was strengthened by a bog in flank. Wingfield, the Marshal, thought he saw some confusion in their ranks, and entreated the Deputy that he might be allowed to charge. The Earl of Clanrickarde joined the Marshal, and the battle became general; but O'Neill's cavalry repeatedly drove back both Wingfield and Clanrickarde, until Sir Henry Danvers, with Captains Taaffe and Fleming came up to their assistance; when at length the Irish infantry fell into confusion and fled. Another body of them, commanded by Tyrrell was still unbroken, and long maintained its ground upon a hill; but at length seeing their comrades routed, they also gave way and retreated in good order after their main body. The northern cavalry covered the retreat; and O'Neill and O'Donnell, by amazing personal exertions, succeeded in preserving order and preventing it from becoming a total rout.

The Spaniards who had joined O'Donnell at Castlehaven, refused to leave the ground, and were nearly all cut to pieces; their commander, Del Campo, was taken prisoner with two of his officers, and about forty soldiers: but the Irish troops although to them no quarter was given,* retired with comparatively little loss. According to Carew's statement there were, of the Irish army, twelve hundred killed and eight hundred wounded;

* The most merciless of all Mountjoy's army that day was the Anglo-Irish and Catholic Earl of Clanrickarde. He slew twenty of the Irish with his own hand, and cried aloud to spare no "rebels." Carew says that "no man did bloody his sword more than his lordship that day." Pac. Hib.

and of his own, but six or seven persons in all; a disparity which in itself proves that O'Neill's troops were taken by surprise and had not intended to fight that day. But it avails little to plead surprise in excuse for a lost battle-the battle was lost: the Irish camp was in the hands of the enemy: their plans were completely deranged, and most of their colours, arms, and baggage captured. It was now the depth of winter, and too late to prepare for a new campaign that year and O'Neill was reluctantly compelled to order a retreat to the North, leaving Kinsale and Don Juan to their fate.

*

On the last day of December Don Juan sent Mountjoy proposals for a capitulation; obtained honourable terms; agreed to surrender all the castles upon the coast into which Spanish garrisons had been admitted, and shortly after set sail for Spain; carrying with him all his artillery, treasure and military stores.

O'Neill and the remainder of his army set out on their homeward march; but Red Hugh

* In his negotiations with Mountjoy Don Juan affects to speak most contemptuously of O'Neill and O'Donnell, and the whole Irish nation; but if he had better known the country, he would have been aware that the exertions of the northern chiefs to relieve him, when shut up in Kinsale, at such a distance from Ulster, were almost superhuman. Besides, he ought to have remembered the terms of the requisition upon which the Spaniards came to Ireland-" If the aides were sent to Ülster, then Tyrone required but fower or five thousand men: if the king did purpose to send an army into Mounster, then he should send strongly, because neither Tyrone nor O'Donnell could come to help them."-Pac. Hib. p. 456.

O'Donnell, stung to madness by defeat, indignant at the conduct of this most ill-judged enterprise, and impatient of King Philip's dilatory councils and petty expeditions, gave the command of his clan to his brother Roderick; and three days after the battle, flung himself into a Spanish ship at Castlehaven, and, attended by Redmond Burke, Hugh Mostian, and seven other Irish gentlemen, set sail for Spain. He disembarked at Coruña, was received with high distinction, by the Marquis of Caraçena and other nobles, "who evermore gave O'Donnell the right hand; which, within his government," says Carew, "he would not have done to the greatest duke in Spaine." He travelled through Gallicia, and at Santiago de Compostella was royally entertained by the archbishop and citizens; but in bull-fighting, or the stately Alameda, he had small pleasure. With teeth set and heart on fire, the chieftain hurried on, traversed the mountains of Galicia and Leon, and drew not bridle until he reached Zamora, where Philip was then holding his court. With passionate zeal he pleaded his country's cause; entreated that a greater fleet and stronger army might be sent to Ireland without delay, unless his Catholic Majesty desired to see his ancient Milesian kinsman and allies utterly destroyed and trodden into earth by the tyrant Elizabeth; and above all, whatever was to be done he prayed it might be done instantly, while O'Neill still held his army on foot, and his banner flying; while it was not yet too late to rescue poor Erin from the deadly fangs of those dogs of England. The king re

ceived him affectionately, treated him with high consideration, and actually gave orders for a powerful force to be drawn together at Coruña, for another descent upon Ireland.*

:

But that armament never sailed; and poor O'Donnell never saw Ireland more; for news arrived in Spain, a few months after, that Dunbuidhe castle, the last strong-hold in Munster that held out for King Philip, was taken; and Beare-haven, the last harbour in the South that was open to his ships, effectually guarded by the English and the Spanish preparations were countermanded: and Red Hugh was once more on his journey to the court, to renew his almost hopeless suit; and had arrived at Simancas, two leagues from Valladolid, when he suddenly fell sick; his gallant heart was broken, and he died there, on the 10th of September, 1602. He was buried by order of the king, with royal honours, as befitted a prince of the Kinel-Conal; and the Chapter of the Cathedral of St. Francis, in the stately city of Valladolid, holds the bones of as noble a chief and as stout a warrior as ever bore the wand of chieftaincy, or led a clan to battle.

* Pac. Hib.

CHAPTER XV.

FIRE, FAMINE, AND SLAUGHTER-O'NEILL AT

MELLIFONT.

A. D. 1602-1603.

After another severe winter journey, O'Neill gained his own territory; he knew that he might shortly expect Mountjoy once more at the Blackwater; and employed the interval in disposing his men, so as best to guard the passes of the woods, and preparing for this last fierce struggle ; for he determined to dispute every foot of ground, and to sell life and land dear.

Mountjoy spent that spring in Munster, with the President, reducing those fortresses which still remained in the hands of the Irish, and fiercely crushing down every vestige of the national war. Richard Tyrrell, however, still kept. the field; and O'Sullivan Beare held his strong castle of Dun-buidhe, which he wrested from the Spaniards after Don Juan had stipulated to yield it to the enemy.* This castle commanded Ban

Among other places, which were neither yielded nor taken to the end they should be delivered to the English, Don Juan tied himself to deliver my castle and haven, the only key of mine inheritance, whereupon