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‘A light to the blind’: the voice of the dispossessed élite in the generation after the defeat at Limerick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Patrick Kelly
Patrick Kelly*
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
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Extract

To find authentic expressions of political feeling amongst the dispossessed élite in Ireland in the generation after the defeat of 1691 is no easy task. Between the treaty of Limerick and the early writings of John Curry and Charles O’Conor in the mid-eighteenth century Irish catholic laymen seemingly avoided committing their political views to paper, for reasons which are not difficult either to understand or to sympathise with. Only amongst the clergy do we find comment of a political nature, but even this on the whole was restricted to reaction to penal laws and persecution and was concerned with the position of the church rather than the laity. Occasionally glimpses of a broader picture emerge tantalisingly from the Continent where correspondents were beyond the range of British control, as in Ambassador da Cunha’s report on Irish conditions in 1710 or in Internuncio Spinelli’s account of 1723, both of which blamed the depressed state of the laity unequivocally on the violation of the treaty.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 96 , November 1985 , pp. 431 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1985

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References

1 Curry, John, A brief account from the most authentic protestant writers of the causes, motives and mischiefs of the Irish rebellion … (Dublin, 1747)Google Scholar; O‘Conor, Charles, A counter-appeal to the people of Ireland … (Dublin, 1749).Google Scholar The concern of poets such as 6 Bruadair and 6 Rathaille was with the collapse of the social rather than the political order; see further Nicholas Canny, “The formation of the Irish mind: religion, politics and Gaelic literature in Past and Present, no. 95 (1982), pp 91-116; T.J. Dunne, The Gaelic response to conquest and colonisation: the evidence of the poetry’ in Studia Hibernica, xx (1980), pp 7-30.

2 See calendar of Nunziatura di Fiandra archives, 169It. 1760, in Collectanea Hibernica, xiii-xiv (1970-71). The claim that the Dublin priest, Cornelius Nary, published in 1724 The case of the Roman Catholicks presented to both houses of parliament (the text of which forms an appendix to The impartial history of Ireland, published in 1742) is doubtful as no copy has been found in the libraries visited and none is known to bibliographers.

3 See W.L. Sachse (ed.), ‘Da Cunha’s account of the condition of catholics in the British Isles in 1710’ in Catholic Historical Review, xlix (1976), pp 20-46. This Relation by the Portuguese ambassador in London, 1696-1712, was addressed to Cardinal Paulucci, secretary of state to Clement XI. Cardinal Spinola to Spinelli, 18 Dec. 1723, Collectanea Hibernica, xiv (1971), p. 38.

4 Dunne. ‘Gaelic response’, p. 30; Canny ‘Formation of the Irish mind’ pp 109-11 The point was corroborated in Professor Breandan 6 Buachalla’s paper ‘Messianism, the Stuarts and Irish literature delivered to the Irish Historical Society 12 May 1981 For criticism of James II for cowardice and bad leadership, see poems 2 and 3 in Breandan O Buachalla (ed.). Nua dhuanaire cuid II (Dublin, 1976), for which reference I am indebted to Professor Mairtin O’Morchu.

5 Entry tor Hugh Roily in Walter Harris s continuation of Ware s Writers of Ireland in The whole works of Sir James Marc (2 vols. Dublin, 1764), ii. 274. Harris s assertion that Reily was Irish lord chancellor at St Germains is implausible; Alexander Fitton, who was made chancellor in 1687. is still described as such in James s will of 1699 ﹛H.M.C. Stuart MSS, ii. 515).

6 The 1720 1742, 1749. two 1754, 1762. 1768. and 1787 editions bore the title The impartial history- of Ireland: those of 1781 1799, and 1833 were called The genuine history Ireland.

7 Louis XIV. king of France and Navarre. Mémoires for the instruction of the dauphin, ed. and trans. Paul Sonnino (New York and London. 1970), pp 4-7 James s pejorative reflections on the ‘O’s and the Macs suggest little appreciation of what the Irish had lost through supporting his cause: The life of James the Second, ed. J.S. Clarke (2 vols, London, 1816) ii. 636-8.

8 Charles O’Kelly, Macariae excidium, or, the destruction of Cyprus, ed. J.C. O’Callaghan (Irish Archaeological Society, Dublin, 1853), pp xii, 155-6.

9 Ibid., p. 18.

10 Ibid., pp 154-6.

11 Ibid., pp 5-6, 42.

12 T.C.D., MS 970; Macariae excidium, p. xvii.

13 Macariae excidium, pp 159. xvi-xvii.

14 J.G. Simms s introduction to Irish University Press 1971 reprint of A Jacobite narrative of the war in Ireland, 1688-91, ed. Gilbert, J.T (Dublin, 1892), p. ix.Google Scholar

15. J.T. Gilbert reported on the two volumes of the manuscript of ‘A light’, then in the possession of the earl of Fingall, in H.M.C. rep. 10, appendix V (1885), pp 107-204, printing extensive extracts. These volumes are now National Library of Ireland, MSS 476-7: the first contains Books I-II of the history, the second Book III. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Carte 229, contains another version of Books I and II. For a detailed description of the manuscripts and of the relationship between the Fingall and Carte volumes, see below, pp 458-60, appendix I. Citations from ‘A light to the blind’ arc henceforth from the amended text of Books I and II in Bodl., MS Carte 229 and that of Book III in N.L.I., MS 477; as explained further in the appendix, these volumes are the authoritative version of the history, while N.L.I. MS 476 is the surviving half of a less reliable contemporary copy The final fifty pages or so of the Carte version are, however, in poor condition and are illegible in places, thus making it necessary to cite from the Fingall version. The original spelling (but not the capitalisation) of the manuscript reading has been retained in quotations (other than the rendering of consonantal ‘i’ and ‘u’ as ‘j’ and ‘v’).

