Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/567

 1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 547 disappointment longer, he wrote again to Leicester : ' My Lord, if I be not speedier advertised of her Highness' s pleasure than hitherto I have been, all will come to naught here, and before God and the world I will lay the fault on England, for there is none here By force or by fair means the Queen may have any- thing that she will in this country if she will minister means accordingly, and with no great charge. If she will resolve of nothing, for her Majesty's advantage and for the benefit of this miserable country, persuade her Highness to withdraw me, and pay and discharge this garrison. As I am, and as this garrison is paid, I undo myself; the country is spoiled by the soldiers, and in no point defended. Help it, my Lord, for the honour of God one way or the other/ x Two days later a London post came in, and with it letters from the council. The help would have been sent long since had it rested with them. On the receipt of his first letter, they had agreed unanimously that every wish should be complied with. Money, troops, discre- tionary power all should have been his 'so much was every man's mind inclined to the extirpation of that proud rebel, Shan.' The Munster council, which had hung fire also, should have been set on foot without a day's delay ; and Sir Warham St Leger, according to Sidney's recommendation, would have been appointed the first President. Elizabeth only had fallen into one of her periodic fits of ill-humour and irresolution, and Sidney to Leicester, April 13 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.