History of the Scottish Highlands : Highland clans and Highland regiments, with an account of the Gaelic language, literature, and music

JOHN M. KELLY LIBDADY

DONATED BY

GAELIC SOCIETY OF
TORONTO

LIEUT. GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON. BART.. K.C.B.

HISTORY

OF THE

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

HIGHLAND CLANS

AND

HIGHLAND REGIMENTS

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GAELIC LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND MUSIC

HY THE REV, THOMAS MACLAUCHLAN, LL.D., F.S.A.(SCOT.), AND

AN ESSAY ON HIGHLAND SCENERY BY THE LATE

PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON

EDITED BY
JOHN S. KELT IE, F. S. A. (SCOT.)

A NEW EDITION

WITH THE REGIMENTAL PORTION BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES

BY WILLIAM MELVEN, M.A., GLASGOW

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK:
J. ARNOT PENMAN, 7 WARREN STREET.

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PART FIRST.
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

B.C. 55 — A.D. 446.

Highlands defined — Ancient Scotland — Roman Trans-
actions— Agricola — Caledonians — Contest at Loch Ore
— Galgacns — Mons Grampias — Battle— Agricola super-
seded — Lollias Urbicns — Antonine's Wall — TJlpius
Marcellus — Severus — Constantius Chlorns — Picts —
Scots — Attacots — Attack Roman Provinces — Romans
abandon Britain — Influence of Romans— Roman Re-
mains— Roads — Camps— Ardoch.

As it is generally acknowledged that the physi-
cal character of a. country influences in a great
degree the moral and physical character of its
inhabitants, and thus to a certain extent deter-
mines their history, it may not be deemed out
of place to define here the application of the
term Highlands, so far as Scotland is con-
cerned, and briefly to describe the general
physical aspect of that part of our native land.
If it hold good at all that there subsists a re-
lation between a people and the country which
they have inhabited for centuries, the follow-
ing history will show that this is peculiarly
the case with the Scottish Highlanders.

Most of those who have thought of the
matter at all, have doubtless formed to them-
selves a general notion of the northern half of
Scotland as a

" Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,"

and of its inhabitants as a brawny, rugged, in-
domitable, impulsive race, steadfast in their
friendship and loyalty, but relentless and
fierce in their enmity. Although the popular
and poetic notion of the country is on the whole
correct, and although the above epithets may
i.

express the main features of the character of
the people, still it requires a close acquaint-
ance with this interesting race, both histori-
cally and by personal intercourse, to form an
adequate notion of their character in all its
aspects.

To speak roughly, nearly the whole of the
country north of a line connecting the heads of
the estuaries of the Clyde, Forth, and Tay,
may be included under the designation of the
Highlands, and, in fact, popularly is so. In-
deed, at the time at which the northern half
of Scotland — the ancient and proper Caledonia
— emerges from its pristine gloom, and for the
first time glimmers in the light of history, the
line indicated by the forts of Agricola, and
afterwards by the wall of Antonine, marked
the southern boundary of the region which was
then, and for centuries afterwards, regarded by
the Romans, and also, probably, by the south-
ern Britons, as occupying the same position in
relation to the rest of the country as the High-
lands proper did at a subsequent period. In
course of time the events which fall to be re-
corded in the following pages gradually altered
this easily perceived boundary, so that for cen-
turies before the present day, a much more in-
tricate but atill distinct line has marked the
limits of what is now strictly and correctly re-
garded as the Highlands of Scotland.

The definition of this territory which best
suits the purposes of history, and in all re-
spects most nearly accords with those of poli-
tical and social geography, is one which makes
it commensurate with the country or locations
of the ancient Highland clans. This definition
assigns to the Highlands all the continental

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

territory north of the Moray frith, and all the
territory, both insular and continental, west-
ward of an easily traceable line from that frith
to the frith of Clyde. The line commences at
the mouth of the river Nairn : thence, with
the exception of a slight north-eastward or out-
ward curve, the central point of which is on the
river Spey, it runs due south-east till it strikes
the river Dee at Tullach, nearly on the third
degree of longitude west of Greenwich ; it then
runs generally south till it falls upon West-
water, or the southern large head-water of the
North Esk ; thence, over a long stretch, it runs
almost due south-west, and with scarcely a de-
viation, till it falls upon the Clyde at Ardmore
in the parish of Cardross ; and now onward to
the Atlantic ocean, it moves along the frith of
Clyde, keeping near to the continent, and ex-
cluding none of the Clyde islands except the
comparatively unimportant Cumbraes. All
the Scottish territory west and north-west of
this line is properly the Highlands. Yet both
for the convenience of topographical descrip-
tion, and because, altogether down to the middle
of the 13th century, and partially down to the
middle of the 16th, the Highlands and the
Western Islands were politically and histori-
cally distinct regions, the latter are usually
viewed apart under the name of the Hebrides.
The mainland Highlands, or the Highlands
after the Hebrides are deducted, extend in ex-
treme length from Duncansby Head, or John
o' Groat's on the north, to the Mull of Kintyre
on the south, about 250 miles ; but over a dis-
tance of 90 miles at the northern end, they have
an average breadth of only about 45 miles, —
over a distance of 50 or 55 miles at the southern
end, they consist mainly of the Clyde islands,
and the very narrow peninsula of Kintyre, —
and even at their broadest part, from the
eastern base of the Grampians to Ardna-
murchan Point on the west, they do not ex-
tend to more than 120 miles. The district
comprehends the whole of the counties of
Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, Inver-
ness, and Argyle, large parts of Nairn, Perth,
Dumbarton, and Bute, and considerable por-
tions of Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Forfar, and
Stirling. Considerable parts of this district,
however, such as Caithness-ehirc, the island
of Bute, and some large tracts of moor or valley

or flanking plain, do not exhibit the physical
features which are strictly Highland.

A district so extensive can be but faintly
pictured in a general and rapid description.
Mountains, chiefly covered with heath or ling,
but occasionally, on the one hand, displaying
sides and summits of naked rock, and on the
other, exhibiting a dress of verdure, everywhere
rise, at short intervals, in chains, ridges, groups,
and even solitary heights. Their forms are of
every variety, from the precipitous and pinna-
cled acclivity, to the broad-based and round-
backed ascent; but, in general, are sharp in
outline, and wild or savagely grand in feature.
Both elongated ridges, and chains or series of
short parallel ridges, have a prevailing direc-
tion from north-east to south-west, and send
up summits from 1,000 to upwards of 4,000
feet above the level of the sea. Glens, valleys,
and expanses of lowland stretch in all direc-
tions among the mountains, and abound in
voluminous streams, and large elongated lakes
of picturesque appearance, — nearly all the in-
land lakes extending in stripes either north-
eastward and south-westward, or eastward and
westward. Along the whole west coast, at re-
markably brief intervals, arms of the sea, long,
narrow, and sometimes exceedingly rugged in
outline, run north-eastward or south-eastward
into the interior, and assist the inland fresh
water lakes in cleaving it into sections. The
rivers of the region are chiefly impetuous tor-
rents, careering for a while along mountain-
gorges, and afterwards either expanding them-
selves into beautiful lakes and flowing athwart
delightful meadows, or ploughing long narrow
valleys, green and ornate with grasses, trefoils,
daisies, ranunculi, and a profuse variety of
other herbage and flowers. Native woods,
principally of pine and birch, and occasionally
clumps and expanses of plantation, climb the
acclivities of the gentler heights, or crowd down
upon the valley, and embosom the inland lakes.
On the east side, along the coast to the Moray
frith, and towards the frontier in the counties
of Nairn, Elgin, and Perth, gentle slopes and
broad belts of lowland, fertile in soil and fa-
vourable in position, are carpeted with agricul-
tural luxuriance, and thickly dotted with human
dwellings, and successfully vie with the south
of Scotland in towns and population, and ill

ROMAN TRANSACTIONS.

the pursuit and display of wealth. But almost
everywhere else, except in the fairyland of
Loch Fyno, and the southern shore of Loch
Etivo, the Highlands are sequestered, — sinless
of a town, — a semi- wilderness, where a square
mile is a more convenient unit of measurement
than an acre.

A district characterized by such features as
we have named necessarily exhibits, within
very circumscribed limits, varieties of scenery
of the most opposite descriptions ; enabling the
admirer of nature to pass abruptly from dwell-
ing on the loveliness of an extensive marine
or champaign landscape into the deep solitude
of an ancient forest, or the dark craggy fast-
nesses of an alpine ravine ; or from lingering
amid the quiet grassy meadows of a pastoral
strath or valley, watered by its softly-flowing
stream, to the open heathy mountain-side,
whence ' alps o'er alps arise,' whose summits
are often shrouded with mists and almost per-
ennial snows, and their overhanging precipices
furrowed by foaming cataracts. Lakes and
long arms of the sea, either fringed with woods
or surrounded with rocky barren shores, now
studded with islands, and anon extending their
silvery arms into distant receding mountains,
are mot in every district ; while the extreme
steepness, ruggedness, and sterility of many of
the mountain-chains impart to them as impos-
ing and magnificent characters as are to be seen
In the much higher and more inaccessible ele-
vations of Switzerland. No wonder, then, that
this 'land of mountain and of flood' should
have given birth to the song of the bard, and
afforded material for the theme of the sage, in
all ages ; and that its inhabitants should be
tinctured with deep romantic feelings, at once
tender, melancholy, and wild ; and that the
recollection of their own picturesque native
dwellings should haunt them to their latest
hours. Neither, amid such profusion and di-
versity of all that is beautiful and sublime in
nature, can the unqualified admiration of
strangers, from every part of Europe, of the
scenery of the Highlands fail of being easily
accounted for ; nor can any hesitate in re-
commending them to visit it, whether their
object be the restoration of health, or the pur-
suit of those sports for which the region is
celebrated.

Such are the main features of the Highlands
of Scotland at the present day, and, to a con-
siderable extent, the description might have ap-
plied to the country at the time of the Roman
invasion. Still, in the graphic words of Stuart,*
" To form an idea of the general aspect of Scot-
land, as it was some eighteen hundred years
ago, we must, in imagination, restore to its now
varied surface the almost unbroken gloom of
the primeval forest; her waving mantle of som-
bre hue, within which the genius loci may bo
supposed to have brooded over the seclusion and
the poverty of ' ancient Caledon." In a bird's-
eye view, if such a thought may be indulged,
the greatest part of the country presented, in
all probability, the appearance of one continu-
ous wood ; a mass of cheerless verdure resting
on hill and dale — the sameness of its dark ex-
tent, broken only where some lake or green-
clad morass met the view, or where the higher
mountains lifted their summits above the line
of vegetation. In some districts, considerable
tracks of open moorland might, doubtless, be
seen clad in the indigenous heather of tho
North ; while, in others, occasional spots of pas-
ture-land would here and there appear ; — but,
on the whole, these must have formed a strik-
ing contrast to the wide expanse of the pre-
vailing forest."

As the present work is concerned only with
the Highlands of Scotland, it would of course
be out of place to give any minute account of
the transactions of the Romans in the other
parts of the island. Suffice it to say that from
the time, B.C. 55, when Julius Caesar first land-
ed on the coast of South Britain, until A.D. 78,
when, under the Emperor Vespasian, Cnseus
Julius Agricola assumed the command in Great
Britain, the greater part of midland and
south England had been brought under tho
sway of the Romans. This able commander
set himself with vigour and earnestness to con-
firm the conquests which had been already
made, to reduce the rest of the country to sub-
jection, to conciliate the Britons by mild mea-
sures, and to attach them to the Roman power
by introducing among them Roman manners,
literature, luxuries, and dress.

Agricola was appointed to tho command in
Britain in tho year 78 A.D., but appears not
* Caledonia Romana, f. 11.

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

to have entered Scotland till his third cam-
paign in the year 80. He employed himself
in the years 80, 81, and 82, in subduing the
country south of the friths of Forth and Clyde,
— the Bodotria and Glotta of Tacitus, — erect-
ing, in 81, a series of forts between those two
estuaries. Having accomplished this, Agricola
made preparations for his next campaign,which
he was to open beyond the friths in the sum-
mer of 83, he in the meantime having heard
that the Caledonians — as Tacitus calls the
people north of the Forth — had formed a con-
federacy to resist the invader.

These Caledonians appear to have been
divided into a number of tribes or clans,
having little or 110 political connection, and
almost constantly at war among themselves.
It was only when a foreign foe threatened their
much-prized freedom that a sense of danger
forced them to unite for a time under the com-

mand of a military leader. Some writers, on
the authority of Ptolemy of Alexandria, but
chiefly on that of the pseudo-Eichard of Ciren-
ceater,3 give a list of the various tribes which,
during the Boman period, inhabited North
Britain, and define the locality which each
occupied with as much exactness as they might
do a modern English county. " There was
one thing," says Tacitus, " which gave us an
advantage over these powerful nations, that
they never consulted together for the advantage
of the whole. It was rare that even two or
three of them united against the common
enemy." Their whole means of subsistence
consisted in the milk and flesh of their flocks
and the produce of the chase. They lived in
a state almost approaching to nudity; but
whether from necessity or from choice cannot
be satisfactorily determined. Dio represents
the Caledonians as being naked, but Herodinn

Fig. 1. Sculptured Stone in the Church of Meigle. Fig. 2. From a Sculptured Stone found at St. Andrews.

speaks of them as wearing a partial covering.
They appear, at all events, if the stone dug up
at Blackness in the year 1868 (see p. 11), be
taken as an authority, to have gone naked into
battle. Their towns, which were few, consisted
of huts covered with turf or skins, and for
better security they were erected in the centre
of some wood or morass. " What the Britons
call a town, says Ctesar, "is a tract of
woody country, surrounded by a vallum and
ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle
against the incursions of an enemy; for, when

they have enclosed a very large circuit witli
felled trees, they build within it houses for

8 The De Silu Britannia: " professed to be a manu-
script of the fourteenth century, written by a monk
named Richard of Cirencester, made up by him from
certain fragments left by a Roman General. The per-
son who stepped forth as the lucky discoverer of so
precious a relic was Charles Julius Bertram, English
Professor in the Royal Marine Academy at Copen-
hagen. His revelation was accepted without hesi-
tation, and revolutionized the existing notions about
the geography of Roman Britain. After all, the hoax
was not absolutely useless; it stimulated inquiry, and,
in itself, what it professed to lay down on authority,
were the guesses and theories of a learned and acute
man." — Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 13.

THE CALEDONIANS.

themselves, and hovels for their cattle."4 Not-
withstanding, perhaps owing to the scantiness
of their covering, which left their bodies ex-
posed to the rigour of a cold and variable cli-
mate, the Caledonians were a remarkably hardy
race, capable of enduring fatigue, cold, and
hunger to an extent which their descendants
of the present day could not encounter without
risk of life. They were decidedly a warlike
people, and are said, like the heroes of more
ancient times, to have been addicted to rob-
bery. The weapons of their warfare consisted
of small spears, long broadswords, and hand
daggers ; and they defended their bodies in
combat by a small target or shield, — all much
of the same form and construction as those
afterwards used by their posterity in more mo-
dern times. It would appear from the stone
above referred to that the shields of the
Caledonians were oblong, with a boss in the
centre, and their swords short and pointed, —
not long and blunt, as represented by Ta-
citus. The use of cavalry appears not to
have been so well understood among the Cale-
donians as among the more southern tribes ;
but in battle they often made use of cars, or
chariots, which were drawn by small, swift,
and spirited horses ; and it is conjectured
that, like those used by the southern Britr
ons, they had iron scythes projecting from
the axle. It is impossible to say what form
of government obtained among these warlike
tribes. When history is silent, historians
should either maintain a cautious reserve or
bo sparing in their conjectures ; but analogy
may supply materials for well-grounded specu-
lations, and it may therefore be asserted, with-
out any great stretch of imagination, that, like
most of the other uncivilized tribes we read of
in history, the Northern Britons or Caledonians
were under the government of a leader or chief
lo whom they yielded a certain degree of obedi-
ence. Dio, indeed, insinuates that the govern-
ments of these tribes were democratic ; but ho
should have been aware that it is only when
bodies of men assume, in an advanced state of
civilization, a compact and united form that de-
mocracy can prevail ; and the state of barbar-
ism in which he says the inhabitants of North

4 Dt Bella Oallico, ii. 17.

Britain existed at the period in question seems
to exclude such a supposition. We have no
certain information from any contemporary,
and conjecture is therefore groundless. Later
fable-loving historians and chroniclers, indeed,
give lists of Kings of Scotland — or, rather, of
Pictland— extending back for centuries before
the Christian era, but these by general consent
are now banished to the realm of myths. It
is probable, as we have already said, that the
Caledonians were divided into a number of
independent tribes, and that each tribe was
presided over by a chief, but how he obtained
his supremacy it is impossible to say. We have
one instance, at least, of a number of 'tribes
uniting under one leader, viz., at the battle of
Mons Grampius, when the Caledonians were
commanded by a chief or leader called by Ta-
citus, Galgacus, " inter plures duces virtuto et
genere preestans."5 " The earliest bond of
union may probably be traced to the time
when they united under one common leader to
resist or assail the Eoman legionaries ; and out
of the Dux or Toshach elected for the occasion,
like Galgacus, and exercising a paramount
though temporary authority, arose the Ardrigh
or supreme king, after some popular or ambi-
tious chieftain had prolonged his power by suc-
cessful wars, or procured his election to this
prominent station for life."6

Whatever may have been the relation of the
members of the different tribes, and the relation
of the tribes to each other, it is certain, from the
general tone of the works of Tacitus and other
Roman historians in which those early inhabit-
ants of the Scottish Highlands are mentioned,
that they offered a far more formidable resist-
ance to the Eoman arms than had hitherto been
done by any other of the British tribes.

In personal stature, the natives of Caledonia,
like those of other parts of Britain, appear to
have excelled their Eoman invaders, and from
Tacitus wo learn that those with whom his
fatlicr-in-law came into contact were distin-
guished by ruddy locks and lusty limbs. It
is also certain that for the sake of ornament,
or for the purpose of making their appearance
more terrible in war, they resorted to the bar-

8 Tacitus, Agricola,
6 E. W. Robertson's Scotland under her Early
Kings, vol. i. p. 31.

6

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

barons practice of tattooing their bodies. In-
deed it may bo taken as a proof of their never
having to any great extent come under the
power and influence of Home and Roman cus-
toms, that they retained this practice for long
after the other Britons had abandoned it, and
on tliis account, in all probability, afterwards
acquired the name of Picts.

The people whom Agricola encountered in
Scotland cannot have been otherwise than
tolerable proficients in the common branches
of art; how else can we suppose them to have
been supplied with all that materiel of war
with which they are said to have appeared be-
fore him 1 Indolent and uninformed as were
the bulk of the people, they must have had
among them artificers both in wood and in
iron, not unskilled in their respective trades —
able to construct the body of a car — to provide

liritisk War-Chariot.

for it axles of great strength — above all, able
to construct the wheels and arm them with
those sharp-edged instruments that were des-
tined to cut down whatever opposed their
course.7

Agricola, in the summer of 83, after having
obtained information as to the nature of the
country and the aspect of its inhabitants from
exploring parties and prisoners, transported his
army across the Frith of Forth to the shores
of Fife by means of his fleet, and marched
along the coast eastwards, keeping the fleet in
sight. It cannot with certainty be ascertained
at what part of the Forth this transportation
of the forces took place, although some bold

7 Stuart's Caledonia Romana, pp. 35, 36.

antiquarians assert that it must have been not
far from Queensferry. The fleet, Tacitus tells
us,8 now acting, for the first time, in concert
with the land-forces, proceeded in sight of the
army, forming a magnificent spectacle, and
adding terror to the war. It frequently hap-
pened that in the same camp were seen the
infantry and cavalry intermixed with the
marines, all indulging their joy, full of their
adventures, and magnifying the history of their
exploits; the soldier describing, in the usual
style of military ostentation, the forests which
he had passed, the mountains which he climbed,
and the barbarians whom he put to the rout;
while the sailor had his storms and tempests,
the wonders of the deep, and the spirit with
which he conquered winds and waves.

The offensive operations of the sixth cam-
paign were commenced by the Caledonian
Britons, who, from the higher country, made
a furious attack upon the trans-Forthan forti-
fications, which so alarmed some of Agri-
cola's officers, who were afraid of being cut off
from a retreat, that they advised their general
to recross the Forth without delay; but Agri-
cola resisted this advice, and made preparations
for the attack which he expected would soon
be made upon his army. As Agricola had
received information that the enemy intended
to fall upon him from various quarters, he
divided his army into three bodies and con-
tinued his march. Some antiquarians have
attempted to trace the route taken by each
division, founding their elaborate theories on
the very slender remains of what they sup-
pose to have been Roman fortifications and
encampments. As it would serve no good
purpose to encumber our pages with these an-
tiquarian conjectures, detailed accounts of
which will be found in Chalmers, Stuart, Roy,
and others, we shall only say that, with con-
siderable plausibility, it is supposed that the
Ninth Legion encamped on the north side of
Loch Ore, about two miles south of Loch Leven
in Kinross-shire. Another legion, it is said,
encamped near Dunearn Hill, about a mile
distant from Burntisland, near which hill are
still to be seen remains of a strength called
Agricola's camp. At all events the divisions

* Agricola XXT.

CONTESTS AT LOCH ORE AND MONS GRAMPIU&

do not seem to have been very far apart, as
will bo seen from the following episode.

The enemy having watched the proceedings
of the Roman army made the necessary pre-
parations for attack, and during the night
made a furious assault on the Ninth Legion
at Loch Ore. They had acted with such
caution that they were actually at the very
camp before Agricola was aware of their move-
ments; but with great presence of mind he
despatched a body of his lightest troops to
turn their flank and attack the assailants in the
rear. After an obstinate engagement, main-
tained with varied success in the very gates of
the camp, the Britons were at length repulsed
by the superior skill of the Roman veterans.
This battle was so far decisive, that Agricola
did not find much difficulty afterwards in sub-
duing the surrounding country, and, having
finished his campaign, he passed the winter of
83 in Fife; being supplied with provisions
from his fleet in the Forth, and keeping up a
constant correspondence with his garrisons on
the southern side.

By this victory, according to Tacitus, so
complete and glorious, the Roman army was
inspired with confidence to such a degree, that
they now pronounced themselves invincible,
and desired to penetrate to the extremity of
the island.

The Caledonians now began to perceive
the danger of their situation from the prox-
imity of such a powerful enemy, and a
sense of this danger impelled them to lay
aside the feuds and jealousies which had
divided and distracted their tribes, to consult
together for their mutual safety and protection,
and to combine their scattered strength into a
united and energetic mass. The proud spirit
of independence which had hitherto kept the
Caledonian tribes apart, now made them co-
alesce in support of their liberties, which were
threatened with utter annihilation. In tliis
eventful crisis, they looked around them for a
leader or chief under whom they might fight
the battle of freedom, and save their country
from the dangers which threatened it. A chief,
named Galgacus by Tacitus, was pitched upon
to act as generalissimo of the Caledonian army;
and, from the praises bestowed upon him by
that historian, this warrior appears to have

well merited the distinction thus bestowed.
Preparatory to the struggle they were about to
engage in, they sent their wives and children
into places of safety, and, in solemn assemblies
in which public sacrifices were offered up, rati-
fied the confederacy into which they had en-
tered against their common enemy.

Having strengthened his army with some
British auxiliaries from the south, Agricola
marched through Fife in the summer of 84,
making for a spot called by Tacitus Mans
Gramplus; sending at the same time his fleet
round the eastern coast, to support him in his
operations, and to distract the attention of the
Caledonians. Various conjectures have been
broached as to the exact line of Agricola's
march and the exact position of the Mons
Grampius. The most plausible of these is
that of General Roy,9 who supposes that
the march of Agricola was regulated by the
course of the Devon; that he turned to the
right from Glendevon through the opening of
the Ochil hills, along the course of the rivulet
which runs along Gleneagles ; leaving the braes
of Ogilvie on his left, and passing between
Blackford and Auchterarder towards the Gram-
pian hills, which he saw at a distance before
him as he debouched from the Ochils. By an
easy march he reached the moor of Ardoch,
from which he descried the Caledonian army,
to the number of 30,000 men, encamped
on the declivity of the hill which begins
to rise from the north-western border of the
moor of Ardoch. Agricola took his station
at the great camp which adjoins the fort
of Ardoch on the northward. If the Roman
camp at Ardoch does mark the spot where the
disastrous engagement about to bo noticed took-
place between these brave and determined
Caledonians and the invincible Roman legions,
it is highly probable that Agricola drew out
his army on the neighbouring moor, having a
large ditch or trench of considerable length in
front, the Caledonian host under Galgacus
being already disposed in battle array on the
heights beyond. The Roman army is sup-
posed to have numbered about 20,000 or
30,000, the auxiliary infantry, in number
about 8,000,* occupying the centre, the wings

military AnMquitiei.

Tac. Agritola xxiv.

8

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

consisting of 3,000 horse. The legions were
stationed in the rear, at the head of the en-
trenchments, as a body of reserve to support
the ranks, if necessary, hut otherwise to remain
inactive, that a victory, obtained without the
effusion of Roman blood, might be of higher
value. Previous to the commencement of this
interesting fight, according to " the fashion of
historical literature at that time," a speech is
put into the mouth of each general by the his-
torian Tacitus. "How much more valuable
would it have been to us had Tacitus deigned
to tell us something about the tongue in which
the leader of the barbarians spoke, or even his
name, and the name of the place where he
fought, as the natives uttered it ! Yet, for the
great interests of its day, the speech of Gal-
gacus was far removed from a mere feat of idle
pedantry. It was a noble rebuke on the em-
pire and the Roman people, who, false to the
high destiny assigned to them by Virgil, of
protecting the oppressed and striking down the
oppressors, had become the common scourge
of all mankind. The profligate ambition, the
perfidy, the absorbing pride, the egotism, and
the cruelty of the dominant people — how
could all be so aptly set forth as in the words
of a barbarian chief, ruling over the free people
who were to be the next victims."2

The narrative of the battle we give mainly
in the words of the Roman commander's son-in-
law, Tacitus, who no doubt had the story from
Agricola's own mouth.3 The battle began,
and at first was maintained at a distance.
The Britons wanted neither skill nor resolu-
tion. With their long swords, and targets of
small dimension, they had the address to elude
the missive weapons of the Romans, and at
the same time to discharge a thick volley of
their own. To bring the conflict to a speedy
decision, Agricola ordered three Batavian and
two Tungrian cohorts to charge the enemy
sword in hand. To this mode of attack those
troops had been long accustomed, but to the
Britons it was every way disadvantageous.
Their small targets afforded no protection, and
their unwieldy swords, not sharpened to a
point, could do but little execution in a close

* Burton's Tlist. of Scotland, vol. i. p. 9.
1 Tac. Agricola xxxvi, &c. We adopt Murphy's
translation in the main, here and elsewhere.

engagement. The Batavians rushed to the
attack with impetuous fury; they redoubled
their blows, and with the bosses of their
shields bruised the enemy in the face, and,
having overpowered all resistance on the plain,
began to force their way up the ascent of the
hill in regular order of battle. Incited by
their example, the other cohorts advanced with
a spirit of emulation, and cut their way with
terrible slaughter. Eager in pursuit of victory,
they pressed forward with determined fury,
leaving behind them numbers wounded, but
not slain, and others not so much as hurt.

The Roman cavalry, in the mean time,
was forced to give ground. The Caledonians,
in their armed chariots, rushed at full speed
into the thick of the battle, where the infantry
were engaged. Their first impression struck
a general terror, but their career was soon
checked by the inequalities of the ground, and
the close embodied ranks of the Romans.
Nothing could less resemble an engagement of
the cavalry. Pent up in narrow places, the
barbarians crowded upon each other, and were
driven or dragged along by their own horses.
A scene of confusion followed. Chariots with-
out a guide, and horses without a rider, broke
from the ranks in wild disorder, and flying
every way, as fear and consternation urged,
they overwhelmed their own files, and trampled
down all who came in their way.

Meanwhile the Britons, who had hitherto
kept their post on the hills, looking down with
contempt on the scanty numbers of the Roman
army, began to quit their station. Descending
slowly, they hoped, by wheeling round the
field of battle, to attack the victors in the rear.
To counteract their design, Agricola ordered
four squadrons of horse, which he had kept as
a body of reserve, to advance to the charge.
The Britons poured down with impetuosity,
and retired with equal precipitation. At the
same time, the cavalry, by the directions of the
general, wheeled round from the wings, and
fell with great slaughter on the rear of the
enemy, who now perceived that their own
stratagem was turned against themselves.

The field presented a dreadful spectacle of
carnage and destruction. The Britons fled;
the Romans pursued; they wounded, gashed,
and mangled the runaways; they seized their

AGKICOLA SUPERSEDED.

prisoners, and, to bo ready for others, butchered
them on the spot Despair and horror ap-
pean-d iu various shapes; in one part of the
lii-ld the, Caledonians, sword in hand, fled in
crowds from a handful of Romans; in other
places, without a weapon left, they faced every
lunger, and rushed on certain death. Swords
and bucklers, mangled limbs and dead bodies,
covered the plain. The field was red with
blood. Tho vanquished Britons had their
moments of returning courage, and gave proofs
of virtue and of brave despair. They fled to
the woods, and, rallying their scattered num-
bers, surrounded such of the Romans -as pur-
sued with too much eagerness.

Night coming on, the Romans, weary of
slaughter, desisted from the pursuit. Ten
thousand of tlio Caledonians fell in this en-
gagement: on the part of the Romans, the
number of slain did not exceed three hundred
and forty.

The Roman army, elate with success, and
enriched with plunder, passed the night in
exultation. The Britons, on the other hand,
wandered about, uncertain which way to turn,
helpless and disconsolate. The mingled cries
of men and women filled the air with lamen-
tations. Some assisted to carry off the
wounded; others called for the assistance of
such as escaped unhurt; numbers abandoned
their habitations, or, in their frenzy, set
them on fire. They fled to obscure retreats,
and, in the moment of choice, deserted them;
they held consultations, and, having inflamed
their hopes, changed their minds in despair;
they beheld the pledges of tender affection,
«nd burst into tears ; they viewed them again,
and grew fierce with resentment. It is a fact
well authenticated, that some laid violent
hands upon their wives and children, deter-
mined with savage compassion to end their
misery.

After obtaining hostages from the Horestians,
who in all probability inhabited what is now
the county of Fife, Agricola garrisoned the
stations on the isthmus and elsewhere, re-
crossed the Forth, and took up his winter-
quarters in the north of England, about the
Tyne and Solway. In the meantime he gave
orders to the fleet, then lying probably in the
Frith of Forth or Tay, to proceed on a voyage

of discovery to the northward. The enterprise
appears to have been successfully accomplished
by the Roman navy, which proceeded coast-
wise as far as the Orkneys, whence it sailed
by the Western Islands and the British Chan-
nel ad Portum Trutulenscm, Richborough in
Kent, returning to the point from which it
started. This is the first voyage on record
that determined Britain to be an island.

The Emperor Domitian now resolved to
supersede Agricola in his command in North
Britain; and he was accordingly recalled in
the year 85, under the pretence of promoting
him to the government of Syria, but in reality
out of envy on account of the glory which ho
had obtained by the success of his arms. He
died on the 23d of August, 93, some say, from
poison, while others attribute his death to the
effects of chagrin at the unfeeling treatment
of Domitian. His countrymen lamented his
death, and Tacitus, his son-in-law, preserved
the memory of his actions and his worth in
the history of his life.

During the remainder of Domitian's reign,
and that of Hadrian his successor, North Britain
appears to have enjoyed tranquillity; an infer-
ence which may be fairly drawn from the
silence of the Roman historians. Yet as
Hadrian in the year 121 built a wall between
the Solway and the Tyne, some writers have
supposed that the Romans had been driven
by the Caledonians out of North Britain, in
the reign of that Emperor. But if such was
the case, how did Lollius Urbicus, the Roman
general, about nineteen years after Hadrian's
wall was erected, penetrate without opposition
to Agricola's forts between the Clyde and the
Forth? May we not rather suppose that the
wall of Hadrian was built for the purpose of
preventing incursions into the south by the
tribes which inhabited the country between
that wall and the Friths? But, be this as it
may, little is known of the history of North
Britain from the time of Agricola's recall till
the year 138, when Antoninus Pius assumed
the imperial purple. That good and sagacious
emperor was distinguished by the care which
he took in selecting the fittest officers for the
government of the Roman provinces; and his
choice, for that of Britain, fell on Lollius
Urbicus.

10

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The positive information concerning the
transactions of this general in North Britain
is as meagre as could possibly be, the only
clearly ascertained fact in connection with his
command being that he built a wall between
the Forth and Clyde, very nearly on a line
with the forts established by Agricola. " The
meagreness of all ancient record," says Burton,4
" of the achievements of Lollius Urbicus is
worthy of emphatic mention and recollection,
because his name has got into the ordinary
abridged histories which speak of it, and of ' Ms
campaign in the north' as well-known events,
of which people naturally expect fuller informa-
tion elsewhere. The usual sources for reference
regarding him will however be found utterly
dumb." The story commonly given is that he
proceeded north as far as the Moray Frith,
throwing the extensive country between Forth
and Clyde and the Moray Frith into the form

of a regular Roman province, which, on the
worthless authority of the pseudo-Richard, was
named Vespasiana. All this may have been
the case, and the remains5 of Roman stations
found throughout the wide tract just men-
tioned give some plausibility to the conjecture;
but there is only the most slender grounds for
connecting them with any northern expedition
of Lollius Urbicus. At all events we may
very safely conclude, from the general tone of
the records which remain of his and of subso
quent expeditions, as well as from the fact that
they found it necessary to divide the Lowlands
from the Higlilands by a fortified wall, that
the Romans considered the Caledonians of
their time very troublesome, and found it ex-
ceedingly difficult if not impossible to bring
them under their otherwise universal yoke.

It may not bo out of place to give here
some account of the wall of Antonine. The

Map and Profile of Antonine's Wall.

wall or rampart extended from Carriden on
the Forth, two miles west from Blackness, and
about the same distance east from Bo'ness, to
West Kilpatrick on the Clyde. The date,
which may be depended on, assigned to the
building of the wall is between 138 and 140
A. D. Taking the length of this wall from
Kilpatrick on the Clyde to Caeridden or
Carriden on the Forth, its extent would be
39,726 Roman paces, which exactly agrees
with the modern measurement of 36 English
miles and 620 yards. This rampart, which
was of earth, and rested on a stone foundation,
was upwards of twenty feet high and four and

4 Scotland, vol. i. p. 29.

twenty feet thick Along the whole extent of
the wall there was a vast ditch or praeteniura
on the outward or north side, which was gene-
rally twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, and
which, there is reason to believe, might be
filled with water when occasion required.6

5 Wilson says that beyond the Forth and Clyde
nearly the sole traces of the presence of the Romans
are a few earthworks, with one or two exceptions, of
doubtful import, and some chance discoveries of pot-
tery and coins, mostly ascribable, it may be presumed,
to the fruitless northern expedition of Agricola, after
the victory of Mons Grampius, or to the still more
ineffectual one of his successor, Severus. — Prehistoric
Annals, p. 365.

6 On the estate of Callender, to the east of Falkirk,
distinct remains of this trench are still to be seen, ill
good preservation, n.easuring a few hundred yards in
length and about 1 2 feet in depth.

ANTONINE'S WALL.

11

This ditch and rampart were strengthened at
both ends, and throughout its whole extent, by
about twenty forts, three being at each extrem-
ity, and the remainder placed between at the
distance of about two English miles from one
another; and it is highly probable that these
stations were designedly placed on the previous
fortifications of Agricola. The following, going
from east to west, are the names and sites of
some of the stations which have been iden-
tified:— Eough Castle, Castlecary, Westerwood,
Bunhill, Auchindinny, Kirkintilloch, Bemulie,
East Kilpatrick, Castlehill, Duntocher, West
Kilputrick. It will be seen that to a certain ex-
tent they are on the line of the Edinburgh and
Glasgow railway, and throughout nearly its
whole length that of the Forth and Clyde canal.
Its necessary appendage, a military road, ran be-
hind the rampart from end to end, for the use
of the troops and for keeping up the usual
communication between the stations or forts.

From inscriptions on some of the foundation
stones, which have been dug up, it appears that
the Second legion, with detachments from the
sixth and twentieth legions and some auxili
aries, executed these vast military works,
equally creditable to their skill and persever-
ance. Dunglas near the western extremity,
and Blackness near the eastern extremity of
the rampart, afforded the Eomans commodious
harbours for their shipping, as also did Cram-
ond, about five miles west from Edinburgh.
This wall is called in the popular language of
the country Grime's or Graham's Dyke.7 In
1868 a large oblong slab, in first-rate preserva-
tion, was dug up at Bo'ness, in the parish of
Kinneil (Bede's Peanfahel, " the head of the
wall"), containing an inscription as distinct as
it was on the day when it came from a Boman
chisel. We give here a cut of this remarkable
stone, which is now in the Scottish Antiqua-
rian Museum.

IMP-CAES-TnUAEUO

HADRWTONINO

AVQP10WL£G;I1

cat

7 FEC

Stone from Antonine's Wall. (Copied and engraved specially for the present work.)

Wo have no distinct mention of the Caledo-
nians again until the reign of Commodus,
when, about the year 183, these troublesome
barbarians appear to have broken through the
northern wall, slain the general in command
of the Eoman forces, and pillaged the lowland
country beyond. They were, however, driven
back by Ulpius Marcellus, who succeeded by
prudent management in maintaining peace for
a number of years. In the beginning of the
reign of Severus, however, the Caledonians
again broke out, but were kept in check by
Virius Lupus, who appears to have bribed
rather than beaten the barbarians into con-
formity.

The irrepressible Highlanders again broke
out about the year 207, and this time the
Emperor Severus himself, notwithstanding his
bad health and old age, came from Eome to
Britain, determined apparently to " stamp out"
the rebellion. On hearing of his arrival the
tribes sent deputies to him to negotiate for
peace, but the emperor, who was of a warlike
disposition, and fond of military glory, declined
to entertain any proposals.

After making the necessary preparations,

7 There are several other earthworks in England,
according to Chalmers (Caledonia) and Taylor (Words
and Places), which go under the appellation of Grime's
Dyke or Grime's Ditch. Grime in Cornish is said to
signify strong; in Gaelic, war, battle.

12

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Severus began his march to the north in the
year 208. He traversed the whole of North
.Britain, from the wall of Antoninus to the very
extremity of the island, with an immense army.
The Caledonians avoided coming to a general
engagement with him, but kept up an inces-
sant and harassing warfare on all sides. He,
however, brought them to sue for peace ; but
the honours of this campaign were dearly
earned, for fifty thousand of the Romans fell a
prey to the attacks of the Caledonians, to
fatigue, and to the severity of the climate.
The Caledonians soon disregarded the treaty
which they had entered into with Severus,
which conduct so irritated him that he gave
orders to renew the war, and to spare neither
age nor sex; but his son, Caracalla, to whom
the execution of these orders was intrusted,
was more intent in plotting against his father
and brother than in executing the revengeful
mandate of the dying emperor, whose demise
took place at York on the 4th February, 211,
m the sixty-sixth year of his age, and in the
third year of his administration in Britain.

It is in connection with this invasion that
wo first hear of the Meats or Mseatoe, who are
mentioned by Dion Cassius, or rather his epi-
tomiser Xiphiline, and who are supposed by
some to have inhabited the country between
the two walls, while others think it more
likely that they were a part of the Caledonians,
and inhabited the district between the Gram-
pians and the wall of Antonine. We shall
not, however, enter into this question here, but
endeavour, as briefly as possible, to record all
that is known of the remaining transactions of
the Romans in the north of Scotland, reserving
other matters for the next chapter.

It was not consistent with the policy by
which Caracalla was actuated, to continue a
war with the Caledonians ; for the scene of his
ambition lay in Rome, to which he made hasty
preparations to depart on the death of his father.
He therefore entered into a treaty with the Cale-
donians by which he gave up the territories sur-
rendered by them to his father, and abandoned
the forts erected by him in their fastnesses.
The whole country north of the wall of Anto-
nine appears in fact to have been given up to
the undisputed possession of the Caledonians,
and we hear of no more incursions by them

till the reign of the emperor Constantius
Chlorus, who came to Britain in the year 306,
to repel the Caledonians and other Picte.8
Their incursions were repelled by the Roman
legions under Constantius, and they remained
quiet till about the year 345, when they again
entered the territories of the provincial Brit-
ons ; but they were compelled, it is said, again
to retreat by Constans, son of Constantine the
Great.

Although these successive inroads had been
always repelled by the superior power and dis-
cipline of the Romans, the Caledonians of the
fourth century no longer regarded them in the
formidable light in which they had been
viewed by their ancestors, and their genius for
war improving every time they came in hostile
contact with their enemies, they meditated
the design of expelling the intruders altogether
from the soil of North Britain. The wars
which the Romans had to sustain against the
Persians in the East, and against the Germans
on the frontiers of Gaul, favoured the plan of
the Caledonians ; and having formed a treaty
with the Scots, whose name is mentioned for
the first time in history in this connection by
Ammianus Marcellinus, they, in conjunction
with their new allies, about the year 360 in-
vaded the Roman territories and committed
many depredations. Julian, who commanded
the Roman army on the Rhine, despatched
Lupicinus, an able military commander, to do-
fend the province against the Scots and Picts,
but he was recalled before ho had done much
to repel them.

The Picts — who on this occasion are men-
tioned by Ammianus Marcellinus9 as being di-
vided into two nations, the Diedledones and
Vecturiones — and Scots, being joined by the
Attacots, " a warlike race of men," and the
Saxons, numbers of whom appear at this early
period to have settled in Britain, made another
attack on the Roman provinces in the year

8 The first writer who mentions the Picts is Enmen-
ius, the orator, who was a Professor at Aiitun, and who,
in a panegyric pronounced by him in the year 297,
mentions the Puts along with the Irish, and again, in
308, in a panegyric pronounced by him on Constans,
speaks of the Caledonians and other Picts. This is
one of the passages mainly relied on by those who
consider the Caledonians and Ticts to have been the
same people.

0 Am. Mar., xxvii., 8.

THE ROMANS ABANDON BRITAIN.

13

364, on the accession of Valentinian. These
appear to have made their way as far south as
London, and it required all the valour and
skill of Theodosius the Elder, father of the em-
peror of that name, who was sent to Britain in
the year 307, to repel this aggression, and to
repair the great ravages committed by the bar-
barians. The next outbreak occurred about
the year 398, when the Picts and Scots again
broke loose and ravaged the provinces, being
repelled by a legion sent over by the great
Stilicho, in answer to the petition of the help-
less provincials for assistance.

In the beginning of the fifth century the
enervated Romanized Britons again appear to
have been subjected to the tender mercies of
their wicked northern neighbours ; and in re-
ply to their cry for help, Honorius, in 416, sent
over to their relief a single legion, which drove
back the intruders. The Romans, as is well
known, engrossed by overwhelming troubles
nearer home, finally abandoned Britain about
the year 446, advising the inhabitants, who
were suffering from the ravages of the Picts
and Scotc, to protect themselves by retiring
behind and keeping in repair the wall of Se-
verus.

Such is a brief account of the transactions of
the Romans in Britain so far as these were con-
nected with the Highlands of Scotland. That
energetic and insatiable people doubtless left
their mark on the country and its inhabitants
south of the Forth and Clyde, as the many
Roman remains which exist there at the pres.
ent day testify. The British provincials, in-
deed, appear in the end to have been utterly
enervated, and, in the worst sense, Roman-
ized, so that they became an easy prey to their
Saxon helpers. It is quite evident, however,
that the inhabitants of Caledonia proper, the
district beyond the wall of Antonine, were to
a very slight extent, if at all, influenced by the
Roman invasion. Whether it was from the
nature of the people, or from the nature of the
country which they inhabited, or from both
combined, they appear to have been equally
impervious to Roman force and Roman cul-
ture. The best services that their enemies
rendered to the Caledonians or Picts were that
they forced them to unite against the common
foe thus contributing towards the foundation

of a future kingdom ; and that they gave them
a training in arms such as the Caledonians
could never have obtained, had they not been
brought into collision with the best-trained
soldiers of the world in their time.

"We have in what precedes mainly followed
only one thread in the very intricate web
formed by the early history of the Highlands,
which, to a certain extent at this period, is the
history of Scotland; but, as will have been
seen, there are various other threads which
join in from time to time, and which, after
giving a short account of the traces of the Ro-
man invasion still existing in the Highlands,
we shall endeavour to catch up and follow out
as far as possible.

It is not necessary in a history of the High-
lands of Scotland, as we have denned that term,
that much space should be given to an ac-
count of Roman remains ; for, as we have al-
ready said, these Italian invaders appear never
to have obtained anything like a firm footing
in that rugged district, or made any definite or
characteristic impression on its inhabitants.
" The vestiges whence it is inferred that the
Empire for a time had so far established itself
in Scotland as to bring the natives over to the
habits of peaceful citizens, belong almost ex-
clusively to the country south of Antonine's
wall, between the Forth and Clyde. Coins
and weapons have been found farther north,
but scarcely any vestige of regular settlement
None of the pieces of Roman sculpture found
in Scotland belong to the districts north of the
wall. It is almost more significant still, that
of the very considerable number of Scottish
Roman inscriptions in the various collections,
only one was found north of the wall, and that
in the strongly-fortified station of Ardoch,
where it commemorated that it was dedicated
to the memory of a certain Ammonius Damio-
nis.1 On the other hand, it is in that unsub-
dued district that the memorials of Roman con-
quest chiefly abound."2

The whole of Britain was intersected by Ro-
man ways, and as, wherever a Roman army
went, it was preceded by pioneers who cleared
and made a durable road to facilitate its march,
there can be no doubt that the north of Scot-

1 Wilson's Prehisl. Annals.

* Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 74.

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

land was to a considerable extent intersected
by highways during the invasion of Agricola,
Lollius Urbicus, and Severus. One road at
least can be traced as far north as Aberdeen-
shire, and is popularly known in some districts
as the Lang Causeway. This road appears to
have issued from the wall of Antonine, passed
through Camelon, the Roman port on the Car-
ron, and pushing straight forward, according to
the Eoman custom, across the Carron, it pur-
sued its course in a general north-east direction
through Stirling, Perth, by Ardoch, through
Forfar and Kincardine, to about Stonehaven.

It would appear that there are traces of Eo-
man roads even farther north. Between the
rivers Don and Urie in Aberdeenshire, on the
eastern side of Bennachee, there exists an an-
cient road known in the country by the name
of the Maiden Causeway, a name by which
some of the Eoman roads in the north of Eng-
land are distinguished. This proceeds from
Bennachee whereon there is said to have been
a hill-fort, more than the distance of a mile
into the woods of Pitodrie, when it disappears :
it is paved with stones, and is about fourteen
feet wide. Still farther north, from Forres to
the ford of Cromdale on the Spey, there has
been long known a road of very ancient con-
struction, pointing to Cromdale, where the
Eomans may have forded the Spey. Various
traces of very ancient roads are still to be seen
by Corgarf and through Braemar : the tradition
of the people in Strathdee and Braemar, sup-
ports the idea that there are remains of Eoman
roads which traverse the country between the
Don and the Dee. Certain it is, that there are
obvious traces of ancient roads which cross the
wild districts between Strathdon and Strath-
dee, though it is impossible to ascertain when
or by whom these ancient roads were con-
structed, in such directions, throughout such a
country.

Along these roads there were without doubt
many camps and stations, as it is well known
that the Eomans never halted even for a single
night, without entrenching themselves beliind
secure fortifications. There are many remains
of what are supposed to have been Eoman
camps still pointed out in various places north
of the line occupied by Antonine's wall. These
are well known even to the peasantry, and are

generally treated with respect. The line of
these camps reaches as far as the counties of
Aberdeen and Inverness, the most important
of them, however, being found in Strathallan,
Strathearn, and Strathmore. Besides the most
important of these camps, that at Ardoch,
traces of many others have been found. There
was one on the river Earn, about six miles east
of Ardoch, which would command the middle
part of Strathearn lying between the Ocliil
hills on the south and the river Almond on
the north. Another important station is sup-
posed to have been established near Callander,
where, on a tongue of land formed by the junc-
tion of the rivers Strathgartney and Strathyre,
the two sources of the Teith, are seen the em-
bankments referred to by Scott3 as

. . " The mouldering lines
Where Rome, the empress of the world,
Of yoro her eagle wings unfurled."4

Another camp is placed at Dalgenross, near
the confluence of the Euchel and the Earn,
which, with Bochastle, would command the
western district of Strathearn. Another im-
portant station was the East Findoch, at the
south side of the Almond ; it guarded the only
practicable passage through the mountains
northward, to an extent of thirty miles from
east to west. The Eoman camp here was placed
on a high ground, defended by water on two
sides, and by a morass with a steep bank 01
the other two sides. It was about one hundred
and eighty paces long, and eighty broad, and
was surrounded by a strong earthen wall nearly
twelve feet thick, part of which still remains.
The trenches are still entire, and in some places
six feet deep.

On the eastern side of Strathearn, and be-
tween it and the Forth, are the remains of Eo-
man posts; and at Ardargie a Eoman camp
was established with the design, it is supposed,
of guarding the passage through the Ochil hills,
by the valley of May water. Another camp
at Gleneagles secured the passage of the same
hills through Glendevon. "With the design of
guarding the narrow, but useful passage from

8 Lady of the Lake.

* According to Burton, however, these are by som
geologists set down as a geological phenomenon. —
Hist, of Scot. i. 75.

ROMAN REMAINS— ARDOCH.

15

the middle Highland*, westward through Glen-
lyon to Argyle, the Romans fixed a post at
Fortingal, about sixteen miles north-west from
the station at East-Findoch.

A different line of posts became necessary
to secure Angus and the Mearns. At Coupar
A ngus, on the east side of the Isla, about seven
miles east from Inchtutlicl, stood a Roman
ramp, of a square form, of twenty acres within
the ramparts. This camp commanded the pas-
sage down Strathmore, between the Siedlaw
hills on the south-east, and the Isla on the
north-west. On Campmoor, little more than
a mile south from Coupar Angus, appear the re-
mains of another Roman fort. The great camp
of Battledyke stood about eighteen miles north-
cast from Coupar Angus, being obviously placed
there to guard the passage from the Highlands
through Glen Esk and Glen Prosen. About
eleven and a-half miles north-east of the camp
at Battledykes was another Roman camp, the
remains of which may still be traced near the
mansion-house of Keitliock. This camp is
known by the name of Wardikes. The coun-
try below the Siedlaw hills, on the north side
of the estuary of Tay, was guarded by a Roman
camp near Invergowrie, which had a communi-
cation on the north-east with the camp at
Harefatilds. This camp, which was about two
hundred yards square, and fortified with a high
rampart and a spacious ditch, stood about two
miles west from Dundee.

Traces of a number of others have been
found, but we need not go farther into detail
This account of the Roman transactions in
Scotland would, however, be incomplete with-

^WMC^\

Roman Camp at Ardoch as it appeared in 1755.
[Stuart's Caledonia llomana.}

out a more particular notice of the well-known
camp at Ardoch. Ardoch village, in Perth-
shire, lies on the cast side of Knaigwater, ten
miles north from Stirling, and is about two
miles from the Greenloaning station of tho
Caledonian railway, tho site of the camp be-
ing a little distance to tho north-west of the
village. As this station guarded the principal
inlet into the interior of Caledonia, the Romans
were particularly anxious to fortify so advan-
tageous a position. " The situation of it," says
the writer of the Old Statistical Account of
Muthill, " gave it many advantages ; being on
the north-west side of a deep moss that runs
a long way eastward. On the west side, it is
partly defended by the steep bank of the water
of Knaik ; which bank rises perpendicularly
between forty and fifty feet. The north and
east sides were most exposed ; and there we
find very particular care was taken to secure
them. The ground on the east is pretty regu-
lar, and descends by a gentle slope from the
lines of fortification, which, on that side, con-
sists of five rows of ditches, perfectly entire,
and running parallel to one another. These
altogether are about fifty-five yards in breadth.
On the north side, there is an equal number of
lines and ditches, but twenty yards broader
than the former. On the west, besides tho
steep precipices above mentioned, it was de-
fended by at least two ditches. One is still
visible ; the others have probably been filled
up, in making the great military road from
Stirling to the north. The side of the camp,
lying to the southward, exhibits to tho anti-
quary a less pleasing prospect. Here the pea-
sant's rugged hand has laid in ruins a great
part of the lines ; so that it may be with pro-
priety said, in the words of a Latin poet, ' Jam
seges est, ubi Troja fuit.' Tho area of tho
camp is an oblong of 140 yards, by 125 within
the lines. The general's quarter rises above
the level of the camp, but is not in the centre.
It is a regular square, each side being exactly
twenty yards. At present it exhibits evident
marks of having been enclosed with a stone
wall, and contains the foundation of a house, ten
yards by seven." There are two other encamp-
ments adjoining, having a communication
with one another, and containing about 130
acres of ground. A subterranean passage is

16

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

said to have extended from the praetorium
under the bed of the Knaik. Not far north of
this station, on the way to Crieff, may be traced
three temporary Roman camps of different sizes.
Portions of the ramparts of these camps still
exist. A mile west of Ardoch, an immense
cairn lately existed, 182 feet long, 45 broad at
the base, and 30 feet in sloping height A
human skeleton, 7 feet long, in a stone coffin,
was found in it.6

CHAPTER II.

Early Inhabitants— Roman Writers — Aristotle — Taci-
tus— Dion Cassius — Caledonians and llicatu; — Eu-
menius — Picts — DicaledonesandVecturiones — Clau-
dian — Inferences — Ecclesiastical Chroniclers — Their
value — Gildas — Adamnan — Northern and Southern
Picts — Columba's "Interpreter" — Bede's Account
of Picts — Pictish Language — Peanfahel — Northern
and Southern Picts — Welsh Triads — Irish Annals —
Evidence from Language — Cymric and Gaelic Theo-
ries— Inver and A ter — Innes's Theory — Conclusion.

TUB preceding chapter has been occupied almost
entirely with an account of the transactions of
the Romans in the north of Scotland, and it is
now our duty to go back and narrate what is
known of the internal history of the Highlands
during the time of the Romans. In doing so we
are brought face to face with certain much agi-
tated questions which have for centuries engaged
the attention of antiquaries, and in the discus-
sion of which many bulky tomes have been
written and incredible acrimony displayed.
To enter with anything like minuteness into
this discussion would occupy more space than
can be devoted to the entire history, and, more-
over, would be out of place in a popular work
like the present, and distasteful to most of its
readers. The following are some of the much-
discussed questions referred to : — Who were
the original inhabitants of Caledonia ? To what
race did they belong — were they Gothic or
Celtic? and if Celtic, were they Cymric or Gae-
lic ? When did they enter Scotland, and whence
did they come — from the opposite continent, or

6 For more minute descriptions of this camp, as well
as for further details concerning the Roman transac-
tions in Scotland, consult Key's Military Antiquities,
Gough's Camdcn (under Strathearn), Stuart's Cale-
donia Romana, Burton's History of Scotland.

from the south of Britain ? Was the whole of
Scotland, in the time of Agricola, occupied by
one people, or by a mixed race, or by various
races? Were the Picts and Caledonians the
same people ? What is the meaning and origin
of Pict, and was Caledonia a native appellation?
What were the localities of the Northern and
Southern Picts ? Who were the Scots ? What
was the nature of the union of the Scots and
Picts under Kenneth MacAlpin ?

The notices of the early inhabitants of the
Highlands in the contemporary Roman his-
torians are so few, the information given so
meagre and indefinite, and the ecclesiastical
historians of a later time are so full of miracle,
myth, and hearsay, and so little to be depended
on, that it appears to us almost impossible, with
the materials at present within the historian's
reach, to arrive at anything like a satisfactory
answer to the above questions. The impression
left after reading much that has been written
on various sides, is one of dissatisfaction and
bewilderment, — dissatisfaction with the far-
fetched and irrelevant arguments frequently
adduced, and the unreliable authorities quoted,
and bewilderment amid the dust-cloud of words
with which any one who enters this debatable
land is sure to be enveloped. " It is scarcely
necessary to observe, that there are few points
of ethnology on which historians and antiqua-
ries have been more at variance with each
other, than respecting the real race of those
inhabitants of a portion of Caledonia popularly
known by the designation of Picts. The diffi-
culty arising from this discrepancy of opinion
is increased by the scanty and unsatisfactory
nature of the materials now available to those
who wish to form an independent judgment.
No connected specimen of the Pictish language
has been preserved ; nor has any ancient au-
thor who knew them from personal observa-
tion, stated in direct terms that they approxi-
mated to one adjoining tribe more than another.
They are indeed associated with the Scots or
Irish as joint plunderers of the colonial Bri-
tons ; and the expression of Gildas that they
differed in some degree from the Scots in their
customs, might seem to imply that they did
bear an analogy to that nation in certain re-
spects. Of course, where there is such a lack
of direct evidence, there is more scope for con-

EAELY INHABITANTS.

17

Jecture; and the Picts are pronounced by dif-
ferent investigators of their history to have
been Germans, Scandinavians, Welsh, Gael, or
lomething distinct from all the four. The ad-
vocates of the German hypothesis rest chiefly
on Tacitus's description of their physical con-
formation. Dr. Jamieson, assuming that the
present Lowland Scotch dialect was derived
from them, sets them down as Scandinavians;
Bishop Lloyd and Camden conceive them to
have been of Celtic race, probably related to
the Britons; Chalmers, the author of ' Caledo-
nia," regards them as nothing more than a
tribe of Cambrians or "Welsh; while Skene,
one of the latest authors on the subject, thinks
he has proved that they were the ancestors of
the present race of Scottish Highlanders."0

The earliest known name applied to Britain
is found in a treatise on the World ascribed to
Aristotle, in which the larger island is called
Albinn, and Ireland referred to as lerne; and
it is worthy of notice that at the present day
the former is the name applied to Scotland by
the Highlanders, who call themselves the Gad
Albinnich. The first author, however, who
gives us any information about the early in-
habitants of the north part of Scotland is
Tacitus, who, in his Life of Agricola, devotes
a few lines, in a parenthetical way, to charac-
terising each of the great divisions of the
people who, in the time of that general, in-
habited Britain. Tacitus tells us that in his
time the inhabitants of Britain differed in the
habit and make of their bodies, and from the
ruddy locks and large limbs of the Caledonians
he inferred that they were of German origin.7
This glimpse is clear enough, but tantalizing
in its meagreness and generality. What does
Tacitus mean by German — does he use it in
the same sense as we do at the present day?
Does he mean by Caledonia the whole of the
country north of the Forth and Clyde, or does
it apply only to that district — Fife, Forfar, the
east of Perth, &c. — with the inhabitants of
which his father-in-law came in contact? We
find Ptolemy the geographer, who flourished
about the middle of the 2d century A. D., men-
tioning the Caledonians as one of the many
tribes which in his time inhabited the north of

• Garnett's Philological Essays, p.
7 Agricola li.

196.

Scotland. The term Caledonians is supposed
by some authorities to have been derived from
a native word signifying " men of the woods,"
or the inhabitants of the woody country; this,
however, is mere conjecture.

The next writer who gives any definite in-
formation as to the inhabitants of Caledonia is
Dion Cassius, who flourished in the early part
of the 3d century, and who wrote a history of
Eome which has come down to us in a very
imperfect state. Of the latter part, containing
an account of Britain, wo possess only an epi-
tome made by Xiphilinus, an ecclesiastic of
the llth century, and which of course is very
meagre in its details. The following are the
particulars given by this writer concerning the
early inhabitants of north Britain. " Of the
Britons the two most ample nations are tho
Caledonians and the Maeatae; for the names of
the rest refer for the most part to these. Tho
Maeatae inhabit very near the wall8 which
divides the island into two parts; the Caledo-
nians are after these. Each of them inhabit
mountains, very rugged and wanting water,
and also desert fields, full of marshes: thej
have neither castles nor cities, nor dwell in
any : they live on milk and by hunting, and
maintain themselves by the fruits of the trees :
for fishes, of which there is a very great and
numberless quantity, they never taste: they
dwell naked in tents and without shoes: they
use wives in common, and whatever is born to
them they bring up. In the popular state
they are governed, as for the most part : they
rob on the highway most willingly: they war
in chariots: horses they have, small and fleet;
their infantry, also, are as well most swift at
running, as most brave in pitched battle.
Their arms are a shield and a short spear, in
the upper part whereof is an apple of brass,
that, while it is shaken, it may terrify the
enemies with the sound: they have likewise
daggers. They are able to bear hunger, cold,
and all afflictions ; for they merge themselves
in marshes, and there remain many days, hav-
ing only their head out of water: and in woods
are nourished by the bark and roots of trees.
But a certain kind of food they prepare for all
occasions, of which if they take as much as ' the

' The wall of Antonine.
0

18

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

size' of a single bean, they are in nowise ever
wont to hunger or thirst."9

From this we learn that in the 3d century
there were two divisions of the inhabitants of
the Highlands, known to the Eomans as the
Caledonians and Maeats or Moeatae, the latter
very probably inhabiting the southern part of
that territory, next to the wall of Antonine,
and the former the district to the north of this.
As to whether these were Latinized forms of
native names, or names imposed by the Eo-
mans themselves, we have no means of judg-
ing. The best writers on this subject think
that the Caledonians and Maaats were two
divisions of the same people, both living to the
north of the Forth and Clyde, although Innes,1
and one or two minor writers, are of opinion
that the Mseats were provincial Britons who
inhabited the country between the wall of
Hadrian and that of Antonine, known as the
province of Valentia. However, with Skene,2
Mr. Joseph Eobertson, and other able authori-
ties, we are inclined to tliink that the evidence
is in favour of their being the inhabitants of
the southern portion of Caledonia proper.

Herodian,3 who wrote about A. D. 240,
tells us that the Caledonians were in the habit
of marking or painting their bodies with figures
of animals, and that they wore no clothes in
order that these figures might be preserved and
exhibited.

The next reference made by a Eoman writer
to the inhabitants of Caledonia we find in a
panegyric pronounced in his presence on the
Emperor Constantius Chlorus, by Eumenius, a
professor of rhetoric at Augustodunum (Autun]
in Gaul, in the year 296 or 297, who speaks of
the Britons, in the time of Caesar, having been
attacked by the half-naked Picts and Irish.
To what people the orator meant to apply the
term Picts, around which there has clustered
so much acrimonious disputation, we learn from
another oration pronounced by liim on the same
emperor, before his son Constantino, in the
year 309, in which, recording the actions of
Constantius, he speaks of the woods and
marshes of the Caledonians and other Picts.

9 Dio L. 76, c. 12, as quoted in Ritson's Annals,
p. II.

1 Critical Essay, cl). ii.
8 Highlanders
* Book iii.

After this no further mention is made of thn
Caledonians by any Eoman writer, but towards
the end of the 4th century Ammianus Marcel-
linus, in his account of the Eoman transactions
in Britain, speaks of the Picts in conjunction
with the Saxons, Scots, and Attacots harassing
the provincial Britons about the year 364.
Further on ho informs us that at this time the
Picts were divided into two tribes or nations,
the Dicaledones and Vecturiones, remarking,
at the same time, that " the Attacots were a
warlike race of men, and the Scots a people
much given to wandering, and in the habit of
ravaging or laying waste the districts into
which they came."4

Claudian the poet, writing, about 397, in
praise of Houorius, mentions, among other ac-
tions of Theodosius, the grandfather of that
emperor, his having subdued the Picts, who
were fitly so named,5 and makes various other
references to this people and the Scots, which
show that these two in combination were
troubling the Eoman provincials not a little.6

Such are most of the scanty details given by
the only contemporary historians who take any
notice of the inhabitants of North Britain ; and
the unprejudiced reader will see that the foun-
dation thus afforded upon which to construct
any elaborate theory is so narrow that every
such theory must resemble a pyramid standing
on its apex, liable at the slightest touch to
topple over and be shattered to pieces. It ap-
pears to us that all the conclusions which it is
safe to draw from the few facts stated by the
contemporary Eoman historians are, that at the
commencement of the Christian era Caledonia
proper, or the Highlands, was inhabited by a
people or peoples apparently considerable in
number, and who in all probability had been
settled there for a considerable time, part of
whom at least were known to the Eomans by
the name of Caledonians. That these Calo

4 " Scotti per di versa vagantes, imilta popula-
bnntnr." Am. Mar. xxvii. 8.

Nee falso nomine Pictos

Kdomuit."

6 " Venit et extremis legio pnetenta Britannis
Quse Rcoto dat fnena truci, ferroque notatas
Perlegit exaugues Scoto moriente tiguras."—

Debello (Jetico, v. 416.
Thus rendered by Eitson : —
The legion came, o'er distant Britains placed,
Which bridles the fierce Scot, and bloodless figures
With iron marked, views in the dying Pict

EARLY INHABITANTS.

19

doniana, those of them at any rate with whom
Agricola camo in contact in the first century,
were red or fair haired and large limbed, from
which Tacitus inferred that they were of Ger-
man extraction. In the beginning of the third
century there were at least two divisions of the
inhabitants of Caledonia, — the Caledonians and
Mocats, — the former inhabiting the country to
the north of the Grampians, and the latter, in
all probability, that to the south and south-
east of these mountains. They appear to have
been in many respects in a condition little re-
moved from that of savages, although they
must have made wonderful attainments in the
manufacture of implements of war.

In the latter part of the third century we
found the Highlanders spoken of under a new
name, Picti, which the Roman historians at
least, undoubtedly understood to be the Latin
word meaning ' painted,'7 and which all the
best modern writers believe to have been im-
posed by the Romans themselves, from the fact
that the indomitable Caledonians had retained
the custom of self-painting after all the Roman-
ized Britons had given it up. There is the
strongest probability that the Caledonians
spoken of as Picts by Eumenius were the same
as the Caledonians of Tacitus, or that the
Caledonians and Picts were the same people
under different names. The immediate cause
for this change of name we have no means of
ascertaining. It is in every way improbable
that the Picts were a new people, who had
come in upon the Caledonians, and supplanted
them some time after Agricola's invasion. The
Romans were constantly coming into contact
with the Caledonians from the time of Agri-
cola till they abandoned Britain entirely, and
had such a supplantation taken place, it cer-
tainly could not have been done quietly, and
without the cognizance of the Romans. But
we find no mention in any contemporary his-
torian of any such commotion, and we know
that the inhabitants of the Highlands never
ceased to harass the British provincials, show-
ing that they were not much taken up with
any internal disturbance. Indeed, writers who
adopt the most diverse opinions on other
points in connection with the Pictish question

7 The name givun by the Irish Annalists to the Picts
[a Cruithie, said by sonic to ini-im "variegated."

are all agreed as to this, that the Caledonians
und Picts were the same people.8

We learn further from our authorities, that
towards the end of the fourth century the in-
habitants of Caledonia were known to the
Romans under the names of Dicaledoncs and
Vecturiones, it being conjectured that these
correspond to the Caledonians and Maeats of
Dio, and the Northern and Southern Picts of n
later period. The connection of the latter
part of the word Di-caledones with Caledonii is
evident, although the significance of the first
syllable is doubtful, — some authorities conjec-
turing that it is the Gaelic word du, meaning
" genuine." It appears at all events to be es-
tablished that during the early history of the
Highlands, whatever other divisions may have
existed among the inhabitants, those dwelling
to the north and those dwelling to the south
of the Grampians were two separate confeder-
acies, and were known by distinct names.

Another not unimportant fact to be learned
from the Roman historians in relation to the
Picts or Caledonians is, that about the middle
of the 4th century they were assisted by the
Attacots, Saxons, and Scots. As to who the
Attacots were it is now impossible to conjec-
ture with anything like certainty, there being no
sufficient reason for believing that they were
allied to the Irish Scots. It is well enough
known who the Saxons were, but how they
came at this early period to be acting in concert
with the Picts it is difficult to say. It is pos-
sible that numbers of them may have effected
a settlement, even at this early period, in North
Britain, although it is more likely that they
were roving adventurers, who had left their
homes, from choice or on compulsion, to try
their fortune in Britain. They were probably
the first droppings of the abundant shower
that overwhelmed South Britain a century
later. The Romans at this period had an offi-
cer with the title of "Comes litoris Saxonici
per Britanniam ;" and Claudian, in his praises
of Stilicho, introduces Britain, saying —

" Illius effectum curis, ne bella timerem
Scotica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne littore toto
Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis. "

" The only important exception is Ritson, whose
arguments, like those of his opponent Pinkerton, con-
sist mostly of virulent language and vehement assertion

20

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

It is interesting to notice that this9 is the
first mention made of the (Scots in connection
with what is now Scotland ; but whether there
were settlements of them at this time among
Jhe Piets, or whether they had come over from
Ireland for the purpose of assisting the latter
to harass the Eomans, it is difficult to Bay.
Probably, as was the case with tho Saxons,
these were the harbingers of the great migra-
tion, that reached its culmination about a cen-
tury and a half later. They appear, from what
Ammianus says, to have been at this time a
set of destructive vagabonds. "We shall have
more to say about them further on.

From the general tone of these contemporary
Roman historians we learn that, whether Celtic
or Gothic, these Picts or Caledonians were a
hardy, indomitable, determined race, with a
strong love of liberty and of the country in
which they dwelt, and a resolution never to be
subject to the greedy Roman. Comparatively
few and barbarous as they were, they caused
the Romans far more trouble than all the rest
of Britain together ; to conquer the latter and
Romanize it appears to have been compara-
tively smooth work, but the Italians acknow-
ledged the Highlanders invincible by building
walls and other fortifications, and maintaining
extra garrisons to protect the provincials from
their fierce and wasting inroads. Whether the
present Highlanders are the descendants of
these or not, they certainly possess many
of their qualities.

It will have been seen that the Roman his-
torians give us almost no clue to what we now
deem of most interest and importance, the
place of the early inhabitants among the fami-
lies of men, the time and manner of their
arrival, the language they spoke, and their
internal history generally. Of course the re-
cords of contemporaries stand in the first place
of importance as evidences, and although we
have other sources, historical, linguistic, and
antiquarian, which shed a little light upon the
subject, these, for various reasons, must be used
with great caution. The only statement ap-
proaching to anything like a hint as to the
origin of the Caledonians is that of Tacitus,
referring to their ruddy locks and large limbs

' In Amin. Mir.

as an evidence of their German origin. There
is no reason to doubt that those with whom
Agricola came in contact were of this make and
complexion, which, at the present day, are
generally hold to be indicative of a Teutonic
origin ; whereas the true Celt is popularly be-
lieved to be of a small make and dark com'
plexion. 1 It may have been, that in Agiicola's
time the part of the country into wliich ho
penetrated was occupied by considerable num-
bers of Teutons, who had effected a settlement
either by force, or by favour of tho prior in
habitants. The statement of Tacitus, however,
those who uphold the Celtic theory endeavour
to explain away.

We may safely say then, that with regard to
all the most important points that have ex-
cited the curiosity of modern enquirers, the
only contemporary historians to whom we can
appeal, leave us almost entirely in the dark.

The writers, next in order of importance to
whom an appeal is made as witnesses in this
perplexing case, are the ecclesiastical chroni-
clers, the chief of whom are Gildas, Adamnan,
Bede, Nennius. "Much of the error into
which former winters have been led, has arisen
from an improper use of these authors ; they
should be consulted exclusively as contempor-
ary historians — whatever they assert as exist-
ing or occurring in their own time, or shortly
before it, we may receive as true ; but when
we consider the perverted learning of that
period, and the little information which they
appear to have possessed of the traditions of
the people around them, we ought to reject
their fables or fanciful origins as altogether un-
deserving of credit."2 Though this dictum
may perhaps be too sweeping, still any one who
examines the authors referred to for himself,
must admit that it is in the main just. It is
well known that these writers exercise little or
no discrimination in the composition of their
narratives, that tradition, miracle, and observed
fact are placed side by side, as all equally worthy
of belief. Even Bede, the most reliable and

1 It is a curious fact that these latter arc, among tho
peasantry of Scotland, the distinctive characteristics of
the Picts or Pechts, who, however, it is not unlikely,
may lie popularly confounded with the Brownies,
especially as, in Perthshire at any rate, they are said
always to have done their work while others were
asleep.

- Skeiie's HigJilarulcrs, vol. i. p. 2.

PICTS.

21

cautious of these early chroniclers, lived as long
after some of the events of which he professes
to give an account, as we of the present day do
after the time of the Crusades ; almost his sole
authority being tradition or hearsay. More-
over, the knowledge which these writers had
of the distinction between the various races of
mankind was so very hazy, the terms they use
are to us so comparatively unintelligible, and
the information they do contain on the points
in dispute so brief, vague, and parenthetical,
that their value as authorities is reduced almost
to a minimum.

Whoever was the author of the work De
Excidio Britannia, one of the latest and most
acute writers3 on ethnology has shown that he
is almost totally unworthy of credit, the sources
of his information being exceedingly suspicious,
and lus statements proved to be false by com-
parison with trustworthy contemporary Roman
historians. There is every reason to believe
that the so-called Gildas — for by Mr. Wright4
he has been reduced to a nominis umbra —
lived and wrote about the middle of the 6th cen-
tury A.D., so that, had he used ordinary dili-
gence and discrimination, he might have been of
considerable assistance in enabling us to solve
the perplexing mystery of the Pictish question.
But indeed we have no right to look for much
history in the work of Gildas, as it professes
to be merely a complaint " on the general de-
struction of every thing that is good, and the
general growth of evil throughout the land ;"
it is his purpose, he says, " to relate the deeds
of an indolent and slothful race, rather than
the exploits of those who have been valiant in
the field." 6 So far as the origin and early
history of the Picts is concerned, Gildas is of
almost no value whatever, the only time ho
mentions the Picts being incidentally to notice
an invasion they had made into the Roman
provinces.8 If we can trust him, the Picts
and their allies, the Scots, must have been
very fierce enemies to deal with. They went
about, he tells us, almost entirely destitute of
clothes, having their faces covered with bushy
hair, and were in the habit of dragging the
poor enervated Britons from the top of their

3 L. 0. Pike, The English and their Origin, ch. i.

4 Biographia Britannica Literaria, vol. i.
' Gildas, 1. « Id., 19.

protecting wall with hooked weapons, slaughter-
ing them without mercy. Some writers infer
from this narrative that, during the Roman oc-
cupation, no permanent settlement of Scots had
been effected in present Scotland, but that the
Scots who assisted the Picts came over from
their native Scotland (Ireland) for that pur-
pose ; he tells us that the Scots came from the
north-west, and the Picts from the north.7
" North-west " here, however, would apply
quite as well to Argyle as to Ireland.

The writer next in chronological order from
whom we derive any information of conse-
quence concerning the Picts is Adamnan, a
member of the early Irish Church, who was
born in the county of Donegal about the
year 625, elected abbot of lona in 679, and
who died in the year 704. Adamnan wrote
a life of his great predecessor St. Columba,
in which is contained much information con-
cerning that great missionary's labours among
the Northern Picts ; and although he narrates
many stories which are palpably incredible,
still the book contains much which may
with confidence be accepted as fact. In con-
nection with the questions under consideration,
wo learn that, in the time of Columba and
Adamnan, there were — as formerly, in the time
of the Roman writers — two divisions of the
Picts, known in the 7th century and afterwards
as the Northern and Southern Picts. Adam-
nan informs us that Columba's mission was to
the Northern Picts alone, — the southern divi-
sion having been converted by St. Ninian in
the 5th century. There has been much dispu-
tation as to the precise district inhabited by
each of these two divisions of the Picts, — some
maintaining that the southern division occupied
the country to the south of the Forth and Clyde,
while the Northern Picts occupied the whole
district to the north of these estuaries. The
best authorities, however, are of opinion that
both divisions dwelt to the north of Antonine's
wall, and were divided from each other by the
Grampians.

What more immediately concerns our pres-
ent purpose is a passage in Adamnan's work in
which he speaks of Columba preaching to the
Picts through an interpreter. Now Columba

' Gildas, 14.

22

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

was an Irish Scot, whose native tongue was
Gaelic, and it is from this argued that the Picts
to whom he preached must have spoken a differ-
ent language, or at least dialect, and belonged
to a different race or tribe from the saint him-
self. Mr. Skene,8 who ably advocates the
Gaelic origin of the Picts, perceiving this diffi-
culty, endeavours to explain away the force of
Ihe passage by making it mean that Columba
"interpreted or explained the word of God,
that is, the Bible, which, being written in
Latin, would doubtless require to be interpreted
to them." The passage as quoted by Skene is,
" Verbo Dei per interpretorem recepto." Gar-
nett, however, one of the most competent and
candid writers on this question in its philologi-
cal aspect, and who maintains, with the great-
est clearness and ability, the Cymric origin of
the Picts, looks at the passage in a different
light. The entire passage, he says,9 as it
stands in Colganus, is as follows: — "Alio in
tempore quo sanctus Columba in Pictorum
provincia per aliquot demorabatur dies, quidam
",um tota plebeius familia, verbum vitce per in-
terpretorem, Sancto prcedicante viro, audiens
credidit, credensque baptizatus est." 1 " Here
it will be observed," continues Garnett, "Adam-
nan does not say, ' verbum Dei,' which might
have been construed to mean the Scripture,
but 'verbum vita, Sancto prcedicante viro,'
which can hardly mean anything but 'the
word of life, as it was preached by the Saint.'"
Certainly, we think, the unprejudiced reader
must admit that, so far as this point is con-
cerned, Mr. Garnett has the best of it. Al-
though at that time the Gaelic and Cymric
dialects may have had much more in common
than they have at the present day, nevertheless
it appears to be beyond a doubt that the differ-
ence between the two was so great that a Gael
would be unintelligible to a speaker of Cymric.2

8 Highlanders, vol. i. p. 72.

' Garnett's Philological Essays, p. 199.

1 Adam. ap. Colganum, 1. ii. c. 32.

* On the subject in question the recently published
T.ook of Deer cannot be said to afford us any informa-
tion. It gives a short account of the landing of
Columba and a companion at Aberdour in the north
of Aberdeenshire, and the founding of a monastery at
Deer. But although the entries are in Gaelic, they do
not tell ns what language Colnmba spoke, nor whether
' Bede the Pict,' the mormaer of Buchan, understood
him without an interpreter. The name of the saint
— Drostan— whom Columba left beliiud him to prose-

The next and most important authority of
this class on this qucestio vexata is the Vener-
able Bede, who, considering the age in which he
lived, exercised so much caution and discrimina-
tion, that he deserves to be listened to with re-
spect Bede was born about 673. He was
educated in the Monastery of Wearmouth,
whence he removed to Jarrow, where he was
ordained deacon in his nineteenth year, and
priest in his thirtieth, and where he spent the
rest of his days, dying in 735. He wrote many
works, but the most important is the Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, the materials
for which he obtained chiefly from native
chronicles and biographies, records and public
documents, and oral and written communica-
tions from contemporaries.

"We shall transcribe most of the passage in
which Bede speaks of the ancient inhabitants
of Britain; so that our readers may be able to
judge for themselves of the nature and value
of the testimony borne by this venerable au-
thor. It must, however, be kept in mind that
Bede does not pretend to give any but the ec-
clesiastical history of the English nation, every-
thing else being subsidiary to this.

" This island at present, following the num-
ber of the books in which the Divine law was
written, contains five nations, the English,
Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its
own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime
study of Divine truth. The Latin tongue is,
by the study of the Scriptures, become common
to all the rest. At first this island had no
other inhabitants but the Britons, from whom
it derived its name, and who coming over into
Britain, as is reported, from Annorica, pos-
sessed themselves of the southern parts thereof.
When they, beginning at the south, had made
themselves master of the greatest part of the
island, it happened, that the nation of the

cute the work, is Pictish, at any rate not Irish, so
that nothing can be inferred from this. Since much
of the first part of this book was written, Mr. Skene
has advanced the theory, founded partly on four
new Pictish words he has managed to discover, that
the language of the Picts was neither pure Gaelic
nor Cymric, 'but a sort of low Gaelic dialect par-
taking largely of Welsh forms.' This theory is not
new, but was distinctly put forth by Dr. Maclauchlan
some years ago in his able and learned work, The
Early Scottish Church, p. 29 : if true, it would cer-
tainly satisfy a great many of the demands which any
hypothesis on the subject must do.

BEDE ON THE PICTS.

23

Picts coming into the ocean from Scythia, as
is reported, in a few tall ships, were driven
by the winds beyond the shores of Britain
and arrived off Ireland, on the northern
coasts, where, fouling the nation of the Scots,
they requested to he allowed to settle among
them, but could not succeed in obtaining
their request. The Scots answered, that
the island could not contain them both;
but ' wo can give you good advice,' said they,
' what to do ; we know there is another island,
not far from ours, to the eastward, which we
often see at a distance, when the days are clear.
If you will repair thither, you may be able to
obtain settlements; or if they should oppose
you, you may make use of us as auxiliaries.'
The Picts accordingly sailing over into Britain,
began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for
the Britons were possessed of the southern.
Now the Picts having no wives, and asking
them of the Scots, they would not consent to
grant them upon any other terms, than that
when any difficulty should arise, they should
rather choose themselves a king from the fe-
male royal race than from the male; which
custom, as is well known, has been observed
among the Picts to this day. In process of
time, Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts,
received a third nation, the Scots, who, de-
parting out of Ireland under their leader Eeuda,
either by fair means, or by force of arms, se-
cured to themselves those settlements among
the Picts which they still possess. From the
name of their commander, they are to this day
called Dalreudins ; for in their language Dal

signifies a part It is properly the

country of the Scots, who, migrating from
thence, as has been said, added a third nation
in Britain to the Britons and the Picts. There
is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly
divided the nation of the Picts from the Bri-
tons ; which gulf runs from the west very far
into the land, where, to this day, stands the
strong city of the Britons, called Alcluith.
The Scots arriving on the north side of this
bay, settled themselves there."2

Here then Bede informs us that in his time
the common report was that the Picts came
into Scotland from Scythia, which, like the

1 Bcde's Eccla. Hut., Rook I. c. i.

Germania of Tacitus, may bo taken to mean
the northern countries of Europe generally.
This is substantially the same statement as that
of the author of the Histona Britonum, com-
monly called Nennius, who lived in the 9th
century, and who informs us that the Picts
coming to Scotland about 300 B.C., occupied
the Orkney Islands, whence issuing, they
laid waste many regions, and seized those
on the left-hand side, i. e. the north of
Britain, where they still remained in the writer's
time, keeping possession of a third part of
Britain. 3

Supposing that Bede's report was quite in
accordance with truth, still it gives us but
small help in coming to a conclusion as to the
place of these Picts among the families of men.
It is certain that by far the greater part of
Europe had at one time a Celtic population who
preceded, but ultimately gave way to another
wave of emigrants from the east. Now, if we
knew the date at which this so-called migra-
tion of the Picts took place it might be of con-
siderable assistance to us; but as we cannot
now find out whether these emigrants pro-
ceeded from a Celtic or a Teutonic stock, the
statement of Bede, even if reliable, helps us
not at all towards a solution of the question
as to the race of the Picts. Innes4 remarks
very justly on this point — " Now, supposing
that there were any good ground for the opin-
ion of these two writers, which they themselves
give only as a conjecture or hearsay, and that
we had any certainty of the Caledonians, or
Picts, having had their origin from the more
northern parts of the European continent, it
were an useless, as well as an endless discus-
sion, to examine in particular from which of
all the northern nations of the continent tho
first colony came to Caledonia; because that
these nations of the north were almost in per-
petual motion, and changing habitations, as
Strabo remarks ; and he assigns for it two rea-
sons : the one, because of the barrenness of the
soil, they tilled not the ground, and built habi-
tations only for a day ; the other, because be-
ing often overpowered by their neighbours,
they were forced to remove. Another reason
why it is impossible to know from which of

* Nennius 12, Vatican MS.

4 Critical Assay on Scotland, vol. i. y. 68.

24

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

those nations the northern parts of Britain,
(supposing they came from thence) were at
first peopled, is because we have but very lame
accounts of these northern nations from the
Greek or Roman writers, (from whom alone we
can look for any thing certain in those early
times) especially of those of Scandia, to the
north of the Baltic sea, as the same Strabo ob-
serves. Besides, it appears that Caledonia was
peopled long before the inhabitants of these
northern parts of the continent were men-
tioned, or even known by the most ancient
writers wo have ; and perhaps before the first
nations mentioned by them were settled in
those parts."

There is, however, another statement made
by Bede in the passage quoted, upon which,
as it refers to his own time, much more reli-
ance can be placed ; it is, that in his time
Britain contained five nations, each having its
own peculiar dialect, viz., the English, Britons,
Scots, Picts, and Latins. We know that the
English spoke in the main Saxon ; the Britons,
»'. e., the inhabitants of "Wales, Cumbria, &c.,
Welsh ; the Scots, Gaelic ; the Latins, we sup-
pose, being the Eomanized Britons and eccle-
siastics. xWhat language then did the Picts
Bpeak 1 As we know that Bede never travelled,
he must have got his information from an in-
formant or by hearsay, which circumstance
rather detracts from its value. But supposing
we take the passage literally as it stands, we
learn that in Bede's time there were five dis-
tinct peoples or nations, whose names he gives,
sharing among them the island. He does not
say there were five distinct tongues, which
would have been quite a different statement ;
he speaks of them not so much in respect of
their language as in respect of their being the
separate items which composed the inhabitants
of Britain. In his time they were all quite
distinct, in a measure independent of and at
enmity with each other. He does not classify
them in respect of the race to which they be-
longed, but with reference to the particular
districts which they inhabited, and perhaps
with regard to the time and means of their
conversion to Christianity, each having been
converted at a different time and by a different
saint. The substance then of what he says
appears to be, that there were in his time

five distinct tribes or congregations of people
in Britain, each converted to Christianity, and
each having the gospel preached in its own
tongue. Supposing that the Picts and Scots,
or Picts and Britons, or Picts and English did
speak exactly the same tongue, it is not at all
likely that Bede, in the present case, would
have classed them together as both being one
nation. Moreover, suppose we allow that Bedo
did mean that each of these nations spoke a
language quite distinct from all the others, then
his statement cuts equally at the Gothic and
Celtic theory. The conclusion we are forced
to is, that from this passage nothing can be
gained to help us out of our difficulty.

There is a statement at the end of the
passage quoted to which we would draw the
reader's attention, as being Bede's way, and no
doubt the universal way in his time, of ac-
counting for a peculiar law which appears to
have regulated the succession to the Pictish
throne, and which ultimately, according to
some, was the means of placing on that throne
a Scottish monarch ; thus accounting to some
extent for the sudden disappearance and ap-
parent destruction of the Pictish people and
language.

We shall here refer to one other passage
in the same historian, which has perhaps
given rise to greater and more acrimonious
contention than any other point in connec-
tion with this wordy discussion. The only
word that has come down to us, which, with
the exception of the names of the Pictish
kings, we can be sure is a remnant of the Pic-
tish language, is the name said by Bede to
have been given to the eastern termination of
the wall of Antonine. Bede,6 in speaking of
the turf wall built by the Britons of Valentia
in the beginning of the 5th century, says, " it
begins at about two miles distance from the
monastery of Abercorn on the west, at a place
called in the Pictish language Peanfahel, but
in the English tongue Penneltum." This state-
ment of Bede's is straightforward and clear
enough, and has never been disputed by any
writer on any one of the three sides of the
question. Nevertheless it has been used by the
advocates respectively of the Gothic, Gaelic, and

« Book i., o, 12.

" PEANFAHEL "— NOKTH AND SOUTH PICTS.

23

Cymric origin of the Picts, as an undoubted
proof of the correctness of each of these theo-
ries. Pinkerton, whose dishonesty and acri-
moniousncss arc well known, and must detract
considerably from the force of his arguments,
claims it as being entirely Gothic or Teutonic.
"Tho Pictish -word," he says,6 "is broad Go-
thic; Paena 'to extend,' Ihre; and Valid, a
broad sound of veal, the Gothic for ' wall,' or
of the Latin vallum, contracted val ; hence it
means ' the extent or end of the wall.' " This
statement of Pinkerton's may be dismissed as
too far-fetched and awkward to merit much
consideration, and we may safely regard the
word as capable of satisfactory explanation only
in Celtic. Innes, who upholds the British,
»'. e. the Cymric, origin of the Picts, says,7
" we nowhere find a clearer proof of the Pictish
language being the same as the British [Welsh],
than in Bede, where he tells us that Penudhel
in Pictish signifies the head of the wall, which
is just the signification that the same two
words Pen and UaJiel have in the British."
In this opinion Chalmers and other advocates
of the Cymric theory coincide. Mr. Gar-
nett, who essentially agrees with Innes and
Chalmers as to the Cymric origin of the Picts,
lays little stress upon this word as furnishing
an argument in support of his theory. " Al-
most the only Pictish word given us by an an-
cient writer is the well-known Pen val (or as
it appears in the oldest MSS. of Bede (Peann
fahel), the name given by the Picts to the
Wall's End, or eastern termination of the
Vallum of Antoninus. It is scarcely necessary
to say the first part of the word is decidedly
Cymric ; pen, head, being contrary to all Gaelic
analogy. The latter half might be plausibly
claimed as the Gaelic fal; gwall being the
more common termination in Welsh for a
wall or rampart. Fal, however, does occur in
Welsh in the sense of inclosure, a signification
not very remote."8

The two most recent and able supporters9
of the Gaelic theory are of much the same

' Inquiry into the Hist, of Scot., vol. i. p. 357, cd.
1814.

7 Crit. Essfai, vol. i. p. 75.

» Garnctt's Phil. Essays, p. 198.

* Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol.
ii. p. 380. Forbes- Leslie's Early Races of Scotland,
vol. i. p 35.

I.

mind as Garnett, and appear to regard this
tantalizing word as affording no support to
either side. Burton1 cannot admit that any-
thing has been made out of this leading to a
historical conclusion.

We may safely conclude, then, that this so
called Pictish word, or, indeed, any informa-
tion which we find in Bede, affords us no key to
the perplexing question of the origin and race
of the Picts.

We learn, however, one fact from Bede2
which is so far satisfactory, viz., that in his
time there were two divisions of the Picts,
known as the Northern and Southern Picts,
which were separated from each other by steep
and rugged mountains. On reading the pas-
sage in Bede, one very naturally supposes that
the steep and rugged mountains must be the
Grampians, to which the expression applies
more aptly than to any other 'mountain-chain
in Scotland. Even this, however, has been
made matter of dispute, it being contended by
some that the locality of the Southern Picts
was in the south-west and south of Scotland,
where some writers set up a powerful Pictish
kingdom. Mr. Grub,3 however, has clearly
shown that the locality of the Southern Picts
was to the north of the Forth and Clyde, and
to the south of the Grampians. " The mistake
formerly so common in regard to the country
of the Southern Picts converted by St. Ninian,
was in part owing to the situation of Candida
Casa. It was supposed that his see must have
been in the country of those whom he con-
verted." He clearly proves that it was not so
in reality, and that there was nothing so un-
usual in the situation as to justify the conclu-
sion which was drawn from it. " It was, no
doubt, the case that the teachers by whom the
chief Celtic and Teutonic nations were con-
verted generally fixed their seat among those
whom they instructed in the faith. But there
was no necessity for this, especially when the
residence of the teacher was in the neighbour-
hood of his converts. St. Columba was pri-
mate of all the churches of the Northern Picts,
but ho did not permanently reside among that
nation. St. Ninian had ready access to his

1 Hist, of Scot., vol. i. p. 187

a Hook iii. ch. 4.

• Eccl. Hist, of Soot., vol. i. p. 15, *c.

26

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Pietisli converts, and could govern them as
easily from liis White Church on the Solway,
as Columba could instruct and rule the North-
ern Picts from his monastery in lona."4

Other authorities appealed to by the uphold-
ers of each of the Celtic theories are the Welsh
traditions, the Irish Annals, the Chronicles
of the Picts and Scots, and various legend-
ary documents of more or less value and
authenticity. As these are of no greater au-
thority than the writers with whom we have
been dealing, and as the partisans of each
theory claim the various passages as either
confirming, or, at any rate, not contradicting
their views, we shall not further trouble the
reader with specimens of the manner in
which they are dealt with. There is one
passage, however, in the Welsh Triads, which
the advocates of the Gaelic hypothesis claim
as strongly confirmatory of their theory. After
referring to the coming in of the Cymry, the
Britons, etc., the Triads6 go on to say, "Three
tribes came, under protection, into the Island
of Britain, and by the consent and permission
of the nation of the Cymry, without weapon,
without assault. The first was the tribe of the
Caledonians in the north. The second was
the Gwyddelian Eace, which are now in Alban
(Scotland). The third were the men of Gale-
din, who came into the Isle of Wight. Three
usurping tribes came into the Island of Britain
and never departed out of it. The first were
the Coranied, who came from the land of Pwyl.
The second were the Gwyddelian Ffichti, who
came into Alban over the sea of Llychlyn (Den-
mark). The tliird were the Saxons." " The
Triads," says Skene6 in connection with this,
" appear distinctly to have been written pre-
vious to the Scottish conquest in the ninth cen-
tury, and they mention among the three usurp-
ing tribes of Britain the ' Gwyddyl Ffichti,'
and add immediately afterwards, ' and these
Gwyddyl Ffichti are in Alban, along the shore
of the sea of Llychlyn.' In another place,
among the treacherous tribes of Britain, the
same Triads mention the ' Gwyddyl coch o'r
Werddon a ddaethant in Alban,' that is ' the
Eed Gwyddyl from Ireland, who came into

4 Eccl. Ifisl. of Scot., vol. i. p. 17.

5 Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 165.

6 Highlanders of Scotland, vol. i. p. 69.

Alban,' plainly alluding to the Dalriads, who
were an Irish colony, and who have been ac-
knowledged by all to have been a Gaelic race.
It will be observed from these passages that
the Welsh Triads, certainly the oldest and
most unexceptionable authority on the subject,
apply the same term of Gwyddyl to the Piots
and to the Dalriads, and consequently they
must have been of the same race, and the
Picts a Gaelic people. Farther, the Welsh
word ' Gwyddyl,' by which they distinguish
that race, has been declared by all the best au-
thorities to be exactly synonymous with the
word Gael, the name by which the Highlanders
have at all times been distinguished, and the
Welsh words ' Gwyddyl Ffichti ' cannot be
interpreted to mean any tiling else than ' The
Gaelic Picts,' or ' Pictish Gael.' "

The following is the substance of the infor-
mation given by the Irish writers as to the
origin, race, and early history of the Picts.
The greater part of it is, of course, mere tradi-
tion, accumulating as it grew older, and height-
ened by the imagination of the writers them-
selves.7 The Picts were called by the Irish
writers Cruitlinidh, which O'Brien considers to
be the same as Britneigh, or Britons ; but ac-
cording to others the name was derived from
Cruthen, who founded the kingdom of the Picts
in North Britain, in the first century ; others
derive the name from Cruit, a harp, hence Cruit-
neach, the Irish for Pict, also signifies a harper,
as they are said to have been celebrated harp-
ers. The ancient Britons are mentioned by
Csesar, and other Eoman writers, to have
painted their bodies of a blue colour, with the
juice of a plant called woad, hence the painted
Britons were called-by the Eomans Picti. The
Picts or Cruthneans, according to the Psalter
of Cashel, and other ancient annals, came from
Thrace, in the reign of the Milesian monarch
Heremon, nearly a thousand years before the
Christian era, and landed at Inver Slainge,
now the Bay of Wexford, under two chief
commanders named Gud and Cathluan, but
not being permitted to settle in Ireland, they
sailed to Albain, or that part of North Britain,
now Scotland, their chiefs having been kindly

7 We are indebted for most of the following account
to Connellan's Annals of the Four Masters, p. 307
(note).

EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE.

27

supplied with wives of Irish birth. The
Crutlineans became possessed of North Brit-
ain, and founded there the kingdom of the
Picts. A colony of the Crutlineans, or
Picts, from North Britain, settled in Ulster
in early times, and are often mentioned from
the first to the ninth century; they resided
chiefly in Dalaradia and Tir Eogain, or parts
of Down, Antrim, and Deny, and became
mixed by intermarriages with the old Irish of
the Irian race, and were ruled over by their
own princes and chiefs; and some of those
Picts, also settled in Connaught, in the county
of Eoscommon. According to the Irish writ-
ers, the Picts, in their first progress to Ireland
from Thrace, settled a colony in Gaul, and the
tribes called Pictones and Pictavi, in that
country, were descended from them, and they
gave name to Pictavia, or the city of Poictiers,
and the province of Poitou; and from these
Picts were descended the Vendeans of France.
The Caledonians, or first inhabitants of Scot-
land, are considered to have been the same as
the Picts, and mixed with Cimbrians or Britons,
and some of the Milesian Scots from Ireland.

The advocates of the various theories, appa-
rently aware of how little can be made of the
meagre and suspicious information afforded by
these early histories and chronicles, have lat-
terly made language the principal battle-ground
on which to fight out this endless and profit-
less strife. Most of them take for granted
that if the language spoken by any people can
bo found out, a sure indication is afforded of
the race to which that people belonged; and
that the topography of a country must neces-
sarily have been imposed by the earliest inha-
bitants of whom we have record; and that, if
so, the limits of their territory must have been
co-extensive with the limits of such topography.
This, however, is going too far. AH the length
to which we are permitted in fairness to go,
when we find in any district or country an
abundance of names of natural objects, as
rivers and mountains, which can with certainty
be traced to any particular language, is, that
at one time or other, a race of people speaking
this language must have passed over and dwelt
for some time in that particular district or
country. We find Celtic names of rivers and
mountains scattered all over Europe, in the

midst of peoples who are admitted on all hands
to have little or none of the Celtic element in
them.8 So that an unprejudiced judge must
admit that the fact of Cymric and Gaelic words
being found in certain districts of the north of
Scotland argues only that at one time people
speaking these dialects must have dwelt in
these districts. It affords no proof by itself
that the people whom we first meet with in
these districts are the people who spoke these
dialects, and who imposed these names; nor in-
deed, if we could be sure that the people whom
we first meet with as inhabitants also spoke the
dialect to which such names belong, does it
prove that they were the imposers of these
names, that the dialect was their native and ori-
ginal tongue, and that they had not acquired it
either as conquerors or conquered. Nor can it
be adduced as a proof of sameness of race, that
the present inhabitants of any particular dis-
trict speak the same language as those who in-
habited that district 1800 years ago or less.
" He who trusts to language, and especially to
written language, alone, as an index to race,
must bo prepared to maintain that the Gallic
nation emigrated from, the seven hills of Rome,
and that the Franks came with them; that the
Romans extirpated the Celts and Iberians of
Spain, and that the Goths and Moors spoke
nearly the same language as the Romans; that
the Negroes of the United States and Jamaica
were exported from England when in their in-
fancy. So would Philology, if left to herself,
interpret phenomena, of which we know, from
other sources of information, that the causes
are totally different."9 "The clearest proof
that a mountain or river has a Celtic name,
only shows that at some time or other Celts
had been there; it does not tell us when they
were there. Names, as the experience of the
world amply shows, live after the people who
bestowed them have long disappeared, and that
through successive races of occupants. nl

The materials which have been wrought up
into a linguistic argument by the upholders of
each of the three Pictish theories, Gothic,
Gaelic, and Cymric, are chiefly a list of Pictish

8 See Taylor's Words and Places, ch. ix.

9 Pike's English and their Origin, ch. ii., which
contains some shrewd and valuable remarks on the

subject of language.
1 Burton, vol. i. p. 192.

28

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

kings which, we believe, may be depended on
as authentic, and the topography of the country
to the east and south-east of the Grampians,
together with the single so-called Pictish word
Peanfahel, which we have already considered.
The theorists differ as much in their interpre-
tation of the significance of what remains of
the Pictish language, as we have seen they do
in their interpretation of any references to the
subject in dispute in ancient chronicles. The
names of the kings, and the names of places
have been traced by the disputants to Gothic,
Gaelic and Cymric roots. As an amusing
specimen of the ingenuity displayed in this
hunt after roots, we give below a small table
from Burton, comparing the different etymo-
logies of names of kings given by Pinkerton,
Chalmers, and Jamieson. 2

It is, however, generally admitted at the
present day, that so far as language is con-
cerned, the Gothic theory has not the remotest
chance; that names of places and of kings are
most satisfactorily and straightforwardly ex-
plained by Cymric roots. As the Gothic
or Teutonic theory cannot stand the test
of modern criticism, we shall content our-
selves with giving specimens of the manner
in which the linguistic, or, more strictly,
topographical argument is used by the advo-
cates of the Cymric and Gaelic hypotheses
respectively.

The Cymric argument is clearly, ably, and
succinctly stated by Mr. Garnett in his essay
on "The Eelation of the Pict and Gael;" he,
however, it must be remembered, looked at
the whole question mainly in its philological
aspect. In stating the argument we shall use
chiefly his own words.3 " That the Picts

were actually Celts, and not of Teutonic race,
is proved to a demonstration by the names of
their kings; of whom a list, undoubtedly gen-
uine from the fifth century downwards, was
published by Innes, from a manuscript in the
Colbertine library. Some of those appellations
are, as far as we know at present, confined to
the Pictish sovereigns; but others are well-
known Welsh and Gaelic names. They differ,
however, slightly in their forms, from their
Cymric equivalents ; and more decidedly so
from the Gaelic ones ; and, as far as they go,
lead to the supposition that those who bore
them spoke a language bearing a remote ana-
logy to the Irish with its cognates, but a pretty
close one to the Welsh.

" In the list furnished by Innes the names
Madcon, Elpin, Tar an (i.e. thunder), Uven
(Owen), Bargoit, are those of personages well
known in British history or tradition. Wrgust,
which appears as Fergus in the Irish annals, is
the Welsh Gwrgust. Talorg, Talorgan, evi-
dently contain the British word Tal, forehead,
a common element in proper names ; ex. gr.
Talhaiarn, Iron Forehead ; Taliesin, splendid
forehead, &c. Taleurgain would signify in
Welsh golden or splendid front. Three kings
are represented as sons of Wid, in the Irish
annals of Fait or Foith. In Welsh ortho-
graphy it would be Gwydd, wild , a common
name in Brittany at the present day, under the
form of Gwez. The names Drust, Drostan,
Wrad, Necton (in Bede Naitari), closely re-
semble the Welsh Trwst, Trwstan, Gwriad,
Nwython. It will be sufficient to compare the
entire list with the Irish or Highland gene-
alogies, to be convinced that there must have
been a material distinction between the two

Drust

Brudi or
Bridei

Chalmers for Celtic,

Probably the British
name Trwst, which
signifies din.

Brudw, which is pro-
nounced Bridw or
Bradw, is in the
British treacherous.

Pinkerton for Gothic,

Drust, a common Pikish name, is
also Persian, and signifies sin-
cems. . . The Persians were
the old Sythse or Goths, from
whom the rest sprung.

Brudi is the real Gothic name;
Bout is the wounded (Bott
ictus AVachter).

Jamieson, "Teutonic Etymons."

Su. Goth, troesi, drislig. Germ.,
dreist. Alem. gidrost, daring.

Island., Briddi eminebat. vercl :
breida, to extend; and Sueo-
Goth, «, law; 2. one who ex-
tends the law, who publishes it.

For other instances see Burton's Scotland, i. p. 196.
* Garnett's Phil. Essays, pp. 197, 198.

EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE.

29

branches. Most of the Pictish names are
totally unknown in Irish or Highland history,
and the few that are equivalent, such as Angus
and Fergus, generally differ in form. The Irish
annalists have rather obscured the matter, by
transforming those names according to their
national system of orthography ; but it is re-
markable that a list in the 'Book of Bally-
mote,' partly given by Lynch in his ' Cam-
brensis Eversus,' agrees closely with Innes,
even preserving the initial w or u where the
Gaelic would require / The philological in-
ferences to be deduced from this document may
bo thus briefly summed up : — 1. The names of
the Pictish kings are not Gaelic, the majority
of them being totally unknown both in the
Irish and Highland dialects, while the few
which have Gaelic equivalents decidedly differ
from them in form. Cineod (Kenneth) and
Domhnall or Donnel, appear to be the only ex-
ceptions. 2. Some of them cannot be identi-
fied as Welsh; but the greater number are
either identical with or resemble known Cym-
ric names ; or approach more nearly to Welsh
in structure and orthography than to any other
known language. 3. There appears neverthe-
less to have been a distinction, amounting, at
all events, to a difference in dialect. The Pict-
ish names beginning with w would in Welsh
have gw, as Gwryust for Wrgust, and so of the
rest. There may have been other differences
sufficient to justify Bede's statement that the
Pictish language was distinct from the British,
which it might very well be without any im-
peachment of its claim to be reckoned as closely
cognate."

We have already referred to the use made of
the Pictish word Peannfahel, preserved by
Bede, and to the phrase in Adamnan concerning
Columba's preaching by means of an interpreter.
It is contended by the upholders of the Cymric
theory that the ancient topographical appella-
tions of the Pictish territory can in general
only be explained by the Cymric dialects, one
strong point being the number of local names
beginning with the Welsh prefix after, which,
according to Chalmers, was in several instances
subsequently changed by the Gael into inver.
Skene,4 who felt the force of this argument,

4 Highlanders.

a-ied to get rid of it by contending that alter is
essentially a Gaelic word, being compounded
of ath, ford, and bior, water. Garnett thinks
this explanation utterly gratuitous, and observes
that the term may be much more satisfactorily
accounted for by a different process. " There
are," he observes,6 " three words in Welsh do-
noting a meeting of waters — after, cynver, and
ynver, — respectively compounded of the par-
ticles a, denoting juxtaposition, cyn (Lat. con),
and yn, with the root ber, flowing, preserved
in the Breton verb beri, to flow, and all virtu-
ally equivalent to our word confluence. Inver
is the only term known in any Gaelic dialect,
either as an appellative or in proper names ;
and not a single local appellation with the pre-
fix after occurs either in Ireland or the He-
brides, or on the west coast of Scotland. In-
deed, the fact that inver was substituted for it
after the Gaelic occupation of the Pictish terri-
tories, is decisive evidence on the point ; for,
if after was a term familiar to the Gael, why
should they change it 1 "

" In Scotland," says Isaac Taylor,8 who up-
holds the Cymric hypothesis, " the invert and
afters are distributed in a curious and instruc-
tive manner. If we draw a line across the map
from a point a little south of Inverary, to one
a little north of Aberdeen, we shall find that
(with very few exceptions) the invers lie to the
north west of the line, and the aftera to the
south-east of it. This line nearly coincides with
the present southern limit of the Gaelic tongue,
and probably also with the ancient division be-
tween the Picts and Scots. Hence we may con-
clude that the Picts, a people belonging to the
Cymric branch of the Celtic stock, and whose
language has now ceased to be anywhere verna-
cular, occupied the central and eastern districts
of Scotland, as far as the Grampians ; while
the Gadhelic Scots have retained their language,
and have given their name to the whole coun-
try. The local names prove, moreover, that in
Scotland the Cymry did not encroach on the
Gael, but the Gael on the Cymry. The in-
trusive names are invers, which invaded the
land of the afters. Thus on the shore of eth
Frith of Forth we find a few invers among the
after*. The Welsh word uchel, high, may also

6 Phil. Essays, p. 200.

« Words and Places, p. 246.

30

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

bo adduced to prove the Cymric affinities of
the Picts. This word does not exist in either
the Erse or the Gaelic languages, and yet it ap-
pears in the name of the OCHIL HILLS, in Perth-
shire. Again, the Erse bally, a town, occurs
in 2,000 names in Ireland ; and, on the other
hand, is entirely absent in Wales and Brittany.
In Scotland this most characteristic test-word is
found frequently in the inver district, while it
never appears among the abers. The evidence
of these names makes it impossible to deny
that the Celts of the Scottish Lowlands must
have belonged to the Cymric branch of the
Celtic stock."

We infer from what Mr. Taylor says, that
he is of opinion that at one time the language
of the whole of the north of Scotland was
Cymric, but that the district in which the
Scots obtained a settlement afterwards under-
went a change of topography. But it is ad-
mitted on all hands that the Scottish Dalriada
comprehended no more than the modern Ar-
gylesliire, extending no farther north than
Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe ; and that the
Irish Scots had little influence on the people or
their language to the north-west of the Gram-
pians. Indeed, Skene7 maintains that this dis-
trict, in which he places the Northern Picts,
was never subjected to the Scots, and that it
was only the Southern Picts who latterly came
under their sway. Yet we find that the abers
here are few and far between, or, indeed, any
indications of Cymric possession such as we
find in the southern district. Is it possible
that the Northern and Southern Picts were re-
presentatives of the two great divisions of the
Celts, — the former claiming a Gaelic origin,
and the latter a Cymric? Perhaps after all
the Welsh Triads may in course of time be of
some help in the solution of this dark prob-
lem, as, according to them, there was more
than one Celtic settlement in Scotland before
the migration of the Scots. The passages
above quoted are, to all appearance, much
more favourable to the Gaelic than to the
Cymric hypothesis, and have been made much
of by Skene and other supporters of that side
of the question.

The Cymric origin of the Picts, besides

7 Highlanders.

Garnett and Taylor, is supported by such
names as Innes, Chalmers, Ritson, Whittaker,
Grub, and others.

Pinkerton, it is well known, is the great and
unscrupulous upholder of the Gothic origin of
the Picts ; while the Gaelic theory has for its
supporters such writers, of undoubted ability
and acuteness, as Skene, E. W. Robertson,
Forbes-Leslie, &c. Burton8 is of opinion that
the Highlanders of the present day are the
true representatives of the Dalriadic Scots of
the West.

We shall, as we have done in the case of the
other side, allow the upholders of the Gaelic
hypothesis to state for themselves the Gaelic
topographical argument. We shall use the
words of Colonel Forbes-Leslie, who, in his
invaluable work on the " Early Races of Scot-
land,"9 says, " The Celtic words Inver and
Aber have nearly the same meaning ; and the
relative position in which they occur in names
of places has been employed as if it were a suf-
ficient argument for defining the presence or
preponderance of the British or Gaelic Celts in
certain districts. In this way Aber, prefixed
to names of places, has been urged as adequate
proof that the Picts of Caledonia were Celts of
the British branch. The value of these and
some other words requires examination. Iii-
ver is to be found in names of places in Wales.
It may possibly be a British word. It cer-
tainly is a Gaelic one. Aber, although un-
doubtedly British, is also Gaelic — compounded
of the two words Ath and Bior — and signifying
the same as Inver, viz., the confluence of two
streams, or the entrance to a river. If the
word Aber had been unknown to the Gaelic
scholars of modern days, its former existence in
that language might have been presumed from
the ancient names of places in the districts of
Caledonia, where it occurs most frequently,
being generally Gaelic and not British.

"Beyond the limits of Caledonia on the south
of the Forth and Clyde, but within the boun-
dary of modern Scotland, the word Inver,
generally pronounced Inner, is of common oc-
currence, and bears witness to a Gaelic nomen-
clature. Thus, Inner or Inverkip, in the county
of Renfrew ; Innerwell, in the county of \Vig-

8 Scotland, vol. i. p. 207.
» Vol. i. y. 26.

EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE— INVER AND ABER.

31

ton ; Iimerwiek, in the county of Haddington ;
[mii'rlcithen, in the county of Peebles ; Inver-
leith and Inveresk, in the county of Edin-
burgh, derive their names from their situation
in regurd to the rivers Kip, Leithun, Esk, &c.
&c.

" From the Moray Frith to the Forth, in the
eastern counties of Caledonia, tho prefix Inver
or Aber is used indiscriminately in contiguous
places. At the confluence of lesser streams
with the river Dee, in Aberdeenshire, we
find Inverey, Abergeldie, Invercauld, Inver-
canny, Aberdeen. Yet in those counties —
viz., Aberdeen, Kincardine, Forfar, Perth, and
Fife, in which were situated the capitals,
and which were the richest provinces of the
southern Picts — the number of names of
places beginning with Inver is three times as
numerous as those commencing with Aber;
there being, in a list taken from land-regis-
ters, which do not go farther back than the
middle of the sixteenth century, seventy-eight
with Inver to twenty-four with Aber. It
may, however, be admitted that, although
Aber is Gaelic, its use is far more general by
Celts of the British tribes ; and that the pre-
dominance of Inver in the districts north of
tho Spey, and the intermixture of places the
names of which commence with Inver or Aber,
not unfrequently used in records of nearly the
same date for the same place in the country ly-
ing between the Moray and the Solway Friths,
is, to a certain extent, evidence of a British
element of population extending into Caledonia.
The Britons, in earlier times, may have been
pressing on to the north by gradual intrusion,
and were probably afterwards increased by
bodies of exiles escaping from the severity of
Roman bondage and the punishment of unsuc-
cessful revolt.

" That names of places containing the words
Bal, from Bail, a place or residence, and Ard,
a height or rising ground, are so common in
Ireland, and comparatively rare, so it is alleged,
in Caledonia, has also been used as an argu-
ment to prove that the language of the Picts
and other Caledonians of the southern and
eastern districts was British, not Gaelic. But
the foundation of the argument has been as-
sumed, and is easily disproved. It is true that
of largo towns and places that appear in gazet-

teers, names commencing with Bal and Ard are
not numerous. But in fact such names are
extremely common. In the lowlands of Aber-
deenshire— that is, in the portion of one county,
and in the part of Caledonia farthest removed
from the settlements of the intrusive Gaels, viz.,
the Scots from Ireland — registers of land show
upwards of fifty places the names of which com-
mence with Bal, and forty which commence
with Ard. In the Pictish territory, from tho
Moray Frith to the Forth, I soon collected up
wards of four hundred names of places begin-
ning with Bal, and upwards of one hundred
with Ard; and the number might easily bo
doubled."

Mr. E. W. Robertson, one of the latest and
ablest upholders of this theory, thinks1 there
is scarcely sufficient evidence to justify any
very decided conclusion as to the pre-existence
of a Cymric population; and that, whilst it
would be unquestionably erroneous to ascribe
a Cymric origin to the Picts, the existence of
a Celtic element akin to the Cymri, amongst
the population of Alban before the arrival of
the Gwyddd Ffichti, must remain to a certain
extent an open question.

Of all a priori theories that have hitherto
been advanced as to how Scotland was likely
to have been at first peopled, that of Father
Innes, the first writer who investigated tho
subject thoroughly and critically, appears to
us to be the most plausible and natural, al-
though even it is beset with many difficulties.
It appears to him more natural and probable
that the Caledonian Britons, or Picts, were of
the same origin as the Britons of the south;
that as these came in originally from the near-
est coast of Gaul, as they multiplied in the
island, they advanced to the north and settled
there, carrying with them the customs and
language of the South Britons.*

We have thus endeavoured to lay before
the reader, as fully as space permits, and as
clearly and unprejudicedly as possible, the
materials at present existing by means of
which to form an opinion on the Pictish ques-
tion, and the arguments pro and con, mainly
in their own words, urged by the partisans of
the different theories. It appears to us that

1 Vol. ii. p. 377. * Essay on Scotland, vol. :. p. 70

32

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the data within reach are far too scanty to
justify any one in coming to a settled conclu-
sion, and that we must wait for more light
before we can be justified in finally making up
our minds on this perplexing subject.1

At the present day we find that nearly the
whole of the territory said to have been ori-
ginally occupied by the Picts, is inhabited,
and has been for centuries, by a population
which in appearance is far more Teutonic than
Celtic, and which undoubtedly speaks a broad
Teutonic dialect.2 And even in the district
where the Gaelic language has been triumphant
for ages, it is acknowledged even by the most
devoted partisans of the Gaelic theory, that
among the population there is a very consider-
able intermixture of the Teutonic element.
Burton thinks, from a general view of the
whole question, that the proportion of the Teu-
tonic race that came into the use of the Gaelic,
was much greater than the proportion of the
Gaelic that came into the use of the Teutonic
or Saxon, and that this may account for the
contrasts of physical appearance to be seen in
the Highlands.

We certainly have not exhausted the statement
of the question, have not stated fully and com-
pletely all the points in dispute ; nor do we pretend
to have given with fulness all the arguments pro
and eon on the various sides. We have, how-
ever, given as much as will enable any ordinary

1 We have already (p. 22) referred to the Gaelo-
Cymric theory broached by Dr. Maclauchlan in his
Early Scottish Church, and recently adopted by Dr.
Skene. Speaking of the distribution of the topo-
graphical nomenclature in the Highlands, Dr. Mac-
lauchlan says it indicates one of two things ; ' ' either
that the one race overpowered the other in the east,
and superinduced a new nomenclature over the old
throughout the country, — that we have in fact two
successive strata of Celtic names, the Gaelic under-
lying the British, which is by no means impossible;
or, what is more likely, that the Pictish people were
a people lying midway between the Gael and the
Cyinri — more Gaelic than the Cymri, and more Cymric
than the Gael. This is precisely the character of the
old Pictish topography; it is a mixture of Gaelic and
Cymric ; and if the language of the people was like
their topography, it too was a language neither Gaelic
nor Cymric, but occupying a middle- space between
them, indicating the identity of the races at some dis-
tant period, although they afterwards became rivals
for the possession of the land. " This we think on the
whole the most satisfactory theory yet propounded.

* We would infer from the recently published Book of
Deer, that down at least to the time of David II., the
inhabitants were still a Gaelic speaking population ; all
the entries in that book as to land are in that language.

reader to form for himself a fair idea of the
present state of the Pictish question, and indi-
cated the sources whence more information
may be derived, should any one wish to pur-
sue the subject farther. In the words of the
latest and greatest Scottish historian " this
brief survey of the great Pictish controversy
leaves nothing but a melancholy record of
wasted labour and defeated ambition. It has
been more fruitless than a polemical or a politi-
cal dispute, for these leave behind them, either
for good or evil, their marks upon the conduct
and character of the populations among whom
they have raged; while here a vast outlay of
learning, ingenuity, enthusiasm, and, it must
be added, temper, have left no visible monu-
ment but a pile of forbidding volumes, in
which should any one who has not studied the
matter fundamentally expect to find instructive
information, he will assuredly be led into a
tangled maze of unintelligible pedantry, from
which he will come forth with no impression
but a nightmare feeling of hopeless struggle
with difficulties."3

CHAPTER III.
A. D. 446—843.

Early History— Scottish Settlement — Origin of Scots
— Dalriada — Conversion of Picts — Druidism — i^t.
Columba — lona — Spread of Christianity — Brude
and his Successors — Dun-Nechtan — Pictish Wars —
Ungus — Contests — Norsemen — Union of Picts and
Scots — Scoto-Irish or Dalriads — Lorn, Fergus,
Angus and their Successors — Aidan— Contest at
Degsastan — Donal Breac — Wars with Irish and
Picts — Conal II. and Successors — Ferchar Fada —
Selvach and Duncha Beg— Eocha III. unites Dal-
riada— Muredach — Contests with Picts — Aodh-fin
— Eocha IV. or Achaius — Alpin — Kenneth — Union
of Picts and Scots — Dalriadic Government — Tanist
— Brehon — Laws— Fosterage — Lists of Kings.

As we have already said, the materials for the
internal history of the Highlands during the
Roman occupation are of the scantiest, nearly
all that can be recorded being the straggles of
the northern tribes with the Roman invaders,
and the incursions of the former and their
allies into the territories of the Romanized
Britons. Doubtless many events as worthy of
record as these, an account of which has been

3 Burton, vol. i. p. 200.

SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTS IN SCOTLAND.

33

preserved, were during this period being
transacted in the northern part of Scotland,
and wo have seen that many additions, from
various quarters, must have been made to the
population. However, there are no records
extant which enable us to form any distinct
notion of the nature of these events, and his-
tory cannot be manufactured.

After the departure of the Eomans, the pro-
vincial Britons of the south of Scotland were
completely at the mercy of the Picts as well
as the Saxons, who had been invited over by
the South Britons to assist them against the
northern barbarians. These Saxons, we know,
very soon entered into alliance with those
whom they came to repel, and between them
the Britons south of the friths were eventually
driven into the West, where for centuries they
appear to have maintained an independent
kingdom under the name of Strathclyde, until
ultimately they were incorporated with the
Scots. *

Although both the external and internal
history of the Highlands during this period is
much better known than in the case of the
Boinan period, still the materials are exceed-
ingly scanty. Scottish historians, from Fordun
and Boece downwards, made it their business
to fill up from their own imaginations what is
wanting, so that, until the simple-minded but
acute Innes put it in its true light, the early
history of Scotland was a mass of fable.

Undoubtedly the two most momentous
events of this period are the firm settlement in
Argyle of a colony of Scots from Ireland and
some of the neighbouring isles in 503, 5 and
the conversion of the Northern Picts to Chris-
tianity by Columba about 563.

At the time of the Eoman abandonment of
Britain the Picts were under the sway of a
king or chieftain named Drust, son of Erp,
concerning whom the only record remaining is,
that he lived a hundred years and fought a
hundred battles. In fact, little is known with
certainty of the Pictish history for upwards of
one hundred years after the departure of the
Romans, although some ancient chronicles af-

4 See Innes's Essay, vol. i.

"This is the date commonly given, although Mr.
E. W. Robertson makes it 502 on the authority of
Tighcrnach, while O'Donovan (Annals of the Four
Mn.tttrs, vol. i. p. 160) makes it 508.

ford us lists of Pictish kings or princes, a
chronological table of whom, from Drust down-
wards, will be found at the end of this chap-
ter. The Pictish chronicle contains the names
of thirty-six others who are said to have
reigned before Drust, but these are generally
regarded as almost entirely spurious.

Before proceeding farther with the Pictish
history, it may bo proper to give a brief ac-
count of the settlement of the Irish Scots or
Dalriads, as they are frequently called, in the
Pictish territory.

The time of the settlement of the Scots in
present Scotland was for long a subject of dis
putation, the early Scottish historians, from a
false and unscrupulous patriotism, having
pushed it back for many centuries before its
actual occurrence. This dispute is now, how-
ever, fairly set at rest, there being no founda-
tion for believing that the Scots found their
way from Ireland to Scotland earlier than a cen-
tury or two before the birth of Christ. As we
have already seen, we find the first mention of
the Scots in Ammianus Marcellinus about the
year 360 A.D. ; and their name occurs in the
same connection frequently afterwards, during
the Roman occupation of Scotland. Burton8
is of opinion that the migration did not take
place at any particular time or under any par-
ticular leader, but that it was gradual, that tho
Scots " oozed " out of Ireland upon the western
coast of Scotland.

It belongs to the history of Ireland to trace
the origin and fix the race of the Scots, to
settle tho time of their coming into Ireland,
and discover whence they came. Some sup-
pose that they migrated originally from Britain
to Ireland, while Innes and others bring them
either from Scandinavia or Spain, and connect
them with the Scyths, asserting that Scot is a
mere corruption of Scyth, and dating the settle-
ment at about the commencement of the Chris-
tian era. The Irish traditions connect them
with a certain Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, and
date their coming to Ireland upwards of 1,000
years B.C. E. W. Robertson7 and others con
sider them to have been Irish Picts or Cruithne.

Wherever the Scots came from and to what-
ever race they belong, whether Teutonic or

•Vol. i. p. 212.

" Early Kings, vol. i. p. 5.

34

GENERAL H1STOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Celtic, they certainly appear not to have been
the first settlers in Ireland, and at the time at
which they first appear in authentic history
occupied a district in Ireland corresponding to
Connaught, Leinster, and part of Munster.
They were also one of the most powerful of the
Irish tribes, seeing that for many centuries
Ireland was, after them, called Scotia or Scot-
land. It is usually said that a particular corner
in the north-east of Ireland, about 30 miles in
extent, corresponding to the modern county of
Antrim, was the kingdom of the particular band
of Scots who migrated to Scotland ; and that
it received its name, Dal-Riada ('the portion of
Riada'), from Carbre-Riada, a leader of the
Scots who conquered this particular part, pre-
viously inhabited by Cruithne or Irish Picts.
Robertson,8 however, considers all this fable
and the kingdom of Dalriada as mythical,
Tighernach and the early Irish annalists never
applying the name to any other locality than
British Dalriada. At all events, this particu-
lar district was spoken of by the later chroni-
clers under the name of Dalriada, there being
thus a Dalriada both in Scotland and Ireland. 9
At the time of the migration of the Scots from
Ireland to Scotland, they were to all intents
and purposes a Celtic race, speaking Irish Gae-
lic, and had already been converted to Chris-
tianity.

The account of the Scottish migration usu-
ally given is, that in the year 503 A. n.,1 a new
colony of Dalriads or Dalriadic Scots, under
the leadership of Fergus son of Ere, a descend-
ant of Carbre-Riada, along with his brothers
Lorn and Angus, left Ireland and settled on
the western coast of Argyle and the adjacent
islands. "The territories which constituted
the petty kingdoms of Dalriada can be pretty
well defined. They were bounded on the
south by the Frith of Clyde, and they were
separated on the east from the Pictish king-
dom by the ridge of the great mountain chain

8 Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 305.

9 At this time, and up at least to the 1 1th century,
present Scotland was known as Albania, Alban, or
Alba, the term Scotland or Scotia being generally
applied to Ireland, unless where there is some quali-
fying term, as Nova. Burton thinks it not safe to
consider that the word Scot must mean a native of
present Scotland, when the period dealt with is ear-
lier than the middle of the 12th century.

1 Skene in his Chronicles of the Picts and Scots,
». ex., makes the date to be about 495 or 498.

called Drumalban. They consisted of four
tribes, — the genus or Cinel Lorn, descended
from Lorn, the elder of the three brothers ;
the Cinel Gabran and Cinel ComgaD, de-
scended from two sons of Domangart, son of
Fergus, the second of the brothers; and the
Cinel Angus, descended from the third brother,
Angus. The Cinel Comgall inhabited the dis-
trict formerly called Comgall, now corrupted
into Cowall. The Cinel Gabran inhabited what
was called the Airgiallas, or the district of Ar-
gyle proper, and Kintyre. The Cinel Angus
inhabited the islands of Islay and Jura, and
the Cinel Lorn, the district of Lorn. Beyond
this, on the north, the districts between Lorn
and the promontory of Ardnamurchan, i.e.,
the island of Mull, the district of Morven,
Ardgower, and probably part of Lochaber,
seem to have formed a sort of debatable ground
the population of which was Pictish, while the
Scots had settlements among them. In the
centre of the possessions of the Cinel Gabian,
at the head of the well-sheltered loch of Crinan,
lies the great Moss of Crinan, with the river
Add flowing through it. In the centre of the
moss, and on the side of the river, rises an
isolated rocky hill called Dunadd, the top of
which is strongly fortified. This was the
capital of Dalriada, and many a stone obelisk
in the moss around it bears silent testimony to
the contests of which it was the centre. The
picturesque position of Dunolly Castle, on a
rock at the entrance of the equally sheltered
bay of Oban, afforded another fortified sum-
mit, which was the chief stronghold of the
tribe of Lorn. Of Dunstaffnage, as a royal
seat, history knows nothing."2

It would appear that Lorn and Fergus at
first reigned jointly, the latter becoming sole
monarch on the decease of the former. The
succession appears not to have been confined
to any particular line, and a disputed succes-
sion not unfrequently involved the Scots in
civil war.

There is no portion of history so obscure or
so perplexing as that of the Scoto-Irish kings,
and their tribes, from their first settlement, in
the year 503, to their accession to the Pictish
throne in 843. Unfortunately no contem-

"Skene's Chronicles oftlie Picts and Scots, p. cxiiL

KELIGION OF THE PICTS.

35

poraneous written records appear ever to have
cxi-tod of that dark pi'riod.of our annals, and
the efforts which the Scotch and Irish anti-
quaries have made to extricate the truth from
the mass of contradictions in which it lies
buried, have rather heen displays of national
prejudice) than calm researches by reasonable
inquirers. The annals, however, of Tigernach,
and of Ulster, along with the brief chronicles
and historical documents first brought to light
by the industrious Innes, in his Critical Essay,
have thrown some glimpses of light on a sub-
ject which had long remained in almost total
darkness. 3

The next authentic event of importance that
falls to be recorded in connection with the
history of the Highlands, is the conversion of
the Northern Picts to Christianity, about the
year 563. The Southern Picts, L e. those
living to the south and east of the Grampians,
were converted by St. Ninian (360 — 432) about
the beginning of the 5th century ; but the
Northern Picts, until the date above-men-
tioned, continued Pagans. That there were
no Christians among them till that time ap-
peal's very improbable, considering their close
neighbourhood and constant intercourse with
the Southern Picts and the Scots of Dalriada;
but there can be no doubt that the court and
the great bulk of the people adhered to their
ancient superstitions.

The religion of the Picts before their con-
version is supposed by the majority of writers
on this subject to have been that which pre-
vailed in the rest of Britain and in Celtic Gaul,
Druidism. The incredulous Burton, however,
if we may judge from his History of Scotland,4
as well as from an article of his in the Edin-
burgh Review, seems to believe that the whole
system of Druidism has been elaborated by the
imaginations of modern historians. That the
Picts previous to their conversion had a religion,
and a religion with what may be called priests
and religious services, cannot be doubted, if we
may trust Tacitus and Adamnan, the biographer
of Columba; the former of whom tells us that,
previous to the battle of the Grampians, the

* More recently the invaluable labours of E. W.
Robertson, Burton, Forbes-Leslie, Joseph Robertson,
Grub, Skene, and Maclauchlan, have been the means of
putting the history of this period on its proper footing.

4 Vol. i. ch. vi.

union of the various tribes was ratified by
solemn rites and sacrifices, and the latter, that
Columba's efforts at conversion were strenuously
opposed by the diabolical arts and incantations
of the Magi. It appears from Adamnan that
fountains were particularly objects of venera-
tion ; the superstitious awe with which many
fountains and wells are regarded at the present
day, being doubtless a remnant of the ancient
Pictish religion. Trees, rivers, and lakes, as
well as the heavenly bodies, appear also to have
been objects of religious regard, and not a few
of the customs which exist in Scotland at the
present day have been inherited from our Pict-
ish ancestors. Such are many of the rites
performed on Hallowe'en, Beltane, Midsummer,
&c., and many every-day superstitions still
prevalent in the country districts of Scotland.
" Druidism is said to have acknowledged a
Supreme Being, whose name was synonymous
with the Eastern Baal, and if so, was visibly
represented by the sun; and such remnants of
the ancient worship as are still traceable in the
language of the people, would indicate its having
been a species of sun-worship. To this day
the four leading points of the compass bear, in
the terms which designate them among the
Gael, marks of this. The east is ear, like the
Latin oriens, from the Gaelic eiridh, 'to rise/
the west is iar, 'after,' used also as a preposi-
tion ; the south is deas, and the north tuath ;
and it is in the use of these terms that
the reverence for the solar luminary chiefly
appears. Deas, 'the south,' is in all circum-
stances right ; it is the right hand, which is
easily intelligible, from the relation of that
hand to the south when the face looks east-
ward ; and it is expressive of whatever is other-
wise right. Deas also means complete, trim,
ready ; whatever is deas, or southerly, is just
as it should be. Tuath, ' north,' is the very
opposite. Tuathaisd is a 'stupid fellow;'
Tuuthail is ' wrong' in every sense : south and
north, then, as expressed in the words deiseal
and tuathail, are, in the Gaelic language, the
representatives of right and wrong. Thus
everything that is to move prosperously among
many of the Celts, must move sunwise : a boat
going to sea must turn sunwise ; a man or woman
immediately after marriage, must make a turn
sunwise. There are relics of fire-worship too;

36

GEXEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

certain days are named from fire -lighting;
Beallteine, or ' the first day of summer,' and
tiimhtheine, ' the first day of winter,' — the
former supposed to mean the fire of Baal or |
Bel, the latter closing the saimhnS, or summer
period of the year, and bringing in the geamhre,
or winter period, are sufficient evidence of this.
There are places in Scotland where within the
memory of living men the teine cigin, or ' forced
fire,' was lighted once every year by the rubbing I
of two pieces of wood together, while every

fire in the neighbourhood was extinguished in
order that they might bo lighted anew from
this sacred source."7

Many of the antiquities which are scattered
over the north of Scotland, such as stone circles,
monoliths, sculptured stones, rocking stones,
&c., are very generally supposed to have been
connected with religion. From the resem-
blance of the circles especially, to those which
exist in South Britain and in France, it has
been supposed that one religion prevailed over

Stonehenge. — Copied by permission from Col. Forbes- Leslie's Early Races of Scotland.

these countries. As Druidism is so commonly
believed to have prevailed among the Picts as
well as among the other inhabitants of Britain,
we shall here give a very brief account of that
system, chiefly as we find it given in Caesar.8
The following is the account given by Caesar of
the character and functions of the Druids: —
" They attend to divine worship, perform pub-
lic and private sacrifices, and expound matters
of religion. A great number of youths are
gathered round them for the sake of education,
and they enjoy the highest honour in that
nation; for nearly all public and private
quarrels come under their jurisdiction; and
when any crime has been committed, when a
murder has been perpetrated, when a contro-
versy arises about a legacy, or about land-
marks, they are the judges too. They fix re-
wards and punishments; and should any one,

7 Dr. Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church, pp. 32, 33.

8 Druid is said to be derived from a word meaning
oak, ' common to many of the Indo-European tongues.

whether a private individual or a public man,
disobey their decrees, then they exclude him
from the sacrifices. All these Druids have
one chief, who enjoys the highest authority
amongst them. When he dies, he is succeeded
by the member of the order who is most pro-
minent amongst the others, if there be any
such single individual; if, however, there are
several men equally distinguished, the successor
is elected by the Druids. Sometimes they
even go to war about this supremacy.

"The Druids take no part in warfare; nor
do they pay taxes like the rest of the people ;
they are exempt from military service, and
from all public burdens. Attracted by such
rewards, many come to be instructed by their
own choice, while others are sent by their
parents. They are reported to learn in the
school a great number of verses, so that some
remain there twenty years. They think it an
unhallowed thing to commit their lore to writ-
ing, though in the other public and private

DEUIDISM.

37

affairs of life they frequently make use of the
Greek alphabet. . . . Beyond all things,
they arc desirous to inspire a belief that men's
souls do not perish, but transmigrate after
death from one individual to another; and
besides, they hold discourses about the stars,
about the size of the world and of various
countries, about the nature of things, and about
the power and might of the immortal gods."

Among the objects of druidical veneration
the oak is said to have been particularly dis-
tinguished; for the Druids imagined that there
was a supernatural virtue in the wood, in the
leaves, in the fruit, and above all in the mistle-

toe. Hence the oak woods were the first places
of their devotion; and the offices of their reli-
gion were there performed without any covering
but the broad canopy of heaven. The part
appropriated for worship was inclosed in a
circle, within which was placed a pillar of
stone set up under an oak, and sacrifices were
offered thereon. The pillars which mark the
sites of these places of worship are still to be
seen; and so great is the superstitious venera-
tion paid by the country people to those sacred
stones, as they are considered, that few persons
have ventured to remove them.

Besides the immunities before-mentioned en-

Circle of Callernish in Lewis.— Copied by permission from Col. Forbes-Leslie's Early Raca of Scotland.

joyed by the Druids, they also possessed both
civil and criminal jurisdiction, they decided all
controversies among states as well as among
private persons ; and whoever refused to sub-
mit to their awards was exposed to the most
severe penalties. The sentence of excommuni-
cation was pronounced against him ; he was de-
barred all intercourse with his fellow-citizens ;
his company was universally shunned as pro-
fane and dangerous ; he was refused the pro-
tection of law ; and death itself became an
acceptable relief from the misery and infamy
to which he was exposed.

St. Columba was born in the county of
Donegal, in Ireland, in the year 521, and was
connected both on his father's and mother's
side with the Irish royal family. He was care-
fully educated for the priesthood, and, after hav-
ing finished his ecclesiastical studies, founded
monasteries in yarious parts of Ireland. The
year of his departure from Ireland is, on good
authority, ascertained to have been 563, and it
is generally said that he fled to save his life,
which was in jeopardy on account of a feud
in which his relations were involved. Mr.

Grub9 believes that " the love of God and of
his brethren was to him a sufficient motive for
entering on the great work to which he was
called. His immediate objects were the in-
struction of the subjects of Conal, king of the
British Scots, and the conversion of their
neighbours the heathen Picts of the North."
In the year 563, when Columba was 42 years
of age, he arrived among his kindred on the
shores of Argyle, and immediately set himself
to fix on a suitable site for a monastery which
he meant to erect, from which were to issue
forth the apostolic missionaries destined to
assist him in the work of conversion, and in
which also the youth set apart for the office of
the holy ministry were to be educated. St.
Columba espied a solitary isle lying apart from
the rest of the Hebridean group, near the
south-west angle of Mull, then known by tho
simple name I, whose etymology is doubtful,
afterwards changed by Bede into Hy, latin-
ized by the monks into lova or lona, and
again honoured with tho name of I-columb-cil,

• Eecles. Hist., vol. i. p. 49.

38

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the island of St. Columba of the church. This
island, Conal, who was then king of the
Christian Scots of Argyle, presented to Co-
lumba, in order that he might erect thereon a
monastery for the residence of himself and his
disciples. No better station could have been
selected than this islet during such barbarous
times.

In pursuance of his plan, St. Columba
settled with twelve disciples in Hy " Thev

now," says Bede, " neither sought, nor loved,
anything of this world," — true traits in the
missionary character. For two years did they
labour with their own hands erecting huts and
building a church of logs and reeds. " The
monastery of lona, like those previously founded
by Columba in Ireland, was not a retreat for
solitaries whose chief object was to work out
their own salvation ; it was a great school of
Christian education, and was specially designed

Ruins on lona.

to prepare and send forth a body of clergy
trained to the task of preaching the Gospel
among the heathen.''1 Having established his
missionary institution, and having occupied
himself for some time in the instruction of his
countrymen the Scots of Argyle, the pious
Columba set out on his apostolic tour among
the Picts, probably in the year 565. At this
time Bridei or Brude, whose reign extended
from 536 to 586, the son of Mailcon, a power-
ful and influential prince, reigned over the
Northern Picts, and appears also to have had
dominion over those of the south. Judging
well that if he could succeed in converting
Brude, who, when Columba visited him was
staying at one of his residences on the banks
of the Ness, the arduous task he had undertaken

1 Grub'a Ece, Uist., vol. i. p. 51

of bringing over the whole nation to the wor-
ship of the true God would be more easily
accomplished, he first began with the king,
and by great patience and perseverance suc-
ceeded in converting him.

The first Gaelic entry in the Book of Deer
lets us see the great missionary on one of his
tours, and describes the founding of an im-
portant mission-station which became the centre
of instruction for all the surrounding country.
The following is the translation given of the
Gaelic original : — " Columcille, and Drostan
son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from Hf, as God
had shown to them, unto Abbordoboir, and
Bede the Pict was mormaer of Buchan before
them, and it was he that gave them that town
in freedom for ever from mormaer and toisech.
They came after that to the other town, and
it was pleasing to Columcille because it was

SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY.

39

full of God's grace, and ho asked of the mor-
maor, to wit Bode, that ho should give it to
him ; and he did not give it, and a son of his
took an illness after [or in consequence of]
refusing the clerics, and ho was nearly dead
[lit. ho was dead but if it wore a little]. After
this the mormaer went to entreat the clerics
that they should make prayer for the son,
that health should come to him ; and he gave
in offering to them from Cloch in tiprat to
Cloch pette meic Garnait. They made the
prayer, and health came to him. After that
Columcille gave to Drostan that town, and
blessed it, and left as (his) word, ' Whosoever
should come against it, let him not be many-
yoared [or] victorious.' Drostan's tears came
on parting from Columcille. Said Columcille,
' Let DEAR be its name henceforward.' "

The Abbordoboir here spoken of is Aberdour
on the north coast of Aberdeenshire, and Dear
probably occupied the site of what is now Old
Deer, about twelve miles inland from Aber-
dour. There is every reason for believing in
the substantial truth of the narrative. The
two saints, probably from the banks of the
Ness, came to Aberdour and "tarried there for
a time and founded a monastery on the land
which had been granted them. In later times
the parish church of Aberdour was dedicated
to St. Drostan." One would almost be inclined
to suppose, from the manner in which the
missionaries were apparently received, that
Christianity had been heard of there before ;
possibly Bede the Pictish mormaer had been
converted at the court of King Brude, and had
invited Columba to pay him a visit in Buchan
and plant the gospel among the inhabitants.
Possibly St. Ninian, the apostle of the southern
Picts, may, during his mission among them,
have penetrated as far north as Buchan.
On the side of the choir of the old parish
church of Turriff, a few miles west of Deer,
was found painted the figure of St. Ninian,
which was probably as old as the 16th cen-
tury. At all events, Colnmba and his com-
panion appear to have been made most welcome
in Buchan, and were afforded every facility for
prosecuting their sacred work. The above
record doubtless gives us a fair notion of
Columba's mode of procedure in prosecuting
his self-imposed task of converting the in-

habitants of Alba. As was the case in Buchan,
he appears to have gone from district to dis-
trict along with his missionary companions,
seen the work of conversion fairly begun,
planted a monastery in a suitable place, and
left one or more of his disciples as resident
missionaries to pursue the work of conversion
and keep Christianity alive in the district. 2

Columba soon had the happiness of seeing
the blessings of Christianity diffusing them-
selves among a people who had hitherto sat
in the darkness of paganism. Attended by his
disciples he traversed the whole of the Pictish
territories, spreading everywhere the light of
faith by instructing the people in the truths of
the Gospel. To keep up a succession of the
teachers of religion, he established, as we have
seen, monasteries in every district, and from
these issued, for many ages, men of apostolic
earnestness, who watered and tended the good
seed planted by Columba, and carried it to the
remotest parts of the north of Scotland and its
islands, so that, in a generation or two after
Columba, Christianity became the universal
religion. These monasteries or cells were long
subject to the Abbey of lona, and the system
of church government which proceeded from
that centre was in many respects peculiar, and
has given rise to much controversy between
presbyterians and episcopalians.

St. Columba died on the 9th of June, 597,
after a glorious and well-spent life, thirty-four
years of which he had devoted to the instruc-
tion of the nation he had converted. His in-
fluence was very great with the neighbouring
princes, and they often applied to him for ad-
vice, and submitted to him their differences,
which he frequently settled by his authority.
His memory was long held in reverence by the
Scots and Caledonians.

Conal, the fifth king of the Scots in Argyle,
the kinsman of St. Columba, and under whose
auspices he entered on the work of conver-
sion, and to whom it is said he was indebted
for Hy, died in 571. His successor Aidan
went over to lona in 574, and was there
ordained and inaugurated by the Abbot ac-
cording to the ceremonial of the liber vitreus,

' Hook of Deer, Preface. Farther details concern-
ing the early Scottish church will be given at the end
of this volume.

40

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the cover of which is supposed to have been
encrusted with crystal.

To return to the history of the Picts, we
have already observed that little is known of
Pictish history for more than a hundred years
after the Roman abdication; and even up to
the union of the Picts and Scots, the materials
for the history of both are about as scarce as
they could possibly be, consisting mostly of
meagre chronicles containing the names of
kings, the dates of their accession and death,
and occasionally the names of battles and of
the contending nations. Scotland during this
period appears to have been the scene of un-
ceasing war between the Scots, Picts, Britons
of Strathclyde, English, and Danes, the two
first being continually at strife not only with
each other but among themselves. We shall
endeavour to give, as clearly and as faithfully
as possible, the main reliable facts in the his-
tory of the Scots and Picts until the union of
these two nations.

The reign of Brude was distinguished by
many warlike exploits, but above all, as we
have seen, by his conversion and that of his
people to Christianity, which indeed formed
his greatest glory. His chief contests were
with the Scoto-Irish or Dalriads, whom he de-
feated in 557, and slew Gauran their king.
Bmde died in 586, and for several ages his suc-
cessors carried on a petty system of warfare,
partly foreign and partly domestic. Passing
over a domestic conflict, at Lindores in 621,
under Kenneth, son of Luthrin, we must notice
the important battle of Dun-Nechtan, fought
in 685, between the Picts under Brude, the son
of Bili,1 and the Saxons, under the Northum-
brian Egfrid. The Saxon king, it is said, greedy
of conquest, attacked the Picts without provoca-
tion, and against the advice of his court. Cross-
ing the Forth from Lothian, he entered Strathearn
and penetrated through the defiles of the Pictish
kingdom, leaving fire and desolation in his train.
His career was stopt at Dun-Nechtan, the hill
of Nechtan, a hill in the parish of Dunnichen,
about the centre of Forfarshire ; and by a
neighbouring lake, long known by the name of
Nechtan's mere, a short distance east from the

1 There is some confusion here ; Dr. Maclauchlan
places this conflict in the reign of Brude son of DerU<~,
who, according to our list, did not succeed till 699.

town of Forfar, did Egfrid and his Saxons fall
before Brude and his exasperated Picts. This
was a sad blow to the Northumbrian power;
yet the Northumbrians, in 699, under Berht,
an able leader, again ventured to try their
strength with the Picts, when they were once
more defeated by Brude, the son of Dereli,
who had recently mounted the Pictish throne.

The wars between the Picts and Northum-
brians were succeeded by various contests for
power among the Pictish princes, which gave
rise to a civil war. Ungus, honoured by the
Irish Annalists with the title of great, and
Elpin, at the head of their respective partisans,
tried their strength at Monacrib, supposed by
some to be Moncrieff in Strathearn, in the
year 727, when the latter was defeated; and
the conflict was renewed at Duncrei (Crieff),
when victory declared a second time against
Elpin, who was obliged to flee from the hostil-
ity of Ungus. Nechtan next tried his strength
with Ungus, in 728, at a place called Mona-
cuma by the Annalists — possibly Moncur in
the Carse of Gowrie — but he was defeated, and
many of his followers perished. Talorgan, the
son of Congus, was defeated by Brude, the son
of Ungus, in 730, and in the same year the
Picts appear to have entered into a treaty of
peace with the English nation.

The victorious Ungus commenced hostilities
against the Dalriads, or Scoto-Irish, in the
year 736, and appears to have got the better
of the latter. The Scots were again worsted
in another battle in 740 by Ungus, who in the
same year repulsed an attack of the Northum-
brians under Eadbert. In the year 750 he
defeated the Britons of the Cumbrian kingdom
in the battle of Cato or Cath-0, in which his
brother Talorgan was killed. Ungus, who ap-
pears to have been a powerful and able mon-
arch, but whom Bede2 characterizes as having
conducted himself " with bloody wickedness,
a tyrant and an executioner," died about 760.
A doubtful victory was gained by Ciniod, or
Kenneth, the Pictish king, over Aodh-fin, the
Scottish king, in 767. Constantino, having
overcome Conal, the son of Tarla, in 789,
succeeded him in the throne.3

• Book V. c. 24.

3 See the Ulster Annals, where an account is given
of all these conflicts.

NORSEMEN— SCOTO-IRISH.

41

Up to this period the Norsemen from Scan-
dinavia, or the Vikingr, i. e. men of the voes
or bays, as they were termed, had confined
their ravages to the Baltic; but, in the year
787 they for the first time appeared on the
east coast of England. Some years afterwards
they found their way to the Caledonian shores,
and in 795 made their first attack on lona,
which frequently afterwards, along with the
rest of the Hebrides, suffered grievously from
their ravages. In 839 the Vikingr entered
the Pictish territories. A murderous conflict
ensued between them and the Picts under Uen
their king, in which both he and his only
brother Bran, as well as many of the Pictish
chiefs, fell This event, no doubt, hastened
the downfall of the Pictish monarchy; and as
the Picts were unable to resist the arms of
Kenneth, the Scottish king, he carried into
execution, in the year 843, a project ho had
long entertained, of uniting the Scots and
Picts, and placing both crowns on his head.
That anything like a total extermination of the
Picts took place is now generally discredited,
although doubtless there was great slaughter
both of princes and people. Skene4 asserts
indeed that it was only the Southern Picts
who became subject to Kenneth, the Northern
Picts remaining for long afterwards indepen-
dent of, but sometimes in alliance with, the
Scots. This is substantially the opinion of
Mr. E. W. Eobertson,5 who says, " the modern
shires of Perth, Fife, Stirling, and Dumbarton,
with the greater part of the county of Argyle,
may be said to have formed the actual Scottish
kingdom to which Kenneth succeeded." The
Picts were recognised as a distinct people even
in the tenth century, but before the twelfth
they lost their characteristic nominal distinc-
tion by being amalgamated with the Scots,
their conquerors.

The Scoto-Irish after their arrival in Argyle
did not long continue under the separate autho-
rity of the three brothers, Lorn, Fergus, and
Angus. They were said to have been very far
advanced in life before leaving Ireland, and
the Irish chroniclers assert that St. Patrick
gave them his benediction before his death, in
the year 493. The statement as to their ad-

* Highlanders, vol. i p. 65.
8 Early Kings, vol. L p. 39.

i

vanced age derives some support from their
speedy demise after they had laid the founda-
tions of their settlements, and of a new dynasty
of kings destined to rule over the kingdom of
Scotland. Angus was the first who died,
leaving a son, Muredach, who succeeded him
in the small government of Ha. After tho
death of Lorn the eldest brother, Fergus, the
last survivor, became sole monarch of the
Scoto-Irish; but he did not long enjoy the
sovereignty, for he died in 506.

Fergus was succeeded by his son Dornangart,
or Dongardus, who died in 511, after a short
but troubled reign of about five years. His
two sons Comgal and Gabhran or Gauran, suc-
cessively enjoyed liis authority. Comgal had
a peaceful reign of four and twenty years, dur-
ing which he extended his settlements. He
left a son named Conal, but Gauran his brother,
notwithstanding, ascended the throne in the
year 535 without opposition. Gauran reigned
two and twenty years, and, as we have already
observed, was slain in a battle with the Picts
under Bridei their king.

Conal, the son of Comgal, then succeeded
in 557, and closed a reign of fourteen years in
571. It was during his reign that Columba's
mission to the Picts took place. A civil war
ensued between Aodhan or Aidan, the son of
Gauran, and Duncha or Duncan, the son of
Conal, for the vacant crown, the claim to which
was decided on the bloody field of Loro or Loco
in Kintyre in 575, where Duncha was slain.
Aidan, the son of Gauran, had been formally
inaugurated by St. Columba in lona, in 574.
In the time of Aidan there were frequent wars
between the Dalriads and the English Saxons.
Many battles were fought in which the Scots
were generally defeated, the principal being
that of Degsastan or Dalston near Carlisle, in
603, in which nearly the whole of the Scottish
army was defeated. The wars with the Saxons
weakened the power of the Dalriads very con-
siderably, and it was not till after a long period
of time that they again ventured to meet the
Saxons in the field.

During a short season of repose, Aidan, at-
tended by St. Columba, went to the celebrated
council of Drum-keat in Ulster, in the year
590. In this council he claimed the princi-
pality of Dalriada, the land of his fathers, and

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

obtained an exemption from doing homage to
the kings of Ireland, which his ancestors, it
would appear, had been accustomed to pay.
Aidan died in 605 or 608, at the advanced age
of eighty, and was buried in the church of
Kil-keran, the ruins of which are still to be
Been in the midst of Campbelton.

Aidan was succeeded in the throne by his
son Eocha-bui, or the "yellow," who reigned six-
teen years. He carried on war with the Cruithne
of Ulster. After him came his brother Kenneth-
Cear, or the " left-handed," who was followed
by Ferchar, son of Eogan, of the race of Lorn.

Donal, surnamed breac or freckled, the son
of Eocha'-bui, of the race of Gauran, succeeded
Ferchar about 637. He was a warlike prince
and had distinguished himself in the wars
against the Cruithne of Ireland. Congal-Claon,
the son of Scanlan, the king of the Cruithne
in Ulster, having slain Suibne-Mean, a power-
ful king of Ireland, was attacked by Domnal
II., supreme king of Ireland, who succeeded
Suibne, and was defeated in the battle of
Duncetheren, in 629. Congal sought refuge
in Cantyre, and having persuaded Donal-breac,
the kinsman of Domnal, to join him in a war
against the latter, they invaded Ireland with a
heterogeneous mass of Scoto-Irish, Picts, Brit-
ons, and Saxons, commanded by Donal and
liis brothers. Cealach, the son of Maelcomh,
the nephew of the reigning king, and as tanist
or heir-apparent, the leader of his army, at-
tacked Donal-breac in the plain of Magh Rath
or Moyra in Down, in 637, and completely de-
feated him after an obstinate and bloody en-
gagement. Congal, the murderer of his sov-
ereign, met his merited fate, and Donal-breac
was obliged to secure his own and his army's
safety by a speedy return to Cantyre. St. Co-
lumba had always endeavoured to preserve an
amicable understanding between the Cruithne
of Ulster and the Scoto-Irish, and his injunc-
tions were, that they should live in constant
peace; but Donal disregarded the wise advice
of the saint, and paid dearly for so doing. He
was not more successful in an enterprise against
the Piets, having been defeated by them in the
battle of Glinne Mairison, Glenmairison, or
Glenmoreson, probably in West Lothian,6

' Slcunc's Citron, p/ Picts and Scots, p. cxv.

during the year 638. He ended his days at
Straith-cairmaic or Strathcarron, possibly in the
neighbourhood of Falkirk, by the sword of
Hoan or Owen, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd,
in the year 642. His son Cathasuidh fell by
the same hand in 649.

Conal II., the grandson of Conal I., who
was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, nest
ruled over the tribes of Cantyre and Argyle;
but Dungal, of the race of Lorn, having ob-
tained the government of the tribe of Lorn,
questioned the right of Conal. He did not,
however, carry his pretensions far, for Conal
died, in undisturbed possession of his domin-
ions, in 652, after a reign of ten years. To
Donal-duin, or the brown, son of Coual, who
reigned thirteen years, succeeded Maolduin, his
brother, in 665. The family feuds which had
long existed between the Fergusian races of
Comgal and Tauran, existed in their bitterest
state during the reign of Maolduin. Doman-
gart, the son of Donal-breac, was murdered in
672, and Conal, the son of Maolduin, was as-
sassinated in 675.

Ferchar-fada, or the tall, apparently of the
race of Lorn, and either the son or grandson of
Ferchar, who died in 637, seized the reins of
government upon the death of Maolduin. On
the death of Ferchar, in 702, the sceptre passed
again to the Fergusian race in the person of
Eocha'-rineval, remarkable for his Roman nose,
the son of Domangart. The reign of this
prince was short and unfortunate. His scep-
tre was seized by Ainbhcealach, the son of
Ferchar-fada, who succeeded Eocha' in 705.
He was of an excellent disposition, but after
reigning one year, was dethroned by his
brother, Selvach, and obliged, in 706, to take
refuge in Ireland. Selvach attacked the
Britons of Strathcluyd, and gained two succes-
sive victories over them, the one at Longecoleth
in 710, and the other at the rock of Mionuirc
in 7 1 6. At the end of twelve years, Ainbhceal-
ach returned from Ireland, to regain a sceptre
which his brother had by his cruelties shown
himself unworthy to wield, but he perished in
the battle of Finglein, perhaps Glen Fyne at
the head of Loch Fyne, in 719. Selvach met a
more formidable rival in Duncha-beg, who was
descended from Fergus, by the line of Congal;
he assumed the government of Cantyre and

DALEIADIC KINGS.

43

Argail, and confined Selvach to his family
settlement of Lorn. These two princes ap-
pear to have been fairly matched in disposi-
tion and valour, and both exerted themselves
for the destruction of one another, thus bring-
ing many miseries upon their tribes. In an
attempt which they made to invade the ter-
ritories of each other in 719 by means of cur-
rachs, a naval combat ensued off Airdeanesbi,
(probably Ardaness on the coast of Argyle,) in
which Selvach was overcome by Duncha ; but
Selvach was not subdued. The death of
Duncha in 721 put an end to his designs; but
Eocha' III., the son of Eocha'-rineval, the suc-
cessor of Duncha, being as bent on the over-
throw of Selvach as his predecessor, continued
the war. The rival chiefs met at Irroisfoichne
in 727, where a battle was fought, which pro-
duced nothing but irritation and distress.
This lamentable state of things was put an end
to by the death of Selvach in 729. This
event enabled Eocha to assume the govern-
ment of Lorn, and thus the Dalriadan kingdom
which had been alternately ruled by chiefs of
the houses of Fergus and Lorn became again
united under Eocha. He died in 733, after a
reign of thirteen years, during nine of which
he ruled over Cantyre and Argyle, and four
over all the Dalriadic tribes.

Eocha was succeeded in the kingdom by
Muredach, the son of Ainbhceallach, of the
race of Lorn. His reign was short and unfor-
tunate. In revenge for an act of perfidy com-
mitted by Dungal, the son of Selvach, who
had carried off Forai or Torai, the daughter of
Brude, and the niece of Ungus, the great Pictish
king, the latter, in the year 736, led his army
from Strathearn, through the passes of the
mountains into Lorn, which he wasted with
fire and sword. He seized Dunad, in Mid-Lorn,
and burned Creic, another fortress in the Ross
of Mull, taking Dungal and Feradach, the two
sons of Selvach, prisoners. Muredach went in
pursuit of his enemy, and having overtaken
him at Knock Cairpre, at Calatros, on the shores
of the Linne,6 a battle ensued, in which the
Scots were repulsed with great slaughter.
Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, commanded

6 Dr. Reeves supposes this to be Cnlross in Perth-
shire.— JIaclauchlan.

the Picts on this occasion, and pursued the
flying Scots. In this pursuit Muredach in
supposed to have perished, after a reign of
three years.

Eogban or Ewan, the son of Muredach, took
up the fallen succession in 736, and died in
739, in which year the Dalriadic sceptre was
assumed by Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' III.,
and grandson of Eocha'-rineval, descended
from the Fergusian race of Gauran. In 740
he measured his strength with the celebrated
Ungus; but victory declared for neither, and
during the remainder of Ungus' reign, he did
not attempt to renew hostilities. After the
death of Ungus, in 761, Aodh-fin declared war
against the Picts, whose territories he entered
from Upper Lorn, penetrating through the
passes of Glenorchy and Breadalbane. In 767
he reached Forteviot, the Pictish capital in
Strathearn, where he fought a doubtful battle
with Ciniod the Pictish king. Aodh-fin died
in 769, after a splendid reign of thirty years.7

Fergus II., son of Aodh-fin, succeeded to
the sceptre on the demise of his father, and
died after an unimportant reign of three years
Selvach II., the son of Eogan, assumed the
government in 772. His reign, which lasted
twenty-four years, presents nothing very re-
markable in history.

A new sovereign of a different lineage, now
mounted the throne of the Scots in 796, in the
person of Eocha or Auchy, the son of Aodh-fin

7 Dr. Skene, in his preface to the Chronicles of the
Picts and Scots, endeavours to prove, by very plausi-
ble reasoning, and by comparison of various lists of
kings, that for a century previous to the accession of
Kenneth to the Pictish throne, Dalriada was under
subjection to the Anglian monarchy, and was ruled
by Pictish sovereigns. In an able paper, however,
read recently by Dr. Archibald Smith before the Anti-
quarian Society of Scotland, he shows that Argyleshire
was invaded but not subdued by Ungus, king of the
Picts, in 736 and 741. Dr. Smith supported his con-
clusion by reference to passages in the annals of Tiger-
nach, of Ulster, and the Albanic Duan, which seemed
to him to give an intelligible and continuous account
of regal succession in Dalriada, but afforded no coun-
tenance to the theory of Pinkerton of the entire con-
quest of the Scote in Britain by Ungus, nor to the
conclusion Dr. Skene has come to, viz., the complete
supremacy of the Picts in the Scottish Dalriada, ana
the extinction of Dalriada as a Scottish nation from
the year 741 to the era of a new Scottish kingdom
founded by Kenneth Macalpin in the year 843. On
the contrary, he was convinced that Aodh-tionn was
the restorer of its full liberty to the crushed section of
Lorn, and that he was, at the close of his career, the
independent ruler of Dalriada as a Scottish nation.

44

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

of the Gauran race. Eocha' IV. is known also
by the latinized appellation of Achaius. The
story of the alliance between Achaius and
Charlemagne has been shown to be a fable;
although it is by no means improbable that he
entered into an important treaty with the
Picts, by marrying Urgusia, the daughter of
Urguis, an alliance which, it is said, enabled
his grandson Kenneth afterwards to claim and
acquire the Pictish sceptre, in right of Urgusia
his grandmother. Eocha died in 826, after a
happy and prosperous reign of thirty years.
He was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Sel-
vach II., of the race of Lorn, being the last of
that powerful family who swayed the Dalri-
adic sceptre. After a feeble but stormy reign
of seven years, he died in 833.

Alpin, the last of the Scoto-Irish kings, and
the son of Eocha IV. and of Urgusia, now
mounted the throne. He was killed in 836,
near the site of Laicht castle, on the ridge
which separates Kyle from Galloway. The
fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the
Picts, when asserting his right to the Pictish
throne, has long been exploded.

