Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/121

101 CHAPTER XLII SHAN O NEIL. THE currency speculations of the Government of Edward the Sixth had not recommended to the Irish the morals of the Reformation; the plays of Bishop Bale had failed to convert them to its theology. On the accession of Mary the Protestant missionaries had fled from their duties, being unambitious of mar- tyrdom, and the English service which had been forced into the churches disappeared without sound or effort. The monasteries of the four shires, wherever the estates had remained with the Crown, were rebuilt and rein- habited ; beyond the border of the Pale the Irish chief- tains followed the example, wherever piety or super- stition were stronger than avarice. In the south the religious houses had been protected from spoliation by the Earl of Desmond, and the monks had been secretly supported ; with the change of government they were reinstated in their homes, and the country reverted to its natural condition. The English garrisons cessed and pillaged the farmers of Meath and Dublin ; the