In vain thy bearing bold is shown upon that blood-stained ground;
Thy towering hopes are overthrown—thy choicest fall around.
“Hurrah! hurrah! the victor shout is heard on high Donore!
Down Plottin’s Vale, in hurried rout, thy shattered masses pour.
But many a gallant spirit there retreats across the plain,
Who ‘change but kings’ would gladly dare that battlefield again!”
The expression, in regard to exchanging monarchs, alluded to in the ballad, is founded on a saying attributed to Sarsfield, who, on being taunted by a British officer at the Duleek outposts the night of the engagement, exclaimed: “Change kings with us, and we will fight the battle over again with you!”
James, after his defeat, remained but one day in Dublin. He summoned the State Council and the Lord Mayor, bade them farewell, and left the government of the kingdom and the command of the army in the hands of Tyrconnel. Then, accompanied by a small staff, he rode to Bray and thence by easy stages to Waterford, where he embarked for France and reached that kingdom in safety. He was generously received by King Louis. In justice to a monarch who is alleged to have spoken harshly and unjustly of his Irish troops and subjects after the battle of the Boyne, we must state that his published Memoirs, as also those of his son, the heroic Duke of Berwick, bear the very highest testimony to the bravery and devotion of the Irish army, particularly in dealing with the closing campaign in Ireland, when it crowned itself with glory. Remembering this, we may join with the poet in saying—
“Well, honored be the graves that close
O’er every brave and true heart,