Wallington.
_David Routh, R. C. Bishop of Ossory_ (Vol. iii., p. 169.).--In the article
on a Cardinal's Monument, by MR. J. GRAVES, of Kilkenny, allusion is made
to the monument of the above Catholic Bishop Routh or Rothe, as being in
the Cathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny, with his arms "surmounted by a
_cardinal's hat_," and that he died some years after 1643. If MR. GRAVES
would give the date of this prelate's decease, or rather a copy of the full
inscription on his monument, with a notice of the sculptured armorial
bearings thereupon, he would be conferring a favour on a distant inquirer;
and as MR. GRAVES is, apparently, a resident at Kilkenny, no obstacle
exists to prevent his complying with this request.
Any notices procurable regarding Bishop Routh are well deserving of
insertion in "N. & Q.," for he was a man of deep learning and research, and
is well known to have assisted the celebrated Archbishop Ussher of Armagh
in the compilation of his _Primordia_, for which he had high compliments
paid him by that eminent prelate, notwithstanding their being of different
religions.
Bishop Routh was also himself the author of a work on _Irish Ecclesiastical
History_, now very rare, and seldom procurable complete. He published it
anonymously, in two volumes 8vo., in the year 1617, at "Coloniæ, apud
Steph. Rolinum," with the following rather long title:
"Analecta Sacra, Nova, et Mira, de Rebus Catholicorum in Hibernia:
Divisa in tres partes, quarum I, Continet semestrem gravaminam
relationem, secundâ hac editione novis adauctam additamentis, et Notis
illustratam. II. Parænesin ad Martyres designatos. III. Processum
Martyrialem quorundam Fidei Pugilium; Collectore et Relatore, T. N.
Philadelpho."
I fear this has degenerated from a Note into a Query; however, I may state
in conclusion, that MR. GRAVES is in error in styling the hat on Bishop
Routh's monument a cardinal's, for all Catholic prelates, and abbots also,
have their armorial bearings surmounted by a hat, exactly similar to a
cardinal's hat, with this difference only, that the number of tassels
depending from it varies according to the rank of the prelate, from the
_cardinal's_ with fifteen tassels in five rows, down to that of a _prior_
with three only on each side in two rows.