in many respects as their compeers, for the estates of the O'Neills comprehendedˇno more than the present counties of Tyrone and Armagh, the one barony of Orior excepted, although they derived tribute from the other chieftains of Ulster. Among these others, the O'Donnells, a kindred race, descendants of Conall Gulban, stood next to the children of Eoghan themselves. O'Dugan, who speaks very favourably of the O'Donnells, designates them as “the ClannDalaigh of brown shields,"-this their tribe-name, being derived from Dalach, one of their most distinguished chieftains, who died in the year 868, whilst from his grandson, Domhnall, came their hereditary surname of O'Donnell. Their adherence to their kinsmen, the O'Neills, remained unshaken until after the coming of the English, to whom they occasionally transferred their allegiance, and by whose influence they were able to extend their territory. Originally, they had been only lords of one cantred called Cinel-Luighdheach, of which Kilmacrenan was the most noted district, as containing their church, residence, and inauguration chair; but subsequently to the English invasion the O'Donnell representatives became princes or kings of all Tirconnell (19). Another kindred race, constituting also a powerful sept were the O'Cathains, or O'Cahans, descended in common with the O'Neills themselves from Eoghan. This family of O'Cahan first appears in history under the tribe name of Fir-na-Craebh, or 'Men of the Creeve,' the territory of Creeve being situated on the western side of the lower Bann, and so called from the celebrated cataract of Eas-Craeibhe, afterwards known as the 'Salmon Leap,' and, since the beginning of the seventeenth century, known as the 'Cutts,' in the vicinity of Coleraine. Its first name, Craebh, or Creeve, had been that of a lady who was drowned at this point in the river, and the daughter of a chieftain who occupied the ancient fortress of Dun-da-Bheann, now known as Mount Sandal. The Fir-na-Craebh, or O'Cahans, displaced the Cianachta (descendants of a prince named Cian), from the territory still retaining from them the name of Keenaght, and now forming one of the baronies in the county of

(19). All Tirconnell.-Dr. O'Donovan has collected several notices from the Annals of the Four Masters, between the years 641 and 1207, to "show that the O'Donnells had little sway in Tirconnell till after the arrival of the English in Ireland." During that long interval only four chieftains of that immediate family appear to have held the supreme place in Tirconnell, or, as the territory was always designated in early times, Cinel-Conaill. The first of these was Dalach, slain in 868, from whom the family was known as the Clann-Dalaigh (see above). Dalach's son, called Eignechan, who died in 901, was also lord or head of the Cinel-Conaill. Another Eigneachan O'Donnell ruled at the commencement of the thirteenth century, and was succeeded by his son of the same name, in 1207. The two O'Donnells last mentioned were appointed after the coming of De Courcy; and from that time the Clann Dalaigh continued to furnish chiefs or lords for the whole territory of Cinel-Conaill, instead of minor leaders in only one cantred. Battle of Magh Rath, pp. 337, 338.) It would appear that the O'Donnells, soon after the coming of the English, entered on a course of rivalry with the O'Neills, which had the effect of thoroughly weakening both these great kindred races. Their common origin was appealed to, at an early period, by the monarch Domhnall, as a motive for their uniting against the designs of

(See

Congal Claen. "In whom is it more becoming," says Domhnall, "to check the unjust judgments of Congal, and to humble the haughty words of the Ultonians, or to protect the race of Conall [the O'Donnells] from violent assaults, than in the princes of Aileach [the O'Neills]? For no two tribes of the old surnames of the men of Erin are the vessels formed by one hand, the race of one father, the offspring of one mother, of one conception, of one fostering, but we and you. Wherefore, our fathers, Eoghan the renowned, and Conall the defensive, have bequeathed unto us the same prowess and gifts, freedom and noble-heartedness, victory, affection, and brotherly love." (See Battle of Magh Rath, pp. 145, 147.) From this passage it would appear that not only were Eoghan and Conall Gulban brothers, but twin-brothers, and the two races of O'Neills and O'Donnells respectively descended from these brothers, had thus an additional obligation to be united. And they were very generally and closely united in their clan career until the O'Donnells came into contact with the English. And although the rivalry, and even hostility which then sprung up between them were at times allowed to sleep, they never died out, and indeed eventually became one leading cause of the ruin of both families, at the battle of Kinsale, in the year 1601.

Londonderry. The O'Cahans are referred to by O'Dugan as 'of the race of Eoghan of valour.' Their chieftains gradually extended their rule over the whole of the region known as Oireacht Vi Cathain, 'O'Cahan's country,' but were tributaries or vassals of the O'Neills, and, perhaps, their most trusted adherents. Another kindred race were the O'Reillys, anciently the O'Raghallaigh, descended from Brian, a brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and therefore kinsmen to the O'Neills, and the other great families now mentioned. O'Dugan designates the O'Reillys as 'the O'Raghallaigh of red arms,' and 'of rough incursions,' because of their fierce raids into other territories. Anciently, the O'Reillys occupied a territory called Muintir-Maoilmordha, which comprised as much of the present county of Cavan as is not included in the baronies of Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco; but eventually their sway extended over these portions also. The Mag Uidhir or Maguires of Fermanagh, although a powerful sept of the Oirghialla, were also kinsmen of the O'Neills, the Clann-Colla and Hy-Niall being descended from a common ancestor.

