1561 your Highness he may do it without danger if he will. CHAP VII And if he will not do that he may in your service, then will be done to him what others may. God send your Highness a good end. "Your Highness's 'Most humble and faithful Subject and Servant, 'From Ardbrachan.' 'T. SUSSEX.1 English honour like English coin lost something of its purity in the sister island. Nothing came of this undesirable proposal. Neil Grey however kept his secret, and though he would not risk his life by attempting the murder, sought no favour with Shan by betraying Sussex. Elizabeth's answer-if she sent any answer-is not discoverable. It is most sadly certain however that Sussex was continued in office; and inasmuch as it will be seen that he repeated the experiment a few months later, his letter could not have been received with any marked condemnation. Shortly after, Fitzwilliam returned from England with the Berwick troops, and before the season closed and before Kildare commenced his negotiations, the Deputy was permitted to make another effort to repair the credit of English arms. August invades Despatching provisions by sea to Lough Foyle he suc- Sussex ceeded this time in marching through Tyrone and in gain destroying on his way four thousand cattle which he was Tyrone. unable to carry away; and had the vessels arrived in time he might have remained in Ulster long enough to do serious mischief there. But the wind and weather 1 Irish MSS. Rolls House. CHAP VII were unfavourable. He had left Shan's cows to rot where he had killed them; and thus being without food, August and sententiously and characteristically concluding that 1561 Shan con to England. 'man by his policy might propose but God at his will did dispose," Lord Sussex fell back by the upper waters of Lough Erne, sweeping the country before him. O'Neil in the interval had been burning villages in Meath; but the Deputy had penetrated his stronghold, had defied him on his own ground, and he had not ventured to meet the English in the field. The defeat of July was partially retrieved, and Sussex was in a better position to make terms. Kildare in the middle of Ocsents to go tober had a conference with Shan at Dundalk, and Shan consented to repair to Elizabeth's presence. In the conditions however, which he was allowed to name, he implied that he was rather conferring a favour than receiving one, and that he was going to England as a victorious enemy permitting himself to be conciliated. He demanded a safe-conduct so clearly worded that whatever was the result of his visit he should be free to return; he required a complete amnesty for his past misdeeds, and he stipulated that Elizabeth should pay all expenses for himself and his retinue; the Earls of Ormond, Desmond, and Kildare must receive him in state at Dundalk and escort him to Dublin; Kildare must accompany him to England; and most important of all Armagh Cathedral must be evacuated. On these terms he was ready to go to London; he did not anticipate treachery; and either he would persuade Elizabeth to recognize him and thus prove to the Irish that rebellion was the surest road to prosperity and power, or at worst by venturing into England and return 1 Sussex to Elizabeth, September 21.-Irish MSS. Rolls House. ing unscathed, he would show them that the Government CHAP VII might be defied with more than impunity. 1561 Had Neil Grey revealed to him those dark overtures December of Sussex, the Irish chief would have relied less boldly on English good faith. When his terms were made known to Elizabeth's Council, the propriety of acceding to them was advocated for certain secret respects;' and even Sir William Cecil was not ashamed to say that in Shan's absence from Ireland something might be cavilled against him or his, for non-observing the covenants on his side; and so the pact being infringed, the matter might be used as should be thought fit.'' The intention of deliberate dishonour was not persisted in. Elizabeth, after some uncertainty whether concessions so ignominious could be safely made, wrote to accept them all except the evacuation of the cathedral. Making a merit of his desire to please her, Shan said that although for the Earl of Sussex he would not mollify one iota of his agreement,' yet he would consent at the request of her Majesty; and thus at last with the Earl of Kildare in attendance, a train of galloglasse, a thousand pounds in hand, and a second thousand waiting for him in London, the champion of Irish freedom sailed from Dublin, and appeared on the 2nd of January at the English court. Not wholly knowing how so strange a being might conduct himself, Cecil, Pembroke, and Bacon received him privately on his arrival, at the Lord Keeper's house. They gave him his promised money and endeavoured to impress upon him the enormity of his misdemeanors. Their success in this respect was indifferent. When Cecil spoke of rebellion Shan answered that two thou 1 Cecil to Throgmorton, November 4, 1561.-CONWAY MSS, 2 Kildare to Cecil, December 3.-MS. Ibid. CHAP VII sand pounds was a poor present from so great a Queen. When Cecil asked if he would be a good subject for the January future, he was sure their honours would give him a few 1562 at Eliza beth's Court. more hundreds. He agreed however to make a general confession of his sins in Irish and English; and on the 6th of the month Elizabeth received him. Shan O'Neil The Council, the Peers, the foreign ambassadors, bishops, aldermen, dignitaries of all kinds, were present in state, as if at the exhibition of some wild animal of the desert. O'Neil stalked in, his saffron mantle sweeping round and round him, his hair curling on his back and clipped short below the eyes which gleamed from under it with a grey lustre, frowning, fierce, and cruel. Behind him followed his galloglasse, bare-headed and fair-haired, with shirts of mail which reached their knees, a wolfskin flung across their shoulders, and short broad battle axes in their hands. At the foot of the throne the chief paused, bent forward, threw himself on his face upon the ground, and then rising upon his knees spoke aloud in Irish: 'Oh! my most dread sovereign lady and Queen, like as I Shan O'Neil, your Majesty's subject of your realm of Ireland, have of long time desired to come into the presence of your Majesty to acknowledge my humble and bounden subjection, so am I now here upon my knees by your gracious permission, and do most humbly acknowledge your Majesty to be my sovereign lady and Queen of England, France, and Ireland; and I do confess that for lack of civil education I have offended your Majesty and your laws, for the which I have required and obtained your Majesty's pardon. And for that I most humbly from the bottom of my heart thank your Majesty, and still do with all humbleness require the conti nuance of the same; and I faithfully promise here before CHAP VII Almighty God and your Majesty, and in presence of all 1562 these your nobles that I intend by God's grace to live January hereafter in the obedience of your Majesty as a subject of your land of Ireland. And because this my speech being Irish is not well understanded I have caused this my submission to be written in English and Irish, and thereto have set my hand and seal; and to these gentlemen my kinsmen and friends I most humbly beseech your Majesty to be merciful and gracious lady."1 To the hearers the sound of the words was as the howling of a dog. The form which Shan was made to say that he had himself caused to be written, had been drawn for him by Cecil; and the gesture of the culprit was less humble than his language; the English courtiers devised 'a style' for him, as the interpretation of his bearing, 'O'Neil the Great, cousin to St. Patrick, friend to the Queen of England, enemy to all the world besides.'3 The submission being disposed of the next object was to turn the visit to account. Shan discovered that notwithstanding his precautions he had been outwitted in the wording of the safe-conduct. Though the Government promised to permit him to return to Ireland, the time of his stay had not been specified. Specious pretexts were invented to detain him; he required to be recognized as his father's heir; the English judges desired the cause to be pleaded before themselves; the young Baron of Dungannon must come over to be heard on the other 1 Irish MSS. Rolls House. He confessed his crime and rebellion with howling.'-CAMDEN. So Hotspur says—' I had rather hear, Lady, my brach howl in Irish.' 3 CAMPION. ELIZ. II. D |