Guards were posted at
the gates: the Castle was occupied by a strong body of troops; and it
was generally supposed that the enemy would not be admitted without a
struggle. Indeed some swaggerers, who had, a few hours before, run from
the breastwork at Oldbridge without drawing a trigger, now swore that
they would lay the town in ashes rather than leave it to the Prince of
Orange. But towards the evening Tyrconnel and Lauzun collected all their
forces, and marched out of the city by the road leading to that vast
sheepwalk which extends over the table land of Kildare. Instantly the
face of things in Dublin was changed. The Protestants every where came
forth from their hiding places. Some of them entered the houses of their
persecutors and demanded arms. The doors of the prisons were opened.
The Bishops of Meath and Limerick, Doctor King, and others, who had
long held the doctrine of passive obedience, but who had at length been
converted by oppression into moderate Whigs, formed themselves into a
provisional government, and sent a messenger to William's camp, with the
news that Dublin was prepared to welcome him. At eight that evening a
troop of English dragoons arrived. They were met by the whole Protestant
population on College Green, where the statue of the deliverer now
stands. Hundreds embraced the soldiers, hung fondly about the necks of
the horses, and ran wildly about, shaking hands with each other. On the
morrow a large body of cavalry arrived; and soon from every side came
news of the effects which the victory of the Boyne had produced.
James had quitted the island. Wexford had declared for William. Within
twenty-five miles of the capital there was not a Papist in arms. Almost
all the baggage and stores of the defeated army had been seized by the
conquerors. The Enniskilleners had taken not less than three hundred
cars, and had found among the booty ten thousand pounds in money,
much plate, many valuable trinkets, and all the rich camp equipage of
Tyrconnel and Lauzun, [707]

William fixed his head quarters at Ferns, about two miles from Dublin.
Thence, on the morning of Sunday, the sixth of July, he rode in great
state to the cathedral, and there, with the crown on his head, returned
public thanks to God in the choir which is now hung with the banners of
the Knights of Saint Patrick. King preached, with all the fervour of a
neophyte, on the great deliverance which God had wrought for the Church.
The Protestant