sake to take them in your way westward, as they are
garrisoned.
The service you are to perform is to do all your
endeavour to burn the rebels' corn in Carberry, Beare,
and Bantry, take their cows, and to use all hostile
prosecution upon the persons of the people, as in such
cases of rebellion is accustomed.
Those that are in subjection, or lately protected
(as O'Driscall, O'Donevan, and Sir Owen MacCarty's
sons), to afford them all kind and mild usage.
"When you are in Beare (if you may without any
apparent peril) your Lordship shall do well to take a
view of the castle of Donboy, whereby we may be the
better instructed how to proceed for the taking of it
when time convenient shall be afforded.
Captain Flower I think is now in Bantry, very
weakly accompanied ; for his relief you are to hasten
towards him and for your better understanding to
know in what state he is, to send presently to him,
and accordingly to proceed.
There is direction to the victualler to send three
months' victuals for five hundred foot to Baltimore,
and the like proportion for Beare ; and to the master
of the ordnance to send to each of those places one
last of powder, with lead and match proportionably ;
your Lordship is to call upon the ministers of those
ofiices to see the same presently sent away. The
powder and victual sent for Beare are directed to
Baltimore, there to stay until the place be known
where Captain Flower resfceth, and thence to be
thither directed by your Lordship.
150 Pacata Hibernia.
When your Lordship hath met with Captain Flower,
and depart from him, you are to leave with him five
hundred foot, or more, if in your judgment you
shall think it requisite, and likewise the like proportion
of strength to Captain Harvy, more or less, as in your
opinion shall be thought meet.
If the Abbey of Bantry be the place found fittest for
Captain Flower to remain in, and the same be so
ruined that of necessity, for the safe and well keeping
of the victuals and munitions, cost must be bestowed,
whatsoever your Lordship shall lay out for the repairing
of it, upon your bill of disbursements it shall be
forthwith repaid to you, always praying you to use as
little charge as possible you may. Money to intelli-
gencers and messengers is likewise allowed.
For the garrison at Kinsale victuals are likewise
ordered to be sent, whereof the victualler must be
reminded.
The capital rebels that are to resist you are
O'Sulevan and Tirrell. Your Lordship must leave
no means unessayed to get them alive or dead. The
way, in my judgment, in which that service may
be effected I have already made known to your
Lordship, wherein I pray you to use your best en-
deavours.
Give all the comfort you may to Owen O'Sulevan,^
' Now putting himself forward as the Queen's O'Sullivan. He
was eldest son of Sir Owen O'Sullivan, now dead, the chieftain whom
Donal, the present O'Sullivan Bere, had displaced by appeal to the
Queen invoking English law against Irish. Here in this little prin-
cipality we perceive the presence and operation of one of the causes
which all but foredoomed to failure the great rebellion headed by
Tyrone. There was a Queen's Mac or a Queen's ready to start up
in every region invaded by the State. Tyrone took care to keep the
Queen's O'Neill under lock and key, viz., Henry O'Neill, son of
Shane.
Pacata Hibernia. 151
by whose means you know the affairs of those parts
will be best composed.
Dermond Moyle MacOarty is most assisted by
the O'Crowleys.^ Have a special care to prosecute
and plague him and his assistants, and, if you can
find any good means to work upon him, spare not
your endeavour. Sir Owen MacCarty's sons, if they
be well handled, will prove the best means, knowing,
as you do, that he stands between them and the Lord
of the country.
If Teg O'Norsy's ^ castle and Rannell Duff's shall
in your opinion be meet for the service, do you take
Owen O'Sullivan's castle of Carriganas i.e. the Rock of the
Waterfall, is beautifully situated over foaming rapids where a little
river, the Ouvane, runs down from the mouth of the defile of Coemaneea
to the sea. Probably many of my readers have seen it, for it lies
close to the highway which connects Macroom, Inchigeela, and
Glengariffe.
About this time, O'Sullivan reduced the castle into his possession,
battering it, according to Philip, with brazen cannon and bringing
mantelets and other contrivances against it. For a while the Queen's
O'Sullivan had to undergo a good deal of suffering.
I may mention that all the later Irish O'Sullivans, including the
famous Murty Ogue, one of the heroes in Fronde's '* Two Chiefs of
Dunboy," as distinguished from those of Spain, are descended from
Owen of Carriganass, the Queen's O'Sullivan.
So when Froude makes Murty talk of his ancestor's heroic defence
of Dunboy against Carew and the English, his historical romance
becomes quite unspeakably unhistorical, for Murty's ancestors were
aiding and abetting Carew and what Froude calls the English on
that occasion.
