of the band up the glen, and rushed with a loud shout to the cabin where the Earl's party had lain. All escaped except a venerable looking man, a woman, and a boy. O'Kelly, who entered first, aimed a blow with his sword and almost severed the arm of the old man, who cried: "I am the Earl of Desmond: spare my life." O'Kelly immediately cut off his head, which was forwarded to London and impaled on the bridge. His body, after being concealed for some time by the peasantry, was ultimately interred in the little chapel of Kilnamanagh, near Castleisland. The spot where the Earl was killed is still pointed out as Bothar-an- Iarla, and the trunk of an old tree under which his body was thrown, remained in 1850.69 "So ended a rebellion," says Mr. Froude, "which a mere handful of English had sufficed to suppress, though three-fourths of Ireland had been heart and soul concerned in it, and though the Irish themselves, man for man, were no less hardy and brave than their conquerors. The victory was terribly purchased. The entire province of Munster was utterly depopulated. Hecatombs of helpless creatures, the aged, the sick, and the blind, the young mother, and the babe at the breast, had fallen under the English sword. And though the authentic details of the struggle have been forgotten, the memory of a vague horror remains imprinted in the national traditions." The whole of Desmond, extending over nearly four modern counties, or 800,000 acres, was confiscated to the Crown, and the greater part divided amongst English settlers. The Countess appears to have been made an allowance by the Government. In October 1584, Perrot writes: "The Countess of Desmond lay at Clonmel, where she was allowed a diet of viiis. per diem for herself, her daughter, and weemen." This was afterwards disallowed, and she was permitted to live in Dublin Castle. In March 1587 she repaired to Elizabeth, who gave her a pension of £200 to be paid in Ireland, with 100 marks for her two daughters. The Earl left no issue by his first wife, daughter of the 11th Earl, widow of James, Earl of Ormond. She died in 1564, and was buried at Askeaton. By his second wife, daughter of Lord Dunboyne (who remarried Sir Donough O'Conor Sligo, and died in 1636), he left two sons and five daughters. 52 69 100 134 140 147 170*
Desmond, James, 16th Earl, son of the preceding, was born in England, 6th June 1571. Queen Elizabeth was his god-mother, and he is commonly spoken of as the "Queen's Earl." Most of his life was spent in the Tower of London, and both body and mind were weak, probably from long confinement and ignorance of the world. When the Earl and Countess returned to Ireland in 1573, he was detained as a hostage in London. In 1579 he was permitted to return for a short time under strict guard. During his stay, Wallop suggested to Walsingham that "Desmond's son might be executed as an ensample of Desmond's disloyalty." For a time he was committed to the custody of the town of Kilkenny. The citizens petitioning against the expense of his keep, he was removed to Dublin Castle. The Lords-Justices wrote, 17th November 1583: "For that we acompt Desmond's sonne here in the Castell to be a prisoner of greate chardge, and that manie escapes have been mad hear, hence (though not in our tyme) we wyshe, for the better assurance of hym, that her Matie mighte be p'suaded to remouve hym hence into the Towre of London, wch. notwithstandinge we leve to yor Ll.'s rave consideracon." They were not relieved of the charge until July 1584, and then the Tower gates closed on him for several years. During the O'Neill wars he was almost forgotten: there are few memorials of his prison life but the numerous apothecaries' and surgeons' bills on his account, still preserved in the Tower records. His education does not appear to have been neglected. In 1600, when Irish affairs had become desperate, it was thought that his name might have some influence in establishing Irish loyalty. The Desmond earldom was restored to him on the 1st October 1600, and he was sent over to Ireland under the charge of Captain Price. The particulars of this visit are detailed in letters from the young Earl to Lord Burleigh. They set sail from "Shirehampton for Corke," 13th October 1600. Desmond was so sea-sick that after two days he persuaded his custodians to land at Youghal, where, he says, "I had like, comming new of the sea, and therefore weake, to be overthowen uith the kisses of old calleaks." At Kilmallock he was received with wild enthusiasm by the people, "insomuch as all the streets, doores, and windowes, yea, the very gutters and tops of the houses, were so filled with them." This enthusiasm, however, completely died away when he was seen to attend the Protestant service—"The people used loud and rude hehortations to keepe him from church, and spat upon him." Government gained nothing by sending him over but the surrender of Castlemaine. With the capture of his cousin James Desmond, known as the Sugan Earl,
