THO^IAS C. AMORY. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/oldcountessofdesOOsain THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND: (CONCLUDED), WHEN WAS SHE MARRIED? NUMISMATIC CRUMBS. BY RICHARD SAINTHILL, OF TOPSHAM, DEVON. DUBLIN : |3rinteb for pribrttc distribution onljr, AT T II E U N I V E R S T T Y P R E S S, RY M. II. aiLL. 1803. BOSTON COLLKGK LIUKAUY CllKSTNUT HILL, MASS. TO MISS SAUNDEES FOESTEE, THIS CONCLUSION OF AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY RICHAED SAIJ^THILL. CoKK, June 8, ISOo. 3455 PREFACE. ♦ The discovery by the Earl of Kildare of a lease of lands granted by his ancestor, Gerald Fitz Thomas, dated the 9th of June, 1505, to Gilis Ny Cormyk, first wife to Sir Thomas of Desmond, the husband of Kathrin Fitz-Gerald, the Old Comitess of Desmond, being assmned to prove that Sir Walter Ealegh's statement, that the old Countess was married in the reign of Edward IV., who died 9th April, 1483, is erroneous ; and as the marriage had issue, one daughter, and this daughter, it is sug- gested, may have been born, perhaps, twenty years after 1505, the idea that the Countess Kathrin had any claim to be considered Old in any extraordinary manner was a delusion ; though shared by Sir Walter Ealegh, who was personally acquainted with her, down to 1589 ; by, we may presume, the Youghal lawyers, who drew the leases , for Sir AYalter Kalegh of CoulHe Clofina, 20th July, 1588, and Coullye Ffoina, the 1st February, 1589, in both of which she is described as " y^ Lady Cattelyn oulde Countess Dowager of Desmond Widdowe" (having the first claim on these lands, part of her jointure) ; and the residents at and about Youghal, who, in 1613, she having died 1604, informed Fynes Moryson that she was about 140 years old at the time of her death. Considering that this was a body of evidence so independent and concurring as not easily to be shaken, the question became, how was it consistent with the fact of Sir Thomas of Desmond's first wife, Gilis Ny Cormyk's, being alive, and apparently, by ( 6 ) taking a lease of lands for five years, witli no immediate inten- tion of dying, in 1505 ? In the ensiling pages I submit to tlie reader the grounds on which I come to the conclusion that Sir Walter Ealegh's state- ment of the Countess beino- married in the reimi of Edward IV. maintains its ground, and that she was at least 140 years old when she died, in 1604, Since the publication of my former "Inquiry," I have ob- tained much additional infomiation, illustrative and confirmative of what I there brought forward ; and which I now print as pre- face to the present, though it would be more truly designated as postscript to the former. No. 1 is the Deed of Assignment of the 5th August, 1575, by which the old Countess of Desmond made over her interest in the Castle and Town of Inchiquin to Gerot, 16th Earl of Des- mond ; and his assignment, on the 7th, of the property to John Synot. No. 2 is a letter from John Gough Nichols, Esq., F. S. A., clearing up the disagreement of the Harleian ]\IS. 1425, a copy, with the original MS. of Sir George Carew's in the Lambeth Li- brary, the scribe of the Harleian having blundered, \vriting li\dng for dead. No. 3 is a reprint, from "Notes and Queries," of Mr. Nichol's opinion that all the assumed portraits of the Countess of Des- mond are only assumptions. No. 4 is the letter of the Earl of Desmond, June 5, 1583, to the Earl of Ormond, lost from the State Paper Ofiice, appa- rently abstracted about 1654. No. 5. Proof that Fynes Moryson was living, 1617. No. 6. Papers relating to James, 13th Earl of Desmond, and his cousin James, 15th Earl of Desmond. No. 7. Extracts from Morrin's Calendar of Irish Polls, the Polls' Office, London, &c., relating to the Desmonds and to Sir Walter Palegh. In my former " Inquiry," p. 50, I remarked that in the search ( ^ ) we made at the State Paper Office, London, we did not find a single paper relating to the old Countess of Desmond — conclu- sive proof that she had never been a suppliant to Queen Elizabeth; nor in Morrin's Calendar of Irish Kolls does her name occur — additional proof, was it wanting, that she was never disturbed in the occupation of her jointure lands. No. 8. Notices of the Castle of Inchiquin, from its erection by the Anglo-Normans to the present day. For these papers I am indebted to the liberality and friendship of the Eev. Samuel Hayman. I have to offer my best thanks to Eichard Caulfield, B. A. and F. S. A., for expanding the contracted Latin of the official Kolls, and for their translation into English ; and I have to express my further obligation to that indefatigable and trust- worthy Irish antiquary, John Windele, Esq., who being at Youghal, and knowing the interest I took in the Castle of In- chiquin, most kindly went to it and drew up an accurate descrip- tion of its present condition. I need now scarcely warn my intending reader that heavy work looms before him; yet, if he will but screw his courage to the sticking point, I am not without some faint hope that he will not wish the Old Countess and her champion forty fathoms deep in the sea, off Youghal harbour, a fate Fynes Moryson so nar- rowly escaped; but that with the word finis a balm may be spread over weariness, and in the ease of the present the labour of the past, though not forgotten, may be forgiven. ( « ) No. I. Deed of Assignment hj the Old Countess of Desmond, of Inchiquin Castle and Manor, to Gerald, Earl of Desmond. This very interesting document having been as yet but partly, and in one instance very erroneously, published, I print a certified copy, from the EoUs' Office, in full, with the Earl of Desmond's subsequent assignment of the property to Mr. John Synot : — Adhuc Cola de tlmio scl Michis Anno xxviii° Regine Elizaleth finienl. Ajdhuc Eecoed. Wexford Dcertis evidenciis dne Katharine Comitesse Desmoii fac^ Johi Synnett hie irr pformam statuti, &c. Memorfd Johes Synnotte de Wexford gen veS coram BaroS hujus Sccii xxviii° die JN'o- vembr? hoc ?mio in ppria pson sua. Et exhuit Cur hie quasdam chartas Evidenc munimen? & Scrip? tangen & concernen Inchequyn & al tent in Com Corcke. Et petiit ill hie de record in'otlar"" jux? formam Statuti in ea pte nup edi? & pvis. Et Earones ill hie irrotlar? j5cipunt in hie verba S. [or SS ? sequentia ?]. Where I ladye KathriS late Wief to Thomas late Earle of Desmond decessed have & doe enjoye amongest other pcells as my thirde pte & Dower of my saide late husbondes landes by lafuU assigm^ the Castell & Towne of Inchequyne with sixe plowelandes arrable lande called the six ffreplouelandes in Inchequine togeether with mores mea- dowes pastures groves Woodds milles & milplaces with there v/atercourses rivers streames with there weares & fishinges pcell of the saide towne & belonginge to the same. Ee it knoweS unto all men by these pntes that for good consideracons me movinge I have geven graunted & surrendred the said Castle & towne of Inchequine with the said six plowelandes, togeether with all and singler the j5mises with there apptenncf together with all my intereste & estate therein unto the righte honorable Gerrot Earle of Desmond, now injoyenge the revercon of the pmisses. To have holde & Injoye the same unto the saide Earle his heires & Assignes, as his pper inheritance, notwithstandinge any dower Joynter or any ( n ) other estate I have or oughte to have in the pmisses or in any pte or pcell of them. In witnes whereof I have hereunto put my Seale the fift of Auguste a thousande five hundred seventye and five & in the sevntenthe yere of the reigne of our Sovereigne ladye Queene Elizabeth &c. Being presente at the ensealinge and deliverie hereof by the ladye Katherine within named. I Desmond. Thomas Pfaunynge Thesaurere Witnes hereof Morishe Shreghan David Eoche Witnes Ellene Shee. Sciant pntes & futui^ ego Gerraldus Comes Desmonie dedi con- cessi & hac pnti Carta mea confirmavi Mauricio Sheghan servo meo & David Eoche geiios? castrS & vilt de Inchequyne in Com Corcke ac sex caruca? terr arrabilis Anglice voca? the sixe freplouelandes in vilt pdic? & in Campis ejusdnl Ac oia pra? pasc pastur silvas moras marisc molen- dlS & cursii aquarf ad molendiS rivolas gurgites & piscar Werris pcell die? vilt aut ad die? vilt aliquo modo spectan? sive ptinen? ac eoff re- vercoem sive revercoes hendS tenend & gaudend die? Castrrl vilt terr & ten? pdic? & oia alia supradca c8 eorf aj^ptennc pfa? Mauricio SheghaS & David Eoche hered & assigS suis imppuil. Et ego vero ]5dic? Ger- raldus Comes hered & Assign mei pdci CastrQ vilt & sex caruca? terr i5dic? Ac oia & singt pmissa cS eorf appurteil j5fa? Mauricio Sheghan & David Eoche hered et assigrl suis contra quoscQqz "WarantizabiSl acquietabiS & imppe? p pntes defendem". In cujus rei testimoniQ prltibz SigiUil mea apposui da? septimo die Augustii Anno dfn miilio quingentesimo septuagesimo quinto & Anno Eegni Eegine Elizabeth decimo septimo The intente meaninge purpose & consideracon of the makinge of this pnte feoffm' is that the above named Mourishe Sheghan & David Eoche feoffees there heires & assignes shall stande seized & be seized of the saide Castle towne of Inchequyne w^'' the six freplowe- lands aforesaide & of all others the contents of the said feoffmente to the use & behoofe of John Synot of Wexford ger] his executors & assignes for & duringe the terme and tyme of thirtie one 5'eres without rendringe or payenge to the said Erie his heires or assignes an}' rente exaccon or any dutie or demande tliereout duringe the saide terme & after thende of the saide terme the saide feoffees there heires & assignes to stande seised & be seised of all & singter the pmiss? with apptenences to tlmse & behoffe of the saide Earle & of the lad} e Ellenor his Wicf tS: the ( 10 ) heires males of the body of the saide Earle & in defaulte of such heires males of the hodye of the saide Earle to thuse & behoofe of the heires males of the bodye of James late Erie of Desmonde father to Gerrot nowe Earle & for defaulte of such heires males to the righte heires of Gerrot nowe Earle & there heires for ever provided that the saide John his heires executors & assignes shall not sell neither alyen the saide towne of Inchequyne w*^ the pmisses neither any pte or pcell thereof to any- man duringe the saide terme withoute the licences of the said Earle and the ladye Ellinor his wief and the heires males of the said Earles bodye But in respecte of the pmisses the said John Synot his executors & assignes shall bestowe his & there Councell in lawe on the saide Earle ladye Elinor & on the heires males of the Earles bodye Gerot Desmond E" Desmond Beinge pnte at thensealinge & deliverie hereof by the within named Earle to the within named Morishe Sheaghan & David Eoche as his deede those whose names ensueth John Coraghmore James Sherlocke EitzThomas Sponer, Denis Cahissye Chaire Owen HangaS Beinge pnte when John FitzGeralde of Camphire delivered liverie & seisoS by deliverie of A peece of Earthe in the house of Inchequyne to David Eoche the within named feoffee accordinge A Ire of Attorney to hym from Gerralde Earle of Desmond and accordinge theffecte of this pnte feoffmente those whose names ensuethe John fitz Gerrate Morishe M'Gibbon Patricke Ketinge James Chever James Browne Doneit Sheaghan Donnell Ogriffen James M'^Phillippe with manye others &c. Sciant pntes & futur? me GerraldQ Comitem Desmonie fecisse ordinasse & in loco meo posuisse dilec? mihi in Christo Johem fitz Gerralde de Campire generosil meS ver8 & littimQ attornatS Ad intrand in CastrS & Villam de Inchequyne in Com Corck ac in sex caruca^ terr arr in villa pd & in campis ejusdnl & in oia prata pase pastur silvas moras marisc molendina & curs aquarf ad molendih rivolas gurgites piscar? werris pcell dee ville & possessioem & sciam inde capiend & post hmoi posses- sioem et sciam sic inde habi? & cap^ deinde possessioem & sciam inde delibaud Mauricio Sheghah servo meo & David Eoche geSos scdm tenorem vim formam & effcm Carte mee feoffament c8 ejus consideracoe effec? & usus in eadnl Carta contend eis inde confec? Ea^ et gratu hent & hitur totS & quicquid idrrl Attorna? mens- vice & noie meo fecerit in pmissis. In cujus rei testimonQ pStibus SigillS me8 apposui da? septimo die Augustii Anno dni millesimo quingentesimo septuagesimo quinto Gerot Desmond Beinge pnte at the ensealinge & deliverie hereof by the within ( 11 ) named Eaiie to the withiu named John fitz Gerrotte as his deede and Seale those whose names ensuethe John Curaghmore James Sherlocke fitz Thomas Sponer Denis Cahissye Chaair Owen Hangaii. Sicut ihS contine?. A true copy, which I certify. E. Hitchcock, Master of the Exchequer. The question natm^ally arises, why did ATr. Synotte on the 28th N'ovemher, 1586, enrol this deed, executed by the Countess Kathrin Desmond, the 5th August, 1575 ? Sir Eichard Cox, in his " History of Ireland," page 360, states that on the 2nd jSTovember, 1579, the Lord Justice, Sir William Pelham, at his camp at Eathkeale, proclaimed the Earl of Desmond a traitor. TheHarleian MSS., IJ., 1425, British Museum, states that '^he Earl of Desmond was slaine upon the 11th JN'ovember, 1583, nere to the Eiver Mange, in Kerry." We may be assured that all the lands and possessions of the rebel Earl, and his confederates, were seized by Goyernment. Eut they were not legally confiscated until the session of Parliament which com- menced in Dublin on the 28th April, and closed on the 14th May, 1586 ; and in their laborious sitting, of sixteen days, they passed nine acts, two of which, the fifth and seventh, bear on our inquiry. The fifth ("Statutes of Ireland," vol i., pages 415-17, Dublin, 1765), "An Act concerning the ayoiding of fraudulent conveyances, made by the late rebels in Ireland." Two of the notes on the margin will sufficiently inform us of its enactments : — " Person claiming by conveyances from rebels, and persons attainted, within thirteen years before this session" (this takes back to 1573), "shall within one year openly bring into the Exchequer, and exhibit the same, to be entered and enrolled of record." " Yet if at any time upon information, &c., it shall be tried, and proved by verdict, that such conveyance was made upon fraud or covin to defraud the Queen, it shall be void, until such verdict be set asi(k\" Sir Eichard Cox, page 384, states — "Tlii< Aft did not pass the irousc without great (iilliciill \- ; and ( 12 ) perhaps had not passed at all, if John Mao Edmond Fitzgerald (to pre- vent the Earl of Desmonds forfeiture) had not produced a feoffment made by that Earl before he entered into rebellion; which had taken effect, and baffled the expectations of the undertakers, if Sir Henry Wallop had not by good luck gotten the aforesaid Association [which was] made the 18th July, 1578, which was two months before the pre- tended settlement, and to which this John EitzEdmund himself was a party. But upon the producing of that confederacy, and the discovering of this fraud and subtilty, the honest part of the House were ashamed to abet so ill a cause, and so this Act was made to prevent the like con- trivances." The seventh Act, pages 418-422, is, An Act for the attainder of the late Earl of Desmond, and others, mentioned in this Act," and recites, That whereas Grerrot Eitz Gerald, late Earl of Desmond (with 38 others following, named of the counties of Kerry, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary), all and every of them for their said abominable and detestable treasons, by them and every of them most abominably and traiterously committed, perpetrated, and done against your Highnesse, and this your said realme of Ireland, be and shall be, by authoritie of this present Act, convicted and attainted of High treason ; and that as many of the same offenders and persons before named as be yet in life, and not pardoned for the same offences, shall and may at your High- nesse will and pleasure suffer paines of death, as in cases of high trea- son." All their lands and properties of every kind, are then vested in the Queen, without of&ce or iniquisition." And all attainders of treason, by outlawry, or verdict, or judgment ''be and shalbe approved and confirmed by authoritie of this present Act." ("We may note, that the next Parliament held in Ireland was A. D. 1613, the 11th year of James I., an interval of twenty-seven years.) All these premises being duly considered, I come to this conclusion : — The Assignment by the Old Countess, dated 5th August, 1575, I consider was a family arrangement, merely pro forma, to endeavour to secure to Earl Gerrott the Inchiquin property, if he should involve himself in trouble with Government by his rebellious propensities ; and the more fully to effect which, the earl then assigned the same to Syn- notte. When the Act passed in May, 1586, the Assigment to Sjunotte most probably first became known, by his enrolling it on the 28th ( 13 ) November following, on the chance of obtaining the life interest which it gave him in the Castle and Barony of Inchiquin. In this he evidently failed, if indeed he ever took any steps beyond the em-olment, the fraud being clear, from the Countess Kathrin having continued uninter- ruptedly to occupy the Castle, and exercise her rights of ownership on the baronial lands; for Sir Walter Ealegh informs us that she was living in the castle in 1589, three years after Synnotte's enrolment; and in Sir Walter's leases, which are printed in my previous " Inquiry," her prior claims on the lands are acknowledged by his rents doubling on her death, which event was assumed to be very near at hand, from her extreme old age. Eut, whatever may have been Synnotte's motives for enrolling the Deed of Assignment, we are indebted to him, by it, for the legal cer- tainty, that The Old Countess of Desmond" was the widow of Thomas, the 13th Earl, who died 1534, by this the Countess's own ensealed deed ; but to which her signature was 7iot appended, though it is so given in one publication, and referred to in another as, ''a legal document, at- tested by the Countess's own sign-manual.^' Ensealing only, without signing, was frequent at this period. On the 6th October, 1586, an inquisition was taken at Youghal of the Earl of Desmond's estates in that quarter. The original document is in the Rolls' Office, Dublin : all the jurors ensealed only. ( 14 ) No. 11. Explanation of the supposed disagreement of the Harleian 3IS., No. 1425, and Sir George Carew's MS. in the Lamleth Library, No. 626. Copies from these MSS. are given in my previous " Inqniiy," at pages 19 and 20. The Harleian reads, that the Old Countess of Desmond ''lived in a° 1604;" the Lambeth, that '' She died in aiio 1604." This is but one of the many good services that Mr. John Gough Mchols has rendered in clearing up historic doubts and difficulties. I received a letter from John Gough Mchols, Esq., P. S. A., dated London, January 15, 1862, in which he informed me that he had been that day to the Lambeth Library, to examine Sir George Carew's ori- ginal MSS. deposited there, on which subject Mr. JN'ichols writes to me : — ''The Harleian MS. 1425 is not in Sir George Carew's hand. It is, however, made from Sir George Carew's MSS., and a very blundered one, arising from the writer being ignorant of Irish names, and unable to decipher Carew's crabbed hand." Heferring to passages relating to the Old Countess of Desmond, Mr. Mchols continues — " She died in aiio 1604. "Of this reading, original and not 'corrected,' you have been al- ready sufficiently assured ; but I can now tell you this further about it, that the word lived, in the Harleian MS." (IN'o. 1425, folio 45,) "is a mere error of transcription ; for I see how it occurred, as Sir George Carew has so written died, that it was misread, and might be misread by any careless person, as lived. " Another circumstance that you may consider of some importance, is the date at which Sir George Carew wrote his ' Pedigrees.' This I consider to be shown under the name of ' Sir John Pitz-Gerald, Knyght, Lord of the Decye, living in ano 1615.' So that I take it for certain that Sir George Carew, writing in 1615, had good authority for the Old Lady having died in 1604, eleven years before." ( 15 ) No. III. Reprint from Notes and Queries,'^ No, 24, Saturday, June 14, 1862, THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND. (3'^' S. L 377). I beg to thank the Marquess of Kildare for his correction of the date of the record relative to " Gyles ny Cormyk, wife to Sir Thomas of Des- mond," which I was misled to suppose to be 20 Hen. VIII. instead of 20 Hen. VII. This certainly invalidates considerably my argu- ment for a large reduction of the assumed longevity of his second wife, the Old Countess of Desmond, in reference to her becoming a mother. Eut still that argument retains some of its force, and the probability of her being nearly of her husband's age, or within ten years of it, is not restored. In 20 Hen. VII. (1505) he was fifty-one. As after her marriage at some period after that date — now unknown, but it may be ten, fifteen, or twenty years — she gave birth to Katherine, subsequently the wife of Philip Barry Oge, it is at least probable that, instead of being only ten years younger than her husband, which was all that her reputed longevity made her, she was considerably more. The pictures called portraits of the Old Countess of Desmond are evidently very numerous. Besides others formerly seen and mentioned, as noticed by the writer of the article in the Dublin Eeview," the following are now preserved in known localities : — 1. At Windsor Castle.