Friday, July 1, 2011

Battle of the Boyne

'In July this year [1825] the Laird paid his promised visit to Ireland, which Johnson said, "Was worth seeing, but not worth going to see." He sailed from Glasgow, and was charmed with the magnificent scenery on the Firth of Clyde. He arrived with his party at Dublin, having halted at Drogheda to visit the field of the battle of the Boyne. They reached Walter's house in Stephen's Green in time for dinner, and Scott looked round with joy and pride as he first sat at his son's table. "How pleasant it is," says Scott, "for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of the oak which he has planted."...'

The text above is from James Hay's "Sir Walter Scott".  In 1825 Scott took a long anticipated trip to Ireland.  July was a good time to visit the battlefield of Boyne, where the fight between the deposed King James Stuart and incumbent King William III took placeWilliam's victory effectively ended James Stuart's chances of regaining the throne.  The battle took place on July 1/11 (J/G), 1690.

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