rent. Shortly after his arrival at Montrose he detached General Stapleton, with his Irish piquets and some companies of his own regiment, to join Lord Strathallan at Perth; sending at the same time some other companies to join Lord Lewis Gordon, who had fixed himself at Aberdeen. Lord Loudon was resolved to check as much as possible the levy of Drummond's arbitrary imposition; and, as MacLeod of MacLeod had come over from Skye, and brought 450 of his men to serve King George, Loudon detached him with this force and with 200 Monros to Inverury, about twelve computed miles to the north-west of the town of Aberdeen, Lord Lewis Gordon's head-quarters. Lord Lewis, warned of MacLeod's approach, advanced by night, and lay waiting for him in ambush with a superior force. A short moonlight combat was the result; and, as MacLeod's men would not stand the charge, he was obliged to turn, and run for it, leaving about forty prisoners behind him, but very few either killed or wounded. This skirmish happened after the young Pretender had recrossed the border; but, before that time, Lord Strathallan's head-quarters at Perth had been the scene of constant quarrel,-the Highlanders and Lowlanders, the Irish troops and the French, all disagreeing in opinion, and indulging in old antipathies and prejudices. Though old Lovat had finally thrown the dice, and sent all the Frasers to Perth, -though the Mackintoshes, the Mackenzies, the Farquharsons, and other clans had assembled there, -it was considered by Lord Strathallan and a council of officers, that the order received from Charles to march forward to the borders and advance into England could not be obeyed. Strathallan was supported in this opinion by all the Frenchmen, all the Irish, and most of the low country Jacobites; but the Highlanders declared that he ought not to examine and criticise but obey the prince's order; and they were actually on the point of taking forced possession of Strathallan's money, arms, ammunition, and stores, when Rollo of Powhouse arrived at Perth just in time to prevent a battle. Rollo announced that the young Pretender was in Scotland, was marching from Dumfries to Glasgow, and expected Lord Strathallan to hold himself with his forces in readiness to join him as soon as he should send further orders from Glasgow. The cause of the quarrel was thus removed, but not the bad blood which it had excited. On the first news of Charles's return from England, the king's troops and the volunteers at Stirling fell back upon Edinburgh, not being strong enough to keep their ground on the river Forth, between two armies. Thus the passages of that river were again left open, and there was no obstruction whatever to the junction of the two armies of Charles and Strathallan. On the 29th of December it was announced from every pulpit in Edinburgh that it had been resolved in a council of war to defend the city against the rebels if they should venture to attack it, and on the following day a number of

VOL. IV.

able-bodied men from the neighbouring parishes were marched into the High-street and furnished with arms, the ministers of the kirk marching with their respective parishioners. The spirit was good, but still liable to cold fits and ague-like attacks of fear and misgiving, until the second day of January, when two regiments of foot arrived from the south at Edinburgh, with news that General Hawley was following with nearly the whole force of Marshal Wade.

A.D. 1746.-On the same day the Highland army left Glasgow, and began their march towards Stirling, to meet Lord Strathallan and Lord John Drummond: they moved in two divisions, one led by Charles, marching by Kilsyth, and the other under the command of Lord George Murray, going by Cumbernauld. During their march they received certain accounts of the surrender of Carlisle from two gentlemen that had made their escape from that place. On the next day Charles took up his quarters in the house of Bannockburn, near Stirling, and his men were cantoned in the neighbouring villages: Lord George Murray occupied the town of Falkirk, and threw out some of the clan regiments as an advanced post. Lord Strathallan and Lord John Drummond presently came up from Perth and joined; and then the Pretender's army amounted to 9000 men, by far the greatest number they had ever assembled. Yet, instead of wheeling round to meet Hawley, and to check the English troops that were constantly marching along the east coast from Berwick and Dunbar to Edinburgh-instead of attempting some bold and decisive blow, Charles and his officers resolved to sit down before Stirling Castle, which was exceedingly well provided, and sure to be well defended by the brave General Blakeney. With extreme difficulty they got their French artillery across the Forth, broke ground, and began the siege. "Our artillery," says one of the rebels, was commanded by one M. Gourdon (alias the Marquis de Mirabelle, nom de guerre), a French engineer, and another young man that had applied himself to that business (a volunteer never in commission), and there were ten or twelve French gunners, which was all of that kind that came from France, who were covered by the Duke of Perth with four or five hundred men. The engineer, to show his dexterity in his profession (not considering that he had neither all things necessary for such an undertaking nor regular troops that had been accustomed to such undertakings), made his appearance on the strongest side of the castle, where there was nothing but rock and shingle to work upon, so that in order to raise the batteries that were intended, there was nothing but forced earth which was to be carried from a great distance and at great expense, and when finished was commanded by the castle, by which there was a great many men lost, and the battery of little use; however the work was continued rather than oppose his schemes, though it was agreed that the approaches might have been

