of young Barnewell of Trimbleston, who was instructed to
effect a junction with the main force upon the borders
of Ulster. The Lord Deputy, marching in force from
Drogheda, penetrated, unopposed, the valley of the
Blackwater, and entered Armagh. From Armagh he moved to
the relief of the Blackwater fort, besieged by O'Neil.
At a place called Drumfliuch, where Battleford Bridge
now stands, Tyrone contrived to draw his enemies into an
engagement on very disadvantageous ground. The result
was a severe defeat to the new Deputy, who, a few days
afterwards, died of his wounds at Newry, as his second
in command, the Earl of Kildare, did at Drogheda. Sir
Francis Vaughan, Sir Thomas Waller, and other distinguished
officers, fell in the same action, but the fort, the main
prize of the combatants, remained in English hands till
the following year. O'Donnell, with equal success, held
Ballyshannon, compelled Sir Conyers Clifford to raise
the siege with the loss of the Earl of Thomond, and a
large part of his following. Simultaneously, Captain
Richard Tyrrell of West-Meath--one of O'Neil's favourite
officers--having laid an ambuscade for young Barnewell
at the pass in West-Meath which now bears his name, the
Meathian regiment were sabred to a man. Mullingar and
Maryborough were taken and sacked, and in the North, Sir
John Chichester, Governor of Carrickfergus, was cut off
with his troop by MacDonald of the Glens.

These successes synchronize exactly with the expectation
of a second Spanish Armada, which filled Elizabeth with
her old apprehensions. Philip was persuaded again to