Good Thomas,

            I have received sundry letters from you, and namely the last dated August 24th, which came not to my hands till the xxxth of September, whereby it seems the messenger made slow speed, and who it was I know not; and therefore, as I have directed others, so I wish you to name in your letters, if you may, by whom you send them, that they may receive thanks or blame, according to their care and speed. In sundry of your letters, I have received good advertisment and honest counsels, and great good wishes, all which I take in good part; to satisfy you in part of my being here, and what I have seen, and how I have sped (for I find you hear variable reports) you shall understand, that, since my Lord Lieutenant came into Ireland, the forces being divided as occasion required; some into Munster, some to Lesly, many into the North, and a few into Connaught; it was partly my hap, and partly my choice, for Sir Griffin Markham's sake, and three Markhams more,<112> to go into Connaught; where I spent some, weeks about Athlone, Ballinasloe, Clanrickard, Galway, and lastly, Roscommon, the place then appointed for garrison. This while I saw many things, and some well worth the observing, both for war and peace; and notwithstanding all the dangerous passages through paves (as they call those woods, which are full of rebels), and through divers fords, which are likewise places of great disadvantage, yet we passed through all with small loss; notwithstanding, I say, the attempts and ambushes of fiery MacHugh, of Connor Roe, of the O'Briens, of some of the Bourkes, and other the rebels, such as the Joyces, and O'Maddens, and many mad knaves beside. And this while my Lord Lieutenant went through Munster as far as Askeaton, and was sometimes fought with upon places of advantage, but without any great loss on either side. Neither in all that journey was anything done greatly worth speaking of but the taking of Cahir, and one or two castles beside.

            After this, the next journey was to Offaly, where Sir Conyers Clifford, the Governor of Connaught, met my Lord Essex, and Sir Griffin Markham, and six of the best gentlemen of his troop came with him and served bravely on foot; for no horse could pass the way they came. They burned and spoiled a country called Ferrallie, and won a castle of Tyrell's, one of the shrewdest rebels of Ireland, and his companies did no less; so that all the country was on fire at once, and our coming was so unlook'd for, that in the towns where we came, the rebels had not leisure to carry away their young children, much less their corn and other stuff. In all this journey I was comrade to the Earl of Kildare,<113> and slept both on one pillow every night for the most part; here, at the parting, my Lord gave Sir Griffin Markham great commendations, and made him colonel and commander of all the horse in Connaught; and gave me and some others the honour of knighthood in the field: and so, my honest Thomas, with honour, conquest, and content, we returned again into Connaught. But see the changes and chances of war.—The Governor would needs undertake a journey to Sligo, with twenty-one weak companies, that were not 1400 strong; and a less proportion of horse than had been requisite for such a purpose; and yet, out of his too much haste and courage, after two long days' march, with small rest, and less repast, he would needs draw his men to set upon the enemy in a place of great disadvantage, called the Curlews;<114> where, though the enemy was at first repulsed, yet at last their numbers increasing, and our ammunition failing, or some secret cause, that we know not, dismaying the footmen, they fell all in rout: the Governor and Sir Alexander Radcliffe were slain ere they could come to their rescue. Some of our horse gave a desperate charge upon the hill, among rocks and bogs, where never horse was seen to charge before; it is verily thought they had all been cut in pieces, at least lost all their colours; so that, if reputation were to be challenged when so great loss accompanied it, we might take upon us to have won some honour; having, as Sir Henry Davers<115> did pleasantly write to Sir Griffin Markham, "not Roman citizens, but rascal soldiers, who, so their commanders had been saved, had been worthy to have been half hanged for their rascal cowardliness." Neither was this good service of ours unpaid for:—beside the loss of two or three good horses, and better men, Sir Griffin Markham was shot through the arm with a musket; and though he bore the hurt admirable well, for a day or two, and especially at the instant, yet ever since he hath kept his bed of it; and hath been in danger of his arm by the hurt, and of his life by an ague: but now he is, I hope, out of danger of both, and safe at Dublin. Myself (after I had conducted him in a horse-litter safe beyond danger of the rebels, within eight miles of Dublin,) went to Trim, the place appointed for our garrison; and from thence have visited Navan and Arbrachan, where my Lord Lieutenant lay yesterday, and the day before, and meant to go from thence to the Brennys; but most men think, by means the weather falls out so monstrous wet as the like hath not been seen, that he will not go far north.

            I lie here at Mr. Robert Hammon's house, who is this year port-reeve of Trim, as much in effect as mayor. He shows the greatest gratitude to me, and to all my friends for my sake that to my remembrance I can say that no man hath done more. Yet was he not beholden to my father for one foot of his living, but only for his breeding. I recommend this example the rather unto you, because I would have you follow it, as far as your ability and opportunity will give leave.

