constructed round the wall, to protect the soldiers in passing from point to point; St. John's Gate--the principal one of the city--which opened towards the south-east, had been strengthened on the outer side by a redoubt and some angular palisades filled with earth, and on the inner side by a fort called "The Black Battery;" a bastion had been erected near the bridge connecting the English and Irish town; and an earthen fort constructed on King's Island, the guns of which flanked the counterscarp, and raked the eastern front of the wall as far as the main gate. A tower on the southern angle of the wall mounted three guns; the redoubt opposite St. John's Gate mounted two; there were two on the bastion near the bridge, and the fort on King's Island, probably mounted two more.[42] Eight thousand infantry manned those works; some regiments of dragoons occupied the island; the rest of the cavalry were disposed on the Clare side of the river, some below the city, at Annabeg, and some in the direction of O'Brien's Bridge, above it,--the branch of the river that separated the towns was easily fordable, and there were many fords on the main channel between that and Kilaloe. When the Prince of Orange reviewed his army at Finglass, before his departure from Dublin, it was 40,000 strong; and after his junction with Douglas at Caherconlish, it is estimated, on good authority, as "38,000 effective men."[43] The disparity in numbers between it and the Jacobite army was very great; but in resources, appointments, and artillery, it was still greater, and such as to leave little doubt of William's success. On the 8th of August, this army appeared within view of the city, on the eastern side, while de Lausun, who had, during the interval, occupied the position already indicated, on the western side, decamped, and marched his command to Galway, whence he shortly after sailed for France. On the 9th, William approached the city slowly and cautiously, bearing the Irish outposts before him, and took up his position between St. John's Gate and King's Island, within cannon range of the wall. His lines were soon extended to the right and left; the latter position being occupied by the Danes, who are said to have expressed great satisfaction at the sight of an old Danish fort that had escaped the changes of seven centuries, and reminded them at once of the sway of their ancestors over the island--and, mayhap, of the king by whose valor their power had been eventually overthrown.