(ibe "University of Cbic
Exchange DupH
TilE
COVENANTERS IN THE NOETH ;
OR,
SKETCH ItS OF THE
RISE AND PKOOKESS, NORTH OF THE
GRAMPIANS, OF THE GREAT KELIfilOUS AND SOCIAL
. MOVEMENT OF v r HICH THE COVENANT OF
1638 WAS THE SYMBOL.
BY EGBERT KING-.
ABERDEEN:
GEORGE AND ROBERT KING,
28, ST. NICHOLAS STREET;
HAMILTON ADAMS & CO., LONDON.
1846.
. .
: . . .
JSzchazige Duplicate
PEEFACE.
THE Annals of the Covenant are an heirloom of the
Scottish people, full of noble examples and associations
in all that is heroic and devout, both in doing and
suffering. Its history, in the southern and western
portions of the kingdom the greatest and busiest fields
of its movements has been written and re-written by
many pens ; and it is, doubtless, owing to the peculiar
richness of those fields, that, even yet, they exclusively
detain the lingering footsteps of the historical gleaner.
It is, however, to this very circumstance that we owe
the fact, that the less inviting districts of the north
have more of what is comparatively new or little known
to yield up, than the richer but better gleaned fields of
the south. While there was scarcely a noble, baron,
burgess, or minister belonging to the southern portion
of the kingdom, who took part in the great struggle,
who has not been assigned a niche among our " Scots
Worthies," or whose name is not still familiar as a
household word in the mouths of the people, and in the
popular literature of our country ; we seldom hear of
Andrew Cant, well known in the north two centuries
ago as the " Apostle of the Covenant," and whose rude
but fiery eloquence stirred the spirits of our forefathers,
as he urged its first subscription from Aberdeen to
Inverness; or of David Lindsay, the "bold parson of
Belhelvie," who bearded the assembled barons of the
clan Gordon, and their cavalier associates ; or of the
benignant, noble-minded, and devout Provost Jaffray,
and his pious friend, the Laird of Brodie ; or of Ross
4 PREFACE.
of Kincardine, Hogg of Kiltearn, or Fraser of Brea,
all of whom lived, and laboured or suffered, north of
the Grampians. Besides furnishing notices of these
and others of whom the glimpses are less frequent, our
local annals supply chapters in the history of the Cove-
nant, peculiar to the only part of the country which met
its first advances with the most determined opposition of
Its learning and its chivalry furnishing at once themesfor
the student of great principles, and scenes for the lovers
of the picturesque, more rare in the history of the south.
Thus far the author It falls to another pen to state
that he is now beyond the reach of criticism. His work
was written in the sick chamber, which had been his
home, with few intervals, for eighteen months. On the
5th of 'November, he committed the charge of superin-
tending the last few sheets of it to a friend, and, on the
20th, he entered into rest.- In these circumstances, his
' i '
friend must be allowed to say, that the warm sympathy
with spiritual and evangelical religion which pervades
the following history was not the assumed tone of author-
ship, but the sincere breathing of his own inner soul.
Evangelical truth was the foundation of his character in
life, and of his hope in death j and his memory will long
be fondly cherished by all who knew and could appreciate
his warm heart, his intelligent piety, and literary taste a
taste cultivated amid the pressing engagements of business.
The reader will find that Mr. KINO has availed him-
self of many sources of information which, till lately,
were difficult of access, or altogether sealed ; and that his
work contains much information which is to be found
nowhere else in a popular form.
J. K.
SILVER STREET, ABERDEEN, Dec. 2, 1845.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
POLICY of James VI Second Book of Discipline
Restoration of Bishops Courts of High Commission
Five Articles of Perth Passive Resistance of the
People Accession of Charles Book of Canons and
Service-Book Reception of the Service-Book at
Edinburgh, &c Proceedings of the People and of
. the Government The Tables The Covenant, 9
CHAPTER II.
State of the North Country subsequent to the Refor-
mation Banished Ministers : Bruce and Dickson
Arbuthnot, Johnston, Craig John Forbes of Alford
and the Aberdeen Assembly, 1 605 The Marquis of
Huntly the Aberdeen Doctors, ... 25
CHAPTER III.
Proceedings of the Tables The Bishop of Ross and
the Service-Book State of Parties The Tables send
a Commission to the North Speech of Andrew
Cant at Subscription of the Covenant in Inverness
Commission to Aberdeen Discussion with the Doc-
tors, and Operations in the Neighbourhood, . 41
CHAPTER IV.
Commission of Hamilton His Entry into Edinburgh
The Commissioner's Instructions Negotiations
" The King's Covenant" at Aberdeen and the other
Northern Burghs Glasgow Assembly Northern
Members Sentences of the Northern Bishops Pre-
parations for War, ..... 63
D _ CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Proceedings at Aberdeen The Raid of Turriff Mili-
tary Preparations at Aberdeen Attempts at Nego-
tiation Entry of the Covenanting Army Nego-
tiations between Montr ose and Huntly, at Inverury
The Covenant Sworn at Aberdeen Abduction of
Huntly, and Departure of the Army, . . 84
CHAPTER VI.
Position of the Covenanters in the South Lord Aboyne
Distracted State of Aberdeen and Banff-shires
Trot of Turray The Barons' Reign Raid of Dur-
ris, and Flight of the Barons Marischal and Mon-
trose Enter Aberdeen Montrose Marches to Gight
Arrival of Aboyne, and Retreat of Montrose
Progress of Aboyne to Strathbogie Raid of Stone-
hive Storming of the Bridge of Dee Entry of
Montrose and the Covenanters Proposal to Burn
Aberdeen Pacification of Berwick, . . 119
CHAPTER VII.
Defection of Montrose Assembly and Parliament, 1 639
Covenant Signed by the Royal Commissioner and
Privy Council, and Enjoined on the Country Pro-
ceedings of the Covenanting Commission at Aberdeen
Entry of the Army under Munro Surrender of
Drum Operations in the Garioch Surrender of
Strathbogie, Auchindown, and Spynie Assembly at
Aberdeen, 1640 Demolition of Idolatrous Monu-
ments, Deposition of the Doctors, and Debate on
Private Meetings Operations of Munro in Banff-
shire He marches Southward His Character, 158
CHAPTER VIII.
Commissions for the Removal of Idolatrous Monuments
Visit the Cathedrals of Elgin and Aberdeen Pro-
ceedings against Non-complying Ministers Filling
up Vacant Charges Aberdeen: Andrew Cant, John
Row, John Oswald Their Labours assisted by Dr.
CONTENTS. 7
Guild Characteristics and Style of Preaching
State of Religion The Brownists State of the
North Uncongenial to the Progress of Religion, 199
CHAPTER IX.
The Solemn League Re-organization of the Northern
Royalists, and Levies of the Covenanters Lord
Aboyne takes the Covenant Preludes of New
Troubles Abduction of Provost Leslie and other
Citizens of Aberdeen Sir John Gordon of Haddo,
and Alexander Jaffray Rise of the Gordons The
Raid of Montrose Advance of Argyle, and Re-
duction of the Gordons Military Oppression Exe-
cution of Haddo and Captain Logic State of the
District, 233
CHAPTER X.
Preparations for the Expedition of Montrose Super-
natural Appearances Landing of Alaster M' Donald
and the Irish The Fiery Cross Battle of Tipper-
muir Sack of Aberdeen Montrose Pursued by
Argyle Skirmish at Fyvie Castle Battle of Inver-
lochy Montrose Joined by Lord Gordon Devas-
tating March from Elgin to Kintore Death of
Donald Farquharson March and Devastations con-
tinued to Dunnottar and Fetteresso Retreat from
Dundee to the Grampians, . . . 254
CHAPTER XL
Battle of Auldearn Butchery of Fugitives Elgin partly
burnt Garmouth and Cullen burnt Battle of Al-
ford Death of Lord Gordon Ravages of the Royal-
ists preparatory to Marching Southward Battles of
Kilsyth and Philiphaugh Abortive attempt to
Raise the Northern Clans Execution of Sir Na-
thaniel Gordon Operations of the Royalists and
Covenanters in the Northern Counties Storming
of Aberdeen by the Anti- Covenanters Disbanding
of Montrose and Huntly, .... 278
8 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Alexander Jaffray His Education Marriage Travels
Christian Experience In Arms against Montrose
Imprisonment at Pitcaple Death of his Father
Second Marriage Death of Charles, and of Huntly
Commissioner to the Hague Expedition and
Death of Montrose Jaffray at Breda Arrival of
Charles II. Jaffray at Dunbar Change of Opinion
on the Power of the Magistrate Conferences on the
subject Separation from the Covenanted Church
Influence of Cromwell's Soldiery Reasons of Sepa-
ration by Jaffray, Row, and others Views of Samuel
Rutherford on the subject John Row appointed
Principal of King's College Jaffray becomes Di-
rector of the Chancellry In Parliament Removes
to Edinburgh His Reflections on Providence Con-
clusion, ....... 297
CHAPTER XIII.
Condition of Scotland at the Restoration Proceed-
ings against the Protesting Party Consecration of
Bishops Diocesan Meetings Thomas Hogg De-
fection of Ministers and People The North Country
Curates Deposition and Death of Andrew Cant
Resignation and Death of Principal Row Meldrum
and Menzies Persecution of the Quakers Death
of Jaffray Of Menzies Counties of Ross and Moray
The Test The Commission of 1685, . 336
CHAPTER XIV.
Synod of Ross Mr. Hogg Mr. Macgilligen Preach-
ing at Obsdale Macgilligen committed to the Bass
His Liberation Mr. Hogg committed to the Bass
Nimmo Death of Hogg Fraser of Brea Be-
fore Archbishop Shai'pe Commitment to the Bass
His Studies there Liberated Again Imprisoned
Leaves Scotland Returns at the Revolution
James Skene Conclusion, . . . 364
APPENDIX A, . . . . . . 395
APPENDIX B, ...... 397
THE
COYENANTERS IN THE NORTH,
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
POLICY OF JAMES VI. SECOND BOOK OP DISCIPLINE
RESTORATION OF BISHOPS COURTS OF HIGH COM-
MISSION FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH PASSIVE RE-
SISTANCE OF THE PEOPLE ACCESSION OF CHARLES
BOOK. OF CANONS AND SERVICE-BOOK. RECEPTION OF
THE SERVICE-BOOK AT EDINBURGH, &C. PROCEEDINGS
OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE GOVERNMENT THE
TABLES THE COVENANT.
THE great aim of James VI., was to be a "free," that
is, an absolute monarch, for so he himself explains
the term. "A good king," says he, "will frame all
his actions according to the law, yet he is not
bound thereto but of his good will." The king,
indeed, according to his theory, was the only free
person in the realm amenable only to Grod. To
his free actions, whatever their character or results,
the people were, in the language of James, "to
10 MAXIMS OF JAMES VI.
make no resistance but by flight ;" and, in imita-
tion of his great prototype, the Scottish Solomon
refers his subjects to "the example of the brute
beasts and unreasoning creatures," sagaciously and
wittily remarking, in allusion to the paternal claims
of a free monarch, that " we never read or heard
of resistance" offered by any of them to their pa-
rents, " except among vipers."*
Such being James' first principles, the great de-
sideratum of his reign was wherewithal to reduce
them to practice ; and, in estimating the forms of
church government, as rulers are prone to do,
namely, by their qualities as the machinery of
statecraft, he quickly arrived at the conclusion
that Presbytery would not suit his purpose so well
as her more courtly sister, Prelacy. " Grod," ex-
claimed he on one occasion, " agrees as well with
the devil, as monarchy does with presbytery!"
" No Bishop, no King," was a maxim frequently in
his mouth ; and the establishment of prelacy in
Scotland, became with him an object of daily soli-
citude and incessant intrigue, f It is only by
* Works of King James Law of Free Monarchies.!
f " How learned, Low wise, and how judicious," exclaims an
Aberdeen antiquary of last century, " was that great King,
Jacobus Pacificus, who knew the Art of Rule better than
any Prince of Europe, in his Time, and who had been brought
up a Puritan from his Infancy ! Yet when he had passed his
Adolescency, and was come to have reigned 36 years ; then did
his far' and deep-reaching Judgment pierce the most hidden
HIS CHARACOEEB. 11
keeping Ms end in view, namely, the establishment
of a compact despotism, that we can account for
the conduct of this prince towards a church and
people to whom he owed so much, and towards prin-
ciples which placed him on the throne of his native
land.
But the high monarchical theory of James was not
at all times to he seen in his administration of pub-
lic affairs. His moral qualities were ill-adapted to
sustain his political creed. Destitute of courage,
decision, and rigour, and of the very show of that
incidental magnanimity which sometimes accom-
panies successful tyranny, James stretched out,
with faltering timidity, a hand too feeble to grasp
and to sustain the massive sceptre which, in his
political speculations he had proved to himself
and his minions, belonged to an anointed king.
It is this trait in his personal character that gives
an air of monotonous meanness to the history of his
administration in Scotland a history, simply, of
the claims of prerogative; at one time avowedly
urged by naked and overbearing wrong; at another,
ostensibly withdrawn, but still urged with all the
patient and selfish cunning of imbecile tyranny.
After much discussion, occasioned by the in-
Secrets of the Puritans : and therefore he did ever hold this
General Maxim, that it was impossible for any Man to be loth
a Puritan and a faithful Subject to his Prince." Introduction
to projected Memoirs of Scottish Affairs, 1624-51, by James
Man.
12 RESTORATION OF BISHOPS.
trigues and measures of the court, the favourers
of popery, and many nobles who had an interest in
the restoration of the Bishops, the Second Book of
Discipline was finally sanctioned by the General
Assembly in 1578. This important document clear-
ly laid down the presbyterian form of church
government, to the exclusion of the office of super-
intendent, which had had a temporary standing;
and the church set about carrying out its provisions.
It was not, however, till 1592, that Presbytery was
established by Act of Parliament. But to a king
who held, and gravely laid down, that he might
" obey the law of his own free will, but not as a
subject bound thereto," an Act of Parliament was
but a light thing. His own oath, solemnly pledged
to the National Covenant, seemed in his own eye
of the same value ; and, accordingly, the exertions
of James for the establisment of an unmitigated
despotism, through the intervention of episcopacy,
were not a whit abated.
. The ecclesiastical schemes of James, as might be
expected, were greatly favoured by his accession to
the English throne in 1603. In 1604, an attempt
was made to break down the great palladium of
the Church's liberty the freedom of her General
Assemblies ; and those who withstood this attempt
were followed by the vengeance of government.
