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most ancient families in Ireland,-and sometimes, even Irish noblemen,-served in the ranks. veying their prodigies of valour at the battle of Dettingen, George the first is said to have uttered a generous curse on the laws of England, which prevented his availing himself of it. A full history of the brigade would be a valuable acquisition to literature. A succinct account of it is given by the abbé Mac Geoghegan*; and by major James, in the Appendix to his excellent Military Dictionary, tit. "Irish Brigade."

In the opinion, too, of all who justly appreciate mental worth and dignity, the uniform attachment of the Irish catholics to their religion, offers a sublime spectacle. Notwithstanding the severity of the laws of Henry the eighth, Edward the sixth, Elizabeth, and James the first, not sixty Irish catholics had, in the reign of the last of these sovereigns, embraced the protestant religion.-Notwithstanding the subsequent severities, the Irish catholics now form four-fifths of the whole population of Ireland. "Whatever," says Dr. Johnson, "withdraws us from the power of our senses; "whatever makes the past, the distant, or the "future, predominate over the present, advances us "in the scale of rational beings." In whom has the past, the distant, or the future, or, in other words, -the eternal,-predominated more over the present, than in these men, who, in the midst of all that wounds, and all that terrifies human nature, have thus uniformly adhered to religious principle?

* Histoire de l'Irlande, vol. ii. p. 748.

CHAP. LXXXI.

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS SINCE THE REVOLUTION IN 1688, TILL THE ACT PASSED FOR THEIR RELIEF IN 1793.

WE shall now attempt to present our readers with a succinct account of the principal events in the history of the Irish catholics, from the revolution till the act which was passed for their relief in the year 1793.

LXXXI. 1.

WILLIAM THE THIRD.

Articles of Limerick.

By the first article of this treaty,-all the romancatholics of the kingdom of Ireland were to enjoy such privileges, in the exercise of their religion, as they enjoyed in the reign of Charles the second; and their majesties were to use their endeavours to procure, (as soon as their affairs would permit them to summon a parliament), such further security in that particular, as might preserve them from any disturbances upon the account of their religion.

By the second article,-all the inhabitants or 'residents in Limerick, or any other garrison, then in the possession of the Irish, and all officers and soldiers then in arms under any commission of king James, in the counties of Limerick, Clare,

Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, and all commissioned officers, submitting to his majesty's obedience, and their heirs, were to hold and enjoy their estates, and all rights, titles, privileges, and immunities, to which they were entitled in the reign of Charles the second, and to profess, exercise, and follow all professions, trades, and callings then open to them, on taking the oath of allegiance prescribed by the act of the first year of the reign of their majesties, and expressed in the following words :-" I, A. B. "do solemnly swear, that I will be faithful and "bear true allegiance to their majesties king "William and queen Mary."

By the ninth article,-the oath to be submitted to such roman-catholics as should submit to their majesties government, should be this oath of allegiance, and no other.

LXXXI. 2.

Principal Acts passed in the reign of William the third, against the Roman-catholics.

In opposition to this solemn engagement, the parliament of king William passed several acts, which are thus stated in a report of a committee of the Irish house of commons:

1st. "An act against the authority of the see of "Rome. It enacts, that no person shall attribute any jurisdiction to the see of Rome; that the

person offending shall be subject to a præmunire; "and that all who have any office from the king,"every person entering into orders, or taking a

degree in the university, shall take the oath of "supremacy.

2d. "An act restoring to the crown the ancient 'jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spi"ritual: it likewise enacts, that every ecclesiastical person, every person accepting office, shall take "the oath of supremacy.

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3d. "An act for the uniformity of common (6 prayer. It enacts, that every person having no "lawful excuse to be absent, shall every Sunday "resort to some place of worship of the established "church, or forfeit twelve pence.

4th. "An act by which the chancellor may appoint a guardian to the child of a catholic.

5th. "An act by which no catholic school"master can teach in a private house, without a "license from the ordinary of his diocese, and taking the oath of supremacy.

6th." The new rules by which no person can "be admitted into any corporation without taking any oath of supremacy *."

They also passed an act to disarm the romancatholics; another to banish the priests; another to prevent protestants from marrying with catholics; another to prevent catholics from being solicitors, and from being employed as game-keepers. The act for disarming the roman-catholics contains a clause, that any horse in the hands or power of any catholic, may be seized by a warrant from the

See the report of the committee of the house of commons, appointed in 1697, to consider the several laws in force against the catholics.

magistrate, and delivered to the protestant discoverer upon payment of five pounds to its owner.

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The act for the banishment of the priests was enforced rigorously. "It appears," says Mr. Matthew O'Conor "from captain South's ac"count, that, in 1698, the number of secular priests amounted to four hundred and ninetyfive, the number of seculars to eight hundred and ninety-two, and that the number of regulars shipped off in that year to foreign parts was four hundred and twenty-four.-Some few, disabled by age and infirmities from emigration, sought "shelter in caves, or implored and received the "concealment and protection of protestants, whose

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humane feelings were superior to their preju"dices." "There was not," says Dr. Burke †, in his History of the Irish Dominicans, "a single "house of that order in Ireland, which was not "suppressed."

Each of these enactments was a direct and gross violation of the articles of Limerick. To complete the measure of the injustice, an act, intituled, "an "act to confirm the articles of Limerick," was passed; but with such omissions and variations, as nearly evaded them altogether; it was such an evident breach of public faith, that seven spiritual and five temporal peers signed a strong protest against it. No one who compares the articles with the act, will think this opinion too severe: a more gross

Hist. p. 145.-We must repeat our hopes that Mr. O'Conor will complete this interesting work.

+ Hib. Dom. p. 155.