woman is with child they will put the same about her, CHAP VII and whether she will or no causeth her to give them 1559 money, and they will undertake that she shall have good delivery of her child, to the great disruption of the people concerning their souls' health.

'Others go about with St. Patrick's crosier, and play the like part or worse; and no doubt so long as these be used the word of God can never be known among them, nor the Prince be feared, nor the country prosper.

1

So stands the picture of Ireland, vivid because simple, described by some half-Anglicised half-Protestantized Celt who wrote what he had seen around him, careless of political philosophy or of fine phrases with which to embellish his diction. The work of civilization had again to begin from the foundation. Occupied with Scotland and France and holding her own throne by so precarious a tenure Elizabeth for the first eighteen months of her reign had little leisure to attend to it; and the Irish leaders taking advantage of the opportunity offered themselves and their services to Philip's ambassador in England. The King of Spain who at the beginning desired to spare and strengthen Elizabeth, sent them a cold answer, and against Philip's will the great Norman families were unwilling to stir. The true-bred Celts however, whose sole political creed was hatred of the English, were less willing to remain quiet. To the Celt it was of small moment whether the English sovereign was Protestant or Catholic. The presence of an English deputy in Dublin was the symbol of his servitude and the constant occasion for his rebellion. Had there been no cause of quarrel the mere pleasure of fight

1 Report on the state of Ireland, 1559.-Irish MSS. Rolls House.

CHAP VII ing would have insured periodical disturbances; and in Ulster there were special causes at work to produce a convulsion of peculiar severity.

1559

The Scot

tish settlers

Identical in race and scarcely differing in language, in Antrim, the Irish of the north and the Scots of the Western Isles had for two centuries kept up a close and increasing intercourse. Some thousand Scottish families had recently emigrated from Bute, Arran, and Argyleshire, to find settlements on the thinly-peopled coasts of Antrim and Down. The Irish chiefs had sought their friendship, intermarried with them, or made war on them, as the humour of the moment prompted; but their numbers had steadily increased whether welcome or unwelcome, and at Elizabeth's accession they had become objects of alarm both to the native Irish whom they threatened to supplant and to the English whom they refused to obey.

Lord Sussex who was Mary's last deputy, had made expeditions against them both in the Isles and in Ulster ; but even though assisted by the powers of O'Neil had only irritated their hostility. They made alliance with the O'Donnells who were O'Neil's hereditary enemies. James M'Connell and his two brothers, near kinsmen of the House of Argyle, crossed over with two thousand followers to settle in Tyrconnell, while to the Callogh O'Donnell the chief of the clan, the Earl of Argyle himself gave his half-sister for a wife.

With this formidable support the O'Donnells threatened to eclipse their ancient rivals, when there rose up from among the O'Neils one of those remarkable men who in their own persons sum up and represent the energy, intellect, power, and character of the nation to which they belong.

In the partial settlement of Ireland which had been brought about by Henry the Eighth, the O'Neils among

and his

children.

the other noble families surrendered their lands to the CHAP VII crown to receive them again under the usual feudal 1559 tenure; and Con O'Neil the Lame had received from con O'Neil Henry for himself and his heirs the title of Earl of Tyrone. For himself and his heirs-but who the heirs of Con O'Neil might be was not so easy to decide. His son Shan in explaining his father's character to Elizabeth said that he was a gentleman,'-the interpretation of the word being that he never denied any child that was sworn to him, and that he had plenty of them." The favourite of the family was the offspring of an intrigue with a certain Alyson Kelly, the wife of a blacksmith at Dundalk. This child, a boy named Matthew, grew to be a fine dashing youth such as an Irish father delighted to honour; and although the earl had another younger son Shan or John with some pretensions to legitimacy, Henry the Eighth allowed the father to name at his will the heir of his new honours. Matthew Kelly became Baron of Dungannon when O'Neil received his earldom; and to Matthew Kelly was secured the reversion on his father's death of the earldom itself.

