The Prince and his general had very different results to compare. The march of the former had been one of uninterrupted success. Kilkenny, Waterford, Duncannon, Clonmel, and all the intermediate places, had surrendered in succession, without even a check to mar the conquest of the Boyne, while that of Douglas had been one of continual disaster,--showing the only reverses that the Prince's arms had sustained since his arrival in the country. But if their military exploits were dissimilar, their catalogues of crime closely assimilated; for the same wanton outrages marked the footsteps of the Prince and his general. As William advanced from Dublin, he threw out detachments on all sides that plundered and laid waste the country, and slaughtered the defenceless inhabitants. Roused by the excesses of his soldiers, the people set upon them wherever they were found in detached bodies; and, neither giving nor asking quarter, no day went by without its tale of wanton aggression on the one side, and deadly revenge on the other.[40] CHAPTER XII. THE SIEGE OF LIMERICK. The city of Limerick, at the time of William's invasion, consisted, as it does at the present time, of three distinct divisions, or towns. One of these was on the right bank of the Shannon, in the County Clare; one on the left bank, in the County Limerick; and the third on King's Island, which is formed by the branching of the river about a mile above the city. The part on King's Island was known as the Englishtown; that on the Limerick side was designated the Irishtown, and two bridges connected that on the Island with the other two sections,--one bridge leading to each.[41] Holding a commanding position between the most fertile portions of two loyal provinces, and standing at the head of ship navigation, the military advantages of this city could scarcely be overrated; but the well-known loyalty of the people, the great difficulties that beset the king, and the exhausted state of his exchequer, through every phase of this war, had caused it to be neglected; and its defences were not at all in keeping with its strategic importance. It had, according to the Duke of Berwick, on his arrival there after the Battle of the Boyne, "no other fortification than a wall without ramparts, and a few miserable towers without ditches." But the month that had since elapsed had not been wasted; the old walls had been strengthened, and such new works devised as were allowed by the means at the disposal of the generals. The troops worked with a will corresponding to the exigency, the people shared their means cheerfully with them; and the gallant defence made during the preceding war against the arms of General Ireton, imparted hope and courage as the crisis drew near. The cursory view of this period to which these pages are limited, will not admit of a more minute detail of the disposition which had been made to meet the impending contest, than the following imperfect summary: A covered way had been