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effort to reduce Shane to obedience ; and at the same time that he was laying plans for Shane's assassination, Queen Elizabeth ao;ain urged that he should be induced to visit her. After the failure of another expedition under Sussex, a peace was patched up on the 19th October 1561 ; and on the 6th of January 1562, he made his submission before the Queen. Mr. Froude thus describes his reception : " The coun- cil, the peers, the foreign ambassadors, bishops, aldermen, dignitaries of all kinds were present in state, as if at the exhibi- tion of some wild animal of the desert. O'Neill stalked in, his saffron mantle sweeping round and round him, his hair curling on his back and clipped short below the eyes, which gleamed from under it with a grey lustre, frowning, fierce, and cruel. Behind him followed his gaUoglasses, bare- headed and faii'-haired, with shirts of mail which reached beneath their knees, a wolf- skin flung across their shoulders, and short, broad battle-axes in their hands." Although in words he made an humble submission, the courtiers rightly described his attitude as that of " O'Neill the great, cousin of St. Patrick, friend of the Queen of Eng- land, enemy to all the world besides." After the interview, and in direct vio- lation of his safe conduct, O'Neill was detained in London, and refused confirma- tion in his tribal lands until he agreed to proceed against his former allies the Scots, not to make war without the con- sent of the Government, and virtually to abandon all claim of supremacy over the adjoining chiefs. Even these terms he did not secure until he had cajoled and flattered the Queen — deferring to her on all minor points, and even asking that she should choose a wife for him. On 5th May 1562, a proclamation was issued that he was in future to be reputed a good and natural subject. Immediately on his return he invaded "^.rconnell, not considering the articles binding, owing to the manner in which they had been forced upon him. Attempts were now made to secure his per- son : he was invited to a meeting at Dun- dalk, and was solicited to court Sussex's sister at Dublin. Hostilities were recom- menced with little effect on either side ; and on nth September 1563, Elizabeth, sick of the war, concluded another peace, under which he was confirmed in the title of O'NeUl. " As an evidence of returning cordiality," says Mr. Eichey, " a present of poisoned wine was sent to him by Sussex, which being unskilfully prepared, failed of its due effect, though it brought him and his household to the verge of death." He was now left in peace, virtual ruler of | 408

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Ulster. He built a castle by Lough Neagh, which he called " Fuath na Gall " (Abomi- nation of the Strangers), and might have retained a splendid principality, but for his insatiable ambition and inability to live with his neighbours. In August 1 564 the council approved Shane's desire to attack the Scots. At the same time the Lord- Justice Arnold assured Cecill that he acts with the wild Irish " as with bears and bandogs ; so that he sees them fight earnestly and tug each other well, he cares not who has the worse." Constant corre- spondence went on between Shane and the Government: in April 1565 he writes acknowledging the Queen's great favour to him ; in May he announces his defeat of the Scots ; in July he sends the Queen a list of his captives ; in March 1566 " he would have his parliament robes sent into his country, but he cares not to be made an earl. He never made peace with the Queen but by her own seeking. His ancestors were Kings of Ulster ; Ulster was theirs, and Ulster is his, and shall be his. . . He hath won all by the sword, and by the sword he wiU keep it." On 25th April 1566, he writes, styling himself " Defender of the Faith," to Charles IX., King of France, for 5,CKX) well-armed men, to assist in ex- pelling the English from Ireland. In July he entered the English Pale with fire and sword, and a little later he urged John of Desmond to join him against the English. On 17th September the Lord-Deputy, Sidney, marched from Drogheda against O'Neill. He destroyed Shane's house at Benburb, burned the country round Clogher, fortified Derry, and took the castles of Donegal, Ballyshannon, Belleek, and Sligo, which he handed over to the O'Donnells and O'Conors in trust for the Queen. In an encounter between O'Neill and Colonel Eandolfe on 23rd November, Shane lost 400 of his men. In December O'Neill sought to make terms with the Queen ; and in February 1567 he again wrote to the French King urging him to send an army to assist him to restore and defend the Catholic faith. In May he was defeated near Lifford by the O'Don- nells, when, utterly disheartened, he fled to his old enemies, the MacDonnells, at Cusheudun. They received him with pre- tended friendship. A drinking bout and quarrel ensued, and he was killed, with most of his followers, on the 2nd June, His head was spiked on Dublin Castle, and his body was buried in the grounds of the old monastery at Glenarm. Acts were quickly passed for his attainder, and the abolition of the very name of O'Neill.