Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/155

Rh effusion of human blood. The Gordons followed rapidly on his heels; but having lain one night in the open fields, and finding the earl Marischal determined to oppose them, they at last hearkened to the advice of Straloch, and agreed to disband themselves, without committing further outrages. Unhappily, however, they had been joined at Durris by one thousand Highlanders, under lord Lewis Gordon, third son to the marquis of Huntly, who, though a mere boy, had made his escape from his guardians, assumed the Highland dress, and appeared at the head of these outrageous loyalists for the interests of his father. This band of one thousand heroes it was impossible to send home till they had indulged their patriotic feelings among the goods and chattels of their supposed enemies; which they did to such an extent, as to provoke the deepest resentment. The earl Marischal with his little army advanced against them, and on the 23d of May entered Aberdeen, thirty Highland barons making a precipitate retreat before him.

For the suppression of these insurrections, Montrose had been again commissioned to the north, with an army of four thousand men, with which he entered Aberdeen on the 25th of May, only two days after the earl Marischal. Having discovered, by numerous intercepted letters, the real feelings of the inhabitants, and that their former compliance with his demands had been mere hypocrisy, practised for the purpose of saving their goods, Montrose imposed upon them another fine of ten thousand merks,—his men, at the same time, making free with whatever they thought fit to take, no protections being granted, save to a very few burgesses, who were known to be genuine covenanters. In revenge for the affront put upon their blue ribbon by the ladies, not one single dog upon which the soldiers could lay their hands, was left alive within the wide circuit of Aberdeen. The Gordons, meanwhile, learning that the Frasers and the Forbeses were advancing to join Montrose, crossed the Spey with one thousand foot and upwards of three hundred horse, and took post on a field near Elgin, where the Frasers and Forbeses lay with an army superior to theirs in number. A parley ensued, and it was settled that neither party should cross the Spey to injure the other. Both parties, of course, sought their native quarters; and the Gordons, sensible of their inability to cope with Montrose, determined, individually, to seek each his own safety. Having nothing else to do, and possessing abundance of artillery, Montrose resolved to reduce the principal strength belonging to the party, and for this end had just sat down before Gicht, the residence of Sir Robert Gordon, when he learned that the earl of Aboyne, second son of the marquis of Huntly, had arrived at Aberdeen with three ships, having obtained from the king, at York, a commission of lieutenantcy over the whole north of Scotland. He, of course, hasted back to Aberdeen, where he arrived on the 5th of June; Aboyne had not yet landed, but for what reason does not appear. Montrose left Aberdeen next day, marching southward with all his forces, as did the earl Marischal at the same time. Aboyne, of course, landed, and raising his father's vassals and dependents, to the number of four thousand men, took possession of Aberdeen at the cross of which he published the king's proclamation, bestowing all the lands of the covenanters upon their opponents. He then proposed to attack Montrose and the earl Marischal, marching for this purpose along the sea coast, ordering his ships with the cannon and ammunition to attend his progress. A west wind arising, drove the ships with his artillery and ammunition out to sea, so that he came in contact with Montrose and the earl Marischal advantageously posted on the Meagra-hill, a little to the south of Stonehaven, without the means of making any impression upon them. A few shots from the field-pieces of Montrose, so completely disheartened the followers of Aboyne,