568 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 46. It must be admitted that Eli/abeth's letter to Hor- sey was written at the crisis of the succession quarrel in Parliament, and that her not unprovoked ill-humour was merely venting itself upon the first object which came across her : nor had she at that time heard of Sidney's successes in Ulster, and probably she despaired of ever hearing of successes. Yet when she did hear, the tone of her letters was scarcely altered ; she alluded to his services only to reiterate her complaints ; and she would not have gone through the form of thanking him, had not Cecil inserted a few words of acknowledgment in the draft of her despatch. 1 Sid- ney's patience was exhausted. Copies of the Queen's disparaging letters were circulated privately in Dublin, obtained he knew not how, but with fatal effect upon his influence. He had borne Elizabeth's 'caprices long enough. 'For God's sake,' he wrote angrily on the 1 5th of November in answer to Cecil's letter, ' for God's sake get my recall ; the people here know what the Queen thinks of me, and I .can do no good.' 2 From these unprofitable bickerings the story must return to Colonel Randolph and the garrison of Deny. For some weeks after Sidney's departure all had gone on prosperously. The country people, though well paid for everything, were slow to bring in provisions ; the bread ran short ; and the men had been sent out poorly pro- 1 The words ' for which we are bound to thank you ' are inserted in Cecil's hand. The Queen to Sidney, November, 1566. 2 Irish MSS. Rolls House.
