the ancient house of the northern Hi-Nial.

The military fame of Cathal awoke the envy of the northern prince, whose pride of genealogy was insulted by the acknowledged superiority of his ally in arms. He contrived, therefore, by a secret intrigue with Mac Carty, to raise the siege of Cork, and the fate of the second strongest English settlement in Ireland was for the present suspended. At length, in want of provision, and hopeless of succour, this brave garrison surrendered to the prince of Desmond. Nothing can demonstrate the miserable weakness of the English government in Ireland at this period more than the feeble efforts that were made to preserve the most important places in the kingdom. Notwithstanding the infatuated divisions which distracted the councils of the Irish chieftains, the English suffered themselves to be deprived of all those conquests, which cost them so much treasure in the acquisition.

re

Hamo de Valois was now (1197) appointed viceroy of Ireland. The English interest, since the invasion, was never weaker than at this moment-even the province of Leinster was with difficulty maintained. Hamo had course to the only measure which he thought calculated to restore the arms and strength of England. He seized the lands granted to the see of Dublin; plundered the Irish, whose properties were considerable, under the protecting plea of necessity; accumulated all the treasure his rapacity could embrace.-Comyn, the English archbishop, expostulated against this act of usurpation, in loud and bitter lamentations; threatened the denunciations of the church, and appealed to the British monarch, and the lord of Ireland for redress. Comyn appealed in vain. Richard and John were deaf to his entreaties; but in some years after, Hamo de Valois gave to the archbishop some compensation for the property of which he was despoiled. During this scene of disaster, Roderic, the Irish monarch, died in the monastery of Cong, where he resided for

twelve years in the peace and tranquillity of a pious solitude. Were we to regulate our opinions of the character of Roderic by the estimation in which his country held him, we should describe him as a great warrior, a humane and tender prince, possessing all those good and amiable qualities which are calculated to inspire us with reverence and affection; but looking back to the history of the events which we have been relating, it is not easy to discern those distinguishing characteristics for which the Irish annalists have celebrated him. It should be admitted, however, that great allowances are to be made for the distraction of mind created by the unnatural rebellion of his own children, as well as by the nature of the authority which the constitution of his country enabled him to exercise over those provincial sovereigns whom he brought out to the field with him, uncertain in their allegiance, and whimsical in their support of the common cause. The virtues of the monarch were often sacrificed to the painful peculiarity of his situation; and during this struggle with England, we have often as much cause to commiserate the distress of an amiable mind, as we have to applaud its undaunted spirit, and indefatigable exertions for the independence of Ireland. The last hours of his long life were somewhat cheered by the reflection, that at length a hero arose amidst the distractions of his family, whose genius promised to obliterate the disgraceful impressions of the past, by the glorious achievements of the future; and the Irish monarch; in his ninety-ninth year, sunk into the grave, consoled and comforted by the hope, that Cathal was destined by Providence to restore the liberty and pride of his country, and to exterminate the foreign invader, who struggled to enslave it. In this year also, died the English monarch, to whom John, the lord of Ireland, succeeded, bringing with him to the English throne, those rights over Ireland with which he had been invested.

I

THE

HISTORY OF IRELAND.

John

THE first act of the British monarch, when he came to the throne, was to yield to the complaints of his Irish subjects, against the oppression of his viceroy, Hamo de Valois, who was amassing considerable wealth from the plunder of the clergy and laity under his immediate jurisdiction. He was succeeded by Meyler Fitzhenry, natural son of Henry I. and one of the most distinguished barons who had originally adventured into Ireland.

Hugh de Lacy, and John de Courcy, two of the most powerful of the English settlers in Ireland, had for some time assumed a state of complete independence of the` English monarch. De Courcy impeached the title of John to the English crown, asserted the claims of Arthur, and boldly renounced his allegiance to England. Philip de Burgo, to whom John, when lord of Ireland, made a grant of Limerick, proceeded to form a settlement in Munster, which threatened the destruction of Cathal's authority in the kingdom of Connaught.

Cathal, from whose arms and valour so much was expected by the Irish, fell a victim to the intriguing practices of his enemies, and the artful conspiracy of Carragh

O'Connor, a prince of his blood, who made overtures to Philip de Burgo, and with his co-operation expelled Cathal from his dominions, and took possession of the royal dignity of Connaught. Such a revolution was heard with astonishment, and Cathal fled to O'Nial of Tyrone for protection against the arms of the usurper. A confederacy was immediately formed to effect the restoration of Cathal; and it is worthy of observation, that in this confederation, we see the English lords, De Courcy and De Lacy, engaged with O'Nial, to assert the claims of Cathal against the usurpations of Carragh O'Connor, supported by the arms of another English lord, Philip de Burgo. So various and so conflicting were the interests of partics and factions in Ireland, and so reduced the English "power, that Englishmen are to be seen shedding the blood of Englishmen in the cause of the rival chieftains of Ireland.

Battles were fought by those contending factions with various success, till at length victory declared in favour of the usurper, Carragh O'Connor, and Philip de Burgo. O'Nial was deposed by his subjects, and the powers of De Burgo were greatly increased by the triumph of his arms. He also forgot his allegiance to his sovereign, and made war and peace by his proper authority. He laid waste the territories of Desmond, and obliged many of the neighbouring chieftains to pay him tribute.

The deposed Cathal having succeeded in separating Philip de Burgo from his alliance with the usurper, Carragh O'Connor, and supported by the arms of the English baron, recovered his kingdom of Connaught. Cathal returned the services of Philip de Burgo with the basest ingratitude; he refused to perform his promises of large and valuable accessions of territory, which he made to the English baron, when pressed by adverse fortune; and the latter having recourse to arms, to enforce Cathal's adherence to his engagements, was obliged to make a dishonourable retreat.

In the mean time the viceroy, Meyler Fitzhenry, having raised a considerable force, determined to reduce to subjection those English barons, who had appeared in arms against his royal master. He proceeded first to Limerick, against De Burgo; and the sword of the viceroy was no sooner unsheathed, than the king of Connaught, and O'Brien of Thomond, immediately made him a tender of their services; prompted more by the mean desire to humble the common enemy, Philip de Burgo, than intimidated by the threats, or the arms of Meyler Fitzhenry. Limerick was besieged, and Philip de Burgo, having no hopes of making an efficient resistance, surrounded on all sides by his enemies, capitulated to the viceroy. Cathal's submission to the British monarch on this occasion was most important; being no less than two parts of his kingdom of Connaught, absolutely; and to pay one hundred marks for the other part. The spirit of resistance to king John, which at this period distinguished the English barons in England, animated with equal zeal the bosoms of their countrymen in Ireland; they were equally indignant at his oppression and his cruelty. The baron de Courcy, yielding to the natural sincerity of his character, loudly exclaimed against his sovereign. Hugh de Lacy, more artful, suppressed his indignation; and, affecting a zealous loyalty, gave secret information of the thoughtless and hasty expressions of his countryman. John summoned De Courcy to appear before him; De Courcy treated the summons with contempt; De Lacy was ordered by his sovereign to reduce this refractory vassal to obedience. The result of the various battles fought by those English barons was the submission of De Courcy, on condition of obtaining a safe conduct to England. A romantic and idle tale is told of the feats and achievements of this celebrated English adventurer: he was condemned by king John, to perpetual imprisonment; and, as English historians relate, was released from prison to enter the lists with a champion of Philip king