Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have obtained a copy of a translation of the Nuncio’s narrative, which appeared in the Catholic Miscellany for 1829.  This translation was made by a Protestant clergyman, from a Latin translation of the original, in the possession of Mr. Coke, of Holham, Norfolk.  The Nuncio’s account is one of great importance, but it would demand considerable space if treated of in detail.  There was a very able article on the subject in the Dublin Review for March, 1845.

[480] Hut.—­Some extracts from a curious and interesting letter, describing the voyage from France and the landing in Ireland of Rinuccini and his party, were published in the Dublin Review for March, 1845.  It is addressed to Count Thomas Rinuccini, but the writer is supposed to have been the Dean of Fermo.  He gives a graphic description of their arrival at Kenmare—­“al porto di Kilmar” and of the warm reception they met from the poor, and their courtesy—­“La cortesia di quei poveri popoli dove Monsignor capito, fu incomparabile.”  He also says:  “Gran cosa, nelle montagne e luoghi rozzi, e gente povera per le devastazioni fatte dei nemici eretici, trovai pero la nobilta della S. fede Catolica, giache auro vi fu uomo, o donna, o ragazzo, ancor che piccolo, che non me sapesse recitar il Pater, Ave, Credo, e i commandamenti della Santa Chiesa.”  “It is most wonderful that in this wild and mountainous place, and a people so impoverished by the heretical enemy, I found, nevertheless, the noble influence of the holy Catholic faith; for there was not a man or woman, or a child however young, who could not repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed, and the commands of Holy Church.”  We believe the same might be said at the present day of this part of Ireland.  It is still as poor, and the people are still as well instructed in and as devoted to their faith now as in that century.

[481] Freemen.—­Confederation of Kilkenny, p. 117.

[482] Army,—­Nunziatura in Irlanda, p. 391.

CHAPTER XXX.

Cromwell arrives in Ireland—­He marches to Drogheda—­Cruel Massacre of the Inhabitants after promise of Quarter—­Account of an Eyewitness—­Brutality of the Cromwellian Soldiers—­Ladies are not spared—­Cromwell’s Letters—­He boasts of his Cruelties—­Massacre and Treachery at Drogheda—­Brave Resistance at Clonmel—­Charles II. arrives in Scotland—­The Duplicity of his Conduct towards the Irish—­Siege of Limerick—­Ireton’s Cruelties and Miserable Death—­The Banishment to Connaught—­The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes—­General Desolation and Misery of the People.

[A.D. 1649-1655.]