themselves under a bush or bankside till they may conveniently do their errand; and when all is over, he can in his mantle passe through any town or company, being close hooded over his head, as he useth, from knowledge of any to whom he is indangered. Besides this, he or any man els that is disposed to mischief or villany, may, under his mantle, goe privily armed without suspicion of any, carry his head-piece, his skean, or pistol, if he please, to be always in readiness.'-SPENSER'S View of the State of Ireland, apud Works, ut supra, viii. 367.

The javelins, or darts, of the Irish, which they threw with great dexterity, appear, from one of the prints already mentioned, to have been about four feet long, with a strong steel head and thick knotted shaft.

NOTE XLIII.

With wild majestic port and tone,
Like envoy of some barbarous throne.
--P. 345.

The Irish chiefs, in their intercourse with the English, and with each other, were wont to assume the language and style of independent royalty. Morrison has preserved a summons from Tyrone to a neighbouring chieftain, which runs in the following terms:

'O'Neale commendeth him unto you, Morish Fitz-Thomas; O'Neale requesteth you, in God's name, to take part with him, and fight for your conscience and right; and in so doing, O'Neale will spend to see you righted in all your affaires, and will help you. And if you come not at O'Neale betwixt this and to-morrow at twelve of the clocke, and take his part, O'Neale is not beholding to you, and will doe to the uttermost of his power to overthrow you, if you come not to him at furthest by Satturday at noone. From Knocke Dumayne in Calrie, the fourth of February, 1599.

'O'Neale requesteth you to come speake with him, and doth giue you his word that you shall receive no harme neither in comming nor going from him, whether you be friend or not, and bring with you to O'Neale Gerat Fitzgerald.

(Subscribed)

'O'NEALE.'

Nor did the royalty of O'Neale consist in words alone. Sir John Harrington paid him a visit at the time of his truce with Essex, and, after mentioning his 'fern table, and fern forms, spread under the stately canopy of heaven,' he notices what constitutes the real power of every monarch, the love, namely, and allegiance of his subjects. 'His guards, for the most part, were beardless boys without shirts; who in the frost wade as familiarly through rivers as water-spaniels. With what charm such a master makes them love him, I know not; but if he bid come,

they come; if go, they do go; if he say do this, they do it.-Nugae Antiquae. Lond. 1784, 8vo, vol. i. p. 251.

NOTE XLIV.

His foster-father was his guide.-P. 346. There was no tie more sacred among the Irish than that which connected the fosterfather, as well as the nurse herself, with the child they brought up.

'Foster-fathers spend much more time, money, and affection on their foster-children than their own; and in return take from them clothes, money for their several professions, and arms, and, even for any vicious purposes, fortunes and cattle, not so much by a claim of right as by extortion; and they will even carry those things off as plunder. All who have been nursed by the same person preserve a greater mutual affection and confidence in each other than if they were natural brothers, whom they will even hate for the sake of these. When chid by their parents, they fly to their foster-fathers, who frequently encourage them to make open war on their parents, train them up to every excess of wickedness, and make them most abandoned miscreants; as, on the other hand, the nurses make the young women, whom they bring up for every excess. If a foster child is sick, it is incredible how soon the nurses hear of it, however distant, and with what solicitude they attend it by day and night.'-Giraldus Cambrensis, quoted by Camden, iv. 368.

This custom, like many other Irish usages prevailed till of late in the Scottish Highlands, and was cherished by the chiefs as an easy mode of extending their influence and connexion; and even in the Lowlands, during the last century, the connexion between the nurse and foster-child was seldom dissolved but by the death of one party.

NOTE XLV.

Great Nial of the Pledges Nine.-P. 347. Neal Naighvallach, or Of the Nine Hostages, is said to have been Monarch of all Ireland, during the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century. He exercised a predatory warfare on the coast of England and of Bretagne, or Armorica; and from the latter country brought off the celebrated Saint Patrick, a youth of sixteen, among other captives, whom he transported to Ireland. Neal derived his epithet from nine nations, or tribes, whom he held under his subjection, and from whom he took hostages. From one of Neal's sons were derived the Kineleoguin, or Race of Tyrone, which afforded monarchs both to Ireland and to Ulster. Neal (according to O'Flaherty's Ogygia) was killed by a poisoned arrow, in one of his descents on the coast of Bretagne.

