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Asceaton and Carrigfoile. Malbie garrisoned Rathkeale, and proceeded to attack Asceaton, when news was brought of Drury's death, which terminated Malbie's deputed authority.

Sir William Pelham succeeded Drury as lord-justice. The earl of Ormonde was appointed governor of Munster. Pelham immediately proceeded to the disturbed districts, and summoned Desmond to meet him at Cashel. Desmond did not attend, but sent his countess with some vague excuse. A council was called, and it was agreed that Ormonde should confer with the earl, and require his distinct answer to the following propositions:

1st, That he should deliver up Doctor Saunders and the Spaniards. 2d, That he should deliver up either the castle of Asceaton, or of Carrigfoile, as a pledge of his good behaviour.

3dly, That he submit himself and his cause to the judgment of her majesty and council in England, or to the lord-justice and council in Ireland.

4thly, That he assist and aid the earl of Ormonde in prosecuting the war against his brothers and other traitors.

The interview was unavailing. Desmond's replies were evasive, and his only object seemed to be delay. Pelham then published a proclamation, declaring Desmond a traitor; lords Gormanstown and Delvin refused to sign the proclamation, for which they were afterwards severely reprimanded by the government of England.* Within an hour after the proclamation was issued, the countess of Desmond came to the camp, but the camp was already broken up, and Ormonde's soldiers were destroying before them whatever fire and sword could consume. The day the earl was proclaimed, he had already set up his standard at Ballyhowra, in the county of Cork. This place, which we call by its Irish name, is part of the mountain range which Spenser, who came over as secretary to lord Grey of Wilton, the next lord-deputy, has rendered familiar to the English reader by the name of Mole. Desmond attacked and plundered Youghal, which he kept possession of for five days. The Irish annalists, disposed as they are to defend every act of his, describe him as not sparing even the churches; they tell of his soldiers "polluting and defiling whatever was most sacred, bringing every thing to utter confusion and desolation, and making havoc as well of sacred vestments and chalices as of any other chattels." The Spaniards in Desmond's army were shocked at this wicked exploit, perceiving by the furniture and ornaments of the churches that the townsmen were all Catholics. They refrained from plunder, and were reproved by their Irish companions in arms; they answered, that they ought not to rob better Christians than themselves. "One of the Spaniards cut his cloak as St Martin did, in five parts, and distributed the same on five children that were stripped of their cloathes, and left naked by some of the kernes."† The subsequent calamities that befell Desmond and his illustrious house, are referred by the authorities to whom we owe these details, to the judgment of heaven against this sacrilege.

Whatever plunder the town afforded, was carried off to the castles

* Cox.

VOL. II.

+ Theatre of Catholic and Protestant Religion. Curry's Civil Wars.

C

of Strangically and Lisfineen in the county of Waterford, which were garrisoned by Spaniards. Desmond himself returned to his old haunts in the county of Limerick. Ormonde, in a skirmish at Newcastle in that county, lost some of his men under circumstances that increased his fury against the earl. The policy of destroying every thing belonging to the earl or his retainers, was now relentlessly acted on. Houses, towns, and villages, were everywhere devastated and destroyed. The mayor of Youghal, whose treachery or cowardice had surrendered that town to Desmond, was taken in Cashel, brought to Youghal, and hanged before his own door. On the entrance of the queen's army into Youghal, they found it all desolate, no one man, woman, or child, within the walls, except one friar. We regret that the friar's name is not preserved, for in those dreadful days he ventured upon what must have been a dangerous act of humanity. He was at Tralee during the dreadful tragedy of Davels' murder, and he brought the body of Davels to Waterford, that it might receive the rites of Christian burial.

Desmond had now so openly connected himself with the rebellion, that his sending an arrogant letter to the lord-justice, stating that he and his followers had entered into the defence of the Catholic faith, with authority from the pope, and in concert with the king of Spain, and calling on Pelham to join them, can scarcely be regarded as an aggravation of his treason. The lord-justice and Ormonde, early in the year 1580, entered Kerry, burnt the country up to the mountains of Sleevelogher, and slew four or five hundred men. Pelham then besieged Carrigfoile which was garrisoned with nineteen Spaniards and fifty Irish, commanded by Julio, an Italian engineer. The castle was taken, after considerable resistance, and the whole garrison put to the sword or hanged.

Asceaton castle was, at the same time besieged. The garrison, fearing the fate of that at Carrigfoile, contrived to evacuate the castle. They abandoned it at night, leaving a train of powder to set it on fire. Great part was consumed, but the principal towers remained uninjured.

