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deserved from ye Crowne, & if there be any thing of hardship to me in this, undoubtedly tis at this time done wth somewhat ye worse grace, in regard I am now actually emploid in his Majesties Service, and cannot, being absent, offer such reasons & press them so effectually as if I had ye opportunitie to speak them for my selfe.

Should there be any Lands of ye Northumberland family wch, in rigor of law, revert to ye Crowne upon ye failure of an Heir Male, had that Estate immediately descended to me I could not have doubted, but ye memory of my father, together wth ye consideration of my owne endeavors to serve his Majtie, would have supplied that defect. Nay, as ye case is, having married ye Sole daughter of Algernon, ye father, Earle of Northumberland (as this young Lady who possesses ye whole fortune is ye daughter of Joceline, ye son, Earle of Northumberland), & having sold many large Mannors of my Paternall Estate, meerly upon ye acct of his Majesties Service, I cannot think I am partiall to my self in believing I might have bin as proper an object of his Majesties favor on this occasion as any man living.

I am pretty confident that whoever has a Grant of this nature will not find their account in it, but yet sure I am it will bring great trouble & vexation upon ye Estate, for ye Heir will by this means be brought to prove her Title to every Inch of Land she enjoyes, a hardship wch (tho' I presume ye Lands I now possess to be very secure to me), yet I should be very loath to be put to, for who knows what writings may be mislaid or lost, & consequently what unforeseen flaws or defects may be discovered? Next to a Practice of this sort upon my owne fortune, ye acting it on this estate, wherein I have a reall & presumptive, tho' not a present or a certain interest, is doubtless as unkind a thing as could possibly be done to me, & therefore no reasonable man can blame me for being effectually concerned at it.

I have upon this subject freely imparted my mind to yo' Lõp, & doe not doubt but you will make use of it to my advantage, wch if you shall doe wth success, it will eternally oblige, &c.

CAMD. SOC.

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VOL. I.

LXVII. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON.a

MY LORD, Dublin Castle, 17th June, '73. Mr Blud being now upon his returne, I have taken this opportunitie to give y1 Lõp an answer to ye Lře of yrs wch he brought me. I can assure yr Löp that whoever told you that there was any particular interrogatory pointing at yr Lõp, in ye examination of that business relating to Mr Peter Talbott, did very much misinforme you; & it was a most malicious invention in them who first reported it, for there were no questions asked but in generalls, as what they who were examined knew concerning Mr Peter Talbott's exercising of Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction, & of his pretending ye King's Authoritie for soe doeing, as also of his leavying of money here. That y Lõp was named by one of ye examinants, I writt you an acct in some of my former Lies, but it was only thus: Talbott pretending a superioritie over all ye Romish Bishops here, Plunkett their Primate disputed his authoritie over him; & upon this Talbott affirmes he had directions from ye King or some of his Ministers to overrule all here, and therefore all their Bps were to give obedience to him. Upon this Plunkett writes into England to Father Howard, her Majesties Almoner, to be satisfied whether this wch Talbott had averred were true, & received for answer that yr Lốp had bin asked whether any such orders had bin given, & that y Lop denied that ever any such had gone from you. This is all in that matter, wch appear'd upon ye examinations relating to yr Lõp, & I am sure there is nothing in it but of advantage to you, & yr Lõp may be fully satisfied that there were no questions put leading to y' Lõp's name; but I am confident if ye Truth were fully known (as I have some well-grounded hints, tho' not such as amount to Prooffs), it would appear that father Patricke did write to Mr

a In a former letter May 13 Essex tells Arlington that the latter has been accused of backing Talbot's cause.

Peter Talbott, as in y' Lõps name, to encourage him to proceed in his exercise of Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction, & upon this he founded his pretence of his Majesties authoritie transmitted to him by some of ye King's Ministers; but yr Löp sees how fully you have bin clear'd of this imputation by Father Howard's answer to Plunkett. Having told yr Lõp ye full of this business, both as far as I know and as far as upon probable circumstances I can conjecture, I shall give you no further trouble, but ye assurance of my being ever,

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LXVIII.—THE EARL OF ESSEX TO SIR ROBERT SOUTHWELL.a

SR,

Dublin Castle, July 8, 1673.

