ORMONDS CURTAIN DRAWN: In a short Discourse concerning Ireland; Wherein his Treasons, and the corruption of his Instruments are laid bare to the stroke of JUSTICE.  
CIVILIS, a person of reputation, having in London met with DECIUS (a Gentleman of Ireland, and formerly of his most intimate acquaintance) being not satisfied with one single sight of him, having long thought he had suffered with those many thousands of English that were destroyed by that bloody Rebellion; desired him if his leisure would permit, to go along with him to his house in Westminster, where he might learn of him, how it had fared with him, since he had last the happiness to see him, and what occasions drew him into this Kingdom.  
DECIUS' accepting of the invitation, and by the way as they went, accusing his ill fortune that had brought him to the first sight of him by chance: And CIVILIS (according to his wont manner) returning his civility with interest; they arrived at the place which CIVILIS called his own: And being entered, and having sat some while together, MARCUS a Gentleman of quality, and friend to CIVILIS, comes in to them; who (thinking they were private) would have as soon retired, had not his friend called to him, and invited him to sit down by them, and then spoke to him after this manner.  
This Gentleman pointing to Decius, being lately come out of Ireland, 
Civilis.  and one whom (for the particular friendship between us) I thought I might be bold with: having done me the favour to come so far out of his way as to this house; I was curious to inquire of him the condition of affairs in that Kingdom: And having newly begun to inform me as you came in, I am sure I shall not wrong you, if I desire you to partake with me; and I hope I shall trespass as little upon my friend, in desiring him to proceed in his relation, seeing by your arrival he shall have one witness more of his skill in Elocution. MARCUS thanking his friend CIVILIS for the favour he had done him: And both of them strengthening each others persuasions, that DECIUS would take that pains upon him: He spoke to this purpose.  
Though my imperfections might in some measure excuse my disobedience, 
Decius.  and the sadness of those things I have both seen and suffered, might affright me from the remembrance of them: I shall readily overlook myself, and apply me to fulfil your commands, where the pleasure I shall receive in obeying of you, may counterpoise all inconveniences whatsoever. You may remember CIVILIS (as this Gentleman came in to us) I was telling of you, How happily the English were every where seated in Ireland, how they were spread and sown in all parts of the Kingdom; how the Irish were every day obliged and enriched by them, and brought by their converse with them to a greater degree of civility than they were thought capable of; and (to make the happiness of the English seem complete) what hopes they had conceived, and what sure grounds they had built their confidence upon, of a lastingness and stability in that their good condition: I doubt not but you will pardon me this fault, if (not to hold you long) I proceed where I left off, and not go backward to the particulars I then mentioned. CIVILIS and MARCUS both content to ease him of so much trouble; DECIUS continued his speech as followeth.  
At the beginning of that bloody Massacre (which I hope for ever will be remembered, to the shame of those that were the Authors and contrivers of it, as well of the actors, and the glory of that God, who by sparing us a remnant, has kept us from being like Sodom, and being made like unto Gomorrah:) at the beginning (I say) of that most horrid Rebellion, I was at my own house in the Country, some threescore miles from Dublin; where (I may say without boasting) I enjoyed my share of the comfort which God bestowed upon me, in common with the rest of my brethren over the whole Kingdom.  
For seven or eight miles round the place where I lived, the Inhabitants were all English and good Protestants, so that that place might with more right than the other, have been called the English Pale; me thought it was the only place (if any) out of which Saint Patrick had banished all venomous creatures; for the rest of the Kingdom, we have found he only took the poison out of the earth to plant it in the Natives (as our Saviour gave leave to the Devils (having cast them out of the man) to enter into the Swine.) Whilst we lived in this happy condition (as we esteemed it) my little fortune (as generally that of the whole English over all the Kingdom,) being never in so good a posture, and with God's blessing, every day more than other increasing upon our hands. On that never to be forgotten three and twentieth of October, when we were (as it were) buried in security, and thought of no ill, either of doing it to others, or receiving it from them, especially from the Irish, (who we thought were tied too fast by the many favours and courtesies of the English, constantly and without weariness done to them) to cast those pleasant cords behind their backs, and to imbrue their hands in the blood of those that had filled those same hands with so many and good deeds. Truly Sirs, as often as I think of it, I am almost out of myself, and stand amazed at the depth of that wickedness, that reached deeper than hell itself, at which the very Prince of the Devils could not but be astonished, being outdone in his own trade (though he were a murderer even from the beginning.) Whilst, I say, we were in this pleasant sleep, we were suddenly awaked with the noise of war, or rather, with the hideous outcries of our poor Neighbours, who in vain poured out their breath to preserve their lives. Alas poor creatures, they thought they had to do with such as themselves (whose ears were never shut to any that called to them in their misery) but they were in the paws of Lions and Tigers, or what is worse, they were in the hands of Wild Men (if I may call them men.) The flesh of the Protestants might possibly turn the edge of their swords and skeines, but it was impossible for their prayers or tears to turn their hearts. You have read of the Savage Cannibals in the Indies, that having taken their enemies in battle, delight to besmear their bodies and faces in their blood; and having eaten their flesh, carry about their arms and legs upon their shoulders in triumph: In that posture (having barbarously Ravaged up and down the Country) and wearied, rather than satisfied themselves with killing) with their hands and weapons dropping wet in the blood (not of their enemies taken in battle, but of their neighbours and friends surprised asleep, or at their honest labour) they entered my house, and having sacrificed my two sons, who were the first they met with to their accursed fury, they ransacked every corner at their pleasure without fear of resistance, having before slain my man-servants in the field, when they expected no such wages: My Wife, three other children and myself, sought out a place to hid us in, but all in vain, for we were soon found out, and having stripped us as naked as by this time they had made every room in the house, they brought us into a field hard by, and joined us to a great company of other afflicted souls, whom they had served in the same barbarous manner, and (that there might be variety in their mischief) reserved for a more lingering end: It was then in the extremity of a winter, that for sharpness and cold, had not its like in many years before in that Kingdom. I shall forbear both for your sakes and my own, to set before you the lamentable complaints and the dying groans of many a poor soul that (as we were hurried up and down to be witnesses of their barbarous cruelties inflicted upon many thousands) through the extremity of the weather, were starved to death; amongst whom, my three children (the eldest not above eight years old) gave up their last breath in the arms of their almost dying Mother.  
I have so sharp a feeling of the misery which you could not choose but suffer, 
Civilis.  being in this condition, that I long impatiently to be freed from the torment I endure in your particular; I pray you therefore make what haste you can to bring me out of it, by letting us know how at length you escaped those so great dangers; for indeed I can hardly yet believe you are safe (though I see you here) unless you tell me you are so.  
I cannot but thank you for your fellow-feeling of my sufferings, 
Decius.  and to free you from the torment you are pleased to say you endure, I shall pass over those monstrous, unheard of cruelties which I saw with these eyes, whilst I was carried about from place to place, with many hundreds more of my brethren, who drank all of the same cup with me: and I am induced the rather to do it, in regard there are so many who have given large and true Relations of them, whose pains therein may appear to after Ages, like so may Night pieces amongst the Monuments of this Nation: And I hope will be believed by all, though in themselves almost incredible; and though many do their endeavour to cast a veil over them.  
The evidences of their cruelties are so many and clear, 
Marcus.  that I think there is none so ignorant that is not acquainted with them, and none (I presume) will doubt of them, but such as inwardly wish they had been greater; and yet I confess there are many even amongst ourselves, that are not afraid to tinter their charity, so fare as to think they would not have done what they did but upon urging and pressing necessity: 
a Bishop of ●ssory his discovery of Mysteries.  That they poor people for fear of their Religion and being driven our of the Kingdom were forced to do what they did.  
That our adversaries should daub over the matter so, 
Decius.  were a thing only to be admired, by such as think the action so glorious & beautiful that it needs no art or paint to set it off; but that such as profess the Protestant Religion should make use of so monstrous and vile a colour, and labour to lay an imputation upon their friends to acquit their adversaries, is a thing not at first fight to be understood, and may very well stumble an honest man, did he not look more nearly as well into the men as their doctrine, I shall not trouble myself or you to confute so malicious an imputation, being as sufficiently known to be false, as it renders the Author's corrupt and scandalous.  
