Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/412

 3IG PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF and the residence of Spenser the poet ; and the place where, as it is believed, he composed the "Faery Queene." The ruined remains are noticed in Dr. Smith's " Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork," (Vol. i., p 333.) The poet had attended Lord Grey de Wilton, appointed Lord Deputy of h-eland in 1580, in the (piality of his secretary, and having received a grant from Elizabeth, in 1587, of more than three hundred acres in the co. Cork, portion of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond, Spenser fixed his residence at the picturesque castle above mentioned. There was an original portrait of the poet preserved at Castle Saffron, in the neighbourhood.® The curious cups, here represented on a reduced scale, from Mr. Hoare's drawings, measure, respectively, in height, 31 in. and 3^ in. by 3i in,, and 3 in. diam. at the mouth ; diam. of the foot at bottom, 1^ in. Mr. Iloare supposes that they might have been chalices, but it is more probable that they served as drinking cups, and that their date is not prior to the sixteenth century. Mr. Holmes, referring to the communication made at the previous meeting by Mr. Burtt, (see p. 212) regarding the conspirator, Babington, and his fruitless appeal to the commiseration of Elizabeth, brought before the Society the draft of the proclamation for ensuring his apprehension, now preserved amongst the Lansdowne MSS. This document, of which a transcript was sent, presents numerous interlineations and additions in the hand-writing of Lord Burgliley, and amongst them is the curious precaution that portraitures of the conspirators should be set forth in public places, to prevent the possibility of their escape. The Rev. J. Hamilton Gkay remarked that the expedient sagaciously devised by Burghley, was not without counterpart in recent times, lie alluded to the romantic history of Lady Ogilvic, the heroine of the young Chevalier's enterprise in 1745. On her flight, portraits of her were directed to be sent to the sea-ports, to be taken on board vessels outward « Biogr. Brit., vol. vi., pp. 3807, 3813. It is stated that this portrait was sub- sequently removed to Cork. lu 1 750 it was in the possession of Mr. Love, of Castle Saffron. Gent. Mag., vol. Ix.vxviii., part i., p. 224.