Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/624

 6o 4 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. gerald of Imokelly took Youghal, and sacked it a second time. Six English soldiers were caught alive in a fort there. Fitzgerald ' caused them to be held before him stark naked,, till he with a halbert dashed out their brains.' * Desmond himself bore a charmed life. Captain Zouch had all but surprised him once at Aghadoe ; another time a party from Kilmallock were guided at night by traitors to a hut in the wood, where he and the Countess were sleeping. The guides mistook the path. Alarm was given, and the Earl and Lady Des- mond escaped in their mantles ; but escaped so nar- rowly, that the soldiers found the bed warm where they had been. 2 In Ireland it had become a struggle of mere brute ferocity on both sides. In England the shame and dis- grace began to be seriously felt. Lord Burghley, who possessed the rare quality of being able to recognize faults in his own countrymen, saw and admitted ' that the Flemings had not such cause to rebel against the oppression of the Spaniards/ as the Irish against the tyranny of England. 3 Sir H. Wallop, to whom Burghley addressed his remonstrance, tried to defend the Irish Government. ' The causes of rebellion, my good lord/ he says, 'as I conceive them are these 1 Sir Warham St Leger to , January 16, 1582-3 : MSS. Ireland. 2 Fenton to "Walsingham, Jan- uary 16, 1582-3 : MSS. Ibid. . 3 ' Your lordship writes that, as things he altered it is no marvel the people have rebellions here, for the Flemings had not such cause to rebel by the oppression of the Spaniards, as is reported the Irish people.' Sir H. Wallop to Burghley, June 10, 1582.