HISTORY OF BANDON

CHAPTER  XI

[Pages 214-226]  THE LORD-LIEUTENANT (CROMWELL'S SON-IN-LAW) ARRIVES IN BANDON - THE QUAKERS FIRST VISIT THE TOWN - CROMWELL DIES - HIS REMAINS DISHONOURED - HIS TWO SONS - IRELAND MORE PROTESTANT IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA THAN IN THE DAYS OF CROMWELL - DR. BRADY (OF BRADY AND TATE'S VERSION OF THE PSALMS) BORN IN BANDON.

    1654-  About this time the corporation began to enter actively upon the performance of their civic duties.  Many matters, that were pushed out of view by the urgency of military necessity, were now looked after and attended to.  There was a bye-law passed to regulate the markets.  In the summer, they were not to be opened before eight in the morning, and they were to be closed at five in the evening.  In winter, they were to be opened three hours before mid-day, and closed three hours after.  Another bye-law directed that the streets should be kept clean; and-as if to show that, however palatable their new duties may be to them, they should not prevent them attending to what was of great service to them heretofore, and may be again-they appointed a committee, composed of the following, ''to see after the courtyards of their garrison'':-

    A great deal of evidence was taken at Bandon this year, relative to ''the reudition for the Parliament,'' in the month of November, 1649.  Lieutenant Edward Berry, Abraham Savage, John Smith, and Nathaniel Clear, were examined,*  and they deposed to many particulars about the organization that was got up, for the purpose of seizing on Governor Courtnay and the troops under his command; and, having expelled the incongruous combination of Royalist and rebel, the conspirators intended to secure the town for the Parliament and the Lord-Lieutenant (Cromwell).

                *  Much of the evidence will be found in the history of the South Cork light infantry, chapter 22.

    1655-  The Lord-Lieutenant (Charles Fleetwood)-who married Bridget, widow of Major-General Ireton, and daughter of Cromwell-attended by his council, arrived in Bandon on the 1st of June.  After ''a gallant dinner, which Major Hodder, the Governor of Kinsale, did provide in the fort for his Excellency and the council, with all them that attended (saving the clerk of the council and some others, who dined at Mr. Southwell's), the Lord-Deputy and council did ride to Bandon-a fine English town.  Staid there that night.  Saturday, the 2nd of June, Dr. Worth*  made an excellent sermon.  After dinner they came back to Cork again.  Little business was done at Bandon.''†
    The first Quaker that ever visited Bandon made his appearance here this year.  His name was Francis Howgill.  He was received by Edward Cook-a gentleman of great local influence, and who was the cornet of Oliver Cromwell's own troop of horse, which, at the time, lay in Bandon.  He was also land agent to the Earl of Cork.  Mr. Cook accompanied Howgill ''on the first day of the week to the public worship-house of the town, where the said Francis declared truth among the people;''‡  and he invited him to hold a meeting at his house in the evening.  This he gladly assented to; and a great many people being assembled, Howgill stood up, and boldly proclaimed the true gospel; and with such beneficial results, that many admitted, there and then, that he was right; and they proved the sincerity of their assertions by at once joining the Society of Friends.

                *  Dr. Edward Worth (subsequently bishop of Killaloe).  His wife Susanna, became a Quakeress; ''and, though she suffered much form her husband, lived and died in unity with the Friends.''
                †  Vide-A letter in Mercurius Politicus, dated Cork (in Ireland), June 4th, 1655.
                ‡  See Weight's History of the Quakers.

