ON the death of king Edward, 1553, the ambitious Northumberland exerted all his endeavours to raise his daughter-in-law, the lady Jane Grey, to the crown and it was with the greatest difficulty that this excellent lady had been persuaded to coincide with his wishes. She was proclaimed queen in England, and shortly after in Ireland. But the. hopes of Northumberland and his friends were speedily blasted. The order for proclaiming the lady Jane in Ireland, was quickly followed by a letter expressing their con cern at having thus " borne with the time," declaring that their sovereign lady, queen Mary, had been pro claimed in London, and directing that like proclama tion should be made to all her loving subjects of Ireland. As the English recognised her title, and the ministers of state in Ireland followed their example, Mary ascended the throne.

Though this princess was distinguished by a strong attachment to the papal principles, all those officers of state, who had been instrumental in promoting the reformation, were confirmed in their respective departments. Particular grants and favors were conferred on several persons, who pleaded their services or sufferings; and George Dowdal, in particular, was restored to the dignity and office of primate of all Ireland, and invested with the priory of Athirdee, in consideration of the spoil made in his archbishopric during his absence. With the same appearance of clemency which had been shown in England, on the coronation of Mary, a general pardon was granted to all her subjects in Ireland. No violent changes were as yet attempted in the religious establishment: a licence only was published, as in England, for the celebration of mass, without penalty or compulsion; and, among the royal titles, that of supreme head, on earth, of the church of Ireland, still continued to be inserted in the acts of state

From policy Mary thought it expedient to be moderate for some time. The designs, which she

meditated, made it necessary to secure the interest of the leading men of Ireland, and with this view, young Kildare, already restored to the greatest part of his estate, as mentioned in the last chapter of the preceding volume, was, in the first year of her reign, though not immediately on her accession, restored to the honors of his ancestry; and soon after vested with all the estates forfeited by the attainder of his father. Kildare returned to his native country, with the young earl of Ormond, and a son of the baron of Upper Ossory, both educated at the court of England together with the king; both distinguished by their military services, and the latter an especial favorite of young Edward. About the same time Charles Cavenagh, head of the great Leinster family of Mac Murchad, was created a peer of the realm, by the title of baron Balyan, and permitted to retain his privileges, as an Irish chieftain, an Irish chieftain, being nominated captain of his sept. O'Connor, long confined in England, regained his liberty and his country; but for this he was indebted to the filial piety of an amiable daughter, who had accompanied him in his captivity. Affected with grief on account of her father's confinement, she employed her address and engaging manners so effectually with the queen, as to procure his release. O'Connor's return to Ireland naturally alarmed the jealousy of those, who had received grants of his demesnes: they industriously possessed the deputy with dreadful apprehensions of his disaffection and turbulence; who accordingly obliged him to renew his submission, and give up his son as an hostage for his future allegiance and peaceable behaviour.

The design which Mary had formed with respect to the reformation in Ireland, now began to appear: she was ready to grant these conciliating marks of royal favor to such of her Irish subjects, with whose dispositions she had been made acquainted in England. Sir Anthony St. Ledger, who had been again intr

ed with the government of Ireland, discovered himself, on the present occasion, to be a complete courtier. In the former reign he supported the reformation; in the present he servilely obeyed the commands of the queen, and laboured hard to suppress it. The return of Dowdal was a signal to the clergy, who favoured the reformation; accordingly Bale of Ossory, the enemy of popery, and Casey of Limerick, fled in dismay others were more constant, or less alarmed. The general pardon granted on the coronation of the queen, secured them from any very severe animadversions on their former conduct; but many of them, on renouncing the authority of Rome, had married, and consequently became obnoxious to the popish canons. Dowdal received a commission to enquire into this offence, and, in conjunction with one Walsh, already nominated to the see of Meath, to deprive the married clergy. Staples was first removed to make way for his judge. Brown of Dublin, whose former zeal and authority had now rendered him totally unpardonable, Lancaster of Kildare, and Traverse of Leighlin, were immediately ejected, and Roman Catholics substituted in their place.

