WILIIAN. AND MABY.

31

pulation was every where in a state of great excitement. Late chap.at night they reached Castle Drummond, which was held for ■

King William by a small garrison; and, on the following day,they proceeded with less difficulty to Stirling.*

The tidings of their defeat had outrun them. All Scotland Effect ofwas m a ferment. Ihe disaster had indeed been great: but it of Kime-was exaggerated by the wild hopes of one party and by the wildfears of the other. It was at first believed that the whole armyof King William had perished; that Mackay himself had fallen;that Dundee, at the head of a great host of barbarians, flushedwith victory and impatient for spoil, had already descendedfrom the hills; that he was master of the whole country beyondthe Forth; that Fife was up to join him; that in three days hewould be at Stirling; that in a week he would be atHolyrood.Messengers were sent to urge a regiment which lay in Northum-berland to hasten across the border. Others carried to Londonearnest entreaties that Ilis Majesty would instantly send everysoldier that could be spared, nay, that he would come himselfto save his northern kingdom. The factions of the Parliament The Scot-

tt , _ tish Pur-

JlOUSe, awestruck by the common danger, forgot to wrangle, HamemCourtiers and malecontents with one voice implored the Lord ed!™™High Commissioner to close the session, and to dismiss themfrom a place where their deliberations might soonbe interruptedby the mountaineers. It was seriously considered whether itmight not be expedient to abandon Edinburgh, to send thenumerous state prisoners who were in the Castle and the Tol-booth on board of a man of war which lay off Leith, and totransfer the seat of government to Glasgow.

The news of Dundee’s victory.was every where speedilyfollowed by the news of his death; and it is a strong proof of theextent and vigour of his faculties, that his death seems every

* Mackay’s Memoirs. Life of General HughMuckay by J. Mackay ofRockfield.