566 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. selves a sacrifice to God before the traitors shall have their purpose.' 1 Elizabeth, when the bad news arrived, be- came as usual furious and abusive. Lord Or- mond happened to be in London when the rebellion broke out. She sent him back with a commission as military governor of Munster, and with directions to restore order instantly ; but she expected him to do it with his own re- sources, for further assistance she could not be brought to supply. He hurried over to find everything in confusion, Drury's soldiers scattered or dead, Malby overawing Con- naught from Athlone, but unable to spare a man ; and Sir William Pelham and Sir Henry Wallop, who were in temporary command at Dublin, equally helpless. He looked round him in despair. ' The Queen,' he wrote to Walsingham, ' mislikes that the service goes no faster forward; but she has suffered all things needful to want. If I could feed soldiers with the air, and throw down castles with my breath, and furnish naked men with a wish if these things might be done, the service should go as her Highness would have it. This is the second time I have been suffered to want all these things in the charge I have. There shall not be the third. I would sooner be committed prisoner by the heels than thus be dealt with again.' 2 The supplies ordered for Dublin had been stopped, but none the less the blame was flung on Pelham and Wallop. In exigencies like that which had arisen, Eliza- 1 St Leger to Burghley, No- ' 2 Ormond to "Walsingham, Jan- vembev 19 ; MSS. Ireland. I uary 4, 1579-80 : MSS. Ibid,