In 836 Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded
his father. He was a prince of a warlike dis-
position, and of great vigour of mind and body.
He avenged the death of his father by frequent
inroads among the people dwelling to the
south of the Clyde; but the great glory of Ms
reign consists in his achievements against the
Picts, which secured for him and his posterity
the Pictish sceptre. The Pictish power had,
previous to the period of Kenneth's accession,
been greatly enfeebled by the inroads of the
Danish Vikingr; but it was not till after the
death of Uven, the Pictish king, in 839, after
a distracted reign of three years, that Kenneth
made any serious attempt to seize the Pictish
diadem. On the accession of Wred, Kenneth,
in accordance with the principle of succession
said by Bede to have prevailed among the
Picts, claimed the Pictish throne in right of
Urgusia, his grandmother; Wred died in 842,
and after an arduous struggle, Kenneth wrested
the sceptre from Bred, his successor, in 843, after
he had reigned over the Scots seven years.

Burton8 thinks there can be no doubt that

8 Scotland, vol. i. p. 329.

the two countries were prepared for a fusion
whenever a proper opportunity offered, but
that this was on account of a matrimonial alli-
ance between the two royal houses cannot with
certainty be ascertained.9 As we have said
already, it is extremely improbable that Ken-
neth gained his supremacy by extermination.
The Picts certainly appear to have suffered
severe defeat, but the likelihood is that aftei
Kenneth succeeded to the throne, a gradual
fusion of the two people took place, so that in
course of time they became essentially ono
speaking one language, obeying the same laws,
and following the same manners and customs.
If we knew for certain to what race the Pictp
belonged, and what language they spoke, it
might help us not a little to understand the
nature and extent of the amalgamation; but as
we know so little about these, and as the
chroniclers, in speaking of this event, are so
enigmatical and meagre, we are left almost en-
tirely to conjecture. We are certain, at any
rate, that from some cause or other, the kings
of the Dalriadic Scots, about the middle of the
9th century, obtained supremacy over at least
the Southern Picts, who from that time forward
ceased to be a separate nation. l

9 See Skene's preface to Chronicle of Picts and Scots,
p. xcviii. et seq. , for some curious and ingenious spe-
culation on this point.

1 We shall take the liberty of quoting here an ex-
tract from an able and ingenious paper read by Dr.
Skene before the Soc. of Ant, in June 1861, and
quoted in Dr. Gordon's Scotichronicon, p. 83. It
will help, we think, to throw a little light on this
dark subject, and assist the reader somewhat to under-
stand the nature and extent of the so-called Scottish
conquest. "The next legend which bears upon the
history of St. Andrews is that of St. Adrian, at 4th
March. The best edition of this legend is in the Aber-
deen Breviary, and it is as follows : — Adrian was a na-
tive of Hungary, and after preaching there for some
time, was seized with a desire to preach to other peo-
ple; and having gathered together a company, he set
out ' ad orientales Scotise partes que tune a Pictis oc-
cupabantur, ' i.e., 'to the eastern parts of Scotland,
which were then occupied by the Picts, ' — and landed
there with 6,606 confessors, clergy, and people, among
whom were Glodianus, Gayus, Minanus, Scobrandus,
and others, chief priests. These men, with their bish-
op, Adrian, 'deleto regno Pictorum, i.e., ' the Pictish
kingdom being destroyed, ' — did many signs, but after-
wards desired to have a residence on the Isle of May.
The Danes, who then devastated the whole of Britain,
came to the Island, and there slew them. Their mar-
tyrdom is said to have taken place in the year 875.
It will be observed that they are here said to have
settled in the east part of Scotland, opposite the Isle
of May, that is in Fife, while the Picts still occupied
it; that the Pictish kingdom is then said to have been
destroyed; and that their martyrdom took place in 875,

GOVERNMENT— ST. ADRIAN.

45

The history of the Scoto-Irish kings affords
few materials either amusing or instructive;
but it was impossible, from the connexion be-
tween that history and the events that will
follow in detail, to pass it over in silence.
The Scoto-Irish tribes appear to have adopted
much the same form of government as existed
in Ireland at the time of their departure from
that kingdom ; the sovereignty of which, though
nominally under one head, was in reality a
pentarchy, which allowed four provincial kings
to dispute the monarchy of the fifth. This
system was the prolific source of anarchy,
assassinations, and civil wars. The Dalriads
were constantly kept in a state of intestine
commotion and mutual hostility by the preten-
sions of their rival chiefs, or princes of the
three races, who contended with the common
sovereign for pre-eminence or exemption. The
dlighe-tanaiste, or law of tanistry, which ap-
pears to have been generally followed as in
Ireland, as well in the succession of kings as
in that of chieftains, rather increased than

thirty years after the Scottish conquest under Kenneth
M'Alpin. Their arrival was therefore almost coinci-
dent with the Scottish conquest; and the large num-
ber said to have come, not tne modest twenty-one who
arrived with Regulus, but 6,606 confessors, clergy, and
people, shows that the traditionary history was really
one of an invasion, and leads to the suspicion at once
that it was in reality a part of the Scottish occupation
of the Pictish kingdom. This suspicion is much
strengthened by two corroborative circumstances: 1st,
the year 875, when they are said to have been slain by
the Danes, falls in the reign of Constantine, the son of
Kenneth Macalpin, in his fourteenth year, and in this
year the Pictish chronicle records a battle between the
Danes and the Scots, and adds, that after it, ' occasi
sunt Scotti in Coachcochlum,' which seems to refer to
this very slaughter. 2d. Hector Boe'ce preserves a
different tradition regarding their origin. He says —
' Non desunt qui scribant sanctissimos Christi mar-
tyros Himgaros fuisse. Alii ex Scotis Aiiglisque gre-
garie collectos,' — i.e., ' Some write that the most holy
martyrs of Christ were Hungarians. Others (say)
that they were collected from the Scots and English.'
There was therefore a tradition that the clergy slain
were not Hungarians, but a body composed of Scotti
and Angli. Rut Hadrian was a bishop; he landed in
tho east of Fife, within the parochia of S. Regnlus, and
he is placed at the head of some of the lists of bish-
ops of St. Andrews as first bishop. It was there-
fore the Church of St. Andrews that then consisted of
clergy collected from among the Scotti and the Angli.
The Angli probably represented the Church of Acca,
and the Scotti those brought in by Adrian. The real
signification of this occupation of St. Andrews by
Scottish clergy will be apparent when we recollect
that the Columban clergy, who had formerly pos-
sessed the chief ecclesiastical seats among the Picts,
had been expelled in 717, and Anglic clergy intro-
duced— the cause of quarrel being the difference of
their usages. Now, tho Pictish chronicle states as the

mitigated these disorders; for the claim to rule
not being regulated by any fixed law of hered-
itary succession, but depending upon the
capricious will of the tribe, rivals were not
found wanting to dispute the rights so con-
ferred. There was always, both in Ireland and
in Argyle, an heir presumptive to the Crown
chosen, under the name of tanist, who com-
manded the army during the life of the reign-
ing sovereign, and who succeeded to him after
his demise. Budgets, and committees of sup-
ply, and taxes, were wholly unknown in those
times among the Scots, and the monarch was
obliged to support his dignity by voluntary
contributions of clothes, cattle, furniture, and
other necessaries.

There is reason to believe that tradition sup-
plied the place of written records for many
ages after the extinction of the Druidical super-
stition. Hence among the Scots, traditionary
usages and local customs long supplied the
place of positive or written laws. It is a mis-
take to suppose, as some writers have done,

main cause of the overthrow of the Pictish kingdom,
a century and a half later, this very cause. It says —
' Deus enim eos pro merito suae malitiae alienos ac
otiosos hsereditate dignatus est facere, qnia illi noil
soluni Deum, missam, ac praceptum spreverunt sed et
in jure sequalitatis aliis aequi pariter noluerunt.' I.e.,
' For God, on account of their wickedness, deemed
them worthy to be made hereditary strangers and
idlers; because they contemned not only God, the mass,
and the precept (of the Church), but besides refused
to be regarded as on the same equality with others.1
They were overthrown, not only because they despised
' Deum missani et prseceptum," but because they would
not tolerate the other party. And this great griev-
vance was removed, when St. Andrews appears at the
head of the Scottish Church in a solemn Concordat
with the king Constantine, when, as the Pictish
Chronicle tells ns, ' Constantinus Rex et Cellachus
Episcopus leges disciplinasque fidei atque jura ecclesi-
arum evangeliorum que pariter cum Scottis devoverunt
custodiri.' I.e., ' King Constantine and Bishop Kel-
laeh vowed to preserve the laws and discipline of tho
faith and the rights of the churches and gospels,
equally with the Scots. ' Observe the parallel language

Bishop of St. Andrews ' vowed to preserve the laws
and discipline of the faith ' 'pariter cum Scottis,' the
thing the Picts would not do. It seems plain, there-
fore, that the ecclesiastical element entered largely into
the Scottish conquest; and a main cause and feature
of it was a determination on the part of the Scottish
clergy to recover the benefices they had been deprived
of. The exact coincidence of this great clerical inva-
sion of the parochia of St. Andrews by ecclesiastics,
said by one tradition to have been Scots, and the sub-
sequent position of St. Andrews as the head of the
Scottish Church, points strongly to this as the true
historic basis of the legend of S. Adrian."

46

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

that the law consisted in the mere will of the
Brehon or judge. The office of Breitheamhuin
or Brehon was hereditary, and it is quite
natural to infer, that under such a system of
jurisprudence, the dictum of the judge might
not always comport with what was understood
to he the common law or practice; hut from
thence, to argue that the will of the judge was
to be regarded as the law itself, is ahsurd, and
contrary to every idea of justice. As the prin-
ciple of the rude jurisprudence of the Celtic
tribes had for its object the reparation, rather
than the prevention of crimes, almost every crime,
even of the blackest kind, was commuted by
a mulct or payment. Tacitus observes in allu-
sion to this practice, that it was " a temper
wholesome to the commonwealth, that homi-
cide and lighter transgressions were settled by
the payment of horses or cattle, part to the
king or community, part to him or his friends
who had been wronged." The law of Scotland
long recognised this system of compensation.
The fine was termed, under the Brehon law,
eric, which not only signifies a reparation, but
also a fine, a ransom, a forfeit. Among the
Albanian Scots it was called cro, a term pre-
served in the Regiam Majesiatem, which has
a whole chapter showing " the cro of ilk man,
now mikil it is."2 This law of reparation,
according to O'Connor, was first promulgated
in Ireland, in the year 164.* According to
the Regiam Majestatem, the cro of a villain
was sixteen cows; of an earl's son or thane, one
hundred; of an earl, one hundred and forty;
and that of the king of Scots, one thousand
cows, or three thousand oras, that is to say,
three oras for every cow.

Besides a share of the fines imposed, the
Brehon or judge obtained a piece of arable
land for his support. When he administered
justice, he used to sit sometimes on the top of
a hillock or heap of stones, sometimes on turf,
and sometimes even on the middle of a bridge,
surrounded by the suitors, who, of course,
pleaded their own cause. We have already
seen that, under the system of the Druids, the
offices of religion, the instruction of youth, and
the administration of the laws, were conducted
in the open air; and hence the prevalence of

3 Lib. iv c. XJUT.

3 O'Connor's Dissert.

the practice alluded to. But this practice was
not peculiar to the Druids; for all nations, in
the early stages of society, Lave followed a
similar custom. The Tings of the Scandina-
vians, which consisted of circular enclosures of
stone, without any covering, and within which
both the judicial and legislative powers were
exercised, afford a striking instance of this.
According to Pliny,4 even the Roman Senate
first met in the open air, and the sittings of
the Court of the Areopagus, at Athens, were so
held. The present custom of holding courts of
justice in halls is not of very remote antiquity
in Scotland, and among the Scoto-Irish, the
baron bailie long continued to dispense justice
to the baron's vassals from a moothill or emi-
nence, which was generally on the bank of a
river, and near to a religious edifice.

Of the various customs and peculiarities
which distinguished the ancient Irish, as well
as the Scoto-Irish, none has given rise to
greater speculation than that of fosterage;
which consisted in the mutual exchange, by
different families, of their children for the pur-
pose of being nursed and bred. Even the son
of the chief was so entrusted during pupilarity
with an inferior member of the clan. An ade-
quate reward was either given or accepted in
every case, and the lower orders, to whom the
trust was committed, regarded it as an honour
rather than a service. " Five hundred kyne
and better," says Campion, "were sometimes
given by the Irish to procure the nursing of a
great man's child." A firm and indissoluble
attachment always took place among foster-
brothers, and it continues in consequence to be
a saying among Highlanders, that " affectionate
to a man is a friend, but a foster-brother is as
the life-blood of his heart." Camden observes,
that no love in the world is comparable by
many degrees to that of foster-brethren in Ire-
land.6 The close connexion which the practice
of fosterage created between families, while it
frequently prevented civil feuds, often led to
them. But the strong attachment thus created
was not confined to foster-brothers, it also
extended to their parents. Spenser relates of
the foster-mother to Murrough O'Brien, that,
at his execution, she sucked the blood from his

4 Lib. viii. c. 45.
5 Holland's Camden, Ireland, p. 116.

LIST OF PICTISH KINGS.

47

head, and bathed her face and breast with it,
saying that it was too precious to fall to the
earth.

It is unnecessary, at this stage of our labours,
to enter upon the subject of clanship ; we
mean to reserve our observations thereon till
we come to the history of the clans, when we

shall also notice some peculiarities or traits of totally untrustworthy, we shall omit them.

the Highlanders not hitherto mentioned. We
shall conclude this chapter by giving lists of
the Pictish and Scoto-Irish Kings, wliich are
generally regarded as authentic. A great many
other names are given by the ancient chroniclers
previous to the points at which the following
lists commence, but as these are considered as

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS, CHIEFLY ACCORDING
TO THE PICTISH CHRONICLE.

Series.

NAUE8 AND FILIATIONS.

Date of

Accession.

Duration of
Reigns.

Data '
of
Death.

1
2

DROST, the son of Erp, .
TALORO, the son of Aniel,

451

4 years.

451

455

3

NECTON MORBET, the son of Erp, .

455

25 ..

480

4

DHEST Qurthinmoch,

480

30 .

510

5

GAI.ANAU ETELICH, or GALANAN KRELECH,

510

12 .

522

6

DADREST, ....

522

1 .

523

7

DREST, the son of Girom,

523

1 .

524

DRBST, the son of Wdrest, with the former,

524

5 .

529

DREST, the son of Girom, alone, •

529

5 .

534

8

GARTNACH, the son of Girom, . .

534

7 .

541

9

GEALTRAIH, or CAILTRAIH, the son of Girom,

541

1

542

10

TALORO, the son of Muircholaich, .

542

11 .

553

11

DREST, the son of Munait,

553

1

554

12

GALAM, with Alepb, . . . '

554

1

555

GALAM, with Briuei,

555

1 .

556

13

BRIDEI, the son of Mailcon,

556

30 .

586

14

GARTNAICH, the son of Domelch, or Donald,

586

11

597

15

NECTU, or NEOHTAN, the nephew of Verb,

597

20 .

617

16

CINEOCH, or KENNETH, the son of Lutlirin,

617

19

636

17

GARNARD, the son of Wid, . .

636

4

640

18

BRIDEI, the son of Wid,

640

5 .

645

19

TALORO, their brother, .

645

12

657

20

TALLORCAN, the son of Enfret, .

657

4

661

21

GARTNAIT, the son of Donnel, . .

661

6J .

667

22

DREST, his brother,

667

•7° .

674

23

BRIDEI, the son of Bili,

674

21 .

695

24

TARAN, the son of Entitidich, .

695

4

699

25

BRIDEI, the son of Dereli, . .

699

11 .

710

26

NECHTON, the son of Dereli, . .

710

15 .

725

27

DREST, and Elpin,

726

5

730

28

UKOUS, or ONNDST, the son of t'rguist,

730

31 .

761

29

BRIDEI, the son of Wirguist,

761

2

763

30

CINIOCH, or KENNETH, the son of Wredech,

763

12 .

775

31

ELPIN, the son of Wroid,

775

34 .

779

32

DRBST, the son of Talorgan,

779

5 .

784

33

TALOROAN, the son of Ungus or Angus,

784

786

34

CANADL, the son of Tarla,

786

5

791

35

CUSSTASTISE, the son of Urguist,

791

so ;

821

36

UNOUS, the son of Crguist,

821

12 .

833

37

DREST, the son of Coustantine, and Talorgan, the son of )
Wthoil, . . . . }

833

3 ..

836

38

DDEN, or UVEN, the son of Ungus,

836

3

839

39

WRAD, the son of Bargoit, . .

839

3 ..

842

40

BRED, or BRIDDI, . . .

842

1 ..

843

48

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTO-IRISH KINGS,
FROM THE YEAR 503 TO 843.

Series.

NAMES AND FILIATIONS.

Date of

Accession.

Duration of
Reigns.

Date
of
Death.

1

FERGUS, the son of Ere, . . ,

A. D.

503

Years.
3

A.D.

506

2

DOMANOART, the son of Fergus,

506

5

511

3

COMOAL, the son of Domangart, . .

511

24

535

4

GAVRAN, the son of Domangart,

535

22

557

5

CONAL, the son of Comgal, . . .

557

14

571

6

AIDAN, the son of Gavran, . . .

571

34

605

7

EoACHA'-Bui, the son of Aidau,

605

16

621

8

KENNETH-Cear, the son of Eoacha'-Bui,

621

i

621

9

FERCHAR, the son of Eogan, the first of the race of)
Lorn, .... J

621

16

637

10

DONAL-BREAO, the son of Eoacha'-Bui, .

637

5

642

11

CONAL II., the grandson of Conal I. . )

642

10

652

12

DUNGAL reigned some years with Conal, >

13

DoNAL-Duin, the son of Conal, . . .

652

13

665

14

MAOL-Duin, the son of Conal, .

665

16

681

15

FERCHAR-Fada, the grandson of Ferchar I.,

681

21

702

16

EoACHA'-Rinevel, the son of Domangart, and the grand- 1
son of Donal-breae, ... J

702

3

705

17

AINBHCEALACH, the son of Ferchar-fada,

705

1

706

18

SELVACH, the son of Ferchar-fada, reigned over Lorn~)

from 706 to 729, ....

19

DCNCHA BEO reigned over Cantyre and Argaill till 720, 1

706

27

733

20

EOCHA' III., the son of Eoacha'-rinevel, over Cantyre f

and Argaill, from 720 to 729; and also over Lorn
from 729 to 733, . . J

21

MIREDACH, the son of Ainbhcealach,

733

"3

736

22

EOOAK, the son of Muredach,

736

3

739

23

AoBH-Fin, the son of Eoacha' III.,

739

30

769

24

FERGUS, the son of Aodh-fin,

769

3

772

25

SELVACH II., the son of Eogan,

772

24

796

26

EoAOHA'-Annuine IV., the son of Aodh-fin,

796

30

826

27

DUNOAL, the son of Selvach II.,

826

7

833

28

ALPIN, the son of Eoacha'-Annuine IV.,

833

3

836

29

KENNETH, the son of Alpin, .

836

7

843

It is right to mention that the Albania Duan
oinits the names between Ainbhcealach and
Dungal (17 — 27), most of which, however, are
contained in the St. Andrews' list.

CHAPTER IV.

A. D. 843—1107.

The Norse Invasions — Kenneth — Constantine — Aodh
— Grig and Eocha— Donald IV. — Constantine III.
— Danes — Battle of Brunanburg — Malcolm I. — In-
dulph— Duff— Culen— Kenneth III.— Battle of Lun-
carty — Malcolm II. — Danes — Duncan — Thorfinn,
Jarl of Orkney — Macbeth — Battle with Siward — Lti-
lach — Malcolm III. (Ceanmore) — Queen Margaret-
Effect of Norwegian Conquest — Donal-bane — Edgar
— Norsemen— Influx of Anglo-Saxons — Isolation of
Highlands — Table of Kings.

FOR about two centuries after the union of the
two kingdoms, the principal facts to be re-
corded are the extension of the Scottish do-
minion southwards beyond the Forth and

Clyde, towards the present border, and north-
wards beyond Inverness, and the fierce con-
tests that took place with the " hardy Norse-
men " of Scandinavia and Denmark, who dur-
ing this period continued not only to pour
down upon the coasts and islands of Scotland,
but to sway the destinies of the whole of Eu-
rope. During this time the history of the
Highlands is still to a great extent the history
of Scotland, and it was not till about the 12th
century that the Highlanders became, strictly
speaking, a peculiar people, confined to the
territory whose boundaries were indicated in
the first chapter, having for their neighbours
on the east and south a population of undoubt-
edly Teutonic origin. The Norse invasions not
only kept Scotland in continual commotion at
the time, but must have exercised an impor-
tant influence on its whole history, and contri-
buted a new and vigorous element to its popu-
lation. These Vikingr, about the end of the

K F.NNETH— CONSTANTINE.

40

9th century, became so pnv ; to be able

to establish a separate and independent king-
dom in Orkney and the Western Islands, which
proved formidable not only to the king of
Scotland, but also to the powerful king of
Norway. "It is difficult to give them dis-
tinctness without risk of error, and it is even
hard to decide how far the mark left by these
visitors is, on the one hand, the brand of the
devastating conqueror; or, on the other hand,
the planting among the people then inhabiting
Scotland of a high-conditioned race — a race
uniting freedom and honesty in spirit with a
strong and healthy physical organization. It
was in the north that the inroad preserved its
most distinctive character, probably from its
weight, as most completely overwhelming the
original population, whatever they might be ;
and though, in the histories, the king of Scots
appears to rule the northern end of Britain, the
territory beyond Inverness and Fort-William
had aggregated in some way round a local
magnate, who afterwards appears as a Maormor.
He was not a viceroy of the king of Norway:
and if he was in any way at the order of the
King of Scotland, he was not an obedient subor-
dinate."8

Up to the time of Macbeda or Macbeth, the
principle of hereditary succession to the throne,
from father to son, appears not to have been
recognised; the only principle, except force,
which seems to have been acted upon being
that of collateral succession, brother succeeding
to brother, and nephew to uncle. After the
time of Macbeth, however, the hereditary
principle appears to have come into full force,
to have been recognised as that by which alone
succession to the throne was to be regulated.

The consolidation of the Scottish and Pick
ish power under one supreme chief, enabled
these nations not only to repel foreign aggres-
sion, but afterwards to enlarge their territories
beyond the Forth, which had hitherto formed,
for many ages, the Pictish boundary on the
south.

Although the power of the tribes to the
north of the Forth was greatly augmented by
the union which had taken place, yet all the
genius and warlike energy of Kenneth were

• Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 354.

necessary to protect him and his people from
insult. Eagnor Lodbrog (i. e., Eagnor of the
Shaggy Bones,) with his fierce Danes infested
the country round the Tay on the one side, and
the Strathclydo Britons on the other, wasted
the adjoining territories, and burnt Dunblane.
Yet Kenneth overcame these embarrassments,
and made frequent incursions into the Saxon
territories in Lothian, and caused his foes to
tremble. After a brilliant and successful reign,
Kenneth died at Fortoviot, the Pictish capital,
7 miles S.W. of Perth, on the 6th of February,
859, after a reign of twenty-three years. Ken-
neth, it is said, removed the famous stone
which now sustains the coronation chair at
Westminster Abbey, from the ancient seat of
the Scottish monarchy in Argyle, to Scone.
Kenneth (but according to some Constantine,
the Pictish king, in 820), built a church at
Dunkeld, to which, in 850, he removed the
relics of St. Columba from lona, which at this
time was frequently subjected to the ravages
of the Norsemen. He is celebrated also as a
legislator, but no authentic traces of his laws
now appear, the Macalpine laws attributed
to the son of Alpin being clearly apocryphal.

The sceptre was assumed by Donald III.,
son of Alpin. He died in the year 863, after
a short reign of four years. It is said he re-
stored the laws of Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha
III. They were probably similar to the an-
cient Brehon laws of Ireland.

Constantine, the son of Kenneth, succeeded
his uncle Donald, and soon found himself in-
volved in a dreadful conflict with the Danish
pirates. Having, after a contest which lasted
half a century, established themselves in Ire-
land, and obtained secure possession of Dublin,
the Vikingr directed their views towards the
western coasts of Scotland, which they laid
waste. These ravages were afterwards ex-
tended to the whole of the eastern coast, and
particularly to the shores of the Frith of Forth ;
but although the invaders were often repulsed,
they never ceased to renew their attacks. In
the year 881, Constantine, in repelling an at-
tack of the pirates, was slain at a place called
Merdo-fatha, or Werdo, probably the present
Perth, according to Maclauchlan.

Aodh or Hugh, the fair-haired, succeeded
his brother Constantine. His reign was un-

50

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

fortunate, short, and troublesome. Grig, who
was Maormor, or chief, of the country betweer
the Dee and the Spey, having become a com-
petitor for the crown, Aodh endeavoured to
put him down, but did not succeed; and havin;
been wounded in a battle fought at Strath-
allan, (or possibly Strathdon,) he was carriec
to Inverurie, where he died, after lingering two
months, having held the sceptre only one year.

Grig now assumed the crown, and, either to
secure his possession, or from some other
motive, he associated with him in the govern-
ment Eocha, son of Ku, the British king ol
Strathclyde, and the grandson, by a daughter,
of Kenneth Macalpin. After a reign of eleven
years, both Eocha and Grig were forced to ab-
dicate, and gave way to

Donald IV., who succeeded them in 893.
During his reign the kingdom was infested by
the piratical incursions of the Danes. Al-
though they were defeated by Donald in a
bloody action at Collin, said to be on the Tay,
near Scone, they returned under Ivar O'lvar,
from Ireland, in the year 904, but were gallantly
repulsed, and their leader killed in a threat-
ened attack on Forteviot, by Donald, who un-
fortunately also perished, after a reign of eleven
years. In his reign the kings of present Scot-
land are no longer called reges Pictorum by the
Irish Annalists, but Ri Alban, or kings of
Alban ; and in the Pictish Chronicle Pictavia
gives place to Albania.

Constantine III., the son of Aodh, a prince
of a warlike and enterprising character, next
followed. He had to sustain, during an un-
usually long reign, the repeated attacks of the
Danes. In one invasion they plundered Dun-
keld, and in 908, they attempted to obtain the
grand object of their designs, the possession of
Forteviot in Strathearn, the Pictish capital ;
but in this design they were again defeated,
and forced to abandon the country. The Danes
remained quiet for a few years, but in 918 their
fleet entered the Clyde, from Ireland, under
the command of Reginald, where they were
attacked by the Scots in conjunction with the
Northern Saxons, whom the ties of common
safety had now united for mutual defence.
Reginald is said to have drawn up his Danes
in four divisions ; the first headed by Godfrey
O'lvar ; the second by Earis ; the third by

Chieftains ; and the fourth by Reginald himself,
as a reserve. The Scots, with Constantino at
their head, made a furious attack on the first
three divisions, which they forced to retire.
Reginald's reserve not being available to turn
the scale of victory against the Scots, the Danes
retreated during the night, and embarked on
board their fleet.

After this defeat of the Danes, Constantine
enjoyed many years' ropose. A long grudgo
had existed between him and ^Ethelstane, son
of Edward, the elder, which at last came to an
open rupture. Having formed an alliance with
several princes, and particularly with Anlaf,
king of Dublin as well as of Northumberland,
and son-in-law of Constantine, the latter col-
lected a large fleet in the year 937, with which
he entered the Humber. The hope of plunder
had attracted many of the Vikingr to Constan-
tino's standard, and the sceptre of ^Ethelstanc
seemed now to tremble in his hand. But that
monarch was fully prepared for the dangers
with which he was threatened, and resolved to
meet his enemies in battle. After a long,
bloody, and obstinate contest at Brunanburg,
near the southern shore of the Humber, victory
declared for ^Ethelstane. Prodigies of valour
were displayed on both sides, especially by
Turketel, the Chancellor of England ; by Anlaf,
and by the son of Constantine, who lost his
life. The confederates, after sustaining a heavy
loss, sought for safety in their ships. This,
and after misfortunes, possibly disgusted Con-
stantine with the vanities of this world, for,
in the fortieth year of his reign, he put into
practice a resolution which he had formed of
resigning his crown and embracing a monastic
Life. He became Abbot of the Monastery of
St. Andrews in 943, and thus ended a long
and chequered, but vigorous, and, on the whole,
successful reign in a cloister, like Charles V.
Towards the end of this reign the term Scot-
land was applied to this kingdom by the
Saxons, a term which before had been given
ay them to Ireland. Constantino died in 952.

Malcolm I., the son of Donald IV., obtained
;he abdicated throne. He was a prince of
great abilities and prudence, and Edmund of
England courted his alliance by ceding Cum-

ia, then consisting of Cumberland and part
of Westmoreland, to him, in the year 945, on

CONTESTS WITH DANES.

51

condition that he would defend that northern
county, and become the ally of Edmund. Ed-
red, the brother and successor of Edmund, ac-
cordingly applied for, and obtained the aid of
Malcolm against Anlaf, king of Northumber-
land, whose country, according to the barbarous
practice of the times, ho wasted, and carried
off the people with their cattle. Malcolm,
after putting down an insurrection of the
Moray-men under Cellach, their Maormor, or
chief, whom he slew, was sometime thereafter
?lain, as is supposed, at Ulurn or Auldearn in
Moray, by one of these men, in revenge for
the death of his chief.

Indulph, the son of Constantino III., suc-
ceeded the murdered monarch in the year 953.
He sustained many severe conflicts with the
Danes, and ultimately lost his life in 961, after
a reign of eight years, in a successful action
with these pirates, on the moor which lies to
the westward of Cullen.

Duff, the son of Malcolm I., now mounted
the throne ; but Culen, the son of Indulpli, laid
claim to the sceptre which his father had
wielded. The parties met at Drum Crup (pro-
oably Crieff), and, after a doubtful struggle,
in which Doncha, the Abbot of Dunkeld, and
Dubdou, the Maormor of Athole, the partisans
of Culen, lost their lives, victory declared for
Duff. But this triumph was of short duration,
for Duff was afterwards obliged to retreat from
Forteviot into the north, and was assassinated
at Torres in the year 965, after a brief and un-
happy reign of four years and a half.

Culen, the son of Indulph, succeeded, as a
matter of course, to the crown of Duff, which
he stained by his vices. He and his brother
Eocha were slain in Lothian, in an action with
the Britons of Strathclyde in 970, after an in-
glorious reign of four years and a half. Dur-
ing his reign Edinburgh was captured from
the English, this being the first known step
in the progress of the gradual extension of the
Scottish kingdom between the Forth and the
. Tweed. 7

Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., and brother
of Duff, succeeded Culen the same year. He
waged a successful war against the Britons of
Strathclyde, and annexed their territories to

J Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 76.

his kingdom. During his reign the Danes
meditated an attack upon Forteviot, or Dun-
keld, for the purposes of plunder, and, with
this view, they sailed up the Tay with a nu-
merous fleet. Kenneth does not appear to
have been fully prepared, being probably not
aware of the intentions of the enemy ; but col-
lecting as many of his chiefs and their followers
as the spur of the occasion would allow, he
met the Danes at Luncarty, in the vicinity of
Perth. Malcolm, the Tanist, prince of Cum-
berland, it is said, commanded the right wing
of the Scottish army; Duncan, the Maormor
of Athole, had the charge of the left: and
Kenneth, the king, commanded the centre.
The Danes with their battle-axes made dread-
ful havoc, and compelled the Scottish army
to give way; but the latter was rallied by
the famous Hay, the traditional ancestor of
the Kinnoul family, and finally repulsed the
Danes, who, as usual, fled to their ships. Bur-
ton thinks the battle of Luncarty " a recent
invention."

The defeat of the Danes enabled Kenneth
to turn his attention to the domestic concerns
of his kingdom. He appears to have directed
his thoughts to bring about a complete change
in the mode of succession to the crown, in or-
der to perpetuate in and confine the crown to
his own descendants. This alteration could
not bo well accomplished as long as Malcolm,
the son of Duff, the Tanist of the kingdom,
and prince of Cumberland, stood in the way;
and, accordingly, it has been said that Kenneth
was the cause of the untimely death of prince
Malcolm, who is stated to have been poisoned.
It is said that Kenneth got an act passed,
that in future the son, or nearest male heir, of
the king, should always succeed to the throne;
and that in case that son or heir were not of
age at the time of the king's demise, that a
person of rank should be chosen Eegent of the
kingdom, until the minor attained his four-
teenth year, when he should assume the reins
of government; but whether such a law was
really passed on the moot-hill of Scone or not,
of which we have no evidence, certain it is
that two other princes succeeded to the crown
before Malcolm the son of Kenneth, Ken-
neth, after a reign of twenty-four years, was, it
is said, in 994 assassinated at Fettercairn by

52

GENEKAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS,

Finella,3 the wife of the Maormor of the
Mearns, and the daughter of Cunechat, the
Maormor of Angus, in revenge for having put
her only son to death. It has been thought
that till this time the Maormorship of Angus
was iii some measure independent of the Scot-
tish crown, never having thoroughly yielded
to its supremacy, that the death of the young
chief took place in course of an effort on the
part of Kenneth for its reduction, and that
Kenneth himself was on a visit to the quarter
at the time of his death, for exacting the usual
royal privileges of cain and cuairt, or a certain
tax and certain provision for the king and his
followers when on a journey, due by the chiefs
or landholders of the kingdom.9

Constantino IV., son of Culen, succeeded;
but his right was disputed by Kenneth, the
Grim, i. e. strong, son of Duff. The dis-
pute was decided at Kathveramoii, i. e. the
castle at the mouth of the Almond, near
Perth, where Constantino lost his life in the
year 995.

Kenneth IV., the son of Duff, now obtained
the sceptre which ho had coveted ; but he was
disturbed in the possession thereof by Malcolm,
the son of Kenneth III., heir presumptive to
the crown. Malcolm took the field in 1003,
and decided his claim to the crown in a bloody
battle at Monivaird, in Strathearn, in which
Kenneth, after a noble resistance, received a
mortal wound.

Malcolm II. now ascended the vacant throne,
but was not destined to enjoy repose. At the
very beginning of his reign he was defeated at
Durham by the army of the Earl of Northum-
berland, under his son Uchtred, who ordered
a selection of good-looking Scotch heads to be
stuck on the walls of Durham.

The Danes, who had now obtained a firm
footing in England, directed their attention in
an especial manner to Scotland, which they were
in hopes of subduing. Sigurd, the Earl of
Orkney, carried on a harassing and predatory
warfare on the shores of the Moray Frith,
which he continued even after a matrimonial
alliance he formed with Malcolm, by marrying

8 According to Skene, Finella is a conniption of
Pinuele or Finale Cunchar, Earl of Angus. — Skeue's
Annals of the Picls and Scots, p. cxliv.

9 Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church, p. 306.
Robertson's Scot, under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 88.

his daughter ; but this was no singular trait in
the character of a Vikingr, who plundered
friends and foes with equal pleasure. The
scene of Sigurd's operations was chosen by
his brother northmen for making a descent,
which they effected near Speymouth. They
carried fire and sword through Moray, and
laid siege to the fortress of Nairn, one of
the strongest in the north. The Danes were
forced to raise the siege for a time, by Mal-
colm, who encamped his army in a plain near
KiMos or Kinloss. In this position he was
attacked by the invaders, and, after a severe
action, was forced to retreat, after being seri-
ously wounded.

Malcolm, in 1010, marched north with his
army, and encamped at Mortlach. The Danes
advanced to meet the Scots, and a dreadful
and fierce conflict ensued, the result of which
was long dubious. At length the northmen
gave way and victory declared for Malcolm.
Had the Danes succeeded they would in all
probability have obtained as permanent a foot-
ing in North Britain as they did in England ;
but the Scottish kings were determined, at all
hazards, never to suffer them to pollute the soil
of Scotland by allowing them even the smallest
settlement in their dominions. In gratitude
to God for his victory, Malcolm endowed a
religious house at Mortlach, with its church
erected near the scene of action. Maclauchlan,
however, maintains that this church was
planted by Malcolm Ceanmore.

Many other conflicts are narrated with mi-
nute detail by the later chroniclers as having
taken place between Malcolm and the Danes,
but it is very doubtful how far these are wor-
thy of credit. That Malcolm had enough to
do to prevent the Danes from overrunning
Scotland and subduing the inhabitants can
readily be believed ; but as we have few au-
thentic particulars concerning the conflicts
which took place, it would serve no purpose
» give the imaginary details invented by com-
paratively recent historians.

Some time after this Malcolm was engaged
in a war with the Northumbrians, and, having
led his army, in 1018, to Carham, near Werk,
on the southern bank of the Tweed, where he
was met by Uchtred, the Earl of Northumber-
and, a desperate battle took place, which was

MALCOLM— DUNCAN.

53

contested with great valour on both sides.1
The success was doubtful on either side, though
Uchtred claimed a victory ; but he did not
long enjoy the fruits of it, as he was soon
thereafter assassinated when on his road to
pay obeisance to the great Canute. Endulf,
the brother and successor of Uchtred, justly
dreading the power of the Scots, was induced
to cede Lothian to Malcolm for ever, who, on
this occasion, gave oblations to the churches
iiuil gifts to the clergy, and they in return
transmitted his name to posterity. He was
designed, par excellence, by the Latin chroni-
clers, rex victoriosissimus , by Si Berchan, the
Forranach or destroyer.

The last struggle with which Malcolm was
threatened, was with the celebrated Canute,
who, for some cause or other not properly ex-
plained, entered Scotland in the year 1031 ;
but those powerful parties appear not to have
come to action. Canute's expedition appears,
from what followed, to have been fitted out to
compel Malcolm to do homage for Cumber-
land, for it is certain that Malcolm engaged to
fulfil the conditions on which his predecessors
had held that country, and that Canute there-
after returned to England.

But the reign of Malcolm was not only dis-
tinguished by foreign wars, but by civil con-
tests between rival chiefs. Finlegh, the Maor-
mor of Ross, and the father of Macbeth, was
assassinated in 1020, and about twelve years
thereafter, Maolbride, the Maormor of Moray,
grandfather of Lulach, was, in revenge for
Finlegh's murder, burnt within his castle, with
fifty of his men.

At length, after a splendid reign of thirty
years, Malcolm slept with his fathers, and his
body was transferred to lona, and interred
ttrith due solemnity among the remains of his
predecessors. By some authorities he is said
to have been assassinated at Glammis.

Malcolm was undoubtedly a prince of great
acquirements. He made many changes and
some improvements in the internal policy of his
kingdom, and in him religion always found a
guardian and protector. But although Mal-

1 The last we hear of any king or ruler of Strath-
clyde was one that fought on Malcolm's side in this
battle ; and presently afterwards the attenuated state
is found, without any conflict, absorbed in the Scots
king's dominions. — Burton, TO!, i. p 367.

colm is justly entitled to this praise, he by no
means came up to the standard of perfection
assigned him by fiction. In his reign Scot-
land appears to have reached its present bound-
ary on the south, the Tweed, and Strathclyde
was incorporated with the rest of the kingdom.
Malcolm was the first who was called Rex
Scotice, and might justly claim to be so desig-
nated, seeing that he was the first to hold
sway over nearly the whole of present Scot-
land,— the only portions where his authority
appears to have been seriously disputed being
those in which the Danes had established
themselves.

Duncan, son of Bethoc or Beatrice, daughter
of Malcolm II., succeeded his grandfather in
the year 1033. " In the extreme north, do-
minions more extensive than any Jarl of the
Orkneys had hitherto acquired, were united
under the rule of Thorfinn, Sigurd's son, whose
character and appearance have been thus de-
scribed:— ' He was stout and strong, but very
ugly, severe and cruel, but a very clever man.'
The extensive districts then dependant upon
the Moray Maormors were in the possession of
the celebrated Macbeth."2 Duncan, in 1033,
desiring to extend his dominions southwards,
attacked Durham, but was forced to retire
with considerable loss. His principal strug-
gles, however, were with his powerful kins-
man, Thorfinn, whose success was so great that
he extended his conquests as far as the Tay.
" His men spread over the whole conquered
country," says the OrJcneyinga Saga,3 " and
burnt every hamlet and farm, so that not a cot
remained. Every man that they found they
slew ; but the old men and women fled to the
deserts and woods, and filled the country with
lamentation. Some were driven before the
Norwegians and made slaves. After this Earl
Thorfinn returned to his ships, subjugating the
country everywhere in his progress," Duncan's
last battle, in which he was defeated, was in
the neighbourhood of Burghead, near the
Moray Frith ; and shortly after this, on the
14th August, 1040, he was assassinated in
Bothgowanan, — which, in Gaelic, is said to
mean " the smith's hut," — by his kinsman the

3 Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 113.

1 As quoted by Skene, Highlanders, vol. i. p. 112.

54

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Maormor Macbeda or Macbeth. Duncan bad
reigned only live years when he was assassi-
nated by Macbeth, leaving two infant sons,
Malcolm and Donal, by a sister of Siward, the
Earl of Northumberland. The former fled to
Cumberland, and the latter took refuge in the
Hebrides, on the death of their father.

Macbeth, " snorting with the indigested
fumes of the blood of his sovereign," imme-
diately seized the gory sceptre. As several
fictions have been propagated concerning the
history and genealogy of Macbeth, we may
mention that, according to the most authentic
authorities, he was by birth Thane of Eoss, and
by his marriage with the Lady Gruoch, — who
had a claim to the throne, as granddaughter of
Kenneth, — became also Thane of Moray, dur-
ing the minority of Lulach, the infant son of
that lady, by her former marriage with Gilcom-
gain, the Maormor or Thane of Moray. Lady
Gruoch was the daughter of Boedhe, son of
Kenneth IV. ; and thus Macbeth united in his
own person many powerful interests which en-
abled him to take quiet possession of the
throne of the murdered sovereign. He, of
course, found no difficulty in getting himself
inaugurated at Scone, under the protection of
the clans of Moray and Eoss, and the aid of
those who favoured the pretensions of the de-
scendants of Kenneth IV.

Various attempts were made on the part of
the partisans of Malcolm, son of Duncan, to
dispossess Macbeth of the throne. The most
formidable was that of Siward, the powerful
Earl of Northumberland, and the relation of
Malcolm, who, at the instigation or command
of Edward the Confessor, led a numerous army
into Scotland in the year 1054. They marched
as far north as Dunsinnan, where they were met
by Macbeth, who commanded his troops in
person. A furious battle ensued, but Macbeth
fled from the field after many displays of cour-
age. The Scots lost 3,000 men, and the Sax-
ons 1,500, including Osbert, the son of Si ward.
Macbeth retired to his fastnesses in the north,
and Siward returned to Northumberland ; but
Malcolm continued the war till the death of
Macbeth, who was slain by Macduff, Thane of
Fife, in revenge for the cruelties he had in-
flicted on his family, at Lumphanan, in Abor-
deenshirc, in the year 1056, although, accord-

ing to Skene (Chronicles), it was in August,
1057.

Macbeth was unquestionably a man of
great vigour, and well fitted to govern in the
age in which he lived ; and had it not been
for the indelible character bestowed upon him
by Shakespere (who probably followed the
chronicle of Holinshed), his character might
have stood well with posterity. " The deeds
which raised Macbeth and his wife to power
were not in appearance much worse than others
of their clay done for similar ends. However
he may have gained his power, he exercised it
with good repute, according to the reports
nearest to his time." 4 Macbeth, " in a manner
sacred to splendid infamy," is the first king of
Scotland whose name appears in the ecclesias-
tical records as a benefactor of the church, and,
it would appear, the first who offered his ser-
vices to the Bishop of Rome. According to
the records of St. Andrews, he made a gift of
certain lands to the monastery of Lochleven,
and certainly sent money to the poor of Eomc,
if, indeed, he did not himself make a pilgrim-
age to the holy city.

After the reign of Macbeth, the former irre-
gular and confusing mode of succession ceased,
and the hereditary principle was adopted and
acted upon.

Lulach, the great-grandson of Kenneth IV.,
being supported by the powerful influence of
his own family, and that of the deceased
monarch, ascended the throne at the age of
twenty-five or twenty-six ; but his reign lasted
only a few months, he having fallen in battle
at Essie, in Strathbogie, in defending his crown
against Malcolm. The body of Lulach was in-
terred along with that of Macbeth, in loua, the
common sepulchre, for many centuries, of the
Scottish kings.

Malcolm III., better known in history by
the name of Malcolm Ceanmore, or great head,
vindicated his claim to the vacant throne, and
was crowned at Scone, 25th April, 1057. His
first care was to recompense those who had
assisted him in obtaining the sovereignty,
and it is said that he created new titles of
honour, by substituting earls for thanes ; but
this has been disputed, and there are really no

4 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 372.

MALCOLM— POPULATION.

data from which a certain conclusion can bo
drawn.

In the year 1059 Malcolm paid a visit to
Edward the Confessor, during whose reign he
lived on amicable terms with the English ; but
after the death of that monarch he made a
hostile incursion into Northumberland, and
•wasted the country. He even violated the
peace of St. Cuthbert in Holy Island.

William, Duke of Normandy, having over-
come Harold in the battle of Hastings, on the
14th October, 1066, Edgar ^Etheling saw no
hopes of obtaining the crown, and left Eng-
land along with his mother and sisters, and
sought refuge in Scotland. Malcolm, on hear-
ing of the distress of the illustrious strangers,
left his royal palace at Dunfermline to meet
them, and invited them to Dunfermline, where
they were hospitably entertained. Margaret,
one of Edgar's sisters, was a princess of great
virtues and accomplishments ; and she at once
won the heart of Malcolm.

The offer of his hand was accepted, and their
nuptials were celebrated with great solemnity
and splendour. This queen was a blessing to
the king and to the nation, and appears to
have well merited the appellation of Saint.
There are few females in history who can be
compared with Queen Margaret.

It is quite unnecessary, and apart from the
object of the present work, to enter into any
details of the wars between Malcolm and Wil-
liam the Conqueror, and William Eufus. Suf-
fice it to say that both Malcolm and his eldest
son Edward were slain in a battle on the Alne,
on the 13th November, 1093, after a reign of
thirty-six years. Queen Margaret, who was on
her death-bed when this catastrophe occurred,
died shortly after she received the intelligence
with great composure and resignation to the
will of God. Malcolm had six sons, viz., Ed-
ward, who was killed along with his father,
Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, and Da-
vid, and two daughters, Maud, who was mar-
ried to Henry I. of England, and Mary, who
married Eustache, Count of Boulogne. Of the
sons, Edgar, Alexander, and David, successively
came to the crown.

Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, died in 1064, and
his extensive possessions in Scotland did not
revert to his descendants, but to the native

chiefs, who had had the original right to pos-
sess them. These chiefs appear to have been
independent of the Scottish sovereign, and to
have caused him no small amount of troublc-
A considerable part of Malcolm's reign was
spent in endeavouring to bring them into sub-
jection, and before his death he had the satis-
faction of seeing the whole of Scotland, with
perhaps the exception of Orkney, acknowledg-
ing him as sole monarch. The Norwegian
conquest appears to have effected a most im-
portant change in the character of the popu-
lation and language of the eastern lowlands of
the north of Scotland. The original po-
pulation must in some way have given way
to a Norwegian one, and, whatever may
have been the original language, we find
after this one of a decidedly Teutonic char-
acter prevailing in this district, probably in-
troduced along with the Norse population.
" In the more mountainous and Highland dis-
tricts, however, we are warranted in conclud-
ing that the effect must have been very differ-
ent, and that the possession of the country by
the Norwegians for thirty years could have ex-
ercised as little permanent influence on the
population itself, as we are assured by the Saga
it did upon the race of their chiefs.

" Previously to this conquest the northern
Gaelic race possessed the whole of the north of
Scotland, from the western to the eastern sea,
and the general change produced by the con-
quest must have been, that the Gael were for
the first time confined within those limits which
they have never since exceeded, and that the
eastern districts became inhabited by that
Gothic race, who have also ever since possessed
them." 5

On the demise of Malcolm, Donal-bane his
brother assumed the government ; but Duncan,
the son of Malcolm, who had lived many years
in England, and held a high military rank un-
der William Kufus, invaded Scotland with a
large army of English and Normans, and forced
Donal to retire for safety to the Hebrides.
Duncan, whom some writers suppose to have
been a bastard, and others a legitimate son of
Malcolm by a former wife, enjoyed the crown
only six months, having been assassinated by

* Skcne's Highlanders, vol. u p. 123.

56

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Maolpoder, tlio Maormor of the Mearns, at
Menteith, at the instigation, it is believed,
of Donal. Duncan left, by his -wife Etlireda,
daughter of Gospatriclc, a son, William, some-
times surnamed Fitz-Duncan.

Donal-bane again seized the sceptre, but
he survived Duncan only two years. Edgar
^Etheling having assembled an army in Eng-
land, entered Scotland, and made Donal pri-
soner in an action which took place in Septem-
ber 1097. He was imprisoned by orders of
Edgar, and died at Eoscobie in Forfarshire,
after having been deprived of his eyesight, ac-
cording to the usual practice of the age. The
series of the pure Scoto-Irish kings may be said
to have ended with Donal-bane.

The reign of Edgar, who appears to have
been of a gentle and peaceful disposition, is
almost devoid of incident, the principal events
being the marriage of his sister Matilda to the
English Henry, and the wasting and conquest
of the Western Islands by Magnus Olaveson
and his Norwegians. This last event had but
little effect on Scotland proper, as these Islands
at that time can hardly be said to have belonged
to it. These Norsemen appear to have settled

Seal of Edgar.

among and mixed with the native inhabitants,
and thus to have formed a population, spoken
of by the Irish Annalists under the name of

Gallgael, " a horde of pirates, plundering on
their own account, and under their own leaders,
when they were not following the banner of
any of the greater sea-kings, whose fleets were
powerful enough to sweep the western seas, and
exact tribute from the lesser island chief tains." °
Edgar died in 1107, and was succeeded by his
brother Alexander, whom he enjoined to be-
stow upon his younger brother David the dis-
trict of Cumbria.

We have now arrived at an era in our his-
tory, when the line of demarcation between the
inhabitants of the Lowlands and Highlands of
Scotland begins to appear, and when, by the
influx of a Gothic race into the former, the
language of that part of North Britain is com-
pletely revolutionized, when a new dynasty or
race of sovereigns ascends the throne, and when
a great change takes places in the laws and
constitution of the Hngdom.

Although the Anglo-Saxon colonization of
the Lowlands of Scotland does not come exactly
within the design of the present work; yet, as
forming an important feature in the history of
the Lowlands of Scotland, as contradistin-
guished from the Highlands, a slight notice of
it may not be uninteresting.

Shortly after the Eoman abdication of North
Britain in the year 446, which was soon suc-
ceeded by the final departure of the Romans
from the British shores, the Saxons, a people
of Gothic origin, established themselves upon
the Tweed, and afterwards extended their set-
tlements to the Frith of Forth, and to the
banks of the Solway and the Clyde. About
the beginning of the sixth century the Dalriads,
as we have seen, landed in Kintyre and Ar-
gyle from the opposite coast of Ireland,
and colonized these districts, whence, in the
course of little more than two centuries, they
overspread the Highlands and western islands,
which their descendants have ever since con-
tinued to possess. Towards the end of the
eighth century, a fresh colony of Scots from
Ireland settled in Galloway among the Britons
and Saxons, and having overspread the whole
of that country, were afterwards joined by de-
tachments of the Scots of Kintyre and Argyle,
in connection with whom they peopled that

6 Early Kings, vol. i. p. 1 80.

CHANGES IN POPULATION AND LANGUAGE.

57

peninsula. Besides these three races, who
made permanent settlements in Scotland, the
Scandinavians colonized the Orkney and Shet-
land islands, and also established themselves
on the coasts of Caitliness and Sutherland, and
in the eastern part of the country north of the
Firth of Tay.

But notwithstanding these early settlements
of the Gothic race, the era of the Saxon colon-
ization of the Lowlands of Scotland is, with
more propriety, placed in the reign of Malcolm
Ceanmore, who, by liis marriage with a Saxon
princess, and the protection he gave to the
Anglo-Saxon fugitives who sought an asy-
lum in his dominions from the persecutions of
William the Conqueror and his Normans, laid
the foundations of those great changes which
took place in the reigns of his successors.
Malcolm, in Ms warlike incursions into North-
umberland and Durham, carried off immense
numbers of young men and women, who were
to be seen in the reign of David I. in almost
every village and house in Scotland. The
Gaelic population were quite averse to the set-
tlement of these strangers among them, and it
is said that the extravagant mode of living in-
troduced by the Saxon followers of Queen
Margaret, was one of the reasons which led to
their expulsion from Scotland, in the reign of
Donal-bane, who rendered himself popular with
Ids people by this unfriendly act.

This expulsion was, however, soon rendered
nugatory, for on the accession of Edgar, the
first sovereign of the Scoto-Saxon dynasty,
many distinguished Saxon families with their
followers settled in Scotland, to the heads of
which families the king made grants of land of
considerable extent. Few of these foreigners
appear to have come into Scotland during the
reign of Alexander I., the brother and suc-
cessor of Edgar ; but vast numbers of Anglo-
Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings, estab-
lished themselves in Scotland in the reign of
David I. That prince had received his educa-
tion at the court of Henry I., and had married
Maud or Matilda, the only child of Waltheof,
Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, by
Judith, niece to William the Conqueror on the
mother's side. This lady had many vassals,
and when David came to the throne, in the
year 1124, he was followed by a thousand

L

Anglo-Normans, to whom ho distributed lands,
on which they and their followers settled.
Many of the illustrious families in Scotland
originated from this source.

Malcolm Ceanmore had, before his accession
to the throne, resided for some time in Eng-
land as a fugitive, under the protection of Ed-
ward the Confessor, where he acquired a know-
ledge of the Saxon language ; which language,
after his marriage with the princess Margaret,
became that of the Scottish court. This cir-
cumstance made that language fashionable
among the Scottish nobility, in consequence of
which and of the Anglo-Saxon colonization un-
der David I., the Gaelic language was altogether
superseded in the Lowlands of Scotland in
little more than two centuries after the death
of Malcolm. A topographical line of demar-
cation was then fixed as the boundary between
the two languages, which has ever since been
kept up, and presents one of the most singular
phenomena ever observed in the history of
philology.

The change of the seat of government by
Kenneth, on ascending the Pictish throne, to
Abernethy, also followed by the removal of
the marble chair, the emblem of sovereignty,
from Dunstaffnage to Scone, appears to have
occasioned no detriment to the Gaelic popula-
tion of the Highlands ; but when Malcolm
Ceanmore transferred his court, about the year
1066, to Dunfermline, — which also became, in
place of lona, the sepulchre of the Scottish
kings, — the rays of royal bounty, which had
hitherto diffused their protecting and benign in-
fluence over the inhabitants of the Highlands,
were withdrawn, and left them a prey to an-
archy and poverty. " The people," says Gen-
eral David Stewart, " now beyond the reach of
the laws, became turbulent and fierce, revenging
in person those wrongs for which the adminis-
trators of the laws were too distant and too
feeble to afford redress. Thence arose the
institution of chiefs, who naturally became the
judges and arbiters in the quarrels of their
clansmen and followers, and who were sur.
rounded by men devoted to the defence of
their lights, their property, and their power;
and accordingly the chiefs established within
their own territories a jurisdiction almost
wholly independent of their liege lord."

58

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The connection which Malcolm and his suc-
cessors maintained with England, estranged
still farther the Highlanders from the dominion
of the sovereign and the laws ; and their his-
tory, after the population of the Lowlands had
merged into and adopted the language of the
Anglo-Saxons, presents, with the exception of
the wars between rival clans which will be no-
ticed afterwards, nothing remarkable till their
first appearance on the military theatre of our
national history in the campaigns of Montrose,
Dundee, and others.

On the accession of Alexander I., then,
Scotland was divided between the Celt and
the Saxon, or more strictly speaking, Teuton,
pretty much as it is at the present day, the
Gaelic population having become gradually
confined very nearly to the limits indicated in
the first chapter. They never appear, at least
until quite recently, to have taken kindly to
Teutonic customs and the Teutonic tongue, and
resented much the defection of their king in

court, in submitting to Saxon innovations.
Previous to this the history of the Highlands
has been, to a very great extent, the history of
Scotland, and even for a considerable time after
this, Scotia was applied strictly to the country
north of the Forth and Clyde, the district south
of that being known by various other names.
During and after Edgar's time, the whole of
the country north of the Tweed became more
and more a counterpart of England, with its
thanes, its earls, and its sheriffs ; and even the
Highland maormors assumed the title of earl,
in deference to the new customs. The High-
landers, however, it is well known, for cen-
turies warred against these Saxon innovations,
becoming more and more a peculiar people,
being, up till the end of the last century, a
perpetual thorn in the flesh of their Saxon
rulers and their Saxon fellow-subjects. They
have a history of their own, which we deem
worthy of narration.1

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTTISH KINGS, FROM 848
TO 1097, ADJUSTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES.

NAMES Or THE KINOS.

Date of
Accession.

Duration of
Reign.

Death.

KENNETH MACALPINK over the Scots and Picts,

A.D.
843

Years.
16

A.D.

859

DONAL MAOALPIN,

859

4

863

CONSTANTINE II., son of Kenneth,

363

18

881

AODH, or HUGH, the son of Kenneth,

881

1

882

BOCHA, or AOHT, or GEIO, jointly,

882

11

893

DONAL IV., the son of Constantino,

893

11

904

CONSTANTINB III., the son of Aodh,

904

40

944*

MALCOLM I., son of Donal IV.,

944

9

953

INDDLF, the son of Constantino III.,

953

8

961

DOP, the son of Malcolm I.,

961

4J

965

COLEN, the son of Indulf,

965

«

970

KENNETH III., son of Malcolm I.,

970

24

994

CONSTANTINE I V., son of Culen,

994

11

995

KENNETH IV., son of Duf,

995

8

1003

MALCOLM II., son of Kenneth III.,

1003

30

1033

DONCAN, grandson of Malcolm II.,

1033

<5

1039

MACBETH, son of Finlegh, .

1039

17

1056

LULACH, son of Gruoch and Gilcomgain,

1056

A

1057

MALCOLM III., Ceanmore, son of Duncan,

1057

36i

1093

DONALD BANE, son of Duncan,

1093

J

1094

DDNOAH II., son of Malcolm III.,

1094

^

1094

DONALD BANE again,

1094

3

1097

KIKIAK, son of Malcolm III.,

1097

9

1106

1 Since the above was written, the Book of Deer has been published ; what further information is to be
gained from it will \» found at the end of this volume. * Abdicated ; died 952.

INSURRECTIONS IN THE HIGHLANDS.

59

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1107-1411.

KINGS OF SCOTLAND DORIHO THE PEBIOD :—

Alexander I., 1107—1124.
David I., 1124—1153.
Malcolm IV., 1163—1165.
William the Lion, 1165-1214.
Alexander II., 1211 -12 III.
Alexander III., 1249—1286.
Regency, 1286—1290.
Interregnum, 1290—1292.
John Ballol. 1292—1306.

Robert Bruce, 1306—1320.
David II., 1329—1332.
Edward Baliol, 1332—1341.
David II. restored, 1341—1370.
Robert II. (Stewart), 1370—

1390.

Robert III., 1390—1408.
James I., 1400—1436.

Alexander I. — David I. — Insurrections in Highlands—
Somerled— Moray men and Malcolm IV. — William
The Lion — Disturbances in the Highlands— Ross-
shire — Orkney — Alexander II. — Argyle — Caithness
— Alexander III. — Disturbances in Ross — Expedi-
tion of Haco — Battle of Largs — Robert Bruce — Ex-
pedition into Lorn — Subdues Western Isles — Isles
revolt under David II. and again submit — Contest
between the Monroes and Clan Chattan — The Clan
Chattan and the Camerons — Battle on North Inch —
Wolf of Badenoch — His son Alexander Stewart —
Disturbances in Sutherland — Lord of the Isles in-
vades Scotland — Battle of Harlaw.

THE reign of Alexander I. was disturbed, about
the year 1116, by an attempt made by the
men of Moray and Merne to surprise the king
while enjoying himself at his favourite resi-
dence at Invergowrie, on the north bank of
the Tay, not far from its mouth. The king,
however, showed himself more than a match
for his enemies, as he not only defeated their
immediate purpose, but, pursuing them with his
army across the Moray Frith, chastised them
so effectually as to keep them quiet for the re-
mainder of his reign, which ended by his
death, in April, 1124. In 1130, six years
after the accession of King David I. to the
Scottish throne, while he was in England, the
Moraymen again rose against the semi-Saxon
king, but were defeated at Strickathrow, in
Forfarshire, by Edward the Constable, son of
Siward Beorn, Angus the Earl of Moray being
left among the dead, Malcolm his brother es-
caping to carry on the conflict. In 1134
David himself took the field against these
Highlanders, and, with the assistance of the
barons of Northumberland, headed by Walter
L'Espec, completely subdued the Moraymen,
confiscated the whole district, and bestowed it
upon knights in whose fidelity he could place
confidence, some of these being Normans.

This was manifestly, according to Dr. Mac-
lauchlan, the period of the dispersion of the

ancient Moravienses. Never till then was
the power of the Moray chiefs thoroughly
broken, and only then were the inhabitants
proscribed, and many of them expelled. The
Murrays, afterwards so powerful, found their
way to the south, carrying with them the name
of their ancient country, and some of the present
tribes of Sutherland, as well as of Inverness-
shire, who, there is reason to believe, belonged to
the Scoto-Pictish inhabitants of Moray, removed
their dwellings to those portions of the country
which they have occupied ever since. The
race of Mac Heth may appear among the Mac
Heths or Mac Aoidhs, the Mackays of Suther-
land, nor is this rendered less probable by the
Morganaich or sons of Morgan, the ancient
name of the Mackays, appearing in the Book
of Deer as owning possessions and power in
Buchan in the 10th or llth century. 2

The next enterprise of any note was under-
taken by Somerled, thane of Argyle and the
Isles, against the authority of Malcolm IV.,
who, after various conflicts, was repulsed,
though not subdued, by Gilchrist, Earl of An-
gus. A peace, concluded with this powerful
chieftain in 1153, was considered of such im-
portance as to form an epoch in the dating of
Scottish charters. A still more formidable in-
surrection broke out among the Moraymen,
under Gildominick, on account of an attempt,
on the part of the Government, to intrude the
Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the
Lowlands, upon their Celtic customs, and the
settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among them.
These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring
counties ; and so regardless were they of the
royal authority, that they actually hanged the
heralds who were sent to summon them to lay
down their arms. Malcolm despatched the
gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army to subdue
them, but he was defeated, and forced to re-
cross the Grampians.

This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was natu-
rally of an indolent disposition. About th«
year 1160 he marched north with a powerful
army, and found the enemy on the moor of
Urquhart, near the Spey, ready to give him
battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen
in the king's army reconnoitred the enemy;

* Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church, pp. 346-7.

60

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

but they foTind them so well prepared for ac-
tion, and so flushed with their late success,
that they considered the issue of a battle
rather doubtful. On this account, the com-
manders advised the king to enter into a nego-
tiation with the rebels, and to promise, that in
the event of a submission their lives would be
spared. The offer was accepted, and the king
kept liis word. According to Fordun,7 the king,
by the advice of his nobles, ordained that every
family in Moray which had been engaged in
the rebellion should, within a limited time, re-
move out of Moray to other parts of the king-
dom, where lands would be assigned to them,
and that their places should be supplied with
people from other parts of the kingdom. For
the performance of this order, they gave hos-
tages, it is said,8 and at the time appointed
transplanted themselves, some into the north-
em, but the greater number into the southern
counties. Chalmers considers this removal of
the Morayrnen as " an egregious improba-
bility," because " the dispossessing of a whole
people is so difficult an operation, that the re-
cital of it cannot be believed without strong
evidence;"9 it is very probable that only the
ringleaders and their families were trans-
ported. The older historians say that the
Moraymen were almost totally cut off in an
obstinate battle, and strangers brought into
their place.1

About this time Somerled, the ambitious and
powerful lord of the Isles, made another and a

7 Book viii. ch. 6.

8 Shaw's Hist, of Moray, new ed., pp. 259-60.
8 Caledonia, vol. i. p. 627.

1 " Whilst the lowlands and the coast of Moray,
which had already been partitioned out among the
followers of David, would have presented compara-
tively few obstacles to such a project, it is hardly pos-
sible to conceive how it could ever have been success-
fully put into execution amidst the wild and inaccessible
mountains of the interior. It appears, therefore, most
reasonable to conclude, that Malcolm only earned out
the policy pursued by his grandfather ever since the
first forfeiture of tbe earldom; and that any changes
that may have been brought about in the population
of this part of Scotland — and which scarcely extended
below the class of the lesser Duchasach, or small pro-
prietors— are not to be attributed to one sweeping and
compulsatory measure, but to the grants of David and
his successors ; which must have had the effect of either
reducing tbe earlier proprietary to a dependant posi-
tion, or of driving into the remoter Highlands all who
were inclined to contest the authority of the sovereign,
or to dispute the validity of the royal ordinances which
reduced them to the condition of subordinates." —
Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 361.

last attempt upon the king's authority, Hav-
ing collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland,
he landed, in 1164, near Eenfrew ; but he was
defeated by the brave inhabitants and the
king's troops in a decisive battle, in which ho
and his son Gillecolum were slain.

The reign of William the Lion, who suc-
ceeded his brother in 1165, was marked by
many disturbances in the Highlands. The
Gaelic population could not endure the new
settlers whom the Saxon colonization had intro-
duced among them, and every opportunity was
taken to vex and annoy them. An open insur-
rection broke out in Ross-shire, headed by Don-
ald Bane, known also as Mac William, which
obliged William, in the year 1181, to march
into the north, where he built the two castles
of Eddirton and Dunscath to keep the people in
check. He restored quiet for a few years ; but.
in 1187, Donald Bane again renewed his pre-
tensions to the crown, and raised the standard
of revolt in the north. He took possession of
Ross, and wasted Moray. William lost no
time in leading an army against him. While
the king lay at Inverness with his army, a
party of 3,000 faithful men, under the com-
mand of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway,
and future Constable of Scotland, fell in with
Donald Bane and his army upon the Mam-
garvy moor, on the borders of Moray. A con-
flict ensued in which Donald and five hundred
of his followers were killed. Roland carried
the head of Donald to William, " as a savage
sign of returning quiet." After this compara-
tive quietness prevailed in the north till the
year 1196, when Harold, the powerful Earl of
Orkney and Caithness, disturbed its peace.
William dispersed the insurgents at once ; but
they again appeared the following year near
Inverness, under the command of Torphiu, the
son of Harold. The rebels were again over-
powered. The king seized Harold, and obliged
him to deliver up his son, Torphin, as an hos-
tage. Harold was allowed to retain the north-
ern part of Caithness, but the king gave the
southern part of it, called Sutherland, to Hugh
Freskin, the progenitor of the Earls of Suther-
land. Harold died in 1206 ; but as he had
often rebelled, his son suffered a cruel and
lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh,
where he had been confined.

DISTURBANCES IN MOEAY AND CAITHNESS.

Cl

During the year 1211 a new insurrection
broke out in Ross, headed by Guthred or God-
frey, tho son of Donald Bane or Mac William,
as ho was called. Great depredations were
committed by the insurgents, who were chiefly
freebooters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and
Lochaber. For a long time they baffled the
king's troops ; and although the king built two
forts to keep them in check, and took many
prisoners, they maintained for a considerable
period a desultory and predatory warfare. Guth-
red even forced one of the garrisons to capitu-
late, and burnt the castle ; but being betrayed
by his followers into the hands of William
Comyn, Earl of Buchan, the Justiciary of Scot-
land, he was executed in the year 1212.

Shortly after the accession of Alexander II.
in 1214, the peace of the north was attempted
to be disturbed by Donald Mac William, who
made an inroad from Ireland into Moray ; but
he was repulsed by the tribes of that country,
' ed by M'Intagart, the Earl of Eoss. In 1 2 2 2,
notwithstanding the formidable obstacles which
presented themselves from the nature of the
country, Alexander carried an army into Ar-
gyle, for the purpose of enforcing the homage
of the western chiefs. His presence so alarmed
the men of Argyle, that they immediately made
their submission. Several of the chiefs fled
for safety, and to punish them, the king distri-
buted their lands among his officers and their
followers. After this invasion Argyle was
brought under the direct jurisdiction of the
Scottish king, although the descendants of the
race of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, still con-
tinued to be the chief magnates.

During the same year a tumult took place in
Caithness, on account of the severity with
which the tithes were exacted by Adam, the
bishop, who, with his adviser, Serlo, was mur-
dered by the bonders. The king, who was at
tho time at Jedburgh, hearing of this murder,
immediately hastened to the north with a mili-
tary force, and inflicted the punishment of death
upon the principal actors in this tragedy, who
amounted, it is said, to four hundred persons ;
and that their race might become extinct, their
children were emasculated, a practice very com-
mon in these barbarous times. The Earl of
Caithness, who was supposed to have been privy
to the murder, was deprived of half of his

estate, which was afterwards restored to him on
payment of a heavy fine. The Earl is said to
have been murdered by his own servants in tho
year 1231, and in order to prevent discovery,
they laid his body into Ms bed and set fire to
the house.

In 1228 the country of Moray became the
theatre of a new insurrection, headed by a Ross-
shire freebooter, named Gillespoc M'Scolane.
He committed great devastations by burning
some wooden castles in Moray, and spoiling
the crown lands. He even attacked and set
fire to Inverness. A large army of horse and
foot, under the command of John Comyn, Earl
of Buchan, Justiciary of Scotland, was, in 1229,
sent against this daring rebel, who was cap-
tured, with his two sons, and their heads sent
to the king.

The lords of Argyle usually paid homage to
the king of Norway for some of the Hebrides
which belonged to that monarch, but Ewen,
on succeeding his father Duncan of Argyle in

1248, refused his homage to the Scottish king,
who wished to possess the whole of the Western
Isles. Though Ewen was perfectly loyal, and
indeed was one of the most honourable men of
his time, Alexander marched an army against
him to enforce obedience, but his Majesty died
on his journey in Kerrera, a small island near
the coast of Argyle opposite Oban, on July 8,

1249, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the
thirty-fifth of his reign.

According to the custom of the times, his
son, Alexander III., then a boy only in his
eighth year, was seated on the royal chair, or
sacred stone of Scone, which was placed before
the cross that stood within the burying-ground.
Immediately before his inauguration, the bishop
of St. Andrews girded him with the sword of
state, and explained to him, first in Latin and
aiterwards in Norman French, the nature of
the compact he and his subjects were about to
enter into. The crown, after the king had
been seated, was placed on his head, and tho
sceptre put into his hand. He was then covered
with the royal mantle, and received the homage
of tho nobles on their knees, who, in token of
submission, threw their robes beneath his feet
On this occasion, agreeably to ancient practice,
a Gaelic sennachy, or bard, clothed in a red
mantle, and venerable for his great age and

62

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

fo?

JScotort- N

Alexander III.— From Pinkerton's Scottish Gallery.

hoary locks, approached the king, and in a
bended and reverential attitude, recited, from
memory, in his native language, the genealogy
of all the Scottish kings, deducing the descent
of the youthful monarch from Gathetus, the
fabulous founder of the nation. 2 The reign of
this prince was distinguished by the entire sub-
jugation of the western islands to the power
of the Scottish crown. The Scandinavian set-
tlers were allowed to leave the islands, if in-
clined, and such of them as remained were
bound to observe the Scottish laws.

Shortly after the accession of Alexander III.,
an insurrection broke out against the Earl of
Ross, of some of the people of that province.
The Earl apprehended their leader or captain,
whom he imprisoned at Dingwall. In revenge,
the Highlanders seized upon the Earl's second

1 Almost the same ceremonial of inauguration was
observed at the coronation of Macdonald, king of the
Isles. Martin says, that "there was a big stone of
seven feet square, in which there was a deep impres-
sion made to receive the feet of Mack-Donald, for he
was crowned king of the Isles standing in this stone ;
and swore that he would continue his vassals in the
possession of their lands, and do exact justice to all
his subjects ; and then his father's sword was put into
his hands. The bishop of Argyle and seven priests
anointed him king, in presence of all the heads of the
tribes in the isles and continent, and were his vassals ;
at which time the orator rehearsed a catalogue of his
incestors." — Western Islands, p. 241.

son at Balnagown, took him prisoner, and
detained Viim as a hostage till their captain
should be released. The Monroes and the
Dingwalls immediately took up arms, and hav-
ing pursued the insurgents, overtook them at a
place called Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferran-
donald and Loch Broom, where a bloody con-
flict ensued. "The Clan Ivor, Clan-Talvich,
and Clan-Laiwe," says Sir Robert Gordon,
"wer almost uterlie extinguished and slain.1'
The Monroes and Dingwalls lost a great many
men. Dingwall of Kildun, and seven score of
the surname of Dingwall, were killed. No
less than eleven Monroes of the house of Foulis,
who were to succeed one after another, fell, so
that the succession of Foulis opened to an in-
fant then lying in his cradle. The Earl's son
was rescued, and to requite the service per-
formed, he made various grants of lands to the
Monroes and Dingwalls.3

In 1263, Haco, the aged king of Norway,
sailed with a large and powerful fleet, deter-
mined to enforce acknowledgm ant of his
claims as superior of the Western Islands on
their chiefs, as well as upon the king of Scot
land. Sailing southwards among the islands,
one chief after another acknowledged his su-
premacy, and helped to swell his force, the
only honourable exception being the stanch
Ewen of Argyle. Meantime Haco brought
his fleet to anchor in the Frith of Clyde, be-
tween Arran and the Ayrshire coast, his men
committing ravages on the neighbouring coun-
try, as, indeed, they appear to have done dur-
ing the whole of his progress. Negotiations
entered into between Haco and Alexander III.
came to nothing, and as winter was approach-
ing, and his fleet had suffered much from
several severe storms which caught it, the for-
mer was fain to make his way homewards. A
number of his men, however, contrived to ef-
fect a landing near Largs, where they were met
by a miscellaneous Scottish host, consisting of
cavalry and country people, and finally com-
pletely routed. The date of this skirmish,
which is known as the battle of Largs, is Oc-
tober 2d, 1263. Haco died in the end of the
same year in Orkney, and in 1266 Magnus
TV., his successor, ceded the whole of the

3 Sir R. Gordon's History of the Earldom of Suther-
land, p. 36.

BRUCE'S EXPEDITIONS INTO LOEN AND THE ISLES.

63

Scottish Islands held by Norway, except Ork-
ney and Shetland, the Scottish king paying a
small annual rent. Those of the islesmen who
had proved unfaithful to the Scottish king
were most severely and cruelly punished.

No event of any importance appears to have
occurred in the Highlands till the time of King
Robert Bruce, who was attacked, after his defeat
at Methven, by Macdougall of Lorn, and de-
feated in Strathfillan. But Bruce was deter-
mined that Maedougall should not long enjoy
his petty triumph. Having been joined by his
able partisan, Sir James Douglas, he entered the
territory of Lorn. On arriving at the narrow
pass of Ben Crtiachan, beween Loch Awe and
Loch Etive, Bruce was informed that Mac-
dougall had laid an ambuscade for him. Bruce
divided his army into two parts. One of these
divisions, consisting entirely of archers who
were lightly armed, was placed under the com-
mand of Douglas, who was directed to make a
circuit round the mountain, and to attack the
Highlanders in the rear. As soon as Douglas
had gained possession of the ground above the
Highlanders, Bruce entered the pass, and, as
soon as he had advanced into its narrow gorge,
he was attacked by the men of Lorn, who, from
the surrounding heights, hurled down stones
upon him accompanied with loud shouts.
They then commenced a closer attack, but,
being instantly assailed in the rear by Douglas's
division, and assaulted by the Icing with great
fury in front, they were thrown into complete
disorder, and defeated with great slaughter.
Macdougall, who was, during the action, on
board a small vessel in Loch Etive, waiting the
result, took refuge in his castle of Dunstaffnage.
After ravaging the territory of Lorn, and giving
it up to indiscriminate plunder, Bruce laid siege
to the castle, which, after a slight resistance,
was surrendered by the lord of Lorn, who
swore homage to the king ; but John, the son
of the chief, refused to submit, and took refuge
in England.

During the civil wars among the competi-
tors for the Scottish crown, and those under
Wallace and Bruce for the independence of
Scotland, the Highlanders scarcely ever appear
as participators in those stirring scenes which
developed the resources, and called forth the
jhivalry of Scotland ; but we are not to infer

from the silence of history that they were less
alive than their southern countrymen to the
honour and glory of their country, or that
they did not contribute to secure its indepen-
dence. General Stewart says that eighteen
Highland chiefs4 fought under Robert Bruce at
Bannockburn; and as these chiefs would be ac-
companied by their vassals, it is fair to suppose
that Highland prowess lent its powerful aid to
obtain that memorable victory which secured
Scotland from the dominion of a foreign
yoke.

After Robert Bruce had asserted the inde-
pendence of his country by the decisive battle
of Bannockburn, the whole kingdom, with the
exception of some of the western islands, under
John of Argyle, the ally of England, submitted
to his authority. He, therefore, undertook an
expedition against those isles, in which he was
accompanied by Walter, the hereditary high-
steward of Scotland, his son-in-law, who, by
his marriage with Marjory, King Robert's
daughter, laid the foundation of the Stewart
dynasty. To avoid the necessity of doubling
the Mull of Kintyre, which was a dangerous
attempt for the small vessels then in use,
Robert sailed up Loch-Fyne to Tarbert with hia
fleet, which he dragged across the narrow isth-
mus between the lochs of East and West Tar-
bert, by means of a slide of smooth planks of
trees laid parallel to each other. It had long
been a superstitious belief amongst the inha-
bitants of the Western Islands, that they
should never be subdued till their invaders
sailed across this neck of land, and it is
said that Robert was thereby partly induced
to follow the course he did to impress upon the
minds of the islanders a conviction that the
time of their subjugation had arrived. The
islanders were quickly subdued, and John of
Lorn, who, for his services to Edward of Eng-
land, had been invested with the title of Ad-
miral of the Western fleet of England, was
captured and imprisoned first in Dumbarton

4 The chiefs at Bannockbnrn were Mackay, Mackin-
tosh, llacpherson, Cameron, Sinclair, Campbell,
Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson, Grant,
Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mac-
kenzie, and Macquarrie. After the lapse of live
hundred years since the battle of Bannockbnrn was
fought, it is truly astonishing to find such a number
of direct descendants who are now in existence, and
still possessed of their paternal estates.

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

castle, and afterwards in the castle of Loch
Leven, where lie died.

The feeble and effeminate reign of David II.
was disturbed by another revolt by the Lord
of the Isles, who was backed in his attempt to
throw off his dependence by a great number of
the Highland chiefs. David, with "an un-
wonted energy of character, commanded the
attendance of the steward, with the prelates
and barons of the realm, and surrounded by
this formidable body of vassals and retainers,
proceeded against the rebels in person. The
expedition was completely successful. The
rebel prince, John of the Isles, with a numer-
ous train of those wild Highland chieftains
who followed his banner, and had supported
him in his attempt to thr'ow off his dependence,
met the king at Inverness, and submitted to
his authority. He engaged in the most solemn
manner, for himself and his vassals, that they
should yield themselves faithful and obedient
subjects to David, their liege lord ; and not
only give due and prompt obedience to the
ministers and officers of the king in suit and
service, as well as in the payment of taxes and
public burdens, but that they would coerce and
put down all others, of whatever rank or de-
gree, who dared to raise themselves in opposi-
tion to the royal authority, and would compel
them either to submit, or would pursue and
banish them from their territories : for the ful-
filment of which obligation the Lord of the
Isles not only gave his own oath, under the
penalty of forfeiting his whole principality if
it was broken, but offered the high-steward, his
father-in-law, as his security, and delivered his
lawful son, Donald, his grandson, Angus, and
his natural son, also named Donald, as hostages
for the strict performance of the articles of the
treaty."5 The deed by which John of the
Isles bound liimself to the performance of these
stipulations is dated 15th November, 1369. 6

To enable him the better to succeed in re-
ducing the inhabitants of the Highlands and
islands to the obedience of the laws, it is stated
by an old historian, 7 that David used artifice
by dividing the chiefs, and promising high re-

5 Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 185. Robert-
son's Parliamentary Records, p. 115.

6 Vide the Deed printed in the Appendix to Tytler's
History, vol. ii.

7 Fordun a G )odal, vol. ii. p. 380.

wards to those who should slay or capture theb
brother chiefs. The writer says that this dia
bolical plan, by implanting the seeds of dis-
union and war amongst the chiefs, succeeded ;
and that they gradually destroyed one another
a statement, to say the least of it, highly im-
probable. Certain it is, however, that it was
in this reign that the practice of paving manrent
began, when the powerful wished for followers,
and the weak wanted protection, a circumstance
which shows that the government was too
weak to afford protection to the oppressed, or
to quell the disputes of rival clans.

In the year 1333,8 John Monroe, the tutoi
of Foulis, in travelling homeward, on his jour-
ney from Edinburgh to Boss, stopped on a
meadow in Stratherdale that he and his ser-
vants might get some repose. While they
were asleep, the owner of the meadow cut off
the tails of their horses. Being resolved to
wipe off this insult, he immediately, on his
return home to Eoss, summoned his whole
kinsmen and followers, and, after inform-
ing them how he had been used, craved their
aid to revenge the injury. The clan, of
course, complied ; and, having selected 350
of the best and ablest men among them,
he returned to Stratherdale, which he. wasted
and spoiled; killed some of the inhabitants,
and carried off their cattle. In passing by the
isle of Moy, on his return home, Macintosh,
the chief of the clan Chattan, being urged by
some person who bore Monroe a grudge, sent
a message to him demanding a share of the
spoil. This was customary among the High-
landers when a party drove cattle which had
been so taken through a gentleman's land, and
the part so exacted was called a Staoig Rathaid,
or Staoig Creicli, that is, a Eoad Collop. Mon-
roe, not being disposed to quarrel, offered Mac-
intosh a reasonable share, but this he was
advised not to accept, and demanded the half
of the booty. Monroe refused to comply with
such an unreasonable demand, and proceeded
on his journey. Macintosh, determined to en-
force compliance, immediately collected his
lansmen, and went in pursuit of Monroe,
•whom he overtook at Clach-na-Haire, near In-

8 This is the date assigned by Sir Robert Gordon,
jut Shaw makes it more than a century later, viz., in
1454.

FEUD BETWEEN THE CLAN CHATTAN AND THE CAMEEONS.

65

verness. As soon as Monroe saw Macintosh
approaching, ho sent home five of his men to
Forrindonald with the cattle, and prepared for
action. But Macintosh paid dearly for his ra-
pacity and rashness, for he and the greater part
of his men were killed in the conflict. Several
of the Monroes also were slain, and John Mon-
roe himself was left for dead in the field of
battle, and might have died if the predecessor
of Lord Lovat had not carried him to his house
in the neighbourhood, where he was cured of
his wounds. One of his hands was so muti-
lated, that he lost the use of it the remainder
of his life, on which account he was afterwards
called John Bac-laiinh, or Ciotach.9

Besides the feuds of the clans in the reign of
David II., the Highlands appear to have been
disturbed by a formidable insurrection against
the government, for, in a parliament which
was held at Scone, in the year 1366, a resolu-
tion was entered into to seize the rebels in Ar-
gyle, Athole, Badenoch, Lochaber, and Eoss,
and all others who had risen up against the
royal authority, and to compel them to submit
to the laws. The chief leaders in this commo-
tion (of which the bare mention in the parlia-
mentary record is the only account which has
reached us,) were the Earl of Eoss, Hugh de
Eoss, John of the Isles, John of Lorn, and
John de Haye, who were all summoned to at-
tend the parliament and give in their submis-
sion, but they all refused to do so in the most
decided manner; and as the government was
too weak to compel them, they were suffered
to remain independent.

In the year 1386, a feud having taken place
between the clan Chattan and the Camerons, a
battle took place in which a great number of
the elan Chattan were killed, and the Camerons
were nearly cut off to a man. The occasion of
the quarrel was as follows. The lands of Macin-
tosh a in Lochaber, were possessed by the Ca-

• Sir R. Gordon, p. 47.— Shaw, p. 264.

1 According to that eminent antiquary, the Rev.
Donald Macintosh, non-juring episcopal clergyman,
in his historical illustrations of his Collections of Gaelic
Proverbs, published in 1785, the ancestor of Macin-
tosh became head of the clan Chattan in this way.
During these contests for the Scottish crown, which
succeeded the death of King Alexander III., and fa-
voured the pretensions of the King of the Isles, the
latter styling himself " King," had, in 1291, sent his
nephew Angus Macintosh of Macintosh to Dougall
Dall (blind) MacGillichattan, chief of the clan Chat-
I.

morons, who were so tardy in the payment of
their rents that Macintosh was frequently
obliged to levy them by force by carrying off
his tenants' cattle. The Camerons were so
irritated at having their cattle poinded and
taken away, that they resolved to make repri-
sals, preparatory to which they marched into
Badenoch to the number of about 400 men,
under the command of Charles Macgilony.
As soon as Macintosh became acquainted
with this movement ho called his clan and
friends, the Macphersons and Davidsons, to-
gether. His force was superior to that of the
Camerons, but a dispute arose among the chiefs
which almost proved fatal to them. To Mac-
intosh, as captain of the clan Chattan, the
command of the centre of the army was as-
signed with the consent of all parties; but a
difference took place between Cluny and Iii-
vernahavon, each claiming the command of the
right wing. Cluny demanded it as the chief
of the ancient clan Chattan, of which the Da-
vidsons of Invernahavon were only a branch ;
but Invernahavon contended that to him, as
the oldest branch, the command of the right
wing belonged, according to the custom of the
clans. The Camerons came up during this
quarrel about precedency, on which Macin-
tosh, as umpire, decided against the claim of
Cluny. This was a most imprudent award, as
the Macphersons exceeded both the Macin-
toshes and Davidsons in numbers, and they
were, besides, in the country of the Macpher-
sons. These last were so offended at the deci-
sion of Macintosh that they withdrew from
the field, and became, for a time, spectators of
the action. The battle soon commenced, and
was fought with great obstinacy. Many of the
Macintoshes, and almost all the Davidsons,
were cut off by the superior number of the Ca-

tan, or Macphersons, to acquaint him that " the king "
was to pay him a visit. Macpherson, or MacGillichat-
tan, as ho was named, in honour of the founder of the
family Gillichattan* Mor, having an only child, a
daughter, who, he dreaded, might attract an incon-
venient degree of royal notice, offered her in marriage
to Macintosh along with his lands, and the station of
the chief of the clan Chattan. Macintosh accepted
the offer, and was received as chief of the lady's clan.

* " A votary or servant of St. Kattan," a most popular
Scottish saint, we have thus GUlichallun^, meaning a " vo-
tary of Columba," and of which another form is Malcolm
or Motealm, the prefix Mol being corrupted into Mai,
signifying the same as Gilly. Thus (Htty-Dhia, is the
etymon of Culdce, signifying "servant of God," — GilK-
chrut means " servant of Christ."

66

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

merons. Tlie Macpliersons seeing their friends
and neighbours almost overpowered, could no
longer restrain themselves, and friendship got
the tetter of their wounded pride. They,
therefore, at this perilous crisis, rushed in
upon the Camerons, who, from exhaustion and
the loss they had sustained, were easily de-
feated. The few that escaped, with their
leader, were pursued from Invernahavon, the
place of battle, three miles above Euthven, to
Badenoch. Charles Macgilony was killed on a
hill in Glenbenchir, which was long called
Torr-Thearlaich, i. e., Charles'-hill.2

In the opinion of Shaw this quarrel about
precedency was the origin of the celebrated ju-
dicial conflict, which took place on the North
Inch of Perth, before Eobert III., his queen,
Annabella Drummond, and the Scottish no-
bility, and some foreigners of distinction, in
the year 1396, and of which a variety of ac-
counts have been given by our ancient histor-
ians. The parties to this combat were the
Macphersons, properly the clan Chattan, and
the Davidsons of Invernahavon, called in the
Gaelic Clann-Dhaibhidh. The Davidsons were
not, as some writers have supposed, a separate
clan, but a branch of the clan Chattan. These
rival tribes had for a long period kept up a
deadly enmity with one another, which was
difficult to be restrained ; but after the award
by Macintosh against the Macphersons, that
enmity broke out into open strife, and for ten
years the Macphersons and the Davidsons car-
ried on a war of extermination, and kept the
country in an uproar.

To put an end to these disorders, it is said
that Eobert III. sent Dunbar, Earl of Moray,
and Lindsay of Glenesk, afterwards Earl of
Crawford, two of the leading men of the king-
dom, to endeavour to effect an amicable ar-
rangement between the contending parties;
but having failed in their attempt, they pro-
posed that the differences should be decided in
open combat before the king. Tytler3 is of
opinion that, the notions of the Norman knights
having by this time become familiar to the
fierce mountaineers, they adopted the singular
idea of deciding their quarrel by a combat of
30 against 30. Burton, however, with his

8 Shaw's History of Moray, pp. 260, 261 .
» Vol. iu. pp. 76, 77.

usual sagacity, remarks that, "for a whole
race to submit to the ordeal of battle would im-
ply the very highest devotion to those rules of
chivalry which were an extravagant fashion in
all the countries under the Norman influence,
but were utterly unknown to the Highlanders,
who submitted when they must submit, and
retaliated when they could. That such an ad-
justment could be effected among them is about
as incredible as a story about a parliamentary
debate in Persia, or a jury trial in Tiinbuctoo."4
The beautiful and perfectly level meadow on
the banks of the Tay at Perth, known as the
North Inch, was fixed on, and the Monday
before Michaelmas was the day appointed for
the combat. According to Sir Eobert Gordon,
who is followed by Sir Eobert Douglas and
Mr. Mackintosh, it was agreed that no weapon
but the broad sword was to be employed, but
Wyntoun, who lived about the time, adds
bows, battle-axes, and daggers.
' ' All thai entrit in Barreris,
With Bow and Axe, Knyf and Swerd,
To deal amang them thair last Werd."'

The numbers on each side have been variously
reported. By mistaking the word triceni, used
by Boece and Buchanan, for treceni, some
writers have multiplied them to 300. Bower,
the continuator of Fordun and Wyntoun, how-
ever, mentions expressly 60 in all, or 30 on
either side.

On the appointed day the combatants made
their appearance on the North Inch of Perth,
to decide, in presence of the king, his queen,
and a large concourse of the nobility, their re-
spective claims to superiority. Barriers had
been erected on the ground to prevent the
spectators from encroaching, and the king and
his party took their stations upon a platform
from which they could easily view the combat.
At length the warriors, armed with sword and
target, bows and arrows, short knives and
battle-axes, advanced within the barriers, and
eyed one another with looks of deadly revenge.
When about to engage, a circumstance occurred
which postponed the battle, and had well-nigh
prevented it altogether. According to some
accounts, one of the Macphersons fell sick;
but Bower says, that when the troops had been

« Vol. iil p. 72.

BATTLE OF THE NORTH INCH.

67

marshalled, one of tho Macphersons, panic-
Btruck, slipped tlirough the crowd, plunged
into the Tay and swam across, and, though
pursued by thousands, effected his escape.
Sir Robert Gordon merely observes, that, " at
their entrio into tho feild, the clan Chattan
lacked one of their number, who wes privilie
stolne away, not willing to be pertaker of so
deir a bargane." A man being now wanting
on one side, a pause ensued, and a proposal
was made that one of tho Davidsons should
retire, that tho number on both sides might be
equal, but they refused. As the combat could
not proceed from this inequality of numbers,
the king was about to break up the assembly,
when a diminutive and crooked, but fierce
man, named Henry Wynd, a burgher of Perth,
better known to readers of Scott as Hal o' the
Wynd, and an armourer by trade, sprung with-
in tho barriers, and, as related by Bower, thus
addressed the assembly: "Here am I. Will
any one fee me to engage with these hirelings
in this stage play? For half a mark will I try
tho game, provided, if I escape alive, I have
my board of one of you so long as I live.
Greater love, as it is said, hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. What, then, shall be my reward,
who stake my life for the foes of the common-
wealth and realm?" This demand of Gow
Crom, " Crooked Smith," as Henry was fami-
liarly styled, adds Bower, was granted by the
king and nobles. A murderous conflict now
began. The armourer, bending his bow, and
sending the first arrow among the opposite
party, killed one of them. After showers of
arrows had been discharged on both sides, the
combatants, with fury in their looks, and re-
venge in their hearts, rushed upon one another,
and a terrific scene ensued, which appalled the
heart of many a valorous knight who witnessed
the bloody tragedy. The violent thrusts of
the daggers, and the tremendous gashes in-
flicted by the two-handed swords and battle-
axes, hastened the work of butchery and death.
"Heads were cloven asunder, limbs were
lopped from the trunk. The meadow was
soon flooded witli blood, and covered with
dead and wounded men."5

* Tales of a Grandfather, vol. ii.

After tho crooked armourer had killed his
man, as already related from Bower, it is said
that he either sat down or drew aside, which
being observed by the leader of Cluny's band,
he asked his reason for thus stopping ; on
which Wynd said, " Because I have fulfilled
my bargain, and earned my wages." — "The
man," exclaimed the other, "who keeps no
reckoning of his good deeds, without reckoning
shall be repaid," an observation which tempted
the armourer to earn, in the multiplied deaths
of his opponents, a sum exceeding by as many
times the original stipulation. This speech of
the leader has been formed into the Gaelic
adage,

" Am fear nach cunnladh rium
Cha chimntainn ns,"

which Macintosh thus renders,

" The man that reckons not with me
I will not reckon with him."

Victory at last declared for the Maephersons,
but not until 29 of the Davidsons had fallen
prostrate in the arms of death. Nineteen of
Cluny's men also bit the dust, and the remain-
ing 11, with the exception of Henry Wynd,
who by his excellence as a swordsman had
mainly contributed to gain the day, were all
grievously wounded. The survivor of the
clan Davidson escaped unhurt. Mackintosh
following Buchanan, relates that this man,
after all his companions had fallen, threw him-
self into the Tay, and making the opposite
bank, escaped ; but this is most likely a new ver-
sion of Bower's account of the affrighted cham-
pion before the commencement of the action.

The leader of the clan Kay or Davidsons is
called by Bower Schea-beg, and by Wyntoun,
Scha-Ferquharis son, Boece calls him Strat-
berge. Who Christi-Mac-Iain, or Christi-Jon-
ton was genealogically, we are not informed ;
but one thing is pretty clear, that he, not
Schea-beg, or Shaw Oig, — for these are obvi-
ously one and the same, — commanded the clan
Chattan, or " Clamw-Chait."6 Both the prin-
cipals seem to have been absent, or spectators
merely of the battle ; and as few of the lead-
ing men of the clan, it is believed, were parties

' For a more thorough discussion of this fight,
e account of the Clan Mackintosh in Vol. II

.see

68

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

in the combat, the savage policy of the govern-
ment, which, it is said, had taken this method
to rid itself of the chief men of the clan, by
making them destroy one another, was com-
pletely defeated. This affair seems to have
produced a good effect, as the Highlanders re-
mained quiet for a considerable time thereafter.
The disorders in the Highlands occasioned
by the feuds of the clans were, about the period
in question, greatly augmented by Alexander
of Badenoch, fourth son of Eobert II., whom
he had constituted Lieutenant or governor from
the limits of Moray to the Pentland Frith.
This person, from the ferocity of his disposi-
tion, obtained the appropriate appellation of
" the Wolf of Badenoch." Avaricious as well

Efligy of "the Wolf of Badenoch" in Dunkehl Cathedral.

as cruel, the Wolf seized upon the lands of
Alexander Barr, bishop of Moray, and as he
persisted in keeping violent possession of them,
he was excommunicated. The sentence of ex-
communication not only proved unavailing, but
tended to exasperate the Lord of Badenoch to
such a degree of fury that, in the month of
May, 1390, he descended from his heights and
burnt the town of Forres, with the choir of the
church and the manse of the archdeacon. And
in June following, he burnt the town of Elgin,
the church of Saint Giles, the hospital of Mai-
son-Dieu, and the cathedral, with eighteen
houses of the canons and chaplains in the
college of Elgin. He also plundered these
churches of their sacred utensils and vestments,
which he carried off. For this horrible sacri-
lege the Lord of Badenoch was prosecuted, and
obliged to make due reparation. Upon making
his submission he was absolved by Walter Trail,

bishop of St. Andrews, in the church of the
Black Friars, in Perth. He was first received
at the door, and afterwards before the high
altar, in presence of the king (Eobert III. his
brother,) and many of the nobility, on condi-
tion that he should make full satisfaction to
the bishop of Moray, and obtain absolution
from the pope. 6

The Lord of Badenoch had a natural son,
named Alexander Stewart, afterwards Earl of
Mar, who inherited the vices of his father.
Bent upon spoliation and bloodshed, and re-
solved to imitate liis father's barbarous exploits,
he collected, in 1392, a vast number of cateraus,
armed only with the sword and target, and
with these he descended from the range of hills
which divides the county of Aberdeen and
Forfar, devastated the country, and murdered
the inhabitants indiscriminately. A force was
instantly collected by Sir Walter Ogilvy, sheriff
of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David Lind
say of Glenesk, to oppose him, and although
inferior in numbers, they attacked Stewart and
his party of freebooters at Gasklune, near the
water of Ha. A desperate conflict took place,
which was of short duration. The caterans
fought with determined bravery, and soon over-
powered their assailants. The sheriff, his bro-
ther, Wat of Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony,
the lairds of Cairncross, Forfar, and Guthry,
and 60 of their followers, were slain. Sir
Patrick Gray and Sir David Lindsay were
severely wounded, and escaped with difficulty.
Winton has preserved an anecdote illustrative
of the fierceness of the Highlanders. Lindsay
had run one of them, a strong and brawny
man, through the body with a spear, and
brought him to the earth ; but although in the
agonies of death, he writhed himself up, and
with the spear sticking in his body, struck
Lindsay a desperate blow with his sword, which
cut him through the stirrup and boot into the
bone, on which he instantly fell and expired. 7

Nicolas, Earl of Sutherland, had a feud with
Y-Mackay of Far, in Strathnaver, chief of the
Clanwig-worgm, and his son Donald Mackay.
in which many lives were lost, and great de-
predations committed on both sides. In order

8 Shaw's Moray, pp. 314-15.— Winton, vol. ii. p,
363.— Keith's Catalogue, p. 83.
7 Winton, vol. ii. p. 369.

DISTURBANCES IN SUTHERLAND— EAELDOM OF EOSS.

to put an end to this difference, the Earl pro-
posed a meeting of the parties at Dingwall, to
be held in presence of the Lord of the Isles,
his father-in-law, and some of the neighbouring
gentry, the friends of the two families. The
meeting having been agreed to, the parties mot
at the appointed time, in the year 1395, and
took up their residence in the castle of Ding-
wall in apartments allotted for them. A dis-
cussion then took place between the Earl and
Mackay, regarding the points in controversy,
in which high and reproachful words were ox-
changed, which so incensed the Earl, that he
killed Mackay and his son with his own hands.
Having with some difficulty effected his escape
from the followers and servants of the Mac-
kays, he immediately returned home and pre-
pared for defence, but the Mackays were too
weak to take revenge. The matter was in
some degree reconciled between Robert, the
successor of Nicolas, and Angus Mackay, the
eldest son of Donald. 8

Some years after this event a serious conflict
took place between the inhabitants of Suther-
land and Strathnaver, and Malcolm Macleod
of the Lewis, which arose out of the following
circumstances. Angus Mackay above men-
tioned, had married a sister of Malcolm Mac-
lood, by whom he had two sons, Angus
Dow, and Roriegald. On the death of Angus,
Houcheon Dow Mackay, a younger brother, be-
came tutor to his nephews, and entered upon
the management of their lands. Malcolm Mac-
leod, understanding that his sister, the widow
of Angus, was ill treated by Houcheon Dow,
went on a visit to her, accompanied by a num-
ber of the choicest men of his country, with the
determination of vindicating her cause either
by entreaty or by force. He appears not to
have succeeded in his object, for he returned
homeward greatly discontented, and in revenge
laid waste Strathnaver and a great part of the
Breachat in Sutherland, and carried off booty
along with him. As soon as Houcheon Dow
and his brother Neill Mackay learnt this in-
telligence, they acquainted Robert, Earl of
Sutherland, between whom and Angus Mackay
a reconciliation had been effected, who imme-
diately despatched Alexander Ne-Shrem-Gorme

8 Sir Robert Gordon's History, p. 60.

(Alexander Murray of Cubin,) with a number
of stout and resolute men, to assist the Mac-
kays. They followed Macleod with great haste,
and overtook himat'fittum-Turwigh, upon the
marches between Ross and Sutherland. The
pursuing party at first attempted to recover the
goods and cattle which had been carried off,
but this being opposed by Macleod and his
men, a desperate conflict ensued, in which
great valour was displayed on both sides. It
" was long, furious, cruel, and doubtful," says
Sir Robert Gordon, and was " rather desperate
than resolute." At last the Lewismen, with
their commander, Malcolm Macleod, nick-
named Gilealm Beg M'Bowen, were slain, and
the goods and cattle were recovered. One
man alone of Macleod's party, who was sorely
wounded, escaped to bring home the sorrowful
news to the Lewis, which he had scarcely de-
livered when he expired.9

These feuds were followed by a formidable in-
surrection, or more correctly, invasion, in 1411,
by Donald, Lord of the Isles, of such a serious
nature as to threaten a dismemberment of the
kingdom of Scotland. The male succession to
the earldom of Ross having become extinct,
the honours of the peerage devolved upon a
female, Euphemia Ross, wife of Sir "Walter
Lesley. Of this marriage there were two chil-
dren, Alexander, afterwards Earl of Ross, and
Margaret, afterwards married to the Lord of the
Isles. Earl Alexander married a daughter of
the Duke of Albany. Euphemia, Countess of
Ross, was the only issue of this marriage, but
becoming a nun she resigned the earldom of
Ross in favour of her nncle John Stewart, Earl
of Buchan. The Lord of the Isles conceiving
that the countess, by renouncing the world,
had forfeited her title and estate, and, more-
over, that she had no right to dispose thereof,
claimed both in right of Margaret his wife.
The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, at
whose instigation the countess had made the
renunciation, of course refused to sustain the
claim of the prince of the islands. The Lord
of the Isles having formed an alliance with
England, whence he was to be supplied
with a fleet far superior to the Scottish, at
the head of an army of 10,000 men, fully

* Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 61, 62.

70

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

equipped and armed after the fashion of the
islands with bows and arrows, pole-axes, knives,
and swords, in 1411 burst like a torrent upon
the earldom, and carried everything before him.
He, however, received a temporary check at
Dingwall, where he was attacked with great
impetuosity by Angus Dubh Mackay of Parr,
or Black Angus, as he was called ; but Angus
was taken prisoner, and his brother Roderic
Gald and many of his men were killed.

Flushed with the progress he had made,
Donald now resolved to carry into execution
a threat he had often made to burn the town
of Aberdeen. For this purpose he ordered his
army to assemble at Inverness, and summoned
all the men capable of bearing arms in the
Boyno and the Enzie, to join his standard on
his way south. This order being complied
with, the Lord of the Isles marched through
Moray without opposition. He committed
great excesses in Strathbogie and in the dis-
trict of Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of
Mar. The inhabitants of Aberdeen were in
dreadful alarm at the near approach of this
marauder and his fierce hordes; but their fears
were allayed by the speedy appearance of a
well-equipped army, commanded by the Earl
of Mar, who bore a high military character,
assisted by many brave knights and gentlemen
in Angus and the Mearns. Among these were
Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir
James Scrymgeour, constable of Dundee and
hereditary standard-bearer of Scotland, Sir
William de Abemethy of Salton, nephew to
the Duke of Albany, Sir Robert Maule of Pan-
mure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, and Sir
Robert Melville. The Earl was also joined by
Sir Robert Davidson, the Provost of Aberdeen,
and a party of the burgesses.

Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched by
Inverury, and descried the Highlanders sta-
tioned at the village of Harlaw, on the water of
Ury,near its junction with the Don. Mar soon
saw that he had to contend with tremendous
odds; but although his forces were, it is said,
only a tenth of those opposed to him, he
resolved, from the confidence he had in his
steel-clad knights, to risk a battle. Having
placed a small but select body of knights and
men-at-arms in front, iinder the command of
the constable of Dundee and tho sheriff of

Angus, the Earl drew up the main strength of
his army in the rear, including the Murrays,
the Straitens, the Maules, the Irvings, the
Lesleys, the Levels, the Stirlings, headed by
their respective chiefs. The Earl then placed
himself at the head of this body. At the head
of the Islesmen and Highlanders was the Lord
of the Isles, subordinate to whom were Mac-
intosh and Maclean and other Highland chiefs,
all bearing the most deadly hatred to their
Saxon foes, and panting for revenge.

On a signal being given, the Highlanders
and Islesmen, setting up those terrific shouts
and yells which they were accustomed to raise
on entering into battle, rushed forward upon
their opponents ; but they were received with
great firmness and bravery by the knights,
who, with their spears levelled, and battle-axes
raised, cut down many of their impetuous but
badly armed adversaries. After the Low-
landers had recovered themselves from the
shock which the furious onset of the High-
landers had produced, Sir James Scrymgeour,
at the head of the knights and bannerets who
fought under him, cut his way through the
thick columns of the Islesmen, carrying death
everywhere around him; but the slaughter of
hundreds by this brave party did not intimi-
date the Highlanders, who kept pouring in by
thousands to supply the place of those who
had fallen. Surrounded on all sides, no alterna-
tive remained for Sir James and his valorous
companions but victory or death, and the latter
was their lot. The constable of Dundee was
amongst the first who suffered, and his fall so en-
couraged the Highlanders, that seizing and stab-
bing the horses, they thus unhorsed their riders,
whom they despatched with their daggers. In
the meantime the Earl of Mar, who had pene-
trated with his main army into the very heart
of the enemy, kept up the unequal contest
with great bravery, and, although he lost dur-
ing the action almost the whole of his army,
he continued the fatal struggle with a handful
of men till nightfall. The disastrous result
of this battle was one of the greatest mis-
fortunes which had ever happened to the
numerous respectable families in Angus and
the Mearns. Many of these families lost
not only their head, but every male in tho
house. Lesley of Balquhain is said to have

BATTLE OF IIARLAW.

71

fallen with six of his sons. Besides Sir James
Srrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy the slieriff
of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy,
Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule of Pan-
mure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir Wil-
liam Abernethy of Salton, Sir Alexander Strai-
ten of Lauriston, James Lovel, and Alexander
Stirling, and Sir Robert Davidson, Provost of
Aberdeen, with 500 men-at-arms, including
the principal gentry of Buchan, and the greater
part of the burgesses of Aberdeen who fol-
lowed their Provost, were among the slain.
The Highlanders left 900 men dead on the
field of battle, including the chiefs Maclean
and Mackintosh. This memorable battle was
fought on the eve of the feast of St. James the
Apostle, July 25th, 1411. It was the final
contest for supremacy between the Celt and
the Teuton, and appears to have made at the
time an inconceivably deep impression on the
national mind. For more than a hundred
years, it is said, the battle of Harlaw continued
to be fought over again by schoolboys in their
play. "It fixed itself in the music and the
poetry of Scotland ; a march, called the ' Battle
of Harlaw,' continued to be a popular air down
to the time of Drummond of Hawthornden,
and a spirited ballad, on the same event, is
still repeated in our age, describing the meeting
of the armies, and the deaths of the chiefs, in
no ignoble strain."1

Mar and the few brave companions in arms
who survived the battle, passed the night on
the field; when morning dawned, they found
that the Lord of the Isles had retreated during
the night, by Inverury and the hill of Benochy.
To pursue him was impossible, and he was

1 Tytler, vol. iii. p. 177.
concludes thus: —

The ballad of the Battle

There was not, sin" King Kenneth's days,

Sic strange intestine cruel strife
In Scotlande seen, as ilk man says,

\Yhere monie likelie lost their life ;

Whilk made divorce tween man and wife,
And monie children fatherless,

Whilk in this realm has been full rife;
Lord help these lands ! our wrangs redress !

In July, on Saint James his evin,

That four-and-twenty dismal day,
Twelve hundred, ten score, and eleven

Of years sin' Christ, the soothe to say;

Men will remember, as they may,
When thus the reritie they knaw ;

And monie a ane will nimirnc for aye
The brim battle of the Harlaw.

therefore allowed to retire without molestation,
and to recruit his exhausted strength.2

As soon as the news of the disaster at Hai-
law reached the ears of the Duke of Albany,
then regent of Scotland, he set about collecting
an army, with which he marched in pernon to
the north in autumn, with a determination to
bring the Lord of the Isles to obedience. Hav-
ing taken possession of the castle of Dingwall,
he appointed a governor, and from thence pro-
ceeded to recover the whole of Ross. Donald
retreated before him, and took up his winter-
quarters in the islands. Hostilities were re-
newed next summer, but the contest was not
long or doubtful — notwithstanding some little
advantages obtained by the King of the Isles — •
for he was compelled to give up his claim to
the earldom of Ross, to become a vassal to the
Scottish crown, and to deliver hostages to se-
cure his future good behaviour. A treaty to
this effect was entered into at Pilgilbe or Pol-
gillip, the modern Loch-Gilp, in Argyle

CHAPTER VI.
A. D. 1424-1512.

KINGS or SCOTLAND: —

James I.. 1406—1436.
James II., 1436—1460.

James III., 14CO— 14S8.
James IV., 1488—1613.

James I. — State of Country — Policy of the King to the
Highland Chiefs — Lord of the Isles — Disturbances in
Sutherland — Barbarity of a Robber — James's High-
land Expedition — Disturbances in Caithness— In-
surrection in the West under Donald Balloch — Lord
of the Isles invades Sutherland — Allan of Lorn —
Machinations of Edward IV. with Island Chiefs —
Rebellion of Earl of Ross — Lord of the Isles sub-
mits — Disturbances in Ross and Sutherland — Wiso
Policy of James IV. — Visits Highlands — Feuds in
Sutherland— Highlanders at Flodden.

ON the return of James I., in 1424, from his
captivity in England, he found Scotland, and

* "So ended one of Scotland's most memorable bat-
tles. The contest between the Lowlanders and Don-
ald's host was a contest between foes, of whom their
contemporaries would have said that their ever being
in harmony with each other, or having a feeling of
common interests and common nationality, was not
within the range of rational expectations .....
It will be difficult to make those not familiar with the
tone of feeling in Lowland Scotland at that time be-
lieve that the defeat of Donald of the Isles was felt ta
a more memorable deliverance even than that of Ban-
nockburn." — Burton, vol. iii. pp. 101, 102.

72

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

particularly the Highlands, in a state of thi
most fearful insubordination. Rapine, rob
bory, and an utter contempt of the laws pre-
vailed to an alarming extent, which, requirec
all the energy of a wise and prudent prince
like James, to repress. When these excesses
wore first reported to James, by one of his
nobles, on entering the kingdom, he thus ex-
pressed himself : — " Let God but grant me life,
and there shall not be a spot in my dominions
where the key shall not keep the castle, and
the furze-bush the cow, though I myself should
lead the life of a dog to accomplish it."3 "At
this period, the condition of the Highlands, so
far as is discoverable from the few authentic
documents which have reached our times, ap-
pears to have been in the highest degree rude
and uncivilized. There existed a singular com-
bination of Celtic and of feudal manners.
Powerful chiefs, of Norman name and Norman
blood, had penetrated into the remotest dis-
tricts, and ruled over multitudes of vassals and
serfs, whose strange and uncouth appellatives
proclaim their difference of race in the most
convincing manner.4 The tenure of lands by
charter and seisin, the feudal services due by
the vassal to his lord, the bands of friendship
or of rnanrent which indissolubly united certain
chiefs and nobles to each other, the baronial
courts, and the complicated official pomp of
feudal life, were all to be found in full strength
and operation in the northern counties ; but
the dependence of the barons, who had taken
up their residence in these wild districts, upon
the king, and their allegiance and subordina-
tion to the laws, were less intimate and influ-
ential than in the Lowland divisions of the
country ; and as they experienced less protec-
tion, we have already seen, that in great public
emergencies, when the captivity of the sover-
eign, or the payment of his ransom, called for
the imposition of a tax upon property through-
out the kingdom, these great northern chiefs
thought themselves at liberty to resist the col-
lection within their mountainous principalities.
"Besides such Scoto-Norman barons, how-
ever, there were to be found in the Highlands
and Isles, those fierce aboriginal chiefs, who

3 Fordun a Goodal, voL ii. p. 511.

4 MS. Adv. Lib. Coll. Diplom. a Macferlane, vol.
i. p. 245.— MS. Cart. Moray, 263.

hated the Saxon and the Norman race, and
offered a mortal opposition to the settlement of
all intruders within a country which they con-
sidered their own. They exercised the same
authority over the various clans or septs of
which they were the chosen heads or leaders,
which the baron possessed over his vassals
and military followers ; and the dreadful dis-
putes and collisions which perpetually occurred
between these distinct ranks of potentates,
were accompanied by spoliations, ravages, im-
prisonments, and murders, which had at last
become so frequent and so far extended, that
the whole country beyond the Grampian range
was likely to be cut off, by these abuses, from
all regular communication with the more pacific
parts of the kingdom."6

Having, by a firm and salutary, but perhaps
severe, course of policy, restored the empire of
the laws in the Lowlands, and obtained the
enactment of new statutes for the future wel-
fare and prosperity of the kingdom, James
next turned his attention to his Highland do-
minions, which, as we have seen, were in a do-
plorable state of insubordination, that made
both property and life insecure. The king
determined to visit in person the disturbed
districts, and by punishing the refractory chiefs,
put an end to those tumults and enormities
which had, during his minority, triumphed
over the laws. James, in the year 1427, ar-
rived at Inverness, attended by his parliament,
and immediately summoned the principal chiefs
.here to appear before him. From whatever
motives — whether from hopes of effecting a
reconciliation by a ready compliance with the
mandate of the king, or from a dread, in case
of refusal, of the fate of the powerful barons
of the south who had fallen victims to James's
severity — the order of the king was obeyed, and
he chiefs repaired to Inverness. No sooner,
lowever, had they entered the hall where the
>arliament was sitting, than they were by
order of the king arrested, ironed, and im-
orisoned in different apartments, and debarred
ill communication with each other, or with
heir followers. It has been supposed that
hese chiefs may have boon entrapped by some
air promises on the part of James, and the joy

5 Tytler, vol. iii. pp. 250, 251.

VIGOKOUS rOLICY OF JAMES I.

73

James I.

which, according to Fordun, he manifested at
seeing these turbulent and haughty spirits
caught in the toils which he had prepared for
them, favours this conjecture. The number of
chiefs seized on this occasion is stated to have
amounted to about forty; but the names of
the principal ones only have been preserved.
These were Alaster or Alexander Macdonald,
Lord of the Isles ; Angus Dubh Mackay, with
his four sons, who could bring into the field
4;000 fighting men ; Kenneth More and his
son-in-law, Angus of Moray, and Macmathan,
who could muster 2,000 men ; Alexander Mac-
reiny of Garmoran and John Macarthur, each of
whom could bring into the field 1 ,000 followers.
Besides these were John Ross, James Campbell,
and William Lesley. The Countess of Ross,
the mother of Alexander, the Lord of the Isles,
and heiress of Sir Walter Lesley, was also
apprehended and imprisoned at the same time. 8
The king now determined to inflict summary
vengeance upon his captives. Those who were
most conspicuous for their crimes were imme-
diately executed ; among whom were James
Campbell, who was tried, convicted, and hanged

• Forduu a Hearne, vol. iv. pp. 1283—4.

for the murder of John of the Isles ; and Alex-
ander Macreiny and John Macarthur, who were
beheaded. Alexander of the Isles and Angus
Dubh, after a short confinement, were both
pardoned ; but the latter was obliged to deliver
up, as a hostage for his good behaviour, his
son Neill, who was confined on the Bass rock,
and, from that circumstance, was afterwards
named Neill- Wasse-Mackay. 7 Besides these,
many others who were kept in prison in differ-
ent parts of the kingdom, were afterwards con-
demned and executed.

The royal clemency, which had been extended
so graciously to the Lord of the Isles, met with
an ungrateful return ; for shortly after the king
had returned to his lowland dominions, Alex-
ander collected a force of ten thousand men in
Ross and the Isles, and with this formidable
body laid waste the country ; plundered and
devastated the crown lands, against which his
vengeance was chiefly directed, and razed the
royal burgh of Inverness to the ground. On
hearing of these distressing events, James, with
a rapidity rarely equalled, collected a force, the
extent of which has not been ascertained, and
marched with great speed into Lochaber, where
he found the enemy, who, from the celerity of
his movements, was taken almost by surprise.
Alexander prepared for battle ; but, before its
commencement, he had the misfortune to wit-
ness the desertion of the clan Chattan, and
the clan Cameron, who, to a man, went over
to the royal standard. The king, thereupon,
attacked Alexander's army, which he com-
pletely routed, and the latter sought safety in
flight

Reduced to the utmost distress, and seeing
the impossibility of evading the active vigi-
lance of his pursuers, who hunted him from
place to place, this haughty lord, who con-
sidered himself on a par with kings, resolved
to throw himself entirely on the mercy of the
king, by an act of the most abject submission.
Having arrived in Edinburgh, to which ho had
travelled in the most private manner, the hum-
bled chief suddenly presented himself before
the king, on Easter-Sunday, in the church of
Holyrood, when he and his queen, sumrinded
by the nobles of the court, were employed in

' Sir R. Gordon, p. 64,

R

74

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

their devotions before the high altar. The
extraordinary appearance of the fallen prince
denoted the inward workings of his troubled
mind. Without bonnet, arms, or ornament
of any kind, his legs and arms quite bare, his
body covered with only a plaid, and holding
a naked sword in his hand by the point, he fell
down on his knees before the king, imploring
mercy and forgiveness, and, in token of his un-
reserved submission, offered the hilt of his
sword to his majesty. At the solicitation of
the queen and nobles, James spared his life,
but committed him immediately to Tantallan
castle, under the charge of William Earl of
Angus, his nephew. This took place in the
year 1429. The Countess of Ross was kept in
close confinement in the ancient monastery of
Inchcolm, on the small island of that name, in
the Frith of Forth.8 The king, however, re-
lented, and released the Lord of the Isles and
his mother, after about a year's imprisonment.
About this period happened another of those
bloody frays, which destroyed the internal
peace of the Highlands, and brought ruin and
desolation upon many families. Thomas Mac-
neill, son of Neill Mackay, who was engaged
in the battle of Tuttum-Turwigh, possessed the
lands of Creigh, Spaniziedaill, and Palrossie, in
Sutherland. Having conceived some displea-
sure at Mowat, the laird of Freshwick, the
latter, with his party, in order to avoid his ven-
geance, took refuge in the chapel of St. Duffus,
near the town of Tain, as a sanctuary. Thither
they were followed by Thomas, who not only
slew Mowat and his people, but also burnt the
chapel to the ground. This outrage upon re-
ligion and humanity exasperated the king,
who immediately ordered a proclamation to be
issued, denouncing Thomas Macneill as a rebel,
and promising his lands and possessions as a
reward to any one that would kill or appre-
hend him. Angus Murray, son of Alexander
Murray of Cubin, immediately set about the
apprehension of Thomas Macneill. To accom-
plish his purpose, he held a secret conference
with Morgan and Neill Macneill, the brothers
of Thomas, at which he offered, provided
they would assist him in apprehending their
brother, his two daughters in marriage, and

.8 KoiJun, vol. iv. p. 1286.

promised to aid them in getting peaceable pos-
session of such lands in Strathnaver as they
claimed. This, ho showed them, might be
easily accomplished, with little or no resistance
as Neill Mackay, son of Angus Dubh, from
whom the chief opposition might have been
expected, was then a prisoner in the Bass, and
Angus Dubh, the father, was unable, from
age and infirmity, to defend his pretensions.
Angus Murray also promised to request the
assistance of the Earl of Sutherland. As these
two brothers pretended a right to the posses-
sions of Angus Dubh in Strathnaver, they were
easily allured by these promises ; they imme-
diately apprehended their brother Thomas at
Spaniziedaill in Sutherland, and delivered hini
up to Murray, by whom he was presented to
the king. Macneill was immediately executed
at Inverness, and Angus Murray obtained, in
terms of the royal proclamation, a grant of the
lands of Palrossie and Spaniziedaill from the
king. The lands of Creigh fell into the hands
of the Lord of the Isles, as superior, by the
death and felony of Macneill.9

In pursuance of his promise, Murray gave his
daughters in marriage respectively to Neill and
Morgan Macneill, and with the consent and
approbation of Robert Earl of Sutherland, he
invaded Strathnaver with a party of Suther-
land men, to take possession of the lands of
Angus Dubh Mackay. Angus immediately
collected his men, and gave the command of
them to John Aberigh, his natural son, as he
was unable to lead them in person. Both par-
ties met about two miles from Toung, at a place
called Drum-ne-Coub ; but, before they came
to blows, Angus Dubh Mackay sent a message
to Neill and Morgan, his cousins-german, offer-
ing to surrender them all his lands and posses-
sions in Strathnaver, if they would allow him
to retain Keantayle. This fair offer was, how-
ever, rejected, and an appeal was therefore
immediately made to arms. A desperate con-
flict then took place, in which many were
killed on both sides ; among whom were
Angus Murray and his two sons-in-law, Neill
and Morgan Macneill. John Aberigh, though
he gained the victory, was severely wounded,
and lost one of his arms. After the battle

• Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 64, 65.

POLICY OF JAMES I.— HIGHLAND FEUDS.

78

Angus Dubh Mackay was carried, at his own
request, to the field, to search for tho bodies
of his slain cousins, but ho was killed by an
arrow from a Sutherland man who lay con-
cealed in a bush hard by.

James I. made many salutary regulations for
putting an end to the disorders consequent
upon the lawless state of the Highlands, and
the oppressed looked up to him for protection.
The following remarkable case will give some
idea of the extraordinary barbarity in which
the spoliators indulged : — A notorious thief,
named Donald Ross, who had made himself
rich with plunder, carried off two cows from a
poor woman. This woman having expressed a
determination not to wear shoes again till she
had made a complaint to the king in person,
the robber exclaimed, " It is false : I'll have
you shod before you reach the court;" and
thereupon, with a brutality scarcely paralleled,
the cruel monster took two horse shoes, and
fixed them on her feet with nails driven into
the flesh. Tho victim of this savage act, as
soon as she was able to travel, went to the
king and related to him the whole circum-
stances of her case, which so exasperated him,
that ho immediately sent a warrant to the
sheriff of the county, where Ross resided, for his
immediate apprehension ; which being effected,
he and a number of his associates were sent
ander an escort to Perth, where the court was
then held. Boss was tried and condemned, he
and his friends being treated in the same man-
ner as he had treated the poor woman ; and
before his execution a linen shirt, on which
was painted a representation of his crime, was
thrown over him, in which dress he was paraded
through tho streets of tho town, afterwards
dragged at a horse's tail, and hanged on a gal-
lows.1

The commotions in Strathnaver, and other
parts of the Highlands, induced tho king to
make another expedition into that part of his
dominions ; previous to which he summoned a
Parliament at Perth, wliich was held on the
15th of October, 1431, in which a land-tax, or
" zelde," was laid upon the whole lands of the
kingdom, to defray the expenses of the under-
taking. No contemporary record of this expe-

1 Foriluii a GooJal, vol. ii. p. 510.

dition exists ; but it is said that tho king pro
ceedod to Dunstaflnage castle, to punish those
chiefs who had joined in Donald Balloch's in-
surrection ; that, on his arrival there, numbers
of these came to him and made their submis-
sion, throwing the whole odium of the rebel-
lion upon the leader, whose authority, they
alleged, they were afraid to resist; and that,
by their means, three hundred thieves were ap-
prehended and put to death.

For several years after this expedition the
Highlands appear to have been tranquil ; but,
on the liberation of Neill Mackay from his
confinement on the Bass, in the year 1437,
fresh disturbances began. This restless clu'ef
had scarcely been released, when he entered
Caithness, and spoiled the country. He was
met at a place called Sandsett ; but the people
who came to oppose his progress were defeated,
and many of them were slain. This conflict was
called Ruaig Hanset; that is, the flight, or
chase at Sandsett.

About the same time a quarrel took place be-
tween the Keiths and some others of the inhab-
itants of Caithness. As the Keiths could not
depend upon their own forces, they sought the
aid of Angus Mackay, son of Neill last men-
tioned, who had recently died. Angus agreed
to join the Keiths; and accordingly, accom-
panied by his brother, John Roy, and a chief-
tain named lain-Mor-Mac-Iain-Riabhaich, with
a company of men, he went into Caithness,
and, joining the Keiths, invaded that part of
Caithness hostile to the Keiths. Tho people
of Caithness lost not a moment in assembling
together, and met the Strathnaver men and the
Keiths at a place called Blare-Tannie. Here a
sanguinary contest took place; but victory de-
clared for the Keiths, whose success, it is said,
was chiefly owing to the prowess of lain-Mor-
Mac-Iain-Riabhaich, whose name was, in con-
sequence, long famous in that and the adjoin-
ing country.*

After the defeat of James, Earl of Douglas,
who had renounced his allegiance to James II.,
at Arkinholme, in 1454, he retired into Ar-
gyleshire, where he was received by the Earl
of Ross, with whom, and the Lord of the Isles,
ho entered into an alliance. The ocean prince,

1 Sir R. Gordon, p. 89.

76

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

having a powerful fleet of 500 galleys at
his command, immediately assembled his
vassals, to the amount of 5,000 fighting men,
and, having embarked them in his navy,
gave the command of the whole to Donald
Balloch, Lord of Ma, his near kinsman, a chief
who, besides his possessions in Scotland, had
great power in the north of Ireland. This
potent chief, whose hereditary antipathy to
the Scottish throne was as keen as that of his
relation, entered cheerfully into the views of
Douglas. "With the force under his command
he desolated the western coast of Scotland
from Innerkip to Bute, the Cumbraes and the
Island of Arran ; yet formidable as he was both
in men and ships, the loss was not so consider-
able as might have been expected, from the
prudent precautions taken by the king to re-
pel the invaders. The summary of the damage
sustained is thus related in a contemporary
chronicle : — " There was slain of good men fif-
teen; of women, two or three; of children,
three or four. The plunder included five or
six hundred horse, ten thousand oxen and kine,
and more than a thousand sheep and goats.
At the same time, they burnt down several
mansions in Innerkip around the church; har-
ried all Arran ; stormed and levelled with the
ground the castle of Brodick ; and wasted, with
fire and sword, the islands of the Cumbraes.
They also levied tribute upon Bute ; carrying
away a hundred bolls of malt, a hundred marts,
and a hundred marks of silver." 3

While Donald Balloch was' engaged in this
expedition, the Lord of the Isles, with his
kinsmen and followers to the number of five or
six hundred, made an incursion into Suther-
land, and encamped before the castle of Skibo.
What his object was has not been ascertained;
but, as a measure of precaution, the Earl of
Sutherland sent Neill Murray, son of Angus
Murray, who was slain at Drum-na-Coub, to
watch his motions. The Lord of the Isles im-
mediately began to commit depredations, where-
upon he was attacked by Murray, and com-
pelled to retreat into Eoss with the loss of one
of his captains, named Donald Dubh-na-Soirn,
and fifty of liis men. Exasperated at this de-
feat, Macdonald sent another party of his

8 Auckinledc Chronicle, p. 55.

islanders, along with a company of men from
Eoss, to Strathfleet in Sutherland to lay waste
the country, and thus wipe off the disgrace of
his late defeat. On hearing of this fresh in-
vasion, the Earl of Sutherland despatched his
brother Eobert with a sufficient force to attack
the Clandonald. They met on the sands of
Strathfleet, and, after a fierce and bloody strug-
gle, the islanders and their allies were over-
thrown with great slaughter. Many perished
in the course of their flight. This was the last
hostile irruption of the Clandonald into Suther-
land, as all the disputes between the Lord of
the Isles and the Sutherland family were after-
wards accommodated by a matrimonial alliance

The vigorous administration of James II.,
which checked and controlled the haughty
and turbulent spirit of his nobles, was also
felt in the Highlands, where his power,
if not always acknowledged, was neverthe-
less dreaded ; but upon the death of that
wise prince in 1460, and the accession of his
infant son to the crown, the princes of the
north again abandoned themselves to theii
lawless courses. The first who showed the
example was Allan of Lorn of the Wood, as
he was called, a nephew of Donald Balloch by
Ms sister. Coveting the estate of his eldei
brother, Ker of Lorn, Allan imprisoned him
in a dungeon in the island of Kerrera, with the
view of starving him. to death that he might
the more easily acquire the unjust possession
he desired; but Ker was liberated, and his pro-
perty restored to him by tho Earl of Argyle, to
whom he was nearly related, and who suddenly
attacked Allan with a fleet of galleys, defeated
him, burnt his fleet, and slew the greater part
of his men. This ect, so justifiable in itself,
roused tho revengeful passions of the island
chiefs, who issued from their ocean retreats and
committed the most dreadful excesses.4

After the decisive battle of Teuton, Henry
VI. and his Queen retired to Scotland to watch
tho first favourable opportunity of seizing the
sceptre from the house of York. Edward IV.,
anticipating the danger that might arise to his
crown by an alliance between his rival, tho
exiled monarch, and the king of Scotland, de-
termined to counteract the effects of such a

4 Auchinleck GkronicU, pp. 58, 59.

INTRIGUES OF EDWAED IV.— EAEL OF EOSS EEBELS.

77

connection by a stroke of policy. Aware of
the disaffected disposition of some of the Scot-
tish nobles, and northern and island chiefs, he
immediately entered into a negotiation with
John, Earl of Eoss, and Donald Balloch, to
detach them from their allegiance. On the 19th
of October, 1461, the Earl of Ross, Donald
Balloch, and his son John de Isle, held a coun-
cil of their vassals and dependants at Astornish,
at which it was agreed to send amliassadors to
England to treat with Edward. On the arrival
of these ambassadors a negotiation was entered
into between them and the Earl of Douglas,
and John Douglas of Balveny, his brother, both
of whom had been obliged to leave Scotland
for their treasons in the previous reign. These
two brothers, who were animated by a spirit of
hatred and revenge against the family of their
late sovereign James II., warmly entered into
the views of Edward, whose subjects they had
become ; and they concluded a treaty with the
northern ambassadors which assumed as its
basis nothing less than the entire conquest of
Scotland. Among other conditions, it was sti-
pulated that, upon payment of a specified
sum of money to himself, his son, and ally, the
Lord of the Isles should become for ever the
vassal of England, and should assist Edward
and his successors in the wars in Ireland and
elsewhere. And, in the event of the entire
subjugation of Scotland by the Earls of Eoss
and Douglas, the whole of the kingdom on the
north of the Frith of Forth was to be divided
equally between these Earls and Donald Bal-
loch, and the estates which formerly belonged
to Douglas between the Frith of Forth and the
borders were to be restored to him. This sin-
gular treaty is dated London, 18th February,
H62.5

Pending this negotiation, the Earl of Angus,
at that time one of the most powerful of the
Scottish nobles, having, by the promise of an
English dukedom from the exiled Henry, en-
gaged to assist in restoring him to his crown
and dominions, the Earl of Eoss, before the
plan had been organized, in order to counteract
the attempt, broke out into open rebellion,
which was characterized by all those circum-
stances of barbarous cruelty which clistin-

' Rotuli Scotia, vol. ii. p. 407.

guished the inroads of the princes of the
islands. He first seized the castle of Inver-
ness at the head of a small party, being ad-
mitted unawares by the governor, who did not
suspect his hostile intentions. He then col-
lected a considerable army, and proclaimed
himself king of the Hebrides. With his army
he entered the country of Athole, denounced
the authority of the king, and commanded all
taxes to bo paid to him ; and, after committing
the most dreadful excesses, he stormed the
castle of Blair, dragged the Earl and Countess
of Athole from the chapel of St. Bridget, and
carried them off to Isla as prisoners. It is re-
lated that the Earl of Eoss thrice attempted to
set fire to the holy pile, but in vain. He lost
many of his war-galleys, in a storm of thunder
and lightning, in which the rich booty he had
taken was consigned to the deep. Prepara-
tions were immediately made by the regents
of the kingdom for punishing this rebellious
chief; but these became unnecessary, for,
touched with remorse, he collected the remains
of his plunder, and stripped to his shirt and
drawers, and barefooted, he, along with his
principal followers, in the same forlorn and de-
jected condition, went, to the chapel of St.
Bridget which they had lately desecrated, and
there performed a penance before the altar.
The Earl and Countess of Athole were there-
upon voluntarily released from confinement,
and the Earl of Eoss was afterwards assassi-
nated in the castle of Inverness, by an Irish
harper who bore iiim a grudge.*

Although at this period an account of Ork-
ney and Shetland does not properly belong to
a history of the Highlands, as these islands had
long been the property of the king of Nor-
way, and had a population almost purely Teu-
tonic, with a language, manners, and customs
widely differing from those of the Highlanders
proper ; still it will not be out of place to men-
tion here, that these islands were finally made
over to Scotland in 1469, as security for the
dowry of Margaret of Norway, the wife of
James III.

The successor of the Lord of the Isles — who
was generally more like an independent sov-

• Ferrerius, p. 883.— Lesley de Rebus Oatii Scvto-
mm, p. 300.

78

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

ereign than a subject of the Scottish king — not
being disposed to tender the allegiance which
his father had violated, the king, in the month
of May, 1476, assembled a large army on the
north of the Forth, and a fleet on the west
coast, for the purpose of making a simultaneous
attack upon him by sea and land. Seeing no
hopes of making effectual resistance against
such a powerful force as that sent against him,
he tendered his submission to the king on cer-
tain conditions, and resigned the earldom of
Ross, and the lands of Kintyre and Knapdale,
into his majesty's hands. By this act he was
restored to the king's favour, who forgave him
all his offences, and " infeft him of new " in the
lordship of the Isles and the other lands which
he did not renounce. The Earl of Athole, who
commanded the royal army, was rewarded for
this service by a grant of the lands and forest
of Cluny.7

After the Lord of the Isles had thus resigned
the earldom of Ross into the king's hands, that
province was perpetually molested by incur-
sions from the islanders, who now considered
it a fit theatre for the exercise of their preda-
tory exploits. Gillespic, cousin of the Lord
of the Isles, at the head of a large body of the
islanders, invaded the higher part of Ross and
committed great devastation. The inhabitants,
or as many as the shortness of the time would
permit, amongst whom the Clankenzie were
chiefly distinguished, speedily assembled, and
met the islanders on the banks of the Connan,
where a sharp conflict took place. The Clan-
kenzie fought with great valour, and pressed
the enemy so hard that Gillespic Macdonald
was overthrown, and the greater part of his
men were slain or drowned in the river, about
two miles from Braile, thence called Blar-ua-
Pairc. The predecessor of the Laird of Brodie,
who happened to be with the chief of the Mac-
kenzies at the time, fought with great courage.

For a considerable time the district of Suther-
land had remained tranquil, but on the llth
of July, 1487, it again became the scene of a
bloody encounter between the Mackays and the
Rosses. To revenge the death of a relation, or
to wipe away the stigma of a defeat, were con-
sidered sacred and paramount duties by the

7 Lesley's Hist., p. 41.— Sir K. Gordon, p. 77.

Highlanders ; and if, from the weakness of the
clan, the minority of the chief, or any other
cause, the day of deadly reckoning was de-
layed, the feeling which prompted revenge was
never dormant, and the earliest opportunity
was embraced of vindicating the honour of the
clan. Angus Mackay, son of the famous Neill
of the Bass, having been killed at Tarbert by
a Ross, his son, John Riabhaich Mackay, ap-
plied to John Earl of Sutherland, on whom he
depended, to assist him in revenging his father's
death. The Earl promised his aid, and accord
ingly sent his uncle, Robert Sutherland, with
a company of chosen men, to assist John Mac-
kay. With this force, and such men as John
Mackay and his relation Uilleam-Dubh-Mac-
lain-Abaraich, son of John Aberigh who fought
at Drum-na-Coub, could collect, they invaded
Strath-oy-kell, carrying fire and sword in theit
course, and laying waste many lands belonging
to the Rosses. As soon as the Laird of Balna-
gown, the chief of the Rosses, heard of this
attack, he collected all his forces, and attacked
Robert Sutherland and John Riabhaich Mac-
kay, at a place called Aldy-charrish. A long
and obstinate battle took place ; but the death
of Balnagown and seventeen of the principal
landed gentlemen of Ross decided the combat ,
for the people of Ross, being deprived of their
leader, were thrown into confusion, and utterly
put to flight, with great slaughter.

The fruit of this victory was a large quantity
of booty, which the victors divided the same
day ; but the avarice of the men of Assynt, in-
duced them to instigate John Mackay to resolve
to commit one of the most perfidious and dia-
bolical acts ever perpetrated by men who had
fought on the same side. The design of the
Assynt men was, to cut off Robert Sutherland
and his whole party, and possess themselves of
their share of the spoil, before the Earl of
Sutherland could learn the result of the battle,
that he might be led to suppose that his uncle
and his men had all fallen in the action with
the Rosses. When this plan was divulged to
UiUeam-Dubh-Mac-Iain-Abaraich, he was hor-
rified at it, and immediately sent notice to
Robert Sutherland of it, that he might be upon
his guard. Robert assembled his men upon
receipt of this extraordinary intelligence, told
them of the base intentions of John Mackay,

PKUDENT POLICY OF JAMES IV.

79

»u<l put them in order, to be prepared for the
threatened attack; but on John Eiabhaich
Miickay perceiving that Robert and his party
were prepared to meet him, he slunk off,
and went home to Strathnaver.8

The lawless state of society in the Highlands,
which followed as a consequence from the re-
moval of the seat of government to the Low-
lands, though it often engaged the attention of
the Scottish sovereigns, never had proper re-
medies applied to mend it. At one time the
aid of force was called in, and when that was
found ineffectual, the vicious principle of di-
viding the chiefs, that they might the more
effectually weaken and destroy one another,
was adopted. Both plans, as might be sup-
posed, proved abortive. If the government
had, by conciliatory measures, and by a profu-
sion of favours, suitable to the spirit of the
times, secured the attachment of the heads of
the clans, the supremacy of the laws might
have been vindicated, and the sovereign might
have calculated upon the support of powerful
and trustworthy auxiliaries in his domestic
struggles against the encroachments of the
nobles. Such ideas appear never to have once
entered the minds of the kings, but it was re-
served for James IV., who succeeded to the
throne in 1488, to make the experiment. " To
attach to his interest the principal chiefs of
these provinces, to overawe and subdue the
petty princes who affected independence, to
carry into their territories, hitherto too exclu-
sively governed by their own capricious or
tyrannical institutions, the same system of a
severe, but regular and rapid, administration of
civil and criminal justice, which had been
established in his Lowland dominions, was the
laudable object of the king ; and for this pur-
pose he succeeded, with that energy and activ-
ity which remarkably distinguished him, in
opening up an intercourse with many of the
leading men in the northern counties. With
the captain of the Clanchattan, Duncan Mack-
intosh ; with Ewan, the son of Alan, captain
of the Clancameron ; with Campbell of Glen-
urqhay ; the Macgillcouns of Duart and Loch-
buy; Mackane of Ardnamurchan ; the lairds of
Mackenzie and Grant ; and the Earl of Huntley

' Sir R. Gordon, pp. 78, 79. |

a baron of the most extensive power in those
northern districts — he appears to have been in
habits of constant and regular communication
— rewarding them by presents, in the shape
either of money or of grants of land, and se-
curing their services in reducing to obedience
such of their fellow chieftains as proved contu-
macious, or actually rose in rebellion." '

But James carried his views further. Eightly
judging how much the personal presence of
the sovereign would be valued by his distant
subjects, and the good effects which would re-
sult therefrom, he resolved to visit different
parts of his northern dominions. Accordingly,
in the year 1490, accompanied by his court, he
rode twice from Perth across the chain of
mountains which extends across the country
from the border of the Mearns to the head of
Loch Eannoch, which chain is known by the
name of the " Mount." Again, in 1493, he
twice visited the Highlands, and went as far
as Dunstaffnage and Mengarry, in Ardnamur-
chan. In the following year he visited the
isles no less than three times. His first voy-
age to the islands, which took place in April
and May, was conducted with great state. He
was attended by a vast suite, many of whom
fitted out vessels at their own expense. The
grandeur which surrounded the king impressed
the islanders with a high idea of his wealth
and power ; and his condescension and famili-
arity with all classes of his subjects, acquired
for him a popularity which added strength to
his throne. During these marine excursions
the youthful monarch indulged his passion for
sailing and hunting, and thereby relieved the
tediousness of business by the recreation of
agreeable and innocent pleasures.

The only opposition which James met with
during these excursions was from the restless
Lord of the Isles, who had the temerity to put
the king at defiance, notwithstanding the re
peated and signal marks of the royal favour
he had experienced. But James was not to bo
trifled with, for he summoned the island prince
to stand his trial for " treason in Kintyre ; "
and in a parliament held in Edinburgh shortly
after the king's return from the north, " Sir
John of the Isles," as he is named in the troa-

• Tytler, vol. iv. pp. 867, 38fs.

80

GENEEAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

surer's accounts, was stripped of his power, and
his possessions were forfeited to the crown.

One of those personal petty feuds which were
so prevalent in the Highlands, occurred about
this time. Alexander Sutherland of Dilred,
being unable or unwilling to repay a sum of
money he had borrowed from Sir James Dun-
bar of Cumnock, the latter took legal measures
to secure his debt by appraising part of Dilred's
lands. This proceeding vexed the laird of
Dilred exceedingly, and he took an umbrage at
the Dunbars, who had recently settled in
Sutherland, " grudgeing, as it were," says Sir
E. Gordon, " that a stranger should brawe
(brave) him at his owne doors." Happening
to meet Alexander Dunbar, brother of Sir
James, who had lately married Lady Margaret
Baillie, Countess Dowager of Sutherland, high
words passed between them, a combat ensued,
and, after a long contest, Alexander Dunbar was
killed. Sir James Dunbar thereupon went to
Edinburgh, and laid the matter before King
James IV., who was so exasperated at the
conduct of Alexander Sutherland, that he
immediately proclaimed him a rebel, sent mes-
sengers everywhere in search of him, and pro-
mised his lands to any person that would
apprehend Mm. After some search he was
apprehended with ten of his followers by his
uncle, Y-Eoy-Mackay, brother of John Eeawigh
Mackay already mentioned, who sent him to
the king. Dilred was tried, condemned, and
executed, and his lands declared forfeited.
For this service, Y-Eoy-Mackay obtained from
the king a grant of the lands of Armdall, Far,
Golspietour, Kinnald, Kilcolmkill, and Dilred,
which formerly belonged to Alexander Suther-
land, as was noted in Mackay's infeftment,
dated in 1449.1 " Avarice," says Sir E. Gor-
don, " is a strange vyce, which respects neither
blood nor freindship. This is the first infeft-
ment that any of the familie of Macky had
from the king, so far as I can perceave by the
records of this kingdom ; and they wer untill
this tyme possessors onlie of ther lands in
Strathnaver, not careing much for any charters
or infeftments, as most pairts of the High-
landers have alwise done."

The grant of the king as to the lands over

1 Sir B. Gordon, p. 80

which Sir James Dunbar's security extended,
was called in question by Sir James, who ob-
tained a decree before the lords of council and
session, in February, 1512, setting aside the
right of Y-Eoy-Mackay, and ordaining the Earl
of Sutherland, as superior of the lands, to re-
ceive Sir James Dunbar as his vassal.

A lamentable instance of the ferocity ot
these times is afforded in the case of one of
the Earls of Sutherland, who upon some pro-
vocation slew two of his nephews. This earl,
who was named John, had a natural brother,
Thomas Moir, who had two sons, Eobert
Sutherland and the Keith, so called on account
of his being brought up by a person of that
name. The young men had often annoyed the
Earl, and on one occasion they entered Ms
castle of Dunrobin to brave him to his face, an
act wMch so provoked the Earl, that he in-
stantly killed Eobert in the house. The Keith,
after receiving several wounds, made his es-
cape, but he was overtaken and slain at the
Clayside, near Dunrobin, wMch from that cir-
cumstance was afterwards called Ailein-Cheith,
or the bush of the Keith.

In 1513 a troop of Highlanders helped to
swell the Scotch army on the ever-memorable
and disastrous field of Flodden, but from their
peculiar mode of fighting, so different from
that of the Lowlandors, appear to have been
more a hindrance than a help.

CHAPTEE VII.

A. D. 1516—1588.

KINGS Or SCOTLAND : —

James V., 151S-1642. I Mary, 1642-1667.

James VI., 1667—1603.

Doings in Sutherland — Battle of Torran-Dubh — Fend
between the Keiths and the clan Gun — John llac-
kay and Murray of Aberscors — Alexander Suther-
land, the bastard, claims the Earldom — Contests
between John Mackay and the Master of Sutherland
— Earls of Caithness and Sutherland — Dissensions
among the clan Chattan— Hector Macintosh elected
Captain — His doings — Disturbances in Sutherland
— Feuds between the Clanranald and Lord Lovat — •
The ' Field of Shirts'— Earl of Huntly's Expedition
— Commotions in Sutherland — Earl of Huntly and
the Clanranald — The Queen Eegent visits the High-
lands— Commotions in Sutherland — Queen Mary'i
Expedition against Huntly — Earl and Countess of
Sutherland poisoned — Earl of Caithness' treatment
of the young Earl of Sutherland — Quarrel between

I'.ATTLE OF TORKAN-DUBH.

81

the Monroes and clan Kenzie — Doings of the Earl
of Caithness — Unruly state of the North — The clan
Chattixn — Reconciliation of the Earls of Sutherland
and Caithness — The Earl of Sutherland and the clan
Gun — Disastrous Feud between the Macdonalds and
Macleans — Disputes between the Earls of Sutherland
and Caithness — Reconciliation between llackay and
the Earl of Sutherland.

IN the year 1516, Adam Earl of Sutherland,
in anticipation of threatened dangers in the
north, entered into bonds of friendship and
alliance with the Earl of Caithness for mutual
protection and support. The better to secure
the goodwill and assistance of the Earl of
Caithness, Earl Adam made a grant of some
lands upon the east side of the water of Ully ;
but the Earl of Caithness, although he kept
possession of the lands, joined the foes of his
ally and friend. The Earl of Sutherland, how-
ever, would have found a more trustworthy
supporter in the person of Y-Roy-Maekay, who
had come under a written obligation to serve
him the same year ; but Mackay died, and a
contest immediately ensued in Strathnaver, be-
tween John and Donald Mackay his bastard
sons, and Neill-Naverigh Mackay, brother of
Y-Roy, to obtain possession of his lands. John
took possession of all the lands belonging to
his father in Strathnaver ; but his uncle Neill
laid claim to them, and applied to the Earl of
Caithness for assistance to recover them. The
Karl, after many entreaties, put a force under
the command of Neill and his two sons, with
which they entered Strathuaver, and obtaining
an accession of strength in that country, they
dispossessed John Mackay, who immediately
went to the clan Chattan and clan Kenzie, to
crave their aid and support, leaving his brother
Donald Mackay to defend himself in Strath-
naver as ho best could. Donald not having a
sufficient force to meet his uncle and cousins in
open combat, had recourse to a stratagem which
succeeded entirely to his mind. "With his
little band he, under cloud of night, surprised
his opponents at Delreavigh in Strathnaver,
and slew both his cousins and the greater
purl of their men, and thus utterly destroyed
the issue of Neill. John Mackay, on hearing
of this, immediately joined his brother, and
drove out of Strathnaver all persons who had
favoured the pretensions of his uncle Neill-
Nuvri-igh. This unfortunate old man, after be-
ing abandoned by the Earl of Caithness, threw
1.

himself upon the generosity of his nephew*,
requesting that they would merely allow him a
small maintenance to keep him from poverty
during the remainder of his life ; but these un-
natural relatives, regardless of mercy and the
ties of blood, ordered Neill to be beheaded in
their presence by the hands of Claff-na-Gep,
his own foster brother. 2

In the year 1517, advantage was taken by
John Mackay of the absence of the Earl of
Sutherland, who had gone to Edinburgh to
transact some business connected with his
estates, to invade the province of Sutherland,
and to burn and spoil every thing wliich came
in his way. He was assisted in this lawless
enterprise by two races of people dwelling in
Sutherland, called the Siol-Phaill, and the Siol-
Thomais, and by Neil-Mac-Iain-Mac- Angus of
Assynt, and his brother John Mor-Mac-Iain,
with some of their countrymen. As soon as
the Countess of Sutherland, who had remained
at home, heard of this invasion, she prevailed
upon Alexander Sutherland, her bastard bro-
ther, to oppose Mackay. Assisted chiefly by
John Murray of Aberscors, and Uilleam Mac-
Sheumais-Mhic-Chruner, chief of the clan Gun
in Sutherland, Alexander convened hastily the
inhabitants of the country and went in search
of the enemy. He met John Mackay and his
brother Donald, at a place called Torran-Dubh
or Cnocan-Dubh, near Rogart in Strathfleet.
Mackay's force was prodigious, for he had as-
sembled not only the whole strength of Strath-
naver, Durines, Edderachillis, and Assynt, with
the Siol-Phaill and Soil-Thomais ; but also all
the disorderly and idle men of the whole dio-
cese of Caithness, with all such as he could
entice to join him from the west and north-
west isles, to accompany him in his expedition,
buoyed up with the hopes of plunder. But
the people of Sutherland were nowise dismayed
at the appearance of this formidable host, and
made preparations for an attack. A desperate
struggle commenced, and after a long contest,
Mackay's vanguard was driven back upon the
position occupied by himself. Mackay having
rallied the retreating party, selected a number
of the best and ablest men he could find, and
having placed the remainder of his army under

3 Sir Robert Gordon, p. 90.

82

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the command of Ms brother Donald, to act as
a reserve in case of necessity, lie made a furious
attack upon the Sutherland men, who received
the enemy with great coolness and intrepidity.
The chiefs on both sides encouraged their men
to fight for the honour of their clans, and in
consequence the fight was severe and bloody ;
but in the end the Sutherland men, after great
slaughter, and after prodigies of valour had been
displayed by both parties, obtained the victory.
Mackay's party was almost entirely cut off,
and Mackay himself escaped with difficulty.
The victors next turned their attention to the
reserve under the command of Donald Mackay ;
but Donald dreading the fate of his brother,
fled along with his party, which immediately
dispersed. They were, however, closely pur-
sued by John Murray and Uilleam Mac-Shcu-
mais, till the darkness of the night prevented
the pursuit. In this battle, two hundred of
the Strathnaver men, tliirty-two of the Siol-
Phaill, and fifteen of the Siol-Thomais, besides
many of the Assynt men, and their commander,
Niall-Mae-Iain-Mac-Aonghais, a valiant chief-
tain, were slain. John Mor-Mac-Iain, the
brother of this chief, escaped with his life after
receiving many wounds. Of the Sutherland
men, tliirty-eight only were slain. Sir Robert
Gordon says that this "was the greatest conflict
that hitherto lies been foughtin between the
inhabitants of these cuntrcyes, or within the
diocy of Catteynes, to our knowlcge."3

Shortly after the battle of Torran-Dubh,
Uilleam Mac-Sheumais, called Cattigh, chief of
the clan Gun, killed George Keith of Aikregell
with his son and twelve of their followers, at
Drummoy, in Sutherland, as they were travel-
ling from Invcrugie to Caithness. Tliis act
was committed by Mac-Sheumais to revenge
the slaughter of his grandfather (the Cruner,)
•who had been slain by the Keiths, under the
following circumstances. A long feud had ex-
isted between the Keiths and the clan Gun, to
reconcile which, a meeting was appointed at
the chapel of St. Tayr in Caithness, near
Girnigoe, of twelve horsemen on each side.
The Crunor, then chief of the clan Gun, with
some of lu's sons and his principal kinsmen,
to the number of twelve in all, came to the

* Sir K. Gordon, p. 92.

chapel at the appointed time. As soon as they
arrived, they entered the chapel and prostrated
themselves in prayer before the altar. While
employed in this devotional act, the laird of
Inverugie and Aikregell arrived with twelve
horses, and two men on each horse. After
dismounting, the whole of this party rushed
into the chapel armed, and attacked the Cruner
and his party unawares. The Clan Gun, how-
ever, defended themselves with great intrepid-
ity, and although the whole twelve were slain,
many of the Keiths were also killed. For
nearly two centuries the blood of the slain was
to be seen on the walls of the chapel, which it
had stained. James Gun, one of the sons of the
Cruner, being absent, immediately on hearing
of his father's death, retired with his family
into Sutherland, where he settled, and where
his son William Mac-Sheumais, or Mac-James,
otherwise William Cattigh, was bom.

As John Mackay imputed his defeat at
Torran-Dubh mainly to John Murray of Aber-
scors, he resolved to take the first convenient
opportunity of revenging himself, and wiping
off the disgrace of his discomfiture. He, there-
fore, not being in a condition himself to under-
take an expedition, employed two brothers,
William and Donald, his kinsmen, chieftains
of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with a company
of men, to attack Murray. The latter having
mustered his forces, the parties met at a place
called Loch-Salchie, not far from the Torran-
Dubh, where a sharp skirmish took place, in
which Murray proved victorious. The two
Strathnaver chieftains and the greater part
of their men were slain, and the remainder
were put to flight. The principal person who
fell on Murray's side was his brother Jolm-
Roy, whose loss he deeply deplored.

Exasperated at this second disaster, John
Mackay sent Jolui Croy and Donald, two of
his nephews, sons of Angus Mackay, who was
killed at Morinsh in Ross, at the head of a
number of chosen men, to plunder and burn
the town of Pitfour, in Strathfieet, which be-
longed to John Murray ; but they were equally
unsuccessful, for John Croy Mackay and some
of his men were slain by the Murrays, and
Donald was taken prisoner. In consequence
of those repeated reverses, John Mackay sub-
mitted himself to the Earl of Sutherland on

ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND THE ISASTARI).

83

hie return from Edinburgh, and granted him
liia bond of service, in the year 1518. But,
notwithstanding this submission, Mackay after-
wards tampered with Alexander Sutherland,
the bastard, and having gained his favour by
giving his sister to Sutherland in marriage, he
prevailed upon him to rise against the Earl of
Sutherland. All these commotions in the
north happened during the minority of King
James V., when, as Sir R, Gordon says, " everio
man thought to escape unpunished, and cheiflie
these who were remotest from the seat of jus-
tice."4

This Alexander Sutherland was son of Jol n,

the third (if that name, Earl of Sutherland,
and as ho pretended that the Earl and his
mother had entered into a contract of marriage,
lie laid claim, on the death of the Earl, to tho
title and estates, as a legitimate descendant of
Earl John, his father. By tho entreaties of
Adam Gordon, Lord of Aboyne, who had mar-
ried Lady Elizabeth, the sister and sole heiress
of Earl John, Alexander Sutherland judicially
renounced lus claim in presence of the sheriff
of Inverness, on the 25th of July, 1509. Ho
now repented of what he had done, and, being
instigated by the Earl of Caithness and John
Mackay, mortal foes to the house of Suther-

Old Dunrohin Castle.

land, he renewed his pretensions. Earl Adam,
perceiving that ho might incur some danger
in making an appeal to arms, particularly as
the clans and tribes of the country, with many
of whom Alexander had become very popular,
were broken into factions and much divided
on the question betwixt tho two, endeavoured
to win him over by offering him many favour-
able conditions, again to renounce his claims,
but in vain. Ho maintained the legitimacy
of his descent, and alleged that tho renuncia-
tion he had granted at Inverness had been
obtained from him contrary to his inclination,
and against the advice of his best friends.
U.-.ving collected a considerable force, he, in

1 i'ir K. Gordon, p. 1)3.

absence of the earl, who was in Strathbogie,
attacked Dunrobin castle, tho chief strength ol
tho earl, wlu'ch he took. In this siege he was
chiefly supported by Alexander Terrell of tho
Doill, who, in consequence of taking anus
against tho earl, his superior, lost all his lands,
and was afterwards apprehended and executed.
As soon as the earl heard of the insurrection,
ho despatched Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy,
with a body of men, into Sutherland to assist
John Murray of Aberscors, who was already at
tho head of a force to support the earl. They
immediately besieged Dunrobin, which sur-
rendered. Alexander had retired to Strath-
navcr, but ho again returned into Sutherland
with a fresh body of men, and laid waste the
country. After putting to death several of hi*

84

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

own kinsmen who had joined the earl, he de-
scended farther into the country, towards the
parishes of Loth and Clyne. Meeting with
little or no opposition, the bastard grew care-
less, and being observed wandering along the
Sutherland coast, flushed with success and re-
gardless of danger, the earl formed the design
of cutting him entirely off. With this view,
he directed Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy,
John Murray, and John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay,
one of the Siol-Thomais, to hover on Suther-
land's outskirts, and to keep skirmishing with
him till he, the earl, should collect a sufficient
force with which to attack him. Having col-
lected a considerable body of resolute men, the
earl attacked the bastard at a place called Ald-
Quhillin, by East Clentredaill, near the sea
side. A warm contest ensued, in which Alex-
ander Sutherland was taken prisoner, and the
most of his men were slain, including John
Bane, one of his principal supporters, who fell
by the hands of John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay.
After the battle Sutherland was immediately
beheaded by Alexander Lesley on the spot, and
his head sent to Dunrobin on a spear, which
was placed upon the top of the great tower,
" which shews us " (as Sir Eobert Gordon, fol-
lowing the superstition of his times, curiously
observes), " that whatsoever by fate is allotted,
though sometymes forshewod, can never be
avoyded. For the witches had told Alexander
the bastard that his head should be the highest
that ever wes of the Southerlands ; which he
did foolishlye interpret that some day he should
be Earl of Southerland, and in honor above
all his prcdicessors. Thus the divell and his
ministers, the witches, deceaving still such as
trust in them, will either find or frame predic-
tions for everio action or event, which doeth
ever fall out contrarie to thcr expectations ; a
kynil of people to all men unfaithfull, to hopers
decoatful, and in all cuntries allwise forbidden,
all wise reteanod and manteaned."5

The Earl of Sutherland being now far ad-
vanced in life, retired for the most part to
Strathbogieand Aboyne, to spend the remainder
of his days amongst his friends, and intrusted
the charge of the country to Alexander Gordon,
his eldest son, a young man of great intrepidity

6 Sii II Gordon, pp 96, 97.

and talent. The restless chief John Mackay,
still smarting under his misfortunes, and thirst-
ing for revenge, thought the present a favour-
able opportunity for retrieving his losses.
With a considerable force, therefore, he in-
vaded Sutherland, and entered the parish of
Creigh, which he intended to ravage, but the
Master of Sutherland hastened thither, attacked
Mackay, and forced him to retreat into Strath-
naver with some loss. Mackay then assembled
a large body of his countrymen and invaded
the Brcachat. He was again defeated by
Alexander Gordon at the Grinds after a keen
skirmish. Hitherto Mackay had been allowed
to hold the lands of Grinds, and some other
possessions in the west part of Sutherland, but
the Master of Sutherland now dispossessed him
of all these as a punishment for his recent con-
duct. Still dreading a renewal of Mackay'a
visits, the Master of Sutherland resolved to re-
taliate, by invading Strathnaver in return, and
thereby showing Mackay what he might in
future expect if he persevered in continuing his
visits to Sutherland. Accordingly, he collected
a body of stout and resolute men, and entered
Strathnaver, which he pillaged and burnt, and,
having collected a largo quantity of booty, re-
turned into Sutherland. In entering Strath-
naver, the Master of Sutherland had taken the
road to Strathully, passing through Mackay's
bounds in the hope of falling in with and ap-
prehending him, but Mackay was absent on a
creach excursion into Sutherland. In return-
ing, however, through the Diric Moor and the
Breacliat, Alexander Gordon received intelli-
gence that Mackay with a company of men
was in the town of Lairg, with a quantity of
cattle he had collected in Sutherland, on his
way home to Strathnaver. He lost no time in
attacking Mackay, and such was the celerity of
his motions, that his attack was as sudden as
unexpected. Mackay made the best resistance
he could, but was put to the rout, and many
of his men were killed. He himself made his
escape with groat difficulty, and saved his life
by swimming to the island of Eilcan-Minric,
near Lairg, where he lay concealed during the
rest of the day. All the cattle which Mackay
had carried away were rescued and carried back
into Sutherland. The following day Mackay
left Ihn island, returned home to his country,

DISSENSION AMONG THE CLAN CHATTAN.

