"honest men should make themselves useless "to it, by vain and unseasonable opposition."Since she cannot be removed, the next best "is, to make use of her credit, to keep things as well as may be."*

15. Now he who was thus compelled to keep measures with the Duchess of Portsmouth, considered that the person by whom he was so compelled, was a disguised Catholic; and, uniting this with all the abuses he had witnessed amongst the Bishops in Ireland, I cannot wonder that, when Lord Arundel, of Wardour, came to him, in 1687, with a paper, containing strong arguments for the old Religion of his Ancestors, he gave, says Carte, a “ dexterous

This moderation with regard to the Lady, is the more admirable, when we reflect that she was his mortal enemy, and had intrigued to turn him out of the Lieutenancy of Ireland. "The Earl of Ossory had not been dead three weeks, when the D. of Ormond's enemies renewed their efforts to remove him from the Government of Ireland; and they generally agreed that Lord Essex should succeed him; the Duchess of Portsmouth, Lord Sunderland, Hyde, and Godolphin, all giving him hopes of it, and promising him their interest, &c. Carte Orm. vol. 2, p. 508.

turn to the conversation, and the discourse "ended before it was well begun.”*

16. But yet he was warmly attached to all the good and venerable Men of our Church, whom he distinguished from the intriguers and foreign influence Men of all descriptions, in Church and State; and he was so liberal to the Catholic Clergy, that many Latin, English, and Irish poems were written, even by the Irish Jesuits, and some by the celebrated Robert Nugent, extolling the purity and generosity of his principles. O'Ferrall, and other Ultramontane writers of that time, reproach the Jesuits with having, as they call it, bespattered him with praise;† nor has his fame ever been impeached

* Carte Orm. vol. 2, p. 556.

"Jesuitæ, says O'Ferral, ab Ormonio, cui jam iterum "Poemata et Elogia dedicarunt, et ab Excommunicatis haud "levem pecuniarum summam, nomine Collegii fundandi acce"perunt."-Lynch answers this Charge by saying that it was an Irish custom, whenever the Viceroy entered any town, that the Schools should wait on him, and recite a Latin or an English or Irish poem in his praise, and that it would have been very unbecoming to refuse a liberality which did so much honour to the goodness of Ormond's heart. Alith. Supplem. P. 121.

by any of our Gentry or Nobility, but only by such vile Roman Sycophants as O'Ferrall, Ponce, Enos, King, Bruodin, Con O'Mahony, and others of that faction, who were justly charged with maintaining that the Pope is above all Law, human and Divine; that he can dispense with the ten commandments, with the ties of nature and parental affection, as well as of allegiance; and that even an unjust and impious excommunication of his must be obeyed !!*

* Rooth of Ossory charges them with these doctrines-"Censuræ prohibent, contra legem Dei, fidelitatem in legitimis promissis, læsionem fidei, perjurium," &c. Lynch says, that these Charges were never rebutted.-Alith. p. 83. Con O'Mahony's book in Defence of the Excommunication, was burned by Order of the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland, assembled at Kilkenny in 1648, because he maintained those infamous doctrines, subversive of all order and of Christianity. His book was intitled "Disputatio Apologetica et Manifestiva de jure Regni Hiberniæ, pro Catholicis Hibernis, adversus Hæreticos Anglos. Frankofurti 1645, 4to. Walsh however says that is was printed in Portugal. Remonstr. p. 736. endeavoured to prove that the Kings of England never had any right to Ireland.-The Nuncio's authority was on the decline when this book was burned, for he in vain endeavoured to protect Mahony. Paul King's book was of the same stamp. See Belling's Reply to Ponce, in his Vindiciæ.

He

17. Such were the writers who calumniated Ormond: whereas our genuine Catholic writers agree with Lynch, that his conduct to the Irish is above all praise.-Ormonii res gestæ uberem laudum segetem cuivis eas decantaturo subministrabunt."* Nor will any man, who is at all acquainted with the character of N. French, Catholic Bishop of Ferns, adopt any of the base imputations which he throws out against Ormond in his Unkind Deserter, since French himself had so often changed sides, that no reliance could be placed upon his word.

French was Chancellor and Chairman of the

*

Lynch Alith. Supplem. Maclovii 1667, p. 122. In another work printed three years before, he says, " Equidem confido fore, ut hodiernus Ormoniæ Marchio, tot Heroum indubi tatus hæres, sicut se Regi fidissimum, more Majorum, semper merito præbuit, sic etiam Deum fide Majorum aliquando culturus, et ultimum in ea Spiritum emissurus sit." Alith, Maclovii 1664, p. 22.-See also Caron's Loyalty asserted, London 1662, and Irish Remonstrance dedicated to Ch. 2, 1665; with the works of Walsh and Belling.--Even Doctor Talbot extolls Ormond in his Friar Disciplined; so that, after much reading, I cannot help condemning the asperity and the injustice of my old friend Doctor Curry, who, had he read half as much as I have on the subject, would never have written of Ormond in the style, in which, while he bespatters the fame of this great Man, he only injures his own.

R

Exclusive Synod of Waterford, in 1646. He changed sides soon after, and was sent Ambassador to Rome, by the Nobility and Gentry, 1647. On his return in 1648, he promoted the second peace; but scarcely was that concluded, when he changed sides again, and signed the second excommunication, denounced by the foreign influenced Bishops at Jamestown! He then went to Brussels, with instructions from the same foreign influenced Men, to offer the crown of Ireland to the Duke of Lorrain, without the knowledge of Lord Clanricarde.* At Paris he attempted to wait on King Charles II. who refused to see him; and, imputing this refusal to Ormond, he ever after vilified and calumniated him in all his writings.

"

the Foreign Influenced Bishops to agree with

the Nobility and Gentry.

1. It is a well known fact that, even when Ormond felt himself so hard pressed by the

• This shall be proved in my second Address.