OF THE U N IVLR5ITY Of ILLI NOIS V. GERALDINE OF DESMOND, VOL. I. LONDON : PRINTED BY S. AND K. BENTLEY, Dorset Streot, Fleet Street. GERALDINE OF DESMOND, OB IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. T ' Within that land was many a malcontent, Who cursed the tyranny to which he bent ; That soil full many a wringing despot saw. Who work'd his wantonness in form of law ; Long war without, and frequent broil within. Had made a path for blood and giant sin. * * * « # They waited but a leader, and they found One to their cause inseparably bound." LORD BYRON. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1829. KJ I DEDICATION. TO THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. MY DEAR SIR, The writer who renders his own country illus- ^^~'trious, by exercising a marked influence over the *^ literature of the age in which he lives, seems to •» have a natural right to the dedication of a work, :^ that is connected with the history of the land ^ which claims the honour of his birth. 3 To you, as exemplifying such a character, I •^ respectfully inscribe the following Romance, the ^ scenes of which are chiefly laid among the prede- '. cessors of the people who now, with national en- ;:H thusiasm, hail you as their greatest poet, and 01 CD ^ 1^ 1203295 VI DEDICATION. whose succeeding generations will be proud to do the same. While acknowledging the high sense I enter- tain of the approbation you have bestowed upon my pages, permit me to add, that in dignifying them with your name, I feel the distinction which it must confer on. My dear Sir, Your obliged and faithful Friend, The Author. /Vv 'S(S\ k^^ Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, May the 1st, 1829. PREFACE. Various circumstances have conspired to re- tard the appearance of the Work which is now presented to the Public. Irish history is a province of literature replete with the materials and the elements of romance. The characters and actions of which it has been the theatre, afford the richest capabilities either for poetic or prosaic fiction. Instances of heroism, and examples of terrible and magnificent deeds, which find no parallel in the polished state of modern society, are abundantly furnished in the annals of Ireland. Mil PREFACE. In those records virtues are strangely mingled Avith crimes both engendered by that wild spirit which, at all uncivilized eras, has led to a display of the elevated and ignoble passions of mankind. It follows that the contrasts of character, and uncommon situations derived from sucii sources, must be almost infinite, and precisely those which present the rudiments that the writer of romance requires. To him it is of little importance whether the exploits and the splendours which the annalists of Ireland record, deserve to be considered as fabulous or true ; as the dreams of vivid imagina- tions, or the real narratives of historical events. For, whether the pictures are purely ideal, or strictly veracious, their combinations for dramatic action and dramatic grouping are equally advan- tageous to the novelist. The genius of Irish history and of Irish charac- ter, with the ingredients they present for narrative composition, may be classed under two distinct heads — the homely or modern, and the pictu- PREFACE. IX resque or ancient. In the former department, the pen of Miss Edgeworth has been wielded with a graphic power that bids defiance to imitation. The peculiarities which mark the people of Ire- land in the present day, have been traced by her discriminating hand, in a series of moral paintings, true in their adherence to general nature, and re- plete with original humour in detail. " The Memoirs of Captain Rock" seem to claim a class exclusively peculiar to themselves, being as unparalleled in design as they are unrivalled in execution. The novels of Lady Morgan— The " Tales of the O'Hara Family"—" To-day in Ireland," and various clever productions on the subject-matter of that country, have received their well-deserved meed of public approbation. It would prolong my sketch far beyond the destined limits were I to comment upon the merits of many other authors, who have successfully moved within the bounds of my first circum- scription. a 5 X PREFACE. The second has been unaccountably neglected. It may exist, but (except in Mr. Banim's novel of " The Boyne Water"") I am not aware of any appropriation of the stores of ancient Irish history to the purposes of fiction, and am consequently led to conclude, that its magnificent grounds of action have been hitherto untouched. Whatever may have been the contingencies which prevented the occupation of such a strong- hold in the field of authorship, they seem advan- tageous to the writer who enters on an intellectual tract that furnishes materials, which, even in this age of universal composition, possess the charm and force of novelty. But this concurrence of accidental circumstances, however favourable to a writer in one sense, produces