland, that cattle were used instead of coin, a cow or ox 
 being there usually reckoned for twenty shillings; a sheep 
 for two shillings; and great numbers were exported to, and 
 sold in, the English markets. It was, therefore, a serious 
 grievance when this king, for whose restoration the people 
 had suffered so much, and had so hardly fought against the 
 English parliament, passed a law, that no cattle should be 
 imported into England from Ireland, and that no Irish goods 
 of any description should be exported to Spain or Portugal, 
 without a very heavy duty being paid to him upon them. 
 These oppressive laws with regard to their trade, reduced 
 the agricultural people of Ireland to great distress, produc- 
 ing several insurrections there; and caused such injury to 
 the commerce and manufactures of England, that, at last, the 
 king was obliged to alter them, and permit free-trading 
 again ; but as the Scots’ landowners had also procured a law 
 to be passed in their parliament, prohibiting the importation 
 of Irish cattle and corn into their markets, the Irish parlia- 
 ment, by passing another law in retaliation, was allowed to 
 forbid the purchasing of Scottish manufactures in Ireland. 
 
 Commerce being thus re-established between Ireland and 
 England, Lord Ormond, who had again become lord lieute- 
 
I 
 
 
 
 i 
 
Iu.7.!zd, by C6Lbe.rt. .Tti graved, ty 3Daveh{'orL . 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 649 
 
 IRELAND. 139 
 
 nant, exerted himself to establish manufactures; and for this 
 purpose, he procured workmen from England, France, and 
 the Netherlands, established linen and woollen factories, a 
 manufactory of Norwich stuffs at Clonmel, and another of 
 friezes, at Garrick. . 
 
 In a few years, the good duke of Ormond was displaced 
 to make room for the earl of Tyrconnel, by James the 
 Second, who was desirous of promoting the Catholic religion 
 in Ireland, and of placing Catholics in all the high offices; 
 that the country might be an asylum for persons of that 
 religion, and also for himself, in case the English people 
 should arise against his authority, as they had done against 
 Charles the First, of which there had appeared symptoms. 
 Those who are acquainted with the History of England, 
 know that James the Second was deposed in favour of the 
 prince of Orange, and that he sought shelter with Louis the 
 Fourteenth, in France. They may also remember, that the 
 French king furnished him with a fleet of ships and an army, 
 with which he sailed to Ireland in the hope of regaining his 
 crown by the aid of his Irish subjects, great numbers of 
 whom were disposed to support him. 
 
 James landed at Kinsale on the 17th of March, 1689, and 
 was gladly received by his lord lieutenant, the earl of Tyr- 
 connel, who had contrived to disarm the Protestants, and 
 raise an army of 40,000 Catholic soldiers, who accompanied 
 James to Dublin, where he was met by a procession of the 
 Catholic clergy in their robes. He immediately called a 
 parliament, and issued proclamations, commanding all his 
 subjects, under pain of being declared rebels, to unite against 
 the prince of Orange; but his proceedings were very tyran- 
 nical, for he dismissed from the council of state all Pro- 
 testant members, forbade the worship of the Protestant re- 
 ligion, and ordered that provisions should be brought for his 
 army, and paid for in a debased coin; that is, he had bad 
 money made, and obliged the people to take it instead 
 of good. 
 
650 CORNEE^S 
 
 140 IRELAND. 
 
 This debasement of the coin by James was carried to such 
 an extent, that old brass cannons were melted down, and 
 coined into pieces of about fourpence in real value, which 
 the poor farmers whom, by his proclamations he compelled 
 to provide food for the soldiers, were obliged to take for five 
 pounds each. The soldiers also were paid in this money, 
 which was sufficiently serviceable for their purpose; since 
 they could, with arms in their hands, force the people to 
 sell goods to them, and make them take the brass pieces 
 in excheinge at their nominal value. It is said the king 
 made forced purchases of an immense quantity of goods in 
 the same way, and sent them to France for his own use, in 
 case he should be obliged to return to that country. 
 
 But one of his most violent measures was that of repeal- 
 ing the Act of Settlement; by doing which, he deprived of 
 their property all those who had obtained lands or houses 
 under that act. Even those who had honestly purchased 
 land from the persons to whom it had been granted, were 
 compelled to give it up, with all the improvements ana 
 buildings they had made on it, without receiving back any 
 part of the money they had paid for it. 
 
 Such arbitrary proceedings could not fail to excite the 
 resentment of the people, and many of the towns of Ulster, 
 where the chief part of the population were Protestants, 
 took up arms against the king, who sent the troops which 
 had been raised by Tyrconnel, and a large body of French 
 soldiers, into the province, to punish as rebels all who re- 
 sisted his authority; and many were executed with few of the 
 forms of law. The most memorable event of this campaign 
 was the siege of Londonderry, the citizens of which town 
 were all Protestants; and had shut their gates, determined 
 to perish rather than submit to lose their property, or 
 abandon their religion. Into this city, great numbers of 
 Protestant families had fled for refuge at the approach of 
 James's army, to the number of 30,000 souls; the garrison 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 661 
 
 IRELAND. 141 
 
 consisted of about 7,361 men, ill supplied with provisions. 
 The governor, Lundy, who was in James’s interest, would 
 not defend the city, and was, in consequence, turned out by 
 the spirited inhabitants, who elected a clergyman as gover- 
 nor, and a Major Baker as commander, making the best 
 preparations they could for its defence. 
 
 James’s army, amounting to 20,000 men, cannonaded 
 the place for eleven days; but the garrison made so many 
 sudden and destructive sallies, that despairing to take the 
 place by storm, he returned to Dublin, leaving his army to 
 surround the city, and cut off its supplies, calculating that 
 famine and disease would oblige the inhabitants to surrender. 
 
 The town was closely besieged by James’s troops for three 
 months; and the people within were reduced to such ex- 
 tremity, that they were obliged to eat horses, cats, dogs, 
 rats, and mice; still they would not surrender, for they were 
 in daily expectation of succours from England. At last 
 Marshal Rosen, a French officer, who conducted the siege in 
 the absence of James, declared that if the city was not given 
 up by a certain day, all the Protestants in the country 
 should be driven under the walls, and kept there till they 
 perished with hunger. The day arrived, but the gates of 
 Londonderry being still closed, all the Protestants for miles 
 round, were collected together, without regard to age or 
 sex, and driven by the soldiers like a herd of cattle to the 
 walls of the city. 
 
 On the first appearance of this terrified and shrieking 
 multitude, the garrison fired on them in mistake, thinking 
 they were enemies; but as soon as they discovered the truth, 
 they were filled with rage and indignation. Three days 
 were these miserable people kept under the walls of the 
 town, without a morsel of food or shelter, and many of them 
 had perished, when an order came from James for their 
 release; but they were so enfeebled by their sufferings, that 
 very few survived. It does not appear that James had any 
 
652 
 
 CORNER^S 
 
 142 IRELAND. 
 
 previous knowledge of this cruel and disgraceful transaction, 
 the odium of which ought to fall on his French general. 
 Marshal Rosen. 
 
 The citizens were by this time so reduced by famine, that 
 it had become hardly possible that they should hold out for 
 another day, and their only hope was, that provisions and re- 
 inforcements of troops would arrive speedily from England ; 
 in the mean time, the clergymen, both churchmen and 
 dissenters, endeavoured to keep up their spirits by daily 
 encouraging them to have patience ; and they succeeded in 
 increasing their determination never to yield. 
 
 The city had been besieged from the 17th of April; when 
 on the the 30th of July, three ships were seen in Lough 
 Foyle. On these vessels the eyes of both the besiegers and 
 the besieged were anxiously fixed. The attempt to approach 
 the city was extremely diflicult and hazardous ; and the be- 
 siegers did everything in their power to increase the difil- 
 culty and danger. Where the lake narrowed, its banks 
 were lined with batteries; and a boom, formed as strong as 
 it could be made, was stretcher- across this narrow part 
 of it. It was therefore essential tnat this boom should be 
 broken before the vessels could possibly approach. One of 
 the vessels came near it. All eyes were fixed on the 
 event. Sailing with considerable velocity, she broke the 
 boom. The besieged were almost intoxicated with joy, 
 when the next moment their joy was changed to despair, 
 on observing the vessel on shore, in consequence of the re- 
 bound given her in breaking the boom. The next moment, 
 the recoil of her guns, which were fired on the besiegers 
 as they attempted to take possession of her, again set 
 her afloat. The garrison was now relieved from famine; 
 and as on famine alone James’s troops depended for success, 
 they immediately retired, having lost 8,000 men. Of the 
 7,360 men of which the garrison consisted, 4,300 survived, 
 but a large portion of them were incapable of service. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 653 
 
 IRELAND. 143 
 
 The gallant defence of Londonderry was conducted by a 
 clergyman, named Walker, who, after the siege had been 
 raised, went to London to present an address from the 
 citizens to the king and queen, who presented him with five 
 thousand pounds; and the parliament voted ten thousand 
 more for the relief 'of the widows and orphans of those who 
 had fallen in defending the town. 
 
 In the mean time, troops had arrived from England, under 
 the command of the duke of Schomberg, one of William's 
 foreign generals, and at last came King William himself, 
 who landed at Belfast on the 14th of June, and was met 
 there by Marshal Schomberg, when their united forces 
 amounted to 36,000 men, and in a few days they marched 
 against King James. 
 
 James had not taken possession of any ports where his 
 troops might have harassed or resisted William's army, but 
 nad crossed the Boyne, and waited to give battle to his 
 opponents. On the first of July, William's troops passed 
 the river in three places, and after great carnage on both 
 sides, and the loss of many superior officers, James's army 
 was routed, and retreated to Athlone, from whence he him- 
 self proceeded to Dublin, and thence to Waterford, and 
 returned to France. 
 
 William's army pursued, and invested Athlone, but he 
 was obliged to raise the siege; and passed on to Limerick, 
 where James's adherents had concentrated their forces with 
 a strong garrison of French and Irish. William also invested 
 this place, and commanded in person; the attack and 
 defence were conducted with the greatest bravery and re- 
 solution. Even after a breach had been made in the walls 
 by his cannon, William lost one thousand two hundred 
 chosen troops in one assault; and in two days after, he 
 raised the siege, the army retreating under very miserable 
 circumstances. He had lost a considerable part of his army 
 in an unsuccessful attack on the town, and he had a great 
 
654 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 144 IRELAND. 
 
 number of wounded men, for whom no conveyance could be 
 obtained; they were, therefore compelled to walk, or lie 
 down to die, though it rained heavily, and the mud was in 
 many places knee- deep, from a sudden overflowing of the 
 Shannon. As the wretched and dispirited soldiers moved 
 slowly along, they were joined by a still more melancholy 
 train, consisting of the Protestant inhabitants of Limerick 
 and the surrounding country, who were forced to abandon 
 their homes, and had followed the retreating army with their 
 wives, children, servants, and what household goods they 
 had been able to bring with them. In this manner, they 
 proceeded to Clonmel, where King William transferred the 
 command to General Ginckle, and returned to England. 
 The first general, Schomberg, was killed at the battle of the 
 Boyne. 
 
 It reflects much honour on the monarch, that he shared 
 in all the hardships endured by his soldiers, without allow- 
 ing himself indulgences which could not be extended to all. 
 One day being asked to sign an order for wine for his own 
 table, and knowing that no more could be procured than 
 would be sufficient for himself, and, perhaps, two or three of 
 his superior officers, he returned the paper, merely saying, 
 “ I shall drink water.’* 
 
 Upon the departure of James, jealousy and discord broke 
 out openly, and to such an extent between the French and 
 Irish, that Louis the Fourteenth recalled his troops, and 
 Tyrconnel, James’s lord lieutenant, went with them to 
 France, to defend himself against the charges of one of two 
 violent parties into which his own countrymen had become 
 divided. Towards the end of the summer, Cork and Kinsale 
 were bombarded, and surrendered at discretion to the earl of 
 Marlborough; and the winter coming on, added the incle- 
 mency of weather to the famine that the unarmed inhabi- 
 tants were suffering through the destruction of their cattle 
 and corn, by both parties. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 655 
 
 IRELAND. 145 
 
 In the early part of the summer of 1690, Tyrconnel re- 
 turned from France, with considerable reinforcements under 
 the command of the French general St. Ruth, who en- 
 camped near Athlone for its defence, in which city Tyr- 
 connel fell sick, and died of a broken heart. This strongly 
 fortified town, occupying both sides of the river Shannon, 
 was now attacked by William’s troops; when notice was 
 sent by the Irish commander, Sarsfield, to the French gen- 
 eral, who nevertheless did not march to its relief in time 
 to save it; for great masses of men, supported by a train of 
 artillery, plunged into the stream, amidst a most destructive 
 fire from the Irish batteries, and took the town after about 
 an hour’s hard fighting. 
 
