The Tothill Street referred to, sometimes called Tuthill, or Tuttle Street, is thus spoken of by Stow From the entry into Totehill field, the Street (Tuttle Street) is called Petty France." Hatton describes it as "a large Street in Westminster, between Petty France, west, and the Old Gate House, east." Peter Cunningham says, Such is Hattons description, but the Gate House has long been level with the ground, and Petty France has since been transferred into York Street. Our notions have also changed about its size; no one would now call it "a large street." TUTHILL, TOTHILL, or TOTEHILL, and its various modifications (for in olden times; orthographical certainty was but little regarded), as a patronymic or family name, can in England be traced back in an unbroken line as far as the thirteenth century but if the old Irish histories are to be credited, the ancestry of the Tuthills is still more ancient, commencing, as they aver, in the dark and benighted ages prior to the Christian era. They all concur in stating them to be of Milesian descent, through the well known sept or tribe of O'Toole (which seems to be but a variation of the name), and that their territory extended over a great portion of the beautiful hills and valleys in what is now known as the Counties of Wicklow and Kildare. They would appear to have been a warlike race, for when Ireland was overrun by the English, they heroically refused to submit to their rule, carrying on for many years an unequal contest against the armed hosts of a tyrannical invader. Camden, the father of English antiquaries, says, "The O'Tools and O'Birns obstinately withstand all law, and live in implacable enmity with the English." It is noteworthy that he applies the name O'Tool and O'Tothill indiscriminately ; for in again speaking to them he says, "In 1311, Tassagard and Rathcante were invaded by ay after St. the rapparies; namely the O'Brinnes and O'Tothlies the day after St. John Baptist's nativity ; whereupon in the autumn soon after, a great army was raised in Leinster to defeat them, both in Glendelory (Glendalough) and in other woody places." "In 1331, O'Toole the Chieftain of Imail, at the head of a numerous band plundered the castle and demesne of Talloght (5 1/2 miles S. W. by W. from Dublin), slew many of the Archbishop of Dublin) slew many people, and defeated Sir Philip Britt and a body of Dublin men who had been sent against him." " In 1398, O'Byne and O'Toole fought a battle against the English, in which Mortimer, Earl of March, and a vast number of the English, were slain. McDermot (the annotator of the "Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters") says "the territory of the O'Tuathail's; or O'Toole's chieftains of Hy Muireadhaigh, or Hy Murray, was quite an extensive domain, in the western part of Wicklow, comprising the greater portion of the present baronies of Talbotstown and Shilelagh, in that county, and extended as far as Almain, now the hill of Allen, in the County of Kildare, thus containing a great portion of the baronies of Naas, Kilcullen, Kilkea and Moone, and Connell in that county. The O'Tooles were in ancient times styled princes of Imaile, which appears to have been a name applied to their territory, and is still retained in the Glen of Imaile in Wicklow, where they had their chief residence; and they also had castles in Carnew, Castle Kevin, Castledermot and other places They took their name from Tuathal, one of the early kings of Ireland, from whom they derive their descent, and being one of the head families of Leinister, of the same race as the McMurroghs, they were eligible to be kings of that province. The celebrated St. Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin, at the time of the English invasion, was son of Murtogh O'Toole, Prince of Imaile; and many distinguished chiefs of the name are mentioned in the course of these annals. They maintained their rank, and held large possessions down to the Elizabethian and Cromwellian wars, when their estates were confiscated; several of them were knighted at various periods, and Sir Charles O'Toole, an officer in King James's army, is said to have been the person who killed the Duke Schomberg at the battle of the Boyne; and several of them were distinguished officers in the Irish brigades in the service of France and Spain. The O'Tooles are still numerous in the counties of Wicklow, Dublin and Kildare." The illustrious prelate, thus referred to as St. Laurence O'Toole, and whom Camden calls Laurene O'Thothill is quite a distinguished character in Irish history. He was born in A.D. 1105. His father, Murtogh O'Tuathail or O'Toole, was the Chieftain of Hy Muray, and his mother a daughter of the kindred tribe of O'Byrne. His possessions comprised about half of the present county of Kildare, from which he was dispossessed by the English invaders and driven into the fastnesses of Wicklow. Laurence became so celebrated for his learning and piety, that when he had attained his twenty-fifth year, he was made abbot of Glendalough, and upon the death of Gregory, the first archbishop of Dublin, was by acclamation seated in the archiepiscopal chair, in which he continued until his death in 1180. He was so renowned for his sanctity, that in 1226 (forty-six years after his decease), he was canonized by Pope Honorius III., and thus, says his biographer, " a scion of the old Celtic race was placed on the calendar of Saints." Lower, in his Patronymica Brittanica,says that the"O'Tooles or O'Tuoghalls claim an ancient Milesian