It is beside our purpose to dwell at length on the way in which he filled the high office of President. His friend Wandesforde said, the Papists in the north, when they heard of his coming, "hung down their heads like bulrushes, and thought themselves like water spilt on the ground."

On the 12th of January, 1632, the King notified to the Lords Justices of Ireland that he had made choice of "his right trusty and well-beloved cousin and counsellor, Thomas Lord Viscount Wentworth to be his Deputy and Governor-General of the kingdom of Ireland and of the army there." By the same order they were required not to pass any pardons, offices, lands, or church-livings by grant under the Great Seal of Ireland; nor to confer the honor of knighthood on any, nor to dispose of any company of horse or foot there; only in the interim to look to the ordinary administration of civil justice and to the good government of the King's subjects and of the army. Though appointed then to this high office, he did not come to Ireland until July, 1633. The interval he passed in enforcing the will of the King in the north, and in making himself acquainted with the resources and wants of the country he was about to govern. The Lords Justices were ordered, by Wentworth's desire no doubt, to send in an exact estimate of the revenue from every source, the proportion furnished by each county, the arrears due to the Crown, and its liabilities. Suggestions were to be made about the maintenance of the army, the condition of the arsenals; a detailed account given of the state of the Protestant churches and of the Castle of Dublin, the future residence of the Lord Deputy. He was told that the arsenals and magazines were but poorly supplied with stores; that only two pinnaces were employed to protect the coast from pirates, the country not being able to afford more, though intelligence had been received that the Turks intended to make a landing somewhere in the following summer, "Baltimore, a weak English corporation on the sea coast, in the west part of Munster, whence the Turks took the last summer above a hundred English inhabitants, being the place most likely they may attempt." The Castle of Dublin was reported to be "much decayed, and very ruinous, especially in the parts thereof used for the Deputy's habitation; so that some considerable sum of money should be set apart and destined only for the making that place fit." The parish church of St. Andrew's, in Damestreet, Dublin, in former times of disturbance, had been used as a stable for the Deputy's horses. Of the £120,000 promised to his Majesty, far the greater part would be paid in within a month, leaving little more than £13,000, due of the whole amount-a sum_not sufficient to pay the army to the end of the current year. The Irish septs of Leix-the Moores,† Kellys, Lalors, Claneboys, Melaghlins,

"Letters and Despatches of Thomas, Earl of Strafford," i. 62.

"Leix, an exceeding pleasant locality," says Dymocke, an Englisn traveller, who visited it about 1650. In the sixteenth century it was held by the seven tribes mentioned above. The Ard Righ dwelt at Dunamaise. The reader will find in O'Sullivan Beare's "Historia Catholicæ Iberniæ Compendium" details of the cruelties practised by the English settlers on the Catholic Irish of Leix. As a specimen,

Dorans, and Dowlings- who in Chichester's time had been transplanted into the remote segniory of Tarbert, beyond the great mountains of Slewlogher in the county of Kerry, by Patrick Crosbie, “because in all ages they were observed much to disquiet the peace and settlement in parts of Leinster, having no estates of freehold nor real subsistence there," had by this time become many in number and of good strength; it was feared that they might take occasion thereby "to return to their former habitations and again renew their distempers in those parts." To prevent all occasion for disquiet, it was suggested that new leases should be given them of their scanty holdings. These poor exiles, in the wild mountains of Kerry, were sighing to return to their homes in the rich plains of Leix, and were wicked enough to wish to wrest what their fathers had held for centuries, from the Cosbys, the Bowens, the Breretons, and the other English settlers that had established themselves there by treachery.

*

Wentworth next submitted to the King certain propositions for the government of Ireland. They were: 1. That no reward should be granted to any one, until the revenue of Ireland should be fully 2. That no grant able to meet every expense, and pay all debts due. should be made without the knowledge of the Lord Deputy, and without first passing the Great Seal of Ireland. 3. That none but the fittest men should be allowed to sit at the Council, to fill the Bishoprics, and to sit on the Bench; that none should be appointed to fill these offices without the advice of the Lord Deputy, who was to name the most deserving men. 4. That all places, whether civil or religious, in the gift of the Lord Deputy, should be left entirely at his disposal, and that the King should refuse any request made to himself for such places. Other private propositions, all of them tending to obtain for himself, to the exclusion of others, that ample and universal anthority which he was assured by Sir William Parsons was "the most short and infallible way" to his ends, were approved of and ordered to be constantly observed.

