710 2s. was
realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging to thirty-nine
monasteries. The profits on the spoliation of St. Mary's, Dublin,
realized L385. The destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick
must have procured an enormous profit, as we find that Cromwell received
L60 for his pains in effecting the same. It should also be remembered
that the value of a penny then was equal to the value of a shilling now,
so that we should multiply these sums at least by ten to obtain an
approximate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery.

The spoilers now began to quarrel over the spoils. The most active or
the most favoured received the largest share; and Dr. Browne grumbled
loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we have not space to
pursue the disedifying history of their quarrels. The next step was to
accuse each other. In the report of the Commissioners appointed in 1538
to examine into the state of the country, we find complaints made of the
exaction of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and marriages, &c. They
also (though this was not made an accusation by the Commissioners)
received the fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, and
they were accused of taking wives and dispensing with the sacrament of
matrimony. The King, whatever personal views he might have on this
subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; and in 1542 he wrote to
the Lord Deputy, requiring an Act to be passed "for the continency of
the clergy," and some "reasonable plan to be devised for the avoiding of
sin." However, neither the Act nor the reasonable plan appear to have
succeeded. In 1545, Dr. Browne writes: "Here reigneth insatiable
ambition; here reigneth continually coigne and livery, and callid
extortion." Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after piteous
complaints of the decay of piety and the increase of immorality,
epitomizes the state of the country thus: "I never saw the land so far
out of good order."[401] Pages might be filled with such details; but
the subject shall be dismissed with a brief notice of the three props of
the Reformation and the King's supremacy in Ireland. These were Dr.
Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and Dr. Bale of Ossory. The
latter writing of the former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own
reformed clergy, by stating that "they would at no hand obey; alleging
for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of
Dublin, who was always s