diocese Killinchy was, being a corrupt and timorous man, and would require some engagement, therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies, according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to perform such ceremonies.”  It was then arranged that he should be ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been.  The Bishop gave him the book of ordination, and said, “though he durst not answer it to the State,” that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that it should not be read.  “But,” concludes Mr. Livingstone, “I found that it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired."[520]

Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of orders.

But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy; O’Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his Ogygia:  “I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil—­a spectator of others enriched by my birthright.”  And again:  “The Lord hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored to the kingdom of my cottage.  Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned:  may the Lord be blessed for ever!”

The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much the same as those of a similar rank in England.[521] Commerce was so constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities of development.  In a curious old poem, called the Libel of English Policie, the object of which was to impress on the English the necessity of keeping all trade and commerce in their own hands, we find Irish exports thus enumerated:—­

    “Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring,
    Irish wool and linen cloth, falding
    And masternes good be her marchandie;
    Hertes, birds, and others of venerie,
    Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare,
    Of sheep, lambe, and fore is her chaffere,
    Felles of kids, and conies great plentie.”