of the most opposite character and disposition. Perrot was
generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was considered one of the
most humane of the Lord Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada
occurred during this year, and was made at once an excuse for increased
severity towards the Catholics, and for acts of grievous injustice. Even
loyal persons were accused of harbouring the shipwrecked men, as it was
supposed they might have obtained some treasure in return for their
hospitality. FitzWilliam, according to Ware, wished to "finger some of
it himself," and invaded the territories of several Irish chieftains. A
complete history of FitzWilliam's acts of injustice, and the consummate
cruelty with which they were perpetrated, would be so painful to relate,
that they can scarcely be recorded in detail. He farmed out the country
to the highest bidders, who practised every possible extortion on the
unfortunate natives. The favourite method of compelling them to yield up
their lands without resistance, was to fry the soles of their feet in
boiling brimstone and grease. When torture did not succeed, some unjust
accusation was brought forward, and they were hanged. A tract preserved
in Trinity College, Dublin, gives details of these atrocities, from
which I shall only select one instance. A landlord was anxious to obtain
the property of one of his tenants, an Irishman, who had lived
"peaceably and quietly, as a good subject," for many years. He agreed
with the sheriff to divide the spoil with him, if he would assist in the
plot. The man and his servant were seized; the latter was hanged, and
the former was sent to Dublin Castle, to be imprisoned on some pretence.
The gentleman and the sheriff at once seized the tenant's property, and
turned his wife and children out to beg. After a short time, "they, by
their credit and countenance, being both English gentlemen, informed the
Lord Deputy so hardly of him, as that, without indictment or trial, they
executed him."[449]

It was considered a grave reproach, and an evidence of barbarism, when
Maguire sent word to the Lord Deputy, who wished to send a sheriff to
Fermanagh: "Your sheriff will be welcome, but let me know his eric [the
fine which would be levied on the district if he were killed], that if
my people cut off his head, I may levy it on the country." One other
instance from another source will sufficiently prove that the dread of
an English sheriff was well founded. Th