the Lord Forbeses called Druminore where he staid two dayes And at last he understands the enemy had quitted the passes and was marching toward Strathbogy so he at break of day sets forth towards a village called Alford But Baily when he had gotten certain notice that Mac-donald with a considerable part of those Forces was absent in the Highlands he voluntarily pursues Montrose conceiving him to be stealing away and about noon began to face him Montrose determines to wait for the enemy who as seemed to him came towards him upon the higher ground but Baily turning aside some three miles to the left hand Montrose holds on his intended march to Alford where he staid that night the enemy lying about four miles off The next day after Montrose commands his men very early in the morning to stand to their arms and make ready to battell and placed them on a hill that stands over Alford And as he with a Troop of Horse was observing the motion and order of the enemy and viewing the fords of the Done a river which runs by Alford it was told him that the enemy Horse and Foot were making unto a ford which lay a mile from Alford to the intent that they might cut off the Rear of their flying enemy for so those excellent Diviners prophesied to their own destruction Montrose leaving that Troop of Horse not farre from the Ford together with some select and understanding men who should give him perfect intelligence of all things he returneth alone to order the battel And above all things he possesses himself of Alford hill where he might receive the charge of the enemy if they fell on desperately Behind him was a moorish place full of ditches and pits which would prevent Horse falling upon his Rear befote him was a steep hill which kept his men from the enemies view so that they could hardly perceive the formost ranks He had scarce given order for the right managing of all things when those Horse whom he had left at the Ford returned with a full cariere and bring word that the enemy had passed the River And novv it vvas no more safe for either of them to retreat vvithout the apparent ruine of their party It is reported that Baily like a skilful and vvary Commander vvas sore against his will drawn unto this battel nor had engaged had he not been necessitated unto it by the rashnesse of the Lord Balcarise a Collonel of Horse who precipitated himself and the Horse under his command into that danger whether Baily would or no as that he could not be brought off without the hazard of the whole Army Montrose gave the command of his right wing on which side the enemies Horse were most strong unto the Lord Gordon and appointed Nathaniel Gordon an old Commander to his assistance The command of the left wing was given to the Earl of Aboine to whom also was joyned Sir William Rollock And of the main battel to two valiant men Glengar and Drumond of Ball the younger unto whom he added George Graham Master of the Camp an expert Souldier also The Reserve which was altogether hid behind the hill was commanded by his Nephew Napier And for a while Montrose kept himself upon the height and the enemy in the valley being fortified with pits and ditches for it was neither safe for the latter to charge up the hill nor for the former to fall upon them that were surrounded with marshes and pooles The numbers of the Foot were in a manner even either side had about two thousand but Baily was much stronger in Horse for he had six hundred and Montrose but two hundred and fifty Only Montrose had this advantage that the enemy were for the most part hirelings raised from dunghils but those that served the King Gentlemen who fought for a good Cause and Honour gratis and not for gain and such as esteem'd it more becoming to die than to be overcome Besides Montrose knew that the greatest part of the old Souldiers were gone with Lindsey and the new ones would be so frighted with the shouts of the Armies and the noise of Trumpets that they would scarce stand the first charge Therefore in confidence of so just a cause and so valiant assertors of it he first drew down his men and immediately the Lord Gordon giving a smart charge upon them was courageously receiv'd by the enemy who trusted to the multitude of their Horse and now being clos'd and come to handy-blows no one could advance a foot but over his vanquished enemy nor retreat by reason of the pressing on of those in the Rear The first that made way for themselves and their men by a great slaughter of their enemies were the two Gordons the Lord and the Collonel and Collonel Nathaniel called out unto those expert Firelocks who now lin'd the Horse as they were wont Come on my fellow souldiers throw down your now useless guns draw your swords and sheath them in the Rebels Horse or hamstring them They instantly took the word of command and at the same time Montrose drawes up Napier with his Reserve which lay out of sight on the other side of the hill at whose sudden and unexpected coming the enemy affrighted betook himself to his heels Aboine with the left wing kept off nor did he attempt the enemy but by light skirmishes in small parties who when they saw their own men on their left wing routed and put to flight made their retreat with little losse There Foot being deserted by their Horse after they had desperately stood out a while and reâ—used quarter were almost all cut off The fall of the Lord Gordon was no little advantage to the escape of their Horse who after the battel was won rushing fiercely into the thickest of them received a shot thorow his body by the conquered and flying enemy and fell down dead Whom also Aboine did not hotly pursue being much troubled with the losse of his brother In this battel Montrose did not lose so much as one common Souldier and of Gentlemen one Culchol and one Melton whose names and families I should most willingly have inserted had I been so happy as to have knowledge of them because they died gallantly in the bed of Honour fighting for their King their Liberty and the Laws Nor are some Pedees as well Scotch as Irish to be forgotten boyes scarce fourteen yeares of age apiece who throwing down their Masters luggage and mounting upon their Nags and Sumpter-horses did not only make a fair appearance of a body of Horse but as if they had been Corrivals in valour with their Masters beyond what might be expected from their years and strength fell in among the thickest of their enemies Of whom some but very few were slain nor did they sell their lives for nothing and by that they gave an ample testimony of their towardnesse and of so manly a spirit in children as might prescribe to riper years
