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1543. Then, Murrough O'Brien, on surrendering his kingdom, or principality, to King Henry VIII., was created 1st Earl of Thomond for life, with the title of Baron of Inchiquin, to his male heirs; the whole of this Murrough's territorial and other possessions beyond the river Shannon, with their abbeys, and the right of presenting to all spiritual benefices, except bishoprics, being confirmed to him and his descendants. At the same time, Henry conferred on Murrough's nephew, Donough O'Brien, the dignity of Baron of Ibrackan, with the right of succession to the title of Earl of Thomond for life, after his uncle Murrough's decease; Murrough, as the de facto ruler of Thomond, at the period of his submission, being considered deserving to be created its Earl, though not to transmit that title to his posterity, as having, only through popular election, under the old Irish law of Tanistry, attained the principality of his name and territory, after the death of Conor O'Brien, King or Prince of Thomond, in 1540; to the exclusion of Conor's eldest son, the above-mentioned Donough, who, being then a minor, was set aside by the law of Tanistry, as less worthy to succeed, or govern, than his uncle Murrough. After this Murrough's death, his nephew, Donough, the Baron of Ibrackan,to whom, as well as to his late uncle, Henry VIII., in 1542, had confirmed all his castles, lordships, manors, &c., beyond the Shannon, with a considerable grant of ecclesiastical property,-became 2nd Earl of Thomond, for life; which title, by a new patent of Edward VI. in 1552, was confirmed, in perpetuity, to the Baron and his heirs male, along with all the honours and lands that had fallen to the Crown, by Earl Murrough's decease. This Donough O'Brien, surnamed the Fat, and the 2nd Earl of Thomond, dying in 1553, was succeeded, as 3rd Earl of Thomond, by his son, Conor or Cornelius O'Brien. He had 3 sons, Donough, the 4th Earl of Thomond, Teige, whose posterity are extinct, and Daniel, of Moyarta and Carrigaholt, in the County of Clare. Daniel, distinguishing himself and receiving many wounds, in the wars of Ireland, under Queen Elizabeth, was knighted as Sir Daniel O'Brien, and rewarded by the Crown with considerable grants of land in that County. He was its representative in the Irish Parliament of 1613, and, in consideration of his own and his children's services to the royal cause, both at home and abroad, during the subsequent convulsions and wars, was, after the Restoration of King Charles II., created 1st Viscount of Clare, in the County of Clare, in 1662; and had his estate of 84,339 acres in Clare, besides lands in Limerick, that had been lost during the Cromwellian usurpation, restored to him. He was succeeded, as 2nd Viscount of Clare, by his son Conor O'Brien; on whose death, about the year 1670, his son Daniel became the 3rd Viscount. Daniel had followed King Charles II. in his exile, and served him so zealously until the Restoration in 1660, that, after his return with the King to London, his

Carrigaholt, in Gaelic, or Irish, the rock of the fleet, is a commanding cliff, overlooking a bay, so called from it. The Castle, situated on this cliff, and kept in order, as a residence, to our own times, belonged to Lord Clare till the War of the Revolution, when he forfeited it, with the rest of his estates, for his adherence to King James II. The popular legends concerning this Castle, according to a modern work, were blended with traditions of the Lord Clare, and the Regiment of Yellow Dragoons (so-called from the colour of their facings) which he levied for the service of King James. The ghost of that Lord, and those of his dragoons, were supposed to traverse the west, in the stormy nights of winter, and to disappear at dawn, into the surges, off Carrigaholt! How comparatively uninteresting is a Castle, without some story of the kind, attached to it.

