the death of
James I prove that part or all was composed, or revised, when he had
already risen, and had access to authentic sources of information.
Ralegh's career is one of his themes, though he does not continue it
nearly to its close. He sketches it with a generosity which contrasts
strangely with the subsequent relations of the two men. Of Ralegh's
Irish appointment he speaks as 'not leaving him food and raiment, for it
was ever very poor.' The employment afforded abundance of hard work. He
gathered confidence in himself, if he ever lacked it. An untried, if not
wholly unknown, subordinate, he exhibited the spirit and sense of
responsibility of a viceroy. 'Thorough' was as much his motto as
Stafford's, and he acted upon it from the first. Towards American
Indians he could be gentle and just. His invariable rule with Irishmen
and Anglo-Irishmen of every degree was to crush. A characteristic story
is told of the outset of Ralegh's Irish career. A kerne was caught
carrying a bundle of withies on the outskirts of the English camp.
Ralegh asked their destination. 'To hang up English churls!' 'Well,'
retorted Ralegh, 'they will do for an Irishman;' and the prisoner was
strung up by them accordingly. It is a savage legend which deserves to
be remembered in justice to the audacity of the nameless peasant.
Probably invented to glorify a renowned Englishman's inflexibility, it
illustrates at all events the temper in which the war was waged.
Ferocity to Irishmen was accounted policy and steadfastness. Every
advantage was taken of the superiority of English steel and ordnance.
Writing in 1603 for the information of King James, Ralegh says that,
when he was a Captain in Ireland, a hundred foot and a hundred horse
would have beaten all the force of the strongest provinces, for 'in
those days the Irish had darts.' Towards the end of the Queen's reign
they had bought good English arms, and fought on even terms.

[Sidenote: _The Smerwick Massacre._]

One of his first public acts was to join Sir Warham St. Leger in trying
and executing at Cork in August, 1580, Sir James Fitzgerald, the Earl of
Desmond's brother. Fitzgerald was drawn, hanged, and quartered. His
immediate superior was the Earl of Ormond, the Lieutenant of Munster,
who showed occasional tenderness to his fellow-countrymen. The Lord
Deputy was Lord Grey of Wilton, whose views were generally as stern as
Ralegh's. Edmund Spenser was assistant secretary to Grey, and held