the rival commanders, whose powers of strategy
were now to be tested before the assembled and discriminating citizens
of Dublin. Not to speak of the eminent personal hazard of a service
which required me constantly to ride between the lines of contending
armies, the fatigue alone had nigh killed me. Scarcely did I appear,
breathless, at head-quarters on my return from one mission, when I was
despatched on another. Tired and panting, I more than once bungled my
directions, and communicated to Sir Charles the secret intentions of his
Lordship, while with a laudable impartiality I disarranged the former's
plans by a total misconception of the orders. Fatigue, noise, chagrin,
and incessant worry had so completely turned my head, that I became
perfectly incapable of the commonest exercises of reason. Some of the
artillery I ordered into a hollow, where I was told to station a party
of riflemen. Three squadrons of cavalry I desired to charge up a hill,
which the 71st Highlanders were to have scrambled up if they were able.
Light dragoons I posted in situations so beset with brushwood and firs,
that all movement became impossible; and, in a word, when the signal-gun
announced the commencement of the action, my mistakes had introduced
such a new feature into tactics, that neither party knew what his
adversary was at, nor, indeed, had any accurate notion of which were his
own troops. The Duke, who had watched with the most eager satisfaction
the whole of my proceedings, sat laughing upon his horse till the very
tears coursed down his cheeks; and, as all the staff were more or less
participators in the secret, I found myself once more the centre of a
grinning audience, perfectly convulsed at my exploits. Meanwhile, the
guns thundered, the cavalry charged, the infantry poured in a rattling
roar of small arms; while the luckless commanders, unable to discover
any semblance of a plan, and still worse, not knowing where one half of
their forces were concealed, dared not adventure upon a movement, and
preferred trusting to the smoke of the battle as a cover for their
blunders. The fusilade, therefore, was hotly sustained; all the
heavy pieces were brought to the front; and while the spectators were
anxiously looking for the manoeuvres of a fight, the ammunition was
waxing low, and the day wearing apace. Dissatisfaction at length began
to show itself on every side; and the Duke assuming, as well as he was
able, somewhat of a disappointed