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This conduct on the part of the new proprietors is thus noticed by Leland: "Such was the general scheme of this famous northern plantation, so honour able to the King and of such consequence to the realm of Ireland. Its happy effects were immediately perceived, although the execution by no means corresponded with the original design. Buildings were slowly erected; British tenantry were found difficult to be procured in sufficient numbers; the old natives were at hand, offered higher rents, and were received into those districts from which it was intended to exclude them. In this particular the Londoners were accused of being notoriously delinquent. They acted entirely by agents: these agents were interested and indolent, and therefore readily countenanced this dangerous intrusion of natives. Later times found reason to lament the fatal consequneces of this error; for the present, however, a number of loyal and industrious inhabitants were poured into the northern counties, considerable improvements made by the planters, and many

towers erected."

We thus perceive the seeds which have since yielded so permanent a harvest of evils were sown together with the plantation itself; and we thus also perceive the selfish motive which influenced those who violated the conditions of their grants. We are referred by the foregoing writer to the testimony of Sir Thomas Phillips, who wrote to the King on the subject, and also to that contained in Pynner's Survey of the Province. The language of the former is as follows:

"The Londoners found the natives willing to overgive, rather than remove, and that they could not reap half the profit by the British which they do by the Irish, whom they use at their pleasure, none looking into the reasons which induced the natives to give more than, indeed, they could well pay-their assured hope that time might, by rebellion, relieve them of their heavy landlords, whom, in the meantime, they were contented to suffer under, though to their utter impoverishing and undoing. Thus they slighted, for their private profit's sake, the planting of civility and religion, [the seeds of peace and plenty,] which his Majesty specially sought to sow for God's service and the safety of the country."

VOL. VI.

This is a cutting testimony against the conduct of some of these planters. We cite it from that valuable work on the policy of the Church of Rome, by that interesting and able man, the late Doctor Phelan, who was a light in this dark country, and a star of the first magnitude and brilliancy in even our Dublin University. We shall add the following testimony from Pynner's Survey of Ulster, as illustrating the system by an individual instance:

"The Earl of Castlehaven hath three thousand acres. Upon this proportion there is no building at all, neither free

holders. I find some few English families; but they have no estates, for, since the old earl died, the tenants, as they tell me, cannot have their leases made good to them, unless they will give treble the rent which they paid; and yet they must have but half the land which they enjoyed in the late earl's time; all the rest of the land is inhabited by the Irish.

"The Earl of Castlehaven hath six

thousand acres [in another division]. The agent of the earl showed me the rent-roll of all the tenants on these three proportions; but their estates are so weak and uncertain, that they are all leaving the land. They were in number sixty-four; and each of them holds sixty acres. The rest of his land is let to twenty Irish gentlemen, contrary to the articles of plantation; and these Irish gentlemen have under them about three thousand souls of all sorts."

We have here the true secret of the fewness of the Protestants in Ireland. They could not pay so great a rental as the natives; they were accordingly removed from the land by these selfish proprietors, and the natives were substituted in their place. This led the Protestants to leave the estates and to emigrate to America, and it is the very same system which has of late years conduced to the extensive emigration of the Protestant population of Ireland. When shall these things cease, and when shall the noblest and finest people that ever blessed a land cease to be sacrificed to that golden calf-an extended rent-roll?

Independent, however, of the manner in which this misconduct in the plantation affected the numerical strength of the settlers of the lower orders, it

