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BOURCHIER, THOMAS
Historia ecclesiastica, de martyrio fratrum ordinis
minorum, divi Francisci, de observantia, qui par-
tim in Anglia sub Henrico Octavo Rege, partim in
Belgio .... partim & in Hybernia tempore Elizabethæ
regnantis Reginæ, passi sunt - Paris: 1582. 8vo.
A cut tight copy in a binding composed of a con-
temporary calf backing surrounding a partial man-
uscript liturgical sheet of much greater antiquity.
The 1st of three Allison and Rogers printings - 106.
Exceedingly rare. COPAC locates only 4 copies.
An English Observantine Franciscan friar, Bourchier
graduated as a Doctor of Theology from the
Sorbonne. This history of the Franciscan martyrs,
his only book, achieved wide success. Part IIII
totalling 42 leaves deals with Ireland and provides
original material on the capture, torture, and exe-
cution by Lord Justice Drury, President of Munster,
of the Rev Patrick O’Hely, Bishop of Mayo and his
companion Fr Conn O’Rourke, son of Brian, Lord
of Breifne in September 1579. Bourchier was per-
sonally acquainted with both men when he resided
in Paris. O’Hely and O’Rourke were amongst 17
Irish martyrs that were beatified by Pope John Paul
II on September 22 1992. Sweeney 486.
€100 - €200
32
BOWLES, EDWARD
The mysterie of iniquitie, yet working in the
Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland for the
destruction of religion truly Protestant discovered,
as by other grounds apparent and probable, so
especially by the late cessation in Ireland - London:
[1643]. 4to. A good copy in modern half morocco,
with some marginalia. Wing B 3876.
The author was a Presbyterian minister in York
who saw papal conspiracy everywhere and gave
credence to those who believed that James I had
not died of natural causes: “Though it was doubted
and feared there were severall ingredients into his
death, the world talkes of a drinke and a plaister.”
Sweeney 490 quoting the more accessible 2nd
edition.
€80 - €120
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BOYLE, FRANCIS,
VISCOUNT SHANNON
Moral essays and discourses upon severall sub-
jects chiefly relating to the present times - London:
1690. 8vo. pp. [viii], 215, 1 (publisher’s list). A very
good copy in modern full calf. Wing S 2965.
The essays include one “On the loss of my estate
in Ireland with some pious reflections on the uncer-
tainties and disappointments that commonly attend
the enjoyment of land estates.” As a flavour of his
style I quote his opening remarks here: “I fancy,
the best way, now my estate is taken from me, is
to think of it, as I us’d to do (when I was young)
of my Mistress, after she had forsaken me for
another; which was to remember of her, what I did
not like, and forget what I did; that is, I muster’d
up in my mind, all her faults, and disbanded out
of my thoughts, all her perfections.” And he goes
on to relate the analogy to many disappointments
suffered in estate management: “By remember-
ing, that my tenants did often break in my debt,
and sometimes my receivers did run away with
my rents; Then I will call to mind, that such a dry
year did burn up all my grass; such a wet year
drowned all my corn; such a year a murrain kill’d
all my cows; such a year a rot destroyed all my
sheep; and such a year a blasting wind smutted
all my wheat and scorched up all my fruit .... In a
word I consider that the rents of my estate came in
but half-yearly; but the troubles that belong’d to it
came in almost daily.” Sweeney 492.
€100 - €150
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