Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/110

Charles II the Catholics which the majority of the colonists were disposed to demand; and he exerted himself with a zeal and energy beyond all praise to repair the ravages of the Cromwellian wars and to promote the material prosperity of the country. His position, however, was one of extreme difficulty; for, while his mild and tolerant policy alienated the more violent Protestants from his government, an active party among the dispossessed proprietors continued to agitate for the repeal or modification of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, and intrigued, as an indispensable preliminary to that measure, to procure the recall of the Lord Lieutenant. Of this party Peter Talbot, afterwards titular Archbishop of Dublin, and his brother Richard, described by Carte as "a man of good parts and great vivacity," were the acknowledged chiefs. The great part which the younger brother afterwards played in the history of his country, and the cloud of calumny which has obscured his memory must be my justification for a somewhat lengthy notice of his career and character. Descended from one of the most illustrious houses of the Anglo-Norman Pale, Talbot, like many others of his order, had combined an unshaken fidelity to the English monarchy with an unswerving devotion to the Roman Catholic 98