When I mentioned that saying of those men, 
Marcus.  I did it not to ground any opinion of my own upon it; when I first heard of it, (I'll assure you) it moved not so much my belief as my admiration, and therefore you may well spare your confutation of it, 'tis enough but to repeat it. I could not see in my weak reason what fear they could conceive of a design to root out their Religion by force, when I knew the constant opinion of all Protestants in all Ages, abjured violence in matter of faith, as a thing worthy only of the Whore of Rome, who shall be destroyed (if ever) by the breath of God's mouth, that is, by the preaching of the Word, and not by drawing of the Sword: Besides this, I remembered it was a charge against the Governors of that Kingdom, that they connived too much at the exercise and increase of Popery there, so that they could have no cause of fear from any thing done against them at that time: And for the Parliament after, they never (before that Rebellion) desired more either here or there, than the execution of the Laws which were already in force against them; from which they ought not to free themselves by the sword, or a general Massacre: And for that other part of the excuse, or rather accusation concerning their estates, that they were forced to take that course, lest they might have been rooted out: If there were any grievances by Ministers, the way for redress was open, and they might have been their own Judges; the Parliament then sitting at Dublin, wherein they themselves had the swaying vote, and might have done themselves the highest right that could be desired; so that I could not see how they had any thing to fear on this side either: Besides all this, I have heard that immediately before the breaking out of the Rebellion, they had many graces afforded to them by the King, which might have secured them for ever from the thought of the least oppression.  
You say right Sir, 
Decius.  there were many graces (as they called them) bestowed on them, and such, as (for their largeness) were very much wondered at by all that wished well to the good of the English in that Kingdom. The Irish in those graces had near upon a third part of the Kingdom freely granted to them, and the English wholly excluded from having any Plantations therein: Which Lands (if they had been managed as was designed, and by right should have been) besides the security which thereby would have redounded to the English, being the best means under God to have settled that Kingdom in perpetual Peace, Religion and Civility: His Majesty's Revenues would have been bettered out of those lands by 90000lib. per Annum, and that upon a very moderate estimate, allowing about ten pence for every acre; those Territories being by admeasurement, known to be above two millions of acres, besides the casual Revenues which would ensue: This you may well say was a Princely gift indeed. But besides this, there were many other things granted to them at the same time; for what reason I will not say, but sure I am to the utter undoing of the English: Which (if they had but stayed nine days longer from the execution of their Treason, till the Parliament, according to the prorogation should have met again at Dublin) had been confirmed to them by a Law: but there was something more in the wind then their own benefit, that made them hasten it so much.  
We understand your meaning, 
Civilis.  and I for my part am very much of your mind: I have heard all the particulars of those graces, and do not see how they could think of making better conditions to themselves by a war, than they had therein already granted to them, supposing the fortune of the game should lean on their side: This being so, I cannot see what the least appearance of reason there can be in that colour, That the Irish were necessitated to do what they did. I have always thought upon what I have heard and read; that if there were at any time any fault in the government of that Kingdom, it was in the gentleness and remissness of it, in letting the cursed seed not only live, but increase, even to an hundred fold: The Irish according to my observation, are a people not to be ruled but with a rod of iron: Aut serviunt humiliter, aut superbe dominantur, was of old a good Character of their natures, which they have kept to this very day, being to be compared to nothing more fitly then to those two heady elements of fire and water, that are the best servants being kept within their own bounds; but once masters, lay all waste before them; this the Romans even of old observed very well of them, when 
b Agricol. in Ta●n.  one of them undertook to maintain that Kingdom in good subjection to the Roman Empire (which the English could never yet compass) una legione & modicis Auxiliis si Romana ubique Arma & libertas quasie conspectu Tolleretur: And I cannot find a greater cause of this (I hope the last) and of those many other insurrections against the English upon all occasions, than the smoothing of all former Rebellions by Pardons upon feigned submissions, whereby the Irish were encouraged to play children's play, and run in and out at their pleasure, and had still opportunity to better and mend their new treasons in point of execution, as they found they were out, and failed in their old: As if the English, when they made but one or two of the principal actors examples, had cut off but so many Hidra's heads which always multiplied upon their hands; they always skinned over the wound before they had searched and drawn it to the quick; so that the ill humour broke out continually, not long after in a worse manner: and that which at first was but the corruption of one inconsiderable part, for want of cutting that off, grew to a Gangreen, that often heretofore, but never so apparently as at this day, endangered the whole body.  
CIVILIS had proceeded further, had not his friend MARCUS merrily pulled him by the sleeve, and told him he forgot himself, since his Adversary had long since laid down the cudgel, and the only ground of the digression was blown away with the first breath: CIVILIS thanking his friend for his feasonable remembrance, desired DECIUS to take up his Relation where he left off: which he (being loath to deprive himself of the content he received in bearing of him on that subject) hardly consented to; but MARCUS interposing, he proceeded as follows.  
You left me in very ill company, and so you must find me: 
Decius.  I and my Wife for many days together, having, as I told you, nothing to cover our nakedness, but what we could gather up in the way, and as little to fill our bellies; but (in the condition we were in) hunger was the least part of our torment, for we were so little used to meat, that we had hardly room to receive any. We were driven thus, for many days, from place to place, like sheep appointed for the slaughter; and they that had not the strength to go as fast as those cruel villains would have them, had the good fortune that many thousand others wanted, to be buried in the next bogpit or ditch they met with: When they thought they had sufficiently loaden us with sorrow, and indeed completed their cruelties, being not able to do any more (or rather God not suffering of them) they permitted us (in their more cruel mercy) to take our fortunes, believing we could not possibly escape the hands of other their companions, who would have been glad of such subjects for their cruelty to work on. Having thus cleared their hands of us, and, as they thought, deceived the deceiver, we made what shift we could, and having lost much of our company in the snow, who were able to go no farther, and having overtaken many more that had set out from other parts, in the same sad journey with us, and not in any better condition: We at length, by God's great mercy, arrived safe at the next strength to us, which at this time was possessed by the English: Where after we had refreshed ourselves as well as the charity of well-affected people would permit, being divided amongst so many as daily resorted thither in the like nessity: That place being too little to contain us, we set forward, not without great danger, to Dublin; where as soon as we were arrived, my Wife, by reason of the extremity of the cold she had taken, and the grief she conceived for the loss of her children, and what else could be dear to her in this world, fell sick and died, and multitudes more of those that got safe to Dublin, having not time, as it were, to die before; or the varieties of deaths that stared them in the faces, being not able before now to agree, which should take possession of them. When they were come thither, and considered the great misfortunes, but more the heavy hand of God upon the English, their hearts broke in sunder, and I am confident the blood of many thousands who have died since, and will do for these many years yet to come, in that and other places of that and this Kingdom, whether they fled for refuge and sanctuary, will be put upon the same score, and their number I think may amount to as many as fell by the sword.  
CIVILIS and MARCUS being both struck with amazement at the horridness of these things they had heard, could not readily find the use of their tongues to express the fullness of their hearts: At length civils having walked a turn or two in the room, and being returned to himself, as from a dream, first vented his thoughts in this manner.  
My good friend, 
Civilis.  though I am unspeakably grieved for your great sufferings, your own safety does not a little abate my sorrow: I never look upon that damned Masterpiece of the Devil, but, that in my own thoughts I am ready to excuse all the cursed treacheries that ever I heard or read of, compared to this, me thinks they look but like so many Piaefraudes, and the torments of all past ages may be thought to have proceeded more from the favourable mercies of men, then from their cruelty: I am confident that God that has so preserved you, has done it partly for this end, that your own eyes might behold the Vyals of his wrath and vengeance which he has filled and laid up in store, plentifully poured out von them: and I am persuaded if we can but with patience expect his own time, the time will come, and your eyes shall see it, when those tongues that cried so loud in the day of Jerusalem, Raze it, raee it, even to the foundation, shall cry as loud (but all in vain) to those same mountains whereon you were scattered and hunted like Partridges, to fall and cover them; and those hands that have lain so heavy on the backs of so many thousands of you, shall strike as hard their own breasts, and cleave as fast to their own loins; and those feet that have been so swift to shed blood, shall not carry them away so fast, but that the fierce anger of the Lord shall overtake them.  
Though I cannot be so eloquent as my friend CIVILIS, 
Marcus.  yet my Amen may very well stand at the end of his speech: So let thine enemies perish, O Lord, and those that hate thee flee before thee.  
