1690. BOOK I. dalk, afterwards advancing to Ardee. Struck with the fertility and beauty of the surrounding prospects, he exclaimed, "This is a country worth fighting for!" The Irish, with the late king at their head, quitted Ardee upon his approach, and repassed the Boyne, encamping in a very advantageous situation on the southern banks of the river. The Irish army was by no means equal even in number, and much less in courage or discipline, to that of the English. But James, contrary to the advice of his officers, who proposed strengthening their garrisons and retiring beyond the Shannon, was determined to risque a general engagement on this spot. The river was deep, and rose high with the tide; and his front being farther secured by a morass and rising ground, he could not be attacked without manifest disadvantage; so that he expressed much confidence of success, and declared the satisfaction he felt in this opportunity of fighting one fair battle for his On the 30th of June king William encamped at break of day with his whole army on the northern side of the Boyne, with a full resolution, notwithstanding the remonstrances of maréchal Schomberg, to pass the river and attack the enemy on the next day. Upon reconnoitring the enemy's camp, the king made at one place so long a stop, that it was perceived by a party of horse on the opposite side; who bringing a couple of crown. held-pieces to bear upon him, at the first discharge killed a man and two horses very near to his person, and by the second the king himself was slightly wounded, the ball grazing his right shoul-der. This William treated as a trifle, but it occasioned great confusion amongst his attendants ; and the report of his death flew rapidly to Dublin, and even to Paris, where it was celebrated with bonfires and illuminations. The king rode through the ranks by torch-light, previous to his retiring to his tent, in order by ocular demonstration to excite the most perfect conviction of his safety. The plan of the battle, without any previous communication, being transmitted by the king to maréchal Schomberg late in the evening, that general received it with marks of dissatisfaction and discontent-declaring that it was the first which had ever been so sent to him. BOOK I. 1090. the Boyne Early in the morning of the 1st of July 1690, Victory of the army passed in three bodies at Slanes to the westward, Old Bridge in the centre, and certain fords near Drogheda to the left. The different divisions of the English army seemed to vie with each other in gallantry, and with great resolution repulsed the attempts of the Irish to impede the passage. M. Caillemotte, a French refugee officer of great merit, receiving a mortal wound at the head of his regiment, was carried back to the English camp, and meeting others crossing the BOOKI, river, encouraged them by exclaiming : "A la 1090. gloire, mes enfans-à la gloire!" M. Schomberg perceiving the French protestants exposed, and in some disorder, from the loss of their commander, passed the river in haste without his armor, with all the ardor of youth, to put himself at their head. But the battle in this quarter being peculiarly hot and bloody, the maréchal in a short time fell; whether by the fire of his own men, as was generally believed, or of the enemy, could not in that scene of carnage and confusion be clearly ascertained. This celebrated personage was regarded as one of the first military characters of the age; and he possessed all the virtues and accomplishments of a hero. He was nobly rewarded in England, for services expected, rather than performed by him, with a dukedom and a parliamentary donation of 100,0001. Walker the clergyman, who had rendered himself so famous by his defence of Londonderry, also lost his life in this action, gloriously combating in the cause of his country. Inflamed by the irresistible impulse of military enthusiasm, he could not, after his brows had been encircled with the laurel wreath of victory, reconcile himself to his former habitudes-and with him the Gown ceded to ARMS. The courage, activity, and presence of mind of the king himself, were extremely conspicuous during the whole of this engagement; in the course of which he repeatedly 1690. charged the enemy sword in hand. An English BOOK I. soldier in the heat of the battle pointing his piece at the king, he turned it aside without emotion, saying only, "Do you not know your friends?" The day was far advanced, when the Irish at length began to retire on all sides; and general Hamilton, who commanded the horse, making a furious charge, in the desperate hope of retrieving the battle, was wounded and taken prisoner. On being brought into the presence of the king, who knew him to be the life and soul of the Irish army, William asked him if he thought the enemy would make any farther resistance?" to which Hamilton replied "Upon my honor, I believe they will." The king eyeing him with a look of disdain repeated "Your HONOR!" but took no other notice of his treachery. The Irish now quitted the field with precipitation; but William having neglected the advice of M. Schomberg to secure the pass of Duleek in the rear, they suffered little comparative loss in their retreat, which was covered by the French and Swiss troops under M. de Lauzun. The king also, recalling his troops from the pursuit, expressed himself averse to the unnecessary effusion of blood. The rival monarch, far from contending for the prize of empire in the same spirit of heroism, kept his station with a few squadrons of horse on the hill of Dunore, to the south of the river, VOL. I. BOOK I. viewing through a telescope from the tower of 1690. the church the movements of the two armies. On receiving intelligence from count Lauzun that abandons Ireland. he was in danger of being surrounded, he inarched off to Duleek, and thence in great haste to Dublin. On his arrival in that city he assembled the magistrates and council, and told them, with equal indiscretion and ingratitude, "that the army he had depended upon had basely fled the field, nor could they be prevailed upon to rally, though the loss in the defeat was but inconsiderable; so that henceforward he determined never more to head an Irish army, but resolved to shift for himself, as they themselves must also do." King James Having staid at Dublin one night, he departed for Waterford, attended by the duke of Berwick, the marquis of Powis, and the earl of Tyrconnel― ordering the bridges to be broken down every where behind him. At Waterford he embarked on board a French vessel, and was quickly conveyed to his former residence in France. This dastardly conduct exposed him to the personal contempt of those who were most strongly attached to his cause-colonel Sarsfield, as it is said, declaring, "that if they could change kings, he should not be afraid to fight the battle over again.” Immediately consequent to the victory, Drogheda was invested; but though the governor seemed at first resolute to defend the place, upon being |