INTRODUCTION. IT has been thought desirable at this stage of the Calendar to publish an account of the miscellaneous papers collected by Sir George Carew from various quarters. These papers are of great interest; the originals from which they were copied have either been in a great measure dispersed or totally lost in the political disturbances to which Ireland has been exposed since the death of Sir George. They range through various periods, from the reign of Henry II. to the close of the sixteenth century. As the original collector had no other object in view than to extract from every accessible source whatever tended to throw light upon the history of Ireland, without regard to order, arrangement of time or subject, these miscellaneous entries could not be treated in the same way, as the state papers and letters of the previous volumes, without great confusion. It has been thought better therefore to retain the order in which they stand in Carew's own manuscripts. It is hoped that a careful index of their contents and of the names of all individuals or families mentioned in them will enable the reader to turn at once to such information as he is in quest of, and remove any confusion that might otherwise arise in adopting this mode of publication. Whenever it happened, as might be expected, in the course of Carew's researches that he lighted upon an original document, or had preserved the original as well as a copy, such original has been already noticed in its due chronological order, and will be found in its proper place. Of this the reader is apprised in the notes subjoined to the Calendar. In other cases, as the extracts made by Carew are of a very miscellaneous nature, amounting at one time to no more than two or three, at another time to a dozen or more, selected first from one manuscript and then from another, according as opportunity offered, to have separated them from the order in which they now stand, and have adopted a different arrangement, seemed very liable to lead to confusion. And further, as the value of the extracts depends in a great measure on the character of the manuscript or the authority from which they are derived, it was the more necessary to retain the original order; otherwise evidence derived from clear and authentic sources would have been mixed up with what was doubtful or fabulous, and no means would have existed for testing the exact credibility of both. Many of these extracts are exceedingly curious, and throw great light on the history of Ireland and its relations with this country. Among them may be noticed the proceedings of the unhappy Richard II. during his visit to Ireland; notices relating to Lambert Simnel in the reign of Henry VII., and to the Earl of Kildare in the same reign. Some judgment may be formed of the real value of these extracts from the copious use made of them by Richard Cox, recorder of Kinsale, in his History of Ireland. Much of the most valuable information furnished by Cox was derived from these collections of Carew; and the constant references in the margin of his pages to Lib. H. Lambeth, Lib. G. Lambeth, Lib. C. C. C. Lambeth, and sometimes. Lib. Z.Z. or Lib. P., without the addition of the word |