He

acceptable. It was founded in County Limerick by Oliver and Edward Stephenson; the former was granted Dunmoylin by Queen Elizabeth, 28th July, xxx. Eliz. also held the manor of Castletown. He was sent by Sir George Carew to garrison Corgrig Castle, near Foynes, in 1600,1 and died 16th January, 1611, or April 29th or 30th, 1615 (according to variant Inquisitions). He married Una ny Mahony, who survived till 1630. They left issue, Richard, Edward (died s. p. m., ante 1630), John, Thomas, Edmond, Nicholas, William, and Oliver (who died, 1635), also daughters Una, died 1630, and Elinor, wife of John, son of Maurice Hurley of Knocklong. Thomas of Ballywoghan, County Limerick, married Owney, daughter of John Crosby, Bishop of Ardfert, died March 20th, 1633 (aliter, 1639, but 1633 in Inquis. of 1635). He left a son Richard, aged 9, in April, 1633, and two daughters, Owney and Anne, as recorded in his funeral entry, dated February, 1636. Nicholas Stephenson, of Keilteerie, appears in a mortgage, 25th March, 1628, to John Stackepole, and Richard, in one dated 18th September, 1631, to N. Comyne. Richard was aged 27 at the death of his father. He had issue, Oliver and "Katherine," wife of Donough O'Brien, of Carrigogunnell. Richard was High Sheriff of County Limerick, and was

1642.

shot at Kilfinny, as recorded in the ill-spelled diary of the valiant Lady Dowdall, "The Thersday (Tuesday) before Aswnesday, the hi Sherulf Richard Stevenson came op in the front of the army with his droms and pipers, but I sent him a shot in the hed that mad him bed the world god night." After the surrender of Askeaton and Kilfinny the other castles "were beaten down by paper bullets." The monument of Richard and his father, Oliver, is figured at p. 244, supra.

Oliver, like his father, fell in battle, at Liscarroll; be was then of Dunmoylan, and being ordered to charge on a small section of Lord Inchiquin's horse, met that nobleman, who was "on his pad nag without casque," and nearly shot him. He then charged, and as he raised his sword to strike Inchiquin, he was shot dead. The Civil Survey of Pubblebrian in 1655, mentions several lands held by Margaret ny Brian, alias Stephenson, an Irish Papist," widow of O'Brien of Carrigoguinell, among them

1 Carew MSS., vol. iii., 1600, p. 413.

66

2 "History of the Irish Confederates" (J. T. Gilbert, 1882), vol. i., p. 71. From Sloane MSS.

3 Ibid., pp. 51-93.

4 Called Katherine" in Funeral Entry.

1

Kilcolman, Kilboy, and Gorttshraghone, near Carrigoguinill Castle and Atyfloyne, Cahirnatanaha, and Caher Ipholloe (Attyflin, Fortetna, and Jockey Hall) in Killonaghan.

APPENDIX E. (See p. 171, note 2, supra.)

THE TAYLOR FAMILY was established near Askeaton by John Taylor before 1622, as appears by the Inquisition (Rolls Office, 2 Car. I.) on the deaths of Maurice Barclay, of Askeaton (died 8th Sept., xx. Jac. I.), 1622, and Henry, his brother and heir, who died 21st February, 1629, we find:-"et Insuper Juratores . . . dicunt quod Will. Cortney. Elizabetha Barkley als. Crofton, ffrancissa Barkley et Gartrud Barkley als. Taylor, sunt coheres pdic Henrici Barkley." . . . "Gartrud Barkley als. Tailor alia soror dict Henrici que fuit maritat John Tailor gener." The Taylors, to judge from the following will, were of Somersetshire origin.

The will of ROBERT TAYLOR of Ballynete (sic) Co. Limerick (Extracts)—" I leave all estates in Ireland, including Ballynorte, to my brother William." "I leave

no wife or issue behind me." "The manner or farm of Hatterle" 2 in Summersett to his relation, James Taylor. His cousin Barkley's children, including "my dear wifes godson. My dear wife made it her request to me that I would be kind to them, and

5

ASKEATON ABBEY.