In 1606, the twelve bishopricks were restored,
with part of their revenues, and a vote to each in
the legislature. In the same year, in order to
FURTHER ENCROACHMENTS. 13
smooth the way for an ecclesiastical convention at
Linlithgow, the members of which were nominated
by the bishops, and summoned by the king, An-
drew Melville was imprisoned in the tower of
London, nnder the ostensible charge of writing an
epigram on the pompons ritnal of the English
church. At this " assembly," as the court party
affected to call it, the bishops were appointed Mo-
derators of the Presbyteries within which they
had residence, and perpetual Moderators of Synods.
The offices of Moderator and Clerk in Presbyteries,
were declared permanent in individuals who were
to be official members of assembly in a great
measure dependent on the bishops. The synods
attempted to resume their independence, but were
dispersed as seditious. These invasions of the
liberties of the church, were followed by the re-
vival of Consistorial or Bishops' Courts, and the
erection of those terrible instruments of tyranny,
the Courts of High Commission. Two of the latter
were erected at St. Andrews and at Glasgow, with
jurisdiction over every other ecclesiastical court.
Any individual of the realm might, at their sum-
mons, be examined as to his conduct, conversation,
and religious opinions ; and excommunication", out-
lawry, fine and imprisonment, were the appointed
means of reducing the impenitent and contumacious.
The powers of the bishops being gradually en-
larged, episcopal ordination was conferred on three
of them, who went to England for the purpose of
14 FIVE ARTICLES OF PEBTH.
receiving that rite at the hands of " regular suc-
cession," and returned to administer it to the other
bishops-elect in Scotland.
But, although the framework of episcopacy was
thus erected, there still remained all those forms
of worship which were, in the minds of the people,
identified with presbytery. To reduce the latter
to the model of the English church, was the
especial object of James in his visit to this country
in 1617. At a meeting of the clergy, held at St.
Andrews during his stay in Scotland, the following
Articles were proposed : 1. Kneeling at the Com-
munion. 2. The observation of the festivals, Christ-
mas, Grood Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pente-
cost. 3. The Episcopal Confirmation of Children.
4. Private Baptism. 5. Private Communicating.
This assembly, although packed by the king, post-
poned the consideration of these Articles ; but, in
the following year, they were passed by another
packed assembly held at Perth : Hence they were
called The Five Articles of Perth. They were rati-
fied by the Scottish Parliament on the 4th August,
1621, a day familiarly known in Scottish history
as The Slack Saturday.
The bishops forthwith began to enforce those
articles in their various provinces ; but in this work
they found little success. The people might yield
a sort of unwilling, passive submission to a show
of the episcopal oflice ; but to take part actively
in religious exercises, some of which in matter, and
RECEPTION OF THE ARTICLES. CHARLES I. 15
all of which in form, their souls abhorred, was what
they were determined not to do. Rather than
how the knee in what appeared to them idolatrous
or will worship at the communion, they, in many
cases, left the minister standing alone at the table
or altar ; and on festival days, in some places, the
dogs played with free scope in the area of the kirk
in default of a better congregation. The king
deeply resented this treatment of his favourite
measures. Several of the recusant clergy were
suspended, deprived, banished to remote districts
of the country, or imprisoned. The city of Edin-
burgh was threatened with the removal of govern-
ment and the courts of justice ; contumacious ma-
gistrates were deposed; and victims were selected
from among the citizens, whose punishment was to
be a terror to their fellows. But the hand of ty-
rannical power was for a time arrested by death.
Short was the breathing time allowed to the
country by the demise of James. Charles, who
ascended the throne of his father in 1625, inherit-
ed all his father's dogmas; and with a more ardent
political temperament, he prepared for carrying
them out in practice with a zeal that amounted to
fanaticism. His first measure was a revocation of
the church property which had been alienated at
the Reformation and shared generally among the
nobles ; and with this the bishops and other digni-
taries were to be endowed. This measure arrayed
16 VESTMENTS. BOOK OF CANONS.
against him, from motives of interest, almost the
whole nobility of the kingdom who had not already
declared for the popular side. In 1633, on the oc-
casion of his visit to Scotland, he appointed what
he conceived to be suitable dresses for the clergy.*
This was followed, in 1636, by the Book of Canons,
in which the king's supremacy in things ecclesias-
tical was assumed in its fullest extent, and the
whole fabric of presbytery leveled with the dust.
* Much cavalier wit has been expended on the scruples of the
Scottish Covenanters and English Puritans ; and it is not denied
by their candid admirers that they frequently magnified into un-
due importance things comparatively indifferent. To those who
make themselves merry on this subject, we would, however, re-
commend the consideration of the conduct of Charles, in wit-
tingly offending a whole nation, attached to his person and
government, and that about the tailor-like affair of the cut and
colour of a clergyman's dress (if that were all.) Well might
Milton, taking up the fanatic ritualists on their own ground, de-
precate the war with the Scots as " a surplice brabble and a tip-
pet scuffle." Even Kirton, a staid old covenanter with less per-
ception of the ridiculous than the great poet, and to whom ca-
valiers would deny wit or humour, because he had religion
even he, professes that " truely one would think it a poor office
for a king to become a fashioner to a company of mean men,
and a contemptible occasion for a wise man to adventure dis-
pleasure or offence. Might not a godly man," he asks, "wear
a doublet or a coat als well as a long cassock ? or what is the
sacramental difference betwixt buttons and a sursingle?" Secret
and True History, p. 29. But Charles and his Puritan and
Covenanting opponents knew well that the surplice was but the
sign of a thing signified and intended ; and many modern Epis-
copalians are having their eyes opened to the same conclusion.
SERVICE-BOOK- ITS RECEPTION" AT EDINBUR&H. 17
But his crowning measure in church matters, and
that which prompted the indignation of the people
to an ungovernable outburst, was the introduction
of the Liturgy or Service-Book ; which, having re-
ceived the last touch of Laud was sent down to
Edinburgh, printed in imposing folio, and adorned
on the frontispiece with letters of horning "where-
by all ministers within Scotland were commanded
to make use of the said Service Booke, and read,
or cause it publicly to be read in all parioch church-
es within the kingdom ; * * * and that every
minister should buy two copies thereof for the use
of his parishin ; and all this under paine of being
denounced as rebels."*
The day appointed for the introduction of the
Service-Book in the churches of the metropolis and
its neighbourhood was the 23rd of July, 1637; and
on that day the High Church was graced with the
presence of the two Archbishops and several Bis-
hops, the Magistrates of the City, and the Lords of
Session. There was also in attendance a vast con-
course of people. During preliminaries all was
quietness ; but no sooner had Dr. Hanna, Dean of
Edinburgh, opened the Service-Book than the whole
multitude clapt their hands and shouted in con-
fused tumult. Some cried, " A pope ! A pope !"
others, " Wo, "Wo ! for this dolefu' day that they
are bringing in popery among us !" and a woman
named Janet Greddes, famous for that act, threw at
* Gordon's History of Scots Affairs, I., 4.
18 CITY TUMULT.
the head of the dean the stool on which she had
been sitting, which he narrowly avoided by a timely
" jouk." The Bishop of Edinburgh who mounted
the pulpit above the dean, with the intention of
calling the people to order, fared no better; "For,"
says a chronicler of the time, " they were more en-
raged, and began to throw at him stools, and their
very bibles, and what arms were in the way of
their fury." The Archbishop of St. Andrews, at
that time chancellor, tried to quell the tumult
with no better effect. At last the magistrates and
council interposed and, with much confusion, expel-
led the multitude and made fast the church doors.
The dean then recommenced the service, which
was with difficulty brought to a close, from the
clamorous interruptions of the mob without. Ser-
mon being finished, the retreat from church had to
be effected ; but this the bishop could not make
good unperceived, although he walked on foot and
unattended. He was recognised, assaulted, pelted,
and brought to bay on the top of his own outside
stair the door being locked and owed his rescue
to the servants of the Earl of "Wemyss, who brought
him for safety to their master's lodging. In all the
other churches of the city where the clergy had
the courage to produce the obnoxious service, it
was received with murmurs and exclamations of
antipathy and disgust. An attempt to intro-.
duce the Liturgy on the afternoon of the same day.
was more successful. The privy council having, in
MEASUEBS OF THE COUKT. 19
the interval, obtained a promise from the magis-
trates that they would nse their utmost exertions
to keep the peace ; a strong guard was posted at
the door of the High Church, and the service was
finished there and in the other churches of the
city, without any material disturbance. But the
Bishop of Edinburgh was again attacked on return-
ing from St. Giles ; and although picked up by the
Earl of Roxburgh, he narrowly escaped the ven-
geance of the mob who followed the equipage of
that nobleman with hearty execrations and vollies
of stones, and pressed so hard upon it that they
were with difficulty kept off by the drawn swords
of the footmen. Such was the reception of the
Service-Book in the metropolis. In Glasgow, it
was rejected with like demonstrations; and through-
out the kingdom generally, the attempt to intro-
duce it was signally unsuccessful, except at St. An-
drews, in the cathedrals of Brechin, Dumblane, and
Ross, and in the churches of Aberdeen.*
Immediately after the Edinburgh tumults, that
city was laid under a sort of ecclesiastical inter-
dict. Recusant ministers were displaced; the
daily preachings and prayers were prohibited; pub-
lic worship on Sabbath was, in some instances, sus-
pended ; and several serving women, who had been
active in the affray, were imprisoned. A more
dangerous proceeding was, the institution of a
prosecution, founded on the letters of horning by
* Row's Historic, 408-9. Gordons Scots Affairs, I., 7.
20 THE SUPPLICATION.
which the liturgy was prefaced. For a suspen-
sion of the charge of horning the privy council
was petitioned by three ministers in the diocese of
Glasgow as representatives of their respective
presbyteries, and by Alexander Henderson in his
own name a name which the king and the world
were soon to hear of. To this petition the council
replied with a trifling policy easily seen through
that the proclamation bound the petitioners to buy
copies of the Service-Book, but that it did not bind
them to use them ! This piece of finesse Charles,
whose misfortune it was always to lie when it was
too late, refused to take advantage of : on the con-
trary, he reprehended the lenity of the council to
the authors of the late commotions, blamed their
intermission in the performance of the ritual, and
enjoined its immediate observance. Undaunted by
this show of inflexibility, the people inundated the
council with remonstrances and supplications.
Previous to the adverse answer of the king, many
of the nobility and country gentry had joined the
popular cause. The number of these increased
daily. In order that the state of popular feeling
might be truly represented to Charles, the suppli-
cants, as they were called, chose the Duke of Len-
nox for their envoy; and an immense concourse
presented themselves before him as he passed along
to the privy council. Among these there were
twenty Scottish nobles, almost the whole gentry of
the neighbouring country, many commissioners of
FOKJ1ATION OF THE TABLES. 21
burghs, and about ninety ministers. The petition
was presented by the Earl of Sutherland. In the
course of a month a reply was forwarded in the
shape of a royal proclamation ordering the liturgy
to be enforced, the supplicants to leave Edinburgh
within twenty-four hours, under pain of being de-
nounced rebels, and as a punishment on that city
for the part which it had taken in resisting the royal
authority ordaining the Court of Session to be re-
moved to Linlithgow. The effect of these measures
was another outbreak of popular indignation, and
a new and still more vehement supplication for re-
dress of grievances. Pending the answer to the
latter and the representations of Traquair, the
treasurer, an arrangement was made by the suppli-
cants, with the inadvertent acquiescence of the privy
council, which consolidated the power of the popu-
lar party, and eventually placed the government
of the country in their hands. This was the elec-
tion of delegates by the whole opposers of the court
measures, according to their respective orders. These
again chose their respective committees, viz., four
noblemen, "four barons or country gentlemen, four
burgesses, and four ministers : unity and prompti-
tude were still farther secured by the delegation of
a central committee, in which all the orders were
jointly represented. Such were the famous Tables ;
to whom were committed the public interests in this
hour of peril, and who, by their watchfulness, bold-
ness, and vigour, showed themselves worthy of the
22 THE COVENANT :
trust. This arrangement was no sooner completed
and the multitudes quietly dismissed, than another
proclamation arrived denouncing the second suppli-
cation as derogatory to the interests of the throne,
and forbidding all assemblage of the lieges under
pain of treason. But the king had again miscal-
culated. Wherever his proclamation was read, it
was met by a protest. In Edinburgh it was received
with shouts of derision ; " and such was the conflux
of people about the cross," says Gordon of Rothie-
may, " that either they suffered not, or the crowd
was so thick that the heralds and officers might not,
come off the cross, but were necessitated to stay
and hear their protestations against it, as if one
authority had claimed equal audience to both."*
It was at this critical period that the Tables re-
produced the National Covenant, originally framed
and sworn under the auspices of James VI., but
with additions suited to the peculiar exigencies of
the times. This celebrated muniment contained,
first, an assertion of the doctrines of the Scottish
Reformation, and the presbyterian form of church
government, chiefly in opposition to the Church of
Rome and the forms of the hierarchy, with refer-
ence to all the Acts of the Scottish Parliament in
favour of the former. Then followed an expres-
sion of determined and utter hostility to the late
innovations, as contrary to scripture and the for-
mer Confession of the Church, and subversive of the
* History of Scots Affairs, I., 23. - :
STJBSCEIBED AT EDINBURGH. 23
Reformed religion, and the liberties of the country ;
and a solemn asseveration on the part of the cove-
nanter by " The great name of the Lord onr Grod,
to continne in the profession and obedience" of the
purer faith, and to " defend the same, and resist
all contrary errors" all the days of his life. It also
contained an obligation to support the king's con-
stitutional authority and defend his person ; fol-
lowed by a bond of mutual defence in the pursuit
of the great object of the confederation " against
all sorts of persons whatever."
The Covenant thus adopted by the Tables was
prepared by Alexander Henderson, and Johnston of
"Warriston, andrevised by Lords Balmerino, London,
and Rothes. Its projection was one of those mas-
ter-strokes indicative of the courage and sagacity
of great leadership. The enthusiasm with which
it was subscribed is almost unparalleled in history.
On the 28th February, 1638,* an immense concourse
assembled in Grreyfriars Church-yard. The meet-
ing was opened with prayer by Alexander Hender-
son within the church where the leaders were as-
sembled, and Lord Loudon stated its object in an
address of unwonted energy. The Covenant was
then read by Johnston of Warriston ; and the Earl
of Sutherland was the first who put his hand to the
bond. It was then handed round among the rest
of the nobles and others in the church ; and when
these had signed, it was passed to the multitude in
* Records of the Kirk, 13.
