Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/168

148 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 42. the Scots ; his countess, though compelled to live with him and to be the mother of his children, had felt his brutality, repented of her folly, and perhaps attempted to escape. In the day time when he was abroad ma- rauding, she was coupled like a hound to a page or a horse-boy, and only released at night when he returned to his evening orgies. 1 The fierce Campbells were not men to bear tamely these outrages from a drunken savage on the sister of their chief ; and Sussex conceived that if the Scots could by any contrivance be separated from Shan they might be used ' as a whip to scourge him.' Elizabeth bade Sussex do his best. The Irish coun- cil agreed with the Deputy that the position of things ' was the most dangerous that had ever been in Ireland ; ' and that if the Queen intended to continue to hold the country Shan must be crushed at all hazards and at all costs. In desperate acquiescence she consented to supply the means for another invasion ; yet, with characteristic perversity, she refused to accept Sussex's estimate of his own inability to conduct it. In submitting to his opin- ion she insisted that he should take the responsibility of carrying it into action. Once more therefore the Deputy prepared for war. Fresh stores were thrown into Armagh, and the troops there increased to a number which could harass Tyrone 1 ' Shan O'^eil possesseth O'Don- nelTs wife, and by him she is with child. She is all day chained by the arm to a little boy, and at bed and board, when he is present, she is at liberty.' Randolph to Cecil; Scotch MSS. Bolls House