which neither Souldier Adventurer nor Irish according to the first Declaration from Breda were concerned and yet it related to the first Souldiers that fought against the Irish which were now called Forty-nine Men these being King's-Men were not provided for in the Parliament and Usurper's time and how to make Provision for them now was the matter in Dispute Some Lands indeed there were that had not been set out to Souldiers and Adventurers which were allotted these Men but this Provision was not considerable and therefore the forfeited Corporations and Houses that were in them were hereunto annexed and to render 'em the more valuable a Clause was inserted in the Act That no Irish Papist in what manner soever he justified his innocency should enjoy any House within a Corporation except the Natives of Corke and Featherd This the Irish vehemently exclaimed against as barbarous and inhumane that to serve the conveniency of a particular Set of Men a Man must appear innocent in the Country and enjoy his Estate but be adjudged a Rebel in the City and upon that account be dispossessed of his Houses On the other hand the English complained That the Natives by an Illegal Arbitrary Court were made innocent though they were known to have been concerned in the Rebellion for that in truth 't was beyond all peradventure that not Ten of the Irish Papists were free from Rebellion and Murther The Duke of Ormond had a great Arrear due to him upon this Fund and after mutual Contests on either side the Affair was settled to the Satisfaction of the Protestants But in order to a firmer and more mature Establishment of things it was amongst other Consultations resolved in Council to send over the Lord Roberts for Ireland in Quality of the Lord Lieutenant as a Person whose indifferency as to the various and opposite interests of that Kingdom might bring forth a compleat and impartial settlement but his being an Englishman and not related to and so consequently not interessed in favour of the Irish occasioned the Duke of York whose Affection to the Natives of that Kingdom has appeared by too pregnant and demonstrative Proofs to work with the King his Brother to send over the Duke of Ormond whose Acquaintance with and year 1662 Relation to divers of the Irish Nobility and Gentry did rationally promise a more favourable regard to their Interests though what probability soever this Prospect had in it it finally turned to their disadvantage and that by the even steerage of the Duke of Ormond who though placed at the Helm in favour to the Irish yet so signally espoused the Interest of the English Protestants in all their just and legal demands that upon that very account he lost the favour of the Duke of York This management of things made the Popish Party very sensible of their mistake but to correct it in a very high measure they procured the removal of some of the Commissioners of the Court of Claims and got others put in exactly calculated for their present design The leading Man was one Rainsfoord who drove so furiously that complaints were made to the King. Talbot now Tyrconnel was at this time made principal Agent for the Irish Papists at Court and upon the account of solliciting for them had Sums of Money rais'd him by way of Tax upon all that passed the Court of Claims and in such cases wherein men had no Friends nor good Titles he bought their pretences and by Rainsfoord's means passed the Claim from all which illegal courses 't was visible to the English that they were in a lost condition which brought many of them under such apparent discouragements as to part with their Estates for a year or two's Purchace neither could any man make a measure of his Title so arbitrary were the Commissioners in their Proceedings And as the Irish insinuated themselves into the favour of Rainsfoord and the Commissioners of the Court of Claims or by the powerful sollicitation of their Agent at Court procur'd Recommendatory Letters from thence in the same proportion they pass'd their innocency not according to their demerit For what Complaints soever were made by the Irish of the Cruelty of Oliver's Court in criminating them yet some who prov'd their innocency there were decreed nocent by these Commissioners and where they had no pretence of taking away an Irish-man's Estate that was adjudg'd innocent in the Usurper's time in that case they obtain'd Proviso's in the Act of Settlement to deprive them of their Estates for Rebellion As for instance the Knight of Kerry who though a Papist yet always so faithfully adher'd to the English Interest and had been so great an instrument of divers of the Protestants preservation that for that reason he was by the Vsurper restored to his Estate his case was so notorious that the Parliament though their whole Fortunes depended upon the Act of Settlement refus'd passing the Act except that clause in prejudice to the Knight of Kerry was struck out notwithstanding that they were inform'd at the same time That if the Act was sent back and altered it should be to their disadvantage as indeed it prov'd however it was Corrected as to that Clause So much of this Act did so manifestly incline to favour the Irish as justly created Complaints by the English which seemingly to redress a new Act was prepared Entituled The Act of Explanation the consequence of which was That the Protestants were glad to sit down with the loss of one third and where the Irish had either been so notoriously criminal as that no Palliations could extenuate the blackness of their Rebellion or else were Men of that inconsiderable interest as render'd them incapable of passing their innocency