 When too late, the French general came up, and at- 
 tempted to retake the place, but failed; and retreated to 
 Aughrim, where he was attacked by the Protestant army, 
 and while in the act of leading on his men, he was killed 
 by a chain shot, which is still preserved in St. Patrick’s 
 Cathedral, Dublin. On his death, the command devolved 
 on Sarsfield, who not being on good terms with the French 
 general, had not been entrusted by St. Ruth with the in- 
 tended operations of the battle; and both French and Irish 
 were consequently routed, and fled to Limerick; losing, it 
 is said, above 7,000 men. 
 
 Limerick, like Athlone, stands on both sides of the river 
 Shannon ; the Protestant forces invested it by land and water; 
 and after many desperate attacks and fierce engagements, 
 with dreadful carnage and great loss of life, it became plain 
 to James’s adherents that there was no hope of ultimate 
 success; wherefore the Irish, after some delay, proposed 
 terms of peace, which, with some alterations, were accepted 
 by General Ginkle, and a treaty was signed on the third of 
 October, 1691. 
 
 By the treaty of Limerick, -it was settled that all castles 
 and forts in the possession of James’s forces should be given 
 
 o 
 
656 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 146 IRELAND. 
 
 up; that the Catholics should enjoy such privileges as to the 
 exercise of their religion as they had enjoyed in the time of 
 Charles the Second; that all Irishmen who had served in 
 the army of James the Second should be freely pardoned; 
 that every lord and gentleman should be allowed to carry 
 arms for the defence of his house and person, or his amuse- 
 ment in sporting; that the garrison should march out of 
 Limerick with all the honours of war; and that all those 
 of the troops who preferred entering into foreign service to 
 remaining in Ireland, might retire with their property to any 
 country they should select, in ships to be provided for them 
 at the expense of the British government. 
 
 FROM THE TREATY OF LIMERICK 
 
 TO 
 
 THE REBELLION. 
 
 1691 to 1798. 
 
 From the time of the treaty of Limerick to the reign of 
 George the Third, Ireland remained at peace : but the bless- 
 ings that peace should have brought were felt only in a 
 limited degree. It is true that trade soon revived; but such 
 regulations and restraints were placed upon it by King Wil- 
 liam’s parliament, that the Irish people did not benefit as 
 they might have done by the increase of their commerce; 
 and although the re-establishment of the manufactures cer- 
 tainly contributed towards the prosperity of the country, 
 still the people were prevented from reaping the full reward 
 of their industry, on account of the laws that were made to 
 prevent them from sending their goods to any foreign coun- 
 tries they pleased, where they could find the best markets 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 657 
 
 IRELAND. 147 
 
 for them ; and their wool was allowed to be exported only to 
 England. 
 
 When peace was concluded, it was expected that one of 
 William’s first acts would have been to summon an Irish 
 parliament; this, however, he neglected to do until it was 
 necessary to raise money; and in the mean time, the Eng- 
 lish parliament legislated for Ireland; and many important 
 acts were passed during that time; among these, was one 
 excluding Catholics from both houses of parliament. At 
 length, when, in 1692, the Irish legislature met, the Com- 
 mons appeared far more disposed to assert their rights than 
 William expected, and carried their opposition to some of his 
 measures so far, that he dissolved the parliament, in hopes 
 of finding the next more amenable to his views; and in this 
 he was not altogether disappointed. By this second Irish 
 parliament, the treaty of Limerick was confirmed. 
 
 The manner in which the government of Ireland was at 
 that time conducted, formed another source of grievance. 
 The lord lieutenant did not visit the country above once in 
 two years; but left the management of affairs to the chan- 
 cellor, the archbishop of Armagh, and a few others belonging 
 to the leading families. The parliament also, which used 
 formerly to be re-elected every year, was, after James’s un- 
 successful attempt at conquest, continued during the life of 
 King William ; so that however dissatisfied the people might 
 be with the conduct of their representatives, they had no 
 opportunity of choosing better ones, till the death of the 
 sovereign should occasion a new election; besides which, 
 Poyning’s law was still in force, by which no act passed in 
 the Irish parliament became valid, until it had been approved 
 of by the legislature of England; but the Irish parliament 
 passed some penal statutes against the Catholics, which were 
 rendered still more severe in the reign of Queen Anne; and, 
 in the year 1727, persons professing that religion wejre to- 
 tally deprived of the elective franchise. 
 
658 CORNER^S 
 
 148 IRELAND 
 
 When, in 1745, Scotland and a great part of England 
 were convulsed by the adherents of the house of Stuart, 
 much apprehension was felt with regard to the course the 
 people of Ireland would pursue on that occasion: and, in 
 consequence, the celebrated earl of Chesterfield was ap- 
 pointed lord lieutenant, who, by his judicious administration 
 and discountenancing all party distinctions, kept the Irish in 
 a state of perfect tranquillity, and prevented them from even 
 indulging a wish to favour the cause of the exiled family. 
 
 Immediately before the accession of George the Third, 
 considerable alarm was excited by the preparations which 
 were making by the French for an invasion of Great Britain 
 and Ireland; but the only attempt made was the landing of 
 about 600 men at Carrickfergus, and those were speedily 
 driven back to their ships by the peasantry, assisted by a few 
 soldiers. 
 
 There were now very few of the old Irish families of any 
 note remaining, except younger branches of them, most 
 of whom were destined to sink into poverty. The older 
 members had either sought military employment in different 
 countries on the Continent, or had entered into trade in 
 some of the commercial cities of France, Spain, or England. 
 
 The most wealthy and flourishing part of Ireland was, at 
 this period, and has ever since been, the province of Ulster, 
 because it was the chief seat of the linen trade; which was 
 the only branch of industry that was much encouraged. 
 Extensive manufactories were established in every county of 
 this province, affording plenty of employment for the pea- 
 santry; as the women could spin the flax, the men weave, 
 and the boys and girls could work in the bleaching- fields. 
 The labouring people of Ulster were therefore in much better 
 circumstances than those of the south, who had depended 
 chiefly on agriculture, and who were now reduced to great 
 distress for want of employment, because so much of the 
 land was turned into pasture for cattle, that the quantity 
 under tillage was comparatively small. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 659 
 
 IRELAND. 149 
 
 Die great export trade of Ireland consisted in salted pro- 
 visions, such as bacon, pork, beef, butter, and fish; but this 
 served to enrich the grazing landowners, and the merchants, 
 rather than the peasantry, numbers of whom had few other 
 means of existence left to them but that of growing for 
 themselves a scanty provision of potatoes, for the mainte- 
 nance of themselves and a pig or two, and such work as 
 they could get at planting times. Such was the general 
 state of Ireland till the reign of George the Third; who 
 ascended the throne in the year 1760, about seventy years 
 from the time of the treaty of Limerick. 
 
 In the first years of his reign, some laudable attempts were 
 made by the Irish parliament to create employment for 
 distressed labourers, by granting sums of money for several 
 useful public works. Among these, an act was passed, 
 enabling companies to construct two lines of canal, which 
 now extend from Dublin to the Shannon; and a sum of 
 money was granted to them with which they might com- 
 mence the works ; but the greater part of the funds required 
 were raised from the public, on what were called canal 
 debentures, which, owing to the failure of the speculation, 
 brought ruin on hundreds of respectable individuals. 
 
 But these improvements only afforded partial relief to 
 some of the thousands of miserable beings who required 
 food and shelter. The Irish parliament had never passed 
 laws, nor adopted any means, to provide for the aged, the 
 infirm, and the destitute; so that no alternative was left 
 to them but to beg, steal, or starve; except the family could 
 obtain a small piece of ground on which they might grow 
 potatoes; and then they had the greatest difiiculty in pro- 
 ducing enough to serve for their own food and to pay 
 their rent. 
 
 Many of the great landholders were absentees, that is, 
 they dwelt in England, or on the continent, instead of being 
 present on their own estates ; only paying a visit to Ireland 
 
 o 3 
 
660 CORNER^S 
 
 150 IRELAND. 
 
 once a year, to attend the parliament; whilst they left the 
 management of their Irish property to agents; and these 
 agents were generally men who had taken the appointment 
 on purpose to make as much profit as they could out of it 
 for the landowners and themselves; so that they seldom 
 showed any indulgence towards the poor tenants; but forced 
 them to pay their rents, even though they should be left 
 without food for themselves and their children. 
 
 About this time, too, the distresses of the peasantry were 
 exceedingly increased by laws passed by the Irish parlia- 
 ment, for the enclosure of certain pieces of land, called 
 “ commons,” in which every poor person, previously to that 
 time, had enjoyed a certain degree of right. Those who 
 were fortunate enough to possess a few sheep, a cow or two, 
 or a donkey, had been allowed to feed them on these com- 
 mons, which enabled the people to live, and pay, with less 
 difficulty, their rents; but when this privilege' was taken 
 away, by the enclosure of the commons for the benefit of the 
 landholders within or adjoining whose domains they were 
 situated, the poor people were in a much worse condition 
 than previously. Numbers of such acts, for the same pur- 
 pose, had been made in England by the English parliament, 
 and always with the same result of enriching the landowners, 
 and impoverishing the labourers; but there the poor rates 
 were enforced, which saved the poor from being reduced to a 
 state of starvation. 
 
 Besides the high rent exacted for the piece of potato 
 ground, every man had to pay tithes to the Protestant 
 clergy; which was considered a great hardship, for most of 
 the peasantry in all parts of the country were Catholics, 
 who thought it unreasonable that they should pay for the 
 support of ministers of a religion different from their own. 
 With such drawbacks of rent, tithes, and loss of common- 
 age, a man had very little left out of the produce of his 
 scanty tenement to feed himself, his wife, and children. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 661 
 
 IRELAND. 151 
 
 whilst their clothing became, as may be imagined, of the 
 most miserable description. 
 
 After this account, you will not be surprised to hear that 
 these oppressed people used to assemble in the night, to take 
 revenge on those whom they regarded as the cause of all 
 their misery. They pulled down the fences of the enclosed 
 commons, by which they obtained the name of Levellers ; but 
 afterwards they were called White Boys, because they wore 
 white shirts outside their clothes, as a sort of uniform, by 
 which they might know each other in the night. 
 
 The White Boys soon began to commit worse outrages 
 than that of pulling down fences ; for they killed several of 
 the tithe collectors, and the agents who gathered in the 
 rents for the landlords ; and many of these unfortunate and 
 misguided men were tried and executed for the crimes of 
 which they had been guilty; but no part of the commons 
 was restored ; nor was any thing else done to alleviate the 
 distresses that had driven the people to the commission of 
 such deeds. Even in Ulster, where the people generally 
 were in much easier circumstances than in Leinster and 
 Munster, there were causes of dissatisfaction. 
 
 One of the grievances complained of was, a tax by which 
 every housekeeper, however poor, and though only the pos- 
 sessor of a little cabin, was made responsible for the mend- 
 ing of the roads, and was obliged either to work on them 
 himself, during six days of the year, or to find a man for 
 that purpose, as well as a horse, if he had one. This was a 
 most oppressive law for the small farmers and poor cot- 
 tagers, to whom six days’ labour was of material conse- 
 quence. Besides, the burthen fell entirely on the poor, 
 while the rich were gainers; for many of the roads that were 
 thus kept in repair belonged to private individuals, who 
 ought to have employed labourers for the work, at a fair 
 rate of wages. 
 
 This tax had long been a cause of discontent, and, at last, 
 
 u u 
 
662 CORNER’S 
 
 152 IRELAND. 
 
 the inhabitants of a small parish in the county of Armagh 
 declared that they would not work on a new road that was 
 about to be made; and the example having been once set, it 
 W'as soon followed in every village throughout the province, 
 and some serious disturbances took place in consequence; 
 so that it was necessary to employ the military to reduce 
 the insurgents to order. Those who joined in this insur- 
 rection called themselves “ Hearts of Oak,” and were dis- 
 tinguished by wearing small oaken boughs in their hats. 
 They gained their object, for the tax was abolished; and the 
 roads were afterwards kept in repair by a rate levied on all 
 the inhabitants, rich and poor, according to their means. 
 
 But other and greater causes of distress were now about 
 to be felt in Ulster; for the linen trade, that great source of 
 comfort and prosperity, experienced a sad reverse, in conse- 
 quence of the breaking out of the American war, America 
 was the great market for Irish linens, of which immense 
 quantities were sent out every year from England; for the 
 Irish were not then allowed to trade directly with the Ame- 
 ricans, as they have done since the Union; but they were 
 obliged to send their goods to England, whence they were 
 exported to the colonies; but when, by the breaking out of 
 the American war, the trade between England and America 
 was destroyed, the linen weavers found there was compar- 
 atively little demand for their goods. 
 
