nder Tudor and
Stuart rule the history of the country is a long story of faction and
feud among the chiefs and nobles, of rebellions, expeditions, massacres,
and confiscations. Sympathy with the Stuarts brought on it the scourge of
Cromwell (1649) and the invasion by William III. Thereafter the penal
laws excluded Roman Catholics from Parliament. The union of the Irish
with the British Parliament took place in 1801. Catholic disabilities
were removed 1829. An agitation for the repeal of the Union was begun in
1842 by Daniel O'Connell, and carried on by the Fenian movement of 1867
and the Home Rule movement led by Charles Parnell. A Home Rule bill was
lost in the Commons in 1886, and another in the Lords in 1893. The Church
of Ireland (Protestant Episcopal) was disestablished in 1871. Since the
Union the executive has been in the hands of a lord-lieutenant,
secretary, and council appointed by the Crown. Ireland is far behind
Great Britain in wealth, and its population has been steadily declining.

IRELAND, SAMUEL WILLIAM HENRY, a notorious forger of Shakespearian
relics, born in London, son of a dealer in old books and prints; imposed
on his father and a number of lovers of the antique, till he was exposed
by Malone; he published a confession of his forgeries, and died in
obscurity and poverty (1777-1835).

IRENAEUS, one of the Fathers of the Church; was bishop of Lyons, and
suffered martyrdom about 202; had been a disciple of Polycarp; wrote
against the Gnostics in a work in Greek, which all to a few fragments in
Latin is lost.

IRE`NE, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, the Greek goddess of peace;
she was an object of worship both in Athens and Rome, is represented as
holding in her left arm a cornucopia, and in her right hand an olive
branch.

IRENE, empress of Constantinople, born in Athens, a poor orphan
girl, famous for her beauty, her talents, and her crimes; was banished to
Lesbos, where she maintained herself by spinning; has been canonised by
the Greek Church for her zeal in image worship (752-803).

IRETON, HENRY, born at Altenborough, Notts; graduated at Cambridge
1629, and studied law; on outbreak of Civil War he joined the
Parliamentarian party, and marrying Cromwell's daughter acquired great
influence; took a leading part in the prosecution of the king, was one of
his judges, and signed the warrant for his execution; kept by Cromwell in
Ireland in 1650, he proved a stern deputy, and died of th