g them.

James arrived at Brest on the fifth of March, embarked there on board
of a man of war called the Saint Michael, and sailed within forty-eight
hours. He had ample time, however, before his departure, to exhibit some
of the faults by which he had lost England and Scotland, and by which he
was about to lose Ireland. Avaux wrote from the harbour of Brest that it
would not be easy to conduct any important business in concert with the
King of England. His Majesty could not keep any secret from any body.
The very foremast men of the Saint Michael had already heard him
say things which ought to have been reserved for the ears of his
confidential advisers, [170]

The voyage was safely and quietly performed; and, on the afternoon of
the twelfth of March, James landed in the harbour of Kinsale. By the
Roman Catholic population he was received with shouts of unfeigned
transport. The few Protestants who remained in that part of the country
joined in greeting him, and perhaps not insincerely. For, though an
enemy of their religion, he was not an enemy of their nation; and they
might reasonably hope that the worst king would show somewhat more
respect for law and property than had been shown by the Merry Boys and
Rapparees. The Vicar of Kinsale was among those who went to pay
their duty: he was presented by the Bishop of Chester, and was not
ungraciously received, [171]

James learned that his cause was prospering. In the three southern
provinces of Ireland the Protestants were disarmed, and were so
effectually bowed down by terror that he had nothing to apprehend from
them. In the North there was some show of resistance: but Hamilton was
marching against the malecontents; and there was little doubt that they
would easily be crushed. A day was spent at Kinsale in putting the arms
and ammunition out of reach of danger. Horses sufficient to carry a few
travellers were with some difficulty procured; and, on the fourteenth of
March, James proceeded to Cork, [172]

We should greatly err if we imagined that the road by which he entered
that city bore any resemblance to the stately approach which strikes the
traveller of the nineteenth century with admiration. At present Cork,
though deformed by many miserable relics of a former age, holds no mean
place among the ports of the empire. The shipping is more than half what
the shipping of London was at the time of the Revolution. The customs
exceed the whole revenue which the whole