was loath to engage those few gallant men again whose Horses were spent already in two sharp services with the enemy who was reinforced with fresh Foot Therefore observing the enemies Horse not yet rallied since their new rout and standing at a sufficient distance from their Foot he rode about among his own Foot who had been sore galled already with the enemies Ordnance and bespeaks them to this effect We do no good my fellow souldiers while we dispute the matter at thus much distance except we cloze up with them how shall we know an able man from a weak a valiant man from a coward If ye would assail these timorous and brawnelesse shrimps with handy-blows they will never be able to stand you Goe to therefore fall about them with your swords and but-ends of your muskets beat them down drive them back and make them pay what is justly due for their treason and rebellion It was no sooner said than they fall to work break in upon the enemy defeat them rout them Their Horse who expected Foot to come and line them seeing them all run away ran faster than they whom the Conquerours were not able to follow much lesse to overtake so they scap'd scot-free but the Foot paid for all few of which escaped the Victors hands For having no other place to fly unto but into the City Montrose's men came in thronging amongst them through the gates and posterns and laid them on heaps all over the streets They fought four hours upon such equal terms that it was an even lay whether had the odds At this Battell Montrose had some great Guns but they were unserviceable because all advantages of ground were possessed by the enemy but the enemies Guns made no small havock of his men Among others there was an Irishman that had his legg shot off with a Cannon bullet only it hung by a little skin he seeing his fellow-souldiers something sad at his mischance with a loud and cheerfull voyce cryes out Come on my Comrades this is but the fortune of Warr and neither you nor I have reason to be sorry for it Do you stand to it as becomes you and as for me I am sure my Lord Marquesse seeing I can no longer serve on foot will mount me on horse-back So drawing out his knife being nothing altered nor troubled he cut asunder the skin with his own hand and gave his legg to one of his fellow souldiers to bury And truly when he was well again and made a Trooper he often did very faithfull and gallant service This battell was fought at Aberdeen on the twelfth day of September 1644. Then Montrose calling his souldiers back to their Colours entred the City and allowed them two dayes rest CHAP. VII IN the mean time news was brought that Argyle was hard by with much greater forces than those they dealt with last the Earle of Lothian accompanying him with fifteen hundred Horse Therefore Montrose removes from Aberdeen to Kintor a Village ten miles off that he might make an easier accesse unto him for the Gordons the friends and dependents of the Marquesse of Huntley and others that were supposed much to favour the Kings cause From thence he sends Sir William Rollock to Oxford to acquaint his Majesty with the good successe he had hitherto obtained and to desire supplies out of England or some place else That he had fought twice indeed very prosperously but it could not be expected that seeing he was so beset on all sides with great and numerous Armies he should be able to hold out alwayes without timely relief Still nothing troubled Montrose more than that none of the Gordons of whom he conceived great hopes came in unto him And there wanted not some of them who testified their great affection to the service but that Huntley the chief of the Family being a back-friend to Montrose had with-held them all either by his own example or private directions and that himself being forced ro sculk in the utmost border of the Kingdome envied that honour to another of which he had missed himself and had forbidden even with threats all those with whom he had any power to have any thing to do with Montrose or to assist him either with their power or counsell Which when he understood he resolved to withdraw his Forces into the Mountains and Fastnesses where he knew the enemies horse wherein their great strength consisted could do them little service and of their Foot if they were never so many relying upon the justice of his cause and the valour of his souldiers he made but little reckoning Therefore he hid his Ordnance in a bogg and quitted all his troublesome and heavy carriages And comming to the side of the river Spey not farr from an old castle called Rothmurk he incamped there with an Army if one respect the number but very small but it was an expert and cheerfull one and now also something accquainted with victory On the other side of the Spey he finds the men of Cathnes and Suderland and Rosse and Murray and others to the number of five thousand up in arms to hinder his passage over the swiftest River in all Scotland till such time as Argyle who marched after him was upon his back Being oppressed and as it were besieged with so many enemies on every side that at least he might save himself from their Horse the turned into Badenoth a rocky and mountainous Countrey and scarce passable for Horse There for certain dayes he was very sick which occasioned so immoderate joy to the Covenanters that they doubted not to give out he was quite dead and to ordain a day of publique Thankesgiving to Almighty God for that great deliverance Nor were their Levites you may be sure backward in that employment in their Pulpits for as if they had been of counsell at the Decree and stood by at the execution they assured the people that it was as true as Gospel that the Lord of Hostes had slain Montrose with his own hands But this joy did not last them long for he recovered in a short space and as if he had been risen from the dead he frighted his enemies much more than he had done before For assoon as his disease would give him leave he returned into Athole and sent away Mac-donald with a party unto the Highlanders to invite them to take up arms with him and if they would not be invited to force them He himself goes into Angus hoping it might happen that he should either force Argyle with his tyred Horse unto his Winter quarters or at least leave him far enough behind him For Argyle had pursued him slowly and at such distance that it was apparent he thought of nothing lesse than of giving him battail Therefore going through Angus and getting over the Grainsbain which going along with a continued ridge from East to West divideth Scotland into two equal parts he returned into the North of the Kingdome
