a long time been forced to dissemble. Fortune favoured with success the arms of Roderick, and Dermod was obliged to fly from Leinster and seek refuge in England, where he threw himself at the feet of king Henry the second, craving his protection, and swearing to him allegiance. The English monarch had for a long time viewed with resentment the conduct of the Irish, who, united with the Ostmen or Danes, had committed many and grievous depredations against his subjects in Wales; but being at this time engaged in a foreign war against Louis, king of France, he could not support the cause of Dermod by force of arms, but caused the following edict to be issued in his favour : 'Henry, king of England, &c. &c. unto all his subjects, &c. &c. sendeth greeting: whensoever these our letters shall come unto you, know ye, that we have received Dermod, king of Leinster, unto our protection, grace, and favour; wherefore, whosoever within our jurisdiction will aid and help him, our trustie subject, for the recoverie of his land, let him be assured of our favour and licence in that behalfe.”

10. Dermod was very honourably received by the king; yet feeling more encouraged with the hopes of future success, than of immediate relief, proceeded on his journey to Bristol, where he hoped, from the intercourse between that city and Ireland, to receive some news from his own country. He there caused the royal letters to be publicly read, and offered liberal rewards both in money and land to those who would assist him in the recovery of his territories. At length Richard, son of Gilbert de Claire, earl of Strigul and Chepstow, came to Bristol, conversed with him on the subject, and acceding to his proposals, engaged to go over into Ireland the ensuing spring, upon condition, that Dermod should give him in marriage his only daughter Eva, and settle upon him the succession of his whole inheritance and property in Ireland.

11. These preliminaries being settled to the satisfaction of each party, Dermod, anxious to behold again his native land, even at a distance, repaired to St. David's; where, according to the words of Giraldus, who was bishop of that see, "languishing and lying for a passage, he comforted himself as well as he might; sometimes drawing, and, as it were, breathing the air of his country, which he seemed to breathe and smell; sometimes viewing and beholding his country, which in a fair day a man may ken and descry.".

12. The spirit of adventure, backed by the encouragement

of Henry (who intended to avail himself of the successes of these adventurers to acquire a permanent footing in Ireland), induced Strongbow and his co-adventurers to prepare a respectable force for supporting the efforts of Dermod to regain possession of that territory, out of which they were to reap so luxuriant a harvest. Dermod, in the meanwhile, went over in disguise, and spent the winter in the monastery at Ferns, which he had founded; there he busied himself in preparations for the intended invasion, and waited the return of the spring, when the promised succours were to be sent out from England.

13. This prince, notwithstanding his tyranny and flagi. tious conduct rendered bim odious to the more respectable and thinking part of his subjects, yet being of a comely and robust stature, of athletic powers, and boisterous intrepidity, was much favoured by the lower classes, by which such personal accomplishments are highly prized. Such persons he was anxiously careful to flatter, favour, and protect. His ambition also prompted him to secure the favour and countenance of the clergy, (under whose guidance he considered the lower order of the people constantly to move) by bounties, largesses, and foundations, which he substituted for those acts of benevolence and virtue, which ought alone to have ingratiated him with this select order. These were the instruments upon which he rested his ambition; nor did they altogether fail him.

14. In the spring of the year 1170, Robert Fitzstephens landed in the Ban, near Wexford, and the successes of the English were so rapid, that Dermod began seriously to formi plans upon the Irish monarchy, which he confided he should soon secure with the assistance of his English allies. Bar barous cruelties disgraced both parties. The English most inhumanly put to death many of the Irish prisoners; and Roderick, the monarch, cut off the head of Dermod's son, whom he had received as a pledge for the observance of a former contract entered into between him and Dermod. Dermod Mac Morough died at Ferns, in the month of May, 1171.†

Where, according to Cambrensis, he spent the winter partly incognito: dissimulatá paulisper principis majestate, satis singulariter hyemavit.

+ The Irish historians say, that he died by a dreadful visitation of God, as an exemplary punishment for his crimes, his body becoming suddenly covered with fetid sores, and labouring under the morbus pedicularis: he died in the greatest misery, without friends, pity, or spiritual comfort. 20'Hal. p. 354.

Strongbow, however, and his adventurous associates, con tinued so successful in Ireland, as to awaken the jealousies and suspicions of Henry, who was then in Aquitain, much grieved and soured at the unpleasant prospect of his own af fairs, particularly at the threats of excommunication from the pope, and the resentment of the king of France for the barbarous murder of Thomas a Becket. This atrocious act had excited an universal indignation all over the continent. He strictly inhibited any communication whatever with Ireland, and enjoined all his subjects commorant there, upon their allegiance, to return to England, on pain of forfeiture of all their lands and perpetual banishment. Strongbow thus disappointed in his views upon Ireland, for he had now married Dermod's daughter, upon consultation with his friends, dispatched Raymond Le Gross with the following letter to Henry his sovereign.

"Most puissant Prince, and my dread Sovereign,

"I came into the land with your majesty's leave and fa vour, (as far I remember,) to aid your servant Mac Morough: what I won, was with the sword; what is given me, I give you. I am yours, life and living."

