March

the country.

CHAP XI English Pale he found as it were overwhelmed with 1566 vagabonds; stealth and spoils daily carried out of it; the people miserable; not two gentlemen in the whole of it able to lend twenty pounds; without horse, armour, Condition of apparel, or victual.' 'The soldiers were worse than the people so beggarlike as it would abhor a general to look on them.' Never a married wife among them,' and therefore so allied with Irish women,' that they betrayed secrets, and could not be trusted on dangerous service; so insolent as to be intolerable; so rooted in idleness as there was no hope by correction to amend them.'

So much for the four shires. In Munster,' as the fruit of the Ormond and Desmond wars, a man might ride twenty or thirty miles and find no houses standing,' in a county which Sidney had known as well inhabited as many counties in England.' Connaught was quiet so far, and Clanrickard was probably loyal; but he was weak and was in constant expectation of being overrun.

In Ulster,' Sidney wrote, there tyrannizeth the prince of pride; Lucifer was never more puffed up with pride and ambition than that O'Neil is; he is at present the only strong and rich man in Ireland, and he is the dangerousest man and most like to bring the whole estate of this land to subversion and subjugation either to him or to some foreign prince, that ever was in Ireland."

The Deputy's first step after landing was to ascertain the immediate terms on which the dreaded chief of the North intended to stand towards him. He wrote to desire Shan to come into the Pale to see him, and Shan at first answered with an offer to meet him at Dundalk;

1 Sidney to Leicester, March 5.-Irish MSS. Rolls House.

1566 March

but a letter followed in which he subscribed himself as CHAP XI Sidney's loving gossip to command,' the contents of which were less promising. For himself, Shan said, he had so much affection and respect for Sir Henry, that he would gladly go to him anywhere; but certain things had happened in past years which had not been wholly forgotten. The Earl of Sussex had twice attempted to assassinate him. Had not the Earl of Kildare interfered, the Earl of Sussex when he went to Dublin to embark for England, would have put a lock upon his hands, and have carried him over as a prisoner.' His 'timorous and mistrustful people' after these experiences would not trust him any more in English hands.'

6

All this was unpleasantly true, and did not diminish Sidney's difficulties. It was none the less necessary for him however to learn what he was to expect from Shan. Straining a point at the risk of offending Elizabeth, he accepted the services of Stukely, which gave the latter an opportunity of covering part of his misdoings by an act of good service, and sent him with another gentleman to Shan's castle, to discover if possible what he was, and what he was like to attempt." A better messenger, supposing him honest, could not have been chosen. Shan was at his ease with a person whose life was as lawless as his own. He had ceased to care for concealment, and spoke out freely. At first 'he was very flexible but very timorous to come to the Deputy, apprehending traitorous practices.' One afternoon when the wine was in him,' he put his meaning in plainer language. Stukely had perhaps hinted that there would be no earldom for him unless his doings were more satisfactory. The Irish heart and the Irish tongue ran over.

1 Shan O'Neil to Sidney, February 18.-Irish MSS. Rolls House.

2 Sidney to Leicester, March 5.-MS. Ibid.

March

:

CHAP XI English Pale he found as it were overwhelmed with 1566 vagabonds; stealth and spoils daily carried out of it; the people miserable; not two gentlemen in the whole of it able to lend twenty pounds; without horse, armour, Condition of apparel, or victual.' The soldiers were worse than the the country. people so beggarlike as it would abhor a general to look on them.' 'Never a married wife among them,' and therefore so allied with Irish women,' that they betrayed secrets, and could not be trusted on dangerous service; so insolent as to be intolerable; so rooted in idleness as there was no hope by correction to amend them.'

So much for the four shires. In Munster,' as the fruit of the Ormond and Desmond wars, a man might ride twenty or thirty miles and find no houses standing,' in a county which Sidney had known as well inhabited as many counties in England.' Connaught was quiet so far, and Clanrickard was probably loyal; but he was weak and was in constant expectation of being overrun.

In Ulster,' Sidney wrote, there tyrannizeth the prince of pride; Lucifer was never more puffed up with pride and ambition than that O'Neil is; he is at present the only strong and rich man in Ireland, and he is the dangerousest man and most like to bring the whole estate of this land to subversion and subjugation either to him or to some foreign prince, that ever was in Ireland."

The Deputy's first step after landing was to ascertain the immediate terms on which the dreaded chief of the North intended to stand towards him. He wrote to desire Shan to come into the Pale to see him, and Shan at first answered with an offer to meet him at Dundalk;

1566

March

but a letter followed in which he subscribed himself as CHAP XI Sidney's loving gossip to command,' the contents of which were less promising. For himself, Shan said, he had so much affection and respect for Sir Henry, that he would gladly go to him anywhere; but certain things had happened in past years which had not been wholly forgotten. The Earl of Sussex had twice attempted to assassinate him. Had not the Earl of Kildare interfered, the Earl of Sussex when he went to Dublin to embark for England,' would have put a lock upon his hands, and have carried him over as a prisoner.' His 'timorous and mistrustful people' after these experiences would not trust him any more in English hands.'

All this was unpleasantly true, and did not diminish Sidney's difficulties. It was none the less necessary for him however to learn what he was to expect from Shan. Straining a point at the risk of offending Elizabeth, he accepted the services of Stukely, which gave the latter an opportunity of covering part of his misdoings by an act of good service, and sent him with another gentleman to Shan's castle, to discover if possible what he was, and what he was like to attempt." A better messenger, supposing him honest, could not have been chosen. Shan was at his ease with a person whose life was as lawless as his own. He had ceased to care for concealment, and spoke out freely. At first 'he was very flexible but very timorous to come to the Deputy, apprehending traitorous practices.' One afternoon when the wine was in him,' he put his meaning in plainer language. Stukely had perhaps hinted that there would be no earldom for him. unless his doings were more satisfactory. The Irish heart and the Irish tongue ran over.

1 Shan O'Neil to Sidney, February 18.-Irish MSS. Rolls House.

2 Sidney to Leicester, March 5.-MS. Ibid.

1566

March

O'Neil's

views for himself.

CHAP XI 'I care not,' he said, to be made an earl unless I may be better and higher than an earl, for I am in blood and power better than the best of them; and I will give place to none but my cousin of Kildare, for that he is of my house. You have made a wise earl of M'Carty More. I keep as good a man as he. For the Queen I confess she is my Sovereign, but I never made peace with her but by her own seeking. Whom am I to trust? When I came to the Earl of Sussex on safe conduct he offered me the courtesy of a handlock. When I was with the Queen, she said to me herself that I had, it was true, safe conduct to come and go, but it was not said when I might go; and they kept me there till I had agreed to things so far against my honour and profit, that I would never perform them while I live. That made me make war-and if it were to do again I would do it. My ancestors were kings of Ulster; and Ulster is mine, and shall be mine. O'Donnell shall never come into his country, nor Bagenal into Newry, nor Kildare into Dundrum or Lecale. They are now mine. With this sword I won them-with this sword I will keep them.'

'My Lord,' Sidney wrote to Leicester, no Attila nor Totila, no Vandal or Goth that ever was, was more to be doubted for overrunning any part of Christendom than this man is for overrunning and spoiling of Ireland. If it be an angel of heaven that will say that ever O'Neil will be a good subject till he be thoroughly chastised, believe him not, but think him a spirit of error. Surely if the Queen do not chastise him in Ulster, he will chase all hers out of Ireland. Her Majesty must make up her mind to the expense, and chastise this cannibal. She must send money in such sort as I may pay the garrison throughout. The present soldiers who are idle, treache