[71] Shane O’Neill to Cusack, Sept. 10, 1563—‘Per potionem vini in quo clam venenum, &c.’ Memorial for Cusack, Oct. 20, 1563; for Wroth and Arnold, same date. Cusack to Cecil, March 22, 1564. There was an apothecary named Thomas Smythe in Dublin about this time, and he was probably a relation of John, and may have got the poison for him. The would-be assassin was afterwards known as ‘Bottle Smythe;’ see Irish Archæological Journal, N.S., vol. i. p. 99.
[72] Notes for musters, Sept. 8, 1563; Instructions to Arnold, Wrothe, and Dixe, Oct. 20, 1563, and Jan. 5, 1564, in Carew.
[73] Orders for Desmond, Dec. 20, 1563.
[74] Ormonde to Sussex, Dec. 10 and 17, 1563.
[75] Desmond to the Privy Council, Dec. 20, 1563; the Queen to Desmond, Jan. 15, 1564.
CHAPTER XXII.
1564 AND 1565.
Difficulties of Wrothe and Arnold.
The trouble which it cost Wrothe and Arnold to reach Ireland pretty accurately foreshadowed the trouble which awaited them there. After waiting a long time at Holyhead they at last ventured to sea, but were taken aback before they gained mid-Channel, and had to choose between scudding under bare poles towards Ulster, or returning to Wales. They chose the latter course, but failed to make the harbour. They lay for a time under the shelter of some rocks, and were glad to scramble ashore at three o’clock on a February morning, wet and sick, but safe. Nine days later they were more fortunate, and reached Dublin to find that Leix and Offaly were again in rebellion, and that the financial confusion had not been exaggerated. All captains, castellans, sheriffs, and municipal officers were at once called on to produce accounts. The inquiry into the musters was begun by demanding an accurate return of all changes and vacancies in the Lord-Lieutenant’s own company. Sussex said he was ready to obey the Queen in all things, but that this had never been required of any chief governor, and was, in fact, out of his power. The debts to the Crown were great, and many of them desperate. There was not one groat in the Treasury, and the 11,000l. which the Commissioners brought was quite inadequate. The Pale and the wild Irish were at daggers drawn, for the former clung to their own customs and bye-laws, and looked for the Queen’s protection in their attempts at self-government. The Church was in no better case than the State, but there was a pretty general wish to have St. Patrick’s turned into a University. The Commissioners recommended that the judges should put the Act of Uniformity generally in force, ‘not meddling with the simple multitude now at the first, but with one or two boasting mass men in every shire, that it may be seen that the punishment of such men is meant.’[76]
Wrothe’s horror at the general corruption.