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 which would then be surveyed and regranted to them, no doubt for a substantial payment.

There was, in fact, in the centre of the island, an almost unbroken stretch of territory, along the eastern bank of the Shannon from Leitrim to close to the city of Limerick, occupied by various old Irish clans of no very great individual strength. A large part of this district had formed part of the old kingdom of Meath, and so had formed part of De Lacy's lordship; other portions had been parts of the Leinster sub-kingdoms of Offaly and Ossory; others again were in Munster.

Common to all this tract was that it had been granted to, and to a certain extent occupied by the early invaders; that the Irish clans had expelled the settlers in the 14th century ; that the chiefs had submitted to Henry VIII. and had thus been, at least, implicitly, recognised as subjects; that most of the chiefs had made surrenders to the Crown under Elizabeth and James, and had obtained, as they thought, a valid title to their lands; and, finally, that these surrenders and regrants had only affected the demesne lands and private