85

and again submitted himself to the Master and
his father, the Earl, to whom he a second time
gave his bond of service and manrent in the
year 1522.6

As the Earl of Caithness had always taken
a side against the Sutherland family in these
different quarrels, the Earl of Sutherland
brought an action before the Lords of Council
and Session against the Earl of Caithness, to
recover back from him the lands of Strathully,
on the ground, that the Earl of Caithness had
not fulfilled the condition on which the lands
were granted to him, viz., to assist the Earl of
Sutherland against his enemies. There were
other minor points of dispute between the earls,
to got all wliich determined they both repaired
to Edinburgh. Instead, however, of abiding
the issue of a trial at law before the judges,
both parties, by the advice of mutual friends,
referred the decision of all the points in dis-
pute on either side to Gavin Dunbar,7 bishop
of Aberdeen, who pronounced his award at
Edinburgh, on the llth March, 1524, his
judgment appearing to have satisfied both
parties, as the carls lived in peace with one
another ever after.

The year 1526 was signalized by a great
dissension among the clan Chattan. The
chief and head of that clan was Lauchlan
Macintosh of Dunnachtan, " a verrio honest
and wyse gentleman," says Bishop Lesley, " an
barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole ken,
friendes and tennentis in honest and guid
rowll;"8 and according to Sir Robert Gordon,
" a man of great possessions, and of such ex-
cellencies of witt and judgement, that with
great commendation he did conteyn all his
followers within the limits of ther dueties." °
The strictness with which this worthy chief
curbed the lawless and turbulent dispositions of
his clan raised up many enemies, who, as
Bishop Lesley says, were " impacient of vertu-
ous living." At the head of this restless party
was James Malcolmeson, a near kinsman of
the chief, who, instigated by his worthless

6 Pir R. Gordon, p. 97.

7 It was this excellent Bishop who built, at his own
expense, the beautiful bridge of seven arches on the
Dee, near Aberdeen. The Episcopal arms cut on
mime of the stones are almost as entire as when
chiselled by the hands of the sculptor.

1 Hal of Scotland, p. 137 • P. 99.

companions, and the temptation of ruling the
clan, murdered the good cliief. Afraid to face
the well-disposed part of the clan, to whom the
chief was beloved, Malcolmeson, along with
his followers, took refuge in the island in the
loch of Rothicmurclms; but the enraged clan
followed them to their hiding places and de-
spatched them.

As the son of the deceased cliief was of ten-
der age, and unable to govern the clan, with
common consent they made choice of Hector
Macintosh, a bastard brother of the late chief,
to act as captain till his nephew should arrive
at manhood. In the meantime the Earl of
Moray, who was uncle to young Macintosh,
the former chief having been married to the
earl's sister, took away his nephew and placed
him under the care of his friends for the bene-
fit of his education, and to bring him up vir-
tuously. Hector Macintosh was greatly in-
censed at the removal of the child, and used
every effort to get possession of him ; but meet-
ing with a refusal he became outrageous, and
laid so many plans for accomplishing his ob-
ject, that his intentions became suspected, as
it was thought he could not wish so ardently
for the custody of the child without some bad
design. Baffled in every attempt, Hector, as-
sisted by his brother William, collected a body
of followers, and invaded the Earl of Moray's
lands. They overthrew the fort of Dykes, and
besieged the castle of Tarnoway, the country
surrounding which they plundered, burnt the
houses of the inhabitants, and slew a number
of men, women, an:l children. Raising the
siege of Tarnoway, Hector and his men then
entered the country of the Ogilvies and laid
siege to the castle of Pettens, which belonged
to the Laird of Durnens, one of the families
of the Ogilvies, and which, after some resist-
ance, surrendered. No less than twenty-four
gentlemen of the name of Ogilvie were mas-
sacred on this occasion. After this event the
Macintoshes and the party of banditti they had
collected, roamed over the whole of the adjoin-
ing country, carrying terror and dismay into
every bosom, and plundering, burning, and
destroying everything within their reach. To
repress disorders which called so loudly for
redress, King James V., by the advice of his
council, granted a commission to the Earl of

86

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Moray to take measures accordingly. Having
a considerable force put under his command,
the earl went in pursuit of Macintosh and his
party, and having surprised them, he took
upwards of 300 of them1 and hanged them,
along with William Macintosh, the brother
of Hector. A singular instance of the fidelity
of the Highlanders to their chiefs is afforded
in the present case, where, out of such a
vast number as suffered, not one would
reveal the secret of Hector Macintosh's retreat,
although promised their lives for the discovery.
" Tlier faith wes so true to ther captane, that
they culd not be persuaded, either by fair
meanes, or by any terror of death, to break the
same or to betray their master." 2

Seeing no hopes of escaping the royal ven-
geance but by a ready submission, Hector Mac-
intosh, by advice of Alexander Dunbar, Dean
of Moray, tendered his obedience to the king,
which was accepted, and he was received into
the royal favour. He did not, however, long
survive, for he was assassinated in St. Andrews
by one James Spence, who was in consequence
beheaded. After the death of Hector, the
clan Chattan remained tranquil during the re-
maining years of the minority of the young
chief, who, according to Bishop Lesley, " wes
sua well brocht up by the meenes of the Erie of
Murray and the Laird of Phindlater in vertue,
honestie, and civile policye, that after he had
received the governement of his cuntrey, he
was a mirrour of vertuo to all the hieland cap-
tanis in Scotland."3 But the young chieftain's
" honestie and civile policye " not suiting the
ideas of those who had concurred in the mur-
der of his father, a conspiracy was formed
against him by some of his nearest kinsmen to
deprive him of his lifo, which unfortunately
took effect.

The Highlands now enjoyed repose for some
years. John Mackay died in 1529, and was
succeeded by his brother Donald, who remained
quiet during the life of Adam Earl of Suther-
land, to ivhom his brother had twice granted
his bond of service. But, upon the death of

1 This is the number given by Bishop Lesley, whoso
account must be preferred to that of Sir R. Gordon,
who states it at upwards of 200, as the liishop lived
almut a century before Sir Robert.

* Sir R. Gordon, p. 100

8 Hiil., p. 138.

that nobleman, he began to molest the inhabi-
tants of Sutherland. In 1542 he attacked the
village of Knockartol, which he burnt ; and
at the same time he plundered Strathbroray.
To oppose his farther progress, Sir Hugh Ken-
nedy collected as many of the inhabitants of
Sutherland as the shortness of the time would
permit, and, being accompanied by Gilbert
Gordon of Gartay, John Murray of Aberscors,
his son Hutcheon Murray, and Mac-Mhic-
Sheumais of Killiernan, he attacked Mackay
quite unawares near Alt-Na-Beth. Notwith-
standing this unexpected attack, Mackay's men
met their assailants with great firmness, but
the Strathnaver men were ultimately obliged
to retreat with the loss of their booty and a
great number of slain, amongst whom was
John Mackean-Mac-Angus, chief of Sliochd-
Mhic-Iain-Mhic-IIutcheon, in Edderachillis.
Though closely pressed by Gilbert Gordon and
Hutcheon Murray, Donald Mackay made good
his retreat into Strathnaver.

By no means disheartened at his defeat, and
anxious to blot out the stain which it had
thrown upon him, he soon returned into Suth-
erland with a fresh force, and encamped near
Skibo. Houcheon Murray collected some Suth-
erland men, and with them he attacked Mac-
kay, and kept him hi check till an additional
force which he expected should arrive. As
soon as Mackay saw this new bod}' of men ap-
proaching, with which he was quite unable to
contend, he retreated suddenly into his own
country, leaving several of his men dead on the
field. This affair was called the skirmish of
Loch-Buy. This mode of annoyance, which
continued for some time, was put an end to by
the apprehension of Donald Mackay, who,
being brought before the Earls of Huntly and
Sutherland, was, by their command, committed
a close prisoner to the castle of Foulis, where
he remained a considerable time in captivity.
At last, by means of Donald Mac-Iain-Mhoir,
a Strathnaver man, he effected his escape, and,
returning home, reconciled himself with the
Earl of Sutherland, to whom he gave his bond
of service and manrent, on the 8th of April,
1549.

During the reign of James V. some respect
was paid in the Higldands to the laws ; but
tho divisions which fell out amongst the no-

CLANRANALD AND LORD LOVAT— FIELD OF SHIRTS.

87

bility, the unquiet state of the nation during
the minority of the infant queen, and the wars
with England, relaxed the springs of govern-
ment, and the consequence was that the usual
scenes of turbulence and oppression soon dis-
played themselves in the Highlands, accom-
panied with all those circumstances of ferocity
which rendered them so revolting to humanity.
The Clanranald was particularly active in these
lawless proceedings. This clan bore great en-
mity to Hugh, Lord Lovat ; and because Ran-
ald, son of Allan Macruari of Moidart, was sis-
ter's son of Lovat, they conceived a prejudice
against him, dispossessed him. of his lands, and
put John Macranald, his cousin, in possession
of the estate. Lovat took up the cause of his
nephew, and restored him to the possession of
his property; but the restless clan dispossessed
Ranald again, and laid waste part of Lovat's
lands in Glenelg. These disorders did not
escape the notice of the Earl of Arran, the
governor of the kingdom, who, by advice of
his council, granted a special commission to
the Earl of Huntly, making him lieutenant-
general of all the Highlands, and of Orkney
and Zetland. He also appointed the Earl of
Argyle lieutenant of Argyle and the Isles.
The Earl of Huntly lost no time in raising a
largo army in the north, with which he marched,
in May, 1544, attended by the Macintoshes,
Grants, and Frasers, against the clan Cameron
and the clan Ranald, and the people of Moy-
dart and Knoydart, whoso principal captains
were Ewcn AUenson, Ronald M'Coneilglas, and
John Moydart. These had wasted and plun-
dered the whole country of Urquhart and Glen-
morriston, belonging to the Laird of Grant, and
the country of Abertarf, Strathglass, and others,
the property of Lord Lovat. They had also
taken absolute possession of these different
territories as their own properties, which they
intended to possess and enjoy in all time com-
ing. But, by the mediation of the Earl of Ar-
gyle, they immediately dislodged themselves
upon the Earl of Huntly's appearance, and re-
tired to their own territories in the west.

In returning to his own country, Lovat was
accompanied by the Grants and Macintoshes
as far as Gloy, afterwards called the Ninc-Mile-
Water, and they even offered to escort him
home in case of danger ; but, having no appro-

liensions, he declined, and they returned home
by Badenoch. This was a fatal error on the
part of Lovat, for, as soon as he arrived at
Letterfinlay, he was informed that the Clan-
ranald were at hand, in full march, to intercept
him. To secure an important pass, he de-
spatched lain-Cleireach, one of his principal
officers, with 50 men ; but, from some cause
or other, lain-Cluireach did not accomplish his
object; and, as soon as Lovat came to the north
end of Loch Lochy, he perceived the Clanran-
ald descending the hill from the west, to the
number of about 500, divided into seven com-
panies. Lovat was thus placed in a position
in which he could neither refuse nor avoid
battle. The day (3d July) being extremely
hot, Lovat's men, who amounted to about 300,
stript to the shirts, from which circumstance
the battle was called Blar-Nan-Leino, i.e., the
Field of Shirts. A sort of skirmish at first
took place, first with bows and arrows, which
lasted a considerable time, until both sides had
expended their shafts. The combatants then
drew their swords, and rushed in true High-
land fashion on each other, with fierce and
deadly intent. The slaughter was tremendous,
and few escaped on either side. Lord Lovat,
with 300 of the surname of Fraser, and other
followers, were left dead on the field. Lovat's
eldest son, a youth of great accomplishments,
who had received his education in France,
whence he had lately arrived, was mortally
wounded, and taken prisoner. He died within
throe days. Great as was the loss on the side of
the Frasers, that on the opposite side was com-
paratively still greater. According to a tradi-
tion handed down, only four of the Frasers and
ten of the Clanranald remained alive. The
darkness of the night alone put an end to the
combat. This was an unfortunate blow to the
clan Fraser, which, tradition says, would have
been almost entirely annihilated but for the
happy circumstance that the wives of eighty
of the Frasers who were slain were pregnant at
the time, and were each of them afterwards
delivered of a male child.4

As soon as intelligence of this disaster was
brought to the Earl of Huntly, he again ro-

4 Lesley, p. 184. — Sir R. Gordon, pp. 109, HO. —
Shaw's Moray, pp. 265, 266.

88

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

turned with an army, entered Locliaber, wliich
he laid waste, and apprehended many of the
leading men of the hostile tribes, whom ho put
to death.

The great power conferred on the Earl of
Huntly, as lieutenant-general in the north of
Scotland, and the promptitude and severity
with which he put down the insurrections of
some of the chiefs alluded to, raised up many
enemies against him. As he in company with
the Earl of Sutherland was about to proceed
to France for the purpose of conveying the
queen regent to that country, in the year 1550,
a conspiracy was formed against him, at the
Head of which was Macintosh, chief of the
clan Chattan. This conspiracy being discov-
ered to the earl, he ordered Macintosh to
be immediately apprehended and brought to
Strathbogie, where he was beheaded in the
month of August of that year. His lands
were also forfeited at the same time. This
summary proceeding excited the sympathy and
roused the indignation of the friends of the
deceased chief, particularly of the Earl of Cas-
silis. A commotion was about to ensue, but
matters were adjusted for a time, by the pru-
dence of the queen regent, who recalled the
act of forfeiture. and restored Macintosh's heir
to all his father's lands. But the clan Chattan
were determined to avail themselves of the
first favourable opportunity of being revenged
upon the earl, which they, therefore, anxiously
looked for. As Lauchlan Macintosh, a near
kinsman of the chief, was suspected of having
betrayed his chief to the earl, the clan entered
his castle of Pettie by stealth, slew him, and
banished all his dependants from the country
if the clan.

About the same time the province of Suther-
land again became the scene of some commo-
tions. The carl having occasion to leave home,
intrusted the government of the country to
Alexander Gordon, his brother, who ruled it
with great justice and severity; but the people,
disliking the restraints put upon them by
Alexander, created a tumult, and placed John
Sutherland, son of Alexander Sutherland, the
bastard, at their head. Seizing the favourable
opportunity, as it appeared to them, when
Alexander Gordon was attending divine service
in the church at Golspikirktoun, they proceeded

to attack him, but receiving notice of their
intentions, he collected the little company he
had about him, and went out of church reso-
lutely to meet them. Alarmed at seeing liini
and his party approach, the people immediately
dispersed and returned every man to his own
house. But William Murray, son of Caen
Murray, one of the family of Pulrossie, indig-
nant at the affront offered to Alexander Gor-
don, shortly afterwards killed John Suther-
land upon the Nether Green of Dunrobin, in
revenge for which murder William Murray
was liimself thereafter slain by the Laird of
Clyne.

The Mackays also took advantage of the
Earl of Sutherland's absence, to plunder and
lay wasto the country. Y-Mackay, son of
Donald, assembled the Strathnaver men and
entered Sutherland, but Alexander Gordon
forced him back into Strathnaver, and not
content with acting on the defensive, he en-
tered Mackay's country, which he wasted, and
carried off a large booty in goods and cattle,
in the year 1551. Mackay, in his turn, re-
taliated, and this system of mutual aggression
and spoliation continued for several years.5

During the absence of the Earl of Huntly hi
France, John of Moydart, chief of the Clan-
ranald, returned from the isles and recom-
menced his usual course of rapine. The queen
regent, on her return from France, being in-
vested with full authority, sent the Earl of
Huntly on an expedition to the north, for the
purpose of apprehending Clanranald and put-
ting an end to his outrages. The earl having
mustered a considerable force, chiefly High-
landers of the clan Chattan, passed into Moy-
dart and Knoydart, but Ids operations were
paralyzed by disputes in his camp. The cliief
and his men having abandoned then- own
country, the earl proposed to pursue them in
their retreats among the fastnesses of the
Highlands; but his principal officers, who
were chiefly from the Lowlands, unaccustomed
to such a mode of warfare in such a country,
demurred; and as the earl was afraid to en-
trust liimself with the clan Chattan, who
owed him a deep grudge on account of the
execution of their last chief, he abandoned the

6 Sir E. Gordon, p. 133.

QUEEN REGENT VISITS THE HIGHLANDS.

89

enterprise and returned to the low country.
Sir Robert Gordon says that the failure of the
expedition, was owing to a tumult raised in
the earl's camp by the clan Chattan, who
returned homo; but we are rather disposed to
consider Bishop Lesley's account, which we
have followed, as the more correct.6

The failure of this expedition gave great
offence to the queen, who, instigated it is sup-
posed by Huntly's enemies, attributed it to
negligence on his part. The consequence was,
that the earl was committed a prisoner to the
castle of Edinburgh in the month of October,
where he remained till the month of March
following. He was compelled to renounce the
earldom of Moray and the lordship of Aber-
nethy, with his tacks and possessions in Orkney
and Zetland, and the tacks of the lands of the
earldom of Mar and of the lordship of Strath-
die, of wliich he was bailie and steward, and
he was moreover condemned to a banishment
of five years in France. But as he was about
to leave the kingdom, the queen, taking a
more favourable view of his conduct, recalled
the sentence of banishment, and restored him
to the office of chancellor, of which he had
been deprived; and to make this act of leniency
somewhat palatable to the earl's enemies, the
queen exacted a heavy pecuniary fine from the
earl.

The great disorders which prevailed in the
Highlands at this time, induced the queen-
regent to undertake a journey thither in order
to punish these breaches of the law, and to
repress existing tumults. She accordingly
arrived at Inverness in the month of July,
1555, where she was met by John, Earl of
Sutherland, and George, Earl of Caithness.
Although the latter nobleman was requested
to bring his countrymen along with liim to the
court, ho neglected or declined to do so, and
he was therefore committed to prison at Inver-
ness, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, successively,
and he was not restored to liberty till ho paid
a considerable sum of money. Y-Mackay of
Far was also summoned to appear before the
queen at Inverness, to answer for his spolia-
tions committed in the country of Sutherland
during the absence of Earl John in France;

4 I/islcy, p. 251.

but he refused to appear. Whereupon the
queen granted a commission to the Earl of
Sutherland, to bring Mackay to justice. The
earl accordingly entered Strathnaver with a
great force, sacking and spoiling every thing
in his way, and possessing himself of all the
principal positions to prevent Mackay's escape.
Mackay, however, avoided the carl, and as he
declined to fight, the earl laid siege to the
castle of Borwe, the principal strength in
Strathnaver, scarcely two miles distant from
Far, which he took after a short siege, and
hanged Ruaridh -Mac- Iain -Mhoir, the com-
mander. This fort the carl completely demo-
lished.

"While the Earl of Sutherland was engaged
in the siege, Mackay entered Sutherland se-
cretly, and burnt the church of Loth. He
thereafter went to the village of Knockartol,
where he met Mackenzie and his countrymen
in Strathbroray. A slight skirmish took place
between them; but Mackay and his men fled
after he had lost Angus-Mackcanvoir, one of
his commanders, and several of his followers.
Mackenzie was thereupon appointed by the earl
to protect Sutherland from the incursions of
Mackay during his stay in Strathnaver. Hav-
ing been defeated again by Mackenzie, and
seeing no chance of escape, Mackay surren-
dered himself, and was carried south, and com-
mitted a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh,
in which he remained a considerable time.
During the queen's stay in the north many
notorious delinquents were brought to trial,
condemned and executed.

During Mackay's detention in Edinburgh,
John Mor-Mackay, who took charge of his
kinsman's estate, seizing the opportunity of the
Earl of Sutherland's absence in the south of
Scotland, entered Sutherland at the head of a
determined body of Strathnaver men, and
spoiled and wasted the east corner of that pro-
vince, and burnt the chapel of St. Ninian.
Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the Clan-Gun,
the Laird of Clyne, the Terrell of the Doill,
and James Mac-William, having collected a
body of Sutherland men, pursued the Strath-
naver men, whom they overtook at the foot of
the hill called Ben-Moir, in Berridell. Here
they laid an ambush for them, and having, by
favour of a fog, passed their sentinels, they

90

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

unexpectedly surprised Mackay's men, and
attacked them with great fury. The Strath-
nayer men made an obstinate resistance, but
were at length overpowered. Many of them
were killed, and others drowned in the water
of Garwary. Mackay himself escaped with
great difficulty. This was one of the severest
defeats the Strathnaver men ever experienced,
except at the battle of Knoken-dow-Reywird.

On the release of Mackay from his confine-
ment in the castle of Edinburgh, he was em-
ployed in the wars upon the borders, against
the English, in which he acquitted himself
courageously ; and on his return to Strathnaver
he submitted himself to the Earl of Suther-
land, with whom he lived in peace during the
remainder of the earl's life. But Mackay in-
curred the just displeasure of the tribe of
Slaight-ean-Voir by the committal of two crimes
of the deepest dye. Having imbibed a violent
affection for the wife of Tormaid-Mac-Iain-
Mhoir, the chieftain of that tribe, he, in order
to accomplish his object, slew the chief, after
which he violated his wife, by whom he had a
son called Donald Balloch Mackay. The in-
sulted clan flew to arms ; but they were de-
feated at Durines, by the murderer and adul-
terer, after a sharp skirmish. Three of the
principal men of the tribe who had given
themselves up, trusting to Mackay's clemency,
were beheaded.7

In the early part of the reign of the unfor-
tunate Queen Mary, daring the period of the
Reformation in Scotland, the house of Huntly
had acquired such an influence in the north
and north-east of Scotland, the old Maormorate
of Moray, as to be looked upon with suspicion
by the government of the day. Moreover the
Lords of the Congregation regarded the earl
with no friendly feeling as the great leader of
the Roman Catholic party in the country, and
it was therefore resolved that Mary should
make a royal progress northwards, apparently
for the purpose of seeing what was the real
state of matters, and, if possible, try to overawe
the earl, and remind him that he was only a
subject. The queen, who, although Huntly
was the Catholic leader, appears to have entered
into the expedition heartily; and her bastard

7 Sir R. Gordon, p. 136.

brother, the Earl of Murray, proceeded, in 1562,
northwards, backed by a small army, and on
finding the earl fractious, laid siege to the castle
of Inverness, which was taken, and the governor
hanged. The queen's army and the followers
of Huntly met at the hill of Corrichie, about
sixteen miles west of Aberdeen, when the lat-
ter were defeated, the earl himself being found
among the slain. It was on this occasion that
Mary is said to have wished herself a man to
be able to ride forth " in jack and knap-
skull." This expedition was the means of
effectually breaking the influence of this power-
ful northern family.

George, Earl of Caithness, who had long
borne a mortal hatred to John, Earl of Suther-
land, now projected a scheme for cutting him
off, as well as his countess, who was big with
child, and their only son, Alexander Gordon ;
the earl and countess were accordingly both
poisoned at Helmsdalo, while at supper, by
Isobel Sinclair, wife of Gilbert Gordon of Gar-
tay, and sister of William Sinclair of Duin-
baith, instigated, it is said, by the earl ; but
their son, Alexander, made a very narrow
escape, not having returned in time from a
hunting excursion to join his father and mother
at supper. On Alexander's return the earl had
become fully aware of the danger of his situ-
ation, and he was thus prevented by his father
from participating in any part of the supper
which remained, and after taking an affection-
ate and parting farewell, and recommending
him to the protection of God and of his dearest
friends, he sent him to Dunrobin the same
night without his supper. The earl and his
lady were carried next morning to Dunrobin.
where they died within five days thereafter, in
the month of July, 1567, and were buried in
the cathedral church at Dornoch. Pretending
to cover himself from the imputation of being
concerned in this murder, the Earl of Caith-
ness punished some of the earl's most faithful
servants under the colour of avenging his death ;
but the deceased earl's friends being determined
to obtain justice, apprehended Isobel Sinclair,
and sent her to Edinburgh to stand her trial,
where, after being tried and condemned, she
died on the day appointed for her execution.
During all the time of her illness she vented
the most dreadful imprecations upon her cousin,

CONDUCT OF THE EARL OF CAITHNESS.

01

the carl, who had induced her to commit the
horrid act. Had this woman succeeded in
cutting off the earl's son, her own eldest son,
John Gordon, hut for the extraordinary circum-
stances of his death, to he noticed, would have
succeeded to the earldom, as he was the next
male heir. This youth happening to he in the
house when his mother had prepared the poison,
became extremely thirsty, and called for a
drink. One of his mother's servants, not aware
of the preparation, presented to the youth a
portion of the liquid into which the poison
had heen infused, which he drank. This oc-
casioned his death within two days, a circum-
stance which, together with the appearances of
the body after death, gave a clue to the dis-
covery of his mother's guilt.8

Taking advantage of the calamity which had
befallen the house of Sutherland, and the
minority of the young earl, now only fifteen
years of age, Y-Mackay of Far, who had
formed an alliance with the Earl of Caithness,
in 15G7 invaded the country of Sutherland,
wasted the barony of Skibo, entered the town
of Dornoch, and, upon the pretence of a quar-
rel with the Murrays, by whom it was chiefly
inhabited, set fire to it, in which outrage he was
assisted by the Laird of Duffus. These mea-
sures were only preliminary to a design which
the Earl of Caithness had formed to get the Earl
of Sutherland into his hands, but he had the cun-
ning to conceal his intentions in the meantime,
and to instigate Mackay to act as he wished,
without appearing to be in any way concerned.

In pursuance of his design upon Alexander,
the young Earl of Sutherland, the Earl of Caith-
ness prevailed upon Robert Stuart, bishop of
Caithness, to write a letter to the governor of
the castle of Skibo, in which the Earl of
Sutherland resided, to deliver up the castle to
him ; a request with which the governor com-
plied. Having taken possession of the castle,
the earl carried off the young man into Caith-
ness, and although only fifteen years of age, he
got him married to Lady Barbara Sinclair, his
daughter, then aged thirty-two years. Y-Mac-
ka}' was the paramour of this lady, and for
continuing the connexion with him she was
afterwards divorced by her husband.

' Sir R. Gordon, p. 147.

The Earl of Caithness having succeeded in
his wishes in obtaining possession of the Earl
of Sutherland, entered the earl's country, and
took possession of Dunrobin castle, in which
he fixed his residence. He also brought the
Earl of Sutherland along with him, but ho
treated him meanly, and he burnt all the papers
belonging to the house of Sutherland he could
lay his hands on. Cruel and avaricious, he,
under the pretence of vindicating the law, for
imaginary crimes expelled many of the ancient
families in Sutherland from the country, put
many of the inhabitants to death, disabled
those he banished, in their persons, by new
and unheard-of modes of torture, and stripped
them of all their wealth. To be suspected of
favouring the house of Sutherland, and to be
wealthy, were deemed capital crimes by this
oppressor.

As the Earl of Sutherland did not live on
friendly terms with his wife on account of her
licentious connexion with Mackay, and as there
appeared no chance of any issue, the Earl of
Caithness formed the base design of cutting off
the Earl of Sutherland, and marrying William
Sinclair, his second son, to Lady Margaret
Gordon, the eldest sister of the Earl of Suther-
land, whom he had also gotten into his hands,
with the view of making William earl of
Sutherland. The better to conceal his inten-
tions the Earl of Caithness made a journey
south to Edinburgh, and gave the necessary
instructions to those in his confidence to
despatch the Earl of Sutherland ; but some of
his trusty friends having received private intel-
ligence of the designs of the Earl of Caithness
from some persons who were privy thereto,
they instantly set about measures for defeating
them by getting possession of the Earl of
Sutherland's person. Accordingly, under cloud
of night, they came quietly to the burn of
Golspie, in the vicinity of Dunrobin, where,
concealing themselves to prevent discovery,
they sent Alexander Gordon of Sidderay to the
castle, disguised as a pedlar, for the purpose of
warning the Earl of Sutherland of the danger
of his situation, and devising means of escape.
Being made acquainted with the design upon
his life, and the plans of his friends for rescu-
ing him, the earl, early the following morning,
proposed to the residents in the castle, under

92

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

•whose charge he was, to accompany him on a
small excursion in the neighbourhood. This
proposal seemod so reasonable in itself, that,
although he was perpetually watched by the
Earl of Caithness' servants, and his liberty
greatly restrained, they at once agreed; and,
going out, the earl being aware of the ambush
laid by his friends, led his keepers directly into
the snare before they were aware of danger.
The earl's friends thereupon rushed from their
hiding-place, and seizing him, conveyed him
safely out of the country of Sutherland to
Strathbogie. This took place in 1569. As
soon as the Earl of Caithness's retainers heard
of the escape of Earl Alexander, they collected
a party of men favourable to their interests,
and wont in hot pursuit of him as far as Port-
ne-Coulter ; but they found that the earl and
his friends had just crossed the ferry.9

Shortly after this affair a quarrel ensued
between the Monroes and the clan Kenzie, two
very powerful Eoss-shire clans. Lesley, the
celebrated bishop of Eoss, had made over to
his cousin, the Laird of Balquhain, the right
and title of the castle of the Canonry of Eoss,
together with the castle lands. Notwithstand-
ing this grant, the Eegent Murray had given
the custody of this castle to Andrew Monroe
of Milntown ; and to make Lesley bear with
the loss, the Eegent promised him some of the
lands of the Barony of Fintry in Buchan, but
on condition that he should cede to Monroe the
castle and castle lands of the Canonry ; but the
untimely and unexpected death of the Eegent
interrupted this arrangement, and Andrew
Monroe did not, of course, obtain the title to
the castle and castle lands as he expected.
Yet Monroe had the address to obtain permis-
sion from the Earl of Lennox during his
regency, and afterwards from the Earl of Mar,
his successor in that office, to get possession of
the castle. The clan Kenzie grudging to see
Monroe in possession, and being desirous to
get hold of the castle themselves, purchased
Lesley's right, and, by virtue thereof, demanded
delivery of the castle. Monroe refused to
accede to this demand, on which the clan laid
siege to the castle ; but Monroe defended it for
three years at the expense of many lives on

9 Sir R. Gordon, p. 154

both sides. It was then delivered up to the
clan Kenzie under the act of pacification. l

No attempt was made by the Earl of Suther-
land, during his minority, to recover his pos-
sessions from the Earl of Caithness. In the
meantime the latter, disappointed and enraged
at the escape of his destined prey, vexed and
annoyed still farther the partisans of the
Sutherland family. In particular, he directed
his vengeance against the Murrays, and made
William Sutherland of Evelick, brother to the
Laird of DulTus, apprehend John Croy-Murray,
under the pretence of bringing him to justice.
This proceeding roused the indignation of
Hugh Murray of Aberscors, who assembled his
friends, and made several incursions upon the
lands of Evelick, Pronsies, and Eiercher. They
also laid waste several villages belonging to the
Laird of Duffus, from which they carried off
some booty, and apprehending a gentleman
of the Sutherlands, they detained him as an
hostage for the safety of John Croy-Murray.
Upon this the Laird of Duffus collected all his
kinsmen and friends, together with the Siol-
Phaill at Skibo, and proceeded to the town of
Dornoch, with the intention of burning it.
But the inhabitants, aided by the Murrays,
went out to meet the enemy, whom they
courageously attacked and overthrew, and pur-
sued to the gates of Skibo. Besides killing
several of Duffus' men they made some prison-
ers, whom they exchanged for John Croy-
Murray. This affair was called the skirmish
of Torran-Eoy.

The Laird of Duffus, who was father-in-law
to the Earl of Caithness, and supported him
in all his plans, immediately sent notice of this
disaster to the earl, who without delay sent
his eldest son, John, Master of Caithness, with
a large party of countrymen and friends, in-
cluding Y-Mackay and his countryman, to
attack the Murrays in Dornoch. They be-
sieged the town and castle, which were both
manfully defended by the Murrays and their
friends ; but the Master of Caithness, favoured
by the darkness of the night, set fire to the
cathedral, the steeple of wliich, however, was
preserved. After the town had been reduced,
the Master of Caithness attacked the castlo

1 Sir R. Gordon, p. 155.

DOINGS OF MACKAY AND THE EARL OF CAITHNESS.

and the steeple of the church, into which a
body of men had thrown themselves, both of
which held out for the space of a week, and
would probably have recisted much longer, but
for the interference of mutual friends of the
parties, by whose mediation the Hurrays sur-
rendered the castle and the steeple of the
church ; and, as hostages for the due perform-
ance of other conditions, they delivered up
Thomas Murray, son of Houcheon Murray of
Aberscors, Houcheon Murray, son of Alex-
ander Mac-Sir-Angus, and John Murray, son
of Thomas Murray, the brother of John Mur-
ray of Aberscors. But the Earl of Caithness
refused to ratify the treaty which his son had
entered into with the Murrays, and afterwards
basely beheaded the three hostages. These
occurrences took place in the year 1570.2

The Murrays and the other friends of the
Sutherland family, no longer able to protect
themselves from the vengeance of the Earl of
Caithness, dispersed themselves into different
countries, there to wait for more favourable
times, when they might return to their native
soil without danger. The Murrays went to
Strathbogie, where Earl Alexander then re-
sided. Hugh Gordon of Drummoy retired to
Orkney, where he married a lady named Ursula
Tulloch ; but he frequently visited his friends
in Sutherland, in spite of many snares laid
for him by the Earl of Caithness, while secretly
going and returning through Caithness. Hugh
Gordon's brothers took refuge with the Mur-
rays at Strathbogie. John Gray of Skibo and
his son Gilbert retired to St. Andrews, where
their friend Robert, bishop of Caithness, then
resided, and Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of Strathully
went to Glengarry.

As the alliance of such a powerful and war-
like chief as Mackay would have been of great
importance to the Sutherland interest, an
attempt was made to detach him from the
Earl of Caithness. The plan appears to have
originated with Hugh Murray of Aberscors,
who made repeated visits to Strathbogie, to
consult with the Earl of Sutherland and his
friends on this subject, and afterwards went
into Strathnaver and held a conference with
Mackay, whom he prevailed upon to accom-

2 Sir R. Gordon, p. 16B.

pany him to Strathbogie. Mackay then en-
tered into an engagement with the Earl of
Huntly and the Earl of Sutherland, to assist
the latter against the Earl of Caithness, in con-
sideration of which, and on payment of .£300
Scots, he obtained from the Earl of Huntly the
heritable right and title of the lands of Strath-
naver ; but Mackay, influenced by Barbara
Sinclair, the wife of the Earl of Sutherland,
with whom he now publicly cohabited, broke
his engagement, and continued to oppress the
earl's followers and dependents.

From some circumstances which have not
transpired, the Earl of Caithness became sus-
picious of his son John, the Master of Caith-
ness, as having, in connection with Mackay, a
design upon his life. To put an end to the
earl's suspicion, Mackay advised John to go to
Girnigo (Castle Sinclair), and to submit him-
self to his father's pleasure, a request with
which the Master complied ; but, after arriving
at Girnigo, he was, while conversing with his
father, arrested by a party ol armed men, who,
upon a secret signal being given by the earl,
had rushed in at the chamber door. He was
instantly fettered and thrust into prison within
the castle, where, after a miserable captivity
of seven years, he died, a prey to famine and
vermin.

Mackay, who had accompanied the Master to
Girnigo, and who in all probability would have
shared the same fate, escaped and returned
home to Strathnaver, where he died, within
four months thereafter, of grief and remorse
for the many bad actions of his life. During
the minority of his son Houcheon, John Mor-
Mackay, the cousin, and John Beg-Mackay,
the bastard son of Y-Mackay, took charge of
the estate ; but John Mor-Mackay was speedily
removed from his charge by the Earl of Caith-
ness, who, considering him as a favourer of the
Earl of Sutherland, caused him to be appre-
hended and carried into Caithness, where he
was detained in prison till his death. During
this time John Robson, the chief of the clan
Gun in Caithness and Strathnaver, became a
dependent on the Earl of Sutherland, and acted
as his factor in collecting the rents and duties
of the bishop's lands within Caithness which
belonged to the earl This connexion was
exceedingly disagreeable to the Earl of Caith-

94

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

ness, who in consequence took a grudge at
John Robson, and, to gratify his spleen, he
instigated Houcheon Mackay to lay waste the
lands of the cl;u Gun, in the Brea-Moir, in
Caithness, without the knowledge of John
Beg-Mackay, his brother. As the clan Gun
had always been friendly to the family of
Mackay, John Beg-Mackay was greatly exas-
perated at the conduct of the earl in enticing
the young chief to commit such an outrage ;
but he had it not in his power to make any
reparation to the injured clan. John Robson,
the chief, however, assisted by Alexander Earl
of Sutherland, invaded Strathnaver and made
ample retaliation. Meeting the Strathnaver
men at a place called Creach-Drumi-Dovin, he
attacked and defeated them, killing several of
them, and chiefly those who had accompanied
Houcheon Mackay in his expedition to the
Brea-Moir. He then carried off a large quan-
tity of booty, which he divided among the clan
Gun of Strathully, who had suffered by IIou-
cheon Mackay's invasion.3

The Earl of Caithness, having resolved to
avenge himself on John Beg-Mackay for the
displeasure shown by him at the conduct of
Houcheon Mackay, and also on the clan Gun,
prevailed upon Neil-Mac-Iain-Mac- William,
chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, and James
Mac-Rory, chief of the Slioehd-Iaiii-Mhoir, to
attack them. Accordingly, in the month of
September, 1579, these two chiefs, with their
followers, entered Balnekill in Durines during
the night-time, and slew John Beg-Mackay
and "William Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, the brother
of John. Robson, and some of their people.
The friends of the deceased were not in a con-
dition to retaliate, but they kept up the spirit
of revenge so customary in those times, and
only waited a favourable opportunity to gratify
it. This did not occur till several years there-
after. In the year 1587, James Mac-Rory,
" a fyne gentleman and a good commander,"
according to Sir Robert Gordon, was assassi-
nated by Donald Balloch-Mackay, the brother
of John Beg-Mackay ; and two years there-
after John Mackay, the son of John Beg,
attacked Neil Mac-Iain-Mac- William, whom
he wounded severely, and cut off some of his

3 Sir R. Gordon, p. 173

followers. " This Neil," says Sir R. Gordon,
" heir mentioned, wes a good captain, bold,
craftie, of a verio good witt, and quick resolu
tion."

After the death of John Beg-Mackay, and
William Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, a most deadly and
inveterate feud followed, between the clan GUI
and the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, but no recital
of the details has been handed down to us.
" The long, the many, the horrible encounters,"
observes Sir R. Gordon " which happened be-
tween these two trybes, with the bloodshed,
and infinit spoills committed in every pairt of
the diocy of Cattcynes by them and their asso-
ciats, are of so disordered and troublesome
mcmorie, that, what with their asperous names,
together with the confusion of place, tymes,
and persons, would yet be (no doubt) a wan-
to the reader to overlook them; and therefor,
to favor myne oune paines, and his who should
get little profite or delight thereby, I doe pass
them over."4

The clan Chattan, fifty years earlier, must
have been harassing the surrounding districts
to a terrible extent, and causing the govern-
ment considerable trouble, as in 1528 we find
a mandate addressed by King James " to our
shirreffs of Kincardin, Abirdene, Banf, Elgen,
Fores, Name, and Invernyss; and to our
derrest bruthir, James, Erie of Murray, oiu
lieutenant generate in the north partis of our
realme, and to our louittis consingis [ ] Erie
of Sutherland; John Erie of Cathnes," &c.,
&c., commanding them that inasmuch as John
M'Kiiilay, Thomas Mackinlay, Donald Glass,
&c., " throcht assistance and fortifying of all
the kin of Clanquhattane duelland within
Baienach, Petty, Brauchly, Strathnarne, and
other parts thereabout, committs daily fire-
raising, slaughter, murder, heirschippis, and
wasting of the cuntre," to the harm of the true
lieges, these sheriffs and others shall fall upon
the " said Clanquhattane, and invade them to
their utter destruction by slaughter, burning,
drowning, and other ways; and leave na crea-
ture living of that clan, except priests, women,
and bairns." The "women and bairns" they
were ordered to take to " some parts of the son
nearest land, quhair ships salbe forsene on our

4 History, p. 171.

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE CLAN GUN.

95

expenses, to sail with them, furth of our realme,
ami land with them in Jesland, Zesland, or
Norway; because it were inhumanity to put
hands in the blood of women and bairns."
Had this mandate for "stamping out" this
troublesome clan been carried out it would
certainly have been an effectual cure for many
of the disturbances in the Highlands j but wo
cannot find any record as to what practical
result followed the issue of tliis cruel decree.6

In the year 1585 a quarrel took place be-
tween Noil Houcheonson, and Donald Neilson,
the Laird of Assyut, who had married Houcheon
Mackay's sister. The cause of Donald Neilson
wis espoused by Houcheon Mackay, and the
elan Gun, who came with an army out of
Caithness and Strathnavcr, to besiege Neil
Houcheonson in the isle of Assynt. Neil,
who was commander of Assynt, and a follower
of the Earl of Sutherland, sent immediate
notice to the earl of Mackay's movements, on
receiving which the earl, assembling a body of
men, despatched them to Assynt to raise the
siege; but Mackay did not wait for their
coming, and retreated into Strathnaver. As
the Earl of Caithness had sent some of his
people to assist Mackay, who was the Earl of
Sutherland's vassal, the latter resolved to
punish both, and accordingly made preparations
for entering Strathnaver and Caithness with
an army. But some mutual friends of the
parties interfered to prevent the effusion of
blood, by prevailing on the two earls to meet
at Elgin, in the presence of the Earl of Huntly
and other friends, and get their differences
adjusted. A meeting was accordingly held, at
which the earls were reconciled. The whole
blame of the troubles and commotions which
had recently disturbed the peace of Sutherland
and Caithness, was thrown upon the clan Gun,
who were alleged to have been the chief insti-
gators, and as then- restless disposition might
give rise to new disorders, it was agreed, at
said meeting, to cut them off, and particularly
that part of the tribe which dwelt in Caith-
ness, which was chiefly dreaded, for which
purpose the Earl of Caithness bound himself
to deliver up to the Earl of Sutherland, certain
individuals of the clan living in Caithness.

' See Scolding Club Miscclla^.i , vol. ii. p. S3.

To enable him to implement his engagement a
resolution was entered into to send two com-
panies of men against those of the clan Gun
who dwelt in Caithness and Strathnaver, and
to surround them in such a way as to prevent
escape. The Earl of Caitlmess, notwithstand-
ing, sent private notice to the clan of the
preparations making against them by Angus
Sutherland of Mellary, in Berriedale; but the
clan were distrustful of the earl, as they had
already received secret intelligence that he had
assembled his people together for the purpose
of attacking them.

As soon as the Earl of Sutherland could get
his men collected he proceeded to march to the
territories of the clan Gun; but meeting by
chance, on his way, with a party of Strath-
naver men, under the command of William
Mackay, brother of Houcheon Mackay, carrying
off the cattle of James Mac-Rory, a vassal of
his own, from Coireceann Loch in the Diri-
Meanigh, he rescued and brought back his
vassal's cattle. After this the earl's party pur-
sued "William Mackay and the Strathnaver
men during the whole day, and killed one of
the principal men of the clan Gun in Strath-
naver, called Angus-Eoy, with several others
of Mackay's company. This affair was called
Latha-Tom-Fraoich, that is, the day of the
heather bush. At the end of the pursuit, and
towards evening, the pursued party found
themselves on the borders of Caithness, where
they found the clan Gun assembled in conse-
quence of the rising of the Caithness people
who had taken away their cattle.

Tliis accidental meeting of the Strathnaver
men and the clan Gun was the means, probably,
of saving both from destruction. They imme-
diately entered into an alliance to stand by
one another, and to live or die together. Next
morning they found themselves placed between
two powerful bodies of their enemies. On the
one side was the Earl of Sutherland's party at
no groat distance, reposing themselves from
the fatigues of the preceding day, and on the
other were seen advancing the Caithness men,
conducted by Henry Sinclair, brother to tho
laird of Dun, and cousin to the Earl of Caith-
ness. A council of war was immediately held
to consult how to act in this emergency, when
it was resolved to attack the Caithness men

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

first, as they were far inferior in numbers,
which was done by the clan Gun and their
allies, who had the advantage of the hill, with
great resolution. The former foolishly expended
their arrows wliile at a distanoe from their
opponents; but the clan Gun having hus-
banded their shot till they came in close con-
tact with the enemy, did great execution.
The Caithness men were completely over-
thrown, after leaving 140 of their party, with
their captain, Henry Sinclair, dead on the field
of battle. Had not the darkness of the night
favoured their flight, they would have all been
destroyed. Henry Sinclair was Mackay's
uncle, and not being aware that he had been
in the engagement till he recognised his body
among the slain, Mackay felt extremely grieved
at the unexpected death of his relative. This
skirmish took place at Aldgown, in the year
1586. The Sutherland men having lost sight
of Mackay and his party among the hills,
immediately before the conflict, returned into
their own country with the booty they had
recovered, and were not aware of the defeat of
the Caithness men till some time after that
event.

The Earl of Caithness afterwards confessed
that he had no intention of attacking the clan
Gun at the time in question ; but that his
policy was to have allowed them to bo closely
pressed and pursued by the Sutherland men,
and then to have relieved them from the im-
minent danger they would thereby be placed
in, so that they might consider that it was to
him they owed their safety, and thus lay them
under fresh obligations to him. But the
deceitful part he acted proved very disastrous
to his people, and the result so exasperated
him against the clan Gun, that he hanged
John Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, chieftain of the clan
Gun, in Caithness, whom he had kept captive
for some time.

The result of all these proceedings was another
meeting between the Earls of Sutherland and
Caithness at the hill of Bingrime in Suther-
land, which was brought about by the media-
tion of Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun,
who was sent into the north by his nephew,
the Earl of Huntly, for that purpose. Here
again a new confederacy was formed against
the clan Gun iu Caithness, who were now

maintained and harboured by Mackay. The
Earl of Sutherland, on account of the recent
defeat of the Caithness men, undertook to
attack the clan first. He accordingly directed
two bodies to march with all haste against tlio
clan, one of which was commanded by James
Mac-Rory and Neil Mac-Iain-Mac-William,
chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, who were
now under the protection of the Earl of Suther-
land; and the other by William Sutherland
Johnson, George Gordon in Marie, and Wil-
liam Murray in Iviimald, brother of Hugh
Murray of Aberscors. Houcheon Mackay,
seeing no hopes of maintaining the clan Gun
any longer without danger to himself, dis-
charged them from his country, whereupon
they made preparations for seeking an asylum
in the western isles. But, on their journey
thither, they were met near Loch Broom, at a
place called Leckmelme, by James Mac-Rory
and Neil Mac-Iain-Mac-William, where, after a
sharp skirmish, they were overthrown, and
the greater part of them killed. Their com-
mander, George Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, brother of
John Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, who was hanged by
the Earl of Caithness, was severely wounded,
and was taken prisoner after an unsuccessful
attempt to escape by swimming across a loch
close by. After being carried to Dunrobin
castle, and presented to the Earl of Sutherland,
George Gun was sent by liiui to the Earl of
Caithness, who, though extremely grieved at
the misfortune which had happened to the clan
Gun, dissembled his vexation, and received the
prisoner as if he approved of the Earl of
Sutherland's proceedings against him and his
unfortunate people. After a short confine-
ment, George Gun was released from his cap-
tivity by the Earl of Caithness, at the entreaty
of the Earl of Sutherland, not from any favour
to the prisoner himself, or to the earl, whom
the Earl of Caithness hated mortally, but with
the design of making Gun an instrument of
annoyance to some of the Earl of Sutherland's
neighbours. But the Earl of Caithness was
disappointed in his object, for George Gun,
after his enlargement from prison, always re-
mained faithful to the Earl of Sutherland.6
About this time a violent feud arose in the

• Sir R. Gordon, p. 185.

1T.UD T.KTWKKN THE MACDONALDS AND MACLEANS.

97

western isles between Angus Macdonald of
Kintyre, and Sir Lauclilan Maclean of Duart,
in Mull, whose sister Angus had married,
which ended in the almost total destruction of
the clan Donald and clan Lean. The circum-
stances which led to this unfortunate dissen-
sion were these : —

Donald Gorm Macdonald of Slate, when
going on a visit from Slate to his cousin, Angus
Macdonald of Kintyre, was forced by contrary
winds to land with his party in the island of
Jura, which belonged partly to Sir Lauclilan
Maclean, and partly to Angus Macdonald.
The part of the island where Macdouald of
Slate landed belonged to Sir Lauchlan Maclean.
No sooner had Macdonald and his company
landed, than, by an unlucky coincidence, Mac-
donald Tearrcagh and Houcheon Macgillespic,
two of the clan Donald who had lately quarrelled
with Donald Gorm, arrived at the same time
with a party of men ; and, understanding that
Donald Gorm was in the island, they secretly
took away, by night, a number of cattle be-
longing to the clan Lean, and immediately put
to sea. Their object in doing so was to make
the clan Lean believe that Donald Gorm and
his party had carried off the cattle, in the hope
that the Macleans would attack Donald Gorm,
and they were not disappointed. As soon as
the lifting of the cattle had been discovered,
Sir Lauchlan Maclean assembled his whole
forces, and, under the impression that Donald
Gorm and his party had committed the spoli-
ation, he attacked them suddenly and unawares,
during the night, at a place in the island called
Inverchuockwrick, and slew about sixty of the
:lau Donald. Donald Gonn,having previously
gone on board his vessel to pass the night, for-
tunately escaped.

When Angus Macdonald heard of this " un-
toward event," he visited Donald Gorm in
Skye for the purpose of consulting with him
on the means of obtaining reparation for the
loss of his men. On his return homeward to
Kintyre, he landed in the Isle of Mull, and,
contrary to the advice of Coll Mac-James and
Reginald Mac-James, his two brothers, and of
Reginald Mac-Coll, his cousin, who wished
him to send a messenger to announce the re-
sult of his meeting witli Donald Gorm, went
to the castle of Duart, the principal residence

i.

of Sir Lauchlan Maclean in Mull. His two
brothers refused to accompany him, and they
acted rightly; for, the day after Angus arrived
at Duart, he and all his party were perfidiously
arrested by Sir Lauchlan Maclean. Reginald
Mac-Coll, the cousin of Angus, alone escaped.
The Rhinns of Islay at this time belonged to
the clan Donald, but they had given the pos-
session of them to the clan Lean for personal
services. Sir Lauchlan, thinking the present
a favourable opportunity for acquiring an abso-
lute right to this property, offered to release
Angus Macdonald, provided he would renounce
liis right and title to the Ehinns ; and, in case
of refusal, he threatened to make him end his
days in captivity. Angus, being thus in some
degree compelled, agreed to the proposed terms;
but, before obtaining his liberty, he was forced
to give James Macdonald, his eldest son, and
Reginald Mac-James, his brother, as hostages,
until the deed of conveyance should be deliv-
ered to Sir Lauchlan.

It was not, however, the intention of Angus
Macdonald to implement this engagement, if
he could accomplish the liberation of his son
and brother. His cousin had suffered a griev-
ous injury at the hands of Sir Lauchlan Mac-
lean without any just cause of offence, and he
himself had, when on a friendly mission, been
detained most unjustly as a prisoner, and com-
pelled to promise to surrender into Sir Lauch-
lan's hands, by a regular deed, a part of his
property. Under these circumstances, his
resolution to break the unfair engagement he
had come under is not to be wondered at. To
accomplish his object he had recourse to a
stratagem in which he succeeded, as will be
shown in the sequel.

After Maclean had obtained delivery of the
two hostages, he made a voyage to Islay to get
the engagement completed. He left behind,
in the castle of Duart, Reginald Mac-James,
one of the hostages, whom he put in fetters,
and took the other to accompany him on his
voyage. Having arrived in the isle of Islay,
he encamped at Eilean-Gorm, a ruinous castle
upon the Rhinns of Islay, which castle had
been lately in the possession of the clan Lean.
Angus Macdonald was residing at the tune at
the house of Mulindry or Mullindhrca, a com-
fortable and well-furnished residence belonging

98

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS

Castle Duart,

to liim on the island, and to which he invited
Sir Lauehlan, under the pretence of affording
him better accommodation, and providing him
with better provisions than he could obtain in
liis camp ; but Sir Lauchlan, having his sus-
picions, declined to accept the invitation.
" There wes," says Sir Robert Gordon, " so
little trust on either syd, that they did not now
mc.it in friendship or amitie, bot vpon ther
owne guard, or rather by messingers, one from
another. And true it is (sayeth John Col win,
in his manuscript) that the islanders are, of
nature, verie suspicious ; full of invention
against ther nighbours, by whatsoever way
they may get them destroyed. Besyds this,
they are bent and eager in taking revenge, that
neither have they regaird to persone, tyme,
aige, nor cause ; and ar generallie so addicted
that way (as lykwise are the most pairt of all
Highlanders), that therein they surpasse all
other people whatsoever."

Sir Lauchlan, however, was thrown off his
guard by fair promises, and agreed to pay
Macdonald a visit, and accordingly proceeded
to Mulindry, accompanied by James Macdon-
ald, his own nephew, and the son of Angus,
and 8G of his kinsmen and servants. Maclean
and his party, on their arrival, were received
by Macdonald with much apparent kindness,
and were sumptuously entertained during the
whole day. In the meantime, Macdonald sent
notice to all his friends and well-wishers in the
island, to come to his house at nine o'clock at

night, his design being to seize Maclean and
his party. At the usual hour for going to
repose, Maclean and his people were lodged in
a long-house, which stood by itself, at some
distance from the other houses. During the
whole day Maclean had always kept James
Macdonald, the hostage, within his reach, as a
sort of protection to him in case of an attack,
and at going to bed he took him along with
him. About an hour after Maclean and his
people had retired, Angus assembled his men
to the number of 300 or 400, and made them
surround the house in which Maclean and his
company lay. Then, going himself to the
door, he called upon Maclean, and told him
that he had come to give him his reposing
drink, which he had forgotten to offer him
before going to bed. Maclean answered that
he did not wish to drink at that time ; but
Macdonald insisted that he should rise and
receive the drink, it being, he said, his will
that he should do so. The peremptory tone of
Macdonald made Maclean at once apprehen-
sive of the danger of his situation, and imme-
diately getting up and placing the boy between
his shoulders, prepared to preserve his life as
long as he could with the boy, or to sell it as
dearly as possible. As soon as the door was
forced open, James Macdonald, seeing his
father with a naked sword in his hand and a
number of his men armed in the same manner,
cried aloud for mercy to Maclean, Ms uncle,
which being granted, Sir Lauchlan was irr.rae-

FEUD BETWEEN THE MACDONALDS AND MACLEANS.

99

diately removed to a secret chamber, where he
remained till next morning. After Maclean
had surrendered, Angus Macdonald announced
to those within the house, that if they would
come without their lives would he spared ;
but lie excepted Macdonald Terreagh and
another Individual whom he named. The
whole, with the exception of these two, hav-
ing complied, the house was immediately set
on fire, and consumed along with Macdonald
Terreagh and his companion. The former was
one of the clan Donald of the Western Islands,
and not only had assisted the clan Lean
against his own tribe, but was also the origin-
ator, as we have seen, of all these disturbances ;
and the latter was a near kinsman to Maclean,
one of the oldest of the clan, and celebrated
for his wisdom and prowess. This affair took
place in the month of July, 1586.

When the intelligence of the seizure of Sir
Lauchlan Maclean reached the Isle of Mull,
Allan Maclean, who was the nearest kinsman
to Maclean, whose children were then very
young, bethought himself of an expedient to
obtain the possessions of Sir Lauchlan. In
conjunction with his friends, Allan cause. 1 a
false report to be spread in the island of Islay,
that the friends of Maclean had killed Reginald
Mac-James, the remaining hostage at Duart
in Mull, by means of which he hoped that
Angus Macdonald would be moved to kill Sir
Lauchlan, and thereby enable him (Allan) to
supply his place. But although this device
did not succeed, it proved very disastrous to
Sir Lauclilan's friends and followers, who were
beheaded in pairs by Coll Mac-James, the
brother of Angus Macdonald.

The friends of Sir Lauchlan seeing no hopes
of his release, applied to the Earl of Argyle to
€ossist them in a contemplated attempt to rescue
him out of the hands of Angus Macdonald ;
but the earl, perceiving the utter hopelessness
of such an attempt with such forces as he and
they could command, advised them to com-
plain to King James VI. against Angus Mac-
donald, for the seizure and detention of their
cliicf. The king immediately directed that
Macdonald should 1)6 summoned by a herald-
at-arms to deliver up Sir Lauchlan into the
hands of the Earl of Argyle ; but the herald
•was interrupted in the performance of his duty,

not being able to procure shipping for Islay,
and was obliged to return home. The Earl of
Argyle had then recourse to negotiation with
Macdonald, and, after considerable trouble, he
prevailed on him to release Sir Lauchlau on
certain strict conditions, but not until Regi-
nald Mac-James, the brother of Angus, had
been delivered up, and the earl, for perform-
ance of the conditions agreed upon, had given
his own son, and the son of Macleod of Harris,
as hostages. But Maclean, quite regardless of
the safety of the hostages, and in open viola-
tion of the engagements he had come under,
on hearing that Angus Macdonald had gone
on a visit to the clan Donald of the glens in
Ireland, invaded Isla, which he laid waste, and
pursued those who had assisted in his capture.

On his return from Ireland, Angus Macdon-
ald made great preparations for inflicting a
just chastisement upon Maclean. Collecting
a large body of men, and much shipping, he
invaded Mull and Tiree, carrying havoc and
destruction along with him, and destroying
every human being and every domestic animal,
of whatever kind. While Macdonald was
committing these ravages in Mull and Tirce,
Maclean, instead of opposing him, invaded
Kintyre, where he took ample retaliation by
wasting and burning a great part of that coun-
try. In this manner did these hostile clans
continue, for a considerable period, mutually
to vox and destroy one another, till they were
almost exterminated, root and branch.

In order to strengthen his own power and
to weaken that of his antagonist, Sir Lauchlan
Maclean attempted to detach John Mac-Iain,
of Ardnamurchan, from Angus Macdonald and
his party. Mac-Iain had formerly been an
unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Maclean's
mother, and Sir Lauchlan now gave him an
invitation to visit him in Mull, promising, at
the same time, to give him his mother in mar-
riage. Mac-Iain accepted the invitation, and
on his arrival in Mull, Maclean prevailed on
his mother to marry Mac-Iain, and the nuptials
were accordingly celebrated at Torloisk in
MulL No persuasion, however, could induce
Mac-Iain to join against his own tribe, towards
which, notwithstanding his matrimonial alli-
ance, he entertained the strongest affection.
Chagrined at the unexpected refusal of Mac-

100

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Iain, Sir Lauclilan resolved to punish Ms
refractory guest "by one of those gross infringe-
ments of the laws of hospitality which so often
marked the hostility of rival clans. During
the dead hour of the night he caused the door
of Mac-Iain's bedchamber to he forced open,
dragged him from his bed, and from the arms
of his wife, and put him in close confinement,
after killing eighteen of his followers. After
Buffering a year's captivity, he was released and
exchanged for Maclean's son, and the other
hostages in Macdonald's possession.

The dissensions between these two tribes
having attracted the attention of government,
the rival chiefs were induced, partly by com-
mand of the king, and partly by persuasions
and fair promises, to come to Edinburgh in the
year 1592, for the purpose of having their
differences reconciled. On their arrival they
were committed prisoners to the castle of Edin-
burgh, but were soon released and allowed to
return home on payment of a small pecuniary
fine, "and a shanifull remission," says Sir Ro-
bert Gordon, "granted to either of them."7

In the year 1587, the flames of discord,
which had lain dormant for a short time, burst
forth between the rival houses of Sutherland
and Caithness. In the year 1583, Alexander,
Earl of Sutherland, obtained from the Earl of
Huntly a grant of the superiority of Strath-
naver, and of the heritable sheriffship of
Sutherland and Strathnaver, which last was
granted in lieu of the lordship of Aboyne.
This grant was confirmed by his Majesty in
a charter under the great seal, by which
Sutherland and Strathnaver were disjoined
and dismembered from the sheriffdom of
Inverness. As the strength and influence of
the Earl of Sutherland were greatly increased
by the power and authority with which the
superiority of Strathnaver invested him, the
Earl of Caithness used the most urgent entreat-
ies with the Earl of Huntly, who was his
brother-in-law, to recall the gift of the superi-
ority which he had granted to the Earl of
Sutherland, and confer the same on him. The
Earl of Huntly gave no decided answer to this
application, although he seemed rather to listen
with a favourable ear to his brother-in-law's

7 History, p. 192.

request. The Earl of Sutherland having been
made aware of his rival's pretensions, and of
the reception which he had met with from the
Earl of Huntly, immediately notified to Huntly
that he would never restore the superiority
either to him or to the Earl of Caithness, as
the bargain he had made with him had been
long finally concluded. The Earl of Huntly
was much offended at this notice, but he and
the Earl of Sutherland were soon reconciled
through the mediation of Sir Patrick Gordon
of Auchindun.

Disappointed in his views of obtaining the
superiority in question, the Earl of Caithness
seized the first opportunity, which presented
itself, of quarrelling with the Earl of Suther-
land, and he now thought that a suitable occa-
sion had occurred. George Gordon, a bastard
son of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, having offered
many indignities to the Earl of Caithness, the
Earl, instead of complaining to the Earl of
Sutherland, in whose service this George Gordon
was, craved satisfaction and redress from the
Earl of Huntly. Huntly very properly desired
the Earl of Caithness to lay his complaint
before the Earl of Sutherland ; but this he
declined to do, disdaining to seek redress from
Earl Alexander. Encouraged, probably, by the
refusal of the Earl of Huntly to interfere, and
the stubbornness of the Earl of Caithness to
ask redress from his master, George Gordon,
who resided in the town of Marie in Strathully,
on the borders of Caithness, not satisfied with
the indignities which he had formerly shown
to the Earl of Caithness, cut off the tails of the
earl's horses as they wore passing the river of
Helmsdale under the care of his servants, on
their journey from Caithness to Edinburgh,
and in derision desired the earl's servants to
show him what he had done.

This George Gordon, it would appear, led a
very irregular and wicked course of life, and
shortly after the occurrence we have just related,
a circumstance happened which induced the Earl
of Caithness to take redress at his own hands.
George Gordon had incurred the displeasure of
the Earl of Sutherland by an unlawful con-
nexion with his wife's sister, and as he had no
hopes of regaining the earl's favour but by
renouncing this impure intercourse, he sent
Patrick Gordon, his brother, to the Earl of

EAltLS OF CAITHNESS A3V SUTHERLAND.

101

Caitluicss to endeavour to effect a reconciliation
with him, as he could no longer rely upon the
protection of his master, the Earl of Suther-
land. The Earl of Caithness, who felt an
inward satisfaction at hearing of the displea-
sure of the Earl of Sutherland with George
Gordon, dissembled his feelings, and pretended
to listen with great favour to the request of
Patrick Gordon, in order to throw George
Gordon off his guard, while ho was in reality
meditating his destruction. The ruse succeeded
so effectually, that although Gordon received
timcous notice, from some friends, of the
intentions of the earl to attack him, he reposed
in false security upon the promises held out to
him, and made no provision for his personal
safety. But he was soon undeceived by the
appearance of the earl and a body of men,
who, in February, 1587, entering Marie under
the silence of the night, surrounded his house
and required him to surrender, which he refused
to do. Having cut his way through his enemies
and thrown himself into the river of Helms-
dale, which he attempted to swim across, he
was slain by a shower of arrows.

The Earl of Sutherland, though ho disliked
the conduct of George Gordon, was highly in-
censed at his death, and made great prepara-
tions to punish the Earl of Caithness for his
attack upon Gordon. The Earl of Caithness
in his turn assembled his whole forces, and,
being joined by Mackay and the Strathnaver
men, together with John, the Master of Orkney,
and the Earl of Carrick, brother of Patrick,
Earl of Orkney, and some of his countrymen,
marched to Helmsdale to meet the Earl of
Sutherland. As soon as the latter heard of the
advance of the Earl of Caithness, lie also pro-
ceeded towards Helmsdale, accompanied by
Mackintosh, Roderick Mackenzie of Redcastle,
Hector Monroe of Contaligh, and Neill Hou-
cheonson, with the men of Assynt. On his
arrival at the river of Helmsdale, the Earl of
Sutherland found the enemy encamped on the
opposite side. Neither party seemed inclined
to come to a general engagement, but contented
themselves with daily skirmishes, annoying
each other with guns and arrows from the
opposite banks of the river. The Sutherland
men, who were very expert archers, annoyed
the Caithness men so much, as to force them

to break up their camp on the river side and
to remove among the rocks above the villago
of Easter Helmsdale. Mackay and his coun-
trymen were encamped on the river of Marie,
and in order to detach liim from the Earl of
Caithness, Macintosh crossed that river and
had a private conference with liim. After
reminding him of the friendship wliich had so
long subsisted between his ancestors and the
Sutherland family, Macintosh endeavoured to
impress upon his mind the danger ho incurred
by taking up arms against liis own superior the
Earl of Sutherland, and entreated liim, for his
own sake, to join the earl; but Mackay remained
inflexible.

By the mediation of mutual friends, the two
earls agreed to a temporary truce on the 9th
of March, 1587, and thus the effusion of human
blood was stopped for a short time. As
Mackay was the vassal of the Earl of Suther-
land, the latter refused to comprehend him in
the truce, and insisted upon an unconditional
submission, but Mackay obstinately refused to
do so, and returned home to his own country,
highly chagrined that the Earl of Caithness,
for whom he had put his life and estate in
jeopardy, should have acceded to the Earl of
Sutherland's request to exclude him from tho
benefit of the truce. Before the two earls
separated they came to a mutual understand-
ing to reduce Mackay to obedience ; and that
he might not suspect their design, they agreed
to meet at Edinburgh for the purpose of con-
certing the necessary measures together. Ac-
cordingly, they held a meeting at the appointed
place in the year 1588, and came to the reso-
lution to attack Mackay; and to prevent
Mackay from receiving any intelligence of
their design, both parties swore to keep the
same secret; but the Earl of Caithness, re-
gardless of his oath, immediately sent notice to
Mackay of the intended attack, for the purpose
of enabling him to meet it. Instead, however,
of following the Earl of Caithncss's advice,
Mackay, justly dreading his hollow friendship,
made haste, by the advice of Macintosh and
the Laird of Foulis, to reconcile himself to the
Earl of Sutherland, his superior, by an im-
mediate submission. For this purpose he and
the earl first met at Inverness, and after con-
ferring together they made another appoint-

102

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

meiit to meet at Elgin, where a perfect and
final reconciliation took place hi the month of
November, 1588.

CHAPTER VIII.

A. D. 1K88— 1601.
KINO OP SCOTLAND:-- -James VI., 1507—1003.

Continued strife between the Earls of Sutherland and
Caithness — Short Reconciliation — Strife renewed —
Fivsh Keconciliation — Quarrel between Clan Gun
nnd other tribes— The Earl of Hnntly, the Clan
Chattan, and others — Death of the " Bonny " Earl
of Murray — Consequent excitement — Strife between
Hnntly and the Clan Chattan — Huntly attainted
and treated as a rebel — Argyle sent against him —
Battle of Glenlivet — Journey of James VI. to the
North — Tumults in Ross — Feud between the Mac-
leans and Macdonalds — Defeat of the Macleans — Dis-
pute between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness
— Fend between Macdonald of Slate and Macleod of
Harris — Reconciliation.

TUB truce between the Earls of Caithness
and Sutherland having now expired, the latter,
accompanied by Mackay, Macintosh, the Laird
of Foulis, the Laird of Assynt, and Gille-Calum,
Laird of Rasay, entered Caithness with all his
forces in the beginning of 1588. In taking
this step he was warranted by a commission
which he had obtained at court, through the
influence of Chancellor Maitland, against the
Earl of Caithness for killing George Gordon.
The people of Caithness, alarmed at the great
force of the earl, lied in all directions on his
approach, and he never halted till he reached
the strong fort of Giniigo, where he pitched
his camp for twelve days. He then penetrated
as far as Duncansby, killing several of the
country people on his route, and collecting an
immense quantity of cattle and goods, so large,
indeed, as to exceed all that had been seen toge-
ther in that country for many years. This inva-
sion had such an effect upon the people of Caith-
ness, that every race, clan, tribe, and family
there, vied with one another in offering pledges
to the Earl of Sutherland to keep the peace in
all time coming. The town of Wick was also
pillaged and burnt, but the church was pre-
served. In the church was found the heart of
the Earl of Caithncss's father in a case of lead,
which was opened by John Mac-Gille-Calum of
Rasay, and the ashes of the heart were tlirown
by liim to the winds.

During the time when these depredations
were being committed, the Earl of Caithness
shut himself up in the castle of Girnigo ; but
on learning the disasters which had befallen
his country, he desired a cessation of hostilities
and a conference with the Earl of Sutherland.
As the castle of Girnigo was strongly fortified,
and as the Earl of Caithness had made prepa-
rations for enduring a long siege, the Earl of
Sutherland complied with his request. Both
carls ultimately agreed to refer all their differ-
ences and disputes to the arbitration of friends,
and the Earl of Huntly was chosen by mutual
consent to act as umpire or oversman, in the
event of a difference of opinion.. A second
truce was in this way entered into until tho
decision of the arbiters, when all differences
were to cease.8

Notwithstanding this engagement, however,
the Earl of Caithness soon gave fresh provoca-
tion, for before the truce had expired he sent
a party of his men to Diri-Chatt in Sutherland,
under the command of Kenneth Buy, and his
brother Farquhar Buy, chieftains of the Siol-
Mhic-Imheair in Caithness, and chief advisers
of the Earl of Caithness in his bad actions, and
his instruments in oppressing the poor people
of Caithness. The Earl of Sutherland lost no
time in revenging himself for the depredations
committed. At Whitsunday, in the year 1 580,
he sent 300 men into Caithness, with Alexan-
der Gordon of Kilcalmekill at their head.
They penetrated as far as Girnigo, laying the
country waste everywhere around them, and
striking terror into the hearts of the inhabit-
ants, many of whom, including some of the
Siol-Mlu'c-Imheair, they killed. After spend-
ing their fury the party returned to Sutherland
with a large booty, and without the loss of a
single man.

To retaliate upon the Earl of Sutherland for
this inroad, James Sinclair of Marklo, brother
of the Earl of Caithness, collected an army
of 3,000 men, with which he marched into
Strathully, in the month of Juno, 1589. As
the Earl of Sutherland had been apprehen-
sive of an attack, he had placed a range of
sentinels along the borders of Sutherland, to
give notice of the approach of the enemy. Of

8 Sir R. Gordon, o. 157.

STRIFE BETWEEN THE EARLS OF CAITHNESS AND SUTHERLAND. 103

these, four wore stationed in the village of
Liribcll, which the Caithness men entered in
the middle of the day unknown to the sentinels,
who, instead of keeping an outlook, were at
the time carelessly enjoying themselves within
the watch-house. On perceiving the Caithness
men about entering the house, they shut them-
selves up within it ; but the house being set
on fire, three of them perished, and the fourth,
rushing through the flames, escaped with great
difficulty, and announced to his countrymen
the arrival of the enemy. From Strathully,
Sinclair passed forward with his army to a
place called Crissalligh, on the height of Strath-
broray, and began to drive away some cattle
towards Caithness. As the Earl of Sutherland
had not yet had sufficient time to collect a suf-
ficient force to oppose Sinclair, he sent in the
meantime Houchcon Mackay, who happened
to be at Dunrobin with 500 or 600 men, to
keep Sinclair in check until a greater force
should be assembled. With this body, which
was hastily drawn together on the spur of the
occasion, Mackay advanced with amazing celer-
ity, and such was the rapidity of his move-
ments, that he most unexpectedly came up
with Sinclair not far from Crissalligh, when
his army was ranging about without order or
military discipline. On coming up, Mackay
found John Gordon of Kilcalmekill at the
head of a small party skirmishing with the
Caithness men, a circumstance which made
him instantly resolve, though so far inferior in
numbers, to attack Sinclair. Crossing there-
fore the water, which was between him and
the enemy, Mackay and his men rushed upon
the army of Sinclair, which they defeated after
a long and warm contest The Caithness men
retreated with the li»s of their booty and part
of their baggage, and were closely pursued by
a body of men commanded by John Murray,
nicknamed the merchant, to a distance of 16
miles.9

This defeat, however, did not satisfy the
Earl of Sutherland, who, having now assembled
an army, entered Caithness with the intention
of laying it waste. The earl advanced as far
as Corrichoigh, and the Earl of Caithness con-
vened his forces at Spittle, where he lay wait-

• Sir R. Cordon, p. 199.

ing the arrival of his enemy. The Earl of
Huntly, having been made acquainted with the
warlike preparations of the two hostile earls,
sent, without delay, his uncle, Sir Patrick
Cordon of Auchindun, to mediate between
them, and he luckily arrived at the Earl of
Sutherland's head-quarters, at the very instant
his army was on its march to meet the Earl
of Caithness. By the friendly interference of
Sir Patrick, the parties were prevailed upon to
desist from their hostile intentions, and to
agree to hold an amicable meeting at Elgin, in
presence of the Earl of Huntly, to whom they
also agreed to refer all their differences. A
meeting accordingly took place in the month
of November, 1589, at which all disputes wern
settled, and in order that the reconciliation
might be lasting, and that no recourse might
again bo had to arms, the two earls subscribed
a deed, by which they appointed Huntly and
his successors hereditary judges, and arbitra-
tors of all disputes or differences, that might
thenceforth arise between these two houses.

This reconciliation, however, as it did not
obliterate the rancour which existed between
the people of these different districts, was but
of short duration. The frequent depredations
committed by the vassals and retainers of the
earls upon the property of one another, led to an
exchange of letters and messages between them
about the means to be used for repressing these
disorders. During this correspondence the Earl
of Sutherland became unwell, and, being con-
fined to liis bed, the Earl of Caithness, in Octo-
ber, 1590, wrote him a kind letter, which he had
scarcely despatched when he most unaccount-
ably entered Sutherland with a hostile force ;
but he only remained one night in that country,
in consequence of receiving intelligence of a
meditated attack upon his camp by John Gor-
don of Kilcalmekill, and Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-
William. A considerable number of the Suth-
erland men having collected together, they re-
solved to pursue the Caithness men, who had
carried off a large quantity of cattle; but, on
coming nearly up with them, an unfortunate
difference arose between the Murrays and the
Gordons, each contending for the command of
the vanguard. The Murraye rested their claim
upon their former good services to the house
of Sutherland ; but the Gordons refusing to

101

GENEEAL 11ISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

admit it, all the Hurrays, with tlio exception
of William Murray, brother of tlie Laird of
I'alrossie, and John Murray, the merchant,
withdrew, and took a station on a hill hard
by to witness the combat. This unexpected
event seemed to paralyze the Gordons at first;
but seeing the Caithness men driving the
cattle away before them, and thinking that if
they did not attack them they would be accused
of cowardice, Patrick Gordon of Gartay, John
Gordon of Einbo, and John Gordon of Kil-
calmekill, after some consultation, resolved to
attack the retiring foe without loss of time,
and without waiting for the coming up of the
Stratlmaver men, who were hourly expected.
This was a bold and desperate attempt, as the
Gordons were only as one to twelve in point
of numbers, but they could not brook the idea
of being branded as cowards. With such
numerical inferiority, and with the sun and
wind in their faces to boot, the Sutherland
men advanced upon and resolutely attacked
the Caillmess men near Clyne. In the van of
the Caitlmess army were placed about 1,500
archers, a considerable number of whom were
from the Western Isles, under the command of
Donald Balloch Mackay of Scourie, who
poured a thick shower of arrows upon the men
of Sutherland as they advanced, the latter, in
return, giving their opponents a similar recep-
tion. The combat raged with great fury for a
considerable time between these two parties :
thrice were the Caithness archers driven back
upon their roar, which was in consequence
thrown into great disorder, and thrice did
they return to the conflict, cheered on and
encouraged by their leader ; but, though supe-
rior in numbers, they could not withstand the
firmness and intrepidity 01 the Sutherland
men, who forced them to re Ure from the field
of battle on the approach of night, and to
abandon the cattle which had been carried off.
The loss in killed and wounded was about
equal on both sides ; but, with the exception
of Nicolas Sutherland, brother of the Laird of
Forse, and Angus Mac-Angus-Tennat, both
belonging to the Caitlmess party, and John
Murray, the merchant, on the Sutherland side,
there were no principal persons killed.

Vain as the efforts of the common friends of
the rival earls had hitherto been to reconcile

them effectually, the Earl of Huntly and
others once more attempted an arrangement,
and having prevailed upon the parties to meet
at Strathbogie, a final agreement was entered
into in the month of March, 1591, by w'lich
they agreed to bury all bygone differences in
oblivion, and to live on terms of amity in al]
time thereafter.

This fresh reconciliation of the two earls was
the means of restoring quiet in their districts
for a considerable time, which was partially
interrupted in the year 1594, by a quarrel
between the clan Gun and some of the other
petty tribes. Donald Mac-Williani-Mac-Hen-
ric, Alister Mac-Iain-Mac-Eoric, and others of
the clan Gun entered Caithness and attacked
Farquhar Buy, one of the captains of the tribe
of Siol-Mhic-Imheair, and William Sutherland,
alias William Abaraich, the chief favourite of
the Earl of Caithness, and the principal plotter
against the life of George Gordon, whose death
has been already noticed. After a warm skir-
mish, Farquhar Buy, and William Abaraich,
and some of their followers, wore slain. To re-
venge this outrage, the Earl of Caithness sent
the same year his brother, James Sinclair of
Murkle, with a party of men, against the clan
Gun in Strathic, in Stratlmaver, who killed
seven of that tribe. George Mac-Iain-Mac-
Ilob, the chief, and Donald Mac-William-Muc-
Henric narrowly escaped with their lives.

For the sake of continuity, we have deferred
noticing those transactions in the north in
wliich George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, was
more immediately concerned, and which led to
several bloody conflicts.

The earl, who was a favourite at court, and
personally liked by James VI., finding liirnself
in danger from the prevailing faction, retired
to his possessions in the north, for the purpose
of improving his estates and enjoying domestic
quiet. One of his first measures was to erect
a castle at Euthven, in Badenoch, in the neigh-
bourhood of his hunting forests. This gave
great offence to Macintosh, the chief of the clan
Chattan, and his people, as they considered
that the object of its erection was to overawe
the clan. Being the earl's vassals and tenants,
they were bound to certain services, among
wliich the furnishing of materials for the build-
ing formed a chief part ; but, instead of a.ssiat-

EAUL OF IIUNTLY AGAINST THE CLAN CIIATTAX AND OTHERS. 105

ing the earl's people, they at first indirectly
and in an underhand manner endeavoured to
prevent the workmen from going on with their
operations, and afterwards positively refused
to furnish the necessaries required for tho
Imilding. This act of disobedience was the
cause of much trouble, which was increased by a
quarrel in tho year 1590, between tho Gordons
and the Grante, the occasion of which was as
follows. John Grant, the tutor of Ballen-
dalloch, having withheld the rents due to the
widow, and endeavoured otherwise to injure
her, James Gordon, her nephew, eldest son of
Alexander Gordon of Lismore, along with some
of his friends, went to Ballendalloch to obtain
justice for her. On their arrival, differences
were accommodated so far that the tutor paid
up all arrears due to the lady, except a trifle,
•which he insisted, on some ground or other, on
retaining. This led to some altercation, in
which the servants of both parties took a share,
and latterly came to blows; but they were
separated, and James Gordon returned home.
Judging from what had taken place, that his
aunt's interests would in future be better
attended to if under the protection of a hus-
band, he persuaded the brother of Sir Thomas
Gordon of Cluny to marry her, which he did.
Tin's act so incensed the tutor of Ballendalloch,
that lie at once showed his displeasure by
killing, at the instigation of the laird of Grant,
one of John Gordon's servants. For this the
tutor, and such of the Grants as should harbour
or assist him, were declared outlaws and rebels,
and a commission was granted to the Earl of
lluntly to apprehend and bring them to justice,
in virtue of which, he besieged the house of
Biillendalloch, and took it by force, on the
2d November, 1590 ; but the tutor effected
his escape. Sir John Campbell of Cadell, a
despicable tool of the Chancellor Maitland,
who had plotted the destruction of the earl
and the laird of Grant, now joined in the
conspiracy against him, and stirred up the clan
Chattan, and Macintosh their chief, to aid
the Grants. They also persuaded tho Earls of
Athol and Murray to assist them against the
Earl of lluntly.

As soon as Huntly ascertained that the
til-ants and clan Chattan, who were his own
vassals, had put themselves under the com-

I.

mand of these earls, ho assembled his followers,
and, entering Badenoch, summoned his vassala
to appear before him, and deliver up tho
tutor and his abettors, but none of them came.
He then proclaimed and denounced them rebels,
and obtained a royal commission to invade and
apprehend them. To consult on the best
means of defending themselves, the Earls of
Murray and Athole, tho Dunbars, tho clan
Chattan, the Grants, and the laird of Cadell,
and others of their party met at Forres. In
the midst of their deliberations Huntly, who
had received early intelligence of the meeting,
and had, in consequence, assembled his forces,
unexpectedly made his appearance in the
neighbourhood of Forres. This sudden advance
of Huntly struck terror into the minds of the
persons assembled, and the meeting instantly
broke up in great confusion. The whole party,
with tho exception of tho Earl of Murray, left
the town in great haste, and fled to Tarnoway;
the Earl of Huntly, not aware that Murraj
had remained behind, marcliing directly to
Tarnoway in pursuit of tho fugitives. On
arriving within sight of the castle into which
the flying party had thrown themselves, the
earl sent John Gordon, brother of Sir Thomas
Gordon of Cluny, with a small body of men to
reconnoitre ; but approaching too near without
due caution, he was shot by one of the Earl of
Murray's servants. As Huntly found the castle
well fortified, and as the rebels evacuated it
and fled to the mountains, leaving a sufficient
force to protect it, he disbanded his men on
November 24, 1590, and returned home,
whence he proceeded to Edinburgh.

Shortly after his arrival the Earl of Bothwell,
who had a design upon the life of Chancellor
Maitland, made an attack upon the palace of
Holyroodhouso under cloud of night, with tho
view of seizing Maitland ; but, having failed
in Ids object, he was forced to flee to tho north
to avoid the vengeance of the king. Tho Earl
of Huntly, who had been lately reconciled to
Maitland, and tho Duke of Lennox, were sent in
pursuit of Bothwell, but ho escaped. Under-
standing afterwards that ho was harboured by
the Earl of Murray at Donnibristlo, tho chan-
cellor, having procured a commission against
him from the king in favour of lluntly, a_.;ain
scut him, accompanied by forty gui llemen, to
o

106

GEXEEAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

attack the Earl of Murray. When the party had
arrived near Donnibristle. the Earl of Huntly
sent Captain John Gordon, of Buckie, brother
of Gordon of Gight, with a summons to the Earl
of Murray, requiring him to surrender himself
prisoner ; but instead of complying, one of the
earl's servants levelled a piece at the bearer of
the despatch, and wounded him mortally.
Huntly, therefore, after giving orders to take
the Earl of Murray alive if possible, forcibly
entered the house ; but Sir Thomas Gordon,
recollecting the fate of his brother at Tarnoway,
and Gordon of Gight, who saw his brother
lying mortally wounded before his eyes, entirely
disregarded the injunction; and following the
carl, who had fled among the rocks on the
adjoining sea-shore, slew him. It was this Earl
of Murray who was known as the "bonny"
earl, and, according to some historians, had
impressed the heart of Anne of Denmark, and
excited the jealousy of her royal spouse. This
at least was the popular notion of his time : —

" He was a braw gallant,
And he played at the gluve ;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh 1 he was the queen's love

According to one account the house was set
on fire, and Murray was discovered, when
endeavouring to escape, by a spark wliich fell
on his helmet, and slain by Gordon of Buckie,
saying to the latter, who had wounded him in
the face, " You .have spilt a better face than
your awin."

The Earl of Huntly immediately despatched
John Gordon of Buckie to Edinburgh, to lay
a statement of the affair before the king and
the chancellor. The death of the Earl of
Murray would have passed quietly over, as an
event of ordinary occurrence in those trouble-
some tunes ; but, as he was one of the heads
of the Protestant party, the Presbyterian
ministers gave the matter a religious turn by
denouncing the Catholic Earl of Huntly as a
murderer, who wished to advance the interests
of his church by imbruing his hands in the
blood of his Protestant countrymen. The
effect of the ministers' denunciations was a
tumult among the people in Edinburgh and
other parts of the kingdom, which obliged the
king to cancel the commission he had granted

to the Earl of Huntly. The spirit of discon-
tent became so violent that Captain John
Gordon, who had been left at Inverkeithing
for the recovery of his wounds, but who had
been afterwards taken prisoner by the Earl of
Murray's friends and carried to Edinburgh,
was tried before a jury, and, contrary to law
and justice, condemned and executed for having
assisted the Earl of Huntly acting under a royal
commission. The recklessness and severity of
this act were still more atrocious, as Captain
Gordon's wounds were incurable, and he was
fast hastening to his grave. John Gordon of
Buckie, who was master of the king's house-
hold, was obliged to flee from Edinburgh, and
made a narrow escape with his life.

As for the Earl of Huntly, he was summoned,
at the instance of the Lord of St. Colme, brother
of the deceased Earl of Murray, to stand trial.
He accordingly appeared at Edinburgh, and
offered to abide the result of a trial by his
peers, and in the meantime was committed a
prisoner to the castle of Blackness on the 12th
of March, 1591, till the peers should assemble
to try him. On giving sufficient surety, how-
ever, that he would appear and stand trial on
receiving six days' notice to that effect, he was
released by the king on the 20th day of the
same month.

The clan Chattan, who had never submitted
without reluctance to the Earl of Huntly, con-
sidered the present aspect of affairs as peculiarly
favourable to the design they entertained of
shaking off the yoke altogether, and being
countenanced and assisted by the Grants, and
other friends of the Earl of Murray, made no
secret of their intentions. At first the earl
sent Allan Macdonald-Dubh, the chief of the
clan Cameron, with his tribe, to attack the
clan Chattan in Badenoch, and to keep them
in due order and subjection. The Camerons,
though warmly opposed, succeeded in defeat-
ing the clan Chattan, who lost 50 of their
men after a sharp skirmish. The earl next
despatched Macronald, with some of the
Lochaber men, against the Grants in Strath-
spey, whom he attacked, killed 18 of them,
and laid waste the lands of Ballendalloch.
After the clan Chattan had recovered from
their defeat, they invaded Strathdee and
Glenmuck in November 1592. To punish

EARL OF IIUNTLY ATTAINTED.

107

this aggression, the Earl of Iluntly collected
his forces and entered Pettie, then in posses-
sion of the clan Chattan as a fief from the
Earls of Murray, and laid waste all the lands
of the clan Chattan there, killed many of
them, and carried off a large quantity of cattle,
•which ho divided among his army. But in
returning from Fettle after disbanding his
army, he received the unwelcome intelligence
that William Macintosh, son of Lauchlan Mac-
intosh, the chief, with 800 of the clan Chattan,
had invaded the lands of Auchindun and Cab-
berogh. The earl, after desiring the small
party which remained with him to follow him
as speedily as possible, immediately set off at
full speed, accompanied by Sir Patrick Gordon
of Auchindun and 3G horsemen, in quest of
Macintosh and his party. Overtaking them
before they had left the bounds of Cabberogh,
upon the top of a hill called Stapliegate, he
attacked them with his small party, and, after
a warm skirmish, defeated them, killing about
CO of their men, and wounding William Mac-
intosh and others.

The Earl of Iluntly, after thus subduing his
enemies in the north, now found himself placed
under ban by the government on account
of an alleged conspiracy between Mm and the
Earls of Angus and Errol and the crown of
Spain, to overturn the State and the Church.
The king and his councillors seemed to be
satisfied of the innocence of the narls ; but the
ministers, who considered the reformed religion
in Scotland in danger while these Catholic
peers were protected and favoured, importuned
his majesty to punish them. The king, yield-
ing to necessity and to the intrigues of Queen
Elizabeth, forfeited their titles, intending to
restore them when a proper opportunity
occurred ; and, to silence the clamours of the
ministers, convoked a parliament, which was
held in the end of May, 1594. As few of the
peers attended, the ministers, having the com-
missioners of the burghs on their side, carried
everything their own way, and the consequence
was, that the three earls were attainted without
trial, and their arms were torn in presence of
the parliament, according to the custom in
such cases.

Having so far succeeded, the ministers,
instigated by the Queen of England, now

entreated the king to send the Earl of Argyle,
a youth of nineteen years of age, in the pay of
Queen Elizabeth, with an army against the
Catholic earls. The king, still yielding to
necessity, complied, and Argyle, having col-
lected a force of about 12,000 men, entered
Badenoch and laid siege to the castle of Euth-
ven, on the 27th of September, 1594. He was
accompanied in this expedition by the Earl of
Athole, Sir Lauchlan Maclean with soire of his
islanders, the chief of the Macintoshes, the
Laird of Grant, the clan Gregor, Macneil of
Barra, with all their friends and dependents,
together with the whole of the Campbells, and
a variety of others animated by a thirst for
plunder or malice towards the Gordons. The
castle of Euthven was so well defended by the
clan Pherson, who were the Earl of Huntly's
vassals, that Argyle was obliged to give up the
siege. He then marched through Strathspey,
and encamped at Drummin, upon the river
Avon, on the 2d of October, whence he issued
orders to Lord Forbes, the Frasers, the Dun-
bars, the clan Kenzie, the Irvings, the Ogil-
vies, the Leslies, and other tribes and clans
in the north, to join his standard with all con-
venient speed.

The earls, against whom this expedition was
directed, were by no means dismayed. They
knew that although the king was constrained
by popular clamour to levy war upon them, he
was in secret friendly to them ; and they were,
moreover, aware that the army of Argylc,
who was a youth of no military experience,
was a raw and undisciplined militia, and com-
posed, in a great measure, of Catholics, who
could not be expected to feel very warmly for
the Protestant interest, to support which the
expedition was professedly undertaken. The
seeds of disaffection, besides, had been already
sown in Argyle's camp by the corruption of the
Grants and Campbell of Lochnell.

On hearing of Argyle's approach, the Earl
of Errol immediately collected a select body of
about 100 horsemen, being gentlemen, on
whose courage and fidelity he could rely, and
with these he joined the Earl of Huntly at
Strathbogie. The forces of Iluntly, after this
junction, amounted, it is said, to nearly 1,500
men, almost altogether horsemen, and with this
body he advanced to Carnborrow, where the

108

GEXEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

two earls and their chief followers made a
solemn TOW to conquer or die. Marching from
thence, Huntly's army arrived at Auchindun
on the same day that Argyle's army reached
Drummin. At Auchindun, Huntly received
intelligence that Argyle was on the eve of
descending from the mountains to the lowlands,
which induced him, on the following day,
to send Captain Thomas Can and a party of
horsemen to reconnoitre the enemy, while ho
himself advanced with his main army. The
reconnoitring party soon fell in, accidentally,
with Argylo's scouts, whom they chased, and
some of whom they killed. This occurrence,
which was looked upon as a prognostic of
victory, so encouraged Huntly and his men,
that he resolved to attack the army of Argyle
before he should he joined by Lord Forbes,
and the forces which were waiting for his
appearance in the lowlands. Argyle had now
passed Glenlivet, and had reached the banks
of a small brook named Altchonlachan.

On the other hand, the Earl of Argyle had
no idea that the Earls of Huntly and Errol
would attack him with such an inferior force ;
and he was, therefore, astonished at seeing them
approach so near him as they did. Apprehen-
sive that his numerical superiority in foot would
be counterbalanced by Huntly's cavalry, he
hold a council of war, which advised Argyle to
wait till the king, who had promised to appear
with a force, should arrive, or, at all events,
till he should be joined by the Frasers and
Mackenzies from the north, and the Irvings,
Forbeses, and Leslies from the lowlands with
their horse. This opinion, which was con-
sidered judicious by the most experienced of
Argyle's army, was however disregarded by
him, and he determined to wait the attack of
the enemy ; and to encourage his men he
pointed out to them the small number of those
they had to combat with, and the spoils they
might expect after victory. He disposed Ms
army on the declivity of a hill, betwixt Glen-
livet and Glenrinnes, in two parallel divisions.
The right wing, consisting of the Macleans and
Macintoshes, was commanded by Sir Lauchlan
Maclean and Macintosh— the left, composed
of the Grants, Macncills, and Macgregors, by
Grant of Gartinbcg ; and the centre, consisting
pf the Campbells, &c., was commanded by

Campbell of Auchinbreck. This vanguard
consisted of 4,000 men, one-half of whom
carried muskets. The rear of the army, con-
sisting of about 6,000 men, was commanded
by Argyle himself. The Earl of Huntly's van-
guard was composed of 300 gentlemen, led by
the Earl of Errol, Sir Patrick Gordon of
Auchindun, the laird of Gight, the laird of
Bonnitoun, and Captain, afterwards Sir Thomas
Carr. The earl liimself followed with tlio
remainder of his forces, having the laird of
Cluny upon his right hand and the laird of
Abergeldy upon his left. Three pieces of field
ordnance under the direction of Captain Andrew
Gray, afterwards colonel of the English and
Scots who served in Bohemia, were placed in
front of the vanguard. Before advancing, the
Earl of Huntly harangued his little army to
encourage them to fight manfully; ho told
them that they had no alternative before them
but victory or death — that they were now to
combat, not for their own lives only, but also
for the very existence of their families, which
would be utterly extinguished if they fell a
prey to their enemies.

The position which Argyle occupied on tho
declivity of the hill gave him a decided advan-
tage over his assailants, who, from the nature
of their force, were greatly hampered by the
mossy nature of the ground at the foot of
tho hill, interspersed by pits from which turf
had been dug. But, notwithstanding these
obstacles, Iluntly advanced up the hill with
a slow and steady pace. It had been
arranged between him and Campbell of
Lochuell, who had promised to go over to
Huntly as soon as the battle had commenced,
that, before charging Argyle with his cavalry,
Iluntly should fire his artillery at the yellow
standard. Campbell bore a mortal enmity
at Argyle, and as he was Argyle's nearest
heir, he probably had directed the fir'ig
at the yellow standard in the hope of
cutting off the earl. Unfortunately for
himself, however, Campbell was shot dead
at the first fire of the cannon, and upon
his fall all his men fled from the field.
Macneill of Barra was also slain at the same
time.

The Highlanders, who had never before
seen field pieces, were thrown into disorder

BATTLE OF CLEXLIVET.

109

by the cannonade, -which being perceived by
Ilimtly, ho charged the enemy, and rashing in
among them with his horsemen, increased the
confusion. The Earl of Errol was directed to
attack the right wing of Argyle's army, com-
manded l>y Maclean, but as it occupied a very
steep part of the hill, and as Errol was greatly
annoyed by thick volleys of shot from above,
ho was compelled to make a detour, leaving
the enemy on his left. But Gordon of Auch-
indun, disdaining such a prudent course, gal-
loped up the hill with a party of his own fol-
lowers, and charged Maclean with great im-
petuosity ; but Auchindun's rashness cost him
his life. The fall of Auchindun so exasperated
his followers that they set no bounds to their
fury; but Maclean received their repeated
assaults with firmness, and manoeuvred his
troops so well as to succeed in cutting off the
Earl of Errol, and placing him between his
own body and that of Argylc, by whose joint
forces ho was completely surrounded. At this
important crisis, when no hopes of retreat
remained, and when Errol and his men were
in danger of being cut to pieces, the Earl of
Huntly, very fortunately, came up to his assist-
ance and relieved him from, his embarrass-
ment. The battle was now renewed and con-
tinued for two hours, during which both parties
fought with great bravery, "the one," says Sir
Robert Gordon, " for glorie, the other for
necessitie." In the heat of the action the Earl
of Huntly had a horse shot under him, and was
in imminent danger of his life ; but another
horse was immediately procured for him. Af-
ter a hard contest the main body of Argylo's
army began to give way, and retreated towards
the rivulet of Altchonlachan ; but Maclean
still kept the field, and continued to support
the falling fortune of the day. At length,
finding the contest hopeless, and after losing
many of his men, ho retired in good order with
the small company that still remained about
him. Huntly pursued the retiring foe beyond
the water of Altchonlachan, when ho was
prevented from following them farther by the
steepness of the hills, so unfavourable to the
operations of cavalry. The success of Huntly
was mainly owing to the treachery of Lochncll,
and of John Grant of Gartinbeg, one of Huntly's
vassals, who, in terms of a concerted plan, re-

treated with his men as soon as the action
began, by which act the centre and the left
wing of Argyle's army were completely broken.
On the side of Argyle 500 men were killed
besides Macneill of Barra, and Lochnell
and Auchinbreck, the two cousins of Argylo.
The Earl of Huntly's loss was comparatively
trilling. About 14 gentlemen wore slain, in-
cluding Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun,
and the Laird of Gight ; and the Earl of Errol
and a considerable number of persons were
wounded. At the conclusion of the battle the
conquerors returned thanks to God on tho
field for tho victory they had achieved. This
battle is called by some writers the battle of
Glenlivet, and by others the battle of Altchon-
lachan. Among the trophies found on the
field was the ensign belonging to tho Earl of
Argyle, which was carried with other spoils to
Strathbogie, and placed upon the top of tho
great tower. So certain had Argylo been of
success in his enterprise, that he had made out
a paper apportioning tho lands of the Gordons,
the Hays, and all who were suspected to favour
them, among the chief officers of his army.
This document was found among tho baggage
which he left behind him on the field of battle.1
Although Argyle certainly calculated upon
being joined by the king, it seems doubtful if
James ever entertained such an intention, for
he stopped at Dundee, from which he did not
stir till he heard of the result of tho battle of
Glenlivet. Instigated by tho ministers and
other enemies of tho Earl of Huutly, who
became now more exasperated than ever at tho
unexpected failure of Argyle's expedition, the
king proceeded north to Strathbogie, and in
his route he permitted, most unwillingly, the
house of Craig in Angus, belonging to Sir
John Ogilvio, son of Lord Ogilvie, that of
Bagaes in Angus, the property of Sir Walter
Lindsay, the house of Culsalmond in Garioch,
appertaining to tho Laird of Newton-Gordon,
the house of Slaincs in Buchan, belonging to
tho Earl of Errol, and the castle of Strathbogio,
to be razed to tho ground, under the pretext
that priests and Jesuits had been harboured in
them. In the meantime tho Earl of Ilunlly

1 Sir K. Cordon, pp. 226, 227, 223, 220.— Slmw's
Moray, fp. 206, 267, 268.

110

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS

and his friends retired into Sutherland, where
they remained six weeks with Earl Alexander;
and on the king's departure to Strathbogie,
Iluntly returned, leaving his eldest son George,
Lord Gordon, in Sutherland with his aunt, till
the return of more peaceable times.

The king left the Duke of Lennox to act as
his lieutenant in the north, with whom the
two earls held a meeting at Aberdeen, and as
their temporary absence from the kingdom
might allay the spirit of violence and discon-
tent, which was particularly annoying to his
majesty, they agreed to leave the kingdom
during the king's pleasure. After spending
sixteen months in travelling through Germany
and Flanders, Huntly was recalled, and on bis
return he, as well as the Earls of Angus and
Errol, were restored to their former honours
and estates by the parliament, held at Edin-
burgh in November 1597, and in testimony of
his regard for Iluntly, the king, two years
thereafter, created him a marquis. This signal
mark of the royal favour had such an influence
upon the clan Chattan, the clan Kenzie, the
Grants, Forbeses, Leslies, and other hostile
clans and tribes, that they at once submitted
themselves to the marquis.

The warlike operations in the north seem,
for a time, to have drawn off the attention of
the clans from their own feuds; but in the
year 1597 a tumult occurred at Loggiewreid in
Ross, which had almost put that province and
the adjoining country into a flame. The quar-
rel began between John Mac-Gille-Calum,
brother of Gille-Calum, Laird of Rasay, and
Alexander Bane, brother of Duncan Bane of
Tulloch, in Ross. The Monroes took the side
of the Banes, and the Mackenzies aided John
Mac-Gille-Calum. In this tumult John Mac-
Gille-Calum and John Mac-Murthow-Mac-
William, a gentleman of the clan Kenzie, and
three persons of that surname, were killed on
the one side, and on the other were slain John
Monroe of Culcraigie, his brother Houcheon
Monroe, and John Monroe Robertson. This
occurrence renewed the ancient animosity be-
tween the clan Kenzie and the Monroes, and
both parties began to assemble their friends
for the purpose of attacking one another ; but
their differences were in some measure happily
reconciled by the mediation of common friends.

In the following year the ambition and
avarice cf Sir Lauchlan Maclean, of whom
notice has been already taken, brought him to
an untimely end, having been slain in Islay by
Sir James Macdonald, Ids nephew, eldest son
of Angus Macdonald of Kintyre. Sir Lauch-
lan had long had an eye upon the possessions
of the clan Ronald in Islay ; but having failed
in extorting a conveyance thereof from Angus
Macdonald in the way before alluded to, he
endeavoured, by his credit at court and by
bribery or other means, to obtain a grant of
these lands from the crown in 1595. At this
period Angus Macdonald had become infirm
from age, and his son, Sir James Macdonald,
was too young to make any effectual resistance
to the newly acquired claims of his covetous
uncle. After obtaining the gift, Sir Lauchlan
collected his people and friends, and invaded
Islay, for the purpose of taking possession of
the lands which belonged to the clan Donald.
Sir James Macdonald, on hearing of his uncle's
landing, collected his friends, and landed in
Islay to dispossess Sir Lauclilan of the property.
To prevent the effusion of blood, some common,
friends of the parties interposed, and endea-
voured to bring about an adjustment of their
differences. They prevailed upon Sir James
to agree to resign the half of the island to his
uncle during the life of the latter, provided he
would acknowledge that he held the same for
personal service to the clan Donald in the same
manner as Maclean's progenitors had always
held the Rhinns of Islay ; and he moreover
offered to submit the question to any impartial
friends Maclean might choose, under this
reasonable condition, that in case they should
not agree, his Majesty should decide. But
Maclean, contrary to the advico of his best,
friends, would listen to no proposals short of
an absolute surrender of the whole of the island.
Sir James therefore resolved to vindicate his
right by an appeal to arms, though his force
was far inferior to that of Sir Lauchlan.
A desperate struggle took place, in which great
valour was displayed on both sides. Sir
Lauchlan was killed fighting at the head of
his men, who were at length compelled to
retreat to their boats and vessels. Besides
their chief, the Macleans left 80 of the'r prin-
cipal men and 200 common soldiers dead on

STRIFE BETWEEN EARLS OF SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS. Ill

the lield of battle. Lauchlan Barroch-Maclean,
son of Sir Lauchlan, was dangerously wounded,
but escaped. Sir James Macdonald was also
so severely wounded that he never fully recov-
t'rom liis wounds. About 30 of the clan
Donald were killed and about 60 wounded.
Sir Lauchlan, according to Sir Robert Gordon,
had consulted a witch before he undertook this
journey into Islay, who advised him, in the
first place, not to land upon the island on a
Thursday ; secondly, that he should not drink
of the water of a well near Groynard ; and
lastly, she told him that one Maclean should
bo slain at Groynard. " The first he trans-
gressed unwillingly," says Sir Robert, " being
driven into the island of Ha by a tempest
upon a Thursday ; the second he transgressed
negligentlio, haveing drank of that water befor
he wes awair; and so he wes killed ther at
Groinard, as wes foretold him, hot doubtfullic.
Thus endeth all these that doe trust in such
kynd of responces, or doe hunt after them !"2

On hearing of Maclean's death and the defeat
of his men, the king became so higlily incensed
against the clan Donald that, finding he had a
right to dispose of their possessions both in
Kintyre and Islay, he made a grant of them to
the Earl of Argyle and the Campbells. This
gave rise to a number of bloody conflicts be-
tween the Campbells and the clan Donald in
the years 1614, -15, and -16, wliich ended in
the ruin of the latter.

The rival houses of Sutherland and Caith-
ness had now lived on friendly terms for some
years. After spending about eighteen months
at court, and attending a convention of the
estates at Edinburgh in July, 1598, John, sixth
Earl of Sutherland, went to the Continent,
where he remained till the month of September,
1GOO. The Earl of Caithness, deeming the
absence of the Earl of Sutherland a fit oppor-
tunity for carrying into effect some designs
against him, caused William Mackay to obtain
leave from his brother Houcheon Mackay to
hunt in the policy of Durines belonging to the
Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness
thereupon assembled all his vassals and de-
pendents, and, under the pretence of hunting,
made demonstrations for entering Sutherland

2 Iliitory, p. 238.

or Strathnaver. As soon as Mackay was
informed of his intentions, he sent a message
to the Earl of Caitlmcss, intimating to him that
he would not permit him to enter either of
these countries, or to cross the marches. Tho
Earl of Caithness returned a haughty answer;
but he did not carry his threat of invasion into
execution on account of the arrival of the Earl
of Sutherland from the Continent. As the
Earl of Caithness still continued to threaten
an invasion, the Earl of Sutherland collected
his forces, in the month of July 1601, to op-
pose him. Mackay, with his countrymen,
soon joined the Earl of Sutherland at Lagan-
Gaincamhd in Dirichat, where he was soon
also joined by the Monroes under Robert
Monroe of Contaligh, and the laird of Assynt
with his countrymen.

While the Earl of Sutherland's force was
thus assembling, the Earl of Caithness ad-
vanced towards Sutherland with his army.
The two armies encamped at the distance of
about three miles asunder, near the hill of
Bengrinio. In expectation of a battle on the
morning after their encampment, the Suther-
land men took up a position in a plain which
lay between the two armies, called Leathad
Reidh, than which a more convenient station
could not have been selected. But the com-
modiousness of the plain was not the only
reason for making the selection. There had
been long a prophetic tradition in these coun-
tries that a battle was to be fought on this
ground between the inhabitants of Sutherland,
assisted by the Strathnaver men, and the men
of Caitlmess; that although the Sutherland
men were to bo victorious their loss would bo
great, and that the loss of the Strathnaver
men should even be greater, but that the
Caithness men should be so completely over-
thrown that they should not be able, for a con-
siderable length of time, to recover the blow
which they were to receive. This superstitious
idea made such an impression upon the minds
of the men of Sutherland that it was with
great difficulty they could be restrained from
immediately attacking their enemies.

The Earl of Caithness, daunted by this cir-
cumstance, and being diffident of the fidelity
of some of his people, whom lie had used with
great cruelty, sent messengers to the Earl of

112

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Sutherland expressing his regret at what had
happened, stating that he was provoked to his
present measures by the insolence of Mackay,
who had repeatedly dared him to the attack,
and that, if the Earl of Sutherland would pass
over the affair, he would permit him and his
army to advance twice as far into Caithness as
he had marched into Sutherland. The Earl of
Sutherland, on receipt of tliis offer, called a
council of his friends to deliberate upon it.
Mackay and some others advised the earl to
decline the proposal, and attack the Earl of
Caithness; while others of the earl's advisors
thought it neither fit nor reasonable to risk so
many lives when such ample satisfaction was
offered. A sort of middle course was, there-
fore, adopted by giving the Earl of Caithness
an opportunity to escape if lie inclined. The
messengers were accordingly sent back with
this answer, that if the Earl of Caitlmess and
his army would remain where they lay till
sunrise next morning they might be assured of
an attack.

When this answer was delivered in the Earl
of Caitlmess' camp, his men got so alarmed
that the carl, witli great difficulty, prevented
them from running away immediately. Ho
remained on the field all night watching them
in person, encouraging them to remain, and
making great promises to them if they stood
firm. But his entreaties were quite unavailing,
for as soon as the morning dawned, on per-
ceiving the approach of the Earl of Sutherland's
army, they fled from the field in the utmost
confusion, jostling and overthrowing one an-
other in their flight, and leaving their whole
baggage behind them. The Earl of Sutherland
resolved to pursue the flying enemy; but,
before proceeding on the pursuit, his army col-
lected a quantity of stones which they accu-
mulated into a heap to commemorate the flight
of the Caitlmess men, which heap was called
Cani-Teiche, that is, the Flight Cairn.

JN"ot wishing to encounter the Earl of Suther-
land under the adverse circumstances which
Lad occurred, the Earl of Caithness, after
entering his own territories, sent a message to
his pursuer to the effect that having complied
with his request in withdrawing his army, ho
liopod hostile proceedings would ceaso, and
that if the Earl of Sutherland should advance

with his army into Caitlmess, Earl George
would not liinder him; but he suggested to
Mm the propriety of appointing some gentle-
men on both sides to see the respective armies
dissolved The Earl of Sutherland acceded to
this proposal, and sent George Gray of Cuttle,
eldest son of Gilbert Gray of Sordell, with a
company of resolute men into Caithness to see
the army of the Earl of Caithness broken up.
The Earl of Caithness, in Ms turn, despatched
Alexander Bane, chief of the Caitlmess Lanes,
who witnessed the dismissal of the Earl of
Sutherland's army.3

About the period in question, great commo-
tions took place in the iioi-th-west isles, in con-
sequence of a quarrel between Donald Gorm
Macdonald of Slate, and Sir Roderick Macleod
of Harris, arising out of the following circum-
stances. Donald Gorm Macdonald, who had
married the sister of Sir Roderick, instigated
by jealousy, had conceived displeasure at her
and put her away. Having complained to
her brother of the treatment thus received, Sir
Roderick sent a message to Macdonald requir-
ing him to take back his wife. Instead of
eornplyingwiththis request, Macdonald brought
an action of divorce against her, and having
obtained decree therein, married the sister of
Kenneth Mackenzie, lord of Kintail. Sir
Roderick, who considered himself disgraced
and his family dishonoured by such proceed-
ings, assembled all la's countrymen and his
tribe, the Siol-Thormaid, without delay, and
invaded with fire and sword the lands of Mac-
donald in the isle of Skye, to which lie laid
claim as his own. Macdonald retaliated by
landing in Harris with his forces, which he
laid waste, and after killing some of the inha-
bitants retired with a large booty in cattle.
To make amends for tin's loss, Sir Roderick in-
vaded Uist, which belonged to Macdonald, and
despatched his cousin, Donald Glas Macleod,
with 40 men, into the interior, to lay the
island waste, and to carry off a quantity of
goods and cattle, which the inhabitants had
placed within the precincts of the church of
Killtrynard as a sanctuary. This exploit
turned out to be very serious, as Donald
Macleod and his party were most unexpert-

3 Sir Kobcrt Gonluu, \>. 243.

FEUD BETWEEN THE COLQUHOUNS AND MACGREGOK3.

e<lly attacked in the act of carrying off their
prey, by John Mac-Iain-Mhic-Shoumais, a kins-
man of Macdonald, at the head of a body of
12 men who had remained in the island, by
whom Donald Macleod and the greater part of
his men were cut to pieces, and the booty
rescued. Sir Roderick, thinking that the force
which had attacked his cousin was much
greater than it was, retired from the island,
intending to return on a future day with a
greater force to revenge his loss.

This odious system of warfare continued till
the hostile parties had almost exterminated one
another ; and to such extremities were they re-
duced by the ruin and desolation which fol-
lowed, that they were compelled to eat horses,
dogs, cats, and other animals, to preserve a
miserable existence. To put an end, if possible,
at once to this destructive contest, Macdonald
collected all his remaining forces, with the
determination of striking a decisive blow at
his opponent ; and accordingly, in the year
1C01, he entered Sir Roderick's territories with
the design of bringing him to battle. Sir Ro-
derick was then in Argyle, soliciting aid and
advice from the Earl of Argyle against the
clan Donald ; but on hearing of the approach
of Macdonald, Alexander Macleod, brother of
Sir Roderick, resolved to try the result of a
battle. Assembling, therefore, all the inhabi-
tants of his brother's lands, together with the
whole tribe of the Siol-Thormaid, and some of
the Siol-Thorquill, he encamped close by the
hill of Benquhillin, in Skye, resolved to give
battle to the clan Donald next morning. Ac-
cordingly, on the arrival of morning, an obsti-
nate and deadly fight took place, which lasted
the whole day, each side contending with the
utmost valour for victory ; but at length the
clan Donald overthrew their opponents. Alex-
ander Macleod was wounded and taken pri-
soner, along with Neill-Mac-Alastair-Ruaidh,
and 30 others of the choicest men of the
Siol-Thormaid. lain-Mac-Thormaid and Thor-
maid-Mac-Thormaid, two near kinsmen of Sir
Roderick, and several others, were slain.

After this affair, a reconciliation took place
between Macdonald and Sir Roderick, at the
solicitation of old Angus Macdonald of Kintyre,
the laird of Coll, and other friends, when Mac-
donald delivered up to Sir Roderick the pri-

soners he had taken at Benquhillin ; but
although these parties never again showed any
open hostility, they brought several actions at
law against each other, the one claiming from

the other certain parts of his possessions.

CHAPTER IX.

A.D. 1G02— 1G13.

KINO Of SCOTLAND: —
James VI, 1567—1603.

KINO OF ORKAT BRJTAIMI —

James I., 1003—1625.

Feud between the Colquhouns and Macgregors — Mac-
gregors outlawed — Execution of their Chief — Quar-
rel between the clan Kenzie and Glengarry — Alister
Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir beheaded — Lawless proceedings
in Sutherland — Deadly quarrel in Dornoch — Meeting
between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland-
Feud between the Murrays and somo of the Siol-
Thomais — Dissension in Moray among the Dunbars
— Quarrel between the Earl of Caithness and the
chief of the Mackays — Commotions in Lewis among
the Macleods — Invasion of Lewis by Fife adventurers
— Compelled to abandon it — Lord Kintail obtains
possession of Lewis — Expulsion of Neill Macleod —
Quarrel botwcen the Laird of Rasay arid Mackenzie
of Gairloch — Disturbances in Caithness — Tumults
in Caithness on the apprehension of Arthur Smith,
a false coiner — Earl of Caithness prosecutes Donald
Mackay and others — Dissensions among the clan
Cameron.

IN the early part of the year 1602 the west of
Scotland was thrown into a state of great dis-
order, in consequence of the renewal of some
old quarrels between Colquhoun of Luss, the
chief of that surname, and Alexander Macgre-
gor, chief of the clan Gregor. To put an end
to these dissensions, Alexander Macgregor left
Rannoch, accompanied by about 200 of his
kinsmen and friends, entered Lennox, and took
up his quarters on the confines of Luss's terri-
tory, where he expected, by the mediation of
his friends, to bring matters to an amicable
adjustment. As the laird of Luss was sus-
picious of Macgregor's real intentions, he as-
sembled all his vassals, with the Buchanans
and others, to the number of 300 horse and
500 foot, designing, if the result of the meet-
ing should not turn out according to his ex-
pectations and wishes, to cut off Macgregor
and his party. But Macgregor, anticipating
Colquhoun's intention, was upon his guard, and,
by his precautions, defeated the design upon
him. A conference was held for the purpose
of terminating all differences, but the meeting

114

GENEKAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

broke up without any adjustment : Macgregor
then proceeded homewards. The laird of
Luss, in pursuance of his plan, immediately
followed Macgregor with great haste through
Glenfruin, in the expectation of coming upon
him unawares, and defeating him ; but Mac-
gregor, who was on the alert, observed, in due
time, the approach of his pursuers, and made
his preparations accordingly. He divided his
company into two parts, the largest of which
he kept under his own command, and placed
the other part under the command of John
Macgregor, his brother, whom he despatched
by a circuitous route, for the purpose of
attacking Luss's party in the rear, when they
should least expect to be assailed. This stra-
tagem succeeded, and the result was, that after
a keen contest, Luss's party was completely
overthrown, with the loss of 200 men, besides
several gentlemen and burgesses of the town
of Dumbarton. It is remarkable that of the
Macgregors, John, the brother of Alexander,
and another person, were the only killed, though
some of the party were wounded.

The laird of Luss and his friends sent early
notice of their disaster to the king, and by
misrepresenting the whole affair to him, and
exhibiting to his majesty eleven score bloody
shirts, belonging to those of their party who
were slain, the king grew exceedingly incensed
at the clan Gregor, who had no person about
the king to plead their cause, proclaimed them
rebels, and interdicted all the lieges from har-
bouring or having any communication with
them. The Earl of Argyle, with the Camp-
bells, was afterwards sent against the proscribed
clan, and hunted them through the country.
About 60 of the clan made a brave stand at
Bentoik against a party of 200 chosen men
belonging to the clan Cameron, clan Nab, and
clan Konald, under the command of Robert
Campbell, son of the laird of Gleuorchy, when
Duncan Aberigh, one of the chieftains of the
clan Gregor, and his son Duncan, and seven
gentlemen of Campbell's party were killed.
But although they made a brave resistance, and
killed many of their pursuers, the Macgregors,
after many skirmishes and great losses, were at
last overcome. Commissions were thereafter
sent through the kingdom, for fining those who
had harboured any of the clan, and for pun-

ishing all persons who had kept up any com-
munication with them, and the fines so levied
were given by the king to the Earl of Argyle,
as a recompense for his services against the
unfortunate Macgregors.

Alexander Macgregor, the chief, after suffer-
ing many vicissitudes of fortune, at last sur-
rendered himself to the Earl of Argyle, on con-
dition that he should grant him a safe conduct
into England to King James, that he might
lay before his majesty a true state of the whole
affair from the commencement, and crave the
royal mercy ; and as a security for his return to
Scotland, he delivered up to Argyle thirty of his
choicest men as hostages. But no sooner had
Macgregor arrived at Berwick on his way to Lon-
don, than he was basely arrested, brought back
by the earl to Edinburgh, and, by his influence,
executed along with the thirty hostages. Argyle
hoped, by these means, ultimately to annihilate
the whole clan ; but in this cruel design he
was quite disappointed, for the clan speedily
increased, and became almost as powerful as
before.4

While the Highland borders were thus dis-
turbed by the warfare between the Macgregors
and the Colquhouns, a commotion happened in
the interior of the Highlands, in consequence
of a quarrel between the clan Kenzie and the
laird of Glengarry, who, according to Sir Robert
Gordon, was "unexpert and unskilfull in the
lawes of the realme." From his want of know-
ledge of the law, the clan Kenzie are said by
the same writer to have "easalie intrapped
him within the compas thereof," certainly by
no means a difficult matter in those lawless
times ; they then procured a warrant for citing
him to appear before the justiciary court at
Edinburgh, which they took good care should
not be served upon him personally. Either not
knowing of these legal proceedings, or neglect-
ing the summons, Glengarry did not appear at
Edinburgh on the day appointed, but went
about revenging the slaughter of two of his
kinsmen, whom the clan Kenzie had killed
after the summons for Glengarry's appearance
had been issued. The consequence was that
Glengarry and some of his followers were out-
lawed. Through the interest of the Earl of

4 Sir K. Gordon, p. 247.

ALISTEIl MAC-UILLEAM-MIIOIE BEHEADED.

115

Dunfermline, lord chancellor of Scotland,
Kenneth Mackenzie, afterwards created Lord
Kintail, obtained a commission against Glen-
garry and his people, which occasioned great
trouble and much slaughter. Being assisted
by many followers from the neighbouring
country, Mackenzie, by virtue of his commis-
sion, invaded Glengarry's territories, which he
mercilessly wasted and doetroycd with fire and
sword. On his return, Mackenzie besieged
the castle of Strome, which ultimately sur-
rendered to him. To assist Mackenzie in this
expedition, the Earl of Sutherland, in token of
the ancient friendship which had subsisted
between his family and the Mackenzies, sent
240 well equipped and able men, under the
command of John Gordon of Einbo. Mac-
kenzie again returned into Glengarry, where
lie had a skirmish with a party commanded by
Glengarry's eldest son, in which the latter and
CO of his followers were slain. The Mackenzies
also suffered some loss on this occasion. At
last, after much trouble and bloodshed on both
sides, an agreement was entered into, by which
Glengarry renounced in favour of Kenneth
Mackenzie, the castle of Strome and the adja-
cent lands. 5

In the year 1G05, the peace of the northern
Highlands was somewhat disturbed by one
of those atrocious occurrences so common at
that time. The chief of the Mackays had a
servant named Alister-Mac-Uilleam-Mlioir.
This man having some business to transact in
Caithness, went there without the least appre-
hension of danger, as the Earls of Sutherland
and Caithness had settled all their differences.
No sooner, however, did the latter hear of
Mac-Uillcam-Mhoir's arrival in Caitliness, than
he sent Henry Sinclair, liis bastard brother,
with a party of men to kill him. Mac-Uilleam-
Mhoir, being a bold and resolute man, was not
openly attacked by Sinclair ; but on entering
the house where the former had taken up his
residence, Sinclair and his party pretended
that they had come on a friendly visit to him
to enjoy themselves in his company. Not
suspecting their hostile intentions, Alister
invited them to sit down and drink with him;
but scarcely had they taken their seats when

5 Sir Pv. Gordon, p. 243.

they seized Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir, and carried
him off prisoner to the Earl of Caithness, who
caused him to bo beheaded in his own presence,
the following day. The fidelity of this unfor-
tunate man to Mackay, his master, during the
disputes between the Earls of Sutherland and
Caithness, was the cause for which he suffered.
Mackay, resolved upon getting the earl
punished, entered a legal prosecution against
him at Edinburgh, but by the mediation of the
Mai-quis of Huntly the suit was quashed, 6

In July, 1G05, a murder was committed in
Strathnaver, by Robert Gray of Hopsdalo or
Ospisdell, the victim being Angus Mac-Ken-
neth-Mac-Alister, one of the Siol-Mhurchaidh-
Rhiabhaich. The circumstances leading to
this will illustrate the utterly lawless and
insecure state of the Highlands at this time.
John Gray of Skibo held the lands of Ardinsh
under John, the fifth of that name, Earl of
Sutherland, as superior, wliich lands the grand-
father of Angus Mac-Kenneth had in possession
from John Mackay, son of Y-Roy-Mackay,
who, before the time of this Earl John, pos-
sessed some lands in Breachat. AVhcn Jolin
Gray obtained the grant of Ardinsh from John
the fifth, he allowed Kenneth Mac-Alister, the
father of Angus Mae-Kenneth, to retain posses-
sion thereof, which he continued to do till
about the year 1573. About this period a
variance arose between John Gray and Hugh
Murray of Aberscors, in consequence of some
law-suits which they carried on against one
another; but they were reconciled by Alex-
ander, Earl of Sutherland, who became bound
to pay a sum of money to John Gray, for Hugh
Murray, who was iu the meantime to get
possession of the lands of Ardinsh in security.
As John Gray still retained the property and
kept Kenneth Mac-Alister in the possession
thereof at the old rent, the Murrays took
umbrage at him, and prevailed upon the Earl
of Sutherland to grant a conveyance of the
wadset or mortgage over Ardinsh in favour of
Angus Murray, formerly bailie of Dornoch. In
the meantime, Kenneth Mac-Alister died, leav-
ing his son, Angus Mac-Kenneth, in possession.
Angus Munay having acquired the mortgage,
now endeavoured to raise the rent of Ardinsh,

• Sir R. Gordon, p. 253.

115

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

but Ajigus Mac-Kenneth refusing to pay more
than his father had paid, was dispossessed, and
the lands were let to William Mac-Iain-Mac-
Kcnneth, cousin of Angus Mac-Kenneth. This
proceeding so exasperated Angus that he mur-
dered Ids cousin "William Mac-Kenneth, his
wife, and two sons, under cloud of night, and
so determined was he that no other person
should possess the lands but himself, that he
killed no less than nine other persons, who had
successively endeavoured to occupy them. No
others being disposed to occupy Ardinsh at the
risk of their lives, and Angus Murray getting
wearied of his possession, resigned his right to
Gilbert Gray of Skibo, on the death of John
Gray, his father. Gilbert thereafter conveyed
the property to Robert Gray of Ospisdell, his
second son ; but Robert, being disinclined to
allow Angus Mac-Kenneth, who had again
obtained possession, to continue tenant, he
dispossessed him, and let the land to one Pinlay
Logan, but this new tenant was murdered by
Mac-Kenneth in the year 1G04. Mac-Kenneth
then fled into Strathnaver with a party com-
posed of persons of desperate and reckless pas-
sions like himself, with the intention of annoy-
ing Robert Gray by their incursions. Gray
having ascertained that they were in the parish
of Creigh, he immediately attacked them and
killed Murdo Mac-Kenneth, the brother of
Angus, who made a narrow escape, and again
retired into Strathnaver. Angus again re-
turned into Sutherland in May 1G05, and, in
the absence of Robert Gray, burnt his stable,
with some of his cattle, at Ospisdell. Gray
then obtained a warrant against Mac-Kenneth,
and having procured the assistance of a body
of men from John Earl of Suthcr?and, entered
Strathnaver and attacked Mac-Kenneth at the
Cruffs of Hoip, and slew him.7

The Earl of Caithness, disliking the unquiet
state in which he had for some time been forced
to remain, made another attempt, in the month
of July, 1G07, to hunt in Bengrime, without
asking permission from the Earl of Sutherland ;
but ho was prevented from accomplishing his
purpose by the sudden appearance in Strathully
of the latter, attended by his friend Mackay,
and a considerable body of their countrymen.

' Sir R. Gordon, p. 254.

Almost the whole of the inhabitants of Dornoch
turned out on this occasion, and went to Stralh-
ully. During their absence a quarrel ensued
in the town between one John Macphaill and
three brothers of the name of Pope, in •which
one of the latter was killed ; the circumstances
leading to and attending which quarrel were
these : — In the year 1585, William Pope, a
native of Ross, settled in Sutherland, and
being a man of good education, was appointed
schoolmaster in Dornoch, and afterwards be-
came its resident minister. He also received
another clerical appointment in Caithness, by
means of which, and of his other living, ho
became, in course of time, wealthy. This
good success induced two yoimger brothers,
Charles and Thomas, to leave their native
country and settle in Sutherland. Thomas
was soon made chancellor of Caithness ami
minister of Rogart. Charles became a notary
public and a mcssenger-at-arms ; and having,
by his good conduct and agreeable conversa-
tion, ingratiated himself with the Earl of
Sutherland, was appointed to the office of
sheriff-clerk of Sutherland. The brothers soon
acquired considerable wealth, which they laid
out in the purchase of houses in the town of
Dornoch, where they chiefly resided. Many
of the inhabitants of the town envied their
acquisitions, and took every occasion to insult
them as intruders, who had a design, as they
supposed, to drive the ancient inhabitants of
the place from their possessions. On the
occasion in question William and Thomas
Pope, along with other ministers, had held a
meeting at Dornoch on church affairs, on
dissolving •which, they went to breakfast at
an inn. While at breakfast, Jolm Macphaill
entered the house, and demanded some liqucr
from the mistress of the inn, but she refused
to give him any, as she knew him to be a
troublesome and quarrelsome person. Mac-
phaill, irritated at the refusal, spoke harshly
to the woman, and the ministers having made
some excuse for her, Macphaill vented his abuse
upon them. Being threatened by Thomas
Pope, for his insolence, he pushed an arrow
with a barbed head, which he held in his hand,
into one of Pope's arms. The parties then
separated, but the two Popes being observed
walking in the churchyard in the evening, with

DEADLY QUABEEL DJ DOKXOCH.

Dornoch, showing the Cathedral and the remaining tower of the old Castle.

their swords girt about them, by Macphaill,
who looked upon their so arming themselves
as a threat, he immediately made the circum-
stance known to Houcheon Macphaill, his
nephew, and one William Murray, all of whom
entered the churchyard and assailed the two
brothers with the most vituperative abuse.
Charles Pope, learning the danger his brothers
were in, immediately hastened to the spot,
where he found the two parties engaged.
Charles attacked Murray, whom he wounded
in the face, whereupon Murray instantly killed
him. "William and Thomas were grievously
wounded by Macphaill and his nephew, and
left for dead, but they ultimately recovered.
Mii'-phaill and his nephew fled to Holland,
where they ended their days. After tliis oc-
currence, the surviving brothers left Sutherland
nnil went back into their own country. It is
only by recording such comparatively unim-
portant incidents as this, apparently somewhat
beneath the dignity of history, that a know-
ledge of the real state of the Highlands at this
time can be conveyed.

By the mediation of the Marquis of Iluntly,
the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland again
met at Elgin with their mutual friends, and
once more adjusted their differences. On this
occasion the Earl of Sutherland was accom-
panied by largo parties of the Gordons, the
Frasers, the Dunbars, the clan Kcnzie, the

Monroes, the clan Chattan, and other friends,
which so displeased the Earl of Caithness, who
was grieved to see his rival so honourably
attended, that he could never afterwards be
induced to meet again with the Earl of Suther-
land or any of his family.

During the year 1G08 a quarrel occurred in
Sutherland between Tver Mac-Donald-Mac-
Alister, one of the Siol-Thomais, and Alex-
ander Murray in Auchindough. Tver and Ms
eldest son, John, meeting one day with Alex-
ander Murray and his son, Thomas, an alterca-
tion took place on some questions in dispute.
From words they proceeded to blows, and the
result was that John, the son of Ivor, and
Alexander Murray were killed. Ivor then fled
into Strathnaver, whither he was followed by
Thomas Murray, accompanied by a party of 2-t
men, to revenge the death of his father. Ivor,
however, avoided them, and having assembled
some friends, he attacked Murray unawares, at
the hill of BincMibrig, and compelled him to
flee, after taking five of his men prisoners,
whom he released after a captivity of five days.
As the chief of the Mackays protected Iver,
George Murray of Pulrossie took up the quarrel,
and annoyed Iver and his party ; but the
matter was compromised by Mackay, who paid
a sum of money to Pulrossie and Thomas
Murray, as a reparation for divers losses they
had sustained at Tver's hands during his out,

113

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

lawry. This compromise was the more readily
entered into by Pulrossie, as the Earl of Suth-
erland was rather favourable to Tver, and was
by no means displeased at him for the injuries
lie did to Pulrossie, who had not acted duti-
fully towards liim. Besides having lost his
own son in the quarrel, who was killed by
Thomas Murray, Tver was unjustly dealt with
in being made the sole object of persecution.8

A civil dissension occurred about this time
in Moray among the Dunbars, which nearly
proved fatal to that family. To understand
the origin of this dispute it is necessary to state
the circumstances which led to it, and to go
back to the period when Patrick Dunbar,
sheriff of Moray, and tutor and uncle of Alex-
ander Dunbar of Westficld, was killed, along
with the Earl of Murray, at Donnibristle.
Alexander did not enjoy his inheritance long,
having died at Dunkeld, shortly after the death
of his uncle, under circumstances which led to
a suspicion that he had been poisoned. As he
died without leaving any issue, he was suc-
ceeded by Alexander Dunbar, son of the above-
mentioned Patrick, by a sister of Robert Dunbar
of Burgy. This Alexander was a young man of
great promise, and was directed in all his pro-
ceedings by his uncle Robert Dunbar of Burgy.
Patrick Dunbar of Blery and Kilbuyack and his
family, imagining that Robert Dunbar, to whom
they bore a grudge, was giving advice to his
nephew to their prejudice, conceived a deadly
enmity at both, and seized every occasion to
annoy the sheriff of Moray and liis uncle. An
accidental meeting having taken place between
Robert Dunbar, brother of Alexander, and
William Dunbar, son of Blery, high words
were exchanged, and a scuffle ensued, in which
William Dunbar received considerable injury
in his person. Patrick Dunbar and his sons
were so incensed at this occurrence that they
took up arms and attacked their chief, Alex-
ander Dunbar, sheriff of Moray, in the town of
Torres, where he was shot dead by Robert
Dunbar, son of Blery. John Dunbar, sherilf
of Moray, who succeeded his brother Alexander,
and his brother, Robert Dunbar of Burgy, en-
deavoured to bring the murderers of his brother
to justice ; but tney failed in consequence of

8 Sir R. Gordon, p. 259.

Alexander Dunbar being, at the time of his
death, a rebel to the king, having been de-
nounced at the horn for a civil cause. By
negotiation, however, this deadly feud was
stayed, and a sort of reconciliation effected by
the friendly mediation of the Earl of Dunferm-
line, then Lord Chancellor of Scotland.9

In the year 1610 the Earl of Caitlmess and
Houcheon Mackay, chief of the Mackays, had
a difference in consequence of the protection
given by the latter to a gentleman named John
Sutherland, the son of Mackay's sister. Suth-
erland lived in Berridale, under the Earl of
Caitliness, but he was so molested by the earl
that he lost all patience, and went about
avenging the injuries he had sustained. The-
earl, therefore, cited him to appear at Edin-
burgh to answer to certain charges made against
him ; but not obeying the summons, he was
denounced and proclaimed a rebel to the king.
Reduced, in consequence, to great extremities,
and seeing no remedy by which he could re-
trieve himself, he became an outlaw, wasted
and destroyed the earl's country, and carried
off herds of cattle, which he transported into
Strathnaver, the country of his kinsman. Tho
earl thereupon sent a party of the Siol-Mhic-
Imhcair to attack him, and, after a long search,
they found him encamped near the water of
Shin in Sutherland. He, however, was aware
of their approach before they perceived him,
and, taking advantage of this circumstance,
attacked them in the act of crossing the water.
They were in consequence defeated, leaving
several of their party dead on the field.

This disaster exasperated the earl, who re-
solved to prosecute Mackay and his son, Do-
nald Mackay, for giving succour and protec-
tion within their country to John Sutherland,
an outlaw. According!}', he served both of
them with a notice to appear before the Privy
Council to answer to the charges he had pre-
ferred against them. Mackay at once obeyed
the summons, and went to Edinburgh, where
he met Sir Robert Gordon, who had come from
England for the express purpose of assisting
Mackay on the present occasion. The carl,
who had grown tired of the troubles which
John Sutherland had occasioned in his country,

0 Sir R. Gordon, p. 261.

COMMOTIONS IN LEWIS AMONG THE MACLEODS.

119

was induced, by the entreaties of friends, to
settle matters on the following conditions : —
That he should forgive John Sutherland all
past injuries, and restore him to his former
possessions ; that John Sutherland and his
brother Donald should be delivered, the one
after the other, into the hands of the earl, to
be kept prisoners for a certain time ; and that
Donald Mac-Thomais-Mhoir, one of the Sliochd-
lain-Abaraich, and a follower of John Suther-
land in his depredations, should be also deliv-
ered up to the earl to be dealt with as to him
should seem meet ; all of which stipulations
were complied with. The earl hanged Donald
Mac-Thomais as soon as he was delivered up.
John Sutherland was kept a prisoner at Girnigo
about twelve months, during which time Don-
ald Mackay made several visits to Earl George
for the purpose of getting him released, in which
he at last succeeded, besides procuring a dis-
charge to Donald Sutherland, who, in his turn,
should have surrendered himself as prisoner on
the release of his brother John, but upon the
condition that he and his father, Houcheon
Mackay, should pass the next following Christ-
mas with the earl at Girnigo. Mackay and
his brother William, accordingly, spent their
Christmas at Girnigo, but Donald Mackay was
prevented by business from attending. The
design of the Earl of Caithness in thus favour-
ing Mackay, was to separate him from the
interests of the Earl of Sutherland, but he was
unsuccessful

Some years before the events we have just
related, a commotion took place in Lewis,
occasioned by the pretensions of Torquill
Connaldagh of the Cogigh to the possessions
of Roderick Macleod of Lewis, his reputed
father. Roderick had first married Barbara
Stuart, daughter of Lord Methven, by whom
he had a son named Torquill-Ire, who, on arriv-
ing at manhood, gave proofs of a warlike
disposition. Upon the death of Barbara Stuart,
Macleod married a daughter of Mackenzie,
lord of Kintail, whom he afterwards divorced
for adultery with the Breve of Lewis, a sort
of judge among the islanders, to whose autho-
rity they submitted themselves. Macleod next
married a daughter of Maclean, by whom he
had two sons, Torquill Dubh and Tormaid.

In sailing from Lewis to Skye, Tonjuill-

Ire, eldest son of Macleod, and 200 men,
perished in a great tempest. Torquill Con-
naldagh, above mentioned, was the fruit of the
adulterous connexion between Macleod's second
wife and the Breve, at least Macleod would
never acknowledge him as his son. This Tor-
quill being now of age, and having married a
sister of Glengarry, took up arms against Mac-
leod, his reputed father, to vindicate his sup-
posed rights as Macleod's son, being assisted
by Tormaid, Ougigh, and Murthow, three of
the bastard sons of Macleod. The old man
was apprehended and detained four years in
captivity, when he was released on condition
that he should acknowledge Torquill Con-
naldagh as his lawful son. Tormaid Ougigh
having been slain by Donald Macleod, his
brother, another natural son of old Macleod,
Torquill Connaldagh, assisted by Murthow
Macleod, his reputed bastard brother, took
Donald prisoner and carried him to Cogigh,
but he escaped and fled to his father in
Lewis, who was highly offended at Torquill for
seizing his son Donald. Macleod then caused
Donald to apprehend Murthow, and having
delivered him to his father, he was imprisoned
in the castle of Stornoway. As soon as
Torquill heard of this occurrence, he went to
Stornoway and attacked the fort, which he
took, after a short siege, and released Murthow.
He then apprehended Roderick Macleod,
killed a number of his men, and carried off all
the charters and other title-deeds of Lewis,
which he gave in custody to the Mackenzies.
Torquill had a son named John Macleod, who
was in the service of the Marquis of Huntly ; lie
now sent for him, and on his arrival committed
to him the charge of the castle of Storuoway
in. which old Macleod was imprisoned. John
Macleod being now master of Lewis, and
acknowledged superior thereof, proceeded to
expel Rorie-Og and Donald, two of Roderick
Macleod's bastard sons, from the island ; but
Rorie-Og attacked him in Stornoway, and after
killing him, released Roderick Macleod, his
father, who possessed the island in peace during
the remainder of his life. Torquill Connaldagh,
by the assistance of the clan Kenzie, got
Donald Macleod into his possession, and exe-
cuted him at Dingwall.

Upon the death of Roderick Macleod, his

120

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Stornoway Castle. — From a photograph taken specially for this work.

son Torquill DuLh succeeded him in Lewis.
Taking a grudge at Eorie-Og, his brother,
ho apprehended him, and sent him to Mac-
lean to be detained in prison; but he escaped
out of Maclean's hands, and afterwards per-
ished in a snow-storm. As Torquill Dubh
excluded Torquill Uonnaldagh from the
Buceession of Lewis, as a bastard, the clan
Kenzie formed a design to purchase and conquer
Lewis, which they calculated on accomplish-
ing on account of the simplicity of Torquill
Connaldagh, who had now no friend to advise
with, and from the dissensions which unfor-
tunately existed among the race of the Siol-
Torqtiill. This scheme, moreover, received the
aid of a matrimonial alliance between Torquill
Connaldagh and the clan, by a marriage between
his eldest daughter and Eoderick Mackenzie,
the lord of Kintail's brother. The clan did not
avow their design openly, but they advanced
their enterprise under the pretence of assisting
Torquill Connaldagh, who was a descendant of
the Ivintail family, and they ultimately suc-
ceeded in destroying the family of Macleod of
Lewis, together with his tribe, the Siol-Torquill,
and by the ruin of that family and some neigh-
bouring clans, this ambitious clan made them-
selves complete masters of Lewis and other
places. As Torquill Dubh was the chief
oijstaclu iii their way, they formed a conspiracy

against his life, which, by the assistance of the
Breve, they were enabled to carry out success-
fully. The Breve, by stratagem, managed to
obtain possession of Torquill Dubh and some
of his friends, and deliver them to the lord of
Ivintail, who ordered them to be beheaded,
which they accordingly were in July, 1597.

Some gentlemen belonging to Fife, hearing
of these disturbances in Lewis, obtained from
the king, in 1598, a gift of the island, their
professed object being to civilize the inhabit-
ants, their real design, however, being, by
means of a colony, to supplant the inhabitants,
and drive thorn from the island. A body of
soldiers and artificers of all sorts were sent,
with every thing necessary for a plantation,
into Lewis, where, on their arrival, they began
to erect houses in a convenient situation, and
soon completed a small but neat town, in which
they took up their quarters. The new settlers
were, however, much annoyed in their opera-
tions by Neill and Murthow Macleod, the only
sons of Eoderick Macleod who remained in
the island. The speculation proved ruinous
to many of the adventurers, who, in conse-
quence of the disasters they met with, lost
their estates, and were in the end obliged to
quit the island.

In the meantime, Nuill Macleod quarrelled
witli his brother Murlhow, for harbouring and

THE FIFE ADVENTURERS IN LEWIS.

121

maintaining the Breve and such of his tribe as
were still alive, who had been the chief instru-
ments in the murder of Torquill Dubh. Neill
thereupon apprehended his brother, and some
of the clan Mhic-Ghille-Mhoir, all of whom ho
killed, reserving Ills brother only alive. When
the Fife speculators were informed that Neill
had taken Murthow, his brother, prisoner, they
scut him a message offering to give him a share
of the island, and to assist him in revenging
the death of Torquill Dubh, provided he would
deliver Murthow into their hands. Neill
agreed to this proposal, and having gone there-
after to Edinburgh, he received a pardon from
the king for all his past offences.

These proceedings frustrated for a time the
designs of the Mackenzies upon the island, and
the lord of Kintail almost despaired of obtain-
ing possession by any means. As the new
settlers now stood in his way, he resolved to
desist from persecuting the Siol-Torquill, and
to cross the former in their undertakings, by
all the means in his power. He had for some
time kept Tormaid Macleod, the lawful brother
of Torquill Dubh, a prisoner ; but he now re-
leased him, thinking that upon his appearance
in the Lewis all the islanders would rise in his
favour ; and he was not deceived in his expec-
tations, for, as Sir Eobert Gordon observes,
" all these islanders, (and lykwayes the Hie-
landers,) are, by nature, most bent and prone
to adventure themselves, their lyffs, and all
they have, for their masters and lords, yea
beyond all other people."1 In the meantime
Murthow Macleod was carried to St. Andrews,
and there executed. Having at his execution
revealed the designs of the lord of Kintail,
the latter was committed, by order of the
king, to the castle of Edinburgh, from which,
however, he contrived to escape without trial,
by means, as is supposed, of the then Lord-
Chancellor of Scotland.

On receiving pardon Neill Macleod returned
into Lewis with the Fife adventurers ; but he
had not been long in the island when ho quar-
relled with them on account of an injury ho had
received from Sir James Spence of Wormistoun.
He therefore abandoned them, and watched a
favourable opportunity for attacking them.

1 Uistory, p. 271.

They then attempted to apprehend him by a
stratagem, but only succeeded in bringing dis-
aster upon themselves. Upon hearing of this,
the lord of Kintail thought the time was now
suitable for him to stir, and accordingly lie
sent Tormaid Macleod into Lewis, as ho had
intended, promising him all the assistance in
his power if he would attack the Fife settlers.

As soon as Tormaid arrived in the island,
his brother Neill and all the natives assembled
and acknowledged him as their lord and master.
He immediately attacked the camp of the ad-
venturers, which he forced, burnt the fort,
killed the greater part of their men, took the
commanders prisoners, whom ho released, after
a captivity of eight months, on their solemn
promise not to return again to the island, and
on their giving a pledge that they should obtain
a pardon from the king for Tormaid and his
followers for all past offences. After Tormaid
had thus obtained possession of the island,
John Mac-Donald-Mac-Houcheon apprehended
Torquill Connaldagh, and carried him into
Lewis to his brother, Tormaid Macleod. Tor-
maid inflicted no punishment upon Connal-
dagh, but merely required from him delivery
of the title-deeds of Lewis, and the other
papers which he had carried off when he appre-
hended his father Roderick Macleod. Con-
naldagh informed him that he had it not in his
power to give them up, as he had delivered
them to the clan Kcnzie, in whose possession
they still were. Knowing this to be the fact,
Tormaid released Torquill Connaldagh, and
allowed him to leave the island, contrary to
the advice of all his followers and friends, who
were for inflicting the punishment of deatli
upon Torquill, as he had been the occasion of
all the miseries and troubles which had befallen
them.

The Breve of Lewis soon met with a just
punishment for the crime he had committed in
betraying and murdering his master, Torquill
Dubh Macleod. The Breve and some of his
relations had taken refuge in the country of
Assynt. John Mac-Donald-Mac-IIouchcon,
accompanied by four persons, having accident-
ally entered the house where the Breve and
six of his kindred lodged, found themselves
unexpectedly in the same room with them.
Being of opposite factions, a light immediately

122

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS

ensued, in the course of which the Breve and
his party fled out of the house, but were pur-
sued by John and his men, and the Breve and
five of his friends killed.

Although the Fife settlers had engaged not
to return again into Lewis, they neverthe-
less made preparations for invading it, having
obtained the king's commission against Tor-
maid Macleod and his tribe, the Siol-Torquill.
They were aided in tliis expedition by forces
from all the neighbouring counties, and par-
ticularly by the Earl of Sutherland, who sent
a party of men under the command of William
Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the clan Gun
in Sutherland, to assist in subduing Tormaid
Macleod. As soon as they had effected a land-
ing in the island with all their forces, they sent
a message to Macleod, acquainting him that if
he would surrender himself to them, in name
of the king, they would transport him safely to
London, where his majesty then was ; and
that, upon his arrival there, they would not
only obtain his pardon, but also allow him to
deal with the king in behalf of his friends, and
for the means of supporting himself. Macleod,
afraid to risk his fortune against the numerous
forces brought against him, agreed to the terms
proposed, contrary to the advice of his brother
Neill, who refused to yield. Tormaid was
thereupon sent to London, where he took care
to give the king full information concerning all
the circumstances of his case ; he showed his
majesty that Lewis was his just inheritance,
and that his majesty had been deceived by the
Fife adventurers in making liim believe that
the island was at his disposal, which act of
deception had occasioned much trouble and a
great loss of blood. He concluded by implor-
ing his majesty to do him justice by restoring
him to his rights. Understanding that Mac-
leod's representations were favourably received
by his majesty, the adventurers used all their
influence at court to thwart him ; and as some
of them were the king's own domestic servants,
they at last succeeded so far as to get him to bo
sent home to Scotland a prisoner in 1605.
He remained a captive at Edinburgh till the
month of March, 1615, when the king granted
him permission to pass into Holland, to Maurice,
Prince of Orange, where ho ended his days.
The settlers soon trrew wearied of their new

possession, and as all of them had declined in
their circumstances in this luckless speculation,
and as they were continually annoyed by Neill
Macleod, they finally abandoned the island,
and returned to Fife to bewail their loss.

Lord Kintail, now no longer disguising his
intentions, obtained, through means of the
Lord Chancellor, a gift of Lewis, under the
great seal, for his own use, in virtue of the old
right which Torquill Connaldagh had long
before resigned in his favour. Some of the
adventurers having complained to the king of
this proceeding, his majesty became highly
displeased at Kintail, and made him resign his
right into his majesty's hands by means of
Lord Balmerino, then Secretary of Scotland,
and Lord President of the session ; which right
his majesty now (1608) vested in the persons
of Lord Balmerino, Sir George Hay, afterwards
Chancellor of Scotland, and Sir James Spenco
of Wormistoun. Balmerino, on being con-
victed of high treason in 1609, lost his share,
but Hay and Spence undertook the coloniza-
tion of Lewis, and accordingly made great
preparations for accomplishing their purpose.
Being assisted by most of the neighbouring
countries, they invaded Lewis for the double
object of planting a colony, and of subduing
and apprehending Neill Macleod, who now
alone defended tiie island.

On this occasion Lord Kintail played a
double part, for while he sent Roderick Mac-
kenzie, his brother, with a party of men openly
to assist the new colonists who acted under
the king's commission, — promising them at the
same time his friendship, and sending them a
vessel from Ross with a supply of provisions, —
he privately sent notice to Neill Macleod
to intercept the vessel on her way; so that the
settlers, being disappointed in the provisions
to which they trusted, might abandon the
island for want. The case turned out exactly
as Lord Kintail anticipated, as Sir George
Hay and Sir James Spence abandoned the
island, leaving a party of men behind to keep
the fort, and disbanded their forces, returning
into Fife, intending to have sent a fresh sup-
ply of men, with provisions, into the island.
But Neill Macleod having, with the assistance
of his nephew, Malcolm Macleod, son of Ro-
derick Og, burnt the fort, and apprehended

NEILL MACLEOD EXPELLED FROM LEWIS.

123

the men who were left behind in the island,
whom he sent safely home, the Fife gentlemen
abandoned every idea of again taking possession
of the island, and sold their right to Lord Kin-
taiL Ho likewise obtained from the king a
grant of the share of the island forfeited by
liuhucrino, and thus at length acquired what
he had so long and anxiously desired. 2

Lord Kintail lost no time in taking posses-
sion of the island, — and all the inhabitants,
shortly after his landing, with the exception
of Neill Macleod and a few others, submitted
to him. Neill, along with his nephews, Mal-
colm, William, and Eoderick, the three sons
of Roderick Og, the four sons of Torquill Blair,
and thirty others, retired to an impregnable
rock in the sea called Bcnissay, on the west of
Lewis, into which Neill had been accustomed,
for some years, to send provisions and other
necessary articles to serve him in case of neces-
sity. Neill lived on this rock for three years,
Lord Kintail in the meantime dying in 1611.
As Macleod could not be attacked in his im-
pregnable position, and as his proximity was a
source of annoyance, the clan Kenzie fell on
the following expedient to get quit of him.
They gathered together the wives and children
of those that were in Berrissay, and also all per-
sons in the island related to them by consan-
guinity or affinity, and having placed them on
a rock in the sea, so near Berrissay that they
could bo heard and seen by Neill and his
party, the clan Kenzie vowed that they would
suffer the sea to overwhelm them, on the
return of the flood-tide, if Neill did not in-
stantly surrender the fort This appalling
spectacle had such an effect upon Macleod and
his companions, that they immediately yielded
up the rock and left Lewis.

Neill Macleod then retired into Harris, where
ho remained concealed for a time; but not
being able to avoid discovery any longer, he
gave himself up to Sir Eoderick Macleod of
Harris, and entreated him to carry him into
England to the king, a request with which Sir
Roderick promised to comply. In proceeding
on his jmtrney, however, along with Macleod,
he was charged at Glasgow, under pain of
treason, to deliver up Neill to the privy coun-

1 Gordon, p. 274; Gregory's Western Higldands,
p. 334.

oil. Sir Roderick obeyed the charge,
with his eldest son Donald, were presented to
the privy council at Edinburgh, where Neill
was executed in April 1G13. His son Donald
was banished from the kingdom of Scotland,
and immediately went to England, where he
remained three years witli Sir Robert Gordon,
tutor of Sutherland, and from England he
afterwards went to Holland, where he died.

After the death of Neill Macleod, Roderick
and William, the sons of Roderick Og, were
apprehended by Roderick Mackenzie, tutor of
Kintail, and executed. Malcolm Macleod, his
tliird son, who was kept a prisoner by Roder-
ick Mackenzie, escaped, and having associated
himself with the clan Donald in Islay and
Kintyre during their quarrel with the Camp-
bells in 1G15-16, he annoyed the clan Kenzie
with frequent incursions. Malcolm, thereafter,
went to Flanders and Spain, where he remained
with Sir James Macdonald. Before going to
Spain, he returned from Flanders into Lewis
in 161G, where he killed two gentlemen
of the clan Kenzie. He returned from Spain
in 1G20, and the last that is heard of him is
in 1626, when commissions of fire and sword
were granted to Lord Kintail against " Mal-
colm Macquari Macleod."

From the occurrences in Lewis, we now
direct the attention of our readers to some pro-
ceedings in the isle of Rasay, which ended in
bloodshed. The quarrel lay between Gille-
Chalum, laird of the island, and Murdo Mac-
kenzie of Gairloch, and the occasion was as
follows. The lands of Gairloch originally bo-
longed to the clan Mhic-Ghille-Chalum, the
predecessors of the laird of Rasay; and when
the Mackenzies began to prosper and to rise,
one of them obtained the third part of thcso
lands in mortgage or wadset from the clan
Mhic-Ghille-Chalum. In process of time the
clan Kenzie, by some means or other, unknown
to the proprietor of Gairloch, obtained a right
to the whole of these lands, but they did not
claim possession of the whole till the death
of Torquill Dubh Macleod of Lewis, whom
the laird of Rasay and liis tribe followed as
their superior. But upon the death of Torquil]
Dubh, the laird of Gairloch took possession of

1 Gregory, p. 337.

124

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the whole of the lauds of Gairloch in virtue of
his pretended right, and chased the clan Mhic-
Ghillo-Chalum from the lands with fire and
sword. The clan retaliated hi their turn by
invading the laird of Gairloch, plundering his
lands and committing slaughters. In a skir-
mish which took place in the year 1G10, in
which lives were lost on both sides, the laird
of Gairloch apprehended John Mac-Alain-Mac-
Eory, one of the principal men of the clan;
Lut being desirous to get hold also of John
Holmoch-Mac-Rory, another of the chiefs, he
sent his son Murdo the following year along
with Alexander Bane, the son and heir of
Bane of Tulloch in Ross, and some others, to
scarcli for and pursue John llolmoch; and as
he understood that John llolmoch was in Skye,
lie hired a ship to carry his son and party
thither; but instead of going to Skye, they
unfortunately, from some unknown cause,
landed in Rasay.

On their arrival in Rasay in August 1611,
Gillo-Chalum, laird of Rasay, with some of his
followers, went on board, and unexpectedly
found Murdo Mackenzie in the vessel. After
consulting with his men, he resolved to take
Mackenzie prisoner, in security for his cousin,
John Mac-Alain-Mac-Rory, whom the laird of
Gairloch detained in captivity. The party
then attempted to seize Mackenzie, but he and
lu's party resisting, a keen conflict took place
on board, which continued a considerable time.
At last, Murdo Mackenzie, Alexander Bane,
and the whole of their party, with the excep-
tion of three, were slain. These three fought
manfully, killing the laird of Rasay and the
whole men who accompanied him on board,
and wounding several persons that remained in
the two boats. Finding themselves seriously
wounded, they took advantage of a favourable
wind, and sailed away from the island, but
expired on the voyage homewards. From this
time the Mackenzies appear to have uninter-
ruptedly held possession of Gairloch.4

About the time this occurrence took place,
the peace of the north was almost again dis-
turbed in consequence of the conduct of William
Mac- Angus-Roy, one of the clan Gun, who,
though born in Strathnaver, had become a

1 Sir Robert Gordon, p 278.

servant to the Earl of Caithness. This man
had done many injuries to the people of Caith-
ness by command of the earl; and the mere dis-
pleasure of Earl George at any of his people,
was considered by William Mac-Angus as
sufficient authority for him to steal and take
away their goods and cattle. William got so
accustomed to this kind of service, that he
began also to steal the cattle and horses of the
earl, his master, and, after collecting a large
booty in this way, he took his leave. The
earl was extremely enraged at his quondam
servant for so acting; but, as William Mac-
Angus was in possession of a warrant in writing
under the earl's own hand, authorizing him to
act as he had done towards the people of
Caithness, the earl was afraid to adopt any
proceedings against him, or against those who
protected and harboured him, before the Privy
Council, lest he might produce the warrant
which he held from the earl The confidence
which, the earl had reposed in him served,
however, still more to excite the earl's indig-
nation.

As William Mac- Angus continued his depre-
dations in other quarters, he was apprehended
in the town of Tain, on a charge of cattle-
stealing; but he was released by the Monroes,
who gave security to the magistrates of the
town for his appearance when required, upon
due notice being given that ho was wanted for
trial. On attempting to escape ho was re-
delivered to the provost and bailies of Tain, by
whom he was given up to the Earl of Caith-
ness, who put him in fetters, and imprisoned
him within Castle Sinclair (1612). He soon
again contrived to escape, and fled into Strath-
naver, the Earl of Caithness sending his son,
William, Lord Berridale, in pursuit of him.
Missing the fugitive, he, in revenge, appre-
hended a servant of Mackay, called Angus
Heiiriach, without any authority from his
majesty, and carried him to Castle Sinclair,
where he was put into fetters and closely im-
prisoned on the pretence that he had assisted
William Mac-Angus in effecting his escape.
When tills occurrence took place, Donald
Mackay, son of Houcheon Mackay, the chief,
was at Dunrobiu castle, and he, on hearing of
the apprehension and imprisonment of his
father's servant, could scarcely bo made to

APPBEHENSION OF ARTHUR SMITH, A FALSE COINER.

125

believe the fact on account of the friend-
ship which had been contracted between his
father and the earl the preceding Christinas,
liut being made sensible thereof, and of the
cruel usage which the servant had received, he
prevailed on his father to summon the earl and
his son to answer to the charge of having ap-
prehended and imprisoned Angus Henriach, a
free subject of the king, without a commission.
The earl was also charged to present his pris-
oner before the privy council at Edinburgh in
the month of June next following, which he
accordingly did; and Angus being tried before
the lords and declared innocent, was delivered
over to Sir Robert Gordon, who then acted for
Mackay.5

During the same year (1612) another event
occurred in the north, which created consider-
able uproar and discord in the northern High-
lands. A person of the name of Arthur Smith,
who resided in Banff, had counterfeited the
coin of the realm, in consequence of which he,
and a man who had assisted him, fled from Banff

into Sutherland, where being apprehended in
the year 1599, they were sent by the Countess
of Sutherland to the king, who ordered them to
be imprisoned in Edinburgh for trial. They
were both accordingly tried and condemned,
and having confessed to crimes even of a deeper
dye, Smith's accomplice was burnt at the place
of execution. Smith himself was reserved for
farther trial By devising a lock of rare and
curious workmanship, which took the fancy of
the king, he ultimately obtained his release
and entered into the service of the Earl of
Caithness. His workshop was under the rock
of Castle Sinclair, in a quiet retired place
called the Gote, and to which there was a
secret passage from the earl's bedchamber.
No person was admitted to Smith's workshop
but the earl ; and the circumstance of his
being often heard working during the night,
raised suspicions that some secret work was
going on which could not bear the light of
day. The mystery was at last disclosed by an
inundation of counterfeit coin in Caitlmcss,

Castles Sinclair and Girnigo.— From a photograph taken specially for this work.

Orkney, Sutherland, and Ross, which was first
detected by Sir Robert Gordon, brother to the
Earl of Sutherland, when in Scotland, in the
year 1611, and he, on his return to England,
made the king acquainted therewitlL A com-
mission was granted to Sir Robert to apprehend

5 Sir R. Gordon, p. 2S1.

Smith, and bring him to Edinburgh, but he
was so much occupied with other concerns
that ho intrusted the commission to Donald
Mackay, his nephew, and to John Gordon,
younger of Ernbo, whoso name was jointly
inserted in the commission along with that of
Sir Robert. Accordingly, Mackay and Gordon,
accompanied by Adam Gordon Georgcson Jului,

12(1

GEXEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Gordon in Broray, and some other Sutherland
men, went, in May, 1612, to Strathnaver, and
assembling some of the inhabitants, they
marched into Caithness next morning, and
entered the town of Thurso, where Smith then
resided.

After remaining about three hours in the
town, the party went to Smith's house and
apprehended him. On searching his house
they found a quantity of spurious gold and
silver coin. Donald Maekay caused Smith
to be put on horseback, and then rode off
with him out of the town. To prevent any
tumult among the inhabitants, Gordon remained
behind with some of his men to show them, if
necessary, his Majesty's commission for appre-
hending Smith. Scarcely, however, had Mac-
kay left the town, when the town-bell was
rang and all the inhabitants assembled. There
were present in Thurso at the time, John Sin-
clair of Stirkage, son of the Earl of Caithness's
brother, James Sinclair, brother of the laird of
Dun, James Sinclair of Dyrren, and other
friends, on a visit to Lady Berridale. When
information was brought them of the appre-
hension of Smith, Sinclair of Stirkage, trans-
ported with rage, swore that he would not
allow any man, no matter whose commission
he held, to carry away his uncle's servant in
his uncle's absence. A furious onset was made
upon Gordon, but his men withstood it bravely,
and after a warm contest, the inhabitants were
defeated with some loss, and obliged to retire
to the centre of the town. Donald Maekay
hearing of the tumult, returned to the town to
aid Gordon, but the affair was over before he
arrived, Sinclair of Stirkage having been killed.
To prevent the possibility of the escape or
rescue of Smith, he was killed by the Strath-
naver men as soon as they heard of the tumult
in the town.

The Earl of Caithness resolved to prosecute
Donald Maekay, John Gordon, younger of
Embo, with their followers, for the slaughter
of Sinclair of Stirkago, and the mutilation of
Janics Sinclair, brother of the laird of Dun,
and summoned them, accordingly, to appear at
Edinburgh. On the other hand, Sir Eobort
Gordon and Donald Mackay prosecuted the
Earl of Caithness and his son, Lord Berridalc,
with several other of their countrymen, for

resisting the king's commission, attacking the
commissioners, and apprehending Angus Henri-
ach, without a commission, which was declared
treason by the laws. The Earl of Caithness
endeavoured to make the Privy Council believe
that the affair at Thurso arose out of a pre-
meditated design against him, and that Sir
Eobert Gordon's intention in obtaining a com-
mission against Arthur Smith was, under the
cloak of its authority, to find means to slay
him and his brethren ; and that, in pursuance
of his plan, Sir Eobert had, a little before the
skirmish in Thurso, caused the earl to be
denounced and proclaimed as a rebel to the
king, and had lain in wait to kill him ; Sir
Eobert, however, showed the utter ground-
lessness of these charges to the Lords of the
Council.

