Falkiner — ^^Remembrances of the State of Ireland, 1612 ^ 127 



of prepossessions aud aversions which he took not the slightest pains 

 to conceal, Eich's knowledge of the Ireland of his day cannot be 

 disputed ; and as he could put his impressions on paper with clearness 

 and point, he is undoubtedly an eye-witness whose testimony is worth 

 attention. The J^'ew Description of Ireland," first published in 

 1610, and dedicated to Eobert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, is perhaps 

 the best-known of his works to students of Irish history ; some 

 passages of it, relating to the social condition of our metropolis under 

 James the First, having been printed by Sir John Gilbert in his 

 "History of Dublin." It is a good example of Eich's style, and was 

 written primarily to arouse the interest of the merchants of London 

 in the Plantation of Ulster then in progress. Eich had long been 

 stationed in Ulster on military service, and the Preliminary 

 Epistle " to his book, addressed to one "William Cokyne, a London 

 alderman, gives a capital account of the physical capacities of the 

 province and the conditions under which the Plantation was effected. 



The " Eemembrances " to which attention is here directed form 

 one of a series of papers addressed by Eich in his latter days, between 

 the years 1606 and 1616, to Sir Julius Caesar, at that time Chancellor 

 and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer in England. All of these, 

 but particularly one entitled " The Anothomy of Ireland in the maner 

 of a Dialogue, truly discovering the State of the Country, for Hys 

 Ma*'" Especyall Service," afford fresh and valuable information. The 

 Anothomy," which is written in dialogue after the style adopted by 

 Spenser in his " Yiew of the State of Ireland," contains much that 

 is entirely new about persons and things in the Ireland of James 

 the Eirst, and expands many of the statements made in the 

 " Eemembrances." It is a document much too lengthy for inclusion 

 in the " Proceedings " of the Academy ; but considerable use has been 

 made of the information contained in it in the annotations to the 

 " Remembrances." 



The historical value of the latter document consists chiefly in the 

 particulars it contains concerning the administrative system existing 

 in Ireland in the writer's time, and in the light it throws upon the 

 conduct and character of sundry eminent oflScial personages of that 

 day. It is to be regretted that Eich has left us no appreciation of the 

 great Attorney-General, Sir John Davies ; but with this exception, 

 all the more important officers of the Irish Executive in 1612, from 

 the Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, down to the Clerks in the 

 Court of Chancery, are noticed by him. The " Eemembrances," 

 being in the nature of a confidential report for the information of the 



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