■WILLIAM AND MALT.

29

Mackay, who was ignorant of Dundee’s fate, and well ae- chap.quainted with Dundee’s skill and activity, expected to be in-stantly and hotly pursued, and had very little expectation ofnetreatofbeing able to save even the scanty remains of the vanquished Wack “ y -army. lie could not retreat by the pass: for the Highlanderswere already there. He therefore resolved to push across themountains towards the valley of the Tay. He soon overtooktwo or three hundred of his runaways who had taken the sameroad. Most of them belonged to Ramsay’s regiment, and musthave seen service. But they were unarmed: they were utterlybewildered by the recent disaster; and the general could findamong them no remains either of martial discipline or of martialspirit. His situation was one which must have severely tried thefirmest nerves. Night had set in: he was in a desert: he hadno guide: a victorious enemy was, in all human probability, onhis track; and he had to provide for the safety of a crowd of menwho had lostbothhead and heart. He had just suffered adefeat ofall defeats the mostpainfulandhumiliating. His domestic feelingshadbeen not less severely wounded than his professional feelings.

One dear kinsman had just been struck dead before his eyes.Another, bleeding from many wounds, moved feebly at his side.

But the unfortunate general’s courage was sustained by a firmfaith in God, and a high sense of duty to the state. In the midstof misery and disgrace, he still held his head nobly erect, andfound fortitude, not only for himself, but for all around him.

His first care was to be sure of his road. A solitary light which

tion; the Memoirs of Dundee; Memoirs of Sir Ewan Cameron; Nisbet’sand Osburnc’s depositions in the Appendix to the Act. Pari, of July 14. 1G90.See also the account of the battle in one of Burt's Letters. Macphersonprinted a letter from Dundee to James, dated the day after the battle.I need not say that it is ns impudent a forgery as Fingal. The author ofthe Memoirs of Dundee says that Lord Leven was scared by the sight of theHighland weapons, and set the example of flight. This is a spiteful false-hood. That Leven behaved remarkably well is proved by Mackay’s Letters,Memoirs, and Short Relation.