Falkiner — Parliament of Ireland under Tudor Sovereigns. 557 



of the Speaker's capacity.^ **Mem., that Mr. Stanhurst, Recorder 

 of the city of Duhlin, was Speaker of the lower house, and did wear 

 for his upper garment, when the Lord Deputy sat in the higher house 

 under the cloth of estate, a scarlet gown ; and this Mr. Stanhurst 

 was a very wise man, and a good member of the Commonwealth of 

 Ireland." 



These are the chief features of Commaundre's account of Sir Henry 

 Sidney's Parliament; and from what has been mentioned, those who 

 are acquainted with the literature of Parliamentary antiquities will 

 see how closely the procedure of the Irish Parliament of the Tudor s 

 followed the precedents sot at Westminster in the same period.^ 



The second of the manuscripts referred to in the heading of this 

 paper also relates to the Parliament of 1568-9, but comes from a 

 different source. I have already alluded to the narrative of the 

 proceedings of this Parliament by John Hooker, alias Yowell, which is 

 one of the principal authorities for the Parliamentary history of the 

 time. Hooker's narrative, as printed in Holinshed, is not couched in 

 formal or precise language, but offers a bright and vivid reminiscence 

 of proceedings in which, as member for the borough of Athenry, the 

 writer had been himself an actor. It is, consequently, a little inexact 

 as to dates, and as to the precise order of the proceedings. But in 

 the Cambridge University Library there exists, in Hooker's hand- 

 writing, a brief diary of the proceedings of Sidney's Parliament from 

 its opening on Monday, Jan. 17, 1568-9, to its prorogation at the 

 end of its first Session on February 23 of the same year. This 

 document, though short, and covering only one session of the pro- 

 ceedings of the Parliament, has not, so far as I know, been utilised by 

 any writer. Though the manuscript is in bad condition, the first of 

 its four pages having had a corner torn off, and several words being 

 illegible, it may be fairly enough described, in the absence of any 

 official record, as the first extant journal of the Irish House of 

 Commons. As such, a literal transcript of its contents might fairly 

 find a place in our Proceedings, even if it failed to add some fresh 

 particulars to the few facts already known. But the diary does con- 

 tribute substantially to our understanding of the development of our 

 Irish House of Commons. It throws interesting light on the part 

 played by the judges at this period of our legislative history in the 



^ See pp. 537-40, i>upra. 



• Sir Thomas Smith's CommoniceaWt, of England and manntr of Government 

 .thereof, 1589, Book ii. cc. 2-3. 