16 E.g. C.H. Firth, A commentary on Macaulay’s history of England (London 1938), p. 212. took what Gilbert published to be the entire text of ‘A light’ In both Carte and Fingall titles the epithet villanous has been deleted before ‘dethronement‘. A fuller version of the title is found on a label at the end of Bodl., MS Carte 229 (f. 506): The tytle — restitution, or all is lost: being a light to see the villanous dethronement of James the Second, king of England: and the injustices don to his royal family and the catholick people of that monarchy from tyme to tyme: with a brief narrative of his warr in Ireland: and of the warr between the Emperor and the king of France, for the crown of Spain, by a lover of truth and justice, anno, [date not added]’

17 Book I, chap. 9, sect. 41 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 240).

18 The preface speaks of only two books in the history, going up to the death of James II (ibid. f. 138).

19 E.g., chap. 2, sect. 48, describes the ‘grand revolution [which] happened this summer [1703] in the Ottoman empyre (N.L.I., MS 477, p. 869); chap. 4, sect. 15, a series of earthquakes in the Canaries, Dec. 1704 — Jan. 1705 (pp 974-5), and chap. 10, sect. 6, the battle of Adrianople, 1711 (pp 1444-9). The details of the wars in Europe were probably derived from a serial publication such as Boyer’s Annals, though the standpoint is consistently French and Jacobite.

20 Book III, chap. 12, sect. 1, starts by promising a narrative of how peace was made between the belligerents not reconciled in the treaty of Utrecht, and then merely summarises the main points in two further paragraphs (N.L.I., MS 477, pp 1532-3). As the date 1711 in the title suggests, the author originally intended to end with the restoration of James III which he believed would be accomplished that year, see further below, p. 454.

21 For Irish at siege of Cremona, 1702, see Book III, chap. 1, sect. 4 (N.L.I., MS 477 pp 746-8); Irish in suppression of the revolt of the Camisards, 1703: chap. 2, sect. 32 (p. 859); penal legislation, 1703-4: chap. 2, sects 65-7 (pp 887-9); penal legislation, 1709: chap. 8, sect. 10 (pp 1333-6).

22 There are two collections of pamphlets: one preceding ‘A light to the blind’ in Bodl., MS Carte 229, the other following Book III in N.L.I., MS 477 The Carte material comprises seven pamphlets, plus lists of names drawn up in the expectation of a Jacobite restoration in 1712 Earlier drafts of two of these pamphlets (The state o! Ireland …, 1703’, and ‘For the reinthroned king …’, 1711) are also found in MS 477, together with seventeen further pamphlets and two verse elegies on James II. A full list of these ancillary pieces, arranged in chronological order, is given below in appendix II.

23 The penultimate item in N.L.I., MS 477 is in an entirely different hand from the rest and discusses protestant efforts to asperse the catholic cause in England from the gunpowder plot of 1605 to rejection of James Edward as a supposition child in 1688. The piece lacks a title but concludes ‘but it is high time to return to the thread of the histon Neither the treatment of the topic nor the wording seem, however characteristic of the author of A lightV and the item may perhaps be an interpolation proferred b\ some friend to whom the work was shown. It is noteworthy that a rather different passage on the gunpowder plot has been interpolated in the Carte version of Book I, chap. 5. sect 1 (Bodl., MS Cane 229. ff 156-7), though reference is made to three authorities cited by this paper namely Speed, Baker and Osborne. The first of the elegies, ‘String muse, thy lyre with lumpish led .. ‘ echoes phrases and themes found in ‘A light’, the authorship of the second, ‘Help my sorrow, weeping fountains’ is more doubtful.

24 A light was begun in 1702, see further below n. 94.

25 Gilbert Burnet. Histon’ of his own time ed. M.J. Routh (6 vols. Oxford, 1823), iv. 245-6. 25^ The papers of Abbe Eusebe Renaudot, the French diplomatic agent who dealt with St Germains. contain several analyses of the potential for provoking an uprising following Mary s death (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS nouv acq. franc. 7492, ft 139-62 passim. 378, 398).

26 The improvement of Ireland’ c. 1698 (Bodl. MS Carte 229, ff 1-31), is of considerable intrinsic interest; see further below, p. 459. It is hoped to publish it in due course.

27 Efforts to trace bearers of the surname of the author of ‘A light’, namely Plunkett (see following paragraph), in Paris in the early eighteenth century have not been illuminating. Various Plunketts figure in the lists of indigent Irish officers at St Germains and Paris around 1700 in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS franc. 20866, ff 106-17 A Christian Plunkett was appointed laundress to Princess Louisa, 17 Nov 1701 (H.M. C. Stuart MSS, i, 167), but her husband, Capt. Robert Plunkett, was dead by 1703 (C.H. Lart (ed.), The parochial registers of Saint Germain-en-Inye: Jacobite extracts, ii, ‘1703-20’ (London, 1912), p. 57).

