"violate the stipulations of his ancestor, by "which alone he was entitled to any authority "or pre-eminence in Ireland."*

The attempt at reformation in this country, was in a great measure frustrated from the very circumstance of its being premature. It was not at a time when the body of the people were ignorant of all religion, that an effort should have been made to change the form of their ecclesiastical government. No plan of reform is likely to succeed at any time, unless it be the effect, rather than the cause, of national intelligence and improvement. If a number of able, enlightened, and pious ministers, had been previously employed to instruct the people; or if, even then, any attempt had been made to remove the gross darkness of the natives by communicating religious knowledge in their own language, together with other conciliating measures to remove their prejudices, perhaps the hopes of the reformers might not have been so utterly disappointed. But there were few of the clergy, who were very deeply interested in the business. Browne, Archbishop of Dublin, was certainly upright and zealous in the cause; he laboured incessantly with all his ecclesiastics to enlighten

* Leland's History of Ireland, v. ii. p. 158, 159.

the people, and reform the church; but he laboured with few coadjutors, equally disinterested in this important service; and he was in the bosom of a church, the majority of whose clergy was ignorant, prejudiced, and corrupt, and whose inveterate rancour and hostility were directed against all who exposed the absurdities of the superstition of Rome. Besides, it unfortunately happened, that at this very time, Cromer occupied the see of Armagh, a man of some learning, of more zeal, and of unbounded influence. He harangued his suffragans, he inflamed their prejudices, he entreated, he commanded them as they regarded their eternal salvation, not to deny the holy faith, nor to embrace a heretical doctrine, which was utterly damnable. Such inflammatory addresses were not necessary to awaken the enthusiasm of the people, to confirm the bigotry of the priests, or to induce both to make an invincible opposition to opinions imported from the English nation.

This circumstance of itself was sufficient to excite the hatred of the native Irish. Their church they maintained to be ancient; to have been originally founded in apostolic purity by Saint Patrick; to be under the more peculiar care of the holy Roman pontiff; to permit any changes, therefore, to be made in its order and

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government by men who had invaded their country and dethroned and extirpated their princes, was deemed not merely infamous, but eternally fatal. The multitude, indeed, were not capable of entering deeply into disquisitions of any kind; it was enough for them that they had always hated the strangers, as they still call the English in their own tongue; and that they felt themselves equally prejudiced against their language, their customs, and their new religion.

To perceive fully the extent of these prejudices, it should be recollected that at this time few of the natives were included in the pale; that is, the whole population of Ireland, that of five or six counties excepted, were not English subjects, they were divided into clans, and governed by their respective chiefs. A great part of this multitude had never seen Englishmen; they had only heard of their alleged cruelties; they were, therefore, fully prepared to oppose the religious tenets of men, whom they considered as enemies. Besides, their chieftains still adhered to the ancient mode of worship; and their priests, ignorant as they were, knew well enough how to address themselves to their fears-how to alarm their imagination at the prospect of a change. But there was one circumstance connected with the situation of this people,

which should be particularly attended to: they were totally unacquainted with the English tongue. The Irish language, the only one which they knew, was generally predominant in the reign of Henry the Seventh, even in the pale.* Now, it is most certain, that no instructors of the reformed religion were capable of addressing them in this dialect; they were, therefore, abandoned to their own ignorance and prejudice. The idea of making a complete reformation in Ireland does not seem to have occurred to any one under this reign. They confined their attention to that part of the island which was subject to the government and laws of England; and whether they were appalled by the difficulty of the undertaking, or discouraged by their ignorance of the Irish language, it is certain, that the other part was entirely overlooked. Under the following reign some patriotic and pious individuals addressed the queen on the wretched state of the church, and maintained the necessity of procuring ministers acquainted with the Irish tongue. The following is an extract from Sir Henry Sidney's letter to Elizabeth, which contains these sentiments.

"And nowe most deare mistres, and most

* Spencer's View of Ireland. Leland's History of Ireland.

"honoured sovereigne, I solye addresse to you "as the onlye salve giver, to this your sore "and sicke realme; the lamentable estate of "the most noble and principall lymm thereof, "the churche I mean, as fowle, deformed, and as cruellye crushed, as any other part thereof,

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by your onlye gratious and relygious order "to be cured or at least amended."-Sir H. Sidney having mentioned the wretched state of the Irish church; and that even in the district of Meath, the best inhabited part of all the kingdom, " containing 224 pa"rishe churches, 105 are impropriated to son"drie possessions, and all leased out for years, "or in fee farme, to severall farmers and great

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gayne reaped out of them above the rent:" he

goes on to propose, that good ministers might be found to occupy the places, and made able to live in them; "in choyce of "which ministers for the remote places where "the Englishe tounge is not understood,

"it is most necessarie that soche be chosen as

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can speake Irishe, for whiche searche would "be made first, and spedylie, in your own uni"versities; and any found there well affected “in religion, and well conditioned beside, they "would be sent hither animated by your majes"tie; yea, though it were somewhat to your highness' chardge; and on perill of my liffe,