The celebrated Sir Henry Vane, one of the commissioners who negotiated
the alliance betwixt England and Scotland, saw the influence which this
bait had upon the spirits of those with whom he dealt; and although
himself a violent Independent, he contrived at once to gratify and
to elude the eager desires of the Presbyterians, by qualifying the
obligation to reform the Church of England, as a change to be executed
"according to the word of God, and the best reformed churches." Deceived
by their own eagerness, themselves entertaining no doubts on the JUS
DIVINUM of their own ecclesiastical establishments, and not holding
it possible such doubts could be adopted by others, the Convention
of Estates and the Kirk of Scotland conceived, that such expressions
necessarily inferred the establishment of Presbytery; nor were they
undeceived, until, when their help was no longer needful, the sectaries
gave them to understand, that the phrase might be as well applied to
Independency, or any other mode of worship, which those who were at the
head of affairs at the time might consider as agreeable "to the word
of God, and the practice of the reformed churches." Neither were the
outwitted Scottish less astonished to find, that the designs of the
English sectaries struck against the monarchial constitution of Britain,
it having been their intention to reduce the power of the King, but by
no means to abrogate the office. They fared, however, in this respect,
like rash physicians, who commence by over-physicking a patient, until
he is reduced to a state of weakness, from which cordials are afterwards
unable to recover him.

But these events were still in the womb of futurity. As yet the Scottish
Parliament held their engagement with England consistent with justice,
prudence, and piety, and their military undertaking seemed to succeed to
their very wish. The junction of the Scottish army with those of Fairfax
and Manchester, enabled the Parliamentary forces to besiege York, and to
fight the desperate action of Long-Marston Moor, in which Prince Rupert
and the Marquis of Newcastle were defeated. The Scottish auxiliaries,
indeed, had less of the glory of this victory than their countrymen
could desire. David Leslie, with their cavalry, fought bravely, and to
them, as well as to Cromwell's brigade of Independents, the honour of
the day belonged; but the old Earl of Leven, the covenanting general,
was driven out of the field by the impetuous charge of Prince Rupert,
and was thirty miles distant, in full flight towards Scotland, when he
was overtaken by the news that his party had gained a complete victory.

The absence of these auxiliary troops, upon this crusade for the
establishment of Presbyterianism in England, had considerably diminished
the power of the Convention of Estates in Scotland, and had given rise
to those agitations among the anti-covenanters, which we have noticed at
the beginning of this chapter.



CHAPTER II.

     His mother could for him as cradle set
     Her husband's rusty iron corselet;
     Whose jangling sound could hush her babe to rest,
     That never plain'd of his uneasy nest;
     Then did he dream of dreary wars at hand,
     And woke, and fought, and won, ere he could stand.--HALL'S SATIRES

It was towards the close of a summer's evening, during the anxious
period which we have commemorated, that a young gentleman of quality,
well mounted and armed, and accompanied by two servants, one of whom led
a sumpter horse, rode slowly up one of those steep passes, by which the
Highlands are accessible from the Lowlands of Perthshire. [The beautiful
pass of Leny, near Callander, in Monteith, would, in some respects,
answer this description.] Their course had lain for some time along the
banks of a lake, whose deep waters reflected the crimson beams of the
western sun. The broken path which they pursued with some difficulty,
was in some places shaded by ancient birches and oak-trees, and in
others overhung by fragments of huge rock. Elsewhere, the hill, which
formed the northern side of this beautiful sheet of water, arose in
steep, but less precipitous acclivity, and was arrayed in heath of the
darkest purple. In the present times, a scene so romantic would have
been judged to possess the highest charms for the traveller; but
those who journey in days of doubt and dread, pay little attention to
picturesque scenery.

The master kept, as often as the wood permitted, abreast of one or both
of his domestics, and seemed earnestly to converse with them, probably
because the distinctions of rank are readily set aside among those who
are made to be sharers of common danger. The dispositions of the leading
men who inhabit this wild country, and the probability of their taking
part in the political convulsions that were soon expected, were the
subjects of their conversation.

They had not advanced above half way up the lake, and the young
gentleman was pointing to his attendants the spot where their intended
road turned northwards, and, leaving the verge of the loch, ascended a
ravine to the right hand, when they discovered a single horseman coming
down the shore, as if to meet them. The gleam of the sunbeams upon his
head-piece and corslet showed that he was in armour, and the purpose of
the other travellers required that he should not pass unquestioned.
"We must know who he is," said the young gentleman, "and whither he is
going." And putting spurs to his horse, he rode forward as fast as the
rugged state of the road would permit, followed by his two attendants,
until he reached the point where the pass along the side of the lake
was intersected by that which descended from the ravine, securing thus
against the possibility of the stranger eluding them, by turning into
the latter road before they came up with him.

The single horseman had mended his pace, when he first observed the
three riders advance rapidly towards him; but when he saw them halt and
form a front, which completely occupied the path, he checked his
horse, and advanced with great deliberation; so that each party had an
opportunity to take a full survey of the other. The solitary stranger
was mounted upon an able horse, fit for military service, and for
the great weight which he had to carry, and his rider occupied his
demipique, or war-saddle, with an air that showed it was his familiar
seat. He had a bright burnished head-piece, with a plume of feathers,
together with a cuirass, thick enough to resist a musket-ball, and a
back-piece of lighter materials. These defensive arms he wore over a
buff jerkin, along with a pair of gauntlets, or steel gloves, the
tops of which reached up to his elbow, and which, like the rest of his
armour, were of bright steel. At the front of his military saddle hung
a case of pistols, far beyond the ordinary size, nearly two feet in
length, and carrying bullets of twenty to the pound. A buff belt, with a
broad silver buckle, sustained on one side a long straight double-edged
broadsword, with a strong guard, and a blade calculated either to strike
or push. On the right side hung a dagger of about eighteen inches
in length; a shoulder-belt sustained at his back a musketoon or
blunderbuss, and was crossed by a bandelier containing his charges of
ammunition. Thigh-pieces of steel, then termed taslets, met the tops of
his huge jack-boots, and completed the equipage of a well-armed trooper
of the period.

