he grounded on the intimacy that had so long subisted between himself and the great defunct, to whom he bad rendered many signal services. The debate was protracted and stormy, and the assembly, considering the danger that was likely to ensue, by electing any of the aforesaid (even Henry, son of the deceased general, and the most deserving of all), resolved to put an end to further intrigue, by nominating Heber, bishop of Clogher, to the vacancy. As a matter of course, this selection could not please all parties, for some asserted that MacMahon was not equal to the requirements of the situation, and others, not having the fear of the consequences before their eyes, and affecting to be scandalised, did not shrink from asserting, that the combination of crook and sword was a thing which no true catholic could stomach. Withal, as there was no remedy for this seeming incongruity, they resolved to follow wheresoever the bishop would lead them, for they knew that he was the depository of Owen O'Neill's confidence, and fully cognizant of the treaty which the latter had concluded with lord Ormond just one month before his decease.

Having now assumed the command, the bishop lost no time in mustering his troops, and on being joined by detachments of Ulstermen, drafted from the garrison of Waterford, and several regiments which had seen service in Leinster and Connaught, under O'Cahan and other distinguished officers, he marched into the county Monaghan at the head of an army amounting to about 5,000 foot and 600 horse. The influence of MacMahon's name and lineage in his native province, caused multitudes of young recruits to rally round his standard, and, in the course of a few months, he had the satisfaction of seeing his available force largely increased, and well disciplined by O'Farrell, whose commission of lieutenant-general had been confirmed by the Belturbet council. Leaving that offcer in temporary command, the bishop proceeded to Loghreagh, in order to take counsel with lords Ormond and Clanricarde, and procure from them such aids as were required for carrying on the war against sir Charles Coote, Venables, and other leaders who, notwithstanding the recent murder of king Charles I. and the proclaiming of his successor, still stood out in open rebellion to royalism. Ormond received the bishop cordially, condoled with him on the death of O'Neill, in whose honour, he said, he always placed implicit trust; and after congratulating him as successor to the deceased general, confirmed the appointment with a commission of the following tenor:

"To our Trusty and Well-beloved Bishop, Ever MacMahon.

" ORMOND,

"Whereas, upon the Treaty with General Owen O'Neal, deceased, it was, amongst other Particulars, concluded and agreed upon, that in case of Death or Removal of him, such other General or Commander-in-Chief, should be authorised by Commission from us, to command his Majesty's Forces of the Province of Ulster, Natives of the Kingdom, as should be by general consent of the Gentry of that Province elected, and made choice of for the same. And, whereas, in a general meeting lately held by the Gentry for that Purpose, it was agreed upon, and so represented unto us, that you should exercise that Command over the said Forces. We, therefore, upon the Consideration thereof, and of the Care, Judgment, Valour, and Experience in martial Affairs, as also of the readi

ness and good Affections of you, to do his Majesty Service, have nominated and appointed, and we do hereby nominate and appoint you, the said Bishop, Ever MacMahon, to be General of all his Majesty's said Forces, of Horse and Foot, of the Province of Ulster, Natives of the Kingdom. Giving thereby unto you, the said Bishop, Ever MacMahon, full Power and Authority, to take the said Charge and Employment upon you, and the said Forces, and every of them, to lead and command according to the Use and Discipline of War, and such further Order and Instructions, as you shall from time to time receive from us, or other his Majesty's chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom for the Time being, in that behalf, willing and hereby requiring all the Officers, Troopers, and Soldiers, of the said Forces, to obey you, as their General, and to be at, and perform your Commands, as they shall issue unto them upon all Occasions of his Majesty's Service, as they will answer the contrary.

"At Loghreagh, the 1st day of April, 1650.”

Having concerted with Ormond and Clanricarde the plan of the approaching campaign, and obtained from them assurance of plentiful sup plies, of field-artillery, victuals, and ammunition, MacMahon returned to Monaghan, and placing himself at the head of his army, marched on Charlemont, where he and his chief officers published a manifesto, in which they invited the Scots to forget the animosities that had hitherto existed be tween them and the Irish, and to sink all distinctions of nation and religion for the sake of the royal interest and service.* Many of the Scots were converted to royalism by this appeal, but the great majority of Coote's forces revolted at the idea of serving under the standard of a popish bishop," no matter what side of the quarrel he chose to take, and therefore resolved to share the fortunes of their old leaders.