    Amongst those were:- Edward Cook, and his wife Lucretia Cook, Daniel and Sarah Massey, Robert and Mary Mallins, William Smith, Catherine Smith, Mathew Prin, William Driver, Joan Frank, Thomas Biss, &c., &c.  Several of the men just mentioned were soldiers in Cromwell's troop of horse. 
    Mr. Cook proved a true convert.  ''He embraced the truth with his whole heart,'' says Weight, ''and retained it.''
    On the following Saturday, Cook, in company with Edward Burrough, Francis Howgill, and Captain James Sicklemore, proceeded to Limerick, where they were treated scandalously.  Indeed, it would appear as if the authorities were unwilling to hearken to any interpretation of the Scriptures save their own, as they had Cook and his companions ''thrust forth through the gates, by order.''
    In some years after, the founder of the body, George Fox, visited Bandon, where he had an extraordinary vision.
    ''Being in Bandon, there appeared to me, in a vision, a very ugly-visage man, of a black and dark look.  My spirit struck at him in the power of God; and it seemed to me that I rode over him with my horse set his foot on the side of his face.   When I came down in the morning, I told a friend the command of the Lord was to me to ride to Cork.''
  Although the religious opinions and proceedings of the Quakers were assailed without mercy, and although they were compelled to put up with a great deal of ill-usage, nevertheless, they would not always tamely submit to be insulted.  They sometimes retorted very sharply, and with such acrimony and vigour, as proved them to be no contemptible opponents.
    In a book written by one of them at this time, the writer, who was evidently endowed with the tongue of a fish-fag, called the Church of England, Satan's synagogue.  She was Mrs. Babylon's looking-glass; and she was mounted upon the beasts, and agoing with speed in the wide way of destruction.
    After this charitable piece of information, the author-who seems convinced there could be not doubt as to his ultimate happiness-acquaints us that his book is written by a servant of Christ, whose name is written in the Book of Life.
    The religious ardour of the body extended itself to the female members of the sect as well as to the males.  Barbara Blaugden absolutely went up to the Lord Lieutenant, and bid him beware that he was not found fighting against God.  Her anxiety to do good induced her to follow many of her misguided fellow-Christians into the steeple-houses; where, we are told, ''she opened her mouth;'' and even to pay a visit to the judges of the land.
    She naturally surmised that their lordships had souls as well as other people; and she did not see why their future should not concern a spiritually-minded person, as well as the future of those whom their lordships condemned to be hanged for sheep-stealing, or for doing a grievously bodily harm, or for murder.  She, therefore, appeared before the court, and vainly strove to move them to righteousness.  They not only refused her motion, but they ordered a detainer to be lodged against her on the spot, and she was incarcerated forthwith.
    The Bandon congregation of Friends was never numerous or influential.  It struggled on for about one hundred and fifty years, and then died out in the person of Tommy Weldon-a fat, Quaker-like little fellow, who died about the year 1807.  His was the last interment in the Quaker's burying ground; after which it was ploughed up, and turned into a potato-garden-the produce of which was so unctuous and creamy, that many of the people who boiled the potatoes declared that they saw some of Tommy Weldon's fat floating on the top of the pot.
    The following are amongst the names of those Friends who worshipped in Bandon during the continuance of the Society here:-

    1658-  On the 3rd of September-a peculiarly lucky day in his own estimation-died Oliver Cromwell.  There was no sovereign that ever wore the crown of England caused her to be so much respected among neighbouring nations, and among distant ones, as Cromwell.  He compelled them to pay his ambassadors the same honours they did when a king was on the throne.  ''It is to the nation and not to the persons of Kings,'' said he, ''that the respect is due.''  It is stated that, as Protector of England, he insisted on signing his name before that of the haughty Louis the Fourteenth, of France; and Cardinal Mazarin (Louis' great minister) openly declared that he was more afraid of Cromwell than of the devil.
    The stubborn Dutch were all submission to him.*  The Swedes took great pains to obtain his friendship.  The Pope was so much in dread of him, that he ordered processions to be made through the streets of Rome, in order to avert the roar of his avenging cannon.
    He commanded the Duke of Savoy to stop the massacre of his Protestants subjects; and the very moment his Grace received the order, he hastened to obey it.  All Italy, and those States of Africa which had dared to commit depredations upon British ships, he punished so effectually, that they are said to have trembled at the very mention of his name.
    The remains of the Protector were buried with great state, in a vault in Henry the Seventh's chapel, in Westminster Abbey; where they lay until Saturday, January the 26th, 1666, when they were dug up-to please a prince under whom England became almost as insignificant a member of the political system of Europe as the petty Republic of San Marino;†  who was debased by indolence and by vice;‡  who lived all his life professedly a Protestant, and died professedly a Papist; who received large bribes form a foreign king, for betraying the honour and the interests of the country he was called upon to govern.  Such was the man that now occupied the place of Cromwell.§

