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HISIOItY 01? ENGLAND.

chap, assuring the Irish that, if they would live quietly in their ownland, they should be protected and favoured, and that if theypreferred a military life, they should be admitted into theservice of King "William. It was added that no man, who choseto reject this gracious invitation and to become a soldier ofLewis, must expect ever again to set foot on the island. Sarsfieldand "Wauchop exerted their eloquence on the other side. Thepresent aspect of affairs, they said, was doubtless gloomy; butthere was bright sky beyond the cloud. The banishment wouldbe short. The return would be triumphant. "Within a year theFrench would invade England. In such an invasion the Irishtroops, if only they remained unbroken, would assuredly beara chief part. In the meantime it was far better for them to livein a neighbouring and friendly country, under the parental careof their own rightful King, than to trust the Prince of Orange,who would probably send them to the other end of the world tofight for his ally the Emperor against the Janissaries.

The Irish The help of the Homan Catholic clergy was called in. Onq\°i°cd r to the day on which those who had made up their minds to go toIhcir France were required to announce their determination, thetelwcen P r i ests ""' ere indefatigable in exhorting. At the head of everycountry re gi ment a sermon was preached on the duty of adhering to theand cause of the Church, and on the sin and danger of consortingwith unbelievers.* "Whoever, it was said, should enter theservice of the usurpers would do so at the peril of his soul. Theheretics affirmed that, after the peroration, a plentiful allow-ance of brandy was served out to the audience, and that, whenthe brandy had been swallowed, a Bishop pronounced a bene-diction. Thus duly prepared by physical and moral stimulants,the garrison, consisting of about fourteen thousand infantry,

* Story’s Continuation. His narrative is confirmed by the testimonywhich an Irish Captain who was present has left us in bad Latin. “Hieapud sacrum omnes adyertizantur a capellanis ire potius in Gulliam/*