48 
1711; so that Mr, Macaulay’s “ reasonable ” 
grounds for the suspicion, either fail altogether, 
or are greatly reduced in value. H.S. F. D. P. 
The Battle of Aughrim. — Now that the new 
volumes of Mr. Macaulay’s History of England 
are in the hands of most of the readers of “ N. 
& Q,,” the following anecdotes and traditions of | 
the battle of Aughrim may not be uninteresting, | 
most of which I received from an old lady who 
had resided within two miles of the battle-field all 
her life, and who died a few years ago at the 
age of 108, in full possession of all her faculties, 
mental and bodily, except her sight, which began 
to fail when she was about 102; she perfectly re- 
collected her grandfather, who had been an eye- 
witness of the battle. The two armies were in 
sight of each other from the evening of the 11th 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
_ 
[294 §, No 3., Jan, 19. °56. 
of the hill; the gun was carefully levelled for him 
and fired, when the smoke blew away he was still 
seen sitting on his horse, to the great disappoint- 
ment of the artillery officer, but immediately after- 
wards was observed to fall. This was St. Ruth, 
who was at the moment of his death in the act of 
placing himself at the head of his guards; a thorn- 
bush in the ground at the back of Aughrim Vi- 
carage marks the spot. Some years ago, when 
the old vicarage was pulled down, on the erection 
_ of the present one, human bones were found under 
of July, but the battle did not begin till near five | 
o'clock on the afternoon of the 12th ; the morning 
of that day having been occupied by skirmishes, 
and by various attempts on the part of De Ginkell | 
to force the Pass of Urrachree on the right of | 
King James's army, and by attempts to find a 
practicable road through the red bog which nearly 
filled the whole of the valley between Kilcommodon 
Hill (St. Ruth’s position) and the rising ground 
on which his army was encamped. In the course 
of the morning a person named O'Kelly went 
into St. Ruth’s camp with his herdsman, to seek 
redress for the loss of some sheep, which had been 
carried off the day before by the foragers of the 
Trish army. On being brought before St. Ruth, 
his complaint was treated by that general with his 
usual overbearing haughtiness, and on O’Kelly’s | 
pressing the matter, he was threatened with death 
if he did not desist ; and when the herdsman re- 
quested that the skins at least of the slaughtered 
animals might be given him, he and his master | 
narrowly escaped being hanged. Burning with 
rage, O'Kelly proceeded towards the English 
camp, and surrendering himself to some of Port- 
land's horse, was conducted before De Ginkell. 
Having been closely questioned relative to the 
state of the Jacobite army, among other things he 
stated that the general was a man gorgeously 
dressed and mounted on a white horse; an ex- 
perienced artillery officer was sent for, and having 
heard O’Kelly’s statement, he was ordered to take | 
a field-piece, with a picked company of gunners, 
and to fire according to the directions O'Kelly 
should give him. Having brought the gun to the 
edge of the bog, he planted it on a small circular 
clay fort, vast numbers of which, of various sizes, 
are scattered about that part of Ireland on the 
tops of the hills and rising grounds. Having 
watched the movements of the opposing army for 
a short time, an officer of rank was seen mounted 
on a white horse in front of his men on the slope 
the foundations, relics of the battle. When the 
passage through the bog was discovered by Lut- 
_trell’s treachery, it was so narrow that only one 
horseman could advance along it at a time, but 
each of them took up a foot soldier behind him. 
At this battle King James's regiment of Yellow 
Dragoons, contrary to the behaviour of the rest 
of his army, considered that discretion was the 
best part of valour, and headed the flight ; one of 
them never drew bridle till he reached a place 
called Kilneboy, in the co. Clare, about forty miles 
from the field! where are the ruins of a fine old 
abbey, a castle (the subject of one of the “ Le- 
gends of eo. Clare,” already published in “N. & 
Q.”), and the Deanery House, then occupied by 
Dean Blood, a very old man. Some reports of 
the battle having already reached him, the old 
man hearing that a soldier was approaching bear- 
| ing tokens of having been engaged in it, hastened 
to the door, and asked the fugitive “ What news?” 
The hero’s nerves, however, had not yet recovered 
their recent disturbance, and in reply he drew a 
pistol from his holster and fired at the old man; 
the ball grazed his head and lodged in the door- 
post. An Irish song was made on the Yellow 
Dragoons in consequence of their gallant be- 
haviour ; I have heard an old man repeat a few 
| lines of it; the burden of it was, Coss, coss, a 
Dhragone buidhe, “Turn, turn, Yellow Dragoon.” 
The name of the unfortunate James is always 
among the Irish peasantry coupled with an Irish 
word not translateable to ears polite, in conse- 
quence of his supposed poltroonery. Tempest 
mentions that at the siege of Athlone, De Ginkell, 
among other guns, had nine eighteen-pounders ; 
one of these at least he must have brought with 
him to Aughrim, for in 1840, a man who rented 
some of the fields on Kileommodon Hill, turned up 
with the plough an eighteen-pounder shot, which 
is now in my possession; it weighs now fifteen 
pounds, and notwithstanding its having been 149 
years buried, is in excellent preservation. The 
night before the battle, De Ginkell ordered the 
grenadiers, who carried then the species of pro- 
jectile from which their name is derived, to be 
drawn up on the right and left of each regiment, 
each man carrying two grenades. Among other 
relics of the battle, one of these in perfect pre- 
servation having missed exploding, and a six- 
