The second edition of this little tract was not known to be in existence until November, 1840, at which time it was purchased at a book sale, in Dublin, at a very considerable price, by a member of the Irish Archaeological Society, who has kindly permitted it to be reprinted.
It contains many interesting particulars, which are narrated in a manner calculated to impress the reader with perfect confidence in the fidelity of the Author's relation of what he ‘discovered and learned’ during his residence in the South of Ireland.
It may be assumed that it is of extreme rarity, as it is not mentioned in Harris's edition of Sir James Ware's History of the Writers of Ireland; neither does it appear in the valuable Catalogue of Manuscripts of Printed Books, relating to this country, compiled by the late General Vallancey, and presented to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy in February, 1839, by the Marquis of Normanby, at that time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; nor is it to be found in any of the public libraries in Dublin.
The earliest bibliographical notice of the first edition of Payne's tract is given by Ames, with the title as follows:— A Briefe description of Ireland: Made in this year. 1589. by Robert Payne. vnto xxv. of his partners, for whom he is vndertaker there. Truely published verbatim, according to his letters, by Nich. Gorsan, of Trowell, Nottinghamshire, one of the sayd partners, for that he would his countreymen should be partakers of the many good notes therein contaiyned. The Three Cranes, &c. 16mo. 1589.—Typog. Antiq. 4to. 1786. Vol. ii. p. 1127.
This description has been copied in the Bibliotheca Britannica by Watts, who has printed Corsan instead of Gorsan.
Lowndes in his Manual, 1834, gives a very short notice of it, without reference to any sales catalogue.
The circumstance of the first edition only, of this tract, being known to these authors, attaches much interest to the second and enlarged ‘impression’, a reprint of which is now presented to the members of the Irish Archaeological Society.
Of the author, Robert Payne or Paine, (p. 9), little more is known than that he appears to have been resident manager in Ireland for ‘xxv. of his partners’, for each of whom and himself, he provided four hundred acres of land in the county of Cork, (p. 7).
It may be presumed that he was selected for this office, on account of having previously directed his attention in England to agricultural pursuits, and the means of improving waste grounds, for he was probably the Robert Payn who published, in 1583, a work on this subject, whose title is given by Ames as follows:— Rob: Payn his Hill-mans Table, which sheweth how to make Ponds to continue water in high and drie grounde, of what nature soeuer. Also the Vale-mans Table, shewing how to draine moores, and all other wette grounds and to lay them drie for euer. Also how to measure any roufe ground, wood or water, that you cannot come into, &c. Prin. 1583. — Typog. Antiq., Vol. iii. p. 1662.
His letters are dated from a place called Poynes-end, (p. 9), the exact locality of which the Editor has not been able to discover.
The author appears to have fully appreciated the great advantages which would result from judiciously cultivating the soil of this fertile island; and by abstaining from national reflections, and divesting himself of all undue prejudices, he is prominently distinguished from many of the writers of his time, who too commonly
‘—judg'd the many by the rascal few.’
The origin of the ‘Undertakers’, to which class of persons Payne belonged, may now briefly be noticed.
By the Act of Attainder passed in 1586, the twenty-eighth year of Elizabeth, against Gerald Fitzgerald, the sixteenth and last Earl of Desmond, and his accomplices in rebellion,— Irish Statutes at large, Vol. i. p. 418,— property, amounting in all to 574,628 acres of land, was forfeited, and became vested in
Her Majesty was intent on peopling Munster with English settlers, and letters were written to every county in England to encourage younger brothers to become ‘undertakers’ in Ireland, a name applied to the settlers on account of their being obliged to undertake to observe certain conditions enjoyned by the Queen.
The plan devised for the plantation of Munster was, to divide the forfeited lands into seignories; and to require each undertaker for 12,000 acres, to plant eighty-six families upon his estate, viz.—
| His own family to have | 1600 acres | |
| One chief farmer | 400 acres | |
| Two good farmers | 300 acres | 600 acres |
| Two other farmers | 400 acres | 800 acres |
| Fourteen free-holders | each 300 acres | 4200 acres |
| Forty copy-holders | each 100 acres | 4000 acres |
| Twenty-six cottagers and labourers | 800 acres | |
| Total | 12,000 acres |
The inducements to settle in Ireland were very great. The Queen proposed to give estates in fee, at two-pence an acre, in the counties of Cork and Waterford, to be rent free till March, 1590, and to pay but half the rent for the next three years, thenceforth they were to hold in soccage; to have liberty for ten years to transport the growth of their lands, duty free, to any place in amity with England; to be free from cess for ever; to have liberty to import necessaries from England, free of custom, and no Irish were to be permitted to reside on the lands; with several other coventants, some of which her Majesty did not perform, particularly that of keeping troups for the security of the settlers in Munster.
On the 26th of April, 1587, a commission was issued to several persons of rank, authorizing them ‘to make books to the undertakers of Munster, which shall be a sufficient warrant to the Chancellor to pass patents accordingly.’ — Cox's History of Ireland, fol. 1689, Part I, p. 392-5.
Cox's account has been preferred to that given by Smith, in his History of Cork, whose statement respecting the plot for the plantation of Munster, bears
It is only necessary to add, that the original copy of this tract consists of sixteen small pages including the title page, on the back of which is printed page 2, beginning close to the upper margin without any short title, or other mark of commencement, except its large initial letter: there are thirty-five lines in each page except the last, which has only six, and they are numbered in the middle of the upper margin.
The Editor has not thought it expedient to adopt the peculiarity of commencing the text on the back of the title page in the present reprint, as the size of the page does not admit of an exact fac-simile; but the orthography and punctuation have been accurately copied. Italic capitals are sometimes used in the original, owing apparently to the printer having been deficient in Roman type, but this defect was not considered of sufficient importance to be retained. An index has been added by the Editor.