Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/173

Rh the 20th of July, when they were lying in a secure place on Airsmoss, Bruce of Earlshall approached them with a party of horse and foot much superior in numbers. Cameron, who was believed by his followers to have a gift of prophecy, is said to have that morning washed his hands with particular care, in expectation that they were immediately to become a public spectacle. His party, at sight of the enemy, gathered closely around him, and he uttered a short prayer, in which he thrice repeated the expression—"Lord, spare the green and take the ripe"—no doubt, including himself in the latter description, as conceiving himself to be among the best prepared for death. He then said to his brother, "Come, let us fight it out to the last; for this is the day which I have longed for, and the day that I have prayed for, to die fighting against our Lord's avowed enemies; this is the day that we will get the crown." To all of them, in the event of falling, he gave assurance that he already saw the gates of heaven open to receive them. A brief skirmish took place, in which the insurgents were allowed even by their enemies to have behaved with great bravery; but nothing could avail against superior numbers. Mr Cameron being among the slain, his head and hands were cut off, and carried to Edinburgh, along with the prisoners, among whom was the celebrated Mr Hackstoun of Rathillet. It happened that the father of Cameron was at this time in prison for non-conformity. The head was shown to the old man, with the question, "Did he know to whom it had belonged." He seized the bloody relics with the eagerness of parental affection, and, kissing them fervently, exclaimed, "I know, I know them; they are my son's, my own dear son's: it is the Lord; good is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days." The head and hands were then fixed upon the Netherbow Port, the fingers pointing upwards, in mockery of the attitude of prayer. The headless trunk was buried with the rest of the slain in Airsmoss, where a plain monument w r as in better times erected over them. To this spot, while the persecution was still raging, Peden, the friend of Cameron, used to resort, not so much, apparently, to lament his fate, as to wish that he had shared it. "Oh to be wi' Ritchie!" was the frequent and touching ejaculation of Peden over the grave of his friend. The name of Cameron was applied to the small but zealous sect of presbyterians which he had led in life, and has since been erroneously extended to the persecuted presbyterians in general. The twenty-sixth regiment, which was raised at the Revolution out of the west-country people who flocked to Edinburgh, was styled, on that account, the Cameronian Regiment, which appellation, notwithstanding the obvious error, it still retains.

CAMPBELL,, musician and poet, was born in 1764, at Tombea, on the banks of Loch Lubnaig, above Callendar, and received his education at the grammar-school of that town. While yet a youth, he removed to Edinburgh, and studied music under the celebrated Tenducci and others. A decided taste for the art, and especially for the simple melodies of his native country, induced him to become a teacher of the harpsichord and of vocal music in Edinburgh ; and as he was a zealous adherent of the scattered remnant who still espoused the cause of the unhappy Stuarts, he became at the same time organist to a non-juring chapel in the neighbourhood of Nicolson Street, where the Rev. Mr Harper then officiated. While in this situation, and still possessed of all the keen feelings of youth, he became acquainted with Robert Burns, who is said to have highly appreciated his ardent character, as he must have strongly sympathised in his national prepossessions. It may also be mentioned that Mr Campbell was music-master to Sir Walter Scott, with whom, however, he never made any progress, owing, as he used to say, to the total destitution of that