The unfortunate Essex was afterwards appointed to the command; but his troops were so terrified at the reputation of Tyrone that many of them counterfeited sickness, and others deserted, fearful of encountering the forces of that daring chief.  Finding himself in a great measure deserted, “he hearkened to a message from Tyrone, who desired a conference; and a plain near the two camps was appointed for this purpose.  The two generals met without any attendants.  A river ran between them, into which Tyrone entered to his saddle-girth, but Essex stood on the opposite bank.”

At this meeting where “Tyrone behaved with great submission to the lord-lieutenant, a cessation of arms was agreed on.[23] Essex also received a proposal of peace, into which Tyrone had inserted many unreasonable and exorbitant conditions; and there appeared afterwards some reason to suspect that the former had commenced a very unjustifiable correspondence with the enemy.”  From this time the beam of Essex’s favour was obscured, the issue terminating in his death and disgrace.  In the meantime, Tyrone had thought proper to break the trace, “and joining with O’Donnel and others, overran almost the whole kingdom.  He pretended to be the champion of the Catholic faith, and openly exulted in the present of a phoenix plume, which Clement VIII., in order to encourage him in the prosecution of so good a cause, had consecrated, and conferred upon him."[24] Essex being recalled, the Queen appointed Mountjoy as lord-deputy.  “He found the island in a desperate condition; but being a man of capacity and vigour, he immediately advanced against Tyrone in Ulster.  He penetrated into the heart of that country, the chief seat of the rebels.  He fortified Derry and Mount Norris.  He chased them from the field, and obliged them again to shelter in woods and morasses; and by these promising enterprises he gave new life to the Queen’s authority throughout the island.”

Tyrone, however, still boasted that he was certain of receiving the promised aid from Spain; “and everything was put in condition for resisting the Spanish invasion, which was daily expected.  The deputy, informed of the danger to which the southern provinces were exposed, left the prosecution of the war against Tyrone, who was now reduced to great extremities, and marched with his army into Munster.”

“At last the Spaniards, under Don Juan d’Aquila, arrived at Kinsale; and Sir Richard Piercy, who commanded in the town with a small garrison of one hundred and fifty men, found himself obliged to abandon it on their appearance.  These invaders amounted to four thousand, and the Irish discovered a strong propensity to join them, in order to free themselves from the English government, with which they were extremely discontented.  One chief ground of their complaint was the introduction of trials by jury,[25] an institution abhorred by that people, though nothing contributes more to the support of that equity and liberty for