448 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2nd §, No 23., June 7, 756. 
all that have gone down, a great many having run away 
as soon as they had loaded themselves with Plunder, and 
above two thousand being killed or dead since their first 
going down; they shake and tremble so when they come 
to charge, that they cannot fire; they that have Match- 
locks cannot be brought by any means to Discipline, or 
to use them aright; this | have from a good hand. We 
hear that some English Ships are in the Lough of Derry, 
a Boom with Trees and Masts is made cross the River at 
Culmore Fort, to hinder any Succours, that a Ship who 
attempted to get up is stranded. I believe their greatest 
want in Derry is Firing, and Coals will be a very pretious 
Commodity with them; and I believe in a little while 
they will want cloaths for wearing, and Drink. They talk 
if old Sir Charles Coot were alive, and had but a thousand 
Horse, to the Foot that are in the Town, he would not 
fail to fight the King’s Army in the Field. About the 
beginning of this Month, a Party of Horse and Foot from 
Enniskilling, made an inroad into the County of Cavan, 
they drove all the Cattle of the County, they did not 
spare Protestants who were under Protection, only such 
as would go with them, they help’d away with their Bag 
and Baggage; those that would not go, were forst to part 
with all to them; which they said they did, least the 
King’s Forces should make a Prey of them: they took all 
Provision, Horses, and Arms they could meet with; they 
disarm’d some of the King’s Forces that lay at Beltur- 
beit, Bally-Carrig, and elsewhere; they burnt only such 
places as were of strength, and capable of being garti- 
son’d; they kill’d none; they came as far as Finagh and 
Virginia, which you'll find in the Mapps: The Party is 
said to have been two Thousand; we were alarum’d at 
this here, and General Monsieur Rosen went down to 
Trim with four Field-Pieves, and several Regiments, 
amongst the rest the Lord-Mayor’s of Dublin, who led 
his men himself; twelve Regiments I hear were design’d; 
I hear the Bullets both for the Field-Pieces and Muskets 
were found to have been too big; which made General 
Rosen storm horribly: Since the te at Derry, I hear 
he and the Forces designed for Enniskilling are com- 
manded to Derry; two of the Field-Peices are come 
back. General Hamilton is suspected and rail’d at by 
the Commonalty; but I do not believe that there is any 
ground for it, or that the King does entertain any 
thoughts of it. It is reported from good hands, that the 
People of Enniskilling have made up their Horse near 
1500, and their Foot near 6000; a Party so considerable, 
that it is fear’d England may think it self concerned to 
‘save them by hastening their Invasion, if they intend 
any. There are many Discontents among the Roman 
Catholicks about the Acts of Settlement, and the French, 
for the Natives look very auspice on them, and many 
do publickly say, that they are sold to the French; at 
least, that Cautionary Towns are to be given them. If 
an Army should Invade us before these Discontents are 
uieted, ’tis to be fear’d that they would soon gain the 
ubmission of a considerable Party of the Roman Catho- 
licks upon good terms; and perhaps, if their help were 
accepted, would joyn to drive out the French: but Eng- 
land is so exceedingly slow, that it is believed they will 
lose the hearts of all, and even such as wish it well, will 
not think it safe to depend on it. *Tis observed, that 
putting French Officers in the place of the Irish who 
rais’l the Men, causes great discontents, many of the 
common Souldiers run away from their Colours upon it. 
Several Protestant Gentlemen in the North had Commis- 
sions from the P. and have fairly run away with them 
into England, or come to Dublin upon Protection or 
Pardon ; but the Country People have chosen Com- 
manders for themselves who have no Commissions, and 
have form’d themselves into Troops and Companies: of 
this sort are generally those in Derry and Enniskilling ; 
they all expect to be continued in the Commissions they 
have given themselves, when any Army comes out of 
England: and the hope of this, ’tis believed makes them 
obstinate to all offers fromthe King; They say, the Gen- 
tlemen that left them deserve no countenance at all, but 
rather, that some part of their Estates that went away 
should be given as a Reward to such as staid and de- 
fended them. June the 13th, to day the House of Com- 
mons agreed to the Amendments made by the House of 
Lords to the Bill of Repeal, so that affair is over, and 
wants only the Royal Assent. An Express came in from 
Cavan, which gives us this account: That General Rosen 
had order’d the Sherriff of that County to make a kind of 
a Magazine of Corn and other Provisions, in the Town of 
Cavan, to supply the King’s Army in their March to 
Enhiskilling, and had appointed two Companies to guard 
it, and that a Party from Enniskilling had surpriz’d the 
Guards, and taken it: Enniskilling People are certainly 
there, but whether they took the Men is a doubt, but the 
Provision is certainly taken. It is said there is now in 
Dublin nine Regiments of Foot, and eight more are ex- 
pected; many of them are raw, and never handled Arms; 
there are about two Troops of Horse, I can’t learn whose 
Regiments they are: You may wonder 1 can’t give an 
exact account of what men are in Dublin, but the reason 
is, their frequent removals, sometimes in one day three 
Regiments will come to Town, and two go out; some- 
times those that are expected in Town will be counter- 
manded within six or seven Miles; they often come in 
and go out by night, and every thing is so chang’d and 
hudled, that it is impossible to give any good account. _ 
We do not confide much in these men, tho’ the whole 
seventeen Regiments expected were with us, because they 
are very raw and undisciplin’d. There is a general Press 
for all Horses, without exception of Papists, who had 
favour before, but there must be no distinction, the ocea- 
sion being very urgent: for the King is said not to have 
above a 1000 good Horse in all the Army, most of which 
are in the North. The miserable usage in the Country is 
unspeakable, and every day like to be worse and worse; 
many alledge that the Rapperees have secret Orders to 
fall a new on the Protestants that have any thing left: 
the ground of this may be their pretending such an 
Order, for they commonly pretend an order for any Mis- 
chief they have a mind to: You have had my sense of 
this matter before; Corke is most vilely abused by their 
M. Governonr Boysloe. The Bill for Liberty of Con- 
science is come to the House of Lords; it repeals every 
Statute made in favour of the Protestant Religion, and if 
Lawyers may be believed, it settles Popery as legally as 
it was in H.7th’s time: You may guess from the inclosed 
Brief, what Authority Roman Catholic Bishops will claim 
over Protestants. The Commissioners have seized all 
Goods of Absenters and are actually disposing of them: 
It is reported, that they are about procuring an Act of 
Parliament to put Penalties and Oaths upon the Con-~ 
cealers of any of them, and to Jndemnifie themselves for 
their Proceeding hitherto; which the Protestants reckon 
Plundering, and say is against all Law: The same Com- 
missioners set Leases of all Absenters’ Estates, tho’ no 
legal Inquisition is yet past on them; some say that they 
set even Estates of such as are in the Kingdom, upon 
presumption that’ they will find some way or other to in- 
title the King to them: one way is, to get two or three 
named Commissioners, who slip into some blind Ale- 
house, and privately find a Title for the King, by return- 
ing that the Possessors are absent or Rebels, tho’ they 
live then upon the Lands, or are in the Courts of Dublin, 
and all this without any Summons to the Parties con- 
cerned, or Possessors, or Oaths of Jurors; all this is said, 
and further, that several ‘of those have come to inform 
the Commissioners how they haye been abused, but can’t 
se 
