Ireland Under the Tudors, Volume 3 — Chapter 39 The Desmond War Final Stage 1581 to 1583 Part 2

[Sidenote: Disorders of an ill-paid soldiery.

] Ireland could not be held without an army, and that army was irregularly paid.

The consequence was that the Queen's peaceable subjects found their defenders more burdensome than their enemies.

'I think in conscience,' said Bishop Lyons '(speaking it with grief of heart), amongst the heathen there is no such wicked soldiers.'

In the Pale food and forage were taken without payment, 'every soldier, having his boy or woman, would when he came in the afternoon have a meal's meat, which they term a "Kusshyinge," and then after that his supper, and if the poor people when they came offered them such as they had, as bread, milk, butter, cheese, or eggs, they would have none of it, but would have flesh, and when they found poultry or sheep they would kill them, and every soldier would have a quarter of that mutton or poultry at his pleasure, with the reversion of which he would break his fast in the morning and have sixpence for his dinner, for all which they would pay nothing, nor captain nor officer give their bill, whereby the ordinary allowance might be answered of the country.'

Men, and even women, were beaten to death, and a great part of Kildare lay waste.

A proper composition, in lieu of cess, and increased pay were the only remedies which the Irish Government could suggest.

In Munster there was scarcely any attempt made to levy a regular cess, but the soldiers took whatever they could find.

If the mayor or citizens of Cork interceded for their miserable neighbours, they received such answers as, 'Ye are but beggars, rascals, and traitors, and I am a soldier and a gentleman.'

Under these circumstances it is not wonderful that Desmond's band was 1,000 strong, that the rebels reaped the corn everywhere, and that Captain Smith and his company, who were among the worst offenders, were cut to pieces at Ardfert.

The cattle were swept away at noon from under the walls of Cashel.

The seneschal of Imokilly plundered freely in the immediate neighbourhood of Cork, and the mayor pursued them in vain--luckily, in St. Leger's opinion, for the citizen soldiers were fit only to defend walls, and scarcely to do that against any serious attack.

[93] [Sidenote: Desmond's cruelty.

] Desmond was strong for the moment, but his cruel and impolitic conduct shows that he was a desperate man.

Four gentlemen of the Geraldines, who had refused to follow him were captured and sentenced by his council of war to be hanged.

But the Earl said that every Geraldine who failed him should be cut in pieces, and called on as many as loved him to give the prisoner a stroke of the sword.

They were accordingly 'cut in gobbets,' in Desmond's presence.

He attacked the O'Keefes, a loyal clan upon the upper Blackwater, killed the chief's son and other prisoners, and took 'the Vicar of Oskallie, and put out upon him a jury of twelve of the Earl's men, which jury passed upon him and condemned him to death, seeing he was a true subject to her Majesty, and held office under her highness always.'

Of the whole party, O'Keefe alone was spared, and he was badly wounded.

[94] [Sidenote: Death of Clanricarde, whose sons come to terms.

] From Maltby in Connaught came the only news which could possibly be called good.

Old Clanricarde was at last liberated about the end of June, and a few weeks later he died at Galway of jaundice, aggravated by vexation at the sight of his ruined castle and wasted country.

With his last breath he cursed his sons should they prove disobedient subjects, and thanked the Queen for her clemency.

The young men soon came in and professed their willingness to have disputes settled according to law, but Secretary Fenton observed that it would be easy to make a civil faction between them, and cut off one without disturbing the province.

There was little difficulty in proving that Ulick, the elder brother, was Earl, and the more difficult matter of the lands was settled quietly, and with at least some show of amity.

Each competitor gave a bond in 10,000_l.

_ to abide by the award, which was based upon the principle of equal division, first choice being in some cases given to the Earl.

The whole barony of Leitrim was given to John absolutely, and the title was afterwards conferred upon him.

The castles of Portumna and Loughrea were awarded to Ulick; the brothers agreed to surrender Ballinasloe to Maltby.

The right of some other Burkes were defined, and in general terms it may be said that the baronies of Dunkellin, Loughrea, and Longford remained with the Earl, though some parcels were excepted.

The award was accepted, but the hatred of the brothers was of too long standing to be thus appeased, and it was not long before it broke out again.

[95] [Sidenote: General famine.

] Famine and pestilence continued to rage through the summer, autumn, and winter of 1582. All Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, and a great part of Tipperary, were spoiled.

200 or 300 kine for the public service were as much as could be had for love or money.