 Tliree-fourths of the looms were consequently stopped, 
 and the deep distress thereby occasioned, forced a great 
 number of families to emigrate. It is supposed that, in the 
 course of two years, thirty thousand people left Ulster to go 
 to America; where many joined in the war against the Eng- 
 lish, forming a large proportion of the American troops. 
 Among these emigrants, about ten thousand were weavers; 
 who took their implements with them, and set up linen 
 manufactories in the United States. 
 
 While this war was proceeding, the intercourse between 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 663 
 
 IRELAND. 153 
 
 Great Britain and Ireland was also much interrupted by 
 French and American cruizers, that infested the narrow seas 
 which divide these two islands, for the express purpose of 
 interrupting the communication between them; so that the 
 Irish could not send their goods, as usual, to England, for 
 fear they should be seized by these privateer vessels; and to 
 add to these misfortunes, they were, at this time, not 
 allowed to send ships to Spain or Portugal, with cargoes of 
 salted meat, fish, and butter, lest the French should seize 
 them, and get provisions to victual the fleets which they 
 were about sending out to assist the Americans. 
 
 During this time, the Irish had been vainly petitioning 
 parliament to remove the restrictions that had been so un- 
 justly laid upon their trade. They entreated the English 
 government to allow them permission to manufacture their 
 own wool, and to send their manufactured goods, as well as 
 the produce of their country, to any part of the world where 
 they could find a market for them, or obtain goods in return, 
 that they might have the same opportunities of living by 
 their industry as were enjoyed by the people of other nations. 
 But this request, reasonable as it seems, was refused; and, 
 at last, the people of Ireland, feeling that they were treated 
 with injustice, began to think of obtaining by force what 
 was denied to their humble petitions. 
 
 A considerable part of the army stationed in Ireland had 
 been sent to America, to assist in the war;^ and as it was 
 apprehended that the French, who were fighting for the 
 Americans, might invade Ireland, numerous companies of 
 volunteers were formed to protect the country. Noblemen, 
 gentlemen, merchants, farmers, and tradesmen, all became 
 soldiers. They chose their own officers, purchased their 
 own uniforms, and assembled regularly on parade to practise 
 the use of arms. The number of volunteers soon amounted 
 to above fifty thousand. A formidable army had thus im- 
 perceptibly sprung up in Ireland, well armed and well disci- 
 
664 CORNER’S 
 
 154 IRELAND. 
 
 plined; and they resolved to assert their rights, and, if 
 necessary, to fight for them, as the Americans were doing. 
 
 A resolution to that effect was addressed by these troops 
 to the king; and in the mean time, the parliament of Ire- 
 land came to a determination to admit no produce or manu- 
 facture of England into Ireland, until the Irish commerce 
 should be freed from all restraints. This was exactly what 
 the Americans did at the beginning of the war; so that 
 the British manufacturers and merchants, who had now lost 
 two of their best markets, began to exert all their influence 
 in favour of free trade for Ireland; and the government 
 agreed that the Irish should be allowed to export their own 
 woollen manufactures and glass ware, and to import goods 
 from the British colonies in America and Africa, on paying 
 the same duties as were paid in England; and they were 
 permitted also to import from Italy organzine or twisted 
 silk, which they used in making poplin and tabinet, the 
 most beautiful of all the Irish manufactures. 
 
 The English parliament had, prior to this, passed laws, 
 granting liberty to the Catholics to hold landed property; 
 and the duration of parliaments in Ireland had, by the same 
 authority, been limited to eight years; but these concessions 
 were not enough to satisfy the people, and a meeting of 
 deputies from the different corps of volunteers was held at 
 Dungarvon; and having declared that none but Irishmen 
 should make any laws for Ireland, they drew up a Bill of 
 Rights, and demanded an independent parliament. After 
 some deliberation on the part of the English government, 
 this was also granted, and Poyning's law was repealed. 
 
 The most serious evils which had pressed on the middle 
 and upper classes, were now redressed; but there still ex- 
 isted causes of dissatisfaction among the poor, which the 
 Irish parliament were either unable or unwilling to remove ; 
 absenteeism to as great an extent as ever, and exactions of 
 excessive rents by land agents, still continued; no laws for 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 665 
 
 IRELAND. 155 
 
 security of tenancy, nor to reimburse tenants for improve- 
 ments made on their lands, were ever passed; nor was any 
 thing done either towards the abolition or modification of 
 tithes ; the last of which, being all raised on cultivated, and 
 not on grazing land, occasioned many insurrections among 
 the labouring cultivators. 
 
 A dreadful insurrection broke out in the counties of Cork 
 and Kerry; where the peasantry marched about in large 
 parties, calling themselves Right Boys, and compelling every 
 body to take an oath that they would not pay more than a 
 certain sum per acre for tithes. At first, very little notice 
 was taken of the Right Boys, because they carried no arms; 
 but by degrees they grew more riotous, insisted that wages 
 should be increased, and rents lowered, and opposed the 
 collection of the government tax, called hearth-money; 
 therefore, when it was found they were proceeding to such 
 lengths, an act was passed by the Irish parliament, to pro- 
 hibit them from assembling; and as they continued to do so, 
 in defiance of the law, the military were sent to disperse 
 them, and some violent conflicts took place. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE REBELLION TO THE UNION. 
 
 1798 to 1800. 
 
 After the repeal of the most odious portions of the penal 
 laws by the English parliament, in the early part of the 
 reign of George the Third, other laws, beneficial to Ireland, 
 were gradually passed; and very large sums out of the taxes 
 had frequently been voted; both by the English and Irish 
 parliaments, for various public works; as for the repairing of 
 old, and the making of new roads, and other communica- 
 
666 COENER^S 
 
 156 IRELAND. 
 
 tions from one part of Ireland to another, with a view to 
 the employment of the people, and the improvement of the 
 country, which was therefore much benefited, whilst the 
 value of property was enhanced and increased ; but owing to 
 continual agitations, the labouring population were relieved 
 only so long as the works were going on; and although 
 numbers of the working classes yearly emigrated to London, 
 Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and other manufacturing 
 places, where they permanently settled; and bodies of the 
 agricultural population were accustomed regularly to tra- 
 verse England almost from one end to the other, to raise 
 something towards the payment of their excessive rents, by 
 assisting the English farmers to get in the harvests; still 
 agricultural labour and agricultural people became more and 
 more depressed. As land increased in value, bills for the 
 enclosure of commons increased in the Irish parliament; and 
 it appeared as if the poor could never contend against the 
 high rents of lands, and the privations consequent on the 
 loss of their commons. 
 
 The people of Ireland still continued in possession of 
 their separate parliament in Dublin, but whether its power 
 for doing good was limited, or the leading men had not 
 knowledge of the proper means to relieve the wants of the 
 people, certainly while the value of land had doubled within 
 the last forty years, the condition of the great body of those 
 who may be considered as the labouring classes, became 
 gradually worse. 
 
 The American war was now over; and the Irish observed 
 that the Americans, with the aid of their French allies, had 
 been enabled to establish such a form of government as was 
 most agreeable to themselves; the French, too, had more 
 recently accomplished the great revolution, which had re- 
 lieved the body of the people from the distinctions exist- 
 ing in favour of the nobles and clergy, and from the 
 injustice of the corvee, or forced labour, in repairing the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 667 
 
 IRELAND. 157 
 
 roads, and the remnants of feudal oppressions, under which 
 resolution, an absolute monarchy was converted into a re- 
 public. These examples stimulated the agitating politicians 
 of Ireland to excite their countrymen, (especially those of 
 the agricultural classes suffering through want of constant 
 employment, and the uncertain tenure of their little hold- 
 ings,) to join them in endeavouring to establish a repub- 
 lican government in Ireland. 
 
 This spirit of disaffection and desire for a republican form 
 of government, was not confined to the poor peasantry, but 
 prevailed among all classes of the community; and in the 
 year 1791, a society was instituted in Dublin, called the 
 United Irishmen, whose secret object was to collect together, 
 into different associations, as many of their countrymen as 
 possible, in various parts of the kingdom, and as soon as 
 they should feel strong enough in numbers, to make a bold 
 effort to separate Ireland entirely from England, and con- 
 stitute it an independent republic. 
 
 A body of national guards was instituted in Dublin, as in 
 Paris; and they provided themselves with a green uniform, 
 having on the buttons a harp, under a cap of liberty, which 
 was a revolutionary symbol; this uniform, however, was not 
 worn in public; but from information received, the English 
 government became alarmed, and employed spies to gain in- 
 telligence of the proceedings of the United Irishmen, who 
 had hitherto carried on their plans with profound secresy. 
 It was discovered that they were in correspondence with the 
 heads of the French republic, who had engaged to assist the 
 revolutionists with troops and money, and that the plot was 
 nearly ripe for bursting out. As soon as the spies had ac- 
 quired and given information of this circumstance, the 
 government of England, as if to make up for their previous 
 remissness, adopted the most severe measures for discover- 
 ing and suppressing, the whole plot. 
 
 One of the first measures was to suspend the Habeas 
 
 p 
 
668 
 
 COENER^S 
 
 158 IRELAND. 
 
 Corpus Act; but iu case you should not exactly understand 
 what this means, I will tell you. The Habeas Corpus Act 
 passed in 1 680 , is a law by which no one can be imprisoned 
 without being made acquainted with the cause of his im- 
 prisonment, nor be detained in prison without being brought 
 to trial. This law was made because people used frequently 
 in former times to be kept in confinement for years, or 
 perhaps for their whole lives, and were not informed what 
 crime was imputed to them, nor ever brought to trial; so 
 that they had no opportunity of proving their innocence, 
 or regaining their liberty; which was both cruel and unjust. 
 However, government has sometimes ordered the Habeas 
 Corpus Act to be suspended; and, during such suspension, 
 any person may be carried away from his house and put 
 into prison, and kept there, without any reason being as- 
 signed, either for his arrest or detention. 
 
 Such was now the case in Ireland. All who were sus- 
 pected of knowing any thing about the revolutionary plot 
 were seized and thrown into prison, where numbers of them 
 were cruelly flogged, and otherwise ill-treated, to make 
 them confess all they knew concerning it. The whole 
 of the conspiracy was thus discovered, and thirteen of the 
 principal conspirators were arrested, some of them gentle- 
 men of high respectability ; while a proclamation was issued, 
 declaring Ireland to be in a state of rebellion, and direct- 
 ing that the most summary means should be taken by the 
 government troops for its suppression; which was, in other 
 words, giving permission to the soldiers to commit outrages 
 with impunity. 
 
 The plan of the conspirators having been thus discovered, 
 and some of them arrested, the rest of the leaders saw that 
 their only hope of success was in a general rising of the 
 people who were on their side, and a struggle for the cause 
 in which they had engaged. This plan was adopted- but 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 669 
 
 IRELAND. 159 
 
 the insurgents in many places were soon defeated, and gave 
 up their arms in terror. 
 
 The county of Wexford at last became the principal 
 scene of rebellion, and many battles were fought between the 
 revolutionists and^the royalists, the last of which was a cele- 
 brated engagement that took place near a spot called Vin- 
 egar-hill, when the revolutionists were totally defeated, and 
 their hopes of independence crushed for ever. 
 
 The Irish had certainly been treated with the utmost 
 barbarity during this rebellion. They had been imprisoned, 
 tortured, driven from their homes, their houses had been 
 burnt down, and their property destroyed by the yeomanry; 
 women and children had been inhumanly murdered; and, 
 indeed, there was scarcely any species of cruelty that had 
 not been put in practice against them. But the United 
 Irishmen do not seem to have been backward in retaliating 
 all these cruelties upon the royalists, whenever an oppor- 
 tunity offered; so that it would be difficult to say which 
 party exhibited the greatest want of humanity; or caused 
 the greatest amount of wretchedness and suffering. 
 
 The defeat at Vinegar hill, however, proved a death-blow 
 to the revolutionists, who thus lost all hopes of establishing 
 a republic in Ireland. The arrival of Lord Cornwallis with 
 a general pardon for all who had rebelled, at length restored 
 tranquillity. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who had taken a 
 prominent part in the rebellion, died in prison from the 
 effects of a wound received at the time of his capture ; and 
 several gentlemen of family and fortune were executed at 
 the commencement of the rebellion, but no executions took 
 place after its suppression; and the principal historical event 
 that now remains to be told of Ireland, is the union of 
 that country with Great Britain, which took place in the 
 year 1800. 
 
 As soon as the war was over, the English government 
 came to a resolution, that the best means of securing the 
 
670 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 160 IRELAND. 
 
 future dependence of Ireland, was to establish one legislative 
 assembly for the whole kingdom, by admitting Irish mem- 
 bers into the English houses of parliament, as though their 
 country formed a portion of England ; and such advantages 
 were held out to the Irish people to gain their consent to 
 this arrangement, that although great opposition was made 
 at first, it was eventually agreed to; and since that time, 
 there has been held in London one parliament for the 
 United Kingdom. The representatives for Ireland consist 
 of four bishops and twenty-eight peers in the House of 
 Lords; and one hundred members in the House of Com- 
 mons, who are elected in the same manner as the members 
 of parliament are in England. 
 
