scipline to that of England. It is not to be
thought that in this council the temporal interests of England were
entirely forgotten. Many of the English were established in their
particular conquests under the tenure of knights' service, now first
introduced into Ireland: a tenure which, if it has not proved the best
calculated to secure the obedience of the vassal to the sovereign, has
never failed in any instance of preserving a vanquished people in
obedience to the conquerors. The English lords built strong castles on
their demesnes; they put themselves at the head of the tribes whose
chiefs they had slain; they assumed the Irish garb and manners; and
thus, partly by force, partly by policy, the first English families took
a firm root in Ireland. It was, indeed, long before they were able
entirely to subdue the island to the laws of England; but the continual
efforts of the Irish for more than four hundred years proved
insufficient to dislodge them.

Whilst Henry was extending his conquests to the western limits of the
known world, the whole fabric of his power was privately sapped and
undermined, and ready to overwhelm him with the ruins, in the very
moment when he seemed to be arrived at the highest and most permanent
point of grandeur and glory. His excessive power, his continual
accessions to it, and an ambition which by words and actions declared
that the whole world was not sufficient for a great man, struck a just
terror into all the potentates near him: he was, indeed, arrived at that
pitch of greatness, that the means of his ruin could only be found in
his own family. A numerous offspring, which is generally considered as
the best defence of the throne, and the support as well as ornament of
declining royalty, proved on this occasion the principal part of the
danger. Henry had in his lawful bed, besides daughters, four sons,
Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, all growing up with great hopes from
their early courage and love of glory. No father was ever more delighted
with these hopes, nor more tender and indulgent to his children. A
custom had long prevailed in France for the reigning king to crown his
eldest son in his lifetime. By this policy, in turbulent times, and
whilst the principles of succession were unsettled, he secured the crown
to his posterity. Henry gladly imitated a policy enforced no less by
paternal affection than its utility to public peace. He had, during his
troubles with Becket, crowne