The appearance of the horseman himself corresponded well with his
military equipage, to which he had the air of having been long inured.
He was above the middle size, and of strength sufficient to bear with
ease the weight of his weapons, offensive and defensive. His age
might be forty and upwards, and his countenance was that of a resolute
weather-beaten veteran, who had seen many fields, and brought away
in token more than one scar. At the distance of about thirty yards
he halted and stood fast, raised himself on his stirrups, as if to
reconnoitre and ascertain the purpose of the opposite party, and brought
his musketoon under his right arm, ready for use, if occasion should
require it. In everything but numbers, he had the advantage of those who
seemed inclined to interrupt his passage.

The leader of the party was, indeed, well mounted and clad in a buff
coat, richly embroidered, the half-military dress of the period; but his
domestics had only coarse jackets of thick felt, which could scarce be
expected to turn the edge of a sword, if wielded by a strong man; and
none of them had any weapons, save swords and pistols, without which
gentlemen, or their attendants, during those disturbed times, seldom
stirred abroad.

When they had stood at gaze for about a minute, the younger gentleman
gave the challenge which was then common in the mouth of all strangers
who met in such circumstances--"For whom are you?"

"Tell me first," answered the soldier, "for whom are you?--the strongest
party should speak first."

"We are for God and King Charles," answered the first speaker.--"Now
tell your faction, you know ours."

"I am for God and my standard," answered the single horseman.

"And for which standard?" replied the chief of the other
party--"Cavalier or Roundhead, King or Convention?"

"By my troth, sir," answered the soldier, "I would be loath to reply to
you with an untruth, as a thing unbecoming a cavalier of fortune and
a soldier. But to answer your query with beseeming veracity, it
is necessary I should myself have resolved to whilk of the present
divisions of the kingdom I shall ultimately adhere, being a matter
whereon my mind is not as yet preceesely ascertained."

"I should have thought," answered the gentleman, "that, when loyalty and
religion are at stake, no gentleman or man of honour could be long in
choosing his party."

"Truly, sir," replied the trooper, "if ye speak this in the way of
vituperation, as meaning to impugn my honour or genteelity, I would
blithely put the same to issue, venturing in that quarrel with my single
person against you three. But if you speak it in the way of logical
ratiocination, whilk I have studied in my youth at the Mareschal-College
of Aberdeen, I am ready to prove to ye LOGICE, that my resolution
to defer, for a certain season, the taking upon me either of these
quarrels, not only becometh me as a gentleman and a man of honour, but
also as a person of sense and prudence, one imbued with humane letters
in his early youth, and who, from thenceforward, has followed the wars
under the banner of the invincible Gustavus, the Lion of the North, and
under many other heroic leaders, both Lutheran and Calvinist, Papist and
Arminian."

After exchanging a word or two with his domestics, the younger gentleman
replied, "I should be glad, sir, to have some conversation with you upon
so interesting a question, and should be proud if I can determine you
in favour of the cause I have myself espoused. I ride this evening to
a friend's house not three miles distant, whither, if you choose to
accompany me, you shall have good quarters for the night, and free
permission to take your own road in the morning, if you then feel no
inclination to join with us."

"Whose word am I to take for this?" answered the cautious soldier--"A
man must know his guarantee, or he may fall into an ambuscade."

"I am called," answered the younger stranger, "the Earl of Menteith,
and, I trust, you will receive my honour as a sufficient security."

"A worthy nobleman," answered the soldier, "whose parole is not to be
doubted." With one motion he replaced his musketoon at his back,
and with another made his military salute to the young nobleman, and
continuing to talk as he rode forward to join him--"And, I trust," said
he, "my own assurance, that I will be BON CAMARADO to your lordship in
peace or in peril, during the time we shall abide together, will not
be altogether vilipended in these doubtful times, when, as they say, a
man's head is safer in a steel-cap than in a marble palace."

"I assure you, sir," said Lord Menteith, "that to judge from your
appearance, I most highly value the advantage of your escort; but, I
trust, we shall have no occasion for any exercise of valour, as I expect
to conduct you to good and friendly quarters."

"Good quarters, my lord," replied the soldier, "are always acceptable,
and are only to be postponed to good pay or good booty,--not to mention
the honour of a cavalier, or the needful points of commanded duty. And
truly, my lord, your noble proffer is not the less welcome, in that I
knew not preceesely this night where I and my poor companion" (patting
his horse), "were to find lodgments."

"May I be permitted to ask, then," said Lord Menteith, "to whom I have
the good fortune to stand quarter-master?"

