Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/447

TYRCONNELL. 445 continued in favour. In 1670 he was the chosen advocate of the Unsuccessful appeal of the Irish Roman Catholics as to their losses in the Koyal cause, and, as such, incurred the dislike of the Duke of Ormonde and the l'rotestant party. In 1072 he was taken prisoner by the Dutch at Solebay ; in 1678 was arrested at Dublin under suspicion of t,le Popish plot," but escaped to France in or before 1679, returning, on the accession of James II., who promoted him to the rank of Lieut. -General,^) and er. him( b ) 20 June 1685;°) BARON OF TALBOTSTOWN, co. Wicklow, VISCOUNT BALTIXGLASS, also in co. Wicklow, and KARL OF TYRCONNKL [I.], with a spec, rem., failing heirs i male of his body, to his nephews Sir William Talbot, Hart. [I.] of Carton, and to William Talbot, of Haggardstone, " EM," respectively, in like manner. He took an active part in carrying out the King's instructions as to remodelling the army in Ireland, of which he was Capt. General (so as to include therein the Unman Catholic-*) and from the close of 16S0 was Vicunny of Iiikland(' 1 ) till James II in person arrived at Dublin 21 March 1688/9, in whose procession he bore the sword of State. By that King he was cc. 30 March 1689 (some four months after his exclusion from the throne «f Kngland tint while lie was still de <arto King of Ireland) MARQUESS AND DUKK 01-' TVIt' ONNKI.L [I. a creation duly enrolled and never erased from the patent rolls [I. ] v c ) The Regiment of horse, of which he was Colonel, was one of the two( r ) that suffered most at the fatal battle of the Royne. After a visit to France, to urge the sending of the promised supplies, he returned in Jan. 16P0/I, and exerted himself vigorously for the defence of Limerick, where he d. suddenly of apoplexy 14 Aug. 1691. s.p.m., and was bur. at St. Minchin's in that city. He had been attainted by William 1 1 1, early in 1691, when all his honours became forfeited.^) He m. firstly Katharine BoYNTON.(a) He m. secondly, 1679, in Paris, Frances, widow (") As "a man of great abilities and clear courage, and one who for many years had a true attachment to His Majesty's person aud interest " [D* Alton's " King James's frith Army List, 1689.' ] () See vol. iv, p. 9, note " c " tub " Galway " for a list of the Irish peerages made by James II. bef,,re his exile. ( c ) The preamble to the patent recites " his immaculate a'legianc; aud his infinitely great services performed to the Kiog and to Charles II. in Kngland, Ireland and foreign parts, in which he suffeivd frequent imprisonment! and many great wounds. i,' 1 ) Thomas, Karl of Ailesbury (" Memoirs ") says of this appointment that Tyrcounel " was a particular friend of mine as to common conversation, and living in the world, SO 1 knew him perfectly well, and of consequence that he was, of all men, the most improper person to be thus dignified." {") See vol. i, p. .19, note " b," sub " Albcrmarle, fur similar creations by James II. (0 Col. Parker's horse was the other. («) In person he was (see Grammout's " Memoirs ") far above the common stature, tho' extremely graceful and well made. His size is wittily alluded to, when called " lloliath" defeated by *' I'acid." on the occasion of his attentions to Frances Hamilton being, at first", neglected for those of " Ic petit " Jermyu. He became latterly very unwieldy, hence Andrew Marvell ["Advice to a I'ainttr' ] writes:— " Next, Talbot must by his great Master stand, Laden with folly, flesh, and ill-got land." Of him, Burke [Extinct Peerage] (quoting "an eloquent writer ") writes, "Much ill has been written and more believed, but his history ... has only been written by the pen of party, steeped in gall . ■ . Two qualities he possessed in an eminent degree— Wit and Valour . . . devotion to his country and fidelity to the family, with whose exile he began life and with whose ruin he finished it." The most eminent ol his vituperators is I.ord Macaulay (in whose " ///*•;/ " he Sgurcs as ■ lyu,,/ Dick Talbot"), who credits him with most of [if not all] the vices which are mcident to human nature, the epithets of ; ' Sharper, Bully, Bravo, Pimp, Sycophant and " Hypocrite" being but tome out of those he applies to hun. This ™wot Ins character may however be, charitably and not inaptly, coupled with the words of Mason [Hist, of St. Patrick's Oath ], " Whatever was his faults, he had the rare merit ot sincere attachment to an unfortunate Master. ('>) In the last chapter of the Grammont memoirs it is stated that lalbot, without knowing why or wherefore, took to wife the languishing Boyuton.