216 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



■would te accomplished, wMcli they hoped in God would be soon. As 

 I was saying these lords maintained us the whole time we were there, 

 giving us much in alms and showing us much kindness, while grieving 

 with great sorrow at the trials we had to endure. 



" They begged of us to take patience with the people, and to suffer 

 patiently that they should call us idolaters and bad Christians, and 

 throw in our faces a thousand heresies ; to bear in mind that anyone 

 who might venture to controvert with them, they would fall on him and 

 might kill him, so that it were difficult to live in such a wicked 

 kingdom and with such a bad king 



\IIere the paper is broken and illegible. ~\ 



There was sent to the Lord Duke of Parma an express 



at all which His Highness was much grieved, as became a pious prince, 



and very diligently he sought out the means of remedying our position 



to the King, that he should permit us to leave his kingdom free, and 

 to the Catholic lords and friends, the expression of most gracious 

 thanks on the part of His Majesty, with his most friendly letters. 

 There was at that time in Flanders a Scotch merchant who offered 

 his services, and agreed with His Highness that he would come to 

 Scotland for us, and would have us embarked on four vessels with the 

 necessary provisions, and would convey us to Flanders, His Highness 

 to give him 5 ducats for every Spaniard he would convey there. The 

 agreement was entered into with him on our part, and he put us on 

 board, without arms, and naked as he found us, and passed us by 

 certain ports of the Queen of England, by doing which we were 

 supposed to be insured free transit through all the fleets and by all the 

 ships of the kingdom. In reality this was false, since they had made 

 a treaty with the ships of Holland and Zealand, by which it was 

 stipulated that they would be put to sea and wait for us off the bar of 

 Dunkirk, and that there we should be all put to the sword to the very 

 last man. This agreement the Dutch carried out according to instruc- 

 tions, and remained waitiag for us during a month and a-haL£ in the 

 port of Dunku'k, and there they most certainly would have caught us 

 had not God been pleased to succour us. It pleased Him, therefore, 

 that of the four vessels on which we were embarked, two escaped and 

 were run ashore, where they broke up and went to pieces. So the 

 enemy, seeing the stratagem to -which we had recoui-se, put us under 

 a fire of artiLleiy such that we were obliged to throw ourselves into 



