Tyrone

“ One night, years after this interchange of promises, I was sleeping with your father at Gill Hall, when I suddenly awoke and discovered Lord Tyrone sitting visibly by the side of the bed. I screamed out and vainly tried to arouse Sir Tristram. “Tell me,” I said, “Lord Tyrone, why and wherefore are you here at this time of the night?” “Have you then forgotten our promises to each other, pledged in early life? I died on Tuesday, at 4 o’clock. I have been permitted thus to appear.... I am also suffered to inform you that you are with child, and will produce a son, who will marry an heiress ”

“ I’ll be doing without it, till I come to Tyrone.
When we arrived in our native country,
all the whole case to my father made known;
Five hundred pounds he gave us,
If that would not serve us,
He’d give us still more in the County Tyrone.
These two live together,
In joy and great pleasure,
if you want to see them you must go to Tyrone.
My love’s name to finish,
Is Miss Jeany Innes;
Myself bold M‘Ginnes, from the County Tyrone.
CAPTAIN MULLIGAN.
O Love is a plague by night and by day. ”

“ But Tyrone was determined to have all, and the men immediately responsible for order found it convenient to support the younger, the abler, and, as it turned out, the more ambitious and dangerous man. ”

“ A true success, that is to say, of which the gleaming plumes and trophies were not immediately visible, would have been far more disastrous than a real failure which could have been gilded over with a [pg 215] little delusive gleam of triumph. There was no gleams, real or imaginary, now. Tyrone was fast coming to the end of his resources. Surrender or starvation were staring him with ugly insistence in the face.
The war, in fact, was on the point of dying out from sheer exhaustion, when a new element came to infuse momentary courage into the breasts of the insurgents. ”

“ Doubtless in connection with this business Tyrone now left Ireland suddenly without the lord lieutenant's license, which he was obliged to have as ‘a peer, a privy councillor, governor of the county and city of Waterford, and governor of a foot company.’ Catherine Fitzgerald continued to live for a time under charge of Tyrone's father-in-law, Lord Anglesey, but on Easter eve 1677 she left his house, and was married the same day to Edward Villiers, an officer of the blues, and eldest son of the third Viscount Grandison. ”

“ The pope granted them an audience on the following day, and assigned to Tyrone a monthly pension of a hundred crowns, a house (called the Borgo Vecchio) rent free, together with an allowance of bread and wine for ten persons; the king of Spain added four hundred ducats a month. Rory O'Donnell, earl of Tyrconnel, died in June 1608, and in December 1613 Tyrone, who by that time was probably fully convinced of his folly in leaving Ireland, made overtures through the Earl of Somerset for his restoration. ”

“ It was afterwards urged by Tyrone's eldest legitimate son, Shane, that, in surrendering his lands and consenting to hold them by English tenure, Tyrone exceeded his rights as chief of his clan; and it was doubtless true that, in theory at least, an Irish chief possessed merely a life interest in the lands of his tribe. But it pleased Shane to forget that the arrangement was one established at the point of the sword, and that Tyrone's submission implied the submission likewise not only of his immediate followers, but of his urraghs as well. ”

“ Sir John Norris, after a war, and purposely protracted negotiations with Tyrone, died at length, it was said, of vexation and discontent. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Bagnall, who, going to the relief of Blackwater, was surrounded; fifteen hundred men and the general himself were slain on the spot, and the rest put to flight. This victory raised the renown of Tyrone, who was hailed as the deliverer of his country, and the restorer of Irish liberty. The unfortunate Earl of Essex was afterwards appointed to take command of the English army ”

“ The two great chiefs of Ulster, O'Donnell of Tyrconnel in the West, and O'Neil, created Earl of Tyrone, in the East, had been more or less successfully conciliated by the policy of St. Leger. But Tyrone had a numerous progeny, and the laws of legitimacy were at a discount. The English elected to recognise as his heir a favourite son, Matthew, who certainly was not legitimate. But another legitimate son, Shan or Shane, a man of great if erratic abilities, declined to submit to this arrangement when he grew up. Matthew was killed in a brawl, leaving a young son to claim the succession. ”