3 x

some

The

made, and to better purpose, on the other side."* Nothing could well be more absurd than this siege, except the method which Hawley took to raise it. That very confident English general reached Edinburgh on the 6th of January, breathing fire and destruction. He had seen service both at home and abroad, having served as an officer of dragoons in the battle of Sheriffmuir, and having fought in Flanders under the Duke of Cumberland, who had favoured and promoted him. He appears to have been fitter for the post of provost martial and hangman than for that of general. "I must give you some idea of this man," says Horace Walpole; "he is called Lord Chief Justice (as if another Jeffries); frequent and sudden executions are his passion. Last winter abroad he had intelligence of a spy come from the French army: the first notice our army had of his arrival was, by seeing him dangle on a gallows in his muff and boots. One of the surgeons of the army begged the body of a soldier, who was hanged for desertion, to dissect. Well, said Hawley, but then you shall give me the skeleton to hang up in the guard-room." army was full of stories of this man's brutal severity and passionate temper. The first thing he did on entering Edinburgh was to erect two gibbets on which to hang the rebels he intended to take. He brought a staff of executioners with him, and he conferred more frequently with his hangmen than with his aides-de-camp. When Lord John Drummond, who had a regular commission from Louis XV., and who styled himself commander-in-chief of the army of his most Christian majesty in Scotland, sent to propose a cartel or exchange of prisoners, Hawley threw the letter into the fire, seized upon the drummer that brought it as a traitor, and made him write to Lord John-" that rebels were not to be treated with." He had scoffed most unmercifully at the sad failures of poor Sir John Cope, and had boasted in a company of officers, "that he knew the Highlanders, they were good militia, but he was certain that they could not stand against a charge of dragoons who attacked them well."‡ Hawley had now with him twelve old regiments of foot, who for the most part had served on the continent, the Glasgow regiment of foot recently raised, and Gardiner's and Hamilton's dragoons. On the 13th of January he sent forward the dragoons, the Glasgow men, and six of his old regiments of foot towards Stirling, by Linlithgow and Borrowstonness, under the command of General Husk; on the 14th he sent forward his other six regiments; and upon the 16th he left Edinburgh himself, and encamped that evening with all his troops collected at Falkirk, only nine miles from Bannockburn, where Charles had now fixed himself with all his troops, except about a thousand

men, left to carry on the siege of Stirling Castle. On the morning of the 17th Hawley was joined by Cobham's regiment of dragoons, and by one thousand Argyllshire Highlanders under Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyll. He was thus, even numerically, equal to the young Pretender, or nearly so, having between eight and nine thousand men. Between night and morning Charles's forces had advanced a little, and were now drawn up upon Pleanmuir, about two miles to the east of Bannockburn. The Torwood lay between the two armies, the whole of the intervening distance being about seven miles. It appears that the Highlanders expected Hawley would attack them, and that Hawley expected the Highlanders would run away at the mere fame of his approach. Indeed that vainglorious general had said as much. But the mountaineers had no such notions; and, seeing that Hawley was in no hurry to attack them, they determined to attack him. At about eleven o'clock in the forenoon a body of the rebels appeared upon the high road which traversed the Torwood and led from Stirling to Bannockburn and Falkirk, moving about with standards and colours to attract the attention of the English camp. Hawley was not at his post-he was refreshing his inward man with a good luncheon at Callender House, at some distance from the field ;—but his officers and men fully expected that the Highlanders would attack them right in front from the quarter where they were showing themselves. But a little before one Captain Teesdale of the third regiment of foot and another officer climbed a tree, and with the aid of a telescope discovered the mass of the Highland army in full march, not by the high road through the centre of the Torwood, but by another road on the southern side of the Torwood. In fact the Highlanders had already crossed the river Carron near Dunnipace, and were pointing towards Falkirk moor and some high ground on the left of the king's army. General Husk, the second in command, had been completely deceived by the demonstrations on the high road; but Hawley was so blind or so absorbed by his good cheer that he could not make out the design even when Lieutenant-Colonel Howard of the third regiment reported to him what Teesdale had seen from the tree: he said that the men might put on their accoutrements, but that there was no necessity for them to be under arms; and he continued where he was, feasting at Callender House. The officers on the field were heard saying to one another, "Where is the general? What shall be done? We have no orders." Warned, however, of the close approach of the rebels by some gentlemen well mounted, who attended the army and rode about to procure intelligence, the commandingofficers formed their regiments in the front of their camp; and then-when there was nothing but Falkirk moor between the two armies-Hawley came galloping up with curses and confusion, and without his hat. In the middle the rugged moor

