The annexed engraving represents a celebrated locality. It is the ruin of the little church on the hill at Donore, in the county of Meath, the spot where James II. was stationed when he beheld the overthrow of his army and the ruin of his cause at the battle of the Boyne, Tuesday, July 1st, 1690. The Boyne is a very beautiful and picturesque river; it winds through the fertile valleys of Meath, and from its richly-wooded banks the hills rise gradually; there are no lofty mountains in the immediate neighbourhood. The depth, in nearly all parts, is considerable, and the current, consequently, not rapid; its width, near the field of battle, varies little, and is seldom less than fifty or sixty yards. James had the choice of ground, and it was judiciously selected. On the south side of the river, in the county of Meath, his army was posted with considerable skill: on the right was Drogheda; in front were the fords of the Boyne, deep and dangerous, and difficult to pass at all times; the banks were rugged, lined by a morass, defended by some breastworks, with "huts and hedges convenient for infantry;" and behind them was an acclivity stretching along the whole of "the field." James fixed his own tent upon the summit of a hill close to the little church of Donore, now a ruin; it commanded an extensive view of the adjacent country, and the opposite or south side of the river—the whole range, indeed, from Drogheda to Oldbridge village—and looked directly down upon the valley, in which the battle was to be fought, and the fords of the Boyne, where there could be no doubt the troops of William would attempt a passage. From this spot, James beheld his prospering rival mingling in the thick of the mêlée, giving and taking blows; watched every turn of fortune, as it veered towards or against him; saw his enemies pushing their way in triumph, and his brave allies falling before the swords of foreigners—a safe and inglorious spectator of a battle upon the issue of which his throne depended. The preceeding night he had spent at Carntown Castle, from whence he had marched, not as the leader, but as the overseer, of the Irish army; having previously given unequivocal indications of his prospects, his hopes, and his designs, by despatching a commissioner to Waterford, "to prepare a ship for conveying him to France, in case of any misfortune."
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.
When Babylon the Great was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the grand palace, and within the general enclosure, the Hanging Gardens were constructed by the king to gratify his wife Amytis, who being a native of Media (she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of Media), desired to have some imitation of her native hills and forests.
"Within the walls was raised a lofty mound,
Where flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd
The pensile garden. For Nebassar's queen,
Fatigued with Babylonia's level plains,
Sigh'd for her Median home, where nature's hand
Had scooped the vale, and clothed the mountain's side