Malbie a congratulatory letter on his success; but letters were found on the person of Dr. Alen, who fell in the engagement, which implicated the earl in treasonable connivance. Desmond was proclaimed a traitor. He verified the proclamation by attacking the royal camp at Rathkeale, and afterwards setting up his standard on Ballyhowra Hill, in the county of Cork; he sacked Youghal, which he held for five days, and so complete was the havoc, that only one individual was found in the town when the queen's troops entered it; this was a poor friar, who had brought the body of Davels from Tralee, and was giving it Christian burial. The earl's success was trivial and brief; his castles were taken one by one, and he was soon compelled to wander about houseless, from one fastness or lurking-place to another. In these forlorn and wearisome wanderings the aged and harassed fugitive was accompanied by his incomparable wife, and by Saunders the legate. That glorious woman adhered to him in all the changes of his fortunes, soothed his irritated feelings and humbled pride, relieved him of half his cares by sharing without seeming to feel them, and supported his drooping spirits with the language of hope, of fortitude, and of heroism. She roamed with him by night and by day, hid with him in brakes and fens, cheered him in the sooty cabin, by the scanty fire; and ventured more than once within the very walls of the castle, to see whether the melting eloquence of her devotedness and woe would move a heart to save the weak and wayward man who had ruined her. To the very last the hapless Desmond derived comfort and consolation from that angelic being, who tempered the cup of sorrow with the balm of conjugal affection. She had gone so far as to place her only son in the hands of the deputy as a hostage for the father's future behaviour, but even this sacrifice failed to propitiate the government.

Lord Grey de Wilton was put at the head of the Irish government in 1580. Without brooking the delay of inauguration, he made an incursion into Wicklow, where,

DESMOND JOINED BY SPANIARDS.

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in the valley of Glenmalure, he was ignominiously defeated by the native chiefs and captain Fitzgerald, who, with a corps of infantry, had deserted to their side. In this engagement the brave and hardy Sir Peter Carew, and other able officers, perished. The hopes of the insurgents were now further inflamed by the arrival at Limerick fort of 700 Spaniards and Italians, with arms for 5000 men, ammunition, and a considerable sum of money, which was conveyed to the earl of Desmond, and his brother, Sir John. They completed the fort which Fitzmaurice had begun. Grey attacked it by land and sea, and forced it to surrender at discretion. They sought to obtain terms, declaring that they held the fort for the pope and the king of Spain; the lord deputy, insisting that they were private adventurers, without any commission, put them all to the sword. Sir Walter Raleigh, who deserves much less sympathy than is bestowed on him, was one of the principal butchers. Grey, in his despatch, Nov. 12, 1580, mentions that he had accepted the unconditional surrender, and says, "then put I in certayne bands, who streighte fell to execution; 600 were slayn."

The hunting down of Desmond was now intrusted to Ormonde, who for this purpose was appointed lord president of Munster, and in whom the misfortune of his fallen foe never awakened one generous sentiment. The president drove him out of the wood of Aherlow, where he lay concealed with about sixty gallowglasses. They were afterwards surprised in the night, some sleeping, others eating a stolen horse, by a detachment from the garrison of Kilmallock, who slew most of them. earl and his countess subsequently evaded an attempt to seize them in a miserable cabin near Kilmallock, by plunging into a neighbouring river, where they remained, screened by some bushes on the bank, till the search was relinquished.

The

But Desmond was reserved for a worse fate than even that of falling into the hands of his political foes, who had set a price on his head. He and his few followers had for some time subsisted on casual plunder. Some of these

K

had taken off the cattle of one Moriarty, who, with a fellow-sufferer, tracked them; others joined on the way, and appointed one Kelly, a soldier, to guide them. Descending the deep valley of Glanakilty, they looked in through the window of a ruined house, to which they were attracted by a glimmering light, and there observed five or six persons round the fire; they retired for a moment to consult, and, concluding that the party in the house were the aggressors, returned to it, but found that all had fled except a venerable man who was stretched before the fire. Kelly nearly cut off his arm with the first blow; the old man cried out, "Spare me, I am the earl of Desmond;" but the remorseless assailant, bidding him prepare for death, separated his head from his body with another blow (1583). After a concealment of a few weeks, the body was interred in the chapel of Killanamagh, near Castle Island, in the county of Kerry. Desmond was a conceited, showy man, of weak understanding and vast arrogance; cautious without prudence, and reckless, without any real bravery. Not content with his provincial splendour, and quite indifferent to the interests, fortunes, or safety, of those about him, he sought to make a figure, to be concerned in great transactions, and accordingly involved himself, his dependents, and adherents, in enterprises which he had not abilities, or even fortitude, to conduct. But his greatest errors have been attributed to his head rather than to his heart, which, after all, is but a meagre excuse for those dangerous blockheads who are the authors of much mischief, private or public. The afflictions and virtues of that noble lady, who meekly and magnanimously followed his desperate fortunes, render intense the commiseration which his melancholy fate naturally excites.

