[191] The papers concerning Dean King's mission, August to October 1650, are in Carte's _Original Letters_, i. 391-399; the King's second letter to Ormonde, September 13, _ib._ ii. 444, and his two letters confirming the peace, March 9 and 20/30, 1648-9, _ib._ i. 363, 368. The Ennis negotiations with the Commissioners of Trust are in P. Walsh's _Hist. of the Remonstrance_, appx. 123-126. [192] Proposals of six Commissioners of Trust (Bellings being one), October 29, and the six bishops' answers, November 5, in Walsh's _Hist. of the Remonstrance_, appx. 127-135. [193] The Act of the Loughrea assembly, dated December 7, is printed by Cox, ii. 51. For Ormonde's movements see Carte's _Life_, ii. 136, and Clarendon, _Ireland_, 175; Ormonde to Sir E. Nicholas from Caen, January 9, 1650-51, in _Nicholas Papers_, i. 215. Cox says Ireton was advised to send a pass to Ormonde by a great man still living in 1688--this might seem to point to Ludlow, who, however, was not in Ireland at the moment. CHAPTER XXXIV CLANRICARDE AND IRETON, 1651 [Sidenote: The plague and famine.] When Ludlow landed in Ireland a few weeks after Ormonde left, one of his first acts was to sign a proclamation prohibiting the slaughter of calves and lambs. The waste of the war had been so great that there was a danger of depleting the country of its stock. Starvation was imminent everywhere, and to this the plague was added, which first appeared in Galway and was supposed to be imported from Spain. The Aphorismical Discovery relates with something like glee that the first house visited was that of Sir Richard Blake, which had been cursed by Rinuccini, and that the contagion flowed thence 'as from a channel, the divine vengeance of high power unto the respective provinces of Ireland, except Ulster, as not guilty of either censure, curse, or ejection of my lord nuncio.' Ludlow says simply that it reached most parts, and Bishop O'Brien of Emly that it was in every corner. It was very bad in the south, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Limerick being severely scourged. Bishop Comerford of Waterford estimates the deaths in his own diocese at 5000, and many priests were taken. 'Our sins,' he adds, 'have provoked this scourge.' [Sidenote: A devoted friar.]