ry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th of January, washed out
its enactments in royal blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary
complications, was added to the many miseries of our unfortunate
country.

Rinuccini embarked in the _San Pietro_ once more, and returned to Italy,
February 23, 1649. Had his counsels been followed, the result might have
justified him, even in his severest measures; as it is we read only
failure in his career; but it should be remembered, that there are
circumstances under which failure is more noble than success.

[Illustration: THOMAS FLEMYNG'S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.]

[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA.]

FOOTNOTES:

[474] _Them_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p, 28.

[475] _Frolics_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. i. p. 245, folio edition.

[476] _Guard_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 30. Coote's cruelties are
admitted on all sides to have been most fearful. Leland speaks of "his
ruthless and indiscriminate carnage."--_History of Ireland_, vol. iii.
p. 146. Warner says "he was a stranger to mercy."--_History of the Irish
Rebellion_, p. 135. "And yet this was the man," says Lord Castlehaven,
"whom the Lords Justices picked out to entrust with a commission of
martial-law, which he performed with delight, and with a wanton kind of
cruelty."

[477] _Granted_.--This most important and interesting document may be
seen in O'Sullivan's _Hist. Cath_. p. 121. It is headed: "Gregory XIII.,
to the Archbishops, Bishops, and other prelates, as also to the Catholic
Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobles, and People of Ireland, health
and apostolic benediction." It is dated: "Given at Rome, the 13th day of
May, 1580, the eighth of our pontificate."

[478] _Cause_.--See illustration at head of this chapter.

[479] _Rinuccini,_--A work was published in Florence, 1844, entitled
_Nunziatura in Irlanda_, di M. Gio. Battista Rinuccini, &c. This work,
which only forms a portion of the Rinuccini MS., throws much valuable
light upon the history of the period. It is supposed to have been
written by the Dean of Fermo, who attended the Nuncio during his
official visit to Ireland. This volume also contains, in the original
Italian, the report presented by Rinuccini to the Pope on his return
from Ireland. Burke has given some extracts from the MS. in his
_Hibernia Dominicana_, and Carte mentions it also; but otherwise these
very important documents appear to have been quite overlooked.