24 THE COVENANT.
the church-yard, where it was received "with un-
bounded enthusiasm. There, spread out on a tomb-
stone, it lay the whole day, and was signed by
thousands, with uplifting of hands, prayers, tears,
sobs, and other marks of intense excitement some
writing their signatures with their blood. On the
following day, it made a triumphant progress through
the city; it was hailed with rapture., sworn and
signed by people of all ranks opulent citizens,
"women, young people, and servant maides," all
says a forecited author, " did sweare and hold up
their hands to the Covenant those who could not
write their names being assisted by a public notary."
Having assisted in setting on foot this powerful in-
strument of organization, and witnessed its success
in the metropolis, the subordinate leaders retired
to their homes, each furnished with a copy of the
Covenant, headed by the names of the most power-
ful of the confederacy, wherewith to call forth the
energies of his own locality in behalf of the great
cause.
CHAPTER II.
STATE OF THE NORTH COUNTRY SUBSEQUENT TO THE RE-
FORMATION BANISHED MINISTERS : BRUCE AND DICK-
SON ARBUTHNOT, JOHNSTON, CRAIG JOHN FORBES
OF ALFORD AND THE ABERDEEN ASSEMBLY, 1605 THE
MARQUIS OF HUNTLY THE ABERDEEN DOCTORS.
THE doctrines of the Reformation, and the Presby-
terian form of Church Government, were late in
striking root in the conntry situated to the north
of the Grampians ; and for many years after their
introduction they made but slow progress there.
Far removed from the centre of agitation scattered
over a poor and ill- cultivated country, with little
means of communication, the inhabitants of those
districts were, in a great measure, placed beyond
the range of that social infection which is so power-
ful an element in all great revolutions. The leaders
of the Reformation, too, were at first poor in means,
and were obliged to supply ministers, in the first
place, to those parishes whence the calls were most
urgent, and which, from their position and local
circumstances, were expected to react with greatest
power on the government and on the surrounding
G
26 STATE OF THE NORTH.
population ; and the interests of remote, parishes,
and of all individual parishes, as such, were neces-
sarily sacrificed for a time to the cherishing of a
vigorous action of the great movement nearer the
heart of the community. Thus, "Wick and Thurso
were the only parishes in the county of Caithness
that had ministers in 1567 seven years after the
legal establishment of Protestantism; and in the
extensive tract between that extreme of the island
and the Grampians, a regular ministry was but
thinly scattered, the other parishes being barely
supplied with readers and exhorters. Another cause
of the slow progress of reformed principles, was the
spirit of clanship, coupled with the attachment of
the more powerful chiefs to " the religion of their
forefathers." Of the three Popish lords who caused
so much trouble in the reign of James YL, two
Huntly and Errol were of the north ; and the
former, as James confessed, was far more power-
ful than the other two conjoined. The Huntly fa-
mily enjoyed the hereditary sheriifships of the
shires of Aberdeen and Inverness offices of great
power and influence from the year 1452 till the
accession of Charles I. ; and it is the boast of the
annalist of that family, that not one gentleman of
the clan Gordon joined the Covenanters at the great
crisis in 1638.*
In the Assemblies of the Church during the reign
of James, that prince placed much dependence on
* Gordons History of the Gordons, II. 150.
BANISHED MINISTERS. 27
the votes of ministers from the north country. If
Assemblies could not he held in places most con-
venient for their attendance, they received money
to assist them on their journey. On one occasion
we find the Archbishop of St. Andrews, in writing
to the king, advising him to fix the place of meeting
so as his majesty's " own northern men might have
commodity to repair."* It was to the northern
shires and isles that James from time to time ban-
ished recusant ministers, in the full expectation
that such feeble and broken exertions as the policy
of a tyrant was pleased to wink at, would find little
encouragement in the midst of a scattered and un-
sympathizing population. In this, however, as
did the two succeeding monarchs, he outwitted
himself. The seeds of evangelical truth and anti-
hierarchical principles were silently dropt by these
persecuted men, and under the very shade of per-
secution grew silently and,
" Like the summer grass, fastest by night:"
so that the king's banishments were, in effect, " or-
dinations" by the great Head of the Church for the
promulgation of doctrines that would not otherwise
have found access into such places.
Among those banished witnesses was Robert Bruce,
minister at Edinburgh, one of the most remarkable
men of his time. Such was his influence with the
people, and his standing with the king, that when
* M' Cries Life of Melville, II. 105.
C 2
28 EGBERT BRUCE AT INVERNESS :
the latter sailed for Denmark to fetch home his
bride, the peace of the country was in a great mea-
sure confided to Mr. Bruce. After a series of
quarrels, arising mainly out of the king's encroach-
ments on the liberties of the Kirk, Bruce was or-
dered to prepare himself to go north and take up
his abode with the Earl of Huntly the head of the
Popish faction and " travail with him for his con-
version!" This plan for disposing of Mr. Bruce
misgiving, he was ordered to confine himself to the
town of Inverness, under highest pains. Here he
arrived in 1605, and continued to labour for some
years with great success. " He preached every
Lord's day forenoon, and every Wednesday ; and
read and exhorted at prayers every evening while
there. Many were converted, and multitudes edi-
fied." His opposition was great from both ministers
and magistrates. One day, while passing through
the streets, a gun was fired at him the ball missing
him by only a few inches. His life being thus in
hazard, at the request of the magistrates of Aber-
deen, he ventured to remove to that city ; but on
complaints of his preaching there being lodged with
the authorities, he was compelled to return to In-
verness, after an absence of only three months.
Here he remained in exile till 1613, chiefly confined
to the town, but sometimes supplying a pulpit in
the neighbourhood ; and at the request of the ma-
gistrates and people of Torres, he filled for some
months the vacancy occasioned by the death of their
HIS SUPPLICATION. 29
minister. At last, by the influence of Ms son, then
at conrt, he was, after eight years of nseful labour
and much suffering, permitted to return home.
But he was a man of too much integrity and in-
fluence to be allowed to pass even a frail old age in
peace. He was among the sufferers on the enact-
ment of the Five Articles of Perth ; and to Inver-
ness he must go a second time. His petition to the
Council for a reversal of this sentence is very
touching : ; " If his Majesty would be graciously
pleased to suffer me to spend the remnant of my
aged and wearisome days at my own house, I will
be very glad, and willing to be perpetually confined
there, and two miles round about ; and I shall never
transcend that bounds, nor meddle with any matter
concerning the policy or government of the Kirk."
It was, perhaps, the proffered pledge contained in
the conclusion of this passage that dwelt on the
mind of the stern but tender-hearted old man, and
showed itself in a remarkable manner eight years
afterwards. An eminent minister Mr. Livingston
relates that he was at the residence of Mr. Bruce
on that day which brought intelligence of the in-
human sentence against Dr. Alexander Leighton.*
* Dr. Alexander Leighton, a Scotsman, for writing " Zion's
Plea against Prelacy," was fined 10,000 whipped at the stake
stood two hours on the pillory on a cold winter night was
branded on one cheek had one ear cut off, and one nostril slit ;
and, eight days after, had the scourging repeated on his raw
wounds, and the branding, cutting, and slitting executed on the
30 SECOND BANISHMENT OF BRUCE :
" That day," says the narrator, " he was long in
coming out of his closet; and when he came his
face was swollen with weeping. Having detailed
the news to his guest, he said " his grief and distress
was not mainly for Dr. Leighton, "but chiefly for
himself; 'For,' said he, 'had I been faithful, I
might hare got the pillory, and some of my blood
shed for Christ as well as he ; but he has got the
crown from us all.' " How true the remark on this
saying, " that those who most excel are most sen-
sible of their short-comings !"
But the petition was unavailing. Mr. Bruce
reached Inverness again, in April 1622. So exas-
perated were the influential classes against him,
that no one would let him a house. Stirred up by
a north country minister, the Lord Enzie and others
annoyed and threatened him. So hot was the per-
secution, that he risked a removal to Chanonry,
but returned at the request of those in Inverness
who had found a blessing in his ministry, and there
continued to labour for some time in the midst of
great opposition. In 1624 he obtained permission
to visit home, and during his stay there the death
of the king prevented the necessity of his return to
exile.
other cheek, ear, and nostril. The inhuman sentence was
wound up by an imprisonment which was meant to be for life,
and, in fact, may be said to have been so. He was released by
the Long Parliament after ten years confinement, but died soon
after. He was the father of Archbishop Leighton. Stevenson's
History, III. 948.
HIS " COMMISSION." 31
As Mr. Bruce was about to leave his own house
of Kinnaird, on his journey to Inverness on the
occasion of his second banishment, as "Wodrow
thinks an impressive and characteristic scene oc-
curred. A number of gentlemen, his relatives and
acquaintances, came to take leave of him, and to
accompany him part of the way. Some of the par-
ty were mounting their horses, others had mounted
and were riding forward softly, when Mr. Bruce's
horse was brought out last. He approached and
was putting his foot in the stirrap ; but, all at once,
" he stopped, and stood with his eyes fixed towards
heaven, in a muse, for nearly a quarter of an hour."
A very intimate friend, having observed his striking
posture, waited till he had mounted, which he did
very cheerfully, and soon came up with him, when
both soon overtook the company. His friend used
the liberty to ask him concerning " the great muse"
he seemed to be in before mounting his horse. Mr.
Bruce answered, " I was receiving my commission
and charge from my Master to go to Inverness, and
he gave it me himself before I set my foot in the
stirrup ; and thither I go, to sow a seed in Inverness
that shall not be rooted out for many ages."
Robert Blair, a man no less eminent than Bruce,
travelled from Glasgow to see the exile ; when that
" ancient and heroic servant of Jesus Christ," as he
fondly calls him, rewarded him by a rehearsal of
"some memorable passages in his history." "While
in the north, "the company and converse of the
32 DICKSON ARBUTHNOT.
Lord's suffering ministers was admirably refreshful
to me," says Blair, "especially at Turriff, where
Mr. David Dickson was confined, and at Inverness."
Turriff soon became a strong post for the covenant.
The fruits of Bruce's exile were abundantly and
clearly traced in the beginning of last century ;*
and it is not too much to say, that it is of the pro-
duct of seed thus sown in tears more than two
hundred years ago, that is now reaped in joy by
many in the north Highlands at this day. Such
were some of the banishments of James VI., and
their results.
Among the few men of note in the north country
who gave their influence to the popular cause during
its earlier struggles with the court were: Alexander
Arbuthnot, nephew of the baron of Arbuthnot, in
the Mearns, first Protestant Principal of the Uni-
versity of Aberdeen, to whose charge the reforma-
tion of that seminary was committed. He was the
friend and correspondent of Andrew Melville, and
executed his important trust while that energetic
reformer discharged a like office for the University
of St. Andrews. He was admirably qualified for
his charge; profoundly learned in theology, and
also in law, which in his youth he had studied pro-
fessionally; and to these acquirements he added
personal piety and integrity. The parish of Logie-
Buchan boasts of him as its first Protestant minis-
* See Collections for a Life of Bruce by Wodrow, prefixed to
Bruce's Sermons. Wodrow Society,
JOHNSTON CRAIG FORBES. 33
ter ; and he held also the parochial charge of Ar-
buthnot but was a hard-working pluralist, in days
when pluralities were matters of necessity, and
meant more work-. He was Moderator of the
General Assembly in an age of great men, and
assisted Knox in revising the Second Book of Dis-
cipline. Arbuthnot died in 1583, and was interred
in the Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen. Andrew
Melville wrote his epitaph :
John Johnston, of the family of Crimond, Aber-
deenshire. Johnston, says Dr. M'Crie, " was a
scholar, a poet, and a divine."* At the request of
Melville he was appointed his colleague in the work
of theological instruction in the University of St.
Andrews :
John Craig, some time colleague of Knox, and
whose intrepid resistance to court measures is well
known, was minister of St. Nicholas, in Aberdeen,
1574-79. In the matter of Episcopacy, however,
his conduct was somewhat equivocal ; and we find
him, in his own church, assisting at the installation
of the first Protestant bishop of the diocese. f
John Forbes, minister of Alford;J Robert Young-
son, minister of Clatt ; Charles Ferme, minister of
Fraserburgh, and principal of the college newly
erected there ; James Ross, minister at Aberdeen ;
James Irvine, minister of Tough, all in Aberdeen-
* Life of Melville, II. 6.
f Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, I. 115.
J Brother of Patrick Forbes of Corse, who afterwards became
bishop of Aberdeen.
34 THE ASSEMBLY AT ABEKDEEN, 1605 :
shire ; and John Monro, minister of Tain, Ross-
shire, are honourably distinguished for the part
they took in withstanding the encroachments of
royal prerogative on the freedom of the Kirk and
the statute laws of the kingdom. James had agreed
that an Assembly should be held at Aberdeen in
July 1604 ; but, although annual Assemblies were
provided for by act of Parliament, he prorogued it
under pretence of more important business. Com-
missioners from the Presbytery of St. Andrews went
forward to the place of meeting on the day originally
appointed, and there protested; and, soon after,
this stretch of prerogative was generally petitioned
against by the ministry. Forbes, who was des-
patched to court on behalf of the Church, returned
with a fair answer ; and July 2, 1605, was ap-
pointed by the king and parliament for an assembly
at Aberdeen with a determination, on the king's
part, again to attempt a prorogation, without nam-
ing a day of future meeting. The royal policy was
characteristically followed out the commissioner
having recourse to the mean and shameless trick of
citing some presbyteries on the 2d, and others on
the 5th of the month. This circumstance, and the
tempestuous state of the weather, were combined
causes of a thin meeting ; * for many even of the
* " Upon the Fryday thaireftir, being the fyft of July, a
numbir of britherine, directit from all pairtis and provinces of
tbe realme, in commissioune to the said Assemblie, come to
Abirdene, hindrith pairtlie by evill wether, and spaits of watteris,
DISCHARGED. YOUNGSOIT. 35
northern ministers were now aroused to a sense of
their duty. On the 2d July only nineteen ministers
assembled in the session-house of St. Nicholas.
They had chosen Forbes for their moderator, and
were engaged in hearing the king's letter, command-
ing them to separate, when the proceedings were
interrupted by a messenger-at-arms, who charged
them instantly to dismiss, on pain of rebellion.
This charge they obeyed, having first appointed a
day of meeting his majesty's commissioner refusing
to do so. No sooner had intelligence of these pro-
ceedings reached the ting, than orders were issued
for a vigorous and vengeful process against the
recusants. They were summoned before the privy
council, and fourteen of them, who stood on their
defence, were committed to various prisons. Forbes,
being a leader, was treated with great barbarity.
He was immured in a solitary cell in Blackness
castle, and denied all intercourse with his friends.