in such cases their Estates were claim'd by other Irish whose interests at Court were more prevalent such were the Earls of Clanearthy Clanriccard Lord Costela Dillon Earl of Carlingfoord and many more who pass'd their Claims for twice more than ever they had before the Rebellion Pursuant to the Act passed for the payment of Quit-rent to the Crown for all Lands that were Seiz'd and Sequestred the English paid Quit-rent in many places where their Lands were scarce worth it but when the Court of Claims was over and the Parliament of Ireland Dissolv'd then the Irish that paid Quit-rent obtain'd Grants by means of the Duke of York who omitted no opportunities of testifying his good will to them not only to be remitted of their Quit-rent but of their Arrears also To this height had the Popish Design advanc'd it self at a Juncture when the English Interest seemed not only to carry the preeminence but even to have reach'd the Meridian of her Triumph at Court and though it was believed upon the King's Restauration there could not have been the twentieth part of Ireland gain'd from the English yet what with the thirds taken at one blow from the English and by Nominees and other Stratagems of State there was almost an
of this poor man which was faithfully represented to him by the English of the North that he not only ordered a maintenance for himself but also for his three Sons whom he ordered to be maintained in the Colledge near Dublin where they all improved themselves to an eminent degree of Learning and parts This is an Impartial Account of Thomus Sheridon's Pedigree whose Sisters and other Relations were in Broges and Kerchiefs the Irish Garb for Women The Author saw them not many years ago in this condition and knowing this Story of Sheridon was heightened in his Curiosity of being the more inquisitive after it in the County where his Father was born and found that he was of the Scologues a Name which the Irish call Cotchers And none of his Kindred as the Irish affirm were ever better I should not have given the Reader the trouble of this Digression but that I deemed it not altogether unpleasant to him to represent the unparallell'd Impudence of this Man who could attempt to speak of his high Extraction before the House of Commons when the meanness of his Original and Descent was so universally known in most parts of the North of Ireland But to what degrees of extravagancy will not the Confidence of an Irish-man transport him And whither will not that audacious Arrogance with which the Natives of that Kingdom are most plentifully stock'd carry and invite them The ridiculous Genealogies which the Irish have framed of themselves as to their Heroical Ancestry Antiquity of their Nation their eminency for Literature and extraordinary Piety in former Ages are Fopperies not to be wondered at when in these days the Author by his own Experience can give an account of several of the Irish Gentry who have laid aside both their former Names and Relations and have created new ones to themselves which they pretend to be derived from a numerous train of Noble Progenitors though this be publickly known to be a Chimerical and Fictitious Invention But to return again to the Earl of Essex from whence this account of Sheridon has caus'd me to digress though his politick Carriage in the business of the aforesaid Farmers discovered a dextrous and prudent Government yet did it contract upon him the hatred of the Duke of York who from this time set up private designs against him which the Earl had constant intelligence of but at last was not able to withstand them the prejudice rising so high till the Duke obtained a resolve for his removal from the Government year 1677 The way to accomplish this was to find out a man that would lend the King Money and the Earl of Bridlington was pitched upon Talbot had by the Relation of a Brother of his Married into that Family some interest but was not looked upon as a fit person to break it to the Earl so another was found by the Earl of Orrery's means who had been disobliged by the Earl of Essex and by that way it was pursued But though the Earl of Bridlington might have had a mind to the Government yet would he part with no Mony and the King's necessities were the great inducement whereby to prevail upon him to remove Essex and Bridlington being unwilling to supply 'em no other pretence could be found out to work on the King. 'T was admired by all for what reasons the Earl of Bridlington should be thought on in regard that none but the Duke's Party were in the Intriegue But the Romish Faction well understood that although the Earl of Bridlington was not fit to carry on their main Design yet they knew him governable and were in hopes to put things upon him that might bring matters into a leading way for another they had in their Eye not fit here to be named But these things missing of their designed effect they were now at a full stop though no occasions were omitted of making dayly Objections against the Earl of Essex The Popish Conspiracy as has been already hinted in discoursing upon Sheridon advanced apace by Coleman and the Parliament began now to be apprehensive of the present proceedings and of the Alliance with France which they utterly disapproved of The L B was sent in quality of the King's Embassador to France and Sir Ellis Leaton his Secretary in Ireland accompany'd him but neither of 'em were judged fit to be trusted with the secret Designs For at that time there was a Design for the French to set up their Demands for the Irish to have the Articles made by King Charles the Second with the French King in their favour to be