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502 tliat they fell back upon Aberdeen in a state of utter confusion, with the loss of half their number, leaving to the covenanters a bloodless victory. Aboyne was rapidly followed by the victors; but with the gentlemen who yet adhered to him, he took post at the bridge of Dee, which he determined to defend, for the preservation of Aberdeen. Montrose attacked this position on the 18th of June, with his usual impetuosity, and it was maintained for a whole day with great bravery. Next morning Montrose made a movement as if he intended to cross the river farther up; and the attention of the defenders being thus distracted, Middleton made a desperate charge, and carried the bridge in defiance of all opposition. The routed and dispirited loyalists fled with the utmost trepidation towards the town, and were closely pursued by the victorious covenanters. Aberdeen was now again in the hands of the men of whom it had more reason than ever to be afraid : it had already endured repeated spoliations at the hands of both parties, and was at last threatened with indiscriminate pillage. At their first entry into the town, June 19th, the troops behaved with great rudeness; every person suspected of being engaged in the last insurrection was thrown into prison, and the general cry of the army was to set the town on fire. There was some disagreement, however, among the chiefs respecting the execution of such a severe measure, and next day the question was set at rest by the news of the pacification of Berwick, which had been concluded on the 18th, the day that the parties had been so hotly engaged at the bridge of Dee. Montrose was probably not a little sorry to be confined in the north, quelling parties of Highland royalists, when there was a probability of actions of much greater importance taking place in another quarter, upon which the eyes of all men were fixed with a much more intense interest than they could possibly be upon the rock of Dunnottar, the bog of Gicht, or even the "brave town of Aberdeen." Now that a settlement had taken place, he hastened to the head-quarters, that he might have his proportion of what was to be dealt out on the occasion, whether it were public honours, public places, or private emoluments.

It now struck the mind of the king, that if he could but gain over the nobility to his side, the opposition of the lower classes would be rendered of little efficacy; and that he might have an opportunity of employing his royal eloquence for that purpose, he invited fourteen of the most influential of the grandees, that had taken part against him, to wait upon his court at Berwick, under the pretence of consulting them on the measures he meant to adopt for promoting the peace and the prosperity of the country. Aware of his design, the states sent only three of their number, Montrose, Loudon, and Lothian, to make an apology for the non-appearance of the remainder. The apology, however, was not accepted; and by the king's special command, they wrote for the noblemen who had been named to follow them. This the noblemen probably were not backward to do, but a rumour being raised, that he intended to seize upon them, and send the whole prisoners to London, the populace interfered, and, to prevent a tumult, the journey was delayed. Charles was highly offended with this conduct; and being strongly cautioned by his courtiers against trusting himself among the unruly Scots, he departed for England, brooding over his depressed cause, and the means of regaining that influence of which he had been deprived by his subjects. Of those who did wait upon him, he succeeded in seducing only one, the earl of Montrose, who was disappointed in being placed under general Leslie, and who had of late become particularly jealous of Argyle. How much reason Charles had to be proud of such an acquisition we shall see in the sequel, though there can be no doubt that the circumstance emboldened him to proceed in his policy of only granting a set of mock reforms to the Scot-