tes another, _Ex silvis meis_,
when, in pursuance of his Celtic mode of warfare, he hastened into his
woods to avoid an engagement with the English soldiers; he signs himself
_Misi O'Neill_--Me, the O'Neill. As this man was too clever to be
captured, and too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, with the
full concurrence of the Queen, by which he might be got rid of by poison
or assassination. Had such an assertion been made by the Irish
annalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny on the character of
"good Queen Bess;" but the evidence of her complicity is preserved in
the records of the State Paper Office. I shall show presently that
attempts at assassination were a common arrangement for the disposal of
refractory Irish chieftains during this reign.

The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and the arrangements made
for carrying it out, were related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes
thus: "In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound myself by my
oath to see him have a hundred marks of land to him and to his heirs for
reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to have the land,
but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape after. I told him the ways
he might do it, and how to escape after with safety; which he offered
and promised to do." The Earl adds a piece of information, which, no
doubt, he communicated to the intended murderer, and which, probably,
decided him on making the attempt: "I assure your Highness he may do it
without danger if he will; and if he will not do what he may in your
service, there will be done to him what others may."[422]

Her Majesty, however, had a character to support; and whatever she may
have privately wished and commanded, she was obliged to disavow
complicity publicly. In two despatches from court she expresses her
"displeasure at John Smith's horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in
his wine." In the following spring John Smith was committed to prison,
and "closely examined by Lord Chancellor Cusake." What became of John is
not recorded, but it is recorded that "Lord Chancellor Cusake persuaded
O'Neill to forget the poisoning." His clan, however, were not so easily
persuaded, and strongly objected to his meeting the Viceroy in person,
or affording him an opportunity which he might not live to forget. About
this time O'Neill despatched a document to the Viceroy for his
consideration, containing a list of "other evill practices devised to
other of