Concerning Youngson, an incident is related
which strikingly illustrates the spirit by which the
persecuted party were actuated. " He had been
induced to make an acknowledgement before the
privy council, and was dismissed. But on the day
when the cause of his brethren came to be tried,
he voluntarily presented himself along with them,
and pairtlie by mistaiking of the day directit by tbe commissiouneris
lettres sent to thair Presbyteries, beiring tbe fyft day of July."
Continuation to Melville's Diary, p. 574. These commis-
sioners sustained the proceedings of their brethren.
36 TKEATMENT OF COMMISSIONERS.
professed his deep sorrow for the acknowledgement
which he had formerly made, averred the' lawful-
ness of the late assembly, and, having, obtained
permission of the conncil, took his place at the bar."*
The ministers declined the authority of the privy
council on the ground that their cause was purely
ecclesiastical ; and for this declinature six of them
were indicted for high treason* On the trial, which
was one of intense interest, two of the accused,
Forbes and John "Welch, distinguished themselves
for the eloquence of their defence. But, in spite
of eloquence and justice, a packed jury who, after
they had retired, held illegal and shameless inter-
course with the crown officers brought in a verdict
of guilty. The sentence which was postponed till
the king's pleasure should be known, James still
farther postponed, intending first to have the re-
maining eight ministers convicted. But so indig-
nant was the nation at this revolting perversion of
law and authority, that with the advice of the
council the diet against them was deserted. They
were released from prison, and banished to the high-
lands and inhospitable isles of the west and north,
where they suffered hardships that brought their
lives to a premature close. f Forbes and the six
* AP Cries Life of Melville.
f Ferme, whose name is also spelled Fairholtn, was sent to
Bute ; Youngson and Irvine, to Orkney ; and Ross to Lewis ;
the rest of the untried were distributed in Kintyre, Shetland,
Caithness, Sutherland : all to remain in banishment under pain
of death, during the king's pleasure. Stevenson, vol. I. In-
troduction. 185.
GEORG-E, SECOND MARQUIS OF HUNTLY. 37
convicted were, after fourteen months' imprison-
ment, banished to France. *
Allusion has been already made to the power of
the Huntly family over the northern shires. About
the time that the ecclesiastical affairs of the nation
came to a crisis, that power had been greatly con-
solidated. Greorge, second marquis of Huntly, who
succeeded to the title and estates in 1636, had
for the securing of his interest to the Protestant
religion, or rather, to the court party been edu-
cated in the royal household as a sort of foster-bro-
ther to prince Charles, now his sovereign. James
had ever cherished a sneaking kindness for the old
Marquis a kindness which he was however fain to
dissemble on account of the unpopularity of the Po-
pish principles of that nobleman ; and those mis-
sions of fire and sword with which the country of
the Grordons was visited during his reign, were, as
much as anything else, for the purpose of saving ap-
pearances. Now, however there was nothing to pre-
vent the freest outgoings of the sovereign's favour on
the one part, or the expression both in word and
deed of the unbounded loyalty of his powerful vas-
sal on the other.
The Covenanters were not ignorant of Huntly's
influence; for immediately on their organization,
* For the assembly at Aberdeen, and the subsequent persecu-
tion, see Melville s Diary, 570 ; Row 224 ; Calderwood, 509
or M' Cries Life of Melville, II. 201.
38 HUNTLT. UNIVERSITIES.
finding that he was the most powerful ontstander
against their cause, they sent Colonel Robert Munro
to deal with him. The reply of the Marquis was
short and resolute. His family, he said, " had risen
and stood by the kings of Scotland; and for his
part, if the event proved the ruin of this king, he
was resolved to bury his life, honours, and estate
under the rubbish of the king's ruins." * This
bold avowal he implemented with the most unbend-
ing resolution. He was residing in Old Aberdeen
when the king's proclamation regarding the Seryice-
Book was set forth ; and while that manifesto was
received in most other places amidst the hootings
of the populace, the Marquis drew together a party
of his friends to support the royal authority at the
market cross of Aberdeen. The usual protest against
the proclamation, was read by the Lord Fraser and
the Master of Forbes, and both parties showed
unequivocal signs of animosity ; but under such
powerful protection, as well as from the indifference
of the people, the royal manifesto had a more fa-
vourable reception than in any other place of note
in the kingdom.
Another great obstacle to the Covenanting inte-
rests in the north, was the high monarchical and
Episcopal principles of the professors in the uni-
versity, and the ministers of the city of Aberdeen.
It does appear strange that universities, those
* Gordons' Scots affairs, I. 49, 50.
THE AEEKDEEK DOCTORS. 39
" lights of a nation," are generally lights, not in
the van, bnt in the rear presenting a concentra-
tion of the light of a past age, and showing what
opinions have been, not what they are, or ought to
be. If, in the cloisters of a university, learning is
to be found there are to be found its cobwebs also.
There it is that the impotent and worn-out ideas of
a byegone age generally find a last refuge. There
they repose in quiet, while the bustling, every-day
world the least brush of which, in its brisk and
onward march, would scatter them to the winds
is busy pursuing its life-work under the inspiration
of congenial and more practical principles. So far
as political and theological science is concerned,
this has been generally true in all ages. Long
after the reformation from Popery, the University
of Aberdeen withstood the siege of the more en-
lightened masses ; and now at the dawn of a better
day, its learned doctors, not content with being the
conservators within their own walls of overdated,
impracticable, and mischievous notions, became the
active antagonists of the new light ; and, by virtue
of their academical learning, and their expert use
of dialectic weapons, their exertions were attended
with no small success.
The learned coterie which acquired such celebrity
in its opposition to the Covenant, under the title of
"The Aberdeen Doctors," consisted of Dr. John
Forbes of Corse, Professor of Divinity ; and Dr.
"William Leslie, Principal of King's College and
40 INFLUENCE OF THE DOCTORS.
University; Dr. Alexander Scroggie, Minister at
Old Aberdeen ; Dr. Robert Barron, Professor of
Divinity ; Dr. James Sibbald and Dr. Alexander
Ross, Ministers in Aberdeen.* The Book of Canons
was, as a matter of course, cordially adopted by
the doctors ; . for it was, in part, their production,
and had issued, by authority, from the press of
Edward Raban the first that had shed its light
from the seat of the Northern "University. The
Service-Book, also so obnoxious in the South
country had been quietly introduced, and continued
to be used in the city churches for some time after
the subscription of the Covenant. Such, indeed,
was the influence, real or supposed, of this learned
body, that cavalier annalists give it as their
opinion, that " if it had pleased the king to have
appointed the reading of the liturgy first for some-
time at Aberdeen by the learned doctors there,
and other places in the north, where the people of
all ranks were well affected to Church and King,
both by principle and inclination, it certainly
would have met with no opposition there, and so
might have had better success afterwards else-
where.'^ We rather suspect these loyal clansmen
were mistaken; but their opinion shows the in-
fluence of the doctors within their own sphere.
* For short notices of the Aberdeen Doctors and their writ-*
ings, see Gordons Scots Affairs, III., 227, notes, et seq,
t Gordon's History of the Gordons, II., 181. Gordon's
Scots Affairs.
CHAPTER III.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TABLES THE BISHOP OF ROSS AND
THE SERVICE-BOOK STATE OF PARTIES THE TABLES
SEND A COMMISSION TO THE NORTH SPEECH OF AN-
DREW CANT AT SUBSCRIPTION OF THE COVENANT IN
INVERNESS COMMISSION TO ABERDEEN DISCUSSION
"WITH THE DOCTORS, AND OPERATIONS IN THE NEIGH r
BOURHOOD.
IMMEDIATELY on the subscription of the Covenant
in Edinburgh, copies were despatched to every
shire, stewarty, and bailiewick, to receive the sig-
natures of the leading men in each, and again to
every parish, to be subscribed by the commonality.
Commissions were also appointed to visit those
localities -where the great movement was viewed
with coldness or aversion, and to organize and con-
solidate individual opinion where leaders were
wanting, or where danger was apprehended. The
Tables were conscious that, so far as Scotland it-
self was concerned, it was in the north that they
had to expect the most extensive and determined
opposition ; and, accordingly, this quarter had an
early and especial share in their regards. So far,
however, as Morayshire and the counties beyond
42 THE SEKVICE-BOOK AT KOSS.
were concerned, measures were precipitated by a cir-
cumstance unexpected by either party.
Among those few places where the Service-Book
had been quietly introduced, was the Episcopal See
of Ross. Maxwell, then bishop an ambitious, in-
triguing, and eminently a courtier prelate by a
two years' use of the English liturgy, had so
smoothed the way, that the one slid into the place
of the other without creating any disturbance.
There were, however, many in the diocese secretly
hostile to both forms; and this hostility, which,
like a hidden fire, crept with silent rapidity from
heart to heart over the whole district, was fanned
into a sudden blaze on the promulgation of the
Covenant in the south. The bold enthusiasm thus
communicated, was, no doubt, further sustained by
a knowledge of the circumstance that the name of
their powerful neighbour, the Earl of Sutherland,
stood first at the great national bond.
On the llth March, 1638 being Sabbath the
cunning bishop, as his custom had been, caused lay
down copies of the Service-Book on the Reader's
desk, and on the desks of some of his supporters,
in the Chanonry Kirk of Ross. It was about, the
ringing of the first bell, and the unsuspecting pre-
late was complacently looking forward to a smooth
day's perfunctionary work among a people whom
priestcraft had tamed to the yoke of tyranny for
he himself was to officiate. But there were other
parties who looked forward to the service, and with
other feelings and designs : for, lo ! ere the last bell
FLIGHT OF THE BISHOP. 43
had rung, a band of young men " scholars,"* or
students at Chanonry entered the church, seized
all the copies of the hated Service-Book, and
carried them in triumph to the Ness, there to burn
them as a public spectacle. But their fire, which
they carried "with them for that purpose, having
been extinguished by a passing shower, they tore
them in pieces and threw them into the frith.
Terrified by the aspect which things had assumed,
Maxwell, notwithstanding, had the policy and pre-
sence of mind to come to church, and preach without
the liturgy taking no notice of what had passed.
But no sooner . was sermon over, than he took
horse, and consulting the Bishop of Moray and
the Marquis of Huntly in his hasty retreat, fled in
disguise to the court. So conscious did he seem to
become all at once of the disgust and bitter hatred
excited against himself by the prominent part
which he had .taken in forwarding the designs of
his tyrannical master, and of himself and co-pre-
lates, that his own anticipations of popular ven-
geance made voluntary exile appear the least of
two evils.f
At court he took the lead of the other fugitive
prelates in urging the king to extreme measures.
They detailed as much of the state of matters as
their own circumscribed knowledge of their respec-
tive localities supplied, or as their hasty flight al-
* Spalding.
t Ibd., 47
D2
44 STATE OF PARTIES.
lowed them to pick up by the way or rather, they
perverted these to incite their master to what ob-
tained the appropriate appellation of " the Bishops'
war." Maxwell's account of the north was that
there stood for the king, or, at least, had not taken
the Covenant : Lord Reay and the highlands of
Strathnaver with most part of the western isles :
in Ross, Sir Thomas Urquhart and his followers, hut
that they were environed by a covenanting neigh-
bourhood: a strong party in Aberdeenshire, headed
by the Marquis of Huntly, under whom, as subordi-
nate leaders, were Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum,
and all the gentry of the name of Gordon : a strong
party in Banffshire, led by Sir George Ogilvy, and
Lord Findlater, Huntly also having, besides his
influence in these places, the absolute command of
Strathaven, Badenoch, and Lochaber, and all those
districts inhabited by the clan Donald and Mc'Ra-
nalds : and, Earl Marischal, who had great power
in the Mearns and in Buchan. In Moray the royal
party was but inconsiderable.* The royal and epis-
copal party in the south was also estimated ; and,
at the conclusion of these details, it was strongly
urged upon the king by the Bishops of Ross and
* Gordons Scots Affairs, I., 60. Marischal and Findlater
joined the Covenanters soon after. Reay was secretly a
Royalist, but took the Covenant; his son, the Master of
Reay, coquetted with Huntly, and also took the Covenant.
The reader of history needs not be informed, that, with many
of the nobles and gentry, especially in the north country,
the choice of sides was merely a matter of personal expediency.
COMMISSION" TO THE NORTH. 45
Brechin, and the Archbishop of St. Andrews, then
Chancellor of Scotland, that a party might easily
be formed of the Northern Clans, joined with the
Anti-Covenanters of the south, sufficiently power-
ful to check the still gathering strength of their
opponents.
Of this counsel the Tables, whose agents perva-
ded all parts of the island and all ranks of society,
were immediately notified ; and, by their decision
and activity, had it anticipated ere ever the court
party were aware. They promptly despatched as
commissioners to the north, the Earl of Sutherland,
Lord Lovat, Lord Reay and others, with Andrew
Cant, minister of Pitsligo, in Aberdeenshire, an
early, bold, and active friend of the covenanted
cause; By these the leading people in Caithness,
Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, Inverness, and Nairn
subscribed the Covenant. The enthusiasm of the
centre seemed to have reached the extremities of
the kingdom. " It was professed by all," says the
Earl of Rothes, " that it was the joyfullest day that
ever they saw, or ever was seen, in the North ; and
it was marked as a special mark of Gfod's goodness
towards these parts, that so many different clans
and names, among whom was nothing before but
hostility and blood, were met together in one place
for such a good cause, and in so peaceable a manner,
as that nothing was to be seen and heard but mu-
tual embracements, with hearty praise to Grod for
so happy a union."
The commissioners arrived at Inverness on the
25th April. The authorities convened, and the whole
46 SPEECH OF ANDREW CASTO?
community were assembled by tuck of drum; and,
the Covenant being produced, Andrew Cant, thence-
forth designated by north-country men," the Apostle
of the Covenant," thus addressed the multitude : *
ago our gracious Gfod was pleased to visit
this nation with the light of his glorious gospel, by
planting a vineyard in, and making his glory to
arise upon Scotland. A -wonder, that so great a
God should shine on so base a soil ! Nature hath
been a stepmother to us in comparison of those who
live under a hotter climate, as in a land like Gfo-
shen, or a garden like Eden. But the Lord looks
not as man : his grace is most free, whereby it often
pleaseth him to coinpense what is wanting in nature :
whence upon Scotland a dark, obscure island, in-
ferior to many the Lord did arise, and discovered
the tops of the mountains with such a clear light,
that in God's gracious dispensation, it is inferior
to none. How far other nations outstripped her
in naturals, as far did she out-go them in spirituals.