28 The version in Bodl., MS Carte 229 has an elaborate title-page layout (f. 103), and has been clearly and carefully transcribed.

29 See further below appendix I.

30 H.M.C. rep. 10, appendix V, p. 111

31 Namely the death of Capt. John Plunkett in Book II, chap. 12, sect. 44 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 352), and the abortive raid on Newry by Christopher Plunkett of Lagore in chap. 13, sect. 4 (ff 362-3).

32 Simms’s introduction to 1971 reprint of A Jacobite narrative, pp vii-viii. His reasons for rejecting Gilbert’s suggestion that the Jacobite agent in the Nairne correspondence, surnamed Plunkett (who went under the alias ‘Jack Rogers’), was the author seem convincing, though Dr Donal Cregan is not entirely persuaded (see his review of 1971 reprint of A Jacobite narrative in I.H.S. xviii, no. 70 (Sept. 1972), pp 266-8).

33 N.L.I., MS 345 It was calendared by Gilbert in H.M.C. rep. 2, appendix (1874), pp 227-31. The MS was then in the possession of Col. Francis Plunkett-Dunne, M.P., descendant of Nicholas Plunkett and owner of Dunsoghly, from whose daughters N.L.I, acquired it in 1931. The accordance between what is known of the career of Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly from other sources and the experiences and opinions expressed in “An account’ confirm beyond reasonable doubt that he was the author.

34 In the preface to The life of James, duke of Ormond (1736 ed., pp iv-v), Carte acknowledges a considerable debt to ‘An account, which he cites as Pluncket’s memoirs A proposal to print the work by subscription failed in 1741, (cf. prospectus in H. M. C. rep. 2. appendix, p. 321). The fate of the MS is known from Col. Plunkett-Dunne’s note of 1868 bound in with the text; the transcription of Carte s notes (Bodl., MS Cane 6£. ff 437-55) was supervised by J.P Prendergast.

35 N.L.I.. MS 345, p. 1. Cf. p. 1219, ‘when I and some others had proceeded at least 3 parts in this narrative …

36 Page 1138 speaks of ‘our present brave and magnanimous king [i.e. William]’, and p. 1149 of ‘Queen Ann now upon the throne’; for Clarendon’s Rebellion, sec pp 48, 1219 et seq., and for Warwick s Memoirs, pp 1153-7; p. 1235 cites Bishop Guthrie’s Memoirs, published in 1701

37 The language used of Rinuccini varies from ‘this Bedlam of a nuncio (p. 917) to comparison with an instrument of Cesare Borgia’ (p. 931); equally harsh terms are applied to Nicholas French, bishop of Ferns (esp. pp 1111-12). Page 1157 speaks of ‘Dr Nalson, [Sir Roger] Le Strang[e], Peter Welsh and other honnest and loyail historians’, while pp 1137 and 1216 refer to Charles I as dying for his religion, ‘the good and penitent David of the protestant church’ The difference between the laudatory references to Ormond in ‘An account’ and the hostility and contempt shown towards him in ‘A light’, notably over his role in the restoration land settlement, has been pointed out by J.G. Simms (op. cit., p. vii) and D.F Cregan (loc. cit., p. 267). Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly maintained close relations with the Ormond family from the late 1640s, and bequeathed a keepsake to the second duke in his will (F Elrington Ball, The history of Dublin (6 vols, Dublin, 1898-1920), vi, ‘Southern Fingall’, pp 76-106 passim).

38 N.L.I., MS 345, pp 47-8, disparages the Irish clergy as men of low birth whose wits were turned on seeing the power of the clergy on the Continent, and who ruined the catholic landowners of Ireland in an attempt to realise similar ambitions at home. The equation between Rinuccinians and presbyterians is the theme of the last hundred pages of ‘An account,’ and is most strongly pressed on pp 1217-21

39 See further below, pp 450-51

40 J.G. Smims, ‘The making of a penal law (2 Anne, c. 6), 1703-4’ in I.H.S. xii, no. 46 (Sept. 1960), esp. pp 109-11.

41 Gilbert spoke of ‘[t]he Gallicisms in the “Light to the blind” indicating] the Continental associations of the author (H.M.C. rep. 10, appendix V, p. 111). ‘Devoir is common both in ‘A light’ and in the pamphlets, e.g. Bodl. MS Carte 229, f. 321r; nurriture’, f. 355r; ‘royteletts’. f. 349r; expugnation’ f. 351r; ‘commination , f. 355r; ‘beleaguer , f. 353v ‘national’, f. 416r; ‘levellers , f. 432r

42 E.g. in ‘The improvement of Ireland’ we find ‘infin’ (finally), and devoir , Bodl., MS Carte 229. f. 3v: outlandish‘ (foreign) and defalcation (reduction or diminution), t. 7r defavlance‘ (failure), f. 9r; ‘provent’ (supply, produce) and piscation (fishing), t. 13r. Cf. Simms, as above, n. 32.

