On the eleventh of June the council were sitting in St. Mary's
abbey, when a galloping of horses was heard, and Lord Thomas, at the
head of a hundred and forty of the young Geraldines, dashed up to the
gate, and springing off his horse, strode into the assembly. The council
rose, but he ordered them to sit still, and taking the sword of state in
his hand, he spoke in Irish to the following effect:--

"However injuriously we be handled, and forced to defend ourselves in
arms, when neither our service, nor our good meaning towards our
prince's crown availeth, yet say not hereafter, but in this open
hostility which we profess here, and proclaim, we have showed ourselves
no villains nor churls, but warriors and gentlemen. This sword of state
is yours, and not mine; I received it with an oath and have used it to
your benefit. I should offend mine honour if I turned the same to your
annoyance. Now I have need of mine own sword which I dare trust. As for
this common sword, it flattereth me with a golden scabbard; but it hath
in it a pestilent edge, and whetteth itself in hope of a destruction.
Save yourselves from us, as from open enemies. I am none of Henry's
deputy; I am his foe; I have more mind to conquer than to govern, to
meet him in the field than to serve him in office. If all the hearts of
England and Ireland that have cause thereto would join in this quarrel,
as I trust they will, then should he be a byword, as I trust he shall,
for his heresy, lechery, and tyranny; wherein the age to come may score
him among the ancient princes of most abominable and hateful
memory."[331] "With that," says Campion, "he rendered up his sword,
adding to his shameful oration many other slanderous and foul terms."

Cromer, Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Armagh, a creature of Kildare,
"more like his parish priest or chaplain, than king's chancellor,"[332]
who had been prepared beforehand, rose, and affected remonstrance; but,
speaking in English, his words were not understood by the crowd. A bard
in the Geraldine train cut short his speech with an Irish battle chant;
and the wild troop rushed, shouting, out of the abbey, and galloped from
the town.

[Sidenote: Pillage and massacre.]

[Sidenote: The people of the pale join the rebels.]

[Sidenote: He summons Dublin.]

[Sidenote: Archbishop Cromer implores Sir John White, the English
commander, to surrender.]

In these mock heroics there need not have been anything worse than
f