resented to her, that the great sums of money remitted to Ireland
for the pay of the English forces, came, by the necessary course of
circulation, into the hands of the rebels, and enabled them to buy
abroad all necessary supplies of arms and ammunition, which, from the
extreme poverty of that kingdom and its want of every useful commodity,
they could not otherwise find means to purchase. It was therefore
recommended to her, that she should pay her forces in base money; and it
was asserted that, besides the great saving to the revenue, this species
of coin could never be exported with advantage, and would not pass in
any foreign market. Some of her wiser counsellors maintained, that if
the pay of the soldiers were raised in proportion, the Irish rebels
would necessarily reap the same benefit from the base money, which would
always be taken at a rate suitable to its value; if the pay were
not raised, there would be danger of a mutiny among the troops, who,
whatever names might be affixed to the pieces of metal, would soon
find from experience that they were defrauded in their income.[*] But
Elizabeth, though she justly valued herself on fixing the standard of
the English coin, much debased by her predecessors, and had innovated
very little in that delicate article, was seduced by the specious
arguments employed by the treasurer on this occasion; and she coined
a great quantity of base money, which he made use of in the pay of her
forces in Ireland.[**]

* Camden, p. 643

** Rymer, tom, xvi. p. 414.

Mountjoy, the deputy, was a man of abilities; and foreseeing the danger
of mutiny among the troops, he led them instantly into the field, and
resolved, by means of strict discipline, and by keeping them employed
against the enemy, to obviate those inconveniencies which were justly to
be apprehended. He made military roads, and built a fortress at Moghery;
he drove the Mac-Genises out of Lecale; he harassed Tyrone in Ulster
with inroads and lesser expeditions; and by destroying every where,
and during all seasons, the provisions of the Irish, he reduced them to
perish by famine in the woods and morasses, to which they were obliged
to retreat. At the same time, Sir Henry Docwray, who commanded another
body of troops, took the Castle of Derry, and put garrisons into
Newton and Ainogh; and having seized the monastery of Donnegal, near
Balishannon, he threw troops into it, and defended it against the
assaults of O'Don