I perceive MARCUS that the sad Relation which you have newly heard, has not wrought so kindly with you, 
Civilis.  as it has done with me, since you can so soon abuse your friend; but I will bear it for once, if you promise me to be content with our company all this evening; and you DECIUS' will be pleased (I hope) to bear part of his burden. Both being well satisfied, CIVILIS turning to DECIUS, spoke to this purpose.  
Since you have been pleased to trouble yourself thus fare, give me leave to disturb you a little more, and to know how long you have been in this Kingdom, and what occasions brought you out of Ireland: I doubt not but you will excuse me, knowing how particular an interest my affection gives me in every thing that concerns you; and I know MARCUS will take it for the best part of his entertainment in this house, to sit and hear you. MARCUS agreeing to what was said for him, he sat down by CIVILIS, and DECIUS spoke as follows.  
You cannot desire that of me which I shall not be ready to grant you; you must know then, that at my first coming to Dublin, 
Decius.  I found the City in great perplexity, the English not knowing which they should fear first, either the Irish without, or those within amongst themselves; they were all, as it were, at their wits ends, and no body almost knew which way to turn himself: The Rebels were infinite for numbers, and within the City, only a poor company of raw ignorant Townsmen, that for their number could not be thought able to conquer so often as their enemies might be overcome: Notwithstanding all these discouragements, though I saw paleness in every man's face, each one accounting himself already (as it were) amongst the dead: I observed so much courage and resolution in those that then sat at the Helm, that I for my part could not at all fear a shipwreck; and therefore at that time could not think of quitting the Kidgdome, though I saw many take that course as the safest, hazarding themselves in a storm at Sea in open Botes, to scape that they feared on Land, if they should stay behind: Those that only attended the service, and were careful to discharge their duties, though with the apparent danger of their lives, by sitting constantly at Counsell-Board, whither multitudes of such as were then secret, and afterwards professed Rebels, daily resorted, and might (if God had not stayed their hands) have put their plot in execution for many weeks after their three and twentieth of October, as well as they could have done at that day. Those, I say, that in all that foul weather (when the Heavens were all blackk about them, and not so much as one beam of comfort to be seen) stood still to their tackling, and plied their work, without ever giving over, were only the two Lords Justices, by name, Sir William Parions and Sir John Bortase, and Sir Adam Lofius, Vice-treasurer; Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls, Sir Charles Coot, from the time that he arrived at Dublin, and when he was not abroad in the Field; and Sir Robert Meredith, Chancellor of the Exchequer: Those other blazing-starres and unlucky meteors that have since hung over our heads, and have had such ill influence on all the affairs of that Kingdom, and put all into combustion, being some of them at that time not exhaled from the earth, & as little known by name of Privy-Counsellours as they deserved it; and others, some for fear, and some for disaffection to the service, keeping themselves at home, and seldom or never coming to Counsel or having fled into England.  
It was the great mercy of God, 
Civilis.  that a that time of extreme hazard and necessity, sent you such men as were not afraid to stand for you, and to open their mouths in your defence, when yours and their enemy's fists were ready to enclose them with a blow; and truly they ought to be had in everlasting remembrance: and those that absenced themselves in that time of pressing necessity (by my consent) should have had the Counsell-chamber-doores for ever shut in their faces & I can as little excuse those that kept themselves away through fear, as those others that did it through disaffection, it being a breach of trust in both; and he that fears even his life, when his Religion and Country calls for, and requires his help, will to save his life, or perhaps a poorer commodity, betray both.  
We have found what you say very true, and could have wished that they that kept themselves then away, and done so still, and not to have come to do the English the greatest mischief instead of service. But if you please I shall proceed.  
You will do us a special favour in it. 
Civilis. Decius.   
Sir Charles Coot (by a special providence being sent to Dublin when the English stood in so much need of a man of his spirits (was immediately made Governor of that City; how he carried himself in that charge, and what resolution and gallantry he shown in the field against the Rebels, with that small handful of men which the State put under his command: If I were able to express to you, I might very well be thought to speak a piece of a Romanse: It shall suffice that I tell you, that by his courageous execution, and the as faithful contrivement of those that sat at Counsell-board (the blessing of God accompanying their endeavours) whereas at first for the English (with all their strength) to march out of the City as fare as Clantarfe, a place not two miles from them, 
The Counsel only.  was looked upon as an attempt of great hazard and danger; in a very short time we were able to seek the Rebels in their own holds, and beat them, as I may say, on their own Dunghills. Not long after this, the Army that was sent from hence by the Parliament, arrived safe at Dublin, which put new life and spirit into our breasts, and as much terrified the Rebels, having its more than probable, some preassurance, that nothing should be done against them here; thinking the troubles here, being indeed a thread of the same spinning, would have followed their needle; but they were somewhat deceived in the time, though for the matter it fell out as was designed. The affairs of the Protestants began now to smile upon them, and we perceived already the glimmerings of a more glorious day then ever we saw before (so that we were brought (if not to forget our former sufferings, yet) at least not to regard them, in comparison of those happy times we saw every day drawing nearer and nearer to us; our Armies always carried victory in their Van, and in their Rear, left the Country to the peaceable possession of the English, the Rebels running continually before us; five chase a hundred, and ten putting a thousand to flight.  
The resolutions of the Counsel were apparently to the good of the English, and nothing to be seen amongst them that favoured of unjust or selfith ends: As we enjoyed the benefits of their labours and watch, so we did our endeavours that they might be the better for our prayers, wherein we were not wanting, nor in the praises of our God for them, and the blessing, we daily received by their means that God that had compassion on us in our low estate, and when we were truly in our blood, said unto us, Live.  
CIVIL IS and MARCUS being both as much affected with joy by this last part of DECIUS' his Relation, as before they were with sorrow; MARCUS being not able any longer to contain himself, interrupted DECIUS, as be was going on, and said:  
When I compare the first part of your Relation with this that you are now upon, 
Marcus.  and consider that Chaos and confusion, that darkness that was upon the face of the whole Land, and now again, this light that was divided from that darkness; me thinks I see the hand of God, like that of a man in it, and writing, as it did once to Belshazzar, upon the wall; but mercy instead of judgement: Not as there, 
Dan. 5. ● 42.8.  Thy Kingdom is divided, and given to the Meads and Persians; but this, My glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven Images.  
Alas Sir, 
Decius.  this evening and morning that you have seen, make but up the first day; there are six more behind, all days of labour and sorrow to the English, and no Sabbath of rest from their sufferings. You have seen us, like a ship tossed and driven to and fro in a dangerous storm, our masts split, our sails blown away, our anchors lost, and in a word, left as men without hope in the world: you have seen us again by the skilful conduct of our Pilots, and the good providence of our great Master in Heaven, brought within sight of a safe harbour, and now you must behold us split upon the Bars mouth and every one like Paul's Passengers, some upon boards, and some upon broken pieces of the ship, labouring to escape safely to Land.  
CIVILIS desiring him to let them partake with him both of the good and had, DECIUS continued his speech as follows.  
The first appearance, and (as I may say) the buds that have since blossomed and grown into such bitter and uncomfortable fruits, were seen after the death of that never to be forgotten, incomparable Commander, Sir Charles Coot; a death that was attended with as much sorrow, and prosecuted with as much misery to us, as it will be remembered with glory and honour to him.  
We in these parts were not a little sensible of your great loss in a man that was every way so fitted for those times (if it had been Gods will they should be mended) and though the manner of his fall (being, 
●vilie.  as is reported, by one of his Soldiers) did increase the sorrow of some; for my part, that circumstance did not then work a greater grief (seeing his enemies had not that happiness they desired) as now (upon what you have told us) it has raised a suspicion in me, that there was something more than fair play in the business.  
