requires me to continue them in ye same state They were in before ye making of these Rules, then I must put out all ye new Magistrates and replace all that serv'd last year; it will inevitably cause great disorder and confusion, and therefore I forbear acting any thing in yt particular till I shall receive his Majties further pleasure therein; but for ye future there will be no new occasion of making use of these Rules till Michaelmass next, wch is ye Time for ye Elections of all ye considerable Corporacions in this Kingdome, so that upon ye matter They may be look'd upon as in ye mean time. suspended.

The Elections of ye Citty of Dublyn are not indeed as yet perfected according to ye Rules, nor shall I suffer them to proceed therein, only I thinke it fitt to acquaint yr LoP that in this late Election there were eight or ten of ye Roman persuasion chosen into ye Comon Councell, whom I should have readily dispenc'd wth, and qualified to have bin of yt number, without exposing them to ye Oath, wch They so much scruple, had not his Majties Lre interpos'd, wch has hindred my further proceedings in this Affair.

The whole Comon Councell of this Citty lies at this time at great uncerteintie; For ye old Comon Councell, wch were for life, and all Protestants, cannot meet by reason of this new Election, and Those newly elected cannot meet by reason of this suspension. I desire yr Lop to move ye King for an Aunswer as to this particular Rule, wch concerns ye Citty of Dublyn, in regard ye Citty may not too long continue as it were wth out Governmt.

One thing more I cannot omitt, wch I am apt to thinke may be some little mistake in ye Letter, for by a Clause there I am forbid to intermedle in ye passing of any Charters to Corporacions, wch for ye present stops that of Dundalke, for weh I had granted a Warrt, and it now stays at ye Seale till I can receive some directions from yr Lop.

I doe observe that this his Majties Lre is not enterd in ye Signett Office, and yet some out of England have bin so industrious as to send Copies of it hither, wch are spread all ye Kingdome over, and

that before I had health enough to peruse it, wch I had not till wthin this weeke.

I have now prepar'd Aunswers to ye objections agt ye Rules, but They are so voluminous as they will require some time to transcribe. I hope to send them by ye next.

XXX.-THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE MARQUIS OF

WORCESTER.

DEARE BROTHER,"

Dublyn Castle, Dec. 14th, 1672. My indisposition will not yet permitt me to use my owne hand, tho' I hope I am now in a faire way of recoverie.

If you please to let me hear from you how my case stands in England, and who are my friends there, wch is necessarie for me to know, you may safely communicate any thing of that nature to this Gentleman, Mr. Godolphin, one of my Secretaries, his is a secure hand, and wtever you thinke fitt to acquaint him wth I dare promise for him hee'll faithfully bring it to me.

b

XXXI. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON.

MY LORD,

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Dublyn Castle, Dec. 17th, '72.
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My Lord, I must once more desire y' Lop to get me an Aunswer to yt one Rule wch relates to ye alteration of ye Coñon Councell in

a His wife was Essex's eldest sister Mary, widow of Henry, Lord Beauchamp. This is Frank, elder brother to Sidney, the Lord High Treasurer of Queen Anne's reign. He was secretary to Lord Berkeley, Essex's predecessor. He died Aug. 13, 1775, at Dublin. Much of his correspondence with Essex is in the MSS. He signs himself Fra: Godolphin.

Dublyn, for there are great practices on foot here to put this Citty in disorder, and this morning, there being an Assemblee of ye La Mayor & Aldermen, The Mayor declar'd yt he would have none of those of ye Roman persuasion who have bin elected to serve of ye Comon Councell, but none of ye Aldermen, except St John Tothill, as I am told, would joyne wth him, nor can he now if he would put them by (if once they had my dispensation from taking ye Oath of Supremacie), for he himself, in yo presence of a Table of Aldermen, has allready allow'd Them.

My Lord, I have given you ye Trouble to make a narration of these particulars, because I make no doubt but some of my good Friends here will write to their Intimates in England and make this wch ye Mayor has done to-day to be my Act, because I happened to send in ye morning before their meeting to speake wth him. I doe assure y1 Lop it was upon other business, nor did I in ye least knowe he intended to offer any such motion.

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XXXII.-FRANCIS GODOLPHIN TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MY LORD,

London, Dec. 24th, '72.

I arrived here with much difficulty Saturday last; my L. A.a raises more scruples against your proposal then I expected, whereof hee promised mee to write your Excy his sence by this post. I hope either to find out some expedient to make it passe, or to bee able to give your Excy satisfaction that there will bee noe need of it; ye best light I have yet had in your Excys affayrs here has been from Sr H. Capel, who has been very curious and industrious in all your conI can onely say in general, that every thing is better then I

cerns.

a Arlington.

b Younger brother of Essex, and his loyal supporter.

b

expected to find it, & I hope your Exey has but one enemy among us here, whom you will easily guesse. My L. M. of Worcester sayes he will make it his busines to give your Exey ye satisfaction you expect from him. I have not yet had time to sollicite my L. A. upon any of ye other points wch your Exey gave mee in charge. I was this day at Chiswick & Zion, where I learnt that my Lady has a quantity of thea that has layn some time at Worcester house, wch I will take care to have sent to Chester by ye first convenience. Lres from Flanders confirme ye relief of Charleroy, & yt ye P. of Orange & ye Spaniards are much dissatisfied with one another.

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XXXIII. THE EARL OF ARLINGTON TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MY LORDE,

Whitehall, Decemb. 24th, '72.

In my last leter by ye last post I told yr Ex: that Mr Godolphin was newly arrived, since when I have had leisure to heare from him what you intrusted him with to offer to mee, with circumstances of much advantage to my selfe, of which I cannot make any other use then in assuring my selfe anew of yr friendship which I have never misdeserved yet nor will willingly doe as longe as I live, of which I conjure yr Exce to bee most confident, and I say it the more earnestly now because I heare others have malice to suggest ye contrary.

As to ye thing it selfe I have had an oportunity of acquainting his Majty with ye pressing instances made to y' Ex: to allowe of an Agency to support ye Protestants' interests in that kingdome, and to bee intrusted with some well qualifyed person neare his Maty, ye supposition of which neede hee lookes upon as an offensive and injurious one, wch I told Mr. Godolphin I knew hee would doe at his first opening the matter to mee, his Maty added, if they have

any thing to complaine of, why doe they not doe it by my Lorde of Essex to mee, from whome I cannot but take well whatever hee represents to mee of that or any other kinde; in a worde, my Lorde, you will doe yr selfe the greatest wronge in ye world if you bee over shie in this. His Maty added further, what are these men apprehensive of? it is true I have isseued a Comission to make enquiry after all landes unwissly posessed by any body, that I might apply the benefit of it to those who weare frustrated of their expectations given them by ye Act of Settlement, but have upon all occasions declared I would protect and stande by ye Act it selfe whatever it hath established, knowing what a confusion the breach of it would cause. Hee was pleased to adde further, I have autorised the bringing Roman Catholiques from abroade to live in the Corporate Townes, but I have been content to qualify their admission to beare offices wth stricter rules then weare imposed upon Rome in my father's time, and such as ye counsel there have in effect advised. My Lorde I neede adde noe more of his Mats discourse upon this subject; by this little yr Ex: sees his minde therein, and consequently you must resist with all yr might the nomination of any kinde of Agency as before expressed, and charge yr selfe entirely wth making such representations to his Maty of all kinde of grievances, assuring y selfe and them that you shall procure them full satisfaction upon them.

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