Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/179

Grey was quiet, and Grey hoped with a butt or two of sack to confirm Turlough O'Neill in his allegiance. Accordingly, leaving the Earl of Kildare to prosecute the war against Lord Baltinglas and the rebels of the Pale, he took his way, accompanied by Captains Rawley and Zouche, at the head of eight hundred men, towards Limerick. The weather was bad and the ways almost impassable, and it was not until 7 Nov. that he was able to sit down formally before the Fort del Ore. On the 10th the fort surrendered at discretion. 'Morning came,' he wrote to Elizabeth; 'I presented my companies in battaile before ye Forte. Ye coronell comes forth wth x or xii of his chiefe ientlemen trayling theyr ensignes rolled up, & presented ym unto mee wth theyr liues & ye Forte. I sent streight certein gentlemen in to see their weapons and armures layed downe & to gard ye munition and victaile there lefte for spoile. Then pute I in certeyn bands, who streight fell to execution. There were 600 slayne … whereof 400 were as gallant and goodly personages as of any [illeg.] I euer beheld. So hath yt pleased ye L. of hostes to deliuer yr enemie into yr Hig. handes, and so too, as, one onely excepted, not one of yours is els lost or hurte' (State Papers, Ireland, Eliz. lxxviii.29;, Hist. Ibern. Compendium, pp. 112, 115, 116). Meanwhile the Leinster rebels were busy pillaging and burning the towns of the Pale, while the Earl of Kildare was conniving or helplessly looking on. Accordingly leaving Zouche and the Earl of Ormonde to complete his work in Munster, Grey returned by forced marches to Dublin, just in time to frustrate a plot to overthrow the government (Cal. Papers, Ireland, ii. 273). Hardly, however, had he averted this danger and incarcerated the Earl of Kildare and Lord Delvin, on suspicion of complicity in the plot, when his attention was distracted by fresh disturbances in the north, where a renewal of hostilities was threatened between O'Donnell and Turlough O'Neill. After a hurried expedition into Carlow against the Kavanaghs and their allies, who were as usual burning and plundering whatever they could lay their hands on, he turned his steps in July 1581 northward against Turlough O'Neill (ib. ii. 314). His success in this direction exceeded his most sanguine expectations. On 2 Aug. O'Neill consented to ratify the treaty of September 1580, and to abide by the decision of the commissioners to be appointed to arbitrate between him and O'Donnell (ib. ii. 315). Retracing his steps he determined to prosecute the rebels of Leinster, Baltinglas, Pheagh Mac Hugh, and the rest, with the utmost vigour (ib. ii. 314). But the unexpected submission of O'Neill had completely cowed them, and even Pheagh Mac Hugh offered to submit, proffering as pledges of his good behaviour his own son and uncle (, Burghley Papers, p. 356). Their submission came very opportunely, for Grey had long suspected the Earl of Ormonde of undue tenderness towards his relatives of the house of Desmond in his conduct of the war in Munster. He resolved to visit the province in person, and started about the middle of September (Cal. Papers, Ireland, ii. 317). There he found everything at low ebb, owing, he complained, to the pernicious practice of granting general pardons to the rebels, 'whereby the soldiers were letted from the destruction of their corn' (, Burghley Papers, p. 363). After visiting Waterford, Dungarvan, Lismore, Youghal, and Cork, he appointed Colonel Zouche to the chief command, and shortly afterwards returned to Dublin. Grey was shrewd enough to recognise that his success was only temporary, and that the Irish were only biding their time. His enemies irritated him by persistent, though easily rebutted, charges. Elizabeth's temporising policy in religious matters ill harmonised with his fervent zeal. His very success seemed to create fresh difficulties, and it was with ill-concealed disgust that he received her order for the reduction of the army to three thousand men (Cal. Papers, Ireland, ii. 335, 345). His position became more and more intolerable, and hardly a post left Ireland without an earnest petition from him for his recall. At last the welcome letter arrived, and committing the government to Archbishop Loftus and Treasurer Wallop, he set sail for England on 31 Aug. 1582. His wife and family still remained in Dublin, and his friends were not without hope that he might be restored to them with fuller powers. But on 5 Nov. the Bishop of Meath wrote sorrowfully that the departure of the deputy's 'virtuous and godly lady taketh away all hope to see his lordship again' (ib. ii. 410).

Overwhelmed by debt, mainly incurred in Ireland, Grey retired to Whaddon, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1586 there was some talk of sending him into the Low Countries at the urgent request of the Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth offered to remit part of his debt and 'stall' the rest if he would consent to go. For a year the negotiations hung fire, when they were abruptly terminated, just on the eve of his departure, by the return of Leicester (Leycester Correspondence, pp. 55, 302-4, 449, 452). In the same year he was appointed one of the commissioners for the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and on the occasion of the trial of the