^- * No. 1. A gentleman at Windsor Castle informed me by letter : — "It is said to be by- Rembrandt, and is a very fine portrait; there is lace on the head-dress, and a fur tippet, a collar round the neck, and coming down in front, and no lacing. But it cannot be the portrait of the Countess of Desmond ; and with this agrees the opinion of Nagler (Band 12, s. 419), who calls it ' Rembrandt's mother, or the portrait of an old lady.' I find this entry in the Catalogue of the pictures of Charles I. 'done by Rembrandt. An old woman with a great scarf on her head, with a peaked falling band,' (2 f., and I f. 0).' And with this our picture agrees exactly." ( 16 ) 2. At Chatsworth.^' 3. At Knole. 4. At Eurghley.f 5. At Eedgebary. 6. At xsTewnham Padox. In Ireland : — 7. At Muckross Abbey. 8. At EaUynruddery.J 9. At Dromana.g * 2. " This portrait has the fur waitscoat, hood of cloth, indraped with two large roses, and has hazel eyes ; the legend is, ' Covntess of Desmond, who lived 140 years.' " t No. 4. " On receiving your letter yesterday, I called upon the Marquess of Exeter, who kindly showed me the portrait of the Old Countess of Desmond. It is a very fine painting by Rembrandt, in size about 14 or 16 inches by about 12 It must have been taken when she was very old indeed." X No. 8. The Knight of Kerry, on his way to London last summer, was in Cork for a few days, and left his splendid painting by Gerard Dow in my charge, so I had very willingly to become its showman to the public at large, and to artists in particular. The latter concurred in opinion that it was an original portrait of Gerard Dow's, painted in his palmiest period, when he had attained his fullest powers of design and execution, at a time when he certainly never would have occupied his brush in copying. I have not seen the "Windsor painting, No. 1 ; but as Mr. Nichols states that the Kinnoull picture is certainly derived from the Windsor, I put in our Cork protest, that we consider the en- graving of the Kinnoull portrait, in Pennant's "Tour in Scotland," vol. iii., page 87, quarto, represents a person as totally unlike Gerard Dow's Old Lady, in features and characterestic expression, as two individuals of the same sex could possibly be. Indeed, the Kinnoull requires its female dress to be supposed to represent a woman, and gives rather the idea of a heavy, coarse, vulgar man, in a masquerade — Little Red Riding Hood's wolf perso- nating the eaten-up grandmother. The Kinnoul and Muckruss so far agree with the Windsor, that both have " a great scarf on her head ;" and they so far agree with each other, and differ from the Windsor, in their dress being laced down the front. Gerard Dow's lady, on the contrary, wears a sort of hood of cloth or velvet, separate and distinct from her dress, her mantle being fastened in front by one rose-fashioned button. § No. 9. "Your question as to the alleged portrait of the Old Countess of Desmond, at Dromana, is easily answered ; it is unquestionably not only not the portrait of that lady, but any person at all acquainted with the picture galleries in Holland would at once recognise it as that of Rembrandt's mother, whose very homely features her son seems to have had a special fancy for pourtraying. For even I myself know of three copies — this one at Dromana, another at the Hague, and a third, either at Amsterdam or Leyden — I cannot at this moment remember which. A foreign artist, who went to see the pic- ( 17 ) In Scotland : — 10. At Dupplin Castle ; 11. At I^ewbattle Abbey ; and probably others. N'o. 1. Is certainly a picture by Eembrandt, and a portrait of his mother ; and it is certainly the original of most of the rest, possibly of all. tures at Dromana, perfectly conversant with Rembrandt's very peculiar style, said there could not be any second opinion as to the authorship of the portrait in question, though, never having been in Holland, he could not say whom it was intended to represent. But then comes the little fact mentioned by you, that the old lady died A. D. 1604, and Rem- brandt was not born until A. D. 1606. I may just mention, in conclusion, that the original of the portrait at Dromana never could possibly have been a handsome or even a com- monly well-favoured person ; the heavy square jaw, like that of Lorenzo di Medici, and the whole form of the features, put it out of the question. Even then supposing that Rem- brandt could have painted with the assistance of some Dutch witch of Endor, what would become of the Fair Geraldine ?" I acquainted Lord Stuart de Decies with the intended gathering of the assumed portraits of the Old Countess of Desmond in London, and solicited him to send his to the congress, which his lordship, in a letter to me, dated Dromana, 6th May, 1862, very obligingly consented to do. But the early and abrupt termination of the exhibition pre- vented this Old Lady's appearance at it. Lord Inchiquin has two portraits, said to be those of the Old Countess, and her husband, Thomas, 12th Earl of Desmond, who died A, D. 1534. On'mj^ application, his lordship most readily and obligingly promised to take them over, but was prevented by " the early closing" of the Desmond gathering. Wishing to give information respect- ing them, I again trespassed on his lordship, who, to my very unexpected and agreeable surprise, sent me copies in water colours of them, the size of the originals, taken by him- self. Their dimensions are 1 inches by 8. An inscription on the lady's portrait, now for the first time noticed, take them out of the Desmond family. It is, "^TATIS SV^ 23, 1577," which would place her birth, 1554, and render her too young to have been Elinor, the wife of Gerald, 16th Earl of Desmond, who in 1577 was in rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, and "was slaine," as a rebel, in 1583. Our yoimg lady, 23 years of age, without being handsome, has a pleasing and extremely intelligent and observant expression, black eyes and hair, the latter combed oH" the forehead, which has height and breadth, a white muslin cap, bordered with pearls ; a slight ruff, and black dress, trinmicd about the neck with brown fur. The gentleman's dress is also black, the sleeves slashed wliitc; he has a splendid head, noble expression, red hair, and beard of the same hue, which for massive profusion would be witnessed, at this day of beardiness, by our exquisites, with envy and despair. Lord Inchiquin mentions that these portraits, the gentleman's more particularly, are beautifully finished, hke miniatures. B ( 18 ) By the kindness of the Duke of Devonshire, his picture (No. 2) has been brought to the house of the ISTational Portrait Gallery, and is ascer- tained to be derived from the preceding, as Horace Walpole pronounced it to be. All the four next I believe will prove to be of the like character, or otherwise imaginary. The picture (No. 7) belonging to Mr. Herbert, at Muckross Abbey, is that which is accompanied by a long inscription of the assumed history of the Countess, and photographed as the frontispiece to the late Mr. Archdeacon Eowan's essay on her history. I believe both picture and inscription to have been fabricated, at the time when these pictures were admired and multiplied. It would, however, be a satisfaction to have it critically examined by some competent judges. The Knight of Xerry has already had the kindness to bring his pic- ture (No. 8), to the J^'ational Portrait Gallery. It is excellent as a work of art, and has the signature of G. Doiv, but is clearly derived from the "Windsor picture, though with some varieties of treatment and of costume. This is more obvious upon examination of the picture than was observ- able in the mezzotint engraving by Grogan. That Gerard Dow should have copied a picture of his master Eembrandt, with variations of his own, is an occuiTence quite in due course. Lord Stuart de Decies proposes to bring his picture from Dromana to London, and I look for it with some curiosity, as I do not gather, from the accounts of the Quarterly Heviewer and Sir Bernard Burke^ whether it resembles those already noticed or no. The Earl of Kinnoull's picture (j^o. 10), is certainly derived from that at Windsor, as is shown by the engraving in Pennant's " Tour in Scotland." Of the Marquess of Lothian's picture at J^ewbattle Abbey I know nothing, and I mention it now for the first time, having found it as an item in a catalogue of that collection written in 1798. Lord Inchiquin has two small pictures of an Earl and Countess of Desmond, and he proposes to bring them to London ; but it has not been ascertained to which Earl and Countess they belong. Should any further information arise upon this long-debated subject, I will not fail to report it. John Gough I^ichols. ( 19 ) No. IV. The Earl of I)esmo7id''s Letter to the Earl of Ormond. In the appendix to my Inquiry respecting the Old Countess of Desmond," at page 62, is a letter from the Earl of Ormond to the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council, dated Cashel, 18th June, 1583, detailing his successes in putting down the Earl of Desmond's rehellion ; he then continues : — " So there remaineth none abrode, but th'erle with a veray fewe rascall whom I can scant heare of; yeat doth he contynue his for- mer suite to have conference with me, as yo'^ 1. may perceave by the copie of his letter, which I send herein," This copy was not in the Earl's despatch at the State Paper OfSce ; but I have since met with it, printed in Caballa," London, 1654, part ii., pp. 18, 19. The compiler of the '^Caballa," probably, did not return it. ''Earl of Desmond to the Earl of Ormond, June 5, 1583. My Loed, '' Great is my grief when I think how heavily Her Majesty is bent to disfavour me, and howbeit I carry the name of an undutiful subject, yet God Imoweth that my heart and mind are always most lowly in- clined to serve my most loving Prince, so it may please her Highness to remove her heavy displeasure from me. As I may not condemn myself of disloyalty to her Majesty, so cannot I excuse my faults, but must confess that I have incurred her Majesties indignation; yet when the cause and means which were found and devised to make me commit folly shaU be known to her Highness, I rest in an assured hope that her most gracious Majestie will both think of me as my heart descrvcth, and also of those that wrung me into undutifulness, as their cunnin Holy Ghost, celebrated by the Archbishop of Paris in the Sainte Chapelle of the Palais de Justice. At the conclusion of the religious ceremony, the judges of the Court of Cas- sation held their usual solemn audience, at which Af, Troplong presidcid. ]M. Savarv, the Attorney-General, dfiiveicd an cloquriit adiiicss, in whicii he treated of the inlhicnco exercised by the judicial autlioritics on sociely." — 1'imcs, Friday, Nov 7, ( 28 ) ficent signature of James, 15th Earl of Desmond, to the deed of A. D. 1551, which I lately purchased. In ''tallness," the letters rival those in the signature of Henry YII., in Dibdin's "Decameron," vol. i., clvi. This want of money was not peculiar to the Earl of Desmond ; and the actual scai^city of circulating coinage is strikingly illustrated in a despatch from the Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland to the King, dated, Dublin, 15 May (1543). The O'Biyen's of Thomond had sub- mitted to Henry YIIL, and were to repair to London, to be created peers : — "Eynally, for that ther ys no sterling money almoste to be had within this your Eealme, thies gentlemen whiche nowe resorte to your Highnes wer utterly disfurnysshed of money to bring them thither, I, your Majesties Deputie, lent Obrien an hundreth poundes sterling,^' in harpe grotes, in defaulte of other money, which I have delyvered to your Tresorer; and DonnoghObryen hath like wise delyvered hyman hundreth merkes sterling, to your Graces use ; beseching your Majestie to be so good and gracious Lorde to them, as upon the sight of your saide Trea- sorers byll, testifieng the receipte of the saide sommes, they may have ther by your Majesties appointement ; otherwise they be utterly dis- apoynted, nor other shifte could they have." Their creations, as Earl of Thomond, and Earon of Ybrackan, took place, at Greenwich, on Sunday, the first day of July following ; and the record of the ceremonial, MS. Titus B. xi., leaf 338, British Museum, states, " The Kinges Majestie gave them theire Eobes of Estate, and all thinges belonging thereunto, and payd aU manner of duties, belong- ing to the same." * In the early part of this despatch acknowledgment is made — " Your Majesties Vice-thesauror hathe according to the tenour of your Highnes letters (of the 5th of Marche laste), receyvid by the handes of your saide servant George Carew, the some of £2461 12s. in Harpe Grotes:' And from the context of what follows, it may be inferred, that this was all the coin in His Majesty's Irish Treasury. To face page 2«. j ( 29 ) No. VII. Extracts from Morrin^s Calendar Rolls, Henry VIII., Edward VI, Mary, and Elizaheth. Volume i., page 75, Membrane 4 : — ''Agreement made at Castleisland, between James Pitz-Gerald, Earl of Desmond, Lord of the liberty of KeiTy, and Patrick Fitz-Morris Fitz- John, Chaplain of his JS'ation, establishing peace and concord between them ; and that the said Patrick, himself, his heirs, and his whole people, should be thenceforth answerable tojthe said Earl and his heirs at their Assizes, in respect of all charges, as the other tenants and subjects of the said Earl in the County of Kerry, with many other covenants — ^witnesses : Mcholas, Bishop of Ardfert ; Master William Stack, Archdeacon of Ard- fert; Henry Hulbert; Maurice O'Huoleghan ; Alan O'Lynchy; John Slabagh, and many others. Dated, Tuesday next after the feast of Annunciation of the B. V. Mary, 9° H. IV. (25th March, 1408)." Page 75, Membrane 3 : — " Precept wherby Jolin Earl of Desmond, Lord of the liberty of Kerry, directs Thomas Eewagh Powler, his treasurer of that liberty, to levj^, in respect of the Issues and profits of his Assizes, held before William Eitz-Geralde his seneschal, at Tyrly and elsewhere within the liberty, from the Tuesday next after the Octaves of the Apostles Peter and Paul,^- 11th H. IV, to the Saturday next before the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle,! 12th H. IV., various sums, viz., from Thomas Pitz-John Pitz-Thomas, Maurice Goer, and Nicholas Goer, for disseisin, 6,§. 8c?. (with many others, to the number of 200) ; so that he may have the money ready from day to day, before the seneschal, on pain of forfeiture ; witnessed by William Pitz-Geralde, the seneschal at Tyrly, on the Satur- day next before the feast of Saint Thomas, 12° H. IV." These deeds are curious, as showing the power exercised by the Earls of Desmond ; })ut I j)rint them as proofs of the uncertainty of Christian names, given even in legal documents. Sir William Betham states that Gerald, the 4th Earl of Desmond, disappeared 1397, supposed to be mur- July 6, 1410. t Dec 21, 1410. ( 30 ) dered. The Pour Masters record that in 1 398 Garrett, Earl of Desmond, died, after the victory of Penance. Sir William says, Johi Pitz- Gerald, 5 th Earl, was drowned near Ardfinnan, in the river Suir, March 4, 1399 ; with which the Eour Masters concur, adding — As he was laying waste the territory of the Earl of Ormond, he was drowned in the Suir, in the sight of his forces." He was succeeded by his son, TJiomas Eitz-John Eitz-Gerald, the 6th Earl of Desmond, who, by marrying Katherine McCormicke, beautiful but of humble parentage, lost his estates and earldom. The Eour Masters state, A. D. 1411, — "Thomas, the son of John E. of Desmond, banished from Ireland, by James, son of Garrett" (4th Earl of Desmond). Both these deeds were therefore from Thomas, 6th Earl ; yet in the first, 1408, he is named James ; and in the second, 1410, he is called John. Erom "Historical Memoirs of the O'Briens," by John O'Donoghue, Dublin, 1860, page 134 :— " James (7th) Earl of Desmond obtained a grant of the territory eastward of the Blackwater, from Henry Y. in 1413." This Earl died 1462, which from 1411 ga^e him 51 years' possession of the estates. Lodge, page 12, states, that Thomas, the 6th Earl, did not resign his earldom until 1418 ; and that in 1420 the usurping uncle obtained an Act of Parliament, conferring the earldom and estates on himself and heirs. This would have been in the 7th year of Henry Y. ; but "The Statutes of Ireland" do not print any act of this reign. I should like to know the assumed grounds of right or reason for the legal confirmation. Page 340, Membrane 3 — 17 Philip and Mary : — " Grant of English liberty, to Donald Mc Cartie, otherwise called Lord Mc Cartie More ; and Lady EUene Mc Cartie, daughter of the said Donald, the Countess of Desmond. Aug. 23-2 and 3. (A. D. 1555)." This lady being the third wife of James, 15th Earl of Desmond, I was curious to know what benefit she was to derive from the grant ; and therefore again trespassed on the learning of Mr. Prendergast for information, who most kindly instructed me, as follows : — " Sandymount, April \st, 1863. " My deae SiPt, " At the time of the English Invasion, laws, in consequence of the various conquests in Europe (conquests upon conquests), were more per- ( 31 ) sonaltlian territorial; the Frank, the Burgundian, the Visigoth, &c., was ruled each by his own peculiar code in the same district, and the feudal serf by his. So the Erench of JTormandy, grandsons of the captains that had subdued the Saxons and reduced them to serfs, when they in- vaded Ireland kept their own law as a rule among themselves, and left to the Irish their Brehon code ; so that no Irishman could sue in the King's Courts, or in those of Strongbow, De Lacy, De Courcy, or of the Earl of Desmond. And this state, incredible as it may now appear, pre- vailed down to the time of James I., who in the 11 th year of his reign passed a statute, communicating English law and English rights (of which Sir J. Davies makes such boast,) to his Irish subjects. Since which time, be it observed (now exactly 250 years), there has been more misery in Ireland than in all time before. During all the long period between the first invasion and the end of Q. EHzabeth's reign, the here- ditary Brehons, at their appointed station among the hills, or by some tree or bank, the lords and people around them, heard the cause and gave forth the judgments, grounded partly on the Eoman law, and partly on Irish customs. And at evening, when the meeting broke up, long lines of people might be seen coming down the mountain, in the train of the principal men, that chief the proudest who could bring the largest company home to his hall to supper. This was seen by Stani- hurst, by Campion, who wrote in 1568, and Spenser, and the same is confirmed in a thousand ways. ''In saying that the English laws were not communicated, I ought to except the chief or royal tribe in each of the five provinces, and the Danes or Ostmen, to whom these rights were granted — that is to say, the O'l^eils of Ulster, the lloUoys of Meath, the O'Connors of Connaught, the O'Briens of Munstcr, and the McMurroghs of Leinster, could Iring actions; and so could the Ostmen of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and Dublin. But, if any other Irishman sued an EngKshman, he ' pleaded to the person,' that the plaintiff was an Irishman, and not of the Five liloods, and therefore he submitted he was not bound to answer. This privilege, however, they (the five bloods) seem to have lost about the end of Edward III.'s reign ; and when Conn O'Neil, in the reign of Edward IV., married the daughter of the Earl of Kildare, it was deemed expedient to get a private Act of Parliament (which I send you) to give to him, and liis issue by this fair Gerahliiie, tlie rank and ])ri- vilegcs of Englishmen : — ( 32 ) 20 Ed. lY., c. 20 (unpublished Irisli statutes) : — ' Item, at the request of the Commons ; for that in consideration of the faithful service done by Henry O'Keill, Captain of his [N'ation, to our Sovereign Lord the King and to his leige people ; and also the ser- vice done by his son, Conn O'l^eyll, lately married to Eleanor, daughter to the very good Lord Thomas, late Earl of Kildare, whom God rest, it is ordained and established that the said Conn shall be of free estate and condition in the law, as liege man of the King ; and that the said Conn and his issue engendered between the said Conn and Eleanor shall be adjudged English and of English condition, in every manner, as subjects of the King, &c., and that he may implead and be impleaded, &c.' ^' An Irishman's body might therefore be beaten, his land trespassed upon, without danger of an action. But if he were killed, the English- man who hroke the King^s peace was, for this cause against the King, {not against the Irishman), fined 5 marcs to the King. ^' In like manner, an Irishman could not receive a gift, or purchase land. His children an English wife fell into the like disqualifications. " They therefore constantly got charters oi English liherty, enabling them to bring actions, to acquire and hold lands, and to enjoy the privi- leges of Englishmen. Here follows a charter of English liberty, 1st Edward IV. :— 'Edward, by the grace of God, &c., to all