302 
IRE] 
from being Tufpefted, that the guards invited them to 
partakefcf rlieir flipper. This invitation was declined, as 
its acceptance would have formed an inviolable bond of 
friendfhip between the entertainers and the guelts, the 
object of whole errand would confequently have been 
fruitrated. Part of O’Nial’s force, conlifted of a body of 
Scots from the Hebrides, who had for fome years caufed 
much difturbance in the north by engaging in the fer- 
vice of different Irifh chieftains. After their .defeat in 
Tyrconnel, thefe adventurers fought employment in the 
weft, where they were luddenly attacked by the earl of 
Clanricard, and purfued almolt to extermination. 
On the accefiion of Elizabeth, in 1558, the reftoration 
by law of the reformed fyftem of worfliip furnififed a pre¬ 
text for new commotions, which were indultrioufly fo¬ 
mented by emiffaries from Italy and Spain, who infufed 
into the minds of the Irifh the poifon of religious ran¬ 
cour, and a confequent deteftation of the government of 
the heretical Englifh. For fome time, however, the ifland 
in general enjoyed comparative quiet, notwithftanding 
various local difturbances. John O’Nial was the firft that 
gave any ferious alarm. This chieftain, reprefented as a 
man addicted to brutal exceffes, and frequently burying 
himfelf to the neck in the earth to correct the heat and 
intemperature of his body, was neverthelefs cautious, cir- 
cumfpedt, and acute. Being fummoned in 1559, by fir 
Henry Sidney, the deputy of the earl of Suflex, to account 
for his conduct, he had theaddrefs to prevail on that gen¬ 
tleman to vifit him in his camp, to ftand fponfor for his 
child, and to acquiefce in the defence which he made. 
Soon afterwards, claiming the ancient right of his family 
to the dominion of Ulfter, he made an incurfion into Tyr- 
eonnel, where he took prifoner his old enemy Calvagh 
O’Donnel, plundered his poffeflions, and detained his fon 
as a hoftage and his wife as a concubine. To gain the 
confidence of the natives, he manifelled fuch hatred of 
the Englifh, that he hanged one of his followers as guilty 
of degeneracy for eating an Englifh bifcuit. Suflex 
marched againfl him; but, by the interference of the earl 
of Kildare, an accommodation was effected. In confe- 
quence of this, O’Nial waited on the queen in London, 
attended, as Leland informs us, by “ a guard of gallow- 
glaffes” (or heavy-armed foot-foldiers) “arrayed in the 
richefl habiliment of their country, armed with the battle- 
axe, their heads bare, their hair flowing on their flioulders, 
their linen veils dyed with faffron, with long and open 
Tieeves, and furcharged with their fliort military harnefs ; 
a fpeclacle aftonifhing to the people, who imagined that 
they beheld the inhabitants of fome diftant quarter of the 
globe.” Being gracioufiy received by her majefty, he af- 
feffed, on his return to Ireland, extraordinary zeal for 
her fervice; and, attacking fome bands of Scots, who 
again infefted Ulfter,'defeated them and flew their leader. 
Continuing, under pretence of thefe hollilities, to aug¬ 
ment and, train his troops, and finding he could no lon¬ 
ger conceal his defigns, lie broke out into open rebellion, 
and attacked the pale with all his forces. Affuming the 
character of champion of the catholic faith, he applied to 
the pope and king of Spain for afliftance. After ravaging 
feveral diftridls, and making fome temporizing propofals 
for negociation, he was baffled in an attempt on Dundalk, 
and on the approach of the royal army retired to his for- 
trefles. Afiailed on all fides by the lord deputy, who had 
* engaged on his fide Calvagh of Tyrconnel, Macguire of 
Fermanagh,and other Irifh chiefs, O’Nial was induced to 
take refuge with a body of Scots encamped at Clan-hu- 
boy. Here, with fifty attendants and the wife of Calvagh, 
he was hofpitably entertained in the tent of the Scottifli 
commander ; but, by the contrivance of one Piers, an 
Englifh officer, was at the end of the feaft aflaflinated, to¬ 
gether with his followers. 
During thele tranfadlions in Ulfter, difturbances of in¬ 
ferior importance had taken place in other quarters. Ge¬ 
rald earl of Defmond, attempting to wreft fome lands by 
force of arms from the earl of Ormond, was defeated, 
wounded, and made prifoner. Being carried on a bier 
.AND. 
from the field of battle, his fupporter9 exultingly ex¬ 
claimed : “Where is now the great lord of Defmond?” 