paper which was contrary to the King his Crown or Authority he utterly disavowed it Then being absolved from the sentence of Excommunication under which he lay for Adultery long since committed to the great grief of the beholders he laid down his neck upon the block A man subject indeed to that fault but famous for his valour and souldiership both in forein Countries and at home The next that was brought upon the Scaffold yet reeking with the blood of Colonel Gordon was a man worthy of everlasting memory Sir Robert Spotswood one rais'd by the favour of King James and King Charls unto great honours as his singular virtues did merit King James made him a Knight and a privy Counsellor King Charls advanced him to be Lord President of the Session and now but of late Principal Secretary of Scotland This excellent man although his very enemies had nothing to lay to his charge through all his life they found guilty of high Treason which is yet the more to be lamented because he never bore arms against them for his eminency lay in the way of peace not knowing what belonged to drawing of a sword This was therefore the only charge that they laid against him That by the Kings command he brought his Letters Patents unto Montrose whereby he was made Vice-Roy of the Kingdom and General of the Army Nevertheless he proved at large that he had done nothing in that but according to the custom of their Ancestors and the Laws of the Land And truly he seemed in his most elegant Defence to have given satisfaction to all men except his Judges whom the Rebels had pick'd out from amongst his most malicious enemies that sought his death so that questionless they would never have pronounc'd that doleful sentence if they had but the least tincture of justice or honesty But to speak the truth a more powerful envy than his innocency was able to struggle with undid the good man for the Earl of Lanerick having been heretofore Principal Secretary of the Kingdom of Scotland by his revolt unto the Rebels forced the most gracious and bountiful King to the whole Family of the Hamiltons to take that Office from so unthankful a man and bestow it on another nor was there any one found more worthy than Spotswood to be advanced to so high an honour And hence hapned that great weight of envy and revenge to be thrown upon him which seeing he was not able to bear out he was forced to fall under And now Spotswood being about to die abating nothing of his wonted constancy and gravity according to the custom of the Country made a Speech unto the people But that Sacrilegious thief Blair who stood by him upon the Scaffold against his will fearing the eloquence and undauntedness of so gallant a man lest the mysteries of Rebellion should be discovered by one of his gravity and authority unto the people who use most attentively to hear and tenaciously to remember the words of dying men procured the Provost of the City who had been once a servant to Spotswoods Father to stop his mouth Which insolent and more than ordinary discourtesie he took no notice of but letting his speech unto the people alone he wholly bestowed himselfe in devotions and prayers to Almighty God Being interrupted again and that very importunately by that busie and troublesome fellow Blair and asked Whether he would not have him and the people to pray for the salvation of his soul He made answer That he desired the Prayers of the people but for his impious Prayers which were abominable unto God he desired not to trouble him And added moreover That of all the Plagues with which the offended Majesty of God had scourged that Nation this was much the greatest greater than the Sword or Fire or Pestilence that for the sins of the people God hath sent a lying spirit into the mouth of the Prophets With which free and undeniable saying Blair finding himself galled grew so extremely in passion that he could not hold from scurrilous and contumelious language against his Father who had been long dead and against himself who was now a dying approving himself a fine Preacher of Christian Patience and Longanimity the while But all these things Spotswood having his mind fixed upon higher matters passed by with silence and unmoved At last being undaunted and shewing no alteration neither in his voice nor countenance when he laid down his neck to the fatal stroke these were his last words Merciful Jesu gather my soul unto thy Saints and Martyrs who have run before me in this race And certainly seeing Martyrdom may be undergone not only for the Confession of our Faith but for any vertue by which holy Men make their Faith Manifest there is no doubt but he hath received that Crown And this was the end a doleful end indeed in regard of us but a joyful and honourable one in him of a man admirable for his knowledge of things Divine and Humane for his skill in the tongues Hebrew Chaldee Syriack Arabick besides the Western Languages for his knowledge in History Law and Politiques the Honour and Ornament of his Country and our Age for the integrity of his life for his Fidelity for his Justice for his Constancy a man of an even temper and ever agreeing with himself whose youth had no need to be ashamed of his child-hood nor his riper years of his youth a severe observer of the old-fashion'd piety with all his soul and yet one that was no vain and superstitious Professor of it before others a man easie to be made a friend and very hard to be made an enemy and who being now dead was exceedingly lamented even by many Covenanters His breathless body Hugh Scrimiger once his Fathers servant took care to bring forth as the times would permit with a private funeral Nor was he long able to bear so great a sorrow and loss for after a few days espying that bloody Scaffold not yet removed out of the place immediately he fell into a swoond and being carried home by his servants and neighbours died at his very door Lastly they give unto Spotswood another companion in death Andrew Gutherey Son unto the most desâ—â—â—ing Bishop of Murray and hated the more by the Rebels for that A youth as well valiant in battel as constant in suffering and contemning death He also was threatned and railed at by the same Elaire but answered That no greater honour could have been done him than to be put to an honest death in the behalf of so good a King and so just a Cause which those that were present should see he embraced without fear and perhaps another generation would not report without praise For his sins he humbly begged mercy and forgivenesse at the hands of his most gracious Lord God but for that which he stood there condemned he was not much troubled After this manner died with constancy and courage a man who
