Raymond immediately embarked, taking a considerable portion of the army with him. Their departure was the signal for an outbreak of the natives: while the English were so much weakened by the sudden loss of so large a body, that Strongbow found it necessary to dispatch a messenger to Le Gros, who had landed in Wales, promising that his double demand should be immediately complied with if he would return with the soldiers. He did so at a most critical moment; arriving just in time to save the garrison of Waterford, of whom the Irish had vowed not to spare a man. Le Gros received both his bride and his appointment, and ther hurried to meet a vast force of Irish whom O'Connor was leading against Dublin. As usual, the superior discipline of the English overcame the tumultuous though brave Irish. Roderick sought safety in flight, and Raymond le Gros indulged his victorious followers in all the disorders of semi-barbarous warfare. Though defeated on this particular occasion, O'Connor was not subdued. Often routed, he as often gathered his wild followers to a head again, and his persevering and desultory attacks defied even the skill of the brilliant Le Gros. At length O'Connor entered into a new treaty, by which he engaged to hold his rightful dominions as the liege vassal of the king of England; and in consideration of his having the chief sovereignty of Ireland exclusive of the English pale, he undertook to secure the peaceable conduct of the other native princes; to whom Henry assured the peaceful enjoyment of their respective territories on condition of their regular payment of tribute, consisting of a hide for every ten head of cattle slaughtered. Roderick O'Connor, therefore, was king, in vassalage to England, of all Ireland except the English pale, which included Dublin, Waterford, Leinster, Meath, and the, whole extent of coun try from Dungarvon to Waterford.

A. D. 1175.-Strongbow died in 1175, leaving his daughter Isabel de Clare heiress to his immense wealth, with the exception of certain lands with which he endowed the priory which, in compliance with the quasi devout spirit of the age, he had founded at Kilmainham. At the death of Strongbow a new governor, Fitz-Adelm, went to Ireland. In his train was a knight, of no great previous notoriety, named De Courcy, who, in pursuance of a singular fancy, lighted up the flames of war in a part of the country which amid all the recent bloodshed had remained at peace. Lying towards Scotland, and being inhabited chiefly by Scotsmen and shepherds, the province of Ulster might have long remained undisturbed, but that a headstrong English knight conceived the plan of fulfilling an Irish prophecy, at no matter what expense of blood, Scotch, English, or Irish. The prophecy ran that Ulster should be conquered by a knight from over sea, riding on a white horse and bearing birds on his shield. De Courcy had come from over sea; he speedily provided himself with a white horse, and though his shield bore not birds but bees, yet as the latter as well as the former have wings, he was decidedly of opinion that he was tout-a-fait the very knight alluded to in the prophecy! And to this mere whim of a foreigner, who in more sober times would have been laughed at as a coxcomb, or shut up as a dangerous lunatic, the unhappy people of Ulster were to see homes and lives sacrificed.

In despite of the express prohibition of the governor, Fitz-Adelm, De Courcy mustered a numerous band of followers, and with pennant flying, and trumpets sounding, galloped at day-break into the streets of Downpatrick, the capital of Ulster. The pope's legate, Cardinal Viviani, who was in that province, endeavoured to dissuade De Courcy from violence; but the cardinal's eloquence was powerless against the prophecy. The cardinal then becoming indignant at the senseless and unprincipled conduct of De Courcy, advised the king of Ulster, O'Neil, to oppose him in arius. In the first engagement O'Neil was defeated, but subsequently. De Courcy, though generally successful in pitched battles, was frequently

educed to great straits; and on one occasion he only escaped capturewhich in his case would have been inevitable death-by flying before his enemies for two days and nights, without other sustenance than water and wild berries.