merit is, in a great degree, supposed to have obtained the title of Viscount Clare for his grandfather. On the defection of England to the Prince of Orange in 1688, the loyalty of this noble Irish family was the same to King James II. against the Dutch Prince, as it had been to King Charles II. against Oliver Cromwell. Daniel, the 3rd Viscount Clare, was Lord-Lieutenant of that County for King James, a member of his Irish Privy Council, sat among the Peers of Ireland in the Parliament of 1689, and raised, for the royal service, a Regiment of Dragoons, called after himself, the Clare Dragoons, and 2 Regiments of Infantry. By his marriage with the Lady Philadelphia, eldest daughter of Francis Lennard, Lord Dacre of the South, and sister to Thomas, Earl of Sussex, his Lordship had 2 sons, for whom he levied those infantry regiments. The 1st was commanded by the elder son, the Honourable Daniel O'Brien; the 2nd by the younger son, the Honourable Charles O'Brien; to both of whom, as 4th and 5th Viscounts, the title of Lord Clare afterwards descended. The Infantry Regiment of the Honourable Daniel O'Brien was that selected by King James, to form a portion of the Brigade of Mountcashel.

The Colonel of the 3rd regiment of this Brigade, the Honourable Arthur Dillon, was likewise a member of one of the noblest houses in Ireland. The founder of it was a Chevalier Henry Delion of Aquitaine, sent, in 1185, by King Henry II. of England to Ireland, with his youngest son Johan, or John, Comte or Earl of Mortagne, as his First Gentleman, and one of his Secretaries. By the latter Prince (afterwards King John) Henry Delion was granted a large territory, reaching from the river Shannon to Cloghanenumora, east of Mullingar, to hold per Baroniam in Capite, and the service of several knights' fees; according to which grant, he and his heirs were entitled to a summons to Parliament, like the Anglo-Norman Barons on the other side of the Channel, who held their baronies by the same tenure. This extensive tract was, after its Lord, denominated Dillon's Country, and was held, as a kind of sovereignty, till reduced to shire-ground, under King Henry VIII. The Chevalier Henry Delion is entitled, "Sir Henry of Drumrany," from having fixed his residence there. "He," observes my authority, "built his mansion house, with a church in Drumrany, pretty much in the centre of his country, in the west of Meath; also a castle in Dunimony; and several abbies (as those of Athlone, Kilkenny-West, Ardnecrany, Holy-Island, Hare-Island, &c.), churches and castles were built and endowed by his descendants, Lords of the said territories. He," it is added, was progenitor to all who bear the name of Dillon, a name of great note, in the Counties of Meath, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Mayo, and other parts of the kingdom, where, and in many foreign countries, they have flourished in the highest departments of church and state." Of the several great families, sprung from this "Sir Henry of Drumrany," that of the Viscounts Dillon of Costello-Gallen, in the County of Mayo, was founded, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Sir Theobald Dillon, Knight; who derived his origin, through the house of Dunimony, from that of Drumrany. Theobald, commanding an Independent Troop of Horse in 1559, was knighted, or created Sir Theobald Dillon, for his bravery, on the field of battle. In 1582, he was appointed, by the Queen, General Collector and Receiver of the Composition Money of Connaught and Thomond; and had this office not only renewed to him by King James I., but was granted, in 1604, that of General Cessor and Collector