Bailifi's, &c., greeting. Know ye, that "We being willing to confer a favour on William Bol- gir, Chaplain, being of Irish I^ation, by our special Grace, &c., have granted to the said William that he be of free state and condition, and quit and free of all Irish slavery ; and that he may use and enjoy the English Laws, in and for all things, in the same manner as Englishmen have, use, and enjoy them within the said Land, and that he answer and be answered, in all our Courts. And that he have liberty to pur- chase and hold lands, rents, tenements, and services to him and his heirs for ever,' &c. &c. 7 and 8 Edward lY., cap 40. (Lands forfeited and seized, for being aliened to Irish) : — " ' Also at the prayer of Johanna Crestofore of Walshetowne, Widow. Por that whereas she was seized for term of her life, of a house and 80 A of Land in Walshestowne, of the gift and graunt of one John Young of Bertreinstown, and enjoyed the same until outed thereof under colour ( 33 ) of an inquisition taken before the Barons of the Exchequer, Monday next after the Teast of Saint Margaret in the 6th of Edward lY. By which Inquisition it was found that the said John Young of Bertreins- town was seized in fee of the said land and house, and being so seized thereof, enfeoffed one John McCornyng, an Irishman of Irish Xation, to wit of the McCornyne, to have and to hold to him and to his heirs for ever, the License of the King thereon not being had, by reason of which the said Messuage and Lands were seized into thfe King's hand by the said Barons. She says, the said John Young never enfeoffed the said J. McCornyng ; and as the said Johanna is powerless, weak and poor, so that she has it not in her power to sue out a Traverse of the said Office, the Inquisition is (by special enactment of Parliament) Ee- versed.' " If you vnll now refer to Sir J. Davies's ' Discovery — ' Ireland was never thoroughly subdued till the reign of James I. (though to my thinking, she is not yet thoroughly reduced to obedience), and read the few pages commencing the second part of his treatise, where he places as first amongst the defects of the civil policy and government (his former part concerns the military mistakes), 'that the Lawes of England were not communicated to the mere Irish,' 3-ou will better comprehend the matter than this rapid sketch can pretend to show. Yours most truly, "John P. Prexdergast." Bihl. Bodleian. Carte Papers, Y. 3. vol p. 152. Endorsed copy of Letter to Mayor of CorJce. Mr. Skiddie, — I heartlie comende me unto y5. I merveill that sens yo' depture I receaved noo more letters from yo then on w*"" I receaved by David Goldinge, I have written unto yo er this to procure tres from the Maior and Alderman of Corke in my L. favo' shewinge what neede they have of him in that parties. And like tres from the towne of Kinsale to be sent hither to the Counsell. I have good hope my L. my husband shall have his libertie shortlie. I have been sick these x weeks of an ague, and am not wholy recovered as yet. I d(!asire yo to be veray emest in procuring the said tres to be sent hither, w "' us inocli speed as yo can for it will greatlic fiirtlicr my lords going into liis C'ontrey. c ( 34 ) Send me copies of them. Thus estesones deasiring yo to be ernest herein w*'^ heartie comendacons to yo' wief and to yo"^ litle doghter, I ende from London this iiii**" of June 1571. " Yo*" lovinge frende, " Elino^ Desmond." I am indebted for this interesting item of Desmond history to the un- wearied kindness of my friend, H'^. Caulfield, F. S. A. (of London), who met it in his researches in the Eodleian Library, Oxford. Volume ii., Eeign of Queen Elizabeth, page 108, Elizabeth R. : — " The Queen to Sir JohnPerrott, Lord Deputy, and the Lords of the Council in Ireland ; directing a Lease for 30 years, without fine, to be passed to Daniel Kelly, of the annual value of £20, in consideration of his having slain the traitor Desmond, and for his very good services done therein. Ptichmond, December 14, 28°. (A.D. 1585.) *'The Harleian MSS., I^o. 1425, British Museum, state that the Earle of Desmond was slaine upon the 11th JN^ovember, 1583. "Page 116. August 1st, 1586, 28° : — " (EUynor), Countess of Desmond should have a pension of £100, Irish. Page 186:— "A pension of £200 a year to the Countess of Desmond, Septr. 20, 1588, 30°. ''Page 479 :— Pardon to (EUynor) Countess of Desmond, for coming to England without license, and allowing her return to Ireland, June 23, 1597, 39°. ''Page 514 :— " Pardon of Elinor, Lady Countess of Desmond, relict of Gerald, late Earl of Desmond. "Dublin, Eeb. 8, 40° (A.D. 1598). " SiK Waltee Ralegh. " Page 131, Elizabeth R. :— " ' The Queen to the Lord Deputy and the Lord Chancellor, direct- ing a grant to be made to Sir Walter Ralegh of three seignories and a half of escheated lands, in the counties of Cork and "Waterford, as near the town of Yougal as they may conveniently lie, viz., the Barony, ( 35 ) Castle, and Lands of Inchequin, in Imokilly' (and other Lands follow- ing), 'Greenwich, last of Eeb. 29° 1586. " Page 153, Elizabeth E. :— " The Queen to the Lord Deputy and Treasurer at War, intimating that she had granted to the Undertakers of the province of Munster 120 horsemen for the better defence of the English people to be there planted, and which were to be committed to the charge of four of the principal Undertakers. Sir Walter Ralegh having offered to levy 20 horsemen, Sir Edward Eitton 20, Sir Yalentine Erowne and Sir "William Herbert 20, John Popham, Attorney- General, Edward Hogers, John Copower 40, and Edward -Barkely 10 ; her Majesty directs that they shall be mustered by the Vice-President, and enrolled, with an allowance of Is. a day, each. ''Greenwich, Eeb. 27, 29°, 1587." In my "Inquiry respecting the Old Countess of Desmond," at page 27, extracts are given from a lease granted by Sir Walter Ealegh to John Cleaver of 400 acres of arable land ; and at page 29, extracts from a similar lease to Robert Pveve ; in both these leases the tenants agree " to find from tyme to tyme a sufficient light horseman and fur- niture, to him the said Sir Walter Ealegh, his heirs, and assignes, in the affaires of the Crowne of Ireland." In this way, therefore, we find that Sir Walter " levyed" his share of the contingent 120 horsemen. Page 323, Membrane 5 : — "The Queen, desirous to have the province of Munster, in the realm of Ireland, repeopled and inhabited, with civil, loyal, and dutiful subjects, in consideration of the great charge and trouble which Sir Walter Ealeghe sustained in transporting and planting English people in the province, and in recompense of his good service rendered in Ire- land, pursuant to her Eoyal Letters, dated the last of Eebruary, 1586, to the Lord Deputy and Lord Chancellor directed, and intending to bestow upon him three seignories and a half of land, devolved to the Crowne by the attainder of the Earl of Desmond and other rebels in the Counties of Cork and Waterford, lying as near to the town of Youghall as they may conveniently; each aeignory containing 12,000 acres of tenantublo land, not accounting mountains, bogs, or l):urcn lieath ; gnints to liiiii the siiifl Sir Walter llu- I'niony, Castle, jind lands of In- ( 3G ) chiquin, in Imokilly, with all the lands, tenements, and hereditaments thereunto belonging" (other denominations follow). " And as the measured lands do not contain as many acres as will make up the three seignories and a half, her Majesty grants to Sir Walter the lands fol- lowing" (which are recited) ; "to hold for ever, in fee farm, as of the Castle of Carregrohan, in the County of Cork, in free soccage and not in capite; rent 100 marks, according to the articles and covenants con- cerning the habitacion of the escheated lands. Dated at Westminster the 27th June, in the 28th year of her Majesty's reign. Dublin, Oct. 16, 29° (A.D. 1587)." Sir Walter Halegh's answer to " Articles to be answered by ye Yn- dertakers," I believe has not been published; I therefore obtained a copy from the Public E-ecord Office, London. The questions are twelve in number ; the answers are written in the margin ; and the gentleman who took the copy from the original MS., in reply to my inquiry were the answers Sir Walter's own handwriting, writes — " The reason that I have not communicated before regarding the handwriting of Sir Walter Ralegh is, that I Avas not able to arrive at a certain conviction with regard to the identity of the handwriting in question ; the hand- writing of Sir W. E. having changed so materially between the years 1584 and 1589. I easily discovered plenty of his writing of Vclq former date; but, owing to the want of indices after a certain period, it was not until Eriday that I discovered some autograph letters of his of 1591, which enable me now to give a certain reply, that the handwriting in question is the handwriting of Sir Walter Ralegh^ The material interest to my ''Inquiry" in this document is in Sir Walter Ealegh's answer to the 7th Inquiry, in which he states that the Old Countess of Desmond then. May 12th, 1589, occupied the Castle of Inchiquin and demayns in her legal right of jointure. This MS. is indorsed by Lord Burleigh as being Sir Walter Ealegh's answer ; con- sequently, by this original MS., we have the fact stated in Sir Walter Ealegh's own handwriting to Queen Elizabeth's Prime Minister, that the ■Old Countess of Desmond legally occupied Inchiquin as her jointure; and that minister himself indorses the document, by which we have it fully established that her rights were made known to Queen Elizabeth's Government, Avere not objected to by the Crown, and therefore ac- knowledged. ( 37 ) PUBLIC EECOED OFflCE, LONDOl^ STATE PAPERS, lEELAND. VOL. CXl. 1589, MAY 12. Certeine articles to he answer 3 Signores and a halfe, was appoynted by pticler vnder all the vndertakers hands, and past by the Queen's letter. I have past in on patent the on halfe, ye rest in a nother as I remember, but I know not dii^ctly. I have not yet all the quantety to my knowledge. On hundred markes for the xx""^', past in the first patent. I do not know of any di- rectly, but sume ther ar by report, nether do I know what is don therin. eel vnto hj the vndertalcers for the peoplmge of Mounster. 1 . How much lande haue yo'^ vnderta- ken to people in Irelande, whether a Sig- norie of xii™^-, viii™^-, vi"^-, or iiij°^", acres is the same, alreadye allotted vnto yo" by pticter, or not, or how much want yo"" of the same. 2. Have yo" allreadie passed yo"" patent for the same, or what is the cawse yo"" haue not done yt. 3. Whether haue yo" eny more lande comprised in yo' pticlers or patent, then belongeth to yo'' Signorie, accordinge to such rate, as the same ought to be allotted or not. 4. "WTiat rentes ar ther reserved vpon yo"" Patent, for the same Signorie. 5 . What chardgeable landes ar ther w*^in the precincts of yo"" Signorie, and in what sorte is the same lande charged, how much in monye, what in Eeoves, or other puic5n, and what in anj^ other kindc of service, and duties, ho wo much of the same rents, service and other duties, haue yo" levied, and how much hatli bin answered to her Ma"" of the same, and how much of the same remaincth vnlevycd, and what is the cawse they bo not levied, and Avhat or the beste meanes to h;iu( fliem Icvvcd. ( 38 ) By the cumission now in hand for y^ serch of the same. I have past fourteen free- holds out of my xx""-, and divers leases and copey holds, so as of that xx""- ther remayneth vnto mee hut on aide Castle and demayns, w^^ Castle and demayns is yet in occupacio of the old Count es of Desmonde for her ioynture. The number of coppy holders and cottagers I know not but of the xiiij freehold- ers I have their counter- pavns to shew, what nuber ought to be in all apereth by the articles. I do not know the nuber of inglishe, of Irishe ther ar very few. I thinck to send over 50 tenants more this sumer. I know not. Patrik Cundon is the most dangerous and next adioyninge, the seneshalls sonn is younger, their is on sect of galliglass in Inchi- 6. What is the best meanes to come to the certein knowledge of such chardgeable lands, as ar w*''in yo"" Signorie, wherof yo"" haue no knowledge, or wherof yo"" remaine doubtfull or vncerteine. 7. Have yo" made any diuision of the landes in yo'' Signorie, into freholdes, farmes and other inferio'' tenements, ac- cordinge to the platt in that behalfe set downe, or what is the cawse yo"" haue not done yt. 8. What number of vuderten'^nts of Inglysh byrth, haue yo" placed in yo'' Sig- norie, how manie of them be freeholders, how manie farmers, how manie copiehold- ers, how many cotagers, and how many yo*" doe esteeme, y* yo" ought to place therin, accordinge to yo' proporc5n. 9. Howe manie Englyshe people doe in- habitt vpon your Signorie, and how many Irishe. 10. What Inglyshe people yo" doe pur- pose to send over this somer, more then ar allreadie, and by what time. 11. What stocke of cattle, haue you therupon, and of what kinde, and what cropps of corne, haue you had sythence yo"^ firste entraunce, and of what kindes. 12. What Irishe doth grow greate, or may be suspected to be daungerose in yo" Signorie, and whether ar any of the Irishe out, and where, and by whom they ar mainteyned. ( 39 ) quine, but I tliinke not dangerous, Thomas of Des- monde and James his sonn ar the only dangerous Irishe ther about but of them sealvs not stronge. Indorsed — ^'12 Hay, 1589 — Articles to be answered by y^ yndertakers." In Lord Biirghleifs hand — Sr. Walter Ealegh's asw." It will be observed that, in Sir Walter Ealegh's answer to the second quere, he states he has passed one Patent for the one half of his grant ; and, in answer to the seventh quere, that he had let all the lands, except what the old Countess of Desmond held as her jointure. This answer is dated the 12th Hay, 1589. Eut of the thirty-three leases recorded on the Patent EoU of James I., and whose dates extend to the 27th May, 1598, only ten are dated previous to 12th Hay, 1589 ; con- sequently. Sir Walter Ealegh must have subsequently taken out ano- ther Patent for the remaining 22,000 acres granted to him. I print the Schedule of Leases enrolled. I notice that the lease to Eobert Eeve and Alice his wife is not among them ; possibly, if it was not carelessly omitted, Sir Walter may have sold his interest in the land, the lease being for ever. Calendar Patent Eolls, 2 James L, page 38 (Leases made by Sir Walter Ealegh), CXXY. Schedule of Deeds, &c., referred to in the preced- ing Grant (Sale by Sir Walter Ealegh to Eichard Boyle, Esq.). To Dennis Pisher, Gent, the lands of s Anno Domini. Lisnobryne, the Parsons close money Av- lands garden Forgepool and other lands, . To Will Eoche Pitz Gerrit, Gent. 39" of 1588. To Guy Toosc of London, skinner, two | 25 Peb. ploughlands and other lands, . . . . f 31*' Eliz, 1589. 1589. ( 40 ) To John Barbisher of London, Merchant, Anno Domini, the two ploughlands and townships of ' 27 Peb. Templevaheigh and Corowglasse, with I 31'* Eliz. 1589. other lands, . ^ To Dennis Fisher, Gent., 400^ of land ^ 28 Feb. with other lands, J 30'^ Eliz. 1588. To Eobert Balfe, Esq., "Whites Island ^ 8 May, and 4 Plowlands, • .J 1591 1591^ To John Pearte, the two Ploughlands of '2 Oct Pallymachonock and Kilfenton in Fee y n I 1589 1589. ± arm lor ever, J To Lechland, Merchant, 400^ in >> ^ ^ Templevally and Curryglasse, in Fee } g^th -^.gg Farm for ever, J r 20 Dec. To Demns Fxsher, 220% { 3^.. ^^.^ ^^^^ To Thomas Salisburie, Gent., 400^ called ) 27 Feb. BaUicolland and Slianykill, i 30*^ Eliz. 1588. To Eichard Croker, a parcel of lands ^ 4 June, called IS'orries land, J 33''^ Eliz. 1591. To Thomas Southwell, Esq., all his seig- ^ nories, lands and tenements, in Cork and 1 27 May, "Waterford co'. and elsewhere in Ireland I 40''' Eliz. 1598. with other lands and things, ... .J To Thomas Bouck, or Bonck, Gent., a ^ 3 June, close called Firgillen, and 400% . . .J 30 Eliz. 1588. To John Cleaver, Gent., a plowland called -| 21 July, Covlid-clofyma, and other lands, . . . / 30*'' Eliz. 1588. To Eoger Suyvener, merchant, the town- 26 D ship or plowland of Ballygarran and other I ' , , I o7 Eliz. 1594. lands, J To John Wolcott, Gent., a plowland \ 3 Apr. called Kilwattermore, and other lands, .f 3P*Ehz. 1589. To Henry Moyle, Esq., the Castle and ) 29 Aug. town of Ballymarten and other lands, . i 31'* Eliz. 1589. To Thomas Colthurst, Gent., the castle ^ 8 Sep. and manor of Shane, and other lands, . J 31 Eliz. 1589.- ( 41 ) To Philip Pitz William Gibbon, Gent., ->j Anno Domini. the plowland of Culbe^an, and all lands V -r^,. , , , , . I 38 Ehz. 1596. thereunto belong-ins;, J To Samuel Cowley, Gent., the plowland 4 Dec. called Tertulenmore, and other lands, . . / 37*^ Eliz. 1595. To Eobert Sawle, Esq., the castle, ha- g -jj-^^ rony, and manor of Inchequyne, and other ^ i^^i 1591 lands, ^ To Thomas A. Gangah, the plowland ^ ^ ^c^- called Corkcocktrayne, / 1^89 1589. To John Johnsone, the plowland called 1 ^ ^^P- Collycronaghe, or the Surgeon's plowland, J 1589 1589. To Hugh Eobert, a plowland a half of >j mountain ground called Knockenegepa, )► 1589? and Bahanoeland, J To Robert Mawle, Gent., the castle and 1 Sep. lands of Ballinetra, and of the Claron, . J 31 Eliz. 1589. To Capt. Maryes, the castle, lands, and ] g-j^ -gj^- 1589? town of Stroncallye, / To John Coxe, one parcel of land called Garrigera, j To Andrew Colthurste, the Castle of^ Lyffynny and the decayed towne of Tol- V 1589? lowe, and other lands, J To Henry Pine, the castle of Mogilla, ^ 10 Mar. and other lands, J 34 Eliz. 1592. To Eichard Croker, the half plowland ^ 20 May, called New Aughundan, / 33 Eliz. 1591. To Eobert Caroe, Gent., the weirs and Samon fishing of Lismorc, . . . , . To Eobert Caroe, the mill and mill- ^ 31 Jan. Btream of Lismore, and 200* Eng. . . . / 34 Eliz. 1592. To Eaafo Boato, Gent., the castle and 3 ^ 1^99? plowlands of Lismorc, and other lands, . / ' town, and mill of Mochollppc, and other \ ^ lands, J 1589? } j 31 Eliz. 1589? To George Conycrs, Gent., the casth', ?y\ n'vA. 1592. ( 42 ) No. yiii. The Castle of Inchiquin. The Old Countess of Desmond having resided in this castle, proba- bly from. 1529, when her husband became Earl, and certainly from 1534, when, as his widow, it became part of her jointure, until her death in 1604, a period of seventy, or possibly seventy-five years, has invested its ruins with a very peculiar interest, as connected with her patriarchal longevity. And, when visited, its circular form and massive walls in- crease that interest, as leading to the belief that it was of early Anglo- Norman erection. When at I^enagh (county of Tipperary), I visited the castle called King John's ; it has a circular keep, with walls of enormous thickness, of all which I made accurate measurements, now not forthcom- ing. Mr. Windele, in his admirable Guide to the South of Ireland," edition 1846, page 380, on the subject of castles in England, says — ''Cir- cular castles were also much in use here, in the reign of John (12th century) ; those of I^enagh, Eathurless, and Drombane, in the Co. of Tipperary, Dundrum (Co. Down), and another between Gort and Kil- macduagh (Co. Galway), are round ; so are those of Carrigarick and Inchiquin, county of Cork, and Kilfinan, in Limerick." The learned historian of Youghal, my valued friend, the Eev. Samuel Hayman, states: — ''In the distribution of land, Henry II. granted the Kingdom of Cork to Milo de Cogan, and Eobert Eitz Stephen. The two grantees in 1180 divided their portion, and Eitz Stephen's share was the three eastern cantreds, including the fertile district of Imokilly, of which Inchiquin was a subdenomination. Eitz Stephen conveyed to Maurice Eitz Gerald a moiety of the estates which he had received from the King ; with other lands came the manors of Yoghil and Inchiquin, the latter to be holden of him and his heirs at IOO5., when the legal ser- vice is proclaimed. Maurice Eitz Gerald's grandson, another Maurice Eitz Gerald, was the founder, in 1224, of the Eranciscan Eriary of Yoghill (or Youghal) ; and his son, Maurice Eitz Maurice, married Emmeline Longespee." The Eev. Mr. Hayman lately extracted from the Eolls three docu- ments relating to Inchiquin during the reigns of Edward I., IL, and III., ( 43 ) and, with a liberality which I should be glad I could return, sent them to nie, desiring I would make any use of them I pleased. I have availed myself of his kindness, to make extracts from each. The first shows the transfer of Inchiquin from the Yitz Geralds to the De Clares. The second is highly interesting to our subject (the Castle), establishing, that in 1322 it was in existence, in the form which its present remains present to us — a round tower, built of stone." The third roll states the continued existence of the tower. And we have the testimony of Sir Walter Halegh, that in 1589 it was occupied by the Old Countess of Desmond. My good friend, Mr. Windele, being lately at Youghal, to oblige and assist me went to Inchiquin, and made a survey of its present state, that will follow ; since which I sent a very talented young artist, Mr. Augustine O'Leary, to Inchiquin, Avhose able and characteristic drawing will illustrate Mr. Windele's description. The question arises, when, and by whom, was the castle built ? I think most probably by Maurice Fitz Gerald, to whom the first l^orman owner of the land, Eitz Stephen, conveyed it. If the latter had erected it for the command of the country, it seems unlikely that he would have parted with that portion of his territory ; while it seems equally proba- ble that ritz Gerald, having obtained his footing in the land, would en- deavour to secure it by erecting this fortress ; and its form, round, is in conformity with those known to have been erected by the IN'orman in- vaders, with which also its massy walls accord. The long interval be- tween these round castles and any remaining square-built suggests, in connexion with ''the ancient Towers of Ireland," the period of whose existence was lost in the mist of ages when Henry II. came over, the superior durability of that form to any other, by its present- ing no spot on which wind or rain can obtain a moment's hold ; strike where it may, there is an inclination to the right and to the left, which carries off its utmost iurj, powerless in itself, harmless to the assailed. And, in adopting this principle of the olden time, Smeaton has secured to his Eddy stone Lighthouse a length of existence to be hereafter deter- mined. ''IJsc. 20 Mw. /., M. 1 1 7, Membr. ''Kw. 20 Julw. I., No. 1 1 7, Membr. 