'The wolf and the best rebel lodged in one inn, with one diet and one kind of bedding.'

Archbishop Loftus being, as Spenser says, more mildly disposed, as 'was meet for his profession,' than his colleague Wallop, was so horrified that he advised Burghley to pardon Desmond.

There might, he said, be some question of the Queen's honour if the war of Ireland was like other wars, between one prince and another, but this was against a subject, bare, rude, and savage.

The only honour to be had was by healing the sores of the poor subjects.

For the famine was not confined to Munster, but ran its course even in Dublin under the eyes of the Lords Justices.

A horse of Secretary Fenton's was accidentally burned, and was eaten by the people before it was half-roasted.

Another of Wallop's died, and was devoured, entrails and all, apparently without any preparation.

It became, indeed, a regular thing 'to eat the carcasses of dead horses, and to buy them at the soldiers' hands.'

The Lords Justices admitted that this was a lamentable thing to happen under a Christian prince.

The Irish, however, they explained, were less averse to carrion than other people; still they could not but be grieved that the soldiers should extort money for any such wares.

The fact is that all were starving alike.

[96] [Sidenote: St. Leger seeks to treat with Desmond,] [Sidenote: and foretells Ormonde's failure.

] Sir Warham St. Leger, who hated Ormonde and all his works, attributed the evil state of Munster to the 'cockling and dandling of hollow-hearted wretches,' in pursuance of the Earl's policy.

In the meantime he intrigued for a capitulation on Desmond's part.

He had taken the Seneschal's natural son--a boy of seven--'as like him as if he had spit him out of his mouth,' and proposed to hang him in case the father should break out again.

In the meantime he endeavoured to treat with Desmond through his means, but the rebel Earl was buoyed up constantly with the hopes of aid from abroad.

The Countess persuaded him never to write anything, for fear of compromising himself with foreign princes.

St. Leger was authorised to offer him his life, restraint without any imprisonment in some part of England or Ireland, and hope of further mercy for himself and child; but a full restoration was not to be thought of.

There seems to have been little sincerity in the negotiation, though doubtless both the Queen and Burghley would have been glad to avoid further expense; and Ormonde, on his arrival, found the state of affairs unaltered.

St. Leger foretold his failure.

The protectees would fail him, and he would have enough to do to keep his own.

'He is,' he said, 'a person most odious of all men to Desmond's friends....

It is death to all the lords and chieftains of both factions to have English government come among them, for they know that if English government be established here, their Irish exactions is laid aground; the which to forego they had as leave die, such is their devilish consciences.'

How true was the prophecy as to Ormonde's failure will appear hereafter.

[97] [Sidenote: Ormonde returns to Ireland with fresh powers 1583. ] After many delays Ormonde was at last despatched, and 1,000 men were assigned to be under his orders in Munster.

He had power to promise pardon to all rebels except Desmond himself.

His pay and allowances were calculated on a liberal scale, amounting in all to over 4,000_l.

_ a year, and his rents due to the Crown were suspended until he should be able to make the lands profitable.

Much was left to his discretion.

Thus, rebels who surrendered might have a promise of their lands in consideration of a reasonable rent.

300 men were sent from Devon and Cornwall, Cheshire and Lancashire, Somersetshire and Gloucestershire, to fill up the gaps in the Irish garrisons.

A large store of provisions was sent; but, on landing, Ormonde found Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, and Limerick in such a state that he thought it would not last for two months.

His personal allowance was fixed at 3_l.

_ a day, but Wallop at once made a difficulty about paying this and many other claims.

Ormonde, he said, was already too great for Ireland, and desired to be absolute in his government.

Money no doubt was scarce in Dublin, but the Vice-Treasurer was advised to satisfy the Earl's demands.

The new governor lost no time in preparing for action, but he complained bitterly that companies were defective, that troops of horse were mounted on borrowed ponies, and that he was expected to perform impossibilities.

He was ordered not to have more than four per cent.

of Irishmen in any band; whereas Englishmen could not be had, and the Irish were the best shots.

[98] [Sidenote: Gallant defence of Youghal.

] While Munster waited for its new governor, the Seneschal of Imokilly made two attempts to get possession of Youghal.

Just at the beginning of winter, some English soldiers, who were probably unpaid, agreed to open the gates; but the plot was discovered.

More than two months later, two goldsmiths, who pretended to be soldiers, were admitted into the town.

