With the British battalions were interspersed several hardy bands of German and Scandinavian mercenaries.

Before the end of May.

the English force in Ulster amounted to thirty thousand fighting men.

A few more troops and an immense quantity of military stores were on board of a fleet which lay in the estuary of the Dee, and which was ready to weigh anchor as soon as the King was on board, [620] James ought to have made an equally good use of the time during which his army had been in winter quarters.

Strict discipline and regular drilling might, in the interval between November and May, have turned the athletic and enthusiastic peasants who were assembled under his standard into good soldiers.