"Truly, my lord," said the trooper, "my name is Dalgetty--Dugald
Dalgetty, Ritt-master Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket, at your
honourable service to command. It is a name you may have seen in GALLO
BELGICUS, the SWEDISH INTELLIGENCER, or, if you read High Dutch, in the
FLIEGENDEN MERCOEUR of Leipsic. My father, my lord, having by unthrifty
courses reduced a fair patrimony to a nonentity, I had no better shift,
when I was eighteen years auld, than to carry the learning whilk I
had acquired at the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, my gentle bluid and
designation of Drumthwacket, together with a pair of stalwarth arms, and
legs conform, to the German wars, there to push my way as a cavalier of
fortune. My lord, my legs and arms stood me in more stead than either
my gentle kin or my book-lear, and I found myself trailing a pike as
a private gentleman under old Sir Ludovick Leslie, where I learned the
rules of service so tightly, that I will not forget them in a hurry.
Sir, I have been made to stand guard eight hours, being from twelve at
noon to eight o'clock of the night, at the palace, armed with back and
breast, head-piece and bracelets, being iron to the teeth, in a bitter
frost, and the ice was as hard as ever was flint; and all for stopping
an instant to speak to my landlady, when I should have gone to
roll-call."

"And, doubtless, sir," replied Lord Menteith, "you have gone through
some hot service, as well as this same cold duty you talk of?"

"Surely, my lord, it doth not become me to speak; but he that hath seen
the fields of Leipsic and of Lutzen, may be said to have seen pitched
battles. And one who hath witnessed the intaking of Frankfort, and
Spanheim, and Nuremberg, and so forth, should know somewhat about
leaguers, storms, onslaughts and outfalls."

"But your merit, sir, and experience, were doubtless followed by
promotion?"

"It came slow, my lord, dooms slow," replied Dalgetty; "but as my
Scottish countrymen, the fathers of the war, and the raisers of those
valorous Scottish regiments that were the dread of Germany, began to
fall pretty thick, what with pestilence and what with the sword, why
we, their children, succeeded to their inheritance. Sir, I was six years
first private gentleman of the company, and three years lance speisade;
disdaining to receive a halberd, as unbecoming my birth. Wherefore I
was ultimately promoted to be a fahndragger, as the High Dutch call
it (which signifies an ancient), in the King's Leif Regiment of
Black-Horse, and thereafter I arose to be lieutenant and ritt-master,
under that invincible monarch, the bulwark of the Protestant faith, the
Lion of the North, the terror of Austria, Gustavus the Victorious."

"And yet, if I understand you, Captain Dalgetty,--I think that rank
corresponds with your foreign title of ritt-master--"

"The same grade preceesely," answered Dalgetty; "ritt-master signifying
literally file-leader."

"I was observing," continued Lord Menteith, "that, if I understood you
right, you had left the service of this great Prince."

"It was after his death--it was after his death, sir," said Dalgetty,
"when I was in no shape bound to continue mine adherence. There are
things, my lord, in that service, that cannot but go against the stomach
of any cavalier of honour. In especial, albeit the pay be none of
the most superabundant, being only about sixty dollars a-month to a
ritt-master, yet the invincible Gustavus never paid above one-third of
that sum, whilk was distributed monthly by way of loan; although, when
justly considered, it was, in fact, a borrowing by that great monarch of
the additional two-thirds which were due to the soldier. And I have seen
some whole regiments of Dutch and Holsteiners mutiny on the field of
battle, like base scullions, crying out Gelt, gelt, signifying their
desire of pay, instead of falling to blows like our noble Scottish
blades, who ever disdained, my lord, postponing of honour to filthy
lucre."

"But were not these arrears," said Lord Menteith, "paid to the soldiery
at some stated period?"

"My lord," said Dalgetty, "I take it on my conscience, that at no
period, and by no possible process, could one creutzer of them ever be
recovered. I myself never saw twenty dollars of my own all the time I
served the invincible Gustavus, unless it was from the chance of a storm
or victory, or the fetching in some town or doorp, when a cavalier of
fortune, who knows the usage of wars, seldom faileth to make some small
profit."

"I begin rather to wonder, sir," said Lord Menteith, "that you should
have continued so long in the Swedish service, than that you should have
ultimately withdrawn from it."

"Neither I should," answered the Ritt-master; "but that great leader,
captain, and king, the Lion of the North, and the bulwark of the
Protestant faith, had a way of winning battles, taking towns,
over-running countries, and levying contributions, whilk made his
service irresistibly delectable to all true-bred cavaliers who follow
the noble profession of arms. Simple as I ride here, my lord, I have
myself commanded the whole stift of Dunklespiel on the Lower Rhine,
occupying the Palsgrave's palace, consuming his choice wines with my
comrades, calling in contributions, requisitions, and caduacs, and not
failing to lick my fingers, as became a good cook. But truly all this
glory hastened to decay, after our great master had been shot with three
bullets on the field of Lutzen; wherefore, finding that Fortune had
changed sides, that the borrowings and lendings went on as before out of
our pay, while the caduacs and casualties were all cut off, I e'en gave
up my commission, and took service with Wallenstein, in Walter Butler's
Irish regiment."

"And may I beg to know of you," said Lord Menteith, apparently
interested in the adventures of this soldier of fortune, "how you liked
this change of masters?"

