Читать книгу: «Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)», страница 19

The Marward abduction case

The carrying off of the Fitzpatrick ladies had created much stir at the English Court, on account of the high position of the victims. That, however, was in a remote part of the country, and the captives were detained as hostages only. The story of an abduction of the day throws more light upon the state of society than any number of political disquisitions. Janet Marward, heiress and titular baroness of Skryne in Meath, a manor worth some 200l. a year, was a royal ward, and the Queen gave her wardship to Fitzwilliam, who sold it to her stepfather, Nicholas Nugent, second Baron of the Exchequer. Her mother, besides being married to a judge, was the daughter of a judge, John Plunket, Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench. Nugent sold the unfortunate girl to his nephew, the Baron of Delvin’s brother. ‘Afterwards, by procurement of the mother, the maid, being but eleven years old, was made to mislike of Nugent and to like of the young Lord of Dunsany, being of the Plunkets, whereupon there fell great discord between the Houses of Delvin and Dunsany, and the maid being by her mother and father-in-law brought into this city as the safest place to keep her, on Friday last at night about twelve o’clock the Baron of Delvin’s brother, accompanied with a number of armed men, the watch being either negligent or corrupted, entered one of the postern gates of the city with twenty swords and entered by sleight into the house where the maid lay, and forcibly carried her away, to the great terror of the mother and of all the rest.’ William Nugent married the heiress without her own consent or that of her friends. But we may hope that in time she got to ‘like of’ her lawless husband tolerably well, for when he was in prison for conspiracy nine years after it is recorded that she sent him some shirts. With such things going on under the very shadow of Dublin Castle, it is no wonder that Fitzwilliam should clamour for recall or that he should regret the hard fate of his three marriageable daughters, who were losing their time in Ireland. Had they been heiresses and royal wards their lot might have been still harder.²⁶³

CHAPTER XXXI.
1573 AND 1574

Desmond will not go to the Lord Deputy

The escape of Desmond had made a great difference in the state of Ireland, for no chief either in north or south could afford to neglect such a factor in insular politics. Clanricarde, being invited by him to a conference, informed the Government that he would, if possible, persuade him to conformity. Desmond also sought Sir Edmund Butler, who was now sincerely loyal, and made to him a general denial of rebellious intentions. Butler advised him to go to the Lord Deputy and make his peace, but this he would not do. ‘Sir Edmund Butler,’ he said, ‘if you had known what extremity I had suffered in England, you would never give me the like counsel.’ And to clench the argument he exhibited the patched and pieced hose and shoes which he had been forced to wear continually in England. Sir Edmund answered that he had suffered much more, but was now at liberty by her Majesty’s grace. Desmond would not willingly confess himself disloyal, yet it is plain that he liked Queen Elizabeth best at a distance.²⁶⁴

He goes about with a great following

With humble men, or with those whom he believed friendly, the Earl was less guarded, and made no secret of his intention to annoy the Butlers and their friends, and he said he would rather have an old mantle in Munster than a torn silk gown in England. He went about with a rabble of 800 or 900, so that peaceable folk wished they had accompanied Perrott to England or drowned themselves at his departure. The Barrys and Roches had to support his lawless train, though the influence of the Countess and others for a time prevented open plunder; but Desmond refused to reduce his followers while Bourchier remained in garrison at Kilmallock. The townsmen were not to be trusted, and ladders were being prepared in the woods. Even Cork refused to support nine soldiers, though a regular warrant was produced, and James Fitzmaurice’s attitude was very threatening; for he made little secret of hiring Scots, and a Scots visitor ostentatiously donned Irish attire. But there was no lack of loyal professions. ‘Before God, Mr. Walshe,’ he said, ‘I do not intend it, nor will do harm to any man unless I am compelled.’ Another less noted partisan appeared before Castlemaine on Christmas Eve with thirty sword and target men. The porter, either corrupted or a sympathiser, had furnished the assailants with impressions of the keys in dough, and new keys had been made. The Geraldines entered quietly, and found the garrison playing cards. They turned them out, taking back such as were willing to change masters. Desmond, three days later, reported that the castle had been taken without his orders and against his will, that he had put in warders of his own, and arrested the adventurers who had seized the place. About the same time the seneschal of Imokilly took possession of Castlemartyr. Rumours of rebellion and foreign invasion filled the air, and merchants who had seen golden visions of Irish prosperity informed Burghley that the escape of Desmond had spoiled all.²⁶⁵

