the river embraced the town was of a depth which it was impossible to ford.

The Irish-town which lay upon the main land of the county of Limerick was but of ordinary strength, and defended only by its walls. If captured, however, the English-town might still be maintained.

William made his approaches to the city slowly, having to level the numerous enclosures of the adjoining grounds as he moved on. These he found occupied by the light infantry of the Irish army, who lined the hedges, and kept up a troublesome fire upon his advanced parties, under cover of those natural defences. A few light cavalry supported the skirmishers of the Irish army, but the whole retired gradually as the British advanced; and they encountered no serious opposition, till the Irish parties having at length fallen back under cover of their guns, the city opened its fire upon the advancing enemy, and compelled them to halt.

Here, as at the Boyne, the king had a very narrow escape. A cannon-ball from the walls struck the ground at his foot, as he was passing through a gap made in a hedge; the ball would have passed through his body, if he had not stumbled and fallen as he clambered through the gap. William took no notice, but recovered his footing, and moved on quietly; possessed,

bullet has its billet;" or with the Christian confidence, as true a source of courage, that his life was in the hand of God.

William, when he came in view of the town, sent a trumpet with a summons of surrender to the French general, Boileau, who commanded the garrison. The terms of this summons probably betrayed the hopes which the king entertained of an easy surrender. Boileau addressed his answer to William's secretary, Sir Robert Southwell, not being at liberty to acknowledge the prince as king, and too polite to hurt his feelings by a denial of the royal title. He expressed great surprise at the summons he had received, and declared his resolution to merit the good opinion of the Prince of Orange, by a vigorous defence of the fortress committed to his care, by His Majesty James the Second.

This answer did not cure William of the erroneous notion he had conceived, that the citizens and the garrison were desirous to capitulate; and that they were induced to defend the town only by the strong persuasions of Sarsefield and the Duke of Berwick. The subsequent events of the siege revealed to him his error. The city was not only bravely defended by the garrison, but the inhabitants of all classes, and even the women, took part in the defence.

While William was preparing for the siege, the main force of the Irish, now posted along the

west bank of the Shannon, had been gathering strength every day by the falling in of the numerous garrisons which had capitulated upon William's line of march. These troops lay between Limerick, Galway, and Athlone, the French under the command of Lauzun, and the Irish under Tyrconnel. The stout defence made by the city, and the length of the siege, afforded this army abundant opportunity of undertaking some decisive operation upon William's rear. But nothing was undertaken, in consequence of the misunderstandings which prevailed between the French and Irish troops and their commanders. Nor does it appear that it was very clearly settled at this time who was to command in chief. James had fled with too much precipitation to settle the point; and the French generals were not inclined to admit the authority of the Lord-lieutenant, Tyrconnel.

The king took his place on the right of his encampment, having near him the horse guards, and the blue Dutch guards, which were always his main reliance. To the left of these were some English and Dutch regiments intermixed; farther on the French and Danes were stationed, and the Brandenburgers and other German regiments formed the extreme of his line, composing altogether as curious an assemblage of tongues, and nations, and people, as ever beleaguered a

The post assigned to the Danes was upon one of those rude circular redoubts which are called in Ireland Danish forts, and were very probably constructed by those people in the progress of their struggles. The Danish troops, we are told, were not a little pleased at meeting with this memorial of the ancient invasions of their ancestors, though they had now fallen from the high rank they formerly enjoyed of preying upon foreign nations for their own profit and advantage, and were reduced to be but invaders upon a Dutch account.

General Ginckle had been despatched at the head of a large force of cavalry to reconnoitre beyond the river. He had discovered a ford of the Shannon, some miles above the town, and had crossed the river, but had not ventured to penetrate far from its bank.

The king had sat down before the town before his heavy artillery had come up. These, together with a considerable quantity of powder, stores, and pontoons, were on their way from Dublin, accompanied only by a slight escort of two troops of dragoons. He had relied, apparently, so much upon his information respecting a surrender of the town, that he had neglected proper preparations for the siege. He now found that the city must be contended for; and that the success of his intrigues within the walls would very much depend upon the success

of his operations without. This new view of the case made him as impatient for the arrival of his heavy battering train, as he had before been to make a mere demonstration outside the walls.

At this period a French gunner deserted to the town, and gave intelligence of the positions occupied by the various corps of the army, and of the king's quarters, and those of the different general officers. The intelligence brought by the deserter was of the utmost importance. The guns from the town were now pointed with precision and effect. The king was compelled to change his quarters, so hot a fire was poured upon his tent, and various other changes were found necessary to be made in the disposition of the army. But the attention of the Irish commanders was chiefly engaged by the intelligence respecting the train on its way from Dublin. Sarsefield instantly resolved to intercept it, and thus probably put an end to the siege.

On the night of the 10th of August this enterprising officer crossed the Shannon, by Thomond Bridge, at the head of some of his best cavalry; and turning to the right, traversed rapidly the road that runs northwards along the line of the river, till he reached Killaloe, about twelve miles from Limerick. Crossing the river at this ancient village, he got into the rear of the British army, and, concealing his men in the mountains, waited the approach of the convoy.