66

Seeing that there was no hope of detaching the Scots from Coote and Venables, the bishop resolved to attack them in detail, and, if possible. prevent the junction of their respective forces, as neither of them would have been able to fight him single-handed. With this object in view, he marched northwards along the Bann, stormed Dungiven, Ballycastle, and other places of no great importance, and, finally, crossed the Foyle, near Lifford, in order to maintain a communication, through Ballyshannon, with Connaught, whence he expected the supplies promised by Ormond and Clanricarde. This, however, proved to be a disastrous manœuvre, for it enabled Venables to send Coote, who was then encamped at Skirfolas, in the neighbourhood of Letterkenny, a reinforcement of one thousand veteran soldiers, who had seen service under Munroe, from the commencement of the Irish war. On the twenty-first of June (1650), the two armies were within an hour's march of each other; and as both were pretty equally matched, the bishop resolved to risk a battle, contrary to the advice of his most experienced officers, who insisted that he should hold a council of war, and abide by the decision of the majority. To this he submitted reluctantly, and while he and his chiefs were engaged discussing the momen tous question, a woman of uncommon stature, gaunt, and dressed in white, forced her way into their midst, and quoted an old prophecy which foretoki

This proclamation, dated Charlemont, 20th May, 1650, was subscribed by MacMahon under his episcopal title-Emerus Clogherensis.

VOL. V.

X

that the Irish were doomed to be overthrown on the banks of the Swilly.* MacMahon, however, paid little heed to the crazed virago, and, perhaps, less to the unanswerable arguments of Henry Roe O'Neill, who urged, that instead of engaging the enemy on broken ground, where the Irish troops could not act with precision, it would be more prudent to wait till the former should be obliged, through want of provisions, to shift their quarters, when it would be easy to fall on them, and cut them up in detail. It was also urged, that the force at the bishop's disposal had been weakened by the absence of a large body, which he detatched to seize Castle Doe; but all arguments were thrown away upon him, for he was obstinate as he was rashly brave. The other officers concurred with Henry O'Neill, and besought the bishop to act on their unanimons decision, but, far from doing so, he taunted them with cowardice, and more than hinted that they were over squeamish about shedding their own or the enemy s blood. Smarting under this rebuke, the chiefs summoned their men to arms, and demanded to be led against Coote. The attack of the Irish was impetuous, but, as Henry O'Neill had foretold, the rugged and stony nature of the ground would not suffer them to act in compact masses, and, notwithstanding all their chivalry, they were taken in flank and rear by Coote's forces, who, in the course of a few hours, routed them with hideous slaughter. Eighteen captains of the O'Farrells were slain on the fatal field, and fifteen hundred of the common soldiers perished before the fire of Coote's musketeers. Henry O'Neill, and many others of his name and kindred, were captured, and brought to Derry, where Coote had them summarily executed after quarter given, and, notwithstanding the heavy ransom which was offered for their lives. It was, indeed, a disastrous battle to the Irish-ill-advised as any could have been; and the long train of calamities which followed it was altogether attributable to the egotism and phlegmatic obstinacy of the prelate, whose only qualification for such a scene was animal courage. The army of Ulster, which had been so long the mainstay of the war, was thus entirely broken up, and the Cromwellians were left at liberty to parcel out the land among their adherents, who, doubtless, could not but be grateful to the rashness of Heber MacMahon.

As for him, he contrived to make his escape from the bloody field of Letterkenny, in company with lieutenant-general O'Farrell, and some squa drons of horse, riding day and night without meat or drink, for twentyfour hours, till he and his jaded followers reached the neighbourhood of Enniskillen, where they were set upon by a detachment from the garrison. The bishop's escort offered all the resistance they could, but were soon obliged to yield to superior force, and surrender at discretion. He himself was severely wounded in this last action, and so was O'Farrell, but less fortunate than the latter (who made his escape), MacMahon was carried prisoner to Enniskillen, and there committed to the common jail, to wait Coote's final sentence.