Her pomp less, her purity more : they had more of
* This characteristic and now rare address, the production of
a remarkable north-country man, delivered to a north-country
audience under circumstances of unparalleled interest in that
quarter, is, so far as the writer is aware, the earliest of its kind
extant. It is presented entire, from a small volume entitled,
" A collection of several Remarkable and Valuable Sermons,
Speeches, and Exhortations, at Renewing and Subscribing the
National Covenant of Scotland," &c. Edited by the Reverend
Ebenezer Erskine, Glasgow,
AT INVERNESS. 47
Antichrist than she, she more of Christ than they :
in their Reformation something of the beast was re-
served ; in ours not so much as a hoof. When
the Lord's ark was set up among them, Dagon fell,
and his neck brake, yet his stump was left ; but
with us, stump and all was cast into the brook Kid-
ron. Hence king James his doxology in face of
parliament, thanking Grod who made him king in
such a kirk that was far beyond England, (they
having but an ill said mass in English) yea, beyond
Greneva itself; for holy days (one of the Beast's
marks) are in part there retained, which, said he,
to-day are with us quite abolished. Thus to a
people sitting in darkness, and in the shadow of
death, light is sprung up. Thus, in a manner, the
stone that the builders refused is become the head
of the corner. The Lord's anointed to whom the
ends of the earth were given for a possession -and
inheritance came and took up house amongst us,
strongly established on two pillars, Jachin and Boaz,
and well ordered with the staves of Beauty and
Bands, and borrowing nothing from the border of
Rome. Her foundation, walls, doors and windows
were all adorned with carbuncles, sapphires, eme-
ralds, chrysolites and precious stones out of the
Lord's own treasure : Gfod himself sat with his
beauty and ornaments therein, so that it was the
praise and admiration of the whole earth. Stran-
gers and home-bred persons wondered. Such was
the glory, perfection, order and unity of this house,
48 SPEECH OP ANDREW CANT
that the altar of Damascus could hare no peace, the
Canaanite no rest, heresy no hatching, schism no
footing, Diotrephes no incoming, the papists no
couching, and Jezebel no fairding. Our church
looked forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear
as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.
Then Grod's tabernacle was amiable, his glory filled
the sanctuary, the clear fresh streams watered the
city of our Gfod ; the stoutest humbled themselves,
and were afraid. If an idiot entered the Lord's
courts, so great power sounded from Barnabas and
Boanerges, the sons of consolation and thunder, that
they were forced to fall down on their face, and cry,
' This is Bethel, God is here !'
" But, alas ! Satan envied our happiness, brake
our ranks, poisoned our fountains, mudded and de-
filed our streams ; and while the watchmen slept,
the wicked one sowed his tares : whence these di-
vers years by-gone, for ministerial authority, we
had lordly supremacy and pomp ; for beauty, faird-
ing; for simplicity, whorish buskings; for sincerity,
mixtures ; for zeal, a Laodicean temper ; for doc-
trines, men's precepts ; for wholesome fruits, a med-
ley of rites ; for feeders, we had fleecers ; for pas-
tors, wolves and impostors ; for builders of Jerusa-
lem, rebuilders of Jericho ; for unity, rents ; for
progress, defection. Truth is fallen in the streets,
our dignity is gone, our credit lost, our crown is
fallen from our heads ; our reputation is turned to
imputation : before Gfod and man we justly deserve
AT INVERNESS. 49 .
the censure of the degenerate vine ; a backsliding
people, an apostate, perjured nation, by our break-
ing a blessed covenant so solemnly sworn.
" Yet, behold ! when this should have been our
doom, when all was almost gone, when we were down
the hill, when the pit's mouth was opened, and we
were at the falling in, and at the very shaking
hands with Rome ; the Lord, strong and gracious,
pitied us, looked on us, and cried, saying, ' Return,
return, ye backsliding people ; come, and I will
heal your backslidings.' The Lord hath been so
saving, and the cry so quickening, that almost all
of all ranks, from all quarters and corners are awa-
kened and on foot, meeting and answering the Lord,
saying, ' Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the
Lord our God ; other lords besides thee have had
dominion over us, but by thee only will we make
mention of thy name.' All are wondering at the
turn, and looking like them that dream, and are
singing and saying, ' Blessed be the Lord who hath
not given us for a prey to their teeth ! Our souls
are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,
the snare is broken, and we are escaped : our help
is in the name of the Lord who made the heaven
and the earth.' Who thought to have seen such
a sudden change in Scotland, when all second causes
were posting a contrary course when proud men
were boasting and saying, ' Bow down that we may
go over ;' and we laid our bodies as the ground,
and as the streets to them that went over ! But
50 SPEECH OF ANDREW CANT
now, behold one of Clod's wonders ! So many of
all ranks taking the honour and cause of Christ to
heart ; all unanimously, harmoniously and legally
conjoined as one man in supplications, protestations
and declarations against innovations and innova-
tors, corruptions and corrupters. Behold and won-
der ! That old covenant once and again solemnly
sworn and perfidiously violated is now again hap-
pily renewed, with such solemnity, harmony, oaths
and subscriptions, that, I dare say, this hath been
more real and true in thee, Scotland, these few
weeks by-gone, than for the space of thirty years
before. I know Pashurs that went to smite Jere-
miahs, are become at this work Magor-missabib
terror round about ; Zedekiahs wont to smite Mi-
cajah, seek now an inner chamber to hide them-
selves. Tobia and Sanballat gnaw their tongues,
laugh and despise us, saying, ' "What is this ye do ?
"Will ye rebel against the king ? Will ye fortify
yourselves ? "Will ye make an end in a day ?
"Will ye remove the stones out of the heaps of rub-
bish that is burnt ?' Rehum the chancellor, Shim-
shai the scribe, and the rest of their companions,
cease not to fill the ears of a gracious prince with
prejudice, saying, ' Be it known to thee, king, if
this city be built, and the walls thereof set up
again, that they will not pay toll, tribute or cus-
tom.' But to these we answer, ' Let the king live,
and let all his enemies be confounded, let all that
seek his damnation be put to shame here and hencer
AT INVERNESS. 51
forth : but as for you, ye are strangers, meddle
not with the joy of Gfod's people ; ye have no portion,
right nor memory in Grod's Jerusalem.' If the be-
gun work vex them, it is no wonder : it does prog-
nosticate the ruin of their kingdom ; and that Ha-
man, who hath begun to fall before the seed of the
Jews, shall fall totally : the Lord is about to prune
his vineyard, and to drive out the foxes that eat
the tender grapes ; to pluck up bastard plants, and
to whip buyers and sellers out of the temple. The
Lord is about to strike the Grehazies with leprosy,
and to bring low the Simon Maguses who were so
high lifted up by Satan's ministry. The Lord is
calling the great ones to put to their shoulder and
help his work ; he hath been in the south, saying,
' Keep not back,' and blessed be Gfod, they have
not. He hath now sent to the north, saying, ' Give
up ; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters
from the ends of the earth :' contend for the faith
once delivered to Scotland. There is but one Lord,
one faith, one cause that concerns all. Though this
north climate be cold, I hope your hearts are not
at least, they should not be cold. The earth is the
Lord's and its fulness, the world and they that
dwell therein ; the uttermost parts of the earth are
given to Christ for a possession ; his dominion is
from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of
the earth. Come then, and kiss the Son ; count it
your greatest honour to honour Christ, and to lend
his fallen truths a lift. Come and help to build
52 SPEECH OF ANDREW CANT.
the old wastes, that ye may be called the repairers
of the breach ; and then shall all generations call
you blessed. Then shall Grod build up your houses
as he did to the Egyptian midwives, for their fear-
ing Grod, and for their friendship to his people Is-
rael. Be not like the nobles of Tekoa, of whom
Nehemiah complained, that they would not put
their necks to the work of the Lord. Be not like
Meroz, whom the angel of the Lord cursed bitterly,
for not coming to the help of the Lord against the
mighty. Neither be ye like those mockers and
scorners at the renewing of the Lord's covenant in
Hezekiah's days, but rather like those whose hearts
the Lord humbled and moved. Be not like those
invited to the king's supper, who refused to come,
and had miserable excuses, and therefore should
not taste of it. We hope better things of you;
Grod hath reserved and advanced you for a better
time and use : but if ye draw back, keep silence,
and hold your peace, Grod shall bring deliverance
and enlargement to his church another way ; but
Gfod save you from the sequel ! Nothing is craved
of you but what is for Grod and the king ; for Christ's
honour, and the kirk's good, and the kingdom's
peace : Gfod give to your hearts courage, wisdom
and resolution for Grod and the king, and for Christ
and his truths ! Amen."
At the conclusion of this address the whole in-
habitants of the town subscribed the Covenant, with
ELGIN". BESULT OF THE COMMISSION. 53
the exception of the minister and a few others.*
At Forres the whole presbytery subscribed, except
the minister of Dallas. On the 30th the commis-
sioners came to Elgin ; and, the municipal authori-
ties and town's people being assembled in the pa-
rish church, Mr. Cant addressed them from the
Reader's desk ; after which, all subscribed except
John Grordon, the minister. The Bishop of Moray,
alarmed at the unlooked-for success of the Cove-
nant in the north, forthwith began, says Spalding,
" to furnish his house of Spynie with all necessary
provision, men and meat, ammunition, powder, and
ball, as he who foresaw great troubles to follow ;
but all in vain !"
Such was the result of the infatuated counsel of
the bishops the first intelligence of which had
little more than reached the court, when this rapid
and effective mission was finished. The prelates
thus baulked in their design, had the additional
mortification of being coldly looked on by the king.
The Commission to Aberdeen, as might be ex-
pected from the importance of the place, and the
nature of the opposition, included among its mem-
* Spalding says, the commissioners threatened " to note up
their, names who refused to suhscrihe." It is probably to this
alleged circumstance that a covenanting writer alludes, when he
mentions that the town's drummer, in convening the meeting,
added something of his own accord about pains and penalties,
which " gave occasion to their adversary to calumniate their pro-
ceedings." Spalding, indeed, owns that the people '' subscribed
willingly." Spalding's Troubles, 48. Rothes' Relation, 107.
54 COMMISSION TO ABERDEEN".
bers some of the most distinguished representatives
of the rank, talent, and eloquence, adhering to the
popular cause. At its head was the Earl of Mon-
trose, a young nobleman of aspiring genius, great
activity, and fine accomplishments one on whom
the eyes of his fond countrymen rested with hope.
His principal colleagues were, The Lord Opupar,
The Master of Forbes, Burnet of Leys, and Graham
of Morphie men of less note, but of local influence.
"With these were conjoined Alexander Henderson,
minister of Leuchars, a man of grave courage and
impressive elocution ; David Dickson, one of King
James' northern exiles, now minister at Irvine ; and
Mr. Andrew Cant. The Commissioners entered the,
town on the 20th July, 1638, and were immediately
waited on by the magistrates, who, according to the
custom of the burgh, oifered them " a treat of wine
for welcome." But the Commissioners were so eager
on the fulfilment of their mission, that they somewhat
unceremoniously declined the corporation banquet
at least until they should see the names of their
entertainers adhibited to the Covenant : " Where-
at" to borrow the quaint language of our autho-
rity, "the provost and baillies were somewhat offend-
ed, and suddenly took their leave ; caused deal the
wine in the bead-house among the poor men, whilk
they had so disdainfully refused, whereof the like
was never done to Aberdeen in no man's memory !"*
The conduct of the Commissioners was perhaps short
*" * Spalding's Troubles, 50, 51.
QUEEIES OF THE DOCTOES. 55
in courtesy, and the ludicrous indignation of the
city chronicler is quite natural; but the incident
considering circumstances is scarce worth the
animadversions of some modern "writers, the best
reply to whom perhaps is, that their own courtly
Montrose headed the Commission on the occasion.
Those civic visitors had scarcely gone, when the
commissioners received a document, signed by " The
Doctors," containing a list of somewhat captious
queries, to which the subscribers requested answers
promising to subscribe the Covenant, should those
answers prove satisfactory. These queries, although
ostensibly got up on the immediate occasion, had
been long discussed and carefully prepared by the
querists, and had even been printed and submitted
at court ere the commissioners saw them.* Among
other things the Doctors demanded to " know par-
ticularly of their reverend brethren by what autho-
rity they could require of them or their people to
subscribe this Covenant, which had neither the
authority of the King, the Lords of the Privy
Council, the national Synod, nor of any other judi-
catory'; and how they could attempt to enforce
upon them their interpretation of the articles of the
" Negative Confession."! In the reply of the com-
missioners there are the gleamings forth of more
enlightened principles, and a milder spirit, than
were common to that age. They said, " that they
* Baillies Letters, I. 97, Edinburgh, 1841.
"\ The National Covenant subscribed by James VI. was so called.
56 PROCEEDINGS IN ABERDEEN.
had not come hither to usurp the authority of any
civil or spiritual tribunal, or to enforce upon their
reverend brethren and the people committed to their
charge, the subscription of the Covenant, or the in-
terpretation of the Confession that is called negative;
but were sent to represent to them, in all humility,
the present state and condition of the Church and
kingdom, calling for help at their hands, and, in
brotherly love, to exhort and entreat that they
would be pleased to contribute their best endea-
vours to extinguish the common combustion ; which,
by uniting with almost the whole Church and
kingdom in the Covenant, they trusted they might
lawfully do, without prejudice to the king's ma-
jesty, or to any lawful judicatory."*
This reply, as the reader will easily guess, was
unsatisfactory ; and the Doctors joined the magis-
trates in their refusal of the use of the city churches
to the deputation on the following day, which was
Sabbath. At that time, the Earl Marischal had a
mansion on the north side of Castlegate, (from
which the modern Marischal Street takes its name;)
and this house was occupied by Lady Pitsligo, a
fast adherent of the Covenant. On the galleries
in the court of this mansion, the bold Covenanters,
nothing daunted, took their station on Sabbath
morning ; and first Dickson, next Henderson, and,
lastly, Cant, in that impressive and fiery eloquence
by which they were characterized addressed the
* Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, I., 199.
VISIT TO BTTCHAIT. 57
crowds that flocked to hear them, during the in-
terval of the church services. At the conclusion
of his sermon, Henderson read to his audience the
queries of the Doctors, followed up by the Com-
mission's reply to them. These addresses were
variously received. Some listened attentively, and
a few were convinced : by others, the speakers
were hooted and pelted.* But, notwithstanding this
equivocal reception, the speakers, in succession,
addressed the populace, from the same place, on
the morning of the succeeding day, previous to a
detour through Buchan, where they got many sub-
scriptions of both ministers and people.
