this exploring tour a thorough knowledge of
the country was for the first time obtained, and the attorney-general
could report that 'before Michaelmas he would be ready to present to
his majesty a perfect survey of six whole counties which he now hath
in actual possession in the province of Ulster, of greater extent of
land than any prince in Europe hath in his own hands to dispose of.' A
vast field for plantation! But Sir John Davis cautioned the Government
against the mistakes that caused the failure of former settlements,
saying, that if the number of the Scotch and English who were to come
to Ireland did not much exceed that of the natives, the latter would
quickly 'overgrow them, as weeds overgrow corn.'

O'Cahan, who was charged with complicity in O'Dogherty's outbreak, or
with being at least a sympathiser, had been arrested, and was kept,
with Nial Garve, a close prisoner in Dublin Castle. An anonymous
pamphleteer celebrated the victories that had been achieved by the
lord deputy, giving to his work the title, 'The Overthrow of an Irish
Rebel,' having for its frontispiece a tower with portcullis, and the
O'Dogherty's head impaled in the central embrazure. The spirit of the
narrative may be inferred from the following passage: 'As for Tyrone
and Co., or Tyrconnel, they are already fled from their coverts, and I
hope they will never return; and for other false hearts, the chief of
note is O'Cahan, Sir Nial Garve, and his two brothers, with others of
their condition. They have holes provided for them in the castle of
Dublin, where I hope they are safe enough from breeding any cubs to
disquiet and prey upon the flock of honest subjects.'

O'Cahan and his companion, however, tried to get out of the hole,
although the lord deputy kept twenty men every night to guard the
castle, in addition to the ordinary ward, and two or three of the
guards lay in the same rooms with the prisoners. Their horses had
arrived in town, and all things were in readiness. But their escape
was hindered by the fact that Shane O'Carolan, who had been acquitted
of three indictments, cast himself out of a window at the top of the
castle by the help of his mantle, which broke before he was half way
down; and though he was presently discovered, yet he escaped about
supper time. 'Surely,' exclaimed the lord deputy, 'these men do go
beyond all nations in the world for desperate escapes!' The prisoners
were subsequently conveyed to the Tower, where