BASE OF PILLAR.

so do I to my brother." Legacies to the "poor of Askeaton and Mapperton3 in Summersett." Among numerous legacies we note "there is in my neveu's, Mr. Wm. Barkley of Pill, in the Co. Summersett, hands before I die £10." "To Henry Barkly a good shute of cloose, not as a servant but as a friend, because I made a vow I never would keep him as a servant." "Be kinde to all those servants that came over with my wife; also to my nurse and Richard Orsborne £4 during their life to keep them at bed and board." "A handsome burying place be made at Askeaton, and that there may be £60 laid out upon it, and to bury me handsomely, and that all my English neighbours of any quality may have scarves and gloves, also to my cozen, "To make all this Thomas Crofton, scarves and rings if they be at my funerall."

FRAGMENT OF MONUMENT.

good, there is the money you gave me which was paid by you to me which I refounded, and yr engagement to me I should be allowed for it which I should not dehmened, besides so much more you will find in my thronks and closett, and broad gold of which I desire 10 peeces may be given to my sister, Gore, and two peeces to my sister,

1 See Journal, vol. xix., 1889, p. 234, and vol. xxiv., p. 74. Margaret Stephenson (it may be remembered) along with Elinora Browne, put up the monument in Askeaton Abbey, vol. xxxiii., 1642, p. 242, supra.

2 Hatherley, in the parish of Maperton. See Rev. J. Collinson's History of Somerset, vol. ii., pp. 85, 86. (Ed. 1791). For Pylle, see ibid., vol. iii., p. 483. For Brewton and its grant to Sir Maurice Berkeley (father of Sir Francis, of Askeaton), in 1546, see Somersetshire Archæological Society Proc., vol. vii., p. 11. monument and effigy remain.

3 See last note, Maperton Church is dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul.

His

I find traces of the existence of a Somersetshire family of Taylor, inter alia, the "dominus Joh Tayloyr Vicar of Ilmystr" in Somerset, 1615 (Somersetshire and Gloucestershire Archæological Society, viii., p. 123). The monument of a John Taylor, 1711, is found in Bath Abbey. The notices are, however, but few, so perhaps the connexion with Somersetshire is not with the Limerick Taylors, but with Robert's wife, a Berkeley of Pylle.

5 A curious reminiscence of St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon.

Jour. R.S.A.I.

(Vol. XIV., Fifth Ser.

Vol. XXXIV., Consec. Ser.

L

Westrop, with two peeces to my sister, Taylor," 23 Aug. 1693. "There is a white savier stone in a box in my thronk; my wife left it to her niece and goddaughter, Mrs. Margarett Bayley," Sep. 16, 1693. Proved same year at Limerick.

Of other wills of the family we find in Dublin that of Robert's brother, William Taylor, of Burton, County Cork, and Ballinort, County Limerick, Nov. 12th, 1712. Proved, 1713. Berkeley, eldest son of William, Oct. 29, 1732. Proved, 1736. Richard (his half-brother), Ballyglehane (Hollypark), Jan. 8, 1731. Proved, July 1, 1732. Edward (fourth son of Berkeley). 1761. Proved, 1765. The Ballinort line ended in the co-heiresses of William, eldest son of Berkeley Taylor. I have given the pedigree more fully in the Journal of the Limerick Field Club, vol. ii. (1902), p. 118.

High Sheriffs-Robert Taylour, 1670; Robert, of Ballinort, 1706; Richard, of Hollypark, 1716; Berkley, of Ballinort, 1724; Edward, 1727; Richard, of Holly. park, 1818.

I may note two letters of Robert Taylor-one, Aug. 20th, 1690, sending to King William in his camp before Limerick "all that this poor country can afford, and all that is left worth His Majesty's eating.” Taylor and his wife sent—“ 1 veale, 10 fatte weathers, 12 chickinges, 2 dussen of fresh butter, a thick cheese, and a thinn one, 10 loaves of bread, a dussen and a half of pidgeons, 12 bottles of ale, halfe a barrelle of small ale, some kidnie beanes."1

See

1 Lenihan's" Limerick," p. 250, from Catalogue of Southwell MSS., p. 513. also Southwell MSS. relating to the reduction of Ireland, R.I.A., vol. vi., No. 3. Robert Taylor to Sir Robert Southwell, 15th August, 1699. It preserves Taylor's seal. The arms on it and seals on the wills of William Taylor, 1712, Richard, of Ballyglehan, 1731, and leases of the Westropps to 1745, show Arms, sable, a lion, passant argent, usually quartering Berkeley, a chevron between 10 crosses pattees.

