[127] O'Donovan's _Four Masters_; Hill's _MacDonnells of Antrim_, p. 145; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 10, 1567; Campion; Hooker; Lancaster to Cecil, May 31. [128] Ware says he bases on Exchequer accounts his estimate of the cost of the wars with Shane O'Neill. 'It amounted unto 147,407_l._ over and above the cesses laid on the country, and the damage sustained by the subject; and there were no less than 3,500 of her Majesty's soldiers slain by Shane and his party during that time, besides what they slew of the Irish and Scots.' _The Four Masters_ say: 'Grievous to the race of Owen, son of Nial, was the death of him who was slain, for Shane O'Neill had been their champion in provincial dignity and in time of danger and prowess.' Campion. Hooker's _Chronicle_ in Holinshed. [129] Lord Chancellor and Council to the Queen, June 28; Winchester to Sidney, July 1; Tirlogh Luineach submitted on June 18; the Queen's Letters of Thanks, July 5. [130] Naunton's _Fragmenta Regalia_; the Queen to Sidney, June 11 and July 6; Cecil to Sidney, June 11. [131] Desmond to Cecil, June 24; similar letters were sent to the Queen and to the Lord Treasurer Winchester; Fitzsimons to the Lord Deputy, June 26. [132] Winchester to Sidney, July 17 and Aug. 10; Cecil to Sidney, and the Queen to same, Aug. 20; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Aug. 22; George Wyse to Cecil, June 20. [133] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Sept. 14; Cecil and Winchester to Sidney, July 15; Note of Moneys, Sept. 30. CHAPTER XXV. 1567 AND 1568. [Sidenote: Sidney goes to England, 1567.] Sidney went to England in the autumn of 1567, and left the government in the hands of Lord Chancellor Weston and Sir W. Fitzwilliam. The latter bemoaned his hard fate, and declared that his last Lord Justiceship had cost him 2,000_l._ Weston, a painstaking and conscientious man, thought that no one but a soldier was fit to govern Ireland. What the sword had won the sword must maintain, and it was nearly as hard to keep men quiet as to make them so. At the approach of winter the Irish were always ready to rebel. Munster had been pretty quiet since the Lord Deputy's visit in the spring, and the terror of his name had for the time procured a hollow and precarious peace. Six hundred soldiers, with some cruisers, held down the North, but O'Donnell was not a steadfast subject, and it was felt that the garrison was absolutely necessary. Sir Brian MacPhelim was recommended to Elizabeth's favour 'as the man that heretofore hath longest and most constantly stayed on your Majesty's party like a true subject.' We shall see how his services were requited later on. In Leinster the abolition, or rather suspension, of coyne and livery had done wonders, though the Lords still oppressed their own tenants, and thought the veteran brigand Piers Grace was profiting by Shane's absence to collect a new band. Connaught was quiescent, but Clanricarde declared that he was afraid to venture into England lest mischief should arise in his absence.[134]