Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/316

 Edinburgh (ib. p. 621). As excommunication by the kirk then meant expulsion from all human society, the Earl of Gowrie was on 26 June summoned before the presbytery of Edinburgh for having received Montgomerie into his house (ib. p. 622). Notwithstanding also that on 25 July proclamation was made at the cross of Edinburgh in the king's name declaring the excommunication null and void, he was expelled from the town of Edinburgh, where he had shown himself publicly in the streets. As he was removed out of the town the people waited for him, 'craftsmen with batons, wives and boys with stones and rotten eggs. If he had not been conveyed by the provost down the Kirk Wynd, he had barely escaped danger of his life' (ib. p. 634). The incident so tickled the fancy of the king that 'he lay down on the Inch of Perth not able to contain himself for laughter.' Soon afterwards occurred the raid of Ruthven, which was followed on 12 Sept. by a proclamation by the king virtually resiling from all further opposition to the assembly. Montgomerie consequently on 13 Nov. presented a supplication to the presbytery of Edinburgh containing a confession of his offences and a suit to be restored, but was directed to make his suit to the general assembly (ib. p. 691). On 22 May 1584 his excommunication was declared by parliament to be null and void, but on 7 Dec. 1685 the king promised that he should be produced for trial before the first general assembly he should appoint (the king's interpretation of his acts of parliament set forth in May 1584, ib. iv. 469-63). Finally in 1587 Montgomerie, finding the bishopric to be of no pecuniary value to him, resigned it, and the assembly on certain conditions agreed to 'dispense with' him 'in some ceremonies used in repentance' (ib. p. 631). On his supplication the assembly in 1588 further decided that he might be admitted pastor over a flock, provided he was 'found qualified in life and doctrine' (ib. p. 670). He was accordingly in the same year settled at Symington, Ayrshire, whence in 1589 he was transferred to Ayr. He died after 25 March 1609. By his wife Beatrice Jameson he had a son Robert, who after the appointment of his father to the bishopric of Glasgow obtained from the king the stipend of the kirk of Stirling until the grant was revoked on 1 Nov. 1583 (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 606).  MONTGOMERIE, ROBERT (d. 1684), parliamentary and afterwards royalist officer, was the fifth son of Alexander, sixth earl of Eglinton [q. v.], by Lady Anna Livingstone, daughter of Alexander, first earl of Linlithgow [q,v.] He was educated at the university of Glasgow, where he was enrolled a student March 1637. He fought under his father at the battle of Marston Moor, 2 July 1644, and was severely wounded in the arm (, Letters and Journals, ii. 204). In 1646 he held, under Middleton, the command of a regiment of dragoons in the north of Scotland, with which on 3 Jan. 1646 he entered the city of Aberdeen (Burgh Records of Aberdeen, 1643-1747, p. 60). He was opposed to the expedition under the Duke of Hamilton in 1648 for the relief of the king, and after the defeat of Hamilton at Preston on 17 Aug. became known he gathered a body of western covenanters, with which he routed a number of horse under the Earl of Lanark, quartered in Ayrshire. This procedure led the committee of estates to call out the fencible men ; but their action was anticipated by the march to Edinburgh of the western whigamores under Montgomerie's father, the Earl of Eglinton [see or, sixth ]. After the arrival of Cromwell in Edinburgh, Montgomerie, in 1648, set out for London, carrying a letter from Cromwell (No. lxxviii. in Cromwell), recommending him, 'as one of the most active against the late invaders of England,' to have an order for two thousand of the Scottish prisoners taken at Preston. Montgomerie's purpose was to sell them to the king of Spain for service in the Low Countries ; but negotiations, both with Spain and France, proved abortive.

After the recall of Charles II Montgomerie took a prominent part in the contest against Cromwell. On 29 July 1650 (Letter by Cromwell, No. lxxxv., ib.) he attacked Cromwell's forces in the early morning near Musselburgh, beat in his guards, and 'put a regiment of horse in some disorder,' but failed in his attempt to surprise them, and was forced to retreat towards Edinburgh. Cromwell asserted that, so far as he had heard, his own loss was 'only a cornet and four men;' but Sir James Balfour represents the Cromwellian loss as very severe (Annals, iv. 87). Montgomerie fought at the battle of Dunbar on 3 Sept. After the battle he retired with the other troops under Leslie beyond the Forth. When Charles, in October, suddenly left Perth to join the northern loyalists, Montgomerie was in the neighbourhood of Forfar, in command of two regiments