Dermod seeks protection from England. 33

other sort, he instantly meditated revenge, and he applied for assistance to Roderick, king of Ireland. He endeavoured also to stimulate the nobility and gentry of his own country to espouse his cause, and aid him in punishing the ravisher for a crime which so deeply affected his peace and honour. The king of Ireland was not indisposed to befriend the king of Briefne against Dermod, for independently of the adulterous outrage which he had committed, his general oppression and tyranny rendered him not only obnoxious to his sovereign, but so unpopular even with own retainers, that they all deserted him in the hour of trial, taking that opportunity to avenge the miseries which they had long been forced to suffer and to conceal.

Success was on the side of the kings of Ireland · and Briefne, and Dermod was obliged to fly and seek refuge in England, where he threw himself at the feet of Henry II. imploring his assistance, and swearing, in return, fealty and allegiance to him. This was an event not unwished for by the English monarch, for it is agreed by all historians, that he had long been desirous of an opportunity to gain a footing in Ireland. In pretending to espouse the cause of Dermod, he nearly did what all ambitious monarchs have done in all ages, rendered his interposition subservient to the final views of conquest and subjugation. Henry, indeed, had some cause to regard the conduct of the Irish with resentment, for they had committed

34 Is allowed to solicit the English barons.

many depredations in Wales, united with the Ostinen or Danes. He could not, however, support the cause of Dermod by force of arms at that time, because he was engaged in a war against Louis, king of France; but he caused the following edict to be issued in his behalf: "Henry, king of England, &c. &c. unto all his subjects, &c. &c. sendeth greeting; whensoever these our letters. shall come unto you, know ye, that we have received Dermod, king of Leinster, into our protection, grace, and favour; wherefore, whosoever within our jurisdiction will aid and helpe him, our trustie subject, for the recoverie of his land, let him be assured of our favour and licence in that behalfe."

With this kind of credential he hastened to Bristol, where he hoped, from the intercourse that then subsisted between that city and Ireland, to hear some information respecting his native country. He there caused the royal edict to be read, and offered a liberal reward, both in money and lands, to any that should assist him in the recovery of his rights. Ireland was at time regarded as a place where such barbarity of manners prevailed, that few would be willing to accept his proposals. They attracted, however, the ambition of Richard, son of Gilbert de Claire, earl of Strigul and Chepstow, who went to Bristol, and after conversing with Dermod on the subject, proInised to go over to Ireland, the ensuing spring,

pon condition that Dermod should give him in

The eternal coincidences of nature illustrated. 35 marriage his only daughter Eva, and settle upon him the succession of his whole inheritance and property, in Ireland. These stipulations being arranged, Dermod became anxious to behold again his native land. There would be some mournful satisfaction in doing this, even though at a distance, and he repaired accordingly to St. David's, of which place Giraldus was bishop. Here, according to his testimony, "Languishing and lying for a passage, he comforted himself as well as he might; sometime drawing, and as it were, breathing the air of his country, which he seemed to breathe and smell; sometimes viewing and beholding his country, which in a fair day a man may ken and descry." Let me stop here for a moment, to remark how similarly nature operates in all ages and in all countries, when she operates in her own character. We find here the rude and unpolished inhabitant of a country, endeared to him by no forms of social life, by no luxurious pleasures, by no refinements of epicurean delights, by no memory of its splendour and prosperity, fondly gazing towards its shores while an exile in a foreign land, and inhaling the air that blew from them with melancholy delight, because it came from his native vallies and mountains. Bryan Edwards, in his History of the West Indies, relates a pathetic incident, much resembling the above, only exceeding it in all the qualities of tenderness. Doctor Robertson, in his History of America, neutions the circumstance of several vessels being

35.

An interesting anecdote.

fitted out from Hispaniola to the Lucayos, for the durpose of ensnaring the natives, whom they told they had come from a delicious country, in which their departed ancestors resided, and by whom they were sent to invite them to partake of the bliss which they enjoyed. That simple people listened with wonder and credulity, and eager to visit those happy regions, above forty thousand of them followed the Spaniards to Hispaniola, there to share in the sufferings of that island and its wretched race of men. But they do not forget the artifice by which they were deluded.

"Many of them," says Edwards, "in the anguish of despair, refuse all sustenance, retire to desart caves and woods, and silently give up the ghost others, repairing to the sea coast on the northern side of Hispaniola, cast many a longing look to that part of the ocean where they suppose their own islands situated, and as the sea-breeze rises eagerly inhale it, believing it has lately visited their own happy rallies, and comes fraught with the breath of those they love, their wives and children. With this idea they continue for hours on the coast, till nature becomes utterly exhausted; when, stretching out their arms towards the ocean, as if to take a last embrace of their distant country and relatives, they sink down and expire without a groan."

While the coadjutors of Dermod were making preparations in England, he himself was not inactive. He went over to Ireland in disguise, and

Death of Dermod M'Morogh.

37

spent the winter in the monastery at Ferns, which he had founded, and secretly occupied his time in concerting his plans for the reception of his English friends. He was successful in winning over numbers to his views; and when in the spring of the year 1170, Robert Fitzstephens landed in the Ban near Wexford, he began to form plans upon the Irish monarchy, confident of success from the aid of his English allies. But his hopes and his ambition were defeated by his death, which happened at Ferns in the month of May, 1171. The Irish historians affirm that he died by a dreadful visitation of God as a punishment for his crimes, his body becoming suddenly covered with fœtid sores, and labouring under the morbus pedicularis.

The death of Dermod, however, did not interrupt the proceedings of the English, who, under Strongbow*, continued so successful as to excite the jealousy and suspicion of Henry. That monarch strictly interdicted all intercourse with Ireland, and he even commanded all his subjects to return to England on pain of forfeiting all their lands, and of perpetual banishment. Strongbow, however, to avert the ruin that threatened him, and to facilitate his ambitious designs, for he had now married the daughter of Dermod, dispatched Raymond Le Gross with the following letter to his sovereign:

Sce Appendix, No. I.