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THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 AODH O'NEILL, 
 
 PEINCE OF ULSTER; 
 CALLED BY THE ENGLISH, 
 
 HUGH, EAEL OF TYKONE, 
 
 WITH 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS PEEDECESSOES, 
 
 CON, SHANE AND TIRLOUGH. 
 
 BY JOHN MITCHEL. 
 
 •*Cu ni4TD cVrOmic -DO cloix) NejlL" 
 
 •'Come let us make a chronicle for the O'Neills." 
 
 BdSTOM COLLEGE UBfJARy 
 
 P. M. HAVERTY. 
 P. J. KENEDY, 
 EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 5 Barclay Street. 
 18T9. 
 
205454 
 
TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THOMAS DAVIS, 
 
 WITH DEEP REVERENCE 
 I INSCRIBE 
 
 IHIS BOOK. 
 
 JOHN MITCHEL. 
 
 Banlbridg*, Sept. 23, 1845. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Perhaps in no country, but only Ireland, would 
 a plain narrative of wars and revolutions that ara 
 past and gone two centuries and a half ago, run 
 any risk of being construed as an attempt to 
 foster enmity between the descendants of two 
 races that fought so long since for mastery in the 
 land. 
 
 Yet the writer of this short record of the life 
 of the greatest Irish chieftain, is warned that 
 such construction may, and by some assuredly 
 will, be put upon the following story and the 
 writer's manner of telling it. But as to the nar- 
 rative itself, undoubtedly the only question ought 
 to be — is it true f And if so — is the truth to be 
 told, or hidden ? — Is it not at all times, in all 
 places, above all things, desirable to hear the 
 truth instead of a lie ? And for the way in 
 which it is told — the writer does indeed ac- 
 knowledge a strong sympathy with the primitive 
 Irish race, proud and vehement, tender and 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 poetical ; with their deep religion and boundlosa 
 wealth of sweetest song, and high old names, and 
 the golden glories of Tradition ; retiring slowly, 
 and not without a noulo Jliuggle, before what is 
 called " Civilization," and the instii.'^'iive and un- 
 relenting insolence of English dominion ; mostly 
 victors in the field, but always overcome by 
 policy ; plucking down the robber standard of 
 England in many a stricken battle — but on the 
 whole, by iron destiny, and that combination of 
 force and fraud and treachery, which has ever 
 characterized the onward march of English 
 power — borne back, disunited, and finally almost 
 swept from the earth, to make way for the greedy 
 adventurers of all Great Britain. And if the 
 word " Saxon" or " Englishman" is sometimes 
 used with bitterness, it is because the writer, 
 carrying himself two hundred and fifty years 
 t-ickward, and viewing events, not as from the 
 Council-chamber of Dublin Castle, but from the 
 Ii'ish forests and the Irish hearths, is sometimes 
 tenipn^d to use the language that fitted the time, 
 and might have lain in the mouth of a clansman 
 of Tyr-eoghain. 
 
 But the struggle io over, and can never, upon 
 that quarrel, be renewed. Those Milesian Irish, 
 as B distinct nation, (why not admit it?) were 
 beaten — were finally subdued ; as the Fir-bolga 
 
FREFACE. VU 
 
 were before them ; as the ancient Kymry were 
 in Britain, and afterwards their conquerors the 
 Saxons. A new immigration was made, early 
 in the sixteenth century, like that of the Tuatha- 
 de-Danaan and Milesians of remoter times. Once 
 more new blood was infused into old Ireland ; 
 the very undertakers that planted Ulster grew 
 racy of the soil ; and their children's children 
 became, thank God ! not only Irish, but united 
 Irish — became " Eighty-two" Volunteers — anti- 
 Union patriots — in every struggle of Irish na- 
 tionhood against English domination (to which 
 the now impending on® shall not be an exception) 
 were found in the foremost ranks, "more Irish 
 than the Irish." The armies of Elizabeth, the 
 planters and undertakers of James, may have 
 been marauding adventurers, or even robbers : 
 let it be granted that they were — so were the 
 Franks who founded Charlemagne's empire ; so 
 were the vagabonds and fugitive slaves who 
 Socked into the asylum" of Romulus — and 
 afterwards, off-scouring of mankind as they were, 
 begat a progeny that bore the Roman Eagle over 
 nations' necks, from Indus to the- Pillars of Her- 
 cules. Whatever god or demon may have led 
 the first of them to these shores, tbe Anglo-Irish 
 and Scottish Ulsterraen have now far too old a 
 title to be questioned : Uiey were a hardy race, 
 
Viii PREFACE. 
 
 and fought stoutly for the pleasant valleys they 
 dwell in. And are not Derry and Enniskillen 
 Ireland^s^ as well as Benburb and the Yellow 
 Ford ? — and have not those men and their fathers 
 lived, and loved, and worshipped God, and died 
 there ? — are not their green graves heaped up 
 there — more generations of them than they have 
 genealogical skill to count ? — a deep enough root 
 those planters have struck into the soil of Ulster^ 
 and it would noAV be ill striving to unplant 
 them. 
 
 The writer of these pages boasts to be of that 
 blood himself : no Milesian drop flows in his 
 veins ; and therefore he may be the more easily 
 believed in disclaiming the base intention to ex- 
 asperate Celtic Irish against Saxon Irish, or 
 to revive ancient feuds between the several races 
 that now occupy Irish soil, and are known to all 
 the world besides, as Irishmen. 
 
 The truth is, that the object of this Life of 
 Hugh O'Neill is simply to present as life-like a 
 sketch as the writer's ability and information en- 
 able him to give, of an important era of Irish 
 history, and the deeds of that illustrious chief- 
 tain who was the leading spirit of the time ; who 
 was the first, for many a century, to conceive, 
 and almost to realize the grand thought of 
 cneaticg a new Irish Nation : and who for so 
 
VREFACE. ix 
 
 liiany bloody years, bulwarked Lis native Ulster 
 against the numerous armies and veteran gene- 
 rals of the greatest English monarch. And, fur- 
 ther than this, if any reader shall see a striking 
 similarity in the dealings of England towards 
 Ireland then, and now — towards Ireland Milesian 
 and Strongbownian, and a later Irish nation con- 
 sisting of Milesians, Strongbownians, Scottish 
 planters, and Cromwellian adventurers ; — and if 
 such reader shall recognize the policy recom- 
 mended by Bacon, directed by Cecil, and prac- 
 tised by Mountjoy and Carew, in the proceedings 
 of certain later statesmen of England ; and if 
 (which is not impossible) he shall arrive at the 
 conclusion, that the bitterest, deadliest foe of Ire- 
 land (however peopled) is the foul fiend of Eng- 
 lish imperialism ; and, further, if he shall draw 
 from this whole story the inevitable moral, that 
 ut any time it only needed Irishmen of all bloods 
 to stand together — to be even nearly united — in 
 order to exorcise that fiend for ever, and drive 
 him irrevocably into the Red Sea ; — surely it will 
 be no fault of the present writer. 
 
 In the days of Hugh O'Neill, the religious 
 element had begun to mingle, with terrible elTcct, 
 in Irish affairs. And as " the business of a re- 
 ligious reformation in Ireland," to use the words 
 of Dr. Leland, " was nothing more than the im^ 
 
X PEE PACE. 
 
 position of English government on a people no! 
 
 sufficiently obedient to that government — not suf- 
 ficiently impressed with fear or reconciled by 
 kindness,"* it is impossible for an Irishman, 
 writing of that period, and sympathizing with 
 the outraged and plundered people, to describe 
 that most singular transaction with any soft or 
 conciliatory phrases. Imagine how a native of 
 Ireland must then have regarded the " Reformed" 
 church. To him it was simply the church of the 
 Btranger — it was an ally of the enemy : — the spi- 
 ritual supremacy and the temporal sovereignty of 
 a foreign king, were to him altogether indistin- 
 guishable, and alike detestable : the one seemed 
 but a scheme of plunder for military adventurers, 
 the other for ecclesiastical. Apart from all consi- 
 derations of doctrinal truth (with which, as being 
 wholly irrelevant, the writer of these pages does 
 not meddle) it was enough for the Irish people to 
 know that foreign usurpation and foreign religion 
 were striding over their country, hand in hand, 
 and planting their footsteps together deep in 
 blood and tears ; — deposing their chiefs, perse- 
 cuting their bards, supplanting their ancient 
 laws, and also prostrating their illustrious and 
 
 * Hist, of Ireland, vol. XL p. 201. He is speaking of 
 the religious changes raade in the reigo of Edward iho 
 Sixth. 
 
PREFACfi. Xi 
 
 hospitable monasteries, dishonouring the relics of 
 their saints, and hunting their venerated clergy- 
 like wolves. 
 
 But this, also, is all past and over. The verj 
 penal laws, last relics of that bloody business, 
 are with the days before the flood. And, though 
 it be true, that the mode of planting this Esta- 
 blished Church of Ireland ',— firsts enthroning a 
 whole hierarchy of bishops and archbishops, and 
 then importing clergy for the bishops and pa- 
 rishioners for the clergy — was of all recorded 
 apostolic missions the most preposterous — though 
 the rapacity of those missionaries was too ex- 
 orbitant, and their methods of conversion too 
 sanguinary ; yet, now^ amongst the national in- 
 stitutions, amongst the existing forces, that make 
 up what we call an Irish nation, the church, so 
 far as it is a spiritual teacher, must positively be 
 reckoned. Its altars, for generations, have been 
 served by a devoted body of clergy ; its sanctua- 
 ries thronged by our countrymen ; its prelates, 
 the successors of those very queerCs bishops^ have 
 been amongst the most learned and pious orna- 
 ments of the Christian church. Their stories 
 are twined with our history ; their dust is Irish 
 earth ; and their memories are Ireland's for ever. 
 In the little church of Dromore, hard by the 
 murmuring Lagan, lie buried the bones of Jo- 
 
xii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 remy Taylor; would Ireland be richer without 
 that grave ? la any gallery of illustrious Irish- 
 men, Ussher and Swift shall not be forgotten; 
 Deny and Cloyne will not soon let the name of 
 Berkely die ; and the lonely tower of Clough 
 Oughter is hardly more interesting to an Irish- 
 man as the place where Owen Eoe breathed his 
 last sigh, than by the imprisonment within its 
 walls of the mild and excellent Bishop of Kilmore. 
 &it mea anima cum Bedello! 
 
 When Irishmen consent to let the past become 
 indeed History, not party politics, and begin to 
 learn from it the lessons of mutual respect and 
 tolerance, instead of endless bitterness and en- 
 mity ; then, at last, this distracted land shall see 
 the dawn of hope and peace, and begin to renew 
 her youth and rear her head amongst the proud* 
 est of the nations. 
 
PREFACE 
 TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 TwENTT-THEEE yeai's liave gone by since the 
 writer composed this small volume. It was 
 undertaken at the suggestion of Thomas Davis 
 for the series called "Library of Ireland," anp 
 has had quite as much popularity as it deserved. 
 
 Since the time of its publication, a very largo 
 mass of historic material, then inaccessible to 
 the writer, has been for the first time brought 
 to light, specially illustrative of the very period 
 of our annals wherein O'Neill and O'Donnell 
 flourished ; so that now, to do justice to the sub- 
 ject, the "Life of Hugh O'Neill " ought to be re- 
 written, and at far greater length than could be 
 attcmj^ted in a slight popular sketch like the 
 present. Not having leisure to undertake this 
 agreeable task, which would otherwise please me 
 well, I am obliged to let it go with all its imper- 
 fections on its head. 
 
Si7 PEEFACE. 
 
 But to many readers it may be desirable and 
 ■useful that some slight account should be given 
 of the actual materials which have now, by the 
 zealous labours of many eminent scholars, be- 
 come available for the due understanding of 
 that deeply interesting era which saw the ' ' Re- 
 formation," the great struggle between Irish 
 clanship and English feudahsm, and the begin- 
 ning of the religious wars in our island. First in 
 importance is the great work of John O'Dono- 
 van — his edition of the Annals of the Four Mas- 
 ters, with copious and learned notes, topograph- 
 ical, historical, exegetical. It is true that the 
 portion of those annals relating to the period 
 embraced in this work was substantially accessi- 
 ble to me in the Library of the Boyal Irish 
 Academy, in the shape of the "M. S. Life of 
 O'Donnell," often cited in the following images. 
 This Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell had been 
 written by one of the venerable Four Masters 
 themselves, Franciscans of Donegal Abbey, who 
 indeed were not only Annalists of the Island, 
 but especially histoiiographers to the great house 
 of O'Donnell ; and it had afterwards been in- 
 corporated almost entirely in tlie "Aunals." 
 This old M. S. however, Avasbut ]")oor '•ompensa- 
 tioh for the want of i\v^i raagnific<ait repertory 
 of Irish historic lore, which can Jiow be read 
 
PEEFACE. XV 
 
 (amply annotated) by everybody, in the volumes 
 of Doctor O 'Donovan, and without the study of 
 •which no writer should undertake a piece of 
 Irish history. 
 
 Another indispensable Irish authority for the 
 period in question is the Historia Catholica of 
 Don Phillip O'SuUivan (Beare). A copy of the 
 old Latin edition of this book existed in tha 
 library of Trinity College, where I could consult 
 it any length ; but since then the work of O'Sul- 
 livan also (which had become very rare) has 
 been handsomely reproduced in Ireland. These 
 two, besides the Histoiy of the Abbe Mac- 
 Geoghegan (in French), which though not con- 
 temporary, is an authority for that time, were 
 the only strictly Irish sources from whence I 
 could draw. 
 
 Of authorities upon the English side, there 
 was abundance. The most useful of these is 
 Camden, — History of Queen Elizabeth," — who 
 has narrated at great length from his own point 
 of view, and not with very gross unfairness, the 
 whole of tliP! transactions in Ireland during the 
 life of Hugh O'Neill. Two exceedingly valu- 
 able books are Edmund Spencer's *' View of the 
 State of Ireland," and Sir John Davies' "His- 
 torical Tracts." Each of these books, though 
 composed with the most virulent hatred and in- 
 
Xvi PEEFACE. 
 
 soleuce towards the Irish nation, yet casts a 
 flood of light upon the social condition of the 
 people, and the policy of the British Government 
 about the time of that sad revolution which 
 transformed chieftain and clansman into land- 
 lord and tenant. The most singular English 
 authority, however, is the Pacata Hiheraia, 
 written by Sir George Carew, but ostensibly by 
 Stafford, his secretary. This work is valuable 
 not only for its documents and maps, but also 
 for the very open and shameless avowal of the 
 system of treachery, fraud, and assassination 
 set on foot by the wTiter himself, and by which 
 he was enabled to break up the confederacy of 
 the Munster lords. 
 
 The work of Fynes Moryson must not be 
 omitted, as his narrative covers almost the w^hole 
 of O'Neill's wars : but he, though a contempor- 
 ary writer, residing in Ireland, and witness of 
 many of the transactions he undertakes to nar- 
 rate, is extremely untrustworthy, ar,d needs cor- 
 roboration often, oftener contradiction. These 
 books, with occasional reference to Cartes' Life 
 of Ormond, Captain Lee's "Memorial," and 
 Bishop Mant's History of the Irish Church, 
 constituted the rather imperfect stock of author- 
 ities- on which I was bold enough to venture 
 ui:)on the narrative of the Life of the lust 
 
PEEFACB, Xvii 
 
 of the Princes of Tyrone. Those who may 
 hereafter undertake to give a fuller and better 
 account of Hugh O'Neill and his desperate 
 struggle against English " civilization," will have 
 a much more extensive course of reading to go 
 through. 
 
 Besides the mighty tomes of O'Donovan's 
 Four Masters, there are numerous family histor- 
 ies lately published, containing innumerable 
 documents and letters, which, though not per- 
 haps worth reading for their own sake, yet often 
 give a vivid glimpse into the interior of some 
 Franco-Hibernian Castle or Scotic chief fcain's 
 stronghold, shewing us the inmates as they 
 lived and moved in those wild times. One of 
 the most voluminous of these is "The Life and 
 Letters of Florence MacCarthy Mor " — who was 
 O'Neill's slippery lieutenant in Munster. This 
 is an octavo volume of over 500 pages ; written 
 of course by one of the Clan-Caura, and certainly 
 giving all the details concerning that able but 
 treacherous chief, which the world will ever 
 wish to know. Of other family histories may 
 be named : "The Earls of Kildare," History of 
 the O'Briens of Thomond, by O'Donoghue ; 
 A ' ' Selection from the Family Archives of tlio 
 MacGillicuddy of the Reeks, by Maziere Brady, 
 Vicar of Donoghpatrick, &c. 
 
Xvm PBEFACE. 
 
 With regard to the changes which took place 
 in the possession of church property, the sup- 
 pression of monasteries, and the earliest penal 
 laws for religion, many good compilations now 
 exist which are of great value to the student ; 
 especially "The Irish Reformation ; or the 
 alleged conversion of the Irish bishops at the 
 accession of Queen Elisabeth, and the assumed 
 descent of the present established Hierarchy in 
 Ireland from the Ancient Irish Church — dis- 
 proved " by Dr. Maziere Brady. The author, 
 though a Protestant Rector, takes part, unex- 
 pectedly, with the Irish Catholic Church in her 
 historical dispute with the Anglicans touching 
 the descent of orders. His subject necessarily 
 obliged him to investigate minutely the civil 
 transactions of the sixteenth century in Ireland, 
 which accompanied and illustrated the ecclesi- 
 astical changes. It has been heretofore insisted 
 upon by Anglican writers that the Catholic 
 bishops in Ireland, as a body, accepted the pre- 
 tended reformation of Elizabeth ; that the Irish 
 hierarchy, church and nation, renounced their 
 allegiance to the Bishop of Rome, and to the 
 doctrine of the Roman Church ; that the apos- 
 tolic succession was regularly transmitted to the 
 Protestant bishoj^s of Ireland, and tliat the pres- 
 ent Roman Catholic hierarchy and church were 
 
PEEFACE. XIX 
 
 established de novo, in schismatical manner, by 
 emissaries of the Pope. Consequently, they 
 say, the Protestant archbishops of Armagh and 
 Dublin are the canonical successors of St. Pat- 
 rick and St. Lawrence ; the other Protestant 
 bishops are also the canonical successors to the 
 ancient Catholic bishops of the sees they pre- 
 tend to fill, the ecclesiastical property legally 
 belongs to the Protestant establishment, and 
 the Roman Catholic bishops are intruders who 
 have drawn the majority of the Irish people into 
 a schism. Dr. Brady has laboriously and tri- 
 umi3hantly refuted all this ; and Mr. Froude, the 
 English historian, has given his full indorse- 
 ment to Dr. Brady's statements. Dr. Brady 
 proves that, at the most, two of the Marian 
 bishops submitted to Elizabeth — Curwen, of 
 Dublin, and OTihil, of Leighlin. Curwin's 
 apostacy is a notorious fact, but that of O'Fihil 
 is denied by Dr. Moran, who adduces evidence 
 against it. Curwen was an Englishman, and 
 consecrated by English bishops. Therefore, 
 according to Dr. Brady, but one Irishman, hav- 
 ing Irish consecration, deserted the communion 
 of the Pope for that of the Queen and Parker. 
 He goes through all the Irish sees seriatim, prov- 
 ing the continuity of succession from their an- 
 cient to their modern Catholic incumbents, and 
 
X2 PEEFACE. 
 
 proving, also, tlie forcible intrusion of Protest- 
 ants by degrees, and with many breaks, into 
 the same titular sees. He states the conclusion 
 derived from his facts and arguments thus : "In 
 point of fact, the Irish nation, from 1558 to 
 1867 has continued in communion with Rome, 
 never having ceased to be, in its clergy, priests, 
 and people, as thoroughly Roman Catholic as at 
 the accession of Elizabeth," (p. 199.) The claim 
 of a succession of orders by a line traceable to 
 the old Irish hierarchy is also disposed of. The 
 doctor shows that whatever orders the Irish 
 Protestant church has are derived from Curwen, 
 and from him alone, through Loftus, who was 
 consecrated by him to Armagh, and thence 
 transferred to Dublin, in lieu of Curwen himself 
 who was transferred to Oxford. Of course he 
 does not deny the validity of the orders, but 
 merely the fact that they descend from an Irish 
 source. 
 
 In examining this canonical controversy the 
 author also sheds light upon the civil transac- 
 tions ; and as O'Neill was holding his country 
 against the English not only as Prince of Ulster, 
 but as chief champion of the Catholic religion 
 in Ireland, the eccle3iastical affairs of the period 
 are altogether relevant, and needful for a due un- 
 derstanding of O'Neill's true cause and position. 
 
PBKFACE. XXI 
 
 With the same view the works of Dr. Moran 
 of Dublin, especially his ArcIibisJiops of Buhliny 
 as well as the Church Histories of Dr. Lanigan, 
 Father Brenan, O. S. F., and Father A. Cogan 
 of Navan [History of the Diocese of Meath] 
 must all be consulted. 
 
 Amongst other needful authorities, or compi- 
 lations to be consulted, must be mentioned sev- 
 eral excellent papers in the Ulster Archoeological 
 Journal, Shirley's Original Letters, State papers, 
 both in London and Dublin, some of which have 
 been published ; and lastly, and especially, the 
 late admirable book of Father Meehan of Dub- 
 lin, The Fate and Fortunes of Hugh O'Neill, Earl 
 of Tyrone, and Hugh O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrcon- 
 nell; their Flight, Vicissitudes and Death in 
 Exile. Mr. Meehan, indeed, professes to take up 
 the narrative where this present writer has 
 dropped it : yet he has supplied much authen- 
 tic information with regard to the chief's last 
 campaign, his surrender at Mellifont, his visit 
 to England, his life in his own country after- 
 wards, the conspiracy for his destruction, his 
 escape from the toils of his enemies, his wander- 
 ings in Europe, his i)lans for return and his 
 death in Rome — all of which, for want of space, 
 and also in part for want of authorities, had 
 to be passed over lightly in the unpretending 
 
XXn PREFACE. 
 
 little volume called, ' ' Life of Hugh O'Neill. " It 
 may be added that Mr. Meehan has given us, by 
 way of episode, a seperate chapter, from an ear- 
 lier period of the Prince's life, his courtship and 
 marriage — the romance of the beautiful Mabel 
 Bagnal, sister of his enemy, the Marshal. 
 
 It is needless here to speak of the ancient 
 Irish manuscripts and precious materials of our 
 history as enumerated, classified and described 
 in the great work of Eugene O'Curry: for aU 
 these documents, except the Annals of the Four 
 Masters, stop short of the time of O'Neill's 
 wars, and this has no pretension to be a general 
 bibliography of Irish History, but only a sketch 
 of the field to be investigated by any one who 
 shall hereafter aspire to write a Life of O'Neill 
 which may be worthy of the subject ; as the 
 present volume is not. Nobody can be more 
 sensible of this than the writer ; who undertook 
 it in j)art to gratify a dear friend, and in part to 
 aid more or less in the awakening of the minds 
 of Irish young men to the dignity and im- 
 portance of the history of their own native 
 island. 
 
 That it has had some share of influence in that 
 direction I am hapi^y to believe. J. M. 
 
 • Fordham, N. Y. St. Patrick's Day, 1868. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 CON THE LAME, AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 A. D. 15C'5_1550. 
 
 WuEN Con O^TsTeill, surnamed Baccc ^h, reigned 
 33 Ulster, the far greater portion of this island 
 owed no allegiance and paid no obedience to the 
 king or laws of England. More than two hun- 
 dred years had gone by since the northern Irish, 
 aided by Edward Bruce of Scotland, had de- 
 stroyed every vestige of foreign dominion in 
 Ulster ; and the few Anglo-Norman families tliat 
 liad got footing there, under De Courcy ind De 
 Lacy, were long since, by intermarriage, gossi- 
 pred, and fostering, blended with tlie Irish tribes 
 used Irish customs, disdained to ride with stir 
 rups, wore crommeal and coolun, submitted tc 
 the Brehon laws, forgot vassalage, and liege-bo- 
 mage, and all feudal tenure, wliether by kright 
 service, esouage, or otlier, — nay, forgot their 
 lfinaiiae;e and tlieir verv names. Like tlie Be? 
 
14 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 mingbams and De Burgos of Connaiighl, who 
 beofiine Mac Feorais and Mac Williams, Eighter 
 and Ougbter, sorae writers will have it that the 
 llRTighty Mac Mahons of Monaghan, with all 
 tbeir fierce resistance to English laws and Eng- 
 lish sheriffs, were no more than so many Norman 
 Fitzurses ; — true Sons of Bears, and claiming 
 that descent both in their original langue d'oui 
 and their adcjjted Irish. And the Mac Swynes, 
 from be /ond Lough Swilly, sent yearly their tri- 
 bute of cows to O'Donnell, never demurring on 
 the ground that they were a branch of the 
 knightly De Veres of Oxford.* 
 
 So atstractive and genial was that Irish life of 
 pastoral independence, and " strenuous liberty 
 so kindly the Irish affections ; so honey-sweet 
 the Celtic accents on the tongue of foster-nurses 
 and Irish maidens : — " which," says Edmund 
 Spenser, " are two most dangerous infections 
 for " The sp<^xch being Irish, the bcart must 
 needes bee Irish,'* 
 
 Lq^ws, indeed, were ficm time to time enacte,2 
 by the small l^^nglish colony of Leinster, in their 
 local parliament, to forbid all such friendly deal- 
 
 "* Spenser's "View of the State of Ireland,*' p. 108. 
 But the Jrisii aniialists (probably abetter authority) make 
 both these famihes old Irish. Mac Mahon is said to have 
 been, like tlie JNIac Guires and O'llanlons, descended 
 from Colla-na-Clirich of the race of Ileremon. (See 
 Connellan's " Four Masters," note in p. 3.) For the 
 Mac Swynes or Mac Sweenys, said to be a branch of th« 
 aorth, Hy Niall, see the same book, p. 52 ; yet Thi- 
 erry and otlier writers liave adopted Spenser's statemeni 
 |i)Ottt these two faniiiies. — Noruian Con. Conclusion, 
 
 1 
 
Live, OF HUG II O'NEILL.. 
 
 15 
 
 ingg witTi the " Irish enemy," under penalties; 
 jitatutes wliich sounded terrible in Kilkenny and 
 Dublin, but were of no force in the Irish coun- 
 try, where the " degenerate" PLnglish soon learned 
 to forget the tongue in which those statutes were 
 expressed, and to despise the authority that had 
 presumed to enact them. 
 
 Yet there was, in the sixteenth century, no 
 Irish nation. They had no national council, as 
 of old ; no supreme monarch or Ard-Righ, to 
 concentrate the powers of the island for any com- 
 mon object. Save the tie of a common language, 
 the chieftain of Clan-Conal had no more con- 
 nexion with the lord of Clan-Carrha, than either 
 had with the English Pale. The Anglo-Norman 
 colony was regarded rather as one of the inde- 
 pendent tribes of the ishmd ; " an inferior sept,"* 
 often a tributary sept,| which had got settled 
 there ; than what it really was, a garrison holding 
 for a foreign king, the insidious enemy of them 
 all : and the Irish in their frequent wars amongst 
 themselves, sometimes had the troops of the Pale, 
 as well as the powerful Scottish colony of An- 
 trim for auxiliaries on one side or the other. 
 
 Frequently tiie English carried the banners of 
 the Pale into some Irish country with which they 
 were then at war; burning and plundering in 
 their march, until a force could be drawn together 
 strong enougli to drive them home : and as often 
 'vere the war-cries of an O'Neill or an O'Connor 
 
 • Lcland, vol. 2, p. a3. 
 
 t State Papers, Temp. Hen. VIII. cited in O'Conaell's 
 Afemoir. 
 
1Q IjIFE HUGH O'NEILL.. 
 
 feeard at the Boyne and LifFev, to the very gatcji 
 Dublin ; while the English were shut up 
 Everywhere in their castles and walled towns 
 until the black rent was levied and the storm 
 had passed. But, save in the four counties of 
 the Pale and a few maritime cities, there was no 
 attempt at the exercise of either legislative oc 
 executive authority on the part of the English 
 government. 
 
 The tltrone of England was filled by King 
 Henry the Eighth, who styled himself King of 
 England, France^ and Ireland; — of France in 
 virtue of the town of Calais, and of Ireland, be- 
 cause of those bands of his adventurous subjects 
 who garrisoned the Pale. But Henry was not 
 satisfied with temporal sovereignty. Like the 
 Roman emperors, he determined to unite in his 
 own person all authority of every kind, and to 
 be acknowledged Pontifex maximus. His par 
 liament hnd, without scruple, bestowed on him 
 the supreme Headship of the Church ; never 
 doubting their power to give it: for the legisla- 
 ture of England has always regulated its ^'ellgic:., 
 pronouncing this way or that upon true doctriv e. 
 like an oscumenic ''louncil, and deciding upon the 
 successorship to tUt. 'Dostles with no more hesi- 
 tation than on the rivul claims to a disputed 
 peerage. 
 
 And having established his spiritual supremacy 
 in England, and desiring to encroach furtlier 
 upon the jurisdiction of his rival the pope, King 
 Henry caused an act to be passed in his parlia- 
 ment of the Pale, duly enacting the supremacy 
 of the En;^lish king ov^r the church -jf Ireland— 
 
LIFE OF RUCH O NEILI., 
 
 17 
 
 '* forasmuch/' say those legislators, " as Ireland 
 was depending and belonging justly and right- 
 fully to the imperial crown of England." And 
 so began the " Reformation" in this island. 
 
 Here a difficulty arose, or rather several diffi- 
 culties ; for tlie claim of England to govern this 
 country had always been held to rest upon that 
 surprising grant of Pope Adrian IV., which 
 conferred Ireland upon Henry the Second as a 
 fief ; and to deny the papal authority was to de- 
 stroy the only title which the crown of England 
 had ever pretended over this island ; whereby 
 hangs a controversy, partly political, partly theo- 
 logical, which greatly agitated the pedants of both 
 countries at that period ; but is interesting now 
 neither to gods nor men. Yet for the clear un 
 derstanding of some terms which must often 
 occur in the following story, we may refer to 
 the argument for English dominion used by 
 one of its most learned advocates. " Whatso- 
 ever become," says Archbishop Ussher,* " of 
 the pope's idle challenges, the crown of England 
 hath otherwise obtained an undoubted right unto 
 the sovereignty of this country ; partly by con- 
 quest, prosecuted at first upon occasion of a social 
 war, partly by the several submissions of the 
 chieftains of the land made afterwards. For 
 whereas it is free for all men, although tliey hafe 
 been formerly quit from all subjection, to re- 
 nounce their own riglit, yet now, in tliese oui 
 days (saith Giraldus Canibrensis in his History 
 of the Conquest of Ireland) all the princes <| 
 
 • Religion of the ancient Irisli* 
 
 B 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NE1LL. 
 
 Ireland did voluntarily submit, and bind tliei\ 
 selves with firm bonds of f\iith and oath unto 
 Henry the Second, king of England." 
 
 On which " submissions" we remark, first, that 
 the same Henry the Second did, with firm bonds 
 of faith and oath, submit and perform homage to 
 Louis the Seventh of France ; and " with head 
 uncovered and belt ungirt, with sword and spurs 
 removed, he placed his hands, kneeling, between 
 those of the lord, and promised to become his 
 man from thenceforward, and to serve him with 
 life and limb and worldly honour, faithfully and 
 loyally ;"* — that King Edward the Third, in 
 like humble guise, did homage at the feet of an- 
 other French sovereign ; — but tliat those two 
 English kings were engaged in endless wars with 
 those very suzerains : and never incurred thereby 
 the charge of perfidy or rebellion.^ And the 
 second remark is, that such submissions, by alw 
 Irish chieftain, either in the twelfth oi* any other 
 century, were not only a mere form, but had no 
 
 ♦ Eopform of Liege-homage, see HaUam, Mid. Ages, 
 vol. ], p. 176. 
 
 f No doubt it was as peers of France, not as kings of 
 England, they did homage to the French king ; but they 
 made war upon him in both capacities, and with all the 
 power of all their dominions, insular and continental. 
 Hallam explains the law of the case, and Thierry the 
 rationale of it. The former says, " It was always ne- 
 cessary for a vassal to renounce his homage, before he 
 made war on his lord." (Mid. Ages, vol. 1, p. 176, note.) 
 And Tliierry informs us that obligations of tlus kin^ 
 " were very vague in their tenor, and were mostly takea 
 w\i\\ a bad grace, and in some sort as a mere matter o4 
 torm." — W hi taker's edition, 161 
 
LIFE OP HUGH c'NtliLL. 
 
 1) 
 
 force or signilicance even as a form : because 
 those chiefs were not, themselves, feudal lords- 
 they had neither fiefs nor vassals : like the lead 
 €rs of the ancient Franks, they were the elected 
 captains of a tribe of freemen ; and could not, 
 by donning the coronet and robes of a foreign 
 noble, change their countrymen into the subjects 
 of an alien prince, nor involve them in that great 
 feudal system, which, like every other form of 
 national polity must grow with a people's growth, 
 and weave itself, in the " Loom of Time" out of 
 the very elements of its being. 
 
 But enough of this technical disquisition. As 
 Henry was not free in conscience, to have and to 
 hold under the pope any longer, he caused his 
 Parliament of the Pale, in the year 1542, to de- 
 clare him " King of Ireland" in his own right, 
 the first English monarch who assumed that title : 
 and in the same year, at his palace of Greenwich, 
 was beheld a not&ble thing, — the O'Neill of Ul- 
 ster submitting iiimself as liege-man to an Eng- 
 lish king, — renounCi.''g the royal name of O'Neill, 
 " in comparison of which," says Camden, " the 
 very title of Caesar is contemptible in Ireland,"* 
 — taking upon him the barbarian Anglo-Saxon 
 title of Jarl^ or Earl, of Tyrone ; and doing ho- 
 mage to Henry as King of Ireland and Head of 
 the Church ; who on his side adorned him with 
 a golden chain, saluted him beloved cousin, " an^ 
 so returned him richly plated."f 
 
 And now we first hear of Matthew O'NeiH 
 
 • Camden, 2 Ehz. 
 
 \ Campion, " Historie of Ireland," p. 161. 
 
20 
 
 T-IJE OF HUGH O'.N'EILL. 
 
 Con'^ son, (or reputed son, for in Ireland he was 
 believed to be the offspring of a smith of Duq- 
 dalk,) called by the Irish Fardoragli, but passing 
 at Greenwich under the outlandish style of Baron 
 Dungannon, a title wh'^h he dearly rued. 
 
 Nor are the O'NeiKs alone in their strange ho- 
 nours. Mac Gilla Phadruig becomes Fitzpatrick, 
 and Baron of Upper Ossory. The O'Brien of 
 Thomond, forgetful of the glories of Kincora, 
 lays down at Henry's feet his dignity of Chief 
 Dal-Cais, and arises Earl of Thomond ; his son, 
 Baron of Inis-Hy-Quin ; his nephew, Baron of 
 Ibracken, by " letters patent," with broad seal of 
 Kngland, with official ceremonial of Garter-king, 
 and the rest ; with remainders, expectancies, es- 
 tates tail and other jargon of English law, por- 
 tentous in the ears of Filea and Brehon. 
 
 The southern chiefs, indeed, had a more sub* 
 stantial reward for their complaisance than those 
 empty dignities of earl and baron. The revenues 
 of all the suppressed abbeys of Thomond with 
 patronage of church livings, were annexed to 
 their lordships, and so was upheld the respectabi- 
 lity of the peerage. For in those years there wag 
 a sweeping " suppression" in progress, of all reli- 
 gious houses in that part of the island which was 
 under the control of the new Head of the Church ; 
 and many of the local princes, who could well 
 have defied his power, were content to sacrifice 
 the ancient monasteries endowed by their ances- 
 tors, to the reforming rage of Henry, on condition 
 of themselves receiving the spoiL The fair pos- 
 sessions of abbeys and priories were therefore 
 ieft almos* invariabl^i^ in the hands of their nelgb 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEIIiL. 
 
 21 
 
 boviring lords, and seem to have been the stipu*' 
 lated price of their servile allegiance ; so that 
 even George Browne, the king's archbishop of 
 Dublin, could not by most diligent suit obtain for 
 his own share the single nunnery of Grace Dieu, 
 nor even " a very poor house of friars," called 
 New Abbey, " a house of the obstinates' religion 
 which lay very commodious for him by Bally- 
 more." They were both destined for other claim- 
 ants who had earned them worthily. 
 
 In all Ireland were at that time three hundred 
 and seventy of such establishments, of various 
 orders, where the religious passed a life of devo- 
 tional retirement, feeding the poor, entertaining 
 strangers, and tending the sick, for no. earthly 
 reward, but for love of blessed charity, and the 
 health of their founders' souls. 
 
 There was abundance of plunder in every pro- 
 vince for those who would renounce their faith 
 and betray their country. But Con O'Neill, to 
 his honour be it said, understood not the power 
 of his new suzerain, whether regal or spiritual, to 
 extend so far ; nor is it easy to say how far he 
 was willing to admit such power. For this was 
 the same chief who had formerly cursed his ofF- 
 ipring if they should ever speak the Saxon 
 tongue, sow corn, or build houses in imitation of 
 the English, and who, to demonstrate his viewt 
 of Henry's Headsliip, had on the fii-st rumour of 
 *' R(ir()i'iri!iti()ii" led lii.s ti'oops to tlie soutli, burned 
 Atherdcf' and iS'nvan to th(} ground, and from 
 the hill of" Tai'ah warned off the servile nobles of 
 the Pale and their reforming deputy far from the 
 frontiers of Ulster. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH oVeILL. 
 
 Wliilc Con therefore, held the chieftaincy 
 Tyr-ov^en, and long after, the monasteries of hif 
 country stood secure. Though formally "giver 
 and granted" to King Henry along with the reli' 
 gious houses of other provinces, by those who had 
 no title either to give or to grant, yet the com- 
 missioners appointed to reduce them into chatge 
 did not proceed (for excellent reasons) to hoh 
 the usual inquest on their possessions, to inven 
 tory their chattels and ornaments, or expel thei 
 peaceful inhabitants ; and for seventy years afte 
 the " suppression" the monks of Donegal, Kilma 
 crenan, and RathmuUan, of Deny, Dungiven 
 Coleraine, and Dungannon, under the sheltering 
 power of O'Neill and O'Donnell " escaped," says 
 the Abbe Mac Geoghegan, " the sacrilegious fury 
 of the heretics :" or as the same fact is stated by 
 the Presbyterian historian,* the abbeys tliough 
 long since suppressed, " were not resumed into 
 the hands of the king, nor tlieir useless inmates 
 expelled until the reign of James the First." 
 
 Yet the northern Irish liked not the new ear], 
 nor liis honours, however unencumbered by foreign 
 laws and usages. The bards of Ulster had no 
 songs of praise for the obsequious liegeman of a 
 foreign prince. O'Donnell refused to send liini 
 his customary tribute for Inis-Owen : Mac Guire 
 of Fc'inanagh thought scorn to be tlie Uriaghl 
 of such an O' Neill as this ; and Con Baccagfi 
 soon found tliat lie was no longer the prince of 
 the North, and must speedily give place to wor- 
 
 ' Dr. lleid, " History of the Presbyterian Church ?n 
 Ireland," voL 1, p. 77- 
 
LIFE Ol*' HUGH (/NEILTL.. 
 
 24 
 
 tMer scions of that t..iu<int stock; who happily 
 were not wanting. 
 
 For, unmir.dful of court intrigue, and little 
 versed in the lore of Saxon heraldry, there was, 
 growing up to manhood, amongst the hills of 
 Ulster, another son of Con ; one of the proudetrt 
 and fiercest O'Neills that had appeared there since 
 he of theNineHostages ; and his name was Shane. 
 Chasing the wolf and deer with his foster-bre- 
 thren in the forests of Tyr-owen, and by the 
 shores of the lake of Feval ; learning from the 
 lips of bard and seanaghy the ancient glorjrc 
 and achievements of the Hy-Nial, this Shaiu- 
 had grown to believe, with all his soul, that the 
 Kinel-Eoghain were the hero-race most favoured 
 by heaven ; that Tyr-owen was the eye of Erin, 
 and the very pride of the earth : and that of all 
 noble and royal titles of honour and sovereignty, 
 by fjir the most dread and illustrious was " The 
 O'Neill." 
 
 And behold! just as the impetuous youth has 
 readied manhood, and feels within him the 
 strength and fiery spirit to uphold the honour of 
 his race, that proud name is to be extinguished. 
 The golden collar of an O'Neill, the sacred chair 
 of Tullogh-oge, are to be made of no account ; 
 lost or forgotten in these unheard-of peerages 
 of the straiiLTT. By the soul of Con More ! By 
 the awful gi avo of Caille Nial ! this must not be. 
 Let his father plume himself in his foreign fea- 
 thers : let tlie bastard Matthew maintain, as best 
 he may, his " estate tail" and coronet of Dungan- 
 non ; he, Shane, will be an O'Neill : — The 
 O'Neill ; for the clansmen of Tyr-owen, as 
 
24 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEIUL. 
 
 men are wont to do, soon found out the man who 
 was fit to be their chief. 
 
 It were long to tell, how the younger brethren 
 of Shane stood by him for the honour of Tvr- 
 owen ; how the bards espoused, as ever, the 
 cause of nationhood, and with harp and voice 
 kindled the ancient spirit of Erin ; how there 
 was war in Ulster till the Baron of Dungannon 
 fell (by treachery say English chroniclers) ; how 
 Con the Lame recognized his true son, and re- 
 pented him of his base homaging and his foreign 
 earldom ; and how, at last, the haughty Shane 
 sat upon the chair of Stone, was invested with 
 the white wand of sovereignty, and duly made 
 *he O'Neill, and Prince of Tyr-owen. 
 
 Baron Matthew, as we said, fell : whether by 
 treachery or on battle field, certain it is, in the 
 course of that war he lost both life and coronet : — • 
 " a lusty horseman, well-beloved, and a tried 
 aouldiour,"* but no match for the ardent and re- 
 solute Shane. For that generation, the blood of 
 the Dundalk smith, was not to prevail ; but, in 
 the halls of Dungannon, Matthew left an infant 
 son, one Aodh, or Hugh, who goes a fostering 
 among the English and is " preserved by them 
 from Shane,"f (not without a politic design,) and 
 disappears for a season. 
 
 Campion, Ilistorie cf Ireland," p. 189L 
 I ]Moryson. 
 
LiFE OF HUGH O^NELLL. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHANE THE PROUD AND THE IlEFOIlMATIO^» 
 
 A. D. 1550—1567. 
 
 The " Reformation" was meanwhile proceeding 
 vigorously in the English colony ; and the his- 
 tory of Ireland, from the period at which we have 
 opened its page, is so deeply coloured by that 
 event and its consequences, that frequent refe- 
 rence to its course and progress is essential to 
 clearness of narrative. 
 
 On the archiepiscopal chair of St. Laurence 
 O'Toole,* sat one George Browne, an apostate 
 (or reformed) friar ; raised to that eminence by 
 the King of England, in the exercise of his pon- 
 tifical supremacy ; and to him, with four other 
 persons, was directed in the thirtieth year oi 
 King Henry, a commission " to investigate, in- 
 quire, and search out where, within the said land 
 of Ireland, there were any notable images or 
 reliques, at which the simple people of the said 
 Lord tlie King were wont superstitiously to meet 
 together * * and that they should break 
 in pieces, deform, and bear away the same, so that 
 no fooleries of this kind might thenceforth fo¥ 
 
 • Properly Lorcan O'Tuathail. 
 
26 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 ever be in nse in the said land :" a commissioR 
 which was executed, wherever the English power ^ 
 extended, with all the zeal that religion and ra* 
 pacity could both inspire. 
 
 The Report of these commissioners is still ex- 
 tant, one of the most singular statements of ac- 
 count on record ; in which they specify the pro- 
 r^'wrty, " by virtue of the commission of the lord 
 tae king aforesaid, into the hands of the lord 
 the king, taken and appraised, and by the 
 before-recited title sold." £326 2s. \\d. is 
 stated to be " the price of divers pieces of gold 
 and silver, in mass and bullion, and also of cer- 
 tain precious stones set in gold and silver, and of 
 silver ornaments and other things upon divers 
 images, pictures, and reliques." Three cathe- 
 dral churches, St. Patrick's Dublin, Leighlin, and 
 Ferns, with many monasteries, priories, parish 
 churches and chapels, are stated to have been 
 stripped. " The price of divers vases, jewels, and 
 ornaments of gold and silver, and bells, and the 
 utensils and household stuff of superstitious build- 
 ings," is set down at £1710 2s. Od. and "one 
 thousand pounds of wax, manufactured into can- 
 dles, tapers, images, and pictures," produced £20.* 
 
 So far the material reform had been effected, 
 but on the death of Henry the Eighth, the doc- 
 trinal revolution was to begin in good earnest. 
 Somerset, the Protector, was a Zuinglian : and 
 under the advice of Cranmer, (who was a Zuin- 
 
 • Original account in the Record- Office, Custom- 
 Ilouse, DubUn, cited in Dr. Mant's "History of t\\9 
 rijurch of Ireland," p '63. 
 
MFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 27 
 
 ►lian also, from the moment of King Henry's 
 death,) it was resolved in his councils to make a 
 aiore strenuous effort for establishing the Refor- 
 nation in Ireland. In furtherance of that object, 
 Sir Edward Bellingham was sent over, a very 
 singular apostolic missionary, " with 600 horse 
 ^nd 400 foot." An " order of council" was issued, 
 enjoining the use of a new Liturgy. And shortly 
 after one Bale Avas appointed by the king to the 
 bishopric of Ossory, a bold and uncompromising 
 reformer, who was not content, like the king's bi- 
 shops in general, to reside in Dublin, under the 
 shelter of the castle, but proceeded at once to Kil- 
 Kenny, and undertook his charge. A most re- 
 markable " Vocacyon," as he calls it, was this 
 episcopal visit of Dr. Bale to his diocese, and may 
 serve as an instance of the method in which the 
 Church of Ireland was to be reformed. 
 
 The new bishop being ignorant of Irish, and 
 most of his clergy, with all their flocks, ignorant 
 of English, his preaching though never so ener- 
 getic, could have little effect upon such a diocese. 
 Therefore he ordered his servants to invade the 
 churches, to pull down the images and pictures, 
 and to destroy the vestments and ornaments 
 wliich savoured of popery. The people of Kil- 
 kenny boro tlif. piv.uching very well, so long as 
 they did not understand it ; but there wfis no 
 mistaking such conduct as this. They rose against 
 him, killed five of his servants before his face, 
 and he himself hardly escaped. As he relates tlio 
 t.ory himsell": "I preached the gospel of the 
 knowledge and riglit invocation of God. I main- 
 <aiiie,d the political order by doctrine and moved 
 
28 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 tlie commons to obey th^ir magistrates. But 
 when I once sought to destroy the idolatries, and 
 dissolve the hypocrites yokes, then followed 
 angers, slanders, conspiracies, and in the end the 
 slaughter of moii."* 
 
 Hitherto the religious innovations had been 
 confined within very narrow limits ; and in the 
 North the alarm of them was not yet heard. 
 Two clergymen, indeed, named Dowdall and 
 Goodacre, had been successively appointed the 
 nominal (or titular) archbishops of Armagh by 
 Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth ; but 
 they scarcely appear to have visited their diocese, 
 and certainly attempted no reformation there. 
 The former of these, though not appointed by the 
 provision of the pope, was a stanch Catholic, 
 and upon the death of Henry, zealously resisted 
 any change of doctrine or practice in the church. 
 Though a king's bishop, he did not shift and veer, 
 as was expected, with the Court religion of the 
 day ; and for his contumacy in that respect, the 
 new English pontiff, in October, 1551, issued a 
 bull, (or, " letters patent," as it was termed,) 
 gravely depriving Dowdall, and the see of Ar- 
 magh, of the Primacy of Ireland, and conferring 
 that dignity upon the Archbishop of Dublin and 
 his successors ;f in acknowledgment of the ser- 
 vices of Browne, who better knew the duties of a 
 court bishop. 
 
 But all \hese arrangements were unheard of or 
 
 Vocacyon of John Bale to the bishopric of Os» 
 
 bory." 
 
 t Wartei, An. l.a^, folio 
 
lilFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 29 
 
 liisregarded in Ulster. The Coarba of St. Pa- 
 trick still sat upon the archiepiscopal throne of 
 Armagh ; and the sees of the North, protected 
 by the O'Neills and O'Donnells, and ruled by the 
 primates Cromer and Waucop, long continued 
 Croe from invasion by the barbarian mission- 
 aries of England. In the words of Dr. Leland, 
 the people, removed beyond the sphere of 
 English law, had not known or not regarded 
 the ordinances lately made with respect to re- 
 ligion, nor considered themselves as interested 
 or concerned in any regulations hereafter to be 
 made."* 
 
 Shane O'Neill troubled himself little about the 
 *' Reformation" so long as it kept far from his 
 borders. There was work enough for him to do 
 at home. O'Rielly of Cavan dared to question 
 the supremacy of O'Neill, and had to be brought 
 to reason by a fierce inroad and a bloody defeat. 
 The chief of Tyrconnell was a more Ibrmidable 
 antagonist. The O'Donnells had long rivalled 
 in power their kindred tribe of Tyr-owen ; had 
 reduced some of the tributary chieftains, former 
 Uriaghts of the O'Neill, under their own sway ; 
 had wrested from the Kinel-owen their ancient 
 territory of Innishowen for which O'Donnell paid 
 tribute to O'Neill, though always with reluctance ; 
 and sometimes he set tlie prince of Ulster at de- 
 fiance and denied the tribute altogether : which 
 had in former days produced furious wars, ancl 
 that famous diplomatic correspondence — empba 
 tic protocols, breaking off with signilicant apos* 
 
 • Leland, " Hist, of Ireland," vol. 2, p. 194. 
 
80 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 pesis, — " Send me my tribute, or else "| 
 
 owe thee no tribute, and if " 
 
 Shane was not the man to suffer the rights oi 
 O'Neill to be questioned. With a large army he 
 burst into Tyrconnell, and too recklessly pursued 
 liis enemies into the recesses of their mountain- 
 ous country. In a night attack upon his camp, 
 his troops were entirely dispersed : Shane him- 
 self narrowly escaped being surprised in his tent, 
 amongst the galloglasses of his guard : and 
 for that time was obliged to retreat, or even 
 to fly ; swimming the rivers, say the chroni- 
 clers of Donegal, and traversing the mountains 
 by unknown ways. But he vowed a dire re- 
 venge, and fearfully fulfilled that vow another 
 day. 
 