right, consisting of the Macdonalds, advanced to meet Ligonier, reserving their fire till they were within pistol-shot; but then they gave such a volley as made the dragoons reel in their saddles; and, the rest of the Highland line step

footed mountaineers. The English cavalry went considerably in advance of their infantry, spurring over the rough heath; and for a time it seemed a sort of race between the Highlanders and the dragoons, which of them should get first to the top of the hill. The Highland foot, however, outran the English horse, occupied the height, and formed along the ridge of it, while Hawley's men were compelled to halt a little below then, with a storm of wind and rain beating right in their eyes and wetting their muskets. The Highlanders formed in two lines; the first line consisted of the three MacDonald clans, Keppoch, Clanronald, and Glengary, who stood on the right; of the Farquharsons, the Mackenzies, and the Mackintoshes, who stood in the centre; and of the Macphersons, the Frasers, the Camerons, and the Stuarts, who occupied the left: their second line, including a considerable number of Lowland levies who were neither so fond of fighting nor so passionately attached to the cause as the mountaineers, comprised the Atholl brigade, Lord Ogilvie's regiment, Lord Lewis Gordon's two battalions, the MacLachlans, and Lord John Drummond's regiment. Charles was neither in the first line nor in the second; he stood not even between the two lines, as he had done at Prestonpans; but he took up his post in the rear of the second line, on a mound which still goes by the name of Charlie's Hill. When Hawley's men formed, the three regiments of dragoons were in front; the infantry which had followed them stood in two lines; and the rest of the army, consisting of the Argyllshire Highlanders and the Glasgow regiment, remained as a body of reserve at a considerable distance. Artillery there was none on either side, for the Highlanders, in their rapid advance, had left their guns behind them, and in crossing the moor the English guns had stuck fast in a bog and could not be removed in time. But Hawley heeded them not; he had got his horse and they were to do everything; though two of the three regiments had not yet cleansed their banners of the foul dirt of Prestonpans. In his younger days he had fought against the old Pretender at Sheriff Muir, and he remembered how the left wing of the Highlanders had been broken by a charge of the Duke of Argyll's horse, which fell upon them across a morass, and as he had now a bog in his front and flank, and bogs in his rear, he fancied the cases were parallel. He, however, forgot a material circumstance the morass at Sheriff Muir was hard frozen of a sudden, and gave good passage to the cavalry; whereas the bogs at Falkirk Muir were in their most liquid and sinking state. On the word of command to charge, Colonel Ligonier led on all the horse towards the enemy's right. That

Many

lar discharge with equal effect. This was enough for the heroes of the "Canter of Colt Brig;"— Hamilton's and Gardiner's regiments wheeled round, disordered the foot behind them, and fled with loose bridle. Cobham's dragoons behaved better; but the Highland fire was terrible, the ground was unfavourable for horse, and they wheeled to the right and went off between the two armies, receiving many a murderous shot as they passed the left wing of the Highlanders. of the flying horse ran into the bogs, and sinking to the saddle-girths, were cut to pieces by the Highland claymore. When the English dragoons were gone off, Lord George Murray, who displayed as much personal bravery as good generalship, endeavoured to keep the Macdonalds in their ranks, well knowing that the well disciplined infantry of the enemy would be firmer than their horse, and that any premature pursuit of the fugitives would prove mischievous or fatal; but those hot-headed clans disregarded his orders, and some of the men continued to run into the bogs after the floundering dragoons, and some ran furiously upon the left of Hawley's army, who received them with a general discharge. But while the Highlanders had had the rain, which continued still to fall in torrents, at their backs, and the conveniency of their kilts and plaids wherewith to keep their pieces dry, the English infantry, with the rain full in their faces, and with no such convenient drapery, had got their muskets and powder-pans so wetted that hardly more than one piece in five went off.† The Macdonalds, little hurt by this irregular fire, poured in a much more effective volley, and then, throwing down their muskets in their usual way, they fell upon the English infantry with their broad-swords, attacking them both in front and flank. The left gave way, the centre followed their example, and the second line as well as the first was thrown into confusion. It seemed a total rout, and Hawley, who had been standing a little behind the three regiments of dragoons when they advanced to the attack, had got involved in a crowd of flying horse, had been swept down the hill-side, and now had not the means of knowing whether any of his regiments of foot stood firm. But Burrell's regiment stood

