The Right Hon. W. B. CONYNGHAM to Mr. NICHOLS. "SIR, Dublin, July 7, 1791. "I had the honour of receiving your letter inclosing to me the copy of a letter to Mr. Burton, of Leicestershire, relative to Sir William de Burton mentioned in Camden's Annals. His inquiries probably tended to find out whether that Sir William was of the Yorkshire or Leicestershire Burtons; and, though it gives no light upon the subject, I feel myself under obligations to you for taking the trouble to satisfy my curiosity. I wish I could in any shape be of service to you in this country; in which case I hope you will be as ready to apply to me as I was to you, through Sir Joseph Banks.

"I find this William de Burton was very confidentially employed by Edward the Third as early as his 9th year in Ireland. by a Liberate in the Rolls Office here, pro victualibus providendis in Guerram Scotia." In 1345 he was employed by Sir R. de Ufford to seize the Earl of Kildare; and, from the connection with Lionel Duke of Clarence, probably attended him to France, where he appears to be one of Commissioners for treating of peace in 1360 (Rymer). In 1349 Sir William Burton (probably the same person) was appointed Ambassador to treat of peace with Lewis Count of Flanders, and in 1375 with the Pope. I have not been able to trace him further. But William Burton, author of the Commentaries on Antoninus, (descended from the Yorkshire Burtons,) mentions some particular circumstances of the family which I wished to have from his papers, said to have been in the possession of the Chetwynd family. To them I applied without success; and I am lately informed that the papers, &c. belonging to the Chetwynds, of Ingatestre in Staffordshire, are in the possession of Lord Talbot. "I have the honour to be, your much obliged and obedient humble servant, WILL. BURTON CONYNGHAM."

Cork harbour, leaving the care of my house in Dublin to a servant maid; this book was taken by Mr. C., and a receipt on a slip of paper given, which the servant put into a book on the shelf. She was some time after discharged, and another hired. On my return, at the expiration of six years, I missed this book. In about two years, taking down the octavo in which Mr. B.'s note had been carefully deposited, the receipt fell out. Mr. Conyngham was dead, and died, as was supposed, intestate; and his great estate devolved upon Lord Conyngham his nephew. I produced the receipt, and demanded the book or the payment of 200. The book was not to be found; with others it had been packed in boxes, and sent to an auction; not sold, and brought back. At length Mr. A. Cooper, of the Treasury, who had the care of Mr. C.'s affairs, by long search discovered the book, when, on opening it, Mr. C.'s will fell out, by which it appeared that the estate was divided between Lord C. and his mother."

The following character of Mr. Conyngham appeared (together with a bad copy of his portrait) in the European Magazine

in 1794:

"The abilities of Mr. Conyngham have been particularly applied to objects of national utility and convenience. He often speaks in the Irish Senate upon matters of trade and policy; and, as few men possess more information on these subjects, he is always heard with the greatest attention. He is a very excellent engineer. The road that leads to Dublin from the Phoenixpark bears his name; an honour bestowed upon him for planning it, and the exertion and talents he displayed in its fabrication. And also one of the finest roads in Ireland, extending upwards of sixty miles, from Rutland to Donegal, was planned by him; a work which for ages had been considered as impracticable by all the gentlemen of that country. But the subject which mostly engages his liberal leisure is antiquity. The collection of drawings relating to Irish churches, abbeys, and castles, in his possession, is esteemed the most valuable extant; and there are but few objects of antiquity in Spain or in Portugal of which he has not drawings, as he travelled through those countries accompanied by three ingenious artists he employed for that purpose. One of these artists relates, that three score workmen were employed by him in digging and clearing away the rubbish which concealed a great part of the Theatre of Saguntum in Spain. The novelty of this sight gave rise to a report among the people of that town, that Mr. Conyngham was digging for the gold bells, valued at one hundred thousand pounds sterling, which tradition reported to have been concealed in this place. The fable obtained credit so far that the Prime Minister of the day thought it expedient to dispatch one of his Majesty's engineers from Madrid to inspect these operations; the workmen notwithstanding proceeded, and discovered the treasures which Mr. Conyngham sought for; they consisted of a number of ancient inscriptions, bases, and capitals of columns, and a curious Roman altar. As soon as drawings were taken of these antique fragments, the originals were presented to the engineer as a reward for his trouble."

