was furious, but they were repulsed at the ThreeBullet-gate, and charged by a detachment of the fifth dragoons; they however rallied soon after, and seized on a piece of artillery, which they immediately turned against the troops. After this they entered the town, and notwithstanding cannon were planted at the cross lanes, so as to sweep the streets as they advanced, yet such was the weight and impetuosity of the column formed by the assailants, that the main body of the garrison, overpowered by numbers, and intimidated also perhaps by the late success of the rebels at Enniscorthy, the Three Rocks, Wexford, and Tubberneering, fled over the bridge with great precipitation to the Kilkenny side of the river..

FORTUNATELY, however, the place was soon after recaptured by the gallantry of the commanding officer, who had served during the war on the Transatlantic continent. Indignant at beholding the success of the revolters and the sudden panie of his own troops, general Johnson rode up to the fugitives and demanded if they meant to forsake their leader and their countryman? Being received with three cheers, he placed himself at their head, advanced toward the ThreeBullet-gate, where a post was still maintained by the English, and recurring to one of the least culpable stratagems of war, he confidently assured the soldiers stationed there that he had brought a reinforcement from Waterford. Having thus reanimated them by the joyful intelligence, he advanced against and dissipated a column of the enemy; and that nothing might be wanting to secure the fortune of the day, he contrived to turn their rear, at the same time man

* It has been confidently asserted that a barber among the insurgents, either unacquainted with the nature of artillery, or rendered insensible to fear by intoxication, crammed his hat and wig into a cannon, and cried out to his companions, “Come on boys, her mouth is stopped.” The gunner, by the application of his match, soon con-· vinced him of his error.

ning the trenches on the outside so as to prevent the arrival of a reinforcement*.

THE assailants, who had not improved their first advantage, but consumed that time in drunkenness and devastation which they ought to have employed in securing their victory, were now dispersed and overcome; and as raw troops can never be rallied, they retreated with the utmost speed, first to Corbet and then to Carrickbyrne hills, leaving two thousand six hundred dead behind them. Nor was this signal success obtained by their adversaries without bloodshed, for lord Mountjoy, colonel of the Dublin militia, fell in the first onset, one ensign, four serjeants, and eighty-four men, were killed, and one captain and fifty-seven men wounded.

On the very day that this engagement took place, some of the insurgents hearing of the success of the king's troops, perpetrated a most shocking massacre on several prisoners whom they had confined at Scullabogue; an endeavour has been made to throw the whole of the odium of this transaction on one of the priests, but certain it is, that a layman of the name of Murphy, who commanded there, refused to sanction the atrocity, and turned away with horror from the disgusting scene, which he was unable -to prevent; he however had still influence sufficient to rescue a woman from death by observing, "that such a horrid deed would kindle a blush on the cheeks of the Virgin Mary ;" nor ought it to be omitted here, that the bodies of the unhappy sufferers were buried by a subscription on the part of the principal leaders.

THE il success of the attack on Ross put a period to the short-lived power of the general in chief, who was immediately deposed from his military command, and appointed to a civil employment, having been nominated president of the council of Wexford: but this gentleman, whose feelings and education

* Memoirs of the different Rebellions in Ireland, by Sir R. Musgrave, p. 4, 11.

wholly disqualified him from taking any share in the excesses that had recently taken place, was by this time ashamed of the misconduct of a peasantry fanaticised to madness, and familiar with every species of crime. The lay commanders, after this period, no longer appear to have enjoyed the confidence of the multitude, for we now find father Roche presiding in the camp on Lacken-hill, and calling on the inhabitants of the adjacent parishes to repair to his standard, by requisitions addressed to the Catholic clergy. Father Michael Murphy at the same time acted in the capacity of general at Gorey; and as his troops had hitherto been successful, and were still flushed with their recent victory at Tuberneering, he meditated a great and important attempt. Undismayed by the late signal defeat at Ross, he deter mined on marching against Arklow, although at this. time defended by a strong garrison; after the capture. of which he is said to have intended to advance. against the capital itself, wisely judging that the possession of Dublin would in some measure decide the fate of the whole kingdom. Nor ought it to be forgotten that the metropolis was at this period in a state of consternation, for the vice-queen* and many ladies of distinction had fled to England, and the disaffected there were both resolute and numerous.