No objection could be raised so long as Shan was a boy; but as the legitimate heir grew to manhood the arrangement became less satisfactory. The other sons whom Con had brought promiscuously into the world were discontented with the preference of a brother whose birth was no better than their own; and Shan with their help, as the simplest solution of the difficulty, at last cut the Baron of Dungannon's throat.

They manage things strangely in Ireland.

The old

O'Neil instead of being irritated saw in this exploit a proof of commendable energy. He at once took Shan

1 Shan O'Neil to Elizabeth, February 8, 1561.—Irish MSS. Rolls House.

1559

CHAP VII into favour, and had he been able would have given him his dead brother's rights; but unfortunately the Baron had left a son behind him, and the son was with the family of his grandmother beyond the reach of steel or poison.

as chief of

the clan.

Impatient of uncertainty and to secure himself by possession against future challenge, Shan next conspired against his father, deposed him, and drove him into the Election of Pale where he afterwards died; and throwing over his Shan O'Neil English title and professing to prefer the name of O'Neil to any patent of nobility held under an English sovereign, he claimed the right of succession by Irish custom, precedent, and law. In barbarous and half-barbarous tribes there is generally some choice exercised among members of the chief's family, or some rule is followed, by which the elder and stronger are preferred to the young and weak. In our own Heptarchy the uncle if able and brave was preferred to the child of an elder brother.

the

In Tyrone the clan elected their chief from the blood of the ancient kings; and Shan waiving all question of legitimacy received the votes of his people, took the oath with his foot upon the stone, and with the general consent of the north was proclaimed O'Neil.'

This proceeding was not only an outrage against order, but it was a defiance of England and the English system. The descent to an earldom could not be regulated by election, and it was obvious that the English Government must either insist upon the rights of the young

1 They place him that shall be called their captain upon a stone always reserved for that purpose, and commonly placed on a hill.'-SPENSER'S View of the State of Ireland. The stone in Westminster Abbey brought from Scone by Edward the

First was one of these, and according to legend is the original Lias Fail or thundering stone on which the Irish kings were crowned. The Lias Fail however still stands on Tara Hill, ready for use when Ireland's good time returns.

Baron of Dungannon, or relinquish the hope of feudaliz- CHAP VII ing the Irish chieftains.

Knowing therefore that he could not be left long in the enjoyment of his success, Shan O'Neil attempted to compose his feud with the O'Donnells, and his first step was to marry O'Donnell's sister. But the reconciliation was of brief duration; the smaller chiefs of Ulster in loyal preference for greatness attached themselves for the most part to the O'Neils. Shan no longer careful of offence misused' his wife; and the Callogh at the time when the notice of the English Government began to be drawn towards the question was preparing with the help of the Scots to revenge her injuries.'

Where private and public interests were closely interwoven there was a necessary complication of sides and movements. The English Government in the belief that the sister of the Earl of Argyle might be a means of introducing Protestantism into Ulster made advances to the M'Connells whom before they had treated as enemies; they sent a present to the Countess of some old dresses of Queen Mary's 'for a token of favour,' and they promised to raise the Callogh to a rival earldom on condition of good service.3

They were encountered however by an embarrassing

1 A detailed account of these proceedings is found in a letter of Lord Justice Fitzwilliam to the Earl of Sussex, written on the 8th of March, 1560.-Irish MSS. Rolls House.

2 This lady, who was mentioned above as the wife of the Callogh and the half-sister of Macallummore, is always described in the Irish despatches as the Countess of Argyle. There is no difficulty in identifying

the person. It is less easy to un

derstand the title.

3 MEMORANDUM. To send to O'Donnell, with the Queen's thanks for service done, and her promise to make him an Earl on further merit on his part. The gown and kirtle that were Queen Mary's, with some old habiliments, to be sent to the Countess Argyle, O'Donnell's wife, for a token of favour to her good disposition in religion'.-Irish MSS.

1559