not so strong as I could wish to do your Majesty that
service I ought. Ireland is destitute of learned men
of English birth, and with Irish physicians, knowing
the good will they bear me, if they were learned I
dare not adventure ; the longer I am without remedy,
the less and the less time I shall be able to serve you.
But as I am your Majesty's creature, so I do submit
the consideration of my humble and just suit to your
princely consideration, at whose royal feet, and in
whose service, I am hourly ready to sacrifice my life.
From your Majesty's city of Cork, the nine-and-
twentieth of September, 1602.
Your sacred Majesty's most
humble vassal and servant,
Geoege Caeew.
' All the Queen's chief servants were in the habit of addressing
her in language of tliis descripticin. They all affected to be in luve
with her, and she rather affected a tender feeling for them. It was an
alfectation, no doubt, but not quite such an atiectation as we might
imagine. There was a sort of cult of Elizabeth going on at this time,
Foniething like that which led to the deification of the Koman
Emperors.
Pacata Hibernia. 241
After the President had received their Lordships'
instructions (in their letters afore-mentioned) he
framed an answer for Captain Harvy, written in
French to the Veador ; and also a French passport,
the copies whereof, Englished, I think it meet to re-
late, and with them the letter from O'Donnell, formerly
touched upon by their Lordships.
A Lettee feom Captain Haevy to Pedeo Lopez db
SoTO, THE Spanish Veadoe.
SiE, — After your departure it pleased God to visit
me with such extreme sickness that all my thoughts
were fixed upon another life, supposing that my days
had been determined; by reason whereof, together
with my feebleness and absence, I had not the means
to acquaint the Lord President with the passages
betwixt us until now that the time prefixed in your
passport is almost expired, which I could not by any
means remedy. Sir, I have of late received a letter
from you, dated the ninth of April, 1602, by which I
perceive that you are desirous that I should send a
messenger to give you a taste (as I conceive) concern-
ing the discourse which passed between us, which
truly I would willingly have done if I had not been
visited with sickness. But now, finding by the opinion
of all men that His Majesty is resolved to continue the
war against the sacred person of my Sovereign;
although in my heart, as a Christian, I wish a firm
unity between their Majesties, which by their an-
cestors hath been so long, to the comfort of their
subjects, religiously continued ; yet now, understand-
ing the great preparations which the King is making
for the invasion of Her Majesty's dominions, I con-
VOL. II. B
242 Pacata Hibernia.
fess I am not so passionate for the peace as I was,
and I have no reason to make any overture of your
discourse to the Lord President, there being so
little probability of a peace to ensue. Wherefore
if you think it good that the matter we speak of
should be set on foot, because you were the first mover
of it (wherein you manifest your zeal), I pray you to
write to me that I may understand whether His
Majesty will give ear to a peace or not, whereof you
need not be scrupulous to speak freely, since you see
by experience that when your design gave us cause
of revenge we entreated you with honour and hu-
manity. When I shall know your answer I will deal
effectually with the Lord President, with whom, as
well in kindred as in affection, I have such interest as
you have heard, and of whose worth and sufficiency
you have been well informed, assuring you that if he
will put his hand to it, it will much advance the
business. I am not in despair of his inclination to a
peace if by your answer he may perceive that you pro-
ceed roundly. I marvel much that His Majesty and
the Lords of his Council lend their ears so much to this
traitorly, barbarous nation, who from their cradles
have been nourished in falsehood and treasons, masking,
of late, their actions under the veil of religion, whereof
the truth is that in their hearts they have neither fear
of God nor faith to men. And that henceforth you
may not be blinded, and see their fraud, wherewith
they beguile His Majesty, to whom they protest sin-
cerity, I send you here enclosed a letter signed by the
hand of the traitor O'Donnell, written to a friend of
his in this province of Munster, called O'Connor
Kerry, which was found in the Castle of Bearehaven,
which by Her Majesty's forces, under the conduct of
Pacata Hibernia. 243
the President in person, was within the space of seven
days taken and razed, and the rebels put to the sword,
and their companions, with all their forces, lodging
near them ; but, according to their custom, they durst
not second or aid them, but left them to destruction ;
by which letter you shall see, as clear as the day, how
this traitor O'Donnell only tempers a bait to deceive
the King your master, like all the rest of this nation,
who do but temporize to work their advantage by it.
