300 I R E I 
an account has been given in voi.vi. p.676, 7. the king 
had the magnanimity not only to pardon him, but to 
continue him in-the office of lord-deputy. During hiS 
adminiftration the Englilh pale was pre'ferved by his afti- 
vity and influence, and by the mutual hoftilities of the Irilh 
chieftains. Of thefe petty wars, one waged between the 
houfes of Tyr-Owen and Tyr-Connel was remarkable for 
the laconic manner in which a threat was denounced on 
one fide, and a defiance returned on the other. “ Send 
me tribute, or elfe-”, was the meffage of O’Nial. 
“ I owe you none, and if-”, was the anfwer of 
Tyr-Connel. 
In 1492, the king, on receiving intelligence that it was 
the intention of Perkin Warbeck, a new pretender to the 
Englifli crown, to make Ireland the firlt fcene of his ope¬ 
rations, and fearing the attachment of the Kildare family 
to the houfe of York, appointed the archbilhop of Dub¬ 
lin lord-deputy infiead of the earl; but he foon perceived 
the expediency of adopting new meafures for the fecurity 
of his intereft in this country. The pale, or that portion 
of the ifland which acknowledged the Englilh law, and 
obedience to the civil magiftrate, had been reduced to fo 
narrow a compafs, as to extend over no more than half of 
the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Wexford, and 
Uriel, the modern Lowth ; and even there the common 
people had adopted the Irifh habit and language; while 
the red of the country was pofiefled by about lixty Irifh 
clans, and fome of degenerate Englifli, independent of 
the royal authority. 
In this.deplorable fituation, the king fe'nt over fir Ed¬ 
ward Poynings as lord-deputy, wbofe exertions contri¬ 
buted more than thofe of any of his predeceflors to the 
tranquillity of the date. During his adminiftration was 
enafted the law known by the name of Poynings' Law, and 
which has lince been the fubjeft of much political de¬ 
bate. The purport of it was, That no parliament fliould 
be held in that ifland without firft giving notice to the 
king of England, and acquainting him with the afts to 
be palled in that parliament; neither fliould any aft puffed, 
or any parliament held, without the approbation of the 
king and council, be deemed valid. Thus was the in¬ 
fluence of the turbulent barons greatly broken ; and the 
governor, not having it in his powder to aflemble parlia¬ 
ments when he pleafed, became a perfon of much lefs con- 
fequence. The whole Irifli legiflation alfo became de¬ 
pendent on that of England, and ever fmce continued 
to be fo. 1 
From this time we may date the revival of the Englifli 
power in Ireland, which, from the Scottifh war in the 
time of Edward II. had gradually declined into a mifera- 
ble and precarious flate of weaknefs. The authority of 
the crown, which had at laft been defied, infulted, and re- 
jefted, even in the Englifli territory, was reftored and con¬ 
firmed, and the rebellious vigoroully oppofed and fup- 
prefled. The feignory of the Britifli crown over the whole 
body of the Irifli, which in former reigns feemed to have 
been totally forgotten, was now formally claimed and af- 
ferted ; and fome of the moll ferocious chieftains, by their 
marriage-conneftions, became the avowed friends of the 
Englifli power. The ignominious tribute, called the 
black rent, was indeed ftill paid to fome chieftains; but 
their hoftilities were oppofed and chaftifed, and even in 
their own diftrifts they were made to feel the luperiority 
cf Englifli government. 
The earl of Kildare, on his removal from the govern¬ 
ment, had repaired to London to vindicate his conduft, 
where he underwent a tedious confinement. Being at 
length, in 1496, admitted to trial, and ordered by the king 
to provide couniel for his defence, he feized his majefty’s 
hands with uncourtly familiarity, faying with vehemence: 
“Yea, the ableft in the realm: your highnefs I take for 
my counfel againlt thefe falfe knaves.” Henry was far 
from being difpleafed with this rough compliment; nor 
was he unfavourably difpofed by the artlefs behaviour of 
AND. > ' 
Kildare on his trial, whert he treated his accufers as if he 
were in Ireland, and ftill their mailer. Being charged 
with having facrilegioufly burned to the ground the church 
of Calliel, in one of his lawlefs expeditions, he fternly re¬ 
plied : “Spare your evidence; I did let fire to the church, 
becaufe I thought the biihop was in it.” Nothing of a 
treafonable nature being proved againft him, but merely 
afts of feudal violence, the policy of the king determined 
him not only to acquit the accuied, but to re-inveft him 
with the office of chief governor. Accordingly, when his 
accufers clofed their charge with the declaration,' “ All 
Ireland cannot govern this earl,” Henry replied, “Well 
then, this earl lhall govern all Ireland.” 
