1539.]
SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.
435
try about Dublin in a flame. Lord Leonard, accompanied by Allen, who was now Lord Chancellor, anticipated the move by meeting O'Neil on the borders of Ulster. OctoberAn action followed, attended with the usual results; the gallowglass could not stand before the English men-at-arms;[1] they fled hopelessly, and the coronation of O'Neil at Tara was for a time deferred. The Butlers, with more difficulty, kept at bay the Earl of Desmond. The clans were prevented from joining; and at length, in the autumn, having accomplished nothing, they settled back into quiet.
Community of danger, and apparent community of desire to act rightly, for the moment reconciled the deputy and the council, and restored the former to the respect of Ormond. In the winter Lord Leonard made a progress in Munster, undoing, so far as he was able, his previous mistakes; and the Earl, on the 20th of December, wrote in better spirits to Cromwell, saying that the old differences were at last forgotten, and, 'God willing,' should neither be revived nor remembered.[2] The deputy wrote with equal cordiality. The council united in a joint despatch, extolling Grey's gallantry in the insurrection, and entreating the King to confer upon him some mark of approbation; and Henry, eager to encourage the improvement which at last seemed real, replied with a New-year's gift.[3] But the moral state of Ireland was as fickle as its climate,
