[Footnote 2:  The Irish commanders disdained to imitate the cruelty of their enemies.  “I took,” says Lord Castlehaven, “Athy by storm, with all the garrison (seven hundred men) prisoners.  I made a present of them to Cromwell, desiring him by letter that he would do the like with me, as any of mine should fall in his power.  But he little valued my civility.  For, in a few days after, he besieged Gouvan; and the soldiers mutinying, and giving up the place with their officers, he caused the governor, Hammond, and some other officers, to be put to death.”—­Castlehaven, 107.  Ormond also says, in one of his letters, “the next day Rathfarnham was taken by storm, and all that were in it made prisoners; and though five hundred soldiers entered the castle before any officer of note, yet not one creature was killed; which I tell you by the way, to observe the difference betwixt our and the rebels making use of a victory.”—­Carte, Letters, ii. 408.]

admitted within the walls; yet, so obstinate was the resistance of the garrison, that, to spare his own men, the general consented to grant them honourable terms.  From Kilkenny he proceeded to the town of Clonmel,[a] where Hugh, the son of the deceased O’Neil, commanded with one thousand two hundred of the best troops of Ulster.  The duration of the siege exhausted his patience; the breach was stormed a second time; and, after a conflict of four hours, the English were driven back with considerable loss.[b] The garrison, however, had expended their ammunition; they took advantage of the confusion of the enemy to depart during the darkness of the night; and the townsmen the next morning, keeping the secret, obtained from Cromwell a favourable capitulation.[1][c] This was his last exploit in Ireland.  From Clonmel he was recalled to England to undertake a service of greater importance and difficulty, to which the reader must now direct his attention.

The young king, it will be remembered, had left the Hague on his circuitous route to Ireland, whither he had been called by the advice of Ormond and the wishes of the royalists.[d] He was detained three months at St. Germains by the charms of a mistress or the intrigues of his courtiers, nor did he reach the island of Jersey till long after the disastrous battle of Rathmines.[e] That event made his further progress a matter of serious discussion; and the difficulty was increased by the arrival of Wynram of Libertoun, with addresses from the parliament and the kirk of Scotland.[f] The first offered, on his acknowledgment of their authority as a parliament, to treat with him respecting the

[Footnote 1:  Whitelock, 449, 456.  Castlehaven, 108.  Ludlow, i. 265.  Perfect Politician, 70.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1650.  March 28.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1650.  May 8.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1650.  May 10.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1649.  June.] [Sidenote e:  A.D. 1649.  September.] [Sidenote f:  A.D. 1649.  October.]