434 
‘1550. June 4.—S. Robert Dudeley, third sonne to th’ erle of 
Warwic, maried S. Jon Robsarte’s daughter, after which mariage ther 
were certain gentlemen that did strive who should first take away a 
goses heade, wich was hanged alive on tow crose postes.* 
‘<5, Ther was tilt and tornay on foot, wt as great staves as the run 
w'al on horsbake.”’ 
That the Countess went over to England in her latter days is brought 
before us as an historical fact; and no counter-authority being even re- 
ferred to, Lord Leycester’s narrative must be taken altogether as he has 
given it to us, or rejected altogether. We, therefore, now enter on the 
examination of the question as the Earl of Leicester has laid it down,— 
Did the old Countess of Desmond repair to the court of Queen Elizabeth, 
seeking redress and relief ? 
We must first collect such scattered notices as we can respecting her 
that bear on our inquiry. 
We are indebted to the extensive researches of the widely-informed 
writer in the “‘ Quarterly” for one article of very material importance. 
At page 342, he writes :—‘“‘ A MS. state paper, dated 1589, enumerates 
among the forfeitures of the attainted Garrett ‘the castle and manor of 
Inchiquin, now in the hands of Dame Katherine Fitz John, late wyfe to 
Thomas, sometyme Earl of Desmond, for terme of lyef, as for hir dower.’ 
The desolated possessions of the rebel had been given away, the gran- 
tees undertaking to settle English colonists in the land; but having 
failed in this engagement, they were now called on to fulfil it. Sir 
Walter Raleigh, who was in this category, after specifying the leases he 
had made, thus concludes his rejoinder :—‘There remaynes unto me but 
an old castle and demayne, which are yet in occupation of the old 
Countess of Desmond for her joinfure.’ ” 
No reference is given where this state MS. is preserved, and I have 
been unsuccessful in searching for it. I accept with the most perfect 
assurance the extracts in the ‘ Quarterly ;”’ but I wished to know the 
whole contents of the document. In looking for it at the State-paper 
Office, London, we met with some very interesting papers respecting the 
Countess Ellynor, widow of the rebel Earl Garrett, which will be ap- 
pended to the present inquiry. An opinion has been expressed that they 
may have given rise to the Earl of Leycester’s gossip; but that is no 
concern of mine. 
This MS. State paper, it is to be remembered, is an official document, 
addressed to Queen Elizabeth’s government (most probably to Mr. Se- 
cretary Walsingham), and by it the forfeited estates of the Harl of Des- 
mond are returned to the crown, in 1589, as legally charged with a 
jointure to our Countess; and Sir Walter Raleigh, in his rejoinder, 
* The goose was hung by its legs, the head downwards, at a height only to be reached 
by the “ gentlemen,” riding at full speed, springing up from the saddle, and getting such 
a clutch at the goose’s neck as to drag its head off. According to our modern notions, 
the twenty-four blackbirds, who all began to sing when the baked pie was opened, were 
a prettier sight to set before a king. 
