y apprehensions for Ireland, and
as all that part of the country are most protestantly loyal, it was not
thought necessary to arm people who would fight till they die for their
religion. When the artillery was silenced, the garrison thought the best
way of saving the town was by flinging it at the heads of the besiegers;
according they poured volleys of brickbats at the French, whose
commander, Monsieur Flobert, was mortally knocked down, and his troops
began to give way. However, General Jennings thought it most prudent to
retreat to the castle, and the French again advanced. Four or five raw
recruits still bravely kept the gates, when the garrison, finding no
more gunpowder in the castle than they had had in the town, and not near
so good a brick-kiln, sent to desire to surrender. General Thurot
accordingly made them prisoners of war, and plundered the town.

_THE BALLAD OF "HARDYKNUTE"--MR. HOME'S "SIEGE OF AQUILEIA"--"TRISTRAM
SHANDY"--BISHOP WARBURTON'S PRAISE OF IT._

TO SIR DAVID DALRYMPLE.

STRAWBERRY HILL, _April_ 4, 1760.

Sir,--As I have very little at present to trouble you with myself, I
should have deferred writing till a better opportunity, if it were not
to satisfy the curiosity of a friend; a friend whom you, Sir, will be
glad to have made curious, as you originally pointed him out as a likely
person to be charmed with the old Irish poetry you sent me. It is Mr.
Gray, who is an enthusiast about those poems, and begs me to put the
following queries to you; which I will do in his own words, and I may
say truly, _Poeta loquitur_.

"I am so charmed with the two specimens of Erse poetry, that I cannot
help giving you the trouble to inquire a little farther about them, and
should wish to see a few lines of the original, that I may form some
slight idea of the language, the measure, and the rhythm.

"Is there anything known of the author or authors, and of what antiquity
are they supposed to be?

"Is there any more to be had of equal beauty, or at all approaching to
it?

"I have been often told, that the poem called Hardykanute[1] (which I
always admired and still admire) was the work of somebody that lived a
few years ago. This I do not at all believe, though it has evidently
been retouched in places by some modern hand; but, however, I am
authorised by this report to ask, whether the two poems in question are
certainly antique and genuine. I make this inquiry in quality of an
antiquary, and am no