LXXI. THE EARL OF ORRERY TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MY LORD,

Ballymartin, the 11th of July, 1673. I Received last night the Greate honour of your Ex letter of ye 8th present, And in humble Answer to it I Presume to acquaint Your Exce That I have bin for some weeks Past Earnestly desyred every Post, by my Friends in England, to hasten for London, which made me apprehend that to obey them I should be necessitated to undertake that jurn'y as soone as I was able to undertake it. In wch case I Resolved to goe by ye way of Dublin only to Pay Yo Exce That Duty, wh: noethinge but my Disability of Performinge it should have soe longe hinder'd me from Discharginge.

Wh: Resolution I still continue in. But I must confess I have used all Fittinge endeavours to obtayne from my Friends in England their leave not to goe thither, or at least to have it defer'd as longe as might be, for ye Ague & the last fitt of ye Goutea have made my knees & Ancles soe weeke yt I am not yet able to goe in or out of my Couch, much less up or downe any Stares but as I am lifted by a Couple of Servants, wh: is a condition wh: makes me both unwillinge & unable to goe from home. I did therfore, above three weeks Past, write to my Ld Tresu' of England (who presses me much to hasten to London) to beseech him, untill I were able to walke without helpe (wh: I hope by ye latter end of next month I should be), yt he would not condeme me for not goeinge for England; but if ther were a necessity to serve my Kinge, my Cuntry, or my Friends, I would goe as I am on a week's warninge. And last night I had a letter from him in Answer to myne, wherin he earnestly desyres me to com over as soone as I can & yt my health will admitt, wh: God willinge, I entend to doe by ye way of Dublin,

a He died of this disease in 1679.

b The close association between Danby and Orrery, in opposition to Essex, will be noted hereafter.

& am now yo more confirmed in that Resolution, because I see tis Yor Exces Pleasure yt I should doe soe, as well as tis my Duty to waite on Your Exce ther. I must confess to Yor Exce yt not only ye ill Habbit of body I am fallen under, but also my minde, Invites me to a Retired Life, for haveinge bin Tost about Three & Thirty Yeers in the world, & beinge tired therwith, tis Time to thinke seriously how to gett to that Haven wher only True Rest can be Injoy'd. And I believe a Cell is fitter for thos Thoughts then a Court. Besides, I have found soe much uncertaynty in the thinges of this world that, beinge now Fairly gotten out of ye Tyde of it, I would not seeke to gett into ye Streame again. And ye vicissitudes I dayly see confirmes me ye more in the choice I have made But since we are not borne for ourselves, If I be put to the sad choice of either breakinge with my Frends or breakinge off yt quiet course of Life I now am in, God is my witnesss, if I must embrace the Former, twilbe merely an Act of my obedience, not my choice.

LXXII. THE EARL OF ORRERY TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. MY LORD, Ballymartin, the 15th of July, 1673. Though I Presume to hope That Yo' Exee beleeves I beere a Full Share in all Yo' Afflictions, yet I Esteeme it a Duty to assure you of That Truth, & yt noe servant you have does more Really Participate with you in that Greife wh: you are now under then I doe."

It were not fitt, perhaps, to write to Yor Exee what were my supports when I had unexpectedly lost a deere Brother, since yt might Looke as if what Releeved an ordinary Person would also have ye like effect on one yt is Extraordinary, & I know too well ye disproportion betweene Yor Exce & me.

Essex had lost his younger brother, Edward.

And it were Possibly as greate a Fault to beleeve yt you need any consolation from any Body but yo' selfe, whos Christianity & Courage are more able to Console you in thos sorrows the hand of God has now layd on you, then what you can Receive from all men, espetially soe insignificant a man as I am.

I will therefore only Pray that God, who has thought fitt to lessen your worthy Father's Sons, will Repare it by Augmentinge ye number of yo❜ owne.