ADDISON'S CONNEXION WITH IRELAND.

BY HERBERT WOOD, B.A. (Oxon.).

[Read NOVEMBER 24, 1903.]

TH HE Life of Addison has been written by Tickell, his friend and literary executor; by Dr. Johnson in his "Lives of the Poets"; by Miss Aikin, whose excellent biography furnished a raison d'être for the able essay of Macaulay; and by several others; whilst Bishop Hurd of Worcester has, in Bohn's edition, collected the works and many of the letters of Addison. In view, however, of the additional material which has come to light, and the great improvement in the treatment of historical subjects which has manifested itself in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, there seems to be room for a more detailed account and a more critical study of the life of the great essayist. I have been induced to write this Paper in the hope of throwing some additional light on a portion of Addison's life which cannot but be of interest to us in Ireland. By taking a period in the life either of a nation or of an individual, and concentrating on that point all the scattered rays of information which can be gathered from all sources, a more vivid picture of that period is produced than would be possible when treating of the whole history of the nation or the individual. But, apart from the advantage of treating my subject in this way, I have been able, through the kindness of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, to peruse some letters of Addison in his custody, which I have reason to believe have never been published, and which seem to me to throw some light on the history of a life which is somewhat obscure. For, of the four men who by their literary attainments have rendered illustrious the first half of the eighteenth century, Pope and Swift, by the publication of their private letters, and Johnson, by the happy possession of an excellent biographer, have furnished us with details of their lives and an insight into their characters which we sadly miss in the case of Addison. True, we have plenty of his letters; but they are mostly the business letters of a courteous, cold, reserved nature, which never wore its heart on its sleeve. Addison is pre-eminently the polite letter-writer of that period; but his choice and dignified language, and his precision of thought, so well expressed in his handwriting, make one sigh for the abandon of a Steele and the candour of a Johnson.

If, however, we regret our inability to get at the heart of the man, we no less deplore the fact that his letters contain no sign of that genius, and no indication of that delicate humour, which have

given him a foremost place amongst essayists. We the more bitterly feel this loss when we are told by Mary Montague that she had known all the wits, and that Addison was the best company in the world; when Pope, who was not usually given to compliments, asserted that "Addison's conversation had something in it more charming than I have found in any other man"; and when his bosom friend, Steele, has recorded that "he was above all men in that talent called humour, and enjoyed it in such perfection, that I have often reflected, after a night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had had the pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more exquisite and delightful than any other man possessed." Steele, above all, was qualified by his intimacy with Addison to have chronicled some of these flashes of humour. Indeed, Dr. Johnson tells us that "Steele once promised Congreve and the publick a complete description of his character; but the promises of authors are like the vows of lovers." However, as the indolence of Steele has defrauded us of a record of these brilliant utterances, we can only do our best, by a fuller investigation of Addison's life, to attempt to make clearer our views of his character and habits.

In the autumn of the year 1708, the Whigs, by somewhat discreditable tactics, succeeded in forcing Queen Anne to call Somers to her Ministry as President of the Council. He, amongst the fresh appointments made in consequence of such a change, chose Lord Wharton as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. This post, though always filled by a politician of the same party as that in power for the time being, was usually considered as being one of "dignified retirement." After a few days, on December 6th, he appointed Joseph Addison to the post of Chief Secretary. The latter was fairly well known at that time both in the literary and political world. His poem of "The Campaign," and his "Remarks on Several Parts of Italy," had stamped him as a young man of promise; whilst the fact that already at this time he had held the posts of Commissioner of Appeals, and Under Secretary to Sir C. Hedges and the Earl of Sunderland, Secretaries of State, and had attended Lord Halifax on his embassy to Hanover, had brought him into prominence in the political arena. At the time of his appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant he was Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel, for which he had been returned by the influence of Lord Wharton.

So notorious was the Earl of Wharton for his profligacy and general immorality that his choice of Addison as his Chief Secretary, and Addison's acceptance of the post, have appeared almost inexplicable to his biographers. Swift, in his pamphlet, "A Short Character of His Ex. T. E. of W., L. L. of I-," published in 1715, held up the character of Wharton to universal reprobation, and satirised him as "Verres" in the Examiner; but impartiality was the last virtue to be expected from that disappointed ecclesiastic. Macaulay has asserted that there was nothing