concealed, the empty scale yields not to an equilibrium, and then if the pilgrim grows obstinate, and will hide any crime, the Coquis casts him down from the top, where instantly he is broken into a thousand pieces: but the terror of the place is such, that few will conceal any thing, and therefore is called sange notocoro, that is, the place of confession." FLATTERY. The Speech of Henry Dowdall, Esq. Recorder of Drogheda, to King James II. at his Entry into the Town of Drogheda, April the 7th, 1689. Imprimatur, Patrick Clogher. MOST SACRED SIR, AMONG the many miracles which adorn almost every step and passage of your most sacred Majesty's life, we think none more conspicuous, taken in all its circumstances, and providential accidents, than your Majesty's late, more than miraculous, landing in this your ancient, loyal, and long suffering kingdom; a blessing by so much the more surprising, by how much the less expected; a blessing of which our ancestors never could dream, when their thoughts were proudest! a blessing for which we ourselves never could hope, when our misfortunes allowed no other consolation but what we were forced to seek in dubious prophecies, or in our almost worn and tried devotion! a blessing, in fine, which late posterity will scarcely believe, be it never so credulous. For our slrares, great Sir, we are forced to confess, that the novelty of our present happiness is still so surprising, that joy of the one side, and wonder of the other, have so divided our souls, that we can scarcely find leisure for a single thought! yet, we cannot but perceive, that as the descending of a God was formerly requisite to the restoring of lapsed men, that even so the coming of a godlike king was absolutely requisite to the redeeming of a loyal, distressed people from a captivity, in its cause, duration, and severity, not to be paralleled in story. In effect, great Sir, faint beams from a distant sun through so many thick intervening clouds, were scarcely able to dissipate the en-> venomed fogs, for almost forty years so predominant in this isle; and nothing less could do it than the more powerful warmth of that sunshine, which on your Majesty's first landing overspread our hemisphere, And though we cannot but utterly abhor and detest the first moving cause of this your most gracious visit, yet cannot we but praise and bless Providence for having raised to us on the perjury, treachery, and perfidiousness of others, a fair opportunity of exerting those loyal principles which our slaughtered ancestors signed with their blood, and avowed with their dying groans. Yes, sacred Sir, it must make for the credit of long wronged Ireland, that she still suffered for and with her royal master; and if now there be found in her any distemper, or present humours, it proceeds from too great fulness of pampered traitors, who, gorged with the fat of loyal sufferers, must at length have broke out in the old sores and ulcers of rebellion. But since it pleased God and you, great Sir, to have preserved the head and heart still sound, the malignance of the distemper being now cast into the extremity of one limb, and the sore being brought to maturity, your Majesty may with safety apply a discretionary medicine. What remains to me, great Sir, is humbly to implore your Majesty's acceptance of a sacrifice which this day I am commissioned to offer: it is, great Sir, the hearts and hands of this adoring crowd-the lives and fortunes of all these, the ancient inhabitants of your Majesty's most loyal town of Drogheda. That their blood is sincere, and proof against the scurvy of rebellion, wit ness ness those walls; witness the pavements, consecrated by the gore of their' ever faithful progenitors. We will conclude, great Sir, with a short prayer; and it is not that your Majesty may either protect us in, or restore us to our lost property, our churches, or our benefices; no, our loyalty is so seraphic, that it rejects all those drossy allays of self-interest; but it is, sacred Sir, that Heaven (whose darling we are sure you are) may grant to your most sacred Majesty, after having dashed to pieces all treasonable and traitorous associations and conspiracies; and after having soared, like a sun in its full meridian, over the heads of all your enemies, and naturally rebellious subjects, after having dismembered rebellion itself, that infernal hydra, and driven it into its hellish mansions, where we were sure it took its first breath, a happy, a speedy, a safe and glorious return to your ancient imperial throne; in success, a Cæsar; in conquest, an Alexander; and a Constantine in religion. DUKE DUKE OF YORK. Speech of Sir Richard Stott, Recorder of the ancient Town of Berwick upon Tweed, spoken to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, upon his Entrance into Berwick. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, WE humbly and heartily congratulate your coming to this poor but ancient town, a place more considerable for its situation than its fortune; yet, happier now than in former times, when it was made a butt for the two kingdoms to shoot at. Without our walls, great Sir, you may see those hills, where that royal blood which runs (happily united) in your princely veins, whilst it was divided betwixt your English and Scottish ancestors, did contend for empire and for glory; and it is our happiness that this place, which was once the utmost limits of two great kingdoms, is now the middle of our sovereign's dominions. We of this corporation were the most ungrateful of subjects, and the unworthiest of men, if we did not pay all duty and obeisance to your princely person. Your royal grandfather (whose sacred name you bear) was our |