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he meditated with his daughter, thus publickly known. This, he said, would render it impossible for him ever – after, to form for her a matrimonial connexion suitable to her accomplishments, dignity and station. He therefore offered to send her secretly to Turgesius's residence, where his desires might be privately gratified. He added that fifteen of the most beautiful ladies of his court. should accompany her, probably that the princess might feel less reluctance at leaving her father's palace and entering that of the Danish prince.

Turgesius acquiesced in this proposal, the conversation became of a more general nature, and Melachlin propounded to the despot the following apparently simple but important question, "How," said he, "shall we most effectually clear the country, of a parcel of foreign birds, of a most mischievous nature, which have lately arrived amongst us?" Turgesius, not aware of the real tendency of the question, replied, "If they build nests, you can never expect to exterminate them till you every where destroy those nests." Melachlin treasured in his memory, this oracular response, which he determined to fulfil as soon as possible, by pulling down the strong holds and castles of the Danes.

As soon as this interesting conversation had terminated, Turgesius withdrew and impatiently awaited the arrival of the appointed night.

The evening preceding that night was spent by the Danish sovereign and his favourite chieftains, in riotous feasting. Inflamed with wine, he without hesitation, openly boasted to his companions of his intrigue with the princess of Meath, and unfeelingly proposed to prostitute the fifteen ladies who were to accompany her, to a select and equal number of his guests.

The proposal was received with rapturous applause. Expectation was on tiptoe, when a messenger sent by the princess, privately announced to Turgesius, that she

• Cambrensis Topog. Hib, dist, 3, c. 42, 45,

and her retinue were arrived near his palace; information which he received with inexpressible satisfaction, and triumphantly communicated to his officers.

The chieftains laid aside their arms, and retired to their apartments, lest the presence of so many warriors might terrify the ladies, on their entrance into the banquetting room.

The wished-for moment arrived. The daughter of Melachlin and her companions entered the palace. Turgesius received them with transports of joy, and having tenderly embraced the princess, was proceeding to conduct her into his chamber, when her friends throwing open their loose gowns, drew forth concealed swords, which they brandished over the astonished Dane, menacing him with instantaneous death, if he dared to call for aid. The terrified monarch submitted and was immediately bound.

The spirited friends of the princess now unexpectedly assailed the attendants, and the unarmed and inebriated guests of Turgesius, whom they overpowered and slew. The king of Meath himself had arrived with a chosen body of troops, and having entered the palace aided in completing the work of blood.

Turgesius, now a captive, was forced to endure the taunts of the victor, who sternly upbraided him with the crimes which he had committed, and loaded him with heavy irons. Refined in his vengeance, Melachlin spared his life, for a short time, that he might witness the miseries which his countrymen were in their turn doomed to suffer.

It must have augmented the anguish of the crest-fallen monarch, to find that he had, in every instance, been the dupe of the man whom he had sought to dishonour. The eagerness of his desires had prevented him from discovering in time, that the fifteen companions of the princess were not helpless maidens, but youthful warriors whom her father had selected for the occasion, on account of their beauty and their valour, and had dressed in fe

male attire. These beardless youths, under the semblance of timid, bashful, and blooming virgins, concealed the manly strength and dauntless spirit of men ready to meet death itself in their country's cause.*

event.

An instantaneous rising of the people ensued this signal Many of the Danes were massacred, many submitted to the Irish princes, and many set sail for Denmark.t

Turgesius himself was at last thrown, laden as he was with irons, into Lough Ainnin, where he perished in the sight of a multitude of rejoicing spectators.‡

Polychron. Ran. Higden. Topog. Hib. dist. 3, c. 4. O'Halloran, p. 173, 175.

Mon: Chest. apud Gale p. 181. Cambrensis
Keating, vol. 2. p. 181.
+ Keating. M'Curtin.

Hib. dist. 3, c. 4, 41. Ann. Ult. See Appendix XII.