The confidence of the king was fully juftified by the 
fubfequent conduft of Kildare, who held the reins of go¬ 
vernment till his death, overawing the Irilh chieftains, 
reducing thofe of Englifli origin to a ftate of tranquillity, 
and fecuring at leaft, if not enlarging, the pale. With a 
view to conciliate the houfe of Ormond, he gave his Af¬ 
ter in marriage to the head of that family. Another ma¬ 
trimonial alliance of the earl involved him in a war which 
had confiderable influence on the affairs of Ireland. Uiiac 
Mac William,lord of Clanricard, having married his daugh¬ 
ter, incurred his refentment by difrefpeftful behaviour to 
luch a degree, that arms alone could decide the difpute. 
Clanricard was aflifted by the forces of Connaught, toge¬ 
ther with thofe of Thomond, and other chiefs of Mun- 
fter; while the lords of the pale, the O’Nials, and fome 
other leaders of the north, efpoufed the caufe of the go¬ 
vernor. In Auguft 1504, the parties met at Knocktow, 
near Galway, when the furious onfet of Clanricard was 
fteadily received with a fiiower of well-aimed arrows, 
which made fuch dreadful havoc, that the viftory was 
eafily decided. Above 2000 of the enemy were flain, with 
but little lofs to the lord deputy’s forces. 
On the death of Kildare in 1513, his fon Gerald, who 
with his patrimony inherited his ipirit, was elected gover¬ 
nor by the council, and confirmed by Henry VIII. who 
had, in 1509, afcended the Englith throne. This noble¬ 
man, who formed a powerful connexion in England, by 
his marriage with Elizabeth Grey, daughter of the mar¬ 
quis of Dorfet, was thrice appointed to the important of¬ 
fice of chief governor, and as often removed through the 
intrigues of his brother-in-law Piers Butler, earl of Or¬ 
mond. On the laft of thefe occafions, in 1534, Kildare 
was commanded to refign the government into the hands 
of fome perfon for whofe conduft he fliould be refponfi- 
ble, and repair immediately to the king. In vain he ex¬ 
erted his utmoft intereft to evade this order; but, finding 
himfelf reduced to the alternative of obedience or open 
rebellion, he chofe the former. Having, contrary to the 
royal mandate, fupplied his caftles with arms and ammu¬ 
nition from the king’s ftores, for their defence againft the 
apprehended attacks of his enemies, he left the adminif¬ 
tration to his fon, lord Thomas Fitz-Gerald, fcarcely 
twenty-one years of age. This young nobleman, poffeff- 
ing a captivating perfon and endowments, but too.high a 
notion of the power and confequence of his family, and 
rath from inexperience, was foon mified by a falfe report 
of his father’s execution in England, and, inflamed with 
refentment, openly railed the ftandard of rebellion. Pro¬ 
ceeding at the head of 140 armed men to St. Mary’s Ab¬ 
bey, where the affrighted council was fitting, he refigned 
his office of deputy, and profeffed himfelf the enemy of 
the Englifli monarch. Cromer, the chancellor, and pri¬ 
mate of Armagh, feizing the impetuous youth by the 
hand, pathetically reprelented the vanity and calamitous 
confequences of fuch a defiance of his fovereign. His fol¬ 
lowers, ignorant of the Englilh language, took the pre¬ 
late’s harangue for an encomium on their hero and his 
enterprife; on which a bard in his train, unwilling to be 
furpaffed in his particular province,. chaunted in his na¬ 
tive language the prailes of the young leader, whom, from 
his rich attire, he ftyled the filken lord, chiding the delay 
