rare occasions, even in this remote and unknown cavern. At that period it was the last wild recess left them which had not been, one after another, discovered, and their anxiety to preserve the secret of its existence was great in proportion to the danger which its discovery would have brought upon them. There were present on this occasion none but the leaders of the wild and savage banditti that were then dispersed over all parts of the kingdom, for to none else would the secret of their present place of meeting be communicated. Neither were the observation of the three principles we have alluded to made anything like a matter of conscience by a great number of the subordinate robbers, who frequently violated every one of them,-or in other words, committed murder, fell into drunken excesses, and threatened females with outrage and cruelty. The last, however,

was certainly the rarest of their crimes.

Within the range of the wide district over which the sway of the Great Rapparee of whom we write, prevailed, there was scarcely a single exception ever known— we believe only one-against the faithful adherence to the very letter as well as the spirit of these three fundamental regulations that he laid down for their conduct. This was owing, as we have every reason to believe, to the fact that their leader was a gentleman of a high and antient Irish family, one of whose ancestors was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for important services rendered to her cause. And we may add here, that another of the descendants of his family, when George the Fourth visited this country, claimed his right of hereditary Standard-bearer for Ireland, north of the Boyne, and had his claim admitted by my late friend, Ulster King at Arms, Sir William Betham.

The appearance of the cavern in which they were assembled, was very simple, and had nothing extraordinary about it, except its large and ample space. Not a stalactite depended from the roof; but as a compensation for its want of natural ornaments, it was as dry as powder. If nature left it naked, however, art had supplied the deficiency. It was, in fact, not only a place of rendezvous, but a storehouse of arms, ammunition, and such a variety of different costumes as would puzzle and confound a modern pawnbroker. Every garb of the day was there, hanging from pegs driven into the sides of the cavern, from that of the tattered beggar to the rich and fashionable apparel of the wealthy gentleman, and from that of the common soldier to the exact uniform of his superior officers. The last were principally the property of their celebrated leader, who assumed them all on several occasions during the extraordinary and almost incredible variety of his exploits. Here also was their magazine, which consisted of a great variety of firearms, all carefully oiled and wrapped in flannel, so as to prevent them from becoming useless or dangerous by damp or rust, together with a considerable portion of gunpowder preserved with equal care. Such large sums of money too, and all the valuable plate which they had plundered from the gentry of the country, were deposited here for security, until the plate at least could be melted down, and safely disposed of; and

for this purpose they had crucibles, and all the other necessary apparatus. The particular place, however, in which the treasure was deposited, being considered by their chief a temptation probably too strong for the honesty of some of them, was a secret known only to himself and Shane Biernah, his confidant, and the next in command.

Having thus described the place of their annual and other extraordinary meetings, we will now recite the names and peculiar pursuits of those who were there assembled, for the purpose, as we have said, of debating upon the course of their proceedings during the next campaign; but it is to be remembered that their chief, together with three others: to wit, Shane Biernah, James Butler, and Strong John McPherson, were then absent, being engaged in the execution of a robbery. Neither is it to be forgotten that the names we are about to mention, as well as those we have given, are anthentic and historical. The first in importance and in fame, at that period at least, although seldom mentioned now, was Captain Power, so called, not from any military title he had ever received, but in consequence of his position as the head and commander of the Munster robbers, or Rapparees. He was born at Kilvallen, in the county of Cork, and was the son of a gentleman who possessed a good freehold estate at that place. He had had a quarrel with his brother, after which he got into a lawsuit, which he lost. A writ of contempt of court having been issued against him, he spurned and defied its authority, and, as a matter of course, was outlawed. After some time he returned home,―and rather than be a burthen to his relations, took to the highway, and became the most celebrated robber that Munster ever produced. Like the Great Rapparee who is the hero of this narrative, he never shed blood, and was remarkable for his kindness and charity to the poor. After he had been on the highway for some time, he was offered a pardon through the intercession of his friends; but feeling an irresistible impulse for a life of adventure, he refused the mercy that was extended to him, and preferred the wild and excitable life of a bandit. He had come down from Munster to visit and see the great northern robber, from motives of curiosity and admiration. Their actual meeting, whilst each was ignorant of the person of the other, is so full of interest and romance, that we may probably give it on some future occasion. He remained with his northern brother for about twelve months, and is now present more as his friend than as one of his gang. First then, on this occasion, we will mention him as

Captain Power, a Gentleman Rapparee. Paul Liddy, a Gentleman Rapparee. William Peters, alias Delany.

Charles Dempsey, alias Cahir na Cappul, the renowned Horse-stealer, introduced into his novel of "the Boyne Water" by John Banim. Manus M'O'Neil, the Gold-finder, introduced into "Suil Duy" by Gerald Griffin.

BY

THE O'DONNELLS IN EXILE.

JOHN O'DONOVAN, LL.D., M. R. I. A.
PART THIRD.

