assembled a larger force for the campaign of 1579 than
had lately taken the field. Without the open aid of the
Earl, he contrived to get together at one time as many
as 2,000 men, amongst whom not the least active officer
was his younger brother, Sir James, hardly yet of man's
age. Drs. Saunders and Allen, with several Spanish
officers, accompanied this devoted but undisciplined
multitude, sharing all the hardships of the men, and the
counsels of the chiefs. Their first camp, and, so to
speak, the nursery of their army, was among the inaccessible
mountains of Slievelogher in Kerry, where the rudiments
of discipline were daily inculcated. When they considered
the time ripe for action, they removed their camp to the
great wood of Kilmore, near Charleville, from which they
might safely assail the line of communication between
Cork and Limerick, the main depots of Elizabeth's southern
army. Nearly half-way between these cities, and within
a few miles of their new encampment, stood the strong
town of Kilmallock on the little river Lubach. This famous
old Geraldine borough, the focus of several roads, was
the habitual stopping place of the Deputies in their
progress, as well as of English soldiers on their march.
The ancient fortifications, almost obliterated by
Fitzmaurice eleven years before, had been replaced by
strong walls, lined with earthworks, and crowned by
towers. Here Sir William Drury fixed his head-quarters
in the spring of 1579, summoning to his aid all the
Queen's lieges in Munster. With a force of not less than
1,000 English regulars under his own command, and perhaps
twice that number under the banner of the Munster