Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/579

 I579-] THE DESMOND REBELLION. 559 he could not hope for a second pardon. If it succeeded, and he had not joined it, the earldom would pass to his kinsman. He sent Fitzmaurice's letter to Drury, with an assurance of his own loyalty, and he promised to take the field for the Queen. Had he exerted himself he might have captured the insignificant force at Smerwick, but he left them unmolested ; and he lay still at his castle at Ashketyn, waiting to see whether the rest of Ireland would move. But Fitzmaurice could not afford to delay, and it was necessary to force Desmond's hand. Relying on his promises to the President, two English officers, Henry Davell, and Carter the Marshal of Munster, attended only by two or three servants, ventured down to Tralee, to learn what was going on. They were the guests of the Earl's brother, Sir John, who knew Davell, and was indebted to him for protec- tion in some previous scrape. Sir John, impatient at his brother's remissness, and knowing that a murder of two Englishmen, aggravated by treachery, would com- promise the Geraldines beyond forgiveness, stabbed Davell in his bed with his own hand, while Carter and the rest were dispatched by his companions. 1 A party August. 1 Mendoza says distinctly that Davell was the guest of Sir John, and speaks of the murder with honourable disapproval. Descifrada de Don Bernardino, Agosto 15. Fitz- maurice regretted that he had been killed in his hed. Sanders thought otherwise. ' This fact,' says Cam- den, ' Sanders commended as a sweet sacrifice in the sight of God.' Sir Wm Gerrard heard from one of the English prisoners at Smerwick that the Legate ' persuaded all men it was lawful to kill any English Pro- testant; that he had authority to warrant all such from the Pope, and to give absolution to all who could so draw blood.' Sir William Ger-