Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/260

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and sciences, commerce, manufactures, and political institutions." He was the author of a Life of Ckatterton, and was an active and zealous member of the Royal Humane Society. Dr. Gregory died, after a short illness, 12th March 1808, aged 53, and was buried at West Ham. '* "^'

Grey, Bessie, an Irish heroine, who followed her lover and brother into the battle of Ballynahinch (13th June 1798), and, carrying a green flag, encouraged her insurgent friends. She perished in the in- discriminate slaughter inflicted on the insurgents in their retreat. " She was," says Teeling, "the pride of a widowed mother, the loved and admired of their village, where to this hour the perfection of female beauty is described as it approxi- mates in resemblance to the fair Elizabeth Grey." ^37 3=« 

Grey, Lord Iieonard, son of the Marquis of Dorset, brother-in-law to the Earl of Kildare, was in January 1535 ap- pointed Lord-Justice of Ireland, on the demise of Sir W. Skeffington. He had previously been a marshal in the army, and it was to him Lord Thomas FitzGerald had surrendered. He found Ireland apparent- ly quiet, but it was not long before the Earl of Desmond and the O'Briens began to give signs of revolt. In July 1536 he marched towards Limerick, captured Car- rigogunnel, and destroyed O'Brien's-bridge, not, however, without considerable loss and much discontent amongst his troops at the hardships to which they were subject- ed. Grey, haughty and passionate, was during his five years of office engaged in constant bickerings with his council, espe- cially with Ormond. Mr. Froude says : " He would start on his feet in the council chamber, lay his hand on his sword, and scatter carelessly invectives and opprobrious epithets." In August 1 537 he involved the Pale in a somewhat fruitless expedition into Offa' . Next year we are told he ceased to hold communications with his council, and selected a private circle of ad- visers from the partisans and relations of the Earl of Kildare. In 1538 he paid a visit to Thomond, and is said to have ac- companied O'Brien in an attack on a hos- tile clan. Next year he marched against the O'Neills, and defeated them on the borders of Ulster; and in the following winter he made a progress through Ulster, establishing the EngUsh power. He re- turned to England in March 1 540, leaving Sir William Brereton as Lord- Justice, and was almost immediately sent to the Tower upon charges of high treason. The t ongues of Ormond and his quondam friends were now unloosed. In December he was 236

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brought to trial and convicted on the charge of intimacy with native chieftains inimical to English power, of aiding them in their incursions on the territories of other chief- tains, of despoiling churches and castles, and of being secretly opposed to Ormond and the king's friends upon all occasions. The State Trials relate the sequel : " And there was a commission sent to Ireland to examine witnesses ; and they say that these articles were proved by the testi- mony of above seventy persons, whereof some were of quality — that is, some of them swore to one article and some to another ; so that the Lord Grey, who was son to the Marquess of Dorset, and Viscount Grassy in Ireland, but no peer in England, being tried by a common jury, thought it his best way to confess the indictment, in hopes of the King's grace and pardon ; but in that he was mistaken ; and although his services did infinitely overbalance his faults, yet he was publickly executed on the 28th of July

1 54 1." '*° '7° 3"

Grey, Sir Arthur, Lord Wilton,

landed in Dublin, 12th August 1580, as Lord-Deputy, to succeed Sir William Pel- ham, who was then at Limerick. On 6th September the latter came to Dublin, sur- rendered the sword to Lord Grey, and left for England. We are now told by the Four Masters that "James Eustace, the son of Roland, son of Thomas, broke down his castles, after having embraced the Catholic faith, and renounced his sove- reign ; so that war and disturbance arose on the arrival of Arthur Lord Grey in Ireland as Lord-Justice. The Kavanaghs, Kinsellaghs, Byrnes, Tooles, Gavel-Rau- nall, and the surviving part of the inhabi- tants of Ofl!aly and Leix, flocked to the assistance of James Eustace ; so that from the Slaney to the Shannon, and from the Boyne to the Meeting of Three Waters, became one scene of strife and dissension. These plunderers pitched a camp on the confines of Slieveroe and Glenmalure." Lord Grey hastily collected an army and marched against this hosting. Those ex- perienced in Irish warfare cautioned him against rashly attempting the Wicklow passes thus garrisoned ; but haughtily rejecting their advice, he entered the defile of Glenmalure on 25th August 1580. The Deputy himself, with the Earl of Kildare, Wingfield, and George Carew, occupied an eminence in the entrance of the valley with their reserve, while the remainder of the army advanced up the valley. Cox says : "The rebels being well acquainted with these woods, laid their ambushes so cun- ningly that the English could neither fight in that devilish place, nor retire out