Council to accept of such addition of names as shall from time to time be brought unto him.

G. Kildare, Mountgomery H. Blaney, Mac William Ridgeway, Ja. Mountgomery, Cha. Coote, Fr. Hamilton, Ar. Forbes, Robt. Hanway, Fr. Slingsby, Wm. Cooly, Robt. Stewart, Ar. Blundell, Jo. Dunbarr, Edw. Povey, Tho. Meredith, Ar. Loftus, Wm. Usher, G. Moncke, Fr. Willoughby, Ro. Sterling, Jo. Morris, Hen. Jones, Jo. Piggott, Rob. Bayly, Fr. Moore, Edw. Philpott, Wm. Parsons, Ar. Culme, Eras. Burrowes, Jo. Edgeworth, Wm. Dodwell, Jo. Numan, Wm. Plunkett, Jo. Farrar, Jo. Jo. Cliff, Pe. Wybrants, Theo. Shout, Bryan Stapleton, David Dunbar, Tho. Hill, Geo. Lander, Hen. Tillier, Hugh Cockan, Wm. Gibbs, Sam. Mountgomery, Ja. Colvell, Wm. Johnson, Geo. Mountgomery, Robt. Whitfield, Jo. Campbell, Ant. Mountgomery, Jo. Kivan, Jos. Wheeler, Arch. Hamilton, Wm. White, Wm. Piggott, Tho. Tallis, Rog. Atkinson, Nic. Sympson, Oliver Wheeler, Wm. Alfrey, Adam Meredith, Tho. Coote, Edw. Pigott, Jo. Darwell, Geo. Booth, Wm. Knight, Ro. Sanderson, Jo. Sterling, Anth. Dopping, Radcliff Dukenfield, Wm. Lucas, Tho. Leigh, Daniel Forster, Robt. Persivall, Wm. Palmes, Jo. Crafford, Stephen Allen, Wm. Awbry, Jo. Doyle, Edm. Spring, Jo. Johnson, Tho. Aylmer, Jo. Hoey, Robt. Kenedy, Cooly Phillips, Rob. Cole, Tho. White, Paule Canning, Dudley Cooly, Nic. Pinnar, Sam: Mullineaux, Jo. Kennedy, Hen. Kenney, Wm. Hamilton, H. Bellingham, Wm. Humphry, Hugh Gun, Jo. Light, Andr. Brereton, Jo. Clerke, Roger Hellan, Jo. Shering, Nat. Higginson, Jo. Walter, Jonath. Holte, Edm. Fisher, Tho. Lawton, Tho. Manly, Jos. Holte, Ja. Cambledge, Andr. Crerabell, Geo. Osbaldston, Jo. Roe, Fr. Barber.

MSS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE EARLY LIFE

OF JAMES, 1ST DUKE OF ORMOND."

LIST OF DOCUMENTS CONTAINED IN MS. VOLUME LABELLED "MSS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE EARLY LIFE OF JAMES, 1ST DUKE OF ORMOND."

*1. Passages in early life of James, 1st Duke.

2. Articles of agreement for the marriage of James Viscount Thurles and Lady Elizabeth Preston, dated August 26, 1629.

3. Articles of agreement for the same match, dated April 2, 1621.

94. Concerning the question through whose default the intended marriage between the Viscount Thurles and the Earl of Desmond's daughter is not proceeded in and effected.

5. Monies paid of the debt of £15,000 due to my lord of Holland [showing £8,200 thereof to have been paid down to Dec. 8th, 1632].

6. A note of the several acquittances of the monies paid by my lord in England out of my lord of Holland's monies due by my lord of Ormond.

7. A bill of exchange of Mr. Henshaw and Mr. Miller, bearing date the 7th of July, 1630, of £300 ster. due to Mr. George Canning or his assignees.

8. Some domestic information touching the life of James Duke of Ormond, etc. [a transcript of a part of Sir Robert Southwell's notes in a modern hand, inserted in the volume as an inset].

