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BLO letters from the queen, which greatly cheered and encouraged him. The satisfaction of feeling; assured of his sovereign's favour was, however, quickly extinguished. In February, 1601, he received intelligence that his friend, the earl of Essex, was committed to the tower on a charge of high treason. There can be no doubt that Mountjoy was, to some extent privy to, and implicated in, the intrigues of that impetuous and infatuated young nobleman, and he consequently became greatly alarmed at his position. He made application to the queen and council for leave to return to England; yet Moryson, his secretary, says, "he meant nothing less, but rather (if he had been sent for) was purposed with his friends to sail into France, they having privately fitted themselves with money and necessaries thereunto." To whatever extent he was concerned in the earl's design, if, indeed, that unfortunate nobleman had any definite design at all, all was known to the queen and her ministers; but whether too many persons of distinction were implicated to be dealt with severely, or whether his services in Ireland were too valuable to be dispensed with, it is evident her majesty considered it prudent to dissemble her knowledge of his share in the business. Accordingly the cloud soon cleared away. Her majesty wrote to him a very gracious letter communicating the earl's death, and assuring him that his approved fidelity and love was some alleviation of her grief. In the autumn of 1601 a body of 6000 Spaniards, under the command of Don John D'Aguilla, landed at Kinsale, and took possession of that place. These were succeeded by another band of 2000 men, which arrived at Castlehaven with additional supplies, and promises of further assistance. These reinforcements, together with the presence in Munster of Tyrone and his followers, who immediately joined the invaders in that province, infused new life into the disaffected septs. They now began to believe that the time of their deliverance from the hated English yoke was at hand, and on all sides they arose and declared for the invaders.

In consequence of the incessant activity of the English forces, and the penurious manner in which supplies of men and munitions had been granted by the English government, the lord-deputy found himself but ill able to cope with this new difficulty. A council of war was, however, held at Kilkenny on the same day that Mountjoy received intelligence that the Spaniards had landed, and, notwithstanding that the army was destitute of tools, powder, artillery, and provisions, it was determined to invest Kinsale.

The little army suffered extremities during the winter siege equalled only by the privations of the English forces before Sebastopol. Incessant working, day and night, in the trenches, without food, without clothing, in most tempestuous weather, having to sustain also most vigorous sorties from the besieged, which they always repelled with unexampled bravery, the heroic little band became greatly reduced in numbers and strength. Tyrone and O'Donnel raised all the forces they could muster, and joining with the Spaniards of Castlehaven, marched to the relief of Kinsale. The beleaguered party urged Tyrone to attack the English in the rear, but he, knowing their necessities, hesitated to do so, feeling assured that by cutting off their supplies they must soon, through famine, be constrained to lay down their arms. Don John, however, so strongly urged this point, that Tyrone gave way, and advanced to give battle. The lord-deputy was apprised of the design, and determined not to await an attack from the rebel forces, but to act on the offensive. Accordingly, on the 24th of December, he marched against Tyrone at the head of not more than 1200 foot and 400 horse, and attacked them so vigorously, that the Irish were put to flight, with great slaughter, leaving 1200 men dead on the field. This victory completely crushed the rising spirit of revolt. Tyrone, the chief leader of the rebellion, fled into Ulster; O'Donnel made his escape into Spain; and the whole of the rebel army was utterly broken and dispersed. Soon afterwards, Don John D'Aguila offered terms of capitulation, and with his followers quitted the kingdom. Tyrone himself, in the month of January, made overtures of submission.

In the beginning of 1602 we find Mountjoy making active preparations for another expedition against Tyrone in Ulster. This expedition soon started, and the unfortunate Irish were reduced to such miseries, as to be even afflicting to the humanity of their conquerors. Thousands perished by famine; every road was encumbered by their unburied bodies; and the most hideous means were resorted to for allaying the pangs of hunger. The rebellion was now at an end. Tyrone was only anxious to be received to the queen's mercy, whilst she obstinately refused to listen to any overtures for his pardon; but about the month of March, 1603, Tyrone had become most importunate, and Elizabeth, being at the point of death, was prevailed upon by her secretary to give way, and refer the whole matter to the wisdom of the lord-deputy. Mountjoy now proceeded northwards for the greater convenience of arranging the matter, where, on the 27th March, he received private intelligence of the queen's death, which made him doubly anxious to secure Tyrone's submission, which that chieftain finally made at Melifont on the 28th March; and on the 4th April he proceeded with the lord-deputy to Dublin. Thus, after a continual contest for 400 years; was the English authority completely established in Ireland, and the prediction of Queen Elizabeth fulfilled.

On the 5th April, Mountjoy received official notification of the queen's decease, and the accession of James I. He took immediate steps to proclaim the new monarch, to whom Tyrone made his formal submission on the following day. The lord-deputy also sent Sir Henry Davers to England formally to offer his congratulations to the new king, assure him of his loyalty and devotedness to his service, and to solicit permission to come over in person to kiss his hand. He was at this time like all other of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, extremely anxious respecting his condition in the new reign. He, however, had no reason for apprehensions. To no class of his English subjects did King James extend his favour in the same degree as to the friends of the late earl of Essex, and especially to those who had manifested an interest in the king's cause before the death of Elizabeth; and Mountjoy, although at this time unknown to himself, was destined to participate largely in the bounty of the new monarch. After having quelled some serious disturbances in the north of Ireland, he received the gratifying intelligence, that he had been constituted lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and appointed, moreover, one of his majesty's privy council. Leave was also given him to return to England. He accordingly quitted Dublin about the end of May, having in his train the earl of Tyrone, and some other Irish chieftains; and, after narrowly escaping shipwreck on the Skerry rocks, safely arrived at court, where he was received with the highest marks of honour and favour, and immediately sworn of the privy council. In further reward of his distinguished services, on the 21st July he was, with great state, created earl of Devonshire; and on the 3rd September following, was made master of the ordnance for life; and at the same time granted an annuity of £200 a-year out of the exchequer, and as much more out of the duchy, with extensive lands in Ireland, including the county of Lecale.

Mountjoy was now in high favour with his sovereign, and was employed in many offices of trust. We find him appointed one of the commissioners for the trial of Cobham, Raleigh, and others said to be connected with the main and bye plots in November, 1603. The following year he was selected as the commissioner on behalf of Great Britain to negotiate a peace between the kings of England and Spain and the Archduke Albert. Upon the discovery of the gunpowder plot, it appears from a letter of the earl of Salisbury to Sir Charles Cornwallis, that he was to receive a commission to proceed with forces to suppress the conspirators; but whether or not such commission was actually issued is uncertain. Probably it was not, as the overthrow of the traitors in Worcestershire rendered it unnecessary. He acted, however, as one of the commissioners on their trial. This, however, was his last public act. At the end of this year an event occurred which instantly hurled him from the highest pinnacle of reputation and honour, to the lowest depth of infamy and disgrace, entailing upon him the indignation and wrath of that sovereign who had previously treated him with distinguished favour and esteem. Soon after Mountjoy's duel with the earl of Essex, we find that an attachment had arisen between the former and the young Lady Rich, the earl's sister, a young lady of rare beauty and great sweetness of temper, but, like her brother, possessing greater ardency than discretion. Her fate was, however, an unhappy one. Her beauty and amiable qualities rendered her the mistress of all eyes and hearts. Sir Philip Sidney has immortalized her as the Stella of his Astrophel. Negotiations for a marriage between them existed at the time of her father's death; but from some cause this never took place, and she afterwards became the wife of Robert Lord Rich, the grandson of the infamous Lord Chancellor Rich, and himself a