Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/218

561 stance of the spirit of the times, of the almost romantic bravery and resolution which religious fervour had inspired into the covenanters, as is upon record. It appears from the account alluded to, that the party to which Hackston was attached, had been informed that the military were in search of them, and that, to avoid the latter, they had spent some days and nights, previous to their encountering them, in the moors. On the day on which the skirmish took place, while wandering through the morasses, they came upon a spot of grass, which tempted them to halt. Here they laid themselves down and took some refreshment, but while thus employed, they were startled with the intelligence that their enemies were approaching them, Hackston conjectures, to the number of at least 112 men, well armed and mounted; while the force of the covenanters did not amount to more than sixty-three, of which forty were on foot, and twenty-three on horseback, and the greater part of them but poorly appointed. Unappalled by those odds, Hackston immediately formed his little host in battle array, and, while doing so, asked them if they were all willing to fight. The reply was readily given in the affirmative, and preparations were instantly made for a desperate conflict. In the meantime the dragoons were fast advancing towards them. Hackston, however, did not wait for the attack, but put his little band also in motion, and bravely marched on to meet their enemy. "Our horse," says Hackston, "advanced to their faces, and we fired on each other. I being foremost, after receiving their fire, and finding the horse behind me broken, rode in amongst them, and went out at a side without any wrong or wound. I was pursued by severals, with whom I fought a good space, sometimes they following me and sometimes I following them. At length my horse bogged, and the foremost of theirs, which was David Ramsay, one of my acquaintance, we both being on foot, fought it with small swords without advantage of one another; but at length closing, I was striken down with those on horseback behind me, and received three sore wounds on the head, and so falling, he saved my life, which I submitted to. They searched me and carried me to their rear, and laid me down, where I bled much,—where were brought severals of their men sore wounded. They gave us all testimony of being brave resolute men." Hackston with several others were now, his little party having been defeated, carried prisoners to Douglas, and from thence to Lanark. Here he was brought before Dalyell, who, not being satisfied with his answers, threatened in the brutal manner peculiar to him to roast him for his contumacy. Without any regard to the miserable condition in which Hackston was dreadfully wounded and worn out with fatigue Dalyell now ordered him to be put in irons, and to be fastened down to the floor of his prison, and would not allow of any medical aid to alleviate his sufferings. On Saturday, two days after the affair of Airsmoss, Rathillet, with other three prisoners, were brought to Edinburgh. On arriving at the city, they were carried round about by the north side of the town, and made to enter at the foot of the Canongate, where they were received by the magistrates. Here the unparalleled cruelties to which Hackston was subjected commenced. Before entering the town he was placed upon a horse with " his face backward, and the other three were bound on a goad of iron, and Mr Cameron's head carried on a halbert before him, and another head in a sack on a lad's back." And thus disposed, the procession moved up the street towards the Parliament Close, where the prisoners were loosed by the hands of the hangman. Rathillet was immediately carried before the council, and examined regarding the murder of archbishop Sharpe, and on several points relative to his religious and political doctrines. Here he conducted himself with the same fortitude which had distinguished him on other perilous occasions, maintaining and defending his opinions, however unpalatable they might be to his judges. After undergoing a