arder, and from thence retired to Perth. Both generals claimed the victory, but as Mar abandoned from that day all thoughts of a movement to the westward, his object must be considered as having been completely defeated; while Argyle attained the fruits of victory in retaining the position by which he defended the Lowlands, and barred against the insurgents every avenue by which they could enter them.

The numbers slain in the battle of Sheriffmuir were considerable. Seven or eight hundred were killed on the side of the rebels, and the royalists must have lost five or six hundred. Much noble and gentle blood was mixed with that of the vulgar. A troop of volunteers, about sixty in number, comprehending the Dukes of Douglas and Roxburghe, the Earls of Haddington, Lauderdale, Loudon, Belhaven, and Rothes, fought bravely, though the policy of risking such a troupe dorée might be questionable. At all events, it marked a great change of times, when the Duke of Douglas, whose ancestors could have raised an army as numerous as those of both sides in the field of Sheriffmuir, fought as a private trooper, assisted only by two or three servants. This body of volunteers behaved in a manner becoming their rank. Many of them were wounded, and the Earl of Forfar was slain.

The loss of the Earl of Strathmore and of the young Clan Ranald, was a severe blow to the Insurrection. The last was a complete soldier, trained in the French Guards, and full of zeal for

the cause of James. "My family," he replied to Mar's summons to join him, "have been on such occasions ever wont to be the first on the field, and the last to leave it." When he fell out of the ranks, mortally wounded, Mar met him, and, ignorant of what had happened, demanded why he was not in the front. "I have had my share," said the dying chief, and fell dead before his commander. Many of his men retired from the army in conse

quence of his death.

Thus began and thus ended a confused affray, of which a contemporary ballad-maker truly says, "there is nothing certain, except that there was actually a battle, which he witnessed."

1["There's some say that we wan,

Some say that they wan,

Some say that nane wan at a', man;

But ae thing I'm sure,

That at Sheriffmuir,

A battle there was which I saw, man:

And we ran, and they ran,

And they ran, and we ran,

And we ran, and they ran awa, man,

CHAPTER LXXI.

Mar's Retreat to Perth-Dissensions among the Troops under Forster and Kenmure-Forster returns to England, and is recognised as General of the Chevalier's Forces there-He marches, with the design of attacking Liverpool, to Preston, is blockaded there by General Willis, and, after some opposition, surrenders at dis cretion The Prisoners of Rank sent to London Escape of Forster, MacIntosh, and Hepburn of Keith -Execution of Derwentwater and Kenmure-Escape of Nithisdale-the other Noblemen pardoned, after a long Imprisonment.

[1715-16.]

THE Confused battle of Sheriffmuir being ended by the approach of night, both parties had time to count what they had lost and won in the course of the day. That of the insurgents was easily summed up. The Highlanders, on their right, had behaved with their usual courage, and maintained the reputation which they had acquired of old times under Montrose, and more lately when commanded by Dundee. But in every other particular the events of the battle were unfavourable to the insurgents. A great many of their best men had retired without leave, as was their invariable practice, to see their families, or to secure their small

stock of booty, which some of them had augmented by plundering the baggage of their own army.1 This desertion thinned the ranks even of those clans who had been victorious, and the Highlanders of the vanquished division of the army had much better reasons for following the example thus set. Their numbers that morning had been from eight to ten thousand men; and at the close of the day, about four thousand of them were missing. Some leaders, too, of high rank and quality, had graced the retreat by their example; and it was said of Huntly and Seaforth in particular, that they were the first fugitives of any rank or condition who reached Perth, and discouraged their numerous followers, by their retreat from the field of action. It was therefore in vain for the insurgents, under this state of diminution and discouragement, to abide a second battle, or endeavour to renew the attempt to pass the Forth, which they had not been

2

1 [ It had been said of the Highlanders, that they would desert. Mar in three cases. If much time was lost ere brought to action, they would tire and go home. If they fought and were victorious, they would plunder and go home; if they fought and were beaten, they would run away and go home.]

able to accomplish with double their now reduced numbers.

But besides the effects of desertion, the insurgent army had other difficulties to contend with. The improvidence of their leaders had been so unpardonably great, that they had set out from one of the most fertile to a comparatively barren district of Scotland, with provisions for two or three days only, and their ammunition was proportionally scanty. It was therefore evident, that they were in no condition to renew the attempt in which they had that morning miscarried; nor had Mar any alternative, save that of leading back his army to their old quarters at Perth, to wait until some unexpected event should give them spirits for a fresh effort. Accordingly, as already mentioned, having passed the night after the action among the enclosures of Auchterarder, he returned towards Perth the next morning. The Duke of Argyle, on the other hand, having fallen back on Dunblane, with the troops he himself commanded, and, rejoined by such of the fugitives of the left wing as could be collected, he lay on his arms all night, expecting to renew the action on the succeeding day.

On approaching the field of battle on Monday, the 14th of November, at break of day, the Duke of Argyle found it abandoned by the enemy, who had left their dead and wounded at his disposal, together with the honours of the field, amongst which the principal trophies were fourteen colours, or standards, and six pieces of field cannon, which Mar had brought to the field in an useless bravado,