3 (1291-02). 3 (1291-92). " Hjjcc est finalis concordia facta " This is a final agreement made in r uria domini llogis npiid Cork in the Court of our I^ord the King ( 44 ) a die Sancti Hillarii in quinque, septimo anno regni Eegis Edwardi filii Regis Henrici tertio coram Eicardo de Exon, Henrico de Sut- tone Pwicardo de IS'orthamton et Waltero de la Haye, Justiciaries, itinerantibus et aliis ipsius domini Eegis fidelibus ibidem tunc pre- sentibus, inter Thomam de Clare querentem et Mauricium filium Mauricii impedientem de Manerio de Incheceyng et villa de le Yochyl cum pertinentiis unde placituni "Warrantiae cartse summonitum fuit in eadem curia, scilicet, quod pre- dictus Mauritius recognovit pre- dicta manerum et villam cum per- tinentiis esse jus ipsius Thomae ut ilia quae idem Thomas babuit de dono predicti Mauritii et ilia Wa- rantizavit in eadem curia, et prohac recognitione warranti, finag et con- cordiae. Idem Thomas concessit predicto Mauritio predicta mane- rum et villam cum pertinentiis habendum et tenendum eidem Mau- ritio et heredibus masculini sexus de corpore suo legittime procreatis. Et post mortem ipsius Mauritii sine herede masculini sexus de corpora suo legittime procreato, predicta manerum et villa cum pertinentiis integre revertarentur ad predictum Thomam et heredes de corpore suo et Juliana uxori suo procreates, Et si predictus Thomas obierit sine at Cork in live days from the day of Saint Hilary'''' in the seventh year of the reign of King Edward, son of King Henry III. before Richard De Exeter, Henry De Sut- tone, Eichard De i^orthamton, and Walter De La Haye, Itinerant Jus- tices, and other faithful subjects of our Lord the King, then there pre- sent. Between Thomas De Clare, plaintiff, and Maurice, son of Mau- rice, defendant, concerning the manor of Incheceyng, and the town of Yochyl, with the appurtenances; w^hereof a plea of warranty of Char- ter was summoned between them in the same Court, scilicet that the aforesaid Maurice acknowledged the said manor and town with the appurtenances to be the right of Thomas himself, as of the things which said Thomas held of the gift of said Maurice, and these things he warranted to him in the same Court. And by the acknow- ledgment of Warranty, fine, and agreement, the same Thomas grant- ed to said Maurice the said manor and town, with the appurtenances, to have and to hold to the said Maurice, and the heirs of his body of the male sex, lawfully begotten. And after the death of Maurice without male heirs, &c., said ma- nor and town, &c,, shall entirely revert to said Thomas and the * 1279. ( 45 ) herede de corpore siio et de pre- heirs begotten of his body, and dicta Juliana procreato, predicta Juliana his wife. And if the said maneriim et yillam cum pertinen- Thomas shall die, without heirs of tiis revertarentur ad heredes ipsius his body, and Juliana his wife, Maiuitii quiete de aliis heredibus said manor, &c., shall revert to the ipsius Thomffi in perpetuum Et heirs of said ^^laurice quietly, from preterea Idem Alauritius dedit pre- the other heii^s of said Thomas for dicto Thomse unum accipitrem ever ; and, moreover, the same sorum. Maurice gave the said Thomas, one Soar Hawk. ^'Geraldus filiusMauritiiper Jo- " Giraldus, son of Mauiice, by hannem de Ponthendon attornatum John De Ponthendon, his attorney, simm prime die Marcii anno regni on the first day of March, 14th regis Edwardi xiiii. posuit cla- year^'' of the reign of King Edward, men sum in predictio manerio et laid down his claim, to the fore- villa cum pertinentiis." said manor and town, with the ap- purtenances." ^' Among the records in the custody of the Master of the Polls, de- posited in the Public Eecord Office, to wit. Inquisitions Post-Mortem, 14 Edward II., I^o. 37, it is thus contained" (A. D. 1321-22) :— "Inquisition taken at Inchecoyn, before John de Duiford, Escaetor of Ireland, Eriday next before the feast of Pentecost, in the fourteenth year of the reign of King Edward, son of King Edward, by virtue of a breve of the same Lord King of England, viz. How much land Thomas, son and heir of Eichard de Clare, died seized of ; (how much) he held from the King himself in capite, at Inchecoyn, and le Yoghel ; how he was seized in demesne, &c. ; on what day he died ; and how much he held from others, and by what service, &c. ; how much the lands may be worth yearly, in all issues, according to their true value by extent ; and who maybe his next heir, of what age; by the subscribed." (Sixteen signatures.) After going through a great extent of property held by various par- tics, the jurors arrive at the Castle of Inchccoyne, which we find was then part of the dowry of a widow. Lodge states that her husband. Sir Gerald Eitz Morice, died A.D. 1286; consequently, Ernilina liad t}i(;n enjoyed the jointure thirty-six years ; how many years she subsequently * 128G. ( 46 ) held possession, I am not at present aware ; but, remembering that our Old Countess Kathrin held Inchiquin as her jointure seventy years, the air of Inchiquin seems to have been favourable to the longevity of widows quartered on it. ''Extenta terrarum et tenementorum quae Emilina quae fuit uxor Mauritii filii Mauritii tenet in manerio et villa predicta, facta die pre- dicto, coram dicto, per juratores predictos, qui dicunt super sacramen- tum suum quod dicta Emelina tenet in do tern capitalem locum messuagii dicti manerii, in quo est turris lapidea rotunda, absque edeficio et juxta turrem, est qusedam aula lignea, nova, cum duabus cameris, et coquina ligneis, co-operta palea. Est ibidem pistrinum ligneum cum furno dis- co-opertum. Sunt eciam duo gardina, que valent per annum, duos so- lidos." Extent^' of the lands and tenements which Emelina, who was the wife of Maurice, son of Maurice, holds in the manor (Inchecoyne) and town (Yoghel), aforesaid, made on same day, before said Escaetor by the aforesaid jury, who say on oath, that said Emelina holds in dowry the chief place of the messuage of said manor in which is a round\ tower built of stone, without an edifice ; and near the tower is a certain court constructed of wood, new, with two chambers, and a kitchen wooden, covered with straw. There is likewise a wooden bakehouse with an oven, uncovered. There are also two gardens, worth yearly two shil- lings,"§ &c. &c. The jurors thus return the value of the widow's holdings : — Sum total of Emelina's part : 60 pounds, 9 shillings, 3 pence ; 1 pound of wax, and 1 pound of cummin." The inquisition closes with the finding as to who may be his (Thomas's) next heir, and of what age ?" And the foresaid jury say, that Margaret, wife of Bartholomew De Badelesmer, and Matill, wife of Eobert De Welle, sisters of said llichard De Clare, are next heirs of Thomas, son and heir of said Richard, and are of full age." The Castle of Inchiquin is again noticed in the Inquisition held at * Survey. f i. e. The Keep. % Mansion House. § The description here supplied is exceedingly interesting. It vividly depictures a feudal habitation, as in Anno Dom. 1321. The above notes were supplied by the Rev. S. Haymau. \_To face paye 47.] TRANSMISSION OF THE MANORS OF INCHIQUIN AND YOUGHAL FROM THE GERALDINES TO THE CLARES, B ADELESMERES, TIPTOFTS, &c. [1277-1371.] Compiled by the Rev. Samuel Hayman, B. A. Maurice fitz Maurice, third Baron Offaley, lord justice of Ireland, 1272-73 ; died at New Boss in 1277. ( Vide P. M. Inqui- sition, 1292.) Gerald fitz Maurice Oge, fourth Baron Ofi^aley ; mortally wounded in battle with O'Brien, prince of Thomond, A. D. 1287. He died un- married. ( Vide Lodge, 2nd edit. vol. ii. p. 20, also Innisfallen Annals.) Emelina de Longespee, dau. and heir of Stephen de Longespee. She possessed of the issues of Inchecoyn and Yoghil £60 9«. ?,d. per annum, and the presen- tation to the Church, &c. &c. (P. M. Inquisition, 1321-22.) Mabel, d. unm., having made her cousin, John, first Earl of Kildare, her heir. Juliana, heiress to ■ her brother. She conveyed the ma- nors of Inchequin and Toughal. Lord Thomas de Clare, younger son of Richard de Clare, sixth Earl of Hert- ford. Slain, in 1287, in the same battle in which his brother-in-law was mortally wounded. Post Mortem Inquisition taken at Youghal, 16 Edw. I. [1288], respecting his lands at Inchecoyn and Yochil. Another like In- quisition taken at Inchecoyn, 14 Edw. II. [1321-22]. iabella .... received for her dower, of the issues of Inchecoyn and Yoghil, £32 13s. 8rf. per annum (In- quisition, 1321-22). Gilbert de Clare, Richard de Clare ■■ he d. s.p. died in vita pa- Joan .... received for her dower, of the issues of the manors of In- checoyn and Yoghil, £20 12*. \\d. per annum (Inquisition, 1321-22). See further grants on her husband's death (Inqui- sition, 22 Edw. III.). Thomas de Clare, d. s.p. Margaret de Clare co-heiress. She received the ma- nors of Inche- coyn and Yoghil. Thomas de Clare = Joan, son and heir. Giles, second Lord de Badelesmere : summoned to Parliament in 133C and 1337, d.s.p. in 1338. Elizabeth, daughter of William deMon- tacute. Earl of Sa- lisbury. I I I Margery, b. in 1306 ; m. first to William Roos of Hamlake, and had issue ; secondly, to Thomas, Lord Arundel. Maud, m. first to Robert fitz Payn ; and secondly, to John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. (Her seal is described in the Kilkenny Transactions, vol. iii; p. 130.) Elizabeth, m. first to Edmund de Mortimer, Earl of March ; and secondly, to William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton. Bartholomew de Badelesmere, executed for treason in 1322 Maud de == Robert de Clifford, Clare, slain at Bannock- co-heiress, burn. Margaret, with ■ whom passed the manors of Inchecoyn and Yoghil. Sir John Tiptoft, Lord Tibetot. He died in 1367. Robert de Tiptoft, son and heir, possessor of the pianors of Inchecoyn and Yoghil. These he conveyed to John de Harkyn, King's Sergeant, 43 Ed- ward III. ; and the latter demised them to James, Earl of Ormond, and Elizabeth his wife. This latter conveyance was confirmed by King Ed- ward IIL, Nov. 15, 1371. Sir Pain de Tibetot, from whom the Earls of Wor- cester of this family de- scended. ( 47 ) le Yogliill before Eoger Darcy, Eschaetor of our Lord the King in Ire- land, 12 May, in the 22nd year of the reign of King Edward III., after the Conquest" (A.D. 1348):— Inquisition post-mortem 22 Ed'w. III. ■'Qui dicunt super sacramen- tum suum quod Egidius de Bade- lesmere tenuit in dominico suo ut de feodo die quo obiit Castrum et Manerium de Inchecojm cum jDer- tinentiis simul cum quibusdam red- ditibus diver sorum burgagium in Yilla de Yoghill cum pertinentiis predicto Castro et manerio perti- nentia in Comitatu de Cork de do- mino Eege in capite per servitium unius baronii et dicunt quod est apud Inchecoyn una turris lapidea quae nil valet infra muros quod in- diget magna reparatione. Item est ibidem una aula et unum stabu- lum quae valet per annum in allo- catione denarios ultra reprisis." Inquisition post-mortem 22 Edw, III " "Who say on oath, that Egidius de Eadelesmere held in his de- mesne as of fee, the day on which he died, the Castle and Manor of Inchecoyn with the appurtenances with certain rents of different dwelling houses in the town of Yoghill, with the appurtenances appertaining to the said Castle and Manor in the county of Cork, from the Lord the King in capite by the service of one barony; and they say that there is at Inchecoyn one tower built of stone, which is worth nothing; below the walls, which requires great repairs ; there is likewise one court and one stable, worth yearly 6 pence, in exchange, without reprisals." From the voluminous collection of MSS. of the Eev. Samuel Hayman I select a few more notices of Inchiquiu : — A. D. 1312. — Emelyn de Loungespeye, by Eoger de Eudham, sued Hamon le Elound, Yicar of Youghel, Simon Kenefcg (and others) for debt (Eot. Mem. 5 Edward II.), apparently for rents and issues of In- chiquin and Youghal. A. D. 1370. — Eobcrt Tibctot conveyed Inchccoync to John de Harkyn, who the same year conveyed it to James, Earl of Ormond (Eot. Claus 43. Edward III., Mem. 32). A. D. 1414. — The King granted James le Boiillcr, Earl of Ormonde two parts of the issues and profits (with others) of tlie barony of Inclii- coigno, so long as the said two parts sliall I'cuiaiu in llie King's liands (Rot. Pat. 2 llonry ^^). ( 48 ) A. D. 1420. — James, 7th Eaii of Desmond, constituted for life, by James, 3rd Earl of Ormond, the Lord Lieut. Seneschal of Imokilly, In- chicoin, and Youghal (Cox). Ao D. 1443. — James, 7th Earl of Desmond, considerably increased his possessions in the county of Cork at this time, and now obtained a patent for the government and custody of the counties of Cork, "Water- ford, Limerick, and Kerry. It was probably at this time that the Manors of Inchiquin and Youghal, and neighbouring districts, passed into the complete possession of the Geraldines, with whom they re- mained until the attainder of Gerald, 1 6th Earl, the unhappy rebel, who was slain by Daniel Kelly, the 11th of T^ovember, 1583. ''II^^CHIQUIlSr CASTLE. About two miles and a half east of Killeagh, and five miles west of Youghal, stand the ruins of Inchiquin Castle {Inch a Caoin, the pleasant or agreeable Inch, i. e. low lying meadow land beside a river). Smith says (vol. i. p. 124), it formerly belonged to the house of Ormond, and was a distinct barony in itself. I found that a portion of the ground or district between the Castle and the sea is still called ' the Barony.' It stands on the left bank of a tidal stream, and a short distance from Inchiquin, the residence of Mr. Robert Hall, a gentleman farmer. The Castle is environed by the houses of an amphibious race of cottier labourers and fishermen, which do not add to the picturesqueness of its character. It is an extremely massive structure, circular in form, about thirty feet in height, and rather deficient in architectural details; all vestiges of its outworks have disappeared. Its walls are of great thickness, measuring eleven feet two inches ; nevertheless they have yielded to time and wanton injury at the south side, facing the water, where the door once had been, that whole side having disappeared ; and adjacent to it, at the south-west, where a staircase had been, a huge rent now runs along the whole wall : your staircase forms always the weak points in castellation. The diameter of the enclosed area is thirty-three feet. " The interior was originally. vaulted at about one-third of its height, but the arch and its floor are now gone. The basement was lit by three small oblong lights, deeply splayed inwards ; judging from one only remaining perfect, the ope for admis- ( 49 ) sion of light was only three feet in height, hy one in width. The upper floor was lit by two windows of larger size, but equally splayed. The fireplace is gone, but its place in the west wall is marked ; the upper head of this chamber was rudely corniced and supported by unsculptured corbels — one of these only remains. John "Windele. ''August 31, 1862." D THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND. WHEN WAS THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND MARRIED? In my boy days, the Knight of Kerry lent his celebrated portrait, then believed to be that of the Old Countess of Desmond, to be engraved in Cork, by Grogan, for Pelham's intended History of Kerry; and the painting being confided to Mr. Barrett, a friend of mine, I had the op- portunity of seeing it, and became interested for life in all that con- cerned this noble and venerable lady, and, Avhen thinking of her to this day, this portrait still embodies her to my mind. Mr. "Weller, the elder, had not then cautioned the unmarried against widows, as dan- gerous persons to have any connexion with ; but I have experienced the truth of his warning, even when the widow had been for more than two centuries and a half reposing in the quiet silence of her tomb. Some thirty years subsequent to my pictorial attachment, I made an anxious but unsuccessful effort to clear up some of the obscurity that hung around her history. This attempt, a few years since, was very unne- cessarily and erroneously attacked in a Paper, read before the Eo57^al Irish Academy, and published by the writer, whose literary distinction, giving great weight to his statements, required me to make a fresh effort in my own defence, and on behalf of the Old Countess of Desmond. The Ptoyal Irish Academy had the kindness to allow my " Inquiry, did she ever seek Redress at the Court of Queen Elizabeth ; and did she ever sit for her Portrait ?" to be read before ihvm ; and further honoured me by I^rinting the Paper in their ''Proceedings;" encouraged by which, I printed it separately for my English friends more particularly, who other- wise were not likely to meet witli it. I may say that the documentary evidence bronglit forward wns ronsiderf>d decisive against t)io E.arl oC 2 i> ( 52 ) LeycGster's gossip of the Countess ever having been disturbed in the occupation of Inchiquin Castle and her jointure lands ; and if any doubt lingered, as to any of the so-called portraits of the Old Countess of Des- mond having any claim to originality, that doubt was dissipated by some gentlemen of high literary station, unwilling to suppose that we had no personal reminiscence of the Old Coimtess, who applied to the possessors of all the known paintings, purporting to be portraits of her, to intrust them for exhibition at the l^ational Portrait Gallery, in London, and by sight or by information, all became known ; but I was informed ''that the apple of originality had not been adjudged to any one of the pre- tenders," and this has been subsequently announced in the ''ITotes and Queries" of the 14th June, 186^, where John GoughMchols, Esq.,P.S.A., brands them, one and all, as fabrications. As decisive of the spurious- ness of all the known paintings, assuming to be portraits of the Old Countess of Desmond, I have reprinted Mr. Mchols' paper, with some additional information which I had obtained. So far, so good, Mr. "W^eUer, senior, notwithstanding; for if the Avidow had involved me in much labour and some outlay of pence, was I not repaid, in clearing up a question which has engaged the thoughts and the pens of the noble and the literary from the days of Horace "Walpole to our own ? Yet the sagacious old coachman was right ; widows, living or deceased, are dangerous subjects with whom to be connected ; and while I was reposing, with a certain amount of self-sa- tisfaction, after my successful championship of the ''unprotected fe- male," the Earl of Kildare, in prosecuting family inquiries among the MSS. in the British Museum, discovered that one of his ancestors, in the reign of Henry YII., had granted lease of land to Gilis Js'y Cormyk, the first wife of Thomas, thirteenth Earl of Desmond, to whom, as Sir Walter Ealegh has informed us, our Countess was man^ied in the reign of Edward IV., who died A. D. 1483, twenty-two years before the date of this document, A. D. 1505. Erom the rental of the ninth Earl of Kildare, Harleian MS. 3756, folio 4 : — " An Indent ar from Gerald fitz Thomas Erll of Kildar, vnto Gilis ISTy Cormyk, wife to S' Thomas of Desmond, vpon Corbynne, in the Countie of Cork, for terme of V yeres, paing yerely at Mychelmas % Ester xxvis. viiid. sterling, and that the said Gilis shall not wast the woods. Dated the ix day of June, a" xx. H. vii'"\" ( 53 ) The discovery of this document was at first misunderstood, as being dated the 20th year of Henry VIII.'s reign ; but the error was corrected by a communication from the Earl of Kildare to ^Totes and Queries," of the 10th May, 1862, and his Lordship subsequently published a fac simile engraving of the MS. in the Kilkenny Archaeological Journal, which I have copied. A new Desmond question was thus opened in various publications, in which the writers demonstrated, to their own satisfaction, that the Old Countess of Desmond has been from the days of Ealegh and Moryson an arrant humbug, and in fact never was an woman at all, at all." ''As to the Countess's extreme longevity, it appears to have been much overrated. It is ascertained that she was a bride and a mother (for she gave birth to a daughter, Katherine, wife of Philip Barry Oge) late in the reign of Henry YIII. (admitted on Lord Kildare' s