the frequent depredations made on them by the Danes and their provincial chiefs, were continually making war with each other. It is evident, therefore, that England could not with propriety treat Ireland as a conquered country, as fome of their chieftains did not fwear allegiance to Henry II. and therefore they had frequently difputes with the English fettlers.

In the year 1172 king Henry gave a magnificent entertainment to the Irish princes and others, and gave to earl Strongbow all Leinster, (but to hold Dublin by homage); to Hugh de Lacy he gave Meath; to John de Courcy, Ulfter; and to Robert Fitzftephen and Miles Cogan, Cork. The king foon after receiving information of his fon John having joined in rebellion in England against him, it became necessary to return thither, where he arrived in 1173, having previously fettled an English colony from Bristol in Dublin by charter.

The charter granted by king Henry II. to the people of Briftol to inhabit the city of Dublin, was as follows:

Henricus Dei gratia, &c. Henry by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitain, and earl of Anjou; to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, juftices, minifters and fheriffs, and to all his faithful fubjects, French, English, and Irish, greet

ingi

ing; Know ye, that I have given, granted, and by my charter confirmed to my fubjects of Bristol, my city of Dublin, to inhabit. Wherefore, I will and firmly command that they do inhabit it and hold it of me and my - heirs, well and in peace, freely and quietly, fully and amply and honourably, with all the liberties and free cuftoms, which the men of Bristol have at Bristol, and through my whole land. Witnefs, William de Braofa, Reginald de Courtenay, Hugh de Gundeville, William Fitz-Aldelm, Reginald de Glanville, Hugh de Creffy, and Reginald de Pavilly. Dublin, 1173.

King Henry's title to Ireland, and the Pope's ratification of it, was published by Vivian, the Pope's legate, in a fynod held in Dublin in 1177, where he threatened excommunication against thofe who should withdraw their allegiance from him.-Henry, in the 23d year of his reign, A. D. 1185, conferred the title of Lord of Ireland on his fon John, who accordingly by the confent of the British parliament, came over to Ireland; and making a very ill use of his power, he rendered the English hateful to the Irish, who were otherwife well difpofed towards them but he foon after returning to England, the people from Bristol and the Irish natives continued in friendship, and Dublin from that time began to flourish.Thus the English laws and government were received in Ireland, to which the differences previously

previously fubfifting between the petty princes of Ireland greatly contributed. The antient Irish were at little trouble in the erecting and fortifying of cities, or in providing for themselves habitations of lafting and folid materials, for their houses were antiently built of twigs and hurdles and covered with ftraw; and their cities were like thofe, defcribed by Cæfar, in the 5th book of his Commentaries, of the antient Britons, which he fays confifted of a thick wood, inclosed within a ditch and rampart, and made for a place of retreat.

The antient Irish diftinguished the office of kings by two words, Airdrigh, or the high king, i. e. the fupreme monarch; and Righ-beag, i. e. the little or petty king; in Latin Regulus, who was a provincial or inferior king, and owed obedience and fubjection to the Airdrigh, though at the fame time he exercifed an abfolute authority over his own fubjects, who nevertheless had a right of appeal to the fupreme monarch, and in fmaller diftricts there were other petty kings, fome fubject to the Airdrigh and fome to the provincia kings. See Flaherty's Ogygia, page 28. The Irish, with refpect to their petty kings, followed the example of other nations; for Ulyffes was called king of Ithaca, though his dominion was only an ifland 25miles in compass, which Cicero compares to a neft built upon a rock. Neftor was ftiled king

king of Pylos, a fingle town in Peloponnefus. Joshua flew 31 kings in Paleftine, and every city of the Phoenicians had a king; and according to Strabo, when Julius Cæfar invaded Kent, it was fubject to four kings.

The affairs of Ireland remained in much the fame fituation, during the ten years reign of Richard I. from 1189 to 1199, as they were in at the deceafe of Henry, for Richard was too much taken up with the crufades to pay much attention to the interefts of Ireland. Soon after the acceffion of king John to the throne, he fet about the reformation of this kingdom with vigour, and for this purpofe in 1210, divided fuch parts of the provinces of Leinfter and Munfter as were within the English pale into twelve counties. The defcendants of the antient princes in other parts of Ireland did not pay him any more than a nominal fubjection, and governed by their Brehon laws, and in fhort, exercised their acts of fovereignty within their own respective ftates, which was pretty much the cafe till the reign of James I. King John alfo erected courts of judicature in Dublin, and appointed judges, circuits, and corporations as in England. He alfo caufed an abftract of the English laws and cuftoms to be drawn up in writing, which were depofited in the Exchequer in Dublin, with his feal affixed thereto. From the year 1216 to 1300, during the reigns of Henry III. Edward I. and II.

the

the Irish continued quiet, but repenting of their predeceffors having fo readily embraced the English government, they endeavoured to withdraw themselves from obedience to the laws of England; and in order more 'effectually to execute their intentions, they brought over to them several of the first adventurers from Briftol, who had conformed themselves to the manners and cuftoms of the native Irish. Ireland was at this time invaded by Edward, brother of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, who arriving at Dundalk was crowned king of Ireland there, but was at laft defeated and killed by general Birmingham, an officer of great experience in the English army. Many excellent laws for the protection and fecurity_of the properties of the Irish were paffed by Edward II. who ruled Ireland like a true father of his people.

In 1333, a rebellion broke out which was attended with the lofs of a confiderable number of men before it could be fuppreffed but a fucceffion of governors, remarkable for their wisdom and bravery, however at laft quieted the infurgents. In 1361, prince Lionel, fon to Edward III. having married the heiress of Ulfter, was fent over to govern this kingdom and to prevail on the inhabitants to an intire conformity to the laws of England; in which, though his endeavours were not wanting to accomplish it, yet he did not fucceed; the natives complaining of the govern