waters daily, for about five or fix weeks, (neither bathing, nor pumping, being neceffary) her ftomach was fet to rights, and the return of the fpafm of her arm prevented. As I have heard nothing of her fince this laft difmiffion, it is to be prefumed fhe has continued free from her complaint.'

V. Letters written by kis Excellency Hugh Boulter, D. D. Lord Primate of all Ireland, &c. To feveral Minifters of State in England, and fome others. Containing, an Account of the most interesting Transactions which passed in Ireland from 1724 to 1738. In Two Vols. 8vo. Pr. 10s. in boards. Horsfield.

THE

"HE letters before us are the best evidences ever published of that extreme jealousy with which the English adminiftrations, under the two first princes of the Brunswick line, beheld the people of Ireland, and of the vast attention that was paid to the prefervation of their dependency upon the crown of Great Britain. Never, perhaps, did any government employ a more fuccef:ful minifter for that great purpose than that of England did, when they raised Dr. Boulter to the primacy of Ireland. He was promoted from the fee of Bristol, at a very critical juncture, upon the death of the primate Lindsay.

Ireland was then in a kind of ferment upon more accounts than one. A ftrong Jacobite party was exafperated on account of the detection and defeat of what is generally called, the bishop of Rochefter's plot. The duke of Ormond, who was to have headed a descent upon Great Britain or Ireland, was still alive, and had a great number of friends in both kingdoms; a war with Spain was daily expected. The Irish house of commons were out of humour with the English miniftry, nor was the latter entirely easy with regard to the house of peers in that kingdom; not to mention many bold alarming pamphlets and papers, that were published in favour of Ireland's independency.

Thofe, however, were dangers which the best ministry in the world, on this fide the water, could not have avoided but our prelate was placed at the head of affairs in that kingdom, or if the reader pleafes, was made firft minifter, for fuch he certainly was, at a juncture when the best proteftant fubjects there beheld the honour and intereft of their country facrificed in the most infamous manner to party and pufillanimity. Firft in the attempt of eftablishing Wood's halfpence; and fecondly, in that incredible licence which was granted by the government of England to the French beating up for re

cruits through the streets of Dublin. The laft was a measure as unconftitutional, as the first was unpopular, and both of them were defeated by the firmness of oppofition.

Having faid thus much, the reader may form fome idea of the difficulties archbishop Boulter lay under when he was first elevated to his premiership. He could not, like Ximenes and Alberoni in Spain, and Richelieu and Mazarine in France, dictate in the second, if not the first perfon, and fay it is my will, or the king's pleasure, for he had feveral intermediate controulers between his majefty and himself. It was but de cent in all acts of government to give the lead to the lord lieutenant. The opinions of the fecretaries of ftate had great weight, and, above all, the first minister, who, during all our prelate's adminiftration, was Sir Robert Walpole, muft be confulted. The bench of bishops in Ireland must be managed, and great attention was to be paid to that of England; nor was it very easy to carry matters fmoothly on with the two Irish houfes of parliament.

A reader, who fits down with impracticable ideas of primitive piety in the church, or primitive patriotism in the state, will, we are fenfible, be difgufted with this publication, becaufe it contains the letters of a minifter and a man of bufinefs, rather than of a pastor and a prelate; nor can it be denied that primate Boulter, in more paffages than one, infifts upon his being fupplied with friends and affiftants of his own chufing. After thefe preparatory obfervations, which are abfolutely neceflary on account of the naked manner in which the letters before us are introduced, we fhall venture to give the reader fome account of the most important. In one, addreffed to the duke of Newcastle, then fecretary of state, foon after the primate's arrival in Ireland, we have the following account of the ftate of Ireland at that time.

We are at present in a very bad ftate, and the people fo poisoned with apprehenfions of Wood's halfpence, that I do not fee there can be any hopes of juftice against any perfon for feditious writings, if he does but mix fomewhat about Wood in them. I must do the better fort of people here, the justice to fay, they speak with great concern of the imprudence of the grand juries, and the ill ftop to juftice: but thofe who would hinder it now are unable. But all forts here are determinately fet against Wood's halfpence, and look upon their eftates as half funk in their value, whenever they fhall pass upon the nation.

Our pamphlets, and the difcourfes of fome people of weight, run very much upon the independency of this kingdom; and, in our prefent ftate, that is a very popular notion. But

others, (who poffibly have had a hand in raifing this ferment at firft) declare publickly against all fuch notions, profeffing the utmost loyalty to his majefty; and are very uneasy at the ill humour, and infolent behaviour, of the people. I am fatisfied, many here think ten or fifteen thousand pounds worth of halfpence would be of service; but they dare not say so to any Irishman; nor at prefent does there seem to be any way of compofing matters; all fearing or pretending to fear, the parliament; and except things cool a little, I am apt to think the parliament would fear the madness of the people. Though all people are equally fet against Wood here, yet many of the prefent madneffes are fuppofed to come from Papists, mixing with, and fetting on others, with whom they formerly had no manner of correspondence.'

It appears in the course of this correfpondence, that our primate had fully ftudied the cafe of the Irish coinage, filver and gold as well as copper; but as the fubject is no longer interefting, we shall omit any quotations. It appears likewife, that our primate was but upon a very indifferent footing with the archbishop of Dublin; and that he early bespoke an English fucceffor for him, as, indeed, he did, for almost every place that fell, or was likely to fall, either in church or ftate. Every letter is full of requefts to the great men on this fide the water, for places to his friends; and fome of them feemingly fo trifling, that they were fcarcely worth the afking. This would give us a very firong prepoffeffion against the vir tue and difinterestedness of the primate, were we not informed by the editor, that his grace left the whole of his fortune, which was very confiderable, to charitable uses.