Mission of Edward Fitzgerald, 1574

The importance of Desmond’s escape was not lost on the English Government, and it was resolved to send a semi-official messenger to remonstrate with him in a friendly way. The person chosen was Kildare’s brother Edward, Lieutenant of the Gentleman Pensioners, and no doubt it was supposed that his name and blood would recommend him to Desmond. There had probably been a close acquaintance between them in England. Fitzgerald had a regular commission from the Queen, but she desired him to write always to his wife or sister, so as to keep up the appearance of a private tour. The experienced courtier may have thought the matter too weighty for women, for he wrote all privately to Burghley. As a precaution 300 men were ordered to Ireland, and others were held in readiness. Rather more than 6,000l. was sent in money, with strict injunctions that it should be spent on the exigencies of the moment, and not on satisfying creditors. This new way of paying old debts was not found practicable. The money was quickly spent, and in less than two months the Irish Government was asking for more.²⁶⁶

He seeks vainly for a meeting with Desmond

If Elizabeth really imagined that her Lieutenant of Pensioners, who had been little if at all in Ireland since his childhood, could travel as a private gentleman without attracting notice, the notion was quickly dispelled. The Irish Government treated him in all respects as a Royal Commissioner, and furnished him with careful instructions. The Munster rivers were flooded, and there was a difficulty about corresponding with Desmond. He professed himself ready to meet his kinsman near Clonmel on the last day of January, but declined to go to Dublin, and stiffly maintained that he was ready to prove all that he had ever asserted against the Lord Deputy or Sir John Perrott. There was no want of information as to Desmond’s evil intentions. Patrick Sherlock, sheriff of Waterford, a stout old campaigner who had served the Emperor and the King of France, warned the English Government that all malcontents, north and south, were banded together, and that they would soon have 3,000 men in the field. The Earl of Ormonde and 1,000 English soldiers was Sherlock’s prescription. Justice Walshe was much of the same opinion, and so was Maurice O’Brien, Bishop-Elect of Killaloe, a Cambridge man, who had become more English than the English, and who declared that it would be better to be a prisoner in England than a free man in Ireland. Mulroney O’Carroll informed the seneschal of Queen’s County that a messenger of Desmond’s had been at his house, and after drinking much whiskey had told him of letters sent by the Earl to O’Neill, Clanricarde, the O’Mores, O’Connors, and O’Byrnes. Shane Burke, with 600 Scots, was to harry the King’s and Queen’s Counties. O’Carroll, who addressed Cosby as his father, admitted that the truth was obscure, and that servants often exceeded it in speaking of their masters; but he confirmed the man’s story to some extent, and stated that a flood in the Shannon had alone prevented Desmond from meeting Clanricarde. Anxiety for this meeting was believed to be the cause of Desmond’s delay in meeting Fitzgerald. All accounts agreed that there was to be a general attack on the English settlers, that Desmond would have no president or other English official resident if he could help it, and that he aspired to be rather a tributary sovereign than a subject.²⁶⁷

The meeting takes place, but is not of much use

So far as any secrecy went, Edward Fitzgerald might as well have had his commission read with tuck of drum in every town and village. His unostentatious mode of travelling merely gave an excuse for not treating him with much respect. At Clonmel the municipality refused him livery for his horses; he was obliged to forage for himself, and he had to wait long before Desmond would take the trouble to meet him. Seven articles founded upon the instructions of the Irish Government were propounded to the Earl. His answers were not considered altogether dutiful, and by the advice of some English gentlemen in his company Fitzgerald gave him an opportunity of amending them. Thus, he at first refused to be judged in any way by the Lord Deputy or Lord President, they having a private grudge against him. On second thoughts he said nothing about Perrott and Fitzwilliam, but merely pleaded his poverty, his previous long detention, and his doubts as to ‘indifference of hearing’ there, as reasons for not visiting Dublin. But if ‘such of the Council as were indifferent’ would come to the borders of his country, he was ready to agree to anything reasonable. Of general professions of loyalty the Earl was lavish enough, but when it came to material guarantees there was less compliance. He was ready to give up castles to his cousin, Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, who had no warrant to take them and no means of holding them, but not to Captain Bourchier, who had both. And he expressly saved all the liberties to which he laid claim. James Fitzmaurice, Sir John of Desmond, and Andrew Skiddy, Judge of the Palatinate of Kerry, were among those who signed the Earl’s amended answer.²⁶⁸

