have hitherto, as is most probable, been deluded into a belief in one of the most wicked, base, and unfounded romances ever palmed on a deceived world, in the shape of history.

Of the second class of depositions, those which assert things contrary to the known laws of nature, we have given so many examples, pages 41 to 46, that we deem it wholly unnecessary to disgrace our work with any further instances; except one extravagant tale, contained in the deposition of dean Maxwell, which we omitted in its proper place. This reverend perjurer swore, that the dead bodies of murdered Englishmen lay unburied, and would not sometimes begin to stink and infect the air, until four or five weeks after the murders committed! He that can swallow this story, must be endowed with faith enough to receive, as genuine history, the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Gulliver's Travels, and the Seven Champions of Christendom.

"And further this deponent saith, That the rebels having exposed the murdered bodies of the British so long unto the public view and censure, that they began to stink and infect the air, which commonly (being a thing very strange) would not sometimes happen till four or five weeks after the murders committed!!!! they usually permitted some of their bodies to be removed and cast into ditches."469

We shall now proceed to a cursory examination of the third class, which, though not resting

469 Borlace, App. 138.

on hearsay, or not absolutely impossible, are yet so utterly improbable, as to be unworthy of belief. One of the witnesses swears, that she and her six children had nothing to eat for three weeks, while they lay in a cave, but two old calf skins, which they beat with stones, and ate them hair and all!*

Another, seventy-five years old, swears that she was stripped seven times in one day, by the rebels, as she was proceeding to Dublin.†

Another swears, that all the nobles in the kingdom, that were Papists, had a hand in the plot. It is too obvious to require illustration, that even if this were a fact, it was hardly possible for any man to be so well assured of it, as to be able safely to take this sweeping oath. But, setting

* "Mary Barlow deposeth, That her husband being by the rebels hanged before her face, she and six children were stripped stark naked, and turned out a begging in the frost and snow, by means whereof they were almost starved, having nothing to eat in three weeks, while they lay in a cave, but two old calf skins, which they beat with stones, and so ate them hair and all, her children crying out unto her, rather to go out, and be killed by the rebels, than to starve there."470

"Margaret Fermeny, in the county of Fermanagh, deposeth, that the rebels bound her and her husband's hands behind them, to make them confess their money, and dragged them up and down in a rope, and cut his throat in her own sight with a skein, having first knocked him down and stripped him; and that being an aged woman, seventy-five years old, as she came up afterwards to Dublin, she was stripped by the Irish seven times in one day.”471

470 Temple, 90.

471 Idem, 88.

this consideration wholly aside, the perjury is proved by the simple fact, that the earl of Clanrickarde, and other Catholic noblemen, were not only wholly unconcerned in the insurrection, but absolutely fought against their countrymen.*

Another swears, that two and twenty widows were stripped stark naked, and driven out into the woods, where they remained in that condition from Tuesday till Saturday, and the snow. unmelted lay long on some of their skins!†

*"Patrick O'Brien, of the parish of Galloom, in the county of Fermanagh, affirmeth, upon oath, That all the nobles in the kingdom, that were Papists, had a hand in this plot, as well as the lord Macguire, Hugh Oge, and Mac-Mahown; that they expected aid out of Spain, by Owen Roe O'Neal; and that colonel Plunket, one of those that was to be an actor in the surprise of the castle of Dublin, told him that he knew of this plot eight years since; and that within these three years, he hath been more fully acquainted with it."472

"Magdalen Redman, late of the Dowris, in King's county, widow, being sworn and examined, deposeth and saith, that she, this deponent, and divers other Protestants, her neighbours, and amongst the rest twenty-two widows, after they were all robbed, were also stripped, stark naked, and then covering themselves in a house with straw, the rebels then and there lighted the straw with fire, and threw amongst them, on purpose to burn them; where they had been burned or smothered, but that some of the rebels more pitiful than the rest, commanded these cruel rebels to forbear, so as they escaped: yet the rebels kept and drove them naked into the wild woods, from Tuesday until Saturday, in frost and snow, so as the snow unmelted, lay long upon some of their skins!!! and some of their children died in their arms."473

472 Temple, 61.

473 Idem, 81.

It were endless to recapitulate the miserable tales with which Temple's history is filled: they are as nauseating by their absurdity, as shocking by their falsehood. A few more shall close the subject.

This writer very gravely informs us, that the day previous to the breaking out of the rebellion, the priests in many places "gave the people a dismiss at mass, with the liberty to go and take possession of the Englishmen's lands, and to strip, rob, and despoil them of all their goods and cattle ;"*

That the Irish were determined, as soon as they had rooted out the English from Ireland, to go to England, and not leave the memorial of the English name under heaven !"†

*"Whereas the priests did long before, in their public devotions at mass, pray for a blessing upon a great design they had then in hand; so now, as I have heard, they did in many places, the very day before the breaking out of this rebellion, give the people a dismiss at mass, with free liberty to go out, and take possession of all their lands, which they pretended were unjustly detained from them by the English; as also to strip, rob, and despoil them of all their goods and cattle."474

"The friars exhorted the people with tears to spare none of the English; that the Irish were resolved to destroy them out of the kingdom; that they would devour, as their very word was, the seed of the English out of Ireland; and that when they had rid them there, they would go over into England, and not leave the memorial of the English name under heaven!!!"475 475 Idem, 78.

474 Temple, 79.

That the Irish killed English cows and sheep, merely because they were English ;*

That some of those that fled from Ireland, to seek refuge in England, were so tossed about by storms, that they could not reach any port in the latter island in three months;†

That the Irish intended to have heavy penalties imposed on those who should speak English ;+

*"The Irish in many places killed English cows and sheep, merely because they were English; in some places they cut off their legs, or took a piece out of their buttocks, and so let them remain, still alive. The Lord Montgarret, Mr. Edward Butler, the Baron of Logmouth, went with their forces into Munster, about the beginning of the rising of the Irish there, and while they remained about Callen and Mallow, they consumed no less than fifty thousand, others say an hundred thousand English sheep, besides a great abundance of English cattle: and such as they could not eat, yet they killed and left in great multitudes, stinking, to the great annoyance of the country. This testified by Henry Champart, in his examination taken before Sir Robert Meredith, knight."476

"That which heightened the calamity of the poor English was their flight in the winter, in such a dismal, stormy, tempestuous season, as in the memory of man had never been observed formerly to continue so long together. Yet the terror of the rebels incomparably prevailing beyond the rage of the sea, most of those who could provide themselves of shipping, though at never so excessive rates, deserted the city: and such was the violence of the winds, such continuing impetuous storms, as several barques were cast away. Some, in three months after their going from hence, could recover no port in England!”477

"Some of the Irish could not endure the very sound of that language, but would have penalties inflicted on them that spake English."478

476 Temple, 77.

477 Idem, 57.

478 Idem, 77.