15. Henry received Raymond with every mark of indig nation, who returned to Ireland without any answer. Hé appears to have extricated himself very artfully from his embarrassing situation with the pope. By a solemn disclaimer of having wished or occasioned the murder of the archbishop of Canterbury, and by pre-engaging to secure to his holiness all the advantages from Ireland, resulting from Adrian's donation, he so won upon pope Alexander III. as to procure in the next year the confirmation of that bull. This politic prince did not vainly foresee, that the Irish would more likely be brought under his subjection by means of spiritual, than temporal power.

16. The time allowed by Henry's proclamation had elapsed: Strongbow and his adherents were proscribed in Britain: their avarice and cruelty had rendered them detested in Ireland. Roderick once more appeared in arms at the head of a large army before Dublin. The desperate situation of Strongbow drove him to such resolution, that he gained a most unexpected advantage of his enemy, whom he discomfitted and dispersed. Thus Strongbow, having acquired a settlement in that country, forced Henry to renew an appearance of confidence in him, in order to forward his own designs.

17. The kingdom from this unexpected turn of events, was once more broken into factions. The irresolute Roderick lost the confidence of his nation; and possessing allthe haughtiness of an Irish monarch, he failed in that determined spirit which was necessary to support it. Henry, whilst on the continent, heard with amazement the new change in Strongbow'e affairs; he repaired to Britain, and made great preparations for invading Ireland. He sent over for Strongbow, received him graciously, restored him to his estates in England and Normandy, and declared him Steward of Ireland. Thus reciprocal interests, without love or sincerity, brought about a coalition between Henry and Strongbow. By treaty, Henry was to be put in possession of Dublin, Waterford, and all the maritime towns which Strongbow held, who was guaranteed in the peaceable tenure of the rest of his territorities.

18. Whilst Henry was preparing for his Irish expedition, no attempts were made by Roderick to oppose his landing or to retake any of the cities, so necessary for the security of his fleet and army, except one unsuccessful attack made by O'Rourk on the city of Dublin. Not one vigourous measure was attempted by those from whom the nation might have hoped for protection. All appeared to have betrayed its cause. The two Munsters, after having renounced the authority of Roderick, entered into treaty with Strongbow. Events seem to justify the presumption, that several of the native princes, from jealousy or dislike to Roderick, had privately encouraged the invasion of Henry, as Mac Carthey and O'Bryen were precipitate in rendering homage to him immediately after his landing.

19. Henry with a fleet of some hundred ships weighed anchor from Milford Haven, and after a short passage, entered the harbour of Waterford, October the 18th, 1172. His force consisted of four hundred knights, and four thou-sand men at arms. On his landing, Strongbow kneeling presented him the keys of that city, and putting his hands closed into those of Henry, did him homage for his kingdom. of Leinster. The very next day Dermod Mac Carthy presented him the keys of his capital city of Cork, and rendered. him homage as monarch of Ireland, After a few days repose, Henry marched his army to Lismore where he rested two days; thence he proceeded to Cashell, at which city be was waited upon by Donald O'Bryen, Prince of Thomond, who tendered him the keys of his capital of Limerick, and

did him homage as to his sovereign; and his example was soon after followed by Fitz Patrick, Prince of Ossory, O'Felan, chief of the Deasies, and other princes.

20. When Henry arrived at Cashell, he immediately summoned a synod, which was splendid and numerous. Besides the legate, there appeared the archbishops of Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, with their suffragans; many mitred abbots and several of the inferior clergy. There, for the first time, he produced in public the bull of Adrian IV. though he must have had it by him about seventeen years, and its confirmation by his successor Alexander III. Henry very successfully worked upon this synod, by pressing on the clergy the powerful sway which the Roman pontiff at that time possessed over the politics of all christian princes. And it is evident, that, through their influence, the whole nation was induced to submit to Henry with a facility which no other means would have secured to the invader.

21. How much this interference of the see of Rome restrained the hands of the Irish, not only upon this but upon other occasions, may be inferred from the following remarkable words in a memorial from O'Nial, king of Ulster, presented in 1330 to John the twenty-second bishop of Rome, in the name of the Irish nation. During the course of so many ages, (3000 years) our sovereigns preserved the independency of their country; attacked more than once by foreign powers, they wanted neither force nor courage to repel the bold invaders; but that which they dared to do against force they could not against the simple decree of one of your predecessors, Adrian, &c."*

22. The acts of this council are only recorded by Cam brensis, who tells us, that after accepting of the bulls, they proceeded to the reformations so much wanted, "which were to make the Irish christians in effect as well as in name, and

* Scot. Chron. vol. iii. p. 908, &c. In proportion as national prejudice, antipathy, and hatred may be deeply rooted, it is important to consider the grounds from which they spring; and as, I presume, that it cannot be deemed unfair to trace them, in the instance of Ireland, to that studied system of oppression and disunion into which England was betrayed, by the false representations of interested individuals, for the space of time comprised in this chapter, I refer my reader to that remonstrance of grievances (see reign of Edward II.) set forth by the Irish, which certainly is the strongest picture of in. veterate national hatred that has been handed down to posterity. It demonstrates, that differences of religion did not produce these evils, and that UNION alone is the effectual security against their repetition.