To relate unto you truly in what estate these rebels
live at this present, howsoever they may protest and
dissemble their affairs, or write from hence, I protest
upon my soul that Tyrone works all he may to be
received into the favour and mercy of our Sovereign,
and that all the lords and chiefs of the North who
followed him on the day of the rout at Kinsale, and
others of those parts, have submitted themselves to
the Lord Deputy, and for security have put in their
pledges for their future loyalties. And Tyrone, with
his weak troops, has been so sharply prosecuted that,
as a fugitive being forced to quit his own country, he
seeks out coverts, bogs, and woods. The Lord Deputy
without impeachment passes from place to place, and
holds all Ulster in subjection. The other provinces of
Leinster and Connaught are reduced to obedience, and
the province of Munster (where I remain) is so much
at the command of the Lord President that if he
would receive to mercy all the traitors who seek to be
received and promise to live as good subjects there
would be no rebels left ; and amongst others,
O'Sulevan, who hath given you the best assurance,
and of whom, as I think, you have most confidence,
doth daily make suit ^ to be restored to the Queen's
1 The State Papers for this year are not published, so we cannct
E 2
244 Pacata Hibernia.
favour, and tliia I assure you from the mouth of the
Lord President. Moreover (as the vulgar can inform
you) the President absohitely commands in this
province, and the traitors, whose requests he rejects,
are so few and so weak that they live like wolves and
foxes, flying from one place to another, only to assure
their lives, which kind of life cannot long endure.
But if the King your master will persevere to aid these
poor traitors, you shall see us, when you shall enter-
prise it, in better point than we were, it not being in
your power to surprise any port or place of import-
ance ; and, if it be your chance to come hither in
person, you shall find it to be true, whereof in my
particular, in regard of the honour I bear you, I
should be exceedingly sorry. The bearer hereof,
Walter Edney, my lieutenant, whom you know by
sight, in his fatherly love to his dearest son, whom ho
placed in the service of Captain Pedro Enriques de
Tejada, lately deceased, hath entreated the Lord
President to license him to see his son, to the end that
he might supply his necessary wants, for default
whereof he may otherwise perish ; which occasion I
willingly embraced whereby I might write to you, and
by that means receive your answer, beseeching you to
extend your favour to him dm'ing his abode in Spain.
I will do the like for all such as depend upon you, if
they shall happen to arrive in this kingdom. And to
the end that I might the more fully know your answer,
and have the better means to treat the more effectually
in these affairs, which are of such consequence, I pray
check Captain Harvey's statements, but this statement is in itself
extremely probable, and certainly O'Sullivan did make suit to James
I. out of Spain, for restoration of his lands, promising to be a faithful
subject. There is a break towards the end of the century in the
published volumes of State Papers.
Pacata Hibernia. 245
you to send one from you well instructed, that I may
bring him to the Lord President, whi^h will much
advance the business you desire. And as you have
given me a passport for such as I should send to you
(whereof by reason of my sickness I could make no
use), I send you the like here enclosed, which shall be
of force until the end of February, 1602. Even so,
sir, being ever ready (my allegiance to my Sovereign
excepted) to do you all friendship and service, I pray
God to preserve you in health according to your own
desire. From Cork, the 17th of September, 1602.
Yours affectionately to do you service,
KoGEE Harvy.
A Monsieur Pedro Lopez de Soto,
Veador-General for His Majesty of
Spain, deliver these at the Groyne.
Sir, I had forgotten one thing, which is to pray you
to afford your favour to my lieutenant, that he may
vend his merchandise transported thither, and return
others, which he carries only by the means of traffic,
for defraying his charges. I will do the like for any
of yours that you shall send hither.
Roger Harvy.
A Passport op Captain Haevy's, sent to the Veador.
I, Roger Harvy, captain of a foot company, and
governor for Her Majesty of Castlehaven, Baltimore,
etc. For certain causes concerning Her Majesty's
service, I give this free passport to such ship and mes-
senger as Don Pedro Lopez de Soto, Veador-General
246 Pacata Hibernia.
for the King of Spain, shall send into this province
of Munster in Ireland between the date of this present
and the last of February, 1602. And if it shall hap-
pen that any of Her Majesty's ships, or any other of
her subjects, shall meet with the said ship, or that by
force of wind they shall be forced upon the coast of
England, or into any port within the realm of Ireland,
in Her Majesty's name I pray and require all of them
that they may be friendly treated, and that the mes-
senger without any impediment may be permitted to
have free recourse unto me and to vend their mer-
chandise, being requisite for the Queen's service.
