1829.] 
those who undertake the office, apparently 
from their station, independent of all arti- 
ficial shackles—must often trust for mate- 
rials to family descendants; and which of 
them has ever ventured to expose obliqui- 
ties in the ancestor of the very person pers 
haps who has furnished the evidence—has 
Archdeacon Coxe or Dr. Nares? Facts 
will speak. There are no bounds to the in- 
sinuations of patronage—lies lurk under 
compliments, and collusions are shielded 
and sanctioned by personal favours. 
The papers which we are thus prefacing, 
are not strictly however of the authoritative 
kind. The correspondence is, for the most 
part, anonymous, though evidently very 
much of it is from persons in immediate 
contact with office, and familiar with the 
current of events, and the gossip of the town 
and court. They are all of them, however, 
addressed to one person, and his respecta- 
bility will, of course, to some extent, an- 
swer for his correspondents—some of them 
pretty obviously are his own brothers. The 
reader must not anticipate large additions of 
new intelligence, but rather confirmations of 
old—mixed up still with a multitude of allu- 
sions and circumstances, that help admi- 
rably to fill up the outline. Mr, Ellis, the 
person to whom the correspondence is ad- 
dressed, was secretary to the commissioners 
of public revenue for Ireland at the time 
of the correspondence, which extends from 
the beginning of 1686 to the end of 1688, 
and of course embraces almost the whole 
period of James’s reign, detailing or hinting 
throughout at all the leading incidents of 
the period, especially the process and pro- 
gress of conversion among the courtiers and 
aspirants for office. 
the most interesting part of the papers, and 
shews more distinctly than any thing we 
haye seen the headlong zeal of the infatuated 
monarch. There is a gap of seyen months 
about the middle of the period, apparently 
from Mr, Ellis being himself in London. 
Many of the letters, particularly towards the 
latter part, are strictly news-letters, that is, 
letters written by persons in town for pay, 
whose profession it was to gather and com- 
“municate intelligence—the frequenters of 
_coffee-houses—at a period when newspapers 
did not abound, and when the editors of 
them, if they ventured a little too far, had 
no protection against broken heads and slit 
“noses. 
This Mr. Ellis, with four or five brothers, 
were the sons of a clergyman of some dis- 
tinction in a turbulent period, and all edu- 
cated at Westminster, and then apparently 
thrown upon the public to struggle for office 
—some of them taking the shortest course to 
it. The eldest, the one more particularly 
connected with this correspondence, was, as 
_we have said, secretary to the Irish revenue, 
and after the revolution became under secre- 
tary of state:—the second was knighted, 
and following the fortunes of James, was his 
secretary of state, and finally treasurer to the 
Domestic and Foreign. 
This is indeed by far , 
307 
old Pretender, and of course a Catholic. 
The. third was Philip, who was kidnapped 
while at Westminster by the Jesuits, and 
brought up a priest of the Catholic church 
at St. Omer. He was in great favour with 
James, and actually consecrated bishop of 
the English Catholic church at St. James’s ; 
and after he was compelled to quit the 
country, was made bishop of Segni, in Italy. 
The fourth was Welbore, a Protestant 
bishop, successively of Kildare and Meath; 
and the fifth, Samuel, was marshal of the 
King’s Bench ; and a sixth, in orders, of 
whom nothing more isknown. Ofall these, 
Welbore was the only one who left a family 
—from him have descended the Lords 
Mendip and Clifden; and Mr. Agar Ellis, 
the heir of the latter nobleman, is the editor 
of the present papers. They were found by 
him among the Birch MSS. in the British 
Museum, and considered, very justly, worthy 
of publication; and he has taken great 
pains to supply notes, elucidating, briefly, 
obscure passages, explaining personages, and 
occasionally sketching characters—discharg- 
ing his office in a manner highly commend- 
able to his industry and liberal spirit. 
The thousand events, significant and in- 
significant, scattered over the volumes, are 
too little connected, and too little detailed, 
to admit of any condensing ;—but we will 
give a specimen of the correspondence. 
London, April 6th, 1686. 
Yours of the 5th of last month came on Satur- 
day hither per the boat we concluded lost. The 
busy time of devotion is now over here: his Ma- 
jesty, God bless him, one of the zealousest ; ten 
hours in a day sometimes. The Court returns 
from St. James’s to Whitehall to-morrow, and 
goes not to Windsor till the middle of May, when 
also the camp opens at Hownslow. Our sparks 
all go for Hungary to-morrow. Duke of Hamil- 
ton, Lieutenant-General Drummond, &c., come 
to town this evening, sent for ; I imagine it will 
end in his Grace’s becoming Commissioner of 
Scotland, though the common vogue is, he was 
sent for to be chidden for the method of his 
management, since he became a Commissioner of 
the Treasury there. Our ministers of state have 
all retired likewise this holy-season; Lord Chan- 
cellor* to his country-house near Uxbridge, Lord 
Treasurer} to Twitnam, Lord Sunderland to 
Althrope, either for the private satisfaction in 
their consciences, or to ayoid showing in town 
whether they had any or no. 
Limagine your Countess of Dorchester (Ma7rl- 
borough’s sister) will speedily move hitherward, 
for her house is furnishing very fine in St. James’s- 
square, anda seat taken for herin the new conse- 
erated St. Ann's Church. The French King is not 
right yet, though little is said of him. Madame de 
Maintenon makes all the applications to him that 
he stands in need of. I hear poor Princess Aun is 
sadly teazed about a new declaration in matter of 
faith, so that at last itis agreed to after lying in: 
but I hope it may not be thus, say nothing of it. 
* Lord Jeffries. His country-house was Bul- 
strode, afterwards belonging to the Dukes of 
Portland and Somerset. 
+ Lord Rochester. 
2R2 