If it were so, 
Decius.  God in the end will search it out; and when all those loud cries of the Protestant blood in Ireland shall come before him, he will not turn away his ear from this: Whether it were so or no, I am sure the party that did the deed was never questioned or examined concerning the same; and there was so good use made of his death, as may make a man believe he was taken out of the way; that the Mystery of that Iniquity which had a secret working in his life time, might be more fully revealed after his death: From that time every thing began to look new, and the Counsell-Board to be filled with new Counselors; men that had lain hid before like Swallows in winter; but now like Tares (sown by the wicked one) suddenly over-top the good Corn; so that there was to be seen an universal change in all our Counsels: as before our Counselors looked all like Cherubims, face to face, you might see them now like Sampsons Foxes, drawing several ways: the former being too honest, to hold their tongues and suffer things, to run on quietly in disorder; and these latter too numerous, and false to be overruled, from whence arose a slack and unfaithful prosecution of the War, so well begun against the Rebels; the countenancing of all manner of unheard of confusions, and the oppression of the small remainder of the almost heartbroken English, and the bold and open favouring of the most bloody wretches that ever the Sun beheld. The labours of this Party and their diligence was so great, that within a short time we were reduced to our first principles, and brought, as I may say, to a worse condition (notwithstanding the large and good supplies sent from hence) than we were at the very beginning of the Rebellion, when we had nothing almost (God knows) to support us. The place which God of his great mercy reserved for a City of refuge for the English to find safety and comfort in, was open and free to the worst of their enemies, and they that had shed and poured out like waters, so much innocent blood in the Country, had the liberty to come thither, and profess not their repentance, but their sotrow that they did no more, though indeed that lay not in their power to commit greater villainies.  
As long as I lived in Dublin (I mean since the command of this Party) I could never learn that ever any true hearted protestant was relieved, or had even ordinary justice done him, if the case lay between him and an Irish man, or a Papist. The affliction of my brethren being so great, and the tyranny under which they lived being so insupportable, I chose (rather than be a daily witness of it, and in some measure a sufferer, there being none, though never so poor, that could escape free) to quit all for the present, and bid adieu to that Kingdom, till it should please God to look upon it in mercy, and settle justice and truth in the midst of it; and this, I am sure, was the thoughts and desires of many thousands English more, whose want of accommodation elsewhere keeps them in that place, and enforces them to live in that intolerable slavery. And thus, with what brevity I could (fearing to be troublesome) I have satisfied you concerning the occasion of my coming into this Kingdom, where I have been these three months, most of which time I have spent in this City.  
We must acknowledge ourselves much bound to you for the favour you have done us, 
Civilis.  and I hope since your coming to this place you are lightened of a good part of your burden, finding us in a condition, I presume, fare beyond what you could imagine when you were in that Kingdom, and in a good way to a happy end, which will be (under God) the only means to set you straight again in that Kingdme, whereof you are yet in capability: the Earl of Ormond having, notwithstanding his Majesty's Letters, commanding him to conclude a peace there with the Rebels on any conditions; wisely to this day held off his hand, as it is thought, from the very beginning, with an intention to give it to the Parliament. MARCUS observing some confusion in DECIUS his face upon this speech, told his friend, that he feared he had spoken something distatefull, and therefore that it concerned him, before be proceeded any further, to give DECIUS' satisfaction, who he saw was suddenly moved with something that fell from him. CIVILIS thanking his friend, and desiring DECIUS to be free with him, and to set him strait, if he had failed, as he confessed he might very easily do, being not so well acquainted with the particulars of that Kingdom: DECIUS expressing some unwillingness, and a kind of anger against himself, that his countenance had betrayed him, spoke to this purpose.  
I should be very 10th CIVILIS to descent from you in any thing but on necessary grounds, 
Decius.  especially in such a business as this that we are now fallen upon, which concerns a particular person, having, as you might have observed from the beginning of this Conference, balked the mentioning of any person, as the actors in a misery, more than in the general, knowing how subject it is (if we speak sharply, though accordin gto truth, in every particular) to the judgement and doom of passion, rancour and invectivenesse; yet since a special providence has brought the Earl of Ormond and laid him cross my way, I cannot pass him by without labouring to undeceive you in the opinion you have conceived of him, and so fare am I from any private spleen or interest to draw me aside to an obliquity in what I shall lay before you; that I protest I hearty with I could with truth give myself the lie in what I shall say concerning him; I perceive by that little you have said of him, how much you will wonder when I shall tell you, he has been the chief instrument of all the misery that at this day the Protestants of that Kingdom groan under, and the most faithful servant to the Irish that ever they had, wherein I must say, he has done but what his blood and nature required of him; his Family having long since degenerated into Irish, and for himself in his own inclination, one as much addicted to their ways (having all his kindred and friends amongst them) as he that knows the least either of Religion or humanity: And for that particular of keeping back the peace, I can assure you they deceive themselves very much, that the Earl of Ormond would leave any thing undone that might tend to the perfecting of that work he has always so vigorously pursued: Believe it Sir, that the peace there was not long since concluded (though I cannot positively say it is not at this day) was not because the Earl of Ormond was unwilling to consent to whatever the Rebels could demand of him, the contrary plainly appearing by those Articles formerly consented unto by him, (which I doubt not you have seen in print) wherein the Rebels have all they can desire, both toleration of Religion, suspension of Poynings Act, and all other Laws made for the good of the Protestants: But in truth, the obstruction was still on the Rebel's side, they being unwilling) however they pretended otherwise) to accept of, or adventure on a peace; knowing how little (in the condition the King was) it could avail them, but also how thereby they should be engaged to maintain an Army here in England, whereby their own Country might be left to the power of the Protestants (being considerable in divers parts of the Kingdom;) and besides, I do verily believe they were conscious to themelves of their own inability to afford the King such considerable assistance, as (after such large conditions afforded to them) they would have been strictly tied unto, and his Majesty might expect from them: However the Earl of Ormond and their other friends have represented them unto him as able to do great matters.  
I cannot but much wonder indeed at what you tell us concerning the Earl of Ormond; 
Civilis.  I do remember him here in England under the care of Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury, and (for what I could discern in his younger years) there appeared in him the hopes of better performances; and truly sir, I will not dissemble with you, I have heard from many that are come from Dublin, and are still in this City, and on whom the Parliament has bestowed some other marks of of their favour, besides admitting of them to reside here; that he has carried himself from the beginning with all respect and good conscience to the English, and as one firmly rooted and resolved in the protestant Religion.  
I do not doubt but that you have met with many, 
Decius.  who for several ends are engaged to speak the best of him: Since my coming to this place, I happened more than once to be a witness of some high expressions in his behalf, but I'll assure you Sir, they came only from such (as upon good grounds I was assured) were employed over hither by the Earl of Ormond, to work the people into a moderate good opinion of him, that so he might continue his wicked practices against the English, and that if at length the Protestant party should prevail in both Kingdoms (when there were no other remedy to preserve his estate, and to be able in time to come to do further mischief) he may on easier terms be accepted and make his peace: and I am persuaded to this belief of these men, not only by the falseness of what in very place they declaim, but also by the favour, I know, they are in with the Earl of Ormond, and the protection he still vouchsafes their commands, offices and interests there, notwithstanding their residing here, on pretences; which, if true, would render them extremely odious to him: For the matter of what they give out, to hinder a harsher judgement of him concerniyg his education, and his firmness in the Protestant Religion, I shall only say this; that if you consider the perverseness of the natures of Irish, and more especially of such as have degenerated into them, Notwithstanding the carefullest education, it will not seem impossible to you, though the Earl of Ormond, notwithstanding his breed under Bishop Abbot, should follow his kind, and prove as notorious as any. The Irish of all people on the earth, are they that abhor most to be reform, in whose very being it is to love barbarism; and though sometimes by peace, and the English dwelling amongst them, they have seemed to cast off their old skins, and put on some kind of civility upon the least occasion offered, they have run, like hogs, greedily again to their vomits, and, like swine, have whet their tusks against such as would only have kept them from returning to wallow in the mire; and this is the reason that five or six hundred years have wrought so little upon them, and that the English have reaped only the fruit of their labours, namely, the experience (and a very sad one) how impossible a thing it is to make an unwilling Nation happy. And again, if we look from the nature of the Irish into the effects of it, and consider this unnatural Rebellion, we shall find that none are more cruelly bend against the English, and thirst more after their blood, than such as have the same blood, though corrupted in their veins, and none more eager followers of their barbarous customs, than such as have had the good fortune and misery at once to know better, and were bred up with all possible care in our Schools and Universities, and in the Protestant Religion: Nay, so fare has the corruption proceeded, that many of those Commanders that were sent from hence, have turned their backs to the English, and have been made the instruments to undo and ruin them, for whose sakes, they were employed into that Kingdom; (as if the whole earth had the property that some of its waters have, to turn all that is cast into it, into stone.) By this time, I believe, it will be so fare from seeming impossible, that the Earl of Ormond should follow those courses, that it will not in any measure seem strange, since the very English themselves, who have wanted those allurements of blood and friendship, temptations which could never be out of the Earl of Ormonds' sight, have been made supporters to the Irish, for whose destruction they were sent thither.  
