ed in Ireland for a
long time before," the Chronicler tells us, "from which greater benefit
had accrued to the country than from this; for during the three and a
half years that Edward had spent in it, a universal famine prevailed to
such a degree that men were wont to devour one another."

A ray of light is thus shed on the intellectual and moral life of the
time: "1398: Garrett Earl of Desmond--or Deas-muma--a cheerful and
courteous man, who excelled all the Normans and many of the Irish in the
knowledge of the Irish language, poetry, history and other learning,
died after the victory of peace." We see that the Normans are already
fallen under the same influence of assimilation which had transformed
the Danes two hundred years before.

A half-century later, we get a vigorous and lurid picture of the
survival of the old tribal strife: "1454: Donell O'Donell was installed
in the lordship of Tyrconnell, in opposition to Rury O'Donell. Not long
after this, Donell was treacherously taken captive and imprisoned in the
castle of Inis--an island in Lough Swilly. As soon as Rury received
tidings of this, he mustered an army thither, and proceeded to demolish
the castle in which Donell was imprisoned with a few men to guard him.
Rury and his army burned the great door of the castle, and set the
stairs on fire; whereupon Donell, thinking that his life would be taken
as soon as the army should reach the castle,--it being his dying
request, as he thought--that he might be loosed from his fetters, as he
deemed it a disgrace to be killed while imprisoned and fettered. His
request was granted, and he was loosed from his fetters; after which he
ascended to the battlements of the castle, to view the motions of the
invading army. And he saw Rury beneath, with eyes flashing enmity, and
waiting until the fire should subside, that he might enter and kill him.
Donell then, finding a large stone by his side, hurled it directly down
upon Rury, so that it fell on the crest of his helmet, on the top of his
head, and crushed it, so that he instantly died. The invading forces
were afterwards defeated, and by this throw Donell saved his own life
and acquired the lordship of Tyrconnell."

There is a whole historical romance in that single picture; the passage
could not easily be surpassed for direct and forcible narrative. A few
years later, we come on one of the most amusing things in the whole
series of annals, a perfect contrast to the grim fe