Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 2.djvu/189

1534.] for ever. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, his eldest son, who in his boyhood had resided in England, had been left as vice-deputy in his father's absence. The Earl before his departure had taken precautions to place the fortresses of the pale, with the arms and ammunition belonging to the Government, in the hands of dependents whom he could absolutely trust. No sooner was his arrest known than, in compliance with secret instructions which had been left with them, or were sent from England, his friends determined upon rebellion.

The opportunity was well chosen. The April. Government of Ireland was in disorder. Skeffington was designed for Kildare's successor, but he was not yet appointed; nor was he to cross the Channel till he had collected a strong body of troops, which was necessarily a work of time. The conditional excommunication of the King was then freshly published; and counsels, there is reason to think, were guiding the Irish movement, which had originated in a less distempered brain than that of an Irish chieftain. Rumours were flying in the southern counties in the middle of June that a Spanish invasion might be immediately looked for, and the Emperor's chaplain was with the Earl of Desmond. His mission, it was said, was to prepare the way for an Imperial army; and Desmond himself was fortifying Dungarvan, the port at which an