Just before Ormonde's dismissal became known, his enemy, Sir Warham St. Leger, told Burghley that he lost twenty Englishmen killed for every one of the rebels. But famine and disease succeeded where the sword failed, and in the same letter St. Leger was able to announce that Dr. Sanders had died of dysentery. For two months the secret had been kept, his partisans giving out that he had gone to Spain for help; but at last one of the women who had clothed him in his winding-sheet brought the news to Sir Thomas of Desmond. Since the fall of Fort Del Oro, he had scarcely been heard of, and had spent his time miserably in the woods on the border of Cork and Limerick. Some English accounts say that he was out of his mind, but of this there does not seem to be any proof. All agree that he died in the wood of Clonlish, and it seems that he was buried in a neighbouring church. His companion at the last was Cornelius Ryan, the papal bishop of Killaloe, and according to O'Sullivan--who had evidently himself good means of knowing the truth--the following scene took place:-- 'In the beginning of the night, Dr. Sanders, whose naturally strong frame was worn out by dysentery, thus addressed the Bishop of Killaloe,--"Anoint me, illustrious lord, with extreme unction, for my Creator calls me, and I shall die to-night." "You are strong," answered the bishop, "and your case is not bad, and I think there will be no dying or anointing just now." Nevertheless, he grew worse, and was anointed at midnight, and at cockcrow resigned his spirit to the Lord, and the following night he was secretly buried by priests, and borne to the grave by four Irish knights, of which my father, Dermot, was one. Others were forbidden to attend, lest the English should find the body, and make their usual cruel spectacle of the dead.' [Sidenote: What he did for Ireland.] Sanders had been three years in Ireland. He had brought upon the country only bloodshed, famine, and confiscation, and yet among the starving people, none could be found to earn a reward by betraying him.[79] FOOTNOTES: [51] Lord Grey's instructions, July 15, 1580, are printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_. [52] Gerard, C., to Burghley, July 29 and August 3, 1580, to Walsingham, August 3 (with enclosures); to Wallop, August 7; Lord Deputy Grey and Council to the Privy Council, August 14; Zouch and Stanley to Walsingham, July 29; Pelham to Gerard, July 30, in _Carew_. [53] _Four Masters_: Stanley to Walsingham, August 31, 1580. [54] George Carew to Walsingham, November 20, 1580. For the defeat in Glenmalure, see Stanley, Maltby, and Gerard to Walsingham, August 31 Grey to Walsingham, August 31; to Burghley, September 12; Wallop to Walsingham, September 9; Hooker; _Four Masters_, 1580; Camden, who exaggerates the loss; O'Sullivan, ii. iv. 14, who ridiculously estimates the slain at 800. [55] Maltby to Leicester and Walsingham, August 17; the former in _Carew_; Gerard to Walsingham, August 14.