performed and the King of England was to admit the French to land Men under pretence of being got by private compact of the Irish The Earl of Tyrone Lord Brittas and others being to raise Men in Ireland in order to make a Diversion to the putting the Popish Plot in force in England But the whole of this was kept private from the King only so much of it as referred to the French King 's demanding the Promises made by him when in Exile in favour of the Irish The Duke undertook to qualifie the King if any discovery should be made of the Irish intended Insurrection but this was divulged by some of the Irish and the King hardly prevailed with not to believe it The L B was recall'd from France and sent to Nimeguen and Complaints were made by some Merchants against Sir Ellis Leaton who being questioned before the King and Council spoke very intemperately and among other words said He wonder'd how these Merchants durst presume to speak any thing against the greatest King in Europe as the French King was for which indecent Expression he was committed it being justly accounted great impudence for him to affirm in the presence of the King That there was any other King greater than himself The King and Council finding some cause to believe that there were Designs of introducing Popery in Ireland pitch'd upon the Duke of Ormond as the only Pilot for that Kingdom in a Storm and accordingly he was sent over The Duke of York did not then think it seasonable year 1677 to oppose it though he was conscious 't was fatal to his Design But however he wrought so powerfully with the King That orders were given to raise Men in Ireland under the Notion of Foreign Service They were all composed of the Natives of the Kingdom excepting some Protestant Officers fit to make Catholicks of The Duke year 1678 of Ormond would give them no Arms so they were Exercised with Sticks and in a little time the Plot in England was discovered and they all disbanded Upon which a discovery was made by the Irish of the Popish Conspiracy in Ireland and it was very remarkable that in the whole discovery not one Protestant appeared as an evidence against the Papists A pregnant instance of the great impartiality and equal demeanour of the English towards the Natives who altho' they were now presented
half of the Kingdom in value lost notwithstanding at the same time the most innocent of the Irish were depriv'd of their Estates and the greatest Rebels got more than their own This was the first step advanc'd for the introduction of Popery into that Kingdom and notwithstanding the small Progress it had then seemingly made it so far encouraged even in this time of its Infancy the most considerable of the Irish as often to intimate to the English That in a short time the Protestants and they must be of one Religion 'T was very remarkable That in the Year year 1668 One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight Talbot Brother to Tyrconnel and Titular Archbishop of Dublin Landing at a place called the Skerish within Twelve Miles of that City and being very Hospitably entertained by one Captain Coddington Lodging all Night at his House the next Morning took him aside and after the most Affectionate Expressions of Kindness asked him what Title he had to that Estate for that he observed he had expended considerably upon its improvement Coddington answered That 't was an old Estate belonging to the Earl of Twomond Talbot replyed That was nothing it did belong to the Church and it would all be taken away therefore advised him to lay out no more upon it but get what he could and then desert it All this was offered upon strong injunctions of the most Inviolable Secrecy The Duke of Ormond was then Lord Lieutenant and nothing advantagious to their Interests could be managed whilst he continued in that Post which was the rise to divers Consultations at Court for his removal It had been too palpable for the Popish Party to have appeared interessed in it wherefore an Intriegue was then formed of renewing the ancient Animosities betwixt him and the Duke of Buckingham This was reduced to Act and the effect was proportionable to the design The next thing to be considered was who should succeed him which was a matter that required a very nice and critical management They pitched upon the Lord Roberts as a person that had been formerly disappointed year 1669 of that Station which begetting a prejudice in him and meeting with a Vindicative Spirit whose temper they knew to be such would prompt him invidiously to inspect into or else to create faults in the Government of the Duke of Ormond which was the end of the Court-Intriegue and of his advancement as knowing that his uneasiness to those of that Kingdom would serve to prepare a fair reception for the L B a Man of whose inclinations to their interest the Popish Party had the most convincing assurances and agreeably to this whole Scheme of policy the Lord Roberts remained Lord Lieutenant about Six Months and then the L. B. was sent over Talbot now Tyrconnel leaves the Court and year 1670 follows his Brother the Titular Archbishop and lives privately but notwithstanding his Retirement is still engaged in all the Secret Counsels with Sir Ellis Leaton the Lord Lieutenant's Secretary And now to accomplish their purpose the first thing to be done was to set up a pretence that the King when in Exile had obliged himself to the French King to restore the Irish to their Religion and their Estates and lest a neglect of this should occasion a Breach with France something must be acted in pursuance to it So it was ordered That notwithstanding the Law to prefer Irish Papists to