Fitzgerald’s report. The Queen grudgingly accepts Desmond’s excuses

Fitzgerald reported ‘that such of the Earl’s blood and kindred as stand in danger of the law do persuade him that his state, by reason of his departure from Dublin, is most dangerous, and therefore they do advise the Earl, for their safeguards, to receive a general pardon for him and them, which if they may not procure, it seemeth they are bent to work what in them lieth to cause the Earl to stand upon terms.’ Desmond seemed to fear an invasion of his country, and his kinsman did what he could, which was very little, to persuade him that no such invasion was meant. The instinct of the Geraldines was truer than the courtier’s smooth phrases, for on the very day fixed for the meeting Elizabeth wrote to Fitzwilliam, blaming him sharply for lying still in Dublin and giving the Earl so much scope. She was about to send over Sir John Perrott with 300 men, and suggested that in the meantime the independent lords and gentlemen of Munster might be encouraged to make war against Desmond, and authorised to take coyne and livery for the purpose. Perrott had already shown what his views were, and it was no doubt well known in Munster that Fitzwilliam had urgently besought his return. But either the Lord President excused himself on the ground of ill-health, or the Queen’s humour changed, for she accepted Desmond’s answer, though not very graciously, and encouraged him to hope for pardon and favour.²⁶⁹

The Queen is anxious about Ulster

About the time that Essex was sending over Waterhouse, the attention of Elizabeth and her Ministers seems suddenly to have been directed to Ulster. The Queen woke up to the fact that there was little hope of revenue, and not much of military success. The discomfited adventurers had spread hostile reports, and intending colonists were reduced to the state of mind which the perusal of a famous novel may be supposed to have had upon many who had thought of seeking their fortunes upon the banks of the Mississippi. Essex was desired to send some one who could resolve the Queen’s doubts, both as to the actual state of Ulster and as to its prospects for the future. Two trusty messengers were accordingly sent, Essex not concealing his opinion that force alone could reduce the North. Sir Brian MacPhelim might express contrition for his former conduct, but the natives generally were ‘false of their word,’ and in the absence of a strong force nothing less than a general revolt was to be looked for.²⁷⁰

Fitzwilliam has orders to help Essex

Owing, perhaps, to the exertions of Waterhouse, or possibly to some qualm of conscience in her Majesty as to the ruin which was overtaking her faithful servant’s private estate, positive orders were sent to the Irish Government to treat him with more consideration, and to give him a commission as Governor of Ulster with authority quite equal to that of a President in other provinces. Fitzwilliam was also told to give out that the expedition was not intended against the natives, but against the usurping Scots. In practice, of course, no such distinction was or could be observed. Fitzwilliam hastened to assure Walsingham, who had just become Secretary of State, that the rumour of his opposition to Essex was mere slander, and that he would embrace his enterprise heartily.²⁷¹

The Queen will not make Essex Lord Deputy

The English Ministry saw clearly enough that nothing could be made of the Ulster expedition without great expense. This the Queen was most unwilling to incur, and some proposed to make Essex Lord Deputy as the easiest way out of the difficulty. He was, they said, ‘painful in watch, in travail, in wet and dry, in hunger and cold, and frank of his own purse in her Majesty’s service.’ The Queen’s honour would be saved by withdrawing in this way from a hopeless enterprise, and the Earl’s feelings would be spared by promoting instead of recalling him. But Elizabeth refused positively to make anyone Deputy who had a landed estate in Ireland, and the reason was good whether suggested by Leicester or not. Sir F. Knollys feared that if the Queen would neither make the Earl Deputy, nor take the enterprise into her own hands, the unlucky adventurer would be undone, to her Majesty’s great danger and dishonour. Lady Essex’s father might have been well pleased to have her living in Dublin, but if Leicester, as is exceedingly probable, was already her lover, opposition would not be wanting. ‘Yet all men,’ says Knollys significantly, ‘outwardly do seem to favour my Lord Essex and his enterprise.’²⁷²

Essex is made Governor of Ulster,

Essex became Governor of Ulster, and in less than a month longed to be rid of an office which he could not fill with credit. He was very willing to be Lord Deputy, for that might give him the means of reducing Ulster, but he feared that no Deputy would ever brook a separate governor for the Northern province.