"Indifferent well," said the Captain--"very indifferent well. I cannot
say that the Emperor paid much better than the great Gustavus. For
hard knocks, we had plenty of them. I was often obliged to run my head
against my old acquaintances, the Swedish feathers, whilk your honour
must conceive to be double-pointed stakes, shod with iron at each
end, and planted before the squad of pikes to prevent an onfall of the
cavalry. The whilk Swedish feathers, although they look gay to the eye,
resembling the shrubs or lesser trees of ane forest, as the puissant
pikes, arranged in battalia behind them, correspond to the tall pines
thereof, yet, nevertheless, are not altogether so soft to encounter as
the plumage of a goose. Howbeit, in despite of heavy blows and light
pay, a cavalier of fortune may thrive indifferently well in the Imperial
service, in respect his private casualties are nothing so closely looked
to as by the Swede; and so that an officer did his duty on the field,
neither Wallenstein nor Pappenheim, nor old Tilly before them, would
likely listen to the objurgations of boors or burghers against any
commander or soldado, by whom they chanced to be somewhat closely shorn.
So that an experienced cavalier, knowing how to lay, as our Scottish
phrase runs, 'the head of the sow to the tail of the grice,' might get
out of the country the pay whilk he could not obtain from the Emperor."

"With a full hand, sir, doubtless, and with interest," said Lord
Menteith.

"Indubitably, my lord," answered Dalgetty, composedly; "for it would be
doubly disgraceful for any soldado of rank to have his name called in
question for any petty delinquency."

"And pray, Sir," continued Lord Menteith, "what made you leave so
gainful a service?"

"Why, truly, sir," answered the soldier, "an Irish cavalier, called
O'Quilligan, being major of our regiment, and I having had words with
him the night before, respecting the worth and precedence of our several
nations, it pleased him the next day to deliver his orders to me with
the point of his batoon advanced and held aloof, instead of declining
and trailing the same, as is the fashion from a courteous commanding
officer towards his equal in rank, though, it may be, his inferior in
military grade. Upon this quarrel, sir, we fought in private rencontre;
and as, in the perquisitions which followed, it pleased Walter
Butler, our oberst, or colonel, to give the lighter punishment to
his countryman, and the heavier to me, whereupon, ill-stomaching such
partiality, I exchanged my commission for one under the Spaniard."

"I hope you found yourself better off by the change?" said Lord
Menteith.

"In good sooth," answered the Ritt-master, "I had but little to complain
of. The pay was somewhat regular, being furnished by the rich Flemings
and Waloons of the Low Country. The quarters were excellent; the good
wheaten loaves of the Flemings were better than the Provant rye-bread of
the Swede, and Rhenish wine was more plenty with us than ever I saw the
black-beer of Rostock in Gustavus's camp. Service there was none, duty
there was little; and that little we might do, or leave undone, at our
pleasure; an excellent retirement for a cavalier somewhat weary of field
and leaguer, who had purchased with his blood as much honour as might
serve his turn, and was desirous of a little ease and good living."

"And may I ask," said Lord Menteith, "why you, Captain, being, as I
suppose, in the situation you describe, retired from the Spanish service
also?"

"You are to consider, my lord, that your Spaniard," replied Captain
Dalgetty, "is a person altogether unparalleled in his own conceit,
where-through he maketh not fit account of such foreign cavaliers of
valour as are pleased to take service with him. And a galling thing
it is to every honourable soldado, to be put aside, and postponed, and
obliged to yield preference to every puffing signor, who, were it the
question which should first mount a breach at push of pike, might be
apt to yield willing place to a Scottish cavalier. Moreover, sir, I was
pricked in conscience respecting a matter of religion."

"I should not have thought, Captain Dalgetty," said the young nobleman,
"that an old soldier, who had changed service so often, would have been
too scrupulous on that head."

"No more I am, my lord," said the Captain, "since I hold it to be the
duty of the chaplain of the regiment to settle those matters for me, and
every other brave cavalier, inasmuch as he does nothing else that I know
of for his pay and allowances. But this was a particular case, my lord,
a CASUS IMPROVISUS, as I may say, in whilk I had no chaplain of my own
persuasion to act as my adviser. I found, in short, that although my
being a Protestant might be winked at, in respect that I was a man of
action, and had more experience than all the Dons in our TERTIA put
together, yet, when in garrison, it was expected I should go to mass
with the regiment. Now, my lord, as a true Scottish man, and educated at
the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, I was bound to uphold the mass to be
an act of blinded papistry and utter idolatry, whilk I was altogether
unwilling to homologate by my presence. True it is, that I consulted on
the point with a worthy countryman of my own, one Father Fatsides, of
the Scottish Covenant in Wurtzburg--"

"And I hope," observed Lord Menteith, "you obtained a clear opinion from
this same ghostly father?"

"As clear as it could be," replied Captain Dalgetty, "considering we had
drunk six flasks of Rhenish, and about two mutchkins of Kirchenwasser.
Father Fatsides informed me, that, as nearly as he could judge for a
heretic like myself, it signified not much whether I went to mass or
not, seeing my eternal perdition was signed and sealed at any rate,
in respect of my impenitent and obdurate perseverance in my damnable
heresy. Being discouraged by this response, I applied to a Dutch pastor
of the reformed church, who told me, he thought I might lawfully go
to mass, in respect that the prophet permitted Naaman, a mighty man of
valour, and an honourable cavalier of Syria, to follow his master into
the house of Rimmon, a false god, or idol, to whom he had vowed service,
and to bow down when the king was leaning upon his hand. But neither
was this answer satisfactory to me, both because there was an unco
difference between an anointed King of Syria and our Spanish colonel,
whom I could have blown away like the peeling of an ingan, and chiefly
because I could not find the thing was required of me by any of the
articles of war; neither was I proffered any consideration, either in
perquisite or pay, for the wrong I might thereby do to my conscience."

