Each army having thus adopted its plan of action, a furious desultory war soon raged along the whole lines, from north to south. The Rapparees, under the guidance of the soldiers sent among them, formed in two lines: one of these moved along between the English army and the eastern coast, harassing the militia in its rear, and ravaging the country up to the gates of Dublin; while the other hung around its encampments, interrupting communication, disconcerting its movements, destroying its forage, and driving large herds of cattle beyond the Shannon. Their courage and hardihood were surprising. They now attacked larger bodies of the enemy, and raids and skirmishes, terminating in loss of life on both sides, were of daily--almost hourly, occurrence. If the enemy lost less in men--as we are assured he did, on the testimony of his own annalist--he paid the balance in booty, for to this the attention of the Rapparees, even in the heat of battle, was principally directed. An instance or two of their manner of proceeding will better illustrate their service at this time than pages of general detail.--As the English army extended northward, pursuant to its design against the Irish quarters, the regiment of Lord Drogheda occupied Kilcormack Castle, in the King's County, as an escort to the supplies daily arriving and passing on northward. The forage growing scarce around that station, the commander, Colonel Bristow, billeted his men on Balliboy, a few miles distant, in a plentiful district, and scoured the country in all directions. After a few days the town was well stored with provisions for the winter, and the greatest vigilance was exercised against a surprise from the Rapparees, who were reported to be about in the neighborhood. From a steep hill behind the town, which commanded a view of the country around, a constant lookout was kept up through the day; and every evening, before retiring to rest, the hedges and brushwood were searched, and the guards doubled through the night. Notwithstanding all this vigilance, the Rapparees got within the lines and concealed themselves in the hedges around the town; where they remained three days without food, and exposed to the severity of the weather. At length, on the third night, when the very quiet that prevailed awakened suspicion, a lieutenant and twenty men were sent out, who beat up all the hedges, and even those where the Rapparees lay concealed, without detecting any sign of them; and retired for the night free from apprehension. In half an hour more the town was fired at both ends; this was a signal to the Rapparees at a distance, who flocked in from all directions. The soldiers were driven to the hill, where a fight raged all night between them and one body of the Rapparees; while another, in their sight, rifled the town, brought off a large booty of provisions and horses, and secured them before morning. The next day they attacked Philipstown, but were repulsed and