Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/144

 124 REIGN 1 OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42. on their way to her, Fitzwilliam was surprised with the sudden news that Shan had made a raid into Tyrconnell and had carried off both her and her husband. Her Scotch guard, though fifteen hundred strong, had offered no resistance ; and the next news was that the Callogh was a prisoner in Shan's castle, and that the Countess was the willing paramour of the 0' Neil. The affront to M'Connell was forgiven, or atoned for by private ar- rangement ; and the sister of the Earl of Argyle an educated woman for her time, ' not unlearned in Latin/ ' speaking French and Italian/ ' counted sober, wise, and no less subtle ' had betrayed herself, her people, and her husband. 1 The O'Neils by this last manoeuvre became supreme in Ulster. Deprived of their head, the O'Donnells sunk into helplessness ; the whole force of the province, such as it was, with the more serious addition of several thousand Scotch marauders, was at Shan's disposal, and thus provided he thought himself safe in defying Eng- land to do its worst. Both sides prepared for war. Sussex returned to Dublin at the beginning of June; his troops and sup- plies had arrived before him ; and after a debate in ' the council' the Irish of the Pale were invited to join in a ' general hosting ' into Tyrone on the first of July. Sussex himself, as a preliminary move, made a dash upon Armagh. He seized the cathedral, which he fortified as a depot for his stores. Leaving a Fit/william to Cecil, May 30: Irish MSS.