his kingdom, and engaged on oath to pay the thousand marks tribute, in addition to the hearthmoney, to the see of Rome.

The chiefs of the adventurers in Ireland, like the captains of Alexander, became giddy by their sudden elevation from indigence to opulence, and desolated the unfortunate country by their hostilities. Meath suffered by the hostilities of Hugh de Lacy with William Marshall. Leinster and Munster were often wasted by the quarrels of the latter with Meyler Fitz-Henry. Taking forcible possession of some lands belonging to the bishop of Ferns, he died excommunicated. Some writers on Irish affairs observe, that Divine vengeance chastises impiety; and that his five sons by Isabel, daughter of Strongbow, and heiress, by fraudulent compact, of Leinster, left no pos terity.

A strong instance of the English policy in building and destroying monasteries, was furnished by Meyler Fitz-Henry, whose death is just related. At the head of an armed banditti, he entered the town of Cluain Mac Naois, murdered indiscriminately all he met, plundered houses, churches and monasteries, not sparing the ornaments and sacred vessels. Yet this monster of cruelty built an ecclesiastical garrison at Conall, where he was interred. That the English persevered steadily to establish their authority, by ecclesiastical as well as secular means, may be perceived, not only by their establishing convents of English monks, but likewise by their efforts to establish bishops of English descent

wherever their interest could prevail. Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin, called so from the city of London, of which he was a native, died about this time, and was succeeded by Lucas, dean of the church of St. Martin, London. Eugene, archbishop of Armagh, was succeeded by Luke Netterville.

As a proof of the munificence of some of these religious foundations, we may instance the Old Four Courts, Christ-church-lane, Dublin. This building was originally erected for Cistercian monks, of Norman or English descent indifferently. It was afterwards conceded to the Dominicans, on condition of offering a lighted wax candle annually, on Christmas-day, to the Cistercian abbey, the scite of which is now called Mary's abbey. As the numerous foundations, mentioned year after year by our annalists, rather belong to topography than national history, we shall not detain the reader with a detail, only a few instances occasionally.

While the Anglo-Irish were thus busied in mining or countermining the natives, by every means that religion, arms or policy could suggest, the Holy Father took occasion, from his quarrel with the emperor Frederic, to make his English vassals sensible of the weight of his alliance. To obtain the sinews of war, Gregory IX. sent Stephen, as nuncio, with an apostolic mandate, for the payment of the tenth of all moveable property, lay and clerical, from England and Ireland. The English peers rejected this demand; but the clergy, dreading excommuni

cation, yielded a reluctant obedience. The inhabitants of the pale, sensible of the importance of the Roman 'alliance, sold not only private property, but the church utensils, to satisfy his demands.

1229. The monarchs of England had still a hankering for the French provinces wrested from king John. Henry III. made some efforts for the recovery of Normandy. He drew, for this enterprise, auxiliaries from Ireland, which served in fact as a practical military school for English adventurers. Maurice Fitz-Gerald, the justice, had the command of this expedition, and Hubert de Burgo became his substitute in the government of the pale. This man deserves to be noticed, as a striking instance of the versitality of human affairs. In high repute, for his gallant defence of Dover against prince Louis, he was appointed governor to the king, during his long minority, lord justice of Ireland, and earl of Kent. But he lived to experience a sad reverse. Disgraced by the king, who treated him as an old traitor, and confined to the tower of London. During the period of his elevation, Maurice Fitz-Gerald being still on the continent, he appointed Geoffry Maurice as the king's deputy in Ireland.

The native princes made now and then some faint and transitory efforts to resist encroachments, or recover their lost patrimony. The king of Connaught, thinking the absence of William Marshall and Robert Fitz-Gerald a favourable opportunity, made some incursions into the Eng

lish territories; but the chieftains of the English settlers had the advantage of trained mercenary bands, accustomed to discipline and obedience, to oppose to an undisciplined multitude. The justice, Geoffry Maurice, summoned Walter Lacy, and Richard de Burgo, to his assistance, with all the forces they could raise, with whom he marched to Connaught. Coming to the borders of a wood, they learned by their spies, that the king of Connaught, with his force, was encamped on the opposite side of it. Geoffry thereupon divided his army into three columns. He gave the command of two of them to Walter de Lacy, and Richard de Burgo, with orders to hide in the wood, to the right and left of the road by which it was traversed. With the third he marched to meet the king of Connaught, and drew up his forces in order of battle. According to his wishes, he was immediately attacked by the Irish. The artful justice thereupon retreated. The Irish fell into the ambuscade, and were cut to pieces, their king taken prisoner. The loss of the Connaught army, some English writers say, was 20,000 men. But this narrative is not accompanied by circumstances indispensible to history. Time, place and name are wanting. It was written by people accustomed to sacrifice truth on the altar of national vanity. Had the swords of English warriors been as destructive as the pens of their writers, few of their enemies would survive the slaughter. Whether any king of Connaught ever experienced such a defeat, it is certain, that the supposed conqueror met a

fate, due perhaps to his conduct. Disgraced and sent into exile by his king, the tragical end of his son completed his misfortune. He sunk, unregretted, by the doleful tale that his son was hanged and quartered for his crimes.

It may perhaps diversify the tragic scene a little, to remark, that amidst the tumults of anarchy and predatory warfare, learning was not entirely forgotten in the island of saints. Many of the religious foundations were partly destined for the purpose of education. And we meet in our analists, now and then, the names of men, eminent for their literature. Such as Cornelius, called Historicus, on account of his knowledge of antiquities; of whose life Bale and Stanihurst gave an abridgment. Hector Boetius acknowledges himself indebted to this author of Multarum Rerum Chronicon, for much useful information towards the knowledge of Scottish history. If envy be a sure test of merit, his memory is not destitute of that kind of testimony. Dempster, the saint-stealer, with his gluttonous patriotism, would swallow this man into his own country, along with the rest of his thefts.

'Twas during the minority of Henry III., when one of his English settlers, Hubert, became governor to the minor, and chief justice of England, that the affairs of the English colonists flourished. He passed two charters in their favour, which are published by Leland; and, being remarkable for the privileges granted to his Irish subjects, are here inserted.