Cannon on the city walls of Derry in Northern Ireland. It was here in April 1689 that James II began his campaign to regain the thrones of Scotland and England, besieging Derry for three months until the city was relieved by William’s Royal Navy. James was finally driven from Ireland a year later at the Battle of the Boyne. The very last attempt to land him on British soil was foiled at the Battle of Barfleur on May 19th, 1692.
Introduction
Throughout the 1680s, King Louis XIV of France nibbled away at countries along the French border from Holland to the Alps, while his ally Turkey harassed them from the other side. Only William, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, offered any real resistance, but his navy was too small do anything about it until 1688, when an extraordinary stroke of luck came his way.
IN 1688, envoys from England came to William, governing prince of the Dutch Republic, inviting him and his wife Mary to become King and Queen of England in place of Mary’s disgraced father, James II, now an exile in Paris. At once, William saw a chance to add England’s navy to his own and turn the tables on French King Louis XIV, a growing menace to small states along France’s border as far as Italy and Spain.
But Louis’s navy was still much larger, and in March 1689 he gave James ships and men and sent him to Ireland, with orders to raise a rebellion and reclaim his crown. Another Jacobite army in Scotland under John Graham, Earl of Dundee, scored a victory over William at Killiecrankie on July 27th, 1689; but Dundee himself was killed, and the Scots surrendered a month later. A further victory for William at the River Boyne near Dublin on July 1st, 1690, dismissed James back to France.
Précis
In 1688, Parliament drove King James II into exile, in favour of his daughter Mary and her husband William, ruler of the Dutch Republic. William’s long-standing foe King Louis XIV of France sent James to Ireland to raise rebellion, but William defeated him at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and extinguished a Jacobite revolt in Scotland too. (59 / 60 words)
In 1688, Parliament drove King James II into exile, in favour of his daughter Mary and her husband William, ruler of the Dutch Republic. William’s long-standing foe King Louis XIV of France sent James to Ireland to raise rebellion, but William defeated him at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and extinguished a Jacobite revolt in Scotland too.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, may, must, ought, until, whereas, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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