chiefly to gambling-houses. On Cork Hill was the
cock-pit royal, where gentlemen and ruffians mingled together to
witness and wager on the sport. Cork Hill was not a pleasant place at
night. Pedestrians were often insulted and roughly treated by the
chairmen hanging about Lucas's and the "Eagle" Tavern. Even the
waiters of these establishments sometimes amused themselves by pouring
pailfuls of foul water upon the aggrieved passer-by. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find that an Irish edition of the Hell-fire
Club was set up at the "Eagle" in 1735. The roughness of the time
found its way into {83} the theatre in Smock Lane, which was the scene
of frequent political riots. Dublin had its Pasquin or Marforio in an
oaken image, known as the "Wooden Man," which had stood on the southern
side of Essex Street, not far from Eustace Street, since the end of the
seventeenth century.

Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Belfast were the only considerable towns
in Ireland after the Irish capital. Not many years had passed since
Cork was besieged by Marlborough himself, and taken from King James.
The Duke of Grafton, one of the sons of Charles the Second, was killed
then in a little street or lane, which still commemorates the fact by
its name. The same year that saw Marlborough besieging Cork saw
Limerick invested by the forces of King William, under William's own
command. The Irish general, Sarsfield, held out so gallantly that
William had to give up the attempt, and it was not until the following
year, and after the cause of James had gone down everywhere else, that
Sarsfield consented to accept the terms, most honorable to him, of the
famous Treaty of Limerick. There was but little feeling in Ireland in
favor of the Chevalier at the time of Queen Anne's death. Any sympathy
with the Stuart cause that still lingered was sentimental merely, and
even as such hardly existed among the great mass of the people. To
these, indeed, the change of masters could matter but little; they had
had enough of the Stuarts, and the conduct of James the Second during
his Irish campaign had made his name and his memory despised. Rightly
or wrongly he was charged with cowardice--he who in his early days had
heard his bravery in action praised by the great Turenne--and the
charge was fatal to him in the minds of the Irish people. The penal
laws of Anne's days were not excused because of any strong Jacobite
sympathies or active Jacobite sc