 I should have mentioned, that during the ten years which 
 preceded the union, the Catholics had been put in possession 
 of greater privileges than they had enjoyed since the time 
 of Charles the Second; for although William the I'hird 
 had promised to restore many of their rights, he had failed 
 to do so; and it was not till some time after the parliament 
 of Ireland had been made independent of that of England, 
 in the year 1782, that Catholics were allowed to practise 
 the law, to marry Protestants, or to vote for members of 
 parliament; but still no Catholic could become a member of 
 parliament himself; nor was this privilege obtained till 
 many years afterwards. 
 
 It was at first expected that the union would have pro- 
 duced the happiest consequences, as It gave to the people of 
 Ireland that freedom of trade with all the world which they 
 had so long desired; Ireland, instead of being, as formerly, 
 a dependency of England, having became a portion of Great 
 Britain, its people enjoying all the rights and privileges of 
 British subjects. However, notwithstanding these advan- 
 tages, the measure was not productive of that tranquillity 
 and prosperity which had been expected. The country, for 
 some time afterwards, became the scene of insurrections 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 671 
 
 IRELAND. 161 
 
 and outrages, proceeding either from religious animosity, 
 political jealousy, the feuds of clans, or from the severe 
 privations to which the peasantry were subjected by the 
 exactions of persons called middlemen, interposed between 
 them and the landowners. The middlemen were those who 
 took large farms from the landlords, and let them in small 
 farms to other parties, at a rack-rent, that is to say, let them 
 at a rent considerably beyond the value of the land ; which 
 was a great discouragement to every kind of industry, as 
 the farmer could seldom do more than pay his rent, and 
 barely maintain himself and family, during his occupation 
 of the farm; and so little did the Irish landowners in 
 general care for the improvement of their estates, and the 
 comfort and prosperity of their tenants, that we continually 
 even still read in the Irish papers, advertisements for the 
 letting of land, in which it is stated that the preference will 
 be given to the highest bidder; and to such a height had 
 this system arisen, that, together with the competition of 
 the peasantry for small farms, as their only means of sup- 
 port, land advanced in price beyond its former value. 
 
 In the towns, also, considerable distress was felt for a 
 long time, because owing to the almost uninterrupted in- 
 ternal commotions by which the country was disturbed, its 
 trading, commercial, and manufacturing establishments were 
 unable to compete with those of England, with whom they 
 were now placed on an equality. The latter, from long 
 internal peace, having accumulated unlimited capital, were 
 enabled to offer such advantages to the Irish merchants 
 and shopkeepers, both as regarded cheapness and credit, 
 that the Irish market was almost continually supplied from 
 England, which, of course, left the working people of the 
 towns without employment; and although the removal of 
 the restrictions and protective duties produced an immediate 
 benefit to all buyers and users of manufactures, and would, 
 in time, have given stability to the trade of the country; yet 
 
 p 3 
 
672 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 162 IRELAND. 
 
 uneducated mechanics could not be expected to reason like 
 skilful political economists; they only felt that they could 
 not obtain employment, and wanted food; and there were 
 no poor-laws for the relief of destitute persons. They 
 therefore frequently assembled in large mobs, and walked in 
 procession through the streets parading their misery, and 
 committing depredations in the various provision shops ; and 
 it was by no means uncommon for the baker’s carts to be 
 guarded by policemen as they proceeded through the 
 streets. 
 
 Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that fre- 
 quent riots should have been the consequence, and that 
 illegal associations were continually formed, while the go- 
 vernment, instead of adopting some measures to improve the 
 condition of the working people, endeavoured to suppress 
 the spirit of insubordination by severity. A large military 
 force was stationed in the country, and the Insurrection Act 
 was frequently put in force, giving power to the lord lieu- 
 tenant to proclaim any district in a state of rebellion, on 
 the declaration of a majority of seven justices of the peace. 
 When this proclamation had been made, all persons in that 
 district were obliged to keep within their houses before and 
 after certain hours specified. 
 
 These coercive measures, and the continued poverty of 
 great masses of people, caused a meeting to be held at 
 Dublin, in the year 1810 , to consult on the subject of dis- 
 solving the union; and thus arose the great question of 
 “ repeal ” which has lately occasioned so much excitement. 
 It was at this meeting that Mr. O’Connell first appeared as 
 a political character. 
 
 At this period, although the penal laws against the 
 Catholics had, by degrees, been repealed, until all those of a 
 severe or oppressive character had been removed, yet the 
 Catholic gentry were still excluded from the legislature, and 
 from holding any office of trust under government, and also 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 673 
 
 IRELAND. 163 
 
 from all municipal corporations; they therefore became 
 urgent in demanding the fulfilment of a promise which had 
 been made to them by Mr. Pitt, the then prime minister of 
 England, when he proposed the union, that he and his col- 
 leagues would use their utmost endeavours to obtain full 
 emancipation for the Catholics, and place them on an 
 equality with the Protestants; but as George the Third so 
 strenuously opposed all further concessions to them, their 
 claims, although favoured by most of the English Protes- 
 tants, made but little progress during his lifetime. The 
 Catholics, feeling that they had little chance of receiving 
 any support from government, according to the then exist- 
 ing state of affairs, formed themselves into a body, called 
 the Catholic Board, for the purpose of agitating and fram- 
 ing petitions to parliament. This society was suppressed by 
 government, and was afterwards succeeded by the Catholic 
 Association. 
 
 George the Fourth, on his accession to the throne, 
 visited Ireland, where he was most enthusiastically received, 
 being the first English monarch, since Richard the Second, 
 who had visited that country in friendship. His presence 
 for awhile lulled the spirit of rancorous party feeling, which, 
 at that period, ran particularly high; but this peace was 
 of short duration, for, in the following year, the Marquis 
 Wellesley, then lord lieutenant, who was supposed favour- 
 able to the Catholic party, was openly insulted by a body of 
 young men belonging to the Orange, or ultra-Protestant, 
 party. 
 
 The Catholic Relief Bill, as it was called, although pre- 
 sented every session to parliament, was always rejected, 
 until the disturbances in Ireland, under the direction of the 
 Catholic Association, assumed such an organized character, 
 that the duke of Wellington, who was prime minister, and 
 Mr. Peel, the home secretary, considered it prudent to bring 
 
674 CORNER^S 
 
 164 IRELAND. 
 
 forward the Catholic claims as a government measure, and 
 succeeded in carrying the bill by a large majority. 
 
 It appeared now as if Ireland had received its full mea- 
 sure of justice, and strong hopes were entertained of the 
 benefits which would attend the tranquillity which it was 
 confidently expected would follow; but the well-wishers of 
 Ireland were destined to be disappointed, for in less than 
 two years after, the public mind was excited by interested 
 leaders, and unthinking people were induced to assemble 
 and clamour for a repeal of the Union, to the very great 
 interruption of business, and injury to trade. This move- 
 ment, however, soon died away, in consequence of the 
 accession of the late whig ministry to office, who, being of 
 the same politics, and acting in unison with Mr. O’Connell, 
 the chief promoter of the agitation, Ireland enjoyed some 
 years of quiet, during which every thing seemed to prosper. 
 
 Owing, however, to a change in the ministry, Mr. 
 O’Connell and his friends were again dependent for power on 
 the voice of the people, who were, unfortunately, easily 
 induced by leaders, whose purposes it answered, to imagine 
 that they would enjoy a better government if they had a 
 parliament separate from that of England; and they still 
 urge as reasons for this wish, that they are not fairly repre- 
 sented, in point of numbers, in the legislative assembly, and 
 that the nobility and gentry of Ireland are drawn to Lon- 
 don, instead of Dublin; that, in consequence of this, the 
 arts and manufactures of Ireland languish; and they also 
 think that the tithe tax should be abolished. 
 
 However, they unfortunately forget to take into account 
 the advantages they have derived from the partnership with 
 England. Even before the parliaments w^ere united, large 
 sums were voted every year by the English parliament for 
 the purpose of making roads, and carrying on other public 
 works, in addition to those voted by the Irish parliament, 
 so that Ireland was even then advancing in improvement. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 675 
 
 IRELAND. . 165 
 
 and every year since the Union, extensive grants have been 
 voted for the purpose of constructing harbours, lighthouses, 
 &c. Half- a- million was expended on Howth harbour in 
 1807; since which, a million has been laid out on the mag- 
 nificent harbour ofiKingstown. In Dublin, spacious streets 
 and beautiful buildings have, as it were, grown up since that 
 period, while in many parts of the kingdom, a wild tract of 
 country has been changed into a handsome town. Clifden, 
 for instance, which yielded in 1814 no revenue whatever, 
 now produces £7,000 annually. Add to these benefits, the 
 circumstance that Ireland is more lightly taxed than any 
 portion of the United Kingdom; that she pays no income 
 tax, window- tax, nor dog tax; nor any tax on horses, ser- 
 vants, or armorial bearings; and we cannot but wonder that 
 the Irish should desire a change. Owing to there being a 
 greater number of the military stationed in Ireland, in pro- 
 portion to its size, than in any other part of the united 
 kingdom, a considerable sum of money is laid out with the 
 Irish agriculturalists and shopkeepers; and we have also to 
 consider that, on a late inquiry, it was satisfactorily proved 
 that there were more important offices, civil and military, 
 held by Irishmen in the United Kingdom, than either by 
 English or Scotchmen, in proportion to the numbers of each 
 people. 
 
 The question of petitioning parliament for a repeal of the 
 legislative union, has been, from time to time, revived, and 
 it was agitated more vigorously than ever, and reached its 
 height in the year 1843, when it assumed a really alarming 
 aspect, from the assemblages of vast multitudes, called 
 “ monster meetings,’^ or, as they were styled by the friends 
 of repeal, “ demonstrations.” At length, these meetings 
 becoming formidable, government considered it prudent to 
 stop their further progress, and, accordingly, when in the 
 month of October of the same year, a great meeting was 
 appointed to take place at Clontarf, a town about two miles 
 
676 CORNER^S 
 
 166 IRELAND. 
 
 distant from Dublin, and famous for the great victory ob- 
 tained over the Danes, in 1014, by Brien Boru, a proclama- 
 tion was issued, forbidding it; the neighbourhood was oc- 
 cupied by a military force; and no regular meeting took 
 place, though a large concourse of persons assembled, who 
 were drawn thither by curiosity to see what would be the 
 result ; the day, however, passed off quietly. 
 
 The next step was the arrest of Mr. O’Connell, the 
 leader of the movement, and of seven other gentlemen who 
 had rendered themselves conspicuous during the progress of 
 the agitation, who were all prosecuted by the crown on 
 charges of sedition and conspiracy, of which they were 
 found guilty, and, after an interval, were sentenced to fine 
 and imprisonment. During this interval, Mr. O’Connell 
 visited London, where he was received with the utmost 
 enthusiasm, both in the House of Commons, and at several 
 public meetings which he attended during his stay. Shortly 
 after his return to Dublin, he, and his fellow traversers, 
 were placed in the custody of the governor of the Richmond 
 Penitentiary, Dublin. During the time of their confine- 
 ment, an appeal against the validity of the verdict found 
 against them was heard in the House of Lords, and three 
 out of five law lords, decided in their favour, when they 
 were set at liberty. The event was celebrated with illumi- 
 nations, and other demonstrations of joy, by the repeal party 
 all over Ireland, and by a public procession in Dublin. 
 
 From that time to the year 1845, no attempt to carry 
 the agitation to its former height, has been made, and Mr. 
 O’Connell is reported to have said, that for months he 
 could not sleep from dread of the consequences which might 
 ensue. The money required for the purpose of carrying on 
 the agitation is paid by the people in such sums as they can 
 afford to give ; and the greater part of it is collected at the 
 doors of the Catholic chapels, and is called the repeal rent 
 Another fund is collected in the same manner, and is called 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 677 
 
 IRELAND. 167 
 
 the O’Connell compensation fund; this sum generally ave- 
 rages between £15,000 and £18,000 at each collection, and 
 is given to Mr. O’Connell as a kind of recompense to him 
 for having abandoned his profession, by which it is calcu- 
 lated he used to realize about £6,000 annually. 
 
 As the chimera of Repeal appears to be gradually sub- 
 siding, the last barrier to improvement is we trust removed. 
 The only remnant of what might be considered a reasonable 
 ground of complaint has been remedied by the new muni- 
 cipal laws, or those laws which regulate the government 
 of cities and towns, by the appointment of responsible 
 magistrates and officers. By this act, the people are no 
 longer separated into two parties, but Catholics and Protes- 
 tants enjoy the same privileges in the appointment of their 
 local magistrates. 
 