On the day appointed for appearance, the
parties met at Edinburgh, attended by their
respective friends. The Earl of Caithness and
his son, Lord Berridale, were accompanied by
the Lord Gray, the laird of Eoslin, the laird
of Cowdenknowes, a son of the sister of the
Earl of Caitlmess, and the lairds of Murkle and
Greenland, brothers of the earl, along with a
large retinue of subordinate attendants. Sir
Eobert Gordon and Donald Mackay were
attended by the Earl of Winton and his
brother, the Earl of Eglinton, with all their
followers, the Earl of Linlithgow, with
the Livingstones, Lord Elphinston, with his
friends, Lord Eorbes, with his friends, the
Drummonds, Sir John Stuart, captain of Dum-
barton, and bastard son of the Duke of Lennox ;
Lord Balfour, the laird of Lairg Mackay in
Galloway ; the laird of Foulis, with the Mon-
roes, the laird of Duffus, some of the Gor-
dons, as Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the
Earl of Sutherland, Cluny, Lcsmoir, Buckio.
Knokespock, with other gentlemen of respoctar
bility. The absence of the Earl of Sutherland
and Houchcon Mackay mortified the Earl of
Caithness, who could not conceal his displea-
sure at being so much overmatched in the
respectability and number of attendants by
seconds and children, as lie was pleased to call
his adversaries.

According to the usual practice on such
occasions, the parties were accompanied by
their respective friends, from their lodgings, to

DISSENSIONS AMONG THE CLAN CAMERON.

127

the house where the council was sitting ; but
fi'\v were admitted within. The council spent
three days in hearing the parties and deliberat-
ing upon the matters brought before them, but
they came to no conclusion, and adjourned
tlunr proceedings till the king's pleasure should
bo known. In the meantime the parties, at
the entreaty of the Lords of the Council,
entered into recognizances to keep the peace,
in time coming, towards each other, which
extended not only to their kinsmen, but also
to their friends and dependants.

The king, after fully considering the state of
affairs between the rival parties, and judging
that if the law were allowed to take its course
the peace of the northern countries might bo
disturbed by the earls and their numerous fol-
lowers, proposed to the Lords of the Privy
Council to endeavour to prevail upon them to
submit their differences to the arbitration of
mutual friends. Accordingly, after a good
deal of entreaty and reasoning, the parties
were persuaded to agree to the proposed mea-
sure. A deed of submission was then sub-
scribed by the Earl of Caithness and William,
Lord Berridale, on the one part, and by Sir
Robert Gordon and Donald Mackay on the
other part, taking burden on them for the Earl
of Sutherland and Mackay. The arbiters ap-
pointed by Sir Robert Gordon were the Earl of
Kinghom, the Master of Elphinston, the Earl
of Haddington, afterwards Lord Privy Seal of
Scotland, and Sir Alexander Drummond of
Meidhop. The Archbishop of Glasgow, Sir
John Preston, Lord President of the Council,
Lord Blantyre, and Sir William Oliphant,
Lord Advocate, were named by the Earl of
Caithness. The Earl of Dunfermline, Lord-
Chancellor of Scotland, was chosen oversman
and umpire by both parties. As the arbiters
had then no time to hear the parties, or to
enter upon the consideration of the matters
submitted to them, they appointed them to re-
turn to Edinburgh in the month of May, 1613.

At the appointed time, the Earl of Caith-
ness and Ms brother, Sir John Sinclair of
Greenland, came to Edinburgh, Sir Robert
Gordon arriving at the same time from En"-

O O

land. The arbiters, however, who were all
members of the Privy Council, being much
occupied with state affairs, did not go into the

matter, but made the parties subscribe a new
deed of submission, under which they gave
authority to the Marquis of Huntly, by whoso
friendly offices the differences between the two
houses had formerly been so often adjusted, to
act in the matter by endeavouring to bring
about a fresh reconciliation. As the marquis
was the cousin-german of the Earl of Suther-
land, and brother-in-law of the Earl of Caith-
ness, who had married his sister, the council
thought him the most likely person to be
intrusted with such an important negotiation.
The marquis, however, finding the parties
obstinate, and determined not to yield a single
point of their respective claims and pretensions,
declined to act farther in the matter, and remit-
ted the whole affair back to the Privy Council.
During the year 1613 the peace of Loch-
aber was disturbed by dissensions among the
clan Cameron. The Earl of Argyle, reviv-
ing an old claim acquired in the reign of
James V., by Colin, the third earl, endea-
voured to obtain possession of the lands of
Lochiel, mainly to weaken the influence of his
rival the Marquis of Huntly, to whose party
the clan Cameron were attached. Legal pro-
ceedings were instituted by the earl against
Allan Cameron of Lochiel, who, hastening to
Edinburgh, was there advised by Argyle to
submit the matter to arbiters. The decision
was in favour of the earl, from whom Locliiel
consented to hold his lands as a vassal This,
of course, highly incensed the Marquis of
Huntly, who resolved to endeavour to effect
the ruin of his quondam vassal by fomenting
dissensions among the clan Cameron, inducing
the Camerons of Erracht, Kinlochiel, and Glen-
nevis to become his immediate vassals in those
lands which Lochiel had hitherto held from
the family of Huntly. Lochiel, failing to in-
duce his kinsmen to renew their allegiance to
him, again went to Edinburgh to consult his
lawyers as to the course which he ought to pur-
sue. While there, he heard of a conspiracy by
the opposite faction against his life, which
induced him to hasten home, sending wcrd
privately to his friends — the Camerona of
Callart, Strone, Letterfinlay, and others — to
meet him on the day appointed for the assem-
bling of his opponents, near the spot where
the latter were to meet.

128

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

On arriving at the appointed rendezvous,
Lochiel placed in ambush all his followers but
six, with whom he advanced towards his ene-
mies, informing them that he wished to have
a conference with them. The hostile faction,
thinking this a favourable opportunity for
accomplishing their design, pursued the chief,
who, when he had led them fairly into the
midst of his ambushed followers, gave the
signal for their slaughter. Twenty of their
principal men were killed, and eight taken
prisoners, Lochiel allowing the rest to escape.
Lochiel and his followers were by the Privy
Council outlawed, and a commission of fire and
sword granted to the Marquis of Huntly and
the Gordons, for their pursuit and apprehen-
sion. The division of the clan Cameron which
supported Lochiel continued for several years
in a state of outlawry, but, through the influ-
ence of the Earl of Argyle, appears not to have
suffered extremely.6

CHAPTER X.

A.D. 1613—1623.

KINO OF OHEM BRITAIN I— JaillCS 1., 1603—1325.

Continued animosity between the Earls of Caithness
and Sutherland — The latter imprisoned as a sus-
pected Catholic — Formidable Kebellion in the South
Hebrides — Suppressed by the Earl of Argyle — Fresh
intrigues of the Earl of Caithness — His oppressions
— Burning of the corn at Sanset— Legal proceedings
against the Guns — Agreement between the Earl of
Caithness, Sir Robert Gordon, and Lord Forbes —
Lord Berridale imprisoned — Conditions of release —
Put in possession of the family Estates — Alliance
between the Earl of Caithness and Sir Donald Mac-
kay— Sir Robert Gordon protects the clan Gun —
Mackay's attempts against the Clan — Mackay and
Sir Robert Gordon reconciled — Quarrel between the
Earl of Enzie and the elan Chattan — Slaughter of
Thomas Lindsay — Hostile preparations against the
Earl of Caithness — Expedition into Caithness —
Flight of the Earl — Reduction and pacification of
Caithness.

As the Privy Council showed no inclination to
decide the questions submitted to them by the
Earl of Caitlmcss and his adversaries, the earl
sent his brother, Sir John Sinclair of Green-
land, to Edinburgh, to complain of the delay
which had taken place, and desired him to
throw out hints, that if the earl did not obtain

• Gregory's Western Ui'jhlands, p. 342.

satisfaction for his supposed injuries, he would
take redress at his own hands. The earl
thought that he would succeed, by such a
threat, in moving the council to decide in his
favour, for he was well aware that he was
unable to carry it into execution. To give
some appearance of an intention to enforce it,
he, in the month of October, 1613, while the
Earl of Sutherland, his brothers and nephews,
were absent from the country, made a demon-
stration of invading Sutherland or Strathnaver,
by collecting his forces at a particular point,
and bringing thither some pieces of ordnance
from Castle Sinclair. The Earl of Sutherland,
having arrived in Sutherland while the Earl of
Caithness was thus employed, immediately
assembled some of his countrymen, and, along
with his brother Sir Alexander, went to the
marches between Sutherland and Caithness,
near the height of Strathully, where they
waited the approach of the Earl of Caithness.
Here they were joined by Mackay, who had
given notice of the Earl of Caithness's move-
ments to the lairds of Eoulis, Balnagown, and
Assynt, the sheriff of Cromarty, and the tutor
of Kintail, all of whom prepared themselves to
assist the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of
Caithness, however, by advice of his brother,
Sir John Sinclair, returned home and dis-
banded his force.

To prevent the Earl of Caitliness from at-
tempting any farther interference with the
Privy Council, either in the way of intrigue or
intimidation, Sir Eobert Gordon obtained a
remission and pardon from the king, in the
month of December, 1613, to his nephew,
Donald Mackay, John Gordon, younger of
Embo, John Gordon in Broray, Adam Gordon
Georgeson, and their accomplices, for the
slaughter of John Sinclair of Stirkage at
Thurso. However, Sir Gideon Murray, Deputy
Treasurer for Scotland, contrived to prevent the
pardon passing through the seals till the begin-
ning of the year 1616.

The Earl of Caitliness, being thus baffled in
his designs against the Earl of Sutherland and
his friends, fell upon a device which never
failed to succeed in times of religious intoler-
ance and persecution. Unfortunately for man-
kind and for the interests of Christianity, the
principles of religious toleration, involving the

FORMIDABLE REBELLION IX THE SOUTH HEBRIDES.

129

inalienable right of every man to worsliip God
accenting to the dictates of his conscience, have
been till of lato but little understood, and at
the period in question, and for upwards of one
hundred and sixty years thereafter, the statute
book of Scotland was disgraced by penal enact-
ments against the Catholics, almost unparalleled
for their sanguinary atrocity. By an act of the
first parliament of James VI., any Catholic
who assisted at the offices of his religion was,
" for the first fault," that is, for following the
dictates of his conscience, to suffer confiscation
of all his goods, movable and immovable,
personal and real ; for the second, banishment;
and death for the third fault ! But the law
was not confined to overt acts only — the mere
suspicion of being a Catholic placed the sus-
pected person out of the pale and protection of
the law ; for if, on being warned by the bish-
ops and ministers, ho did not recant and give
confession of his faith according to the ap-
proved form, ho was excommunicated, and
declared infamous and incapable to sit or stand
in judgment, pursue or bear office.7

Under this last-mentioned law the Earl of
Caithness now sought to gratify his vengeance
against the Earl of Sutherland. Having repre-
sented to the Archbishop of St. Andrews and
the clergy of Scotland that the Earl of Suther-
land was at heart a Catholic, he prevailed upon
the bishops — with little difficulty, it is sup-
posed— to acquaint the king thereof. His
majesty thereupon issued a wan-ant against
the Earl of Sutherland, who was in conse-
quence apprehended and imprisoned at St.
Andrews. The earl applied to the bishops for
a month's delay, till the 15th February, 1614,
promising that before that time ho would
cither give the church satisfaction or surrender
himself; but his application was refused by
the high commission of Scotland. Sir Alex-
ander Gordon, the brother of the earl, being
then in Edinburgh, immediately gave notice to
his brother, Sir Robert Gordon, who was at
the time in London, of the proceedings against
their brother, the earl. Sir Robert having
applied to his majesty for the release of the
earl for a time, that ho might make up his
mind on the subject of religion, and look after

7 Act James VI., Parl. 3, Cap. 45.

his affairs in the north, his majesty granted a
warrant for his liberation till the month of
August following. On the expiration of the
time, ho returned to his confinement at St.
Andrews, from which he was removed, on
his own application, to the abbey of Holyrood
house, where ho remained till the month of
March, 1G15, when he obtained leave to go
home, " having," says Sir Robert Gordon, " in
some measure satisfied the church concerning
liis religion."

The Earl of Caithness, thus again defeated
in his views, tried, as a dernier resort, to dis-
join the families of Sutherland and Mackay.
Sometimes he attempted to prevail upon the
Marquis of Huntly to persuade the Earl of
Sutherland and his brothers to come to an
arrangement altogether independent of Mac-
kay; and at other times he endeavoured to
persuade Maekay, by holding out certain in-
ducements to him, to compromise their differ-
ences without including the Earl of Suther-
land in the arrangement; but he completely
failed in these attempts. 8

In 1614—15 a formidable rebellion broke out
in the South Hebrides, arising from the efforts
made by the clan Donald of Islay to retain that
island in their possession. The castle of Duny-
veg in Islay, which, for three years previous to
1614, had been in possession of the Bishop of the
Isles, having been taken by Angus Oig, younger
brother of Sir James Macdonald of Islay, from
Ranald Oig, who had surprised it, the former
refused to restore it to the bishop. The Privy
Council took the matter in hand, and, having
accepted from John Campbell of Calder an
offer of a feu-duty or perpetual rent for Islay,
they prevailed on him to accept a commission
against Angus Oig and his followers. Tho
clan Donald, who viewed with suspicion the
growing power of the Campbells, looked upon
this project with much dislike, and treated
certain hostages left by the bishop with great
severity. Even the bishop remonstrated against
making " the name of Campbell greater in the
Isles than they are already," thinking it neither
good nor profitable to his majesty, " to root
out one pestiferous clan, and plant in another
little better." Tho remonstrance of the bishop

• Sir K. Gordon, p. 299.
u

130

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

and an offer made to put matters right by Sir
James Macdonald, who was then imprisoned
in Edinburgh castle, were alike unheeded, and
Campbell of Calder received his commission of
Lieutenandry against Angus Oig Macdonald,
CollMac-Gillespic, and the other rebels of Islay.
A free pardon was offered to all who were not
concerned in the taking of the castle, and a
remission to Angus Oig, provided he gave up
the castle, the hostages, and two associates of
his own rank.

While Campbell was collecting his forces,
and certain auxiliary troops from Ireland
were preparing to embark, the chancellor of
Scotland, the Earl of Dunfermline, by means

of a Ross-shire man, named George Graham of
Eryne, prevailed on Angus Oig to release the
bishop's hostages, and deliver up to Graham
the castle, in behalf of the chancellor. Graham
re-delivered the castle to Angus, to be held by
him as the regular constable, until he should
receive further orders from the chancellor, and at
the same time assured Angus of the chancel-
lor's countenance and protection, enjoining him
to resist all efforts on the part of Campbell or
his friends to eject him. These injunctions
Graham's dupes too readily followed. "There
can be no doubt whatever that the chancellor
was the author of this notable plan to procure
the liberation of the hostages, and at the same

Duuyveg Castle, Islay. — From a dra
time to deprive the clan Donald of the benefit
of the pardon promised to them on this account.
There are grounds for a suspicion that the
chancellor himself desired to obtain Islay ;
although it is probable that he wished to avoid
the odium attendant on the more violent mea-
sures required to render such, an acquisition
available. He, therefore, contrived so as to
leave the punishment of the clan Donald to
the Campbells, who were already sufficiently
obnoxious to the western clans, whilst he him-
self had the credit of procuring the liberation
of the hostages."

Campbell of Calder and Sir Oliver Lambert,
commander of the Irish forces, did not effect a
junction till the 5th of January, 1615, and on

.wing taken expressly for this work,
the 6th, Campbell landed on Islay with 200
men, his force being augmented next day by
140 more. Several of the rebels, alarmed, de-
serted Angus, and were pardoned on condition
of helping the besiegers. Ronald Mac-James,
uncle of Angus Oig, surrendered a fort on the
island of Lochgorme which he commanded, on
the 21st, and along with, his son received a
conditional assurance of his majesty's favour.
Operations were commenced against Duny veg
on February 1st, and shortly after Angus had
an interview with the lieutenant, during which
thelatter showed that Angushad been deceived
by Graham, upon which he promised to sur-
render. On returning to the castle, however,
he refused to implement his promise, being in-

CAPTURE OF DUNYVEG CASTLE.

131

stigated to liold out apparently by Coll Mac-
Gillespic. After being again battered for some
time, Angus and some of his followers at last
surrendered unconditionally, Coll Mac-Gillespic
contriving to make liis escape. Campbell took
possession of tlio castle on the 3d February,
dispersed the forces of the rebels, and put to
death a number of those who had deserted the
siege ; Angus himself was reserved for exami-
nation by the Privy Council. In the course of
the examination it came out clearly that the
Earl of Argyle was the original promoter of the
seizure of the castle, his purpose apparently
being to ruin the clan Donald by urging them
to rebellion ; but this charge, as well as that
against the Earl of Dunfermline, appears to
have been smothered.

During the early part of the year 1615, Coll
Mac-Gillespic and others of the clan Donald
who had escaped, infested the western coasts,
and committed many acts of piracy, being
joined about the month of May by Sir James
Macdonald, who had escaped from Edinburgh
castle, where he had been lying for a long
time under sentence of death. Sir James and
his followers, now numbering several hundreds,
after laying in a good supply of provisions,
sailed towards Islay. The Privy Council were
not slow in taking steps to repress the rebel-
lion, although various circumstances occurred
to thwart their intentions. Calder engaged to
keep the castle of Dunyveg against the rebels,
and instructions were given to the various
western gentlemen friendly to the government
to defend the western coasts and islands.
Large rewards were offered for the principal
rebels. All the forces were enjoined to be
at their appointed stations by the Gth of July,
furnished with forty days' provisions, and with
a sufficient number of boats, to enable them to
act by sea, if necessary.

Sir James Macdonald, about the end of
Juno, landing on Islay, managed by stratagem
to obtain possession of Dunyveg Castle, him-
self and his followers appearing to have con-
ducted themselves with great moderation.
Dividing his force, which numbered about 400,
into two bodies, with one of which he himself
intended to proceed to Jura, the other, under
Coll Mac-Gillcppic, was destined for Kintyrc,
tor the pii'i'ose of encouraging the ancient

followers of his family to assist him. In tho
beginning of July, Angus Oig and a number of
his followers were tried and condemned, and
executed immediately after.

Various disheartening reports were now cir-
culated as to the disaffection of Donald Gormo
of Sleat, captain of the clan Eanald, Euari
Macleod of Harris, and others ; and that Hector
Maclean of Dowart, if not actually engaged in
the rebellion, had announced, that if he was
desired to proceed against the clan Donald, ho
would not be very earnest in the service. Tho
militia of Ayr, Eenfrew, Dumbarton, Bute,
and Inverness were called out, and a commis-
sion was granted to the Marquis of Hamilton
to keep the clan Donald out of Arran.

The Privy Council had some time before
this urged tho king to send down the Earl of
Argyle from England — to which he had fled
from his numerous creditors — to act as lieu-
tenant in suppressing the insurrection. After
many delays, Argyle, to whom full powers had
been given to act as lieutenant, at length
mustered his forces at Duntroon on Loch
Crinan early in September. He issued a pro-
clamation of pardon to all rebels who were
willing to submit, and by means of spies ex-
amined Macdonald's camp, which had been
pitched on the west coast of Kintyre, the num-
ber of the rebels being ascertained to be about
1,000 men. Argyle set himself so promptly
and vigorously to crush the rebels, that Sir
James Macdonald, who had been followed to
Islay by the former, finding it impossible either
to resist the Lieutenant's forces, or to escape
with his galleys to the north isles, desired from
the earl a truce of four days, promising at tho
end of that tune to surrender. Argyle would
not accede to this request except on condition
of Sir James giving up the two forts which he
held ; this Sir James urged Coll Mac-Gillespic
to do, but ho refused, although he sent secretly
to Argyle a message that he was willing to
comply with the earl's request. Argyle im-
mediately sent a force against Sir James to
surprise him, who, being warned of tliis by tho
natives, managed to make his escape to an
island called Inchdaholl, on the coast of Ire-
land, and never again returned to the Hebrides.
Xext day, Mac-Gillespic surrendered the two
forts and his prisoners, upon assurance of his

132

GENERAL IIISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

own life and the lives of a few of liis followers,
at tlie same time treacherously apprehending
nnd delivering to Argyle, Macfie of Colonsay,
one of the principal rebel leaders, and eighteen
others. This conduct soon had many imita-
tors, including Macfie himself.

Having delivered the forts in Islay to Camp-
bell of Calder, and having executed a number
of the leading rebels, Argyle proceeded to
Kintyre, and crushed out all remaining seeds of
insurrection there. Many of the principal
rebels, notwithstanding a diligent search,
effected their escape, many of them to Ireland,
Sir James Macdonald being sent to Spain by
some Jesuits in Galway. The escape of so
many of the principal rebels seems to have
given the Council great dissatisfaction. Argyle
carried on operations till the middle of Decem-
ber 1615, refusing to dismiss the hired soldiers
in the beginning of November, as he was
ordered by the Council to do. He was com-
pelled to disburse the pay, amounting to
upwards of .£7,000, for the extra month and a
half out of his own pocket.

" Thus," to use the words of our authority
for the above details,9 " terminated the last
struggle of the once powerful clan Donald of
Islay and Kintyre, to retain, from the grasp of
the Campbells, these ancient possessions of
their tribe."

Ever since the death of John Sinclair at
Thurso, the Earl of Caithness used every means
in his power to induce such of his country-
men as were daring enough, to show their
prowess and dexterity, by making incursions
into Sutherland or Strathnaver, for the pur-
pose of annoying the vassals and depend-
ants of the Earl of Sutherland and his ally,
Mackay. Amongst others he often communi-
cated on this subject with William Kenneth-
Bon, whose father, Kenneth Buidhe, had always
been the principal instrument in the hands
of Earl George in oppressing the people of
his own country. For the furtherance of his
plans he at last prevailed upon William, who
already stood rebel to the king in a criminal
cause, to go into voluntary banishment into
Stratlinaver, and pxit himself under the pro-
oection of Mackay, to whom he was to pre-

8 Gregory's Western Highlands, p. 349, it scq.

tend that he had left Caitliness to avoid any
solicitations from the Earl of Caithness to
injure the inhabitants of Strathnaver. To
cover their designs they caused a report to be
spread that William Mac-Kenneth was to leave
Caithness because he would not obey the orders
of the earl to execute some designs against Sir
Robert Gordon, the tutor of Sutherland, and
Mackay, and when this false rumour had
been sufficiently spread, Mac-Kenneth, and
his brother John, and their dependants, fled
into Stratlinaver and solicited the favour and
protection of Mackay. The latter received
them, kindly ; but as William and his party
had been long addicted to robbery and theft,
he strongly advised them to abstain from such
practices in all time coming ; and that they
might not afterwards plead necessity as an
excuse for continuing their depredations, he
allotted them some lands to dwell on. After
staying a month or two in Strathnaver, during
which time they stole some cattle and horses
out of Caithness, William received a private
visit by night from Kenneth Buidhe, his
father, who had been sent by the Earl of Caith-
ness for the purpose of executing a contem-
plated depredation in Sutherland. Mackay
was then in Sutherland on a visit to his uncle,
Sir Robert Gordon, which being known to
William Mac-Kenneth, ho resolved to enter
Sutherland with his party, and cany off into
Caithness all the booty they coidd collect.
Being observed in the glen of Loth by some of
the clan Gun, collecting cattle and horses, they
were immediately apprehended, with the ex-
ception of lain-Garbh-Mac-Chonahl-Mac-Mhur-
chidh-Mhoir, who, being a very resolute man,
refused to surrender, and was in consequence
killed. The prisoners were delivered to Sir
Robert Gordon at Dornqch, who committed
William and his brother John to the castle of
Dornoch for trial. In the meantime two of
the principal men of Mac-Kenneth's party
were tried, convicted, and executed, and the
remainder were allowed to return home on
giving surety to keep the peace. This occur-
rence took place in the month of January,
1818.

The Earl of Caitlmess now finished his rest-
less career of iniquity by the perpetration of a
crime which, tnough trivial in its cruscqucnces,

MACHINATIONS OF THE EAEL OF CAITHNESS.

133

was of so highly a penal nature in itself as to
bring his own life into jeopardy. As the cir-
cumstances which led to the burning of the
corn of William Innes, a servant of Lord Forbes
at Sanset in Caithness, and the discovery of
the Earl of Caithness as instigator, are some-
what curious, it is thought that a recital of
them may not bo here out of place.

Among other persons who had suffered at
the hands of the earl was his own kinsman,
William Sinclair of Dumbaith. After annoy-
ing him in a variety of ways, the earl insti-
gated his bastard brother, Henry Sinclair, and
Kenneth Buidhe, to destroy and lay waste part
of Dumbaith's lands, who, unable to resist, and
being in dread of personal risk, locked himself
up in his house at Dunray, which they besieged.
William Sinclair immediately applied to John,
Earl of Sutherland, for assistance, who sent
his friend Mackay with a party to rescue Sin-
clair from his perilous situation. Mackay suc-
ceeded, and carried Sinclair along with him
into Sutherland, where he remained for a time,
but he afterwards went to reside in Moray,
where he died. Although thus cruelly perse-
cuted and forced to become an exile from his
country by the Earl of Caithness, no entreaties
could induce him to apply for redress, choosing
rather to suffer himself than to see his relative
punished. William Sinclair was succeeded by
his grandson, George Sinclair, who married a
sister of Lord Forbes. By the persuasion of
his wife, who was a mere tool in the hands
of the Earl of Caithness, George Sinclair was
induced to execute a deed of entail, by which,
failing of heirs male of his own body, he left
the whole of liis lands to the carl. When the
earl had obtained this deed he began to devise
means to make away with Sinclair, and ac-
tually persuaded Sinclair's wife to assist him
in tliis nefarious design. Having obtained
notice of this conspiracy against his life, Sin-
clair left Caithness and took up his residence
with his brother-in-law, Lord Forbes, who
received liim with great kindness and hospi-
tality, and reprobated very strongly the wicked
conduct of his sister. Sinclair now recalled
the entail in favour of the Earl of Caithness,
and mado a new deed by which he conveyed
his whole estate to Lord Forbes. George Sin-
clair died soon after the execution of tlic deed,

and having left no issue, Lord Forbes took pos-
session of his lands of Dunray and Dumbaith.

Disappointed in his plans to acquire Sinclair's
property, the Earl of Caithness seized every
opportunity of annoying Lord Forbes in his
possessions, by oppressing his tenants and
servants, in every possible way, under the pre-
tence of discharging his duty as sheriff, to
which office he had been appointed by the Earl
of Huntly, on occasion of his marriage with
Huntly's sister. Complaints were made from
time to time against the earl, on account of
these proceedings, to the Privy Council of
Scotland, which, in some measure, afforded
redress ; but to protect his tenants more effectu-
ally, Lord Forbes took up a temporary resi-
dence in Caithness, relying upon the aid of tho
house of Sutherland in case of need.

As the Earl of Caithness was aware that any
direct attack on Lord Forbes would be properly
resented, and as any enterprise undertaken by
his own people would be laid to his charge,
however cautious he might be in dealing with
them, he fixed on the clan Gun as the fittest
instruments for effecting his designs against
Lord Forbes. Besides being the most resolute
men in Caithness, always ready to undertake
any desperate action, they depended more upon
tho Earl of Sutherland and Mackay, from
whom they held some lands, than upon tho
Earl of Caitlincss ; a circumstance which .the
latter supposed, should the contemplated out-
rages of the clan Gun ever become matter of
inquiry, might throw the suspicion upon tho
two former as the silent instigators. Accord-
ingly, the earl opened a negotiation with Jolm
Gun, chief of the clan Gun in Caithness, and
witli his brother, Alexander Gun, whose father
he had hanged in the year 1586. In conse-
quence of an invitation, the two brothers, along
with Alexander Gun, their cousin-gennan, re-
paired to Castle Sinclair, where they met tho
earl. The earl did not at first divulge his
plans to all the party; but taking Alexander
Gun, tho cousin, aside, he pointed out to him
the injury he alleged he had sustained, in con-
sequence of Lord Forbes having obtained a
footing in Caithness, — that he could no longer
submit to the indignity shown him by a stran-
ger,— that ho had made choice of him (Gun) to
undertake a piece of service for him, on per-

134

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

forming which he would reward him most
amply ; and to secure compliance, the earl de-
sired him to remember the many favours he had
already received from him, and how well he
had treated him, promising, at the same time, to
show him even greater kindness in time coming.
Alexander thereupon promised to serve the earl,
though at the hazard of his life ; hut upon being
interrogated by the earl whether he would
undertake to burn the corn of Sanset, belong-
ing to "William Innes, a servant of Lord Forbes,
Gun, who had never imagined that he was to
be employed in such an ignoble affair, expressed
the greatest astonishment at the proposal, and
refused, in the most peremptory and indignant
manner, to undertake its execution ; yet, to
satisfy the earl, he told him that he would, at
his command, undertake to assassinate William
Innes, — an action which he considered less
criminal and dishonourable, and more becom-
ing a gentleman, than burning a quantity of
corn ! Finding him obdurate, the earl enjoined
him to secrecy.

The earl next applied to the two brothers,
John and Alexander, with whom he did not
find it so difficult to treat. They at first hesi-
tated with some firmness in undertaking the
business on which the earl was so intent ; and
they pleaded an excuse, by saying, that as
justice was then more strictly executed in
Scotland than formerly, they could not expect
to escape, as they had no place of safety to re-
treat to after the crime was committed ; as a
proof of which they instanced the cases of the
clan Donald and the clan Gregor, two races of
people much more powerful than the clan Gun,
who had been brought to the brink of ruin, and
almost annihilated, under the authority of the
laws. The earl replied, that as soon as they
should perform the service for him he would
send them to the western isles, to some of his
acquaintances and friends, with whom they
might remain till Lord Forbes and he were
reconciled, when he would obtain their pardon ;
that in the meantime he would profess, in
public, to be their enemy, but that he would be
their friend secretly, and permit them to fre-
quent Caithness without danger. Alexander
Gun, overcome at last by the entreaties of the
carl, reluctantly consented to his request, and
going into Sanset, in the dead of night, with

two accomplices, set fire to all the corn stacks
which were in the barn-yard, belonging to
"William Innes, and which were in consequence
consumed. This affair occurred in the month
of November, 1615. The Earl of Caithness
immediately spread a report through the whole
country that Mackay's tenants had committed
this outrage, but the deception was of short
duration.

It may be here noticed that John, sixth Earl
of Sutherland, died in September, 1015, and
was succeeded by his eldest son, John, a boy
six years old, to whom Sir Robert Gordon, his
uncle, was appointed tutor.

Sir Robert Gordon, having arrived in the
north of Scotland, from England, in the montli
of December following, resolved to probo the
matter to the bottom, not merely on account
of his nephew, Mackay, whose men were sus-
pected, but to satisfy Lord Forbes, who waa
now on friendly terms with the house of Suth-
erland ; but the discovery of the perpetrators
soon became an easy task, in consequence of a
quarrel among the clan Gun themselves, the
members of which upbraided one another as
the authors of the fire-raising. Alexander Gun,
the cousin of Alexander Gun, the real criminal,
thereupon fled from Caithness, and sent some
of his friends to Sir Robert Gordon and Donald
Mackay with these proposals : — that if they
would receive him into favour, and secure him
from danger, he would confess the whole cir-
cumstances, and reveal the authors of the con-
flagration, and that he would declare the whole
before the Privy Council if required. On
receiving this proposal, Sir Robert Gordon
appointed Alexander Gun to meet him pri-
vately at Hclmsdale, in the house of Sir Alex-
ander Gordon, brother of Sir Robert. A meet-
ing was accordingly held at the place appointed,
at which Sir Robert and his friends agreed to
do everything in their power to preserve Gun's
life ; and Mackay promised, moreover, to give
him a possession in Strathie, where jiis father
had formerly lived.

"When the Earl of Caithness heard of Alex-
ander Gun's flight into Sutherland he became
greatly alarmed lest Alexander should reveal the
affair of Sanset ; and anticipating such a result,
the carl gave out everywhere that Sir Robert
Gordon, Mackay, and Sir Alexander Gordon,

EUENIXG OF THE COEN AT SAXSET.

135

had hired some of the clan Gun to accuse
him of having burnt William Innes's corn.
But this artifice was of no avail, for as soon as
Lord Forbes received notice from Sir Robert
Gordon of the circumstances related by Alex-
ander Gun, ho immediately cited Jolm Gun
and his brother Alexander, and their accom-
plices, to appear for trial at Edinburgh, on the
2d April, 1616, to answer to the charge of
burning the corn at Sanset ; and he also sum-
moned the Earl of Caithness, as sheriff of that
county, to deliver them up for trial. Jolin
Gun, thinking that the best course he could
pursue under present circumstances was to fol-
low the example of his cousin, Alexander, sent
a message to Sir Alexander Gordon, desiring
an interview with him, which being granted,
they met at Kavidale. John Gun then offered
to reveal everytliing he knew concerning the
fire, on condition that his life should be spared;
but Sir Alexander observed that he could come
under no engagement, as he was uncertain how
the king and the council might view such a
proceeding ; but he promised, that as John had
not been an actor in the business, but a witness
only to the arrangement between his brother
and the Earl of Caithness, he would do what
he could to save him, if he went to Edinburgh
in compliance with the summons.

In this state of matters, the Earl of Caith-
ness wrote to the Marquis of Huntly, accusing
Sir Eobert Gordon and Mackay of a design to
bring him within the reach of the law of trea-
son, and to injure the honour of his house by
slandering him with the burning of the corn at
Sanset. The other party told the marquis that
they could not refuse to assist Lord Forbes in
finding out the persons who had burned the corn
at Sanset, but that they had never imagined
that the earl would have acted so base a part
as to become an accomplice in such a criminal
act ; and farther, that as Mackay's men were
challenged with the deed, they certainly were
entitled at least to clear Mackay's people from
the charge by endeavouring to find out the male-
factors,— in all which they considered they had
done the earl no wrong. The Marquis of
Huntly did not fail to write the Earl of Caith-
ness the answer he had received from Sir Eo-
bert Gordon and Mackay, which grieved him
exceedingly, as he was too well aware of the

consequences which would follow if the prose-
cution of the Guns was persevered in.

At the time appointed for the trial of the
Guns, Sir Eobert Gordon, Mackay, and Lord
Forbes, with all his friends, went to Edin-
burgh, and upon their arrival they entreated
the council to prevent a remission in favour of
the Earl of Caithness from passing the signet
until the affair in hand was tried ; a request
with which the council complied. The Earl
of Caithness did not appear ; but he sent his
son, Lord Berridale, to Edinburgh, along with
John Gun and all those persons who had been
summoned by Lord Forbes, with the exception
of Alexander Gun and his two accomplices.
He alleged as his reason for not sending them
that they were not his men, being Mackay's
own tenants, and dwelling in Dilred, the pro-
perty of Mackay, which was held by him off
the Earl of Sutherland, who, he alleged, was
bound to present the three persons alluded to.
But the lords of the council would not admit
of this excuse, and again required Lord Berri-
dale and his father to present the three culprits
before the court on the 10th June following,
because, although they had possessions in Dil-
rcd, they had also lands from the Earl of Caith-
ness on which they usually resided. Besides,
the deed was committed in Caithness, of which
the earl was sheriff, on which account also he
was bound to apprehend them. Lord Berri-
dale, whose character was quite the reverse of
that of his father, apprehensive of the conse-
quences of a trial, now offered satisfaction in
his father's name to Lord Forbes if he would
stop the prosecution ; but his lordship refused
to do anything without the previous advice and
consent of Sir Eobert Gordon and Mackay, who,
upon being consulted, caused articles of agree-
ment to be drawn up, which were presented
to Lord Berridale by neutral persons for his
acceptance. He, however, considering the con-
ditions sought to be imposed upon his father
too hard, rejected them.

In consequence of the refusal of Lord Berri-
dale to accede to the terms proposed, John Gun
was apprehended by one of the magistrates of
Edinburgh, on the application of Lord Forbes,
and committed a prisoner to the jail of that
city. Gun thereupon requested to see Sir
Eobert Gordon and Mackay, whom he entreated

136

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

to use their influence to procure him his
liberty, promising to declare everything he
knew of the business for which he was
prosecuted before the lords of the council.
Sir Eobcrt Gordon and Mackay then deliber-
ated with Lord Forbes and Lord Elphinston
on the subject, and they all four promised
faithfully to Gun to do everything in their
power to save him, and that they would
thenceforth maintain and defend him and his
cousin, Alexander Gun, against the Earl of
Caithness or any person, as long as they
had reason and equity on their side ; besides
which, Mackay promised him a liferent lease
of the lands in Strathie to compensate for his
possessions in Caithness, of which lie would,
of course, be deprived by the earl for revealing
the Litter's connexion with the fire-raising at
Sansct. John Gun was accordingly examined
the following day by the lords of the council,
when he confessed that the Earl of Caithness
made his brother, Alexander Gun, burn the
com of Sanset, and that the affair had been
proposed and discussed in liis presence. Alex-
ander Gun, the cousin, was examined also at
the same time, and stated the same circum-
stances precisely as John Gun had done.
After examination, John and Alexander were
again committed to prison.

As neither the Earl of Caithness nor his son,
Lord Berridale, complied with the commands
of the council to deliver up Alexander Gun and
his accomplices in the month of June, they
were both outlawed and denounced rebels ; and
were summoned and charged by Lord Forbes to
appear personally at Edinburgh in the month
of July immediately following, to answer to the
charge of causing the corn of Sanset to be burnt.
This fixed determination on the part of Lord
Forbes to bring the earl and his son to trial
had the effect of altering their tone, and they
now earnestly entreated him and Mackay to
agree to a reconciliation on any terms ; but
they declined to enter into any arrangement
until they had consulted Sir Eobert Gordon.
After obtaining Sir Bobert's consent, and a
written statement of the conditions which lie
required from the Earl of Caithness in behalf of
his nephew, the Earl of Sutherland, the parties
entered into a final agreement in the month of
July, 1 GIG. The principal heads of the contract,

which was afterwards recorded in the books of
council and session, were as follows : — That
all civil actions between the parties should bo
settled by the mediation of common friends, —
that the Earl of Caithness and his son should
pay to Lord Forbes and Mackay the sum of
20,000 merks Scots money, — that all quarrels
and criminal actions should be mutually for-
given, and particularly, that the Earl of Caith-
ness and all his friends should forgive and
remit the slaughter at Thurso,- — that the Earl
of Caithness and his son should renounce for
themselves and their heirs all jurisdiction,
criminal or civil, within Sutherland or Sfcrath-
naver, and any other jurisdiction which they
should thereafter happen to acquire over any
lands lying within the diocese of Caithness
then pertaining, or which should afterwards
belong, to the Earl of Sutherland, or his heirs,
— that the Earl of Caithness should deliver
Alexander Gnn and his accomplices to Lord
Forbes, — that the earl, his son, and their heirs,
should never thenceforth contend with the
Earl of Sutherland for precedency in parlia-
ment or priority of place, — that the Earl of
Caithness and his son, their friends and tenants,
should keep the peace in time coming, under
the penalty of great sums of money, and should
never molest nor trouble the tenants of the
Earl of Sutherland and Lord Forbes, — that
the Earl of Caithness, his son, or their friends,
should not receive nor harbour any fugitives
from Sutherland or Strathnaver, — and that
there should be good friendship and amity
kept amongst them in all time to come.

In consequence of this agreement, the two
sons of Kenneth Buy, William and John be-
fore-mentioned, were delivered to Lord Berri-
dale, who gave security for their keeping the
peace; and John Gun and Alexander his
cousin were released, and delivered to Lord
Forbes and Mackay, who gave surety to the
lords of the council to present them for trial
whenever required ; and as the Earl of Caith-
ness had deprived them of their possessions in
Caithness on account of the discovery they had
made, Mackay, who had lately been knighted
by the king, gave them lands in Slrathnaver
as he had promised. Matters being thus set-
tled, Lord Berridalo presented liimself bo-
fore the court at Edinburgh to abide his

LORD BERRIDALE IMPRISONED.

137

trial; but no person of course appearing against
him, the trial was postponed. The Earl of
Caithness, however, failing to appear, tho diet
against him was continued till the 28th of
August following.

Although tho king was well pleased, on ac-
count of tho peace which such an adjustment
would produce in lu's northern dominions, with
the agreement which had been entered into,
and tho proceedings which followed thereon,
all of which were made known to him by the
Privy Council; yet, as the passing over such
a flagrant act as wilful fire-raising, without
punishment, might prove pernicious, ho wrote
a letter to the Privy Council of Scotland,
commanding them to prosecute, with all sever-
ity, those who were guilty of, or accessory to,
tho crime. Lord Berridale was thereupon
apprehended on suspicion, and committed a
prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh ; and his
father, perceiving the determination of the
king to prosecute the authors of the fire, again
declined to appear for trial on the appointed
day, on which account he was again outlawed,
and declared a rebel as the guilty author.

In this extremity Lord Berridale had recourse
to Sir Robert Gordon, then resident at court,
for his aid. He wrote him a letter, entreating
him that, as all controversies were now settled,
lie would, in place of an enemy become a faithful
friend, — that for Ms own part, ho, Lord Berri-
dalo, had been always innocent of the jars and
dissensions which had happened between the
two families, — that he was also innocent of the
crime of which lie was charged, — and that lie
\\Miccl his majesty to be informed by Sir Ro-
of these circumstances, hoping that he
would order him to bo released from confine-
ment. Sir Robert answered, that he had long
desired a perfect agreement between the houses
of Sutherland and Caithness, which lie would
endeavour to maintain during his administra-
tion in Sutherland, — -that ho would intercede
with tlie Icing in behalf of his lordship to the
utmost of his power, — that all disputes being
now at an end, he would be his faithful friend,
— that he had a very different opinion of his
disposition from that he entcil lined of his
father, the c:-.rl ; and he concluded by en treat-
ing him to be careful to preserve the friend .Oiin
which had been now commenced between them.

As the king understood that Lord Berridale
was supposed to be innocent of the crime with
which he and his father stood charged, and as
he could not, without a verdict against Berri-
dale, proceed against tho family of Caithness
by forfeiture, in consequence of his lordship
having been infeft many years before in his
father's estate; his majesty, on tho earnest
entreaty of the then bishop of Ross, Sir Robert
Gordon, and Sir James Spence of Wormistoun,
was pleased to remit and forgive the crime on
the following conditions: — 1st. That tho Earl
of Caithness and his son should give satisfac-
tion to their creditors, who were constantly
annoying his majesty with clamours against
the earl, and craving justice at Ids hands. 2d.
That the Earl of Caithness, with consent of
Lord Berridale, should freely renounce and
resign perpetually, into the hands of liis ma-
jesty, the heritable sheriffship and justiciary of
Caithness. 3d. That the Earl of Caithness
should deliver tho three criminals who had
burnt the corn, that public justice might bo
satisfied upon them, as a terror and example
to others. 4th. That the Earl of Caithness,
with consent of Lord Berridalo, should give
and resign in perpetuum to the bishop of
Caithness, tho house of Strabister, with as
many of the feu lands of that bishopric as
should amount to the yearly value of two
thousand mcrks Scots money, for the purpose
of augmenting the income of the bishop, which
was at tliat time small in consequence of tho
greater part of his lands being in the hands of
the earL Commissioners were sent down
from London to Caithness in October 1 GIG, to
see that these conditions were complied witlu
The second and last conditions were imme-
diately implemented; and as the earl and las
son promised to give satisfaction to their
creditors, and to do everything in their power
to apprehend the burners of the corn, tho lat-
ter was released from tho castle of Edinburgh,
and directions were given for drawing up a
remission and pardon to the Earl of Caithness.
Lord Bemdalc, however, had scarcely been
released from the castle, when he was again
imprisoned within tho jail of Edinburgh, at
the instance of Sir James Home of Cowdrn-
knowcs, his cousin german, who had become
surety for him and his father to their creditors

133

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

for large sums of money. The earl himself
narrowly escaped the fato of his son and retired
io Caithness, but his creditors had sufficient
interest to prevent his remission from passing
till they should be satisfied. "With consent of
the creditors the council of Scotland gave him
a personal protection, from time to time, to
enable him to come to Edinburgh for the pur-
pose of settling with them, but he made no
arrangement, and returned privately into Caith-
ness before the expiration of the supersedere
which had been granted him, leaving his son
to suffer all the miseries of a prison. After
enduring a captivity of five years, Lord Berri-
dale was released from prison by the good
offices of the Earl of Enzie, and put, for behoof
of himself, and his own and his father's credi-
tors, in possession of the family estates from
wliich his father was driven by Sir Eobert
Gordon acting under a royal warrant, a just
punishment for the many enormities of a long
and misspent life. *

Desperate as the fortunes of the Earl of
Caithness were even previous to the disposal
of his estates, he most unexpectedly found an
ally in Sir Donald Mackay, who had taken
offence at Sir Eobert Gordon, and who, being a
man of quick resolution and of an inconstant
disposition, determined to forsake the house of
Sutherland, and to ingratiate himself with the
Earl of Caithness. He alleged various causes
of discontent as a reason for his conduct, one
of the chief being connected with pecuniary
considerations ; for having, as he alleged,
burdened his estates with debts incurred for
some years past in following the house of
Sutherland, he thought that, in time coming, he
might, by procuring the favour of the Earl of
Caithness, turn the same to his own advantage
and that of his countrymen. Moreover, as he
had been induced to his own prejudice to grant
certain life-rent tacks of the lands of Strathio
and Dilred to John and Alexander Gun, and
others of the clan Gun for revealing the affair
of Sanset, he thought that by joining the Earl
of Caithness, these might be destroyed, by
which means he would get back his lands
which he meant to convey to his brother, John
Mackay, as a portion ; and he, moreover,

1 Sir K. Gordon, p. 329, ct scq.

expected that the earl would give him and his
countrymen some possessions in Caithness.
But the chief ground of discontent on the part
of Sir Donald Mackay was an action brought
against him and Lord Forbes before the court
of session, to recover a contract entered into
between the last Earl of Sutherland and Mac-
kay, in the year 1613, relative to their marches
and other matters of controversy, which being
considered by Mackay as prejudicial to him,
he had endeavoured to get destroyed tlirough
the agency of some persons about Lord Forbes,
into whose keeping the deed had been intrusted.

After brooding over these subjects of discon-
tent for some years, Mackay, in the year 1618,
suddenly resolved to break with the house of
Sutherland, and to form an alliance with the
Earl of Caithness, who had long borne a mortal
enmity at that family. Accordingly, Mackay
sent John Sutherland, his cousin-gennan, into
Caithness to request a private conference with
the earl in any part of Caithness he might
appoint. This offer was too tempting to be
rejected by the earl, who expected, by a recon-
ciliation with Sir Donald Mackay, to turn the
same to his own personal gratification and
advantage. In the first place, he hoped to
revenge himself upon the clan Gun, who were
his principal enemies, and upon Sir Donald
himself, by detaching him from his superior,
the Earl of Sutherland, and from the friendship
of his uncles, who had always supported him
in all his difficulties. In the second place, he
expected that, by alienating Mackay from the
duty and affection he owed the house of Suther-
land, that he would weaken his power and
influence. And lastly, ho trusted that Mackay
would not only be prevailed upon to discharge
his own part, but would also persuade Lord
Forbes to discharge his share of the sum of
20,000 merks Scots, which ho and his son,
Lord Berridale, had become bound to pay them,
on account of the burning at Sanset.

The Earl of Caithness having at once agreed
to Mackay's proposal, a meeting was held by
appointment in the neighbourhood of Dunray,
in the parish of Eeay, in Caithness. The
parties met in the night-time, accompanied each
by three men only. After much discussion, and
various conferences, which were continued for
two or three days, they resolved to destroy the

ALLIANCE OF THE EARL OF CAITHNESS WITH SIR DONALD MACKAY. 139

clan Gun, and particularly John Gun, and
Alexander his cousin. To please the carl,
Mackay undertook to despatch these last, as
they were obnoxious to him, on account of the
part they had taken against him, in revealing
the burning at Sanset. They persuaded them-
selves that tho house of Sutherland would
defend the clan, as they were bound to do
by their promise, and that that house would
bo thus drawn into some snare. To confirm
their friendship, the earl and Mackay arranged
that John Mackay, the only brother of Sir
Donald, should marry a niece of tho earl, a
daughter of James Sinclair of Murkle, who
was a mortal enemy of all the clan Gun. Hav-
ing thus planned the line of conduct they were
to follow, they parted, after swearing to con-
tinue in perpetual friendship.

Notwithstanding the private way in which
the meeting was held, accounts of it immedi-
ately spread through the kingdom ; and every
person wondered at the motives which could
induce Sir Donald Mackay to take such a step
80 unadvisedly, without the knowledge of his
uncles, Sir Robert and Sir Alexander Gordon,
or of Lord Forbes. The clan Gun receiving
secret intelligence of tho design upon them,
from different friendly quarters, retired into
Sutherland. The clan were astonished at Mac-
kay's conduct, as he hud promised, at Edin-
burgh, in presence of Lords Forbes and Elph-
ingston and Sir Robert Gordon, in the year
1G1G, to be a perpetual friend to them, and
chiefly to John Gun and to his cousin Alex-
ander.

After Mackay returned from Caithness, he
sent his cousin-german, Angus Mackay of Big-
house, to Sutherland, to acquaint his uncles,
who had received notice of the meeting, that
his object in meeting the Earl of Caithness was
for his own personal benefit, and that nothing
had been done to their prejudice. Angus
Mackay met Sir Eobert Gordon at Dunrobin,
to whom ho delivered his kinsman's message,
which, he said, he hoped Sir Robert would
take in good part, adding that Sir Donald
would show, in presence of both his uncles, that
the clan Gun had failed in duty and fidelity to
Lira and the house of Sutherland, since they had
revealed the burning ; and therefore, that if his
uncles would not forsake John Gun, and some

others of the clan, ho would adhere to them no
longer. Sir Robert Gordon returned a verbal
answer by Angus Mackay, that when Sir
Donald came in person to Dunrobin to clear
himself, as in duty he was bound to do, ho
would then accept of his excuse, and not till
then. And he at the same time wrote a letter
to Sir Donald, to the effect that for his own
(Sir Robert's) part, ho did not much regard
Mackay's secret journey to Caithness, and his
reconciliation with Earl George, without his
knowledge or the advice of Lord Forbes ; and
that, however unfavourable the world might
construe it, he would endeavour to colour it in
the best way he could, for Mackay's own
credit. He desired Mackay to consider that a
man's reputation was exceedingly tender, and
that if it were once blemished, though wrong-
fully, there would still some blot remain, be-
cause the greater part of the world would
always incline to speak the worst ; that what-
ever had been arranged in that journey, between
him and the Earl of Caithness, beneficial to
Mackay and not prejudicial to the house of
Sutherland, he should be always ready to assist
him therein, although concluded without his
consent. As to the clan Gun, he could not
with honesty or credit abandon them, and par-
ticularly John and his cousin Alexander, until
tried and found guilty, as he had promised
faithfully to be their friend, for revealing the
affair of Sanset ; that he had made them this
promise at the earnest desire and entreaty of
Sir Donald himself ; that the house of Suther-
land did always esteem their truth and con-
stancy to be their greatest jewel ; and seeing
that he and his brother, Sir Alexander, were
almost the only branches of it then of ago or
man's estate, they would endeavour to prove
true and constant wheresoever they did possess
friendship ; and that neither the house of
Sutherland, nor any greater house whereof
they had the honour to be descended, should
have the least occasion to be ashamed of them
in that respect ; that if Sir Donald had quar-
relled or challenged the clan Gun, before going
into Caithness and his arrangement with Earl
George, the clan might have been suspected ;
but ho saw no reason to forsake them until
they were found guilty of some great offence.
Sir Robert Gordon, therefore, acting as tutor

140

GENERAL IIISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

for his nephew, took the clan Gun under his
immediate protection, with the exception of
Alexander Gun, the burner of the corn, and
liia accomplices. John Gun thereupon de-
manded a trial before hia friends, that they
might hear what Sir Donald had to lay to his
charge. John and his kinsmen were acquitted,
and declared innocent of any offence, either
against the house of Sutherland or Mackay,
since the fact of the burning.

Sir Donald Mackay, dissatisfied with this
result, went to Edinburgh for the purpose of
obtaining a commission against the clan Gun
from the council, for old crimes committed by
them before his majesty had left Scotland for
England ; but he was successfully opposed in
this by Sir Eobert Gordon, who wrote a letter
to the Lord-Chancellor and to the Earl of
Mclrose, afterwards Earl of Haddington and
Lord Privy Seal, showing that the object of
Sir Donald, in .asking such a commission, was
to break the king's peace, and to breed fresh
troubles in Caithness. Disappointed in tMs
attempt, Sir Donald returned home to Strath-
naver, and, in the month of April, 1618, he
went to Braill, in Caithness, where he met the
earl, with whom he continued three nights.
On this occasion they agreed to despatch Alex-
ander Gun, the burner of the corn, lest Lord
Forbes should request the earl to deliver him
up ; and they hoped that, in consequence of
such an occurrence, the tribe might be ensnared.
Before parting, the earl delivered to Mackay
some old writs of certain lands in Strathnaver
and other places within the diocese of Caith-
ness, which belonged to Sir Donald's prede-
cessors ; by means of which the earl thought
lie would put Sir Donald by the ears with his
uncles, expecting him to bring an action against
the Earl of Sutherland, for the warrandice of
Strathnaver, and thus free himself from the
superiority of the Earl of Sutherland.

Shortly after this meeting was held, Sir
Donald entered Sutherland privately, for the
purpose of capturing John Gun; but, after
lurking two nights in Golspie, watching Gun,
without effect, ho was discovered by Adam
Gordon of Kilcalmkill, a trusty dependant of
the house of Sutherland, and thereupon re-
turned to his country. In the meantime the
Earl of Caithness, who sought every oppor-

tunity to quarrel with the house of Suther-
land, endeavoured to pick a quarrel with Sir
Alexander Gordon about some sheilings which
he alleged the latter's servants had erected
beyond the marches between Torrish, in Strath -
ully, and the lands of Berridale. The dispute,
however, came to nothing.

When Sir Eobert Gordon heard of these
occurrences in the north, he returned home
from Edinburgh, where he had been for some
time; and, on his return, ho visited the Marquis
of Huntly at Strathbogie, who advised him to
be on his guard, as he had received notice from
the Earl of Caithness that Sir Donald meant
to create some disturbances in Sutherland.
The object the earl had in view, in acquaint-
ing the marquis with Mackay's intentions, was
to screen himself from any imputation of being
concerned in Mackay's plans, although he fa-
voured them in secret. As soon as Sir Eobert
Gordon was informed of Mackay's intentions ho
hastened to Sutherland ; but before his arrival
there, Sir Donald had entered Strathully with
a body of men, in quest of Alexander Gun, the
burner, against whom he had obtained letters
of caption. He expected that if he could find
Gun in Strathully, where the clan of that
name chiefly dwelt, they, and particularly
John Gun, would protect Alexander, and that
in consequence ho would ensnare John Gun
and his tribe, and bring them within the reach
of the law, for having resisted the king's
authority ; but Mackay was disappointed in
his expectations, for Alexander Gun escaped,
and none of the clan Gun made the least
movement, not knowing how Sir Eobert Gor-
don was affected towards Alexander Gun.
In entering Strathully, without acquainting
his uncles of his intention, Sir Donald had
acted improperly, and contrary to his duty, as
the vassal of the house of Sutherland : but, not
satisfied with this trespass, ho went to Badin-
loch, and there apprehended William M'Corkill,
one of the clan Gun, and carried him along
with him towards Strathnaver, on the ground
that he had favoured the escape of Alexander
Gun; but M'Corkill escaped while his keepers
were asleep, and went to Dunrobin, where he
met Sir Alexander Gordon, to whom he related
the circumstance.

Hearing that Sir Eobert Gordon was upon

MACKAY AND SIR EGBERT GORDON RECONCILED.

liis journey to Sutherland, Mackay loft Badin-
loch in haste, and wont privately to the parisl:
of Culmaly, taking up his residence in Golspie-
tour with John Gordon, younger of Emho, till
hn should learn in what manner Sir Robert
would act towards him. Mackay, perceiving
that his presence in Golspietour was likely to
lead to a tumult among the people, sent his
men home to Strathnaver, and went himself
the following day, taking only one man along
with him, to Dunrobin castle, where he met
Sir Robert Gordon, who received him kindly
according to his usual manner; and after Sir
Robert had opened his mind very freely to
him on the bad course he was pursuing, ho
began to talk to him about a reconciliation
with John Gun; but Sir Donald would not
hear of any accommodation, and after staying a
few days at Dunrobin, returned home to his
own country.

Sir Donald Maekay, perceiving the danger
in which he had placed himself, and seeing
that he could put no reliance on the hollow
and inconstant friendship of the Earl of Caith-
ness, became desirous of a reconciliation with
his uncles, and with this view he offered
to refer all matters in dispute to the arbitra-
ment of friends, and to make such satisfaction
for his offences as they might enjoin. As Sir
Robert Gordon still had a kindly feeling
towards Mackay, and as the state in which the
n (fairs of the house of Sutherland stood during
the minority of his nephew, the earl, could not
conveniently admit of following out hostile
measures against Mackay, Sir Robert embraced
his offer. The parties, therefore, met at Tain,
and matters being discussed in presence of Sir
Alexander Gordon of Navidale, George Monroe
of Milntoun, and John Monroe of Leamlair,
they adjudged that Sir Donald should send
Angus Mackay of Bighouse, and three gentle-
men of the Slaight-ean-Aberigh, to Dunrobin,
there to remain prisoners during Sir Robert's
plrasuro, as a punishment for apprehending
William M'Corkill at Badinlocb, After set-
tling some other matters of little moment, the
partii's agreed to hold another meeting for
adjusting all remaining questions, at Elgin, in
the month of June of the following year, 1C19.
Sir Donald wished to include Gordon of Emho
and others of his friends in Sutherland in this

arrangement; but as they were vassals of the
house of Sutherland, Sir Robert would not
allow Mackay to treat for them.

In the month of November, 1018, a disturb-
ance took place in consequence of a quarrel
between George, Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzio,
and Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, chief of the clan
Chattan, which arose out of the following cir-
cumstances:— When the earl went into Loch-
abcr, in the year 1613, in pursuit of the clan
Cameron, he requested Macintosh to accom-
pany him, both on account of his being the
vassal of the Marquis of Huntly, the earl's
father, and also on account of the ancient
enmity which had always existed between the
clan Chattan and clan Cameron, in consequence
of the latter keeping forcible possession of cer-
tain lands belonging to the former in Lochaber.
To induce Macintosh to join him, the cavl
promised to dispossess the clan Cameron of
the lands belonging to Macintosh, and to
restore him to the possession of them ; but, by
advice of the laird of Grant, his father-in-law,
who was an enemy of the house of Huntly, ho
declined to accompany the earl in his expedi-
tion. The earl was greatly displeased at Mac-
intosh's refusal, which afterwards led to some
disputes between them. A few years after the
date of this expedition — in which the earl sub-
dued the clan Cameron, and took their chief
prisoner, whom he imprisoned at Inverness in
the year 1614 — Macintosh obtained a commis-
sion against Macronald, younger of Keppoch,
and Ms brother, Donald Glass, for laying waste-
his lands in Lochaber; and, having collected
all his friends, he entered Loehaber for the
purpose of apprehending them, but, being un-
successful in his attempt, he returned home.
As Macintosh conceived that he had a right to
the services of all liis clan, some of whom
were tenants and dependants of the Marquis
of Huntly, he ordered these to follow liim, and
compelled such of them as were refractory to
accompany him into Lochaber. This proceed-
ing gave offence to the Earl of Enzie, who
summoned Macintosh before the lords of the
Privy Council for having, as he asserted, ex-
ceeded his commission. He, moreover, got
Macintosh's commission recalled, and obtained
a new commission in his own favour from the
lords of the council, under which he invadej

142

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Lochaber, and expelled Macronald and his
brother Donald from that country.

As Macintosh held certain lands from the
earl and his father for services to he done,
which the earl alleged had not been performed
by Macintosh agreeably to the tenor of his
titles, the earl brought an action against Mac-
intosh in the year 1618 for evicting these
lands, on the ground of liis not having imple-
mented the conditions on which he held them.
And, as the earl had a right to the tithes of
Culloden, wliich belonged to Macintosh, he
served him, at the same time, with an inhibition,
prohibiting him to dispose of these tithes. As
the time for titliing drew near, Macintosh, by
advice of the clan Kenzie and the Grants,
circulated a report that he intended to oppose
the earl in any attempt he might make to take
possession of the tithes of Culloden in kind,
because such a practice had never before been
in use, and that he would try the issue of an
action of spuilzie, if brought against him.
Although the earl was much incensed at such
a threat on the part of his own vassal, yet,
being a privy counsellor, and desirous of
showing a good example in keeping the peace,
ho abstained from enforcing his right; but,
having formerly obtained a decree against Mac-
intosh for the value of the tithes of the pre-
ceding years, he sent two messengers-at-arms
to poind and distrain the crops upon the
ground under that warrant. The messengers
were, however, resisted by Macintosh's servants,
and forced to desist from the execution of their
duty. The earl, in consequence, pursued Mac-
intosh and his servants before the Privy
Council, and got them denounced and pro-
claimed rebels to the king. He, thereupon,
collected a number of his particular friends
with the design of carrying his decree into
execution, by distraining the crop at Cullodon
and carrying it to Inverness. Macintosh pre-
pared himself to resist, by fortifying the house
of Culloden and laying hi a large quantity of
ammunition; and having collected all the corn
within shot of the castle and committed the
charge of it to his two uncles, Duncan and
Lauchlan, he waited for the approach of the
earL As the earl was fully aware of Mac-
intosh's preparations, and that the clan Chattan,
the Grants, and the clan Kenzie, had promised

to assist Macintosh in opposing the execution
of his warrant, he wrote to Sir Robert Gordon,
tutor of Sutherland, to meet him at Culloden
on the 5th of November, 1618, being the day
fixed by him for enforcing his decree. On
receipt of this letter, Sir Robert Gordon left
Sutherland for Bog-a-Gight, where the Marquis
of Huntly and his son then were, and on his
way paid a visit to Macintosh with the view
of bringing about a compromise; but Macintosh,
who was a young man of a headstrong disposi-
tion, refused to listen to any proposals, and
rode post-haste to Edinburgh, from wliich ha
went privately into England.

In the meantime, the Earl of Enzie having
collected his friends, to the number of 1,100
horsemen well appointed and armed, and
600 Highlanders on foot, came to Inver-
ness with this force on the day appointed,
and, after consulting his principal officers,
marched forwards towards Culloden. When
ho arrived within view of the castle, the earl
sent Sir Robert Gordon to Duncan Macintosh,
who, with his brother, commanded the house,
to inform him that, in consequence of his
nephew's extraordinary boasting, he had come
thither to put his majesty's laws in execution,
and to carry off the corn which of right be-
longed to him. To this message Duncan re-
plied, that he did not mean to prevent the earl
from taking away what belonged to him, but
that, in case of attack, he would defend the
castle which had been committed to his charge.
Sir Robert, on his return, begged the earl to
send Lord Lovat, who had some influence with
Duncan Macintosh, to endeavour to prevail on
him to surrender the castle. At the desire of
the earl, Lord Lovat accordingly went to the
house of Culloden, accompanied by Sir Robert
Gordon and George Monroe of Milntoun, and,
after some entreaty, Macintosh agreed to sur-
render at discretion; a party thereupon took
possession of the house, and sent the keys to
the earl. He was, however, so well pleased
with the conduct of Macintosh, that he sent
back the keys to him, and as neither the clan
Chattan, the Grants, nor the clan Kenzie,
appeared to oppose him, ho disbanded his
party and returned home to Bog-a-Gight.
He did not even carry off the corn, but gave
it to Macintosh's grandmother, who enjoyed

SLAUGHTER OF THOMAS LINDSAY

113

the life-rent of the lands of Cullodcn as her
jointure.

As the Earl of Enzie had other claims against
Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, he cited him before
the lords of council and session, but failing to
appear, he was again denounced rebel, and
outlawed for his disobedience. Sir Lauchlan,
who was then in England at court, informed
the king of the earl's proceedings, which he
described as harsh and illegal, and, to counteract
the effect which such a statement might have
upon the mind of his majesty, the earl posted
to London and laid before him a true statement
of matters. The consequence was, that Sir
Lauchlan was sent home to Scotland and com-
mitted to the castle of Edinburgh, until he
should give the earl full satisfaction. This
step appears to have brought him to reason,
and induced him to apply, through the media-
tion of some friends, for a reconciliation with
the earl, which took place accordingly, at
Edinburgh, in the year 1G19. Sir Lauchlan,
however, became bound to pay a large sum of
money to the earl, part of which tlifi latter
afterwards remitted. The laird of Grant, by
whoso advice Macintosh had acted in opposing
the earl, also submitted to the latter; but the
reconciliation was more nominal than real,
for the earl was afterwards obliged to protect
the chief of the clan Cameron against them,
and this circumstance gave rise to many dis-
sensions between them and the earl, which
ended only witli the lives of Macintosh and
the laird of Grant, who both, died in the year
1G22, when the ward of part of Macintosh's
lands fell to the carl, as his superior, during
the minority of his son. The Earl of Seaforth
and his clan, who had also favoured the de-
signs of Macintosh, were in like manner recon-
ciled, at the same time, to the Earl of Enzie,
at Aberdeen, through the mediation of the
Earl of Dunfermline, the Chancellor of Scot-
land, whoso daughter the Earl of Seaforth had
married.2

In no part of the Highlands did the spirit
of faction operate so powerfully, or reign with
greater virulence, than in Sutherland and
Caithness and the adjacent country. The
jealousies and strifes which existed for such a

1 Sir liobort Gordon, p. 350, et SCTJ.

length of time between the two great rival
families of Sutherland and Caithness, and the
warfare which these occasioned, sowed the
seeds of a deep-rooted hostility, which extended
its baneful influence among all their followers,
dependants, and friends, and retarded their
advancement. The most trivial offences were
often magnified into the greatest crimes, and
bodies of men, animated by the deadliest
hatred, were instantly congregated to avenge
imaginary wrongs. It would be almost an
endless task to relate the many disputes and
differences which occurred during the seven-
teenth century in these distracted districts;
but as a short account of the principal events
is necessary in a work of this nature, we again
proceed agreeably to our plan.

The resignation which the Earl of Caithness
was compelled to make of part of the feu lands
of the bishopric of Caithness, into the hands of
the bishop, as before related, was a measure
which preyed upon his mind, naturally restless
and vindictive, and in consequence he con-
tinually annoyed the bishop's servants and
tenants. His hatred was more especially
directed against Robert Monroe of Aldie, com-
missary of Caithness, who always acted as
chamberlain to the bishop, and factor in the
diocese, whom he took every opportunity to
molest. The earl had a domestic servant,
James Sinclair of Dyren, who had possessed
part of the lands which he had been compelled
to resign, and which were now tenanted by
Thomas Lindsay, brother-uterine of Robert
Monroe, the commissary. This James Sinclair,
at the instigation of the earl, quarrelled with
Thomas Lindsay, who was passing at the time
near the earl's house in Thurso, and, after
changing some hard words, Sinclair inflicted a
deadly wound upon him, of which he shortly
thereafter died. Sinclair immediately fled to
Edinburgh, and thence to London, to meet
Sir Andrew Sinclair, who was transacting
some business for the king of Denmark there,
that he might intercede with the king for a
pardon ; but his majesty refused to grant it,
and Sinclair, for better security, went to Den-
mark along with Sir Andrew.

As Robert Monroe did not consider his per-
son safe in Caithness under such circumstances,
he retired into Sutherland fur a time. He then

144

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

pursued James Sinclair and his master, the
Earl of Caithness, for the slaughter of his
brother, Thomas Lindsay ; hut, not appearing
for trial on the day appointed, they were both
outlawed, and denounced rebels. Hearing that
Sinclair was in London, Monroe hastened
thither, and in his own name and that of the
bishop of Caithness, laid a complaint before his
majesty agaii.st the earl and his servant. His
majesty thereupon wrote to the Lords of the
Privy Council of Scotland, desiring them to
adopt the most speedy and rigorous measures
to suppress the oppressions of the earl, that his
subjects in the north who were well affected
might live in safety and peace ; and to enable
them the more effectually to punish the earl,
his majesty ordered them to keep back the
remission that had been granted for the affair
at Sansct, which had not yet been delivered to
him. His majesty also directed the Privy
Council, with all secrecy and speed, to give a
commission to Sir Robert Gordon to apprehend
the earl, or force him to leave the kingdom, and
to take possession of all his castles for his
majesty's behoof; that he should also compel
the lauded proprietors of Caithness to find
surely, not only for keeping the king's peace
in time coming, but also for their personal
appearance at Edinburgh twice every year, as
the West Islanders were bound to do, to
answer to such complaints as might bo made
against them. The letter containing these in-
structions is dated from Windsor, 25th May,
1621.

The Privy Council, on receipt of this letter,
communicated the same to Sir Robert Gordon,
who was then in Edinburgh ; but he excused
himself from accepting the commission offered
him, lest his acceptance might be construed as
proceeding from spleen and malice against the
Earl of Caithness. This answer, however, did
not satisfy the Privy Council, which insisted
that ho should accept the commission ; he
eventually did so, but on condition that the
council should furnish him with shipping and
the munitions of war, and all other necessaries
to force the earl to yield, in case he should
fortify either Castlo Sinclair or Ackergill, and
withstand a siege.

While the Privy Council were deliberating
on this matter, Sir Robert Gordon took occa-

sion to speak to Lord Berridale, who was still
a prisoner for debt in the jail of Edinburgh,
respecting the contemplated measures against
the earl, his father. As Sir Robert was still
very unwilling to enter upon such an enter-
prise, he advised his lordship to undertake
the business, by engaging in which he might
not only get himself relieved of the claims
against him, save his country from the dangers
which threatened it, but also keep possession of
his castles ; and that as his father had treated
him in the most unnatural manner, by suffering
him to remain so long in prison without taking
any steps to obtain his liberation, ho would bo
justified, in the eyes of the world, in accepting
the offer now made. Being encouraged by
Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzic, to whom Sir
Robert Gordon's proposal had been communi-
cated, to embrace the offer, Lord Berridalo
offered to undertake the service without any
charge to his majesty, and that he would,
before being liberated, give security to his
creditors, cither to return to prison after he
had executed the commission, or satisfy them
for their claims against him. The Privy Coun-
cil embraced at once Lord Berridale's proposal,
but, although the Earl of Enzie offered himself
as surety for his lordship's return to prison after
the service was over, the creditors refused to
consent to his liberation, anrl thus the matter
dropped. Sir Robert Gordon was again urged
by the council to accept the commission, and
to make the matter more palatable to him, they
granted the commission to him and the Earl
of Enzio jointly, both of whom accepted it.
As the council, however, had no command from
the king to supply the commissioners with
shipping and warlike stores, they delayed pro-
ceedings till they should receive instructions
from liis majesty touching that point.

When the Earl of Caithness was informed of
the proceedings contemplated against him, and
that Sir Robert Gordon had been employed by a
commission from his majesty to act in the mat-
ter, ho wrote to the Lords of the Privy Council,
asserting that he was innocent of the death of
Thomas Lindsay ; that his reason for not ap-
pearing at Edinburgh to abide his trial for that
crime, was not that ho had been in any shape
privy to the slaughter, but for fear of ln's
creditors, who, he was afraid, would apprehend

LORD BERRIDALE AND HIS CREDITORS.

145

and imprison luin ; and promising, that if his
majesty would grant him a protection and safe-
comluct, ho would find security to abide trial
for the slaughter of Thomas Lindsay. On
receipt of this letter, the lords of the council
promised him a protection, and in the month
of August, his brother, James Sinclair of
Murklo, and Sir John Sinclair of Greenland,
became sureties for his appearance at Edin-
burgh, at the time prescribed for his appear-
ance to stand trial. Thus the execution of the
commission was in the meantime delayed.

Notwithstanding the refusal of Lord Berri-
dale's creditors to consent to his liberation,
Lord Gordon afterwards did all in his power
to accomplish it, and ultimately succeeded in
obtaining this consent, by giving his own
personal security either to satisfy the creditors,
or deliver up Lord Borridale into their hands.
His lordship was accordingly released from
prison, and returned to Caithness in the year
1G21, after a confinement of five years. As
his final cidargemcnt from jail depended upon
his obtaining the means of paying his creditors,
and as his father, the earl, staid at homo con-
suming the rents of his estates, in rioting and
licentiousness, without paying any part either
of the principal or interest of his debts, and
without feeling the least uneasiness at his son's
confinement, Lord Berridale, immediately on
his return, assisted by his friends, attempted
to apprehend his father, so as to get the family
estates into his own possession ; but without
success.

In the meantime the carl's creditors, wearied
out with the delay which had taken place
in liquidating their debts, grew exceedingly
clamorous, and some of them took a journey to
Caithness in the month of April, 1622, to
endeavour to effect a settlement with the carl
personally. All, however, that they obtained
wi-rii fair words, and a promise from the earl
that lie would speedily follow them to Edin-
burgh, and satisfy them of all demands; but
he failed to perform his promise. About this
time, a sort of reconciliation appears to have
taken place between the earl and his son, Lord
Berridale; but it was of short duration. On
this new disagreement breaking out, the earl
lost the favour and friendship not only of his
brothers, James and Sir John, but also that of

his best friends in Caithness. Lord Berridale,
thereupon, left Caithness and took up liis
residence with Lord Gordon, who wrote to his
friends at Court to obtain a new commission
against the carl. As the king was daily troubled
with complaints against the earl by his creditors,
he readily consented to such a request, and ho
accordingly wrote a letter to the Lords of tho
Privy Council of Scotland, in tho month of
December 1622, desiring them to issue a com-
mission to Lord Gordon to proceed against tho
carl. The execution of the commission was,
however, postponed in consequence of a message
to Lord Gordon to attend the Court and pro-
ceed to France on some affairs of state, whoro
ho accordingly went in the j-car 1C 23. On
tho departure of his lordship, the earl mado
an application to the Lords of tha Council for
a new protection, promising to appear at Edin-
burgh on tho 10th of August of this year, and
to satisfy his creditors. This turned out to bo
a mere pretence to obtain delay, for although
the council granted tho protection, as required,
upon tho most urgent solicitations, the earl
failed to appear on tho day appointed. This
breach of his engagement incensed his majesty
and the council tho more against Mm, and made
them more determined than ever to reduce him
to obedience, llo was again denounced and
proclaimed rebel, and a new commission was
granted to Sir Robert Gordon to proceed against
him and his abettors with fire and sword. In
this commission there were conjoined with Sir
Robert, his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon,
Sir Donald Mackay, his nephew, and James
Sinclair of Murlde, but on this condition, that
Sir Robert should act as chief commissioner,
and that nothing should be done by the other
commissioners in tho service they wore employed
in, without his advice and consent.

The Earl of Caithness seeing now no longer
any chance of evading the authority of tho
laws, prepared to meet tho gathering storm by
fortifying his castles and strongholds. Pro-
clamations were issued interdicting all persons
from having any communication with the earl,
and letters of concurrence were given to Sir
Robert in name of his majesty, charging and
commanding tho inhabitants of Ross, Suther-
land, Stralhnavcr, Caithness, and Orkney, to
assist liim in the execution of his majesty's

140

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

commission ; a ship well furnished with muni-
tions of war, was sent to the coast of Caithness
to prevent the earl's escape by sea, and to
furnish Sir Robert with ordnance for battering
the earl's castles in case he should withstand
a siege.

Sir Robert Gordon having arrived in Suther-
land in the month of August, 1623, was
immediately joined by Lord Berridale for the
purpose of consulting ou the plan of operations
to be adopted ; but, before fixing on any par-
ticular plan, it was concerted that Lord Bern-
dale should first proceed to Caithness to learn
what resolution his father had come to, and to
ascertain how the inhabitants of that country
stood affected towards the earl. He was also
to notify to Sir Robert the arrival of the ship
of war on the coast. A day was, at the same
time, fixed for the inhabitants of the adjoin-
ing districts to meet Sir Robert Gordon in
Strathully, upon the borders between Suther-
land and Caitliucss. Lord Bcrridalo was not
long in Caithness when lie sent notice to Sir
Robert acquainting him that his father, the
earl, had resolved to stand out to the last
extremity, and that he had fortified the strong
castle of Ackergill, which he had supplied with
men, ammunition, and provisions, and upon
holding out which he placed Ms last and only
hope. He advised Sir Robert to bring with
him into Caithness as many men as he could
muster, as many of the inhabitants stood still
well affected to the earl.

The Earl of Caithness, in the meantime,
justly apprehensive of the consequences which
might ensue if unsuccessful in his opposition,
despatched a messenger to Sir Robert Gordon,
proposing that some gentlemen should be
authorized to negotiate between them, for the
purpose of bringing matters to an amicable
accommodation. Sir Robert, who perceived
the drift of this message, which was solely to
obtain delay, returned for answer that he was
exceedingly sorry that the earl had refused the
benefit of his last protection for clearing away
the imputations laid to his charge ; and that
he clearly perceived that the earl's object in
proposing a negotiation was solely to waste
time, and to weary out the commissioners
and army by delays, which he, for his own
part, would not submit to, because the harvest

was nearly at hand, and the king's ship could
not be detained upon the coast idle. Unless,
therefore, the earl at once submitted himself
unconditionally to the king's mercy, Sir Robert
threatened to proceed against him and his
supporters immediately. The earl had been
hitherto so successful in his different schemes
to avoid the ends of justice that such an answer
was by no means expected, and the firmness
displayed in it served greatly to shake his
courage.

Upon receipt of the intelligence from. Lord
Berridale, Sir Robert Gordon rrade prepara-
tions for entering Caithness without delay;
and, as a precautionary measure, he took
pledges from such of the tribes and families in
Caitliness as he suspected were favourable to
the earl. Before all his forces had time to
assemble, Sir Robert received notice that tho
war ship had arrived upon the Caitlmess coast,
and that the earl was meditating an escape be-
yond the seas. Unwilling to withdraw men
from the adjoining provinces during the harvest
season, and considering the Sutherland forces
quite sufficient for his purpose, he sent couriers
into Ross, Strathnaver, Assynt, and Orkney,
desiring the people who had been engaged to
accompany the expedition to remain at homo
till farther notice ; and, having assembled all
the inhabitants of Sutherland, he picked out
the most active and resolute men among them,
whom he caused to be well supplied with war-
like weapons, and other necessaries, for the
expedition. Having thus equipped his army,
Sir Robert, accompanied by his brother, Sir
Alexander Gordon, and the principal gentle-
men of Sutherland, marched, on the 3d of
September, 1623, from Dunrobin to Killiernan
in Strathully, tho place of rendezvous previ-
ously appointed. Here Sir Robert divided his
forces into companies, over each of which he
placed a commander. The following morning
he passed the river Ilelmsdalc, and arranged
liis army in the following order : — Half-a-mile
in advance of the main body he placed a com
pany of the clan Gun, whose duty it was to
search the fields as they advanced for the pur-
pose of discovering any ambuscades wliich
might be laid in their way, and to clear away
any obstruction to the regular advance of tho
main body. The right wing of the army was

EKDUCTION AND PACIFICATION OF CAITHNESS.

147

led by John Murray of Aberscors, Hugh Gor-
don of Ballellon, and Adam Gordon of Kil-
raliiikilL The left wing was commanded by
John Gordon, younger of Embo, Robert Gray
of Ospisdale, and Alexander Sutherland of
Kilphiddcr. And Sir Robert Gordon himself,
his brother Sir Alexander, the laird of Pul-
rossie, and William Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of
Killieman, led tlie centre. The two wings
were always kept a short distance in advance
of the centre, from which they were to
receive support when required. In this man-
ner the army advanced towards Berridale, and
they observed the same order of marching dur-
ing all the time they remained in Caithness.

As soon as Lord Berridale heard of Sir
Robert Gordon's advance, he and James Sin-
clair of Murkle, one of the commissioners, and
some other gentlemen, went forward in haste
to meet him. The parties accordingly met
among the mountains above Cayen, about three
miles from Berridale. Sir Robert continued
his march till he arrived at Brea-Na-Hcnglish
in Berridale, where at night he encamped.
Here they were informed that the ship of war,
after casting anchor before Castle Sinclair, had
gone from thence to Scrabster road, and that
the Earl of Caithness had abandoned the
country, and sailed by night into one of the
Orkney Islands, with the intention of going
thence into Norway or Denmark. From Brea-
Na-Henglish the army advanced to Lathron,
where they encamped. Here James Sinclair
of Murkle, sheriff of Caithness, Sir William
Sinclair of May, the laird of Ratter, the laird
of Forse, and several other gentlemen of Caith-
ness, waited upon Sir Robert Gordon and
tendered their submission and obedience to his
majesty, offering, at the same time, every
assistance they could afford in forwarding the
objects of the expedition. Sir Robert received
them kindly, and promised to acquaint his
majesty with their submission ; but ho dis-
trusted some of them, and he gave orders that
none of the Caithness people should be allowed
to enter his camp after sunset. At Lathron,
Sir Robert was joined by about 300 of the
Caithness men, consisting of the Cadels and
others who had favoured Lord Berridale.
These men wore commanded by James Sinclair,
fur cf Murkle, and were kept always a mile or

two in advance of the army till they reached
Castle Sinclair.

No sooner did Sir Robert arrive before Castle
Sinclair, which was a very strong place, and
the principal residence of the Earl of Caith-
ness, than it surrendered, the keys being de-
livered up to him as representing his majesty.
The army encamped before the castle two
nights, during which time the officers took up
their quarters within the castle, which was
guarded by Sutherland men.

From Castle Sinclair Sir Robert marched to
the castle of Ackergill, another strong place,
which also surrendered on the first summons,
and the keys of which were delivered in like
manner to him. The army next marched in
battle array to the castle of Kease, the last resi-
dence of the earl, which was also given up with-
out resistance. The Countess of Caithness had
previously removed to another residence not far
distant, where she was visited by Sir Robert
Gordon, who was her cousin-german. The
countess entreated him, with great earnestness,
to get her husband again restored to favour,
seeing lie had made no resistance to him. Sir
Robert promised to do what he could if tho
earl would follow liis advice ; but he did not
expect that matters could be accommodated so
speedily as she expected, from the peculiar
situation in which the earl then stood.

From Kease Sir Robert Gordon returned
with his army to Castle Sinclair, where, accord-
ing to the directions he had received from the
Privy Council, he delivered tho keys of all
these castles and forts to Lord Berridale, to bo
kept by him for his majesty's use, for which ho
should be answerable to the lords of the coun-
cil until the farther plcasiire of his majesty
should be known.

The army then returned to Wick in the same
marcliing order which had been observed since
its first entry into Caithness, at which place
tho commissioners consulted together, and
framed a set of instructions to Lord Berridalo
for governing Caithness peaceably in time com-
ing, conformably to the laws of the kingdom,
and for preventing the Earl of Caithness from
again disturbing the country, should he venture
to return after the departure of the army. At
Wick Sir Robert Gordon was joined by Sir
Donald Mackay, who had collected together

148

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the choicest men of Stratlmaver ; but, as the
object of the expedition had been accomplished,
Sir Donald, after receiving Sir Robert's thanks,
returned to Stratlmaver. Sir Robert having
brought this expedition to a successful termina-
tion, led back his men into Sutherland, and,
after a stay of three months, went to England,
carrying with him a letter from the Privy
Council of Scotland to the king, giving an
account of the expedition, and of its happy
results.3

CHAPTER XI.
A. D. 1624-1636.

muTisn SOVEREIGNS : —
James VI., 1003—1625. Charles I., 1625— 1049.

Insurrection of the clan Chattan against the Earl of
Jinn-ay — Dispute hctwccn the laird of DufTiis and
Gordon, younger of Embo— Sir Donald JIackay's
machinations — Feud among the Grants — Dispute
between the lairds of Frendraught and Rothiemay —
Quarrel between Frendraught and the laird of Pit-
caple — Calamitous and fatal fire at Frendraught
House — Inquiry as to the causa of the fire — Escape
of James Grant — Apprehension of Grant of Ballin-
dalloch — And of Thomas Grant — Dispute between
the Earl of Sutherland and Lord Lorn — Depreda-
tions committed upon Frendraught — Marquis of
Huntly accused therewith — The Marquis and Let-
terfourie committed — Liberated — Death and char-
acter of the Marquis.

THE troubles in Sutherland and Caithness had
been scarcely allayed, when a formidable in-
surrection broke out on the part of the clan
Chattan against the Earl of Murray, which
occasioned considerable uproar and confusion
in the Highlands. The clan Chattan had for
a very long period been the faithful friends
and followers of the Earls of Murray, who,
on that account, had allotted them many
valuable lands in recompense for their ser-
vices in Pettie and Strathearn. The clan had,
in particular, been very active in revenging
upon the Marquis of Huntly the death of
James, Earl of Murray, who was killed at
Donnibristle; but his son and successor being
reconciled to the family of Huntly, and need-
ing no longer, as he thought, the aid of the
clan, dispossessed them of the lands which his
predecessors had bestowed upon them. This
harsh proceeding occasioned great irritation,

3 Sir Robert Gordon, p. 366, et sej.

and, upon the death of Sir Lauchlan their
cliief, who died a short time before Whitsun-
day, 1624, they resolved either to recover the
possessions of which they had been deprived,
or to lay them waste. While Sir Lauchlan
lived, the clan were awed by his authority and
prevented from such an attempt, but no such
impediment now standing in their way, and as
their chief, who was a mere child, could run
no risk by the enterprise, they considered tho
present a favourable opportunity for carrying
their plan into execution.

Accordingly, a gathering of the clan, to tho
number of about 200 gentlemen and 300 ser-
vants, took place about Whitsunday, 1G24.
This party was commanded by three uncles of
the late chief.4 " They keeped the feilds,"
says Spalding, " in their Highland weid upon
foot with swords, bowes, arrowes, targets, hag-
bnttis, pistollis, and other Highland armour;
and first began to rob and spoulzie tho carle's
tcnnents, who laboured their possessions, of
their haill goods, geir, insight, plenishing,
horse, nolt, sheep, corns, and cattell, and left
them nothing that they could gett within their
bounds; syne fell in sorning throw out Murray,
Strathawick, Urquhart, Ross, Sutherland, Brao
of Marr, and diverse other parts, takeing their
meat and food per force wher they could not
gett it willingly, frae freinds alseweill as frao
their faes; yet still keeped themselves from
shcdeing of innocent blood. Thus they lived
as outlawes, oppressing the countrie, (bosydes
the casting of the earlo's lands waist), and
openly avowed they had tane this course to gett
thir own possessions again, or then hold tho
country walking."

When this rising took place, the Earl of
Murray obtained from Monteith and Balquhid-
der about 300 armed men, and placing himself
at their head he marched through Moray to In-
verness. Tho earl took up his residence in
the castle with the Earl of Enzie, his brother-
in-law, eldest son of the Marquis of Huntly,
and after the party had passed one night at
Inverness, ho despatched them in quest of tho

4 Spalding says that the party were commanded by
Lauchlan Macintosh, alias Lauchlan Og, uncle of the
young chief, and Lauchlan Macintosh or Lauchlau
Angus-son, eldest son of Angus Macintosh, alias
Angus William, son of Auld Tirlie. — Meniorialls of
Hie Trulilcs in Scotland and in England, A. D. 1624 —
1645.

INSURRECTION OF THE CLAN CIIATTAN QUELLED.

clan Chattan, but whether from fear of meet-
ing them, or because they could not find them,
certain it is that the Monteith and Balquhidder
men returned without effecting anything, after
putting the earl to groat expense. The earl,
thiTi'l'inv, sriit Ihrin back to their respective
countries, and went himself to Elgin, where he
1 another body of men to suppress the
clan Chattan, who were equally unsuccessful in
iinding the latter out.

These ineffectual attempts against the clan
served to make them more bold and dar-
ing in their outrages; and as the earl now saw
that no force which he could himself bring
into the field was sufficient to overawe these
marauders, King James, at his earnest solici-
1, 'it ion, granted him a commission, appointing
him his lieutenant in the Highlands, and giv-
ing him authority to proceed capitally against
the offenders. On his return the earl pro-
claimed the commission he had obtained from
his majesty, and issued letters of intercom-
muning against the clan Chattan, prohibiting
all persons from harbouring, supplying, or en-
tertaining them, in any manner of way, under
certain severe pains and penalties. Although
the Marquis of Huntly was the earl's father-in-
law, he felt somewhat indignant at the appoint-
ment, as he conceived that ho or his son had
the best title to be appointed to the lieutenancy
of the north; but he concealed his displeasure.

After the Earl of Murray had issued the
notices, prohibiting all persons from communi-
cating with, or assisting the clan Chattan, their
kindred and friends, who had privately pro-
mised them aid, before they broke out, began
to grow cold, and declined to assist them, as
they were apprehensive of losing their estates,
many of them being wealthy. The earl per-
ceiving this, opened a communication with
some of the principal persons of the clan, to
induce them to submit to his authority, who,
seeing no hopes of making any longer an effec-
tual resistance, readily acquiesced, and, by the
intercession of friends, made their peace with
the earl, on condition that they should inform
him of the names of such persons as had given
them protection, after the publication of his
letters of interdiction. Having thus quelled
tin's formidable insurrection without bloodshed,
tho earl, by virtue of his commission, held

justice courts at Elgin, where " some slight
louns, followers of the clan Chattan," were
tried and executed, but all the principals con-
cerned were pardoned.

As the account which Spalding gives of the
appearance of the accused, and of the base
conduct of the principal men of the clan
Chattan, in informing against their friends and
benefactors, is both curious and graphic, it is
hero inserted: "Then presently was brought
in befor the barr; and in the honest men's
faces, the clan Chattan who had gotten supply,
verified what they had gotten, and the honest
men confounded and dasht, knew not what to
answer, was forced to come in the earle's will,
whilk was not for their weill : others compearcd
and willingly confessed, trusting to gett more
favour at the earle's hands, but they came little
speid: and lastly, some stood out and denyed
all, who was reserved to the triall of an assyse.
The principall malefactors stood up in judg-
ment, and declared what they had gotten,
whether meat, money, cloathing, gun, ball,
powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the like com-
modities, and also instructed the assyse in ilk
particular, what they had gotten frae the per-
sons pannalled; an uncouth form of probation,
wher the principall malefactor proves against
the receiptor for his own pardon, and honest
men, perhaps neither of the clan Chattan's
kyne nor blood, punished for their good will,
ignorant of the laws, and rather receipting
them more for their evil nor their good.
Nevertheless thir innocent men, under collour
of justice, part and part as they came in, were
soundly fyned in great soumes as their estates
might bear, and some above their estate was
fyned, and every one warded within the tolbuith
of Elgine, while the least myte was payed of
such as was persued in anno 1624."5

Some idea of the unequal administration of
the laws at this time may be formed, when it
is considered that the enormous fines imposed
in the present instance, went into the pockets
of the chief judge, the Earl of Murray himself,
as similar mulcts had previously gone into
those of the Earl of Argyle, in his crusade
against the unfortunate clan Cregor! This
legal robbery, however, docs not appear to have

• Memorialised, i. p. 8.

150

GENERAL IIISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

enriched the houses of Argyle and Murray, for
Sir Eobert Gordon observes, that " these fynes
did not much advantage either of these two
earles." The Earl of Murray, no doubt, think-
ing such a mode of raising money an easy and
profitable speculation, afterwards obtained an
enlargement of his commission from Charles I.,
not only against the clan Chattan, but also
against all other offenders within several adja-
cent shires; but the commission was afterwards
annulled by his majesty, not so much on
account of the abuses and injustice which
might have been perpetrated under it, but
because, as Sir Eobert Gordon observes, "it
grieved divers of his majesty's best affected
subjects, and chieflie the Marquis of Huntlio,
unto whose predicessors onlie the office of
livetcnnendrie in the nortli of Scotland had
bein granted by former kings, for these many
ages."

There seems reason, however, for supposing
that the recall of the commission was hastened
by complaints to the king, on the part of the
oppressed; for the earl had no sooner obtained
its renewal, than he held a court against the
burgh of Inverness, John Grant of Glenmoris-
ton, and others who had refused to acknowledge
their connexion with the clan Chattan, or to
pay him the heavy fines which he had imposed
upon them. The town of Inverness endea-
voured to get quit of the earl's extortions, on
the ground that the inhabitants were innocent
of the crimes laid to their charge; but the earl
frustrated their application to the Privy Coun-
cil. The provost, Duncan Forbes,0 was then
sent to the king, and Grant of Glenmoriston
took a journey to London, at the same time,
on his own account; but their endeavours
proved ineffectual, and they had no alternative
but to submit to the earl's exactions.7

The quarrel between the laird of Duffus and
John Gordon, younger of Embo, which had
lain dormant for some time, burst forth again,
in the year 1625, and proved nearly fatal to
both parties. Gordon had long watched an
opportunity to revenge the wrong which he
conceived had been done him by the laird

6 Founder of the house of Culloden, and great-
grandfather of the celebrated Lord President Forbes.

7 Vide the petition of Provost Forbes to the king,
"in the name of the inhabitants" of Inverness;
priiitoi among the Culloden Papers, No. 5, p. 4.

of Duffus and his brother, James, but he could
never fall in with either of them, as they
remained in Moray, and, when they appeared
in Sutherland, they were always accompanied
by some friends, so that Gordon was prevented
from attacking them. Frequent disappoint-
ments in this way only whetted his appetite
for revenge ; and meeting, when on horseback,
one day, between Sidderay and Skibo, witli
John Sutherland of Clyne, third brother of
the laird of Duffus, who was also on horseback,
he determined to make the laird of Clyne suffer
for the delinquencies of his elder brother.
Eaising, therefore, a cudgel which he held in
his hand, he inflicted several blows upon John
Sutherland, who, as soon as he recovered him-
self from the surprise and confusion into which
such an unexpected attack had thrown him,
drew his sword. Gordon, in his turn, un-
sheathed his, and a warm combat ensued,
between the parties and two friends who ac-
companied them. After they had fought a,
while, Gordon wounded Sutherland in the
head and in one of his hands, and otherwise
injured him, but he spared his life, although
completely in his power.

Duffus immediately cited John Gordon to
appear before the Privy Council, to answer for
this breach of the peace, and, at the same
time, summoned before the council some of the
Earl of Sutherland's friends and dependants,
for an alleged conspiracy against himself and
his friends. Duffus, with his two brothers
and Gordon, came to Edinburgh on the day
appointed, and, the parties being heard, Gordon
was declared guilty of a riot, and was there-
upon committed to prison. This result gave
great satisfaction to Duffus and his brothers,
who now calculated on nothing less than the
utter ruin of Gordon ; as they had by means
of Sir Donald Mackay, obtained a Strathnaver
man, named William Mack-Allen (one of the
Siol-Thomais), who had been a servant of
Gordon's, to become a witness against him,
and to prove every thing that Duffus waa
pleased to allege against Gordon.

In this state of matters, Sir Eobert Gordon
returned from London to Edinburgh, where lie
found Duffus in high spirits, exulting at his
success, and young Embo in prison. Sir
Eobert applied to Duffus, hoping to bring

SIE DOXALD MACKAY'S MACHINATIONS.

151

about a reconciliation by the intervention of
friends, but Duffus refused to hear of any
arrangement ; and the more reasonable the
conditions were, which Sir Robert proposed,
the more unreasonable and obstinate did lie
become ; his object being to get the lords to
award him great sums of money at the expense
of Gordon, in satisfaction for the wrong done
Ms brother. Sir Robert, however, finally suc-
ceeded, by the assistance of the Earl of Enzie,
who was then at Edinburgh, in getting the
prosecution against the Earl of Sutherland's
friends quashed, in obtaining the liberation of
John Gordon, and in getting his fine mitigated
to one hundred pounds Scots, payable to the
king only ; reserving, however, civil action to
John Sutherland of Clyne against Gordon,
before the Lords of Session. 8

Sir Donald Mackay, always restless, and
desirous of gratifying his enmity at the house
of Sutherland, endeavoured to embroil it with
the laird of Duffus in the following way.
Having formed a resolution to leave the king-
dom, Sir Donald applied for, and obtained, a
license from the king to raise a regiment in the
north, to assist Count Mansfield in his campaign
in Germany. He, accordingly, collected, in a
few months, about 3,000 men from different
parts of Scotland, the greater part of whom he
embarked at Cromarty in the month of October
1C26; but, on account of bad health, he was
obliged to delay his own departure till the
following year, when he joined the king of
Sweden with his regiment, in consequence of
a peace having been concluded between the
King of Denmark and the Emperor of Ger-
many.9 Among others whom Mackay had
engaged to accompany him to Germany, was a
person named Angus Roy Gun, against whom,
a short time previous to his enlistment, Mac-

• Sir K. Gordon, p. 397, ct scq.

* A considerable number of gentlemen, chiefly from
Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, joined Mackay, some
of whom rose to high rank in the army of Gustavus
Adolphus. Among these were Kobert Monroe of
Fonlis, and his brother, Hector ; Thomas Mackenzie,
brother of the Earl of Seaforth ; John Monroe of Obis-
dell, and his brother Robert ; John Monroo of Assynt,
and others of that surname; Hugh Koss nf Priesthill ;
David Ross and Nicolas Ross, sons of Alexander Ross
(jf Invercharron; Hugh Gordon, son of Adam Gordon
of Culkour ; John Gordon, son of John Gordon of
Garty ; Adam Gordon and John Gordon, sons of
Adam Gordon George-son ; Ivo Mackay, William, son
of Donald Mackay of Scourie ; William Gun, sou of

kay and his brother, John Mackay of Dirlet,
had obtained a commission from the lords of
the Privy Council for the purpose of appre-
hending him and bringing him before the
council for some supposed crimes. Mackay
could have easily apprehended Angus Roy Gun
on different occasions, but having become one
of his regiment, he allowed the commission, as
far as he was concerned, to remain a dead letter.

Sometime after his enlistment, Angus Roy
Gun made a journey into Sutherland, a circum-
stance which afforded Mackay an opportunity
of putting into execution the scheme he had
formed, and which showed that he was no
mean adept in the arts of cunning and dissimu-
lation. His plan was this : — He wrote, in the
first place, private letters to the laird of Duffus,
and to his brother, John Sutherland of Clyne,
to apprehend Angus Roy Gun under the com-
mission he had obtained ; and at the same
time, sent the commission itself to the laird of
Duffus as his authority for so doing. He next
wrote a letter to Alexander Gordon, the Earl
of Sutherland's uncle, who, in the absence of
his brother, Sir Robert, governed Sutherland,
entreating him, as Angus Roy Gun was then in
Sutherland, to send him to him to Cromarty, as
he was his hired soldier. Ignorant of Mackay's
design, and desirous of serving him, Sir Alex-
ander sent two of his men to bring Gun to
Sir Alexander ; but on their return they were
met by John Sutherland of Clyne and a party
of sixteen men, who seized Gun ; and to pre-
vent a rescue, the laird of Duffus sent his
brother, James Sutherland, Alexander Murray,
heir-apparent of Aberscors, and William Neill-
son, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with
300 men to protect his brother John. At the
same time, as he anticipated an attack from Sir
Alexander Gordon, he sent messengers to his
supporters in Ross, Strathnaver, Caithness, and
other places for assistance.

When Sir Alexander Gordon heard of the
assembling of such a body of the Earl of
Sutherland's vassals without his knowledge,
he made inquiry to ascertain the cause ; and

John Gnn Rob-son ; John Sinclair, bastard son of tho
earl of Caithness ; Francis Sinclair, son of James Sin-
clair of Murkle ; John Innes, son of William Innes of
Sanset ; John Gun, son of William Gun in Golspie-
Kirktown; and George Gun, son of Alexander Gun
Kob-sou.

152

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

being informed of Gun's capture, lie collected
18 men who were near at hand, and hastened
with them from Dunrobin towards Clyno. On
arriving at the bridge of Broray, he found
James Sutherland, with his brother John, and
their whole party drawn up in battle array at
the cast end of the bridge. He, thereupon, sent
a person to the Suthorlands to know the cause
of such an assemblage, and the reason why they
had taken Gun from his servants. As the
Sutherlands refused to exhibit their authority,
Sir Alexander made demonstrations for passing
the bridge, but he was met by a shower of
shot and arrows which wounded two of his
men. After exchanging shots for some time,
Sir Alexander was joined by a considerable
body of his countrymen, by whose aid, not-
withstanding the resistance he met with, ho
was enabled to cross the bridge. The Suther-
lands were forced to retreat, and as they saw
no chance of opposing, with success, the power
of the house of Sutherland, they, after some
hours' consultation, delivered up Angus Roy
Gun to Sir Alexander Sutherland, who sent
him immediately to Mackay, then at Cromarty.
As such an example of insubordination
among the Earl of Sutherland's vassals might,
if overlooked, lead others to follow a similar
course, Sir Alexander caused the laird of Duffus
and his brother of Clyne, with their accom-
plices, to be cited to appear at Edinburgh on
the 16th of November following, to answer
before the Privy Council for their misdemean-
ours. The laird of Duffus, however, died in
the month of October, but the laird of Clyne
appeared at Edinburgh at the time appointed,
iind produced before the Privy Council the
letter ho had received from Mackay, as his
authority for acting as he had done. Sir Alex-
ander Gordon also produced the letter sent to
him by Sir Donald, who was thereby convicted
of having been the intentional originator of the
difference ; but as the lords of council thought
that the laird of Clyno had exceeded the
bounds of his commission, he was imprisoned
in the jail of Edinburgh, wherein he was
ordered to remain until he should give satisfac-
tion to the other party, and present some of
his men who had failed to appear though sum-
moned. By the mediation, however, of James
Sutherland, tutor of Duffus, a reconciliation

was effected between Sir Robert and Sir Alex-
ander Gordon, and the laird of Clyne, who
was, in consequence, soon thereafter liberated
from prison.1

The year 1628 was marked by the breaking
out of an old and deadly feud among the
Grants, which had been transmitted from father
to son for several generations, in consequence
of the murder of John Grant of Ballindalloch,
about the middle of the sixteenth century, by
John Roy Grant of Carron, the natural son of
John Grant of Glenmoriston, at the instigation
of the laird of Grant, the chief of the tribe,
who had conceived a grudge against his kins-
man. Some years before the period first men-
tioned, James Grant, one of the Carrou family,
happening to bo at a fair in the town of Elgin,
observed one of the Grants of the Ballindalloch
family eagerly pursuing his (James's) brother,
Thomas Grant, whom he knocked down in the
street and wounded openly before his eyes.
The assailant was in his turn attacked by James
Grant, who killed him upon the spot and im-
mediately decamped. Ballindalloch then cited
James Grant to stand trial for the slaughter of
his kinsman, but, as he did not appear on the
day appointed, he was outlawed. The laird of
Grant made many attempts to reconcile tin
parties, but in vain, as Ballindalloch was ob-
stinate and would listen to no proposals.
Nothing less than the blood of James Grant
would satisfy Ballindalloch.

This resolution on the part of Ballindalloch
almost drove James Grant to despair, and see-
ing his life every moment in jeopardy, and de-
prived of any hope of effecting a compromise,
he put himself at the head of a party of bri-
gands, whom ho collected from all parts of the
Highlands. These freebooters made no dis-
tinction between friends and foes, but attacked
all persons of whatever description, and wasted
and despoiled their property. James Grant of
Dalncbo, one of the family of Ballindalloch,
fell a victim to their fury, and many of the
kinsmen of that family suffered greatly from
the depredations committed by Grant and his
associates. The Earl of Murray, under the
renewed and extended commission which he
had obtained from King Charles, made various

1 Sir K. Gordon, p. 101, et scq.

FEUD AMOXG THE GEANTS.

153

attempts to put an end to these lawless pro-
ceedings, but to no purpose; the failure of
these attempts serving only to harden James
Grant and his party, who continued their de-
predations. As John Grant of Carron, nephew
of James Grant, was supposed to maintain and
assist his uncle secretly, a suspicion for which
there seems to have been no foundation, John
Grant of liallindalloch sought for an oppor-
tunity of revenging himself upon Can-on, who
was a promising young man. Carron having
one day left his house, along with one Alex-
ander Grant and seven or eight other persons,
to cut down some timber in the woods of
Abernethy, Ballindalloch thought the occa-
sion favourable for putting his design into
execution. Having collected and armed sixteen
of his friends, he went to the forest where
Carron was, and under the pretence of search-
ing for James Grant and some of his associates,
against whom he had a commission, attacked
Carron, who fought manfully in defence of his
life, but being overpowered, was killed by
Ballindallocli. Before Carron fell, however,
ho and Alexander Grant had slain several of
Ballindalloch's friends, among whom were
Thomas Grant of Davey, and Lauchlan Mac-
intosh of Rockinoyr. Alexander Grant after-
wards annoyed Ballindalloch, killing several of
his men, and assisted James Grant to lay waste
Ballindalloch'g lands. "Give me leave heir,"
says Sir E. Gordon, " to remark the provi-
dence and seerait judgement of the Almightio
God, who now hath mett Carron with the
same measure that his forefather, John Eoy
Grant of Carron, did serve the ancestor of
Balli-iidallogh; for upon the same day of the
moneth that John Eoy Grant did kill the great
grandfa ther of Ballendallogh (being the eleventh
day of September), the verie same day of this
month wcs Carron slain by tliis John Grant of
Ballendallogh many yeirs thereafter. And, be-
sides,as that John Eoy Grant of Can-on was left-
handed, so is this John Grant of Ballendallogh
left-handed also; and moreover, it is to be ob-
served that Ballendallogh, at the killing of this
Can-on, had upon him the same coat-of-armour,
or maillie-coat, which John Eoy Grant had upon
him at the slaughter of the great-grandfather
of this Ballendallogh, which maillie-coat Bal-
lendallogh had, a little before this tymo, taken
I.

from James Grant, in a skirmish that passed
betwixt them. Thus wee doe sio that the
judgements of God are inscrutable, and that,
in his own tyme, lie punisheth blood by blood."8

The Earl of Murray, when he heard of this
occurrence, instead of taking measures against
Ballindalloch for his outrage against the laws,
which ho was fully entitled to do by virtue
of the commission he held, took part with
Ballindalloch against the friends of Carron.
He not only represented Ballindalloch's case
favourably at court, but also obtained an in-
demnity for him for some years, that he might
not be molested. The countenance thus given
by his majesty's lieutenant to the murderer of
their kinsmen, exasperated James and Alexan-
der Grant in the highest degree against Ballin-
dalloch and his supporters, whom they contin-
ually annoyed with their incursions, laying
waste their lands and possessions, and cutting
off their people. To such an extent was this
system of lawless warfare carried, that Ballin-
dalloch was forced to flee from the north of
Scotland, and live for the most part in
Edinburgh, to avoid the dangers with which
he was surrounded. But James Grant's des-
perate career was checked by a party of the
clan Chattan, who unexpectedly attacked him
at Auchnachyle, in Strathdoun, under cloud of
night, in the latter end of December, 1C 30,
when he was taken prisoner after receiving
eleven wounds, and after four of his party were
killed. He was sent by his captors to Edin-
burgh for trial before the lords of the council,
and was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh,
from which he escaped in the manner to bo
afterwards noticed.

About the time that James Grant was deso-
lating the district of the Highlands, to which
his operations were confined, another part of
the country was convulsed by a dispute, end-
ing tragically, which occurred between James
Crichton of Frendret, or Frcndraught, and
William Gordon of Eothiemay, whose lands
lay adjacent to each other. Part of Gordon's
lands wliich marched with those of Crichton
were purchased by the latter; but a dispute
having occurred about the right to the salmon
fishings belonging to these lands, an irrccon-

1 History,?. 416.

u

154

GEXEEAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

cilable difference arose between them, which, no
mediation of friends could reconcile, although
the matter in dispute was of little moment.
The parties having had recourse to the law to
settle their respective claims, Crichton pre-
vailed, and succeeded in getting Gordon de-
nounced rebel He had previously treated
Eothiemay very harshly, who, stung by the
severity of his opponent, and by the victory he
had obtained over him, would listen to no pro-
posals of peace, nor follow the advice of his
best friends. Determined to sot the law at
defiance, he collected a number of loose and
disorderly characters, and annoyed Frendraught,
who, in consequence, applied for and obtained
a commission from the Privy Council for appre-
hending Eothiemay and his associates. In the
execution of this task he was assisted by Sir
George Ogilvy of Banff, George Gordon,
brother-german of Sir James Gordon of Les-
moir, and the uncle of Frendraught, James
Leslie, second son of Leslie of Pitcaple, John
Meldrum of Eeidhill, and others. Accom-
panied by these gentlemen, Crichton left his
house of Frendraught on the 1st of January,
1630, for the house of Eothiemay, with a reso-
lution either to apprehend Gordon, his anta-
gonist, or to set him at defiance by affronting
him. He was incited the more to follow this
course, as young Eothiemay, at the head of a
party, had come a short time before to the very
doors of Frendraught, and had braved him to
his face. "When Eothiemay heard of the ad-
vance of Frendraught, he left his house, accom-
panied by his eldest son, John Gordon, and
about eight men on horseback armed with guns
and lances, and a party of men on foot with
muskets, and crossing the river Deveron, went
forward to meet Frendraught and his party.
A sharp conflict immediately took place, in
which Eothiemay's horse was killed under him ;
but he fought manfully for some time on foot,
until the whole of his party, with the excep-
tion of his son, were forced to retire. The son,
notwithstanding, continued to support his
father against fearful odds, but was at last
obliged to save himself by flight, leaving his
father lying on the field covered with wounds,
and supposed to be dead. He, however, was
found still alive after the conflict was over, and
being earned home to his house, died within

three days thereafter. George Gordon, brother
of Gordon of Lesmoir, received a shot in the
thigh, and died in consequence ten days after
the skirmish. These were the only deaths
which occurred, although several of the com-
batants on both sides were wounded. John
Meldrum, who fought on Frendraught's side,
was the only person severely wounded.

The Marquis of Huntly was highly displeased
at Frendraught for having, in such a trifling
matter, proceeded to extremities against his
kinsman, a chief baron of his surname, whoso
life had been thus sacrificed in a petty quarrel.
The displeasure of the marquis was still farther
heightened, when he was informed that Fren-
draught had joined the Earl of Murray, and had
claimed his protection and assistance ; but the
marquis was obliged to repress his indignation.
John Gordon of Eothiemay, eldest son of the
deceased laird, resolved to avenge the death
of his father, and having collected a party of
men, he associated himself with James Grant
and other freebooters, for the purpose of laying
waste Frendraught's lands, and oppressing him
in every possible way. Frendraught, who was
in the south of Scotland when this combination
against him was formed, no sooner heard of it
than he posted to England, and, having laid a
statement of the case before the king, his ma-
jesty remitted the matter to the Privy Council of
Scotland, desiring them to use their best endea-
vours for settling the peace of the northern
parts of the kingdom. A commission waa
thereupon granted by the lords of the council
to Frendraught and others, for the purpose of
apprehending John Gordon and his associates ;
but, as the commissioners were not able to
execute the task imposed upon them, the lords
of the council sent Sir Eobert Gordon, tutor
of Sutherland, who had just returned from
England, and Sir William Seaton of Killes-
muir, to the north, with a new commission
against the rebels. As it seemed to be en-
tirely out of the power of the Earl of Murray
to quell the disturbances in the north, the
two commissioners received particular instruc-
tions to attempt, with the aid of the Marquis
of Huntly, to get matters settled amicably, and
the opposing parties reconciled. The lords of
the council, at the same time, wrote a letter to
the Marquis of Huntly to the same effect.

DISPUTE BETWEEN FRENDRAUGHT AND PITCAPLE.

155

Sir Eobcrt Gordon and Sir William Seaton
accordingly loft Edinburgh, on their way north,
in the beginning of May, 1630. The latter
stopped at Aberdeen for the purpose of con-
sulting with some gentlemen of that county,
as to the best mode of proceeding against the
rebels ; and the former went to Strathbogie to
advise with the Marquis of Huntly.

On Sir Eobert's arrival at Strathbogie, he
found that the marquis had gone to Aberdeen
to attend the funeral of the laird of Drum.
By a singular coincidence, James Grant and
Alexander Grant descended the very day of
Sir Robert's arrival from the mountains, at
the head of a party of 200 Highlanders, well
armed, with a resolution to burn and lay
waste Frendraught's lands. As soon as Sir
Robert became aware of this circumstance,
he went in great haste to Rothiemay house,
where he found John Gordon and his associates
in arms, ready to set out to join the Grants.
By persuasion and entreaties Sir Robert, as-
sisted by his nephew the Earl of Sutherland,
and his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, who
were then at Frendraught on a visit to tho
lady of that place, who was a sister of the earl,
prevailed not only upon John Gordon and his
friends to desist, but also upon James Grant
and his companions-in-arms, to disperse.

On the return of the Marquis of Huntly to
Strathbogie, Rothiemay and Frendraught were
both induced to meet them in presence of the
marquis, Sir Robert Gordon, and Sir William
Seaton, who, after much entreaty, prevailed
upon them to reconcile their differences, and
submit all matters in dispute to their arbitra-
ment. A decree-arbitral was accordingly pro-
nounced, by which the arbiters adjudged that
the laird of Rothiemay and the children of
George Gordon should mutually remit their
father's slaughter, and, in satisfaction thereof,
they decerned that the laird of Frendraught
should pay a certain sum of money to the laird
of Rothiemay, for relief of the debts which ho
had contracted during the disturbances between
the two families,3 and that he should pay some
money to the children of George Gordon.

* Spalding says that Frendranglit was " ordained to
pay to tho lady, relict of Rothiemay, and the bairns,
fiftie thousand merks, iu composition of tho slaughter. "
- P. 11

Frendraught fulfilled these conditions most
willingly, and the parties shook hands together
in tho orchard of Strathbogie, in token of a
hearty and sincere reconciliation.4

The laird of Frendraught had scarcely been
reconciled to Rothiemay, when he got into
another dispute with the laird of Pitcaple, the
occasion of which was as follows : — John Mel-
drum of Reidhill had assisted Frendraught in
his quarrel with old Rothiemay, and had
received a wound in the skirmish in which the
latter lost his life, for which injury Fren-
draught had allowed him some compensation ;
but, conceiving that his services had not been
fairly requited, he began to abuse Frendraught,
and threatened to compel him to give him a
greater recompense than he had yet received.
As Frendraught refused to comply with his
demands, Meldrum entered the park of Fren-
draught privately in the night-time, and carried
away two horses belonging to his pretended
debtor. Frendraught thereupon prosecuted
Meldrum for theft, but he declined to appear
in court, and was consequently declared rebel.
Frendraught then obtained a commission from
the Privy Council to apprehend Meldrum,
who took refuge with John Leslie of Pitcaple,
whose sister he had married. Under tho com-
mission which he had procured, Frendraught
went in quest of Moldrum, on tho 27th of
September, 1630. He proceeded to Pitcaplo's
lands, on which he knew Meldrum then lived,
where he met James Leslie, second son of the
laird of Pitcaple, who had been with him at
the skirmish of Rothiemay. Leslie then began
to expostulate with him in behalf of Meldrum,
his brother-in-law, who, on account of tho aid
ho had given him in his dispute with Rothie-
may, took Leslie's remonstrances in good part ;
but Robert Crichton of Conland,5 a kinsman
of Frendraught, grow so warm at Leslie's free-
dom that from high words they proceeded to
blows. Conland, then, drawing a pistol from
his belt, wounded Leslie in the arm, who was
thereupon carried home, apparently in a dying
state.

This affair was the signal for a confederacy
among the Leslies, the greater part of whom

4 Sir R. Gordon, p. 416, et seq. Spalding, p. 14.
8 Sir R. Gordon (p. 419) spoils this Couland and
Coudland.

15G

GENERAL HISTOEY OF TIIE HIGHLANDS.

took up arms against Frendraught, who, a few
days after the occurrence, viz., on the 5th of
October, first went to the Marquis of Huntly,
and afterwards to the Earl of Murray, to express I
the regret he felt at what had taken place, and
to beg their kindly interference to bring matters
to an amicable accommodation. The Earl of
Murray, for some reason or other, declined to
interfere; but the marquis undertook to mediate
between the parties. Accordingly, he sent for
the laird of Pitcaple to come to the Bog of
Gight to confer with him ; but, before setting
out, he mounted and equipped about 30 horse-
men, in consequence of information he had
received that Frendraught was at the Bog.

At the meeting with the marquis, Pitcaple
complained heavily of the injury his son had
sustained, and avowed, rather rashly, that he
would revenge himself before he returned homo,
and that, at all events, he would listen to no
proposals for a reconciliation till it should be
ascertained whether his son would survive the
wound he had received. The marquis insisted
that Frendraught had done him no wrong, and
endeavoured to dissuade him from putting his
threat into execution ; but Pitcaple was so dis-
pleased at the marquis for thus expressing
himself, that he suddenly mounted his horse
and set off, leaving Frendraught behind him.
The marquis, afraid of the consequences, de-

Frendraught House, with the ruins of the old Castle in front. — From a photograph taken for this work.

tained Frendraught two days with him in the
Bog of Gight, and, hearing that the Leslies
had assembled, and lay in wait for Frendraught
watching his return home, the marquis sent his
son, John, Viscount of Aboyne, and the laird
of Eothiemay along with him, to protect and
defend him if necessary. They arrived at
Frendraught without interruption, and being
solicited to remain all night, they yielded, and,
after partaking of a hearty supper, went to bed
in the apartments provided for them.

The sleeping apartment of the viscount was
in the old tower of Frendraught, leading off
from the hall Immediately below this apart-
ment was a vault, in the bottom of which was
a round hole of considerable depth. Eobert

Gordon, a servant of the viscount, and his
page, English Will, as he was called, also slept
in the same chamber. The laird of Eothiemay,
with some servants, were put into an upper
chamber immediately above that in which the
viscount slept ; and in another apartment,
directly over the latter, were laid George
Chalmer of Noth, Captain Eollock, one of
Frendraught's party, and George Gordon, an-
other of the viscount's servants. About
midnight the whole of the tower almost
instantaneously took fire, and so suddenly and
furiously did the flames consume the edifice,
that the viscount, the laird of Bothiernay,
English Will, Colonel Ivat, one. of Aboyne's
friends, and two other persons, perished in

BUENIXG OF FRENDRAUGHT HOUSE.

157

the flames. Eobert Gordon, called Sutherland
Gordon, from having been born in that county,
who lay in the viscount's chamber, escaped
from the flames, as did George Chalmer and
Captain Eollock, who were in the third floor;
and it is said that Lord Aboyne might have
saved himself also, had ho not, instead of going
out of doors, which ho refused to do, run sud-
denly up stairs to Rothiemay's chamber for the
purpose of awakening him. While so engaged,
the stair-case and ceiling of Eothiemay's apart-
ment hastily took fire, and, being prevented
from descending by the flames, which filled the
stair-case, they ran from window to window of
the apartment pitcously and unavailingly ex-
claiming for help.

The news of this calamitous event spread
speedily throughout the kingdom, and the fate
of the unfortunate sufferers was deeply deplored.
Many conjectures were formed as to the cause
of the conflagration. Some persons laid the
blame on Frendraught without the least reason ;
for, besides the improbability of the thing,
Frendraught himself was a considerable loser,
having lost not only a largo quantity of silver
plate and coin, but also the title deeds of his
property and other necessary papers, which
were all consumed. The greater number, how-
ever, suspected the Leslies and their adherents,
wlio were then so enraged at Frendraught that
they threatened to burn the house of Fren-
draught, and had even entered into a negotia-
tion to that effect with James Grant the rebel,
who was Pitcaple's cousin -german, for his
assistance.6

The Marquis of Huntly, who suspected
Frendraught to be the author of the fire, after-
wards went to Edinburgh and laid a statement
of the case before the Privy Council, who,
thereupon, issued a commission to the bishops
of Aberdeen and Moray, Lord Ogilvie, Lord
Carnegie, and Colonel Bruce, to investigate
the circumstances which led to the catastrophe.
The commissioners accordingly went to Fren-
draught on April 13th, 1631, where they were
met by Lords Gordon, Ogilvie, and Deskford,
and several barons and gentlemen, along with
whom they examined the burnt tower and
vaults below, with the adjoining premises, to

* Sit K. Gordon, p. 241.— Scalding, p. 13, ct seij.

ascertain, if possible, how the fire had origin-
ated. After a minute inspection, they came to
the deliberate opinion, which they communi-
cated in writing to the council, that the firo
could not have been accidental, and that it
must have been occasioned either by some
means from without, or raised intentionally
within the vaults or chambers of the tower.7

The matter, however, was not allowed to
rest hero, but underwent thorough investigation
by the Privy Council in Edinburgh, the result
being that John Mcldrum, above mentioned,
was brought to trial and condemned to death
by the Justiciary Court, in August, 1633, as
having been the perpetrator of the fiend-
ish deed. We give below an extract from
the " dittay " or indictment against Meldrum,
showing the manner in which it was thought
he accomplished his devilish task.8 The
catastrophe roused such intense and wide-
spread excitement among all classes of people
at the time, that the grief and horror which
was felt found an outlet in verse.9

7 Spalding, p. 24.

8 "Johne Muldrum halting convocat to himsellT
certane brokin men, all fugitiues and rcbellis, his
complices and associattia, upone the audit day of
October, the yeir of God jai vie and threttie yeiris
under silence and clud of niclit, betwix twelff hours at
nycht and twa eftir mydnycht, come to the place of
Frendraucht, and supponeing and certanely persuad-
ing himselff that the said James Creichtoun of Fren-
draucht wes lying within the tourof Frendraucht, quhilk
was the only,strenth and strongest pairt of the said
place, the said Johne Meldrum, with his saidis com-
plices, in maist tresonabill and feirfull maner, haifing
brocht with thame ane hudge quantitie of powder,
pik, bramstone, flax, and uther combustabill matter
provydit be thame for the purpois, pat and convoyit
the samyn in and throw the slittis and stones of the
volt of the said grit tour of Frendraucht, weill knaw-
in and foirseine be the said Johne Meldrum, quha
with his complices at that instant tyme fyret the
samyn pik, powder, brumstone, flax, and uther com-
bustable matter above writtin, at dyuerse places of
the said volt; quhilk being sua fyret and kindlet, did
violentlie Hie to ane hoill in the heiil of the said volt
and tak vent thairat, the whilk hoill of the said volt
and vent thairof being perfytlie knawin to the said
John Meldrum, be reasone he had remained in hous-
hald with the said laird of Frendraucht, as his douie-
full scrvand, within the said lions and place of Fren-
draucht for ane lang tyme of befoir, and knew and was
previe to all the secreitis of the said house. And tho
said volt being sua fyref, the haill tour and houssis
quhairof immediately thaireftir, being foure hous hight,
in les space than ane hour tuik fyre in the deid hour
of the night, and was in maist tresonabill, horrible,
and lamentable maner brunt, blawin up, and con-
suinct." — Spalding's Memorialls, Appendix, vol. i.
p. 390.

9 A ballad is still sung in the distiict around
Frcndraugl t, which, says Mothcrwell, " lias a hi^li

158

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

During James Grant's confinement within
the castle of Edinburgh, the north was com-
paratively quiet. On the night of the 15th
October, 1632, he, however, effected his escape
from the castle by descending on the west side
by means of ropes furnished to him by his
wife or son, and fled to Ireland. Proclama-
tions were immediately posted throughout the
whole kingdom, offering large sums for his
apprehension, either dead or alive, but to no

degree of poetic merit, and probably was written
at the time by an eye-witness of the event which it
records." We give a few verses from the version in
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, as quoted in the Appendix
tc Spalding, vol. i. p. 409.

" The eighteenth of October,

A dismal tale to hear,

How good Lord John and Rothiemay

Was both burnt in the fire.

They had not long cast off their cloatlis,
And were but now asleep —
When the weary smoke began to rise,
Likewise the scorching heat.

' 0 waken, waken, Rothiemay,
0 waken, brother dear,
And turn you to our Saviour,
There is strong treason here.'

He did him to the wire-window

Aa fast as he could gang —

Says — ' Wae to the hands put in the stancheonfi,

For out we'll never win.'

Cried — ' Mercy, mercy, Lady Frendraught,
Will ye not sink with sin ?
For first your husband killed my father,
And now you burn his son.'

0 then out spoke her, Lady Frendraught,

And loudly did she cry—

' It were great pity for good Lord John,

But none for Rothiemay.

But the keys are casten in the deep draw well,

Ye cannot get away.'

. While he stood in this dreadful plight,
Most piteous to be seen,
There called out his servant Gordon,
As he had frantic been.

' 0 loup, 0 loup, my dear master,

0 loup and come to me;

I'll catch you in my arms two,
One foot I will not flee.'

' But I cannot loup, I cannot come,

1 cannot win to thee;

My head's fast in the wire-window,
My feet burning from me.

' Take here the rings from my white fingers,
That are so long and small,
And give them to my Lady fair,
Where she sits in her hall.

' So I cannot loup, I cannot come,
I cannot loup to thee —
My earthly part is all consumed,
My spirit but speaks to thee.'

Wringing her hands, tearing her hair,
His Lady she was seen,
And thus addressed his servant Gordon,
Where he stood on the green.

purpose. His wife was taken into custody by
order of the Marquis of Huntly, but after
undergoing an examination, in which she
admitted nothing which, could in the least
degree criminate her, she was set at liberty.9

James Grant did not remain long in Ireland,
but returned again to the north, where he con-
cealed himself for some time, only occasionally
skulking here and there in such a private man-
ner, that his enemies were not aware of his
presence. By degrees he grew bolder, and at
last appeared openly in Strathdoun and on
Speyside. His wife, who was far advanced in
pregnancy, had taken a small house in Carron,
belonging to the heirs of her husband's nephew,
in which she meant to reside till her accouche-
ment, and in which she was occasionally visited
by her husband. Ballindalloch hearing of this,
hired a person named Patrick Macgregor, an
outlaw, to apprehend James Grant. This em-
ployment was considered by Macgregor and
his party a piece of acceptable service, as they
expected, in the event of Grant's apprehension,
to obtain pardon for their offences from the
lords of the council. Macgregor, therefore, at
the head of a party of men, lay in wait for
James Grant near Carron, and, on observing
him enter his wife's house at night, along with
his bastard son and another man, they im-
mediately surrounded the house and attempted
to force an entry. Grant perceiving Ms danger,
acted with great coolness and determination.
Having fastened the door as firmly as he could,
he and his two companions went to two win-
dows, from which they discharged a volley of
arrows upon their assailants, who all shrunk
back, and none would venture near the door
except Macgregor himself, who came boldly
forward and endeavoured to force it ; but he
paid dearly for his rashness, for Grant, imrne-

' 0 wae be to you, George Gordon,
An ill death may you die,
So safe and sound as you stand there,
And my Lord bereaved from me.'

' I bade him loup, I bade him come,
I bade him loup to me,
I'd catch him in my arms two,
A foot I should not flee.'

And aft she cried, ' Ohon ! alas, alas,
A sair heart's ill to win ;
I wan a sair heart when I married him,
And the day it's well return'd again.' "

8 Spalding, vol. i. \>. 29.

IMPRISONMENT OF GRANT OF BALLINDALLOCII.

15'J

diately laying hold of a musket, shot him
tlirough both his tliighs, when lie instantly
foil to the ground, and soon after expired.
In the confusion which this occurrence ocea-
si jned among Macgregor's party, Grant and his
two associates escaped.

Shortly after this event, on the night of
Sunday, December 7th, 1634, James Grant
apprehended his cousin, John Grant of Ballin-
dalloch, by stratagem. After remaining a few
days at Culquholy, Ballindalloch was blind-
folded and taken to Thomas Grant's house at
Dandeis, about three miles from Elgin, on the
high road between that town and the Spey.
James Grant ordered him to be watched strictly,
whether sleeping or waking, by two strong
men on each side of him. Ballindalloch com-
plained of foul play, but James Grant excused
himself for acting as he had done for two
reasons ; 1st, Because Ballindalloch had failed
to perform a promise he had made to obtain
a remission for him before the preceding Lam-
mas; and, '2dly, That he had entered into a
treaty with the clan Gregor to deprive him of
his life.

Ballindalloch was kept in durance vile for
twenty days in a kiln near Thomas Grant's
house, suffering the greatest privations, without
fire, light, or bed-clothes, in the dead of winter,
and without knowing where he was. He was
closely watched night and day by Leonard
Leslie, son-in-law of Robert Grant, brother of
James Grant, and a strong athletic man, named
M'Grimmon, who would not allow him to leave
the kiln for a moment even to perform the
necessities of nature. On Christmas, James
Grant and his party having gone on some
excursion, leaving Leslie and M'Grimmon be-
hind them, Ballindalloch, worn out by fatigue,
and almost perishing from cold and hunger,
addressed Leslie in a low tone of voice, lament-
ing his miserable situation, and imploring him
to aid him in effecting his escape, and promis-
ing, in the event of success, to reward him
handsomely. Leslie, tempted by the offer,
acceded to Ballindalloch's request, and made
him acquainted with the place of his confine-
ment. It was then arranged that Ballindalloch,
under the pretence of stretching his arms,
should disengage the arm which Leslie held,
and that, having so disentangled that arm, he

should, by another attempt, get his other arm
out of M'Grimmon's grasp. The morning of
Sunday, the 28th of December, was fixed upon
for putting the stratagem into execution. The
plan succeeded, and as soon as Ballindalloch
found his arms at liberty, he suddenly sprung
to his feet and made for the door of the kiln.
Leslie immediately followed him, pretending
to catch him, and as M'Grimmon was hard
upon his heels, Leslie purposely stumbled in
his way and brought M'Grimmon down to tho
ground. This stratagem enabled Ballindalloch
to get a-head of his pursuers, and although
M'Grimmon sounded the alarm, and the pur-
suit was continued by Robert Grant and a
party of James Grant's followers, Ballindalloch
succeeded in reaching the village of Urquhart
in safety, accompanied by Leonard Leslie.

Sometime after his escape, Ballindalloch
applied for and obtained a warrant for the
apprehension of Thomas Grant, and others, for
harbouring James Grant. Thomas Grant, and
some of his accomplices, were accordingly seized
and sent to Edinburgh, where they were tried
and convicted. Grant was hanged, and others
were banished from Scotland for life.

After Ballindalloch's escape, James Grant
kept remarkably quiet, as many persons lay in
wait for him ; but hearing that Thomas Grant,
brother of Patrick Grant of Colquhoche, and
a friend of Ballindalloch, had received a sum
of money from the Earl of Moray, as an
encouragement to seek out and slay James
Grant, the latter resolved to murder Thomas
Grant, and thus relieve himself of one enemy
at least. He therefore went to Thomas's house,
but not finding him at home, he killed sixteen
of his cattle ; and afterwards learning that
Thomas Grant was sleeping at the house of a
friend hard by, he entered that house and
found Thomas Grant and a bastard brother of
his, both in bed. Having forced them out of
bed, he took them outside of the house and
put them immediately to death. A few days
after the commission of this crime, Grant and
four of his associates went to the lands of
Strathbogie, and entered the house of the com-
mon executioner, craving some food, without
being aware of the profession of the host whoso
hospitality they solicited. The executioner,
disliking the appearance of Grant and hia

160

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

companions, went to James Gordon, the bailie
of Strathbogie, and informed him that there
were some suspicious looking persons in his
house. Judging that these could be none other
but Grant and his comrades, Gordon immedi-
ately collected some well-armed horsemen and
foot, and surrounded the house in which Grant
was ; but he successfully resisted all their
attempts to enter the house, and killed two
servants of the Marquis of Huntly. After
keeping them at bay for a considerable time,
Grant and his brother, Robert, effected their
escape from the house, but a bastard son of
James Grant, John Forbes, an intimate associ-
ate, and another person, were taken prisoners,
and carried to Edinburgh, where they were
executed, along with a notorious thief, named
Gille-Roy-Mac-Gregor. This occurrence took
place in the year 1636. The laird of Grant
had, during the previous year, been ordered
by the council to apprehend James Grant, or
to make him leave the kingdom; and they
had obliged him to find caution and surety, in
terms of the general bond1 appointed by law
to be taken from all the heads of clans, and from
all governors of provinces in the kingdom, but
chiefly in the west and north of Scotland ; but
the laird could neither perform the one nor the
other.2

By the judicious management of the affairs
of the house of Sutherland by Sir Robert
Gordon, his nephew, the earl, on reaching his

1 The "Common Band" or "General Band," was
the name given in popular speech to an Act of the
Scottish Parliament of the year 1587, which was passed
with the view of maintaining good order, both on the
Borders and in the Highlands and Isles. The plan
on which tins Act chiefly proceeded was, "To make
it imperative on all landlords, bailies, and chiefs of
clans, to find sureties to a large amount, proportioned
to their wealth and the number of their vassals or
clansmen, for the peaceable and orderly behaviour of
those under them. It was provided, that, if a supe-
rior, after having found the required sureties, should
fail to make immediate reparation of any injuries
committed by persons for whom he was bound to
answer, the injured party might proceed at law against
the sureties for the amount of the damage sustained.
Besides being compelled, in such cases, to reimburse
Ids sureties, the superior was to incur a heavy fine to
the Crown. This important statute likewise contained
many useful provisions for facilitating the administra-
tion of justice in these rude districts." — Spalding's
Memorialls, vol. i. p. 3, (note). Gregory's Western
Highlands, p. 237.

2 Continuation of the History of the Earls of Suther-
land, by Gilbert Gordon of Sallagh, annexed to Sir K.
Gordon's work, p. 460. Spalding, p. 63.

majority in 1630 and entering upon the man-
agement of his own affairs, found the hostility
of the enemy of his family either neutralised or
rendered no longer dangerous ; but, in the year
1633 he found liimself involved in a quarrel
with Lord Lorn, eldest son of the Earl of
Argyle, who had managed the affairs of his
family during his father's banishment from
Scotland. This dispute arose out of the fol
lowing circumstances.

In consequence of a quarrel between Lord
Berridale, who now acted as sole administrator
of his father's estates, and William Mac-Iver,
chieftain of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair, in Caith-
ness, the former removed the latter from the
lands and possessions he held of him in Caith-
ness. Mac-Iver thereupon retired into Argyle,
and assuming the surname of Campbell, as
being originally an Argyle man, sought the
favour and protection of Lord Lorn. The
latter endeavoured, by writing to the Earl of
Sutherland, Berridale liimself, and others, to
bring about a reconciliation between Mac-Iver
and Bcmdale, but to no purpose. Seeing 110
hopes of an accommodation, Mac-Iver collected
a party of rebels and outlaws, to the number of
about 20, and made an incursion into Caith-
ness, where, during the space of four or five
years, he did great injury, carrying off con-
siderable spoil, which he conveyed through
the heights of Strathnaver and Sutherland.

To put an end to Mac-Ivor's depredations,
Lord Berridale at first brought a legal prosecu-
tion against him, and having got him de-
nounced rebel, sent out parties of his country-
men to ensnare him ; but he escaped for a long
time, and always retired in safety with his
booty, either into the isles or into Argyle.
Lord Lorn, however, publicly disowned Mac-
Iver's proceedings. In his incursions, Mac-
Iver was powerfully assisted by an islander of
the name of Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle, who
had married his daughter, and who was well
acquainted with all the passes leading into
Caithness.

At last Mac-Iver and his son were appre-
hended by Lord Berridale, and hanged, and
the race of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair was almost
extinguished; but Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle
having associated with himself several of the
men of the Isles and Argyle, and some out-

EXECUTION OF EWEN AIRD AND ACCOMPLICES.

1C1

laws of the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, who wore
dependants of Lord Lorn, continued his incur-
sions into Caithness. Having divided his com-
pany into two parties, 0»iJ o.' which, headed by
Gille-Calum himself, went to the higher parts
of Ross and Sutherland, there to remain till
joiiii'd by their companions. The other party
went through the lowlands of Ross, under the
pretence of g"ing to the Lammas fair, then held
at Tain, and thciico proceeded to Sutherland to
meet the rest of their associates, under the pre-
tence of visiting certain kinsmen they said
they had in Strathully and Strathnaver. This
last-mentioned body consisted of 16 or 20 per-
sons, most of whom were of the clan Mhic-Iain-
Dhuinn. They were under the command of
one Ewen Aird ; and as they passed the town
of Tain, on their way to Sutherland, they stole
some horses, which they sold in Sutherland,
without being in the least suspected of the
theft.

The owners of the stolen horses soon came
into Sutherland in quest of them, and claimed
them from the persons to whom they had been
sold. The Earl of Sutherland, on proof being
given of the property, restored the horses to
the true owners, and sent some men in quest of
Ewen Aird, who was still in Strathully. Ewen
was apprehended and brought to Dunrobin.
The Earl of Sutherland ordained him to repay
the monies which Ewen and his companions
had received for the horses, the only punish-
ment he said he would inflict on them, be-
cause they were strangers. Ewen assented
to the earl's request, and remained as a hostage
at Dunrobin until his companions should send
money to relieve liim ; but as soon as his asso-
ciates heard of his detention, they, instead of
sending money for liis release, fled to Gille-
('alum-MaoShomhairle and his party, leaving
their captain a prisoner at Dunrobin. In their
retreat they destroyed some houses in the high
parts of Sutherland, and on entering Ross
they laid waste some lands belonging to
Hutcheon Ross of Auchincloigh. These out-
rages occasioned an immediate assemblage of
the inhabitants of that part of the country,
who pursued the marauders and took them
prisoners. On the prisoners being sent to the
Earl of Sutherland, ho assembled the principal
gentlemen of Ross and Sutherland at Dornoch,

L

where Ewen Aird and his accomplices were
tried before a jury, convicted, and executed tit
Dornoch, with the exception of two young
boys, who were dismissed.

The Privy Council not only approved of
what the Earl of Sutherland had done, but
also sent a commission to him, the Earl
of Seaforth, Houcheon Ross, and some other
gentlemen in Ross and Sutherland, against the
clan Mliic-Iain-Dhuinn, in case they should
again make any incursion into Ross and Suth-
erland.

Lord Lorn being at this time justiciary of the
Isles, had obtained an act of the Privy Council
in his favour, by which it was decreed that any
malefactor, being an islander, upon being appre-
hended in any part of the kingdom, shotdd be
sent to Lord Lorn, or to his deputies, to be
judged ; and that to this effect he should have
deputies in every part of the kingdom. As
soon as his lordsliip heard of the trial and exe-
cution of the men at Dornoch, who were of the
clan Mhic-Lain-Dhuinn, his dependants and
followers, he took the matter highly amiss, and
repaired to Edinburgh, where he made a com-
plaint to the lords of the council against the
Earl of Sutherland, for having, as he main-
tained, apprehended the king's free subjects
without a commission, and for causing them to
be executed, although they had not been appre-
hended within liis own jurisdiction. The
lords of the council having heard tliis com-
plaint, Lord Lorn obtained letters to charge
the Earl of Sutherland and Houcheon Ross
to answer to the complaint at Edinburgh be-
fore the lords of the Privy Council, and, more-
over, obtained a suspension of the earl's com-
mission against the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, on
liivoming bound, in the meantime, as surety for
their obedience to the laws.

Sir Robert Gordon happening to arrive at
Edinburgh from England, shortly after Lord
Lorn's visit to Edinburgh, in the year 1G31,
learned the object of his mission, and the suc-
cess which had attended it. He, therefore,
being an eye-witness of every thing which had
taken place at Dornoch respecting the trial,
condemnation, and execution of Lord Loru'a
dependents, informed the lords of the council
of all the proceedings, wliich proceeding on his
part had the effect of preventing Lord Lorn

1(J2

GEXEEAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

from going on with his prosecution against the
Earl of Sutherland. He, however, proceeded
to summon Houcheon Ross; hut the earl, Sir
Eobcrt Gordon, Lord Eeay, and all the gentle-
men who were present at the trial at Dornoch,
signed and sent a letter to the lords of the
council, giving a detail of the whole circum-
stances of the case, and along with this letter
he sent a copy of the proceedings, attested by
the sheriff clerk of Sutherland, to be laid
before the council 011 the day appointed for
Eoss's appearance. After the matter had been
fully debated in council, the conduct of the
Earl of Sutherland and Houcheon Eoss was
approved of, and the commission to the earl of
Sutherland again renewed, and Lord Lorn was
taken bound, that, in time coming, the counties
of Sutherland and Eoss should be kept harm-
less from the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuiiin. The
council, moreover, decided, that, as the Earl
of Sutherland had the rights of regality and
shcrilFship within himself, and as he was ap-
pointed to administer justice within his own
bounds, therefore he was not obliged to send
criminals, though islanders, to Lord Lorn or to
Ids deputies. This decision had the effect of
relieving Sutherland and Eoss from farther
incursions on the part of Lord Lorn's followers.3
The disaster at Erendraught had made an
impression upon the mind of the Marquis of
Huntly, which notliing could efface, and he
could never be persuaded that the fire had not
originated with the proprietor of the mansion
himself. Ho made many unsuccessful attempts
to discover the incendiaries, and on the arrival
of King Charles at Edinburgh, in the year
1G33, the marquis made preparations for paying
a personal visit to the king, for the purpose of
imploring him to order an investigation into
all the circumstances attending the fire, so as
to lead to a discovery of the criminals. Fall-
ing sick, however, on his journey, and unable
to proceed to Edinburgh, he sent forward his
marchioness, who was accompanied by Lady
Aboyne and other females of rank, all clothed
in deep mourning, to lay a statement of the
case before his majesty, and to solicit the
royal interference. The king received the
marchioness and her attendants most gra-

* Gordon of Sallagli's Continuation, p. 46J, et seq.

ciously, comforted them as far as words could,
and promised to see justice done.

After the king's departure from Scotland,
the marcliioness and Lady Aboyne, both of
whom still remained in Edinburgh, determining
to see his majesty's promise implemented, pre-
vailed upon the Privy Council to bring John
Meldrum of Eeidhill to trial, the result being
as previously recorded. A domestic servant of
Frendraught named Tosh, who was suspected
of having been concerned in the fire, was after-
wards put to the torture, for the purpose of
extorting a confession of guilt from him; but ho
confessed nothing, and was therefore liberated
from prison.

The condemnation and execution of Mel-
drum, in place of abating, appear to have
increased the odium of Frendraught's enemies.
The Highlanders of his neighbourhood, as well
as the Gordons, considering his property to bi
fair game, made frequent incursions upon his
lands, and earned olf cattle and goods. In
1633 and 163i Adam Gordon of Strathdoun,
with a few of liis friends and some outlaws,
made incursions upon Frendraught's lands,
wasted them, and endeavoured to carry off a
quantity of goods and cattle. Frendraught,
however, heading some of his tenants, pursued
them, secured the booty, and captured some of
the party, whom he hanged.

On another occasion, about 600 High-
landers, belonging to the clan Gregor, clan
Cameron, and other tribes, appeared near
Frendraught, and openly declared that they
had come to join Adam Gordon of Park, John
Gordon of Invcrmarkie, and the other friends
of the late Gordon of Eotliiemay, for the pur-
pose of revenging his death. When Fren-
draught heard of the irruption of this body, ho
immediately collected about 200 foot, and 140
horsemen, and went in quest of these in-
truders; but being scattered through the coun-
try, they could make no resistance, and every
man provided for his own safety by flight.

To put an end to these annoyances, Fren-
draught got these marauders declared outlaws,
and the lords of the Privy Council wrote to
the Marquis of Huntly, desiring him to repress
the disorders of those of his surname, and
failing his doing so, that they would consider
him the author of them. The marquis returned

DEPREDATIONS COMMUTED UPON FEEKDRAUQHT.

103

an answer to tliis communication, stating, that
as the aggressors were neither his tenants nor
servants, ho could in no shape be answerable
for them, — that he had neither countenanced
nor incited them, and that lie had no warrant
to pursue or prosecute them.

The refusal of the marquis to obey the
orders of the Privy Council, emboldened the
denounced party to renew their acts of spolia-
tion and robbery. They no longer confined

their depredations to Frendraught and his
tenants, but extended them to the property of
the ministers who lived upon Frendraught's
lands. In tliis course of life, they were joined
by some of the young men of the principal
families of the Gordons in Strathbogio, to the
number of 40 horsemen, and GO foot, and
to encourage them in their designs against
Frendraught, the lady of Ilothieinuy gave them
the castle of Ilothicmay, which they fortified,

First Marquis and Alarcliionesa of Huntly. flnnipd !>y permission of His Girace the Duke of
Richmond, from the Originals at Gordon Castle.

the

and from which they made daily sallies upon
Frendraught's possessions; burned his corn,
laid waste his lands, and killed some of his
people. Frendraught opposed them for some
time; but being satisfied that such proceedings
taking place almost under the very eyes of the
Marquis of Huntly, must necessarily be done
with his concurrence he went to Edinburgh,
and entered a complaint against the marquis
to the Privy Council During Frendraught's
absence, his tenants were expelled by the
Gordons from their possessions, without oppo-
sition.4

When the king heard of these lawless pro-
ceedings, and of the refusal of the marquis to
interfere, he ordered the lords of the Privy
Council to adopt measures for suppressing
them; preparatory to which they cited the

•Gordon's Continuation, p. 475.
p 47, el scj.

S[ialiling, vol.

marquis, in tiie beginning ot the following
year, to appear before them to answer for
these oppressions. lie accordingly went to
Edinburgh in the month of February, 1635,
where he was commanded to remain till the
matter should bo investigated. The heads of
the families whose sons had joined the outlaws
also appeared, and, after examination, Letter-
fourie, Park, Tilliangus, Terrisoule, Inver-
markie, Tulloch, Ardlogy, and several other
persons of the surname of Gordon, were com-
mitted to prison, until their sons, who had
engaged in the combination against Fren-
draught, should be presented before the council.
The prisoners, who denied being accessory
thereto, then petitioned to be set at liberty, a
request which was complied with on condition
that they should either produce the rebels, as
tin' pillagers were called, or make them leave
thu kingdom. The marquis, although nothing
could be proved agairst him, was obliged to

164

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

find caution that all persons of the surname
of Gordon within his hounds should keep
the peace ; and that he should he answerable
in all time coming for any damage which
should hefall the laird of Frendraught, or his
lands, hy whatever violent means; and also
that he should present the rebels at Edinburgh,
that justice might be satisfied, or make them
leave the kingdom.

The Marquis of Huntly, thereupon, returned
to the north, and the rebels hearing of the
obligation he had come under, immediately
dispersed themselves. The greater part of
them fled into Flanders, and about twelve of
them were apprehended by the marquis, and
sent by him to Edinburgh. John Gordon,
who lived at Woodhead of Rothiernay, and
another, were executed. Of the remaining
two, James Gordon, son of George Gordon in
Auchterless, and William Ross, son of John
Ross of Ballivet, the former was acquitted by
the jury, and the latter was imprisoned in the
jail of Edinburgh for future trial, having been
a ringleader of the party. In apprehending
these twelve persons, James Gordon, son of
Adam Gordon of Strathdoun, was killed, and
to show the Privy Council how diligent the
marquis had been in fulfilling his obligation,
his head was sent to Edinburgh along with
the prisoners.

The activity with which the marquis pursued
the oppressors of Frendraught, brought him
afterwards into some trouble. Adam Gordon,
ono of the principal ringleaders of the confed-
eracy, and second son of Sir Adam Gordon of
the Park, thinking it " hard to be baneishit
out of his native country, resoluit to cum home"
and throw himself on the king's mercy. For
this purpose he made a private communication
to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, then chan-
cellor of Scotland, in which he offered to sub-
mit himself to the king's pleasure, promis-
ing, that if his majesty would grant him a
pardon, ho would reveal the author of the re-
bellion. The archbishop, eager, it would ap-
pear, to fulfil the ends of justice, readily
entered into Gordon's views, and sent a spe-
cial messenger to London to the king, who
at once granted Adam a pardon. On receiving
the pardon, Gordon accused the Marquis of
Ihuitly as the author of the conspiracy against

Frendraught, and with having instigated him
and his associates to commit all the depreda-
tions which had taken place. The king, there-
upon, sent a commission to Scotland, appoint-
ing a select number of the lords of the Privy
Council to examine into the affair.

As Adam Gordon had charged James Gordon
of Letterfourie, with having employed him and
his associates, in name of the marquis, against
the laird of Frendraught, Letterfourie was cited
to appear at Edinburgh for trial. On being
confronted with Adam Gordon, he denied
everything laid to his charge, but, notwith-
standing this denial, ho was committed a
prisoner to the jail of Edinburgh. The mar-
quis himself, who had also appeared at Edin-
burgh on the appointed day, January 15th,
1636, was likewise confronted with Adam
Gordon before the committee of the Privy
Council ; but although he denied Adam's ac-
cusation, and " cleared himself with great dex-
teritie, beyond admiration," as Gordon of Sal-
lagh observes, he was, " upon presumption,"
committed a close prisoner to the castle of
Edinburgh.

When his majesty was made acquainted with
these circumstances by the commissioners, and
that there was no proof to establish the charge
against the marquis, both the marquis and
Gordon of Lotterfourie were released by his
command, on giving security for indemnify-
ing the laird of Frcndraught for any damage
he might sustain in time coining, from the
Gordons and their accomplices. Having so
far succeeded in annoying the marquis, Adam
Gordon, after collecting a body of men, by
leave of the Privy Council, went along with
them to Germany, where he became a captain
in the regiment of Colonel George Leslie. To
terminate the unhappy differences between the
marquis arid Frendraught, the king enjoined
Sir Robert Gordon, who was related to both,
— the marquis being his cousin-gorman, and
chief of that family, and Frendraught the
husband of his niece, — to endeavour to bring
about a reconciliation between them. Sir
Robert, accordingly, on his return to Scotland,
prevailed upon the parties to enter into a sub-
mission, by which they agreed to refer all
questions and differences between them to the
arbitrament of friends ; but before the submis-

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE MARQUIS OF HUNTLY.

105

sion was brought to a final conclusion, the
marquis expired at Dundee on the 13th
June, (15th according to Gordon), 1636, at
the age o'f seventy-four, while returning to
the north from Edinburgh. Ho was in-
terred in the family vault at Elgin, on the
thirtieth day of August following, " having,"
says Spalding, " above his chist a rich mort-
cloath of black velvet, wherein was wrought
t\vo ivhyte crosses. He had torchh'ghts in
great number carried bo freinds and gentlemen ;
the marques' son, called Adam, was at his
head, the carlo of Murray on the right spaik,
the carle of Seaforth on the loft spaik, the
earle of Sutherland on the third spaik, and Sir
Robert Gordon on the fourth spaik. Besyds
tliir nobles, many barrens and gentlemen was
there, haveing above three hundred lighted
torches at the lifting. Ho is carried to the
east port, doun the wynd to the south kirk
stile of the colledge kirk, in at the south kirk
door, and buried in his own isle with much
murning and lamentation. The like forme of
burriall, with torch light, was not seiii heir tliir
many dayes befor."6

The marquis was a remarkable man for the
age in which he lived, and there arc no char-
acters in that eventful period of Scottish his-
tory so well entitled to veneration and esteem.
A lover of justice, he never attempted to
aggrandize his vast possessions at the expense
of his less powerful neighbours; a kind and
humane superior and landlord, he exercised a
lenient sway over his numerous vassals and
tenants, who repaid his kindness by sincere
attachment to his person and family. En-
dowed with great strength of mind, invincible
courage, and consummate prudence, he sur-
mounted the numerous difficulties with which
he was surrounded, and lived to see the many
factions which had conspired against him dis-
comfited and dissolved. While his constant
and undeviating attachment to the religion of
his forefathers, raised up many enemies against
him among the professors of the reformed doc-
trines, by whoso cabals he was at one time
obliged to leave the kingdom, his great power
and influence were assailed by another formi-

8 Spalding, vol. i. p. 50, cl seq. Gordon's Contin-
uation, p. 476, cl seq.

dable class of opponents among the turbulent
nobility, who were grieved to see a man who
had not imitated their venality and rapacity,
not only retain his predominance in the north,
but also receive especial marks of his sovereign's
regard. But skilful and intriguing as they
were in all the dark and sinister ways of an
ago distinguished for its base and wicked
practices, their machinations were frustrated
by the discernment and honesty of George
Gordon, the first Marquis of Huntly.

CHAPTER XII.

A.D. 1636— (SEPTEMBER) 1644.
Bnrrisn SOVEREIGN : — Charles I., 1025— 1G49.

Charles I. attempts to introduce Episcopacy into Scot-
land— Meets with opposition — Preparations for war
— Doings in the North — Earl of Montrose — Mont-
rose at Aberdeen — Arrests the Marquis of Huntly —
Covenanters of the North meet at Turrilf — The
"Trottof Turray" — Movements of the Gordons —
Viscount Aboyne lands at Aberdeen — " Raid of
Stonehaven " — Battle at the Bridge of Dee — Pacifi-
cation of Berwick — War again — Earl of Argyle
endeavours to secure the "West Highlands — Harsh
proceedings against the Earl of Airly— Montrose
goes over to the king — Marquis of Huntly rises in
the North — Montrose enters Scotland in disguise—
Landing of Irish forces in the West Highlands —
Meeting of Montrose and Alexander Macdonald —
Atholemen join Montrose — Montrose advances into
Strathearn — Battle of Tippermuir.

HITHERTO the history of the HigMands has
been confined chiefly to the feuds and con-
flicts of the clans, the details of which, though
interesting to their descendants, cannot be sup-
posed to afford the same gratification to readers
at large. We now enter upon a more impor-
tant era, when the Highlanders begin to play
a much more prominent part in the theatre of
our national history, and to give a foretaste of
that military prowess for which they after-
wards became so highly distinguished.

In entering upon the details of the military
achievements of the Highlanders during the
period of the civil wars, it is quite unnecessary
and foreign to our purpose to trouble the
reader with a history of the rash, unconstitu-
tional, and ill-fated attempt of Charles I. to
introduce Episcopacy into Scotland ; nor, for the
same reason, is it requisite to detail minutely
the proceedings of the authors of the Covenant

1GG

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Suffice it to say, that in consequence of the
inflexible determination of Charles to force
English Episcopacy upon the people of Scot-
land, the great majority of the nation declared
their determination " by the great name of the
Lord their God," to defend their religion against
what they considered to be errors and corrup-
tions. Notwithstanding, however, the most
positive demonstrations on the part of the
people to resist, Charles, acting by the advice
of a privy council of Scotsmen established in
England, exclusively devoted to the affairs of
Scotland, and instigated by Archbishop Laud,
resolved to suppress the Covenant by open force.
In order to gain time for the necessary prepara-
tions, he sent the Marquis of Hamilton, as his
commissioner, to Scotland, who was instructed
to promise " that the practice of the liturgy and
the canons should never be pressed in any other
than a fair and legal way, and that the high
commission should be so rectified as never to
impugn the laws, or to be a just grievance to
loyal subjects," and that the king would pardon
those who had lately taken an illegal covenant,
on their immediately renouncing it, and giving
up the bond to the commissioners.

When the Covenanters heard of Hamilton's
approach, they appointed a national fast to be
held, to beg the blessing of God upon the kirk,
*ml on the 10th of June, 1638, the marquis
was received at Leith, and proceeded to the
capital through an assemblage of about 60,000
Covenanters, and 500 ministers. The spirit
and temper of such a vast assemblage over-
awed the marquis, and he therefore concealed
his instructions. After making two successive
journeys to London to communicate the alarm-
ing state of affairs, and to receive fresh instruc-
tions, he, on his second return, issued a pro-
clamation, discharging " the service book, the
book of canons, and the high commission court,
dispensing with the five articles of Perth, dis-
pensing the entrants into the ministry from
taking the oath of supremacy and of canonical
obedience, commanding all persons to lay aside
the new Covenant, and take that which had
been published by the king's father in 1589,
and summoning a free assembly of the kirk to
meet in the month of November, and a parlia-
ment in the month of May, the following year."
Matters had, however, proceeded too far for

submission to the conditions of the proclama-
tion, and the covenanting leaders answered it
by a formal protest, in which they gave sixteen
reasons, showing that to comply with the de-
mands of the king would be to betray the cause
of God, and to act against the dictates of con-
science.

In consequence of the opposition made to
the proclamation, it was generally expected
that the king would have recalled the order for
the meeting of the assembly at Glasgow ; but
no prohibition having been issued, that assem-
bly, which consisted, besides the clergy, of one
lay-elder and four lay-assessors from every pres-
bytery, met at the time appointed, viz., in the
month of November, 1638. After the assembly
had spent a week in violent debates, the com-
missioner, in terms of his instructions, declared
it dissolved ; but, encouraged by the accession
of the Earl of Argyle, who placed himself at
the head of the Covenanters, the members de-
clined to disperse at the mere mandate of the
sovereign, and passed a resolution that, in
spiritual matters, the kirk was independent of
the civil power, and that the dissolution by
the commissioner was illegal and void. After
spending three weeks in revising the ecclesi-
astical regulations introduced into Scotland
since the accession of James to the crown of
England, the assembly condemned the liturgy,
ordinal, book of canons, and court of high
commission, and, assuming all the powers of
legislation, abolished episcopacy, and excom-
municated the bishops themselves, and the
ministers who supported them. Charles de-
clared their proceedings null ; but the people
received them with great joy, and testified
their approbation by a national thanksgiving.

Both parties had for some time been prepar-
ing for war, and they now hastened on their
plans. In consequence of an order from the
supreme committee of the Covenanters in Edin-
burgh, every man capable of bearing arms was
called out and trained. Experienced Scottish
officers, who had spent the greater part of their
lives in military service in Sweden and Ger-
many, returned to Scotland to place themselves
at the head of their countrymen, and the Scot-
tish merchants in Holland supplied them with
arms and ammunition. The king advanced as
far as York with an army, the Scottish bishojia

DOLXGS !>; THE SOUTH.

167

making him believe that the news of his ap-
proach would induce the Covenanters to submit
themselves to his pleasure ; but he was disap-
pointed,— for instead of submitting themselves,
they were the first to commence hostilities.
About the 19th of March, 1G39, General Les-
lie, the covenanting general, with a few men,
surprised, and without difficulty, occupied the
castle of Edinburgh, and about the same time
the Earl of Traquair surrendered Dalkeith
house. Dumbarton castle, like that of Edin-
burgh, was taken by stratagem, the governor,
named Stewart, being intercepted on a Sunday
as he returned from church, and made to
change clothes with another gentleman and
give the pass- word, by which memis the Cove-
nanters easily obtained possession. The king,
on arriving at Durham, despatched the Marquis
of Hamilton with a fleet of forty ships, having
on board 6,000 troops, to the Frith of Forth ;
but as both sides of the Frith were well forti-
fied at different points, and covered with troops,
he was unable to effect a landing. 6

In the meantime, the Marquis of Huntly
raised the royal standard in the north, and as
the Earl of Sutherland, accompanied by Lord
Reay, John, Master of Berridale and others,
had been very busy in Inverness and Elgin,
persuading the inhabitants to subscribe the
Covenant, the marquis wrote him confidentially,
blaming him for his past conduct, and advising
him to declare for the king ; but the earl
informed him in reply, that it was against the
bishops and their innovations, and not against
the king, that he had so acted. The earl then,
in his turn, advised the marquis to join the
Covenanters, by doing which he said he woul^l
not only confer honour on himself, but much
good on his native country; that in any private
question in which Huntly was personally inter-
ested he would assist, but that in the present
affair ho would not aid him. The earl there-
upon joined the Earl of Seaforth, the Master of
Berridale, Lord Lovat, Lord Eeay, the laird of
Balnagown, the Rosses, the Monroes, the laird
of Grant, Macintosh, the laird of Lines, the
sheriff of Moray, the baron of Kilravock, the
lain! of Altire, the tutor of Duffus, and the
oilier Covenanters on the north of the riverSpey.

