Thomas Mountjoy

“ Mountjoy hesitated, and suggested that some person more likely to be acceptable to the King should be the messenger. Tyrconnel swore, ranted, declared that, unless King James were well advised, Ireland would sink to the pit of hell, and insisted that Mountjoy should go as the representative of the loyal members of the Established Church, and should be accompanied by Chief Baron Rice, a Roman Catholic high in the royal favour. ”

“ Mountjoy was instantly put under arrest and thrown into the Bastile. James determined to comply with the invitation which Rice had brought, and applied to Lewis for the help of a French army. But Lewis, though he showed, as to all things which concerned the personal dignity and comfort of his royal guests, a delicacy even romantic, and a liberality approaching to profusion, was unwilling to send a large body of troops to Ireland. He saw that France would have to maintain a long war on the Continent against a formidable coalition: her expenditure must be immense ”

“ Early in August, Mountjoy had arranged what he hoped might prove the finishing stroke in the struggle. Dowcra from Derry, Chichester from Carrickfergus, Danvers from Armagh, and all who could be spared from Mountjoy, Charlemont, and Mount Norris, were gathered under his command, to the number of 8,000 men, for a foray into the interior of Tyrone. Inisloghlin, on the borders of Down and Antrim, which contained a great quantity of valuables, belonging to O'Neil, was captured. ”

“ While Lady Rich and the earl were openly living in adultery they were well received at court, and after her divorce Lady Rich received (17 Aug. 1603) a grant of ‘the place and rank of the ancientest Earl of Essex, whose heir her father was,’ to replace the inferior dignity of baroness which she derived from her marriage with Lord Rich. But her second marriage offended both the king and queen. It had been little expected. In 1602 it was generally understood that Mountjoy was to marry the only daughter of Thomas, tenth earl of Ormonde (Manningham, Diary, Camd. Soc. p. 59) . ”

“ His brother Cormac McMahon, and Art O'Neil, of Clandeboy, shared with him the wintry hardships of that last asylum, while Tyrone, Clandeboy, and Monaghan, were given up to horrors, surpassing any that had been known or dreamt of in former wars. Moryson, secretary to Mountjoy, in his account of this campaign, observes, "that no spectacle was more frequent in the ditches of towns, and especially in wasted countries, than to see multitudes of these poor people dead, with their mouths all coloured green, by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could rend above ground." ”

“ The Jacobites affected to be confident that the government would not dare to shed his blood. He was, they said, a favourite at Versailles, and his death would be followed by a terrible retaliation. They scattered about the streets of London papers in which it was asserted that, if any harm befell him, Mountjoy, and all the other Englishmen of quality who were prisoners in France, would be broken on the wheel. 13 These absurd threats would not have deferred the execution one day. But those who had Preston in their power were not unwilling to spare him on certain conditions. ”

“ The harvest month never shone upon such fields in any Christian land. In September, Mountjoy reported to Cecil, "that between Tulloghoge and Toome there lay unburied a thousand dead," and that since his arrival on the Blackwater—a period of a couple of months—"there were about 3,000 starved in Tyrone." In O'Cane's country, the misery of his clansmen drove the chief to surrender to Dowcra, and the news of Hugh Roe's death having reached Donegal, his brother repaired to Athlone, and made his submission to Mountjoy, early in December. ”

“ In 1598 he accompanied Essex to Ireland, in command of a troop of horse, and was for a time stationed at Newry. In 1601, under Lord Mountjoy, he took part in the capture of Kinsale from the Spaniards. By Lord Mountjoy he was left in charge of a bridge built by him over the Blackwater, with command of a hundred and fifty men, the fort erected for its protection being named Charlemont. After the accession of King James he received the honour of knighthood. ”

“ MOUNTJOY'S ADMINISTRATION—OPERATIONS IN ULSTER AND MUNSTER—CAREW'S "WIT AND CUNNING"—LANDING OF SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH—BATTLE OF KINSALE—DEATH OF O'DONNELL IN SPAIN.
The twofold operations against Ulster, neglected by Essex, were vigorously pressed forward by the energetic Mountjoy. On the 16th of May, a fleet arrived in Lough Foyle, having on board 4,000 foot and 200 horse, under the command of Sir Henry Dowcra, with abundance of stores, building materials, and ordnance. ”

