recorded. It was probably in connection with his office of papal Nuncio, for he continued, even when Bishop of Man, to exercise the duties of Nuncio of the Holy See for Ireland—(Mon. Vatican. pag. 365: Munch, loc. cit. pag. 31). In 1395 Dr. Dougan was, by Bull of Pope Boniface III., translated to Down. He received many favours from King Henry IV., and on the 16th of September, 1405, we find a commission addressed to him (published by Rymer), authorizing him and Jenico d'Artois to negociate a peace between the Irish northern chieftains and the "Lord of the Isles". Dr. Dougan died in 1412.

The next Bishop of Down was John Sely, who had hitherto been a Benedictine monk, and prior of the Cathedral of St. Patrick. He governed this diocese from 1413 to 1441, when it was united to the See of Connor. The bishops of both sees had more than once represented to the king and to the Holy See the inadequacy of their respective revenues to support with due decorum the episcopal dignity. On the 29th of July, 1438, a royal decree was published permitting these bishops to sue in Rome for a union of their sees: it states as the motive for granting this permission that both sees, "uti fidedigna relatione suscepimus, adeo tenues sunt et exiles ut ipsarum neutra in suis fructibus et proventibus decentiae sufficiat Episcopali". Pope Eugene IV. lent a willing ear to the petition of the Bishops, and no sooner had the Bishop of Down resigned his see than John, Bishop of Connor, was by a special brief constituted at the same time Bishop of Down, and in the following year a papal constitution was published, instituting a real and perpetual union of both sees. Many controversies subsequently arose, especially in regard to the temporalities of the See of Down; Bishop John, however, continued in undisturbed possession of the united dioceses till his death, in 1450, and his successors have ever since retained the title of Bishops of Down and Connor.

The chapter of the united dioceses elected Robert Rochfort to fill the vacant see. He was also strongly recommended to the Holy Father by Primate Mey, who, writing to Pope Nicholas V., on 10th of April, 1451, mentions among his other good qualities that he was "lingua Anglicana et Hibernicâ facundus". Pope Nicholas, however, had already chosen another pastor for that fold, and Richard Wolsey, of the order of St. Dominick, was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor by brief of 21st June, 1451. In this brief the See is described as vacated by the demise of "Thomas, last Bishop of the canonically united Dioceses of Down and Connor". It is added that the new bishop, Dr. Wolsey, was a professed member of the order of St. Dominick, remarkable for his zeal, and prudence, and other virtues—(De Burgo, pag. 474). He held the see for more than five years, and had for his successor Thomas, prior of St. Catherine's, Waterford, who was consecrated by Archbishop Mey on the 31st of May, 1456. His Episcopate lasted for thirteen years, and we find a letter of Paul II. addressed to him on the 16th of April, 1469, empowering him to grant to the friars observant of St. Francis some houses which had been abandoned by the conventual branch of the Franciscan order. This beautiful letter thus begins: "Inter caeteros ordines in agro dominico plantatos sacrum ordinem beati Francisci gerentes in visceribus caritatis, ad ea ex pastorali officio nobis Divina dispensatione commisso libenter intendimus, per quae ordo ipse ad laudem Dei et exaltationem fidei Catholicae ubilibet reflorescat"—(Mon. Vatic., page 461).

He was succeeded by Thadeus, who was consecrated at Rome, in the Church of St. Mary Supra Minervam, on the 10th of September, 1469. His death is registered in the year 1486, and his successor, Tiberius, during along and eventful episcopate, governed this see till his death in 1519. Ware, indeed, supposed that his episcopate continued till circa an. 1526; but Reeves discovered an ancient record which describes the see as vacant by our bishop's death in 1519—(Ec. Antiq., page 160).

The historians of the Augustinian order mention a Bishop Thadeus, who seems to have succeeded in 1520, and held the see till 1526. Robert Blyth, a Benedictine and abbot of the monastery of Thorney, in Cambridgeshire, received this diocese in commendam by royal privilege in 1526. Dr. Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, refused to give his sanction to this commendatory jurisdiction, and appointed to various benefices of Down and Connor, assigning as his motive the absence of the bishop, "in remotis agentis sine licentia summi Pontificis aut Metropolitani sui". Dr. Blyth, however, continued to administer the diocese till 1540, when he resigned this charge, and had for his successor Eugene Magennis, who was proclaimed in consistory Bishop of Down and Connor in 1541. This Bishop submitted his Bulls to the crown in 1542, and hence was admitted not only to the temporalities of the see, but received in addition other ecclesiastical benefices. On May 9th, 1543, a further writ of pardon was issued in his favour (see Morrin, i. 91); but in all these acts of submission no mention is made of the royal supremacy. The position of his see rendered his submission in temporals too important to the crown to introduce any such embittering clause, and, in fact, the northern chieftains who submitted at the same time were exempted from all reference to religion when professing their allegiance to the government. At all events, no doubt can be entertained of the orthodoxy of this prelate, and in addition to the proofs adduced by other writers, we may mention the consistorial record for the appointment of his successor, in which the see is described as vacant, not by the apostacy or deposition, but simply as is usual in regard of the Catholic bishops, per obitum Eugenii Magnissae.

The precise date of Dr. Eugene's death cannot be fixed with certainty. There is a petition addressed from Carrickfergus to the crown, printed by Shirley (page 132), which is generally supposed to fix the see as vacant in 1563. This petition, however, merely sets forth the desire that, "for the better establishment and countenance of the religion of the Gospel", her Majesty might prefer "some worthy learned man to the Bishopric of Down, a goodly benefice, within the Pale ... who might with special severity establish order in the Church". No mention is made of the death of Dr. Eugene, or of the vacancy of the see; and the desire of the petitioners to have a Protestant bishop, without mentioning such a vacancy, seems to us rather to be a proof that the orthodox bishop was still living. However, the petition bears no date, and Shirley merely marks it as, "supposed date, 1563", under which heading he includes the first month of 1564.

Miler M'Grath, the next bishop, was appointed in consistory of 12th Oct., 1565: "Referente Eminentissimo Cardinali Simonetta, Ecclesiae Dunensi et Connorensi vacanti per obitum Eugenii Magnissae, praefectus fuit fr. Milerius Macra eodem loco Dunii oriundus professus ord. S. Francisci conventualium Presbyter", etc. The appointment of M'Grath had been earnestly opposed by the holy Primate Dr. Creagh, as he himself attests in his depositions made in the Tower of London. Indeed the only recommendation which seems to have been made was from the northern princes, many of whom solicited his appointment to the see, because he was foster-brother of their cherished chieftain, Shane O'Neill. This relationship between O'Neill and M'Grath is expressly mentioned in a Vatican paper, and is the sole key to many documents of the period which hitherto have been an enigma to our ecclesiastical historians. Though M'Grath after a few years embraced a schismatical connection with the Elizabethan government, Rome, through respect for his family, and in hopes that reflection would bring him back from his