commu- nication to be Henry YIL), instead of Edward lY., we must certainly deduct largely from her reputed years ; it is more likely that they were 104 than 140. This Giles or Shela (Ny Cormyk) is known to have been the grandmother of James, who succeeded her husband in the earldom in 1534, and therefore must have continued the wife of Sir Thomas of Desmond, afterwards Earl Thomas the Bald, during the greater part of his life." ]^otes and Queries," April 19, 1862.) Substantially our writers assert, that Countess Kathrin could not have been married sooner than A. D. 1505, when, on Eynes Moryson's authority, she would have been about 41 years of age, a period of life inconsistent with her being a mother, which there is no doubt she was, and therefore she must have been even at that time a much younger woman. I shall first dispose of the last position by showing, on undoubted authority, that if Gilis Ny Cormyk had lived to the close of her lease of Corbynne, A. D. 1510, and our Countess had not married until then, when she would, as I believe, have been at least 46, she might, and for years after, have been '' a joyful mother of children." I reprint from " The Times," 13th February, 1862 :— ''Vital Statistics. — A new volume, issued by the Kcgistrar-Gencral of Scotland, gives the result of some inquiries upon several subjects of much interest. One among them is the fruitfulncss of marriages. Tlic usual mode of calculating is by observing the jji-oportion of Icgitiinnlc ( 54 ) children in a year to the year's marriages ; that proportion in Scotland^ in the year under review, was considerably greater than in England or in France, and it is thought probable that the married Scottish woman is more proMc than the English or the Erench. But an attempt has been made to ascertain the fruitfulness of every fruitful marriage. In Edin- burgh the women who bore children in 1855 had borne altogether, upon an average, 3*7 children, and in Glasgow the proportion was 3*8; the largeness of the numbers in these cities gives the calculation a value much beyond that of any similar statistics hitherto published. So far as may be infen^ed from the returns at present obtained, it appears that the proportion of unfraitful marriages increases with a higher rank in life, and is probably less in Scotland than in England, Some curious facts came out in preparing the Glasgow table. One mother who was only 18 had 4 children, one who was 22 had 7 children, and of 2 who were only 34 the one had 13 and the other 14 children ; and, on the other hand, 2 women hecame mothers as late in life as at 51, 4 at 52, and one mother ivas registered as having given lirth to a child in the blth year of her age. Another subject to which attention is called is the conspicuous proof upon these registers of the less waste of female life than of male ; at every age, taking quinquennial periods up to 20, and then decennial^ the proportional mortahty among women in Scotland is less than that of men. There being no account of religious profession in the Scotch cen- sus, it is worthy of notice that in Scotland in 1 856, of which the records are here furnished, out of every 100 marriages 47 were celebrated by clergjTnen of the Established Church of Scotland, 22 by the Free Church, 14 by the United Presbyterian (so commonly called the TJ. P.) Chui^ch, 9 by the Eoman Catholic Church, not quite 2 by the Episcopal Church ; and these numbers are considered roughly to indicate the pro- portion of the population attached to each denomination. In elementary education Scotland is ahead of England ; 88 per cent, of the men mar- ried, and 76 per cent, of the women, were able to sign the register in 1856. It is calculated that in that year, in addition to the emigration beyond seas, a number as large — about 13,000 — must have left Scotland for England and Ireland. Our northern neighbour sends us in this emigration many cool, clear heads ; she can boast and prove by tables and returns that brain diseases are very much less prevalent and fatal in Scotland than in England — a fact of which it would be interesting to know the cause. The inhabitants of towns in Scotland, it appears, are ( 55 ) cut off by tubercular diseases in twice the proportion of those in the country — a circumstance \s'hich seems to favour the doctrine, that they are diseases of debility and imperfect assimilation. Of the excessive mortality of towns beyond that of the rural districts, nearly half occurs among infants under five year's old. AYithout pursuing these topics further, we must notice that the volume does not close without a word for whiskey, ' the natural drink of Scotland,' as beer is that of England. In the year of which we are speaking, liver diseases cut off the English in the proportion of 34 in every 100,000 persons, and 35 in the previous year ; while the Scotch were struck down in the proportion of only 26 in the one year, and 27 in the other. It is suggested that farther ob- servations should be made ; and that, if they have the same result. Chan- cellors of the Exchequer should lay these things to heart, and not be so ready to favour the consumption of beer and light wines to the prejudice of that which, after all, may prove to be a better beverage." !N'o person will call in question the authenticity of a publication by the Eegistrar- General of Scotland, by which we are informed that in the city of Glasgow, in or about the year 1855, seven women, of the respective ages of 51, 52, and 57, gave birth to children. At the age of 57 our old Countess, therefore, might have given birth to her daughter Katherine, in A. D. 1521, say sixteen years later than the lease of CorbjTme to Gilis l^j Cormyk, A. D. 1505. This evidence fi'om the Eegistrar- General of Scotland, I contend, puts the Plea" raised by the opponents of the Countess's venerability, that her age, A. D. 1505, consistent with being a mother, was inconsis- tent with her age being 140 when she died, A. D. 1604, at once " out of coiirf Surely no one can doubt, considering the family and position of our Countess, that she must, at least, have been as well, if not much better, provided throughout her lifetime with all the physical requisites (meat, drink, clothing, and habitation) that conduce to creating and sustaining health and strength of constitution, as any female resident of our days can be in the populous and manufacturing city of Glasgow. Eut we may reasonably infer that the Countess had from nature a stamina of most unusual strength, that enabled her in her last years, whether 140 or 104, under no necessity but of her own good-will and pleasure, to M'alk from her castle of Inchifjuin to Yougbal, five miles distiiiil , and l)ack iigaiii the same d.-iy. It will be observed that tlic rc;^i^lrar lays inucji b>(rcss ( 56 ) on the superior health that " whiskey, the natural drink of Scotland," creates, than beer, the usual drink of England. This conducive to ''superior health" the Countess no doubt equally had the benefit of. Usquebaugh, a mild, pleasant spirit (as I considered it in my boy days, when it frequently appeared at table), was the general ''tipple" of the good old times, as witness *' the Feast of O'Eourke" : — " Usqnebaugh to our feast In pails was brought up, A hundred at least, And a madder* our cup." I must say that I am disposed to consider Irish whiskey to be quite as conducive to health and long life as Scotch whiskey possibly can be, I remember Jack Donovan, who lived near us ; he was a carrier, occu- pied during the day by his business in Cork, and he never returned home in the evening but that the road was too narrow for him» Talk- ing one day with a countryman, he referred thus to Jack's potations : " As to Jack Donovan, if he was to drink a cup of cold water^ you would hear it hiss in his throat." I was much struck with the Oriental style in which another person was characterized : " I^ow, there's Pat Callaghan, Sir, and he has a license from the king to shoot any man that he meets prouder than himself." But for condensed bitterness, I shall not easily forget the answer of a young countrywoman on being asked what was thought of a gentleman residing in her neighbourhood ; her very handsome face darkened in scorn : " What do I think of Mr. Browne ? Why, Sir, he would shave a louse for his beard." A lady residing at Ballyvolane, in the North Liberties of the city of Cork, mentioning to me that a woman residing at Eathcooney, further up the country, was a mother, having been long married and advanced in life, I wrote the following queries, which were read to Mrs. Eiordon this day, July 27, 1863, and her answers filled in opposite : — Queries. Answers. Kame of the mother. " Johanna Eiordon. How many years had she been " She was married twenty years married before her daughter was before her child was born, born ? * A wooden drinking vessel, square in form, with two handles to it : a round one with one handle is still in use. ( 61 ) How old was she then ? Was this her first child ? Is she now living (this A. D. 1863), and what is her name ? " She was 47 years old. " It was her first and only child. " She is living ; Bessy Riordon ; twenty years old ; and was married last Shrovetide to Pat Hanlon." The Countess Kathrin, being horn, as we believe, A. D. 1464, would have been 47 years old, A. D. 1511 ; say six years after the lease of Corbynne, A. D. 1505. A medical friend has assisted me with another instance : a lady, in the county of Cork, married at the age of 45, and had a first and only child ten years afterwards, a daughter, and the young lady is now living. The Countess of Desmond would have been 55 in the year 1519, say 14 years after the lease of Corbynne, A. D. 1505. Having thus met the would-be shearers of the Countess's grey locks on their own ground, I shall now argue the question from my own point of view, and uphold its entire integrity as maintained in my for- mer " Inquiry.'* The contemporary historians, if I may so express myself, of her ex- traordinary longevity are Sir Walter Ealegh and Pynes Moryson. From Sir Walter Ealegh's " History of the World," book i., chap, v., sec. 5, folio edition, 1614. p. 66: — " I myself knew the Countess of Desmond of Inchiquinin Munster, who lived in the year 1589, and many years since, who was marryedin Edward lY.'s time, and held her jointure from all the Earls of Desmond since then ; and that this is true all the noblemen and gentlemen of Munster can witnesse." Eefore entering farther on our subject I think it material to notice that section 5 is Of the long lives of the Patriarchs, and some of late memory. Having discussed the former question. Sir Walter comes down to the comparatively modern times, and refers to Pliny's state- ment of ages that were returned under a taxation, in the reign of Ves- pasian:— ''54 aged 100, 57 aged 110, 2 aged 125, 4 aged 130, 4 aged 135 and 137, and last of all 3 men of 140 ;" and then, noticing the re- lations of various writers to 1517, he finally gives the statement respecting the Countess of Desmond on his own personal kmnvledge. Surely bringing forward this instance of remarkable old .'ige in lh;il, jiortion of" " A History of the Worhl," treating of old nge, from Ad.'ini ( 58 ) down to the time of his writing, in which, on his own personal know- ledge, and for which therefore he stakes his authority and veracity, he instances the Countess of Desmond as a modem, extraordinary instance of old age, we are hound to receive his testimony with the credibility which his position in society, his means of knowing what he stated, and the subject for which he brought it forward, combine to invest it. And we have further to remember that this work was not written in the hurry and bustle of life, but in the hopeless solitude of his prison, in the Tower of London, from which, at the end of fifteen years, he was re- leased by the axe of the headsman — one of the many dark stains on the memory of King James I. : previous to which, however, his History of the World" was published by " Walter Burre ; and are to be sold at his Shop in Paul's Church Yard, at the sign of the Crane, 1614." I have a similar edition, also by Walter Burre, 1617; and Mr. Lindsay has another, published by Walter Burre, 1621. As Sir Walter was not (legally) murdered until 29th October, 1618, we know that two editions at least of his work were published in his lifetime ; the first edition, 1614, being published only ten years after the death of the Countess, 1604, when there must have been abundant means of contradicting Sir Walter's statement, had it been unfounded ; and as he lay under the displeasure of the king, we may be sure that all the parasites of James's Court would lose no opportunity of damaging Sir Walter, if a hole could be picked in any statement he had made ; and this of the Countess's great age must have excited much attention, and, as it occurs at an early part of the work, the 66th page of the first book of the first part, it would not escape observation. The records of the Corporation of Youghal inform us that Sir Walter Ealegh was elected Mayor of Youghal, the 29th September, 1588, and re-elected 29th September, 1589, for the year ending the 28th Septem- ber, 1590 ; we have therefore evidence of his being at Youghal at the time he refers to in his book, say 1589. Incliiquin Castle, the residence of the old Countess, ruins of which still exist, being five miles' distance from Youghal, their acquaintance might be expected as a matter of course. A more powerful influence, however, existed, that insured their intimate connexion, a union of interests ; the Countess's jointure was settled on estates forfeited by the rebellion of the 1 6th Earl of Desmond in 1582, and Sir Walter had a grant from the Crown, among others, of the Earl's lands, those on which her jointure rested, subject ( 59 ) to her prior and aclmowledged rights as Dowager Countess of Thomas, 12th Earl of Desmond, who died A. D. 1534. Their joint interests on the Countess's jointure lands must, therefore, have brought them into personal acquaintance ; but there was on each side that which would create a friendly intimacy. To the courtly, philosophic, and inquiring mind of Sir "Walter, the great age of the Countess, her high rank, con- nected as it was with the utter ruin of one of the greatest families in the Irish nobility, would excite interest, consideration, and, we may be- lieve, respectful commiseration. On the part of the Countess, this great statesman and soldier, one of the stars of Queen Elizabeth's Court, ap- pearing in the retired seclusion of Inchiquin Castle, rarely frequented but by the wild kerne of the neighbourhood, must have been as the visit of a denizen of some other planet, fascinating by his manners, and astonishing by his varied and boundless information. All this we are entitled to draw from facts. Sir "Walter says, I myself knew the Old Countess of Desmond," thus asserting a personal acquaintance. In the 'arish Patent Eolls" of James I., page 41, 10th May, 1604, we find a schedule of 33 leases, made by Sir "Walter Ealegh, from his grant of lands that had been the rebel Earl of Desmond's. Of these leases, one, an original counterpart, 20th July, 1588, a second, a copy of another, 1st Eebruary, 1589, are known. In both the rents are to be doubled, with other engagements, "from and after the decease of the Ladie Cattelyn, old Countess Dowager of Desmond, widow and this decease in each lease, it is assumed, wiU occur before the year 1593 — a proof, I might indeed term a legal proof, of the notoriety of the Countess's very unusual old age at that time ; but, Avith the reported perversity of jointured widows, the Ladie Cattelyn held on until 1G04. Combining all these circum- stances — their joint proprietorship in the lands subject to her jointure. Sir "Walter's residence for two years at Youghal, A\ithin five miles' dis- tance from hers at the Castle of Inchiquin, and the interest each would entertain for the other — it is but reasonable to believe that an intimate and imrcserved friendship existed between them ; and that, when Sir Walter states that she was married in Edward IV. 's time," he derived the information from the Countess herself. Sir "Walter Kalegh sold his estates to liichard Eoyle, Esq., by deed, dated 7tli December, 1G02; the Countess died in 1004, when the Castle of lriclii(|uiii, lier residence, of course was tjiken possession of by iAlr. I'oylc, .'iii'l w itli it inosl prohably ils goods, cli;iltcl.s, may )»c iiiaiiv ( 60 ) documentary MSS. relating to the Desmonds, seeing that she was the last of the family ; and having lived unmolested, her Castle may have been the general depositor^*, for safe keeping, of Desmond chiefs, who, by the intervention of the battle-field, the public executioner, or exile, never reclaimed the deposits. The increased rentals on her death would also appear in the yearly accounts, with possibly interesting particulars respecting the Countess. It is much to be wished that the Duke of Devonshire, who now represents the Great Earl of Cork, would have all his Irish MS. records closely examined for whatever relates to the Old Countess, and the great probability^ is that his Grace could give very interesting information. From EynesMoryson, his Ten Yeeres Travel," &c., folio, London, 1617, part ii., bookiii., chap, ii., p. 299, Ireland: — ''Intheyeere 1613, by the entreaty of my Brother Sir Eichard Moryson, I was drawne over againe into Ireland, where we landed the ninth of September, in the Harbour of Youghall." Part iii., book i., chap, iii., page 43, ''Opinions of ^^ations^, Long Life" : — " In our time the Irish Countesse of Desmond lived to the age of about 1 40 yeeres, being able to goe on foote foure or five miles to the Market Towne, and using weekly soe to doe in her last yeeres ; and not many yeeres before she died, she had all her teeth renewed." In the MS. of Sir George Cai-ew, jN'o. 626, in the Lambeth Library, we have this record of the Old Countess : — " Catherine ma : to Thomas Fitz Thomas Er : of Desmond : 3 son to Thomas Er : of Desmond be- headed at Drogheda. She died in ano 1604." It is to be remarked that Sir "Walter Ealegh's and Eynes Moryson's notices of the Countess have not any reference to each other. Sir "Weaker refers to her as an extraordinary instance of longevity, he being personally acquainted with her in 1589, and she having been married in the reign of Edward lY., but he makes no statement of her precise age. And Eynes Moryson, from information obtained at Youghalin 1613, nine years only after her death, states that she lived to the age of about 140 years ; he is, however, silent, and we may presume was uninformed as to when she was married, which was not a question to interest the outside public, though it would an intimate friend with the inquiring nature of Sir Walter Ralegh. It was therefore equally natural that Ealegh should acquire the information, and that Moryson should not have heard of it. ( 61 ) On examination we shall find that these differing independent re- lations give a concurring result as to the age of the Countess : — Sir Walter personally knew her, A. D. 1589 King Edward IV., in whose reign Sir Walter states that she was married, died, A. D. 1483 Which gives an intervening period of ... . 106 years. Presuming that at King Edward lY.'s death her age was only 19 She lived until 1604, which from 1589 was . . 15 „ Her age would have heen . 140 „ Sir George Carew places her death, A. D. 1604 Eynes Moryson states that she lived about ... 140 j^ears Which would give her birth, A. D. 1464 Presuming that when King Edward lY. died her age was only 19 years. We have the year in which King Edward lY. died, A. D. 1483 I submit that this concurring evidence of two contemporaries of the Countess, and published, one only ten years, and the other thirteen years after her death, by persons of the high rank and intelligence of Sir Walter Ealegh and Eynes Moryson, carries a weight that cannot easily be set aside, as to her extraordinary longevity. How, then, are we to account for the lease of Corbynne, granted by the Earl of Kildare, in 1505, to Gilis Ny Cormyk, wife to Sir Thomas of Desmond ? My belief is, that Sir Thomas of Desmond, like other Irish chief- tains of his time and standing, had dismissed his first wife, Gilis IS'y Cormyk, and married his con sin, Kathrin Fitz Gerald of Decies. What may have been the actuating motives, I have no means of ascertaining. But as. Sir Thomas of Desmond comes down to us, represented as a ruthless savage, whose first wife's father, Cormock Ogc Cartie, Lord of Muskerr^', fell beneath liis sword," and who, at the age of 80 years, is reported to Henry YIII., albeit his years re(iiiiic11i ((uietness and rest, y(,'t entendeth he as much trouble as ever did any of his nation." The onh/ discarding one wife, and taking to liiniself another, innst ( 62 ) have been to liim a matter of very trivial consequence. This subject, the laxity of Irish marriages at this period, has been most ably and en- tertainingly illustrated by the writer of the article on the Old Countess of Desmond, in " The Quarterly Eeview" of March, 1853, who, at page 337, informs us, " The punctilio of waiting until the day after the first wife's death was not always observed by the Anglo-Irish nobility. There is an order in the Council Book of Henry VIII. 