and Trequaire and confide in their advice and endeavours of whose fidelity and industry no question was to be made Moreover that he should make haste towards the Tweed where he should meet a party of Horse which the King would instantly dispatch out of England to be commanded by him with whom he might safely give battel to David Lesley if as was suspected he marched that way with the Covenanters Horse All this the respective bearers unanimously delivered and his most excellent Majesty being over-credulous signified by his Expresses And Montrose being now over-born with the Kings absolute Commands takes up his resolution to march to the side of Tweed But the day before he went the Souldiers being drawn up to a Rendezvouz before that Mac-donald and the Highlanders were gone Sir Robert spotswood making an humble obeysance under the Kings Standard delivered his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal unto Montrose which he again gave unto Archibald Primrose Clerk of the Supreme Councill to be read aloud That being ended in a short but stately Oration he commended the valour and Loyalty of the Souldiers and the great affection he bore them And for Mac-donald he not only extoll'd his gallantry in the head of the Army but by vertue of that authority that he had received from the King gave him the honour of Knighthood For not only Montrose but all the Kings friends were confident of the integrity of the man whose good opinion he deceiv'd not only to the undoing of the Kings cause but the utter ruine of himself and his friend Montrose following his intended journey came the second night to Calder Castle at which time the Earl of Aboine whether the Lord Governour would or no carried away with him not only his own men but all the rest of the Northern Forces whom he had inveighled to desert the service Nor would he be perswaded either by reason or the intreaty of his friends who heartily detested that shameful act to stay but so much as one week and then he might depart not only with the Generals licence but with honour and the good esteem of honest men Seeing it would be no better Montrose passing by Edinburgh led his small Army through Lothianshire and in Strathgale joyned with Douglasse and the other Commanders whose Forces being much diminished were dayly mouldring more and more In that coast Traquaire himself came unto him more chearful and merry than he used to be who pretended himself to be a most faithful Servant not only to his Majesty but also to Montrose and the next day sent him his Son the Lord Linton with a gallant party of Horse as if they were to be under his command that by so likely a pledge he might make Montrose more secure and so more easily ruine him For this was not the first time that Traquaire plaid the Covenanters Scout-Master that ungratefullest piece of mankind intending to betray unto them Montrose and in him the King himself Now when he was not above twelve miles from the Lords Hume and Roxburgh and they sent not so much as a Messenger to him nor offered him the smallest courtesie Montrose being much troubled at it resolved to march into their Territories and to bring them in either by fair means or foul But they prevented him by a singular device They sent unto David Lesley whom they well knew by that time was come to Berwick with all the Scotch Horse and many English Voluntiers for they were privy to all their counsels and intreated him to send a party and carry them away in the condition of prisoners which he did the day before Montrose came thither For by this means that crafty old fox Roxburgh who had Hume under his girdle conceiv'd that they might both ingratiate themselves with the Covenanters as freely committing themselves into their Protection and yet keep in the Kings favour whiles they made as if they fell into Lesley's hands sore against their wills And this being Lesley's first noble exploit he passed over Tweed and marched into the East-side of Lothian Montrose assoon as he perceived the King and himself betray'd by these men and saw no hopes of that party of Horse which was come from the King and that the too powerful enemy would block up his passage into the North and Highlands resolved to march with those few men he had into Niddisdale and Anandale and the Countrey of Ayre that he might there raise what Horse he could For although he had no certain intelligence concerning the strength of the enemy yet he conjectured that it consisted especially in Horse CHAP. XVI MOntrose arising from Kelsoe marched to Jedburgh and so to Selkirk where he quartered his Horse in a Village and his Foot in a wood close by For he was resolved to make sure of all advantages of ground lest he should be forced to fight with an enemy of whose strength he knew nothing upon uneven terms Then he commands the Captains of Horse to set out good store of faithful and active Scouts and to place Horse-guards in convenient places on every side and look well to their watch All which he in person as he used to do could not see done at present because that night he was dispatching letters to the King and to send away a trusty messenger that he had light upon before break of day therefore he was earrest with them to have the more care lest the enemy who were very strong in Horse should surprise them unawares And the Commanders promising all care and diligence he was so taken up with writing of Letters that he slept not all that night And sending ever and anon to the Captains of Guards men that were skilful Souldiers and so known to be in Forein Countries such uncertain noises as were brought unto him of the enemies approach they being deceiv'd either by the negligence of their Scouts or their own misfortune very confidently sent him back word there was no enemy in those parts nor in the Country thereabouts At the break of day some of the best Horse and most accquainted with the Country were sent out again to Scout they also brought word they had been ten miles about and diligently examined all by-ways and rashly wisht damnation to themselvs if they could find an enemy in arms within ten miles But afterward it appeared when it was too late that the enemy with all their Forces were then scarce four miles from Selkirk and had lain there all that night in their arms Lesley that day that Montrose departed from Jedburgh mustered his men upon Gladesmore a plain in Lothianshire where holding a councill of War with the chief of the Covenanters the result was that he should march to Edinburgh and so to the Forth that he might hinder Montrose's retreat into the North and force him to fight whether he would or no before he joyned with his Highlanders But Lesley contrary to that resolution gives order on a sudden to his whole
