"Without the Pale."

The term "pale," in history, is used to denote a circumscribed limit of authority. It dates back, for its origin, to the time of John of England, who divided that portion of the kingdom of Ireland then nominally subject to England into twelve counties. This entire district, occupied by English planters, was afterwards, from them, called the Pale; within the Pale English rule was acknowledged and obeyed, while all beyond was held by a very imperfect tenure. The extent of the Pale differed at different times. In the great Irish rebellion of 1641, when an attempt was made by the Irish to kill all the English Protestants on the island--the English of the Pale, who were all Romanists, pretended to know nothing of the insurrection, and to detest the barbarity with which it was accompanied. By such protestations and declarations they were supplied with arms, which they promised to use in defense of the government, but in a little time they chose Lord Gormanstone their leader, and, joining the old Irish, soon rivaled them in every act of violence toward the English Protestants. The number of those who perished by every species of cruelty at this time is variously estimated at from 40,000 to 200,000. The saving of Dublin alone preserved in Ireland the remains of the English name.