The petty and mischievous warfare which De Courcy had commenced in Ulster naturally led to similar disturbances in other parts. Fitz-Adelm, the governor, was detested; and Henry imagining that a more popular governor would perhaps succeed in restoring and preserving the peace of the country-a peace which was indispensable towards making the possession of the country a source of revenue to England-removed FitzAdelin, and gave his post to Hugh de Lacy, the lord of Meath, whom he instructed to take all possible means to conciliate the natives, but at the same time to exert himself in the erection of castles sufficiently strong and advantageously situated for the defence of the English pale. Nor did the king's efforts to secure the peace of Ireland stop even here. He applied to Rome for permission to crown his son Prince John as king of Ireland, though of course in vassalage to England. The court of Rome, which even only with reference to Peter-pence, and still more with reference to future contingencies, had a deep stake in the tranquillity and prosperity of Ireland, readily gave the permission required. But, whether from already perceiving something of John's real nature, or from some other unexplained feeling, the king did not avail himself of it, but merely sent him over as lord of Ireland, where the prince arrived in the year 1185 Prince John was at this period about nineteen years of age. Arrogant, heartless, and destitute even of the prudence which would have taught him to imitate the affability of manner by which his father had contrived to conciliate the testy but warm-hearted chieftains, John by his first act disgusted those who approached him for the purpose of renewing their allegiance to the English crown. The flowing yellow garments and long hair and beards of the Irish presented a very odd appearance, no doubt; though, as the Irish were a singularly well and powerfully made race, one would imagine that the peculiarities of costume tended to make their appearance imposing rather than ludicrous. But when they were introduced to Prince John, who seems to have been surrounded by persons as young and ignorant as himself, they were received with peals of laughter, and some of the boy-courtiers are said to have gone so far as to pull the beards of these fiery and veteran warriors. The Irish nature was precisely such as it would be safer to injure than to insult. Burning with rage, the chieftains departed with the deepest determination to leave no effort untried towards shaking off the English yoke. They who had been the most sincerely desirous to show themselves faithful to the absent king of England, now joined those of their fellow-countrymen who were already in arms against him, and an insurrection of the most extensive description forthwith broke out. The English army, beaten at various points, was in a measure destroyed, and the Irish even made themselves a passage into the English pale, plundering and burning many of the houses and butchering the inhabitants. So extensive was this revolt, and so deadly the animosity felt towards John, that it is likely Ireland would have been wholly lost to England, had he longer continued in that island. Fortunately, genuine information, not always procurable by even the most powerful kings, reached the ears of Henry, and he instantly recalled his incapable son and gave the government to De Courcy, earl of Ulster. He, probably, combining both civil and military talents, and possessing enormous property and proportionate influence in Ulster, was the fittest man then in Ireland to overcome the difficulties and danger consequent upon Prince John's absurd conduct. Hugh de Lacy, who had for: merly replaced Fitz-Adelm, would have been a still more efficient governor, but he had recently been murdered in cold blood, by an Irish labourer,

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while superintending the building of a castle in his lordship of Meath, De Courcy, well knowing the propensity of Irish princes to make war upon each other, so skilfully exerted himself to foment quarrels among them, that he easily broke up their league; and, at once separated from their common object, they weakened each other so far that he had but little difficulty in quelling their desultory attacks upon the English.

A. D. 1189.—Henry the Second, after a reign of thirty-five years, the latter portion of which had been tormented by the unnatural misconduct of his sons, died on the 6th of July, and was succeeded by the renowned king Richard the first. Attached to warfare, Richard was more anxious to humble France, or to lead an army against the far-distant hosts of Heathenesse, than to improve a conquest already made in his own neighborhood. He left Ireland wholly unnoticed; yet it was in his reign that the final annexation of Ireland to the English crown may in some sort be said to have taken place; as in the year 1198 O'Connor, the last native king of Ireland, expired in the monastery in which for thirteen years he had lived in peace. As he was the last Irish king, so was he the first of them who had the sagacity to perceive that the great source of Irish weakness and misery was ignorance. Though monasteries and their inhabitants existed in very evil abundance, the great mass of the people were in the most deplorable state of ignorance. Roderick O'Connor exerted himself to establish schools, especially in Armagh; and by that wise act deserved an admiration which, unfortunately, the world is more willing to bestow upon the king that leads in war, than upon him who points the road to civilization and happiness.

