They were crowded with Protestant fugitives from the country districts.

These had forsaken all, and flocked into Dublin, fearing that the Irish would retaliate for past grievances by a general massacre.

The banks of the Liffey were crowded by these fugitives, who, with tears and cries, besought the captains of the vessels lying there to give them passage to England.

All sorts of rumours of bloodshed, massacre, and destruction circulated through the city.

The Protestants in the north were said to have fallen upon the Catholic population, and to have put them to the sword, while in the south and west it was said the Catholics had taken the same measures against the Protestants.