possession of the temporalities of his see till the accession of Queen Mary. Even then he must have held them only for a little while, as the royal letter granting these temporalities to Roger Skiddy is dated 18th of September, 1557. A curious record of the period gives us an accurate idea of the possessions of the religious houses in the vicinity of Cork: it is a pardon granted to William Bourman for alienating the property of the house of the Friars Preachers, situated in the suburbs of Cork, and the property thus alienated is described as "the site, circuit, and precinct of the monastery, the church, belfry, closes (perhaps this is for clausura), halls and dormitories, castles, messuages, lands, buildings, gardens, mills, and other hereditaments thereunto belonging, an orchard, three gardens, a water-mill, a parcel of meadows containing half a stang, a fishing pool, a salmon weir, three acres called the half scaghbeg, ten acres in Rathminy, and twenty acres in Galliveyston" (Morrin, i. 374).

The next Bishop appointed to the united sees of Cork and Cloyne was Roger Skiddy, who for some time had held the dignity of Dean of Limerick. Queen Mary's letter ordering the restitution of the temporalities to him, is dated the 18th of September, 1557, and it adds that her Majesty "had addressed letters commendatory to his Holiness the Pope a good while since in his favour, and it was hoped he should shortly receive his Bull and expedition from his Holiness" (Ib., i. 377). Letters patent granting the temporalities to him were issued on 2nd November the same year (Ib., i. 373, and Brady, Records, iii. 46), and it is probable that the Bulls from the Holy See were expedited during the interval; for, in an original memorandum preserved in the State Paper Office, London, the remark is made that "the Queen's letters were sent to the Bishop of Rome, and the Bulls were returned thence for the bishoprick of Cork" (Shirley, pag. 115). Nevertheless, this Bishop was not consecrated, neither did he receive possession of the temporalities during the life-time of Queen Mary, although her death did not take place till the 17th of November, 1558. For some time after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, no mention was made of the See of Cork and Cloyne, till on 31st of July, 1562, her Majesty wrote to the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Chancellor, "directing the admission of Roger Skiddy to the bishopricks of Cork and Cloyne, to which he had been previously elected" (Ibid., 472); accordingly, on the 29th of October, 1562, this dignitary was admitted to possession of the temporalities, and a mandate was issued for his consecration, bearing the same date. In his writ of restitution to the temporalities was inserted a retrospective clause, that he should have possession of them from the time of his first advancement by Queen Mary. Whether Dr. Skiddy was actually consecrated or not, no record has been preserved to us, and his consecration in virtue of such a royal mandate would be wholly uncanonical and schismatical. No doubt, however, seems to be entertained of his orthodoxy and devotedness to the Catholic faith: and in 1567, unwilling to lend his name to the religious novelties which the government of the day wished to propagate in the kingdom, he resigned the bishoprick and retired to Youghal, where for several years he devoted his undivided attention to prepare for a happy eternity.

Nicholas Landes was appointed bishop of this see in consistory of 27th of February, 1568/9. The consistorial entry is curious, as it omits all mention of Dr. Skiddy, and describes the see as vacant by the death of Dr. John O'Heyne.

"Die 27º Februarii, 1568: referente Revmo. Cardinali Alciato S. Sanctitas providit Ecclesiae Corcagiensi et Cloinensi invicem unitis, per obitum bonae memoriae Joannis Jadican, ultimi Episcopi vacanti, de persona Rev. D. Nicolai Landes, Hiberni et litteris Episcoporum Catholicorum ejusdem Provinciae atque etiam testimonio Reverendi Patris Wolf S. I. commendati cum retentione rectoriae cum cura donec possessionem Episcopatus adeptus fuerit".

A suggestion has been made that the name Landes is a corruption for some other original name. Such errors in names are certainly very frequent in the consistorial entries of our Irish Bishops: still, two distinct copies of the consistorial acts (viz., the Corsinian and the Vallicellian) retain the present name without variation; and what is still more important, the Brief appointing his successor, Dr. Tanner, in 1574, describes the see as then vacant per obitum Nicolai Landes. Moreover, the name Landey was no novelty in the ecclesiastical records of Ireland in the sixteenth century, an Abbot Landey having held the monastery of St. Mary's, Dublin, during Henry VIII.'s reign, as we learn from the first volume of Morrin's Records.

Dr. Edmund Tanner was next appointed to Cork and Cloyne by brief of 5th November, 1574. There are some peculiar passages in this brief, which merit our attention. Thus it describes Dr. Tanner as "in Theologia Magistrum, de legitimo matrimonio procreatum, in quinquagesimo aetatis anno et presbyteratus ordine constitutum, que fidem Catholicam juxta articulos dudum a Sede Apostolica emanatos professus fuit, cuique de vitae munditia, honestate morum, spiritualium providentia et temporalium circumspectione, aliisque multiplicum virtutum donis fide digna testimonia perhibentur". Subsequently, addressing the clergy and faithful of the united sees, the brief continues:

"Dilectis filiis capitulis et vassallis dictarum Ecclesiarum et populo Corkagen. et Clonen. civitatum et Diocesium, per Apostolica scripta mandamus, quatenus capitula tibi tamquam patri et pastori animarum suarum humiliter intendentes exhibeant tibi obedientiam et reverentiam debitas et devotas: ac clerus te pro nostra et sedis Apostolicae reverentia benigne recipientes et honorifice pertractantes, tua salubria monita et mandata suscipiant humiliter et efficaciter adimplere procurent: populus vero te tamquam patrem et pastorem animarum suarum devote suscipientes et debita honorificentia prosequentes, tuis monitis et mandatis salubribus humiliter intendant. Itaque tu in eis devotionis filios, et ipsi in te per consequens patrem benevolum invenisse gaudeatis".

Moreover, this is the first occasion on which I have found the following clause inserted in the Bull of appointment to the Irish Sees:

"Volumus autem, ut occasio et materia tibi auferatur vagandi, quad extra Corkagen. et Clonen. civitates illarumque Dioeceses etiam de licentia Episcoporum locorum ordinariorum Pontificalia officia exercere nequeas, decernentes irritum et inane quidquid secus per te actum et gestum fuerit" (Ex Secret. Brevium Romae).

Dr. Tanner was consecrated bishop in Rome, and subsequently tarried during the winter months in the Eternal City, laying up spiritual treasures for his future mission. On the 10th of April, 1575, special faculties were granted to him, and he was, moreover, empowered to exercise them not only in his own united Dioceses of Cork and Cloyne, but also "throughout the whole Province of Dublin, of which he was a native (universae provinciae Dublinensis ex qua exoriundus), as well as throughout the whole province of Munster, so long as the various Archbishops and Bishops were obliged by the fury of the persecution to be absent from their respective sees (Ex. Sec. Brev.). About the middle of May the same year, he set out from the Seven Hills to assume the charge assigned to him, and the great Pontiff Gregory XIII. wished to accompany him with the following commendatory letter, dated 12th of May, 1575:—

"Universis et singulis Episcopis atque aliis Praelatis ad quos hae nostrae litterae pervenerint, salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem.

"Ut Nos commendatissimos