's time, ' for the captenship of Clanricarde, upon the death of XJlick de Burgo, the first Erie of Clanricarde, during the minoritie of his sonne, and until it were determined who was his lawful heir male, for that he had three married wives at the time of his death.* A subsequent despatch states, it was not known who was the late Lord Ulick's legitimate heir, there had been so many marriages and divorces, but no doubt he married this whoman solemply." In " O'Donoghue's Historical Memoir of the O'Briens:" Dublin, 1860, page 189, we have this farther information of the Earl of Clan- ricard's marriage embroilments : — The affairs of Clanricard, with which the chieftains of the O'Briens had from time immemorial been closely connected, engaged his (Donald's) attention. Ulick na-G-ceann, the first Earl of that title (who died A.D. 1544), having been thrice married, left a numerous progeny ; and his death was the occasion of as much strife between his sons for the succession, as there arose among the O'Briens, in Thomond, on the demise of his contemporary, Morrogh, first Earl of Thomond (A. D. 1 55 1 ) . The first wife of Ulick na-G-ceann was Grany, or Grace, daughter of 0' Carroll, Prince of Ely, who was the mother of his eldest son, Eickard. Erom this lady he parted after some time, and married Honora de Burgh, whom he treated in a like manner. During the lifetime of his first wife he espoused a third lady, Maria Lynch, by whom he had a son, John, who disputed the succession with Eickard, his eldest brother, on the ground that the mother of the latter had been married to a former husband, O'Melaghlin, who was living at Eickard's birth, and from whom she had not been divorced. The ques- tion of legitimacy having been submitted for their decision to commis- sioners appointed by the Lord Deputy, they adjudged the title and inheritance of Clanrickard to Eickard, discovering no proofs sufiicient to satisfy them that a valid marriage had subsisted between his mother and O'Melaghlin. John Burke, as he was called, being dissatisfied with the decision, seized one of the castles, called Beannmore, which he ( 63 ) maintained against Eickard, the Earl, avIio had besieg'ed it in form. While he was thus employed, Donald O'Brien, interested for John Burke, whose position bore some resemblance to his own, marched at the head of a considerable force, and compelled the Earl to raise the siege." Erom State Papers, King Henry VIIL, Ireland," vol. iii., page 103, John Allen to Wolsey : Dublin, 1st June (1523), we learn the Irish state of marriage then : — Eor many partes under the King's obeysaunce ther been penall sta- tutes that no Inglishman shall marie with the Irish, so that they be so intricate in consanguinitie or affinitie, and besides that, the people of them self be so propine to evil, that they wolde marie withought dis- pensacion, or elles be infourced to sue to the Courte of Eome. Whereof hath insued the decaie of the Church of Irelonde : for whan an idill per- son gooth to the Courte of Eome, the compositions be to Irishmen so small for their po^/ertie, that by him many other exhorbitant matiers be sped." Some years ago I had the great pleasure of examining the Eoche MSS., most of which, I believe, are now in the British Museum. Among them was an Inquest Post-Mortem, on the death of a person named Barrett, in the county of Cork, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The jury found that Barrett had married three wives, one of them in facie ecclesiae, and they therefore returned her son as heir to his father. Camden's Britannia," Gibson's edition : London, 1695, folio, page 1042, enters on The Ancient and Modern Customs of the Irish," and ho writes : — But as for their later customs, they are described by a certain mo- dern author, whom I take to be J. Good, a priest educated at Oxford, and School-Master at Limerick in the year 1566, from whom I shall transcribe them." And at page 1046, Camden gives the reverend father's information as to the married state in Ireland : — ^' Thoy seldom marry out of their own town, and contract with one anoth(;r, not m preaenti, but in futuro, or else consent without any man- ner of deliberation. Upon this account, the least difFerence generally parts them, tlic husband takin;^ aiioUio- wiir, and the wifcN'inothor hus- band ; nor is it certain whetlier the contract 1)0 true oi- Calsc, lill Ihcy die. Hence arises feuds, rapines, luurdcrs, and dcudl} cnniities about ( 64 ) succeeding to the inheritance. The cast-off- wives have recourse to the witches, these being looked upon as able to afflict either the former hus- band or the new wife with calamity ; and divorces, under pretence of conscience, are very frequent." Of this convenient plea of conscience, we have a memorable instance subsequently, in this very branch of the Desmonds. Thomas, the 12th Earl, husband to the Old Countess, died A. D. 1534, and was succeeded by his andGilislS'y Cormyk's grandson, James, the 13th Earl, who was murdered the 19th March, 1540, by Maurice Fitz John, younger son of the earl's great uncle, John Eitz Thomas, who ranks in the Desmond pe- digree as 14th Earl. James, an elder son of John, 14th Earl, was ad- mitted as Earl of Desmond by the English Government, and took the oaths of fealty at Cahir, 16th January, 1541. In Sir William Betham's pedigree he is thus described : — James Eitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, died 1558 : (first wife) Jane Eoche, daughter of Lord Eermoy. She was put away by her husband, but illegally." This Earl married, subsequently, More, daughter of Sir Maolrony O'Carroll, chief of his name, Lord of Ely O'CarroU; and the son of this marriage, Gerald, or, as he always signed, Gerott, succeeded his father as 16th Earl. James married, thirdly, Ellen, daughter of Donald M'Cartie More, sister of Donald, Earl of Clancare. I think this is an example strongly showing the laxity of the mar- riage state in Ireland. The high rank of the first wife, a daughter of Lord Eermoy, did not prevent her being discarded, and her two sons bastardized by their father ; nor did it in the least attach any discredit on him, his two succeeding wives being both of them women of high rank ; nor did the families of the wives ''put awaie" appear to entertain any ill-will to husbands so acting, probably allowing the right they exercised themselves. When James, the 13th Earl, was murdered by Maurice, brother of James, the 15th Earl, by which removal of his com- petitor the latter was freed from any further competition, the Council of Ireland wrote to Henry YIII. that the mui'dering ^' Usurpur" had re- covered " not onely the whole streingth of Mownister, besides the freend- ship of Obrene (and others ), but also the Lord Eoche" (and others). ISTow, Lord Eoche was either brother (or father) to Jane Eoche ''put awaie," and her two sons bastardized, by this very Earl of Desmond previous to this occurrence. The plea of affinity, if convenient for dissolving mar- [To face page 6 3.] CAREW MS. LAMBETH, 635, No. 32.-R0CHE VICECOUNT OF FARMOYE, IN THE CO : OF CORKE. Vid. post foil. 165, et 163.— The title w:*" the L. Roche hathe vnto the Castell and lands of Cariglemlirie is as foUowethe. The sayed mannour and castle was in K. Ed. 3. his tyme in the possession of one called Mylo fits nicolas Roch as appearethe by a deed entayle made by one Nicolas Gawran Chaplayne and feoffie oftrust vnto the sayed Milo fits Nicolas and his heyres for ever : dated at Cariglemlirie RR : Ed : 3. 14 : This land in processe of tyme fell by lineall descent to Phillip Roche fa'her to Edmond and Morice, Edmond died without yssu legittimatt as appeared by the retorne of a commission to enquire of the same, to the Bishoppe of Corke, S'' Nicolas Walshe Chiefe Justice and Jhon Miaghe Commissioners for thatt province in anno 1575 : 15 Novemb : Before W*" tyme David then L. Roche did purchase the same of Morice yonger brother to this Edmond Fits Phillip Roche above mentioned. The lands apptayuinge to Cariglemlirie is 13 plowlands. Armorial Bearings. \ Gules. Three Roaches, Argent. ) Alexander of whose yssu vide post foil : Z Thomas, his yssu extinct. Morice L : Roch : Barie L ; Roche : Ihon L : Roch = Morice L : Roche Phillip Roche of Cariglemkirie. I 1 Edmond ma: da: to Ulike Roch. I I Phillip Roch, attaynted, borne before wedlocke, by his attaynder the lands by office was found to be queens. 2 Morice sold the land to Davie L : Roche. James Roche, borne before wedlocke. 3 UlUke Roche of Craghe, his yssu now is dwell- inge att Ballycloghie. 2 Willm Roche of Barihoolye. 4 Thiballt Roche of Ballyheaden. Morice L: Roche = Joane, da: to Thiball Burke of Castalconell. Davye L : Roche = Da : to M'Cartimore. Morice L : Roche = Granye, da : to Cormocke oge layder L : of Muskrye. Ua : to Barrett of BallincoUy. Da : ma : to blind Ocalloghan. Sir Thomas -- of Desmond ^ Davie L ; Roche = N. da : to the L : of Dunboyne. James ny sestighe* Roche ma : da : of Donel mc art Keefe, and now wife to Morec Fitz John Roche. I Willm Roche = Da : of Tobin and of Caergow- sister to White nam. Knights Wife. Da : died unmarried. Ulicke, slayne by Patrick Con- don SP. Da ; to Ihon M^Odo, alls Archdeacon. Joane ma ; to Patricke Fitz Morrice L ; of Lixnawe. 5 John boy Roche, slayne by Patrick Condon SP. Elinor, ma : to Donoghe erle of Tomond. 3 Thybalt Roche = slayne by Pa : Condon. SP. loghe reghe , da : to Tir- iPBrian Ar- Morrice L : Roche = Elinor, da : to Mor- 1598, ma : to his | rice Atotane,tbro- 2 wife Cateline, da ; to Geralltf erle of Desmond: died 1600. thertotlu Desmond Ellen, ma : to Davie Lord I 4 Redmond, slayne by Patricke Condon. I Richard Roche, slavne SP. Anne, ma : to Derbie M^Owen M<:Cartie L : of Dowallie. Davie, Sonne = and Heire. = Joane, sister to Davie L : Barry. 2 Tyballt Roche. Morrice : Roche. Da : to Davie Power, Sonne to Richard L : Power by his wife Elen da : to Davie L : Barry. 2 Richard, a bast : Ulike Roche : legitiematt. Da : to and Wid- dow to Burgatt. Thomas, bast. 1 John, ma : to Donoghe M'Craghe's daghter now wife to Myles Roche of Ballvhoolye. I 2 Edward Roche. Richard, a bast. I Tyballt. I Ulike. ma : da : to Willm fits Tyballt of Ballihoolye, bro : to Myles Roche. * " Na sistigh" of the stool, i. e. Sedentary James.— Note by John Windele, Esq. t Gerallt, 16th Earl of Desmond, was nephew to Morrice Atotane ; consequently. Lord Roche's wives were cousins. In Sir Wra. Betham's Pedigree of the Desmonds, Catherine, 4th daughter of Gerald, 16th Earl, is stated to have married Daniel O'Bryen, probably a subsequent man-iage Note by R. S. t "A teotane"— of the Burning, i. e. Morrice the Incendiary. He was brother to James, 15th Earl of Desmond, and the murderer of James, the 13th Earl, his cousin.— Note by R. S. ( 65 ) riage, appears to have been no bar for entering into matrimony ; for the eldest son, Sir Thomas Pitz Gerald, bastardized by his father on the plea of that father's affinity with Jane Roche, daughter of Lord Fermoy, married Joan Eoche, daughter of Maurice, Lord Permoy, who we must presume was nearly related to his (Sir Thomas Pitz Gerald's) mother. To ascertain whether relationship did exist, I had a search made in the Library at Lambeth, and in Sir George Carew's original MSS. found his pedigree of the family of Eoche, Lords of Eermoy, and it gives an uninterrupted male descent from father to son, from Morice, the first Lord Eoche, to Morice, Lord Eoche, " Vicecount of Farmoye, in the Co. of Corke," the eighth in descent. To this last " Yicecount" Sir George Carew assigns two sons, Davie L. Eoche and "William of Caer- gownan ; and four daughters, whose Christian names he does not give, but mentions the names of the husbands of the three who married, one of whom is Sir Thomas of Desmond." The father of Morice was ^'DsLYje L. Eoche," of whose family Sir George Carew only records Morice his successor, omitting any notice of the daughter, who I pre- sume was the first wife of the 15th Earl of Desmond, as she was more likely to have been sister to Morice, father of Sir Thomas of Desmond's wife, than aunt to Morice. Sir George gives three brothers to Davye, and does not mention any sister ; but whether Jane Eoche, the first wife of James, 1 5th Earl of Desmond, was daughter, as most probable, of Davye the father of Morice, or Davye's sister, is immaterial to our question. She was daughter to a Lord Eermoy, in whose line there had not been any break of descent, and " put awaie" by her husband on the plea of affinity ; and their son, Sir Thomas of Desmond, married Joan, daughter of Morice Eoche, ''Vicecount of Farmoye," most pro- bably his mother's niece, and his first cousin; or, at fiirthest, grandniece, and his second cousin. Can any thing more clearly show than this episode of the Desmond family, that in Ireland, at this period, the marriage tie was a mere slip- knot, holding the parties together no longer tlian inclination or interest induced a continuation of the connexion. If the plea of affinity was considered to be really anything more than a mytli, would Joan Eoche have married her first cousin. Sir Thomas of Desmond, liis mother, Jane Eoche, her aunt, having been "put awaie" for afiinity, wlio was so far removed as to be great-granddaughter to James, 9th Earl of Desmond, murdercf], A.T). 1487, ;it th(! instigalion, fis the " Annnls of the Four ( 66 ) Masters" record, of his younger brother, John, who, in 1534, on the death of his brother Thomas, the 12th Earl (husband to the Old Countess), disputed the earldom with James, the 13th Earl, his grandnephew ; and James was murdered by Maurice Desmond, second son of this same John, who in the Desmond pedigree ranks as 14th Earl, and was father to James, the 15th Earl. As a further confirmation of this actual disregard of affinity we may notice that the first wife of Gerrald or Gerrott, the 16th and last Earl of Desmond, son of James, the 1 5th Earl, was Joan, only child of James, 11th Earl of Desmond, who died A. D. 1529. As Desmonds, Joan and Gerrott were second cousins; and her father's mother was Ellen, daughter of Lord Eoche of Eermoy. Apparently public feeUng was indifferent as to legitimate or other- wise, beyond the law giving the former a better position in society, which, from the following document it seems assumed, the father could also give when so disposed — Morrin's " EoUs," vol. i., page 76, June 9, 36° Hemy YL (1458):— Agreement between the Lord Thomas Eitz James, Earl of Desmond, and Edmund the son of Maurice Conclim, &c. : — Eemainder to the right heirs of the said Lord Thomas, unless the said Edmund or Maurice, or any of their heirs for the time being, should in default of a lawful heir think fit, with the consent of the said Lord Thomas or his heirs, to legitimise any illegitimate man, and constitute him heir of the Lordship." Whatever doubts maj^ arise as to the correctness of the evidence of private individuals, we cannot dispute, and must bow to, the solemn as- sertion of the three estates of the kingdom, in Parliament assembled ; and the follo^dng extracts from an Act ^^hj the King our Soveraigne Lord ; and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal : and the Commons : in this present Parliament assembled : and by the authoritie of the same," explains and declares that the continuance of the marriage state in Ire- land the7i rested merely on the caprice of husband or wife. Erom the statutes of the Parliament of Ireland, vol. i., page 181, the 33rd year of Henry VIII., A. D. 1541, An Act for Marriages ^'Whereas heretofore the usurped power of the bishoppe of Eome hath alwayes entangled and troubled the mere jurisdiction and regal power of this land of Ireland, and also inquieted much the subjects of the same, his usurped power in them ; as by making that unlawful ( 67 ) which by God's word is lawMl, both in marriages and other things. As where heretofore divers and many persons after long continuance in matrimonie, without any allegation of eyther of the parties, or any other at their Marriage, why the same matrimonie should not be good, just, and lawfull, have nevertheless, by an unjust law of the bishoppe of Eome, which is that upon pretence of a former contract made, for proofe whereof two witnesses by that law were onely required, beene divorsed and seperated contrary to God's law ; marriages have beene brought into such an uncertaintie thereby, that no marriage could be so sure, knitte, and bounden, but it should lye in eyther of the parties powers and arbitre, casting away the feare of God, by meanes and compasse to prove a precontract, a kindred and allyance to defeat the same." Edward lY., in whose reign Sir Walter Ealegh states that the Old Countess of Desmond was married, died A. D. 1483 ; and in A. D. 1541, being 58 years subsequent, the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, in the above Act of Parliament, declare that any marriage in Ireland could then be set aside on the evidence of onely two witnesses, whose testimony, by a tacit inference, they evidently consider may be false. Returning to society at large, we shall find its composition to have been pretty much birds of a feather," with " the upper ten thousand." In " The Gentleman's Magazine," January, 1862, page 28, we are furnished with the information of a chieftain of high note and conse- quence in the county of Cork marrying a woman whose husband he knew was living. "WiUs and Inventories, Cork, temp. Mary and Elizabeth. " Will of Sir Cormock McLeige, Knight, dated June 16, 1583 : — **In Dei nomine. Amen. I, Sir Cormace MacTeige, Knight, doe make my last will, my soul to Almightie God, and my body to be buried at Kilkrcy, with my ancestors. And I protest e lefore God, that Johanna Butler is my lawful wedded ivyfe; and that Ellen Barrett was at the tyme I wed her, and before, the lawful wyfe of James Fitz Maurice, and so Cormocke ooge, my son, is my lawful heire of my body, lawfully he- gottenr In ''The Gentleman's Magazine," Fcbruarj^, 1862, page 167, tlicrc is a pedigree of llochc of Dundcrrow, county of Cork, from tlio Browne MS., about the time of Queen Elizabeth," in which "putting awaic" a wife is recorded with as much unconcern as putting away a worn-out brogue: — 'Moliii, tlic eldest, liad issue, Richard, tvho first married E 2 ( G8 ) KatJierine Gallwey, of Corche, mid had no issue hy her, and putting her awaie, married after with Ellys Younge of Kinsale, and had issue hy said Ellis, vi%., 5 sonnes.^^ These records of individaal facts fully bear out the general statement, copied by Camden from Father Good's publication, and it is unnecessary to compile farther instances of the laxity and uncertainty of Irish wed- lock, so late even as the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and we have now to inquire how it could occur that Sir Thomas of Desmond's first wife, Gilis l^j Cormyk, took a lease of lands of the Earl of Kildare in the year 1505, which was 22 years after the death of Edward IV., in whose reign Sir Thomas had married a second wife, his cousin, Kathrin Eitz Gerald of Decies. The answer to this inquiry seems to me to be very clearly afforded by the disregard in Ireland to the sacredness and obligations of mar- riage, as instanced in the examples I have detailed. And with this ge- neral license of living and acting, that Sir Thomas dismissed Gilis, and Kathrin obtained preferment"^* — conduct which we have seen was car- ried out fully by his nephew, James, 15th Earl of Desmond. Sir Thomas, however, did not, as did his nephew, bastardize the issue of his first wife, their son, Maurice Eitz Gerald, for a very apparent reason. Ey his second wife he had only a daughter, and Gilis N'y Cormyk' s son was therefore wanted as heir for the earldom. Sir William Beth am, in his pedigree of the Desmonds, makes this entry respecting him : — " Maurice, Lord Eitz Gerald, only son and heir apparent, died of the plague at Jerpoint, in Kilkenny. Married Joane, daughter of the "White Knight ; issue, James Eitz Gerald, 13th Earl of Desmond." We have seen, in the instance of the first Earl of Clanricarde, that though he " put awaie" his first wife, and married a second (also '^put awaie"), and then a third, and all three wives were living at his death, yet the son of the first succeeded to the earldom, against the claim of a son of the third wife. So also we find that Gilis Ky Cormyk' s son was considered the heir * The term of a spinster becoming a married woman : Earl Garrett, in 1574, settles " the sum of one thousand pounds to the preferment of evrie of my daughters, which at the time of my death shall not be preferred." — Cotton MS., Titus, B. xiii., page 195. ( 69 ) to the earldom of Desmond ; but dying before his father, his son took his place in the succession, and ranks as 13th Earl. "We have seen that on the death of Thomas, the 12th Earl of Des- mond, his grandson's succession to the earldom and estates was disputed by John, brother of Thomas, the deceased Earl, and on John's death was more successfully continued by his son James, who succeeded in obtaining forcible possession of the whole estates, and the young luck- less grandson of Thomas went over to London to claim redress from Henry VIII. But though in possession, and determined at all hazards to keep possession, the usurper was anxious to obtain admission as Earl of Desmond from Government; and on the 3rd March, 1539, he ad- dressed a letter to Henry YIII., claiming the earldom on the ground that his rival's father had not been legally married, and was also too near akin to his wife. These are his words, part iii. continued, page 125, State Papers, King Henry YIII. :— The foresaid John, father of your suppliaunt, and the same your suppliaunt, then beinge in your most noble service, made their tytill unto the said erldome, as next heyris to the said erldome, for that the said James Eitz Morice was, and is bastarde, for so moch, as there was noo lawfuU mariage solempnysed betwen the said Morice, his supposed father, and the mother of the said James Eitz Morice, being doughter to the late "White Knyght, deceased, whoo was cossyn germaine to the said Morice." The invalidity of a marriage was a trump card in the hand of Henry's suppliant. He had previously to this " put awaie" Jane Eoche ; for, on his submission, dated Cahir, 16th January, 1541, there is this passage : — But also I doo promise to yow. Sir Anthony Sentleger, Knight, the Kinges Deputie, to delyver to you my sonnc Gemlde, to be sent to the Kinges Majestic, to be brought up and instructed after an Inglisshe sort." Gerald was the only child of his second wife. More, daughter of Sir Maolrony O'Carroll. In a despatch from Sir Anthony Sentleger and Council, to Cromwell, dated Dublin, the 15th November,. 