ALTHOUGH general Needham now occupied Arklow with about one thousand five hundred troops, consisting of dragoons, militia, fencibles, and yeomanry, the insurgents advanced boldly against it. They, however, did not commence their march until the morning was pretty far advanced; and it was four o'clock in the afternoon before they were perceived, formed in two immense columns, so as to attack the town in the upper and lower extremities at the same time. In addition to their numbers, which have been estimated at about twenty thousand, they were supported by two six-pounders, formerly

*Lady Camden.

taken from the regulars, neither injudiciously posted nor ill served, and preceded by an advanced guard, composed of horse and foot. All their motions were evidently intended to out-flank and overpower the garrison, who were formed behind a barricado, strengthened with artillery.

THE attack which continued for upwards of two hours, was as usual fierce; but the steady countenance and incessant fire of the troops, together with the destruction occasioned by the cannon, rendered all their efforts abortive, and they were never able to penetrate into the place. One body was soon defeated and charged by the cavalry under colonel sir W. W. Wynne, who appears to have given no quarter; but the other, which had advanced on the side of the charter-school, and was led by father Michael Murphy, the priest of Ballycanew, made a number of successive but abortive attacks on a barricade, whence they were driven by incessant vollies of musquetry and grape. At length this ecclesiastic, after haranguing his followers, advanced with a standard on which a cross had been emblazoned, but he was soon after killed by a cannon-shot; on this his troops instantly dispersed, and retreated about eight o'clock at night towards Coolgreney in a disorderly manner. They found means however to occupy a formidable station at Limeric hill, which they evacuated on the approach of the generals Dundas and Loftus.

BUT notwithstanding these reiterated miscarriages, a numerous body to the amount of twenty thousand, posted on the heights on the banks of the Slaney, called Vinegar-hill, still assumed the appearance of an army, and continued to sustain a drooping cause; luckily this important station was not fortified by heavy artillery, nor strengthened by redoubts on the flanks, nor defended by skill. Against these general Lake, after collecting various detachments, determined to march, and he was fortunate enough to be joined by the Loyal Cheshire, who landed from England two days previously to the battle. The mode of

attack adopted upon this occasion, was well calculated to terrify new levies, always diffident of themselves, and afraid of being surrounded. The troops being divided into four distinct columns, advanced against the insurgents under the generals Dundas, Eustace, Duff, and Loftus. A fifth, under general Johnson, having cårried the town of Enniscorthy, situated at the base of the hill, the heights were scaled in different directions, so as to menace the front and flanks at the same time. But, notwithstanding these formidable preparations, the revolters were enabled from the natural strength of their position to defend the lines during an hour and a half, and it was not until they were outflanked and nearly surrounded, that they at length gave way, leaving behind them thirteen light field-pieces: as civil are always more bloody than foreign wars, the slaughter was immense, for no quarter seems to have been given upon this occasion, as those who escaped the musquet when overtaken perished by the merciless bayonet, while so insignificant was the loss on the part of the king's troops, that not above one hundred were either killed or wounded.

THE only person of any note who fell on the other side upon this occasion was father Clinch, a priest of Enniscorthy, who was singled out on account of his large white horse, huge scymetar, and broad crossbelts; and the action itself was less bloody than could have been well supposed, as the troops under general Needham were unable to reach the position assigned them, and general Lake could not be prevailed upon to defer the combat until the succeeding day. In consequence of these events an immense column retreated by the east side of the Slaney; part entered Wexford, where many horrid murders were committed on the bridge; while another and more numerous detachment, headed by two priests of the name of Murphy and a third called Roche, reached the Three Rocks, and having held a council of war there, marched across the mountains to the county of Kilkenny.