Through the exertions of Cant lately a member
of the Presbytery of Alford, now of Deer a ma-
jority of ministers in these presbyteries had sub-
scribed the Covenant previous to the visit of the
commissioners. They travelled with a retinue of
only about thirty horse ; but their way being thus
prepared, multitudes resorted to them out of Buchan,
Mar, the Grarioch, the Mearns, who gladly adhibi-
* " It is remarkable that whill the Commissioners were
preaching in my Lord Marischall's closse, many came out of
curiositie to see and heare, and many to mock, among whom
wes a young man called Johne Logie, student, son to Mr. An-
drew Logie, (mali corvi malum ovum) who did cast clods in upon
the commissioners when Mr. Alexander Henderson was preaching.
This John Logie, within a few dayes, interpryzing to take some
pease growing hesyde Aberdeen, being repulsed by the owner and
hia son, Nicol Torrie, he killed his son Nicol, 1644, was taken
with Haddo and execut." Row, 496.
.E
58 SUBSCRIBERS IN ABERDEEN 1 .
ted their names to the national bond. They did
not venture farther, in a northerly direction, than
Turriff, knowing the power of Huntly in that
quarter; but returned to Aberdeen, after a six
days' absence, where they received of influential
names, John Lundie, master of the Grammar
School and Procurator of King's College ; David
Lindsay, minister of Belhelvie, and constant Mo-
derator of the Presbytery under the episcopal ar-
rangement. Andrew Melvil, minister of Banchory-
Devenick; Thomas Melvil, minister of Dyce; Wal-
ter Anderson, minister of Kinellar ; "William
Robertson, minister of Futtie ; Alexander Jaffray
of Kingswells ;* and these were followed by sundry
burgesses and common people.
Besides those who signed unconditionally, Dr.
Gruild, one of the ministers of Aberdeen ; Dr. "Wil-
liam Johnston, Teacher of Mathematics in Maris-
chal College ; and Robert Reid, minister of Ban-
chory-Ternan, subscribed with a reservation of their
* Sometime Provost of the town, and father of the more ce-
lebrated Alexander Jaffray, Director of the Chancelry of Scot-
land under Cromwell. Concerning the elder Jaffray, mentioned
above, Spalding has the following curious entry : " 1636
Mr. Alexander Jaffray was chosen Provost of Aberdeen for a
year, in January this year. Many thought little both of the man
and the election, not being of the old blood of the town, but the
oy of a baxter [grandchild of a baker], and therefore was set
down in the provost's desk to sermon, with a baken pie before
him. This was done several times, but he miskenned all, and
never quarrelled the samen." Troubles, 36.
DR. GUILD. 59
own opinions concerning the Articles of Perth,
which they considered indifferent, but which they
were willing to forbear for a time, for the sake of
peace ; and with a like reservation on the subject
of bishops, and their loyalty to the king. The
known sentiments of Dr. Guild, and his conduct on
this and other occasions, has laid him open to the
charge of latudinarianism or of inconsistency ; and
it would be doing injustice to truth to deny that
the defenders of his consistency, and, sometimes, of
his honesty, have a difficult task. So far back as
1617, he had been consulted by Bishop Andrews
regarding the introduction of a" liturgy in the Scot-
tish Church, and was present at the assembly in that
year, held at Aberdeen, when a measure to that end
was agreed upon, in which his biographer and ad-
mirer Dr. Shireffs, thinks it probable he concurred.
Guild was appointed to one of thei city churches
in 1631, and thus became the colleague of the
" Doctors," who had pastoral charges there. He far-
ther identified himself with the celebrated coterie, by
becoming a party to the queries propounded to the
Covenanting commission; and this gave colour to the
charge of apostacy by the king's party, when on the
next day he signed the Covenant, although with
limitations. Being a man of tact, and some talent,
and adding to these the status which property gives,
Dr. Gruild was the same year chosen by the pres-
bytery of Aberdeen to appear at the memorable
assembly at Glasgow. But although, says his bio-
E2
60 DUPLY OF THE DOCTORS :
graplier, it is probable he was " inclined to favour
episcopacy, his endeavours in the cause were directed
by that discretion which governs zeal and tempers
resolution." It is easy to guess that the assembly at
Glasgow was no place for his " discreet" endeavours,
and accordingly we hear nothing of them. The
Doctor afterwards took the Covenant without limi-
tation ; and when it had received the reluctant
sanction of his majesty, he endeavoured in " a pious
and affectionate address, to diffuse a spirit of loyal
attention to the subject."*
During the absence of the commissioners the
Doctors had not been idle. They had during the
week prepared and printed a reply to the Answers
of the Covenanters, and circulated it along with
copies of the original queries ; and with these the
commissioners were served on their return. Next
day, being Sabbath, the ministers again addressed
the populace from their old galleries in Earl Ma-
rischal's Court, and in course of a day or two, with
the pamphlets of the Doctors in their pockets, they
passed southward, but staid for a short time at Mu-
chals a seat of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leys,
whence they issued a second Reply to their learned
opponents. The Doctors followed up soon after
with an elaborate Duply, which was considered a
finishing stroke ; " For," says the parson of Ro-
thiemay triumphantly, " thes duplyes gott never
* Shireffs' Inquiry into the Life, Writings, and Character of
Dr. William Guild, 19, 53,56.
THEIR. DOCTRINES. 61
an answer to this daye."* That the reader may
know the doctrines that were thus learnedly, and
as some thought, irresistibly urged, and see the mon-
ster antagonist, against which in one of his atti-
tudes at least the Covenanters had begun the bat-
tle, we quote the contemporary summary and sen-
tence of Principal Baillie, who was himself at first in-
clined to the opinions of the Doctors ; " They, [the
writers of the Duplies] will have us to believe, that
our whole estate, were they to be all killed in a day,
or to be led to Turkism, to be spoiled of all liberty,
goods, life, religion, all, yet they may make no kind
of resistance ; the conclusion is so horrible, and
their proofs so weak, for all their diligence and
learning, that I like it much worse than I did."f
The course of events soon showed that the Cove-
nanters had other and more practical work than
the mere play of logical weapons, however skilful.
The number of signatures to the Covenant pro-
cured in Aberdeen is unknown ;| but so far as im-
* History of Scots Affairs, I. 88.
f Letters, I. 16.
J Baillie says, " Some four or fyve hundred, at least a good
number, whereof sundry were of the best qualitie did subscryve,"
on the first day of subscription. Letters and Journals, I. 97.
An examination of the local and contemporary annals although
exact numbers are not given. will lead to the conviction that
there is an inaccuracy here. The vagueness of the terms, in-
deed, prove the data of the writer to have been uncertain. Per-
haps these numbers ought to be taken as the total subscriptions
received in the town arid neighbourhood, during the visit of the
commission.
62 ROYAL FAVOURS.
mediate results were concerned, the visit of the com-
missioners, to the town itself, "was, doubtless, un-
successful. Their overtures to the magistrates were
seconded by the Table of burgesses, in a letter pre-
sented by the lairds of Dun, Morphie, Balmain, and
Leys ; but they stood firm, repeating the reasons
of the Doctors. This reception of the Covenant in
the " loyal and braif town" was highly appreciated
at court. The good service of the authorities was
acknowledged in a letter from the king himself
"particularly their hindering some strange minis-
ters from preaching in any of their churches" of
which Ms majesty assured them he had taken " par-
ticular notice." This was followed by a new char-
ter for the burgh. The Doctors also had a letter
of thanks : and each document was accompanied by
one from the Marquis of Hamilton, the royal com-
missioner.
CHAPTER IY.
COMMISSION OF HAMILTON HIS ENTRY INTO EDINBURGH
THE COMMISSIONER'S INSTRUCTIONS NEGOTIATIONS
" THE KINGS' COVENANT," AT ABERDEEN AND THE
OTHER NORTHERN BDRGHS GLASGOW ASSEMBLY
NORTHERN MEMBERS SENTENCES OF THE NORTHERN
BISHOPS PREPARATIONS FOR "VVAR.
IN order that our sketches of local events may be
"better understood, it will be necessary to take a
retrospective glance at the great current of national
events, which in the foregoing details we have some-
what out-stripped.
In the month of March immediately on the pro-
mulgation of the Covenant, and while it was making
its way in its early strength rolling like a trium-
phant wave from centre to circumference of the
land the privy council, alarmed at the aspect of
affairs, sent a special messenger to the king. It
seemed to be their conviction, that the policy of
Charles was ill suited to the temper of the times,
and of the men with whom he had to deal. Those
men, they themselves had come in contact with.
6-i THE PKIVY COUNCIL, THE TABLES, THE COURT;
They saw it was no squeamish repugnance at trifling-
ceremonies that stirred up popular feeling from it&
depths ; hut a deep and solemn conviction on the
part of the nation at large that their dearest rights
were in jeopardy, and that there was nothing which
their countrymen would not hazard in their defence r
and they became possessed with the conviction, that
nothing short of speedy and ample concession on the
part of the king would prove effectual in allaying
popular discontent. The person whom they chose
to represent those opinions and feelings to his ma-
jesty, was Sir John Hamilton of Orbiston. The
Covenanters at the same time forwarded a suppli-
cation to the king, by the hands of John Livingston,
one of their ministers ; but as an earnest of what
all such petitions and petitioners might expect, Liv-
ingston was not four hours in London before orders
were given for his apprehension, and the petition
was returned to Scotland unopened. On the re-
presentation of the council, however, three of their
own number were summoned to court, and several
of the most eminent and least suspected Scottish
lawyers were consulted on the national affairs. The
councillors pressed concession, the lawyers gave
opinions favourable to the Covenanters ; but the
fugitive Scottish bishops and Laud, came to the
assistance of the king's pride and obstinacy ; and
although their plan of rousing the clans proved
abortive, yet reduction and chastisement by force
of arms, was the method which he cherished in his
COMMISSION OF HAMILTON. 65
heart, but which he deemed expedient, in the mean-
time, to keep in abeyance. His first ostensible
movement, therefore, was, to commission the Mar-
quis of Hamilton to treat with the Covenanters,
for the purpose of gaining time ; and that noble-
man was furnished with instructions accordingly.
The royal commissioner had only reached the
confines of the kingdom, when he began to experi-
ence the difficulties of his task. Instead of being
greeted at Berwick by an imposing cavalcade of
nobles and gentry, to sustain the dignity of his
official character, and add influence to his mission,
according to previous instructions ; he was met by
a few of the Covenanting nobility, on the sole errand
of representing on their own behalf> and on behalf
of others of their order, their reasons for not ap-
pearing in- the manner desired. Even his own vas-
sals had either joined the ranks of the Covenant,
or were afraid openly to adhere to him. Mortifi-
cations awaited him at every step. A ship had
been detected secretly landing arms at Dalkeith,
the residence of the commissioner at his first arrival.
The Covenanters suspecting a plot, refused to wait
on him there, and at the same time placed a bio-
cade on Edinburgh Castle, for which the military
stores were designed ; and Hamilton refused to sub-
mit to the alleged indignity of entering the metro-
polis for the purpose of negotiation, while the
royal castle was under guard by the supplicants.
The matter was eventually compromised, and the
66 HAMILTON'S ENTRY INTO EDINBURGH.
9th June was named as the day of his public en-
trance into the capital.
It was a memorable day in the history of Scot-
land. The leaders of the popular party, or rather,
of the nation, with the justifiable desire of impress-
ing the representative of their sovereign with a true
idea of the strength of their cause, chose for him
a circuitous route, with a fine sweep by the sea
shore, as best adapted to their object. As he neared
the metropolis, attended by the few nobility and
gentry who adhered to the king, an imposing scene
burst upon the view of the commissioner. Along
the margin of the frith were ranged in rants, which
extended for miles, sixty thousand of his fellow
countrymen, in silent order, their minds intensely
possessed by one absorbing idea. Forth from this
unique and peaceful army issued, as he approached,
the chivalry of the Covenant its nobles and many
hundreds of its gentry, gallantly mounted, and, re-
spectfully saluting him, fell in with his retinue.
As the train deployed through the brave but peace-
ful thousands that lined the sea beach, the pent-up
feelings of the multitude began to vent themselves ;
and, as the undulating ranks bowed in homage to
the king's messenger, prayers, mingled with tears
and sobs were wafted toward heaven, that Grod
would incline his heart to redress their grievances.
One characteristic and striking element of this so-
lemn and thrilling spectacle, was a body of more
HIS INSTRUCTIONS. 67
than five hundred ministers,* haMted in black
gowns, drawn np in array on an eminence near the
links of Leith. As the astonished commissioner
passed this "body, he addressed them, saying, " Ye
are the salt of the earth." So much was he over-
come with the moral grandeur of the whole scene
that, with tears in his eyes, he wished that his royal
master had been present to behold it.
But such tears were no part of Hamilton's in-
structions. He came armed with a declaration com-
mencing with blandishments, and ending in threats;
which he was subsequently instructed to divide,
and reserve the latter part till he should hear
of a fleet sailing for Scotland. " I give you leave"
wrote his infatuated master, in praise of whose
virtue so much delirious rant has been poured forth
by sentimental bigotry and the professed haters
of hypocrisy " I give you leave to flatter them
with what hopes you please, so you engage not
me against my grounds your chief end being
now to win time, until I be ready to suppress
them." Amongst the arrangements for suppres-
sion, was a design which he intimates of sending
three ships to the coast of Ireland, " under pre-
tence to defend our fishermen ; thus you may see,"
writes he, " that I intend not to yield to the de-
mands of these traitors, the Covenanters." The
following, under the king's hand, indicates more
* Baillies Letters, I., 83.
68 ILL SUCCESS.
forcibly his own character and policy throughout
the whole of his reign than anything that has been
written on the subject. " There be two things in
your letter that require answer, to wit the answer
to their petition, and concerning the explanation
of their damnable Covenant. For the first, the
telling you that I hare not changed my mind in
this particular, is answer sufficient ; and for the
other, I will only say, that, so long as this Covenant
is in force, (whether it be with or without an ex-
planation,) I have no more power than the Duke
of Venice, which I will rather die than suffer : yet
I commend the giving ear to the explanation, or
anything else, to win time."*
In this heartless and cold-blooded work of
amusing his countrymen with hollow pretences while
preparations were making for their destruction,
Hamilton, as he anticipated, was utterly unsuc-
cessful. His graduated and equivocal concessions
were seen through. Even these, it was remarked,
touched not the order of Bishops ; and they
were clogged with the indispensable prerequisite of
renunciation of" the Covenant. " Renounce the
Covenant !" was the reply, " we will as soon re-
nounce our baptism !" Gleams of false promise,
and threats of vengeance, were played off on the
hopes and fears of the Tables with like effect;
and the commissioner, to " win time," made a
* Letters of Charles to Hamilton, Records of the Kirk of
Scotland, 68, et seq.
