Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 10.djvu/380

372 one of his battalions revoked to the prince, under the conduct only of a corporal, whose name was Kemp. However, Douglas assured the king, that this defection happened against his will; and yet, when the officers were ready to fire upon the deserters, his compassion was such, that he would not permit them.

After this, the earl of Dunbarton, and the lord Dundee, with all the officers who adhered to the king, were ordered to meet his majesty at Uxbridge, where he designed to fight the prince: the earl of Feversham got thither before the king and the army arrived. When the forces drew together, every party sent an officer to the earl of Feversham, to receive his commands. I attended his lordship for my lord Dundee, and was ordered, with the rest, to wait till the king came to dinner, his majesty being expected within half an hour; but it fell out otherwise; for the earl, to his great surprise, received a letter from the king, signifying that his majesty was gone off, and had no farther service for the army. When I carried this news to my lord Dundee, neither his lordship, nor the lords Linlithgow and Dunmore, could forbear falling into tears: after which, being at a loss what course to take, I said to my lord Dundee, that as he had brought us out of Scotland, he should convey us thither back again in a body; adding, that the forces might lie that night at Watford, six miles off: my advice was followed, and I went before to get billets, where to quarter the men. My lord Dundee ordered all to be ready at sound of trumpet, and to unbridle their horses no longer than while they were eating their oats. The townsmen contrived to give out a report, before day, that the prince of Orange was