without effect, until twenty-seven of their men lay dead on the ground-floor. They then brought a quantity of straw and set the turret on fire. Two of the yeomen, one of whom was young Tyrrel, were killed in attempting to escape; the other four leaped from a window, and under cover of a wall got into the house. The rebels then set fire to the toll-house and some other cabins, to annoy the garrison, and threw some of their dead into the flames. The conflict had now lasted near six hours, when about five in the evening a reinforcement was descried from the house: the hopes of the yeomen were elevated, and they fought with increased vigour. One of the yeomen, who had been excluded by the sudden shutting of the gates in the morning, finding he could be of no use, repaired to Kinnegad, and represented the situation of his friends at Clonard. Lieutenant Houghton, with fourteen of the Kinnegad infantry, and a serjeant with eleven of the Northumberland fencibles, being all that could be spared, immediately marched for Clonard. As soon as they arrived lieutenant Tyrrel sallied from the house, and formed a junction with them on the road which leads to the bridge, which had been kept open. A few vollies completely cleared the roads, and having then placed the Kinnegad infantry and Northumberland fencibles in such positions as most effectually to gall the enemy in their retreat from the garden, lieutenant Tyrrel with a few chosen men undertook to drive them from it. Some of them were posted upon a mount, planted with fir trees, which afforded some protection, others lay concealed behind a privet hedge, from whence they could see every person who entered. The lieutenant and his party were received by a discharge from both bodies. No time was lost in attacking those behind the hedge, who were obliged to retire to the mount. The action then became very warm, and the rebels seemed determined to maintain their advantageous situation. The yeomen, but few in number, and six of them wounded, the rest almost overcome with fatigue, could not think of retiring; still they persevered and maintained a steady and well-directed fire on the enemy till they compelled them to retreat, when the Kinnegad infantry and Northumberland fencibles made great havoc.

Kk

This victory, as brilliant as any that occurred during the rebellion, was now complete. There were upwards of a hundred and fifty of the enemy killed, and a great number wounded.

The rebels retreated from Clonard along the Dublin road; and, after proceeding some distance, turned towards the right and took possession of lord Harberton's house at Carbery, where they drank wine and spirits to excess.

On the twelfth of July they proceeded to Johnstown, and from thence to the Nineteen-mile house. They were pursued by parties of the Limerick militia and Edenderry yeoman cavalry, under the command of colonel Gough, who attacked and defeated them. They then fled in confusion, leaving all their cattle, stores, &c. behind them; and were pursued by general Myers with a detatchment of the Buckinghamshire militia and a few of the Dublin yeomanry, who drove them towards Slane in the county of Meath. They then marched in the night to the Boyne, after passing which they were pursued by two divisions under generals Weyms and Meyrick,

The rebels formed again in a strong position on the road to Ardee; but when the Sunderland regiment arrived, they were routed and obliged to fly in all directions. They were then charged by the cavalry, and a great slaughter ensued. Some of the rebels fled to Ardee, the rest over the Boyne towards Garretstown, where they were again pursued and attacked by detachments of the Carlow and Fermanagh militia, the Swords infantry, part of the Dumfries dragoons, and three corps of yeomen cavalry, all under the command of captain Gordon of the Dumfries, who, in the course of a few days, killed great numbers and finally dispersed them.

Perry and father Kearns escaped into the king's county; but were soon after taken and brought prisoners to Edenderry, where they were tried by court-martial and executed on the twenty-first of July. Aylmer and Fitzgerald, with some other leaders, surrendered on condition of being transported. Garret and William Byrne also surrendered on the same terms, but as it was proved that the latter had been guilty of various murders, he was tried by court-martial and executed at Wicklow,

on the twenty-sixth of September, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine.

One body of rebels which escaped from Vinegar-hill retreated into the county of Kilkenny, under the command of father John Murphy of Boulavogue, by the Scullagh gap, and thence toward Castlecomer, hoping to excite an insurrection in that quarter; particularly among the colliers. Entering the gap, and driving forward a few troops who attempted to oppose them, they entered and burned the village of Kiledmond. They then proceeded toward Newbridge, where they arrived on the twenty-third of June. Lieutenant Dixon, with twenty-five of the Wexford regiment, and a small party of the 4th dragoons, was stationed there, and determined to defend it. They therefore took post on the bridge to prevent their passing the river, but were soon defeated by the rebels and obliged to retreat, with the loss of twenty-seven men taken prisoners, of whom seven, condemned as orangemen, were soon after shot. An express having been dispatched to general Asgil at Kilkenny, he repaired to Newbridge to stop their progress, but arrived too late, the enemy having commenced their march to the ridge of Leinster, within five miles of Castlecomer, where they spent the night.

The garrison of Castlecomer, consisting chiefly of a few yeomen, had been reinforced by a troop of the 4th dragoons, a company of the Waterford, and a company of the Downshire militia, and twenty infantry and forty cavalry of the Cullinagh yeomen, making in the whole about two hundred and fifty men, mostly cavalry.

Early in the morning of the twenty-fourth of June, a reconnoitring party was sent out, which found the rebels advancing the main body in the road, with considerable wings on each side. The party being nearly surrounded before they observed them (owing to a thick fog,) was obliged to retreat precipitately with great loss. The main body of the army, seeing the reconnoitring party retreat in such confusion, joined them and fled into the town, and a number of them taking post in four houses which commanded the bridge, kept up a constant fire on the rebels as they advanced. The wings now extended, forded the

river, and set fire to the town in several places. General Asgil at length arriving, commenced a heavy fire on the town with his artillery, not knowing that many loyalists were still in it making a gallant defence. This firing, however, considerably annoyed the rebels, and determined them to retire from the town about four o'clock in the afternoon. The general, however, considered the town not tenable, and the remaining loyalists were consequently obliged to retreat with him to Kilkenny, leaving their goods a prey to the enemy, who again took possession of the town on the retreat of the army.

The loss of the rebels in this action might be near two hundred in killed and wounded.

The enemy immediately began to plunder the houses of the loyalists who retreated, and committed every excess. The main body afterwards retired to the high grounds, where they remained till the following day. Being disappointed of raising an insurrection in the county of Kilkenny, where few had joined them, they determined to retreat back into the county of Wexford, through Scullagh gap. On the twenty-fifth of June they marched from the ridge with this resolution, proceeded toward Newbridge, and took post near that town on a rising ground at a place called Kilcomney. Here they were attacked on three sides at once, about six o'clock on the following morning, by the army under general Asgil, amounting to near twelve hundred effective men, and that of major Matthews, amounting to five hundred men, composed chiefly of the Downshire militia from Maryborough. The alacrity of the latter army to attack the insurgents, seems to have been the cause why they were not allowed to escape into the county of Wexford without a battle. After about an hour's firing of cannon, the rebels, fearing that they would be surrounded, fled precipitately, and in the greatest confusion, towards Scullagh gap, leaving all their cannon, ammunition, and plunder, in the hands of the army. They were pursued with slaughter by the cavalry near six miles. Their artillery consisted of ten light field pieces and some swivels. Among the booty were one hundred and seven. ty cattle, one hundred sheep, and seven hundred horses.

The loss of the king's troops has been stated by the general at only seven men: that of the rebels amounted to upwards of two hundred. They, however, forced their way through the gap, in which they were opposed by a small body of troops, and directed their course through the dwarf woods near Ferns to the Wicklow mountains.

Father John Murphy, the commander in chief, was taken soon after and hanged at Tullow. His body was burned and his head fixed on the market-house.