the county of Fermanagh, was then
merely a village. It was built on an island surrounded by the river
which joins the two beautiful sheets of water known by the common name
of Lough Erne. The stream and both the lakes were overhung on every
side by natural forests. Enniskillen consisted of about eighty dwellings
clustering round an ancient castle. The inhabitants were, with scarcely
an exception, Protestants, and boasted that their town had been true to
the Protestant cause through the terrible rebellion which broke out in
1641. Early in December they received from Dublin an intimation that two
companies of Popish infantry were to be immediately quartered on them.
The alarm of the little community was great, and the greater because it
was known that a preaching friar had been exerting himself to inflame
the Irish population of the neighbourhood against the heretics. A
daring resolution was taken. Come what might, the troops should not
be admitted. Yet the means of defence were slender. Not ten pounds of
powder, not twenty firelocks fit for use, could be collected within
the walls. Messengers were sent with pressing letters to summon the
Protestant gentry of the vicinage to the rescue; and the summons was
gallantly obeyed. In a few hours two hundred foot and a hundred and
fifty horse had assembled. Tyrconnel's soldiers were already at hand.
They brought with them a considerable supply of arms to be distributed
among the peasantry. The peasantry greeted the royal standard with
delight, and accompanied the march in great numbers. The townsmen and
their allies, instead of waiting to be attacked, came boldly forth
to encounter the intruders. The officers of James had expected no
resistance. They were confounded when they saw confronting them a column
of foot, flanked by a large body of mounted gentlemen and yeomen. The
crowd of camp followers ran away in terror. The soldiers made a retreat
so precipitate that it might be called a flight, and scarcely halted
till they were thirty miles off at Cavan, [128]

The Protestants, elated by this easy victory, proceeded to make
arrangements for the government and defence of Enniskillen and of the
surrounding country. Gustavus Hamilton, a gentleman who had served
in the army, but who had recently been deprived of his commission by
Tyrconnel, and had since been living on an estate in Fermanagh, was
appointed Governor, and took up his residence in the castle. Trusty men
were enlisted, an