 The plunder of O'Neill's camp fell to the vic- 
 torious O'Donnells : and the scene upon that bat- 
 tle-field might remind us of Chlodowig and his 
 Franks, dividing their spoil upon the plains ot 
 Soissons. " A vast plenty of arms, clothing, 
 and horses fell to the share of the victors, the 
 prodigious quantity of which booty may be judged 
 by this, that when they came to divide the spoU 
 by lots, eighty horses, besides O'Neill's own 
 horse, fell to the share of Con the son of Cal- 
 vagh.* 
 
 The O'Donnells did not long boast of their 
 victory, till a fresh army from Tyr-owen crossed 
 the Foyle and carried havoc and ruin to the 
 heart of their country Calvagh O'Donnell was 
 
 * Ware, " Antiq. of Ireland citing the '* Annals of 
 Donegal." (Four Masters.) 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEJLL. 31 
 
 defeated in battle, his Linds were wasted anj 
 plundered, and the chieftain and his wife carried 
 off in chains by the triumphant Shane. Calvagh 
 indeed was afterwards set free ; but liis wife re- 
 mained as part of the spoils of war, in tlie halls of 
 Benburb ; became the concubine of the haughty 
 conqueror, and bore him sons and daughters : in 
 especial one son, whom they christened Hugh, 
 and surnamed na GavelocJi^ " Of the fetters," or 
 the Fettered — for whom it had been better if he 
 had never been born. 
 
 A wild and turbulent career had this Shane, 
 and few days of rest since he took the leading of 
 that warlike sept : quelling Mac Gnire of Fer- 
 managh ; bridling the marauding Scots ; on all 
 sides strengthening the friends and crushing the 
 foes of Tyr-owen : crushing them indeed too 
 fiercely ; whereby he treasured up for himself 
 wrath, which was to burst at a future day upon 
 his head. 
 
 At last the impetuous energy of tliis chief pre- 
 vailed, and carried the sway of O'Neill higher 
 than it had reached under any of his predeces- 
 sors since the race had given monarchs to Ire- 
 land. From Fanad to Dundalk, from Ballyshan- 
 non to Dundrum, was no chief able to resist his 
 l)0wer. So that, in 1558, when Elizabeth as- 
 cended the throne of England, the O'Neill, as 
 reason was, [)redominated in Ulster. 
 
 The Englisli government seems to have deter- 
 mined that either by force or otherwise,* the 
 
 • "By all manner of means, as well by force an other' 
 wise/' — Instruc*iurs tfN Sussex. De$id. Cur. Hibenuca 
 p. 3. 
 
 / 
 
}2 LIFE OF HUGH 0'NEI1,L. 
 
 Northern prince must be destroyed. Sir Henry 
 Sidney (who was administering the government 
 of the Pale, in th^ absence of Sussex) marched 
 northward as far as Dundalk and invited the 
 chief to a conference. Shane O'Neill was then 
 at his house of the Fews, between Dundalk and 
 Armagh ; and he seems to have entertained some 
 fe^lrs that Sidney meant him foul phiy in this 
 proposed interview. He therefore declined the 
 invitation ; but sent a message that if Sir Henry, 
 of his courtesy, would visit his poor house, and 
 attend a christening there, and be gossip to his 
 child, it would please him well. Sir Henry at- 
 tended him, was treated with all princely hospi- 
 tality ; and Shane took the trouble to explain 
 to him, so far as his Illnglish ideas would admit 
 the information, how the Queen of England had 
 no jurisdiction in Ulster; how the "surrender" 
 dncl re-investment of Con Baccagh were void by 
 the Irish laws, as he was only chieftain for his 
 life, " nor could hav^e more by the law of Tani.^- 
 trj^ ; nor could surrender but by consent of the 
 iaws of his country ;" how he, Shane, being the 
 lawful son of Con, and also elected by his sept, 
 and moreover able to defend his rights by tlie 
 sword, was now the true prince and chieftain of 
 Ulster, and that as he meddled not with tlu; 
 Queen of England's territories, so he would take 
 care she should not interfere with his.* 
 
 * This visit of Sidnej vvas received by tbe Irish as a 
 ' submission,' and " altl ough the insolence of this over- 
 ture," says Leland, " ivas fully conceived, yet it was 
 deemed expedient to comply with it." 
 
LIFE OF FfUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 33 
 
 When the Earl of Sussex returned to his go- 
 vernment several unsuccessful expeditions were 
 made to the North in order, either by war or di- 
 plomacy to reduce this " Arch- Traitor," as th3 
 English 3hroniclers dare to term him ; and at 
 length " the queen resolved," says Camden, " to 
 disannul the patent of King Henry the Eighth, 
 wherein he declared Matthew (falsely supposed 
 to be the son of Con) to be the successor of hi? 
 father, and to bestow upon this Shane, as hi3 
 undoubted son and heir, the honourable title of 
 Earl of Tyr-owen and Baron of Dungannon."* 
 Yes : they would now shower their tinsel hO' 
 nours Upon him ; set his foot upon the necks of all 
 his enemies ; enrich him with the spoil of nu- 
 merous abbeys ; — let him only consent to kneel 
 at the footstool of a foreign throne, and place his 
 country under the iron heel of English power. 
 
 But Shane the Proud despised those paltry 
 coronets. " Letters patent," could not strengthen 
 him in Tyr-owen ; and for the abbeys, if he had 
 been reformer enough he could have robbed them 
 for himself. In the language of the English 
 chronicler : " When he saw that he was able tj 
 levy of his own followers one thousand horse and 
 four thousand foot, and had already a guard of 
 seven hundred men, he disdained, in barbarous 
 pride, all such honourable titles in comparison of 
 the name of O'Neill, and vaunted himself among 
 his own people to be king of Ulster,"f 
 
 Yet Shane was willing to live at peace vith 
 England and the Pale : he appeared in Di:biln 
 
 Camden, O 7Jl\z. 
 
 fib 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 r»nd announced his intention of visiting the coiiri 
 of London : tlien hearing from some of his rs- 
 tiiiners that Sussex meditated seizing him by 
 treache).'7, and sending him to England a pr- 
 soner, he proudly resolved to attend the Queer, 
 as became an independent sovereign. He pro- 
 ceeded to London with a gallant train of guards, 
 bare-headed, with curled hair (as if the statute of 
 Kilkenny had never been passed) hanging down 
 their shoulders, armed with battle-axes, and ar- 
 rayed in their saffron doublets ; an astonishment 
 to the worthy burghers of London and West- 
 minster. Elizabeth received him graciously and 
 they conversed upon Irish affairs ; but when the 
 ijueen inquired by what right he had excluded 
 young Hugh from Matthev/'s inheritance, " he 
 answered fiercely, by very good right."* and ex- 
 plained to Elizabeth the laws and usages whicl: 
 prevailed in his countiy ; showed her that Con*:, 
 surrender was unavailing ; that Matthew was a 
 bastard, and he the true O'Neill ; and that the 
 •authority he exercised over his tributaries of Tjl 
 ster was no more than his fathers had done before 
 liim : — " Which matters forasmuch as the quee.*? 
 gave credit unto, he was sent home again with 
 lionour." 
 
 Yet that treacherous court had resolved on nis 
 ruin ; and Elizabeth while she loaded him w.th 
 ^ionours, vowed revenge in secret, and swore 
 " by God's death" that such a rascaiUe kern 
 should not long despise her peerages and defy 
 her power. 
 
 • Camden. Q. Eliz. 
 
JJFF, OF HUGH o'NETLL 
 
 34 
 
 An alliance, however, was for the present con- 
 cluded between the Queen of England and the 
 prince of Tyr-owen. Shane, as a proof of his 
 good faith was to exterminate the Scots of Dal- 
 riada, who were declared enemies of England — a 
 duty which he readily undertook, as the Scots 
 were also enemies of his own ; or at least had 
 grown too numerous and powerful to be tolerated 
 as neighbours by so imperious a chief. Yet these 
 Scots of the Western Isles, Mac Neills and Mac 
 Donnells, were his kinsmen and natural allies 
 were, in fact, an Irish sept, of Irish speech and 
 usages, and a branch of the great Clan-Colla, 
 from which had descended the O'Hanlons and 
 Mac Gwires of Ulster.* For ages they had pos- 
 sessed the " glynns" or mountainous country oi 
 Antrim, and were the mercenary soldiers of 
 every chief in the island who required and could 
 reward their services. Their swords were fre- 
 quent in our wars ; their names in the songs of 
 all our bards : and they founded upon Irish soil 
 the monasteries of Bona Margy and Limbeg, to 
 make their peace with God : and there, in Irish 
 earth, their bones lie buried.j" 
 
 Now, instead of making common cause with 
 the Scots against their common enemy, Shane, 
 at the instance of his faithless ally of England, 
 levied a cruel war upon them. On his return 
 from London he gathered his clansmen of Tyr- 
 
 • Four Mastcro, by Connellan, note in page 3. 
 
 f Dr. Ileid takes care to distin<^uish them from Uig 
 Scots. He says, (Hist, of the Presbyterian Church, vol. 
 l»P-77, ) "The Scots here spoken of were piraticai 
 marauders and Roman Catholics from the western isles. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 owen, crossed tlie Bann, and sought the Mac 
 Donnells in their stror gholds of the glynns. 
 Here he defeated their, in two battles, slew James 
 the son of Conal, theij leader, wasted the country, 
 and carried off Sorley XJuidhe (the yellow-haired), 
 brother of their chief, in chains to Tyrone, 
 
 The English government had in the mean 
 time been steadily pursuing its views of reforming 
 Ireland, to which Shane O'Neill had hitherto 
 paid no attention whatever. Sussex, in the se- 
 cond year of the queen, held a parliament iTl 
 Dublin which re-enacted the spiritual supremacy 
 of the English monarch, and imposed on all the 
 Catholic clergy (or, as the act expressed it, all 
 who should maintain or defend foreign authority) 
 penalties of deprivation of benefices, for the first 
 offence ; for the second, the penalties of prtsmu- 
 nire ; for the third, penalty of high-treason ; — 
 that is to say, that all Catholic clergymen who 
 would not renounce their faith must die. 
 
 Another act passed in that parliament, and 
 called the " Act of Uniformity," commanded 
 the use of King Edward's liturgy (yet not the 
 liturgy which had been prescribed before ; not 
 his " First Book,'' but his " Second Book") ; 
 under penalty of imprisonment for life in the 
 case of all such clergymen as should a third time 
 refuse to use it, or evsn speak disrespectfully of 
 it. All persons, whether lay or clerical, who 
 should " despise or deprave" the book, or cause 
 any otlier form to be said or sung (that is to say^ 
 all Catholics) were to be visited with like pu» 
 nishments according to the number of their of* 
 r<^nces in that kind. All i>f rsons whatever, no^ 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 taving reasonable excuse," were to resort to their 
 parish churches on all Sundays and holydays, 
 and to abide there orderly during service, on pain 
 of the censures of the church and twelve pence 
 fine : — and the being a Catholic was not to be 
 admitted as such " reasonable excuse," but was 
 rather a serious aggravation. Finally, all arch- 
 bishops and bishops were solemnly enjoined, in 
 God's name, to put this act in strict execution. 
 
 Although the government of the Pale had no 
 power to enforce their laws in the Irish country, 
 the intention was that those laws should have a 
 general operation wherever, and so soon as, either 
 negotiation or the sword might open a way for 
 them. And as the queen had not for some years 
 had an archbishop of Armagh it was resolved (in 
 order to assert a continual claim against the pope) 
 to iJupply that metropolitan see with an active re- 
 Former. Adam Loftus, a young Englishman whc 
 had made a favourable impression on the queen 
 at a public act in Cambridge by " the elegance 
 of his oratory, the comeliness of his person, and 
 ;is graceful address," * was raised at the age of 
 fvventy-eig;ht to the nominal dignity of Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh ; " the youngest archbishop," 
 says Ware, " that we meet with in this see, ex- 
 cept Celsus." And the North, not being yet 
 ripe for foreign bishops, the queen declares in 
 the letters patent that as " his archbishopric is a 
 place of great charge, in name and title only to 
 be esteemed, witliout any worldly endowment," 
 she permits Iiim to hold the deanery of St. Pa- 
 
 • Mant. " Hist, of tlie Cliurdi of Irel-ind," p. 268. 
 
38 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 tj-ick's in the meantime. It was clear that while 
 Sliane O'Neill held such sway in the North, 
 Loftus could be only a bishop, as it were, in par' 
 tihus injidelium. And that his province must 
 be first reduced by the sword before it would 
 peaceably submit to the sway of his crozier. 
 
 To make a beginning of that conquest a pow- 
 erful body of English troops was sent to Derry 
 under Colonel Randolph, ostensibly as auxiliaries 
 against the Scots, but, in truth, to form a settle- 
 ment there which might be a key to Ulster, and 
 a bit between the teeth of O'Neill. These Eng- 
 lish, being true reformers, made small account of 
 the sanctity of that ancient seat of piety. They 
 turned the church into an arsenal and fortified 
 themselves upon the hill of Derry. 
 
 Now Shane began to perceive that his new 
 allies were his deadliest enemies, and that no- 
 thing less was contemplated by them than the 
 subjugation of his people and the ruin of the an- 
 cient religion : and he resolved that Randolph 
 and his troops should no longer hold the TeampoU 
 More^ nor profane tlie sacred oaks of Colum-kille. 
 ile led his forces to the Foyle, yet, for the pre- 
 sent, neither besieged the place nor declared hos- 
 tility : but a party of his men advanced to the hill, 
 and by their insolence, as Cox relates, provoked 
 Randolph to sally out upon them. A skirmish 
 onsuedin which Randolph was killed : and Derry 
 became a hazardous post to hold — with the ban- 
 ners of O'Neill floating over O'Cahan's country 
 .to the south ; O'Dogherty and Inishowen gloom 
 ing on the north ; and angry Mac Swynes and 
 O'Donnells hemming it round on all sides. Tlie 
 
L.1FK OF HL GU (> ^1I.1L|L.. 
 
 39 
 
 garrison, however, maintained its ground : till a! 
 lengtli — behold a miracle ! a wolf from the neigh- 
 bouring woods ran to the hill of Derry, huge and 
 hirsute, having in his mouth a burning torch,* 
 rushed straight to the church and flung his bran(? 
 amongst the powder barrels of the Saxons. 
 Church and fortress, with horrible explosion 
 were shattered to pieces ; hundreds of the soldiery 
 were blown to the elements : and so St. Colum- 
 kille avenged the desecration of ^ns sacred groves. 
 
 Thus reLate the Irish annalists : but whether 
 by the miracles of the saint, or otherwise, cer- 
 tainly the fortifications of Derry were dismantled, 
 and the remnant of Randolph's men betook them- 
 selves, to their ships. 
 
 On the south of O'Neill's territory also the 
 English had begun to encroach ; and the vene- 
 rable cathedral of Armagh was occupied by their 
 troops — unfailing harbingers of the Reformation 
 in Ireland. But now Shane threw off all reserve 
 with these insidious allies. He could not endure 
 this new garrison of Armagh. His blood was 
 up : his standard was unfurled ; and he swore by 
 St. Malachy, and by the crozier of blessed Pa- 
 trick, that the holy fanes of Drumsailech hill 
 should be no shelter for the reforming bishop and 
 
 * Or spar/is of fire — O' Sullivan. Tliere is an obscu- 
 rUy iibc'u't tlie cause of the Englisli troops evacuating 
 Derry. ri)e story of the skirniisii in whicli Randolph 
 was killed is given hy Camden and Cox ; but O'Sullivan 
 does not mention it at all. And, on tlie other hand, tl>e 
 aiiraele of the wolf is an unsatisfactory account of the 
 matter. O'Sullivan, however, does not state it as a fact, 
 but as the popular belief in his day 
 
40 
 
 I.IFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 his troops. He burst upon Armagh like a, thun 
 derbolt, and laid both chui'ch and city in ashe.s. 
 
 For this Loi tus solemnly cursed him, and in 
 Dublin pronounced sentence of excommunica- 
 tion against him ;* not with bell, or book, or 
 candle, (which might savour of superstition,) yet 
 with sufficient unction and heartiness notwith- 
 standing. But Shane was little affected by his 
 cursing. With the troops of Tyr-owen he swept 
 southward like a hail-storm rava^-ino- the settle- 
 ments of the English and razing the castles of 
 the Pale. He laid siege to Dundalk where he 
 met a stout resistance ; and Sarsfield, mayor of 
 Dublin, having marched to its relief with a large 
 body of citizens, he raised the siege, and retired 
 northwards, after laying waste half a province. 
 
 The whole powers of the English government 
 were now concentrated against O'Neill. Even 
 the Earl of Desmond, on whom lie had relied for 
 support, joined witli the Deputy in defence of the 
 Pale. Sidney, with the usual English policy, la- 
 boured to raise an Irish party against him in 
 Dlster, and for that purpose supported O'Donnell 
 his bitter enemy with troops and arms. Tlie 
 North was laid desolate by a furious war ; and 
 although O'Neill was generally victorious in the 
 field, and especially in the battle of the " Red- 
 coats" {na Gassogues dearg)^ where four hun- 
 dred of O'Donnell's English auxiliaries were cut 
 to pieces ;f yet his power gradually declined. 
 Mac Gwire and some Connaught chieftains whom 
 Mspride and ferocity had made his enemies, joined 
 
 Ware. 
 
 t Mac Geoghegaa. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEIJLL.. 
 
 41 
 
 O'Donnell against him. His territories were 
 wasted by incessant attacks : liio troops, who ra- 
 ther feared than loved him, lied in large bodies 
 from his standard : and at last, abandoned by all 
 his allies, and reduced nearly to extremity, he 
 resolved to betake himself to his former enemies^ 
 the Scots of Antrim, who were then encamped 
 in north Clan-hugh-buidhe, under Alaster Oge 
 Mac Donnell. As a propitiatory offering he sent 
 home in freedom the Yellow-haired Sorley, whom 
 he had taken prisoner two years before ; and 
 shortly after Shane himself, with his concubine, 
 (the wife of O'Donnell), his secretary, and a 
 poor train of but fifty horsemen, proceeded to the 
 encampment of Mac DonnelL 
 
 Here again he was met by the treachery of the 
 English. An officer named Piers, an agent of 
 the deputy, had been negotiating with the Scots ; 
 and on the news of Shane's approach, took care 
 to remind them of that pitiless raid upon the 
 glynns, of the slaughter of their chief and all 
 their ancient enmity to the haughty prince of 
 Ulster. O'Neill arrived, and was entertained 
 ivith seeming hos[)itality ; until some dispute, as 
 previously concerted, arose between the fohowers 
 of the two chiefs, which ended in the Mac Don- 
 nells falling upon Shane and all his company and 
 liewing tliem to pieces. The chieftain's head was 
 a[)propriated by Piers, the contriver of this base 
 Blaughter, who sent it, as an acceptable offering 
 to tlie lord deputy, " pickled in a pipkin,"* and 
 received for tiic price of it, one tliousand marks. 
 
 That ghastly lioad was gibbetted high upon a 
 
 • Cox 
 
42 
 
 lilFE OF HUGH O NEILL.. 
 
 pole, and long grinned upon the towers of Dub* 
 lin Castle ; a new muniment and visible sign 
 of that inalienable legacy of hatred to the 
 stranger bequeathed by an O'Neill two hundred 
 years before ; — Hatred produced by lengthened 
 •ecollections of injustice, by the murder of our 
 fathers, brothers, and kindred ; and which will 
 not be extinguished in our time nor in that of our 
 Sons." The headless trunk of Shane the Proud 
 was buried where it fell : and they still show his 
 grave, about three miles from the little village of 
 Cushendun, upon the coast of Antrim. 
 
 English writers have painted this Shane as a 
 hideous monster of sensual brutality : and strange 
 tales are current of his wine cellars at Dundrum 
 castle, on tlie coast of Down ; of his two hun- 
 dred tuns of Spanish wine and hogsheads of us- 
 quebaugh stored in the vaults of that fortress ; 
 of his deep carouses and loathsome drunkenness ; 
 and that unheard-of course of earth-bathing, 
 burying himself to the ears in cold clay, to cool 
 the raging fever of his blood. But it is the 
 painting of an enemy. He was no stupid drunk- 
 ard, who for so many years defied the armies and 
 defeated the policy of Elizabeth : and his coun- 
 trymen have only to lament that, by his indomi- 
 table pride and cruelty, he armed so many Irish 
 chiefs against him, and against their native land ; 
 and further to regret that he did not import from 
 Si)ain (instead of wines of Malaga) some thou- 
 sand blades of the Toledo tempering, and Spanish 
 Boldiers, then the best troops in Europe, to wield 
 them against the deadly enemies of his race. 
 
LITE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 43 
 
 CKAPTEE in. 
 
 TIELOUGH LTNNOGH AND THE "BAEON OP DUN- 
 GANNON." 
 
 A. D. 1567—1584. 
 
 Apter the murder of Shane O'Neill, Queen 
 Elizabeth and her Irish deputy believed that all 
 danger from Ulster was at an end. Sidney held 
 a parliament in that year in which the legisla- 
 tors of the Pale solemnly passed an act for what 
 they called the " attainder" of Shane O'Neill, and 
 the forfeiture of his " estate," meaning all the 
 lands inhabited by his sept. The act then pro- 
 ceeds, after abolishing the very name of O'Neill, 
 and imposing the penalties of high treason upon 
 any who should dare to assume it, to grant to the 
 queen all the other lands of northern and east- 
 ern Ulster ; O'Cahan's country, now the county 
 Derry ; the Route, the Glynns, and Nortli Clan- 
 hugh-buidhe (or Claneboy,) now composing the 
 county of Antrim, but then inhabited by the 
 Mac Quillans, INIac Donnells, and O'Neills ; I\[ao 
 Gennis' country in Down, called Iveaf^h ; O'Han- 
 Ion's and Mac Cann's in Armagli, called Oir-thir 
 (Orier) and Clan Bressail ; and also the whole of 
 the present county of Monaghan, comprising 
 Farney, Uriel, Lochty, and Dartry, inhabited by 
 
LIFE OF HDGH O'NEIL 1,. 
 
 the Mac Mahons, and Triuch of the Mac Kennas 
 
 All these territories were gravely confiscated to 
 the queen's use, — upon the map, and after a do- 
 cumentary manner ; but her majc-ty never de- 
 rived any benefit from those new dominions, 
 being, indeed, kept out of tliem by the right 
 owners. 
 
 The truth is, the northerns never heard of 
 these acts of Elizabeth's Parliament ; and never 
 dreamed that the murder of an Irish chieftain 
 by a traitor Scot should give any foreign power 
 authority in Ulster. Tirlough Lynnogh O'Neill, 
 a grandson of Con More was invested with the 
 chieftaincy of Ulster, by the permission, as tlie 
 English historians say, of the queen's govern- 
 ment ; which also permitted him to hold (but, 
 they assure us, by *' English tenure") a portion of 
 his estate ; permitted indeed more than they 
 could have wished, wanting the power to pre- 
 vent it. 
 
 Sir Henry Sidney however proceeded to the 
 North, not on a hostile expedition, but attended 
 only by six hundred men ; and there he received 
 from several chieftains what would now be called 
 assurances of friendly relations, or " submissions" 
 in the language of Camden and Cox ;, and as the 
 latter author with much gravity assures us, " set- 
 tled Ulster," which, however, will appear not to 
 have been finally settled at that time. 
 
 When Shane O'Neill was murdered, the crafty 
 councillors of Elizabeth seem to have fixed their 
 eyes upon young Hugh, son to Che ill-fated Baror, 
 Matthew, and destined him, according to the usual 
 English policy, as an instrument to .veaken and 
 
tJFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 45 
 
 divide the power of Ulster ; by degrees to de- 
 stroy its independence ; and so to reform it after 
 their fashion,* little knowing the stuff' that was 
 in him : for this Hugh was then " a young man 
 little set by."t 
 
 Unliappily, we know but little of Hugh 
 O'Neill's early life ; except that he lived some- 
 times in Ireland, but much frequented the Eng- 
 lish court ; in his own country an Irish chief, in 
 London a courtly nobleman ; that he was high in 
 favour with Elizabeth, being a youth of goodly 
 presence and winning speech ; that he was not 
 very tall in stature, but powerfully made, able to 
 endure much labour, watching, and hunger ; that 
 
 his industry was great, his soul large, and fit 
 for the weightiest businesses ;" — that he " had 
 much knowledge in military affairs, and a pro- 
 found dissembling heart ; so as many deemed him 
 born either for the great good or ill of his coun- 
 Xvy."X 
 
 This man was deemed a suitable instrument ol 
 English politicians to ruin his country's liberty; 
 and with that view was recognized by the queen 
 as Baron of Dungannon " by his father's right,'* 
 and was supported as a rival to Tirlough, then 
 the O'Neill ; for thus it was expected that the 
 Irish chieftain and the Saxon baron would de- 
 stroy each other, and that the great house of Ty- 
 rone, divided against itself, would fall. Hugh 
 
 * For a candid explanation of this scheme see *' Spen« 
 eer's View," p. 18(). 
 t Camden, Qiiee i Eliz. 
 tlb. 
 
46 
 
 LIFE OF flUGH O'NEII.L. 
 
 O'Neill knew well the purport and meanmsr of 
 
 all these honours : he understood what the golden 
 chain of an English noble symbolized, when worn 
 round the neck of a Celtic chieftain : he felt ttiut 
 in those stars and ribbons there lurked danger to 
 his country, ignominy to himself. But he had 
 much to learn amongst the English : he had their 
 mode of warfare to master, their policy to study, 
 in the characters of Burleigh and Walsinghani 
 intending, apparently, to try conclusions with 
 them in both those departments at a future day. 
 So with that " profound dissembling heart" of 
 his, he stomached their disgraceful dignities ; nay, 
 bore himself proudly under them, biding his 
 time. 
 
 Nearly twenty years passed away, from the 
 death of Shane till 1584, when Perrot came to 
 Ireland as lord deputy ; during which Ulster was 
 comparatively quiet, though as thoroughly unre- 
 formed, and anti-English as ever. The sacrile- 
 gious outrages by which the foreigners and their 
 bishops prosecuted reformation in the south, (and 
 which provoked the Geraldine v/ar there) were 
 still unknown in the O'Neill's country. Abbey 
 lands and monasteries were peaceably possessed 
 by their religious inhabitants ; and three northern 
 bishoprics, those of Clogher, Derry, and Raphoe, 
 seem to liave been abandoned altogether to Ca- 
 inolic prelates ; so that as Doctor Leland. Ja- 
 menting the circumstance, observes, " they were 
 still granted by the pope without control." Not 
 ihat the pope did not also appoint bishops, as 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'neILL. 47 
 
 usual, to the other sees ; but for some of those 
 there were also nominal bishops (without clergy 
 or flocks), named by letters patent from the 
 queen. 
 
 During this period also the civil policy of the 
 North remained unchanged ; there was not a 
 BherifF north of Dundalk. No " lord president" 
 had yet ventured into these regions to govern 
 with his " course of discretion," as Sir John Da- 
 vies terms their method of administering justice- 
 Hugh O'Neill, when in Ireland, seems to have re- 
 sided quietly at his house of Dungannon, and tc 
 have acquiesced, contrary to all expectation, if. 
 ine chieftaincy of old Tiriough, who held his 
 state principally in Strabane or Benburb. And 
 so long as the frontiers of the Pale were not ad- 
 vanced northwards, neither chiefs nor people 
 concerned themselves about the affairs of other 
 parts OT the island : for, alas 1 there was still no 
 Irish nation. 
 
 Several transactions, however, occurred in 
 Ulster, during this period, which deserve some 
 notice. In Queen Elizabeth's reign foreign plan- 
 tations began to be a favourite project with the 
 English. Large tracts of North America were 
 by those all-powerful " letters patent" taken from 
 the red men and deliberately given and granted 
 to such of her discontented and adventurous sub- 
 jects as would undertake to form settlements 
 there and establish true religion : and Ulster, 
 wnich had been so solemnly declared forfeit to the 
 queen seemed a very suitable theatre for similar 
 plantations. Accordingly one Thomas Smith, a 
 secretary to Elizabeth, having a natural son 
 
^8 i-IFE OF HU^^-Vf O'NEILL. 
 
 pi o vide for, whose illegitimacy was a bar to hit 
 attaining distinction in his own country, desired 
 to make him the founder of a noble family in Ire- 
 land. He moved the queen, therefore, to grant this 
 young adventurer a territory in the Ards, on the 
 east coast of Down, for the purpose, as Camden 
 assures us, of civilizing and converting the bar- 
 barous inhabitants. And as it had always been 
 found that the Irish could not be civilized or 
 converted, until they had first been largely plun- 
 dered, every foot soldier who should accompany 
 vSmith, was to take for his own share, one hundred 
 and twenty acres of land, every horseman two 
 hundred and forty acres, and all other persons ac- 
 cording to their rank, paying Smith, as Lord of 
 Ards, one penny per acre. But Brian Mac Art 
 O'Neill, and his clansmen, to whom all that land 
 belonged, had not been consulted in these ar- 
 rangements, and apparently were not desirous of 
 such civilization as this foreign pirate had to 
 offer: for when Smith landed, (1571,) and was 
 proceeding to establish himself in the Ards, 
 O'Neill and his people fell upon them by surprise, 
 (by treachery, some historians say, as if the 
 O'Neills were his natural and sworn allies,) and 
 killed Smith and many of his troops ; the rest fled 
 to their ships and speedily weighed anchor, carry- 
 ing their letters patent and their civilization to 
 some more hospitable shore. 
 
 Shortly after, in the year 1573, Walter Deve- 
 reux, earl of Essex, projected a mure extensive 
 plantation in the same district. Twelve hundred 
 troops were to be maintained and fortification 
 built at the joint expens? of the queen and 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Essex ; and, this time, each horseman tvas to 
 have four hundred acres, and each footman two 
 hundred. A fev scores of acres, more or less, r-^. 
 the Irish enen'ies' land seemed to have beeK 
 reckoned of sm-ill account. Essex raised £10,000 
 (equal to £100,000 of the present money) by 
 mortgaging his English estate to tlie queen; 
 made vast preparations in men, arms, and stores*, 
 and so hopeful was the expedition held, that Lora 
 Rich, Lord Dacre, Sir Henry Knowles, three 
 sons of Lord Norris, and se\eral oriier English- 
 men of distinction, accompanied him to have a 
 share of the glory and the profit. The armament 
 set sail and arrived in the bay of Carrickfergus. 
 
 So formidable an invasion seems to have caused 
 for the time a close union amongst the several 
 chieftains of the name of O'Neill. Brien, lord of 
 Clar-hugh-buidhe, whose territories were the im- 
 mediate objects of this marauding expedition, 
 was speedily joined both by Tirlough Lynnogh, 
 ' and Hugh of Dungannon, who was then in this 
 country, and seems, notwithstanding his English 
 peerage and high favour with the queen, to 
 have been strongly of opinion that Ireland was 
 fo^ the Irish. Several skirmishes occurred be- 
 t-veen the O'Neills and the troops of Essex. The 
 "ew colony began to promise more hard figliting 
 ',han either profit or Protestantism ; and the Eng- 
 lish noblemen who sliared the adventure, one by 
 one, withdrew to England. At last the earl pe- 
 •tioned the queen for liberty to abandon the 
 plantation and return hrirae, which was not how- 
 'er granted him for m^ re than a year : and the 
 only further proceedin we hear of in connexior 
 
50 
 
 LIFE O? HUGH O'NEIXil.. 
 
 with the affair is that, in 1574, "a solemn peaet 
 and concord was made between the earl of Essex 
 and Felim O'Neill. However, at a feast wherein 
 the earl entertained that chieftain, and at the end 
 of their good cheer, O'Neill and his wife were 
 seized ; their friends who attended were put tc 
 the sword before their faces, and Felim, togethe? 
 with his wife and brother, was conveyed to Dub- 
 lit, where they were cut up in quarters."* 
 
 Even this expedient, however, did not secure 
 Essex in his settlement. The Irish of that coun- 
 try would not be civilized notwithstanding all his 
 exertions, and never could see the justice or ex- 
 pediency of allotting their lands to English sol- 
 diers. The troops were slain or scattered ; the 
 money was lost ; and at length the earl got per- 
 mission to return to England. 
 
 But the Geraldine war had now broken out in 
 Munster, and Hugh of Dungannon must be foL 
 ,owed to the South. 
 
 * Irish M S. Annals, quoted by Leland and Ourry. 
 
IZFE OP HLOH e'ifEILIj 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 JUE GERALDINES AND REFORMATION IN TEHB 
 SOUTH. 
 
 1570—1578. 
 
 As the wars in INIunster were solely on acconnt 
 cf religion, it is needful to keep sight of the " Re- 
 formation." In the year 1575, a very sirigular 
 letter was addressed to the Queen of England by 
 Sir Henry Sidney, then lord deputy, in whicn 
 the writer undertakes an exposition of the state 
 of his province in matters ecclesiastical.* He 
 takes as an example the diocese of Meath, " the 
 best peopled diocese, and best governed country," 
 he calls it, of this realm, of which the queen's 
 bishop at that time was one Brady. Sir Henry 
 says there were in that diocese two hundred and 
 twenty-four parish churches, of which one hun- 
 dred and five were served by " very simple and 
 sorry curates," and of these curates only eighteen 
 were found able to speak English, " the rest 
 Irish priests, or rather," as he prefers to call 
 them, " Irish rogues." In many places the very 
 walls of the churches were down, "very few 
 chancels covered, windows and doors ruined." 
 And if such be the estate of the church in Meath 
 
 • Sir. 11. Sidney's Letters and Memoriah, 
 
5^ 
 
 LlKP OF HUGH O'NETf-Bi 
 
 diocese Sidney leaves her Majesty to conjecture 
 in what case the rest i^;, " Yea, so profane and 
 heathenish," lie continues, " are some parts of this 
 your country become, as it hath been preached 
 publicly before me, that the sacrament of baptism 
 is not used among them : and truly I believe it." 
 Spenser's account of die stace of religion is stilJ 
 more dismal ; the clergy, " generally bad" — '* the 
 churches even with the ground'* — the bishops 
 keeping the benefices in their own hands and 
 " setting up their own servants and horseboys to 
 take up the tithes and fruits of them." In all 
 the world had not been seen " such an overthrown 
 church." " The kingdom in general," says Dr. 
 Mant, "was at this time overwhelmed by the 
 most deplorable immorality and irreligion." State- 
 ments these which to those unacquainted with 
 the peculiar phraseology of the writers might con- 
 vey an impression of hideous national crime. But 
 religion" and " the church" meant, with them, 
 only the Protestant religion and the queen's 
 clergy. The universal Catholicism of the people 
 was accounted only as so much irreligion ; for 
 the same Spenser informs us that the popish 
 priests, " lurking secretly in the houses and in 
 corners of the country doe more Imrt and hiu' 
 drance to religion with their private persuasions, 
 than all the others can do good with their publique 
 instructions." And he much marvels at the zeal 
 jf these priests, which he says " it is a great 
 wonder to see ;" " how they spare not to come out 
 of Spaine, from Rome and from Remes, by long 
 toyle and daungerous travayling hither, where 
 tHey know perill of death awaytcth them, and 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 S'4 
 
 reward or ricbesse." Dr. Leland, wl/ile he de- 
 plores the gloomy prospect, as he calls it, admits 
 that " where the reformed clergy could neither 
 be regarded nor understood, the priests spoke to 
 their countrymen and kinsmen in their own lan- 
 guage, and v/ere heard with attention, favour and 
 afFection." And Doctor Mant, after lamenting 
 the general irreligion" admits, as it were inci- 
 dentally, that " It is true there existed in the 
 kingdom otlier intrusive missionaries sent by the 
 bishop of Rome, as opponents of the sovereign, the 
 laws, and the church of the kingdom." 
 
 The overthrow of church buildings mentioned 
 by Sidney and Spenser, may be accounted for by 
 their being generally turned into fortresses by 
 the queen's troops ; " for in the churches dedi- 
 cated to the saints it was most usual with them 
 to reside," says an Irish chronicler.* And as the 
 Irish loved no strong places upon their borders, 
 they made no scruple, when occasion served, of 
 burning and destroying them like the other cas- 
 tles of the English. We have seen how the ca- 
 thedrals of Derry and Armagh fared in the wars 
 of Shane O'Neill ; and about the same periodj" 
 the church of Athenry, in Gal way, was laid in 
 ashes by the Mac-an-Earlas, sons of the Earl of 
 Clanrickard ; and when men cried out sacrilege 
 and parricide, for their motlier lay buried there, 
 one of them fiercely answered, " If liis mother 
 were alive in the church he would sooner burn 
 
 • MS. translation of Lifeof O'DomifcUinU.I.A-p.Sl. 
 
 ♦ 1576. 
 
54 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 fccr and it together than any English should fortify 
 there." 
 
 On the whole we may collect that little or no 
 progress had yet been made in reducing the Irish 
 people under the Queen of England's jurisdiction^ 
 either temporal or spiritual. The peerages created 
 by King Henry had begun to be regarded in their 
 true light as badges of servitude, and despised 
 accordingly. Thomond, like Tyrone, could en- 
 dure no earldoms within its bounds, and on the 
 death of the first earl of that title, had compelled his 
 successor to nominate a Tanist after the manner 
 of his fathers, and to comport himself in all re- 
 spects like an Irish prince. Some years later 
 Mac Carthy-More flung to the winds his coronet 
 of Clancarthy,* assumed the title of King of 
 Munster, and " invaded the Lord Roche's coun- 
 try with banners displayed" as an Eugenian chiel> 
 tain ought. 
 
 But the great Anglo-Irish family of Fitzgerald 
 were the most powerful antagonists of English 
 authority in Munster. G-erald, the head of that 
 tribe, (and by his English title. Earl of Des- 
 mond,) was then the most potent chieftain of the 
 south ; had a vast following, royal privileges, 
 many fair castles and wide domains ; and through 
 his palatinate of Kerry, and from the Shannon 
 to the Blackwater, from Carrig-a-foyle to his 
 good town of Kilmallock, and eastward to 
 Y"oughal, the Geraldine administered justice^ 
 levied war, and held his state like a sovereign 
 prince as he was. His attachment to the uncienf 
 
 Cox. This writer calls the title Olancar 
 
1,IFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 55 
 
 religion caused him to be looked to as the cham- 
 pion of the Catholic cause in the south. The 
 earl and his countess had received, with distinc- 
 tion, Leverous, bishop of Kildare, when deprived 
 of his see for refusing the oath of supremacy; 
 and in defiance of the statutes against harbouring 
 priests and friars, gave an asylum to all such as 
 were persecuted under the atrocious penal laws 
 of the Pale. 
 
 It was evident to the councillors of Elizabeth 
 that until this chief could be reduced, reformation 
 and English law would make small way in Mun- 
 ster ; and, therefore, in the year 1567, while Des- 
 mond and his brother John were at the court of 
 England upon a peaceful visit, they were both 
 seized by order of the queen, and committed pri- 
 soners to the Tower. 
 
 Now it was hoped that some progress could be 
 made. Sidney procured the appointment, succes- 
 sively, of Sir John Perrot and Sir Wm. Drury 
 to the office of " Lord President" of Munster, a 
 functionary whose duty seems to have been to 
 excite feuds amongst the native princes, and so 
 strengthen the influence, and, as far as possible, 
 establish the rule and religion of England upon 
 their ruin. And wherever local dissension or 
 treachery atforded any opportunity of exercising 
 giuthority, they proceeded to hold a kind of courts, 
 dnd make the unfortunate Irish amenable to the 
 laws enacted in the Pale Parliament. Sir John 
 Davies explains the functions of these lords pre- 
 sident in the case of Fitton then holding that 
 office in Connaupjht, who governed, he says, " in 
 
56 
 
 LIFE OF HUOH O'NEILI*, 
 
 a course of discretion," partly martial and partly 
 civil ; in short, as best lie miglit. 
 
 Perrot and Drury, but especially the latter, car- 
 ried this course of discretion to a terrible length 
 in Munster. The Act of Uniformity and that 
 against harbouring Catholic priests, were strictly 
 enforced wherever these justiciaries could esta- 
 blish their power ; and, unhappily, the south was 
 so torn by the wars of native chiefs, that the 
 English officers, though not supported by large 
 military force, were enabled to usurp much autho- 
 rity. Thus, in an expedition made by Drury, in 
 1578, he bound forty citizens of Kilkenny, in a 
 kind of recognizance, to come to church every 
 Sunday and hear service in Englisli ; (for a re- 
 formed bishop had at length established himself 
 in St. Canice's ;) and during the same circuit 
 " he executed twenty-two criminals at Limerick, 
 and thirty-six at Kilkenny, one of which was a 
 blackamoor, and two others were witches ; who 
 were condemned," says Cox, " by the law of na- 
 ture."* What were the offences of the other 
 culprits, or by what law they were condemned^ 
 we are not apprized ; but they had probably three 
 times asserted the spiritual supremacy of the 
 pope. 
 
 In the same year we find a notable instance of 
 the abhorrence in which the reformers held all 
 ** superstition," and how they proceeded in abating 
 
 • Witchcraft and conjurations of evil spirits had so 
 much increased about this time that the queen's govern- 
 ment, amongst other acts for reforming Ireland, waa 
 obUged shortly after to jjrocure a special law against 
 those crimes, (the 28th Eiiz. c. 2. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 57 
 
 it. Matthew Sheyn, queen's bishop of Cork and 
 Cloyne, publicly burned at the high cross of 
 Cork the image of St. Dominick belonging to 
 the Dominican friary of that city.* 
 
 And now Ave might sup full of horrors, with 
 Ihe ecclesiastical historians of the period, in de- 
 I'ailing the cruel persecutions and painful deaths 
 of the national clergy, wherever the unsparing 
 arm of that ferocious English Reformation could 
 reach them ; — how Patrick O'Hely, bishop of 
 Mayo, and Cornelius O'Rourke, a pious priest, 
 were, by order of Drury, placed on the rack, 
 their hands and feet broken with hammers, nee- 
 dles thrust under their nails ; how they were at 
 last hanged : — how Dermod O'Hurley, archbishop 
 of Cashel, was arrested by order of Adam Lof- 
 tus (then Chancellor of the Pale, and Queen's 
 Archbishop of Dublin, Armagh having proved 
 fjoo hot for him, as we saw) ; how he was loaded 
 with irons until the Holy Thursday of the fol- 
 lowing year, dragged before the chancellor and 
 treasurer, questioned, tortured, and finally hanged 
 outside the city walls before break of day: — how 
 John Stephens, a priest, having been duly con- 
 victed " for that he said mass to Teague Mac 
 Hugh," was hanged and quartered. All this and 
 much more may be found in the martyrologists 
 of the time.j' But what is material for us to re- 
 
 * Ware. Bishops of Cork and Cloyne. 
 
 t (ySullivan. JJid. Cuth O'Daly. lialatio persecttt. 
 
 fJibern. — Arlhur-a-nionaslerio, ( quoted in Brenan's Eccl. 
 Hist, of Ireland.) Tlieatre of Catholic and Protestant 
 Rehgion, &c. 
 
68 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILI.. 
 
 mark is, the fact that such methods of coDversion 
 were then the only known methods ; — that thia 
 island had now become one of the battle-grounds 
 on which Europe in those centuries fought out 
 the cruel quarrel of her rival faivhs ; — that Philip 
 of Spain was at this very moment striving to 
 crush liberty and Protestantism in the Low Coun- 
 tries, almost as fiercely as another foreign tyrant 
 was warring against liberty and Catholicism in 
 Ireland ; — that, a few years before, in the streets 
 of Paris, was done that deed of horror which 
 makes St. Bartholomew's a day that mankind, 
 while the earth stands, will tremble to name ;— 
 that hideous rumours of intended extermination, 
 — Catholics to be massacred by Protestants, Pro- 
 testants by Catholics, — affrighted the general ear 
 of Christendom — and, further, that Pope Pius 
 the Fifth had lately, by a solemn bull, deposed 
 the Queen of England from her throne, and ab- 
 solved her subjects, as far as a bull could, from 
 their allegiance , which, indeed, he had precisely 
 as good a right to do as she to deprive him of his 
 spiritual supremacy. 
 
 This confounding of spiritual and temporal 
 authority, upon both sides, led to all those terri- 
 ble persecutions and " religious wars," as they 
 were called, which devastated Europe for more 
 than a centurj. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nETLL. 
 
 59 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE GEEALDINE WAIJ, 
 
 A. D. 1578 -1584. 
 
 Aftek some years' confinement in the tower, 
 Gerald, Earl of Desmond, and his brother were 
 sent as state prisoners to Dublin; from whence, in 
 1574, they had found an opi3ortunity to escape 
 ouhorseback during a hunting party, and by 
 desperate riding arrived in Munster, whither it 
 did not seem advisable to follow them. For about 
 four years after this Desmond seems to have lived 
 in peace with the English; yet still, as Ware al- 
 leges, was keeping up negotiations with the pope 
 and King of Spain, but without much result, un- 
 til at last James Fitzmaurice, his kinsman, pro- 
 ceeded to Eome, and through the celebrated 
 ecclesiastics, Saunders and Allen, solicited and 
 obtained from his Holiness abull commanding the 
 chiefs and clergy of Ireland to assist Fitzmaurice 
 in defence of holy church against the lieretio 
 English, with promise of indulgences and spiri- 
 tual privileges, such as the Crusaders had earned 
 by fighting for the blessed sepulchre. 
 
 Thus accredited, Fitzmaurice proceeded to 
 Spain and entreated King Philip, the mortal 
 
go ^^^'^ HUGU O'KEILL. 
 
 eneiny of England, to supply men and arms fos 
 the war. In Spain also he expected to be joined 
 by Stukely, an English adventurer, who had 
 shortly before obtained six hundred Italians from 
 the pope for the invasion of Ireland, and had 
 proceeded as far as Cadiz on his way. A strange 
 career had this Thomas Stukely, and his story ia 
 characteristic of the time. It was of course from 
 no patriotic motive that he sought to levy war in 
 Ireland, where his antagonists were to be his own 
 countrymen ; — nor yet from religious zeal : for he 
 was, in truth, an undertaker, and was setting 
 forth under the pope's authority, as Essex had 
 come under Elizabeth's, to seek his fortune and 
 make a plantation in Ireland — poor Ireland I that 
 hunting-field for all the hungry adventurers of 
 the earth. Essex and Smith had bound them- 
 selves, as we saw, to establish the queen's religion 
 in their settlements : Stukely, as deriving under 
 the pope, was to uphold Catholicity. Elizabeth 
 had entitled those adventurers Lords of Ards ; 
 and his Holiness duly created his missionary 
 (whether by letters patent or papal rescript does 
 not appeal') Marquis of Leinster, Earl of Wex- 
 ford and Carlow, Viscount Murrough and Baron 
 of Ross. When he and his six hundred arrived 
 at Cadiz, i"- happened that Dom Sabastian of 
 Portugal was collecting all his powers for a dc" 
 scent upon Africa, to reinstate King Mohammed 
 on the throne of Fez, and also to found for him- 
 self a Portuguese empire upon that contine:nt. 
 Stukely was dazzled by the splendour of this 
 African undertaking ; and when Sebastian prof 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 61 
 
 lerred him a share in the enterprize he speedily 
 exchanged his Irish earldom for a principality on 
 the Mediterranean ; — perhaps was created Duke 
 of Barbary or Prince of Mauritania — and led 
 his freebooters to the Moorish war. A true ad- 
 venturer this — a genuine knight-errant of that 
 age, not vowed to God or ladye-love, but to 
 Mammon and Moloch. This poor Stukely indeed 
 never came into the enjoyment of those vast es- 
 tates and honours of his, whether in Africa or 
 in Ireland. Neither was the Mauro-Lusitanian 
 empire ever founded, nor King Mohammed rein- 
 throned ; for, on the bloody field of Alca9ar- 
 quivir, swift destruction overtook them all. There 
 fell three crowned kings, ending quarrel and life 
 together, and with them died this most singulai 
 jNlnrquis of Leinster nnd Baron of Eoss. 
 
 So when Fitzmaurice reached Spain he found 
 that Stukely had turned his face southward, and 
 abandoned the cause of Ireland : but for him 
 those Moorish kingdoms had no attraction. Not 
 the vales of Atlas, nor the Atlantic island itself 
 could draw him aside. Northward lay the shores 
 of Munster, where, perhaps, even now the ad- 
 herents of the Geraldine were hard pressed by 
 those accursed English, and from the capes of 
 Desmond were gazing wistfully over the sea, 
 pining for the Spanish ships. At last three smu.U 
 vessels ^cist anchor in Smerwick bay, carrying 
 Fitzmaurice and a poor band of eighty Spaniards, 
 accompanied by Allen and Saunders, and bearing 
 a consecrated papal banner, in the sure hope that, 
 if not for love of liberty and old Ireland, yet for 
 tlic sake of religion and to save their souls alive, 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEIL,!,. 
 
 the Irish tribes would forget their feuds, and 
 unite against the common foe. 
 
 And now it is heart-breaking to read how 
 poor Fitzmaurice and his Spaniards were re- 
 ceived. Desmond's two brothers indeed joined 
 him at once ; but the earl himself, with some 
 views of crafty policy which one finds difficulty 
 in understanding, long held aloof, and even at 
 first pretended to obey the summons of Drury 
 the English president, and raised his troops to 
 resist the invaders. Time was wasted, and the 
 Spaniards were sickened by their cold reception. 
 In vain the gallant Fitzmaurice traversed Lime- 
 rick, sent messengers to Connaught and the Scots, 
 and made a pilgrimage to Holy- Cross in Tippe- 
 rary, not to perform his vows alone, but to meet 
 the emissaries of the Leinster chieftains. Before 
 a blow was struck against the English, Fitzmau- 
 rice fell in a quarrel with one of the Burkes of 
 Castleconnell, and John of Desmond took the 
 command in his place. 
 
 Some obscurity rests upon the events of that 
 desultory war which followed the first Spanish 
 landing — English historians asserting that John 
 of Desmond was signally defeated by Malby at 
 Monaster-neva, and that Dr. Allen was amongst 
 the slain* — O' Sullivan and O'Dalyf that the Ge- 
 raldines were victorious, not only there, bu( 
 shortly after at Atharlam and Gort-na-pissi. On 
 the whole, there appears to have been nothing 
 very decisive done upon either side until the fol 
 
 • Camden. Queen Eliz. 
 
 t O'Daly is cited by t'le Abb6 Mac Geoghejiar.. 
 
