“Charles, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to our trusty and right well-beloved cousin, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, greeting. We, reposing great and especial trust and confidence in your approved wisdom and fidelity, do by these (as firmly as under our Great Seal, to all intents and purposes) authorise and give you power, to treat and conclude with the confederate Roman Catholics in our kingdom of Ireland, if upon necessity any be to be condescended unto, wherein our Lieutenant cannot so well be seen in, as not fit for us at present publicly to own. Therefore we charge you to proceed according to this our warrant, with all possible secrecy; and for whatsoever you shall engage yourself, upon such valuable considerations as you in your judgment shall deem fit, we promise on the word of a King and a Christian, to ratify and perform the same, that shall be granted by you, and under your hand and seal; the said confederate Catholics having by their supplies testified their zeal to our service. And this shall be in each particular to you a sufficient warrant. “Given at our Court at Oxford, under our signet and royal signature, the 12th of March, in the twentieth year of our reign, 1644.” It is generally asserted that the visit of the Earl of Glamorgan to Ireland was of a personal nature, having by his marriage become allied to some of the first Irish families; but no one can doubt that the important commission he had received from the monarch swayed all other considerations. He was then about 43 years of age. His royal master was profuse in the professions of the most sincere attachment to the person of his Lordship; his acts and words being such as were best calculated to ensnare an honourable man quite incapable of insincerity. But the King, after his own fashion, had sound reasons for his conduct; the Marquis of Worcester was still rich, and might continue his liberality; and, as belonging to the Roman Catholic faith, the son might promote his measures in Ireland. He only felt it necessary to flatter without serious meaning, and to promise without feeling the duty of performing, should expediency cause him to change his views. To Ormond, however, from whom he was not seeking any favour, yet whose suspicion he desired not to awaken, the royal diplomatist made light of this visit to Ireland--“having business of his own” there; spoke sneeringly of the Earl--“I will not answer for his judgment;” and yet employed him on matters of such vital importance for the success of his own measures, that we at once detect the sophistry of such language. The Earl of Glamorgan, it would appear, went to Ireland at the end of 1644 or commencement of 1645, as his Majesty addressed the following letters to him in 1645;[G] the first in February:-- “HERBERT,