                *  When news of Cromwell's decease reached Amsterdam, the city was illuminated; and children ran through the streets, shouting for joy, and crying out that the devil was dead.
                †  Maccaulay.
                ‡  When De Ruytern sailed up the Thames with a broom at the mast-head, and when the smoke of the English ships of war, which lay burning at Chatham, could be seen from the very windows at Whitehall, Charles is said to have dined with the ladies of his seraglio, and spent a portion of the evening in chasing a moth round the supper-room.
                §  Cromwell's memory is still greatly reverenced in Bandon.  A short time since, the comparative merits of Oliver Cromwell and of William the Third were the subject of conversation in a workshop here.  ''William was a good and a great man, undoubtedly,'' said a smoke-begrimed smith, who was one of the principal speakers.  ''Bah! but, what was he to Oliver?  He wasn't fit to hold a candle to him.  Cromwell,'' said he, laying down his sledge, and looking thoughtfully at those he was addressing, ''was specially raised up by the Almighty to destroy the idolaters; and that was boy that He could rely on to do it.  Dou you think,'' cried he triumphantly, as he again seized his huge hammer, ''that if Cromwell was still alive, you would have ever heard of a Phoenix boy or a Fenian?  Or do you think that if Stephens (the Irish head-centre) was under the charge of one of Oliver's Puritans, he could leisurely walk out of Richmond gaol?-bah!''   

    Early on the night of Monday, January 28th, Cromwell's coffin, and also that of Henry Ireton (his-son-in-law), were taken on two carts to the Red Lion, in Holborn, where they remained for the rest of the night.  Bradshaw's was disinterred next morning-being the anniversary of the death of Charles the First.  All three were then drawn on sledges to Tyburn.  Upon their arrival, the coffin lids were broken open, and the bodies dragged out, and hanged upon a triple gibbet until sunset.*  They were then taken down, and beheaded.  The mutilated bodies were flung contemptuously into a hole that was at the foot of the gallows; but the heads were set upon poles, and placed on the top of Westminster Hall.
    It does not appear at what time these poor relics of humanity disappeared from their unenviable position, but two of them, at least were there more than twenty years after; for when Sir Thomas Armstrong was executed in 1684, his head was placed on a spike between those of Cromwell and Bradshaw.
    Oliver was succeeded in the Protectorate by his eldest surviving son, Richard.  Republicans, as well as Cavaliers, grossly abused the new Protector in their songs.  He was the meek Knight; he was tumble-down Dick; he was Queen Dick.
    Henry, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was Cromwell's other surviving son.  His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Russell, of Chippenham, in Cambridgeshire; by whom he had five sons and two daughters.  The highest testimony is borne to his talents and virtues by many eminent men.

                *  A gentleman who was present had left a detailed account of the appearance of the bodies.  He says Cromwell's was wrapt in green cerecloth, and looked quite fresh.-See Noble's House of Cromwell.

    Mr. Luson says, that his government in Ireland was so mild and equitable, that he acquired a great degree of esteem even from many persons of high rank in King Charles's interest.  Dr. Leland says that Henry was penetrating, just, and generous.  Neal, that he was a wise and discreet governor, and brought the nation into a flourishing condition.  Cardinal Mazarin declared that he admired Henry Cromwell very much.  He was a great man, even in those days, says Dr. Gibbons.  Even the great Protector spoke highly of his merits.  He was a governor, said his illustrious father, from whom I myself might learn.
    Neither the Lord-Lieutenant or the new Lord Protector enjoyed their high positions long; and they vacated them without any show of resistance, or even giving their opponents any trouble.

