of the Lord Deputy already alluded to, and determined to pay him every respect on his unjust removal from the government of Ireland. He declared his intention of making "a journey of purpose to Dublin having now no other business there ;" and accordingly did attend him to the water-side, where the Lord Deputy took an affectionate leave; and, kneeling down, requested his Grace's blessing before his departure. Dr. Parr states, "that the Primate did not fail to express his friendship to Lord Falkland on all occasions after his departure, doing his utmost by letters to several of the Lords of his Majesties Privy Council here, for his vindication from several false accusations which were then laid to his charge by some of the Irish nation before his Majesty; which letters together with the vindication of the Council of Ireland by their letter to his Majesty of his just and equal government, did very much contribute to the clearing of his innocence in these things whereof he was then accused." It did not require the sagacity of the Archbishop to discover that Lord Falkland was sacrificed to the impatience of Charles and his ministers at the murmurings of the Irish malcontents. The recusants, irritated at the least restraint, inveighed against the agents whom they had so lately commissioned to England, and maintained that without authority they had imposed a tax too great to be borne. Those who dreaded an inquiry into the titles of their estates joined in the clamour; and the result was, that the Government was compelled to receive a quarterly

J Mr. Reid, in his History of the Presbyterians, on this, as well as upon many other occasions, suits his narrative to the interests of his party. He says: "The Romanist party were not without royal countenance and support; but owing to the zealous interference of the Protestant prelates, who warmly opposed the legal toleration of Popery, it was not always in the power of the King to favor them. Lord Falkland, whom Charles continued in the office of Deputy, was a lenient and inactive governor; but being married to a Roman Catholic lady, he was at all times prompt enough in fulfilling the favorable wishes of the Court towards the Romanists." The fact was, that Lord Falkland was removed, because he had endeavoured to control the Roman Catholics, and roused them to petition against him. The conduct of Archbishop Ussher at his departure would alone be sufficient to authenticate this view of the matter, if additional evidence were required.

payment of five thousand pounds instead of ten thousand pounds; that they were unable to meet the demands for payment from the troops; and in their discontent and annoyance admitted every complaint against the Lord Deputy. The administration was now committed to the Lord Chancellor, the Viscount Loftus, and the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Cork. The new Lords Justices, without consulting the English ministry, or waiting for any instructions from the King, pursued the recusants with severity, and threatened all persons who absented themselves from divine service in the parish churches, with the penalties of the Statute enacted in the second year of Elizabeth's reign. They were, however, soon informed that this severity was not acceptable to the King, nor deemed consistent with his present interests in Ireland. The triumph of the recusants knew no bounds; and a most extraordinary occurrence, even in those lawless times, took place in the City of Dublin. A fraternity of Carmelites appeared in the habit of their order, and publicly celebrated their religious rites in Cork-street, then one of the most frequented parts of Dublin. The Archbishop of Dublin (Bulkeley), and the Mayor of Dublin, roused by this defiance of law and government, led a party of the army to their place of worship, and attempted to disperse the assembly. The friars and their congregation repelled the attack by force, and obliged their assailants to consult their safety by a precipitate flight. The Archbishop escaped with great difficulty by taking shelter in a house. No remark is made by any of the historians upon the circumstance of the Archbishop of Dublin appearing at the head of an armed body; and there seems no possible excuse for his laying aside his sacred character, as the Mayor was present to control the body of soldiers. No surprise was manifested by the English Council, for they directed that the house "wherein the Reverend Archbishop and the Mayor of Dublin received the first publick affront be speedily demolished and be a mark of terror to the resisters of authority." The Lords Justices had been warned by the former reprimand, and communicated their proceedings to the English Government. Their report was now favourably received, and an

answer sent to the following effect: "By your letter we understand how the seditious riot, moved by the Friars and their adherents in Dublin hath by your good order and resolution been happily suppressed: and we doubt not but by this occasion you will consider, how much it concerneth the good government of that kingdom, to prevent in time the just growing of such evils." The consequence of these disturbances was the seizing upon the house in Back-lane which had been used as a Popish college, and giving it to the University of Dublin, who placed there a rector and scholars, and maintained a weekly lecture which the Lords Justices often countenanced by their presence.

The alarming state of the Church induced the Committee of the Privy Council', to whom the affairs of Ireland were intrusted, to represent the matter to the King; and His Majesty immediately sent the following letter to the Archbishops of the four provinces:

"CHARLES REX.

