Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/358

344 so instantly and well, that it took the duke's forces by surprise. Argyll was compelled to be on the alert. He observed that Mar had drawn out his forces so as to outflank him; but, casting his eye on a morass on his right, he discovered that the frost had made it passable, and he ordered major Cathcart to lead a squadron of horse across it, whilst with the rest of his cavalry he galloped round, and thus attacked the left wing of Mar both in front and flank. The Highlanders, thus taken by surprise, were thrown into confusion, but still fought with their wonted bravery. They were driven, however, by the momentum of the English horse backwards; and betwixt the spot whence the attack commenced and the river Allan, three miles distant, they rallied ten times, and fairly contested the field. Argyll, however, bore down upon them with all the force of his right wing, offering quarter to all who would surrender, and even parrying blows from his own dragoons which went to exterminate those already wounded. After an obstinate fight of three hours, he drove the Highlanders over the Allan, a great number of them being drowned in it, and then returned to learn the fate of the rest of his army. He found that he had been taking the office of a general of division instead of that of the commander-in-chief, whose duty is to watch the movements of the whole field, and send aid to quarters which are giving way. Like prince Rupert, in his ardour for victory over his enemies in front of him, he had totally forgotten the centre and left wing, and discovered now that the left wing was totally defeated.

Mar himself had led the onset against that wing. The first fire of the English did great execution on his troops, and amongst the mortally wounded was the chief of Clanranald, a gallant veteran, who had fought in many a foreign battle under the duke of Berwick, and at home was celebrated for the feudal magnificence and hospitable state in which he lived. His fall cast a great damp on the Highlanders; but Glengarry, who had carried the royal standard at the battle of Killiekrankie, throwing his bonnet into the air, shouted "Revenge! revenge! To-day for revenge, tomorrow for mourning;' At this stirring appeal the blood of the clansmen was in effervescence. They dashed forward on the English ranks with terrific noise, thrust aside the bayonets with their targets, and threw the whole wing into confusion. They gave no moment for reflection or recovery; they fought like furies; the whole wing broke and fled, Whitham himself never drawing bit till he found himself in the streets of Stirling. In their panic, the left wing drew after them a part of the centre under general Wightman; and the Scots contend that the whole centre would have been routed had it not been for the wayward obstinacy of the master of Sinclair. Wightman, by this circumstance, was enabled to keep together three regiments of foot, and drew them off towards the right, to re-unite, if possible, with Argyll's wing. When these three regiments reached him, and informed him of the defeat of the left wing and flight of part of the centre, he observed to the officers, in the words of an old Scotch song —

and he accordingly drew together his tired men, and led them back to the field in search of Mar. That general had, like his antagonist, been pursuing the flying enemy, equally forgetful of the rest of his army, and had reached Corntown, a village near Stirling, when he learned that the other wing was dispersed. It was said of both these generals that they had acted perfectly according to the Christian injunction not to let their left hand know what their right was doing. Mar, on reaching a rising ground, saw the weary remnant of Argyll's army slowly toiling along a road at the bottom of the hill. Then was the time for an active and able general. A single charge of horse down the hill must, by the confession of the English themselves, have swept them away. Argyll saw this at a glance, and, expecting nothing less, took shelter behind some mud walls and inclosures, and placed two pieces of cannon in front. For some time he awaited the attack, when, to his astonishment, he heard the bagpipes sounding a retreat, and, to his great delight, perceived the Scots receding from the moor. Wightman, in his dispatch, could not conceal his agreeable astonishment. "If they had had either conduct or courage, they might have entirely destroyed my body of foot." "If they had thrown down stones," says Sir Walter Scott, "they might have disordered Argyll's troops."

But Mar, who proposed to retreat at the very commencement of the battle, was not the man to retrieve all by one last energetic effort. He was contented to draw off, and yet boast of victory. his preachers celebrated this singular victory, in which his left wing was routed, and his remaining force had retired from the field, by sermons and thanks-givings; and the English, on their part, returned the compliment by a sermon, in which the minister took for his text Revelation xvii. 11, as particularly applicable to the pretender, called James VIII. of Scotland—"And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."

Argyll showed a more solid claim to the victory by remaining on the field, by the capture of four pieces of cannon, thirteen stand of colours, and three standards, including the royal one, called"the restoration," and by the greater execution done on his opponents. The Scots had seven hundred men killed, and two hundred taken prisoners. Amongst the slain was the young earl of Strathmore, who was taken and butchered by a dragoon; amongst the prisoners was the lord Strathallan. A good many officers taken during the battle were rescued before its close, as the earl of Panmure and Mr. Robertson, of Strowan. The duke lost two hundred killed; he had as many wounded, and a good many taken, amongst whom were the earl of Forfar and colonel Lawrence.

Besides the inefficiency of Mar, it is true that there was a good deal of disaffection in his army. The master of Sinclair, who has left his account of this event, avows that lord Huntly, himself, and others were desirous, before the battle, of coming to terms with Argyll. It is also well known that, soon after, Sinclair and lord Rollo secretly offered to go over with the whole Fife squadron. Huntly, though he did not lay down his arras before the battle, did worse, for he speedily quitted his post in it; and lord Seaforth's men actually ran off. The afterwards famous Rob Roy, when desired to advance, coolly replied, "If they cannot do without me, they shall not do with me," and so walked away, as