results in another that may be viewed with apprehension, rather than with satisfaction. In constructing a Romance on the historical foundation which the annals of ancient Ireland af- ford, scarcely a light appears to guide the tra- veller through a region that may be almost termed a Terra Incognita in the world of letters. No PREFACE. XI models could be studied, where no authorities existed to consult ; and, on entering an unex- plored walk of literature, I was compelled to re- nounce all hope of deriving benefit from the ex- ample of predecessors in the same path, as that, which like the lady in Comus, I trod, " Without the sure guess of well-practised feet." The subject I have chosen for the action of my work, is ample, grand, and interesting, but it is one which involved considerable difficulties. I have spent years of study and research in endeavouring to conquer them ; for I felt that if I refused to bestow the time, thought, and labour, which were necessary to the execution of my plan, I shovdd deserve to suffer the consequences of my own temerity. To dwell on the difficulties of my un- dertaking might seem pedantic, and at all events would tend to increase the responsibility I have incurred in pursuing it ; for an author is gene- rally considered accountable in proportion to the importance of the line of composition which he has deliberately chosen. Xll PREFACE. I shall therefore only say, that in the prosecu- tion of my task I became so conscious of the mag- nitude of its subject, and so distrustful of my power to do it justice, that I believe I should have left the enterprise unfinished, had I not been stimulated to perseverance by the favourable judgment, which the distinguished writer to whom my work is dedicated, has expre'ssed throughout the various stages of its progress. Since the com- pletion of the performance, it has been also honoured by the approval of one of the first critics of the age — the Right Hon. the Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, and has received the commendations of other friends who stand de- servedly high in the intellectual rank of Great Britain. However gratified I may feel at these circum- stances, I can with truth declare, that I have alluded to them not through ostentatious motives, but simply from a hope that the opinions which have been pronounced by eminent literary cha- racters on the following Romance, will justify its PREFACE. Xlll publication, and present my apology for a daring, though, I trust, not a vain design. The mention of this part of my subject leads me to glance at one of its main branches. In a clever article on Historical Romance, which ap- peared in the Quarterly Review, I found it as- serted, and ingeniously maintained, that the histo- rical novel " ought to be an accommodation of the ancient Epic to the average capacity of the numberless readers of modern times.''' This prin- ciple struck me forcibly, • and seemed so well adapted to the proper conduct of an historical fiction, that I determined to attempt to regulate the execution of the following work by the laws, which a modification of the rules of Epic poetry seems to enjoin. I do not assume a claim to the merit of originality in avowing this design. The accomplished author of Telemachus has constructed a regular narrative founded on an observation of the precepts pre- scribed by Aristotle concerning the Epic action, and, as the most elegant commentator of Fenelon XIV PREFACE. says, " from the measured poetical prose in which it is written, Telemachus, though not composed in verse, is justly entitled to be held a poem." Fielding, and other men of letters, whom it would be tedious to enumerate, have also acted on the fundamental principles of the prose Epic. In conformity with the same idea, I have endea- voured to fuse the materials of my subject into a completeness of form and purpose ; and, desiring to preserve the unity of the principal action of my narrative, I have admitted little episodical matter into its details. The characters which are introduced in the suc- ceeding pages, have been chiefly traced from the annals of " by-gone days." In the portraits thus given, I trust my pen has neither been guilty of personal injustice, nor of a violation of historic truth. Few of the actors in my fable are wholly ima- ginary, and in throwing over those which are ex- clusively my own creations, the moral colouring most expedient to harmonize them with the real I PREFACE* XV personages of the past, I have tried to maintain the proportions of the whole. Conceiving that under the circumstances I have represented such a character as Geraldine— an abstraction of the mind embodied by the fancy— might exist, I have only thought myself bound to preserve its consistency. I have never deviated from the strictness of chronology, except on some rare occasions, when the interests of my narrative required an inversion of time and place. It would not become me to offer any