"Are you going to catch birds?" Finn asked.
"I am," said the youth, showing a goldfinch in the little cage.
"Can you catch goldfinches about here?" Finn asked with great interest.
"Any amount of them," said the boy.
"Did you catch that goldfinch yourself?"
"I did." He held up the cage and the pretty bird fluttered about spreading out wings and tail. "Look at the half-moons on his tail," said the boy. Finn could not see them until his grandfather pointed out the little markings that were points in the value of a goldfinch.
"It's a grand bird," said Finn. "I think the cage is too small. Look at the way it flutters about."
"It's a finch's cage," said the boy, "and they're not made any bigger." He thrust out his black hands. "Look at my hands with the bird-lime," said he.
"Do you make the bird-lime yourself?"
"Yes. I make it with linseed oil and Archangel tar. I'd
get one-and-sixpence for a finch in
Finn remembered that day on Killiney Hill because of the way his grandfather talked to him. They were sitting where they could see the Dublin Hills going one after the other to join the Hills of Wicklow.
"Across yonder hills, three hundred years ago, the best man of our name took his way twice," Finn's grandfather said. "He was Hugh O'Donnell, Red Hugh O'Donnell, They came into Ireland in 1170.") ?> the young Prince of Tirconnal. Hugh died young, but he had a brave life. He was fifteen when he was stolen away from his teachers."
"Who stole him away?" Finn asked.
"The English Government in Dublin," his grandfather said. "A war with Spain was expected and the English Government was afraid that the Irish princes and lords would join with the Spanish. Queen Elizabeth was reigning in Ireland at the time, and the greater part of Ireland was then independent of English rule."
"And was there a king in Ireland that time?" Finn asked.
"There was no king of Ireland," his grandfather
answered. "The English in Ireland were not strong
enough to conquer the country, but they were strong and
clever enough to prevent any one prince from getting
all the forces in Ireland at his back. Any one chief
that the whole of Ireland would submit to could have
put the English out of Ireland with very little
exertion. But there was no king in
"Now, as I told you, the English Government expected a war with Spain and they wanted pledges from the powerful Irish families that they would make no attack on their power. Young boys did not escape the consequence of war in those days, Finn. The sort of pledges that the government wanted was the sons of powerful lords and princes. If their fathers did not go to war the boys were sent home in safety, but if their fathers did go to war the boys were hanged. The boys who were held in this way were called hostages.
Now when the O'Donnells were asked to send a hostage to
Dublin they refused to do it. Hugh was the boy that the
English government would like to have in their charge.
He was young but he was regarded with great hope by
everyone who saw
"In those days a youth such as Hugh O'Donnell would be educated away from his own people. He would be put in the charge of some experienced man of high rank who would teach him riding and feats of arms and fine behaviour. This man would be called his fosterer and he would be expected to take more care of the youth in his charge than of his own son. In his house there would be tutors to teach the youth Irish, English and Latin, with history and grammar. Hugh O'Donnell's mother sought for an able and experienced man to foster her son. She found him in MacSweeney, a chief who lived in the North of Donegal. He was an experienced man and he had brave soldiers under him. Lady O'Donnell thought that Hugh was safe while he was with the MacSweenies.
"But the English Government would be uneasy until they had young Hugh O'Donnell in their hands. They resolved to take him by guile if they could not get possession of him openly. They sent a ship with wines into a harbor of MacSweeney's territory. When the gentlemen of the district came to purchase, the captain of the ship told them that he was anxious to entertain the sons of the distinguished men. Some youths came on board the ship and amongst them was Hugh O'Donnell. When the captain got him below with his friends he closed down the hatches and lifted his sails. The ship sailed out of the harbour and young Hugh O'Donnell was brought to Dublin.
"He was shut up in Dublin Castle but although he was confined he was not treated badly. He had powerful friends and they were striving to bring about his escape. After he had been in Dublin Castle for three years, a way of escape was found and Hugh with two companions slipped down a rope and found friends waiting for them below. Which way did they go, do you think? Not northward towards their own country, for that way was guarded, but southward, along the hills that you see from this. Forty miles away, in Wicklow, there was a chief named Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne who was strong enough to defeat any English army. O'Byrne protected anyone who escaped from Dublin Castle. So southward, along yonder hills, Hugh and his companions and friends travelled. The way along the hills is always bleak, but on this night of December a terrible storm was raging. When they had gone half way and were in half safety, Hugh O'Donnell sent his friends and companions on to O'Byrne's stronghold while he went to ask shelter from a friend. But this friend was not strong enough to protect him. He was taken again and brought back to Dublin Castle. After this escape he was put in irons. His friends still worked for his escape. On another winter's night he had filed through his fetters and with Art O'Neill, another hostage out of Ulster, he went through the hills again. The last time he encountered rain and wind, but now he had frost and snow against him. They had no food with them. Art O'Neill had been hurt and his journey was bringing him near death. For three days they were on the hills famished with cold and exhausted with hunger. Hugh sent his guides on to bring help from O'Byrne and lay down beside his friend. The snow covered them both. When O'Byrne's men came to their Art O'Neill was dead and one of Hugh O'Donnell's feet was lamed with the frost.
