Carlingford too had perished.

The spot where the town had once stood was marked only by the massy remains of the old Norman castle.

Those who ventured to wander from the camp reported that the country, as far as they could explore it, was a wilderness.

There were cabins, but no inmates: there was rich pasture, but neither flock nor herd: there were cornfields; but the harvest lay on the ground soaked with rain, [439] While Schomberg was advancing through a vast solitude, the Irish forces were rapidly assembling from every quarter.

On the tenth of September the royal standard of James was unfurled on the tower of Drogheda; and beneath it were soon collected twenty thousand fighting men, the infantry generally bad, the cavalry generally good, but both infantry and cavalry full of zeal for their country and their religion, [440] The troops were attended as usual by a great multitude of camp followers, armed with scythes, half pikes, and skeans.