At that period, John King (afterwards raised to the peerage by Charles * Aph. Discov.

the Second) was governor of Enniskillen, and, it must be told, to his honour, that he treated the captive bishop with singular humanity; for he not only visited him frequently, but was so charmed by his frank, soldierlike bearing, that he resolved, if possible, to save his life. Actuated by this generous impulse, he wrote to Coote that it would be disgraceful to trample on a fallen enemy, or shed the blood of a man whose followers were crushed and scattered, and could no longer bear arms against the parliament forces. This representation, however, was useless, for Coote replied, that MacMahon must be hanged forthwith. The despatch that brought this order enclosed the death-warrant; and on perusing that instrument, King thought he detected in it some legal informality which justified him in postponing execution till he had made a last appeal for the prisoner's life. He, accordingly, wrote again to Coote, beseeching him to revoke or cominute the sentence; but all in vain, for he received an angry reply, rebuking him for remissness, and charging him to lose no time in consigning the "popish bishop" to the gallows. King was sorely grieved at being obliged to communicate this sad intelligence; and when the bishop signified that that he needed some priest to prepare him for his approaching doom, he found no difficulty in obtaining that favour. Having thus complied with his last request, King took leave of him, and rode away from Enniskillen, in order that he might not be obliged to witness the revolting death of a man whom he had learnt to esteem, and whose life he was sincerely anxious to save.*

The close of MacMahon's career was such as might have been expected from one, a goodly portion of whose life had been divided between the church and the camp; and much as the Cromwellian troopers admired his undaunted resolution, they never were so deeply impressed by it as on that July evening when they escorted him to the ancient castle of Portora-the place appointed for his execution. Marching some paces in advance of the musketeers, his bearing was calm, dignified, and martial, so much so, that a casual wayfarer might have mistaken him for the officer in command, were it not for the presence of an ecclesiastic, with whom he conversed in tones inaudible to every one else, and a small gold crucifix that he kept constantly moving between his lips and eyes. On reaching the scaffold, he knelt and prayed in silence for a while, and then, turning to the troops who kept the ground, told them that he thanked God for having given him that opportunity of laying down his life in the cause of religion, king, and country. MacMahon's soul had scarcely gone to its account, when the executioner, in compliance with the barbarous usage of the times, flung the corpse to the ground, hacked off the head, and spiked it on the tower of Portora castle, where it remained till birds of prey, rain, storm, and time destroyed every vestige of the ghastly trophy. The mutilated trunk, however, had a happier fate, for major-general King allowed some sympathising catholics to convey it to Devenish island, where it awaits the resurrection, under the shadow of St. Laserian's oratory.

• Lynch MS.

The foregoing memoir completes the series which was begun nine months ago, and since then has occupied a large space in the pages of this Magazine. The title under which those papers have appeared would seem to indicate that the writer had undertaken to produce biographies of the entire body of the Irish Hierarchy during the seventeenth century; but such, indeed, was not the object he had in view from the outset. The .task he proposed to himself was, to throw additional light on the history of those bishops who figured most prominently in connection with the Irish confederacy, and to supply much collateral information which the perusal of rare books and rarer manuscripts enabled him to collect. It will be ad- mitted, however, that while treating of those eminent prelates, who may be said to have held a foremost place in the stirring transactions already alluded to, he has not altogether overlooked their less distinguished contemporaries,* but, on the contrary, devoted much of the space at his disposal to epitomes of their lives, and interesting episodes with which they are identified.

Far from thinking that he has exhausted the subject, the present writer is thoroughly persuaded that he has barely touched it; and that none but one gifted with true genius, and having at his command those resources which are not to be found outside Continental Archives, can treat such a theme as it deserves. The shortcomings of these papers may, therefore, it is hoped, stimulate others to do better, and give us, in detail, biographies of those truly great Irish bishops, who in their days-far more disastrous than ours-not only distinguished themselves by their own works, but took especial care to cherish those who strove to render service to native literature.

In conclusion, and, in justice to himself, the individual who offers these remarks may be allowed to state, that the little he has done in this all but úntrodden field of history, involved a considerable amount of toil, patient industry, and close application to the study of manuscripts† and scarce printed volumes relating directly or indirectly to the object he had in view. His reward, however, has exceeded his expectations, for although but a name less essayist, the public press, at home and in America, has condescended to notice his efforts with encouraging commendation, forwhich he here acknowledges his sense of profound and lasting gratitude.

M.

There is a good memoir of French, bishop of Ferns, prefixed to his works, published by Duffy, Dublin. The Life of Kirwan, bishop of Killala, by Lynch, is a work of far greater importance, full of interest, and particularly so, in relation to Cromwell's progress in Ireland; it is also published by Duffy.

It may not be out of place to state here, that the materials (MS.) for the lives of the Irish bishops in the sixteenth century are far more abundant than those relating to their successors in the seventeenth,