men had deserted him in upper Marre as a Prologue to the ensuing Tragedy had beheaded three stout and gallant Gentlemen The first was Sir William Rollock one of whom we have had often occasion to make honourable mention a valiant and expert man dear unto Montrose from a Child and faithful unto him to his last breath The chief of his Crimes was That he would not pollute his hands with a most abominable murder For being sent from Montrose with an express to the King after the battel of Aberdeen he was taken prisoner by the Enemy and was condemned unto death which he had not escaped except for fear of death he had harkened unto Argyle who most unworthily set a price upon Montroses head and promised great rewards honours and preferments to whomsoever should bring it in and had taken upon himself to commit that Treason which he abhorred with all his soul By which shift having his life and liberty given him he returned straight to Montrose and discovered all unto him beseeching him to be more careful of himself for not he only who heartily detested so high a villany but many more had been offered great matters most of whom would use their best endeavours to dispatch him The next was Alexander Ogilby of whom we also spake before eldest Son to Sir John Ogilby of Innerwharite descended of an antient Family and much renowned in the Scotish Chronicles He was but yet a youth scarce twenty but valiant above his age and of a present and daring spirit Nor can I hear or so much as conjecture what they had to lay to his charge but that new and unheard-of Treason to wit his bounden duty and loyalty to his King But there was no help for 't but Argyle must needs sacrifice that hopeful youth if it had been for nothing but his names sake for he bare an implacable fewd to the Ogilbies The third was Sir Philip Nesbit of on antient Family also and chief of it next his Father who had done honourable service in the Kings Army in England and had the command of a Regiment there Nor can I discover any reason they had to put him to death neither besides that which is used when they have nothing else to say that mad charge of the new High Treason except it was that their guilty consciences suggested unto them that that couragious and vigilant man might take occasion some time hereafter to be even with them for the horrid injuries they had done his Father and his Family However these men suffered a Noble death with patience and constancy as became honest men and good Christians And unto these there are two brave Irish Gentlemen that deserve to be joined Colonel O-Chaen and Colonel Laghlin odious unto the Rebels only for this impardonable crime that they had had many experiments of their courage and gallantry These Irish Gentlemen were murdered indeed at Edinbourgh but many more were doom'd to the like execution at Glascow had not Montrose's unexpected approch within a few miles of the City had so much influence that it repriev'd them till another time The Lord Governor was very much perplexed with the news of these mens death and it was a question whether he was more vext at the cruelty of the Rebels or the negligence if not treachery of his friends For besides Huntley whose Forces he had so long in vain expected to come with his Son Aboine Mac-donald also himself of whom he entertained an exceeding good opinion being often sent unto and invited also by the nearness of the place although the time appointed by himself was already past and gone made no appearance of his approach Six weeks had now passed since Aboine had engaged himself for the Northern Forces and the Winter than which our age never saw sharper was already deeply entred Besides the aids that the King had sent under the Command of the Lord Digby were defeated all which might easily have been salved and the Kingdom reduced again if those great Professors of Loyalty had not plaid fast and loose in that good Cause Therefore at last on the 20. of November Montrose deâ—arting from Levin and passing over the Mountains of Taich now covered with deep snow through woods and loghes whose names I do not at this time well remember crossing also through Strath-Erne and over the Tay returned into Athole There he met Captain Ogilby and Captain Nesbit whom he had formerly sent with the Kings instructions unto Huntley And they bring word the man was obstinate and inflexible who would believe nothing that they said and when they unfolded unto him the Kings Commands answered scornfully That he understood all the Kings business better than they or the Governor himself and neither he nor any of his children should have any thing to do with him Moreover he sharply and threatningly reproved his friends and clients who had willingly assisted Montrose and dealt worse with them than with Rebels Nevertheless the Lord Governor thought best to take no notice of any of these things but bear with them and whiles he treats with the Athole-men for the setling of the Militia of that Country he sends again unto Huntley by Sir John Dalyel as a more fit Mediator of friendship Who was to inform him of the danger the King and Kingdom was in and so of the present misery that hung over his and all faithful Subjects heads and to make it appear unto him that it was no ones but his and his sons fault both that they had not brought in the supplies into Scotland which the King had sent and that the prisoners who were gallant and faithful men had been so cruelly butchered and that yet there were many more remaining that had near relations to Huntley himself and some also of the prime Nobility whom the Rebels would cut off after the same fashion unless they were now at last relieved And lastly to pray and beseech him that at least he would grant the Kings Governor the favour of a friendly conference promising he would give him abundant satisfaction Huntley although he answered Dalyel in all things according ro his wonted peevishness yet he was most of all averse to a Conference as fearing seeing he should have nothing to answer to his Arguments and Reasons the Presence the Confidence and the Wisdom of so excellent a Man But Montrose as soon as things were setled in Athole that he might leave nothing unattempted that might possibly bring him to better thoughts resolved dissembling all injuries and obliging him by all good offices to surprize him and be friends with him whether he would or no and to treat with him concerning all things that concerned His Majesties service Therefore in the month of December he forced his way very hardly thorow Rivers and Brooks that were frozen indeed but not so hard as to bear mens weight over the tops of Hills and craggy Rocks in a deep Snow and passing through Angus and over Gransbaine