For what other part concerning the E. of Ormonds' religion, though there might be much said of that subject, touching the gentleness & moderation of it (if it were my intention to meddle with his person) I shall only say thus much, That it was the greatest misfortune to the English, that he made profession of the same religion with them, knowing very well how little he would have been able to do for his country men, had he not put on sheep's clothing: By this means he was a thief within the house, and had the keys committed into his hand to dispose of all at his pleasure: not to hold you long, I shall give you this short, but truest character of him. He is one whose heart has been as red in the blood of the Protestants, as any of his Country men's hands; without whom the English in that Kingdom might have been in a condition, not only to have cleared all at home, but also to have required you here: whereas by the treachery of this man htey have been betrayed into that misery, which at this day makes them the objects of pity in all, but such as have assisted in his courses, and resolve still to lay more and more weight upon them, till they have cast them down, never to rise again; which they will not fail to compass, if God do not speedily put to his almighty hand and make him fall into the pit which he has digged so deep for them.  
I have known you too long Decius, 
Civilis.  to think you would say any thing but on very good grounds, especially in a business of this nature, where the honour and life of any is concerned; for (〈◊〉 you Sir) if what you say be true, as upon the confidence I have in you, I shall suspend my belief of any thing I have heard to the contrary; he deserved so little the thoughts of the Parliament to accept of him, should he now at last submit to them, that were I to be one of his Judges, I should not be able to satisfy my conscience in the performance of the duty I own both to my Country and Religion, did I not give my vote to make him the severest example for after Ages, to judge the greatness and heinousness of his treason by. I desire for our better satisfaction, that you would be pleased to give us the knowledge of some particulars concerning him, that being convinced ourselves, we may be able upon occasion to stop the mouths of such as open them in his commendation.  
Seeing I shall have my share in the pleasure of your Relation, 
Marcus.  I should in no wise deserve it, did I not add my prayers to those of my friend Civilis, that you would be pleased to proceed in it, though I think my desires will be but superfluous; the subject (being such as concerns the good of the Public, whereof I believe you sufficiently careful) being argument more then enough to induce you to it: I shall rather trouble you with a request of my own, which I know was in Civilis his mind to have remembered you of; however his impatience till he heard you speak made him omit it: But because I perceive it is contrary to your disposition, I shall be afraid to propound it to you, unless Civilis also make use of his power with you to persuade you to consent to it.  
Civilis undertaking for Decius, that he should consent to whatever was reasonable, whereof if they pleased, he would be judge between them. Decius and Marcus being both content to cast themselves upon him, Marcus continued.  
You remember Civilis (for we must speak to our judge) how not long since, you gave a wrong judgement of the Earl of Ormond, (I for my part may call it so already) and yet though the fault were yours, the blame must be Decius' his; seeing his good nature (in his relation of the misery of the Protestants in Ireland) forbore to name the authors of it, which if he had done, I suppose, you Civilis, had not run into that error: now to prevent the like hereafter, my desire is, that Decius (if while he speaks of the Earl of Ormond, the occasion shall draw him upon others) that he would not be sparing of their names, that we may know and mark such as have walked disorderedly, and not according to a straight and just rule: This I suppose is but equal, which if Decius assent unto, he will oblige us both, if he observe it in his following relation.  
Civilis casting the cause upon Marcus his side (notwithstanding all that Decius could bring to exempt himself from so envious a work; he having tied himself to submit to what Civilis should detormine, proceeded on as follows.  
You may judge (by my readiness to obey you) what power your commands have over me, 
Decius.  seeing they unavoidably put me upon the remembrance of what I cannot think of without the greatest anger and indignation that is possible; with this encouragement however, that therein I doubt not, but before I have done, you will both bear your shares with me; and that I may observe some kind of order in what I shall say, I will begin with the confidence the Rebels from the beginning reposed in the Earl of Ormond (which were argument sufficient to prove him false) and then I shall show you how faithfully (if I may misuse that good word) he answered that trust of theirs in every particular. To prove both which, I shall not need to squeeze conclusions out of conjectures or probabilities, but shall give you the naked fact, which sufficiently discovers itself, and his own speeches, and the results of his own made Counsel, from the mouths of those of his own party, who were not ashamed to publish what they had done in the chamber upon the house top.  
Civilis and Marcus approving of the Division be had made, and the way he promised to take in handling of the parts, he went on in this manner.  
The first thing that I propounded to clear to you, is the great trust and confidence the Rebels from the beginning reposed in him. To make good which, though there be many more than probabilities to induce a reasonable man to believe he was acquainted with the first design and plot of the Rebellion, and there be some (that when time serves) can tell what advice and conncell he gave for the execution of it; having resolved with myself to bring nothing before you but what carries the light of the Sun along with it: I shall give you as pregnant a proof as can be desired.  
In the beginning of November next after the Rebellion broke out, the Parliament, according to the prorogation, met again at Dublin, whither many who were chief plotters and contrivers of that bloody Treason, though at that time the Castle of Dublis, by God's great mercy, being secured, they had not declared themselves; boldly resorted the Lords of the Pale and some others (who were all, it is well known) the first in that transgression, in whose heads the business was carried long before it came into the others hands) had the faces to come and sit in the upper House, to advise forsooth for the safety of the English, whom before they had voted to destruction. Amongst many other good motions, it was thought fit by the aforesaid House of Lords, the Earl of Ormond concurring, that the Lord Costelogh Dillon should be sent to his Majesty into England, with such propositions as they thought expedient for the settling of peace again in that Kingdom; and accordingly he was dispatched away with private Instructions, how he should carry himself, and what chief he was to insist on: and though the honest party at Counsell-board (being at that time in power) had in their Letters to Court, given a large character of the man and his errand, and expressed their dislike of both in order to his Majesty's honour and the good of the Protestants; being taken prisoner here after his escape, you may perhaps have heard how he was entertained at Oxford: but it being out of our way, I pass it by. The main of his Instructions was to work with the King, that the quieting of the Rebellion might be left wholly to the Parliament there, and that no forces might be sent over out of England to make the breach wider, instead of closing of it; and to complete all, he was to procure the Earl of Ormond to be made Lord Licutenant of Ireland. Behold Sirs, the same men that would have no assistance from hence, without which the English (in all human probability) would have perished, as the next thing they thought could work to the Rebel's advantage, sue that the Earl of Ormond might be made Governor: And lest the name of a Parliament held at Dublin may stumble you, and make you believe these Lords were honest at that time, and at the drawing of those Instructions had not engaged themselves to the Rebel's party: You must know (after their going into Rebellion) they still owned the Lord Dillon as their Agent, and it was ordered at a full Counsel of the Rebels at Kilkenny, that the profits of the said Lord dillon's Lands should be secured to him, forasmuch as he was employed to his Majesty by them, for the good of the Catholic Cause.  
Truly Decius, 
Civilis.  I think you have put your best strength in the Van, for I cannot see what could prove your first point more clearly, and in the last place, you have fully answered an objection I was then going to propound to you; that order of the Counsel of Kilkenny cuts on both sides, and like Janus his face, looks two several ways. But I wrong my friend Marcus, I pray you therefore say on.  
In January 1642. 
