2 9 o REIGN 1 OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 59. killed thirty wretches who were sleeping in their cabins. He apologized for the smallness of ' the number,' but ' considering their cowardliness, and the careful watch they kept, it was thought as much/ he said, 'to kill thirty in Munster as a thousand in other places.' 1 A month later, the Butlers destroyed a hundred more, sent their heads to rot on the gates of Limerick, and so made a final end of the Scotch invasion. 2 This success was the last, and the results of Perrot's exertions were soon summed up. He himself had shot and cut in pieces eight hundred Irish, and had drowned some hundreds of Scots. The Butlers during the same time accounted for four hundred. Forty or fifty petty chiefs had been hanged, and as many castles blown up. The supplies were finally stopped, and the troops had now to be disbanded. An intimation was sent to Fitz- maurice that he had seen that the English could chastise him if they pleased. They hoped he would profit by the lesson ; and if he would promise to be a loyal sub- ject for the future, he might now be pardoned. Fitz- maurice was satisfied with conditions which were a con- fession of a want of power to punish him further, and the President had the satisfaction of seeing the Earl of Desmond's brother on his knees in the mud at his feet. Sir John's temperament was sanguine, and his mode of argument was peculiar. Fitzrnaurice was profuse in his declarations that he would never offend again ; and the President reported that, ' although he would much have 1 Perrot to Cecil, November 2:1 2 Fitzwilliam to Elizabeth, De- MSS. Ireland. cember i.
