families; the crops were of their sowing, the flocks and herds in the fields were their property. Amongst them, therefore, a numerous and well equipped army of marauders were able to carry out with comparative ease a long campaign of spoliation and slaughter. And if sometimes the harassed natives availed of opportunities to give the Englishmen a taste of their own quality, was it any wonder?

On the 13th of June an attempt to relieve the besieged castle of Dunboy was made by Captain Tyrell, one of O'Sullivan's chief officers; it was ineffectual, because the small force under his command could do no more than give a somewhat lively alarm to the English camp. Nothing can rout and defeat one army except another army; and O'Sullivan had no army in the field. The siege of the castle went on; after a cannonade of seven days duration the building was beaten into ruins. As the masonry was tumbling about their heads the defenders sent out a messenger to the Lord President with an offer of surrender if their lives might be spared and if they were allowed to march out with their arms. The response of the Lord President was to hang the envoy. The besiegers soon after effected an entrance into the ruined building; hand-to-hand fighting of the most desperate character ensued, the defenders being gradually beaten from one point to another till they were driven into the cellar, where they made their last stand. A few of them managed to get outside the walls, where they were immediately cut down; eight men rushed to the sea shore and attempted to swim across to Bere island, but the English captains, judging that something of the kind might be adventured, had three boats with armed men on board waiting for the chance, and the unfortunate swimmers were shot or speared in the water. The final scene is thus recorded in the "Pacata "

The eighteenth (June) in the morning three and twenty more likewise rendered themselves simply to Captain Blundell, who

the night before had the guard, and after their cannoniers, being two Spaniards and an Italian (for the rest were slain) likewise yielded themselves; then MacGeohagan, chief commander of the place, being mortally wounded with divers shot in his body, the rest made choice of one Thomas Taylor, an Englishman's son (the dearest and inwardest man with Tyrell, and married to his niece) to be their chief, who, having nine barrels of powder, drew himself and it into the vault and there sat down by it, with a light match in his hand, vowing and protesting to set it on fire, and blow up the castle, himself, and all the rest, except they might have promise of life, which being by the Lord President refused, his lordship gave direction for a new battery upon the vault, intending to bury them in the ruins thereof; and after a few times discharged, and the bullets entering amongst them into the cellar, the rest that were with Taylor, partly by intercession, but chiefly by compulsion (threatening to deliver him up if he were obstinate), about ten of the clock in the morning of the same day constrained him to render simply... Sir George Thornton, the sergeant major, Captain Roger Harvie, Captain Power, and others entering the vault to receive them, Captain Power found the said Richard MacGeohagan lying there mortally wounded (as before mentioned), who, perceiving Taylor and the rest ready to render themselves, raised himself from the ground, snatching a light candle, and staggering therewith to a barrel of powder (which for that purpose was unheaded), offering to cast it into the same, Captain Power took him and held him in his arms with intent to make him prisoner, until he was by our men (who perceived his intent) instantly killed; and then Taylor and the rest were brought prisoners to the camp. The same day fifty-eight were executed in the market place The whole number of the ward consisted of one hundred and forty-three selected fighting men, being the best choice of all their forces, of the which no one man escaped, but were either slain, executed, or buried in the ruins, and so obstinate and resolved a defence had not been seen within this Kingdom.

So obstinate and resolved a defence had not been seen within this Kingdom." Notable and memorable words By members of the O'Sullivan Sept they should be for ever borne in memory as a testament of glory.

TH

CHAPTER IV.

HE fall of Dunboy caused the abandonment of a second expedition which King Philip had intended to despatch to Ireland. Its arrival was for some time expected by both the Irish and the English, and desultory fighting went on in various parts of the South, in all which operations O'Sullivan and his friend Tyrell were active participants. They achieved some small successes, but by degrees they were overborne by the foreigners, aided, unfortunately, by Irish allies, the corrupted and rotten refuse of once noble clans. Castle after castle was captured and destroyed; the homes of the humbler folk were sought out in all directions and unsparingly burned; and a fresh sweep was made of all the live stock that could be gathered in from districts previously wasted,-this, of course, with a view that such of the natives as might escape the edge of the sword should perish of starvation.