Dated at Cork, the seventeenth of September, 1602.
Roger Harvy.
To all admirals, vice-admirals, governors,
magistrates, and officers, and to all
other Her Majesty's loyal and obedient
subjects unto whom this shall or may
appertain.
A Letter from O'Donnell to O'Connor Kerry.
"What news is here, the doctor and Dermond O'Dris-
call may largely report to you ; but of this one thing
you may be fully assured, that the King will not omit
the winning of Ireland if it cost him the most part of
Spain. His Majesty doth send you money and
munition. I pray let our information of you be found
true, and your service encourage our King to further
merit you. I pray you send me the relation of the
news of our country, in such sort that if there be any
bad it be concealed from the Spaniards and known to
me ; where the Deputy with the Queen's forces is
Pacata Hibernia. 247
occupied, or wliere they are in garrison. At the
Groyne, the four-and-twentieth of May, 1602.
Your loving friend,
Hugh O'Donnell.
To his loving friend O'Connor Kerry,
these give in Ireland.
At the same time that Pedro Lopez de Soto, the
Veador, wrote to Captain Harvy, Don John de Aguila
wrote to the Lord President, and sent him a present
of wines, lemons, oranges, etc. And to do him a
farther courtesy he gave him assurance that his pass-
ports should be sufficient for any man that he would
employ into Spain if he had any cause to send thither.
This letter the President sent to the Lords of the
Council in England, who authorized him both to
write to him and to return him a present, if he were
so disposed. The copy of Don John's letter, and the
President's to him, translated out of the Spanish, here
ensue : —
A Letter from Don Juan de Aguila to the Lord
President.
Mur illustre Senor, — To say the truth I am very
glad that I am in Spain and that the passage was
good which I was to make. I confess unto your
Lordship that I am so much obliged for the honour-
able and good terms which the Lord Deputy and
your Lordship used there in the service of your Prince
in all things which concerned me that I desire some
apt occasion to manifest myself to be a good pay-
master (as I ought) for those courtesies, and for the
assurance thereof your Lordship may send securely
248 Pacata Hibernia.
to me to command anything you please for your
service. And your ship and passport shall be
friendly received. And for that in this country
there is no fruit of more estimation than wines of
Ripadavia, lemons and oranges, these few are
sent to make a proof thereof and the willing-
ness I have to serve your Lordships, whom I com-
mend to God. From the Groyne, the second of April,
1602.
Muy illustre Sefior,
Besa las manos d
V.S. Su Servidor,
Don Juan de Aguila.
A Letter from the Lord President to Don Juan
DE Aguila.
Muy illustre Senor, — I doubt not but that your
Lordship hath received my letters of the thirteenth
of July, sent in answer to yours of the second of
April by the Captains Suaco and Sigler, and I
rest so well satisfied of the good terms wherein
we stand that I am desirous to do your Lordship
some agreeable service. At that time there was
no occasion for me to make use of the pass-
port and offer your Lordship made me for
security of that man or ship which I should send
into those parts. But now this bearer, Captain
Walter Edney, w,hose son served Captain Pedro
Enriques de Tejada (lately deceased), having prayed
me to give him license and my passport to see his
son, to supply him with his necessary wants, I be-
seech your Lordship that he may, according to your
promise, safely and securely pass and return, which
Pacata Hibernia. 249
favour I shall thankfully acknowledge; and, when-
soever your Lordship shall have occasion to send
any of yours into these parts he shall be used with
the like courtesy. I have received profit by the book
of fortification which your Lordship left me at your
departure, and hold it as a relic in memory of
you, and as a good scholar I have put some things
in practice, whereof your Lordship at your return
hither again (which I hope in God will be never)
may be a witness whether I have committed any
error in the art or no. My greatest defect hath been
the want of the help of so great a master as your
Lordship is, of whom I am desirous to learn, not
only that art but in all else concerning the mili-
tary profession, in which I do give your Lordship
the pre-eminence. To conclude, I rest in all I may
(my duty reserved to the Queen my mistress)
affectionately ready at your Lordship's service ; and
so, kissing your hands, I beseech God to preserve you
with many happy years. From Cork, the seventeenth
of September, 1602.
