so unfaithful; and reproached, on the other side, by the council, with mistaking the character of the people, with trusting those whom he ought to suspect, and making 'skurrs of light matters.' Thus the expedition, brilliant as it had been, was followed by heartburnings and bickerings; and those whose reasonable faculties, at their highest strain, would have sufficed imperfectly for the work of governing Ireland, spent their time in quarrelling, thwarting, and calumniating each other. Grey, haughty and passionate, could control neither his temper nor his language. He would start on his feet in the council-chamber, lay his hand on his sword, and scatter carelessly invectives and opprobrious epithets. The council, who, amidst their many faults, understood Ireland better than the deputy, complained to Cromwell that he would never listen to their advice. The deputy retorted with stories against the council; he declared that he was haunted with detraction; that 'it was predestinate to that country to bring forth sedition, invention, and lies.'[1] To add to the embarrassment, the Irish Parliament, then in their session, continued recalcitrant in money matters. The proctors who were returned to Convocation, not being more than seven or eight in number, claimed to be a part of the general legislature, with a right of veto on every measure which might be proposed;[2] 'and certain ringleaders and bell-
- ↑ See the Corresondence of the Deputy and Council with the English Government: State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 382–501.
- ↑ This very Irish feature in our constitutional history deserves particular attention. 'The frowardness and obstinacy of the proctors of the clergy,' the deputy and treasurer wrote to Cromwell, 'from the be-