LIFE OF HIjGH O'NEILL. 
 
 63 
 
 lowing year, when the Earl of Desmond seeing 
 his lands laid waste, and himself proclaimed a 
 traitor by the English, at last raised his stan- 
 dard and openly joined in the war. The earl 
 wrote to Pelham, the Lord Deputy, announcing 
 that he was in arms for the Catholic religion ; 
 sent messengers to Fiach Mac Hugh, chief of the 
 O'Byrnes of AYicklow, and Eustace, Lord Bal- 
 tinglass, that they miglit lay waste the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dublin, and keep the forces of the 
 Pale employed ; while Desmond himself marched 
 suddenly against Youghal, which he took by es- 
 calade, plundered, and garrisoned. 
 
 In the meantime the Earl of Ormond and the 
 English generals, Malby and Pelham, were was- 
 ting and plundering the county of Limerick: 
 and indeed on their part the war was entirely 
 carried on by destroying the cattle and growing 
 crops of the country, and reducing Desmond's 
 castles of Carrig-a-foyle, Askeaton, Ballyhighan, 
 and Castlemaine. There was no pitclied-bnttle, 
 " so that in all that warre there perished not 
 many by the sword, but all by the extremity of 
 famine."* Tlie cruellest warfare ever waged by 
 man ; until the wiiole territories of Desmond lay 
 a smoking desert where neither man nor beast 
 could live. The Catholic clergy who had been 
 the principal cause of the war were pursued witli 
 unusual fury ; and eight hundred S[)aniards who 
 landed at Smerwick in September 1680 were in- 
 stantly besieged there by Ormond, and shortly 
 nl'Uir invested closely both by sea and land, uutiJ 
 
 SiJenscr's View 
 
64 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 they surrendered at discretion ;* and were all in 
 cold blood massacred by order of Lord Grey. 
 
 The most powerful opponent of Desmond was 
 his hereditary enemy the Earl of Ormond, who 
 was assisted also by the Lord Roche and othef 
 Anglo-Irish lords, and, rather unaccountably, by 
 Hugh CNeill of Dimgannon, M'ho commanded a 
 body of ca% airy for the queen. One would pre- 
 fer to tind this Hugh on the other side ; but il 
 seems that the nationality of an O'Neill did not 
 yet extend beyond Ulster, at which we can won- 
 der the less when we read that in the southern 
 war the greater portion of the Irish race was on 
 the side of Elizabeth and at feud with the Ge- 
 raldines. Hugh was content to keep the English 
 at a distance from his own territories, and had 
 not probably at that period conceived the grand 
 design of ui)iting all Ireland against the stranger. 
 Of his achievements in the South we have no 
 particular record, save that he behaved himself 
 right valiantly, as v/e can well suppose ; and fur- 
 ther that he gained the good-will of his ally the 
 Earl of Ormond, for it was one of the gifts of 
 Hugh O'Neill that he irresistibly attracted to 
 himself the hearts of all men, and all women also, 
 whose love he desired to win. 
 
 Two other very notable men appear in the 
 ranks of the English, in that Munster war. One 
 is Walter Raleigh, afterwards Sir W alter ; then 
 one of the most active of Irish undertakers ; des- 
 tined to be a planter in Virginia, to be an under* 
 
 " The Irish historians ?ay they capitulated on sworr 
 articles ; but Spenser elaborately controverts this. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILIi. 
 
 65 
 
 taker in El Dorado; to wander wide over earth 
 and sea, fighting the Spaniard, chasing phite 
 fleets, navigating the Orinoco: — and alas! des- 
 tined also to drpe his weary thirteen years in the 
 dungeons of London, and write a " History of 
 the World" there, and at last to lay his gray head 
 npon the block, and so end the career of the 
 "wildest and most brilliant adventurer of that ad- 
 venturous age 
 
 And the other is Edmund Spenser, a man well 
 known to Gloriana and all the realm of Faerie. 
 He came over in the train of Lord Grey of Wil- 
 ton,^ saw the horrible ending of the Geraldine 
 war, and had his share of the spoils. Kilcolman 
 castle and its fair domains fell to the j)oet under- 
 taker; and there, "under the foot of Mole, that 
 mountainlioar," dwelling contentedly in another 
 man's house — sitting in quietness under another 
 man's vine and fig-tree, within view of the smok- 
 ing ruins of tower and town and the unburied 
 skeletons of a famished nation, he began inditing 
 that solemn and tender strain, the intent of which 
 he has informed us is "to fashion a gentleman 
 or noble person in vertuous and gentle disci- 
 pline," — nay, he drew inspiration from the hi- 
 deous Golgotha that lay around him ; and when his 
 Merlin tells of the ravage to be made by king 
 Gormonde,t he has ouly to describe what the 
 poet saw with his mere bodily eye in the vales of 
 Munster; 
 
 "He in his fnrie all shall over-ronne, 
 
 And holy church with faithless hands deface. 
 
 * 1580. 
 
 f "Faerie Qucenc," B. 3, c. 3. 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILI.. 
 
 Tliat thy sad people, utterly fordonne, 
 Shall to the utmost mountains fly apace; 
 Was never so great waste in any place, 
 Nor so fov/le outrage doen by living men ; 
 Tor all thy citties they shall sack and rase. 
 And the greene grasse that groweth tliey shall brea 
 That even the wilde beast shall dy in starved den "* 
 
 From Kilcolraan also the poet took that most as- 
 tonishing " View of the State of Ireland/' of 
 which we shall see more hereafter; — a most 
 practical view, — the view not of a bard but of an 
 undertaker, whereby we find, that however his 
 imagination may have bled for enchanted damo- 
 sels or eifin knights, suffering sentimental woes, 
 the heart of him, in dealing with mere living 
 wights, was harder than the nether millstone. 
 
 At last all the Munster and Leinster Irish 
 were broken and reduced, except the redoubtable 
 Fiacli Mac Hugh of Wicklow ; and during all 
 this long and inglorious war the only day of 
 which one can speak with pleasure, is tlie day of 
 Glendalough. Immediately on Lord Grey's ar- 
 rival in Dublin — it was the summer of 1580 — he 
 led a large force of horse and foot into the moun- 
 tains, fully resolved to grapple with the fit rce 
 O'Byrne in his own strongholds, and crush ihat 
 gallant sept for ever. When the army ari'ived 
 at the entrance of the valley, the cavalry under 
 command of Grey himself scoured the open 
 
 • '* The very wolves, the foxes, and other like ravening 
 beasts, many of them lay dead, being famisihed." — Holin- 
 ched. See also Spenser's own horrible j)icture of thi* 
 amine. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 
 
 67 
 
 ground while the foot were ordered to advance 
 into the glen. The O'Byrnes allowed them to 
 proceed into the silent recesses of the mountain, 
 wondering that they found no enemy, — and then 
 suddenly shouting their battle-cry, rushed from 
 all sides upon the sagums dearg, and hewed 
 them to pieces till their arms were weary with 
 slaying. Grey and his horsemen could give no 
 assistance, and had to retreat much more rapidly 
 than they had advanced, leaving in that fatal glen 
 eight hundred slain, and amongst them Sir Peter 
 Carew, Colonel Moore, and Captains Audley and 
 Cosby. Never, since black Monday at Cullens- 
 ivood, had the sword of the Cullane mountaineer 
 drank so deep of the stranger's blood. 
 
 But this was of no service to the luckless Des- 
 mond. He was hard pressed by his mortal ene- 
 mies the Butlers. His Spanish auxiliaries were 
 cut off, and the coast blockaded by Admiral Win- 
 ter with the English cruisers. Most of the Mun- 
 ster lords were either weary of the war or in the 
 ranks of England. His country was a howling 
 wilderness, — himself an aged and homeless fugi- 
 tive, and at last in a wood near Tralee, he fell by 
 the hand of a common soldier, and his head was 
 Bent to the Queen of England, who caused it to 
 be impaled in the usual manner upon London 
 bridge. 
 
 Thus fell the great Earl of Desmond ; and 
 thus the fairest province of this island, wasted 
 and destroyed by tlie insane warfare of the Irish 
 themselves. Lay ready for the introduction of the 
 foreigner's law, civilization and religion ; or, aa 
 Doctor Lcland lias it, " for effectually regulating 
 
ss 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH 0"??EI1.L. 
 
 and modelling this country upon the principles of 
 justice and liberal policy."* And accordingly a 
 parliament was soon held for the purpose of vest- 
 ing in the Queen of England all the lands which 
 had been inhabited by the kinsmen and adherents 
 of Desmond. Letters were written to ever} 
 county in England offering estates in fee to all 
 " younger brothers" who would undertake the 
 plantation of Munster ; each undertaker to plant 
 so many families ; but " none of the native Irish 
 to be admitted."! No specific mode of disposing 
 of these poor native Irish seems to have been 
 pointed out in any official document ; but how 
 the thing was done we know — they were sim- 
 ply starved to death ; and the end was attained 
 more speedily than poet Spenser tells us he could 
 even have hoped. " The end will (I assure me) 
 be very short, and much sooner than can be hoped 
 for ; although there should none of them fall by 
 the sword, nor be slaine by the souldiours, yet thus 
 being kept from manurance, and tlieir cattle from 
 running abroad, by this hard restraint they would 
 quickly consume themselves and devoure one ano- 
 ther."! And so " in a short space there were 
 none almost left, and a most populous and plenti- 
 f uU countrey suddainly left voyde of man and beast." 
 And starvation being in some instances too slow, 
 crowds of men, women, and children were some* 
 times driven into buildings which were then set 
 on lire. The soldiers were specially careful to 
 
 ■ ♦ Leland's History, vol. 2, p. 291. 
 + MS. in Trin. ColL cited by Leland. 
 ^ Spenser's View^ p. ?66. 
 
I.IFE OF HUGH O'NEILL 69 
 
 destroy all Irish infants — " for if they were suf- 
 fered to grow up, they would become popish re^ 
 bels^'' ^Vomen were found hanging upon trees, 
 With their children strangled in the mother^s 
 
 hiiir/'* 
 
 But we turn from those fields of blood, and 
 come back to the North. 
 
 ** LoiDlKi'd, Comment, de lliberu, ap. Cuny, 
 
ro 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILIi. 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE ULSTER CONFEDERA.C*/. 
 
 A. D. 1584—1590. 
 
 The Antrim Scots had grown numerous and 
 powerful during the Geraliline war. New bands 
 of Iplesnien had arrived from the Hebrides ; and 
 Tiilouuli of Tyr-owen being old and weak, and 
 Baron Hugh absent in the South, there seemed 
 some danger that Ulster would fall under their 
 power. This ill suited the views of Hugh 
 Neill, who had designs of his own in that re- 
 gard ; and accordingly in this year, 1584, we find 
 there was a powerful expedition to the North. 
 Sir John Perrot, Hugh O'Neill, and his friend, 
 the Earl of Ormond, with all the forces of the 
 Pale, marched to Newry, separated their forces 
 there, and prepared to attack the Scots both in 
 Claneboy and Tyr-owen. Some English ships 
 were sent round to Lough Foyle to intercept the 
 communication with the isles ; while Perrot and 
 Ormond marched northward by the right shore of 
 Lough Neagh and the Bann, and O'Neill and 
 Norris on the left, driving the Scots before them 
 and plundering their Irish allies. The O'Cahans 
 of Arachty, (or, as it is now called, the " county 
 of Londonderry,") were in league with the Scots ; 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nE11.L.. 
 
 71 
 
 and from them Norris drove a prey of two hun- 
 dred head of cattle. Dunluce Castle was be* 
 sieged by Perrot and taken ; and at last the Scots 
 were forced to fly to the woods of Glancom- 
 keane ;* and their leader, Sorley buidhe Mac 
 Oonnell, surrendered and gave hostages to the 
 de^ju'.y. The troops then marched to Newry, 
 ivhere Sir Henry Bagnal resided ; and here the 
 deputy received "submissions" from several chiefs 
 of Down and Armao^h. 
 
 Hitherto Hugh O'Neill seemed to have an- 
 swered the expectations of the English court in 
 promoting their designs against the liberty of 
 Ireland. Ulster seemed about to yield its inde- 
 pendence without even a struggle : and so well 
 assured was Perrot of the submission of the 
 North, that he forthwith divided the whole cour. 
 try west of the Bann into seven new counties, 
 Armagh, Monaghan, Tyr-owen, Coleraine, Done- 
 gal, Fermanagh, and Cavan, for each of which 
 the P^nglish historians assure us he appointed 
 sheriffs, commissioners of the peace, coroners, 
 and other necessary officers an arrangement 
 most satisfactory to the deputy and his eniploy- 
 ers, if, indeed, it existed anywhere else than in 
 state papers, — a matter whicii needs some in- 
 quiry. 
 
 The trutli then is, that in all these proceedings 
 Hugh O'Neill, while lie seemed to be an instru 
 
 • This was an extensive forest on tlie north-west cor 
 ner of Louj^h Neaf^li, in Arachty O'Calian. Moryson, 
 with liis usual inaccuracy, says it was a fastness near 
 Lou(jk Erne. It is correctly laid down in the map ac- 
 company ing the Pacata Hihernia 
 
72 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 merit in the hands of Perrot for reducing the 
 
 North under foreign subjection, was, in fact, 
 making use of the deputy and the forces of Eliza- 
 beth to establish his own power there. By the 
 aid of Perrot he humbled the Scots of Antrim 
 (who had begun to rival the house of O'Neill,) 
 and, in return, permitted that officer to imagine 
 that he was making " shire-ground'* of Ulster, 
 although for a long time after this no agent of 
 the queen dared to enter the borders of those 
 seven counties or challenge jurisdiction there. 
 Tliose sheriffs and coroners, like the queen's 
 northern bishops, were merely titular ; and Sir 
 John Davies expressly informs us that in Perrot's 
 time " the lavi^ was never executed in these new 
 counties by any slieriffs or justices of assize, but 
 the people left to be ruled by their own barba- 
 rous lords and laws,"* — pronouncing tliose laws 
 " barbarous," as for an attorney-general of the 
 Pale it was altogether professional to do. 
 
 And so long as the queen and her deputies ex 
 ercised no power in Ulster, O'Neill's policy was 
 (not like that wild Sliane) to acquiesce most 
 courtier-like in the nominal supremacy arrogated 
 by the English monarch ; — a crafty policy, which 
 the present writer is called upon only to state, 
 not to defend by logics and ethics ; yet it is well 
 to recollect, Avho were the men with whom he had 
 to do, — for what base uses they had treacherously 
 destined him, — what a cruel game they were 
 playing with him and with his country. 
 
 For two years, we have little record of O'Neill's 
 
 "Di5COvery of the Tru^j Cause," ka., p. 191. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 73 
 
 life 5 but he was silently strengthening himself 
 in the North, and gaining the hearts of the clans- 
 men of Tyr-owen. While the accomplished no- 
 bleman was growing in favour with Elizabeth 
 and her court, the Irish chieftain was gradually 
 getting recognized as the main hope and leader 
 of the Kinel Eoghain. Nay, he took a manifest 
 pleasure in sustaining those two characters ; and 
 one can hardly say whether he was most at home 
 in the halls of Greenwich or Dungannon. In 
 the year 1587 we find him in London, where he 
 was ever a welcome visitor, soliciting the queen 
 (Ah ! that " profound dissembling heart,") that 
 he might be admitted to the honours and estates 
 of Earl of Tyr-owen, under the " letters patent" 
 granted to his grandfiither, Con the Lame. To 
 gain the favour of Elizabeth, it was always need- 
 ful " to feign love and desire towards her, to ad- 
 dress her in the style of passion and O'Neill, 
 \>ith a tongue that " dropt manna," well knew 
 the art of flattery. Much affectionate advice he 
 gave the queen as to the good government of Ire- 
 land, and specially solicited that the law against 
 assuming the name of O'Neill^ a most pestilent 
 and rebellious name, might be strictly enforced ; 
 so the letters patent were issued, and the queen 
 solemnly invested liim with both lands and title, 
 (of which the former were not hers to grant, and 
 the latter his soul abhorred,) reserving, however, 
 \ small piece of ground on the Blackwater, for a 
 fortress which was to be built there ; and with 
 certain stipulations for the benefit of old Tirlougb 
 
 * See Ilume — note in chap. 41 
 
74 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEII.L, 
 
 Lynnogli, who still held the nominal cii'ieftainoy 
 of the cou'itiy. 
 
 Hugh returned to Ireland with his letters pa- 
 tent, a belted earl : and here, as a favoured cour- 
 tier of the queen, the deputy was obliged to treat 
 him with deference and honour ; while his in- 
 creasing influence in Ulster gradually stripped 
 Tirlough, the legitimate prince, of his power and 
 numerous following ; and it became manifest that 
 the grandson of the Dundalk blacksmith would 
 soon predominate in the North. Those six com- 
 panies of troops also that he kept on foot (in the 
 queen's name, but for his own behoof) began to 
 be suspicious in the eyes of the state : for it is 
 much feared that he changes the men so soon as 
 they thoroughly learn the use of arms, replacing 
 them by others, all of his own clansmen, whom 
 he diligently drills and reviews lor somo 
 
 unknown service And the lead he imports, — 
 
 surely the roofing of that house of Dungannon 
 will not need all these ship-loads of lead ; — lead 
 enough to sheet Glenshane, or clothe the sides of 
 Cairntocher. And, indeed, a rumour does reach 
 the deputy in Dublin, tliat there goes on at Dun- 
 gannon an incredible casting of bullets. No 
 wonder that the eyes of the English governor 
 began to turn anxiously to the north. 
 
 Now it happened that O'Donnell, on the far 
 north- west, was just then in high rage against "the 
 foreigners of Dublin" by reason of some inti- 
 mation conveyed to him by Perrot, that the 
 ancient patrimony of the Kinel Conell was now 
 *' shire ground," and ought to admit a sheriff. 
 And the chieftain's voutliful son, the eallant lie<i 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neIXL. 
 
 75 
 
 H\igh, tlien a fiery stripling of fifteen, was already 
 known throughout the five provinces of Ireland, 
 not only " by the report of his beauty, his agility, 
 and noble deeds," but as a sworn foe to the Sax- 
 ons of the Pale. Moreover, " the English knew,'* 
 says the chronicler of Hugh Roe, " that it was 
 J udith, the daughter of O'Donnell, and sister of 
 the before-mentioned Hugh, that was the spouse 
 and best-beloved of the Earl O'Neill."* And if 
 this princely Red Hugh should live to take the 
 leading of his sept, — and if the two potent chief- 
 tains of the North should forget their ancient 
 feud and unite for the cause of Ireland ; — then, 
 indeed, not only this settlement of the Ulster 
 " counties" must be adjourned, one knows not 
 how long ; but the Pale itself or the very Castle 
 of Dublin might hardly protect her majesty's 
 officers. These were contingencies which any 
 prudent agent of the Queen of England must 
 speedily take order to prevent ; and we are now 
 to see Perrot's device for that end. 
 
 Near RathmuUan, on the western shore of 
 Lough Swilly, looking towards the mountains of 
 Inishowen, stood a monastery of Carmelites, and 
 a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, tiie 
 most famous place of devotion in Tyrconnell, 
 wliither all the Clan-Conell, both chiefs and peo- 
 ple, made r(;sort at certain seasons to pay tlieii" de- 
 votions. Here the young Red Hugh, with jVlae 
 Sv/'yne of the Jnittle-axes, O'Gallagher of Bally- 
 shannon, and some other chiefs, were, in the sum- 
 
 * MS. LifeofRea Hugh O Donnell in Lifraiiy of 
 E. I. A., translated from the Irish by O'lleilly. p. 3. 
 
76 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 mer of 1587, sojourning a short time, in part to 
 pay their vows of religion ; but not witliout stag- 
 hounds and implements of chase, having views 
 upon the red-deer of Van^'l px=(1 Jnishowen. One 
 day, while the prinob was here, a swift-sailing 
 merchant ship doubled the promontory of Dunali*, 
 stood up the lough, and cast anchor opposite 
 Rathmullan ; a " bark, black-hatched, deceptive," 
 bearing the flag of England, and offering for sale, 
 as a peaceful trader, her cargo of Spanish wine. 
 And surely no more courteous merchant than the 
 master of that ship had visited the North for many 
 a year. He invited the people most hospitably on 
 board, solicited them, whethsr purchasers or not, 
 to partake of his good cheer, entertained them 
 with music and wine, and so gained very speedily 
 the good will of all Fanad, 
 
 Red Hugh and his companions soon heard of 
 the obliging merchant and his rare wines. They 
 visited the ship where they were received with 
 all respect, and indeed with unfeigned joy ; des- 
 cended into the cabin, and with connoisseur dis- 
 crimination tried and tasted, and finally drank 
 too deeply : and at last when they would come 
 on deck and return to the shore they found them- 
 selves secured under hatches ; their weapons had 
 been removed ; night had fallen ; they were pri- 
 soners to those traitor Saxons. Morning dawned, 
 and they looked anxiously towards the shore ; 
 but, ah . where is RathmuUan and the Carmelite 
 church? And what wild coast is this? Past 
 Malin and the cliffs of Inishowen ; past Ben- 
 
LIFR OF HUGH 0*NEILIi. 
 
 77 
 
 more, and southwards by the shores of Antrim 
 and the mountains of Mourne flew that ill- 
 omened bark, and never dropped anchor till she 
 lay under the towers of Dublin. The treache- 
 rous Perrot joyfully received his prize, and "ex- 
 ulted," says an historian, " in the easiness and 
 success with which he had procured hostages for 
 the j)eaceable submission of O'Donnell."* And 
 the prince of Tyrconnell was thrown into " a 
 strong stone castle," and kept in heavy irons 
 three years and three months, " meditating," 
 says tlie chronicle, " on the feeble and impotent 
 condition of his friends and relations, of his 
 princes and supreme chiefs, of his nobles and 
 clergy, his poets and professors."! Where we 
 leave him for the present, to mingle vows of 
 deepest vengeance with those of many other 
 noble youths, " both Gadelians and Fingallians," 
 fellow captives with him in those accursed towers. 
 
 Meanwhile, in Ulster, Hugh O'Neill was busy in 
 the task lie had now resolutely imposed on himself, 
 striving to heal the feuds of rival chiefs, and out of 
 those discordant elements to create and bind toge- 
 ther an Irish nation — a noble design, for which 
 perhaps the time was still unripe; yet somewhat he 
 did accomj)lish in that direction. With O'Cahan, 
 whose territories he had wasted with hre and 
 sword three years before, he now reconciled him- 
 self, and sent his infant son to be fostered by that 
 chieftnin, and to l(;ai-n speed and strength among 
 the hills of Glen-gi\ cn, by tlic banks of the crjs- 
 
 * Ldanfl. 
 
 t MS. Life of O'Douncll, p. b. 
 
T8 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O NEIUU 
 
 tal Roe, to back a-horse, and to chase the deer 
 of Arachty. "With the Mac Donnells of Antrim 
 he renewed his friendship, and lent them on some 
 of their expeditions a body of his well-trained 
 galloglasses ; not without promise of like help 
 from them, if need should be. Other chieftains 
 ho encouraged to resist the intrusion of sheritFs 
 or garrisons for the Queen of England. It was 
 even said that he harboured " seminaries" and 
 foreign priests, than which nothing was then ac- 
 counted more suspicious to a Protestant state. 
 Yet O'Neill was apparently no strict Catholic ; 
 and, while in Dublin, scrupled not " to accom- 
 pany the Lord Deputy to the church and home 
 again, and to stay and hear service, though the 
 very nobles of the Pale," as Captain Lee declares, 
 *' as soon as they have brought him to the church 
 door, depart as if they were wild cats."* In- 
 deed honest Lee has no doubt that, " with good 
 conference," he would even be reformed^ " for 
 he hath only one little cub of an English 
 priest, by whom he is seduced for want of his 
 friends' access to him, who might otherwise 
 uphold him." On the whole a most complying 
 conciliatory, and courteous man, " a special good 
 member," as one might hope, " of that common- 
 wealth but still, no sheriffs, no bishops,j" no 
 judges. North of Slieve Gulliw, the venerable 
 
 * Lee's Memorial. 
 
 f There was lio-vvever at this period, and for some time 
 before, a clerical person with the English garrison in 
 Lecale, really chaplain to that garrison, (the only Pro- 
 testants in his diocess,) but purporting to he Bishop of 
 Down, and even of Connor. 
 
MFE or HUGH O'NSILL. 
 
 79 
 
 Brehons still arbitrate undisturbed the causes of 
 the people ; the ancient laws, civilization and re- 
 ligion stand untouched. Nay it is credibly 
 rumoured to the Dublin deputy that this noble 
 earl, forgetful apparently of his coronet, and 
 golden chain, and of his high favour with so 
 potent a princess, does about this time get recog- 
 nized and solemnly inaugurated as chieftain of his 
 sept, by the proscribed name of The O'Neill ; 
 and at the rath of Tulloghoge, on the Stone of 
 Koyalty, amidst the circling warriors, amidst the 
 bards and Ollamhs of Tyr-eoghain, " receives an 
 oath to preserve all the auncient former customs 
 of the countrey inviolable, and to deliver up the 
 succession peaceably to his Tanist ; and then hath 
 a wand delivered unto him by one whose proper 
 office that is ; after which, descending from the 
 stone, he turneth himself round, thrice forward 
 and thrice backward," — even as the O'Neills had 
 done for a thousand years : altogether in the most 
 un-English manner, and with the strangest cere- 
 monies, which no garter king-at-arms could endure. 
 
 The foreign policy also of the Northern chiefs 
 received some strength at this period. In the 
 year 1588, the mighty remnants of King Philip's 
 vast armada, storm-tost and sorely buffeted by 
 the wild sea of tlie Orkneys and Hebrides, came 
 swee[)ing past the northern coast of Ireland ; and 
 the Clan-Conal beheld with wonder those por- 
 tentous floating fortresses, such as the Fomorian 
 and Phoenician navigators of the northern sea3 
 had never sailed. But as the Spaniards made 
 the headlands of Antrim, a storm came upon 
 them from the north-west ; and with the iron 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 coast of Inishowen and Horn-head upon tlieir lee, 
 with grievous toil and danger, the poor mariners 
 had to struggle westward and double those ter- 
 rible cliffs. Many were dashed to pieces and 
 utterly lost, both ships and men ; but some were 
 driven into the harbours, and received from the 
 neighbouring chieftains relief and hospitality,* 
 until they found means to return into their own 
 country. The O'Donnell, indeed, father to our 
 imprisoned Hugh Roe, who seems to have been 
 a weak old man, and much under the influence 
 of two P^nglishmen, named Kovenden, whom he 
 permitted to reside in his country, was led to 
 regard the unfortunate Spaniards as enemies and 
 invaders (forgetful that the enemies of England 
 must needs be his friends), and when a large 
 ship was driven into Lough Foyle and staved to 
 pieces on the Inishowen rocks, O'Donnell and 
 the Ilovendens attacked the shipwrecked crew at 
 Elagh near Derry, killed some of them and sent 
 the rest as prisoners to the Deputy. (Oh ! that 
 Red Hugh had but been there !) But the 
 Mac Swynes and other chiefs of Tyr-connell 
 were more humane, or better knew their natural 
 allies. A ship under the command of Don An- 
 tonio de Leyva was driven upon the coast be- 
 tween Sligo and Ballyshannon, and O'Ruarc, 
 Prince of Breffni, afforded them not only an 
 asylum, but protection against Bingham, an Eng- 
 lish officer who held some places in Connaught, 
 and who presumed to demand from O'Ruarc 
 his shipwrecked guests as the queen's prisoners.j 
 
 Morysoa . 
 
 t O'SuUivan. 
 
OFK OF HUGH O NEILl.. 
 
 81 
 
 But, above all, the O'Neill, who foresaw advan- 
 bges to be derived from a Spanish alliance, was 
 most distiniruished for the kindness shown to 
 those fugitives. He received them with honour 
 at Dungannon, treated them with high conside- 
 ration, conversed with them on the policy of King 
 Philip and the Catholic powers; and doubtless 
 explained to them, for the information of their 
 master, the situation of the North ; — how the 
 old Irish hated the Queen of England and hoped 
 in King Philip — how the vSpanish landing at 
 Smerwick had proved unavailing by reason of 
 the powerful English faction in Munster ; and 
 how diiFerently a band of auxiliary Spaniards 
 would be received amongst the aboriginal septs 
 of the North. 
 
 And now the new Deputy, Fitzwilliam, assisted 
 the views of O'Neill by his treatment of a north- 
 ern cliief who was weak enough to trust an Eng- 
 lish governor. Plugh Mac Mahon, on the death of 
 his brother the chieftain of that sept, found him- 
 self opposed by several other branches of the 
 family who also aspired to the chieftaincy. These 
 were Patrick, son of Art, Ebhir, or Ever chief of 
 Farney, and Brien of Dartry. Singly he could 
 not cope with his powerful rivals, and applied, 
 in an evil hour, to Fitzwilliam, requesting his 
 alliance, and the assistance of the Pale to esta- 
 blish liim in his inheritance, as he called it: for 
 the deceased ]\Iac Mahon liad been one of those 
 who surrendered liis country to the queen and 
 took a " re-grant" of it, by English tenure, to 
 him and his heirs, with remainder, in default of 
 
62 
 
 LITE OP HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 heirs male, to his brother Hugh,* which was Ito 
 reason of the threatened war ; for Monaghan lika 
 Tyr-owen and Thomond, could not abide re- 
 grants, estates tail, or " English tenures." Ma<j 
 Mahon's application was right welcome to the 
 English who . desired nothing so much as an op- 
 portunity of interfering between the Irish chiefs, 
 and so of strengthening foreign influence at the 
 expense of all the contending parties. 
 
 Fitzwilliam in the first place demanded a pre- 
 sent of six hundred cows (" for such and no other," 
 says Moryson, " are the Irish bribes,") and then 
 the Deputy marched northwards pretending to 
 consider the whole matter referred to his decision, 
 and, that he might adjudicate with dignity, took 
 possession of Monaghan which he garrisoned for 
 the queen ; and then awarded to his ally Mac 
 Mahon the nominal chieftaincy over a small part 
 of his territory, and to his rivals the exclusivo 
 rule over certain other portions : thus dividing^, 
 according to an immemorial English maxim, the 
 folluwing of a potent chieftain amongst several 
 hostile claimants, and so breaking, as he hoped, 
 the power of their resistance to foreign encroach' 
 ment. Then poor Mac Mahon having failed ic 
 some part of the stipulated payment, (as feeling, 
 perhaps, that he had not received value,) waG ar- 
 rested by order of Fitzwilliam, who immediately 
 proceeded once more to Monaghan with consi- 
 derable forces to " settle" that country finally 
 A charge was soon found against the prisoner. 
 He had lately raised his tribute iu the usual man» 
 
 • Moryson. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 83 
 
 ner from his refractory tributary of Farney, by 
 .eading thither a military expedition and driving 
 away the spoil ; which if it were not a levying of 
 war against the queen, the Deputy could not tell 
 •yhat it was. Yet, not to condemn without hear- 
 ing, or refuse a subject the benefits of English 
 law — and perhaps with a view of shewing the 
 northerns what was that happy system of polity 
 which they contumeliously rejected — a jury was 
 to be empanelled to try Mac Mahon — the first 
 jury in Ulster — the composition and arrangement 
 of which deserve study as affording a model in 
 that kind. 
 
 Spenser has informed us of the difficulties 
 which attended trial by jury in Ireland at that 
 time ; for " most of the freeholders," says Ire- 
 nseus, " are Irish, which when the cause shall fall 
 betwixt an Englishman and an Irish, or between 
 the queen and any freeholder of that country, 
 they make no more scruple to pass against an 
 Englishman and the queen, though it bee to 
 strayn their oathes, than to drinke milke un- 
 strayned,"* the inconvenience of which he thus 
 laments : — " J dare undertake that at this day 
 bhere are more attainted lands concealed from 
 her majestic than she hath now possession of in 
 all Ireland ; and it is no small inconvenience ; 
 for besides tliat she looseth so much lande as 
 should turne to her great profite,she besides looseth 
 BO many good subjects which miglit be assured 
 unto her as those lands would yeelde inliabitants 
 and living unto." And when Eudoxus suggests 
 
 Spenser's View, p. 33. 
 
h4 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 that all this " might be much helped in the judges 
 and cheefe mas^istrates which have the choosing 
 and nomination of those jurors, if they woul(? 
 have dared to appoint either most Englishmen or 
 such Ij-ishmen as were of the soundest judgment 
 and disposition,^^ Irenteus immediately objects — 
 " Then would the Irish partie crie out of par- 
 tiality and complaine, he hath no justice — he is 
 not used as a subject." 
 
 Now, in arranging this jury to try Mac Mahon, 
 it is too clear that the Deputy was not so 
 well acquainted with the delicate theory of 
 juries as subsequent officers became ; yet in his 
 own rude way he attained the end very well 
 Twelve soldiers were empanelled on the shortest 
 notice, of whom four, being Englishmen, wer? 
 suffered to go and come at pleasure, and the other 
 eight, being of Irish birth, by close confinement 
 and the simple process of starvation, were com- 
 pelled to find the prisoner guilty.* And so 
 within two days after Fitzwilliam's arrival in the 
 country this unfortunate chief was indicted, ar- 
 raigned, convicted, and executed at his own 
 door. The deputy forthwith divided his country 
 amongst some English officers, of whom the prin- 
 cipal were Marshal Sir Henry Bagnal and one 
 Captain Hensflower, And the Irish," says Mo- 
 ryson, " spared not to say that these mov were 
 
 * Moryson. This writer does not give these facts on 
 his own authority, wliich niij^ht have been construed as 
 bringing the English tribunals into contenij)t, but in 
 such cases always prefixes tiie words "The Irish say." 
 He does not contradict the statements, which besides are 
 incontrovertible on the authority of other historians 
 
LIFE OF HUGH (/nEILL. 
 
 85 
 
 all the contrivers of his death, and that every 
 one was paid something for his share."* Those 
 English officers did not indeed at that time enter 
 upon the enjoyment of tlieir Monaghan estates: 
 for Mac Mahon's rival Brien, Lord of Dartry, a 
 more active and resolute character, was electbd 
 by his sept the Mac Mahon and chieftain of Mo- 
 naghan ; and held his country against tlie stranger 
 for a time. 
 
 Space would fsiil us to recount all the villanies 
 which both English and Irish historians tell of 
 this greedy Deputy Sir William Fitzwilliam ; 
 how he made strict search,, througli such parts of 
 the North as he dared to enter, for Spanish trea- 
 sure, left there, it was said, by the shipwrecked 
 Armada ; and how, finding no gold, he took 
 means to seize upon two chiefs, Mac Toole and 
 O'Doherty, and imprisoned them in Dublin castle, 
 till O'Doherty bribed him, with many herds of 
 cows, to release him. On the whole, his transac- 
 tions with the North had little tendency to make 
 Ulster in love with English laws or governors ; 
 " rather, indeed, a loathing of English gOA ern- 
 aient," says Moryson, " began to grow in the 
 northern lords, and they shunned as much as tliey 
 could to admit any sheriffs or any English among 
 ihem." So when the Deputy informed the Mac 
 Guire of Fermanagh that his country, being now 
 " shire ground," must pre[)are to admit a sheriff, 
 to execute the writs of the Queen of England, to 
 empanel juries and do otlier sheriff-duty there. 
 Your sheriff," said Mac Guire, "shall be wel- 
 
 * Moryson. 
 
86 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 come, hut let me know his erick, (how much his 
 life is worth, ) that if mj people should cut off his 
 head, I may levy it upon the country." 
 
 O'Neill, from his house in Dungannon, calmly 
 regarded all these things ; but his heart swelled 
 secretly with hope and joy : for he knew that the 
 time was not far off, when the banners of Tyr- 
 owen should wave in the van of the banded sej)ts 
 of Ulster, and the haughty baltle shout of Lamb 
 dearg affright those traitor deputies in Dublin 
 castle. 
 
3.IFE OF HUGH O'NEIiiL. 
 
 67 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 0*NEILL AT COURT BAGNAL's SISTER— ESCAPE 
 
 OF o'dONNELL TRINITY COLLEGE. 
 
 1590—1594. 
 
 Hugh na Gavej^och, son to Shane O'Neill hy 
 O'Donnell's wife, appears now for a moment upon 
 the stage. He bore a deadly hatred against Hugh 
 of Dungannon as an usurper of the name and ho- 
 nours of O'Neill ; and this year we find him de- 
 nouncing his chieftain to the Deputy and council, 
 as a traitor, informing them that certain noble 
 Spaniards from the fleet of Medina Sidonia, had 
 been entertained at Dungannon, had received 
 presents from O'Neill, and also letters for the 
 King of Spain, soliciting assistance- against the 
 Queen of England, and promising support ; all 
 which he, Hugh of the Fetters, would prove, 
 either upon the body of the accused by way of 
 combat, or by evidence on oath, as to the Deputy 
 should seem meet. Fitzvvilliam prohibited the 
 combat, but set a day for tlie j)roduction of the 
 evidence, and prepared with much dignity to 
 hohl solemn in(|uest upon so important a crimi- 
 
88 
 
 I.IFE OF HUGH O^NEILL. 
 
 nal.* But before that daj arrived, O'Neill 
 had the prosecutor arrested as a foul conspirator 
 against his lawful chieftain, had him tried in 
 a most summary manner and condemned to be 
 strangled, a sentence which was forthwith exe- 
 cuted, though not without difficulty ; for no man 
 in all Tyr-owen would be the executioner of one 
 who bore the honoured name of O'Neill ; and 
 Hugh himself, it was said, had to end the diffi- 
 culty, and his prisoner's life together, with his 
 own hand. It would seem that the Prince of 
 Ulster was not a man to be given in charge t^* 
 the juries of an English Deputy. 
 
 But to dissipate these clouds of suspicion and 
 even direct accusation which began to blacken 
 his name in the court of England, O'Neill pro- 
 ceeded to London, in his Saxon character of earl ; 
 and having left Ireland without leave asked of 
 the Deputy, (which it seems was uncustomary for 
 Irish peers,) he was on his arrival placed under a 
 kind of nominal arrest, as matter of etiquette : 
 but soon we find him high in favour as usual, 
 mingling with the court " at tlie Honour of 
 Greenwich," says Camden, "as noblemen use 
 to do," deliberating weighty affairs of state with 
 the chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton, and en- 
 tering warmly, even eagerly, into all Elizabeth's 
 views for the civilizing of Ireland. As for the 
 territory of Tyr-owen, he would have it formed 
 into " 11 shire or two — with gaols for holding of 
 sessions ;"f and for the name of O'Neill, if tlia<- 
 
 O' Sullivan. This author says, Fitzwilliam sum- 
 moned O'Neill to Stradhally. 
 •j" Moryson. 
 
ILIFE OF IlLGH o'nEII-L. 89 
 
 displeased so fair a princess, he would never beai 
 it more. 
 
 " My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself. 
 Because it is an enemy to thee." 
 
 He protested that he had assumed that name, 
 only to prevent some other of the tribe from 
 usurping it — and would surelj renounce it ; "yet 
 beseeching that he might not be urged to pro- 
 mise that ^ipon oathr* Amongst other articles 
 gravely agreed upon by O'Neill, as the basis of a 
 final settlement, were, that he should not foster 
 with any neighbouring chiefs ; should give no 
 aid to the Scots, and receive none from them, — 
 should not harbour monks or friars, nor have in- 
 telligence with foreigners — nor levy black rent—^ 
 nor suffer his people to wear glibbes, or other 
 Irish apparel — and finally that he would live at 
 peace with old Tirlough Lynnogh and other 
 neighbouring chiefs ; yet all this " upon condi- 
 tion that Tirlough and the other chiefs of Ulster 
 should in like manner engage themselves to keep 
 peace with him ; lest when he was quiet and 
 thought no harm^ he should be exposed to the 
 injuries of those turbulent persons."f Surely 
 one of the fViirest conditions, which he seems to 
 have been well aware could not be complied with. 
 
 His old ally, the Earl of Ormond, and the Lord 
 Chancellor Ilatton having become sureties for 
 O'Neill's performance of all he had undertaken, 
 he returned to Ireland, and was to enter into for- 
 mal indentunis with the (le[)uty, binding himscdf 
 
 • Moryson. 
 
 f Camden. Queen YXu., 
 
90 
 
 LIFE OF HUCtH o'nEILL. 
 
 to all these articles, by the first of August in the 
 same year ; but as he steadily required that all 
 the other chiefs of Ulster should come in and 
 take on thera similar engagements, the indentures 
 were never executed ; the first of August came 
 and passed ; — and the settlement of Ulster was 
 indefinitely deferred " by many subtile shifts, 
 whereof," says Moryson, " he had plenty." 
 
 He returned to prosecute his grand project of 
 northern confederation, and to perfect the organi- 
 sation of the Kinel-Eoghain. But matters were 
 still unripe for an effectual effort against English 
 power; one main limb of the enterprize was 
 wanting while the present feeble chief of Tyr- 
 connell ruled that potent sept, and young Beal- 
 Dearg* O'Donnell still pined in the dungeons of 
 Fitzwilliam. For the present he could only bide 
 time ; and for another year there is nothing 
 to record, save an incident of a rather domestic 
 and tender nature. 
 
 The marshal, Sir Henry Bagnal, and his Eng- 
 lish garrison in the castle and abbey of Newry, 
 were a secret thorn in the side of O'Neill. Thiey 
 lay upon one of the main passes to the North, 
 frowning over Iveagh and the O'Hanlon's coun- 
 try ; and he had deeply vowed that one day the 
 ancient monastery, IJe viridi ligno, should be 
 swept clear of this foreign soldiery. But in that 
 castle of Newry the Saxon Marshal had a fair 
 tjister, a woman of rarest oeaury, whom O'Neill 
 Liiought it sin to leave for a spouse to some churl 
 
 J\ed mouin. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 91 
 
 of an English undertaker.* — Besides, 'twas pity 
 so sweet a soul should sit in darkness of Protes- 
 tant heresy ; — rather than so, he would undertake 
 her conversion himself, and make her the bride 
 of an Irish chieftain. And, indeed,, we next hear 
 of him as a love-suitor (with that persuasive 
 tongue of his) at the feet of the English beauty. 
 How or where he met, and wooed and won thisf 
 maiden, or by what legal or ecclesiastical process 
 he divorced his lawful wife to make way for her, 
 we have, unhappily, no record : but that he sped 
 in his wooing, and also in his divorce suit, is 
 plain ; for the lady fled from her brother's castle, 
 and was borne in triumph to Dungannon, where 
 she speedily became reconciled to the church, and 
 was duly wedded to the Prince of Ulster. Sir 
 Henry conceived his house dishonoured by this 
 alliance, because O'Neill, as he said, had another 
 wife alive, — putting little faith, as it seemed, in 
 the divorce. He had been sufficiently unfriendly 
 to the chief ])efore ; but from that hour there 
 grew up the deadliest enmity between them ; 
 which afterwards bore fruit, as we shall see. 
 
 But the time had arrived when Red Hugh 
 O'Donnell was to see his native mountains once 
 more. A year before this, he had escaped from 
 
 * O'Sullivan is the only writer who tells of this lady*8 
 beauty. " Tironus Hafinalis sororem foerninarn forma 
 conspicuam, speciei pulcliritudinc captus, rajjuerat, nia- 
 trimoiiio sibi conjiirixcrat, c-t a Protcstante cotiverti ad 
 fideni Catholicarn feccrat." — 4tn. 132. There is a novel 
 founded on this story, and entitkid " The Adventurers," 
 lively with incident, but wanting tho colouring and cha- 
 racter of the period 
 
92 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Dublin Castle with a noble Lagenian youth of 
 the O'Cavanaghs. They fled southwards, anil 
 made for that "long extensive mountain, the 
 boundary between the Gathelians of the Lage- 
 nian province and the English of Dublin,"* tra- 
 versed the hills all night, and before morning had 
 passed the " red mountain," hotly pursued. They 
 took refuge with Felim O'Toole, who was un- 
 able to protect them, and gave them up to the 
 English. For that time they had to return to 
 their dungeon, where O'Donnell was loaded with 
 *' heavy iron fetters," and languished there for 
 another whole year, " until the feast of Christ- 
 mas, 1592, when it seemed." says the chronicle, 
 " to the Son of the Virgin time for him to escape." 
 Again he found an opportunity to fly, accom- 
 panied by Henry and Art, two sons of Shane 
 O'Neill, and made once more for the glens of 
 Wicklow. The mountains were covered with 
 snow and all that night the storm beat fiercely 
 upon them. They did not however again trust 
 themselves with the O'Tooles, but struggled still 
 southwards to reach the pass of Glenmalur, 
 (Gleann Maolughra,) where the gallant Fiach 
 Mac Hugh, victor of Glendalough, would be 
 sure to protect them against all the forces of tne 
 Pale. Three days and nights they wandered 
 through the mountains, feeding upon leaves and 
 grass,f and famishing in the savage v/inter wea- 
 ther : and at last O'Byrne's people found two of 
 them (for poor A rt had perished) stretched under 
 
 ' MS. Translation of Life of O'Donnell, p. 10. 
 t O'SulUvan. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 93 
 
 the slielter of a cliff, benumbed, and nearly life- 
 less. The O'Byrne brought them to his house, 
 and revived, and warmed, and clothed them, and 
 instantly sent a messenger to Hugh O'Neill (with 
 whom he was then in close alliance) with the 
 joyful tidings of O'Donnell's escape. O'Neill 
 heard it with delight, and sent a faithful retainer, 
 Tirlough Buidhe O'Hagan, who w^as well ac- 
 quainted with the country, to guide the young 
 chief into Ulster. After a few days of rest and 
 refreshment, O'Donnell and his guide set forth, 
 and the Irish chronicler minutely details that peri- 
 lous journey ; — how they crossed the Lifiey far 
 to the westward of Fitzwilliam's hated towers, 
 and rode cautiously through Fingal and Meath, 
 avoiding the garrisons of the Pale, until they 
 arrived at the Boyne, a short distance west of 
 Inver Colpa, (Drogheda,) " where the Danes had 
 built a noble city," — how they sent round their 
 horses through tlie town, and themselves passed 
 over in a fisherman's boat ; how they passed by 
 Mellifont, a great monastery which belonged 
 to a noted young Englishman attaclied to Hugh 
 O'Neill," and, tlierefore, met no interruption 
 thei-e, — rode right through Dundalk, and entered 
 the friendly Irish country where they had nothing 
 more to fear. One night they rested at Feadh 
 Mor (the Fews,) where O'Neill's brother had a 
 house, and the next day crossed tlie Blackwater 
 at Moy, and so to Dungannon, wlu3re O'Neill 
 received them right joyfully. And here "the 
 two Hughs'* entered into a strict and cordial 
 friendshi[), and told each other of their wrongs 
 and of their hojMis. O'Neill listened, with such 
 
^ LIFE OF HUGH 0*NFTLI.. 
 
 feelings as one can imagine, to the story of the 
 youth's base kidnapping and cruel imprisonment 
 m darkness and chains ; and the impetuous 
 Beal Dearg heard, with scornful rage, of the 
 English deputy's atrocity towards Mac Mahon, 
 and attempts to bring his accursed sheriffs and 
 juries amongst the ancient Irish of Ulster. And 
 they deeply swore to bury for ever the unhappy 
 feuds of their families, and to stand by each 
 other, with all the powers of the North against 
 their treacherous and relentless foes. The chiefs 
 parted, and O'Donnell, with an escort of the Tyr- 
 owen cavalry, passed into Mac Gwire's country. 
 The chief of Fermanagh received him with ho- 
 nour, eagerly joined in the confederacy, and gave 
 him " a black polished boat," in which the prince 
 and his attendants rowed through Lough Erne, 
 *ind glided down that " pleasant salmon-breeding 
 river"* which leads to Ballyshannon and the an- 
 cient seats of the CLan-Conal. 
 
 We may conceive with what stormy joy the 
 tribes of Tyrconnell welcomed their prince ; with 
 what mingled pity and wrath, thanksgivings and 
 curses, they heard of his chains, and wanderings, 
 and sufferings, and beheld the feet that used to 
 bound so lightly on the hills, svf oUen and crippled 
 by that cruel frost, by the crueller fetters of the 
 Saxon. But little time was now for festal rejoicing, 
 or the unprofitable luxury of cursing; for just then 
 Sir Richard Bingham, the English leader in 
 Connaught, relying on the irresolute nature of 
 tld O'Donnell, and not aware of Red Hugh's r©» 
 
 • MS. Life of O'DonneU 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 
 
 95 
 
 turn, liad sent two hundred men bj sea to Do- 
 negal, where they took by surprise the Franciscan 
 monastery, drove away the monks, (makin.g small 
 account of their historic studies and learned an- 
 naUY'iLW^ garrisoned the buildings for the queen. 
 Issuing out from thence, the soldiers made raids 
 into the country round about, spoiling the people, 
 driving away their sheep and oxen, and burning 
 their houses on the march. The fiery Hugh 
 could ill endure to hear of these outrages, or 
 brook an English garrison upon the soil of Tyr- 
 connell. He collected the people in hot haste, 
 led them instantly to Donegal ; and commanded 
 the English by a certain day and hour, to betake 
 themselves with all speed back to Connaught and 
 leave behind them the rich spoils they had taken ; 
 all '.vhich they thought it prudent, without fur- 
 ther parley, to do. And so the monks of St. 
 Francis returned to their home and their books, 
 gave thanks to God, and prayed, as well they 
 might, for Hugh O'Donnell.* 
 
 In the following spring, on the third day of 
 May, there was a solemn meeting of the warriors, 
 clergy, and bards of Tyrconnell, at the rock of 
 Doune in Kilmacrenan, "the nursing-place of 
 Columkille." And here the father of Red Hugh 
 renounced the chieftaincy of the sept, and his im- 
 petuous son, at nineteen years of age, was duly 
 inaugurated by the Erenach O'Firghil, and made 
 the O'Donnell, with the ancient ceremonies of 
 his race. And surely it was time that the powers 
 
 * It was in Donegal Abbey the *• Annals of tlie Four 
 Masters" wore c()tn])il(;(l. 
 t MS. Life of 0'j;uiinell 
 
96 
 
 1.1FE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 of Tjrconnell should be wielded by a resolute 
 band. 
 