remark on the general style of my work, but I may be per- mitted to observe, that I have purposely diffused a poetical colouring over the language and dia- logues of some of its principal actors; because their characters, being from nature and circum- stance essentially imbued with the spirit of ro- mance, seemed suited to rise above the level of common life and colloquial familiarity. Besides, the agents to whom I allude, are usually repre- sented in dramatic situations, speaking under the XVI PREFACE. influence of particular excitement. Now, strong passion generally does reveal itself in metaphor ; for, when the feelings are highly wrought, even a sluggish imagination is partially raised into a vague sublime, and looks upon existence through a sort of mental prism, which tinctures every view of it with brilliant though unreal hues. It might be also urged that in a young country, (such com- paratively was Ireland at the period of my tale,) nature supplies the images which language em- bodies, and nature is always poetical. An observation in Mr. Roscoe's excellent trans- lation of Sismondi, presents a corollary to this proposition. Speaking of a country yet in its in- fancy, the writer says, " Eloquence in such a nation is the expression of natural sentiment — poetry, the play of an imagination yet unexhaust- ed." The authority of Dr. Blair may be quoted in further corroboration of what has been advanced. When writing on the early period of societies, that elegant author asserts, that " Men never have used so many figures of style, as in those rude PREFACE. xvil ages, when, besides the power of a warm imagina- tion to suggest lively images, the want of proper and precise terms for the ideas they would express, obliged them to have recourse to circumlocution, metaphor, comparison, and all those substituted forms of expression, which give a poetical air to language." Without entering on the debat cable ground of a literary controversy, it may be also remarked, that many of those persons who are the most scep- tical in regard to the authenticity of Ossian's poems as an original whole, admit, that in part, they are translations from a genuine lore of anti- quity, that is referrible either to Scotland or to Ireland in a remote era. It is unnecessary to touch on the hypothesis laid down by different writers, when endeavouring to ascertain the respective claims of those countries to the birth of the bard of Selma. " The Irish tribes," says Sir Walter Scott, " and those of the Scottish Highlands, are much more intimately allied by language, manners, dress, and customs, XVlll PREFACE. than the antiquaries of either country have been willing to admit.'' This assertion must decide the question on which it is pronounced. Taking it for granted, then, that some, if not all, of the Ossianic poetry can be traced to the age of Fingal, it may be conceded, that as the Scots and the Irish are undoubtedly descended from the same stock, whatever bears upon the language of the one, will stand in strong relation to that of the other. If this be allowed, and Ossian's works be regarded as drawings of antique manners, I think it will be found that a modification of the forms of speech peculiar to them, and characteristic of the nation they describe, would necessarily assume a picturesque and metaphorical turn of expression, even when applied to the usages of a later period in the Hibernian annals, than that to which the Celtic bard refers. In closing my remarks on this particular point, it may be right to add, that the foregoing obser- vations are chiefly applicable to the Irish agents of my story, who, in thinking through the gloM'- PREFACE. XIX ing medium of their native tongue, might be sup- posed to use a figurative idiom, even in their ordinary speech. There are two points of my work, which, if viewed by prejudice, might produce consequences so painful, that even conscious integrity could scarcely arm me against the wounds they would inflict. I allude, first, to the imputation which an uncandid judgment might cast on the political sentiments my work contains; and, secondly, to the inference it might endeavour to deduce from my venture upon ground that has been hallowed by the steps of a master genius. These inconveniences are great, but from the nature of my subject they were unavoidable. The discussion of the facts on which my narra- tive is founded, compelled me to enter the sphere of politics — that sphere in which a woman seldom shines, and from whence, the opinions of the many would (perhaps rightly) exclude her altogether. Without presuming to argue this question, I XX PREFACE. would respectfully remind the reader, that the events I have noted refer to a remote period, and that in tracing the deformities which sullied the age that gave them birth, my principal aim has been to point out, uninfluenced by party spirit, the moral vices and national calamities which were their results. A few words must dismiss my second