of Milford Haven, Jones, in Dublin, reaped the laurels which Cromwell had destined for himself.  The royal army advanced on both banks of the Liffy to the siege of that capital;[a] and Ormond, from his quarters at Finglass, ordered certain works to be thrown up at a place called Bogatrath.  His object was to exclude the horse of the garrison from the only pasturage in their possession; but by some mishap, the working party did not reach the spot till an hour before sunrise; and Jones, sallying from the walls, overpowered the guard, and raised an alarm in the camp.[b] The confusion of the royalists encouraged him to follow up his success.  Regiment after regiment was beaten:  it was in vain that Ormond, aroused from his sleep, flew from post to post; the different corps acted without concert; a general panic ensued, and the whole army on the right bank fled in every direction.  The artillery, tents, baggage, and ammunition fell into the hands of the conquerors, with two thousand prisoners, three hundred of whom were massacred in cold blood at the gate of the city.  This was called the battle of Rathmines, a battle which destroyed the hopes of the Irish royalists, and taught men to doubt the abilities of Ormond.  At court, his enemies ventured to hint suspicions of treason; but Charles, to silence their murmurs and assure him of the royal favour, sent him the order of the garter.[1][c]

The news of this important victory[d] hastened the

[Footnote 1:  King’s Pamphlets, No. 434, xxi.  Whitelock, 410, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9.  Clarendon, viii. 92, 93.  Carte, Letters, ii. 394, 402, 408.  Baillie, ii. 346.  Ludlow, i. 257, 258.  Ormond, before his defeat, confidently predicted the fall of Dublin (Carte, letters, ii. 383, 389, 391); after it, he repeatedly asserts that Jones, to magnify his own services, makes the royalists amount to eighteen, whereas, in reality, they were only eight, thousand men.—­Ibid. 402, 413.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1649.  August 1.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1649.  August 2.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1649.  August 13.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1649.  August 18.]

departure of Cromwell.  He sailed from Milford with a single division; his son-in-law, Ireton, followed with the remainder of the army, and a fortnight was allowed to the soldiers to refresh themselves after their voyage.  The campaign was opened with the siege of Drogheda.[a] Ormond had thrown into the town a garrison of two thousand five hundred chosen men, under the command of Sir Arthur Aston, an officer who had earned a brilliant reputation by his services to the royal cause in England during the civil war.  On the eighth day a sufficient breach had been effected in the wall:[b] the assailants on the first attempt were driven back with immense loss.  They returned a second, perhaps a third, time to the assault, and their perseverance was at last crowned with success.  But strong works with ramparts and pallisades had been constructed within the breach, from which the