[441] Humanity.—­Dr. O’Donovan, with his usual conscientious accuracy, has given a long and most interesting note on the subject of this massacre, in the Annals of the Four Masters, vol. v.p. 1695.  Dowling is the oldest writer who mentions the subject, and he expressly mentions Crosby and Walpole as the principal agents in effecting it.  Dr. O’Donovan gives a curious traditional account of the occurrence, in which several Catholic families are accused of having taken part.

[442] Den.—­Faerie Queene, book iii c. 3.

[443] Disorders.—­“In many dioceses in England (A.D. 1561), a third of the parishes were left without a clergyman, resident or non-resident....  The children grew up unbaptized; the dead buried their dead.”  Elizabeth had to remonstrate with Parliament upon the “open decays and ruins” of the churches.  “They were not even kept commonly clean, and nothing was done to make them known to be places provided for divine service.”  “The cathedral plate adorned the prebendal sideboards and dinner-tables.  The organ pipes were melted into dishes for their kitchens.  The organ frames were carved into bedsteads, where the wives reposed beside their reverend lords.  The copes and vestments were slit into gowns and bodices.  Having children to provide for, the chapters cut down their woods, and worked their fines ... for the benefit of their own generation.”  “The priests’ wives were known by their dress in the street, and their proud gait, from a hundred other women.”—­Froude, Reign of Elizabeth, vol. i. pp. 465-467.

CHAPTER XXVII.

FitzMaurice obtains Help from Spain and from Rome—­The Martyrs of Kilmallock—­Death of FitzMaurice—­Drury’s Cruelties and Death—­Arrival of San Jose—­His Treachery—­Massacre at the Fort del Ore—­O’Neill shows Symptoms of Disaffection—­Treacherous Capture of O’Donnell—­Injustice to Tenants—­O’Donnell attempts to Escape—­O’Neill’s Marriage with Mabel Bagnal—­O’Donnell Escapes from Dublin Castle—­Causes of Discontent—­Cruel Massacre of Three Priests—­Tortures and Death inflicted in Dublin on Bishop O’Hurley—­O’Neill’s Insurrection—­His Interview with Essex—­He marches to the South—­His Fatal Reverse at Kinsale—­The Siege of Dunboy—­O’Neill’s Submission—­Foundation of Trinity College, Dublin, on the Site and with the Funds of a Catholic Abbey.

[A.D. 1579-1605.]

Exaggerated rumours were now spread throughout Munster, of the probability of help from foreign sources—­A.D. 1579.  James FitzMaurice had been actively employed on the Continent in collecting troops and assistance for the Irish Catholics.  In France his requests were politely refused, for Henry III. wished to continue on good terms with Elizabeth.  Philip II. of Spain referred him to the Pope.  In Rome he met with more encouragement; and at the solicitation of the Franciscan Bishop of Killaloe, Cornelius O’Mullrain,