[1] Lacie came ſundry tymes thither to further the worke, full glad to ſee them fall in vre with any ſuch exerciſe wherein might they once begin to haue a delight, and taſt the ſweeteneſſe of a true mans life, he thought it no ſmall token of re|formation: for whiche cauſe hee viſited them the oftner, and merily would commaund his gentle|men (to giue the labourers example) to take theyr tooles in hande, and to worke a ſeaſon, whyle the poore ſoules looking on might reſt them. But this paſtime grewe to a tragicall end: for on a time as each man was buſily occupied, ſome lading, ſome heauing, ſome plaſtring, ſome grauing, the gene|rall alſo himſelfe digging with a pickare, a deſpe|rate villayne among them, whoſe toole the noble man vſed, eſpying both his hands occupyed, and his body enclining downewards, ſtill as he ſtroke watched when hee ſo ſtouped,

1186

Lacy is tray|terouſly ſlayne

and with an axe cleft his head in ſunder, little eſteeming the tor|ments [page 42] that for this trayterous acte enſued. This Lacie was reputed to be the conqueror of Meth, for that hee was the firſte that broughte it to any due order of obedience to the Engliſhe power. His body the two Archbiſhops, Iohn of Dublin, and Mathew of Caſſeill buried in the Monaſte|rie of Bectie, and his head in Sainte Thomas Abbey at Dublin.