One of the Highland performers, many a year after, assured Walter Scott that the feat was as easy as slicing bacon.

+ Volunteer Ray says-" It rained heavily and blew hard, which, in a great measure, was the cause of our misfortunes; for our men could not see before them, and consequently the rebels had the advantage of us greatly in that particular. Besides, as it rained hard before, many of the firelocks were so wet, that it is believed not above one in five that were attempted to be fired went off."

Home-who was himself the lieutenant he speaks of-says that the Edinburgh company of volunteers had marched up the hill, was standing by itself, and had not begun to fly-that the captain of that company went in search of General Hawley to know what the volunteers were to do, and that the lieutenant followed the captain to ask the general if he would be pleased to assign the Edinburgh volun

as firm as a wall, and, being joined by part of two other veteran regiments, it moved to the Highland left wing, and, when it came directly opposite to the Cameron and Stuart clans, it began to fire with good effect. A narrow ravine that lay between them prevented the Camerons and Stuarts from charging with the claymore, and, soon finding that they were losing a considerable number of men, and that their fire was not equal to that of the English veterans, they fell back from the opposite edge of the ravine in some disorder. Cobham's dragoons, who had soon rallied, now came up to support these gallant regiments of foot. In the mean while the fiery Macdonalds had broken loose and fought loosely in pursuit, as if the battle were over; but the steady fire of Burrel's regiment, and other signs now seen in their rear, induced these Macdonalds to run speedily back to the ground which they had occupied at the beginning of the battle, and upon which Lord George Murray had been so anxious to keep them. But when they got there they found that their second line had vanished! The indiscipline of those Highlanders that formed the second line had been equal to that of the Macdonalds ;-most of the men, seeing the wonderful success of the first onslaught, and being fearful that if they stayed where they were they should get no horses, saddles, and bridles-no part of the booty-had broken away from their lines to join in the pursuit, and when their comrades, who were more obedient to orders and remained on their ground, saw the Camerons and Stuarts repulsed, and heard the steady and increasing fire of the king's troops that stood, and saw Cobham's horse compact and firm, and ready, as they thought, to charge them in their loose and broken lines, they lost heart, and had gone off rapidly to the westward. "At this moment," says Home," the field of battle presented a spectacle seldom seen in war, whose great events fortune is said to rule. Part of the king's army— much the greater part-was flying to the eastward, and part of the rebel army was flying to the westward. Not one regiment of the second line of the rebels remained in its place; for the Atholl brigade, being left almost alone on the right, marched up to the first line and joined Lord George Murray where he stood with the Macdonalds of Keppoch. Between this body of men on the right of the first line, and the Camerons and Stuarts on the left (who had retreated a little from the fire of the troops across the ravine), there was a considerable space altogether void and empty, those men excepted who had returned from the chase, and were straggling about in great disorder and confusion, with nothing in their hands but their swords." Lord George Murray, however, suc

ceeded in getting these men into line, and brought up some of his own men who had been cool enough to obey orders; and then Charles, who had moved off with the second line, came back with the Irish piquets and some other troops, and, when the Highlanders had collected their muskets which lay thick upon the ground, he led them to the brow of the hill. This movement of so considerable a body disconcerted Cobham's dragoons, who had been again attempting to cover the ridge: they turned back, went down to the place where Burrel's regiment and the portions of the two regiments acting with them were standing, and, retreating with them in good order, they joined the rest of the army, which had rallied on the ground in the front of their camp, where the Argyllshire Highlanders had been left by Hawley, except the heroes of the "Canter of Colt Brig,' who, for the most part, never drew rein till they got to Linlithgow.

