comprising the manor of Tullagh roan alias Tulla- Proprietors roan, extended to Taylorstown, with power to hold courts baron and leet, to enjoy all waifes and strayes, &c.* Robert Grace is said to have greatly improved and angmented the castle of Inchmore, on the banks of the river Nore, about 4 miles from Kilkenny, and Courts Baron and Courts Leet, which are so frequently meationed in early charters and grants from the crown, are very ancient institutions of justice. They were courts of limited jurisdic tion established by king Alfred, through the medium of which justice, both in civil and criminal cases of the minutest kind, was brought home to every man's door. These courts, which originally belonged to the king, were granted by royal charters to the lords or barons of those bundreds or manors, within which they were held. The court baron (curia baronis) was formerly held every three weeks to decide all controversies relating to lands, and to determine pleas, personal actions of debt, trespass or on the case, not amounting to 40s. in value arising within the manor. The court leet, (Saxon Lat censura, and called by Spelman, curia prisca inter Saxones,) was limited by Magua Charta to be held but once a year at Michaelmas. This court was also called "view of frank or free pledge," i. e. a court to view or take cognizance of the frank pledges or freemen within the district, who, according to the institution of Alfred, were mutually free pledges for the good behaviour of each other. It was held for the preservation of the peace and punishment of divers minute offences against the publie good, and enquired of all offences under high treason committed against the crown and dignity of the king, which were certified to the judges of assize, but this court having been for many years past much disused, the business, which formerly bad been transacted in it, is now done at the quarter sessions of the peace in each county. Waifes or waysts, were goods taken by force or theft, and waived or left behind by the felon upon being pursued. These belonged to the crown, except when transferred by grant to the subject. Strays or estray from the old French, estrayeur, were strayed cattle fouad within any lordship, which being cried according to law in the adjacent market towns, and not claimed by the owner within a year and a day, become by law the property of the king, or of those to whom these incidental rights were granted. Proprietors converted it into a noble residence. Defence does not appear to have been an object in this mansion; an old tower of great size, and a moat were the only vestiges that remained of feudal warfare. From the existing ruins and fine situation, when more richly adorned with wood, and possessing, as it still does, water, and an infinite variety of ground, this place must have been singularly beautiful.. It presents, from numerous points of view, an exceeding pic. turesque appearance. The approach harmonises very happily with the surrounding landscape, which in some places exhibits the woody character, and at others shews the winding Nore and the opposite country. Robert Grace of Courtstown died between the years 1637, and 1640, and was buried in the cathedral of Kilkenny. The manor of Tullaroan, and his other estates, then passed to his grandson John Grace, son of his eldest son Oliver Grace of Inchmore, who died before him, on the 6th of July, 12th Charles I. (1637) and was interred in the cathedral of Kilkenny on the 10th of the same month.* Oliver Grace of Inchmore married Joan, daughter and sole heir of sir Cyprian Horsfall of Innishnagg, county of Kilkenny, knight, (only son of John Horsfall of Yorkshire, lord bishop of Ossory, during the space of 23 years†) and had issue John Grace, who succeeded his grandfather Robert Grace, in the manor of Tullaroan, as abovementioned, but being a minor, the court of wards and liveriest on the 19th • Funeral entries in Ulster's office. + Ware's histy. of the Irish bishops, edited by Harris, folio 1739, vol. 2, page 419. Though notice has been already taken of the court of Wards and Liveries, as well as of the inquisitions post mortem, under the head of |