IRELAND. 
gences to the champions of the Romifh faith. They were 
joined by hr John and James Defmond with fome forces; 
but Fitz-Maurice, in a journey through Connaught, for 
the purpofe of exciting rebellion, fell in a fkirrnifh with 
a foil of fir William de Burgo, who was alfo flain. The 
command of the invading force now devolved on fir John 
Defmond, who, on the approach of fir William Drury, 
thgfucceffor of Sidney, abandoned his poll, and diltri- 
buted his forces among the difaftetfed in Kerry. A de- 
fultory warfare with a lurking and evafive enemy enfued. 
The furprife and deltruction of a body of two hundred of 
the queen’s foldiers, elevated the fpirits and increafed the 
numbers of the rebels, who, now two thoufand ftrong, 
awaited at the old abbey of Monafter Neva, near Limeric, 
the attack of the royal army. After a long and oblfinate 
conflict, in which the Irifh, conduced by the Spanifh of¬ 
ficers, difplayed uncommon fleadinels, they were defeated 
with the lols of two hundred flain. The earl of Def- 
mond, who had affefted to favour the royal caufe, being 
convicted of pfabtifing fecretly with his rebel relatives, 
was, after repeated attempts to reclaim him, attacked as 
an open enemy by fir William Pelham, the fucceffor of 
Drury. Joining the revolters, Defmond furprife’d and 
plundered Youghal; a lofs which fo exafperated the Eng- 
lilh, that they wreaked their revenge on the mayor, 
who was hanged before his own door, on a charge of hav¬ 
ing firft undertaken to defend the caftle againlt the ene¬ 
my without a garrifon, and then furrendering without 
oppofition. Notvvithftanding this fuccefs, the earl could 
not prevent the ravaging of his pofleffions and the fuccef- 
five reduction of his garrifons, by which he and his fol¬ 
lowers were foon reduced to the utmofl wretchednefs. 
His brother, fir James, being taken in an incurfion into 
Mufkerry, was tried by martial law, and executed at 
Cork. 
During thefe tranfaitions, lord Baltinglafs, and a chief¬ 
tain of the O’Byrnes, headed another body of rebels in 
Wicklow. Here lord Grey, appointed to fucceed Pelham, 
experienced a fevere defeat. The infurgents tvere polled 
in the valley of Glendalough, where Grey, on his arri¬ 
val, immediately ordered the troops to attack them. Thofe 
veterans trained in the Irifh wars, knowing the fituation 
of the enemy and their mode of conducing hollilities, re¬ 
ceived the order with fubmiflion ; and, though feicfible of 
their imminent danger, if not their inevitable ruin, marched 
boldly to the attack. They were obliged to enter a fteep 
and marflty valley, perplexed with rocks, and winding 
irregularly between hills thickly wooded. As they ad¬ 
vanced they found themfelves more and more incumbered ; 
and either funk into the yielding foil, fo as to be utterly 
incapable of aftion, or had to clamber over rocks, which 
difordered their march. In the midfl of this confufion 
and diftrefs, a ludden volley was poured in upon them 
without any appearance of an enemy, and repeated with 
terrible execution. Soldiers and officers fell without any 
opportunity of fignalizing their valour. Audley, Moore, 
Colby, and fir Peter Carew, all diftinguifhed officers, fell 
in this rafli adventure; after which the new governor pre¬ 
cipitately returned to the capital. 
Soon after this difafter, feven hundred Spanifh and Ita¬ 
lian forces, who brought arms and ammunition for 5000 
men, landed at Smerwick, and conflrudted a fort; but, 
on the approach of the earl of Ormond with a body of 
troops, they retired to the woods. This departure was 
the fignal for the return of three hundred of their num¬ 
ber, .who, being befieged by lord Grey and the fleet of 
admiral Winter, ftirrendered at diferetion. Having been 
offered terms of capitulation which they rejected, and be¬ 
ing unable to produce any commiffion, they were all, with 
the exception of a few officers, inhumanly put to the 
iword. The fanguinary difpofition of Grey was farther 
difplayed on his return to Dublin, where feveral perfons 
of diitinftion were apprehended on a charge of confpi- 
racy, and fome executed. Among the latter was -Nugent, 
baron of the exchequer, a man of excellent character, 
$03 
who, from various circumflances, Is preftimed to have 
been perfectly innocent. Such were the feverities prac¬ 
ticed alfo in Munfter againll fulpedted perfons, that Grey 
was emphatically reprefented to the queen-as leaving no¬ 
thing in Ireland for her to reign over but afhes and car- 
cafes. Grey was therefore recalled, and pardon offered to 
the rebels, moft of whom had been brought to a.mifera- 
ble end. Saunders, the pope’s legate, expired in a foli- 
tary retreat, where his body was mangled by wild beafls-; 
fir John Defmond had fallen in a fkirrnifh ; while the ear -1 
his brother, excepted from pardon, fkulked from place to 
place ; and, being at length difeovered alone in a wretch¬ 
ed hovel, his head was cut off and lent to England. Lord 
Baltinglafs, the only remaining rebel of confequ.ence, con- 
fulting his perl'onal fafety, lought an afylum in Spain. 
