or even that, in the first instances, he gained some advantages. In the end, however, he was repulsed by Sir Henry Sidney, and flying to the Scottish Isles, was there put to death by the natives.

The nephew of this O'Neil was raised by Elizabeth to the dignity of an Earl, in preference to the son of that chief: this is the same Earl of Tirone, whom we find, a few year safter, fomenting new disturbances. He had, however, the art to lull the suspicions of the Lord Deputy, Sir William Russel, by the offer of a surrender, shortly after which, he escaped into Ulster, and there he succeeded in reuniting the principal chieftains in a new revolt, for the support of which, the King of Spain had engaged to send arms and ammunition. Sir John Norris in his advance to quell this insurrection, met with great difficulties, both from the wasting of the country by the Irish, and also from the woods and morasses. In this embarrassment, he consented to a truce with O'Neil; but finding himself out-generalled and over-reached, his high spirit sunk under a mortification ill suited to his former successes, and he died through vexation. The defeat of Sir Henry Bagnal, at the Black-water, which followed soon after, contributed still more to raise the hopes of the Irish and the reputation of their commanders.

To retrieve those miscarriages, the Earl of Essex was dispatched from England with ten thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry; with this force, which in those days was rated as a powerful army, he marched towards the south, but though, in this expedition, he dispersed the leaders of the Irish, his own troops were equally harassed and diminished. For this reason he thought it needful to request a reinforcement of two thousand men, before he could venture to advance against the insurgents of the north. Notwithstanding this reinforcement, Essex found his army greatly reduced, as much by sickness as by desertion; and this reduction was further increased by the large bodies which he detached for the purpose of occupying posts and garrisons; he had also delayed till the season was too far advanced. Under these discouraging circumstances,

Essex consented to a conference with O'Neil; which conference ended in an agreement for the cessation of arms. Before the end of three months, in the absence of Essex, O'Neil with his confederates had over-run the whole kingdom.

It was not until the appointment of the Earl of Mountjoy, that the English regained any lasting superiority in Ulster. By means of fortifications, posts, and military roads, this prudent Deputy opened a secure passage for his troops, and penetrating boldly into the heart of the northern province, fortified Derry and Mount Norris, chased the Irish from the open country, and forced them to their forests and bogs. In these exploits Mountjoy was ably seconded by Sir Henry Dockwray, who fortified the Castle of Derry, which he took from O'Dogherty, the chieftain of Innishowen.

In the mean time, the Spaniards, under Don John D'Aquila, landing at Kinsale, were welcomed by the Irish, not only as descended from the same Milesian ancestry, but also as auxiliaries to the cause of their religion and independence. With this aid the affairs in the southern parts became in the higest degree formidable, and so much the more so, because O'Neil, with two thousand Spaniards, who had landed on the west, under the command of Alphonso Ocampo, was hastening from the north to their support. But, before this intended junction could be effected, O'Neil was intercepted by the Lord Deputy, who posted his troops with such advantage of ground, as enabled him entirely to defeat this powerful confederacy. O'Neil fled back to Ulster, and soon after the Spaniards evacuated the kingdom. After these transactions, Lord Mountjoy divided his army into small parties, and pursuing his advantages, seized and secured all the important passages through Ulster. Many inferior chiefs now submitted; and finally, O'Neil himself was compelled to surrender. For this purpose appearing before the Lord Deputy at Millefont, he was committed into safe custody, in order that he might be sent to abide an enquiry into his conduct in England.

The death of Elizabeth and the urgency of state affairs at the

accession of James, occasioned some interruption to the progress of the English arms in Ireland; encouraged by this inactivity, O'Dogherty, the chief of the country laying westward of the river Foyle, seized the castle of Derry, and burned it to the ground. O'Dogherty was soon after defeated by Sir John Vaughan, governor of Derry, and being by him closely pursued, was starved to death in his own castle at Burncranagh. The arms of the city of London-Derry commemorate this event: the escutcheon shews a skeleton, the head leaning on the hand, the figure resting on a stone, which is said to have been the position in which O'Dogherty was found, when, after his death, the castle of Burncranagh surrendered. This rebellion being soon after entirely suppressed, the whole province of Ulster became forfeited to the English crown.

Such is the sketch of Irish affairs immediately connected with the settlement of a Protestant colony in the six escheated counties of this province.

The city of London-Derry, the town of Coleraine, and a large tract of country in the province of Ulster in Ireland, as we have related above, by the rebellion of the Earl of Tirone and others in the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, having been laid waste and depopulated, and a very considerable part thereof being forfeited to the crown, and King James the First, being desirous of planting the escheated lands with Protestants, made known to the city of London his pleasure concerning the same; and the city having agreed to undertake the plantation, it was, at courts of common council, resolved to raise money for the purpose" by way of companies:" whereupon the Lord Mayor issued precepts to the twelve superior companies of the city for raising the same; and sums of money were at different times raised accordingly, amounting in the whole to sixty thousand pounds.

On the thirtieth of January, 1609, it was by a court of common council resolved that, for the better managing of the Plantation, there should be a company constituted in London, to consist of a governor, deputy governor, and twenty-four assistants, with power to direct

what ought to be done on the part of the city concerning it; and King James, by letters patent dated the twenty-ninth of March in the eleventh year of his reign (1613), incorporated the Irish Society, by the name of the governors and assistants of London of the new plantation in Ulster within the realm of Ireland, and granted to it the escheated lands, &c. with power to create manors of any quantity of land exceeding one thousand acres.

At a court of common council held on the eighth of November 1613, viewers, who had by the city of London been sent over to Ireland, made their report of a division into twelve proportions of the escheated lands, &c. (excepting" the city of London-Derry, and the four thousand acres there, the town of Coleraine, and three thousand acres appointed to the same, with the ferries and fishings; of which they were of opinion that a division could not be fitly made, but that the rents and profits of them might be divided and go amongst the several companies.")

The said king, by letters patent dated the thirtieth of September in the thirteenth year of his reign, 1615, after reciting that the companies had expended divers great sums of money, in building, fortifying, and planting in Ireland, granted license to the twelve companies to take and hold, in mortmain, any of the lands, &c. granted by the crown to the Irish Society.

In the reign of King Charles the First the said letters patent of James the First to the Irish Society were repealed and cancelled, upon an information, exhibited by the attorney-general in the court of Star chamber, against the society and companies, for non-performance of the conditions of plantation; but on the thirteenth of October 1688, the same king granted to the society and companies a general pardon, and in the year 1641, declared his royal pleasure for restoring to them all the lands, &c. which had been granted to the Irish Society by the letters patent of James the First, and gave his commands for having the same accomplished. But the civil wars in Ireland, shortly after breaking out, his Majesty's intentions in their behalf took no effect.

In the Protectorate, the society obtained a re-grant of their Charter with additional privileges; but that being held to be insufficient, Charles the Second, by letters patent dated the tenth of April in the 14th year of his reign, 1662, restored and reinstated them to and in all the lands, &c. vested in them by the letters patent of the eleventh of James the First; and on the fifth of June 1663, the society reconveyed to the companies their several and respective rights, estates, and privileges.

Having now traced the events and circumstances connected with the colonisation of the County of London-Derry in a general and summary manner, it seems necessary to advert more particularly to the succeeding transactions; and this we shall do by laying before the reader, in the first place, extracts from the most important matters connected with the plantation, or contained in the charter to the Irish Society and the twelve principal companies of the city of London.

Names of Irish Catholics who forfeited in consequence of the Rebellion of 1641. (From Sir WILLIAM PETTY's Survey.)