IRELAND, 
.506 
Elizabeth, which fhowed the diftraftion cf her mind to¬ 
wards the clofe of her life. Being at length privately af- 
fured of her death, he lent a fafe-conduft to the rebel 
earl, prefling him to an immediate furrender, if he was 
defirous of preventing his utter deflru&ion. O’Nial ac¬ 
cordingly repaired without lofs of time to the deputy at 
Miilifont, where, falling upon his knees before him, he 
petitioned for mercy with an air and afpeft of diftrefs. 
He fubfcribed his fubmifiion in the molt ample manner 
and form. He implored the queen’s gracious commifera- 
tion 5 and humbly fued to be reltored to his dignity, and 
the ftate of a fubjeft, which he had juftly forfeited. He 
utterly renounced the name of O'Nial, which he had af- 
fumed on account of the great veneration in which it was 
held among the Irifh. He abjured all foreign power, and 
ail dependency .except on the crown of England ; religned 
all claim to any lands excepting fuch as lliould be con¬ 
ferred upon him by letters patent; promifing at the fame 
time to afiilt the ftate in abolifhing all barbarous cuftoms, 
and eftabliffiing law and civility among his people. The 
lord-deputy, on the part of the queen, promifeda full par¬ 
don to him and all his followers 5 to himfelf the reftora- 
tlon of his blood and honours, with a new patent for his 
lands, except fome portions referved for certain chieftains 
received into favour, and fome for the ufe of Englifh gar- 
rifons. After this interview, O’Nial attended the deputy 
to Dublin, and, there being informed of Elizabeth’s de- 
ceafe, he burit into tears from grief at his precipitate fub- 
miflion. As however it was now impoflible tb recede, he 
pretended that affedion for the departed princefs, who 
had treated him with fuch clemency, was the caufe of his 
tears, and renewed in its full extent his fubmiflion to her 
fuccelfor. Thus terminated a conteft which in ten years 
had coft the Englifh government three millions of money, 
a prodigious fum at that time, when the ordinary annual 
revenue of the crown fell fhort of half a million ; and 
during which this unhappy country is fuppofed to have 
•loft the greater part of its population by fword, famine, 
and peftilence. 
No infurgent now remained in this kingdom who had 
not obtained or fued for mercy. Many, indeed, were 
driven by neceffity to the continent, and earned a fubfift- 
ence by ferving in the armies of Spain ; and thus a race 
of Irifh exiles were trained to arms, filled with a malig¬ 
nant refentment againft the Englifh. Thus the honour 
of reducing all the enemies of the crown of England in 
this ifland, after a continued conteft for 440 years, was re¬ 
ferved for the arms of Elizabeth. 
Under James I. Ireland began to affume a quite different 
appearance. That monarch valued himfelf upon promot¬ 
ing the arts of peace, and made it his ftudy to civilize 
his barbarous Irifh fubjects. By repeated confpiracies 
and rebellipns, a vaft tract of land had efeheated to the 
crown in fix northern counties, Tyrconnel, now called 
Donnega!, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh, 
amounting to about 500,000 acres; a tradft of country co¬ 
vered with woods, where rebels and banditti found a fe- 
cure refuge, and which was deftined to lie wafte without 
the timely interpofition of government. James refoived 
to difpofe of thefe lands in fuch a manner as might intro¬ 
duce all the happy confequences of peace and cultivation. 
He caufed forveys to be taken of the feveral counties 
where the new fettlements were to be eftablifhed; deferibed 
particularly the ftate of each ; pointed out the fituations 
proper for the eredtion of towns and cattles ; delineated 
the characters of the Irifh chieftains, the manner in which 
they fhould be treated, the temper and circumftances of 
the old inhabitants, the rights of the new purchafers, and 
tlie claims of both ; together with the impediments to 
former plantations, and the methods of removing them. 