if Almighty god had so thought fit had been worthy of a longer life And that now they might put the last Scene to a Tragedy of which most part was acted after two days breathing they brought forth William Murray brother to the Earl of Tullibardin a young Gentleman to the same place And truly every man much admired that his brother being in great favour and esteem amongst the Covenanters had not interceded for the life and safety of his own only brother Some imputed it to his sloth others to his covetousnesse as gaping after his brothers estate others to his stupid and superstitious zeal to the Cause but even all the very Covenanters themselves condemned his silence in such a case as dishonourable and mis-becoming a Noble spirit But the Youth himself being not above nineteen years old purchased unto himself everlasting renown with posterity for so honest and honourable an end Amongst those few things which he spake to the people those that heard him told me these words which he spake with a higher voyce than the rest Account O my Countrymen that a new and high addition of honour is this day atchieved to the house of Tullibardin and the whole Nation of the Murrays that a young man descended of that antient stock willingly and chearfully delivered up his innocent soul as unto men in the vsry flower of his youth for his King the Father of his Country and the most munificent Patron of our Family Nor let my most honoured mother my dear sisters my kindred or any of my friends be sorry for the shortnesse of my life which is abundantly recompenced with the honourablenesse of my death Pray for my soul and God be with you CHAP. XX. THe death of his friends rroubled Montrose exceedingly as it had reason but yet it was not able to break or shake his firm and settled resolution Nor did his noble and more than ordinarily elevated spirit ever give greater evidences of it self than now For there were many who being enraged with the unworthy murther of their friends egg'd him on being already sufficiently discontented to a present revenge And whiles they too much savoured their grief although it was just and seem'd to desire nothing but what was fit to wit to render them like for like they wearied out the General with their many and troublesome and unseasonable complaints For they must needs be argry that their companions their friends their kindred noble and gallant Gentlemen well deserving of their King their Country and the General himself should be murther'd contrary to their faith promised them the custome of War the Law of the Land of Nations and of Nature and all unreveng'd and on the other side such Rebells as had been taken by him to be kept rather as in their friends houses than in prisons to rejoyce to triumph to laugh at their sorrow And therefore they humbly desired such prisoners might be tryed as Malefactors nor would the enemy be otherwise frighted from their unheard-of cruelty nor the minds of his own men othermise satisfied and raised up Whom he entertained with a curteous Speech commended them for the love they bare their friends and told them That the blood of those honourable and innocent Subjects ought to be reveng'd indeed by such a way as became honest and valiant men not by basenesse and mischief as the Rebells do but by true valour in a souldier-like way It concerned them so to tame as not to imitate the wickednesse of their enemies Nor if they considered matters well was it conscience that those that were prisoners with them and so could not be accessary unto the murther of their friends should suffer for those sins of which they were innocent The faith that they had passed unto them was a most sacred thing and to be kept inviolate even by enemies Why should they make themselves guilty of that which they so much abhorred in their enemies The time would come when they must give a severe account of it unto the most righteous God and to his Vice-gerent the King In the mean time saith he let them set a price upon our heads let them hire Assassines let them serd in their Instruments amongst us to murther us let them make promises and break them yet they shall never effect that we shall contend with them in an emulation which shall be worse or any otherwise than upon honourable and vertuous terms Now Huntley who intended nothing lesse than what he promised Montrose before his face having passed over the Spey and entered into Murray trifled away his time and wasted his strength without either honour or profit a good way off Innernesse For giving his mind too much to prey and spoil after he had wasted the Country he heard a flying report that the inhabitants had hid their gold and silver and the best of their stuff in certain turrets and obscure Castles Which whiles he assaults in vain and could neither by commands nor entreaties be taken off from his resolution the enemy sending in provision on that side which he had undertaken to block up relieved Innernesse with all things that they wanted Which if he had hindred as he undertook unto Montrose the Garrison would have been shortly forced to yeeld And Montrose having now received intelligence that Major General Middleton was come with six hundred Horse and eight hundred Foot as far as Aberdeen and was like to lay waste Huntleys and the Gordons Country sent Collonel William Stuart unto Huntley to entreat him to return again unto the siege of Innernesse according to his engagement Or if he did not approve so well of that because the enemy was advanced so near his Territories he should perswade him to joyn his Forces with his and to march immediately towards the enemy whom the doubted not with an easie hazard to overthrow To which he answered scornfully that he would look to his own businesse himself nor did he need the help and assistance of Montrose to drive the enemy out of his borders At last after ten weeks spent in the siege of a small inconsiderable Castle and the losse of all the forwardest of his men he was forced with dishonour to raife the siege when he was never the nearer And in contempt not so much of Montrose as of the Kings Majesty he retreated to the Spey without the consent or Knowledge of the Vice-roy giving thereby a very bad example to all men who began to come in thick and threefold with great eagernesse unto the Kings party Amongst whom the chiefest for wealth and power and multitudes of followers and dependents were the Earl of Seafoth the Lord Rese from the furthest Ilands Sir James Mac-donald Chief of a most powerfull and ancient family in the Highlands Macklen also and Glengar the Captain of the Mac-renalds and many more who were some of them already in Montrose's Army with their Forces others had sent for theirs And by this means before the