 Upon the eastern border of O'Donnell's country, 
 * where the two old rivers Finn and Mourne, 
 which the Deluge left behind, mingle their wa- 
 ters,"* dwelt Tirlough Lynnogh O'Neill, in the 
 town and castle of Strabane, holding svch poor 
 state as the Dungannon chief still permitted him. 
 This foolish old Tirlough kept certain English 
 troops in his country under the command of one 
 Captain Willis ; perilous auxiliaries for an Irish 
 chief. And " it was a-heart break," says the 
 chronicler, " to Hugh O'Donnell, that the Eng- 
 lish of Dublin sliould thus obtain a knowledge of 
 the country." He fiercely attacked Strabane, 
 drove back Tirlough and his Englishmen as far 
 as Glengiven (Dungiven) and besieged them in 
 O'Cahan's castle on the banks of Roa river. 
 O'Cahan came forth to treat with O'Donnell, re- 
 minded him that he had been his foster-son, and 
 that the fugitives were his guests, and so per- 
 suaded the young chief to refrain from violating 
 the hospitality of a friendly roof. For that time 
 O'Donnell retired ; but he never rested, nor suf- 
 fered Tirlough to rest, while those detested Eng- 
 lish were on his borders. The old chief was soon 
 obliged to banish his outlandish allies, and accept 
 the powerful friendship of O'Donnell in their 
 place ; and this is the last we hear of Tirlough. 
 He died the next year. 
 
 Shortly after, we find this Captain Willis on 
 
 MS Life of O'Donnell. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 97 
 
 the scene again ; Maguire, it seems, had made 
 some kind of compact with Fitzwilliam that no 
 EngHsh marauder, in name of a sheriff, should 
 be sent into Fermanagh; and in consideration of 
 this promise had given the corrupt Deputy a herd 
 of three hundred cows. Yet in the year ] 593, 
 Willis having been driven out of Tyr-owen, is 
 found in Maguire's country, purporting to be a 
 sheriff there, and "having with him three hun- 
 dred of the very rascals and scum of the king- 
 dom ;"* and all living, says Moryson, " upon the 
 spoil of the country," until Fermanagh could en- 
 dure the banditti no longer. Mac Guire and his 
 people set upon Willis who had fortified himself, 
 after the usual manner of the English, in a 
 church, reduced him to extremity, and were on 
 the point of destroying both sheriff and posse 
 comitatus, when Hugh O'Neill interfered to save 
 their lives, on condition of their instantly quitting 
 the country.t 
 
 But Mac Guire did not lay down his arms. 
 The English of Connaught were growing too 
 strong to be endured as near neighbours ; and 
 the forces of Fermanagh being in the field, he led 
 them southwards by the eastern shore of Lough 
 Allen, and the base of the Iron mountain, through 
 tlie soutli of BrefFni O'Ruarc, through Corran, 
 and over the bridge of Boyle abbey to the plains 
 of Magh-ai. Bingham was tlien in camp upon a 
 hill near Tulsk ; and a body of his cavalry meet- 
 ing with a party of Mac Guire's while patrolling 
 at night, fhid to the main body and were pursued 
 
 • Lee'a Memorial. 
 
 t Moryson. 
 
98 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH 0*N£ILL« 
 
 by the Irish with slaughter into their trenches, 
 William Clifford, who commanded the party, 
 was slain ;* and the primate Mac Gauran,f who 
 resided with Mac Guire, and had accompanied 
 him on the expedition, was among the slain on 
 the side of the Irish. 
 
 The Lord Deputy immediately dispatched a 
 ** hosting" into Mac Guire's territory. A large 
 army of the Meath and Leinster forces under 
 command of Marshal Bagnall and Hugh O'Neill, 
 marched into Fermanagh from the east, and 
 Bingham's troops invaded it from Connaught, 
 Mac Guire boldly met them at the " ford of the 
 Lamb's corner," where the river issues from 
 Lough Erne and contested that passage stoutly ; 
 but O'Neill having crossed at the head of the 
 cava'ry and charged the Irish in flank, Mac Guire 
 was obliged to retreat. In this charge the zea- 
 lous O'Neill was wounded in the thigh ; and as 
 the Irish chronicler relates, "he thought this 
 well for him, because he was not suspected by 
 the English." The army proceeded through 
 Mac Guire's country wasting and plundering in 
 their march, and then departed, leaving a body 
 of troops with Conor lice Mac Guire whom 
 the English set up as a rival to the lawful chief- 
 tain. This was the first Queen's Mac Guire : 
 and it was confidently hoped that civil war 
 would soon desolate the lands of Fermanagh and 
 
 * M.S. Life of O'Donnell. O'SuUivan calls the leader 
 who fell Guelford : and Camden tells us that the Eng- 
 lish gained a considerable victory here. 
 
 t One Gauranus, a priest, whom the pope (forsooth) 
 hfid made primate of all Ireland." — Moryson. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 99 
 
 leave it ready for English sheriffs in a year or 
 two. 
 
 Young O'Donnell could ill endure this Saxon 
 settlement on Lough Erne. To keep the English 
 out of Ulster was the grand passion of his lifes 
 and his fiery spirit chafed at the strange policy 
 of O'Neill, which we can well believe he did not 
 understand. Yet hitherto he had acted by the 
 advice of his cautious confederate, and refrained 
 from joining Mac Guire ; but when Fitzwilliam, 
 in the beginning of 1594, led another army to 
 the North, took Enniskillen by surprise, and left 
 an English garrison there, Hugh Roe could look 
 on in silence no longer. He led the Clan-Conal 
 into Fermanagh and laid close siege to Enniskil- 
 len, which he cut off from all communication 
 with the country. The northern Irish were not 
 skilled in the attack or defence of fortified places, 
 and this siege seems to have been carried on en- 
 tirely by way of blockade. All summer O'Don- 
 nell lay before it, and his troops scoured the coun- 
 try to the southward, burning and wasting the 
 lands in possession of the English : until at last 
 by the month of August the garrison had con- 
 sumed all their provisions, and it was hoped must 
 soon surrender from mere famine. 
 
 While PI ugh Roe was here, a messenger came 
 to him from the North, announcing that a force 
 of Scottish auxiliaries whom he expected had ar- 
 rived in the Foyle, under command of Donald 
 Gorm Mac Donald, and Mac Leod of Ara. He 
 hastened to Derry to meet them, found there an 
 efficient and v/cli-armed body of troops, and in 
 
100 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 corporated them (as the Irish historian asserts*) 
 with the Irish forces : but this is improbable, as 
 in dress, arms, and manner of fighting the Scot?* 
 differed considerably from the Irish. Their prin- 
 cipal weapon was the huge two-handled broad 
 sword, and they wore the tartan of their clans : while 
 the Irish infantry bore sharp battle-axes and short 
 swords, and were enveloped in long woollen cloaks 
 which in action they often wound round the left 
 arm.f But whatever may have been the organi- 
 zation of these Scots, or their place in battle, 
 they were a welcome aid to their brother Celts of 
 Ireland, and did good service in theso wars 
 against the enemy. 
 
 While lied Hugh was absent from the camp, 
 the Clan-Conal and Mac Gwire, lying before En- 
 niskillen, received news of a large army coming 
 upon them from Connaught, commanded by Sir 
 Edward Herbert and Sir Henry Duke, to raise 
 the siege and victual the garrison. Mac Gwire 
 prepared to meet them, and looked anxiously 
 northward for O'Donnell and the Scots. And 
 now the English had passed the mountains of 
 Leitrim, and he could see the smoke of their 
 devastating progress as they burned the country 
 in their march ; when most opportunely a body 
 of three hundred galloglasses and one hundred 
 cavalry, of the well-trained troops of Tyr- 
 owen, with Cormac O'Neill the chief's brother 
 at their head, arrived in the Irish camp. With 
 
 • MS. Life of O'Donnell. 
 
 f Spenser. See also for dress of Irish and Scotch, 
 MS Life of O'DonneU. and Ware. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 101 
 
 this reinforcement, and the troops of Ferma- 
 nagh and Tyr-connell, Mac Gwire and Cormac 
 waited for the enemy at a ford near Enniakillea 
 and encountered them in a pitched battle. From 
 morning till night the English pressed on gal- 
 lantly, and were as fiercely met, but at last their 
 whole army was utterly routed and pursued over 
 the river with such slaughter and havoc that the 
 baggage was left behind. All the stores of bread 
 intended to relieve Enniskillen were lost in the 
 river ; and that battle-ground is called the Ford 
 of Biscuits unto this day.* Enniskillen was im- 
 mediately surrendered to Mac Gwire. The Eng- 
 lish fled to Sligo through the mountains of 
 Breffni O'Ruarc, and Fermanagh was once more 
 cleared of foreign soldiery. O'Donnell was re- 
 turning rapidly from Derry, when messengers 
 met him with the news of the victory : " and he 
 was sorry," says the chronicle, " that he had not 
 been in that battle as he would have prevented 
 the escape of so many of the English." 
 
 Deputy Fitzwilliam was about this time re- 
 called to England. All historiansj" of both nations 
 concur in representing him as one of the most 
 flagitious, greedy, cruel, and corrupt governor? 
 that an P^iglisli monarch ever sent to Irehxnd. 
 To the nobles and people of the Pale he was as 
 odious as to the Irish enemy — for " he never 
 respected any man's necessity," says Lee, " in 
 
 * Beal-alha-na riscoid. See IMS. Life of ()])()nnell, 
 and O'Suilivaii. The latter ealls the pluee vaduin-panum 
 bisdoctorum. 
 
 t See Ciuudan, Moryson, Cox. Leo, O'SuUivan, Mao 
 Geoghei^ap 
 
192 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 comparison of his own commodity;" and then, 
 '* he kept so miserable a Christmas," as Dublin 
 had never seen before.* But his viceroy alt j is 
 famous for the founding of Dublin Univei'sity. 
 Perrot had some years before proposed to convert 
 St. Patrick's cathedral into a college ; and the pro- 
 ject was bitterly opposed by Archbishop Loftus, 
 who had other uses for the revenues of his two 
 cathedrals ; and " was particularly interested in 
 the livings of this church," says Leland, " by leases 
 and estates which he had procured for himself 
 and his kinsmen" — being, in fact one of those 
 rapacious bishops censured by Dr. Mant, who 
 alienated the lands of the church, and reduced 
 many bishoprics " as low as sacrilege could make 
 them."f Nothing, therefore, was done for that 
 time : but, after Loftus had procured the recal, 
 disgrace, and death of Perrot (for he never 
 could forgive that sacrilegious attempt in a lay- 
 man) he determined to signalize his own zeal for 
 education, and heartily co-operated with the 
 queen in her renewed plan of a college. And 
 instead of despoiling his churches for the pur- 
 pose, he pointed out, as a convenient site, that 
 i^uppressed" monastery of All Hallows, then in 
 the hands of tlu.' Dublin corporation. He con- 
 vened a meeting, prevailed on the mayor and 
 aldermen to give the ground and buildings for so 
 meritorious an object ; and to collect funds, cir- 
 culars were addressed to the principal gentry of 
 
 • Lee's Memorial, 
 
 t Mant. History of the Cliurch of Ireland," p. 446 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 
 
 103 
 
 the Pale, entreating assistance by way of pri- 
 vate contribution : but Dr. Mant gives the reply 
 of one person to that application, and seems to 
 infer from it that the proceeds thus obtained 
 were very small : — " He had applied to all the 
 gentlemen of the barony of Louth, whose an- 
 swer was, that they were poor, and not able to 
 give anything." 
 
 There were forfeited lands, however, in the 
 south ; and some abbeys which had lately fallen 
 into the hands of English rapacity ; — O'Dorney 
 in Kerry, Cong in Mayo. Besides innumerable 
 monasteries in Ulster, long since " suppressed," 
 as we saw ; but where the monks still contuma- 
 ciously did their alms-deeds ; and prayed for the 
 souls of many an Irish chieftain who had endowed 
 their houses to that end. Some of these a gene- 
 rous queen could bestow (in a certain anticipa- 
 tory manner) upon her new Protestant college. 
 The college, indeed, was long kept out of its 
 northern property — " was frustrated," as Dr. 
 Leland has it, " of the benefit of its grants by 
 the wars in Ulster :" but being a true undertak- 
 ing college, it took the " letters patent" in the 
 meantime, and was content to wait, like other un- 
 dertakers, and realize the queen's bounty by de- 
 grees, as the sword of her generals and the plots 
 of her statesmen should extend English power in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Thus was founded and endowed, by a Protes- 
 tant princess, this great Protestant university, 
 for strictly Prot(;st{iiit purposes — with Catiiolic 
 funds, and upon the hinds of a Catholic abbey. 
 
104 
 
 i.TFF. OP HTioii o'arnfi Lh 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 O'XEILIi IN ARMS — CliONTIBRKT. 
 
 A. D. 1594—1595. 
 
 It had become too plain that Hugh O'Neill xras 
 
 not likely to answer those politic ends for'which 
 Elizabeth's government had been so long pro- 
 tecting and cherishing, and, as they believed, 
 educating him. His ingratitude, as English his- 
 torians term it, had become too apparent. 
 " Though lifted up," says Spenser, " by her ma- 
 jesty out of the dust to that he hath now wrought 
 himself unto, now he playeth like the frozen 
 enake." And nothing better, Spenser fears, 
 would be the result if Shane O'Neill's sons could 
 be taken out of the hands of this Hugh, and set 
 up as rivals to his power — for " if they could 
 overthrow him, who should afterwards overthrow 
 them F" Wherefore he infers " it is most dan- 
 gerous to attempt any such plot."* However 
 the queen's councillors, ponderinfj these things 
 with care, and believing that O'Neill was the 
 main hope of the northern confederacy, advised 
 the Deputy, as the best that could be done in the 
 mean time, to offer O'Donnell " pardon," pro- 
 vided, says Moryson, " he would sever himself 
 
 • Spenser's View d. 180. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 105 
 
 ^roro O'Neill ;" a proposal which, it hardly needs 
 t-o be said, took no effect. Imagine the haughty 
 Beal-Dearg receiving that offer of an English 
 pardon ! 
 
 Private orders had been given to Sir William 
 Russell, the new Deputy, to make a prisoner of 
 O'Neill if ever he should have him in his power ; 
 of which the chief had immediate information 
 through a friend. It is credibly made known 
 unto him," says Lee, " that upon what security 
 soever he should come in, your majesty's pleasure 
 is to have him detained." Yet, in contempt of 
 this base plot, O'Neill appeared in Dublin imme- 
 diately cn Russell's landing, where he found him- 
 self formally accused before the council, by his 
 mortal enemy, Bagnal, of various articles of trea- 
 son — of confederating with the Northern chiefs, 
 of being The O'Neill, of harbouring priests, and 
 finally, of seducing the accuser's sister and car- 
 rying her off to Tyr-owen. It was debated in 
 council whether the chieftain should be detained 
 a prisoner to answer these charges, notwithstand- 
 ing a " protection" he had obtained : but the ma- 
 jority, either through scruples about violating 
 the protection, " or from some secret affec- 
 tion for Tyrone,"* declared that he ought in jus- 
 tice and honour to be dismissed. Ormond, how- 
 ever, informed O'Neill privately that Russell 
 would ol)ey his orders from England and arrest 
 him unless he speedily escaped from Dublin. 
 And no man better knew the treacherous devices 
 of English policy than this Earl of Ormond, 
 
 Camdeu. Queen EHzabeth. 
 
10b 
 
 LIFE OP HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 whose indignant letter, in reply to the Lord 
 Treasurer Burleigh (when similar orders had 
 been sent to himself ), is recorded by Carte 
 " My Lord, I will never use treachery to any 
 man, for it would both touch her highness's ho* 
 nour and my own credit too much ; and whoso- 
 ever gave the queen advice thus to write, is fitter 
 for such base service than I am. Saving my 
 duty to her majesty, I would I might have re* 
 venge by my sword of any man that thus per- 
 suadeth the queen to write to me." By advice 
 of his friend Ormond, O'Neill fled from Dublin, 
 made his way, with some risk, through the Pale, 
 for Russell had been drawing a cordon around 
 him, escaped to the North, and prepared to stand 
 on his defence. 
 
 It was about this time ( 1 594) that Captain Tho- 
 mas Lee drew up the celebrated memorm/ addressed 
 to Queen Elizabeth, and intended to inform her 
 how her servants in Ireland executed the trust 
 committed to them. Lee had commanded some 
 troops himself in various posts on the frontiers of 
 Ulster during Fitzwilliam's administration ; and 
 he indignantly describes the many villanies and 
 cruelties of that officer and his creatures ; but the 
 most remarkable feature in the production is the 
 strong affection which the writer manifests for 
 O'Neill. O'Neill is his hero : in assertion of 
 O'Neill's loyalty and truth, honest Lee is ready 
 (perhaps rashly) to lay down his life. " If hb 
 were so bad as they would fain enforce (as many 
 Bs know him and the strenfrth of his country will 
 witness thus much with me,) he might very easily 
 out off* many of your majesty's forces which are 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILI.. 107 
 
 laid in garrisons, in small troops, in divers parts 
 bordering upon his country ; yea, and over-run 
 all your English Pale to the utter ruin thereof ; 
 yea, and camp, as long as should please him un- 
 der the walls of Dublin, for any strength your 
 majesty yet hath in that kingdom to remove him. 
 
 " These things being considered, and how un- 
 willing he is (upon my knowledge) to be otherwise 
 towards your majesty than he ought, let him (if it 
 so please your highness) be somewhat hearkened 
 unto, and recovered if it may be, to come in unto 
 your majesty to impart his own griefs, which no 
 doubt he will do, if he will like his security. 
 And then, I am persuaded, he will simply ac- 
 knowledge to your majesty how far he hath 
 offended you ; and besides, notwithstanding his 
 protection, he will, if it so stand with your ma- 
 jesty's pleasure, offer himself to the marshal (who 
 hath been the chiefest instrument against him) 
 to prove with his sword that he hath most 
 wrongfully accused him. And because it is no 
 conquest for him to overthrow a man ever held 
 in the world to be of most cowardly behaviour, 
 he will, in defence of his innocency, allow his 
 adversary to come armed, against him naked, to 
 encourage him the rather to accept of his chal- 
 lenge. I am bold to say thus much for the earl, 
 because I know his valour, and am persuaded he 
 will perform it."* 
 
 This cartel took no effect : but it was plain 
 that O'Neill would soon liavc an opportunity of 
 meeting his enemy, if not in listed field, yet in 
 
 • Lec'8 Memorial. 
 
108 
 
 Ijltt: OF HUGH OI^EllaL. 
 
 open melee of battle : for news arrived in the 
 North, that large reinforcements were on their 
 way to the Deputy from England, consisting of 
 veteran troops who had fought in Bretagne and 
 Flanders, under Sir John Norrsys, the most ex- 
 perienced general in Elizabeth's service ; and 
 that garrisons were to be forced upon Ballyshan- 
 non and Belleek, commanding the passes into 
 Tyrconnell, between Lough Erne and the sea. 
 The strong fort of Portmore also, which O'Neill 
 had permitted to be built on the southern bank 
 of the Blackwater, was to be strengthened and 
 well manned ; thus forming, with Newry and 
 Greencastle, a chain of forts across the island, 
 and a basis for future operations against the Irish 
 country to the I-orth. 
 
 And now it was very clear that, let King Phi- 
 lip send his promised help, or not send it, open 
 and vigorous resistance must be made to the far- 
 ther progress of foreign power, or Ulster would 
 soon be an English jH'Ovince. The northern con- 
 federacy too, that great labour of O'Neill's lite, 
 was now strong and firmly united. Even Mac 
 Gennis and O'Hanlon, two chiefs Avho had long 
 been under the influence of Bagnal, were in tlie 
 ranks of their countrymen, and O'Neill gave his 
 daughter to the chief tain of Iveagh, his sister to 
 him of Orier. In Leinster, the O' Byrnes, the 
 O'Cavanaghs, and Waiter Fitzgerald (surnamed 
 JRiagh) had entered into close alliance with 
 O'Neill, and were already wasting the borders of 
 the Pale : and O'Donnell and Mac Gwire wera 
 in arms, impatient for the chief of Tyr-owen 
 
lilFE OF HUGH O NEILL. lOS 
 
 to lift his banner and take his rightful post iu the 
 van ot embattled Ulster. 
 
 At last the time had come ; and Dunganiion, 
 with stern joy, beheld unfurled the royal standard 
 of O'Neill, displaying, as it floated proudly on the 
 breeze, that terrible Red Right Hand upon its 
 snow white folds ; waving defiance to the Saxon 
 queen, dawning like a new Aurora upon the 
 awakened children of Heremon. 
 
 With a strong body of horse and foot O'Neill 
 suddenly appeared upon the Black water, stormed 
 Portmore, and drove away its garrison, "as care- 
 fully," says an historian, " as he would have 
 driven poison from his heart ;" then demolished 
 the fortress, burned down the bridge, and ad- 
 vanced into O'Reilly's country, everywhere 
 drivino; the English and their adherents before 
 him to the South, (but without wanton blood- 
 shed, slaying no man save in battle ; for cruelty 
 is no where charged against O'Neill ; and finally, 
 with Mac Gwii-e and Mac Mahon, he laid close 
 siege to Monaghan, which was still held for the 
 Queen of P^n gland. 
 
 O'Donnell, on his side, crossed the Saimer at 
 the head of his fierce clan, burst into Connanght, 
 and shutting up Bingham's troops in their strong 
 places at Sligo, Bally mote, Tulsk, and Boyle, 
 traversed the country, with avenging fire and 
 Bword, putting to dealli (;vcry man iclio could 
 speak no Irish'* ravaging tlieii- lands, and send- 
 
 * SeeMao Georrliorjnn. Some writers say "all Protos- 
 tants;" ljut as all the Protestants then in Co)iiiau'_;lit 
 were foreigners, aud all the foreigners were hostile iu 
 
110 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILIj. 
 
 iiig the spoil to Tyr-connell. Then he crossed 
 the Shannon, entered the Annally*s, where O'Fer- 
 ghal was living under English dominion, and de- 
 vastated that country so furiously that " the whole 
 firmanent," says the chronicle, " was one bUck 
 cloud of smoke."* 
 
 Not having sufficient force to meet the confe- 
 derates in the field, Russell had recourse, for the 
 present, to negotiation ; and while O'Neill lay 
 be.lore Monaghan he received intelligence that a 
 certain Sir Henry Wallop, who was styled 
 "treasurer at war," accompanied by Sir Richard 
 Gardiner, the queen's chief justice, had arrived 
 in Dundalk, as commissioners, to confer with the 
 Irish chiefs. They summoned O'Neill, by his 
 Saxon title of Earl of Tyr-owen, and the otlier 
 leaders, according to their rank, to attend them 
 at Dundalk, as English subjects, and state their 
 "grievances" there. But O'Neill haughtily re- 
 fused to see these commissioners, save at the head 
 of his army, or to enter any walled town as a 
 liege man of the Queen of England ; " For be it 
 known unto thee, O Wallop, that the Prince of 
 Ulster, on his own soil, does homage to no foreign 
 monarch : and for your ' earls of Tyrone' — earl 
 me no earls ; — my foot is on my native heath, 
 and my name The 0'Neill''\ So they met in the 
 
 raders, it is invidious and unjust to designate the suf- 
 ferers in tliese wars by their sectarian appellation. 
 * MS. Life of O'Donnell. 
 
 f " My foot is on my native heath, and my name is 
 Mac Gregor."' The writer gladly acknowledges a pla- 
 giarism from the Ked Gregarach : and further admits 
 that the above may not have been the very worda of 
 O'Neill's message ; but it was to that effV'ct. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 Ill 
 
 cpen plain, in presence of both armies ; and O'Neill 
 demanded, as the first condition of a peace, that 
 no garrisons or sheritFs should for the future bo 
 sent into any part, of Ulster, save to Newry and 
 Carrickfergus ; — that no attempt at religious per- 
 secution, or, as the English called it, " reforma- 
 tion," should be made in the North ; and finally, 
 that Marshal Bagnal should he restrained from 
 encroaching upon the Irish territory, or the juris- 
 diction of its chiefs, and also be compelled to pay 
 him, O'Neill, one thousand pounds of silver, as a 
 marriage portion with the lady whom he had 
 raised to the digity of an O'Neill's bride. O'Don- 
 nell made the same demands, as to garrisons and 
 sheritfs, and freedom of religion ; and further 
 complained of his treacherous abduction and 
 severe imprisonment, and of a certain " Queen's 
 O'Donnell" who presumed to claim his chief- 
 taincy by " English tenure." Their terms, in 
 short, were, that all pretence of English inter- 
 ference with the North should forthwith cease.* 
 The queen's commissioners pretended to con- 
 sider some of these conditions reasonable : others 
 they " referred" to her majesty ; but when they 
 came to pi-opose certain terms to the confederates, 
 %s a kind of temporary arrangement, until the 
 .queen's pleasure should be known, — as that they 
 should lay down their arms, beg forgiveness for 
 their rebellion," discover their correspondence 
 with foreign states, and the like ; the chiefs re- 
 jected their proposals with scorn : in Moryson's 
 phraseology, " the rebels grew insolent and the 
 
 • Moryson. 
 
112 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 conference was hastily broken oif, O'Neill having 
 agreed only to a short truce. The English de- 
 puty and his lawyers, seeing they could do no 
 better, on the 3rd of September in the same year 
 (1595) solemnly empanelled 2, jury to try O'Neill 
 and his allies, for what they termed " high trea- 
 son." The chiefs of the North, in their absence, 
 were, with the utmost gravity, given in charge to 
 this tribunal, which speedily found them all 
 guilty: and O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Ruarc, Mac 
 Gwire, and Mac Mahon were forthwith pro- 
 claimed " traitors." 
 
 O'Neill well knew that, notwithstanding the 
 overtures of peace, Norreys and Russell were 
 actively engaged in preparing for war. Bagnal, 
 about the beginning of J une, had marched with 
 a strong force from Newry into Mac Mahon's 
 country, relieved Monaghan, and compelled the 
 Irish to raise the siege, and, shortly after, the 
 deputy and General Norreys made good their 
 march from Dundalk to Armagh after a severe 
 skirmish with some Irish troops at the Moyry 
 pass.* On the approach of these forces, O'Neill 
 burned down Dungannon and the neighbouring 
 villages, and retired into the woods, hoping by 
 the show of terror and hasty reti-eat to draw the 
 enemy further into the difiicult country, and de- 
 stroy them at his leisure. But Russell contented 
 
 * Near Mount-Norris, county Armagh. Norreys after- 
 wards built a fort, to coinuuind this pass, and called it 
 by his own name*. This district was at that time much 
 encumbered by woods aivl bo.:xs, but it was the only prac 
 ticable passage from Dundalk northward, except round 
 the coast at Cariingford 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0'NEI1.L. 
 
 113 
 
 himself with stationing a garrison at Armagh, 
 and returned to Dublin, leaving the NortheiTi 
 forces under the command of Norrevs. 
 
 The castle of Monaghan, which had been 
 taken by Con O'Neill, was now once more in the 
 hands of the enemy, and once more was besieged 
 by the Irish troops. Norreys, with his whole 
 force, was in full march to relieve it ; and CNeill, 
 v/ho had hitherto avoided pitched battles, and 
 contented himself with harassing the enemy by 
 continual skirmishes, in their march through the 
 woods and bogs, now resolved to meet this re- 
 doubted general fairly in the open field. He 
 chose his ground at Clontibret,* about five miles 
 from Monaghan, where a small stream rung 
 northward through a valley enclosed by low hills. 
 On the left bank of this stream the Irish, in bat- 
 tle array, awaited the approach of Norreys. We 
 liave no account of the numbers on each side, 
 but when the English general came up he thought 
 himself strong enough to force a passage. Twice 
 the Englisli infantry tried to make good their 
 way over tlie river ; and twice were beaten back, 
 their gallant leader^ (;ac,li time, charging at their 
 head, and being tlie last to retii-e.f Tlie general 
 and his brot'aer, Sir Thomas, wen^, both wounded 
 in tliese conflicts ; and tlie Irish counted the vic- 
 tory won, wlicn a cliosen body of English horse, 
 
 * Clunin-tihurnld , "the lawn of tlic spriii.ir." 
 
 t KcuMi Ijoiiilianliirii Ijis :i ( 'atholicis coiifiitati sunt, 
 rechiiiiuiUc N'oriise, <]ui uliiiiius oiiiniinu piii^nri cxcedfv- 
 bat." — W Sullivan. Tiie Irish lii>t()riaiis always (h) jus- 
 iv'St to the valour, j^tioil faith, and ^jenerosity of this 
 treucral. 
 
114 
 
 1.IFE OF IlUCiH 0*NE1X,L. 
 
 led on by Segrave, a Meathian officer, of gigantic 
 bone and height, spurred fiercely across the river, 
 and cliarged the cavalry of Tyr-owen, commanded 
 by their prince in person. Segrave singled out 
 O'Neill, and the two leaders laid lance in rest for 
 deadly combat, while the troops on each side 
 lowered their weapons and held their breath, 
 awaiting the shock in silence. The warriors 
 met, and the lance of each was splintered on the 
 other's corslet : but Segrave again dashed his 
 horse against the chief, flung his giant frame upon 
 his enemy, and endeavoured to unhorse him by 
 the mere weight of his gauntletted hand. O'Neill 
 grasped him in his arms, and the combatants 
 rolled together, in that fatal embrace, to the 
 ground : — 
 
 *' Now, gallant Saxon ! hold thine own : — 
 No maiden's arms are roand thee thrown." 
 
 There was one moment's deadly wrestle, and a 
 death-groan : the shortened sword of O'Neill was 
 buried in the Englishman's groin beneath his 
 mail. Then from the Irish ranks arose such a 
 wild shout of triumph as those hills had never 
 echoed before : — the still thunder-cloud burst 
 into a tempest : — those equestrian statues became 
 as winged demons : and with their battle-cry of. 
 Lamh-dearg-aboo, and their long lances poised, 
 in Eastern fashion, above their heads, down swept 
 the chivalry of Tyr-owen upon the astonished 
 ranks of the Saxon. The banner of St. George 
 wavered and went down before that furious 
 charge. The English tuined their bridle-reins, 
 and fled headlong over the stream, leaving the 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 115 
 
 field covered with their dead, and, worse than all, 
 leaving with the Irish that proud red-cross ban- 
 ner, the first of its disgraces in those Ulster 
 wars.* Norreys hastily retreated southwards^ 
 and the castle of Monaghan was yielded to the 
 Irish. 
 
 Hugh Roe O'Donnell was by this time master 
 of all Connaught, except a few forts : but George 
 Bingham, who commanded for the queen in the 
 castle of Sligo, knowing that the Mac Swynes 
 were in O'Donnell's army, and that the coasts of 
 Tyr-connell must be lying open to any sudden 
 descent, and having heard of the riches of Rath- 
 muUen priory, bethought himself of an expedi- 
 tion worthy of the pirate Danes from whom he 
 derived his race. He fitted out two vessels, filled 
 them with armed men, and leaving Sligo to be 
 kept in his absence by Ulick Burke, sailed round 
 the northern coast, entered Lough Swilly, plun- 
 dered and destroyed the village of Rathmullan 
 and the cloisters of the Carmelites, robbing the 
 monks of their plate, their vestments, and sacred 
 relics ; — then on his way back to Sligo he landed 
 on Tory Island, " a place blessed," says a chro- 
 nicler, " by the holy Columba," illustrious then 
 with its seven churches and the glebe of the 
 saint : and the English burned and ruined both 
 houses and churches, plundered everything, ac- 
 cording to their wont, carried off the flocks and 
 
 • '* Circum Scdf^reium octodcciiTi equites sj)lcndidi 
 regii ftuccumbunt, et signuni ciii)itur." — ij' Sullivan. For 
 tiie mode of charging used by the Irish cavalry, with 
 their lances poised over the right shoulder, see Spenser's 
 View. 
 
lib 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O KEi LL. 
 
 herds, and left no four-footed beast on the \Yhole 
 island. Tory never recovered from that hideous 
 wreck. It is now a bare and dismal rock, lashed 
 by the howling Atlantic, and inhabited by a few 
 wretched fishermen ; but still, by the ruins of a 
 round tower, by its two stone crosses, and the 
 mouldering walls of its many churches, attests 
 the piety of the holy men who, in days of old, 
 made a sanctuary of that lonely isle. 
 
 The English pirate returned with his booty to 
 Sligo ; but the division of the spoil caused a jea- 
 lousy in the garrison between the English and 
 Irish ; which ended in Ulick Burke and his ad- 
 herents falling upon and exterminating the Sax- 
 ons and tlieir leader, and then delivering up the 
 place to O'Donnell. The castle of Ballymote 
 was about the same time taken by Red Hugh 
 from Sir Richard Bingham and given to its right- 
 ful owners, the Mac Doncughs ; so that, on the 
 whole, at the close of the year 1595, the Irisb 
 power predominated both in Ulster and Con- 
 naught. 
 
LITE OF HUGH o'NEILIi. 
 
 117 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 NEGOTIATIONS — TYEEELl's PASS — DEOM- 
 EliUICH. 
 
 A. D. 1595—1597. 
 
 During the following winter the two parties re* 
 mained inactive : and what we find chiefly inter- 
 esting, is the warm attachment which General 
 Norrejs conceived for O'Neill, the man whom he 
 had it in command to reduce by fire and sword. 
 He convinced himself that the chief had been 
 heavily wronged, recommended liim to the favour- 
 able consideration of his government ; and would 
 answer it with his life that kindness and justice 
 would make this formidable chieftain one of the 
 queen's best subjects. Tlie strange fascination 
 of O'Neill's character had captivated the soldier- 
 like and generous Norreys ; and instead of vigo- 
 rously prosecuting the war, he was devising 
 means to bring about a reconciliation between 
 the revolted " earl" and his oiTonded sovereign. 
 There is reason to fear that the politic Hugh misled 
 this straightforward soldier, to gain time for his 
 own projects and his negotiations with Spain ; — 
 a supposition wiiich is strengthened by liis deal- 
 ings with the queen^s envoys in the following 
 year. 
 
118 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILI* 
 
 For the English government, finding that no 
 progress was made in reducing Ulster bj force 
 of arm?, directed a commission to the general 
 along with Sir George Boiirchier, styled Master 
 of tlie Ordnance, and Sir Geoffrey Fenton, com- 
 manding them to invite the Northern chiefs to a 
 conference, and propose terms of peace. The 
 commissioners wrote to O'Neill requesting a 
 meeting at Dundalk ; and though well aware that 
 it was to his own successes he owed these friendly- 
 dispositions of the English court, which would 
 last only until they had an army in the field able 
 to cope with him ; yet, having objects of his own 
 to serve by delay, he proceeded to Dundalk, and 
 declining, as usual, to enter a town, he held con- 
 ference with the English negotiators across a 
 small river, O'Neill standing on the north bank 
 and the commissioners on the south. Here he 
 assured them of his loyalty and his desire to be 
 treated as a good subject of the queen, provided 
 only that the laws, customs, and religion of the 
 Irish country sliould remain inviolate ; (a pro- 
 viso which included precisely the old demands of 
 exemption from sheriffs, bishops, judges, and 
 " reforn^ation ;") and upon those terms he pro- 
 tested that her majesty would have no more de« 
 voted subject than he.* As for holding com- 
 
 * Moryson would have us believe tliat both at this 
 conference anrl several others OWeill made the most ab- 
 ject prot 'Stat ions of rep utance and submission, craving 
 pardon on his knees for liis "rebellion, ' But no Irisli 
 historian says anything of this; and it is hardly proba- 
 ble thf,t, after such brilliant victories he would so hum- 
 ble himself to those who were entreating for peace. The 
 
LII-^ OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 119 
 
 munications with Spain, he denied it altogether : 
 but he much feared that Hugh O'Donnell was a 
 disaffected person, and engaged in some treason- 
 able correspondence ; for he was credibly in- 
 formed that a ship had arrived from Spain in ono 
 of the ports of Tyr-connell.* 
 
 The commissioners were delighted by his zeal 
 and candour, communicated with their govern- 
 ment, and were immediately vested full 
 power to conclude a final peace with O'Neill upon 
 easy terms ; and then it was hoped they should 
 soon be able, by his help, to deal with that pestilent 
 O'Donnell. So they wrote again to O'Neill, ap- 
 pointing another meeting at Dundalk, on the 
 second of April, Avhich he " accepted," says Mo- 
 ryson, " with shew of joy ;" but when the second 
 of April arrived, and the commissioners waited 
 for him at the place of meeting, he did not con- 
 descend to appear. Apparently his end had been 
 answered, and he was not yet ready to assume his 
 new character of a loyal subject. Yet, unwilling 
 to abandon their mission, the English diploma- 
 Abbe Mac Geoghegan says, ■w^ith some reason, " Le3 
 Anglois conviennent qu' on desiroit fort la paix avec 
 O'Nfcill : rnais ils ajoutent quo ce Prince et les autres 
 chefs (les Catlioliques Irlandois avoient coutui>je de de- 
 nnander pardon a j^enoux aux coinniispaires charges de 
 leur j)roi)()?er la j)aix : ('eux qui sollicitent la paix sont 
 ordinal rcnient plus dans le cas de demander jiardon que 
 les autres." 
 
 * In this year, as wc learn from the MS. Life of 
 O'Donnell, Alonzo Copis crime to that chief from Spain, 
 bringing arms and ammunition: and Ked Hugh sent 
 him home with his ship well stored with "fat bucks and 
 M lute-fleeced eheep." 
 
120 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 lists once more plied him with letters, and ap* 
 pointed yet another day, the l6th of" April; when 
 they conjured him by all his hopes of pardon, and 
 his duty to her most sacred majesty, that he 
 should not fail to attend them. The l6th came, 
 and the commissioners looked anxiously north- 
 ward from Faughart hill, in vain ; the chief did 
 not arrive ; but the next day, as if to make a scorn- 
 ful jest of their mean solicitation,* sent them his 
 reasons, "justifying," says Moryson, " his relapse 
 into disloyalty ;" for that the truce had not been 
 duly kept with him and his people ; causes of 
 offence had arisen at the Blackwater ; and more- 
 over the Marshal had not restored some cattle 
 which had been driven off the lands of a certain 
 O'NeilL And under these circumstances, how 
 could a prudent chieftain lay down his arms, or 
 abandon the guardianship of his faithful clans- 
 men ? 
 
 Possibly these reasons may have seemed frivo- 
 lous to the commissioners ; more especially as it 
 was notorious that O'Neill was improving the in- 
 tervals of truce in arming and training more 
 troops, in strengthening his alliances, and stirring 
 up the Irish of Leinster to invade the Pale ; for 
 at this time we find that " Fiach Mac Hugh," 
 jays Moryson, " breaking his protection, entered 
 into acts of hostilitie ; and he, together with the 
 O'Mores, O'Connors, O'Byrnes, O'Tooles, the 
 Cavanaghs, Butlers, and the chiefe names of 
 Con naught, animated by the success of the Ulster 
 
 • " A mean solicitation on the part of government to 
 Tyrone." — Leland. 
 
IiTFE OF HUGH O'NEILIi. 
 
 121 
 
 men, combined together, and demanded to have 
 the barbarous titles of O and Mac, together imtli 
 Imids they claimed, to De restored to them, in 
 the meanwhile spoiling all the conritry on all 
 sides." These Leinster Irish were led princi- 
 pally by Owen O'More and Fiach O'Byrne. 
 Their inroads were fierce and bloody; the smoke 
 of their burnings darkened the air of Dublin;* 
 and there needed large forces to guard the fron- 
 tiers of the Pale, and sleepless watch and ward 
 upon the city wall. But now the deputy resolved 
 to m^ike another effort against the mountain septs 
 of Wicklow. In the month of May he pene- 
 trated with a strong force into the glens; took 
 the fort of Ballinacor by surprise, and i3ut its in- 
 mates to the sword, including the gallant chief of 
 the O 'Byrnes, who had so long held those fast- 
 nesses against the utmost efforts of English 
 power. He left, hoAvever, two sons, Plielim and 
 Raymond, who received some troops from Hugh 
 O'Neill to assist them, joined with the O'Mores, 
 recovered the glens and mountains of their tribe, 
 and still kept tlie field against the stranger. At 
 this time, also, Hugh O'Donnell was pressing the 
 Eijgiish hard in Connaught, detaching the chiefs 
 from foreign alliances, and combining them in the 
 national confederacy. Mac Dermot of Moy-luing 
 he compelled to make submission to himself as an 
 Uriaght or tributary chief; "as with those of his 
 place it was always customary, "f And over Clan- 
 
 * "The village of Crumlin was plundered and 
 burned down, within two miles of the city." — Cox.. 
 
 t MS. Life of O'Donnell. Moryson says " all Con- 
 Daught was 'm rebdlion." 
 
r22 
 
 l.IFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 rickarde lie reinstated the Mac William, who had 
 been supphmted by Theobald Burke, siirnamed, 
 " of the Ships," supported by the English, and 
 claiming his chieftaincy by English tenure." 
 
 Armagh was still occupied by an English gar- 
 rison : a strong force under command of Stafford 
 was stationed there ; and General Norreys, with 
 the main body of his troops, was encamped at 
 Killoter church. On the expiration of the truce, 
 O'Neill attacked this encampment with desperate 
 fury ; and drove the English before him with 
 heavy loss till they found shelter within the walls 
 of Armagh.* Norreys left here five hundred 
 men to reinforce Stafford, and himself retired to 
 Dundalk: leaving the whole country northward 
 in possession of the Irish. O'Neill now resolved 
 to recover the city of Armagh. He cut off all 
 communication between Norreys and the town, 
 sat down before it, and began a regular siege ; 
 but the troops of Ulster were unused to a war of 
 posts, and little skilled in reducing fortified 
 places by mine, blockade, or artillery. Tliey bet- 
 ter loved a rushing charge in the open field, or 
 the guerilla warfare of the woods and mountains; 
 and soon tired of sitting idly before battlements 
 of stone. O'Neill tried a stratagem. General 
 Norreys had sent a quantity of provisions to re- 
 lieve Armagh under a convoy of three companies 
 of foot and a body of cavalry ; and the Irish had 
 surprised these troops by night, captured the 
 stores, and made prisoners of all the convoy. 
 O'Neill caused the English soldiers to be stripped 
 
 * O'Sullivan. 
 •4 
 
1.IFE OF HUGH 0*NEIL1- 
 
 123 
 
 of their uniform, and an equal number of his 
 own men to be dressed in it, whom he ordered 
 to appear bv day-break, as if marching to relieve 
 Armagh. Then having stationed an ambuscade 
 before morning in the walls of a ruined monas- 
 tery lying on the eastern side of the city, he sent 
 another body of troops to meet the red-coated 
 galloglasses ; so that when day dawned, the 
 defenders of Armagh beheld what they imagined 
 to be a strong body of their countrymen in full 
 march to relieve them with supplies of provisions : 
 then they saw O'NeiU's troops rush to attack 
 these ; and a furious conflict seemed to proceed ; 
 but apparently the English were overmatched : 
 many of them fell, and the Irish were pressing 
 forward, pouring in their shot, and brandishing 
 their battle-axes, with all the tumult of a heady 
 fight. The hungry garrison could not endure this 
 sight. A strong sallying party issued from the 
 city, and rushed to support their friends ; but 
 when they came to the field of battle all the com- 
 batants on both sides turned their weapons 
 against them alone. The English saw the snare 
 that had been laid for them, and made for the 
 walls again ; but now Con O'Neill and his party 
 issued from tlie monastery and barred their re- 
 treat. They defended themselves galhintly, but 
 were all cut to pieces, and the Irish entered 
 Armagh in triumph. Stafford and tlie remnant 
 of his garrison were allowed to retire to Dundalk, 
 and O'Neill, who wanted no strong places, dis- 
 mantled the fortifications and then ahandoned 
 the town. Soon after this, however, in O'Neill's 
 absence, some English troops from Newry oi 
 
19^ LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Dundalk made their way to Armagh — fortified it 
 
 again — and held it till after the battle of the 
 leilow Ford. 
 
 In May 1597, Russell was recalled from Ire- 
 land, and Lord De Burgh sent over as deputy. 
 JS^orreys also was instantly dismissed from his 
 northern command, and sent to orovern the Eno;- 
 lish fo]"ces in Munster ; where he shortly aftei 
 sickened and died, broken-hearted, it was said, 
 at being superseded by De Burgh, who was his 
 personal enemy ; and also by the ill treatment to 
 which he had been subjected by Russell ; for this 
 Deputy was jealous of the general's high reputa- 
 tioii, and of the ami)le powers which had been 
 vested in him ; and never lost an opportunity of 
 thwarting his plans and crip{)ling his resources.* 
 
 The new Lord Deputy was a man of determi- 
 nation and experience in war, having commanded 
 in the Netherlands against Spain, and done good 
 service there. 
 
 The greater part of the island was now in 
 the power of the Irish. In Ulster especially 
 the English had not a foot of land save what 
 was enclosed by the walls of seven castles, 
 Newry, Carrickfergus, Dundrum, Carlingford, 
 Greencastle, Armagh, and Olderfleet, (now 
 called Larne,)! and De Burgh's instructions 
 were to prosecute the northern war vigorously, 
 to enter upon no conferences and listen to no 
 terms. A truce, however, of one month was 
 
 * The Abbe Mac Geoghegan notes (a? a ji'/lgrr.snt of 
 heaven) tliat poor Norreys died, loaded -with disgrace, in 
 the very country which had given birtli to St. Rumold, 
 first bishop and patron of Malines, whose relics he liad 
 proffjied in the Low Countries. 
 
 tMorysoa. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 12a 
 
 Agreed upon, and the time was used by the De* 
 puty in collecting his forces and planning opera- 
 tions : neither was that interval altogether wasted 
 by O'Neill ; as we shall presently see. 
 
 At the close of the truce, attended by the 
 Earl of Kildare and Lord Trimbleston, the De- 
 puty marched northwards by Newry and Ar- 
 magh, while Sir Conyers Clifford, who now com- 
 manded for the queen in Connaught, was ordered 
 to penetrate into Ulster by the western shores of 
 Lough Erne. A thousand men of the Anglo- 
 Irish of Meath had assembled at MuUingar, and 
 were also destined for the North under command 
 of young Barnewall, a son of Lord Trimbleston : 
 and to prevent the junction of all these forces 
 was plainly the thing most desirable for O'Neill. 
 Now there was in the Irish army a gentleman of 
 English descent, by name Richard Tyrrell, of 
 Fertullagh, in the district of Meath, a zealous 
 Catholic, and one of O'Neill's most trusted friends 
 and bravest officers. He was instantly detached, 
 at the head of four hundred chosen men, to 
 watch the movements of the JNIeathians ; a ser- 
 vice for which Tyrrell was well fitted by his ac- 
 tivity and knowledge of the country. Barnewall 
 and his troo[)S marched from Mullingar ; and 
 when he heard of the small number of Tyrrell's 
 band, which was then posted in his neighbour- 
 hood, he resolved to attack it Avithout delay and 
 swcei) it from his patli. Tyrrell retired before 
 him till he an-ived at a defile winding between 
 t/iick woods, Ijcing precisely llic spot which he 
 had ujaiKcd (nit for the destruction of his enemy. 
 Here he placed a part of his band in ambush 
 
126 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 under O'Connor, his lieutenant; and himself re- 
 treated still further to draw the English onward 
 into the pass. Tiicy rushed impetuously forward, 
 and the moment they had all passed the ambus- 
 cade, O'Connor sounded a charge and attacked 
 them fiercely in the rear, while Tyrrell on the 
 same instant wheeled round and engaged them 
 in front. The whole Meathian detachment was 
 hewn to pieces ; and it is said that besides Barne- 
 wall, who was reserved as a prisoner for O'Neill, 
 only one man escaped through a neighbouring 
 bog, to carry the news to Mullingar.* O'Connor 
 so fiercely plied his sword that day, that his hand 
 swelled within the guard and had to be extricated 
 in the evening by means of a file. The place of 
 battle received the name of Tyrrell's-pass, and 
 still preserves the memory of that slaughter. 
 
 Tyrrell and O'Connor lost not a day in march- 
 ing to join O'Neill : for by this time Lord De 
 Burgh was as far north as Armagh ; and they 
 counted upon warm work at the Blackwater. 
 
 But before the two main bodies met, we have 
 to tell how it fared with Sir Conyers Clifford and 
 his Connaught levies. He set forth with seven 
 hundred men, and was to make his way north- 
 ward by Ballyshannon and join the Deputy at 
 Portmore. But on that side the passes into Ul- 
 ster were under the special care of Red Hugh 
 O'Donnell : and before Clifford had proceeded 
 far he found himself in front of a body of two 
 thousand of the Clan-Conal (" two thousand des- 
 perate rebels," • as the English historians caD 
 
 * Mao Gecwfhegau. 
 
LIFE OF HUCiH o'NKILL. 
 
 127 
 
 them), and perceiving that he was overmatched 
 he thought it ])est to retire. For thirty miles he 
 ''etreated through the mountains, in good order 
 and with but little loss, and made good his way 
 back to Connaught in the lace of a superior ene- 
 my.* For that time he escaped the sword of 
 Red Hugh : but, in a certain pass amongst those 
 mountains of north Connaught, these two warriors 
 were to meet once more, and there to do and suifer 
 what their fate decreed. From pursuing Clitford, 
 O'Donnell hastened back to join O'Neill where 
 the brunt of battle was to be borne. 
 
