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parture for Spain in 1602, complaints of Sir Niall's insolence and insatiable ambition reached the Government ; and Eury (after- wards Earl of Tirconnell) offered to prove that he had been a secret ally of O'Neill and the Spaniards. Thereupon he went into rebellion, but after a while submitted, and proceeded to London with Eury, whose claims were preferred to his. Sir Henry Docwra, the English commander in Ireland, considered this to be hard treatment of one who had been a staunch ally in the late wars. Sir Niall was left in possession of considerable estates. (Sir B. Burke says he refused the title of Baron of Lifford.) In 1608 he became involved in Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's rebellion, and was arrested for high treason on the accusation of Ineenduv, mother of Hugh Eoe O'Donnell, who received a grant of lands for the ser- vice. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eighteen years, with his son Nachtan, and died in 1626, aged 57. O'Sullivan Beare calls him " a man of great and daring spirit, endowed with a know- ledge of military affairs." ^3 134
O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, Lord of Tir- connell, son of Hugh Duv, younger son of Manus O'Donnell, was born in 1571. His mother was a MacDonnell. As his family were rising rapidly into importance, and their influence was dreaded by the Anglo- Irish Government, young Hugh was one of those marked for capture by Sir John Perrot, in carrying out his policy of hold- ing hostages for the good behaviour of the Irish chiefs. In the summer of 1587, an armed vessel laden with Spanish wine was sent round from Dublin to Lough Swilly, and anchored off Eathmullen, near which it was knowTi O'Donnell was sojourning with MacSweeny, his foster-father. O'Don- nell and a party of his friends were in- veigled on board and plied with wine : the hatches were fastened down, and the vessel sailed, regardless of the imprecations of the crowds that lined the beach, and MacSweeny's offers of ransom. We are told by the Four Masters, who give graphic details of most of the incidents in O'Don- nell's life, that " the Lord-Justice and the Council were rejoiced at the arrival of Hugh ; though, indeed, not for love of him. . . They ordered him to be put into a strong stone castle [the Birmingham Tower] which was in the city, where a great number of Milesian nobles were in chains and cap- tivity, and also some of the old English. The only amusement and conversation by which these beguiled the time by day and night was lamenting to each, other their sufferings and troubles, and listening to the cruel sentences passed on the high-born
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nobles of Ireland in general." In the winter of 1 590, after an incarceration of more than three year.s, he and some of his companions managed to escape by means of a rope from the window of their prison, and made their way out of the city and into a wood on the side of Slieve Eoe (the Dublin mountains). There Hugh, over- come with fatigue, was obliged to conceal himself, while his companions scattered in different directions, and his servant went to seek help from Felim O'Toole, residing at Powerscourt, whom Hugh be- lieved to be his friend, as he had visited him when in prison. But O'Toole, on the plea that escape was impossible, and that he would be compromised by O'Don- nell's presence in his territory, returned him to captivity. A year afterwards, in December 1 591, he made a more successful effort, in company with Henry and Art O'Neill, sons of Shane. They managed to strike off each others' fetters, and let them- selves down through the jakes. Once clear of the Castle, they were met by Tur- lough Eoe O'Hagan, a confidential emis- sary of Hugh O'NeiU, and again reached the mountains. They bad to throw off their outer clothes in their descent, the weather was bitterly cold, and their limbs were cramped through having long borne fetters. They lost Henry O'Neill in passing through the city, and on the side of Slieve Eoe, Hugh and Art, completely exhaust- ed, lay down under a rock, while O'Hagan hurried on to Glenmalure. Feagh O'Byrne proved a sincere friend, and sent servants with assistance. The youths were found covered with snow. Art O'Neill was dead, and O'Donnell was with difficulty restored to consciousness. They buried Art beside the rock which had sheltered them. Hugh was carefully tended in Glenmalure for some days, and then escorted across the Liffey by a band of horsemen, amongst whom, strange to say, was his former be- trayer, Felim O'Toole. Proceeding north- wards, under the guidance of O'Hagan, Hugh crossed the Boyne by a ferry kept " by a poor little fisherman," whilst his atten- dant led their horses through Drogheda, At Mellif ont they rested one night in the house of a friendly Englishman, pushed boldly through Dundalk, crossed the Fews, and on the third day reached Armagh. Next day they were safe with Hugh O'Neill at Dungannon, where it is presumed the two chiefs entered into an alliance, and talked over their plans of resistance to the Anglo- Irish power. O'Donnell was received with great rejoicings by his relatives, the Ma- guires ; was conveyed across Lough Erne ; I and soon found himself once more among 391
