Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/183

 1564.] SffAN ONEiL. 163 sent him to the castle with the rest of the offenders. Deep leading drains were cut through the corrupting mass ; the shaking ground grew firm ; and honest, healthy human life was again made possible. With the provinces beyond the Pale Arnold meddled little, save where, taking a rough view of the necessities of the case, he could help the Irish chiefs to destroy each other. To Cecil he wrote ' I am with all the wild Irish at the same point I am at with bears and bandogs ; when I see them fight, so they fight earnestly indeed and tug each other well, I care not who has the worst/ l Why not, indeed ? Better so than to hire assassins ! Cecil, with the modesty of genius, confessed his ignor- ance of the country and his inability to judge ; yet in such opinions as he allowed himself to give there was generally a certain nobility of tone and sentiment. ' You be of that opinion,' he replied, ' which many wise men are of from which I do not dissent, being an Englishman ; but being as I am a Christian man, I am not without some perplexity to enjoy of such cruelties/ 2 Arnold however, though perhaps not personally responsible, saw the Irish rending each other as he desired. The formal division into presidencies could not be completed on the moment ; but English authority having ceased to cast its shadow beyond the Pale, the leading chiefs seized or contended for the rule. In the north O'Neil was without a rival. In the west the 1 Sir Nicholas Arnold to Cecil, January 29, 1565 : Irish MSS. 2 Cecil to Sir N. Arnold, February 28 ; Irish MSS.