"He got back to his own country at last and was made the Prince of Tirconnal. Of all the leaders who fought in the next war Hugh O'Donnell was the one who hated the English most bitterly.
"In 1595 when he was twenty-three years of age, the Nine Years' War began. Hugh O'Donnell had seen fighting before that. The leader in this war was the Prince of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill. He began the war by taking a fort that the English had built in his dominions. Two years afterwards a new English commander took the field and planned a three-fold attack upon Ulster. The three divisions of his army were defeated and Hugh O'Donnell, who fought the western division, showed then that he was an able commander. In the next year, in 1598, O'Neill and O'Donnell gave the English the greatest defeat they had received since they came into Ireland. The Prince of Tyrone was known as the second greatest soldier in Europe. The Irish lords were ready to make him King of Ireland. The war went on. In the next year Hugh O'Donnell destroyed an English army that was invading Ulster by the west. The commander whom Queen Elizabeth had sent over, Lord Essex, was recalled. He was executed in London because he had not been able to bring the war to an end.
"Up to 1600 the Irish forces had gained victory after victory. But now, two cruel and able men took charge of the English forces. They were Lord Mountjoy and Sir George Carew. They saw that the only way to reduce Ireland was to destroy the people by famine. They managed to hold O'Neill and O'Donnell in the north and then they started to waste Munster, the southern province. They killed the cattle and destroyed the crops in the fields. Famine and disease came and Munster was reduced. Next year they started to waste Leinster in the same way. Then they proceeded to destroy Ulster. O'Neill and O'Donnell had sent to Spain for help. Word came at last that a small Spanish force had landed at Kinsale, a town in the south. O'Donnell marched immediately to join the Spanish commander and O'Neill followed. The English had besieged the Spaniards, but now O'Neill and O'Donnell hemmed the English in. It was O'Neill's policy to starve the English out and not to fight them at all. But the Spanish commander urged him to make an attack. The Irish forces started in the middle of the night and went astray. When they were exhausted they came upon the English forces, fought a battle, and were defeated. It was the only battle the Irish lost in the Nine Years' War, but the Irish forces were not able to recover from the defeat. The country had been wasted by famine and they had no more resources. O'Neill retreated to the north and Hugh O'Donnell went to Spain to seek for further aid. O'Neill kept his forces in the north expecting the arrival of Spanish aid. But no aid came. And then the news was brought to Ireland that O'Donnell was dead. He was poisoned by a man that the English government had sent after him.
"And now I must tell you some of the actions that marked the close of that war. The Spanish general had agreed to give up to the English all the castles that the Irish had left in his charge. One of these castles was called Dunboy. It was built on a peninsula just above the ocean. The Irish garrison to give it up. They were only one hundred and fifty men and they were attacked by ships and an army of four thousand men. All the defenders were killed. 'No one escaped,' the English commander wrote, 'all were slain, executed or buried in the ruins.' The O'Sullivans owned this castle. When it was destroyed they were defenseless, so they resolved to march into Ulster. It was in the depth of the winter when they started out with four hundred fighting men and six hundred women and servants. They had few provisions and they had to fight all along their march. At last they came into the territory of O'Rourke of Breffni who received them kindly. But they numbered only eighteen men, thirty-six servants and one woman. All the others had perished on the way."
"And was that the last war that the Irish armies made?" said Finn.
"No. In the next hundred years there were two wars. Forty years after the battle of Kinsale a new war began with Owen Roe O'Neill The war in which he took part began in 1641. He won the battle of Benburb in 1646. He died in 1649. This war ended in 1652.") ?>as general on the Irish side. He died of a disease and afterwards Cromwell landed and defeated the Irish armies. Forty years after that, another war began. The Irish soldiers now fought to restore King James to the throne of England, believing that on his restoration he would give liberty to the people in Ireland who supported him. But King James was a bad man to fight for. He left Ireland after the battle of the Boyne. The Irish soldiers fought on under General Patrick Sarsfield The war in which he was one of the leaders began in 1690. The Irish were defeated at the battle of Aughrim in 1691. In the same year the Irish surrendered the city of Limerick in accordance with a treaty by which the Irish Catholics would have religious freedom and the right to hold their estates. The treaty was broken by the English. The Irish soldiers then took service abroad with France and Austria and were the means of defeating English armies on the continent. At home the Irish Catholics were very severely oppressed under the Penal Laws.") ?> but they had to surrender Limerick in 1691. From that date, Irish soldiers took service with the French King and won many a battle throughout Europe. But after her armed men left the country Ireland was sorely oppressed."