position. In sketching some of the pageantries and charac- ters of the court of Elizabeth, I sensibly felt the misfortune of being obliged, through the circum- stances of my story, to enter upon subjects which the great Necromancer of the North had clothed with the magic of his spells, when he ^* Filled up, As 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries." It would be the climax of folly to disclaim the idea of competition, where the nature of the case precludes it altogether. The inimitability of Sir Walter Scotf s productions should deter any ra- tional person from drawing from originals which never can be copied with success ; and if self- PREFACE. XXI respect be insufficient to rescue an author from descending to the servility of imitation, the im- policy of subjecting his works to a comparison with the excellence they cannot reach, ought to act as a preventive to a vain attempt. With that attention which is due to the Public, I have consulted a vast variety of books that are descriptive of the period, and most of the old chro- niclers and black-letter volumes that treat on the subjects of my narrative. In recurring to the suit- able references, I found the most extraordinary discrepancies in many of their details. However, as I was composing a romance, and not a history, I deemed it unnecessary to attempt to reconcile discordant accounts, conceiving that any one authority was a sufficient basis for the support of my relations. Where I met with that, I was con- tent to act upon its single evidence. To have set forth all the writings which the course of my researches obliged me to examine, would have swelled my Volumes to an unusual size ; and as such a statement would, probably, have conveyed the effect of ostentation, more than XXll PREFACE. that of usefulness, I have only annexed those notes that seemed requisite to authenticate or to explain the circumstances they illustrate. Although this Preface has been already extended beyond its proper length, I cannot lose the oppor tunity which it affords, to express my gratitude to some of the literary friends who assisted me in procuring those books of reference which were necessary to the execution of my work. In particular I would offer my public thanks to Professors Leslie and Macvey Napier, for their kindness in having supplied me with many rare volumes from the College and Signet Libraries of Edinburgh. In referring to other quarters from whence I obtained similar assistance, I am happy to confess myself indebted to the University of Dublin for the permission that gave me free access to the translations of those curious Irish manuscripts which are contained in the library of that learned institution. From the valuable collection of books belonging to the Dublin Society, I also derived essential in- PREFACE. XXUl formation. I received several of the important volumes which are the property of that respectable establishment, through the medium of one of its members, Matthew Weld Hartstonge, Esq. whose private library, I gratefully acknowledge, was at my command. How far I have effectually availed myself of the advantages which were presented from so many different sources, and whether my abilities have been at all equal to the arduousness of my task, an intelligent Public will decide. The experiment is made ; and, to use the w^ords of my revered father, when writing on an important topic *, " the degree of success will be appreciated, not by the difficulties, but by the merits of the per- formance." * See " An Essay on the best means of providing Employ- ment for the People," written by Samuel Crumpe, Esq. M.D. M.R. LA. to which was adjudged the Prize, proposed by the Royal Irish Academy, for the best Dissertation on that subject. The author was consequently elected a member of the Academy. ERRATA, VOL. I. Page 35, line 14, /or ' she being,' read 'the being.' — 38, — 7, for 'the human nature,' 'read 'human nature. — 113, — 16, /or 'internally,' read 'intently.' — 148, — 14, jfor ' calvacade,' read ' cavalcade.' — 242, — 8,/or ' gutlt's' read ' guilt's.* — 345, — 3, for ' of her,' read ' of the pen.' — 352, — 13,/or ' have,' read ' I have.' VOL. IL Page 7, line 15, /or ' proper,' read ' prop.' — 88, — 11, for ' linerginge hop,' read ' lingering hope. — 96, — 24, /or ' joining,' read ' foining.' — 113, — 4, /or ' about it,' read ' above it.' — 132, — ^,for ' percui,' read ' per cul.' — " 148, — 13, /or 'aceptance,' read ' acceptance.' — 157, — 7, /or 'orgiveness,' read 'forgiveness.' — 277, — 6, for ' wanhered,' read ' wandered.' — 309, — 9, Me ' bad.' — 319, — 28, /or 'mantle,' read 'jacket.' VOL.111. Page 195, line 6, for ' was in a,' read ' was a. — 257, — 4, /or *orty,' read 'forty.' — 257, — 11, /or ' Roya,' read ' Royal.' GERALDINE OF DESMOND. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. " What plagues, and what portents, what mutiny ! Frights, changes, horrors. Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married calm of states, Quite from their fixture." SHAKSPEARE. Political and personal animosities are fre- quently allied, and when united they augment the virulence too often attendant upon party spirit, and increase the malignity of individual antipathy' To trace the effect of either feeling through its various ramifications, would be a difficult and a painful task. But without endeavouring to un- ravel the metaphysical reasonings which an in- timate discussion of the question would involve, the most superficial observer of human nature' will perceive, and allow, that the contests of public VOL. I. j8 2 GERALDINE OF DESMOND. life often produce irreconcilable breaches between the leaders of opposite opinions, even when private pique has no share in creating dissension. It is equally evident, that when hereditary discord and national prejudices lend their aid to influence the partisans of contrary factions, and when petty jealousies and jarring interests contribute to agitate the ferment which popular commotion has previously fomented, violent and peculiar propensities are called into immediate action. The most pernicious consequences to the indi- viduals so situated generally ensue, even though the puerilities of family feuds may have no ma- terial effect in retarding or accelerating the great machine of state polity. Perhaps in the whole scale of history it would be difficult to find a stronger and more practical illustration of those remarks, than that which is presented in the in- stance of the Clans of Desmond and of Ormond. In tracing the records of their race, we perceive the same opinions and aversions handed down from father to son, through a long lapse of ages. Invincible hostilities and perpetuated odiums seem indeed as much the natural patrimony of the descen- dants of the Butlers and the Desmonds, as the mag- nificent domains and princely revenues attached to the inheritance of their hereditary possessions. To account satisfactorily for such peculiarities, I GERALDINE OF DESMOND. 3 it will be necessary to take a brief review of some of the leading causes which contributed to create and to confirm them. The family of Fitzgerald, or Desmond, was I originally of English extraction ; but in the reign of Richard the Second, we find Maurice Fitz-Tho- mas (created Earl of Desmond in 1329) enume- rated amongst those English barons, who, through motives of policy and ambition, became Irish chieftains, and, renouncing their allegiance to the British crown, joined with the Hibernian natives, in protesting against the English jurisdiction. The M'Carties, hereditary chiefs of Cork, had been the ancient kings of Desmond; but after the in- vasion of Henry the Second, that portion of South Munster gave its title to the Fitzgerald s ; and, in the course of time, the distinctions of birth and country becoming nearly lost, the latter family was regarded as essentially Irish, as if lineally descended from the race of Milesius, Heber, or Heremon. The same political feelings, however, seem to have continued to influence the Desmonds, in their un- abated hostility to the Lancastrian princes ; while, on the contrary, during the formidable contests which took place between the Yorkists and the opposite faction, the House of Ormond uniformly testified a faithful adherence to the interests of the latter. This attachment was strengthened and perma- b2 4 GERALDIxNE OF DESMOND. nently established on the solid basis of loyalty and gratitude, by the interposition of Henry the Sixth in favour of one of the earls of Ormond, when an infamous attempt had been made by the Desmond party to affix the charge of high treason against the governor of the English pale ; an administra- tion which had been ably executed by a progenitor of the Butler race. The peculiar confidence which "the crown repos- ed in the integrity of the latter, naturally excited the jealousy and rivalship of other competitors for political power; and the foundation of party distinctions and local interests by a combination of circumstances, was unfortunately laid, to the utter destruction of national prosperity. Yet, notwith- standing the formidable aspect of Irish affairs, they were comparatively disregarded ; for, about the year 1448, the intrigues of the British court had arisen to such an alarming height, that the minor machinations of the Irish people were scarcely noticed, or deemed worthy of consideration, until, on the marriage of Henry the Sixth with Margaret of Anjou, the Queen and her counsellors judged it a prudent measure to remove the Duke of York to a distance from the scene of action. By a grand stroke of state policy, under the plea of quelling what was styled a general rebellion in Ireland, though, in point of fact, it was little more than a local insurrection, the Duke Richard was ap- I GERALDINE OF DESMOND. 