THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTY AND CITY OF CORK. Containing A NATURAL, CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL, HISTORICAL, AND BY CHARLES SMITH, M. D. Res quæque suo ritu procedit, et omnes Fædere Nature certe discrimina servant. LUCRETIUS. Omnia incerta ratione, et in Naturæ Majestate abdita. PLINY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. A New Edition. CORK: PRINTED BY JOHN CONNOR, PATRICK-STREET. 1815. 011-27.2 8 Orka. TO HIS EXCELLENCY HENRY BOYLE,* ESQ. One of the Lords Justices for the Government of Ireland, MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, As S every attempt to promote and extend the improvement of this country must be agreeable to your Lordship, I flatter myself that this tract, which is an essay chiefly calculated for that purpose, will meet with a favourable reception. Since the days of Queen ELIZABETH, when this province was planted with ENGLISH, the COUNTY of CORK has constantly received solid advantages, and singular improvements, from your Lordship's ancestors in time of peace, and hath been equally protected by them in times of rebellion, as the noble plantations and settlements of the first Earl of CORK, and the histories of those times, sufficiently record; nor do those improvements end with your Excellency, who hath added beauties to CASTLEMARTYR, which the taste of the preceding age had no notion of. Your Lordship's foundation of the CHURCH and CHARTER-SCHOOL there, are such works as your ancestors might have performed; but the elegant plantaVOL. II. a 2 * Afterwards created earl of Shannon. tions tions made by your Lordship, and the navigable river round your demesne, are new pieces of magnificence, equally conducive to the beauty and advantage of the country. To inform the public, my Lord, of the influence you bear in your native country, founded on a real esteem and affection, would be quite needless, as your Lordship has been unanimously chosen to represent this large COUNTY, for many years, in Parliament; nor hath this affection been confined to this part of IRELAND, but has diffused itself through all its representatives, who have long since elected you to be the Speaker of their honourable house; where, as well as in the higher sphere of one of the Chief Governors of IRELAND, your Lordship has ever acted with so wise and steady a deportment, as neither faction could disprove, nor envy condemn. As it is your Lordship's custom, when the more important business of the nation will permit, to retire into the country, and amuse yourself in improving your seat, and enjoying your friends, (where, laying aside the dignity of a Chief Governor, you only appear the country gentleman, to the great satisfaction of all about you, who feel the happy influence of your Lordship's residence, among them,) so, should this undertaking contribute to the least entertainment of your Excellency, when your thoughts are more particularly employed on this part of the kingdom, it will be an honour, and a sensible pleasure to, May it please your Excellency, Your Lordship's most obedient, And devoted humble Servant, Charles Smith. An gecount of some particulars which are recorded to Containing the reign of Queen ELIZABETH, which includes the several Rebellions of the Earl of |