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for the Counties of Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, and Clare; and finally was, for his long services to the Crown, raised by James, in 1622, to the Peerage of Ireland, as Viscount Dillon of CostelloGallen, in the County of Mayo. His Lordship died, in 1624, possessed of a very large landed property in Leinster and Connaught, and so advanced in years, that, says the account, " at one time he had the satisfaction of seeing above 100 of his descendants in his house at Killenfaghny," or Killenfeagh, in the County of Westmeath. During the subsequent Parliamentarian wars, and Cromwellian usurpation, the house of Costello-Gallen signalized itself in support of the royal cause; for which Thomas, the 4th Viscount, had his extensive estates seized, and was obliged to live, with his 4 sons, in exile upon the Continent; where several of his name, expatriated on a similar account, distinguished themselves in war. 1. Charles, his heir apparent, was a General Officer in the service of France, as well as Spain, and Governor of Tournay in Flanders. 2. Sir James Dillon, Knight, 8th son of the 1st Viscount Dillon, a Lieutenant-General, Governor of Connaught for the royal cause against the Parliamentarian and Cromwellian rebels, and proscribed as such, but finally rewarded by the Crown with a pension of £500 per annum, was a Major-General, both of France and Spain. 3. James Dillon, after the success of the Cromwellians in Ireland, was also a Major-General, or Maréchal de Camp, in the service of France, by brevet of March 26th, 1653; raised an Irish regiment of his name, by commission of June 20th following; until the Peace of the Pyrennees, commanded it in Flanders with distinction, particularly at the battle of Dunkirk; and kept it till his death; after which, or by order of February 29th, 1664, it was disbanded. Thomas, the 4th Viscount Dillon, remained, with his 4 sons, in banishment, until the Restoration. His Lordship then returned home, and, in 1663, was put into possession of his property, amounting to 64,195 plantation acres of profitable land in Mayo, Roscommon, 'and Westmeath. In the war of the Revolution, this ennobled line of Costello-Gallen adhered to the Stuart family, as it had previously done. Theobald Dillon, successor to the family title, in 1682, as 7th Viscount, and married to Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Talbot, of Temple-Oge, County of Dublin, and Mount-Talbot, County of Roscommon, was then head of the house of Costello-Gallen. His Lordship himself served, as Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Clanricarde's Irish Regiment of Guards; and raised 2 Regiments of Infantry for King James. Of these, 1 regiment was commanded by his Lordship's eldest son, and subsequent successor in the title, the Honourable Henry Dillon, LordLieutenant of the County Roscommon, Member for Westmeath in the Irish Parliament of 1689, and afterwards Governor of Galway. The Colonel of the other regiment, or that appointed to form part of the Brigade of Mountcashel, was Lord Theobald's 2nd son, the Honourable Arthur Dillon. He was, at the time of his landing with his regiment in France, not 20 years of age; afterwards rose to high rank in the French army; and was father to the Lords Charles and Henry Dillon, the 10th and 11th Viscounts of Costello-Gallen, also officers of distinction in the same service.

These 3 Regiments of Mountcashel, O'Brien, and Dillon, the first of King James's Irish army that entered the French service in the spring of 1690, were followed to France, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Limerick, in October, 1691, by the rest of the Irish army, that adhered

to James's cause, rather than acknowledge the Prince of Orange, as their Sovereign. Between those who sailed in November, from the Shannon, with the Comte de Chateaurenaud's fleet of 18 men of war, 6 fire-ships, and 22 large vessels of burthen, &c., that, although too late for the relief of Limerick, served to convey to Brest a large body of the Irish with their wives and children, and the remainder who followed in as many as were required of the 14,000 tuns of shipping, stipulated, by the 7th and 8th of the Military Articles of the Treaty of Limerick, to be provided at William's expense for the same purpose, the landing in France, of all the Irish who chose to go there, was completed in January, 1692. From the returns of the French "Commissaires," obtained through the Lord Marshal of Thomond and Clare, the Irish officers and soldiers, who followed the King to France, are specified by Mac Geoghegan at 19,059; which number, added to the previously-arrived Brigade of Mountcashel of 5371 military of every rank, would make 24,430 officers and soldiers; and these, with others, who came over at different times not specified, would, according to the English and Irish authority of King James's Memoirs, and a letter of the Chevalier Charles Wogan, nephew of the Duke of Tyrconnell, amount, in all, to about 30,000 men. "Thus," add the royal Memoirs, "was Ireland after an obstinate resistance in 3 years campagns, by the power and riches of England and the revolt of almost all its own Protestant subjects, torn from its natural Sovereign; who, tho' he was divested of the country he was not wholly deprived of ye people, for the greatest part of those, who were then in armes for defence of his right, not content with the service already render'd, got leave (as was sayd) to come and loos their lives, after haveing lost their estates, in defence of his title, and brought by that means such a body of men into France, as by their generous comportment in accepting the pay of the country, instead of that which is usually allowed there to strangers, and their unimitable valour and service during the whole cours of the war, might justly make their Prince pass for an ally rather than a pentioner or burthen to his Most Christian Majesty, whose pay indeed they received, but acted by the King their master's commission, according to the common method of other auxilliary troops. As soon as the King heard of their arrival, (in France) he writ to the Commander to assure him, how well he was satisfyd with the behaviour and conduct of the officers, and the valour and fidelity of the soldiers, and how sencible he should ever be of their service, which he would not fail to reward when it should please God to put him in a capacity of doing it." The letter, which, on being informed of the arrival of the 1st body of Irish troops, December 3rd, at Brest, was despatched by the King from St. Germain to their commanding officer, Major-General Dominick Sheldon, was as follows:

