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here." The narrative continues : " Thus he spoke kneeling, and kissing the cross of his sword, thrust it through his horse, say- ing he should never serve against them with whom he so truly and worthily had served afore. His example was followed by aU the horsemen, except two young gentlemen, whom he ordered to stand on the next hill to see the battle, and after it was over, to carry the news to his brother. . . This done, he engaged the enemy ; . . but, being overpowered by num- bers, he and his party perished to a man." His two youngest sons were slain in helping to defend their uncle, De Courcy, against De Lacy's men, in the churchyard of Downpatrick, on Good Friday, 1203 or 1204. His eldest son. Sir Nicholas, was confirmed in the lordship of Howth, by King John. Sir Armoric's sword is said still to hang in the hall of Howth Castle. = St. Leger, Sir Anthony, Lord- Deputy of Ireland, was first sent over by Henry VIII. in 1537, as one of the commissioners for settling the waste lands on the borders of the Pale. He was ap- pointed Lord-Deputy in 1540, and filled the same office again in 1544, 1546, 1550, and 1553. He received the submission of the Earl of Desmond and other chiefs, and presided at the Parliament in which Henry was declared King of Ireland. As his portion of the spoil consequent on the suppression of the monasteries, he was granted Grany, in the County of Carlow, and other ecclesiastical lands. In Edward VI.'s reign, for successful expe- ditions against the O'Conors and O'Mores, he was granted estates in England. Mr. Froude speaks of him as a man of great ability : '• The policy of St. Leger had been ' to make things quiet ; ' to overlook small oflfences so long as the general order was unbroken, and to be contented if each year the form? of law could be pushed some- thing deeper beyond the borders of the Pale. His greatest success had been in prevailing upon an O'Toole to accept the decent dignity of sheriff of Wicklow. As a further merit, and a great one, he had governed economically. . . His maxim had been — Ireland for the Irish ; he had recommended Henry to return to the old plan of appointing an Irish deputy." *° Sir Anthony died at his seat of Ulcomb, in Kent, in 1559. [His grandson. Sir "War- ham St. Leger, received large grants of land in Munster in Elizabeth's reign. Lord Ormond writes of him in 1583 as "an old ale-house knight, malicious, impudent, void of honesty ; an arrogant ass that had never courage, honesty, or truth in him, nor put him on a horse one hour in the 462
field to do any service." This cannot have been true, as he fell in an encounter with Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, near Cork, in March 1600.] 54 140 196 339
St. Leger, Sir William, son of Sir Warham St. Leger, received extensive grants of land from James I., and was, in April 1627, appointed President of Mun- ster and a member of the Privy Council. Charles I. presented him with a con- siderable sum of money for his loyalty to the crown. In 1640 he was given the com- mand of the Irish troops i-aised for service in Scotland. In the early part of the War of i64i-'52, he distinguished himself on the government side — amongst other exploits, recovering large cattle preys which the Confederates had driven into the Com- meragh mountains. He died after a lin- gering illness, 2nd July 1642. Viscount Doneraile is his descendant. =4 196
St. Ruth, , a French general, sent
over by Louis XIV. to command the Irish army, in May 1691. He had already led some regiments of the Irish brigade in Savoy, where he acted with the greatest barbarity towards the Protestants. He is stated to have been of " great bravery, energy, and experience ; " events proved him to be vainandself-confident. Macaulay says he showed much energy in organizing the Irish army — " Day and night in the saddle, galloping from post to post, from Limerick to Athlone, from Athlone to the northern extremity of Lough Rea, and from Lough Rea back to Limerick." He under- took the command of the castle and west- ern bank of the Shannon at Athlone, against DeGinkell, in June 1691. From the J 9th till the 29th of June the place sustained a fierce bombardment. St. Ruth believed the position to be impregnable, and haughtily refused to listen to Sarsfi eld's advice as to necessary measures for defence. On the morning of the 29th the enemy forded the Shannon in face of the Irish batteries. St. Ruth was taken unawares ; Colonel Grace, who had nobly defended the town a year previously, fell in the storm, and St. Ruth and his army were obliged to retreat into Connaught. On the slope of Kilcommadan Hill, near Aughrim, he drew up his army on Sunday, 1 2th July, and received De Ginkell's attack. Dread- ing the displeasure of Louis XIV. at his loss of Athlone, he saw the necessity of a supreme effort. Macaulay says : " He exerted himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were under his command. . . The whole camp was a ferment of religious excitement." St. Ruth had 15,000 troops and nine field pieces, to meet the Williamite army of
