Hamilton manuscripts

22
" Item, I observed by the tripartite indenture, dated ult°. April, 1605, aforesaid, that James Hamilton, Esq., was to
bear equal share in the expenses of Con and his followers from the 1st of August preceding that indenture. Thi3
August was A . 1604, which was 2d Jacobi, and was many months after Con was brought to "Whitehall by our Laird, in
all which time and till the said letters to the Deputy, dated the 16th April, 1605, our said Laird and his brother
George, the Dean, had solicited Con's pardon, and the grant for half of his estate, the other moiety to the Laird him-
self, and obtained the King's letters of warrant to the Lord Deputy to pass lelters patent conformably to the said articles
of Braidstane. But this affair taking time, and wind, at Court, was interrupted by Sir James Fullerton, as you have
already heard ; and that therefore the said Con and Hugh Montgomery, of London, Esq., and James Hamilton, of
London, Esq., adjusted affairs between themselves, so that it seems our Laird was knighted in April, 1605, or not lonS
afterwards, but of Knights Bachelor no record is kept, so that for want thereof I must desist my enquiry.
" Item, we have heard also how that after the said overthrow given to the Laird and Con by Sir James Fullerton's
procurement, a letter of warrant to the Lord Deputy, Arthur Lord Chichester, dated the 16th April, 1605, aforesaid,
was granted to pass Con's estate, and some abbey lands, by patent, to James Hamilton, Esq., in his sole name, in trust
for himself, our Laird, and Con, and that ye last day of ye said April ye tripartite indenture was made between the said
three persons.
" Now, to facilitate the performance thereof, Mr. Hamilton returned soon to Dublin with an order for an inquisition
on the lands of the said Con, and on ye abbey lands, which was held the 4th July, 1605, and being returned enrolled in
Sept. next following, and wherein was a reference (for more certainty) unto the office taken 1st Jae. A . 1603, and from
which and the jurors' breefs the last above said inquisition did much vary, as hath been before now related. However,
Mr. Hamilton, ye 20th of ye said July, passed letters patent in his own name, of the premises ; and Sir Hugh Mont-
gomery being arrived in Ireland, with Con, they went to Dublin as aforesaid, where, pursuant to the former said agree-
ments, he did, 1st October next following (as is said), grant the lands of Movilla, Newton, and Grey Abbey, &c, to Sir
H. Montgomery ; then, on the 5th Nov., 1605, passed a more ample patent of Con's estate, and of all the abbey lands
therein ; and, pursuant to agreement with the said Con, Mr. Hamilton grants him his lands in and about Castlereagh,
ye very next day after the date of the said ample patent last above mentioned. So Con's whole affair being done for him,
and he releasing Sir Hugh Montgomery and Mr Hamilton of all contracts and expenses relating thereunto, soon re-
turned to Castlereagh, where I left him treated by his friends and followers as before herein briefly related. In thi»
dispatch is seen Sir Hugh Montgomery's kindness to Con and himself.
" Observe further, as aforesaid, that the said Mr. Hamilton, on the 7th day of the said November, 1605, again
grants to Sir Hugh Montgomery the lands of Newton, Grey Abbey, &c. This was done the next day after Mr. Ha-
milton bad given the deed to Con. No doubt this dispatch pleased every of the three parties for their respective pri-
vate reasons : Con being contented to the full for aught I find to the contrary, and Sir Hugh with whatever he go
(de bene esse) in part for the presents, that they both might more closely follow the plantations they were bound to
make, and therefore Sir Hugh also, after a small stay, returned from Dublin, and on the 15th January of the same
year, 1605, livery of seizin of Con's lands was taken by Sir Cuthbert Montgomery, and given to Sir Hugh in trust
for Con's use, and much about the same time livery of seizin was given to Sir Hugh, pursuant to the said deed, dated
7th of November aforesaid, Jo. Shaw and Patrick Montgomery, Esqrs., being appointed attornies by Mr. Hamilton to
take and deliver the same accordingly.
" These few last rehearsals, being the sum of the chief transactions between Mr. Hamilton, trustee aforesaid, and
Sir Hugh Montgomery and Con before, A°. 1616, I thought it necessary to be recapitulated before I proceed to other
matters done between them after the 2d of August, 1606, on which day the said Con had sold to Sir Hugh Montgo-
mery ^the woods of four town-lands as aforesaid, and then I will (as well as I can) give the narration of Sir Hugh pro-
moting and advancing his plantation after the last-mentioned August. But first I must intimate two things, of which
I shall not write hereafter : The first is that Mr. Hamilton and Sir Hugh were obliged in ten years time, from No-
vember, 1605, to furnish British inhabitants (English and Scotch Protestants) to plant one-third of Con's land*
granted to himself. The second thing was that Mr. Hamilton passed another patent in February, 1605, which is pos-
terior as you now see to that of the 5th November the same year, according to English account or supputation current
in Ireland, by virtue of which patent in November now mentioned, it was that Mr. Hamilton gave the deeds aforesaid