"So you again changed your service?" said Lord Menteith.

"In troth did I, my lord; and after trying for a short while two
or three other powers, I even took on for a time with their High
Mightinesses the States of Holland."

"And how did their service jump with your humour?" again demanded his
companion.

"O! my lord," said the soldier, in a sort of enthusiasm, "their
behaviour on pay-day might be a pattern to all Europe--no borrowings, no
lendings, no offsets no arrears--all balanced and paid like a
banker's book. The quarters, too, are excellent, and the allowances
unchallengeable; but then, sir, they are a preceese, scrupulous people,
and will allow nothing for peccadilloes. So that if a boor complains of
a broken head, or a beer-seller of a broken can, or a daft wench does
but squeak loud enough to be heard above her breath, a soldier of honour
shall be dragged, not before his own court-martial, who can best judge
of and punish his demerits, but before a base mechanical burgo-master,
who shall menace him with the rasp-house, the cord, and what not, as if
he were one of their own mean, amphibious, twenty-breeched boors. So
not being able to dwell longer among those ungrateful plebeians, who,
although unable to defend themselves by their proper strength, will
nevertheless allow the noble foreign cavalier who engages with them
nothing beyond his dry wages, which no honourable spirit will put
in competition with a liberal license and honourable countenance, I
resolved to leave the service of the Mynheers. And hearing at this time,
to my exceeding satisfaction, that there is something to be doing this
summer in my way in this my dear native country, I am come hither,
as they say, like a beggar to a bridal, in order to give my loving
countrymen the advantage of that experience which I have acquired
in foreign parts. So your lordship has an outline of my brief story,
excepting my deportment in those passages of action in the field, in
leaguers, storms, and onslaughts, whilk would be wearisome to narrate,
and might, peradventure, better befit any other tongue than mine own."



CHAPTER III.

     For pleas of right let statesmen vex their head,
     Battle's my business, and my guerdon bread;
     And, with the sworded Switzer, I can say,
     The best of causes is the best of pay.--DONNE.

The difficulty and narrowness of the road had by this time become such
as to interrupt the conversation of the travellers, and Lord Menteith,
reining back his horse, held a moment's private conversation with his
domestics. The Captain, who now led the van of the party, after about
a quarter of a mile's slow and toilsome advance up a broken and rugged
ascent, emerged into an upland valley, to which a mountain stream acted
as a drain, and afforded sufficient room upon its greensward banks for
the travellers to pursue their journey in a more social manner.

Lord Menteith accordingly resumed the conversation, which had been
interrupted by the difficulties of the way. "I should have thought,"
said he to Captain Dalgetty, "that a cavalier of your honourable mark,
who hath so long followed the valiant King of Sweden, and entertains
such a suitable contempt for the base mechanical States of Holland,
would not have hesitated to embrace the cause of King Charles, in
preference to that of the low-born, roundheaded, canting knaves, who are
in rebellion against his authority?"

"Ye speak reasonably, my lord," said Dalgetty, "and, CAETERIS PARIBUS,
I might be induced to see the matter in the same light. But, my lord,
there is a southern proverb, fine words butter no parsnips. I have heard
enough since I came here, to satisfy me that a cavalier of honour is
free to take any part in this civil embroilment whilk he may find
most convenient for his own peculiar. Loyalty is your pass-word,
my lord--Liberty, roars another chield from the other side of
the strath--the King, shouts one war-cry--the Parliament, roars
another--Montrose, for ever, cries Donald, waving his bonnet--Argyle
and Leven, cries a south-country Saunders, vapouring with his hat
and feather. Fight for the bishops, says a priest, with his gown and
rochet--Stand stout for the Kirk, cries a minister, in a Geneva cap and
band.--Good watchwords all--excellent watchwords. Whilk cause is the
best I cannot say. But sure am I, that I have fought knee-deep in blood
many a day for one that was ten degrees worse than the worst of them
all."

"And pray, Captain Dalgetty," said his lordship, "since the pretensions
of both parties seem to you so equal, will you please to inform us by
what circumstances your preference will be determined?"

"Simply upon two considerations, my lord," answered the soldier.
"Being, first, on which side my services would be in most honourable
request;--And, secondly, whilk is a corollary of the first, by whilk
party they are likely to be most gratefully requited. And, to deal
plainly with you, my lord, my opinion at present doth on both points
rather incline to the side of the Parliament."

"Your reasons, if you please," said Lord Menteith, "and perhaps I may be
able to meet them with some others which are more powerful."

"Sir, I shall be amenable to reason," said Captain Dalgetty, "supposing
it addresses itself to my honour and my interest. Well, then, my lord,
here is a sort of Highland host assembled, or expected to assemble, in
these wild hills, in the King's behalf. Now, sir, you know the nature of
our Highlanders. I will not deny them to be a people stout in body
and valiant in heart, and courageous enough in their own wild way of
fighting, which is as remote from the usages and discipline of war as
ever was that of the ancient Scythians, or of the salvage Indians of
America that now is, They havena sae mickle as a German whistle, or a
drum, to beat a march, an alarm, a charge, a retreat, a reveille, or the
tattoo, or any other point of war; and their damnable skirlin' pipes,
whilk they themselves pretend to understand, are unintelligible to the
ears of any cavaliero accustomed to civilised warfare. So that, were I
undertaking to discipline such a breechless mob, it were impossible for
me to be understood; and if I were understood, judge ye, my lord, what
chance I had of being obeyed among a band of half salvages, who are
accustomed to pay to their own lairds and chiefs, allenarly, that
respect and obedience whilk ought to be paid to commissionate officers.
If I were teaching them to form battalia by extracting the square root,
that is, by forming your square battalion of equal number of men of rank
and file, corresponding to the square root of the full number present,
what return could I expect for communicating this golden secret of
military tactic, except it may be a dirk in my wame, on placing some
M'Alister More M'Shemei or Capperfae, in the flank or rear, when he
claimed to be in the van?--Truly, well saith holy writ, 'if ye cast
pearls before swine, they will turn again and rend ye.'"