In 1584 the able and just Sir John Perrot, who was supposed to be Henry the Eighth's son, was appointed lord deputy, but resigned, at his own request, in 1588. Two years after his return to England his enemies got up an inquiry into his Irish administration; he was sent to the Tower, where he died of a broken heart, while sen

HUGH O'DONNELL IS INVEIGLED BY PERROT. 131

tence of death was yet hanging over him. Perrot's treacherous seizure of Hugh O'Donnell, son of the great northern chief, is a foul stain on his memory. He sent a ship laden with Spanish wines to Donegal, into which Hugh and his two companions, sons of the famous Shane O'Neill, were inveigled, and brought off to Dublin.

In the parliament held April 28, 1586, the late earl of Desmond and one hundred and forty of his adherents were attainted. Lands, estimated at 574,628 acres, were confiscated, and sold at 3d. per acre to English undertakers, on condition of letting to no Irish tenants.

CHAPTER XIV.

ELIZABETH-CONTINUED.

HUGH made his escape from the castle of Dublin after an imprisonment of three years, and upon his return home was, with his father's consent, elected to the chieftainship of Tyrconnell. He sought revenge of his wrongs, and applied to Hugh O'Neill, son of the late baron of Dungannon, who had lately obtained from the queen, in person, permission to succeed to his father's title and estates. The young chieftain was warmly received by Tyrone, whose loyalty was at the time wavering, though he had laboured to merit his earldom by serving in the late wars against Desmond: his inclination to revolt was somewhat increased by a feud with his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Bagnal, marshal of Ireland, who charged him with carrying off his sister, and forcing a marriage with her. After Tyrone's coalition with Red Hugh, his inherent duplicity prompted him to write to the English council, informing them that he had brought over O'Donnell to the queen's allegiance, and was ready to serve against him if he should prove obstinate. O'Donnell boldly resented this treacherous conduct, and assured Tyrone that he would treat him as an enemy if he did not take a more

decided course. Tyrone, roused by some threatening expressions let fall by the lord deputy, Sir William Russell, formed a confederacy with the northern lords for the defence of their honours, religion, and estates. Hetook up his residence at Dungannon, and, continuing the discipline of his troops by discharging the trained hands and taking in new, so as to avoid creating suspicions, he awaited some succours expected from Spain. The government, however, after a time took the alarm, and sent over Sir John Norris to take the command of all the forces in Ireland, with the title of lord general. Tyrone now assumed the treasonable title of "The O'Neill,” which he had formerly declared to the queen to be barbarous, and destructive to the peace of the realm. Wishing to anticipate the arrival of supplies from England, Tyrone, whom the northern dynasts had appointed their commander-inchief, struck the first blow by seizing the fort of Portmore. He besieged Monaghan, but marshal Bagnal compelled him to retire. He now sued for pardon, but was refused; subsequently he offered the king of Spain the sovereignty of Ireland for a sum of money and a supply of 3000 men. Though now forced into the woods, he was at the head of 8000 men, and it was therefore thought prudent to parley with him; he submitted, and agreed to make his county a shire. At the same time he stipulated, on the part of the allied chiefs, for the free exercise of religion. When the queen granted him a pardon, he rejected it, and blockaded Blackwater fort. marshal Bagnal, his brother-in-law, was determined on relieving it.

But

On the 14th August, 1598, Bagnal, at the head of 4000 foot and 350 horse, set out from Armagh for the fort. The main body of the Irish, of equal strength with the enemy in infantry, but somewhat superior in cavalry, occupied an entrenched position on the small river Callan, at the Yellow Ford, about two miles from Armagh. Tyrone's wings rested on bogs and woods; deep trenches were drawn out through the roads and fields; and numerous pitfalls were added to the impedi