extended so far as to affect the history of Richard in any degree; and I shall therefore pass over as briefly as possible the events that followed the war in other parts of Henry's dominions without entering into any minute investigation of the causes or the circumstances.

A number of castles belonging to rebel leaders were thrown down or dismantled; the fortresses which the King of Scotland had pledged himself to give to Henry, were duly delivered into the hands of his officers. The nobles and clergy of England met their sovereign in parliament at Westminster, and on every occasion testified their entire submission to his will, and their firm purpose of maintaining inviolate the peace which had been so happily restored. The Archbishop of Canterbury adopted the best means for withdrawing the clergy from the grasp of the constitution of Clarendon, by enacting such regulations as were calculated to free them from those vices which put them within the power of that code.

Whether Henry was the agent or the instrument, certain it is that the superstition of the age, which had once acted so unfavorably to his views, now had a contrary effect. The happy change which had taken place in his fortunes immediately after his visit to the shrine of Thomas à Becket, was attributed by the people, and perhaps in some degree by the King himself, to the intercession of the martyr. The monarch encouraged the idea; and shortly

after his return from France, he visited the tomb of the Archbishop, whose sanctity had not been affected by the conflagration of the pile in which his body reposed. Henry evidently showed an inclination to adopt Becket as his tutelary saint; and thus, with great success-whether from wisdom or weakness is uncertain-he turned the miracles of the martyr's tomb to his own advantage.

His presence in England, and the fortune which seemed to attend all his measures, overawed his enemies in every quarter; and the King of Scotland came unresistingly with the nobles and prelates of his realm, to do homage to the King of England, according to agreement. This ceremony took place at York, on the 10th of August, and the concourse of people must have been immense; for we are told that the Scottish monarch brought with him the bishops, earls, barons, knights, and freeholders of his kingdom, from the greatest to the least, in order that the complete subjection of the land might be clear and indisputable.

Not long after, the English sovereign was visited at Windsor, by the ministers of Roderick King of Connaught, who sent them to negociate a treaty of peace with Henry, and entrusted them with powers to submit the crown of Connaught, which had hitherto been held supreme in Ireland, in a formal and distinct manner to the monarch of the neighbouring island. Some sort of tribute, we are told, had been previously paid by Roderick, but the

accounts thereof are indistinct and doubtful.

We

now find, however, a distinct treaty, recognising Henry's sovereignty over the whole of Ireland, conceding to Roderick the territory of Connaught as king under Henry. The Irish prince was to hold himself always ready to serve the King of England as his vassal, and was to pay him a tribute. The treaty goes on to provide, that the whole of the rest of Ireland, with the exception of those parts which Henry retained as his own demesne lands, or as grants to the English barons who had commenced or aided in the subjugation of the neighbouring country, was to be under the supreme dominion of Roderick. The districts excepted, however, comprised Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, each with a large tract of territory attached, as well as the rest of Leinster and Meath. All the petty sovereigns of Ireland brought under the sceptre of Roderick were to pay their tribute to the King of England through the hands of the former, and were to be compelled by him to discharge that tribute, and perform their other engagements towards Henry. In case of need, Roderick was to be supported by the forces of the King of England and his constable in Ireland; and the aid thus promised, seems to have been the only equivalent held out to the Irish monarch for the great concessions that he now made.

Roderick, however, obtained one more advantage of no slight importance, which was the termination.

of a war that had already proved disastrous to him, and which, now that Henry was delivered from the intestine dissensions that followed the revolt of his sons, must soon have overwhelmed the King of Connaught, if he had not obviated it by negociations with the English sovereign.

It is not possible here to afford any detailed account of the long series of savage hostilities which had taken place in Ireland since the breaking forth of the rebellion against Henry. They had commenced, it would appear, by a treacherous attempt on the part of the chieftain O'Ruarke, or O'Rourke, to murder in cold blood Hugh de Lacy, who had been left as the king's locum-tenens in Ireland. The attempt was frustrated by the wit and courage of a gallant young Welsh knight, named Gryffyth, the nephew of the famous Maurice Fitzgerald. Suspecting the designs of the Irish in a conference proposed between O'Ruark and De Lacy, he took judicious precautions against them, and attacking O'Ruark himself, as soon as his treachery had become indubitable, at the moment he was about to mount his horse after having attempted to kill De Lacy with his battle-axe, he pierced both horse and man by one stroke of his lance, casting them dead upon the earth together. The head of the deceitful prince was struck off, and placed upon the gate of the castle of Dublin as a warning to others; and he certainly met with a just reward for his treachery, although his enmity towards the English was by no means unprovoked.

From this period, hostilities continued, with various success on both parts, during the whole of the wars between Henry and his sons. The Earl of Pembroke, it would appear, was the aggressor on one or two occasions; and afterwards, being called away from that country to serve his own king in Normandy, he left his enemies the opportunity of confederating for the purpose of his destruction. On his return, he not only found a powerful combination amongst the Irish princes to throw off the English yoke, but he was also embarrassed by the scantiness of his finances, a mutinous spirit in his troops, and the too great popularity of one of his principal supporters, Raymond Fitzgerald; who, to the shining character of a gallant and accomplished knight, added attractions which were in the eyes of the inferior soldiers no less desirable in a leader-an enterprising and adventurous spirit, a boundless liberality, and an unscrupulous love of plunder. In addition to all this, Fitzgerald was madly in love with the sister of the Earl; and Strongbow did not choose that one who was already in some degree his rival, should be still further elevated by alliance with his own family. It may be easily conceived, that in these circumstances the power of the English for some time declined, while that of the Irish increased; and the Earl of Pembroke having formally refused his sister to Fitzgerald after a fortunate expedition made by the latter, Raymond retired indignantly into Wales, leaving the Earl to his fate.