Part 45 (2/2)

Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without the slightest doubt of the result.

Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself, influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,[510] and had all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of the low cla.s.s from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the close of October, 1680, and so closely confined, that none of his friends could have access to him. He spent his time in prayer, and his gaolers were amazed at his cheerfulness and resignation. His trial took place on the 8th of June, 1681; but he was not allowed time to procure the necessary witnesses, and the court would not allow certain records to be put in, which would have proved the character of his accusers. Six of the most eminent English lawyers were arrayed against him. The legal arrangements of the times deprived him of the a.s.sistance of counsel, but they did not require the judges to help out the men who swore against him: this, however, they did do.

The prelate was condemned to die. The speech of the judge who p.r.o.nounced sentence was not distinguished by any very special forensic ac.u.men. Dr.

Plunkett had been charged by the witnesses with political crimes; the judge sentenced[511] him for his religious convictions; and, by a process of reasoning not altogether peculiar to himself, insisted that his supposed treason was a necessary result of the faith he professed.

The Archbishop suffered at Tyburn, on Friday, July 11, 1681. He went to his death rejoicing, as men go to a bridal. His dying declaration convinced his hearers of his innocence; and, perhaps, the deep regret for his martyrdom, which was felt by all but the wretches who had procured his doom, tended to still the wild storm of religious persecution, or, at least, to make men see that where conscience was dearer than life, conscientious convictions should be respected. It is at least certain, that his name was the last on the long roll of sufferers who had been executed at Tyburn for the faith. Blood was no longer exacted there as the price which men should pay for liberty of belief. It were well had that liberty been allowed by men to their fellow-men in after years, without fines or confiscations--without those social penalties, which, to a refined and sensitive mind, have in them the bitterness of death, without the consolations of martyrdom.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE.]

FOOTNOTES:

[498] _Barbadoes_.--_Threnodia Hib._ p. 287.

[499] _Evidence_.--In a work written expressly to excite feeling in England against the Irish, it is stated that they [the Irish] failed in the ma.s.sacre.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 5, for further evidence.

[500] _Tory.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 150.

[501] _No wolves_--Declaration printed at Cork, 1650.

[502] _Dr. Burgat.--Brevis Relatio_. Presented to the Sacred Congregation in 1667. Dr. Moran's little work, _Persecution of the Irish Catholics_, gives ample details on this subject; and every statement is carefully verified, and the authority given for it.

[503] _Circ.u.mstances_.--Lord Roche and his daughters were compelled to go on foot to Connaught, and his property was divided amongst the English soldiers. His wife, the Viscountess Roche, was hanged without a shadow of evidence that she had committed the crime of which she was accused. Alderman Roche's daughters had nothing to live on but their own earnings by was.h.i.+ng and needlework; and Mr. Luttrell, the last case mentioned above, was allowed as a favour to occupy his _own stables_ while preparing to transplant.

[504] _Drove out_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol ii. p. 398.

[505] _Accounts_--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 398, 399. He considers all ”bounties” to him as mere acts of justice.

[506] _Trial_.--Chief Justice Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, in a letter, dated Dublin, June 23rd, 1686, and preserved in the State Paper Office, London, says: ”There are 5,000 in this kingdom who were never outlawed.”

[507] _Cheated_.--Books were found in the office of the surveyor for the county Tipperary alone, in which only 50,000 acres were returned as unprofitable, and the adventurers had returned 245,207.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. p. 307. ”These soldiers,” says Carte, ”were for the most part Anabaptists, Independents, and Levellers.” Equal roguery was discovered in other places.

[508] _Private_.--For full information on this subject, see Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 476-482. I will give one extract to verify the statement above. ”The Duke of Ormonde had, in truth, difficulties enough to struggle with in the government of Ireland, to preserve that kingdom in peace, and yet to give those who wished to imbroil it no handle of exception to the measures he took for that end.”--vol. ii. p. 477.

[509] _Royalty_.--D'Arcy M'Gee's _History of Ireland_, vol ii p. 560.

[510] _Army_.--Carte says ”he was Scout-Master-General.”--_Ormonde_, vol. ii. p. 473.

[511] _Sentenced_.--See Dr. Moran's _Memoir of the Most Rev. Dr.

Plunkett_. This interesting work affords full details of the character of the witnesses, the nature of the trial, and the Bishop's saintly end.

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

Glimpses of Social Life in the Seventeenth Century--Literature and Literary Men--Keating--the Four Masters--Colgan--Ward--Usher--Ware-- Lynch--Trade--Commerce depressed by the English--Fairs--Waterford Rugs--Exportation of Cattle forbidden--State of Trade in the Princ.i.p.al Towns--Population--Numbers employed in different Trades--Learned Professions--Physicians--Establishment of their College in Dublin--Shopkeepers--Booksellers--Coffee-houses--Clubs--Newspapers-- Fas.h.i.+onable Churches--Post-houses and Post-offices established-- Custom-house--Exchange--Amus.e.m.e.nts--Plays at the Castle--The First Theatre set up in Werburgh-street--Domestics Manners and Dress-- Food-A Country Dinner Party in Ulster.

[A.D. 1600-1700.]

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