hardships; and now the Presbyterians went off in large numbers. This alarmed the government, as it increased the relative proportion of Catholics; yet they obstinately retained these two acts, though earnestly recommended to repeal them by successive lord lieutenants: and so the exodus continued. For a long period about the middle of the century, it is calculated that 12,000 emigrated every year from Ulster. The sufferings of the Presbyterians, however, though bitter for the time, were trifling and brief compared with those of the Catholics.

It would be unjust to view these laws as if they stood alone. In many parts of Europe at the time, there were stringent penal laws of Protestants against Catholics in some countries: of Catholics against Protestants in others: a fact that must be carefully borne in mind in reviewing this legislation. But in at least two respects the Irish laws contrasted unfavourably with other penal codes. In all other countries it was the great majority persecuting a small sect, to force them into religious compliance with the general body : in Ireland alone was the attempt made by a small minority to suppress the religion of the whole nation among whom they lived. But perhaps the worst feature of the Irish enactments was that they were made in open breach of public faith.

To us, looking back at those evil times from a distance of nearly two centuries, the picture is not wholly black. There are spots brightened by humanity, which, when well considered, should stir up feelings of mutual kindliness among the people of the present day. It will be good to point out a few of these relieving features.

It was the governing classes that made those terrible penal laws; the general body of the Protestant people, whether in England or Ireland, had no hand in them.

And when the laws came into operation, a large proportion of Irish Protestants, all through the country, looked upon them with silent disapproval, and did a great deal in a quiet way to protect their Catholic neighbours; just as many Catholics-both clergy and laymen-in 1641, and subsequently in 1798, saved their Protestant friends from the fury of the mob. This was especially the case where property was concerned. A Catholic gentleman, when in danger of losing his land through some one of the means provided by law, told his story to his Protestant neighbour, who on the spot purchased the estate, or rather pretended to purchase it, drawing out a regular agreement and taking over the title deeds, but paying no purchase money. He was now the owner according to law, and received the rents, but secretly handed them over to his Catholic friend as they came in; and this continued generally during the lives of the two, and often during the lives of their children and grandchildren, till the repeal of the statute enabled land and deeds to be restored to the owners. Cases such as this were quite common all over the country and among the Protestant gentry it was considered a special point of honour to keep and restore the property undiminished, faithfully, and without fee or reward. Many a Catholic gentleman holds his estate at this day through the kind feeling of the ancestors of his present Protestant neighbours.

So also it often happened that a dying Catholic, with young children, sent for his Protestant friend and complied outwardly with the law by leaving them to his guardianship, with the secret understanding that they should be educated by some Catholic selected by the family; and there is good reason to believe that guardians thus appointed were generally faithful to their

The enact

trust often at great risk to themselves. ment about the horse of more than £5 value was taken advantage of only in a very few cases; and Catholic gentlemen continued to hunt and race and drive equipages with valuable horses, among the Protestant gentry, without any molestation during the whole time the law remained in force.

While many magistrates were active in seeing the law carried out, there were others more under the influence of good feeling. One of these, suppose, received information that some banned priest or schoolmaster was hiding in the neighbourhood; but he intentionally delayed, or went to the wrong spot, or met with some trifling accident, or sent word secretly and at last arrived at the hiding place, looking very wicked, only to find the culprit gone.

In other ways the operation of these cruel laws was mitigated, and it often turned out that matters were not quite so bad with Catholics as the lawmakers intended. Evasions were very often winked at, even where well-known. Catholic bishops remained all through in the country in spite of every effort to discover them, living in huts in remote places under various disguises, and meeting their congregations by night in wild glens and bogs. Young priests who had been educated abroad managed to return, and took up their duties though not registered. But such breaches and evasions were always very dangerous, and sometimes ended in detection, trial, and execution. Then as to education. Many priests kept schoolmasters, who -taught in sheds put up in remote glens, or they instructed individual scholars, in a scrappy kind of way, in fields or lanes; which however was only a flickering sort of education, that could not reach the general mass of the people.

In one very important particular the penal code failed to reach the Catholics. Though they were shut out from the ownership of land, and from the professions, many branches of business lay open to them; so that numbers of Catholics prospered in trade, and became rich, with no power to hinder them, especially in large towns and seaports.

Along with all this, it is well known that towards the middle of the eighteenth century, though the worst of the penal statutes remained in force, many of them were quietly suffered to fall into disuse, so that Catholics began to bestir themselves a little, and to hope for better times. In some parts of the country too, there was such an overwhelming preponderance of Catholics, that even in the worst of the penal times it was impossible to have the laws enforced.

But making every allowance for kindliness, protection, evasion, and non-enforcement of the law, the Catholic people underwent terrible sufferings for three or four generations; and no one who has not read the detailed history of those times can have any idea of the sort of life they led. Though the Penal Code quite failed to make them Protestants, it succeeded perfectly in crushing, impoverishing, and degrading them. Deprived of the means of education and advancement, the great body sank in the end into such a state of listless ignorance and poverty, and became so downtrodden and oppressed with a sense of inferiority, that after their disabilities had been removed and the way had been cleared for them, it took them many generations more to recover anything like the position of independence, self respect, and influence, they had enjoyed before the penal times.

Sculpture on Window: Cathedral Church, Glendalough: Beranger, 1779.

From Petrie's "Round Towers."

CHAPTER LVI.

HE Penal Laws described in the last chapter applied mainly to Catholics: but the repressive code now about to be described oppressed Irishmen of all creeds.

Ireland has a good climate, a fertile soil, and a fair supply of minerals; and towards the end of the seventeenth century, in spite of wars and other troubles, several branches of manufacture, trade, and commerce were flourishing. But the traders and merchants of England fancied that the prosperity of Ireland was a loss to them, by drawing away custom; and in their shortsighted and selfish jealousy, they persuaded the English parliament--which, indeed, needed little persuasion to ruin almost the whole trade of Ireland. As in the case of the penal enactments touching religion, it will be convenient to bring all the main provisions of this Code into one chapter.

This legislation was generally the work of the English parliament alone; but sometimes the Irish parliament followed in the same direction; and, in obedience to orders, passed acts impoverishing their own country. It must be borne in mind that religion had