The state of affairs in England was growing serious. The opposition to the King's illegal system of government was gaining strength day by day, though the fines imposed were heavier, and the punishments more severe. The spirit of discontent was abroad, and murA civil war murings and threats were heard throughout the land. might arise, and it would be wise to prepare in good time for the

we shall quote one fact from O'Sullivan (Lib. II., c. vi.) “Francis Cosby, the Governor of Leix, usually dwelt at Stradbally. There, in front of his door, grew a very large tree, with wide-spreading branches. From this he used to hang not only innocent men, but women, and even children. He would take incredible pleasure in looking at the women hanging, and the children holding on to their mothers' hair; and he was wont to address thus the tree when it had no bodies swinging on it: 'My dear tree, you seem to me very sad-no wonder, for you are a long time bare. I will end your sorrow: for I will load your branches in a short time with corpses.''

Ferranokelle extended from the ford of Athbaiteoige to Luggacurren. In the wall of the castle of Athy there is a stone tablet bearing the following inscription: "Edwardus Gossen Præposite Wille de Athie posuit hanc lapidem vicesimo septimo mensis Junio, Anno D. 1575, annoque Regne Regine Elizabeth decimo septimo [Molohon] O'Kelle." We give it exactly as it stands, a strange piece of Latinity.

worst. The force under arms in Ireland was but 2,000 foot and 400 horse, scattered in companies over the country to protect the English undertakers and enforce the payment of the revenues. Even these were paid irregularly. The soldiers lived as best they could-præcario, fetching in every morsel of bread upon their swords' points,* very often on free quarters, plundering friend and foe alike. Of late their pay had been more regular, and enough remained of the voluntary assessment promised by the Catholic gentry, to support the standing army until December and no longer. Some temporary provision should be made to meet the demands of the army. The Lords Justices informed his Majesty, "that it was impossible to improve that part of the revenue, save only by imposing the twelve pence a Sunday on the recusants." The whole contribution would in this way be made to fall on the Catholics; it was putting into execution the 2nd of Elizabeth. The proposal was accepted by the King, and the Conncil were ordered to have everything in readiness to enforce payment when necessary. Wentworth did not allow his bigotry to blind him to the fact, that such a method of raising money would bring a great deal of odium on himself. "Not," he says, "but that every good Englishman ought, as well in reason of state as of conscience, to desire the kingdom were well reduced to a conformity in religion; because it is a great business, that has many roots lying deep and far within the ground, which should first be thoroughly opened before we judge what height it may shoot up to when it shall feel itself once struck at, to be loosened and pulled up." He asked the aid of Laud to convince the Irish Bishops of the impropriety of enforcing this law in the present critical condition of the King's affairs. He then sent to Ireland an agent "to feel the pulse of the people underhand." This was " a Papist, who, to divert the storm, laboured in good earnest, taking it to be a cause pro aris et focis." The chief instruction given him was, "to invite the recusant party to send their deputies to England, to make offer to his Majesty of half a subsidy to be paid the next year, so that all further prosecution upon the statute might be respited until his coming over; they had liberty to propound what else they conceived more for the King's service than the course now intended." The agent found "the Popish party all very willing to continue on the contribution as it was till the Deputy's coming, but unwilling to send over any deputies, pretending how ill they were dealt with by those they employed last." He was told that "this would not serve the turn, but that he must now deal effectually with them to send over their deputies presently with the offer of half a subsidy; whereupon he will use the best means he can that all proceedings may stay till his coming over, as is desired." The Catholics alarmed chose the lesser of two evils; they agreed to pay a subsidy of £20,000 in four instalments, and in this way the wants of the army for a time were provided for.

The Lords Justices little knew the manner of man they had to deal with. More than once they had passed over in silence or

* "Letters and Despatches," i. 75.

disobeyed orders sent them by the King at the Deputy's suggestion. Neither their merits nor their high position shielded them from stern rebuke. "Pardon me, my Lords," writes Wentworth, "if in the discharge of my duty I be transported beyond my natural modesty and the respects I personally bear your Lordships, plainly to let you know I shall not connive at such presumption in you, thus to evacuate my master's directions, nor contain myself in silence, seeing them before my face so slighted. Therefore I must, in just contemplation of his Majesty's honor and wisdom, crave leave to advise you forthwith to amend your error.”*

Early in 1633, an order was issued that all officers belonging to the army in Ireland who were absent, should return to their duties without delay, and attend to the disciplining of their companies. Any captain absenting himself from his charge, in future, without permission of the King or the Lord Deputy, would be cashiered. Lord Mountnorris, the Vice Treasurer, thought he might pass some time more agreeably at Chester than in Ireland; he was told to depart with all possible speed.

