in concurrence with O'Donnel, hired a considerable body of Scottish islanders to strengthen their forces, which by this time amounted to nine thousand foot, and fourteen hundred horse. He chose an advantageous ground between Dundalk and Newry, where he lay strongly entrenched with his main body; declaring his resolution of giving battle, and his confidence of success. Even the rebels of Leinster, though less numerous, had now learned to look on their enemies without terror. About six hundred of the queen's forces were encountered by the sept of O'Byrne; and instead of bravely defending themselves against inferiour numbers, were seized with a sudden panic, and shamefully defeated. And when Essex returned into Leinster with an enfeebled and diminished army, he could express his vexation only by decimating the unfortunate troops, cashiering their officers, and executing the chief delinquent."*

Essex had by this time learnt by experience, that the Irish, though still divided, were more formidable even than the apprehensions entertained in England. He lays down the plan of subjugating them by famine, intrigue, perfidy, a plan strictly followed by his successor, with the addition of forgery. The earl had written to the queen from Munster, in terms totally different from those which his rash presumption had dictated in England. He now expatiates on the superiority of the enemy, represents the dis

* Leland, Vol. II. B. IV. c. v. p. 356, 357.

affection as general, arising from an aversion both from the religion and government of England; hints at the expediency of breaking the rebels by secret practices; at the necessity of hunting out their priests, the chief agents in cementing them: recommends it to the queen, if she would have a strong party among the Irish, to hide from them all purpose of establishing English government, till their strength should be completely broken: advises that the coasts be guarded, the towns occupied by strong garrisons, and prevented from supplying the rebels: and upon comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the state, expresses his confidence, that although the rebels be superiour in number, have abler bodies, and perfecter use of arms, yet as the queen commands the towns and champain countries, has a brave nobility and gallant officers, may cut off the enemy's provisions, and lay their territories waste, victory must in the end be certain, though the work of care, expence, and time."*

On his return to Dublin, Essex considered his force inadequate to the northern war; he therefore sollicited the queen for an additional force of two thousand men, and contented himself for the present with making war on the Irish of Leix and O'Faly; (King and Queen'scounty).

The queen was astonished and confounded, that she was so far out in her calculations on the reduction of Ireland. She felt cause to lament,

* Leland, Vol. II. B. IV. c. v. p. 357.858.

that she paid no attention to Lee's memorial, presented to her four years before; predicting to her, that a war with Hugh O'Nial would prove the most serious and formidable she ever had on her hands; proving at the same time, that she might, by following moderate counsels, retain him in his allegiance, as a feudatory vassal prince, and make him a powerful instrument for the preservation of tranquillity in Ireland. As to the latter part, lord Verulam was exactly of the same opinion, at the conclusion of the war.

The demanded reinforcement arrived, and Essex prepared for his northern expedition. " Sir Conyers Clifford, lord-president of Connaught, was ordered to draw his forces to Belcek, in order to make a diversion on that side, while Essex made his grand attack upon the rebels. He obeyed, and marched with fifteen hundred foot, and about two hundred cavalry; when O'Ruarc, one of the rebel-leaders, issuing suddenly from his ambush, with no more than two hundred men, attacked the party in a mountainous and embarrassed situation, cast them into confusion, killed one hundred and twenty, among whom, Clifford himself, and some other officers, fell at the first onset, and pursued his victory, till by the valour of the horse he was again driven into his woods. But the queen's forces deprived of their general, and dreading to be again attacked by O'Donnel, instead of pursuing their intended course, deemed it necessary to return to their garrison. The loss in this encounter was of little moment, compared to the impression made on

the minds of the soldiery. The English levies shewed the utmost reluctance to march through a strange country, where at every step they were liable to be surprised; and deserted in considerable numbers. The Irish royalists despised an unsuccessful general, and fled to their countrymen.

The account of this expedition, left us by the English writers, such as Morrison and Leland, seems very inaccurate, when compared with the following extract from the annals of Donnegal.

"Sir Conyers Clifford marched from Athlone towards Lough- Earn, to draw O'Neill to a close and general engagement. Sir Hugh O'Conor Don, who, in consideration of his services, had been honored with the dignity of military knighthood, accompanied him. Theobald Burke, surnamed the seaman, sailed from Galway to Sligo, to supply O'Conor Sligo with cannon and ammunition. O'Conor Sligo, at the head of a detachment of cavalry, kept the city of Sligo in awe, but was soon pressed by some squadrons of O'Donel's army, who took Sligo by a coup-demain, before the arrival of Burke, and obliged O'Conor to retire into the castle of Colooney, where he was closely beseiged. Clifford and

O'Conor Don, informed of his situation, marched with 2000 infantry, and some squadrons of cavalry, to relieve him. O'Donell, hearing of their approach, left 200 horse, commanded by Nial Garve O'Donell, to block up O'Conor

* Leland, Vol. II. Book IV. c. v. p. 358. 359.

Sligo in Colooney, and, with the remainder of his army, marched to meet Clifford, in the defiles of the Curlieu mountains, where his cavalry could be of little service. O'Donell's troops, were, as usual, lightly armed, and his march, as usual, extremely rapid. To render the passes of the mountains more difficult, he felled some of the largest trees in the neighbourhood, with which he constructed an abbatis, that rendered the approach of the enemy's horse extremely difficult, and then gave orders for a general fast. Every soldier, imitating the example of his general, prepared himself for the approaching combat, by confession and communion; and scarce had divine service been concluded, on the festival of the Blessed Virgin, 15th of August, 1598, when the English army appeared, slowly advancing, with great order and regularity. A notion prevailed, about that time, among the native Irish, that one of the great objects of the reformation was, to impugn the virginity of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God; and this notion, which the language of the reformers but too fully justified, impressed such a horror against the English, on all orders of clergy and laity, that it rendered their hatred, if possible, more irreconcileable, and rendered every Englishman an object of abhorrence. O'Donel, impatient for the moment, which he was certain would be decisive of the fate of his country, harangued his men in their native language; he shewed them, that the advantage of their situation alone gave them a decided superiority over their opponents.