 The last measure adopted by the United Parliament for 
 the benefit of Ireland, has been an act for the better carrying 
 out the intention of pious and charitable persons, who may 
 leave bequests or donations for religious purposes; as it 
 frequently happened that such funds fell into the hands of 
 persons who applied them very differently from what was 
 originally intended. Every bequest of this kind is now 
 placed under the control of ten Commissioners, composed 
 of judges, bishops, and other gentlemen of rank and con- 
 sideration; one half of whom are Protestants, and the 
 other half Catholics. The act applies to all religious deno- 
 minations. 
 
 The various efforts made for the improvement of the 
 country, aided by the influence of education, together with 
 the effect of abstinence from spiritous and fermented liquors, 
 have within the last few years rendered crimes of a serious 
 nature of much rarer occurrence in Ireland. To these we 
 may add, that the facilities afforded for communication be- 
 tween Ireland and England, will every day increase that 
 kindliness of feeling which invariably exists whenever the 
 
 X X 
 
678 CORNER’S 
 
 168 IRELAND, 
 
 inhabitants of the two countries have an opportunity of 
 meeting. 
 
 In regard to education, a considerable improvement has 
 for some time been in progress, owing to the establishment 
 of national schools on liberal principles over the whole of 
 the country, for the instruction of the poorer classes of 
 children : for although there have been free schools in 
 Ireland since the time of Queen Elizabeth, they have never 
 been conducted in such a manner as to render them of much 
 service to the people in general. Most of the convents have 
 schools attached to them, in which the monks and nuns 
 give instruction gratuitously. 
 
 Some years since, there were itenerant schoolmasters in 
 Ireland, who went from parish to parish in the summer 
 time, keeping school in dry ditches, covered with heath and 
 furze. These seminaries were called hedge schools,” but 
 as a ditch could not answer the purpose of a school-room 
 in winter, the tutor perambulated from house to house, 
 offering his services for his food and lodging. Although 
 many of the hedge schoolmasters were ignorant persons, 
 there were others amongst them w'ho possessed much clas- 
 sical knowledge, which is evidenced by the circumstance of 
 many successful candidates for distinction in the universi- 
 ties of Ireland, having received the rudiments of their edu- 
 cation from travelling teachers of the above description. 
 
 About the year 1814, a parliamentary grant was voted for 
 the purpose of promoting the general instruction of the 
 people. The course of instruction given in the schools of the 
 National Board, is of a much more extensive haracter than 
 any which has been hitherto attempted. The National 
 Board of Education has been established with the view of 
 giving satisfaction to all parties, by having its directors com- 
 posed of gentlemen representing the various Christian sects 
 in Ireland, the Protestant and Catholic archbishops of Dub- 
 lin being numbered amongst them. Care is also taken 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 679 
 
 IRELAND. 169 
 
 that the children receive religious instruction from clergy- 
 men of the persuasion to which they belong, and if any of 
 them should be orphans, their religious instructors are 
 chosen by their nearest relatives or friends. Yet to some 
 it appears a fault that any religious instruction should be 
 given in the schools, as that part of the training of youth 
 might be better afforded at home, or at their several places 
 of worship. The number of schools amounted, in 1845, to 
 about 3,000, and there were about 400,000 scholars. The 
 schools are open at all times for the inspection of the com- 
 missioners, and to the district inspectors appointed by them, 
 and also for that of the public, and the clergy of all deno- 
 minations. Schools, exactly on the same principle, have 
 been established in prisons and workhouses. 
 
 GENERAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 FROM 1845 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 For the purposes of commerce, no country can possess 
 greater natural advantages than Ireland, many of its rivers 
 being of great length, and navigable for considerable dis- 
 tances. The Shannon is the largest river in the United 
 kingdom; it rises at the foot of Culka mountain, in the 
 county of Cavan, and passing by Garrick, Athlone, and 
 other important towns, reaches Limerick, and falls into the 
 Atlantic ocean, about sixty miles from that port, after a 
 course of one hundred and ninety miles, almost the entire of 
 which has been rendered navigable, by the expenditure of 
 grants of money made by the united parliament. 
 
 The other extensive rivers are, the Suire, the Barrow, the 
 Lee, the Bann, the Blackwater, the Boyne, and the Slaney, 
 all affording great facilities to the inland trade of the 
 country. The Liffey, although an insignificant stream, yet 
 derives importance from its connection with the city of 
 
 a 
 
680 CORNER’S 
 
 170 IRELAND. 
 
 Dublin; as does the Lagan, from its connexion with Belfast. 
 Many of the lakes also are of much value in a commercial 
 point of view; one of them, Lough Foyle, being navigated 
 by vessels of five hundred tons burthen. However, reliance 
 has not been solely placed on the advantages of nature, as 
 both rivers and lakes have been rendered more available for 
 the purposes of trade, by the help of art; in addition to 
 which, the entire island has been intersected from east to 
 west, by two lines of canals. 
 
 There are, at this period (1845) only two short railways in 
 Ireland, one from Dublin to Kingstown, a distance of five- 
 and-a-half miles; to which are added about two miles of 
 atmospheric railway; and the other, which extends from 
 Dublin to Drogheda, a distance of about twenty miles, and 
 is almost completed ; but numerous other railways of con- 
 considerable extent are in progress. 
 
 Ireland contains many extensive and important cities and 
 towns, the most prominent of which is Dublin, the metro- 
 polis, which, for its size, contains a greater number of useful 
 and magnificent buildings than any city in Europe. The 
 castle, which is a noble pile of building, is the seat of 
 government, and is situated about the centre of the city. 
 The Castle chapel, which joins it, has been rebuilt within 
 the last century, and is a beautiful specimen of Gothic ar- 
 chitecture. The streets and squares are decorated with 
 statues and columns. The statue of Nelson, adjacent to 
 the Post-office, is raised on a columfi, one hundred and thirty 
 feet high. Dublin contains nineteen parishes, each having 
 a church, and it also possesses two cathedrals, besides many 
 Catholic and dissenting places of worship. 
 
 The Phoenix park, adjoining Dublin, is a superb domain, 
 highly cultivated; but, at the same time, its extreme wild- 
 ness and romantic appearance is scrupulously preserved. 
 In it is the vice-regal lodge, or summer residence of the 
 viceroy, as also the military magazine, and the Zoological 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 681 
 
 IRELAND. 171 
 
 gardens. The park is a favourite resort of the citizens of 
 Dublin. On the other side of the river, is situated the 
 Royal Kilmainham hospital for superannuated soldiers, on 
 the plan of Chelsea hospital. 
 
 The port of Dublin, properly so called, is only calculated 
 for shipping of moderate burthen, but the harbour of Kings- 
 town will afford ample accommodation for a one hundred- 
 and-ten gun ship. The river Liffey is embanked on either 
 side with a noble wall of granite, forming a beautiful and 
 spacious range of quays through the entire city; and is 
 crossed in its course by seven bridges. 
 
 With the exception of the public buildings, the houses 
 are mostly of brick, and from three to five stories high. In 
 the old part of the city, the streets are irregular, although 
 those which range parallel to, and at right angles with, the 
 Liffey, are uniform and capacious. 
 
 Cork is the next city in importance to Dublin; it is re- 
 markable for its large exports of provisions, amounting 
 during the slaughtering season, to above one hundred thou- 
 sand head of cattle, besides pigs, &c. The contract for the 
 annual supply of stores for the navy of the United kingdom, 
 is more frequently taken by the merchants of Cork than of 
 any other place. 
 
 The other most important cities and towns are Belfast, 
 Londonderry, Limerick, and Galway. The last is a singu- 
 larly built town, bearing strong evidence of its Spanish 
 origin. The houses, as in Spain, having arched gateways, 
 with an outer and inner railing, broad stairs, and wide en- 
 tries; and even the small sliding pannel in the great door, 
 through which a stranger may be observed, if necessary, 
 before he is allowed to enter. The resemblance to a 
 Spanish town is still further increased by the number of 
 friars that are seen walking about, especially in the market 
 place; and there are hundreds of little crosses, such as are 
 
682 CORNER^S 
 
 172 IRELAND. 
 
 found in the burial grounds of Spain, to mark where the 
 ashes of the dead repose. 
 
 The population of Ireland may be divided into three dis- 
 tinct classes, which, however, are gradually intermingling, 
 and, in the course of time, will probably lose all distinction, 
 and be regarded together as one race. Ulster having been 
 colonized by the Scottish Lowlanders, retains to the present 
 day not only the habits and feelings of that people, but also 
 their religion, which is Presbyterian, and even the peculiar 
 accent in speaking the English language. There are com- 
 paratively few Roman Catholics in this part of Ireland; but 
 there is a large proportion of Episcopalians, besides dis- 
 senters of different denominations. The population of 
 Leinster is, for the most part, descended from English set- 
 tlers, with the exception of the agricultural labourers, who 
 are generally of Celtic descent; but Munster and Connaught 
 are still principally inhabited by the descendants of the 
 original Irish people. 
 
 The soil of Ireland, generally speaking, consists of a fer- 
 tile loam, with a rocky substratum; but its depth in most 
 cases is rather inconsiderable, and in some localities, rocks 
 appear even at the very surface; but, notwithstanding this, 
 Ireland possesses, in proportion to its surface, more culti- 
 vatable land than either England or Scotland, almost the 
 whole of which is of such a quality as to yield excellent 
 crops, with little cultivation. Sand does not exist except 
 on the sea shore, and clay is not met with near the surface 
 of the soil. In many parts of the country, the land yields 
 a luxuriant herbage without any trouble on the part of the 
 farmer. The county of Meath, in particular, is distin- 
 guished by the richness and fertility of its soil; and in 
 Limerick and Tipperary, there is a dark, friable, sandy loam, 
 which, if preserved in a clean state, will yield crops of corn 
 several years in succession. 
 
 In most parts of Ireland, the agricultural implements, as 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 683 
 
 IRELAND. 173 
 
 the plough, the spade, the flail, &c. are of a rather rude 
 construction, and the operations of husbandry in a back- 
 ward state. The fallows are not well attended to; three 
 ploughings are in general considered sufficient; and owing 
 to the imperfect construction of the plough, the ground is 
 at the end, in most cases full of weeds. The Irish farmers 
 are most successful at trenching; they form the land into 
 beds, and shovel out a deep trench between them, throwing 
 up the earth. 
 
 Wheat is not generally an article of cultivation, as the 
 Irish wheat is usually of inferior quality to the English. 
 Great attention is paid to the cultivation of barley; but oats 
 is the species of grain most extensively raised, there being, 
 in fact, just ten acres of oats raised for one of any other 
 grain. The crop in which the Irish farmer holds the supe- 
 riority is that of potato, the Irish potatoes being the best in 
 the world. 
 
 In the farming operations of Ireland, the dairy is deci- 
 dedly the best managed, and its produce the most profitable. 
 The average number of cows on a dairy farm amounts to 
 thirty or forty, three acres of tolerable land being thought 
 sufficient for the maintenance of each cow; four good cows 
 yield about a quarter of a hundred weight of butter in 
 a week. The Irish are particularly cleanly in making 
 butter, and their mode of salting is considered to be the 
 most perfect that is practised. The export trade in this 
 article is very extensive. 
 
 The grazing of cattle is not, as in England, connected 
 with the regular rotation of crops, but is carried on in a 
 district exclusively devoted to the breeding of cattle. The 
 sheep, which are of the long wooled kind, and very large, 
 are never kept in sheep folds, and are hardly ever fed on 
 turnips. 
 
 In Ulster, the land is usually planted first with potatoes, 
 next with linseed for a crop of flax, and then with oats; and 
 
 Q 3 
 
684 CORNER^S 
 
 174 IRELAND. 
 
 so on, until it is exhausted, when it is allowed to lie fallow. 
 Cows, sheep, goats, and poultry, are then turned out on it, 
 perhaps for two or three years. 
 
 In many parts of Ireland, the old custom oi yoking the 
 horses by the tail to the plough, is still continued, notwith- 
 standing that it is contrary to act of parliament. Among 
 very small farmers, the spade culture is most in use; but on 
 land where ploughing is necessary, three or four small 
 farmers will join together in partnership to work a plough, 
 the horse and the plough being provided between them. 
 
 Among the manufactures of Ireland, that of linen is the 
 most important, although of later date than the manufacture 
 of wool. The woollen fabrics of Ireland are chiefly of the 
 stronger and coarser sorts, the Irish not being so successful 
 in the manufacture of fine cloth; but their flannels and 
 blankets are of excellent quality, and the spinning of wool 
 into yarns is carried on very extensively in the north-west 
 part of the island; the manufacture of woollen stuffs is 
 also carried on to some extent. 
 