NEW OVERTURES THE KING'S COVENANT. 69
journey to court for farther instructions. It was
during his absence that the Covenanting com-
missioners visited Aberdeen.
Hamilton returned with the offer of a Greneral
Assembly for the settlement of religious matters,
but so prelimited in its constitution and jurisdic-
tion, that it was courteously but firmly declined ;
and the Tables reluctantly agreed to defer for
twenty days calling an Assembly on the sole
authority of the Church, till Hamilton should make
a second journey to court. Meantime, they were
themselves employed in a discussion, the result of
which is remarkable, as indicating the popular
tendencies of the movement. Three Tables affirm-
ed the right of ruling elders to a place in the
national Synod, in opposition to a majority of the
clerical Table, to whom the king's limitation in
this matter was not unpalatable.
The next step in this sham treaty was one os-
tensibly in advance. On his return from court,
the commissioner issued a proclamation containing
a sort of oblivion for acts of recusancy heretofore
committed by the Covenanters ; a discharge of the
more apparent and obnoxious religious innovations ;
the indiction of a General Assembly for the 22d
November, and a Parliament on the 15th May.
But the most characteristic stroke of chicane was
yet to come. He produced a copy of the National
Covenant of James VI., which, having been de-
signed mainly as an instrument against Popery,
70 DETECTION : PROTEST.
simply bound the subscriber to maintain religion
" as then professed." There could be no question
about what form of religion was professed by the
nation in 1638 ; but Charles, in the true spirit of
a Jesuit, and under the protection of a legal fiction,
determined tacitly to understand Episcopacy, and
commanded Hamilton to subscribe this document
in his name, and having added thereto a bond to
" defend his Majesty's person," to enjoin its sub-
scription on the nation.
This proclamation and covenant, intended not
simply to cheat, but also to divide, the Covenanters,
pleased a few of the unwary at first, but were met
by the Tables in an elaborate and vigorous protest.
They repudiated the idea of a pardon for exercis-
ing their undoubted rights ; showed that the in-
novations and their authors, and not those who
lawfully resisted them, were the cause of the na-
tional disturbances ; and pointed out, with clear-
ness and force, the deceptive nature of the king's
" discharge" of those innovations, while they were
supported by several unrescinded Acts of council,
and while the office of bishop was still recognized,
and the present holders of that office summoned to
the ensuing Assembly and Parliament.
The protest of the Tables, and its success in the
metropolis, did not prevent Hamilton from pushing
" the King's Covenant" in the country. A com-
mission was appointed to press its signature. But
the majority of those nominated, being Covenanters,
THE KING'S COVENANT AT ABERDEEN. 71
declined to act ; and few even of those "who had
taken no part with the Tables would interest them-
selves in the object of the mission. The total
amount of subscriptions was only twenty-eight
thousand ; and of these, twelve thousand had been
procured by Huntly.
The Marquis of Huntly the only nobleman that
seemed to throw any heart into his exertions on
the king's behalf arrived in Aberdeen on the 4th
October, accompanied by his two sons, the Lords
Grordon and Aboyne ; Sir Alexander Irvine of
Drum, Sheriff of the county; Gordon of Cluny,
and others. The magistrates subscribed ; the Doc-
tors demurred, except with explanations to the
effect that they did not renounce Episcopacy, the
Articles of Perth, or other rites and doctrines not re-
pugnant to scripture, or the doctrine and discipline
of the Church established by law thereby shaming
their royal master, for whom they had fought
so well. On the morrow, being Friday, a herald,
in full uniform, appeared at the market cross, to pub-
lish the king's proclamation. There he found await-
ing him, on behalf of the Covenant, the Lord Era-
ser and the Master of Forbes, with three notaries,
for the purpose of taking a protest, surrounded by
a multitude, some of whom had taken possession
of the cross. Huntly, professing to fear some ob-
struction in the discharge of his mission, had re-
quested the magistrates to surround the cross with
a guard of musketeers ; which they, with proverbial
caution, refused to do. But on seeing the state of
72 PROCLAMATION AND PROTEST.
matters, Lieutenant Colonel Johnston, a less pru-
dent loyalist, who was stationed in the " catch-
peall" with his trained-bands, was ready to sally
forth on the Covenanters, and was only restrained
by the threats of the magistrates.* The herald
having cleared the cross in the king's name,, " The
Lord Marquis," says the picturesque city chroni-
cler, " came frae his lodging, with his sons and
friends, and the laird of Drum, Sheriff of Aberdeen,
as one of the foresaid commissioners, and ascended
up the cross, standing beside the herauld uncovered ;
the drum beat, and the proclamation published, and
the Lord Fraser and Master of Forbes came to
hear, at the south side of the cross, where they
stood first. The proclamation ended, the Marquis
gave a great shout, saying, ' God save the king !'
syne peaceably left the cross. But immediately
the Lord Fraser and Master of Forbes, came to
the same place where the Marquis stood, and made
protestations against the samen, set down in write,
and took instruments, throwing the paper whereon
the protestation was written, out of his hand, into
the air, and gave also a great shout, saying, ' God
save the king !' The people cried out with great joy
at the Marquis' shout, but few or none cried out
with the Lord Fraser." f
Notwithstanding the popularity of the royal
* To which Row adds, " a great shower of raine." Histo-
ric, 501.
\ Spalding, 63.
THE KING'S COVENANT SIGNED. 73
cause and the Marquis of Huntly in Aberdeen, the
King's Covenant was likely, for some time, to get no
signatures among the multitude. The reason -was,
the Doctors, as we have seen, would sign only with
explanations ; and the Marquis fearing the conse-
quences of introducing in public the practice of re-
servation, or, having no idea of indulging such
scruples on the part of common people, had thought
it advisable to take the subscriptions of these learn-
ed leaders in private. The people, however, sus-
pecting that all was not right, would not sign unless
preceded by their beloved Doctors ; and, to obviate
this difficulty, Dr. Sibbald, one of the most popular
among them, came forward and told them that he
and his brethren had already subscribed, but that
he was ready, for the satisfaction of his townsmen,
to do so again. He then repeated his explanations,
attached his name to the bond, and was immediate-
ly followed by a majority of the citizens. It was
afterwards discovered that it had been signed in
Aberdeen with three different sets of explanations
a circumstance which subsequent events compel us
to refer not so much to tenderness of conscience,
as to the peculiar position of political parties in
the north. On the whole, the King's Covenant was
a failure even there.
On Monday the 8th October, at Old Aberdeen, the
Marquis was received at Bishop Bellenden's house
by the Principal of the King's College, the gentry
of the neighbourhod, and almost the whole body of
74 THE GLASGOW ASSEMBLY :
the people ; who, on the king's proclamation and
Covenant being read, subscribed, with the excep-
tion of John Lundie, Master of the Grammar School
and Procurator of the College who, as we have
seen, had subscribed the people's Covenant in the
month of July. The herald and town's drummer
were then despatched to Banff and Inverness, there
to publish the same documents, "with a discreet
man to receive the people's subscriptions" which
mission was discharged without opposition or pro-
test. " It is reported," says our frequently quoted
authority, "that his majesty liked well of both
Aberdeens and the Doctors' constancy, whereupon
he makes New Aberdeen Sheriffs within themselves,
which they never had before."*
As the 21st of November approached, the busy
note of preparation sounded more briskly through-
out the land. The bishops were libeled in name
of sundry noblemen, barons, burgesses, and minis-
ters, as the representatives of their respective clas-
ses, and cited by the presbyteries to appear on that
day to answer for certain crimes, ecclesiastical and
moral, at the bar of the Assembly. In every burgh
and presbytery the elections went briskly on, and
unanimously in favour of the Covenant, with a few
exceptions, among which was the presbytery of
Aberdeen.f The majority of that presbytery re-
turned as commissioners, David Lindsay, minister of
* Spalding, 63.
I For Northern Commissioners see Appendix, A.
THE ABEKDEEN DOCTORS. 75
Jelhelvie, whom Baillie characterises as " a stirring
,nd pragmatic bold man." The minority forwarded
>y the hands of one Harvie, for himself, Dr. Barron,
,nd Dr. Sibbald, a commission. which, when pre-
ented was rejected as " done neither at the place
if meeting nor in presence of the presbytery, but
>y three ministers only, and in their own houses."
It was at first feared by the Covenanters that
Aberdeen would be chosen as the place of meeting
f the Assembly ; but Glasgow was preferred by
lamilton because of his family influence in that
teighbourhood. Yet, being desirous of the advice
,nd assistance of the Doctors during the elections,
>s well as at the Assembly, he warmly urged their
Attendance, offering to send a coach for them.
?hey were looked on by both parties as the only
aen to meet the champions of Presbytery. So
dgh was the estimate of their powers, even among
he Covenanting leaders, that they had doubts
bout the propriety of appointing Henderson to
he Moderator's chair, and thereby rendering him
neligible as a disputant, should the Aberdeen
)octors make their appearance.* The Assembly
tad withal an anxious wish for the presence of
hose celebrated casuists, "hoping by this," says
Stevenson, " to have the bottom beat out of the
>pposition in that place. "f The Doctors, however,
lisappointed both friends and foes, by declining to
Attend.
* Battlies Letters, L, 122. f History, II. 506.
76 THE GLASGOW ASSEMBLY :
On the 16th November, Hamilton arrived at
Glasgow with a great following of state officers,
friends, and retainers. Multitudes also of the Co-
venanting party flocked from all quarters of Scot-
land ; and for defence while travelling, as well as
in anticipation of the worst issue of the gathering,
they came completely armed. The Bishops of Ross
and Argyle, the boldest of the bench, were the only
individuals of their order who dared to approach
the scene of it its coming overthrow. They had
travelled in Hamilton's retinue, and were lodged
for safety in the castle of Glasgow, under his im-
mediate protection. At length the long-looked-for
day arrived, and there sat down in Glasgow Ca-
thedral so far as moral greatness is concerned
one of the most august assemblies known in the
history of modern civilization. The Commissioner
was enthroned in great pomp, and at his feet
sat the privy council, about thirty in number.
In the body of the building, around a long table,
were ranged in stern array, one hundred and
forty clerical and ninety-five lay commissioners
with their assessors, among whom were the great
chiefs and lords of the Covenant -the ministers,
as if to testify their contempt for all the trappings
of episcopal state, appearing ungowned. The
whole presented an array of bold, free, and in-
telligent spirits, such as has seldom bearded law-
less authority ; and well did they sustain their cha-
racter. It was the policy of Hamilton, dictated
GENERAL PROCEEDINGS. 77
by his master, seeing the Assembly could not be
prevented, to " keep the day, and break them if he
could by nullities in their proceedings." Every
step of their progress was, therefore, met by a pro-
test, from the election of Moderator forward. But
with such cool decision, force of argument, consum-
mate tact, and undissembled and manly loyalty
were his protests met, that we can scarcely accuse
him of acting when he shed tears on finally leaving
the place of meeting. During his sitting, he was
in constant correspondence with the Bishops of
Ross and Argyle, who drew up instructions for his
guidance.
At length, as the Assembly was about to be con-
stituted as a tribunal for the bishops, the commis-
sioner rose, and, resisting all entreaties to the con-
trary, he commanded the members, in the king's
name, to disperse, and hastily withdrew. That day
they were discharged by proclamation, under the
pain of treason. These proceedings, which had been
foreseen, were protested against; and the Assembly,
after some preliminary and encouraging speeches,
that night entered on their great work, at which they
slacked not till it was completed. They condemned
the Book of Canons and Ordination, the Liturgy,
the Perth Articles, and Court of High Commission ;
annulled all acts passed in the Assemblies 1606,
1608, 1610, 1616, 1617, 1618, condemning those
Assemblies as corrupt and illegal ; suspended two
bishops from all ecclesiastical functions, deposed
four, and excommunicated the other six and the
78 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY NOKTHEKN MEMBEES.
two archbishops utterly abolished their office, with
all vestiges of the hierarchy, and erected on its ruins
the presbyterian platform of government, by kirk-
sessions, presbyteries, synods, and general assem-
blies. After twenty-six sessions of this root-and-
branch work, the business of the Assembly was closed
with prayer, singing the 133d psalm, the apostolic
blessing, and the following significant address by
the moderator : " We hare now cast down the
walls of Jericho, let him that rebuildeth them be-
ware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite."*
Many of the northern presbyteries did not send
commissioners to this assembly. There were, how-
ever, several north-country men who took a promi-
nent part in its proceedings. Among these were :
Andrew Cant. He was one of those who made en-
couraging speeches on the departure of the commis-
sioner : Dr. Gruild, who is taken notice of as pro-
curing a recommendation to presbyteries, of various
old acts of Assembly against Sabbath-breaking.
He also received the thanks of the Assembly for
assisting to put down Sunday fishing in the north:
David Lindsay, minister of Belhelvie, concerning
whose services, notwithstanding his character of
him already quoted, Baillie testifies his high appro-
bation. We find also on various committees the
following names : James Martin, minister of Peter-
* Stevenson, II. 676. For this concluding address of Hen-
derson's Stevenson gives no reference, and it is rejected by the
Editor of Records of the Kirk as unsupported by contemporary
authority.
SEITTENCES OF THE NORTHERN BISHOPS. 79
head; Thomas Mitchell, minister of Turriff;
Douglas, minister of Forgue ; Grilbert Murray, mi-
nister of Tain; W. M'Kenzie, minister of Tarbet;
and Gfeorge Gfordon, brother to the Earl of Suther-
land; Robert Baillie, provost of Inverness, and
Andrew Baird, burgess of Banff, ruling elders.
Among those few who signalized themselves in a
more equivocal manner, were Andrew Logic, minis-
ter of Rayne ; John Annand, minister at Kinoir ;*
Joseph Brodie, minister at Keith ; Thomas Thoirs,
minister at TJdny ; and John Kennedy of Kinmuck,f
ruling elder for the presbytery of Ellon. These
fled home in terror, when Hamilton left the Assem-
bly. They " complained," says Grordon of Rothie-
may, "that their commissions did give them no
latitude to stay after the removal of the king's
commissioner."
The crimes and sentences of the northern digni-
taries, were as follows : Besides the ecclesiastical
offence, common to all the bishops, of breaking the
caveats, Bellenden, Bishop of Aberdeen, was ac-
cused of simony; pressing the liturgy; consecra-
ting, after a superstitious manner, the chapel of
" ane infamous woman, the Lady Wardhous ;" stay-
ing at pleasure ecclesiastical proceedings against
scandalous persons, and other arbitary acts, among
which were suspending from the office of the minis-
try Alexander Martin, at Old Deer, and James
* The joint parishes of Kinoir and Dumbennan constitute the
more modern parish of Huntly.
f Now Ellon. J Gordons Scots Affairs, II. 6,
80 SENTENCES OF THE
Martin, at Peterhead, for keeping a fast on the
Lord's day. He was deposed and excommunicated.
