54 THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



in troops to our camp with their arms, and were 

 heartily welcomed by Count de Bucquoi, who knows 

 them very well, and what mettle they are made of. 

 They were enrolled in the corps of their fellow- 

 countrymen, commanded by the most noble Captain 

 MacSorley." 



36. In 1640 the Irish in foreign service showed 

 what they were made of, when Owen Roe O'Neill, 

 with 1,500 foot, chiefly Irish, and 400 horse, from 

 the 13th of June to the 10th of August, defended 

 Arras against a French force of 25,000 foot and 

 9,000 cavalry ; and, when obliged to capitulate, was 

 allowed to march out with all the honours of war, 

 and retire to Douay. 



37. In 1640, Sir Warham St. Leger, " Sergeant- 

 Ma jcr-General of the Army," having reviewed at 

 Carrickfergus nine thousand recruits, of whom eight 

 thousand were Irish Catholics, "saw such willingness 

 and aptness in them to learn their exercises, and 

 that mettle and gallant appearance which would 

 recommend them to be chosen for a service where a 

 crown lay at stake, that he made no scruple to pro- 

 nounce that, considering how newly they had been 

 raised, no Prince in the Christian world would have 

 for their number a better body of men in his ser- 

 vice." 



38. In 1645, Massari and Malasana, companions 



