Page:Sketches of the History of the Church of Scotland.djvu/26

 hours, and employed himself in that duty. This I affirm," continues the biographer, "on the testimony of those who lived in his neighbourhood in Edinburgh, where his duties as Privy Counsellor often obliged him to be; and particularly from a Presbyterian lady who lived long in the same house where he resided, and who was otherwise so rigid in her opinions, that she could not believe a good thing of any person of his persuasion, till his conduct obliged her to rectify her mistake. Dundee kept up the same pious custom in the army; and though somewhat warm upon occasions in his temper, yet at a time when profane swearing was common among the upper classes of society, Dundee was never heard to swear. It is a remarkable confirmation of this fact, that a Presbyterian historian of the period, who records the oaths of the Cavaliers, the Lairds of Westraw, Lagg, and others, with peculiar gusto, as if rolling them under his tongue, never ventures to put a profane oath into the mouth of Claverhouse. It ought not to be forgotten, too, that while the unfortunate King brought his power and influence to bear with success in perverting many of his Courtiers and Officers to the Roman Catholic Religion which he had himself embraced, he entirely failed with Lord Dundee, whom he repeatedly tried to win over to the Roman Communion Dundee replied that his life and goods were his King's, but that his religion was a matter between himself and his God."

The same writer sums up the character of Lord Dundee by saying, "He was formed by Heaven for great undertakings, and was in an eminent degree possessed of those qualities that form the accomplished gentleman, the upright statesman, and the gallant soldier. In his private life he was rather parsimonious than profuse; but in the king's service he was liberal and generous to all but himself, and freely spent his own money in buying provisions for his army. In days notorious for profligacy, there was no stain on Dundee's moral conduct. In an age infamous for the almost universal treachery of its public men, his fidelity was pure and inviolate. His worst enemies have never denied him the possession of the most undaunted courage, and military genius of the highest order."

Dundee is so largely mixed up with the religious and political commotions of the period, that I have been tempted to devote a larger space than I intended to the rescuing of his character from the persistent abuse which has hitherto blackened it. But I close my remarks with this eloquent tribute to his name and fame: "He was generous, brave, and gentle; a Cavalier sans peur et sans reproche; and as long as the summer sun shall pour his evening ray through the dancing leaves of the birch and the copsewood, down to the dark pools where the brown waters of the Garry whirl in deep eddies round the foot of Ben Vrackie, so long will every generous and noble heart swell at the recollection of him whose spirit fled with the sun's fading beam, as he set on the last victory of' Ian dhu nan Cath 'the 'Dark