present; Becket himself, who at first shewed some reluctance, added his name to the number. But Alexander, who was at that time pope, condemned them in the strongest terms, abrogated, annulled, and rejected them

This produced a contest between the king and Becket, who, having attained the highest honours the monarch could bestow, took part with his holiness. In the midst of this dispute, Becket, with an intrepidity peculiar to himself, arraying himself in his episcopal vestments, and with the cross in his hand, went forward to the king's palace, and, entering the royal apartments, sat down, holding up the cross as his banner of protection. There he put himself, in the most solemn manner, under the protection of the supreme pontiff; and, upon receiving a refusal to leave the kingdom, he secretly withdrew in disguise, and at last found means to cross over to the Continent.

The intrepidity of Becket, joined to his apparent sanctity, gained him a very favourable reception upon the Continent, both from the people and their governors.

The pope and he were not remiss to retort their fulminations, and to shake the very foundation of the king's authority. Becket compared himself to Christ, who had been condemned by a lay tribunal, and who was crucified anew in the present oppressions under which the church laboured. But he did not rest in complaints only: he issued out a censure, excommunicating the king's chief ministers by name, all that were concerned in sequestering the revenues of his sec, and all who obeyed or favoured the Constitutions of Clarendon.

Frequent attempts, indeed, were made towards an accommodation but the mutual jealousies that each bore to the other, and their anxiety not to lose the least advantage in the negociation, often protracted this desirable treaty.

At length, however, the mutual aim of both made a reconciliation necessary; but nothing could exceed the insolence with which Becket conducted himself upon his first landing in England. Instead of retiring quietly to his diocese, with that modesty which became a man just pardoned by his king, he made a progress through Kent, in all the splendour and magnificence of a sovereign pontiff. As he approached Southwark, the clergy, the laity, men of all ranks and ages, came forth to meet him, and celebrated his triumphal entry with hymns of joy. Thus confident of the voice and the hearts of the people, he began to launch forth his thunders against those who had been his former opposers. The Archbishop of York, who had crowned Henry's eldest son in his absence, was the first against whom

E

he denounced sentence of suspension. The Bishops of London and Salisbury he actually excommunicated. One man he excommunicated for having spoken against him; and another for having cut off the tail of one of his horses.

Henry was then in Normandy, while the primate was thus triumphantly parading through the kingdom; and it was not without the utmost indignation that he received information of his turbulent insolence. When the suspended and excommunicated prelates arrived with their complaints, his anger knew no bounds. He broke forth into the most acrimonious expressions against that arrogant churchman, whom he had raised from the lowest station to be the plague of his life, and the continual disturber of his government. The Archbishop of York remarked to him, that so long as Becket lived, he could never expect to enjoy peace or tranquillity; and the king himself burst out into an exclamation, that he had no friends about him, or he would not so long have been exposed to the insults of that ungrateful hypocrite. These words excited the attention of the whole court; and armed four of his most resolute attendants, to gratify their monarch's secret inclinations. The conspirators, being joined by some assistants at the place of their meeting, proceeded to Canterbury with all that haste their bloody intentions required. Advancing directly to Becket's house, and entering his apartment, they reproached him very fiercely for the rashness and insolence of his conduct. During their altercation, the time approached for Becket to assist at vespers, whither he went unguarded, the conspirators following, and preparing for their attempt. As soon as he reached the altar, where it is just to think he aspired at the glory of martyrdom, they all fell upon him; and having cloven his head with repeated blows, he dropt down dead before the altar of St. Benedict, which was besmeared with his blood and brains.

Nothing could exceed the king's consternation upon receiving the first news of this prelate's catastrophe. He was instantly sensible that the murder would be ultimately imputed to him; and at length, in order to divert the minds of the people to a different object, he undertook an expedition against Ireland.

نیم

Ireland was at that time in pretty much the same situation that England had been after the first invasion of the Saxons. They had been early converted to Christianity; and, for three or four centuries after, possessed a very large proportion of the learning of the times. Being undisturbed by foreign invasions, and perhaps too poor to invite the rapacity of conquerors, they

enjoyed a peaceful life, which they gave up to piety, and such learning as was then thought necessary to promote it. Of their learning, their arts, their piety, and even their polished manners, too many monuments remain to this day for us to make the least doubt concerning them: but it is equally true, that in time they fell from these advantages; and their degenerate posterity, at the period we are now speaking of, were wrapt in the darkest barbarity.