The above-named great families or septs occupied the six several counties of Ulster afterwards destined for plantation, and were sustained by other septs therein of minor importance whose names and territories will also be duly noticed in the progress of our narrative. In the meantime, the reader is required to observe that, prior to the English invasion, Ulster throughout its whole length and breadth, from Fair Head to the Fewes mountains, and from the shores of the North Channel and the Irish Sea to the boundary line with Connaught, acknowledged the authority of the O'Neills as paramount. The sub-kings or vassal chiefs, it is true, often quarrelled with each other (as those of the same class in all European lands did) many feuds arising and being fought out, even amongst leading families of the same clan; but none ventured permanently to dispute with The O'Neill, however much, or often, the minor families of that surname might be found in conflict with others. Indeed, the inhabitants of this province, under the long line of their Irian or Rudrician kings, had been a comparatively peace-loving race, and it was chiefly owing to the new and largely foreign element introduced by the Clann-Colla that Ulster became a decidedly warlike section of Ireland. The tumult and confusion then occasioned by the violent bringing in of many settlers from Alba, and probably other foreign parts, continued at longer or shorter intervals, to convert this province into a sort of pandemonium for a period of at least two centuries. There came afterwards a comparatively peaceful time, not only for Ulster, but for Ireland, from the beginning of the fifth until nearly the close of the eighth century. After the expulsion of the Norsemen the country had another breathing time from foreign invasion; and had Ireland been then left to herself, as England and Scotland were, it is reasonably supposed that she would have risen above her sorrows, even perhaps sooner than they, and entered on her upward path. England gradually abandoned her heptarchy, and was content, after long internal strife and bloodshed, to be governed by one sovereign; Scotland, slowly and through terrible internecine struggles, became partially united even under her later Dalriadic kings; and Ireland would have moved, but probably with more rapidity, in the same path, giving up her provincial kings in succession, until some one of her great families, whether an O'Neill, an O'Brien, or an O'Connor, would have risen permanently to the throne. The English invaders, however, who began to come at the call of Dermod MacMorough,

whilst they prevented the growth of a strong central power in this country, were wholly unable for a long period to supply any adequate authority in its place. "The Anglo-Norman settlement on the east coast of Ireland," says Sir Henry Maine, "acted like a running sore, constantly irritating the Celtic regions beyond the Pale, and deepening the confusion which prevailed there. If the country had been left to itself, one of the great Irish tribes would almost certainly have conquered the rest. Anglo-Norman attempts at conquest, never consistently carried out, or thoroughly completed, the very existence of the Pale, and above all the policy directed from it of playing off against one another the chiefs beyond its borders, are allowed by all to have distracted the island with civil war, however the responsibility for it is to be apportioned. See Early History of Institutions, pp. 54, 183.

III.

The first of a long series of English incursions into Ireland was but the adventure of a few private persons of freebooting proclivities. When MacMorough urged Henry II. to come, by the promise of being able to obtain for him the sovereign lordship of the whole country, the king refused to incur the expenses of an expedition, but was willing to grant license by letters patent to such of his subjects as might wish, at their own expense, to become adventurers in that enterprise. Two Welshmen, named Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald, whom MacMorough met and persuaded at Bristol, were the first to appear on the Irish shore with a party of 390 men, and were followed soon afterwards by the Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, at the head of a force numbering 1,200. These adventurers operated so successfully on the coasts of Leinster and Munster that the English king himself was soon induced to come over; and they had also made the way so smooth before him that all the little kings and great lords alike, in the three provinces of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, were easily persuaded to become tributaries, and to accept him as their sovereign lord. "Besides," says Sir John Davys, "the better to assure this inconstant Sea-nymph [Ireland], who was so easily won, the Pope would needs give her unto him with a ring. But as the conquest was but slight and superficial, so the Pope's donation, and the Irish submissions were but weak and fickle assurances. The truth is, the conquest of Ireland was made piece by piece, by slow steps and degrees, and by several attempts, in several ages. There were sundry revolutions, as well of the English fortunes, as of the Irish; sometimes one prevailing, sometimes the other; and it was never brought to a full period, till his Majesty that now is [James I. of England] came to the crown. Though King Henry the Second had the title of Sovereign Lord over the Irish, yet did he not put those things in execution, which are the true marks and differences of sovereignty. For, to give laws unto a people, to institute magistrates and officers over them, to punish and pardon malefactors, to have the sole authority of making war and peace, and the like; are true marks of sovereignty, which King Henry the Second had not in the Irish countries, but the Irish lords did still retain all these prerogatives to themselves. For they governed the people by the Brehon laws, they made their own magistrates and officers, they pardoned and punished all malefactors within their several countries, they made war and peace one with another without controlment; and this they did, not only during the reign of King Henry the

.

