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Later, he added a postscript that it had passed both Houses that day, that the Council [of Munster] should “order all things" (or, as he puts it in another letter, that all should be done by advice and consent of the Council) and that Sir Arthur Loftus was to be added to it, a decision very pleasing to Lord Broghill, who intended to go over very shortly (pp. 436-438). Percivall himself thought it "no excellent way to reconcile matters," and Lord Valentia expressed the same view more strongly. "The Lord of Inchiquin," he wrote, "is like to be well counselled by those who accused him of treason."

Inchiquin received the news quietly, but reiterated his firm resolution to resign his post. As regards the fresh accusations now made against him of intriguing with the Eleven Members he declared that no man had less knowledge of their designs than himself, and that although he had angered some who called themselves Independents by his opposition to their schemes, yet he knew no reason why Sir Thomas Fairfax and his army should seek his ruin (pp. 448, 452). This might be literally true, but his correspondence with Sir Philip Percivall shows that he was hand and glove with the Presbyterian party, and had encouraged his officers to take the same side.

It may be mentioned in passing that Percivall seems to have had hopes at this time (hopes shared by many others, vide Carte's Ormond ii. 10), that Ormond might be sent back to Ireland. "Many of us hope that 111 will go," he wrote (p. 436). By 111 he always meant Lord Lieutenant, using the title sometimes for Ormond, sometimes for Lisle. And he certainly did not wish Lisle to return. (See also p. 437.)

In August 1647, the officers of the Munster army, led by Col. Stirling, drew up a Remonstrance to Parliament, protesting against the proceedings of Fairfax's army, claiming their arrears, and objecting to the removal of Inchiquin from the command. As, at this time, news had arrived of the "composing of the differences" in England, Inchiquin persuaded them to "stay" their Remonstrance, and promised to write to the Lord General and the Speaker on their behalf. His letters will be found on pp. 456, 458. Stirling, however, had sent copies of the

* There is no notice of this in the Journals, but, considering the state of confusion in the Houses on that day, this is not much to be wondered at.

Remonstrance to Leslie and Munro, and to Sir Patrick Wemys at Dublin, together with violent letters from himself, in which he called Fairfax "that fox," and declared that the Munster army was resolved to live and die for King, Parliament and Covenant, "against all sectaries or new-modelled parliament of such." The packet was intercepted and carried to London, where letters and Remonstrance were read in Parliament on September 22. They were very "ill-taken," and Inchiquin was promptly ordered to send over Col. Stirling and a Capt. Marshall, who had acted with him; "wherein," Percivall and Jephson assured Inchiquin, "if there shall be any failure on your Lordship's part, or that the army should stand on terms, we do conceive it will be understood a declaring of war against the Parliament." The fact that he had "stayed" the Remonstrance was noted in his favour, but his friends urged him to prove his good faith by a ready obedience to Parliament's commands, and also to leave off capitulating with the rebels and pursue them with fire and sword, the only way to end the war (pp. 466-467).

To these admonitions, Inchiquin replied that he dared not "discountenance" his officers, as it would certainly drive them into desperate courses, but that, if promised indemnity for what they had done, they would observe orders as long as they were held fit for employment, and, if accounted unfit, would ask only for their arrears and a free discharge. As for himself, he was told that the Independents would never be satisfied except by his death. "God send me well off from this employment," he concluded, "and let me be hanged in the next that I take upon me in a public trust, for I see it is impossible to do anything but envy will find a way to blast it" (p. 470).

This letter is written in a curiously disheartened mood, considering that Inchiquin had, within the last two or three weeks, taken Cahir Castle and stormed Cashel. He was a brave soldier, and when he fought, he fought to win, but possibly he was not very proud of his exploits against his countrymen. Col. Pigott wrote with fierce jubilation of the rumoured slaughter of a hundred (some even said three hundred) priests at Cashel. "Would I were sure of it," he continues, "but sure I am, if they

* See Lords' Journals ix. 445, where, however, the Remonstrance is printed with many mistakes, some of which impair the sense. Cf. corrections on p. 456 below.

come in Inchiquin's way, he'll cry take them, Derrick,' and again, "this rule is observed, that whatever priests, friars and Jesuits escape the sword, the gallows claims and has them" (pp. 468, 473). We may perhaps believe that Inchiquin was not quite so black as his friend painted him. He certainly offered quarter with "bag and baggage" to all at Cashel, if they would surrender (p. 471), and Carte distinctly states that as soon as he reached the church he stopped the slaughter.

It has been seen that his friends in England urged him on to the use of fire and sword (a needless point to urge, one would think, if he deserved his title of "Murrough of the burnings "), and in his own letters there is no note of savagery, but rather a tone of regret as he tells what good terms he might have had from the Irish, if he had been allowed to treat with them. There were persistent rumours at this time that he was in secret correspondence with Lord Muskery, and Percivall alluded to the report in one of his letters (p. 430). A detailed description of the storming of the church of Cashel will be found on p. 471.

