2 houses made of wood, so convenient that they could be set up in an hour's time, and he never while in Ireland lay out in camp. The battle of the Boyne, in which King James's army was defeated, and the Duke of Schonberg, William's general was killed, was fought on the 1st of July. James had previously gone to Derry, in order to protect his Protestant subjects from the vengeance of the Catholics of the North; but he was fired at for his pains from the walls of Derry-in fact the conduct of King James was already arraigned as that of a Catholic in religion, and a Protestant in politics. There was no blame that did not already attach to James; among others he was accused of having spent the campaign of 1689 without advantage-he was aspersed because energetic measures were not taken by the Duke of Tyrconnell and his other ministers to prevent the Castle of Charlemont, the only fortress in Ulster, falling into the hands of Schonberg.3 James, however, has been vindicated by Mac Pherson and other writers, from the serious charges which have been preferred against him on these heads; but nevertheless, his proceedings throughout manifested a desire to conciliate a foe which had thoroughly contemned his advances. On his arrival in Dublin, after the defeat of the Boyne, he made a speech which speaks badly for his sentiments towards his Irish subjects; and had he reserved what he had to say till after he had witnessed all that Irish chivalry and honour had done for him in Limerick and elsewhere, it is certain he would have done more justice to those who poured out their blood like water for him on many an eventful field :— "Gentlemen, I had a very good army in England, and when I had the greatest occasion for them, they deserted me, and went to the enemy; and finding a total defection against me there, I retired and went to France, where I was kindly received by that King, and had all the assurances imaginable from him to re-establish me on my Throne. In some time after I came to this kingdom, and found my Roman Catholic subjects here as well equiped and prepared to defend my cause as their abilities could bear; and though I have often been told, that when it came to the touch they would never bear the brunt of a battle, I never could credit the same; till now; when having a good army and all preparations fit to engage any foreign invader, I found the total truth, of which I have been so often cautioned. And though the army did not desert me here as they did in England, yet when it came to a tryal, they basely fled the field, and left the spoil to my enemies; nor could they be prevailed upon to rally, though the loss in the whole defeat was but inconsiderable: So that henceforward I never more determine to head an Irish army, and do now resolve to shift for myself, and so, gentlemen, must you. It has been often debated, in case such a revolution should happen, whether upon deserting the city of Dublin, the same ought to be fired? I therefore charge you, on your allegiance, that you neither rifle the city by plunder, nor destroy it by fire, which in all kingdoms will be judged very barbarous, and must be believed to be done by my orders; and if done there will be but little mercy expected from an enemy thus enraged. He told them, though he quitted Dublin, he did not quit his interest in it. He told his menial servants that he should now have no farther occasion to keep such a court, as he had done; and that therefore they were at liberty to dispose of themselves; and so with two or three in company, he went to Bray, and along by the sea to Waterford; having appointed his carriages to meet him another way. "Tis said he did not sleep till he got on ship-board; the vessel was the Lausun, a Malouin of 28 guns, which lay at Duncannon, from which he sailed to Kinsale where he remained a short time and then sailed for France." 1 When Athlone was summoned to surrender by Douglas, the fiery Governor, Colonel Grace, the younger son of Robert Grace, Baron of Courtstown, county Kilkenny, the descendant of the great Raymond le Gros, fired I The following is a list of King James' Army taken April 9th, 1690: Storey states that these last-mentioned "were meer Irish, and good for little, so no wonder they were broke." James had other forces in garrison throughout the country. Twenty-seven thousand men fought for him at the Boyne. *Limerick men. a pistol at the drummer who was sent to him to surrender the fortress. "These are my terms," exclaimed Grace; "these only will I give or receive; and when my provisions are consumed I will defend it till I eat my boots," hoisting a bloody flag at the moment, and beating back a detachment of 3,000 horse and foot that attempted to cross the Shannon, killing Douglas's best gunner, and compelling the enemy to retreat more rapidly than they had advanced. After this defeat before Athlone, Douglas, with the remnant of his forces made an effort to join King William at Limerick. In doing so he was hourly afraid of falling into the hands of Sarsfield, who, he was aware would make short work of his troops if but the opportunity was thrown in his way. Instead, therefore, of taking the direct route to Limerick, he pursued the road by Ballymore and Ballyboy, avoiding Banagher, where he had heard that Sarsfield awaited him; and, passing through Roscrea, he proceeded by Thurles which he sacked and burned, and Holycross, till he reached the camp at Cullen, where he did not arrive before the 8th of August. When he passed Roscrea, he encamped on the north side of the hill of Rathnavaigue, near Dunkerrin, where the army spent a few days at rest. At the Devil's Bit mountain a message was received by Douglas from William, to hasten his march, the rapparees every where giving him more than enough to think of. The country people brought quantities of poultry and other provisions to the camp, all of which were paid for; and here an incident occurred which I have