(Vol. ix., pp. 30, 31. 401.)
I was much pleased at MR. D'ALTON'S announcement of his work; and I should
have responded to it sooner, if I could have had any idea that he did not
possess King's _State of the Protestants in Ireland_; but his inquiry about
Colonel Sheldon, in Vol. ix., p. 401., shows that he has not consulted that
work, where (p. 341.) he will find that Dominick Sheldon was
"Lieutenant-General of the Horse." But after the enumeration of the General
Staff, there follows a list of the field officers of eight regiments of
horse, seven of dragoons, and fifty of infantry. In Tyrconnel's regiment of
horse, Dominick Sheldon appears as lieutenant-colonel. This must have been,
I suppose, a Sheldon junior, son or nephew of the lieutenant-general of
horse. This reference to King's work has suggested to me an idea which I
venture to suggest to MR. D'ALTON as a preliminary to the larger work on
Irish family genealogies which he is about, and for which we shall {545}
have I fear to wait too long. I mean an immediate reprint (in a separate
shape) of the several lists of gentlemen of both parties which are given in
King's work. This might be done with very little trouble, and, I think,
without any pecuniary loss, if not with actual profit. It would be little
more than pamphlet size. The first and most important list would be of the
names and designations of all the persons included in the acts of attainder
passed in King James's Irish Parliament of May, 1689. They are, I think,
about two thousand names, with their residences and personal designations;
and it is interesting to find that a great many of the same families are
still seated in the same places. These names I think I should place
alphabetically in one list, with their designations and residences; and any
short notes that MR. D'ALTON might think necessary to correct clerical
error, or explain doubtful names: longer notes would perhaps lead too far
into family history for the limited object I propose.
In a second list, I would give the names of King James's parliament, privy
council, army, civil and judicial departments, as we find them in King,
adding to them an alphabetical index of names. The whole would then exhibit
a synopsis of the names, residences, and politics of a considerable portion
of the gentry of Ireland at that important period.