On the appointed night one kept the guard drinking while the other held a ladder for the assailants, whose plan was to occupy every stone house, and to cut it off from the gates.

Fortunately, the soldiers had only a few days before broken down a stair leading from the walls, and thus only a few rebels were able to descend at a time.

Two houses were, however, taken, and held for three days, in one of which the seneschal, in cold blood and with his own hands, knocked out the brains of six soldiers.

Dermod Magrath, Papal Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, and 'a very learned man in the papist doctrine,' was present, and persuaded him not to kill any of the townsmen.

The Sovereign, or Burgomaster, Francis Agnes (or Anes), behaved with great gallantry, and on the rumoured approach of troops from Waterford, the seneschal withdrew, having lost some sixty men, but carrying away a great quantity of corn, wine, beef, and hides, and leaving half the town in ashes.

Cork was asked to send men to the relief of Youghal, but that city had none to spare, having itself been pressed by the rebels, who came up to the very walls and carried off the linen which was drying on the hedges.

One of Ormonde's first cares was to reinforce the garrison of Youghal.

[99] [Sidenote: Ormonde shuts Desmond up in Kerry, and his adherents fall away.

] In order to put down the Munster rebellion, the first thing was to localise it.

The Queen herself had suggested that if Desmond could be kept out of Tipperary and Waterford, it would be comparatively easy to deal with him, and this was the plan adopted by Ormonde.

At first he fixed his headquarters at Clonmel, whence the woods of Aherlow were easily accessible, and the Seneschal of Imokilly, who lay there, was harassed by the garrisons of Limerick and Kilmallock.

In a month after Ormonde's arrival, Desmond fled to the borders of Kerry, and his adherents began to desert him fast.

Patrick Condon and over 300 others received protections, which they showed a disposition to pay for with the heads of their late comrades.

The Baron of Lixnaw submitted about the end of March and was followed in a few days by Gerald MacThomas, called Toneboyreagh, who had long kept the county of Limerick disturbed, and now served well against his late associates.

About the same time Lady Desmond came to Ormonde under a twenty days' protection, but as she still demanded life, liberty, and property for her husband, no terms were granted to her.

She then surrendered unconditionally, rather than return to such misery as she had lately endured.

Early in June the Seneschal of Imokilly also made his submission, and Desmond was thus deprived of his last important supporter.

The rebellion was now confined to Kerry and West Cork, and thither Ormonde repaired about the end of June.

[100] [Sidenote: Desmond is hard pressed;]

A few days before Ormonde's arrival Desmond and his wife had a narrow escape from a night attack by the garrison of Kilmallock.

The bed in which they had lain was found warm by the soldiers, into whose hands 'the countess's gentlewoman' and others fell.

A fog covered the flight of the two principal personages; but cattle, plate, jewels, and wardrobes were all captured.

The presence of a lady and her attendants no doubt acted as a clog, and Desmond himself was becoming infirm.

The old hurt received at Affane was likely to be aggravated by cold and fatigue, and a month later he had to be carried in his shirt by four men into a bog, and ferried over a river in a trough to escape from a sudden attack by Captain Thornton.

After this he fled into Kerry, and it was reported that he would be glad if possible to escape by sea.

He was too closely watched for this, but after the failure of his wife's mission, he still refused to come to Ormonde.

The following letter to St. Leger may well be given entire:-- [Sidenote: but will not come to Ormonde,] 'Sir Warham, where I understand that the Earl of Ormonde giveth forth that I should submit myself before him as attorney to Her Majesty, you may be sure he doth report more thereof than I have sent him either by word or writing.

But this I have offered in hope to prove the unreasonable wrong and injuries done unto me by her Highness's officers in this realm from time to time, unguilty in me behalf as God knoweth.

I am contented upon these conditions so as me country, castles, possessions, and lands, with me son, might be put and left in the hands and quiet possession of me counsel and followers, and also me religion and conscience not barred, with a pardon, protection, and passport for me own body to pass and repass.

I would have gone before her Majesty to try all those causes just and true on me part, as I still do allege if I might be heard or may have indifference, and likewise hoping that I might have more justice, favour, and grace at her Majesty's hands when I am before herself than here at the hands of such of her cruel officers as have me wrongfully proclaimed, and so thereby thinking that her Majesty and I may agree; if not that I may be put safe in the hands of me followers again, and I to deliver me son and me said possessions back to her Majesty's officers.

