It will be remembered, that, when by the battle of the Blackwater in 1598 the English power in Ireland was reduced to the lowest state, and the queen felt it necessary to send Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, with an army of more than 20,000 men--the largest body, as the Four Masters state, that had ever before come into Ireland since the time of Strongbow--to subdue the rebels, that unfortunate favourite, neglectful of the instructions imperatively given to him that he should prosecute the Ulster rebels, and plant their strongholds with garrisons, marched into Munster, where the only deed of importance he achieved was the taking of Cahir Castle, and the forcing of the Lord Cahir and some other disaffected noblemen of Munster to submit, and accept the queen’s protection. The only favourable result of this misguided enterprise, as Morrison acquaints us, “was the making a great prey of the rebels’ cattle in those parts; he cast the terror of his forces on the weakest enemies, whom he scattered and constrained to fly into woods and mountains to hide themselves.” But these weak rebels did not remain long inactive, or exhibit weakness in attack; and the earl’s journey back to Dublin towards the end of July was marked by a series of disasters that sealed his doom; or, as the Four Masters remark, “The Irish afterwards were wont to say that it were better for the Earl of Essex that he had not undertaken this expedition from Dublin to Hy-Conell Gaura, as he had to return back from his enterprise without receiving submission or respect from the Geraldines, and without having achieved any exploit except the taking of Cahir-duna-iasgach.” The taking of Cahir Castle was not effected without considerable trouble, though it is stated that Essex’s army amounted to 7000 foot and 1300 horse. O’Sullivan states that the siege was prolonged for ten days, in consequence of the Earl of Desmond and Redmond Burke having come to its relief; and the Four Masters state in their Annals that “the efforts of the earl and his army in taking it were fruitless, until they sent for heavy ordnance to Waterford, by which they broke down the nearest side of the fortress, after which the castle had to be surrendered to the Earl of Essex and the queen.” This event occurred on the 30th of May 1599. As Morrison, however, remarks, the submission of the Lord Cahir, Lord Roche, and others, which followed on this exploit, were only feigned, as subsequent events proved. After the earl’s departure, they either openly joined the rebel party again, or secretly combined with them; and on the 23d of May in the year following, the Castle of Cahir was surprised and taken by the Lord Cahir’s brother, and, as it was said, with his connivance. Of this fact the following account is given by Sir George Carew in his Pacata Hibernia:--