Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/530

516 deceived by the prince's stratagem, and believed the whole army to be marching from Torwood upon them, till, a little before three o'clock, captain Teesdale, of the third regiment of foot, and another officer, climbed a tree, and by the aid of a telescope descried the main army coming in a different direction. Lieutenant-colonel Howard was then dispatched in great haste for Hawley, while the army began to form in a hurry. But Hawley was in no hurry whatever. When the report of the advance of the rebels reached him, he said it was quite right for the men to be ready with their accoutrements, but there was no need to be under arms; and he continued his carouse at his hospitable hostess's. Meantime the officers on the ground were in the utmost anxiety, crying out, "Where is the general? What shall be done? We have no orders!"



At length, when the rebels had come up so near that there was only Falkirk moor betwixt the armies, Hawley, roused by fresh messengers, came galloping up without his hat, and in the utmost confusion. In the middle of this rugged and uneven moor, covered with heath, rose a considerable ridge, and it appeared to be a race betwixt the two enemies which should gain the advantage of the summit. On the one side galloped the English cavalry, on the other sped the Highlanders, straining for this important height; but the fleet-footed Gael won the ground from the English horse, and Hawley's horse halted a little below them. Neither of the armies had any artillery, for the Highlanders had left theirs behind in their rapid advance, and Hawley's had stuck fast; in the bog. So far they were equal; but the prince, by taking a side route, had thrown the wind in the teeth of the English, and a storm of rain began with confounding violence to beat in their faces.



The prince then formed his forces in two lines, his right, commanded by lord George Murray, having under him the Macdonalds, and the left commanded by lord John Drummond, with the Macphersons, the Frazers—for old Lovat had now sent all his men—the Camerons, and the Stuarts. Betwixt them fought the Farquharsons, the Mackenzies, and the Macintoshes. Lord Lewis Gordon and lord Strathallan brought up the second line, in which Charles placed himself on a hill, whence he could survey the whole battle, and still called Charlie's Hill. The English cavalry remained, as it had galloped up, in front, commanded since the death of Gardiner by colonel Ligonier, and the infantry formed, like the Highlanders, in two lines, the right commanded by general Huske, and the left by Hawley. Behind, as a reserve, stood the Glasgow regiment and the Argyll militia. The order being given, the cavalry under Ligonier charged the Macdonalds, who coolly waited till the English horse was within ten yards of them, when they poured such a murderous volley into them, as dropped a frightful number from their saddles, and threw the whole line into confusion. The Frazers immediately poured an equally galling crossfire into the startled line, and the two dragoon regiments which had fled at Coltbridge and Prestonpans waited no longer, but wheeling round, galloped from the field at their