Dated at Feale the 28th of April, 1583. --GEROT DESMOND.'

[Sidenote: who insists on an unconditional surrender.

] Ormonde would hear of nothing but an unconditional surrender, and continued to ply his double policy of war and clemency.

Before the end of May he could announce that 134 had been slain, and 247 protected, since those last mentioned.

The few remaining rebels were reduced to horseflesh or carrion, and Desmond himself knew not where to lay his head.

He had still eighty men with him, but his pride was sufficiently humbled to make him address Ormonde directly.

He could not, he said, accuse himself of disloyalty, but confessed that he had been misled, and pleaded that he had been tyrannously used.

He begged for a conference, 'humbly craving that you will please to appoint some place and time where I may attend upon your honour.'

Ormonde, who was justly proud at this falsification of St. Leger's prediction, would not alter his terms, and a few days afterwards reported that the rebel's eighty followers were reduced to twenty.

A little later, when he was himself marching towards Kerry, he learned that the fugitive's retinue consisted of only five persons--a priest, two horsemen, one kerne, and a boy.

The people of the South-West had already experience enough of an invasion by Ormonde, and hastened on all sides to make terms for themselves.

There were rumours that the Queen was getting tired of the war, and that he would be recalled.

He was, he said, so confident of success that he was ready to begin the reduction of the forces under his command.

Success was very near when he had been removed before, and he begged that the mistake might not be repeated.

'Thus,' he said, 'am I handled, and do break the ice for others to pass with ease.'

[101] [Sidenote: St. Leger thwarts Ormonde.

] Sir Warham St. Leger did all that he possibly could to thwart Ormonde.

Protections to rebels were, he said, bad things, which enabled traitors to extort from good subjects.

Henry VIII.

, he reminded the Queen, had quieted the Pale for years by first making a somewhat dishonourable peace with the rebels, 'and then paying them home.'

His advice was that Desmond should be received to life and liberty.

'I dare,' he added, 'adventure the loss of one of my arms, which I would not willingly lose for all the lands and livings that ever he had, he will, within one quarter of a year after he is so received (if the matter be well and politically handled), be wrought to enter into new treasons, and thereby apprehended, and his head cut off according to his due deserts.'

Any other course would be too expensive.

In other words, the wretched man was to be lulled into fancied security, watched by spies and tempted by false friends until he was induced to do something technically equivalent to treason.

This abominable advice was not taken, happily for Elizabeth's honour; but constant detraction was very near shaking Ormonde's credit.

Wallop and Fenton, who knew the Queen's weak point and who hated the Earl for his independent conduct and position, lost no opportunity of showing what a costly luxury her Lord-General was.

Walsingham urged Ormonde to make a quick end lest her Majesty should repent, and he afterwards repeated St. Leger's sentiments and almost his very words about the impolicy of granting protections.

Burghley, however, stood firm, and it was probably through his influence that some of St. Leger's letters to the Queen were kept from her eye and sent back to Ormonde, who accused his adversary of offering to secure mercy for Desmond if he would only hold out until the Earl was no longer governor of Munster, and of giving out that his supersession was resolved on.

Ormonde says he heard this from rebels who were likely to know the truth, that it was confirmed by a priest who had long been with Desmond, and that the latter had thus been 'animated' to hold out although in great straits.

Ormonde thought Wallop disliked him nearly as much as St. Leger, and the Vice-Treasurer's own letters bear out this opinion.

[102] [Sidenote: Ormonde scours Kerry.

] Fate, or Burghley, had, however, decreed that Ormonde should be allowed to finish the business in his own way, and the sad story may now be told to the end.

There was no more fighting to be done, and at the end of June the Lord General passed through Tipperary and Limerick into Kerry.

He visited Castle Island, Castlemaine, and Dingle, a principal object of the journey being to prevent Desmond escaping by sea.

Castlemaine he found roofless and in ruins, and that famous hold was never again destined to resist the royal power.

Clancare, the two O'Sullivans, and other gentlemen came to him with assurances of fidelity, and not the slightest resistance was offered anywhere.

The protected people, he said, had generally served well, and were supported by their friends without charge to the Queen.

Those who did no service had given hostages, and the work of reducing the garrisons might now be at once begun.

The rebels were weary of the war and were ploughing the land; sword, law, and famine had done their work.

