thofe cables that are not fufficiently ftrong for a fhip to ride with, in the ufual loading places, or any fails blown to pieces by ftormy weather, in the common courfe of a voyage, fhould not be paid for by the infurers; as it might be an incitement for masters to go without good ones.

When things are loft, for which the infurers are liable to pay, the question naturally arifes, how, and at what value, they ought to make fatisfaction? For the value they had at the place from whence the infurance commenced, and the premium was paid, might not be fo much as the purchase of others in lieu of them. Our opinion in this cafe is, that the infurers fhould not be responsible for the whole of what the replacing them may coft, but that a part of it ought to be borne by the owners of the fhip, in proportion to what it could be proved they would be benefited by the voyage, or what their freight exceeded the outfet infured in the ship's ‹ valuation. Suppofe a new-built fhip, of 600 tons, bound from London to the Eaft-Indies, amounts, with all ftores, • provifions, and advanced money to the failors, in the whole, as fitted for fea, to 10000l. and is infured in full for that fum: in her return the happens to lofe her foremast and bowsprit, by crouding fail upon a lee-fhore, which to replace on the fpot coft 1500/. tho' in London it might have been bought for 500l. we are of opinion, that in this cafe, if the home-freight on goods aboard amounted to There might be deducted for victualling and wages of 60 hands, for fix months, we fuppofe, wanting to accomplish the voyage,

• Other charges

Rifk for the owners

L. 900

-

L. 8000

300-1200

L. 6800

The most equitable way then would be, to make The infurers bear for L. 10000 of the above SL.892 144 6800 $1500/

The owners for

{

607

L. 1500

24

The above particulars will be fufficient to give the reader an idea of this performance; for with regard to the remarkable cafes contained in it, tho' very curious, and well worth the perufal of all concerned in affurances, extracts from them would too much extend this article; and therefore the reader muft, for thefe, have recourfe to the work itfelf, where he will meet with a very large and inftructive collection.

B

ART.

ART. XL. The Peerage of Ireland; or, A genealogical history of the prefent nobility of that kingdom; with their paternal coats of arms, engraven on copper. Collected from the public records, authentic manufcripts, approved hiftorians, well attefted pedigrees, and perfonal information. By Mr. Lodge, deputykeeper of the records in Bermingham-Tower. 8vo. 4 vols. 11. 45. Johnfton.

TH

HIS work (according to Mr. Lodge's own account of it in the preface) contains the hiftory of all the noble families which at prefent compofe the peerage of Ireland, together with those of their defcendants; and as many of their ancestors, from time to time, have had a notable share in the government and tranfactions of the kingdom, the hiftory thereof, lo far as they were engaged, is faithfully (tho' briefly) related.'-He afterwards adds, as a chief inducement with him to take up the pen, that when he confifidered in what an advantageous point of light the peerage of England hath been placed [by Mr. Collins] he no longer hefitated to attempt fhewing the world a fimilar hiftory of the peers of Ireland; who, in their collective capacity, may vie, perhaps, with those of any kingdom in Europe, in every thing that is truly great, and truly noble.'

With regard to the materials from whence this work was collected, and the authorities upon which it refts, Mr. Lodge's account is as follows, in his own words :- My first care then,

after I had engaged, was to read the most approved histories of England and Ireland; and when I had extracted thence fuch remarkable cvents, and principal facts, as were pertinent to the fubject, I obtained an admiffion to the records and manufcripts of the kingdom.--The most honourable houfe of peers were pleafed to favour me with a general order to infpect their journals. The univerfity of Dublin gave me free access to their choice (I may call it invaluable) collection of manuscripts; among which are many curious volumes of pedigrees, chiefly collected by the ingenious Mr. Molyneux, Ulfter king of arms; feveral original vititation books of countics in England, by the heralds of that kingdom, with many others, of equal importance to my defign. I alfo ranfacked the library of St. Sepulchre, peruled the wills in the preroga tive office, and confulted the registries of moft churches in • Dublin, with fome in the country: but what supplied the defects of other repofitories, corrected the mistakes of several writers, afcertained the dates of creations, commiffions, em

6

• ploy.

ployments, &c. deduced the genealogy of divers families, and all this without the poffibility of error, were the two in• exhaustible funds of hiftory, the rolls office (whose records • I had the liberty to infpećt) and Bermingham-Tower.'

Befides the above helps, he acknowledges his obligations to many noblemen, who favoured him with their pedigrees, or other perfonal informations.-The following account of the plan of the work, in the author's own words, may, perhaps, fatisfy our readers, that a regular abstract thereof could not poffibly be given within the narrow limits of one of our articles. And as genealogical enquiries neceflarily appear tedious to most readers, we muft beg leave to refer such as are of a different tafte to the work itfelf, where, we truft, they will meet with ample fatisfaction.-But hear our author himself.The method I have taken in compiling this hiftory, has been ⚫ contrived as much for the reader's ease and service, as I could • poffibly conceive in fo complicated a work. In order to pre• ferve the text from being tedious or confused, I have thrown the preambles of patents, grants of lands, and other collate⚫ral matters, into notes; which I have allo interfperfed with accounts of feveral families of diftinction, allied to the nobility by marriage, and have supplied the text with marginal references, to facilitate the reader's occafional recourfe to any particular nobleman, or branch of his family; to which is • added, an index of every name mentioned in the work.'

