issued a licence for the
celebration of Mass in Ireland, where no other service was or had been
celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other supreme head had been
ever in earnest acknowledged but the Pope."[405]

But the Irish obtained no temporal advantages during this reign--an
illustration of the truth of what I have before remarked, that the
nation has suffered almost as much from political as from religious
causes. The work of extermination still went on. The boundaries of the
Pale were increased thereby. Leix was designated the Queen's county, and
the fort of Campa obtained the name of Maryborough, in compliment to the
Queen. Offaly was named the King's county, and the fortress of Daingean,
Philipstown, in compliment to her Spanish consort.

In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons of the late Earl of
Kildare, returned from exile, and were restored to the family honours
and possessions. The Four Masters say that "there was great rejoicing
because of their arrival, for it was thought that not one of the
descendants of the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly would ever
again come to Ireland." They also mention that Margaret, a daughter of
O'Connor Faly, went to England, "relying on the number of her friends
and relatives there, and her knowledge of the English language, to
request Queen Mary to restore her father to her." Her petition was
granted, but he was soon after seized again by the English officials,
and cast into prison.

Shane O'Neill made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal
dominions, in 1557. The following year his father died in
captivity,[406] Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, so that
he was able to obtain his wishes without opposition. Elizabeth had now
ascended the English throne (A.D. 1558), and, as usual, those in power,
who wished to retain office, made their religion suit the views of the
new ruler. The Earl of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely
reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sidney also made his worldly
interests and his religious views coincide. A Parliament was held in
Dublin, in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was composed of seventy-six
members, the representatives of ten counties, the remainder being
citizens and burgesses of those towns in which the royal authority was
predominant. "It is little wonder," observes Leland, "that, in despite
of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
ecclesiastical system of Que