 The manufacture of linen is chiefly confined to Ulster, 
 and from Belfast it is exported to London, and all the prin- 
 cipal cities of Europe, as well as to North and South 
 America, and lately to China. The whole country, from 
 Antrim to Belfast, is studded with the handsome residences 
 of the linen merchants, to which bleaching greens are 
 attached, giving a lively appearance to the country, as the 
 white stripes of linen contrast pleasingly with the greenness 
 of the grass. Most of the flax seed used in Ireland at 
 present is grown at home. 
 
 The flax fabrics of Ireland consist chiefly of fine and 
 coarse linens, canvas, sacking, and damask. The mode of 
 conducting this branch of industry has, within the last few 
 years, become altogether changed: formerly, each weaver 
 grew his own flax, prepared it for the loom, and when 
 woven, brought it into the public market on a certain day in 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 685 
 
 IRELAND. 175 
 
 the week, and sold it. At present, he either takes out work 
 from a master manufacturer, and does it at home, or he 
 goes into a factory to work, on the English system. He 
 generally succeeds in earning the most money by the latter 
 plan. In consequence of the introduction of machinery, 
 the women do not obtain so much employment as formerly 
 at spinning, but many hundreds work at their own homes, 
 embroidering and working fancy muslins, the manufacture 
 of which is also carried on to a considerable extent. Since 
 the Union, there have been established several large cotton 
 factories. 
 
 Distillation and brewing are extensively pursued in Ire- 
 land; the “ Irish stout,’' or double X, and the whiskey, 
 being much esteemed in England, and the former is largely 
 exported to the East and West Indies. 
 
 There is no other manufacture of such magnitude as to 
 entitle it to a distinctive national character, yet every branch 
 of industry pursued in England is carried on to a certain 
 extent; and although the manufactures of Ireland are on a 
 limited scale when compared with those of the sister isle, 
 there are many articles in the making of which the Irish 
 are very successful, among which may be mentioned those 
 of cutlery, hats, and watches. The Irish loom also is cele- 
 brated for the manufacture of tabinet, a kind of material 
 composed of silk and worsted, and resembling brocade. 
 
 Fishing is a branch of industry which has always been 
 followed by a portion of the peasantry of Ireland, of 
 whom there are both sea and inland fishermen. The trout 
 and salmon of Ireland are distinguished both for size and 
 taste; the salmon are caught by wiers, stake nets, and 
 other contrivances; the trout, with the rod and line. The 
 eels, also, which are very delicate, and attain to great 
 size, are caught in eel wiers; a practice little known in 
 England. In the year 1809, a board of commissioners was 
 appointed by the united government for the promotion of 
 
686 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 176 IRELAND. 
 
 the Irish fisheries, an annual grant of £5,000 was placed at 
 their disposal, for the erection of small piers, fitting out 
 commodious boats, and providing other facilities for making 
 fish an article of commerce; the curing and preserving of 
 which is extensively practised, and on such an improved 
 plan, that it forms a most profitable article of merchandize. 
 
 The religion established by law in Ireland is that of the 
 church of England, or Episcopalian form of worship; but 
 the majority of the working people are Roman Catholics : 
 there is also a large proportion of Presbyterians, Methodists, 
 and other sects. The clergy of each denomination are sup- 
 ported by voluntary contributions, except those of the Pres- 
 byterian, or Scottish church, who receive the Regium 
 Donum, or Royal Bounty, and the Episcopalian clergy, who 
 are provided for by law, as in England. The provision 
 made for the latter is, in cities, a rate levied on each house, 
 and called “ Ministers’ money,” and in the country, by the 
 payment of tithes, or tenths; which tax has been reduced 
 about one- third, and converted into a rent charge, to be paid 
 by the land-owners instead of the tenants. The aggregate 
 revenue of the ecclesiastical establishment of Ireland is 
 estimated at about £1,000,000 per annum. 
 
 The Presbyterian clergymen are ordained, as well as 
 governed, by the synod of Ulster; and the clergy of the 
 various denominations of dissenters abide by the forms pre- 
 scribed by their various church governments. 
 
 Previous to 1845, the Roman Catholic priesthood of 
 Ireland received their education, and took holy orders at the 
 College of Maynooth, in the county of Kildare, which was 
 established for that purpose in the year 1798, and was prin- 
 cipally supported by an annual grant from the united 
 government. The establishment accommodated about four 
 or five hundred students, each of whom paid ten pounds, as 
 deposit for medical aid, on entering, and provided himself 
 with clothes, books, bedding, &c. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 687 
 
 IRELAND 177 
 
 A bill was brought into parliament in the early part of 
 the session of 1845, by Sir Robert Peel, for an increase of 
 the grant to the Maynooth College, which met with a strong 
 opposition on the part of those who were of opinion that 
 the endowment of a Catholic college must be prejudicial to 
 the interests of the Protestant religion. But, on the other 
 hand, it has been considered that, as the great mass of the 
 Irish population is under the entire guidance and instruction 
 of the priests, it is highly necessary that the latter should 
 be men of liberal education, which, at present, is not gene- 
 rally the case, as the college was too poor to afford the 
 means of fitting them for their profession. The question 
 was decided in favour of the bill, which passed both houses 
 of parliament by a large majority. 
 
 The lord lieutenant, as the representative of royalty, is 
 the head of the executive power in Ireland, and is assisted 
 in the business of the government by the Privy Council. 
 The lord chancellor of Ireland is the head of the law 
 department; besides whom, there are a master of the rolls, 
 two lords chief justices, a chief baron, and other judges. 
 The military in Ireland are under the control of the com- 
 mander-in-chief for that portion of the united kingdom ; and 
 the minor details of law and government are carried on by 
 the local magistracy. 
 
 The civil force, or police of Ireland has, for some time, 
 been placed on such a footing as renders it a highly efficient 
 and useful body. It consists of two distinct establish- 
 ments. One is the metropolitan police, which is intended 
 for the protection of Dublin and its environs. The police- 
 men belonging to this establishment resemble those of 
 London, both as regards their organization and their dress, 
 The other is called the county constabulary, and is com- 
 posed of horse and foot police constables. The latter are of 
 a more military character; their dress being of dark green, 
 made like that of a soldier, and they are armed with swords 
 and carbines. 
 
688 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 178 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 In the cities and extensive towns of Ireland, a very consi- 
 derable advance has taken place, within the last few years, 
 in the condition and habits of the working classes, which is 
 owing, in a great measure, to the peaceful state of the 
 country during the administration of the Whigs, and to the 
 establishment of mechanics’ institutions, and other societies 
 intended for their improvement. The wages of the Irish 
 mechanics, of course, vary according to the branch of trade 
 at which they are employed ; but, in general, they are such 
 as to enable them to live comfortably. 
 
 In large towns, there is not much of national peculiarity 
 observable, as the shops and the habits of the people are 
 almost similar to those of England. There is, however, a 
 difference in some of the objects, which attract the attention 
 of a stranger, who will not fail, among other novelties, to 
 be struck with the appearance of the Irish jaunting-cars; 
 these are of two kinds, one is called the outside car, and 
 consists of two seats, on which the passengers sit back to 
 back; in the centre is a space, called the well, which is 
 used for the reception of luggage, or any thing else that 
 may be required ; the driver sits on a dicky in front of the 
 vehicle; these cars have two wheels, and are drawn by one 
 horse. The other, which is called the covered car, re- 
 sembles a small close carriage, with the door at the back. 
 In this car, the passengers sit face to face. It is also drawn 
 by one horse, and has but two wheels. Cars of both kinds 
 are the only hackney conveyances used in Ireland, at pre- 
 sent, the covered car having completely superseded the 
 hackney coaches of former days. Many of them are made 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 689 
 
 IRELAND. 179 
 
 in a superior style, and used as private vehicles by such of 
 the gentry as do not keep carriages, as well as by respect- 
 able tradespeople. Mr. Bianconi, an Italian, introduced 
 them on the roads in the south of Ireland some years ago, 
 where they are used as stage cars, and are drawn by two, 
 and sometimes three horses. They are not used for this 
 purpose in any other part of Ireland, the usual mode of 
 making long journeys being by mail and stage coaches, and, 
 on the line of canals and large rivers, by packet boats, 
 drawn by horses. On the Shannon, iron steam boats have 
 been introduced. 
 
 As the reader is already acquainted with the terms on 
 which the Irish farmers hold their lands, he will understand 
 that their profits cannot equal those of the English farmers, 
 whom they are obliged to undersell, in order to find a 
 market for the produce of their farms; and by this means 
 they are enabled to export a large quantity of cattle and 
 butter to England. The farm-houses of Ireland are of 
 various kinds, that of the middling, working farmer is gene- 
 rally ill-built of grey stone, and is thatched, and not un- 
 frequently slated, slating having come much more into use 
 than formerly. It consists generally of one large common 
 room, or kitchen, with a hard, clay floor, in which are 
 performed all the domestic arrangements, and in which the 
 family and labourers assemble to their meals. Branch- 
 ing from the principal room are small rooms, used as bed- 
 rooms, store-rooms, dairy, &c. The furniture in most cases 
 simply consists of a deal table, a few chairs, and stools, an 
 iron pot or two, a spinning wheel, and a dresser, containing 
 delf cups and saucers, pewter platters, and wooden noggins. 
 The fuel being usually of turf, an open hearth supplies the 
 place of a stove, the pots being suspended over the fire from 
 a hook in the chimney. The farmers, with the exception of 
 those who are very poor, have feather beds, and neat che- 
 quer-patterned bed curtains. There are seldom any rooms 
 
690 CORNER^S 
 
 180 IRELAND. 
 
 up stairs, and the loft, formed by the shape of the roof, is 
 reached by means of a short ladder. 
 
 The outside of an Irish farm-house is by no means a pic- 
 turesque object. It exhibits no pretty flower plots in front, 
 or roses and honeysuckles creeping in at the windows, and 
 no luxuriant bunches of grapes encumbering a neat trellis- 
 work. The farm-yard, or bawn, is in front of the house, and 
 its only ornaments are dung hills, pools of stagnant water, 
 cows, pigs, and poultry. The farmers prepare their own 
 oread, which they make in the shape of flat cakes, and bake 
 on a griddle; the usual breakfast consists of what is called 
 stirabout, made of oatmeal and water, which is boiled until 
 very thick, and then poured out on a plate, and when it 
 becomes settled, it is eaten with milk or butter; how- 
 ever, tea and coffee are coming much more into use than 
 formerly. 
 
 Poverty and wretchedness prevail to a great extent 
 among the agricultural labourers; and, notwithstanding 
 that many measures intended for their benefit have been 
 passed by parliament, their means of gaining a livelihood 
 are very precarious. The poor laws, having in the year 
 1839, been introduced, the whole country, like that of Eng- 
 land, is now divided into districts, called unions, and more 
 than a hundred workhouses have been built in different 
 places. These establishments are supported by a rate levied 
 on the householders, in proportion to their property; but the 
 number of persons who can afford to contribute to the sup- 
 port of the poor, are so few in comparison to the number to 
 be maintained, that the tax often falls heavily on those who 
 can scarcely keep themselves and their family from starva- 
 tion. The justice and humanity of these laws cannot be 
 disputed; but, unfortunately, they have not been contrived 
 in a way that gives satisfaction either to the taxpayer or the 
 recipient of relief. However, some good, notwithstanding 
 their alleged imperfection, has resulted from them; as a 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 691 
 
 IRELAND. 181 
 
 great number of aged [.ersons, unable to work, as well as 
 orphan children and idiots, who used to rove about the 
 country in a shocking state of destitution, have found an 
 asylum in the Unions. 
 
 An agricultural' labourer cannot, on an average, obtain 
 work for more than one-third of the year. When he is 
 employed, his wages vary from six-pence to ten-pence a day, 
 with his food ; but where he is not fed, he has from ten- 
 pence to one shilling and four-pence ; the women seldom go 
 out to work in the fields, but generally remain at home and 
 employ themselves in spinning or knitting, and attending to 
 the family, a few fowls, and the cow, or the pig. At some 
 periods of the year, the boys get employment in picking 
 potatoes, removing small stones from the ground, or fright- 
 ening the birds from corn-fields; and they are paid at the 
 rate of from two-pence to four-pence a-day. 
 