43 N.L.I., MS 345, p. 1177: …seeing the horrid uglines of this age (which is so wilfully blind, by their mallice, covetousness, ambition, and selfe interest against all amendment or Christian duty and reformation) …. See also p. 1175: ‘… I do appeale … to the consciences of as many of his ma[jes]ties subjects as are not stark blind because they will not see …’. Another notable parallel is that Book II, chap. 3, sect. 36 oi ‘A light‘ (Bodl.. Carte 229. f. 312v) speaks of the harsh treatment meted out by Elizabeth to the recusant, Francis Tregeon of Goldin in Cornwall, who died in exile in Lisbon, and a similar reference to Tregeon’s sufferings is found in ‘An account , p. 143. What makes the mention of this rather obscure figure interesting is that Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly s grandfather had married Tregeon s daughter and ruined himself attempting to regain Tregeon s estate (Ball. Dublin, vi, 76).

44 Nicholas Plunkett to Capt. Thomas Flower, 24 Jan. 1690/[ 1 ) refers to “my cousin Frank Roper, she is one of the queen’s servants’ (N.L.I. MS 11474). I. C Davidson, Catherine of Braganza (London, 1908), p. 310, lists Frances Roper as surveyor of the robes in 1687 The mother of Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly was Elizabeth Roper, daughter of Christopher 2nd Lord Teynham (Ball, Dublin, vi, 76). The hand of these letters is very similar to that of parts of ‘An account’ in N.L.I., MS 345

45 Nicholas Plunkett to Thomas Flower 24 Mar 1690/(91] (N.L.I , MS 11474); Davidson, op. cit.. p. 473. The Fingall papers, N.L.I., MS 8020, sect. 3, contain a letter from Margaret countess of Fingall to —, 24 Mar [ 1692], written in Nicholas Plunkett s hand, requesting a reply to my cousin Mr Plunkett who hath part of my lodging here .. Details of the countess s appartments at Somerset House and of those of ‘Madam Roper are given in Samuel Pegge, Curalia, or an historical account of the branches of the royal household (5 parts, London 1791-1805), iv, 93.

46 G.E.[otokayne], Complete peerage, revd Vicary Gibbs et al. (14 vols, 1910-59), v, 386-7

47 Bibliotheca illustrissimi et nobilissimi Petri comitis de Fingale; being a catalogue of the library of the right honourable the earl of Fingale, consisting of a very large collection of books, relating to the history antiquities, and constitution of Great Britain and Ireland .. [London, 1721 ] Amongst the works cited in 4An account of the warr which occur in the catalogue are (abbreviated as in that catalogue): Nalson s Impartial collection (1682-3); Whitlock s Memorials (1682); Borlase s Irish rebellion (1680); Heylyn s Life of Laud (1668); Cox’s Hibernia (1689); Temples Irish rebellion (1646); Castlehaven s Memoirs (1680); Clarendons Great rebellion (1702-4); Walsh s Remonstrance (1674); Burnet’s Reformation (1683); Memoirs of the Hamiltons (1677); Warwick on government (1701); and Bishop Guthrie s Memoirs (1701). Those in ‘A light to the blind’ are: French’s Sale and settlement (1668); Cressy s Church history (1668); King s State of the protestants (1692); Strype s Annals [of the reformation) (1709); Gunpowder treason (1619); Life of Fisher (1655); Hey wood’s Elizabeth (1631); The dialogue of the doctor (1687); More’s Utopia (1639); Uvedale s History of Mary queen of Scots (1624); Life and death of Martin Luther (1641); Coke s Reports (1680); and pamphlets on the Sacheverell controversy (1710).

48 The history of the king’s works, vol. v, ed. H.M. Colvin et al. (London, 1976), pp 254-8. If there was any truth in the claim in the 1741 prospectus (see above n. 34) that Drydcn had some connexion with the writing of ‘An account’ (though having died in 1700 he could not have revised it in final form), Somerset House is a likely point of contact; see 77K* letters of John Dryden, ed. C.E. Ward (Durham, North Carolina, 1942). pp 48-9 and nn. Dryden was also an Ormond client.

49 Fingall genealogy (N.L.I. MS 8041). His parents, Christopher 2nd earl of Fingall and Mabel Barnewall daughter of Nicholas, 1st Lord Kingsland, married in 1636. Their eldest son, Luke, 3rd earl of Fingall, was born in 1639; the date of Nicholas s birth is not recorded, but his father died in 1649.

50 John D’Alton, Illustrations, historical and genealogical, of King James s Irish arms list, 1689 (2nd ed., 2 vols, Dublin [I860]), i, 223; J.G. Simms (ed.), ‘The Irish Jacobites: lists from T.C.D. MS N. 1. 3’ in Analecta Hibernica, no. 20 (1960), p. 101

51 He is referred to as ‘un M. Plunkett, homme de qualite, frere [recte oncle] de My lord Fingas (d’Avaux to Louvois, 21 Dec. 1689, in Negociations de M. le comte d’Avaux en Irlande, 1689-90, ed. James Hogan (I.M.C., Dublin, 1934), p. 623).

52 T.C.D.. MS 744 (formerly N. 1. 3), f. 113v This MS is a copy of lists of outlawries, claims under the articles, forfeited lands, and restored properties, drawn up in connexion with the English commons inquiries into the forfeited estates in Ireland in 1699.

53 Ibid.. ff 79-80. It was generally assumed (cf. above, n. 46) that Luke 3rd earl of Fingall had fought for James II in Ireland; see king s letter to Sydney and Irish lords justice. 7 Feb. 1691 2 (Cal. S.P. dom., 1691-2, p. 130) reversing his posthumous outlawry and that of the minor 4th earl who had never been in Ireland, at the petition of the dowager countess.