This was the whole of the battle or affair of Falkirk, which did not last altogether half an hour. But it was now drawing near five o'clock of a wintry evening, and the early darkness of the season was increased by the storm and the black rolling clouds which continued to deluge that uncomfortable moor. Before it grew quite dark Hawley set fire to his tents, and, marching through Falkirk, retreated for Linlithgow, leaving behind him bag and baggage, artillery, ammunition, and provisions. As for his tents, they were so soaked by the rain that they would not burn, and the Highlanders got possession of most of them also. Lord George Murray immediately advanced, and took possession of the abandoned town; and Charles entered Falkirk by torchlight late in the evening, and was conducted to a lodging prepared for him. Hawley had left behind him between 300 and 400 killed and wounded and a considerable number of prisoners, including many of the Glasgow regiment and the Edinburgh volunteers, who, on the whole, had behaved rather manfully. The poet Home was among the captives. But the steady fire of Burrel's men and their companions who had stood by them at the perilous moment seems to have done almost as much mischief; and many of the Highlanders of the second line who had run away were in no hurry to return, while those who remained on the field of battle, or moved from the moor of Falkirk towards the town, were far more eager to pick up the spoils and undress the killed than to pursue the retreating enemy.* Besides, Cobham's dragoons and a considerable part of the English infantry continued to behave well, and the whole army (the Colt Brig men always excepted) made a good and regular retreat, with drums beating and colours flying, and the rear-guard under a brave and sensible veteran-Major-General Husk-who had

"The mountaineers did this work so effectually, that a townsman of Falkirk, who surveyed the field of battle on the following morning, used to say that he could compare the slain only to a large flock of white sheep at rest on the face of the hill-so completely had the Highlanders stripped them."-Chambers, Hist. of the Rebellion.

not lost his head like Hawley. Few doubts can be entertained as to the conduct of the bullying Hawley. General Wightman, an old soldier, who had fought in Scotland in the Fifteen, says, in a letter written a few days after the disgraceful fact, to Duncan Forbes-"I am sorry to tell you, that Lord H-e and Lord Gl- -n abandoned the Glasgow regiment on the field of battle, before they were formed, and fled as fast as the Irish dragoons. General Hawley is in much the same situation as General Cope; he was never seen in the field during the battle; and everything would have gone to wreck, in a worse manner than at Preston, if General Husk had not acted with judgment and courage, and appeared everywhere. Hawley seems to be sensible of his misconduct; for, when I was with him on Saturday morning at Linlithgow, he looked most wretchedly; even worse than Cope did a few hours after his scuffle, when I saw him at Fala. This is an odd scene of things, and altogether an unexpected Occurrence; and will doubtless shock the K. and the M--ry, as well as the whole English nation, more than the Preston affair did; but does not at all shock me: I see no one bad consequence from it, unless Hawley's disgrace be reckoned one; and I apprehend several good ones; such as the duke's coming down hither, and our having an army of 20,000 men in this country for some

months; to which I add General Husk's advancement, who is, indeed, an excellent officer, and an open honest man.' But when the news of the affair of Falkirk was announced at court-which it was upon a drawing-room day-the king was neither shocked nor much surprised; and, though the countenances of most of the company betrayed doubt and apprehension, George's was as cheerful as that of the Earl of Stair or as that of Sir John Cope, which was radiant with joy at Hawley's discomfiture. We have seen how disrespectfully the hero of Falkirk had spoken of the hero of Prestonpans; but now their odds were made even-Hawley and Cope seemed one and the same-and a Scotch peer much amused that drawing-room by addressing Sir John with the title of General Hawley.*

Having rested for the night at Linlithgow, Hawley continued his retreat to Edinburgh; but not till the 19th, and then, rather to dry his wet gunpowder, and get more, than out of any fear of

Walter Scott.-Horace Walpole.-Walpole says-" Hawley, of whom I said so much, has been as unsuccessful as Cope, and by almost every circumstance the same, except that Hawley had less want of skill and much more presumption. The very same dragoons ran away at Falkirk that ran away at Prestonpans. General Husk and Brigadier Cholmondeley shone extremely.... Our loss is trifling; for many of the rebels fled as fast as the glorious dragoons; but we have lost some good officers, particuTarly Sir Robert Munro; and seven pieces of cannon.... The

fighting lay in a very small compass, the great body of each army running away."-Letters to Horace Mann.