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had another and not less important influence in checking the progression to be expected naturally from the inherent expansion of Protestantism: it threw in, among the various items that already ministered to the mutual estrangement of the settlers and natives, the additional incentive which arose from the rivalry or competition that found its birth in this system. It could not be otherwise than that the successful native would laugh at the settler who was just now discarded even by his own countrymen, and taunt him on the folly of his having ever entered the country; and it could not be otherwise than that the poor ill-fated and wronged Protestant, finding himself discarded merely for filthy lucre's sake, and seeing his natural enemy and rival triumphing over him, and entering on the very farm which, perhaps, his own hands and those of his family had created, should give way to sentiments of hatred to those natives who were thus proving themselves successful rivals. The state of feeling--the mutual hatred--the dark jealousies, that found a birth in this system, which was in direct violation of the articles of the plantation, separated the Protestants, English and Scottish, from the Roman Catholic Irish, to such a de

gree that, among the lower orders, there was an end to every kindly feeling. This feeling, like everything in Ireland, soon became a weapon in the hands of bigots and factionists, and was most adroitly used, so as to become an insurmountable barrier against the progress of the principles of the Protestant religion.

It was thus that the noble prospects that seemed opening to the cause of true religion in this great measure have been clouded and darkened, and have failed in the expected effects. But it was ever thus in this unfortunate land of crime, where the hideous spectres of Superstition and Poverty seem doomed to wander for some years longer, and where every effort of philanthropy, every aspiration of true patriotism, every exertion of genuine religion, seem fated to be marred by political causes, by the peculiar political state of the country. No effort, almost, which philanthropy, patriotism, or religion could have tried has been omitted; and yet everything has been crushed to the earth by that dark doom that enshrouds all that seems calculated to emancipate our island from her darkness, her sorrows, and her crimes.

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an exchange of prisoners, to the English. But, the bridge was not let down-did they, then, mean to throw him into the moat ?-no; they led him up a narrow stair in the thickness of the wall, and out into an apartment, the floor of which was still shaking from the recoil of a piece of cannon, discharged immediately before they entered. The place was full of smoke and crowded with men ; he recognised voices that he knew through the tumult: they were those of some of his own old company that he had commanded at Artane surely they could mean him no harm ?-but why pursue his fancy through all the mazes of doubt and wonder that perplexed him from this moment till Art's final explanation of his release, and Ellen's first half incredulous welcome back to her arms? She was in an inner apartment, attended by the wife of her rescuer, the now commander of the fortress. The thickness of the walls, and the situation of the place rendered it secure against the cannon shot of the besiegers, but the report of every piece discharged from the adjoining gallery rung through it with stunning intensity; still, as the safest spot on that side of the castle, it was considered a fortunate thing that it had been assigned them, and they, as wives of soldiers accustomed to the tumultuous occurrences of war, endured the hardship of their condition without complaint. But although Talbot and his lady had thus escaped the more imminent peril that had lately threatened them, they were still in a state of great danger and distress; for, whether the castle should be held or lost, he must, sooner or later, fall into the hands of those whom he could not but look upon as enemies; and, in addition to this, and under any circumstances, poor Ellen had the prospect of seeing what was now to her an even worse misfortune rendered inevitable by the impossibility of making any exertion for the attainment of the Church's pardon. The warden, however friendly, was bound to hold them his prisoners till the arrival of Lord Thomas; even had he been willing to connive at their escape, the closeness of the investment prevented the possibility of effecting it; for, by the second morning of the siege, the English trenches commanded, or intercepted every avenue, while nu

merous and vigilant bands patrolled the whole circuit of their lines from sunset to break of day. The siege went on with little prospect of success on the English side for a week. Parez was still confined from the effects of his wound, and unable to take any part in the command of the garrison; the son of Counogher accordingly continued to exercise his authority unquestioned: he was a favourite with the great majority of the men, and was obeyed with alacrity and cheerfulness; so that the defensive operations went on too successfully under his superintendence to admit any murmur among the adherents of the wounded warden. Parez, nevertheless, received every needful atten tion at the hands of his successor, and Art took frequent occasion to declare his purpose of surrendering his acquired authority the moment its old possessor should be able to resume the exercise of it. Accordingly, on the first day of Parez's convalescence, ere he had yet left his own apartments in the keep, Mac Connogher sent up his baton, with an account of the state of affairs, and asked to have his orders as when he had been only second in command.