descent from Cathaor More, King of Leinster, of the Heremonian race, ancestor of Laogaore, the first Christian monarch of Ireland, contemporary with St. Patrick." The early history of Ireland, before the introduction of Christianity is somewhat obscure; but according to Keating, O'Flaherty and the and old annalists, the Milesians were originally a colony from Scythia, pear the Euxine and Caspian seas, now called t he Crimea. The Scythians, who were by the Roman writers designated Celto-Scythians, were the most ancient inhabitants of Europe after the deluge, and were descendants of Japhet. They formed settlements in Spain, and Milesius, one of their race, became king. Heremon, Heber, and Ir, the sons of Milesus, came to Ireland With a large fleet and a powerful army, and, after a sanguinary battle, became masters of the whole country, and according to Keating gave to its throne 171 kings, the most of whom (as well as the early kings of Scotland) were descendants of the Heremonian branch of this ancient race. One of the most renowned of these Milesian monarchs was Tuathal Teachtmar, or Tuathal the acceptable (he obtained the sobriquet of Teachtmar, the welcome or acceptable, from his being the deliverer of the nation from the tyrants of a hated oligarchy). Tuathal is celebrated as one of the greatest of the Irish kings for his wisdom and [Firbolgs] he was forced to fly from the kingdom to North Britain, but returned A.D. 130, and after fighting 85 battles was successful in recovering the crown. During his reign, which lasted thirty years, he reformed the abuses and corruptions that had prevailed in public affairs, and introduced in Ireland a state of plenty and tranquillity never known in it before. Warner naively says, "It must be observed that until this reign, few or none of the ancient Irish would submit to any trade or manual labor, lest they should degrade their origin, or bring a stain upon their families; but when they saw that by the order of this wise monarch, the legislature took trade and manufactures under their special care and management, many of the Milesians condescended to follow some employment and to make themselves good for something besides cutting one another's throats." This good king was slain in battle by an usurper whose name is given as Mal or Mail, who reigned four years, when Feidlim, the son if Tuathal, avenged his father's death, by staying the usurper and regaining the crown. Feidlim was, from his great love of justice, surnamed the Legislator. He not only gave excellent examples of equitable government in his own private conduct, but by causing wise and wholesome laws to be enacted, the people of Ireland became more humane, honest and contented than they ever were before. His just and useful administration continued for nine years, when he died a natural death (a somewhat unusual circumstance in those turbulent days), and was succeeded by his son Cathoire More or Cathir the Great, from whose youngest son, Fiacha Barceanda, the O'Tooles claim a lineal descent. The connetion, if any, between the Tuthill or Tothill family of England and that of the same name in Ireland, is perhaps at this time unknown; at any rate, I have never yet been able to obtain any documentary proof that our English ancestors were originally from Ireland, although the conjecture is a plausible one. The celebrated Edmund Spencer, who resided a short time in Ireland, and who in 1596 wrote his " View of the state of Ireland," says the O'Tooles are so called from the old British word Tol, i. e. a hill country. And the idea of a common origin has some support from the descriptions and illustrations of heraldry: the coat of arms of the O'Tooles of Ireland being a lion passant, argent; the Totyls of Wales, a lion rampant, sable; the Tothills of Devonshire, a lion passant, sable; the Totehills of Yorkshire bearing as a crest, a lion statant gules, and the Tuthills of Cambridgeshire and Norfolkshire the like crest of a lion statant gules, ducally crowned, collared and lined, or. The lion, one of the emblems of the highest nobility, being the conspicuous bearing of the families, would indicate a common descent. Nor is an emigration of some of the tribe of the O'Tooles to England, after the confiscation of their estates, at all improbable. It is well known that during the days of Wallace and Bruce, large numbers of the native Irish acted as auxiliaries to the English in the wars between that nation and Scotland; and it is not an improbable surmise that many of them, after their term of service expired, preferred to remain and make their homes in England, there to live in peace and security, instead of returning to their native country, devastated by civil war and cursed by dissensions, anarchy and strife. In Rymer's Foedera will be found a mandate issued to David O'Tothill setting forth that the king (Edward 11.) was about to march against his Scottish rebels, and requiring Of him, as the chief of his tribe, the attendance of all the force he could muster, commanded by himself in person, or by some nobleman of his race. But after all, it is of little importance to us as citizens of the Great Republic, whether or not we have any well-founded claim to noble blood or royal descent from the old Milesian monarchs of Ireland. Our own direct ancestry in England is doubtless ancient enough to satisfy any of their descendants in this country, unless they should have a genealogical mania more intense than my own, which I may say, by way of parenthesis, is entirely unnecessary."