[1] Hugh Reilly was born in County Cavan, Ireland about 1630 and studied at the Irish Bar where he qualified as a barrister about 1650.
In the 1689 Irish Jacobite Government he was appointed as Clerk of the Privy Council (Hugh Riley) on 5 March 1689.
2, p. 259), states- "King James was so offended at Reilly's free treatment of him, that he took away his small salary, and turned him out of his titular office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland; the loss of which lay so heavy upon his spirits that he died soon after, about the year 1694.
It is said King James restored him to his pension a short time before his death and I have been assured that he shewed his book to King James before he put it under the press, who had the perusal of it for three weeks, and upon returning it, told the author there was too much truth in it; but did not forbid him to make it public—yet, when it appeared abroad, he treated him as before related."
The form, paper, and type of the book show that it was bought by the populace in Ireland; its popularity was due to no special merit, but to the fact that it was long almost the only printed argument in favour of Irish Roman Catholics.