1537, they transmit articles of sub- mission promised by this James, one of which is: — " Eor perforinance of all the prcmysses, the said James Eitz John, having esjx'cial confi- d(;nce and trust in tlie Kyngis Most Excellent Majestic, balli lu-oiiiysed to delyver to tlic said Commissioners, Thonufs^ his eldest sonnc, lo be ( 70 ) presented by them to his Highnes, to remayne at his gracious plea- sure." And in a subsequent despatch, dated ''Dublyn, 8th of Marche (1538)," from Sir Anthony Sentleger and Council to Cromwell, they write : — And where we advertised your good lordship of the small truste and confydence we had in Jamys of Desmond, by reason of the long tracte of his resolute answere upon tharticles of his submyssion ; yet, neverthelesse he hathe not onely delyrered his sonne to the handes of Maister "William "Wyse of Waterforde, to be delyvered unto us (for whose comyng we loke every howre), but also hath affirmed by his se- cretary and writing all that he afore promysed." So far, however, was James Fitz John from fulfilling his ''proy- messes," that the Council of Ireland, on the 28th of E'ovember (1538), from Dublin, write to Lord Cromwell : — " We do non otherwise per- ceyve, by his new attemptates and gesture, but that he intendeth rai- ther to be the Kingis open rebelle and adversary, than the contrarie. And therefor our advice is, that the Kingis Majestie send over thother James, which is there, giveng him (which, as farr as we hitherto can per- ceyve, is the veray right heir) aide against thother : whereby the com- bjTiation and power of thother may be abated and diminished." In pursuance of this advice, James, the 13th Earl, was sent over with some English troops, as aide, and being murdered (I apprehend at Youghal), the Council, giving Henry VIII. information of the " infor- tunat chaunce," remark: — "So, as the hole title to the erledome (as he, James Eitz John, thinketh), being now discended upon hym, and having more streingth than ever he had, your Majestie is at a great hin- draunce for reformation or subjection of theis parties." Under these circumstances, James Eitz John thought it best to make a real submission to Henrj^ ; and the king to confirm him in the earldom. We may now remark, that when James Eitz John made a submis- sion which he had no intention to fulfil, in 1537, he gave as hostage " Thomas, his eldtst sonne," whom he had bastardized; a very clever dodge of his on the king — the hostage, being disinherited, was in reality of no value. Eut when he obtained Henry's confirmation of the earl- dom, he hands over his intended heir to the king, to be brought up and instructed after an Inglisshe sort," thereby securing to Gcralde the ( 71 ) succession to the earldom, from his admitted rank and education at the English court. Sir Anthony Sentleger, after detailing the Earl's submission, Janu- ary, 1541, to the king, remarks: — ''The saide Earl of Desmond, on- doubted, is a very wise and discrete gentilman," which this management in the giving of his sons as hostages undoubtedly proves. We will now revert to this lease from the Earl of Kildare, which, while proving that Sir Thomas of Desmond's first wife was living in 1505, appears to me equally to prove that she was not living with her husband. The land let is '* Corbynne, in the countie of Cork" (now called Car- rigaline), in the barony of Kerricurrihy. Among the manuscripts in the possession of Thomas Eonayne Sars- field, of Doughcloyne, near Cork, Esq., is one which was communi- cated by E. Caulfield, Esq., E. S.A., to John Gough Nichols, Esq., r. S. A., and by that gentleman printed in his work, " The Topographer and Genealogist," part xvi., October, 1854, being testimony to the ex- emption of Skiddy's lands from the imposition of coin and livery, taken at Cork, 8th day of April, in the 37th year of Henry YIII. (A.D.I 546) ; and by the evidence of several witnesses the fact is established that Sir Thomas of Desmond had an estate in that barony, which would make it very improbable that, had Gilis I^y Cormyk been living with her hus- band, she would have hired land of the Earl of Kildare. At page 372, we have the deposition of the second witness : — And I, Shylye Eitz Donj^ll, foresaid, gentlewoman, wife to the said Conougho', of the age of xlvi. yeeres and more, do testifie and de- clare on the othe I made before the (aforesaid) busshoppe, Archedeken, and Eecordo"" sevallye, that Thomas of Dessemounde, late deceaside Erll of Dessmounde, being then named but Thomas of Dessemounde, having the same lands or cantrcde of Kyerrycourryhe to his portion of inheri- tance by his ancestres Erlles of Dessemoundes, tyme long afore that Cormockogc had any (estate) in the same, was arrestidc and troublede in licke man"" as her said husbandc was, by Thomas Skyddye, father to the said Eicharde Skyddye, for seissure and de (mand) of counwe and lyv'yc on the said Skyddycs lands I'oresaid ; and that tlicn tlic said Tho- mas, confessing alwaycs the said Skyddycs landHforesaid to be free of all Huch impositions, declared and said, iliai he did not seisse none suche, nether charge the said lands, but onelye cliargide his owne boundcman ( 72 ) and s'vaute, named Donell o Mahowenye, fath' to the said Shylye, a great gentleman,^ of the same lands." At page 237 : — ''Also we the abovesaid Maurice Omadygan, of the age of Ixvi. yere, and Johne druye, of the age of Ixviii*' yeres, do tes- tifie and declare, by the othe we made sev'allye before the said bus- shoppe Archedekene, and Eecordo"", that we were pcto'^s sev'allye, the space of xvij yere nnto Johiie Eylaughe base sonne to the abovesaid Thomas of Dessemounde, in the said Skyddyes lands forsaid, and that they harde the auncientest psones of the said lands or cantrede of Kiery- courrihye, as well as others of the same, declaringe the said Skyddyes lands foresaid to be free of all suche impositiones and exactions of coune and lyv'eye, and all others, except the bushoppe of Corke is chief rente. And that they harde and the said Skyddyes pooure tenants compleynynge oneley, in the behalf of the said donyll mc mahownye and other boundemen and se^'vants to the above said Thomas de Desse- mounde and Cormockoge, that had occupyed the said Skyddys landes with his pooure tenants ; and that the said Thomas of Dessemounde and Cormockoge, did not charge the said Skyddyes lands foresaid, but onelye their owne boundemen and se^'vants, where they might find them, and not otherwise." After the death of this Thomas, 12th Earl of Desmond in 1534, he was succeeded by his and Gilis ISTy Cormyk's grandson, James, the 13th Earl, whose rights, as we have noticed, were contested by his great- uncle, John, who is called the 14th Earl, who died the 19th June,f 1536 ; and the contest was continued by his son James, who became 15th Earl, by the murder of his cousin, the 13th Earl,;}: 19th March, 1540, and he was admitted to take the oaths of fealty to Henry VIIL, at Cahir,§ 16th January, 1541, and died|| 14th October, 1558. Lodge in the 1st volume of his ''Peerage of Ireland," page 17, stating the issue of John, the 14th Earl, gives five sons, Thomas, who died in his father's lifetime, leaving only two daughters — " Sir James, who succeeded to the Earldom. Sir Maurice (jN'iger, or Dufi'e), to whom his brother, the Earl, gave the barony of Kerrycurihy, in the county of Cork." * It appears from this, that " boundemen " mentioned above did not imply veillein- age, but only obligation, by deed or contract ; as to the word " Servant," see " House of Yvery," vol. ii., p. 9. t Ellis, vol. iii., p. 333. t U^icl., vol. iii., p. 354. § Ibid., vol. iv., p. 287. II Lodge, vol. i., p. 17. ( 73 ) These extracts show that Thomas of Dessemounde had the can- trede of Kyerrycourryhe, to his portione of inheritance by his ancestres, Erlles of Dessemoundes." As his father, Thomas, 8th Earl, was be- headed at Drogheda, 1467, he must have then come into the possession of it ; and the cantrede, we find, continued part of the estates of the earldom, as James, the 15th Earl, subsequent to 1540, gave it to his brother, Sir Maurice. If Sir Thomas Desmond's first wife, Gilis "Nj Cormyk, had been liv- ing with her husband as his wife de facto, as she no doubt was de jure, what possible inducement could she have had to take Corbynne of the Earl of Kildare, Sir Thomas having an estate in the same barony ? If we could even dispose of this question, another presents itself — If Gilis !N'y Cormyk had been living with Sir Thomas in her right as Lady Desmond, and for some (to us) unaccountable fancy had wished to occupy Corbynne, and the lease had been made to her direct, surely she would have been designated Lady Desmond ? Eut it is much more probable that the Earl of Kildare would, as a mere matter of course, have required the lease to be taken by the husband, and not by the wife, it being generally understood that a married woman cannot give legal security. But, as generally received opinions are not ahvays correct, I re- quested information from a friend, one of her Majesty's barristers-at-law, whose answer is — ''A lease may be made to the wife alone. If the husband dissents, it will be void. But it will be good until he dissents ; or, if he neither assents nor dissents. If she survives her husband, she may repudiate the lease in a reasonable time." It strikes me that the Earl of Kildare giving a lease to a married woman living with her husband is an extremely improbable ciixum- stance ; for the lease would have been no security wliatcver to the Earl, as her husband could at any moment repudiate it ; and the woman could also, when her husband died. But, supposing (as I do) that Gilis Xy Cormyk had ''been put awaie'" by Sir Thomas of Desmond (with the license then, and long subsequently, exercised by Irish chief- tains and gentry), at least 23 years previous to A. D. 1505, she stood in general estimation as a widow, competent to undertake legal respon- sibility. The term used in ilie Earl of Kildaie's leasof " unto Gilis Ny Cormyk, ( 74 ) the wife to Sir Thomas of Desmond," it strikes me, would never be ap- plied to a woman living with her husband as his acknowledged wife. I should expect that the words would be, '^unto the Lady Desmond, wife to Sir Thomas of Desmond ;" or, if her Christian name had been used, it would have been with a prefix, The Lady Gilis Desmond, wife of Sir Thomas of Desmond." Eut, ''unto Gilis l^j Cormyk," reverting to her name in full, as before marriage, implies, in my mind, that she had formerly been a wife to Sir Thomas of Desmond, but was not then so considered. "We may now consider the question generally ; and first the evidence on which the Countess's great age of about 140 years is founded. Sir Walter Ealegh writes — " I myself knew the Old Countess of Des- mond, of Inchiquin in Munster, who lived in the year 1589, and many years since ; who was married in Edward lY.'s time, and held her joynture from all the Earls of Desmond since then, and that this is true all the noblemen and gentlemen in Munster can witnesse." Sir "Walter's statement of what he considered her extraordinary old age is given on his personal acquaintance with the Countess ; and we find that he was Mayor of Youghal from September, 1588, to Septem- ber, 1590, the Countess residing at her Castle of Inchiqain, within five miles of Youghal ; and that Sir Walter having a grant from the Crown of the forfeited lands of the rebel Earl of Desmond, on which her join- ture had its lien, were combining circumstances to create a close ac- quaintance, their interests being united, and each individual would be to the other an object of attraction and inquiry. Sir Walter had the opportunity of knowing her history from herself; and we see that he states her having been married in Edward lY.'s time as an undoubted fact, on which he rests the certainty of her wonderfully advanced age, Edward lY. in 1589 having been dead 106 years; and that his readers might not have any doubts as to the correctness of his statement, he appeals to all the noblemen and gentlemen in Munster, who could wit- ness to its truth. We are to remember that Sir Walter could have no motive for making an incorrect statement ; and that his station in life and literature would prevent his risking any blot" in either by bringing forward such an extraordinary circumstance, if he had not a perfect certainty of its trath. Since it has been ascertained that this venerable lady was the wife ( 75 ) of Thomas, who did not become Earl until A. D. 1529, 46 years after the death of Edward lY., Sir Walter's statement that she held her joynture/rom all the Earls of Desmond since then,''^ that is, the reign of Edward IV., has been considered erroneous. It certainly conveyed the impression, both to the late Sir William Beth am and myself, that she became a widow and Dowager Countess of Desmond before Edward IV. 's death, and in the inquiry I then made led me into a quicksand ; but now that we know her history to a certain extent, I apprehend Sir Walter may have made a correct statement, which we misunderstood. Thomas, 8th Earl of Desmond, was beheaded at Drogheda, Eebruary 15, 1467, leaving five sons, James, Maurice, Thomas, John, and Gerald. He was succeeded by his eldest son James, the 9th Earl, murdered 1487. Kathrin, our Old Countess, was daughter to Sir John Eitz Gerald, whose father, Gerald, 1st Lord of Decies, was brother to Thomas, 8th Earl of Desmond: Kathrin, therefore, stood in blood relationship to her husband and his brothers as first and second cousin. As a younger brother, we may suppose that Thomas was not overburthened with property ; and as Kathrin was in blood and rank one of themselves, it would have been very natural for Earl James to make the provision his younger brother could not, and give Kathrin a lien on the Desmond estates for her mar- riage jointure. I know of its being done in our days; and as Earl James had only one child, a daughter, he could afi'ord to assist his rela- tives ; and as the estates would pass with the earldom on his death from his daughter, her future welfare interposed no obstacle to his placing an incumbrance on them. Assuming, therefore, that Earl James did give his cousin Katlirin her marryage joynture," with which circum- stance, as well as the time of her marriage, the Old Countess may have acquainted Sir Walter Ralegh, in the intimate terms which their joint proprietorship on the barony of Inchiquin induced, and if so, Sir Walter's statement would be warranted — the jointure being created by the 9th Earl, and not disturbed by the seven succeeding Earls ; and even when the Desmond estates became forfeited in 1583, the lien was acquiesced in by the English Government. There is yet a possibility that this set- tlement (or joynturc, as Sir Walter terms it) may have been a life interest with immediate possession, tantamount to the pin money" for tho bride's private disbursement in modern marriage settlements ; and then Sir Walter would be literally correct in saying that she held her joynturc from all the Earls of Desmond since." ( 76 ) In my first and unsuccessful " Inquiry" respecting our Old Countess, I stated that a lawyer informed me " that the trustees for the Old Countess of Desmond's marriage settlement had to obtain a renewal of the term of one hundred years, from her having outlived that period, created and reserved under her mamage settlement." Edward lY. died on the 9th April, 1483 ; so that at whatever period of his reign Kathrin married Sir Thomas of Desmond, any " period of one hundred years created and reserved" must have terminated, at farthest, on the 9th April, 1583, and she Hved until 1604. It there- fore struck me that, if such a renewal had taken place, it might be on record, and, if found, would decide the question, " 'Wh.en was she mar- ried ?" I therefore wrote to several of my friends " learned in the law," in Dublin, to ascertain how searches might be made at my expense, two of whom favoured me with their opinions that no such renewal took place, and which I subjoin to save future inquirers time and money : — " ' Bacon^s abridgment — Title, Jointure. " ' Definitiox. — A jointure is a competent livelihood of freehold, for the wife, of lands, nt circuniHtances prevented liis friends ( 96 ) from encouraging him to follow art as a profession; and he was taken from school, and sent to business at the establishment of Mr. Michael Murphy. Here again, however, the flame broke out ; and in place of waiting on the customers, to further the sales, he considered them all as models from which to make innumerable sketches. When customers were not forthcoming, he then turned to the window and sketched the passers-by. This was done so cleverly that, with a gay winning manner to back it, he was soon looked up to by all his shopfellows as one su- perior to them by his wonderful power. At last his employer, Mr. Murphy, saw some of his drawings; and, being a man of excellent taste and good heart, he at once perceived their merit, and generously ex- erted himself in putting the young artist on the right road to success, and encouraged him to go to Eome for a course of study. This was a glorious opportunity; and to Eome he went, where he remained five years, drinking in knowledge and inspiration from the works of the great masters. If Eome was to him a sort of Paradise, he was to the resident artists there like a dash of sunshine across their lives. Hogan, the great sculptor, mentions him in one of his letters home at this period as quite ' a godsend to all the fellows in Eome.' And we can well fancy this being so, if we think of him as he then was — the gay, fresh young student, full of enthusiasm for his art, abounding in bright wit and ceaseless humour ; and, above all, gifted with a delicious tenor voice, that never failed to produce a sort of spell upon his hearers. At this time he made some copies from Titian, Guide, and others, that were highly thought of by those about him. One of these — a beautiful copy of Guide's ' Crucifixion' — can still be seen adorning the Church of St. Trancis, in this city. But Eome, with all its delightful sources" of im- provement to the student, has, at one period of the year, a fever, which, though seldom fatal, often leaves behind it the seeds of future delicacy. This, unfortunately, was the experience of Lyster. He not only suffered from the fever, but from that time date the long years of intermittent suff'ering that robbed his life of half its natural strength. On his return home, his health was still more undermined by his passing through the famine fever of '47. It was not possible, however, for any amount of sickness to take from him his deKghtful buoyancy of spirit. His ill health seemed only to increase his good humour, however he may have felt in reality. When he settled in Cork, he devoted much of his time to portraits, and for years he has made the public familiar with his name by a long ( 97 ) series of beautiful works of this kind. But, though excellent in portraits, he had a greater capacity than is generally required in such work — having high inventive power and a rich imagination. These enabled him in the face of much physical suffering to produce some of the most original pictures in modern art, besides a vast number of pencil draw- ings teeming with character and humour. For the last year or two he was productive and happy in his subjects. Amongst them may be men- tioned a painting of the Baron of Grogswig, fi'om a scene in Dickens's ^ Mcholas ISTickleby.' The reckless baron, seated before a blazing log in his old Gothic hall, through which falls the weird moonshine, is tempted by the fiend to suicide, as the only surcease from all the ills of life. The baron, half consenting, fills a goblet of wine to drink a part- ing toast to all care. He drinks, and stretches the goblet out, the purple wine flashing in the firelight. When, lo ! a pleasant spirit fills his soul, and the generous wine exorcises the ghastly fiend of suicide. This picture is one of great promise, particularly in the colouring, which has a wonderful glow in it, like the subdued ' purple splendour' of the Ehine wine that fiUs the Baron's soul with pleasant thoughts. Another