N20568:2702
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
IN the reign of king James II. they were again interrupted, for in a parliament held at Dublin in the year 1689, great numbers of the protestant nobility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland, were attainted of high treason. The government of the kingdom was▪ at that time, invested in the earl of Tyrconnel, a bigoted papist, and an inveterate enemy to the protestants. By his orders they were again persecuted in various parts of the kingdom. The revenues of the city of Dublin were s••zed▪ and most of the churches converted into prison•. And had it not been for the resolution and uncommon b•a•ery of the […] the city of Londonder•y, and the town of […], there […] not o•• place remained for refuge to the distressed protestants in the whole kingdom: but all most have been given up to king James, and to the furious popish party that governed him.
IN the reign of king James II. they were again interrupted, for in a parliament held at Dublin in the year 1689, great numbers of the protestant nobility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland, were attainted of high treason. The government of the kingdom was▪ at that time, invested in the earl of Tyrconnel, a bigoted papist, and an inve••rate enemy to the protestants. By his orders they were again persecuted in various parts of the kingdom. The revenues of the city of Dublin were s••zed▪ and most of the churches converted into prison•. And had it not been for the resolution and uncommon b•a•ery of the 〈…〉 the city of Londonder•y, and the town of 〈…〉, there 〈…〉 not o•• place remained for refuge to the distressed protestants in the whole kingdom: but all most have been given up to king James, and to the furious popish party that governed him.
THE remarkable siege of Londonderry was opened on the 18th of April, 1689, by twenty thousand papists, the flower of the Irish army. The city was not properly circumstanced to sustain a siege, the defenders consisting of a body of raw undisciplined protestants, who had fled thither for shelter, and half a regiment of lord Mountjoy's disciplined soldiers, with the principal part of the inhabitants, making in all only seven thousand three hundred and sixty-one fighting men.
THE besieged hoped, at first, that their stores of corn, and other necessaries, would be sufficient; but by the continuance of the siege their wants increased; and these became at last so heavy, that for a considerable time before the siege was raised, a pint of coarse barley, a small quantity of greens, a few spoonfuls of starch, with a moderate proportion of horse flesh, were reckoned a week's provision for a soldier. And they were, at length, reduced to such extremities, that they eat dogs, cats, and mice.
THEIR miseries increasing with the siege, many, through mere hunger and want, pined and languished away, or fell dead in the streets. And it is remarkable, that when their long expected succours arrived from England, they were upon the point of being reduced to this alternative, either to preserve their existence by eating each other, or attempting to fight their way through the Irish, which must have infallibly produced their destruction.
THESE succours were most happily brought by the ship Mountjoy, of Derry, and the Phoenix, of Colerain, at which time they had only nine lean horses left, with a pint of meal to each man. By hunger, and the fatigues of war, their seven thousand three hundred and sixty-one fighting men were reduced to four thousand three hundred, one-fourth part of whom were rendered unserviceable.
AS the calamities of the besieged were very great, so likewise were the terrors and sufferings of their protestant friends and relations; all of whom (even women and children) were forcibly driven from the country thirty miles round, and inhumanly reduced ⟨p. 256⟩to the sad necessity of continuing some days and nights, without food or covering, before the walls of the town; and were thus exposed to the continual fire both of the Irish army from without, and the shot of their friends from within.
AS the calamities of the besieged were very great, so likewise were the terrors and sufferings of their protestant friends and relations; all of whom (even w•men and children) were forcibly driven from the country thirty miles round, and inhumanly reduced ⟨p. 256⟩to the sad necessity of continuing some days and nights, without food or covering, before the walls of the town; and were thus exposed to the conti•nual fire both of the Irish army from without, and the shot of their friends from within.
BUT the succours from England happily arriving, put an end to their affliction; and the siege was raised on the 31st of July, having been continued upwards of three months.
THE day before the siege of Londonderry was raised, the Inniskilliners engaged a body of six thousand Irish Roman catholics, at Newton Butler, or Crown-Castle, of whom near five thousand were slain. This, with the defeat at Londonderry, dispirited the papists, and they gave up all farther attempts to persecute the protestants.
THE year following, viz. 1690, the Irish took up arms in favour of the abdicated prince, king James II. but they were totally defeated by his successor king William the Third. That monarch, before he left the country, reduced them to a state of subjection, in which they have ever since continued; and it is to be hoped will so remain as long as time shall be.
BY a report made in Ireland, in the year 1731, it appeared, that a great number of ecclesiastics had, in defiance of the laws, flocked into that kingdom: that several convents had been o•ened by jesuits, monks, and friars: that many new and pompous mass-houses had been erected in some of the most conspicuous parts of their great cities, where there had not been any before; and that such swarms of vagrant, immoral Romish priests had appeared, that the very papists themselves considered them as a burden.
BY a report made in Ireland, in the year 1731, it appeared, that a great number of eclesiastics had, in defiance of the laws, flocked into that kingdom: that several convents had been o•ened by jesuits, monks, and friars: that many new and pompous mass-houses had been erected in some of the most conspicuous parts of their great cities, where there had not been any before; and that such swarms of vagrant, immoral Romish priests had appeared, that the very papists themselves considered them as a burthen.
BUT notwithstanding all this, the protestant interest at present stands upon a much stronger basis than it did a century ago. The Irish, who formerly led an unsettled and roving life, in the woods, bogs, and mountains, and lived on the depredation of their neighbours; they who, in the morning seized the prey, and at night divided the spoil, have, for many years past, become quiet and civilized. They taste the sweets of English society, and the advantages of civil government. They trade in our cities, and are employed in our manufactures. They are received also into English families; and are treated with great humanity by the protestants.
BUT notwithstanding all this, the protestant interest at present stands upon a much stronger basis than it did a century ago. The Irish, who formerly led an unset•led and roving life, in the woods, bogs, and mountains, and lived on the depredation of their neighbours; they who, in the morning seized the prey, and at night divided the spoil, have, for many years past, become quiet and civilized. They taste the sweets of English society, and the advantages of civil government. They trade in our cities, and are employed in our manufactures. They are received also into English families; and are treated with great humanity by the protestants.
THE heads of their clans, and the chiefs of the great Irish families, who cruelly oppressed and tyrannized over their vassals, are now dwindled, in a great measure, to nothing; and most of the ancient popish nobility and gentry of Ireland have renounced the Romish religion.
IT is also to be hoped, that inestimable benefits will arise from the establishment of protestant schools in various parts of the kingdom, in which the children of the Roman catholics are instructed in religion and reading, whereby the mist of ignorance is dispelled from their eyes, which was the great source of the cruel transactions that have taken place, at different periods, in that kingdom.
IN order to preserve the protestant interest in Ireland upon a solid basis, it behoves all in whom that power is invested, to discharge it with the strictest assiduity and attention; for should it once again lose ground, there is no doubt but the papists would take those advantages they have hitherto done, and thousands might yet fall victims to their malicious bigotry.
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