d into execution, the
remonstrants were caught in the dexterous snare, and consented that the
enactment should remain on the statute-book."[409] Dr. Rothe
corroborates these statements, and records the misfortunes which
followed the Speaker's family from that date.[410] Dr. Moran[411] has
very acutely observed, that the day appointed for the opening of
Parliament was the festival of St. Brigid, which was always kept with
special solemnity in Ireland; therefore, the orthodox members would
probably have absented themselves, unless informed of some business
which absolutely required their attendance.

The Loftus MS., in Marsh's Library, and Sir James Ware, both mention the
positive opposition of the Parliament to pass this law, and the mission
of the Earl of Sussex to consult her Majesty as to what should be done
with the refractory members. If he then proposed the treachery which he
subsequently carried out, there is no reason to suppose her Majesty
would have been squeamish about it, as we find she was quite willing to
allow even more questionable methods to be employed on other occasions.

The Loftus MS. mentions a convocation of bishops which assembled this
year, "by the Queen's command, for establishing the Protestant
religion." The convocation was, if possible, a greater failure than the
Parliament. If the bishops had obeyed the royal command, there would
have been some record of their proceedings; but until the last few
years, when the _ipse dixit_ of certain writers was put forward as an
argument--for proof it cannot be called--that the Irish Catholic bishops
had conformed to the Protestant religion, so wild a theory was not even
hazarded. It would be impossible here to go into details and proofs of
the nonconformity of each bishop. The work has been already undertaken,
with admirable success, by an Anglican clergyman.[412] I shall, however,
give some of the impediments offered to the progress of the Reformation
in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of the cruel persecutions which were
inflicted on those who dared to wish for liberty to worship God
according to their conscience.

Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord Deputy, the penal
statutes against Catholics were carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex
issued a proclamation, by which all priests, secular and regular, were
forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties
were strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant servic