To which he haughtily replied: “ Where, but in his pro¬ 
per place! Hill on the necks of the Butlers.” This dif- 
pute was referred to the decifion of the queen; and Def¬ 
mond was di (miffed on his promife of obedience. Re¬ 
filling afterwards to make reparation to Ormond, he was 
1 'eized by fir Henry Sidney, the governor, and fent to Lon¬ 
don, where he and his brother were confined in the Tower. 
This treatment produced in them a confirmed rancour 
againfl the Englifh government, which terminated only 
with their lives. • 
In the fouth, fir Edmund Butler, in the abfence of his 
brother the earl of Ormond in England, refufed obedience 
to the adminiftration ; and Defmond’s coufin, James Fitz- 
Maurice, relenting his confinement, and, coilecling all his 
adherents, declared himfelf the champion of the church 
againfl; the heretical Elizabeth. He prevailed on the earls 
of Thomond and Clancarty to efpoufe the fame caufe. 
Thefe infurreftions, however, were foon fupprefled, partly 
by the exertions of lir Peter Carew, who furpriled and 
flaughtered three or four hundred of Butler’s followers 
near Kilkenny; while fir John Perrot, a man of enter- 
prife, activity, and inflexible rigour in the execution of 
juftice, reputed to be a natural fon of Henry VIII. affum- 
ing the command of the fouthern forces as prefident of 
Munfter, fo haraffed the rebels, that they were obliged to 
make their peace. 
About this time, two attempts to form colonial plan¬ 
tations mifcarried. Smith, the projector of the firft, ob¬ 
tained from the queen a grant of lands in the prefent 
county of Down ; but, falling in a fkirmifh with one of the 
O’Nials, his followers difperfed. The other, on a much 
more extenfive fcale, was undertaken by the earl of Ef- 
fex, in the diftrifl of Clan-huboy in Ulfter, where fix 
hundred foldiers were to have been maintained by that 
nobleman, and the fame number by the queen, for the 
protection of the colony. Such obftacles, however, were 
oppofed to the accomplifliment of this plan by file in¬ 
trigues of Elizabeth’s favourite, the earl of Leicefter, and 
fir William Fitz-YVilliam, the fucceflor of Sidney in the 
Irifh adminiftration, that Effex was foon obliged to relin- 
quilli all thoughts of the intended fettlement. 
In 1576 fir Henry Sidney was again appointed gover¬ 
nor, with the moll extenfive powers, and promifed the an¬ 
nual remittance of twenty thoufand pounds in aid of the 
ordinary revenue of Ireland. At this time, when the 
country enjoyed an almoft unprecedented internal tran¬ 
quillity, it began to be threatened with dangers from 
abroad. Stukeley, a difappointed adventurer, excited in 
pope Gregory XIII. the vain hope of being able to efta- 
blifh his Ion Jacomo Buoncompagno king of Ireland. 
For this purpofe his holinefs furnifhed 800 foldiers,'to be 
paid by the king of Spain. With this force, Stukeley 
touched on his way in the river Tagus, where he was pre¬ 
vailed upon by Sebaftian king of Portugal, to accompany 
him in his romantic expedition to Morocco, by a promife 
to join in the Irifli invafion after the accomplifliment of 
his- defigns on Africa. Here Stukeley and his followers 
fliured the fate of the Portuguefe army; and, by tiieir de- 
ftruCtion, the Itorm was for a time averted. 
Meanwhile the earl of Defmond and his brother, who 
had been confined as prifoners of ftate, firft in London 
and afterwards in Dublin, contrived to efcape to their ad¬ 
herents in Munfter; and James Fitz-Maurice, who had 
furrendered to Perrot, and been pardoned by the queen, 
repaid her. clemency by fchemes of renewed rebellion. 
He perfonally applied for afliftance to the kings of France 
and Spain;'and, obtaining a band of eighty Spaniards, 
who were reinforced by Englifh and Iriih fugitives, 
he landed at Smervvick, in the county of .Kerry, where 
their means of retreat were foon cut off by the capture of 
their three veffels by an Englifh fliip of war. The in¬ 
vaders were accompanied by Saunders, an Englifliman, 
who was inverted by the pope with the dignity of legate, 
and funiiftied with a bull for granting Ipiritual indul¬ 
gences 