In all his journey to the farthest point of Kerry, and back by Kinsale to Cork, Ormonde had to tell of no enemy but Sir Warham St. Leger, 'who dwelleth in Cork Castle to small purpose for any good service he doth...

drinking and writing (saving your honour) shameful lies.'

[103] [Sidenote: Desmond is driven into a corner.

] Early in August St. Leger reported that Desmond had crossed the Shannon and escaped to Scotland; but there was no truth in this.

He was confined to that part of Kerry which lies north of Castlemaine and to the mountainous corner of Cork where the Blackwater rises.

Ormonde was pretty confident that he would be captured, and none of the protected men relapsed except Goran MacSwiney, a captain of gallowglasses.

Orders were sent to reduce the army in Munster from 1,000 to 600, and to prepare, if possible, for a further reduction to 200. On the very day that this order was penned Lord Roche was able to announce that he had very nearly taken Desmond, and that he had actually taken his chaplain, who was not so well horsed as the rest.

'I would,' Ormonde wrote to Burghley, 'this chaplain and I were for one hour with you in your chamber, that you might know the secrets of his heart, which by fair means or foul he must open unto me.'

The poor man was coupled with a handlock to one of Ormonde's servants, so that no one could speak to him privately.

And thus the hunted chief was deprived of his last adviser.

[104] [Sidenote: Death of Desmond.

] On November 1, Goran MacSwiney was killed, and Ormonde proceeded to discharge 110 foot and 12 horse.

Even yet a few desperate men adhered to Desmond, and he might have long eluded his pursuers but for an outrage done in his name.

On November 9, he sent twenty men on a plundering expedition to the south side of Tralee Bay, and they drove off forty cows and some horses belonging to Maurice O'Moriarty, whose house they robbed, and whose wife and children they barbarously stripped naked.

Next day, having first asked leave from Lieutenant Stanley at Dingle, the O'Moriarties, with near a score of kerne and some half-dozen soldiers of the garrison of Castlemaine, traced the lost cattle to the woods of Glanageenty, about five miles to the east of Tralee.

Owen O'Moriarty climbed the hill by moonlight, and looking down into the deep glen saw a fire beneath him, which was found to proceed from a cabin.

The hut was surrounded, and at daybreak the O'Moriarties entered.

Taken unawares and but half-awake, Desmond's companion only thought of escaping, and he was left behind and wounded in the arm with a sword-cut by a soldier named Daniel O'Kelly.

'I am the Earl of Desmond,' he cried, 'save my life!'

'Thou hast killed thyself long ago,' said Owen O'Moriarty, and now thou shalt be prisoner to the Queen's Majesty and the Earl of Ormonde, Lord General of Munster.'

They carried him some distance, but a rescue was imminent, and Owen ordered O'Kelly to strike off the prisoner's head, since it was impossible to fight thus encumbered.

The soldier obeyed, and the head was carried to Castlemaine, and from thence to Ormonde at Kilkenny.

The ghastly trophy was by him sent to the Queen.

As the best evidence against those who 'spoke malicious lies touching the service and state of Munster,' it was exposed on London Bridge.

The like exposure at Cork was designed for the headless trunk, but friendly hands hid it for eight weeks, and finally deposited it in a neighbouring chapel where only Fitzgeralds were buried, and which is still called 'the church of the name.'

[105] [Sidenote: Desmond a popular hero.

] The spot where Desmond was decapitated is marked by a mound, and retains the name of _Bothar-an-Iarla_, or the Earl's way.

A gigantic elder formerly overshadowed the place, and in our own day it is covered by a young oak, a holly, and a bright tangle of ferns and foxgloves.

A good carriage-road runs through the once inaccessible glen, and marks the difference between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Desmond's death closes the mediæval history of Munster, and it is no wonder that much legendary glory attaches to his name.

He was a man of little talent or virtue, though he need not be too severely condemned for refusing to see that the days of feudal or tribal independence were over.

But the past has an irresistible attraction for Irish sentiment, and the popular ear is more readily opened to fable than to historical truth.

With nothing heroic about him, the unhappy Earl is still honoured as a hero; but even the fidelity of tradition to his memory is less than that of the natives to him while he yet lived.

Let thus much be said in honour of the poor kerne, who stood so staunchly in a doubtful cause.

The Earl's ghost, mounted on a phantom steed with silver shoes, is said sometimes to rise at night from the waters of Lough Gur; and when the west wind comes up fitfully from the sea and makes slates and windows rattle, the Kerry people still call upon travellers to listen to the Desmond howl.

