aluable work, should be remembered. It is admitted that the
original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus, the disciple of
St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason to believe that
this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the bishop-king of
Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of Rights was
compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of the same
name.

[271] _Da Derga_.--See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of Kildare,
by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26, 1866.

[272] _Profit_.--The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688 notice
this especially. Trees to the value of L20,000 were cut down and
destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to
the value of L27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of
these trees were sold for _sixpence a piece_.

CHAPTER XVI.

The English Invasion--Dermod's Interview with Henry II.--Henry grants
Letters-patent--Dermod obtains the assistance of Strongbow, Earl de
Clare--He returns to Ireland--Arrival of English Forces under
FitzStephen--Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch--He is at
last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost
without a Struggle--Strongbow's Genealogy--He obtains a Tacit Permission
to invade Ireland--His Arrival in Ireland--Marriage of Strongbow and
Eva--Death of Dermod Mac Murrough--Strongbow proclaims himself King of
Leinster--Difficulties of his Position--Siege of Dublin--Strongbow's
Retreat--He returns to England.

[A.D. 1168-1171.]

[Illustration: Letter 'U']

Until this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have
existed between England and Ireland. Saxon nobles and princes had fled
for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring shores. The
assistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.
Irish merchants[273] had taken their goods to barter in English markets;
but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race
under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked
out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country,
that country's fate was sealed.

William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near
St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot
to Ireland--a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His
speech was repeated to the King of