Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/573

 .1566.] DEATH OF O 1 NEIL. 553 which the Queen had used of him were gone abroad in the world. ' He could find no obedience.' ' His credit being gone, his power to be of service was gone also/ He therefore demanded his immediate recall ' that he ' might preserve the small remnant of his patrimony al- ready much diminished by his coming to Ireland/ As for the charge brought against him by the Earl of Sussex, he would reply with his sword and body ' against an accusation concealed hitherto he knew not with what duty, and uttered at last with impudency and unshamefastness/ l But Elizabeth meant nothing less than to recall , Sidney. She neither distrusted his loyalty nor ques- tioned his talents ; she chose merely to find fault with him while she made use of his services. It was her habit towards those among her subjects whom she particularly valued. Sir Francis Knowles when he arrived at Dublin could report only that Sidney had gained the love and the admiration of every one ; and that his plan for pro- ceeding against O'Neil was the first which had ever promised real success. Campaigns in Ireland had hither- to been no more than summer forays mere inroads of devastation during the few dry weeks of August and September. Sidney proposed to commence at the end of the harvest, when the corn was gathered in, and could either be seized or destroyed ; and to keep the field through the winter and spring. It would be expensive ; but money well laid out was the best economy in the Sidney to the English Council, May 18 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.