 O'Neill knew that Lord De Burgh would di- 
 rect his efforts to recover the fortress of Port- 
 more, and therefore had entrenched a part of his 
 army in a pass of the Avoods near the southern 
 bank of the Blackwater, and right in the path 
 of the English army, where, " to the natural 
 strength of the place," says Moryson, " wat? 
 added the art of interlacing the low boughs, an\' 
 casting the bodies of trees across the way." Do 
 Burgh instantly attacked and forced this pass, 
 drove the Irisli northward across the river, took 
 possession of Portmore fort, and garrisoned it. 
 Their prayers and thanksgivings for this success 
 were interrupted by calling to arms ; and on the 
 left bank of the river they saw the Irish issuing, 
 from their woods, and taking up a position be- 
 tween Portmore and Benbu)b,t as if bent to re- 
 new the battle. The Earl of Kildare was 8eii{ 
 
 " Moryson. 
 
 f Bcinn- Boirb, tlic- " Hill-brow." — Stuart's Histor) 
 
.28 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 forward to attack them ; and was shortly after 
 supported by De Burgh, with his whole army- 
 They pressed forward, and after some severe 
 ikirmishes, had advanced a mile beyond Ben- 
 burb, when they found themselves in front of the 
 chosen troops of Tyr-owen and Tyr-connell, 
 led by their chieftains in person, and supported 
 by the Antrim Scots under James Mac Donnell 
 of the Glynns; and it was now plain that O'Neill 
 had purposely decoyed them across the river tha^" 
 he might engage them according to his wont, on 
 his own chosen battle-ground. The Lord Deputy, 
 however, attacked them gallantly, and was mor- 
 tally wounded in the beginning of the conflict, 
 and carried off the field. Kildare took the com- 
 mand, but he also was struck down from hio 
 horse, and his two foster-brothers, in rescuing 
 him from the press of battle were slain by his 
 side. The English were routed with terrible 
 slaughter: great numbers were drowned or cut 
 to pieces in their flight ; and amongst the slain, 
 besides Lord De Burgh, were several officers of 
 distinction, Sir Francis Yaughan, brotlier-in-law 
 to the Lord Deputy, Thomas Waller and Robert 
 Turner. Kildare also died in a few days of his 
 wounds, or, as English historians will have it, of 
 grief for the death of his foster-brethren. That- 
 battle-field is called Drurafluich ; it lies about 
 two miles westward from Blackwater-town, 
 (Portmore) ; and Battleford-bridge marks th*^ 
 spot where the English reddened the river iu 
 their flight.* 
 
 * The authorities for this battle are O'SuUivan. Ma/* 
 
4>iFE OF HUGH O^NKlLL. 
 
 129 
 
 The Queen's army retreated with all speed to 
 Newry, and so to tlie Pale, leaving the garrison 
 they had stationed in Portmore unsupported in 
 the midst of a hostile country. Captain Williams, 
 however, who commanded there, caused the de- 
 fences to be speedily made up, and maintained 
 himself bravely for a long time against all the 
 efforts of CNeill's troops. 
 
 Geoghegan, the MS. Life of O'Donnell, Moryson, and 
 Camden. There is more than usual discrepancy in tne 
 several accounts, but all agree that Vaughan, Waller, 
 and Turner, with many of the English troops, fell on 
 the field ; that De Burgh and Kildare died very soon 
 after, having been wounded in the battle ; and also that 
 the English army retreated without attempting to pene- 
 trate further ; though, as Moryson tells us, it was the 
 express intention of De Burgh to march straight to 
 Dungannon, a bold undertaking, he says, " which no 
 other lord deputy had yet attempted." But the same 
 Moryson, in describing the battle, ccolly says, the Eng- 
 lish " prevailed against them." Leland tells us that De 
 Burgh met with a " sudden death" on his way to Dun- 
 gannon, and that Kildare died oT "affliction," — hardly 
 a satisfactory account of the transaction. On the whol,;, 
 the present writer prefers to rely upon the uiiaiilruo'^j 
 oestunony of the Irish chroniclers. 
 
LlFK OF HUGH ONEfLL. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 o'keILL receives the queen's gracious PAH- 
 DON BATTI.E OF BEAL-AN-ATHA-BUIDHE. 
 
 A. D. 1597—1598. 
 
 Shortly after Lord De Burgh's death, the civil 
 government of the Pale was committed to Loftus, 
 Archbishop of Dublin, and Chief Justice Gar- 
 diner. The Earl of Ormond, O'Neill's ancient 
 friend and ally, was made Commander-in-chief 
 ot the (lueen's army, with tlie title of Lord Lien 
 lenant. Ormond haci mslruccions to cciiciuUe! i 
 peace, if possible, with O'Neill ; ana a irute, vh 
 eight weeks was agreed upon between tuem il 
 the mean time. O'Neill and Ormond mei; at 
 Dundalk to arrange the terms of a peace, and 
 the chieftain stated the conditions on which he 
 and his allies would consent to lay down their 
 arms ; — First, perfect freedom of religion, not 
 only in Ulster, but throughout the island ; then, 
 reparation for spoil and ravage done upon the 
 Irish country by the garrisons of Newry and 
 other places ; finally, entire and undisturbed 
 control by the Irish chiefs over their own territo- 
 ries and people.* These claims were to be trans- 
 mitted to England ; and during the truce O'XvTeill 
 
 Moryson, Mac Geoghegan. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEII.1.. 
 
 131 
 
 uras to hold no communication with Spain, to 
 Buffer no outrage by his soldiers in violation of 
 the truce, to recall his troops from Leinster, to 
 give safe conduct to English officers in going to 
 and from the several castles, and tu permit his 
 people to supply victuals to the fort of Portmore. 
 Ax\d on the other hand, Ormond engaged that 
 the Northerns should be alloAved free intercourse 
 with the Pale, and that none of O'Neill's troops 
 or confederates should be molested by the Eng- 
 lish without his consent.* Moryson asserts that 
 O'Neill began this conference by making the 
 humblest professions of penitence, loyalty, and 
 submission to the queen ; which cannot be true, 
 being not only unsupported by other authorities, 
 but altogether at variance with the chieftain'? 
 haughty demands, and his contemptuous treat 
 ment of the queen of England and her officers 
 immediately after. At the end of the eight 
 weeks' truce, authority arrived from the queen, 
 giving Ormond power to offer her " gracious par- 
 don" to O'Neill, on his engaging to comply with 
 certain articles to the number of thirteen ; of 
 which the principal were that he should break up 
 the Northern confederacy, disband his forces, 
 and send all foreigners out of his country ; that 
 he should repair the Blackwater fort and bridge ; 
 renounce the title of O'Neill, and all j.urisdic- 
 tion belonging to that chieftaincy ; admit a sheriff 
 into Tyr-owen ; pay a fine ; deliver up all trai- 
 tors (that is all who should presume to profess 
 *he Catholic religion, or bear arms against the 
 
i32 
 
 LIFE OF > UGH O'NEli,!.. 
 
 English) ; that he should discover \iU negotia- 
 tions with Spain ; surrencler into the hands of 
 Ormond, Shane O'Neill's two sons (whom he had 
 kept in prison for many years), and finally give 
 his own eldest son as a hostage for due perfor- 
 mance of his engao-ements.* 
 
 These were insolent terms to propose to a vic- 
 torious sovereign prince at the head of his army ; 
 and he rejected them with scorn. He could not 
 think, he said, of abandoning his allies, nor would 
 he send strangers out of his country^ without safe 
 conduct, nor deliver up those who sought refuge 
 with him for conscience sake : as for Shane 
 O'Neill's sons, they were his prisoners, not Eli- 
 zabeth's ; and for the name O'Neill, he would not 
 nsist upon the authorities of the Pale addressing 
 fllm by that title ; they might, if they pleased, 
 call him Earl of Tyr-owen ; but in Ulster he 
 would, with their good leave, (or without it,) 
 continue chief of his sept : and then the articles 
 relating to English sheriffs, and the giving his 
 son for a hostage, were wholly inadmissible : ra- 
 ther than be pardoned upon these terms he would 
 dispense with pardon altogether. 
 
 Notwithstanding his contumac}^, the gracious 
 pardon was at Ormond's urgent entreaty duly 
 made out and sealed with the grent seal ; and 
 the Lord Lieutenant now piessed him to accept 
 It upon any terms ; the Irish should have all 
 Ulster, north from Dundalk,f without hostages, 
 without t/ ibule, without sherilfs : it was rai in 
 vain the truce was out, and O'Neill was yvti- 
 
 * Moryson. 
 
 + MS. Lifa of O'DonneU. 
 
I.1FE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 133 
 
 paring to besiege Armagh and Fortniore. Yet, 
 as a last resource, this notable "gracious pardon" 
 was sent, with its great seal, after him to tli » 
 North : but the haughty chieftain manifested a 
 surprising indifference to the precious document, 
 and continuing still his disloyal courses," says 
 Moryson, " never pleaded the same" — which i( 
 seems it was needful to do — " so as upon his above- 
 mentioned indictment in September, 1 795, you shall 
 find him after outlawed in the year 1600/ Mo- 
 ryson is also precise as to the date of the pardon. 
 It passed the great seal upon thel 1th of April, 1598 
 Indeed it must be acknowledged that all 
 these negotiations for peace and for pardon 
 were mere diplomacy on the part of O'Neill, 
 wlio was well acquainted with the rapacious 
 views of the English court, and only wished to 
 prolong the truce in hopes of receiving Spanish 
 succours he expected, that he might carry on the 
 war with greater vigour. In the month of April, 
 1597, a ship from Spain liad arrived in Killybegs, 
 " on the west side of the glen blessed by the holy 
 Colmiiba," as an Irish chronicler has it; awd 
 O'JJoinicll had entertained King Philip's envoys 
 with distinction at Donegal, and presented them 
 witii hounds and horses.* We have no account 
 of tlie arrangements made between them and tlie 
 northiirn chiefs ; but it seems unaccountable that 
 Philip did not, about this time, give some etricieiit 
 support to O'Neill and O'Dounell, who wei"e sr 
 gallantly defending tlieir country and i-eligion 
 against tlieir and liis (h^adliest enemy ; but some 
 Irish historians account for tliis by the rumourt* 
 
 MS. life of O'Doimell. 
 
134 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 R'hich it was the policy of England to spread 
 abroad tlirougliont the Continent, of the low con- 
 dition to which O'Neill had been reduced, (;are- 
 fully concealing or denying the victories obtained 
 by him and his allies, and representing every 
 truce and conference as an abject " submission" 
 to the queen. An agent, they say,* was em- 
 ployed at Brussells to publish pretended submis- 
 sions, treaties, and pardons ; so that the Spanish 
 governor of Flanders miglit report to his master 
 that the power of tiie Irish Catholics was broken 
 and their cause wholly lost. And notwithstand- 
 ing the frequent intercourse between Spain and 
 Ireland, it seems tliat such representations must 
 have had some effect ; lor O'Neill, during his 
 whole contest received no effectual help from 
 Spain ; and the foolish expedition to Kinsale, as 
 we shall see, was rather an injury to his cause 
 than an addition of strength. 
 
 In the summer of this year, however, he seems 
 to have thrown aside all reliance upon foreign 
 aid, and to have organized his countrymen for o 
 resolute stand, with all the powers of the Irish 
 aj^ainst their enemy. And it is worth while to 
 know the proportions in which the various tribes 
 of Ulster contributed to their national army : — Of 
 the O'Neills, we find that Neal Bryan Fertough, 
 in Upper Claneboy, furnished eiglity foot and 
 thirty horse; Shane Mac Bryan, of Lower Clane- 
 boy, sent eighty foot and fifty horse ; Mac Rory, 
 of Kilwarlin, gave sixty foot-men and ten horse- 
 men ; Shane Mac Bryan Carogh, from the Bann 
 
 • Peter Lomljard cite J by Mac Geogliegao. 
 
I.IFE OF HUGH O'WEILL. 
 
 135 
 
 side, fifty foot and ten horse ; Art O'Neill, three 
 hundred foot and sixty horse ; Henry Oge 
 O'Neill, two hundred foot and forty horse ; Tui 
 lough Mac Henry O'Neill, of the Fews, had 
 three hundred foot and sixty horse ; Cormac 
 Mac Baron* (Hugh's brother) three hundred 
 foot and sixty horse ; O'Neill himself, of his 
 own household troops had seven hundred foot 
 and two hundred horse. Then White's coun- 
 try (Dufferin in the district of Down) sent 
 twenty foot-men ; Mac Artane and Sliaght 
 O'Neill, also of Down, one hundred foot and 
 twenty horse ; Mac Gennis of Iveagh, brought 
 two hundred foot and forty horse : Mac Mur- 
 tough, from the Mein water, sent forty foot-men ; 
 O'Hagan, of Tullogh-Oge, had one hundred foot 
 and thirty horse ; James Mac Donnell, son of the 
 yellow-haired Sorley, from the Route and the 
 Seven Glynns of Antrim, led four hundred foo 
 and one hundred horse; Mac Gwire of Ferma 
 nagh, six hundred foot and one hundred horse 
 Mac Muhon and Ebhir Mac Coolye of Farney 
 (another Mac Mahon), contributed five hundred 
 foot and one hundred and sixty horse ; O'Reilly 
 of BrefTui O'Reilly, eight hundred f^ot and one 
 hundred horse ; and O'Cahan from the snores oi 
 Lough Foyle and the bonk.s of the Bann and Roe 
 \vA on live hundred Iuol and iv\o hundred horse. 
 All these chieftains were trib'itarv to O'Neill.t 
 
 * Son of the baron. Irish names were sometimes 
 formed from the En^^lish titles of honour, us Mae au 
 Eitrias, children of tlic Earl of Clanrickarde. 
 
 t The Mac Gwires and O'ltcillys had formerly been 
 Uriaghts of O'Donnell. 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF HUGS O NttiLL. 
 
 From Tjr-connell, Red Hugh himself and his 
 biVtiier, brought three hundred and fifty foot, and 
 one hundred and ten horse ; O'Dogherty of Inis 
 howen led three hundred foot and forty horse ; 
 Mac Swyne, five hundred foot and thirty horse ; 
 O'Boyle one hundred foot and twenty horse ; and 
 O'GaUagher of Ballyshannon two hundred foot 
 and forty horse * Hugh O'Neill and Red O'Don- 
 nell led these two great divisions ; they seem to 
 have been of equal rank and authority, and to 
 have acted independently of each other, but always 
 in harmony, and their only contest was which 
 should pierce deepest into the columns of the 
 Saxon. 
 
 In the month of July O'Neill sent messengers 
 toPhelimMac Hugh, then chief of th.e O'Byrnes, 
 that he might fall upon the Pale, as they were 
 about to make employment in the North for the 
 troops of Ormond ; and at the same time, he de- 
 tatched fifteen hundred men and sent them to 
 assist his ally, O'More, who was then besieging 
 PorteloisCjj" a fort of the English in Leix. Then 
 he^ made a sudden stoop upon the castle of Port- 
 more, which, says Moryson, " was a great eye- 
 sore to him, lying upon the cheefe passage into his 
 country," hoping to carry it by assault. 
 
 An eye-sore surely, brave O'Neill ! and a 
 heart-sorrow, is that accursed fortress of thy 
 Blackwater, bristling with Saxon spears — frowu« 
 
 * Moryson is the authority for tliese iium'oers. lie 
 reckons in all of the Ulster troops 1,702 horsemen, au\l 
 7,220 foot-soldiers. 
 
 t Afterwards cahed Maryborough. 
 
LIFE OF Iir(in y)'\KlLL. 
 
 137 
 
 ing over the green vales of T} i--owen ; the far- 
 thest step in the onward march of English power 
 towards the ancient territories of the KineJ 
 Eoghain. And bj the souls of Heber and Here- 
 mon it shall be swept from the banks of that fair 
 river — razed and abolished from the face of the 
 earth, if there be right arms enough in all Ulster 
 to carry it away stone by stone. 
 
 Once and again he assayed to take it by 
 storm : but the fort was powerfully manned and 
 commanded by a skilful oflScer ; and without ar- 
 tillery or the science of attacking fortified places, 
 no -progress could be made. The Irish assailef^. 
 the place with desperate bravery, and tried to 
 force their way by escalade : in vain ; — they 
 wave shot down or flung headlong from the mound 
 and ramparts. The siege became a blockade ; 
 and day after day, week after week, the Irish lay 
 encamped around, and suffered nothing alive or 
 dead to enter or to leave the walls ; grimly wait- 
 ing till lamine and hardship should do their work 
 uf)on the garrison. In the mean time O'Neill 
 had also invested Armagh, and formed an en- 
 campment at Mullagh-bane, between tliat city and 
 Newry, to prevent all relief coming from the 
 South ; whilst his brother Cormac, with fivf. hun- 
 dred men, guarded the approaches near the be" 
 leaL'"ured walls. 
 
 Ormond now perceived that a powerful effort 
 must be made by tl.'e English to hold their ground 
 in the North, or Ulster might it once be aban- 
 -ioned to the Irish. Strong reinlbrc(Mnement3 
 v/ere sent froiu P'.iigland ; and O'Neill's spie.s 
 Hon brought Idni intelligence of huge masses oi 
 
(38 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 troops moving northward, led by Marshal Sir 
 Henry Bagnal, and composed of the choicest forces 
 in the queen's service. Newry was their place 
 of rendezvous ; and early in August, Bagnal 
 found himself at the head of the largest and best 
 appointed army of veteran Englishmen that had 
 ever fought in Ireland. He succeeded in reliev- 
 ing Armagh, and dislodging O'Neill from his 
 encampment at Mullagh-bane ; where the chief 
 himself narrowly escaped being taken ; and then 
 prepared to advance, with his whole army, to the 
 Blackwater, and raise the siege of Portmore. 
 Williams and his men were by this time nearly 
 famished with hunger : they had eaten all their 
 jiorses, and had come to feeding on the herbs and 
 grass that grew upon the walls and in the ditches 
 of the fortress.* And every morning they gazed 
 anxiously over the southern hills and strained 
 their eyes to see the waving of a red-cross flag, 
 or the glance of English spears in the rising sun. 
 
 O'Neill hastily summoned O'Donnell and Mac 
 William to his aid, and determined to cross the 
 marshal's path, and give him battle before he 
 reached the Blackwater. His entire force, on 
 the day of battle, including the Scots and the 
 troops of Connaught and Tyr-connell, consisted 
 of four thousand five hundred foot and six hun- 
 dred horse, and Bagnal's army amounted to an 
 equal number of infantry and five hundred vete- 
 ran horsemen,! sheathed in corslets and head- 
 pieces ; together wiih some field artillery, in 
 which O'Neill was holly wanting. And small 
 
 Morytxjn. 
 
 t O'Sullivan. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 139 
 
 as these forces appear, they were the two largest 
 armies, Irish against English, that had met upon 
 this soil since Strongbow's invasion. In Bag- 
 nal's ranks (a thing most unusual at that period) 
 we find but one Irishman, Maelmorra O'Reillj, 
 surnamed "the Handsome," a disloyal traitor, 
 who fought against his country and his lawful 
 chieftain, and was not ashamed to call himself the 
 queenHs O^Heilly. 
 
 Hugh Roe O'Donnell had snuffed the coming 
 battle from afar, and on the 9th of August joined 
 O'Neill with the clans of Connaught and Tyr- 
 connell. They drew up their main body about a 
 mile from Portmore, on the way to Armagh, 
 where the plain was narrowed to a pass, enclosed 
 on one side by a thick wood, and on the other 
 by a bog. To arrive at that plain from Armagh 
 the enemy would have to penetrate through 
 wooded hills divided by winding and marshy hol- 
 lows, in which flowed a sluggish and discoloured 
 stream from the bogs ; and hence the pass was 
 called Beal-an-atha-huidhe, " the mouth of the 
 yellow ford."* Fearfasa O'Clery, a learned poet 
 of O'Donnell's, asked the name of that place, 
 and when he heard it, remembered (and pro- 
 claimed aloud to the army) that St. Bercan had 
 foretold a terrible battle to be fought at a yellow 
 ford, and a glorious victory to be won by the an- 
 cient Irish Besides, are they not heretics, these 
 
 English ? and hath not Moran the son of Maoin 
 said that Nought prevails in battle so powerfully 
 
 • Or it may nave been called yellow from the colour of 
 fhe soil, wliich seems tilled with uchre. 
 
40 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL 
 
 es the Truth?"* Even so, Moran, son of Maoini 
 And for thee wisest poet, O'Cleiy ! thou hast this 
 day served thy country well: for, to an Irish armyj 
 auguries of good were more needful than a com- 
 missariat ; and their bards' song«^ like the Do- 
 rian flute of Greece, breathed a passionate valour 
 that no blare of English trumpets could ever 
 kindle. 
 
 Bagnal's army rested that night in Armagh ; 
 and the Irish bivouacked in the woods, each war- 
 rior covered by his shaggy cloak, under the stars 
 of a summer night : — for to " an Irish rebell," says 
 Edmund Spenser, " the wood is his house against 
 all weathers, and his mantle is his couch to sleep 
 in." But O'Neill, we may well believe slept not 
 that night away ; — the morrow was to put 1*^ 
 proof what valour and discipline was in tha\ 
 [risli army which he had been so long organiz- 
 ing and training to meet this very hour. Before 
 {lim lay a splendid army of tried English troops, 
 in fall marcli for his ancient seat of Dungannon, 
 and led on by his mortal enemy. And O'Neill 
 would not have had that host weakened by the 
 desertion of a single man, nor commanded — 
 no, not for his white wand of chieftaincy — 
 by any leader but this his dearest foe. Ahl 
 never had he desired the love of Bagnal's 
 sister with fonder eagerness than now his touJ 
 yearned for the heart's blood of her brother. He 
 watched the east and longed for the grey of nrori^ 
 ing. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 141 
 
 The tenth morning of August rose bright and 
 serene upon the towers of Armagh and the silver 
 waters of Avonraore. Before day dawned, the 
 Englisli army left the city in three divisions, and 
 at sun-rise they were winding through the hills 
 and woods behind the spot where now stands the 
 little church of Grange. The sun was glano* 
 ing on the corslets and spears of their glitter- 
 ing cavalry ; their banners waved proudly, and 
 their bugles rung clear in the morning air ;* 
 when, suddenly, from the thickets on both sides 
 of their path, a deadly volley of musketry swept 
 through the foremost ranks. O'Neill had sta- 
 tioned here five hundred light-armed troops to 
 guard the defiles ; and in the shelter of thick 
 groves of fir-trees they had silently waited for the 
 enemy. Now they poured in their shot, volley 
 after volley, and killed great numbers of the 
 English : but the first division, led by Bagnal in 
 person, after some hard fighting, carried the pass, 
 dislodged the marksmen from their position and 
 drove them backwards into the plain. The centre 
 division under Cosby and Wingfield, and the 
 /ear-guard led by Cuin and Billing, supported in 
 flank by the cavalry under Brooke, Montacute 
 and Fleming,"!" now pushed forward, speedily 
 cleared the difficult country and formed in the 
 open ground in front of the Irish lines. " It was 
 
 "Serene etgrato die, vexillis explicatis, tubarum 
 clanj:^ore tibiarum conoontu," dtc. — 0' Sullivan. He ia 
 tlio only writer, Irish orforeif^n, who givcB an int(;lli- 
 f,'iblc account of O'Neill's battles ; but he was a sol- 
 dier as well as a chronicler, 
 t Camden Queen Eliz. 
 
142 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 not quite safe," says an Irish chronicler, (in adml^ 
 ration of Bagnal's disposition of his forces) " fe<y 
 attack the nest of griffins and den of lions in 
 which were placed the soldiers of London."* 
 Bagnal, at the head of his first division, and 
 aided by a body of cavaliy, charged the Irish 
 light-armed troops up to the very entrenchments, 
 in front of wliich O'Neill's foresight had pre- 
 pared some pits, covered over with wattles and 
 grass ; and many of the English cavalry rushing 
 impetuously forward, rolled headlong, both meu 
 and horses, into these trenches and perished 
 Still the Marshal's chosen troops, with loud cheerd 
 and sliouts of " St. George, for merry England !*" 
 resolutely attacked the entrenchments that 
 stretclied across tlie pass, battered them with 
 cannon, and in one place succeeded, though with 
 heavy loss, in forcing back their defenders. The;*' 
 first the main body of O'Neill's troops wa5 
 brought into action ; and with bagpipes sounding 
 a charge, they fell upon the English, shouting 
 their fierce battle-cries, Lamh-dearg ! and O'Don- 
 nell Aboo ! O'Neill himself, at the head of a body 
 of horse, pricked forward to seek out Bagnal 
 amidst the tin-ong of battle ;f but they never 
 met: the marsiial. who had done his devoir that day 
 like a good soldier, was shot through the brain 
 by some unknown marksman : the division lie 
 had led was ibrced back by the furious onslaught 
 of the Irish, and put to utter rout ; and, what 
 
 * MS. Life of O'Donnell. 
 
 f " Tyrone pricked forward with rix^e of envy and 
 ♦L'itled rancoii r . " — Murysuu. 
 
lilFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 143 
 
 fijded to their confusion, a cart of gunpowder 
 exploded amidst the English ranks and blew 
 many of their men to atoms. And now the ca- 
 valry of Tyr-connell and Tyr-owen dashed into 
 the plain and bore down the remnant of Brooke's 
 and Fleming's horse : the columns of Wingfield 
 and Cosby reeled before their rushing charge—- 
 while in front, to the war-cry of Bataillah- 
 Aboo '* the swords and axes of the heavy-armed 
 galloglasses were raging amongst the Saxon 
 ranks. By this time the cannon were all taken ; 
 the cries of " St. George " had failed, or turned 
 into death-shrieks ; and once more, England's 
 royal standard sunk before the Red Hand of 
 Tyr-owen. 
 
 The last who resisted was the traitor O'Reilly : 
 twice he tried to rally the flying squadrons but 
 was slain in the attempt : and at last the whole of 
 that fine army was utterly routed, and fled pell-mell 
 towards Armagh, with the Irish hanging fiercely 
 on their rear. Amidst the woods and marshes all 
 connexion and order were speedily lost ; and as 
 O'Donnell's chronicler has it, they were " pursued 
 in couples, in threes, in scores, in thirties, and in 
 hundreds," and so cut down in detail by their 
 avenging pursuers. In one spot especially the 
 carnage was terrible, and the country people yet 
 point out the lane where that hideous rout passed 
 by, and call it to this day the " Bloody Loaning." 
 Two thousand five hundred English were slain in 
 
 * "The cause of the noble Staff," War-cry of the 
 Tyr-connell gallofrlasses, whose hereditary leader was 
 one of the Mac Swyues Ware Anlig. 
 
144 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 the battle and flight, including twenty-three su- 
 pei-ior officers, besides lieutenants and ensigns. 
 Twelve thousand gold pieces, thirty-four stan- 
 dards, all the musical instruments and cannon, 
 with a long train of provision waggons, were a 
 rich spoil for the Irish army. The confederates 
 had only two hundred slain and six hundred 
 wounded.* 
 
 Fifteen hundred English found shelter in the 
 city, which was forthwith closely invested by the 
 victorious Irish, and " for three days and three 
 nights nothing passed in or out.""j" On the fourth 
 day they surrendered the place ; and although 
 some of the chieftains would have taken cruel re- 
 venge upon these unfortunate survivors of the 
 battle, O'Neill's voice prevailed, and they were 
 disarmed and sent in safety to the Pale. Port- 
 more was instantly yielded and its garrison dis- 
 missed with the rest. 
 
 " Thus," says Camden, " Tyr-owen triumphed 
 according to his heart's desire over his adver- 
 sary." All Saxon soldiery vanished speedily 
 from the fields of Ulster, and the Bloody Hand 
 once more waved over the towers of Newry and 
 Armagh 
 
 * 0' Sullivan. See also Mac Geoghegan and MS. Life 
 of O'Donnell. Moryson admits on the part of the Eng- 
 lish only 1,500 slain. The Irish piously buried all th« 
 dead Irish Annals cited by Ciirry. 
 
 t MS. Life of O ltoniaell. 
 
VIFE OF HUGH O-I^illLL. 
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MUNSTER TAKES HEART. RED HCGH IN CCK- 
 
 NAUGHT. 
 
 A. D. 1598—1599. 
 
 High harping in Dungannon, and in the halls of 
 Tyr-connell ; — and throughout broad Ulster from 
 the Glynns to Ath-Seanagh, from Dundalk to 
 Derry-Calgach, there was feasting and jubilee, 
 and the triumph-song of many a bard. Surely, 
 ye sweet singers of Ulladh ! the second Hector — 
 the heaven-sent Moses of your prayers, has at 
 length arisen : — the children of the Scythic Eber 
 Scot have returned ; and old Ireland is yet fated 
 to rise out of the dust and ashes of Saxon-land.* 
 The fame of this victory over the detested 
 English was instantly spread abroad through all 
 the island ; and O'Neill was celebrated every- 
 where as the deliverer of his country and most 
 zealous champion of the Catholic religion. In this 
 
 • See tlie song of Fcarflatha O'Gnive, a poet of Clan- 
 
 hugh-buidhe, in Walker's Irish Bards "Is there, no 
 
 Hector left for the defence, for the recovery of Troy ? — 
 It is thine, oh I my God, to send us a second IVu^ses : — 
 thy dispensations are just: and unless the children of 
 the »S<;ythian Eber Scot retun;," &c, A translation of 
 it by Callanau appears in the "Ballad roclry of Ireland," 
 121. 
 
E46 
 
 VirE OF HUGH 0'NErLj« 
 
 letter character he drew into the confederacy many 
 lords of old English race, but Catholic in faith, 
 who never would have been found in the Irish 
 ranks, save to defend themselves from Elizabeth's 
 persecuting Reformation. These two elements of 
 resistance, therefore, national feeling and religious 
 zeal, united against the queen of England : — the 
 one party could not endure her political usurpa- 
 tion, her judges, lords president and sheriffs ; — - 
 the other abhorred her forced " Reformation," 
 and her undertaking bishops. But every enemy 
 of England, from what motive soever, was now 
 O'Neilf s sworn brother, and looked to the victo- 
 rious Northern chieftain as the sword and shield 
 of their cause. All Leinster was in arms under 
 O'Cavanagh, O'Byrne, and Owen Mac Rory 
 O'More of Leix, who had by this time, with the 
 aid of O'Neill's auxiliary troops, expelled all Eng 
 lish undertakers from his ancient territory (which 
 they had prematurely named " the King's 
 county,") and now his clansmen, with the moun- 
 tain septs of Wicklow, were ranging through the 
 Pale unopposed and levying tribute from the very 
 vallej of the Liffey, while Ormond's English 
 troops, utterly panic-stricken, shut themselves up 
 in their forts aiid strong-holds, raised draw-bridge, 
 and pointed cannon from battlement and bastion, 
 and far from assailing their enemy, lived in 
 continual fear, by day and by night, of surprise 
 und slaughter. 
 
 Munster also began to breathe after the terri- 
 ble agony oi that Geraldine war, and to look 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 
 
 »A^th hope and joy to the dawn that was rising on 
 them from the North. And, though there was in 
 the South a strong English army under the " Lord 
 President," Sir Thomas Norreys, yet the settlers 
 who had been lately " planted" in the fairest 
 tracts of Munster began to fear for the security 
 of their ill-gotten wealth.* A powerful Catholic 
 gentleman of Limerick, named Pierce Lacy, a 
 close ally of O'Neill, sent messengers to the 
 North and to Owen Mac Rory O'More, praying 
 that a band of the victorious Irish of Ulster or 
 Leinster under some active leader might be sent 
 southward, where, so soon as the national stan- 
 dard should be unfurled, all the oppressed Catho- 
 lics and plundered Irish of Munster would rush 
 to join it in the name of liberty and holy church. 
 O'Neill immediately detached Richard Tyrrell of 
 FertuUagh at the head of a chosen band from the 
 Northern army to join O'Moore ; and the chief 
 of Leix, leaving his brother to command in 
 Leinster during his absence, and taking with him 
 the renowned victor of Tyrrell's Pass, marched 
 rapidly through Ormond, entered Desmond, and 
 was forthwith joined by the remnants of the un- 
 fortunate Geraldines. The Knight of Glyn, and 
 the White Knight, Fitzmaurice Baron of Lixnaw, 
 the Knight of Kerry, Dermod and Donogh Mac 
 Carthy, the O'Donoghoes, Roche, Viscount Fer- 
 moy, and two powerful kinsmen of Ormond him- 
 self, Thomas Butler, Baron of Cahir, and Richard 
 Lord Mountgarret, wlio was married to O'Neill's 
 daughfer, besides the O'SuUivans, O'Driscols, 
 
 Camden 
 
148 
 
 lilFE OF HUGH O^NEIi^i^. 
 
 O'Donovans, and O'Mahonys of Carbry, all took 
 ftrms in the common cause. Norreys, after shut- 
 ting up a part of his force in garrison at Kilmal- 
 lock, retreated with the remainder to Cork, with 
 O'More close upon his rear : while the English 
 nndertakers were on all sides ejected from those 
 l^nds which their queen had so lately taken it 
 upon herself to grant them. Their castles were 
 taken and dismantled, their houses burned down 
 and razed to the ground : we hear of no wanton 
 Cruelty done upon the settler? but they were all 
 driven away and forced to find refuge in the 
 cities and garrisons, and resume those swords 
 which had carved them out estates before.* 
 Amongst those burnt-out adventurers, one can- 
 not much grieve to find the gentle poet of Kil- 
 colman, now sheriff of Cork. He had but lately 
 finished that " View of the state of Ireland," of 
 which we have already seen somewhat, and from 
 his retreat on " Mulla's" banks had also issued 
 the Faerie Queene, which he had dutifully pre- 
 sented, with a mellifluous copy of verses, to the 
 Earl of Ormond, then the queen's Lord Lieute- 
 nant and natural patron of all undertakers.^ He 
 
 * This transaction in Munster seems to have been pre- 
 cisely similar to the resmnption of plundered estates in 
 Ulster in 1641. 
 
 f " Receive, most noble lord, a simple taste 
 Of the wilde fruit which saluage soyl hath bred," &c. 
 
 When one reads of Spenser's expulsion from Kilcol- 
 man, and the burning of his furniture and effects, it is 
 not easy to forget the mode of treatment he had sug- 
 gested for his brother bards of Ireland, who were always 
 legarded by the English government, and with reason, 
 
 its natural enemies — " I wQi'ld wish." says he, " that a 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O^NElLL. 
 
 !49 
 
 was driven from both house and bailiwick, left 
 Ireland as poor as he had entered it twenty years 
 before, and died in London the following year 
 for lack of bread !* Ah ! poor Spenser ! Those 
 " barbarian" Irish, with their genial nature and 
 poetical temperament, better knew how to ho- 
 nour their inspired poets than these proud Eng- 
 lish. Not a " lewd barde" of them all but had 
 a better reward than this. 
 
 So passed the winter of 1598, and by the be- 
 ginning of the following year no English force 
 was able to keep the field throughout all Ireland. 
 The Geraldines and their adherents had reco- 
 vered their power and possessions in the South ; 
 and as they had yet no Earl of Desmond there 
 to take the leading of their tribe (a thing un- 
 known in Munster for many an age) O'Neill had 
 to take order for supplying one. And as the 
 kings of England had sometimes presumed to con- 
 fer Irish chieftaincies and estates, to be held by 
 *' English tenure," even when they had no power 
 of securing to their grantees the benefit of those 
 
 Provost Marshal should be appointed in every shire, 
 which should continually walke ahout the countrey with 
 halfe a dozen or halfe a score horsemen to take up such 
 loose persons as they should finde thus wanderinj^, whom 
 he should j)unish by his own nulliority with such paiiies 
 as the person slinll seerTi to deserve : for if hee be hut 
 once so taken idly ro^minj^' hee may ])un.ish him more 
 lij^iitly, as with stocks or such like; but if hee he found 
 againe so loytering he may scourge him with whipj)es or 
 rodds ; after which, if hee he Jigaiue taken let him have 
 the bitternesse of marshall law." — Vieiv of the State oj 
 Ire la ltd. 
 
 * Ben Johnson's Letter to Uruiumond of Ilawthomden 
 
150 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 gifts ; so the prinee of Ulster, seeing he had t?-.e 
 power, knew no reason why he should not create 
 an earl, to hold his earldom by Irish tenure. 
 There had been queen's O'Donnells, queen's Mac 
 Gwires, queen's bishops ; — there should now be 
 an O'Neill's Count Palatine of Desmond. Earl 
 Gerald, the last of that title, had left a son who 
 was delivered in his youth to the English as a 
 hostage, and had now, for seventeen years, lain a 
 prisoner in the Tower of London. This was the 
 true claimant of the earldom according to Eng- 
 lish law : but O'Neill, having regard rather to 
 the Irish custom of Tanistry than to Saxon de- 
 scents and inheritances, sought out among the 
 Geraldines a fit man to bear the weight of leader- 
 ship in Munster, and James, the son of Thomas 
 the Red, and nephew to Gerald, was duly invested 
 (by what sort of official document or ceremonial 
 we are not informed) with the dignity, estates 
 and ancient privileges of Earl of Desmond ; sti- 
 pulating to hold the same as a vassal and tribu- 
 tary to the prince of Ulster.* And so having 
 established Irish power once more in Munster, 
 the Northern troops were recalled. 
 
 While O'Neill was thus predominating over 
 all Ireland, exercising sovereign powers, and 
 cooping up the queen's troops within their forti- 
 fications, one is hardly prepared to find him 
 making more " submissions :" but if Lord Mount- 
 joy's secretary is to be believed (which the pro ■ 
 sent writer thinks he is not) this victorious chief 
 
 • " On condition that (forsooth) he should be vassal to 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 -51 
 
 was now craving pardon of his beaten enemv, 
 
 and tendering abject allegiance to the foreigner: 
 *' May you hold laughter," says that singular his- 
 torian, " or will you think that Carthage ever 
 bred such a faedifragous, truce-breaking wretch, 
 when you shall reade, that even in the middest 
 of these garboyles, whilst in his letters to the 
 King of Spaine he magnified his victories, be- 
 seeching him not to believe that he would seeke 
 or take away any conditions of peace, yet, most 
 impudently, he ceased not to entertain the Lord 
 Lieutenant with letters and messages, with offers 
 of submission." Yet Moryson was not the in- 
 ventor of this falsehood : such rumours were 
 really spread at the time, to impose upon Catholic 
 powers on the Continent, to conceal from them 
 the true nature and magnitude of the Irish war 
 and prevent them from sending troops here : 
 *' And to the same purpose,"* suggests Sir Fran- 
 cis Bacon, "nothing can be more fit than a 
 treaty, or a shadow of treaty, of a peace with 
 Spain ; which methinks should be in our power 
 to fasten, at least rumore tenus, to the deluding 
 of as wise a people as the Irish." 
 
 O'Donnell, in the meantime, had cleared the 
 plains of Connauglit of all Englishmen, and ad- 
 herents of England, and had driven Sir Conyers 
 Clifford once more into garrison. He kept his 
 
 • T'nat is the cutting off tlie opinion and expectation 
 of foreif^n succours." — See Bacon's Considerations touch- 
 ing the Queen s Service in Ireland. This is the same 
 Bacon who wa.s afterwards discoverer of a " Novum Or- 
 gaiKm iScientiariun." an<l silso Lord Chancellor of Eiitf- 
 land. 
 
152 
 
 LIFE or HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Christmas piously in Balljmote : then led his 
 troops into Clanrickarde, plundering the countiy 
 iind compelling the western clans to acknowledge 
 the jurisdiction of his newly created Mac Wil- 
 liam. Athenree was taken by his fierce assault ; 
 its English garrison put to the sword, and all the 
 plunder of the enemy, clothing, arms, and many 
 herds of cattle, sent home to Tyr-connell. The 
 whole of Connaught had now been over-run by 
 the Kinel-Conal, except only Thomond : and 
 Red Hugh's army had a month's repose ; when 
 the fiery chief began " to think it long that they 
 w^ere at rest"* and prepared to invade the terri- 
 tory of the Dal-Cais, where Donogh O'Brien, 
 Earl of Thomond, and the Baron of Inchiquin, 
 Btill retained their base titles and preserved a 
 shameful "loyalty" to the Queen of England. 
 Thomond was doomed to plunder and slaughter ; 
 but "because it would be encountering," says 
 O'Donnell's chronicler, " certain opposition and 
 battle to assail the noble race who dwelt therein, 
 the tribe of Cas, son of Conal, of the swift steedte, 
 descended from Brian Boroihme, son of Ken- 
 nedy," the chieftain took care to gather a power- 
 ful force of all his tributaries and allies. He 
 summoned the clans to Ballymote, and was 
 speedily attended by his three brothers, Rory, 
 Manus, and Calhbar, by Hugh Oge O'Donnell, 
 O'Boyle, O'Dogherty, and the Mac Swynes, 
 with all the troops of Tyr-connell : Mac Gwire 
 with the clans of Fermanagh, also attended this 
 fendezvouz ; and of the tribes of Connaught 
 
 MS. Life of OT)onnfeL. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'keILL, 
 
 1^3 
 
 O'Ruarc and Mac William, with O'Dowd, Mac 
 Donough, O'Hara, O'Kellj, and Mac Dermott. 
 We find also in that army, holding high com- 
 mand under his chieftain, a certain Niall Garbh 
 O'Donnell — a name accursed — of whom we are 
 
 to hear more in the course of this story 
 
 O'Donnell's Irish chronicler is very minute in 
 his detail of this expedition : how Red Hugh 
 marched southwards silently and rapidly, through 
 Clanrickarde, and halted in the evening at the 
 Red beach between Kilcolgan and Ardrahan ; 
 how they bivouacked in the woods, lighted fires, 
 and took food and wines of Spain : how, at mid- 
 night, they all arose as one man, continued their 
 silent march, and by the dawn of day arrived at 
 Clancy's wood : then how O'Donnell *' as the 
 light of day prevailed over the stars, advanced to 
 Corcomroe, and thence to Kilfenora, sending out 
 strong parties to scour the country and ravage 
 the lands of all those who were friendly to the 
 stranger, or owned the sway of Saxon earls and 
 barons ; how Mac Gwire attacked and took the 
 castle of Conor O'Brien, Baron of Inchiquin, 
 and made the baron prisoner, while other bands 
 ranged through Thomond, burning, slaying, and 
 ravaging ; how they drove all the cattle to Kil- 
 fenora ; and how the whole northern army, 
 having feasted and regaled themselves, turned 
 their faces homewards, each party driving its own 
 allotted prey, and the hills of liurren could hardly 
 be seen by reason of the multitudes of sheep and 
 cattle that trooped over them, wending their way 
 to the pastures of Connaught and Tyr-connell. 
 
i64 
 
 LIFE OP HUGH O NKlui^. 
 
 Now there was a certain poet in Thomond, by 
 the name of Maoilin Oge, and whilst lie was ab- 
 sent from home, some of the northern forayera 
 had driven away his cattle, not knowing that it 
 was to ono of the honoured race of bards those 
 sheep and kine belonged : and Maoilin Oge, 
 when he came to know his loss, having heard of 
 the generosity of this noble Red Hugh, and how 
 reverently he cherished and protected the bards 
 and Ollamhs of the North, took his harp and 
 hastened after the host of O'Donnell : and being 
 introduced into the chieftain's presence, he 
 shewed him, out of ancient writings, " that it was 
 no shame to the Dal-Cais to be plundered by one 
 bearing the name of Hugh O'Donnell — and he 
 touched his harp and sang how the holy Colum- 
 kille had foretold this very event — " that a cer- 
 tain Hugh, of the Kinel-Conal should come to 
 revenge on the Dal-Cais the destruction of that 
 royal seat of Aileach and the carrying away of 
 tiie stones thereof by Murkertach O'Brien."* — 
 ' My wood, my grove !" (so ran the prophecy 
 jf the blessed saint,) "Ah ! my dwelling and my 
 school : alas ! oh God, a multitude of men. He 
 'vho will revenge my Aileach : the Hugh of 
 
 • This was six hundred years before. The sovereignty 
 of Ireland had been disputed between Mac Lochlin, chief 
 of the Hy-Niall and the O'Briens of Thomond. The 
 Ulster chieftain had invaded Munster, wasted Limerick, 
 and burned the great palace of Kincora, A few yeai*s 
 after, in revenge, O'Brien led a great army to the North, 
 levelled the famous royal residence of Aileach, four mile& 
 from Derry, and caused his clansmen to carr.'' off ejich 
 man one stone of it to Tliomond. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O^NEILL. 
 
 fi(eclsof rough roads, the polished body, fame 
 without reproach, long hair in ringlets." And 
 asssuredly " he was that Hugh and this plun- 
 der of the tribe of Cas was indeed heaven's ven- 
 geance granted to the prayer of the patron saint 
 of Tyr-connell. Then O'Donnell was well pleased 
 both with the poet's song and with Columba's 
 prophecy : and he restored to Maoilin Oge all his 
 herds and cattle, and the bard went on his way 
 rejoicing, and left his benediction with the 
 princely chief. 
 
 One must adnait that all the expeditions of this 
 wild leader, though daring and dashing, resem- 
 bled more the cruel and predatory raids of a 
 horde of savages, or of the border clans of Scot- 
 land a century before, than any more regular mi- 
 litary movements : but an intense hatred of the 
 Saxons and of all Saxon usages was Red Hugh*? 
 master passion : his whole life was vowed to ven- 
 geancG : those cruel fetters of Perrot had worn 
 his young flesh — had burned into his proud heart 
 his crippled feet yet bore the shooting pangs of 
 frost that had benumbed him while he lay perish- 
 ing, in his flight, upon the snowy mountains: 
 and his daily thoughts, his dreams b^ night, were 
 of rooting out and utterly exterminating those 
 treacherous foes of his race, and all who held 
 with them. The smoke of their blazing towers 
 was pleasant as incense to his soul, and he deemed 
 a hecatomb of their slain the offering most grate- 
 ful to heaven. 
 
 Hugh O'Neill who was now the recognized 
 leader, the head and the heart of our national 
 confederacy, and director! its operations every- 
 
HQ LIFE OF HUGH o'NEUi.. 
 
 where throughout the land, at length saw fo- 
 reign power totally prostrated in Ireland, it8 mi- 
 litary resources annihilated or defeated, its Irish 
 adherents either crushed, or, what was better, 
 brought over to the cause of patriotism and ho- 
 nour : but still he omitted no means of strength- 
 ening the league : he renewed his intercourse 
 with Spain, planted permanent bodies of troops 
 on the Foyle, Erne, and Blackwater, engaged the 
 services of some additional vScots from the West- 
 ern Isles, improved the discipline of his own 
 troops, and on every side made preparation to 
 renew the conflict with his powerful enemy. For 
 he well knew that Elizabeth was not the monarch 
 to quit her deadly gripe of this fair island with- 
 out a more terrible struggle thau had yet btmk 
 endured. 
 
 • 
 
IIFB OP HUGH O^NEIIiL. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ESSEX o'nEILL at HOLY-CROSS. 
 
 A. D. 1599— 1 GOO. 
 
 Bagnal's death, and the signal disaster of the 
 Yellow Ford, frightened and enraged Queen 
 Elizabeth's government and people. The mili- 
 tary prowess of this formidable Northern chief 
 was even exaggerated in their estimate ; and 
 Moryson himself tells us that " the general] 
 voyce was of Tyrone amongst the English after 
 the defeat of Blackwater, as of Hannibal among 
 the Romans after the defeat of Cannae." The 
 queen was highly enraged against her Lord Lieu- 
 tenant for remaining idly in Leinster, engaged in 
 j)etty contention with the O'Mores and O'Byrnes, 
 wliilst he had intrusted to Marshal Bagnal the 
 leading of those fine troops which she liad sent 
 him, to end, as she hoped, these Irish tvars at a 
 blow. Yet it was by no means clear that Or- 
 mond's comman<ling the army in person would 
 have ensured a victory. An enemy was now to 
 be dealt with such as England had never en- 
 C(;untcrcd upon Irish soil before ; and it was 
 plain tiiat the amount of forces hitherto employed 
 in Ireland would no loiig(;r stillice. De Burgh 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 and Kildare, Norreys and Bagnal had been suc- 
 cessively hurled back from the frontiers of Ulster 
 tvith ignominious rout and overthrow ; each 
 campaign only strengthening O'Neill, wasting the 
 130wer and ruining the reputation of English go- 
 vernment, until at length a time had come when 
 either the Queen of England must at once yield 
 up her footing upon Irish ground, or put forth 
 all the powers of an empire to retain it. 
 
 Two thousand men under Sir Samuel Bagnal 
 were hastily sent over to strengthen Ormond's 
 garrisons in the mean time. And Robert Deve- 
 reux, Earl of Essex, then the most powerful sub- 
 ject in England, the queen's prime favourite, and 
 son to that Essex who had made the unfortunate 
 attempt to plunder, convert, and colonize the 
 North, was selected as Lord Lieutenant and com- 
 mander-in-chief of the splendid army now des- 
 tined for Irish service. Some dark intrigues there 
 were connected witli his appointment — malignant 
 contrivances of his enemies at court — self-seeking 
 machinations of his friends at court — a whole 
 net-work of court intrigue ; which may be found 
 in English historians, but in which we do not 
 here concern ourselves. Essex had commanded 
 with some distinction against the Spaniards, and 
 ardently coveted this Irish service as a sphere in 
 which he might arrive at still higher fame ; — 
 might crush the dreaded O'Neill ; and, as his 
 friend and councillor Sir Francis Bacon expressed 
 it, " refound and replant the policie of that na- 
 tion." " Which design," continues Bacon, *' as it 
 doth descend to you from your noble father who 
 lost his life in that actioii ( noii^h he paid tribute 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0'r,Jill.l.. 
 
 159 
 
 to nature and not to fortune, so I hope your lord- 
 ship shall be as fatal a captain to this war as 
 Afric?.nus was to the war of Carthage, after that 
 both his uncle and his father had lost their lives 
 in Spain in the same war."* 
 
 * Letter from Sir Francis Bacon to Essex Scrinia 
 
 Sacra. This celebrated person, who was afterwards 
 Lord Chancellor of England, and (being one of the 
 basest of mankind) sold his judgments to the highest 
 bidders, was about this time much occupied in devising 
 methods of reducing and governing Ireland for behoof of 
 jus friend and patron Essex. His thoughts on the sub- 
 ject are conveyed in the "Considerations touching the 
 Queen's Service in Ireland," cited before, and in two or 
 tliree letters to Essex himself. A passage from the 
 
 Considerations" will indicate the general nature of his 
 plans: — "One of the principal pretences whereby the 
 heads of the rebellion have prevailed both with the peo- 
 ple and the foreigner hath been the defence of the Ca- 
 tholique religion: and it is that likewise hath made the 
 foreigner reciprocally more plausible with the rebel. 
 Therefore a toleration of religion /or a time not definite, 
 except it be in some principal towns and precincts after 
 the manner of some Erencli edicts, seenieth to me to be 
 a matter warrantable by religion, and in polic-ie, of abso- 
 lute necessity. Neitlier if any Englisii Tapist or rccu- 
 sjmt shall for liberty of his conscience transter his per- 
 son, family, and fortunes thither, do Iliold it a matter ot 
 danger, but exj)e(lient to draw on undertaking and to 
 further x)opulation." Upon which fraudulent and cruel 
 suggestion the Englisli government really acted ; for in 
 the last years of Elizal)eth, and first of James, no inter- 
 ference was made witli C^atholic wornhip in Ireland ; 
 6on)e monasteries were refiaired, priests appeared with- 
 out disguise, and the mass was celebrated openly. But 
 liie toleration was "for a time not definite;" and, in 
 1(X)5, King .James issued that famous proclamation com. 
 mencing — " Whereas his mnjesty is mformed that hifi 
 subjects of Ireland have been Ueoeived by a fubie rejiort, 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 Under such auspices, with such high hopes, 
 and with twenty thousand men at his back, the 
 Earl of Essex set forth for Ireland, and laeded 
 in Dublin on the loth of April, 1599.* His in- 
 structions were to neglect, in a great degree, all 
 chiefs of lesser note, and to strike at the head of 
 the Irish confederacy by stationing strong garri- 
 sons at Lough Foyle and Ballyshannon,"]" and 
 then, having barred O'Neill's country from its 
 communications with Gonna ught and Scotland, 
 to grapple with the chieftain in his fastnesses of 
 Tyr-owen. The plans were unexceptionable 
 the means furnished to carry them out were enor- 
 
 that his majesty was disposed to allow them liberty of 
 conscience, and the free choice of a religion : he hereby 
 declares to his beloved subjects of Ireland, that he will 
 not admit of any such lil)erty of conscience as they were 
 made to expect by such report." And upon that decla- 
 ration he most strictly acted. The same Bacon, in one 
 of his private letters to Essex (Scinia Sacra) suggests 
 for Ireland what lie calls the " princely policie," " 
 weaken by division and disunion." Oh, sage Sir Francis ! 
 Thou hast indeed found the true Org anon of Irish go- 
 vernment : — these golden rules of thine, — to deceive by 
 treacherous concihation, — to weaken by division, — are 
 to be the soul and marrow of EngUsh pohcy in Ireland 
 for ever : — and for this thou slialt sit, robed in purest 
 ermine, on the liighest judicial seat of thy country, and 
 slialt keep the conscience of a king ! 
 
