IRELAND. 
£98 
wealth. It was therefore enacted, that riiarriage, nurture 
of infants, &c. with the Irifh, fhould be confidered and 
punifhed as high treafon, and likewif'e, that if any man of 
Englifh race ffiall ufe an Irifh name, the Irifh language, 
or the Irifli apparel, or any mode or cuftom of the Irifh, 
he ffiall forfeit his lands and tenements, until he hath 
given fecurity in the court of chancery to conform in 
every particular to the Englifh manners ; or, if lie have 
no lands, that he (hall be imprifoned till the like fecurity 
be given. The Brehon law was pronounced to be a per¬ 
nicious cuftom ar.d innovation lately introduced among 
the Englifh lubjects ; and it was therefore ordained, that 
in all their controverfies they fhould be governed by the 
common law of England ; and that whoever fhould fub- 
mit to the Irifh jurifdi&ion fhould be adjudged guilty 
of high treafon. As the Englifh had been accuftomed 
to make war or peace with the bordering Irifh at plea- 
lure, they were now exprefsly prohibited from levying 
war without fpecial warrant from the flate. It was 
alfo made highly penal for the Englifh to permit their 
Irifli neighbours to graze their lands, to prefent them to 
ecclefiaftical benefices, or to receive them into monafteries 
or religious houfes ; to entertain their bards, who per¬ 
verted their imaginations by romantic tales; or their 
news-tellers, who feduced them by falfe reports. It was 
made felony to impofe or cefs any forces upon the En¬ 
glifh fubject againft his will. And, as the royal liberties 
and franehifes were become fanftuaries for malefaftors, 
exprefs power was given to the king’s fheriffs to enter 
into all franehifes, and there to apprehend felons and trai¬ 
tors. Laftly, becaufe the great lords, when they levied 
forces for the public fervice, afted with partiality, and 
laid unequal burdens upon the fubjedls, it was ordained 
that four wardens of the peace in every county fhould 
adjudge what men and armour every lord or tenant fhould 
provide. The ftatute was promulgated with particular 
folemnity ; and the fpiritual lords, the better to enforce 
obedience, denounced an excommunication on thofe who 
fnould prefume to violate it in any inftance. 
This ftatute, it is evident, could not tend to promote 
the peace of the kingdom. This could only have been 
done by removing the animofity between the native Irifh 
and Englifh; but fo far was the ftatute of Kilkenny from 
having any tendency of this kind, that it manifeftly tended 
to increafe the hatred between them. During the whole 
of this reign, therefore, the ftate of the Irifh government 
continued to be greatly difordered and embroiled. The 
Englifh intereft gradually declined ; and the connections 
of the king’s fubjeCts with the original inhabitants, occa- 
fioned by their vicinity and necefiary intercourfe, in de- 
fpite of all legal injunctions, obliged the king to relax 
the feverity of the ftatutes of Kilkenny, in cafes where 
they proved impracticable, or oppreffive in the execution. 
The perpetual hoftility, however, in which the different 
parties lived, proved an effectual bar to the introduction 
of thofe arts which contribute to the comfort and refine¬ 
ment of mankind. Even foreign merchants could not 
venture into fuch a dangerous country without particular 
letters of protection from the throne. The perpetual 
fucceffion of new adventurers from England, led by in¬ 
tereft or neceftity, ferved only to inflame diflenfion, in¬ 
stead of introducing any eftential improvement. Lawyers 
fent from England were notoriotifiy infufficient, if not 
corrupt; and, as fuch, had frequently been the objeCts of 
complaint. The clergy were a mean grovelling race, to¬ 
tally influenced by the crown. Even prelates were com¬ 
monly made the inferior agents of government in col¬ 
lecting forces, and railing war againft the Irifli enemy ; 
but were not to be enticed into this fervice, except by 
penfions from tire exchequer. Thefe penfions with other 
charges could not be paid without remittances from Eng¬ 
land ; for we are affured that the whole revenue, both 
certain and cafual, derived by the Englifh government 
from Ireland, on an average of the belt feven years of the 
long reign of Edward III. fell fhort of io,cool. per an¬ 
i 
num. Attendance in parliament they dreaded as the 
greateft hardfhip; and either recurred to mean excufes to 
avert the penalty of abfence, or iued to the king.to be ex¬ 
empted by patent from contributing or aflenting to thofe 
laws by which they were to be governed. Infhort, into 
fo abject a ftate had the colony fallen, and fo degraded 
was the character of the country, that, when fir Richard 
Pembridge, warden of the Cinque Ports, was nominated 
chief governor, he declined the appointment, and his re- 
fufal was juftified on the ground that going to Ireland, 
even in that high office, was confidered to be going into 
exile. It is therefore not to be wondered at if thole who 
accepted of fuch an office rather ltudied their private ad¬ 
vantage than the public benefit. Accordingly we find 
early in the reign of Richard II. a chief governor pu- 
nilhed, but the particulars of his profecution are not re¬ 
corded. Philip de Courtney, a coufin of the king, ap¬ 
pointed in 1382 lord lieutenant for ten years, was in lei’s 
than two fuperfeded, arrefted for extortion, and his ef- 
feCIs were feized to make compeniktion to the perfons 
aggrieved. 
