tions to direct all his strength against the earl of Tyrone and the other rebels of Ulster, and to plant garrisons at Lough Foyle and Ballyshannon. This latter direction he quite neglected, and the other he delayed.

459. Having scattered a large part of his army by sending them to various stations, he set out for the south on the 21st of May with 7,000 men, chiefly with the object of chastising the Geraldines. Through the whole of this disastrous journey, which occupied about six weeks, the insurgents constantly hung round the army and never gave him an hour's rest, so that he had to fight every inch of his way.

460. The O'Moores killed 500 of his men at the "Pass of the Plumes" near Maryborough. He pushed on for Caher in Tipperary, where he took the castle, the only successful exploit of the whole expedition. Passing round by Limerick, Fermoy, Lismore, and Waterford, he returned to Dublin in June, the soldiers being weary, sick and incredibly diminished in numbers.

461. Sir Conyers Clifford marched from Galway this year-1599-to relieve the castle of Collooney in Sligo, which was besieged by O'Donnell. Having arrived at Boyle, he started to cross the Curlieu Hills into Sligo; but he was intercepted by O'Donnell in a difficult part of the mountain road, called Ballaghboy or the Yellow Pass. After a very sharp fight the English were defeated and fled; and Sir Conyers, endeavouring to rally his men, was killed in the pass. He was greatly regretted by the Irish, who buried him with much respect.

462. Essex's fine army of 20,000 had melted away in a few months; and at his own request he now got 2,000 more from the queen. In August, 1599, he set out at last for the north, with only 2,500 men: but he found O'Neill so strongly entrenched in his camp that he did not dare to attack him.

O'Neill now requested a conference, which was granted; and a truce was agreed on. But nothing came of it; for immediately afterwards Essex suddenly sailed for

England. The remainder of his short career, ending in the block, belongs to the history of England.

463. O'Neill visited Munster in January, 1600, and encamped with his army at Inniscarra on the Lee near Cork. Here most of the southern chiefs visited him and acknowledged him as their leader.

For the last two years victory and success had attended the Irish almost without interruption; and Hugh O'Neill earl of Tyrone had now attained the very summit of his power. But after this the tide began to turn; and soon came the day of defeat and disaster.

CHAPTER XI.

LORD MOUNTJOY AND SIR GEORGE CAREW.

(1600-1601.)

464. The person chosen by the queen to succeed Essex as deputy was Charles Blount, better known as Lord Mountjoy, a man of great ability and foresight, and a more formidable adversary than any yet encountered by O'Neill.

He came to Ireland in February, 1600. As soon as O'Neill heard of his arrival he broke up his camp at Inniscarra, where he had tarried for six weeks, and returned to Ulster.

465. Along with Mountjoy came Sir George Carew as president of Munster, a man quite as able and courageous as Mountjoy, but crafty and avaricious. He had an intense hatred of the Irish, mainly because his brother had been killed by them in the battle of Glenmalure (402).

466. Carew directed all his energies against the Munster rebels. He captured their castles one after another, and caused his soldiers to destroy the crops wherever he went in order to produce a famine. The famine ulti

mately came and the people-men, women, and children -perished by thousands of starvation.

467. He put forth all his efforts to capture the Sugan earl, who was an able leader of the insurgents, offering large rewards to any one who would betray him: but for a long time he was unsuccessful. The earl was at last taken in the great Mitchelstown cave by his old adherent the white knight, who delivered him up to Carew for a reward of £1,000. He was tried and found guilty of high treason; but he was not executed, lest his brother might be set up in his place and give more trouble.

468. While these events were taking place in the south, O'Neill and O'Donnell were kept busy in the north. It had long been the intention of the government to plant garrisons on the shores of Lough Foyle. For this purpose a powerful armament of 4,000 foot and 200 horse, under the command of Sir Henry Docwra, with abundance of stores and building materials, sailed for Lough Foyle in May, 1600. At the same time, in order to divert O'Neill's attention and draw off opposition, Mountjoy marched north from Dublin as if to invade Tyrone. While O'Neill and O'Donnell were opposing Mountjoy, Docwra succeeded in building forts at Culmore at the mouth of the river Foyle, at Derry, then almost uninhabited, and at Dunnalong five miles from Derry up the river.