^ The Castle of the O'Crowlies, a small sept subject like the
O'Sullivans and all the other western septs to M'Carty More, may
be seen from the train by those who travel between D unman way and
Bandon,
* This means Teigue of the Dorses. He was probably educated by
Philip O'Sullivan's father Dermod, a very fine old Irish gentleman and
soldier, lord of the Dorses or Dursey Island. It was he who con-
ducted Vasco Sahavedro from Baltimore to Dunboy, after that fight
in which O'Sullivan came to the relief of the Spaniards. Philip's
father was a seaman as well as a soldier, and in the Desmond wars won
a considerable naval battle, celebrated in Latin verse by his son.
152 Pacata Hirernia.
them into your hands and leave wards in them ;
but let not your intent be discovered until you be
possessed of them.
The like you are to do with Donneshed, Sir
Finnin O'Driscall's house, in which of necessity
I think the store of victuals and munitions for the
garrison of Baltimore must be laid, for the castle of
Donnelong, where Roger Harvey is, is too small for
that purpose.
Lastly, I pray your Lordship of all your pro-
ceedings to give me as often advertisement as you may,
and have correspondence with Sir Charles Wilmot,^
for between your two forces all the Munster rebels
remain.
The Earl, being gone with his army, marched as
far as the Abbey of Bantry,^ about threescore miles
from Cork, and there had notice that Donnell
O'Sulevan Beare and his people, by the advice of two
Spaniards, an Italian, and a Friar called Dominick
Collins, still continued their works about the
castle of Donboy ; the barbican whereof, being a
stone wall of sixteen feet in height, they faced with
sods intermingled with wood and faggots (above
four and twenty feet thick) for a defence against the
cannon. They had also sunk a low platform to
plant their ordnance for a counter-battery, and left
nothing undone, either within or without the castle,
that in their opinions was meet for defence. But
1 Wilmot was now governor of Kerry. Thomond was to try and
get into touch with him. I may here remark, that in contemporary
parlance South Kerry was known as Desmond. The larger designa-
tion of Desmond had fallen into disuse.
* There are hardly any remains of this once fine Abbey, founded
by the O'Sullivan chieftains. Its site was a little to the west of
Bantry, just below the house called Decchmouut.
Pacata Hibernia. 153
wten Ifc came to trial it appeared that their judg-
ments failed, as afterwards you shall hear, for the bar-
bican was not above six or eight feet distant from
the castle, the height whereof was exceedingly high,
not remembering that the ruins thereof would quickly
fill the void space between them and make a fair
assault when a breach was made, whereby all their
earth and sod works proved vain and fruitless,
not so much as one cannon-shot being bestowed
upon them, but as near as the cannoneers could take
their aims above it, as the President had directed
Tirrell,^ in the meantime, with the other Bownoghs,
had so well placed himself in the mountains of
Beare that he could not with his array pass any
further without apparent danger. Hereupon the
Earl left with Captain George Flower, besides his
own company, the companies of Sir John Dowdall,
the Lord Barry, Captain Francis Kingsmill, Cap-
tain Bostock, and Captain Bradbury, which were
seven hundred men in list, in the Whiddy, an island '
lying within the Bay of Bantry, very convenient for
the service, and himself with the rest of his forces
returned to Cork, where, having made relation of the
particulars of his journey, it was found necessary that
the President, without any protractions or delay,
should draw all the forces in the province to a head
against them. And although the time of the year was
not so convenient (the spring being newly begun), yet
present order was taken for all the army to repair
to Cork, except those which Sir Charles "Wilmot
1 Tyrrell, a most experienced soldier, planted himself in the defiles
of Glengarriffe and repelled Thomond.
" This island was used as a prison by the O'Sullivan chieftains.
Consequently if there was no castle here, there must have been a
strong moated house.
154
Pacata Hibernia.
employed for the reduction of Kerry. Upon a longer
delay a double inconvenience depended. First, Her
Majesty should be burthened with a greater charge ;
and, secondly, though the Spaniards had an intention
of sending another army, yet if they might be
certified that the castle of Dunboy was taken, which
was the only possession which they had in Ireland,
and the country reduced to Her Majesty's obedience
before they were put to sea, it might peradventure
persuade them to new counsels, and alter the former
determinations.
But before I proceed any farther it is pertinent to
set down the forces which the Lord Deputy left for
the prosecution of the war in Munster, which as they
stood in the list (but very weak by the pole) were as
followeth : —
Of Horse.