settled in a posture of war and well forwarn'd of his imentions amounted not above the number of six or seven hundred at the most strangers and all The Common souldiers which adventur'd over with him most of them Holsteyners or Hamburgers He had sent him by the Queen of Sweden for the arming of such Gentle-men as should upon his arrivall betake themselves to his party fifteen hundred arms compleat for Horse back brest head-piece Carbines Pistolls and Swords all which after his defeat in Cathanes were taken untouch'd With this small preparation it was a desperate action to attempt so mighty a business And although his touching first upon the Islands did encrease his number and gave him almost the beginning of an Army Yet were those barbarous people so raw and unacquainted with discipline that they proved in a manner uselesse and unserviceable 'T is true the Inhabitants of those Isles were a people in former times very fierce and warlike and have under their own Captains made many great Impressions into the very heart of the kingdome But whether it was the Policie of the late Kings to leave them untrain'd of purpose to break then natural fierceness or because their own Captains being quell'd or cut off they car'd not much to engage under any other certain it is That kingdome for two hundred years last past hath not made lesse use of any they had under their jurisdiction nor have they at this present lesse opinion of any Scots for Military courage and valour And this may be alleged as a great cause of their remissnesse and unwieldinesse whilst they were in the Marquesses service I told you a little before of Montrose's whole Strength which did accompany him from Germany whereof two ships with neer upon a third part were sent before but by storm of weather which is both frequent and dangerous amongst those Northern Islands they were lost with all the men and arms nothing sav'd This was another check and as it were a warning and a fore-runner of the sad event which followed But the businesse being fatal he must needs contribute his own endeavours towards that destruction which his cruell fortune had provided for him For he nothing terrified with this successe sends out a second party which making a more prosperous voyage landed at Orkney and enter'd the Island without any resistance There being at that time no Garrison or defence placed in any of those Islands by the States of Scotland Together with these he sent several commissions for levying of Horse and Foot Immediately there were several dispatch'd to Scotland and the Islands adjacent for that purpose The people of the Country being in no condition to resist these officers endeavoured in hopes of favour as much as they could to further the design A od those who were not so earnest were by their own neighbours favourers of the cause and these violent Commissioners forc'd to take up Arms. Not long after landed the Marquess himself with the rest of his company together with those Gentlemen which were resolv'd ro partake of his fortune Amongst whom were several persons of note Colonel Hurrey was there a man who had engaged in all quarrells but never prosper'd in any The Lord Frenderick for his kinsman the Lord Napier was left in Holland Colonel Johnson a resolute man and an old souldier Colonel Gray a German souldier Harry Graham his own natural brother Colonel James Hay of Naughton Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetie George Drummond of Ballach For he had employed as was thought Colonel Sibbalds his companion heretofore as his Agent in Scotland But he was apprehended at Musselburgh and did accompany his General in death upon the same Scaffold The Marquess continued a considerable time in Orkney raising of Forces and strengthning himself with such recruits as the place would afford Neither was there any preparation at all made in Scotland to dispossess him of these Islands either because it might be thought a difficult businesse to assail him within those places naturally guarded with a rough and dangerous sea Or because they knowing his strength expected a better opportunitie of him as they found indeed within the Country After this poor rabble of silly creatures was amaz'd He resolves at last to embarque and to that purpose gathers all the boats he could find ships his men and in a short space lands them all upon the point of Cathanes which is the farthest land to the North-west of Scotland The people having some experience of the carriage of his former souldierie and now far more dreading the name of Foreiners partly by the terrible reports which were constantly given out of him fled away in heaps many of them not stopping till they came to the chief City Edinburgh and there gave the terrible Alarm to the Parliament then sitting The Commanders were immediately summon'd and charg'd with all possible haste to get the standing Forces in readinesse and a Rendezvouz in order to the States command was hereupon presently enjoyn'd at Breithen Northward Colonel Stranghan who was then in high esteem with the great ones for his valour lately expressed in the English service and his zeal to the Presbyterian cause much extoll'd at that time had an ample and a particular Commission granted to him by the Parliament to command a choice party of Horse which should not be subject to David Lesleys orders but might engage and fight with the enemy at his best advantage With these being not above three hundred he advanced before the Army David Lesley with the rest of the Horse and Holborn with the Foot marching after him In the mean time the Marquess advanc'd but very slowly and that he might not be mistaken since all the world was much astomished at this Invasion now whilst the King was upon a Treatie he published a Declaration Wherein he labour'd to clear himself of any aspersion of sinister ends That his intention was only against some particular persons who had against the Laws of the Kingdome rais'd and maintain'd a war against the Kings Father and did now by their subtile practices endeavour to destroy the Son also That he intended nothing against the Generalitie of the Kingdom Lastly exhorting all subjects of that Nation to endeavour to free themselves from the Tyranny of those who for the present ruled the State and the oppression of the Ministrie But the Country for several causes did not come to second him as he expected For the Earl of Sunder and a potent man in those parts his lands being next to the place where the Marquesse then was rais'd a great power of his tenants and friends and did his best to terrific and hinder all that were willing to joyn with him And though he found himself unable to deal with the Marquesses Forces yet did he stop all entercourse betwixt him and his friends And those Gentlemen who had heretofore followed him and yet enclined to assist him knowing the danger of the enterprise considering the
