SInce Ireland is reckoned among the Principal Islands in the World , and deserves to be esteemed so , ( whether you consider the Situation of the Country , the Number and Goodness of its Harbours , the Fruitfulness of the Soil , or the Temperature of the Climate ) ; it is strange that this Noble Kingdom , and the Affairs of it , should find no room in History , but remain so very obscure , that not only the Inhabitants know little or nothing of what has passed in their own Country ; but even England , a Learned and Inquisitive Nation , skilful beyond comparison in the Histories of all other Countries , is nevertheless but very imperfectly informed in the Story of Ireland , though it be a Kingdom subordinate to England , and of the highest importance to it .

This could never be so , if there were extant any compleat or coherent History of that Kingdom ; which indeed there is not , those relating to the Times before the Conquest , being Fabulous ; and those since , but Scraps and Fragments .

As for those Histories that treat of the Times before the English-Conquest , Doctor Keating's is the best , and is exceedingly applauded by some that did , and others that did not know better : Prospect in Pref. 13. Peter Walsh thinks 't is the only compleat History that we have of all the Invasions , Conquests , Changes , Monarchs , Wars , and other considerable Matters of that truly ancient Kingdom : But after all , it is no more than an ill-digested Heap of very silly Fictions . And P. W's Prospect , which is in effect the Epitomy of Keating in English , with all the Art he could use to polish it , will never pass for more than an Utopian Atchievement . And Mr Flaherty's Ogigia must expect the same Fate , though he has shewn a great deal of Learning and Industry in methodizing the Story , and fitting a Table of Synchronism to it ; which , with small Variation , might serve as well for the History of the Seaven .

But those Tracts that have been written of later times , have most of them another Fault ; they generally write true , but not observing Chronology ; they jumble Times , Persons and Things together , and so confound the Story . Sir James Ware was the first that mended this Error , and is undoubtedly the best Author that has undertaken the Irish History ; but he has only the four Reigns of Henry VII , Henry VIII , Edward VI , and Queen Mary . Campion and the rest have but a Scrap here and there , and that it self very imperfectly . And Camden's Annals , Fryer Clun's , and others , that were mostly collected by the Monks , are very faulty , and have no coherence ; Spencer's View of Ireland is very well , and Sir John Davys his Discourse is better ; but both are Commentaries rather than Histories .

It must therefore follow , That an Entire and Coherent History of Ireland must be very acceptable to the World , and very useful to the People of England , and the Refugees of Ireland , especially at this Juncture , when that Kingdom is to be re-conquered ; and perhaps Time may produce such a one . But as no Body was born a Man , but by degrees increased from his Childhood , so you must not expect all the Perfection in the first Edition , which Time and better Information may produce in a Second . In the mean time this Collection will give you such a Scheam and Idea of the Irish Affairs as will be useful to you , till you can get a better . I will not pretend this Collection is free from Mistakes , no wise Man will expect that , for be that Copies after others ( as Collectors of Histories must do ) cannot always be sure he writes Truth ; Who is so Skilful ( says Cambden ) that strugling with Time , in the foggy dark Sea of Antiquity , may not run upon Rocks ? And whoever writes an Irish History , must ( to make Coherence ) sometimes , conjecturis venari , as Sir James Ware says ; But I assure the Reader , There is no wilful Prevarications herein , and that if I discover any Mistakes at all , I will at the End of the Book ( or by new Sheets , which may be bound up with it ) publish the correction of such Mistakes , as soon as conveniently may be .

And now perhaps the Reader expects I should bespeak his Favour : But I am far from being solicitous about the Reception this Book will have in the World ; for either the Censurer could do it better , and then ●e should have done so , and not like a Dog in a Manger , hinder others and do nothing himself ; or he could not do it better , and then by censuring me he will but proclaim himself an envious Coxcomb ; for none but such will find Fault with that which they cannot m●nd : In a Word , the Censure of Fools or conceited 〈◊〉 can do me no Prejudice , and the Wise and the Learned will be more Just and Ingenuous than to reward the great Pains I have taken ( in collecting and methodizing this perplexed History ) with any thing that is Censorious or unkind .

But how ungrateful soever the Reader may be to me , I will nevertheless give him the best Help I can to understand the Irish History , which he can never well do , without penetrating into the true Causes of those innumerable Fewds , Wars and Rebellions that have been in that Kingdom ; most of which , I think , were founded on those great Antipathies which were created by Difference in Nation , Interest or Religion .