 * Besides the large army wliich had been prepared for 
 him he demanded, when about to leave England, that 
 two more regiments of old soldiers should be placed at 
 his disposal ; which was immediately compUed with — 
 "He had an army assigned him," says Mory son, "as 
 ^eat as himself required, and such for number and 
 strength as Ireland liad never yet seene." 
 
 + Camden. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O^NElLL. 
 
 m 
 
 nious : but it soon became apparent that the Man 
 was a-vvanting. 
 
 O'Neill and his confederates were not dismayed 
 at the arrival of this great army and its magnifi- 
 cent leader. They did not now, what had been too 
 frequent in Ireland, and what appears to have been 
 looked for in the present case, vie with each other 
 in proffering submissions and suing for pardons. 
 O'Neill had, in Ulster, six thousand veteran and 
 victorious troops ; no landing of foreigners was 
 likely to be made in Lough Foyle without stern 
 resistance ; and the chief himself, with his main 
 body occupied the passes north of Dundalk, 
 calmly watching for the first movement of his 
 enemy. O'Donnell with four thousand men, was 
 holding Con naught, and guarding the defiles 
 near Lough Erne ; O'More had greatly increased 
 his forces in Leinster ; and, in the South, the 
 Geraldines, headed by O'Neill's Earl of Desmond, 
 were once more in arms and eager to wipe away 
 the shame of their former defeats. Ir^and had 
 never been so strong, so proud, or so united. 
 Foreign nations also, when they saw her so well 
 able- to help herself, began to offer their assis- 
 tance ; and, early in June, a ship arrived from 
 Spain in the bay of I)(>ih^l':;i1, cai-rying ai'iiis for 
 two thousand men, all wliich O'Donnell divided 
 into two equal parts, on(; for himself, and the 
 otlier, says his chronicler, " he sent to Hugh 
 O'Neill, as was becoming." 
 
 Lord Essex soon showed wliat mettle was in 
 him. Inst(;;id of marching in ibice upon the 
 North, he began to waste liis strength l)y petty 
 expeditions into Muuster. an<l against C}'iMore. 
 
 L 
 
lt)2 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'neILJ.. 
 
 He gave the command of all his cavalry to his 
 friend Lord Southampton ; conferred the honour 
 of knighthood and an oflSce of high trust upqn 
 one John Harington, a trifling courtier and de- 
 voted slave of his own ; then led his vast army 
 to besiege Cahir castle, a fortress of the Butlers 
 situated on the Suir ;* but, before he reached it, 
 whilst he marched through Leix, five hundred of 
 the O'Mores waited for him in a defile, fell upon 
 his rear-guard, slew many of his men, and shore 
 go many waving plumes from the high-crested 
 cavalry of England that the place was afterwards 
 named by the Irish, Bearna-na-cleite, the Pass of 
 Plumes.^ Essex, however, held on his way 
 to Cahir ; invested the castle, battered it with 
 cannon, and after ten days' stout resistance, and 
 some hard fighting with Desmond and Redmond 
 Burke who came to relieve the place, succeeded 
 in taking it. Then, having received submissions 
 from Lords Cahir and Roche, he advanced into 
 Limerick, but near Crome was encountered by 
 the Geraldines and Mac Carthys. Sir Thomas 
 Norreys, Lord President of Munster, was slain 
 in the battle,}: and the Englisli army was totally 
 defeated and forced to retire with heavy loss and 
 
 • Moryson. f O'Sullivan. 
 
 X O'Sullivan. The English chroniclers make no men- 
 tion of this battle : they always suppress as far as possi- 
 ble whatever is unfavourable to her majesty's arms : but 
 the author of the Pacata Hihernia, as if incidentally, 
 speaks of the " unfortunate death of Sir Thomas I^orris, 
 lately slaine by the rebels ;" and also tells us that, at 
 this time, the same " rebels" were "swollen with pride by 
 reason of their manifest victories, which almost in all 
 encounters tiiey had lately obtained." 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 163 
 
 disgrace towards the Pale, closely pursued for six 
 days by the victorious Irish. When Lord Essex 
 arrived in Dublin, stung by defeat and shame, he 
 found that a body of six hundred men whom he 
 had stationed on the borders of the O'Byrne's 
 country, had been set upon by the Irish moun- 
 taineers and utterly routed with terrible carnage. 
 Essex chose to impute this disaster to miscon- 
 duct : he subjected the officers who had com- 
 manded that detachment to a trial by court-mar- 
 tial ; and, with the ferocious cruelty that belongs 
 to a coward, decimated the surviving soldiers. 
 
 Soon after that, finding that the queen was 
 impatient of that petty warfare, and displeased 
 that he had not yet measured swords with O'Neill, 
 he wrote her majesty a long letter,* describing 
 the many difficulties he had to contend with, the 
 powerful and disciplined troops of the Irish, con- 
 sisting, as he says, of men with stronger bodies 
 and more perfect in the use of arms than her 
 majesty's forces : and he tells the queen that to 
 subdue these Irish their priests must be hunted 
 down ; that Bacon's policy of division and dis- 
 union must be resorted to ; and that all purpose 
 of establishing English law, sheriffs and the like, 
 throughout the island must be well concealed 
 until the military power of the chiefs should be 
 /uined. Then he developes a systematic plan for 
 reducing the North : to guard the coasts, to plant 
 garrisons, to lay waste the country : — most judi- 
 cious devices for the purpose, not one of which 
 
X64 i.TFE OF HUGH o'KEII.L. 
 
 be ever attempted to carry into effect, being in- 
 deed wholly incompetent for such a service. And 
 the letter concludes, as was usual in all commu- 
 nications from Elizabeth's courtiers, with ex- 
 pressions of passionate admiration for her majes- 
 ty's person, and constancy eternal. 
 
 All this did not satisfy the imperious queen ; 
 and at last Essex, for very shame, was obliged to 
 announce his purpose of marching northwards 
 against O'Neill ; then suddenly another urgent 
 occasion arose, that he should first go to Leix 
 and O'Fally against the O'Mores and O'Connors, 
 whom, says the historian, " he brake with ease :" 
 and after that, finding his army much weakened, 
 he asked for a reinforcement of one thousand 
 men before he could venture upon O'Neill. These 
 were speedily sent to him : and now at length he 
 seemed resolved upon the northern war, and ac- 
 tually sent orders to Sir Conyers Clifford to at- 
 tack Belleek on the Saimer, so as to cause a di- 
 version on that side, while he should himself pe- 
 netrate Ulster by Dundalk and Newry. But 
 once again he changed his mind, and, the summer 
 being nearly wasted, wrote again to England that 
 he could do no more this year, except draw his 
 forces towards the borders of Ulster.* The truth 
 seems to be, that this courtier-general had no 
 stomach for the North ; he trembled to encounter 
 the conqueror of far abler leaders than himself, 
 and his craven heart melted within him at the 
 very name of Blackwater. 
 
 Sir Conyers Clifford, however, who was a ve- 
 
 * Morvson. 
 
 i 
 
LIFE OF HOGH O'NEILL. 
 
 165 
 
 teran soldier, and not a courtier, having received 
 his orders iVom the comrnander-in-chief, set forth 
 to execute them at the head of two thousand men, 
 co'iisisting of fourteen hundred infantry and Lord 
 Southampton's horse, with some auxiliary cavalry 
 supplied by Clanrickarde, and commanded by 
 Lord Dunkellin. Long before Clifford was ready 
 to march, O'Donnell and O'Ruarc had intelli- 
 gence of the intended movement, and were already 
 waiting for him in the mountains of Sligo and 
 Bretfni, "chasing wild deer" to pass the time 
 until nobler game should come.* Clifford left 
 Boyle and marched northward by the passes of 
 the Corsliabh mountains, till he arrived at a 
 wooded gorge, which the general thought it pru- 
 dent to explore first with the infantry, leaving 
 his baggage, cavalry and artillery on the plain. 
 
 He led the troops himself into the defile, and 
 when he had advanced so far as to make retreat 
 perilous, the bagpipes of the Irish were heard 
 both in front and on every side : the cry of 
 O'Donnell-aboo ! rung through the hills ; and, 
 almost before the English saw an enemy, with 
 the rusli of a winter torrent the Clan-Conal was 
 upon thcni. Clifford's soldiers fought bravely, 
 and sustained the charge like men who knew that 
 to turn tiieir backo was death : but nothing 
 could stand against the fierce onset of O'Don 
 nell's chinsmen : Clifford himself and Sir Henry 
 Ratclilfe were slain, and their whole force was 
 soon totally rout(jd and driven back with slaugh- 
 ter into the plain. The cavalry, under Jcphson, 
 
 • MS. Life of O'DonnciL 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 having now ground where they could act, dashed 
 a:nongst the Irish and charged them up to the 
 very skirts of the wood : but after a severe 
 struggle the cavalry also yielded, and the whole 
 army rotreated, or rather fled, to Boyle abbey, 
 pursued for three miles by the victorious Irish.* 
 Next day a council of war was held in Boyle by 
 the surviving officers, Jephson, Lord Dunkellia 
 and Sir Arthur Savage ; and, as they heard that 
 O'Donnell's entire force was at hand, they thought 
 it best to abandon the whole expedition and with- 
 draw their troops into garrison, f 
 
 This battle of the Corsliabh mountainsf wag 
 followed by the surrender of Sligo to O'Donnell. 
 That place had been held for the English by 
 Theobald Burke " of the Ships" and O'Connor 
 Sligo : but now Burke made sail, with all his 
 ships, for Galway ; and O'Connor, having sub- 
 mitted to O'Donnell, was reinstated in his chief- 
 taincy, on engaging to assist his countrymen 
 against the English. 
 
 Another royal army scattered, like chaff, upon 
 the borders of Ulster : another veteran general 
 slain : the months of summer trifled away : the 
 army wearied by driftless expeditions, disheart- 
 ened by defeat, and thinned by the Irish battle- 
 axes : these had been hitherto the net result of 
 an enterprize of such pith and moment as the 
 
 * IMoryson ; Mac Geoghegan. The latter states the 
 numbers killed on the side of the English at 1,400, tha 
 former at 120. Moryson also excuses the flight of Jeph- 
 son 's horse, for that their powder, he sa^-s, was spent. 
 
 t Motyson. 
 
 t Generally miscalled " the Curlews." 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NLILL. 
 
 167 
 
 expedition under Lord Essex. Having failed, 
 however, in his military operations, we are next to 
 see his lordship trying negotiation. On O'Neill's 
 invitation he met the chief at the old place of 
 parley, near Dundalk : they were both on horse- 
 back at opposite sides of the " ford Ballaclinch ;"* 
 and O'Neill, ever the flower of courtesy, spurred 
 his horse into the middle of the stream while 
 Essex stood upon the opposite bank. First they 
 had a private conference, in which Lord Essex, 
 won by the chivalrous bearing and kindly address 
 of the chief, became, say English historians, too 
 confidential with an enemy of his sovereign,! 
 spoke without reserve of his pretensions, his 
 daring hopes and most private thoughts of ambi- 
 tion ; until O'Neill had sufficiently read his secret 
 soul, fathomed his poor capacity and understood 
 the full meanness of his shallow treason. Then 
 Cormac O'Neill and five other Irish leaders 
 were summoned on the one side ; on the other 
 Lord Southampton and an equal number of Eng- 
 lish officers ; and a solemn parley was opened in 
 due form. On this occasion the demands of 
 O'Neill seemed to have been precisely what he 
 had always required before — freedom ol" religion- 
 exemption from English government — restitution 
 of plunder, (or in English phraseology, of for- 
 feited estates :) and Essex, it seems, protested on 
 bis part that he thought those terms altogether 
 just, and promised to use his influence with the 
 queen to have them agreed upon as the basis of 
 
 Moryson. 
 
 t Camden ; Moryeon. 
 
168 LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 a peace. For the present the conference ended 
 in the parties agreeing to a six weeks' truce, each 
 retaining a right to begin hostilities again, upon 
 giving notice to the other fourteen days before.* 
 This notable truce had scarcely been concluded 
 until Essex, taking violently to heart a severe 
 rebuke contained in a letter from the queen, 
 and fuming like a peevish child, suddenly, in 
 the month of September, threw up his Irish 
 command, left all powers of government in the 
 hands of Archbishop Loftus and Sir George 
 Carew — hurried to London, attended by his crea- 
 t ire Harington and some others, and flung him- 
 self at the feet of her majesty — a place better 
 suited to him than an Ulster hill-side, with dark 
 woods around him, and the Bloody Hand of 
 O'Neill beckoning him onward. How he was 
 received at Greenwich; how the virago queen 
 ordered him into instant arrest ; how she stormed 
 and swore at his presumption in daring to quit 
 his post in Ireland without leave asked, what 
 treasons were alleged against him, and how it 
 . fared with him thereafter ; — all this belongs to 
 English history, not to Irish. Yet one reads 
 with pleasure how the queen spurned from her 
 presence the foolish knight Harington as he 
 kneeled at her feet and sought to excuse his un- 
 fortunate master : — " She catched at my girdle 
 when I kneeled to her," says liarington, " aud 
 
 * For this conference, see Caraden, Moryson. It was 
 one of the treasons afterwards charged against Essex 
 that he had entertained these proposals, and engaged t-J 
 support them. 
 
I-IFE OF HUGH O iNEILL. 
 
 swore, ' By God's Son I am no Queen : that man 
 is above me.' " Then she demanded of Harington 
 a journal which he had been ordered to keep of 
 the transactions in Ireland ; and on reading the 
 record of disgrace, said fiercely, " By God's Son 
 ye are all idle knaves and the Lord Deputy 
 worse"* — in which sentiment of her majesty there 
 are few that will not probably concur. 
 
 But to return to Ireland : Hugh O'Neill had 
 not been idle. He had renewed his inter- 
 course with Spain ; and King Philip the Second 
 having died in this very month of September, his 
 successor, who appears to have been impressed 
 with a higher idea of the importance of the reli- 
 gious war in Ireland, instantly despatched two 
 envoys to O'Neill — Don Martin de la Cerda, and 
 Mattheo of Oviedo, the latter of whom was an 
 ecclesiastic and appointed by the pope to the 
 archbishopric of Dublin. They brought to Ire- 
 land papal indulgences for those who should fight 
 against English heresy ; and presented O'Neill 
 with a "phoenix plume," bkssed by his holiness, 
 and, what was more useful, with 22,000 pieces of 
 gold.f 
 
 The six-weeks' truce made with Essex had 
 expired : and O'Neill sent warning to the queen's 
 council that in fourteen days he would take the 
 field again. In the mean time he marched through 
 the centre of the isUmd, at the head of his troops, 
 to the South ; — a kind of royal progress, which 
 
 * Ilarinrcton's NugcB Antigua, cited hy Tingard 
 t O'Sullivan ; Moryson. 
 
170 ^^^^ HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 he tliought fit to call a pilgrimage to Holy Cross : 
 
 for lie was aware that religion was the bond of 
 union amongst his adherents in Munster, and ac- 
 cordingly appeared there, not in his character of 
 a Celtic chieftain, but rather as the pope's cham- 
 pion and leader of the Catholic cause. He held 
 princely state at Holy Cross, concerted measures 
 with the Southern lords, and distributed a mani- 
 festo, announcing himself as the accredited De- 
 fender of the Faith. Those chiefs whom he 
 found zealous in the cause he strengthened and 
 encouraged : " from such as he held doubtful," 
 says Stafford,* " he took pledges, or detained 
 them prisoners put in irons the White Knight 
 and his son-in-law, Donogh Mac Cormac Carty, 
 whom he found trafficking with the enemy ; dis- 
 placed Donal Mac Carthy from the chieftaincy 
 of Clan-Carrha, and advanced to that dignity Flo- 
 rence Mac Carthy, who was more devoted to the 
 good cause. Those who still held back from the 
 national confederacy, and could not be moved by 
 persuasion, he treated as enemies, wasting their 
 lands and pursuing them with fire and sword. — 
 that so they might be brought to a better mind. 
 One of the most powerful of these refx-actory 
 lords was the Viscount Barry. O'Neill therefore 
 let loose a body of troops upon his country, took 
 some prisoners, and drove away a spoil of three 
 thousand cows and four thousand horses ; — and 
 
 * Or rather Carew:— author of the Pacata Hibernia. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 171 
 
 then, having given him so intelligible a warning, 
 reasoned with hini earnestly by letter :* — 
 
 *' My Lord Barry, — ^Your impietie to God, cruoltie 
 to your soule and bodie, tyrannie and ingratitude both 
 to your followers and country are inexcusable and into- 
 lerable. You separated yourself e from the unitie of 
 Quest's mysticall bodie, the Catholicke Church. You 
 know the sword of extirpation hangeth over your head 
 as well as ours, if things fall out other wayes than well : 
 you are the cause why all the nobilitie of the South (from 
 the east part unto the west) you being linked unto each 
 one of them, either in affinitie or consanguinitie, are not 
 linked together to shake off the cruell yoake of heresie 
 and tyrannic, with which our soules and bodies are op- 
 prest. All those aforesaid, depending of your resolu- 
 tion, and relying to your judgment in this common cause 
 of our religion and countrey ; you might forsooth with 
 their helpe, (and the reste that are combyned in this 
 holy action,) not only defende yourselfe from the incur- 
 sion and invasion of the Enghsh, but also (by God's 
 assistance, who miraculously and above all expectation 
 gave good successe to the cause principally undertaken 
 for his glorie, exaltation of religion, next for the restau- 
 ration of the ruines and preservation of the countrey,) 
 expel them and deliver [them and] us from the most 
 miserable and cruell exaction and subjection, enjoy your 
 /•eUgion, safetie of wifo and children, life, lands, and 
 goods, which aU are in hazard through your folly En- 
 ter, I beseech you, into the closet of your conscience. 
 And like a wise man weigh seriously the end of your 
 actions, and take advise of those that can instruct you 
 and informe you better than your owne private judg- 
 ment can leade you unto. Consider and reade with at- 
 tention and settled mind tlus discourse I send you; that 
 it may please God to set open your eyes and gratmt you 
 a better minde. From the campe this instant, Tuesday, 
 the sixt of Marcli, according to the new computation. 
 I pr'V you to send me the papers I sent you as soon aa 
 your honour sliaU reade tlie same. 
 
 •« O'Neill." 
 
 Pacata Hibemia. 
 
172 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 Lord Barry's answer was spirited : lie reminded 
 O'Neill, that he, an Anglo-Irish baron, was alto- 
 gether differently circumstanced with respect to 
 the Queen of England, from the ancient Celtic 
 race ; — which indeed was true : — " for you shal] 
 understand," he says, " that I hold my lordships 
 and lands, immediately under God, of her ma- 
 jestic and her most noble progenitors, by corpo- 
 rall service, and of none other, by very ancient 
 lenour; which service and tenour none may dis- 
 pense withal but the true possessor of the crowne 
 of England, b ing now our sovereign lady Queen 
 Elizabeth." He then demands '* restitution of 
 his spoyle and prisoners ; — and after," he conti- 
 nues, " unless you be better advised for your loy- 
 alty, use your discretions against mee and mine, 
 and spare not if you please, for I doubt not, with 
 the helpe of God and my prince to bee quit with 
 some of you hei-eafter, though now not able to 
 use resistance. And so wishing you to become 
 true and faithful subjects to God and your prince, 
 I end, at Barry Court, this twenty-sixe of Fe- 
 bruary, 1599"— 1600. 
 
 It does not appear that O'Neill used any fur- 
 ther severity towards Barry or his people in con- 
 sequence of this obstinacy. 
 
 All this time the P^nglish forces in Munster 
 lay closely shut up in Cork, and a few other gar- 
 risons, not daring to keep the field. Sir Warham 
 Saint Leger and Sir Henry Power were now the 
 queen's commissioners for the government of these 
 southern troops until a new Lord President of 
 Munster should be appointed instead of Sir Tho- 
 mas Norreys : but while O'Neill was in the South 
 their dominion was bounded by the walls of Cork. 
 
LIVE OF HUGH o'neILL. 
 
 173 
 
 One day, in this same month of February, 1600, 
 *• Tyrone with his hell-hounds," as an English 
 historian has it, " being not far from Corke," 
 these two functionaries were riding out to take 
 the air, about a mile from the city, accompanied 
 by some officers and gentlemen and a guard of 
 horsemen. Suddenly they were confronted by 
 Mac Gwire at the head of a patrolling party of 
 O'Neill's cavalry ; and, on the instant. Sir War- 
 ham discharged a pistol at the chieftain of Fer- 
 managh and wounded him mortally ; but Mac 
 Gwire, before he fell, struck Saint Leger so crush- 
 ing a blow with his truncheon upon the head, 
 that he also fell dead from his horse. Save these 
 two, not a blow was struck on either side.* The 
 English betook themselves to the city, and ven- 
 tured abroad more cautiously afterwards. 
 
 *' The intent of O'Neill's journey," as Moryson 
 tells us, "was to set as gre it combustion as he 
 could in Munster, and so, taking pledges of the 
 rebels, to leave them under the command of one 
 chief head." And now having accomplished his 
 mission there, he turned his face homeward ; 
 marched through Ormond, — through Westmeath 
 between Athlone and Mullin;_';ar, and arrived in 
 his dominions of Ulster without meeting an 
 enemy ; although there was then in Ireland a 
 royal army amounting, after all the havoc made 
 in it during the pust year, to 14,422 foot, and 
 1,231 horse, f well provided with artillery and all 
 military stoics. 
 
 * Pacata Hibernia. 
 
 t MoryBon. liefore O'Neill's wars we hear of no Eng- 
 lisli force eiiii)loye(l in Ireland amounting to more than 
 I wo or tiuree thousand men. 
 
174 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NETLIi. 
 
 CHAPTER XllL 
 
 EXPEDITION TO DERRY TREACHEROUS POLICY 
 
 OF MOUNTJOY. 
 
 A. D. 1600. 
 
 Whilst the prince of Ulster was awakening 
 and organizing the South, a new English de- 
 puty had ariived in Dublin, a more formidable 
 enemy by far than any whom O'Neill had yet 
 encountered. Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, 
 who was not only an experienced officer, but 
 a nobleman of much learning and taste, a " book- 
 ish man," as his secretary describes him, — a 
 powerful theologian and confuter of Papists, 
 arrived in February to take the command in 
 Ireland. He had strict instructions to establish 
 at once powerful garrisons in Derry and Bally- 
 shannon ;* and to effect this paramount object, 
 additional troops were to be poured into Ire- 
 land and placed at the governor's disposal ; — a 
 fleet of transport ships was to be provided. — 
 No toil, or peril, or blood ; no fraud, corrup- 
 tion, or treasure, was to be spared which might 
 become necessary for the reduction of this re- 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O NETLL. 
 
 175 
 
 nowned Northern chieftain and his gallant Ul- 
 ster septs under the sway of England. Not tnat 
 the queen of that country had any claim to the 
 North, or any subjects there, or any just quarrel 
 with the inhabitants or their chiefs ; but English 
 undertakers lusted after the broad lands of Ul- 
 ster ; — English divines longed to undertake the 
 rich livings, the fertile carucates, ballyboes, and 
 plow-lands wherewith Catholic piety had en- 
 dowed that Northern church. And besides, an 
 Irish annalist tells us, " it was great vexation 
 of mind to the queen and her councils in Eng- 
 land and Ireland, that the Kinel Conal, Kinel 
 Eoghain and all Ulster, besides those chiefs that 
 were confederated with them, had made so long 
 and successful a defence against them. They 
 also remembered, yea, it secretly preyed like a 
 consumption upon their hearts, that so many of 
 their people had been lost and so much of their 
 money and wealth consumed in carrying on the 
 Irish war."* So the preparations of England 
 were on a larger scale than ever : another des- 
 perate effort was determined upon ; and the ablest 
 •nan in the queen's dominions was sent to con- 
 duct it. 
 
 Mountjoy had not been a week in Ireland when 
 news reached liim that O'Neill was on his march 
 northward, and intended to pass through West- 
 meath. lie instantly drew together all his avail- 
 able force and set forth from Dublin to intercept 
 
 • Cited in the admirable liistorical sketch of Deny in 
 the Ordnance Memoir. 
 
176 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O JNEILL. 
 
 him :* but O'Neill had advanced so rapidly that 
 when Mountjoy arrived in Westmeath the Irish 
 were already in O'Reilly's country : he did nox 
 follow them into the North, but returned to the 
 Pale to take counsel with the other English 
 officers, on the operations of that grand campaign 
 which was now meditated against every province 
 of the Island. 
 
 In the same ship that carried Mountjoy to Ire- 
 land came Sir George Carew, to whom the queen 
 gave the title of " President of Munster," and 
 assigned a body of three thousand foot and two 
 hundred and fifty horse, for serving in that pro- 
 vince. About the same time a powerful arma- 
 ment, destined for Lough Foyle, embarked at 
 Chester and sailed to Carrickfergus bay, where 
 it was joined by a thousand additional troops 
 drafted from various garrisons in Ireland. Sir 
 Henry Docwra was chosen to command it ; and 
 on the 7th of May he set sail from Carrickfergus, 
 with a fleet of sixty-seven sail, carrying four 
 thousand infantry and two hundred horse,f besides 
 -the seamen. They took with them, according to 
 Sir Henry's own account, " a quantitie of deal- 
 boards and spars of timber, 100 flocke bedds, 
 with other necessaries to furnish an hospitall 
 withall ; one piece of demy cannon of brass, two 
 culverins of iron, a master-gunner, two master- 
 masons, and two master-carpenters, allowed in 
 
 * Pacata Hib, 
 
 t It is an instance of ^^fory son's uncandid practice o{ 
 falsifying nuinbers, &c., that he officially states Docwra'a 
 cavalry at 100 men ; when Sir Henry himself admits he 
 imd twice that number. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 i>ay, v;ith a grea.. aiimber of tooles and other 
 utensils, and with all victuall and munition re- 
 quisite/'* On the 14th this strong force entered 
 Lough Foyle. 
 
 During those same days that Docwra's fleet 
 was coasting round the headlands of Antrim, 
 Lord Mountjoy with another army was marching 
 northwards in order to draw away the attention 
 of O'Neill and O'Donnell from the Foyle. On 
 Whit- Sunday morning he passed the Moyry, and 
 by the 16th of May had occupied the country 
 around Newry. On the l7th Lord Southampton 
 and Sir Oliver Lambert were to form a junction 
 with him ; and Mountjoy sent Captain Edward 
 Blaney with five hundred foot and fifty horse to 
 secure their passage through the dreaded Moyry 
 defile, where O'Neill had often before turned back 
 the tide of invasion. O'Neill was in the neigh- 
 bourhood watching all these movements at the 
 head of fourteen hundred men. Blaney was 
 suffered to pass unmolested towards Dundalk ; 
 and then the Irish took up a position at the " four- 
 mile-water," where there was a ford all environed 
 by woods in tlie very middle of the pass. The 
 English soon appeared, with Southampton, Lam- 
 bert and Blaney, commanding a force much 
 greater than O'Neill's. The Irish however fought 
 every foot of ground, and, though finally forced 
 back, retired in good order aid with but little 
 loss.f 
 
 * " A TKirration of the services of the army ymployed 
 to Lou;,4i Foyle under tlie leading of me Sir JJ. Docwra, 
 Knight." 
 
 * Moryson. 
 
 V 
 
178 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 Mountjoy received his reinforcements ; but aa 
 the troops of O'Neill and O'Donnell were now 
 collecting in great force, and occupied every pass 
 and position north of Newry ; and as he calcu- 
 lated that Docwra had by this time effected his 
 landing in the North, the deputy hastily withdrew 
 his army towards the Pale, without having pene- 
 trated even so far as Armagh. He stationed 
 however strong detachments in garrison at Newry, 
 Carlingford, and Dundalk. 
 
 On the day of the fight at Moyry Pass, Doc- 
 wra's fleet was lying at Culmore, where the river 
 Foyle expands itself into the broad " lake of Fe- 
 val, the son of Lodan." The troops disembarked 
 and began to build a fort there ;* while the 
 O'Doghertys of Inishowen and O'Cahans of 
 Arachty, though fully able to repel any invasion, 
 such as had ever been attempted before, were 
 totally unprepared for so vast an armament as' 
 this, and looked on in astonishment. Most of the 
 available forces were beyond Armagh, with 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell ; and no resistance was 
 offered to the enemy until they had finished their 
 fort, landed their whole army, taken Aileach, a 
 castle of O'Dogherty's, and finally made them- 
 selves masters of the hill of Derry, which 
 Docwra describes as " a place in manner of an 
 Hand, comprehending within it forty acres of 
 ground, wherein were the mines of an old abbay, 
 of a bishopp's house, of two churches, and at one 
 of the ends of it an old castle, the river called 
 Lough Foyle, encompassing it all on one side, 
 
 * Docwra's "Narration." 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'neILL. 179 
 
 and a bogg most commonlie wett, and not easilie 
 passable, except in two or three places, dividing 
 it from the maine land." These ruins were the 
 remains of Randolph's fortification, and of the 
 churches he had turned into castles, and which 
 bad never been repaired since his men were 
 driven from that post in Shane O'Neill's time. 
 
 Docwra began with energy to fortify the hill, 
 and lay out a town there. He sent ships along 
 the shores of Lough Foyle, to pull down all 
 houses near the beach, and bring away the tim- 
 ber for building ; and as there was a fine wood, 
 containing abundance of old birch trees, lying on 
 the other side of the river, in O'Cahan's country, 
 he sent daily parties of woodcutters, with a guard 
 of soldiers, to hew it down, and " there was not," 
 he says, " a stick of it brought hom*^ but was first 
 well fought for."* 
 
 When Mountjoy had withdrawn to Dublin, 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell, hearing of this new 
 enemy on the Foyle, once more turned their 
 faces northward, and suddenly appeared with five 
 thousand men before Derry, hoping to take it by 
 surprise. They attacked a party of horsemen 
 whom they found early in the morning, patrolling 
 outside the entrenchments, drove them in to the 
 foot sentinels, and " made a countenance," says 
 Docwra, " as if they came to make but that one 
 day's work of it ; but, the alarum taken, and our 
 m(3n in arms, tlicy contented themselves to at- 
 tempte no further ; but seeking to draw us forth 
 into the country, where they hoped to take U8 at 
 
 * Docwru's " Narration. *• 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEIL1» 
 
 some advaritages ; and finding we stood upon the 
 defensive onlie, after the greatest parte of the 
 day spent in scrimish, a little without our campe, 
 they departed towards the evening, whither did 
 wee think it not fitt to pursue them." 
 
 Docwra's instructions were, so soon as he 
 should have established himself in Derry, to de- 
 tach one thousand foot and fifty horse, and send 
 them by sea to Ballyshannon, under Sir Matthew 
 Morgan, to effect another landing there ; but he 
 very soon found that it would need all the force 
 he had to hold his ground in Derry. Morgan's 
 expedition was therefore deferred : and although 
 Docwra had, between soldiers and seamen, a 
 larger force than the whole Irish army of Ulster, 
 yet the garrison of Derry for several months at- 
 tempted no military operations in the country : 
 they found they must " sitt it out all winter 
 and besides, Docwra says, " the country was yet 
 unknown to us ; and those we had to deal with 
 were such as I am sui"e would chuse or refuse 
 to feight with us as they saw their own advan- 
 tage." ^ 
 
 But it was not on battle-field that the main 
 part of the new Deputy's work was to be done. 
 Elizabeth's government had now fully adopted 
 that policy which is contained in the two me- 
 morable precepts of Bacon : to weaken the Irish 
 by disunion — and to cheat them by a temporary 
 indulgence of their worship. A relaxation of the 
 penal code would at once, it was hoped, detach 
 the Anglo-Irish race from O'Neill's standard, and 
 even break the strongest bond of union amongst 
 the old Irish tribes themselves ; and with thM 
 
LIFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 161 
 
 \riew, Lord Essex had already begun to discou- 
 rag'i prosecutions in the High Commission Court, 
 had connived at the illegal celebration of mass, 
 and set at liberty several priests then imprisoned 
 for religion.* Mountjoy also, from the day of 
 his coming over, acted with similar forbearance ; 
 and we find, passing between this deputy and 
 Queen Elizabeth's council, a correspondence dis- 
 playing all the liberality, all the tenderness, for 
 Irish Catholics, that a British minister has never 
 failed to assume, when a storm of Irish wrath 
 was to be weathered, or the hope of Irish nation- 
 hood to be crushed. " Whereas," says the De- 
 puty, " it hath pleased your lordships in your last 
 letters to command us to deal moderately in the 
 great matter of religion, I had, before the receipt 
 of your lordship's letters, presumed to advise 
 such as dealt in it, for a time, to hold a more re- 
 strained hand therein." And again : " We should 
 be advised how we do punish in their bodies or 
 goods any such for religion as do profess to be 
 faithful sul)ject3 to her Majestj-, and against 
 whom the contrary cannot be proved."! Thua 
 the act of Uniformity being for a time suspended, 
 all the Irish, even in the cities, where they had 
 Vjeen compelled by pains and penalties to attend 
 upon the Queen's clergy, (for they were all Ca- 
 tiiolics still,) immediately abandoned the re- 
 formed churclies, and set the churchwardens at 
 defiance.;!: 
 
 • Mac Gcognegan. f Morysoii. 
 
 X "They be all Papists by jirofr-ssion." — Sj^cuser. 
 The zealous refonufra ot that day treated the vfovern- 
 
182 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 This policy, however, could hardly operate in 
 the North, where the war was national, not reli- 
 gious ; and where Reformation and persecution 
 were still unknown. For the North, therefore, 
 another artifice was used : the ambition of cer- 
 tain members of ruling families was excited by 
 secret offers of English support, if they would 
 
 ment policy of temporising with what they called "ido- 
 latry" much as a similar policy has been received by the 
 corresponding class in later times. The illusfarious 
 James Ussher was leader of that extreme section ; and 
 "his spirit," in the words of Dr. Mant, "was strongly 
 stirred within him by this new condition of things.' 
 " He availed himself," continues the bishop, " of a spe- 
 cial solemnity, when it was in his course to preach be- 
 fore the government at Christ Church, for delivering a 
 remarkable sermon, in which he plainly expressed his 
 sense of the recent proceeding : choosing for his text the 
 6th verse of the 4th chapter of Ezekiel, where the pro- 
 phet, by lying on his side, was to ' bear the iniquity of 
 the house of Judah forty days : I have appointed thee a 
 Anv for a year' — a prophecy which he noted to signify 
 the time of forty years to tlic dnstruction of Jerusalem, 
 and that nation for their idolatry ; and then, making di- 
 rect application to his own country, in relation to its 
 connivance at Popery, in these impressive words : From 
 this year will I reckon the sin of Ireland, that those 
 wliom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and you 
 shall bear their iniquity. This application of the pro- 
 phecy was made in 1601, and in 1641 broke out that 
 rebellion which was consummated in the massacre ot 
 many thousands of its Protestant inhabitants by those 
 whose idolatrous religion was now connived at." 
 
 Dr. Mant is a Christian bishop, of eminent piety and 
 profound learning. He has written an able, an erudite, 
 and, as the present writer heartily believes, an honest 
 book, upon the history of Irish Protestantism ; yet thii 
 is the light in which he, for his part, views the war o 
 ^641, and the causes that led to it. 
 
1,IFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 183 
 
 revolt against their chiefs, and aspire to the, lead- 
 ing of their respective septs ; and, accordingly, 
 in the course of this summer arose three preten- 
 ders to northern chieftaincies. Niall O'Donnell, 
 surnamed Garhh, "the Rugged/* one of the 
 ablest leaders of Clan-Conal, and whose name 
 was distinguished in the Thomond expedition, 
 oasely sold himself to the enemy ; and upon pre- 
 tence of some injustice done him by the O'Don- 
 nell, entered into communication with Docwra, 
 gained over many of the clansmen to his side, re- 
 volted against his lawful prince, and received an 
 English garrison into the castle of Lifford. In 
 Tyr-owen, Art, the son of Tirlough Lynnogh, 
 and who probably still held his father's castle of 
 vStrabane, became, by favour of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, Sir Arthur O'Neill, and encouraged by the 
 near neighbourhood of an English army, dared 
 to claim the chieftaincy of his sept. Both these 
 traitors became close allies of Sir Henry Docwra, 
 and by their assistance he was soon enabled to 
 push his operations somewhat farther up the river. 
 He built the fort of Dun-na-long, six miles from 
 Derry, and stationed eight hundred men there ; 
 while the rebellious Irish were wasting and plun- 
 dering the country of their kinsmen on both sides 
 of the Foyle. On the southern frontier of Ul^ 
 ster, also, Connor Roe MacGwire, having been 
 in like manner tampered with by the Deputy, 
 took arms against his country in the character ol 
 *' Queen's MacGwire." 
 
 It is plain that these revolted Irish did not aid 
 the Queen's forces from any servile " loyalty'* to 
 b foreign princess ; but rather accepted the prof- 
 
184 
 
 LIFE OF HUGF 0*NE1XL. 
 
 fered aid of Docwra and Mountjoy, to further, 
 as they fondly imagined, their own schemes vi 
 weak ambition.* They were treated by those 
 olficerSj/or the present, as allies and independent 
 Irish chiefs — were addressed by them, for a time, 
 as the O'Neill and the 0'Do?inell,-\ and after- 
 wards fared as we shall see. 
 
 In Ihlanster, Sir George Carew was at this 
 time shut up in Cork, as Docwra was in Derry ; 
 and wrote to the council in Dublin that he could 
 for the present do nothing in the field, with his 
 three or four thousand men. " Yet," says his se- 
 cretary, " relying upon the justnesse of the warre, 
 more than upon the number of his forces, he re- 
 solved to try the uttermost of his witt and cun- 
 ning, without committing the matter to the ha- 
 zard of fortune and " the President discern- 
 ning the warre in Mounster to be like a monster 
 with many heads, or a servant that must obey 
 divers masters, did thinke thus : that if the heads 
 themselves might be set at variance t'.ey would 
 j)rove the most fit instruments to mine one ano- 
 ther."J 
 
 The two most powerful leaders of the national 
 army in Munster were James, Earl of Desmond, 
 and Dermot O'Connor, who commanded fourteen 
 hundred Bonnoghts, or mercenary troops, con- 
 
 * Paoata Hib. 
 I " Eadenipri'nczpcr^M.s affectatio incitavit Nellum O'Don. 
 nellum, cognomento Aspenini, ut advcrsus O'Donnel- 
 lum belli j^erando, Tirconnellae excidiuin afTerrot." — 
 O'Sullivav. He pronounces tliem, as lie well may, 
 worse than heretics 
 
 + Pac. llil 
 
L.1FE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 185 
 
 sisting of northerns and Connauglitmen, as 
 O'Neill's lieutenant in the south. O'Connor was 
 married to a Geraldine lady, daughter of the late 
 Earl Gerald, and sister to the present heir of 
 that title, who was still a prisoner in the Tower, 
 while his dignity and estates were usurped by 
 O'Neill's Desmond. Here were elements of in- 
 trigue, incentives and materials for treachery, 
 which English statesmanship was not long in 
 turning to account. Carew, " in a very secret 
 manner, provided and sent a fit agent to sound 
 the inclination of the Lady Margaret, and, find- 
 ing lier fit to be wrought upon, the conditions 
 should be propounded — namely, that if her hus- 
 band would take Desmond prisoner, and deliver 
 him into the hands of the President, he should 
 incontinently receive one thousand pounds ster- 
 ling ; and that he should have a company of men 
 in pay from the Queene, and other conditions of 
 satisfaction to herself and her brother."* This 
 
 * Pac. Hib. Another part of tlie preparation for this 
 villanous transaction was a letter written by the Presi- 
 dent to Desmond, in whicli he pretends to treat witii tlie 
 carl for tlie betrayal of Derniot O'Connor: tliis letter 
 was i)laeed in O'Connor's liands ; and he was to pretend 
 that lie had intercepted it, nud so was ol)li.;j:ed, in self 
 defence, to seize upon his secret eneniy. The letter was 
 as lolhjws : " iSir, your last letters I liave received, and 
 am exceedini^ glad to see your constant resolution of re- 
 turrie to snhjection, and to leave the rebellious courses 
 wherein you iiave long persevered. You may rest as- 
 sured that promi es shall bee kept ; arid you shall no 
 sooner hrinfj Di-rmond ()' (Jonnor to we, nlivn or dead, 
 and 1 ani.sh his Jiownoglis out of ll)e count ric, but yoti 
 shall have your dciiiand satisfied, which I tliaukc (iud I 
 am bolii «bie and willing to perlorme. lieleeve me, you 
 
186 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nF.ILL. 
 
 president's secretary and historian details witb 
 much candour, rather indeed as matter of tri- 
 umub, many other dark machinations of his crafty 
 mastcx ; how he suborned one Nugent to assas- 
 sinate his officer, John Fitzgerald, brother to the 
 earl ; how he practised with Florence MacCar- 
 thy, and by his means got hold of O'Sullivar 
 More ; how showers of English gold, a net-work 
 of p]nglisli intrigue and perfidy, covered the land, 
 until the leaders of the confederacy in Munster 
 knew not whom to trust, or where they were safe 
 from treason and assassination. Nugent's story 
 
 liave no better way to recover your desperate estate than 
 by this good service, which i/ou have proffered; and 
 therefore I cannot but commend your judgment in choos- 
 ing the same to redeeme your former faults : and I do 
 the ratlier beleeve the performance of it by your late ac- 
 tion touching Loghguire, wherein your brother and 
 yourself have well merited ; and, as I promised, you 
 shall find mee so just as no creature living shall ever 
 know (hat either of you did assent to the surrender of it. 
 ^ All your letters I have received, as also the joint letter 
 Irom your brother and yourselfe. I pray lose no time, 
 lof delays i-i great actions are subject to many dangers. 
 Now chat the Queen's armie is in the field, you may 
 worke your determination with most securitie, being 
 ready to releeve you upon a day's warning. So praying 
 God to assist you in this meritorious enterprize, I doe 
 leave you to his protection this twentie ninthe of May, 
 I GOO. 
 
 There might be some difficulty in believing that the 
 English commanders in Munster resorted to these base 
 tricks, unknown to all honourable warfare ; but that the 
 authority for it is Carew himself, writing under the 
 name of his secretary Stafford. He describes the wliole 
 plot minutely, and publishes the letter " to manifest the 
 invention." 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 187 
 
 may serve as an example of this policy of Carew, 
 and is told with much coolness by his secretary : 
 *' Nugent came to make his sulDmission to the 
 President, and to desire pardon for his faults 
 ommitted ; answer w^as made, that for so much 
 16 his crimes and offences had been extraordi- 
 nary, he could not hope to be reconciled unto the 
 state, except he would deserve it by extraordi- 
 nary service, which, saith the President, if you 
 shall perform you may deserve not only pardon 
 for your faults committed heretofore, but also 
 some store of crownes to releeve your wantes 
 hereafter. Hee presently promised not to be 
 wanting in any thing that lay in the power of one 
 man to accomplish, and in private made offer to 
 the president, that if hee might bee well recom- 
 pensed, hee would ruine within a short space 
 either the Sugan earle, or John Fitzthomas, his 
 brother. And indeed very likely he was both to 
 attempte and perform as much as he spake — to 
 attempte, because he was so valiant and daring, 
 as that he did not feare anything ; and to execute, 
 because by reason of his many outrages before 
 committed, the cheefe rebels did repose great 
 confidence in him. The President having con- 
 trived a plot for James Fitzthomas, (as is before 
 shewed,*) gave him in charge to undertake John, 
 his brother." vShortly after the secretary conti- 
 nues : " Whilst these things were in handling, 
 Nugent (whose promises to the President before 
 
 • He alludes to the plot formed with Dcrmot O'Con- 
 nor's wife. 
 
188 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 we recited) intending no longer to deferre tbc 
 enterprize, attempted the execution in this sort. 
 The President being past Loughgwire, John 
 Fitzthomas riding forth of the iland towards the 
 fastness of Arloghe, where most of his men re- 
 mained, with one other called John Coppinger, 
 whom he (Nugent) had acquainted with the en- 
 terprise, and, as he thought, made sure to him, 
 lie attended this great captaine, and being now 
 passed a certain distance from all companie, per- 
 mitted John Fitzthomas to ride a little before 
 him, minding, (his backe being turned,) to shoote 
 him through with his pistoll, which for the pur- 
 pose was well charged witli two bullets : the op- 
 portunitie oifered, the pistoll bent, both heart and 
 hand ready to doe the deed, when Coppinger, at 
 the instant, snatched the pistoll from him, crying 
 treason; wherewith John Fitzthomas, turning 
 himself about, perceived his intent. Nugent, 
 thinking to escape by the goodnesse of his horse, 
 spurred hard : the horse stumbled, and hee taken, 
 and the next day after examination and confes- 
 sion of his intent, hanged. This plot, although 
 it attained not fully the desired successe, yet it 
 proved to be of great consequence ; for now was 
 John Fitzthomas possessed with such a jealous 
 suspicion of everyone, tliat he durst not remaine 
 long at Loughgwire, for feare of some otlier like 
 attempte." 
 
 D< rmot O'Connor, the traitor who undertook 
 to betray Desmond, succeeded somewhat better 
 He took an opportunity to arrest him and confine 
 him in Castlelishin ; but would not give him up 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 )89 
 
 uo the President until he should first be paid a 
 thousand pounds.* His wife, the Lady Marga- 
 ret, was to meet Carew at Kilmallock, and re- 
 ceive the money ; but before the«e pecuniary 
 matters could be fully arranged Desmond was 
 rescued by his kinsmen and Pierce Lacy of the 
 B rough. Carew, however, was not deterred by 
 one failure. " There was no man of account," 
 says his secretary, " in all Mounster whom the 
 President had not oftentimes laboured about the 
 taking of the reputed earl, promising very boun- 
 tiful and liberal rewards to all, or any such as 
 would draw such a draught, whereby he might 
 be gotten, alive or dead." At last the White 
 Knight, a Geraldine, and kinsman of his own, 
 was fortunate enough to draw the successful 
 draught, delivered up the earl in safety to Carew, 
 and received his thousand pounds.f The unfor- 
 tunate " Suggawn earl" was confined in Shandon 
 castle for a time, and tlien forwarded to London, ' 
 where he died in the Tower. 
 
 O'Neill, who was kept fully employed in Ul- 
 ster by Mountjoy, began to perceive that the na- 
 tional party in the vSouth was fast breaking up. 
 The religious toleration (though fcr a time not 
 definite) by removing the common terror of per- 
 secution, had allowed the ancient national animo- 
 sities to revive ; and the nobles of Anglo-Nor- 
 man descent were plainly not to be counted upon 
 as faithful to the cause of Irisli nationhood.| On 
 
 * Pac. Hib. t Phc. Ilib. 
 
 X "Of one tiling I thinkc good to give you particular 
 notice, whieh is, not to put any confidence in any ol 
 
190 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL.. 
 
 Florence Mac Carthy, whom he had made chief 
 of Clan-Carrha, seems to have been placed 
 O'Neill's greatest reliance : — " Our commenda- 
 tions to you, Mac Carthy More," thus he writes 
 to Florence, " I send shortly unto you according 
 ,0 our trust of you, that you will doe a stout and 
 hopefull thing against the pagan beast ; and there- 
 upon our armie is to goe into Mounster. * * 
 And since this cause of Mounster was left to you 
 (next under God) let no weakeness or imbecilli- 
 tie bee found in you; and the time of help is 
 neere you and all the reste. From Donganon, 
 the sixth of February, 1601. 
 
 " O'Neill." 
 
 But Mac Carthy More's wife was a] so tre- 
 panned into the English interest. " She refused," 
 says Stafford, " to come to his bed until he had 
 reconciled himself unto her Majestic." This lady 
 was a daughter of the former Earl of Clancarty; 
 and " she knew," she said, "in what manner her 
 father had that earldome from her highnesse ; and 
 though she be not pleased to bestow the same 
 wholly upon her, yet she doubted not to obtain 
 some part thereof ; but if neither of these could 
 be gotten, yet was not she minded to goe a beg- 
 ging either unto Ulster, nor into Spaine."* And 
 
 we soon find this chief trafficking and bargain- 
 ing with the President, until Carew, having made 
 
 ♦ Pac. Hib. 
 
 Mounster, of the EngHsh nation : for wLaisoever they 
 professe or protest unto you, they meane not to deale 
 faithfully witli us, but will forsake us in our greatest 
 need." Letter of Cormac Carly to O'Neill. Pac, Hib, 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nKILL. 
 
