Stephen San Joseph. The place was instantly invested by
sea and land, under the joint command of the new Lieutenant,
Lord Grey de Wilton, and the Earl of Ormond. Among the
officers of the besieging force were three especially
notable men--Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet Spenser, and
Hugh O'Neil, afterwards Earl of Tyrone, but at this time
commanding a squadron of cavalry for her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth. San Joseph surrendered the place on conditions;
that savage outrage ensued, which is known in Irish
history as "the massacre of Smerwick." Raleigh and
Wingfield appear to have directed the operations by which
800 prisoners of war were cruelly butchered and flung
over the rocks. The sea upon that coast is deep and the
tides swift; but it has not proved deep enough to hide
that horrid crime, or to wash the stains of such wanton
bloodshed from the memory of its authors!

For four years longer the Geraldine League flickered in
the South. Proclamations offering pardon to all concerned,
except Earl Gerald and a few of his most devoted adherents,
had their effect. Deserted at home, and cut off from
foreign assistance, the condition of Desmond grew more
and more intolerable. On one occasion he narrowly escaped
capture by rushing with his Countess into a river, and
remaining concealed up to the chin in water. His dangers
can hardly be paralleled by those of Bruce after the
battle of Falkirk, or by the more familiar adventures of
Charles Edward. At length, on the night of the 11th of
November, 1584, he was surprised with only two followers
in a lonesome valley about five miles distant from Tralee,