469. Leinster had shared in the O'Neill rebellion: and Owney O'Moore, the chief of Leix, had succeeded in winning back most of his principality. The country had quite recovered from the wars of the Plantations (409, 410): the land was well cultivated, and the people were prosperous and contented.

470. But now to punish them for their part in the rebellion, Mountjoy proceeded in August, 1600, from Dublin, with a large force and a supply of sickles, scythes, and harrows to tear up the corn; and he soon destroyed the crops of the whole district; after which he returned to Dublin, leaving the people to despair and hunger, their smiling district turned to a black ruin.

471. Soon after this he marched north and employed himself in the same manner, till he had destroyed the people's means of subsistence over a large part of Ulster

472. Niall Garve O'Donnell was married to Red Hugh O'Donnell's sister, and was one of the ablest and most trusted of the Ulster confederates. But on a sudden he betrayed his trust and went over to the English. This greatly crippled O'Neill and O'Donnell in their efforts to oppose Docwra; who still bravely held his ground in spite of all they could do.

473. By the middle of 1601 the rebellion may be said to have been crushed in the three southern provinces. In Ulster, though O'Neill and O'Donnell were still actively engaged in defensive warfare, they had become greatly circumscribed. But the rebellion was now fated to be renewed in another quarter of the island.

CHAPTER XII.

THE SIEGE AND BATTLE OF KINSALE.

(1601-1602.)

474. On the 23d of September, 1601, a Spanish fleet entered the harbour of Kinsale with 3,400 troops under the command of Don Juan del Aguila. They immediately took possession of the town: and Del Aguila despatched a message to Ulster to O'Neill and O'Donnell to come south without delay.

Mountjoy and Carew mustered their forces, and at the end of three weeks encamped on the north side of Kinsale with an army of 12,000 men.

475. On the receipt of Del Aguila's message the northern chiefs made a hasty preparation to march south. O'Donnell was first and crossing the Shannon into Tipperary he encamped near Holy-cross. But here his further progress was barred; for Carew, whom Mountjoy had sent to intercept him, lay right in his path near

Cashel; the Slieve Felim mountains on his right-to the west-were impassable for an army with baggage on account of recent heavy rains; and he dared not go through Kilkenny, as he might encounter the army of the Pale. At the same time, wishing to reserve his strength, he was determined to reach Kinsale without fighting.

Luckily there came a sudden and intense frost on the night of the 22d of November, which hardened up bog and morass and made them passable. The Irish general, instantly taking advantage of this, set out that night westwards, crossed the Slieve Felim mountains, reached Croom the next night after a march of forty English miles "the greatest march with [incumbrance of] carriage," says Carew," that hath been heard of."

476. During the month of November the English had carried on the siege vigorously. The ordnance made a breach in the walls, and a storming party of 2,000 attempted to force their way in, but after a desperate struggle were repulsed. On the other hand, one stormy night, 2,000 of the Spaniards made a determined sally to destroy some siege works, but were driven off after sharp fighting.

477. After O'Donnell's arrival things began to go against the English, who were hemmed in by the town. on one side, and by the Irish army on the other, so that they were now themselves besieged. They were threatened with famine, and the weather was so inclement that they lost numbers of their men every day by cold and sickness.

478. O'Neill arrived on the 21st December with an army of about 4,000, and encamped at Belgooly north of the town, about three miles from the English lines. His advice was, not to attack the English, but to let their army melt away; for already 6,000 of them had perished. But he was overruled in a council of war, and a combined Attack of Irish and Spaniards was arranged for the night of the 3d of January, 1602. Meantime an Irish traitor sent secret information to the English.