Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/306

 286 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 59. deduct his own expenses before they were passed on to the Treasury. 1 These demands were considered reasonable ; and in the spring of 1571, Perrot arrived at Cork with a hand- ful of English soldiers, and a Protestant Archbishop of Cashel to take charge if he could get hold of them of the flock of his Catholic rival. The new prelate was more zealous than wise, and before Perrot had drawn his sword, opened his own campaign by seizing and imprisoning a number of friars. A brief notice which was served upon him by Fitzmaurice, taught him that he was no longer in England, and that a game of that kind might be dangerous. Fitzmaurice sent him word that unless the friars were at once released, he should be hanged ; and that any living man who supported him, or paid him rent or cess, should have his house burnt over his head. Thus admonished, he thought it prudent to comply, and to be content for the future with a barren title. 2 Perrot's work, when he began it, was more effectual, and his campaigns were a repetition of Sidney's. He went wherever he pleased, 'trotting the mountains' from Killarney and Glengariff to Waterford. He could never catch Fitzmaurice. The Irish gentlemen would not help him, and the kerne were too swift of foot for the heavy English men-at-arms. Castles however could not run away, and castles contained men. After two 1 Requests of Sir John Perrot, 1571 : MSS. Ireland. 2 James Fitzmaurice to the Arch- bishop of Cashel, July, 9, 1571 MSS. Ireland,