"I believe, Anderson," said Lord Menteith, looking back to one of
his servants, for both were close behind him, "you can assure this
gentleman, we shall have more occasion for experienced officers, and be
more disposed to profit by their instructions, than he seems to be aware
of."

"With your honour's permission," said Anderson, respectfully raising his
cap, "when we are joined by the Irish infantry, who are expected, and
who should be landed in the West Highlands before now, we shall have
need of good soldiers to discipline our levies."

"And I should like well--very well, to be employed in such service,"
said Dalgetty; "the Irish are pretty fellows--very pretty fellows--I
desire to see none better in the field. I once saw a brigade of Irish,
at the taking of Frankfort upon the Oder, stand to it with sword and
pike until they beat off the blue and yellow Swedish brigades, esteemed
as stout as any that fought under the immortal Gustavus. And although
stout Hepburn, valiant Lumsdale, courageous Monroe, with myself and
other cavaliers, made entry elsewhere at point of pike, yet, had we all
met with such opposition, we had returned with great loss and little
profit. Wherefore these valiant Irishes, being all put to the sword,
as is usual in such cases, did nevertheless gain immortal praise and
honour; so that, for their sakes, I have always loved and honoured those
of that nation next to my own country of Scotland."

"A command of Irish," said Menteith, "I think I could almost promise
you, should you be disposed to embrace the royal cause."

"And yet," said Captain Dalgetty, "my second and greatest difficulty
remains behind; for, although I hold it a mean and sordid thing for a
soldado to have nothing in his mouth but pay and gelt, like the base
cullions, the German lanz-knechts, whom I mentioned before; and although
I will maintain it with my sword, that honour is to be preferred before
pay, free quarters, and arrears, yet, EX CONTRARIO, a soldier's pay
being the counterpart of his engagement of service, it becomes a wise
and considerate cavalier to consider what remuneration he is to receive
for his service, and from what funds it is to be paid. And truly,
my lord, from what I can see and hear, the Convention are the
purse-masters. The Highlanders, indeed, may be kept in humour, by
allowing them to steal cattle; and for the Irishes, your lordship and
your noble associates may, according to the practice of the wars in
such cases, pay them as seldom or as little as may suit your pleasure or
convenience; but the same mode of treatment doth not apply to a cavalier
like me, who must keep up his horses, servants, arms, and equipage, and
who neither can, nor will, go to warfare upon his own charges."

Anderson, the domestic who had before spoken now respectfully addressed
his master.--"I think, my lord," he said, "that, under your lordship's
favour, I could say something to remove Captain Dalgetty's second
objection also. He asks us where we are to collect our pay; now, in my
poor mind, the resources are as open to us as to the Covenanters. They
tax the country according to their pleasure, and dilapidate the estates
of the King's friends; now, were we once in the Lowlands, with our
Highlanders and our Irish at our backs, and our swords in our hands,
we can find many a fat traitor, whose ill-gotten wealth shall fill our
military chest and satisfy our soldiery. Besides, confiscations will
fall in thick; and, in giving donations of forfeited lands to every
adventurous cavalier who joins his standard, the King will at once
reward his friends and punish his enemies. In short, he that joins these
Roundhead dogs may get some miserable pittance of pay--he that joins our
standard has a chance to be knight, lord, or earl, if luck serve him."

"Have you ever served, my good friend?" said the Captain to the
spokesman.

"A little, sir, in these our domestic quarrels," answered the man,
modestly.

"But never in Germany or the Low Countries?" said Dalgetty.

"I never had the honour," answered Anderson.

"I profess," said Dalgetty, addressing Lord Menteith, "your lordship's
servant has a sensible, natural, pretty idea of military matters;
somewhat irregular, though, and smells a little too much of selling the
bear's skin before he has hunted him.--I will take the matter, however,
into my consideration."

"Do so, Captain," said Lord Menteith; "you will have the night to think
of it, for we are now near the house, where I hope to ensure you a
hospitable reception."

"And that is what will be very welcome," said the Captain, "for I have
tasted no food since daybreak but a farl of oatcake, which I divided
with my horse. So I have been fain to draw my sword-belt three bores
tighter for very extenuation, lest hunger and heavy iron should make the
gird slip."



CHAPTER IV.

     Once on a time, no matter when,
     Some Glunimies met in a glen;
     As deft and tight as ever wore
     A durk, a targe, and a claymore,
     Short hose, and belted plaid or trews,
     In Uist, Lochaber, Skye, or Lewes,
     Or cover'd hard head with his bonnet;
     Had you but known them, you would own it.--MESTON.

A hill was now before the travellers, covered with an ancient forest
of Scottish firs, the topmost of which, flinging their scathed branches
across the western horizon, gleamed ruddy in the setting sun. In the
centre of this wood rose the towers, or rather the chimneys, of the
house, or castle, as it was called, destined for the end of their
journey.