“ On Lough Neagh he erected a new fort called Mountjoy, so that his communications on the south now stretched from that great lake round to Omagh, while those of Dowcra, at Augher, Donegal, and Lifford, nearly completed the circle. Almost the only outlet from this chain of posts was into the mountains of O'Cane's country, the north-east angle of the present county of Derry. The extensive tract so enclosed and guarded had still some natural advantages for carrying on a defensive war. The primitive woods were standing in masses at no great distance from each other ”

“ In 1470 Lord Mountjoy was appointed custodian of the estates of the dukedom of Buckingham during the minority of his stepson Henry Stafford, the heir. By his first marriage he had three sons. William, the eldest, was killed while fighting with Edward IV at Barnet in 1471, and was buried with his father at Grey Friars. William's son Edward succeeded his grandfather as the second Baron Mountjoy in 1474, but died in the following year, and was buried in the Grey Friars' church in London. The second son, Sir John, succeeded his nephew Edward as third Baron Mountjoy in 1475 ”

“ Mountjoy with a small force at once set out for the disaffected districts. He punished the offenders, and rapidly brought the towns to submission. On 26 May Mountjoy was summoned to England and never returned to Ireland, although he assisted the privy council, to which he was admitted as soon as he reached home, with his wide knowledge of Irish affairs until his death. He brought with him to his house at Wanstead, which he had purchased of Essex early in 1599, O'Neil, earl of Tyrone, in order to enable him to make a personal submission to James. ”

“ Grey, to the dismay of creditors, to the incredulous wonder of Augustus, and almost to the annihilation of Mountjoy himself, he had done it. But there had been nothing in Mountjoy's conduct which had in truth wounded him. Mountjoy's vices had been dangerous, destructive, absurdly foolish, but not, to his father, a shame. He ridiculed gambling as a source of excitement. No man could win much without dishonest practices, and fraud at cards would certainly be detected. ”

“ The "Continental Herald "—there was the title. "Forty thousand copies of the first number have just flown all over Europe; we have our agencies in every town of importance, at every point of the compass; and, one of the great proprietors, my dear sir, is the humble individual who now addresses you." His bright eyes sparkled with boyish pleasure, as he made that announcement of his own importance. If Mr. Mountjoy would kindly excuse him, he had an appointment at the office that morning. "Get your hat, Vimpany. The fact is our friend here carries a case of consumption in his pocket ”

“ If one day, or better still, one night of excitement was in store for him, the next day should be regarded as the unlimited future, for which no man can be responsible. But such philosophy will too frequently be insufficient for the stoutest hearts. Mountjoy's heart would occasionally almost give way, and then his thoughts would be dreary enough. ”

“ BLOUNT, MOUNTJOY, Lord Mountjoy and Earl of Newport (1597?–1666) , natural son of Charles Blount, earl of Devonshire [q. v.] , by Penelope, Lady Rich, was born about 1597. His father left him a very plentiful revenue (Clarendon, Hist., 1849, i. 89) , and the earliest contemporary notice of him states that in 1617 he was parting ‘with Wanstead to the king or Buckingham in order to be made a baron.’ As a young man he seems to have been a favourite at court, and was created Baron Mountjoy in the Irish peerage on 2 Jan. ”

“ I find myself not in the least angry with him, and rather obliged to him than otherwise for allowing me to be his eldest son."
"What must Mountjoy's feelings be!" said Harry.
"Exactly; what must be Mountjoy's feelings! There is no need to consider my father's, but poor Mountjoy's! I don't suppose that he can be dead."
"I should think not."
"While a man is alive he can carry himself off, but when a fellow is dead it requires at least one or probably two to carry him. Men do not wish to undertake such a work secretly unless they've been concerned in the murder ”