"Most Reverend Father in God, tirely beloved, we greet you well.

right trusty, and enAmong such disorders

* From the Records of Trinity College it appears that, at this time, three mass-houses were given to the College, two in Bridge-street, and one in Back-lane. Two Bachelors were appointed Masters in Bridgestreet, and their place to be annually elective. And, some time after, there is an entry, that a Bachelor was appointed lecturer of all the Undergraduates in Bridge-street, to receive a quarterly tuition, and also the same quarterly rent for their chambers as were paid in Trinity College, viz., 3s. 4d. from a Fellow Commoner, and 1s. 8d. from a Pensioner. How long these houses remained in the possession of the College cannot be ascertained. They were certainly occupied by them in 1637. The enemies of Lord Strafford laid to his charge at his trial, that he had restored to the Papists two mass-houses, which had been assigned to the use of the University; but he defended himself by alleging that they had been restored in consequence of suits at the Council Board, and that he had endeavoured to maintain their seizure.

Dr. Parr calls them the Lords' Committee for Irish Affairs, but it is evident, from the letter itself, that it was a Committee of the Privy Council. He also dates the letter 1631, but this is a mistake, it should be 1630; for April, 1630, was in the sixth year of Charles' reign. Bishop Bedell had, on the 1st of April, 1630, addressed a letter to Bishop Laud, giving a most melancholy account of the dioceses of Kilmore and Ardagh, but this could not have reached London in time to have occasioned the letter from the King.

as the Lords of our Privy Council, deputed by us to a particular care of our realm of Ireland, and the affairs thereof, have observed and represented to us in that Government, as well ecclesiastical as civil; we have taken in special consideration the growth and increase of the Romish faction there, and cannot but from thence collect, that the clergy of that Church are not so careful as they ought to be, either of God's service, or the honour of themselves, and their profession, in removing all pretences to scandal in their lives and conversation; wherefore as we have by all means endeavoured to provide for them a competency of maintenance, so we shall expect hereafter on their part a reciprocal diligence; both by their teaching and example, to win that ignorant and superstitious people to join with them in the true worship of God. And for that purpose we have thought fit, by these our letters, not only to excite your care of these things according to your duty, and dignity of your place, in that Church, but further to authorize you in our name to give by your letters to the several bishops in your provinces a special charge, requiring them to give notice to their clergy under them in their dioceses respectively, that all of them be careful to do their duty, by preaching and catechising in the parishes committed to their charge and that they live answerable to the doctrine which they preach to the people. And further we will, that in our name you write to every bishop within your province, that none of them presume to hold with their bishoprics any beneficem, or other ecclesiastical dignity whatsoever

more.

m The great offender was Michael Boyle, Bishop of Waterford and LisHe was Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, when Laud was President, and his character then was, "that he would have done any thing or sold any man for sixpence profit." By the all-powerful interest of his cousin, the Earl of Cork, he was made Bishop of Waterford, and obtained a patent from James I. to hold, in commendam with the bishopric, all the dignities, promotions, and benefices which he possessed, except the deanery of Lismore, and all benefices, dignities, and promotions, either with or without cure, compatible or incompatible, in Ireland, in his or any other's patronage. There was, indeed, one limitation, that he should not hold more than one dignity or prebend in the same cathedral. His nephew, Michael, Bishop of Cork, and afterwards Lord Primate and Lord Chancellor, continued the same abuse after the Restoration, and appropriated

in their own hands, or to their own use, save only such as we have given leave under our broad seal of that our kingdom to hold in commendam: And of this we require you to be very careful, because there is a complaint brought to the said Lords Committees for Irish Affairs, that some bishops there, when livings fall vacant in their gift, do either not dispose them so soon as they ought, but keep the profits in their own hands, to the hindrance of God's service, and great offence of good people; or else they give them to young and mean men, which only bear the name, reserving the greatest part of the benefice to themselves, by which means that Church must needs be very ill, and weakly served; of which abuses, and the like (if any shall be practised), we require you to take special care for the present redress of them, and shall expect from you such account of your endeavours herein, as may discharge you, not to us only, but to God, whose honour and service it concerns. Given under our signet at our palace at Westminster, the twelfth of April, in the sixth year of our Reign."

Upon this letter Dr. Parr remarks, that it was evident how much His Majesty was offended at the increase of the Popish party in Ireland, and relates an anecdote which he copied from Archbishop Ussher's memorandum book, in these words: "The King once at Whitehall, in the presence of George Duke of Buckingham, of his own accord said to me, that he never loved Popery in all his life, but that he never detested it before his going to Spain."

The commands of the King fully agreed with the opinions and practices of the Primate. His effects had been unremitting to convert the Roman Catholics; more than a year before he had succeeded in the case of a gentleman of considerable fortune, Mr. James Dillon; and there is in the

to his own use the revenues of the livings that became vacant in his diocese, under the pretence that he could not find clergymen to accept them. He, however, was able to discover incumbents, when the Lord President of Munster, Lord Orrery, announced to him, that, unless the livings were filled, he would sequester their revenues for the support of some students in Trinity College, Dublin.