Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/172

466 Livingston of Westquarter, he had seventeen children. His great-grandson is at present in possession of the estate."

CAMERON,, an eminent martyr of the Scottish church, and whose name is still retained in the popular designation of one of its sects, was the son of a small shopkeeper at Falkland in Fife. His first appearance in life was in the capacity of schoolmaster and precentor of that parish under the episcopal clergyman. But, being converted by the field preachers, he afterwards became an enthusiastic votary of the pure presbyterian system, and, resigning those offices, went to reside as a preceptor in the family of Sir Walter Scott of Harden. From this place he was soon compelled to remove, on account of his refusal to attend the ministrations of the parish clergyman. He then fell into the company of the celebrated Mr John Welch, and was by him persuaded to accept a licence as a preacher. This honour was conferred upon him by Mr Welch and another persecuted clergyman in the house of Haughhead in Roxburghshire; so simple was the ceremony by which these unfortunate ministers recruited their ranks. Cameron soon excited the hostility of the indulged presbyterian clergy, by the freedom with which he asserted the spiritual independence of the Scottish church, He was, in 1677, reproved for this offence at a meeting of the presbyterian clergy at Edinburgh. The indulged ministers having threatened to deprive him of his licence, he was induced to promise that he would be more sparing in his invectives against them; an engagement which afterwards burdened his conscience so much as to throw him into a deep melancholy. He sought diversion to his grief in Holland, where his fervid eloquence and decided character made a strong impression upon the banished ministers. These men appear to have become convinced that his extraordinary zeal could end only in his own destruction, as Mr Ward, in assisting at his ordination, retained his hand for some time upon the young preacher's head, and exclaimed, "Behold, all ye beholders, here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master's interest, and it shall be set up before the sun and moon, in the view cf the world." Cameron returned to his native country in 1680, and, although field-preaching had now been nearly suppressed by the severity of the government, he immediately re-commenced that practice. It is necessary to be observed, that Cameron did not identify himself at any time with the presbyterian clergy in general; while his proceedings, so little squared by prudence or expediency, were regarded by his brethren with only a gentler kind of disapprobation than that which they excited in the government. The persecutors had now, by dint of mere brute force, reduced almost all men to a tacit or passive conformity; and there only held out a small remnant, as it was termed, who could not be induced to remain quiet, and at whose head Mr Richard Cameron was placed, on account of his enthusiastic and energetic character. On the 20th of June 1680, in company with about twenty other persons, well-armed, he entered the little remote burgh of Sanquhar, and in a ceremonious manner proclaimed at the cross, that he and those who adhered to him renounced their allegiance to the king, on account of his having abused his government, and also declared a war against him and all who adhered to him, at the same time avowing their resolution to resist the succession of his brother the Duke of York The bulk of the presbyterians beheld this transaction with dismay, for they knew that the government would charge it upon the party in general. The privy council immediately put a reward of five thousand merks upon Cameron's head, and three thousand upon the heads of all the rest; and parties were sent out to waylay them. The little band kept together in arms for a month on the mountainous country, between Nithsdale and Ayrshire. But at length on