The difordered ftate of the colony, and the expence of 
its maintenance, caufed fo much diflatisfaefion in England, 
that various fchemes were fucceffively formed for the effec¬ 
tual reduction of the Irifli, and alfo the degenerate Englifh 
inhabitants of the ifland. To accomplifh this defirable 
objeCt, Richard II. landed at Waterford in OCtober 1394, 
with an army of 34,000 men, which, if ably directed, 
would doubtlefs have been fully adequate to the intended 
objeCt. After a few flight fkirmifhes with fome fepts in 
Leinfter, the Irifli chieftains, to the number of feventy- 
five, made their fubmiffion to the king, promifing fealty, 
the payment of tribute, and the keeping of the peace. 
Such were the only terms required of the petty princes, 
and obferved by them only while it fuited their conveni¬ 
ence. To the Englifh, incorporated with hoftile fepts, 
confequently deemed rebels, was granted a truce of fome 
months, preparatory to a general pardon. Having con¬ 
ferred on the princes of Ulfter, Connaught, North Mun- 
fter, Leinfter, and fome others, the unwelcome honour of 
knighthood, and fpent nine months in Dublin in feaft- 
ing and frivolous parade, Richard returned to England 
in 1395, to perfecute the heretical Lollards, leaving this 
unfortunate ifland precifely in the fame ftate in which he 
found it, excepting a temporary appearance of delufive 
tranquillity. 
It was not long before hoftilities were renewed. The 
fepts of Leinfter had promifed in their treaties of fubmif¬ 
fion to evacuate that province for the ufe of the colonifts, 
and leek for themfelves other fettlements. Attempts to 
enforce this monftrous condition occafioned a war of va¬ 
rious fuccefs. The O’Byrnes were driven from their pof- 
feflions in Wicklow, by the earl of Ormond, and Morti- 
merearl of Marche, then chief governor; but, being pur- 
fued into Offory, they attacked their enemies by furprife, 
and routed them with great lofs, the lord-lieutenant him- 
felf being numbered among the flain. Richard, exafpe- 
rated at the audacity of the Irifh, and the death of his 
coufin Mortimer, affembled another army of 30,000 men 
at Briftol, and on the 13th May, 1399, again landed at 
Waterford. After three weeks fpent in vainly waiting 
for reinforcements, he proceeded through a country a.l- 
ready laid wafte to attack Mac Murchad, an enterprifing 
chieftain, who, with three thoufand well-armed followers, 
fo ably availed himfelf of his local knowledge of the 
country, and the expertnefs of his men in defultory con¬ 
flicts, as to baffle the royal army compofed of ten times the 
number. This army was at length forced to an inglorious 
retreat, in which it was inceflantly harafled by the ene¬ 
my, and fo prefled by famine, againft which the thought- 
lefs monarch had made no provilion, that, when fome vef- 
fels fent from Dublin to relieve their wants arrived on the 
coaft, his men ruflied into the water, and, in their eager- 
nefs to appeafe their hunger, affually flaughtered one ano¬ 
ther. Mac Murchad, while he annoyed the retreating army, 
endeavoured 