5 pointed vicegerent of that kingdom ; an office which he felt no reluctance to accept, justly calculating that his extensive Hibernian connexions would ensure a considerable accession of power to his already formidable party. The Duke, cautious, moderate, and concili- ating in his conduct, soon gained many proselytes to his cause, and in a short time he was an established favourite with a people, whom the despotism of former governors had harassed and irritated to an unprecedented extent. Among the zealous partisans who rallied round the person of the Duke of York, an earl of Des- mond seems one of the most prominent ; and, flat- tered by the honours which were showered on him by his royal patron, he became as avowed an ad- herent of the Yorkists, as the Ormond family had ever been to the reigning House of I^ancaster. It is not our design to proceed with a minute detail of the subsequent contests between those celebrated factions, nor to narrate the effects their warfare produced on the general condition of Ireland. It is sufficient for our purpose to state, that on the deposition of Henry the Sixth and the victory of his triumphant enemies, Thomas Earl of Desmond was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1463, while an Earl of Ormond was attainted, and instantly executed. Thus the hereditary discords of those rival 6 GERALDINE OF DESMOND. clans- were indelibly recorded in the fatal characters of blood. Ancient animosities were eternally con- firmed, and through the ensuing reigns up to the period of Elizabeth's accession to the throne of England, we find the same public attachments and private aversions powerfully influencing the Desmonds and the Butlers, through a series of national conflicts, during which, either family was alternately restored to power, or reduced to subjugation, according to the particular senti- ments and political ascendency of the succeeding possessors of the British crown. Historic record presents us with few characters who commanded and obtained more unanimous applause than Queen Elizabeth. For though the struggles of contending parties, and the rancour of polemical disputations, created many confu- sions and difficulties in the course of her govern- ment, yet the intellect, discrimination, and firm- ness of that enterprising Princess, enabled her to surmount the prejudices of political factions and the violence of controversial cavils ; while the brilliant events of her memorable reign cast so intense a lustre over all her proceedings, that even the infamy of her conduct in regard to the unfortunate and lovely Mary Stuart, the arbitrary power which she exercised as a Sovereign, and the foibles and infirmities which characterized her as a woman, were nearly forgotten, lost in the flood GERALDINE OP DESMOND. 7 of splendour that illuminated her administration. This, united to the important benefits she con- ferred upon her country, and the summit of grandeur to which England was elevated during the government of her greatest Queen, secured the gratitude of the British people, and the astonish- ment and admiration of future ages. But the popularity of Elizabeth was necessarily confined to her Protestant subjects, for the Roman Catholics naturally regarded, with a jealous eye, the actions of a Princess who had re-established the reformed religion, who professed an unquali- fied belief in the Lutheran principles, and avowed herself a decided enemy of the Romish com- munion. In Ireland, therefore, she was secretly detested, her heretical apostasy was abhorred, and any attempt to control her power, or to accomplish her downfall, was considered as a meritorious enterprise, undertaken in the sacred defence of religion and liberty, hallowed by the special pro- tection of Heaven, and sanctioned by the acknow- ledged approbation of the See of Rome. Thus, those subjects, who, under the same Queen should have been nationally united, be- came separated in their principles, bigoted in their prejudices, and vehemently engaged in all the frenzy and intemperance of theological con- troversies ; while the disaffected portion of the 8 GERALDINE OF DESxMOND. community, zealously endeavoured to foment those disorders,' hoping to succeed in emanci- pating Ireland from the yoke of the English government, and to effect, eventually, its total extirpation. When to those considerations we add the re- collection of the impolitic and unjust distinctions which had been established between the English and the Irish subjects, the oppressive enaction of the code of penal laws, the condemnation of usages and superstitions consecrated by the customs of antiquity, and the insolence of the British settlers, who laboured to confirm the' claims of usurpation with the seal of despotism ; it is not astonishing that a spirit of insurrection, and of discontent, p3rvaded a large mass of the Irish people. Irritated by injured feelings, infatuated by senseless ambition, and instigated by inordinate pride, the intrigues of many popular chieftains were approved of, and supported by the bulk of the nation. The dissensions of a mutinous kin