54 T.C.D., MS 744. ff 79-80. For his commission, see Cal. S.P dom., 1687 9. pp 292-3, 314.

55 D’Alton, Illustrations, i, 223. There is a ‘Christopher Plunkett nu[per] de Killcen in the list of outlawries for Dublin in TCD., MS 744, f. 4, subsequently reversed as having the benefit of the articles of Limerick; this shows him to be the same as Christopher Plunkett of Lagore. Killeen castle was in the parish of Lagore, Co. Meath. Nonetheless, both the Fingall genealogy in N.L.I., MS 8041 and the will of Luke, 3rd earl of Fingall, 10 Nov. 1685 (MS 8020), mention only one brother, namely Nicholas.

56 Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 362v-63.

57 E.g. in Book II, chap. 3, sect. 30, the term is applied in the description of a tyrant’s behaviour, which is contrasted with that of James II (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 308v); chap. 2, sect. 37, uses it to describe the action of the English people in deposing James (f. 288).

58 King s letter to Lord Deputy Robartes, 11 Dec. 1669 (N.L.I., MS 8020, sect. 2).

59 N.L.l., MS 8021, marriage settlement of Peter, 4th earl of Fingall, and Frances, daughter of Sir Edward Hales (Lord Tenterden in the Jacobite peerage). In later years the fourth earl acquired a reputation as a zealous but ineffective Jacobite plotter (Fanny Oglethorpe to the duke of Mar, 15 Aug. 1718, in H.M.C., Stuart MSS, vii, 159). Nicholas is presumably the ‘Dear Uncle’ to whom the widowed countess Frances addressed a highly interesting letter in 1718 as to the compliancy of Lord Arran (the family’s nearest protestant relative) over evading the legal requirement the minor Justin, 5th earl of Fingall, be brought up a protestant (N.L.I., Reports on private collections, no. vi. The Fingall papers . p. 108).

60 N.L.I., M$ 8041; Memoirs of the family ofTaaffe, ed. Count Eduard F.G. Taaffe (privateK printed, Vienna. 1856), p. 15.

61 Book II, chap. 12, sect. 29 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 346). Momonr is more usually rendered ‘Maumont’

62 Book II. chap. 13, sect. 23 (ibid., f. 372).

63 N.L.I., MS 8041; Taaffe, op. cit., p. 15.

64 E.g. An account remained with the Plunkett-Dunnes till 1931 (cf. above, n. 33), and the ‘Macariae exeidium in the French branch of the O’Kellvs till the mid-nineteenth century (cf. above. n. 13).

65 65Preface; Book I, chap. 2, sects 1-3 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. ff 139. 141-3); Book III, chap. 9, sect. 13 (N.L.I., MS 477, p. 1436).

66 Book I, chap. 1, sects 1-3 (Bodl., Carte 229. ff 140-41). Cf. also chap. 3, sect. 4, chap. 4, sect. 2 (ff 149, 154); ‘The treaty of Lymerick is inviolable’ (1709) (N.L.I., MS 477? item 17, p. 2); ‘… the basis of all states is justice, a proposition acknowledged by the pagan, as well as the Christian …’ Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly similarly calls upon ‘the honnest Turk or pagan in ‘An account‘ (N.L.I., MS 345, p. 1126).

67 Book I, chap. 2, sects 1-2 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 141-2).

68 Book I, chap. 2, sects 2-3 (ibid., ff 142-3). In Book II, chap. 1, sect. 6, the blindness of the will brought about by heresy is blamed as the cause of the English dethroning James II (f. 250).

69 Preface; Book I, chap. 1 sect. 1 (ibid., ff 139-40). Hugh Reily; Ireland’s case (1695), preface, also claims that it is the function of history to do justice to all parties. The traditional definition of justice, as derived from Justinian, was expressed by the contemporary natural law theorist, Richard Cumberland, as ‘the constant and perpetual will to give every one his right’ ﹛De legibus naturae disquisitio philosophica (London, 1672), chap. vii. sect. iv). This work was in the Fingall Library (sale catalogue, no. 716).

70 Book II. chap. sect. 24 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 305v).

71 Book II. chap. 14, sect. 2 (ibid., f. 329v); chap. 2, sect. 7 (ff 276-7); chap. 14, sect. 116 (f. 450); Book III, chap. 1, sect. 6 (N.L.I., MS 477, pp 750-53). In pamphlets intended for a protestant English readership such as ‘A speech before justice (1704) and The case of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland’ (1710) Plunkett adapts his style and speaks of King William and Queen Anne (Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 114-35; N.L.I., MS 477. item 4)

72 Perhaps the most far-fetched of the instances cited is the claim that the treachery which was responsible for France’s lack of success in the war of the Spanish succession was the work of Madame de Maintenon, caused by desire to revenge herself on the grand dauphin for his preventing her receiving the title of queen following her marriage to Louis XIV. The source of this information is identified merely as “tis thus in brief, as 1 receav d it out of France …‘ (Book II. chap. 15, sect. 80, Bodl., MS Carte 229, f, 505).’ Since this does not figure in the Fingall version, it was presumably added subsequent to the writing of most of Book III.