“ Right or wrong, with good reason or without good reason, they went, and after various wanderings reached Rome, where they were received with no little honour. Neither, however, long survived their exile. Tyrconnel died the following year, and Tyrone some eight years later, a sad, blind, broken-hearted man.
Nothing could have been more convenient for the Government than this departure. Under the circumstances, it meant, of course, a forfeiture of all their [pg 223] estates. ”

“ Tyrone did not raise the standard of revolt. But in 1592-3, Tyrone, his brother in law Hugh Roe O'Donnell, [Footnote: Hugh O'Donnell had been trapped and held prisoner in Dublin as a hostage for Tyrconnell's good behaviour; but succeeded in making his escape.] Tyrconnell's son, his neighbours Maguire and O'Rourke, and the McWilliams or Burkes of Connaught—dwellers in the parts furthest from the Pale—were in active defiance of the Government. Tyrone was engaged in officially placating or repressing or remonstrating with them, ostensibly doing his best to serve the Queen ”

“ He was brought over when very young to England, and we learn that even in the brilliant court of Queen Elizabeth he was distinguished for gifts and graces of body and mind. For a long time Tyrone seemed a loyal supporter of English rule. He commanded a troop in the Queen's service, and even took part in the suppression of risings in his own country, cooperating with the Earl of Essex in the Ulster wars and the settlement of Antrim. One romantic incident of his life brought him into personal antagonism with Sir Henry Bagnal, the Lord Marshal of Ireland. ”

“ Descendants of the 1st earl in Spain continued to style themselves earls of Tyrone till the death early in the 18th century of Owen O'Neill, grandson of Owen Roe O'Neill. In 1673 Richard Power, 6th Baron Le Power and Coroghmore, governor of Waterford, was created viscount of Decies and earl of Tyrone, being succeeded in these titles by his two sons successively, on the death of the younger of whom in 1704 they became extinct. ”

“ If she had intended to leave all to them, it was ‘very superfluous to have sent over such a personage as yourself.’ His despatches were as meagre as his actions, and he had told her nothing of what passed between him and Tyrone, nor of his instructions to the commissioners, so that ‘we cannot tell, but by divination, what to think may be the issue of this proceeding... to trust this traitor upon oath is to trust a devil upon his religion. To trust him upon pledges is a mere illusory... ”

“ Tyrone attended mass, but Walker was not allowed to be present, as he had ‘no godfather.’ He was sent on to Dungannon, where he found Lady Tyrone and her mother ‘in a cott,’ and they took him to an island stronghold not far off, the fortifications of which were still unfinished. ”

“ Tyrone deplored his ‘own hard life,’ comparing himself to wolves, that ‘fill their [Pg 345] bellies sometimes, and fast as long for it;’ but he was merry at dinner, and seemed rather pleased when Harrington worsted one of his priests in an argument. ‘There were fern tables and fern forms, spread under the stately canopy of heaven. His guard for the most part were beardless boys without shirts, who, in the frost, wade as familiarly through rivers as water-spaniels. With what charms such a master makes them love him I know not; but if he bid come, they come; if go, they do go ”

“ My first rig'mint was Oirish—Faynians an' rebils to the heart av their marrow was they, an' so they fought for the Widdy betther than most, bein' contrairy—Oirish. They was the Black Tyrone. You've heard av thim, Sorr?'
Heard of them! I knew the Black Tyrone for the choicest collection of unmitigated blackguards, dog-stealers, robbers of hen-roosts, assaulters of innocent citizens, and recklessly daring heroes in the Army List. Half Europe and half Asia has had cause to know the Black Tyrone—good luck be with their tattered Colours as Glory has ever been! ”

“ Power was forty-four years old at the date of the disaster. He left a widow and four sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Sir William Tyrone Power, K.C.B., some time agent-general for New Zealand and author of various books of travel, still survives. His second son, Maurice, went on the stage, and died suddenly in 1849.
Tyrone Power was about five feet eight inches in height; his form was light and agile, with a very animated and expressive face, light complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He was best in representations of blundering, good-natured, and eccentric Irish characters ”