And now that I am upon this subject, I must desire y' excuse for not making you a returne to one of yrs, wch I reed some months since, wherin you proposed ye grant of a reversion of an Office for some nephew of Percivall's. The Truth is, could I have complied wth yr desires I had writt to you sooner, but, having taken up a resolution not to grant any reversion to ye prejudice of my success in this Governm', it has disabled me from gratifying you, or any other person in this kind. I am not out of hopes at one time or other to vacate all those reversions, weh I have found upon almost every Office & Place in this Kingdome, wch has not only disappointed all those who depend on me, but it is a great mischief to ye whole Kingdome, making all men careless & lazy in gaining such vertues & qualities as should fitt them for employm1, since they see all filled up wth reversions, & I doe not know how I can wth

The intimate friend of the Duke of Ormond, from whose MSS. a large part of Carter's Life of Ormond was derived. He was for some time envoy at Lisbon.

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confidence endeavour ye revocation of those that are, if I my selfe should create more. For this reason I have kept my selfe free from disposing of any, & hope ere long to reap some advantage by it; I mean by having of it in my power to oblige some good men, among whom I assure you none has a greater share of esteeme then y' self, in ye opinion of, &c.

LXIX. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON.

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MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, July 8, 73. There is not any thing since my coming hither has given us more trouble then ye disputes & differences weh have risen among ye Citizens of this Towne. It were too long a Story to tell yr Löp ye originalls and beginnings of their variances, only Yr Lop knows that at my first coming I found them all in disorder, but I hoped that by ye Establishmt of ye Rules, wch by advice of ye Councell have bin publish'd, all would have bin in a quiett condition, & I am apt to think I should not have bin deceived, had not his Majesties Lie of ye 5th Novemb' last interposed to suspend ye execution of those Rules, & Copies of this Lie (as I have formerly observed to y2 Lõp), tho' t'was but a private order to me, were yet dispersed & scattered throughout all ye Towne,a wch encouraged & animated all those persons who were mutinous & discontented in this Citty to raise wrangles & cavills at what ever I did. Afterwards, upon ye receipt of his Majesties Lie of ye 14 Jan., I ordered ye Lord Mayor to proceed to ye swearing of those persons whom he had acquainted me with as elected to be of ye Common Councell, among whom were ten of ye Roman persuasion, to every one of wch, upon ye La Mayors certificate of their election, & in obedience to his Majesties sd Lĩe of ye 14 Jan., & by virtue of ye Powr reserved to ye Lieut by those Rules, I gave a dispensation from taking ye oath of Supremacy. I

a See Letter XXXIV.

have herewth sent yr Lop a Paper wch gives a clear acct of ye whole matter of ye Election of ye Common Councell men of this Citty, & by it you will find there was a double Election of Common Councell men made, one wherein there are Romanists nominated, & another wherein there is none of that religion chosen. The discontented part of ye Citty press, that ye Election last mentiond may be confirm'd, being (as they urge) more conformable to ye Rules, & say, that if ye Papists be put out, they shall then all be united & act cheerfully & contentedly one wth another; but I know this is only a Snare sett for me, to make it appear as if it were my work to exclude these Romanists, & I am confident ye Author of ye objections to ye Rules, tho' he be in England, was a Contriver, or at least a Promoter, of this proposall; besides, I am not sure that if these men are gratified in what they pretend now to desire, whether they will then acquiesce, or rather will not afterwards pick some litle quarrell to continue on ye dispute, but I am resolved none of their litle inventions shall entangle me, & for that reason I have herewth transmitted to yo' Löp an exact State of ye business Whether it be more for his Majesties Service that these men of ye Roman persuasion be at this time brought into ye Coñon Councell here, I am not fitt to judge; but y' Löp, who is upon ye place, can best determine how this may suite wth affairs in England, and as for any concernment in this country, I thinke ye matter soe triviall as 'tis not worth ye debating, nor can be of any prejudice one way or the other; whatever his Majestie shall resolve in this particular, I will be sure to see is executed.

Should those of this Citty continue factious & disobedient, there is yet another course to be taken wth them, wch, tho' something harsh, yet, in case they cannot by other means be brought to a compliance, must be made use of, that is, ye vacating their charter,a & forcing them to take out a new one, wch will put into his Majesties.

This plan was extensively used by Charles in England in 1683, enormously increasing the influence of the Crown.

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