Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/547

THE DESMOND REBELLION. 5*7 of the O'Neils remained unimpaired, and the attempt to introduce English law or English religion was not pur- sued. The attack therefore had been simply gratuitous ; a few more Irish had been killed without provocation, and the rest was left as before. From Tyrone the English army turned into Antrim again not to conquer, but to hunt ; to chastise, as it was called, Surleyboy Macconnell, and the Scots. 1 To him too he read a sharp and worse than use- It , 7 - less lesson on the 22nd of July. After ^ ul > r 22 - slaughtering many of his people, he reported that Ulster was now at peace, and that the Queen could resolve at leisure what next she would do, and then he returned to Dublin. The work of the expedition however was not over. It had yet to receive its crowning distinction. Ulster, as Essex admitted, was quiet ; but quiet or not quiet, wolves were still wolves, to be exterminated wherever they could be caught. On the coast of Antrim, not far from the Giant's Causeway, lies the singular Island of Rathlin. It is formed of basaltic rock, encircled with precipices, and is accessible only at a single spot. It contains an area of about 4000 acres, of which a thousand are sheltered and capable of cultivation, the rest being heather and rock. The approach is at all times dangerous ; the tide sets were neither abbeys nor any religious houses at any time in those parts save priories wherein the friars do yet re- main.' Articles of Peace with Tir- logh, June 27, 1575 : MSS. Ireland. 1 Surley boy, otherwise spelt Sarley boy or Sarle boigh : meaning Sarley or Charley the yellow-haired.