“ It took him not many hours to rob this house of all its light.”
“’Tis not too late so long as a breath is in this body,” said I. “Come, take us to him, as you are a loyal clansman.”
“I know no more than I have told you,” answered he. “He is gone to Tyrone’s country, and the maids have been carried thither before him. I will guide you so far.”
Without more words he came, springing at our sides over the heather and along the mountain paths at a pace that put our nags to shame. ’Twas easy to follow the tracks of the soldiers on the wet ground ”

“ Calvagh and his wife were carried off by O'Neill into Tyrone, the former to be kept in close and secret confinement, the latter to become the mistress of her captor. When Sussex invaded Tyrone in June, Calvagh was hurried about from ‘one island and islet to another, in the wilds and recesses of Tyrone,’ to avoid a rescue. Force and diplomacy proved equally unavailing to induce O'Neill to surrender him. ”

“ And when the Black Tyrone, who are exclusively Irish, fail to disturb the peace of head of a foreigner—that foreigner is certain to be a superior man.
The White Hussars were as conscientious in choosing their wine as in charging the enemy. All that they possessed, including some wondrous brandy, was placed at the absolute disposition of Dirkovitch, and he enjoyed himself hugely—even more than among the Black Tyrones. ”

“ In the settlement of 1542, when his father was created Earl of Tyrone, he was probably, on account of his youth, passed over in favour of his supposed elder brother, Mathew, or Ferdorach O'Neill, or Kelly, created Baron of Dungannon. But being a man of overweening ambition, he refused to submit to his exclusion, and, on reaching manhood, he raised, with his father's connivance, a faction against the Baron of Dungannon. ”

“ The situation of the kingdom was, however, so desperate that, after a detention of about twenty weeks, he was liberated, and by his own account did good service in revictualling the castle of Maryborough and in prosecuting Phelim MacFeagh O'Byrne and the rebels who invested the Pale. The allusions in his 'Apology' to his service against Tyrone and his relations with Robert, earl of Essex, are obscure, but it would appear that about the time of Sir Conyers Clifford's defeat (August 1599) he consented, at Tyrone's request and with the cognisance of Sir Christopher Blount, to visit Tyrone. ”

“ The rebels were more in number and better armed than of old, and they had plenty of ammunition. Spanish gold found its way from Tyrone to some gentlemen of the Pale, and something like a panic prevailed. Two thousand good soldiers had hesitated to march ten miles by a tolerable road from Newry to Dundalk, and had clamoured to be sent by water. ”

“ When the queen complained of the armistice made by Essex with Tyrone after his repeated failures to crush the rebellion, Blount, who ‘lay hurt’ in Southampton's lodgings in Dublin Castle, strongly dissuaded Essex from returning to England with an army, but suggested to him ‘to draw forth of the army some 200 resolute gentlemen, and with those to come over, and so to make sure of the court, and so to make his own conditions.’ Blount's advice was accepted, and Blount himself seems to have arrived in London a few months after Essex. ”

“ It was impossible to deny his right to enforce his claim, and the privy council were for persuading Tyrone ‘to surcease his further claim to the rest of the years.’ But Fitzwilliam, who feared that to give back the land to Turlough would throw the balance of power into the hands of the sons of Shane O'Neill, contrived to induce him to withdraw his claim, and to accept an increase of rent for the remaining four years. ”

“ During the fight Tyrone was wounded in the leg, of which he did not fail to make the most; but it was noticed in his disparagement that he ‘made earnest motion to be gone the day before the conflict.’ He protested that Bagenal and Fitzwilliam had conspired to rob him of the honour that was due to him; but the impression that he had assisted unwillingly at Maguire's discomfiture was shared by the Irish (O'Clery, Life of O'Donnell, p. 65) . After the battle he retired to Dungannon, where he awaited the further development of events. ”

“ Tyrol (929) , a crownland of Austria; lies between Bavaria (N.) and Italy (S. and W.) ; traversed by three ranges of the Alps and by the rivers Inn and Adige; it is famed for the beauty of its scenery; inhabited by Catholic Germans and Italians; sheep-farming, mining, and forest, fruit, and wine cultivation are the chief industries; capital Innsbruck (q. v.) .
Tyrone (171) , a central county of Ulster, Ireland; is hilly, picturesque, and fertile in the lower districts; a considerable portion is taken up by barren mountain slopes and bogland, and agriculture is backward ”