Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/133

Rh us of all accidents that shall happen there or thereabouts relating to our affaires And herein you are not to faile. Given at our Court at Dublin Castle the 30th day of April 1690 and in the Sixth yeare of our Reign. "By his Majesty's Command "To our Trusty and well beloved".
 * "Coll. Denis Mc. Gillecuddy."

With respect to this period of Irish history, whoever would be misled, may consult Archbishop King's "State of the Protestants in Ireland," an appalling monument of a christian bishop's breach of the commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." If truth, however, be sought after, it will be found in the Answer to that book, by Leslie, a protestant gentleman, which proves, that when a divine descends to misrepresentation, he generally deals by wholesale. Yet King's production has been quoted by Harris, Leland, et hoc genus omne, as authority, in their "Histories" of Irish affairs!

While the Irish soldiery spilled their blood in the field, the bards exerted their genius in the closet, to forward the interest of the royal fugitives, and by their songs and poems, proved no mean auxiliaries to the cause in which the nation had embarked. They roused the people to arms, in defence of the legitimate monarch, and excited the utmost enthusiasm for the professor of the ancient faith, and the descendant of the renowned Milesian race of Ireland. But the present beautiful elegy, was produced under very different circumstances; and, is therefore, entitled to particular consideration. It was