    1659-  Dr. William Petty,*  physician-general to the Parliamentary army in 1652, was sworn in a burgess of the Bandon corporation.  He was also elected to represent the town in Parliament.  It is to him we are indebted for the laying down survey-familiarly known as the Down Survey-a task which he undertook n December, 1664; and with the aid of his friend, Thomas Taylor, Esq., he accomplished the measurement of two millions and eight thousand acres of forfeited lands by the month of March, 1666.
    It is through him, also, that we are made acquainted with the population of Ireland in 1641, and subsequently; and , from the facts furnished by his labours, it is apparent that,- notwithstanding all that has been written and said about the destruction of the Irish population in the fearful struggle that began in 1641; of all those that were put to the sword by Cromwell; of all those that perished by famine; that lost their lives in the new penal colony of Connaught; that went of their own accord, or were forced into exile,-so prodigious was the number of English who lost their lives at that time, or were compelled to fly the country, that the Protestant population in Ireland was less, in proportion to the Roman Catholic population, after the conquest by Cromwell than it was before the rebellion broke out.

                *  Dr. Petty's eldest son was created Earl of Sheburne-a title now borne by the the eldest son of the Marquis of Landsdowne.  The first Lord Shelborne's eldest daughter married Francis, eldest son of Judge Bernard, and died without surviving issue.  She predeceased her husband, whose grand-nephew, Francis, was the first Earl of Bandon.

    Now, when we bear in mind that thousands of adventurers, soldiers, and others-all of whom were Protestants-had come over and settle on the forfeited lands in this country after the conquest, some idea to may be obtained of the wholesale extermination aimed at, and which was well-nigh accomplished.
    In 1641 there were two Protestants in Ireland to every eleven Roman Catholics; whereas, after Cromwell became victorious, there are only the same number of Protestants to every sixteen Roman Catholics.
    In common with many others, we have been accustomed to to look at the era of the Protectorate, as the era when the Protestant inhabitants of this country were more numerous in proportion to the Roman Catholic inhabitants than they were in any other portion of our history; but this we find is an error .  Who would have thought that the Protestant population in our own day is greater, in portion to that of the Roman Catholic, that it was when Ireland was lying prostate at the feet of the victor,-in other words, that Ireland is more Protestant in the rein of Queen Victoria than it was in the days of Cromwell?  According to the last census (1862), there were not ten Roman Catholics in Ireland to every two Protestants.
    As far as we have been able to discover , the oldest tradesman's token issued in Bandon bears the date of this year.  On the obverse is a house, with gable fronts, three stories in height.  Each gable contains a doorway on the ground floor; and between the doorways is the shop-front, consisting of three round-headed windows, and containing two or three rows of shelves, running their entire length.  On the apex of the triangle formed by each gable-roof, and strained above the entrance door, is the figure of a bird -supposed to represent a wren, the crest of the accompanying tenant.  The obverse also bears the following inscription:-"JOHN WREN, Of;" on the reverse, "BANDON-BRIDEWELLl," and the date, "1659."

                *Dr. O'Kelly, of Maymooth, says the population of Ireland in 1641 was according to Petty, 1,466,000 Catholics; being to Protestants eleven to two.  After the conquest by Cromwell the proportion of Catholics to Protestants, according to the same, eight to one. 

