I know the English fortitude is such,

That boasts of little, though it hazards much!

Enter Colonel Talbot.

ST. RUTH.

Brave Colonel Talbot, your victorious hand,
Nurtur'd in arts of war, can best command,
Speak, Irish Scipio, your word alone

Shall turn the scale-shall we assist Athlone?

TALBOT.

Pardon me, sir, I fear 'tis past your aid,
For from a rising ground, I now surveyed
The British standard on the walls display'd:
No further confirmation need you crave,
The town is lost, which you refused to save.

SARSFIELD.

Now see, St Ruth, what Englishmen can do.

ST. RUTH.

They dare not, sir-the news cannot be true.

TALBOT.

"Tis but too true, you'll find it to your loss, I saw the walls o'erspread with George's cross.

Enter Major-General Dorrington.

Misfortune, death, and horror! Oh, the grief,
Athlone is lost, and now is past relief,
Hark, from the town I hear a fearful cry,

And to the camp our wounded soldiers fly.

ST. RUTH.

Athlone is taken then, without a doubt,

Haste, call my guards, and beat the English out.

SARSFIELD.

Easily said, would they as soon obey,

We'd make the victors for their passage pay;
But now that you've let slip the lucky hour,
They will not fly from you or all your power.

DORRINGTON.

The works that face our camp, are yet entire,
And English guns against our trenches fire,
Except we now decamp by your command,
There's not a tent in all our lines can stand.

ST. RUTH.

Then loiter not, but sound to arms on sight,
Decamp and march to Milltown, pass this night;
Thence in good order, all to Aughrim fly,
For that's the spot on which I choose to die,
Or by the dint of sword, gain victory!

This account of St Ruth's conduct on this occasion, agrees with that given of it by Harris. When he received an express that the English had entered the river, he only answered that it was impossible they could take the town, and he with an army so near to it; Sarsfield replied, that he knew the enterprise was not too difficult for English courage to attempt. He pressed to have succours sent to the town which the obstinate Frenchman refused to send, and continuing to treat the undertaking as a jest, some warm expressions passed between them, which increased a jealousy already existing, and proved soon, afterwards of fatal consequence to their cause.

St. Ruth being at last convinced that the English

were in possession of Athlone, endeavoured to repair the loss by sending several detachments to dislodge them; but then became sensible of a former oversight, in not having levelled those fortifications which were next to his camp. The English now used them against him. Several of these detachments, horse and foot, marching with all speed towards the town, to stop the fugitives at the farthest trenches, were met and opposed by Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, with a body of grenadiers, who, after a warm encounter, obliged them to St. Ruth thought it advisable to decamp that night, the consequence of which was the surrender of the castle of Athlone at discretion, in which MajorGeneral Waucop, and five hundred men were taken prisoners a great number of dead bodies were found in the castle.

retreat.

In the mean time great stores of oats and other provisions arrived at Cork for the use of the army. A supply of money was also sent from England for the same purpose, with recruits of men and horses. The pontoons, which had remained a considerable time at Plymouth wind bound, arrived now, and were forwarded to the camp-they were afterwards of signal service in the siege of Limerick. An advance of £1,200,000 was procured in the city of London by the Lord President and other members of the privy council, for the service of Ireland, which, with other supplies of money sent thither at this time, gave great ease to the inhabitants, who had been severely plundered on pretence of the army wanting subsistence.

The regiments of Trelawney, Collier, and Matthews,

were ordered from Cork to the English camp; and the county of Cork, and other parts of the province of Munster, were committed to the care of the militia.

At this time a regiment of the standing army and a considerable body of militia were posted at the several passes of Lough Erne, at Belturbet, Cavan, Enniskillen, and also at Belleek and Ballyshannon, to defend those places against the incursions of the enemy from their several frontiers, particularly those of Jamestown and Boyle, and the town and fort of Sligo, commanded by Sir Teague O'Regan. This latter place was a main entrance into Ulster from Connaught, and the most convenient way to the North by way of Ballyshannon. Colonel Michelburne was appointed to the command of these forces; and the men under his command, besides his own regiment, were as follows-five companies of Captain Venner's regiment, one troop of Sir Albert Conyngham's dragoons; Sir Francis Hamilton, lordlieutenant of the county of Donegal, had under his command seven troops of horse, commanded by Captains Forward, Vaughan, Wray, John Hamilton, Sampson, Charles Hamilton, and William Stewart. He had also under him three companies of foot, commanded by Captains Thomas Ash, Patrick Hamilton, and Oliver Mac Causland.

The rivers were at this time very low, which required strict guards on all the fords, and patrols from post to post continually moving in the night. About the middle of June, by the carelessness of a small party of the English dragoons, in an open country towards Bundroose, they were surprised by one Captain Mac Shaffry, and

ten of them taken prisoners—they were taken while fishing for salmon; they were, however, soon released in exchange for a brother of Colonel Scott, deputy governor of Sligo. On the 5th of July, General Ginckle wrote from the camp at Athlone to Colonel Michelburne, or in his absence to the officer-in-chief in the standing forces of the North, that in case, as had been reported, the enemy had quitted Sligo, to send such part of the standing army under his command in the North to that town, as might be sufficient to take possession of it and secure the garrison.-Transactions in the North of Ireland, 1691.

Michelburne, however, ascertained that Sligo had not been deserted, but that the Irish soldiers in it were a mere rabble, all ragged, and living on an allowance of but one pound of bread in the day; he reported to the Lords Justices, that he did not question but in a short time his being able to give them a very good account of his proceedings with respect to the fort and town of Sligo, which he soon afterwards did.

The reduction of Athlone being achieved, the Irish immediately abandoned all the other places on the Shannon from that place to Jamestown, being commanded to reinforce St. Ruth's army, then encamped at Ballinasloe, where they announced that they would wait for General Ginckle and give him battle. Many of the enemy deserted to the English army at this time, and great numbers applied for protections. Lord Granard had possession of Lanesborough and other places about it, by parties of the militia, and informed General Ginckle that it would be advisable that the