to urge all his proceeding to his disadvantage And when some shall labour by false evidence to sway the opinion of his Supreame judge in the title of their favour and his deserts this dealing may prove injurious to the service by whomsoever to be undertaken It was then thought fit for the further countenancing of the Generall for to leave the disposing of many places especially the Companies of the supplies sent unto him for so Gentlemen were kept in Ireland from being troublesome in importuning authority for Companies in England men did more indeavour to deserve well being in the eye of him of whom they have or else expect advancement and by that meanes will he bee able to curbe the insolencies and misdemeanours of many bad Captaines who sue and presse hard for command to make a living rather then out of any love to the cause or Countrey or any affection to their Companies as may appeare by keeping of them imperfect and so lay the greater burden of service on the rest or else by changing away some for such such as are not seruiceable as was attempted in the first Scottish imployment and knowing that their time is short and at the end of the war begins through their wast and improuidence their misery Captaines make harvest wages by reaping other men corne These crimes in the Queenes wisdome were thought so heynous as that the offenders were made examples by casheering degrading and other notes of infamy And Captaines refusing to shew their Companies when they were required by the Commissaries of the Mustors should be checked two moneths pay which will prove no ill president to be now obserued Another inconvenience then happened in that there were not large Magazins of provision layd in the safe Townes lying on the Sea or great Rivers for an Army has a large body and much of it like a frogs belly and without that satisfaction the hands and knees are feeble And through the default of the Victualers there happened as great a mischiefe that seeing the state of England exceeds all other Princes in their large allowance both by Sea and Land So for the kind more nourishable as hoofe and porke where as the Spaniard and French feed-on hard pease and beanes dry ruske and insiped rice easie to bee kept indeed But through the coozenage and deceit of the victualers it is both cut short in quantity and unsavoury and unwholsome in the quality breeding diseases and infection among the poor souldiers This is no news to any that have been in the late actions of the English and will never be otherwise untill some severe course be taken with these cruell Harpies that ruine both King and people by uttering any musty provision An excellent and commendable provision was then made for the sick a Quest-house in the Towne and carefully looked into and to have their lendings in ready money and surplussage allowed And for those that were sick or sickly in the Camp their own means allowed them very duly Then a generall contribution from the Officers and Captaines of the Army amounting to fifty pound a week bestowed in providing warm bâ—oâ—h meat and lodging as was a great succour both to the sick and â—aymed not permitting them to lye in the field scattered or neglected as though by their losse of limbes or health they had lost their Christianity what is it that takes away the edge of their valour that they dare not venture so boldly as they would but this neglect and scorne that is offered them or least the losse of a member prove more miserable then the losse of their lives But let us now goe on with better hopes and resolutions becomming the English Nation assuring â—â—â—selves there is now wealth and honour to be gotten as wel aâ— then when diâ—â—rs atchieved the dignity of Earles many Visâ—oâ—â—ts 13 at the least Barons which were Colonels and Captaines in that service besides many well affected Irish who wonne honour and not bâ—ing can be wâ—â—â—ing Câ—sâ—r aâ—d the 〈…〉 will take care of us Besides know of what condition your adversaries are Rebels in the highest degree against God so having wounded their own conscience and God their hearts they will prove no other then a heaâ—â— of Deere shewing a faire head but make their heele the safe Gardian off them and those light-footed Kerne have alwayes made better use of their heels then hands and proof hath shewed when ever they were called to the aid of the Scots or English Whose best commendations was that the Irish at the first went on well but according to their custome suddenly fell off and leave their party ingaged if they looke not to it So they did in a good cause and with good company but now all stained and stand guilty of Rebellion which is as the sin of witchcraft They became crest-falne faint-hearted that if followed with speed actum est The Tragedy is ended they must all uncase But why am I so bold when wisdome almost divine is busie about it As if I meant to light a candle to the Sun why that has been at noon day to pry a corner that glorious light stoops not too Besides Abundans cautela non nocet Many boayes in the Sea many beacons on the shoare makes all the more safe and secure And it may be used as an old wifes medicine if it doe no good it will do no hurt for it is not meant as an advice but as an opinion of a wel-wisher which may be allowed or cancelled at any mans pleasure But when thou goest out with thy Host against thine enemies keep thee then from all wickednesse Deut. 23. 9. FINIS Part. 3.
