to all the country dear
And passing rich with forty pounds a year
was in Ireland, and Chaucer’s fuller portrait of such a man might find application there too.[288]
The Bible in Irish.
An Act of 1537 provided that English should be the general language and that all children should be brought up to speak it, spiritual promotion in particular being confined to those who could do so. If a person not so qualified was admitted to orders, he was to be sworn under penalties to learn English as soon as possible, and the bishop was subject to a fine of 3l. 6s. 8d. if he failed to administer the oath. The New Testament was, nevertheless, translated into Irish in 1602, and James I. ordered that it should be read in Irish-speaking places. The book soon became scarce, for the Roman Catholic clergy bought up as many copies as possible. The Irish types provided by Queen Elizabeth found their way to Douai, and did service against the Reformation. There was no attempt to translate the Old Testament from the original tongue, but after the publication of the Authorised English version, Bedell managed to get it done into Irish. Strafford, Bramhall, and Chappell all opposed him; nothing was printed, and the poor Irish scholar employed by the bishop was persecuted and denied his reward. When Bedell died, his friend Denis Sheridan preserved the manuscript. During the Civil War nothing could be done, but the sheets were preserved by Bishop Jones. It was not until long after the Restoration that the work was again taken in hand, the translation being then a ‘confused heap, pitifully defaced and broken.’ Andrew Sall, a converted Jesuit, was employed; Narcissus Marsh and Price of Cashel being active in the matter. The Chancellor-Archbishop Boyle was afraid of the Act of Henry VIII., and Dopping was affected by the same consideration. Robert Boyle, who wished to do something for the country whence he drew an income, furnished the funds, fresh types were cut, a second edition of the New Testament was published in 1681, and a first edition of the Old in 1685. The belated work was perhaps more useful in the Scotch highlands than in Ireland, for the time had long passed since the Reformation might have appealed to a Roman Catholic people in their own tongue.[289]
The Presbyterians.
The Protestant sects of English origin gave little trouble after the Restoration, though the Castle plot in 1663 showed that some of the old leaven was still working. But the Presbyterians, who were in fact a colony from Scotland, had powerful support from that country, and active ministers could pass to and fro without difficulty and with little interference from Ormonde, who was not naturally intolerant. Most of his relations belonged to the Church of Rome. When Robartes succeeded him in 1669, some favour was shown to the Presbyterians, but the reign was too short to do much. Berkeley showed very marked indulgence to the Roman Catholics, and it was not his cue to persecute Nonconformists. Essex was inclined to toleration, but did not underrate the difficulties. When Ormonde returned to Dublin Castle in 1677 he found things very much changed. By the law of 1665 no minister not of episcopal ordination could administer the Sacrament without paying 100l. each time. It was, nevertheless, constantly done, thousands assembled to hear preachers who often came from Scotland, and Presbyterian Church government was quietly established. Ormonde thought the most dangerous party in Ireland to the King’s government was that of the Protestant Nonconformists, ‘taken simply by themselves without the consideration of foreign incitement or assistance.’ He knew that men came from Scotland to escape Lauderdale and his myrmidons, but it was impossible to prosecute them without doing the same with the Papists, and after many years tacit toleration that would make great trouble. If both parties were attacked the prisons would be full, the population driven from their homes and work, and the revenue destroyed. His advice was to let things alone without any pronouncement for toleration, since that would be ascribed to fear. Ulster, he said, was full of ‘the worst Protestants and Papists in the whole kingdom.’ The latter would very probably rebel if they saw a chance, and the great thing was not to give one. Speeches in the Long Parliament about the extirpation of Popery in Ireland were ‘some cause or at lease some pretence for the beginning of that rebellion in 1641, as the prospect of the division between the late King and the two Houses of Parliament was the encouragement. I have to spread the army very thin to keep Tories in awe and the English in heart.’ The main strength of Irish Presbyterianism was, and is, in Ulster, but when Ormonde was writing the above its organisation had been extended to several places in the other three provinces. There was some active persecution during the period of reaction after the Popish plot was exploded, but all Protestants, except the Quakers, joined in the great effort against James II. When the danger was over, full toleration was still denied to the Nonconformists.[290]
The Roman Catholics.
The Church of Rome retained her hold on the native population of Ireland. Though in constant danger, a number of priests stayed in the country during the Commonwealth period, and the Act of Abjuration only made things worse. Ormonde tried to divide the Roman Catholic clergy, but he failed to get the Remonstrance adopted. He thought he might even then have succeeded had he been left longer in the Government, but in this he was probably wrong. Peter Walsh’s party dwindled fast, and to modern eyes it appears that this was inevitable. The appointment of Berkeley, coinciding with the treaty of Dover, stopped all active repression for the time, and Essex, who tried to copy the dividing policy of Ormonde, had even less chance of success. Occasional fits of Protestant zeal in England might for a time banish some bishops and drive some friars and Jesuits into hiding, but the framework of the Church and the secular clergy were not much disturbed. Ambitious and restless priests had something to fear from the English Government, but nothing to expect. Promotion came from Rome; a safe asylum and sometimes good means of support were afforded by France and Spain.
Oliver Plunket.