During the latter part of the sixteenth century, however, one group of names cannot be passed over: Kearney and Walsh, Donellan and Daniel, or O'Donell.

John Kearney, or Kearnagh, who had received his education at Cambridge, was afterwards treasurer of St Patrick's, Dublin. Nicholas Walsh had been a fellowstudent with Kearney at Cambridge, and was still his beloved companion, having been appointed chancellor of St Patrick's. These two individuals ought to be ever remembered as the men who first began to pursue the only effectual method of enlightening their Irish brethren, so far as the art of printing in their own language and character is necessary. They were the men who first introduced Irish types into their country, and obtained an order that the prayers of the church should be printed in that character and language, and a church set apart in the chief town of every diocese, where they were to be read and a sermon preached to the common people. Accordingly we are informed, that, in the year 1571, Queen Elizabeth provided, at her own expense, a printing-press and a fount of Irish types, "in hope that God in mercy would raise up some to translate the New Testament into their mother tongue."+

The first work in which Mr Kearney engaged was an Irish Catechism and Primer,-" Alphabetum et ratio

handed by Ussher to Sir James Ware as serviceable for his works.-Nicholas Maguire, Bishop of Leighlin, the writer of an esteemed Irish chronicle: these three last were Oxford students.-Richard Creagh of Limerick, who wrote " De Lingua Hibernica; Chronicon Hiberniæ," and an ecclesiastical history.-Thadeus Dowling, who wrote " Annalis brevis Hiberniæ," an Irish grammar, and other tracts. -Patrick Cusack, a man of family, educated at Oxford, and able schoolmaster in Dublin, about 1566. He is said to have given great light to his country by his learning, though he employed his time rather in the instruction of his scholars than penning books. He wrote indeed one book, "Diversa Epigrammata," probably for the use of his school.-Richard Stanyhurst, who was born in Dublin, 1546, maternal uncle to Archbishop Ussher, the author of several works, and who died in 1618, at Brussels.-William Bathe, born in Dublin, 1564, who was president of the Irish College at Salamanca. His "Janua Linguarum" became a standard He died in 1614, at Madrid.

work for the instruction of youth. * Ware's Annals, 1571.

+ Dedication of the Irish New Testament.

legendi Hibernicum, et catechismus in eadem lingua. John a Kearnagh, 1571," 8vo. In this, which was certainly the first book printed with a view to the instruction of the Native Irish, the types just mentioned are said to have been used, and this is probable; but whether it were so or not, it is certain that more than thirty years passed away, before the next publication in which they were employed.*

The translation of the Scriptures of the New Testament into Irish now engaged the attention of both these men, and, in the year 1573, Walsh began the work, assisted by Kearney. In 1577, Walsh was elected to the see of Ossory, but proceeded in his undertaking, till he was stabbed in his own house, on the 14th December, 1585, by a profligate whom he had cited before him for gross immorality. Providentially, some years before this, Nehemias Donellan, born in Galway, but also educated at Cambridge, on returning to Ireland, had joined these men in their undertaking. Thus it appears by a privy seal, dated the 24th of May, 1595, when he was raised to the see of Tuam, that "he had taken great pains in translating and putting to the press the com

* It has been strangely asserted by Lemoine, in his History of Printing, and others, that an Irish liturgy was undoubtedly printed in Dublin in 1566, for the use of the Highlanders of Scotland. The reference here is to the Book of Common Order, which, it is true, is sometimes called Knox's Liturgy. But the truth is, that this very rare Gaelic translation, entitled "Foirm na Nurrnuidheadh," i. e. Forms of Prayer, was printed at Edinburgh by Robert Lekprevik, and is dated 24th of April, 1567. John Carswell, superintendent of the West, and bishop of the Isles, was the translator. He here laments the misapplication of the gifts of writing and teaching, and says that much of the superstition that prevailed arose from the want of good books, understood by all who spoke the Gaelic tongue." But there is," says he in his epistle dedicatory," one great disadvantage which we the Gaeil of Scotland and Ireland labour under beyond the rest of the world, that our Gaelic language has never been printed, as the language of every race of men has been; and we labour under a disadvantage which is still greater than every other, that we have not the Holy Bible printed in Gaelic, as it has been printed in Latin and in English, and in every other language." One copy of this book exists in the Argyle library, which is supposed to be unique. There is another, but imperfect, in the possession of a private gentleman in Scotland.