WE have stated in the last article on this family, (p. 49, supra) that, besides the descendants of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, prince of Tirconnell, and of his rival, Con, there existed a junior branch, which became extinct in the year 1735, in the person of Brigadier Daniel O'Donnell, of the French service; and we deem it necessary to place next before the reader all that is known of the history of this junior branch-though of minor importance-in order that as the first volume of our magazine is intended to contain a complete memoir of all the branches of the O'Donnells who distinguished themselves in foreign service, the celebrated reliquary of the family called the Cathach or Caah, may be described in connection with this branch, by whom it was carried away and preserved.

Manus O'Donnell, prince of Tirconnell, who died in 1563, had a younger brother, Hugh Oge, who was an active warrior as early as the year 1567, when he fought in the battle of Ardingarry, near the river Swilly, against Shane O'Neill, commonly called "the proud or ambitious ;" and we find him in the year 1600-that is, thirty-three years afterwards-in active service in the field against the English, when he unhorsed Sir Henry Docwra, and wounded him severely with his spear, as Docwra himself informs us in his Narration of his Services: "At the first encounter," he writes, "I was stricken with a horseman's staffe in the forehead, insomuch as I fell for dead, and was a good while deprived of my senses, &c. I kept my bed of this wound for the space of a fortnight, and my chamber a weeke after."

This Hugh, who is described in the Irish Life of Red Hugh O'Donnell as "the ACHILLES of the Irish race," must have been over sixty years of age when he had this rencontre with Docwra; but though he must have performed prodigies of valour during his long life, very few details of his heroic exploits have been recorded, or at least preserved to us, by the hereditary historiographers of his race. According to the Irish genealogists, he had a son, Caffar, who had a son, Turlough or Terence, the father of Brigadier Daniel O'Donnell, who distinguished himself in the service of France.

This Daniel was an O'Donnell by the mother's side also, and inherited the military gallantry, prowess, and talent of the family. For the following brief account of his career, the writer is indebted to John Cornelius O'Callaghan, Esquire, who has collected and digested more historical materials, and has thrown more light on the military history of Ireland, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, than any writer now living.

On the commencement of the revolutionary disturbances in Ireland, created by the successful landing and progress of the Prince of Orange in England against King James II., this descendant of the Achilles of the Irish race, Daniel O'Donnell,-was appointed captain

of a company for the service of James II., December 7th, 1688; and in 1689, was authorised to act as a colonel. After the treaty of Limerick, he passed into France, and appears to have suffered by the new arrangements of the Irish troops there, under which he only obtained the post of captain in the Regiment of the Marine, which he did by commission dated February 4th, 1692. He served as captain on the coasts of Normandy, with the Irish and French forces designed for the invasion of England, and restoration of King James, that year. He served with the army of Germany from the year 1693 to 1695; and with the army of the Meuse till 1697, or the peace of Riswick. On the remodelling of his regiment into that of Albemarle, in 1698, he was retained as captain, by commission of April 27th, that year. In the next war he served with the army of Germany, in 1701, and from 1702 to 1706, in the army of Italy; during which five campaigns, he was at the battle of Luzzara, the reduction of Borgoforte, of Nago, of Arco, of Vercelli, of Ivrea, of Verua, of Chivasso, at the battle of Cassano, and the siege and battle of Torino or Turin. He was lieutenant-colonel of his regiment at the last-mentioned siege and battle, having attained that rank the preceding year, on the 20th of October. Transferred to the army of Flanders in 1707, he fought at the battle of Oudenarde, in July, 1708, and was appointed successor to Nicholas Fitzgerald, as colonel, by commission of August 7th following. He commanded the regiment, as that of O'Donnell, in Flanders, from 1708 to 1712, and was with it at the battle of Malplaquet, the attack of Arleux, the affair of Denain, and the sieges of Douay, Quesnoy, and Bouchain. Removed to the army of Germany, under the Marshal de Villars, in 1713, he was at the reduction of Landau and Friburgh, and the forcing of the retrenchments of General Vaubonne, which led to the peace between France and Austria, at Rastadt, in March, 1714. The regiment of O'Donnell was reformed eleven months afterwards, by order of February 6th, 1715: half of it being incorporated with the regiment of Lieutenant-general Count Andrew Lee, and the other half with the regiment of Major-general Murrough O'Brien. To the latter corps O'Donnell was then attached as a reformed colonel. He was made a brigadier by brevet, February 1st, 1719, and finally retired to St. Germain-en-Laye, where he died, without issue, in his seventieth year, July 7th, 1735.

This Daniel O'Donnell, the last male representative of the Irish Achilles, was certainly not the chief or senior of his family, and yet he obtained possession of the celebrated reliquary, the Cathach (or Caah) of St. Columbkille, and carried it with him into France. The Cathach should by right have belonged to the chief of the O'Donnells, and is now the property of Sir Richard O'Donnell, of Newport, whose family are now the only known descendants of Sir Niall Garve O'Donnell, Baron of Lifford, the last O'Donnell who was inaugurated at Kilmacrennan, and who died in the Tower of London, in 1626.

This reliquary, which is described by the late Ulster King-at-arms, Sir William Betham, in his Antiquarian