ish society, whose origin was the great religious
schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
national respect for the throne.

The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
hope, took possession of their own churches, and hoped they might
practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
hallowed, and Smith says: "They had a person named a Legate from the
Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
their lives and fortunes."[462]

But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank "to the eternal
damnation of the Papists"[463] solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.

James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
proclamation ran thus: "We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
realm." The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
severity. Several memb