“ Still, try as she would, she could not turn it till old Marvin came to her help. Then indeed the rusty lock gave way, the door swung slowly open, and my father, the Lord of Mountjoy, followed by half a score of knights and men-at-arms, stepped forth into the candlelight.
When Lady Mountjoy at last was free from my father’s embrace, she stood with her hands on his shoulders and asked a dozen questions, demanding that he answer all at once.
“Whence comest thou, my lord? Are the Scots beaten? Had’st thou news of the treachery of the Old Wolf of Carleton? How many men hast thou? Oh! ”

“ But I think the thing that warmed me most toward my former squire and constant comrade was the loyalty he ever had to the class of folk from which he sprung. Lord Mountjoy often gave to him authority over working crews at some necessary task on farm or highway or scouting parties of swordsmen and archers that rode the Marches to guard against the Welsh marauders. It would have been no wonder had such a sudden rise to title and preferment bred in a youth who had been born in a forester’s cot a certain arrogance of manner and an overweening confidence in his own worth and deserts. ”

“ Poor Harry had been precisely one of these, and probably no young man in Squantown had considered himself farther from meeting death as the result of intemperance.
This sad and sudden death made a great impression upon James Mountjoy. Always a perfectly temperate man, as became an earnest, devoted young Christian, he had never been known as a temperance man, that is, an advocate of total abstinence principles, and an active worker in the cause. ”

“ Lady Rich was the mother of six children by her husband when she contracted in 1595 an open liaison with Charles Blount, 8th Lord Mountjoy, a brilliant courtier and favourite of Elizabeth, to whom she had long been attached. Rich took no steps against his wife during her brother’s lifetime, and she nursed him through an illness in 1600, but they obtained a legal separation in 1601, and Mountjoy acknowledged her five children born after 1595. Mountjoy was created earl of Devonshire on the accession of James I., and Lady Rich was in high favour at court. ”

“ By this artful enumeration of the deficiencies of Montjoy, he was clearly understood to intimate his own superior fitness for the office. The queen, notwithstanding certain suspicions which had been infused into her of danger in committing to Essex the command of an army, and notwithstanding the unwillingness which she still felt to deprive herself of his presence, appears to have adopted with eagerness this suggestion of her favorite;—for she held in high estimation both his talents and his good fortune. Montjoy promptly retired from a competition in which he must be unsuccessful ”

“ Mountjoy instantly discovered.
"A bright, clear, frosty morning," Mr. Follett went on with cheerful garrulity, as he slowly seated himself in his own chair. "Yes, John's spoke o' you often—often. We're old shipmates, him an' me," he concluded, with an explanatory wave about the room.
"So I understand," said Mountjoy, easily; "and bound by many enduring ties, I have no doubt."
Presently he assumed an attitude extremely business-like. Arising and going to the chest where lay his overcoat, he produced from one of the pockets a long, legal-looking envelope. ”

“ Harry, during the two days, shot some hares in company with Mountjoy, but not a word more was said about the adventure in London. Nor was the name of Florence Mountjoy ever mentioned between the two suitors. "I'm going to Buston, you know," Mountjoy said once.
"So your father told me."
"What sort of a fellow shall I find your uncle?"
"He's a gentleman, but not very wise." No more was said between them on that head, but Mountjoy spoke at great length about his own brother and his father's will.
"My father is the most singular man you ever came across." ”

“ Both titles became extinct on the death of Henry, the younger of these sons, in 1681.
In 1683 Sir William Stewart (1653–1692) , who owned large property in the counties of Donegal and Tyrone, and whose grandfather was created a baronet in 1623, was raised to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Stewart of Ramelton, Co. Donegal, and Viscount Mountjoy. Having served abroad, Mountjoy returned to Ireland in 1687, where he became brigadier-general. At the revolution he remained loyal to James II. ”

“ The queen, that she might check his progress, returned to her former intention of appointing Mountjoy lord deputy; and though that nobleman, who was an intimate friend of Essex, and desired his return to the government of Ireland, did at first very earnestly excuse himself on account of his bad state of health, she obliged him to accept of the employment. Mountjoy found the island almost in a desperate condition; but being a man of capacity and vigor, he was so little discouraged, that he immediately advanced against Tyrone in Ulster. ”