At the time when Henry first planned the invasion of the island, it was divided into five-principalities: namely, Leinster, Meath, Munster, Ulster, and Connaught; each governed by its respective monarch. As it had been usual for one or other of those to take the lead in their wars, he was denominated sole monarch of the kingdom, and possessed of a power resembling that of the early Saxon monarchs in England. Roderic O'Connor, King of Connaught, was then advanced to this dignity, and Dermot M'Morrogh was King of Leinster. This last named prince, a weak, licentious tyrant, had carried off and ravished the daughter of the King of Meath, who, being strengthened by the alliance of the King of Connaught, invaded the ravisher's dominions, and expelled him from his kingdom. The prince, thus justly punished, had recourse to Henry, who was at that time in Guienne; and offered to hold his kingdom of the English crown, in case he recovered it by the king's assistance. Henry readily accepted the offer; but being at that time embarrassed by more near interests, he only gave Dermot letters patent; by which he empowered all his subjects to aid the Irish prince in the recovery of his dominions. Dermot, relying on this authority, returned to Bristol, where, after some difficulty, he formed a treaty with Richard, surnamed Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, who agreed to reinstate him in his dominions, upon condition of his being married to his daughter Eva, and declared heir of all his territory. Being thus assured of assistance, he returned privately to Ireland, and concealed himself during the winter in the monastery of Ferns, which he had founded. Robert Fitz-Stephens was the first knight who was able, the ensuing spring, to fulfil his engagements, by landing with a hundred and thirty knights, sixty esquires, and three hundred archers. They were soon after joined by Maurice Pendergast, who, about the same time, brought over ten knights and sixty archers; and with this small body of forces they resolved on besieging Wexford, which was to be theirs by treaty. This town was quickly reduced; and the adventurers being reinforced by another body of men, to the amount of a hundred

and fifty, under the command of Maurice Fitzgerald, composed an army that struck the barbarous natives with awe. Roderic,

the chief monarch of the island, ventured to oppose them, but he was defeated; and soon after the Prince of Ossory was obliged to submit, and give hostages for his future conduct.

Dermot being thus reinstated in his hereditary dominions, soon began to conceive hopes of extending the limits of his power, and making himself master of Ireland. With these views, he endeavoured to expedite Strongbow; who, being personally prohibited by the king, was not yet come over. Dermot tried to inflame his ambition by the glory of the conquest, and his avarice by the advantages it would procure: he expatiated on the cowardice of the natives, and the certainty of his success. Strongbow first sent over Raymond, one of his retinue, with ten knights and seventy archers; and receiving permission shortly after for himself, he landed with two hundred horse, and a hundred archers. All these English forces now joining together, became irresistible; and though the whole number did not amount to a thousand, yet such was the barbarous state of the natives, that they were every where put to the rout. The city of Waterford quickly surrendered; Dublin was taken by assault; and Strongbow soon after marrying Eva, according to treaty, became master of the kingdom of Leinster upon Dermot's decease...

He,

The island being thus in a manner wholly subdued, for nothing was capable of opposing the farther progress of the English arms, Henry became willing to share in person those honours which the adventurers had already secured. therefore, shortly after landed in Ireland, at the head of five hundred knights and some soldiers; not so much to conquer a disputed territory, as to take possession of a kingdom. Thus, after a trifling effort, in which very little money was expended and little blood shed, that beautiful island became an appendage to the English crown, and as such it has ever since continued, with unshaken fidelity.

The joy which this conquest diffused was very great; but troubles of a domestic nature served to render the remaining part of Henry's life a scene of turbulence and disquietude.

Among the few vices ascribed to this monarch, unlimited gallantry was one. Queen Eleanor, whom he had married from motives of ambition, and who had been divorced from her former royal consort for her incontinence, was long become disagreeable to Henry; and he sought in others those satisfactions he could not find with her. Among the number of his

mistresses, Rosamond Clifford, better known by the name of Fair Rosamond, whose personal charms and whose death make so conspicuous a figure in the romances and the ballads of the times, was the most remarkable. She is said to have been the most beautiful woman that was ever seen in England, and that Henry loved her with a long and faithful attachment.

In order to secure her from the resentment of his queen, who, from having been formerly incontinent herself, now became jealous of his incontinence, he conccaled her in a labyrinth in Woodstock-park, where he passed in her company his hours of vacancy and pleasure. How long this secret intercourse continued is not told us; but it was not so closely concealed but that it came to the queen's knowledge, who, as the accounts add, being guided by a clue of silk to her fair rival's retreat, obliged her, by holding a drawn dagger to her breast, to swallow poison. Whatever may be the veracity of this story, certain it is that this haughty woman, though formerly offensive by her own gallantries, was now no less so by her jealousy; and she it was who first sowed the seeds of dissention between the king and his children.

Young Henry, the king's eldest son, was taught to believe himself injured, when, upon being crowned as partner in the kingdom, he was not admitted into a share of the administration. Ilis discontents were shared by his brothers Geoffry and Richard, whom the queen persuaded to assert their title to the territories assigned them. Queen Eleanor herself was meditating an escape to the court of France, whither her sons had retired, and had put on man's apparel for that purpose, when she was seized by the king's order, and put into confinement. Thus Henry saw all his long perspective of future happiness totally clouded: his sons, scarce yet arrived at manhood, eager to share the spoils of their father's possessions; his queen warmly encouraging those undutiful princes in their rebellion; and many potentates of Europe not ashamed to lend them assistance to support their pretensions.

It was not long before the young princes had sufficient influence upon the Continent to raise a powerful confederacy in their favour.

Henry, therefore, knowing the influence of superstition over the minds of the people, and, perhaps, apprehensive that a part of his troubles arose from the displeasure of Heaven, resolved to do penance at the shrine of St. Thomas, at Canterbury, for that was the name given to Becket upon his canonization. As soon as he came within sight of the church of