9. Letter from Robert Wallis to Lady Elizabeth Preston, dated 29th June, 1629.

10. A series of letters and attestations certifying to the loyal demeanour of Elizabeth, Duchess of Ormond during the Rebellion of 1641, dated December, 1652, and January, 165%.

*

Only the documents thus marked in the subjoined list are printed in this volume.

11. Order of the Parliament and letter addressed in its behalf by Speaker Lenthall to the Commissioners of Parliament in Ireland relative to the estates of Elizabeth, Duchess of Ormond, dated 11 of Feb., 1552, with letter of the said Commissioners to the Commissioners of Revenue at Kilkenny, dated April 1, 1653.

12. Rental of part of the Duke's lands in Kilkenny for 1638.

13. A true and perfect survey of certain lands in the County of Kilkenny belonging to the Countess of Ormond exactly taken according 16 foot to the perch by orders of the Commissioners of the Commonwealth for the affairs of Ireland, Ann., 1653.

14. An elegy on Her Grace Elizabeth Duchess of Ormond, who died July the 21st, 1684. By E. A. M. A., of Trin. Coll., Dubl. Printed by Tho. Newcomb, 1684. [8 p. folio, Printed. Probably by Edward Armaker, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland educated at Kilkenny, and the author of several works in prose and verse.]

15. Letter from Sir Cyprian Horsfall to [Richard Preston] the Earl of Desmond, dated May 8, 1627. The writer appears to have acted as agent in Kilkenny for the Countess of Desmond's estates. The letter is an account of his stewardship in reply apparently to accusations brought against him, and defends Mr. Patrick Wemys (Desmond's nephew) from similar aspersions.

16. Letter from Robert Wallis to Lady Elizabeth Preston, dated July 6, 1629 [concerning the management of her estates in Ireland].

17. Letter from Robert Wallis to the Lady Elizabeth,* Viscountess Thurles, dated April 12, 1630, relative to his tenure of lands at Durrow.

18. A copy of the letter of Oliver Wheeler forming part of the series in No. 10 above.

I.

SOME PASSAGES IN THE EARLY LIFE OF JAMES,

FIRST DUKE OF ORMOND.

Thomas (Duogh or Duff) Earl of Ormond, having been blind several years before his death, on the last Christmas he kept invited most of his nearest relations to solemnise the festival with him; and amongst the rest came Sir Walter Butler, his third brother, who then lived at Kilcash, his son, and his grandson, the late Duke of Ormond, who was not then above four years old. The table being full, and no room for the younger James Butler to sit at it, he, being then a sprightly boy, entertained himself with whipping his gig in the dining-room, just behind the Earl of Ormond's chair; who, hearing the noise, asked his servant that attended him who it was that made the noise behind

Lady Elizabeth Preston was married to James, Viscount Thurles, afterwards 1st Duke of Ormond, in Dec. 1629.