NOTE XLVI.

Shane-Dymas wild.-P. 347.

This Shane-Dymas, or John the Wanton, held the title and power of O'Neale in the earlier part of Elizabeth's reign, against whom he rebelled repeatedly.

This chieftain is handed down to us as the most proud and profligate man on earth. He was immoderately addicted to women and wine. He is said to have had 200 tuns of wine at once in his cellar at Dandram, but usquebaugh was his favourite liquor. He spared neither age nor condition of the fair sex. Altho' so illiterate that he could not write, he was not destitute of address; his understanding was strong, and his courage daring. He had 600 men for his guard; 4000foot, 1000 horse for the field. Heclaimed superiority over all the lords of Ulster, and called himself king thereof. When commissioners were sent to treat with him, he said, "That, tho' the Queen were his sovereign lady, he never made peace with her but at her lodging; that she had made a wise Earl of Macartymore, but that he kept as good a man as he; that he cared not for so mean a title as Earl; that his blood and power were better than the best; that his ancestors were Kings of Ulster; and that he would give place to none." His kinsman, the Earl of Kildare, having persuaded him of the folly of contending with the crown of England, he resolved to attend the Queen, but in a style suited to his princely dignity. He appeared in London with a magnificent train of Irish Galloglasses, arrayed in the richest habiliments of their country, their heads bare, their hair flowing on their shoulders, with their long and open sleeves dyed with saffron. Thus dressed, and surcharged with military harness, and armed with battle-axes, they afforded an astonishing spectacle to the citizens, who regarded them as the intruders of some very distant part of the globe. But at Court his versatility now prevailed; his title to the sovereignty of Tyrone was pleaded from English laws and Irish institutions, and his allegations were so specious, that the Queen dismissed him with presents and assurances of favour. In England this transaction was looked on as the humiliation of a repenting rebel; in Tyrone it was considered as a treaty of peace between two'potentates.'--CAMDEN'S Britannia, by Gough. London, 1806, fol., vol. iv. p. 442.

When reduced to extremity by the English, and forsaken by his allies, this Shane-Dymas fled to Clandeboy, then occupied by a colony of Scottish Highlanders of the family of MacDonell. He was at first courteously received; but by degrees they began to quarrel about the slaughter of some of their friends whom Shane-Dymas had put to death, and advancing from words to deeds, fell upon him with their broadswords, and cut him to pieces. After

his death a law was made that none should presume to take the name and title of O'Neale.

NOTE XLVII. Geraldine.-P. 347.

The O'Neales were closely allied with this powerful and warlike family; for Henry Owen O'Neale married the daughter of Thomas Earl of Kildare, and their son ConMore married his cousin-german, a daughter of Gerald Earl of Kildare. This Con-More cursed any of his posterity who should learn the English language, sow corn, or build houses, so as to invite the English to settle in their country. Others ascribe this anathema to his son Con-Bacco. Fearflatha O'Gnive, bard to the O'Neales of Clannaboy, complains in the same spirit of the towers and ramparts with which the strangers had disfigured the fair sporting fields of Erin.-See WALKER'S Irish Bards, p. 140.

NOTE XLVIII.

He chose that honour'd flag to bear.
-P. 347.

quoted, how the cavalry raised by the country Lacy informs us, in the old play already gentlemen for Charles's service were usually

officered. You, cornet, have a name that's proper for all cornets to be called by, for they are all beardless boys in our army. The most part of our horse were raised thus:The honest country gentleman raises the troop at his own charge; then he gets a Low-country lieutenant to fight his troop safely; then he sends for his son from school to be his cornet: and then he puts off his child's coat to put on a buff-coat: and this is the constitution of our army.'

NOTE XLIX.