fewnesse of his number and that his souldiers were much undisciplin'd and unlike to the former with whom he had done so great things began to be averse and have a suspicion of the event Yet have I heard some say which knew well enough the situation of that Country that if he had not been oppressed in the nick he might have gain'd such strengths amongst the hills as might have given him leisure enough to have strengthned his own party and tyred out the enemy Howsoever he was not altogether unmindfull of a retreat there is in that Country a Castle call'd Dumbath the Lord or Laird thereof is the head of a very antient Family but no friend of the Marquesses This Gentleman having left his house in the keeping of his Lady and some servants â—ed to Edinburgh The Lady though the place were naturally fortified yet upon summons delivered it to Colonel Hurry who was sent thither by the Marquess with a party of Foot to reduce it upon condition her goods and estate might be secur'd and she with her servants suffer'd to march away Hurrey having plac'd a Governour and a Garrison as he thought sufficient for the defence of the place return'd to the Marquess who was now advanc'd to the place or neer it where he was to lose at one throw both his life and fortune The Marquesse hearing of the enemies approach made his whole Forces march at a great trot to recover a passe which they were not very far from when he himself in the vanguard discover'd the first party which was Straughans Forlorn hope advancing very fast upon him So that these with their haste and the souldiers running found them both out of breath and order The second Party was commanded by Straughan himself and the Rear-guard as I remember by Colonel Ker for he had divided them in three bodies But now the first party being very near there was a Forlorn hope of a hundred Foot drawn out to meet them who giving fire upon them put them to a disorderly retreat but being immediately seconded by Straughans party they made good their charge and so terrified the Islanders with that breach that most of them threw down their Arms and called for quarter Only the Dutch Companies after they had bestowed a volley or two amongst the Horse retreated into some shrubbs hard by and there very valiantly defended themselvs awhile but were all taken at last There were kill'd in this business to the number of two hundred twelve hundred taken very few escaped For the whole Country being in Arms especially Sunderlands men who came not to the fight but to the execution they kill'd or took Prisoners all such as fled In that skirmish was taken the Standard which he had caus'd to be made of purpose to move the affections of the people with this Motto Judge and revenge my cause O Lord and the portraict of the late King beheaded exactly well done The Standard-bearer a very gallant young Gentleman was kill'd after he had several times refused quarter There was Colonel Hurrey taken the Lord Frenderick Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetie Colonel Hay of Naughton Colonel Gray and most of the Officers and two Ministers The Marquess after he saw the day was absolutely lost threw away his cloak which had the Star on it having receiv'd the order of the Garter a little while before his Sword was likewise found and not very far off his horse which he had forsaken For so soon as he had got clear off that ground where the skirmish was he betook himself to foot and lighting upon one of that Country or one of his own souldiers I know not whether took his Highland apparel from him and so in that habit conveighed himself away But such narrow search being made for him he could not long escape yet he continued in the open fields three or four days without any notice gotten of him At last the Lord of Aston being in arms with some of his Tenants aboard in that search happned on him He had been one of his followers before In that place he had continued three or four dayes without meat or drink with one only man in his company The Marquesse knowing him and believing to find friendship at his hands willingly discover'd himself But Aston not daring to conceal him and being greedy of the reward which was promised to the apprehender by the Councel of State seiz'd upon him and disarm'd him 't is said he profered great summs for his liberty which being in vain he desired to dye by the hands of those who took him rather than be made an object of misery and shame as he knew very well he should by his enraged enemies But neither of his desires was granted but in place of them a strong guard set over him and so conveyed to David Lesley Sraughan having atchieved his business with great expedition and freed the State from this much-fear'd danger returned to Edinburgh leaving the rest of the businesse to Lesley and Holborn where he receiv'd great rewards and thanks for his eminent service not without the great heart-burning of David Lesley who seeing a rivall risen up to his honour and one whom he lookt upon as an upstart souldier have so great successe fretted not a little Howsoever forwards he moves to accomplish the rest of the work which was now of no great consequence for there rested nothing within the Country but only the Castle of Dumbath which being out of all hopes of relief after the defeat so soon as they were perfectly assur'd by some Prisoners whom they knew yielded the Garrison The Governour was Prisoner at mercy The souldiers being Dutch were upon terms to return homewards There was nothing else to be done save the reducing of the Islands and the town of Kirkwall in Orkney where Colonel Johnson and Colonel Harry Graham were left when the Marquesse pass'd over to Cathanes but Montrose either because he could not spare any souldiers or because he expected better successe had left them almost naked though there were several places in those Isles which might have been made very renable Colonel Johnson having understoost of the defeat with those that were with him took shipping and returned from whence he came so did Harry Graham likewise else both of them had casted of the same sawce which their General did Thus Lesteys Forces entred without any resistance seiz'd upon the Arms which Montrose had brought thither together with two pieces of Ordnance The Queen of Sweden had given him a little Friggot of sixteen Guns which lay in the Harbour the Master of which being gone ashore into one of the Islands the Company seeing the event of the businesse revolted and brought in that likewise The victorie being now compleat there was a solemn day of thanksgiving appointed through the whole Kingdome Bonfires shooting of Ordnance and other testimonies of joy But many of the Gentry who had been under his command before having now engaged