authority; but he had been assured by James that Tyrconnel should
have secret instructions not to intermeddle in the conduct of the
war. Saint Ruth was assisted by another general officer named
D'Usson. The French ships brought some arms, some ammunition, and
a plentiful supply of corn and flour. The spirits of the Irish
rose; and the Te Deum was chaunted with fervent devotion in the
cathedral of Limerick.85

Tyrconnel had made no preparations for the approaching campaign.
But Saint Ruth, as soon as he had landed, exerted himself
strenuously to redeem the time which had been lost. He was a man
of courage, activity and resolution, but of a harsh and imperious
nature. In his own country he was celebrated as the most merciless
persecutor that had ever dragooned the Huguenots to mass. It was
asserted by English Whigs that he was known in France by the
nickname of the Hangman; that, at Rome, the very cardinals had
shown their abhorrence of his cruelty; and that even Queen
Christina, who had little right to be squeamish about bloodshed,
had turned away from him with loathing. He had recently held a
command in Savoy. The Irish regiments in the French service had
formed part of his army, and had behaved extremely well. It was
therefore supposed that he had a peculiar talent for managing
Irish troops. But there was a wide difference between the well
clad, well armed and well drilled Irish, with whom he was
familiar, and the ragged marauders whom be found swarming in the
alleys of Limerick. Accustomed to the splendour and the discipline
of French camps and garrisons, he was disgusted by finding that,
in the country to which he had been sent, a regiment of infantry
meant a mob of people as naked, as dirty and as disorderly as the
beggars, whom he had been accustomed to see on the Continent