Decius.  when the Rebels were now a form body, and licked into a State, upon a Petition of the chief Lords and Gentlemen of the Rebels sent to the Earl of Ormond, and by him kindly transmitted to his Majesty, his Majesty did by his Letters, sent by Master Thomas Bourke, an arch-papist and a chief Rebel, require the Lords Justices to give power to the said Earl to give a meeting to the chiefest of the Rebels, and to send to his Majesty such grievances and desires as they should think fit to present to him by his Lordship's hands. Amongst many other grievances and other goodly demands which, no doubt, you have seen in print (though they were kept dose from the Justices and Counsel by the Earl of Ormond) for many months after, they were published by the Rebels in foreign Kingdoms; and when the Book was commonly sold amongst us, it was not suffered to be answered, but all motions made to that purpose in Parliament, slighted by Sir Morice Eustace, Speaker of the House of Commons there, an Irish man (to say no worse of him, and one of the Earl of Ormonds' Cabinet counsel.) Amongst many other, I say, strange desires, at that time, transmitted by the Earl of Ormond to his Majesty, one was this; 
c The Rebel's Remonstrance at Trim.  That his Majesty would be pleased to grant that they might be governed by one of their own Nation, a man of estate and repute amongst them.] This you may easily perceive was the same with the former, contained in the Lord dillon's Instructiions, though (his Majesty being sufficiently already acquainted with their meaning, and perhaps the Earl of Ormond himself) the English being now more formidable, was not willing to be named as before, but his name was left to be understood. Upon these desires of the Rebels, no doubt the Earl of Ormond (from the very beginning) had strong assurances of being made Lord Lieutenant, and that the Earl of Leicester should not stand in his way, who was purposely long detained at Court; and having at length obtained his dispatch, and being as fare as Chester on his way, was unexpectedly recalled; and the carriage of the Earl of Ormond towards the Earl of Leceister, and those that belonged to him, is argument enough to prove, that he well knew he should never come to any super-intendency over him, to overlook or check his proceed.  
I do make haste from this first point, because the next is that that will hold me longer; and by this that you have already heard, you may easily judge of the truth of what I promised in the first place to prove to you, namely, the confidence the Rebels had in him, which I may boldly swear, they never intended should prove for the good of the English.  
It remains, that I declare to you, how he has not failed in point of gratitude to the Irish that relied so much upon him: This general head will fall into sundry particular Treasons and misdemeanours, altogether tending to this only end, namely, to save and protect his beloved Countrymen from the just revengeful arms of the English; (and that he might compass that) to bring the English into that condition, that they might not be able to prosecute a war, but he glad to accept of such terms of cessation or peace, as he and the Rebels (I am forced for distinction sake to sever them) should be pleased to afford them; and when there should be now no more use of the Army in Ireland, to bring them (with the Rebels, who from the beginning still boasted they would come over into England) to turn their swords against the Parliament here, that had employed, paid and entrusted them: And here Sirs, I doubt not but to make it appear to you, that the necessity (we here so much talk of) was so fare from being a cause of that bloody cessation, that the Earl of Ormonds' design to secure his Countrymen by that cessation was the only cause of that necessity; which (notwithstanding all his pernicious endeavours to bring it upon us) was not, by God's mercy, so great, but that the Army might very well have subsisted, and that the world might see through it, that the safety of the Protestants was only pretended by him, when nothing but utter ruin was really intended.  
There was nothing had that power over me, 
Marcus.  to persuade me to a charitable opinion of that cessation, as the word Necessity; and (to confeste ingeniously to you) I could not tell what to say, when in the King's Declaration touching that business, I found necessity so much complained of in the Letters from your own Counsel, which I thought they would not have done if it had been only fictitious, and not real.  
Truly Marcus you have prevented me, 
Civilis.  for I was just then thinking of the same thing; those Letters having (in many men's apprehensions) done that work to the full, for which they were inserted in that Declaration, which was the justification of the proceed in that cessation.  
I shall anon acquaint you at lage with the occasion of those Letters, 
Decius.  only for the present to remove them somewhat out of our way (in general) I shall tell you, that part of them which expressed the despairing condition of the state, was written always, as you shall plainly see by and by, by reason of the Earl of Ormonds violent stickling for it, and by the overruling vote of his complices at the Board, and contrary to the opinion and advice of the honest Party who knew the contrary, and that the Army might very well have subsisted by the means even of those small supplies sent from hence; yea though they had been less, had not the Earl of Ormond used all the art and power he could to prevent and hinder it: This Sirs, since I am first fallen upon it, I shall labour to clear unto you.  
Civilis and Marcus expressing their desire to be informed by him, be continued his speech as follows.  
The first and best means that could be used to bring the Army to necessity and want, was to keep it idle at home in our own quarters; The Earl of Ormond had heard of that maxim, nihil difficilius est quam exercitum otiosum alere; and therefore having the sole command of the Army, he always kept it in, and about the City of Dublin, a place thirty or forty miles most ways from any considerable enemy; so that there was at all times five or six thousand men fed upon the public stores of that place, who might have been sent abroad and lived in the enemy's Country; and there were sometimes eight or nine thousand men maintained out of the Magazine at Dublin, and most commonly there was victuals delivered out for more men by one third part, then were really to be found in the Town; and notwithstanding all that the honest party (at Counsell-board) could do, his Lordship would never be brought to take a view of the Army to discover the true strength of it; but when (upon the importunity of the honest Privy Counselors) the men were once carried into the Field to take the right number of them, he found out an occasion to dismiss them, and also the business was disappointed; though (which is observable) when upon the cessation he saw the English would expect that the Army should be supplied by the contribution of the Rebels (which the Earl of Ormond had talked much of, to induce the English to consent to that cessation;) he of himself could then give strict order therein, that the Rebels might not be burdened above what was necessary in the least measure.  
This particular of keeping so many men continually in Dublin, 
Civilis.  I conceive is that which cannot be answered, if there were any possibility of maintaining them abroad to do service against the Rebels: I desire therefore to be satisfied in that point which is all that can be thought of to justify that action.  
Your desire is indeed very material, 
Decius.  but I shall easily satisfy you in it; for you must know, the Earl of Ormond did this, not only contrary to many Remonstrances of the honest party at Counsell-Board (declaring the evil consequences thereof) but also to the overtures and motions of several Commanders in the Army, who undertook to maintain the Army abroad, and make them subsist upon the Rebels, if the Earl of Ormond would suffer it: 
d Sir Arthur Loftus his Examination.  Sir Arthur Loftus Governor of the Naas, undertook to maintain there a thousand men, without charge to the State, if the Earl of Ormond would also send him two or three Troops of horse which lay idle about Dublin: 
e Sir Charles Coot his Examination.  Sir Charles Coote long solicited the Earl of Ormond for a thousand Foot and two or three Troops to carry into Conogh, where he undertook to maintain them upon the Rebels during the War. And many the like propositions were made by others, but the Earl of Ormond knew too well how much it would have prejudiced his Countrymen and his design, to save them by a peace or cessation, to consent to any of them; but they were all slighted by him, and notwithstanding he had still the face to complain of the necessity of the Army, & to the great disturbance of all debates at Counsel-board for the good of the English, and the promoting of the Service, to press and cry continually for Letters to be writ to his Majesty; declaring their lamentable condition, and how they were not possibly able to subsist, no not for a few days, whereby the Officers and Shoulders were encouraged to all manner of mutinous disorders, being most of them already wrought to a weariness of the service, and to a desire to come into England to gain the spoil of the same, whereof his Lordship and his instruments had given them assurance.  
The Lord Lisle being sensible of the Earl of Ormonds' proceed, and how he laboured all that he could on pretence of necessity, to gain for the Rebels what they desired, to the ruin of the English; to wipe away that colour of necessity, and that it might clearly appear where the fault lay, that the Protestants were not in a better condition, undertook about January 1642. a design for the carrying out a great part of our Army to live abroad in the Country, and do good service against the Rebels; the proposition (as it deserved) was much magnified by all, being so much for the good of the English, that indeed it was the only means for their preservation: The Earl of Ormond upon the Lords Justices and honest Privy-Counsellours motion, gave consent unto it; whereupon all things were prepared, Iron Mils and other necessaries, not without great charge, were provided, and all things being now in a readiness for the Lord Lisle to march: The Earl of Ormond (foreseeing how much this would ruin his plot, and fearing that he intended for the County of Kilkenny, a place which he always kept untouched, being the chief seat of the Rebellion, where their supreme Counsel resided) declared, he would go out himself in person, and (contrary to the will of the Justices, and the advice of the honest party at Counsell-Board, saying, he had power of himself without them, to carry out the Army when and whither he pleased) he overthrew the Lord Lisles motion, having no other design then to thwart his, which looked too severely (he thought) upon the Rebels his beloved Countrymen: Sometimes he declared he would go into the County of Wesimeath, other times into the County of Longford, but at length (having taken new Counsels, and caused the State to furnish him with a triple proportion of money to what the Lord Lisle desired for his expedition, which the Parliament Commissioners then at Dublin were forced to take up in that necessity upon their own word, otherwise he and some of his Minions of the Counsel of war, protesting they were the cause of the disappointment of that so important a service, and having upon his own motion a general Warrant granted him from the Lords Justices, to command all the shipping upon the coast of the whole Kingdom, a thing which before was never given out of the hands of the chief Governor for the time, and having a Warrant likewise for the putting of the whole Country, wherever he came, to contribution; and full power given him to protect them, otherwise saying, he could not be able to keep the Army abroad, as he pretended he would do, for three months; he marched out of Dublin with about 4000 foot, and four or five hundred horse.  
