496 



of its own too powerful feudatory, and accepted by the Irish, as 

 the only means of obtaining that security which the English So- 

 vereign was powerless to afford. 



The truth, is, however, that we are not left to inference or conjecture 

 in this question. The Reports on the condition of Ireland in the State 

 Papers of the period abound in evidence confirmatory of the view which 

 I have given; and it is far from improbable that, in the muniment-rooms 

 of Kilkenny or Portumna Castle, covenants of the Earls of Ormond and 

 Ossory or Clanrickard with the Irish may yet be discovered, of the same, 

 or similar import with that which has formed the subject of this dis- 

 cussion. The system of exactions which prevailed on the part of the 

 Anglo-Irish nobles is fully described in these Reports ; and it was not 

 confined to the Geraldines alone. I referred in my former Paper to 

 certain "Articles and Instructions" to "our Soweraine Lord the King 

 for his land of Ireland," drawn up in 1538, which expressly declare that 

 the major part of the Irish chiefs "here grete trubut," not only to the Earl 

 of Kildare, but to the Earls of Desmond and Ossory. The same articles 

 contain a similar allegation as to the "Earl of Shrowisbury, within the 

 countie of Wexford," adding, that, in consequence, His Grace the King 

 " out of that countie hath not one peny of revenuse, except the poundage 

 of the town of "Wexford." 



Nor need we seek for any evidence of the magnitude of this evil in 

 the eyes of the author of this Report, beyond the recommendation 

 which his Report embodies, that " the Erie of Kildare, and the Erie of 

 Ossory, be both heyr before your Grace ; they to be examinyd what 

 trubut they haiv of your Irish rebels ; whereby it shall apeyr unto your 

 Grace, as well the gret sumys of goodes that they haiv of them, as the 

 bandes and allyaunce which every of them hath with Irish men." 



LV. — On the " E6hn" or the Alps and its Connexion with the 

 Glacier Theories. By Professor Hennesst, E. R. S. 



[Read May 24, 1869.] 



The warm southerly wind known to the inhabitants of the valleys of 

 the Swiss Alps as the " Eohn," has lately attracted much attention from 

 geologists as well as physical inquirers. Those who maintain the far 

 greater development of glaciers at epochs not long anterior to the histori- 

 cal epoch, as compared to their present number and extent, appeal to the 

 Eohn, as the principal agent for reducing the glacial masses to their 

 present condition. They have endeavoured to show that the 

 Eohn is of recent origin, and that its existence depends essentially 

 on that of the great African desert, the Sahara. Here a meteorological 

 question arises — namely, does the Eohn actually come from the Sahara, 

 or from any other source ? To this question several eminent meteoro- 

 logists have already given replies, but I may be still permitted to state 

 the independent conclusions which were suggested to me from circum- 