            Now you see by the course of this letter, that I have reason to thank God very greatly, that among so many as have been hurt and slain, where I have been, and some shot even in the very same ranks I was of, I have escaped all this while without bodily hurt. I protest there is much rather great cause to thank God, who hath kept me so long in bodily health at Roscommon, where not so few as sixty died within the walls of the castle, in which we lay; and some as lusty men as any came out of England. In the camp, where drinking water, and milk, and vinegar, and aqua vita, and eating raw beef at midnight, and lying upon wet green corn oft-times, and lying in boots, with heats and colds, made many sick; yet myself (in a good hour be it spoken and a better heard) was never sick; neither in the camp nor the castle, at sea or on land. Besides all this, to vaunt myself at large, to you; I have informed myself reasonably well of the whole state of the country, by observations and conference; so that I count the knowledge I have gotten here worth more than half the three hundred pounds this journey hath cost me: and as to war, joining the practice to the theory, and reading the book you so praised, and other books of Sir Griffin Markham's,with his conference and instructions, I hope at my coming home to talk of counterscarpes, and cazamats,<116> with any of our captains.

            The Irish lords, gentry, yea, and citizens, where I come, I have found so apt to offer me kindness so desirous of my acquaintance, that my friends think it a presage of a fortune I might rise to in this kingdom; though myself do little affect it, and much less hope to effect it. My "Ariosto" has been entertained into Galway, before I came. When I got thither, a great lady, a young lady and a fair lady, read herself asleep, nay dead, with a tale of it; the verse, I think, so lively figured her fortune: for, as Olympia was forsaken by the ungrateful Byreno, so had this lady been left by her unkind Sir Calisthenes; whose hard dealing with her cannot be excused, no not by Demosthenes.

            Lastly, (which perhaps will seem strange to you, and was very grateful to me,) three sons of my cousin Robert Markham of Cottam, whom you know the world mistook to have been wronged by me, and consequently deeply offended at me, have in their several kinds and places offered me such courtesies, kindnesses, nay, such services, as if they held me for one of their best friends in Ireland.

            Thus, gentle Thomas, I have, in recompense of your long letters, enlarged the discourse of my Irish affairs, but I must not forget nor cease to tell her Majesty's good, wise and gracious providings for us, her captains, and our soldiers, in summer heats and winter colds, in hunger and thirst, for our backs and our bellies: that is to say, every captain of an hundred footmen doth receive weekly, upon every Saturday, his full entertainment of twenty-eight shillings. In like case, every lieutenant fourteen shillings; an ensign, seven shillings; our sergeant, surgeon, drum, and fife, five shillings pay, by way of imprest; and every common soldier, three shillings; delivered to all by the pole weekly. To the four last lower officers, two shillings weekly; and for every common soldier, twenty pence weekly, is to be answered to the full value thereof, in good apparel of different kinds, part for winter, and part for summer, which is ordered of good quality and stuff for the prices; patterns whereof must be sent to the Lord Deputy to be compared and prepared as followeth.

Apparel for an officer in winter.

A cassock<117> of broad cloth with bays, and trimmed with silk lace, 27 shillings and 7 pence.
A doublet of canvas with silk buttons, and lined with white linen, 14 shillings and 5 pence.
Two shirts and two bands, 9 shillings and 6 pence.
Three pair of kersey stockings, at 2 shillings and 4 pence a pair, 7 shillings.
Three pair of shoes of neat's leather, at 2 shillings and 4 pence per pair, 7 shillings.
One pair of Venetians,<118> of broad Kentish cloth, with silver lace, 15 shillings and 4 pence.

In Summer.

Two shirts and bands, 9 shillings 6 pence.
Two pair of shoes, 4 shillings 8 pence.
One pair of stockings, 2 shillings 8 pence.
A felt hat and band, 5 shillings 5 pence.

Apparel for a common soldier in winter.

A cassock of Kentish broad cloth, lined with cotton, and trimmed with buttons and loops, 17 shillings 6 pence
A doublet of canvas with white linen lining, 12 shillings 6 pence.
A hat cap coloured, seven shillings.
Two shirts of Osnabruck holland and bands, 8 shillings.
Three pair of neat's leather shoes, 2 shillings 4 pence each, 7 shillings.
Three pair kersey stockings, 8 shillings.
One pair Venetians, of Kentish broad cloth, with buttons, loops, and lining of linen, thirteen shillings 4 pence.

In Summer.

Two shirts of Osnabruck and 2 falling Holland bands, 7 shillings.
Two pair neat's leather shoes, 4 shillings 8 pence.
One pair of stockings, 2 shillings 8 pence.
A hat cap coloured, 3 shillings.

            Thus, friend Thomas, her Majesty, with wonted grace hath graced our bodies, and may heaven's grace clothe her in everlasting robes of righteousness, and "on earth peace" to her who always showeth "good will toward all men."
            So resteth thy loving Master,
            JOHN HARINGTON.

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