is worthy of notice, not only as characteristic in itself, but from the extraordinary use that has been made of it by the modern calumniators of Montrose. Ere they joined battle, Montrose, says Dr Wishart, "commanded his men, cavalry and infantry, to cast aside their more troublesome garments, and stripping themselves to the waist of all clothing but the under vesture, thus, giving the onset in their shirts, to rush upon the enemy. He was obeyed with right good will, and after this fashion they stood ready and disencumbered, and determined to conquer or die."* This passage explains itself, nor was the instruction, to cast away the plaids and other fatiguing garments, an extraordinary one, considering that it was in the middle of August these mountaineers were about to charge six thousand of their enemies up hill, and to chase them as far as they could. The idea of an onset made in such guise will appear still less outre to those who know how important and warlike a part of the costume was the Highland shirt, or sark. "The common people of the Highland Scots," says John Major, “ rush into battle, having their body clothed with a linen garment, manifoldly sewed, and painted or daubed with pitch, with a covering of deer-skin." It is more than probable, that Montrose's knowledge of the habits and inclinations of his mountain chivalry, no less than the prospect of a hot day, had suggested the order. The anecdote, however, has been variously noticed to our hero's disadvantage; but nowhere in so unwarrantable a paraphrase as the following, which we quote from the recent popular biographies of Mr Chambers. 66 * "Suis insuper omnibus, equiti juxta ac pediti imperat, ut positis molestioribus vestibus, et solis indusiis supernè amicti, et in albis emicantes, hostibus insultarent. Quod cum illi alacres lætique fecissent, expediti paratique stabant, certi aut vincere aut mori." "A company of cuirassiers drew from Montrose a remark, that the cowardly rascals durst not face them till they were cased in iron. To shew our contempt of them, let us fight them in our shirts. With that he threw off his coat and waistcoat, tucked up the sleeves of his shirt like a butcher going to kill cattle, at the same time drawing his sword with ferocious resolution. The proposal was received with applause, the cavalry threw off their upper garments, and tucked up their sleeves;* the foot stripped themselves naked even to the feet, and in this state were ready to rush upon their opponents before they could take up the places assigned them. The consequence was, the battle was a mere massacre- -a race of fourteen miles, in which space six thousand men were cut down and slain." The picture of Montrose throwing off his coat and waistcoat, tucking up the sleeves of his shirt like a butcher, and," at the same time," drawing his sword with ferocious resolution, is exquisite, but we doubt its authenticity. Nor can we discover the authority for saying, that, upon the occasion in question, our hero's four thousand four hundred infantry fought stark naked, 66 even to the feet,” a most questionable fact, seeing that they pursued, with deadly effect, for fourteen miles, through growing corns, up rugged glens, and by paths which General Baillie states to have been " rough and uneasy to march in." But supposing the picture true, and if there be accuracy in the reasoning that “ a mere massacre"-by which must be understood the death of all the iron-clad fugitives, without the loss of a single 66 * In a free or rather false translation of the incident from Wishart, Monteith, in his French history, has the expressions," retroussant chacun sa chemise sur ses bras." This is the only authority I can find for all this tucking up of sleeves. naked pursuer-was the natural consequence of this extraordinary tactic, then we maintain not only that Montrose was perfectly justified, but that, even in our own more civilized times, it is absolutely the duty of every General to insure the safety of his troops, at the expence of the enemy, by fighting his battles in puris naturalibus.* * Carte, in his History of England, puts a fanciful speech into the mouth of Montrose before the battle of Kilsyth, and indeed the account there given of his demeanour upon the occasion in question, though highly complimentary to our hero, is not warranted by the details given by Wishart and Guthrie, the two authorities whom Carte quotes. In Chambers's Biography of Montrose, a yet more unwarrantable paraphrase of Carte is given, and the account rendered derogatory and insulting to Montrose. CHAPTER XVI. RESULTS OF THE BATTLE OF KILSYTH-MONTROSE SURPRISED MONTROSE had now conquered the Covenanters in Scotland. He had swept the Country, from north to south, of the armies of that rebel faction which had so long tyrannized over the persons, and consciences, of the people of Scotland. The Presbyterial reign of terror there was for the time paralyzed, and Argyle himself, who, behind the specious mask of "Religion and Liberties," had been seeking his own aggrandizement to the subversion of both, was no longer Dictator. The immediate effect of this victory affords a curious commentary on the Covenant. "The whole Country,” says Dr Wishart," now resounded Montrose's praise. His unparalleled magnanimity and bravery, his happiness in devising his plans of operation, and his rapidity in the execution of them, his unshaken resolution and intrepidity, even in the greatest dangers, and his patience under the severest deprivations and fatigues, his faithfulness, and strict observance 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 to his honour. Most of these encomiums were sincere and well intended. But some of them, it must be confessed, proceeded from mere craft and dissimulation. So unsteady is the tide of human affairs, so fleeting and precarious the affections of the mob, that Argyle, Balmerino, Lindsay, Loudon, and the other ringleaders of the faction, the very coryphæi of the Covenant, who so lately had been flattered and idolized, were now publicly exclaimed against as the authors of all the evil troubles of the times." Immediately after the battle of Kilsyth, Montrose marched into Clydesdale to meet the levies of the Earl of Lanerick. But Lanerick had already fled, and his levies were dispersed. The victor then marched to Glasgow, which he entered amid the acclamations of the inhabitants, having been previously invited by a deputation to honour their city with his presence. In virtue of his commission as the King's Lieutenant, Montrose instituted a severe scrutiny into the conduct of the most notorious criminals, and, for example's sake, ordered some of them to be executed. But even his enemies admit, that in this hour of uncontrolled command his conduct was studiously lenient. To relieve them of the burden of the army, he marched out on the second day, and encamped six miles off at Bothwell, indulging the city with the privilege of a guard of their own inhabitants, to protect it from the stragglers of his army. At Bothwell, complimentary and deprecating addresses poured in from all quarters of Scotland, and were presented to him by special Commissioners. Moreover, there came in person to him, to declare their loyalty, and offer their services, the Marquis of Douglas, the Earls of Linlithgow, Annandale, and Hartfell, the Lords Erskine, Seton, Drummond, Fleming, Maderty, Carnegie, and Johnston, Charteris of Amisfield, Towers |