The Lord President .
. 100
The Earl of Thomond .
. 100
Sir Charles Wilmot
. 25
Sir Anthony Cooke
. 50
Captain William Taffe
. 50
Of Foot.
The Lord President .
. 200
The Earl of Thomond .
. 200
The Lord Barry .
. 100
The Lord Audlcy
. 150
Sir Richard Percy
. 150
Sir Charles Wilmot
. 100
Sir George Thornton .
. 100
Pacata Hibernia.
155
Sir Gerard Harvy
. 150
Sir Francis Barkley
. 150
Sir John Dowdall
. 150
Sir Samuel Bagnall ^ .
. 150
Sir Anthony Cooke
. 150
Sir Alexander Clifford
. 150
Sir Arthur Savage
. 150
The AVhite Knight ^ .
. 100
Captain Roger Harvey
. 150
Captain George Flower
. 150
Captain William Saxey ^
. 100
Captain Francis Slingsby
. 100
Captain Henry Skipwith
. 100
Captain Francis Hobby
. 100
Captain Francis Kingsmill
. 100
Captain William Power
. 100
Captain George Kingsmill
. 100
Captain Eobert CoUome
. 100
Captain John Bostock
. 100
Captain Gawen Harvey
. 100
Captain Charles Cooke
, 100
Captain William Stafford
. 100
Captain John Owsley .
. 100
Captain George Blundell
. 100
Captain Edward Dodington
. 100
Captain Ralfe Sidley .
. 100
Captain Thomas Bois .
. 100
1 A base son of Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Marshal of Ireland, and
brother of the famous Sir Henry, slain at the battle of the Blackwater.
" Bagenal, Mr. Sam," figures a good deal in the State Papers prior to
this time.
â– Now out of rebellion, and " a great favourite boy " with the
Government.
^ We saw him marching out of Kinsale when Don Juan was
entering.
156 Pacata Hibernia.
Captain Holcroft . . .100
r Horse . 325
Tlie enterprise of tlie siege of Donboy ^ was by the
best subjects of the land and by the President's par-
ticular friends dissuaded : the one in regard of the
public, and the other in the love they bore him;
and also out of England had he advice that he
should be very wary how he proceeded lest he
should fail in the enterprise, whereby the Queen
and State should undergo a fruitless charge and
scorn ; for by all men it was thought that the place
was impregnable by reason of its situation, where-
unto no approach by land-forces could be made nearer
than the Bay of Bantry, being short of Donboy four
and twenty miles, the ways being in many places im-
1 Nearly all these captains were English, but for reasons already
detailed, perhaps ad nauseam, we must conclude that nearly all their
men were Irish,
' The perspective of history is, I think, lost sight of in Stafford's
long account of the operations against O'Sullivan and Dunboy. The
story is right well told, and is essentially so interesting, dramatic, and
even tragic, that it is not at all surprising that the fate of the
O'Sullivans should have caught the world's ear. The last chief of
Dunboy has certainly found his poet, and curiously enough in one of
his conquerors. How many scores of Irish castles, quite as strong as
iJunboy, were stormed, and yet no one has heard about them. The
O'Sullivans were in fact a small and weak sept, ground down to the
earth by the tyranny and exactions of MacCartie More, their overlord,
wlio seems to have been an awful rackrenter. And as regards Mac-
Carty More himself, I cannot forget Siiane the Proud's speech to the
Queen's ambassadors : " I will not be an Earl, but something
higher and better than an Earl. You have made a wise " (foolish)
" Earl of MacCarty More " (Earl of Clau-Cartie) ; " I keep better men
than him."
Yet Stafford, by the magic of his most grajjliic pen, has given a
degree of renown to the last O'Sullivan Bere, hardly less lha)i that
of Shane, who regarded 0' Sullivan's overlord and rackrentcr as a mere
nobody.
Pacata Hibernia. 157
passable for horses and carriages, and there being
in some places such straits and craggy rocks that it
•was impossible for men to march but in file, whereby
one hundred that were to make defence might forbid
an army to pass ; if he purposed to transport his
army by sea that he should find no landing place for
his ordnance near to it, and, being landed, the wit
of man was not able, without an infinite number of
pioneers, to draw them to the castle ; for all the
grounds near it were either bog or rocks ; and also
that there was no conveniency of ground to encamp
in, no good water near, nor wood for necessary use,
nor gabion stuff, within three miles of it. The
Earl of Ormond, in his love both to the service and
to the President, wrote to him a dissuading letter,
for the causes before recited, and therefore advised
him to forbear the enterprise. But the President,
foreseeing the importance of the service, and prophesy-
ing (as it fell out) that the winning of that place would
discourage the Spaniards from any new invasion, gave
a deaf ear to all persuasions, hoping that he should
find the difificulties less than they were believed or
related to him. The well-affected Irish, fearing the
event, solicited him vehemently not to attempt it.
