heard of among
Christians in any kingdom or age."

On the 20th of March, 1588, King James "granted a remission to Lachlan
MacLean of Duart for the cruel murder of certain inhabitants of the
islands of Rum, Canna, and Eigg," but from the remission was excepted
the "plotting or felonious burning and flaming up, by sulphurous
powder, of a Spanish ship and of the men and provisions in her, near
the island of Mull."

Swift and tragic as was the fate of Captain Pareira and his ship's
company, it was perhaps more merciful than that which befell the great
squadron of galleons of the Armada that were cast on the coast of
Ireland, on the rocks of Clare and Kerry, in Galway Bay, and along the
shores of Sligo and Donegal. More than thirty ships perished in this
way, and of the eight thousand half-drowned wretches who struggled
ashore no more than a handful escaped slaughter at the hands of the
wild Irish who knocked them on the head with battle-axes or stripped
them naked and left them to die of the cold. Many were Spanish
gentlemen, richly clad, with gold chains and rings, and the common
sailors and soldiers had each a bag of ducats lashed to his wrist when
he landed through the surf. They were slain for their treasure, and on
one sand strip of Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred
bodies.

In a letter to Queen Elizabeth, Sir E. Bingham, Governor of Ulster,
wrote of the wreckage of twelve Armada ships which he knew of, "the men
of which ships did all perish in the sea save the number of eleven
hundred or upwards which we put to the sword; amongst whom there were
divers gentlemen of quality and service, as captains, masters of ships,
lieutenants, ensign bearers, other inferior officers and young
gentlemen to the number of some fifty.... which being spared from the
sword till orders must be had from the Lord Deputy how to proceed
against them, I had special directions sent me to see them executed as
the rest were, only reserving alive one Don Luis de Cordova, and a
young gentleman, his nephew, till your Highness's pleasure be known."

Alas, Elizabeth could not find it in her heart to spare even these two
luckless gentlemen of Spain, and one judges those rude Highlanders less
harshly for their bloodthirsty feuds at learning that the great Queen
herself "ordered their immediate execution when she received the
letter, and it was duly carried out."

Froude, in his essay "The Defeat of the Armada," comes to the defens