To

He obtained still higher distinction in his twenty-second year, when he commanded a troop of horse against the rebels headed by Sir Thomas Wyat. This rebellion is supposed to have been caused by the discontent of the English at the marriage then on foot between Philip and Mary. The chief conspirators were the duke of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Wyat, and Sir Peter Carew, who agreed with each other to raise their several counties of Cornwall, Kent, and Warwickshire. Through the indiscretion of Carew, the plot was soon detected. Carew escaped into France; the duke was seized before he could stir to any purpose; and Wyat was left to pursue his desperate course alone. Of this course we shall only mention the terminating circumstances. Wyat approached London at the head of a force sufficient to cause great alarm in the court, and to give him high hopes of success. the queen's messengers, who desired to know his demands, he replied that he demanded to have the Tower and the queen delivered into his hands, with such changes in the council as he should prescribe. Of course these demands were rejected, and Wyat pursued his march toward London. When he had reached the borough of Southwark, he found the bridge so well fortified that, contrary to his expectations, he could not effect a passage. He was, therefore, obliged to continue his march to Kingston, ten miles higher up the river. Here, too, he met with another dangerous delay-the bridge was broken down, and he could not pass without having it first repaired. Having effected this, he passed over with his men, now increased to six thousand. He then set forward on his march to London; but a gun-carriage having broken on his way, he lost more time in repairing it. Two days were thus consumed when he reached London, at nine in the morning of the 3d February, 1554. The captain of the train bands who had joined him deserted, and gave information that it was his plan to enter the city by Ludgate. The earl of Pembroke and lord Clinton at first came to the resolution to attack him while entering the city, and a partial attack took place.

It was at this period of the affair, that the only occasion occurs in which the young earl could have displayed his valour. Hollinshed, who gives the detail at greater length than we can afford to follow, describes two skirmishes which took place near Hyde Park, and in Charing Cross. In the first of these it was mentioned that while Wyat was marching on the "nether way," towards St James's, "which being perceived by the queen's horsemen, who laie on either side of him, they gave a sudden charge, and divided his battel [army, marching in column] asunder hard behind Wyat's ensigns, whereby so many as were not passed before with Wyat, were forced to fly back towards Brainford." It was in this charge that the young earl must have taken part. The body thus separated, after a vain attack on St James's, Westminster, attempted to rejoin their leader, and were again assailed in Charing Cross, and scattered after a short resistance and a loss of twenty men. In the course of this affair, it became apparent that he was entangling his army in the streets and lanes which lay on his way towards Ludgate, so that it became impossible for his troops to extend their front, or in any way act in concert. Sending orders to have Ludgate closed, the queen's commanders contented themselves

with fortifying and placing strong detachments in the streets through which he passed, so as to render all retreat impossible. In the meantime, Wyatt went on anticipating no obstruction, and imagining the whole of his remaining course sure, until he came to the gate. There his entrance was impeded, and he was forced to halt; and it was not long before he learned that he was strongly barricaded in on every side. His artillery he had in his confidence left under a guard in Hyde Park, and was now completely entrapped in the midst of enemies, who possessed every advantage they could devise for his extermination. In this dreadful emergency he was accidentally met by Sir Maurice Barkleie, who was riding unarmed near London, and entered into conversation with him. Barkleie advised him to surrender. Wyat saw the necessity; and, resolved to seize on the occasion, he mounted behind his adviser, and, so says Hollinshed, rode to the court voluntarily to yield himself prisoner. He was sent to prison; and, after an attempt to implicate the princess Elizabeth, which he subsequently retracted, he was executed in two months after on Towerhill.

Thus early distinguished, this earl came over to Ireland, where his own affairs demanded his presence, and, having attained his twentysecond year, it was time for him to take possession of his estates, and assume the place appertaining to his family and rank in the councils of his country. He was not long settled in his possessions, before an occasion arose for his military spirit to obtain fresh distinction. In 1556, the province of Ulster was disturbed by a party of Scots, who besieged Carrick Fergus; and, although they failed in their design upon this town, obtained advantages in different quarters by associating themselves with the O'Donells, and other chiefs who in these party wars had gathered power, and were beginning to assume a dangerous attitude. In July, the lord deputy, Ratcliff, marched against them. He was accompanied by Ormonde, who commanded 200 horse, and 500 foot, raised by himself and maintained at his own cost. On the 18th of the same month, the lord deputy's army came up with the Scots, and a sharp conflict ensued, in which the Scots and the insurgents were defeated with a loss of 200 slain. In this engagement the earl of Ormonde and Sir John Stanley have obtained the principal honour from all historians by whom this affair is mentioned. The three following years were distinguished by great military activity; and, through the whole course of the marches and encounters during this period, this earl supported the same conspicuous character among the foremost in every bold and difficult enterprise.