Every one of Desmond's castles were soon taken and garrisoned by the queen's forces. His vast estates were one wide scene of devastation. He himself, with his countess and with Saunders, wandered from one mountain fastness to another, in momentary fear of being taken. His youngest brother, James of Desmond, whose birth had but three and twenty years before been celebrated with unusual rejoicing, and at whose baptism lord-deputy Sussex had attended, was seized in the act of carrying off a prey of cattle from the lands of Sir Cormac McCarthy. The party who assisted him in this plunder must have been considerable, for an hundred and fifty of them are said to have been killed on this occasion by the M'Carthys. James was mortally wounded, taken prisoner, and executed with every circumstance of cruel indignity, in the city of Cork. The misfortunes of the surviving parties were aggravated by mutual recrimination, and John of Desmond and Saunders left the earl in the hope of being able to join lord Baltinglass, who, with one of the Fitz-Geralds of Kildare, was in arms in Kildare. The garrison at Kilmallock intercepted their little party,

which consisted but of four. Sir John and Saunders succeeded in escaping the immediate danger; but being unable to elude the vigilance of the English so far as to make their way to lord Baltinglass's army, returned to their haunts in the mountain fastnesses of Aherlow. Of the others one was slain, and the fourth, a friar named Hayes, was taken, and supplied his captors with evidence of the earl's connexion with the treasons of his brothers, so far back as the time of FitzMaurice's landing with the Spaniards. This was felt of moment, as at the very date of the proclamation declaring him a traitor, there was but little evidence of any overt act of treason against him.

Lord Grey of Wilton, the newly-appointed viceroy, had already arrived in Dublin with orders to spare no resources of the government in order at once to crush the rebellion in Ireland, and he was impatient of an hour's delay. Even before Pelham, the lord-justice, could return from the south to deliver to him the sword of state, he ordered the officers who waited upon him at his arrival, to proceed to dislodge from their haunts in the Wicklow mountains the formidable body of insurgents whom we have before mentioned, as under the command of lord Baltinglass. With Baltinglass was Pheon MacHugh, chief of the sept of the O'Byrnes, and one of the Leinster FitzGeralds, a kinsman of the earl of Kildare. They were encamped in what was then called "the fastness of the glen," the valley of Glendalough, about twenty miles from Dublin. The valley was one of considerable length, lying among lofty and abrupt hills, the soil marshy and sinking under the foot; and where a firmer footing could be obtained, perplexed with rocks which could not be passed without great difficulty even by men unencumbered with arms; the sides of the steep mountains, through which the valley wound, were dark with ancient forest and underwood. The officers whom Grey ordered to this service, knew that he was leading them to almost inevitable destruction, but did not venture to remonstrate.

When Fitz-Gerald heard of this determination, he concealed himself and his men among the trees on both sides of the valley, and when the English had advanced about half-a-mile, at one of the most entangled parts of the valley, they were fired upon with murderous execution; Moore, Audley, Cosbie, and Sir Peter Carew, distinguished officers, were slain. George Carew, whom we shall have occasion to mention in the after wars of Ireland, was forcibly prevented by his uncle, Wingfield, the master of the ordnance, from joining his brother in this day's rash service. The party in advance, both officers and soldiers, were almost to a man slain; the rest retreated as they best could, scrambling over rocks and sinking amid marshes. The Irish commenced a pursuit, but retired into their woods on the approach of the deputy, who, with his staff and a party of horsemen, was stationed on the side of the mountain. He returned to Dublin, dispirited, and awaited the return of Pelham from the south of Ireland to be sworn into office.

This success of the insurgents in Wicklow, gave the disaffected in Munster momentary hope, which was increased by the circumstance of vessels from Spain finding an opportunity of baffling the vigilance of admiral Winter, and landing at Smerwicke seven hundred Spaniards,

with arms for five thousand men. They brought cannon, ammunition, and money, which they were directed to deliver to the earl of Desmond, his brother John, and Saunders. They added new works to the fort which Fitz-Maurice had begun, and called their fortress the Fort del ore, or Golden Fortress. Ormonde marched against the invaders. On hearing of his approach, they fled to the neighbouring woods of Glanigalt, a fastness resembling in many points that of Glendalough, and equally dangerous to an invading enemy. Ormonde did not think of pursuing them to the desolate glens and precipitous hills, whither the greater part of them, led by the country people, escaped. While Ormonde rested for the night, a party of Spaniards, about three hundred, returned to their fortress, and re-occupied it. After sallies from the fort, and some skirmishes between the Spaniards and Ormonde, he retired to Rathkeale, where he was met by the lord-deputy.