-his page, the next degree,

In that old time, to chivalry.-P. 347. Originally, the order of chivalry embraced three ranks-1, the Page; 2, the Squire; 3, the Knight-a gradation which seems to have been imitated in the mystery of freemasonry. But, before the reign of Charles I. the custom of serving as a squire had fallen into disuse, though the order of the page was still, to a certain degree, in observance. This state of servitude was so far from inferring anything degrading, that it was considered as the regular school for acquiring every quality necessary for future distinction. The proper nature, and the decay of the institution, are pointed out by old Ben Jonson, with his own forcible moral colouring. The dialogue occurs between Lovell, a compleat gentleman, a soldier, and a scholar, known to have been page to the old Lord Beaufort, and

so to have followed him in the French wars, after companion of his studies, and left guardian to his son,' and the facetious Goodstock, host of the Light Heart. Lovel had offered to take Goodstock's son for his page, which the latter, in reference to the recent abuse of the establishment, declares as 'a desperate course of life' :

Lovell. Call you that desperate, which by a line Of institution, from our ancestors

Hath been derived down to us, and received

In a succession, for the noblest way

Of breeding up our youth, in letters, arms,
Fair mien, discourses, civil exercise,

And all the blazon of a gentleman?

Where can he learn to vault, to ride, to fence,
To move his body gracefully; to speak
His language purer; or to tune his mind,
Or manners, more to the harmony of nature,
Than in the nurseries of nobility?

Host. Ay, that was when the nursery's self was noble,

And only virtue made it, not the market,
That titles were not vented at the drum,

Or common outcry. Goodness gave the greatness,
And greatness worship: every house became
An academy of honour; and those parts
We see departed, in the practice, now,
Quite from the institution.

Lovell.

Why do you say so? Or think so enviously? Do they not still Learn there the Centaur's skill, the art of Thrace, To ride? or, Pollux' mystery, to fence? The Pyrrhic gestures, both to dance and spring In armour, to be active in the wars? To study figures, numbers, and proportions, May yield them great in counsels, and the arts Grave Nestor and the wise Ulysses practised? To make their English sweet upon their tongue, As reverend Chaucer says?

Host.

Sir, you mistake;
To play Sir Pandarus, my copy hath it,
And carry messages to Madame Cressida ;
Instead of backing the brave steed o' mornings,
To court the chambermaid; and for a leap
O' the vaulting horse, to ply the vaulting house:
For exercise of arms, a bale of dice,

Or two or three packs of cards to show the cheat,
And nimbleness of hand; mistake a cloak
Upon my lord's back, and pawn it; ease his pocket
Of a superfluous watch; or geld a jewel

Of an odd stone or so; twinge two or three buttons
From off my lady's gown: These are the arts
Or seven liberal deadly sciences

Of pagery, or rather paganism,

As the tides run; to which if he apply him,
He may perhaps take a degree at Tyburn,
A year the earlier; come to take a lecture
Upon Aquinas at St. Thomas a Watering's,
And so go forth a laureat in hemp circle!'

BEN JONSON'S New Inn, Act I. Scene III.

NOTE L.

Seem'd half abandon'd to decay.-P. 353The ancient castle of Rokeby stood exactly upon the site of the present mansion, by which a part of its walls is enclosed. It is surrounded by a profusion of fine wood, and the park in which it stands is adorned by the junction of the Greta and of the Tees. The title of Baron Rokeby of Armagh was, in 1777; conferred on the Right Reverend Richard Robinson, Primate of Ireland, descended of the Robinsons, formerly of Rokeby, in Yorkshire.

NOTE LI.

Rokeby's lords of martial fame,

I can count them name by name.-P. 355.

The following brief pedigree of this very ancient and once powerful family was kindly supplied to the author by Mr. Rokeby of Northamptonshire, descended of the ancient Barons of Rokeby:

'Pedigree of the House of Rokeby.

1. Sir Alex. Rokeby, Knt. married to Sir Hump. Liftle's1 daughter.

2. Ralph Rokeby, Esq. to Tho. Lumley's daughter.

3. Sir Tho. Rokeby, Knt. to Tho. Hubborn's daughter.

4. Sir Ralph Rokeby, Knt. to Sir Ralph Biggot's daughter.

5. Sir Thos. Rokeby, Knt. to Sir John de Melsass' daughter, of Bennet Hall, in Holderness.

6. Ralph Rokeby, Esq. to Sir Brian Stapleton's daughter, of Weighill.

7. Sir Thos. Rokeby, Knt. to Sir Ralph Ury's daughter 2.

8.

