within were destroyed by suffocation." [Footnote: Lockhart's "Life of
Sir Walter Scott," Edin., 1844, p.285.]

A no less horrible deed was committed during the campaign of Essex
against the Irish rebels in 1575. This shall be given in the words of
Froude. [Footnote: "Hist. of England," 1870, x. p. 527 _et seq._]

"On the coast of Antrim, not far from the Giant's Causeway, lies the
singular island of Rathlin. It is formed of basaltic rock, encircled
with precipices, and is accessible only at a single spot. It contains
an area of about 4000 acres, of which a thousand are sheltered and
capable of cultivation, the rest being heather and rock. The approach
is at all times dangerous; the tide sets fiercely through the strait
which divides the island from the mainland, and when the wind is from
the west, the Atlantic swell renders it impossible to land. The
situation and the difficulty of access had thus long marked Rathlin as
a place of refuge for Scotch or Irish fugitives, and besides its
natural strength it was respected as a sanctuary, having been the abode
at one time of Saint Columba. A mass of broken masonry on a cliff
overhanging the sea is a remnant of the castle, in which Robert Bruce
watched the leap of the legendary spider. To this island, when Essex
entered Antrim, Macconnell and the other Scots had sent their wives and
children, their aged, and their sick, for safety. On his way through
Carrickfergus, when returning from Dublin, the Earl ascertained that
they had not yet been brought back to their homes. The officer in
command of the English garrison was John Norris, Lord Norris's second
son. Three small frigates were in the harbour. The sea was smooth;
there was a light and favourable air from the east; and Essex directed
Norris to take a company of soldiers with him, cross over, and kill
whatever he could find. The run up the Antrim coast was rapidly and