As usual at that period, one or two high-ridged narrow buildings,
intersecting and crossing each other, formed the CORPS DE LOGIS. A
protecting bartizan or two, with the addition of small turrets at the
angles, much resembling pepper-boxes, had procured for Darnlinvarach the
dignified appellation of a castle. It was surrounded by a low court-yard
wall, within which were the usual offices.

As the travellers approached more nearly, they discovered marks of
recent additions to the defences of the place, which had been suggested,
doubtless, by the insecurity of those troublesome times. Additional
loop-holes for musketry were struck out in different parts of the
building, and of its surrounding wall. The windows had just been
carefully secured by stancheons of iron, crossing each other athwart and
end-long, like the grates of a prison. The door of the court-yard was
shut; and it was only after cautious challenge that one of its leaves
was opened by two domestics, both strong Highlanders, and both under
arms, like Bitias and Pandarus in the AEneid, ready to defend the
entrance if aught hostile had ventured an intrusion.

When the travellers were admitted into the court, they found additional
preparations for defence. The walls were scaffolded for the use of
fire-arms, and one or two of the small guns, called sackers, or falcons,
were mounted at the angles and flanking turrets.

More domestics, both in the Highland and Lowland dress, instantly rushed
from the anterior of the mansion, and some hastened to take the horses
of the strangers, while others waited to marshal them a way into the
dwelling-house. But Captain Dalgetty refused the proffered assistance
of those who wished to relieve him of the charge of his horse. "It is my
custom, my friends, to see Gustavus (for so I have called him, after
my invincible master) accommodated myself; we are old friends and
fellow-travellers, and as I often need the use of his legs, I always
lend him in my turn the service of my tongue, to call for whatever he
has occasion for;" and accordingly he strode into the stable after his
steed without farther apology.

Neither Lord Menteith nor his attendants paid the same attention to
their horses, but, leaving them to the proffered care of the servants of
the place, walked forward into the house, where a sort of dark vaulted
vestibule displayed, among other miscellaneous articles, a huge barrel
of two-penny ale, beside which were ranged two or three wooden queichs,
or bickers, ready, it would appear, for the service of whoever thought
proper to employ them. Lord Menteith applied himself to the spigot,
drank without ceremony, and then handed the stoup to Anderson, who
followed his master's example, but not until he had flung out the drop
of ale which remained, and slightly rinsed the wooden cup.

"What the deil, man," said an old Highland servant belonging to the
family, "can she no drink after her ain master without washing the cup
and spilling the ale, and be tamned to her!"

"I was bred in France," answered Anderson, "where nobody drinks after
another out of the same cup, unless it be after a young lady."

"The teil's in their nicety!" said Donald; "and if the ale be gude, fat
the waur is't that another man's beard's been in the queich before ye?"

Anderson's companion drank without observing the ceremony which had
given Donald so much offence, and both of them followed their master
into the low-arched stone hall, which was the common rendezvous of a
Highland family. A large fire of peats in the huge chimney at the upper
end shed a dim light through the apartment, and was rendered necessary
by the damp, by which, even during the summer, the apartment was
rendered uncomfortable. Twenty or thirty targets, as many claymores,
with dirks, and plaids, and guns, both match-lock and fire-lock, and
long-bows, and cross-bows, and Lochaber axes, and coats of plate armour,
and steel bonnets, and headpieces, and the more ancient haborgeons, or
shirts of reticulated mail, with hood and sleeves corresponding to it,
all hung in confusion about the walls, and would have formed a month's
amusement to a member of a modern antiquarian society. But such things
were too familiar, to attract much observation on the part of the
present spectators.

There was a large clumsy oaken table, which the hasty hospitality of the
domestic who had before spoken, immediately spread with milk, butter,
goat-milk cheese, a flagon of beer, and a flask of usquebae, designed
for the refreshment of Lord Menteith; while an inferior servant made
similar preparations at the bottom of the table for the benefit of his
attendants. The space which intervened between them was, according to
the manners of the times, sufficient distinction between master and
servant, even though the former was, as in the present instance, of high
rank. Meanwhile the guests stood by the fire--the young nobleman under
the chimney, and his servants at some little distance.

"What do you think, Anderson," said the former, "of our
fellow-traveller?"

"A stout fellow," replied Anderson, "if all be good that is upcome.
I wish we had twenty such, to put our Teagues into some sort of
discipline."

"I differ from you, Anderson," said Lord Menteith; "I think this fellow
Dalgetty is one of those horse-leeches, whose appetite for blood being
only sharpened by what he has sucked in foreign countries, he is now
returned to batten upon that of his own. Shame on the pack of these
mercenary swordmen! they have made the name of Scot through all Europe
equivalent to that of a pitiful mercenary, who knows neither honour
nor principle but his month's pay, who transfers his allegiance from
standard to standard, at the pleasure of fortune or the highest bidder;
and to whose insatiable thirst for plunder and warm quarters we owe much
of that civil dissension which is now turning our swords against our own
bowels. I had scarce patience with the hired gladiator, and yet could
hardly help laughing at the extremity of his impudence."

"Your lordship will forgive me," said Anderson, "if I recommend to
you, in the present circumstances, to conceal at least a part of this
generous indignation; we cannot, unfortunately, do our work without the
assistance of those who act on baser motives than our own. We cannot
spare the assistance of such fellows as our friend the soldado. To use
the canting phrase of the saints in the English Parliament, the sons of
Zeruiah are still too many for us."