On November 3, Inchiquin once more marched against the Irish, “having no choice but to starve or fight," and staking all Munster upon one throw, for the loss of the battle would have meant the loss of the province. On the 13th, the two armies met at Knocknenoss, and for two hours' space there was as hot an engagement" as ever was fought in Ireland." The enemy were said to have lost four thousand men, and although only about eighty of the English were killed, they had many wounded. Lord Inchiquin "carried himself so gallantly" as to win general applause, and his officers hoped that the Parliament would at last believe in the fidelity of the Munster forces (p. 483).

This was the last news sent to Sir Philip Percivall from Munster, and when it was written, he already lay dead. The next letter from Inchiquin is to Lady Percivall, lamenting the death of his dear friend, and thus, with affectionate offers of help to that friend's widow and children, Lord Inchiquin drops out of the story. There are many notices of his eldest son,

* See Carte's Ormonde, ii, 7.

"little Will," who, with Col. Jephson's son Jack, had been under Percivall's charge in England, and who, in 1647, was about nine years old; notices of his school work, his clothes, his visits to the Bath, the ill-behaviour of his "servant" or tutor, and (as we have seen) his suggested employment as colonel of a regiment to go to France. The boy had a chequered after history, was the subject of many quarrels between his father and mother when Lord Inchiquin joined the Church of Rome, was captured by the Moors and long detained by them as a hostage, became governor of Tangier and succeeded his father as Earl of Inchiquin. He married the daughter of Lord Broghill, the old antagonists, Broghill and Inchiquin, having, in their later years, become comrades and firm friends.

At the time of Sir Philip Percivall's death, his eldest son, John, was just eighteen years of age. When his father settled in London, in 1644, "Jack" was sent to Westminster school, and thence to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he applied himself diligently to his studies. Letters from college friends who became of some note in the academic world will be found on pp. 491, 492. From these we learn that in January 1649-50, John Percivall had left Cambridge and entered himself at Lincoln's Inn. During his minority, his estates were managed by his uncles, Sir William Usher and Sir Paul Davys. Their task was made difficult by want of ready money, and they were unable to pay off Sir Philip's debts, although if all the money due to him had been paid in, it would have amounted to a large fortune (p. 501 et seq.).

On coming of age in September 1651, John Percivall took his affairs into his own hands, and managed them with prudence and care. He refused to marry, on the ground that in the present state of his finances, marriage would only bring down "the black fiends of ruin and misery" not only on him but on the lady of his choice, while he preferred rather to "hug his poverty " than (for the sake of money) to become a slave to one whom he did not love. His best hope for the future lay in the kindly feelings shown towards him by the Cromwell family. The Lord General promised him letters to Lord Deputy Ireton when he went over to look after his estates (p. 501), and there are many allusions in the

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correspondence to Henry Cromwell's friendship and help. In November 1649, when the Munster garrisons revolted to Cromwell, Capt. Hodder, the Percivalls' steward, was "a chief instrument" in the business at Cork (p. 491), and by request of the inhabitants was appointed colonel of the forces in the town. He employed all his influence to protect Percivall's possessions, but, for the time, there was little to be done. The charges for Cromwell's army were so great that it was hard work to persuade the tenants to cultivate the land at all; many forsook the country, leaving their grounds waste, and Hodder himself had land which he dared not own, as the charges would be more than he could make of it. He had only preserved the castles by letting Irishmen live in them, else they had been burned long since, and now he feared they would go, as the Lord Lieutenant was "minded to destroy all castles." The ravages of the plague added to the poor tenants' distress, but when it was possible they were persuaded to stay on the land and plough it, to give a chance of making some profit hereafter (p. 496). In 1651, Percivall's castle of Bregoge was burnt, and Liscarrol betrayed and partially destroyed (p. 500). In this same year, the negotiations for a new charter for Cork were being carried on by Val. Savage. He met with many difficulties and delays, but at length brought the matter to a good issue.

In September 1652, John Percivall went to Ireland, travelling in the train of Lord General Fleetwood. At this time, although his Irish possessions amounted to the immense total of seventyeight and a half knights' fees, he had never received a penny of income from them, and in the year 1651-2, the charges were

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It should, however, be noted that the authors of the House of Yvery very much exaggerate the importance of Percivall's position in regard to the Cromwells, and often evolve a long story from the most casual allusion. Thus, the authority given for the statements on p. 342 of Vol. II. in relation to Fleetwood is merely the latter's letter (not to " the government of England" but to Col. Phayre), calendared on p. 523 of this Report; and the assertion that Oliver wished Percivall to be a member of his House of Lords rests on no better foundation than the letter calendared on pp. 548-9, a letter written three years before that House was erected. There are mistakes of the same sort in relation to Sir Philip Percivall, as for instance in the account of Pierpoint's grief after his death. The reference given is to a letter from Percivall himself to Coote, the President of Connaught (see p. 435 below), which does not in the least bear the meaning imputed to it. The references in the House of Yvery are usually to the Entry Book copies of the letters, but every letter there quoted is calendared in this Report, and every allusion to the Cromwells or other important personages has been noticed, and may be found by reference to the Index.

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