rew
themselves into the Fort del Ore, which they fortified as best they
could. If the Earl of Desmond had joined his brother at once, the
expedition might have ended differently; but he stood aloof, fearing to
involve himself in a struggle, the issue of which could scarcely be
doubtful.

A short time before the arrival of this little expedition, three persons
had landed in disguise at Dingle, whom Desmond, anxious to show his zeal
towards the ruling powers, consigned to the authorities in Limerick.
They were discovered to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, a Franciscan, and Bishop
of Mayo, and Father Cornelius O'Rourke; the name of the third person has
not been ascertained. On Sir William Drury's arrival at Kilmallock, they
were brought before him, and condemned to torture and death. The torture
was executed with unusual barbarity, for Drury was a man who knew no
mercy. The confessors were first placed upon the rack, and then, as if
the agony of that torment was not sufficient, their hands and feet were
broken with large hammers, and other torments were added. When life was
nearly extinct, they were released, and their martyrdom was finally
accomplished by hanging. For fourteen days their bodies remained
suspended in chains, and the soldiers used them as targets in their
shooting exercises.

The Earl of Desmond, however, soon joined his brother. John Geraldine
allied himself with the movement from its commencement. A second
expedition was fitted out in Spain, which reached Ireland on the 13th of
September, 1580. It was commanded by Colonel Sebastian San Jose, who
proved eventually so fearful a traitor to the cause he had volunteered
to defend. Father Mathew de Oviedo, a member of the Franciscan Order,
was the principal promoter of this undertaking. He was a native of
Spain, and had been educated in the College of Salamanca, then famous
for the learning and piety of its _alumni_. The celebrated Florence
Conry, subsequently Archbishop of Tuam, was one of his companions; and
when he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he had the society of eleven
brethren who were afterwards elevated to the episcopate. Oviedo was the
bearer of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XIII., granting
indulgences to those who joined the army.

On the 18th of August, scarcely a month after he had landed in Ireland,
James FitzMaurice was killed by Theobald and Ulick Burke, his own
kinsmen. Their father, Sir William Burke, was largely rewarded for his
lo