23. THE BATTLE OF KILLIECRANKIE.

[A Convention of the Scottish Estates-a Parliament in all but in name-met at Edinburgh in 1689, and acknowledged William and Mary as King and Queen of Scotland. Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, was at first present at the Convention; but he became alarmed for his safety, remembering how cruelly he had treated the Covenanters, and he fled to the Highlands. There he raised an army on behalf of James. General Mackay was sent against him. They met in the Pass of Killiecrankie, on July 17th 1689. The Lowlanders were routed; but the death of Dundee made the victory of the rebels of no avail.]

(681)

On the heights of Killiecrankie1
Yester-morn our army lay:
Slowly rose the mist in columns
From the river's broken way;
'Hoarsely roared the swollen torrent,
And the pass was wrapped in gloom,
When the clansmen rose together

From their 'lair amidst the broom.
Then we belted on our tartans,

And our bonnets down we drew ;
And we felt our broadswords' edges,
And we proved them to be true;
And we prayed the prayer of soldiers,
And we cried the gathering cry;
And we clasped the hands of kinsmen,
And we swore to do or die!

Then our leader2 rode before us

On his war-horse black as night—

Well the Cameronian3 rebels

Knew that charger in the fight!
And a cry of exultation

From the bearded warriors rose;
For we loved the house of Claver'se,
And we thought of good Montrose.4

But he raised his hand for silence :--
"Soldiers! I have sworn a vow:

6

Ere the evening's sun shall glisten
On Schiehallion's lofty brow,
Either we shall rest in triumph,
Or another of the Græmes
Shall have died in battle-harness

For his country and King James!
Think upon the Royal Martyr¤—
Think of what his race 'endure-
Think on him whom butchers murdered
On the field of Magus Moor:7
By his sacred blood I charge ye—
By the ruined hearth and shrine—
By the blighted hopes of Scotland—
By your injuries and mine-
Strike this day as if the anvil
Lay beneath your blows the while,
Be they Covenanting traitors,

Or the brood of false Argyle!$ Strike! and drive the trembling rebels Backwards o'er the stormy Forth: Let them tell their pale Convention How they fared within the north; Let them tell that Highland honour Is not to be bought nor soldThat we scorn their prince's anger, As we loathe his foreign gold. Strike! and when the fight is over, If you look in vain for me, Where the dead are lying thickest, Search for him that was Dundee !"

Loudly then the hills re-echoed

With our answer to his call;

But a deeper echo sounded

In the bosoms of us all.

For the lands of wide Breadalbane,10
Not a man who heard him speak
Would that day have left the battle.
Burning eye and flushing cheek
Told the clansmen's fierce 'emotion,
And they harder drew their breath;
For their souls were strong within them—
Stronger than the grasp of death.
Soon we heard a challenge-trumpet
Sounding in the pass below,
And the distant tramp of horses,
And the voices of the foe:

Down we crouched amid the 'bracken,
Till the Lowland ranks drew near,
Panting like the hounds in summer,
When they scent the stately deer.
From the dark 'defile 'emerging,

Next we saw the squadrons come,
Leslie's 11 foot and Leven's 11 troopers
Marching to the tuck of drum;
Through the scattered wood of birches,
O'er the broken ground and heath,
Wound the long battalion slowly,

Till they gained the field beneath;-
Then we bounded from our 'covert.
Judge how looked the Saxons then,
When they saw the rugged mountain
Start to life with armëd men!
Like a tempest down the ridges
Swept the hurricane of steel ;12
Rose the slogan of Macdonald 13.

Flashed the broadsword of Lochiel !14

Vainly sped the withering volley

'Mongst the foremost of our band—

On we poured until we met them,
Foot to foot and hand to hand.

Horse and man went down like drift-wood
When the floods are black at Yule,15
And their carcasses are whirling

In the Garry's deepest pool:

Horse and man went down before us

Living foe there tarried none On the field of Killiecrankie,

When that stubborn fight was done!

24. THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.

1. When William the Third had been a few years on the English throne, some of the men who managed the kingdom of Scotland for him determined. to bring the Highlanders into complete submission. An order was therefore issued for all the clansmen to take an oath that they would have William for their King: and whoever 'refused or forgot to take this oath before a fixed day, was to be killed.

2. Nearly all came forward and took the oath, to the great 'disappointment of those Scottish statesmen who sought an excuse for teaching the Highland clans a terrible lesson.

But there was one man, MacIan, a chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, in Argyleshire, who went only at the last moment to Fort William to swear 'allegiance to the King.

3. When he arrived there, he found that a colonel was not the proper person to give him the oath, and that he must go all the way to Inverary and swear before the sheriff. It

took him six days to travel through the snow to that town; and at first the sheriff did not think that he could receive the oath so late. But, when