73 Book II, chap. 1, sect. 16 (ibid. f. 254v).

74 Book I, chap. 9, sect. 40 (ibid., f. 238v). Plunkett s account of the restoration land settlement differs somewhat from that in Hugh Reily, Ireland’s case, pp 70-120, and is based on [Nicholas French s] ‘the earl of Clarendon’s settlement and sale of Ireland … printed at Lo[u]vain in the year 1668’ (Bodl., MS Carte 229. f. 240).

75 Book III, chap. 9, sect. 13 (N.L.I., MS 477, p. 1436).

76 Book I, chap. 9, sect. 40 (Bodl., Carte 229, f. 239).

77 Book II, chap. 3, sects 3-16 (ibid., ff 294-9v) discusses the theory of contractual monarchy and how it is modified by the hereditary principle. Plunkett accepted that should the hereditary succession fail, the right of election would devolve once more on the people. In Book II, chap. 14, sect. 93 (f. 442), he states that a failure in the British line would allow the English, Scots and Irish to establish new and independent polities; while his reflections on the Spanish succession crisis in chap. 15, sect. 93 (N.L.I., MS 476, p. 922) suggest the people have the right to alter the form of government, as well as choose a new line. For an illuminating account of early seventeenth-century catholic use of contractual ism, see J.P Sommerville, ‘From Suarez to Filmer: a reappraisal’ in Hist. Jn. xxv (1982), pp 525-35.

78 We are all in the wrong: repentance and peace: in a letter to a friend’ (15 Apr 1712) (N.L.I.. MS 477 item 19, p. 2).

79 Book II, chap. 4, sect. 22 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. f. 326).

80 Book II. chap. 3, sects 28-39 (ibid., ff 307v-16): Nature sure had formed ou Brittanick king lor a pattern of meekeness, humility and patience … He so litle delightec in blood, that to his own prejudice he was backward to spill it, when he could lawfully do the thing . King James the second made noe step in governing his English subject: but what was supported by the law of nature, by the law of nations, by the law divine by the prerogative ot kings, and by the lawes and customs of England.’ (ff 307v-8, 310)

81 81Book 11. chap. 1. sects 13-15 (ibid., ff 253-4). In arguing that the exclusion move mem, the 1685 risings, and the 1688 revolution constituted a deep laid plot by Englisl protestants Plunkett was doing precisely what he earlier objected to in protestant ex ploitation of the 1605 gunpowder plot: cf. Book I, chap. 5, sects 1-2 (f. 15 lv).

82 Book II, chap. 15, sects 14-26 (ibid., ff 474-9: citation, f. 475).

83 Book II, chap. 15, sects 20-26 (ibid., ff 476v-79).

84 Book II, chap. 15, sect. 52 (N.L.I., MS 476, p. 882). A similar claim to possess secret information, which France will divulge at the proper time, is found in relation to the agreement between Louis XIV and the English ministers to restore James III in 1711 (Book III, chap. 10, sect. 13, ibid., p. 1437).

85 Book I, chap. 2, sect. 3 (Bodl., Carte 229, ff 142-3).

86 Book I, chap. 2, sects 4-7 (ibid., ff 143-6).

87 Book I, chap. 3, sect. 1 (ibid., f. 148).

88 Book I, chap. 2, sect. 7; chap. 3, sects. 1-3 (ibid., ff 145-9; citation, ff 148v-49). The sources of the account of the Reformation are acknowledged as Nicholas Sanders, De origine ac progressu schismatis Anglicani, liber (Cologne, 1585), and ‘Dean [Serenus, alias Hugh Paul] Cressy’, The church history of Brittany [i.e. Britain] from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman conquest ([Rouen], 1668).

89 Book I. chap. 3, sect. 2; chap. 4, sect. 2 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. ff 148, 155).

90 Book I, chap. 4, sect. 3 (ibid., f. 155v).

9l On the general tendency of Calvinism to predispose its adherents against monarchy, see Book 1, chap. 2, sects 5-6 (ibid., ff 144-5). Book II, chap. 1, sect. 20, censures the lack of principle shown by presbyterians (f. 257v). Rather confusingly Plunkett, like many Jacobites, also uses the terms ‘episcopate and 4presbyterians’ to denote the political parties in place of tories and whigs.

92 Book III, chap. 2, sects 19-21 (N.L.I., MS 477, pp 842-7); he concludes ‘you see by this that these few hugonots are but a rable, a people laboureing under a phrenzy, by riseing against the exceeding power of France … Enough of this foolery ’

93 Book II. chap. 1, sect. 48 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 269v). Sections 32-47 are directed to exposing the Church of England’s pretensions to enjoy rights at the expense of their fellow-subjects. The church is castigated for its failure to base its claims on miracles (f. 264). and its reliance on scripture is compared to Mahomet’s dependence on the ‘ Alcoran’ (f. 263). Most revealing of all, however is Plunkett’s rhetorical demand, as if a congregation of hereticks ought to be named a church (f. 257).

94 Book III, chap. 1, sect. 4 (N.L.I., MS 477, p. 745) commences: “we are now begining the present year 1702’ Book II, chap. 2, sect. 19 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 282v) also speaks of ‘this year 1702’ However he was still working on Book II as late as 1710. An interpolation in chap. 16, sect. 21 (f. 477) states that the debts incurred in the Nine Years War were still not yett payed in this year 1710’. Other references in Book II are to material dating from 1703 and 1706 (ff 444v, 35Iv).