"I must dissemble, then, as well as I can," said Lord Menteith, "as I
have hitherto done, upon your hint. But I wish the fellow at the devil
with all my heart."

"Ay, but still you must remember, my lord," resumed Anderson, "that
to cure the bite of a scorpion, you must crush another scorpion on the
wound--But stop, we shall be overheard."

From a side-door in the hall glided a Highlander into the apartment,
whose lofty stature and complete equipment, as well as the eagle's
feather in his bonnet, and the confidence of his demeanour, announced to
be a person of superior rank. He walked slowly up to the table, and made
no answer to Lord Menteith, who, addressing him by the name of Allan,
asked him how he did.

"Ye manna speak to her e'en now," whispered the old attendant.

The tall Highlander, sinking down upon the empty settle next the fire,
fixed his eyes upon the red embers and the huge heap of turf, and seemed
buried in profound abstraction. His dark eyes, and wild and enthusiastic
features, bore the air of one who, deeply impressed with his own
subjects of meditation, pays little attention to exterior objects.
An air of gloomy severity, the fruit perhaps of ascetic and solitary
habits, might, in a Lowlander, have been ascribed to religious
fanaticism; but by that disease of the mind, then so common both in
England and the Lowlands of Scotland, the Highlanders of this
period were rarely infected. They had, however, their own peculiar
superstitions, which overclouded the mind with thick-coming fancies, as
completely as the puritanism of their neighbours.

"His lordship's honour," said the Highland servant sideling up to Lord
Menteith, and speaking in a very low tone, "his lordship manna speak to
Allan even now, for the cloud is upon his mind."

Lord Menteith nodded, and took no farther notice of the reserved
mountaineer.

"Said I not," asked the latter, suddenly raising his stately person
upright, and looking at the domestic--"said I not that four were to
come, and here stand but three on the hall floor?"

"In troth did ye say sae, Allan," said the old Highlander, "and here's
the fourth man coming clinking in at the yett e'en now from the stable,
for he's shelled like a partan, wi' airn on back and breast, haunch and
shanks. And am I to set her chair up near the Menteith's, or down wi'
the honest gentlemen at the foot of the table?"

Lord Menteith himself answered the enquiry, by pointing to a seat beside
his own.

"And here she comes," said Donald, as Captain Dalgetty entered the hall;
"and I hope gentlemens will all take bread and cheese, as we say in the
glens, until better meat be ready, until the Tiernach comes back frae
the hill wi' the southern gentlefolk, and then Dugald Cook will show
himself wi' his kid and hill venison."

In the meantime, Captain Dalgetty had entered the apartment, and walking
up to the seat placed next Lord Menteith, was leaning on the back of it
with his arms folded. Anderson and his companion waited at the bottom
of the table, in a respectful attitude, until they should receive
permission to seat themselves; while three or four Highlanders, under
the direction of old Donald, ran hither and thither to bring additional
articles of food, or stood still to give attendance upon the guests.

In the midst of these preparations, Allan suddenly started up, and
snatching a lamp from the hand of an attendant, held it close to
Dalgetty's face, while he perused his features with the most heedful and
grave attention.

"By my honour," said Dalgetty, half displeased, as, mysteriously shaking
his head, Allan gave up the scrutiny--"I trow that lad and I will ken
each other when we meet again."

Meanwhile Allan strode to the bottom of the table, and having, by
the aid of his lamp, subjected Anderson and his companion to the same
investigation, stood a moment as if in deep reflection; then, touching
his forehead, suddenly seized Anderson by the arm, and before he could
offer any effectual resistance, half led and half dragged him to the
vacant seat at the upper end, and having made a mute intimation that
he should there place himself, he hurried the soldado with the same
unceremonious precipitation to the bottom of the table. The Captain,
exceedingly incensed at this freedom, endeavoured to shake Allan from
him with violence; but, powerful as he was, he proved in the struggle
inferior to the gigantic mountaineer, who threw him off with such
violence, that after reeling a few paces, he fell at full length, and
the vaulted hall rang with the clash of his armour. When he arose, his
first action was to draw his sword and to fly at Allan, who, with folded
arms, seemed to await his onset with the most scornful indifference.
Lord Menteith and his attendants interposed to preserve peace, while the
Highlanders, snatching weapons from the wall, seemed prompt to increase
the broil.

"He is mad," whispered Lord Menteith, "he is perfectly mad; there is no
purpose in quarrelling with him."

"If your lordship is assured that he is NON COMPOS MENTIS," said Captain
Dalgetty, "the whilk his breeding and behaviour seem to testify, the
matter must end here, seeing that a madman can neither give an affront,
nor render honourable satisfaction. But, by my saul, if I had my
provstnt and a bottle of Rhenish under my belt, I should hive stood
otherways up to him. And yet it's a pity he should be sae weak in the
intellectuals, being a strong proper man of body, fit to handle pike,
morgenstern, or any other military implement whatsoever." [This was
a sort of club or mace, used in the earlier part of the seventeenth
century in the defence of breaches and walls. When the Germans insulted
a Scotch regiment then besieged in Trailsund, saying they heard there
was a ship come from Denmark to them laden with tobacco pipes, "One of
our soldiers," says Colonel Robert Munro, "showing them over the work a
morgenstern, made of a large stock banded with iron, like the shaft of
a halberd, with a round globe at the end with cross iron pikes, saith,
'Here is one of the tobacco pipes, wherewith we will beat out your
brains when you intend to storm us.'"]