1 Gordon's Scab A/airs, vol. ii. p. 209.

The Marquis of Huntly assembled his forces
first at Turriff, and afterwards at Kintore,
whence he marched upon Aberdeen, which he
took possession of in name of the king. The
marquis being informed shortly after his arrival
in Aberdeen, that a meeting of Covenanters,
who resided within his district, was to be held
at Turriff on the 1 4th of February, resolved to
disperse them. Ho therefore wrote letters to
his chief dependents, requiring them to meet
him at Turriff the same day, and bring with
them no arms but swords and " schottis" or
pistols. One of these letters fell into the hands
of the Earl of Montrose, one of the chief cove-
nanting lords, who determined at all hazards
to protect the meeting of his friends, the Cove-
nanters. In pursuance of this resolution, ho
collected, with great alacrity, some of his best
friends in Angus, and with his own and their
dependents, to the number of about 800 men,
he crossed the range of hills called the Grange-
bean, between Angus and Abcrcleenshire, and
took possession of Turriff on the morning of
the 14th of February. When Huntly's party
arrived during the course of the day, they were
surprised at seeing the little churchyard of the
village filled with armed men ; and they were
still more surprised to observe them levelling
their hagbuts at them across the walls of the
churchyard. Not knowing how to act in the
absence of the marquis, they retired to a placo
called the Broad Ford of Towie, about two
miles south from the village, when they were
soon joined by Huntly and his suite. After
some considtation, the marquis, after parading
his men in order of battle along the north-west
side of the village, in sight of Monlrose,
dispersed his party, which amounted to 2,000
men, without offering to attack Montrose, on
the pretence that his commission of licii'
tenancy only authorised him to act on the
defensive. 7

James Graham, Earl, and afterwards first
Marquis of Montrose, who played so pro-
minent a part in the history of the troublous
times on which we are entering, was descended
from a family which can be traced back to tho
beginning of the 12th century. His ancestor,
tho Earl of Montrose, fell at Flodden, and liu

* Spalding, voL i. p. 137.

168

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

grandfather became viceroy of Scotland after
James VI. ascended the throne of England,
lie himself was born in 1G12, his mother being
Lady Margaret Ruthven, eldest daughter of
William, first Earl of Gowrie. lie succeeded
to the estates and title in 1026, on the deatli
of his father, and three years after, married
Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Car-
negie of Kinnaird. He pursued his studies at
St. Andrews University and Kinnaird Castle
till lie was about twenty years of age, when
he went to the Continent and studied at the
academies of France and Italy, returning an
accomplished gentleman and a soldier. On
his return he was, for some reason, coldly
received by Charles I., and it is supposed by
some that it was mainly out of chagrin on this
account that he joined the Covenanters. What-
ever may have been his motive for joining
them, lie was certainly an important and
powerful accession to their ranks, although, as
will be seen, his adherence to them was but of
short duration.

Montrose is thus portrayed by his contempo-
rary, Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, author of
Britane's Distemper. " It cannot be denied
but he was ane accomplished gentleman of
many excellent partes ; a bodie not tall, but
comely and well compossed in all Ms linia-
mcntes ; his complexion mecrly whiteo, with
il.ixin liaire ; of a stayed, graue, and solide
looke, and yet his eyes sparkling and full of
lyfe ; of speach slowo, but wittie and full of
sence ; a presence graitfull, courtly, and so
winneing vpon the beholder, as it seemed to
claimo reuerence without seweing for it ; for
he was so affable, so courteous, so bening, as
seemed verely to scorne ostentation and the
keeping of state, and therefor he quicklie made
a conquesse of the heartes of all his followers,
so as whan he list ho could hauc lead them in
a chaine to hauo followed him with chearo-
fullnes in all his intorpryses ; and I am ccr-
tancly perswaded, that this his gratious, hu-
mane, and courteous fredomo of behauiour,
being certanely acceptable befor God as well as
men, was it that wanne him so much renovnc,
und inabled him cheifly, in the loue of his
followers, to goe through so great interprysscs,
wheirin his equall had failled, altho they
exceeded him farrc in power, nor can any

other reason be giuen for it, but only this that
followeth. He did not seeme to affect state,
nor to claime reuerence, nor to keepe a dis-
tance witli gentlemen that ware not his domes-
tickes ; but rather in a noble yet courteouso
way lie seemed to slight those vanisheing
smockes of greatnes, affecting rather the real!
possession of mens heartes then the frothie
and outward showo of reuerence ; and therefor
was all reuerence thrust vpon him, because all
did loue him, therfor all did honour him and
reuerence him, yea, haucing once acquired there
heartes, they ware roadie not only to honour
him, but to quarrell with any that would not
honour him, and would not spare there for-
tounes, nor there derrest blood about there
heartes, to the end he might be honoured,
because they saue that he tooke the right
course to obtaine honour. He had fund furtli
the right way to be reuerenced, and thereby
was approued that propheticke maxime which
hath never failed, nor nouer shall faille,
being pronounced by the Fontaine of treutli
(lie that exalteth liimsclfe shall le liimibled) ;
for his winneiug behauiour and courteous
caryago got him more respect then those to
whom they ware bound both by the law of
nature and by good reason to hawc giuen it to.
Nor could any other reason bo giuen for it,
but only there to much keepeing of distance,
and caryeing themselfes in a more statlye and
reserued way, without putteLng a difference
betuixt a free borne gentleman and a seruillo
or base myuded slaue.

" This much I thought good by the way to
signifie ; for the best and most waliant generall
that euer lead ano armie if ho mistake the dis-
position of the nation whom ho commandes,
and will not descend a litle till he meete witli
the genious of his shouldiours, on whose fol-
loweing his grandour and the success of his in-
tcrpryses chiefely dependeth, stryueing tlirougli
a higli soireing and ower winneing ambition to
drawe them to his byas with awe and not
with lowe, that leader, I say, shall neuer pre-
waill against his enemies with ane armie of the
Scotes nation."

Montrose had, about this time, received a
commission from the Tables — as the boards of
representatives, chosen respectively by the no-
bility, county gentry, clergy, ami inhabitants of

EARL OF MONTROSE AT ABERDEEN.

1G9

the burghs, were called — to raise a body of
troops for the service of the Covenanters, and lie
now proceeded to embody them with extraordi-
nary promptitude. Within one month, lie col-
lected a force of about 3,000 horse and foot,
from the counties of Fife, Forfar, and Perth,
and put them into a complete state of military
discipline. Being joined by the forces under
General Leslie, he marched upon Aberdeen,
which lie entered, without opposition, on the
30th of March, the Marquis of Kuntly having
abandoned the town on his approach. Some
idea of the well-appointed sta'.e of this army
may bo formed from the curious description of
Spalding, who says, that "upon the morne,
being Saturday, they came in order of battell,
weill armed, both on horse and foot, ilk horse-
man having five shot at the least, with ane
carabine in his hand, two pistols by his sydes,
and other two at his saddell toir ; the pikemen
in their ranks, with pike and sword ; the
rausketiers in their ranks, with musket, musket-
stafl'e, bandelier, sword, powder, ball, and
match ; ilk company, both on horse and foot,
had their captains, lieutenants, ensignes, ser-
jeants, and other officers and commanders, all
for the most part in buff coats, and in goodly
order. They had five colours or ensignes,
whereof the Earl of Montrosc had one, have-
ing this motto : ' Fon RELIGION, THE COVE-
NANT, AND THE COUNTRIE ;' the Earle of Maris-
chall had one, the Earle of Kinghorne had
one, and the town of Dundie had two. They
had trumpeters to ilk company of horsemen,
and drummers to ilk company of footmen;
they had their meat, drink, and other provi-
sion, bag and baggage, carryed with them,
all done be advyse of his excellence Felt Mar-
schall Leslie, whose councell Gcnerall Montrose
followed in this busiencss. Now, in seemly
order and good array, this army came forward,
and entered the burgh of Aberdein, about ten
hours in the morning, at the Over Kirkgate
Port, syne came doun throw the Broadgate,
throw the Castlegate, out at the Justice Port
to the Queen's Links directly. Here it is to
be notted that few or none of this hail army
wanted ane blew ribbin hung about his craig,
doun under his left arme, which they called
the Covenanters' Rililin. But the Lord Gor-
don, and some other of the marquess' bairnes
I.

and familie, had ane ribbin when he was
dwelling in the toun, of ane reid flesh cullor,
which they wore in their hatts, and called it
The HoyaU Ribbin, as a signe of their love and
loyalltie to the king. In despyte and derision
thereof this blew ribbin was worne, and called
the Covenanters' Ribbin, be the hail souldiers
of the army, and would not hear of the royall
ribbin ; such was their pryde and malice."8

At Aberdeen Montrose was joined the same
day by Lord Frascr, the Master of Forbes, the
laird of Dalgettic, the tutor of Pitsligo, the
Eavl Marshal's men in Buchan, with several
other gentlemen and their tenants, dependants,
and servants, to the number of 2,000, an addi-
tion which augmented Montrose's army to 9,000
men. Leaving the Earl of Kinghorn with
1,500 men to keep possession of Aberdeen,
Montrose marched the same day towards Kin-
tore, where he encamped that night. Halting
all Sunday, he proceeded on the Monday to In-
verury, where he again pitched his camp. The
Marquis of Huntly grew alarmed at this sudden
and unexpected movement, and thought it now
time to treat with such a formidable foe for his
personal safety. He, therefore, despatched
Robert Gordon of Straloch and Doctor Gordon,
an Aberdeen physician, to Montrose's camp, to
request an interview. The marquis proposed
to meet him on a moor near Blackball, about
two miles from the camp, with 11 attendants
each, with no arms but a single sword at their
side. After consulting with Field Marshal
Leslie and the other officers, Montroso agreed
to meet the marquis, on Thursday the 4th of
April, at the place mentioned. The parties
accordingly met. Among the eleven who
attended the marquis were his son James,
Lord Aboyne, and the Lord Oliphant. Lords
Elcho and Cowper were of the party who at-
tended Montrose. After the usual salutation
they both alighted and entered into conversa-
tion; but, coming to no understanding, they
adjourned the conference till tho following
morning, when the marquis signed a paper
obliging himself to maintain the king's author-
ity, " the liberty of church and state, religion
and laws." He promised at tho same time to
do his best to make his friends, tenants, and

8 Troubles, vol. i. pp. 107, 108.

170

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

servants subscribe the Covenant.9 The mar-
quis, after this arrangement, went to Strath-
bogie, and Montrose returned with his army to
Aberdeen, the following clay.

The marquis had not been many days at
Strathbogie, when he received a notice from
Montroso to repair to Aberdeen with his two
sons, Lord Gordon and Viscount Aboyne,
for the ostensible purpose of assisting the
committee in their deliberations as to the
settlement of the disturbances in the north.1
On Hnntly receiving an assurance from Mon-
trose and the other covenanting leaders that
no attempt should be made to detain himself
and his sons as prisoners, he complied witli
Montrose's invitation, and repairing to Aber-
deen, ho took up his quarters in the laird of
Pitfoddcl's house.

The arrest of the marquis, which followed,
has been attributed, not without reason, to the
intrigues of the Frasers and the Forbeses, who
bore a mortal antipathy to the house of Huntly,
and who were desirous to sec the " Cock of the
North," as the powerful head of that house was
popularly called, humbled.2 But, be these con-
jectures as they may, on the morning after the
marquis's arrival at Aberdeen, vi/., on the lllli
April, a council of the principal officers of
Montrose's army was held, at which it was
determined to arrest the marquis and Lord
Gordon, his eldest son, and cany them to
Edinburgh. It was not, however, judged ad-
visable to act upon this resolution immediately,
and to do away with any appearance of treach-
ery, Montrose and his friends invited the mar-
quis and his two sons to supper the following
evening. During the entertainment the most
friendly civilities were passed on both sides,
and, after the party had become somewhat
merry, Montrose and his friends hinted to the
marquis the expediency, in the present posture
of affairs, of resigning his commission of lieu-
tenancy. They also proposed that he should
write a letter to the king along with the resig-
nation of his commission, in favour of the
Covenanters, as good and loyal subjects ; and
that he should despatch the laird of Cluny, the
following morning, with the letter and rcsigna-

9 Spalding, vol. i. pp. 157, 160.

1 Gordon of Kothiemay, vol. ii. p. 235.

' Id., vol. ii. p. 235.

tion. The marquis, seeing that his commission
was altogether unavailable, immediately wrote
out, in presence of the meeting, a resignation of
it, and a letter of recommendation as proposed,
and, in their presence, delivered the same to the
laird of Cluny, who was to set off the following
morning with them to the king. It would
appear that Montrose was not sincere in mak-
ing this demand upon the marquis, and that
his object was, by calculating on a refusal, to
make that the ground for arresting him; for
the marquis had scarcely returned to his lodg-
ings to pass the night, when an armed guard
was placed round the house, to prevent him
from returning home, as he. intended to do, the
following morning.

When the marquis rose, next morning, ho
was surprised at receiving a message from
the covenanting general, desiring his attend-
ance at the house of the Earl Marshal; and
he was still farther surprised, when, on
going out, along with his two sons, to the
appointed place of meeting, ho found his
lodging beset with sentinels. The marquis
was received by Montrose with the usual
morning salutation, after which, he proceeded
to demand from him a contribution for liqui-
dating a loan of 200,000 mcrks, which the
Covenanters had borrowed from Sir William
Dick, a rich merchant of Edinburgh. To this
unexpected demand the marquis replied, that
he was not obliged to pay any part thereof, not
having been concerned in the borrowing, and
of course, declined to comply. Montroso then
requested him to take steps to apprehend James
Grant and John Dugar, and their accomplices,
who had given considerable annoyance to the
Covenanters in the Highlands. Huntly ob-
jected, that, having now no commission, he
could not act, and that, although he had,
James Grant had already obtained a remission
from the king ; and as for Jolui Dugar, he would
concur, if required, with the other neighbouring
proprietors in an attempt to apprehend him.
The earl, finally, as the Covenant, he said, ad-
mitted of no standing hatred or feud, required
the marquis to reconcile himself to Crichton,
the laird of Frendranght, but this the marquis
positively refused to do. Finding, as he no
doubt expected, the marquis quite resolute in
i his determination to resist these demands, the

MONTEOSE AREESTS THE MARQUIS OF HUNTLY.

171

earl suddenly changctl his tone, and thus ad-
dressed the marquis, apparently in the most
friendly terms, "My lord, seeing we are all
now friends, will you go south to Edinburgh
with us?" Hunlly answered that ho would
not — that he was not prepared for such a
journey, and that ho was just going to set off
for Strathbogie. "Your lordship," rejoined
Montrose, " will do well to go with us." The
marquis now perceiving Montrosc's design,
accosted him thus, " My lord, I came here to
this town upon assurance that I should come
and go at my own pleasure, without molesta-
tion or inquietude; and now I see why my
lodging was guarded, and that ye mean to take
me to Edinburgh, whether I will or not. This
conduct, on your part, seems to mo to be
neither fair nor honourable." He added, " My
lord, give me back the bond which I gave you
at Invcrury, and you shall have an answer."
Montrose thereupon delivered the bond to the
marquis. Huntly then inquired at the earl,
" Whether he would take him to the south as
a captive, or willingly of his own mindl"
" Make your choice," said Montrose. " Then,"
observed the marquis, " I will not go as a cap-
tive, but as a volunteer." The marquis there-
upon immediately returned to his lodging, and
despatched a messenger after the laird of
Cluny, to stop him on his journey."3

It was the intention of Montrose to take
both the marquis and his sons to Edinburgh,
but Viscount Ahoyne, at the desire of some of
his friends, was released, and allowed to return
to Strathbogie. On arriving at Edinburgh,
the marquis and his son, Lord Gordon, were
committed close prisoners to the castle of
Edinburgh, and the Tables "appointed five
guardians to attend upon him and his son
night and day, upon his own expenses, that
none should come in nor out but by their
sight."3 On being solicited to sign the Cov-
enant, Huntly issued a manifesto characterized
by magnanimity and the most steadfast loyalty,
concluding with the following words : — " For
my oune part, I am in your power; and re-
solved not to leave that foul title of traitor as
ane inheritance upon my posterityo. Yow

5 Spalding, vol. i. p. 188.
• Ibid. p. 177.

may tacke niy heado from my shoulders, but
not my heart from my soveraigne."4

Some time after the departure of Montrose's
army to the sputh, the Covenanters of the north
appointed a committee meeting to be held at
Turriff, upon Wednesday, 24th April, con-
sisting of the Earls Marshal and Seaforth,
Lord Fraser, the Master of Forbes, and somo
of their kindred and friends. All persons
within the diocese, who had not subscribed the
Covenant, were required to attend this meeting
for the purpose of signing it, and failing com-
pliance, their property was to be given up
to indiscriminate plunder. As neither Lord
Aboyne, the laird of Banff, nor any of their
friends and kinsmen, had subscribed the Cov-
enant, nor meant to do so, they resolved to
protect themselves from the threatened attack.
A preliminary meeting of the heads of the
northern Covenanters was held on the 22d of
April, at Monymusk, where they learned of
the rising of Lord Aboyne and his friends.
This intelligence induced them to postpone
the meeting at Turriff till the 26th of April,
by which day they expected to be joined by
several gentlemen from Caithness, Sutherland,
Eoss, Moray, and other quarters. At another
meeting, however, on the 24th of April, they
postponed the proposed meeting at Turriff,
sine die, and adjourned to Aberdeen; but as
no notice had been sent of the postponement
to the different covenanting districts in the
north, about 1,500 men assembled at the place
of meeting on the 2Gth of April, and were
quite astonished to find that the chiefs were
absent. Upon an explanation taking place,
the meeting was adjourned till the 20th of May.

Lord Aboyno had not been idle during this
interval, having collected about 2,000 horse
and foot from the Highlands and Lowlands,
with which force ho had narrowly watched
the movements of the Covenanters. Hearing,
however, of the adjournment of the Turriff
meeting, his lordship, at the entreaty of his
friends, broke up his army, and went by sea to
England to meet the king, to inform him of
the precarious state of affairs in the north.
Many of his followers, such as the lairds of
Gight, Haddo, Uduey, Newton, Pitmedden,

4 Gordon of Rothiemay, ii. 240. Spalding. i 1 "D.

172

GENERAL HISTOHY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

F overan, Tippertie, Hartliill, and others, who
had subscribed the Covenant, regretted his
departure; but as they had gone too far to
recede, they resolved to continue their forces
in the field, and held a meeting on the 7th of
May at Auchterless, to concert a plan of
operations.

A body of the Covenanters, to the number
of about 2,000, having assembled at Turriff as
early as the 13th of May, the Gordons resolved
instantly to attack them, before they should
be joined by other forces, which were expected
to arrive before the 20th. Taking along with
them four brass field-pieces from Strathbogie,
the Gordons, to the number of about 800 horse
and foot, commenced their march on the 13th
of May, at ten o'clock at night, and reached
Turriff next morning by day-break, by a road
unknown to the sentinels of the covenanting
army. As soon as they approached the town,
the commander of the Gordons ordered the
trumpets to be sounded and the drums to be
beat, the noise of which was the first indication
the Covenanters had of their arrival. Being
thus surprised, the latter had no tune to make
any preparations for defending themselves.
They made, indeed, a shoit resistance, but were
soon dispersed by the fire from the field-pieces,
leaving behind them the lairds of Echt and
Skene, and a few others, who were taken
prisoners. The loss on either side, in killed
and wounded, was very trifling. This skirmish
is called by the writers of the period, " the
Trott ofTurray."5

The successful issue of this trifling affair had
a powerful effect on the minds of the victors,
who forthwith marched on Aberdeen, which
they entered on the 15th of May. They
expelled the Covenanters from the town, and
were there joined by a body of men from the
Braes of Mar under the command of Donald
Farquharson of Tulliegarmouth, and the laird
of Abergeldie, and by another party headed by
James Grant, so long an outlaw, to the num-
ber of about 500 men. These men quartered
themselves very freely upon the inhabitants,
particularly on those who had declared for the
Covenant, and they plundered many gentle-

5 Turray is the old name of Turriff. — Gordon of
Kothiemay, vol. ii. p. 254. Gordon of Sallagh, p. 401. |

men's houses in the neighbourhood. The house
of Durris, belonging to John Forbes of Leslie,
a great Covenanter, received a visit from them,
" There was," says Spalding, " little plenishing
left unconveyed away before their conieing
They gott good bear and ale, broke up girnells,
and buke bannocks at good fyrcs, and drank
merrily upon the laird's best drink : syne
carried away with them alse meikle victual
as they could beir, which they could not gett
eaten and destroyed ; and syne removed from
that to Echt, Skene, Monymusk, and other
houses pertaining to the name of Forbes, all
great Covenanters."6

Two days after their arrival at Aberdeen,
the Gordons sent to Dunnottar, for the purpose
of ascertaining the sentiments of the Earl
Marshal, in relation to their proceedings, and
whether they might reckon on his friendship.
The earl, however, intimated that he could say
nothing in relation to the affair, and that he
would require eight days to advise with his
friends. This answer was considered quite
unsatisfactory, and the chiefs of the army were
at a loss how to act. Robert Gordon of Stra-
loch, and James Burnet of Craigmyllc, a
brother of the laird of Leys, proposed to enter
into a negotiation with the Earl Marshal, but
Sir George Ogilvie of Banff would not listen
to such a proceeding, and, addressing Straloch,
he said, " Go, if you will go ; but pr'ythee, let
it be as quarter-master, to inform the earl that
we are coming." Straloch, however, went not
in the character of a quarter- master, but as a
mediator in behalf of his chief. The earl said
he had no intention to take up arms, without
an order from the Tables ; that, if the Gordons
would disperse, he would give them early
notice to re-assemble, if necessary, for their
own defence, but that if they should attack
him, he would certainly defend himself.

The army was accordingly disbanded on the
21st of May, and the barons went to Aberdeen,
there to spend a few days. The depredations
of the Highlanders, who had come down to
the lowlands in quest of plunder, upon the
properties of the Covenanters, were thereafter
carried on to such an extent, that the latter com-
plained to the Earl Marshal, who immediately

' Spalding, vol. i. p. 188.

VISCOUNT ABOYNE LANDS AT ABEKDEEN.

173

assembled a body of men out of Angus and
the. Mcarns, with which ho entered Aberdeen
on tho 23d of May, causing the barons to
make a precipitate retreat. Two days there-
after tho earl was joined by Montrose, at the
head of 4,000 men, an addition which, with
other accessions, made the whole force assem-
bled at Aberdeen exceed 0,000.

Meanwhile a largo body of northern Cove-
nantors, tinder the command of tho Earl of
Scaforth, was approaching from the districts
beyond the Spey; but the Gordons having
crossed the Spey for tho purpose of opposing
their advance, an agreement was entered into
between both parties that, on the Gordons re-
tiring across the Spey, Seaforth and his men
should also retire homewards.

After spending five days in Aberdeen, Mon-
trose marched his army to Udney, thence
to Kellie, the seat of the laird of Haddo, and
afterwards to Gight, the residence of Sir
Eobert Gordon, to which he laid siege. But
intelligence of the arrival of Viscount Aboyne
in the bay of Aberdeen, deranged his plans.
Being quite uncertain of Aboyne's strength,
and fearing that his retreat might be cut off,
Montrose quickly raised the siege and returned
to Aberdeen. Although Lord Aboyne still
remained on board his vessel, and could easily
have been prevented from landing, Montroso
most unaccountably abandoned the town, and
retired into the Mearns.

Viscount Aboyne had been most graciously
received by the king, and had ingratiated him-
self so much with the monarch, as to obtain
the commission of lieutenancy which his father
held. Tho king appears to have entertained
good hopes from his endeavours to support the
royal cause in the north of Scotland, and be-
fore taking leave he gave the viscount a letter
addressed to the Marquis of Hamilton, request-
ing him to afford his lordship all the assistance
in his power. From whatever cause, all the
aid afforded by the Marquis was limited to a
few officers and four field-pieces: "The king,''
says Gordon of Sallagh, " coming to Berwick,
and business growing to a height, the armies
of England and Scotland lying near one another,
his majesty sent the Viscount of Aboyne and
Colonel Gun (who was then returned out of
Germany) to the Marquis of Hamilton, to

receive some forces from him, and with these
forces to go to Aberdeen, to possess and re-
cover that town. The Marquis of Hamilton,
lying at anchor in Forth, gave them no supply
of men, but sent them five ships to Aberdeen,
and the marquis himself retired with his fleet
and men to the Holy Island, hard by Berwick,
to reinforce tho king's army there against the
Scots at Dunslaw." " On his voyage to
Aberdeen, Aboyne's ships fell in with two
vessels, one of which contained the lairds of
Banff, Foveran, Newton, Crummie, and others,
who had fled on the approach of Montrose to
Gight; and the other had on board some
citizens of Aberdeen, and several ministers
Trho had refused to sign the Covenant, all of
whom the viscount persuaded to return homo
along with him.

On the 6th of June, Lord Aboyne, accom-
panied by the Earls of Glencairn and Tulli-
bardine, the lairds of Drum, Banff, Fedderet,
Foveran, and Newton, .and their followers,
with Colonel Gun and several English officers,
landed in Aberdeen without opposition. Imme-
diately on coming ashore, Aboyne issued a pro-
clamation which was read at the cross of Aber-
deen, prohibiting all his majesty's loyal subjects
from paying any rents, duties, or other debts to
the Covenanters, and requiring them to pay
one-half of such sums to the king, and to
retain the other for themselves. Those persona
who had been forced to subscribe the Cove-
nant against their will, were, on repentance, to
be forgiven, and every person was required to
take an oath of allegiance to his majesty.

This bold step inspired the royalists with
confidence, and in a short space of time a con-
siderable force rallied round the royal standard.
Lewis Gordon, third son of the Marquis ot
Huntly, a youth of extraordinary courage, on
hearing of his brother's arrival, collected his
father's friends and tenants, to the number of
about 1,000 horse and foot, and with these he
entered Aberdeen on the 7th of June. These
were succeeded by 100 horse, sent in by tho
laird of Drum, and by considerable forces led
by James Grant and Donald Farquharson.
Many of the Covenanters also joined tho
viscount, so that liis force ultimately amounted

7 Continuation, p. 102.

174

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

to several thousand men. Spalding8 gives
a sad, though somewhat ludicrous account
of the way in which Farquliarson's " hie-
land men" conducted themselves while in
Aberdeen. He says, " Thir saulless lounis
plunderit meit, drink, and sclieip quliair ever
they cam. Thay oppressit the Oldtoun, and
brocht in out of the countrie honest mcnis
scheip, and sold at tho cross of Old Abirdein
to sic as wold by, ane scheip upone foot for
ane groat. The poor men that audit tliame
follouit in and coft bak thair awin scheip
agane, sic as wes left unslayno for thair meit."

On the 10th of Juno the viscount left Aber-
deen, and advanced upon Kintore with an
army of about 2,000 horse and foot, to which
he received daily accessions. The inhabitants
of the latter place_ were compelled by him to
subscribe the oath of allegiance, and notwith-
standing their compliance, " the troops," says
Spalding, " plundered meat and drink, and
made good fires: and, where they wanted
peats, broke down beds and boards in honest
men's houses to be fires, and fed their horses
with com and straw that day and night."9
Next morning the army made a raid upon
Hall Forrest, a seat of the Earl Marshal, and
the house of Muchells, belonging to Lord
Fraser; but Aboyne, hearing of arising in the
south, returned to Aberdeen.

As delay would be dangerous to his cause in
the present conjuncture, he crossed the Dee on
the 14th of June, his army amounting alto-
gether probably to about 3,000 horse and foot,1
with the intention of occupying Stonehaven,
and of issuing afresh the king's proclamation
at the market cross of that burgh. He pro-
ceeded as far as Muchollis, orMuchalls, the seat
of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leyes, a Covenanter,
where he encamped that night. On hearing of
his approach, the Earl Marshal and Montrose
posted themselves, with 1,200 men, and some
pieces of ordnance which they had drawn from
Dunnottar castle, on the direct road which
Aboyne had to pass, and waited his approach.

8 Spaldiug, vol. i. p. 205.

9 Troubles, vol. i. p. 206.

1 Spalding, vol. i. p. 207. — Gordon of Rpthiernay,
vol. ii. p. 268.— Gordon of Euthven, in his abridg-
ment of Sritmie'a Distemper (Spald. Club ed.), p. 20ti,
makes the number 5,000.

Although Aboyno was quite aware of tho
position of the Earl Marshal, instead of endea-
vouring to outflank him by making a detour to
the right, he, by Colonel Gun's advice, crossed
tho Meagre hill next morning, directly in tho
face of his opponent, who lay with his forces
at the bottom of the hill. As Aboyne de-
scended the hill, the Earl Marshal opened a
heavy fire upon him, which threw his men into
complete disorder. The Highlanders, unaccus-
tomed to the fire of cannon, were the first to
retreat, and in a short time the whole army
gave way. Aboyne thereupon returned to
Aberdeen with some horsemen, leaving tho
rest of tho army to follow; but the High-
landers took a homeward course, carrying along
with them a largo quantity of booty, which
they gathered on their retreat. Tho disastrous
issue of "the Eaid of Stonehaven," as this
affair has been called, has been attributed, with
considerable plausibility, to treachery on the
part of Colonel Gun, to whom, on account of
Ms great experience, Aboyne had intrusted the
command of tho army.2

On his arrival at Aberdeen, Aboyne held a
council of war, at which it was determined to
send some persons into the Mearns to collect
the scattered remains of his army, for, with the
exception of about 180 horsemen and a few foot
soldiers, the whole of the fine army which he
had led from Aberdeen had disappeared ; but
although the army again mustered at Leggets-
den to the number of 4,000, they were pre-
vented from recrossing the Dee and joining
his lordship by tho Marshal and Montrose,
who advanced towards tho bridge of Dee with
all their forces. Aboyne, hearing of their ap-
proach, resolved to dispute with them the
passage of tho Dee, and, as a precautionary
measure, blocked up tho entrance to the bridge
of Dee from the south by a thick wall of turf,
beside which ho placed 100 musketeers upon
the bridge, under the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Jolmstone, to annoy the assailants from
tho small turrets on its sides. Tho viscount
was warmly seconded in his views by the citi-
zens of Aberdeen, whoso dread of another hos-
tile visit from the Covenanters induced them to

5 Spaldiuf!, vol. i. p. 208. Gordon of Rothienmy,
vol. ii. p. 272. Britane's Distemper, p. 2*.

BATTLE AT THE 15KIDGE OF DEE.

175

alford him every assistance in their power, and
it is recorded that the women and children
even occupied themselves in carrying provi-
sions to the army during the contest.

The army of Montrose consisted of about
2,000 foot and 300 horse, and a largo train of
artillery. The forces which Lord Aboyne
had collected on the spur of the occasion
were not numerous, but he was superior in
cavalry. His ordnance consisted only of four
pieces of brass cannon. Montrose arrived at
the bridge of Dee on the 18th of June, and,
without a moment's delay, commenced a furious
cannonade upon the works which had been
thrown up at the south end, and which he
kept up during the whole day without produc-
ing any material effect. Lieutenant-colonel
Johnstone defended the bridge with deter-
mined bravery, and his musketeers kept up a
galling and well-directed fire upon their assail-
ants. Both parties reposed during the short
twilight, and as soon as morning dawned Mon-
trose renewed his attack upon the bridge, with
an ardour which seemed to have received a
fresh impulse from the unavailing efforts of
the preceding day ; but all his attempts were
vain. Seeing no hopes of carrying the bridge
in the teeth of the force opposed to him, lie had
recourse to a stratagem, by which he succeeded
in withdrawing a part of Aboyne's forces from
the defence of the bridge. That force had,
indeed, been considerably impaired before the
renewal of the attack, in consequence of a party
of 50 musketeers having gone to Aberdeen to
escort thither the body of a citizen named John
Forbes, who had been killed the preceding
day ; to which circumstance Spalding attri-
butes the loss of the bridge ; but whether the
absence of this party had such an effect upon
the fortune of the day is by no means clear.
The covenanting general, after battering unsuc-
cessfully the defences of the bridge, ordered
a party of horsemen to proceed up the river
some distance, and to make a demonstration as
if they intended to cross. Aboyne was com-
pletely deceived by this manoeuvre, and sent
the whole of his horsemen from the bridge
to dispute the passage of the river with those
of Montrose, leaving Lieutenant-colonel John-
stone and his 50 musketeers alone to protect
the bridge. Montrose having thus drawn his

opponent into the snare set for him, imme-
diately sent back the greater part of his horse,
under the command of Captain Middletou, with
instructions to renew the attack upon the
bridge with redoubled energy. This officer lost
no time in obeying these orders, and Lieutenant-
colonel Johnstone having been wounded in the
outset by a stone torn from the bridge by a shot,
was forced to abandon its defence, and he and
his party retired precipitately to Aberdeen.

When Aboyne saw the colours of the Cove-
nanters flying on the bridge of Dee, he fled with
great haste towards Strathbogie, after releasing
the lairds of Purie Ogilvy and Purie Fodder-
inghame, whom he had taken prisoners, and
carried witli him from Aberdeen. The loss on
either side during the conflict on the bridge
was trifling. The only person of note who fell
on Aboyne's side was Seaton of Pitmedden, a
brave cavalier, who was killed by a cannon
shot while riding along the river side with
Lord Aboyne. On that of the Covenanters
was slain another valiant gentleman, a brother
of llamsay of Balmain. About 14 persons of
inferior note were killed on each side, including
some burgesses of Aberdeen, and several were
wounded.

Montrose, reaching the north bank of the
Dee, proceeded immediately to Aberdeen,
which he entered without opposition. So ex-
asperated were Montrose's followers at the
repeated instances of devotedness shown by
the inhabitants to the royal cause, that they
proposed to raze the town and set it on fire ;
but they were hindered from carrying their
design into execution by the firmness of Mou-
trose. The Covenanters, however, treated the
inhabitants very harshly, and imprisoned many
who were suspected of having been concerned
in opposing their passage across the Dee ; but
an end was put to these proceedings in conse-
quence of intelligence being brought on the fol-
lowing day (June 20th) of the treaty of paci-
fication which had been entered into between
the king and his subjects at Berwick, upon the
18th of that month. On receipt of this news,
Montrose sent a despatch to the Earl of Sea-
forth, who was stationed with his army on the
Spey, intimating the pacification, and desiring
liiiu to disband his army, with which order he
instantly complied.

17G

GENERAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The articles of pacification were preceded by
a declaration on the part of the king, in which
he stated, that although he could not conde-
scend to ratify and approve of the acts of the
Glasgow General Assembly, yet, notwithstand-
ing the many disorders which had of late been
committed, he not only confirmed and made
good whatsoever his commissioner had granted
and promised, but he also declared that all mat-
ters ecclesiastical should be determined by the
assemblies of the kirk, and matters civil by
the parliament and other inferior judicatories
established by law. To settle, therefore, " the
general distractions" of the kingdom, his ma-
jesty ordered that a free general assembly
should be held at Edinburgh on the 6th August
following, at which he declared his intention,
" God willing, to be personally present;" and
he moreover ordered a parliament to meet at
Edinburgh on the 20th of the same month, for
ratifying the proceedings of the general assem-
bly, and settling such other matters as might
conduce to the peace and good of the kingdom
of Scotland. By the articles of pacification, it
was, infer alia, provided that the forces in
Scotland should be disbanded within forty-
eight hours after the publication of the de-
claration, and that all the royal castles, forts,
and warlike stores of every description, should
be delivered up to his majesty after the said
publication, as soon as he should send to
receive them. Under the seventh and last
article of the treaty, the Marquis of Huntly
and his son, Lord Goi'don, and some others
who had been detained prisoners in the castle
af Ediiiburgh by the Covenanters, were set at
liberty.

It has been generally supposed that neither
party had any sincere intention to observe the
conditions of the treaty. Certain it is, that the
ink with which it was written was scarcely dry
before its violation was contemplated. On the
one hand, the king, before removing his army
from the neighbourhood of Berwick, required
the heads of the Covenanters to attend him there,
obviously with the object of gaining them over
to his side ; but, with the exception of three
commoners and three lords, Montrose, Lon-
don, and Lothian, they refused to obey. It
was at this conference that Charles, who ap-
parently had great persuasive powers, made

a convert of Montrose, who from that time
determined to desert his associates in arms,
and to place himself under the royal standard.
The immediate strengthening of the forts of Ber-
wick and Carlisle, and the provisioning of the
castle of Edinburgh, were probably the sugges-
tions of Montrose, who would, of course, be
intrusted with the secret of his majesty's de-
signs. The Covenanters, on the other hand,
although making a show of disbanding their
army at llunse, in reality kept a considerable
force on foot, which they quartered in different
parts of the country, to be in readiness for the
field on a short notice. The suspicious conduct
of the king certainly justified this precaution.

The general assembly met on the day fixed
upon, but, instead of attending in person as ho
proposed, Charles appointed the Earl of Tra-
quair to act as his commissioner. After abolish-
ing the articles of Perth, the book of canons, the
liturgy, the high commission and episcopacy,
and ratifying the late Covenant, the assembly
was dissolved on the 30th of August, and
another general assembly was appointed to be
held at Aberdeen on the 28th of July of the fol-
lowing year, 1640. The parliament met next
day, viz., on the last day of August, and as there
were no bishops to represent the third estate,
fourteen minor barons were elected in their
stead. His majesty's commissioner protested
against the vote and against farther proceedings
till the king's mind should be known, and the
commissioner immediately sent off a letter ap-
prising him of the occurrence. Without wait-
ing for the king's answer, the parliament was
proceeding with a variety of bills for securing
the liberty of the subject and restraining the
royal prerogative, when it was unexpectedly
and suddenly prorogued, by an order from the
king, till the 2d of June in the following year.

If Charles had not already made up his mind
for war with his Scottish subjects, the conduct
of the parliament which he had just prorogued
determined him again to have recourse to aims
in vindication of his prerogative. He endea-
voured, at first, to enlist the sympathies of the
bulk of the English nation in his cause, but
without effect ; and his repeated appeals to his
English people, setting forth the rectitude of
his intentions and the justice of his cause,
being answered by men who questioned the

THREATENED WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

177

one anil denied the other, rather injured than
served him. The people of England were not
then in a mood to embark in a crusado against
the civil and religious liberties of the north;
and they had too much experience of the arbi-
trary spirit of the king to imagine that their
own liberties would bo better secured by ex-
tinguishing the flame which burned in the
breasts of the sturdy and enthusiastic Cove-
nanters.

But notwithstanding the many discouraging
circumstances which surrounded him, Charles
displayed a firmness of resolution to coerce the
rebellious Scots by every means within his
reach. The spring and part of the summer of
1C40 were spent by both parties in military
preparations. Field-Marshal Sir Alexander
Leslie of Balgony, an old and experienced
officer who had been in foreign service, was
appointed generalissimo of the Scots army by
the war committee. When mustered by the
general at Choicelee, it amounted to about
22,000 foot and 2,500 horse. A council of
war was held at Dunse at which it was deter-
mined to invade England. Montrose, to whose
command a division of the army, consisting of
2,000 foot and 500 horse, was intrusted, was
absent when this meeting was held; but,
although his sentiments had, by this time,
undergone a complete change, seeing on his
return no chance of preventing the resolution
of the council, he dissembled his feelings and
openly approved of the plan. There seems to
be no doubt that in following this course he
intended, on the first favourable opportunity,
to declare for the king, and carry off such part
of the army as should be inclined to follow
him, which he reckoned at a third of the
whole.3

The Earl of Argyle was commissioned by
the Committee of Estates to secure the west
and central Highlands. This, the eighth
Earl and first Marquis of Argyle, had suc-
ceeded to the title only in 1638, although
he had enjoyed the estates for many years
before that, as his father had been living in
Spain, an outlaw. He was born in 1598,
and strictly educated in the protestant faith as
established in Scotland at the Reformation.

• Wishart's Memoirs, Edin. 1819, p. 24.

In 1C26 he was made a privy councillor, and
in 1634 appointed one of the extraordinary
lords of session. In 1638, at the General
Assembly of Glasgow, he openly went over to
the side of the Covenanters, and from that time
was recognised as their political head. Argyle,
in executing the task intrusted to him by the
committee, appears to have been actuated more
by feelings of private revenge than by an
honest desire to carry out the spirit of his
commission. The ostensible reason for his
undertaking this charge was his thorough ac-
quaintance with the Highlands and the High-
landers, and his ability to command the ser-
vices of a large following of his own. " But the
cheefe cause," according to Gordon of Rothie-
may,4 "though least mentioned, was Argylle,
his spleene that he carryed upon the accompt
of former disobleedgments betwixt his family
and some of the Highland clans: therefore he
was glade now to gett so faire a colour of
revenge upon the publicke score, which he did
not lett slippe. Another reasone he had
besyde; it was his designe to swallow upp
Badzenoch and Lochaber, and some landes
belonging to the Mackdonalds, a numerous
trybe, but haters of, and aeqwally hated by
Argylle." He had some hold on these two
districts, as, in 1639, he had become security
for some of Huntly's debts to the latter's
creditors. Argyle managed to seduce from
their allegiance to Huntly the clan Cameron
in Lochaber, who bore a strong resentment
against their proper chief on account of some
supposed injury done to the clan by the former
marquis. Although they had little relish for
the Covenant, still to gratify their revenge,
they joined themselves to Argyle. A tribe
of the Macdonalds who inhabited Lochaber,
the Macranalds of Keppoch, who remained
faithful to Huntly, met with very different
treatment at the hands of Argyle, who devas-
tated their district and burnt down their chief's
dwelling at Keppoch.

During this same summer (July 1640),
Argyle, who had raised an army of about 5,000
men, made a devastating raid into the district
of Forfarshire belonging to the Earl of Airly.
He made first for Airly castle, about five

4 Scots Affairs, iii. 183.
Z

173

GENERAL HISTORY .OF THE HIGHLANDS.

miles north of Meigle, which, in the absence
of the earl in England, was held by his son
Lord Ogilvie, who had recently maintained it
against Montrose. When Argyle came up,
Ogilvie saw that resistance was hopeless, and
abandoned the castle to the tender rnercy of
the enemy. Argyle without scruple razed the
place to the ground, and is said to have shown
himself so " extremely earnest" in the work of
demolition " that he was seen taking a hammer
in his hande and knocking down the hewed
work of the doors and windows till ho did
sweat for heat at his work."5 Argyle's men
carried off all they could from the house and
the surrounding district, and rendered useless
what they were compelled to leave behind.

From Airly, Argyle proceeded to a seat be-
longing to Lord Ogilvie, Forthar in Glenisla,
the " bonnie house o' Airly," of the well-known
song. Here lie behaved in a manner for which
it would be difficult for his warmest supporters
to find the shadow of an excuse, even taking
into consideration the roughness of the times.
The place is said by Gordon to have been " no
strength," so that there is still less excuse for
his conduct. He treated Forthar in the same
way that he did Airly, and although Lady
Ogilvie, who at the time was close on her con-
finement, asked Argyle to stay proceedings
until she gave birth to her infant, lie without
scruple expelled her from the house, and pro-
ceeded with his work of destruction. Not
only so, however, but " the Lady Drum, Dame
.Marian Douglas, who lived at that time in
Kelly, hearing tell what extremity her grand-
child, the Lady Ogilvy, was reduced to, did
send a commission to Argyle, to whom the said
Lady Drum was a kinswoman, requesting that,
with his license, she might admit into her own
house, her grandchild, the Lady Ogilvy, who
at that time was near her delivery; but Argyle
would give no license. . This occasioned the
Lady Drum for to fetch the Lady Ogilvie to
her house of Kelly, and for to keep her there
upon all hazard that might follow."

At the same time Argylo " was not forgetful
to remember old quarrels to Sir John Ogilvie
of Craigie." He sent a sergeant to Ogilvie's
house to warn him to leave it, but the sergeant

5 Gordon of Rothievnay, iii. 165.

thought Argyle must have made some mistake,
as he found it no more than a simple unfortified
country house, occupied only by a sick gentle-
womnu and some servants. The sergeant re-

First Marquis of Argyle.

turned and told this to Argyle, who waxed
wroth and told him it was his duly simply to
obey orders, commanding him at the same tiruo
to return and " deface and spoil the house."
After the sergeant had received his orders,
Argylo was observed to turn round and repeat
to himself the Latin political maxim Abscin-
danhtr qui nos pertwbant, "a maximo which
many thought that he practised accurately,
which he did upon the account of the proverb
consequential thereunto, and which is the rea-
son of the former, which Argyle was remarked
likewise to have often in his mouth as a choice
aphorism, and well observed by statesmen,
Quod mortui non mordent."

Argyle next proceeded against the Earl of
Athole, who, with about 1,200 followers, was
lying in Breadalbane, ready to meet him.
Argyle, whose army was about five times the
size of Athole's, instead of giving fight, man-
aged by stratagem to capture Athole and some
of his friends, whom he sent to the Committee
of Estates at Edinburgh.

MONTEOSE GOES OVER TO THE KING.

179

Aigylc, after having thus gratified his private
revenge aiut made a show of quieting the
Highlands, returned to the lowlands.0

On the 20th of August General Leslie crossed
the Tweed with his army, the van of which
was led by Montrose on foot. This task,
though performed with readiness and with
every appearance of good will, was not volun-
tarily undertaken, but had been devolved upon
Montrose by lot; none of the principal officers
daring to take the lead of their own accord in
such a dangerous enterprise. There can be
no doubt that Montrose was insincere in his
professions, and that those who suspected Mm
were right in thinking that in his heart ho
was turned Eoyalist,7 a supposition which his
correspondence with the king and his subse-
quent conduct fully justify.

Although the proper time had not arrived
for throwing off the mask, Montrose im-
mediately on liis return to Scotland, after
the close of this campaign, began to concert
measures for counteracting the designs of the
Covenanters; but his plans were embarrassed by
some of his associates disclosing to the Cove-
nanters the existence of an association which
Montroso had formed at Cumbemauld for sup-
porting the royal authority. A great outcry
was raised against Montrose in consequence,
but his influence was so great that the heads
of the Covenanters were afraid to show any
severity towards him. On subsequently dis-
covering, however, that the king had written
him letters which were intercepted and forcibly
taken from the messenger, a servant of the
Earl of Traquair, they apprehended him, along
with Lord Napier of Mercluston, and Sir
George Stirling of Keith, his relatives and in-
timate friends, and imprisoned them in the
castle of Edinburgh. On the meeting of the
parliament at Edinburgh in July, 1641, which
was attended by the king in person, Montrose
demanded to bo tried before them, but his appli-
cation was rejected by the Covenanters, who
obtained an order from the parliament prohib-
iting him from going into the king's presence.
After the king had returned to England, Mon-
trose and his fellow-prisoners were liberated,

* See Gordon of Rothiemay, iii. 163 ct scq. Spal-

i!£, i. 290.

7 Gutbrie's Memoirs, p. 70.

and he, thereupon, went to his own castle,
where ho remained for some time, ruminating
on the course he should pursue for the relief
of the king. The king, while in Scotland at
this time, conferred honours upon several of
the covenanting leaders, apparently for tho
purpose of conciliation, Argyle being raised to
the dignity of a marquis.

Although Charles complied with tho de-
mands of his Scottish subjects, and heaped
many favours and distinctions upon the heads
of the leading Covenanters, they were by no
means satislied, and entered fully into the
hostile views of their brethren in the south,
with whom they made common cause. Having
resolved to send an army into England to join
the forces of tho parliament, which had come
to an open rupture with tho sovereign, they
attempted to gain over Montrose to their side
by offering him the post of lieutenant-general of
their army, and promising to accede to any
demands he might make; but lie rejected all
their offers; and, as an important crisis was at
hand, he hastened to England in tho early part
of the year 1643, in company with Lord
Ogilvie, to lay the state of affairs before the
king, and to offer him his advice and service
in such an emergency. Charles, however,
either from a want of confidence in the judg-
ment of Montrose, who, to the rashness and
impetuosity of youth, added, as he was led to
believe, a desire of gratifying his personal
feelings and vanity, or overcome by the calcu-
lating but fatal policy of the Marquis of Ham-
ilton, who deprecated a fresh war between
the king and his Scottish subjects, declined to
follow tho advice of Montrose, who had offered
to raise an army immediately in Scotland to
support him.

A convention of estates called by the Cove-
nanters, without any authority from the king,
met at Edinburgh on the 22d of June, 1643,
and ho soon perceived from tho character and
proceedings of this assembly, tho great majority
of which were Covenanters, the mistake he had
committed in rejecting tho advice of Montrose,
and lie now resolved, thenceforth, to be guided
in his plans for subduing Scotland by the
opinion of that nobleman. Accordingly, at a
meeting held at Oxford, between the king and
Montrose, in the month of December, 1643,

ISO

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

wlicii tlio Scots army was about entering
England, it was agreed that the Earl of An-
trim, an Irish nobleman of great power and
influence, who then lived at Oxford, should be
sent to Ireland to raise auxiliaries with whom,
he should make a descent on the west parts of
Scotland in the month of April following ; —
that the Marquis of Newcastle, who commanded
the royal forces in the north of England, should
furnish Montrose with a party of horse, with
which he should enter the south of Scotland,
— that an application should be made to the
King of Denmark for some troops of German
horse; and that a quantity of arms should be
transported into Scotland from abroad.8

Instructions having been given to the Earl
of Antrim to raise the Irish levy, and Sir
•James Cochran having been despatched to the
continent as ambassador for the king, to procure
foreign aid, Montrose left Oxford on his way
to Scotland, taking York and Durham in his
route. Near the latter city he had an inter-
view with the Marquis of Newcastle for the
purpose of obtaining a sufficient party of horse
to escort him into Scotland, but all he could
procure was about 100 horse, badly appointed,
with two small brass field pieces.9 The Mar-
quis sent orders to the king's officers, and to
the captains of the militia in Cumberland and
Westmoreland, to afford Montrose such assist-
ance as they could, and he was in consequence
joined on his way to Carlisle by 800 foot and
three troops of horse, of Cumberland and
Northumberland militia. With this small
force, and about 200 horse, consisting of noble-
men and gentlemen who had served as officers
in Germany, France, or England, Montrose
entered Scotland on the 13th of April, 1644.
He had not, however, proceeded far, when a
revolt broke out among the English soldiers,
who immediately returned to England. In
spite of this discouragement, Montrose pro-
ceeded on with his small party of horse
towards Dumfries, which surrendered to him
without opposition. After waiting there a few
days, in expectation of hearing some tidings
respecting the Earl of Antrim's movements,
without receiving any, he retired to Carlisle,

6 "Wishart.

9 The Duchess of Newcastle says, in the memoirs of
b.9! husband, that the number was 200.

to avoid being surprised by the Covenanters,
large bodies of whom were hovering about in
all directions.

To aid the views of Montrose, the king had
appointed the Marquis of Huntly, on whose
fidelity he could rely, his lieutenant-general
in the north of Scotland. He, on hearing
of the capture of Dumfries by Montrose,
immediately collected a considerable body of
horse and foot, consisting of Highlanders and
lowlanders, at Kincardine-O'Neil, with the
intention of crossing the Cairn-a-Mount ; but
being disappointed in not being joined by
some forces from Perthshire, Angus, and the
Mearns, which he expected, he altered his steps,
and proceeded towards Aberdeen, which he
took. Thence he despatched parties of his
troops through the counties of Aberdeen and
Banff, which brought in quantities of horses
and arms for the use of his army. One
party, consisting of 120 horse and 300 foot,
commanded by the young laird of Drum and
his brother, young Gicht, Colonel Nathaniel
Gordon and Colonel Donald Farquliarson and
others, proceeded to the town of Montrose,
which they took, killed one of the bailies, made
the provost prisoner, and threw some cannon
into the sea as they could not carry them away.
But, on hearing that the Earl of Kinghorn was
advancing upon them with the forces of Angus,
they made a speedy retreat, leaving thirty of
their foot behind them prisoners. To protect
themselves against the army of the Marquis of
Huntly, the inhabitants of Moray, on the north
of the Spey, raised a regiment of foot and
three companies of horse, which were quartered
in the town of Elgin.

When the convention heard of Huntly's
movements, they appointed the Marquis of
Argyle to raise an army to quell this insurrec-
tion. He, accordingly, assembled at Perth
a force of 5,000 foot and 800 horse out of
Fife, Angus, Mearns, Argyle, and Perthshire,
with which he advanced on Aberdeen. Huntlj',
hearing of his approach, fled from Aberdeen
and retired to the town of Banff, where, on
the day of his arrival, he disbanded his army.
The marquis himself thereafter retired to
Strathnaver, and took up his residence with
the master of Eeay. Argyle, after taking
possession of Aberdeen, proceeded northward

MONTEOSE ENTERS SCOTLAND IN DISGUISE.

181

and took the castles of Gicht and Kcllie, made
tho lairds of Gicht and Haddo prisoners and
sent them to Edinburgh, tho latter being, along
with one Captain Logan, afterwards beheaded. 1

"Wo now return to Montrose, who, after an
ineffectual attempt to obtain an accession of
force from tho army of Prince Rupert, Count
Palatine of the Rhine, determined on again
entering Scotland with his little band. But
being desirous to learn the exact situation of
affairs there, before putting this resolution into
effect, he sent Lord Ogilvie and Sir William
Rollock into Scotland, in disguise, for that
purpose. They returned in about fourteen
days, and brought a spiritless and melancholy
account of the state of matters in the north,
where they found all the passes, towns,
and forts, in possession of the Covenanters,
and where no man dared to speak in favour
of the king. This intelligence was received
with dismay by Montrose's followers, who now
began to think of the best means of securing
their own safety. In this unpleasant conjunc-
ture of affairs, Montrose called them together
to consult on the line of conduct they should
pursue. Some advised him to return to Ox-
ford and inform his majesty of the hopeless
etate of his affairs in Scotland, while others
gave an opinion that he should resign his com-
mission, and go abroad till a more favourable
opportunity occurred of serving the king;
but the chivalrous and undaunted spirit of
Montrose disdained to follow either of these
courses, and he resolved upon the desperate
expedient of venturing into the very heart of
Scotland, with only one or two companions, in
the hope of being able to rally round his per-
son a force sufficient to support the declining
interests of his sovereign.

Having communicated this intention pri-
vately to Lord Ogilvie, he put under his charge
the few gentlemen who had remained faithful
to him, that ho might conduct them to the
king j and having accompanied them to a dis-
tance, he withdrew from them clandestinely,
leaving his servants, horses, and baggage behind
him, and returned to Carlisle. Having pre-
pared himself for his journey, he selected Sir
William Rollock, a gentleman of tried honour,

1 Gordon of Sallagh, p. 519.

and one Sibbald, to accompany him. Dis-
guised as a groom, and riding upon a lean,
worn-out horse, and leading another in his
hand, Montrose passed for Sibbald's servant,
in which condition and capacity he proceeded
to the borders. The party had not proceeded
far when an occurrence took place, which
considerably disconcerted them. Meeting with
a Scottish soldier, who had served under the
Marquis of Newcastle in England,' he, after
passing Rollock and Sibbald, went up to the
marquis, and accosted him by his name. Mon-
trose told him that he was quite mistaken ; but
the soldier being positive, and judging that the
marquis was concerned in some important affair,
replied, with a countenance which betokened
a kind heart, " Do not I know my lord Mar-
quis of Montrose well enough ? But go your
way, and God be with you." 2 When Montrose
saw that he could not preserve an incognito
from the penetrating eve of the soldier, he gave
him some money and dismissed him.

This occurrence excited alarm in the mind
of Montrose, and made him accelerate his
journey. Within four days he arrived at the
house of Tullibelton, among the hills near the
Tay, which belonged to Patrick Graham of
Inchbrakie, his cousin, and a royalist. No
situation was better fitted for concocting his
plans, and for communicating with those clans
and the gentry of the adjoining lowlands who
stood well affected to the king, It formed, in
fact, a centre, or point tfappiii to the royalists
of the Highlands and the adjoining lowlands,
from which a pretty regular communication
could be kept up, without any of those dangers
which would have arisen in the lowlands.

For some days Montrose did not venture to
appear among the people in the neighbourhood,
nor did he consider himself safe even in Tulli-
belton house, but passed the night in an obscure
cottage, and in the day-time wandered alone
among the neighbouring mountains, ruminating
over the strange peculiarity of his situation, and
waiting the return of his fellow-travellers, whom
he had despatched to collect intelligence on tho
state of the kingdom. These messengers came
back to him after some days' absence, bringing
with them tho most cheerless accounts of the

» Wishart, p. 61.

182

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

situation of the country, and of the persecu-
tions which the royalists suffered at the hands
of the Covenanters. Among other distressing
pieces of intelligence, they communicated to
Montrose the premature and unsuccessful at-
tempt of the Marquis of Huntly in favour of
the royal cause, and of his retreat to Strath-
naver to avoid the fury of his enemies. These
accounts greatly affected Montrose, who was
grieved to find that the Gordons, who were
stern royalists, should be exposed, by the aban-
donment of their chief, to the revenge of their
enemies ; but lie consoled himself with the
reflection, that as soon as he should be enabled
to unfurl the royal standard, the tide of fortune
would turn.

While cogitating on the course he should
pursue in this conjuncture, a report reached
him from some shepherds on the hills that a
body of Irish troops had landed in the West,
and was advancing through the Highlands.
Montrose at once concluded that these were
the auxiliaries whom the Earl of Antrim had
undertaken to send him four months before,
and such they proved to be. This force, which
amounted to 1,500 men, was under the com-
mand of Alexander Macdonald, son of Coll
Mac-Gillespic Macdonald of lona, who had
been greatly persecuted by the family of Argylc.
Maedonald had arrived early in July, 1644,
among the Hebrides, and had landed and taken
the castles of Meigray and Kinloch Alan. He
had then disembarked his forces in Knoydart,
where ho expected to bo joined by the Marquis
of Huntly and the Earl of Seaforth. As he
advanced into the interior, ho despatched the
fiery cross for the purpose of summoning the
clans to his standard ; but, although the cross
was carried through a large extent of country,
even to Aberdeen, he was joined at first only
by the clan Donald, under the captain of clan
Eanald, and tho laird of Glongary. The Mar-
quis of Argyle collected an army to oppose
the progress of Macdonald, and, to cut off
his retreat to Ireland, he sent some ships of
war to Loch Eishord, where Macdonald's fleet
lay, which captured or destroyed them. This
loss, while it frustrated an intention Macdonald
entertained of returning to Ireland, in conse-
quence of the disappointment lie had met with
in not being joined by the clans, stimulated

him to farther exertions in continuing his
march, in the hope of meeting Montrose.

As Macdonald was perfectly ignorant of
Montrose's movements, and thought it likely
that he might be still at Carlisle, waiting till
he should hear of Macdonald's arrival, ho sent
letters to him by the hands of a confidential
friend, who resided in the neighbourhood of
Inchbrakie's house. This gentleman, who
knew nothing of Montrose's return to Scotland,
having luckily communicated to Mr. Graham
the secret of being intrusted with letters to his
kinsman, Montrose, Graham offered to see them
safely delivered to Montrose, though he should
ride to Carlisle himself. The gentleman in
question then delivered tho letters to Graham,
and Montrose having received them, wrote an
answer as if from Carlisle, in which he requested
Macdonald to keep up his spirits, that he would
soon be joined by a seasonable reinforcement
and a general at their head, and he ordered
him with all expedition to march down into
Athole. In fixing on Athole as the place of
his rendezvous, Montrose is said to have been
actuated by an implicit reliance on the fidelity
and loyalty of the Athole-men, and by a high
opinion of their courage. They lay, besides,
under many obligations to himself, and he cal-
culated that he had only to appear among
them to command their services in the cause of
their sovereign.

When Macdonald received these instructions,
he marched towards Athole; but in passing
through Badenoch he was threatened with an
attack by the Earls of Sutherland and Seaforth,
at the head of some of their people, and by the
Erasers, Grants, Rosses, and Monroes, and
other inhabitants of Moray, who had assembled
at the top of Strathspey; but Macdonald very
cautiously avoided them, and hastened into
Atholc. On arriving in Athole, Macdonald
was coldly received by the people of that as
well as the surrounding country, who doubted
whether ho had any authority from the king ;
and besides, they hesitated to place themselves
under the command of a person of neither
noble nor ancient lineage, and whom they con-
sidered an upstart. This indecision might
have proved fatal to 'Macdonald, who was
closely pressed in his rear by tho army of
Argyle, had not these untoward deliberations

T11K ATHOLE-MEN JOIN MONTKOSE.

183

boon instantly put an. end to by the arrival of
Montrose at Blair, where Macdonakl had fixed
his head-quarters. Montroso had travelled
seventy miles on foot, in a Highland dress,
accompanied by Patrick Graham, his cousin,
as his guide.3 His appearance was hailed by
his countrymen with every demonstration of
joy, and they immediately made him a spon-
taneous offer of their services.

Accordingly, on the following day, the
Athole-men, to the number of about 800, con-
sisting chiefly of the Stewarts and Robertsons,
put themselves under arms and flocked to the
standard of Montrose. Thus, in little more
than twenty-four hours, Montrose saw himself
at the head of a force of upwards of 2,000 men,
animated by an enthusiastic attachment to his
person and to the cause which he had espoused.
The extraordinary contrast between his present
commanding position, and the situation in
•which he was placed a few days before, as a
forlorn wanderer among the mountains, pro-
duced a powerful effect upon the daring and
chivalrous spirit of Montrose, who looked for-
ward to the success of his enterprise with the
eagerness of a man who considered the destinies
of his sovereign as altogether depending upon
lus individual exertions. Impressed with the
necessity of acting with promptitude, he did
not hesitate long as to the course he should
pursue. He might have immediately gone in
quest of Argyle, who had followed the army of
Macdonald, with slow and cautious steps, and
by one of those sudden movements which no
man knew better how to execute with advan-
tage, surprised and defeated his adversary;
but such a plan did not accord with the designs
of Montrose, who resolved to open the cam-
paign at once in the lowlands, and thus give
confidence to the friends and supporters of
the king.

The general opinion which the Lowlanders
of this period entertained regarding their up-
land neighbours was not very respectful. A
covenanting wit, in a poem which he wrote
against the bishops only a few years before,
saya of one whose extraction was from thu
other side of the Grampians,

" A bishop and a Highla'mlman, how oan'st then
honest be ?

' Wishart, ]>. «!>

as if these two qualifications were of them-
selves sufficient, without any known vice, to
put a man completely beyond the pale of virtue.
It seems, indeed, to have been a general belief
at the time that this primitive and sequestered
people, as they were avowedly out of the sav-
ing circle of the Covenant, were also out of the
limits of both law and religion, and therefore
hopelessly and utterly given up to all sorts of
wickedness. Not only were murder and rob-
bery among the list. of offences which they
were accused of daily committing, but there
even seems to have been a popular idea that
sorcery was a prevailing crime amongst them.
They were also charged with a general inclina-
tion to popery, an offence which, from the
alarms and superstitions of the time, had now
come, in general phraseology, to signify a con-
densation of all others. Along with this hor-
rible notion of the mountaineers, there was not
associated the slightest idea of their ardent and
chivalrous character; nor was there any general
sensation of terror for the power which they
undoubtedly possessed of annoying the peace-
ful inhabitants, and thwarting the policy of
the Low country, no considerable body of
Highlanders having been there seen in arms
for several generations.

In pursuance of his determination, Montrose
put his small array in motion the same day to-
wards Strathearn, in passing through which he
expected to be joined by some of the inhabitants
of that and the adjoining country. At the
same time he sent forward a messenger with a
friendly notice to the Menzieses of his inten-
tion to pass through their country, but instead
of taking this in good part they maltreated the
messenger and harassed the rear of his army.
This unprovoked attack so exasperated Mon-
trose, that ho ordered his men, when passing
by "Weem castle, which belonged to the clan
Men/ies, to plunder and lay waste their lands,
and to burn their houses, an order which was
literally obeyed. He expected that this exam-
ple of summary vengeance would serve as a
useful lesson to dster others, who might be dis-
posed to imitate the conduct of the Menzieses,
from following a similar course. Notwith-
standing the time spent in making these repri-
sals, Montrose passed the Tay with a part of
his forces the same evening, and the remainder

181

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

followed very early the next morning. He
had. at the special request of the Athole-men
themselves, placed them under the command
of his kinsman, Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie,
and he now sent him forward with a select
party to reconnoitre. Inchbrakie soon returned
with information that he had observed a party
of armed men stationed upon the hill of
Euchanty. On inquiry, Montrose ascertained
that this body was commanded by Lord Kil-
pont, eldest son of the Earl of Menteith, and
by Sir John Drummond, son of the Earl of
Perth, both of whom were his relations. The
force in question, which consisted of about 500
men, was on its way to Perth to join the other
covenanting troops who were stationed there.
Montrose immediately marched up to this
body, with the intention, if he could not pre-
vail on them to join him, of attacking them,
but before he had approached sufficiently near,
Lord Kilpont, who had ascertained that Mon-
trose commanded, sent some of his principal
officers to him to ascertain what his object was
in thus advancing. Montrose having explained
his views and stated that he acted by the king's
authority, and having entreated them to return
to their allegiance, they and the whole of their
party immediately joined him. This new ac-
cession augmented Montrose's army to about
3,000 men.

Montrose now learned from his new allies
that the Covenanters had assembled their forces
in great numbers at Perth, and that they lay
there waiting for his approach. The cove-
nanting army, in fact, was more than double
that of Montrose, amounting to about 6,000
foot and 700 horse, to which were attached
four pieces of artillery. Montrose, on the
other hand, had not a single horseman, and
but three horses, two of which were for his
own use, and the other for that of Sir William
Rollock, and besides he had no artillery. Yet
with such a decided disparity, Montrose re-
solved to march directly to Perth and attack
the enemy. He appears to have been influenced
in this resolution by the consideration of the
proximity of Argyle with his army, and
the danger in which he would be placed by
being hemmed in by two hostile armies : he
could expect to avoid such an embarrassment
only by risking an Immediate engagement.

As the day was too far advanced to proceed
to Perth, Montrose ordered Ids men to bivouac
during the night about three miles from
Buchanty, and began his march by dawn of
day. As soon as Lord Elcho, the commander
of the covenanting army, heard of Montrose's
approach, he left Perth and drew up his army
on Tippernmir, a plain of some extent between
four and five miles west from the town. Re-
serving to himself the command of the right
wing, he committed the charge of the left to
Sir James Scott, an able and skilful officer,
who had served with great honour in the
Venetian army ; and to the Earl of Tullibar-
dine he intrusted the command of the centre.
The horse were divided and placed on each
wing with the view of surrounding the army
of Montrose, should he venture to attack them
in their position. As soon as Montrose per-
ceived the enemy thus drawn up in battle
array, he made the necessary dispositions for
attacking them. To counteract as much as
possible the danger arising to such a small
body of men, unprotected by cavalry, from the
extended line of the Covenanters, Montrose
endeavoured to make his line as extensive as
possible with safety, by limiting his files to
three men deep. As the Irish had neither
swords nor pikes to oppose the cavalry, they
were stationed in the centre of the line, and
the Highlanders, who were provided with
swords and Lochaber axes, were placed on the
wings, as better fitted to resist the attacks of
the cavalry. Some of the Highlanders were,
however, quite destitute of arms of every de-
scription, and it is related on the authority of
an eye-witness that Montrose, seeing their help-
less condition, thus quaintly addressed them : —
" It is true you have no arms ; your enemies,
however, have plenty. My advice, therefore, is,
that as there happens to be a great abundance
of stones upon this moor, every man should
provide himself, in the first place, with as
stout a stone as he can well manage, rush
up to the first Covenanter he meets, beat out
his brains, take his sword, and then, I be-
lieve, he will be at no loss how to proceed."4
This advice, as will be seen, was really acted
upon. As Montrose was almost destitute of

4 Gentleman's Mag., vol. xvi. p. 158.

BATTLE OF TIPPERMUIR.

185

powder, he ordered the Irish forces to husband
their fire till they should como close to the
enemy, and after a simultaneous discharge
from the three ranks, (the front rank kneel-
ing,) to assail the enemy thereafter as they test
could. To oppose the left wing of the Cove-
nanters, commanded by Sir James Scott, Mon-
trose took upon himself the command of his
own right, placing Lord Kilpont at the head
of the left, and Macdonald, his major-general,
over the centre.

During the progress of these arrangements,
Montrose despatched an accomplished young
nobleman, named Drummond, eldest son of
Lord Madeiiy, with a message to the chiefs of
the Covenanters' army, entreating them to lay
down their arms and return to their duty and
obedience to their sovereign. Instead, how-
ever, of returning any answer to this message,
they seized the messenger, and sent him to
Perth under an escort, with an intimation that,
on obtaining a victory over his master, they
would execute him. Indeed, the probability of
a defeat seems never for a moment to have
entered into the imaginations of the Covenant-
ers, and they had been assured by Frederick
Carmichael, a minister who had preached to
them the same day, being Sunday, 1st Septem-
ber, " that if ever God spoke truth out of his
mouth, he promised them, in the name of God,
a certain victory that day."5

There being no hopes, therefore, of an accom-
modation, both armies, after advancing towards
each other, remained motionless for a short
time, as if unwilling to begin the attack ; but
this state of matters was speedily put an end to
by the advance of a select skirmishing party
under the command of Lord Drummond, sent
out from the main body of the covenanting
army, for the double purpose of distracting the
attention of Montrose, and inducing his troops
to leave their ranks, and thus create confusion
among them ; but Montrose kept his men in
check, and contented himself with sending out
a few of his men to oppose them. Lord Drum-
mond, whom Baillie appears to have suspected
of treachery, and his party were routed at the
first onset, and fled back upon the main body
in great disorder. This trivial affair decided

» Wisbart, p. 77.

the fate of the day, for the Covenanters, many
of whom were undisciplined, seeing the unex-
pected defeat of Lord Drummond's party, be-
came quite dispirited, and began to show
symptoms which indicated a disposition for
immediate flight. The confusion into which
the main body had been thrown by the retreat
of the advanced party, and the indecision which
seemed now to prevail in the Covenanters' army
in consequence of that reverse, were observed
by the watchful eye of Montrose, who saw that
the favourable moment for striking a decisive
blow had arrived. He therefore gave orders to
his men to advance, who, immediately setting
up a loud shout, rushed forward at a quick pace
towards the enemy. They were met by a ran-
dom discharge from some cannon which the
Covenanters had placed in front of their army,
but which did little or no execution. When
sufficiently near, Montrose's musketeers halted,
and, as ordered, poured a volley into the main
rank of the Covenanters, which immediately
gave way. The cavalry of the Covenanters,
thereupon, issued from their stations and at-
tacked the royalists, who, in their turn, de-
fended themselves with singular intrepidity.
While the armed Highlanders made ample use
of their Lochaber axes and swords, the Irish
steadily opposed the attacks of the horse with
the butt ends of their muskets ; but the most
effective annoyance which the cavalry met with
appears to have proceeded from the unarmed
Highlanders, who having supplied themselves
with a quantity of stones, as suggested by
Montrose, discharged them with well-directed
aim at the horses and their riders. The result
was, that after a short struggle, the cavalry were
obliged to make a precipitate retreat. While
this contest was going on, another part of
Montrose's army was engaged with the right
wing of the covenanting army, under Sir James
Scott, but although this body made a longer and
more determined resistance, and galled the party
opposed to them by an incessant fire of mus-
ketry, they were at last overpowered by the
Athole-men, who rushed upon them with their
broad-swords, and cut down and wounded a
considerable number. The rout of the Cove-
nanters now became general. The horsemen
saved themselves by the fleetness of their
horses; but during the pursuit, which was kept
2 A

i86

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

up to a distance of six or seven miles, many
hundreds of foot were killed, and a consider-
able number made prisoners,6 some of whom
afterwards served in Montrose's army. The
loss on the side of Montrose appears to have been
very trifling. By this victory, and the subse-
quent capture of Perth, which he entered the
same day, Montrose was enabled to equip his
army with all those warlike necessaries of
which it had been so remarkably destitute in
the morning, and of which the Covenanters
left him an abundant supply.7

CHAPTEE XIII.

A. D. 1644 (SEPTEMBER*— 1645 (FEBRUARY).
BRITISH SOVEREIGN :— Charles I., 1025— 1C49.

Montvose crosses the Tay to Collace — Marches through
Angus and Mearns — Battle of Aberdeen — Supine-
ness of the Gordons — Movements of Argyle — Mon-
trose retreats through Badenoch — Second march of
Montrose to the north — Battle of Fyvie — Montrose
retreats to Strathbogie— Secession from his camp —
Montrose enters and wastes Breadalbane and Argyle
— Marches to Lochness — Argyle enters Lochaber —
Battle of Inverlochy.

MONTROSE now entertained confident expecta-
tions that many of the royalists of the sur-
rounding country who had hitherto kept aloof
would join him; but after remaining three days
at Perth, to give them an opportunity of rally-
ing round his standard, he had the mortifica-
tion to find that, with the exception of
Lords Dupplin and Spyiiie, and a few gentle-
men from the Carse of Gowrie, who came to
him, his anticipations were not to be realized.
The spirits of the royalists had been too much
subdued by the severities of the Covenanters
for them all at once to risk their lives and for-
tunes on the issue of what they had long con-
sidered a hopeless cause; and although Mon-
trose had succeeded in dispersing one army
with a greatly inferior force, yet it was well

e There is a great discrepancy between contemporary
writers as to the number killed. Wishart states it at
2,000; Spalding, at 1,300, and 800 prisoners; though
lie says that some reckoned the number at 1,500
killed. Gordon of Sallagh mentions only 300. Gor-
don of Ruthven, in Jiritanc's Distemper, gives the
number at 2,000 killed and 1,000 prisoners. Baillie
sayjj (vol. ii. p. 233, ed. 1841) that no quarter was
given, and not a prisoner was taken.

1 Britain's Distemper, p. 73.

known that that army was composed of raw
and undisciplined men, and that the Covenant-
ers had still large bodies of well-trained troops
in the field.

Thus disappointed in his hopes, and under-
standing that the Marquis of Argyle was fast
approaching with a large army, Moutrose
crossed the Tay on the 4th of September, di-
recting his course towards Coupar-Angus, and
encamped at night in the open fields near Col-
lace. His object in proceeding northward was
to endeavour to raise some of the loyal clans,
and thus to put himself in a sufficiently strong
condition to meet Argyle. Montrose had given
orders to the army to march early next morn-
ing, but by break of day, and before the drums
had beat, he was alarmed by an uproar in the
camp. Perceiving his men running to their
arms in a state of fury and rage, Montrose, ap-
prehensive that the Highlanders and Irish had
quarrelled, immediately rushed in among the
thickest of the crowd to pacify them, but to his
great grief and dismay, he ascertained that the
confusion had arisen from the assassination of
his valued friend Lord Kilpont. He had fall-
en a victim to the blind fury of James Stewart
of Ardvoirlich, with whom he had slept the
same night, and who had long enjoyed his con-
fidence and friendship. According to Wishart,
wishing to ingratiate himself with the Cove-
nanters, he formed a design to assassinate Mon-
trose or his major-general, Macdonald ; and
endeavoured to entice Kilpont to concur in his
wicked project. He, therefore, on the night in
question, slept with his lordship, and having
prevailed upon him to rise and take a walk in
the fields before daylight, pn the pretence of re-
freshing themselves, he there disclosed his hor-
rid purpose, and entreated his lordship to con-
cur therein. Lord Kilpont rejected the base
proposal with horror and indignation, which so
alarmed Stewart that, afraid lest his lordship
might discover the matter, he suddenly drew
his dirk and mortally wounded Kilpont.
Stewart, thereupon, fled, and thereafter joined
the Marquis of Argyle, who gave him a com-
mission in his army.8

8 Wishart, p. 84. — Stewart's descendant, the late
Robert Stewart of Ardvoirlieh, gives an account of
the above incident, founded on a " constant tradition
in the family," tending to show that his ancestor was
list so much a man of base and treacherous character,

K .M.UICHK.S THROUGH ANGUS AND MKAKNS.

187

Montrose now marched upon Dundee, which
refused to surrender. Not wishing to \\asd
his timo upon the hazardous issue of a siege
with a hostile army in his rear, Monlrose pro-
il through Angus and the Mcarns, and in
the course of his route was joined by the Ear]
of Airly, his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir
David Ogilvie, and a considerable number oi
their friends and vassals, and some gentlemen
from the Mcarns and Aberdcenshire. This wa
a seasonable addition to Montrose's force, which
had been greatly weakened by the absence of
some of the Highlanders who had gone home
to deposit their spoils, and by the departure of
Lord Kilpont's retainers, who had gone to Mon-
teith with his corpse.

After the battle of Tippcrmuir, Lord Elcho
had retired, with his regiment and some fugi-
tives, to Aberdeen, where he found Lord
Burleigh and other commissioners from the
convention of estates. As soon as they heard
of the approach of Montrose, Burleigh, who
acted as chief commissioner, immediately as-
sembled the Forbeses, the Erasers, and the
other friends of the covenanting interest, and
did everything in his power to gain over to his
side as many persons as he could from those
districts where Montrose expected assistance.
In this way Burleigh increased his force to
2,500 foot and 500 horse, but some of these,
consisting of Gordons, and others who were
obliged to take up arms, could not be relied
upon.

When Montrose heard of these preparations,
he resolved, notwithstanding the disparity of
force, his own army now amounting only to

as of "violent passions and singular temper." James
Stewart, it is said, was so irritated at tho Irish, for corn-
In ittinj; some excesses on lands belonging to him, that
he challenged their commander, Macdonald, to single
combat. By advice of Kilpont, Montroso arrested both,
and brought about a seeming conciliation. When
encamped at Collacc, Montrose gave an entertain-
ment to his officers, on returning from which Ardvoir-
lich, " heated with drink, began to blame Kilpont for
the part ho had taken in preventing his obtaining re-
dress, and reflecting against Montrose for not allowing
him what he considered proper reparation. Kilpont,
of course, defended the conduct of himself and his
relative, Montrose, till their argument came to high
words, acd finally, from the state they were both in,
by an easy transition, to blows, when Ardvoirlich, with
his dirk, struck Kilpont dead on the spot." Ho fled,
leaving his eldest eon, Henry, mortally wounded at
Tippermuir, on \iis death-bed. — Introd. to Legend of
Montr"".

1,500 foot and H horse, to hasten his march
and attack them before Argylo should come up.
On arriving near tho bridge of Dee, he found
it strongly fortified and guarded by a consider-
able force. He did not attempt to force a pas-
sage, but, directing his course to the west, along
tho river, crossed it at a ford at the Mills of
Drum, and encamped at Crathas that night
(Wednesday, llth September). The Cove-
nanters, the same day, drew up their army at
tho Two Mile Cross, a short distance from
Aberdeen, when) they remained till Thursday
night, when they retired into the town. On
tho same night, Montrose marched down Dee-
side, and took possession of the ground which
tho Covenanters had just left.9

On the following morning, vi/., Friday, 13th
September, about eleven o'clock, the Covenant-
ers marched out of Aberdeen to meet Montrose,
who, on their approach, despatched a drummer
to beat a parley, and sent a commissioner
along with liim bearing a letter to the pro-
vost and bailies of Aberdeen, commanding and
charging them to surrender the town, promis-
ing that no more harm should be done to it ;
" otherwise, if they would disobey, that then
he desired them to remove old aged men,
women, and children out of the way, and to
stand to their own peril." Immediately on
receipt of this letter, the provost called a meet-
ing of the council, which was attended by Lord
Burleigh, and, after a short consultation, an
answer was sent along with the commissioner
declining to surrender tho town. On their
return the drummer was killed by the Cove-
nanters, at a place called Justice Mills ; which
violation of tho law of nations so exasperated
Montrose, that lie gave orders to his men not
to spare any of the enemy who might fall into
their hands. His anger at this occurrence is
strongly depicted by Spalding, who says, that
" he grew mad, and became furious and im-
patient."

As soon as Moutrose received notice of the
refusal of the magistrates to surrender the town,
ho made tho necessary dispositions for attack-
ing the enemy. From his paucity of cavalry,
he was obliged to extend his line, as he had
done at Tippcrmuir, to prevent the enemy

9 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 405.

188

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

from surrounding or outflanking him with
their horse, and on each of his wings he posted
his small body of horsemen along with select
parties of musketeers and archers. To James
Hay and Sir Nathaniel Gordon he gave the
command of the right wing, committing the
charge of the left to Sir William Eollock, all
men of tried bravery and experience.

The Covenanters began the battle by a can-
nonade from their field-pieces, and, from their
commanding position, gave considerable annoy-
ance to the royal forces, who were very defi-
cient in artillery. After the firing had been
kept up for some time, Lord Lewis Gordon,
third son of the Marquis of Huntly, a young
man of a very ardent disposition, and of a vio-
lent and changeable temper, who commanded
the left wing of the Covenanters, having ob-
tained possession of some level ground where
liis horse could act, made a demonstration to
attack Montrose's right wing ; which being ob-
served by Montrose, lie immediately ordered
Sir William Eollock, with his party of horse,
from the left wing to the assistance of the right.
These united wings, which consisted of only
44 horse, not only repulsed the attack of a
body of 300, but threw them into complete
disorder, and forced them to retreat upon the
main body, leaving many dead and wounded
on the field. Montrose restrained these brave
cavaliers from pursuing the body they had
routed, anticipating that their services might
be soon required at the other wing; and he
was not mistaken, for no sooner did the cove-
nanting general perceive the retreat of Lord
Lewis Gordon than he ordered an attack to be
made upon the left wing of Montrose's army ;
but Montrose, with a celerity almost unex-
ampled, moved his whole cavalry from the
right to the left wing, which, falling upon the
flank of their assailants sword in hand, forced
them to fly, with great slaughter. In this
affair Montrose's horse took Forbes of Craigie-
var and Forbes of Boyndlie prisoners.

The unsuccessful attacks on the wings of
Montrose's army had in no shape affected the
future fortune of the day, as both armies kept
their ground, and were equally animated with
hopes of ultimate success. Vexed, but by no
means intimidated by their second defeat, the
gentlemen who composed Burleigh's horse con-

sulted together as to the best mode of renewing
the attack ; and, being of opinion that the suc-
cess of Montrose's cavalry was owing cliiefly to
the expert musketeers, with whom they were
interlined, they resolved to imitate the same
plan, by mixing among them a select body of
foot, and renewing the charge a third time,
with redoubled energy. But this scheme,
which might have proved fatal to Montrose, if
tried, was frustrated by a resolution he came
to, of making an instant and simultaneous
attack upon the enemy. Perceiving their
horse still in great confusion, and a consider-
able way apart from their main body, he deter-
mined upon attacking them with his foot before
they should get tune to rally ; and galloping
up to his men, who had been greatly galled by
the enemies' cannon, he told them that there
was no good to be expected by the two armies
keeping at such a distance — that in this way
there was no means of distinguishing the
strong from the weak, nor the coward from
the brave man, but that if they would once
make a home charge upon these timorous and
effeminate striplings, as he called Burleigh's
horse, they would never stand their attack.
" Come on, then," said he, " my brave fellow-
soldiers, fall down upon them with your swords
and muskets, drive them before you, and make
them suffer the punishment due to their perfidy
and rebellion."1 These words were no sooner
uttered, than Montrose's men rushed forward
at a quick pace and fell upon the enemy, sword
in hand. The Covenanters were paralyzed
by the suddenness and impetuosity of the
attack, and, turning their backs, fled in the
utmost trepidation and confusion, towards
Aberdeen. The slaughter was tremendous, as
the victors spared no man. The road leading
from the field of battle to Aberdeen was strewed
with the dead and the dying; the streets of
Aberdeen were covered with the bodies, and
stained with the blood of its inhabitants.
" The lieutenant followed the chase into Aber-
deen, his men hewing and cutting down all
manner of men they could overtake, within the
town, upon the streets, or in the houses, and
round about the town, as our men were fleeing,
with broad swords, but (i.e. without) mercy

1 Wishart, p. 89

BATTLE AND SACK OF ABERDEEN.

189

or remeid. Their cruel Irish, seeing a man
well clad, would first tyr (strip) him, and save
Lis clothes unspoiled, syne kill the man."2
In fine, according to this writer, who was an
eye-witness, the town of Aberdeen, which, but
a few years before, had suffered for its loyalty,
was now, by the same general who had then
oppressed it, delivered up by him to be indis-
criminately plundered by his Irish forces, for
having espoused the same cause which he him-
self had supported. For four days did these
men indulge in the most dreadful excesses,
"and nothing," continues Spalding, was "heard
but pitiful howling, crying, weeping, mourning,
through all the streets." Yet Guthry says
that Montrose " shewed great mercy, both
pardoning the people and protecting their
goods."3

It is singular, that although the battle con-
tinued for four hours without any determinate
result, Montrose lost very few men, a circum-
stance the more extraordinary as the cannon of
the Covenanters were placed upon advantageous
ground, whilst those of Montrose were rendered
quite ineffective by being situated in a position
from which they could not be brought to bear
upon tha enemy. An anecdote, characteristic
of the bravery of the Irish, and of their cool-
ness in enduring the privations of war, has
been preserved. During the cannonade on the
side of the Covenanters, an Irishman had his
leg shot away by a cannon ball, but which
kept still attached to the stump by means of
a small bit of skin, or flesh. His comrades-in-
arms being affected with his disaster, this bravo
man, without betraying any symptoms of pain,
thus cheerfully addressed them : — " This, my
companions, is the fate of war, and what none
of us ought to grudge : go on, and behave as
becomes you ; and, as for me, I am certain my
lord, the marquis, will make mo a trooper, as
I am now disabled for the foot service." Then,
taking a knife from his pocket, he deliberately
opened it, and cut asunder the skin which
retained the leg, without betraying the least
emotion, and delivered it to one of his com-
panions for interment. As soon as this cour-
ageous man was able to mount a horse, his
wish to become a trooper was complied with,

3 Spaldiug, vol. u. 407. 3 Memoirs, p. 131.

in which capacity he afterwards distinguished
himself. 4

Hoping that the news of the victory he had
obtained would create a strong feeling in his
favour among the Gordons, some of whom had
actually fought against him, under the com-
mand of Lord Lewis Gordon, Montrose sent a
part of his army towards Kintore and Inver-
ury, the following day, to encourage the people
of the surrounding country to declare for him ;
but he was sadly disappointed in his expecta-
tions. The fact is, that ever since the appoint-
ment of Montrose as lieutenant-general of the
kingdom, — an appointment which trenched
upon the authority of the Marquis of Huntly as
lieutenant of the north, — the latter had become
quite lukewarm in the cause of his sovereign ;
and, although he was aware of the intentions
of his son, Lord Lewis, to join the Covenanters,
he quietly allowed him to do so without re-
monstrance. But, besides being thus, in some
measure, superseded by Montrose, the marquis
was actuated by personal hostility to him on
account of the treatment he had formerly
received from him ; and it appears to have been
partly to gratify his spleen that he remained a
passive observer of a struggle which involved
the very existence of the monarchy itself.
Whatever may have been Huntly's reasons foi
not supporting Montrose, his apathy and in-
difference had a deadening influence upon his
numerous retainers, who had no idea of taking
the field but at the command of their chief.

As Montrose saw no possibility of opposing
the powerful and well-appointed army of Ar-
gyle, which was advancing upon him with
slow and cautious steps, disappointed as he had
been of the aid which ho had calculated upon,
he resolved to march into the Highlands, and
there collect such of the clans as were favour-
ably disposed to the royal cause. Leaving
Aberdeen, therefore, on the 16th of September,
with the remainder of his forces, ho joined the
camp at Kintore, whence he despatched Sir
William Bollock to Oxford to inform the king
of the events of the campaign, and of his
present situation, and to solicit him to send
supplies.

Wo must now advert to the progress of

« "Wiehart, p. 91

190

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Argyle's army, the slow movements of which
form an unfavourable contrast with the rapid
marches of Montrose's army. On the 4th of
September, four days after the battle of Tip-
permuir, Argylc, who had been pursuing the
Irish forces tinder Macdonald, had arrived with
his Highlanders at Stirling, where, on the
following day, he was joined by the Earl of
Lothian and his regiment, which had shortly
before been brought over from Ireland. After
raising some men in Stirlingshire, he marched
to Perth upon the 10th, whore he was joined
by some Fife men, and Lord Bargenny's and
Sir Frederick Hamilton's regiments of horse,
which had been recalled from Newcastle for
that purpose. With this increased force, which
now consisted of about 3,000 foot and two
regular cavalry regiments, besides ten troops
of horse, Ai-gylo left Perth on the 14th of
September for the north, and in his route
was joined by the Earl Marshal, Lords Gor-
don, Eraser, and Crichton, and other Covenant-
ors. He arrived at Aberdeen upon the 19th
of September, where he issued a proclamation,
declaring the Marquis of Montrose and his
followers traitors to religion and to their king
and country, and offering a reward of 20,000
pounds Scots, to any person who should bring
in Moutrose dead or alive.5 Spalding laments
with great pathos and feeling the severe hard-
ships to which the citizens of Aberdeen had
been subjected by these frequent visitations of
hostile armies, and alluding to the present oc-
cupancy of the town by Argyle, he observes
that " this multitude of people lived upon free
quarters, a new grief to both towns, whereof
there was quartered on poor old Aberdeen
Argyle's own three regiments. The soldiers
had their baggage carried, and craved nothing
but house-room and fire. But ilk captain,
with twelve gentlemen, had free quarters, (so
long as the town had meat and drink,) for two
ordinaries, but the third ordinary they furnished
themselves out of their own baggage and pro-
visions, having store of meal, molt and sheep,
carried with them. But, the first night, they
drank out all the stale ale in Aberdeen, and
lived upon wort thereafter." *

Argyle was now within half a day's march

1 Spalding, vol. ii. p. Hi,

6 Idem.

of Montrose, but, strange to tell, he made no
preparations to follow him, and spent two or
three days in Aberdeen doing absolutely
nothing. After spending this time in ingloii
ous supineness, Ajgylo put his army in motion
in the direction of Kintore. Montroso, on
hearing of his approach, concealed his cannon
in a bog, and leaving beliind him some of his
heavy baggage, made towards the Spoy with
the intention of crossing it. On arriving at
the river, lie encamped near the old castle of
Rothiemurchus; but finding that the boats used
in passing the river had been removed to the
north side of the river, and that a large armed
force from the country on the north of the
Spey had assembled on the opposite bank to
oppose his passage, Montrose marched his
army into the forest of Aberncthy. Argyle
only proceeded at first as far as Strathbogie;
but instead of pursuing Moutrose, he allowed
his troops to waste their time in plundering
the properties and laying waste the lands of
the Gordons in Strathbogie and the Enzie,
under the very eyes of Lord Gordon and Lord
Lewis Gordon, neither of whom appears to have
endeavoured to avert such a calamity. Spald-
ing says that it was "a wonderful unnaturalitie
in the Lord Gordon to suffer his father's lands
and friends in his own sight to bo thus wreckt
and destroyed in his father's absence;" but
Lord Gordon likely had it not in his power to
stay these proceedings, which, if not done at
the instigation, may have received the appro-
bation of his violent and headstrong younger
brother, who had joined the Covenanters' stand-
ard. On the 27th of September, Argyle mus-
tered his forces at the Bog of Gicht, when they
were found to amount to about 4,000 men; but
although the army of Montrose did not amount
to much more than a third of that number,
and was within twenty miles' distance, he did
not venture to attack him. After remaining a
few days in Abernethy forest, Montroso passed
through the forest of Rothiemurchus, and follow-
ing the course of the Spey, marched through
Badenoch to Athole, which he reached on 1st
October.

When Argyle heard of the departure of
Montrose from the forest of Abernothy, he
made a feint of following him. Ho accord-
ingly set his army in motion along Spey- side,

MONTEOSK RETREATS TO STRATHBOGIE.

191

and crossing the river liiin.-ii'li' with a few horse,
man-lied up some distance along the north
bank, and recrossed, when he ordered his troops
to halt. Ho then proceeded to Forres to at-
t>'iid a committee meeting of Covenanters to
i't a plan of operations in the north, at
which the Earl of Sutherland, Lord Lovat, the
sheriff of Moray, the lairds of Balnagown,
Inncs and Pluscardine, and many others were
present. From Forres Argyle went to Inver-
ness, and after giving some instructions to Sir
Mungo Campbell of Lawers, and the laird of
Buchanan, the commanders of the regiments
stationed there, he returned to his army, which
he marched through Badenoch in pursuit of
Montrose. From Athole Montrose sent Mac-
donald with a party of 500 men to the Western
Highlands, to invite the laird of Maclean, the
captain of clan Eanald, and others to join him.
Marching down to Dimkeld, Montrose himself
proceeded rapidly through Angus towards
TSrechin and Montrose.7

Although some delay had been occasioned
in Montrose's movements by his illness for a
fi-w Jays in Badenoch, this was fully compen-
sated for by the tardy motions of Argyle, who,
on entering Badenoch, found that his vigilant
antagonist was several days' march a-head of
him. This intelligence, however, did not in-
duce him in the least to accelerate his march.
1 [earing, when passing through Badenoch, that
Montrose had been joined by some of the in-
habitants of that country, Argyle, according to
Spaldiug, " left nothing of that country un-
destroyed, no not one four footed beast ; " and
Athole shared a similar fate.

At the time Montrose entered Angus, a com-
mittee of the estates, consisting of the Earl
Marshal and other barons, was sitting in Aber-
deen, who, on hearing of his approach, issued
on the 10th of October a printed order, to which
the Earl Marshal's name was attached, ordain-
ing, under pain of being severely fined, all
persons, of whatever age, sex, or condition,
having horses of the value of forty pounds
Scots or upwards, to send them to the bridge
of Dee, which was appointed as the place of
rendezvous, on the 14th of October, by ten
o'clock, A. M., with riders fully equipped and

" Guthry, \<. 231.

armed. With the exception of Lord Gordon,
who brought three troops of horse, and Captain
Alexander Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal,
who appeared with one troop at the appointed
place, no attention was paid to the order of the
committee by the people, who had not yet
recovered from their fears, and their recent
sufferings were still too fresh in their minds to
induce them again to expose themselves to the
vengeance of Montrose and his Irish troops.

After refreshing his army for a few days in
Angus, Montroso prepared to cross the Gram-
pians, and march to Strathbogie to make
another attempt to raise the Gordons ; but,
before setting out on his march, he released
Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie,
on their parole, upon condition that Craigievar
should procure the liberation of the young laird
of Drum and his brother from the jail of Edin-
burgh, failing which, Craigievar and Boynd
lie were both to deliver themselves up to him
as prisoners before the 1st of November. This
act of generosity on the part of Montrose was
greatly admired, more particularly as Craigievar
was one of the heads of the Covenanters, and
had great influence among them. In pursu-
ance of his design, Montrose marched through
the Mearns, and upon Thursday, the 17th of
October, crossed the Dee at the Mills of Drum,
with his whole army. In his progress north,
contrary to his former forbearing policy, he
laid waste the lands of some of the leading
Covenanters, burnt their houses, and plundered
their effects. He arrived at Strathbogie on the
19th of October, where he remained till the
27th, without being able to induce any con-
siderable number of the Gordons to join him.
It was not from want of inclination that they
refused to do so, but they were unwilling
to incur the displeasure of their chief, who
they knew was personally opposed to Mon-
tiose, and who felt indignant at seeing a man
who had formerly espoused the cause of the
Covenanters preferred before him. Had Mon-
trose been accompanied by any of the Marquis
of Huntly's sons, they might have had influence
enough to have induced some of the Gordons
to declare for him ; but the situation of the
marquis's three sons was at this tinle very pecu
liar. The eldest son, Lord Gordon, a young
man " of singular worth and accomplishments,"

192

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

was with. Argyle, his uncle by the mother's
side ; the Earl of Aboyne, the second son, was
shut up in the castle of Carlisle, then in a state
of siege; and Lord Lewis Gordon, the third
son, had, as we have seen, joined the Cove-
nanters, and fought in their ranks.

In this situation of matters, Montroso left
Strathbogie on the day last mentioned, and
took up a position in the forest of Fyvie,
where he despatched some of his troops, who
took possession of the castles of Fyvie and
Tollie Barclay, in which he found a good sup-
ply of provisions, which was of great service to
his army. During his stay at Strathbogie,
Montrose kept a strict outlook for the enemy,
and scarcely passed a night without scouring
the neighbouring country to the distance of
several miles with parties of light foot, who
attacked straggling parties of the Covenanters,
and brought in prisoners from time to time,
without sustaining any loss. These petty
enterprises, while they alarmed their enemies,
gave an extraordinary degree of confidence to
Montrose's men, who were ready to tmdertake
any service, however difficult or dangerous, if
lie only commanded them to perform it.

When Montrose crossed the Dee, Argyle
was several days' march behind him. The
latter, however, reached Aberdeen on the 24th
of October, and proceeded the following morn-
ing towards Kintore, which he reached the
same night. Next morning he marched for-
ward to Inverury, where lie halted at night.
Here he was joined by the Earl of Lothian's
regiment, which increased his force to about
2,500 foot, and 1,200 horse. In his progress
through the counties of Angus, Kincardine,
Aberdeen, and Banff, he received no accession
of strength, from the dread which the name
and actions of Montrose had infused into the
minds of the inhabitants of these counties.

The sudden movements of Argyle from. Aber-
deen to Kintore, and from Kintore to Inverury,
form a remarkable contrast with the slowness
of his former motions. He had followed Mon-
trose through a long and circuitous route, the
greater part of which still bore recent traces of
his footsteps, and instead of showing any dispo-
sition to overtake his flying foe, seemed rather
inclined to keep that respectful distance from
him so congenial to the mind of one who,

" willing to wound," is " yet still afraid to
strike." But although this questionable policy
of Argyle was by no means calculated to raise
his military fame, it had the effect of throwing
Montrose, in the present case, off his guard,
and had well-nigh proved fatal to him. The
rapid march of Argyle on Kintore and Invcrmy,
in fact, was effected without Montrose's know-
ledge, for the spies he had employed concealed
the matter from him, and while he imagined
that Argyle was still on the other side of the
Grampians, he suddenly appeared within, a very
few miles of Moutrose's camp, on the 28th of
October.

The unexpected arrival of Argyle's army did
not disconcert Montrose. His foot, which
amounted to 1,500 men, were little more than
the half of those under Argyle, while he had only
about 50 horse to oppose 1,200. Yet, with
this immense disparity, he resolved to await the
attack of the enemy, judging it inexpedient,
from the want of cavalry, to become the assail-
ant by descending into the plain where Argyle's
army was encamped. On a rugged eminence
behind the castle of Fyvie, on the uneven
sides of which several ditches had been cut
and dikes built to serve as farm fences, Mon-
trose drew up his little but intrepid host ; but
before he had marked out the positions to be
occupied by his divisions, he had the misfor-
tune to witness the desertion of a small body
of the Gordons, who had joined him at Strath-
bogie. They, however, did not join Argyle,
but contented themselves with withdrawing
altogether from the scene of the ensuing action.
It is probable that they came to the determina-
tion of retiring, not from cowardice, but from
disinclination to appear in the field against
Lord Lewis Gordon, who held a high com-
mand in Argyle's army. The secession of the
Gordons, though in reality a circumstance of
trifling importance in itself, (for had they re-
mained, they would have fought unwillingly,
and consequently might not have had sufficient
resolution to maintain the position which would
have been assigned them,) had a disheartening
influence upon the spirits of Montrose's men,
and accordingly they found themselves unable
to resist the first shock of Argyle's numerous
forces, who, charging them with great impetuo-
sity, drove them up the eminence, of a consider-

BATTLE OF FYVIE.

193

able part of which Argyle's army got possession.
In this critical conjuncture, when terror and de-
spair seemed about to obtain the mastery over
hearts to which fear had hitherto been a
stranger, Montrose displayed a coolness and
presence of mind equal to the dangers which
surrounded him. Animating them by his pre-
sence, and by the example which he showed in
risking his person in the hottest of the fight,
lie roused their courage by putting them fur-
ther in mind of the victories they had achieved,
and how greatly superior they were in bravery
to the enemy opposed to them. After this
emphatic appeal to their feelings, Montrose
turned to Colonel O'Kean, a young Irish gentle-
man, highly respected by the former for his
bravery, and desired him, with an air of the
most perfect sang froid, to go down with such
men as were readiest, and to drive these fel-
lows (meaning Argyle's men), out of the ditches,
that they might be no more troubled with
them. O'Kean quickly obeyed the mandate,
and though the party in the ditches was
greatly superior to the body he led, and was,
moreover, supported by some horse, he drove
them away, and captured several bags of
powder which they left behind them in their
hurry to escape. This was a valuable acquisi-
tion, as Moutrose's men had spent already al-
most the whole of their ammunition.

AVhile O'Kean was executing this brilliant
affair, Montrose observed five troops of horse,
under the Earl of Lothian, preparing to attack
his 50 horse, who were posted a little way up
the eminence, with a small wood in their rear.
He, therefore, without a moment's delay, or-
dered a party of musketeers to their aid, who,
having interlined themselves with the 50 horse,
kept up such a galling fire upon Lothian's
troopers, that before they had advanced half
way across a field which lay between them and
Montrose's horse, they were obliged to wheel
about and gallop off.

Montrose's men became so elated with their
success that they could scarcely be restrained
from leaving their ground and making a gen-
eral attack upon the whole of Argyle's army ;
but although Montrose did not approve of this
design, he disguised his opinion, and seemed
rather to concur in the views of his men, telling
them, however, to be so far mindful of their

I.

duty as to wait till ho should see the fit mo-
ment for ordering the attack. Argyle remained
till the evening without attempting anything
farther, and then retired to a distance of about
three miles across the Ythan; his men passed
the night under arms. The only person of
note killed in these skirmishes was Captain
Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal.

Next day Argyle resolved to attack Mon-
trose, with the view of driving him from his
position. He was induced to come to this de-
termination from a report, too well founded,
which had reached him, that Montrose's army
was almost destitute of ammunition ; — indeed,
he had compelled the inhabitants of all the
surrounding districts to deliver up every article
of pewter in their possession for the purpose
of being converted into ammunition ; but this
precarious supply appears soon to have been
exhausted.8 On arriving at the bottom of
the hill, he changed his resolution, not judg-
ing it safe, from the experience of the pre-
ceding day, to hazard an attack. Montrose,
on the other hand, agreeably to his original
plan, kept his ground, as he did not deem it
advisable to expose his men to the enemy's cav-
alry by descending from the eminence. With
the exception of some trifling skirmishes be-
tween the advanced posts, the main body of
both armies remained quiescent during the
whole day. Argyle again retired in the even-
ing to the ground he had occupied the pre-
ceding night, whence he returned the following
day, part of which was spent in the same man-
ner as the former ; but long before the day had
expired he led off his army, "upon fair day
light," says Spalding, " to a considerable dis-
tance, leaving Montrose to effect Ms escape un-
molested."

Montrose, thus left to follow any course ho
pleased, marched off after nightfall towards
Strathbogie, plundering Turriff and Eothiemay
house in his route. He selected Strathbogie as
the place of his retreat on account of the rugged-
ness of the country and of the numerous dikes
with which it was intersected, which would
prevent the operations of Argyle's cavalry, and
where he intended to remain till joined by
Macdonald, whom he daily expected from the

• Wishart, p. 100.

2a

194

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Higldands with a reinforcement. When Ar-
gyle heard of Montrose's departure on the fol-
lowing morning, being the last day of October,
he forthwith proceeded after him with his
army, thinking to bring him to action in the
open country, and encamped at Tullochbeg on
the 2d of November, where he drew out his
army in battle array. He endeavoured to bring
Montrose to a general engagement, and, in
order to draw him from a favourable position
he was preparing to occupy, Argylo sent out a
skirmishing party of his Highlanders ; but they
were soon repulsed, and Montrose took posses-
sion of the ground he had selected.

Baffled in all his attempts to overcome Mon-
trose by force of arms, Argyle, whose talents
were more fitted for the intrigues of the cabinet
than the tactics of the field, had now recourse
to negotiation, with the view of effecting the
ruin of his antagonist. For this purpose he
proposed a cessation of arms, and that he and
Montrose should hold a conference, previous to
which arrangements should be entered into for
their mutual security. Montrose knew Argyle
too well to place any reliance upon his word,
and as lie had no doubt that Argyle would take
advantage, during the proposed cessation, to
tamper with his men and endeavour to with-
draw them from their allegiance, he called a
council of war, and proposed to retire without
delay to the Highlands. The council at once
approved of this suggestion, whereupon Mon-
trose resolved to march next night as far as
Badenoch ; and that his army might be able to
accomplish such a long journey within the time
fixed, lie immediately sent off all his heavy bag-
gage under a guard, and ordered his men to
keep themselves prepared as if to fight a battle
the next day.9 Scarcely, however, had the
carriages and heavy baggage been despatched,
when an event took place which greatly dis-
concerted Montrose. This was nothing less
than the desertion of his friend Colonel Sib-
bald and some of his officers, who went over
to the enemy. They were accompanied by Sir
William Forbes of Craigievar, who, having been
unable to fulfil the condition on which he was
to obtain his ultimate liberation, had returned
two or three days before to Montrose's camp.

9 Wishart, p. 102.

This distressing occurrence induced Montrose
to postpone his march for a time, as he was
quite certain that the deserters would commu-
nicate his plans to Argyle. Ordering, there-
fore, back the baggage ho had sent off, lie
resumed his former position, in which he
remained four days, as if he there intended to
take up his winter quarters.

In the meantime Montrose had the mortifi-
cation to witness the defection of almost the
whole of his officers, who were very numerous,
for, with the exception of the Irish and High-
landers, they outnumbered the privates from
the Lowlands. The bad example which had
been set by Sibbald, the intimate friend of
Montrose, and the insidious promises of pre-
ferment held out to them by Argyle, induced
some, whose loyalty was questionable, to adopt
this course ; but the idea of the privations to
which they would be exposed in traversing,
during winter, among frost and snow, the
dreary and dangerous regions of the Highlands,
shook the constancy of others, who, in different
circumstances, would have willingly exposed
their lives for their sovereign. Bad health,
inability to undergo the fatigue of long and
constant marches — these and other excuses
were made to Montrose as the reasons for crav-
ing a discharge from a service which had now
become more hazardous than ever. Montrose
made no remonstrance, but with looks of high
disdain which betrayed the inward workings
of a proud and unsubdued mind, indignant at
being thus abandoned at such a dangerous
crisis, readily complied with the request of
every man who asked permission to retire. The
Earl of Airly, now sixty years of age and in
precarious health, and his two sons, Sir Thomas
and Sir David Ogilvie, out of all the Low-
landers, alone remained faithful to Montrose,
and could, on no account, be prevailed upon to
abandon him. Among others who left Mon-
troso on this occasion, was Sir Nathaniel Gor-
don, who, it is said, went over to Argyle's camp
in consequence of a concerted plan between
him and Montrose, for the purpose of detaching
Lewis Gordon from the cause of the Covenant-
ers, a conjecture which seems to have originated
in the subsequent conduct of Sir Nathaniel
and Lord Lewis, who joined Montrose the
following year.

MOXTKOSK MARCHES UPON BREADALHANK AND AliGYI.K.

105

Montroso, now abandoned by all his Low-
land friends, prepared for liis march, prepara-
tory to -which ho sent off his baggage as
formerly ; and after lighting some fires for the
purpose of deceiving the enemy, took his
departure on the evening of the 6th of Novem-
ber, and arrived about break of day at Balveny.
After remaining a few days there to refresh his
men, ho proceeded through Badenoch, and
descended by rapid marches into Atholo, where
ho was joined by Macdonald and John Muid-
artach, the captain of the Clanranald, the latter
of whom brought 500 of his men along with
him. He was also reinforced by some small
parties from the neighbouring Highlands, whom
Macdonald had induced to follow him.

In the meantime Argyle, after giving orders
to his Highlanders to return home, wont him-
self to Edinburgh, where ho " got but small
thanks for his service against Montrose."1
Although the Committee of Estates, out of
deference, approved of his conduct, which some
of his flatterers considered deserving of praise
because he "had shed no blood;"2 yet the
majority had formed a very different estimate
of his character, during a campaign which had
been fruitful neither of glory nor victory.
Confident of success, the heads of the Cove-
nanters looked upon the first efforts of Mon-
troso in the light of a desperate and forlorn
attempt, rashly and inconsiderately undertaken,
and which they expected would be speedily
put down ; but the results of the battles of
Tippermuir, Aberdeen, and Fyvie, gave a new
direction to their thoughts, and the royalists,
hitherto contemned, began now to be dreaded
and respected. In allusion to the present
" posture of affairs," it is observed by Guthry,
that " many who had formerly been violent,
began to talk moderately of business, and what
was most taken notice of, was the lukewarm-
ness of many amongst the ministry, who now
in their preaching had begun to abate much of
their former zeal." 3 The early success of Mon-
trose had indeed caused some misgivings in
the minds of the Covenanters ; but as they all
hoped that Argylo would change the tide of war,
they showed no disposition to relax in their

1 SpiUtling, -vol. ii. p. 287. 5 Guthry, p. 134.
3 Memoirs, pp. 134—5.

severities towards those who were suspected of
favouring the cause of the king. The signal
failure, however, of Argyle's expedition, and
his return to the capital, quite changed, as we
have seen, the aspect of affairs, and many of
those who had been most sanguine in their
calculations regarding the result of the struggle,
began now to waver and to doubt.

While Argylo was passing his time in Edin-
burgh, Montroso was meditating a terrible
blow at Argyle himself to revenge the cruelties
ho had exercised upon the royalists, and to give
confidence to the clans in Argyle's neighbour-
hood. These had been hitherto prevented from
joining Montrose's standard from a dread of
Argyle, who having always a body of 5,000 or
6,000 Highlanders at command, had kept them
in such complete subjection that they dared not,
without the risk of absolute ruin, espouse the
cause of their sovereign. The idea of curbing
the power of a haughty and domineering chief
whose word was a law to the inhabitants of
an extensive district, ready to obey his cruel
mandates at all times, and the spirit of revenge,
the predominating characteristic of the clans,
smoothed the difficulties which presented
themselves in invading a country made almost
inaccessible by nature, and rendered still more
unapproachable by the severities of winter.
The determination of Montrose having thus
met with a willing response in the breasts of
his men, ho lost no time in putting them in
motion. Dividing his army into two parts,
ho himself marched with the main body, con-
sisting of the Irish and the Athole-men, to
Loch Tay, whence ho proceeded through
Breadalbane. The other body, composed of
the clan Donald and other Highlanders, he-
despatched by a different route, with instruc-
tions to meet him at an assigned spot on tho
borders of Argyle. The country through which
both divisions passed, being chiefly in posses-
sion of Argyle's kinsmen or dependants, was
laid waste, particularly the lands of Campbell
of Glenorchy.

When Argyle heard of the ravages com-
mitted by Montrose's army on tho lands of his
kinsmen, ho hastened home from Edinburgh
to his castle at Inverary, and gavo orders for
the assembling of his clan, either to repel any
attack that might be made on his own country,

196

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

or to protect his friends from future aggression.
It is by no means certain that he anticipated
an invasion from Montrose, particularly at such
a season of the year, and he seemed to imagine
himself so secure from attack, owing to the
intricacy of the passes leading into Argyle, that
although a mere handful of men could have
effectually opposed an army much larger than
that of Montrose, he took no precautions to
guard them. So important indeed did he
himself consider these passes to be, that he
had frequently declared that he would rather
forfeit a hundred thousand crowns, than that
an enemy should know the passes by which an
armed force could penetrate into Argyle.4

Wliile thus reposing in fancied security in
liis impregnable stronghold, and issuing his
mandates for levying his forces, some shepherds
arrived in great terror from the hills, and brought
him the alarming intelligence that the enemy,
whom he had imagined were about a hundred
miles distant, were within two miles of his
own dwelling. Terrified at the unexpected
appearance of Montrose, whose vengeance he
justly dreaded, he had barely self-possession
left to concert measures for his own personal
safety, by taking refuge on board a fishing
boat in Loch Fyiie, in which he sought his
way to the Lowlands, leaving his people and
country exposed to the merciless will of an
enemy thirsting for revenge. The inhabitants
of Argyle being thus abandoned by their
chief, made no attempt to oppose Montrose,
who, the more effectually to carry his plan for
pillaging and ravaging the country into execu-
tion, divided his army into three parties, under
the respective orders of the captain of clan
Ranald, Macdonald, and himself. For up-
wards of six weeks, viz., from the 13th of
December, 1644, till nearly the end of Janu-
ary following, these different bodies traversed
the whole country without molestation, burn-
ing, wasting, and destroying every thing which
came within their reach. Nor were the people
themselves spared, for although it is men-
tioned by one writer that Montroso " shed
no blood in regard that all the people
(following their lord's laudable example) deli-
vered themselves by flight also," 5 it is evident

4 Wishart, p. 107. ' Guthiy, p. 136.

from several contemporary authors that the
slaughter must have been immense.6 In fact,
before the end of January, the face of a single
male inhabitant was not to be seen throughout
the whole extent of Argyle and Lorn, the
whole population having been either driven
out of these districts, or taken refuge in dens
and caves known only to themselves.

Having thus retaliated upon Argyle and his
people in a tenfold degree the miseries which
he had occasioned in Lochaber and the adjoin-
ing countries, Montrosc left Argylo and Lorn,
passing through Glencoe and Lochaber on his
way to Lochness. On his march eastwards ho
was joined by the laird of Abergeldie, the Far-
quharsons of the Braes of Mar, and by a party
of the Gordons. The object of Montrose, by
this movement, was to seize Inverness, which
was then protected by only two regiments, in
the expectation that its capture would operate
as a stimulus to the northern clans, who had
not yet declared themselves. This resolution
was by no means altered on reaching the head
of Lochness, where he learned that the Earl of
Seaforth was advancing to meet Mm with an
army of 5,000 horse and foot, which he re-
solved to encounter, it being composed, with
the exception of two regular regiments, of raw
and undisciplined levies.

While proceeding, however, through Aber-
tarf, a person arrived in great haste at Kilcum-
rain, the present fort Augustus, who brought
him the surprising intelligence that Argyle had
entered Lochaber with an army of 3,000 men ;
that he was burning and laying waste the
country, and that his head-quarters were at the
old castle of Inverlochy. After Argyle had
effected his escape from Inverary, he had gone
to Dumbarton, where he remained till Mon-
trose's departure from his territory. While
there, a body of covenanting troops who had
served in England, arrived under the command
of Major-general Baillie, for the purpose of
assisting Argyle in expelling Montrose from
his bounds ; but on learning that Montrosc
had left Argyle, and was marcliing through
Glcncoo and Lochaber, General Baillie deter-
mined to lead his army in an easterly direction

6 Spading, vol. ii. p. 442; Wishart, p. 108— Red
Book of ClanranaJd.

MONTBOSE MARCHES TO INVEELOCHY.

197

through the Lowlands, with tho intention of
intercepting Montrose, should lie attempt a
descent. At the same time it was arranged
between Baillio and Argylo that the latter,
who had now recovered from his panic in con-
sequence of Montrose's departure, should re-
turn to Argyle and collect his men from their
hiding-places and retreats. As it was not im-
probable, however, that Montroso might renew
his visit, the Committee of Estates allowed
Baillio to place 1,100 of his soldiers at the
disposal of Argyle, who, as soon as he was
able to muster his men, was to follow Mon-
troso's rear, yet so as to avoid an engagement,
till Baillie, who, on hearing of Argyle's advance
into Lochaber, was to march suddenly across
the Grampians, should attack Montrose in
front. To assist him in levying and organiz-
ing his clan, Argyle called over Campbell of
Auchinbreck, his kinsman, from Ireland, who
had considerable reputation as a military com-
mander. In terms of his instructions, there-
fore, Argyle had entered Lochaber, and had
advanced as far as Inverlochy, when, as we
Lave seen, the news of his arrival was brought
to Montrose.

Montrose was at first almost disinclined,
from the well-known reputation of Argyle, to
credit this intelligence, but being fully assured
of its correctness from the apparent sincerity of
his informer, he lost not a moment in making
up his mind as to the course he should pursue.
He might have instantly marched back upon
Argyle by the route he had just followed ; but
as tho latter would thus get due notice of his
approach, and prepare himself for the threat-
ened danger, Montrose resolved upon a differ-
ent plan. The design ho conceived could
only have originated in the mind of such a
bold and enterprising commander as Mon-
trose, before whose daring genius difficulties
hitherto deemed insurmountable at once disap-
peared. The idea of carrying an army over
dangerous and precipitous mountains, whose
wild and frowning aspect seemed to forbid the
approach of human footsteps, and in the middle
of winter, too, when the formidable perils of
the journey were greatly increased by the snow,
however chimerical it might have seemed to
other men, appeared quite practicable to Mon-
trose, whose sanguine anticipations of the ad-

vantages to bo derived from such an extra-
ordinary exploit, more than counterbalanced,
in his mind, tho risks to bo encountered.

The distance between tho place where Mon-
trose received the news of Argyle's arrival and
Inverlochy is about thirty miles ; but this dis-
tance was considerably increased by the devious
track which Montrose followed. Marching
along tho small river Tarf in a southerly direc-
tion, ho crossed tho hills of Lairie Thierard,
passed through Glenroy, and after traversing the
range of mountains between tho Glen and Ben
Nevis, he arrived in Glennevis before Argyle
had the least notice of his approach. Before
setting out on his march, Montrose had taken
the wise precaution of placing guards upon the
common road leading to Inverlochy, to prevent
intelligence of his movements being carried to
Argyle, and he had killed sucli of Argyle's
scouts as he had fallen in with in the course of
his march. This fatiguing and unexampled
journey had been performed in little more than
a night and a day, and when, in the course of
the evening, Montrose's men arrived in Glen-
nevis, they found themselves so weary and
exhausted that they could not venture to attack
the enemy. They therefore lay under arms all
night, and refreshed themselves as they best
could till next morning. As the night was
uncommonly clear, it being moonlight, the ad-
vanced posts of both armies kept up a small
fire of musketry, which led to no result.

In the meantime Argyle, after committing
his army to the charge of his cousin, Campbell
of Auchinbreek, with his customary prudence,
went, during the night, on board a boat in the
loch, excusing himself for this apparent pusil-
lanimous act by alleging his incapacity to enter
the field of battle in consequence of some con-
tusions lie had received by a fall two or three
weeks before; but his enemies averred that
cowardice was the real motive which induced
him to take refuge in his galley, from which
he witnessed the defeat and destruction of his
army. This somewhat suspicious action of
Argyle — and it was not the only time he pro-
vided for his personal safety in a similar man-
ner— is accounted for in the following ( ? iron-
ical) way by the author of Britane's Distemper
(p. 100) :-

" In this confusion, the commanders of there

198

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

armie liglites wpon this resolution, not to hazart
the marquisse owne persone ; for it seems not
possible that Ardgylle himselfc, being a noble-
man of such eminent qualitie, a man of so doepo
and profuncl judgement, one that knew so weell
what bclongeth to the office of a gencrall, that
any basso motion of feare, I say, could make
him so wnsensible of the poynt of honour as is
generally reported. Nether will I, for my owne
pairt, belieuo it ; but I am confident that those
barrones of his kinred, wha ware captancs
and commanderes of the armie, feareing the
cuent of this battelle, for diners reasones ; and
one was, that Allan M'Collduie, ane old fox,
and who was thought to be a seer, had told
them that there- should be a battell lost there
by them that came first to seike battell ; this
was one cause of there importunitie with him
that he should not come to battell that day ;
for they sawe that of necessitie they most feght,
and would not hazart there chcife persone,
urgeing him by force to reteiro to his galay,
which lay hard by, and committo the tryall of
the day to them ; he, it is to be thought, with
great difficultie yeelding to there request,
leaues his cusine, the laird of Auchinbreike, a
most walorous and braue gentleman, to the
generall commande of the armie, and takes with
himselfe only sir James Eollocke, his brother
in lawe, sir Jhono Wachopo of Nithrie, Mr.
Mungo Law, a preacher. It is reported those
two last was send from Edinburgh with liim
to beare witnesse of the expulsion of those
rebelles, for so they ware still pleased to terme
the Eoyalistes."

It would appear that it was not until the
morning of the battle that Argylc's men were
aware that it was the army of Montrose that
was so near them, as they considered it quite
impossible that ho should have been able to
bring his forces across the mountains ; they
imagined that the body before them consisted
of some of the inhabitants of the country, who
had collected to defend their properties. But
they were undeceived when, in the dawn of the
morning, the warlike sound of Montrose's
trumpets, resounding through the glen where
they lay, and reverberating from the adjoining
hills, broke upon their ears. This served as
the signal to both armies to prepare for buttle.
Montrose drew out his army in an extended

line. The right wing consisted of a regiment
of Irish, under the command of Macdonald,
his major-general ; the centre was composed of
the Atholo-men, the Stuarts of Appin, the Mac-
donalds of Glcncoe, and other Highlanders,
severally under the command of Clanranald,
M'Lcan, and Glengary ; and the left wing con-
sisted of some Irish, at the head of whom was the
brave Colonel O'Kean. A body of Irish was
placed behind the main body as a reserve, under
the command of Colonel James M'Donald, alias
O'Neill. The general of Argyle's army formed
it in a similar manner. The Lowland forces
were equally divided, and formed the wings,
between which the Highlanders were placed.
Upon a rising ground, behind this line, General
Campbell drew up a reserve of Highlanders,
and placed a field-piece. Within the house of
Invcrlochy, which was only about a pistol-shot
from the place where the army was formed, he
planted a body of 40 or 50 men to protect the
place, and to annoy Montrose's men with dis-
charges of musketry.7 The account given by
Gordon of Sallagh, that Argyle had transported
the half of his army over the water at Inver-
lochy, under the command of Auchinbreck,
and that Montrose defeated this division, while
Argylo was prevented from relieving it with
the other division, from the intervening of
"an arm of the sea, that was interjected- betwixt
them and him,"8 is probably erroneous, for the
circumstance is not mentioned by any other
writer of the period, and it is well known, that
Argyle abandoned his army, and witnessed its
destruction from his galley, — circumstances
which Gordon altogether overlooks.

It was at sunrise, on Sunday, the 2d of
February, 1645, that Montrose, after having
formed his army in battle array, gave orders to
his men to advance upon the enemy. The left
wing of Montroso's army, under the command of
O'Kean, was the first to commence the attack,
by charging the enemy's right. This was imme-
diately followed by a furious assault upon the
centre and left wing of Argyle's army, by
Montroso's right wing and centre. Argyle's
right wing not being able to resist the attack
of Montrose's left, turned about and fled, which

7 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 444.

8 ContintMlion, p. 522.

BATTLE OF INVERLOCHY.

199

circumstance had such a discouraging effect on
tho remainder of Argyle's troops, that after
discharging their muskets, the whole of them,
including the reserve, took to their heels. The
rout now became general. An attempt was
made by a body of about 200 of the fugitives,
to throw themselves into the castle of Inver-
locliy, but a party of Montrose's horse pre-
vented them. Some of the flying enemy
directed their course along the side of Louh-
l-'.il, but all these were either killed or diowned

in the pursuit. The greater part, however,
fled towards the hills in the direction of Argyle,
and were pursued by Montrose's men, to the dis-
tance of about eight miles. As no resistance
was made by the defeated party in their flight,
tho carnage was very great, being reckoned at
1,500 men. Many more would have been cut
off hud it not been for the humanity of Mon-
trose, who did every thing in his power to save
the unresisting enemy from the fury of his men,
who were not disposed to give quarter to the

Inverlucliy C:i4h>. - - Krnm M'Oulloeh's celebrated picture in the Kdinl>un,'li National Gallery.

unfortunate Campbells. Having taken the
castle, Montrose not only treated the officers,
who were from tho Lowlands, with kindness,
but gave them their liberty on parole.

Among the principal persons who fell on
Argyle's side, were the commander, Campbell
of Auchinbreck, Campbell of Lochnell, the
eldest son of Lochnell, and his brother, Colin ;
M'Dougall of Kara and his eldest son ; Major
Menzies, brother to the laird, (or Prior as he
was called) of Achattens Parbreck ; and the
provost of the church of Kilmun. The loss
on the side of Montrose was extremely trilling.
Tho number of wounded is indeed not stated,
but lie had only three privates killed. He
sustained, however, a severe loss in Sir Thomas
Ogilvie, son of the Earl of Airly, who died a

few days after the battle, of a wound he
received in the thigh. Montrose regretted the
death of this steadfast friend and worthy man,
with feelings of real sorrow, and caused his
body to be interred in Athole with due solem-
nity. 9 Montrose immediately after the battle
sent a messenger to the king with a letter,
giving an account of it, at the conclusion of
which he exultingly says to Charles, " Give me
I leave, after I have reduced this country, and
| conquered from Dan to Beersheba, to say to
I your Majesty, as David's general to his master,
' Come thou thyself, lest this country be called
by my name." When the king received this
letter, the royal and parliamentary commis-

• Spalding, vol. ii. p. 445.— Wishart, p. Ill, et
seq. — Guthry, p. 140.

•200

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

sioners were sitting at Uxbridge negotiating
the terms of a peace ; but Charles, induced by
the letter, imprudently broke off the negotia-
tion, a circumstance which led to his ruin.

CHAPTER XIV.

A.V. FEBRUARY— SEPTEMBER, 1645.
BRITISH SOVEREIGN : — Charles I., 1625 — 1C49.

Montrose marches to Inverness and Elgin, wasting
the lands of the Covenanters — Enters and plunders
Banff —Deputation from Aberdeen — Death of Donald
Farquharson — Montrose imposes a tax of £10,000
on Aberdeen — Enters and burns Stonehaven — De-
feats Hurry's horse at Fettercairn — Marches to
Brechin and Dunkeld — Storms and captures Dundee
— Montrose's retreat from Dundee — Movements of
General Baillie — Battle of Auldearn — Montrose's
after-movements— Battle of Alford — General Baillie
and the Committee of Estates retreat to Stirling —
Montrose inarches to Aberdeen — Montrose marches
south — Is joined by more Highlanders — Threatens
Perth — Retreats to Dunkeld — Again moves south
— Baillie joined by the men of Fife — Montrose at
Alloa — Maclean burns Castle Campbell — Montrose
goes towards Stirling — Differences among the Cove-
nanters— Battle of Kilsyth — Montrose enters Glas-
gow— Submission of the nobility and the western
counties — Submission of Edinburgh — Montrose ap-
pointed Lieutenant-governor of Scotland — Deser-
tion of Highlanders — Battle of Philiphaugh.

WHEN the disastrous news of the battle of
Inverlochy reached Edinburgh, the Estates
were thrown into a state of great alarm. They
had, no doubt, begun to fear, before that event,
and, of course, to respect the prowess of Mon-
trose, but they never could have been made to
believe that, within the space of a few days,
a well-appointed army, composed in part of
veteran troops, would have been utterly defeated
by a force so vastly inferior in point of num-
bers, and beset with difficulties and dangers to
which the army of Argyle was not exposed.
Not were the fears of the Estates much allayed
by the appearance of Argyle, who arrived at
Edinburgh to give them an account of the
affair, " having his left arm tied up in a scarf,
as if he had been at bones-breaking."1 It is
true that Lord Balmerino made a speech before
the assembly of the Estates, in which he
affirmed, that the great loss reported to be
sustained at Inverlochy " was but the inven-
tion of the malignants, who spake as they

1 Quthry, p. 141.

wished," and that " upon his honour, not more
than thirty of Argyle's men had been killed;"2
but as the disaster was well known, this device
only misled the weak and ignorant. Had
Montrose at this juncture descended into the
Lowlands, it is not improbable that his presence
might have given a favourable turn to the state
of matters in the south, where the king's
affairs were in the most precarious situation; but
such a design does not seem to have accorded
with his views of prolonging the contest in
the Highlands, which were more suitable than
the Lowlands to his plan of operations, and to
the nature of his forces.

Accordingly, after allowing his men to re-
fresh themselves a few days at Inverlochy,
Montrose returned across the mountains of
Lochabcr into Badenoch, " with displayed
banner." Marching down the south side of
the Spey, he crossed that river at Balchastel,
and entered Moray without opposition. He
proceeded by rapid strides towards the town
of Inverness, which he intended to take pos-
session of; but, on arriving in the neighbour-
hood, he found it garrisoned by the laird of
Lawers' and Buchanan's regiments. As he did
not wish to consume his time in a siege, ho
immediately altered his course and marched in
the direction of Elgin, issuing, as he went along,
a proclamation in the king's name, calling
upon all males, from 16 to 60 years of age, to
join him immediately, armed as they best
could, on foot or on horse, and that under
pain of fire and sword, as rebels to the king.
In consequence of this threat Montrose was
joined by some of the Moray-men, including
the laird of Grant and 200 of his followers;
and, to show an example of severity, he
plundered the houses and laid waste the estates
of many of the principal gentlemen of the dis-
trict, carrying off, at the same time, a large
quantity of cattle and effects, and destroying
the boats and nets which they fell in with on
the Spcy.3

Whilst Montrose was thus laying waste part
of Moray, a committee of the Estates, consist-
ing of the Earl of Seaforth, the laird of Innes,
Sir Robert Gordon, the laird of Pluscardine,
and others, was sitting at Elgin; these, on

1 idem. 8 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 447.

ELGIN DESERTED AND BASELY USED

201

hearing of his proceedings, prohibited the
holding of the fair which was kept there
annually on Fasten's eve, and to which
many merchants and others in the north
resorted, lest the property brought there- for
sale might fall a prey to Montrose's army.
They, at the same time, sent Sir Robert Gor-
don, Mackenzie of Pluscardine, and Innes of
Luthers, to treat with Montrose, in name of
the gentry of Moray, most of whom were then
assembled in Elgin; but he refused to enter
into any negotiation, offering, at the same time,
to accept of the services of such as would join
him and obey him as the king's lieutenant.4
Before this answer had been communicated to
the gentry at Elgin, they had all fled from the
town in consequence of hearing that Montrose
was advancing upon them with rapidity. The
laird of Innes, along with some of his friends,
retired to the castle of Spynie, possessed by
his eldest son, which was well fortified and pro-
vided with every necessary for undergoing a
siege. The laird of Duffus went into Suther-
land. As soon as the inhabitants of the town
saw the committee preparing to leave it, most
of them also resolved to depart, which they
did, carrying along with them their principal
effects. Some went to Inverness, and others
into Ross, but the greater part went to the
castle of Spynie, where they sought and ob-
tained refuge.

Apprehensive that Montrose might follow
up the dreadful example he had shown, by
burning the towu, a proposal was made to, and
accepted by him, to pay four thousand merks
to save the town from destruction; but, on
entering it, which he did on the 19th of Feb-
ruary, his men, and particularly the laird of
Grant's party, were so disappointed in their
hopes of plunder, in consequence of the inhab-
itants having carried away the best of their
effects, that they destroyed every article of
furniture which was left.

Montrose was joined, on his arrival at
Elgin, by Lord Gordon, the eldest son of the
Marquis of Huntly, with some of his friends
and vassals. This young nobleman had been
long kept in a state of durance by Argyle, his
uncle, contrary to his own wishes, and now,
when an opportunity had for the first time
4 Gordon's Continuation, p. 522.

occurred, he showed the bent of his inclination
by declaring for the king.

On taking possession of Elgin, Montrose
gave orders to bring all the ferry-boats on the
Spey to the north side of the river, and he
stationed sentinels at all the fords up and
down, to watch any movements which might
be made by the enemies' forces in the south.

Montrose, thereupon, held a council of war,
at which it was determined to cross the Spey,
march into the counties of Banff and Aberdeen,
by the aid of Lord Gordon, raise the friends
and retainers of the Marquis of Huntly,
and thence proceed into the Mearns, where
another accession of forces was expected. Ac-
cordingly, Montrose left Elgin on the 4th of
March with the main body of his army, towards
the Bog of Gicht, accompanied by the Earl of
Seaforth, Sir Robert Gordon, the lairds of
Grant, Pluscardine, Findrassie, and several
other gentlemen who " had come in to him "
at Elgin. To punish the Earl of Findlater,
who had refused to join him, Montrose sent
the Farquharsons of Braemar before him, across
the Spey, who plundered, without mercy, the
town of Cullen, belonging to the earl.

After crossing the Spey, Montrose, either
apprehensive that depredations would be com-
mitted upon the properties of his Moray
friends who accompanied him, by the two
regiments which garrisoned Inverness, and the
Covenanters of that district, or having received
notice to that effect, he allowed the Earl of
Seaforth, the laird of Grant, and the other
Moray gentlemen, to return home to defend
their estates ; but before allowing them to de-
part, he made them take a solemn oath of
allegiance to the king, and promise that they
should never henceforth take up arms against
his majesty or his loyal subjects. At the same
time, he made them come under an engage-
ment to join him with all their forces as soon
as they could do so. The Earl of Seaforth,
however, disregarded his oath, and again joined
the ranks of the Covenanters. In a letter
which he wrote to the committee of Estates at
Aberdeen, he stated that he had yielded to
Montrose through fear only, and he avowed
that he would abide by " the good cause to
his death."5

• Spalding, vol. il p. 301.
2 0

202

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS

On Montreal's arrival at Stratlibogie, or
Gordon castle, Lord Graham, his eldest son, a
most promising youth of sixteen, became un-
well, and died after a few days' illness. The
loss of a son who had followed him in. his
campaigns, and shared with him the dangers
of the field, was a subject of deep regret to
Montrose. While Montrose was occupied at
the death-bed of his son, Lord Gordon was
busily employed among the Gordons, out of
whom he speedily raised a force of about 500
foot, and 160 horse.

With this accession to his forces, Montrose
left Stratlibogie and marched towards Banff,
on his route to the south. In passing by the
house of Cullen, in Boyne, the seat of the Earl
of Findlater, who had fled to Edinburgh, and
left the charge of the house to the countess, a
party of Montrose's men entered the house,
which, they plundered of all its valuable con-
tents. They then proceeded to set the house
on fire, but the countess entreated Montroso
to order his men to desist, and promised that
if her husband did not come to Montrose
and give him satisfaction within fifteen days,
she would pay him 20,000 merles, of which
sum she instantly paid down 5,000. Montrose
complied with her request, and also spared
the lands, although the earl was " a great
Covenanter." Montrose's men next laid waste
the lands in the Boyne, burnt the houses,
and plundered the minister of the place of all
his goods and effects, including his books.
The laird of Boyne shut himself up in his
stronghold, the Crag, where ho was out of
danger ; but he had the misfortune to see his
lands laid waste and destroyed. Montrose
then went to Banff, which he gave up to indis-
criminate plunder. His troops did not leave a
vestige of moveable property in the town, and
they even stripped to the skin every man they
met with in the streets. They also burned two
or three houses of little value, but not a drop
of blood was shed.

From Banff Montrose proceeded to Turriff,
where a deputation from the town council of
Aberdeen waited upon him, to represent the
many miseries which the loyal city had suf-
fered from its frequent occupation by hostile
nrmies since the first outbreaking of the unfor-
tunate troubles which molested the kingdom.

They further represented, that such was the
terror of the inhabitants at the idea c f another
visit from his Irish troops, that all the men
and women, on hearing of his approach, had
made preparations for abandoning the town,
and that they would certainly leave it if they
did not get an assurance from the marquis of
safety and protection. Montrose heard the
commissioners patiently, expressed his regret
at the calamities which had befallen their town,
and bade them not be afraid, as he would take
care that none of his foot, or Irish, soldiers
should come within eight miles of Aberdeen :
and that if he himself should enter the town,
he would support himself at his own expense.
The commissioners returned to Aberdeen, and
related the successful issue of their journey, to
the great joy of all the inhabitants.0

Whilst Montrose lay at Turriff, Sir Nathaniel
Gordon, with some troopers, went to Aberdeen,
which he entered on Sunday, the 9tli of March,
on which day there had been " no sermon in
either of the Aberdeens," as the ministers had
fled the town. The keys of the churches, gates,
and jail were delivered to him by the magis-
trates. The following morning Sir Nathaniel
was joined by 100 Irish dragoons. After re-
leasing some prisoners, ho went to Torry, and
took, after a slight resistance, 1,800 muskets,
pikes, and other arms, which had been left in
charge of a troop of horse. Besides receiving
orders to watch the town, Sir Nathaniel was
instructed to send out scouts as far as Cowie
to watch the enemy, who were daily expected
from the south. When reconnoitring, a skir-
mish took place at the bridge of Dee, in which
Captain Keith's troop was routed. Finding
the country quite clear, and no appearance of
the covenanting forces, Gordon returned back
to the army, which had advanced to Fren-
draught. No attempt was made upon the
house of Frendraught, which was kept by the
young viscount in absence of his father, who
was then at Muchallis with his godson, Lord
Eraser ; but Montrose destroyed 60 ploughs
of land belonging to Frendraught within the
parishes of Forgue, Inverkeithnie, and Drum-
blade, and the house of the minister of Forgue,
with all the other houses, and buildings, and

8 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 452.

ACCESSIONS TO MONTBOSE FKOM ABERDEEN1.

203

their contents. Nothing, in fact, was spared.
All the cattle, horses, sheep, and other do-
mestic animals, were carried oft', and tho whole
of Frondraught's lauds were loft a dreary and
uninhabitable waste.

From Penny burn, Montroso despatched, on
the 10th of March, a letter to the authorities of
Aberdeen, commanding them to issue an order
that all men, of whatever description, between
the ago of sixteen and sixty, should meet him
equipped in their best arms, and such of them
as had horses, mounted on tho best of them, on
tho 15th of March, at his camp at Tnvcrury, un-
der the pain of fire and sword. In consequence
of this mandate he was joined by a considerable
number of horse and foot. On tho 12th of
March, Montrose arrived at Kintore, and took
up his own quarters in tho house of John
Cheyno, the minister of tho place, whence he
issued an order commanding each parish within
tho presbytery of Aberdeen, (with the excep-
tion of the town of Aberdeen,) to send to liim
two commissioners, who were required to bring
along with them a complete roll of the whole
heritors, fcuars, and lifereuters of each parish.
His object, in requiring such a list, was to
ascertain the number of men capable of serving,
and also tho names of those who should refuse
to join him. Commissioners were accordingly
sent from the parishes, and the consequence was,
that Montroso was joined daily by many men
who would not otherwise have assisted him, but
who were now alarmed for the safety of their
properties. While at Kintore, an occurrence
took place which vexed Montrose exceedingly.

To reconnoitre and watch the motions of the
enemy, Montroso had, on the 12th of March,
sent Sir Nathaniel Gordon, along with Donald
Farquharson, Captain Mortimer, and other
•well-mounted cavaliers, to the number of about
80, to Aberdeen. This party, perceiving no
enemy in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen,
utterly neglected to place any sentinels at the
gates of the town, and spent their time at
their lodgings in entertainments and amuse-
ments. This careless conduct did not pass
unobserved by some of the Covenanters in tho
town, who, it is said, sent notice thereof to
Major-general Hurry, the second in command
under General Baillie, who was then lying at the
North Water Bridge with Lord Balcarras's and

other foot regiments. On receiving this intelli-
gence, Hurry put himself at tho head of 160
horso and foot, taken from tho regular regi-
ments, and some troopers and musketeers, and
rode off to Aberdeen in great haste, where he
arrived on the 15th of March, at 8 o'clock in the
evening. Having posted sentinels at tho gates
to prevent any of Montroso's party from escap-
ing, ho entered the town at an hour when they
wore all carelessly enjoying themselves in their
lodgings, quite unapprehensive of such a visit.
Tho noise in tho streets, occasioned by the
tramping of the horses, was the first indication
they had of tho presence of the enemy, but it
was then too late for them to defend themselves.
Donald Farquharson was killed in the street,
opposite the guard-house ; " a brave gentle-
man," says Spalding, " and one of tho noblest
captains amongst all the Highlanders of Scot-
land, and the king's man for life and death."
The enemy stripped him of a rich dress he had
put on the same day, and left his body lying
naked in the street. A few other gentlemen
were killed, and some taken prisoners, but
tho greater part escaped. Hurry left the town
next day, and, on his return to Baillie's camp,
entered the town of Montrose, and carried off
Lord Graham, Montrose's second son, a boy of
fourteen years of age, then at school, who,
along with his teacher, was sent to Edinburgh,
and committed to the castle.

The gentlemen who had escaped from Aber-
deen returned to Montrose, who was greatly
offended at them for their carelessness. The
magistrates of Aberdeen, alarmed lest Montrose
should inflict summary vengeance upon the
town, as being implicated in tho attack upon
the cavaliers, sent two commissioners to Kin-
tore to assure him that they were in no way con-
cerned in that affair. Although he heard them
with great patience, he gave them no satisfac-
tion as to his intentions, and they returned to
Aberdeen without being able to obtain any
promise from hivn to spare the town. Montroso
contented himself with making tho merchants
furnish him with cloth, and gold and silver-
lace, to the amount of £10,000 Scots, for the
use of his army, which he held the magistrates
bound to pay, by a tax upon tho inhabitants.
" Thus," says Spalding, " cross upon cross
upon Aberdeen."

204

GENERAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

When Sir Nathaniel Gordon and the re-
mainder of his party returned to Kintorc,
Montrose despatched, on the same day (March
IGtli), a body of 1,000 horse and foot, the latter
consisting of Irish, to Aberdeen, under the com-
mand of Macdonald, his major-general. Many
of the inhabitants, alarmed at the approach of
lliis party, and still having tho fear of the Irish
before their eyes, were preparing to leave the
town; but Macdonald relieved their apprehen-
sions by assuring them that the Irish, who
amounted to 700, should not enter the town;
he accordingly stationed them at tho Bridge
of Deo and the Two Mile Cross, ho and his
troopers alone entering the town. With the
exception of the houses of one or two " remark-
able Covenanters," which were plundered, Mac-
donald showed the utmost respect for private
property, a circumstance which obtained for
him the esteem of the inhabitants, who had
seldom experienced such kind treatment before.

Having discharged the last duties to the
brave Farquharson and his companions, Mac-
donald left Aberdeen, on March 18th, to join
Montrose at Durris; but he had not proceeded
far when complaints were brought to him that
some of his Irish troops, who had lagged
behind, had entered the town, and were plun-
dering it. Macdonald, therefore, returned
immediately to the town, and drove, says
Spalding, " all these rascals with sore skins
out of the town before him."7

Before leaving Kintore, the Earl of Airly
was attacked by a fever, in consequence of
which, Montrose sent him to Lethintie, the
residence of the earl's son-in-law, under a guard
of 300 men; but he was afterwards removed
to Strathbogie for greater security. On ar-
riving, March 17th, at Durris, in Kincardine-
shire, where he was joined by Macdonald,
Montrose burnt the house and offices to the
ground, set fire to the grain, and swept away
all tho cattle, horses, and sheep. He also
wasted such of the lands of Fintry as belonged
to Forbes of Craigievar, to punish him for the
breach of his parole; treating in the same way
the house and grain belonging to Abercrombie,
the minister of Fintry, who was "a main
Covenanter." On the 19th, Montrose entered

7 Vol. ii. p. 457.

Stonehavcn, and took up his residence in the
house of James Clerk, the provost of the town.
Hero learning that the Covenanters in the
north were troubling Lord Gordon's lands, he
despatched 500 of Gordon's foot to defend
Strathbogie and his other possessions; but he
still retained Lord Gordon himself with his
troopers.

On the day after his arrival at Stonehaven,
Montrose wrote a letter to the Earl Marshal,
who, along with sixteen ministers, and some
other persons of distinction, had shut himself
up in his castle of Dunottar. Tho bearer of
the letter was not, however, suffered to enter
within the gate, and was sent back, at tho
instigation probably of the carl's lady and
the ministers who were with him, without
an answer. Montrose then endeavoured, by
means of George Keith, the Earl Marshal's
brother, to persuade tho latter to declare for
the king, but he refused, in consequence of
which Montrose resolved to inflict summary
vengeance upon him, by burning and laying
waste his lands and those of his retainers ii.
the neighbourhood. Acting upon this deter-
mination, he, on the 21st of March, set fire to
the houses adjoining the castle of Dunottar,
and burnt the grain which was stacked in the
barn-yards. Even the house of the ministci
did not escape. He next set fire to tho town
of Stonehaven, sparing only tho house of the
provost, in which he resided; plundered a ship
which lay in the harbour, and then set her
on fire, along with all the fishing boats. The
lands and houses of Cowie shared tho same
hard fate. Whilst the work of destruction
was going on, it is said that the inhabitants
appeared before the castle of Dunottar, and,
setting up cries of pity, implored tho earl to
save them from ruin, but they received no
answer to their supplications, and the carl wit-
nessed from his stronghold the total destruction
of the properties of his tenants and dependents
without making any effort to stop it. After
he had effected the destruction of the barony
of Dunottar, Montrose set fire to the lands of
Fetteresso, one-fourth part of which was burnt
up, together with the whole corn in the yards.
A beautiful deer park was also burnt, and its
alarmed inmates were all taken and killed, as
woll as all the cattle in the barony. Montrose

HURKY'S llulIsK DEFEATED AT FETTERCAIEX.

205

Dunnottar Castle in the 17th century.— From Slezer's Theatrum Scotice (1693).

next proceeded to Drumlithie and Urie, be-
longing to John Forbes of Leslie, a leading
Covenanter, where he committed similar depre-
dations.

Montrose, on the following day, advanced
to Fettercairn, where he quartered his foot
soldiers, sending out quarter-masters through
the country, and about the town of Montrose,
to provide quarters for some troopers; but, as
these troopers were proceeding on their journey,
they were alarmed by the sudden appearance
of some of Major-general Hurry's troops, who
had concealed themselves within the plantation
of Halkerton. These, suddenly issuing from
the wood, set up a loud shout, on hearing
which the troopers immediately turned to the
right about and went back to the camp. This
party turned out to be a body of 600 horse,
under the command of Hurry himself, who had
left the head-quarters of General Baillie, at
Brechin, for the purpose of reconnoitring Mon-
trose's movements. In order to deceive Hurry,
who kept advancing with his 600 horse, Mon-
troso placed his horse, which amounted only
to 200, and which he took care to line with some
expert musqueteers, in a prominent situation,
and concealed his foot in an adjoining valley.
This i-use had the desired effect, for Hurry
imagining that there were no other forces at

hand, immediately attacked the small body of
horse opposed to him; but he was soon un-
deceived by the sudden appearance of the
foot, and forced to retreat with precipitation.
Though his men were greatly alarmed, Hurry,
who was a brave officer, having placed himself
in the rear, managed to retreat across the
North Esk with very little loss.

After this affair Moutrose allowed his men
to refresh themselves for a few days, and, on
the 25th of March, put his army in motion in
the direction of Brechin. On hearing of his
approach, the inhabitants of the town concealed
their effects in the castle, and in the steeples
of churches, and fled. Montrose's troops,
although they found out the secreted goods,
were so enraged at the conduct of the inhab-
itants that they plundered the town, and burnt
about sixty houses.

From Brechin, Montrose proceeded through
Angus, with the intention cither of fighting
Baillie, or of marching onwards to the south.
His whole force, at this time, did not exceed
3,000 men, and, on reaching Kirriemuir, his
cavalry was greatly diminished by his having
been obliged to send away about 160 horse-
men to Strathbogie, under Lord Gordon and
his brother Lewis, to defend their father's pos-
sessions against the Covenanters. Montrose

206

GENEKAL HISTOIIY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

proceeded with his army along the foot of the
Grampians, in the direction of Dunkeld, where
he intended to cross the Tay in the sight of
General Baillie, who commanded an army
greatly superior in numbers ; but, although
Montrose frequently offered him battle, Baillie,
contrary, it is said, to the advice of Hurry, as
often declined it. On arriving at the water of
Isla, the two armies, separated by that stream,
remained motionless for several days, as if un-
determined how to act. At length Montrose
sent a trumpeter to Baillio offering him battle;
and as the water could not be safely passed by
his army if opposed, Montrose proposed to al-
low Baillie to pass it unmolested, on condition
that he would give him his word of honour
that he would fight without delay; but Baillie
answered that he would attend to his own
business himself, and that lie would fight when
he himself thought proper. The conduct of
Baillie throughout seems altogether extraordi-
nary, but it is alleged that he had no power to
act for himself, being subject to the directions
of a council of war, composed of the Earls
of Crawford and Cassilis, Lords Balmerino,
Kirkcudbright, and others. 8

As Montrose could not attempt to cross the
water of Isla without cavalry, in opposition to
a force so greatly superior, he led his army off
in the direction of the Grampians, and marched
upon Dunkeld, of which he took possession.
Baillie being fully aware of liis intention to
cross the Tay, immediately withdrew to Perth
for the purpose of opposing Montrose's passage ;
but, if Montroso really entertained such an in-
tention after he had scut away the Gordon
troopers, he abandoned it after reaching Dun-
keld, and resolved to retrace his steps north-
wards. Being anxious, however, to signalize
himself by some important achievement before
he returned to the north, and to give confi-
dence to the royalists, he determined to sur-
prise Dundee, a town which had rendered
itself particularly obnoxious to him for the re-
sistance made by the inhabitants after the
battle of Tippermuir. Having sent off the
weaker part of his troops, and those who were
lightly armed, with his heavy baggage, along
the bottom of the hills with instructions to

» Spalding, vol. ii. p. 482.

meet him at Brechin, Montroso himself, at the
head of about 150 horse, and GOO expert mus-
keteers,9 left Dunkeld on April 3d about mid-
night, and marched with such extraordinary
expedition that he arrived at Dundee Law at
10 o'clock in the morning, where he encamped.
Montrose then sent a trumpeter into the town
with a summons requiring a surrender, promis-
ing that, in the event of compliance, he would
protect the lives and properties of the inhabit-
ants,, but threatening, in case of refusal, to set
fire to the town and put the inhabitants to
the sword. Instead of returning an answer to
this demand, the town's people put the mes-
senger into prison. This insult was keenly
felt by Moutrose, who immediately gave orders
to his troops to storm the town in three differ
ent places at once, and to fulfil the threat
which he had held out in case of resistance.
The inhabitants, in the mean time, made such
preparations for defence as the shortness of the
time allowed, but, although they fought brave-
ly, they could not resist the impetuosity of
Montrose's troops, who, impelled by a spirit of
revenge, and a thirst for plunder, which Dun-
dee, then one of the largest and most opulent
towns in Scotland, offered them considerable
opportunities of gratifying, forced the inhabit-
ants from the stations they occupied, and
turned the cannon which they had planted in
the streets against themselves. The contest,
however, continued in various quarters of the
town for several hours, during which the town
was set on fire in different places. The whole
of that quarter of the town called the Bonnet
Hill fell a prey to the flames, and the entire
town would have certainly shared the same
fate had not Montrose's men chiefly occupied
themselves in plundering the houses and filling
themselves with the contents of the wine cel-
lars. The sack of the town continued till tho
evening, and tho inhabitants were subjected to
every excess which an infuriated and victorious
soldiery, maddened by intoxication, coidd in-
flict.

This melancholy state of tilings was, how-
ever, fortunately put an end to by intelligence
having been brought to Montrose, who had
viewed the storming of tho town from the

' Montrose Rcdivivus, p. 61.

Mo.XTIlOSK'S KKTltKAT l-'ROM DUNDEE.

207

neighbouring height of Duiulco Law, thai
Oi'iieral Baillic was marching in great haste
down the Carsc of Gowrio, towards Dundee,
with 3,000 foot and 800 horse. On receiving
this news from his scouts, Montroso gave im
nn-iliate orders to his troops to evacuate Dun-
dee, but so intent were they upon their booty,
that it was with the utmost difficulty they
could be prevailed upon to leave the town,
and, before the last of them could be induced
to retire, some of the enemy's troops were
within gun-shot of them. The sudden appear-
ance of Baillie's army was quite unlooked-for, as
Montrose had been made to believe, from the
reports of his scouts, that it had crossed the
Tay, and was proceeding to the Forth, when,
in fact, only a very small part, which had been
mistaken by the scouts for the entire army of
Baillie, had passed.

In this critical conjuncture, Montrose held
a council of war, to consult how to act under
the perilous circumstances in which he was
now placed. The council was divided between
two opinions. Some of them advised Mon-
trose to consult his personal safety, by rid-
ing off to the north with his horse, leaving
the foot to their fate, as they considered it
utterly impossible for him to cany thorn off in
their present state, fatigued, and worn out as
they were by a march of 24 miles during the
preceding night, and rendered almost incapable
of resisting the enemy, from the debauch they
had indulged in during the day. Besides, they
would require to march 20 or even 30 miles,
before they could reckon themselves secure
from the attacks of their pursuers, a journey
which it was deemed impossible to perform,
without being previously allowed some hours
repose. In this way, and in no other, urged
the advocates of this view, might he expect
to retrieve matters, as he could, by his presence
among his friends in the north, raise new
forces ; but that, if he himself was cut off, the
king's affairs would be utterly ruined. The
other part of the council gave quite an opposite
opinion, by declaring that, as the cause for
•which they had fought so gloriously was now
irretrievably lost, they should remain in their
position, and await the issue of an attack,
judging it more honourable to die fighting in
defence of their king, than to seek safety in an

ignominious flight, which would be rendered
still more disgraceful by abandoning their
unfortunate fellow-warriors to the mercy of a
revengeful foe.

Montroso, however, disapproved of both
these plans. He considered the first as unbe-
coming the generosity of men who had fought
so often side by side; and the second ho
thought extremely rash and imprudent. He,
therefore, resolved to steer a middle course,
and, refusing to abandon his brave companions
in arms in the hour of danger, gave orders
for an immediate retreat, in the direction
of Arbroath. This, however, was a mere
manoeuvre to deceive the enemy, as Montrose
intended, after nightfall, to march towards the
Grampians. In order to make his retreat more
secure, Montrose despatched 400 of his foot,
and gave them orders to march as quickly as
possible, without breaking their ranks. These
were followed by 200 of his most expert
musketeers, and Montrose himself closed the
rear with his horse in open rank, so as to
admit the musketeers to interline them, in case
of an attack. It was about six o'clock in the
evening when Montrose began his retreat, at
which hour the last of Baillie's foot had reached
Dundee.

Scarcely had Montrose begun to move, when
intelligence was received by Baillie, from some
prisoners he had taken, of Montrose's inten-
tions, which was now confirmed by ocular
proof. A proposal, it is said, was then made
by Hurry, to follow Montrose with the whole
army, and attack him, but Baillie rejected it ;
and the better, as he thought, to secure Mon-
trose, and prevent his escape, he divided his
army into two parts, one of which he sent off
in the direction of the Grampians, to prevent
Montrose from entering the Highlands ; and
the other followed directly in the rear of
Montrose. He thus expected to be able to
cut off Montrose entirely, and to encourage
his men to the pursuit, he offered a reward
of 20,000 crowns to any one who should bring
him Montrose's head. Baillie's cavalry soon
came up with Montrose's rear, but they were so
well received by the musketeers, who brought
down some of them, that they became very
cautious in their approaches. The darkness of
the night soon put an end to the pursuit, and

208

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS

Montrose continued unmolested his march to
Arbroath, in the neighbourhood of which he
arrived about midnight. His troops had now
marched upwards of 40 miles, 17 of which
they had performed in a few hours, in the
face of a large army, and had passed two nights
and a day without sleep ; hut as their safety
might be endangered by allowing them to
repose till daylight, Montrose entreated them
to proceed on their march. Though almost
exhausted with incessant fatigue, and over-
powered with drowsiness, they readily obeyed
the order of their general, and, after a short
halt, proceeded on their route in a northwesterly
direction. They arrived at the South Esk
early in the morning, which they crossed, at
sunrise, near Camston Castle.

Montrose now sent notice to the party which
he had despatched from Dunkcld to Brochin,
with his baggage, to join him, hut they had,
on hearing of his retreat, already taken refuge
among the neighbouring hills. Baillie, who
had passed the night at Forfar, now considered
that he had Montrose completely in his power;
but, to his utter amazement, not a trace of
Montrose was to be seen next morning. Little
did he imagine that Montrose had passed
close by him during the night, and eluded
his grasp. Chagrined at this unexpected dis-
appointment, Baillie, without waiting for his
foot, galloped off at full speed to overtake
Montrose, and, with such celerity did he travel,
that he was close upon Montrose before the
latter received notice of his approach. The
whole of Montrose's men, with the exception
of a few sentinels, were now stretched upon
the ground, in a state of profound repose, and,
so firmly did sleep hold their exhausted frames
in its grasp, that it was with the utmost diffi-
culty that they could be aroused from their
slumbers, or made sensible of their danger.
The sentinels, it is said, had even to prick
some of them with their swords, before they
could be awakened,1 and when at length the
sleepers were aroused they effected a retreat,
after some skirmishing, to the foot of the
Grampians, about three miles distant from their
camp, and retired, thereafter, through Glenesk
into the interior without further molestation.

1 Montrose Redivimis, p. 65.

This memorable retreat is certainly one of
the most extraordinary events which occurred
during the whole of Montrose's campaigns.
It is not surprising, that some of the most
experienced officers in Britain, and in France
and Germany, considered it the most splendid
of all Montrose's achievements. 2

Being now secure from all danger in the
fastnesses of the Grampians, Montrose allowed
his men to refresh themselves for some days.
Whilst enjoying this necessary relaxation from
the fatigues of the field, intelligence was brought
to Montrose that a division of the covenanting
army, under Hurry, was in full march on Aber-
deen, with an intention of proceeding into
Moray. Judging that an attack upon the pos-
sessions of the Gordons would be one of Hurry's
objects, Montrose despatched Lord Gordon with
his horse to the north, for the purpose of assist-
ing his friends in case of attack.

It was not in the nature of Montrose to re-
main inactive for any length of time, and an
occurrence, of which ho had received notice,
had lately taken place, which determined him
to return a second time to Dunkeld. This was
the escape of Viscount Aboyne, and some other
noblemen and gentlemen, from Carlisle, who,
he was informed, were on their way north to
join him. Apprehensive that they might be
interrupted by Baillie's troops, he resolved to
make a diversion in their favour, and, by draw-
ing off the attention of Baillie, enable them the
more effectually to elude observation. Leaving,
therefore, Macdonald, with about 200 men, to
beat up the enemy in the neighbourhood of
Coupar-Angus, Montrose proceeded, with the
remainder of his forces, consisting only of 500
foot and 50 horse, to Dunkeld, whence he
marched to Crieff, which is about 17 miles
west from Perth. It was not until he had ar-
rived at the latter town that Baillie, who, after
his pursuit of Montrose, had returned to Perth
with his army, heard of this movement. As
Baillie was sufficiently aware of the weakness
of Montrose's force, and as he was sure that,
with such a great disparity, Montrose would
not risk a general engagement, he endeavoured
to surprise him, in the hope either of cutting
him off entirely, or crippling him so effectually

* Wishart, p. 127.

MOVEMENTS OF MONTROSE AND BAILLIE.

209

as to prevent him from again taking the field.
He therefore left Perth during the night of the
7th of April, with his whole army, consisting
of 2,000 foot and 500 horse, with the inten-
tion of falling upon Montrose t>y break of day,
before he should be aware of his presence ; but
Montrose's experience had taught him the ne-
cessity of being always upon his guard when
so near an enemy's camp, and, accordingly, he
had drawn up his army, in anticipation of
Baillie's advance, in such order as would en-
able him either to give battle or retreat.

As soon as he heard of Baillie's approach,
Montrose advanced with his horse to recon-
noitre, and having ascertained the enemy's
strength and numbers, which were too formi-
dable to be encountered with his little band,
brave as they were, he gave immediate orders
to his foot to retreat with speed up Strathearn,
and to retire into the adjoining passes. To
prevent them from being harassed in their re-
treat by the enemy's cavalry, Montrose covered
their rear with his small body of horse, sus-
taining a very severe attack, which he warmly
repulsed. After a march of about eight miles,
Montrose's troops arrived at the pass of Strath-
earn, of which they took immediate possession,
and Baillie, thinking it useless to follow them
into their retreat, discontinued the pursuit, and
retired with his army towards Perth. Mon-
trose passed the night on the banks of Loch
Earn, and marched next morning through Bal-
quidder, where he was joined, at the ford of
Cardross, by the Viscount Aboyne, the Master
of Napier, Hay of Dalgetty, and Stirling of
Keir, who, along with the Earl of Nithsdale,
Lord Herries, and others, had escaped from
Carlisle, as before stated.

No sooner had Baillie returned from the
pursuit of Montrose than intelligence was
brought him that Macdonald, with the 200
men wliich Montrose had left with him, had
burnt the town of Coupar-Angus, — that he had
wasted the lands of Lord Balmerino, — killed
Patrick Lindsay, the minister of Coupar, — and
finally, after routing some troopers of Lord
Balcarras, and carrying off their horses and
arms, had fled to the hills. This occurrence,
withdrawing the attention of Baillie from Mon-
trose's future movements, enabled the latter to
proceed to the north without opposition.

I.

Montrose had advanced as far as Loch Kat-
rine, when a messenger brought him intelli-
gence that General Hurry was in the Enzie
with a considerable force, that he had been
joined by some of the Moray-men, and, after
plundering and laying waste the country, was
preparing to attack Lord Gordon, who had not
a sufficient force to oppose him. On receiving
this information, Montrose resolved to proceed
immediately to the north to save the Gordons
from the destruction which appeared to hang
over them, hoping that, with such accessions of
force as he might obtain in his march, united
with that under Lord Gordon, he would suc-
ceed in defeating Hurry before Baillie should
be aware of his movements.

