might be maintained by others. It is alleged that, while
many of the chiefs had signed a formal invitation to the
Spanish King to assume their crown, O'Neil had not gone
beyond verbal assurances of co-operation with them.
However this may be, he resolved that the entire season
should not be wasted in words, so he attacked the strong
garrison left in Armagh, and recovered the primatial
city. According to the Irish practice, he dismantled the
fortress, which, however, was again reconstructed by the
English before the end of the war. Some other skirmishes,
of which we have no very clear account, and which we may
set down as of no decisive character, terminated the
campaign.

In May, 1597, Lord Borough, who had distinguished himself
in the Netherlands, replaced Russell as Lord Deputy, and
assumed the command-in-chief, in place of Sir John Norris.
Simultaneously with his arrival Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne,
was surprised in Glenmalure by a detachment from Dublin,
and slain; he died as he had lived, a hero and a free
man. O'Neil, who was warmly attached to the Wicklow chief,
immediately despatched such succour as he could spare to
Feagh's sons, and promised to continue to them the
friendship he had always entertained for their father.
Against Tyrone the new Lord Deputy now endeavoured to
combine all the military resources at his disposal.
Towards the end of July, Sir Conyers Clifford was ordered
to muster the available force of Connaught at Boyle, and
to march into Sligo and Donegal. A thousand men of the
Anglo-Irish were assembled at Mullingar, under the command