In two days after, Parez made his first appearance on the walls. He was pale and haggard-his head was bandaged, and he was still unable to bear the weight of a helmet; but, with seeming indifference to the danger of such exposure, he proceeded, leaning on Sheridan's arm, to the walls. The men received their wounded commander with that respect which soldiers ever pay to those who bear the marks of service. The short but mortifying altercation between him and his officer was already half-forgotten, as Mac Connogher had, during his command, studiously discountenanced all allusion to the subject, and the excitement of the siege had all along prevented much attention to any thing beyond the passing events of the hour. Parez received the congratulations of his garrison with apparent indifference, or if any emotion was perceptible, it was but the uneasiness of conscious humiliation. Still he resumed his command with every appearance of having determined to make up for its temporary loss by fully exercising it now. Every post was rigid. ly inspected, and many alterations made in the existing disposition of the de

fences, partly, as it seemed to make a to his side, the fresh breeze blew out show of confidence in his authority, and partly, to express his disapprobation of the steps taken by his lieutenant. But, while he thus gratuitously asserted a right which he could not have feared to see disputed, by directing changes, many of them manifestly for the worse, he did not venture on a repetition of any of those demands which had been originally resisted; and when the son of Conuogher, in the course of his duty as warden of the barbican, received him at the entrance of his post, he heard that functionary's report, and issued his own orders with out once alluding to their dispute orits causes. His looks, however, were full of its recollection, and it needed no experienced eye to read through their forced calmness a deep and implacable purpose of revenge. Art was not less quick than his companions to perceive, at aglance, that his peace was far from being made; but he had now gone too far, and felt too much satisfied with the justice of his cause to recede, and accordingly, his first care after Parez's departure, was to take measures for the security of those whom he had at such a risk taken under his protection.

her ringlets, till they lay waving and wantoning over his shoulder, and some sudden emotion had made the unwonted blood mantle on her cheek, till she looked even more purely beautiful than when in the unimpaired bloom of her happiest days. Talbot was pointing to the hills; they were talking of their prospects should Skeffington be forced to raise the siege, and he, as he was not without hopes in that event, be set at liberty by Lord Thomas. They were, meanwhile, in perfect security; neither arrow nor bullet had fallen on that platform since the commencement of the siege, and the gallery overhead was proof against cannon shot.

Sir John and his lady had gone to walk in the gallery of the upper court, the only spot about the castle where the fresh air and sunshine could be enjoyed in safety, and hither their generous guardian hastened to seek them. It was well he did so, for the platform on which the arches of this corridore opened, lay right in the way of Parez as he went his rounds. The warden had been passing along by the opposite side, occasionally viewing the country through the embrasures of the parapet wall, when, on looking round, his eyes were suddenly arrested by the sight of the captives. They were standing where the sun-light fell on the floor of the gallery through one of its open archways, and were looking out in the direction of the mountains. They seemed unconscious of the presence of the warden's party, for the platform was overgrown with grass, and their footsteps were inaudible amid the din of the siege resounding from the other side of the castle. It was like the thrust of a knife to Parez to see them, for Talbot's arm was round his wife's waist, and where he stood clasping her

"Should he play the part of his father's son, Ellen," said the knight, alluding to the expected conduct of Lord Thomas, "we may walk the dew together yet, over yonder blue hills of Wicklow."

"How lovely they look," she exclaimed," and how unconscious of our woes and sins. Is it not strange that with all this rattle in my ears, I had forgotten the siege for a moment, while looking at them? but listen-how the cannon thunder! Are you sure we are not in danger standing here ?"