He, therefore, returned through Balquidder,
marched, with rapid strides, along the side of
Loch Tay, through Athole and Angus, and,
crossing the Grampian hills, proceeded down
the Strath of Glenmuck. In his march, Mon-
trose was joined by the Athole-men and the
other Highlanders who had obtained, or rather
taken leave of absence after the battle of Inver-
lochy, and also by Macdonald and his party.
On arriving in the neighbourhood of Auchin-
doun, he was met by Lord Gordon, at the head
of 1,000 foot and 200 horse. Montrose crossed
the Dee on the 1st of May, at the mill of
Crathie — having provided himself with ammu-
nition from a ship in Aberdeen harbour — con-
tinued his march towards the Spey, and before
Hurry was even aware that the enemy had
crossed the Grampians, he found them within
six miles of his camp. The sudden appear-
ance of Montrose with such a superior force
— for Hurry had only at this time about 1 ,000
foot and 200 horse — greatly alarmed him,
and raising his camp, he crossed the Spey in
great haste, with the intention of marching
to Inverness, where he would be joined \>y the
troops of the garrison, and receive large rein-
forcements from the neighbouring counties.
Montrose immediately pursued him, and fol-
lowed close upon his heels to the distance of
14 miles beyond Forres, when, favoured by the
darkness of the night, Hurry effected his escape,
with little loss, and arrived at Inverness.

The panic into which Hurry had been thrown
soon gave way to a very different feeling, as he
found the Earls of Seaforth and Sutherland

210

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

with their retainers, and the clan "Eraser, and
others from Moray and Caithness, all assem-
bled at Inverness, as he had directed. This
accession of force increased his army to 3,500
foot and 400 horse. He therefore resolved to
act on the offensive, by giving battle to Mon-
trose immediately.

Montrose had taken up a position at the vil-
lage of Auldearn, about three miles south-east
from Nairn, on the morning after the pursuit.
In the course of the day, Hurry advanced with
all his forces, including the garrison of Inver-
ness, towards Nairn ; and, on approaching
Auldearn, formed his army in order of battle.
Montrose's force, which had been greatly weak-
ened by the return of the Athole-men and
other Highlanders to defend their country from
the depredations of Baillie's army, now con-
sisted of only 1,500 foot and 250 horse. It
was not, therefore, without great reluctance,
that he resolved to risk a battle with an enemy
more than double in point of numbers, and
composed in great part of veteran troops ; but,
pressed as he was by Hurry, and in danger of
being attacked in his rear by Baillio, who was
advancing by forced marches to the north, he
had no alternative but to hazard a general en-
gagement. He therefore instantly looked about
him for an advantageous position.

The village of Auldearn stands upon a height,
behind which, or on the east, is a valley, over-
looked by a ridge of little eminences, running
in a northerly direction, and which almost con-
ceals the valley from view. In this hollow
Montrose arranged his forces in order of battle.
Having formed them into two divisions, he
posted the right wing on the north of the
village, at a place where there was a consider-
able number of dikes and ditches. This body,
which consisted of 400 men, chiefly Irish, was
placed under the command of Macdonald. On
taking their stations, Montrose gave them strict
injunctions not to leave their position on any
account, as they were effectually protected by
the walls around them, not only from the at-
tacks of cavalry, but of foot, and could, with-
out much danger to themselves, keep up a
galling and destructive fire upon their assailants.
In order to attract the best troops of the
enemy to this difficult spot where they could
not act, and to make them believe that Mon-

trose commanded this wing, he gave the royal
standard to Macdonald, intending, when they
should get entangled among the bushes and
dikes, with which the ground to the right was
covered, to attack them himself with his left
wing; and to enable him to do so the more
effectually, he placed the whole of his horse
and the remainder of the foot on the left wing
to the south of the village. The former ho
committed to the charge of Lord Gordon, re-
serving the command of the latter to himself.
After placing a few chosen foot with some can-
non in front of the village, under cover of some
dikes, Montrose firmly awaited the attack of
the enemy.

Hurry divided his foot and his horse each into
two divisions. On the right wing of the main
body of the foot, which was commanded by
Campbell of Lawers, Hurry placed the regular
cavalry which he had brought from the south,
and on the left the horse of Moray and the
north, under the charge of Captain Drummond.
The other division of foot was placed behind
as a reserve, and commanded by Hurry himself*

When Hurry observed the singular position
which Montrose had taken up, he was utterly
at a loss to guess his designs, and though it
appeared to him, skilful as he was in the art of
war, a most extraordinary and novel sight, yet,
from the well known character of Montrose,
he was satisfied that Montrose's aiTangements
were the result of a deep laid scheme. But
what especially excited the surprise of Hurry,
was the appearance of the large yellow banner
or royal standard in the midst of a small body
of foot stationed among hedges and dikes
and stones, almost isolated from the horse
and the main body of the foot. To attack
this party, at the head of which he natu-
rally supposed Montrose was, was his first
object. This was precisely what Montrose
had wished ; his snare proved successful.
With the design of overwhelming at onco
the right wing, Hurry despatched towards
it the best of his horse and all his vet-
eran troops, who made a furious attack
upon Macdonald's party, the latter defending
themselves bravely behind the dikes and
bushes. The contest continued for some time
on the right with varied success, and Hurry,
who had plenty of men to spare, relieved those

BATTLE OF AULDEAEN.

211

who were engaged by fresh troops. Montrose,
who kept a steady eyo upon the motions of
the enemy, and watched a favourable oppor-
tunity for making a grand attack upon them
with the left wing, was just preparing to carry
his design into execution, when a confidential
person suddenly rode up to him and whispered
in his ear that the right wing had been put
to flight.

This intelligence was not, however, quite
correct. It seems that Macdonald who, says
Wishart, " was a brave enough man, but rather
a better soldier than a general, extremely
violent, and daring even to rashness," had been
so provoked with the taunts and insults of the
enemy, that in spite of the express orders lie
had received from Montrose on no account to
leave his position, he had unwisely advanced
beyond it to attack the enemy, and though ho
had been several times repulsed he returned to
the charge. But he was at last borne down
by the great numerical superiority of the
enemy's horse and foot, consisting of veteran
troops, and forced to retire in great disorder
into an adjoining enclosure. Nothing, how-
ever, could exceed the admirable manner in
which he managed this retreat, and the courage
he displayed while leading off his men. De-
fending his body with a large target, he resisted,
single-handed, the assaults of the enemy, and
was the last man to leave the field. So closely
indeed was ho pressed by Hurry's spearmen,
that some of them actually came so near him
as to fix their spears in his target, which he
cut off by threes or fours at a time with his
broadsword. 3

It was during this retreat that Montrose re-
ceived the intelligence of the flight of the right
wing; but he preserved his usual presence of
mind, and to encourage his men, who might
get alarmed at hearing such news, he thus
addressed Lord Gordon, loud enough to bo
heard by his troops, " What are we doing, my
Lord? Our friend Macdonald has routed the
enemy on the right and is carrying all before
him. Shall we look on and let him carry off
the whole honour of the day?" A crisis had
arrived, and not a moment was to be lost.
Scarcely, therefore, were the words out of

3 Wisliart, p. 136.

Montrose's mouth, when he ordered his men to
charge the enemy. When his men were ad-
vancing to the charge, Captain or Major Drum-
mond, who commanded Hurry's horse, made
an awkward movement by wheeling about his
men, and his horse coming in contact with the
foot, broke their ranks and occasioned consid-
erable confusion. Lord Gordon seeing this,
immediately rushed in upon Drummond's horse
with his party and put them to flight. Mon-
trose followed hard with the foot, and attacked
the main body of Hurry's army, which he
routed after a powerful resistance. The vet-
erans in Hurry's army, who had served in
Ireland, fought manfully, and chose rather to
be cut down standing in their ranks than re-
treat ; but the new levies from Moray, Eoss,
Sutherland, and Caithness, fled in great con-
sternation. They were pursued for several
miles, and might have been all killed or cap-
tured if Lord Aboyne had not, by an unneces-
sary display of ensigns and standards, which
he had taken from the enemy, attracted the
notice of the pursuers, who halted for some
time under the impression that a fresh party of
the enemy was coming up to attack them. In
this way Hurry and some of his troops, who
were the last to leave the field of battle, as well
as the other fugitives, escaped from the impend-
ing danger, and arrived at Inverness the fol-
lowing morning. As the loss of this battle
was mainly owing to Captain Dmmmond, he
was tried by a court-martial at Inverness, and
condemned to be shot, a sentence which was
carried into immediate execution. He was
accused of having betrayed the army, and it is
said that ho admitted that after the battle had
commenced he had spoken with the enemy.*

The number of killed on both sides has been
variously stated^ That on the side of the Cove-
nanters has been reckoned by one writer at
1,000,5 by another0 at 2,000, and by a third
at 3,000 men.7 Montrose, on the other hand,
is said by the first of these authors to have lost
about 200 men, while the second says that he
had only " some twenty-four gentlemen hurt,
and some few Irish killed," and Wishart informs
us that Montrose only missed one private man

4 Gordon's Continuation, p. 525. ! Idem.

6 Spalding. ' Wishart.

212

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

on the left, and that the right wing, commanded
by Macdonald, " lost only fourteen private
men." The clans who had joined Hurry suf-
fered considerably, particularly the Erasers,
who, besides unmarried men, are said to have
left dead on the field no less than 87 married
men. Among the principal covenanting offi-
cers who were slain were Colonel Campbell of
Lawers, Sir John and Sir Gideon Murray, and
Colonel James Campbell, with several other
officers of inferior note. The laird of Lawers's
brother, Archibald Campbell, and a few other
officers, were taken prisoners. Captain Mac-
donald and "William Macpherson of Invereschie
were the only persons of any note killed on
Montrose's side. Montrose took several pri-
soners, whom, with the wounded, he treated
with great kindness. Such of the former as
expressed their sorrow for having joined the
ranks of the Covenanters he released — others
who were disposed to join him he received into
his army, but such as remained obstinate he im-
prisoned. Besides taking 16 standards from
the enemy, Montrose got possession of the
whole of their baggage, provisions, and ammu-
nition, and a considerable quantity of money
and valuable effects. The battle of Auldearn
was fought on the 4th of May, according to
"Wishart,8 and on the 9th according to others,9
in the year 1645.

The immense disproportion between the
numbers of the slain on the side of the Cove-
nanters and that of the prisoners taken by
Montrose evidently shows that very little quar-
ter had been given, the cause of which is said
to have been the murder of James Gordon,
younger of Ehiny, who was killed by a party
from the garrison of Spynie, and by some of
the inhabitants of Elgin, at Struders, near
Forrcs, where he had been left in consequence
of a severe wound he had received in a skir-
mish during Hurry's first retreat to Inverness.1
But Montrose revenged himself still farther by
advancing to Elgin and burning the houses of
all those who had been concerned in the mur-
der, at the same time sending out a party2 to

8 Montrose Redivivus, p. 73.

9 Spalding, vol. ii., p. 473. Britanc's Distemper,
p. 127.

1 Gordon's Conlimiation, p. 525.
' Spalding, vol. ii. p. 474.

treat in a similar way the town of Garmouth,
belonging to the laird of Innes.

While these proceedings were going on.
Montrose sent his whole baggage, booty, and
warlike stores across the Spey, which he him-
self crossed upon the 14th of May, proceeding
to Birkenbog, the seat of " a great Covenanter,"
where he took up his head quarters. He quar-
tered his men in the neighbourhood, and, dur-
ing a short stay at Birkenbog, he sent out
different parties of his troops to scour the coun-
try, and take vengeance on the Covenanters.

"When General Baillie first heard of the de-
feat of his colleague, Hurry, at Auldearn, he
was lying at Cromar, with his army. He had,
in the beginning of May, after Montrose's de-
parture to the north, entered Athole, which he
had wasted with fire and sword, and had made
an attempt upon the strong castle of Blair, in
which many of the prisoners taken at the
battle of Inverlochy were confined; but, not
succeeding in his enterprise, he had, after col-
lecting an immense booty, marched through
Athole, and, passing by Kirriemuir and Fetter-
cairn, encamped on the Birse on the 10th of
May. His force at this time amounted to
about 2,000 foot and 120 troopers. On the fol-
lowing day he had marched to Cromar, where
ho encamped between the Kirks of Coull and
Tarlan till he should be joined by Lord Bal-
carras's horse regiment. In a short time ho
was joined, not only by Balcarras's regiment,
but by two foot regiments. The ministers en-
deavoured to induce the country people also to
join Baillie, by " thundering out of pulpits,"
but " they lay still," says Spalding, " and
would not follow him."3

As soon as Baillio heard of the defeat of
Hurry, he raised his camp at Cromar, upon .the
19th of May, and hastened north. He arrived
at the wood of Cochlarachie, within two miles
of Strathbogie, before Montrose was aware of
his approach. Here he was joined by Hurry,
who, with some horse from Inverness, had
passed themselves off as belonging to Lord
Gordon's party, and had thus been permitted
to go through Montrose's lines without oppo-
sition.

It was on the 19th of May, when lying at

* Spaldintf, vol. ii. p. 476.

MONTEOSE RETEEATS BEFOEE BAILLIE.

213

Birkenbog, that Montroso received the intelli-
gence of Baillie's arrival in the neighbourhood
of Strathbogie. Although Montrose's men had
not yet wholly recovered from the fatigues of
their late extraordinary march and subsequent
labours, and although their numbers had been
reduced since the battle of Auldearn, by the
departure of some of the Highlanders with the
booty they had acquired, they felt no disinclina-
tion to engage the enemy, but, on the contrary,
were desirous of coming to immediate action.
But Montrose, although he had the utmost con-
fidence in the often tried courage of his troops,
judged it more expedient to avoid an engage-
ment at present, and to retire, in the meantime,
into his fastnesses to recruit his exhausted
strength, than risk another battle with a fresh
force, greatly superior to his own. In order to
deceive the enemy as to his intentions, he ad-
vanced, the same day, upon Strathbogie, and,
within view of their camp, began to make in-
trenchments, and raise fortifications, as if pre-
paring to defend himself. But as soon as the
darkness of the night prevented Baillie from
discovering his motions, Montrose marched
rapidly up the south side of the Spey with his
foot, leaving his horse behind him, with in-
structions to follow him as soon as daylight
began to appear.

Baillie had passed the night in the confident
expectation of a battle next day, but was sur-
prised to learn the following morning that not
a vesligo of Montrose's army was to be seen.
Montrose had taken the route to Balveny,
which having been ascertained by Baillie, he
immediately prepared to follow. He, accord-
ingly, crossed the Spey, and after a rapid
march, almost overtook the retiring foe in
Glenlivet; but Montrose, having outdistanced
his pursuers by several miles before night came
on, got the start of them so completely, that
they were quite at a loss next morning to
ascertain the route he had taken, and could
only guess at it by observing the traces of his
footsteps on the grass and the heather over
which ho had passed. Following, therefore,
the course thus pointed out, Baillie came again
in sight of Moutroso; but he found that he
had taken up a position, which, whilst it almost
defied approach from its rocky and woody situ-
ation, commanded the entrance into Badonoch,

from which country Montroso could, without
molestation, draw supplies of both men and
provisions. To attack Montrose in his strong-
hold was out of the question; but, in the hope
of withdrawing him from it, Baillie encamped
his army hard by. Montrose lay quite secure
in his well-chosen position, from which he
sent out parties who, skirmishing by day, and
beating up the quarters of the enemy during
the night, so harassed and frightened them,
that they were obliged to retreat to Inverness,
after a stay of a few days, a measure which
was rendered still more necessary from the
want of provisions and of provender for the
horses. Leaving Inverness, Baillie crossed the
Spey, and proceeded to Aberdeenshire, arriving
on the 3d of June at Newton, in the Garioch,
" where he encamped, destroying the country,
and cutting the green growing crops to the
very clod."4

Having got quit of the presence of Baillie's
army, Montrose resolved to make a descent
into Angus, and attack the Earl of Crawford,
who lay at the castle of Newtyle with an army
of reserve to support Baillie, and to prevent
Montrose from crossing the Forth, and carrying
the war into the south. This nobleman, who
stood next to Argyle, as head of the Cov-
enanters, had often complained to the Estates
against Argyle, whose rival he was, for his
inactivity and pusillanimity; and having in-
sinuated that he would have acted a very
different part had the command of such an
army as Argyle had, been intrusted to him,
ho had the address to obtain the command
of the army now under him, which had
been newly raised; but the earl was without
military experience, and quite unfit to cope
with Montrose.

Proceeding through Badenoch, Montrose
crossed the Grampians, and arrived by rapid
marches on the banks of the river Airly, within
seven miles of Crawford's camp, but was pre-
vented from giving battle by the desertion of
the Gordons and their friends, who almost all
returned to their country.

He now formed the resolution to attack
Baillie himself, but before ho could venture on
such a bold step, he saw that there was an

4 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 479.

214

GENERAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

absolute necessity of making some additions
to liis force. With this view he sent Sir
Nathaniel Gordon, an influential cavalier, into
the north before him, to raise the Gordons and
the other royalists; and, on his march north
tlirough Glensheo and the Braes of Mar, Mon-
troso despatched Macdonald into the remoter
Highlands with a party to bring him, as speedily
as possible, all the forces ho could. Judging
that the influence and authority of Lord Gordon
might greatly assist Sir Nathaniel, he sent him
after him, and Montrose himself encamped in
the country of Cromar, waiting for the expected
reinforcements.

In the meantime, Baillie lay in camp on
Dee-side, in the lower part of Mar, where he
was joined by Crawford; but he showed no
disposition to attack Montrose, who, from the
inferiority, in point of number, of his forces,
retired to the old castle of Kargarf. Crawford
did not, however, remain long with Baillie;
but, exchanging a thousand of his raw recruits
for a similar number of Baillie's veterans, he
returned with these, and the remainder of his
army, through the Mearns into Angus, as if ho
intended some mighty exploit; he, thereafter,
entered Athole, and in imitation of Argyle,
plundered and burnt the country.

Eaising his camp, Baillio marched towards
Strathbogio to lay siege to the Marquis of
Huntly's castle, the Bog of Gight, now Gordon
castle; but although Montroso had not yet
received any reinforcements, ho resolved to
follow Baillie and prevent him from putting
his design into execution. But Montrose had
inarched scarcely three miles when ho was
observed by Baillio's scouts, and at the same
time ascertained that Baillie had taken up a
strong position on a rising ground above Keith,
about two miles off. Next morning Montrose,
not considering it advisable to attack Baillie
in the strong position ho occupied, sent a
trumpeter to him offering to engage him on
open ground, but Baillie answered the hostile
message by saying, that he would not receive
orders for fighting from his enemy.5

In this situation of matters, Montrose had
recourse to stratagem to draw Baillie from his
stronghold. By retiring across the river Don,

• Wishart, p. 145.

the covenanting general was led to believe that
Montroso intended to march to the south, and
ho was, therefore, advised by a committee of
the Estates which always accompanied him,
and in whoso hands ho appears to have been a
mere passive instrument, to pursue Montrose.
As soon as Montroso's scouts brought intelli-
gence that Baillie was advancing, he set off by
break of day to the village of Alford on the
river Don, where ho intended to await the
enemy. When Baillio was informed of this
movement, he imagined that Montrose was in
full retreat before him, a supposition which
encouraged him so to hasten his march, that
he came up with Montrose at noon at the dis-
tance of a few miles from Alford. Montrose,
thereupon, drew up his army in order of battle
on an advantageous rising ground and waited
for the enemy; but instead of attacking him,
Baillie made a detour to the left with the
intention of getting into Montrose's rear and
cutting off his retreat. Montrose then conti
nued his march to Alford, where he passed the
night.

On the following morning, the 2d of July,
the two armies were only the distance of about
four miles from each other. Montrose drew
up Ms troops on a little hill behind the village
of Alford. In his rear was a marsh fidl of
ditches and pits, which would protect him
from the inroads of Baillie's cavalry should
they attempt to assail him in that quarter, and
in his front stood a steep hill, which prevented
the enemy from observing 'his motions. He
gave the command of the right wing to Lord
Gordon and Sir Nathaniel ; the left ho com-
mitted to Viscount Aboyno and Sir William
Eollock ; and the main body was put under the
charge of Angus Macvichalister, chief of the
Macdonells of Glengarry, Drummond younger
of Balloch, and Quarter-master George Graham,
a skilful officer. To Napier his nephew, Mon-
trose intrusted a body of reserve, which was
concealed behind the hill.

Scarcely had Montroso completed his ar-
rangements, when ho received intelligence that
the enemy had crossed the Don, and was mov-
ing in the direction of Alford. This was a
fatal step on the part of Baillie, who, it is said,
was forced into battle by the rashness of Lord
Balcarras, "one of the bravest men of the

BATTLE OF ALFORD.

21ft

kingdom,"* who unnecessarily placed himself
and his regiment in a position of such danger
that they could not be rescued without expos-
ing the whole of the covenanting army. 7

When Baillie arrived in the valley adjoining
the hill on which Montrose had taken up his
position, both armies remained motionless for
some time, viewing each other, as if unwilling
to begin the combat. Owing to the command-
ing position which Montrose occupied, the
Covenanters could not expect to gain any
advantage by attacking him even with superior
forces ; but now, for the first time, the number
of the respective armies was about equal, and
Montrose had this advantage over his adver-
sary, that while Baillie's army consisted in
part of the raw and undisciplined levies which
the Earl of Crawford had exchanged for some
of his veteran troops, the greater part of Mon-
trose's men had been long accustomed to ser-
vice. These circumstances determined Baillie
not to attempt the ascent of the hill, but to
remain in the valley, where, in the event of a
descent by Montrose, his superiority in cavalry
would give him the advantage.

This state of inaction was, however, soon
put an end to by Lord Gordon, who observing
a party of Baillie's troops driving away before
them a large quantity of cattle which they had
collected in Strathbogie and the Enzie, and
being desirous of recovering the property of
his countrymen, selected a body of horse, with
which he attempted a rescue. The assailed
party was protected by some dykes and enclo-
sures, from behind which they fired a volley
upon the Gordons, which did considerable
execution amongst them. Such a cool and
determined reception, attended with a result
so disastrous and unexpected, might have been
attended by dangerous consequences, had not
Montrose, on observing the party of Lord Gor-
don giving indications as if undetermined how
to act, resolved immediately to commence a
general attack upon the enemy with his whole
army. But as Baillie's foot had intrenched
themselves amongst the dykes and fences which
covered the ground at the bottom of the hill,
and could not be attacked in that position
with success, Montrose immediately ordered

' Britane's D'atcmper, p. 129. 7 Wisliart, p. 147.

the horse, who were engaged with the enemy,
to retreat to their former position, in the expec-
tation that Baillie's troops would leave their
ground and follow them. And in this hope
he was not disappointed, for the Covenanters
thinking that this movement of the horse was
merely the prelude to a retreat, advanced from
their secure position, and followed the supposed
fugitives with their whole horse and foot in
regular order.

Both armies now came to close quarters, and
fought face to face and man to man with great
obstinacy for some time, without either party
receding from the ground they occupied. At
length Sir Nathaniel Gordon, growing impa-
tient at such a protracted resistance, resolved
to cut his way through the enemy's left wing,
consisting of Lord Balcarras's regiment of horse;
and calling to the light musketeers who lined
his horse, he ordered them to throw aside their
muskets, which were now unnecessary, and to
attack the enemy's horse with their drawn
swords. This order was immediately obeyed,
and in a short time they cut a passage through
the ranks of the enemy, whom they hewed
down with great slaughter. When the horse
which composed Baillie's right wing, and which
had been kept in check by Lord Aboyne, per-
ceived that their left had given way, they also
retreated.8 An attempt was made by the
covenanting general to rally his left wing by
bringing up the right, after it had retired, to
its support, but they were so alarmed at the
spectacle or melee which they had just witnessed
on the left, where their comrades had been cut
down by the broad swords of Montrose's
musketeers, that they could not be induced to
take the place of their retiring friends.

Thus abandoned by the horse, Baillie's foot
were attacked on all sides by Montrose's forces.
They fought with uncommon bravery, and
although they were cut down in great numbers,
the survivors exhibited a perseverance and
determination to resist to the last extremity.
An accident now occurred, which, whilst it
threw a melancholy gloom over the fortunes of
the day, and the spirits of Montrose's men,
served to hasten the work of carnage and death.
This was the fall of Lord Gordon, who having

8 Wishart, p. 149.

216

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

incautiously rushed in amongst the thickest of
the enemy, was unfortunately shot dead, it is
said,9 when in the act of pulling Baillie, the
covenanting general, from his horse, having, it
is said, in a moment of exultation, promised
to his men, to drag Baillie out of the ranks
and present him "before them. The Gordons,
on perceiving their young chief fall, set no
bounds to their fury, and falling upon the
enemy with renewed vigour, hewed them down
without mercy ; yet these brave men still
showed no disposition to flee, and it was not
until the appearance of the reserve under the
Master of Napier, which had hitherto been
kept out of view of the enemy at the back of
the hill, that their courage began to fail them.
When this body began to descend the hill,
accompanied by what appeared to them a fresh
reinforcement of cavalry, but which consisted
merely of the camp or livery boys, who had
mounted the sumpter-horses to make a display
for the purpose of alarming the enemy, the
entire remaining body of the covenanting foot
fled with precipitation. A hot pursuit took
place, and so great was the slaughter that very
few of them escaped. The covenanting general
and his principal officers were saved by the
fleetness of their horses, and the Marquis of
Argyle, who had accompanied Baillie as a
member of the committee, and who was closely
pursued by Glengarry and some of his High-
landers, made a narrow escape by repeatedly
changing horses.

Thus ended one of the best contested battles
which Montrose had yet fought, yet strange as
the fact may appear, his loss was, as usual,
extremely trifling, Lord Gordon being the only
person of importance slain. A considerable
number of Montrose's men, however, were
wounded, particularly the Gordons, who, for a
long time, sustained the attacks of Balcarras's
horse, amongst whom were Sir Nathaniel, and
Gordon, younger of Gicht. l The loss on the
side of the Covenanters was immense ; by far
the greater part of their foot, and a consider-
able number of their cavalry having been slain.

9 This incident is extremely doubtful ; it appears
to be mentioned only in the Red Book of Clanranald,
while no mention is made of it in Gordon of Sallagh,
Wishart, or Gordon of Ruthven.

1 Gordonts Continuation, p. 626.

Some prisoners were taken from them, but
their number was small, owing to their obsti-
nacy in refusing quarter. These were sent to
Strathbogie under an escort.

The brilliant victory was, however, clouded
by the death of Lord Gordon, " a very
hopeful young gentleman, able of mind and
body, about the age of twenty-eight years."2
Wishart gives an affecting description of the
feelings of Montrose's army when this amiable
young nobleman was killed. " There was," he
says, " a general lamentation for the loss of
the Lord Gordon, whose death seemed to
eclipse all the glory of the victory. As the
report spread among the soldiers, every one
appeared to be struck dumb with the melan-
choly news, and a universal silence prevailed
for some time through the army. However,
their grief soon burst through all restraint,
venting itself in the voice of lamentation and
sorrow. When the first transports were over,
the soldiers exclaimed against heaven and
earth for bereaving the king, the kingdom, and
themselves, of such an excellent young noble-
man; and, unmindful of the victory or of the
plunder, they thronged about the body of their
dead captain, some weeping over his wounds
and kissing his lifeless limbs; while others
praised his comely appearance even in death,
and extolled his noble mind, which was en-
riched with every valuable qualification that
could adorn his high birth or ample fortune :
they even cursed the victory bought at so dear
a rate. Nothing could have supported the
army under this immense sorrow but the pre-
sence of Montrose, whose safety gave them
joy, and not a little revived their drooping
spirits. In the meantime he could not com-
mand his grief, but mourned bitterly over the
melancholy fate of his only and dearest friend,
grievously complaining, that one who was the
honour of his nation, the ornament of the Scots
nobility, and the boldest asserter of the royal
authority in the north, had fallen in the flower
of his youth." 3

The victories of Montrose in Scotland were
more than counterbalanced by those of the
parliamentary forces in England. Under dif-
ferent circumstances, the success at Alford

* Idem.

3 Memoirs, p. 132.

BAILLIE AND BALCAEEAS RECEIVE A VOTE OF THANKS.

217

might have been attended with consequences
the most important to the royal cause; but the
defeat of the king on the 14th of June, at
Naseby, had raised the hopes of the Cove-
nanters, and prepared their minds to receive
the tidings of Baillie's defeat with coolness and
moderation.

Upon the day on which the battle of Alford
was fought, the parliament had adjourned to
Stirling from Edinburgh, on account of a
destructive pestilence which had reached the
capital from Newcastle, by way of Kelso.
Thither General Baillie, Lord Balcarras, and
the committee of Estates, which had accompa-
nied the covenanting army, repaired, to lay a
statement of the late disaster before the par-
liament, and to receive instructions as to their
future conduct. With the exception of Baillie,
they were well received. Balcarras, who had
particularly distinguished himself in the battle
at the head of his horse, received a vote of
thanks, and a similar acknowledgment was,
after some hesitation, awarded to Baillie, not-
withstanding some attempts made to prejudice
the parliament against him. But the fact was,
they could not dispense in the present emer-
gency with an officer of the military talents of
Baillie, who, instead of shrinking from respon-
sibility for the loss of the battle of Alford,
offered to stand trial before a court martial,
and to justify his conduct on that occasion.
To have withheld, therefore, the usual token of
approbation from him, while bestowing it upon
an inferior officer, would have been to fix a
stigma upon him which ho was not disposed to
brook consistently with the retention of the
command of the army; and as the parliament
resolved to renew his commission, by appoint-
ing him to the command of the army then
being concentrated at Perth, they afterwards
professed their unqualified satisfaction with
him.

After the battle of Alford the army of Mon-
trose was considerably diminished, in conse-
quence of the Highlanders, according to cus-
tom, taking leave of absence, and returning
home with the spoil they had taken from the
enemy. This singular, though ordinary prac-
tice, contributed more to paralyze the exertions
of Montrose, and to prevent him from follow-
ing up his successes, than any event which

i.

occurred in the whole course of his campaigns,
and it may appear strange that Montrose did
not attempt to put an end to it; but the tenure
by which he held the services of these hardy
mountaineers being that they should be allowed
their wonted privileges, any attempt to deviate
from their established customs would have been
an immediate signal for desertion. .

As it would have been imprudent in Mon-
trose, with forces thus impaired, to have fol-
lowed the fugitives, who would receive fresh
succours from the south, he, after allowing hia
men some time to refresh themselves, marched
to Aberdeen, where he celebrated the funeral
obsequies of his valued friend, Lord Gordon,
with becoming dignity.

The district of Buchan in Aberdeenshire,
which, from its outlying situation, had hitherto
escaped assessment for the supply of the hostile
armies, was at this time subjected to the sur-
veillance of Montrose, who despatched a party
from Aberdeen into that country to collect all
the horses they could find for the use of hia
army, and also to obtain recruits. About the
same time the Marquis of Huntly, who had
been living in Strathnaver for some time, hav-
ing heard of the death of his eldest son, Lord
Gordon, meditated a return to his own country,
intending to throw the influence of his name
and authority into the royal scale. But as ho
might be exposed to danger in passing through
countries which were hostile to the royal
cause, it was arranged between Montrose and
Viscount Aboyne, who had just been created
an earl, that the latter should proceed to Strath-
naver, with a force of 2,000 men to escort his
father south. This expedition was, however,
abandoned, in consequence of intelligence
having been brought to Montroso that the
Covenanters were assembling in great strength
at Perth.

The parliament which, as we have seen, had
left Edinburgh, and gone to Stirling on account
of the pestilence, had been obliged, in conse-
quence of its appearance in Stirling, to adjourn
to Perth, where it was to meet on the 24th of
July ; but before leaving Stirling, they ordered
a levy of 10,000 foot to be raised in the coun-
ties to the south of the Tay; and to insure duo
obedience to this mandate, all noblemen, gen-
tlemen, and heritors, were required to attend

218

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

at Perth on or before that day, well mounted,
and to bring with them such forces as they
could raise, under a heavy penalty.4

On leaving Aberdeen, Montrose took up his
quarters at Crabston, situated a few miles from
Aberdeen, between the rivers Don and Dee,
where he remained for some time in the expec-
tation of being joined by reinforcements from
the Highlands under Major-general Macdonald,
who had been absent about two months from
the army in quest of recruits. As, however,
these expected succours did not arrive within
the time expected, Montroso, impatient of
delay, crossed the Dee, and inarching over the
Grampians, descended into the Mearns, and
pitched his camp at Fordoun in Kincardine-
shire.

Proceeding on his march through Angus and
Blairgowrie to Dunkeld, Montroso had the
good fortune to be successively joined by his
cousin, Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, at the
head of the bravo Athole Highlanders, and by
Macdonald, his major-general, who brought
with him the chief of the Macleans, and
about 700 of that clan, all animated by a
strong feeling of animosity against Argyle and
his partisans. He was also joined by John
Muidartach, the celebrated captain of the
Clanranald, at the head of 500 of his men;
by the Macgregors and Macnabs, headed
by their respective chieftains; by the Clan-
donald, under the command of the uncles of
Glengarry and other officers, Glengarry him-
self, " who," says Bishop Wishart, " deserves
a singular commendation for his bravery and
steady loyalty to the king, and his peculiar
attachment to Montrose,"5 having never left
Montrose since he joined him at the time of
his expedition into Argyle. Besides all these,
the Stewarts of Appin, some of the Farquhar-
sons of Braemar, and small parties of inferior
clans from Badenoch, rallied round the standard
of Montrose.

Having obtained these reinforcements, Mon-
trose now formed the design of inarching upon
Perth, and breaking up the parliament which
had there assembled, and thereafter of pro-
ceeding to the south, and dissipating the levies
which were being raised beyond the Tay.

4 Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 160. B Memoirs, p. 156.

But the want of cavalry, in which he was con
stantly deficient, formed a bar to this plan,
and Montrose was, therefore, obliged to defer
his project till he should be joined by the
Earls of Aboyne and Airly, whom he expected
soon with a considerable body of horse. In
the meantime, Montrose crossed the Tay at
Dunkeld, and encamped at Amulree. The
covenanting army, with the exception of the
garrison of Perth, was then lying on the south
side of the Earn, and a body of 400 horse was
posted near the town, for the protection of the
Estates or parliament.

This movement, on the part of Montrose,
created some alarm in the minds of the Cove-
nanters, which was greatly increased by a
report from their horse, stationed in the neigh-
bourhood of the town, who, seeing some of his
scouts approach it, had fancied that lie was
going to storm it. While this panic was at its
height, Montrose, who had no intention of
attacking the town, raised his camp, and took
up a position in the wood of Methven, about
five miles from Perth. During this movement,
the town was thrown into a state of the greatest
consternation, from an apprehension that Mon-
trose was about to attack it, and the nobility
and the other members of the parliament were
earnestly solicited to secure their safety by a
speedy flight, but the Estates remained firm,
and could not be persuaded to abandon their
posts. In order, if possible, still farther to
increase the panic in the town, Montrose ad-
vanced almost to the very gates of Perth with
his horse the following day, which, although
not exceeding 100, were made to appear for-
midable by the addition of the baggage-horses,
on which some musketeers were mounted.
This act of bold defiance magnified the fears
of those who were in the town, and made them
imagine that Montrose was well provided in
cavalry. The covenanting troops, therefore,
were afraid to venture beyond the gates; and
Montrose having thus easily accomplished his
object, was encouraged,, still farther, to cross
the Earn at Dupplin, when he openly recon-
noitred the enemy's army on the south of that
river, and surveyed the Strath with great deli-
beration and coolness, without interruption.

Both armies remained in their positions for
several days without attempting any thing,

MONTJROSE EETREATS TO DUNK 1.1, 1 >.

219

each waiting for reinforcements. During all
tliis time, the enemy had been deceived re-
specting the strength of Montrose's horse, but
having learned his weakness in that respect,
and the deception which he had practised so
successfully upon them, and being joined by
three regiments from Fife, they resolved to
offer him battle. Montrose, however, from his
great inferiority of numbers, particularly in
horse, was not in a condition to accept the
challenge, and wisely declined it. Accordingly,
when he saw the enemy advancing towards
him, he prepared to retreat among the neigh-
bouring mountains; but to deceive the enemy,
and to enable him to carry off his baggage, ho
drew out his army as if he intended to fight,
placing his horse in front, and securing the
passes into the mountains with guards. While
making these dispositions, he sent off his
baggage towards the hills under an escort; and
when he thought the baggage out of clanger,
gave orders to his army to march off in close
rank ; and to cover its retreat and protect it
from the cavalry of the enemy, he placed his
horse, lined as usual with the best musketeers,
in the rear.

As soon as Baillie, the covenanting general,
perceived that Montrose was in full retreat, ho
despatched General Hurry with the cavalry in
pursuit of him ; but from a most unaccountable
delay on Hurry's part in crossing the Pow — so
slow, indeed, had his movements been, that
Baillie's foot overtook him at the fords of the
Almond — Montrose had almost reached the
passes of the mountains before lie was over-
taken. Chagrined at his easy escape, and
determined to perform some striking exploit
before Montrose should retire into his fastnesses,
a body of 300 of the best mounted covenanting
cavalry set off at full gallop after him, and
attacked him witli great fury, using at the
same time the most insulting and abusive lan-
guage. To put an end to this annoyance, Mon-
trose selected twenty expert HigMandcrs, and
requested them to bring down some of the
assailants. Accordingly these marksmen ad-
vanced in a crouching attitude, concealing their
guns, and having approached within musket-
ehot, took deliberate aim, and soon brought
down the more advanced of the party. This
unexpected disaster made the assailants more

cautious in their advances, and caused them to
resolve upon an immediate retreat ; but the
marksmen were so elated with their success
that they actually pursued them down into the
plain, " and resolutely attacked the whole party,
who, putting spurs to their horses, fled with
the utmost precipitation, like so many deer
Tjefore the hunters."7 In this retreat Montrose
did not lose a single man.

After giving over this fruitless pursuit, the
enemy returned to Montrose's camp at Meth-
ven, where, according to Wishart, they com-
mitted a most barbarous act in revenge of their
late affront, by butchering some of the wives of
the Highlanders and Irish who had been left
behind. Montrose took up his quarters at
Little Dunkeld, both because he was there per-
fectly secure from the attacks of the enemy's
cavalry, and because it was a convenient sta-
tion to wait for the reinforcements of horse
which he daily expected from the north under
the Earls of Airly and Aboyne. Although
both armies lay close together for several days,
nothing was attempted on either side. The
covenanting general had become quite disgusted
with the service in consequence of the jealousies
and suspicions which it was too evident the
committee entertained of him. His disgust was
increased by the sudden return to their country
of the Fife men, who preferred their domestic
comforts to the vicissitudes of war, but who
unfortunately were, as wo shall soon see, to be
sacrificed at its shrine.

At length the Earl of Aboyne, accompanied
by Sir Nathaniel Gordon, arrived at Little
Dunkeld, but with a force much inferior in
numbers to what was expected. They only
brought 200 horse and 120 musketeers, which
last were mounted upon carriage horses. The
smallness of their number was compensated,
however, in a great measure by their steadiness
and bravery. The Earl of Airly and his son,
Sir David Ogilvie, joined Montrose at the same
time, along with a troop of 80 horse, consisting
cliiefly of gentlemen of the name of Ogilvio,
among whom was Alexander Ogilvie, son of
Sir John Ogilvie of Innerquharity, a young
man who had already distinguished himself in
the field.

7 Wishart's Memoirs, p. 169.

220

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF TI1E HIGHLANDS.

Never, at any former period of his eventful
career, did the probabilities of ultimate suc-
cess on the side of Montroso appear greater
than now. His army, ardent and devoted to
the royal cause, now amounted to nearly
5,000 foot and about 500 horse, the greater
part of which consisted of brave and experi-
enced warriors whom he had often led to
victory. A considerable portion of his army
was composed of some of the most valiant
of the Highland clans, led by their respective

chiefs, among whom stood conspicuous the re-
nowned captain of clan Eanald, in himself a
host. The clans wore animated by a feeling
of the most unbounded attachment to what
they considered the cause of their chiefs, and
by a deadly spirit of revenge for the cruelties
which the Covenanters under Argyle had exer-
cised in the Highlands. The Macleans and
the Athole Highlanders in particular, longed
for an opportunity of retaliating upon the cove-
nanting partisans of Argyle the injuries which

Perth in the 17th century.— From Slezer's Theatrum Scotias (1693).

they had repeatedly received at his hands, and
thereby wiping out the stain which, as they
conceived, had been cast upon them. But for-
tunate as Montrose now was in having such an
army at his disposal, the chances in his favour
wore greatly enhanced by the circumstance, that
whereas in his former campaigns he had to
watch the movements of different armies, and
to fight them in detail, he was now enabled,
from having annihilated or dispersed the whole
armies formerly opposed to him, to concentrate
his strength and to direct all his energies to
one point. The only bar which now stood in
the way of the entire subjugation of Scotland
to the authority of the king, was the army of

Baillie, and the defeat or destruction of this
body now became the immediate object of
Montrose. His resolution to attack the enemy
was hastened by the receipt of information that
the Fife regiments had left Baillie's camp and
returned home, and that the general himself
was so dissatisfied with the conduct of the
covenanting committee, who thwarted all his
plans and usurped his authority, that he was
about to resign the command of the army.

Montrose, therefore, without loss of time,
raised his camp, and descending into the Low-
lands, arrived at Logie Almond, where he
halted his foot. Thence ho went out with his
cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy, and came in

BAILLIE JOINED BY THE MEX OF FIFE.

221

full view of them before sunset. They made
no attempt to molest him, and testified their
dread of this unexpected visit by retiring within
their lines. Early next morning Montrose
again rode out to make his observations, but
was surprised to learn that the enemy had
abandoned their camp at Methven during the
night, and had retired across the Earn, and
taken up a position at Kilgraston, near Bridge-
of-Earn. Montroso immediately put his army
in motion towards tho Earn, which he crossed
by the bridge of Nether Gask, about eight
miles above Kilgraston. He then proceeded
forward as far as the Kirk of Dron, by which
movement ho for the first time succeeded in
throwing open to the operations of his army the
whole of the country south of tho Tay, from
which the enemy had hitherto carefully ex-
cluded him. The enemy, alarmed at Montrose's
approach, made every preparation for defending
themselves by strengthening the position in
wliich they were intrenched, and which, from
the narrowness of the passes and the nature of
the ground, was well adapted for sustaining
an attack.

Montrose was most anxious to bring tho
enemy to an engagement before they should
be joined by a large levy then raising in Fife ;
but they were too advantageously posted to be
attacked with much certainty of success. As
lie could not by any means induce them to
leave their ground, he marched to Kinross for
the double purpose of putting an end to the
Fife levies and of withdrawing the enemy from
their position, so as to afford him an opportu-
nity of attacking them under more favourable
circumstances. This movement had tho effect
of drawing Baillie from his stronghold, who
cautiously followed Montrose at a respectful
distance. In the course of his march, Baillio
was again joined by tho three Fife regiments.
On arriving at Kinross in the evening, Mon-
troso learned from an advanced party ho had
sent out to collect information through the
country, under the command of Colonel Na-
thaniel Gordon, and Sir William Rollock, that
the people of Fife were in arms, a piece of
intelligence which made him resolve immedi-
ately to retrace his steps, judging it imprudent
to risk a battle in such a hostile district. Al-
though the men of Fife were stern Covenanters,

and were ready to fight for the Covenant on
their own soil, yet living for the most part in
towns, and following out tho sober pursuits of
a quiet and domestic life, they had no relish
for war, and disliked the service of the camp.
Hence the speedy return of the Fife regiments
from tho camp at Methven, to their own coun-
try, and hence another reason which induced
Montroso to leave their unfriendly soil, viz.,
that they would probably again abandon Baillie,
should he attempt to follow Montrose in his
progress west.

Accordingly, after remaining a night at Kin-
ross, Montrose, the following morning, marched
towards Alloa, in the neighbourhood of which
he arrived in the evening, and passed the night
in the wood of Tullybody. The Irish plundered
the town of Alloa, and tho adjoining lordship,
which belonged to the Earl of Mar ; but not-
withstanding this unprovoked outrage, the earl
and Lord Erskine gave Montrose, the Earl of
Airly, and the principal officers of the army,
an elegant entertainment in the castle of Alloa.
Montrose, however, did not delay the march
of his army while partaking of the hospitality
of the Earl of Mar, but immediately despatched
Macdonald west to Stirling with the foot,
retaining only the horse to serve him as a body-
guard. In this route the Macleans laid waste
the parishes of Muckart and Dollar, of which
tho Marquis of Argyle was tho superior, and
burnt Castle Campbell, the principal residence
of tho Argyle family in the lowlands, in requital
of similar acts done by the marquis and his
followers in the country of the Macleans. 8

As the pestilence was still raging in the town
of Stirling, Montrose avoided it altogether, lest
his army might catch the infection. He halted
within three miles of the town, where his army
passed tho night, and being apprised next
morning, by one of Baillie's scouts who had
been taken prisoner, that Baillio was close at
hand with the whole of his army, Montrose
marched quickly up to tho fords of Frew, about
eight miles above Stirling bridge, and there
crossed the Forth. Pursuing his march the
following morning in the direction of Glasgow,
ho made a short halt about six miles from
Stirling, to ascertain the enemy's movements,

* Guthry s Memoirs, p. 151.

222

GENEKAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

and being informed that Baillie had not yet
crossed the Forth, he marched to Kilsyth,
where he encamped. During the day, Baillio
passed the Forth hy Stirling bridge, and
marching forwards, came within view of Mon-
trose's army, and encamped that evening within
three miles of Kilsyth. 9

The covenanting army had, in its progress
westward, followed exactly the tract of Mon-
trose through the vale of the Devon. The
Marquis of Argyle availing himself of this cir-
cumstance, caused the house of Menstrie, the
seat of the Earl of Stirling, the king's secre-
tary, and that of Airthrie, belonging to Sir
John Graham of Braco, to be burnt. He,
moreover, sent an insolent message to the Earl
of Mar, notifying to him, that, on the return
of the army from the pursuit of Montrose, lie,
the earl, might calculate on having his castle
also burnt, for the hospitality he had shown
Montrose. l

The conjecture of Montrose, that the Fife
regiments would not cross the Forth, was not
altogether without foundation. In fact, when
they arrived near Stirling, they positively
refused to advance further, and excused them-
selves by alleging, that they were raised on the
express condition that they should not lie called
upon to serve out of their own shire, and that,
having already advanced beyond its limits, they
would on no account cross the Forth. But their
obstinacy was overcome by the all-powerful
influence of the ministers, who, in addition to
the usual scriptural appeals, " told them jolly
tales that Lanark, Glencairn, and Eglinton,
were lifting an army to join them, and there-
fore entreated that they would, for only one
day more, go out," until that army approached,
when they should be discharged. 3

While the Fife regiments were thus per-
suaded to expose themselves to the unforeseen
destruction which unfortunately awaited them,
an incident occurred on the opposite bank of
the Forth, which betokened ill for the future
prospects of the covenanting army. This will
be best explained by stating the matter in
General Baillio's own words. " A little above
the park (the king's park at Stirling), I halted
until the Fife regiments were brought up,

9 Wishart, p. 156. " Guthry, p. 15b. » Idem.

hearing that the rebels were marching towards
Kilsyth. After the upcoming of these regi-
ments, the Marquis of Argyle, Earl of Craw-
ford, and Lord Burleigli, and, if I mistake not,
the Earl of Tullicbardine, the Lords Elcho and
Balcarras, with some others, came up. My
lord marquis asked mo what next was to be
done. I answered, the direction should come
from his lordship and those of the committee.
My lord demanded what reason was for this t
I answered, I found myself so slighted in
every thing belonging to a Commander-in-chief,
that, for the short time I was to stay with
them, I would absolutely submit to their di-
rection and follow it. The marquis desired mo
to explain myself, which I did in these parti
culars, sufficiently known to my lord marquis
and the other lords and gentlemen then present.
I told his lordship, (1.) Prisoners of all sorts
were exchanged without my knowledge; the
traffickers therein received passes from others,
and, sometimes passing within two miles of
me, did neither acquaint mo with their busi-
ness, nor, at their return, where, or in what
posture they had left the enemy: (2.) While I
was present, others did sometimes undertake
the command of the army : (3.) Without either
my order or knowledge, lire was raised, and
that destroyed which might have been a re-
compense to some good deserver, for which I
would not be answerable to the public. All
which things considered, I should in any tiling
freely give my own opinion, but follow the
judgment of the committee, and the rather be-
cause that was the last day of my undertaking."3
It is here necessary to state, by way of expla-
nation, that Baillio had, in consequence of the
previous conduct of the committee, resigned
his commission, and had only been induced, at
the earnest solicitation of the parliament, to
continue his services for a definite period,
which, it appears, was just on the point of ex-
piring.

The differences between Baillie and the
committee being patched up, the covenanting
army proceeded on the 14th of August in
the direction of Denny, and having crossed
the Carron at Hollandbush, encamped, as we
have stated, about 3 miles from Kilsyth.

3 General Baillie s Narrative, Baillie 's Letters, vol
ii. pp. 270, 271

BATTLE OF KILSYTII.

223

I'.rt'ore the arrival of Baillio, Montross had
mrivuil iut'unnalion which made him resolve
lo hazard a battle immediately. The intelli-
gence he had obtained was to the effect, that
the Earls of Cassilis, Eglinton, and Glencairn,
and other heads of the Covenanters, were ac-
tively engaged in levying forces in the west of
Scotland, and that the Earl of Lanark had
already raised a body of 1,000 foot and 500
horse in Clydesdale, among the vassals and de-
pendents of the Hamilton family, and that this
force was within 12 miles of Kilsytli.

Having taken his resolution, Montrosc made
the necessary arrangements for receiving the
enemy, by placing his men in the best position
which the nature of the ground afforded. In
front of his position were several cottages and
gardens, of which he took possession. Baillie,
seeing the advantageous position chosen by
Montrose, would have willingly delayed battle
till either the expected reinforcements from the
west should arrive, or till Montrose should be
induced to become the assailant ; but his plans
were over-ruled by Argyle and the other mem-
bers of the committee, who insisted that ho
should immediately attack Montrose. Accord-
ingly, early in the morning he put his army in
motion from Hollandbush, and advanced near
Auchinclogh, about two miles to the east of
Kilsyth, where he halted. As the ground be-
tween him and Montrose was full of quagmires,
which effectually prevented Montrose from at-
tacking him in front, he proposed to take up a
defensive position without advancing farther,
and await an attack. But here again the com-
mittee interposed, and when he was in the
very act of arranging the stations of his army,
they advised him to take a position on a hill
on his right, which they considered more suit-
able. It was in vain that Baillie remonstrated
against what he justly considered an impru-
dent advice — the committee were inexorable in
their resolution, and Baillio had no alternative
but to obey. In justice, however, to Lord
Balcarras, it must be mentioned that he disap-
proved of the views of the committee.

When Montrose saw the covenanting army
approach from Hollandbush, he was exceed-
ingly delighted, as, from the excellent state of his
army, the courageous bearing of his men, and
the advantage of his position, he calculated

upon obtaining a decisive victory, which might
enable him to advance into England and re-
trieve the affairs of his sovereign in that king-
dom. But while Montrose was thus joyfully
anticipating a victory which, he flattered him-
self, would be crowned with results the most
favourable to the royal cause, an incident
occurred which might have proved fatal to his
hopes, had he not, with that wonderful self-
possession and consummate prudence for which
ho was so distinguished, turned that very in-
cident to his own advantage. Among the
covenanting cavalry was a regiment of cuiras-
siers, the appearance of whose armour, glitter-
ing in the sun, struck such terror into Mon-
trose's horse, that they hesitated about engag-
ing with such formidable antagonists, and,
while riiling along the lino to encourage his
men and give the necessary directions, Mon-
troso heard his cavalry muttering among them-
selves and complaining that they were now
for the first time to fight with men clad in
iron, whose bodies would be quite impenetra-
ble to their swords. When the terror of a foe
has once taken hold of the mind, it can only
be sufficiently eradicated by supplanting it
with a feeling of contempt for the object of its
dread, and no man was better fitted by nature
than Montrose for inspiring such a feeling into
the minds of his troops. Accordingly, scarcely
had the murmurings of his cavalry broken
upon his ears, when he rode up to the head of
his cavalry, and (pointing to the cuirassiers)
thus addressed his men: — " Gentlemen, these
are the same men you beat at Alford, that ran
away from you at Auldearn, Tippermuir, &c. ;
they are such cowardly rascals that their offi-
cers could not bring them to look you in the
face till they had clad them in armour; to
show our contempt of them we'll fight them
in our shirts."4 No sooner had these words
been uttered, when, to add to the impression
they could not fail to produce, Montrose threw
off his coat and waistcoat, and, drawing his

4 Carte, vol. iv. p. 538. The author of Britane'i
Distemper (p. 139) says that Montrose ordered every
man to put a white shirt above his clothes. It is,
however, highly probable that the narrative in the
text is substantially true. Wishart (Montrose Redivi-
vus, p. 96,) says they were ordered to throw off their
doublets and "affront the enemy all in white, being
naked unto the waist all but their shirts. "

224

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

sword with the air of a hero, stood before his
men, at once an object of their wonder and a
model for their imitation. The effect was in-
stantaneous. The example thus set by Mon-
trose was immediately followed by the whole
army, every man stripping himself to his shirt,
and the cavalry, partaking in the general en-
thusiasm, assured themselves of victory. As
the day was uncommonly hot and oppressive,
the troops found great relief by disburdening
themselves of their clothes, and the infantry
were, in consequence, enabled to display greater
agility in combat. The extraordinary appear-
ance of Montrose's men after they had parted
with their clothes, excited the astonishment of
the Covenanters, and as they could only attri-
bute such a singular preparation for battle to a
fixed determination on the part of the royalists
to conquer or to die, fearful doubts arose in
their minds as to the probable result of the
contest in which they were just about to en-
gage.

In moving to take up the new position
which had been assigned to it by the com-
mittee, the utmost disorder prevailed among
the covenanting army, which the general was
unable to correct. Indeed, so unruly had the
troops become, that some regiments, instead
of taking the stations assigned to them by the
commander, took up, at the suggestion of
Argyle, quite different ground, while others,
in utter disregard of Baillie's instructions, ac-
tually selected positions for themselves. Thus,
at the moment the battle was about to begin,
Baillie found all his plans completely over-
ruled, and as he now saw how utterly impossi-
ble it would be for him to cany any of his
contemplated arrangements into effect, lie was
necessitated to engage Montrose under the
most unfavourable circumstances.

The covenanting general, however, might
have so accommodated himself in the unex-
pected dilemma in which lie had been placed
as to have prevented the disastrous result
which followed, had not his horse regiments,
from an impression that Montrose had begun
a retreat, rashly commenced the action before
all the infantry had come up, by attempting to
carry the cottages and gardens in which the
advanced guard of Montrose was placed. Al-
though they made a violent charge, they were

as warmly received by Montrose's musketeers,
who, being protected by the dikes and enclo-
sures, kept up such a galling fire upon their as-
sailants as to oblige them to retreat with pre-
cipitation and some loss.

A body of about 1,000 Highlanders, who
were posted next to Montrose's advanced
guard, became so suddenly elated with this
success that, without waiting for orders from
Montrose, they immediately ran up that part of
the hill where the main body of the covenant-
ing army was posted. Montrose was highly
displeased with the Highlanders for this rash
act, which seemed to threaten them with in-
stant destruction ; but there was no time for
remonstrance, and as he saw an absolute neces-
sity for supporting this intrepid body, he
stifled his displeasure, and began to consider
how he could most effectually afford support.
Owing to the tardy advance of the enemy's
rear, it was some little time before the cove-
nanting army attacked this resolute body. At
length three troops of horse and a body of
about 2,000 foot were seen advancing against
them, and in a short time both parties closed
upon each other. The Highlanders, as usual,
displayed great intrepidity, and firmly main-
tained their ground; but as it was evident that
they could not long withstand the overwhelm-
ing force opposed to them, the Earl of Aboyne,
who, with a select body of horsemen, had been
placed by Montrose at some distance from the
main army, taking with him 12 horsemen,
rode forward to see if he could render any
assistance. Seeing the critical position in
which the rash Highlanders were placed, he
sent back for the cavalry to advance imme-
diately, at the same time bravely shouting to
the few followers that were with him, " Let us
go, Monsieurs, and assist these our distressed
friends, in so great hazard through the foolish
rashness of their commander. We shall, God
willing, bring them off, at least in some good
order, so as they shall neither be all lost, nor
endanger the army by their sudden flight,
whereto they may be forced." 6 He thereupon
charged the enemy's lancers, who, seeing him
make such a furious onset, retired to the left,
thus putting the foot between themselves and

8 Britane's Distemper, p. 140.

BATTLE OF KILSYTII.

225

Aboyne. Tho latter, without halting, charged
forward upon the foot, until, when within
pistol-shot, he perceived them preparing to re-
ceive him upon their pikes, lie then nimbly
turned n little to the left, and charged with such
impetuosity and suddenness a regiment of mus-
keteers, that although they received him with
three volleys from the three first ranks, he
broke right through them, till ho came out to
where his distressed friends were environed
with horse and foot, and so sorely straightened
as to be crying out for quarter. His presence
caused them to rally, and they took heart as he
cried with a lusty voice, " Courage, my hearts,
follow me, and let them have one sound
charge." " And this he gives with such brave
and invincible resolution, as ho breaks, dis-
perses, and discourages both foot and horse,
who seek no more to pursue, but strive to re-
tire in order, to the which their commanders
often invite them, but in vain." They got
Into complete disorder, and began to run for
their lives. What had been begun by Aboyne,
WBS completed by the Earl of Airly, who, at
the urgent request of Montrosc, now came up
at the head of the Ogilvies to the assistance of
the Highlanders. Montrose had made several
ineffectual attempts to induce different parties
of his army to volunteer in defence of the
brave men who were struggling for their exis-
tence within view of their companions in arms,
and, as a dernier resort, appealed to his tried
friend the Earl of Airly, in behalf of the rash
men who had thus exposed themselves to im-
minent danger. This appeal to the chivalrous
feelings of the venerable earl met with a ready
and willing response from him, and after stat-
ing his readiness to undertake the duty assigned
him, he immediately put himself at the head of
a troop of his own horse, commanded by Colonel
John Ogilvie of Baldavie, who had distinguished
himself in the Swedish service, and rode off
with great speed towards the enemy. He in-
stantly ordered his squadron to charge the
enemy's horse, who were so closely pressed
that they got entangled among the covenant-
ing foot, whom they put into disorder.

As soon as Baillie perceived that his horse
were falling back, he endeavoured to bring up
his reserve to support them ; but this body,
which consisted chiefly of the Fife militia,

L

became so alarmed at the retreat of the horse,
that they immediately abandoned their ranks
and fled. On the other hand, the rest of
Montrose's men, encouraged by the success of
the Ogilvies, could no longer restrain them-
selves, and rushing forward upon the enemy
with a loud shout, completed the disorder.
The wild appearance of the royalists, added to
the dreadful yells which they set up, created
such a panic among the astonished Covenanters,
that, in an instant, and as if by a simultaneous
impulse, every man threw away his arms, and
endeavoured to secure his personal safety by
flight. In the general rout which ensued, the
covenanting horse, in their anxiety to escape,
galloped through the flying foot, and trampled
many of their companions in arms almost to
death.

In the pursuit which followed, Montrose's
men cut down the defenceless Covenanters
without mercy, and so great waa the carnage,
that, out of a body of upwards of G,000 foot,
probably not more than 100 escaped with
their lives. The royalists were so intent upon
hewing down the unfortunate foot, that a con-
siderable part of the cavalry effected their
escape. Some of them, however, in the hurry
of their flight, having run unawares into a large
morass, called Delator bog, now forming a part
of the bed of the Forth and Clyde canal, there
perished, and, many years afterwards, the
bodies of men and horses were dug tip from
the bog, without any marks of decomposition ;
and there is a tradition still current, that one
man was found upon horseback, fully attired
in his military costume, in the very posture in
which he had sunk." Very few prisoners
were taken, and with the exception of Sir
William Murray of Blebo, James Arnot, brother
to Lord Burleigh, and Colonels Dyce and
Wallace, and a few other gentlemen, who
received quarter, and, after being well treated
by Montrose, were afterwards released upon
parole, all the officers of the covenanting army
escaped. Some of them fled to Stirling, and
took temporary refuge in the castle; others
galloped down to the south shore of the Frith
of Forth. Among the latter, Argyle was the
most conspicuous, who, according to Bishop

Nimmo's General History of Stirlingshire, p. 39(J>
2 V

226

OENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Guthry, " never looked over his shoulder until,
after 20 miles' riding, he reached the South
Queensferry, where he possessed himself of a
boat again."7 Wishart sarcastically observes,
that this was the third time that Argyle had
" saved himself by means of a boat ; and, even
then, he did not reckon himself secure till
they had weighed anchor and carried the vessel
out to sea."8

The whole of the baggage, arms, and stores,
belonging to the covenanting army were cap-
tured by the royalists. The loss on the side
of Montrose was, as usual, extremely trifling,
amounting, it is said, only to six or eight men,
three of whom were Ogilvies, who fell in the
charge which decided the fortune of the day.

The news of this disastrous and melancholy
defeat, speedily spread throughout the king-
dom and filled it with mourning. The plague,
which had devastated some of the most popu-
lous of the covenanting districts, was still
carrying on its depopulating career, and the
spirits of the people, already broken and sub-
dued under that scourge, were reduced to a
state almost bordering on despair, when they
received the afflicting intelligence of the utter
annihilation of an army on which their only
hopes were placed. No alternative, therefore,
now remained for them but unconditional
submission to the conqueror, and accordingly,
deputies were sent to him from different parts
of the kingdom, to assure him of the return of
the people to their allegiance to the king, to
proffer their obedience to Montrose as his lieu-
tenant, and to offer him assistance in support
of the royal cause. The nobility and other
persons of note who had hitherto kept aloof,
or whose loyalty had been questionable, also
crowded to the royal standard to congratulate
Montrose upon the favourable aspect'of affairs
and to offer their services.

While at Kilsyth, two commissioners, Sir
Eobert Douglas and Mr. Archibald Fleming,
commissary, arrived at Montrose's camp on the
part of the inhabitants of Glasgow, to obtain
favour and forgiveness, by congratulating him
upon his success, and inviting Mm to visit
their city. Montrose received these commis-
sioners and the other numerous deputations

7 Memoirs, p. 154. 8 Memoirs, p. 171.

and individuals who afterwards waited on him,
not merely with courtesy but with kindness,
and promised to bury all past occurrences in
perfect oblivion, but on the condition that they
should return to their allegiance and conduct
themselves in future as loyal subjects. " The
whole country now," says Wishart, "resounded
Montrose's praise. His unparalleled magna-
nimity and bravery, his happiness in devising
his plan of operations, and his quickness in
executing them, his unshaken resolution and
intrepidity, even in the greatest dangers, and
his patience in bearing the severest hardships
and fatigues ; his faithfulness and strict observ-
ance of his promises to such as submitted, and
his clemency towards his prisoners ; in short,
that heroic virtue which displayed itself in all
his actions, was extolled to the skies, and filled
the mouths of all ranks of men, and several
poems and panegyrics were wrote upon this
occasion."9 It is believed, however, that there
was little sincerity in these professions.

This submission of the people was accelerated
by the dispersion of the Covenant nobility, an
event that put a temporary end to the govern-
ment which they had established. Argyle,
Crawford, Lanark, and others, sought protec-
tion in Berwick, and Glencairn, and Cassilia
took refuge in Ireland.

Montrose might now have marched directly
upon, and seized the capital, where many of
his friends were confined as prisoners; but he
considered it of more importance to march to
the west and disperse some levies which were
there raising. Accordingly, after refreshing
his troops two days at Kilsyth, he dispatched
a strong body under the command of Mac-
donald, his major-general, into Ayrshire to
suppress a rising under the Earls of Cassilis
and Glencairn ; and with the remainder of his
army he proceeded towards Glasgow, which he
entered amidst the general acclamations of the
citizens. Here Montrose immediately com-
menced an inquiry into the conduct of the
leading Covenanters of the city, some of whom
he put to death as a terror to others. Mon-
trose remained only a day in Glasgow, and
encamped the following day on Bothwell moor,
about twelve miles from the city. His object

8 Memoirs, p. 174.

MONTEOSE CONGEATULATED ON HIS VICTOEY.

227

in doing so, was to put an end to some excesses
on the part of his Irish and Highland troops,
whom, from the precarious tenure of their
services, and his inability to pay them, lie
could not venture to control by the severities
cf martial law.1 And as he was apprehensive
that some of his men might lurk behind, or
visit the city for the purpose of plunder, lie
allowed the inhabitants to form a guard among
themselves to protect it. The citizens, in
gratitude for the favour and clemency thus
shown them, presented Montrose with the sum
of 10,000 merks.

In the meantime, Major-general Macdonald
arrived in Ayrshire, where he was received
with open arms. The levies which had been
raised in the west quietly dispersed; and, as
above mentioned, the Earls of Cassilis and
Glencairn fled to Ireland. The Countess of
Loudon, whose husband had acted a conspi-
cuous part against the king, received Macdon-
ald with great kindness at Loudon castle,
embracing him in her arms, and entertaining
him with great splendour and hospitality ; she
even sent a servant to Montrose to offer her
respects to liim.2

During Montrose's stay at Bothwell, where
he remained till the 4th of September, he was
waited upon by many of the nobility in person,
to congratulate him upon his recent victory,
and to tender their services. Others sent
similar communications by their friends. The
Marquis of Douglas, the Earls of Linlithgow
and Annandale, Lords Seton, Drummond,
Fleming, Maderty, Carnegie and Johnston,
were among the first who came forward.
Deputations also arrived from the counties of
Linlithgow, Lanark, Eenfrew, and Ayr, and
also from the towns of Grecnock, Ayr, and
Irvine, to implore forgiveness for past offences,
and to give pledges for their future loyalty.
Moiilroso received them all very graciously,
and relying upon their assurances, granted
them an amnesty.

Montrose expected that the city of Edin-
burgh, which had been the focus of rebellion,
would have followed the example of Glasgow
and the other towns; but whether from obsti-

1 Unmet s Memoirs if the Did;'S of Hamilton, p. 276.
* Guthry's Memoirs, p. 155.

nacy or from the dread of a refusal of pardon,,
the authorities did not send commissioners to
Montrose, and it was not until a body of the
royalist horse appeared within four miles of
the city, that they resolved to proffer their
submission, and to throw themselves on tlio
mercy of the conqueror.

After the battle of Kilsyth, Montrose dis-
patched his nephew, Archibald, Master of
Napier, and Nathaniel Gordon, with a select
body of horse, to summon Edinburgh to sur-
render, to secure its obedience and fidelity,
and to set at liberty the royalist prisoners,
many of whom were confined in the Tolbooth.
Should the city refuse to submit, it was to bo
subjected to fire and sword. On his way to
Edinburgh, Napier set at liberty his father and
wife, Stirling of Keir, his brother-in-law, and
sisters, from the prison of Linlithgow. When
four miles from Edinburgh they came to a halt,
and waited to see how the citizens would con-
duct themselves. The inhabitants, so far from
having any intention of resisting the royal
army, were in a state of consternation and
despair lest their submission should not bo
accepted by Montrose, " accusing themselves
as sacrilegious, perjured and ungrateful traitors,
unworthy of that clemency and forgiveness for
which they so ardently prayed." In the most
grovelling and humble manner they besought
the prisoners, whom not long before they had
treated with harshness and contempt, to inter-
cede with Montrose on their behalf, promising
to submit to any conditions.

The citizens, having chosen deputies, selected
from the prisoners two of the most eminent
and stanch royalists, Ludovic Earl of Crawford
and James Lord Ogilvie, the Earl of Airly's
son, to wait upon Montrose and introduce the
deputation, implore Ids pardon, and tender the
city's humble submission. These two noble-
men and the deputies having joined Napier,
the latter returned directly to his uncle Mou-
trosc, who was unfeignedly delighted at the
sight of liis dear friends Crawford and Ogilvie.

The city delegates, on being admitted to
audience, "made a free surrender to him of
the town, and humbly deprecated his vengeance
and implored his pardon and forgiveness, pro-
mising, in name of the whole inhabitants, an
inviolable fidelity and obedience for the future,

228

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

and committing themselves and all their con-
cerns to his patronage and protection, which
they humbly entreated he would grant them.
They promised also, immediately to release all
the prisoners in their custody, and desired him
lo assure himself that any thing else he should
desire of them should be instantly complied
with. The town, they said, had been almost
depopulated by a dreadful plague, so that no
supplies of men could bo expected from it ; but
they were ready to contribute all they could to
defray the expense of what troops he might
raise in other places. Above all, they most
earnestly implored him to intercede for them
with their most gracious and merciful king, to
obtain his pity and pardon, and that he would
not condemn the whole city for the crime of
rebellion, in which they had been involved by
the craft and example of a few seditious men,
armed with power and authority. Montrose
gave them reason to hope for the royal forgive-
ness; and the only conditions ho required of
them, were, sacredly to observe their loyalty
and allegiance to his majesty for the future;
to renounce all correspondence with the rebels,
whether within or without the kingdom: the
castle of Edinburgh, which he well knew was
then in their power, he required they should
surrender to the king's officers ; and that, as
soon as the delegates returned to the city,
all the prisoners should be immediately set at
liberty, and sent to his camp."3

Although the commissioners agreed to these
conditions, and promised to perform them, the
only one they ever fulfilled was that which
stipulated the release of the prisoners, who
were immediately on the return of the commis-
sioners sent to Montrose's camp. Indeed, it
was scarcely to be expected, from the character
of the times, that the citizens of Edinburgh,
who had all along been warm partisans of the
covenanting interest, would show a readiness
to comply with stipulations which had been
extorted from their commissioners under the
circumstances we have mentioned.

While at Bothwell, Montrose received vari-
ous communications from the king, who was
then at Oxford. The most important of these
were two commissions under the great teal, one

' Wishart.

appointing Montroso Captain-general and Lieu-
tenant-governor of Scotland, and conferring
on him full powers to raise forces, punish
state offenders, and make knights, &c. ; and
the other authorising him to summon a parlia-
ment to meet at Glasgow, to settle the affairs
of the kingdom. The bearer of these impor-
tant documents was Sir Robert Spottiswood,
formerly president of the Court of Session, and
who now acted as secretary of state for Scot-
land. As a person so well known as Sir
Robert could not travel by any of the ordinary
roads without risk of apprehension, he took a
circuitous route from Oxford, passing through
Wales, and thence crossing over to the Isle of
Man, took shipping and landed in the West
Highlands. From Lochaber ho proceeded down
into Athole, whence he was conducted by a
party of Athole-men to Montrose, at Bothwell
Moor.

The instructions brought by Sir Robert
Spottiswood, regarding the holding of a par-
liament and the matters connected therewith,
were in the meantime superseded by orders
from the king of a later date, brought by a
more direct route. By these he was directed
to march immediately to the borders, where he
would, it was said, be joined by the Earls of
Roxburgh, Traquair, and Home, and the other
royalist nobility of the southern counties, at
the head of their numerous vassals and tenants,
as well as by a body of horse which his majesty
would send from England; that, with these
united forces, he should watch the motions of
General David Leslie, who was advancing to
the north with a body of 6,000 cavalry. In
fact, Leslie, who had acquired great celebrity
by his conduct in the battle of Marston Moor,
had reached Berwick in the beginning of Sep-
tember, having been called thither on his road
to Hereford by the covenanting nobility, who
had taken refuge there after the battle of Kil-
syth.

Montrose reviewed his army on the 3d of
September, on which occasion Sir Robert
Spottiswocd delivered to him the commission
appointing him his majesty's Lieutenant-gov-
ernor for Scotland and General of all his ma-
jesty's forces.4 After this and the other com-

4 Idem.

MONTROSE CHAGRINED BY DESERTIONS.

229

mission had been read, Montroso addressed his
army in a short and feeling speech, in the
course of which ho took occasion to praise
their bravery and loyalty, and expressed great
affection for them. In conclusion, addressing
Macdonald, his major-general, ho bestowed
upon him the tribute of his praise, and, by
virtue of the power with which he had been
invested, conferred upon him the honour of
knighthood, in presence of the whole army.
Little did Montroso imagine, that the man
whose services he was now so justly rewarding
had resolved immediately to abandon him,
and, under the pretence of revenging some in-
juries which his friends had sustained at the
hands of Argyle four years before, to quit for
ever the service of his royal master.

Montrose's ranks had, before the review
alluded to, been thinned by private desertions
among the Highlanders, who carried off with
them all the booty they had been able to collect;
but as soon as Montrose announced his inten-
tion, in terms of the instructions he had received
from the king, to march south, the Highlanders
in a body demanded liberty to return home
for a short time to repair their houses, which
had been reduced to ruins by the enemy, and
to provide a stock of provisions for their wives
and families during the ensuing winter. To
induce Montrose to comply the more readily
with their request, they promised to return to
his camp within forty days, and to bring
some of their friends along with them. As
Montroso saw that the Highlanders were de-
termined to depart, and that consequently
any attempt to retain them would be unavail-
ing, he dissembled the displeasure he felt,
and after thanking them in the king's name
for their services, and entreating them to
return to him as soon as possible, ho granted
them leave of absence with apparent goodwill.
But when Sir Alexander Macdonald also an-
nounced his intention to return to the High-
lands, Montroso could not conceal his chagrin,
and strongly remonstrated against such a step.
" Montrose," says Guthry, " dealt most seri-
ously with him to have staid until they had
been absolute conquerors, promising then to go
thither himself, and be concurring with him
hi punishing them, (Argyle and his party,) as
they deserved ; and withal told him that his

separating ut this time must bo the occasion of
ruin to them both. But all was to no purpose ;
he would needs be gone, and for a reason en-
larged himself in reckoning up the Marquis of
Argylo's cruelties against his friends, who, as
he said, did four years ago draw his father and
brother to Inverary upon trust, and then made
them prisoners ; and since, (his friends having
retired to the isles of Jura and Rachliu for
shelter,) sent Ardkinlass and the captain of
Skipness to the said isles to murder them,
which, (said he,) they did without mercy,
sparing neither women nor children. With
such discourses he justified his departure, and
would not be hindered." Macdonald accord-
ingly, after returning thanks to Montrose in a
formal oration for the favours he had received,
and pledging himself for the early return of the
Highlanders, departed for the Highlands on the
day of the review, accompanied by about 3,000
Highlanders, the elite of Montrose's army, and
by 120 of the best of the Irish troops, whom
he had selected as a body guard.

The desertion of such a large body of men,
consisting of the flower of his army, was a sub-
ject of the deepest concern to Montrose, whose
sole reliance for support against the powerful
force of Leslie, now depended upon the pre-
carious succours he might obtain on his march
to the south. Under such circumstances a
commander more prudent than Montrose would
have hesitated about the course to be pursued,
and wotdd probably have either remained for
some time in his position, till the levies raising
in the south should assemble, or retreat across
the Forth, and there awaited reinforcements
from the north ; but the ardent and chivalrous
feelings of Montrose so blinded him, as to
make him altogether disregard prudential con-
siderations, and the splendour of his victories
had dazzled his imagination so much, as to
induce him to believe that he had only to
engage the enemy to defeat him.

Accordingly, on the day following the depar-
ture of the Highlanders, viz., the 4th of Sep-
tember, Montrose began his march to the
south ; but he had not proceeded far, when
he had the mortification to find himself also
abandoned by the Earl of Aboyne, who not
only carried off the whole of his own men, but
induced the other horsemen of the north, who

230

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

were not of his party, to accompany him. Sir
Nathaniel Gordon appears to have been the
only individual of the name of Gordon who
remained behind. The cause of such a hasty
proceeding on the part of the Earl of Aboyne,
is not very evident ; but it seems probable, that
his lordship had taken some offence at Mon-
trose, who, according to a partisan of the Gordon
family, arrogated to himself all the honour of
the victories which the earl had greatly con-
tributed to obtain. 5

The army of Montrose was now reduced to
a mere handful of men, consisting only of
about 200 gentlemen who had joined him at
Bothwell, and 700 foot, chiefly Irish. ° Yet he
resolved to proceed on his march, and reached
Cranstoun-Kirk in Mid-Lothian, on Saturday
the 6th of September, where lie received intelli-
gence that General David Leslie had arrived
at Berwick with a great body of cavalry. He
encamped at Cranstoun-Kirk with the inten-
tion of remaining there over the Sunday, and
hearing Dr. Wishart preach ; but having, the
following morning, been put in possession of a
correspondence between Leslie and the heads
of the Covenanters, at Berwick, which de-
veloped their plans, he quickly raised his camp,
without waiting for sermon, and advanced into
the district of the Gala. A more imprudent
step than this cannot be well conceived, as
Montrose threw his little band into the jaws
of Leslie's army, which was lying ready to
pounce upon him. In his march along Gala-
water, he was joined by the Marquis of Douglas
and Lord Ogilvie at the head of a small party,
the remains of a larger body which had been
diminished by desertion. Montrose was waited
upon at Galashiels by the Earl of Traquair,
who professed the most fervent attachment to
the king, and promised to obtain information
foT him respecting Leslie's movements ; and in
proof of his sincerity, sent his son Lord Linton
with a troop of well-mounted horse, who joined
liim the following day.

From Galashiels Montrose marched to Kelso,
where he expected to be joined by the Earls of
Home and Roxburgh, and their vassals ; but
on his arrival there, he was surprised to find

• Gordon's Continuilion, p. 528.
6 Guthry's Memoirs, p. 159.

that these two noblemen had taken no measures
to raise the levies they had promised. He,
therefore, resolved to pay them a visit, to
compel them to fulfil their engagements ; but
anticipating such a step, they had allowed
themselves to be made voluntary prisoners by
a party of Leslie's horse and carried to Berwick
Roxburgh, whom Wishart calls "a cunning
old fox," was the contriver of this artful
scheme, which, while it secured him and his
colleague Home the favour of the Covenanters,
was intended to induce the king to believe
that they were suffering for their loyalty.

This act of perfidy opened the eyes of Mon-
trose to the danger of his situation, and made
him instantly resolve to retrace his steps, so as
to prevent his retreat to the north being cut
off by David Leslie, who had by this time
crossed the Tweed. He, therefore, marched
from Kelso westward to Jcdburgh, and from
thence to Selkirk, where he arrived on the 1 2th
of September, and encamped that night in a
wood, called Hareheadwood, in the neighbour-
hood of the town at the head of a long and
level piece of ground called Philiphaugh, on
the north bank of the Ettrick. Montrose him-
self, with his horse, took up his quarters in
the town.

The position thus selected by Montrose was
well calculated to prevent his being taken by
surprise, as Leslie, from the direction in which
he had necessarily to advance, could only
approach it by coming up the open vale of
Philiphaugh ; but unfortunately, Montrose did
not, on this occasion, take those extraordinary
precautions which he had been accustomed to
do. It had always been his practice hitherto,
to superintend in person the setting of the
night watches, and to give instructions himself
to the sentinels, and to the scouts ho sent out,
to watch the motions of the enemy ; but having
important letters to write to the king, which
he was desirous of sending off before the break
of day by a trusty messenger, he intrusted
these details to his cavalry officers, whom he
exhorted to great vigilance, and to take care
that the scouts kept a sharp outlook for the
enemy. Montrose had the utmost confidence
in the wisdom and integrity of his officers,
whose long experience in military affairs he
had many times Avitnessed ; and as there seemed

BATTLE OF PHILirHAUCU.

231

to be no immediate danger, ho thought that,
for one night at least, he could safely leave the
direction of affairs to such men.

While occupied during the night preparing
his dispatches for the king, Montrose received
several loose reports, from time to time, respect-
ing the alleged movements of the enemy, of
which he sent due notice to his officers, "but he
was as often assured, both by the reports of
his officers and of the scouts, that not a vestige
of an enemy was to be seen. Thus the night
passed without any apparent foundation for
the supposition that the enemy was at hand,
and to make assurance doubly sure, some of
the fleetest of the cavalry were sent out at
break of day to reconnoitre. On their return,
they stated that they had examined with care
all the roads and passes for ten miles round,
and solemnly averred, that there was not the
least appearance of an enemy within the range
they had just scoured. Yet singular as the
fact may appear, Leslie was lying at that very
time at Melrose, with 4,000 horse, within six
miles of Montrose's camp.

It appears that on the day of Montrose's
march from Jedburgh, General Leslie, who
had a few days before crossed the Tweed at
Berwick, held a council of war on Gladsmuir
in East Lothian, at which it was determined
that lie should proceed towards Stirling to cut
ofl" Montrose's retreat to the Highlands, whither
it was supposed that he meant instantly to
retire, for the purpose of obtaining reinforce-
ments. But the council had scarcely risen,
when letters were brought to Leslie, acquaint-
ing him with the low and impaired state of
Montrose's forces, and his design of inarching
into Dumfries-shire to procure an accession of
strength. On receiving this intelligence, Leslie
abandoned his plan of marching northward,
ami ordering his army to turn to the left, he
immediately marched to the south, and enter-
ing the vale of Gala, proceeded to Melrose,
where he took up his quarters for the night,
intending to attack Montrose's little band next
morning, in the hope of annihilating it alto-
gether. Both "Wishart and Guthry suspect
that the Earl of Traquair was the informant,
and they rest their conjecture upon the circum-
stance of his having withdrawn during the
night, (without acquainting Montrose,) the

troop of horse under his son, Lord Linton;
but this is not sufficient, of itself, to warrant
us in charging him with such an act.

But the most extraordinary and unaccount-
able circumstance which preceded the battle of
Philiphaugh, was, that although Leslie was
within six miles of Montrose's camp, neither
the scouts nor the cavalry, who are stated to
have scoured the country for four miles beyond
the place where Leslie lay, could discover, as
they reported, any traces of him. Did the
scouts deceive Montrose, or did they not pro-
ceed in the direction of Leslie's camp, or did
they confine their perambulations within a
more limited range? These are questions
which it is impossible to answer with any
degree of certainty. But what is to be said of
the cavalry who having made their observations
at day-break, and confessedly several miles
beyond the enemy's camp, returned as luckless
as the midnight scouts? The only plausible
answer that can be given to this question is,
either that they had not visited the neighbour-
hood of Melrose, or that a thick mist which
prevailed on the morning of the 13th of Sep-
tember, had concealed the enemy from their
view. However, be this as it may, certain it
is that owing to the thickness of the fog,
Leslie was enabled to advance, unobserved, till
he came within half a mile of Montrose's head
quarters. On the alarm occasioned by thia
sudden and unexpected appearance of the
enemy, Montrose instantly sprung upon the
first horse that came to hand, and galloped off
to his camp. On his arrival, he fortunately
found that all his men, though the hour was
very early, had risen, but considerable disorder
prevailed in the camp in consequence of pre-
parations they were making for an immediate
march into Dumfries-shire in terms of instruc-
tions they had received the previous evening.
The cavalry, however, were quite dismounted,
some of the officers were absent, and their
horses were scattered through the adjoining
fields taking their morning repast. Short as
the time was for putting his small band in a
defensive position, Montroso acted with his
accustomed presence of mind, and before the
enemy commenced his attack, he had suc-
ceeded in drawing up his men in order of
battle, in the position which they had occupied

232

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the preceding night. Nothing but self-pre-
servation, on which the cause of the king, his
master, was chiefly dependant, could have
justified Montrose in attempting to resist the
powerful force now about to assail him. With
about 1,000 foot and 500 horse, the greater
part of which was composed of raw and undis-
ciplined levies hastily brought into the field,
and lukewarm in the cause, he had to resist
the attack of a body of about 6,000 veteran
troops, chiefly English cavalry, who had dis-
tinguished themselves at the battle of Marston-
moor, and who, though they could make no
addition to their laurels by defeating such a
handful of men, may be supposed to have been
especially desirous of annihilating the remains
of an army which had been so long formidable
and victorious.

The covenanting general began the battle
by. charging Montrose's right wing, consisting
of horse, with the great body of his cavalry;
but so firmly was the charge received by the
brave cavaliers with Montrose at their head,
that the assailants were forced to retire with
loss. A second charge met a similar fate.
Thus foiled in their attempts on the right, they
next attacked Montrose's left wing, consisting
of foot, which, after a gallant resistance, retired
a little up the face of the hill, where it was
posted, to avoid the attacks of the cavalry.
While this struggle was going on on the left,
a body of 2,000 covenanting foot which had
made a circuitous route, appeared in the rear of
the right wing, which they attacked. The
right wing not being able to resist this force,
and apprehensive that a new attack would be
made upon them by the enemy's cavalry, and
that they would thus be surrounded and per-
haps cut to pieces, fled from the field. The
foot who had taken up a position on the side
of the hill, being thus abandoned to their fate,
surrendered themselves as prisoners of war
after a slight resistance; but horrible to tell,
they were afterwards shot by orders of the
covenanting general, at the instigation, it is
said, of some presbyterian ministers, who de-
clared that no faith should be kept with such
persons.

Montrose was still on the field with about
30 brave cavaliers, and witnessed the rout of
one part of his army and the surrender of

another, with the most poignant feelings of
regret. He might have instantly retreated
with safety, but he could not brook the idea of
running away, and, therefore, resolved not lo
abandon the post of honour, but to fight to the
last extremity, and to sell his life as dearly as
possible. It was not long before he and his
noble band were nearly surrounded by the
enemy, who kept pressing so hard upon him,
and in such numbers, as almost to preclude the
possibility of escape. Yet they did not ven-
ture to attack Montrose and his brave asso-
ciates in a body, but in detached parties, every
one of which was successively repulsed with
loss. As the enemy grew tired of attacking
him, and seemed to be more intent upon plun-
dering his baggage than capturing his person,
Montrose saw that the danger was not so great
as he supposed, and therefore he began to reflect
upon the folly of sacrificing his life so long as
a ray of hope remained. He had lost a battle,
no doubt ; but in this there was no dishonour
when the disparity of his force with that of
the enemy was considered. Besides, ho had
lost few of his men, and the Highlanders, on
whom he chiefly relied, were still entire, and
were ready to take the field as soon as he ap-
peared again among them. And as to the
effect which such a defeat might be supposed
to have upon the adherents of the king, who
were still numerous and powerful, it could be
easily removed as soon as they saw him again
at the head of a fresh force. That he coidd only
expect to retrieve the present state of affairs by
escaping from the present danger and raising
new troops ; but that if he rashly sacrificed his
life the king's affairs might be irretrievably
ruined. These reflections being seconded by
the Marquis of Douglas and a few trusty
friends, who implored him not to throw away
a life so valuable to the king and to the coun-
try, Montrose resolved to consult his safety by
an immediate flight. Putting himself, there-
fore, at the head of his troop, he cut his way
through the enemy, without the loss of a single
man. They were pursued by a party of horse,
some of whom they killed, and actually carried
off one Bmce, a captain of horse, and two
standard-bearers, with their ensigns, as prison-
ers. Montrose went in the direction of Peebles,
which he entered about sunset, and here lie was

SEQUENCE TO THE BATTLE OF PHILIPHAUGH.

233

joined by various straggling parties of his men
who had escaped.

Montrose lost in this engagement very few of
his horse, but a considerable part of his foot
was destroyed. He carried off, as we have
seen, two of the enemy's standards, and fortu-
nately preserved his own, two in number, from
the enemy. That belonging to his infantry
was saved by an Irish soldier of great bravery,
who, on seeing the battle lost, and the enemy
in possession of 'the field, tore it from the pole,
and, wrapping it round his body, which was
without any other covering, nobly cut his way
through the enemy sword in hand. He over-
took Montrose at Peebles, and delivered the
standard into his hands the same night. Mon-
trose rewarded him for his bravery by appoint-
ing him one of his life-guard, and by committing
the standard to his future charge. The other
was preserved and delivered to Montroso by the
Honourable William Hay, brother to the Earl
of Kinnoul, a youth of a martial and enterpris-
ing spirit.

Montrose passed the night at Peebles, where
he was joined by most of his horse and part of
his infantry ; but some of his officers who had
mistaken their way, or fled in a different direc-
tion, were seized by the country people and
delivered over to Leslie. Among these were
the Earl of Hartfell, Lords Drummond and
Ogilvie, Sir Robert Spottiswood, Sir Alexander
Leslie of Auchintoul, Sir William Rolloek, Sir
Philip Nisbet, the Honourable William Mur-
ray, brother to the Earl of Tulliebardine, Alex-
ander Ogilvio of Inverquharity, Colonel Na-
thaniel Gordon, and Mr. Andrew Guthry, son
of the bishop of Murray.7 Montrose left
Peebles early the following morning, and, cross-
ing the Clyde at a ford shown him by Sir John
Dalziel, where ho was, to his great joy, joined
by the Earls of Crawford and Airly, and other
noblemen who had effected their escape by a
different route, he proceeded rapidly to the
north, and entered Atholo, after dispatching
the Marquis of Douglas and the Earl of Airly
into Angus, and Lord Erskine into Mar, to
raise forces. Montrose then sent letters to Sir
Alexander Macdonald and the Earl of Aboyne,
requesting them to join him without delay, and

7 Guthry's Memoirs, p. 161.

to bring witli them all the forces they could
muster, to enable him to enter on a new cam-
paign. '

As soon as the members of the Committee
of Estates, who had taken refuge in Berwick,
heard of Montrose's defeat at Philiphaugh, they
joined Leslie's army, which they accompanied
to Edinburgh, and there concocted those mea-
sures of revenge against the unhappy royalists
who had fallen into their hands, which they
afterwards carried into execution. The first
who suffered were Colonel O'Kean, to whoso
distinguished bravery at the battle of Fy vie wo
have already alluded, and Major Lauchlan,
another brave officer. Both these were hanged,
without trial, upon the Castle-hill at Edin-
burgh. Perhaps the circumstance of being
Irishmen appeared a sufficient reason in the
eyes of their enemies for dispatching them so
summarily; but they were, nevertheless, the
subjects of the king, and as fully entitled to all
the privileges of war as the other prisoners.
This hatred of the Irish by the Covenanters
was not confined to the cases of these indivi-
duals. Having in their march westward to
Glasgow fallen in, near Linlithgow, with a
body of helpless Irish women and children,
who, in consequence of the loss of their hus-
bands and fathers at the battle of Philiphaugh,
were now seeking their way home to their own
country, they were all seized by orders of the
heads of the Covenanters, and thrown head-
long by the brutal soldiers over the bridge of
Avon into the river below. Some of these
unfortunate beings, who had sufficient strength
left to reach the banks of the river, were not
allowed to save themselves from drowning, but
after being beaten on the head and stunned by
blows from the butt ends of muskets and by
clubs, were pushed back into the stream, where
they all perished.8 According to Gordon of
Ruthven, many of the women who were with
cliild were ripped up and cut to pieces, " with
such savage and inhuman cruelty, as neither
Turk nor Scythian was ever heard to have done
the like."9

The covenanting army continued its march

8 Sir Georgo Mackenzie's Vind., vol. ii. p. 348.
Gordon's History of Hie Family of Gordon, vol. ii. pp.
490, 491.

* Britane'i Distemper, p. 160.
2 a

234

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

to Glasgow, where a convention of the Estates
was held, to determine upon farther measures.
To testify their gratitude to Leslie, they granted
him a present of 50,000 merks and a gold
chain, and they also voted the sum of 25,000
merks to Middleton, the second in command.1

CHAPTER XV.

A. D. 1645—1649.
BIUTISH SOVEREIGN :— Charles I., 1625—1649.

Huntly refuses to join Montrose — Aboyne joins and
shortly deserts him — Executions liy the Covenanters
— Montrose has an interview with Huntly — Defeat
of the Campbells at Callander — Meeting of the cove-
nanting Parliament — Trials and Executions — Move-
ments of Montrose and Huntly — General Middleton's
movements — The King escapes to the Scots army —
Orders Montrose to disband his army — Montrose
corresponds with the King — Interview with Middle-
ton — Disbands his army — Embarks for the Continent
— The Scotch and the King— Proceedings of General
Leslie — Defeats Sir Alexander Jlucdonald — Surren-
der of Dunaverty Castle — Leslie in the Western
Isles— Apprehension of llnntly — Risings in Scot-
land in behalf of the King — Movements of royalists
under Hamilton — Rising in the West — Enter Edin-
burgh— Capture of Stirling and flight of Argyle —
Cromwell arrives in Edinburgh — Trial and Execu-
tion of the King — Also of Hamilton and Huntly.

MONTROSE appeared among his Athole friends
at a time the most unfavourable for obtaining
their aid. Many of them were engaged in the
occupation of the harvest, securing, for the sup-
port of themselves and their families, the scanty
and precarious crops which were then upon the
ground, and which, if neglected to be cut down
in due time, might be destroyed by unfavour-
able weather. It was, besides, little more than
a month since they had left him at Bothwell,
for the purpose partly of repairing the dam-
ages which had been committed by Argyle's
men upon their houses, and the interval which
had since elapsed had not been sufficient for
accomplishing their object. Yet, notwithstand-
ing these drawbacks, Montrose succeeded in
inducing about 400 of the men of Atholo to
join him immediately, and to follow him to
the north in quest of additional reinforce-
ments ; and he obtained a promise that, on
his return, the whole of the Athole Highland-
ers would join him in a body.

1 Guthry, p. 169.

"While in Athole, Montrose received pro
mises both from Lord Aboyne and Sir Alex-
ander Macdonahl, that they would speedily
join him with considerable reinforcements ;
but, growing impatient at Aboyne's delay, he
resolved to proceed north himself to ascertain
in person the cause of it, and to urge that
nobleman to fulfil his promise. Crossing,
therefore, the Grampians, he marched with
great haste through Aberdeenshire, and had
an interview with Lord Aboyne, whom lie ex-
pected to rouse from his apathy. Montrose,
however, soon perceived, that whatever Lord
Aboyne's own intentions were, he was thwarted
by his father, the Marquis of Huntly, who, on
hearing of Montrose's success at Kilsyth, had
left his rctfeat in Strathnaver, where he had
passed a year and a half in absolute supine-
ness, and returned to his own country. The
marquis appears to have been filled with envy
towards Montrose, and although, being a royal-
ist in his heart, he did not care to expose the
crown and monarchy to danger to gratify his
spleen and vanity, yet he could not endure to
see a man whom lie looked upon as his inferior
in rank, monopolize the whole power and au-
thority in Scotland.

" He was," saj's Bishop Wishart, " a man
equally unfortunate and inconsiderate ; and,
however much he would seem, or was really
attached to the king, yet he often betrayed
that interest through a pride and unaccount-
able envy he had conceived against Montrose,
whose glory and renown he endeavoured rather
to extenuate than make the object of his emu-
lation. He durst not venture to depreciate
Montrose's actions before his own people, who
had been eye-witnesses of them, and were well
acquainted with his abilities, lest it might bo
construed into a sign of disaffection to the
king himself. However, he gave out that he
would take the charge of commanding them
himself during the remainder of the war ; and
in that view he headed all his own vassals, and
advised his neighbours, not without threats if
they acted otherwise, to enlist under no other
authority than liis own. They remonstrated
against being asked to disobey the commands of
Montrose, who was appointed by the king his
deputy-governor and captain-general of all the
forces witliin the kingdom. Huntly replied.

HUNTLY EEFUSES TO JOIN MONTKOSE.

235

that ho himself should in no way be -want-
ing in his duty to the king ; Lut, in the mean-
time, it tended no less to their honour than
his own that it should appear to the king and
the whole kingdom how much they contributed
to the maintenance of the war; and this, he
said, could never be done, unless they com-
posed a separate army by themselves. He
spoke in very magnificent terms of his own
power, and endeavoured as much as possible to
extenuate that of Montrosc. Ho extolled im-
moderately the glory and achievements of his
ancestors, the Gordons ; a race, worthy indeed
of all due commendation, whose power had for
many ages been formidable, and an overmatch
for their neighbours ; and was so even at this
day. It was therefore, he said, extremely un-
just to ascribe unto another, meaning Montrose,
the glory and renown acquired by their courage,
and at the expense of their blood. But, for
the future, he would take care that neither the
king should be disappointed of the help of the
Gordons, nor should they be robbed of the
praise due to their merit."

Notwithstanding Huntly's reasoning, some
of his clan perceived the great danger to which
the king's affairs would be exposed by such
conduct, and they did everything in their
power to induce liim to alter his resolution.
It was, however, in vain that they represented
to him the danger and impropriety of dividing
the friends of the king at such a crisis, when
union and harmony were so essentially neces-
sary for accomplishing the objects they had in
view, and when, by allowing petty jealousies
to interfere and distract their councils, they
might ruin the royal cause in Scotland.
Huntly lent a deaf ear to all their entreaties,
and instead of adopting the advice of his
friends to support Montrose, by ordering his
vassals to join him, he opposed him almost in
everything he proposed by underhand means,
although affecting a seeming compliance with
his wishes. Seeing all their efforts fruitless,
those friends who had advised Huntly to join
Montrose declared that they would range them-
selves under Montrose's banner, as the king's
lieutenant, regardless of consequences, and they
kept their word.

The author of the history of the family of
Gordon, and Gordon of Kuthven, author of

Britane's Distemper, endeavour to defend
Huntly from these charges made against him
by Wishart. They assert that Wishart has
given only one side of the case, and that
Huntly acted as he did from a genuine desire
to serve the highest interests of the king, and
through no envy towards Montrose. They
lament that any misunderstanding should ever
have arisen between these two eminent royalists,
as it undoubtedly tended materially to preju-
dice the cause of the king. No doubt Huntly
sincerely wished to serve the royal cause : but
we are afraid that jealousy towards Montroso
helped considerably to obscure his mental
vision and prejudice his judgment.2

Among other reasons which induced Mon-
trose to take the speedy step he did of march-
ing north himself, was a report which had
reached him that the king was to send from
England a large body of horse to support him,
and he was most anxious to collect such forces
as ho could to enable him to be in a condition
to advance to the south, and unite with this
body. In fact, the king had given orders to
Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale to
proceed to Scotland with a body of 1,500
horse; but they were, unfortunately, completely
defeated, even before Montrose's departure to
the north, by Colonel Copley at Sherburn,
with the loss of all their baggage. Digby and
Langdale, accompanied by the Earls of Carn-
wath and Nithsdale, fled to Skipton, and
afterwards to Dumfries, whence they took
ship to the Isle of Man.

Notwithstanding the evasions of the Marquis
of Huntly, Montrose succeeded in inducing the
Earl of Aboyno to join him at Drumminor,
the seat of Lord Forbes, with a force of 1,500
foot and 300 horse, all of whom appeared to
be actuated by the best spirit. To remove
every unfavourable impression from the mind
of Montrose, Aboyne assured him with great
frankness, that he and his men were ready to
follow him wherever he should bo pleased to
lead them ; that they would obey his orders ;
and that his brother, Lord Lewis, would also
speedily join him, as ho soon did, with an addi-
tional force.

On receiving this reinforcement, Montrosc

1 History of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. p 495,
Britanc't Distemper, p. 166.

236

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

turned liis face to the south, and marched
towards Mar, where he was to be joined by
forces which Lord Erskine had raised there ;
but he had not proceeded far, when Lord
Lewis Gordon, under some pretence or other,
returned home with a considerable party of
horse, promising to return to the army the
following day. The desertion of Lord Lewis
had a most pernicious influence upon the
remainder of Aboyne's men, who, before the
army had reached Alford, were greatly dimin-
ished by desertion. As the remainder showed
great unwillingness to march forward, and as
the desertions continued, Aboyne requested
leave of absence, alleging as his reason, that
his father had expressly commanded him to
return to defend his possessions against a party
of the enemy who were in Lower Mar, and
who were threatening an attack. The demand
of Aboyne excited the astonishment of Mon-
trose, who remonstrated with him, and gave
many reasons to induce him to remain. He
showed that Aboyne's apprehensions of danger
were groundless, as, with the exception of a
few troops of the enemy's horse quartered in
Aberdeen, there were no other forces in the
north which could disturb his father's posses-
sions, and that these horse were too weak to
attempt any thing — that by marching south,
the seat of war would be transferred from the
north country, and that, in this way, the
Marquis of Huntly would be relieved altogether
of the presence of the enemy — that it would
be impossible to join the royalist forces, which
were on their way from England, without
crossing the Forth, and that it was only by
adopting the latter step that they could ever
expect to rescue their brave friends from the
fangs of the Covenanters, and save their lives.
Aboyne did not attempt to answer these
reasons, which were urged with Montrose's
peculiar energy, but he requested him to send
some persons who had influence with his
father to acquaint him with them. Donald,
Lord Reay, at whose house Huntly had lived
during his exile in Strathnaver, and Alexander
Irvine, younger of Drum, Huntly's son-in-law,
both of whom had been indebted to Montrose
for their liberty, were accordingly sent by him
to the Marquis of Huntly, as the most likely
persons he could select to induce Huntly to

allow Aboyne to remain with the army. But
all their arguments and entreaties were to no
purpose. Lord Reay was so heartily ashamed
at the failure of his mission, that he declined
to return to Montrose; and Irvine, who brought
some evasive letters from Huntly, frankly
declared to Montrose, that he could obtain no
satisfactory explanation from his father-in-law
of his real intentions, farther, than that he
remained fixed in his resolution that Aboyne
should return home immediately. After declar-
ing that he parted from Montrose with reluc-
tance, and promising to join him within a
fortnight with a force even larger than that
which he had lately brought, Aboyne left the
army and returned to his father.

Montrose then continued his march through
Braemar and Glenshee into Athole, where he
obtained an accession of force. He next pro-
ceeded to Strathearn, where he was met by two
messengers, — Captain Thomas Ogilvie, younger
of Pourie, and Captain Robert Nisbet, — who
arrived by different routes, with orders from
the king, desiring Montrose to join Lord George
Digby, near the English border, as soon as
possible. On receiving these commands, Mon-
trose immediately sent the messengers north
to the Marquis of Huntly, to acquaint him with
the king's wishes, in the expectation that the
use of his majesty's name would at once induce
him to send Aboyne south with reinforcements.

While Montrose lay in Strathearn waiting
for reinforcements, intelligence was brought to
him that the Covenanters were about to imbrue
their hands in the blood of his friends who
had been taken prisoners after the battle of
Philiphaugh. The committee of Estates, which
had accompanied the covenanting army to
Glasgow, had now determined upon this bold
and illegal step, for which hitherto, with the
recent exceptions of O'Kean and Laugldane,
no example had been set by either of the belli-
gerent parties in Scotland since the commence-
ment of the war. They had wisely abstained
from staining the scaffolds with blood, but
from different motives. Montrose, in general,
refrained from inflicting capital punishment,
and, as we have seen, often released his prison
ers on parole. The heads of the Covenanters
had been deterred by fear alone from carrying
their bloody purposes into execution ; but con-

TEIALS AND EXECUTIONS.

237

ridering that they had now nothing to fear,
they soon appeared in their true colours.

Besides the committee of the Estates, a com-
mittee of the kirk held sittings in Glasgow at
the same time, which sittings were afterwards
transferred to Perth, where, after deposing some
ministers who were considered disaffected to
the Covenant, because they had not "mourned"
for Montrose's victory at Kilsyth, they " con-
cerned" themselves, as Guthry observes, about
" the disposition of men's heads." Accord-
ingly, thinking the committee of Estates remiss
in condemning and executing the prisoners,
they appointed Mr. William Bennet, who acted
as Moderator in the absence of Mr. Eobert
Douglas, and two others of their number, to
wait upon the committee of Estates, and remon-
strate with them for their supineness. Guthry
relates, that the deputation reported on their
return, in his own hearing, that some of the
lords of the committee slighted the desire of
the committee of the kirk, and that they were
likely to have obtained nothing had not the
Earl of Tulliebardine made a seasonable speech
to the effect, " that because ho had a brother
among those men, it might be that their lord-
ships so valued his concurrence with them in
the good cause, that for respect of him they
were the more loth to resolve upon the question.
But that, as for himself, since that young man
had joined with that wicked crew, he did not
esteem him his brother, and therefore declared
that he would take it for no favour if upon that
account any indulgence was granted him." s, *
This fratricidal speech made those members of
the committee, who had disliked the shedding
of blood, hang down their heads, according to
Bonnet's report, and the committee, thereupon,
resolved that 10 of the prisoners should be
executed, viz., the Earl of Hartfell, Lord Ogil-
vie, Sir Eobert Spottiswood, the Honourable
William Murray, brother to the Earl of Tullie-

* Memoirs, p. 164.

* This report fortunately appears to he belied by
the following entries in Balfour's Annals, 17th and
19th January, 1646. "The earl of Tulliebardine
humbly petitions the House that they would bo pleased
to pardon his brother, William Murray's life, in respect
he averred on his honour, that he was not compos
mentis, as also within age." "The earl of Tulliebar-
dine again this day gave in a humble petition to the
House for prolonging the execution of that sentence
pronounced against his brother." Vol. iii. pp. 362,
S63.

bardine, Alexander Ogilvie of Inverquharity.
Sir William Bollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, Colonel
Nathaniel Gordon, Adjutant Stewart, and Cap-
tain Andrew Guthry.

Apprehensive, however, that Montrose might
still be in a condition to avenge the blood of
his friends, the committee did not venture to
carry their sentence into immediate execution
upon any of them ; but hearing of the division
bet ween Montrose andHuntly,and the desertion
of the Gordons, they thought they might now
safely venture to immolate a few victims at tLc
shrine of the Covenant. Accordingly three of
the prisoners were ordered for execution, viz.,
Sir William Eollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, chief
of that name, and Alexander Ogilvie, younger
of Inverquharity, a youth not quite 18 years
of age, who had already given proofs of ability.
This excellent young man was sacrificed to
gratify the malignant animosity of Argyle at
the Ogilvies. Sir William was executed at
the market cross of Glasgow, on the 28th of
October, and Sir Philip and Ogilvie suffered at
the same place on the following day. Wishart
relates a circumstance connected with Sir Wil-
liam Eollock's condemnation, which exhibits a
singular instance of the ferocity and fanaticism
of the times. He says, that the chief crime
laid to Sir William's charge was, that he had
not perpetrated a deed of the most villanous
and atrocious nature. Having been sent by
Montrose, after the battle of Aberdeen, with
some despatches to the king, he Avas appre-
hended by the enemy, and would undoubtedly
have been immediately executed, but for Argyle,
who used all his endeavours to engage him to
assassinate Montrose, and who at length, by
threatening him with immediate death, and
promising him, in case of compliance, very
high rewards, prevailed on him to undertake
that barbarous office, for which, however, he
secretly entertained the utmost abhorrence.
Having thereby obtained his life and liberty,
he returned straight to Montrose and disclosed
the whole matter to him, entreating him, at the
same time, to look more carefully to his own
safety; as it could not be supposed that lie,
Sir William, was the only person who had
been practised upon in this shameful manner
or that others would equally detest the deed,
but that some persons would undoubtedly lie

233

GENEEAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

found who, allured with, the bait, would use
their utmost industry and pains to obtain the
promised reward. 6 Another instance of fanati-
cism is related by Guthry, of David Dickson
the " bloody preacher," who, on witnessing the
execution of Nisbet and Ogilvie, was heard to
utter the barbarous expression — " The work
goes bonnyly on," an expression which after-
wards became proverbial.

About the time this tragedy was performing,
Mcntrose crossed the Forth and entered Len-
nox with a force of 300 horse and 1,200 foot,
and took up his quarters on the lands of Sir
John Buchanan, an ardent Covenanter, whence
he sent out his cavalry every day, who hovered
about Glasgow, and plundered the neighbour-
ing country without opposition, although the
Covenanters had a force of about 3,000 cavalry
in Glasgow and the neighbourhood. When
Montrose hoard of the execution of his friends,
his heart was filled with the most poignant
grief, and he longed for a suitable opportunity
to avenge their deaths, but he was too weak
to venture upon an immediate attack. He
sent repeated messengers from his present head-
quarters to Sir Alexander Macdonald to join
him ; but after hovering several weeks about
Glasgow, like a hawk ready to pounce upon its
quarry, he had the mortification to find, that
Macdonald had no intention of ever again
returning to him, and that his expectations of
being joined by the Earl of Aboyne were to be
equally disappointed.

Under these untoward circumstances, there-
fore, and as the winter, which turned out
unusually severe, was far advanced, Montrose
resolved to retire into the north where he could
remain undisturbed. With this view he began
his march from the Lennox on the 19th of No-
vember, and crossing the hills of Monteith,
which were covered with snow to a consider-
able depth, he entered Strathearn, and crossing
the Tay, marched into Athole. Here Montrose
received the melancholy news of the death of
his brother-in-law, Archibald Lord Napier of
Merchiston, whom he had left behind him in
Athole on account of indisposition ; a man,
Bays Bishop Wishart, " not less noble in his
personal accomplishments than in his birth

8 Wishart p. 223.

and descent ; a man of the greatest uprightness
and integrity, and of a most happy genius,
being, as to his skill in the sciences, equal to
his father and grandfather, who were famous
all the world over for their knowledge in philo-
sophy and mathematics, and in the doctrine of
civil prudence far beyond them." Montroso
had been accustomed from his earliest years to
look up to this gifted nobleman with feelings
of reverential and filial awe, nor were these
feelings impaired as he advanced in life. He
was interred in the Kirk of Blair with becom-
ing solemnity by Montrose.

When Montrose arrived in Athole, he there
found Captain Ogilvie and Captain Nisbet, who
had just returned from the north to give an
account of their embassy to the Marquis of
Huntly. They reported that they found him
quite inflexible in his determination not to
send assistance to Montrose, that he had spoken
disdainfully to them, and even questioned the
authenticity of the message which they brought
from the king. It was truly grievous for Mon-
trose to see the cause for which he had fought
so long, and for which he had encountered so
many personal risks, thus endangered by the
apparently wilful and fatal obstinacy of an
individual who had abandoned his country and
his friends in the most trying circumstances,
and skulked in Strathnaver, without showing
any inclination to support the tottering throne
of his sovereign. But Montrose did not yet
despair of bringing the marquis to a due sense
of his duty ; and as he considered that it was
more expedient, in the present conjuncture, to
endeavour to soothe the wounded pride of the
marquis than to use the language of menace,
he sent Sir John Dalziel to Huntly with a
message of peace and reconciliation ; intending,
if necessary, as soon as circumstances permitted,
to follow him, and enforce by his personal
presence, at a friendly conference, which Sir
John was requested to ask from the marquis,
the absolute necessity of such a reconciliation.

As Dalziel was quite unsuccessful in his
mission, and could not prevail upon Huntly
to agree to a conference with Montrose, the
latter hastened to put into effect his inten-
tion of paying a personal visit to Huntly,
" that nothing might be unattempted to bring
him to a right way of thinking," and " by

MOVEMENTS OF MONTBOSE AND HUNTLY.

239

heaping favours and benefits upon him, force
him oven against his will, to a reconciliation,
and to co-operate with him in promoting the
king's affairs."6 Montrose accordingly left
Athole with his army in the month of Decem-
ber, and marching into Angus, crossed the
Grampians, then covered with frost and snow,
by rapid marches, and arrived in Strathbogio,
before Huntly was aware of Ids movements.
To avoid Montrose, Huntly immediately shut
himself up in his castle of Bog of Gicht, on
the Spey, but Montrose having left his head-
quarters with a troop of horse, unexpectedly
surprised him very early in the morning before
he had time to secrete himself. Instead of
reproacliing Huntly with his past conduct,
Montrose spoke to him in the most affable
manner, and apparently succeeded in removing
his dissatisfaction so far, that a plan for con-
ducting the future operations of the army was
agreed upon between them. The reduction of
the garrison of Inverness, which, though strong
and well fortified, was but scantily stored with
provisions, and an attempt to induce the Earl
of Seaforth to join them, were the leading parts
of this plan. Accordingly, while Montrose
was to march through Strathspey, on his way
to Inverness, it was agreed that Huntly should
also advance upon it by a different road along
the sea-coast of Morayshire, and thereby hem
in the garrison on both sides.

In prosecution of this design, Montrose pro-
ceeded through Strathspey, and sat down before
Inverness, waiting for the arrival of Huntly.
When marching through Strathspey, Montrose
received intelligence that Athole was threat-
ened with a visit from the Campbells — a cir-
cumstance which induced him to despatch
Graham of Inchbrakie and John Drummond,
younger of Balloch, to that country, for the
purpose of embodying the Athole Highlanders,
who had remained at home, in defence of their
country. The inhabitants of Argyle, on hear-
ing of Sir Alexander Macdonald's arrival in
their country, after the battle of Kilsyth, had
fled to avoid his vengeance, and concealed
themselves in caverns or in the clefts of the
rocks ; but being compelled by the calls of
hunger to abandon their retreats, they had

6 Wishart, p. 227

been collected together by Campbell of Ard-
kiulass to the number of about 1,200, and had
attacked the Macgregors and Macnabs for
favouring Montrose. Being joined by the
Stuarts of Balquidder, the Menzieses, and other
partisans of Argyle, to the number of about
300, ihey meditated an invasion of Athole,
and had advanced as far as Strathample, with
the intention of carrying their design into
execution, when intelligence was brought to
Inchbrakio of their approach. Inehbrakie and
Balloch had by tliis time collected a body
of 700 able-bodied men, and, with this force,
they immediately proceeded to meet the Camp-
bells. These had laid siege to Castle Ample ;
but, on being apprised of the advance of the
Athole-mcn, they retired to Monteith, whither
they were hotly pursued by the Athole-men,
who overtook them at Callander, near the
village of Monteith. After crossing the river
Teith, they halted and prepared for battle,
having previously stationed a large party of
musketeers to guard the ford.

Having ascertained the strength and position
of the Campbells, Inchbrakie ordered 100 of
his men to advance to the ford, as if with the
intention of crossing it, in order to draw the
attention of the Campbells to this single point,
while, with the remainder of his men, he
hastened to cross the river by another ford,
higher up, and nearer the village. This move-
ment was immediately perceived by the Argy le-
mon, who, alarmed at such a bold step, and
probably thinking that the Athole-men were
more numerous than they really were, aban-
doned their position, and fled with precipitation
towards Stirling. As soon as the Athole party,
stationed at the lower ford, saw the opposite
bank deserted, they immediately crossed the
river and attacked the rear of the retiring
Campbells. They were soon joined in the
pursuit by the party which had crossed the
higher ford ; but, as the Athole-men had per-
formed a tedious march of ten miles that
morning, they were unable to continue the
pursuit far. About 80 of the Campbells were
killed in the pursuit. They loitered about
Stirling for some time in a very pitiful state,
till visited by their chief, on his way to Ireland,
who, not knowing how to dispose of them, led
them into Renfrewshire, under the impression

240

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

tliat as the inhabitants of that district were
friendly to the Covenant, they would be well
received ; but the people of Renfrewshire,
instead of showing sympathy for these unfortu-
nate wanderers, threatened to take arms and
cut them down, unless they departed immedi-
ately. The marquis, thereupon, sent them into
Lennox, and quartered them upon the lands of
Lord Napier and other " malignants," as the
royalists were called. r

The support of General Leslie's army being
heavily felt by the people, complaints were
made to the Committee of Estates for retaining
such a large body of men in Scotland, without
any necessity, and whose habits and mode of
living were so different from those of the
inhabitants of North Britain. The Committee
sent Leslie back to England, retaining only a
small brigade under General Middleton, to
watch the motions of Montrose.

The Covenanters, emboldened by recent
events, had summoned a parliament to meet
at St. Andrews, which accordingly assembled
on the 26th of November, 1645 ; and, that the
ministers might not be behind their lay
brethren in zeal for the blood of the " malig-
nants," the general assembly of the church also
met at the same time and place. It is truly
humiliating to find men, no doubt sincerely
believing they were serving the cause of reli-
gion, demanding the lives of their countrymen
as a sacrifice which they considered would be
well-pleasing to God ; yet, whilst every unpre-
judiced mind must condemn the fanaticism of
the Covenanters, it must be remembered that
the unconstitutional attempts of the king to
force Episcopacy upon them — a system which
they detested, — the severe losses which they
had sustained from the arms of Montrose, and
the dread of being subjected to the yoke of
prelacy, and punished for their resistance, had
aroused them to a state of frenzy, over which
reason and religion could have little control.

As a preparative for the bloody scenes about
to be enacted, Sir Archibald Johnston of War-
riston, on the day the parliament met, addressed
the house in a long harangue, in which he
entreated them to " unity amongst themselves,
to lay all private respects and interests aside,

7 Cuthry, p. 172.

and to do justice on delinquents and malig-
nants ; showing that their dallying formerly
had provoked God's two great servants against
them — the sword and plague of pestilence —
which had ploughed up the land with deep
furrows : he showed that the massacre of Kil-
syth was never to be forgotten, and that God,
who was the just Judge of the world, would
not but judge righteously, and keep in remem-
brance that sea of innocent blood which lay
before his throne, crying for vengeance on these
bloodthirsty rebels, the butchers of so many
innocent souls. He showed, likewise, that tho
times required a more narrow and sharp look-
ing into than formerly, in respect that the
house of parliament was become at this present
like to Noah's ark, which had in it both foul and
clean creatures, and therefore he besought the
Estates there now convened by God's especial
permission and appointment, before that they
went about the constitution of that high court
of parliament, that they would make a serious
search and inquiry after such as were ears and
eyes to the enemies of the commonwealth, and
did sit there as if there was nothing to say to
them ; and, therefore, he humbly desired that
the house might be adjourned till to-morrow
at two o'clock in the afternoon, and that the
several Estates might consider what corrupted
members were amongst them, who had com-
plied with the public enemy of the state, either
by themselves or by their agents or friends."8

On the 4th of December, a petition was
presented to the parliament from tho prisoners
confined in the castle of St. Andrews, praying to
be tried either by their peers, the justice-general,
or before the whole parliament, and not by a
committee, as proposed ; and they very properly
objected to Sir Archibald Johnston's sitting
as a judge, he having already prejudged their
case ; but the house, " in one voice," most
iniquitously rejected the petition, reserving,
however, to the prisoners still to object to Sir
Archibald before the committee, " if they had
not any personal exception against his person."9

As the ministers considered the parliament
tardy in their proceedings against the royalists,
the commissioners of the general assembly pre-

8 Balfour, vol. iii. pp. 311, 312.
* Balfour, vol. iii. p. 323.

TRIALS AND EXECUTIONS.

241

sented, ou the 5th of December, a remonstrance,
praying them "for justice upon delinquents
and malignonts who had shed the blood of
their bretlxren," and on the same day, four
petitions and remonstrances to the same effect
were presented to the parliament, from the
provincial assemblies and from Fife, Dumfries,
Morse, Teviotdale, and Galloway, by a body of
about 200 persons. The parliament, says
Balfour, by their president, answered, that
they had taken their " modest petitions and
seasonable remonstrances very kindly, and
rendered them hearty thanks, and wished them
to be confident that, with all alacrity and dili-
gence, they would go about and proceed in
answering the expectations of all their reason-
able desires, as they might themselves perceive
in their procedure hitherto; and, withal, he
entreated them, in the name of the house, that
they would be earnest with God to implore
and beg his blessing to assist and encourage
them to the performance of what they de-
manded." *

Notwithstanding the entreaties of the minis-
ters to proceed with the condemnation of the
prisoners, the parliament postponed proceedings
till the 17th of January, 1646; but, as a peace-
offering, they ordered, in the mean time, some
Irish prisoners, composed partly of those who
had been taken at Philiphaugh, and who had
escaped assassination, and partly of stragglers
who had been picked up after that battle, and
who were confined in various prisons through-
out the kingdom, especially in those of Selkirk,
Jedburgh, Glasgow, Dumbarton, and Perth, to
be executed without trial, " conform to the
treaty betwixt both kingdoms."2 A more ille-
gal act it is scarcely possible to conceive, but
in these times even the forms of justice were
set aside.

The Committee of Estates, when sitting in
Glasgow, had condemned the Earl of Hartfell
and Lord Ogilvie to death, along with Sir
William Eollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, and Alex-
ander Ogilvie ; but, for some reason or other,
their execution was deferred. So that, with
the exception of Adjutant Stuart, who escaped
while under the charge of General Middleton,
there remained only four persons of any note

1 Balfonr, vol. iii. p. 3'25.
I.

» Ibid. p. 341.

for condemnation, viz., Colonel Nathaniel Gor-
don, Sir Robert Spottiswood, the Honourable
William Murray, and Captain Guthry. It
appears from the parliamentary register of Sir
James Balfour, that these four prisoners pleaded
exemption from trial, or rather from condemna-
tion, on the ground of "quarters;" but after
three hours' debate, on the 10th of January,
the parliament overruled this defence'; and the
committee having, of course, found them all
"guilty of high treason against the states of
the kingdom," they fixed the 16th of that
month for taking into consideration the punish-
ment to be inflicted upon them.

The first case taken up on the appointed
day, was that of Colonel Nathaniel Gordon,
who, after a debate of three hours' duration,
was sentenced to be beheaded at the cross of
St. Andrews, on Tuesday, the 20th of January,
at twelve o'clock, noon, and his lands and
goods were declared forfeited to the public.
The lord chancellor declined voting. Similar
sentences were pronounced upon the Honour-
able William Murray and Captain Guthry, by
a majority of votes, a few of the members
having voted that they should be imprisoned
during life. Mr. Murray's brother, the Earl of
Tulliebardine, absented himself. These three
fell under an act passed the preceding year,
declaring that all persons who, after having
subscribed the Covenant, should withdraw from
it, should be held as guilty of high treason.
But the case of Sir Robert Spottiswood, who
had not subscribed the Covenant, not falling
within the scope of this ex-post-fado law, the
committee had stated in a special report the
grounds on which they found Sir Robert guilty
of high treason, namely, 1st, that he had ad-
vised, docketed, signed, carried, and delivered
to Montrose the commission appointing him
" lieutenant-governor and captain-general" of
all his majesty's forces in Scotland; and 2dly,
that he had been taken in amis against the
country at Philiphaugh. After a lengthened
debate, the parliament decided that both these
charges were capital offences, and accordingly
Sir Robert was condemned by a large majority
to lose his head.8

It was the intention of the parliament to

3 Balfour, vol. iii. pp. 356—61.
2 H

242

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

have ordered the Earl of Hartfell and Lord
Ogilvie to be executed along with the other
prisoners; but on the evening of the 19th of
January Lord Ogilvie effected his escape in the
following way. Pretending sickness he applied
for, and obtained, though with considerable
difficulty, liberty to his mother, wife, and sister,
to visit and attend him in prison. On entering
his chamber the sentinels retired out of respect
to the ladies; and, as soon as the door was
shut, his lordship jumped out of bed, and
attired himself in his sister's clothes, who, on
undressing, took the place of her brother in
bed, and put on his night-cap. After spending
some time together to prevent suspicion, the
two other ladies and his lordship, after opening
the door ajar so as to be seen by the guards,
pretended to take a most affectionate and pain-
ful leave of the unfortunate bed-ridden prisoner,
and drawing the door after them, passed the
sentinels without interruption. This happened
about eight o'clock in the evening; and as
horses had been prepared for his lordship and
two companions who were waiting to escort
him, he immediately mounted, and was out of
all danger before next morning, when the de-
ception was discovered. The escape of Lord
Ogilvie highly incensed Argyle, who hated the
Ogilvies, and who, it is said, longed for the
death of his lordship. He could not conceal
the chagrin he felt on the occasion, and even
had the audacity to propose that the three
ladies should be immediately punished; but
the Hamiltons and Lord Lindsay, who, on ac-
count of their relationship to Lord Ogilvie,
were suspected of being privy to his escape,
protected them from his vengeance. The
escape of Lord Ogilvie was a fortunate occur-
rence for the Earl of Hartfell, for whose life it
is alleged the Hamiltons thirsted in their turn;
and to disappoint whom Argyle insisted that
the earl's life should be spared, a concession
which he obtained.4

Of the four prisoners, Colonel Nathaniel
Gordon, " a man," says Wishart, " of excellent
endowments both of body and mind," was the
first that suffered. He had been long under
the ban of the church for adultery; but on
signing a paper, declaratory of his repentance,

4 Wishart, p. 238 ; Outhry, p. 168.

he was absolved from the sentence of excom-
munication. He died expressing great sorrow
for the vices and follies of his youth; but vin-
dicated himself for the part he had taken in
the troubles of his country, professed the most
unshaken loyalty to his king, and declared that
if there were any thing in the instrument he
had signed which might be construed as dis-
honourable to the king, or repugnant to his
authority, he completely disowned it.

Colonel Gordon was followed to the scaffold
by Sir Robert Spottiswood, a man of spot-
less integrity, and one of the most profound
scholars of the age. He was the eldest son of
Archbishop Spottiswood, and had, by his rare
endowments and great merit, been noticed with
distinction by King James and his successor
Charles. James conferred on him the order of
knighthood, and made him a privy councillor,
and Charles promoted him to the high situa-
tion of lord president of the court of session ;
and, upon the desertion of the Earl of Lanark
to the Covenanters, the king appointed him
principal secretary of state for Scotland instead
of that nobleman. This appointment drew
down upon him the hatred of the leading
Covenanters, but still there were some among
them who continued to respect him on account
of his worth and shining talents; and when
the vote was taken in parliament whether he
should suffer, the Earls of Eglintoun, Cassilis,
Dunfermline, and Carnwath, voted that his
life should be spared; and the lord chancellor
and the Earl of Lanark, by leave of the house,
declined voting. " Though many liked not
his party, they liked his person, which made
him many friends even among the Covenanters,,
insomuch, that after his sentence was read,
some of the nobility spoke in his behalf, and
entreated the house to consider the quality and
parts of that excellent gentleman and most just
judge, whom they had condemned, and begged
earnestly his life might be spared. But an
eminent knowledge and esteem, which, in
other cases, might be a motive to save a crimi-
nal, was here only the cause of taking an inno-
cent man's life — so dangerous is it, in a corrupt
age, to be eminently constant and virtuous.
The gentlemen who spoke were told that the
authority of the established government was
not secure while Sir Robert's life was spared.

EXECUTION OF Sill ROBERT SPOTTISWOOD.

243

Whereupon the noblemen who presided at the
meeting of the estates at Glasgow, and in the
parliament at St. Andrews, openly declared,
when they signed the respective sentences, that
they did sign as proses, and in obedience to
the command of the estates, but not as to their
particular judgment." 5

After he had mounted the scaffold, still
reeking with the blood of Colonel Gordon,
Sir Eobert surveyed the terrific scone around
him with singular composure, which, added
to his naturally grave and dignified appear-
ance, filled the breasts of the spectators with
a feeling of compassion. Sir Robert had
intended to have addressed the people, and
had prepared a written speech for the occasion;
but on turning round to address the spectators,
he was prevented from proceeding by the pro-
vost of St. Andrews, formerly a servant of Sir
Robert's father, who had been instigated to
impose silence upon him by Robert Blair, one
of those ministers who, to the scandal of reli-
gion, had dishonoured their profession by call-
ing out for the blood of their countrymen.
Blair's motive in occasioning this interruption
is said to have arisen from a dread ho enter-
tained that Sir Robert would expose the
designs of the Covenanters, and impress the
bystanders with an unfavourable opinion of
their proceedings. Sir Robert bore the inter-
ruption with the most unruffled composure,
and, as he saw no chance of succeeding, he
threw the manuscript of his speech amongst
the crowd, and applied himself to his private
devotions. But here again he was annoyed by
the officious impertinence of Blair, who rudely
asked him whether he (Blair) and the people
should pray for the salvation of his soul? To
this question Sir Robert answered, that he
indeed desired the prayers of the people; but
knowing the bloodthirsty character of the man
he was addressing, who had come to tease him
in his last moments, ho told him that lie
" would have no concern with his prayers,
which ho believed were impious, and an
abomination unto God; adding, that of all the
plagues with which the offended majesty of
God had scourged the nation, this was certainly
by far the greatest, greater than even the sword,

5 Life prefixed to Sir Robert's work, entitled Prac-
tic'ts, folio, printed in 1 706,

fire, or pestilence; that for the sins of the
people God had sent a lying spirit into the
mouths of the prophets."0 This answer raised
the fury of Blair, who assailed Sir Robert with
the most acrimonious imputations, and reviled
the memory of his father by the most infamous
charges; but Sir Robert was too deeply ab-
sorbed in meditation to regard sucli obloquy.
Having finished his devotions, this great and
good man, after uttering these words, " Merciful
Jesus! gather my soul unto thy saints and
martyrs who have run before mo in this race,"
laid his neck upon the fatal block, and in an
instant his head was severed from his body.

After Sir Robert Spottiswood's execution,
Captain Guthry, son of the ex-bishop of Moray,
was next led to the scaffold. The fierce and
unfeeling Blair, who had already officiously
witnessed, with the most morbid complacency,
the successive executions of Colonel Gordon
and Sir Robert, not satisfied with reviling
the latter gentleman in liis last moments,
and lacerating his feelings by heaping every
sort of obloquy upon the memory of his father,
vented the dregs of his impotent rage upon the
unfortunate victim now before him; but Guthry
bore all this man's reproaches with becoming
dignity, and declared that he considered it an
honour to die in defence of the just cause of
his sovereign. He met his death with the
fortitude of a hero and the firmness of a
Christian.

In consequence of an application to the par-
liament by the Earl of Tulliebardine, the exe-
cution of his brother, William Murray, was
delayed till the 23d of January. The case of
this unfortunate young man excited a strong
feeling of regret among the Covenanters them-
selves, and some writers have not scrupled to
blame the earl as the cause of his death, that
he might succeed to his patrimony. Some
countenance is afforded to this conjecture from
the circumstance that the earl not only made
no exertions to save his brother from condem-
nation, but that he even absented himself from
parliament the day that his brother's case came
to be discussed, when, by his presence or his
vote, ho might have saved his brother's life.
Nor is this supposition, it is contended, in any

• Wishart, p. 242.

244

GENERAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

sliapo weakened by the attempt he afterwards
made to get off his brother; for he must have
known that the parliament had gone too far to
retract, and could not, without laying itself
open to the charge of the grossest partiality,
reprieve Mr. Murray, and allow their sentence
to be carried into execution against the other
prisoners. If true, however, that the earl
delivered the speech imputed to him by Beii-
net, there can be no doubt of his being a par-
ticipator in the death of his brother, but, it
would bo hard to condemn him on such ques-
tionable authority. To whatever cause it was
owing, Mr. Murray was not, during Ms last
moments, subjected to the annoyances of Blair,
nor was he prevented from delivering the
following speech to the persons assembled to
witness his execution. He spoke in a loud
tone of voice as follows : " I hope, my country-
men, you will reckon that the house of Tullie-
bardine, and the whole family of Murray, have
this day acquired a new and no small addition
of honour; that a young man, descended of
that ancient race, has, though innocent, and in
the flower of his age, with the greatest readi-
ness and cheerfulness, delivered up his life for
his king, the father of his country, and the
most munificent patron and benefactor of that
family from which he is sprung. Let not my
honoured mother, my dearest sisters, my kin-
dred or my friends, lament the shortness of my
life, seeing that it is abundantly recompensed
by the honour of my death. Pray for my soul,
and God be with you."7

Many prisoners, but of less note, still re-
mained to be disposed of; but the parliament,
either averse to shed more blood, or from other
considerations, took no steps against them.
The committee of the kirk, however, being
actuated by other motives, pressed the parlia-
ment to dispose of some more of the " malig-
nants ; " but the bloody zeal of these clerical
enthusiasts was checked by the better sense of
the parliament ; and in order to get rid of
their importunities for blood, a suggestion was
made to them by the leading men in parlia-
ment to lay before them an " overture," propos-
ing some more lenient mode of punishment.
The "godly" brotherhood soon met, but a

7 Guthry, p. 245.

considerable difference of opinion prevailing as
to the nature of the punishment to be submitted
to parliament in the proposed overture, the
moderator asked David Dickson what ho
thought best to be done with the prisoners,
who answered " in Ms homely way of speaking,
'shame them and herry (plunder) them.'" This
proposal, being adopted, was made the subject
of an overture, which was accordingly presented
to parliament ; and to meet the views of the
ministers, a remit was made to a largo com-
mittee, wMch was appointed to meet at Lin-
lithgow, on the 25th of February, to fix the
amount of the fines to be imposed upon the
different delinquents.

While the proceedings before detailed were
going on at St. Andrews, Montrose was ineffec-
tually endeavouring to reduce the garrison of
Inverness, the acquisition of which would have
been of some importance to him. Had the
Marquis of Huntly kept his promise, and
joined Montrose, its capture might have been
effected ; but that nobleman never made his
appearance, and as Inverness was thus left
open on the side wMch it was intended ho
should block up, the enemy were enabled to
supply themselves with provisions and warlike
stores, of which they stood in great need.
Huntly, however, afterwards crossed the Spey,
and entered Moray with a considerable force ;
but instead of joining Montrose, who repeatedly
sent for Mm, he wasted his time in fruitless
enterprises, besieging and taking a few castles
of no importance.

As Huntly probably did not think that the
capture of a few obscure castles was sufficient
to establish his pretensions as Montrose's rival,
he resolved to seize Aberdeen, and had advanced
on his way as far as Kintore, where he was
met by Ludovick Lindsay, Earl of Crawford,
who had retired from the Mearns, where he
had been stationed with Montrose's horse, on
hearing of the approach of the parliamentary
army under the command of General Middle-
ton towards Aberdeen. This intelligence was
quite sufficient to induce the marquis to desist
from his enterprise. Lindsay then marched
into Buchan, and burnt the town of Fraser-
burgh. He, thereafter, went to Banff, but was
compelled to retire hastily into Moray with
some loss in February 1646, by a division of

GENERAL MIDDLETON'S MOVEMENTS.

245

Middleton's army under the command of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Montgomery and Major Uavid
Barclay. 8

About this time intelligence was brought to
Montrose that General Middloton had arrived
at Aberdeen with a force of 600 horse and 800
foot. Ho now renewed his entreaties to Huntly
to join him immediately, that they might
either reduce Inverness or march jointly upon
Aberdeen and attack Middleton ; Hiuitly, how-
ever, refused to accede to Montrose's request.
This refusal exasperated Montrose to such a
degree that he resolved to have recourse to
force to compel compliance, as he could no
longer endure to see the authority of the
sovereign, whose deputy he was, thus trampled
upon and despised. As he had already brought
over to his side the Earl of Seaforth, who had
induced the heads of some of the principal
clans to form a confederation for obtaining a
national peace, he was fully in a condition to
have reduced Huntly to obedience. Montrose
having got a new commission, sent a copy of it
to Huntly, and, as governor and general of the
royal forces, charged him to come without
delay, with his whole force to Inverness, and
there receive further orders. Huntly appears
to have made preparations for complying with
this order, but Middleton's sudden advance on
Inverness induced him to alter his purpose.9

Wish art relates rather an incredible story
respecting an alleged piece of treachery on the
part of Lord Lewis Gordon on this occasion.
He states that, as Montrose had no reliance
on Huntly, and as ho began now to think it
high time to look more carefully to his own
safety, lest Huntly's malice might at last carry
him the length even to betray him, he sent
three troops of horse to the fords of the Spey
to watch the motions of the enemy, with orders,
if they approached, to send him immediate
intimation of their movements. This body, it
is said, occupied the most convenient stations,
and watched with very great diligence for some
time, till Lord Lewis, who then kept the castle
of Rothes, having contrived his scheme of
villany, assured the officers who commanded
the horse, that the enemy was very far distant,

8 Gordon's Continuation, p. 531.
' Brilanc's Distemper, p. 183.

and had no intention to pass the river; he,
therefore, advised them to cease watching, and
having invited them to the castle where they
were sumptuously entertained by him, plied
with wine and spirits, and detained till such
time as Lord Middleton had crossed the Spey
with a largo army of horse and foot, and pene-
trated far into Moray, he dismissed his guests
with those jeering remarks — "Go, return to
your general Montrose, who will now have
better work than he had at Selkirk." Gordon
of Euthven, however, contradicts this very im-
probable story, and attributes Middleton's
unmolested crossing of the Spey to the negli-
gence of the troops who guarded the passage;
asserting that Lord Lewis knew nothing of it
till Mortimer, one of the captains in command
of the troops, appeared at Rothes to tell him
that Middloton was on the other side of the
Spey on his way to Inverness. Moreover such
a statement carries its own condemnation upon
the face of it, for even supposing that Mon-
trose's officers had acted the stupid part im-
puted to them, they would certainly not have
forgotten their duty so far as to order their
men to abandon their posts.

It was in the month of May, 1646, that
General Middleton left Aberdeen at the head
of his army, on his way to Inverness. He left
behind him in Aberdeen a regiment of horse,
and another of foot, for the protection of the
town, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Montgomery. Middleton made a rapid march,
and arrived in the neighbourhood of Inverness
on the 9th of May, driving before him the few
troops of horse which Montrose had stationed
on the Spey to watch his motions. On being
warned of Middleton's approach, Montrose
drew his troops together, and took up a posi-
tion at some distance from the town; but
having ascertained that Middleton was strong
in cavalry, he hastily crossed the river Ness,
Middleton, thereupon, despatched two regi-
ments of cavalry after him, who attacked his
rear, cut off some of his men, and captured
two pieces of cannon and part of his baggage.
Montrose continued his retreat by Beauly into
Ross-shire, whither he was pursued by Middlo-
ton, who, however, suffered some loss in the
pursuit. As Montrose's forces were far inferior,
in point of numbers, to those of Middleton, he

246

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

avoided coming to an engagement, and as
Seaforth's men, who had joined Montrosc at
Inverness, under their chief, began to desert
him in great numbers, and as he could not
depend on the population by which he was
surrounded, Montrose turned to the right, and
passing by Lochness, marched through Strath-
glass and Stratherrick to the banks of the
Spey. Middletoii did not follow Montrose,
but went and laid siege to the castle of the
Earl of Seaforth in the canonry of Eoss, which
he took after a siege of four days. He behaved
towards the Countess of Seaforth, who was
within the castle, with great politeness, and
restored it to her after taking away the ammu-
nition which it contained.

The absence of Middleton from Aberdeen
afforded Huntly an opportunity of accomplish-
ing the design which he formerly entertained,
till prevented by the approach of Middleton
from the south, of taking Aberdeen, and ac-
cordingly he ordered his men to march from

Deeside to Inverury, where he appointed a
general rendezvous to be held on the 10th of
May. Colonel Montgomery being aware of his
motions, beat up his quarters the same night at
Kintore with a party of horse, and killed some
of his men. But Montgomery was repulsed by
Lord Lewis Gordon, with some loss, and forced
to retire to Aberdeen. The marquis appeared
at the gates of Aberdeen at 12 o'clock on the
following day, with a force of 1,500 Highland
foot and 600 horse, and stormed it in three
different places. The garrison defended them-
selves with courage, and twice repulsed the
assailants, in which contest a part of the town
was sot on fire; but a fresh reinforcement
having entered the town, under Lord Aboyne,
the attack was renewed, and Montgomery and
his horse were forced to retire down to the
edge of the river Dee, which they crossed by
swimming. The covenanting foot, after taking
refuge in the tolbooth and in the houses of the
Earl Marischal and Menzies of Pitfoddles,

Old Aberdeen in the 17th centnry.— From Slezer's Theatrum Scotia: (1693).

craved quarter and surrendered at discretion.
Although the city of Aberdeen had done no-
thing to incur Huntly's displeasure, he allowed
his Highlanders to pillage it. About twenty
officers were taken prisoners, among whom
were Colonels Hurry, Barclay, and David
Leighton; besides Sir William Forbes of
Craigievar, and other country gentlemen, par-

ticularly of the name of Forbes; but they were
all released next day on their parole of honour
not to serve against the king in future. There
were killed on the side of the Covenanters,
Colonel William Forbes, Captain Lockhart,
son of Sir James Lockhart of Lee, and three
captains of foot, besides a number of privates :
but Huntly lost only about twenty men.

MONT ROSE ORDERED TO DISBAND HIS ARMY.

247

As Huntly's force was considerably reduced
by the return of the Highlanders, who had
accompanied him, to their own houses, with
the booty which they had collected in Aber-
deen, and, as he was apprehensive of the im-
mediate return of Middleton from the north,
he remained but a short time in Aberdeen.
Marching up the north bank of the Dee, he
encamped in Cromar; but the sudden appear-
ance of Middleton, who, on hearing of Huntly's
advance on Aberdeen, had retraced his steps
and re-crossed the Spey, made him retire into
Mar. Middleton, after pursuing him for a
short distance, returned to Aberdeen, which
he found had suffered severely from Huntly's
visit.

After an ineffectual attempt by Montrose to
obtain an interview with Huntly at the Bog of
Gight, whither he had gone after Middleton's
return to Aberdeen, Montrose resolved to make
a tour through the Highlands, in the hope that
lie would be able, by his personal presence,
and by promising suitable rewards, to induce
the clans to rise in defence of their sovereign;
but with the determination, in case of refusal,
to enforce obedience to his commands. This
resolution was not taken by Montrose, without
the concurrence of some of his best friends,
who promised to aid him by every means in
their power, in carrying it into effect. In pur-
suance of his design, Montrose was just about
setting out on his proposed journey, when, on
the last day of May, a messenger arrived with a
letter from the king, requesting him to disband
his forces, and to retire, himself, to France,
where he would receive " further directions."
. After the disastrous battle of Naseby, which
was fouglit on the 14th of June, 1G44, between
the English royalists and the parliamentary
forces, the campaign in England, on the part
of the king, "presented little more than
the last and feeble struggles of an expiring
party."3 The king had been enabled, in con-
sequence of the recall of the horse, which had
reached Nottingham, on their way to Hereford,
under General David Leslie, after the battle of
Kilsyth, to drive the parliamentary infantry
back from the siege of Hereford; but the sur-
render of Bristol to the forces of the parliament,

1 Lingard, vol. vi. p. 531, 4to.

on the 10th of September, and the defeat of
the royalists at Chester, on the 23d of the same
month, completed the rain of the king's affairs.
Having shut himself up in Oxford, for the last
time, in November following, Charles, after
the discovery of the secret treaty with the
Catholics of Ireland, which had been entered
into by the Earl of Glamorgan, endeavoured to
negotiate with the English parliament in the
expectation that if he could gain either the
presbyterians or independents over to his side,
by fair promises, he would be enabled to get
the upper hand of both.4 That negotiation,
however, not succeeding, another was set
on foot, through the medium of Montrevil,
the French envoy, with the Scots army be-
fore Newark, the leaders of which offered
an asylum to the king on certain condi-
tions. At length Charles, undetermined as to
the course he should pursue, on hearing of the
approach of the parliamentary army, under
Fairfax, left Oxford at midnight, on the 27th
of April, 164G, in the disguise of a servant,
accompanied by Mr. Ashburnham and Dr.
Hudson, a clergyman, and, after traversing
the neighbouring country, arrived at South-
well on the 5th of May, where he was intro-
duced by Montrevil to the Earl of Leven, the
commander of the Scots army, and the officers
of his staff. The arrival of the king seemed to
surprise the officers very much, although it is
generally supposed that they had been made
previously aware of his intentions by Hudson,
who had preceded him, and they treated him
with becoming respect, the commander tender-
ing Ids bare sword upon his knee;5 but when
Charles, who had retained Leven's sword, indi-
cated his intention to take the command of the
army, by giving orders to the guard, that crafty
veteran unhesitatingly thus addressed him: —
"I am the older soldier, Sire, your majesty
had better leave that office to me."6 The king
was, in fact, now a prisoner. As soon as the
intelligence reached the capital, that the king
had retired to the Scots camp, the two parlia-
mentary factions united in accusing the Scots
of perfidy, and sent a body of 5,000 horse to
watch their motions; but the Scots being de-
sirous to avoid hostilities, raised their camp

• Lingard, vol. vi. p. 543.
5 Kirkton. • Rushwortli, vi

248

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

before Newark, and hastily retired to New-
castle, carrying the king along with them.

On arriving at Newcastle, the king was
waited upon by the Earls of Lanark and Cal-
landcr, and Lord Balmerino, who paid their
respects to him. As Callander was understood
to be favourably inclined to the king, Lanark
and Balmerino were desirous to get rid of him,
and accordingly they prevailed upon his majesty
to send Callander back to Edinburgh with a
letter, which they had induced his majesty to
write to the Committee of Estates, expressive of
his desire to comply with the wishes of the
Scots parliament, and containing instructions
to them to order Montrose, Huntly, and Sir
Alexander Macdonald to disband their forces.
And it was also at the desire of these two
noblemen that the king wrote the letter to
Montrose already referred to.

After Montrose had read this letter he was
filled with deep amazement and concern. All
those visionary schemes for accomplishing the
great object of his ambition, which a few minutes
before had floated in his vivid imagination, were
now dispelled. He was now placed in one
of the most painful and difficult situations it
is possible to conceive. He had no doubt that
the letter had been extorted from the king, yet
he considered that it would neither be prudent
nor safe for him to risk the responsibility of
disobeying the king's orders. Besides, were
he to attempt to act contrary to these instruc-
tions, he might thereby compromise the safety
of the king, as his enemies would find it no
difficult affair to convince the army that Mon-
trose was acting according to private instruc-
tions from the king himself. On the other
hand, by instantly disbanding his army, Mon-
trose considered that he would leave the royal-
ists, and all those friends who had shared his
dangers, to the mercy of their enemies. In
this dilemma, he determined to convene a
general meeting of all the principal royalists,
to consult as to how he should act — a resolu-
tion which showed his good sense, and kind
and just feeling towards those who had been
induced by his means to risk their lives and
fortunes in the cause of the king. Notwith-
standing the many slights which had been put
upon him by the Marquis of Huntly, Montrose,
anxious to preserve a good understanding with

him, sent Sir John Hurry and Sir John Times
to Huntly, to invite him to attend the proposed
meeting, and that there might be no appearance
of dictation on the part of Montrose, the time
and place of meeting was left to Huntly's own
choice. But this nobleman answered that he
himself had received orders similar to those
sent to Montrose, which he was resolved to
obey immediately, and, therefore, he declined
to attend any meeting on the subject.

In this situation of matters, Montrose con-
sidered that his best and wisest course would
be to keep his army together till he should
receive another communication from the king,
in answer to a letter which he sent by a messen-
ger of his own, in which he begged his majesty
to acquaint him with the real situation of
matters, whether he considered his person safe
in the hands of the Covenanters, and if he
could be of any farther service to him. Mon-
trose begged also to be informed by the king,
if he persevered in his resolution to disband
an army which had fought so bravely in his
defence, and that at a time when his enemies,
in both kingdoms, were still under arms ; and
if so, he wished to be instructed by his majesty
as to the course he should pursue, for the pro-
tection and security of the lives and fortunes
of those brave men, who had encountered so
many dangers, and had spent their blood in
his defence, as he could not endure the idea of
leaving such loyal subjects to the mercy of
their enemies. 7 The king returned an answer8
to this letter, by the former messenger, Ker, in
which he assured him that he no less esteemed
his willingness to lay down arms at his com-
mand, " for a gallant and real expression " of
his zeal and affection to his service than any
of his former actions ; but he hoped that Mon-
trose had not such a mean opinion of him, that
for any particular or worldly respects he would
suffer him (Montrose) to be ruined, — that his
only reason for sending Montrose out of the
country was that he might return with greater
glory, and, in the meantime, to have as hon-
ourable an employment as he (the king) could
confer upon him,— that Ker would tell him
the care he had of all Montrose's friends, and
his own, to whom, although he could not

AVishart, p. 262.

8 June 15. 1646

MONTEOSE COKEESPONDS WITH THE KING.

2I'J

promise sucli conditions as he would have
wished, yet they would be such, all things
considered, as were most fit for them to accept.
" "Wherefore," continues his majesty, " I renew
my former directions, of laying down arms,
unto you, desiring you to let Huntly, Crawford,
Airly, Seaforth, and Ogilvy, know, that want
of time hath made me now omit to reiterate
my former commands unto you, intending that
this shall serve for all ; assuring them, and all
the rest of my friends, that, whensoever God
shall enable me, they shall reap the fruits of
their loyalty and affection to my service."

These ' conditions,' which consisted of several
articles, and in the drawing up of which the
king probably had no concern, were far from
satisfactory to Montrose, who refused to accede
to them. He even refused to treat with the
Covenanters, and sent back the messenger
to the king to notify to him, that as he had
acted under his majesty's commission, he would
admit of no conditions for laying down his
arms, or disbanding his army, which did not
come directly from the king himself ; but that
if his majesty imposed conditions upon him,
he would accept of them with the most implicit
submission. The king, who had no alternative
but to adopt these conditions as his own, put
his name to them and sent back the messenger
with them, with fresh instructions to Montrose
to disband his army forthwith under the pain
of high treason. Besides Ker, the king
despatched another trusty messenger to Mon-
trose with a private letter9 urging him to
accept of the conditions offered, as in the event
of his refusal to break up his army, his majesty
might be placed " in a very sad condition,"
such as he would rather leave Montrose to
guess at than seek himself to express. From
this expression, it would appear that Charles
already began to entertain some apprehensions
about his personal safety. These commands
of the king were too peremptory to be any
longer withstood, and as Montroso had been
informed that several of the leading royalists,
particularly the Marquis of Huntly, Lord
Aboyne, and the Earl of Seaforth, were negoti-
ating with the Estates in their own behalf, and
that Huntly and Aboyne had even offered to

• Jnly 16, 1646.

compel Montrose to lay down his arms in com-
pliance with the orders of the king, he imme-
diately resolved to disband his army.

As Middleton had been intrusted by the
Committee of Estates with ample powers to
negotiate with the royalists, and to see the
conditions offered to Montrose implemented
by him in case of acceptance, a cessation of
arms was agreed upon between Montroso and
Middleton ; and in order to discuss the condi-
tions, a conference was held between thorn on
the 22d day of July, on a meadow, near the
river Isla, in Angus, where they " conferred
for the space of two hours, there being none
near them but one man for each of them to
hold his horse."1 The conditions agreed upon
were these, that with the exception of Mon-
trose himself, the Earl of Crawford, Sir Alex-
ander Macdonald, and Sir John Hurry, all
those who had taken up arms against the
Covenanters would be pardoned on making
their submission, and that Montrose, Crawford,
Hurry, and Graham of Gorthy, should trans-
port themselves beyond seas, before the last
day of August, in a ship to be provided by the
Estates. This arrangement was ratified by the
committee of Estates, but the committee of the
kirk exclaimed against it, and petitioned the
Committee of Estates not to sanction it.

Preparatory to disbanding his army, Mon
trose appointed it to rendezvous at Eattray, in
the neighbourhood of Coupar-Angus, at which
place, on the 30th of July, he discharged his
men, after addressing them with feeling and
animation. "After giving them duo praise for
their faithful services and good behaviour, he
told them his orders, and bade them farewell, an
event no less sorrowful to the whole army than
to himself; and, notwithstanding that ho used
liis utmost endeavours to raise their drooping
spirits, and encourage them with the flattering
prospect of a speedy and desirable peace and
assured them that he contributed to the king's
safety and interest by his present ready sub-
mission, no less than he had formerly done
by his military attempts ; yet they concluded,
that a period was that day put to the king's
authority, which would expire with the disso-
lution of their army, for disbanding which,

1 Gnthry, p. 179.
2 i

250

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

they were all convinced the orders had been
extorted from the king, or granted by him on
purpose to evite a greater and more immediate
evil And, upon wh'atever favourable condi-
tions their own safety might be provided
for, yet they lamented their fate, and would
much rather have undergone the greatest fatigue
and hardships than be obliged to remain inac-
tive and idle spectators of the miseries and
calamities befalling their dearest sovereign.
Neither were their generous souls a little con-
cerned for the unworthy and disgraceful opin-
ion which foreign nations and after ages could
not fail to conceive of the Scots, as universally
dipt in rebellion, and guilty of defection from
the best of kings. Their sorrow was likewise
considerably augmented by the thoughts of
being separated from their brave and success-
ful general, who was now obliged to enter
into a kind of banishment, to the irreparable
loss of the king, the country, themselves, and
ell good men, at a time when they never had
greater occasion for his services : And falling
down upon their knees, with tears in their
eyes, they obtested him, that seeing the king's
safety and interest required his immediate
departure from the kingdom, he would take
them along with him to whatever corner of the
world he would retire, professing their readi-
ness to live, to fight, nay, if it so please God,
even to die under his command. And not a
few of them had privately determined, though
at the evident risk of their lives and fortunes,
to follow him without his knowledge, and
even against his inclination, and to offer him
their service in a foreign land, which they
could not any longer afford him in their own
distressed native country."2

Such is the account of the affecting farewell
between Montrose and the few remaining brave
and adventurous men who had shared with
him all the dangers and vicissitudes of the
battle-field, as related by a warm partisan of
fallen royalty ; yet there is no reason for sup-
posing that he has given an exaggerated view
of the feelings of the warlike and devoted band
at parting, under existing circumstances, with
their beloved commander who had so often led
them to victory, and whose banishment from

» Wisiiart, pp. 264-5.

his native country they regarded as the death-
blow to their hopes.

Upon the dissolution of Montrose's army,
the Scots officers and soldiers retired to their
homes, and the Irish troops marched west-
ward into Argyle, whence they embarked
for their own country, being accompanied
thither by the Earl of Crawford, who from
thence went to Spain. Montrose, along with
the few friends who were to follow him abroad,
took up his abode at his seat of Old Mon-
trose, there to wait the arrival of the vessel
destined to convey them to the continent.
The day fixed for Montrose's departure was
the 1st of September, and he waited with
impatience for the arrival of the expected
vessel ; but as the month of August was fast
expiring without such vessel making its appear-
ance, or any apparent preparation for the
voyage, Montrose's friends applied to the com-
mittee of the Estates for a prorogation of the
day stipulated for his departure, but they could
obtain no satisfactory answer.

At length, on the last day of August, a vessel
for the reception of the marquis entered the
harbour of Montrose, in which he proposed
immediately to embark, but he was told by the
shipmaster, " a violent and rigid Covenanter,"
that he meant to careen his vessel before going
to sea, an operation which would occupy a few
days. In the course of conversation, the ship-
master bluntly stated to his intended passen-
gers, that he had received express instructions
to land them at certain ports. The behaviour
of the captain, joined to the information ho
had communicated, and the fact that several
English ships of war had been seen for several
days off the coast, as if watching his embarka-
tion and departure, created a strong suspicion
in Montrose's mind that a plan had been laid
for capturing him, and induced him to consult
his own safety and that of his friends, by seek-
ing another way of leaving the kingdom. The
anxiety of Montrose and his followers was
speedily relieved by the arrival of intelligence,
that a small vessel belonging to Bergen, in
Norway, had been found in the neighbouring
harbour of Stonehaven ; and that the master
had engaged, on being promised a handsome
freight, to bo in readiness, on an appointed day,
to sail with such passengers as should appear.

THK SCOTCH AND THE KING.

251

Accordingly, after sending off Sir Jolm
Hurry, John Drummoncl of Balloch, Gnilmin
of Gorthy, Dr. Wishart, and a few other friends
by land to Stonehaven, on the 3d of September
1646, he himself left the harbour of Montrose
in a small boat, disguised as the servant of
James Wood, a clergyman, who accompanied
him ; and the same evening went safely on
board the vessel, into which his friends had
embarked, and setting sail with a fair wind,
arrived in a few days at Beigen, in Norway,
where he received a friendly welcome from
Thomas Gray, a Scotsman, the governor of the
castle of Bergen. 3

It is beyond the province of this history to
give a detailed account of the transactions
which took place between the Scotch and Eng-
lish concerning the disbanding of the Scottish
army and the delivery of the king to the
English parliament. Although the Scotch are
certainly not free from blame for having
betrayed their king, after he had cast himself
upon their loyalty and mercy, still it must be
remembered, in extenuation, that the king was
merely playing a game, that his giving himself
up to the Scotch army was his last desperate
move, and that he would not have had the
least scruple in outwitting, deceiving, and even
destroying his protectors. In September, 1646,
an agreement was come to between the Scotch
commissioners and the English parliament, that
the army should be disbanded, on the latter
paying £400,000 as payment in full of the
arrears of pay due to the army for its services.
There was no mention then made of the delivery
of the king, and a candid examination of the
evidence on both sides proves that the one
transaction was quite independent of the other.
" That fanaticism and self-interest had steeled
the breasts of the Covenanters against the more
generous impidses of loyalty and compassion,
may, indeed, bo granted ; but more than this
cannot be legitimately inferred from any proof
furnished by history." *

While the negotiations for the delivery of
the king were pending, Charles, who seems to
have been fully aware of them, meditated the
design of escaping from the Scots army, and
putting himself at the head of such forces as

Wishart.

Iiingnnl, vol. vi.

the Marquis of Huntly could raise in the north
In pursuance of this design, his majesty, about
the middle of December, sent Robert Leslie,
brother of General David Leslie, with letters
and a private commission to Huntly, by which
he was informed of his majesty's intentions,
and Huntly was, therefore, desired to levy
what forces he could, and have them in readi-
ness to take the field on his arrival in the
north. On receipt of his majesty's commands,
Huntly began to raise forces, and having col-
lected them at Banff, fortified the town, and
there awaited the king's arrival.5 But the
king was prevented from putting his plan into
execution by a premature discovery, and was
thenceforth much more strictly guarded.

After the delivery of the king to the Eng-
lish, on the 28th of January, 1647, the Scots
army returned to Scotland. It was thereupon
remodelled and reduced, by order of the parlia-
ment, to 6,000 foot, and 1,200 horse; a force
which was considered sufficient not only to
keep the royalists in awe, but also to reduce
the Marquis of Huntly and Sir Alexander
Macdoiiald, who were still at the head of some
men. The dispersion, therefore, of the forces
under these two commanders became the
immediate object of the parliament. An at-
tempt had been made in the month of January,
by a division of the covenanting army stationed
in Aberdeenshire, under the command of Major
Bickerton, to surprise the Marquis of Huntly
at Banff, but it had been obliged to retire with
loss ; and Huntly continued to remain in his
position till the month of April, when, on the
approach of General David Leslie with a con-
siderable force, he fled with a few friends to
the mountains of Lochaber for shelter. Leslie
thereupon reduced the castles belonging to the
marquis. He first took that of Strathbogie
and sent the commander thereof, the laird
of Newton-Gordon, to Edinburgh ; then tho
castle of Lesmore ; and lastly, the Bog of
Gicht, or Gordon castle, tho commander of
which, James Gordon of Letterfurie, and his
brother, Thomas Gordon of Clastirim, and
other gentlemen of the name of Gordon, were
sent to Edinburgh as prisoners. Leslie next
took the isle of Lochtanuer, in Aboyne, which.

* Gordon's Continuation, p. 538.

252

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

had been fortified by Huntly. 6 Quarter was
given to the men who garrisoned those different
strengths, with the exception of the Irish and
deserters, who were hanged immediately on
their capture. 7

Having taken these different places, Leslie,
in quest of the marquis, next marched into
Eadenoch, where he captured the castle of
Euthven. Thence he proceeded into Lochaber,
and took the fortress of Inverlochy. Huntly
disbanded his forces in Badenoch, reserving
only a few as a body-guard for himself and his
son ; " showing them that he was resolved to
live an outlaw till provident heaven should be
pleased to change the king's fortune, upon
whose commandments his life and fortune
should always depend."8 The covenanting
general, thereupon, marched to the south with
a part of his forces, leaving the remainder in
the north, under the command of Middleton,
and encamped in Strathallan, he himself taking
up his head-quarters in Dunblane. Here he
remained till the middle of May, when he was
joined by the Marquis of Argyle, and ordered
to advance into that nobleman's country to
drive out Sir Alexander Macdonald. Accord-
ingly, he set out on the 17th of May, and
arrived at Inverary on the 21st. Sir Alexander
Macdonald was at this time in Kintyre, with
a force of about 1,400 foot and two troops of
horse, which would have been fully sufficient
to check Leslie, but he seems not to have been
aware of the advance of the latter, and had
taken no precautions to guard the passes lead-
ing into the peninsula, which might have been
successfully defended by a handful of men
against a considerable force. Having secured
these difficult passes, Leslie advanced into
Kintyre, and after skirmishing the whole of
the 25th of May with Macdonald, forced him
to retire. After throwing 300 men into a for-
tress on the top of the hill of Dunaverty, and in
which "there was not a drop of water but what
fell from the clouds," 9 Macdonald, on the follow-
ing day, embarked his troops in boats provided
for the occasion, and passed over into Islay.

