edful that he should be ordained to
the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was,
being a corrupt and timorous man, and would require some engagement,
therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew
Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came
to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies,
according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that
he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to
perform such ceremonies." It was then arranged that he should be
ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been. The Bishop gave him the book
of ordination, and said, "though he durst not answer it to the State,"
that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that
it should not be read. "But," concludes Mr. Livingstone, "I found that
it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark
anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond
anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired."[520]

Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely
be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who
made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for
their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without
having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of
orders.

But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy;
O'Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the
dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who
can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his
_Ogygia_: "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil--a
spectator of others enriched by my birthright." And again: "The Lord
hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the
applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored
to the kingdom of my cottage. Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned: may
the Lord be blessed for ever!"

The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much
the same as those of a similar rank in England.[521] Commerce was so
constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities
of development. In a curious old poem, called the _Libel of English
Policie_, the object of which was to impress on the English the
necessity of keep