in his hands; and Richard, marrying Eva, became
soon after, by the death of Dermot, master of the kingdom of Leinster,
and prepared to extend his authority over all Ireland. Roderic, and
the other Irish princes, were alarmed at the danger; and, combining
together, besieged Dublin with an army of thirty thousand men; but
Earl Richard making a sudden sally at the head of ninety knights, with
their followers, put this numerous army to rout, chased them off the
field, and pursued them with great slaughter. None in Ireland now
dared to oppose themselves to the English [l].
[FN [k] Ibid. p. 767. [l] Girald. Cambr. p. 773.]

Henry, jealous of the progress made by his own subjects, sent orders
to recall all the English, and he made preparations to attack Ireland
in person [m]: but Richard, and the other adventurers, found means to
appease him by making him the most humble submissions, and offering to
hold all their acquisitions in vassalage to his crown [n]. That
monarch landed in Ireland at the head of five hundred knights, besides
other soldiers: he found the Irish so dispirited by their late
misfortunes, that, in a progress which he made through the island, he
had no other occupation than to receive the homage of his new
subjects. He left most of the Irish chieftains or princes in
possession of their ancient territories; bestowed some lands on the
English adventurers; gave Earl Richard the commission of Seneschal of
Ireland; and after a stay of a few months, returned in triumph to
England. By these trivial exploits, scarcely worth relating, except
for the importance of the consequences, was Ireland subdued, and
annexed to the English crown.
[FN [m] Ibid. p. 770. [n] Ibid. p. 775.]

The low state of commerce and industry, during those ages, made it
impracticable for princes to support regular armies, which might
retain a conquered country in subjection; and the extreme barbarism
and poverty of Ireland could still less afford means of bearing the
expense. The only expedient, by which a durable conquest could then
be made or maintained, was by pouring in a multitude of new
inhabitants, dividing among them the lands of the vanquished,
establishing them in all offices of trust and authority, and thereby
transforming the ancient inhabitants into a new people. By this
policy, the northern invaders of old, and of late the Duke of
Normandy, had been able to fix their dominions, and to erect kingdoms,
which remained stabl