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nies. Lord Braham, in the a debate related George IV. was the ist stran vad been in Ireland since King John, exert Was com mander of his invading amy. But the learned peer speaks and writes on every ceening matter, and not always with due attention to accuracy.

It is to the Abbé Mac-Geoghegan that we owe the narrative of the French mission in 1549 to the

Chieftains of Ulster. His History of Ireland has long been an object of research to the collectors of rare books, and to the readers of Irish annals; for, though little remarkable, it must be granted, for liberality of opinions or philosophy of views, it contains many facts and documents not easily discoverable elsewhere. It has, accordingly, been often described by bibliographers, but, without notice of some variations, not disentitled to attention.

The first and second volumes bear the uniform impress of "Paris, chez Antoine Boudet, 1758 and 1762, avec approbation et privilège du Roi;" but the third, the paging of which is continued from the second, barely exhibits on the title-page, " A Amsterdam M.DCCLXIII." This change admits of easy explanation; for, when the two former issued from the press, the great Seven-years War raged in all its intensity between Great Britain and France; and every instrument of mutual annoyance was resorted to; but at the close of that memorable contest in 1763, the French government, no doubt, felt that it would be unseemly to sanction a work so hostile to the opinions of the people, and to the rights of the reigning house of England, as the author's assertion of the iniquity of Henry's divorce, with Elizabeth's thence derived illegitimacy, and establishment of protestantism. The royal approbation and privilege were consequently withdrawn; but, though this third volume was suffered to circulate in conjunction with its predecessors, several retrenchments or modifications, technically denominated cartons, were enjoined as the condition of this connivance. Some few copies, however,-very few, we believe, for we never met with more than

had been preceded by that to Ireton, the 27th October, 1651, when, among the twenty persons excepted from its benefit was the Friar, Francis Wolfe, who with six others was executed, while his brother, Captain George Wolfe, escaped to Yorkshire, where he settled and married. The family afterwards removed to Westerham in Kent, and there was born G. Wolfe's greatgrandson, General James Wolfe, the conqueror of Canada. His father, Major-General Wolfe, had also distinguished himself under Marlborough, &c. The fugitive from Limerick, or his son, changed the religion, for which the conscientious friar had intrepidly encountered death. One of the six catholics who suffered with him, General Purcell, was a near connexion of the writer's family, but though a soldier, and a brave one, he did not, we are told, meet his fate, with the resignation imparted by religion to the friar. The civil conditions of this capitulation, to William's arms in 1691, which promised to secure various advantages to the Catholics, it is too well known, were shamefully violated. History cannot offer a more disgraceful instance of ill-faith; practically exemplifying what, by many was boldly asserted, that no faith should be kept with Irish papists, and rebels; for the penal laws, in place of their pledged relaxation, were almost immediately executed and extended.

The military stipulations, more in direct connexion with the author's subject, are given at full length, with the consequent removal of the garrison, and transfer of their services to France, where their regimental organization is minutely detailed. A short view of the position of the French monarch's affairs at the time then follows, which, however, challenges some animad

version. At page 200, it is asserted, "That, by the treaty of Nimeguen, the territory of Alsace had been ceded to France, in right of which Louis set up numerous claims, leading to a series of aggressions. In the last of these, the death of the Elector of Cologne furnished a pretext, and thence originated the formidable league, against which Louis was contending, when the expatriated Irish entered his service. The Pope and Emperor with whom the nomination legitimately lay, bestowed the vacant Electorate on one of the Princes of Bavaria, while Louis insisted on intruding his nephew, the Cardinal Furstemberg, and on the refusal of the Papal See to accede to this violent usurpation, seized on Avignon."

We must first observe, that it was by the treaty of Munster in 1648, that Alsace, at least the greater portion of the province, including the Lower Alsace in full, was ceded to France, with ten towns transferred from the Imperial to the French jurisdiction, or seignioralty, and leave to garrison Philipsbourg. The treaties of Nimeguen and Ryswick, confirmed this cession of many years pre-existence, with some few additions; for few remained unpossessed by Louis; but in 1681, the surrender of Strasbourg made him master of the whole province. And secondly, with regard to the Electoral Archbishop of Cologne, the statement is almost literally borrowed from Voltaire's "Siècle de Louis XIV.," chapter xiv., with, however, a strange misconstruction of the sense; for the Cardinal de Furstenberg is there properly called the creature, not the nephew of the monarch, to whom, in truth, he was in no sense related: "Le Pape, Innocent XI., et l'Empereur," says Voltaire, "persuadés que c'était

presque la même chose de laisser Furstenberg sur ce trône électoral, et d'y mettre Louis XIV., s'unirent pour donner cette principauté au jeune Clément de Bavière frère du dernier mort. (Octobre, 1688.) Le roi se vengea du pape en lui ôtant Avignon, et prépara la guerre à l'Empereur." Louis had only one nephew, who became Regent after his death-the son of Philip, Duke of Orleans, from whom descends the late reigning dynasty of France. (See also, "Mémoires de Madame La Fayette," page 65.)

In 1701, the memorable "War of the Spanish Succession," or contest between the Archduke Charles of Austria, and Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., for that magnificent inheritance, interrupted, during a dozen years, the repose of Europe. As the issue of Philip the Fourth of Spain's eldest daughter, the French prince's claim was superior; for the Salic exclusion from the throne then extended not to that kingdom; but Louis, on his marriage with the Infanta, in 1660, had formally renounced that right for himself and successors, although so conscious was the Spanish Minister, Don Luis de Haro, of the eventual inefficacy of this renunciation that, on affixing his signature to the compact, he observed to Mazarin, "Esto es "Esto es una patarata!". "This is all a humbug!"-and so it proved. The protagonists on the adverse fields, were the Prince Eugene of Savoy, and our Marlborough, for Austria; and Catinat, Vendôme, and Villars for France.

A parallel between Eugene and Vendôme, occupies a paragraph in page 260 of Mr. O'Conor's volume, which appears entitled to notice, and is thus expressed: Eugene, as a military character, was all virtue; a