2

munion-book and New Testament in the Irish language, which Queen Elizabeth greatly approved of." This commendation is of course by no means to be considered as excluding Kearney, who not only laboured in union, first with Walsh, and then with Donellan, but seems to have proceeded to other parts of Scripture. Harris indeed asserts, that Kearney "translated the Bible into Irish, which was extant in manuscript in Ware's time:" but this I have no doubt was a mistake of a part for the whole, as no trace of such a complete translation was ever heard of since. Part of the Bible, he probably effected, particularly the Psalms; but had there been a translation of the whole, we must have heard of it in the days of Bedell. These three men, however, laid the foundation, and effectually prepared the way for the fourth individual already named, William Daniel, or O'Donell. Being considered as well qualified for the undertaking, at the instance of the Lord-deputy and request of the Privy Council he proceeded. Availing himself of the labours of his predecessors, he went also into Connaught to procure such aid as he might think proper, and it seems that he derived some assistance from a native of that province, Mortogh O'Cionga, or King.* At all events, we know, from himself, that this translation of the Irish New Testament was scrupulously made from the original Greek, "to which," says he, in his dedication to the king, "I tied myself, as of duty I ought." Shortly after the accession of James the First, which was in March, 1603, this New Testament was published, with a dedication to his Majesty, the expense

* See Ware's Writers and Bishops. Letter from the Privy Council of Ireland, 15th December, 1605, in the Clogher MS. No 4. p. 375. Beling in his Vindicia ascribes the translation itself to King; but, with reference to the New Testament, this is saying too much. King certainly was an excellent Irish scholar, and as such was known afterwards to Primate Ussher, who recommended him to the no. tice of Bedell. The reader therefore will hear of him again,

being defrayed by the province of Connaught and Sir William Usher, clerk of the council.*

The Book of Common Prayer he also translated from English into Irish, with the exception of the Psalms. This was printed at Daniel's own expense, by J. Francton, and published in quarto, 1608. In the following year, Dr Daniel was translated to the see of Tuam, where he died in 1628. He was one of the three first scholars of Trinity College, Dublin, who were nominated by the Charter; one of the earliest elected Fellows; and, if not the first, he was the second who received the degree of D.D. from that University. Sir James Ware says, that was a proficient in Hebrew," and, " indeed, a man of distinguished learning."+

he "

It is impossible to proceed through such a history as this, without coming frequently in contact with James Ussher,‡

* If this is the same individual elsewhere styled Sir William Usher the elder, he was the son of John Usher, the Mayor of Dublin in 1574, who wrote a treatise, De Reformatione Hiberniæ,-once in the possession of Primate Ussher, and deposited by him in Trinity College.

+ His attainments as a scholar may be presumed from the eminence of his associates. In the register of the College Library the series of Fellows stands thus :Henry Ussher (the uncle of Archbishop Ussher), Lucas Challoner (Ussher's fatherin-law), Launcellot Moine, James Fullerton, James Hamilton, Matthias Holme, William Daniel, Charles Dun, John Brereton, Abel Walshe, James Ussher, &c. The three first were the Fellows who had been named by the Crown, nomine plurium.' James Fullerton, a scholar of Andrew Melville's, afterwards knighted, and who resided at the court of James I., after the Accession, and James Hamilton, created Viscount Clandebois, and afterwards Earl of Clanbrissel, induced, it is supposed, to seek a foreign field for the exertion of their talents, had come from Scotland in 1587, and established a grammar-school in Dublin. After teaching on their own account till 1592, they were admitted as Professors in Trinity College, which was opened in 1593. Henry Lee, William Daniel, and Stephen White, had been named by the Queen as the three first scholars "nomine plurium." James Ussher, afterwards Primate, who was the second matriculated student, had, from 1588, attended the grammar-school of Fullerton and Hamilton. Daniel was buried at Tuam, under the same monument with his predecessor, N. Donellan. Ussher lies interred beside the grave of his preceptor, Fullerton, in St Erasmus's Chapel, Westminster. See Parr's Life of Ussher; Smith's Vitæ; M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. II. 291-4; Stewart's Armagh, pp. 310-539.

Notwithstanding the almost universal practice of using a single letter, this seems to be the correct orthography of the Primate's name. Harris in his edition

unquestionably one of the most learned men of his day; but our notices of him must needs be casual and limited. In 1609-10, Dr Challoner, the Provost of Trinity, having died, Ussher was unanimously elected; but he declined, from the fear of interrupting his literary pursuits. By his importunate solicitations, however, William Temple, who, after occupying various public situations, had retired into private life, was prevailed upon to accept of the office, which he continued to fill with ability till his death, in the year 1626.* The year before this, and but a few days before the death of James I., Ussher had been appointed Primate of all Ireland. He now looked round for a successor to Sir William Temple, and fixed his eye and his heart upon an individual, then living in comparative neglect and obscurity-William Bedell.

The New Testament in Irish was the only part of the Scriptures yet published, with the exception of those passages which were inserted in the Book of Common Prayer. For the translation of the Old Testament into Irish, we are indebted to the Christian zeal of this evermemorable man; for, if Fitzralph, or Daniel, is to be regarded as the Wickliffe, William Bedell may, with equal if not greater propriety, be denominated the Tyndal of Ireland.

This interesting man was born at Black Notley, in Essex, in 1570. Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was chosen Fellow of his College at the age of twenty-three, and became B. D. in 1599. Removing to St Edmondsbury, in Suffolk, he preached there for a considerable time, and with great success. When Sir

of Ware uniformly observes it. The double s is found in the manuscripts of the day, and indeed it is printed in the title of his " Annals.”—London, 1658. It is therefore adopted throughout this volume.

*This Provost of Trinity College, afterwards Sir William Temple, who was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and had been secretary to Sir Philip Sidney when he fell at the battle of Zutphen, was grandfather to the ambassador and statesman of that name.