and,
appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could
afford to do so, as they were so far beyond the reach of his vengeance.

John remained only sixty days in Ireland. He returned to Wales on the
26th of August, 1210, after confiding the government of the colony to
John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whose predilection for secular affairs
had induced the Holy See to refuse his nomination to the Archbishopric
of Canterbury. The most important act of his Viceroyalty was the
erection of a bridge and castle at _Ath-Luain_ (Athlone). He was
succeeded, in 1213, by Henry de Londres, who had been appointed to the
see of Dublin during the preceding year. This prelate was one of those
who were the means of obtaining _Magna Charta_. His name appears second
on the list of counsellors who advised the grant; and he stood by the
King's side, at Runnymede, when the barons obtained the bulwark of
English liberty. It is sometimes forgotten that the clergy were the
foremost to demand it, and the most persevering in their efforts to
obtain it.

The Archbishop was now sent to Rome by the King to plead his cause
there, and to counteract, as best he might, the serious complaints made
against him by all his subjects--A.D. 1215. In 1213 Walter de Lacy
obtained the restoration of his father's property in Wales and England.
Two years later he recovered his Irish lands; but the King retained his
son, Gislebert, as hostage, and his Castle of _Droicead-Atha_
(Drogheda).

The Irish chieftains made some stand for their rights at the close of
this reign. Cormac O'Melaghlin wrested Delvin, in Meath, from the
English. O'Neill and O'Donnell composed their difference _pro tem._, and
joined in attacking the invaders. In the south there was a war between
Dermod and Connor Carthy, in which the Anglo-Normans joined, and, as
usual, got the lion's share, obtaining such an increase of territory as
enabled them to erect twenty new castles in Cork and Kerry.

The Four Masters give a curious story under the year 1213. O'Donnell
More sent his steward to Connaught to collect his tribute. On his way he
visited the poet Murray O'Daly, and began to wrangle with him, "although
his lord had given him no instructions to do so." The poet's ire was
excited. He killed him on the spot with a sharp axe--an unpleasant
exhibition of literary justice--and then fled into Clanrickarde for
safety. O'Donnell determined to revenge the insult, until Mac William
(Wi