[106] FOOTNOTES:

[80] Grey to the Privy Council, July 10, 1581; Wallop to Walsingham, July 17. [81] Wallop to Walsingham, March 8, 1581; L. Bryskett to Walsingham, April 21; Grey to the Queen, August 10; G. Fenton to Leicester, September 1; and to Burghley, September 21. [82] Relation of Sir N. Maltby's proceedings, March 23, 1581. [83] Maltby to Walsingham, June 30, 1581; _Four Masters_, 1581. From Maltby's letter of September 20, it appears that Burghley approved of William Burke's execution.

[84] Zouch to Burghley, January 5, 1582; White Knight to Ormonde, same date; William Wendover to Fenton, January 6; Grey to Walsingham, January 13; Russell; O'Daly.

[85] The Queen to Grey, January 28, 1582; G. Fenton to Walsingham, March 28; St. Leger to Fenton, March 24. [86] G.

Fenton to Walsingham, May 8, 1582; St. Leger to Walsingham, and Justice Meade to same, May 28; Loftus and Wallop to Walsingham, June 7;

Grey to Walsingham, June 16. [87] Maltby to Walsingham, June 17, 1582; Wallop to Walsingham, June 21; Walsingham to Grey, June 25; Lady Desmond to Burghley, August 28;

Lords Justices to the Privy Council, October 12; _Four Masters_, 1582;

O'Daly.

[88] G.

Fenton to Walsingham, November 5, 1581. In a letter to Walsingham of July 2, 1582, Grey complains that Burghley listens to slanderers; the Queen's opinion, &c. , July, No. 76. The sword was delivered August 31. [89] Spenser's _View of the State of Ireland_.

This is one of the many passages tending to prove that the original shamrock was the wood-sorrel, and not the white clover, which could never have been edible; consult Bentham's British Flora under _Oxalis_, and see below note to chapter 52. St. Leger to the Queen, March 12, 1582, to Burghley, April 20; Justice Meade to Walsingham, May 28. The soldiers were nearly as badly off as the natives, Dowdall to Walsingham, April 24. In the relation of Lord Grey's services (September 1582) is mentioned 'the general destruction of the enemy's churls.'

The churls were the non-combatant country folk.

[90] Grey to the Privy Council, April 12, 1582; to Walsingham, May 7; a friend to Mrs. Nugent, July 5, 1583; Sidney's _Brief Relation_, 1583. Sir Robert Dillon, who succeeded Nugent as Chief Justice, was much blamed for his conduct in this case; see his letter to Walsingham, June 25, 1582. [91] John Nugent's confession, February 5, 1582; petition to Burghley, September (No. 85); Ormonde to Burghley, May 30, 1583; Janet Nugent's petition, August 30; warrants for the remission of her fine and for restoration to her property, April 18, 1584. It is stated that the fine was imposed on the information of John Cusack.

William Nugent left Ireland in or before January 1582. [92] Grey to Walsingham, May 7, 1582; Mr. Rawley's opinion, October 25. Ormonde's appointment was announced on December 3. [93] The Bishop of Ross to the Lords Justices, October 9, 1582, with remarks by the Lords Justices; Auditor Jenyson to Burghley, September 4; St. Leger to Burghley, September 22, and to the Lords Justices, September 26; the Portreeve of Cashel to the Lords Justices, September 28. [94] Letter from Onor Cartye enclosed in one from the Lords Justices to Walsingham, October 3, 1582; St. Leger to Burghley and Walsingham, September 22. [95] Maltby to Walsingham, June 21, 1582; Clanricarde to Maltby, July 7; Fenton to Leicester, August 13; to Walsingham, August 23. The award is in _Carew_, under November 17. [96] Barnaby Gooche to Burghley, August 27, 1582; Justice Meade to the Lords Justices, October 13; Lord Justice Loftus to Burghley, November 5; Lords Justices to Burghley, December 8; Spenser's _State of Ireland_.

[97] St. Leger to Fenton, October 31; to the Queen and to Burghley, November 26, 1582; Burghley to Loftus and Fenton, and to St. Leger, December 9; St. Leger to Burghley and Walsingham, February 2, 1583. [98] Earl of Ormonde's demands, &c. , November 1582; Walsingham to Wallop, December 6; Burghley to the Lords Justices, December 8; Rate for 1,000 men to be sent into Munster, December 15; Lords Justices to Burghley, January 5, 1583; Ormonde to Walsingham, January 27; Wallop to Walsingham, February 7 and March 6; Minute for the Lords Justices, March 5; Ormonde to the Lords Justices, March 20. Ormonde left London, or Windsor, December 22, and landed at Waterford (viâ Milford) January 21, having been long hindered by storms.