Muy illustre Sefior,
Besa las manos a
V.S. Su Servidor,
George Carew.
Although here is nothing to be had worthy the
presenting to your Lordship, yet I make bold to
present you with an ambling hackney.
The man whom the Lord President made choice of
to carry these letters to Pedro Lopez de Soto and
to Don John de Aguila was "Walter Edney, lieutenant
to Captain Harvy, who was an ingenious man of good
discretion, and well experienced, as well in land as sea
250 Pacata Hibernia.
service; and the better to disguise bis employment
he had a son in Spain, a page to Captain Pedro
Enriques, who, after the rendering of Kinsale, casting
an affection to the boy, moved Don John to entreat
the President that he might have the youth to serve
him, which was granted, and within a few months
after the Spaniards' return the captain died ; and, to
put farther mask upon his employment, the President
freighted a small bark laden with Irish commodities,
and in it a choice Irish horse, with a rich pad and
furniture, and some other trifles which he sent to
Don John de Aguila; and for his safety he had two
passports with him, the one from Captain Harvy,
the other from the President ; the President's passport
here ensueth.
By THE Lord President of Munster, in Ireland.
I, Sir George Carew, Lieutenant-general of the
artillery, for Her Sacred Majesty the Queen of
England in that her kingdom, and her Highness's
Lord President for the province of Munster, in
Ireland, certify that I have licensed Captain Walter
Edney to go into Spain to visit his son remaining
there, and to return hither within two months
after the date hereof, this being agreeable with the
allowance and power which Don John de Aguila
gave me at his being here, the copy whereof is here-
unto annexed. Given at Cork, the seventeenth of
September, 16-02.
G. C.
Of these dispatches for Spain enough being said,
it is time to return to the passages in Munster,
but first I must relate to you the news from Spain
PAcata Hibernia. 251
sent in a letter from Sir Robert Cecil to the
Lord Deputy, and the same transcripted, by Master
Secretary's direction, to the President. The letter
bore date the seventh of August, and arrived at Cork
the second of September following, whereby the
reader may see that the King of Spain's eyes were
still, notwithstanding the rout at Kinsale, the dis-
honour he received in the return of his troops, and
the loss of Donboy, whereby his footing in Ireland
was lost, open upon that kingdom.
Although Queen Elizabeth, of happy memory,
was dead before Lieutenant Edney returned, yet I
hold it not impertinent in this place to recount his
successes. When he was landed at the Groyne he
understood that Don John de Aguila, by the ac-
cusation of the Irish fugitives, was in disgrace con-
fined to his house, where shortly after he died of
grief.^ His letters and passports were taken from
him by the Earl of Carazena and sent to the Court,
and himself stayed until the King's pleasure was
known. The Irish traitors inveighed much against
him, saying that, under pretext of trade and
1 I hope the reader is as sorry as I am for the fate which overtook
Don Juan at the hands of my fellow countrymen. Don Juan, in a
word, did his Irish work splendidly. I hardly know of a better
soldier and more honourable or loyal gentleman operating in Ireland.
And sure we may be that the country is the richer because Don Juan
was here. The Irish refugees, many of whom had been in the Kin-
sale races, threw the blame off themselves and on to this excellent
man. Under a tyranny it is almost more dangerous to succeed than
to fail. We may be sure that if Don Juan had conquered Ireland
and brought our woefully distracted nation imder discipline, he would
have been recalled in disgrace and possibly lost his head. At the
same time, for such a nation as the Irish at this date a tyranny was the
best. Had Tyrone conquered Ireland, he too would have established
a tyranny. By sovereign irresponsible power alone could such men
as we have been reading about been compelled to see that they were
more than units.
252 Pacata Hibernia.
bringing of presents, he came as a spy. Neverthe-
less he was well treated and had the liberty of
the town and to wear his sword, with allowance
from the King of a ducat per diem for his diet.