    Nicholas Brady was born on the 28th of October, this year (1659), in Bandon.  He was the son of Major Nicholas Brady of Richmond, Surrey, and also of Bandon, by Martha, daughter of the Luke Gernon, Esq., second Justice of the Presidency Court of Munster.  His (the Major's) father was Nicholas, second son of Hugh Brady (the first Protestant bishop of Meath), but his second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Robert Weston, Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
    The bishop died in 1584, and the next year his widow married Sir Jeffrey Fenton, by whom she had a son, Sir William Fenton, and a daughter, Alice, who became the second wife of Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Cork.
    Nicholas Brady, the subject of this memoir, was educated by Dr. Tindall, of Cork, until I was twelve years old; he was then sent to Westminster school-at the time under the presidency of Dr. Busby.  Young Brady applied himself diligently to his studies; and with such success, as to become a favourite with the celebrated head-master.  He was elected king's scholar at Westminster, and subsequently to the studentship at Christ Church, Oxford.  Having remained there for three or four years, he removed to Dublin-where his father at the time resided-and obtained from the Dublin University the degrees of B.A., M.A. and D.D., successively.  He was ordained priest at Cork, in September, 1687, by Bishop Whetenhall, who appointed him his chaplain.  In 1688 he was made prebendary of Kilnaglory, rector of Kilmeen, victor of Drinagh, and also vicar of Castleventry, in the diocese of Ross; all of which he resigned in 1692.
    During his residence in Cork he became conspicuous for his advocacy of the divine-right of kings, non-resistance, and other doctrines then greatly vogue with the Absolutists.  And it was , we may safely assume, owing, and a great measure, to this that he occupied so favourable a position in Jacobite estimation.
    It was certainly fortunate for the Bandon people that such was the case; for when Major-General McCarthy had taken their town, and was about to execute ten of the ringleaders of the black-Monday revolt-after which Bandon and its inhabitants were doomed to the flames-Brady interposed; and, by his influence, was enabled not only to bar the cruel intentions of McCarthy, but, in addition, to procure very easy terms for his fellow-townsmen.
    In 1690, being deputed by the Bandonians to seek the assistance of the English Parliament in removing some grievances of which they complained, he went to London; where he met with such success as a divine, and he was induced to leave Ireland and settle their altogether.
    In a short time he became one of the most popular preachers in the city; and the vacancy having occurred, he was appointed the Church of St.  Catherine Cree, and also to the lectureship of St. Michael's, in Wood Street.  The rectory of Richmond-where he completed the versifying of the Psalms-was conferred on him the same year; and, in addition, the wealthy living of Chapham .  For some time, too, he had spiritual charge of Strafford-upon-Avon.*  He first appointment to a chaplainey was to that of the bishop of Cork.  He then became chaplain to the Duke of Ormond.  After that he was chaplain to William and Mary; and finally, to Queen Anne.
    In 1692 we find him first distinguishing himself as a poet, when he was declared the winner of the prize ode then annually competed for on St. Cecilia's-day; the matter and finish of which was so much admired at the time, then it was set to music by Harry Purcell, and performed amid great applause.  He was also preached a sermon in St. Bride's Church, on sacred poetry, which he afterward published under the head of Church Music Vindicated.
    But it is principally in connection with Brady and Tate's version of the Psalms that his name has been transmitted to prosperity.  The first portion of this rhythmical arrangement of the sacred songs of David appeared in 1695, and was entitled An Essay of a new version of the Psalms of David, consisting of the first twenty, by N. Brady and N. Tate.†

                *  It was an easy matter to get preferment at this time, as several hundreds of the clergy of the Established Church threw up their livings rather than swear allegiance to William, or knowledge him as their sovereign. 
                †  Nahum Tate was born in Dublin in 1652.  Scarcely anything is known about him until he went to reside in London, where he led very idle and dissolute life.  He adopted no profession, and contrived to support himself by and writing verses, and dedicating them to some of the principal man of the day; one of whom (Lord Dorset) procured for him the office of poet-laureate, vacant by the death of Shadwell in 1690.  In addition to a number of miscellaneous poems, Tate was the author of no less than nine plays; one of which-an adaptation of King Lear-had a successful run for several years.  He died within the unhallowed precincts of the Mint, where he fled to avoid his numerous creditors. 

    After three years this was followed by the New Version, completely fitted to the tunes used in Churches; but the supplement containing the Church hymns was not completed until 1709.
    Throughout his whole life, Dr. Brady was held in the highest esteem, "as a man and as a minister."  He is described as a person of most obliging, sweet, affable temper; a polite gentlemen, an excellent preacher; and, as a poet, the two centuries that have almost since elapsed have failed to produce anything deemed worthy of replacing the harmonious and devotional style of Brady and Tate's version of the Psalms.*   He was married on the 29th of June, 1690, to the Letitia, daughter of Richard Synge, who died archdeacon of Cork in 1688, and grand-daughter of Edmond Synge, who was translated from Limerick to the See of Cork, in 1663.  By her he had issue -four sons and four daughters.  He died in London on the 22nd of May, 1726, and was buried on the 26th of same month, in Richmond.† 

                *  It would be difficult to say , at this time, what part huge of them performed in the works so inseparable a connected with their names.  But looking at the characters of the two men, we may lawfully presume that he was Brady supply the strain reverential, and Tate the rhyme.
                †  His funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Thomas Stackhouse, author of the History of the Bible. 