 191 
 
 use of him so far as lie could, at length seized 
 his person, had an accusation of high treason 
 preferred against him, and sent him a prisoner 
 to England, along with the Earl of Desmond.* 
 
 Carew having thus " tried the uttermost of his 
 witt and cunning" to set at variance the heads of 
 the southern confederacy, and so to destroy them 
 by each other's means ; and besides, being stea- 
 dily supported throughout by the Lords Clan- 
 rickarde, Thomond, Barry, and other Anglo- 
 Irish families, was soon enabled to overrun all 
 Desmond, and to reduce, by force or treachery, 
 the castles of Askeaton, Glynn, Carrig-a-foyle, 
 Ardart, Liscaghan, Loughgwire, and many 
 others, everywhere driving off the cattle, and 
 burning the houses and corn stacks ; so that by 
 the month of December there was not one castle 
 in all Munster held against the queen ; nor, in 
 the language of Moryson, " any company of ten 
 rebels together." 
 
 During the summer of 1600 Mountjoy himself 
 had traversed Leix and O'Fally, with a nume- 
 rous army, burning the country, until the 23d of 
 August. He had the good fortune to kill O'More, 
 of Leix, in a skirmish, and, after cutting down all 
 
 *Pac.Hib. Moryson. Carew had strict commands from 
 his government to get Elorence into his hands ; " which," 
 he says, " without some temporising could not yet con- 
 veniently he performed." He therefore wrote to him to 
 Bay, that the "state was well persuaded of his loyaltie 
 and innocencie," and requested him earnestly to visit 
 him, that he might have his advice ahout afi'airsof state. 
 But all this was in vain until the lady was taken into the 
 plot. 
 
192 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 the green corn of the district, returned to Dablin. 
 His biographer calculates that in this expedition 
 he destroyed ten thousand pounds worth of corn ; 
 and, at the same time, by the usual contri- 
 vances, he detached some Leinster chiefs from 
 the cause of Ireland, and introduced treachery 
 and distrust into their councils. 
 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell now fully understood 
 the nature of the contest in which they were to 
 be engag«ed with this new Deputy. Fraud, per- 
 fidy, and assassination were to take the place of 
 open battle ; the chink of gold was to be heard, 
 instead of clashing steel ; and the swords of these 
 false Saxons were to be turned into sickles, to 
 prostrate the unripe grain, and so to war against 
 women and children as well as fighting men. 
 But the northern chiefs had still a gallant army 
 at their backs, and were yet able to keep the 
 English garrisons imprisoned within their walls 
 and moats. They were in daily expectation of 
 succour from King Philip, and hoped full soon to 
 out asunder the meshes of this traitor policy witll 
 their good swords. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 193 
 
 CHAPTEE XIY. 
 
 THE WAE IN TTIiSTEK — THE SPANIARDS AT KIN* 
 SALE — DEFEAT OF o'NETLL AND o'DONNELIi. 
 
 A. D. 1600—1601. 
 
 The powerful garrison of Derry, vrith. the forts 
 of Culmore, Dun-na-long, and Lifford, all in the 
 hands of the English, and the revolted Niall 
 Garb O'Donnell, with his adherents, gave abun- 
 dant employment to the chieftain of Tyr-Connell, 
 and effectually prevented him from joining 
 O'Neill, with all the powers of his clan, as he 
 had formerly been wont to do. Early this year, 
 haviag defeated Dockwra, in a severe skirmish 
 near Derry, and left a part of his force to watch 
 the motions of that officer, the fiery chief him- 
 self suddenly turned his fa(;e southward, tra- 
 versed Connauglit rapidly and silently, and once 
 more swept all Thomond, from Corcomroe to 
 Lioop-liead, covering with wreck and ruin the 
 wide domains of tliat degenerate Daloassian who 
 styled himself Earl of Thomond.* Ho had 
 hardly driven of!" the spoil to Tyrconnell, before 
 he learned that treachery and corruption were 
 
 * O'Suliivau. Tuc. iiibornia. 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 doing their work in Inishowen, the northernmost 
 corner of his territory. The O'Dogherty was 
 dead, and many of that clan had declared for 
 Docwra, who was supporting a pretender to the 
 chieftaincy of Inishowen, in opposition to the 
 rightful claimant. O'Donnell flew to Inishowen, 
 but before he could do any thing effectual there 
 he learned that the revolted Niall Garbh, with 
 the help of a body of English, had taken posses- 
 sion of the Franciscan monastery of Donegal, 
 driven out the friars, and fortified the buildings. 
 Red Hugh instantly marched to Donegal ; and 
 laid siege to the abbey ; three months he sat be- 
 fore it ; and at last, the buildings having taken 
 fire by night, the garrison were obliged to fly 
 from the raging flames and crashing roofs, upon 
 the swords of their not less furious besiegers. 
 Hundreds of the English troops and revolted Irish 
 perished in the fire or the battle, (amongst others. 
 Conn O'Donnell, brother of Niall Garbh,) and 
 in the morning Red Hugh found himself master 
 of the smoking and blackened ruins of that beau- 
 tiful and illustrious abbey.* 
 
 To guard the southern frontier of Ulster was 
 Hugh O'Neill's own peculiar care, and all the 
 efforts of the Deputy were bent to penetrate that 
 frontier by way of Dundalk and Armagh. On 
 the 1 5th of September, he encamped at Faug- 
 hart, three miles north of Dundalk, with an 
 
 * This abbey was never repaired ; and its rifted walla 
 and fast-decayino^ arches, the once-famous library and 
 cloisters of the Four Masters, are now a grey and lonely 
 ruin, at the head of the lovely bay of Donegal. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 195 
 
 army of 2,400 foot and 300 horse,* intending so 
 soon as tlie weather would permit, to make a 
 grand attempt npon ihe Moyry Pass. O'Neill 
 had the pass entrenched, fortified with palisades, 
 and strongly manned, f and was waiting patiently 
 in the woods for the approach of Mountjoy. At 
 last on the 9th of October the English army ad- 
 vanced, and after some severe fighting and heav)' 
 loss on both sides, Mountjoy forced his way 
 through. He then cut down the woods and 
 cleared the country all round that difiicult pass 
 and made his way to Newry. His chief objed 
 was to regain Armagh ; and on the 2nd of No- 
 vember he marched from Newry about eight 
 miles to the north-west ; and then finding the 
 country that lay between him and Armagh too 
 difficult and too well guarded by O'Neill, to be 
 attempted in that season, he determined to build 
 a fort on the place where he then was, being the 
 very entrance of the dangerous Moyry Pass, so 
 as to secure the ground he had won, and effec- 
 tually open up that way into Ulster for the 
 English armies. This work was not effected 
 without daily alarms from O'Neill's men ; but, 
 at length the fort was built. The Deputy called 
 it Mount Norris, in honour of Sir John Norreys, 
 bis former master in the art of war, left 400 men 
 Under Captain Blaney, to garrison it, and re- 
 tired to Newry on his way to the Pale.jl 
 
 Before leaving Ulster, MnDuntjoy solemnly made 
 proclamation of a great reward for the head of 
 O'Neill — two thousand pounds to the man who 
 
 Mor>'ftOD. 
 
 f Camden. 
 
 X Moryson, 
 
196 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O^NEILL. 
 
 should bring in that " arch-rebel" alive — one 
 thousand for his dead body ; and then the De- 
 puty marched by Fatham and Carlinjjford to- 
 wards Dundalk. At the "Pass of Carlingford,'* 
 however, (probably at Glenmore or Riverstown,) 
 O'Neill was upon him again. A bloody battle 
 ensued. Mountjoy himself, Sir Henry Danvers, 
 and many other officers were severely wounded,* 
 and with heavy loss the English made good their 
 way to Dundalk. Mountjoy proceeded to Dublin 
 and made no further attempt upon the North 
 that year, the sole achievement of the campaign 
 being the stationing of Blaney's garrison upon 
 the Moyry, Armagh, Portmore, and all the 
 open country north of Newry were still in the 
 hands of the Irish. 
 
 That winter was spent by Mountjoy in vain 
 efforts to crush or capture the gallant Tyrrell, 
 wlio still held a great part of Meath for O'Neill. 
 The Deputy marched to Trim and Athlone, 
 burning and wasting the country on all sides, 
 and having offered large rewards for Tyrrell's 
 head, returned to Dublin.']' 
 
 The following spring saw the indefatigable 
 Deputy once more at the Moyry. On the 8th 
 of June, he led his army through the pass, and, 
 having erected soine additional works at the 
 " Three-mile-water," proceeded to Newry ; then 
 harried Iveagh, the country of Mac Gennis, took 
 Downpatrick, and returned to Newry on the 
 21st. A powerful force under Sir Henry Dan- 
 gers, was then detached and sent against Armagh. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 191 
 
 mih orders to take possession of the city, and 
 abbey, and garrison them for the queen. O'Neill, 
 however, had all the passes manned, and gave 
 Danvers such a reception that he was fain to 
 take shelter behind the works of Mount Norris, 
 and wait there till the Deputy joined him.* 
 When Mountjoy came up, the English army ad- 
 vanced northward in force ; and O'Neill after 
 some skirmishing in the woods, retired before 
 the enemy and fell back upon the Blackwater, 
 resolving to give them battle on the banks 
 of that illustrious river. Mountjoy, however, 
 had no intention of penetrating farther for that 
 time ; he contented himself with making a mi- 
 nute survey of the battle-ground of Beal-an- 
 atha-huidhe, where the blood of Sir Henry 
 Bagnal and many a gallant Englishman had 
 *' manured the reeking sod" three years before ; 
 spent a considerable time, one can hardly tell 
 with what object,*]' in examining the various po- 
 sitions around that memorable plain, and on the 
 southern bank of the Black water (which the 
 English, says O' Sullivan, called Black by reason 
 of their many defeats sustained there,) then di- 
 
 • Moryson. 
 
 f Unless it were that this "bookish" general desired 
 to funcy liirnself a second Germanicus, and to imitate 
 that leader when he jjenetrated the woods of north Ger- 
 many, and discovered the spot where Arminius had de- 
 stroyed the VariiUi legions, on the banks of tlie Elbe. 
 There were indeed some points of resemblance — "Medic 
 campi albetitia ossa, ut fn<Jierant, ut restiterant, dis- 
 jecta vel ag^^erata : adjacebaj\t fra^Miiina teloruirj, equo- 
 runjque artus" — "hie cecidii^e legatos: illicraptas aqui« 
 las; priminn ubi vulnus Varo adactum," &e. 
 
198 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 rected his march upon Armagh, which waa 
 iibandoned by the Irish on his approach ; sta- 
 tioned there 750 foot and 100 horse under Dan- 
 vers, and returned by Mount Norris to Newry. 
 
 Shortly after, Mountjoy advanced again to 
 ^the Blackwater, made himself master of the dis- 
 mantled fortress of Portmore, repaired it, and 
 stationed three hundred and fifty men there, un- 
 der Captain Williams, the ancient defender of 
 that dangerous post. The several garrisons now 
 occupying northern forts (exclusive of Dockwra's 
 large army in the north-west), are thus stated 
 by an English historian. In Newry there were 
 four hundred foot and fifty horse, under Sir 
 Francis Stafford ; in Lecale (Down) three hun- 
 dred foot, under Sir Richard Moryson, brother 
 to the Deputy's secretary and historiographer; Sir 
 Arthur Chichester held Carrickfergus, with eight 
 hundred and fifty foot and one hundred and twenty- 
 five horse ; in Mountnorris were six hundred foot 
 and fifty horse, commanded by Sir Samuel Bagnal ; 
 eight hundred foot and one hundred and twenty- 
 five horse, under Danvers, garrisoned Armagh ; 
 and Williams, with three hundred and fifty men, 
 kent Portmore. These strong parties, entrenched 
 behind their fortifications, abundantly supplied 
 with artillery, ammunition, and provisions, were 
 well able to withstand any attacks of the impe- 
 tuous, but unskilful and impatient Irish, and 
 occasionally sallying into the country, burned 
 the houses, drove off the cattle, cut down and 
 trampled the corn, cleared passages through the 
 
1.IFE OF HUGH o'neILi.. 
 
 woods, and betook themselves to their strong 
 places again, when threatened by a superior 
 force. 
 
 Next to establishing these garrisons, Mount- 
 joy's care was to cut away and clear the woods 
 which encumbered all the passes lying betweer 
 Newry and the Blackwater, so as to secure a 
 better passage for his troops. In this dangerous 
 service he employed a great part of his army for 
 many days ; and on the 24th of August, having 
 strengthened and revictualled the forts of Port- 
 more and Armagh, he once more withdrew 
 towards the Pale. 
 
 O'Neill was continually in the field, flying 
 from place to place, cutting off the English work- 
 ing parties in the woods, and bands of their cruel 
 reapers in the corn-fields ; often his fierce war- 
 cry scared the builders from tlieir unfinished 
 walls : and often, with rout and havoc, the bri- 
 gand forayers of P>ngland were pursued by his 
 avenging sword home to their very entrench- 
 ments.* Yet it must be admitted that English 
 arms and Englisli policy were at length making 
 some way in this northern land. Ten thousand 
 British troops upon the soil of Ulster — nume- 
 rous garrisons and castler on both the Eoyle 
 and Blackwater — the sleepless energy, masterly 
 dispositions, and hateful policy of Lord Moun- 
 joy, had indeed begun to tell ; and darkness 
 on(;e more s(;emed to brood over the cause of old 
 Ireland. Still, the cause could not seem hopeless* 
 
200 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 to the Ulster chieftains. The Spaniard, they 
 trusted, was even then off Cape Clear ; or if no 
 help from King Philip, the ancient standard of 
 the Bloody PTp.nd still floated free over the hills 
 of Tyr-owen | the proud river-frontier of the 
 Blackwater -was still inviolate. 
 
 'Spanish negotiators had been with O'Neill and 
 0' Oonnell for some months. Matthew of Oviedo, 
 the Archbishop of Dublin, made a visit to the 
 North to confer with the chiefs, and afterwards 
 set sail for Spain to hasten the embarkation ; and 
 it was now well known both to friend and foe 
 that a powerful armament had been prepared in 
 the ports of Spain, and was under orders for 
 Ireland. In August came a letter from Sir 
 Kobert Cecil, the English Secretary of State, to 
 Sir George Carew, apprising him " that certaine 
 pinnaces of her Majestie's had met with a fleete 
 of Spaniards, to the number of fiftie sale, whereof 
 seventeene were men of warre, the rest trans- 
 porting ships :" they had been descried at the 
 Scilly islands, " and could not bee," said Sit 
 Eobert, " but for Ireland."* 
 
 On the twenty-third day of September, Lord 
 Mountjoy and the President Carew were sitting 
 in council in Kilkenny, with the Earl of Or- 
 mond. Sir Pichard Wingfield, Marshal of the 
 Queen's army, and Sir Pobert Gardiner, tn*^ 
 Chief Justice, J' advising what course should be 
 taken if the Spaniards should lande." Suddenly 
 a letter arrived from Sir Charles Wihuot, then 
 
 Pac. Hib. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O NEIIX. 
 
 commanding in Cork, to announce that a fleet 
 had been seen off the harbour of Cork ; and 
 again, before their council broke up, another 
 hasty messenger from Wihnot brought news that 
 the Spaniards were at anchor in the harbour of 
 Kinsale. Instantly couriers were despatched by 
 Lord. Mountjoy through Leinster and the North, 
 to draw together most of the troops scattered in 
 various garrisons, and concentrate the whole 
 English force upon Munster. Letters were sent 
 to Sir Charles Wilmot with instructions, and 
 despatches to England with urgent demand of 
 new reinforcements. 
 
 The Spanish fleet when it w^eighed anchor 
 from the Tagus mouth, consisted of forty five small 
 vessels, carrying about six thousand men. Of 
 their ships, only seventeen carried guns ; eleven 
 of these were small, and only six of the class 
 called Galleons, the St. Paul, the St. Peter, the 
 St. Andrew, and three others whose namss are 
 not given. The troop-ships were mostly of one 
 hundred and one hundred and fifty tons burthen ; 
 and fifteen hundred Biscayan sailors manned the 
 whole fleet.* Even this force was much shattered 
 and diminished by a storm, which drove a squa- 
 dron of their ships asliore at Coruna ; and by the 
 time they landed in Kinsale, there were but three 
 thousand four hundred soldiers, and many of 
 tr)o?e Besognies who had never handled arms ;| 
 
 • Those particulars are contained in an official state- 
 iiietii, rfcnt by Sir U(jl;ert Cecil'.s correspondent in Lis- 
 bon, ami transmitted by Oecil to the Lord Jfresideut 
 
 Pac. Hib. 
 
 fPac. H'A 
 
202 
 
 UFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 SO that on the whole, it was a much smaller ar* 
 mament than O'Neill had reason to expect, infe- 
 rior both in numbers and strength even to Sir 
 Henry Dockwra's fleet and army in Lough Foyle, 
 and wholly inadequate to the important service 
 it was destined for. 
 
 What was even worse than this, Don Juan 
 D'Aguila, the general to whom Philip had en- 
 trusted the command, seems to have been unequal 
 to such an enterprize. He had commanded a 
 Spanish force in Bretagne in 1594, and is charged 
 with having tamely allovred the French and En- 
 glish to capture Morlaix and Quimper, without 
 an effort to relieve them ; and at Crodon, a fort 
 which defended the mouth of Brest harbour, 
 after exposing a brave garrison to destruction 
 through his incompetence and cowardice, he 
 yielded that most important position which he 
 had ample means to defend ;* — a mournful omen 
 for unhappy Ireland. 
 
 Immediately on disembarking, Don Juan sent 
 inessengers to the two northern princes advising 
 
 * Matthew O'Conor {Military Memoirs of the Irish Na- 
 tion^ gives this story at lengtli, out of Davila. He also 
 i^ensures Don Juan severely for landing in Munster, in- 
 stead of making for some northern or v. extern port ; but 
 this charge is not well founded. It was evidently with 
 the concurrence of O'Neill and O'Donnell that a southern 
 port was selected. The Irish chiefs were probably them- 
 selves deceived as to the strength of their party in the 
 south, and the faithfulness of their allies. O'Neill relied 
 much upon the Clan Carrha and Florence Mac Carthy, 
 and could hardly anticipate that so powerful a confede. 
 rac} would be dissolved so soon by mere fraud, treachery, 
 -ind bribery, without a blow struck. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 203 
 
 them of his arrival, and requesting them to come 
 and join him without delay ; and in the mean 
 time the Spaniards marched into Kinsale with 
 five and twenty colours flying ; the English gar- 
 rison retired to Cork ; and the sovereign of the 
 town threw open the gates, went to meet the 
 strangers, and proceeded to billet them ; " more 
 ready" says Stafford, " than if they had been the 
 queene's forces." To set the town's people at 
 ease, Don Juan issued the following proclama- 
 tion. " Wee Don Juan De Aguila, General! of 
 the Armie to Philip king of Spaine, by these 
 presents doe promise that all the inhabitants of 
 the towne of Kinsale shall receive no injury by 
 any of our retinew, but rather shall be used as 
 our brethren and friends, and that it shall be law- 
 ful for any ol the inhabitants that list to trans- 
 port, without any molestation in body or goods, 
 and as much as shall remain, likewise without any 
 hurt. Signed Don Juan De Aguila."* He then 
 took possession of the forts which protected the 
 entrance of Kinsale harbour, called Rincorran,f 
 and Castle-ne-parke ; fortified and garrisoned 
 them, and expected to be immediately joined in 
 great force by the Irish of all the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 But national feeling had nearly gone out of 
 Munster. All the Anglo-Irish lords, and most 
 of the ancient Irish had made their submission 
 to the President: the chiefs and leaders were 
 
 • Pac. Hib. 
 
 f A aajlhe blade. It was built on a tongue of land 
 resembling a scythe in eliape. 
 
204 
 
 LIFE OF HUGU O'jS'EILl.. 
 
 either corrupted by English gold, or intimidatedj 
 or disgusted by the treachery of their allies, or 
 imprisoned in the dungeons of London. In 
 truth, O'Neill's noble effort to make a nation oui 
 of the miserable materials which Munster afforded 
 him to work with, was a total failure. National 
 honour, religious zeal, even thirst for ven- 
 geance, was dead amongst them : — one is forced 
 to believe that these southern Irish, " were 
 pigeon-livered, and lacked gall, to make oppres- 
 sion bitter ;" the chivalrous Spaniards began 
 to conceive a boundless contempt for them; — 
 they thought, for their parts, that " Christ had 
 never died" for such a people as this. 
 
 Of all the Munster Irish, only 0' Sullivan 
 Beare, O'Connor Kerry, and O'Driscol, declared 
 openly for Ireland and King Philip ; Carew and 
 MouPitjoy were marching upon Kinsale, with all 
 their forces : three thousand one hundred fresh 
 troop? arrived from England ; a fleet of ten ships 
 of war, under admiral Sir Richard Leviston, 
 appeared upon the coast, and disembarked two 
 thousand r„iOre at Cork ; all the towns of Mun- 
 Bter, whe;i called upon by Carew, contributed 
 'A'jth alaciity their quotas to the queen's forces.* 
 the earls of Thomond, and Clanrickarde, with 
 their numerous Irish following, lifted their ban- 
 
 • Dr. Curry, strangely enough, notes this circum- 
 stauce as a TOi3r«V in tlie Irish towns. He says, " It ia 
 vrorthy of notice that all tlie cities and towns in the 
 ^cmgdom through cliiefly inhabited by the Catholic na- 
 nves, coritiaaed loyal to the queen during this war." — 
 Review of the Civil Wars. Nearly two-thirds of MouQt 
 joy's army consisted of Irishmen. 
 
JblhE OF HUGH o'NEILuL. 
 
 205 
 
 uers on the sume side ; and in the month of 
 November, the Deputy and President sat down 
 before Kinsale. commanding a mixed English and 
 Irish army, fifteen thousand strong. 
 
 News of the Spanish landing soon reached 
 Ulster; and suddenly, with one consent all mi- 
 litary operations were suspended on both sides ; — 
 siege and foray, fori^ifying and ambuscading, all 
 stood still ; every eye turned to Munster ; every 
 nerve was braced for the trial of this mighty 
 issue at Kinsale. Don Juan's messengers found 
 Red Hugh O'Donneil besieging his own noble 
 castle of Donegal, which bad been in his absence, 
 csurprized by the " queen's O'Donneil," Niall 
 Garbh, and his Saxon allies. Without one 
 lioai-'s delay, he arose with all his clan, left the 
 castle to its fate for that time and marched into 
 Connaught. At Ballymote he halted, and sum- 
 moned all his tributaries and adherents to attend 
 him there, and range themselves under the stan- 
 dard of Tyrconnell. From Inishowen and Kil- 
 macrenan, — from Breffni and Sligo, Hy Fiachra, 
 Hy Maine and Coolavin, the clans came trooping ; 
 — O'Ruarcs and Mac Swynes, O'Dogherty's, 
 O'Boyles, Mac Donoughs, Mac Dermot.s, O'Con- 
 nors, O'Kellys, and many another warlike north- 
 -Kesiern tribe; and on tiie second of November, 
 he set forth for Munster at the head of two thoi> 
 sand five hundred men. 
 
 O'Neill instantly drew off his forces from the 
 petty skirmishing upon the Jjlackwater ; sent to 
 Antrim foi- ihe Mac Donnells, to Down for Mac 
 Gennis and Mac Artane, and was speedily on his 
 rm\rcn southward with between three and four 
 
'206 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL.. 
 
 thousand troops. O'Donnell and he were to have 
 met at Holy-Cross in Ormond ; and the army of 
 Tyrconnell being first at the rendezvous, en- 
 camped in a place where they were protected on 
 all sides by woods and bogs.* The Deputy now 
 detached Carew with a strong force against 
 O'Donnell, hoping to engage him before O'Neill 
 should come up. Red Hugh was not prepared 
 to give battle ; and he soon found that he must 
 either retreat northwards again and abandon the 
 Spaniards, or make a forced march over the 
 mountains of Slieve Felim, which lay between 
 him and Limerick. There had lately been heavy 
 rains ; and the mountains were so wet and boggy, 
 that no horses or carriages could pass. The Pre- 
 sident and his army lay at Cashel, and thought 
 they had effectually checked O'Donnell's ad- 
 vance ; when, one night, a sharp frost occurred, 
 which he knew would harden the surface of 
 the earth and make the mountains passable for 
 a time. So soon as darkness came on, the whole 
 Irish army suddenly arose, traversed the rugged 
 country all that night, and by day-break wei-e 
 more than twenty miles from Holy Cross. Cii- 
 rew made great exertions to intercept him be- 
 fore he should reach Kinsale ; but in vain. He 
 ^eems to have been amazed at the expedition of 
 " this light-footed generall ;" and computes that 
 one day's march from O'Magher's country to 
 Crome," at above two and thirty Irish miles, 
 the greatest march, with carriage," he says, 
 
 • " A strong fastnesse of bogg and wood, which was 
 on every quarter plashed."— Pac. Hib. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 207 
 
 " that hath been heard of."* O'Donnell then 
 made a circuit to the westward, marclied through 
 Muskerry, to stir up the southern clans, and ar- 
 rived at Castlehaven in time to form a junction 
 v/ith seven hundred Spaniards, who had arrived 
 in that port and were destined to reinforce 
 D'Aguila in Kinsale.j 
 
 Many of the Irish of West Munster who had 
 been hitherto inactive, when they saw the north- 
 ern forces, and heard of the new landing of Spa- 
 niards, at length bestirred themselves. Donogh 
 O'Driscol at once received a Spanish garrison 
 into his castle of Castlehaven which commanded 
 that harbour ; Sir Finnan O'Driscol admitted a 
 hundred and twenty Spaniards into his castles of 
 Donneshed at Baltimore, and Donnelong on Inis- 
 herkan island, which between them completely 
 defended the harbour of Baltimore ; and Donal 
 O' Sullivan received two hundred Spanish auxi- 
 liaries under his command, declared for Ireland 
 and King Philip, and manned and strengthened 
 his castle of Dun-buidhe situated on Beare-haven. 
 
 Jn the mean time Lord Mountjoy and Carew 
 were vigorously pressing the siege of Kinsale. 
 Cannon were planted against the castle of Rin- 
 corran ; and after an obstinate defence, it was at 
 
 • Pac. Tlib. 
 
 f Tlie transport sliips wliich liad carried this reinforce 
 nient were attacked by the English fleet, under Levis 
 ton, in the harbour of Castleliaven, and after a shar|i 
 fiU'lit, some of tliem were taken or sunk, lint tlic Spa- 
 nish batteries from the shore lian.dled the Enf,dish ships 
 BO rouf^lily tliat the admiral's own ship was riddled 
 "through liulke, ina.stc. and ta(;kle," and returucd luucb 
 hhftttered to Kinsale — Pcx:. Ilib. 
 
208 
 
 I.1FE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 length yielded, and its garrison taken prisoners 
 and sent to Cork. When the royal fleet arrived 
 under Admiral Leviston, they began to batter 
 Castle-ne-parke from their ships ; but at first 
 without success. A few days after, however, this 
 out-work was also taken, its defenders having ren- 
 dered it up on promise of their lives : and then 
 Don Juan was confined entirely to the walls of 
 Kinsale. It was resolved by the English com- 
 manders in a council of war not to attempt mak- 
 ing a breach until they should first have destroyed 
 the houses in the town by bombardment ; and 
 with this view the trenches were drawn closer ; 
 cannon were placed in various positions near the 
 walls, and a tremendous fire kept up for several 
 days. A trumpeter was then sent to summon the 
 place to surrender, who was not suffered to enter 
 the town, but received his answer at the gate : — 
 *' Don Juan held that town, first for Christ, and 
 then for tlie King of Spain, and so would defend 
 it against all their enemies." Once more the 
 English artillery thundered upon the walls. Se- 
 veral desperate sorties were made by the Spa- 
 niards, and many men were killed on both sides. 
 The English pressed the siege with greater vi- 
 gour than ever, because they had intelligence that 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell had at length formed a 
 junction, and were approaching Kinsale from the 
 north-eastern quarter upon the left bank of Ban- 
 don river, and on the 19th of December the van- 
 guard of O'Neill's army, were seen upon a hill 
 about a mile distant from Mountjoy's camp. 
 
 By desperate exertions O'Neill had collecteij 
 nearly four thousand men, had fought his way 
 
t»in5 OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 2m 
 
 through West Meath, and, joined by the indefa- 
 tigable Tyrrell, had traversed Leinster and Or- 
 inond by forced marches. At Bandon he met 
 with O'Donnell and the Spaniards who had land- 
 ed in Castlehavcn ; and now at length he found 
 himself on the scene of action, and beheld the 
 beleagured town of Kinsale, and the powerful 
 fleet and army which invested it by sea and land. 
 On the 21st O'Neill so disposed the Irish forces 
 as to cut off all communication between Mountjoy 
 and that part of the country from whence he was 
 accustomed to receive his supplies. The whole 
 force under O'Neill and O'Donnell amounted to 
 no more than six thousand foot and five hundred 
 horse,* and with so small an army O'Neill had 
 no intention of immediately risking a general en- 
 gagement. The English army was fast weaken- 
 ing by sickness and desertion : the soldiers of 
 Irish race were leaving Mountjoy's ranks by 
 troops ; the Spaniards were still strong in Kin- 
 sale ; and he hoped that the severity of the sea- 
 son, aided by privation and continual skirmishing 
 would soon so waste and wear down the enemy 
 that he might choose his own time for falling 
 upon them and finishing their ruin. O'Donnell, 
 indeed^ with liis usual impetuosity, burned to let 
 loose the Clan-Connl upon Mountjoy's camp; but 
 yielding to liis more experienced ally he re* 
 strained himself and acquiesced in the more cau- 
 tious j)olicy. 
 
 '* Our artillery," says Stafford, " still played 
 CJpon the towne (as it had done all that while] 
 
 • Pac Uib 
 
210 
 
 LIFE HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 that they might see wee went on with our busi- 
 nesse as if wee cared not for Tyrone's comming : 
 but it was vvithall carried on in such a fashion as 
 we had no meaning to make a breach, because 
 we thought it not fit to offer to enter, and so put 
 all in a hazard untill we might better discover 
 what Tyrone meant to doe, whose strength was 
 ttssured to bee very great ; and we found by let- 
 ters of Don John's (which wee had newly inter- 
 cepted) that hee had advis«^d Tyrone to sett upon 
 our campes, telling him that it could not bee 
 chosen, but our men were much decayed by the 
 winter's siege, and so that wee could hardly bee 
 able to maintain so much ground (as wee had 
 taken) when our strength was greater, if wee 
 were well put to, on the one side by them, and 
 on the other side by him, which hee would not 
 faile for his parte to doe soundly."* 
 
 Such was indeed Don Juan's counsel ; but 
 O'Neill was resolved to let Kinsale and the Spa- 
 niards bear the brunt of the siege a little longer ; 
 to rest and refresh his troops after their severe 
 marching ; and to persist in his policy of besieg- 
 ing the besiegers in their own entrenchments, 
 until circumstances should arise to make a change 
 of plan advisable,! 
 
 The Irish, however, had been but three days 
 before Kinsale, when an accident brought on a 
 general engagement, before there was time to 
 c oncert measures with the Spaniards in the town. 
 It is far from being clearly explained how this 
 battle of Kinsale came to be fought, without pre* 
 
 Fac. Hib, 
 
 t Moryson. 
 
LIFE OP HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 211 
 
 meditation as it seems on the part of the com- 
 manders on either side :* but, before dawn in 
 the morning of the 24th, Sir Richard Graham, 
 who commanded that night the guard of horse, 
 sent word to the Deputy that the scouts had dis- 
 covered the matches of the Irishj flashing in great 
 numbers through the darkness, and that O'Neill 
 must be approaching the camp in force. In- 
 stantly the troops were called to arms: messen- 
 gers were dispatched to the Earl of Thomond's 
 quarter with orders to draw out his men. The 
 Deputy now advanced to meet the Irish whom 
 he supposed to be stealing upon his camp : and 
 seems to have effectually surprised them, while 
 endeavouring to prevent a surprise upon himself. 
 The infantry of O'Neill's army retired slowly 
 about a mile farther from the town, and made a 
 stand on the banks of a ford where their position 
 
 • The author of the Pacata Hihernia says that Brian 
 Mac Hugh Oge Mac Mahon, one of O'Neill's trusted of- 
 ficers, entered into communication with Carew on the 
 previous day ; that he cautioned him to be on his guard 
 the following night ; for that it had been determined in 
 the Irish council of war, where he was present, that on 
 the next night, shortly before day-break, a simultaneous 
 attack should be made upon the English camp by the 
 Spaniards in front, and by the Irish army in the rere ; 
 that this Mac Mahon was induced to give the informa- 
 tion because his son had once been brouglit up in Ca- 
 rew's family as a page ; and that the attack was made, 
 or about to be made, in strict accordance with the warn- 
 ing, liiit in fact the Spaniards did not sally from i\i<? 
 walls at all during the battle, and hardly seem to hava 
 been aware of it until all was over, which could uothavg 
 been the case if it had been brought on by previous con* 
 cert. 
 
 t The fire-arms of that peric^d were matchlocka. 
 
212 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 was strengthened by a bog in flank. Wingficld, 
 the Marshal, thought he saw some confusion in 
 their ranks, and entreated the Deputy that he 
 might be allowed to charge. The Earl of Clan- 
 rickarde joined the Marshal, and the battle be- 
 came general ; but O'Neill's cavalry repeatedly 
 drove back both Wingfield and Clanrickarde, 
 until Sir Henry Danvers, with Captains TaatFe 
 and Fleming came up to their assistance ; when 
 at length the Irish infantry fell into confusion 
 and fled. Another body of them, commanded 
 by Tyrrell was still unbroken, and long main- 
 tained its ground upon a hill ; but at length see- 
 ing their comrades routed, they also gave way 
 and retreated in good order after their main 
 body. The northern cavalry covered the retreat ; 
 and O'Neill and O'Donnell, by amazing personal 
 exertions, succeeded in preserving order and pre- 
 venting it from becoming a total rout. 
 
 The Spaniards who had joined O'Donnell at 
 Castlehaven, refused to leave the ground, and were 
 nearly all cut to pieces ; their commander, Del 
 Campo, was taken prisoner with two of his officers, 
 and about forty soldiers : but the Irish troops 
 although to them no quarter was given,* retired 
 with comparatively little loss. According to 
 Carew's statement there were, of the Irish army, 
 twelve hundred killed and eight hundred wounded; 
 
 * The most merciless of all Mountjoy's army that day 
 was the Anglo-Irish and Catholic Earl of Clanrickarde. 
 He slew twenty of the Irish with his own hand, and cried 
 a'loud to spare no "rebels." Carew says that *' no man 
 did bloody liis swDrd more than his lordship that day." 
 I'ac. Hih. 
 
JLIFE OP HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 213 
 
 ?,nd of his own, but six or seven persons in all ; 
 a disparity which in itself proves that O'Neill's 
 troops were taken by surprise and had not in- 
 tended to fight that day. But it avails little to 
 plead surprise in excuse for a lost battle : — the 
 battle tvas lost : the Irish camp was in the hands 
 of the enemy : their plans were completely de- 
 ranged, and most of their colours, arms, and bag- 
 gage captured. It was now the-- depth of winter, 
 and too late to prepare for a new campaign that 
 year : and O'Neill was reluctantly compelled to 
 order a retreat to the North, leaving Kinsale and 
 Don Juan to their fate. 
 
 On the last day of December Don Juan s;cnt 
 Mountjoy proposals for a capitulation ;* obtained 
 honourable terms ; agreed to surrender all the 
 castles upon the coast into which Spanish garri- 
 sons had been admitted, and shortly after set 
 sail for Spain ; carrying with him all his artillery, 
 treasure and military stores. 
 
 O'Neill and the remainder of his army set out 
 on their homeward march ; but Red Hugh 
 
 * In his negotiations with Mountjoy Don Juan affects 
 to speak most contemptuously of O'Neill and O'Donnell, 
 and tlie wlmle Irish nation ; but if he had better knowa 
 the country, lie would have been aware that the exer- 
 tions of the northern chiefs to relieve hitn, when shut 
 up in Kinsale, at such a distance from Ulster, were al- 
 most superliuman. Besides, he ought to have remem- 
 bered tin; terms of the rcfjuisition upon which the Spa- 
 niards (•aiiie to Ireland — " Jf the aides were sent to Ul- 
 ster, tlien 'J yroiie retvuired but lower or five thousand 
 nien : if the kiuf^ did j)ur{)ose to send an army into 
 Mfjunster, then he Hhr)uld send strongly, i(ra?/.se neither 
 Tvrone nor O'JJonnell could come to help (heii." — fee 
 Hib. p. 46(3. 
 
214 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL 
 
 O'Donnell, stung to madness by defeat, indign£n«; 
 at the conduct of this most ill-judged enterprise, 
 and impatient of King Philip's dilatory councils 
 and petty expeditions, gave the command of his 
 clan to his brother Roderick ; and three days 
 after the battle, flung himself into a Spanish ship 
 et Castlehaven, and, attended by Redmond Burke, 
 Hugh Mostian, and seven other Irish gentlemen, 
 set sail for Spain. He disembarked at Coruna, 
 was received with high distinction, by the Mar- 
 quis of Cara9ena and other nobles, " who ever- 
 more gave O'Donnell the right hand ; which, 
 within his government," says Carew, " he would 
 not have done to the greatest duke in Spaine.** 
 He travelled through Gallicia, and at Santiago 
 de Compostella was royally entertained by the 
 archbishop and citizens ; but in bull-fighting, or 
 the stately Alameda, he had small pleasure. 
 "With teeth set and heart on fire, the chief- 
 tain hurried on, traversed the mountains of Ga- 
 licia and Leon, and drew not bridle until he 
 reached Zamora, where Philip was then hold- 
 ing his court. With passionate zeal he pleaded 
 his country's cause ; entreated that a greater 
 fleet and stronger army might be sent to Ire- 
 land without delay, unless his Catholic Ma- 
 jesty desired to see his ancient Milesian kinsman 
 and allies utterly destroyed and trodden into 
 earth by the tyrant Elizabeth ; and above all 
 whatever was to be done he prayed it might be 
 done instantly, while O'Neill still held his army 
 on foot, and* his banner flying; while it was not 
 yet too late to rescue poor Erin from the deadly 
 fangs of those dogs of England, The king ro- 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NELLL. 
 
 21i 
 
 ceived him affectionately, treated him with high 
 consideration, and actually gave orders for a 
 powerful force to be drawn together at Coruna, 
 for another descent upon Ireland. ^ 
 
 But that armament never sailed; and poor 
 O'Donnell never saw Ireland more; for news 
 arrived in Spain, a few months after, that Dun- 
 buidhe castle, the last strong-hold in Munster 
 that held out for King Philip, was taken; and 
 Beare-haven, the last harbour in the South that 
 was open to his ships, effectually guarded by the 
 Enghsh: and the Spanish preparations were 
 countermanded : and Red Hugh was once more 
 on his joui'ney to the court, to renew his almost 
 hopeless suit; and had arrived at Simancas, two 
 leagues from Valladolid, when he suddenly fell 
 sick; his gallant heart was broken, and he died 
 there, on the 10th of September, 1602. He was 
 buried by order of the king, royal honours, 
 as befitted a prince of the Kmel-Conal; and the 
 stately city of Valladolid, holds the bones of as 
 noble a chief and as stout a warrior as ever bore 
 the wand of chieftaincy, or led a clan to battle. 
 
 » Pac. Hib. 
 
216 UFE OF HUGb OftKilX. 
 
 OHAPTER XV. 
 
 FIRE, FAMINE, AND SLAUGHTER o'nEILL AT 
 
 MELLIFONT. 
 
 A. D. 1602—1603. 
 
 After another severe winter journey, O'Neill 
 gained his own territory ; he knew that he might 
 shortly expect Mountjoy once more at the Black- 
 water ; and employed the interval in disposing 
 his men, so as best to guard the passes of the 
 woods, and preparing for this last fierce struggle ; 
 for he determined to dispute every foot of ground, 
 and to sell life and land dear. 
 
 Mountjoy spent that spring in Munster, with 
 the President, reducing those fortresses which 
 still remained in the hands of the Irish, and 
 fiercely crushing down every vestige of the na- 
 tional war. Richard Tyrrell, however, still kept 
 the field ; and O' Sullivan Beare held his strong 
 castle of Dun-buidhe, which he wrested from the 
 Spaniards after Don Juan had stipulated to yield 
 it to the enemy.* This castle commanded Ban- 
 
 • " Among other places, which were neither yielded 
 nor taken to the end they should be delivered to the 
 English, Don Juan tied liimself to deliver my castle and 
 haven, the only key of juine inK-»ritaace, Thereupon 
 
^LIIE or HUGH u'nEILL. 
 
 217 
 
 try Bay, and was one of the most important for- 
 tresses in Munster ; and therefore Carew deter- 
 mined, at whatever cost, to make himself master 
 of it. Dun-buidhe was but a square tower, with 
 a court-yard and some out-works, and had but 
 140 men ; yet it was so strongly situated, and so 
 bravely defended, that it held the Lord President 
 and an army of four thousand men, with a great 
 train of artillery and some ships of war, fifteen 
 days before its walls. After a breach was made, 
 the storming parties were twice driven back to 
 their lines ; and even after the great hall of the 
 castle was carried, the garrison, under their in- 
 domitable commander, Mac Geohegan, held their 
 ground in the vaults underneath for a whole day, 
 and at last fairly beat the besiegers out of the 
 hall. The English cannon then played furiously 
 upon the walls ; and the president swore to bury 
 these obstinate Irish under the ruins. Again a 
 desperate sortie was made by forty men — they 
 were all slain : eight of them leaped into the sea 
 to save themselves by swimming ; but Carew, 
 anticipating this, had stationed Captain Harvey, 
 " with three boats to keepe the sea, who had the 
 killing of them all ;" and at last, after Mac Geo- 
 hegan was mortally wounded, the remnant of thtJ 
 garrison laid down their arms. Mac Geohegan 
 lay. bleeding to death, on the floou of the vault ; 
 
 the liviiifj of many tlioiisanrl persons doth rest, tliat live 
 Borno twenty iciif^ues upon the sea-coast, into the lianda 
 of my cruell, cursed, mishelievint^ enemies. "--Jxitter 
 of l>)nal O'SuUivan Beare to the King of ypain. Ptic. 
 
218 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'neiLL. 
 
 yet when he saw the besiegers admitted, he raised 
 himself up, snatched a lighted torch, and stag- 
 gered to an open powder-barrel — one moment, 
 and the castle, with all it contained, would have 
 rushed skyward in a pyramid of flame, when 
 suddenly an English soldier seized him in his 
 arms : he was killed on the spot, and all the rest 
 were shortly after executed. " The whole num- 
 ber of the ward," says Carew, " consisted of one 
 hundred and forty-three selected men, being the 
 best choice of all their forces, of which not one 
 man escaped, but were either slain, executed, or 
 buried in the ruins ; and so obstinate a de- 
 fence hath not been seen within this kingdom." 
 Perhaps some will think that the survivors of 
 so brave a band deserved a better fate than 
 hanging. 
 
 But we must leave this ferocious Carew and 
 his willing assistants, Wilmot and Harvey, to 
 their terrible vocation. Space would fail us to 
 recount what castles they took, what priests they 
 hanged : how they laid waste the lands, and de- 
 stroyed the corn, and covered Munster with ashes 
 and blood, and smoking ruins.* The war had 
 once more rolled northward 
 
 * O'Sullivan and Tyrrell still kept the field, and made 
 tliemselves masters of some castles. They were encou-> 
 raged by Owen Mac Egan, the apostolic vicar ; by let- 
 ters from O'Neill, and the hope of O'Donnell's return 
 with help from Spain. But when news came of O'Don. 
 uell's death, O'Sullivan, with four hundred men, set out 
 for the north, intending to take refuge with O'Neill. 
 They crossed the Shannon in corraghs, covered with the 
 hides of their own horses, fought their way through, the 
 hostile country of Thomond and Clanrickarae, and at 
 
LIFB OF HUGH o'NEILL. 219 
 
 Early in June Lord Mountjoy i»arched by 
 Dundalk to Armagh, and from thence, without 
 interruption, to the banks of the Blackwater, 
 about five miles to the eastward of Portmore, and 
 nearer to Louo;h Neagh.* He sent Sir Richard 
 Moryson to the north bank of the river, com- 
 menced the building of a bridge at that point, 
 and a castle, which he named Charl«mont, from 
 his own Christian name, and stationed a garrison 
 of one hundred and fifty men there, under the 
 command of a certain Captain Toby Caulfield.f 
 
 The Deputy then led his whole army across 
 the river, and set out on his march for Dungan- 
 non ; but long before he reached it he could 
 plainly see both town and castle on fire. O'Neill 
 found himself unable to cope with his enemy in 
 the field ; and, as he had once before done, when 
 threatened by Sir John Norreys, burned his cas- 
 tle to the ground, and betook himself to the fo- 
 rests and mountains which occupied the centre of 
 his territory.j: 
 
 There is a wide tract of moor and mountain, ex- 
 tending from the Foyle near Strabane, in a south- 
 easterly direction to the shores of Lough Neagb, 
 where it ends in the broad-backed Slieve Gallen. 
 It thus intersects the wn.'.Jc district of ancient Tyr- 
 
 len^'th, reduced to tliirty-fivo men, tliey found shelter it 
 Leitrim castle. 
 • Moryson. 
 
 t The founder of a noble family, wliich has held that 
 ipot froin that day to this ; but which afterwards (as ia 
 nsual with settlers in Ireland) becftme more Irish than 
 many of the IrisJi Uioniselves. 
 
 X Morywii. 
 
220 
 
 LIFE OF KtIGH O'NEILL. 
 
 owen, and covers a large area which is now included 
 in the two modern counties of Tyrone and Lon- 
 donderry. To this tract, and the eastern part ot 
 Arachty lying on the lower Bann, O'Neill was 
 now confined : hard pressed on the w^est and 
 north-west by Sir Henry Docwra and his own 
 traitor kinsman ; cut olF by their chain of posts 
 (which they had lately pushed southward as far 
 as Omagh) from all communication with Tyr- 
 connell ; enclosed on the Antrim side by Sir 
 Arthur Chichester and his powerful forces ; and 
 on the south, blockaded by Mountjoy and his 
 numerous garrisons, and his thrice-accursed 
 Queen's Maguires and Queen's O'Reilly's — he 
 yet maintained himself at Castle Roe ; corres- 
 ponded with the national chiefs throughout the 
 island, had his agents in Munster and Con- 
 naught, held still aloft his noble Red Right 
 Hand, and defied both the arms and the trea- 
 chery of Elizabeth's crafty deputy. It is now 
 that Mountjoy writes to the Lords of the Council 
 in England, excusing himself for " that notwith- 
 standing her Majesty's great forces, O'Neill 
 doth still live," describing, and even exaggerating 
 the difficulties of the country, and complaining 
 that gold and treachery had not yet been so 
 potent in the North as they had been found ia 
 Munster. The proclamations of high reward for 
 O'Neill's head, it seems, had not tempted any of 
 his clansmen or allies to assassinate him, as was 
 expected : and Mountjoy cannot conceal his sur- 
 prise. " It is most sure" says he, " that never 
 traytor knew better how to keep his own head 
 than this; nor any subjects have a more dreadful 
 
LIFE OP HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 221 
 
 awe to lay violent hands on their sacred prince, 
 than these people have to touch the person of 
 their O'Neales ; — and he that hath as pestilent 
 a judgement as ever any had, to nourish and to 
 spreade his ovvne infection, hath the ancient 
 swelling and desire of liberty in a conquered 
 nation to work upon," &c.* 
 
 The deputy finished his fort and bridge of 
 Charlemont, and even built and garrisoned ano- 
 ther on the shores of Lough Neagh, which he 
 called Mountjoy; and after he had left garrisons 
 in these he sent another party to take possession 
 of Augher, so that his posts now communicated 
 with those of Docwra, and completely encircled 
 O'Neill, both on the west and south. 
 
 He then sent orders to Sir Henry Docwra, Sir 
 Arthur Chichester, and Sir Richard Moryson, 
 that they should all be in readiness within twenty 
 days to penetrate O'Neill's country at once by 
 different routes ; and in the mean time, upon the 
 19th of July, he marched westward to Monaghan 
 and Fermanagh, left some troops there under St. 
 Lawrence, Esmond, and Conor Roe Mac Gwire, 
 wasted and burned the country, and returned to 
 co-operate in the grand combined effort against 
 central Ulster. 
 
 It was high summer ; the fertile valleys of 
 Tyr-owen were waving with green corn, and tlie 
 creaghts abounded upon a thousand hills; wlien the 
 armies of the stranger were let loose upon that 
 doomed land ; and never, since first a sword was 
 drawn upon this earth, did such a storm of demo- 
 niac wrath and unheard of atrocity burst upon a 
 
 * Se-f flii8 letter in the Appendix. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 nation. Xot the heathen Danes in their most 
 frightful excesses ; — not the ferocious Tartar of 
 Ghizni, when he swept over the plains of India 
 like Azrael the Death-angel ; — not the bastard 
 Norman when he fell upon North-Humber-land 
 in his wrath, and left no man or beast alive from 
 Tyne to Humber — ever spread abroad ruin and 
 wreck so unsparing, so systematic, as this viceroy 
 of the queen of England visited upon the ancient 
 territory of the Hy Nial. 
 
 Chichester marched from Carrickfergus, and 
 crossed the Bann at Toome : Docwra and his 
 Derry troops advanced by way of Dungiven ; 
 and Mountjoy himself by Dungannon and Kil- 
 letrough :* — and wide over the pleasant fields of 
 Ulster trooped their bands of ill-omened, red- 
 coated reapers, assiduous in cutting that saddest 
 of all recorded harvests. Morning after morning 
 the sun rose bright and the birds made music, as 
 they are wont to do of a summer's morning " on 
 the fair hills of holy Ireland — and forth went 
 the labourers by troops, with their fatal sickles 
 in their hands ; and some cut down the grain, 
 and trampled it into the earth, and left it rotting 
 there ; and some drove away the cattle, and 
 either slaughtered them in herds, leaving their 
 carcases to breed pestilence and death, or drove 
 them for a spoil to the southward ; and some 
 burned the houses and the corn-stacks, and blot- 
 ted the sun with the smoke of their conlla- 
 grations ; and the summer song of birds was 
 drowned by the wail of helpless children and the 
 shrieks of the pitiful women. All this summer 
 " Morveon. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 223 
 
 and {juliimn the havoc was continued, until from 
 O'Cahan's country, as Monntjoy's secretary de 
 scribes it, " we have none left to give us oppo- 
 sition, nor of late have seen any but dead carcases 
 merely starved for want of meat." 
 
