Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/137

1560. ] SHAN O NEIL. 1 1 7 O'Neils. James M'Connell's daughter might be thought a difficulty, ' but we swear to you our kingly oath/ the audacious Shan dared to write, ' that there is no impedi- ment by reason of any such woman.' 1 Unprepared to recognize such swift transmutations, and at that time concerned with the rest of his party in the scheme for the elevation of the Earl of Arran, Ar- gyle contented himself with enclosing Shan's letter to the English council. He told them briefly that O'Neil was the most dangerous person in Ireland ; and he said that unless the Queen was prepared to acknowledge him she had better lose no time in bringing him to reason. 2 So matters stood in Ireland in the spring of 1560, when the conspiracy of the Guises and the necessity of defending her throne forced Elizabeth into the Scotch war. The deputy, Lord Sussex, was in England ; Sir William Fitzwilliam was left in command in Dublin, watching the country with uneasy misgivings ; and from the symptoms reported to him from every quarter he anticipated, notwithstanding Philip's coldness, a summer of universal insurrection ; the Parliament of the Pale had given the Catholics a rallying cry by endorsing the Act of Uniformity ; and ' big words/ ' prophecies of the expulsion of the English within the year/ and rumours of armies of liberation from France and Spain, filled all the air. The outward quiet was undisturbed, but ' in- wardly never such fears since the rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald/ The country was for the most part 1 Notice and letter sent by the Earl of Argyle ; Irish MSB. Rolls House 3 Ibid.