beasts no where had he until then experience of such in the most barbarous parts that ever hee came unto no where had hee found for Manners so froward for Rites so devillish for Faith so impious for Laws so barbarous for Discipline so stiffe-necked for Life so filthy Christians they were in name but Pagans in deed lawfull Marriages they contracted none or such as are shamefull even with children of ten yeeres old So Langfrank complains to a King of Ireland Therdelâ—câ— that the Irishmen forsake and leave their Wives at their pleasure without any just cause and marry any others even such as be neer of kin to themselves or to the said forsaken wives and if an other man with like wickednesse hath cast off his wife her likewise with like rashnesse they joyn withall With which Rites if this Nation of the Irish had not bin corrupted almost to our days both the right of lineall succession among them had been more certain and as well the Gentry as the vulgar had not embrued themselves so wickedly with the effusion of so much bloud of their own kinred about their inheritance and legitimation nor had they become so infamous in these respects among other forreigne Nations And further concerning their natures and disposition you may take the relation from the Earle of Essex his Letter to Q Elisabet gathered by his experience The people in generall have able bodies by nature and have gotten by custome ready use of armes and by their late successe boldnesse to fight with your Majestis forces In their pride they value no man but themselves in their affections they love nothing but idlenesse and licentiousnes in their Rebellion they have no other end but to shake off the yoke of obedience to root out all remembrance of the English Nation in that Kingdome This is the generall quarrell of the Irish and they who doe not professe it are either so few or so false that there is no account to be made of them The Irish Nobility and Lords of Countries do not only in their hearts affect this quarrell and are divided from us in Religion but have an especiall grudge against the English Government because it limiteth and tyeth them who have and still would be supream Lords if not Tyrants The Towns being inhabited by men of the same Religion and birth with the rest are so carried away with the love of gaine and for that cause supply the Rebels with what they want therefore they must be strictly looked unto The Laws of the Irish was that of fish and birds the great devoure the lesse the strong the weak having but one Free-holder in a County and he Lord both of estate and lives of the rest For their succession to inheritances it was by the law or custome called Tanistry mentioned by that excellent Historian Sir Walter Rawleigh which is this that a man is preferred to a boy the Uncle before the Nephew and commonly the most active not the next heire is chosen to hinder the inroad and oppression of the next adjoyning Lord between whom there was alwayes contention which did so wast and consume them or else being idle the Land would not have sustained them Concerning the apparell of the Irish it is after a slovenly manner and the very English there are much infected with this nasty filthinesse especially lowzie beds and foule linnen except where the chiefe English live as in Dublin Wateford and Kinsale which in some measure retaine the English neatnesse but for the meere wilde Irish it may be said of them as of the Germans that they wander slovenly and naked and lodge in the same room with their cattle Among them the better sort used to weare close breeches and stockings of the same of red or some light colour so straight that the unseemly parts of the body were exposed unto view They used likewise a loose Coat and a three covered Mantle of coarse cloth with a cap of Thrums Their linnen is coarse and slovenly they seldome cast off a shirt untill it be rotten and are coloured with Saffron to avoid Lice which are incident to those people and they are very nimble in taking Lice in a Sunny day or a green bank But in the more Northern parts before the strict civilizing of them in King James his time both men and women went naked in the very Winter having only their secret parts covered with a rag and a loose Mantle cast over them Thus naked they walke with their sword tyed unto them with a wyth instead of a belt And at night men and women lye in a Ring together round about the fire in the middle of the roome with their feet towards it folding their head and upper parts in their woollen Mantle first steeped in water to keep them warm for they say woollen wetted and warmed by the heat of their bodies doth preserve heat The Church Discipline hath beene formerly and now is after the same manner with that in England by Archbishops whereof there are foure Bishops 29 many more formerly It has beene anciently a great Nursery of Religion and Pietie even from if not before Saint Patricks time and Saint Bridget his Disciple who did advance Religion and Piety much in that Kingdome as also in sundry other places of Christendome The Bishops were formerly consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury untill the yeere 1142 at what time Pope Eugenius the fourth sent Cardinall Paperio who together with Christian Bishop of Lismore Legat of all Ireland held a Councell at Mell and with the consent of the Bishops Abbots Kings and Dukes of Ireland established foure Archbishops videlicet Armagh Dublin Cassile and Toam But the estate of the Clergy has been very meane there so that by reason of devouring impropriations in the whole County of Connought The Incumbents stipend is not above forty shillings and at some places but fifteene shillings per annum that the people must needs be better fed then taught Their allowance being answerable to the Irish Bishops in former time who had but three milch Kine allowed them and when one was dry the Parish did change her for another Which makes the Gospell to languish where it finds so poore entertainment that the Messengers thereof through want and necessity should live so mean and contemptibly and it gives great advantage to the Priests and Jesuits both to abound and seduces who have mayntenance from elsewhere The right and title of the English Crown to Ireland was by Conquest by Surrender and Submission THe Danes first invaded it with forreigne forces then the Norwegians got possession of it but they were rooted out by the policie of that King of Meth who had a beautifull Virgin to his daughter with whom Turgesius was much inflamed requiring her to satisfie his lust to whose will the poore Prince could not assent yet durst not deny So that he told him he had at home a Bevy of faire Ladies out of which hee should choose