[99] St. Leger to Burghley, Oct.

29, 1582, and Jan.

16, 1583; and to Walsingham, Feb.

11. [100] G.

Fenton to Burghley, Feb.

24, 1583; Ormonde to the Privy Council, Feb.

28 and April 5; to the Queen, April 24; to the Privy Council and to Burghley and Walsingham, May 28; to the Lords Justices, June 15; to the Queen, June 18; to Walsingham, June 22; Thomas Mynne to Wallop, April 9. [101] G.

Fenton to Walsingham, Jan.

16; St. Leger to Walsingham, Feb.

11; Sir W. Stanley to Fenton, May 25; Desmond to Ormonde, June 5;

Ormonde to Burghley and to the Queen, June 18; to Burghley, June 22. [102] St. Leger to the Queen, May 8 and Aug.

5 (the latter was intercepted); to Burghley, Aug.

5 and Oct.

19; to Walsingham, Aug.

5, 1583, and Sept.

14, 1584; Ormonde to Burghley, Oct.

20, 1583; to the Privy Council, Jan.

23, 1584; to Burghley, Jan.

26, 1584; Walsingham to Ormonde, March 25 and June 12, 1583; Lords Justices to Walsingham, June 18, 1583; G. Fenton to Walsingham, May 30, 1583. The tone of all Wallop's and Fenton's letters is unfriendly to Ormonde.

[103] Ormonde to Burghley and to Walsingham, July 10, 1583. The nobles and gentlemen who came to Ormonde at Cork and gave pledges were as follows:--Earl of Clancare; Lords Barrymore, Roche, Kinsale and Lixnaw;

Sirs--Thomas of Desmond, Owen MacCarthy Reagh, Owen O'Sullivan, Barry Roe, Lord Lixnaw's son Patrick, the White Knight, Patrick Condon, the seneschal of Imokilly, Cormac MacDermot, nephew to Sir Cormac MacTeig, Callaghan MacTeig MacCarthy, brother to Sir Cormac MacTeig, O'Sullivan More, Donell, nephew to Sir Owen O'Sullivan, O'Donoghue More (inhabiting in MacCarthy More's country), O'Donoghue of Glenflesk, MacDonogh MacCarthy of Duhallow, O'Keefe, MacAuliffe, O'Callaghan, MacFynnyne, William, brother to the Knight of Kerry, Thomas Oge, seneschal of Kerry, Donogh MacCragh (a rhymer), and divers captains of gallowglasses of the MacSwineys and the MacSheehy's. [104] St. Leger to Burghley, Aug.

5 and Oct.

19, 1583; N.

White to Burghley, Aug.

24; Ormonde to Burghley, Sept.

4 and 23 (the latter enclosing Lord Roche's letter); Privy Council to Ormonde, Sept.

19. [105] I have followed the strictly contemporary account printed by Archdeacon Rowan in the _Kerry Magazine_ (Jan.

1854), and reprinted by Miss Hickson in _Old Kerry Records_.

No other account is so full, and it is easily reconciled with the _Four Masters_ and with Ormonde's letters printed by Mr. Gilbert in vol. iv.

of the _Irish National MSS_, and see Ormonde to Walsingham and Burghley, Nov.

28, and Smith's _Cork_.

[106] The spot where Desmond fell is on the right bank, rather low down in the glen.

No doubt the cabin where he spent the night was higher up.

In the survey made by Sir Valentine Browne and others, and privately printed by Mr. S.

M.

Hussey, is the following passage: 'A great wood here and there, filled with oak-trees fit for house timber, but not large enough for the making of ships and castles.

But the greater part of the said wood consists in underwood of the age of fifty and sixty years, filled with dotted trees--ash, hazels, sallows, willows, alders, birches, white-thorns and such like....

The wood is called Glanageenty, in which the late Earl of Desmond was slain in his rebellion, containing in length about four miles, and in breadth two miles, which said woods, because no woods there are saleable, and they lie under the mountains of Slew-Logher, far from any river or navigable stream, are here valued at _nil_.'

I inspected the ground in June 1883. CHAPTER XL. GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1583-1584.