Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/603

 1580.] THE DESMOND REBELLION. 583 were taking part with, the insurrection, two hundred English soldiers, coming over from Chester, were drowned. Ormond, as governor of Munster, went with four thousand of his own people into Kerry to encounter the strangers. He was set upon 011 the skirts of the wood, and though he repulsed the attack, he suffered more loss than he could inflict. He went on as far as Smerwick and surveyed the fort, but retired with- out meddling with it ; and in the universal panic and suspicion, there were not wanting those who whispered that even Ormond' s loyalty was wavering. But expect- ation was singularly at fault. Again, as when Fitz- niaurice and Sanders landed, the first impulse with Elizabeth was to concede everything that the Irish de- manded. 1 Her alarm would have been less if she had seen a letter which the leaders of the rebellion sent from Smerwick a month after their arrival. A quarter of a year of bitter experience had taught the Legate that the 1 enterprise of Ireland ' was less easy than he had believed ; and the devotion of the people to the Holy Cause more lukewarm. Tirlogh O'Neil described himself as occupied with the Scots and unable to move. Kildare, notwith- standing the victory at Glenmalure, was still afraid ; and the gentlemen of the Pale would not stir without Kildare. The sanguine Legate had imagined that the Irish generally would rush to the Pope's banner ; and that they needed only arms. Arms in plenty had Descifrada de Don Bernardino, 30 de Octubre.