Wentworth now prepared to set out for Ireland. He handed over the government of the North to a vice president; and he appointed his trusty friend Greenwood to take care of his estates. He sent his baggage before, intending to follow without any delay. But "lamentable news came from Ireland, what spoil is done there by the Pirates." Three vessels were cruising in the Irish sea, lying in wait for passing ships, and at times making a descent on the coast. Perhaps they had news of the Deputy's coming. They were not disappointed. "The pirate that lies before Dublin took a barque of Liverpool with goods worth £4,000, and among them as much linen as cost me £500; and in good faith I fear I have lost my apparel too. By my faith, this is but a cold welcome they bring me withal to that coast, and yet I am glad at least that they escaped my plate; but the fear I had to be thought to linger here unprofitably, forced me to make the venture; where now I wish I had had a little more care of my goods, as well as of my person." His indignation was roused in a special manner by the news that a pirate had pursued a vessel and made her run ashore near Dublin; this did not save her; she was rifled and then set on fire," in despight of all the help the Lords Justices could give from the land." The loss is not so great, he adds, 66 as the scorn that such a picking villain as this should dare to do these insolences in the face of that state, and to pass away without control." the 23rd of July he reached Dublin, having crossed the water in the Penelope, and landed at Lowsie Hill, about a quarter of a mile from the Castle," so suddenly that the Earl of Cork had scarce time to meet him as he was walking a foot, and carry him thither in his coach, which was done before the town or any of the lords and company that expected him so much as knew of his landing."

+ Carte, i. 55.

D. M.

On

* "Letters and Despatches," i., 90.
(To be continued.)

THE CHILDREN'S VISIT TO THE CHILDREN'S

HOSPITAL.*

H, mamma," said Eily, looking up brightly from her embroidery, "Mademoiselle has been telling me about such a nice place she has been to see-a children's hospital. And she would like to take us there, if you will allow her.”

"I think I have heard of it before," said Mrs. Hawthorne, "and I should like to see it myself; only I must be sure there is nothing infectious in the place before I can allow you to go."

"Oh, mamma, there is nothing but broken bones, and bad chests, and things like that. Mademoiselle says hardship, and starvation, and ill-treatment are the cause of most of the diseases you will find there," cried Eily.

"Then there can be no objection to your going," said Mrs. Hawthorne. "You may pay a visit there this afternoon."

Oh, what pleasant words were these! The children flew to get ready for their expedition, and about an hour afterwards were ascending the staircase of a large house, which was the dwelling of the sick children they had come to visit. Their hearts were beating with wonder and expectation, for they were very healthy children themselves, and did not know much about sickness. The thought of giving pleasure to other little children who were in sorrow and pain filled them with joyful excitement; and they were quite sure they were going to give pleasure, for they had paid a visit to the German Fair on their way, and each was laden with a parcel of toys. At last the door was thrown open, and they saw a great many little beds ranged round the walls of a very large room.

Well, it was a very pleasant surprise, for the place did not look dismal at all, as they had quite expected it would. The sun was shining in pleasantly through the chinks of cool blinds, and a number of little heads were popped up from the pillows to gaze at the visitors. Some of the children did not look very sick at all, although under the blankets of their little beds were very sore knees and feet and backs, which the doctors knew about and were trying to cure. The little Hawthornes were soon quite at home among them, and were hearing how Tommie had fallen downstairs, and Annie had tumbled into the fire while her mother was out; how Bill had been run over in the street where he always lived when his father was at work (his mother being

* Doctors rarely make use of their own prescriptions; but we cannot resist the temptation to act ourselves on the Suggestion which we ventured to make to others last month in our notice of the new Christmas picture-book, “Five Little Farmers.” The readers of our monthly "Notes in the Big House" will detect a suspicious likeness to St. Joseph's Infirmary for Sick Children, at No. 9, Upper Buckingham-street, Dublin. Our chief motive in printing the account of this Visit here is the hope that it will make some of our young friends still more anxious to help in giving to these poor suffering children a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.-ED. I. M.