Stuarts

200
THE STUARTS
popular memory. As long as the Irish race remains, the recollection of
the Battle of the Boyne seems likely to survive, for much else has grown
up around it, taking root in the rank soil of religious and political partisan-
ship. As, however, military and sectarian topics are foreign to the scope
of this book, I do not propose to dwell upon the doings of James in
Ireland.
The final attempt to recover the crown of his ancestors, made by this
ill-starred monarch with French assistance, culminated in the destruction of
Tourville's fleet in 1692. At this great naval battle of La Hogue, we are
told, James could not conceal his admiration of the exploits of the British
sailors. After this last and crushing blow to his hopes, he retired to St.
Germains, where he spent the remaining years of his life in austere devotions.
He died ten years afterwards.
The fate of the remains of King James II. is a remarkable story. It
is reported to have been his own wish to be buried in the Parish Church
of St. Germains, but his body was taken to the English Benedictine Church
of St. Edmund, and there it remained until the French Revolution, when
the coffin was broken up for the sake of the lead, and its contents carried
away. It is said to have been thrown into the "fosse commune."
REOUIESCAT.