Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/544

 524 CHAPTER XLVL DEATH OF O'NEIL. THE Earl of Sussex having failed alike to beat Shan O'Neil in the field or to get him satisfactorily murdered, had at last been recalled, leaving the government of Ireland in the hands of Sir Nicholas Arnold. An unsuccessful public servant ne- ver failed to find a friend in Elizabeth, whose disposition to quarrel with her ministers was usually in proportion to their ability. She had shared the confidence of the late Deputy in what to modern eyes appears unpardon- able treachery ; she received him on his return to Eng- land with undiminished confidence, and she allowed him to confirm her in her resolution to spend no more money in the hopeless enterprise of bringing the Irish into order ; while she left Arnold to set the bears and bandogs to tear each other, and watched contentedly the struggle in Ulster between O'Neil and the Scots of the Isles. The breathing-time would have been used to better advantage had the reform been carried to completeness