Second, but afterwards in all times, even until the reign of Queen Elizabeth." See Historical Tracts, pp. 6, 11.

In the first accounts of this nominal conquest of Ireland only three provinces were mentioned; and, as for Ulster, although Sir John de Courcy (20), with a company of 400 volunteers, ran round the eastern coasts from the Boyne to the Bann, winning some battles and losing others, the province really remained intact under the sway of its Celtic rulers, the O'Neills. The work of disintegration progressed but slowly, so far as the North was concerned, and required not years, but centuries to accomplish it. Ulster presented great natural defences against the Pale, not only in its mountain ranges and the net-work of woods, lakes, and bogs, reaching from the Fewes to the head of Loch Erne, but especially in the warlike character of its people. To break up this formidable and long standing power soon became, naturally enough, the well-understood policy of the English Pale (21). Very little progress, however, was thus made until the time of Con

O'Neill, who accepted an English earldom in the year 1542, and died in 1559. This Ulster prince fell a prey to certain English servitors, including the Bagenalls (22), who were able to intermeddle with his family affairs, and who eventually induced him to adopt the son of a Dundalk blacksmith, named Kelly, to the exclusion of his own only legitimate son, Shane O'Neill.

One of our best Irish archæological authorities-O'Donovan-believed that Con O'Neill's heir was really the son of a blacksmith, and that his [the heir's] son, who is known in history as Hugh O'Neill, second earl of Tyrone, was not, therefore, an O'Neill at all. Our authority, however, no less genial than indisputable, comforts his readers by showing that the O'Kellys were really a great and very distinguished clan or tribe, and as royally descended as the O'Neills themselves! "Whether this Earl Hugh," says he, "was an O'Neill or not-and the editor [O'Donovan] feels satisfied that Shane-an-diomas proved in England that he was not,—he was the cleverest man that ever bore that name. The O'Kellys of Bregia, of whom this Hugh must have been (if he were not of the blood of the O'Neills) were descended from Hugh Slaine, monarch of Ireland from A.D. 599 to 605, and consequently of as royal lineage as the O'Neills themselves, if not more so, though brought low by the English at an early period. Mageoghegan says that 'there reigned of King Hugh Slaine's race, as monarchs of this kingdom, nine kings, and there were many other princes of Moy-Brey, besides the said kings, of the family of O'Kelly of Brey.' We may, therefore, well believe that the blood of Hugh Slaine, which was brought so low in the grandfather [the blacksmith],

were recognised. The Pale became the familiar designation of what was known as " Englishe Lande," which at first comprised the present counties of Meath, Louth, Dublin, and Kildare. "An old distinction," says Campion, "there is of Irelande into Irishe and Englishe Pales, for when the Irishe had raised continual tumults against the Englishe planted here by the conquest, at last they coursed them into a narrow circuit of certain shires in Leinster, which the Englishe did choose as the fattest soil, most defensible, their proper right, and most open to receive helpe from Englande; hereupon it was termed the Pale, as whereout they durst not peepe; but now within this Pale uncivill Irishe and some rebells do dwell, and without it contries and cities Englishe are well governed." The English, soon after their coming to Ireland, had extended their possessions much beyond the four counties already named; "but having fallen at odds among themselves," says Dr. Boate, "and making several great wars the one upon the other, the Irish thereby got the opportunity to recover, now this, and then that part of the land; whereby, and through the degenerating of a great many from time to time, who, joining themselves with the Irish, took upon them their wild fashions and their language, the English at length came to be so weakened that at last nothing remained to them of the whole kingdom worth speaking of but the great cities of the forenamed four counties, to which the name of Pale was given, because the English colonies and plantations which before were spread over the whole land, were now empaled to so small a compass." (See Preface to Morrin's Calendar of Patent Rolls of Elizabeth, p. xvii., et seq.) Numerous early documents record the great corruption of morals within the Pale, after the English had

(22). The Bagenalls.-One man, named Nicholas Bagenall, to whom Con O'Neill had proved specially useful and kind, became the deadliest enemy of the old earl and his family. This Englishman came from Staffordshire to Ulster in the year 1542, having been obliged to make his escape from his native place to avoid the consequences of a manslaughter with which he was charged. It is hardly credible that Bagenall would have disappeared from his English home so suddenly, had he only committed a justifiable homicide, or that he would have required a special pardon from the king to secure him against the consequences of such an act. At all events, Con O'Neill required to write specially to Henry VIII. on Bagenall's behalf, and his influence was then such that he readily procured a pardon for the delinquent. Bagenall prospered apace under the auspices of O'Neill until at length he became greater than his patron, and indeed secured for himself one of the most important fragments of the O'Neill estates, at and around the present town of Newry. His son was the well-known Sir Henry Bagenall, who wrote a Description of Ulster in 1586, and was a deadly foe of Hugh O'Neill, the second earl, but refused to meet him in single combat. Bagenalls are now represented by the Kilmorey family at Newry.

The