After Limerick
severity; but the prosecution of the laws was severe enough to bring to the forefront the worst qualities of the Irish character, and they made the lives of the Irish people miserable in the extreme.
Fortunately, after the first quarter of the eighteenth century persecution became less intense. The whole Catholic population offered a passive resistance, and the priests defied the law with extraordinary courage. Many immigrated to Ireland in spite of the risk they ran of perpetual imprisonment. As priest-hunting became slightly less energetic, a few Mass houses were built, but Mass was generally celebrated in a barn, or still more frequently in the open air under some tree. A great Catholic organization in fact existed in defiance of the law. After 1744 the condition of the Catholic Church slowly improved, for the Viceroy, Chesterfield, discouraged all direct attempts to interfere with its worship. The consequence was that Ireland remained absolutely quiet when England and Scotland were convulsed with civil war, and this fact, combined with the downfall of the Stuart cause at Culloden and the growth of a spirit of toleration among the Irish Protestants, led very slowly to religious liberty. The Church had been steadily advancing through persecution,
330
