In the same work is the following inquiry from a correspondent: “I never met with anybody but Mr. Thomas Carte who talked of Impartiality and Mr. Thomas Carte in the same breath. But, waiving that question, I cannot help asking—If the Irish Rebellion, and all the mischiefs of that period, are to be attributed to commissions and powers forged by the soi-disant Earl of Glamorgan, what pretence is there for laying all the load and odium thereof upon the Parliament?”
A thin quarto volume of MSS., in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, entitled “Notes on Carte’s History,” contains a note from Mr. Birch, dated 2nd February, 1742–3, to Rev. Mr. Thomas Carte; also, “The full answer to the Bystander, compared with the History of the Life of James Duke of Ormonde, written by the same author, September, 1742;” likewise several letters from Rev. J. Boswell, Taunton; and lastly, the following MS. letter:—
“Sir,—I am very much concerned to find by your last letter that you have received such a message from Mrs. Carte. I persuade myself she would think me entitled to the greatest civility from her, if she was apprised of the friendship which subsisted between me and her late husband. I took no small pains for several years to serve poor Mr. Carte, and had the satisfaction of such a valuable correspondence with him as entitled him to every good office that I could do him. In 1748 I laid before him The Case of the Royal Martyr considered with candour, and he was so good as to approve of it, and earnestly pressed me to print it. In the course of our correspondence I mentioned some difficulties which I had met with in that work, and particularly in relation to some facts which had been misrepresented in a book entitled An Enquiry into the share which King Charles, &c. Mr. Carte, in a series of letters which he favoured me with on that subject, gave me many valuable Notices, which were of great use to me in clearing up those difficulties, and which I have occasionally availed myself of in many parts of my work. It is likely Mrs. Carte may have found copies of those letters, some of which were very long. But as Mr. Carte first sent them to me professedly with design that I should make what use of them I thought proper, I leave Mrs. Carte to consider, whether her finding such copies of letters in her late husband’s own handwriting will give her a claim to any part of my work which you have printed. If Mrs. Carte shall choose to write to me on this affair, I shall be glad to receive a letter from her directed under cover to you.
I am, yours &c.,
The Author of The Case of the Royal Martyr, &.”
July 25th, 1754.
(It has no direction, and the writing is evidently not that of the Rev. J. Boswell, of Taunton.)
Dr. Birch was at variance with Mr. Carte on historical points relating to Charles the First and the Earl of Glamorgan; but in his “Inquiry,” 1756, he never touches on the subject of this pretended forgery of commissions. The charge is every way discreditable to Carte, being a mere theory of his own to give colour to the King’s representations made in public, although well known to have had no effect to alienate old friendship between the King and the Earl.
3. Fanshawe’s story of £8,000. raised in Ireland. Lady Fanshawe’s Memoirs, 1665, written by herself, were printed in London, 1829. In an introductory memoir we are informed:—
“On receiving orders from his Majesty [Charles II.] to deliver the seals to Lord Inchiquin, Mr. Fanshawe proceeded on his mission, and embarked with his wife at Galway, in February, 1650, on board a Dutch ship for Malaga. Their entry into Galway, (which had been devastated by the plague), is deserving of attention, and an anecdote, which is related of the conduct of the Marquis of Worcester to the merchants of that town, if true, reflects equal disgrace on the cause which he espoused and on his memory.”