mmencing a civil war without further orders, retired with his troops
to Coleraine.

It might have been expected that the resistance of Enniskillen and
Londonderry would have irritated Tyrconnel into taking some desperate
step. And in truth his savage and imperious temper was at first inflamed
by the news almost to madness. But, after wreaking his rage, as usual,
on his wig, he became somewhat calmer. Tidings of a very sobering nature
had just reached him. The Prince of Orange was marching unopposed to
London. Almost every county and every great town in England had declared
for him. James, deserted by his ablest captains and by his nearest
relatives, had sent commissioners to treat with the invaders, and
had issued writs convoking a Parliament. While the result of the
negotiations which were pending in England was uncertain, the Viceroy
could not venture to take a bloody revenge on the refractory Protestants
of Ireland. He therefore thought it expedient to affect for a time
a clemency and moderation which were by no means congenial to his
disposition. The task of quieting the Englishry of Ulster was intrusted
to William Stewart, Viscount Mountjoy. Mountjoy, a brave soldier, an
accomplished scholar, a zealous Protestant, and yet a zealous Tory, was
one of the very few members of the Established Church who still held
office in Ireland. He was Master of the Ordnance in that kingdom, and
was colonel of a regiment in which an uncommonly large proportion of the
Englishry had been suffered to remain. At Dublin he was the centre of a
small circle of learned and ingenious men who had, under his presidency,
formed themselves into a Royal Society, the image, on a small scale,
of the Royal Society of London. In Ulster, with which he was peculiarly
connected, his name was held in high honour by the colonists, [138] He
hastened with his regiment to Londonderry, and was well received there.
For it was known that, though he was firmly attached to hereditary
monarchy, he was not less firmly attached to the reformed religion.
The citizens readily permitted him to leave within their walls a small
garrison exclusively composed of Protestants, under the command of his
lieutenant colonel, Robert Lundy, who took the title of Governor, [139]

The news of Mountjoy's visit to Ulster was highly gratifying to the
defenders of Enniskillen. Some gentlemen deputed by that town waited on
him to request his good offices, but were disappointed by the rec