the assizes nor sessions, he being also in commission with him.' O'More brought the Ulstermen together in Dublin, and visited the northern province himself. Lord Mayo was also expected to join, and help was confidently expected both from France and Spain. John O'Neill, calling himself Earl of Tyrone, a colonel in the Spanish service, was killed in Catalonia about this time, after which Owen Roe was looked to as the real chief, and Sir Phelim as the principal man of his clan until the other arrived. It was not till August that the plot to seize Dublin Castle took definite shape, the idea originating with the soldiers of fortune who were disappointed in their design for carrying Strafford's army abroad. Parsons saw the danger of keeping these men in Ireland, but the Irish Parliament was largely under clerical influence, and that was exerted to prevent them going. Colonels Sir James Dillon, Hugh MacPhelim O'Byrne, and Richard Plunket were most active, and October 5 was fixed for the attempt. Delays occurred causing a postponement to the 23rd, and in the meantime a messenger came from Owen Roe, who said he had positive promises from Richelieu, that he was ready to join the insurgents as soon as possible. On October 15 Sir Phelim O'Neill, Lord Maguire, O'More, Ever Macmahon and Captain Brian O'Neill, Owen Roe's envoy, met to make final arrangements. One hundred picked men from Leinster, under the guidance of O'More, were to take the little gate of the Castle, the main entrance being left to Maguire and one hundred Ulstermen. Sir Phelim was to go home and take Londonderry at the same moment, which he signally failed to do. The afternoon of Saturday the 23rd was the chosen time, for it was market day, and the presence of strangers would be less noticed. On the previous evening Maguire, O'Byrne, Plunket, Fox and others met, but it was found that only eighty men had been provided instead of two hundred, Sir Phelim and others failing to send their contingents. They resolved to go on with what force they had, and to meet again next morning; but late in the evening O'More and Fox came to Lord Maguire's lodgings and told him that all was discovered.'[273] [Sidenote: Owen O'Connolly.] [Sidenote: O'Connolly discloses the plot.]