ion of affairs.

Towards one person of considerable note in his day, sir John Perrot,
some time deputy of Ireland, Hatton is reported to have acted the part
of an industrious and contriving enemy; being provoked by the taunts
which sir John was continually throwing out against him as one who "had
entered the court in a galliard," and further instigated by the
complaints, well or ill founded, against the deputy, of some of his
particular friends and adherents.

Sir John Perrot derived from a considerable family of that name seated
at Haroldstone in Pembrokeshire, his name and large estates; but his
features, his figure, his air, and common fame, gave him king Henry
VIII. for a father. Nor was his resemblance to this redoubted monarch
merely external; his temper was haughty and violent, his behaviour
_blustering_, his language always coarse, and, in the fits of rage to
which he was subject, abusive to excess. Yet was he destitute neither of
merit nor abilities. As president of Munster, he had rendered great
services to her majesty in 1572 by his vigorous conduct against the
rebels. As lord deputy of Ireland between the years 1584 and 1588, he
had made efforts still more praiseworthy towards the pacification of
that unhappy and ill-governed country, by checking as much as possible
the oppressions of every kind exercised by the English of the pale
against the miserable natives, towards whom his policy was liberal and
benevolent. But his attempts at reformation armed against him, as usual,
a host of foes, amongst whom was particularly distinguished Loftus
archbishop of Dublin, whom he had exasperated by proposing to apply the
revenues of St. Patrick's cathedral to the foundation of an university
in the capital of Ireland. Forged letters were amongst the means to
which the unprincipled malice of his adversaries resorted for his
destruction. One of these atrocious fabrications, in which an Irish
chieftain was made to complain of excessive injustice on the part of the
deputy, was detected by the exertions of the supposed writer, whom
Perrot had in reality attached to himself by many benefits; but a second
letter, which contained a protection to a catholic priest and made him
employ the words _our_ castle of Dublin, _our_ kingdom of Ireland,
produced a fatally strong impression on the jealous mind of Elizabeth.

Meantime the ill-fated deputy, conscious of his own fidelity and
essential loyalty, and unsuspicious of the snares s