179 



" New Park, 

 " \Wi November, 1841. 



" I desire, Sir, to offer for acceptance of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, of which I have, during many years, had the 

 honour of being a member, a volume, which, as it respects a 

 most interesting period of British history, and materially 

 tends to elucidate transactions which had a powerful influ- 

 ence in producing the calamitous results, in the reign of 

 Charles the First, that immediately succeeded, may be 

 deemed not unworthy of admission into the Library of the 

 Institution. 



" The volume contains correct copies of the orders of the 

 Lords of the Council, and letters addressed to the Lord 

 Lieutenants of the counties of England, and others, directing 

 the assessment and collection of what was called a voluntary 

 loan, according to the annexed Hsts, from the several land- 

 holders, merchants, and merchant strangers of England, and 

 the citizens of the cities and towns therein, including the 

 judges and law officers, but specially excluding all members 

 of the peerage, * with whom it was not purposed to deal for 

 the present.' 



" The original documents, of which this volume is a tran- 

 script, were found during the period whilst 1 held the office 

 of Comptroller-General of the Exchequer, amongst a large 

 collection of papers deposited in the Pells Office; and as I 

 considered them to afford interesting materials to elucidate 

 the history of that eventful period, I directed two copies to 

 be made of them; one of these I sent to the British Museum, 

 and now offer the other to the acceptance of the Royal Irish 

 Academy. 



" The great inequahty of the extent of the demand on the 

 several parties thus assessed, varying in a great degree with 

 their capacity of resistance to its enforcement, will be quite 

 apparent on examining the lists ; as will also the urgency of 

 the measure, from the repetition of the letters from the Lords 



