“There are certain kindred or septs of the Neales in divers parts of Tyrone, which ever did, and still do, as much as in them lieth, oppose both against Tyrone and all those of his proper sept and party: namely, in the Barony of Strabane, Tirlogh Oge O’Neale, son to Sir Arthur, and all his followers and dependents, as well of the Neales as of the Quins, and likewise of divers other septs on the side of Sluagh Shees. Also in the Barony of Omagh, all that sept of the Neales called the Sluagh Arts do deadly hate Tyrone’s sept. And likewise in the Barony of Clogher are two other distinct septs of the Neales, who hate Tyrone and his sept—one of which septs are the sons of Shane O’Neale and their followers.” How, then, could the weary and beaten head of a sundered clan be engaged in compassing rebellion against a kingly benefactor? The Deputy, to make his insinuations more plausible, called in aid religious prejudices. In an owner so extensive as the Chieftain of Tyrone, Popish superstition must needs lie at the root of Celtic malice, and Chichester wrought much on that string. O’Neill, however, had married a Protestant and accepted the blessing of Bishop Jones, the new-fangled prelate of Meath, when he wedded the sister of the English Marshal Bagenal. He had been brought up at Elizabeth’s Court, and was once taunted by the Earl of Essex that “he cared no more for religion than his horse.” He attended the Deputy at a Protestant service, when Catholic Palesmen would go no further than the door. He supplied beeves for the royal garrisons in Ulster; readily came up to Councils in Dublin Castle when summoned, accepted the King’s Sheriffs, and comported himself submissively as a country gentleman. Chichester even certified that he hanged an unruly nephew who broke the peace in Tyrone; but this was invented merely to show what an unnatural person he was. True or false, the story did not support the suspicion of disloyalty. O’Neill’s enormous estate alone gave ground for ranking him with traitors.