It was now determined that heresy (as the reformation was styled) should be extirpated in Ireland, as well as in every other part of her majesty's dominions. St. Ledger, accused of having written in the former eign, against transubstantiation, was recalled to England, tried for his offence, and obliged to retire from court. He was succeeded by viscount Fitz, Walter, and soon after by Thomas earl of Sussex, at a time when repeated disorders rendered every quarter of the island tumultuous. The old Irish inhabitants of Leix and O'Fally could not patiently resign their claims and possessions to the new settlers; but were for ever spiriting up their friends and followers to resist what they deemed an injurious usurpation of their lands; and thus provoked the resentment of government. Numbers were slain in the field, or executed

by martial law; and the whole race would have been utterly extirpated had not the earls of Kildare and Ormond interceded with the queen, and become sureties for the peaceable behaviour of some survivors, These young lords, on their return to Ireland, found sufficient employment for their valour and vigilance, Ormond was dispatched to check the intrusions of Daniel O'Brian, in Thomond: Kildare was commissioned to engage in the local quarrels of Ulster, and to assist John O'Niall, (who was received on his submission into the protection of government,) against some of his turbulent kinsmen. The chieftain of Tirconnel had invited a powerful body of Scottish islanders into Ulster, who immediately joined those who had already settled in this part of Ireland, and were followed by others of their roving countrymen: they infested the north; were ready to engage in the service of any Irish leader, who wished to oppress his neighbours, or gratify his revenge; they entered Conaught, and every where fomented local quarrels. We are told by some authors that the lord deputy had brought with him from England twenty-five thousand pounds, to defray the expense of an expedi tion against these Scottish adventurers, who, at length, became so troublesome,. that Sussex was obliged to. march out against them; and so powerful that they ventured to engage the royal army. They were easily defeated, with the loss of 200 slain, and a great num ber taken prisoners; but they were not exterminated; for Sussex was soon after diverted from a war, in which little honor could be acquired, by matters of much greater importance.

The queen had concluded her treaty of marriage, with Philip of Spain; confirmed his authority by the suppression of Wyat's rebellion: received her hus-. band; admitted cardinal Pole into England, as legate from the pope, to reconcile her kingdom to the holy see; and assembled her parliaments in which this reconciliation was accomplished. The flames of perse

cution were already kindled, and raged with terrible violence in England. Those instances of severity, in which the protestants had enforced their tenets, were now repaid with multiplied vengeance. The court of England was also resolved to tear up every root of heresy in Ireland. Sussex was directed to convene a parliament, whereby the great business of re-establishing the antient faith and worship was to be effected. On the 1st of June, 1556, the lords and commons assembled. Religion was the first object which gained their attention. A bull from cardinal Pole had been transmitted to the lord deputy, who conveyed it to the chancellor to be read in full parliament. It recited the fatal separation of Ireland from the see of Rome, the effect of fear rather than of free will; and the readiness with which the whole island had been turned to its obedience to the sovereign pontiff on the accession of Mary, that immaculate princess, who had with such fortitude and constancy preserved herself pure from the foulness of heresy. It pronounced a plenary absolution on all the inhabitants from this their offence; ratifying, at the same time, all dispositions of benefices, confirming marriages, dispensations, and other ecclesiastical proceedings, during the late schism; securing the possession of church lands to those who had been invested with them, but not without a gentle admonition to beware of sacrilege, and to restore at least what might be necessary for the maintenance of parsonages and vicarages; and enjoining the parliament to abrogate all laws enacted against the supremacy of Rome. The chancellor fell down upon his knees to read it, and it was received by the whole assembly of lords and commons in the same humble posture, as a token of their reverence and contrition. They then adjourned to the cathedral, where Te Deum was solemnly sung and a public thanksgiving offered up.

This tribute to heaven having been performed, which, as it expressed their own zeal in a manner