Montgomery manuscripts

VI
Preface.
toms and manners. I am very sorry the condition of the copies you made use of obliged you to
omit the appendix, which must have contained much that was curious and interesting."
When preparations were to be made for the new edition, no trace of the original Manuscripts
from which the volume of 1830 had been printed could be found, and the present editor was
reluctantly compelled to adopt the modernized orthography of that volume, without having thus
the best means of correcting misprints, or of supplying many words and even whole sen-
tences that have been omitted in the first edition without explanation. The reader will observe
that in the new edition the contents of the Manuscripts have been re-arranged, being now placed
according to the order in which they were written, and so as to preserve, as much as possible,
the continuity of the author's narrative. To the memoirs contained in the first edition, three
others of much interest and value have been here added, two of which arenow printed for the
first time, the third being a reprint from the ninth volume of the Ulster Journal of Archaology.
The history of these three additional memoirs, so far as known to the editor, will be found in the
notes, and need not be repeated here.
Without entering into any recapitulation of the subject matter of the Montgomery Manuscripts,
it may be stated, generally, that the reader will here meet witrfmany curious illustrations of the
sentiments and manners of the age in which they were written. Among such illustrations may be
mentioned — the bloody and protracted feud between the Montgomerys and Cunninghams of
Scotland ; the escape, or rescue, of Con O'Neill from Carriclcfergus Castle ; the return of that chief-
tain to Castlereagh, from London, after kissing the king's hand, and obtaining a royal grant of the
third part of his own estates ; the commencement and progress of the new Scottish colony at
Newtown in the Ards ; the massacre, by woodkern, of the whole family, save one, of the Montgo-
merys of Gransheogh ; the meeting of bishop George Montgomery and Dr. James Ussher in Lon-
don, and their interviews with James I. ; the rencounter of the fat (first) earl of Clanbrassill with
the Brownie at Newtown-house ; the violence of sir Bryan O'Neill in the house of parliament and
in the court of king's bench ; the heraldic display observed at the funerals of the first and third
viscounts Montgomery ; the author's re-entry into Rosemount after being excluded from it, by the
officers of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, for the space of nine years ; his hunt after his
reprizals throughout various counties of Ireland ; his interview with primate Bramhall on the way
to Lisburn; his meeting with the duke of Ormond at Carrickfergus in 1666 ; and his preparation
of his own tomb, including the several curious inscriptions for it, two of which have been only
recently discovered, and are recorded at page 405 of this volume.
The editor has now only, in conclusion, to express his gratitude for much friendly aid received
in the course of his labours. The kind offices of the Rev. Dr. Reeves of Tynan have been un-
wearying and pre-eminent, this very distinguished scholar and writer having read over and assisted
in the correction of every proof-sheet of the entire work. Among many others, whose assistance
was always promptly rendered when required, the editor's acknowledgments are especially due to
the Rev. Dr. Macllwaine, Belfast; colonel F. O. Montgomery, of the North Down Rifles; Daniel
De la Cherois, esq., Donaghadee ; Hugh Montgomery, esq., of Gransheogh and Greyabbey;
R. B. Houston, esq., Orangefield, Belfast; the Rev. James Graves, Kilkenny; J. W. Hanna, esq.,