De Courcy, by nature restless and ambitious, availed himself of the neglect shown to Ireland by Richard, and made war and took spoil at his own pleasure; and when, in 1199, John succeeded to Richard, De Courcy had the boldness to refuse to acknowledge him as sovereign. As the matter really stood between John and his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, his claim was open to question. But powerful as De Courcy was in Ireland and against Irish chieftains, he soon discovered that he had overshot his mark in venturing to beard the king of England, even in the person of so contemptible a man as John was. De Courcy, in the life-time of Richard, had given offence to Prince John by the contempt with which he had treated all the prince's orders having relation to Ireland; and John, now that he had come to the throne, resolved to curb the proud vassal. De Courcy was accordingly arrested and sent to England. How or when he died is not known, but it is certain he never returned to his Irish possessions; and even his lordship of Ulster was taken from him and bestowed upon Hugh, the son of Hugh de Lacy, the murdered governor.

Though anything but warlike in disposition, John made an expedition to Ireland; less, it would seem, for the sake of putting an end to the disorders which existed there, than as an excuse for leaving England while the minds of his subjects were alarmed and irritated by the tremendous effects of the papal interdict. Attended by a powerful army, he was speedily waited upon at Dublin by twenty of the most powerful chieftains, who did homage and took the oath of allegiance. Anxious now to conciliate, as formerly he had been hasty to offend, he made many presents among them; and we may take it as a proof that these brave chieftains were even yet not far removed from barbarism, when we learn that of all the presents he made them, they were most delighted with a quantity of scarlet cloth. The reader is aware of the important law regulations which were made in England during the reign of John; all these were equally extended to Ireland, as were the provisions of that great political blessing—magna charta. But these benefits, though actually conferred upon all, were enjoyed only by the English in Ireland; the turbulence and

with the bold and restless barons of hin

indomitable prejudices of the dwellers beyond the English pale, making them look with contempt upon all liberty and enjoyment procured others wise than by force of arms. Where the harons from England subdued tracts of country and subjected the inhabitants to the feudal law, those inhabitants undoubtedly enjoyed the same imperfect liberty as Englishmen of the same rank; and nothing can be more grossly unjust than to represent as a consequence of English partiality, that difference between the people which really arose from the fierceness of the Irish themselves. A. D. 1216.-John, whose attention to Ireland was but temporary, was now succeeded by Henry III. The reign of this prince extended to fiftysix years; and the weakness of his character unfitting him to contend time, made the struggles of England more than enough to employ him; and Ireland was consequently left to be scourged by constant wars between the Irish people and their English rulers, the latter of whom still farther increased the confusion by fierce and frequent contests among themselves. How desperate the condition of the country had at length become, may be inferred from a petition of the Irish people to Edward I., in which they implored him to compel the barons to administer the laws equally whether to English or Irish vassals of his majesty, and, to compel the extension of all English laws and customs to the whole Irish people. Utterly heedless, it would seem, of the fact that, as far as decree could avail, all this had been done in the reign of John, and that it was the people themselves who prevented practice from being assimilated to theory; yet sensible of the existing evils, though blind to their real causes, they offered to pay the sum of eight thousand marks to the king as the price of his rendering them this great service. He made an order accordingly; but the order of the great Edward was as ineffectual as that of the mean John, when opposed to the prejudices of a people at once brave, restless, and ignorant, living in a state of society provocative of injustice and tyranny.