heard from the great grandson of the individual who then lived at Kyleanna, near Clonakenny, in the neighbourhood. This gentleman rode to the camp with several others, having been attracted thither by curiosity. He saw that the grenadiers wore four bells on their waist belts for the purpose of frightening away cavalry; and it was here the following melancholy occurrence took place :-A soldier who had strayed across the hill to look at the country, sat down to rest, and soon afterwards fell asleep, probably from fatigue; some labourers were working near the spot digging a ditch, and their children who were with them, gathered around the sleeping soldier, and commenced playing with the bells; the noise awoke him suddenly, when he ran off to where his firelock lay, a short distance; the labourers thinking that he took the musket to fire at the children, one of them (the workmen) threw a stone at the soldier, which hit him on the head and knocked him senseless-the others dispatched him with their spades, and buried him on the spot where the occurrence took place. This was not known to the army, which passed on without making inquiries after the missing man. A foraging party of the same army was sent down from the camp towards Emmil, where they fell in with a large body of the followers of O'Carroll-long Anthony O'Carroll who had held the Častle of Nenagh-a conflict ensued-not one of the foraging party, about twelve in number escaped-and to this day the place where this occurred is called the "Bloody Togher"-it lies between Moneygall and Emmil-all in the King's County. The advice which it is alleged that King James gave his Colonels when he was taking leave of them—namely, that they should make the best terms for themselves and desert their duty, appears to be a calumny on his memory, because, according to the Memoirs of the Duke of Berwick, when he was proceeding from Kinsale for France, he wrote to Lord Tyrconnel that having left for that country on the recommendation of Lausun and others of his friends, he hoped to send them considerable succours, and gave them in the mean time fifty-thousand pistoles which was all the money he had. While Duke of York, by land and by sea, the unfortunate James showed wonderful courage; but there can be no doubt when at the Boyne, he cried "Oh! spare my English subjects;" and when after his rapid flight from Dublin, he made the speech already quoted, and forthwith ran for France, he did not bequeath to his supporters a reputation on which they can ever take occasion to congratulate themselves, whilst his enemies even at the moment he was sparing them, were using every exertion to prove the contempt and hatred they entertained for him and the Irish. Lord Wharton boasted that he sung King James out of Ireland by a song, which became so popular with the Williamites that it was heard every where throughout the land that they had a footing.1 Of this doggrel and the use made of it at the Boyne and afterwards at Limerick, it is quite unnecessary to write; but in Limerick it had no other effect than that of nerving the arm of the defenders to fight for native hearths and native altars and to conquer. Boisseleau was now the Governor of Limerick. Lausun and other French It is said that the Philippics of Demosthenes and Cicero had not a greater effect in Greece and Rome as those verses had in producing among the Protestants the revolt against James II. As many of my readers have never seen those verses, I shall here give them for their edification, as a demonstration of the utter recklessness of the anti-national and anti-Catholic party, and of their vindictive spirit towards the Irish and their faith. I have to apologise for giving the ballad in its integrity, as it contains a certain quantity of blasphemy and profanity, in which the army of William and the Orangemen generally indulged to their hearts' content The reader of Tristram Shandy will remember how uncle Toby (the type of Sterne's father, who served before Limerick), is described as whistling this air : Lilli, &c. Lilli, &c. Dough by my shoul de English do praat, But if dispence do come from de Pope; Lilli, &c. For de good Talbot is made a lord; Lilli, &c. Ara! but why does he stay behind? Lilli, &c. Lilli, &c. Shall be turned out, and look like an ass, Lilli, &c. Now, now de hereticks all go down, Lilli, &c. By C-t and Shaint Patrick, de nation's our own; Lilli, &. Bullen-a-la, is a corruption of the Irish phrase "Builin a laimh," i.e. "a loaf in the hand." Generals were in the city, but some of them speedily evacuated it; they had no desire to fight for Ireland; when Lausun saw Limerick first he pronounced that it could not be defended; he who had been at Valenciennes Dare was an old prophecy found in a bog; Lilli, &c. And now dis prophecy is come to pass, Lilli, &c. Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Lillibullero was written, or at least republished, on the eve of Tyrconnell's going a second time to Ireland in October, 1688. Perhaps it is unnecessary to mention, that General Richard Talbot, newly created earl of Tyrconnell, had been nominated by King James II. to the lieutenancy of Ireland in 1686, on account of his being a decided Catholic, who had recommended himself to his master by his treatment of the Protestants in the preceding year, when only lieutenant-general, and whose subsequent conduct fully justified the King's expectations, and, we shall not add, their fears, because, after all, Tyrconnell was not strictly true to the old cause. I am indebted to Mr. Patrick Lynch, a very intelligent Head Constable of Police, for the following unpublished Irish Poem, written soon after the departure of King James from France, and the disastrous events which in the subsequent year followed, which Mr. Lynch has also translated: 7. Hač art an art 'nar fagbad a raoir sínn, 8 Is ionda farruire fada fionn gléigiol, 2 M Geoghegan's History of Ireland, p. 594. |