CCV.-WILLIAM HARBORD TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

Yesterday morning I was wth Kg. & acquainted him wth my intentions for Ireland in a few days. He spoke of Essex wth all the kindnesse immaginable, & hath promised me his letter to that effect. The last night Trear. told me before Ran. that Kg. had readely agreed to give 12,000 lb. for Essex house for Essex. I was surprised at it, & I could hartely wish y' the thing had not been proposed in this manner nor by those hands; but above all things not at this time. 'Tis not my sence, but the opinion of all your wisest friends; & I finde already yt Ran. begins to baule it out, valuing himselfe much upon it, and so doth the speaker, and I dout not but that Mr Thinne will raise his price bravely when He knowes it. I am sure were y' Excellency here you would be of my oppinion, wch I will, however, submitt to yr Excellencies better judgment. I still believe Parl. will meete, & Arl., Laud., & Angl. will be in danger, & perhaps Trear. also & Ran. At my comming over I will at large give Ess. an account of things here, & I hope God willing to sett out Munday next. Mr Robinson intends to doe the same.

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CCVI. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF DANBY.

Since my coming into this Employmt I have not mett wth any Thing of much difficultie or uneasinesse, except only ye disorders

Wch

I found this Citty in at my Arrivall, & indeed ye Secretary of that person, who was here before me, did for some of his owne private ends enflame a feud that was beginning between ye Aldermen & Commons to that degree as I could never wth all ye Industry & faire means I have used for these Two Years, bring them to any composure. There was a Meeting in ye Time of my Loid Berkely about ye building of a bridge, wch came to that height, as Sr Arthur Forbese was forced to draw out ye Guards, & fire among them, & kill some men before he could make them quiett; And tho' I doe not now see any ground to apprehend a Tumult, or Sedition like that, yet ye Stubborness of ye Comons at this present is such as, unless some course be taken with ye principall Incendiarys, I fear it cannot but end in mischiefe. A litle before my coming over there were 8 Aldermen & ye Record' most violently & irregularly thrust out of their places, and his Matie was pleased by a letter to referre to me & ye Councell ye hearing & determination of that matter: We spent severall days upon it, & having heard Councell at large on both sides, we declared ye proceedings in turning out these Aldermen & ye Record' to be (as indeed they were) both contrary to ye Customs of ye Citty, & ye Rules of Comon Justice; & thereupon ordered ye Aldermen & Record to be replaced, & to ye end that no memory might remain of such undue & illegall proceedings, we also ordered that all Entrys relating to ye expulsion of these men should be raced & blotted out of their books, as ye Copy of ye Order herewth enclosed will more fully informe y LP. The Aldermen tooke their places agen, but in regard of some unsetlednesse in their Assemblys & some irregularities & inconstancy in their meetings, this latter part of our Order concerning ye rasure was suffered to rest till of late; but being some weeks since informed by ye Mayor, that our Order was not compleatly executed, we sent a 2nd Order of Councell requiring their Obedience, whereupon at an Assembly called for that purpose, ye Mayor and Aldermen unanimously agreed to comply, but ye Comons denied it, wch being signified to us by ye

Mayor & Sheriffs, we sent another Order to them expresly commanding their conformitie, wth direction to returne ye names of those who should vote agt it. Upon this an Assembly being called, & ye Order read, most of ye Coñons immediately forced open ye doors, & in a tumultuous manner broke up ye Assembly. As for these Entrys upon ye books, we can send for ye books themselves to yo Councell, & cause those parts directed in our Order to be expunged there. It seems to me a Thing insufferable to permitt men to goe away wth Acts of disobedieuce unpunished, & therefore unlesse some severitie be used upon those 3 or 4 persons who incite ye rest to sedition, his Majesties Authoritie will I fear be much weakened, & this I should be extreamly ashamed to see in my Time. Besides In this case tis considerable that, Dublin being ye Capital Citty, other Corporacions will take example by them, & ye patterne may run throughout ye whole Kingdome: But there being Leisure to consult his Majesties pleasure herein, I give yTM Lo ye trouble of this large Letter, & desire you would be pleased to acquainte him wth y substance thereof, & that I may have Order, whether I shall only see those proceedings raced out of ye books, & doe nothing further, or whether it may not be fitt that I likewise inflict some punishment upon these Incendiarys, who stire up ye people to sedition.

There are severall Lres before me for ye Remittall of Quitrents, these being all upon ye same Foot wth some others for such like Remittalls (copies whereof I have already sent yr LP). I doe not acquainte you with ye particulars, but intend to stop them all, till from y LP I shall receive a signification of his Majesties pleasure upon this subject.

CCVII. SIR H. COVENTRY TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MY LORD, Whitehall, Febr. 15th, 1674. This is onely to send my most hearty service to you by Mr Harbord my very good friend; hee will tell you by word of mouth more of the state of our Affaires then I canne communicate by letter. I hope hee will satisfy yr Excy, or at least bring you satisfaction from a better hand, how groundlesse all those reports raysed by some of y' Excllys ennemys were. I will assure you my La since my attending his May in this place, I never heard him speake but wth greate kindnesse of your person and greate valew for your care and conduct. The criticall time is now coming to show us what the complexion of our Affaires is. The gen" peace is much talked of on all sides and as much wished by the comon people, but the stepps the greate ones make towards it make mee beleeve this Campagne is like to end before a treaty bee begunne, not so much as the place of treaty, nor Mediatours as yet agreed on. The Kg. if France hath accepted the Venetians, what the Confederates will doe wee are yet to learne. His Maty seemeth very well resolved in the course hee hath begunne to take in satisfying his people in the point of Religion, and I beleeve will give them farther testimonys at the meeting of the Parliament. God grant it have a right effect, and that wee see a happy vision at home, and then wee may, wth more security to endeavour a peace for those abroad.

CCVIII. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF DANBY.

MY LORD, a

Dublin Castle, February 16, 1674-5. With much satisfaction I have received yr favour of yr Lps most oblieging Letter of ye 28th of January. I do well know that ye many great affairs wch are in yr Lps hands cannot but hinder you from giving early dispatch to those of this country, wch are of lesse moment, and therefore now, whilst my Lord Ranelagh is in England, yr LP may by him tell me y mind in matters relating to this Kingdome; and, having had so many instances to confirme ye assurance of yr Lps kindnesse, I cannot but rest satisfied that I am possest of yr Lps favour, which is a thing I have ever bin most ambitious of.

From my La Conway I understand that yr LP has bin pleased to move His Majestie to grant me a summe of money for ye purchase of Essex House, & that His Majestie has consented to it; y1 LP has therein layd a perpetuall obligacon upon me; ye thing being not only valuable in its selfe, but of twice its worth to me, in regard of y convenience it will ever be to my family, & it is gratefying my humor more then another matter of double ye value. I have bin acquainted wth all His Majesties great Ministers since his happy restauration; some of them had personall obligations to have done me a kindnesse, but this I can say that none of them till yr LP have ever endeavord to be instrumentall in one of this sort, & therefore y LP may easily judge at what price I shall rate this yr Lps favor.

The Reports of my Remove have sounded pretty loudly here, but I confesse I could never give ye least creditt to it; being fully assured that His Majestie would have signified his pleasure to me. Had it been so, yet however these discourses have ill effects in ye Affairs of ye Kingdome, making ye people (whilst they expect a

On the same date Essex writes to Ranelagh in the same sense.