In their march through the County of Kildare, they took in three or four Castles, namely, Timelin, Tullow and Castle-Martin, and therein such quantities of corn, as would have been sufficient to have fed the Army three months; but the Earl of Ormond suffered it to be consumed and wasted, and no use made of it to their benefit: That which was taken in Timelin, was left most of it in the same condition it was found: and after the Earl of Ormond was marched away, the Rebels came and possessed themselves again of it, which will be made good by Colonel Monk and by the parties that surveyed the corn in those Castles: By which it may appear, he never had any intention to maintain the Army abroad, or that he took those places to any other end, then to waste the ammunition and provision which he carried out with him, and which (he knew) was all the store: Castle Martin, and some other places taken by him, being not long after sold, and delivered up to the Rebels, and that at very low rates: Castle Martin was sold to the Rebels by Colonel Hunks, whose company had the possession of it, and no notice taken of it by the Earl of Ormond in public; but what thanks he gave in private for it, we may guess (presuming it was done by his own order.)  
I cannot but admire (Decius) at what you have told me, 
Civilis.  seeing how much hitherto the Earl of Ormonds' carriage disagrees from those expressions I have heard some give of him, upon whom hereafter I shall look as enemies to the Commonwealth, and as such as deserve to partake in the severest of his punishments; and truly (by what I have already heard from you, and some other Relations which I have received of the carriage of the Earl of Thomond and some others in Munster) I begin plainly to understand the vanity of employing any of the Irish in considerable command in that service, if we ever intent to have the work carried on throughly and faithfully, and not partially and by halves.  
I have ever in my own thoughts embraced that opinion as the most certain and safest way for the English, 
Decius.  and indeed supposing there were such of that Nation as could so fare overcome their own natures, as willingly to undertake so contrary a work, I supposed it a point of cruelty in man (if there were no more in it) to put human nature to so hard a task, as to imbrue his hands in the blood of those nearest to him, which was thought by God a sufficient trial even for such a faith as Abraham's: But besides this, I ever esteemed it a point of the greatest indiscretion, to expose the English to the mercy of so many temptations as daily beset such men, and it being a certain rule, that no man ever hated his own flesh, though some would be believed, to have attained to that perfection; but if you please to give me leave, I shall begin where I left off in my Relation.  
Civilis praying him to do so, be continued his speech in this manner.  
After the taking of those Castles (as you have heard) the Earl of Ormond carried the Army before the Town of Rose, through a country which he knew could afford them nothing but straits and wants, whereas if he had gone ten miles on the other hand into an open Country, he might have been in the heart of a place untouched by any enemy, where the Army might have subsisted upon the Rebels as long as they pleased; but the Earl of Ormond had not for that end preserved that Country from spoil, to be now wasted; And whereas before the Earl of Ormonds advance towards Rosse, the Rebels might have been at a loss, not knowing which way our Forces would bend, being equally near Kilkenny, Wexford and Rosse, to clear them of that doubt, and to free them from the danger of a surprise, which (if the whole Army ' or a party of Foot, with some Horse, had speedily marched up to either of those places) might easily have been performed: He commanded the Lord Lisle with some Horse, without either Foot or Dragoons, to march before to Rosse, which gave the Country an alarm, and the body of Foot came up so slowly after, that the Town had time to prepare itself, and to take in more Forces; whereas if there had been Foot sent up with the Horse, it might without all question have been taken; they within being so secure, that some of the Lord Lisles Horse at their first coming found the gates wide open, whereat they entered, but for want of Voot to make it good, they were forced to retire.  
When the Earl of Ormond supposed the Rebels were prepared to receive him, the Army was brought before the Town (though he had prepared nothing fit for a siege, and that it was contrary to the intention of the State, that he should engage before any place of that strength, till they had first beaten the Rebels out of the field, being sent abroad merely to live and maintain themselves, which could not but be known impossible, lying in the midst of an enemy's Country before a Town, the Rebels having a strong Army on foot to cut off all provision, and forage as they pleased. You may remember I told you before, how that the Earl of Ormond, before he would stir out of Dublin, must have the command of all the shipping on the coast of the Kingdom, and (to make some good use of this power (he calls up two ships that lay near the Fort of Duncannon, and on pretence to hinder supplies from coming to the Town over the River from Munster side, they were commanded by him into such a place, that they were both taken, to the great loss of the owners, and the encouragement of his Countrymen; and having, with the expense almost of all his ammunition, made a breach in the wall, wide enough for twenty men to enter a breast, having thereby let the world see what he could have done, he rises from before it, and sets his face homewards towards Dublin, and in his way brings the Army upon the Rebels Forces, commanded be Preston add Cullin; where if God's mercy had not overcome his wickedness, the loss of those men had been in human reason the ruin of the English through the whole Kingdom.  
The Rebels, contrary to their usual manner (being spurred on with other assurances than they could receive from their own cowardly dispositions) at this time charged very resolutely, on our side the Earl of Ormond gave out no orders for the ordering or managing of the battle, but rid up and down carelessly with one Colonel Barry an Irish Papist, and one very well known by the Rebels, as if he had not been conterned in the business in hand: by which means for want of direction, the Rebels had at first gotten advantage over us, which the Earl of Ormond had a special care to impute to such as he knew most forward and zealous against his Countrymen, and particularly to the Lord Lisle, who in truth behaved himself: that day very gallantly, to his great honour and the advantage of the service.  
It pleased God, notwithstanding all the Earl of Ormonds' wishes and endeavours, to give the English the day, with the loss of many of the Rebel's Gentry, and divers taken prisoners, amongst whom was Cullin, their Lieutenant general, and some more of their principal Officers, who were brought to Dublin in such state, that one would have thought they had rid in triumph after their own victory, and not been prisoners of ours: And when the honest party at Counsell-board spoke of committing them as Traitors, the Earl of Ormond took it very heinously, and said, he would be bound for them himself, and the Lord Chancellor one Sir Richard Bolton, a rotten-hearted man, and one of the Earl of Ormonds honest instruments on all occasions, desired it might be considered how the King used the Parliament prisoners here, that so they might follow that precedent; to which the Earl of Ormond added, that they in England were as great Rebels as those in Ireland, though Sir Henry Tichborne (another faithful Gentleman, whom we shall have occasion anon to mention more at large) upon another occasion went a note higher, and would prove the Parliament here the worse Rebels of the two, for these (said he, meaning the Rebels) fight for the substance of their Religion, but the Parliament merely for ceremonies.  
It pleased GOD to bestow upon the FORCES of the Protestants there, 
Marcus.  very many admirable Victories, and nevertheless (which seemed very strange to us, not knowing to what cause to impute it) the affairs of the English were (so far as I could understand) still in the same condition, and not in any degree bettered, or nearer to an end.  
You say very true Sir, 
Decius.  for though God had put many happy opportunities into our hands, there was never any use made of any of them, but our Armies having beaten the Rebels abroad, were presently brought home to feed upon, and indeed devour ourselves at home: I know Sirs, you expect a fter this last victory to hear of a pursuit, but the E. of Ormond had a care not to break his old custom; whereas if he had pursued this defeat, as a General ought, and an honest man would have done, he might have gone either back again to Rosse or to Kilkenny, and had either or both delivered unto him, or at least he might have commanded the open field, and maintained the Army upon the country without danger as long as he pleased: The Lord Esmond (after the battle) offering to bring the Army into the old English Baronies near Wexford, a place plentifully stored with corn and cattle, and all manner of provision for them to subsist on: The motion was rejected by the Earl of Ormond, and as if he had undertaken this, as a journey only to visit some friends, within a little more than three weeks he returns to Dublin; the money he received for this expedition (besides what he had in provision) being sufficient to have fed that proportion of men in Town for three months; and lest the honest party at counsell-board might have disposed otherwise of those Forces, he never gave the State notice of his intentions till the Army was far advanced into our own Quarters, and were come within some few miles of the City, and then he writ, that he could not keep the men abroad any longer unless he had provisions sent to him, but never stayed for an answer; so that before what provisions were to be gotten could be dispatched away to him, he was come with the men to the Town's end; and this he did when he knew there was not three day's subsistence for them in the stores, but they were all billeted upon the City; of which burden the Irish Papists had the least share: by the Earl of Ormonds' Order many able Irish in and about the City being wholly spared, and their load laid upon the shoulders of the poor English families, who had hardly bread for their own mouths, but they must be brought to the extremest misery that was possible, that they might be the better fitted and prepared willingly to accept of whatsoever he should be pleased to do with them: and notwithstanding all this, none seemed more sensible of the misery of the English then himself: the burden of his song was continually, Necessity, Necessity, that the Parliament had utterly forsaken us, and converted the money raised for us to their own uses, and that it behoved us to provide what way we could for our own safeties, since it was impossible any longer to hold out a war: All his work at Counsell-board was, to cry like the two daughters of the Horse leech, Give, Give, and to press the Counsel to write despairing Letters to his Majesty, that so his Majesty might have grounds to command him to conclude a Cessation (as his Majesty has since made use of those Letters to justify himself therein (as you Marcus observed very righty in the beginning.)  
