Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/170

510 and plundered the place of Drum, in which were deposited all the valuables belonging to the town of Montrose and the surrounding country ; there also he obtained a supply of arms, and some pieces of artillery. Argyle with a greatly superior force, was following his footsteps; but, destitute of military talents, he could neither bring him to an engagement, nor interrupt his progress. Having supplied his wants in Angus, and recruited his army, Montrose suddenly repassed the Grampians, and spreading ruin around him, made another attempt to raise the Gordons. Disappointed still, he turned to the castle of Fyvie, where he was surprised by Argyle and Lothian, and, but for the most miserable mismanagement, must have been taken. After sustaining two assaults from very superior numbers, he eluded them by stratagem, and ere they were aware, was again lost in the wilds of Badenoch. Argyle, sensible perhaps of his inferiority, returned to Edinburgh, and threw up his commission.

Montrose, now left to act as he thought proper, having raised, in his retreat through Badenoch, portions of the clans M'Donald and Cameron, and been joined by the Stuarts of Appin, whom his friend Alister M'Coll had raised for him, he, with the consent and by the advice of his associates, prepared to lay waste the territory of his hated rival Argyle. For this purpose he divided his army into two divisions, the one consisting of the levies from Lochaber and Knoydart, under John Muidartach, the captain of the Clanronalds, entered by the head of Argyle; the other under his own direction, by the banks of Loch Tay and Glen Dochart. The country on both tracts belonging either to Argyle or his relations was destroyed without mercy. In this work of destruction Montrose was assisted by the clans of McGregor and M'Nab; who, whatever might be said of their loyalty, were, the former of them especially, as dextrous at foraying arid fire raising, as the most accomplished troop in his service. For upwards of six weeks was this devastation prolonged. Every person capable of bearing a weapon was murdered, every house was razed, castles excepted, which they were not able for the want of artillery to master. Trusting to the poverty and difficulty of the passes into his country, Argyle seems never to have anticipated such a visit, till the marauders were within a few miles of his castle of Inverary, when he instantly took boat and sailed for the Lowlands, leaving all behind to the uncontrolled sway of these insatiate spoilers, who "left not a four-footed beast in his hale lands," nor, as they imagined, a man able to bear arms. Having rendered the country a desert, they bent their way towards Inverness, by Lochaber, to meet the earl of Seaforth, who with the strength of Koss, Sutherland, and Caithness, occupied that important station.

Argyle in the meantime having met with general Baillie at Dumbarton, and concerted a plan with him, hastened back to the Highlands, and collecting his fugitive vassals and his dependants, followed at a distance the steps of his enemy, intending to be ready to attack him in the rear, when Baillie, as had been agreed between them, should advance to take him in front. Montrose was marching through Abertarf, in the great glen of Albin, when he was surprised with intelligence that Argyle was at Inverlochy with an army of, at least, double the number of that which he himself commanded, and aware that Baillie and Hurry were both before him, was at no loss to conjecture his intentions. Without a moment's hesitation, however, he determined to turn back, and taking his antagonist by surprise, cut him off at one blow, after which he should be able to deal with the enemy that was in his front, as circumstances should direct. For this purpose he placed a guard upon the level road down the great glen of Albin, which he had just traversed, that no tidings of his movements might be carried back, and moving up the narrow glen formed by the Tarf, crossed the hills of Lairee Thurard. Descending thence into the lonely vale at the head of the Spey,