"We were safer in the barbican," said Talbot, drawing her arm within his, and moving away more suddenly than even her timidity had desired; for, as he turned his eyes towards the scene of more immediate action, they encountered the scowl of their hated enemy fixed upon them with baleful intentness from beneath the folds of the white scarf that bound his bruised and livid forehead. At the same moment Ellen beheld their protector coming forward from the farther end of the gallery, and signing to them to make haste that way; she had not yet observed Parez, but ere they had advanced more than a few steps, the warden stood before them. Ellen shrieked, for he was a ghastly spectacle. Some strong emotion had burst the half cicatrised wound, and the blood was oozing from the edges of the discoloured bands, and trickling down his cheek, that was as pale as ashes; but his eye burned with the live fire of unquenched malignity. He muttered some words scarce intelligible, and with an impatient motion of his hand, summoned his attendants. Sheridan and Tyrrel ad

vanced, but the son of Connogher was at his side as soon as they.

"So, please your nobleness," said Art, "I would fain have your commands regarding the disposal of the stores in the great tower of the gateway; this noble knight and his lady, who are in my custody, (laying strong emphasis on the words,) have need of further accommodation, and the bulk of these coinmodities takes up unnecessary room." Parez turned fiercely on his lieutenant as he spoke, but the imperious severity of his glance gave way as he read the firm confidence of the looks that confronted him. He cast his eyes round; the captives had drawn to the side of their protector; the attendant soldiery of the guard looked on with aspects of significant indifference; he saw the risk of again tampering with unconfirmed authority, and checked the dangerous command which was already rising on his lips. Let the stores remain, sir," he said, with as much carelessness of manner as he could assume; then looking round the vaulted ceiling of the gallery, he concealed his disappointed rage under cover of an examination into its security. "I thought that last shot had shaken the groin of the arch," he said, "but now I see it is a flaw in the masonry-look to your post, Master Mac Connogher-lead on, men, I am weak from my wound, and must to my quarters." Šo saying, he took Sheridan's arm and proceeded. His plea of illness might have been well believed, for he had spoken in a voice faint from conscious meanness, and as he went his steps were unsteady, and his knees shook beneath him, while he leaned heavily and in silence on the shoulder of his supporter. His face was pale, too, as that of a dying man, but the blackness of night was on his brow, and spread a double gloom over the discolouration of its actual bruises. He gained his quarters exhausted with anguish of mind and body, and did not show himself again upon the walls till late in the next day.-But now, before he had been an hour on duty, it was found expedient to restore many of the defences to almost the same arrangement that they had presented on Art's resigning the command. It was impossible not to see that the failure of these unnecessary alterations operated powerfully to Parez's disadvantage, for no

restoration was suggested till its necessity had become practically apparent. The warden was soon to be convinced of the distrust with which his orders now began to be regarded. On going his rounds the third evening, about dusk, he overheard the men in one of the flankers talking among themselves of the conduct of the defence.

"The churls will be ready to unmask another battery before morning," said one.

"Had we not wasted our shot so long upon their empty ditches, they could not have pushed their works so far for a week to come," was the reply of another.

"Dar m'anim," cried the first speaker, "had the lieutenant continued in the command, they would have had another story to tell the Gunner before now; 'tis little less than mad the warden must

have been to throw the work back as he did."

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I'll tell you what," replied the other, "it was the spite that was on him, and nothing else: if Art had let him deal as he liked with the knight and his bantierna, we would have heard nothing of countermanded orders."

It is a true word for you, Shawn; the son of Connogher was in the right.”

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By the hand of my body, he was in the right; and if it had gone much farther, he should not have wanted for one or two, that I know, to back him in it."

"Ho! if it ever comes to that, by this match in my hand, never say the word twice; there's never a man of my company but would turn out at a wag of Art's little finger."

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By my troth, and I hardly know a man in the castle that would not, unless, may be, O'Madden or Sheridan; they, and one or two others that are always about him, would, I suppose, stand by the warden in a pinch'; but, to tell you the blessed truth, Con, it is very discontented entirely the most of us are to see how we're sold by his ill ordering of the defence."

"Well, never mind, mo bouchall, we're bound to obey, and do the best we can with such orders as we get; so hand here your rammer till we give the churls another shot."

Parez did not wait to hear another

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