M'Curtin p. 84.
Gir, Cam: Top.

Some authors consider the above narrative of the death of Turgesius, as highly improbable. An account, however, is given of a similar transaction by Plutarch, in his life of Pelopidas. The ancient historian Herodotus has also inserted in his work, an authentic narrative of a successful adventure conducted by young men in a female dress, The truth of these accounts have never been doubted, yet they seem much more improbable than the anecdote relative to Turgesius, The reader may see an abstract of the passage in Herodotus, in Appendix No, XII.

CHAPTER III.

From the death of Thorgils till the funeral of Brian Boroimhe.

FACTNA Succeeded DERMOT O TIGHERN AC in the see of Armagh, in the year 852. A few months prior to the death of his predecessor, the Danes of Ulster had as we have already stated, pillaged Armagh, on Easter-Sunday. He himself was doomed to be again a spectator of the horrors inflicted on his people, by their inveterate enemies. The Norwegian, Amhlaoibh (or Amelanus) had arrived at Waterford with a large fleet and army, and after various conflicts with Melachlin, king of Ireland, and with his successor Eden (or Aodh-Finnliath) VI. had succeeded in re-establishing the authority of the Danes in Leinster and Munster. Determined to extend and secure his dominion in the north of the kingdom also, this chieftain landed in Ulster, with a considerable army, and as the people of Armagh had again expelled their foreign tyrants, he marched with his whole force to that city. Armagh was again stormed, pillaged and set on fire by the victorious Ostmen. One thousand of the native troops and citizens were slain on the spot, or left miserably wounded, to perish in the flames.*

The monarch of Ireland soon avenged the injuries which the people of Armagh had thus sustained. In a severe action fought in the neighbourhood of LochFoyle, he completely routed Amelanus, who lost in the field of battle, twelve hundred men and forty officers.+ On the sixth of October, 874, FACTNA, archbishop of Armagh, died.

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He was succeeded by MELCOB MAC CRUMVAIL, who died of old age in the year 885. This prelate about the year 879, had been seized and detained for some time by the Danes, as a prisoner.*

The next in succession was MEL-BRIGID MAC DORNAN, of regal lineage, being the thirteenth in descent from Nial the Great. He had been abbot of Derry and ishop of Raphoe, and was promoted to Armagh, a. d. 885. This prelate possessed uncommon erudition, and was denominated "the ornament of Europe." He was a man of inflexible justice, and was chosen by the princes and nobles of the country, as their common umpire in every private or political contest.

Such was the benevolence of this excellent man, that in the year 908, he travelled to a remote part of Ulster, to redeem a captive Briton from slavery.+

A. D. 889, a tumult and sedition was excited in Armagh, at the feast of Pentecost, by Addid Mac Laigne, king of Ulidia, and Flathbert Mac Murchard, prince of Oileach, of the family of the O Nials. The former at the head of the people of Cinel-Eoghain, (Tirone,) the latter at the head of those of Ulidia, (Down,) disturbed the public tranquillity. This factious contest was finally quelled by the interference of Archbishop MELBRIGID. That prelate deemed it necessary to punish the rioters for the marked irreverence which they had manifested towards the church of God, and their open disrespect of SAINT PATRICK. He therefore mulct the offending Ulidians in a fine of two hundred oxen, exacted hostages for their future good conduct, and caused six of the most active ringleaders to be executed on a gallows. Precisely in the same manner he punished the opposing faction, the sept Cinel-Eoghain‡

The power of the church at this period and the voluntary reverence paid to the successor of SAINT PATRICK, `may in some measure be estimated by this extraordinary

Usser Ind. Chron. p. 543.

• Tria. Thaum. p. 296: p. 46. Annals Ult. Annals of the Four Masters. Annals of the Four Masters.

Tria. Thaum, p. 296.

Ware's Bishops, Ware; vol. 1, p. 47. Ware, vol. 1. p. 47.

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