the Commission of the year 1671 Peace in which they behaved themselves with that partiality and insolence Properties inherent to most if not all of them that they became odious even to the judicious of their own party The next thing was to regulate the Corporations year 1672 which by an Act of the last Parliament there was power for the Lord Lieutenant and Council to do This was managed with such great secrecy that none were made acquainted with it till it was actually drawn and brought ready to the Council-Board The next day there was sent to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Dublin an Order for them to call a Common-Council and to turn them out and to make a new Government in the City This they well understood would create a disturbance which they were desirous so to improve among the Citizens as to render the Protestants disaffected for which purpose they industriously laboured to irritate and provoke them as the L B had done the Year before when a number of Boys got up in a Tumult to pull down a Bridge which was erecting contrary to the desire of the City where when the Lord Mayor and Constables had suppress'd them the Lord Lieutenant ordered Soldiers as they were carrying them to Prison who discharg'd several Shots amongst them and killed some of them But to return to the Order of Council for modelling the Corporation the Aldermen gave ready obedience though they feared the bottom of the Design This compliance of the Aldermen necessitated them to take new measures for the most considerable of the Aldermen were Men of New Interest and had been noted for keeping out Papists from the City Freedom and whilest these Aldermen were in Power no Popish Design could succeed and therefore to facilitate by another what they could not effect by former Stratagems the next work was to prepossess the Populace with prejudice against the Aldermen representing them as the Authors and Contrivers of this New Model though as it was afterwards proved upon an hearing before the Earl of Essex and Council when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland they never heard word of 'em till they were brought to 'em to the Tole-sale with orders to put 'em in Execution At that time there came over to Dublin a Person year 1672 who assumed several names a practice as agreeable to the Interest and Policy of the Church of Rome and as common as that of variety of Shapes and Professions sometime he went by the name of Payne at others by that of Nevell and was found to be the same person that was afterwards committed to Newgate for some high Misdemeanour relating to Coleman and the Popish Plot. This Nevell as has since been apparent in the instance before named had his part with Coleman and was sent over for Ireland as his proper Province wherein to act the designed Tragedy He remained for some time obscure in Dublin and after that was received into the Castle but never appeared till this as was deem'd seasonable juncture and then in the capacity of Under Secretary to Sir Ellis Leaton His business was to infuse into the Populace of the City of Dublin an Opinion of the Treachery of their Recorder Sir William Davis and to make the pretext the more plausible he had Instructions to add That the Recorder and the Lord Primate then Lord Chancellour counselled the L. B. to enact those Laws for the abolishing of the Ancient Government of the City and farther insinuating that this was done at the desire and instigation and by the contrivance of
obtains leave to go for England year 1675 leaving the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard Justices Upon his arrival at Court he perceived the Game ran high for Popery and the best way to prevent it was not by downright opposition he therefore concludes upon a more prevailing method which was to make court to the Duke of York which he managed with so much art and so skilful an Address as indeed he was very capable of doing beyond their Conclave at Rome that notwithstanding it was resolved that he should depart yet was he kept so long in England till orders came from the Holy Fathers for his return to Ireland He had so far wound himself into the Duke's good-opinion of him that he thought him secure for their Party and as the first testimony of his Integrity he had Instructions from him to promote Sheridon and the Farmers which the Earl managed with such great wisdom as at once to please the Duke and yet to be serviceable to the Protestants of Ireland who had now been in a lost irrecoverable condition if his admirable Conduct had not prevented it And now this great Man returns for Ireland to year 1676 steer again in that Government threatened by approaching Tempests the Farmers also going over enter upon their business Sir W. P. became very notorious in declaring not only to employ Papists but that he would have the Priests collect the Hearth-money Some were apt to believe that this was done on purpose to get off but those who were most intimate with him speak quite otherwise and that the hopes of being created a Lord and a Privy Counsellor so transported him beyond all the bounds of moderation as induced him to take this violent course the more to ingratiate himself with the Duke but like the Ass in the Fable beat his Master down in imitation of the Spaniels fawning and though he was a man of great Learning and of a Mathematical Head and bred abroad yet so vehemently desirous of Riches as hurried him often into great Extravagancies The Earl of Essex being Landed in Ireland had a difficult Game to play he had 't is believed made fair Promises of being kind to the Irish and to stand by the Farmers to the first