detained prisoner for that he came without the licence of the Lord Deputie Sir William Fitz Williams but on submission and certaine Articles proposed to him by the Lords and he willingly accepting promising to confirme them before the Lord Deputy in Ireland In the yeere 1590 it hapned that Con the sonne of Shan O Neale accused Hugh of treasonable practices before the Lords in England All which Hugh vehemently denied but after getting his accuser in his power he hanged him In August the same yeere Hugh Earle of Tyrone for so hereafter we must call him did promise under his hand before the Lord Deputy and counsell of Ireland to performe those Articles agreed upon in England but used many excuses to put off the execution of them And about this time Hugh Ror Mac Mahone was put to death by the Lord Deputy Williams very unjustly as some say to the great scandall of the Lord Deputy and it caused great complaints and out-cryes among the Irish who presently preferred their grievances against that Deputy and he driven to answer them And upon this fact the government of the English in the North became odious and they did strive what they could to shake it oft by expelling the Sheriffs from among them fearing the like usage as Mâ—c Mahone And 1593 Mao Guir chiefe of Fermanagh stood upon his guard accusing the Deputy of injustice in the businesse off Mahone and set upon Captain Willis and drove him and his guard being Sheriffe into a Church and would have put them all to the sword had not Tyrone interceded for them Whereupon the Deputy got into his hands Eniskillen Mac Guirs castle and proclaimed him a Traytor and likewise gave out some hard speeches concerning Tyrone which did much exasperate him and caused him to combine with the Lords of the North to defend their Honours Laws and Liberties and used two notable plots to assist him towards this Rebellion 1 To make his men skilfull hee profered to serve the Queen with 500 men of his own And for that end procured expert Captains to exercise them and so often changing these his men got most of his followers to be able Souldiers Secondly hee pretended to build a faire house at Dungannon and so got much lead to make Battlements which after he cast into bullets In the meane time Sir Henry Bagnal Marshall of Ireland whose Sister Tyrone had married did preferre many Articles against him unto which hee answered so cunningly saying that the Marshall did it out of spleen of purpose to detain his sisters portion and seemingly quitted himselfe but afterward he grew jealous of his owne safety At this time Gauranus a Priest whom the Pope had made Primate of all Ireland seduced certaine Irish Lords among which Mac Guir was chief and was overthrowne by Sir Richard Bingham and the Priest slaine in which service Tyrone was against Mac Guir with the Queens forces but secretly prepared for his Rebellion Then the sonnes of Shan O Neale were prisoners in Dublin Castle which had they been kept had been a bridle in Tyrones mouth but by connivance of Sir William Fitz Williams the Deputy were suffered to escape and so Tyrone got them into his custody nor would he release them although thereunto required But covering his Rebellion with feeming feares of his conceived enemies made daily complaints of the Marshals envy and what wrong he had done him In the yeere 1594 the Rebellion burst out Sir William Russel came in the place of Fitz Williams at which time Vlster men openly distressed her Majesties forces and Tyrone was supposed to countenance them Yet he appeared in person at Dublin before the new Lord Deputy desiring her Majesties favour out of which hee had falne rather by the calumny of them then any cause of his own But the Marshall charged him with great matters ready to prove them so that the Deputy thought fit to stay him but the Councell of Ireland were of the contrary opinion so he was let goe but the Queene was much displeased for it and sharply reproved the Deputy but he laid the fault on the Councell of Ireland And presently tooke the field with his Army to relieve Eniskillen in Ferminaght and in the Winter following there was little done because there was some Treaties of peace but the Rebels grew so peremptory in their demands that it was not liked by the Lords in England And therefore sent over two thousand old souldiers that had served in Britany and a thousand more taken up in England which news Tyrone hearing and that the Castle of Balishannan and Relike were to be planted with English Garisons Drew his forces together and tooke the Fort of Blackwater razed it and broke down the bridge there and now the Northerne Rebels appeare but Tyrone shewed a seeming desire of pardon This Lord Deputy fearing this storme might fall upon him desired the Counsel of England to send him an assistant of some experienced Souldiers which hee meant should be under his command but the Lords mistaking his meaning sent over Sir John Norris a great Commander and well experienced that would scarce give way to any who was styled Lord Generall and to command in chief in the absence of the Lord Deputy But the emulation that grew between these two hindered the businesse yet both of them went into the field with the Army towards Armagh Tyrone makes suit again by Letters for pardon but being intercepted came not unto the Deputies hands untill hee had proclaymed him Traytor But upon Tyrones instance Commissioners were appointed by the Queen to treat with the Rebels At which time Tyrone complained of the Marshall of many injuries And his demands were that hee might have his Wives portion of the Marshall and the free exercise of his Religion and many other But when Articles were propounded on the Queenes part they set so light of them and made such scorne that the Conference brake off though the Queen for sparing of bloud had resolved to give them any reasonable Conditions This parley ended the Lord Deputy and the Lord Generall comming to Armagh did so much terrifie the Rebels that Tyrone left the Fort of Blackwater burnt the Town of Dungannon and pull'd down his house there and betooke himselfe to the Woods Sept. the third Hugh Earle of Tyrone Hugh O Donel Brian O Rourk Hugh Mack Guir Brian Mac Mahone Sir Arthur O Neale Cormac Mach Baron Tyrones brother Con O Neale Tyrones base sonne Henry Oge O Neale Turlogh Mac Henry O Neale Brian Art Mac Bryan and one Francis Mountford were though absent indicted and condemned of high Treason Now the Lemster Rebels being revolted grew strong and forraged even to the gates of Dublin to the County of Wexford This Winter passed without any matter of moment because indeed Generall Norris not yet acquainted with Tyrones subtilties seemed to harken to peace thereby to reclayme him by faire means In the yeere 1596 the Queen granted another Commission for