His goods were sold for the best advantage, and his
bark returned to Ireland ; but the President's
present to Don John, the Earl of Carazena de-
tained to his own use ; and after nine months' re-
straint Edney was enlarged and returned to England
in July, 1603.
A little before this time Sir Robert Cecil, Her
Majesty's principal secretary, wrote to the Lord
Deputy the news of Spain, a branch of which that
he also sent to the President, dated the seventh of
August, and received the second of September, I hold
meet to insert, whereby the reader may understand
that the King of Spain had still his eyes open upon
Ireland : —
One great cause of my writing this private letter
is this, that where I see how much it doth distract
your mind to think of Spain behind you and of the
North before you, fearing to be diverted from the
conclusion of your labours, you may perceive in what
estate the preparations of Spain are now, as I am
certainly advertised by one of mine own, who is newly
from the port of Lisbon, where he took shipping the
21st of July.
There are two great ships, each of them of a
thousand tons, one called the Andreiu and the
other (which shall be the vice-admiral) the name
forgotten. Besides, there are twelve ships of two
hundred tons and downward, in which it was resolved
to send some fifteen hundred men, to have relieved
Pacata Hibernia. 253
the siege at Bearehaven, the news of the taking whereof
was first known by a ship from Waterford to Lisbon,
and not before. Of the fifteen hundred men, eight
hundred came from the Groyne, being part of those
who were transported out of Ireland. In the Groyne
remaineth O'DonneU, and there is only the great Sai7it
Philip, with ten small barks, with which he mightily
importuned to be sent to the North. If these had
been sent to Bearehaven, in Munster, hoping upon his
arrival with some fifteen hundred men to have raised
the siege, possessed some parts, and made a beginning
of a plantation ; hereof great benefit must needs have
grown to the rebels ; for those small numbers which
should have been landed at Munster, with the bruit
of the rest to follow (which is always multiplied),
would have made a distraction of the Ulster prosecu-
tion, etc.
Lastly in the said letter he prayed the President to
set down his opinion what course were best to be taken
in a defensive war if the King of Spain did invade
Ireland with a royal army. The next passage, to give
master secretary satisfaction, the Lord President
wrote to him a long letter ; but because many private
things were handled in the same I will only relate so
much of it as concerns his opinion touching a defensive
war in Ireland.
The Lord President's Opinion op a Defensive War
IN Ireland sent to Master Secretary.
Granting that the enemy will come do less powerful
than is reported, and that the Irish will join with them
(whereof there is no doubt), then consideration is to
254 Pacata Hibernia.
be had what in such a sea of troubles is meetest to
be done that may best preserve the Queen's army with
least charge, and the way to weary the enemy and the
country. Because my opinion may perchance differ
from other men, whose authority, greatness, and
better judgment (in the world's opinion) bear more
sway, I will forbear to deal in so weighty a business
any farther than to yourself, using the liberty you
have ever given me to say what I conceive to be the
best counsel. If the army of Spain be so great as is
both reported by those that come from thence and is
expected here, let us make no doubt but he will be
master of the field (for the present) and will so hold
himself except the army of Ireland be reinforced to a
far higher list, the charge whereof w411 make, if I be
not deceived, both England and Ireland to groan;
wherefore the best way, in my conceit, to moderate
such huge expenses is for the present to be careless
of the countries generally throughout the kingdom ;
for in seeking both to defend them and to make head
against the enemy will bo too heavy a burden. The
principal regard which we ought to have is of the
cities, in all of which I wish a strong garrison both of
horse and foot, able to defend a siege. When the
enemy shall see that we are dispersed into garrisons
either he will presently, in his best strength, go to
besiege one of those places, or else disperse, because
he hath the country to friend, as we do. If he
attempt the besieging of any of our places aforesaid
there is no doubt but in such a business he will unite
all his forces in one; then may we be bold to draw all
our forces from their several garrisons to a head to
relieve that place, and with God's favour make no
doubt but to force the enemy to rise. If he disperse,
Pacata Hibernia. 255
then tliose garrisons will be able to master tlie coun-
tries about them, and leave no habitation to relieve
either Spaniard or Irish ; and upon occasion two or
more of these garrisons may meet to effect greater
services than otherwise can be done. This fashion of
a war will in a short time destroy all the country,
make the Irish curse the Spaniards and themselves
for drawing them hither, drive the King to an ines-