"JAMES Rex

"Having been informed of the Capitulation and Surrender of Limerick, and of the other places which remained to us in our Kingdom of Ireland, and of the necessities which forced the Lords Justices and the General Officers of our Forces thereunto; we will not defer to let you know, and the rest of the officers that came along with you, that we are extreamly satisfied with your and their conduct, and of the valour of the souldiers during the siege, but, most particularly, of your and their declaration and resolution, to come and serve where we are. And we assure you, and order you, to assure both officers and souldiers that are come along with you, that we shall never forget this act of loyalty, nor fail, when in a capacity, to give

them, above others, particular marks of our favour. In the mean time, you are to inform them, that they are to serve under our command, and by our commissions; and, if we find, that a considerable number is come with the fleet, it will induce us to go personally to see them, and regiment them. Our brother, the King of France, hath already given orders to cloath them, and furnish them with all necessaries, and to give them quarters of refreshment. So we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our Court at St. Germaine, the 27th of November,* 1691."

According to this promise, that, in case a considerable number of troops should come from Ireland, he would go to see and regiment them in person, the King set out from St. Germain for Bretagne, about the middle of December. Accompanied by his son, the Duke of Berwick, James reviewed and regimented at Vannes all the men that had arrived from Ireland, returned on the 11th of January, 1692, to St. Germain, and on the landing of another or the last division, under Major-General Patrick Sarsfield, Lord Lucan, at Brest, and the other ports of Bretagne, the King again left St. Germain, and reviewed and regimented that body, as he had done the rest. It was decided, that the Irish, who were to act under his commission as his army, should consist of 2 Troops of Horse Guards, 2 Regiments of Horse, 2 Regiments of Dragoons à pied, or Dismounted Dragoons that were to serve as Infantry, 8 Regiments of Foot, (containing altogether 15 battalions) and 3 Independent Companies. The extensive alterations connected with this new formation of the Irish army inflicted, like all great public changes, much hardship upon individuals; some, who had been Major-Generals, being reduced to Colonels, and so downwards to the Ensigns, several of whom had to become Serjeants, and even privates. The old or Milesian Irish, who had levied regiments for the War of the Revolution, suffered most. Of the O'Neills, for example, of whom several had been Colonels of Regiments in Ireland, Brigadier Gordon O'Neill alone obtained a regiment; and other regiments, or those of O'Donnell, Mac Donnell, Mac Guire, Mac Mahon, Mac Gennis, and O'Reilly, were dissolved as separate corps, and their officers proportionate sufferers. In the arrangements with the French Government concerning the rate of pay for the newlyformed regiments, the further sacrifice made by the Irish to their exiled Sovereign's interest-as previously alluded to in the extract from his own Memoirs respecting "their generous comportment in accepting the pay of the country, instead of that usually allowed there to strangers"—is thus related, with other affecting particulars, in a manuscript, written, after the King's death, by a contemporary Irish Jacobite, or loyalist. "Upon capitulating with the enemy," says this writer, of his countrymen, at Limerick, "they stipulated also with their own French Generals, that they should be put in France upon strangers' pay; but when they were modled at Rennes, it was regulated they should have but French pay, to which they acquiesc'd meerly to please their own King, and in hopes the over-plus of their just pay, amounting to 50,000 livres a month, retrench'd from them, might abate the obligations of their Master to the French Court. The world knows with what constancy and fidelity they stuck ever since to the service of France, not but that they might push their fortunes faster in other services, but because it was to his Most Christian Majesty their Master ow'd obligations most, and had from him sanctuary and protection; nay so wedded they were for these

December 7th, N.S.

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