CHAP. I. Enterprize in Ireland. On his return from the American adventure in 1579, a new scene of activity was presented to his enterprising spirit by the rebellion in Ireland. The intrigues of Spain had kindled the flame of civil war in that misgoverned country, and the prospect was not a little alarming. James Fitz-Morris of the Geraldine family, with the Earl of Desmond and his two brothers, had raised the standard of revolt; and soon afterwards three foreign ships, bearing a freight of Spanish and Italian chivalry, arrayed under the papal banner and commanded by San Appointed to Josepho, arrived at Smerwick in Kerry. Raleigh's mili command a company. Ormond. Successful manœuvre. tary experience now entitled him to promotion, and we find him commanding a company in Ireland. The chief conduct of the war was intrusted to the Earl of Ormond, governor of Munster, who dislodged the foreign troops from the Fort del Ore, in which they had intrenched themselves. It was found, from the testimony of the prisoners, that a scheme for the subjugation of the island had been concerted between Philip of Spain and the Pope; but we may be permitted to suspend our belief in the assertion of Mr George Whetstone, who insists that his holiness had provided a chalice to drink the Queen of England's precious blood as soon as she should be made a sacrifice.* Ormond had not used the precaution of destroying the fort, for which his army was too small to spare a garrison; and this neglect led to its re-occupation by a larger body of the enemy than at that time it would have been prudent to attack. He fell back, accordingly, on the Lord-deputy Arthur Lord Grey, who was stationed at Rakele with a body of 800 horse and foot under Captains Raleigh, Zouch, Denny, and Mackworth; on the strength of which reinforcement he again advanced. On striking their tents, Raleigh, who had observed that so soon as an encampment was abandoned the Irish flocked into it in great crowds, remained behind with his troop, and lay in ambush to receive them. Nor was he de * Whetstone's English Mirror, p. 154. Oldys's Life, p. 31. CHAP 1 Rebels and slain ceived in his expectation; for the deserted camp was broken into by a tumultuous body of the rebels, whom he instantly charged, and all were either slain or made captured prisoners.* One of them when taken had a bundle of withes or willow-ropes on his shoulder; and being asked what use he meant to put them to, answered, "Why, to hang up the English churls!" "Well," said Raleigh, "they will now do for an Irish kerne," and commanded him to be suspended in one of his own collars,-an instance of severity too much in character with the stern and exasperating policy at that time pursued by the generals of Elizabeth. Lord Grey having procured artillery, now laid siege Siege of the to the fort; and for the first three days Raleigh com- Fort del Ore manded in the trenches, where John Cheke, the son of Sir John Cheke, tutor to Edward VI., and whose name has been embalmed in a sonnet of Milton, was slain. "He was," says a quaint biographer, " a tall proper gentleman; but he paid dear for his curiosity, for venturing to look over the parapet, a Spaniard levelled his piece and picked him off." The full batteries were now opened, and the assault prosecuted so desperately that the foreigners hung out a flag of truce. But Grey, a veteran and unrelenting soldier, refused to grant any terms except those of an unconditional surrender. At this time the famous poet Edmund Spenser was at head-quarters, and Edmund he has left us an account of the conference. "When," Spenser. says he, "their secretary, Seignior Jeffrey, an Italian, was sent to treat with the lord-deputy for grace, he was flatly refused it; and afterwards when their colonel, named Don Sebastian, came forth to entreat that they might part with their arms like soldiers, and at least be spared their lives, according to the custom of war and law of nations, it was strongly denied him, and told him by the lord-deputy himself, that they could not justly plead either custom of war or law of nations, for that they were not any lawful enemies. * * Neither were * Cox's History of Ireland, p. 367. CHAP. I. Refusal of conditions. Cruelty of the victors. Military life of Raeligh. Rise and promotion. the Earl and John of Desmond any thing but rebels and traitors, and therefore they, who came to succour them, no better than rogues and runagates; * *wherefore it would be dishonourable for him, in the name of his queen, to condition, or make any terms with such rascals." It is painful to pursue the story farther. The fort surrendered, and orders were given by the inexorable deputy to put the garrison to the sword,—sparing only an Irish nobleman and a few Spanish officers, who were sent prisoners to England. Elizabeth, although she exculpated the inferior officers, who simply obeyed orders, expressed herself deeply dissatisfied with their leader on account of this piece of cruelty.* For some time after this the life of Raleigh was that of an aspiring soldier, enthusiastic in his profession, and mortified "by the poor place and charge which he enjoyed under the lord-deputy." In a letter to the Earl of Leicester, whose favour he seems to have enjoyed at this time, he declares that were it not that Grey was the friend of that powerful favourite, "he would disdain his charge as much as to keep sheep," and describes Ireland as a lost land, not a commonwealth, but a commonwo. This discontent, however, was of short duration. Sir Walter rose in the confidence of the government; and his activity was so great in reducing the seditious practices of Lord Barry, and other leaders of the rebellion, -in the repulse of Fitz-Edmonds,-the capture of Lord Roch, and the restoration of the country to a state of security, that he was repeatedly promoted to situations of trust and responsibility. On the return of the Earl of Ormond to England, the government of Munster was committed to Raleigh, in conjunction with Sir William Morgan and Captain Pierce; and the same year we find him holding the chief command in the city of Cork. The variety of his exploits, and the apparently contradictory qualities which he exhibited, were remarkable. He * See a letter writen about this time to the Earl of Leicester, Cayley's Life, p. 25. + Cayley's Life, vol. i. p. 25. |