can have it no cheaper) to join with them against the Scots and Inchiquins ; for I hope by that time, my condition may be fuch as the Irish may be glad to accept lefs, or I able to grant more.

No. XXXI.

(Page 151.)

CHARLES by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. to our right trusty and right wellbeloved coufin, Edward Somerfet, alias Plantagenet, Lord Herbert, Baron Beauford of Caldicote, Grifmond, Chepftow, Ragland, and Gower, Earl of Glamorgan, fon and heir apparent of our intirely beloved cousin Henry Earl and Marquis of Worcester, greeting. Having had good and long experience of your prowefs, prudence, and fidelity, do make choice, and by these nominate and appoint you, our right trufty and right well-beloved coufin, Edward Somerfet, &c. to be our generaliffimo of three armies, English, Irish, and foreign, and admiral of a fleet at fea, with power to recommend your lieutenant-general for our approbation, leaving all other officers to your own election and denomination, and accordingly to receive their commiffions from you; willing and commanding them, and every of them, you to obey, as their general, and you to receive immediate orders from ourself only. And left through diftance of place we may be mifinformed, we will and command you to reply unto us, if any of our orders fhould thwart or hinder any of your defigns for our fervice. And there being neceffary great fums of money to the carrying on fo chargeable an employment, which we have not to furnish you withal; we do by thefe impower you to contract with any of our loving fubjects of England, Ireland, and dominion of Wales, for wardfhips, cuftoms, woods, or any our rights and prerogatives; we by thefe obliging ourselves, our heirs, and fucceffors, to confirm and make good the fame accordingly. And for perfons of generofity, for whom titles of honour are moft defirable, we have intrufted you with feveral patents under our great feal of England, from a marquis to a baronet, which we give you full power and authority to date and difpofe of, without knowing our further pleasure, fo great is our truft and confidence in you, as that whatfoever you do con

tract

tract for or promife, we will make good the fame accordingly, from the date of this our commiffion forwards; which for the better fatisfaction, we give you leave to give them, or any of them, copies thereof, attested under your hand and feal of arms. And for your own encouragement, and in token of our gratitude, we give and allow you henceforward fuch fees, titles, preheminences, and privileges, as do and may belong unto your place and command above mentioned, with a promife of our dear daughter Elizabeth to your fon Plantagenet in marriage, with three hundred thousand pounds in dower or portion, most part whereof we acknowledge spent and disbursed by your father and you in our fervice; and the title of Duke of Somerset to you and your heirs male for ever; and from henceforward to give the Garter to your arms, and at your pleasure to put on the George and blue ribbon. And for your greater honour, and in teftimony of our reality, we have with our own hand affixed our great feal of England unto these our commiffion and letters, making them patents. Witness ourself at Oxford, the 1ft day of April, in the 20th year of our reign, and the year of our Lord one thousand fix hundred and forty-four.

WHEREAS we have had fufficient and ample teftimony of your approved wifdom and fidelity, fo great is the confidence we repose in you, as that whatsoever you fhall perform, as warranted under our fign manual, pocket fignet, or private mark, or even by word of mouth, without farther ceremony, we do in the word of a King and a Chriftian, promise to make good, to all intents and purposes, as effectually, as if your authority from us had been under the great feal of England, with this advantage, that we shall efteem ourselves the more obliged to you for your gallantry, in not standing upon fuch nice terms to do us fervice, which we fhall, God willing, reward. And although you exceed what law can warrant, or any powers of ours reach unto, as not knowing what you have need of; yet it being for our fervice, we oblige ourself, not only to give you our pardon, but to maintain the fame

with all our might and power; and though either by accident, or by any other occafion, you shall deem it neceffary to depofite any of our warrants, and fo want them at your return, we faithfully promise to make them good at your return, and to fupply any thing, wherein they fhall be found defective, it not being convenient for us at this time to difpute upon them; for of what we have here fet down you may reft confident, if there be faith and truth in men. Proceed therefore cheerfully, fpeedily, and boldly; and for your fo doing, this shall be your fufficient warrant.

Given at our court at Oxford under our fign manual and private fignet, this 12th of January, 1644.

CHARLES R.