 Nothing can be more miserable than the cabin of an 
 Irish labourer, the walls being generally of mud, and the 
 roof of straw thatch; the smoke partly escapes from the 
 door, and partly from a hole made in the roof, over which is 
 sometimes stuck an old basket, with the bottom out. The 
 cabin seldom has any windows, and is often built in so 
 strange a situation, that the roof is on a level with the 
 road. The furniture is in character with the dwelling, 
 consisting of a table, a chest, two or three stools, and an 
 iron pot for boiling potatoes. The beds are of oat straw, 
 with very scanty covering, over which are spread the wo- 
 men’s large cloaks, and the men’s dudeens, or great coats. 
 When the labourers diet at home, their food seldom con- 
 sists of anything except potatoes, with salt and butter- 
 milk; and on Sundays, a little bacon and cabbage; when 
 dieted by a farmer, they are better fed, as most of the 
 farmers consider that they cannot do so much work if not 
 provided with good food. In the greater number of in- 
 stances, the cottier has a small piece of land attached to his 
 
 R 
 
692 CORNER^S 
 
 182 IRELAND. 
 
 cabin, to the extent of an Irish acre, (about an acre and a 
 quarter English) on which he grows potatoes, oats, and 
 cabbages. If he cannot have the land with his cabin, he 
 contrives to rent a piece in the neighbourhood, which he 
 cultivates when he is not employed by others. The peasant 
 is considered poor indeed who is obliged to go to market for 
 either potatoes or oatmeal. Every labourer provides him- 
 self with one or two pigs, which, in general, dwell with his 
 family in the cabin; they also contrive, if possible, to have 
 a cow; and if not a cow, one or two goats; for they depend 
 much upon skimmed milk for the children. When they 
 keep a cow, the wife takes the butter to the market-place 
 of the next town, for sale. Their eggs are generally 
 bought by boys, called runners, who go about to collect 
 them for the egg merchants, who send them to England. 
 
 The peasantry of Connaught, who are the poorest in 
 Ireland, cross over to England to assist in getting in the 
 harvest; and the sum of money with which they return 
 enables them to pay the rent of their cabin, and to support 
 them through the winter. During their absence, their fa- 
 milies lock up their cabins, put the key in the thatch, and 
 go about the country to beg. Few of these poor creatures 
 have land, or any thing beyond their reaping-hook, and the 
 clothes that cover them. 
 
 That portion of the peasantry who devote themselves to 
 fishing, forms a distinct class of people, among whom the 
 fishermen of Galway are peculiar, as they dwell together in 
 a kind of seclusion, inhabiting a town of cabins on the 
 coast, called Chaddagh, of which they form the entire popu- 
 lation. They marry with each other, and never mix with 
 the people of the neighbourhood. The women spin, and 
 make nets; and the men are paid for their labour by a share 
 of the fish they take, the remainder belonging to the owners 
 of the boat. These boats are called corraghs. 
 
 The numerous hardships to which the agricultural popu- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 693 
 
 IRELAND. 183 
 
 lation of Ireland have been at all times exposed, have never 
 diminished their fondness for merry-makings, such as fairs, 
 and the festivals called patterns, which word is a corruption 
 of patron, and means a festival in honor of the patron saint 
 of the peculiar holy* well where it is held. There are many 
 such wells in Ireland, to which the peasantry, for miles 
 round, repair to perform their devotions; after which, they 
 enjoy themselves with dancing, and whatever refreshments 
 they can procure. 
 
 A fair commences with the business of buying and sell- 
 ing; after which, it is made a scene of amusement, and, 
 until lately, owing to the habits of intemperance that pre- 
 vailed to a very great extent, it too often ended in a scene 
 of riot and bloodshed, because, in consequence of the feeling 
 of clanship that existed in Ireland, there were continual 
 family or faction feuds, which only slumbered while the peo- 
 ple were sober, but were sure to break out with redoubled 
 fury when they became excited with intoxicating liquors. 
 The fair, therefore, almost invariably terminated with a gen- 
 eral battle, in which lives were frequently lost, as the com- 
 batants were always armed with heavy sticks or clubs, called 
 alpeens, which were prepared from a young ash sapling, a 
 branch from a tree not being considered sufficiently tough. 
 When a suitable stick had been procured, it was carefully 
 rubbed with hog’s lard or tallow, after which it was put up 
 in the chimney, and greased twice every day, until it was 
 considered fit for use; a hole was then made in the thickest 
 end of it, into which was poured some lead; and to the 
 other end was fastened a leather thong, in order that it 
 might be twisted round the wrist whilst in use. It thus 
 became a very formidable weapon in the hand of a violent 
 and powerful man; and an Irish countryman seldom goes 
 out for a day’s amusement without one of them. Happily, 
 now, the Irish peasantry are less intemperate and violent 
 than formerly, and such disgraceful scenes are seldom wit- 
 
694 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 184 IRELAND. 
 
 nessed at present; an improvement that is owing to the 
 influence of education, to a better example on the part of 
 the higher orders, and also to the increase of the total 
 abstinence societies, which have effected a great change in 
 the moral conduct of the working classes. Whiskey, in 
 which they used to indulge too often to excess, was first 
 made in Ireland about the middle of the twelfth century; 
 and occasions of sorrow as well as of joy, christenings, mar- 
 riages, and deaths, were formerly made excuses for in- 
 ebriety. 
 
 On the event of a death, a peculiar custom is still ob- 
 served, that of waking the body, as it is called. When a 
 person dies, the neighbours assemble at the house in which 
 the decease took place, where a singular medley of sorrow 
 and merriment ensues. The corpse, having been placed on 
 a bed, is decorated with flowers, ribbons, and white linen ; 
 at each side of the head, stand two aged women, called 
 keeners, from the duty of singing the coine, or Irish death 
 song, being performed by them : nothing can be more dismal 
 than this chaunt, which rises at times into a wild, unearthly 
 shriek, and again sinks into a law whisper, all the interven- 
 ing cadences being expressive of the feelings of the keeners, 
 and of the circumstances connected with the life and death 
 of the departed. Various groups are to be seen scattered 
 throughout the house, some uttering the most sincere la- 
 mentations, while others are engaged in playing at forfeits, 
 cards, backgammon, &c.; and this scene continues for two 
 or three days and nights. Among very poor peasants, the 
 guests are expected to bring refreshments with them; but 
 when the friends of the deceased party are respectable 
 farmers, all are regaled at the expense of the host, and 
 every one is welcome. 
 
 Temperance societies were founded in Ireland previously 
 to the year 1830, by the Quakers, but did not become 
 general until they obtained the co-operation of the Rev. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 695 
 
 IRELAND. 185 
 
 Theobald Mathew, a Roman Catholic clergyman, who, from 
 the year 1838, devoted his entire time, and expended his 
 fortune, in endeavours to promote their establishment. He 
 was held in great veneration by the Irish people both in 
 England and Ireland, and by his example and exhortations 
 produced the happiest effects. 
 
 The death of Mr. O’Connel, in 1847, put an end to the 
 hopes so long entertained by his party with regard to the 
 repeal of the union ; but there were not wanting other dis- 
 turbers, who, without his talent, had the same propensity to 
 create disaffection among the people, and incite them to acts 
 of open rebellion. The most conspicuous of those leaders 
 was Mr. Smith O’Brien, M. P. for Limerick, who, in con^ 
 junction with a newspaper editor, named Mitchell, and some 
 other persons, made an attempt, at the time of the French 
 revolution in 1848, to induce the provisional government 
 of the new republic of France, to send a military force into 
 Ireland, for the purpose of assisting the disaffected party to 
 establish a republican form of government in that country. 
 The proposal was treated with contempt, and soon afterwards 
 Mr. O’Brien and his colleagues were arrested on a charge of 
 high treason, tried at Dublin, and sentenced to death ; which 
 sentence was, however, commuted to transportation for life. 
 This punishment will, it is hoped, deter others from similar 
 mischievous endeavours to increase the misery of the Irish 
 people, by leading them to rebel against a government that is 
 far better for them than any they could substitute for it. 
 
 Immense sums of money have been voted at different 
 times by the Parliament, for bettering the condition of Ire- 
 land and its people ; and many acts have been passed within 
 the last few years with the same object; among which is 
 a very important one, allowing the sale of encumbered 
 estates. Before this law was made, many families were 
 involved in difficulties, in this way: numerous farmers, and 
 
 a 3 
 
696 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 186 IRELAND. 
 
 even many large landowners, had, for a very long time, 
 been in the habit of mortgaging their estates ; that is, bor- 
 rowing sums of money on security of their lands, when- 
 ever they wanted it; perhaps to marry, or to settle the 
 younger branches of their families ; some had recourse to 
 this expedient so frequently, and to such an extent, that 
 they became unable to pay the interest of the money bor- 
 rowed out of all the rents they could in any way obtain 
 from their tenants ; and, as the law then stood, the estates 
 thus encumbered, being entailed, that is, settled so as to 
 come after the death of the then possessor to the next heir 
 at law, could not be sold. To remedy this desperate state 
 of things, a new act, as I have said, was passed in 1848, 
 making it lawful for landowners to sell such deeply mort- 
 gaged estates, and thus they became enabled to pay off the 
 debts, and, in most cases, to realise a sum of money, or re- 
 tain a portion of the land, for themselves and their heirs; 
 and thousands of such encumbered estates have been, and 
 are still being sold, under this law, to English and Scotch, 
 as well as to Irish families, to the benefit of their nominal 
 owners, and of agriculture. Another Act of Parliament 
 provided additional funds, which landowners might borrow, 
 to pay the cost of draining lands, and other works of public 
 utility: another, extended the powers given by former acts 
 to enable guardians of the poor to purchase lands for the 
 employment of the needy and able-bodied in agricultural 
 work; laws were made about the same time for the protec- 
 tion and relief of those poor people, who, being unable to 
 pay their rents, were turned out of their dwellings. 
 
 In 1846 and the three following years, the deepest distress 
 and suffering were spread over the country, caused by the 
 almost total failure of the potato crops ; in consequence of 
 which, large subscriptions were raised in England for the 
 temporary relief of the people, while the united government 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 697 
 
 IRELAND. 187 
 
 adopted measures for their more permanent benefit, by ad- 
 vancing several millions of money to be expended on public 
 works ; so that there should be employment for those who 
 were willing to labour. In 1847, not less than seven hun- 
 dred thousand men were engaged at the public expense on 
 various roads, railways, and new buildings, in Ireland ; by 
 which labour and outlay the country was much improved. 
 About one fourth only of the country was then under culture, 
 the largest proportion of cultivated land being in Ulster, 
 which is the chief province for the growth of flax and oats, 
 the latter being more extensively cultivated in Ireland than 
 any other kind of grain. 
 
 The extension of railroads through every part of Ireland 
 to all the principal ports, has already done much towards 
 increasing the commerce of the country, and thereby pro- 
 moting its prosperity. Most of them have been commenced 
 since the year 1845, and the two principal lines are now 
 (December 1851,) nearly completed. These are the Great 
 Southern and Western, and the Midland Great Western. 
 The former runs from Dublin to Tipperary, and thence 
 north west to Limerick and Cork ; and the latter traverses 
 Ireland from east to west, passing through all the great 
 cattle feeding districts to Galway; bringing a large tract of 
 country into commercial importance, and facilitating the 
 passage to America. Most of the great towns in the north 
 of Ireland are connected by railways either completed or in 
 progress ; and in the south there are lines in various direc- 
 tions from Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and other large cities. 
 
 Several other lines are projected, and some of them will 
 be carried out; but the effects of these great works, already 
 completed, cannot but be vastly beneficial to the country 
 in every way. The great landed proprietors will more fre- 
 quently visit their Irish estates ; indeed many persons of 
 wealth and influence have, since the improvement in travel- 
 
698 CORNER^S 
 
 188 IRELAND. 
 
 ling, gone to reside in the country; and all branches of 
 trade and commerce are steadily increasing. 
 
 The institution of national schools has been already 
 spoken of, and their numbers have considerably increased 
 within the last few years. The last report of the Commis- 
 sioners of Irish national education stated the gratifying fact, 
 that, at the end of the year 1850, there were 4,547 schools 
 in operation; with 511,287 scholars, or more than half a 
 million of children, on the rolls. 
 
 There were, however, still wanting in Ireland the means 
 of educating the middle classes, in a suitable manner ; to 
 meet which necessity, a sum of £100,000 was assigned by 
 Parliament, soon after the grant to Maynooth, for establish- 
 ing three new colleges, one at Cork, one at Belfast, and one 
 at Galway. These are called Queen’s Colleges, and were 
 opened in October 1849, all religious sects being admitted 
 without distinction; and as these seminaries can confer 
 degrees, like the English Universities, they will be of im- 
 mense benefit to the Irish people, especially as law is one of 
 the branches of study pursued there; so that young men of 
 these schools, qualifying themselves for that profession, will 
 have advantages over the students at either Oxford or 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these and many other improvements 
 that are now going on in Ireland, as well as the favourable 
 state of the crops in the last and present years, there is a 
 vast deal of poverty and misery, among the very lowest 
 orders of the agricultural population, owing to the uncer- 
 tainty of their employment, and the lowness of their wages ; 
 which poverty and misery are considerably increased by 
 the farmers in the south and west provinces emigrating in 
 such large numbers, that villages and whole districts appear 
 almost entirely depopulated. The chief cause of this con- 
 tinued tide of emigration is the increasing intercourse of 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 699 
 
 IRELAND. 189 
 
 all the ports of the united kingdom with Canada and the 
 states of America; and to large sums of money, and strong 
 invitations, sent by the relatives and friends of Irish people 
 already settled in those countries; as well as to the cheap- 
 ness of the passage. Other motives for emigration may be 
 named, such as the disinclination of many of the people, in 
 the south and west parts, to adopt improved modes of culti- 
 vation, or to pay the rates levied for the support of the poor, 
 and the repayment of loans, advanced by government, for 
 the building of poor-houses. 
 