he gave good words and received them well at Court but the Farmers they began to model their Officers and if some speedy and effectual stop was not put to these Proceedings the whole Ports of the Kingdom would soon be in Papists hands which was like to prove a matter of most dangerous consequence To defeat this Intriegue required a more than ordinary presence of mind and a deep foresight which as this wise Earl was endowed with in a very high measure so did he signally shew it upon this occasion There was but one way to effect it and that was by raising scruples as to the value of the Farmers and their Securities but this he must not appear in but instructs some of his Confidents of the Council to act that part sor him and there was one who till this late Catastrophe was thought to be of great Integrity and Honour the Lord Granard he was bold and daring and a Mortal Enemy to Sir J. S. wherefore he moves at the Council-Board that inspection should be made into the Securities of these Farmers The Proposal was well accepted by the rest of the Council For indeed they were Men as Sir W. P. said truly of them viz. Farmers pick'd up in the Streets with this disadvantage that take the-first seven men you meet and they shall exceed these for every thing but cheating The Earl of Essex seemed to oppose the Council in this Vote put it off and acquainted the Farmers and also gave an account of it to the Duke whom he had now so far gain'd upon as to become a Confident But every day usher'd in new Complaints against the Farmers running away with the Money of the Kingdom c. which for some time the Earl seemed to decline but at last in appearance against the Grain agrees with the Council and sends over to the King the Objections against the Farmers which in short were so great that they were not to be trusted Whereupon Commissioners of inspection were set over them one was the Earl of Essex's Confident and these men attended to the motion of the Farmers with so vigilant an eye that nothing could be effected In this manner was this great and dangerous Plot carried on for several years by the Duke and his Minions most miraculously defeated by the unparallell'd Conduct of that Prudent Earl who so far out-vy'd the Romish Politicks as to cajole that party into an approbation of those Proceedings which proved fatally destructive of their design which so disheartened those two accomplices R and Sheridon that they flung up their Parts and returned to Court the last to attend his Master Coleman who happened to come in a fit time to succeed him in his Employment for not long after this the Popish Plot was brought upon the Stage in which Coleman was Prime Minister who being afterwards Executed and Sheridon speaking something in favour of his cause was apprehended and after some time was brought on his knees at the Bar of the House of Commons where he had impudence beyond humane shape to set forth in a flourishing Speech the greatness of his Family viz. that he was in the right Line of the Kings of Vlster anciently called O Sheridon that to his Father belonged a vast Estate which by the misfortune of War meaning the former Rebellion he was wrongfully put out of with abundance of the like impudent falshoods and most notorious untruths Whereas indeed his Father too honest a man for so base and so degenerate a Son was before the late Rebellion in the County of Caven taken in a poor Boy into a Bishop's House for a Turn-spit and the Bishop observing the Boy to be of a Docible Temper and capable of instruction and finding him educated a Papist charitably put him to School where he was taught his Grammar and was found to be so industrious a Proficient in School-learning as encouraged the good Bishop to Ordain him a Deacon in which capacity he continued under the Bishop till he died And when the Rebellion broke out so violently that few English were left in the Countrey yet this poor man remained with such as stayed and read Prayers among them till all were either Murthered or had deserted the place But he being a poor Old Man and having nothing to remove continued where he was the Irish suffering him to reside amongst them but by all their Importunities notwithstanding their great eagerness to make Converts compassing both Sea and Land to proselyte any to their Church could never prevail upon him to go to Mass This Man had three Sons which as well as those turbulent times would admit he educated Protestants and upon Oliver's reduction of Ireland he was so taken with the Character
as refus'd to joyn with them to that extravagant height were accounted Persons disaffected to the Government called Fanatick and Oliverian Dogs with the like Expressions of Calumny and Reproach But this was not all the most judicious of them were now so animated in their hopes that 't was impossible for them to bear them any longer with moderation or to contain themselves from the most violent Outrages and from instigating the Rabble to steal from and rob the English which at first was looked upon as the most Expeditious Contrivance whereby to expel them the Kingdom The Duke of Ormond foresaw what was now past remedy and told a Friend of his that nothing could now preserve the English but a precipitateness of the Irish For said he let my Countreymen alone and they will spoil their own business And so indeed they had in any time but this when it might be said according to our Saviour's Prediction That the time was come when they that destroyed the Protestants thought they did God service King James and his former but now more especial Favourites the Irish were now equally furious in their course and seemed to