The Difference of Nation concerned the Irish on one side , and the British on the other ; for the Scots , though some of them were extracted from the Irish , yet only such as sympathized with them in Language , Manners , Customs , Religion and Interest , were accounted Irish , as Mac Donald , Mac Connel , &c. and the rest who communicated with the English in those five Particulars , are reckoned as such , and justly comprehended under the Appellation of British . As for the English , they are undoubtedly a mixt Nation compounded of Britons , Danes , Saxons and Normans : And some think the Irish are also a mingled People of Britons , Gauls , Spaniards and Easterlings , and therefore called Scots , i.e. an Heap : And 't is certain they are at this Day a mixt People , if it were for no other Reason , but that there is hardly a Gentleman among them , but has English Blood in his Veins ; However , the Irish Antiquaries do Assert , That the Irish are a pure and ancient Nation , and they derive their Pedigree through the famous Milesius , and by their Father Gathelus are descended from Feinsa Farsa , and other great Emperors of Scithia ; and by their Mother Scota they were extracted from the mighty Kings of Egypt : But the Jest of it is , That since only two Sons of Milesius came into Ireland , ( viz. ) Hiber and Herimon , with about three thousand Soldiers , if all the Irish are of the Race of Milesius , it must follow , That those two Sparks were Patres Patriae , in a literal Sense , and be got Children for the whole Army ; but however that be , it is certain there were great Antipathies between the Irish and English Nations , as usually there is between the Conquerors and the Conquered ; but by degrees the English grew so much in love with the Despotick Power of the Lords , and the Licentiousness of the Commons , that they insensibly degenerated not only into Irish Customs , Habit and Manners , but also assumed Irish Names , as Burk Mac William , Fitz-Stephens Mac Sliny , Courcy Mac Patrick , Hodnet Mac Shery , Barry Mac Adam , Birmingham Mac Pheoris , and many others ; so that this Difference of Nation was on the old English Side designed to be buried in Oblivion . But the Irish would not be so served , for they considered the first Conquerors but as unjust Intruders into , and usurpers of other Men's Estates , and therefore they expected some favourable Opportunity one time or other , to get rid of them ; though for the present they were necessitated to joyn with them ; and therefore they carefully kept up the distinction of Nations , and by no Laws or Allurements could be brought to part with their Language or Habit , or even the most of their barbarous Customs ; however , the secret of this design was not divulged , until O neal , in his Triumphs to Munster , blab'd it out ; for being told , That Barret of Castlemore , though an Englishman , was a good Catholick , and had been there four hundred Years ; he replied , That he hated the Clown as if he had come but Yesterday . Since that we have many more Instances of it ; and that this Antipathy has extended it self even to English Cattle and Improvements . It was another O Neal that said , It did not become him to writh his Mouth to chatter English ; Irish Stat. 233. and that executed a Soldier because he had English Bisket in his Pocket . Sullevan , 67 O Sullevan tels us , that from 1168. to the Apostacy of Henry VIII , the English , though Catholicks , by continual Tyranny and Rapine destroyed the Discipline of Church and State ; and ( fol. 67. ) that the English were Irreligious , Inconstant and Heretical , being in Dioclesian's Persecution Apostates , afterwards Arians , then Pelagians , then Heathens , then Idolaters , then Murderers of S. Thomas of Becket , and then Protestants : in a Word , wherever they dare do it , they do not spare to asperse the English Nation and Government with most Malicious and Opprobrious Accusations ; and whoever considers , That the Bishop of Clogher did so purge his Ulster-Army , that he would not suffer any Papist to be in it that was of English Extraction ; and the Advice of Mr. Mahony , in his Disputatio Apologetica , Not to make a Priest of English Race , nor to trust any that are so : Whoever , I say , considers this and the true Reasons of it , will easily be convinced , That the Old English and the Old Irish will one Time or other split upon the old indelible National Antipathy .