These occasions are too numerous and too little detailed by historical writers, to be here dwelt upon. The uniform distinction of the earl through the whole, is amply testified by the strong indications of the approbation of the English government. In each year, his rise is marked by some honourable mark of the royal favour. In 1555, his patent was confirmed for the royalties and liberties of Tipperary-as also his hereditary patent for the prize wines. In 1557, he received a grant of the religious houses of Athassil, Jerpoint, Callan, Thurles, Carrick, &c., with all their hereditaments in the counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Waterford; the manor of Kilrush in the county of Kildare, &c., &c., to hold by the service of a single knight's fee, reserving

a rent of £49 3s. 9d., afterwards remitted by Elizabeth. The subsequent grants which he received from Elizabeth, fill more than a closely printed page of Collins and Archdall, from which the above are abridged.

Queen Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, appointed this earl lord treasurer of Ireland, a post which he retained through his life. There is not a year in the first years of this queen's reign so eventful in Ireland, in which he did not bear a distinguished part, which amply maintain his claim to the foremost place in the councils and confidence of the government. To dwell on the most interesting of these events, would hereafter involve us in much repetition, as they form the material for the curious and striking history of the memorable insurgent chiefs of this reign, the Desmonds, O'Donell, and Shane O'Niall. But through the whole stormy tissue of rebellion, party war, and provincial disturbance, which seems in his time to be fast attaining its height of violence and frequency; whether as military commander or diplomatic pacificator, the earl's character appears alike eminently bright through the obscurity of the time. After being successively appointed to the most important offices of trust in every trying and difficult occasion, from 1559 to 1578, he was in the latter year made governor of the province of Munster, when he brought O'Sullivan More into subjection by force of arms, subdued Pierce Grace, Rory Oge, and the MacSwiney's, and took the earl of Desmond prisoner, with a slaughter of four thousand men and forty-six officers.

In 1581, his honourable career was rewarded by the high office of lord high marshall of England. He did not long continue in this exalted station; but his voluntary resignation is ennobled by the high and patriotic motive. He could not reconcile it to his sense of duty to retain a post of which the arduous and engrossing duties were such as imply an entire separation from his own country. He was allowed, upon his earnest suit, to resign; and in 1582, he returned with the appointment of general of Munster, and a supply of men. same time, obtained an addition of twopence a-day to the pay employed in the Irish service, and by this means, much increased his popularity among the soldiers.

He, at the

of soldiers

In Ireland his services were still called into action on each occasion, where activity, fidelity, and talent were required; and many instances occur in which these conspicuous qualities of his character are placed under requisition by the absence of the deputy, or by some occasion of unexpected emergency. In 1596, he was made a knight companion of the garter. He was appointed general of Leinster in 1597, when Tyrone's rebellion had assumed a formidable character; and subsequently in the same year, was made general of all her majesty's forces in Ireland. Nor was he long at the head of the military operations, when Tyrone applied to obtain a commission to treat with him, which was appointed; and a meeting having accordingly taken place at Dundalk, a truce for eight weeks was agreed upon, for the purpose of settling the terms of this great rebel's submission, by communication with the English government. These particulars we shall hereafter detail. In January, 1600, the earl obtained a considerable victory over the Bourkes, whom he drove out of Ormonde. Redmond Bourke was forced,

with many of his men, into the Nore, where they were lost. On the following April, he went with the lord president of Munster to hold a parley with Owen Mac Rory O'More, who treacherously seized upon him; the lord president Carew escaped by the swiftness of his horse. Ormonde gave hostages for the payment of £3000, in case he should seek revenge.

After this, his conduct was not less distinguished by unremitting efficiency in his high station, until the death of the queen. She had ever retained the highest regard for him, and professed to consider him as her kinsman.* King James, on his accession, renewed his commission as commander of the Irish army.

His biographers mention, that a little before this period he had lost his sight a fact which, according to the dates of some of the enterprises above mentioned, compared with that assigned for his personal misfortune, would seem to imply, that he must, when blind, have continued to take the field against the rebels: as the period of about fifteen years before his death, assigned as the time of his blindness by Collins, Lodge, &c., would make it to have occurred in 1599. He died in 1614, in the 82d year of his age, and was buried in the choir of St Canice's church, Kilkenny. His monument cost £400.

Among the few personal details which have been preserved of this illustrious person, it is mentioned, that his reputation was high for great intellectual endowments. He was not less remarkable for the advantages of a graceful and striking exterior. The queen called him her black husband, and his countrymen called him Dhu or Duffe, from the darkness of his complexion. In Ireland he was at the head of all those who pretended to courtesy, hospitality, and magnificence. He was scarcely less renowned in England, and on the continent, as the model of all that was held becoming and honourable, in the soldier and in the gentleman.

Lodge.

As this Work has now advanced beyond that period which most Irish historians have agreed in describing as having few and doubtful records, and no historical interest: the Editor thinks, that it may be satisfactory to those who are unacquainted with Irish history, to learn, that a considerable improvement in these respects, may be confidently expected in the forthcoming parts.

END OF VOL. I.