CHARLES by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. to our trufty and right wellbeloved coufin, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, greeting. We repofing great and especial truft and confidence in your approved wifdom and fidelity, do by thefe (as firmly as under our great feal, to all intents and purposes) authorize and give you power, to treat and conclude with the Confederate Roman Catholics in our kingdom of Ireland, if upon neceffity any be to be condefcended unto, wherein our lieutenant cannot fo well be seen in, as not fit for us at prefent publickly to own. Therefore we charge you to proceed according to this our warrant, with all poffible fecrecy, and for whatsoever you shall engage yourself, upon fuch valuable confiderations, as you in your judgment fhall deem fit, we promife on the word of a King and a Christian, to ratify and perform the fame, that shall be granted by you, and under your hand and feal; the faid Confederate Catholics having by their fupplies testified their zeal to our fervice. And this fhall be in cach particular to you a fufficient warrant. Given at our court at Oxford, under our fignet and royal fignature, the 12th of March, in the twentieth year of our reign, 1644.

No.

No. XXXIII.

The KING'S Letter to the ARCHBISHOP OF FERMO. (Page 152.)

SIR,

HEARING of your refolution for Ireland, we do not doubt but that things will go well; and that the good intentions begun by means of the laft Pope will be accomplished by the prefent, by your means, in our kingdom of Ireland and England, you joining with our dear coufin, the Earl of Glamorgan, with whom whatever you fhall refolve, we shall think ourfelves obliged to, and perform it at his return. His great merits oblige us to this confidence, which we repose in him above all, having known him above twenty years; during which time he has always fignally advanced himself in our good esteem, and by all kinds of means carried the prize above all our fubjects. This being joined to the confideration of his blood, you may well judge of the affection, which we have particularly for him, and that nothing fhall be wanting on our part, to perfect what he thall oblige himself to in our name, in confideration of the favors received by your means. Confide therefore in him; but in the mean while, according to the directions we have given him, how important it is, that the affair fhould be kept secret, there is no occafion to perfuade you, nor to recommend it to you, fince you fee, that the neceffity of the thing itself requires it. This is the firft letter we have ever written immediately to any minifter of ftate of the Pope, hoping, that it will not be the laft; but that after the faid earl and you fhall have concerted your measures, we fhall openly fhew ourself, as we have affured him, Your friend,

4

From our Court at Oxford, 30th April, 1645.

CHARLES R..

Extract of a Letter to the QUEEN, dated the 2d of March, 1645, from Cardinal Pamphilio, delivered to her Majefty at Paris, by Signor Spinola, in which his Eminence obferved,

THAT he had been lately informed, how extremely defirous the king and queen of England were of a peace with the Irish, that they might have the

affiftance

affiftance of that nation in the diftreffed fituation of their affairs in England: that this was likewife the most ardent wifh of his holinefs and the nuncio now fent by him, of the royal party in England, Ireland, and Scotland, both orthodox and heterodox, of the queen regent of France, and of Cardinal Mazarin, the minister of state there: and that only the parliamentarian rebels and the heretics, who adhered to them (for there was fcarce any one Catholic, who did not efpoufe the royal caufe) were full of dreadful apprehenfions, left the king should triumph by the affistance of the Catholics, especially the Irish; fince those most profligate of all rebels fince the creation being detefted by and detefting the Irish, presaged nothing but their own absolute deftruction from fuch an event.

No. XXXIV.

Letter of the MARQUIS OF ORMOND to the LORD MUSKERRY. (P. 152.) MY LORD,

THOUGH I am perfwaded, that the points, which you and the other deputies have agreed to in the prefence of my Lord Glamorgan and myself, are still fresh in your memory: yet confidering, that the weight and importance of a timely execution of the bufinefs, which you then were inclined to expedite, is now twice as great as it was before, on account as well of fome incidents, which have lately happened in England, as of your own fecurity, and observing, that in our meeting on this affair you expreffed a defire, that I fhould act in concert with my Lord Glamorgan; I think it neceffary, that I should remind, and in this way acquaint your lordship with that, which I could not infift on in his lordship's prefence, without offending his modefty, and incurring the imputation of flattery. What I have to fay in short is this, that I know no fubject in England, upon whose favour and authority with his majesty, and real and innate nobility you can better rely, than upon his lordship's; nor (if that has any weight with you) any person, whom I would more endeavour to ferve in thofe things, which he fhall undertake for the fervice of his majefty, or with whom I shall fooner agree for the benefit of this kingdom. I reft,

Your lordship's

Moft affectionate fervant and brother,

Dublin, August 11, 1645.

ORMONDE.