Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/250

Derry and Limerick But when, next year, the tide of war again rolled round the walls of Limerick, their prospects were gloomier than before. Cork, Kinsale, and Athlone had been taken; Aughrim had been lost; Galway, after a show of resistance, had surrendered.

Though the moral effect of Aughrim was greater than that of the Boyne, Tyrconnell, at last aware that the Irish troops could fight, determined to hold out. He appealed to France for an immediate supply of stores, and called to arms all the Irish between the ages of sixteen and sixty. But the Jacobites were soon left without an organiser. Tyrconnell died on the 14th of August, 1691.

Ginkel had already approached Limerick, more confident than even William had been of a speedy surrender.

But seeing no immediate prospect of it, he awaited: his siege train at Cahirconlish; for the fortifications of Limerick. especially of the Irish town, had been greatly strengthened since the preceding year. The conduct of the second siege of Limerick on both sides is puzzling. "It appears to be a mock siege," says A Jacobite Narrative, bitterly. How could Ginkel, coming late in the season, hope to take it with 22,000 men, after his master 238