1580.] THE DESMOND REBELLION. 569 ever the promised stores had all arrived. Sir Wil- liam Winter, with a heavily-armed English squadron, came round to the mouth of the Shannon, and Pelhain and Ormond started simultaneously,, each at the head of a division of the army, from Dublin and Kilkenny, pro- posing to meet near Limerick. 'We passed through the rebel countries/ wrote Pelham, ' in two companies, consuming with fire all habitations, and executing the people wherever we found them/ Alone of all English commanders he expressed remorse at the work, but he said that the example was necessary. Fitzmaurice's widow and her two little girls were discovered by the way, concealed in a cave. They are heard of no more, and were probably slain with the rest. The Irish an- nalists say that the bands of Pelham and Ormond killed the blind and the aged, women and children, sick and idiots, sparing none. 1 . Pelham's own words too closely, confirm the charge. Uniting their forces at Adair, the two commanders went on to Tralee, when, hearing that the English fleet was in the Shannon, they doubled back to attack the hitherto impregnable castle of Carrigafoyle, which was occupied by the Italians and Spaniards who had landed with Fitzmaurice. The fortress stood upon a rock, divided from the shore by a channel, which was. dry only 'at low water during spring tides. An Italian engineer, Captain Julian, had added to the natural strength of the position. The keep rose ninety feet 1 Annals of the Four Masters, A 1580.