I had almost forgot one passage which falls in with this place, and may be worth your hearing. The Lord Lisle having notice (after the Battle) that one of our Soldiers (being taken by the Rebels upon quarter) was afterwards in cold blood hanged by them, desired the Earl of Ormond (to terrify them from committing the like villainy upon the rest, if peradventure they had or should have any more in their hands) that some of their men taken by us at that time, might be used in the same manner: To which the Earl of Ormond scornfully replied, that if they were barbarous, he would not be barbarous too: Upon this confidence that the Rebels had in the Earl of Ormond (though there were many more prisoners of theirs in our power, than they had of ours, which might have made them hold their hands) they never failed to execute the worst of their cruelties, Captain Bret taken by the Rebels, after quarter given, was in cold blood shot to death by them; Captain Chambers, taken near Carelowe upon quarter, was afterwards delivered by Preston to one Harpoole at Kilkenny, and by him most barbarously murdered; one young Cornet to the Lord Lisle taken near Dublin (after long imprisonment) was afterwards hanged; Captain Treswell (who commanded the Lord Lisles Troop) petitioned the Earl of Ormond for reparation for Young, and an examination upon oath concerning Captain Chambers, of the inhuman cruelties executed upon him, was presented to the Earl of Ormond and he moved to require satisfaction, but his Lordship was angry, and nothing was done in either; and yet though his Lordship were so much out of love with that barbarous virtue of justice, he delighted as much on the other side in mercy, and therefore when there was a plot discovered, that a whole company of Irish men conspired together to run from their Garrison at Rings End to the Rebels, and but one of them was picked out to suffer for example (the Earl of Ormond being unwilling that any one should die for so good a work, whilst he had power to hinder it,) he was reprieved by him, and afterwards saved, and an Irish Cutler in Dublin being condemned for furnishing the Rebels with arms, was by the Earl of Ormonds earnest solicitation afterwards acquitted; and there are so many other particular instances of his affection to spare his Countrymen, that (having so many things to acquaint you with after this taste that I have already given you) to repeat them would be as unnecessary as tedious to you.  
After this that you have already told us, 
Civilis.  I do not see what can be further added to make his disaffection and naughtiness more evident, you have given us in this one business of the disappointment of the Lord Lisles proposition, and the Earl of Ormonds' pursuit of it; so complete a series and chain of mischief, that I cannot tell how you will be able to add one link to it.  
What you have heard, 
Decius.  is but a piece of one Act, one scene only of that Tragedy which to this day is ours, but in the end (I doubt not) but will prove the authors, if our sins do not keep back his punishment.  
Notwithstanding these and many such like carriages of the Earl of Ormond, and what might have been apprehended by the Parliament, of greatest disaffection in them; such was their zeal to the service of Ireland, and their preservation of the remaining English there, and so much care did they express therein, as in the very height of the distempers of this Kingdom, when all was little enough for themselves, and though they saw how much of the provisions made for Ireland was intercepted in its way thither (as at Chester and other places) they continued still doing good to us, and furnished us, though not so plentifully as was desired, yet (considering their condition) in such measure, as we had no cause to complain of them, or despair of ourselves; if there had been that use made of those supplies as might have been, had not the Earl of Ormond hindered it, who (by this goodness of the Parliament towards the Protestants) was so fare from being raisen to the least joy or thankfulness, that it was the grief of his soul, that (by showing any care of us) they put back the work he had in hand to our ruin; and therefore he used all means that could be invented to waste and squander away what we received from them, and so to disoblige them, that for the future they might be drawn to desist from sending any more money or provisions to an army they saw so adverse to them.  
About the beginning of July 1643. Captain Thomas Bartlet was sent into Ireland with his Ship laden with corn and other provisious, and another Ship stored with three hundred barrels of powder and a great proportion of match; both which arrived at Dublin about two months before the cessation; at which time the Earl of Ormond thought the English were reduced to such necessity, that it was impossible for them to subsist without the cessation; but by the arrival of this supply, finding himself disappointed, he was not a little troubled, but he soon found out a way to piece his work up again; and to empty the stores once more (as he had done often before to as little purpose) he pretends a journey in all haste towards Castle Jordon, and thereupon hurries up to Dublin most of the Forces that were garrisoned in Drogheda, alias, Tredagh, Trim and Dondalke, where they remained feeding upon the stores of that place many days before his Lordship could be ready to march out; and having at length sent out the Lord Lambert before him with a party of the Army (who either through the Earl of Ormonds' command or his own cowardice, durst not advance further than twelve miles from the City, but kept his men there, feeding upon what they carried abroad with them;) he himself at last marched out to him, his whole strength consisting of about five thousand, besides Horse and a great train of Artillery; and having kept the men abroad till they had consumed their provision, he brought them home again, without doing any manner of service against the Rebels, only he took in an ordinary dwelling house, unfortified, possessed by some few of the Rebels: yet before his Lordship could be ready to march out and do these brave exploits, all the money that could be raked from the Excise, and what could be torn from the poor English, and almost all the provision that Captain Bartlet had brought in was consumed; and of what remained, part was privately sold to several Bakers and others in the City of Dublin, and part concealed and removed into private Granaries till after the cessation, that it might not appear to hinder it, 
Sir Philip Percivel was Commissary of the Victuals in Ireland at that time. Sir Philip Percivel was employed as Clerk or Secretary to write all the passages at the making of the cessation on the Lord of Ormonds' part.  and then some of it was sold, and the money converted to private uses, and the rest, instead of being useful to send out the Army to fight against the Rebels, was made into Biscuit, to victual the Regiments sent into England (to fight against the Parliament) in Captain Weaks Ships: The ways the Earl of Ormond took to consume our provisions to no purpose, were so many and so apparent, that the Parliament Commissioners then at Dublin were bold to tell him plainly, That were the Parliament Masters of the wealth of the Indies, as things were carried there, it would be all spent, and yet the English not any thing the better for it. By this taste that I have already given you, you may see how he laboured all that he could to consume what was sent from hence, or to dispose of it so, that it might not stand in the way between him and his design, for the preservation of his Countrymen, by necessitating the English to accept of his cessation or peace.  
The next thing which I shall labour to clear to you, is the course the Earl of Ormond took to alienate the Parliament of England from sending any more supplies to us, knowing to how little purpose it would be, to dry up the water in the streams, unless he could stop it at the springhead: But I believe this will be a work to overcome your patience, having (I presume) wearied it alrerdy.  
Civilis and Marcus protesting they received the greatest contentment and satisfaction in hearing of him, he went on in this manner.  
The Earl of Ormond having been very successful in the first part of his game, and drawn us to the bottom, bethinks himself at the same time, how to free himself of the Parliament, whom he found more forward to assist us, than would stand with the work he had in hand, and therefore labours to disoblige them so, that the English being left wholly to themselves, he might the easier make his hand of them. From hence arose those many reviling speeches uttered by himself and his instruments upon all occasions against this Parliament and Kingdom: himself always having a special care not only to equal them with his Countrymen, but to put the Parliament above them (as if the Rebellion and Massacre there were a business to be excused in comparison of their proceed here) saying, that those fought only (at the worst) against his Majesty's subjects, but these against his person, and that the Parliament here was the cause of all the misery of that Kingdom; and therefore in the preample