Leslie, thereupon, laid siege to the castle of
Dunaverty, which was well defended ; but the

6 Gordon's Continuation, p. 537. 7 Gutliry.
' Jlritane's Distemper, p. 200. 9 Turner's Memoirs.

assailants having carried a trench at the bottom
of the hill which gave the garrison the com-
mand of water, and in the storming of which
the besieged lost 40 men, the latter craved a
parley, in consequence of which Sir James
Turner, Leslie's adjutant-general, was sent to
confer with the garrison on the terms of sur-
render. Leslie would not grant "any other
conditions than that they should yield on dis-
cretion or mercy. And it seemed strange to
me," continues Sir James Turner, " to hear the
lieutenant-general's nice distinction, that they
should yield themselves to the kingdom's
mercy, and not to his. At length they did so,
and after they had come out of the castle, they
were put to the sword, every mother's son,
except one young man, Maccoul, whose life I
begged to be sent to France, with 100 fellows
which we had smoked out of a cave, as they
do foxes, who were given to Captain Campbell,
the chancellor's brother."1 This atrocious act
was perpetrated at the instigation of John Nave
or Neaves, " a bloody preacher," 2 but, accord-
ing to Wodrow, an " excellent man," who
would not be satisfied with less than the blood
of the prisoners. As the account given by Sir
James Turner, an eye-witness of this infamous
transaction, is curious, no apology is necessary
for inserting it. " Here it will be fit to make
a stop, till this cruel action be canvassed.
First, the lieutenant-general was two days
irresolute what to do. The Marquis of Argyle
was accused at his arraignment of this murder,
and I was examined as a witness. I declared,
which was true, that I never heard him advise
the lieutenant-general to it. What he did in
private I know not. Secondly, Argyle was
but a colonel then, and he had no power to do
it of himself. Thirdly, though he had advised
him to it, it was no capital crime ; for counsel
is no command. Fourthly, I have several
times spoke to the lieutenant-general to save
these men's lives, and he always assented to it,
and I know of himself he was unwilling to shod
their blood. Fifthly, Mr. John Nave (who
was appointed by the commission of the kirk
to wait on him as his chaplain) never ceased
to tempt him to that bloodshed, yea, and
threatened him with the curses befell Saul for

Turner's Memoirs.

Guthry.

PROCEEDINGS OF GENERAL LESLIE.

sparing tho Amalekitos, for with them his
theology taught him to compare the Dunaverty
men. And I verily believe that this prevailed
most with David Leslie, who looked upon
Nave as the representative of the kirk of Scot-
land." The fact of Sir James and David
Leslie's repugnance to shed the blood of those
defenceless men is fully corroborated by Bishop
Gutliry, on the authority of many persons who
were present, who says that while the butchery
was going on, and while Leslie, Argylo, and
Neaves were walking over the ancles in blood,
Leslie turned out and thus addressed the latter :
— "Now, Mr. John, have you not once got
your fill of blood 1" The sufferers on this occa-
sion were partly Irish, and partly belonging to
the clan Dougal or Coull, to the castle of whoso
chief, in Lome, Colonel Robert Montgomerie
now laid siege, while Leslie himself, with a
part of his forces, left Kintyre for Islay in
pursuit of Macdonald.

On landing in Islay, Leslie found that Mac-
donald had fled to Ireland, and had left
Colkittoch, his father, in the castle of Dun-
niveg, with a force of 200 men to defend the
island against the superior power of Leslie.
The result turned out as might have been
anticipated. Although the garrison made a
brave resistance, yet, being wholly without
water, they found themselves unable to resist,
and offered to capitulate on certain conditions.
These were, that the officers should be entitled
to go where they pleased, and that the privates
should be sent to France. These conditions
were agreed to, and were punctually fulfilled.
Old Colkittoch had, however, the misfortune
not to be included in this capitulation, for,
before the castle had surrendered, "the old man,
Colkittoch," says Sir James Turner, " coming
foolishly out of the house, where he was
governor, on some parole or other,3 to speak
with his old friend, the captain of DunstafFnage
castle, was surprised, and made prisoner, not
without some stain to the lieutenant-general's
honour. He was afterwards hanged by a jury
of Argyle's sheriff-depute, one George Campbell,
from whose sentence few are said to have
escaped that kind of death."

* Spalding says that Colkittoch came out of the
castle to treat for a surrender on an assurance of per-
sonal safety.

Leaving Islay, Leslie " boated over to Jura,
a horrible isle," says Sir James Turner, " and a
habitation fit for deer and wild beasts ; and so
from isle to isle," continues he, "till he came to
Mull, which is one of the best of the Hebrides.
Hero Maclaine saved his lands, with the loss
of his reputation, if he ever had any. He gave
up his strong castles to Leslie, gave his eldest
son for hostage of his fidelity, and, which
was unchristian baseness in the lowest degree,
he delivered up fourteen prettio Irishmen, who
had been all along faithful to him, to tho lieu-
tenant-general, who immediately caused hang
them all. It was not well done to demand
them from Maclaine, but inexcusablie ill done
in him to betray them. Here I cannot forget
one Donald Campbell, fleshed in blood from hi.-s
very infancie, who with all imaginable violence
pressed that the whole clan Maclaine should
be put to the edge of the sword ; nor could ho
be commanded to forbear his bloody suit by
the lieutenant-general and two major-generals ;
and with some difficulty was he commanded
silence by his chief, the Marquis of Argyle.
For my part, I said nothing, for indeed I did
not care though he had prevailed in his suit,
the delivery of the Irish had so irritated me
against that whole clan and name."

While Leslie was thus subduing the Hebrides,
Middleton was occupied in pursuing the Mar-
quis of Huntly through Glenmoriston, Bade-
noch, and other places. Huntly was at length
captured by Lieutenant-Colonel Menzics, in
Strathdon, in December, 1647. Having re-
ceived intelligence of the place of the marquis's
retreat, Menzies came to Dalnabo with a select
body of horse, consisting of three troops, about
midnight, and immediately entered the house
just as Huntly was going to bed. The marquis
was attended by only ten gentlemen and ser-
vants, as a sort of body-guard, who notwith-
standing the great disparity of numbers, made
a brave attempt to protect the marquis, in
which six of them were killed and the rest
mortally wounded, among whom was John
Grant, the landlord. On hearing that the
marquis had been taken prisoner, the whole of
his vassals in tho neighbourhood, to the num-
ber of between 400 and 500, with Grant of
Carron at their head, flew to arms to rescue
him. Lieutenant-Colonel Menzics thereupon

254

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

carried the marquis to the castle of Blairfindie,
in Glenlivet, about four miles from Dalnabo,
ivhcre the latter received a notice from Grant
and his party by the wife of Gordon of
Munmore, that they had solemnly sworn
either to rescue him or die to a man, and
they requested him to give them such orders
to carry their plan into effect as he might judge
proper. But the marquis dissuaded his people
from the intended attempt, and returned for
answer that, now almost worn out with grief
and fatigue, lie could no longer live in hills
and dens ; and hoped that liis enemies would
not drive things to the worst ; but, if such was
the will of heaven, he could not outlive the
sad fate he foresaw his royal master was likely
to undergo ; and be the event as it would, he
doubted not but the just providence of God
would restore the royal family, and his own
along with it.4

Besides the gentlemen and servants about
Huntly's person, there were some Irish who
were quartered in the offices about Dalnabo.
These were carried prisoners by Menzies to
Strathbogie, where Middleton then was, who
ordered them all to be shot. In consequence
of an order from the committee of Estates at
Edinburgh, Menzies carried the marquis under
a strong guard of horse to Leith, where, after
being kept two days, he was delivered up to
the magistrates, and incarcerated in the jail of
the city. The committee had previously de-
bated the question whether the marquis should
be immediately executed or reprieved till the
meeting of parliament, but although the Argyle
faction, notwithstanding the Marquis of Argyle
withdrew before the vote was taken, and the
committee of the church did every thing in
their power to procure the immediate execution
of the marquis, his life was spared till the
meeting of the parliament by a majority of one
vote. 6 The Earl of Aboyne and Lord Lewis
Gordon had the good fortune to escape to the
continent. The first went to France, where
he shortly thereafter died — the second took
refuge in Holland. A reward of £1,000 ster-
ling had been promised to any person who
should apprehend Huntly, which sum was

4 Gordon's History of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii.
p. 546.

5 Guthry, p. .207

Second Marquis of Huntly. — From a rare print In the
collection of W. F. A\atson, Esq., Edinburgh.

duly paid to Monzies by the Committee of
Estates.6

There appears to be no doubt that Argyla
was highly gratified at the capture of Huntly.
It is related by Spalding, that taking advan-
tage of Huntly's situation, Argyle bought up
all the comprisings on his lands, and that
he caused summon at the market-cross of
Aberdeen by sound of trumpet, all Huntly's
wadsetters and creditors to appear at Edinburgh
in the month of March following Huntly's
imprisonment, calling on them to produce their
securities before the lords of sessidh, with
certification that if they did not appear, their
securities were to be declared null and void.
Some of Huntly's creditors sold their claims to
Argyle, and having thus bought up all the
rights he could obtain upon Huntly's estate at
a small or nominal value, under the pretence
that he was acting for the benefit of his nephew,
Lord Gordon, he granted bonds for the amount
which, according to Spalding, he never paid.

6 Sec the Act of Sederant of the committee in tho
appendix to Gordon's History of the family of Gordon
vol. ii. p. 537

MOVEMENTS OF ROYALISTS UNDER HAMILTON.

255

In this way did Argylo possess himself of the
marquis's estates, which he continued to enjoy
upwards of twelve- years; viz., from 1648, till
the restoration of Charles II. in 1660.

When the king, who was then a prisoner in
Carisbrook castle, heard of the capture of
Huntly, he wrote a letter to the Earl of Lan-
ark, then in London, earnestly urging Mm to
do all in his power in behalf of the Marquis.
The earl, however, either from unwillingness
or inability, appears to have paid no attention
to this letter.

Shortly before the capture of the Marquis of
Huntly, John Gordon of Innermarkie, Gordon,
younger of Newton-Gordon, and the laird of
Harthill, three of his chief friends, had been
taken prisoners by Major-General Middleton,
and sent to Edinburgh, where they were im-
prisoned. The two latter were condemned to
die by the Committee of Estates, and although
their friends procured a remission of the sen-
tence from the king, they were, notwithstand-
ing, both beheaded at the market-cross of
Edinburgh.

While the hopes of the royalists, both in
England and Scotland, seemed to be almost
extinguished, a ray of light, about this time,
darted through the dark gloom of the political
horizon, which they fondly imagined was the
harbinger of a new and, for them, a better
order of things ; but all their expectations
were destined to end in bitter disappointment.
The Duke of Hamilton, who had lately formed
an association to . release the king from his
captivity, which went under the name of the
" Engagement," prevailed upon the parliament,
which met in March, 1648, to appoint a com-
mittee of danger, and to consent to a levy
of 40/)00 men. The bulk of the English
population, with the exception of the army,
had grown quite dissatisfied with the state of
matters. Their eyes were now directed towards
Scotland, and the news of the Scots' levy made
them indulge a hope that they would soon be
enabled, by the aid of the Scots auxiliaries, to
throw off the military yoke, and restore the
king on conditions favourable to liberty. But
Hamilton, being thwarted by Argyle and his
party, had it not in his power to take advantage
of the favourable disposition of the English

people, and instead of raising 40,000 men,
he found, to his great mortification, that, at
the utmost, he could, after upwards of three
months' labour, only bring about 15,000 men
into the field, and that not until several insur-
rections in England, in favour of the king, had
been suppressed.

It was the misfortune of Hamilton that with
every disposition to serve the cause of his
royal master, he had neither the capacity to
conceive, nor the resolution to adopt bold and
decisive measures equal to the emergency of
the times. Like the king, he attempted
to act the part of the cunning politician, but
was wholly unfitted for the performance of
such a character. Had he had the address to
separate old Leslie and his nephew from the
party of Argyle, by placing the direction of
military affairs in their hands, he might have
succeeded in raising a force sufficient to cope
with the parliamentary army of England ; but
he had the weakness, after both these generals
had joined the kirk in its remonstrance to the
parliament that nothing should be done with-
out the consent of the committee of the general
assembly, to get himself appointed commander-
in-chief of the army, a measure which could
not fail to disgust these hardy veterans. He
failed in an attempt to conciliate the Marquis
of Argyle, who did all in his power to thwart
Hamilton's designs. Argyle went to Fife and
induced the gentry of that county not only to
oppose the levies, but to hold themselves in
readiness to rise on the other side when called
upon. He was not so successful in Stirling-
shire, none of the gentlemen of that county
concurring in his views except the laird of
Buchanan, Sir "William Bruce of Stenhousc,
and a few persons of inferior note; but in
Dumbartonshire he succeeded to the utmost
of his wishes. After attending a meeting with
the Lord Chancellor, (Loudon,) the Earls of
Cassilis and Eglinton, and David Dick and
other ministers, at Eglinton's house, on tlu
29th of May, Argyle went home to raise his
own people.

Several instances of opposition to the levy
took place ; but the most formidable one, and
the only one worthy of notice, was in Ayrshire,
where a body of armed insurgents, to the

256

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

number of 800 horse and 1,200 foot according
to one writer,7 and 500 horse and 2,000 foot
according to another, 8 headed by several minis-
ters, assembled at Mauchline ; but they were
defeated and dispersed, on the 10th of June,
by Middleton, who had been appointed lieu-
tenant-general of horse, with the loss of 80
men.

There are no data by which to ascertain the
number of men raised in the Highlands for
Hamilton's army ; but it must necessarily have
been very inconsiderable. Not a single man
was of course raised in Argyleshire, and scarcely
any in the adjoining part of Inverness-shire,
to which the influence or power of Argyle
extended. The Earl of Sutherland, who had
been appointed a colonel of foot in his own
division, declined the office, and Lord Reay
was so disgusted with " Duke Hamilton's
failure," that he took shipping at Thurso in
the month of July, and went to Norway,9
where he was appointed governor of Bergen,
and received the colonelcy of a regiment from
the King of Denmark, whom he had formerly
served. The only individual who could have
benofittecl the royal cause in the north was the
Marquis of Huntly, but by a strange fatality
the Duke of Hamilton, who could have easily
procured an order from the parliament for his
liberation from prison, allowed him to continue
there, and merely contented himself with
obtaining a warrant for changing the marquis's
place of confinement from the jail to the castle
of Edinburgh.

In consequence of the many difficulties
which occurred in collecting his troops, and
providing the necessary materiel for the use of
the army, the duke was not able to begin his
march till the 8th of July, on which day he
put his army in motion towards the borders.
His force, which amounted to about 10,000
foot and 4,000 horse, was composed of raw
and undisciplined levies, and he had not a
single field-piece. He entered England by the
western border, where he was met by Sir
Marmaduke Langdale and a body of 4,000
brave cavaliers, all devotedly attached to the
king. At this time Lambert, the parliamentary

7 Baillic. » Guthry.

• Gordon's Continualion, p. 541.

general, had invested Carlisle, and Hamilton
was induced by the English royalists, contrary
to his own views, to march upon Carlisle, and
force Lambert to raise the siege. That general,
who had received orders from Cromwell not to
engage the Scots till he should join him, accord-
ingly retired, and Carlisle was delivered np
next day to Hamilton by the English royalists,
who also put him in possession of Berwick.

It is unnecessary to enter into details con-
cerning this mismanaged and unfortunate
expedition, the result of which is well known
to every reader of English history. Sir Mar-
maduke Langdale was defeated by Cromwell
at Preston on the 17th of August, and on
entering the town after the defeat, was morti-
fied to find that his Scotch allies had aban-
doned it. Langdale having now no alternative
but flight, disbanded his infantry, and along
with his cavalry and Hamilton, who, refusing
to follow the example of his army, had re-
mained in the town, swam across the Ribble.

The Scotch army retired during the night
towards "Wigan, where it was joined by the
duke next morning, but so reduced in spirits
and weakened by desertion as to be quite
unable to make any resistance to the victorious
troops of Cromwell, who pressed hard upon
them. The foot, under the command of
Baillie, continued to retreat during the day,
but were overtaken at "Warrington, and, being
unable either to proceed or to resist, sur-
rendered. The number which capitulated
amounted to about 3,000. Upwards of G,000
had previously been captured by the country
people, and the few who had the good fortune
to escape joined Munro and returned to Scot-
land. These prisoners were sold as slaves, and
sent to the plantations.

The duke, abandoning Baillie to his fate,
carried off the whole cavalry ; but he had not
proceeded far when his rear was attacked by
the parliamentary army. Middleton made a
gallant defence, and was taken prisoner ; but
the duke escaped, and fled to Uttoxeter, fol-
lowed by his horse, where he surrendered
himself to General Lambert and Lord Grey of
Groby, who sent him prisoner to Windsor.
The Earl of Callander, having effected his
escape, went over to Holland, disgusted at the
conduct of the duke.

THE EARL OF LANAEK HEADS THE ROYALISTS.

257

As soon as the news of the defeat of Hamil-
ton reached Scotland, the Covenantors of the
west began to bestir themselves, and a party
of them, under the command of Robert Mont-
gomery, son of the Earl of Eglinton, attacked
a troop of Lanark's horse, quartered in Ayr-
shire, killed some and routed the rest. The
Committee of Estates, apprehensive that the
spirit of insurrection would speedily spread,
immediately ordered out all the fencible men
in the kingdom to put down the rising in the
west. A difference, however, arose in the
committee in the choice of a commander.
The Earl of Lanark and the Earl Marischal
were proposed by their respective friends.
Lanark's chief opponent was the Earl of Rox-
burgh, who, (says Wishart,) " in a grave and
modest speech, earnestly entreated him, for the
sake of their dear sovereign and their distressed
country, not to insist in demanding that dig-
nity, which was extremely unseasonable and
ill-judged at that time."1 Roxburgh's remon-
strance had no effect upon Lanark, who, on a
vote being taken, was found to have the ma-
jority, and so anxious was he to obtain the
command of the army that he actually voted
for himself. 2 He had even the indiscretion to
declare, that he woidd net permit any other
person to command in his brother's absence.
This rash and imprudent behaviour on the part
of Lanark so exasperated Roxburgh and his
friends, who justly dreaded the utter ruin of
the king's affairs, that they henceforth with-
drew altogether from public affairs.

As soon as Lanark had been appointed to
the command of the new levy, ho set about
raising it with great expedition. For this
purpose he sent circulars, plausibly written, to
every part of Scotland, calling upon all classes
to join him without delay. These circulars
had the desired effect. The people beyond the
Forth, and even the men of Fife, showed a
disposition to obey the call. The Earl of Sea-
forth raised 4,000 men in the Western Islands
and in Ross-shire, whom he brought south,
and the Earl of Morton also brought into
Lothian 1,200 men from the Orkneys. In
short, with the exception of Argyle, there
were few places in Scotland from which con-

"• Memoirs, p. 311. * Guthry, p. 327.

siderable bodies of men might not have been
expected.

Before the defeat of Hamilton's army, Lan-
ark had raised three regiments of horse, which
were now under his command. These, with
the accessions of force which were daily arriv-
ing from different parts of the kingdom, were
quite sufficient to have put down the insurrec-
tion in the west; but instead of marching
thither, Lanark, to the surprise of every person,
proceeded through East Lothian towards the
eastern borders to meet Sir George Munro, who
was retiring upon Berwick before the army of
Cromwell. The people of the west being thus
relieved from the apprehensions of a visit,
assembled in great numbers, and taking advan-
tage of Lanark's absence, a body of them, to
the number of no less than 6,000 men, headed
by the chancellor, the Earl of Eglinton, and
some ministers, advanced upon the capital,
which they entered without opposition, the
magistrates and ministers of the city welcoming
their approach by going out to meet them.
Bishop Wishart describes this body as " a
confused rabble, composed of fanners, cow
herds, shepherds, coblers, and such like mob,
without arms, and without courage," and says,
that when they arrived in Edinburgh, " they
were provided with arms, which, as they were
unaccustomed to, were rather a burden and
incumbranco than of any use," — that " they
were mounted upon horses, or jades rather,
wliich had been long used to the drudgery of
labour, equipped with pack saddles and halters,
in place of saddles and bridles."3 This tumul-
tuary body, however, was soon put into proper
order by the Earl of Leven, who was invested
with the chief command, and by David Leslie,
as his lieutenant-general, and presented a rather
formidable appearance, for on Lanark's return
from the south, he did not venture to engage
it, though his force amounted to 4,000 or
5,000 horse and as many foot, many of whom
were veterans who had served in Ireland undei
Munro.

In thus declining to attack Leslie, Lanark
acted contrary to the advice of Munro and
his other officers. According to Dr. Wish-
art, Lanark's advanced guard, on arriving at

* Memoirs, p. 316.

258

GENERAL HTSTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Musselburgh, fell in with some of Leslie's out-
posts, who defended the bridge over the Esk,
and Lanark's advanced guard, though inferior
in number, immediately put them in great
disorder, and killed some of them without
sustaining any loss. This success was reported
to Lanark, and it was represented to him, that
by following it up immediately, while the
enemy continued in the state of alarm into
wliich this affair of outposts had thrown them,
he might, perhaps, obtain a bloodless victory,
and secure possession of the city of Edinburgh
and the town of Leith, with all the warlike
stores, before sunset.

Leading his army along the base of the
Pentland hills, Lanark proceeded to Linlith-
gow, which, he entered on the evening of the
11 th of September, where he almost surprised
the Earl of Cassilis, who, at the head of 800
horse from Carrick and Galloway, had taken
up his quarters there for the night ; but a
notice having been sent to him of the Earl
of Lanark's approach by some friend, he
fled precipitately to Queensferry, leaving the
supper wliich was cooking for him and his
men on the fire, which repast was greedily
devoured by Lanark's troops.

Ever since Lanark's march to the borders to
meet Munro, the Marquis of Argyle had been
busily employed in raising men in his own
territory to assist the insurgents, but it had
been so much depopulated by the ravages of
Montrose and Macdonald, that he could scarcely
muster 300 men. With these and 400 more
which he had collected in the Lennox and in
the western part of Stirlingshire, he advanced
to Stirling, entering it upon the 12th of
September at eleven o'clock forenoon. After
assigning to the troops their different posts in
the town, and making arrangements with the
magistrates for their support, Argyle went to
dine with the Earl of Mar at his residence in
the town. But while the dinner was serving
up, Argyle, to his infinite alarm, heard that a
part of Lanark's forces had entered Stirling.
This was the advanced guard, commanded by
Sir George Munro, who, on hearing that Argyle
was in possession of the town when only
within two miles of it, had, unknown to Lanark,
who was behind with the main body of the
army, pushed forward and entered the town

before Argyle's men were aware of Ms approach,
Argyle, as formerly, having a great regard
for his personal safety, immediately mounted
his horse, galloped across Stirling bridge, and
•never looked behind till he reached North
Queensferry, where he instantly crossed the
Frith in a small boat and proceeded to Edin-
burgh. Nearly 200 of Argyle's men were
either killed or drowned, and the remainder
were taken prisoners.

A negotiation for peace immediately ensued
between the two parties, and on the 15th of
September a treaty was entered into by which
the Hamilton party agreed to refer all civil
matters in dispute to a Parliament, to be held
before the 10th of January, and all ecclesias-
tical affairs to an assembly of the kirk. It
was also stipulated that both armies should be
disbanded before the 29th of September, or at
farthest on the 5th of October, that the ad-
herents of the king should not be disturbed,
and that all the prisoners taken in Scotland
should be released. Munro perceiving that
the king's affairs would be irretrievably ruined
by this compromise, objected to the treaty,
and would have stood out had he been backed
by the other officers ; but very few seconding
his views, he addressed the troops, who had
accompanied him from Ireland, in St Ninian's
church, and offered to lead back to Ireland
such as were inclined to serve under their old
commander, Major-General Eobert Muuro; but
having received intelligence at Glasgow that
that general had been taken prisoner and sent
to London, he disbanded the troops who had
followed him thither, and retired to Holland.

According to the treaty the two armies were
disbanded on the appointed day, and the
" Whigamores," as the insurgents from the
west were called, immediately returned home
to cut down their corn, which was ready for
the sickle. Argyle's men, who had been taken
prisoners at Stirling, were set at liberty, and
conducted home to their own country by one
of Argyle's officers.

The Marquis of Argyle, Loudon the chan-
cellor, the Earls of Cassilis and Eglinton, and
others, now met at Edinburgh, and formed
themselves into a body under the title of the
Committee of Estates, and having arranged
matters for the better securing their own

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE KING.

259

influence, they summoned a parliament to meet
on tho 4th of January. In the meantime,
Oliver Cromwell, who, after the pursuit of
Munro, had laid siege to Berwick, was waited
upon by Argyle, Lord Elcho, and Sir Charles
Erskine, to compliment him upon his success
at Preston, and after making Ludovick Leslie
deliver up Berwick to him, they invited him
and Lambert to Edinburgh. Cromwell took
up his residence in tho House of Lady Home
in the Canongate, where he received frequent
visits from Argyle, Loudon, the Earl of Lothian,
Lords Arbuthnot, Elcho, and Burleigh, and
the most noted of the ministers. It is said,
that during these conferences, Cromwell com-
municated to his visitors his intentions with
respect to the king, and obtained their consent. *

Tn the meantime the Independents were
doing their utmost to induce the English
parliament to bring the king to trial for high
treason. They, having in the meantime been
disappointed in their views by the presby-
terians, prevailed upon Fairfax to order Ham-
mond, the governor of the Isle of Wight, to
attend him at Windsor, and to send Colonel
Euro with orders to seize the king at Newport,
where he was conferring with the commis-
sioners, and imprison him again in Carisbrook
castle ; but Hammond having declined to
allow Eure to interfere without an order from
the parliament, Eure left the island without
attempting to fulfil his instructions. Ham-
mond, however, afterwards left the island with
the commissioners, and committed Charles
to tho custody of one Major Eolfe, a person
who, only six months before, had been
charged with a design on the life of tho
king, and who had escaped trial because only
one witness had attested the fact before the
grand jury.

The king seemed to be fully aware of the
danger of his present situation, and on the
morning of the 28th of November, when the
commissioners left the island, he gave vent to
his feelings in a strain of the most pathetic
emotions, which drew tears from his attend-
ants; "My lords," said he to the commissioners,
" I believe we shall scarce ever see each other

ain, but God's will be done ! I have made

4 Gulhry.

my peace with him, and shall undergo without
fear whatever ho may suffer men to do to me.
My lords, you cannot but know, that in my
fall and ruin you see your own, and that also
near you. I pray God send you better friends
than I have found. I am fully informed of
the carriage of those who plot against me and
mine ; but nothing affects mo so much as tho
feeling I have of the sufferings of my subjects,
and the mischief that hangs over my three
kingdoms, drawn upon them by those who,
upon pretences of good, violently pursue their
own interests and ends."5 As soon as the
commissioners and Hammond had quitted tho
island, Fairfax sent a troop of horse and a com-
pany of foot, under the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Cobbett, to seize the king, who received
notice of the approach of this body and of its
object next morning from a person in disguise ;
but although advised by the Duke of Rich-
mond, the Earl of Lindsay, and Colonel Coke
to make his escape, which he could easily have
accomplished, he declined to do so, because ho
considered himself bound in honour to remain
twenty days after the treaty. The consequence
was, that Charles was taken prisoner by
Cobbett, and carried to Hurst castle.

The rest of this painful tragedy is well
known. After the purified house of commons
had passed a vote declaring that it was high
treason in the king of England, for the time
being, to levy war against the parliament and
kingdom of England, his majesty was brought
to trial before a tribunal erected pro re nata
by the house called the high court of justice,
which adjudged him "as a tyrant, traitor,
murderer, and public enemy to the good people
of the nation, to be put to death by the sever-
ing of his head from his body," a sentence
which was carried into execution, in front of
Whitehall, on the 30th of January 1649.
The unfortunate monarch conducted himself
throughout the whole of these melancholy pro-
ceedings with becoming dignity, and braved
the terrors of death with fortitude and resig-
nation.

Tho Duke of Hamilton, who, by his incapa-
city, had ruined the king's affairs when on the

8 Appendix to Evelyn's Afemoirs, vol. ii. pp. 128,
390. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 234.

260

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

point of being retrieved, was not destined long
to survive his royal master. In violation of
the articles of his capitulation, he was brought
to trial, and although he pleaded that he acted
under the orders of the Scottish parliament,
and was not amenable to an English tribunal,
he was, under the pretence that he was Earl
of Cambridge in England, sentenced to be
beheaded. He suffered on the 9th of March.

The Marquis of Huntly had languished in
prison since December 1647, and during the
life of the king the Scottish parliament had
not ventured to bring him to the block ; but
both the king and Hamilton, his favourite,
being now put out of the way, they felt them-
selves no longer under restraint, and accord-
ingly the parliament, on the 16th of March,
ordained the marquis to be beheaded, at the
market-cross of Edinburgh, on the 22d of that
month. As ho lay under sentence of ecclesias-
tical excommunication, one of the "bloody
ministers," says the author of the History
of the family of Gordon, " asked him, when
brought upon the scaffold, if he desired to be
absolved from the sentence ; " to which the
marquis replied, " that as he was not accustomed
to give ear to false prophets, he did not wish
to be troubled by him." And thereupon turn-
ing " towards the people, he told them that he
was going to die for having employed some
years of his life in the service of the king his
master ; that he was sorry he was not the first
of his majesty's subjects who had suffered for
his cause, so glorious in itself that it sweetened
to him all the bitterness of death." He then
declared that he had charity to forgive those
who had voted for his death, although he
could not admit that he had done any thing
contrary to the laws. After throwing off his
doublet, he offered up a prayer, and then
embracing some friends around him, he sub-
mitted his neck, without any symptoms of
emotion, to the fatal instrument.

CHAPTER XVI.

A. D. 1649—1650.

Commonwealth, 1649—1660 ; including Protectorate of Oliver
Cromwell, 1653—1658.

Negotiations with Charles II. — Proceedings of Mon-
trose — Pluscardine's Insurrection — Landing of Kin-
noul and Montrose in Orkney — Montrose's Declara-
tion— Montrose advances southwards — Is defeated
at Carbisdale — Montrose captured and sent to Edin-
burgh— His reception there — Trial and Execution.

WHILE the dominant party in England were
contemplating the erection of a commonwealth
upon the ruins of the monarchy they had just
overthrown, the faction in Scotland, with Ar-
gyle at its head, which had usurped the reins
of government in that country, in obedience to
the known wish of the nation, resolved to
recognise the principle of legitimacy by acknow-
ledging the Prince of Wales as successor to
the crown of Scotland. No sooner, therefore,
had the intelligence of the execution of the
king reached Edinburgh, than the usual pre-
parations were made for proclaiming Charles
II., a ceremony which was performed at the
market-cross of Edinburgh, on the 5th of
February, with the usual formalities.

This proceeding was contrary to the policy
of Argyle, whose intentions were in exact
accordance with those of the English Inde-
pendents ; but, as the melancholy fate of the
king had excited a feeling of indignation in
the Scottish nation, he was afraid to imitate
the example of his English friends, and dis-
sembling his views, adopted other measures
without changing his object. At the instiga-
tion of Argyle it was agreed in parliament to
propose certain conditions to the prince as the
terms on which alone he should be entitled to
sway the sceptre of liis father. These were, in
substance, 1st, that he should sign the Cove-
nants, and endeavour to establish them by his
authority in all his dominions; 2d, that ho
should ratify and confirm all the acts of the
Estates, approving of the two Covenants, the
directory, confession of faith, and the cate-
chism, that he should renounce episcopacy and
adopt the presbyterian form of worship; 3d,
that in all civil matters he should submit to
the parliament, and in things ecclesiastical to
the authority of the general assembly; and,

NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHAELES II.

2C1

lastly, that he should remove from his person
and court the Marquis of Montrose, " a person
excommunicated by the church, and forfaulted
by the parliament of Scotland, being a man
most justly, if ever any, cast out of the church
of God."

These conditions, so flattering to popular
prejudice and the prevailing ideas of the times,
appear to have been proposed only because
Argyle thought they would be rejected by the
youthful monarch, surrounded as he then was
by counsellors to whom these terms would be
particularly obnoxious. To carry these propo-
sitions to Charles II., then at the Hague, seven
commissioners from the parliament and kirk
were appointed, who set sail from Kirkcaldy
roads on the 17th of March,6 arriving at the
Hague on the 26th. His court, which at first
consisted of the few persons whom his father
had placed about him, had been lately increased
by the arrival of the Earl of Lanark, now
become, by the death of his brother, Duke of
Hamilton, the Earls of Lauderdale and Callan-
der, the heads of the Engagers ; and by the
subsequent addition of Montrose, Kinnoul, and
Seaforth. The following graphic sketch is
given by Dr. Wishart of the appearance and
reception of the commissioners : — " When these
commissioners, or deputies from the Estates
were admitted to their first audience of the
king, their solemn gait, their grave dress, and
dejected countenances, had all the appearance
imaginable of humility ; and many who were
not acquainted with the temper and practices
of the men, from thence concluded that they
were about to implore of his majesty a general
oblivion and pardon for what was past, and to
promise a perfect obedience and submission in
time coming; and that they were ready to
yield every thing that was just and reasonable,
and would be sincere in all their proposals of
peace and accommodation. They acted in a
double capacity, and had instructions both
from the Estates and from the commission of
the kirk, in both of which the Earl of Cassilis
was the chief person, not only in what they
were charged with from the Estates, as being
a nobleman, but also from the commission of
the kirk, of which he was a ruling elder.

5 Balfour, vol. iii. p. 393.

Their address to the king was introduced with
abundance of deep sighs and heavy groans, as
if they had been labouring, as Virgil says of
the Sibyl, to shako the ponderous load from
off their breasts, after which they at last
exhibited their papers, containing the ordinan-
ces of the Estates, and acts of the commission
of the kirk, and pretended that the terms
demanded in them were moderate, just, and
reasonable, and absolutely necessary for set-
tling the present confusions, and restoring the
king; with which, if he complied, he would
be immediately settled upon his father's throne
by the unanimous consent of the people."7

The king, after vainly endeavouring to in-
duce the commissioners to modify the condi»
tions to which his acceptance was required,
and to declare publicly their opinions of the
murder of his father, to which they had made
no allusion, declined to agree to the terms
proposed. He at the same time stated, that as
he had been already proclaimed king of Scot
land by the Committee of Estates, it was their
duty to obey him, and that he should expect
the Committee of Estates, the assembly of the
kirk, and the nation at large, to perform their
duty to him, humbly obeying, maintaining,
and defending him as their lawful sovereign. 8
The commissioners having got their answer on
the 19th of May, returned to Scotland, and
Charles went to St. Germain in France, to
visit Queen Henrietta Maria, his mother,
before going to Ireland, whither he had been
invited by the Marquis of Ormond to join the
royalist army.

During the captivity of Charles I., Montrose
used every exertion at the court of France to
raise money and men to enable him to make a
descent upon the coast of England or Scotland,
to rescue his sovereign from confinement ; but
his endeavours proving ineffectual, he entered
into the service of the Emperor of Germany,
who honoured him with especial marks of his
esteem. He had been lately residing at Brussels
engaged in the affairs of the emperor, where
he received letters from the Prince of Wales,
then at the Hague, requiring his attendance to
consult on the state of his father's affairs ; but
before he set out for the Hague, he received

7 Memoirs, p. 351. * Balfour, vol. iii. p. 405.

262

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS

the news of the death of Charles I. He was
so overwhelmed with grief at this intelligence,
that according to Bishop Wishart, who was an
eye-witness, he fainted and fell down in the
midst of his attendants, and appeared for some
time as if quite dead. When he had suffi-
ciently recovered to give full vent to his feel-
ings, he expressed a desire to die with his
sovereign, as he could no longer enjoy, as he
said, a life which had now become a grievous
and heavy burden. But on Wishart remon-
strating with him upon the impropriety of
entertaining such a sentiment, and informing
him that he should be rather more desirous of
life that he might avenge the death of his royal
master, and place his son and lawful successor
upon the throne of his ancestors, Montrose
replied with composure, that in that view he
should be satisfied to live ; " but," continued
he, " I swear before God, angels, and men, that
I will dedicate the remainder of my life to the
avenging the death of the royal martyr, and
re-establishing his son upon his father's throne."

On arriving at the Hague, Montrose was
received by Charles II. with marked distinc-
tion. After some consultation, a descent upon
Scotland was resolved upon, and Montrose,
thereupon, received a commission, appointing
him Lieutenant-governor of Scotland, and com-
mander-in-chief of all the forces there both by
sea and land. The king also appointed him
his ambassador to the emperor, the princes of
Germany, the King of Denmark, and other
friendly sovereigns, to solicit supplies of money
and warlike stores, to enable him to commence
the war. Thus, before the commissioners had
arrived, the king had made up his mind as to
the course he should pursue, and being backed
by the opinion of a man of such an ardent
temperament as Montrose, the result of the
communing between the king and the com-
missioners was as might have been expected.

Connected probably with Montrose's plan
of a descent, a rising took place in the
north under Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine,
brother of the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Thomas
Urquhart of Cromarty, Colonel John Munro
of Lumlair, and Colonel Hugh Fraser, who, at
the head of a number of their friends and
followers, entered the town of Inverness, on
the 22d of February, expelled the troops from

the garrison, and demolished and razed tho
walls and fortifications of the town. The pre-
text put forward by Mackenzie and his friends
was, that the parliament had sent private com-
missioners to apprehend them ; but the fact
appears to be, that this insurrection had taken
place at the instigation of the king, between
whom and Pluscardine a correspondence had
been previously opened. 9 General David Leslie
was sent to the north with a force to suppress
the insurgents, who, on his approach, fled to
the mountains of Eoss ; but he was soon
obliged to retrace his steps, in consequence of
a rising in Athole under the direction of Lord
Ogilvie, General Middleton, and others, in
favour of the king. Leslie had previously
made terms with Urquhart, Munro, and Fraser,
but as Mackenzie would not listen to any
accommodation, he left behind him a garrison
in the castle of Chanonry, and also three troops
of horse in Moray under the charge of Colonel
Gilbert Ker, and Lieutenant-colonels Hacket
and Strachan, to watch Pluscardine's motions.
But this force was quite insufficient to resist
Pluscardine, who, on the departure of Leslie,
descended from the mountains and attacked
the castle of Chanonry, which he re-took. He
was thereupon joined by his nephew, Lord
Eeay, at the head of 300 well-armed able-
bodied men, which increased his force to be-
tween 800 and 900.

Having suppressed the rising in Athole,
Leslie was again sent north by the parliament,
accompanied by the Earl of Sutherland ; but
he had not proceeded far, when he ascertained
that Mackenzie had been induced by Lord
Ogilvie and General Middleton, who had lately
joined him, to advance southward into Bade-
noch, with the view of raising the people in
that and the neighbouring districts, and that
they had been there joined by the young
Marquis of Huntly, formerly Lord Lewis Gor-
don, and had taken the castle of Euthven.
Leslie thereupon divided his army, with one
part of which he himself entered Badenoeh,
while he despatched the Earl of Sutherland to
the north to collect forces in Eoss, Sutherland,
and Caithness, with another part, consisting
of five troops of horse, under the command of

•
9 See Appendix t« Wishart's Memoirs, p. 140.

MOVEMENTS OF MONTROSE.

263

Kcr, Hacket, and Strachan. To liinder the
royalists from retiring into Athole, Leslie
inarched southward towards Glenesk, by
which movement he compelled them to leave
Badonoch and to march down Spey-side
towards Balvcny. On arriving at Balveny,
they resolved to enter into a negotiation with
Leslie, and accordingly Pluscardine and Mid-
dleton left Balveny with a troop of horse to
meet Leslie, leaving Huntly, Reay, and Ogilvie,
in charge of the forces, the former of whom
sent his brother Lord Charles Gordon to the
Enzie, to raise some horse.

While waiting for the return of Pluscardine
and Middleton, the party &t Balveny had not
the slightest idea that they might be taken by
surprise ; but on the 8th of May at day-break,
they were most unexpectedly attacked by the
horse which had been sent north with the Earl
of Sutherland, and which, returning from Ross,
had speedily crossed the Spey. Seizing the
royalist sentinels, they surprised Lord Reay at
the castle of Balveny, where he and about 900
foot were taken prisoners and about 80 killed.
Huntly and Ogilvie, who had their quarters at
the church of Mortlaeh, about a mile from
Balveny castle, escaped. Colonel Ker at once
dismissed all the prisoners to their own homes
on giving their oaths not to take up arms
against the parliament in time coming. He
sent Lord Reay along with some of his kins-
men and friends and Mackenzie of Redcastle
and other prisoners of his surname to Edin-
burgh ; all of whom were imprisoned. Huntly,
Ogilvie, Pluscardine, and Middleton, on giving
security to keep the peace, were forgiven by
Leslie and returned to their homes. Colonel
Ker afterwards returned to Ross, took Red-
castle, which he demolished, and hanged the
persons who had defended it. Thus ended this
premature insurrection which, had it been
delayed till the arrival of Montrose, might have
been attended with a very different result l

The projected descent by Montrose upon
Scotland, was considered by many persons as
a desperate measure, which none but those
quite reckless of consequences would attempt ;
but there were others, chiefly among the ultra-
royalists, who viewed the affair in a different

1 Gordon's Continuation, p. 547, etseq.

light, and who, although they considered the
enterprise as one not without considerable risk,
anticipated its success. Such, at least, were
the sentiments of some of the king's friends
before the insurrection under Mackenzie of
Pluscardine had been crushed ; but it is very
probable that these were greatly altered after
its suppiession. The failure of Pluscardine's
ill-timed attempt was indeed considered by
Montrose as a great misfortune, but a misfor-
tune far from irreparable, and as he had invi-
tations from the royalist nobility of Scotland,
requesting him to enter upon his enterprise,
and promising him every assistance in their
power, and as he was assured that the great
body of the Scottish nation was ready to
second his views, he entered upon the task
assigned him by his royal master, with an
alacrity and willingness which indicated a
confidence on his part of ultimate success.

In terms of the powers he had received from
the king, Montrose visited the north of Europe,
and obtained promises of assistance of men,
money, and ammunition, from some of the
northern princes; but few of them fulfilled
their engagements in consequence of the in-
trigues of the king's enemies with the courtiers,
who thwarted with all their influence the
measures of Montrose. By the most indefati-
gable industry and perseverance, however, he
collected a force of 1,200 men at Gottenburg,
about 800 of whom had been raised in Holstein
and Hamburg, and having received from the
Queen of Sweden 1,500 complete stands of
arms, for arming such persons as might join
his standard on landing in Scotland, he re-
solved, without loss of time, to send off this
armament to the Orkneys, where, in con-
sequence of a previous arrangement with the
Earl of Morton, who was favourable to the
king, it was agreed that a descent should bo
made. Accordingly, the first division of the
expedition, which consisted of three parts, was
despatched early in September ; but it never
reached its destination, the vessels having
foundered at sea in a storm. The second
division was more fortunate, and arrived at
Kirkwall, about the end of the month. It
consisted of 200 common soldiers and 80
officers, under the command of the Earl of
Kinnoul, who on landing was joined by his

201

GENEKAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

undo the Earl of Morten and by many of the
Orkney gentlemen. Kinnoul immediately laic
siege to the castle of Birsay, which was soon
surrendered to him ; and he proceeded to raise
levies among the Orcadians, but was checked
in his progress in consequence of a difference
with Morton, who claimed the privilege, as
superior of Orkney, of commanding liis own
vassals, a claim which Kinnoul would not
allow. Morton felt the repulse keenly, and
died soon thereafter of a broken heart, as is
believed. His nephew, perhaps hurt at the
treatment ho had given his uncle, speedily
followed him to the grave.

The news of KinnoTil's landing reached
Edinburgh about the llth of October, when

General David Leslie.

General David Leslie was despatched to the
north with seven or eight troops of horse to
watch him if he attempted to cross the Pent-
land Frith; but seeing no appearance of an
enemy, and hearing of intended commotions
among the royalists in Angus and the Mearns,
he returned to the south after an absence of
fifteen days,2 having previously placed strong
garrisons in some of the northern strengths. 3

5 Balfour, vol. iii. p. 432.

* Gordon's Continuation, p. 551.

Montrose himself, with the remainder of
the expedition, still tarried at Gottenburg, in
the expectation of obtaining additional rein-
forcements or of procuring supplies of arms
and money. It appears from a letter4 which
he addressed to the Earl of Seaforth, of the
date of 15th December, that he intended to
sail for Scotland the following day ; but owing
to various causes he did not leave Gottenburg
till about the end of February 1650. He
landed in Orkney in the beginning of March,
with a force of 500 men, accompanied by Lord
Frendraught, Major General Hurry, and other
gentlemen who had attached themselves to
his service and fortunes.

To prepare the minds of the people of Scot-
land for the enterprise he was about to under-
take, Montrose, about the close of the year,
had circulated a "Declaration" in Scotland,
as " Lieutenant-governor and Captain-general
for his Majesty of the Kingdom of Scotland,"
in which, after detailing the proceedings of
those whom he termed " an horrid and
infamous faction of rebels within the kingdom
of Scotland," towards his late majesty, he
declared that his present majesty was not only
willing to pardon every one, with the exception
of those who upon clear evidence should be
found guilty " of that most damnable fact of
murder of his father," provided that imme-
diately or upon the first convenient occasion,
they abandoned the rebels and joined him, and
therefore, he expected all persons who had
"any duty left them to God, their king,
country, friends, homes, wives, children, or
would change now at last the tyranny, violence,
and oppression of those rebels, with the mild
and innocent government of their just prince,
or revenge the horrid and execrable murdering
of their sacred king, redeem their nation from
infamy, restore the present and oblige the ages
to come, would join themselves with him in
the service he was about to engage."

This declaration which, by order of the
Committee of Estates, was publicly burnt at the
market cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of
the common hangman, was answered on the
2d of January, by a " declaration and warning
of the commission of the General Assembly,"

4 Appendix to Wishart's Memoirs, p. 441.

MONTKOSE IN ORKNEY AND CAITHNESS.

2G5

addressed to " all the members of the kirk and
kingdom," which was followed on the 24th of
the sumo month, by another " declaration "
from the Committee of Estates of the parliament
of Scotland, in vindication of their proceedings
from " the aspersions of a scandalous pamphlet,
published by that excommunicate traitor, James
Graham, under the title of a ' Declaration of
James, Marquis of Montrose.'" The last of
these documents vindicates at great length,
and apparently with great success, those whom
Montrose had designated the " infamous faction
of rebels," not because the committee thought
" it worth the while to answer the slanders
and groundless reproaches of that viperous
brood of Satan, James Graham, whom the
Estates of parliament had long since declared
traitor, the church delivered into the hands of
the devil, and the nation doth generally detest
and abhor ;" but because " their silence might
be subject to misconstruction, and some of the
weaker sort might be inveigled by the bold
assertions and railing accusations of this im-
pudent braggard, presenting liimself to the
view of the world clothed with his majesty's
authority, as lieutenant-governor and captain-
general of this kingdom." These declarations
of the kirk and Estates, backed as they were
by fulniinations from all the pulpits of the
kingdom against Montrose, made a deep im-
pression on men's minds, highly unfavourable
to him ; and as the Committee of Estates
discharged all persons from aiding or assisting
him under the pain of high treason, and as
every action and word of those considered
friendly to him were strictly watched, they did
not attempt, and had they attempted, would
have found it impossible, to make any prepa-
rations to receive him on his arrival.

Such was the situation of matters when
Montrose landed in Orkney, where, in conse-
quence of the death of Morton and Kinnoid,
little progress had been made in raising troops.
Ho remained several weeks in Orkney, without
exciting much notice, and having collected
about 800 of the natives, which, with the
addition of the 200 troops carried over by Kin-
noul, made his whole force amount to about
1,500 men, ho crossed the Pentland Frith in a
nnmber of boats collected among the islands,
and landed without opposition at the northern

extremity of Caithness; in the immediate vicin-
ity of John o'Groat's house. On landing, ho
displayed three banners, one of which was
made of black taffeta, in the centre of which
was exhibited a representation of the bleeding
head of the late king, as struck off from the
body, surrounded by two inscriptions, "Judge
and avenge my cause, 0 Lord," and " Deo ct
victricibus anuis." Another standard had this
motto, " Quos pietas virtus et honor fecit anii-
cus." These two banners were those of the
king. The third, which was Montrose's own,
bore the words, "Nil medium," a motto strongly
significant of the uncompromising character
of the man.5 Montrose immediately com-
pelled the inhabitants of Caithness to swear
obedience to him as the king's lieutenant-
governor. All the ministers, with the excep-
tion of one named William Smith, took the
oath, and to punish Smith for his disobedience,
he was sent in irons on board a vessel. G A
number of the inhabitants, however, alarmed
at the arrival of foreign troops, with whoso
presence they considered carnage and murder
to be associated, were seized with a panic and
fled, nor did some of them stop till they reached
Edinburgh, where they carried the alarming
intelligence of Montrose's advance to the par-
liament which was then sitting.

As soon as the Earl of Sutherland heard of
Montrose's arrival in Caithness, he assembled
all his countrymen to oppose his advance into
Sutherland. He sent, at the same time, for
two troops of horse stationed in Ross, to assist
him, but their officers being in Edinburgh,
they refused to obey, as they had received no
orders. Being apprized of the earl's move-
ments, and anticipating that ho might secure
the important pass of the Ord, and thus pre-
vent him from entering Sutherland, Montrose
despatched a body of 500 men to the south,
who obtained possession of the pass. The next
step Montrose took, was against the castle of
Dunbeath, belonging to Sir John Sinclair,
who, on Montrose's arrival, had fled and left
the place in charge of his lady. The castle
was strong and well supplied with provisions,
and the possession of it was considered very

•"' Iiiilfour, vol. iii. p. 440.
* Gordon's Continuation, p. .V'2.
2 I,

2G6

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

important by Montroso, in case he should be
obliged to retreat into Orkney. The castle,
which was defended by Sir John's lady and
a few servants, surrendered to General Hurry,
after a short resistance, on condition that
persons and property should be respected.
Hurry put a strong garrison in the castle,
under the command of Major AVhiteford.

Having secured this important strength,
Montrose marched into Sutherland, leaving
Henry Graham, his natural brother, behind
him with a party to raise men for the service.
"While in Caithness, the only persons that
proffered their services to Montrose, were
Houcheon Mackay of Skoury, Hugh Mackay of
Dirlet, and Alexander Sinclair of Brims, whom
he despatched to Strathnaver, to collect forces,
but they appear to have neglected the matter.
On the approach of Montrose, the Earl of
Sutherland, not conceiving himself in a condi-
tion to resist, retired with his men, and put-
ting strong garrisons into Dunrobin, Skelbo,
Skibo, and Dornoch, and sending off a party
with cattle and effects to the hills to be out of
tho reach of the enemy, he went himself into
Ross with 300 of his men. Montrose continued
to advance, and encamped the first night at
Garty and HeLmsdale, tho second at Kintred-
well, and the third night at Rhives. In passing
by Dunrobin, a part of his men went between
the castle and the sea, some of whom were killed,
and others taken prisoners, in a sortie from the
garrison. On the following day, Montrose
demanded the prisoners from William Gordon
the commander of Dunrobin, but his request
was refused. Montrose encamped at Rian in
Strathfleet the fourth night, at Gruidy on the
fifth, and at Strathoikel on tho sixth. He
then marched to Carbisdale, on the borders of
Ross-shire, where he halted a few days in expec-
tation of being joined by the Mackenzies.
While reposing here in fancied security and
calculating on complete success, he sent a noti-
fication to the Earl of Sutherland to the effect,
that though he had spared his lauds for the
present, yet the timo was at hand when he
would make his own neighbours undo him.
Little did Montrose then imagine that his own
fate was so near at hand.

As soon as intelligence of Montroso's descent
was received in Edinburgh, the most active

preparations were made to send north troops
to meet him. David Leslie, the commander-
in-chief, appointed Brechin as the place of
rendezvous for the troops ; but as a considerable
time would necessarily elapse before they
could be all collected, and as apprehensions
were entertained that Montrose might speedily
penetrate into the heart of the Highlands,
where he could not fail to find auxiliaries,
Lieutenant-Colonel Strachan, an officer who
had been particularly active in suppressing
Pluscardine's insurrection, was despatched, in
the meantime, to the north with a few troops
of horse, for the purpose of keeping Montrose
in check, and enabling the Earl of Sutherland,
and the other presbyterian leaders in the north
to raise their levies. These troops, which
were those of Ker, Hacket, Montgomery, and
Strachan, and an Irish troop commanded by
one Collace, were joined by a body of about
500 foot under the Earl of Sutherland, Ross
of Babiagown, and Munro of Lumlair, all of
whom were assembled at Tain when Montroso
encamped at Strathoikel. This movement
brought the hostile parties within twenty miles
of each other, but Montrose was not aware
that his enemy was so near at hand. Strachan,
who had early intelligence brought him of
Montrose's advance, immediately called a coun-
cil of war to deliberate, at which it was re-
solved that the Earl of Sutherland should, by
a circuitous movement, throw himself into
Montrose's rear, in order to prevent a junction
between him and Henry Graham, and such of
the Strathnaver and Caithness men es should
attempt to join him. It was resolved that, at
the same time, Strachan with his five troops
of horse, and the Munroes, and Rosses, under
Balnagown, and Lumlair, should march directly
forward and attack Montrose in the level coun-
try before he should, as was contemplated, retire
to the hills on the approach of Leslie, who was
hastening rapidly north with a force of 4,000
horse and foot, at the rate of thirty miles a-day.
It was Saturday the 27th of April, when
Strachan's officers were deliberating whether
they should move immediately forward or wait
till Monday, "and so decline the hazard of
engaging upon the Lord's day,"7 when notice

7 Bulfour, vol. iv. p. 9.

MONTEOSE* DEFEATED AT CAEEISDALE.

267

being brought that Montroso had advanced
from Strathoikel to Carbisdale, a movement
which brought him six miles nearer to them,
they made arrangements for attacking him
without delay. Strachan advanced without
observation as far as Fearn, within a mile
and a half or two miles of Montrose, where
he concealed his men on a moor covered with
broom, whence he sent out a party of scouts
under Captain Andrew Munro, son of Munro
of Lumlair, to reconnoitre Montrose. Munro
soon returned and reported that Montrose had
sent out a body of 40 horse to ascertain their
movements. In order to deceive this body,
Strachan ordered one troop of horse out of the
broom, which being the only force observed by
Montrose's scouts, they returned and reported
to Moutrose what they had seen. This intel-
ligence threw Montrose completely off his
guard, who, conceiving that the whole strength
of the enemy consisted of a single troop of
horse, made no preparations for defending
himself.

In the meantime, Strachan formed his men
into four divisions. The first, which consisted
of about 100 horsemen, he commanded him-
self ; the second, amounting to upwards of 80,
was given in charge to Hacket ; and the third,
also horse, to the number of about 40, was
led by Captain Hutcheson. The fourth divi-
sion, which was composed of a body of muske-
teers belonging to Lawer's regiment, was com-
manded by one Quarter-master Shaw. 8

The deception which had been so well
practised upon Montrose by Strachan, in con-
cealing the real amount of his force, might
not have been attended with any serious effect
to Montrose, but for another stratagem which
Strachan had in reserve, and which proved
Montrose's ruin. Strachan's scheme was first
to advance with his own division to make it
appear as if his whole strength consisted of
only 100 horse, and while Montrose was im-
pressed with this false idea, to bring up the
other three divisions in rapid succession, and
thus create a panic among Montroso's men as
if a large army were about to attack them.
This contrivance was crowned with the most
complete success. Montrose little suspecting

8 Balfcur, vol. iv. p. 9.

the trick, was thrown quite off his guard, and
alarmed at the sudden appearance of successive
bodies of cavalry, he immediately gave orders
for a retreat to a wood and craggy hill at a
short distance in his rear ; but before Mon-
trose's men could reach their intended place of
retreat, they were overtaken when almost
breathless, by Strachan's troopers, who charged
them vijlently. The foreign troops received
the charge with firmness, and, after discharging
a volley upon the horse, flew into the wood ;
but most of the Orcadians threw down their
arms in terror and begged for quarter. The
Munroea and Eosses followed the Danish
troops into the wood and killed many of them.
200 of the fugitives in attempting to cross the
adjoining river were drowned.

Montrose for some time made an unavailing
effort to rally some of his men, and fought
with his accustomed bravery ; but having his
horse shot under him, and seeing it utterly
impossible longer to resist the enemy, he
mounted the horse of Lord Frendraught, which
that young and generous nobleman proffered
him, and galloped off the field ; and as soon as
he got out of the reach of the enemy, ho dis-
mounted, and throwing away his cloak, which
was decorated with the star of the garter, and
his sword, sought his safety on foot.

The slaughter of Montrose's men continued
about two hours, or until sunset, during
which time ten of his best officers and 380
common soldiers were killed. The most con-
spicuous among the former for bravery was
Menzies younger of Pitfoddles, the bearer of
the black standard, who repeatedly refused to
receive quarter. Upwards of 400 prisoners
were taken, including 31 officers, among whom
were Sir John Hurry and Lord Frendraught,
the latter of whom was severely wounded.
Among the prisoners taken were two ministers.
This victory was achieved almost without
bloodshed on the part of the victors, who had
only two men wounded, and one trooper
drowned. After the slaughter, the conquerors
returned thanks to God on the open field for
the victory they had obtained, and returned to
Tain, carrying the prisoners along with them. 9
For several days the people of Eoss and Suther-

' Gordon's Continuation, \>. 5CC.

2G8

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

land continued to pursue some unfortunate
stragglers, whom they despatched. The residt
was most calamitous to Orkney, as appears
from a petition and memorandum, by the gentle-
men of Orkney to Lord Morton in 1662, in
which it is stated, that there was scarcely a
gentleman's house in that country " but lost
either a son or a brother."1

Montrose, accompanied by the Earl of Kin-
noul, who had lately succeeded to the title on
the death of his brother, and six or seven com-
panions, having, as before stated, dismounted
from his horse and thrown away his cloak and
sword, and having, by the advice of his friends,
to avoid detection, exchanged his clothes for the
more homely attire of a common Highlander,
wandered all night and the two following
days among bleak and solitary regions, without
knowing where to proceed, and ready to perish
under the accumulated distresses of hunger,
fatigue, and anxiety of mind. The Earl of
Kinnoul, unable, from exhaustion, to follow
Montrose any farther, was left among the
mountains, where it is supposed he perished.
AVhen upon the point of starvation, Montrose
•\vas fortunate to light upon a small cottage,
where he obtained a supply of milk and bread, 2
on receiving which he continued his lonely
and dangerous course among the mountains of
Sutherland, at the risk of being seized every
hour, and dragged as a felon before the very
man whom, only a few days before, he had
threatened with his vengeance.

In the meantime, active search was made
after Montrose. As it was conjectured that
lie might attempt to reach Caithness, where his
natural brother, Henry Graham, still remained
with some troops in possession of the castle of
Dunbeath, and as it appeared probable, from
the direction Montrose was supposed to have
taken, that ho meant to go through Assynt,
Captain Andrew Munro sent instructions to
Neil Macleod, the laird of Assynt, his brother-
in-law, to apprehend every stranger that might
enter his bounds, in the hope of catching Mon-
trose, for whose apprehension a splendid reward
was offered. In consequence of these instruc-
tions, Macleod sent out various parties in quest

1 Vide the document in the Appendix to Peterkin's
Nr.tes on Orkney and Zetland, pp. 106, 107.

2 Gordon's Continuation, p. 555.

of Montrose, but they could not fall in with
him. " At last," says Bishop Wishart, " the
laird of Assynt being abroad in arms with some
of his tenants in search of him, lighted oil him
in a place where he had continued three or
four days without meat or drink, and only one
man in his company." The bishop then states,
that " Assynt had formerly been one of Mon-
trose's own followers ; who immediately know-
ing him, and believing to find friendship at
his hands, willingly discovered himself; but
Assynt not daring to conceal him, and being
greedy of the reward which was promised to
the person who should apprehend liim by the
Council of the Estates, immediately seized and
disarmed him."3 This account differs a little
from that of the author of the continuation of
Sir Robert Gordon's history, who, however, it
must be remembered, represents the Earl of
Sutherland and his friends in as favourable a
light as possible. Gordon says, that it was one
of Macleod's parties that apprehended Mon-
trose, and is altogether silent as to Assynt's
having been his follower • but both writers
inform us that Montrose offered Macleod a large
sum of money for his liberty, which he refused
to grant. Macleod kept Montrose and his com
panion, Major Sinclair, an Orkney gentleman,
prisoners in the castle of Ardvraick, his princi
pal residence. By order of Leslie, Montrose
was thence removed to Skibo castle, where lie
was kept two nights, thereafter to the castle of
Braan, and thence again to Edinburgh.

In his progress to the capital, Montrose had
to endure all those indignities which vulgar
minds, instigated by malevolence and fanati-
cism, could suggest ; but he bore every insult
with perfect composure. At a short interview
which he had with two of his children at the
house of the Earl of South Esk, his father-in-
law, on his way to Edinburgh, he exhibited
the same composure, for "neither at meeting
nor parting could any change of his former
countenance be discerned, or the least expres-
sion heard which was not suitable to the great-
ness of his spirit, and the fame of his former
actions. His behaviour was, during the whole
journey, such as became a great man ; his
countenance was serene and cheerful, as one

8 Mcmcm, p. 377.

ATTEMPTS TO IlESCUE MON'TRCSE THWARTED. 2CS

Castle of Ardvraick.

who was superior to all those reproaches which
they had prepared the people to pour out upon
him in all the places through which he was to
pass."4

At Dundee, which had particularly suffered
from his army, a very different feeling was
shown by the inhabitants, who displayed a
generosity of feeling and a sympathy for
fallen greatness, which did them immortal
honour. Instead of insulting the fallen hero
in his distress, they commiserated his misfor-
tunes, and prevailed upon his guards to permit
him to exchange the rustic and mean apparel
in which he had been apprehended, and which,
to excite the derision of the mob, they had
compelled him to wear, for a more becoming
dress which had been provided for him by the
people of Dundee. The sensibilities of the
inhabitants had probably been awakened by a
bold and ineffectual attempt to rescue Mon-
trose, made by the lady of the laird of Grange,
at whose house, in the neighbourhood of Dun-
doe, he had passed the previous night. The
author of the Memoirs of the Somervillcs

* Memmn, p. 380.

gives the following characteristic account of
this aifair : —

" It was at this ladye's house that that party
of the Covenanters their standing amiie, that
gairded in the Marques of Montrose, efter his
forces was beat and himself betrayed in the
north, lodged him, whom this excellent lady
designed to sett at libertie, by procureing his
escape from her house ; in order to this, soo
soon as ther quarters was settled, and that she
had observed the way and manner of the place-
ing of the guairds,and what officers commanded
them, she not only ordered her butlers to let
the souldiers want for noe drink, but she her-
self, out of respect and kyndnesse, as she
pretended, plyed hard the officers and souldiers
of the main-guaird, (which was keeped in her
owne hall) with the strongest ale and acquavite,
that before midnight, all of them, (being for
the most part Highlandmen of Lawer's regi-
ment) became starke drunke. If her stewarts
and other servants had obeyed her directions
in giving out what drinko the out-gairds should
have called for, undoubtedly the business
had been effcctuat ; but unhappily, when the
marques had passed the first and second ccn-

270

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

tinclls that was sleeping upon their musquets,
and likewayes through the main-gaird, that was
lying in the hall lyke swyne on a midding, he
was challenged a little without the outmost
guatrd by a wretched trouper of Strachan's
troupe, that had been present at his taking.
This fellow was none of the guaird that night,
but being quartered hard by, was come ram-
mclling in for his bellieful of drinke, when he
made this iinluckie discovery, which being
done, the marques was presently seized upon,
and with much rudencsse (being in the ladye's
cloaths which lie had put on for a disguize)
turned back to his prisone chamber. The lady,
her old husband, with the wholl servants of
the house, were made prisoners for that night,
and the morrow eftcr, when they came to be
challenged before these that had the com-
mand of this party, and some members of that
wretched Committee of Estates, that satt
all ways at Edinbrough (for mischief to the royall
interest,) which they had sent for the more
security, to be still with this party, fearing the
great friends and weill-wishers this noble heroe
had upon the way he was to come, should
either by force or stratageme, be taken from
them. The ladie, as she had been the only
contryver of Montrose's escape, soe did she
avow the same before them all ; testifying she
was heartily sorry it had not taken effect
according to her wished desyre. This confi-
dence of hers, as it bred some admiratione in
her accusers, soe it freed her husband and the
servants from being farder challenged ; only
they took security of the laird for his ladye's
appearing before the Committie of Estates
when called, which she never was. Ther
worships gott something else to thinke upon,
then to conveen soe excellent a lady before
them upon such ane account, as tended greatly
to her honour and ther oune shame."

The parliament, which had been adjourned
till the 15th of May, met on the appointed
day, and named a committee to devise the mode
of his reception into the capital and the manner
of his death. In terms of the committee's report
an act was passed on the 17th of May, ordaining
"James Graham" to be conveyed bareheaded
from the Water Gate (the eastern extremity of
the city) on a cart, to which he was to be tied
with a rope, and drawn by the hangman in his

livery, with his hat on, to the jail of Edin-
burgh, and thence to be brought to the parlia-
ment house, and there on his knees to receive
sentence of death. It was resolved that he
should be hanged on a gibbet at the cross of
Edinburgh, with the book which contained
the liistory of his wars and the declaration
which he had issued, tied to his neck, and
after hanging for the space of three hours, that
his body should be cut down by the hangman,
his head severed from his body, fixed on an
iron spike, and placed on the pinnacle on the
west end of the prison ; that his hands and legs
should also be cut off, the former to be placed
over the gates of Perth and Stirling, and the
latter over those of Aberdeen and Glasgow ;
that if at his death he showed any signs of
repentance, and should in consequence be
relieved from the sentence of excommunication
which the kirk had pronounced against him,
that the trunk of his body should be interred
by " pioneers " in the Gray Friars' churchyard ;
but otherwise, that it should be buried by the
hangman's assistants, under the scaffold on the
Boroughmuir, the usual place of execution. 5

The minds of the populace had, at this time,
been wrought up to the highest pitch of hatred
at Montrose by the ministers, who, during a
fast which had lately been held in thanksgiving
for his apprehension, had launched the most
dreadful and bloody invectives against him,
and to this circumstance perhaps is to be attri-
buted the ignominious plan devised for his
reception.

On the day following the passing of the act,
Montrose was brought up from Leith, mounted
on an outworn horse, to the Water Gate, along
with 23 of his officers, his fellow-prisoners,
where he was met about four o'clock, P.M., by
the magistrates of the city in their robes,
followed by the " town guard," and the com-
mon executioner. Having been delivered by
his guards to the civic authorities, whose duly
it now was to take charge of his person, Mon-
trose was, for the first time, made acquainted
with the fate which awaited him, by one of the
magistrates putting a copy of the sentence into
his hands. He perused the paper with com-
posure, and after he had read it he informed

5 Balfour, vol. iv. pp. 12, 13.

MONTROSE'S RECEPTION IN EDINBURGH.

271

the magistrates that ho was ready to submit
to his fate, and only regretted, " that through
him the king's majesty, whoso person he repre-
sented, should be so much dishonoured."6

Before mounting the vehicle brought for his
reception, Montroso was ordered by the hang-
man to uncover his head; but as the mandate
was not immediately attended to, that abhorred
instrument of the law enforced his command
with his own hands. He thereupon made
Montrose go into the cart, and placing him on
a high chair fixed upon a small platform raised
at the end of the cart, he pinioned his arms
close to his sides by means of cords, which
being passed across his breast, and fastened
behind the vehicle, kept him so firmly
fixed as to render his body immoveable. The
other prisoners, who were tied together in
pairs, having been marshalled in front of the
cart in walking order and uncovered, the hang-
man, clothed in his official attire, mounted one
of the horses7 attached to the cart, and the
procession thereupon moved off at a slow pace
up the Canongate, in presence of thousands of
spectators, who lined the long street, and
filled the windows of the adjoining houses.
Among the crowd which thronged the street
to view the mournful spectacle was a great
number of the inferior classes of the com-
munity, chiefly females, who had ccme with
the determined intention of venting abuse
upon the fallen hero, and pelting him, as he
proceeded along the street, with dirt, stones,
and other missiles, incited thereto by the
harangues of the ministers on occasion of the
late fast; but they were so overawed by the
dignity of his demeanour, and the undaunted
courage of soul which he displayed, that their
feelings were at once overcome, and instead of
covering him with reproaches, they dissolved
into tears of pity at the sight of fallen great-
ness, and invoked the blessings of heaven upon
the head of the illustrious captive. A result
so totally unlooked-for, could not be but ex-
ceedingly displeasing to the enemies of Mon-
trose, and particularly to the ministers, who,
on the following day (Sunday), denounced
the conduct of the people from the pulpits of

« Wishart, p. 385.

7 According to Montrose Rcdivivus, p. 181, the
curt \vas drawn by four horses.

the city, and threatened them with the wrath
of heaven.

But displeasing as the humane reception of
Montrose was to the clergy, it must have been
much more mortifying to Argyle, his mortal
enemy, who, contrary to modern notions of
decency and good feeling, surrounded by his
family and the marriage party of his newly-
wedded son, Lord Lorn, appeared publicly on
a balcony in front of the Earl of Moray's house8
in the Canongate, from which he beheld un-
daunted the great Montrose, powerless now to
do him personal harm. To add to the insult,
either accidentally or on purpose, the vehicle
which carried Montroso was stopped for some
time beneath the place where Argyle and his
party stood, so that they were able to take a
leisurely view of the object of their hate and
fear, and it would appear that they took
advantage of their fallen foe's position to
indulge in unseemly demonstrations of triumph
and insult. For the sake of humanity and the
honour of tender-hearted woman, we would fain
disbelieve the statement that the Marcliioness
of Argyle had the effrontery to vent her hatred
toward the fallen enemy of her house by spit-
ting upon him. Whatever were the inward
workings of Montroso's soul, ho betrayed no
symptoms of inquietude, but preserved, during
this trying scene, a dignified demeanour which
is said to have considerably discomposed his
triumphant rival and his friends.

Although the distance from the Water Gate
to the prison was only about half a mile, yet
so slow had the procession moved, that it was
almost seven o'clock in the evening before it
reached the prison. When released from the
cart Montrose gave the hangman some money
for his services in having driven so well his
"triumphal chariot,"9 as he jocularly termed
the cart. On being lodged in jail, ho was
immediately visited by a small committee
appointed by the parliament, which had held
an extraordinary meeting at six o'clock in the
evening. Balfour says, that the object of the
committee, which consisted of three members
and two ministers, was to ask " James Grahame
if he had any thing to say, and to show him

8 Now the Free Church Normal Sellout
8 \Visliart, p. 386.

272

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

that lie was to repair to the house to receive
his sentence." The house remained sitting till
the return of the deputation, who reported that
Montrose had refused to answer any of the
questions put to him till he was informed
upon what terms they stood with the king,
and whether they had concluded any agreement
with him. In consequence of this information,
the parliament delayed passing sentence till
Monday the 20th of May; and, in the mean-
time, appointed seven of their members to wait
upon the marquis and examine him on some
points respecting "Duke Hamilton and others;"
and to induce him to answer, the deputation
was instructed to inform him, that an agree-
ment had "been concluded between the com-
missioners on the part of the estates and his
majesty, who was coming to Scotland.1 Mon-
trose, however, excused himself from annoyance
by stating, that as his journey had been long,
and as " the ceremony and compliment they
had paid him that day had been somewhat
wearisome and tedious," he required repose;2
in consequence of which the deputation left him.
Montrose meant to have spent the whole of
the following day, being Sunday, in devotional
exercises suitable to his trying situation; but
he was denied this consolation by the incessant
intrusions of the ministers and members of
parliament, who annoyed him by asking a
variety of ensnaring questions, which he having
refused to answer, they gave vent to the foulest
reproaches against him. These insults, how-
ever, had no effect on him, nor did he show
the least symptoms of impatience, but carried
himself throughout with a firmness which no
menaces could shake. When ho broke silence
at last, he said that "they were much mis-
taken if they imagined that they had affronted
him by carrying him in a vile cart the day
before ; for he esteemed it the most honourable
and cheerful journey he had ever performed in
\iis life ; his most merciful God and Redeemer
Having all the while manifested his presence
to him in a most comfortable and inexpressible
manner, and supplied him by his divine grace,
with resolution and constancy to overlook the
reproaches of men, and to behold him alone
for whose cause he suffered."3

1 Balfour. vol. iv. p. 14. - Wishart, p. 386.
3 Wishart, p. 387.

Agreeably to the order of parliament, Mon-
trose was brought up by the magistrates of
Edinburgh on Monday at ten o'clock forenoon
to receive sentence. As if to give dignity and
importance to the cause for which he was
about to suffer, and to show how indifferent
he was to his own fate, Montrose appeared at
the bar of the parliament in a superb dress
which he had provided for the purpose, after
his arrival in Edinburgh. His small clothes
consisted of a rich suit of black silk, covered
with costly silver lace, over which he wore a
scarlet rochet which reached to his knee, and
which was trimmed with silver galloons, and
lined with crimson taffeta. Ho also wore silk
stockings of a carnation colour, with garters,
roses and corresponding ornaments, and a
beaver hat having a very rich silver band. 4

Having ascended "the place of delinquents,"
a platform on which criminals received sen
tence, Montrose surveyed the scene before him
with his wonted composure, and though his
countenance was rather pale, and exhibited
other symptoms of care, his firmness never for
a moment forsook him. Twice indeed was he
observed to heave a sigh and to roll his eyes
along the house, 5 during the virulent invectives
which the lord-chancellor (Loudon) poured out
upon him, but these emotions were only the
indications of the warmth of his feelings while
suffering under reproaches which he could not
resent.

The lord-chancellor, in rising to address
Montrose, entered into a long detail of his
"rebellions," as he designated the warlike
actions of Montrose, who, he said, had invaded
his native country with hostile amis, and had
called in Irish rebels and foreigners to his
assistance. He then reproached Montrose with
having broken not only the national covenant,
which he had bound liimself to support, but
also the solemn league and covenant, to which
the whole nation had sworn ; and he concluded
by informing Montrose, that for the many
murders, treasons, and impieties of which ho
had been guilty, God had now brought him to
suffer condign punishment. After the chau-

4 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 16, note to Kirkton's Clitmh
History, p. 124. Relation of the execution of Jama
Graham, London, 1650.

6 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 1(5.

TRIAL AND SENTENCE OF MONTIiOSE.

273

cellor had concluded liis harangue, Montrose
requested permission to say a few words in his
own vindication, which being granted, though
not without some difficulty, ho proceeded to
vindicate his conduct, showing that it was the
result of sincere patriotism and devoted loyalty.

" He had," he said, " not spilt any blood,
not even that of his most inveterate enemies,
but in the field of battle ; and that even in the
greatest heat of action he had preserved the
lives of many thousands ; and that as he had
first taken up arms at the command of the
king, he had laid them down upon his orders,
without any regard to his own interest, and
had retired beyond the seas.

" With regard to his late invasion, he said,
he had undertaken it at the command and by
the express orders of the present king, (to
whom they all owed duty and allegiance, and
for whose long and happy reign he offered his
sincere and earnest prayers,) in order to accel-
erate the treaty which was then begun betwixt
lum and them — that it was his intention, as
soon as the treaty had been concluded, to lay
down arms and retire at the call of his majesty;
and such being his authority and determina-
tion, he might justly affirm, that no subject
ever acted upon more honourable grounds, nor
by a more lawful power and authority than he
had done in the late expedition.

"In conclusion, he called upon the assem-
blage to lay aside all prejudice, private ani-
mosity, and desire of revenge, and to consider
him, in relation to the justice of his cause, as
a man and a Christian, and an obedient subject,
in relation to the commands of his sovereign,
which he had faithfully executed. He then
put them in mind of the great obligations
which many of them were under to him, for
having preserved their lives and fortunes at a
time when he had the power and authority, had
he inclined, of destroying both, and entreated
them not to judge him rashly, but according
to the laws of God, the laws of nature and
nations, and particularly by the laws of the
land — that if they should refuse to do so, he
would appeal to the just Judge of the world,
who would at last judge them all, and pro-
nounce a righteous sentence."0

« Wishart, p. 391.

This speech was delivered without affecta-
tion or embarrassment, and with such firmness
and clearness of intonation, that, according to
a cavalier historian, many persons present were
afterword! heard to declare, that he looked
and spoke as ho had been accustomed when at
the head of his army. 7 The chancellor replied
to Montrose, in a strain of the most furious
invective, " punctually proving him," says
Balfour, "by his acts of hostility, to be a person
most infamous, perjured, treacherous, and of
all that this land ever brought forth, the most
creuell and inhumane butcher and murtherer
of his natione, a sworne enimy to the Covenant
and peace of his countrcy, and one quhosse
boundlesse pryde and ambition had lost the
father, and by his wicked counsells done quhat
in him lay to distroy the sone lykwayes."3

Montroso attempted to address the court a
second time, but was rudely interrupted by
the chancellor, who ordered him to koep
silence, and to kneel down and receive his
sentence. The prisoner at once obeyed, but
remarked, that on falling on his knees, he
meant only to honour the king his master, and
not the parliament. While Sir Archibald
Johnston, the clerk-register, was reading the
sentence, Montrose kept his countenance erect
and displayed his usual firmness. " Ho be-
haved all this time in the house with a great
deal of courage and modesty, unmoved and
undaunted."9 The execution was fixed for
three o'clock the following day.

The feelings of humanity and the voice of
religion, now demanded that the unfortunate
prisoner should be allowed to spend the short
time he had to live, in those solemn prepara-
tions for death, enjoined by religion, in privacy
and without molestation ; but it was his fate
to be in the hands of men in whose breasts
such feelings were stifled, and whose religion
was deeply imbued with a stern and gloomy
fanaticism, to which charity was an entire
stranger. However, it would be unfair and
uncharitable to look upon the conduct of
these men as if they had been surrounded with
all the advantages of the present enlightened
age. We ought to bear in mind their recent

7 Montcith's /fist, of the Trouble, ic., p. 514.
s Annals, vol. iv. p. IS. 9 Idem, p. 1(3.

2M

274

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

escape from the most intolerant of all religions,
of whose persecuting principles they had not
yet got rid; the hard treatment to which they
had been subjected by the late king and his
father; and the fact that they really believed
they were doing their duty to God and
serving the best interests of true religion. It
is indeed difficult to be charitable to the
uncharitable, tolerant to persecutors.

No sooner had Montrose returned to prison,
than he was again assailed by the ministers,
who endeavoured to induce him to submit to
the kirk, no doubt considering the conversion of
such an extraordinary malignant as Montrose,
as a theological achievement of the first impor-
tance. To subdue his obstinacy, they mag-
nified the power of the keys, which they said
had been committed to them, and informed
him that unless he reconciled himself to the
kirk and obtained a release from the sentence
of excommunication which had been pro-
nounced against him, he would be eternally
damned. But Montrose, regardless of their
threats and denunciations, remained inflexible.
Besides the ministers, he was frequently waited
upon by the magistrates of the city, with whom
he entered into conversation. He told them
that he was much indebted to the parliament
for the great honour they had decreed him, —
that he was prouder to have his head fixed
upon the top of the prison, than if they had
decreed a golden statue to be erected to him
in the market-place, or ordered his portrait to
be placed in the king's bed-chamber, — that so
far from grieving for the mutilation which his
body was about to undergo, he was happy that
the parliament had taken such an effectual
method of preserving the memory of his
loyalty, by transmitting such proofs of them
to the four principal cities of the kingdom, and
he only wished that he had flesh enough to
have sent a piece to every city in Christendom,
as a testimony of his unshaken love and fidelity
to his king and country.1 But annoying as
the visits of the ministers and magistrates
undoubtedly were, Montrose was still farther
doomed to undergo the humiliation of being
placed under the more immediate charge of
Major Weir, who afterwards obtained an

1 Wishart, p. 393.

infamous notoriety in the annals of criminal
jurisprudence. This incestuous wretch, who
laid claim to superior godliness, and who
pretended to be gifted with the spirit of prayer,
of which he gave proofs by many extemporary
effusions, gave Montrose great uneasiness by
smoking tobacco, to the smell of which he
had, like Charles I., a particular aversion.

During the night, when free from the in-
trusion of the ministers, Montrose occupied
liimself in devotional exercises, and even
found leisure to gratify his poetic taste,
by composing the following lines which he
wrote upon the window of the chamber in
which he was confined.

" Let them bestow on every airth a limb,
Then open all my veins, that I may swim
To thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake,
Then place my parboiled head upon a stake ;
Scatter my ashes, strow them in the air.
Lord, since thou knowest where all these atoms are,
I'm hopeful thou'lt recover once my dust,
And confident thou'lt raise me with the just. "

On the morning of the 21st of May, 1650,
the city of Edinburgh was put into a state of
commotion by the noise of drums and trumpets,
which was heard in every quarter of the city.
The sound attracted the notice of Montrose,
who inquired at the captain of the guard the
cause of it. The officer told him that the
parliament, dreading that an attempt might be
made by the mob, under the influence of the
malignants, to rescue him, had given orders to
call out the soldiers and citizens to arms. " Do
I," said the marquis, " who was such a terror
to these good men when alive, continue still
so formidable to them, now that I am about
to die? But let them look to themselves ; for
even after I am dead, I will be continually
present to their wicked consciences, and
become more formidable to them than while
I was alive."

After partaking of a hearty breakfast, Mon-
trose entered upon the business of the toilet,
to which ho paid particular attention. While
in the act of combing his hair, he was visited
by Sir Archibald Johnston, the clerk-register,
one of his most inveterate foes, who made
some remarks on the impropriety, as he
thought, of a person in the dreadful situation
of the marquis, occupying some of the precious
moments he had yet to live in frivolous atteu-

MONTROSE ON THE SCAFFOLD.

275

lions to his person. The marquis, who knew
well the character of this morose man, thus
addressed him with a smile of contempt,
" Wliile my head is my own, I will dress and
adorn it; hut to-morrow, when it becomes
yours, you may treat it as you please."

About an hour before the time fixed for his-
execution, Montrose was waited upon by the
magistrates of the city, who saw him conveyed
to the scaffold on the same vehicle on which
he had been carried into the city. In
addition to the dress which he wore on that
occasion, he was now habited in a superb scar-
let cloak, ornamented with gold and silver
lace, which his friends had provided him with.
Long before his removal from prison, an im-
mense assemblage of persons had congregated
around the place of execution in the High-
street, all of whom were deeply affected on
Montrose's appearance. As he proceeded along,
he had, says Wishart, " such a grand air, and
so much beauty, majesty, and gravity appeared
in his countenance, as shocked the whole city
at the cruelty that was designed him; and
extorted even from his enemies this unwilling
confession, that he was a man of the most
lofty and elevated soul, and of the most un-
shaken constancy and resolution that the age
had produced."

It had always been the uniform practice in
Scotland to permit all persons about to suffer
the last penalty of the law to address the as-
sembled spectators, and on mounting the scaf-
fold Montrose was proceeding to avail himself
of this privilege; but the magistrates, who
probably had received their instructions from
the parliament, refused to allow him to harangue
the multitude. His friends, however, anti-
cipating this, had hired a young man, skilled
in stenography, who, having stationed himself
near the scaffold, was enabled to take down
the substance of some observations which
Montrose was permitted to make in answer to
questions put by some persons who surrounded
him.

He began by remarking that he would con-
sider it extremely hard indeed if the mode of
his death should be esteemed any reflection
upon him, or prove offensive to any good
Christian, seeing that such occurrences often
happened to the good at the hand? of the

wicked, and often to the wicked at the hands
of the good— and that just men sometimes
perish in their righteousness, while wicked
men prosper in their villanies. That he,
therefore, expected that those who knew him
well would not esteem him the less for his
present sufferings, especially as many greater
and more deserving men than he had under-
gone the same untimely and disgraceful fate.
Yet, that he could not but acknowledge that
all the judgments of God were just, and that
the punishment he was about to suffer was
very deservedly inflicted upon him for the
many private sins he had committed, and lie
therefore willingly submitted to it; — that he
freely pardoned his enemies, whom he reck-
oned but the instruments of the Divine will,
and prayed to God to forgive them, although
they had oppressed the poor, and perverted
judgment and justice.

That he had done nothing contrary to the
laws of the kingdom, and that he had under-
taken nothing but in obedience to the just
commands of his sovereign, when reduced to
the greatest difficulties by his rebellious sub-
jects, who had risen up in arms against him —
that his principal study had always been to
fear God and honour the king, in a manner
agreeable to the law of God, the laws of nature,
and those of his own country; and that, in
neither of these respects, had he transgressed
against men, but against God alone, with whom
he expected to find abundant mercy, and in
the confidence of which, he was ready to ap-
proach the eternal throne without terror — that
he could not pretend to foretell what might
happen, or to pry into the secrets of Divine
Providence; but he prayed to God that the
indignities and cruelties which he was that
day to suffer might not be a prelude of still
greater miseries which would befall his afflicted
country, which was fast hastening to ruin.

That with regard to the grievous censure of
the church, which lie was sorry some good
people thought it a crime in him to die under,
he observed, that he did not incur it from any
fault of his own, but in the performance of his
duty to his lawful prince, for the security of
religion, and the preservation of his sacred
person and royal authority — that the sentence
of excommunication, so lastly laid upon hiia

276

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

by tlio clergy, gave him much concern, and
that he earnestly desired to he released from
it, so far as that could he done, agreeably to
the laws of God, and without hurting his con-
science or allegiance, which, if they refused,
he appealed to God, the righteous judge of the
world, who, ere long, was to he his impartial
judge and gracious redeemer.

In answer to the reproaches of some persons
who had endeavoured to destroy the marquis's
character and reputation by spreading a report
that he had laid the whole blame of what he
had done upon the king and his royal father,
he observed that such a thought had never
once entered into his breast — that the late
king had lived a saint and died a martyr, and
ho prayed to God, that as his own fate was not
unlike his, so his death might be attended
with the same degree of piety and resignation ;
for if he could wish his soul in another man's
stead, or to be conjoined with it in the same
condition after this life, it would be his alone.

He then requested that the people would
judge charitably of him and his actions, with-
out prejudice and without passion. He de-
sired the prayers of all good men for his soul ;
for his part, he said he prayed earnestly for
them all; and with the greatest seriousness,
submission and humility, deprecated the ven-
geance of Almighty God, which had been so
long awakened, and which was still impending
over his afflicted country — that his enemies
were at liberty to exult and triumph over the
perishing remains of his body, but the utmost
indignities they could inflict should never pre-
vail on him, now at his death, to swerve from
that duty and reverence to God, and obedience
and respect to the king, which he had mani-
fested all his life long. " I can say no more,"
concluded the marquis, " but remit myself to
your charity, and I desire your prayers. You
that are scandalized at me, give me your charity ;
I shall pray for you all. I leave my soul to
God, my service to my prince, my goodwill to
my friends, and my name in charity to you all.
I might say more, but I have exonered my
conscience; the rest I leave to God's mercy."2

A party of ministers who occupied the lower
end of the scaffold now attempted, partly by

* "Wisliart, p. 399. Balfour, vol. ir. p. 22.

persuasion and partly by threats, to induce
Montrose to yield to the kirk by acknowledg-
ing his own criminality; but he denied that
he had acted contrary to religion and the laws
of the land, and, of course, refused to accept
of a reconciliation upon such terms. Finding
him inflexible, they refused to pray for him as
he desired, observing, that no pra3rers could bo
of any avail to a man who was an outcast from
the church of God. Being desired to pray by
himself apart, ho told them that if they would,
not permit the people to join with him, his
prayers alone and separately before so large an
assembly would perhaps be offensive both to
them and him — that he had already poured
out his soul before God, who knew his heart,
and to whom he had committed his spirit.
He then shut his eyes, and holding his hat
before his face with his left hand, he raised
his right in the attitude of prayer, in which
posture he continued about a quarter of an
hour in silent and fervent prayer.

As the fatal hour was fast approaching when
this unfortunate nobleman was to bid a last
adieu to sublunary things, he desired the
executioner to hasten his preparations. This
gloomy functionary, accordingly, brought the
book of Montrose's wars, and his late declara-
tion, which, by the sentence, were ordered to
be tied round his neck with, a cord. Montrose
himself assisted in carrying this part of his
sentence into execution, and while the operation
was performing, good-humouredly remarked,
that he considered himself as much honoured
then by having such tokens of his loyalty
attached to his person as lie had been when
his majesty had invested him with the order
of the garter. 3

Hitherto, Montrose had remained uncovered ;
but, before ascending the ladder that con-
ducted to the top of the gibbet, which rose to
the height of thirty feet from the centre of the
scaffold, he requested permission to put on his
hat. This request was, however, refused. He
then asked leave to keep on his cloak ; but
this favour was also denied him. Irritated,
probably at these refusals, he appears for a
moment to have lost his usual equanimity of
temper, and when orders were given to pinion

' Wishart, p. 400.

EXECUTION OP MONTROSE.

277

his anus, he told the magistrates that if they
could invent any further marks of ignominy,
lie was ready to endure them all for the sake
of the cause for which he suffered.

On arriving at the top of the ladder, which
ho ascended with astonishing firmness, Mon-
trose asked the executioner how long his body
was to be suspended to the gibbet. " Three
hours," was the answer. He then presented
the executioner with three or four pieces of
gold, told him he freely forgave him for the
part he acted, and instructed him to throw
him off as soon as he observed him uplifting
his hands. The executioner watched the fatal
signal, and on the noble victim raising his
hands, obeyed the mandate, and, it is said,
burst into tears. A feeling of horror seized
the assembled multitude, who expressed their
disapprobation by a general groan. Among
the spectators were many persons who had
indulged during the day in bitter invectives
against Montrose, but whose feelings were so
overpowered by the sad spectacle of his death
that they could not refrain from tears. 4 Even
the relentless Argyle, who had good feeling
enough to absent himself from the execution,
is said to have shed tears on hearing of Mon-
trose's death, but if a cavalier writer is to be
believed, his son, Lord Lome, disgraced him-
self by the most unfeeling barbarity. 5

4 Montrose Redivivus.

5 "Tis said that Argyle's expressions had some-
thing of grief in them, and did likewise weep at the
rehearsal of his death, (for he was not present at the
execution). Howsoever, they were by many called
crocodiles' tears, how worthily I leave to others' judg-
ment. But I am sure there did in his son, Lord
Lome, appear no such sign, who neither had so much
tenderness of heart as to be sorry, nor so much paternal
wit as to dissemble, who, entertaining his new bride
(the Earl of Moray's daughter) with this spectacle,
mocked and laughed in the midst of that weeping
assembly ; and, staying afterwards to see him hewn
in pieces, triumphed at every stroke which was
bestowed upon his mangled body." Montrose Redi-
vivus, edition of 1652. Note to Wishart's Memoirs,
p. 401.

The dismembered portions of Montrose's body were
disposed of in terms of the sentence. Lady Napier,
the wife of Montrose's esteemed friend and relation,
being desirous of procuring his heart, employed some
adventurous persons to obtain it for her. They accom-
plished this object on the second day after the execu-
tion, and were handsomely rewarded by her ladyship.
The heart was embalmed by a surgeon, and after being
enshrined in a rich gold urn, was sent by her to the
eMest son of the marquis, then in Flanders. The
family of Napier possess a portrait of L.idy Napier, in
which there is a representation of the urn. — Kirkton's

Thus died, at the early age of thirty-eight,
James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, who liad
acquired during a short career of military glory
greater reputation than perhaps ever fell to the
lot of any commander within the same compass
of time. That partisans may have exaggerated
his actions, and extolled his character too
highly, may be fairly admitted ; but it cannot
be denied that Montrose was really a great
commander, and that there were noble and
generous traits about Mm which indicated a
high and cultivated mind, in many respects far
superior to the age in which he lived. TJut how-
ever much the military exploits of Montrose
may be admired, it must never be forgotten that
his sword was drawn against his own country-
men in their struggles against arbitrary power,
and that although there was much to condemn
in the conduct of the Covenanters, subsequent
events, in the reign of the second Charles and
James, showed that they were not mistaken in
the dread which they entertained of the extinc-
tion of their religious liberties, had Charles I.
succeeded in his designs.

Among Montrose's officers five of the most
distinguished were selected for execution, all of
whom perished under ' the Maiden,' a species
of guillotine, introduced into Scotland by the
Eegent Morton, to which he himself became
the first victim. The officers who suffered
were Sir John Hurry,6 Captain Spottiswood,

History of the Church of Scotland, note, p. 125 ; edited
by the late C. K. Sharpe, Esq.

After the restoration, the trunk was disinterred,
and the other remains collected, and on llth May,
166], were deposited with great solemnity by order of
Charles II., in the family aisle in St. Giles' church.
The remains of Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetty were
honoured with a similar mark of respect on the same
day. For an account of the ceremonial, see Nos. 27
and 28 of the Appendix to Wishart's Memoirs.

6 Hurry was at first condemned by the parliament
to perpetual banishment, " but the commission of the
kirk voted he should die, and thereupon sent ther
moderator, with other two of their number, to the
parliament house, who very saucilly, in face of that
great and honourable court, (if it had not been then a
body without a head) told the president and chancellor
that the parliament had granted life to a man whom
the law had appointed for death, being a man of blood,
(citing these words of our blessed Saviour to Peter, —
'All they that take the sword shall perish by the
sword;') whereas, it was very weill knoune, all the
blood that that unfortunate gentleman had shed in
Scotland was in ther quarrell and defence, being but
then engaged in his master's service, when he was
taken prisoner, and executed at the kirk's instigations.

"The parliament was sae farro from rebuking ther
bold intruders, or resenting those acts of the commis-

278

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

younger of Dairsie, Sir Francis Hay of Dal-
getty, Colonel William Sibbald, and Captain
Charterip, a cadet of the ancient family of
Amisfield. All these met death with extraor-
dinary fortitude. Sir Francis Hay, who was
a Catholic, "and therefore," as a cavalier
historian quaintly observes, "not coming within
the compass of the ministers' prayers,"7 dis-
played in particular an intrepidity worthy of
his name and family.8 After a witty meta-
phorical allusion to " the Maiden," he kissed
the fatal instrument, and kneeling down, laid
his head upon the block. Colonel Sibbald
exhibited a surprising gaiety, and, " with an
undaunted behaviour, marched up to the block,
as if he had been to act the part of a gallant
in a play."9 An instance of the unfeeling
levity with which such melancholy scenes were
witnessed, even by those who considered them-
selves the ministers of the gospel, occurred on
the present as on former occasions. Captain
Spottiswood, grandson of the archbishop of
that name, having on his knees said the
following prayer : — " 0 Lord, who hath been
graciously pleased to bring me through the
wilderness of this world, I trust at this time
you will waft me over this sea of blood to my
heavenly Canaan ;" was rebuked by a minister
who was near him in the following words : —
"Take tent (heed), take tent, sir, that you
drown not by the gate !" (way). Spottiswood
replied with great modesty that " he hoped he
was no Egyptian," an answer which forced the
base intruder to retire among the crowd to
conceal his shame.

The execution of Captain Charteris (the last
who suffered) was a source of melancholy regret
to his friends, and of triumph to the ministers.

sion of the kirk, now qnyte besyde ther master's com-
missione, as they will have it understood, and ther
owne solemne professione not to meddle in secular
affairs, that they rescinded their former act, and
passed a sentence of death upon him, hereby imitating
ther dear brethren, the parliament of England, ia the
caice of the Hothams." — Memoirs of the Somervillt
Family.

•> Wishart, p. 412.

8 " His constancy at death show well he repented
nothing he did, in order to his allegiance and Ma-
jesty's service, to the great shame of those who
threatened him with their apocryphal excommunica-
tions, to which he gave no more place than our Saviour
to the devil's temptations." — Relation of the True
Funerals of the Great Lord Maryuessc of lifontrose.

• Wishart.

He was a man of determined mind ; but his
health being much impaired by wounds which
he had received, he had not firmness to resist
the importunities of his friends, who, as a
means of saving his life, as they thought,
prevailed upon him to agree to make a public
declaration of his errors. This unhappy man,
accordingly, when on the scaifold, read a long
speech, which had been prepared for him by
the ministers, penned in a peculiarly mournful
strain, in which he lamented his apostacy from
the Covenant, and acknowledged " other things
which he had vented to them (the ministers)
in auricular confession."1 Yet, notwithstand-
ing the expectations which he and his friends
were led to entertain that his life would be
spared, he had no sooner finished his speech
than he was despatched.

CHAPTEK XVII.

A. D. 1650-1660.
Commonwealth, 1649—1660.

Arrival of Charles II. — Cromwell invades Scotland-
Attacks the Scotch army near Edinburgh — Hi?
further movements — The Dunfennline Declaration
— Retreat of Cromwell — Battle of Dunbar — Decla-
ration and Warning of the kirk — Flight cf the king
from Perth — Insurrections in the Highlands — Pro-
ceedings of Cromwell — Conduct of the western army
— Cromwell marches north — Enters Perth —Scotch
army invades England — Battle of Worcester — Oper-
ations of Monk in Scotland — Administration of
affairs committed to him — Earl of Glencairn's insur-
rection in the Highlands — Chiefs of the insurrection
submit to Monk — Cameron of Lochiel — State of the
country — Restoration of Charles II.

HAVING arranged with the commissioners the
conditions on which he was to ascend the Scot-
tish throne, Charles, with about 500 attendants,
left Holland on the 2d of June, in some vessels
furnished him by the Prince of Orange, and
after a boisterous voyage of three weeks, during
which he was daily in danger of being captured
by English cruizers, arrived in the Moray
frith, and disembarked at Garmouth, a small
village at the mouth of the Spey, on the 23d

1 Wishart, p. 413. — The practice of auricular con-
fession seems to have existed to a considerable extent
among the Covenanters. It ia singular that had it
not been for the evidence of the minister of Ormiston,
to whom the noted Major Weir had communicated his
secrets in auricular confession, he would not have becu
convicted.— See Arnot's Criminal Trials.

CROMWELL INVADES SCOTLAND.

270

of that month. Before landing, however,
Charles readily gave his signature to the Cove-
nant, which subsequent events showed he had
no intention of observing longer than suited
his purpose.

The news of the king's arrival reached Edin-
burgh on the 26th of June. The guns of the
castle were fired in honour of the event, and
the inhabitants manifested their joy by bonfires
and other demonstrations of popular feeling.
The same enthusiasm spread quickly through-
out the kingdom, and his majesty was wel-
comed with warm congratulations as he pro-
ceeded on his journey towards Falkland, which
had been fixed upon by parliament as the
place of his residence. The pleasure he re-
ceived from these professions of loyalty was,
however, not without alloy, as he was obliged,
at the request of the parliament, to dismiss
from his presence some of his best friends,
both Scotch and English, particularly the Duke
of Hamilton, the Earl of Lauderdale, and other
" engagers," who, by an act passed on the 4th
of J'ane against " classed delinquents," were
debarred from returning to the kingdom, or
remaining therein, " without the express war-
rant of the Estates of parliament."5 Of the
English exiles the Duke of Buckingham, Lord
Wilmot, and seven gentlemen of the household
were allowed to remain with him.3 In fact,
with these exceptions, every person even
suspected of being a " malignant," was care-
fully excluded from the court, and his majesty
was thus surrounded by the heads of the
Covenantors and the clergy. These last
scarcely ever left his person, watched his
words and motions, and inflicted upon him
long harangues, in which he was often re-
minded of the misfortunes of his family.

The rulers of the English commonwealth,
aware of the negotiations which had been
going on between the young king and the
Scots commissioners in Holland, became appre-
hensive of their own stability, should a union
take place between the Covenanters and the
English Presbyterians, to support the cause of
the king, and they therefore resolved to invade
Scotland, and by reducing it to their authority
extinguish for ever the hopes of the king and

= Balfour, vol. iv. p. 42

3 Idem, p. 77

his party. Fairfax was appointed commander-
in-chief, and Cromwell lieutenant-general of
the army destined for this purpose ; but as
Fairfax considered the invasion of Scotland as
a violation of the solemn league and covenant
which he had sworn to observe, he refused,
notwithstanding the most urgent entreaties, to
accept the command, which in consequence
devolved upon Cromwell.

The preparations making in England for the
invasion of Scotland were met with corre-
sponding activity in Scotland, the parliament
of which ordered an army of 30,000 men to
be immediately raised to maintain the inde-
pendence of the country. The nominal com-
mand of this army was given to the Earl of
Leven, who had become old and infirm ; but
David Leslie his relative, was in reality the
commander. The levies went on with con-
siderable rapidity, but before they were as-
sembled Cromwell crossed the Tweed on the
22d of July at the head of 16,000 well
appointed and highly disciplined troops. On
his march from Berwick to Musselburgh a
scene of desolation was presented to the eyes
of Cromwell, far surpassing anything he had
ever before witnessed. With the exception of
a few old women and children, not a human
being was to be seen, and the whole country
appeared as one great waste over which the
hand of the ruthless destroyer had exercised
its ravages. To understand the cause of this
it is necesssary to mention, that, with the view
of depriving the enemy of provisions, instruc-
tions had been issued to lay waste tho country
between Berwick and the capital, to remove
or destroy tho cattle and provisions, and that
the inhabitants should retire to other parts of
the kingdom under the severest penalties. To
induce them to comply with this ferocious
command, appalling statements of the cruelties
of Cromwell in Ireland were industriously
circulated among the people; that he had
given orders to put all the males between 16
and GO to death, to cut of the right hands of
all the boys between 6 and 16, and to bore
with red-hot irons the breasts of all females
of age for bearing children. ' Fortunately for
his army Cromwell had provided a fleet in

< Whitelock, p. 4C6

£80

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

case of exigency, which, kept up with him in
his march along the coast, and supplied him
with provisions.

The English general continued his course
along the coast till he arrived at Musselburgh,
where he established his head-quarters. Here
lie learnt that the Scots army, consisting of
upwards of 30,000 men, had taken up a strong
position between Edinburgh and Leith, and
had made a deep entrenchment in front of
their lines, along which they had erected
several batteries. Cromwell reconnoitered this
position, and tried all his art to induce the
Scots to come to a general engagement ; but as
Leslie's plan was to act on the defensive, and
thus force Cromwell either to attack him at a
considerable disadvantage, or to retreat back
into England after his supply of provisions
should be exhausted, he kept his army within
their entrenchments.

As Cromwell perceived that he would be
soon reduced to the alternative of attacking
the Scots in their position, or of retracing his
steps through the ruined track over which his
army had lately passed, he resolved upon an
assault, and fixed Monday the 29th of July
for advancing on the enemy. By a singular
coincidence, the king, at the instigation of the
Earl of Eglinton, but contrary to the wish of
his council and the commanders, visited the
army that very day. His presence was hailed
with shouts of enthusiasm by the soldiers, who
indulged in copious libations to the health of
their sovereign. The soldiers in consequence
neglected their duty, and great confusion pro-
vailed in the camp ;5 but on the approach of
Cromwell sufficient order was restored, and
they patiently waited his attack. Having
selected the centre of the enemy's position,
near a spot called the Quarry Holes, about
halfway between Edinburgh and Leith, as
appearing to him the most favourable point
for commencing the operations of the day,
Cromwell led forward his army to the assault ;
but after a desperate struggle he was repulsed
with the loss of a considerable number of men
and horses.6 Cromwell renewed the attack
on the 31st, and would probably have carried
Leslie's position but for a destructive fire from

8 Balfour, vol. i i. p. 86. ° Idem, p. 88.

some batteries near Leith. Cromwell retired
to Musselburgh in the evening, where he was
unexpectedly attacked by a body of 2,000
horse and 500 foot, commanded by Major-
General Montgomery, son of the Earl of
Eglinton, and Colonel Strachan, which had
been despatched at an early part of the day
by a circuitous route to the right, for the
purpose of falling on Cromwell's rear. If
Balfour is to be credited, this party beat Crom-
well " soundlie," and would have defeated his
whole army if they had had an additional force
of 1,000 men; but an English writer informs
us, that the Scots suffered severely.7 Accord-
ing to the first-mentioned author the English
had 5 colonels and 500 men killed, while the
latter states the loss of the Scots to have
been about 100 men, and a large number of
prisoners. On the following day, Cromwell,
probably finding that he had enough of mouths
to consume his provisions, without the aid of
prisoners, offered to exchange all those lie had
taken the preceding day, and sent the wounded
Scots back to their camp.

These encounters, notwithstanding the ex-
pectations of the ministers, and the vaunts of
the parliamentary committee of their pretended
successes, inspired some of Leslie's officers with
a salutary dread of the prowess of Cromwell's
veterans. Aa amusing instance of this feeling
is related by Balfour in the case of the earl ol
W. (he suppresses the name) who " being
commandit the nixt day (the day after the last
mentioned skirmish) in the morning, to marche
out one a parley, saw he could not goe one
upone service untill he had his brackefaste.
The brackefaste was delayed above four hours
in getting until the L. General being privily
advertissed by a secrett frind, that my Lord
was peaceably myndit that morning, sent him
expresse orders not to marche, to save his repu-
tation. One this, the gallants of the army
raissed a proverbe, 'That they wold not goe
out one a partey until they gate ther bracke-
faste.'"8

Eor several days Cromwell remained inactive
in his camp, during which the parliamentary
committee subjected the Scots army to a purg-
ing operation, which impaired its efficiency,

7 Wliitelock. s Balfour, vol. iv. p. 87.

PUKGATIO^ OF THE SCOTS ARMY.

281

and, perhaps, contributed chiefly to its ruin.
As the Solemn League and Covenant was con-
sidered by the Covenanters a sacred pledge
to God, which no true Christian could refuse
to take, they looked upon those who declined
to subscribe it as the enemies of religion, with
whom it would be criminal in the eye of
Heaven to associate. Before the purgation
commenced, the king received a hint, equiva-
lent to a command, from the heads of the
Covenanters to retire to Dunfermline, an order
which he obeyed "sore against his own mind,"9
by taking his departure on Friday the 2d
of August, after spending the short space of
two hours at a banquet, which had been pro-
vided for him by the city of Edinburgh. No
sooner had the king departed than the purging
process was commenced, and on the 2d, 3d,
and 5th of August, during which the committee
held their sittings, no less than 80 officers, all
men of unquestionable loyalty, besides a con-
siderable number of common soldiers, were
expelled from the army. J

Cromwell retired with his army to Dunbar
on the 5th of August. Here he found the few
inhabitants who had remained in the town in
a state of starvation. Touched with commiser-
ation, he generously distributed among them,
on his supplies being landed, a considerable
quantity of wheat and pease. 2

"While the ministers were thanking God
" for sending the sectarian army (for so they
designated the Independents) back the way
they came, and flinging such a terror into their
hearts, as made them fly when none pursued,"3
Cromwell suddenly re-appeared at Musselburgh,
and thus put an end to their thanksgivings.

Seeing no hopes of the Scots army leaving
its entrenchments, and afraid that farther delay
might be injurious to him, Cromwell made a
movement on the 1 3th of August to the west,
as far as the village of Colinton, three miles
south-west from Edinburgh, where he posted
the main body of his army. The Scottish
general thinking that Cromwell had an inten-
tion of attacking him in his rear, raised his
camp and marched towards Corstorphine, about
two miles north from Colinton, where he drew

9 Balfour.
* Whitclock.

1 Balfonr, vol. ir. p. 89.
1 Idem, p. 483.

out his army. Both armies surveyed earh
other for several days, but neither attempted
to bring the other to action. As he could not,
from the nature of the ground which lay
between the two armies, attack his opponents
with any probability of success, Cromwell
again returned to Musselburgh with his army
on a Sunday, that he might not be harassed
in his march by the Covenanters, who never
fought but on the defensive on that day.

Although the king before his landing had
subscribed the Solemn League and Covenant,
and although they had purged the army to
their heart's content, still Argyle and his parts
were not satisfied, and they, therefore, required
his majesty to subscribe a declaration " for the
satisfaction of all honest men." On the 16th
of August, after some hesitation and with
slight modification of the terms, Charles was
induced to sign a most humiliating declaration,
which reflected upon the conduct of his father,
lamented the " idolatry" of his mother, pledged
him to renounce the friendship of all who were
unfriendly to the Covenant, establish Presby-
terianism in England, in short, made him a
mere tool in the hands of the extreme Cove-
nanters.

Although every sober and judicious person
must have perceived that there was little pro-
bability that such a declaration would bo
regarded by the young monarch when released
from his trammels, yet so greatly important
was his majesty's subscription to the instru-
ment considered by the Covenanters, that they
hailed it with the most lively emotions of joy
and gratitude ; and the ministers who, only
two days before, had denounced the king from
the pulpits as the root of malignancy, and a
hypocrite, who had shown, by his refusal to
sign the declaration, that he had no intention
to keep the Covenant, were the first to set the
example. The army, excited by the harangues
of the ministers during a fast, which they pro-
claimed to appease the anger of heaven for the
sins of the king and his father, longed to meet
the enemy,' and it required all the influence
and authority of General Leslie to restrain
them from leaving their lines and rushing
upon the " sectaries ;" but, unfortunately for
the Covenanters, their wish was soon to be
gratified.

2 K

'282

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

It does not appear that the chiefs of the
Covenanters were actuated by the same enthu-
siasm as the ministers and the common soldiers,
or that the generals of the army were very
sanguine of success. They were too well aware
of the composition of Cromwell's veteran host,
to suppose that their raw and undisciplined
levies, though numerically superior, could meet
the enemy in the open field ; and hence they
deemed it a wise course of policy to act on the
defensive, and to harass them by a desultory
warfare as occasion offered. This system had
been so successful as to embarrass Cromwell
greatly, and to leave him no alternative but
a retreat into England — a course which he
was obliged to adopt more speedily, perhaps,
than he would otherwise have done, in conse-
quence of extensive sickness in his army. No
indications of any movement had appeared up
to the 29th of August, as on that day the
Committee of Estates adjourned the meet-
ing of parliament, which was to have then
assembled, till the 10th of September, " in
respecte that Oliver Cromwell and his armey
of sectaries and blasphemers have invadit this
Idngdome, and are now laying within the
bosome thereof."1

On the 30th of August, however, Cromwell
collected his army at Musselburgh, and having
put all liis sick on board his fleet, which lay
in the adjoining bay, he gave orders to his
army to march next morning to Haddington,
and thence to Dunbar. He made an attempt
to obtain the consent of the Committee of
Estates to retire without molestation, promis-
ing never again to interfere in the affairs of
Scotland ; but they refused to agree to his
proposal, as they considered that they would
be able to cut off his retreat and compel him
to surrender at discretion.

Next morning Cromwell's army was in full
retreat towards Haddington. The Scots army
followed in close pursuit, but with the excep-
tion of some slight skirmishing between the
advanced guard of the Scots and Cromwell's
rear, nothing important took place. Cromwell
halted during the night at Haddington, and
offered battle next day ; but as the Scots
declined, he continued his retreat to Dunbar,

• Balfour, vol. iv. p 96,

which he reached in the evening. With the
intention of cutting off his retreat, Leslie drew
off his army to the south towards the heights
of Lammermuir, and took up a position on
Doon hill. Having at the same time secured
an important pass called the Peaths, through
which Cromwell had necessarily to pass on his
way to Berwick, the situation of the latter
became extremely critical, as he had no chance
of escape but by cutting his way through
the Scots army, which had now completely
obstructed his line of retreat. Cromwell per-
ceived the danger of his situation, but he was
too much of an enthusiast to give way to
despair; he deliberately, and within view of the
enemy, shipped off the remainder of his sick
at Dunbar, on the 2d of September, intending,
should Providence not directly interpose in his
behalf, to put his foot also on board, and at
the head of his cavalry to cut his way through
the Scots army.5 But as, in an affair of such
importance, nothing could be done without
prayer, he directed his men to "seek the Lord
for a way of deliverance and salvation."6 A
part of the day was accordingly spent in prayer,
and at the conclusion, Cromwell declared, that
while he prayed he felt an enlargement of
heart and a buoyancy of spirit which assured
him that God had hearkened to their prayers.7
"While Cromwell and his men were employed
in their devotional exercises, a council of war
was held by the Scottish commander to deli-
berate upon the course to be pursued in the
present crisis. As Leslie considered himself
perfectly secure in his position, which could
not be assailed by the enemy without evident
risk of a defeat, and as he was apprehensive
of a most formidable and desperate resistance
should he venture to attack the brave and
enthusiastic Independents, who were drawn
out within two miles of his camp; he gave as
his opinion that the Scottish army should not
only remain in its position, but that Cromwell
should be allowed to retire into England on
certain easy conditions. The officers of the
army concurred in the views of the general,
but this opinion was overruled by the Com-
mittees of the Estates and kirk, who, anxious

5 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 97. 6 Cromwelliana, p. S9.
" Bui-net's Oim Times, vol. i. p. 54.

BATTLE OF DUNBAR.

283

to secure their prey, lest by any possibility it
might escape, insisted that the anny should
descend from the heights and attack the "army
of sectaries and blasphemers," which they fully
expected the Lord would deliver into their
hands.

In pursuance of the orders of the Committees
to attack Cromwell early the following morn-
ing, Leslie drew down his men on the evening
of the 2d of September from the heights
which they occupied to the level ground below,
that he might be ready to commence the attack
before the enemy should be fully on their
guard. But nothing could escape the pene-
trating eye of Cromwell, who, though pon-
dering with solicitude upon the difficulties
of his situation, was not inattentive to the
enemy, whose motions he personally watched
with the utmost vigilance and assiduity. He
was about retiring for the night, when looking
through his glass for the last time that evening,
he perceived, to his infinite joy, the Scottish
army in motion down the hill. The object of
this movement at once occurred to him, and in
a rapture of enthusiasm he exclaimed, " They
are coming down; — the Lord hath delivered
them into our hands." A strong spirit of
religious enthusiasm had in fact seized both
armies, and each considered itself the peculiar
favourite of heaven.

Unfortunately for the Scots their movements
were considerably impeded by the state of the
weather, which, during the night, became very
rainy and tempestuous. Confident in their
numbers, they seem to have disregarded the
ordinary rules of military prudence, and such
was the slowness of their movements, that
they found themselves unexpectedly attacked
at the dawn of day before the last of their
forces had left the hill where they had been
stationed. Cromwell had, during the night,
advanced his army to the edge of a deep
ravine which had separated the advanced
posts of both parties, along which his troops
reposed waiting in deep silence the order for
attack. As soon as Cromwell was enabled by
the approach of day to obtain a partial view
of the position selected by the Scots, he per-
ceived that the Scottish general had posted a
large body of cavalry on his right wing near
to a, pass on the road from Duubar to Berwick,

with the evident intention of preventing the
English from effecting an escape. To thia
point, therefore, Cromwell directed liis attack
with the main body of his horse, and some
regiments of foot, with which he endeavoured
to obtain possession of the pass; but they
were charged by the Scottish lancers, who,
aided by some artillery, drove them down the
hill. Cromwell, thereupon, brought up a
reserve of horse and foot and renewed the
attack, but was again repulsed. He still per-
severed, however, and the cavalry were again
giving way, when just as the sun was emerg-
ing from the ocean, and beginning, through
the mist of the morning, to dart its rays upon
the armour of the embattled hosts, he exclaimed
with impassioned fervour, — " Let God arise, let
bis enemies be scattered." In a moment
Cromwell's own regiment of foot, to whom
his exclamation had been more particularly
addressed, advanced with their pikes levelled,
the cavalry rallied, and the Scottish horse, as
if seized with a panic, turned their backs and
fled, producing the utmost confusion among
the foot, who were posted in their rear.

As soon as tho Scots perceived the defeat
and flight of their cavalry, they were seized
with a feeling of consternation, and throwing
away their arms, sought their safety in flight.
They were closely pursued by Cromwell's
dragoons, who followed them to the distance
of many miles in the direction of Edinburgh,
and cut them down without mercy. Out of a
force of 27,000 men, who, a few hours before,
had assured themselves of victory, not more
than 14,000 escaped. 3,000 of the Scots lay
lifeless on the fertile plains of East Lothian,
and about 10,000 were taken prisoners, of
whom not less than 5,000 were wounded.8
All the ammunition, artillery, and baggage of
the Scots army fell into the hands of tho
conquerors. The loss on the side of Cromwell
was trifling, not amounting to more than 30
men killed. The battle of Dunbar took place
on the 3d of September, 1650, and was long
familiarly known among the Scots by tho
name of " the Tyesday's chase."

Cromwell spent the following day at Dunbar
writing despatches to tho parliament He

• WHtelock, p. 471.

284

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

ordered all the wounded to be taken particular
care of, and after their wounds were dressed
they were released on their parole. The re-
mainder of the prisoners were sent to England,
where about 2,000 of them died of a pestilen-
tial disease, and the rest were sent as slaves to
the English plantations in the "West Indies.
Cromwell, of course, now abandoned his inten-
tion of returning to England. In furtherance
of his design to subject Scotland to his
authority, he marched to Edinburgh, which he
entered without opposition.

In the meantime, the Scottish horse and
the few foot which had escaped from the
slaughter of Dunbar were collected together
at Stirling. Here the Commissioners of the
General Assembly held a meeting on the 12th
of September, at which they drew up a
" declaration and warning to all the congrega-
tions of the kirk of Scotland," exhorting the
people to bear the recent disaster with becom-
ing fortitude, and to humble themselves before
God that he might turn away his anger from
them ; at the same time ordaining a " soleme
publicke humiliatione upone the defait of the
armey," to be kept throughout the kingdom.

It is probable that this " declaration and
warning" had little effect upon the minds
of the people, whose enthusiasm had been
Bomewhat cooled by Cromwell's success, and
although they did not, perhaps, like their
unfortunate countrymen, who were taken cap-
tives on the 3d of September and sent into
England, curse the king and clergy for insnar-
ing them in misery, as Whitelock observes,
they could not but look upon the perpetual
meddling of the ministers with the affairs of
the State, as the real source of all the calamities
which had recently befallen the country. As
to the king he had become so thoroughly dis-
gusted with the conduct of the Argyle faction,
whose sole object seemed to be to use him as
a tool for their own purposes, that he regarded
the recent defeat of the Covenanters in the
light of a triumph to his cause, which, by
destroying the power of Argyle, would pave
the way for the due exercise of the royal
authority.

The king now entertained the idea of form-
ing a party for himself among the numerous
royalists in the Highlands, for which purpose

he opened up a correspondence with Huntly,
Moray, and Athole, and other chiefs; but
before matters were fully concocted, the nego-
tiation was disclosed to Argyle, who took
immediate means to defeat it. Accordingly,
on the 27th of September, the Committee of
Estates ordered the whole cavaliers who still
remained about the king's person, with the
exception of three, one of whom was Bucking-
ham, to quit the court within 24 hours, and
the kingdom in 20 days.

As Charles was to be thus summarily
deprived of the society and advice of his
friends, he took the resolution of leaving
Perth, and retiring to the Highlands among
his friends. Accordingly, under the pre-
tence of hawking, he left Perth about half-
past one o'clock in the afternoon of the
4th of October, accompanied by five of his
livery servants, and rode at full gallop, until
he arrived at Dudhope near Dundee, which he
did in an hour and a half. He then proceeded
to Auchter-house along with Viscount Dud-
hope, whence he was conveyed by the Earl
of Buchan and the Viscount to Cortuqulruy,
the seat of the Earl of Airly. After partaking
of some refreshment he proceeded the same
night up the glen, under the protection of 6C
or 80 Highlanders, to a poor cottage, 42 miles
from Perth, belonging to the laird of Clova.
Fatigued by such a long journey, he threw
himself down on an old mattress, but he had
not enjoyed many hours repose when the house
was entered, a little before break of day, by
Lieutenant-Colonel Nairne, and Colonel Bayn-
ton, an Englishman, who had been sent by
Colonel Montgomery in quest of him. Shortly
after Montgomery himself appeared, accom-
panied by the laird of Scotscraig, who had
given him information of the place of his
Majesty's retreat, and Sir Alexander Hope
bearing one of the king's hawks. This party
advised the king to get on horseback, offered
to attend him, and promised to live and die
with Mm if necessary.

Perceiving their intention to carry him back
to Perth, the king told Montgomery that he
had left Perth in consequence of information
he had received from Dr. Fraser, liis physician,
that it was the intention of the Committee of
Estates to have delivered him up to the Eng-

INSURRECTIONS IN THE HIGHLANDS.

285

lish, and to hang all liis servants : Montgomery
assured his Majesty that tho statement was
false, and that no person hut a traitor could
have invented it. While this altercation was
going on, Dudhope and the Highlanders who
attended the king strongly advised him to
retire instantly to the mountains, and they
gave him to understand that a force of 2,000
horse and 5,000 foot was waiting for him
within the distance of five or six miles ready
to execute his orders ; but before his Majesty
had come to any resolution as to the course he
should adopt, two regiments of covenanting
horse appeared, on observing which, says Bal-
four, " Buchan, Dudhope and ther begerly
guard begane to shecke ther eares, and speake
more calmley, and in a lower strain." The
king thereupon gave his consent to return to
Perth, whither he was accordingly conducted
by Montgomery at the head of his horse. '

This attempt of the king to escape (familiarly
known by the name of " the Start") produced
a salutary effect upon the Committee of Estates,
and they now began to treat him with more
respect, admitting him to their deliberations,
and even suspending the act they had issued
ordering the English cavaliers to leave the
kingdom.

As a considerable part of the Highlands was
now up in arms to support the king, the com-
mittee induced him to write letters to the chief
leaders of the insurrection desiring them to lay
down their arms, which correspondence led to
a protracted negotiation. An act of indemnity
ivas passed on the 12th of October, in favour
of the people of Athole, who had taken up
arms ; but as it was couched in language which
they disliked, and contained conditions of
which they disapproved, the Earl of Athole
and his people presented a petition to his
majesty and the committee, craving some alter-
ation in the terms.

In order to enforce the orders of the king
to the northern royalists, to lay down their arms,
Sir John Brown's regiment was despatched to
the north ; but they were surprised during the
night of the 21st of October, and defeated by
a party under Sir David Ogilvie, brother to
Lord Ogilvie. On receiving this intelligence,

1 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 115.

General Leslie hastened to Perth from Stirling,
and crossed the Tay on the 24th, with a force
of 3,000 cavalry, with which he was ordered
to proceed to Dundee and scour Angus. At
this time General Middleton was lying at
Forfar, and he, on hearing of Leslie's advance,
sent him a letter, inclosing a copy of a " bond
and oath of engagement" which had been
entered into by Huntly, Athole, Seaforth,
Middleton, and other individuals, by which
they had pledged themselves to join firmly
and faithfully together, and neither for fear,
threatening, allurement, nor advantage, to
relinquish the cause of religion, of the king and
of the kingdom, nor to lay down their arms
without a general consent; and as the best
undertakings often did not escape censure and
malice, they promised and swore, for the satis-
faction of all reasonable persons, that they
would maintain the true religion, as then
established in Scotland, the National Cove-
nant, and the Solemn League and Covenant ;
and defend the person of the king, his preroga-
tive, greatness, and authority, and the privi-
leges of parliament, and the freedom of the
subject. Middleton stated that Leslie would
perceive from the terms of the document
inclosed, that the only aim of himself and
friends was to unite Scotsmen in defence of
their common rights, and that the grounds on
which they had entered into the association
were precisely the same as those professed by
Leslie himself. As the independence of Scot-
land was at stake, and as Scotsmen should
unite for the preservation of their liberties, he
proposed to join Leslie, and to put himself
under his command, and he expressed a hope
that Leslie would not shed the blood of his
countrymen, or force them to the unhappy
necessity of shedding the blood of their
brethren in self-defence.1 The negotiation
thus begun was finally concluded on the 4th
of November at Strathbogie, agreeably to a
treaty between Leslie and the chief royalists,
by which the latter accepted an indemnity and
laid down their arms.

Cromwell did not follow up his success as
might have been expected, but contented him-
self with laying siege to the castle of Edin

1 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 129.

285

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

burgh, and pushing forward his advanced posts
as far as Linlithgow.

Among the leading Covenanters both in par-
liament and the church, there were some whose
political ideas were pretty similar to those of
Cromwell, respecting monarchical government,
and who had not only approved of the execu-
tion of the late king, but were desirous of
excluding his son from the crown of Scotland.
This party, though a minority, made up for its
numerical inferiority, by the talents, fanati-
cism, and restless activity of its partisans ; but
formidable as their opposition in parliament
was, they found themselves unable effectually
to resist the general wish of the nation in
favour of the king, and yielded to the force of
circumstances. By excluding, however, the
royalists from the camp, and keeping the king
in a state of subjection to their authority, they
had succeeded in usurping the government,
and had the disaster of Dunbar not occurred,
might have been enabled to carry their designs
against the monarchy into effect; but not-
withstanding this catastrophe, they were not
discouraged, and as soon as they had recovered
from the temporary state of alarm into which
the success of Cromwell had thrown them,
they began to concert measures, in accordance
with a plan they now contemplated, for making
themselves altogether independent of parlia-
ment. For this purpose, under the pretence
of opposing the common enemy, they solicited
and obtained permission from the Committee
of Estates to raise forces in the counties of
Dumfries, Galloway, Wigton, Ayr, and Ren-
frew, the inhabitants of which were imbued
with a sterner spirit of fanaticism, and there-
fore more ready to support their plans than
those of any other parts of Scotland. By
bringing in the exhortations of Gillespie and
others of the more rigid among the ministers
to their aid, they succeeded in a short time in
raising a body of nearly 5,000 horse, over
which Strachan, Kerr, and two other colonels,
all mere tools of the party, were placed.

As soon as the leaders of this faction, of
whom Johnston of Warriston, the clerk-register,
was chief, had collected these levies, they began
to develop the plan they had formed of with-
drawing themselves from the control of the
Committee of Estates by raising a variety of

objections against the line of conduct pursued
by the Committee, and, till these were removed,
they refused to unite " the western army," as
this new force was called, with the army under
Leslie. Cromwell, aware of this division in
the Scottish army, endeavoured to widen the
breach by opening a correspondence with
Strachan, who had fought under him at Pres-
ton, the consequence being that Strachan soon
went over to the English army with a body of
troopers. Leslie complained to the Estates of
the refusal of the western forces to join him,
and solicited to be recalled from his charge ;
but they declined to receive his resignation,
and sent a deputation, consisting of Argyle,
Cassilis, and other members to the western
army, " to solicit unity for the good of the
kingdom."2 So unsuccessful, however, was
the deputation in bringing about this desired
"unity," that, on the 17th October, an elabor-
ate paper, titled, " the humble Remonstrance
of the Gentlemen-Commanders, and Ministers
attending the forces in the west," addressed to
the Committee of Estates, was drawn up and
presented by Sir George Maxwell to them at
StMing, on the 22d. The compilers of this
document proposed to remove from the pre-
sence of the king, the judicatories and the
armies, the " malignants," whom many of the
committee were accused of having received
"into intimate friendship," admitting them to
their councils, and bringing in some of them
to the parliament and committees, and about
the king, thereby affording "many pregnant
presumptions," of a design on the part of some
of the Committee of Estates, " to set up and
employ the malignant party," or, at least, giving
" evidences of a strong inclination to intrust
them again in the managing of the work of
God."3 The Committee of Estates paid no
regard to this remonstrance, a circumstance
which gave such umbrage to Warriston and
the leaders of the western army, that they
drew up another, couched in still stronger
language, on the 30th of October, at Dumfries,
whither they had retired with the army on a
movement made by Cromwell to the west. In
this fresh remonstrance the faction declared
that as it was now manifest that the king was

5 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 123. * Idem, p. 152.

IlESOLUTIONERS AND PROTESTERS.

287

opposed to the work of God and the Covenants, '
and cleaving to the enemies of both, they would
not regard him or his interest in their quarrel
•with the invaders; that he ought not to be
intrusted in Scotland with the exercise of his
power till he gave proofs of a real change in
his conduct; and that an effectual course ought
to bo taken for preventing, in time coming,
"his conjunction with the malignant party,"
and for investigating into the cause of his
late flight; and that the malignants should be
rendered incapable in future of hurting the
work and people of God.4

A petition having been presented to the
Committee of Estates on the 9th of November,
requiring a satisfactory answer to the first
remonstrance, a joint declaration was issued by
the king and the committee on the 25th,
declaring " the said paper, as it related to the
parliament and civil judicatories, to be scandal-
ous and injurious to his majesty's person, and
prejudicial to his authority." The commission
of the General Assembly having been required
to give their opinion upon the remonstrance,
in so far as it related to religion and church
judicatories, acknowledged that, although it
contained "many sad truths," nevertheless,
the commission declared itself dissatisfied with
the remonstrance, which it considered apt to
breed division in kirk and kingdom."6 This
declaration of the commission was not only
approved of by the General Assembly, but
what was of equal Importance, that venerable
body passed a resolution declaring that in such a
perilous crisis all Scotsmen might be employed
to defend their country. An exception of
persons "excommunicated, forfeited, notori-
ously profane, or flagitious, and professed ene-
mies and opposers of the Covenant and cause
of God,"8 was no doubt made, but this exemp-
tion did not exclude all the " malignants." A
breach was now made in the unity of the
Scottish church, and the nation was split into
two parties — a division which paved the way
for the subjugation of Scotland by Cromwell.
The party which adhered to the king was
distinguished by the name of Resolutioners,
and the other was denominated Protesters,

4 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 136. « Idem, p. 175.
' \Voodro\v, Introduction, iii.

a distinction which was kept up for several
years.

Nothing could be more gratifying to Crom-
well than to see the Scots thus divided among
themselves, and keeping up two distinct armies
in the field, mutually opposed to each other.
Ho had by negotiation and intrigue contributed
to increase the irritation between the two
parties, and had even succeeded in sowing the
seeds of dissension among the leaders of the
western army itself. Strachan, his old friend,
had resigned the command which had been
conferred on Kerr, who was by no means
hearty in the cause. In this situation of
matters Cromwell resolved, in the meantime,
to confine his attention to the operations of th«
western army, with the intention, if he suc-
ceeded in defeating it, of marching north with
the whole of his forces, and attacking the royal
army. As the castle of Edinburgh was still
in the hands of the Covenanters, Cromwell
could only spare a force of about 7,000 horse,
which he accordingly sent west about the end
of November, under Lambert, to watch Kerr's
motions. Intelligence of this movement was
received by the parliament then sitting at
Perth, on the 30th of November, in conse-
quence of which Colonel Robert Montgomery
was despatched with three regiments to support
the western army, the command of which he
was requested by the parliament to take ; and,
to enforce this order, the committee on military
affairs was directed to send a deputation to
the western forces to intimate to them the
command of the parliament. Before the arrival,
however, of Montgomery, Kerr was defeated
on the 1st of December, in an attack he made
on Lambert at Hamilton, in which he himself
was taken prisoner, and the whole of his forces
dispersed. 7 This victory gave Cromwell quiet
possession of the whole of Scotland, south of
the Clyde and the Forth, with the exception
of Stirling, and a small tract around it ; and
as the castle of Edinburgh surrendered on the
24th of December, Stirling castle was the only
fortress of any note, south of the Forth, which
remained in the possession of the royalists at
the close of the year.

A considerable time, however, elapsed before

7 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 193—195.

288

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Cromwell found himself in a condition to
commence his intended campaign beyond the
Forth. His inactivity is to be ascribed partly
to an ague with which he was seized in Febru-
ary, 1651, and which had impaired his health
go much that in May he obtained permission
to return to England to recruit his debilitated
constitution ; but a sudden and favourable
change having taken place in the state of his
health, he gladly remained with the army,
which he put in motion towards Stirling on
the 3d of July.

The Scottish parliament was fully aware of
the impending danger, and made the necessary
preparations to meet it, but the Engagers and
the party of Argyle did not always draw
together ; yet the king had the address, by his
accommodating and insinuating behaviour, to
smooth down many differences, and thus
prepared the way for that ascendency which his
friends, the Hamiltons, afterwards obtained.
The coronation of the king took place at Scone,
on the 1st of January, 1651, in pursuance of
an order of the parliament. His conduct on
that occasion added greatly to his growing
popularity. The first trial of strength, to
borrow a modern parliamentary phrase, which
took place in the parliament, was on the 23d
of December, 1650, on the nomination of
colonels to the different horse and foot regi-
ments then in the course of being raised. A
list of them had been submitted to the house
on the 20th, which contained about an equal
number of royalists and Covenanters. This
gave rise to a long debate, but the list was
finally approved of.

Among the colonels of foot, were the Earls
of Athole and Tulliebardine, and the Master of
Gray for Perth ; the lairds of Maclean and
Ardkinlass for Argyle and Bute ; the laird of
Grant and the sheriff of Moray for Nairne,
Elgin, and " Grant's Lands ; " the lairds of
Pluscardine, Balnagowan, the master of Lovat,
and the laird of Lumlair, for Inverness and
Eoss ; Lord Sutherland and Henry Mackay of
Skowrie, for Sutherland and Strathnaver ; the
master of Caithness for Caithness ; and Dun-
can Macpherson for Badenoch. The clans in
the Highlands and the Isles were to be com-
manded respectively by Macdonald, the tutor
of Macleod, Clanranald, the tutor of Keppoch,

the laird of Lochaber, the tutor of Maclean,
Lochiel, Macneil of Barra, Lauchlane Mackin-
tosh, and the laird of Jura. 8

Argyle and his party made several attempts,
afterwards, to check the rising influence of the
Hamiltons, by opposing the different plans
submitted to the parliament for rendering the
army more efficient, but they were outvoted.
The finishing blow was given to their hopes
by the appointment of the king to the chief
command of the army, and by the repeal of
the " act of classes," which excluded the royal-
ists from having any share in the administra-
tion of the affairs of the kingdom, and from
serving their country.

In expectation of Cromwell's advance, the
Scots had raised, during the spring, strong
fortifications along the fords of the river Forth,
to obstruct his passage, and had entrenched
themselves at the Torwood, having the town
of Stirling at their back, in which position
Cromwell found them when he advanced west
in July. As he considered it dangerous to
attempt to carry such a strong position in the
face of an army of about 20,000 men, (for
such it is said was the number of the Scots), lie
endeavoured, by marches and countermarches,
to draw them out ; but although they followed
his motions, they took care not to commit
themselves, by going too far from their lines
of defence. Seeing no chance of bringing them
to a general engagement, Cromwell adopted
the bold plan of crossing the Frith of Forth
at Queensferry, and of throwing himself into
the rear of the Scottish army. While there-
fore, he continued, by his motions along the
Scottish lines, to draw off the attention of the
Scottish commanders from his plan, he, on the
20th of July, sent over Lambert, with a large
division of his army in a number of boats
which had been provided for the occasion.
He landed without opposition, and proceeded
immediately to fortify himself on the hill
between the North Ferry and Tnverkeithing.
General Holburn was immediately despatched
with a large force to keep Lambert in check,
and though the Scots fought with great bravery,
they were defeated. A body of Highlanders
particularly distinguished themselves. The

8 Balfour, vol. iv. pp. 210—212.

SCOTTISH ARMY INVADES ENGLAND.

289

loss of the Scots was considerable ; and among
the slain were the young chief of Maclean and
about 100 of his friends and followers. This
victory opened a free passage to Cromwell to
the north of Scotland. Ho immediately, there-
fore, crossed the Forth with the remainder of
his arm\', and proceeded to Perth, of which he
took possession on the 2d of August.

While the Scottish leaders were puzzled how
to extricate themselves from the dilemma into
which they had been thrown by the singular
change which had lately taken place in the
relative position of the two armies, the king
alone seemed free from embarrassment, and at
once proposed to his generals, that, instead of
following Cromwell, or waiting till he should
attack them, they should immediately invade
England, where he expected to be joined by
numerous royalists, who only required his
presence among them at the head of such an
army, to declare themselves. Under existing
circumstances, the plan, though at once bold
and decisive, was certainly judicious, and,
therefore, it is not surprising that it should
have received the approbation of the chiefs of
the army. Having obtained their concurrence,
the king immediately issued a proclamation
on the 30th of July, to the army, announcing
his intention of marching for England the
following day, accompanied by such of his
subjects as were willing to give proofs of their
loyalty by sharing his fortunes. This appeal
was not made in vain, and Charles found him-
self next morning in full march on the road to
Carlisle, at the head of 11,000, or, as some
accounts state, of 1 4,000 men. Argyle, as was
to be expected, excused himself from accom-
panying the army, and obtained permission to
retire to his castle. 9

Although Cromwell was within almost a
day's march of the Scottish army, yet, so
sudden and unexpected had been its departure,
and so secretly had the whole affair been
managed, that it was not until the 4th of
August that he received the extraordinary
intelligence of its departure for England.
Cromwell was now as much embarrassed as
the Scottish commander had lately been, for

9 Leicester's Journal, p. 110. Wliitclock, p. 501.
Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 397.
1.

he had not the most distant idea, when he
threw himself so abruptly into their rear, that
they would adopt the bold resolution of march-
ing into England. As soon, however, as he
had recovered from the surprise into which
such an alarming event had thrown him, lie
despatched letters to the parliament, assuring
them of his intention to follow the Scottish
army without delay, and exhorting them not to
be discouraged, but to rely on his activity. He
also sent Lambert with a force of 3,000 cavalry
to harass the rear of the Scottish army, and for-
warded orders to Harrison, who was then at
Newcastle, to press upon their flank with a
similar number ; and, in a few days, he himself
crossed the Forth with an army of 10,000 men,
and proceeded along the eastern coast, in the
direction of York, leaving Monk behind him
with a force of 5,000 horse and foot to com-
plete the reduction of Scotland.

The Scottish army reached "Worcester on
the 22d, and on being mustered the king
found that he had at his command only 14,000
men, 2,000 of whom were Englishmen. To
attack this force, large bodies of parliamentary
troops were concentrated at Worcester, and on
the 28th of August, when Cromwell arrived to
take the command, the army of the republic
amounted to upwards of 30,000 men, who
hailed the presence of their commander with
rapture. The two armies met on the 3d of
September, the anniversary of the battle of
Dunbar, and the disastrous result is well
known, it being out of place here to enter into
details. The king himself, at the head of the
Highlanders, fought with great bravery : his
example animated the troops, and had he been
supported by Leslie's cavalry, as was expected,
the issue of the struggle might have been
different. As it was, the royal army was
completely defeated, and the king had to pro-
vide for his personal safety by flight.

This battle, which Cromwell admits "was
as stiff a contest for four or five hours as ever
he had seen," was very disastrous to the
royalists, 3,000 of whom were killed on the
spot, and a considerably larger number taken
prisoners, and even the greater part of tho
cavalry, who escaped from the city, were after-
wards taken by detachments of the enemy.
The Duke of Hamilton was mortally wounded
2 o

290

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

in the field of battle; the Earls of Derby,
Lauderclale, Rothes, Cleveland and Kelly,
Lords Sinclair, Kenmure and Grandison, and
Generals Leslie, Middleton, Massey and Mont-
gomery, were made prisoners after the battle.
When the king considered himself free from
immediate danger, ho separated, during the
darkness of the night, from the body of cavalry
which surrounded him, and with a party of
60 horse proceeded to Whiteladies, a house
belonging to one Giffard a recusant and royalist,
at which ho arrived at an early hour in the
morning, after a ride of 25 miles. After a
series of extraordinary adventures and of the
most singtdar hair-breadth escapes, he landed
in safety at Fecamp in Normandy, on the 17th
of October.

While Cromwell was following the king
through England, Monk proceeded to complete
the subjugation of Scotland. He first laid
siege to Stirling castle, into which he threw
shells from batteries he had raised, the ex-
plosion of which so alarmed the Highlanders
who composed the garrison, that they forced
the governor to surrender. All the records of
the kingdom, the royal robes, and part of the
regalia, which had been locked up in the castle
as a place of perfect security, fell into the
hands of the captors, and were sent by Monk
to England. He next proceeded to Dundee,
which was strongly fortified and well gar-
risoned, and contained within it an immense
quantity of costly furniture and plate, besides
a large sum of money, all of which had been
lodged in the town for safety. Monk, hearing
that the Committees of the Estates and of the
kirk were sitting at Alyth in Angus, sent a
company of horse, who surprised the whole
party and made them prisoners.

When the necessary preparations for an
assault had been completed, Monk sent a sum-
mons to Lumsden, the governor of Dundee, to
surrender, but he rejected it with disdain.
The obstinacy of Lumsden exasperated Monk,
who ordered his troops to storm the town, and
to put the garrison and all the inhabitants,
without regard to age or sex, to the sword.
The town was accordingly carried by assault
on the 1st of September, and was followed by
all the horrors which an infuriated soldiery
could inflict upon a defenceless population.

The townsmen gave no aid to the garrison, and
when the republican troops entered the town,
they found the greater part of them lying
drunk in the streets. The carnage was stayed,
but not until 800 males, including the greater
part of the garrison, and about 200 women
and children, were killed. Among the slain,
was Lumsden the governor, who, although he
had quarter given him by Captain Kelly, was
nevertheless shot dead by Major Butler as
Kelly was conducting Mm along the street to
Monk. Besides the immense booty which
was in the town, about 60 ships which were
in the harbour of Dundee with their cargoes,
fell into the hands of the English. l

The capture of Dundee was immediately
followed by the voluntary surrender of St.
Andrews, Montrose and Aberdeen. Some of
the Committee of Estates who had been absent
from Alyth, held a meeting at Inverury, to
deliberate on the state of matters, at which the
Marquis of Huutly presided, and at which a
motion was made, to invest him with full
authority to act in the absence of the king,
but the meeting broke up on hearing of
Monk's approach. The committee retired
across the Spey, but Huntly went to Strath-
don along with his forces. Monk did not
proceed farther north than Aberdeen at this
time.

The Marquis of Argyle, who had given great
offence to Cromwell, by his double dealing,
seeing now no chance of opposing successfully
the republican arms, made an attempt at
negotiation, and sent a letter by a trumpeter
to Monk, proposing a meeting at some con-
venient place, " as a means to stop the shedding
of more Christian blood." The only answer
which Monk gave to the messenger, who
arrived at Dundee on the 19th of October,
was, that he could not treat without orders
from the parliament of England. This refusal
on the part of Monk to negotiate, was a sore
disappointment to Argyle, as it disappointed
the hopes he entertained of getting the English
government to acknowledge a debt which he
claimed from them. 2

Monk now turned his whole attention to

1 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 315. Echard, p. 698.
5 Heath, pp. 304, 308, 310, 313. Whitelock, pp.
514, 534, 543.

OPERATIONS OF MONK IN SCOTLAND.

291

the state of matters in the North, where
some forces were still on foot, under the
command of the Marquis of Himtly and Lord
Balcarras. "With the former he concluded an
agreement on the 21st of November, under
which Huntly consented to disband his men ;
and on the 3d of December, a similar treaty
was entered into between Balcarras and Colo-
nels Overton and Lilburn. Shortly after the
English army crossed the Spey and entered
Inverness, where they planted a garrison; so
that before the end of the year, the whole of
the Lowlands and a part of the Highlands had
submitted to the arms of the republic.3 To
complete the destruction of the independence
of Scotland, a destruction accomplished less
by the power of her enemy than by the per-
versity of her sons, and to reduce it to a
province of England, the English army was
augmented to 20,000 men, and citadels erected
in several towns, and a long chain of military
stations drawn across the country to curb the
inhabitants. All the crown lands were declared
public property by the English parliament, and
the estates of all persons who had -joined in
the English invasions, under the king and the
Duke of Hamilton, were confiscated by the
same authority. A proclamation was issued,
abolishing all authority not derived from the
English parliament : all persons holding public
appointments, whose fidelity to the new order
of things was suspected, were dismissed, and
their places supplied by others of more subser-
vient principles; the supreme courts of justice
were abolished, and English judges appointed
to discharge the judicial functions, aided by a
few natives. 4

As several bodies of Highlanders still re-
mained under arms in the interior of the High-
lands, Monk directed three distinct parties to
cross the mountains, simultaneously, in the
summer of 1652. While Colonel Lilburn
advanced from Inverness towards Lochaber on
one side, General Dean led his troops from
Perth in the same direction on the other, and
Colonel Overton landed in Kintyre with a
force from Ayr. But they were all obliged

1 Balfour, vol. iv. p. 345. Gordon's Continuation,
p. 561.

4 Whitcloclc, pp. 528, 542. Leicester's Journal, p.
120. Journals, NOT. 19.

speedily to retrace their steps, amid the jeers
and laughter of the Highlanders. 5

The administration of the affairs of Scotland
was committed to Monk, than whom a more
prudent person, and one better calculated to
disarm the indignant feelings of the Scots at
their national degradation, could not have
been selected. But as it was evident that
order could not be restored, or obedience en-
forced, as long as the clergy were allowed to
continue their impertinent meddling in state af-
fairs, he prohibited the meetings of the General
Assembly, and, in one instance, dispersed that
body by a military force. In doing so, it was
afterwards admitted by some of the clergy
themselves, that he had acted wisely, as the
shutting up of the assembly tended greatly to
allay those fierce contentions between the pro-
testers and resolutioners, which, for several
years, distracted the nation, and made them
attend more to the spiritual concerns of their
flocks." The spirit of dissension was not,

* Alluding to Lilburn's expedition, Balfour snys,
"The Frassers came in to them, and condiscendit to
pay them cesse ; bot Glengarey stood out, and in effecte
the heighlandmen fooled them home againe to the
lowlandes ; some with faire wordes ; others stoode to
ther defence; and the Inglishe finding nothing
amongest them save hunger and strokes, were glad,
(ther bisquet and cheesse being all spent, and ther
clothes worne, with ther horsses out-tyred,) to returnc,
cursing the heighlandes, to ther winter quarters."
He says that General Dean "lost some few men and
horsses in viewing of the heighlanders. " But Overton
enconntered the greatest danger; for, says the same
writer, "If my Lord Marquesse of Argyle had not
protected him, he and all that wes with him had
gottin ther throttes cutte. So, weill laughin at by
the heighlanders, he wes forced to returne with penurey
aneuche, werey glade all of them that ther lives were
saved."— Vol. iv. pp. 349-50.

8 "And I verily believe there were more souls con-
verted to Christ in that short period of time, than in
any season since the Reformation, though of treeple
its duration. Nor was there ever greater purity and
plenty of the means of grace than was in their time.
Ministers were painful, people were diligent ; and if a
man hade seen one of their solemn communions, where
many congregations mett in great multitudes, some
dozen of Ministers used to preach, and the people
continued, as it were, in a sort of trance, (so serious
were they in spiritual exercises,) for three days at
least, he would have thought it a solemnity unknown
to the rest of the world. " — Kirklon.

" It is not to be forgotten, that from the year 1652
to the year 1660, there was great good done by the
preaching of the Gospell in the west of Scotland, more
than was observed to have been for twenty or thirty
years before; a great many brought in to Christ Jesus
by a saving work of conversion, which occasioned
through ministers preaching nothing all that tynie
but the gospell, and had left off to preach up parlia-
ments, armies, leagues, resolutions, and remonstrances

5-92

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

however, confined to the clergy, but extended
its withering influence to many of the laity,
who, to gratify their revenge, accused one
another of the most atrocious crimes before the
newly constituted tribunal. The English
judges were called to decide upon numerous
acts alleged to have been committed twenty or
thirty years before, of which no proofs were
offered, but extorted confessions in the kirk,
and no less than sixty persons were brought
before them accused of witchcraft, who had
been tortured into an admission of its practices.
All these cases were dismissed, and the new
judges administered the laws throughout with
an equity and moderation which was almost
unknown before in Scotland, and which formed
a singular contrast with the disregard of justice,
and the extreme violence which had of late
disgraced the Scottish tribunals.

With a short interruption, occasioned by an
insurrection, under the Earl of Glencairn, in

William, Ninth Earl of Glencairn.

the Highlands, Scotland now enjoyed tranquil-
lity till the restoration of Charles II., and

winch was much in use before, from the year 1633 till
that time 52, which occasioned a great number of
hypocrytes in the church, who, out of hope of prefer-
n.ent, honour, riches, and worldly credit, took on the
forme of godliness, but wanted the power of it." —
' Memorials.

comparative prosperity and happiness, a com-
pensation in some degree for the loss of hci
liberties. The interruption alluded to took
place in the year 1653, on the departure of
Monk from Scotland to take the command of
the English fleet.

In the month of August, 1653, a meeting
was held at Lochearn, which was attended by
Glencairn, the Earl of Athole, Lord Lorn,
eldest son of the Marquis of Argyle, Glengarry,
Lochiel, Graham of Duchiay, Donald Mac-
gregor tutor of Macgregor, Farquharson of
Inverey, Robertson of Strowan, Macnaughton
of Macnaughton, and Colonel Blackadder of
Tullyallan. At this meeting, which continued
several days, it was ultimately agreed that the
persons present should assemble their vassals
and dependents with as little delay as possible,
and place themselves under the command of
Glencairn, who was to wait in the neighbour-
hood of Lochearn till the different parties
should collect and bring together their respec-
tive forces. Six weeks were, however, allowed
to expire before any assemblage took place,
during all which time Glencairn roamed through
the neighbouring mountains, attended only by
one companion and three servants. The first
who made his appearance was Graham of
Duchray, at the head of 40 men. He was
followed, in two or three days, by the tutor
of Macgregor, and 80 of that clan. With
this force he went to Duchray house, in Stir-
lingshire, near Loch Ard, where he was joined
by Lord Kenmure, and about 40 horsemen,
and by Colonel Blackadder, with 30 more
from Fife. The Laird of Macnaughton also
arrived with 12 horse, and a party of be-
tween 60 and 80 lowlanders, under the com-
mand of Captain Hamilton, brother to the
laird of Milntown. The earl's force thus
amounted to nearly 300 men.

On hearing of the assemblage of this body,
Colonel Kidd, the governor of Stirling castle,
at the head of the greater part of a regiment
of foot, and a troop of horse, marched towards
Aberfoyle, which was within three miles of
Glencairn's camp; but having received notice
of his approach, the carl took care to secure
the adjoining pass. He posted his foot to the
best advantage on both sides, and he drew up
the horse under Lord Kenmure in the centra

EARL OF GLENCAIRN'S INSURRECTION.

293

Although Kidd must have perceived the great
risk ho would run in attempting to carry the
pass, lie nevertheless made the attempt, but
his advance was driven back at the first charge
by the lowlandcrs and Duchray's men, with
whom they first came in contact, with the loss
of about 60 men. The whole of Kidd's
party, thereupon, turned their backs and
fled. They were hotly pursued by Glen-
cairn's horse and foot, who killed about 80 of
them.

The news of Kidd's defeat, trifling as it was,
raised the hopes of the royalists, and small
parties of Highlanders flocked daily to Glen-
cairn's standard. Leaving Aberfoyle, he
marched to Lochearn, and thence to Loch
Rannoch, where he was met by several of the
clans. Glengarry brought 300, Lochiel 400,
and Macgregor about 200 men. The Earl of
Athole appeared at the head of 100 horse, and
brought also a regiment of foot, consisting of
about 1,200 men, commanded by Andrew
Drummond, brother to Sir James Drummond
of Mechaney, as his lieutenant-colonel. Sir
Arthur Forbes and some officers, with about
80 horsemen, also joined the royal army.

Having despatched some officers to the low-
lands, with instructions to raise forces, Glen-
cairn marched north to join Farquharson of
Invercy, who was raising a regiment in Cromar.
In the course of his march, several gentlemen
of the adjoining country joined him. Morgan,
the English general, who was lying at the time
in Aberdeen, being apprised of Farquharson's
movements, collected a force of 2,000 foot and
1,000 horse, with wliich he advanced, by forced
marches, towards Cromar, and a brisk attack
iipon the outposts of Glencairn's army was the
first intelligence they received of Morgan's ap-
proach. In the situation in which Glencairn
thus found himself unexpectedly placed, he
had no remedy but an immediate retreat through
a long and narrow glen leading to the forest of
Abernethy, which he was enabled to reach
chiefly by the bravery of Graham of Duchray,
who, at the head of a resolute party of 40
men, kept in check a body of the enemy who
had entered the glen before the royalists, and
prevented them from securing the passes.
Morgan pursued the fugitives through the glen
very closely, and did not desist till prevented

by the darkness of the night. He thereafter
returned to Aberdeen.

Glencairn passed about five weeks in Croniar
and Badenoch, waiting for additional rein-
forcements; and as Lord Lorn had not yet
joined him, he despatched Lord Kenmure with
100 horse into Argyleshire to urge him to hurry
forward the levies in that quarter. Lorn soon
arrived in Badenoch with 1,000 foot and about
50 horse; but he had not remained above a
fortnight in the field when, on some pretence
or other, he (January 1st, 1654) clandestinely
left the army, and carried off his men along
with him, taking the direction of Ruthven
castle, which was then garrisoned by English
troops. Glencairn was greatly exasperated at
Lorn's defection, and sent a party of horse,
under the command of Glengarry and Lochiel,
with instructions either to bring him and liis
men back to the army, or, in case of refusal,
to attack them. Glengarry followed the
Campbells so hard that he came up with them
within half a mile of the castle. Lord Lorn
escaped, and was followed by his horse, of
whom about 20 were brought back by a party
sent in pursuit by Glengarry; the foot halted
on a hill, and offered to return to the camp.
Glengarry, who had had a great antipathy to
the whole race of the Campbells ever since
Montrose's wars, would, contrary to his in-
structions, have attacked them; but Glencairn
fortunately arrived in time to prevent blood-
shed, and having ordered Graham of Duchray
to acquaint them that he could not receive any
proposals from them with arms in their hands,
they delivered them up. Glencairn, along
with some officers, then rode up to them, and
having addressed them on the impropriety of
their conduct, they all declared their willing-
ness to serve the king and to obey him as their
commander, a declaration which both officers
and men confirmed with an oath. Their arms
were then restored to them, but they all de-
serted within a fortnight. 7

About this tune Glencairn was joined by a
small party of English royalists, under Colonel
"VVogan, an enterprising officer, who had landed
at Dover, and having raised a body of volun-

" Graham of Deuchrie's Account of Glencaim's Ex-
pedition.

294

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

teers in London, traversed England under the
tenners of the commonwealth, and entered
Scotland by Carlisle.

Notwithstanding the desertion of the Camp-
bells, Glencairn's army was so increased by
daily accessions of force that he considered
himself in a condition to cope with the enemy,
and, by the advice of his officers, resolved to
descend into Aberdeenshire, and beat up the
quarters of the English. Another reason
which urged him to leave the Highlands was a
scarcity of provisions in the districts which
had been occupied by his army, and which
could no longer afford to support such a large
body of men. Descending by Balveny, he
took up his quarters at Whitelums, near the
castle of Kildrummie, belonging to the Earl of
Mar, then garrisoned by the English. After
lying about a fortnight at Whitelums unmo-
lested, Glencairn raised his camp, and marching
into Morayshire, took possession of Elgin,
where he established his head quarters. Here
ho was joined by the Marquis of Montrose,
Lord Forrester, and some country gentlemen.

After spending a month at Elgin, where,
according to Graham of Duchray's narrative,
the army had " very good quarters, and where
they made themselves merry," the earl received
letters from General Middleton, who had some
time before made his escape from the tower of
London, where he had been imprisoned after
the battle of Worcester, announcing his arrival
in Sutherland, with a commission from the
king, appointing him generalissimo of all the
royal forces in Scotland. Some dissensions
had existed among the royalists respecting the
chief command of the army, which had been
finally conceded to Glencairn; but neither he
nor the nobility who were with him, were pre-
pared to expect that the king would have ap-
pointed, to such an important charge, a man
so much their inferior in station as Middleton.
The intelligence was accordingly received with
discontent; but, as the king's commission could
not, without serious injury to the royal cause,
be disputed, in the present juncture they
stilled their displeasure, and Glencairn, in
terms of the instructions he had received from
Middleton to march north, put his army in
motion. Morgan, the English commander,
having drawn together a body of troops, fol-

lowed Glencairn, between whose rear and Mor-
gan's advanced guard many warm skirmishes
took place.

Glencairn and his men crossed the river
Ness, eight miles above Inverness. The earl
having placed guards along the nortl'ern bank
of the river to watch the approach of the
enemy, hastened to Dornoch to meet Middle-
ton. In a few days a grand muster of the
anny took place, when it was found to amount
to 3,500 foot, and 1,500 horse. Glencairn
then resigned the command to Middleton, in
presence of the army, and, riding along the
lines, acquainted the troops that he was no
longer their general, and expressed a hope that
they would find themselves happy in serving
under such a commander as Middleton. The
troops expressed great dissatisfaction at this
announcement by their looks, and some, "both
officers and soldiers, shed tears, and vowed
that they would serve with their old general
in any corner of the world."8

After the review, the earl gave a sumptuous
entertainment to Middleton and the principal
officers of the army, at which an occurrence
took place which soured the temper of the offi-
cers, and sowed the seeds of new divisions in
the camp. On the cloth being removed, Glen-
cairn proposed the health of the commander-
in-chief, whom he thus addressed : — " My lord
general, you see what a gallant army these
worthy gentlemen here present and I have
gathered together, at a time when it could
hardly be expected that any number durst meet
together: these men have come out to serve his
majesty, at the hazard of their lives and all that
is dear to them : I hope, therefore, you will give
them all the encouragement to do their duty
that lies in your power." Scarcely had these
words been uttered when Sir George Munro,
who had come over with Middleton from France
to act as his lieutenant-general, started up from
liis seat, and addressing himself to the earl,
swore by G — that the men he had that day
seen were nothing but a number of thieves and
robbers, and that ere long he would bring a
very different set of men into the field. These
imprudent observations called up Glengarry, but
he was restrained by Glencairn, who said that

8 Graham.

GLENCAIRN WITHDRAWS FROM THE ARMY.

295

lie was more concerned in the affront put upon
the army by Munro than he was, and, turning
to Munro, he thus addressed him: — "You,
Sir, are a base liar ; for they are neither thieves
nor robbers, but bravo gentlemen and good
soldiers." A meeting took place in conse-
quence early next morning between Glencairn
and Munro, about two miles to the south of
Dornoch, when the latter was severely wounded.
The parties then returned to head-quarters,
when Glencairn was put under arrest in his
chamber, by orders of Middleton, and his
sword taken from him.

The partiality thus shown to Munro, who
was the aggressor, and who had sent the chal-
lenge to Glencairn, was exceedingly mortifying
to the earl, which being followed by another
affair which soon took place, and in which the
same partiality was displayed, made him resolve
to retire from the army. The occurrence was
this : — A dispute having taken place on the
merits of the recent quarrel between a Captain
Livingston, a friend of Munro, and a gentleman
of the name of Lindsay, who had accompanied
Lord Napier from the continent, in which
Livingston maintained that Munro had acted
properly, and the contrary insisted upon by
Lindsay ; mutual challenges were given, and
the parties met on the links of Dornoch to
decide the dispute by the sword. Lindsay,
being a superior swordsman, run Livingston
through the heart at the first thrust, and he
expired immediately. Lindsay was immedi-
ately apprehended, and although Glencairn,
backed by other officers, used every exertion to
save him, he was brought to trial before a court-
martial, by order of Middleton, and condemned
to be shot at the cross of Dornoch, a sentence
which was carried into execution the same day.

These unfortunate disputes divided the offi-
cers of the army into two parties, and afforded
but a sorry prognostic of the prospects of the
royalists. Glencairn, no longer able to curb
his displeasure, slipped off about a fortnight
after Lindsay's death, with his own troop of
horse, and a few gentlemen volunteers — 100
horse in all — and took the direction of Assynt.
The laird of Assynt, who had betrayed Mon-
trose, on the arrival of Glencairn's party on
Ms lands, offered to assist him to secure the
passes, so as to prevent him from being over-

taken that night, of which offer Glencairn,
though distrustful of Macleod, agreed to accept.
Middleton indeed sent a party in pursuit, but
they did not come up with Glencairn, who
reached Kintail the following day, where he
was well received by the Earl of Seaforth's
people. He remained there a few days, and
afterwards traversed the Highlands till he
arrived at Killin, at the head of Loch Tay,
where he was successively joined by Sir George
Maxwell, the Earl of Selkirk, and Lord For-
rester, each of whom brought a small party of
horse along with him, by which additions
his force was increased to 400 horsemen. The
earl now appears, for the first time, to have
seen the impropriety of his conduct in with-
drawing from the army ; but as he could not
endure the idea of returning himself, he endea-
voured to make some reparation by sending
this body north to join Middleton, and sought
a retreat with the laird of Luss at his castle of
Rossdhu, when he despatched some officers to
raise men in the lowlands for the king's service.
In the meantime Monk had returned to
Scotland, and had brought along with him a
strong reinforcement of troops from England,
with which he joined Morgan in the north, and
marched directly into the Highlands in search
of Middleton. It was the intention of the
latter to have remained for some time in the
Highlands, to have collected all the forces
he possibly could, to make occasional descents
upon the lowlands, and by marches and
countermarches to have distracted the enemy ;
but the advance of Monk into the very
bosom of the Highlands, with a large army,
frustrated his design. Middleton soon found
himself sorely pressed by his able adversary,
who brought forward his army in separate
divisions, yet not so isolated as not to be able
to support each other in case of attack. In
an attempt to elude his pursuers, Middleton
was surprised in a defile near Lochgarry, by
one of these divisions under the command of
Morgan. His men were either slain or dis-
persed, and he himself escaped with difficulty.
The chiefs of the insurrection immediately
made their peace with Monk, who treated
them with great lenity.9

• Duchray's Narrative.