Lord primate Boulter's fagacity fuggefted to him the expediency of the British government purchafing the royalty of the Ife of Man from the proprietor; a scheme which was at laft adopted after about forty years deliberation. In every letter we find proofs of the great progrefs his grace makes in his knowledge of lifh affairs. That he was no friend to dean Swift appears, among others, by the following pregnant paffage.

The general report is, that dean Swift defigns for England. in a little time; and we do not question his endeavours to mifrepresent his majefty's friends here, wherever he finds an opportunity but he is fo well known, as well as the disturbances he has been the fomenter of in this kingdom, that we are under no fear of his being able to differve any of his majefty's faithful fervants, by any thing that is known to come from him: but we could wish fome eye were had to what he shall be attempting on your fide of the water.'

The

The pufillanimity of the English administration continuing, we find our primate hurt in the year 1726, at some appointments made without his knowledge, or that of his friends at the Irish council-board. He is, at the fame time, greatly concerned at foreigners inveigling into their fervice, great numbers of likely, healthy, young Irish recruits, on pretence of their going over to England for work; and, at the fame time, he is very apprehentive of a Roman Catholic infurrection. Lord Carteret was then lord lieutenant, but he seems not to have been quite fo pliable as his grace expected in the difpofal of preferments. We must not here forget, that the famous Ambrofe Phillips, whom Mr. Pope has fo finely ridiculed, was then his grace's confidential fecretary, and a member of the Irish parliament, and lived in his grace's houfe; and the editor of the letters appears warmly attached to his memory. The primate is fo zealously his friend, that he applies to the duke of Newcastle, during the vacancy of the high chancellorfhip, to have Phillips likewife made fecretary to the new chancellor, when named.

Whatever revolutions happened in the miniftry of England, it is very plain that our primate's recommendations were generally fuccessful there, and that they were made with as much judgment as impartiality; nay, that they were (particularly, in filling up the archbishoprick of Cafhel) preferred to thofe of the lord lieutenant himself. His grace had a strong conviction, that lord Carteret was inclined to favour the Irish tories, which he thought would ruin the English interest in that kingdom. He talks to his excellency with great spirit and freedom upon that fubject.

Upon the acceffion of his late majefty, our primate had more influence in Ireland than ever; and many high preferments went thro' him. He informs his excellency of the expediency of keeping matters there on the fame footing as in the late reign; but he seems not at all to regard a report, that his lordship was turned out of the ministry, and is very angry at the countenance which the Brodericks met with in England.

The application and penetration of this prelate in every department of business is truly admirable. His vigour of mind impels him to investigate every material circumstance of government. He fays, that in the year 1727, they had in Ireland 3000 popish priests, and that in many places, the defcendants of many of Cromwell's officers and foldiers are gone off to popery.' The reader, in this collection will find the remedies propofed by his grace for the encouragement of proteftantifm, as well as the relief of the poor, fome, if not all of which were afterwards carried into execution, Next

year we find his grace indefatigable in drawing up schemes for remedying the want of filver in Ireland.

The famous duke of Riperda, the difgraced Spanish minifter, this year (1728) took refuge in Ireland. It appears by a dispatch to the duke of Newcastle, that his late majefty fent over to our primate fome orders relating to that minister; but as he was gone before they came over, there is, fays the primate, no room for any thing more in this affair, than keeping his majesty's orders a fecret.' In the fame year, the Irish proteftants were vifited with a kind of epidemical disease of migrating to the Weft-Indies, which is fpoken of with great concern by his grace. At this time his chief dependence in England was upon lord Townshend, whom he knew to be a ftaunch whig. In the beginning of the year 1728-9, the primate was very active in promoting a fubfcription for a fupply to the poor in buying corn, efpecially thofe in the north, where a dearth raged.

There is no doubt, fays the editor, but his grace contributed largely to this fubfcription; but what he did in the year 1739-40, in the great froft, almost exceeds belief; there was not a poor diftreffed perfon in the great city of Dublin who applied, that was not daily relieved to the full, and chiefly by his bounty: the houfe of commons took this fo well, that they voted him very juftly their thanks on this very remarkable inftance of his goodnefs. The fums he then expended must have been very great indeed, yet when he hath been complimented. on this and frequent other occafions of the like fort, his ufual anfwer was, that he fhould die fhamefully rich.'

By this time the primate thought he had reafon to complain of lord Carteret's duplicity. Our bounds oblige us only to hint at the wisdom and moderation of his grace's conduct, when the Irish diffenters applied to parliament for a repeal of the facramental test.

The fecond volume of this work contains an account of his grace's conduct in the affair of the French recruits, which, wẹ think, he managed with a delicacy and firmnefs that does ho nour to his memory. As fome of Sir Robert Walpole's party, employed to apologize for his minifterial conduct at that time, fatly denied that ever fuch a measure was upon the anvil, we beg leave to lay before the reader the following dispatches, which contain a full and unexceptionable evidence of the fact. To the Duke of Newcastle.

• My Lord, Dublin, O. 14, 1730. On Friday laft lieutenant colonel Hennecy brought me your grace's of the 26th paft; I told him, as we were several