O'Sullivan

Under those desperate circumstances decided on withdrawing from the wasted and desolated South, and, with the small remnant of his forces, and a number of the members of his immediate family, making the best of his way to the territory of his friend O'Rourke an irreconcilable "rebel" like himself-in the county of Leitrim. It was a desperate venture, a terrible march, or rather flight, the little partystill fighting for their lives-being hunted almost every mile of the way by bands of denationalised Irishmen, mercenaries of Anglo-Irish settlers and recreant Irish

families. A detailed account of those operations is given in Don Philip O'Sullivan's history; the "Pacata " thus briefly tells the story :

As they (O'Sullivan's party) passed by the skirts of Muskery, they were skirmished withal by the sons of Teg Mac Owen Cartie, where they lost some of their men, and most of their carriage; in passing by Liscarroll, John Barry, brother to the Viscount, with eight horsemen and forty foot, charged their rear at the ford of Ballaghan, where he slew and hurt many of them; and of his part one horseman was slain.

When they came to the river of the Shannon, they, finding the river high, and no boats nor troughs to pass them over into Connaught, they killed many of their horses, and made shifts with their hides to make certain little boats, called in Irish nevogs, in the which they transported their men and baggage. Nevertheless, before all were passed the river, the sheriff of the county of Tipperary fell upon their rear and slew many of them. Being in Connaught they passed safely through the county of Galway until they came into the Kellys' country, where they were fought withal by Sir Thomas Burke, the Earl of Clanrickard's brother, and Captain Henry Malby, who were more in number than the rebels. Nevertheless, when they saw that they must either make their way by the sword or perish, they gave a brave charge upon our men, in the which Captain Malby was slaine, upon whose fall Sir Thomas and his troops, fainting with the loss of many men, studied their safetys by flight, and the rebels with little harm marched into O'Rourke's country.

The next morning, being the fourth of January, 1602, Sir Charles coming to seek the enemy in their camp, he entered their quarter without resistance, where he found nothing but hurt and sick men, whose pains and lives by the soldiers were both determined.

What a feat to be recorded with a smug sense of satisfaction-the killing of sick and wounded men, not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood, in a deserted camp which the English had entered without resistance !

This wonderful retreat of O'Sullivan's has been expatiated on in terms of admiration and sympathy by many writers of our own time, as well as of earlier dates. It has frequently been compared to the retreat of the 10,000 Greeks from Persia under the command

of Xenophon after the battle of Cunaxa. The Greek warriors had a longer route to traverse, involving, of course, a longer period of danger and suffering, but as regards endurance, courage, and valour, the men of Beare and Bantry were fully up to that high example.

O'Sullivan's little party started from Glengarriffe on the 31st of December, 1602. With privations of every sort, as well as with the swords and spears of the enemy, they had to contend all the way. Half-starved, footsore, weary, worn out by constant fatigue and want of sleep, some dropped out and others died on their toilsome journey. Their chieftain rallied, cheered and encouraged his men as best he could. One of his little speeches to them is thus recorded by his cousin Don Philip, the historian:

Since on this day our desperate circumstances and unhappy fate have left us neither wealth, nor country, nor children nor wives to fight for, but, as on this instant the struggle with our enemies is for the life that alone remains to us, which of you, I ask, in God's eternal name, will not rather fall fighting gloriously in battle and avenging your blood, than like cattle, which have no sense of honour, perish unavenged in cowardly flight? Surely our ancestors, heroes famed for their high spirits, would never seek by a shameful flight to shun an honourable death, even when they could fly. For us it will be honourable to follow in their footsteps, especially as flight offers no salvation. See the plain stretching far and wide, without hindrance of bog, without thick woods, without any hiding places to which we could fly for concealment. The neighbouring people are no protection for

us.

There is none to come to our aid. The enemy block the roads and passes, and we, wearied with our long journey, are unable to run. Whatever chance we have is only in our own courage and strength of our own arms. Up, then, and on them, whom you excel in spirit, courage, achievements past, and holy faith. Let us remember this day that enemies who have everywhere attacked us have heretofore been routed by the Divine mercy. Above all, let us believe that the victory is the gift of God. Let us think that Christ our Lord will be with his servants in their utmost need, and that for His name and holy faith we join issue with heretics and their abettors.