but can do nothing

Having planned an expedition against Tirlogh Luineach, he applied to Fitzwilliam for help, and the Deputy, willing to show his goodwill, called upon the gentlemen of the Pale. But, with the single exception of Lord Slane, they refused to go. Even the Louth people, who were on the borders of Ulster, would do nothing but complain that they were overtaxed; ‘and they think,’ said Essex sarcastically, ‘to have greater thanks for denial to go with me, than for their forwardness in this service; they do so often and so openly exclaim and complain unto me, and I not able to redress it, as I am truly weary of myself.’ The treatment which the regular troops received was not such as to make the service popular. Fitzwilliam, or some of those about him, tried to husband the scanty resources of the Irish Government by giving the victualler a hint that he need not exert himself too much in Ulster. The garrisons of Dundalk and Newry were consequently neglected, and universal desertion was only prevented by the timely arrival of fifty barrels of herrings which one of the Earl’s servants had bought at Carlingford. ‘For twenty days,’ wrote the sorely tried Governor, ‘they had neither bread, drink, fish, nor flesh, but were forced to beg, and lay their arms, pieces, and garments in gage for to buy them food.’ The 300 men last sent over had been willingly diverted to Ulster by the Lord Deputy, who wanted the means to feed them, and there was ‘no provision made for these men, neither yet for 80 horsemen and 260 footmen, and the victualler hath unto them delivered but only 30l. to make provision for these 600 and odd men; … and the soldiers because they, in their extremity, received those herrings from me, do think that the charge of their victualling is mine, and do lay the blame of their wants upon me, and do all fall to mutiny, and say that unless I will see that they shall be better victualled, they will do neither any service, nor yet abide there.’²⁷³

Essex will not despair

‘For my part,’ said Essex, with a noble obstinacy, ‘I will not leave the enterprise as long as I have any foot of land in England unsold. But my land is so entangled to the Queen’s Majesty, for that money which I had of her towards this journey, as I cannot sell any land that I have for the one-half of that which before I might have done.’ He was in the position of a borrower driving a risky trade, or of a would-be insurer who leads an unhealthy life. No one was willing to lend or to buy where the Queen was first mortgagee. He proposed two courses to her Majesty. If she would bear the charge of 100 horse and 600 foot, while he furnished 100 horse, and made a last effort with the adventurers, then he engaged to make the North profitable to the Crown, either by rents from the natives or by English settlers. ‘Let me bear both the blame and the shame if I do not before Christmas Day make that part as quiet as any part in Ireland shall be.’ For himself he asked only a grant at a nominal rent of Island Magee, the long narrow peninsula which protects Lough Larne from the fury of the Northern Sea, on condition of contributing 500l. towards any town which the Queen might think proper to build there. ‘I find it more easier to bear the charges of 200 men than to bear the name of a general without wages.’ The other alternative was for the Queen to take 250l. a year in land in discharge of the 10,000l. which he owed her, and to free the third part of his estate from the claim of the Crown. He would then do his best to carry out the original scheme alone, ‘but yet this way will neither please the adventurers, nor encourage them to go forwards.’²⁷⁴

The Queen resolves to recall Essex

The Queen had resolved to recall Essex as soon as he had ‘lapped up’ all matters with Tirlogh Luineach and Sir Brian upon the most decent terms possible, and to limit her efforts in Ulster to keeping a small garrison at Carrickfergus, and to wheedling a small tribute out of the chiefs. But after reading the letter last quoted she changed her mind. Her heart was touched, and she resolved to give another chance to a subject whose loyalty no neglect could impair, and whose constancy no failure could overcome. In one of those letters which go far to explain her wonderful power, she thanked him heartily for his services, unsuccessful as they had hitherto been, ‘acknowledging the same to have been grounded not upon gain, but upon honour, an argument of true nobility, and we cannot, whatsoever issue the same hath had, but make account of you as of that noble man who, in respect of other service, hath rather chosen to suffer any intolerable toil in Ireland than yield to enjoy the delicacy of England. Which rare affection, if we should not cherish, we should show ourselves unworthy of so rare a servant.’ He had complained that his letters were not answered; she reminded him that they contained matters not fit for every secretary, ‘to which our eyes and the fire only have been made privy.’ She accepted his surrender of Clandeboye, and agreed for a time to maintain the required force, and she promised to grant him Island Magee. The Lord Deputy should resume the government, receiving at the same time strict and secret instructions to co-operate with him in his attempt to expel the Scots and to reduce Sir Brian MacPhelim.²⁷⁵