picture of the time was one that excited the admiration of all critics, when ex- hibited in Dublin some years ago. It was an illustration of Lover's pretty ballad, ' Mother, he's going away.' The beauty and charming naivete of poor Kell, who sits weeping at her wheel for her lover's de- parture, elevated the picture into a perfect idyll of poetic art. Then came a similar picture of the Fisherman's B-eturn in the ' Dawn of the Morning ;' and that wonderful one of ' The Cobbler,' which has, no doubt, delighted many of our readers when on exhibition some time ago. These are only a few of Mr. Lyster's works, just mentioned, to bring back to memory the many similar works which have delighted the public for years. He has left on the easel a few works, which to any less critical taste than his own would appear perfectly finished, but to which he intended to devote a few days more of that revision which aU true artists love so much to give to the children of their brain. Independent of the deep interest that attached to these pictures as the last works of his hand, tlicre is a cahn mastery about them that shows how his life's experience in art was mellowing into perfection. We have only space to give tlie names of two, vi/., * The Cluricaun,' and an iUustraliori of Tennyson's ' Mariana.' Tlic latter, tliough very sirnple in design, has a witchery about it that is irresistible. No one ( 98 ) can look at these works without a profound sense of the painter's genius, and a regret that he, with all his beautiful power of creating such lovely things, should have so soon passed away. But the affection of his chest, that was always troubling him through life, suddenly took a fatal turn in consequence of the shock he received in the death of his cousin, the E,ev. George Brenan, with whom he had always resided, and for whom he entertained the affection of a son. Thus ends our slight sketch of his artist life. But a pleasant volume might be written of this gifted man, as seen from other points of view ; for, like all men of genius, he was the reverse of narrow-minded, and he impressed every one with the belief that, had he devoted himself to the special study of literature, or the cultivation of music, he would still have been emi- nently successful. Although he never pretended to be a scholar in the academic sense of the word, yet his judgment of books was singularly just and searching. His letters were as original as his pictures, and have dashes of point and humour through them which Prout or Sidney Smith might envy. As for his musical gifts, no words in cold black and white could give any idea of the spell he could weave around a room, whilst singing one of the melodies of his native country, or those strains of a Southern land that brought back the sunny memories of old Rome. Those who have heard him in his own studio, when after his day's work and in the evening light he sat down to finish the day with a song, will long remember those hours as a sort of delightful dream. His love of talent in any form was so deep, that even in discussion he would wince with delight when his opponent would make a happy hit. If he hated anything, it was mean vice in all shapes ; and, next to that, impertinent stupidity. He often said that ' a foolish friend was worse than a wise enemy.' "With all his large experience and splendid abilities, he never had a symptom of that miserable pride which is so characteristic of narrow-minded men, or men who have their intellects in their purses. A beautiful child, a hearty laugh, a witty retort — anything brave and honest — would set him trembling with delight. He had a deep reve- rence for heart, talent, or goodness, wherever they were to be found. Cork may well be proud of such a man. To his immediate friends his loss is irreparable ; but he will remain in their hearts like the memory of a bright summer day." Edward Shiel. ( 99 ) \_From the Cork Examiner^ Monday, Srd August, 1868.] A hasty line in our impression of Saturday announced the death of this most gifted artist. But we cannot suffer the termination of Eichard Lyster's career to pass without a few words of more particular notice. For those who have only known of the artistic talents which seemed to promise him a place amongst the illustrious ones of our city had hut a half knowledge of the man. He was one of those singularly endowed beings whose sympathies are universal, and whose powers are so varied, that we seem to think with each manifestation of a new talent that here at last we have discovered the specialty. IS'or was his character less remarkable, inasmuch as there was in it a concealed force, a childlike enjoyment of life, and a consistent amiability, that are rarely seen com- bined. Yew that met Eichard Lyster in the glow of social intercourse could fancy that his life for more than ten years has been passed in the incessant presence of death. He was perfectly conscious that the ' fell sergeant' was waiting in his antechamber, and that the hand was ever raised to make the ' stern arrest.' ^' "When a young lad, he was placed in one of the large commercial houses of the city, and there a tall, slender youth was occupied in the daily routine of the establishment of Mr. Michael Murphy, now Official Assignee of the Insolvent Court. His artistic tendencies, however, were such as to render the ^ork of the counting-house distasteful : and far more of his time was passed (with the full consent of his kind employer) in studying from the living model, as found in the porters or in his fel- low clerks, than in the, perhaps, more profitable, but less congenial, avo- cations of the house. Here his passion for art became so strong, that he resolved to devote himself to it exclusively^ and he went to Rome to complete his education. In that Mecca of the painters he spent five years, acquiring by study of immortal originals a thorough acquaintance with the highest principles of art. There too, unfortunately, he con- tracted the disease which broke down his constitution, and rendered the remainder of his life a protracted wrestle with death. Tor each of five years that he spent in Komc, he was attacked with malaria ; and though he recovered, it was only at the expense of a permanent injury to his bodily strength. He struggled long to remain in the atmosphere of art, but it was too heavily charged witli danger, and he was compelled to re- treat. On his relurn to Ireland, lie set liimself seriously to the exercise " ( 100 ) of his profession, but unhappily he had brought with him the enemy which was destined to baffle his efforts. Scarce had he settled to his work than he was attacked most fearfully with hemorrhage of the lungs, from which he recovered only as if by a miracle. The most anxious care of medical friends, the tender nurture of near and dear re- latives, saved his life, and brought him from utter prostration back to a sort of poor simulacrum of health. But at least once, often twice, a year, the same dreadful seizure interrupted the course of his life, and left him reduced to the lowest degree of feebleness. Thus he lived — if such may be called living — for ten j^ears. Under such terrible condi- tions he pursued his profession, loving his art for herself, ever aiming at a something higher than he had yet reached — always inspired by an ideal towards whose attainment he eagerly strained. His conviction was, that in proportion as he acquired strength (such strength !) of body, he ap- proached nearer to one of the dreadful crises of his disease. And yet the man who lived in such belief was the soul of gaiety, the life of every company in which he mingled, the companion whose vivacity and wit fascinated high and low, the refined and the uneducated, the hard and the sympathetic, youth and old age. " The success he attained as a painter was, of course, under such dis- advantages, sadly below what he might have reached had his physical powers been such as to permit of continuous exertion. Yet the abso- lute merit of his pictures has been recognised by some of the best judges. His forte., perhaps, was the blending of humour with a touch of refined and delicate sentiment. Those who have seen his ' JN'elly,' after Lover's famous song, his ' Cobbler,' or his illustration of the su- perstition of the Cluricaun, will understand our meaning. It was only of late that he devoted himself to works requiring deeper earnestness of feeling and more sustained power. Yet his essays in this direction are full — and we speak in a spirit utterly devoid of exaggeration — of the very highest promise. It is but a few months since he completed his ' Agony in the Garden,' and his ' Christ bearing the Cross' — works in which a grand theme is largely, solemnly, and worthily treated. The graveyard of the Christian Brothers in this city, which holds the dust of Gerald Griffin ; the chapel of the same fraternity has the high- est efforts of poor Kichard Lyster's spirit. In portraiture Lyster arrived at something better than the mere reproduction of a visage upon canvass. As he painted nothing which did not afford him delight, so he strove to ( 101 ) make everything he worked at in a sense heaiitiful. Were his subject in itself lovely, he delighted to surround it with accessories of loveli- ness ; had he a plain face to deal with, he contrived to catch that ' hap- piest period' which is to be found in every human countenance. What charming pictures he has painted of little girls, surrounded with flowers, and enveloped in delicious landscape ; and how fresh and beau- tiful his boys, with ponies and dogs, and such other creatures as boys love ! Of every species of work he undertook he had an ideal, and to the uttermost extent of his power he strove for its realization. It is pitiful to think that endeavour so honest and loving should have been subjected to such constant and miserable interruption, and so sadly and prematurely brought to a close. "We do not find it difficult to speak of our poor dead friend in his capacity as an artist, though we have probably failed to convey anything like a just notion of the capabilities whose development has been unhap- pily cut short. But we confess we utterly despair of being able to de- scribe or analyze those gifts and qualities which drew men to him as with a sort of magnetic attraction. He had indeed one glorious power, whose influence is easily comprehensible. He possessed in its perfection the gift of song. Better voices may be heard, though even in this re- spect he was rarely endowed. But we doubt if ever any one more tho- roughly penetrated the very souls of his hearers. His power of expres- sion was marvellous, his appreciation perfect. The most common-place trash grew into magical beauty when rendered in his mellow, tender tones. Though comparatively uncultivated as a musician, he had an intuitive justness of perception which availed more than the most scien- tific knowledge, and the best efl'orts of a Kapellmeister would not har- monize so fittingly with his performance as the wild accompaniments he used to improvise. With the flutterings of his feeble physical power, the lovely voice used come and go ; but even when its capacity was reduced to a whisper, the soul which breathed through it could thrill with rap- ture or melt to tears. There are people who speak of hearing Moore sing his own melodies as the highest enjoyment music could afl^ord. It has not been our good fortune to enjoy such a treat ; but those who have heard their wonderful pathos, gaiety, and mirth poured from the lips of our poor friend, can scarce believe the meaning of the Irish Melodies was ever more magnificently interpreUjd. Song, in its j)erfection, is in itself 80 rare, so exquisite a gift, that, in justice to the majority, it ge- ( 102 ) nerally comes alone. "With Eichard Lyster it was but one of the attri- butes of a mind enriched with almost every power that could fascinate. His wit was subtle, ready, charming. It played, it sparkled, it danced about you with all the freedom of a sprite, but without a sprite's malice. It never wounded. You listened to the quaintest fancies, you heard the most comical views of life, of men, of affairs ; you laughed over the drollest conceits, you were half-interested, half-amused with spoken re- veries in a vein which seemed part composed of Touchstone, part of Jacques ; but what never did pain you was a sneer or a sarcasm. There would sometimes be an honest laugh at a peculiarity ; there was always compassion for a fault. Then the stories ! Who ever told a story like Eichard Lyster? "Who ever invested the deal frame of a trivial in- cident with such gorgeous carving and gilding ? As a rule, one might say, the less there was in the incident he told, the more richly did he envelop it with flashes of wit, the more profuse was he in graphic and humorous description. Every one of his acquaintances regarded a story of his as precious, but no one could impart it again to another audience. Its charm was no more to be preserved than the perfume of a flower. To give, as Lyster' s story, the incidents he told, would be about as just as to tie up the violin and score, and say, ' There is Ernest's fantasia.' T^ay, even a short-hand report of the words employed would be but a faint reflex ; the spirit, the voice, the manner, the mobile, animated face, the impalpable power of drollery, would be wanting. This gaiety, except at odd moments of depression, was capable of resisting the tei^- rible misfortune of his life, i^ay, the professional friend who attended him, when reduced to apparently the last gasp, has had to stoop his ear to the patient's lips to hear the jest that he had not strength enough to utter aloud. He laughed at his own ailments as readily as at any other subject. Letters to his friends were often enlivened with pen and ink sketches, and there is no subject more frequent in these compositions than himself, on his bed of pain. Eut, though possessing powers which could set a company laughing for hours together, Lyster was no mere drole. His knowledge of literatui^e was not extensive, but so far as it went was thorough. As a thinker he was shrewd and original. His faculty of observation was remarkable, but curiously characteristic of his love of the beautiful and the humorous. He would spend houi^s of rap- ture over a rosebud, expatiating upon the wonder of its growth, the perfection of its colour, the harmony of its form ; or he would track a ( 103 ) ballad-singer through the streets, or attend with edified admiration to the contests of the fishwomen on the Coal Quay. Witty, thoughtful, and gifted, he would listen to the prattle of a beggar's child, and retail it all over again with a naive wonder and glee that was perfectly deli- cious to witness. In truth, there was in his character difond of beauti- ful innocence which constituted its chiefest charm. All his enjoyments were refined and elegant, all his thoughts were guileless to an extraor- dinary degree. We linger with afi'ection upon the traits of one whose gifts were so lovely, whose character was invested with so much grace. It is with deep pain we speak of them as belonging to one whose pre- sence will no more delight the friends who regarded him with so much afi'ection. Eew have been more deeply cherished ; few, considering the sphere in which his lot was cast, have been so widely loved. His life was a curious example of gaiety over which a sombre cloud incessantly brooded. His death, it is believed, was hastened by the stroke of a ca- lamity which befel him and others. The near relative and the house- hold companion of the late Eev. George Brenan, grief for the loss of that most excellent man affected him to an extent that his enfeebled frame was unfitted to bear. But a fortnight had passed after the occurrence of that sad event when he was seized, not by the old grim enemy, but by infiammation of the lungs. A few days sufficed to complete the work, and the gentlest spirit we have ever known passed away. His death-bed was attended by love ; his last moments were passed in the exercise of that piety which, concealed with an almost shrinking timi- dity, ruled him through life. Of this graceful, genial creature, through life so loved and cherished, there remains to his friends but a beautiful memory. ''Mr. Lyster's remains were deposited to-day in the family burial- place of the Rev. Mr. Brenan, at the Botanic Cemetery. His funeral was attended by a large number of the leading men of the city." TnoMAS Crosbie. II LONGEVITY OF THE IRISH. The following extract, which appeared in the Times of Tuesday, the 25th of August, 1863, is reprinted to meet the doubts that have been attempted to be raised of the Old Countess of Desmond having lived 1 40 years. By this official document we know to a certainty, that in the year 1862 two women were living in Ulster who had attained the age of 120 years. Let us hope that the authorities in Ulster will keep these venerable females in recollection; and, when their lives close, publicly record the ages they may attain, possibly even exceeding that of Kathrin, Old Countess Dowager of Desmond : — " Ages of the Irish. — The population of Ireland decreased 20 per cent, between the census of 1841 and that of 1851, and 11 per cent, more between the census of 1851 and that of 1861. In the presence of such a disturbing cause the census returns showing the ages of the people are of more than ordinary interest. In 1851 there was found a marked de- crease in the proportion who were below five years of age ; in 1841 they were 12,594 in every 100,000 of population, but only 9,835 in 1851. This was attributed to the influence of the famine years in restraining marriage, and so diminishing the number of births. But the returns for 1861, which have now been issued, show a great change ; the propor- tion under five years of age in every 100,000 persons has risen to 1 1,962, from which it may be inferred that marriages in Ireland have to a great extent resumed their ordinary course. The most remarkable decrease in population found at the census of 1861 was in the ages 5-15, the proportion in 100,000 being 25,624 in 1841, 25,998 in 1851, but only 20,836 in 1861. This is partly accounted for by the loss of population under five years shown at the census of 1851, since it was from that diminished population that a large portion of the people between 1 and 15 in 1861 must have been drawn. The constant prospect of emigra- tion may also have acted in restraint of marriage in the earlier part of the last ten years. Of persons between 15 and 30, the proportion was greater in 1861 than in 1841. Between 30 and 35 there is a con- siderable decrease, the proportion in 100,000 being 7,000 in 1841, 6,388 in 1851, and 5,964 in 1861. In the earlier part of the last decade, the effects of the disastrous period of famine and pestilence which com- ( 105 ) menced with the potato blight of 1846-47, had by no means ceased, and the vast emigration of 1845-51 was drawing after it a continuing efflux of the population — an influence peculiarly powerful among a people of proverbially strong family ties. In estimating the strength of the population, it is assumed that persons under 10 years of age, and those above 70, are chiefly sustained by the industry of the people who are between 20 and 60 ; and tried by this test the population of Ire- land between 20 and 60 had to sustain in 1841 inelfectives equal to 63 per cent, of their own number, but in 1861 only 56 per cent. Dividing the century of life over which a generation may extend into five equal periods, the following figures will show the change wrought in the com- ponents of the population of Ireland between 1841 and 1861, with (for comparison) the return for Great Britain in 1851 — the latest as yet available. In every 1,000 persons there were : — In Ireland In Ireland In Great Britain in 1841. in 1861. in 1851. 490 . . . 444 . . . 451 288 . . . 280 . . . 310 40 and under 60, . . , . . . . 157 . . . 182 . . . 1G6 60 and under 80, ... 58 . 84 . 67 6 . 9 . 6 1 . 1 . . . The census of 1861 found in Ireland, among less than six millions of population, 765 persons above a hundred years old. Two Ulster women are returned as having attained the patriarchal age of 120. Theg were grown-up women when George III. came to the throne. Here they are hut items in a column of figures ; loe hnow nothing of what sort of persons they were in mind, hody, or estate. It is worth notice that of the 249 men of a hundred and upwards, only 15 were never married; of the 516 women, only 52. Specimens of a past age, it is not surprising that two-thirds of these men^ and four-fifths of these women, can neither read nor write. The census of 1861 shows that the population of Ire- land divides itself into equal numbers at the age of 21 among males, and 22 among females. In the province of Leinster the dividing ages were as high as 22 and 23, respectively ; in Connaught as low as 19 and 20. The dividing age is higher in towns than in rural districts ; among females it is as liigh as 24 in Gahvay, 25 in Waterford and Dublin, and 26 in Kilkenny." FIMS. I 3455 BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 01638770 ''V ^^^^ / BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. Books may be kept for two weeks and may be renewed for the same period, unless reserved. Two cents a day is charged for each book kept overtime. 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