—­Mirrour for Magistrates, vol. ii. p. 189.

Hall, in his Union of the Two Noble Houses (1548), wrote that York “got him such love and favour of the country [Ireland] and the inhabitants, that their sincere love and friendly affection could never be separated from him and his lineage.”

[369] Hobbies.—­Irish horses were famous from an early period of our history.  They were considered presents worthy of kings.  The name hobbies is a corruption of hobilarius, a horseman.  It is probable the term is derived from the Spanish caballo, a horse.  There were three different Irish appellations for different kinds of horses, groidh, each, and gearran.  These words are still in use, but capall is the more common term.

[370] Book.—­This ancient MS. is still in existence, in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud, 610).  It is a copy of such portions of the Psalter of Cashel as could then be deciphered, which was made for Butler, by Shane O’Clery, A.D. 1454.  There is an interesting memorandum in it in Irish, made by MacButler himself:  “A blessing on the soul of the Archbishop of Cashel, i.e., Richard O’Hedigan, for it was by him the owner of this book was educated.  This is the Sunday before Christmas; and let all those who shall read this give a blessing on the souls of both.”

[371] Ireland.—­The Annals of Ulster, compiled by Maguire, Canon of Armagh, who died A.D. 1498.

[372] London.—­The Irish Yorkists declared that this youth was a counterfeit.  The Earl of Lincoln, son of Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of Richard III., saw and conversed with the boy at the court at Shene, and appeared to be convinced that he was not his real cousin, for he joined the movement in favour of Simnel immediately after the interview.  Mr. Gilbert remarks in his Viceroys, p. 605, that the fact of all the documents referring to this period of Irish history having been destroyed, has been quite overlooked.  A special Act of Poyning’s Parliament commanded the destruction of all “records, processes, ordinances, &c., done in the ‘Laddes’ name.”

[373] Authority.—­Gilbert’s Viceroys, p. 605.  The English Parliament attainted those English gentlemen and nobles who had fought against the King at Stoke, but they took no notice of the English in Ireland, who were the real promoters of the rebellion.  This is a curious and valuable illustration of the state of affairs in that country.

[374] Firing it.—­A valuable paper on this subject, by Sir S.R.  Meyrick, will be found in the Archaeologia, vol. xxii.  The people of Lucca are supposed to have been the first to use hand-cannons, at the beginning of the fifteenth century.  Cannon-balls were first made of stone, but at the battle of Cressy the English “shot small balls of iron.”  For popular information on this subject, see Fairholt, History of Costume.