His answers were that bogs nor rocks should forbid
the draught of the cannon ; the one he would make
passable by faggots and timber, the other he would
break and smooth with pioneers' tools ; and with this
constant resolution he caused the army to be assem-
bled, which at Cork was in list near three thousand,
but by pole not exceeding fifteen hundred, by reason
that the companies had been extremely weakened by
the long cold and hungry winter siege. The Presi-
dent, though feeble and weak in his own state of
158 Pacata Hibernia.
health, drew forth from Cork the three-and-twentieth
of April, 1602, and encamped that night at Owneboy,
being the very place where Tyrone lodged at the time
that he received the great overthrow near Kinsale.
The four-and-twentieth we rose and marched to
Tymolegge, where the army lodged ; and three rebels
who were taken and brought before the Lord Presi-
dent were executed.
The five-and-twentieth we drew to Roscarberry,
where our army lodged.
The six-and-twentieth we departed Rosse over the
Leap to Glanbarahan, near Castlehaven, where the
army encamped, and the Lord President went to
Castlehaven to view the castle and harbour, not
removing Captain Gawen Harvy's company (who had
the guard thereof) thence.
The seven-and-twentieth the army dislodged, and
the Lord President with his regiment drew to Balti-
more, and the Earl of Thomond and Sir Richard
Percy with their regiments drew to a castle called
the Ouldcourt, three miles from Baltimore, where,
by reason of revictualling the army, we lodged two
two nights, in which time the Lord President took
view of the harbour thereof, and was ferried over into
the Island of Innishshirkin, where he likewise took
view thereof, and sent to the Island of Clare and the
Sound between them, not removing Captain Roger
Harvy's company thence, they being divided to guard
the castles of Donneshed, Donnelong, and Cape Clear,
The nine-and- twentieth we encamped on the moun-
tain at a place called Recareneltagh, near Kilcoa,
being a castle ^ wherein the rebel Conoghor, eldest
son of Sir Finnin O'Driscall, knight, held a ward.
^ Still standing.
Pacata Hibernia. 159
The thirtieth the army dislodged and drew to
Carew Castle, built in ancient times by the Lord
President's ancestors, and by the Irish called Down-
mark, or the Marquis's house,^ being two miles
distant from the Abbey of Bantry, where we encamped,
as well to give annoyance to the rebels as to tarry
the coming of the shipping with victuals, munition,
and ordnance ; at which place Captain George Flower
with his garrison (left there by the Earl of Thomond)
fell in unto us.
1 This is absi;rd. Dun-a-m-barc means the Castle of the Ships,
and has nothing to do with Marquis. Carew's ancestors had been
Marquises of Cork, and a wily old Shenachie or territorial historian
whom he discovered here, descendant of those who had been family
historians to the ancient Irish de Carews, and who doubtless knew
better, told him this bit of nonsense.
CHAPTER III.
Divers spoils done to the enemy — A letter from the Lord President
to the Spanish cannoneers in Donhoy — Captain Bostock and
Captain Barry sent to Sir Charles Wilmot. A digression of Sir
Charles Wilmot's proceedings in Kerry — Divers rebels slain — A
traitorly soldier hanged — A ward put into Carrickfoyle — The
Castle of Lixnaw taken by composition — The Castle of Ballihow
taken and the Knight of Kerry defeated — Castle Gregory and
Kahun taken.
The first of May, Captain Taffe's troop of horse,
with certain light foot, were sent from the camp,
who returned with three hundred cows, many sheep,
and a great number of garrans they got from the
rebels.
The second, Captain John Barry brought into the
camp five hundred cows, three hundred sheep, three
hundred garrans, and had the killing of five rebels ;
and the same day we procured skirmish on the edge
of their fastness with the rebels, but no hurt of our
part.
The third, Owen O'Sulevan and his brothers, sons
of Sir Owen O'Sulevan (who stand firm, and deserved
well of Her Majesty, being competitors with O'Sulevan
Beare ^) brought some fifty cows and some sheep from
the*enemy into the camp.
The fourth, O'Daly was con vented before the Lord
' The Queen's 0, stopping out as usual.