29C

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

There was one chief, however, whom Monk
could neither bribe, cajole, nor threaten into
fciibmission ; this was the brave and intractable
Sir Ewen or Evan Cameron of Loeliiel in the
north-west of Argyleshire, now about 25 years
of age. Having been left an orphan, he was
brought up till his 18th year under the care
of the Marquis of Argyle, who, endeavouring
to instil into him the unsavoury principles of
the Covenanters, put him to school at Inverary
under the guardianship of a gentleman of his
own principles. " But young Lochtel preferred
the sports of the field to the labours of the
school," and Argyle finding him totally intrac-
table and utterly disgusted with covenanting
principles, allowed him to return to Lochaber,
to head his clan in the 18th year of his age.
In 1651, Charles II. having Avritten to Lochiel
inviting him and his clan to take arms and
come to the aid of his country and his
sovereign, he, early in spring 1652, was the
first to join Glencairn's expedition.

Monk left no method untried to induce
Lochiel to submit, but, in spite of his |
friends' entreaties, he refused to lay down his
arms. Monk, finding all his attempts useless,
resolved to plant a garrison at Inverlochy, (now
Fort William,) in order to keep the country in
awe and the cliief at home. Lochiel resolved
that Monk should find it no easy matter to
accomplish his task, and took up his station at
Achdalew, 3 miles west of Inverlochy, on the
north side of Loch Eil. He kept spies in and
around the garrison, who informed him of all
that was going on. Lochiel, having been in-
formed that the governor was about to despatch
300 of his men, in two vessels, westward, to
cut down wood and carry off cattle, resolved
that they " should pay well for every tree and
every hide." He had at the time only 38 men
beside him, the rest having been sent off to
secure their cattle and other goods. In spite of
the disparity of numbers, he resolved to watch
and attack the governor's men at a favourable
opportunity.

" The Camerons being some more than 30 in
number, armed partly with musquets, and
partly with bows, kept up their pieces and
arrows till their very muzzles and points almost
touched their enemies' breasts, when the very
first fire took down above 30. They then laid

on with their swords, and laid about with
incredible fury. The English defended them-
selves with their musquets and bayonets witli
great bravery, but to little purpose. The
skirmish continued long and obstinate : at last
the English gave way, and retreated towards
the ship, with their faces to the enemy, fight-
ing with astonishing resolution. But Lochiel,
to prevent their flight, commanded two or three
of his men to run before, and from behind a
bush to make a noise, as if there was another
party of Highlanders to intercept their retreat.
This took so effectually, that they stopped,
and animated by rage, madness, and despair,
they renewed the skirmish with greater fury
than ever, and wanted nothing but propei

FAIE880N-.se,

Sir Ewen Cameron of Loeliiel.— From a rare print in the
collection of W. F. Watson, Esq., Edinburgh.

arms to make Lochiel repent of his stratagem.
They were at last, however, forced to give way,
and betake themselves to their heels; the
Camerons pursued them chin deep in the sea ;
138 were counted dead of the English, and of
the Camerons only 5 were killed.

" In this engagement, Lochiel himself had
several wonderful escapes. In the retreat of
the English, one of the strongest and bravest
of the officers retired behind a bush, when he
observed Lochiel trarsuing, and seeing him

CAMERON OF LOCHIEL.

297

unaccompanied with any, lie leaped out, and
thought him his prey. They met one another
with equal fury. The combat was long, and
doubtful The English gentleman had by
far the advantage in strength and size; but
Lochiel exceeding him in nimbleness and
agility, in the end tript the sword out of his
hand : upon which, his antagonist flew upon
him with amazing rapidity ; they closed, and
wrestled till both fell to the ground in each
other's arms. The English officer got above
Lochiel, and pressed him hard ; but stretching
forth his neck by attempting to disengage
himself, Lochiel, who by this time had his
hands at liberty, with his left hand seized him
by the collar, and jumping at his extended
throat, he bit it with his teeth quite through,
and kept such a hold of his grip, that he
brought away his mouth full ; this, he said,
was the sweetest bite he ever had in his life
time. Immediately afterwards, when continu-
ing the pursuit after that encounter was over,
he found his men chin deep in the sea; he
quickly followed them, and observing a fellow
on deck aiming his piece at him, plunged into
the sea, and escaped, but so narrowly that the
hair on the back part of his head was cut, and
a little of the skin ruffled. In a little while a
similar attempt was made to shoot liim : his
foster-brother threw himself before him, and
received the shot in his mouth and breast,
preferring his chief's life to his own."1

After Lochiel had joined General Middle-
ton, he heard that the governor of Inverlochy,
taking advantage of his absence, was cutting
down the woods and collecting all the pro-
visions he could lay hold of. Middleton
allowed him to return to Lochaber, but with
only 150 men. He soon found that the infor-
mation was quite correct, and in order to
obtain revenge, on the day after his arrival, he
posted his men in different parts of a wood,
about a mile from the garrison, to which the
soldiers resorted every day, to cut down and
bring in wood. Lochiel soon observed upwards
of 400 approaching the wood, and at the most
favourable moment gave his men the signal of
attack. A terrible slaughter ensued among
the governor's men; 100 fell on the spot, and

Pennant's Tour in Scotland, vol. i. pp. 353-355.

the pursuit was carried on to the very walls of
the garrison. The officers were the only
persons who resisted, and not one of them
escaped.

Lochiel, in this manner, continued for a
long time to harass the garrison, frequently
cutting off small detachments, partly by strata-
gem and partly by force, until the garrison
became so wary that they ultimately gave him
few opportunities of pouncing upon them.
Even after Middleton and the other chiefs had
capitulated and come to terms, Lochiel refused
to give in. At last, however, after long
cajoling, the obstinate chief was induced to
come to terms, the Marquis of Argyle becoming
his surety. He was asked simply to give his
word of honour to live in peace, on which
condition, he and his clan were allowed to
keep their arms as before the war broke out.
Eeparation was to be made to Lochiel and his
tenants, for whatever losses they had sustained
from the garrison, and an indemnity was
granted for all past offences. In fact, the
treaty was a very liberal bribe to Lochiel to
be quiet. All that was demanded of Lochiel
was, that he and his clan should lay down
their arms in the name of Charles II., before
the governor of Inverlochy, and take them lip
in the name of the Commonwealth, no mention
being made of the Protector ; promising at the
same time to do his best to make his clan
behave themselves. 2

It would be out of place in a History of the
Highlands to enter into a detailed account of
the general history of Scotland during the
Commonwealth, and of the various intrigues
for the restoration of Charles II. There
appears to have been no events of any impor-
tance during this period in the Highlands,
which at that time were so remote and
inaccessible as to be almost beyond the influ-
ence of the many wise measures introduced
by Cromwell for the government of Scotland,
as well as the by no means beneficial strictness
of the presbyterian clergy. Baillie3 thus sadly
describes the state of some of the noble families
of Scotland about this time : " The country
lies very quiet ; it is exceeding poor ; trade is

8 Pennant's Tour in Scotland, vol. i. Appendix.
* Letters and Journals, vol. iii. p. 387.

2 p

298

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

nought ; the English has all the moneys. Our
noble families are almost gone : Lennox has
little in Scotland unsold; Hamilton's estate,
except Arran and the Baronrio of Hamilton, is
sold; Argyle can pay little annual rent for
seven or eight hundred thousand merks ; and
ho is no more drowned in debt than public
hatred, almost of all, both Scottish and
English; the Gordons are gone ; the Douglasses
little better; Eglintoun and Glencairn on the
brink of breaking ; many of our chief families
estates are cracking ; nor is there any appear-
ance of any human relief for the time. What
is become of the king and his family we do
not know." Nicoll4 writes in the same strain:
" The condition of this nation of Scotland yet
remains sad, by reason of poverty and heavy
burdens." "At the same time," says Dr.
Chambers,5 "that so great poverty prevailed,
there was such a protection to life and pro-
perty as had never before been known. It
was not we believe without cause, that the
famous Colonel Desborough, in a speech in the
House of Commons (March 17th, 1659), made
it a boast for his party, that a man may ride
over all Scotland, with a switch in his hand
and a hundred pounds in his pocket, which he
could not have done these five hundred years."
In some of the letters sent home by the English
soldiery, we get a slight glimpse into the con-
dition of the Highlands at this time, which
shows that the people generally had made but
little advance in civilization. Their houses,
we are told, were built of earth and turf, and
were so low that the horsemen sometimes rode
over them ; the people generally, both men and
women, wore plaids about their middles ; they
were "simple and ignorant in the things of
God," and some of them as brutish as heathens ;
nevertheless "some did hear the English
preachers with great attention and groaning."6
By the tact and management of General
Monk, who gradually detached himself from
the cause of the parliament, and espoused that
of the exiled king, and a few other royalists,
the Long Parliament, now reduced to a
" Rump," after having sat nineteen years and

Quoted in Chambers's Domestic Annals, vol. ii. p.
248.

* Dom. Annals, vol. ii. p. 249.

6 Mem. vol. ii. p. 218. Whitelocke's Memorials.

a half, dissolved itself by its own act, on the
IGth of March, 1660. A new parliament, in
which the cavaliers and moderate presbyterians
had the majority, met on the 25th of April,
and carried out the wishes of the nation, by
inviting his majesty to come and take posses-
sion of his inheritance. The king was not
long in obeying the invitation. He was re-
ceived at Dover by Monk, at the head of the
nobility, whence he proceeded to London,
which he entered on the 29th of May, 1660,
amidst the acclamations of the citizens.

CHAPTEE XVIII. 1

Highland Manners, Customs, &c. — Character of an-
cient Highlanders— Highland Dress — Superstitions
— Kelpies — Urisks — Daoine Shith — Practices in
the Western Islands — Dcis-iuil — Second-sight—
Weddings — Social duties — Courage — Love of Coun-
try — Bards — Highlanders' feeling with regard to
death — Hospitality — Clans — Creachs — Cearnachs
or Catherans — Chiefs — Relation of the Clans to
their Chiefs — Appendix on Highland Dress.

shall take advantage of the breathing-
space afforded us here, before entering upon
the stirring events of the next century, in
which the Highlanders played a most impor-
tant part, to notice such objects connected
with the ancient state of the Highlands, and
the character and condition of the inhabi-
tants in former times, as may be considered
interesting either in a local or national point
of view. It will be seen that our observations
do not apply to the Highlanders of the present
day, as these have lost many of the peculiari-
ties of manners, speech, dress, &c., which
characterized their ancestors. The Highlands
have undergone considerable change during the
last century and a half, and the alteration, in a
social point of view, has been on the whole for
the better. The Highlands now are generally
as accessible as the lowlands; the manners,
speech, and occupations of the inhabitants are
becoming more and more assimilated to those
of their lowland neighbours, and to all appear-

7 For much of the matter in this chapter we must
confess ourselves indebted to General Stewart's admir-
able and interesting Sketches of the Highlanders, a
well-stored repository of information on all points
connected with the ancient manners and customs of
the Highlands.

CHARACTER OF ANCIENT HIGHLANDERS.

209

ance, in a very short time, there will remain
little or nothing to distinguish the Scottish
Celt from the Saxon. Although this change
has hy no means been altogether to the advan-
tage of the Highlander, — although many of the
vices as well as the virtues of civilization have
been forced upon him, still, for the sake of the
community at large, the change cannot be re-
gretted, and it is only to be desired that the
lowlanders in turn may be brought to admire
and imitate the noble virtues of their northern
neighbours, their courage, fidelity, reverence,
self-respect, and love of independence.

The early history of the Highlanders presents
us with a bold and hardy race of men, filled
with a romantic attachment to their native
mountains and glens, cherishing an exalted
spirit of independence, and firmly bound to-
gether in septs or clans by the ties of kindred.
Having little intercourse with the rest of the
world, and pent up for many centuries within
the Grampian range, the Highlanders acquired
a peculiar character, and retained or adopted
habits and manners differing widely from those
of their lowland neighbours. " The ideas and
employments, which their seclusion from the
world rendered habitual, — the familiar con-
templation of the most sublime objects of
nature, — the habit of concentrating their affec-
tions within the narrow precincts of their own
glens, or the limited circle of their own kins-
men,— and the necessity of union and self-
dependence in all difficulties and dangers,
combined to form a peculiar and original
character. A certain romantic sentiment, the
offspring of deep and cherished feeling, strong
attachment to their country and kindred, and
a consequent disdain of submission to strangers,
formed the character of independence; while
an habitual contempt of danger was nourished
by their solitary musings, of which the honour
of their clan, and a long descent from brave
and warlike ancestors, formed the frequent
theme. Thus, their exercises, their amuse-
ments, their modes of subsistence, their mo-
tives of action, their prejudices and their
superstitions, became characteristic, permanent,
and peculiar.

" Firmness and decision, fertility in re-
sources, ardour in friendship, and a generous
enthusiasm, were the result of such a situation,

such modes of life, and such habits of thought
Feeling themselves separated by Nature from
the rest of mankind, and distinguished by
their language, their habits, their manners,
and their dress, they considered themselves
the original possessors of the country, and re-
garded the Saxons of the Lowlands as strangers
and intruders."7

Like their Celtic ancestors, the Highlanders
were tall, robust, and well formed. Early
marriages were unknown among them, and it
was rare for a female who was of a puny sta-
ture and delicate constitution to be honoured
with a husband. The following observations
of Martin on the inhabitants of some of the
western islands may be generally applied to
the Highlanders : — " They are not obliged to
art in forming their bodies, for Nature never
fails to act her part bountifully to them ; per-
haps there is no part of the habitable globo
where so few bodily imperfections are to bo
seen, nor any children that go more early. I
have observed several of them walk alone
before they were ten months old: they are
bathed all over every morning and evening,
some in cold, some in warm water; but the
latter is most commonly used, and they wear
nothing strait about them. The mother gener-
ally suckles the child, failing of which, a nurse
is provided, for they seldom bring up any by
hand : they give new born infants fresh buttei
to take away the mcconium, and this they do
for several days ; they taste neither sugar, nor
cinnamon, nor have they any daily allowance
of sack bestowed on them, as the custom is
elsewhere, nor is the nurse allowed to taste ale.
The generality wear neither shoes nor stockings
before they are seven, eight, or ten years old;
and many among them wear no nightcaps be-
fore they are sixteen years old, and upwards;
some use none all their life-time, and these are
not so liable to headaches as others who keep
their heads warm."8

As a proof of the indifference of the High
landers to cold, reference has been made to
their often sleeping in the open air during the
severity of winter. Burt, who resided among
them and wrote in the year 1725, relates that
he has seen the places which they occupied,

7 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. pp. 7, 8.
* Martin's Western Islands, 2d edit. pp. 19 1. 195.

300

GENEEAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

and which were known by being free from the
snow that deeply covered the ground, except
where the heat of their bodies had melted it.
The same writer represents a chief as giving
offence to his clan by his degeneracy in forming
the snow into a pillow before he lay down.
" The Highlanders were so accustomed to sleep
in the open air, that the want of shelter was of
little consequence to them. It was usual be-
fore they lay down to dip their plaids in water,
by which the cloth was less pervious to the
wind, and the heat of their bodies produced a
warmth, which the woollen, if dry, could not
afford. An old man informed me, that a
favourite place of repose was under a cover of
thick overhanging heath. The Highlanders,
in 1745, could scarcely be prevailed on to use
tents. It is not long since those who fre-
quented Lawrence fair, St. Sair's, and other
markets in the Garioch of Aberdeenshire, gave
up the practice of sleeping in the open fields.
The horses being on these occasions left to
shift for themselves, the inhabitants no longer
have their crop spoiled, by their ' uptlirongh
neighbours,' with whom they had often bloody
contentions, in consequence of these uncere-
monious visits."9

As to the antiquity of the picturesque High-
land costume, there has been considerable dis-
cussion. Till of late years the general opinion
was that the plaid, philibeg, and bonnet, formed
the ancient garb of the Highlanders, but some
writers have maintained that the philibeg is of
modern invention, and that the truis, which
consisted of breeches and stockings in one
piece, and made to fit close to the limbs, was
the old costume. That the truis is very
ancient in the Highlands is probable, but it
was chiefly confined to the higher classes, who
always used it when travelling on horseback
At p. 4 of this volume, fig. 2 shows a very
early form of Highland costume; and although
rude, it bears a strong resemblance to the more
modern belted plaid. In an appendix to this
chapter will be found a collection of extracts
from various writers, reaching back to a very
early period, and containing allusions to the
peculiar form and pattern of the Highland
dress, proving that, in its simple form, it lays

8 Logan, vol. i. pp. 404, 405.

claim to considerable antiquity. For these
extracts we are indebted to the admirable pub-
lication of the lona club, entitled Collectanea
de rebus Albanids.

The following is a description of the various
parts of the Highland costume : — The Breacan-
feile, literally, the variegated or chequered
covering, is the original garb of the Highland-
ers, and forms the chief part of the costume ;
but it is now almost laid aside in its simple
form. It consisted of a plain piece of tartan
from four to six yards in length, and two yards
broad. The plaid was adjusted with much
nicety, and made to surround the waist in great
plaits or folds, and was firmly bound round
the loins with a leathern belt in such a manner
that the lower side fell down to the middle of
the knee joint, and then, while there were
the foldings behind, the cloth was double
before. The upper part was then fastened on
the left shoulder with a large brooch or pin,
so as to display to the most advantage the
tastefulness of the arrangement, the two ends
being sometimes suffered to hang down ; but
that on the right side, which was necessarily
the longest, was more usually tucked under the
belt. In battle, in travelling, and on other
occasions, this added much to the commodi-
ousness and grace of the costume. By this
arrangement, the right arm of the wearer was
left uncovered and at full liberty ; but in wet
or very cold weather the plaid was thrown
loose, by which both body and shoulders were
covered. To give free exercise for both arms
in case of need, the plaid was fastened across
the breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular
brooch, often enriched with precious stones, or
imitations of them, having inottos engraved,
consisting of allegorical and figurative sen-
tences.1 Macculloch, we think, in his jaunty
off-hand way, has very happily conjectured
what is likely to have been the origin of this
part of Highland dress. " It does not seem
very difficult," he says,2 "to trace the origin
of the belted plaid ; the true and characteristic
dress from which the other modifications have
been derived. It is precisely, as has been
often said, the expedient of a savage, unable

1 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 74.
- Hif/Mands, vol. i. p. 180.

HIGHLAND DRESS.

301

or unwilling to convert the web of cloth whicl
he had procured, into a more convenient shape
Rolling one extremity round his body, the
remainder was thrown over his shoulder, to be
used as occasion should require, in covering
the rest of his person." It indeed appears
to be a well authenticated fact that the Idlt
or pliiliberj, as distinct from the belted plaid,
is a comparatively modern article of dress
in the Highlands, having been the invention
of an Englishman who, while superintend
ing some works in Lochaber about 1728,
induced his workmen to separate that part of
the ancient garment which came over the
shoulder, and which encumbered their move-
ments, from the part which surrounded the
loins, retaining only the latter.

As the breacan was without pockets, a purse,
called sporan by the Highlanders, was fastened
or tied in front, and was made of goats' or
badgers' skin, sometimes of leather, and was
neither so large nor so gaudy as that now in
use. People of rank or condition ornamented
their purses sometimes with a silver mouth-
piece, and fixed the tassels and other appen-
dages with silver fastenings ; but in general
the mouthpieces were of brass, and the cords
employed were of leather neatly interwoven.
The sporan was divided into several compart-
ments. One of these was used for holding a
watch, another money, &c. The Highlanders
even carried their shot in the sporan occasion-
ally, but for this purpose they commonly car-
ried a wallet at the right side, in which they
also stowed when travelling, a quantity of
meal and other provisions. This military knap-
sack was called dorlach by the Highlanders.

The use of stockings and shoes is compara-
tively of recent date among the Highlanders.
Originally they encased their feet in a piece of
untanned hide, cut to the shape and size of the
foot, and drawn close together with leather
thongs, a practice which is observed even at
the present day by the descendants of the
Scandinavian settlers in the Shetland islands,
where they are called rivdins; but this mode
of covering the feet was far from being gen-
eral, as the greater part of the population went
barefooted. Such was the state of the High-
landers who fought at Killiecrankie; and Burt,
who wrote in the early part of the 18th century,

says that he visited a well-educated and polite
Laird, in the north, who wore neither shoes
nor stockings, nor had any covering for his
feet. A modern writer observes, that when
the Highland regiments were embodied during
the French and American wars, hundreds of
the men were brought down without either
stockings or shoes.

The stockings, which were originally of the
same pattern with the plaid, were not knitted,
but were cut out of the web, as is still done in
the case of those worn by the common soldiers
in the Highland regiments; but a great variety
of fancy patterns are now in use. The garters
were of rich colours, and broad, and were
wrought in a small loom, which is now almost
laid aside. Their texture was very close,
which prevented them from wrinkling, and
displayed the pattern to its full extent. On
the occasion of an anniversary cavalcade, on
Michaelmas day, by the inhabitants of the
island of North Uist, when persons of all ranks
and of both sexes appeared on horseback, the
women, in return for presents of knives and
purses given them by the men, presented the
latter "with a pair of fine garters of divers
colours."7

The bonnet, of which there were various
patterns, completed the national garb, and
those who could afford had also, as essential
accompaniments, a dirk, with a knife and fork
stuck in the side of the sheath, and sometimes
a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols.

The garb, however, differed materially in
quality and in ornamental display, according
to the rank or ability of the wearer. The
short coat and waistcoat worn by the wealthy,
were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, em-
broidery, or lace, according to the taste of the
wearer or fashion of the times, and even
' among the better and more provident of the
ower ranks," as General Stewart remarks,
silver buttons were frequently found, which
lad come down to them as an inheritance of
ong descent. The same author observes, that
lie reason for wearing these buttons, which
were of a largo size and of solid silver, was,
hat their value might defray the expense of a
leceut funeral in the event of the wearer falling

7 Martin's Western Islands, 2<1 edit. p. SO.

302

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

in battle, or dying in a strange country and at
a distance from his friends. The officers of
Mackay's and Munroe's Highland regiments,
who served under Gustavus Adolphus in the
wars of 1626 and 1638, in addition to rich
buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck, to
secure the owner, in case of being wounded or
taken prisoner, good treatment, or as payment
for future ransom.8

Although shoe buckles now form a part of
the Highland costume, they were unknown in
the Highlands 150 years ago. The ancient
Highlanders did not wear neckcloths. Their
shirts were of woollen cloth, and as linen was
long expensive, a considerable time elapsed
before linen shirts came into general use. We
have heard an old and intelligent Highlander
remark, that rheumatism was almost, if not
wholly, unknown in the Highlands until the
introduction of linen shirts.

It is observed by General Stewart, that
" among the circumstances which influenced
the military character of the Highlanders, their
peculiar garb was conspicuous, which, by its
freedom and lightness, enabled them to use
their limbs, and to handle their arms with ease
and celerity, and to move with great speed
when employed with either cavalry or light
infantry. In the wars of Gustavus Adolphus,
in the civil wars of Charles I., and on various
other occasions, they were often mixed with
the cavalry, affording to detached squadrons
the incalculable advantage of support from
infantry, even in their most rapid movements."
" I observed," says the author of ' Memoirs of
a Cavalier,' speaking of the Scots army in
1640, "I observed that these parties had
always some foot with them, and yet if the
horses galloped or pushed on ever so forward,
the foot were as forward as they, which was
an extraordinary advantage. These were those
they call Highlanders ; they would run on foot
with all their arms, and all their accoutrements,
and kept very good order too, and kept pace
with the horses, let them go at what rate they
would."

The dress of the women seems to require
some little notice. Till marriage, or till they
arrived at a certain age, they went with the

' Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 78.

head bare, the hair being tied with bandages
or some slight ornament, after which they
wore a head-dress, called the curch, made of
linen, which was tied under the chin; but
when a young woman lost her virtue and
character she was obliged to wear a cap, and
never afterwards to appear bare-headed. Mar-
tin's observations on the dress of the females
of the western islands may be taken as giving
a pretty correct idea of that worn by those of
the Highlands. " The women wore sleeves of
scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men's vests,
with gold lace round them, having plate but-
tons set with fine stones. The head-dress was
a fine kerchief of linen, strait about the head.
The plaid was tied before on the breast, with
a buckle of silver or brass, according to the
quality of the person. I have seen some of
the former of one hundred merks value; the
whole curiously engraved with various animals.
There was a lesser buckle which was worn in
the middle of the larger. It had in the centre
a large piece of crystal, or some finer stone, of
a lesser size." The plaid, which, with the ex
ception of a few stripes of red, black, or blue,
was white, reached from the neck almost to
the feet; it was plaited, and was tied round
the waist by a belt of leather, studded with
small pieces of silver.

The antiquity of the tartan has been called
in question by several writers, who have main-
tained that it is of modern invention ; but
they have given no proofs in support of their
assertion. In the appendix to this chapter it
will be seen that, as far back as the years 1538
and 1597, mention is made of this species of
cloth ; and in the account of charge and dis-
charge of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer
to King James III. in 1471, the following
entries occur : —

"An elne and ane halve of blue tartane

to lyne his gowne of cloth of gold, £1 10 6

" Four elne and ane halve of tartane for a
sparwurt abun his credill, price ane
cine, 10s., 250

" Halve ane elne of duble tartane to lyne
collars to her lady the Quene, price
8 shillings."

It is not at all improbable that Joseph's
well-known " coat of many colours" may havs
been somewhat of the same nature as tartan •

SUPERSTITIONS— KELPIES— URISKS.

303

and the writer of the article TARTAN in Cham-
lers's Encyclopedia says, "this is probably
the oldest pattern ever woven; at all events
the so- called shepherd's plaid of Scotland is
known to have a very remote antiquity amongst
the eastern nations of the world." It has been
proved by Logan, from Diodorus, Pliny, and
other ancient writers, that variegated cloth was
in common use for purposes of dress among
the continental Celts.

When the great improvements in the pro-
cess of dyeing by means of chemistry are
considered, it will appear surprising, that with-
out any knowledge of this art, and without
the substances now employed, the Highlanders
should have been able, from the scanty materials
which their country afforded, to produce the
beautiful and lasting colours which distinguish
the old Highland tartan, some specimens of
which, are understood still to exist, and which
retain much of their original brilliancy of
colouring. " In dyeing and arranging the
various colours of their tartans, they displayed
no small art and taste, preserving at the same
time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they
were called) of the different clans, tribes, fami-
lies, and districts. Thus, a Macdonald, a
Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c., was known by
his plaid ; and, in like manner, the Athole,
Glenorchy, and other colours of different dis-
tricts, were easily distinguishable. Besides
those general divisions, industrious housewives
had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior
quality, and fineness of cloth, or brightness
and variety of the colours. In those times,
when mutual attachment and confidence sub-
sisted between the proprietors and occupiers of
land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants,
except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred;
and, consequently, it was easy to preserve and
perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even
among the lower orders."9

The Highlanders, in common with most
other nations, were much addicted to supersti-
tion. The peculiar aspect of their country, in
which nature appears in its wildest and most
romantic features, exhibiting at a glance sharp
and ragged mountains, with dreary wastes —
wide-stretched lakes, and rapid torrents, over

9 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 78.

which the thunders and lightnings, and tem-
pests, and rains, of heaven, exhaust their
terrific rage, wrought upon the creative powers
of the imagination, and from those appearances,
the Highlanders " were naturally led to ascribe
every disaster to the influence of superior
powers, in whose character the predominating
feature necessarily was malignity towards the
human race."1

The most dangerous and most malignant
creature was the kelpie, or water-horse, which
was supposed to allure women and children
to his subaqueous haunts, and there devour
them. Sometimes he would swell the lake or
torrent beyond its usual limits, and overwhelm
the unguarded traveller in the flood. The
shepherd, as he sat upon the brow of a rock in
a summer's evening, often fancied he saw this
animal dashing along the surface of the lake,
or browsing on the pasture-ground upon its
verge.

The urisJcs, who were supposed to be of a
condition somewhat intermediate between that
of mortal men and spirits, "were a sort of
luVbary supernaturals, who, like the brownies
of England, could be gained over by kind
attentions to perform the drudgery of the farm;
and it was believed that many families in the
Highlands had one of the order attached to
it."2 The urisks were supposed to live dis-
persed over the Highlands, each having his
own wild recess ; but they were said to hold
stated assemblies in the celebrated cave called
Coire-nan-Uriskin, situated near the base of
Ben- Venue, in Aberfoyle, on its northern
shoulder. It overhangs Loch Katrine "in
solemn grandeur," and is beautifully and faith-
fully described by Sir Walter Scott. 3

1 Graham's Sketches of Perthshire. * Idem.

s " It was a wild and strange retreat,
As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet.
The dell, upon the mountain's crest,
Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast j
Its trench had staid full many a rock,
Hurl'd by primeval earthquake shock
From Ben-Venue's grey summit wild,
And here, in random ruin piled,
They frowned incumbent o er the spot,
And formed the rugged sylvan grot.
The oak and birch, with mingled shade,
At noontide there a twilight made,
Unless where short and sudden shono
From straggling beam on cliff or stone,
With such a glimpse as prophet's eye ;
Gains on thy depth, Futurity

301

GENEKAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS,

The urisJcs, though generally inclined to
mischief, were supposed to relax in their pro-
pensity, if kindly treated by the families which
they haunted. They were even serviceable in
some instances, and in this point of view were
often considered an acquisition. Each family
regularly set down a bowl of cream for its
urisk, and even clothes were sometimes added.
The urisk resented any omission or want of
attention on the part of the family ; and tradi-
tion says, that the urisk of Glaschoil, a small
farm about a mile to the west of Ben-Venue,
having been disappointed one night of his bowl
of cream, after performing the task allotted
him, took his departure about day-break, utter-
ing a horrible shriek, and never again returned.

The Daoine Shith, or Shf (men of peace),
or as they are sometimes called, Daoine matha
(good men), come next to be noticed. Dr.
Graham considers the part of the popular
superstitions of the Highlands which relates
to these imaginary persons, and which is to
this day retained, as he observes, in some degree
of purity, as " the most beautiful and perfect
branch of Highland mythology."

Although it has been generally supposed
that the mythology of the Daoine Shi' is the
same as that respecting the fairies of England,
as portrayed by Shakspeare, in the Midsummer
Night's Dream, and perhaps, too, of the Orien-
tals, they differ essentially in many important
points.

The Daoine Shi', or men of peace, who are
the fairies of the Highlanders, " though not
absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a
peevish repining race of beings, who, possess-
ing themselves but a scanty portion of happi-
ness, are supposed to envy mankind their more
complete and substantial enjoyments. They

No murmur wak'd the solemn still,
Save tinkling of a fountain rill ;
But when the wind chafed with the lake,
A sullen sound would upward break,
With dashing hollow voice, that spoke
The incessant war of wave and rock.
Suspended cliffs, with hideous sway,
Seem'd nodding o'er the cavern grey.

Grey Superstition's whisper dread,
Debarred the spot to vulgar tread ;
For there, she said, did fays resort,
And satyrs hold their sylvan court,
By moon-light tread their mystic maze,
And blast the rash beholder's gaze."

lady of the Lake, c. iii. s. 26.

are supposed to enjoy, in their subterraneous
recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel
grandeur, which, however, they would willingly
exchange for the more solid joys of mortals."4
Green was the colour of the dress which these
men of peace always wore, and they were sup-
posed to take offence when any of the mortal
race presumed to wear their favourite colour.
The Highlanders ascribe the disastrous result
of the battle of Killiecrankie to the circum-
stance of Viscount Dundee having been dressed
in green on that ill-fated day. This colour is
even yet considered ominous to those of his
name who assume it.

The abodes of the Daoine Shi' are supposed
to be below grassy eminences or knolls, where,
during the night, they celebrate their festivi-
ties by the light of the moon, and dance to
notes of the softest music. 5 Tradition reports
that they have often allured some of the
human race into their subterraneous retreats,
consisting of gorgeous apartments, and that
they have been regaled with the most sump-
tuous banquets and delicious wines. Their
females far exceed the daughters of men in
beauty. If any mortal shall be tempted to
partake of their repast, or join in their plea-
sures, he at once forfeits the society of his
fellow-men, and is bound down irrevocably to
the condition of a Shi'ich, or man of peace.

"A woman," says a Highland tradition, "was
conveyed, in days of yore, into the secret
recesses of the men of peace. There she was
recognised by one who had formerly been an
ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality,
become associated with the Shi'ichs. This
acquaintance, still retaining some portion of
human benevolence, warned her of her danger,
and counselled her, as she valued her liberty,
to abstain from eating or drinking with them

4 Graham's Sketches.

c The belief in Fairies is a popular superstition
among the Shetlanders. The margin of a small lake
called the Sandy Loch, about two miles from Lerwick,
is celebrated for having been their favourite resort.
It is said that they often walk in procession along the
sides of the loch in different costumes. Some of the
natives used frequently, when passing by a knoll, to
stop and listen to the music of the fairies, and when
the music ceased, they would hear the rattling of thu
pewter plates which were to be used at supper. Tho
fairies sometimes visit the Shetland bams, from which
they are usually ejected by means of a flail, which
the proprietor wields with great agility, thumping
and thrashing in every direction.

THE DAOINE SHITH.

305

for a certain space of time. She complied
with the counsel of her friend ; and when the
period assigned was elapsed, she found herself
again upon earth, restored to the society of
mortals. It is added, that when she had
examined the viands which had been presented
to her, and which had appeared so tempting
to the eye, they were found, now that the
enchantment had been removed, to consist
only of the refuse of the earth."

Some mortals, however, who had been so
unhappy as to fall into the snares of the
Shi'ichs, are generally believed to have obtained
a release from Fairyland, and to have been
restored to the society of their friends. Ethert
Brand, according to the legend, was released
by the intrepidity of hia sister, as related by
Sir Walter Scott in the fourth Canto of the
Lady of the Lake : —

" She crossed him thrice that lady bold :

He rose beneath her hand,
The fairest knight on Scottish mould,

Her brother, Ethsrt Brand ! "

A recent tradition gives a similar story,
except in its unfortunate catastrophe, and is
thus related by Dr. Patrick Graham in his
" Sketches of Perthshire."

The Eev. Eobert Kirk, the first translator
of the Psalms into Gaelic verse, had formerly
been minister at Balquidder, and died minister
of Aberfoyle, in 1688, at the early age of 42.
His gravestone, which may be seen near the
cast end of the church of Aberfoyle, bears the
inscription which is given underneath.6 He
was walking, it is said, one evening in his
night-gown, upon the little eminence to the
west of the present manse, which is still
reckoned a Dim-shi'. He fell down dead, as
was believed ; but this was not his fate : —

"It was between the night and day,

When the fairy king has power,
That he sunk down (but not) in sinful fray,
And, 'twixt life and death, was snatched away,

To the joyless Elfm bower."

Mr. Kirk was the near relation of Mr.
Grahame of Duchray. Shortly after liis funeral,
he appeared in the dress in which lie had sunk
down, to a mutual relation of liis own and of

6 RoiiEivrus KIRK, A. It., IJXOU.E HIBERNII(C).E
', OBIIT, &c.

Duchray. " Go," said he to him, " to my
cousin Duchray, and tell him that I am not
dead ; I fell down in a swoon, and was carried
into Fairy-land, where I now am. Tell him,
that when he and my friends are assembled at
the baptism of my child — for he had left his
wife pregnant — I will appear in the room, and
that if he throws the knife which he holds in
his hand over my head, I will be released, and
restored to human society." The man, it
seems, neglected for some time, to deliver the
message. Mr. Kirk appeared to Mm a second
time, threatening to haunt him night and day
till he executed his commission, which at
length he did. The day of the baptism arrived.
They were seated at table. Mr. Kirk entered,
but the laird of Duchray, by some unaccount-
able fatality, neglected to perform the pre-
scribed ceremony. Mr. Kirk retired by another
door, and was seen no more. It is firmly
believed that lie is, at this day, in Fairy-land.

Another legend in a similar strain is also
given as communicated by a very intelligent
young lady : —

"A young man roaming one day through
the forest, observed a number of persons, all
dressed in green, issuing from one of those
round eminences which are commonly accounted
fairy hills. Each of them, in succession, called
upon a person by name, to fetch his horse.
A caparisoned steed instantly appeared ; they
all mounted, and sallied forth into the regions
of the air. The young man, like Ali Baba in
the Arabian Nights, ventured to pronounce the
same name, and called for his horse. The steed
immediately appeared ; he mounted, and was
soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained
with them for a year, going about with them
to fairs and weddings, and feasting, though
unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that
were exhibited on those occasions. They had,
one day, gone to a wedding, where the cheer
was abundant. During the feast the bride-
groom sneezed. The young man, according to
the usual custom, said, ' God bless you.' The
fairies were offended at the pronunciation
of the sacred name, and assured him, that
if he dared to repeat it they would punish
him. The bridegroom sneezed a second time.
Ho repeated his Messing; they threatened
more than tremendous vengeance. He sneezed

300

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

a third time ; lie blessed him as before. The
fairies were enraged ; they tumbled him from
a precipice, but he found himself unhurt, and
was restored to the society of mortals."

The Shi'ichs, or men of peace, are supposed
to have a design against new-born children,
and women in childbed, whom, it is still
universally believed, they sometimes carry off
into their secret recesses. To prevent this
abduction, women in childbed are closely
watched, and are not left alone, even for a
single moment, till the child is baptized, when
the Shi'ichs are supposed to have no more
power over them. 7

The following tradition will illustrate this
branch of the popular superstition respecting
the Shi'ichs : A woman whose new-born child
had been conveyed by them into their secret
abodes, was also earned thither herself, to
remain, however, only until she should suckle
her infant. She one day, during this period,
observed the Shi'ichs busily employed in mix-
ing various ingredients in a boiling cauldron ;
and as soon as the composition was prepared,
she remarked that they all carefully anointed
their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside
for future use. In a moment when they were
all absent, she also attempted to anoint her
eyes with the precious drug, but had time to
apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi'
returned. But with that eye, she was hence-
forth enabled to see every thing as it really
passed in their secret abodes ; she saw every
object, not as she had hitherto done, in decep-
tive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine
colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of
the apartment were reduced to the naked walls
of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having dis-
charged her office, she was dismissed to her
own home. Still, however, she retained the
faculty of seeing with her medicated eye, every

7 The Fairies of Shetland appear to be bolder than
the Shi'ichs of the Highlands, for they are believed to
carry off young children even after baptism, taking
care, however, to substitute a cabbage stock, or some-
thing else in lieu, which is made to assume the appear-
ance of the abstracted child. The unhappy mother
must take as much care of this phantom as she did of
her child, and on no account destroy it, otherwise, it
is believed, the fairies will not restore her child to her.
"This is not my bairn," said a mother to a neighbour
who was condoling with her on the wasted appearance
of her infant, then sitting on her knee, — "this is not
my bairn — may the d— 1 rest where my bairn now is !"

thing that was done, any where in her presence,
by the deceptive art of the order. One day,
amidst a throng of people, she chanced to
observe the Shi'ich, or man of peace, in whose
possession she had left her child, though to
every other eye invisible. Prompted by
maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted
him, and began to inquire after the welfare of
her child. The man of peace, astonished at
thus being recognised by one of mortal race,
sternly demanded how she had been enabled
to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown
of his countenance, she acknowledged what
she had done. He spat into her eye, and
extinguished it for ever.

The Shi'ichs, it is still believed, have a great
propensity for attending funerals and weddings,
and other public entertainments, and even
fairs. They have an object in this ; for it is
believed that, though invisible to mortal eyes,
they are busily employed in carrying away the
substantial articles and provisions which ara
exhibited, in place of which they substitute
shadowy forms, having the appearance of the
things so purloined. And so strong was the
belief in this mythology, even till a recent
period, that some persons are old enough to
remember, that some individuals would not eal
any thing presented on the occasions alluded
to, because they believed it to be unsubstantial
and hurtful.

As the Shi'ichs are supposed to be pre-
sent on all occasions, though invisible, the
Higlilanders, whenever they allude to them, do
so in terms of respect. This is, however, done
as seldom as possible; and when the Shi'ichs are
casually mentioned, the Higlilanders add some
propitiatory expression of praise to avert their
displeasure, which they greatly dread. This
reserve and dread on the part of the High-
landers, is said to arise from the peevish envy
and jealousy which the Shi'iehs are believed to
entertain towards the human race. Although
believed to be always present, watching the
doings of mortals, the Shi'ichs are supposed to
be more particular in their attendance on
Friday, on which day they are believed to
possess very extensive influence. They are
believed to be especially jealous of what may
be said concerning them ; and if they are at
all spoken of on that day, which is never

THE DAOINE SHITIf.

307

done without great reluctance, the Higlilanders
uniformly style them the Daoine matha, or
good men.

According to the traditionary legends of the
Highlanders, the Shi'ichs are believed to be of
both sexes ; and it is the general opinion among
the Highlanders that men have sometimes
cohabited with females of the Shi'ich race,
who are in consequence called Leannan Shi'.
These mistresses are believed to be very kind
to their mortal paramours, by revealing to
them the knowledge of many things both
present and future, which were concealed from
the rest of mankind. The knowledge of the
medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related,
has been obtained in this way from the
Leannan Shi'. The Daoine Shi' of the other
sex are said, in their turn, to have sometimes
held intercourse with mistresses of mortal race.

This popular superstition relating to the
Daoine Shi', is supposed, with good reason, to
have taken its rise in the times of the Druids,
or rather to have been invented by them after
the overthrow of their hierarchy, for the pur-
pose of preserving the existence of their order,
after they had retreated for safety to caves and
the deep recesses of the forest. This idea
receives some corroboration from the Gaelic
term, Dmidheachd, which the Highlanders
apply to the deceptive power by which the
men of peace are believed to impose upon the
senses of mankind, "founded, probably, on
the opinion entertained of old, concerning the
magical powers of the Druids. Deeply versed,
according to Caesar's information, as the Druids
were, in the higher departments of philosophy,
»nd probably acquainted with electricity, and
various branches of chemistry, they might find
it easy to excite the belief of their supernatural
powers, in the minds of the uninitiated
vulgar."8 The influence of this powerful
order upon the popular belief was felt long
after the supposed era of its extinction ; for it
was not until Christianity was introduced into
the Highlands, that the total suppression of
the Druids took place. Adamnan mentions
in his life of St. Columba, the mocidruidi, (or
sons of Druids,) as existing in Scotland in the
time of Columba ; and ho informs us, "that

8 Graham's Sketches.

the saint was interrupted at the castle of the
king (of the Picts), in the discharge of hi.?
religious offices, by certain magi;" a term, by
the bye, applied by Pliny to the order of the
Druids. The following passage from an
ancient Gaelic MS.9 in the possession of the
Highland Society of Scotland, supposed to bo
of the 12th or 13th century, is conjectured to
refer to the incident noticed by Adamnan.
" After this, St. Columba went upon a time to
the king of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi, son cf
Milchu, and the gate of the castle was shut
against him ; but the iron locks of the town
opened instantly, through the prayers of
Columb Cille. Then came the son of tho
king; to wit, Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue
keenly against Columb Cille, in support of
paganism."

Martin relates, that the natives of South-
Uist believed that a valley called Glenslyte,
situated between two mountains on the east
side of the island, was haunted by spirits,
whom they called the Great Men, and that if
any man or woman entered the valley without
first making an entire resignation of themselves
to the conduct of the great men, they would
infallibly grow mad. The words by which
they gave themselves up to the guidance of
these men are comprehended in three sentences,
wherein the glen is twice named. This author
remonstrated with the inhabitants upon this
" piece of silly credulity," but they answered
that there had been recently an instance of a
woman who went into the glen without resign-
ing herself to the guidance of the great men,
"and immediately after she became mad; which
confirmed them in their unreasonable fancy."
He also observes, that the people who resided
in the glen in summer, said, they sometimes
heard a loud noise in the air like men speaking.1

The same writer mentions a universal custom
among the inhabitants of the Western Islands,
of pouring a cow's milk upon a little hill, or
big stone, where a spirit they called Brownie,
was believed to lodge, which spirit always
appeared in the shape of a tall man, with very
long brown hair. On inquiring " from several
well-meaning women, who, until of late, had

8 SIS. No. IV. noticed in the Appendix to l^if
Report on the Poems of Ossian, p. 310.
1 Western Islands, 2d ed. p. 86.

308

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

practised it," they told Martin that it had
been transmitted to them by their ancestors,
who believed it was attended with good for-
tune, but the most credulous of the vulgar had
then laid it aside.

It was also customary among the " over-
curious," in the Western Islands, to consult an
invisible oracle, concerning the fate of families,
battles, &c. This was done three different
ways ; the first was by a company of men, one
of whom being chosen by lot, was afterwards
earned to a river, the boundary between two
villages: four of the company seized on him,
and having shut his eyes, they took him by
the legs and arms, and then tossing him to
and fro, struck his posteriors with force against
the bank. One of them then cried out, What
is it you have got here? Another answered, A
log of birch wood. The other cried again, Let
Ms invisible friends appear from all quarters,
and let them relieve him, by giving an answer
to our present demands; and in a few minutes
after, a number of little creatures came from
the sea, who answered the question, and dis-
appeared suddenly. The man was then set at
liberty, and they all returned home to take
their measures according to the prediction of
their false prophets. This was always prac-
tised at night.

The second way of consulting the oracle was
by a party of men, who first retired to solitary
places, remote from any house, and then
singling out one of their number, wrapt him
in a large cow's hide, which they folded about
him, covering all but his head, in which pos-
ture they left him all night until his invisible
friends relieved him by giving a proper answer
to the question put; which answer he received,
as he fancied, from several persons he found
about him all that time. His companions
returned to him at break of day when he com-
municated his news to them, which it is said
" often proved fatal to those concerned in such
unlawful inquiries."2

The third way of consulting the oracle, and
which consultation was to serve as a confirma-
tion of the second, was this: The same com-
pany who put the man into the hide, took a
live cat and put him on a spit. One of the

5 Martin, 2<1 ed. T>. 112.

company was employed to turn the spit, and
when in the act of turning, one of his compa-
nions would ask him, what are you doing!
He answered, I roast this cat, until his friends
answer the question, the same as that proposed
to the man inclosed in the hide. Afterwards
a very large cat was said to come, attended by
a number of lesser cats, desiring to relieve the
cat turned upon the spit, and answered the
question. And if the answer turned out to be
the same that was given to the man in the
hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of
the other, which in this case was believed
infallible.3

A singular practice called Deis-iuil existed
in the Western Islands, so called from a man
going round carrying fire in his right hand,
which in the Gaelic is called Deas. In the
island of Lewis this fiery circuit was made
about the houses, corn, cattle, &c., of each
particular family, to protect them from the
power of evil spirits. The fire was also carried
round about women before they were churched
after child-bearing, and about children till
they wore baptized. This ceremony was per-
formed in the morning and at night, and was
practised by some of the old midwivcs in
Martin's time. Some of them told him that
' the fire-round was an effectual means of pre-
serving both the mother and the infant from
the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such
times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away
the infant; and when they get them once in
their possession, return them poor meagre
skeletons ; and these infants are said to have
voracious appetites, constantly craving for
meat. In this case it was usual with those
who believed that their children were thus
taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon
quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy skeleton
till next morning ; at which time the parents
went to the place, where they doubted not to
find their own child instead of this skeleton.
Some of the poorer sort of people in these
islands long retained a custom of performing
rounds sun-wise, about the persons of their
benefactors three times, when they blessed
them, and wished good success to all their
enterprises. Some were very careful, when

3 Martin, 2d ed. p. 112.

PEACTICES IN THE WESTEKN ISLANDS.

309

they set out to sea, that the boat should be
first rowed about sun-wise; and if this was
neglected, they were afraid their voyage would
prove unfortunate."

A prevailing superstition also existed in the
Western Islands, and among the inhabitants
of the neighbouring coast, that women, by a
certain charm or by some secret influence,
could withdraw and appropriate to their own
use the increase of their neighbour's cow's
milk. It was believed, however, that the milk
so charmed did not produce the ordinary quan-
tity of butter visually churned from other milk,
and that the curds made of such milk were so
tough that they could not be made so firm as
other cheese, and that it was also much lighter
in weight. It was also believed that the butter
produced from the charmed milk could be dis-
covered from that yielded from the charmer's
own milk, by a difference in the colour, the
former being of a paler hue than the latter.
The woman in whose possession butter so dis-
tinguished was found, was considered to be
guilty. To bring back the increase of milk, it
was usual to take a little of the rennet from all
the suspected persons, and put it into an egg
shell full of milk, and when the rennet taken
from the charmer was mingled with it, it was
said presently to curdle, but not before. Some
women put the root of groundsel among their
cream as an amulet against such charms.

In retaliation for washing dishes, wherein
milk was kept, in streams or rivulets in which
trouts were, it was believed that they prevented
or took away an increase of milk, and the
damage thus occasioned could only be repaired
by taking a live trout and pouring milk into
its mouth. If the milk curdled immediately,
this was a sure sign of its being taken away by
trouts ; if not, the inhabitants ascribed the evil
to some other cause. Some women, it was
affirmed, had the art to take away the milk of
nurses.

A similar superstition existed as to malt, the
virtues of which were said to bo sometimes
imperceptibly filched, by some charm, before
being used, so that the drink made of this
malt had neither strength nor good taste,
while, on the contrary, the supposed charmer
had very good ale all the time. The following
curious story is told by Martin in relation to

this subject. " A gentleman of my acquaint-
ance, for the space of a year, coidd not have a
drop of good ale in his house; and having
complained of it to all that conversed with
him, he was at last advised to get some yeast
from every alehouse in the parish; and having
got a little from one particular man, he put it
among his wort, which became as good ale as
could bo drank, and so defeated the charm.
After which, the gentleman on whose land this
man lived, banished him thirty-six miles from
thence."4

A singular mode of divination was some-
times practised by the Higlilanders with bones.
Having picked the flesh clean ofi° a shoulder-
blade of mutton, which was supposed to lose
its virtue, if touched by iron, they turned
towards the east, and with looks steadily fixed
on the transparent bone they pretended to
foretell deaths, burials, &c.

The phases or changes of the moon were
closely observed, and it was only at particular
periods of her revolution that they would cut
turf or fuel, fell wood, or cut thatch for houses,
or go upon any important expedition. They
expected better crops of grain by sowing their
seed in the moon's increase. " The moon," as
Dr. Johnson observes, " has great influence in
vulgar philosophy," and in his memory it was
a precept annually given in one of the English
almanacs, " To kill hogs when the moon was
increasing, and the bacon would prove the
better in boiling."

The aid of superstition was sometimes re-
sorted to for curing diseases. For hectic and
consumptive complaints, the Highlanders used
to pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the
patient, — put these parings into a bag made
from a piece of his clothes, — and after waving
their hand with the bag thrice round his head,
and crying, Deis-iuil, they buried it in somo
unknown place. Pliny, in his natural history,
says that this practice existed among the Magi
of his time.

To remove any contagious disease from
cattle, they used to extinguish the fires in the
surrounding villages, after which they forced
fire with a wheel, or by nibbing one piece of
dry wood upon another, with which they

« Western Islands, p. 122.

310

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

burned juniper in the stalls of the cattle that
the smoke might purify the air about them.
When this was performed, the fires in the
houses were rekindled from the forced fire.
Shaw relates in his history of Moray, that he
personally witnessed both the last-mentioned
practices.

Akin to some of the superstitions we have
noticed, but differing from them in many
essential respects, is the belief — for supersti-
tion it cannot well bo called — in the Second
Sight, by which, as Dr. Johnson observes,
" seems to be meant a mode of seeing, super-
added to that which nature generally bestows,"5
and consists of " an impression made either by
the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the
mind, by which things distant or future are
perceived, and seen as if they were present."6
This "deceptive faculty" is in Gaelic called
TaiWtse, i. e. a spectre, or a vision, and is nei-
ther voluntary nor constant, but consists " in
seeing an otherwise invisible object, without
any previous means used by the person that
sees it for that end; the vision makes such
a lively impression upon the seer, that they
neither see nor think of any thing else, except
the vision, as long as it continues: and then
they appear pensive or jovial, according to the
object which was represented to them."7

It has been observed by lookers-on, that
those persons who saw, or were supposed to
see, a vision, always kept their eye-lids erect,
and that they continued to stare until the
object vanished. Martin affirms that he and
other persons that were with them, observed
tin's more than once, and he mentions an in-
stance of a man in Skye, the inner part of
whose eye-lids was turned so far upwards
during a vision, that after the object disap-
peared he found it necessary to draw them
down with his fingers, and would sometimes
employ others to draw them down, which he
indeed, Martin says, " found from experience
to be the easier way."

The visions are said to have taken place
either in the morning, at noon, in the evening,
or at night. If an object was seen early in
the morning, its accomplishment would take
place in a few hours thereafter. If at noon,

Journey to (Jin Hebrides, p. 166.
7 Martin, p. 300.

Id.

that very day. If in the evening, perhaps
that night; if after the candles were lighted,
the accomplishment would take place by weeks,
months, and sometimes years, according to tho
time of night the vision was seen.

As the appearances which are said to have
been observed in visions and their prognostics
may prove curious to the general reader, a few
of them shall be here stated, as noted by Martin.

When a shroud was perceived about one, it
was a sure prognostic of death. The time was
judged according to the height of it about the
person. If not seen above the middle, death
was not to be expected for the space of a year,
and perhaps some months longer; and as it
was frequently seen to ascend higher towards
the head, death was concluded to be at hand
within a few days, if not hours.

If a woman was seen standing at a man's
left hand, it was a presage that she would be
his wife, whether they were married to others,
or unmarried at the time of the apparition.

If two or three women were seen at once
standing near a man's left hand, she that was
next to him would undoubtedly be his wife
first, and so on, whether all three, or the man,
were single or married at the time of the vision
or not.

It was usual for the Seers to see any man
that was shortly to arrive at the house. If
unknown to the Seer he would give such a
description of the person he saw as to make
him to be at once recognised upon his arrival.
On the other hand, if the Seer knew the person
he saw in the vision, he would tell his name,
and know by the expression of his counte-
nance whether he came in a good or bad
humour.

The Seers often saw houses, gardens, and
trees, in places where there were none, but in
the course of time these places became covered
with them.

To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm
or breast, was a forerunner of a dead child to
be seen in the arms of those persons. To see
a seat empty when one was sitting on it, was
a presage of that person's immediate death.

There are now few persons, if any, who
pretend to this faculty, and the belief in it is
almost generally exploded. Yet it cannot be
denied that apparent proofs of its existence

SECOND-SIGHT— WEDDINGS.

311

have been adduced which have staggered
minds not prone to superstition. When the
connexion between cause and effect can bo
recognised, things which would otherwise have
appeared wonderful and almost incredible, are
viewed as ordinary occurrences. The impos-
sibility of accounting for such an extraordinary
phenomenon as the alleged faculty, on philo-
sophical principles, or from the laws of nature,
must ever leave the matter suspended between
rational doubt and confirmed scepticism. The
strong-minded but superstitious Dr. Johnson
appears, from the following passage, to have
been inclined to believe in the genuineness of
the faculty. " Strong reasons for incredulity,"
says Dr. Johnson, " will readily occur. This
faculty of seeing things out of sight is local,
and commonly useless. It is a breach of the
common order of things, without any visible
reason or perceptible benefit. It is ascribed
only to a people very little enlightened • and
among them, for the most part, to the mean
and ignorant. To the confidence of these
objections it may be replied, that by presum-
ing to determine what is fit, and what is
beneficial, they presuppose more knowledge
of the universal system than man has attained ;
and therefore depend upon principles too
complicated and extensive for our comprehen-
sion ; and that there can be no security in the
consequence, when the premises are not under-
stood : that the Second Sight is only wonderful
because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it
involves no more difficulty than dreams, or
perhaps than the regular exercises of the
cogitative faculty ; that a general opinion of
communicative impulses, or visionary repre-
sentations, has prevailed in all ages and all
nations ; that particular instances have been
given, with such evidence as neither Bacon,
nor Bayle, has been able to resist ; that sudden
impressions, which the event has verified, have
been felt by more than own or publish them ;
that the Second Sight of the Hebrides implies
only the local frequency of a power which is
no where totally unknown ; and that where
we are unable to decide by antecedent reason,
we must be content to yield to the force of
testimony."8

1 Journry (o the Western Islands, pp. 167, 168.

Among the various modes of social inter-
course which gladdened the minds and dissi-
pated the few worldly cares of the Highlanders,
weddings bore a distinguished part, and they
were longed for with a peculiar earnestness.
Young and old, from the boy and girl of the
age of ten to the hoary-headed sire and aged
matron, attended them. The marriage invita-
tions were given by the bride and bridegroom,
in person, for some weeks previous, and
included the friends of the betrothed parties
living at the distance of many miles.

When the bride and bridegroom had com-
pleted their rounds, the custom was for the
matrons of the invited families to return the
visit within a few days, carrying along with
them large presents of hams, beef, cheese,
butter, malt, spirits, and such other articles as
they inclined or thought necessary for the
approaching feast. To such an extent was
this practice carried in some instances in the
quantity presented, that, along with what the
guests paid (as they commonly did) for their
entertainment at the marriage, and the gifts
presented on the day after the marriage, the
young couple obtained a pretty fair competence,
which warded off the shafts of poverty,- and
even made them comfortable in after-life.

The joyous wedding-morning was ushered
in by the notes of the bagpipe. A party of
pipers, followed by the bridegroom and some
of his friends, commenced at an early hour a
round of morning calls to remind the guests
of their engagements. These hastened to join
the party, and before the circuit, which some-
times occupied several hours, had ended, some
hundreds, perhaps, had joined the wedding
standard before they reached the bridegroom's
house. The bride made a similar round among
her friends. Separate dinners were provided ;
the bridegroom giving a dinner to his friends,
and the bride to hers. The marriage ceremony
was seldom performed till after dinner. The
clergyman sometimes attended, but the parties
preferred waiting on him, as the appearance
of a large procession to his house gave addi-
tional importance and eclat to the ceremony
of the day, which was further heightened by
a constant firing by the young men, who
supplied themselves with guns and pistols,
and which firing was responded to by every

312

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

hamlet as the party passed along; "so that,
with streamers flying, pipers playing, the
constant firing from all sides, and the shouts
of the young men, the whole had the appear-
ance of a military army passing, with all the
noise of warfare, through a hostile country."

On the wedding-day, the bride and bride-
groom avoided each other till they met before
the clergyman. Many ceremonies were per-
formed during the celebration of the marriage
rites. These ceremonies were of an amusing
and innocent description, and added much to
the cheerfulness and happiness of the young
people. One of these ceremonies consisted in
untying all the bindings and strings about the
person of the bridegroom, to denote, that
nothing was to be bound on the marriage day
but the one indissoluble knot which death
only can dissolve. The bride was exempted
from this operation from a delicacy of feeling
towards her sex, and from a supposition that
she was so pure that infidelity on her part
could not be contemplated.

To discontinue practices in themselves inno-
cent, and which contribute to the social
happiness of mankind, must ever be regretted,
and it is not therefore to be wondered at, that
a generous and open-hearted Higlilander, like
General Stewart, should have expressed his re-
gret at the partial disuse of these ceremonies, or
that he should have preferred a Highland wed-
ding, where he had himself " been so happy,
and seen so many blithe countenances, and eyes
sparkling with delight, to such weddings as
that of the Laird of Drum, ancestor of the
Lord Sommerville, when he married a daughter
of Sir James Bannatyne of Corehouse."9

The festivities of the wedding-day were

9 "On that occasion, sanctified by the puritanical
cant of the times, there was one marquis, three earls,
two lords, sixteen barons, and eight ministers present
at the solemnity, but not one musician ; they liked
yet better the bleating of the calves of Dan and Bethel
• — the ministers' long-winded, and sometimes non-
sensical graces, little to purpose — than all musical
instruments of the sanctuaries, at so solemn an occa-
sion, which, if it be lawful at all to have them, cer-
tainly it ought to be upon a wedding-day, for diver-
tisement to the guests, that innocent recreation of
music and dancing being much more warrantable and
far better exercise than drinking and smoking tobacco,
wherein the holy brethren of the Presbyterian (per-
suasion) for the most part employed themselves, with-
out any formal health, or remembrance of their friends,
4 nod with the head, or a sign with the turning up of

generally prolonged to a late hour, and during
the whole day the fiddlers and pipers never
ceased except at short intervals, to make sweet
music. The fiddlers performed in the house,
the pipers in the field;1 so that the company
alternately enjoyed the pleasure of dancing
within and without the house, as they felt
inclined, provided the weather permitted.

No people were more attached to the fulfil-
ment of all the domestic duties, and the sacred
obligation of the marriage vow, than the High-
landers. A violation thereof was of course of
unfrequent occurrence, and among the common
people a separation was almost unknown.
Earely, indeed, did a husband attempt to get
rid of his wife, however disagreeable she might
be. He would have considered his children
dishonoured, if he had driven their mother
from the protection of his roof. The punish-
ment inflicted by the ecclesiastical authority
for an infringement of the marriage vow was,
that " the guilty person, whether male or
female, was made to stand in a barrel of cold
water at the church door, after which, the
delinquent, clad in a wet canvas shirt, was
made to stand before the congregation, and at
close of service the minister explained the
nature of the offence.2 Illicit intercourse
before marriage between the sexes was also oi
rare occurrence, and met with condign punish-
ment in the public infamy which attended
such breaches against chastity.

This was the more remarkable, as early

the white of the eye, served for the ceremony.1'
— Stewart's Sketches — Memoirs of the Sommerville
Family.

1 "Playing the bagpipes within doors," says Gen-
eral Stewart, "is a Lowland and English custom.
In the Highlands the piper is always in the open air ;
and when people wish to dance to his music, it is on
the green, if the weather permits ; nothing but ne-
cessity makes them attempt a pipe-dance in the house.
The bagpipe was a field instrument intended to call
the clans to arms, and animate them in battle, and
was no more intended for a house than a round of six-
pounders. A broadside from a first-rate, or a round
from a battery, has a sublime and impressive effect at
a proper distance. In the same manner, the sound of
bagpipes, softened by distance, bad an indescribable
effect on the mind and actions of the Highlanders.
But as few would choose to be under the muzzle of
the guns of a battery, so I have seldom seen a High-
lander, whose ears were not grated when close to pipes,
however much his breast might be warmed, and his
feelings roused, by the sounds to which he had been
accustomed in his youth, when proceeding from tha
proper distance. — Sketches, App. xxiii.

- Dr. M 'Queen's Dissertation.

SOCIAL DUTIES.

313

marriages were discouraged, and the younger
sons were not allowed to marry until they
obtained sufficient menus to keep a house and
to rent a small farm, or were otherwise enabled
to support a family.

The attachment of the Higldanders to their
offspring, and the veneration and filial piety
which a reciprocal feeling produced on the part
of their children, were leading characteristics
in the Highland character, and much as these
mountaineers have degenerated in some of the
other virtues, these affections still remain
almost unimpaired. Children seldom desert
their parents in their old age, and when forced
to earn a subsistence from home, they always
consider themselves bound to share with their
parents whatever they can save from their
wages. But the parents are never left alone,
as one of the family, by turns, remains at
home for the purpose of taking care of them
in terms of an arrangement. "The sense of
duty is not extinguished by absence from the
mountains. It accompanies the Highland
soldier amid the dissipations, of a mode of life
to which he has not been accustomed. It
prompts him to save a portion of his pay, to
enable him to assist his parents, and also to
work when he has an opportunity, that he
may increase their allowance, at once preserv-
ing himself from idle habits, and contributing
to the comfort and happiness of those who
gave him birth. I have been a frequent wit-
ness of these offerings of filial bounty, and
the channel through which they were commu-
nicated, and I have generally found that a
threat of informing their parents of miscon-
duct, has operated as a sufficient check on
young soldiers, who always received the inti-
mation with a sort of horror. They knew that
the report would not only grieve their rela-
tions, but act as a sentence of banishment
against themselves, as they could not return
home with a bad or blemished character.
Generals M'Kenzie, Fraser, and M'Kenzie of
Suddie, who successively commanded the 78th
Highlanders, seldom had occasion to resort to
any other punishment than threats of this
kind, for several years after the embodying of
that regiment."3

3 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 86.

Nor were the Highlanders less alive to the
principles of honesty and fair dealing, in their
transactions with one another. Disgrace was
the usual consequence of insolvency, which
was considered ex facie criminal. Bankrupts
were compelled to undergo a singular punish-
ment. They " were forced to surrender their
all, and were clad in a party-coloured clouted
'garment, with the hose of different sets, and had
their hips dashed against a stone, in presence
of the people, by four men, each taking a hold
of an arm or a leg. This punishment was
called Toncruaidh."*

Such was the confidence in their honour and
integrity, that in the ordinary transactions of
the people, a mere verbal obligation without the
intervention of any writing, was held quite
sufficient, although contracted in the most
private manner,5 and there were few instances
where the obligation was either unfulfilled or
denied. Their mode of concluding or confirm-
ing their money agreements or other transac-
tions, was by the contracting parties going out
into the open air, and with eyes erect, taking
Heaven to witness their engagements, after
which, each party put a mark on some remark-
able stone or other natural object, which their
ancestors had been accustomed to notice.

4 Stewart's Sketches.

5 Two remarkable instances of the regard paid by
the Highlanders to their engagements, arc given by
General Stewart. "A gentleman of the name of
Stewart, agreed to lend a considerable sum of money
to a neighbour. When they had met, and the money
was already counted down upon the table, the borrower
offered a receipt. As soon as the lender (grandfather
of the late Mr. Stewart of Ballachulish) heard this,
he immediately collected the money, saying, that a
man who could not trust his own word, without a
bond, should not be trusted by him, and should have
none of his money, which ho put up in his purse and
returned home." An inhabitant of the same district
kejit a retail shop for nearly fifty years, and supplied
the whole district, then full of people, with all their
little merchandise. He neither gave nor asked any
receipts. At Martinmas of each year he collected the
amount of his sales, which were always paid to a day.
In one of his annual rounds, a customer happened to
be from home ; consequently, he returned unpaid,
but before he was out of bed the following morning,
he was awakened by a call from his customer, who
came to pay his account. After the business was
settled, his neighbour said, "You are now paid; I
would not for my best cow that I should sleep while
yo i wanted your money after your term of payment,
and that I should be the last in the country in your
debt." Such examples of stern honesty are now,
alas ! of rare occurrence. Many of the virtues which
adorned the Highland character hav« disappeared in
the vortex of modern improvement, by which tlie
country has been completely revolutionized.

314

GENEKAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Accustomed, as the Highlanders were, to
interminable feuds arising out of the preten-
sions of rival clans, the native courage which
they had inherited from their Celtic progeni-
tors was preserved unimpaired. Instances of
cowardice were, therefore, of rare occurrence,
and whoever exhibited symptoms of fear before
a foe, was considered infamous and put under
the ban of his party. The following anecdote,
as related by Mrs. Grant, shows, strongly, the
detestation which the Highlanders entertained
towards those who had disgraced themselves
and their clan by an act of poltroonery : " There
was a clan, / must not say what clan it is, who
had been for ages governed by a series of chiefs,
singularly estimable, and highly beloved, and
who, in one instance, provoked their leader to
the extreme of indignation. I should observe,
that the transgression was partial, the culprits
being the inhabitants of one single parish.
These, in a hasty skirmish with a neighbouring
clan, thinking discretion the best part of
valour, sought safety in retreat. A cruel chief
would have inflicted the worst of punishments
— banishment from the bounds of his clan, —
which, indeed, fell little short of the curse
of Kehama. This good laird, however, set
bounds to his wrath, yet made their punish-
ment severe and exemplary. He appeared
himself with all the population of the three
adjacent parishes, at the parish church of the
offenders, where they were all by order con-
vened. After divine service, they were
inarched three times round the church, in
presence of their oifended leader and his as-
sembled clan. Each individual, on coming
out of the church door, was obliged to draw
out his tongue with his fingers, and then cry
audibly, ' Shud bleider heich,' (i. e.) ' This is
the poltroon,' and to repeat it at every corner
of the church. After this procession of igno-
miny, no other punishment was inflicted, ex-
cept that of being left to guard the district
when the rest were called out to battle. . . .
It is credibly asserted, that no enemy has seen
the back of any of that name (Grant) ever
since. And it is certain, that, to this day, it
is not safe for any person of another name to
mention the circumstance in presence of one
of the affronted clan."6

" Ou the Superstitions of the Highlanders.

The Highlanders, like the inhabitants of
other romantic and mountainous regions, always
retain an enthusiastic attachment to their coun-
try, which neither distance of place nor length
of time can efface. This strong feeling has,
we think, been attributed erroneously to the
powerful and lasting effect which the external
objects of nature, seen in their wildest and
most fantastic forms and features, are calculated
to impress upon the imagination.

No doubt the remembrance of these objects
might contribute to endear the scenes of youth
to the patriotic Highlander when far removed
from his native glens; but it was the recollec-
tion of home, — sweet home ! — of the domestic
circle, and of the many pleasing associations
which arise from the contemplation of the days
of other years, when mirth and innocence held
mutual dalliance, that chiefly impelled him to
sigh for the land of his fathers. Mankind
have naturally an affection for the country of
their birth, and this affection is felt more or
less according to the degree of social or com-
mercial intercourse which exists among nations.
Confined, like the Swiss, for many ages within
their natural boundaries, and having little of
no intercourse with the rest of the world, the
Highlanders formed those strong local attach-
ments for which they were long remarkably
distinguished ; but which are now being gradu-
ally obliterated by the mighty changes rapidly
taking place in the state of society.

Firmly attached as they were to their coun-
try, the Highlanders had also a singular pre-
dilection for the place of their birth. An
amusing instance of this local attachment is
mentioned by General Stewart. A tenant of
his father's, at the foot of the mountain
Shichallion, having removed and followed his
son to a farm which the latter had taken at
some distance lower down the country, the old
man was missing for a considerable time one
morning, and on being asked on his return
where he had been, replied, " As I was sitting
by the side of the river, a thought came across
me, that, perhaps, some of the waters from
Shichallion, and the sweet fountains that
watered the farm of my forefathers, might now
be passing by me, and that if I bathed they
might touch my skin. I immediately stripped,
and, from the pleasure I felt in being sur-

BAUDS— FEELING WITH REGARD TO DEATH.

315

rounded by the pure waters of Leidna-breilag
(the nanio of the farm) I could not tear myself
away sooner." But this fondness of the High-
lander was not confined to the desire of living
upon the beloved spot — it extended even to
the grave. The idea of dying at a distance
from homo and among strangers could not be
endured, and the aged Highlander, when absent
from his native place, felt discomposed lest
death should overtake him before his return.
To be consigned to the grave among strangers,
without the attendance and sympathy of
friends, and at a distance from their family,
was considered a heavy calamity; and even to
this day, people make the greatest exertions to
carry home the bodies of such relations as
happen to die far from the ground hallowed
by the ashes of their forefathers.7 This trait
was exemplified in the case of a woman aged
ninety-one, who a few years ago went to Perth
from her house in Strathbrane in perfect health,
and in the possession of all her faculties. A
few days after her arrival in Perth, where she
had gone to visit a daughter, she had a slight
attack of fever. One evening a considerable
quantity of snow had fallen, and she expressed
great anxiety, particularly when told that a
heavier fall was expected. Next morning her
bed was found empty, and no trace of her
could be discovered, till the second day, when
she sent word that she had slipt out of the
house at midnight, set off on foot through the
snow, and never stopped till she reached home,
a distance of twenty miles. When questioned
some time afterwards why she went away so
abruptly, she answered, " If my sickness had
increased, and if I had died, they could not
have sent my remains home through the deep
snows. If I had told my daughter, perhaps
she would have locked the door upon me, and
God forbid that my bones should be at such a
distance from home, and be buried among
Gall-na-machair, The strangers of the plain."8
Among the causes which contributed to
sustain the warlike character of the High-
landers, the exertions of the bards in stimulat-
ing them to deeds of valour in the field of
battle, must not be overlooked One of the
most important duties of the bard consisted in

Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 82.

Id.

attending the clans to the field, and exhorting
them before battle to emulate the glories of
their ancestors, and to die if necessary in de-
fence of their country. The appeals of the
bards, which were delivered and enforced with
great vehemence and earnestness, never failed
to arouse the feelings; and when amid the din
of battle the voices of the bards could no
longer be heard, the pipers succeeded them,
and cheered on their respective parties with
their warlike and inspiring strains. After the
termination of the battle, the bard celebrated
the praises of the brave warriors who had fallen
in battle, and related the heroic actions of the
survivors to excite them to similar exertions
on future occasions. To impress still more
deeply upon the minds of the survivors the
honour and heroism of their fallen friends, the
piper was employed to perform plaintive dirges
for the slain.

From the associations raised in the mind by
the great respect thus paid to the dead, and
the honours which awaited the survivors who
distinguished themselves in the field of battle,
by their actions being celebrated by the bards,
and transmitted to posterity, originated that
magnanimous contempt of death for which the
Highlanders are noted. While among some
people the idea of death is avoided with
studious alarm, the Highlander will speak of
it with an easy and unconcerned familiarity,
as an event of ordinary occurrence, but in a
way "equally remote from dastardly affecta-
tion, or fool-hardy presumption, and propor-
tioned solely to the inevitable certainty of the
event itself."9

To be interred decently, arid in a becoming
manner, is a material consideration in the
mind of a Highlander, and care is generally
taken, even by the poorest, long before the
approach of death, to provide sufficient articles
to insure a respectable interment. To wish
one another an honourable death, crioch
onarach, is considered friendly by the High-
landers, and even children will sometimes
express the same sentiment towards their
parents. " A man well known to the writer
of these pages was remarkable for his filial
affection, even among the sons and daughters

• Stewart's Skttcha.

316

GENEEAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

of the mountains, so distinguished for that
branch of piety. His mother being a widow,
and having a numerous family, who had mar-
ried very early, he continued to live single,
that he might the more sedulously attend to
her comfort, and watch over her declining years
with the tenderest care. On her birth-day, he
always collected his brothers and sisters, and
all their families, to a sort of kindly feast, and,
in conclusion, gave a toast, not easily translated
from the emphatic language, without circum-
locution,— An easy and decorous departure to
my mother, comes nearest to it. This toast,
which would shake the nerves of fashionable
delicacy, was received with great applause, the
old woman remarking, that God had been
always good to her, and she hoped she would
die as decently as she had lived, for it is
thought of the utmost consequence to die
decently. The ritual of decorous departure,
and of behaviour to be observed by the friends
of the dying on that solemn occasion, being
fully established, nothing is more common
than to take a solemn leave of old people, as if
they were going on a journey, and pretty much
in the same terms. People frequently send
conditional messages to the departed. If you
are permitted, tell my dear brother, that I have
merely endured the world since he left it, and
that I have been very hind to every creature he
used to cherish, for his sake. I have, indeed,
heard a person of a very enlightened mind,
seriously give a message to an aged person, to
deliver to a child he had lost not long before,
which she as seriously promised to deliver,
with the wonted salvo, if she was permitted."1
In no country was " the savage virtue of
hospitality" carried to a greater extent than in
the Highlands, and never did stranger receive
a heartier welcome than was given to the guest
who entered a Highland mansion or cottage.
This hospitality was sometimes carried rather
too far, particularly in the island of Barra,
where, according to Martin, the custom was,
that, when strangers from the northern islands
went there, "the natives, immediately after their
landing, obliged them to eat, even though they
should have liberally eat and drank but an
hour before their landing there." This meat

1 Mrs. Grant's Superstitions of the Highlander}

they called Bieyta'v, i. e. Ocean meat. Sir
Robert Gordon informs us that it was a custom
among the western islanders, that when one
was invited to another's house, they never
separated till the whole provision was finished ;
and that, when it was done, they went to the
next house, and so on from one house to an-
other until they made a complete round, from
neighbour to neighbour, always carrying the
head of the family in which they had been last
entertained to the next house along with them.1'

The removal of the court by Malcolm Can-
more to the Lowlands was an event which was
followed by results very disastrous to the
future prosperity of the Highlands. The in-
habitants soon sunk into a state of poverty,
and, as by the transference of the seat of
government the administration of the laws
became either inoperative or was feebly en-
forced, the people gave themselves up to
violence and turbulence, and revenged in person
those injuries which the laws could no longer
redress. Eeleased from the salutary control of
monarchical government, the Highlanders soon
saw the necessity of substituting some other
system in its place, to protect themselves
against the aggressions to which they were
exposed. From this state of things originated
the great power of the Chiefs, who attained
their ascendancy over the different little com-
munities into which the population of the
Highlands was naturally divided, on account
of their superior property, courage, or talent.
The powers of the chiefs were very great.
They acted as judges or arbiters in the quarrels
of their clansmen and followers, and as they
were backed by resolute supporters of their
rights, their property, and their power, they
established within their own territories a juris-
diction almost independent of the kingly
authority.

From this division of the people into clans
and tribes under separate chiefs, arose many of
those institutions, feelings, and usages which
characterised the Highlanders. " The nature
of the country, and the motives which induced
the Celts to make it their refuge, almost neces-
sarily prescribed the form of their institutions.
Unequal to contend with the overwhelming

2 Genealogical History of the Earldom of Suthcr
land, p. 189.

CLANS.

317

numbers, who drove thorn from the plains,
ami, anxious to preserve their independence,
and their blood unconteminated by a mixture
with strangers, they defended themselves in
those strongholds which are, in every country,
the sanctuaries of national liberty, and the
refuge of those who resist the oppressions and
the dominion of a more powerful neighbour.
Thus, in the absence of their monarchs, and
defended by their barrier of rocks, they did
not always submit to the authority of a distant
government, which could neither enforce obe-
dience nor afford protection."3

The various little societies into which the
Highland population was, by the nature of the
country, divided, having no desire to change
their residence or to keep up a communication,
with one another, and having all their wants,
which were few, supplied within themselves,
became individually isolated. Every district
became an independent state, and thus the
Highland population, though possessing a com-
munity of customs and the same characteristics,
was divided or broken into separate masses,
and placed under different jurisdictions. A
patriarchal4 system of government, "a sort
of hereditary monarchy founded on custom,
and allowed by general consent, rather than
regulated by laws," was thus established over
each community or clan in the persons of the
chiefs.

As a consequence of the separation which
was preserved by the different clans, matri-
monial alliances were rarely made with stran-
gers, and hence the members of the clan were
generally related to one another by the ties of
consanguinity or affinity. While this double
connexion tended to preserve harmony and
good will among the members of the same
clan, it also tended, on the other hand, to excite
a bitter spirit of animosity between rival clans,
whenever an affront or injury was offered by

3 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 22.

4 The power of the chiefs over their clans was,
from political motives, often supported by the govern-
ment, to counteract the great influence of the feudal
system which enabled the nobles frequently to set the
authority of the state at defiance. Although the
Puke of Gordon was the feudal superior of the l:inds
held by tho Camerons, M'Phersons, M'Donells of
Keppoch and others, he had no influence over those
clans who always obeyed the orders of Lochiel, Clunie,
Keppoch, &c.

one clan to another, or by individuals of differ-
ent clans.

Although the chief had great power with his
clan in the different relations of landlord,
leader, and judge, his authority was far from
absolute, as he was obliged to consult the lead-
ing men of the clan in matters of importance
— in things regarding the clan or particular
families, in removing differences, punishing or
redressing injuries, preventing lawsuits, sup-
porting declining families, and declaring was
against, or adjusting terms of peace with other
clans.

As the system of clanship was calculated to
cherish a warlike spirit, the young chiefs and
heads of families were regarded or despised
according to their military or peaceable dispo-
sition. If they revenged a quarrel with another
clan by killing some of the enemy, or carry-ing
off their cattle and laying their lands waste,
they were highly esteemed, and great expecta-
tions were formed of their future prowess and
exploits. But if they failed in their attempts,
they were not respected ; and if they appeared
disinclined to engage in hostile rencontres,
they were despised. 5

The military ranks of the clans were fixed
and perpetual. The chief was, of course, the
principal commander. The oldest cadet com-
manded the right wing, and the youngest tho
rear. Every head of a distinct family was
captain of his own tribe. An ensign or stand-
ard-bearer was attached to each clan, who

6 Martiu observes that in the Western Islands,
" every heir, or young chieftain of a tribe, was obliged
in honour to give a public specimen of his valoui
before he was owned and declared governor or leader
of his people, who obeyed and followed him upon all
occasions. This chieftain was usually attended with
a retinue of young men of quality, who had not
beforehand given any proof of their valour, and were
ambitious of such an opportunity to signalize them-
selves. It was usual for the captain to lead them, to
make a desperate incursion upon some neighbour or
other that they were in feud with, and they were
obliged to bring, by open force, the cattle they found
on the lands they attacked, or to die in the attempt.
After the performance of this achievement, the yonng
chieftain was ever after reputed valiant, and worthy
of government, and such as were of his retinue acquired
the like reputation. This custom being reciprocally
used among them, was not reputed robbery, for the
damngc which one tribe sustained by this essay of the
chieftain of another, was repaired when their chieftain
came in his turn to make his specimen ; but I have
not heard an instance of this practice for these sixty
years past."— Western Islands, 2d edit. pp. 101, 102.

318

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

generally inherited his office, which had been
usually conferred on an ancestor who had
distinguished himself. A small salary was
attached to this office.

Each clan had a stated place of rendezvous,
where they met at the call of their chief.
When an emergency arose for an immediate
meeting from the incursions of a hostile clan,
the cross or tarie, or fiery-cross, was immedi-
ately despatched through the territories of the
clan. This signal consisted of two pieces of
wood placed in the form of a cross. One of
the ends of the horizontal piece was either
burnt or burning, and a piece of linen or white
cloth stained with blood was suspended from
the other end. Two men, each with a cross
in his hand, were despatched by the .chief in
different directions, who kept running with
great speed, shouting the war-cry of the tribe,
and naming the place of rendezvous, if differ-
ent from the usual place of meeting. The
cross was delivered from hand to hand, and as
each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the clan
assembled with great celerity. General Stewart
says, that one of the latest instances of the
fiery-cross being used, was in 1745 by Lord
Breadalbane, when it went round Loch Tay, a
distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours,
to raise his people and prevent their joining
the rebels, but with less effect than in 1715
when it went the same round, and when 500
men assembled in a few hours, under the
command of the Laird of Glenlyon, to join the
Earl of Mar.

Every clan had its own war-cry, (called in
Scottish slogan,) to which every clansman
answered. It served as a watch-word in cases
of sudden alarm, in the. confusion of combat,
or in the darkness of the night. The clans
were also distinguished by a particular badge,
or by the peculiar arrangements or sets of the
different colours of the tartan, which will be
fully noticed when we come to treat of the
history of the clans.

When a clan went upon any expedition they
were much influenced by omens. If they met
an armed man they believed that good was
portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare,
or any other four-footed beast of game, and did
not succeed in killing it, they prognosticated
eviL If a woman barefooted crossed the road

before them, they seized ]• and drew blood
from her forehead.

The Cuid-Oidhclie, or night's provision, was
paid by many tenants to the chief; and in
hunting or going on an expedition, the tenant
who lived near the hill was bound to furnish
the master and his followers a night's entertain-
ment, with brawn for his dogs.

There are no sufficient data to enable us to
estimate correctly the number of fighting men
which the clans could bring at any time into
the field ; but a general idea may be formed of
their strength in 1745, from the following
statement of the respective forces of the clans
as taken from the memorial supposed to be
drawn up by the Lord President Forbes of
Culloden, for the information of government.
It is to be observed, however, that besides
the clans here mentioned, there were many
independent gentlemen, as General Stewart
observes, who had many followers, but being
what were called broken names, or small tribes,
are omitted.

Argyle, 3000

Breadalbane, 1000 -

Lochnell and other chieftains of the

Campbells, 1000

Macleans, 500

Maclauchlans, 200

Stewart of Appin, .... 300

Macdougals, 200

Stewart of Grandtully, ... 300

Clan Gregor, 700

Duke of Athol, 3000

Farquharsons, 500

Duke of Gordon, .... 300

Grant of Grant, .... 850

Mackintosh, 800

Macphersons, 400

Frasers, 900

Grant of Glenmorriston, . . . 150

Chisholms, 200

Duke of Perth, 300

Seaforth, 1000

Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other

chieftains of the Mackenzies, . . 1500

Laird of Menzies, .... 300

Munros, .- 300

Bosses, 500

Sutherland, 2000

Mackays, 800

Sinclairs, 1100

Macdonald of Slate, .... 700

CLANS.

319

Macdonald of Cla- . 'Id,
Macdonell of Glen
Macdonell of Keppocli.
Macdonald of Gl
Robertsons,

700
500
300
130

200

Cumerons, 800

M'Kinnon, 200

Macleod, 700

Tlie Duke of Moutrose, Earls of Bute
and Moray, Macfarlanes, M'Neils
of Barra, M'Naba, M'Naughtons,
Lamonts, &c. &c. . . . 5600

31,930

There is nothing so remarkable in the
political history of any country as the succes-
sion of the Highland chiefs, and the long and
uninterrupted sway which they held over their
followers. The authority which a chief exer-
cised among his clan was truly paternal, and
he might, with great justice, have been called
the father of his people. We cannot account
for that warm attachment and the incorruptible
and unshaken fidelity which the clans uni-
formly displayed towards their chiefs, on any
other ground, than the kind and conciliatory
system which they must have adopted towards
their people ; for, much as the feelings of the
latter might have been awakened, by the songs
and traditions of the bards, to a respect for
the successors of the heroes whose praises they
heard celebrated, a sense of wrongs commit-
ted, or of oppressions exercised, would have
obliterated every feeling of attachment in the
minds of the sufferers, and caused them to
attempt to get rid of a tyrant who had rendered
himself obnoxious by his tyranny.

The division of the people into small tribes,
and the establishment of patriarchal govern-
ment, were attended with many important
consequences affecting the character of the
Highlanders. This creation of an imperium
in imperio was an anomaly, but it was, never-
theless, rendered necessary from the state of
society in the Highlands shortly after the
transference of the seat of government from
the mountains. The authority of the king,
though weak and inefficient, continued, how-
ever, to be recognised, nominally at least,
except indeed when he interfered in the dis-
putes between the clans. On such occasions
his authority was utterly disregarded. " His

mandates could neither stop the depredations
of one clan against another, nor allay their
mutual hostilities. Delinquents could not,
with impunity, be pursued into the bosom of
a clan which protected them, nor could his
judges administer the laws in opposition to
their interests or their will. Sometimes he
strengthened his arm by fomenting animosities
among them, and by entering occasionally into
the interest of one, in order to weaken another.
Many instances of this species of policy occur
in Scottish history, which, for a long period,
was unhappily a mere record of internal
violence."6

The general laws being thus superseded by
the internal feuds of the clans, and the author-
ity of the sovereign being insufficient to repress
these disorders, a perpetual system of warfare,
aggression, depredation, and contention existed
among them, which, during the continuance
of clanship, banished peace from the High-
lands. The little sovereignties of the elans
"touched at so many points, yet were so
independent of one another ; they approached
so nearly, in many respects, yet were, in
others, so distant ; there were so many oppor-
tunities of encroachment, on the one hand, and
so little of a disposition to submit to it, on
the other; and the quarrel of one individual
of the tribe so naturally involved the rest, that
there was scarcely ever a profound peace, or
perfect cordiality between them. Among their
chiefs the most deadly feuds frequently arose
from opposing interests, or from wounded
pride. These feuds were warmly espoused by
the whole clan, and were often transmitted,
with aggravated animosity, from generation to
generation."7

The disputes between opposing clans were
frequently made matters of negotiation, and
their differences were often adjusted by treaties.
Opposing clans, as a means of strengthening
themselves against the attacks of their rivals,
or of maintaining the balance of power, also
entered into coalitions with friendly neigh-
bours. These bands of amity or manrent, as
they were called, were of the nature of treaties
of offensive and defensive alliance, by which

" Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 3>)
7 Idem, vol. i. pp. 30, "1.

.'(20

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

fcho contracting parties bound themselves to
assist each other ; and it is remarkable that
the duty of allegiance to the king was always
acknowledged in these treaties, — " always ex-
cepting ray duty to our lord the king, and to
our kindred and friends," was a clause which
was uniformly inserted in them. In the same
manner, when men who were not chiefs of
clans, but of subordinate tribes, thus bound
themselves, their fidelity to their chiefs was
always excepted. The smaller clans who were
unable to defend themselves, and such clans
or families who had lost their chiefs, were
included in these friendly treaties.8 Under
these treaties the smaller clans identified them-
selves with the greater clans ; they engaged in
the quarrels, followed the fortunes, and fought
under the greater chiefs ; but their ranks, as
General Stewart observes, were separately
marshalled, and led by their own subordinate
chieftains and lairds, who owned submission
only when necessary, for the success of com-
bined operations. Several instances of this
union will be found in the history of the
clans.

As the system of clanship, by ignoring the
authority of the sovereign and of the laws,
prevented the clans from ever coming to any
general terms of accommodation for settling
their differences, their feuds were interminable,
and the Iliglilauds were, therefore, for ages,
the theatre of a constant petty warfare destruc-
tive of the social virtues. " The spirit of
opposition and rivalry between the clans per-
petuated a system of hostility, encouraged the
cultivation of the military at the expense of
the social virtues, and perverted their ideas of
both law and morality. Revenge was ac-
counted a duty, the destruction of a neighbour
a meritorious exploit, and rapine an honour-
able occupation. Their love of distinction,
and their conscious reliance on their courage,
when under the direction of these perverted
notions, only tended to make their feuds more
implacable, their condition more agitated, and
their depredations more rapacious and deso-

* General Stewart says that the families of the name
of Stewart, whose estates lay in the district of Athole,
and whose chief, by birth, was at a distance, ranged
themselves under the family of Athole, though they
were themselves sufficiently numerous to raise 1000
fighting men.

lating. Superstition added its influence in
exasperating animosities, by teaching the clans-
men, that, to revenge the death of a relation
or friend, was a sacrifice agreeable to their
shades : thus engaging on the side of the most
implacable hatred, and the darkest vengeance,
the most amiable and domestic of all our
feelings, — reverence for the memory of the
dead, and affection for the virtues of the
living."9

As the causes out of which feuds originated
were innumerable, so many of them were
trivial and unimportant, but as submission to
the most trifling insult was considered dis-
graceful, and might, if overlooked, lead to
fresh aggression, the clan was immediately
summoned, and the cry for revenge met with
a ready response in every breast. The most
glaring insult that could be offered to a clan,
was to speak disrespectfully of its chief,1 an
offence which was considered as a personal
affront by all his followers, and was resented
accordingly.

It often happened that the insulted elan was
unable to take the field to repel aggression or
to vindicate its honour ; but the injury was
never forgotten, and the memory of it waa
treasured up till a fitting opportunity for taking
revenge should arrive. The want of strength
was sometimes supplied by cunning, and the
blackest and deadliest intentions of hatred and
revenge were sought to be perpetrated under
the mask of conciliation and friendship. This
was the natural result of the inefficiency of the
laws which could afford no redress for wrongs,
and which, therefore, left every individual to
vindicate his rights with his own hand. The
feeling of revenge, when directed against rival
tribes, was cherished and honoured, and to
such an extent was it carried, that there are
well authenticated instances where one of the
adverse parties has been exterminated in the
bloody and ferocious conflicts which the feuds
occasioned.

As the wealth of the Highlanders consisted

9 Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. pp. S3, 34.

i "\Vhen a quarrel begins in words between two
Highlanders of different clans, it is esteemed the very
height of malice and rancour, and the greatest of all
provocations, to reproach one another with the vices
or personal defects of their chiefs, or that of the par-
ticular branch whence they sprung " — Hurt's Letters.

CREACHS AND CEARNACHS.

321

chit'lly in flocks and herds, "the usual mode
of commencing attacks, or of making reprisals,
was by an incursion to carry off the cattle of
the hostile elan. A predatory expedition was
the general declaration of enmity, and a com-
mand given by the chief to clear the pastures
of the enemy, constituted the usual letters of
marque."2 These Creaclis, as such depredations
were termed, were carried on with systematic
order, and were considered as perfectly justi-
fiable. If lives were lost in these forays,
revenge full and ample was taken, but in
general personal hostilities were avoided in
these incursions either against the Lowlanders
or rival tribes. These predatory expeditions
were more frequently directed against the Low-
landers, whom the Highlanders considered as
aliens, and whose cattle they, therefore, con-
sidered as fair spoil at all times. The forays
were generally executed with great secrecy,
and the cattle were often lifted and secured
for a considerable time before they were missed.
To trace the cattle which had been thus carried
off, the owners endeavoured to discover their
foot-marks in the grass, or by the yielding of
the heath over which they had passed ; and so
acute had habit rendered their sight, that they
frequently succeeded, in this manner, in dis-
covering their property. The man on whoso
property the tract of the cattle was lost was
held liable if he did not succeed in following
out the trace or discovering the cattle ; and if
he did not make restitution, or offer to com-
pensate the loss, an immediate quarrel was the
consequence. A reward, called Tasgal money,
was sometimes offered for the recovery of stolen
cattle ; but as this was considered in the light
of a bribe, it was generally discouraged. The
Cameron! and some other clans, it is said,
bound themselves by oath never to accept
such a reward, and to put to death all who
should receive it

Besides those who took part in the Creachs
there was another and a peculiar class called
Ceai-nachs, a term of similar import with the
Catherans of the Lowlands, the Kernes of the
English, and the Caterrte of the Romans. The
Ccarnachs were originally a select body of men
employed in difficult and dangerous enterprises

' Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 35.

where more than ordinary honour was to be
acquired ; but, in process of time, they were
employed in the degrading and dishonourable
task of levying contributions on their Lowland
neighbours, or in forcing them to pay tribute
or black mail for protection. Young men of
the second order of gentry who were desirous
of entering the military profession, frequently
joined in these exploits, as they were con-
sidered well fitted for accustoming those who
engaged in them to the fatigues and exercises
incident to a military life. The celebrated
Robert Macgregor Campbell, or Rob Roy,3 was
the most noted of these freebooters.

The cearnachs were principally the borderers
living close to and within the Grampian range,
but cearnachs from the more northerly parts
of the Highlands also paid frequent visits to
the Lowlands, and carried off large quantities
of booty. The border cearnachs judging such
irruptions as an invasion of their rights, fre-
quently attacked the northern cearnachs on
their return homewards ; and if they succeeded
in capturing the spoil, they either appropriated
it to their own use or restored it to the owners.

It might be supposed that the system of
spoliation we have described, would have led
these freebooters occasionally to steal from one
another. Such, however, was not the case ; for
they observed the strictest honesty in this
respect. No precautions were taken — because
unnecessary — to protect property; and the usual
securities of locks, bolts, and bars, were never
used, nor even thought of. Instances of theft
from dwelling-houses were very rare ; and, with
the exception of one case which happened so
late as the year 1770, highway robbery was
totally unknown. Yet, notwithstanding the
laudable regard thus shown by the freebooters
to the property of their own society, they
attached no ideas of moral turpitude to the acts
of spoliation we have alluded to. Donald
Cameron, or Donald Bane Leane, an active
leader of a party of banditti who had associated
together after the troubles of 1745, tried at
Perth for cattle-stealing, and executed at Kin-
loch Rannoch, in. 1752, expressed surprise and
indignation at his hard fate, as he considered

* For an account of this notorious individual, set
the history of the clan Macgrcgor in the second part
of this work.

322

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

it, as lie had never committed murder nor
robbery, or taken any tiling but cattle off the
grass of those with whom he had quarrelled.
The practice of "lifting of cattle" seems to
have been viewed as a very venial offence,
even by persons holding very different views
of morality from the actors, in proof of which,
General Stewart refers to a letter of Field-
Marshal Wade to Mr. Forbes of Culloden,
then Lord Advocate, dated October, 1729,
describing an entertainment given him on a
visit to a party of cearnachs. " The Knight
and I," says the Marshal, "travelled in my
carriage with great ease and pleasure to the
feast of oxen which the highwaymen had pre-
pared for us, opposite Lochgarry, where we
found four oxen roasting at the same time, in
great order and solemnity. We dined in a
tent pitched for that purpose. The beef was
excellent; and we had plenty of bumpers,
not forgetting your Lordship's and Culloden's
health ; and, after three hours' stay, took leave
of our benefactors, the highwaymen,4 and
arrived at the hut at Dalnachardoch, before it
was dark."6

Amid the violence and turbulence which
existed in the Highlands, no appeal for redress
of wrongs committed, or injuries sustained,
could be effectually made to the legal tribunals
of the country; but to prevent the utter
anarchy which would have ensued from such
a state of society, voluntary and associated
tribunals, composed of the principal men of
the tribes, were appointed. A composition in
cattle being the mode of compensating in-
juries, these tribunals generally determined the
amount of the compensation according to the
nature of the injury, and the wealth and rank
of the parties. These compensations were
called Erig.

Besides these tribunals, every chief held a
court, in which he decided all disputes occurring

4 General Stewart observes, that the Marshal had
not at this period been long enough in the Highlands
to distinguish a cearnach, or "lifter of cattle," from
a highwayman. " No such character as the latter
then existed in the country ; and it may be presumed
he did not consider these men in the light which the
word would indicate, — for certainly the Commander-
in-chief would neither have associated witli men whom
he supposed to be really highwaymen, nor partaken
of their hospitality."

5 Culloden Papers.

among his clansmen. He generally resided
among them. " His castle was the court where
rewards were distributed, and the most envi-
able distinctions conferred. All disputes were
settled by his decision, and the prosperity or
poverty of his tenants depended on his proper
or improper treatment of them. These tenants
followed his standard in war — attended him
in his hunting excursions — supplied his table
with the produce of their farms — and assembled
to reap his corn, and to prepare and bring
home his fuel They looked up to him as
their adviser and protector. The cadets of his
family, respected hi proportion to the proximity
of the relation in which they stood to him,
became a species of sub-chiefs, scattered over
different parts of his domains, holding their
lands and properties of him, with a sort of
subordinate jurisdiction over a portion of his
people, and were ever ready to afford him their
counsel or assistance in all emergencies.

" Great part of the rent of land was paid in
kind, and generally consumed where it was
produced. One chief was distinguished from
another, not by any additional splendour of
dress or equipage, but by being followed by
more dependants, and by entertaining a greater
number of guests. What his retainers gave
from then- individual property was spent
amongst them in the kindest and most liberal
manner. At the castle every individual was
made welcome, and was treated according to
his station, with a degree of courtesy and regard
to his feelings unknown in any other country.0
Tliis condescension, while it raised the clans-
man in his own estimation, and drew closer
the ties between him and his superior, seldom
tempted him to use any improper familiarities.

6 This was noticed by Dr. Johnson. He thus de-
scribes a meeting between the young laird of Coll and
some of his "subjects:" — " Wherever we roved, we
were pleased to see the reverence with which his sub-
jects regarded him. He did not endeavour to dazzle
them by any magnificence of dress, — his only distinc-
tion was a feather in his bonnet; but as soon as he
appeared, they forsook their work and clustered about
him : lie took them by the hand, and they seemed
mutually delighted. He has the proper disposition
of a chieftain, and seems desirous to continue the
customs of his house. The bagpiper played regularly
when dinner was served, whose person and dress made
a good appearance; and he brought no disgrace upon
the family of Rankin, which has long supplied the
lairds of Coll with hereditary music."— Journey to On
Western Ishtnc1!.

HIGHLAND CHIEFS.

323

lie "believed himself well born, and was taught
to respect himself in the respect which he
allowed to his chief; and thus, instead of com-
plaining of the difference of station and fortune,
or considering a ready obedience to his chief-
tain's call as a slavish oppression, he felt con-
vinced that he was supporting his own honour
in showing his gratitude and duty to the
generous head of his family. 'Hence, the
Highlanders, whom more savage nations called
savage, carried in the outward expression of
their manners the politeness of courts without
their vices, and in their bosoms the high point
of honour without its follies.'"7

It cannot, however, be denied, that the
authority of the chief was naturally arbitrary,
and was sometimes exercised unduly and with
great severity; as a proof of which, there is
said to exist among the papers of the Perth
family, an application to Lord Drummond
from the town of Perth, dated in 1707, re-
questing an occasional use of his lordship's
executioner, who was considered an expert
operator, a request with which his lordship
complied, reserving, however, to himself the
power of recalling the executioner when he
had occasion for his services. Another curious
illustration of this exercise of power is given
by General Stewart. Sometime before the
year 1745, Lord President Forbes dined at
Blair castle with the Duke of Athole, on his
way from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden.
A petition was delivered to his Grace in the
course of the evening, on reading which, he
thus addressed the President : " My lord, here
is a petition from a poor man, whom Commis-
sary Bisset, my baron bailie (an officer to whom
the chief occasionally delegated his authority),
has condemned to be hanged; and as he is a
clever fellow, and is strongly recommended to
mercy, I am much inclined to pardon him."
" But your Grace knows," said the President,
" that, after condemnation, no man can pardon
but his Majesty." " As to that," replied the
Duke, " since I have the power of punishing,
it is but right that I should have the power to
pardon." Then, calling upon a servant who
was in waiting, his Grace said, " Go, send an

: Stewart's Skefefics, vol. i. p. 46, Ac. — Dalrymplc's
Jfematrt,

express to Logierait, and order Donald Stewart,
presently under sentence, to be instantly set at
liberty."8

The authority which the generality of the
chiefs exercised, was acquired from ancient
usage and the weakness of the government;
but the lords of regality, and the great barons
and chiefs, had jurisdiction conferred on them
by the Crown, both in civil and criminal cases,
which they sometimes exercised in person and
sometimes by deputy. The persons to whom
they delegated this authority were called
bailies. In civil matters the baron or chief
could judge in questions of debt within his
barony, as well as in most of those cases known
by the technical term of possessory actions.
And though it has always been an established
rule of law, that no person can be judge in his
own cause, a baron might judge in all actions
between himself and his vassals and tenants,
necessary for making his rents and feu-duties
effectual. Thus, he could ascertain the price
of corn due by a tenant, and pronounce sen-
tence against him for arrears of rent; but in
all cases where the chief was a party, he could
not judge in person. The criminal jurisdic-
tion of a baron, according to the laws ascribed
to Malcolm Mackenneth, extended to all crimes
except treason, and the four pleas of the Crown,
viz., robbery, murder, rape, and fire-raising.
Freemen could be tried by none but their
peers. Whenever the baron held a court, his
vassals were bound to attend and afford such
assistance as might be required. On these
occasions many useful regulations for the good
of the community were often made, and sup-
plies were sometimes voluntarily granted to
the chief to support his dignity. The bounty
of the vassals was especially and liberally be-
stowed on the marriage of the chief, and in
the portioning of his daughters and younger
sons. These donations consisted of cattle,
which constituted the principal riches of the
country in those patriarchal days. In this
way the younger sons of the chief were fre-
quently provided for on their settlement in
life.

The reciprocal ties which connected the
chief and his clan were almost indissoluble.

8 Stewart, rol. i. p. 50.

324

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

In return for the kindness and paternal care
bestowed by the former on the latter, they
yielded a ready submission to his authority,
and evinced a rare fidelity to his person, which
no adversity could shake. Innumerable in-
stances of this devoted attachment might be
given, but two will suffice. In the battle of
Inverkeithing, between the royalists and the
troops of Oliver Cromwell, 500 of the followers
of the Laird of Maclean were left dead on the
field. Sir Hector Maclean being hard pressed
by the enemy in the heat of the action, was
successively covered from their attacks by
seven brothers, all of whom sacrificed their
lives in his defence ; and as one fell another
came up in succession to cover him, crying,
"Another for Hector." This phrase, says
General Stewart, has continued ever since a
proverb or watchword, when a man encounters
any sudden danger that requires instant suc-
cour. The other instance is that of a servant
of the late James Menzies of Culdares, who
had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715.
Mr. Menzies was taken at Preston in Lanca-
shire, was carried to London, where he was
tried and condemned, but afterwards reprieved.
This act prevented him from turning out in
1745: but to show his good wishes towards
Prince Charles, he sent him a handsome
charger as a present, when advancing through
England. The servant who led and delivered
the horse was taken prisoner and carried to
Carlisle, whore he was tried and condemned.
Every attempt was made, by threats of im-
mediate execution, in case of refusal, and
promises of pardon, on giving information, to
extort a discovery from him of the person who
sent the horse, but in vain. He knew, he
said, what would be the consequence of a
disclosure, and that his own life was nothing
in comparison with that which it would en-
danger. Being hard pressed at the place of
execution to inform on his master, he asked
those about him if they were really serious in
supposing that he was such a villain as to
betray his master. He said, that if he did
what they desired, and forgot his master and
his trust, he needed not return to his country,
for Glenlyon would be no homo or country for
him, as he would be despised and hunted out
of the glen. This trusty servant's name was

John Macnaughton, a native of Glenlyon in
Perthshire.9

The obedience and attachment of the High
landers to their chiefs, and the readiness they
displayed, on all occasions, to adopt, when
called upon, the quarrels of their superiors,
did not, however, make them forget their own
independence. "When a chief was unfit for
his situation, or had degraded his name and
family, the clan proceeded to depose him, and
set up the next in succession, if deserving, to
whom they transferred their allegiance, as
happened to two chiefs of the families of Mac-
donald of Clanronald and Macdonell of Kep-
poch. The head of the family of Stewart of

9 A picture of the horse was in the possession of
the late General Stewart of Garth, being a legacy
bequeathed to him by the daughter of Mr. Menzies.
" A brother of Macnaughton," says the General, "lived
for many years on the estate of Garth, and died in
1790. He always went about armed, at least so far
armed, that when debarred wearing a sword or dirk,
he slung a large long knife in his belt. He was one
of the last I recollect of the ancient ra.ce, and gave a
very favourable impression of their general manner
and appearance. He was a smith by trade, and
although of the lowest order of the people, he walked
about with an air and manner that might have become
a field-marshal. He spoke with great force and
fluency of language, and, although most respectful to
those to whom he thought respect was due, he had an
appearance of independence and ease, that strangers,
ignorant of the language and character of the people,
might have supposed to proceed from impudence. As
he always carried arms when legally permitted, so he
showed on one occasion that he knew how to handle
them. When the Black Watch was quartered on the
banks of the rivers Tay and Lyon, in 1741, an affray
arose between a few of the soldiers and some of the
people at a fair at Kenmore. Some of the Breadalbaue
men took the part of the soldiers, and, as many were
armed, swords were quickly drawn, and one of the
former killed, when their opponents, with whom was
Macnaughton, and a smith, (to whom he was then an
apprentice,) retreated and fled to the ferry-boat across
the Tay. There was no bridge, and the ferryman, on
seeing the fray, chained his boat. Macnaughton was
the first at the river side, and leaping into the boat,
followed by his master, the smith, with a stroke of his
broadsword cut the chain, and crossing the river, fixed
the boat on the opposite side, and thus prevented an
immediate pursuit. Indeed no farther steps were
taken. The Earl of Breadalbane, who was then at
Taymouth, was immediately sent for. On inquiry, ho
found that the whole had originated from an accidental
reflection thrown out by a soldier of one of the Argyle
companies against the Atholemen, then supposed" to
be Jacobites, and that it was difficult to ascertain who
gave the fatal blow. The man who was killed was an
jld warrior of nearly eighty years of age. He had
:>ecn with Lord Breadalbane's men, under Campbell
of Glenlyon, at the battle of Sheriffmuir ; and, as his
side lost their cause, he swore never to shave again.
He kept his word, and as his beard grew till it readied
lis girdle, he got the name of I'adric-na-rhaioaij;,
' Peter with the Beard. ' '

FIDELITY OF CLANS TO THEIR CHIEFS.

325

(!:irth, who, on account of his ferocious dis-
position, was nick-named the " Fierce Wolf,"
was, about the year 1520, not only deposed,
but confined for life in a cell in the castle of
Garth, which was, therefore, long regarded by
the people with a kind of superstitious terror.
The clans even sometimes interfered with the
choice of the chiefs in changing their places of
abode, or in selecting a site for a new residence.
The Earl of Seaforth was prevented by his
clan (the M'Kenzies) from demolishing Brahan
castle, the principal seat of the family. In
the same way the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor
of the Marquis of Breadalbane, having some
time previous to the year 1570, laid the
foundation of a castle which he intended to
build on a hill on the side of Lochtay, was
compelled, or induced, by his people, to change
his plan and build the castle of Balloch or
Taymouth.

From what has been stated, it will be per-
ceived that the influence of a chief with his
clan depended much on his personal qualities,
of which kindness and a condescension, which
admitted of an easy familiarity, were necessary
traits. Captain Burt, the author of 'Letters
from the North,' thus alludes to the familiarity
which existed between a chief and his clan, and
the affability and courtesy with which they
were accustomed to be treated : " And as the
meanest among them pretended to be his
relations by consanguinity, they insisted on
the privilege of taking him by the hand when-
ever they met him. Concerning this last, I
once saw a number of very discontented coun-
tenances when a certain lord, one of the chiefs,
endeavoured to evade this ceremony. It was
in the presence of an English gentleman, of
high station, from whom he would willingly
have concealed the knowledge of such seeming
familiarity with slaves of wretched appearance ;
and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contra-
diction to what he had often boasted at other
times, viz., his despotic power in his clan."

From the feeling of self-respect which the
urbanity and condescension of the chiefs natu-
rally created in the minds of the people, arose
that honourable principle of fidelity to superi-
ors and to their trust, which we have already
noticed, " and which," says General Stewart,
" was so generally and so forcibly imbibed,

that the man who betrayed his trust was con-
sidered unworthy of the name which he boro,
or of the kindred to which he belonged."

From this principle flowed a marked detes-
tation of treachery, a vice of very rare occur-
rence among the Higldanders ; and so tenacious
were they on that point, that the slightest
suspicion of infidelity on the part of an indi-
vidual estranged him from the society of his
clan, who shunned him as a person with whom
it was dangerous any longer to associate. The
case of John Du Cameron, better known, from
Ids large she, by the name of Sergeant Mor,1
affords an example of this. This man had
been a sergeant in the French service, and
returned to Scotland in the year 1745, when
he engaged in the rebellion. Having no fixed
abode, and dreading the consequences of hav-
ing served in the French army, and of being
afterwards engaged in the rebellion, he formed
a party of freebooters, and took up his resi-
dence among the mountains on the borders of
the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argylc,
where he carried on a system of spoliation by
carrying off the cattle of those he called his
enemies, if they did not purchase his forbear-
ance by the payment of Black mail. Cameron
had long been in the habit of sleeping in a
barn on the farm of Dunan in Rannoch ; but

1 The following amusing anecdote of this man is
related by General Stewart : — " On one occasion he
met with an officer of the garrison of Fort-William on
the mountains of Lochaber. The officer told him
that he suspected he had lost his way, and, having a
large sum of money for the garrison, was afraid of
meeting the sergeant Mor ; he therefore requested
that the stranger would accompany him on his road.
The other agreed ; and, while they walked on, they
talked much of the sergeant and his feats, the officer
using much freedom with his name, calling him robber,
murderer. — • Stop there," interrupted his companion,
' he does indeed take the cattle of the whigs and you
Sass.inachs, but neither he nor his cearaachs ever shed
innocent blood ; except once,' added he, 'that I was
unfortunate at Brae'.Tiar, when a man was killed, but
I immediately ordered the creach (the spoil) to be
abandoned, and left to the owners, retreating as fast
as we could after such a misfortune ! ' ' You,' says
the officer, ' what had you to do with the affair? ' ' I
am John Du Cameron, — I am the sergeant Mor ;
there is the road to Inverlochay, — you cannot now
mistake it. You and your money are safe. Tell your
governor to send a more wary messenger for his gold.
Tell him also, that, although an outlaw, and forced
to live on the public, I am a soldier as well as himself,
aii'l would despise taking his gold from a defenceless
man who confided in me.' The officer lost no time
in reaching the garrison, and never forgot the adven-
ture, which he frequently related. "

32G

GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

having been betrayed by some person, he was
apprehended one night when asleep in the
barn, in the year 1753, by a party of Lieu-
tenant (after Sir Hector) Munro's detach-
ment. Ho was carried to Perth, and there
tried before the court of justiciary for the
murder alluded to in the note, and various
acts of theft and cattle-stealing. Being found
guilty, ho was executed at Perth in 1753. It
was generally believed in tho country that
Cameron had been betrayed by the man in
whose barn he had taken shelter, and the
circumstance of his renting a farm from govern-
ment, on the forfeited estate of Strowan, on
advantageous terms, strengthened the suspi-
cion; but beyond this there was nothing to
confirm the imputation. Yet this man was
ever after heartily despised, and having by
various misfortunes lost all his property, which
obliged him to leave the country in great
poverty, tho people firmly believed that his
misfortunes were a just judgment upon him
for violating the trust reposed in him by an
unsuspecting and unfortunate person.

Such were some of the leading character-
istics of this remarkable race of people, who
preserved many of their national peculiarities
till a comparatively recent period. These,
whoever, are now fast disappearing before the
march of modern improvement and civiliza-
tion ; and we are sorry to add that the vices
which seem almost inseparable from this new
state of society have found their way into some
parts of the Highlands, and supplanted, to a
certain extent, many of those shining virtues
which were once tho glory of the Gael.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVIII.,

Containing notices by contemporary waiters, from the
llth century downwards, of the dress and arms of the
Highlanders ; extracted from the lona Club publica-
tion, Collectanea de rebut Albanicis.

Magnus Berfaet'g Saga.

A.D. 1093. It is said when King Magnus returned
from his expedition in the west, that he adopted the
costume in use in the western lands, and likewise
many of his followers ; that they went about bare-
legged having short tunics ("W. kyrtles), and also
upper garments ; and so many men called him Bare-
legged or Barefoot.

Andrew Wyntoua (1420), referring to the combat
on N. Inch, says,

At Sauct Johnstone beside the Freris,
All thai entrit in Barrens
Wyth Bow and Ax, Knyf and Swerd,
To deil amang them their last werd.

John Major (1512).

From the middle of their thigh to the foot they
have no covering for the leg, clothing themselves with
a mantle instead of an upper garment, and a shirt
dyed with saffron. They always carry a bow and
arrows, a very broad sword with a small halbert, a
large dagger, sharpened on one side only, but very
sharp, under the belt. In time of war they cover
their whole body with a shirt of mail of iron rings,
and fight in that. The common people of the High-
land Scots rush into battle, having their body clothed
with a linen garment manifoldly sewed and painted
or daubed with pitch, with a covering of deerskin.

In another place he speaks much to the same
purport.

In the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of
Scotland, in August 1538, we find the following
entries regarding a Highland dress made for King
James V., on the occasion of that monarch making
a hunting excursion into the Highlands : —

ITEM in the first for ii elnis ane quarter elne of
variant cullorit velvet to be the Kingis Grace ane schort
Heland coit price of the elne vi'ib summa xiii'ib x'.

ITEM, for iii elnis quarter elne of grene taffatys
to lyne the said coit with, price of the elne xs sum-
ma xxxiis via.

ITEM for iii elnis of Heland tartane to be hoiss to
the Kingis Grace, price of the elne iiiis iiii1' sum-
ma xiii'.

ITEM for xv elnis of holland claith to be sycle
Heland sarkis to the Kingis Grace, price of the elne
viiis sumtna ...... vi'">.

ITEM for sewing and making of the said sarkis ix'.

ITEM for twa unce of silk to sew thame . x».

ITEM for iiii elnis of rubanis to the handis of
thame ii'.

Letter written by John Elder, a Highland priest,
to Henry VIII. (1543).

Moreover, wherefor they call us in Scotland Redd
shankes, and in your Graces dominion of England,
rogho footide Scottis, Pleas it your Maiestie to uuder-
stande, that we of all people can tollerat, suffir, and
away best with colde, for boithe somer and wyntir
(exceptc when the freest is most vehcmonte), goynge
alwaies bair leggide and bair footide, our delite and
pleasure is not onely in huntynge of redd deir, wolfes,
foxes, and graies, whereof we abounde, and have
greate plentie, but also in rynninge, leapinge, swym-
mynge, shootynge, and thrawinge of dartis : therfor,
in so moohe as we use and delite so to go alwaies, the
tondir delicatt geutillmen of Scotland call us Redd-
shcmkcs. And agayne in wyuter, whcne the freest ij

APPENDIX— HIGHLAND DEESS AND ARMS.

327

mooste vehement (as I have saide) which we can not
sullir bair footide, so weill as snow, whiche can never
hurt us whene it cummes to our girdills, we go a
himtynge, and after that we liave slayne redd deir,
wo flaye of the skyne, bey and bey, and settinge of our
bair foote on the insyde therof, for neide of cunnyge
shoemakers, by your Graces pardon, we play the
suiters ; compasinge and mcsuringe so inoche thereof,
as shall retche up to our nnclers, pryckynge the upper
part therof also with holis, that the water may repas
when it entres, and stretchide up with a stronge
thwange of the same, meitand above our said ancklers,
so, and please your noble Grace, we make our shoois :
Therfor, we usinge such inaner of shoois, the roghe
hairie syde outwart, in your Graces dominion of Eng-
land, we be callit roghe footide Scottis ; which mauer
of schoois (and pleas your Highnes) in Latyne be
called perones, whereof the poet Virgill makis men-
cioun, sayinge, That the olde auncient Latyns in tyme
of warrs uside suche maner of schoos. And althoughe
a great sorte of us Reddshankes go after this maner in
our countrethe, yeit never the les, and pleas your
Grace, when we come to the courte (the Kinges Grace
our great master being alyve) waitinge on our Lordes
and maisters, who also, for velvettis and silkis, be
right well araide, we have as good garmentis as some
of our fellowis whiche gyve attendaunce in the court
every day.

John de Beaugue1, a Frenchman, who wrote a
history of the campaigns in Scotland in 1549,
printed in Paris in 1556, states that, at the siege
of Haddington, in 1549, "they (the Scottish army)
were followed by the Highlanders, and these last
go almost naked ; they have painted waistcoats,
and a sort of woollen covering, variously coloured."

Lindsay of Pitscottie (wrote about 1573) : —

The other pairts [of Scotland] northerne are full of
mountaines, and very rud and homlie kynd of people
(loeth inhabite, which is called the Reidschankis or
Wyld Scottis. They be clothed with ane mantle,
with ane schirt saffroned after the Irisch manner,
going bair-legged to the knee. Thair weapones ar
bowis and dartes, with ane verie broad sword and ane
dagger scharp onlie at the on edge.

John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, who published his
work De origine, moribus d rtbua gestis Scotorum
at Rome in 1578, thus describes the arms and dress
of the old Scots, which were still in his time used
by the Highlanders and Islanders : —

In battle and hostile encounter their missile weapons
were a lance and arrows. They used also a two-edged
sword which, with the foot soldiers was pretty long,
and short for the horse ; both had it broad, and with
an edge so exceeding sharp that at one blow it would
easily cut a man in two. For defence, they used a
coat of mail, woven of iron rings, which they wore
over a leather jerkin, stout and of handsome appear-
ance, which we call an aeton. Their whole armour
was light, that they might the more easily slip from

their enemies' hands if they chanced to fall into such
a strait. Their clothing was made for use (being
chiefly suited to war), and not for ornament. All,
both nobles and common people, wore mantles of one
sort (except that the nobles preferred those of several
colours). These were long and flowing, but capable
of being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds. I
am inclined to believe that they were the same aj
those to which the ancients gave the name of brachal.
Wrapped up in these for their only covering they
would sleep comfortably. They had also shaggy rugs,
such as the Irish use at the present day, some fitted
for a journey, others to be placed on a bed. The rest
of their garments consisted of a short woollen jacket
with the sleeves open below for the convenience of
throwing their darts, and a covering for the thighs of
the simplest kind, more for decency than for show or
a defence against cold. They made also of linen, very
large shirts, with numerous folds and wide sleeves,
which flowed abroad loosely to their knees. These,
the rich coloured with saffron, and others smeared
with some grease to preserve them longer clean among
the toils and exercises of a camp, which they held it
of the highest consequence to practise continually.
In the manufacture of these, ornament and a certain at-
tention to taste were not altogether neglected, and they
joined the different parts of their shirts very neatly
with silk threads, chiefly of a green or red colour.

Their women's attire was very becoming. Over a
gown reaching to the ancles, and generally em-
broidered, they wore large mantles of the kind already
described, and woven of different colours. Their chief
ornaments were the bracelets and necklaces with
which they decorated their arms and necks.

George Buchanan (pub. 1582, thus translated by
Monypenny 1612).

They delight in marled clothes, specially that have
long stripes of sundry colours ; they love chiefly pur-
ple and blew. Their predecessors used short mantles
or plaids of divers colours sundry waies devided ; and
amongst some, the same custome is observed to this
day ; but for the most part now they are browne,
more nere to the colour of the hadder ; to the effect
when they lie amongst the hadder the bright colour
of their plaids shall not bewray them ; with the which,
rather coloured than clad, they suffer the most cruel
tempests that blow in the open field in such sort, that
under a wrythe of snow they slepe sound. . . . ,
Their armour wherewith they cover their bodies in
time of werre, is an iron bonnet and an habbergion
side (long) almost even to their heeles. Their weapones
against their enemies are bowes and arrowes. The
arrows are for the most part hooked, with a bauble on
either side, which once entered within the body can-
not be drawn forth againc, unlesse the wounde be
made wider. Some of them fight with broad swords
and axes.

Nicolay d'Arfeville, Cosmographer to King of
France, pub. 1583, a vol. on Scotland, speak?
thus : —

328

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

They [wild Scots] weir like the Irish, a long large
and full shirt, coloured with saffron, and over this a
garment hanging to the knee, of thick wool, after the
manner of a cassock. They go with bare heads, and
allow the hair to grow very long, and they wear neither
stockings nor shoes, except some who have buskins
made in a very old fashion, which come as high as
their knees. Their arms are the bow and arrow, and
some darts, which they throw with great dexterity,
and a large sword, with a single-edged dagger. They
are very swift of foot, and there is no horse so swift as
to outstrip them, as I have seen proved several times,
both in England and Scotland.

In 1594, when Red Hugh O'Donnell, Lord of
Tirconall in Ulster, was in rebellion against Queen
Elizabeth, he was assisted for some time by a body
of auxiliaries from the Hebrides. These warriors
are described in the following terms in the Life of
Hugh O'Dounell, originally written in Irish by
Peregrine O'Clery, and since translated by the late
Edward O'Reilly, Esq.

The outward clothing they (the auxiliaries from the
isles) wore, was a mottled garment with numerous
colours hanging in folds to the calf of the leg, with a
girdle round the loins over the garment. Some of
them with horn-hafted swords, large and military,
over their shoulders. A man when he had to strike
with them, was obliged to apply both his hands to the
haft.

John Taylor, the Water Poet, made an excursion
to Scotland in 1618, of which he published an
amusing account under the title of The Pennylesse
Pilgrimage. He describes the dress of the High-
landers in the following account he gives of his
visit to Braemar for the purpose of paying his
respects to the Earl of Mar and Sir W. Moray of
Abercairney.

Thus, with extreme travell, ascending and descend-
ing, mounting and alighting, I came at night to the
place where I would be, in the Brae of Marr, which
is a large county all composed of such mountaines,
that Shooters hill, Gads hill, Highgate hill, Hamp-
stead hill, Birdlip hill, or Malvernes hills, are but
mole-hills in comparison, or like a liver, or a gizzard
under a capon's wing, in respect to the altitude of their
tops, or perpendicularite of their bottomes. There I
saw mount Benawne with a furrd'd mist upon his
snowy head instead of a night-cap; for you must
understand, that the oldest man alive never saw but
the snow was on the top of divers of those hills, (both
in summer as well as in winter). There did I find
the truely noble and Right Honourable Lords John
Erskine, Earle of Marr, James Stuart, Earle of
Hurray, George Gordon, Earle of Engye, sonne and
heire to the Marquise of Huntley, James Erskin,
Earle of Bugnan, and John, Lord Erskin, sonne
and heire to the Earle of Marr, and their Countesses,
with my much honoured, and my best assured and
approved friend, Sir William Murray, Knight, of
Aberiarny, and hundred of others, knights, esquires,

and their followers ; all and every man in general], in
one habit, as if Licurgus had been there, and made
lawes of equality. For once in the yeere, which is the
whole moneth of August, and sometimes part of
September, many of the nobility and gentry of the
kingdome (for their pleasure) doe come into these
Highland countries to hunt, where they doe conforme
themselves to the habite of the Highland men, who,
for the moste part, speake nothing but Irish ; and in
former time were those people which were called the
Red-shanks. Their habite is shooes with but one sole
apiece ; stockings (which they call short hose) made
of a warme stuff of divers colours, which they call
tartane. As for breeches, many of them, nor their
forefathers, ever wore any, but a jerkin of the same
stuffe that their hose is of, their garters being bands
or wreathes of hay or straw, with a plaed about their
shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much
finer and lighter stuffe than their hose, with blue flat
caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two
knots about their necke ; and thus are they attyred.
Now, their weapons are long bowes and forked arrowes,
swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, durks,
and Loquhabor-axes. With these armes I found
many of them armed for the hunting. As for their
attire, any man of what degree soever that comes
amongst them, must not disdaine to weareit; for if
they doe, then they will disdaine to hunt, or willingly
to bring in their dogges ; but if men be kind unto them,
and be in their habit, then are they conquered with
kindnesse, and the sport will be plentifull. This was
the reason that I found so many noblemen and gentle
men in those shapes. But to proceed to the hunting
My good Lord of Marr having put me into thai
shape, I rode with him from his house, where I saw
the mines of an old castle, called the castle of Kin-
droghit. It was built by king Malcolm Canmore (for
a hunting house), who raigned in Scotland when
Edward the Confessor, Harold, and Norman William
raigned in England ; I speak of it, because it was the
last house that I saw in those parts ; for I was the
space of twelve dayes after, before I saw either house,
corne-field, or habitation for any creature, but deere,
wild horses, wolves, and such like creatures, which
made me doubt that I should never have seene a house
agaiue.

Defoe, in his Memoirs of a Cavalier, written
about 1721, and obviously composed from authentic
materials, thus describes the Highland part of the
Scottish army which invaded England in 1639, at
the commencement of the great civil war. The
Cavalier having paid a visit to the Scottish camp
to satisfy his curiosity, thus proceeds : —

I confess the soldiers made a very uncouth figure,
especially the Highlanders : the oddness and barbarity
of their garb and arms seemed to have something in
it remarkable. They were generally tall swinging
fellows ; their swords were extravagantly and I think
insignificantly broad, and they carried great wooden
targets, large enough to cover the upper part of their
bodies. Their dress was as antique as the rest ; a cup

APPENDIX— HIGHLAND DRESS AND AEMS.

320

on their heads, called by them a bonnet, long h:ing-
ing sleeves behind, and their doublet, breeches, and
stockings, of a stuff they called plaid, stripped across
red and yellow, with short cloaks of the same.

William Clelaml, Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl
of Angus's regiment, who was killed whilst gal-
lantly defending his post at Dunkeld, against a
party of Highlanders, soon after the Revolution,
wrote a satirical poem upon the expedition of the
Highland host in 1678, from which the following
extract is taken : —

Their head, their neck, their legs, their thighs

Are influenced by the skies,

Without a clout to interrupt them

They need not strip them when they whip them ;

Nor loose their doublet when they're hanged.

But those who were their chief Commanders,
As such who bore the pirnie standards,
Who led the van, and drove the rear,
Were right well mounted of their gear ;
With brogues, trues, and pirnie plaides,
With good blew bonnets on their heads,
Which on the one side had a flipe
Atlorn'd with a tobacco pipe,
With durk, and snap work, and snuflf mill,
A bagg which they with onions fill,
And, as their strik observers say,
A tupe horn fill'd with usquebay ;
A slasht out coat beneath her plaids,
A targe of timber, nails and hides ;
With a long two-handed sword,
As good's the country can affoord.

.... they're smearM with tar,
Which doth defend them heel and neck,
Just as it doth their sheep protect.

William Sacheverell, governor of the Isle of
Man, made an excursion in 1688 through the Isle
of Mull, and thence to Icolmkill. An account of
this he published in 1702, in which he describes
from observation, the dress, armour, and appearance
of the Highlanders.

During my stay, I generally observed the men to
be large-bodied, stout, subtle, active, patient of cold
and hunger. There appeared in all their actions a
certain generous air of freedom, and contempt of those
trifles, luxury and ambition, which we so servilely
creep after. They bound their appetites by their
necessities, and their happiness consists, not in having
much, but in coveting little. The women seem to
have the same sentiments with the men; though their
habits were mean, and they had not our sort of
breeding, yet in many of them there was a natural
beauty and a graceful modesty, which never fails of
attracting. The usual outward habit of both sexes is
the pladd ; the women's much finer, the colours more
lively, and the squares larger than the men's, and put
mo in mind of the ancient Picts. This serves them
for a veil, and covers both head and body. The men
wear theirs after another manner, especially whm
designed for ornament: it is loose and flowing, like

I.

the mantles our painters give their heroes. Their
thighs are bare, with brawny muscles. Nature has
drawn all her strokes bold and masterly; what ii
covered is ynly adapted to necessity — a thin brogue on
the foot, a short buskin of various colours on the leg,
tied abovo the calf with a striped pair of garters.
Whut should be concealed is hid with a large shot-
pouch, on each side of which hangs a pistol and a
dagger, as if they found it necessary to keep those
pints well guarded. A round target on their backs,
a blue bonnet on their heads, in one hand a broad-
sword, and a musquet in the other. Perhaps no
nation goes better armed; and I assure you they will
handle them with bravery and dexterity, especially
the sword and target, as our veteran regiments found
to their cost at Killiecrankie.

The following minute description of Highland
dress is contained in Martin's Western Islet of
Scotland: —

The first habit wore by persons of distinction in the
islands, was the leni-croich, from the Irish word Uni,
which signifies a shirt, and croch, saffron, because
their shirt was died with that herb: the ordinary
number of ells used to make this robe was twenty-
four; it was the upper garb, reaching below the knees,
and was tied with a belt round the middle ; but the
islanders have laid it aside about a hundred years ago.

They now generally use coat, wastcoat, and breeches,
as elsewhere, and on their heads wear bonnets made
of thick cloth, some blew, some black, and some gray.

Many of the people wear trovris. Some have them
very fine woven like stockings of those made of cloath ;
some are coloured and others striped; the latter are as
well shap'd as the former, lying close to the body from
the middle downwards, and tied round with a belt
above the haunches. There is a square piece of cloth
which hangs down before. The measure for shaping
the trowis is a stick of wood whose length is a cubit,
and that divided into the length of a finger, and half
a finger; so that it requires more skill to make it,
than the ordinary habit.

The shooes anciently wore, was a piece of the hide
of a deer, cow, or horse, with the hair on, being tied
behind and before with a point of leather. The gener-
ality now wear shooes having one thin solo only, and
shaped after the right and left foot ; so that what is
for one foot, will not serve the other.

But persons of distinction wear the garb in fashion
in the south of Scotland.

The plad wore only by the men, is made of fine
wool, the thread as fine as can be made of that kind ;
it consists of divers colours, and there is a great deal
of ingenuity requir'd in sorting the colours, so as to
be agreeable to the nicest fancy. For this reason the
women are at great pains, first to give an exact
pattern of the plado upon a piece of wood, having the
number of every thread of the stripe on it. The
length of it is commonly seven double ells; the one
end hangs by the middle over the left arm, the other
going round the body, hangs by the end over the left
arm also. The right hand above it is to be at liberty
2T

330

GENEEAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

to do any thing upon occasion. Every isle differs
from each other in their fancy of making plaids, as to
the stripes in breadth and colours. This humour is
as different thro' the main land of the Highlands,
insofar that they who have seen those places, is able
at the first view of a man's plaid, to guess the place of
his residence.

When they travel on foot, the plaid is tied on the
breast with a bodkin of bone or wood, (just as the
spina wore by the Germans, according to the descrip-
tion of 0. Tacitus;) the plaid is tied round the middle
with a leather belt ; it is pleated from the belt to the
knee very nicely ; this dress for footmen is found much
easier and lighter than breeches, or trowis.

The ancient dress wore by the women, and which is
yet wore by some of the vulgar, called arisad, is a
white plade, having a few small stripes of black, blew,
and red ; it reached from the neck to the heels, and
was tied before on the breast with a buckle of silver,
or brass, according to the quality of the person. I
have seen some of the former of an hundred marks
value ; it was broad as any ordinary pewter plate, the
whole curiously engraven with various animals, &c.
There was a lesser buckle which was wore in the
middle of the larger, and above two ounces weight ; it
had in the center a large piece of chrystal, or some
finer stone, and this was set all round with several
finer stones of a lesser size.

The plad being pleated all round, was tied with
a belt below the breast; the belt was of leather, and
several pieces of silver intermix'd with the leather like
a chain. The lower end of the belt has a piece of
plate about eight inches long, and three in breadth,
curiously engraven; the end of which was adorned
with fine stones, or pieces of red corral. They wore
sleeves of scarlet cloth, clos'd at the end as mens
vests, with gold lace round 'em, having plate buttons
set with fine stones. The head dress was a fine
kerchief of linen strait about the head, hanging down
the back taper-wise ; a large lock of hair hangs down
their cheeks above their breast, the lower end tied
with a knot of ribbands.

The ancient way of fighting was by set battles, and
for arms some had broad two handed swords, and
head-pieces, and others bows and arrows. When all
their arrows were spent, they attack'd one another
with sword in hand. Since the invention of guns,
they acre very early accustomed to use them, and
carry their pieces with them wherever they go : they
likewise learn to handle the broad sword, and target.
The chief of each tribe advances with his followers
within shot of the enemy, having first laid aside their
upper garments ; and after one general discharge, they
attack them with sword in hand, having their target
on their left hand, (as they did at Kelicranky) which
soon brings the matter to an issue, and verifies the
observation made of 'em by our historians,
Aut mors cito, aut victoria lieta.

The following is taken from Letters from a
Gentleman in the North of Scotland, written by
Captain Burt, an English officer of Engineers,

engaged under Marshal Wade oil the military roads
through the Highlands, begun in the year 1726: —

The Highland dress consists of a bonnet made of
thrum without a brim, a short coat, a waistcoat,
longer by five or six inches, short stockings, and
brogues, or pumps without heels. By the way, they
cut holes in their brogues, though new made, to let
out the water, when they have far to go and rivers to
pass : this they do to preserve their feet from galling.

Few besides gentlemen wear the trmczc, — that is,
the breeches and stockings all of one piece, and drawn
on together; over this habit they wear a plaid, which
is usually three yards long and two breadths wide,
and the whole garb is made of chequered tartan, or
plaiding : this, with the sword and pistol, is called a
full dress, and, to a well-proportioned man, with any
tolerable air, it makes an agreeable figure; but this
you have seen in London, and it is chiefly their mode
of dressing when they are in the Lowlands, or when
they make a neighbouring visit, or go anywhere on
horseback ; but when those among them who travel
on foot, and have not attendants to carry them over
the waters, they vary it into the quell, which is a
manner I am about to describe.

The common habit of the ordinary Highlanders is
far from being acceptable to the eye : with them a
small part of the plaid, which is not so large as the
former, is set in folds and girt round the waist, to
make of it a short petticoat that reaches half way
down the thigh, and the rest is brought over the
shoulders, and then fastened before, below the neck,
often with a fork, and sometimes with a bodkin or
sharpened piece of stick, so that they make pretty
nearly the appearance of the poor women in London
when they bring their gowns over their heads to
shelter them from the rain. In this way of wearing
the plaid, they have sometimes nothing else to cover
them, and are often barefoot ; but some I have seen
shod with a kind of pumps, made out of a raw cow-
hide, with the hair turned outward, which being ill
made, the wearer's foot looked something like those
of a rough-footed hen or pigeon : these are called
quarrants, and are not only offensive to the sight, but
intolerable to the smell of those who are near them.
The stocking rises no higher than the thick of the
calf, and from the middle of the thigh to the middle
of the leg is a naked space, which, being exposed to
all weathers, becomes tanned and freckled. This
dress is called the quell ; and, for the most part, they
wear the petticoat so very short, that in a windy day,
going up a hill, or stooping, the indecency of it is
plainly discovered.

I have observed before that the plaid serves the
ordinary people for a cloak by day and bedding at
night : by the latter it imbibes so much perspiration,
that no one day can free it from the filthy smell ; and
even some of better than ordinaiy appearance, when
the plaid falls from the shoulder, or otherwise requires
to be re-adjusted, while you are talking with thnm,
toss it over again, as some people do the knots of -their
wigs, which conveys the offence in whiffs that are in-

APPENDIX— HIGHLAND DRESS AND ARMS.

331

tolerable; — of this they seem not to be sensible, for it
is often done only to give themselves airs.

The plaid is the undress of the ladies; and to a
genteel woman, who adjusts it with a good air, is a
becoming veil. But as I am pretty sure you never
saw one of them in England, I shall employ a few
words to describe it to you. It is made of silk or fine
worsted, chequered with various lively colours, two
breadths wide, and three yards in length ; it is brought
over the head, and may hide or discover the face ac-
cording to the wearer's fancy or occasion : it reaches
to the waist behind ; one corner falls as low as the
ankle on one side ; and the other part, in folds, hangs
down from the opposite arm.

The ordinary girls wear nothing upon their heads
until they are married or have a child, except some-
times a fillet of red or blue coarse cloth, of which
they are very proud ; but often their hair hangs down
ever the forehead like that of a wild colt. If they
wear stockings, which is very rare, they lay them in
plaits one above another, from the ancle up to the
calf, to make their legs appear as near as they can in
the form of a cylinder ; but I think I have seen some-
thing like this among the poor German refugee women
and the Moorish men in London.

Mr. Gough, in his additions to Cainden's Britan-
nia, gives the following accurate description of the
Highland dress and armour, as they were to be
found in the district of Breadalbane previous to the
proscription of the dress : —

The dress of the men is the Irechan or plaid, 12 or
13 yards of narrow stuff wrapped round the middle,
and reaching to the knees, often girt round the waist,
and in cold weather covering the whole body, even on
the open hills, all night, and fastened on the shoulders
with a brooch ; short stockings tied below the knee ;
truiiJt, a genteeler kind of breeches, and stockings of
one piece; cueranen, a laced shoe of skin, with the
hairy side out, rather disused; kilt or fillibeg, g. d.
little plaid, or short petticoat, reaching to the knees,
substituted of late to the longer end of the plaid ; and
lastly, the pouch of badger or other skins, with tassels
hanging before them. .....

The women's dress is the kerch, or white linen
pinned round behind like a hood, and over the fore-
heads of married women, whereas maidens wear only
a irwod or ribbon round their heads; the tanac or
plaid fastened over their shoulders, and drawn over
their heads in bad weather ; a plaited long stocking,
called ossan, is their high dress.

The following detail of the complete equipment
of a Highland chief was communicated by a High-
land gentleman to Charles Grant, Vicomte de
Vaux, by whom it was printed in his Mimoiret de
la liaison de Grant, in 1796: —

Ko. 1. A full-trimmed bonnet.

2. A tartan jacket, vest, kilt, and cross-belt.

3. A tartan belted plaid.

4. pair of hose, made up [of cloth].

5. A tartan pair of stockings, ditto, with yelbw

garters.

6. Two pair of brogs.

7. A silver-mounted purse and bolt.

8. A target with spear.

9. A broadsword.

10. A pair of pistols and bullet-mould.

11. A dirk, knife, fork, and belt.

CHAPTER XIX.
A. D. 1660-1689.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS: —

Charles II., 1600— 1C85. James II., (VII. of Scotland,)
1685—1688.

Trial and Execution of the Marquis of Argyle — Hi.)
character — Feud between the Earl of Argyle and
the Macleans— The " Highland Host"— The Test--
Trial and Condemnation of the Earl of Argyle —
Argyle escapes — Argyle and Monmouth's invasion —
Execution of Argyle — Unconstitutional proceedings
of the King — Designs of the Prince of Orange — Pro-
ceedings of King James — Landing of the Prince of
Orange — State of feeling in Scotland — Flight of the
King — The Duke of Gordon — Convention of Estates
— DukeofGordonholds Edinburgh Castle — Viscount
Dundee.

THE news of the king's arrival was received
iu Scotland with a burst of enthusiasm not
quite in accordance with the national charac-
ter;2 but the idea that the nation was about
to regain its liberties made Scotsmen forget
their wonted propriety. Preparatory to the
assembling of the Scottish parliament, which
was summoned to meet at Edinburgh on the
1st of January, 1661, Middleton, who had
lately been created an earl, was appointed his
majesty's commissioner ; the Earl of Glencairn,
chancellor; the Earl of Lauderdale, secretary
of state ; the Earl of Rothes, president of tho
council ; and the Earl of Crawford, lord-treu-

* " I believe there was never accident in the world
altered the disposition of a people more than that (tho
king's return) did the Scottish nation. Sober men
observed, it not only inebriat but really intoxicate, and
made people not only drunk but frantick; men did
not think they could handsomely express their joy
except they turned brutes for debauch, rebels, and
pugeants; yea, many a sober man was tempted to ex-
ceed, lest ho should be condemned as unnatural, dis-
loyal, and unsensible. Most of the nobility, and many
of the gentry, and hungry old souldiers, flew to Lon-
don, just as tho vulture does to the carcase. And
though many of them were bare enough, they made no
bones to give 15 of the 100 of exchange." — Kirktcn
p. 65.

332

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

It would be quite apart from the object of
this work to detail the many unconstitutional
acts passed by this " terrible parliament," as it
is well named by Kirkton ; but the trial of the
Marquis of Argyle must not be overlooked.
That nobleman had, on the restoration of the
king, gone to London to congratulate his ma-
jesty on his return ; but on his arrival he
was immediately seized and committed to the
Tower. He petitioned the king for a personal
interview, which was refused, and, to get rid
of his importunities, his majesty directed that
lie should be sent back to Scotland for trial.
Being brought to trial, he applied for delay,
till some witnesses at a distance should be
examined on commission ; but this also was re-
fused. He thereupon claimed the benefit of
the amnesty which the king had granted at
Stilling. This plea was sustained by desire of
the king ; but as there were other charges
against him, arising out of transactions subse-
quent to the year 1651, to which year only the
amnesty extended, the trial was proceeded in.
These charges were, that he had aided the
English in destroying the liberties of Scotland
—that he had accepted a grant of £12,000
from Cromwell — that he had repeatedly used
defamatory and traitorous language in speaking
of the royal family — and, lastly, that he had
voted for a bill abjuring the right of the royal
family to the crowns of the three kingdoms,
which had been passed in the parliament of
Eichard Cromwell, in which he sat. Argyle
denied that he had ever given any countenance
or assistance to the English in their invasion
of Scotland ; but he admitted the grant from
Cromwell, which he stated was given, not in
Heu of services, but as a compensation for
losses sustained by him. He, moreover, denied
that he had ever used the words attributed to
him respecting the royal family ; and with re-
gard to the charge of sitting in Richard Crom-
well's parliament, he stated that he had taken
his seat to protect his country from oppression,
and to be ready, should occasion offer, to sup-
port by his vote the restoration of the king.
This defence staggered the parliament, and
judgment was postponed. In the meantime
Glencairu and Rothes hastened to London, to
lay the matter before the king, and to urge tho
necessity of Argyle's condemnation. Unfor-

tunately for that nobleman, they had recovered
some letters which he had written to Monk
and other English officers, in which were found
some expressions very hostile to the king ; but
as these letters have not been preserved, theii
precise contents are not known. Argyle was
again brought before parliament, and the letters
read in lu's presence. He had no explanation
to give, and his friends, vexed and dismayed,
retired from the house and left liim to his fate.
He was accordingly sentenced to death on the
25th of May, 1661, and, that he might not
have an opportunity of appealing to the clem-
ency of the king, he was ordered to be beheaded
within forty-eight hours. He prepared for
death with a fortitude not expected from the
timidity of his nature ; wrote a long letter to
the king, vindicating his memory, and irnplor
ing protection for his poor wife and family ; on
the day of his execution, dined at noon with
his friends with great cheerfulness, and was
accompanied by several of the nobility to the
scaffold, where he behaved with singular con-
stancy and courage. After dinner he retired a
short time for private prayer, and, on return-
ing, told his friends that " the Lord had sealed
his charter, and said to him, ' Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins are forgiven.' " When brought
to the scaffold he addressed the people, pro-
tested his innocence, declared his adherence to
the Covenant, reproved " the abounding wick-
edness of the land, and vindicated himself
from the charge of being accessory to the death
of Charles I." With the greatest fortitude lie
laid his head upon the block, which was imme-
diately severed from his body by the maiden.
This event took place upon Monday, the 27th
of May, 1661, the marquis being then 65 years
of age. By a singular destiny, tho head of
Argyle was fixed on the same spike which had
borne that of his great rival Montrose.3

Argyle was held in high estimation by his
party, and, by whatever motives he may have
been actuated, it cannot but be admitted, that
to his exertions Scotland is chiefly indebted
for the successful stand which was made against
the unconstitutional attempts of tho elder
Charles upon the civil and religious liberties
of his Scottish subjects. He appears to havo

3 Slate Trials, vol. r., 13ti9 -1508.— Kirkton, 100
— 1.

CHARACTER OF THE MAEQUIS OF AEGYLE.

333

The Scottish " Maiden."— Now in the Edinburgh
Antiquarian Museum.1

been naturally averse to physical pain, deficient
in personal courage, the possession of which,
in the times in which Argyle lived, "covered
a multitude of sins," and the want of which
was esteemed by some unpardonable. We
believe that it is chiefly on this account that
his character is represented by his enemies and
the opponents of his principles in such an
unfavourable light, contrasting as it does so
strikingly with that of his great opponent, the
brave and chivalrous Montrose. That he was
an unprincipled hypocrite, we think it would
be difficult to prove ; genuine hypocrisy, in a
man of liis ability, would have probably gained
for its possessor a happier fate. That he was
wary, cunning, reticent, and ambitious, there
cannot be any doubt ; — such qualities are al-
most indispensable to the politician, and were
more than ordinarily necessary in those times,
especially, considering the men Argyle had to
deal with. We believe that ho was actuated
all along by deep but narrow and gloomy re-
ligious principle, that he had the welfare of his

* This is the veritable instrument devised by the

Regent Morton, and by which were beheaded the

Marquis and Karl of Argyle, " and many more of the
noblest blood of Scotland."

country sincerely at heart, and that he took the
means he thought best calculated to maintain
freedom, and, what he thought, true religion in
the laud. As he himself said in a letter to the
Earl of Stratford,4 he thought " his duty to tho
king would be best shown by maintaining the
constitution of his country in church and state."
On the whole, ho appears to have been a well-
meaiiing, wrong-headed, narrow-minded, clever
politician. Mr. Grainger, in his Biographical
History of England, justly observes, " The
Marquis of Argyle was in the cabinet what
his enemy, the Marquis of Montrose, was in
the field, the first character of his age for poli-
tical courage and conduct." Had he been
tried by impartial judges, the circumstances of
the times would have been considered as afford-
ing some extenuation for his conduct ; but it
was his misfortune to be tried by men who were
his enemies, and who did not scruple to violate
all the forms of justice to bring him to the block,
in tho hope of obtaining his vast possessions.

The execution of Argyle was not in accord-
ance with the views of the king, who, to show
his disapprobation of the death of the mar-
quis, received Lord Lorn, his eldest son, with
favour at court ; from which circumstance the
enemies of the house of Argyle anticipated
that they would be disappointed in their expec-
tations of sharing among them the confiscated
estates of the marquis. To impair, therefore,
these estates was their next object. Argyle
had obtained from the Scottish parliament a
grant of the confiscated estate of the Marquis
of Huntly, his brother-in-law, on the ground
that he was a considerable creditor, but as
Huntly was indebted to other persons to the
extent of 400,000 merks, the estate was bur-
dened to that amount on passing into Argyle's
possession. Middleton and his colleagues im-
mediately passed an act, restoring Huntly's
estate free of incumbrance, leaving to Huntly's
creditors recourse upon the estates of Argyle
for payment of their debts. Young Argylo
was exasperated at tin's proceeding, and in a
letter to Lord Puffus, his brother-in-law, ex-
pressed himself in very unguarded terms re
specting the parliament. This letter was inter-
cepted by Middleton, and on it the parliament

' SlrnHbrd's Letters, vol. ii. pp. 187-290.

334

GENERAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS,

grounded a charge of verbal sedition, or leasing-
mahing, as the crime is known in the statutory
law of Scotland, an offence which was then
capital. Upon this vague charge the young
nobleman was brought to trial before the par-
liament, and condemned to death. The ene-
mies of the house of Argyle now supposed that
the estates of the family were again within
their grasp ; but the king, at the intercession
of Lauderdale, the rival of Middleton, par-
doned Lorn, released him from prison after
about a year's confinement, restored to him the
family estates, and allowed him to retain the
title of Earl.6

After the suppression of Glencairn's short-
lived insurrection, the Highlands appear to
have enjoyed repose till the year 1674, when
an outbreak took place which threatened to
Involve the greater part of that country in the
norrors of feudal war, the occasion of which
was as follows. The Marquis of Argyle had
purchased up some debts due by the laird of
Maclean, for which his son, the earl, applied
for payment ; but the laird being unwilling or
unable to pay, the earl apprised his lands, and
followed out other legal proceedings, to make
the claim effectual against Maclean's estates.
In the meantime the latter died, leaving a son
under the guardianship of his brother, to whom,
on Maclean's death, the earl renewed his appli-
cation for payment. The tutor of Maclean
stated his readiness to settle, either by appro-
priating as much of the rents of his ward's
lands in Mull and Tirey as would be sufficient
to pay the interest of the debt, or by selling or
conveying to him in security as much of the
property as would be sufficient to pay off the
debt itself • but he required, before entering
into this arrangement, that the earl would re-
strict his claim to what was justly due. The
earl professed his readiness to comply with the
tutor's offer ; but the latter contrived to evade
the matter for a considerable time, and at
length showed a disposition to resist the earl's
lemand by force.

The earl, therefore, resolved to enforce com-
pliance, and armed with a decree of the Court
of Session, and supported by a body of 2,000
of IT'S tenants and vassals, he crossed into Mull,

» Kirkton, pi>. 143, 166

in which he landed at three different placca
without opposition, although the Macleans had
700 or 800 men in the island. The Macleans
had sent their cattle into Mull for safety, a
considerable number of which were killed or
houghed by Lord Neill, brother to the earl, at
the head of a party of the Campbells. The
islanders at once submitted, and the earl hav-
ing obtained possession of the castle of Duart,
and placed a garrison therein, left the island.
Although the Macleans had promised to pay
their rents to the earl, they refused when ap-
plied to the following year, a refusal which
induced him to prepare for a second invasion
of Mull. In September, 1675, he had collected
a, force of about 1,500 men, including 100 of the
king's troops from Glasgow, under the command
of Captain Crichton, and a similar number of
militia-men, under Andrew M'Farlane, the
laird of M'Farlane, the use of which corps had
been granted to the earl on application to the
Council. The Macleans, aware of their danger,
had strengthened themselves by an alliance
with Lord Macdonald and other chieftains,
who sent a force of about 1,000 men to their
aid ; but Argyle's forces never reached the
island, his ships having been driven back
damaged and dismantled by a dreadful hurri-
cane, which lasted two days.6

This misfortune, and intelligence which the
earl received from the commander of Duart
castle that the Macleans were in great force on
the island, made him postpone his enterprise.
With the exception of 500 men whom he re-
tained for the protection of his coasts, and
about 300 or 400 to protect his lands against
the incursions of the Macleans, he dismissed
his forces, after giving them instructions to re-
assemble on the 18th of October, unless coun-
termanded before that time. The earl then
went to Edinburgh to crave additional aid
from the government ; but receiving no en-
couragement, he posted to London, where lie
expected, with the help of his friend the Duke
of Lauderdale, to obtain assistance. Lord Mac-

p "A rumour went that there was a witch-wife
named Muddock who had promised to tho JI'Lains,
that, so long as she lived, the Earle of Argile shoul J
not enter Mull; and indeed many of the people im-
puted the rise of that great storme under her paclion
with the devil, how true I cannot assert." — La^'f
Memorials, p. 83.

THE "HIGHLAND HOST"— THE TEST.

335

donald and the other friends of the Macleans,
hearing of Argyle's departure, immediately fol-
lowed him to London, and laid a statement of
the dispute before the king, who, in February,
1G7G, remitted the matter to three lords of the
Privy Council of Scotland for judgment. The
earl returned to Edinburgh in June following.
A meeting of the parties took place before the
lords to whom the matter had been referred,
but they came to no decision, and the subse-
quent fate of Argyle put an end to these differ-
ences, although it appears that he was allowed
to take possession of the island of Mull with-
out resistance in the year 1680.7

Except upon one occasion, now to be noticed,
the Highlanders took no share in any of the
public transactions in Scotland during the
reigns of Charles the Second and his brother
James. Isolated from the Lowlands by a
mountain barrier which prevented almost any
intercourse between them and their southern
neighbours, they happily kept free from the
contagion of that religious fanaticism which
spread over the Lowlands of Scotland, in con-
sequence of the unconstitutional attempts of
the government to force episcopacy upon the
people. Had the Highlanders been imbued
with the same spirit which actuated the Scot-
tish whigs, the government might have found
it a difficult task to have suppressed them ; but
they did not concern themselves with these
theological disputes, and they did not hesitate
when their chiefs, at the call of the govern-
ment, required their services to march to the
Lowlands to suppress the disturbances in the
western counties. Accordingly, an army of
about 8,000 men, known in Scottish history
by the name of the " Highland Host," de-
scended from the mountains under the com-
mand of their respective chiefs, and encamped
at Stirling on the 24th of June, 1678, whence
they spread themselves over Clydesdale, Een-
frew, Cunningham, Kyle, and Carrick, and over-
awed the whigs so effectually, that they did
not attempt to oppose the government during
the stay of these hardy mountaineers among
them. According to Wodrow and Kirkton,
the Highlanders were guilty of great oppression
and cruelty, but they kept their hands free

7 Note to Kirkton by Shnrpe, p. 391

from blood, as it has been correctly stated that
not one whig lost his life during the invasion
of these Higliland crusaders.8 After remaining
about eight months in the Lowlands, the High-
landers were sent home, the government having
no further occasion for their services, but before
their departure they took care to carry along
with them a large quantity of plunder they had
collected during their stay.9

After the departure of the Highlanders, the
Covenanters again appeared upon the stage,
and proceeded so far as even to murder some
soldiers who had been quartered on some land-
lords who had refused to pay cess. The assas-
sination of Archbishop Sharp, and the insur-
rection of the Covenanters under a preacher
named Hamilton, followed by the defeat of the
celebrated Graham of Claverhouse at Drum-
clog on the 1st of June, 1679, alarmed the
government ; but the defeat of the Covenanters
by the king's forces at Bothwell bridge, on the
22d of June, quieted their apprehensions.
Fresh measures of severity were adopted against
the unfortunate whigs, who, driven to despair,
again flew to arms, encouraged by the exhorta-
tions of the celebrated Richard Cameron, — from
whom the religious sect known by the name of
Cameronians takes its name, — and Donald Car-
gill, another enthusiast ; but they were defeated
in an action at Airs-moss in Kyle, in which
Cameron, their ecclesiastical head, was killed.

To check the diffusion of anti-monarchical
principles, which were spreading fast through-
out the kingdom under the auspices of the dis-
ciples of Cameron, the government, on the
meeting of the Scottish parliament on the
28th of July, 1681, devised a test, which they
required to be taken by all persons possessed
of any civil, military, or ecclesiastical office.
The parties taking this test were made to de-

8 Law's Memorials, pp. 80, 1, 2, 8, 94, 159.

' " But when this goodly army retreated homeward,
you would have thought by their baggage they had
been at the sack of a besieged city; and, therefore,
when they passed Stirling bridge every man drew his
sword to show the world they hade returned conquer-
ors from their enemies' land ; but they might as well
have showen the pots, pans, girdles, shoes taken ofl
country men's feet, and other bodily and household
furniture with which they were burdened; and among
all, none purchast so well as the two carles Airly snj
Strathmore, chiefly the last, who sent home the money,
not in purses, but in bags and great quantities."—
Kirkton, pp. 390- -1.

336

GEKEKAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

dare their adhesion to the true Protestant re-
ligion, as contained in the original confession
of faith, ratified by parliament in the year 1560,
to recognise the supremacy of the king over all
persons civil and ecclesiastical, and to acknow-
ledge that there " lay no obligation from the
national covenant, or the solemn league and
covenant, or any other manner of way whatso-
ever, to endeavour any alteration in the govern-
ment in church or state, as it was then estab-
lished by the laws of the kingdom."1

The terms of this test were far from satis-
factory to some even of the best friends of the
government, as it was full of contradictions and
absurdities, and it was not until the Privy
Council issued an explanatory declaration that
they could be prevailed upon to take it. The
Dukes of Hamilton and Monmouth, however,
rather than take the test, resigned their offices.
Among others who had distinguished them-
selves in opposing the passing of the test, was
the Earl of Argyle, who supported an amend-
ment proposed by Lord Belhaven, for setting
aside a clause excepting the Duke of York,
brother to the king, and the other princes of
the blood, from its operation. The conduct of
Argyle gave great offence to the duke, who sat
as commissioner in the parliament, and encour-
aged his enemies to set about accomplishing his
ruin. The Earl of Errol brought in a bill re-
viving some old claims upon his estates, and
the king's advocate endeavoured to deprive
him of his hereditary offices ; but the Duke of
York interposed, and prevented the adoption
of these intended measures. To gratify his
enemies, however, and to show the displeasure
of the court at his recent opposition, Argyle
was deprived of his seat in the Court of Session.
But this did not sufficiently appease their re-
sentment, and, anxious for an opportunity of
gratifying their malice, they hoped that he
would refuse to take the test. Accordingly,
he was required to subscribe it : he hesitated,
and craved time to deliberate. Aware of the
plot which had been long hatching against
him, and as he saw that if he refused he would
Ije deprived of his important hereditary juris-
dictions, he resolved to take the test, with a
declaratory explanation, which, it is understood,

5 Scots Ada, 1681, c. vi.

received the approbation of the Duke of York,
to whom the earl had submitted it. The earl
then subscribed the test in presence of the coun-
cil, and added the following explanation : —
" I have considered the test, and am very de-
sirous of giving obedience as far as I can. I am
confident that the parliament never intended to
impose contradictory oaths : Therefore I think
no man can explain it but for himself. Accord-
ingly, I take it so far as it is consistent with
itself and the Protestant religion. And I do
declare, that I mean not to bind myself, in my
station, in a lawful way, from wishing and en-
deavouring any alteration which I think to the
advantage of Church or State, and not repug-
nant to the Protestant religion and my loyalty.
And this I understand as a part of my oath."
This declaration did not please the council, but
as the Duke appeared to be satisfied, the matter
was passed over, and Argyle kept his seat at
the council board.

Although the Duke of York had been heard
to declare that no honest man could take the
test, — a declaration which fully justified the
course Argyle had pursued, — yet the enemies
of that nobleman wrought so far upon the
mind of his royal highness as to induce him to
think that Argyle's declaration was a highly
criminal act. The earl, therefore, was required
to take the test a second time, without explana-
tion ; and having refused, he was committed a
prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, and on the
slight foundation of a declaration which had
been sanctioned by the next heir to the crown,
was raised a hideous superstructure of high
treason, leasing-making, and perjury.

Argyle was brought to trial on Monday, the
12th of December, 1681, before the High Court
of Justiciary. The Earl of Queensberry, tho
justice-general, and four other judges, sat upon
the bench, and fifteen noblemen acted as jurors.
The absurdity of the charges, and the iniquity
of the attempt to deprive a nobleman, who had.
even in the worst times, shown an attachment
to the royal family, of his fortune, his honours,
and his life, were ably exposed by the counsel
for the earl ; but so lost was a majority of the
judges to every sense of justice, that, regardless
of the infamy which would for ever attach to
them, they found the libel relevant; and on
the following day the assize or jury, of which

CCMUNN GAIDHLIG THOROt.TC