All Ireland now feemed reduced to obedience; but the 
country, and Munfter in particular, exhibited a wofulfcene 
of defolation, where famine conlummated the deftruflioa 
which war had begun. 
Such was the ftate of affairs on the appointment, in 
1584, of fir John Perrot, a man of liberal and enlightened 
policy, and of experience in the concerns of Ireland, to 
the office of lord deputy. By a fteady and impartial ex¬ 
ecution,. and gradual extenfion, of. the Englifh law, this 
governor aimed to reduce all the inhabitants of Ireland 
into a Hate of uniform polity, reformation of manners, 
peace, and profperity. Having publifhed an amnefty for 
all who fhould return to their allegiance, he proceeded to 
vifit the feveral provinces, appointed fheriffs for the coun¬ 
ties of Connaught, expelled lome Scottifh invaders in the 
north, and agreed with the chiefs of lllfter that they fhould 
pay an affefiinent for the maintenance of eleven hundred 
foldiers in their province, without expence to the queen. 
To carry his plans into effect, he petitioned the Englifh 
government for an allowance of 50,0001. per annum for 
three years, declaring that it would be the cheapeft purchafe 
which England had made fora great length of time. The 
miftaken economy of Elizabeth rejected this application ; 
a fmall fum of money was fent, together with a very in- 
fignificant reinforcement of troops ; and thefe were after¬ 
wards repeatedly drafted from the country, in confe¬ 
quence of the reprelentations of a hoft of eneihies which 
the public-fpirited condudt of Perrot had railed againfl 
him, and who laboured by the bafell means to effect his 
difgrace. Under all thefe difeouragements, the chief ma- 
giltrate aCted with affiduity for the general welfare, and 
procured a compofition for the maintenance of troops im 
.Connaught, as he had already done in Ulller. By the at¬ 
tainder of the houfe of Defmond, lands to the amount of 
near fix hundred thoufand acres were forfeited to the 
crown. Here Elizabeth was anxious to plant an En°-iifli 
colony; and grants of more than one third of thefe lands 
were made to feveral proprietors, among whom was the 
celebrated fir Waiter Raleigh. The grantees, however, 
failed to perform the condition of their tenures; frauds 
were prattifed to avoid completion of the ftipulated num¬ 
ber of Englifh refidents; and, no effectual provifion being 
made by the fettlers or the queen for the defence of the 
colony, the confequences. of this neglect were,foon moft 
fenfibly experienced. 
Baffled in his fchemes, and unfupported by the Englifh 
government, Perrot in 1588 obtained permiffion to refign 
his office to fir William Fitz-William. That year was ren¬ 
dered remarkable by the fignal deltruction of the Spanifh 
monarch’s invincible Armada. See vol. vi. p. 658, Se¬ 
venteen of its veifels were driven by tempelts on the 
coafts of this ifland, where their crews;were-cordially en¬ 
tertained by the. difaffefted Irifh. O’Ruare of Breffney 
even took up arms on the arrival of. a Chip with a thou¬ 
fand Spaniards in- his neighbourhood; bur, on the depar¬ 
ture of this veffel, which foon afterwards funk on the 
coaft, being attacked by fir Richard Bingham, prefident of 
Connanght, he fought refuge with the Scottifh monarch, 
by whole command he was delivered up to Elizabeth, 
and fuffered death.as a traitor. Fitz-William, whole prin- 
3 cipal 