    1660-   Charles was scarcely seated on the throne, when the Irish presented him with a petition, setting forth in their loyalty during the late war, and urging,-as a matter of right more than as a matter of favour-that they be restored to their estates.  The English heard of their intended design; and so far from placing obstacles in their way, they ask that the whole subject be fully investigated.  The council readily agreed to this, and appointed a day for the purpose.  Lord Orrey, Lord Mountrath, and some others, represented the English and Sir Nicholas Plunkett, and several of his fellow-sufferers, appeared for the Irish.  The King himself presided.  Amongst those of the council present were the Duke of Ormond and the Lord Chancellor. 
    Sir Nicholas commenced by endeavoring to show what his party had endured for their loyalty to his Majesty.  How they were dispossessed of their lands, and the hard private privations they met in the transplantation scheme.
    Upon this, Lord Orrey rose, and produced a paper-which Plunkett did not deny to have been written by himself.  This proved to be an order made by the Irish Supreme Council, in which they unanimously resolved to prosecute Ormond (the Kings Lord-Lieutenant) with fire and sword.  He also produced another document issued by the same council to Sir Nicholas and other, to go to the Pope, and in their name to offer him the kingdom of Ireland.  If his Holiness refused, then they were to tender it to the King of Spain.  In case he should not take it, then to the King of France.  If rejected by him, to the Duke of Lorraine; and, if declined by him, then to any other Prince they liked, provided he was a Roman Catholic.  Holding up the two papers in his hand, Orrey triumphantly remarked that those men were not likely to prove good subjects who offered to give away the kingdom from his Majesty.  The King perfectly understood their loyalty, and he declared that he was fully convinced that the Irish the only what they deserved. 

    1661-    A new parliament assembled at Chichester House, Dublin, on the 8th of May, from which we miss the familiar presence of our old friend, Mr. Anthony Dopping.  The representatives for Bandon were:-Robert Georges,*  of Kilbrew, county Meath, and John Reade, Esq., Coolerlonge. 
    The Lord Primate (the speaker of the House of Lords) made a great speech at the opening of this Parliament , in praise of the great, good, and the virtuous Charles the Second.  "And it is not this place then," said his lordship, "a Mount of Transfiguration?  Hath not our dread Sovereign Lord the King, of whom the world is not worthy, been banished into foreign countries, so that he might take up that expression:- "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son and undoubted heir of three kingdoms-nay, the native and lineal king of them-had not a place to rest his head in."  But, praise be to that God!  that-at the same time He made a stone to be his pillow-sweetened his repose with heavenly visions."
    Infamous as this was, it was surpassed by the arrant blasphemy of Bishop Down.  Speaking of Charles the First:- "The person murdered," says the prelate, "was not the Lord of Glory, but a glorious lord, -Christ's own vicar, His lieutenant, and vicegerent here on earth. 

                *  In James the Second's reign, Dr. Georges was deprived of a large estate which he held under the Act of Settlement; and which he had previously belong to a Mr. Barnwell, by whom it was forfeited for the active part he took in the great rebellion. 

    Albeit, he was in fair to Christ as many as to God, but yet was his privilege of inviolability far more clear than was Christ's; for Christ was not a temporal prince-His kingdom was none of this world-and therefore, when He vouchsafed to to come into this world, and to become the son of man, He did not subject Himself to the law.  But are gracious Sovereign was well known to be a temporal prince-a free monarch-to whom they did all told owe and sworn, allegiance.  The Parliament is the great council, and hath acted all and more against the Lord and Sovereign then the other did against Christ.  The proceedings against our Sovereign were more illegal, and, in many things, more cruel."
    The only matter of importance that occupied the attention of the members, during that eight sessions through which this Parliament lasted, was the great Act of Settlement-an Act upon which the titles of most of the estates in this country were based until the introduction of the Court of Encumbered Estates.  Our senior member, Dr. Georges, was the person entrusted with the presentation of the Act of Settlement to the King. 

    1662-   In order to extricate themselves from their difficulties, the Bandon corporation-who were at this time much in want of money, and deeply in debt-intended levying a heavy rate on the town, when the undermentioned citizens came forward and generously contributed to the sums affixed to their names:-

    In the accounts furnished the corporation by Captain Browne, who became provost on the 29th of September-this year-we find the following items:-