and brought it away as a trophy;
leaving the mangled trunk to the chance of interment by any faithful
follower of the house of Fitzgerald who might venture from his
hiding-place to explore the fate of his chief. The head was sent to
England as a present to the queen, and placed by her command on London
Bridge.

From this time, the beginning of 1583, Ireland enjoyed a short respite
from scenes of violence and blood under the vigorous yet humane
administration of sir John Perrot, the new deputy.

The petty warfare of this turbulent province, amid the many and great
evils of various kinds which it brought forth, was productive however of
some contingent advantage to the queen's affairs, by serving as a school
of military discipline to many an officer of merit whose abilities she
afterwards found occasion to employ in more important enterprises to
check the power of Spain. Ireland was, in particular, the scene of
several of the early exploits of that brilliant and extraordinary genius
Walter Raleigh; and it was out of his service in this country that an
occasion arose for his appearing before her majesty, which he had the
talent and dexterity so to improve as to make it the origin of all his
favor and advancement. Raleigh was the poor younger brother of a
decayed but ancient family in Devonshire. His education at Oxford was
yet incomplete, when the ardor of his disposition impelled him to join a
gallant band of one hundred volunteers led by his relation Henry
Champernon, in 1569, to the aid of the French protestants. Here he
served a six-years apprenticeship to the art of war, after which,
returning to his own country, he gave himself for a while to the more
tranquil pursuits of literature; for "both Minervas" claimed him as
their own. In 1578 he resumed his arms under general Norris, commander
of the English forces in the Netherlands; the next year, ambitious of a
new kind of glory, he accompanied that gallant navigator sir Humphrey
Gilbert, his half brother, in a voyage to Newfoundland. This expedition
proving unfortunate, he obtained in 1580 a captain's commission in the
Irish service; and recommended by his vigor and capacity, rose to be
governor of Cork. He was the officer appointed to carry into effect the
bloody sentence passed upon the Spanish garrison; a cruel service, but
one which the military duty of obedience rendered matter of
indispensable obligation. A quarrel with lord Grey put a stop to his
promotion in