plicity of the general mode of living, (their food consisting chiefly of the milk and flesh of their cattle, the hides being reserved principally as an article of traffic,) and their being inured to military exercises, in which the most active muscular exertion could alone secure superior distinction. Even their devotional exercises partook of their habitual temperance, of which circumstance old Campion bears witness; "the same being vertuously bred up," says he, "or reformed, are such mirrours of holinesse and austeritie, that other nations retaine but a shewe or shadow of devotion in comparison of them. As for abstinence and fasting, which these days make so dangerous, this is to them a familiar kind of chastisement."

The secular order of clergy existed at the same time as the monastic, but in a manner altogether different from what it has been known in after ages. Down to the beginning of the ninth century, the Irish church was governed by bishops, who, it appears, were in function little superior to the parochial clergy of the present day. The maintenance of the bishops, and their ecclesiastical officers, was entirely afforded by voluntary contribution, which was liberal and abundant beyond their wishes, of which they gave gratifying evidence by the manner in which they applied the revenue thus arising; namely, the whole was divided into four equal portions, of which one supplied the personal wants of the bishop; another, those of his clergy; a third was distributed and the fourth was apthe among poor, propriated to the building and repair of churches. They possessed nothing in the way of tithe or territorial property that was a provision made in later times.

The fact just stated is eminently proved in the character of Malachias, bishop of Armagh, who succeeded Celsus in that dignity, and who was a chief means of bringing about

a conformity of the Irish church with that of Rome, by a concession of supremacy to the latter; there being always between them a perfect unity of faith and discipline ever since the question concerning Easter had been adjusted. This prelate had distinguished himself by endeavouring to set aside the claims of hereditary succession then maintained in certain powerful septs, by whom all appointments to the wealthy abbacies were carried; and his mode of life was a convincing proof of his disinterestedness. The mortified character of this first rate enthusiast is thus portrayed by the historian of his life.

"From the day of his birth to the day of his death, he lived sine proprio, without claiming property in any thing; he had neither men servants nor maid servants, neither towns nor villages, neither any revenue ecclesiastical or temporal in his bishopric: for his provision, (ad mensam episcopalem,) he had no certainty allotted him, whereupon a bishop might live; he had no certain monastery or dwelling place, for he daily went about all the parishes, preaching the gospel, and living by the gospel, as the Lord had ordained, saying, The labourer is worthy of his reward. Of such as travelled with him, he carried about to relieve them all. To be short, Malachias, neither in diet or raiment, was discerned from the rest of the brethren; when he went a preaching with footmen, he went on foot, although a bishop and legate."

To this latter title it was owing that his countrymen, notwithstanding his extraordinary sanctity, were unwilling to receive his propositions with cordiality, from a rooted and universal dislike to every thing like foreign interference in their national concerns. The influence of the Roman pontiff was never admitted in Ireland beyond that of a spiritual supremacy, and that not even until the year 1111,

when, by the exertions of Malachias, the bishops in full convocation surrendered up to Rome the rights which they until then enjoyed.

At length, in the year 1152, a general council of the Irish clergy, summoned by Cardinal Paparon, legate à latere, was convened at Kells, where the supremacy of the Pope was solemnly recognized, and such arrangements agreed on, that all further opposition to this long-desired measure was for ever removed. Four palls were distributed, by apostolic authority, to four archbishops, whose sees were severally denominated, Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, each having its respective suffragans. The appointments to the sees thus determined were as follows: Gelasius superintended the concerns of Armagh, with the dignity of Primate; Gregory sat in Dublin, Donatus in Cashel, and Edanus in Tuam.

"Without cities, urbanity and civility cannot take place. In large communities only, the hardness and roughness of naked nature can be ground down and polished. It is from a frequent collision of many minds that those sparks of genius are struck out, which not only enlighten the understanding, but correct the heart, and furnish those innumerable embellishments of art, which give unspeakable charms to social intercourse, and, in some degree, exalt the dignity of human nature." So thought and wrote Dr. Campbell, Chancellor of St. Macartin's, Clogher, in 1790; so thinks and wishes every one, even now-a-days, who loves the good of mankind, and promotes its improvement, whether in the cloister or the tented field, the verdant valley or the cloud-capt castle, the joyous pasture or the crowded city. Without, however, waiting to ascertain whether the churches and monasteries in Ireland were

built of "wood, and wattles, and sods," or more permanent materials, let us observe, and with philosophical fidelity, so far as possible, note the occurrences which have rendered Ireland still an important subject for historic research.

25

CHAPTER II.

SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN IRELAND, FROM ITS INVASION BY HENRY II.

THE great synod of the Irish clergy, held at Kells, as just mentioned, in 1152, at which Cardinal Paparon assisted on the part of the Roman Pontiff, and three thousand clergy, with several princes and nobles on behalf of the church of Ireland, an entire union and communion in all things with the see of Rome was solemnly agreed on, and all circumstances seemed to confirm the idea that the internal tranquillity and general prosperity of the country was finally secured. Roderick O'Connor was then monarch of all Ireland, and about this time occurred one of those minor incidents which often decide the destinies of nations.

Dermod Mac Murrough, a rude and licentious prince, king of Leinster, had debauched the wife of O'Rourke, king of Breffni, and the injured prince claimed the protection of the monarch, demanding satisfaction for the outrage; his complaint was urged with manly dignity, and in a style of expression which argues the very respectable state of literary composition then in use. As the document is curious, its insertion here may be allowed.

"O'Rorcius, Lotherico monarcho, S.

"Etsi non sum nescius, (illustrissime princeps,) humanos casus quo semper animo ferendos, et hominis esse, virtutis prestantia excellentis, ob meretricis inconstantiam mutabili