As to the second ( viz. Interest ) it concerns the Irish and the Old English , both of which have Inteterests incompatible with the New English ; For when the English Lords usurped Irish Arbitrary Power , as aforesaid , and the Commons ( being made Vassals to their Lords , and holding their Properties but precariously ) fell naturally into Licentiousness , to the Ruine of the Commonwealth ; The Duke of Clarence , in the Reign of Edward III , thought to cure this Malady , by resuming those Palatinate Jurisdictions and other great Priviledges those English Lords had so enlarged and abused , whereupon the Earl of Desmond broached the distinction between the English of Blood and the English of Birth ; and the former did not only confederate together , but also brought in the Irish to their Assistance , and Gosip'd , Foster'd , Married and Incorporated with them , so that the Government was obliged to relax their intended Severity , and to let these old Englishmen lord it as they pleased , till a better Opportunity should be offered for the intended Resumption . However , from henceforward , the Old English and Irish kept a Correspondence , and upon the Reformation , became more firmly united by the common tye of Religion ; and under Pretence of defending Religion , and their usurped Jurisdictions , they were found together in many Rebellions , and their Estates confiscated , and given to the new English ; so that they are united in a common Interest , to recover their forfeited Estates , if they can ; and when that is done , the Irish have their particular Interest apart , to recover their old Estates from the first Conquerors or Intruders .

As for the third , ( viz. Religion ) I need not explain the Irreconcilable Antipathy that is between the Roman Catholick Religion and Heresie , or between true Religion and Idolatry ; the Differences of Nation and Interest may be suspended , lessned , ay , buried and annihilated , but there is no Reconciliation to be made between God and Mammon : This great concern has so silenced all the rest , that at this Day we know no difference of Nation but what is expressed by Papist and Protestant ; if the most Ancient Natural Irish-Man be a Protestant , no Man takes him for other than an English-Man ; and if a Cockny be a Papist , he is reckoned , in Ireland , as much an Irish-man as if he was born on Slevelogher ; the Earls of Insiquin and Castlehaven are Examples hereof , the one being of the best and ancientest Family in Ireland , was yet the beloved General of an English Army ; and the other being the second Baron of England , was Commander of the Irish Forces .

There is also another Difference in Religion between the Episcoparians and the Dissenters ; which last are branched into several Sects ; but it is not at all or very little taken notice of in Ireland , because they do really manage this Affair more prudently than some other more celebrated Nations , and sacrifice these petty Fewds to the common Interest of opposing Popery .

And that these Distinctions may appear to be neither trivial nor meerly Notional , it will be necessary to give Instances of these several Factions , in the late Irish Wars ; and first there was an Army of all meer Irish ( not an English Papist among them ) commanded by the Bishop of Clogher , and another of meer English ( all Papists ) under General Preston . And secondly , There was an Army of Old English and Irish , under the Lords Mountgarrat , Taaf , &c. and an Army of New English , commanded by the Earls of Ormond , Insiquin , &c. And thirdly , there was an Army of Papists under the Nuntio , and an Army of Protestants , commanded by the Marquess of Ormond .

But how stand these great Differences at this Day ? Why truly worse than ever , for as to the first , Whereas the Old English were heretofore on the British side in all National Quarrels , they are now so infatuated and degenerated , that they do not only take part with the Irish , but call themselves Natives , in distinction from the New English ; against whom they are ( at present ) as inveterate as the Original Irish , though perhaps Time may open their Eyes and rectifie that Error . And as to the Second , whereas at Queen Elizabeth's Death the Protestants had not above a fourth part of the Kingdom ; the Escheats in Ulster , in King James his time , and the Act of Settlement since , has given them two fourths more , so that now they have three Quarters of the whole , and thereby more Irish are disobliged than were formerly ; and their Loss is greater , and consequently their Interest to regain it is larger and more pressing than it was in former Times . As to the third ( viz. Religion ) it 's certain , the Papists were never so enraged at the Northern Pestilent Heresie as of late they have been ; and the Folly , Insolence and Cruelty of these last seven Years , has justly rendred Popery more odious than ever to the Protestants .

But was there no way to secure Ireland without Sanguinary Laws and Inhuman Persecutions ? Yes sure , if People would in time have set themselves to repair the State of Ireland , as the Jews under Nehemiah did to re-edifie the Walls of Jerusalem , viz. every one build over against his own House , the Matter had been easily and quietly accomplished , for the formidable Bulk of Irish Papists were , for the most part , Servants or Tenants to Protestants , and of their breeding up ; and if the English would have sacrificed a little sordid Profit to the Publick Good , and have countenanced and indulged Protestant Servants and Tenants instead of Papists , a very few Years would have put themselves and their Religion out of Danger : But at this Day the Provocations are carried so high , and the Irish have abused the English to that degree of Barbarity and Ingratitude , that it will be hard to perswade the Protestants to trust them again , or to live neighbourly with the many more .