this period zealously attached to the doctrines of the church of Rome. Vindictive as the Irish were to each

other and to the English, they had hitherto implicitly believed and observed the same forms of religious worship. In their wars, though uniform in their detestation of the English, they as often had recourse to arms for the annoyance of each other as of them. But they were now closely connected by a new bond of union with which they were formerly unacquainted, and which they could allege to be the cause of all their future disaffection---the defence of the inviolability of their conscience. Several chieftains, on that pretence, rose in arms and acted openly as rebels, till they were obliged to submit by the vigorous conduct of the deputy. These oppressive measures, however, and the introduction of base money into the Pale, contributed to render the administration of Henry exceedingly unpopular, and to distract the short reign of his successor Edward VI.

Many chieftains, immediately on the accession of this virtuous young monarch, hoping to profit by his minority, showed themselves in arms, and resorted to their ancient practices of pillage and warfare. Sir Anthony Bellingham, the deputy, however, succeed

ed in reducing them to obedience. He also seized the earl of Desmond, who had begun to relapse into his former way of life; but, instead of punishing him, he prevailed on him by conciliating treatment to give sureties for his future good conduct, and to continue a true and faithful subject during the remainder of his life.

Meantime the Reformation was pushed with greater vigour than before. The protector, Somerset, hav ing successfully proceeded with it in England, determined that the English liturgy, together with several other new ordinances, should be introduced into the Irish church. Accordingly, sir Anthony St Leger, who was appointed lord deputy [1559] was entrusted with the management of this important business. Without convening a parliament, the royal proclamation was published, enjoining the clergy to accept the new liturgy in the English tongue. An ecclesiastical assembly being called, it was submitted to their inspection, whenJohn Dowdall, an Irishman by birth, who had been promoted to the primacy of Armagh by Henry, unexpectedly opposed it with the utmost vehemence, and, followed by most of his suffragans, retired from

the convention. Archbishop Browne and other prelates declared their acceptance; after which the assembly broke up. The liturgy was read in the cathedral of Dublin, in presence of the lord lieutenant, the nobility, and the clergy, on Easter day, one thousand five hundred and fifty-one. The primatial dignity was transferred from the see of Armagh to that of Dublin; and Dowdall retiring to the Continent, his diocese was bestowed on a prelate named Goodacre. John Bale, a man of great learning, and so violent an opposer to popery, that his life was in continual danger from the populace, was promoted to the see of Ossory. But the Reformation was far from being effected by these means. The aversion of the people to it was supported by the refractory opposition of Dowdall, and much increased by the unwarrantable conduct of the commissioners appointed to remove relics and other objects of superstition, who without authority plundered and exposed to public sale the most valuable furniture of the churches. These attempts, therefore, to force the Irish to depart from the religion of their ancestors, and to conform to an English ritual, not only caused many present disturbances, but contributed to raise the famous

insurrection of the earl of Tyrone, who had lately made ample submission to the king and accepted an English title.

The sudden death of Edward, and the short reign of his sister and successor Mary, a stupid and sanguinary bigot, zealously attached to the cause of popery, and disgraced by a combination of the lowest passions and prejudices of the vulgar with almost every vice usually attendant upon exalted stations, gave a temporary respite tothe troubled state of Ireland. Immediately on her accession, she repealed all the acts in favour of protestantism which had been executed by her father and brother: She returned the church to its former dependance on the see of Rome: She placed many of the deposed ecclesiastics in their former situations: She persecuted the reformers in England with unremitting assiduity, committing all who refused to renounce their opinions without mercy to the flames : the persecution, however, did not extend to Ireland, whither many of the heretics fled to escape her fury: She restored Gerald, the only surviving member of the noble family of Kildare, to the honours and estates of his progenitors. During her reign an insurrection of the people of Leix and Ofally was quelled with

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such effect as nearly to occasion their total extirpation. Their territories were for ever vested in the crown and converted into shires; Leix, under the name of Queen's-county, in compliment to the queen, and Ofally, under that of King's-county, from a like attention to her husband, Philip, king of Spain. reduced the army in Ireland to about a thousand men, so confident was she of the tranquillity of the cour try, but was obliged afterwards to reinforce it, on account of the increasing commotions, and the lawless conduct of Scotch adventurers, who continued to land frequently on the island.

Although the restoration of the church to its former state of dependance on the see of Rome gave much satisfaction to the great mass of the Irish, yet they seem, upon the whole, to have been rather dissatisfied with the administration of Mary. The power vested in the lord lieutenant to dispose of the lands of Leix and Ofally at the royal pleasure, to the injury of the natives to whom they had hitherto belonged, and several acts she passed with evident intention totally to subvert their civil independence, appear particularly to have irritated them.