 The Deputy had taken Magherlowny and En- 
 nislaughlin, two principal forts and arsenals of 
 O'Neill's, and now about the end of August h€ 
 penetrated to Tullogh-oge, the seat of the clau 
 O'Hagan, and broke in pieces that ancient stone 
 chair in which the princes of Ulster had been 
 inaugurated for many a century.* Castle-Roe 
 also soon became untenable ; and O'Neill retir- 
 ing slowly, like a hunted beast keeping the dogs 
 at bay, retreated to the deep woods and thicket? 
 of Glan-con-keane,! the name of that valley 
 through which the Moyola winds its way to 
 Lough Neagh, then the most inaccessible fastness 
 in all Tyr-owen. Here, with six hundred in- 
 fantry and about sixty horse, he made his last 
 stand, and actually defied the armies of England 
 that whole winter. His western allies were still 
 up in Connaught, and Bryan Mac Art O'Neill 
 in Claneboy — and a favourable reverse of fortune 
 was still possible ; or the Spaniards might stil^ 
 remember him ; and in any event he could ill 
 brook the thought of surrendering. 
 
 But the winter's campaign in Connaught wafs 
 fatal to the cause in that quarter. In the North 
 
 * Stuart, tlie liistoriiin of Arin;i;rli, says that sorno 
 ra^^ments of the O'Neiil's stone chair used to be shctvd 
 uixm the glebe of the parish of Desert-creight, county 
 Tyrone. 
 
 ♦ GLuinn-cm-c^irit tJie " far head of tlicglen.*' 
 
224 LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 O'Cahan gave in his gubmission to Docwra, and 
 Chichester and Danvers reduced Bryan Mac 
 Arts so that early in the spring of 1603, O'Neill 
 found that no chief in all Ireland kept the field 
 on his part, except O'Ruarc, Mac Gwire, and 
 Llie faithful Tyrrell. He had heard too of Rode- 
 rick O'Donnell'a submission, and Red Hugh's 
 death, and that no more forces were to be hoped 
 from Spain. Famine also and pestilence, caused 
 by the ravage of the preceding summer, had made 
 cruel havoc among his people. A thousand 
 corpses lay unburied between Toome and Tul- 
 logh-oge ; three thousand had died of mere star- 
 vation in all Tyr-owen ; and " no spectacle,'* 
 says Moryson, was more frequent in the ditches 
 of towns, and especially of wasted countries, than 
 to see multitudes of the poor people dead, with 
 their mouths all coloured green, by eating net- 
 tles, docks, and all things they could rend up 
 dbove ground." It was this winter that Chi- 
 chester and Sir Richard Moryson, returning from 
 their expedition against Bryan Mac Art, " saw 
 a horrible spectacle — three children, the eldest 
 not above ten years old, all eating and gnawing 
 "w^ith their teeth the entrails of their dead mother, 
 on whose flesh they had fed for twenty days 
 past." Can the human imagination conceive 
 such a ghastly sight as this ? — Or picture a win- 
 ter's morning, in a field near Newry, and some 
 old women making a fire there ; *' and divers 
 little children driving out the cattle in the cold 
 mornings, and coming thither to warm them, are 
 by them surprised and killed and eaten." Captain 
 
lilFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 225 
 
 Trevor and many honest gentlemen lying in the 
 Newry" witnessed this horror — a vision more grim 
 and ghastly than any weird sisters that ever 
 brewed hell-broth upon a blasted heath. 
 
 And at last the haughty chieftain learned the 
 bitter lesson of adversity : the very materials of 
 resistance had vanished from the face of thvi 
 earth, and he humbled his proud heart, and sent 
 proposals of accommodation to Mountjoy. The 
 Deputy received his instructions from London, 
 and sent Sir William Godolphin and Sir Garret 
 Moore as commissioners to arrange with him the 
 terms of peace. The negotiation was hurried, 
 on the Deputy's part, by private information 
 which he had received of the Queen's death, and 
 fearing that O'Neill's views might be altered by 
 that circumstance, he immediately desired the 
 commissioners to close the agreement and invite 
 O'Neill, under safe conduct, to Drogheda, to 
 have it ratified without delay. 
 
 On the thirtieth day of March (alas ! the day) 
 Hugh O'Neill, now sixty years of age — worn 
 with care and toil and battle, and in bitter grief 
 for the miseries of his faithful clansmen — met 
 the Lord Deputy in peaceful guise at Mellifont, 
 and, on his bended knees before him, tendered 
 his submission ; and the favourable conditions 
 that were granted him, even in this his fallen 
 estate, show what anxiety the councillors of 
 Klizabeth must have felt to disarm the still Ibrmi- 
 dable chief. First he was to liave full pardon" 
 for the ])ast ; next to be restored in blood, not- 
 withstanding his attainder and *' outlawry," and 
 to be reinstated in his dignity of Earl of Tyr- 
 
 1* 
 
226 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILL. 
 
 owen ; then he and liis people were to enjoy full 
 and free exercise of their relio;ion ; and ne"W 
 " letters patent" were to issue, re-granting to 
 him and other northern chiefs the whole lands 
 occupied by their respective clans, save the 
 country held by Henry Oge O'Neill and Tur- 
 lough's territory of the Fews. Out of the land 
 was also reserved a tract of six hundred acres 
 upon the Blackwater ; half to be assigned to 
 Mountjoy fort, and half to Charlemont. 
 
 On O'Neill's part the conditions were, that he 
 should once for all renounce the title of " The 
 O'Neill," and the jurisdiction and state of an 
 Irish chieftain ; that he should, now at length, 
 sink into an Earl, wear his coronet and golden 
 chain like a peaceable nobleman, and suffer his 
 country to become " shire-ground," and admit 
 the functionaries of English government. He was 
 also to write to Spain for his son Henry,* who 
 was residing in the court of King Philip, and 
 deliver him as a hostage to the King of England. 
 
 And so the torch and the sword had rest in 
 Ulster for a time ; and the remnant of its inha- 
 bitants, to use the language of Sir John Davies, 
 " being brayed as it were in a mortar with the 
 sword, famine, and pestilence together, sub- 
 mitted themselves to the British government, re- 
 
 • Tliis Henry appears to have been the only son of 
 O'Neill and his first wife ; and he liad been living for 
 some years in the court of King Philip. O'Neill had 
 four wives in succession — first, a daughter of one of the 
 O'Tooles, then Hugh O'Donnell's sister, then Sir Henry 
 Bagnal's sister ; and last, a lady of the MacGennis fa- 
 mily, ofDowu. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILL. 
 
 227 
 
 cseived the laws and magistrates, and gladly 
 embraced the King's pardon." That long bloody 
 war had cost England many millions of trea- 
 sure,* and the blood of tens of thousands of her 
 veteran soldiers ; and from the face of Ireland it 
 swept nearly one-half of the entire population. 
 
 From that day, the distinction of " Pale" and 
 " Irish Country" was at an end ; and the autho- 
 rity of the Kings of England and their Irish 
 parliaments, became, for the first time, para- 
 mount over the whole island. The pride of 
 ancient Erin — the haughty struggle of Irish 
 nationhood against foreign institutions, and the 
 detested spirit of English imperialism, for that 
 time, sunk in blood and horror ; but the Irish 
 nation is an undying essence, and that noble 
 struggle paused for a season, only to recommence 
 in other forms and on wider ground — to be re- 
 newed, and again renewed, until Ah ! 
 
 quousquCf Dominey quousque ? 
 
 * "In the year 1599 the queen spent six hundred 
 thousand pounds in six months on the service of Ireland. 
 Sir Robert Cecil aflirmed that in ten years Ireland cost 
 her three millions four hundred thousand pounds.'*— 
 Hume. These were enormoiis sums at that period. 
 
• 
 
 228 LIFF OF HUGH O'NEIU^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THE CHIEFTAIN BECOMES AN " EARL.'*— ARTFUL 
 CECIIi. THE END, 
 
 A. D. 1603—1616. 
 
 It now seemed as if the entire object of that 
 tremendous war had been, on the part of Eng- 
 land, to force a coronet upon the unwilling brows 
 of an Irish chieftain, and oblige him in his own 
 despite to accept *' letters patent" and broad 
 lands " in fee." Surely, if this were to be the 
 " conquest of Ulster," if the rich vallies of the 
 North, with all their woods and waters, mills and 
 fishings, were to be given up to these O'Neills 
 and O'Donnells, on whose heads a price had so 
 lately been set for traitors ; if, worse than all, 
 their very religion was to be tolerated, and 
 Ulster, with its verdant abbey-lands and livings, 
 and termon-lands, were still to set "Reformation" 
 at defiance; surely, in this case, the crowd of esu- 
 rient undertakers, lay and clerical, had ground 
 of complaint. It was not for this they left their 
 homes, and felled forests, and camped on the 
 mountains, and plucked down the Red Hand 
 from many a castle wall. Not for this they 
 " preached before the State in Christ- Church/' 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 229 
 
 and censured the backsliding of the times, and 
 pointed out the mortal sin of a compromise with 
 Jezebel. 
 
 Still a good time was coming for the un- 
 dertakers of the sword and cassock. Their 
 king was caring for them. For the present, 
 indeed, while any trace of the national con- 
 federacy remains, it is necessary to " deale 
 liberally with the Irish lords of countreys,"* and 
 even to tolerate their religion, " for a time not 
 definite;" until the northern Irish "shall be more 
 divided, and can be ruined the more easily."! 
 Causes of offence shall arise — shall be created or 
 pretendedi — and those lands will assuredly " es- 
 cheat." Reformation will have its way, and the 
 adventurers be satisfied with the bounties of 
 ^heir king. 
 
 Conciliation, however, was now the policy of 
 King James. He was to rule Ireland, not with 
 the iron rod of a conqueror whose title is the 
 sword ; but, deducing his pedigree from all the 
 British, Saxon, Danish, and Norman kings of 
 England and Scotland, and condescending even 
 to count kindren with the ancient Ard-righs of 
 Ireland, through his ancestors the Albanian 
 Scots, lie indicated an intention of governing 
 the Irish with mild paternal sway, as though he 
 loved them, A comprehensive act of oblivion 
 and amnesty was passed and published under the 
 great seal. All former " treasons" (as the pro- 
 clamation styled a national war against usurpa- 
 
 ' Sec MoMiitjoy's letter, in the Appendix — a most 
 iiiKtiuctive document, 
 t Ibid. 
 
230 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH o'NEILI.. 
 
 tion and tyranny) were to be remitted and utterly 
 extinguished ; and by the same proclamation, 
 the very " Irishry" were informed that they were 
 to believe themselves for the future under the 
 peculiar protection of the crown ; and the king^s 
 kindness, as his majesty's attorney-general in- 
 forms us, '* bred such comfort and security in 
 the hearts of all men, as thereupon ensued the 
 calmest and most universal peace that ever wa^ 
 seen in Ireland.'* 
 
 Lord Mountjoy having thus finished his mis- 
 sion, and, indeed, to give him justice, having 
 done his errand well, repaired to England, taking 
 with him Hugh O'Neill and Roderick O'Donnell 
 to pay their homage, like good subjects, at the 
 foot of the throne. Their vessel was overtaken 
 by a storm and nearly wrecked upon the Skerries, 
 but at length made the port of Beaumaris, and 
 the passengers proceeded on horseback to London. 
 Public feeling towards any distinguished stranger 
 is more accurately interpreted by the populace, 
 than amidst the stately observances of king's 
 courts, and judging by this criterion the name 
 of O'Neill was more feared than loved in Eng- 
 land. There were thousands of widows, tens of 
 thousands of orphans, whose parents and whose 
 husbands' bones strewed many a battle-field in 
 Ulster, from Clontibret to Bealach-moyre, oi- 
 whitened in heaps hard by the fatal Blackwater. 
 And, as the victor of Beal-an-atha-buidhe rode 
 on, " no respect to the Lord Deputy," says Mo- 
 ryson, " in whose company he rode up to London, 
 could contain many women in these parts from 
 flinging dirt at him with bitter words. And 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'nEILI.. 
 
 231 
 
 vhen he was to return, he durst not pass by 
 those parts without directions to the sheriffs to 
 convey him with troops of horse, from place to 
 pLace, till he was safely embarked." 
 
 But at court his reception was most gracious. 
 His pardon was confirmed, his letters patent 
 were duly made out, his friend Roderick O'Don- 
 nell was created " Earl of Tyrconnell," first of 
 that title ; and with every mark of high confi- 
 dence and honour the two new noblemen were 
 sent home to take possession of their estates. To 
 other chieftains, their former confederates, were 
 also "granted" their own property with larger or 
 smaller reservations in favour of rival claimants. 
 As for Art O'Neill, Tirlough Lynnogh's son, 
 (who would fain have been " The O'Neill" and 
 had accepted English alliance for that end,) he 
 was forced to remain " Sir Arthur," and to con- 
 fine himself within narrow limits in a corner of 
 the country. And the Rugged Niall Garbh, the 
 Queen's O'Donnell, " had grown so insolent," 
 says Dr. Leland, " that government was well 
 pleased to favour his competitor." He found 
 that his allies were his masters, and that he must 
 yield all his high pretensions in favour of the 
 new Earl Roderick.* 
 
 Then the Catholic religion was openly pro- 
 
 * Poor Nial Garhli fouglit zealouslj' for liis cliieftaincy, 
 "and it nuist be confessetl," says Cox, "that lie was 
 instrumental in tliose f^ood successes ; whereupon he 
 grew so insolent as to tell the Governor Doewra to his 
 face that the peojjle of Tyrconnell were his suJ)jectH, and 
 that he would punish, exact, cut, Mul luuig them as btj 
 j)lease<l." 
 
Z32 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 fessed and its rites celebrated, not only in the 
 North, (where no other was yet known,) but 
 even in the cities of Leinster and Munster. 
 *' Popish ecclesiastics," in Dr. Leland's phrase, 
 *' practised with their votaries [that is, said mass 
 and adniinistered sacraments] without any decent 
 cauti jn or restraint ;" even monastic buildings 
 in some quarters arose from their ruins, and the 
 abbeys of Multifernam in Westmeath ; Kilcon 
 nell in Galway ; Rossariell in Mayo ; Quin in 
 Thomond ; and Butteyant, Kilcrea, and Timo- 
 league in Cork ; were repaired with somewhat 
 of their ancient splendour and occupied by reli- 
 gious persons as of old ; to the grievous scandal 
 of Dr. Ussher and all zealous Keformers. 
 
 The Earl of Tyrone returned to Dungannon : 
 and it is painful to follow this un-chieftnined 
 O'Neill into his county." Sheriffs had at last 
 appeared there, and made a bailiwick of it : itine- 
 rant judges went circuit in it; king's commis- 
 sioners travelled through it, and cleared the 
 passes, and surveyed and measured out the land ; 
 and with the customary policy of a government 
 which is hostile to the country it assumes to rule, 
 spies were planted thick around all *' suspected" 
 persons. The haughty O'Neill soon found him- 
 self surrounded by an atmosphere of base espion- 
 nage, " Notice is taken," says Attorney-General 
 Da vies, " of every person that is able to do either 
 good or hurt. It is known not only how they 
 live and wliat they do, but it is foreseen what 
 they purpose or intend to do: insomuch as Ty- 
 rone hath been heard to coinplain that he bad so 
 aaany eyes watching over him — that he cotild not 
 
I.IFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 233 
 
 drink a full carouse of sack, but the state was ad- 
 vertised tliereof a few hours after." Yet he seems 
 to have had no thought of again taking up arms. 
 His wearied people had rest, and cultivated their 
 lands and practised their religion in peace ; and 
 the grey-haired chief, though with a gloomy brow 
 and indignant heart, endured his detested earl- 
 dom in silence, waiting for his best friend Death. 
 
 But the pre-arranged system of English go- 
 vernment soon began to develope itself. In the 
 midst of this " most universal peace that ever was 
 seen in Ireland," the king's councillors suddenly 
 published in Dublin that " Act of Uniformity," 
 the second of Elizabeth,* which strictly prohi- 
 bited the attendance upon Catholic worship. A 
 proclamation was also issued on the 4th of July, 
 1605, whereby his Majesty, " declared to his be- 
 loved subjects of Ireland that he would not admit 
 any such liberty of conscience as they were made 
 to expect ;" and commanded all Catholic clergy 
 by a certain day to depart the realm.j Again the 
 spiritual courts of the king's bishops resumed 
 their functions : the church-wardens were busy ; 
 the priests had to fly or lurk in secret places ; 
 and all the terrors of the penal laws were let loose 
 
 • It is suflBciently well attested (though not very ma- 
 terial for us to remark here) that tliis act w as obtained 
 ill the Pale parliament surreptitiously and fraudulently. 
 Whetlier it were so or not the attemjjting to impose it 
 ui)on the ancient Irish, who had no i)art in enacting it, 
 and were not even de facto subject to that parliament a* 
 the time, was e(iualiy a I'raud and an outrage. 
 
 f Dr. Mant admits thattiiere was in this proclamation 
 an "aiiparent severity," p. 350. 
 
234 OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 upon the land. Such measures as these had just 
 provoked the Gunpowder Conspiracy in England; 
 and seem to have been intended to drive the Irish 
 to arms, in order, as Mountjoy says, to the " ab- 
 solute reducement of that country but if that 
 were the object it altogether failed; and another 
 expedient had to be substituted, as we shall pre- 
 sently see. 
 
 A very interesting account is given by Sir 
 John Davies (in a letter to Robert Cecil Earl of 
 Salisbury,) of a progress made by the Lord De- 
 puty Sir Arthur Chichester, into some of the 
 northern counties in 1607. The Lord Chancellor, 
 the Chief Justice, Sir Oliver Lambert, Sir Garret 
 Moore and the Attorney-General (Sir John him- 
 self) accompanied Chichester ; " and albeit," he 
 says, " we were to pass through the wastest and 
 wildest parts of all the North, yet had we only 
 for our guard six or seven score of foot, and fifty 
 or three score horse, which is an argument of a 
 good time and of a confident Deputy. For in former 
 times, when the state enjoyed the best peace and 
 security no Lord Deputy did ever venture him- 
 self in'*to those parts, without an army of eight 
 hundred or a thousand men." They encamped 
 one night on the borders of Farney, " which,** 
 says Sir John, " is the inheritance of the Earl 
 of Essex then they proceeded to Monaghan, 
 delivered the gaol, and " empanelled a jury to 
 inquire into the state of the church in that coun' 
 ty," which found a verdict, " that the churches 
 for the most part are utterly waste ; that the 
 king is patron of all ; and that their incumbents 
 are Popish priests, instituted by bishops authorized 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O NEILL. 
 
 235 
 
 from Rome." It appears, however, that the 
 dioceses of Derry, Raphoe and Clogher had at 
 last been provided with a king's bishop, who was 
 resident in England, and " whose absence," says 
 Davies, " being two years since he had been 
 elected by his Majesty, hath been the chief cause 
 that no course hath been hitherto taken to reduce 
 these poor people to Christianity, and therefore 
 majus peccatum hahet" Of another bishop, one 
 Draper, Davies says, " there is no divine service 
 or sermon to be heard within either of his dio- 
 ceses." 
 
 From these intimations, it would appear that 
 there was not in the year 1607 a single Protes- 
 tant in all the. North, except the soldiers in gar- 
 rison ; so that the religious " Reformation" wa^i 
 Btill unknown there. 
 
 The second night after leaving Monaghan they 
 arrived at Lough Erne ; and " we pitched our 
 tents," says Sir John, " over against the island of 
 Devenish, a place being prepared for the holding 
 of our sessions for Fermanagh in the ruins of an 
 abbey there." Thus they proceeded through all 
 Mac Gwire's, O'Reilly's and Mac Mahon's coun- 
 tries, administering justice, and holding a kind of 
 inquisition into both ecclesiastical and civil af- 
 fairs. 
 
 In the latter department also the Deputy found 
 that much remained to be done, before English 
 institutions and government should predominate 
 in the North. As an instance of the tenacity 
 with which the people adhered to their ancient 
 customs, Davies mentions the case of an O'Reilly, 
 " to whom Sir George Carey had given thQ cus- 
 
236 
 
 LTFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 tody of the land (Breffni) during the king's plea- 
 sure, whereof, he continues, the poor gentleman 
 hath little benefit, because, not being created 
 O'Relie by them, they do not suffer him to cut 
 and exact like an Irish prince." 
 
 In concluding his narrative Davies says : " If 
 my Lord Deputy do finish these beginnings, and 
 settle these counties, as I assure myself he will, 
 this will prove the most profitable journey for the 
 service of God and his Majesty, and the generaj 
 good of this kingdom that hath been made in the 
 time of peace by any deputy these many years." 
 
 And truly it did appear full time to settle" 
 the North. All apprehension of an Irish war 
 was at an end. The power of the, Ulster chief- 
 tains was utterly broken ; and hungry under- 
 takers were waiting for their prey. English 
 statesmen had now fully adopted the expedient 
 of getting up fictitious plots, and fastening them 
 upon whatever party they designed to ruin : and 
 on this occasion we find a choice instance of that 
 policy. 
 
 Doctor Jones, the king's bishop of Meath, gives 
 the generally received account of the matter in 
 these words:* " Anno 1607, there was a provi- 
 dential discovery of another rebellion in Ireland, 
 the Lord Chichester being deputy : the discoverer 
 not being willing to appear, a letter from him, 
 not subscribed) was superscribed to Sir William 
 Usher, clerk of the council, and dropt in the 
 council-chnm.ber then held in the Castle of Dub- 
 lin ; in which was mentioned a design for seizing 
 
 * Curry's Review, 
 
I^IFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 237 
 
 the Castle and murdering the Deputy, with a 
 general revolt and dependence on Spanish forces 
 and this also for religion : for particulars where- 
 of," says the bishop, " I refer to that letter dated 
 March the 19th, 1607. 
 
 Another version of it is given thus by Ander- 
 son (Royal Genealogies): "Artful Cecil* em- 
 ployed one St. Lawrence to entrap the earls of 
 Tyrone and Tyrconnell, the lord of Delvin and 
 other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had 
 no evidence but his."f 
 
 And there is yet a third story given by Dr 
 Carleton, bishop of Chichester — that one Mont- 
 gomery, who is called Bishop of Derry, was in- 
 formed that O'Neill had got into possession of 
 certain lands belonging to his see (concerning 
 vhich he was much more solicitous than for the 
 souls of all the diocese):j: — that he instituted a 
 Buit to discover these lands — that he found one 
 of the O'Cahans of Derry, able and willing to 
 assist his researches, and to give evidence in his 
 cause — that processes were issued calling upon 
 (yNeill to appear and answer in the cause of 
 the Lord Bishop of Derry against Hugh Earl 
 of Tyrone — and that O'Neill, "having entered 
 into a new conspiracy in which O'Cahan was, 
 began to suspect, when he was served with a 
 process to answer the suit, that this was but a 
 
 • HoLert Cecil, Earl of Salishury, the discoverer, and 
 lome say contriver, of the gunpowder plot. 
 
 f This is tlie account adopted by Mac (ieoghcrfan. 
 
 j This must be the same absentee bishop mentiored 
 by iJavies, wljo had taken no course to reduce his people 
 to (,'hrL3tianity. 
 
238 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 plot to draw him in, and that surely the treason 
 had been revealed by O'Cahan." 
 
 It matters little in which of all these ways it 
 fell out that O'Neill came to be charged with this 
 conspiracy. By some means or other, by anony- 
 mous letters, or vague rumours, " artful Cecil" 
 succeeded in fixing upon O'Neill and O'Donnel] 
 a cliai'ge of treason, to sustain which there has 
 not been, from that day to this, a tittle of evi- 
 dence. They were informed however that wit- 
 nesses were to be hired against them,* and be- 
 lieving this highly probable from the whole course 
 of English policy towards Irishmen, knowing also 
 the rapacious views of James, and that their 
 presence in the kingdom would only draw down 
 heavier misfortune upon their poor clansmen, and 
 having moreover a wdiolesome terror of juries 
 since the fate of Mac Mahon ; they came to the 
 resolution of leaving their unhappy native coun- 
 try, and seeking amongst the continental powers, 
 either arms and troops to right the wrongs of 
 Erin, or at least a place to end their own days in 
 peace.' They waited not for the toils of Chi- 
 chester to close around them ; but in the autumn 
 of that year, on the festival of the Holy Cross, 
 they emoarked in a vessel that had lately carried 
 Cuconnaught Mac Gwire and Donagh O'Brien 
 to Ireland, and was then lying in Lough Swilly. 
 With O'Neill went his wife, the laJy Catherina 
 end her three sons, Hugh, whom they called the 
 Baron Dungannon, John and Brian, Art Oge 
 son of Cormac Mac Baron, Ferdoragh son of 
 
 * Anderion. Royal Genealogies. 
 
LIFE OF HUGH o'ifEILIi. 
 
 239 
 
 Conn (who was a natural son of O'Neill,) Hugh 
 Oire and others of his family and friends. .Rode- 
 rick O'Donnell was attended by bis brother 
 Cathbar, and his sister Nuala,* Hugh, the Earl's 
 child, wanting three weeks of being a year old, 
 Rose, daughter of O'Dogherty and wife .of Cath- 
 bar, with her son Hugh, aged two years and 
 three months, Roderick's brother's son Donnell 
 Oge, son of Donnell, Naghtan son of Calvagh 
 who was son of Donnell Cairbreach O'Donnell, 
 and other friends : — surely a distinguished com- 
 pany ; and " it is certain, say the reverend chro- 
 niclers of Tyrconnell, that the sea has not borne, 
 and the Avind has not wafted in modern times a 
 number of persons in one ship more eminent, 
 illustrious or noble in point of genealogy, heroic 
 deeds, valour, feats of arms and brave achieve- 
 ments than they. Would that God had but per- 
 mitted them," continue the Four Masters, " to 
 remain in their patrimonial inheritances until 
 the children should arive at the age of manhood ! 
 Woe to the heart that meditated — woe to the 
 mind that conceived — woe to the council that 
 recommended the project of this expedition, with- 
 out knowing whether they should to the end of 
 their lives, be able to return to their ancient 
 principalities and patrimonies." With gloomy 
 looks and sad forebodings, the clansmen of Tyr- 
 connell gazed upon tliat latal ship, "built in th' 
 eclipse and rigged with curses dark," as she 
 
 • This lady had been the wife of Niall Garbli, but had 
 left him on his taking arms against her br*th«r, Red 
 
240 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O^NEILL, 
 
 dropped down Lough Swilly, and was hidden 
 behind the cliffs of Fanad head. They never 
 saw their chieftains more. 
 
 Here was brought about the very state of 
 affairs that King James had long desired. 
 *' Nothing," says Dr. Leland, " could be more 
 favourable to that passion which James indulged 
 for reforming Ireland, by the introduction of 
 English law and civility." So very favourable, 
 indeed, as to leave little doubt that it was all 
 contrived by that man of plots " Artful Cecil 
 and so vague and suspicious are the accounts of 
 " the conspiracy of the Earls," that Dr. Curry 
 is tolerably safe in concluding " there never was 
 any such conspiracy ; and these accounts were 
 then framed, however injudiciously, to give 
 some colour of right to public acts of slander, 
 oppression, and rapine."* 
 
 Instantly commissioners were despatched to 
 the North to deal with " traitors," and take ac- 
 count o^ lands which were to escheat to the 
 crown. The two Earls, with other chieftains, 
 were duly attainted by process of outlawry ; their 
 lands and titles were declared forfeit ; and the 
 Plantation of Ulster commenced. 
 
 * Historical Review. The king, as if anticipating 
 this conclusion, published a proclamation, in which 
 (amongst other tilings) he says: "wee doe professe that 
 it is both known to us and our counsell here, and to our 
 deputie and state there, and so shall it appeare to the 
 world, (as cleare as the sunne,) by evident proofes, that 
 the only ground and motive of this high contemjjt, in 
 these men'« departure, hath been the ])rivate knowledge 
 and inward terrour of their own guiltinesse," &c. But 
 no attempt to give these proofs was ever made. 
 
OFE OF HUGH 0*NEILL. 
 
 241 
 
 These operations, indeed, were interrupted the 
 following year bj the rising of Cahir O'Dogherty, 
 chief of Inishowen. O'Dogherty quarrelled with 
 Sir Greorge Pawlett, to whom Docwra had in- 
 trusted the government of Derry ; and on the 
 first of May, 1608, he took Culmore fort by 
 stratagem, surprised Derry, put both governor 
 and garrison to the sword, plundered the town 
 and laid it in ashes. Three months he kept the 
 field against Marshal Wingfield and his army ; 
 but at length fell, either in battle, or by the 
 hand of private ^lengeance (for the chroniclers 
 differ), and the last obstacle was removed to one 
 of the most enormous schemes of sweeping 
 plunder that history has to record.* In the six 
 counties of Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Ferma- 
 iiagh, Cavan, and Armagh, a tract of country, 
 containing five hundred thousand acres, was 
 seized upon by the King, and parcelled out in 
 lots to undertakers. The " domains" of the at- 
 tainted lords were assumed to include all the 
 lands inhabited by their clans ; and so far were 
 the King's new arrangements from respecting 
 the rights of the ancient natives, that " the fun- 
 damental ground of this plantation was the 
 
 * The act of Parliament passed upon that occasion 
 thus recites — "And whereas the divine justice hath 
 lately cast out of the province of Ulster divers wicked 
 and ungrateful! traytors, wlio practised to interrupt those 
 blessed courses, bej^un and continued by your IViajestie 
 for the ^(enerall good of this wlude realm, by whose de- 
 fection and attainders great scojjcs of land in those i)arts 
 have been reduced to your Majestie's hands and posse*, 
 sion," &c. 
 
242 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 avoiding of natives, and planting only with Bri- 
 tish."* 
 
 Now at last the undertakers had their will of 
 Ulster, and the King's clergy had that corner ol 
 the vineyard opened to their labours. Now all 
 those Wingfields, and Caulfields, and Blaneys, 
 and Chichesters had their long-expected estates. 
 The Lord Deputy alone received for his share 
 the entire peninsula of Inishowen — the broad 
 erenach and termon-lands wherewith ancient 
 piety had endowed Saint Columba's Teampol- 
 More, formed the richest bishop's see in Ireland 
 (perhaps too rich for a bishop who had neither 
 flocks nor clergy) ; and the entire territory of 
 Arachty was allotted, by letters patent, with 
 much Norman law language, to certain drapers, 
 grocers, skinners, vintners, and other guilds of 
 tradesmen in the good city of London ; and the 
 noble old Irish race, the clansmen who had. 
 pierced the mailed ranks of Bagnal and Norreys, 
 and had trampled Saint George's banner on 
 many a battle-field, worn down by famine and 
 disease, without leaders and without hope, were 
 driven to the desolate mountains, were hunted 
 like wolves, and from their inaccessible heights 
 could see those rich valleys where they and their 
 fathers dwelt, flooded by hordes of Scotch and 
 
 * Sir Thomas Philijjs, in Harris's Hibernia. '*Itis 
 true, says Sir Thomas, that after a prescribed number 
 of freeholders and leaseholders were settled upon every 
 town land, an.d rents therein set down, they might let 
 the remainder to natives for lives, so as they were con- 
 formable in religion, and for the favour, to double their 
 rents." See also for full information on the details (rf 
 the plantation, Captain Pynnar's " Survey of Ulster." 
 
LIFE OF HUGH O^NEILL. 
 
 243 
 
 English adventurers. Surely it was a heart- 
 breaking sight to see ; and no roan can think it 
 srange if deeds of stern and bloody vengeance 
 were sometimes done. 
 
 How it fared with the exiled chiefs and theii 
 associates, we have no minute or very authentic 
 account ; and if we had, it were indeed one oi 
 the saddest stories. At first they sailed directly 
 to Normandy ; then proceeded to Flanders ; and 
 finally to Rome, where the Pope (Paul the Fifth^ 
 received them with hospitality and high consi- 
 deration. But who can describe, or imagine, 
 with what bitterness of soul the aged Prince of 
 Ulster heard of the miseries of his faithful peo- 
 ple, and the manifold oppressions and robberies 
 of those detested English ; with what earnest 
 passion he pleaded with Popes and Princes, and 
 besought them to think upon the wrongs of Ire- 
 land. Ha ! if > he had sped in that mission of 
 vengeance — if he had persuaded Paul or Philip 
 to give him some ten thousand Italians or Spa- 
 niards — how would it have fluttered those Eng- 
 lish in their dove-cotes, to behold his ships stand- 
 ing up Lough Foyle, with the Bloody Hand 
 displayed ! Assuredly he would have disturbed 
 their " letters patent," would have made very 
 light of their " statutes, their fines, their double 
 vouchers, their recoveries." Spanish blades and 
 Irish pikes would have made "the fine of their 
 firi>c;3, the recovery of their recoveries." But not 
 so was it written in the Book. No potentate in 
 Europe was willing to risk such a force as waa 
 needed ; and after wandering from court to court, 
 fcaiiDg his own heart, lor eight years, he bo 
 
244 
 
 LIFE OF HUGH O'NEILL. 
 
 came blind, and so, with darkened eyes and soul, 
 died at Rome some time in the year 1616.* 
 
 * Borlase. Reduction of Ireland. 
 
 Borlase says that his son (probably that Henry who 
 was recalled from Spain) was, some years after, found 
 strangled in his bed at Brussels ; ' ' and so, " he observes, 
 *' ended his race." 
 
 Trom the fine Elegy so beautifully translated by Man- 
 gan, it appears that O Donnell also, and his brothel 
 Cathbar, and O'Neill's three young sons, all died at Rome, 
 and lie buried there together : — 
 
 Two princes of the line of Conn 
 Sleej) in their cells of clay, beside 
 O'Donnell Roe : 
 ^ Three royal youths, alas ! are gone, 
 
 Who lived for Erin's weal, but died 
 For Erin's woe 1 
 Ah ! could the men of Ireland read 
 The names these noteless burial stones 
 Display to view, 
 Their wounded hearts afresh would bleed.. 
 Their tears gush forth again, their giuans 
 Resound anew 1 
 * * ♦ 
 
 And who can marvel o'er thy grief, 
 Or who can blame thy flowing tears, 
 That knows their source ? 
 O'Donnell, Dunnasava's chief. 
 Cut off amidst his vernal years. 
 Lies here a corse, 
 Beside his brother Cathbar, whom 
 Tyrconnell of the Helmets mourns 
 
 In deep despair — 
 For valour, truth, and comely bloom i 
 jsoi all that greatens and adorns 
 A peerless pair. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A LETTER FROM LORD DEPUTY MOUNTJOY TO THE LORDS 
 OF THE COUNCIL IN ENGLAND. 
 
 May it please your Lordships — Although T am 
 unwilling to inforine you often of the present estate of 
 this kingdom, or of any particular accidents or services, 
 because the one is subject to so much alteration, and the 
 other lightly delivered unto all that are not present, 
 with such uncertaintie ; and that I am loath to make 
 any project unto your lordships, either of my requests 
 to you, or my owne resolutions here, since so many 
 things fall suddainly out, which may alter the grounds 
 of either ; yet since I doe write noAv by one that can so 
 sufficiently supply the defects of a letter, I have pre- 
 sumed at this time to imi)urte unto your lordships that 
 1 think fit to be remembered, or doe determine on ; 
 most humbly desiring your lordships, that if I err in the 
 one, or hereafter alter the other, you will not impute it 
 to my want of sinceritie or constanc}^ but to the nature 
 of the suV)ject whereof I must treate, or of the matter 
 whereon 1 worke : And first, to present unto your lord- 
 ships the outwiud face of the four provinces, and after 
 to guesse (as neerc as I can) at their dispositions. 
 Mounster, by the good government and industry of the 
 Lord Tresident, is cleare of any force in rebellion, ex- 
 cept some few, not able to make any forcible head ; ir 
 Leinster there is not one declared rebell ; in C'onnaught 
 there is none but in O'Rorke's country ; in Ulster none 
 but I'yrone and Bryan Mac Art, wlio was never lord of 
 9,ny country, and now doth, with a body of loose men. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 and some crefights, continue in Glancomkynes, or neere 
 tlie borders thereof. Cohonocht Mac Gwyre, sometimes 
 Lord of Fermanagh, is banished out of the country, who 
 lircs with O'iiorke ; and at this time Conor Koe Mac 
 Gwyre is possessed of it by the queene, and holds it for 
 her. I beheve that generally the lords of the countries 
 that are reclaimed desire a peace, though they will be 
 wavering till their lands and estates are assured unto 
 I'oem from her Majestic ; and as long as they see a party 
 in rebellion to subsist, that is of a power to mine them^ 
 if they continue subjects or otherwise, shall be doubtful 
 of our defence. All that are out doe seeke for mercy, 
 excepting O'Rorke, and O'SuUivan, Avho is now witli 
 O'liorke, and these are obstinate only out of their diflS? 
 dence to be safe in any fca-givenesse. The loose men. 
 and such as are only captaines of Bonnoghts, as Tirrell 
 and Brian IMac Art, will nourish the warre as long as 
 they see any possibilitie to subsist; and, like ill hu- 
 mours, have recourse to any part that is unsound. The 
 nobilitie, towns, and English-Irish are, for the most 
 part, as weary of the warre as any, but unwilling to 
 h?ve it ended, generally for fear that upon a peace will 
 ensue a severe reformation of religion ; and, in particu- 
 lar, many bordering gentlemen that were made poore 
 by tlieir own faults, or by rebels' incursions, continue 
 their spleene to them, now they are become subjects ; 
 and having used to hclpe themselves b}'^ stealths, did 
 never more use them, nor better prevailed in them than 
 Tjow, that these submittees have layed aside their owne 
 defence, and betaken themselves to the x>rotection and 
 justice of the state ; and many of them have tasted so 
 much sweete in entertainments that they rather desire a 
 warre to continue there than a quiet harvest tliat might 
 arise out of their own honest labour ; so that I doe find 
 none more pernicious instruments of a new warre than 
 some of these. In the meane time, Tyrone, while he 
 shall live, will blow every sparke of discontent, or new 
 hopes that -shall lye hid in a corner of the kingdonie 
 and before he shall be utterly extinguished make many 
 blazes, and sometimes set on fire or consume the next 
 eubjects unto him. I am persuaded that his combina- 
 tion is already brolien, and it is apparent that hia 
 
APPENPIX. 
 
 247 
 
 meaiies to subsist in &ny power is overthrowne ; but 
 how long hee may live as a wood-kerne, and wha-t new 
 accidents may fall out while he doth live I know not. 
 If it be imputed to my fault that, notwithstanding her 
 Majestie'f great forces, he doth still live, I beseech 
 your lordships to remember how securely the ban- 
 ditoes of Italy doe live, betweene the power of the 
 King of Spaine and tlie Pope. How many men of 
 all countreye* of severall times have in such sort pre- 
 served themselves long from the great power of princes, 
 but especially in this countrey, where there are so many 
 difficulties to carry an armie, in most places so many un- 
 accessible strengths for them to flye unto : and then to bee 
 pleased to consider the great worke that first I had to 
 breake this maine rebellion, to defend the kingdom from 
 a dangerous invasion of a mightie forraine prince, with 
 so strong a partie in the countrey, and now the diffi- 
 cultie to root out scattered troopes that had so many un- 
 accessible dennes to lurke in, whicli as they are by nature 
 of extreme strength and perill to bee attempted : so it is 
 impossible for any people naturally and by art to make 
 greater use of them. And though with infinite dangers 
 wee do beat them out of one, yet is there no possibilitie 
 for us to follow them with such agilitie as they will flyc 
 to another : and it is most sure that never traytor knew 
 better how to keepe his owne bead than this ; nor any 
 subjects have a more dreadfuU awe to lay violent hands 
 on their sacred prince, than these people have to touch 
 the person of their O'Neales ; and hee that hath as pes- 
 tilent a .iu'l;,'mfent as ever any had to nourisli and to 
 spreade his owne infection, liath the ancient swelling and 
 desire of libcrtie in conquered nation to worbie upoi., 
 their fear to liee rooted out, or to have tlieir old faidta 
 punished upon all particular discontents, and generally 
 Over all the kingdom the feare of a persecution for re- 
 ligion, the debasing of the coyne, (which is grievous 
 unto all sortes) and a dearth and famine which is already 
 begun and must necessarily grow shortly to extremity : 
 the least of which alone have been many times siiflicicnt 
 n)()tives to drive the best and most (juict estates into siuU 
 daine confusion. 'J'hese will kecj)e all spirits froui set. 
 tling» breed now combinations, and, I feare, even stir the 
 
248 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 townes themselves to solicit forraine aide, with pifomiw 
 to east themselves into their protection : and although it 
 bee true that if it had pleased her majestic to have longef 
 continued her army in greater strength, I should the bet- 
 ter have provided for what these cloudes doe threaten, 
 and sooner and more easily either have made this coun- 
 trey a rased table, wherein shee might have written her 
 owne lawes, or have tyed the ill-disposed and rebellious 
 hands till I had surely planted such a government as 
 would have overgrowne and kiUed any weeds that should 
 have risen under it : yet since the necessitie of the state 
 doeth so urge a diminution of this great expense, I wiU 
 not despayre to goe on with this worke, through all thesf 
 difficulties, if wee bee not interrupted by forraine forces, 
 although perchance wee may be encountered with some 
 new irruptions, and (by often adventuring) with some 
 disasters : and it may bee your lordships shall sometimes 
 heare of some spoyles done upon the subjects, from the 
 which it is impossible to preserve them in all places, with 
 far greater forces than ever yet vvere kept in this king- 
 dome : and although it hatli been seldom heard that an 
 armie hath been carried on with so continuall action, and 
 enduring without any intermission of winter breathings, 
 and that the difficulties at this time to keepe any forces 
 in the place wliere wee must make the warre (but espe- 
 cially our horse) are almost beyond any hope to prevent, 
 yet with the favour of God and her majesty's fortune I 
 doe determine myselfe to draw into the field as soon as I 
 have received her majesty's commandments by the com- 
 missioners, who it hath pleased her to send over ; and i^ 
 the mean time I hope by mine owne presence or direc- 
 tions to set every partie on worke that doth adjoyne, or 
 may bee drawn against any force that doth now remaiue 
 in rebellion. In which journey the successe must bee in 
 the liands of God : but I will confidently promise to omit 
 thing that is possible by us to bee done, to give the 
 iast blow unto tlie rebellion. But as all paine and an. 
 guish, impatient of the present doeth use cliange for a 
 remedie ; sa will it be impossible for us to settle tlie 
 minds of these people unto a peace, or reduce them unto 
 order, while tliey feele the smart of these sensible griefes 
 and apparent f^^ares wliich I have remembered to your 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 249 
 
 lordships without some hope of reclresse or securitie. 
 Therefore I will presume, (how unworthy soever I have 
 beene,) since it concerns the province her majestie hath 
 given me, with all humblenesse to lay before your grave 
 judgments some few things which I thinke necessary to 
 be considered of. 
 
 And first, whereas the alteration of the coyne and 
 taking away of the exchange in such measure as it was 
 first promised, hath bred a generall grievance unto men 
 of all qualities, and so many incommodities to all sorts, 
 that it is beyond the judgment of any that I can heare, 
 to prevent a confusion in this estate by the continuance 
 thereof, that (at the least) it would please your lord- 
 ships to put tins people in some cercame iiope, triat; upon 
 the end of the warre this new standard shall be abolished 
 or eased ; and that in the meane time the armie may be 
 favourably dealt with in the exchange, since by the last 
 proclamation your lordships sent over, they doe conceive 
 their case will bee more hard than anie others ; for if 
 they have allowed them nothing but indefinitely as much 
 as they shall merely gaine out of their entertainments, 
 that will proove nothing to the greater parte. Eor the 
 onlie possibilitie to make them to live upon their enter- 
 tamment, will bee to allow them exchange for the greatest 
 parte thereof, since now they doe not only pay excessive 
 prizes for all things, but can hardly get anything for this 
 money. And, although we have presumed to alter (in 
 shew though not in effect) the Proclamation in that 
 point, by retayning a power in ourselves to proportion 
 their allowance for exchange ; yet, was it with a minde 
 to conform our proceedings therein according to your 
 lordships' next directions, and therefore doe humbly de- 
 sire to know your pleasures therein. For our opinions of 
 the last project it pleased your lordships to send us, I 
 doe huniljly leave it to our generall letters: only as for 
 myself I ma<le overture to the councill in the other you 
 sent directly only to inyselfe; and because I found them 
 generally to concurr( , that it would prove as dangerous 
 as the first, 1 did not thinke it fit any otherwise to de- 
 clare your lordshi[)s' pleasure therein. And, whereas it 
 pleased your lor(lsiii{)S in your last letters to command us 
 U> deale moderately in the great matter of religion ; I had. 
 
250 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 before the receipt of your lordships' letters, presumed 
 to advise such as dealt in it for a time to hold a more re- 
 Btraynt hand therein ; and M^ee were botli thinking our- 
 selves what course to take in the Revocation of what was 
 alread}^ done, with least incouragement to them and 
 others, since the feare that this course begun in Dubhn 
 would fall upon tlie rest Avas apprehended over all the 
 kingdom ; so that I think yo*ur lordships' direction was 
 to greate purpose, and the other course might have over- 
 throwne the meanes to our owne ende of reformation of 
 religion. Not that I thinke too greate precisenesse can 
 bee used in the reforming of ourselves, the abuses of our 
 owne clergie, church-livings, and discipline ; nor that 
 the trueth of the gospell can with too great vehemencie, 
 or industrie, bee set forward in all places, and by all or- 
 dinarie means most proper unto itself, that was first set 
 foorth, and spread in meekenesse ; not that I thinke any 
 corporall prosecution or punishment can bee too severe 
 for such as shall bee found seditious instruments of for- 
 raine or inward practices ; not that I thinke it fit that 
 any principall magistrates should bee chosen without tak- 
 ing the oathe of obedience, nor tolerated in absenting 
 themselves from pubhque divine service ; but that wee 
 may bee advised how wee doe punish in their bodies or 
 goods any such only for religion as doe professe to bee 
 faithful subjects to her majestic, and against whom the 
 contrary cannot bee proved. And since, if the Irish 
 were utterly rooted out, there was much lesse likelihood 
 that tliis countrey could bee thereby in any time planted 
 by the English, since they are so farre from inliabiting 
 well any part of that they have already ; and that more 
 than is likely to bee inliabited may bee easily chosen out 
 and reserved in such places by the sea side, or upon great 
 rivers, as may bee planted to great purpose for a future 
 absolute reducement of this countrey, I thinke it would 
 a-s much avail the speedy settling of this countrey as any. 
 ihing ; that it would please her majestic to deale liberally 
 with the Irish lords of countreyes, or such as are now of 
 great reputation amongst them, in the distribution of 
 such lands as they have formerly possessed, or tlie state 
 here can make little use of her majestic ; if they con- 
 tinue as they ought to doe, and yield the Queen as much 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 251 
 
 rommoditie as shee may otherwise expect, shee hath 
 made a good purchase of such subjects for such land.— 
 If any of them hereafter be disobedient to her lawes, or 
 breake foorth in rebellion, shee may, when they shall be 
 more divided, ruine them more easily for example unto 
 others, and (if it be thought fit) ma,y plant English oi 
 other Irish in their countryes : for although there ever 
 have been, and hereafter may bee small irruptions in 
 some places, which at the first may easily be suppressed, 
 yet tlie suflering them to grow to that general head and 
 combination, did questionlesse proceede from great 
 errour in the judgment heere, and may be easily, as I 
 thinke, prevented hereafter. And further, it may please 
 her Majestie to ground her resolution for the time and 
 numbers of the next abatement of the list of her armie, 
 somewhat upon our poor advice from hence, and to be- 
 # leeve that wee will not so far corrupt our judgments 
 
 with any private respects and without necessitie, to con- 
 tinue her charge, seeing wee do throughly conceive how 
 grievous it is unto her estate, and that we may not bee 
 precisely tyed to an establisliment that shall conclude 
 the payments of the treasure since it hath ever been 
 thought fit to be otherwise till the comming over of the 
 Earle of Essex : and some such extraordinary occasions 
 may fall out that it will be dangerous to attend your 
 lordship's resolutions, and when it will bee safe to dimi- 
 nish the armie here, that there may be some other 
 course though* of by some other employment, to dis- 
 burden this countrey of the idle swordmen, in whom I 
 find an inclination apt enough to bee carried elsewhere, 
 eitlier by some of this countrey of best reputation 
 among them, or in companies as now they stand under 
 English captains, who may be reinforced with the 
 greatest part of the Irish. That it may be left to our 
 discretion to make passages and bridges into coun- 
 treyes otherwise inaccessable, and to build little pyles of 
 Btone in such garrisons as shall bee thought fittest, to 
 bee continual bridles upon the people by the conmioditio 
 of which wee may at any time drawe the greatest parte 
 of the armie together to make a head against any j)art 
 that shall first brake out, and yet reserve the places 
 ouely with a word to put in greater forcei m occasion 
 
252 
 
 APPENUli*.. 
 
 shall require, which I am persuaded will prove great 
 
 pledges upon this countrey, that upon any urgent cause 
 the Queen may safely drawe the greatest part of her 
 armie here out of the kingdom, to be employed for a 
 time elsewhere, wherein I beseech your lordships to con- 
 sider what a strength so many experienced captaines a*.id 
 souldiers would be to any armie of new men erected in 
 England against an invasion, or sent abroad in any of- 
 fensive war: But untill tliese places be built, I cannot 
 conceive how her Majestic (with any safetie) can make 
 any great diminution of her ai-mie. Lastly, I doe 
 humbly desire your lordships to receive the farther ex- 
 planation of my meaning and confirmation of my rea- 
 sons that doe induce me unto these propositions : for the 
 Lord President of Mounster, who as he hath been a very 
 worthy actor in the reducement and defence of this 
 kingdom, so doe I thinke him to be the best able to give 
 you a through account of the present estate and future 
 providence for the preservation thereof: Wherein it 
 may please your lordships to require liis opinion of the 
 hazard this kingdom is like to runne in if it should by 
 any mightie power be invaded, and how hard it will bee 
 for us in any measure to provide for the present defence, 
 if any such be intended, and withall to goe on with the 
 suppression of these that are left in rebellion, so that 
 wee must either adventure the kindling of tliis fire that 
 is, almost extinguished, or intending onelie that, leave 
 the other to exceeding peril. And tlius having remem- 
 bered to your lordships the most material poynts i as I 
 conceive) that are fitted for the present to bee coms- 
 dered of, I doe humbly recommend myselfe and them to 
 your lordships' favour. From her Majestie's Castle of 
 Dublin, the sixe and twentieth of February, 1(302-3 
 
 THS END. 
 
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