It was moreover determined, that the perfons to whom 
lands were affigned fhould be either new undertakers from 
Great Britain, efpecially from Scotland, or fervitors, as they 
were called ; that is, men who had for fome time ferved 
in Ireland, either in civil or military offices ; or old Irifh 
chieftains or captains. Among the laft were included even 
thofe Irifh who had engaged in the rebellion of Tyrone, 
and ftill harboured their fecret difeontents. To gain 
them, if poflible, by favour and lenity, they were treated 
with particular indulgence. Their under-tenants and 
fervants were allowed to be of their own religion ; and, 
while all the other planters were obliged to take the oath 
of allegiance, they were tacitly excepted. The fervitors 
were allowed to take their tenants either from Ireland or 
Britain, provided no popifh recufants were admitted. The 
Britifh undertakers were confined to their own country¬ 
men. 
In the plantations which had been formerly attempted, 
the Irifh and Englifh had been mixed together, from a 
fond imagination that the one would have learned civility 
and induftry from the other. But experience had now 
difeovered, that this intercourfe ferved only to make the 
Irifh envy the fuperior comforts of their Englifh neigh¬ 
bours, and to take the advantage of a free accefs to their 
houfes to fteal their goods and plot againft their lives. It 
was therefore deemed neceflary to plant them in feparate 
quarters; and in the choice of thefe fituations, the errors 
of former times were carefully correfted. The original 
Englifh adventurers, on their firft fettlement in Ireland, 
were captivated by the fair appearance of the plain and 
open diftrifts. Here they erefted their caftles and habi¬ 
tations ; and forced the old natives into the woods and 
mountains, their natural fortrefles. There they kept thern- 
felves unknown, living by the milk of their kine, with¬ 
out hufbandry or tillage; there they increafed to incredi¬ 
ble numbers by promifeuous generation ; and there they 
held their afiemblies, and formed their confpiracies, with¬ 
out difeovery. But now the northern Irifh were placed 
in the molt open and acceffible parts of the country, where 
they might lie under the clofe infpeftion of their neigh¬ 
bours, and be gradually habituated to agriculture and the 
mechanical arts. To the Britifh adventurers were afligned 
places of the greateft ftrength and command ; to the fer¬ 
vitors, ftations of the greateft danger, and greateft advan¬ 
tage to the crown : but, as this appeared a peculiar hard- 
fliip, they were allowed guards and entertainment, until 
the country fhould be quietly and completely planted. 
The experience of ages had fhovvn the inconvenience 
of enormous grants to particular lords, attended with fuch 
privileges as obftructed the adminiftration of civil govern¬ 
ment : and, even in the late reign, favourite undertakers 
had been gratified with fuch portions of land as they were 
by no means able to plant. But, by the prefent fcheme, 
the lands to be planted were divided in three different 
proportions; the greateft to confift of 2000 Englifh acres, 
the lead of 1000, and the middle of 1500. One half of 
the efeheated lands in each county was affigfted to the 
fmalleft, the other moiety divided between the other pro¬ 
portions : and, the general diftributions being thus afeer- 
tained, to prevent all difputes between the undertakers, 
their fettlements in the refpective diftrifts were to be de- 
terrbined by lot. Eftatcs were afligned to ail, to be held 
cf them and their heirs. The undertakers of 2000 acres 
were to hold of the king in capite ; thofe of 1500, by 
knights fervice; thofe of rooo, in common foccage. The 
firft were to build a caftie, and inclofe a Itrong court-yard, 
or bawn as it was called, within four years ; the l'econd, to 
finifh a houfe and bawn within two years; and the third, 
to inclofe a bawn ; for even this rude fpecies of fortifica¬ 
tion was accounted no inconfiderable defence againft an 
Irifh enemy. The firft were to plant upon their lands, 
within three years, forty-eight able men of Englifh or 
Scottifh birth, to be reduced to twenty families ; to keep 
a demefne of fix hundred acres in their own hands; to 
have four fee-farmers on one hundred and twenty acres 
each ; fix leafe-holders, each on one hundred acres ; and 
on the reft, eight families of hufbandmen, artificers, and 
cottagers. The others were under the like obligations 
proportionably. All were, for five years after the date of 
their patents, to re fide upon their lands, either in perlon* 
or 