Mr. Conyngham's "Observations on the description of the Theatre of Saguntum, as given by Emanuel Marte, Dean of Alicant, in a letter addressed to D. Antonio Felix Zondadario ;" and a "Letter to Joseph C. Walker, Esq. being an Appendix to the same memoir," appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. III. pp. 21-50, with eight plates.

1. Mr. JAMES MURPHY to the Rt. Hon. W. B. CONYNGHAM. "DEAR SIR, Royal Convent of Batalha, March 1789. "Since I had the pleasure of seeing you last, Providence has favoured me with a safe voyage and an agreeable journey to VOL. VI. 2 F 2*

Batalha, where I was kindly received by the Prior and all the Convent; they remember you perfectly well, and often speak of you with the highest respect. Your elegant sketches of this fine building often led me to think on the grandeur of the original; which I think is one of the finest pieces of Gothic architecture in Europe. If the distance were three times as far I would most cheerfully undertake the journey without repining at the -length of the way to contemplate such inimitable beauty.

"I have finished all the sketches of the Church and Monastery, Capellas imperfectus, &c. with the doors, windows, columns, bases, capitals, and mouldings on a large scale accurately figured, together with the tombs, pataras of the groins, figures, groups, ornamental pieces and inscriptions throughout the whole building, the manner of uniting the stone in the fleur de luce ornament, roof, spire, pinnacle, &c. Where any part is executed with uncommon judgment, difficulty, or elegance, I have drawn it with the minuteness of a Degodetz. As the most correct sketches that can be taken of a complicated building like this cannot be compiled at a distance without a great part being supplied from recollection, many traces of which are liable to be worn out by length of time, therefore I thought it better to make the finished drawings on the spot. The following are finished nearly on the same scale with the large plan I made for you in Dublin: A general plan of the Church and Monastery— plan of the second story-plan of the second story of Capellas imperfectas-plan of the roof of Church-elevation of the south front-elevation of the north front-elevation of the west front, including the refectory, kitchen, &c. being the extent of the ancient building-a general section from east to west, through Church, Chapel, and Capellas imperfectas—section of Capellas imperfectas (large).

"I have some views of the building yet to complete before I go to Alcobaça, where I hope to be well received, as the good Prior of this Convent has given me a letter to that of Alcobaça, and another to the Dominican Convent at Lisbon. I have endeavoured to penetrate into every part of the building from the foundation to the top. The elevation of the spire is equal to the height of a cone, whose base and angle of inclination of the side is given to find the altitude. The rest downwards can be measured with a line; this method has proved two other modes of calculation which I tried.

"In the ancient building alone are eight staircases constructed within the walls, winding round a column, which with the steps are cut out of the solid stone. To perfect the whole, I have a complete description of the building, monuments, &c. by Father Lewis de Sousa, a Portuguese fiedalgo, transcribed from forty-five pages of large quarto, which I esteem the more as you charged me to collect as much of the history of this Convent as possible. Some of the Friars were apprehensive at first 2 F 3*