LXXIII. -THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON. MY LORD, Dublin Castle, July 19, 73. On ye 8th instant, I writt to y' Lõp concerning ye diuisions wch are among ye Citizens of this Towne. I find they rather encrease then abate, so as twill be necessary some speedy course be taken therein. That Yr Lop may see what good doctrine is taught among them, I have here enclosed a Paper wch was found neer my Closett door in ye Castle. There are 3 or 4 persons here whose discourses are much like ye language of this paper, ye Principall among them is Dr. Loftus, one of ye Masters of Chancerie & Judge of yo Prerogative, who hath of late in severall Companys declared = = That ye Rules wch I made are illegall, & that yo Lieut & Councell had no Power to establish them; nay. that ye Parliam1 itselfe could not give Authoritie to any in this case. This, coming from a man in employment & a Judge, is of more weight with ye People then if an ordinary person had spoken these wordes; And truly whatever his Majestie shall please to determine concerning ye Rules themselves (wch I assure y1 Lõp shall be perfectly complied wth), yet certeinly tis not fitt for private men to arraine ye Actings of ye Lieut & Councell, much less to declare Acts of Parliamt invalide, & unless some severitie be used upon such like occasions, for my owne part I know not how any government can long support it selfe. I must confess

I have bin a little slack upon affronts of this sort, & it has bin a fault in me, but to give y1 Lõp ye true reason of it, it has bin out of a doubt whether I should be justified in my Proceedings, had I bin so quick as my owne reason tells me I ought to be, for I find these men have all along bin upheld by some who pretended great Interest wth ye King, & that wch I said to y' Lốp concerning my La of Anglesey in my former Lre, being then only upon probable conjectures, I can now make it out by substantiall prooffs, that he mingles his advices wth these men.

I know very well ye disadvantage any Person that is absent has, & tho' I am extreame sensible of ye favourable expressions wch I have heard his Majestie has bin pleased to make of me (& indeed it is ye greatest satisfaction & comfort I can have in this employmt to be assured of his Majesties gracious acceptance of my endeavours to serve him), yet I am certaine it is so hard a thing to avoid ye suspicion of partiallitie, that I conceive it will not be amiss for me to send over to y1 Lõp a briefe Acct of ye Originalls & beginnings of ye disturbances of this Citty (wch by my next I will not faile to send yr Lõp), that so you may judge whether I have done any thing other then what, both in justice and prudence, I was obliged to doe.

I may, perhaps, seem to make more of this affaire then it deserves, but if yr Lop considers what influence ye Capitall Citty has upon ye whole Kingdome, you will easily conclude that some more then ordinary circumspection ought to be used in ye goverment of it, & indeed this is ye only uneasy thing that I find in his Majesties affairs here, tho' on ye other hand let me tell yr Löp wth great assurance that these People are not to be overvalued, for whatever his Majestie shall determine, whether it be to make good either of ye two Elections of ye Common Councell, or to vacate ye Rules or put them into other forme, or whatever else he pleaseth, I have power enough any & will see it done; And you need never question but upon this & all other occasions, let but my orders be possitive & his Majestie resolve to stick to me, I will go through wth it, & not fail to see them obey'd.

*

LXXIV.--THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON. MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, July 22, 73.

I have herein enclosed a briefe Narrative of ye proceedings of ye Citty in relation to ye turning out of ye Recorder, & seven Aldermen, as also what pass'd afterwards in order to ye restoring of them; but because it is not fitt to conceale any thing of this matter from yr Lõp, tho' it may reflect upon some persons of eminent qualitie, it will be necessary I beginne a litle higher, & shew yr Lõp ye true originall of their dissentions.

The Citty of Dublin is now very neer, if not altogether twice as bigge as it was at his Majesties restauration, & did till ye Dutch War began every day encrease in their buildings, & by this means ye Revenue of ye Water wch serves ye Towne yearly improved, & was already grown very considerable, ye profitts of wch did of right belong to ye Citty it selfe, but some men finding how great an advantage was likely to arise from such a farme, began to designe ye getting a long Lease of it at an under rent from ye Citty, & perceiving that ye Common Councell too well understood their owne Interest to part wth so good a Revenue, they then found there was no way soe ready for them to compass their ends as upon ye ground of that Act of Parliam', wch empower'd ye Lord Lieut & Councell to Establish Rules for ye regulating of Corporacions, to procure such Rules to be framed as might reduce ye disposal of ye Citty revenue into a few hands, & those such as would serve their turne. And to this end ye Rules first mentioned in this enclosed paper were prepared, wch would infallibly have done ye worke, had not ye Citty, by some application to Sr Ellis Leighton, prevailed wth my Lord Barkeley to make them but temporary, & as y Lốp may observe ye time so short that they expired before they could be executed.

There are those who say that this Lease for ye water would have bin worth at least four or five thousand Pàs a yeare, & that it was contrived yt ye Recorder, Sr William Davys, should have