nesses were not slow to learn, as they have not been quick to forget.1 Henry was aware of the correspondence of Desmond with the Emperor. He, perhaps, also expected that the fiction might be retorted upon him (as it actually was) which had been invented to justify the first conquest of the island. If Ireland was a fief of the Pope, the same power which had made a present of it to Henry II. might as justly take it away from Henry VIII.; and the peril of his position roused him at length to an effort. It was an effort still clogged by fatality, and less than the emergency required: but it was a beginning, and it was something. In February, 1534, a month before Clement February. pronounced his sentence, the Earl of Kildare was required, for the third and last time, to appear and answer for his offences; and a third time he ventured to obey. But England had become a changed country in the four years which had passed since his last presence there, and the brazen face and fluent lips were to serve him On his arrival in London he was sent to the Tower, and discovered that he had overstepped his limits at last. He was now shrewd enough to see that if a revolt was contemplated no time was to be lost. He must play his last card, or his influence was gone no more. 2 1 It is remarkable that, as I believe, there is no instance of the Act of heresy having been put in force in Ireland. The Irish Protestant Church counts many martyrs; but they were martyrs who fell by mur der in the later massacres. So far as I can learn, no Protestant was ever tried and executed there as such by form of law. 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 1, Irish statutes. for ever. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, his eldest son, who in his boyhood had resided in England,1 had been left as vice-deputy in his father's absence. The Earl before his departure had taken precautions to place the fortresses of the pale, with the arms and ammunition belonging to the Government, in the hands of dependents whom he could absolutely trust. No sooner was his arrest known than, in compliance with secret instructions which had been left with them, or were sent from England, his friends determined upon rebellion." April. The opportunity was well chosen. The Government of Ireland was in disorder. Skeffington was designed for Kildare's successor, but he was not yet appointed; nor was he to cross the Channel till he had collected a strong body of troops, which was necessarily a work of time. The conditional excommunication of the King was then freshly published; and counsels, there is reason to think, were guiding the Irish movement, which had originated in a less distempered brain than that of an Irish chieftain. Rumours were flying in the southern counties in the middle of June that a Spanish invasion might be immediately looked for, and the Emperor's chaplain was with the Earl of Desmond. His mission, it was said, was to prepare the way for an Imperial army; and Desmond himself was fortifying Dungarvan, the port at which an 1 Cowley to Cromwell: State Papers, vol. ii. p. 198. 2 Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 1. The Act is explicit that the rebellion was in consequence of Kildare dis- for it before he June. invading force could most conveniently land.1 There is, therefore, a strong probability that Charles V., who had almost promised to execute the Papal sentence in the course of the summer, was looking for the most vulnerable point at which to strike; and, not venturing to invade England, was encouraging an Irish rebellion, with a view to following up his success if the commencement proved auspicious. and 2 2 On the 21st of July, O'Brien of Thomond wrote the following characteristic letter to Charles:-Corny O'Brien, Prince of Ireland, to the Emperor Charles V. 'July 21, 1534 1 Cork and Waterford continued | tendeth he as much trouble as ever loyal. The mayor of the latter place did any of his nation.'-William wrote, on the 12th of July, to Crom- Wise, Mayor of Waterford, to Cromwell as follows: This instant day, well, July 12, 1534: State Papers, report is made by the Vicar of Dun- vol. ii. p. 198. garvan, that the Emperour hath sent certain letters unto the Earl of Desmond, by the same chaplain or ambassador that was sent to James the late Earl. And the common bruit is, that his practice is to win the Geraltynes and the Breenes that the Emperour intendeth shortly to send an army to invade the cities and towns by the sea-coasts of this land. This thing was spoken by a Spaniard more than a month agone to one of the inhabitants of this city; and because I thought it then somewhat incredible, I forbare at that time to write unto your wisdom thereof. The