that I did not come to Batalha for the sake of making drawings of the building, but for some other purpose. Lest they should take it in their heads to prevent me, I applied so close to the drawings day and night as to make all the sketches with a finished plan and elevation in twenty-two days. After all they often put me to the blush in relating the abilities of Manuel Caetano, and other celebrated Portuguese architects, who took off the whole building in a few minutes at one glance of an eye. My application threw me into a fever, which took its leave of me in one-and-twenty days, during which time I had no one near me to whom I could tell my sad story, not being able to speak ten words of the language, and none of the fathers could speak any language but Portuguese. The ignorance of the physician only helped to increase the evil; he was one of those wretches who carried fate and physic in his face, commissioned by that seminary of dunces at Coimbra to dispatch the unfortunate candidates for the grave! He knew no other remedy but bleeding, which he performed till he almost left me a bloodless corpse; hope was my last medicine, and that I should live one day to see all the drawings of Batalha in your possession, and prove my grateful recollection of your past friendship. The Consul of Treguria hearing that some one belonging to you was sick at Batalha, sent a messenger with a letter to me offering to have me brought to his own place; and another to the Prior charging him to let me want for nothing. If I could spare time, I would most cheerfully accept of his repeated visits, not so much for my own indulgence as to see the man whom Heaven has blessed with so large a portion of tenderness and humanity; he has just now sent me a letter recommending me to his best friend, Richard Sealy, Esq. Lisbon. Such is the case in every part through which you passed; the very whisper of your name is sufficient to make a friend.

"I was visited a few days ago by Marshal Valera, who has given me an invitation to his house at Coimbra; and promised to have me introduced to the Viscount Mormode Mor, the Prime Minister at Lisbon. He told the Prior that he thought it impossible to complete so large a work in the time, and expressed a great desire to see it published, which, if it ever is the case, the world will have a right to thank your penetration in bringing to light such a master-piece of hidden Gothic elegance, formed from the produce of the simple quarry alone without the least aid from those train of mouldering materials as timber, iron, copper, &c. to which our modern architects are obliged to have recourse. It is strange that amongst all the travellers that passed by Batalha none give us either drawing or satisfactory description of this Church. Mr. Twiss, who could so minutely describe the wretchedness of an Irish hamlet on the bleak mountains of Tipperary, could see nothing in this venerable pile, with its numerous pinnacles, mouldering minerets, and lofty spire,

but the letters tays which I find at the entrance to the Capellas imperfectas.

"Inclosed is a sketch of the Viscount Clarard, the French pilgrim, who visited our Convent a few days ago in his journey to Rome. He was dressed in a long grey coat and laced waistcoat, a black half mantlet of varnished oil cloth set with variegated shells, a broad hat and cockade, three long rosaries of different size and colour suspended from his neck and girdle, with a paper tin case, calabash, and pouch; round his waist was a thick cord of St. Francis set with many knots, which he very devoutly applied to the shoulders of his servant, a huge fellow just deserted from the French service, and often experiencing his master's abilities in discipline. The Count's whole retinue consisted of this single servant, who carried his baggage in a sheepskin wallet, suspended from his shoulders in an inclined direction across his back. His age, as near as I can judge, is about twenty-eight, of a middle stature, with short black hair, and a countenance betraying some sentiments of sorrow for his youthful folly. His story is rather too long for the few remaining lines of this letter.

"I shall not trouble you with a description of Oporto, which you know very well already. The twentieth day I arrived there from Dublin, and made only a short stay, when I got letters from the Dominican Convent to Batalha; the Consul, Mr. Whitbread, showed me many civilities, and put a letter into my hand on coming away, strongly recommending my knowledge of architecture to Mr. Stephens. He has almost finished a large building there for the British factory, for which very little can be said, being in the anti-Moorish style, like all the modern works of architecture in this country.

"It distresses me I have not been able to write you before, though I prepared four letters to send you at different times, which any ignorance of the language rendered impossible to have forwarded. With this I am obliged to take a guide to Marinha, in order to have it sent to Lisbon. Mr. Stephens, I understand, is expected there every day; but I shall not make myself known to him without he has received your letter concerning me. Let me intreat you, dear Sir, to favour with a few lines one who is poor and friendless in a foreign land, for be assured that among all who are attached to you by the ties of obligation and friendship, none wish you better, or would serve you with more zeal, than he who has the honour to be, dear Sir, "Your very much obliged humble servant, JAMES MURPHY."

2. "DEAR SIR, Marinha Grande, Portugal, May 1789. Having finished all the drawings of Batalha, I received a very friendly invitation from Mr. Stephens to spend a few days with him at Marinha Grande, which I readily accepted; as being