8 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



bably became the property of some comorb or impropriator. From 

 what sball be stated subsequently, it seems not unlikely that it had 

 been kept by a family, living on the tribe lands of Leix, for several 

 generations. It is probable this family resided in or near Clonenagh, 

 and its members were known as the Crosbies, or Crossans. The family 

 of Glandore sprang from this Leinster race of bards ; for the Crossans, 

 according to Dr. O'Donovan, were poets, whose principal office was to 

 compose funeral dirges or chieftains' panegyrics. More frequently, 

 however, they degenerated into satirists, like the modern keeners.* 



Maoan-Crossan was the bard or rhymer of the O'Moores during 

 the sixteenth century. In a tract, contained in the State Paper Office, 

 and which bears date July 3, 1600, we are told that one Patrick 

 Crosby, or Crossan, a mere Irishman by birth, and unsound in body 

 and mind, was the son of a bard, dependent on the Chiefs of Leix. 

 This man had been an underling or a spy in the interests of Govern- 

 ment officials at Dublin Castle, f and he often procured patents of 

 pardon for such of the Irish as applied to him.| He was even in the 

 habit of passing patents which were designedly defective. Having 

 become a deputy to Sir Geoffrey Penton, the Surveyor-General, he 

 surveyed forfeited estates in a corrupt and fraudulent manner, and at 

 estimates considerably under their real value. On one occasion he 

 made out a pretended title for the Queen to forty parcels of land, to a 

 part of which he afterwards obtained a patent for himself. Sir George 

 Carey, or Carew, wrote a letter of recommendation to Cecil in favour 

 of Patrick Crosby. This letter, which bears date May 2, 1601, de- 

 clares Crosby to have been greatly hated by the Irish, and owing to 

 that reason, he was continually engaged in devising means for their 

 overthrow. This unprincipled man was a chief agent for effecting the 

 removal of the seven native septs of Leix to Kerry ; and as a reward 

 for these and such like services, he obtained large grants of land in 



* See Rev. James Graves and John G. Augustus Prim's "History Architecture, 

 and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of St. Co-nice, Kilkenny," sect, i., chap, i, n (b), 

 p. 10. 



f See a letter froni Lord Deputy Fitz-Williani to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, 

 and dated Dublin, June 18th, 1591, in the P. S. to which these words occur : " Stand, 

 good Lord, to Patrick Crosby, of whose service this Council have no little want." See 

 p. 56, " Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts preserved in the Archiepiscopal Library at 

 Lambeth," 1589-1600. Edited by J. S. Brewer, M. A. and William Bullen, Esq. Lon- 

 don : 1869. In a letter from the Court, written by Sir Robert Cecil to Sir George 

 Carew, and dated September 24th, 1600, he says : " I have been a means to recom- 

 mend the brother of Patrick Crosby to be Bishop of Kerry, who is one, you know 

 that deserveth favour. They say he is another manner of man than Sir Walter Raw- 

 leigh's last silly priest." See p. 447, ibid. Again, we may readily infer on what se- 

 cret service Patrick Crosby had been sent, in a letter from same to same, and en- 

 dorsed: "Received 18 October, 1600." 



X The nature of those secret services required from him is partially revealed in that 

 excellent biographical work by Daniel Mac Carthy (Glas), "The Life and Letters of 

 Florence Mac Carthy Reagh, Tanist of Carbury, Mac Carthy Mor," &c. chap., xiv., pp. 

 317, 324, 327 ; chap, xv., pp. 339, 356, 357; chap, xvi., p. 387 ; chap, xix., pp. 494, 

 495. 