the

Sir William Winter had now returned. Grey encamped as near the fort as he could, and Winter, with his vice-admiral Bingham, besieged it at sea. After considerable resistance, the fort, which the Spaniards described themselves as holding for the pope and the king of Spain, was taken. The garrison sought to obtain terms: Grey would grant none. He was fighting, he said, against men who had no regular commission either from the king of Spain, or from pope, and who were but private adventurers giving their assistance to traitors. They surrendered at discretion-Wingfield disarmed them, and an English company then took possession of the fort. The commander, and a few of the officers, were made prisoners of war. The garrison were put to the sword. This execrable service was executed by Raleigh. Grey is said to have shed tears at the determination of the court-martial; and Elizabeth, to have expressed pain and displeasure at the event. On the continent, where a false statement was circulated of Grey's having made terms with the foreigners that they should be permitted to depart in safety, and with all the honours of war, the account was received with horror.*

With the destruction of the Spanish fort, Desmond's last hope expired. His extensive territories were one wild solitude-and he himself a houseless fugitive, sheltering with a few of the humblest of his retainers among the woods. Famine and disease now came to add to the inflictions of war. Spenser has given a picture of the scene which, though often quoted, we cannot omit:- "Out of the corners of the woods and glens the natives came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked like anatomies of death; they spoke like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eat the dead carrions, happy when they could find them, yea, and one another soon after; insomuch as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time, yet not able to continue therewithal, that in short space, there was none almost left, and a most plentiful and populous country suddenly left void of man and beast"†

A yet more shocking account is given by another faithworthy writer.

Leland. Cambden.

Spenser, State of Ireland.

We feel it a painful duty to transcribe the loathsome details, that the horrors which accompany civil war may be if possible fully felt. We slightly abridge the language of our authority:-" Famine followed; whom the sword did not destroy, the same did consume and eat out. They were not only driven to eat horses, dogs, and dead carrion, but also the carcasses of dead men. In Cork, a malefactor was executed, and left on the gallows. The poor people came secretly, took him down and ate him. A ship was wrecked at Smerwicke, and the dead bodies which were washed on shore, were devoured greedily. The land itself, which before these wars, was populous and well inhabited, was now become barren both of man and beast. From one end of Munster to another, from Waterford to Smerwicke, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, no man, woman, or child was to be met except in the towns, nor any beast but the very wolves, the foxes, and other like ravening beasts."*

Several narrow escapes of Desmond from the parties in pursuit of him and his brother, are recorded. The movements of John were betrayed by one of his associates to Zouch, a distinguished English officer, who succeeded in coming up with him. He was killed by Zouch's party. His head was sent to Dublin-his body to Cork, where it was exposed hanging by the heels over the north gate of the city. His head was placed on one of the turrets of Dublin castle. We wish that we could suppress all record of such acts as these. create ferocity, demoniacal cruelty, and burning revenge. Saunders sunk under the fatigues of a wandering life-he was found dead in the woods-his body mutilated by wolves and birds of prey.

Their effect is to

The earl had now survived all his brothers-his son was in the hands of Elizabeth-his countess, occasionally sharing his abject fortunes, occasionally seeking interviews with such of the court as she thought would assist her in obtaining any terms for her unhappy husband. Allen and Saunders were both dead. The unhappy earl had none to advise with, but some hunted priest, or poor gallowglass, or woodkerne. In his misery he wrote to Ormonde a letter, which we transcribe." My lord, great is my grief, when I think how heavily her majesty is bent to disfavor me; and howbeit, I carry the name of an undutiful subject, yet God knoweth that my heart and mind are always most loyally inclined to serve my most loving prince, so it may please her highness to remove her displeasure from me. As I may not condemn myself of disloyalty to her majesty, so I cannot excuse my faults, but must confess I have incurred her majesty's indignation; yet when the cause and means which were found to make me commit folly shall be known to her highness, I rest in an assured hope that her most gracious majesty will think of me as my heart deserveth, as also of those who wrong my heart with undutifulness. From my heart I am sorry that folly, bad counsels, slights, or any other things, have made me forget my duty; and therefore, I am most desirous to get conference with your lordship, to the end I may open and declare to you, how tyraneously I was used; humbly craving that you will appoint some time and place, when and where I may attend your honour; and

* Chronicles of Ireland in continuation of Holinshed.

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