 Whether the departure of a great portion of the native 
 population will prove of ultimate benefit or injury to the 
 country, has yet to be seen ; but it cannot be doubted that 
 the prospects of Ireland, as well as its actual condition, are 
 gradually and materially improving ; for besides establish- 
 ments for manufactures and commerce, great and extensive 
 employment is given in building improved dwellings, espe- 
 cially in the north ; even the peat bogs of Ireland are now 
 being made a source of profit; hope therefore may be enter- 
 tained that the beneficial progress of education, the increase 
 of trade, and the extended intercourse of so many parts of 
 the country with each other, and with England, Scotland, 
 Australia, and America, will eventually be attended with 
 the happiest results. 
 
700 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE AND INDEX 
 
 
 
 TO THE 
 
 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 page 
 
 432 
 
 St. Patrick lands in Ulster, to attempt the conversion 
 
 
 
 of Ireland 
 
 15 
 
 717 
 
 First appearance of the Danes on the coast of Ireland 
 
 17 
 
 815 
 
 Settlement of the Danes in Armagh . . 
 
 20 
 
 850 
 
 Turgesius, a Norwegian Chief, assumes the title of King 
 
 
 
 of Ireland, about 850. . . 
 
 20 
 
 1014 
 
 Battle of Clontarf. Defeat of the Danes by Brien 
 
 
 
 Boru (the Brave,) who is killed at the close of the 
 
 
 
 action . . 
 
 28 
 
 1022 
 
 Death of Malachi, Civil war between his successors 
 
 
 
 and those of Brien 
 
 28 
 
 1167 
 
 Dermot M*c Murrough, the deposed King of Leinster, 
 
 
 
 solicits aid from Henry II., and does homage 
 
 33 
 
 1169 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke, (Strongbow,) lands at Waterford 
 
 38 
 
 1171 
 
 Henry II. lands at Waterford, Oct. 18. Conquest of 
 
 
 
 Ireland. Submission of Roderick 
 
 43 
 
 1174 
 
 Pope Adrian’s Bull granting Ireland to Henry II. is 
 
 
 
 proclaimed there. Strongbow dies the next year . . 
 
 49 
 
 1186 
 
 Prince John lands in Ireland, and provokes a rebellion 
 
 
 
 of the native princes . . 
 
 53 
 
 1189 
 
 De Courcy makes himself Earl of Ulster. Death of 
 
 
 
 Henry II. 
 
 55 
 
 1198 
 
 Death of Roderick O’Connor, the last native monarch 
 
 
 
 of Ireland 
 
 55 
 
 1210 
 
 King John lands in Ireland. Orders a money coinage 
 
 
 
 to be issued, and causes the laws to be written 
 
 58 
 
 1272 
 
 The Irish Chiefs petition Edward I., on his accession, 
 
 
 
 for English laws and usages . . 
 
 59 
 
 1314 
 
 The Pope sends letters to the Irish Archbishops, ex- 
 
 
 
 communicating all priests who shall oppos the 
 
 
 1 
 
 English Government •, 
 
 63 
 

 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 701 
 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 191 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 page 
 
 1315 
 
 Edward Bruce lands at Carrickfergus . . 
 
 64 
 
 1316 
 
 Edward Bruce crowned King of Ireland. Robert Bruce 
 
 
 
 comes over to his aid, but returns next year * . 
 
 65 
 
 1318 
 
 Battle of Dundalk. Defeat and death of Edward Bruce 
 
 67 
 
 1361 
 
 Lionel, Dube of Clarence and Earl of Ulster, in right 
 
 
 
 of his wife, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . . 
 
 71 
 
 1372 
 
 Statute of Kilkenny, by which intermarriage between 
 
 
 
 the English and Irish is made high treason » • 
 
 73 
 
 1394 
 
 Richard 11. lands in Ireland, and receives the submis- 
 
 
 
 sion of seventy-five princes . . 
 
 74 
 
 1399 
 
 Richard lands again in Ireland, to quell anew rebellion, 
 but returns hastily on receiving tidings of the pro- 
 
 
 
 gress of his cousin Bolingbroke 
 
 76 
 
 1449 
 
 Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV., being 
 appointed Governor of Ireland, puts down a rebellion 
 
 
 
 by gentle measures , . • • 
 
 80 
 
 1461 
 
 Accession of Edward IV. The English Pale reduced to 
 
 
 
 Four Counties . . . . . . . . 
 
 81 
 
 1487 
 
 Lambert Simnel proclaimed in Ireland as Earl of 
 Warwick and nephew of Edward IV., and crowned 
 
 
 
 at Dublin 
 
 84 
 
 1492 
 
 Perkin Warbeck lands at Cork, and announces himself 
 
 
 
 as Richard, Duke of York 
 
 87 
 
 1495 
 
 Repeal by “ Poyning’s Act,” of the right of sanctuary 
 granted to Ireland by the Duke of York. Revival of 
 
 
 
 the Statutes of Kilkenny by Poynings 
 
 87 
 
 1535 
 
 Rebellion of the Fitzgeralds. Execution of Lord Tho- 
 
 
 
 mas Fitzgerald . . . . . . 
 
 95 
 
 1535 
 
 The King’s Supremacy acknowledged by the Parliament 
 
 
 
 of Dublin 
 
 98 
 
 1541 
 
 Henry VIII. proclaimed King of Ireland. Origin of 
 
 
 
 the Irish Peerage 
 
 99 
 
 1555 
 
 Restoration of the Catholic religion, by Mary. . 
 
 105 
 
 1560 
 
 Unsuccessful attempt of the Parliament at Dublin to 
 
 
 
 restore Protestantism . . 
 
 105 
 
 1583 
 
 Rebellion and Death of Fitzmaurice, Earl of Desmond 
 
 106 
 
702 
 
 CORNER’S 
 
 
 192 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 pa^re 
 
 1599 
 
 Rebellion of the Earls of Tyrone. Essex sent to Ire- 
 land as Lord Deputy, and offends the Queen by 
 
 
 
 treating with O’Niel . . . . . . — 
 
 113 
 
 1602 
 
 Submission of the Earl to the Governor, Mountjoy .. 
 
 114 
 
 1605 
 
 James I. proposes his plan for the colonization of 
 Ulster, to the citizens of London ; who raised a sum 
 
 
 
 of j£^20,000 for the purpose . . 
 
 117 
 
 
 
 Abolition of tbe old Brehon Laws of Ireland. The 
 
 
 
 English judicial system introduced . . 
 
 120 
 
 1633 
 
 Introduction of the Linen Manufacture, by Strafford, 
 
 
 
 when Lord Lieutenant 
 
 121 
 
 1641 
 
 Irish Rebellion, originating in the unjust and oppressive 
 proceedings taken by Charles I. relative to the lands 
 
 
 
 in Connaught . . 
 
 124 
 
 1649 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, appointed Lord Lieutenant, storms 
 Drogheda, which had declared for Charles 11. Sub- 
 
 
 
 mission of Cork, Kilkenny, and Clonmel . , 
 
 129 
 
 1651 
 
 Surrender of Limerick to General Ireton 
 
 131 
 
 1652 
 
 ‘Act for the Settlement of Ireland,* passed, Aug. 12, 
 
 
 
 Expulsion of the Irish from Leinster and Munster 
 
 132 
 
 1665 
 
 Surrender by the military settlers of a third of their 
 lands to augment the “ Fund of Reprisals ’* for the 
 
 
 
 indemnification of Catholic sufferers • • 
 
 138 
 
 1687 
 
 The Duke of Ormond displaced by the Earl of Tyrcon- 
 
 
 
 nel, as Lord Lieutenant 
 
 139 
 
 1689 
 
 Landing of James at K insale. Tyrconnel meets him 
 
 
 
 with an army of 40,000 Catholics 
 
 139 
 
 — 
 
 Repeal of the “Act of Settlement.** Arbitrary pro- 
 
 
 
 ceedings of James 
 
 140 
 
 — 
 
 Siege and gallant defence of Londonderry 
 
 141 
 
 1690 
 
 Landing of King William at Belfast. Battle of the 
 
 
 
 Boyne . . 
 
 143 
 
 — 
 
 William is compelled to raise the siege of Limerick . . 
 
 143 
 
 1691 
 
 Battle of Anghrim. St. Ruth is killed in the moment 
 of victory, and bis army eventually routed. Limerick 
 
 
 
 surrenders to General Ginkle . , 
 
 145 
 

 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 703 
 
 
 CHROiNOLUGlCAL TABLE. 
 
 193 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 page 
 
 1693 
 
 Second Irish BarJiament of William, which continues 
 
 
 
 sitting during the remainder of this reign . . 
 
 147 
 
 1727 
 
 Penal Laws against the Catholics. They are deprived 
 
 
 • 
 
 of the Franchise 
 
 147 
 
 1745 
 
 Appointment of the Earl of Chesterfield to the Lord- 
 
 
 
 Lieutenancy. His judicious administration 
 
 148 
 
 1760 
 
 Unsuccessful landing of the French at Carrickfergus 
 
 148 
 
 1780 
 
 Establishment of the “Irish Volunteers,” on the 
 refusal of the ministry to afford armed protection to 
 
 
 
 the Maritime Towns . . 
 
 153 
 
 
 Repeal of the Act 6 George I.; “for securing the 
 dependence of Ireland.” Emancipation of Irish 
 Commerce. Grant of ^50,000 to Grattan, “the 
 
 
 
 Saviour of his Country,"’ by the Irish Parliament 
 
 154 
 
 1791 
 
 Formation of the “ Society of United Irishmen,” for 
 
 
 
 the separation of Ireland from England 
 
 157 
 
 1794 
 
 Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, May 23. 
 
 158 
 
 1798 
 
 The Irish Rebellion breaks out. Arrest of the Direc- 
 
 
 
 tory. Defeat of the Rebels on Vinegar Hill 
 
 159 
 
 1801 
 
 Union with England, Jan. 1. 
 
 159 
 
 1810 
 
 Meeting held in Dublin to agitate for the Repeal of the 
 
 
 
 Union. Rising influence of Mr. O’Connell . 
 
 162 
 
 1820 
 
 George IV. visits Ireland 
 
 163 
 
 1829 
 
 Catholic Emancipation Act passed by the Duke of 
 
 
 
 Wellington and Mr. Peel, April 13. . . 
 
 164 
 
 1843 
 
 “Monster Meetings,” held in various places to agitate 
 for the Repeal of the Union. That of Clontarf for- 
 bidden by proclamation. Arrest and imprisonment 
 
 
 
 of Mr. O’Connell and seven others . . 
 
 165 
 
 1844 
 
 The appeal against the verdict is decided by the Lords 
 
 
 
 in favour of the prisoners 
 
 166 
 
 — 
 
 Charitable Bequests Act . . 
 
 167 
 
 
 Parliamentary Grant voted for National Education . . 
 
 168 
 
 1845 
 
 Increased grant to Maynooth College, voted by both 
 
 
 
 Houses .. 
 
 177 
 
704 CORNER’S 
 
 194 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 A- D. - page 
 
 1839 Poor laws, introduction of, into Ireland .. lyo 
 
 1838 Temperance habits successfully inculcated among the 
 
 Irish by Father Mathew .. .. ..185 
 
 1847 Death of Daniel O’Connell .. .. .. .. 185 
 
 1848 Seditious movements in Ireland; Mr. O’Brien’s efforts 
 
 with the French republic to assist in establishing a 
 republic . . . . . . . . . . . . ..185 
 
 Trial and sentence of Mr. O’Brien and others, for 
 
 sedition.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 185 
 
 Encumbered estates. Act for the sale of, important 
 
 effects of . . . . . . . . , , ..185 
 
 Large extent of aid voted by the Parliament to relieve 
 
 Irish distress .. .. .. .. ,. ..186 
 
 Railways in Ireland, commencement, and progress of 187 
 
 1949 National education: number of schools in operation, 
 
 and scholars on the rolls .. .i ... .. 188 
 
 Queen’s colleges, the, grant for establishing .. .. 188 
 
 1850 Emigration, extensive resource to, by the native Irish 189 
 
 THE END. 
 
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