Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/328

 308 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 59. sympathy with, their character. Disappointment fol- lowed, and then anger and violence, with the old never- failing results. The Irish had laughed at Essex's fine speeches, and in turn they ridiculed his threats ; a fort- night later news came that young Smith had been murdered, and that the Kerne who had been taken into employment to collect food for the army, had run away and joined MacPhelim. The season broke up. The rain fell ; the wind blew ; the rivers rose ; and a campaign in the interior so late in the year was not to be thought of. Essex was obliged to entrench November. . himself at Belfast, and wait for the spring ; while the Irish, to whom weather was of no consequence, would not leave him to the rest which was all that he now desired. They hung about the camp in the day, cutting off the foraging parties, 'never offering fight but upon great advantage/ and flying when pursued, faster than the English could follow. If any of them were now and then killed, the keen for the dead rising at night out of the forest, filled the soldiers with wonder and fear. The November storms coming upon them while they were imperfectly sheltered, extinguished finally the ardour of the volunteers which the first disappointment had cooled, and home sickness soon thinned the camp of all who could afford to leave it. Lord Rich, who had accompanied the expedition out of friendship for Essex, found that circumstances required his presence in England. Carew discovered that a visionary nobleman was no leader for a hungry man to serve under ; and ' the private adventurers/ generally,