·

In order to give fome kind of fpecimen, in what manner Mr. Lodge deduces the pedigrees of families, we fhall infert an abstract of that of the antient house of Kildare; the account of which fingle family takes up no less than 49 pages in his book. -The family of Fitz-gerald derives its origin from the antient dukes of Tuscany, a defcendant of whofe, named Othe, was a baron of England in the time of K. Edward the Confeffor, and was father of Walter Fitz-otho, who, in 1078, was caftellan of Windfor, and had three fons, 1. Gerald, the direct ancestor of this family. 2. Robert de Windfor, who was baron of Eftaines in Effex. He bore arms, diftinguifhed from thofe of the chief branch, [which are argent, a jaltire, gules,] by tranfpofing the tinctures, adding a bordure engrailed, argent, and charging the faltire with a crefcent, as fecond fon. 3. William, who allo aflumed the furnaine of Vindfor, from his father's office, and bore the family arms with the tinctures tranfpofed, and the field charged with twelve croflets, or. From him are defcended the Earl of Plymouth, and Lord Viscount Windfor: Gerald, the eldeft, had three fons, 1. Maurice Fitz-gerald. 2. William Fitzgerald, from whom defcended the family of A Ge

Gerard, earls of Macclesfield, which became extinct 1702; and alfo that of the prefent earl of Kerry. 3. David Fitz-gerald, bishop of St. David's, 1147. Maurice, the eldeft, went into Ireland, anno 1169, being fent before Richard Strongbow, eark of Pembroke, to affift the king of Leinster to regain his kingdom, from which he had been expelled by the king of Cannaught. They landed at Wexford, and, by reducing that place, opened a way for fubjecting the kingdom to the crown of England.-He was afterwards engaged in almost every battle with the Irish, until King Henry II. went over, and received the fubmiflion of their princes and chiefs.-In recompence of his fervices in accomplishing the reduction of the kingdom, he had afterwards confirmed to him divers lands in Leinster, amongst which was the barony of Offaley.

For a fucceffion of eight generations, his defcendants were barons of Offaley; one of whom, Thomas, the feventh Lord Offaley, was nick-named Simiacus, or the ape; which appellation was given to him on the following occafion. Being ⚫ only nine months old when his father and grandfather were both killed,' [in a rencounter with the Irish] and the news of their death being brought to Tralee, where he was nurfed; the nurses, in their firft aftonishment, ran out of the house, leaving the child in the cradle; when a baboon, or ape, which was kept in the family, took it to the top of the fteeple of Tralee-abby, and after carrying it around the battlements, and fhewing it for fome time to the aftonifhed fpectators, brought it down fafe, and laid it in the cradle.' This extraordinary fact is perpetuated by the house of Kildare's [ftill] bearing, as the principal and immediate defcendants of this Thomas the Ape, the monkies for their fupporters and creft, in a grateful re'membrance of his prefervation. And the late earl of Kildare, alluding to this event, did fometimes use, as a motto over the creft, the words, Non immemor beneficii; in which he is followed by the prefent earl.'

John, the eighth Lord Offaley, had great variance with William Vefey, lord of Kildare, and L. J. of Ireland in 12915 which obliged his lordship to appeal to the king, [Edward I.] who fent for them both into England, and heard their caufe: • After which Lord Offaley (according to the cuftom of that age) challenged the L. J. to clear himself by combat; which being accepted, and the day appointed, Vefcy conveyed himfelf into France, to avoid the trial; whereupon the king pronounced Lord Offaley innocent, and beftowed on him Vefcy's lordships and manors of Kildare, Rathangan, &c. saying, That altho' he had conveyed his perfon into France, be bad

left

left his lands behind him in Ireland.'-In 1312, this Lord Of faley was fent general into Munster, to fupprefs the Irish, then in arms; and in 1315, Edward Bruce, brother to Robert 'king of Scotland, entering the north of Ireland with 6000 men, was crowned king of Ireland at Dundalk, and wasted the country, until the Lord Offaley, among others, vigorously refifted his attempts; who frequently defeating his Scots and and the Irish with great flaughter, he called in his brother Robert to affift him; who, landing at Carrickfergus in 1316, took that caftle; and his lordfhip marching against him, to fruftrate his designs, King Edward II. as well to reward his <fervices, as to engage him to his interefts, created him earl of Kildare, by letters patent, dated 14 May, 1316.'-He himself enjoyed this honour but a fhort time, his death happening in September following: upon which his fon, Thomas, the fecond earl of Kildare, was appointed commander of 30,000 men, to fight Edward Bruce and the Scots: but Bruce, advertifed of the defign, retired into Ulfter, was killed in 1318, his army defeated, and an end put to the Scottish kingdom in Ireland.

After recounting the above particulars, Mr. Lodge proceeds to deduce the pedigree of the family, thro' a long feries of eminent perfons, in a very accurate manner, down to James, the prefent earl of Kildare, who is the twentieth in fucceffion, of the houfe of Fitz-gerald, to whom that title has belonged. But as a complete deduction of this kind might probably be thought dry, and tedious, by many of our readers, we fhall content ourselves with obferving, that his lordfhip was created a peer of Great Britain in 1746, by the ftile and title of Vifcount Leinfter of Taplow, Bucks; having not long before married the Lady Amelia Lenox, daughter to the late duke of Richmond, by whom he hath two fons, and two daughters, viz. George Lord Offaley, born 1747; Robert, born 1748; Lady Caroline Elizabeth-Mabel, born 1750; and Lady Amelia-Mary, born 1752.

In the beginning of each volume, the arms, crefts, fupporters, and mottos of the peers contained therein, are engraved very diftinctly upon copper-plates; tho' not always with that accuracy that might be wifhed. For inftance, the arms of the earl of Barrymore, are properly blazoned in the body of the book thus, Pearl, three barrs-gemelles, ruby.' But in the plate they are thus engraven-Barry of fix, pearl and ruby. Thus again, Mr. Lodge in the book tells us, (rightly we believe) that the earl of Befsborough bears for his creft-in a ducal coronet, topaz, three arrows with heads downwards,

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