95 The death of William provides the occasion for an elaborate set piece at the beginning of Book III. In place of the well-attested piety of James’s demise (movingly described at the end of Book II), William s end is presented as an object lesson of what awaits the unrepentant wrong-doer He is said to have expired in a paroxysm of rage and despair, having refused the sacrament from the archbishop of Canterbury (Book III, chap. 1, sects 6-8, N.L.I., MS 477, pp 750-56).

96 To the catholics of Ireland …’, sect. 96 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 9, p. 111).

97 To the catholics of Ireland … sects 96-7 (ibid., pp 111-13). A similar proposal for a national collection managed by the clergy was made by Charles O’Conor to Dr John Curry, 16 Mar. 1763 (The letters of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, ed. C.C. and R.E. Ward (2 vols, Ann Arbor, 1980), i, 153-4). The editorial notes claim that O’Conor’s scheme provided the idea for Daniel O’Connell’s penny collection of 1824.

98 An exhortation to stand for their country (1703?), sects 2, 7, 10 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 10, pp 1, 4, 6-7).

99 Address from N.N. to ‘My lords and gentilmen [of Ireland]’ (1703-4) (ibid., item 12, p. 3); ‘To the catholics of Ireland …’ (1703), sects 35, 97 (ibid., item 9, pp 37-8, 113-14). Elsewhere he claims that substantial bribes would have prevented the violation of the treaty of Limerick (’Deserters of their country …’ (c 1709), sect. 6 (ibid., item 11, pp 2-3) and imposing the 1704 oath of abjuration (’Quare, whether the Irish catholicks … (1704), ibid, item 15, p. 2).

100 Address from N.N. to ‘My lords and gentilmen (1703-4), (N.L.I., MS 477, item 12. p. 3).

101 To the catholics of Ireland …’ (1703), sects 15, 17 97 (ibid., item 9, pp 21, 23. 113).

102 To his most Christian majesty, the most humble petition of the Irish abroade …’ (r. 1702?) (ibid., item 7).

103 Its date is suggested by the reference in sect. 1 to ‘those bloody labours, which you have sustaind for these twenty years’. For the Hague preliminaries, see Edward Gregg. Queen Anne (London, 1980), pp 287-8.

104 To the Irish nobility …’, sect. 2 (N.L.I.. MS 477 item 14, p. 1).

105 Ibid.. sects 3-4 (pp 2-3).

106 Ibid.. sect. 6 (pp 4-5). A printed memorandum listing Irish grievances was actually drawn up for the representatives of the catholic German princes at the Utrecht negotiations in 1712: it was probably written by a cleric (since lay grievances are glossed over) and printed in the Low Countries. The title reads Etat de la religion catholique en Irlande, avec Vabrege des conditions de Limerique, et de plusieurs actes, ou edits, faits, & publies depuis, par le parlement d’Irlande, contrairs aux dites conditions; represents succinctement avec un memorial a MMrs les plenipotentiaires des princes catholiques a Utrecht. (1712). There is no printer s name or place of imprint. Copy in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, call-number, 4°/No. 243.

107 ’To the catholics of Ireland …’ (1703), sect. 1 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 9. p. 1); The case of the Roman-Catholick nation of Ireland’ (1711) (ibid., item 3, p. 2).

108 Indeed on many occasions Plunkett is critical of James II, particularly with regard to his leniency to his protestant subjects, e.g. in Book II, chap. 12, sect. 24, he speaks of James’s being infected with ‘the rotten principle, provoke not your protestant subjects (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 342).

109 Sects 1-2 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 9, pp 1-6).

110 A light to the blind’, Book II, chap. 14, sect. 59 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. f. 416).

111 We are all in the wrong …’ (1712) (N.L.I., MS 477, item 19. p. 9).

112 ’A light to the blind’, Book III, chap. 9, sect 4 (ibid., MS 477, p. 1353).

113 Plunkett originally began his chapter on 1704 by prophecying a plentifull harvest of conquests for the king of France , which he changed to ‘a plentifull harvest of actions’. He also deleted a passage claiming that the ‘manifold victoryes … gained in the last campagne, and … the superior strength … coming now into the field’ on the part of the French and Spanish would rationally’ ensure that ‘this present campagne will end the strife‘ (Book III, chap. 3. sect. 1, ibid., pp 890-91).

1l4 Book III, chap. 1 sect. 6 (ibid., p. 756).

1l5 Book III, chap. 3, sect. 48 (ibid., p. 925). For the source of the treachery, see further above, n. 72.

1l6 Book III, chap. 6, sect. 8 (N.L.I., MS 477, pp 1175-6).

117 Book III, chap. 10, sects 10, 13 (Ibid., pp 1477-9).

1l8 The account of the trial and of the pamphlet warfare it engendered come in Book III, chap. 9, sect. 8 (ibid., pp 1400-8). The first reference to Anne as queen is on p. 1404, Plunkett accuses the high church party of self-deception, if they fail to accept that the logical consequence of their position should be James Ill’s restoration (pp 1402-3), and also objects to a temporal court’s pronouncing on a preacher s orthodoxy (p. 1406).