him. His servant replied it was young Jemmy Butler a-whipping his gig. The Earl then asking again what Jemmy Butler it was, the servant answered it was Jemmy Butler of Kilcash, Sir Walter Butler's grandson. The Earl then bid him bring Jemmy to him; and placing him between his knees stroked his head, and fetching a deep sigh said "My family shall be much oppressed and brought very low; but by this boy it shall be restored again, and in his time be in greater splendour than ever it has been." Upon which prophetical expression by the Earl, the Lord Viscount Tullogh, who then sat near him and was his nephew and son-in-law, having married his only daughter (who was mother to the late Duchess of Ormond) and was to be his successor to the earldom, being a very proud and conceited man, he in great indignation put back his chair and rose up and flung from the table, and in doing so making a great noise, the Earl asked his servant who made the noise. To which he replied that it was my lord Tullogh, who in discontent had left the table upon the discourse his lord had made of Jemmy Butler. The Earl said "He is a flower that will soon fade; and what I have said I am confident will prove true." And within a short space after the lord Tullogh died without issue and before the Earl of Ormond; and his widow, soon after his father the Earl of Ormond's death, married [Richard] Preston, Lord Dingwall, whom King James the First, recommending by his letter to the lady's favour, and in order to it, created him then Earl of Desmond. Soon after this marriage there happened a very high contest in law between Walter, then Earl of Ormond, and the said Earl of Desmond; who having married the only child and heir general of Thomas Duff, late Earl of Ormond, pretended in her right to the greatest part of that ancient and noble estate. Walter, Earl of Ormond, soon after the commencement of this suit went into England to pay his duty to King James, by whom he was very graciously received, having served the king very honourably and bravely in the wars in Ireland during Queen Elizabeth's reign, and in Tyrone's rebellion which happened soon after King James's accession to the Crown of England. But the Duke of Buckingham looking with an envious eye on the splendour and greatness of that ancient and noble house of Ormond, and more particularly for their Palatinate of Tipperary, and observing the Earl to be an easy man, told King James that he had now an opportunity to make his kingdom of Ireland secure and quiet, and free from those frequent rebellions which had disturbed the reigns of his predecessors, and was occasioned by the ancient and great families of that kingdom, who had large territories of land, and numerous relations and dependencies, instancing in the Earls of Desmond, Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and adding that His Majesty had then an opportunity of so depressing the House of Ormond (which might prove as dangerous as any of the other three to the Government) that it should never hereafter be in a condition of raising disturbance in that kingdom. The King upon their asking him the means of doing it, he told his Majesty that if he could prevail with the Earls of Ormond and

Desmond to refer to himself the controversy which was now between the said Earls, concerning the estate, the matter might be so continued by His Majesty's arbitration as not only to weaken the present power of the House of Ormond in Ireland, but also to divide the dependencies of the family as well as the estate; and by that means to secure the better interest of the family to a perpetual dependance on the Crown. King James, approving of the policy, very easily procured the reference to be made to him; for the Earl of Desmond being a favourite to the Duke of Buckingham, in whose influence upon King James he knew himself secure, easily consented to what he was satisfied would be to his greatest advantage. And the Earl of Ormond being of a generous and noble nature, and as little mistrusting the king's justice as he did the right of his title to the estate, very proudly and without the least limitation concurred in the reference, and signed a bond of £20,000 to stand to and abide by [the] king's award. Thereupon His Majesty heard the cause solemnly argued by counsel on both sides, and by the Duke of Buckingham's persuasions awarded the Castle of Kilkenny, the house of Dunmore and the better half of the estate to the Countess of Desmond and her heirs. By which the Earl of Ormond finding an inevitable ruin to himself and family, chose rather to sacrifice himself by running the risk of the penalty of his bond, tho' he was convinced it would be prosecuted against him with all severity, than he would be the instrument of ruining himself and his family by submitting to so destructive an award; and accordingly he was committed to the Fleet, where some years after he died. And while he was there under confinement was under such hardships that he had starved for want of meat had he not been relieved by a charitable pension of five shillings per diem allowed him by an old servant who, in gratitude for his lordship's former bounty to him, straitened himself to supply his noble benefactor.

Upon the committal of the Earl of Ormond, the Earl of Desmond was despatched away into Ireland with His Majesty's award and effectual orders to put him into quiet possession of that part of the estate which was granted to his lady by it, and much about the same time the Lord Viscount Thurles, eldest son to the Earl of Ormond and father to the late Duke of Ormond returned also into Ireland to prosecute his suit-at-law, and defend his father's and his own right as well as he could. When the Earl of Desmond had practically settled himself in the possession of the lands decreed him, and had got together the rich furniture of his father-in-law Thomas Duff, late Earl of Ormond, together with his plate (which solely in those times. was valued at £12,000) he repaired to Dublin, carrying his treasure and furniture there with him, in order to transport them and himself to his lady in England. And about the same time, the lord Thurles repaired also to Dublin, with intention to go into England and render his father an account of the miserable and deplorable circumstances of his affairs. Thus these two lords happened to embark the same day in the same port of