Essex powerless

But royal words, however sweet, could not conquer Ulster. Heroic as was his character in many ways, Essex had not the gifts which have been given to a few great generals. He could not infuse courage or endurance into wretched starvelings, nor had he administrative genius to conquer the shortcomings of his commissariat. Newry and Dundalk must have been evacuated but for a timely supply of herrings. The peculation was such that stores calculated to last six months did not last four, and that the full supplies for near 600 men were expended on much less than half the number. The powder was one-quarter coal dust, and was not worth firing. The Carrickfergus garrison was reduced nearly two-thirds by desertion and disease, and was so completely isolated that a traveller going to Dublin might consider 100 horse but a scanty escort. The filth of the town was such as to make fever almost universal. The services of religion were neglected, for the ‘belly-fed ministers’ who were induced to visit Ulster liked the danger and hard fare no better than the gentlemen adventurers whose service had consisted in eating without paying. The reinforcements sent were of such quality as to be worse than useless: 100 were raw recruits from Oxfordshire and Berkshire; 200 were from Cheshire and Lancashire, and so bad – the Lancashire men especially – as to be scarce fit for field labour. As labourers Essex had to keep them, ‘for soldiers,’ he said, ‘they will never be.’ One hundred veterans promised from Berwick had been countermanded on a rumour of Desmond’s submission. Captain Morris, who had the leading of the ragged regiment, was destined to lay his bones in Ireland. The fact was that Carrickfergus had such a bad name in England that everyone who possibly could avoided service there. Waterhouse, who was at Chester in constant communication with Ireland, begged that the men might be sent to Carlingford; but routine seems to have been too strong for him, and they were despatched to the old pest-house. The wretched lads died like flies at the rate of fifteen or twenty a day – 300 were sick at once, and none could hope to escape. Scarcely a man was fit even for sentry duty. Essex lay among his men, and there was not a night but one, two, or three died within ten feet of him. The remonstrances of his officers against this heroic foolhardiness prevailed at last, and he was induced to withdraw the remains of the garrison. Out of some 600 only 200, more dead than alive, reached the Pale, where he had to support them at his own expense.²⁷⁶

He still has hope

The Queen’s gracious letter caused hope to spring once more in the Earl’s breast, and with such men as he could muster he resolved to chastise Sir Brian MacPhelim. That chief was proclaimed traitor, and 200l. was put upon his head. At first he despised such threats, and some skirmishing took place. Having the worst in these encounters, and perhaps hearing exaggerated accounts of the reinforcement, Sir Brian thought it prudent to submit. Some thought that this was done only to gain time until the provisions were exhausted; but it is probable that Sir Brian looked upon war against the Queen’s Governor as different from war against the Earl of Essex in his capacity of private adventurer. So far as humility of language went, nothing could be said against him. He acknowledged that after many years’ loyal service he had wandered into the wilderness like a blind beast without knowledge of good. By the good grace of Almighty God he had been called home, and his chief desire now was to see her Majesty’s face. Clandeboye was the Queen’s, and he was ready to pay a rent of 1,500 kine for the first year and to increase it afterwards. At his earnest request Essex interceded for his pardon, and was sanguine enough to express an opinion that it would be well deserved.²⁷⁷

But all men see that he must fail

The Lord Deputy’s troubles

It seems that Burghley wished to make Essex Deputy, but the Earl, though he was accused of intriguing for it, had no wish to incur hatred and envy ‘in that unfortunate office.’ ‘Who shall serve the Queen and his country faithfully,’ he said with an evident side glance at Fitzwilliam, ‘shall have his fair reward for his travail; but if he will respect his gain more than his prince, country, or honesty, then may he make his gain unmerciful.’ He was quite ready to serve under Sidney or any other settled Governor, ‘and such a one as is fit for Ireland, not Ireland for him… All the ill-disposed now rob and steal, hoping that the new Governor will pardon all done before his time… This people wax proud; yea, the best might be amended; all need correction.’ The actual Deputy declared that he ‘fretted away his life in misery.’ Not only was he persistently and, according to himself, quite unjustly accused of trying to thwart the Ulster enterprise, but he found his credit everywhere depreciated. Edward Fitzgerald, who may be supposed to have been tolerably impartial, declared that he pitied his sad state. The evil feared him but a little. The Pale bore him no goodwill. The soldiers misliked him, while the captains complained; and the councillors cynically abstained from giving advice whenever he seemed inclined to do anything unpopular or capable of misrepresentation. He accused his old antagonist Vice-Treasurer Fitton of annoying him in every possible way, withholding his pay, disputing his requisitions, and refusing to follow him into the field.