Pacata Hibernia. i6i
President and Council, and in regard it was proved
that he came from the rebels with messages and
offers to Owen O'Sulevan to adhere and combine with
the enemy, which the said Owen first revealed to
Captain Flower, sergeant-major of the army, and
afterwards pubHcly justified it to O'Daly's face, the
said O'Daly was committed to attend hia trial at the
next Sessions.
This O'Daly's ancestor had the country of Moynter-
bary given to him by the Lord President's ancestor
many hundred years past, at which time Carew had
for his inheritance the moiety of the whole kingdom
of Cork, which was first given by King Henry the
Second to Robert FitzStephen ; the service which
O'Daly and his progeny were to do for so large a pro-
portion of lands to Carew and his successors was,
according to the custom of that time, to be their
rhymers, or chroniclers of their actions.^
The fifth and sixth, the weather was so tempestuous
that we could not stir out of the quarter.
The seventh, the Lord President, understanding
that the Spanish cannoneers were still in Donboy, as
well in regard they were strangers but especially to
deprive the enemy of their services, wrote a letter in
Spanish to them to persuade them to relinquish the
rebels, assuring them that they should not only come
safe and remain safely with him, but that he would
embark them for Spain. This letter, by the means
of Owen O'Sulevan, was delivered to them ; but, as it
1 O'Daly, while flattering Carew's notions, took care to specify a
very considerable district as his share of Carew's expected grant.
Moynterbarry, strange as it may seem, means the People of Mary,
i.e. the land appertaining to a religious community devoted to the
service of Mary. The local pronunciation of this name to-day is
Mounther-a-wauria. The Irish Carew s were descended from William
de Carew, brother of Maurice Fitzgerald, ancestor of the G-eraldines.
VOL. II. M
1 62 Pacata Hibernia.
appeared, they little deserved the favour proffered ;
for if they had pleased they might have made an
escape ; but at last, when the castle was taken, they
paid the price of their inconsiderate obstinacy. The
letter (Englished) was thus : —
A Letter feom the Loed Peesident to the Spanish
Cannoneees in Donboy.
When Don Juan de Aguila, General of the Spanish
Army for His Majesty in Ireland, departed from the
city of Cork, having a care of your safeties he
requested me to favour you, saying that contrary to
your will the traitor Donnell O'Sulevan by force held
you in his castle of Donboy, there to serve him as
cannoneers. I, now calling to mind his desire (in
the love I bear him, being so great a captain and so
honourable a person as he is) and in consideration of
the promise I made him, write this letter to you,
promising, for the reasons before mentioned, that,
when I shall encamp with my forces before the castle
where you are, if then you will quit the same and
come to me I will, by the faith of a gentleman and a
Christian, make good my promise to Don Juan de
Aguila not only to secure you in coming to me, and in
the like safety to bo with me, but also to relieve and
supply your wants, and likewise, at your pleasure, to
accommodate you with a ship and my passport safely
to pass into Spain, in such manner as hath been already
accomplished to the rest of the Spaniards that are
returned to their country. This above written I am
obliged by my promise to Don Juan to fulfil. But if
you have a desire to find or receive further favours at
my hands, you may with facility deserve them, that is,
Pacata Hibernia. 163
when you leave the castle to cloy the ordnance or
maim their carriages, that when they shall have need
of them they may prove useless, for which I will
forthwith liberally recompense you answerable to the
quality of your merit. Lastly, if there be in your
companies any strangers (English and Irish excepted)
who are likewise by force held as you are, these my
letters shall be sufficient to secure their repair to me,
and also to depart, as hath been before mentioned,
conditionally, that you and they present yourselves
to me before our ordnance shall begin to batter the
castle of Donboy aforesaid. But if on your part
default be made, I hold myself clearly acquitted of my
promise made to Don Juan, and to be free from breach
of faith on my part, and you ever after incapable of
this favour of my promised offer. Return me your
answer by this bearer in writing, or by some other in
whom you have more confidence. From the camp
near Bantry, the seventh of May, 1602.
To the Spaniards held by force in the
Castle of Donboy.
• • • • • •
The eighth, the Lord President sent forth three
hundred light footmen secretly by night through the
enemy's fastness, under the command of Captains
John Bostock and John Barry, with command that
they should make their repair to Ardentully, Mac-
Finnen's^ house, and there join those forces with Sir
Charles Wilmot's regiment, who, being united,
1 MacFineen was chief of a minor sopt of the O'Sullivans. His
chief house was Ardea, a place, to me at least, memorable as that