Blackwater. The other notable Undertakers were the Hides,
Butchers, Wirths, Berklys, Trenchards, Thorntons, Bourchers,
Billingsleys, &c., &c. Some of these grants, especially
Raleigh's, fell in the next reign into the ravening maw
of Richard Boyle, the so-called "_great_ Earl of
Cork"--probably the most pious hypocrite to be found in
the long roll of the "Munster Undertakers."

Before closing the present chapter, we must present to
the reader, in a formal manner, the personage whose career
is to occupy the chief remaining part of the present
Book--Hugh O'Neil, best known by the title of Earl of
Tyrone. We have seen him in the camp of the enemies of
his country, learning the art of war on the shores of
Dingle Bay--a witness to the horrors perpetrated at
Smerwick. We may find him later in the same war--in
1584--serving under Perrott and Norris, along the Foyle
and the Bann, for the expulsion of the Antrim Scots. The
following year, for these and other good services, he
received the patent of the Earldom originally conferred
on his grandfather, Con O'Neil, but suffered to sink into
abeyance by the less politic "John the Proud," in the
days when he made his peace with the Queen. The next year
he obtained from his clansmen the still higher title of
O'Neil, and thus he contrived to combine, in his own
person, every principle of authority likely to ensure
him following and obedience, whether among the clansmen
of Tyrone, or the townsmen upon its borders.

O'Neil's last official act of co-operation with the Dublin