第64章 A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.(57)

But it was the fate of this great commander,always to gain the glory,but seldom to reap the fruits of victory.He had scarcely time to repose his small army in Aberdeen,ere he found,on the one hand,that the Gordons were likely to be deterred from joining him,by the reasons we have mentioned,with some others peculiar to their chief,the Marquis of Huntly;on the other hand,Argyle,whose forces had been augmented by those of several Lowland noblemen,advanced towards Montrose at the head of an army much larger than he had yet had to cope with.These troops moved,indeed,with slowness,corresponding to the cautious character of their commander;but even that caution rendered Argyle's approach formidable,since his very advance implied,that he was at the head of an army irresistibly superior There remained one mode of retreat open to Montrose,and he adopted it.He threw himself into the Highlands,where he could set pursuit at defiance,and where he was sure,in every glen,to recover those recruits who had left his standard to deposit their booty in their native fastnesses.It was thus that the singular character of the army which Montrose commanded,while,on the one hand,it rendered his victory in some degree nugatory,enabled him,on the other,under the most disadvantageous circumstances,to secure his retreat,recruit his forces,and render himself more formidable than ever to the enemy,before whom he had lately been unable to make a stand.

On the present occasion he threw himself into Badenoch,and rapidly traversing that district,as well as the neighbouring country of Athole,he alarmed the Covenanters by successive attacks upon various unexpected points,and spread such general dismay,that repeated orders were dispatched by the Parliament to Argyle,their commander,to engage,and disperse Montrose at all rates.

These commands from his superiors neither suited the haughty spirit,nor the temporizing and cautious policy,of the nobleman to whom they were addressed.He paid,accordingly,no regard to them,but limited his efforts to intrigues among Montrose's few Lowland followers,many of whom had become disgusted with the prospect of a Highland campaign,which exposed their persons to intolerable fatigue,and left their estates at the Covenanters'mercy.Accordingly,several of them left Montrose's camp at this period.He was joined,however,by a body of forces of more congenial spirit,and far better adapted to the situation in which he found himself.This reinforcement consisted of a large body of Highlanders,whom Colkitto,dispatched for that purpose,had levied in Argyleshire.Among the most distinguished was John of Moidart,called the Captain of Clan Ranald,with the Stewarts of Appin,the Clan Gregor,the Clan M'Nab,and other tribes of inferior distinction.By these means,Montrose's army was so formidably increased,that Argyle cared no longer to remain in the command of that opposed to him,but returned to Edinburgh,and there threw up his commission,under pretence that his army was not supplied with reinforcements and provisions in the manner in which they ought to have been.From thence the Marquis returned to Inverary,there,in full security,to govern his feudal vassals,and patriarchal followers,and to repose himself in safety on the faith of the Clan proverb already quoted--"It is a far cry to Lochow."

CHAPTER XVI.

Such mountains steep,such craggy hills,His army on one side enclose:

The other side,great griesly gills Did fence with fenny mire and moss.

Which when the Earl understood,He council craved of captains all,Who bade set forth with mournful mood,And take such fortune as would fall.

FLODDEN FIELD,AN ANCIENT POEM.

Montrose had now a splendid career in his view,provided he could obtain the consent of his gallant,but desultory troops,and their independent chieftains.The Lowlands lay open before him without an army adequate to check his career;for Argyle's followers had left the Covenanters'host when their master threw up his commission,and many other troops,tired of the war,had taken the same opportunity to disband themselves.By descending Strath-Tay,therefore,one of the most convenient passes from the Highlands,Montrose had only to present himself in the Lowlands,in order to rouse the slumbering spirit of chivalry and of loyalty which animated the gentlemen to the north of the Forth.

The possession of these districts,with or without a victory,would give him the command of a wealthy and fertile part of the kingdom,and would enable him,by regular pay,to place his army on a permanent footing,to penetrate as far as the capital,perhaps from thence to the Border,where he deemed it possible to communicate with the yet unsubdued forces of King Charles.

Such was the plan of operations by which the truest glory was to be acquired,and the most important success insured for the royal cause.Accordingly it did not escape the ambitious and daring spirit of him whose services had already acquired him the title of the Great Marquis.But other motives actuated many of his followers,and perhaps were not without their secret and unacknowledged influence upon his own feelings.

The Western Chiefs in Montrose's army,almost to a man,regarded the Marquis of Argyle as the most direct and proper object of hostilities.Almost all of them had felt his power;almost all,in withdrawing their fencible men from their own glens,left their families and property exposed to his vengeance;all,without exception,were desirous of diminishing his sovereignty;