[Sidenote: Munster disturbed in Desmond's absence.]
As soon as Desmond and his brother were gone fresh troubles sprung up in Munster. Lady Desmond reported that the county was so impoverished by rapine and by the irregular exactions of the Earl's people, that it was impossible to raise even the smallest sum for her husband's necessities. No one was safe, and she herself was continually on the move, trying to 'appease the foolish fury of their lewd attempts.' The Earl's cousin, James Fitzmaurice, and Thomas Roe, his illegitimate brother, were competitors for the leadership. Fitzmaurice claimed to have been appointed by Desmond, though no writing could be produced, and both the Countess and the Commissioners thought him the fittest person. But the Lords Justices ordered the lady to govern with the Bishop of Limerick's help.
Fitzmaurice and Thomas Roe were apprehended in their name, but released on the arrival of a commission to the former under the seals of the Earl and Sir John. The country people would not allow him to go before the Commissioners, saying that Desmond and his brother were hostages enough. Thomas Roe was released on Lords Roche and Power giving their word for him. Fitzmaurice kept very quiet for some time, waiting until he saw how his cousin's affairs sped in London.[140]
[Sidenote: Little can be done in Sidney's absence.]
In the meantime there was little peace in the North, though the truce with the Scots gave some breathing time. The well affected, wrote Maltby, gaped for Sidney's return; the ill affected were ready to break out if once assured that he would return no more. While the coast lay open to the invader, the Queen's troops languished in poverty and sickness, their horses died for want of provender, and Maltby complained that he had to feed the men at the cost of his own carcass. Lord Louth and his fellow-commissioners kept pouring water into the sieve, but they had neither power nor authority to cure abuses. They gave no satisfaction to the natives, and Tirlogh Luineach steadily declined to come near them.
Captain Cheston, who held the post at Glenarm, said his men were faint from want of food. Four pairs of querns in the church were the only means of converting raw corn into meal. There were no women to work them, and the men said they had no skill in grinding. The necessary repairs to the church were done at the captain's own expense. It was dangerous to venture alone even a short way afield; but the monotony of garrison life was occasionally varied by a little cattle driving, which had no tendency to impress the advantages of civilisation on the Celtic barbarians. It had been decided that Tirlogh Luineach should marry James MacDonnell's widow, and that O'Donnell, who was a somewhat younger man, should have the daughter. Captain Thornton with his cruiser failed to intercept the ladies, but succeeded for a time in delaying the weddings. In Maltby's opinion it needed only to fortify the coast, and the conquest of the wicked Irish nation would be but a summer's work. The long period during which Tirlogh Luineach was obliged to pay his Scots impoverished him greatly, and his plundering expeditions among the neighbours were not very successful, but it was Sir Brian MacPhelim and not the English captains who really kept him in check.[141]