119 Plunkett originally intended to end kA light’ with an address to James on the function of the ruler to ensure that every one enjoys his rights , urging him to rowl your eye around your kingdoms; and where you see justice oppress d lett no human consideration hinder you from giveing relief. That you may better perform this divine task, consult in the beginning the priest of the liveing God, who will dare tell you the truth; while the worldly courtiers are apt, for lucre, to flatter you to your destruction.’ (Book III. chap. 10, sect. 13. N.L.I., MS 477, pp 1435-6). The pamphlet, For the reinthroned king: a method for governing England, Ireland and Scotland’ (Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 136-7), is an expanded version of this address.

120 Book II, chap. 4, sect. 18 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 323v).

12l Book III, chap. 10, sect. 13 (N.L.I.,MS 477, p. 1436). This remark, perhaps more than any other, illustrates how far Plunkett remained from any real understanding of the circumstances which had led the English to depose James II.

122 Book III, chap. 1, sect. 14 (ibid., pp 762-3).

123 Book II, chap. 1, sect. 15 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. f. 254).

124 Cf. above n. 7.

125 Book II, chap. 4, sect. 18 (Bodl., Carte 229, f. 323v).

126 ‘For the reinthroned king …’ (ibid., ff 136v-7).

127 E.g. Book II, chap. 5, sect. 2 (ibid., f. 329v); ‘To the Irish nobility at St G[ermains] … sect. 5 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 14, p. 3).

128 Bodl. MS Carte 229 ff 5-6 (foreign trade); ff 7-8 (wool); f. 12 (orchards); f. 22 (woodlands); ff 12v-14 (fisheries); f. 15 (horses). Also notable is his concern for improving agricultural techniques (ff 18-20, 23); introducting longer leases (ff 10-11); developing new crops such as tobacco and hops (ff 9-10), and improving inland navigation (ff 24-5).

129 Book II, chap. 5. sect. 13 (ibid., f. 335). O’Kelly, Macariae excidium, pp 97-101, also considered both the short-term benefit and long-term damage arising from gun-money

130 H.F. Kearney The political background to English mercantilism, 1695-1700’ in Econ. Hist. Rev. 2nd ser., xi (1959), p. 487. The reference to the 1699 prohibition act in ‘A light” Book II, chap. 15 sect. 28 (N.L.I., MS 477, p. 911) speaks of the refusal to allow subjects .. the use their honest industry for bread’ being against ‘the law o\’ nature … the law divine and … the law of nations The link between the prohibition and the violation of the treat) is found in ‘The calamity of the tymes’ (c. 1709), sect. 15 (N.L.I.. MS 477, item 16, p. 28); ‘The case of the Roman Catholicks …’ (1710) (ibid., item 4, p. 3) and ‘To the reinthroned king … (1711) sect. (Bodl.. MS Carte 229. f. 136v).

13l Book III. chap. 9. sect. 13 (N.L.I., MS 477. pp 1409-11).

132 Book III, chap. 10, sect. 13 (ibid., pp 1481-2. 1490).

133 Book III, chap. 10, sect. 13 (ibid. p. 1489).

134 Book II, chap. 12, sects 37-42 (Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 348v - 51). ‘To the Irish nobility at St G[ermains] …’, sect. 5 (N.L.I., MS 477), item 14, p. 4).

135 tThe case of the Roman Catholick nation …’ (1711), sect. 5 (N.L.I., MS 447, item 3, p. 7). Although no English act apparently confirmed the treaty, George Clarke’s memorandum relating to the original version signed at Limerick, states afterwards the Irish had the advantage given them of this omission by a broad seal and an act of parliament [my italics] …’ (see appendix to A Jacobite narrative, ed. J.T Gilbert, p. 315).

136 E.g. ‘if this be a reformation in religion, then we are sure hell is the church …’ (Book I, chap. 4, sect. 4, Bodl., MS Carte 229, f. 148); O protestancy! be thou the religion that I will embrace when I am resolv’d to becom atheist’ (Book II, chap. 2, sect. 35, ibid., f. 287v). Book III, chap 1, sect. 29 contrasts the zeal of catholic.missionaries with the sloth and greed of the protestant clergy (N.L.I., MS 477, pp 775-7).

137 As evidenced by his concern in the account of the reformation to show that Catholicism was firmly grounded on the testimony of miracles (Book I, chap. 1, sect. 2; chap. 3, sect. 1, Bodl., MS Carte 229, ff 140, 147-8).

138 Ibid., ff 3Ov-31 For his attitude to the Cromwellians, see ‘To the catholics of Ireland …’ (1703), sect. 46 (N.L.I., MS 477, item 9, p. 50), and ‘A light to the blind’, Book I, chap. 9? sect. 27; Book II, chap. 4, sect. 18 (Bodl., MS Carte 229. ff 232, 338v).

139 Earlier versions of this paper were read to the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies in November 1981 and to the Irish Historical Society in March 1982. I am grateful for the comments received. I wish to thank also Dr Donal Cregan, Dr David Dickson, Professor Mairtfn O’Morchu and Professor Aidan Clarke for additional help and advice. In particular Dr Cregan helped me to track down the MS of Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly’s ‘Account of the warr and rebellion in Ireland since 1641’ and thus correct my original misapprehension that the latter also wrote ‘A light to the blind’ Research on Jacobite material in Parisian archives was made possible by a generous grant from the Arts and Social Sciences Research Fund in Trinity College, Dublin.