The war in which Edward I. was engaged with Scotland compelled him to summon his barons from Ireland, and during their absence the natives made frequent and destructive attacks upon the English pale. The death of Edward enabled the celebrated Robert Bruce to seat himsel firmly upon the throne of Scotland. Knowing how ardently the Irish desired to throw of the English yoke, and judging how important he could make them in diverting the attacks of the English from Scotland, King Robert Bruce in the year after his accession to the Scottish throne, (1315) sent his brother Edward into Ireland with a well equipped army of six thousand men. He was received with open arms as deliverer, and took upon himself the title of king. His brother soon afterwards landed in Ireland with a still more powerful army. But just at this time there was an absolute famine in both England and Ireland; and the latter country, suffering under the effects of long civil war as well as of the bad season, was still more terribly destitute than the former. The most splendid successes of war could avail nothing against famine. Reduced to feed upon the horses as they died of actual hunger, the soldiers of Bruce perished in awful numbers, and he at length returned to Scotland, leaving his brother to contest his usurped crown with the English or abandon it, as he might see fit. Edward Bruce, who was to the full as cruel as he was brave, bore up with a constant spirit against all difficulties. But though he had much success in the field, and made terrible examples of the vanquished, he found it impossible to drive the English from their strong holds. The Irish were for the most part very favourable to him; but if they hated the English much they hated each other still more, and, as usual, their mutual strife rendered it impossible that they could cor dially co-operate even for a purpose which they all had strongly at heart A.. 1318.-Under such circumstances, it is likely that Edward Bruce

would at length nave seen that the conquest of Ireland was a project too vast for Scotland, even with the mighty Robert Bruce for her king. But ere he had made up his mind to abandon his usurped royalty and return to Scotland, he was encountered at Dundalk by the English army, under Lord Bermingham. Edward Bruce on this important day performed the part of a good general and a stout soldier; but all his efforts were in vain and he fell upon the field of battle while making efforts to rally a portion of his routed and dispirited force. Conspicuous by his arms and ornaments, he was marked out by an English knight, Sir John Maupas. Hold ing Edward Bruce in especial detestation, and believing his death to be in every way deserved and desirable, he vowed himself, after the custom of the age, to destroying him. Accordingly, though Edward was zealously defended by his friends and attendants, Sir John succeeded in reaching him; and after the battle their dead bodies were found still grasping each other in the death-gripe.

CHAPTER V.

KNOWING What we do of the turbulence of the barons wherever the feudal law prevailed, we have no room to doubt that the English in reland made their vassals feel the weight of their feudal chains. Removed as they were from the check of the king's presence, and living in a country in which civil strife was not the mere exception but the general rule, it would have been strange indeed if those barons had been less tyrannous than the men of their order. But it is abundantly evident, after making allowance for the evils which Ireland, in common with other countries, must have owed to the abuses of the feudal system, the chief and abiding cause of misery was the inherent disorderliness of the Irish character. The clergy, for instance, both English and Irish, were at deadly feud. No English monk was allowed to enter an Irish monastery; and the monasteries of the English pale were hopelessly inaccessible to the native monk. When we see that even the common bond of spiritual and temporal interest could not induce the clergy to lay aside their animosities, we need not marvel that the best attempts at causing a general union of the people failed. Edward III., who did so much towards improving the laws and raising the trade of England, was desirous to render the same service to Ireland. Clearly perceiving that it was next to impossible to obtain the exact obedience of the barons whose lands lay in Ireland, and, at the same time, desirous to prevent the Irish people from being oppressed, he threw, as far as possible, the government of Ireland into the hands of nobles whose property lay in England, and for whose obedience and good conduct he consequently had some security. But this excellent stroke of policy was made too late to have the effect it would have had at an earlier date.

A. D. 1361.—Lionel, duke of Clarence, was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the year 1361; and he evidently went there with the desire to give effect to his royal father's wishes for the people's welfare. But the animosities which had been so many years increasing were now beyond the possibility of a speedy remedy. Such was the hostility between the two races, that under the governorship of Lionel, it was found requisite to pass the stringent regulations known to lawyers as the statute of Kilkenny. Hitherto attempts had been made to govern Ireland rather by affection than by severity; and the law left it quite open to the two races to become amalgamated by marriage and friendship. But by this statute, which seems to have been called for by the danger of the English from the Irish, the latter were at length treated formally as an inferior people. Marriage