Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/151

 1561.] SHAN a NEIL. 131 i/he chance of war which she must bear/ she expressed to Sussex her general surprise at his remissness, with her regret that an English officer should have disgraced himself by cowardice. She desired that Wingfield might be immediately sent over and that the other offenders should be apprehended and imprisoned. 1 Meantime Sussex, having failed in the field, had at- tempted to settle his difficulties by other methods. A demand from Shan had followed him info the Pale that the Armagh garrison should be withdrawn. The bearers of the message were Cant well, 'Neil's seneschal, and a certain Neil Grey, one of his followers, who affected to dislike rebellion and gave the Deputy an opportunity of working on him. Lord Sussex, it appeared, regarded Shan as a kind of vermin whom having failed to capture in fair chase he might destroy by the first expedient which came to his hand. The following letter betrays no misgivings either on the propriety of the proceeding which it describes, or on the manner in which tho intimation of it would be re- ceived by the Queen. THE EARL OF SUSSEX TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. August 24, 1561. ' May it please your Highness, ' After conference had with Shan O'Neil's seneschal I entered talk with Neil Grey ; and perceiving by him 1 Memoranda of Letters from Ireland, August 20 (Cecil's hand). Cecil to Sussex, August 21 ; Elizabeth to Sussex, August 20: Irish MSS. Rolls Houst.