chaplain arrived more than fifteen days past at the Dingle, in the dominion of the said Earl, which Earl hath, for the victualling of his castle of Dungarvan, taken a ship charged with Spanish wines, that was bound to the town of Galway; and albeit that his years requireth quietness and rest, yet in To the most sacred and most invincible Cæsar, Charles Emperor of the Romans, Most Catholic King of Spain, health with all submission.Most sacred Cæsar, lord most clement, we give your Majesty to know that our predecessors for a long time quietly and peacefully occupied Ireland, with constancy, force, and courage, and without rebellion. They possessed and governed this country in manner royal, as by our ancient chronicles doth plainly appear. Our said predecessors and ancestry did come from your Majesty's realm of Spain, where they were of the blood of a Spanish prince, and many kings of that lineage, in long succession, governed all Ireland 1 Simultaneously with the arrival of these unwelcome news, the English Government were informed by letters from Dublin, that Lord Thomas Fitzgerald had thrown off his allegiance, and had committed infinite murders, burnings, and robbings in the English pale; making 'his avaunt and boast that he was of the Pope's sect and band, and that him he would serve, against the King and all his partakers; that the King of England was accursed, and as many as took his part.' The signal for the explosion was given with a theatrical happily, until it was conquered by | rows, and swords. We will submit the English. The last king of this land was of my blood and name; and ever since that time our ancestors, and we ourselves, have ceased not to oppose the English intruders; we have never been subject to Eng. lish rule, or yielded up our ancient rights and liberties; and there is, at this present, and for ever will be, perpetual discord between us, and we will harass them with continual war. For this cause, we, who till this present have sworn fealty to no man, submit ourselves, our lands, our families, our followers, to the protection and defence of your Majesty, and of free will and deliberate purpose we promise to obey your Majesty's orders and commands in all honest behests. We will serve your Majesty with all our force; that is to say, with 1660 horse and 2440 foot, equipped and armed. Further, we will levy and direct for your Majesty's use 13,000 men, well armed with harquebuss, bows, ar to your Majesty's will and jurisdiction more than a hundred castles, and they and all else shall be at your Majesty's disposition to be employed as you shall direct. 'We can undertake also for the assistance and support of our good brother the Earl of Desmond, whose cousin, the daughter of the late Earl James, your Majesty's friend, is our wife. Our further pleasure will be declared to you by our servants and friends, Robert and Dominic de Paul, to whom your Majesty will deign to give credence. May your Majesty be ever prosperous. Written at our Castle at Clare, witness, our daughter, July 21, 1534, by your humble servant and unfailing friend, 'CORNY O'BRIEN, Prince of Cowley to Cromwell: State bravado suited to the novel dignity of the cause. Never before had an Irish massacre been graced by a Papal sanction, and it was necessary to mark the occasion by unusual form. The young lord, Silken Thomas, as he was called, was twenty-one years old, and an accomplished Irish cavalier. He was vice-deputy, or so he considered himself: and, unwilling to tarnish the honour of his loyal house by any action which could be interpreted into treachery, he commenced with a formal surrender of his office, and a declaration of war. On the eleventh of June the council were sitting in St Mary's abbey, when a galloping of horses was heard, and Lord Thomas, at the head of a hundred and forty of the young Geraldines, dashed up to the gate, and springing off his horse, strode into the assembly. council rose, but he ordered them to sit still, and, taking the sword of state in his hand, he spoke in Irish to the following effect : June II. The 'However injuriously we be handled, and forced to defend ourselves in arms, when neither our service nor our good meaning towards our prince's crown availeth, yet say not hereafter, but in this open hostility which we profess here, and proclaim, we have showed ourselves no villains nor churls, but warriors and gentlemen. This sword of state is yours, and not mine; I received it with an oath, and have used it to your benefit. I should offend mine honour if I turned the same to your annoyance. Now I have need of mine own sword which I dare trust. As for this common sword, it flattereth me with a golden scabbard; but it hath in it a pestilent |