Ralph Rokeby, Esq. to daughter of Mansfield, heir of Morton 3.

9. Sir Tho. Rokeby, Knt. to Stroode's daughter and heir.

10. Sir Ralph Rokeby, Knt. to Sir James Strangwayes' daughter.

11. Sir Thos. Rokeby, Knt. to Sir John Hotham's daughter.

12. Ralph Rokeby, Esq. to Danby of Yafforth's daughter and heir *.

13. Tho. Rokeby, Esq. to Rob. Constable's daughter, of Cliff, serjt. at law.

14. Christopher Rokeby, Esq. to Lasscells of Brackenburgh's daughter".

15. Thos. Rokeby, Esq. to the daughter of Thweng.

16. Sir Thomas Rokeby, Knt. to Sir Ralph Lawson's daughter, of Brough.

17. Frans. Rokeby, Esq. toFaucett's daughter, citizen of London.

18. Thos. Rokeby, Esq. to the daughter of Wickliffe of Gales.

The family of De

the Conqueror.

Rokeby came over with

The old motto belonging to the family is In Bivio Dextra.

The arms, argent, chevron sable, between three rooks proper.

'There is somewhat more to be found in our family in the Scottish history about the affairs of Dun-Bretton town, but what it is, and in what time, I know not, nor can have convenient leisure to search. But Parson Blackwood, the Scottish chaplain to the Lord of Shrewsbury, recited to me once a piece of a Scottish song, wherein was mentioned, that William Wallis, the great deliverer of the Scots from the English bondage, should, at Dun-Bretton, have been brought up under a Rokeby, captain then of the place; and as he walked on a cliff, should thrust him on a sudden into the sea, and thereby have gotten that hold, which, I think, was about the 33rd of Edward I, or before. Thus, leaving our ancestors of record, we must also with them leave the Chronicle of Malmesbury Abbey, called Eulogium Historiarum, out of which Mr. Leland reporteth this history, and coppy down unwritten story, the which have yet the testimony of later times, and the fresh memory of men

To what metrical Scottish tradition Parson Blackwood alluded, it would be now in vain to inquire. But in Blind Harry's History of Sir William Wallace, we find a legend of one Rukbie, whom he makes keeper of Stirling Castle under the English usurpation, and whom Wallace slays with his own hand:

In the great press Wallace and Rukbie met,
With his good sword a stroke upon him set;
Derfly to death the old Rukbie he drave,
But his two sons escaped among the lave.'

These sons, according to the romantic Minstrel, surrendered the castle on conditions, and went back to England, but returned to Scotland in the days of Bruce, when one of them became again keeper of Stirling Castle. Immediately after this achievement follows another engagement, between Wallace and those Western Highlanders who embraced the English interest, at a pass in Glendouchart, where many were precipitated into the lake over a precipice. These circumstances may have been confused in the narrative of Parson Blackwood, or in the recollection of Mr. Rokeby.

In the old ballad of Chevy Chase, there is mentioned, among the English warriors, 'Sir Raff the ryche Rugbe,' which may apply to Sir Ralph Kokeby, the tenth baron in the pedigree. The more modern copy of the ballad runs thus:

Good Sir Ralph Raby ther was slain,
Whose prowess did surmount."

This would rather seem to relate to one of the Nevilles of Raby. But, as the whole ballad is romantic, accuracy is not to be

looked for.

NOTE LII.

The Felon Sow.-P. 355.

The ancient minstrels had a comic as well as a serious strain of romance; and although the examples of the latter are by far the most numerous, they are, perhaps, the less valuable. The comic romance was a sort of parody upon the usual subjects of minstrel poetry. If the latter described deeds of heroic achievement, and the events of the battle, the tourney, and the chase, the former, as in the Tournament of Tottenham, introduced a set of clowns debating in the field, with all the