‘I would,’ said Fitzwilliam with evident sincerity, ‘abide the pricking out of my eye or the stitching up of my lip,’ rather than let private feeling hinder public service; but he confessed that he could not help disliking a man who counterworked God’s will by prejudicing the English Government against his official superior, with no higher object than to gratify his own malicious vanity. Fitton was evidently a provoking person, but he solemnly declared he never gave Fitzwilliam a crabbed word, whereas the Lord Deputy’s household was a hotbed of slander against him. Such, according to his own account, was the Vice-Treasurer’s conscious innocence that he magnanimously signed State papers which contained covert attacks upon his official conduct. The poor Deputy could only testify against Fitton’s vain-glorious humour, and beg to be recalled from his ‘tabering.’²⁷⁸

Fitzwilliam is blamed for doing nothing, but is not furnished with means

Had Fitzwilliam felt sure of his sovereign’s favour he might have laughed at his enemies, and even at his daughter’s unwedded condition. But the Queen blamed him roundly for staying lazily in Dublin, while Desmond lorded it in Munster and Essex struggled on unsupported in Ulster, and while Connaught scarcely preserved the semblance of the royal dominion. Fitzwilliam pleaded with perfect truth that to take the field without proper forces would be to risk her Majesty’s honour. His credit was at the lowest ebb. The commissariat was in a state of chaos, and though he had often and urgently asked for a victualler none was sent – ‘a most necessary minister, the toilsome care of whose charge doth trouble me more than half the Government besides.’ To save appearances he gave out that he expected his recall daily. ‘Between these changes,’ said Essex, in words that apply now as well as then, ‘is ever all the mischief in Ireland; and therefore it were good to make it surely known that he shall still remain, or else to send such a Governor as you do determine on presently, for the expectation of a change maketh this man not to be obeyed nor cared for.’²⁷⁹

Fears for the peace of Munster

The mission of Edward Fitzgerald in Munster having had no very favourable result, the Queen rebuked Fitzwilliam sharply for giving him orders, contrary to her instructions, ‘to deal and negotiate with the Earl of Desmond as sent from us, whereas contrariwise our meaning was that he privately, as a kinsman, should have repaired unto him by your license, not by our direction; … for as the matter is now handled, we think ourselves touched in honour, for that the Earl may have cause to think that we should now seek upon him – a thing very unfitting for the place and quality we hold.’ The harassed Deputy, who had himself the worst opinions of Desmond’s intentions, lamented his hard fate, and sent Sir James Dowdall, Second Justice of the Queen’s Bench, to remind the Earl that there was a government in Ireland. He had no force to coerce, though the Queen taunted him with his indolence, and there were constant rumours of invasion, requiring in his opinion the presence of men of war on the coasts of Cork and Kerry. Dowdall’s letters remained long unanswered, and he lay idly at Clonmel listening to reports which he knew were too vague to be worth forwarding. Justice Walshe, in whose single person the government or non-government of Munster for the moment centred, furnished Burghley with a long list of Desmond’s misdeeds. He had spoiled the Sheriff of Limerick and threatened to cut his tongue out for complaining. All sorts flocked to him, finding it easier and cheaper to rob than to work and be robbed. Desmond gave out that there should be no law but Brehon law between Geraldines. James Fitzmaurice was moving very suspiciously, and had been accepted as chief by the Ryans of Owney, a wild country bordering on the Shannon. The MacSheeheys, or Desmond gallowglasses, had taken the Mayor of Limerick and kept him in pawn for one of their number who was the Queen’s hostage. But the most daring act of all was the apprehension of Captain Bourchier, who was attacked on the high-road near Kilmallock, and driven into a castle belonging to the Sheriff of Limerick. James Fitzmaurice hurried to the spot with a strong force, took him out, and gave him in custody to a personal enemy, Edmund Fitzdavy, who treated him so cruelly that he was ready to put an end to himself.²⁸⁰