contend the one in his Commands the other in their forward Obedience which should exceed in their joynt design of extirpating Heresie The Duke year 1684 of Ormond was called over but before his departure laboured with an Indefatigable diligence to establish matters on such a foundation so as that it might not be easie for them to create a present change without a manifest violation and infringement of the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom The new Hospital a stately Fabrick near Dublin erected for poor Soldiers would he foresaw be made a Nest for Hornets which to prevent as well as possible he sate several days with the Council and Judges in private in the Castle and there made all the provision that could be for it against the imminent storm One remarkable Passage I must not omit to mention which demonstrates the great spirit of that excellent person At the aforesaid Hospital he appointed a Dinner for all the Officers of the Hospital and the Officers of the Army then in Dublin which being over he took a large Glass of Wine in his hand bid them fill it to the brim then stood up and called to all the Company Look here Gentlemen they say at Court I am now become an Old Doating Fool you see my Hand doth not shake nor does my Heart fail nor doubt but I will make some of them see their Mistake and so drank the Kings Health But upon his Arrival at Court found that King James's Bigotted Opinion would carry him to the most violent actions a dismal apprehension whereof as is believed at length broke his heart for though he was of a great Age yet was he of such health of Body and cheerfulness of mind that in course of nature he might have lived Twenty Years longer as his Mother did 'T was plain that the Irish could fasten no Calumnies upon him when the first thing they reproached him with was Cheating the Army in building the Hospital and that Robinson the Architect had inriched himself by it when indeed not to lessen any thing of his due Character Robinson shewed the parts of an Excellent Artist in the Contrivance and of an Honest Man in the Charge as men of Value and Experience in Building affirm Upon the Duke of Ormond's removal the Government year 1685 was put into the hands of the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard in the Quality of Lords Justices The Irish fell immediately to their old trade of making Plots but with this difference That whereas they had formerly been the Actors themselves they now placed them upon the English which they daily impeached of designs against the King and the Government The Grandees had the confidence to appear in Vindication of such Evidence as was given against the English though it was altogether as unreasonable as untrue and press'd the Lords Justices for Orders of Council to empower Irish Papists and Mongrel Protestants to examine them and to commit if they saw cause without Bail any person impeached This Arbitrary Power the Lords Justices and Council would not agree to yet were so hectored and insulted upon by them that they issued out Orders of Council to examin and commit but always they were directed to Protestants which wearied the Irish of that Stratagem One thing has been omitted which was that before the Duke of Ormond left the Government an Order came for regulating the Council which he left for the Justices to do and most of the English that were active of the Privy Council were turned out but as yet no Irish Papists put in The Irish Lords and Gentry repaired in great numbers to Dublin and as well Gentry as Commonalty of the Natives in all places reproached the Protestants and their Religion with all the Calumnies and Impious Reflections that the rankest Satyrists could invent At Leslip seven Miles from Dublin the Lord Clanriccard Sir Valentine Browne now created a Viscount by the late King James Colonel Moore and some others upon their Knees drank Confusion to all Protestants and their Religion This was taken notice of and the wiser sort of their Party blamed these Men for their forwardness as judging it could not be safe to go on so fast but to stifle the noise of it such as were Eye-witnesses of the Fact and threatened for not Pledging the Health were seized with Warrants and menac'd with having their Throats cut and the like terrifying Arts if they denied not the thing Sir Standish Harston one of the Barons of the Exchequer was threatened to be eased of his Employment if he took not off his Son-in-Law who reported the matter These daily repeated Insolences of the Irish made the Lords Justices weary of their Government and one of them the Lord Granard writ to England to be dismist But in a Consult of the Papists it was resolved to represent him as a Man fit to be kept in for that his interest was very prevalent in the North among the Scots and had for many years in King Charles's Reign been a Pensioner and had Five Hundred Pounds per Annum given him to distribute among the Presbyterian Clergy of which Perswasion his Lady was For the aforesaid Considerations and besides that he was a Popular Man in the Army 't was judged convenient to retain him in the Government For which end King James writ him a Letter with his own hand with great Promises and assurance that nothing should be acted prejudicial to the Protestant Interest which at that time this Lord was accounted to be zealous for however he has now prevaricated Monmouth's Rebellion soon broke out and year 1685 some were apt to believe that Granard was in suspence who to declare for but the Lord Primate was a person of firm and inviolable Loyalty and his unalterable steadiness hindered the other from deserting These two