ritory. 14. 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 Fitzstephens was the first knight who was able, in the ensuing spring, to fulfil his engagements, by landing with a hundred and thirty knights, sixty esquires, and three hundred archers. 15. 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. The 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. 16. 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. : 17. 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. 18. 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. 19. The island being thus in a manner wholly subdued, for nothing was capable of opposing the further progress of the English arms, Henry became willing to share in person those honours which the adventurers had already secured. 20. He, 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. Questions for Examination. 2, 3. How did Becket conduct himself on his return to England? 4. In what manner did Henry receive the complaints of Becket's insolence 5, 6. What was the consequence of Henry's resentment? 7. By what means did Henry divert the minds of the people? 9, 10. What was the situation of Ireland at this time? 11. By whom was it governed? 12. What occasioned the interference of Henry? 13. What followed this interference? 15. What further means were taken to subdue Ireland? 18. What was the success of the English on their invading Ireland? 20. For what purpose did Henry go to Ireland? SECTION III. "A maid unmatch'd in manners as in face, 6. Perspective, s. a view Po'tentates, s. monarchs, sovereigns. 7. Shrine, s. a case in which something sacred is deposited. Canoniza'tion, s. the act of making any one a saint. POPE. Absolu'tion, s. pardon of sins. 10. Aspi'red, part, desired with eagerness. 1. (A.D. 1173.) THE joy which this conquest diffused was very great; but troubles of a domestic nature served to render the remainder 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. 2. Among the number of his mistresses, Rosamond Clifford (better known by the name of Fair Rosamond, whose personal charms and whose death made 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 in England, and Henry is Eleanor of Guyenne reported to have loved her with a long and faithful attachment, from her tomb at Fontevrault. 3. 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 concealed her in a labyrinth in Woodstock-park ', where he passed in her com Woodstock palace, which is situated in Oxfordshire, was an ancient pany 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'. 4. 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 dissension between the king and his children. Young Harry, 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. 5. His discontents were shared by his brothers Geoffrey and Richard, whom the queen persuaded to assert their titles 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 in confinement. 6. Thus Henry saw all his long perspective of future happiness totally clouded; his sons, scarcely yet arrived at manhood, eager to share the spoils of their father's possessions; his queen warmly encouraging these undutiful princes in their rebellion; and many potentates of Europe not ashamed to lend them assistance to support these pretensions, 7. 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 Canterbury, alighting from his horse, he walked barefoot towards the town, and prostrated himself before the shrine of the saint. Next day he received absoroyal residence, and the favourite retreat of several kings of England. Here queen Elizabeth was confined by her sister Mary. Woodstock is held by the Dukes of Marlborough annually presenting a flag at Windsor Castle, on the day on which the battle of Blenheim was fought. Rosamond was buried at Godstow, a small island formed by the divided streams of the Isis, in the parish of Wolvercot, near Oxford, The following quaint epitaph was inscribed on her tomb : 2 "Hic jacet in tumba Rosa Mundi, non Rosamunda, Imitated in English. "Here lies not Rose the Chaste, but Rose the Fair: Her scents no more perfume, but taint the air." Here he was scourged by the monks, and passed the whole day and night fasting on the bare stones. lution; and, departing for London, was acquainted with the agreeable news of a victory over the Scots, obtained on the very day of his absolution. 8. From that time Henry's affairs began to wear a better aspect : the barons, who had revolted, or were preparing for a revolt, made instant submission; they delivered up their castles to the victor; and England, in a few weeks, was restored to perfect tranquillity. 9. Young Henry, who was ready to embark with a large army, to second the efforts of the English insurgents, finding all disturbances quieted at home, abandoned all thoughts of the expedition. This prince died soon after, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, of a fever, at Martel, not without the deepest remorse for his undutiful conduct towards his father. 10. As this prince left no posterity, Richard became heir to the crown; and he soon discovered the same ardent ambition that had misled his elder brother. A crusade having been once more projected, Richard, who had long wished to have all the glory of such an expedition to himself, and who could not bear to have even his father a partner in his victories, entered into a confederacy with the king of France, who promised to confirm him in those wishes at which he so ardently aspired. 11. By this, Henry found himself obliged to give up all hopes of taking the cross, and compelled to enter upon a war with France and his eldest son, who were unnaturally leagued against him. 12. At last, however, a treaty was concluded, in which he was obliged to submit to many mortifying concessions; but still more so, when, upon demanding a list of the barons that it was stipulated he should pardon, he found his son John, his favourite child, among the number. He had long borne an infirm state of body with calm resignation. He had seen his children rebel without much emotion; but when he saw that child, whose interest always lay next to his heart, among the number of those who were in rebellion against him, he could no longer contain his indignation. He broke out into expressions of the utmost despair; cursed the day on which he received his miserable being; and bestowed on his ungrateful children a malediction, which he never after could be prevailed upon to retract. 13. The more his heart was disposed to friendship and affection, the more he resented this barbarous return; and now, not having one corner in his heart where he could look for comfort or fly for refuge from his conflicting passions, he lost all his former vivacity. A lingering fever, caused by a broken heart, soon after terminated his life and his miseries. He died at the castle of Chinon, near Saumur, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign; in the course of which he displayed all the abilities of a politician, all the sagacity of a legislator, and all the magnanimity of a hero sullied, however, by many instances of cruelty and perfidy, which were too commonly the characteristics of all the Plantagenets. Questions for Examination. 1. With what vice in particular is Henry the Second charged? 2. What is said of Rosamond Clifford? 3. What was the result of this intercourse? 4. By whom were dissensions sown between the king and his children? 5. By what means did Eleanor endeavour to escape? 6. In what way were Henry's prospects of future happiness clouded? 7. What was the penance performed by Henry? 8. At what time did the affairs of Henry wear a better aspect? 9. Who endeavoured to assist the insurgents? 10. Did another of Henry's sons enter into a conspiracy? and what was the consequence? 12 What were the misfortunes which led Henry to curse the day of his birth, and to bestow a malediction on his children? Theobald, Becket, Richard, and Baldwin, archbishops of Canterbury. Strongbow, earl of Pembroke; William Longsword, earl of Salisbury; Geoffrey, archbishop of York; and Morgan, bishop of Durham, natural sons of the king; the two former by fair Rosamond, the latter by a daughter of Sir Ralph Blewitt. Hugh Lacy, and Ralph de Glanville, justiciaries of Ireland and England. Bertrand de Boru 3. Pope Adrian was an Englishman, by name Nicholas Breakspear; he was choked by a fly in the fifth year of his popedom.-Med. Hist. August. The regular succession and history of Denmark do not properly commence till the accession of Waldemar I. (called the Great), who considerably enlarged and civilized the country. ' Though not properly a subject of the English crown, this extraordinary man exercised no little influence on the fortunes of Henry. He was lord of a small territory lying between the continental possessions of Henry and France he saw that his only hope of retaining independence rested on the Continued hostility of these great powers, and used all his efforts to keep them constantly at war. Being both a politician and a poet, he exaggerated the causes of quarrel which constantly arise between adjoining states, and in bitter satires alternately reproached each government with cowardly submission to its rival. It was he that stimulated the sons of Henry to make |