Against Gruthrie, Bishop of Moray, a charge of gross
indecency was preferred, "but for which, Baillie
thinks there was not sufficient evidence j and, in-
deed, that prelate seems to have been convicted of
ecclesiastical misdemeanors solely for he was not
excommunicated, but only deposed from the minis-
try. He had, says Baillie, " all the faults of a bishop,
besyde his boldness to be the first who put on his
sleeves in Edinburgh."* Maxwell, Bishop of Ross,
was accused of early and keen activity in in-
troducing and pressing the innovations ; deposing
godly ministers ; gaming and drinking on sab-
bath ; oppressing and robbing his vassals to the
extent of 40,000 merks, and being a prime mover
of all the troubles in church and state. This
prelate seems to have been a model of the courtier
bishop of the succeeding reign : ambitious only
of the smiles of royalty cold, heartless a hater
of religion, and a scoffer very tolerant of crimes
against the laws of chastity, with the perpe-
trators of which, he avowed he would rather con-
verse than with a puritan, and cultivating the
gentlemanly and cavalier-like accomplishments of
sabbath-breaking, gaming, and drunkenness. He
was excommunicated and declared infamous. Aber-
nethy, Bishop of Caithness, was charged with si-
mony. In consequence of his submission to the
* Letters, I. 164.
NORTHERN BISHOPS. 81
Assembly, lie was simply deposed from his episco-
pal charge, continued in the ministry nnder sus-
pension, and ordained to give proof of his repen-
tance. Graham, Bishop of Orkney, was libeled for
tyranny; sabbath-profanation, by curling on the
ice on that day ; alienating the church revenues ;
and neglect of discipline, and preaching. He was
deposed from all ministerial functions. Another
northern dignitary who suffered by the sentence of
the assembly, was Thomas M'Kenzie, archdean of
Ross. He was deposed " for many foul crimes
as fornication, drunkenness," &c.*
It is hard to say what turn the accused parties
might have given to the evidence in support of some
of these charges, had they made their appearance at
the bar of the Assembly ; but there is no doubt that
the lives of many of them were very loose. f Re-
verence for the laws of Gtod, and a desire for the
spiritual welfare of men, were not the qualities ne-
cessary to work out the policy that dictated the
Book of Sunday Sports ; and there is no doubt that
that policy was consistently followed up in the
choice of bishops. Their livings, too, were poor,
and their reckless and extravagant expenditure
could only be met by resorting to the mean and
disgraceful practices of simony. Even with these
illegal gains, several of the leading prelates, among
whom was Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews,
* Stevenson, II. 640.
f See Letter from Hamilton to the king, Records of the Kirk,
113.
82 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
were so burdened -with debt, as to be obliged to move
with great caution for fear of arrest.
By continuing their sittings in defiance of the
king's authority, the Covenanters had made plain
their purpose of daring his vengeance in pursuit of
their object. But they were prepared for the re-
sult. They felt that if even the concessions of their
sovereign required that sort of protection necessary
to keep tyranny at bay, much more would those
liberties which they had begun to achieve in despite
of his power. But while they proceeded to open
and vigorous measures of military defence, they
availed themselves of the sole pacific measure left
to them, by forwarding a supplication for redress
of grievances, and the sanction of their Greneral As-
sembly. " When they have broken my head, they
will put on my cowl,"* was the bitter remark of
Charles as he received the petition ; and without
replying to it, he pushed on his military prepara-
tions with increased activity.
His plan for the campaign was, to invade Scotland
from the border with thirty thousand horse, himself
at their head ; to send Hamilton up the Forth with
a fleet and army, with which to seize Edinburgh
and join Huntly, who, as lieutenant of the north,
was to advance southward with his adherents ; and
to make a descent on the west coast by an army of
Irish catholics, under Strafford and Antrim. But
these were sanguine calculations. Charles had no
trust-worthy supporters, even in his southern king-
* Baillie, I. 188.
PBEPAEATIONS FOE WAS. 83
dom. The sympathies of the English people, gene-
rally, from peer to peasant, were "with the Scots ;
and his chief allies were the courtiers, the catholics,
and the "bishops allies with little influence, and,
(except the bishops, who contributed much to the
expense of the campaign,) of slender finances.
The strength of the Tables lay in the great body
of the Scottish nation, with comparatively small
exception. They were, indeed, its directing head,
belonging to it and inseparable from it, the centre
of its wisdom and its volition ; and, compact as one
man, instinct for the time with one principle of vi-
tality, and throbbing with one great pulsation,
there was every reason to predict that the adher-
ents of the Covenant would be too powerful for an-
tagonists who appeared in the field only because the
ting desired them. "When the Covenant was first
sworn, it had reached the many Scotsmen who were
engaged in the German wars ; and now, hearing of
the coming struggle, they flocked home and pre-
sented themselves for the public service. Among
these was Alexander Leslie, an officer of great ta-
lent and experience ; him the Tables invested with
the appointment of General in Chief. A commit-
tee of war was erected in every county to raise and
discipline troops under the Grerman veterans, at the
head of which was placed the chief nobleman or
gentleman of the district, with the title of Crowner.
Such were the prospects and arrangements of the
belligerent parties up to February, 1639.
CHAPTER Y.
PROCEEDINGS AT ABERDEEN THE RAID OF TURRIFF -
MILITARY PREPARATIONS AT ABERDEEN ATTEMPTS
AT NEGOTIATION ENTRY OF THE COVENANTING ARMY
NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN MONTROSE AND HTJNTLY
AT INYERURY THE COVENANT SWORN AT ABERDEEN
- ABDUCTION OF HUNTLY, AND DEPARTURE OF THE
ARMY.
THE only signs of life in the royal cause in Scot-
land, were exhibited in Aberdeenshire. Here alone
in all the kingdom there seems to have been com-
munity of feeling enough to inspire that sort of
confidence which is the result of minds possessed
with one idea acting on each other. And so high
were the hopes of some of the northern cavaliers
that, as one of their own party informs us, they
publicly quarreled over their cups about the division
of the Covenanters' lands, that was to take place
on the crushing of the " rebellion."*" Fortified by
the presence of Huntly, the bishop of Aberdeen,
* Gordons Scots Affairs, II., 211.
PROCEEDINGS AT ABERDEEN. 85
disregarding his sentence of excommunication, had
on the 23d December, preached in the cathedral
and dispensed the Lord's supper to such of the pa-
rishioners as convened ; and among the recipients
were the Marquis himself, his two sons, and the
regents of king's college. Dr. Scroggie also gave the
communion on Christmas day, in despite of the same
authority. On the 24th, Huntly issued the royal
proclamation against the Assembly, at the market
cross of Aberdeen ; where it was allowed to pass
without the protest that had been taken againsf it
in every other burgh in the kingdom.
The magistrates also, on Dr. Guild's return from
the Assembly, interdicted him from reading its sen-
tence against the bishops ; on which the Doctor
quietly submitted, preached his sermon, and con-
tented himself by complaining to the Tables that
he was obstructed in his duty. His fellow-com-
missioner, David Lindsay, was, however, a man of
sterner stuff. On the first sabbath after his return,
a public notary, despatched by Huntly, appeared
at his parish church, inhibiting in the king's name
the minister to read, or the people to hear, any Act
of Assembly. But all this the bold parson of
Belhelvie totally disregarded, and after sermon
deliberately read the excommunications, deposi-
tions, and other documents, according to ecclesi-
astical order.
Exertions such as these, in behalf of the royal
authority, were soon followed up on the part of
86 KNOCKESPOCK AT INVERNESS.
the magistrates, by demonstrations still more de-
cided and practical. Feeling that they stood almost
alone in their opposition to the Covenant, they
thought it high time to look to the defence of the
city. About the middle of January they .appointed
a nightly watch of thirty-six men at arms fixed
cat-hands, or chains of iron, (the "barricades of those
days,) across the street and cleared their " cart-
pieces," or cannon, " whilk" complains a contempo-
rary, " quietly and treacherously were altogether
poisoned by the Covenanters within the town, and
so rammed with stones that they were with diffi-
culty cleansed."
About the same time Huntly attempted to secure
the castle of Inverness for the king's use. To this
service he commissioned Grordon of Knockespock.
But as that gentleman with his party approached
for that purpose, he was intercepted by the inhabi-
tants of the town, assisted by several covenanting
gentlemen headed by Fraser of Strichen who reft
from him muskets, powder, ball, provisions and
other necessaries telling him that the castle be-
longed neither to the Marquis nor to the king, but
was built for the defence of the country. They
then set a watch on it, composed of the inhabitants
and the neighbouring friendly clans, of whom it
is complained that they spoiled the castle of its de-
corations and library.*
* Spalding, 78.
THE KAID OP TUEEIJFF. 87
Such sallies were but the stirring of the leaves
before the coming storm. Another such, which
occurred at Turriff, is remarkable as giving the
first indication of that peculiar genius of the
Earl of Montrose which was yet to arrive at a
brilliant but ill-omened development, in those un-
paralleled and rapid marches by which he subse-
quently dismayed and routed the armies of the
Covenant. In carrying out the plan of the Tables
for organizing the country, a committee, for the
purposes of assessment and muster, was appointed
to meet at that village on the 14th February.
Huntly, who was then living at Aberdeen in great
state, being previously apprized of the meeting,
determined to obstruct or disperse it. In pur-
suance of this determination, he commanded the
attendance of his chief dependants, armed with
sword and pistol, at the time and place appointed
for the committee. Some of his despatches falling
into the hands of the Covenanters, Montrose, who
was then in Forfarshire, was immediately warned
of the counterplot. "With characteristic daring
and decision, that young nobleman hastily collected
about an hundred and eighty friends got to
horse passed the Grampians between Angus and
Aberdeenshire, and took possession of Turriff on the
morning of the 14th, before the arrival of Huntly's
party. When the latter came up they were ama-
zed, on approaching the churchyard, to find the walls
bristling with the leveled muskets of an adverse
88 THE KAID OF TURRIFF.
party, and quietly withdrew to the Broad-ford of
Towie, about two miles south of the village. In the
course of the forenoon, the Marquis himself ar-
rived, at the same place, with a brilliant ca-
valcade of about fifty horse, in which were his
two sons, the Lords Aboyne and Grordon; the
Earl of Findlater ; the Master of Rae ; Irvine of
Drum; and the Lairds of Banff, Gfight, Haddo,
Pitfoddels, and Newton ; and by that time the
gathering amounted to two thousand five hundred
men, all armed with swords, hagbutts, and pistols,
and almost all on horseback. On the arrival of their
chief, the cavaliers approached the village on the
north-west side, and advanced in order of battle, in
sight of their antagonists. These, besides Montrose's
party, consisted chiefly of Forbeses and Frasers, and
the tenantry and retainers of Marischal and Errol,
in Mar and Buchan ; strengthened by a deputation
of twelve-score well-horsed gentlemen from Moray,
at" the head of which were the Lairds of Plus-
carden, Tarbet, and Brodie. They amounted in
all to eight hundred men, says Spalding, " well
horsed, and well armed ; together with buff-coats,
swords, corslets, jacks, pistols, carabines, hagbutts,
and other weapons," and were advantageously
posted their musketry still lining the dykes of
the churchyard. The two parties having gazed on
each other in silence, the chiefs of Huntly's party
retired for consultation ; and their leader seconding
the pacific proposals of the Earl of Findlater by
an intimation that his commission warranted him
ALARM AT ABERDEEN". 89
to act only on the defensive in the meantime
it "was agreed to disband. The Marquis imme-
diately despatched Lord Aboyne, "with most of
his own retainers, to Strathbogie ; and, attended by
a number of gentlemen, proceeded to the House of
Forglen passing within two pikes'-length of the
Mrkyard walls Montrose allowing the cavalcade
to defile away in safety and in profound silence,
tinder the very muzzles of his musketry.*
Having finished their business, the committee
proceeded southward on the day following. Fear-
ing that they would take Aberdeen in their route,
and there hold another meeting, the inhabitants of
that loyal city, determined that, if they did make
such an attempt, they should not find easy access.
The citizens fell to work, built up their back gates,
closes, and ports had their catbands in readiness
and their cannon clear for action, and stood to
their posts. The members of King's College were
also in great terror. At the instance of John
Lundie, their commissioner to the late Assembly,
a committee of visitation had been appointed to
enquire into the state of the" University and to rec-
tify some alleged abuses. On his return, Lundie
had been accused of exceeding his commission, had
pled guilty, and had given in to the regents a paper
in which he confessed his error. But now, fearing
* Spalding, 79, 80. Gordons History of the Gordons, II.,
253-6.
ft
90 RESULTS OP THE RAID OF TFRRIFF.
the consequences of contemning the Assembly's
authority, the heads of the college dismissed the
students, shut the gates, and dispersed.
All these precautionary means, both of flight
and for defence, were happily unnecessary, for the
Covenanting party taking another route marched
on to Dunnottar. There they were well received
by the Earl Marischal who had for some time been
favourable to their cause, and who now distinctly
declared himself.
Although the meeting at Turriif passed over
without bloodshed, it was not without very impor-
tant results to both parties. It taught Montrose
that the Covenant had an enemy in the North who
was not to be despised, and one that must speedily
be quelled, in order that the national army might
march southward with no hostile force in its rear,
to mar the unity of its movements. On the other
hand, it impressed Huntly with the importance of
his position. The standard of the king, displayed
by him, was the only rallying point in Scotland for
unquestioning loyalty and Episcopacy. He stood
at the head of a powerful family, whose chiefs, for
many generations, had commanded with patriarchal
authority the clansmen of a large tract of country,
whose predilections if they ever thought of asking
what the quarrel of their chief was were all in
favour of king and bishop. As powerful auxili-
aries among the few who read and reasoned, he had
POSITION OF PARTIES. 91
the Aberdeen Doctors ; and in those days, when
scholastic subtlety passed for a value that later
times have refused to acknowledge, their assist-
ance was far from despicable. As we have already
seen, it was, in a great measure, to the influence of
these learned supporters that Charles owed the at-
tachment of Aberdeen. The possession of this burgh
was of immense importance to the royal cause in
the north. To lose it at this crisis, would be to
shut out by its sea-port all promised assistance
from the king, and to strike the royal banner on a
position where it might be expected, from local
circumstances, to wave most securely and gather
around it the greatest number of the most devoted
adherents.
These advantages, and the general position of
Huntly had been recognised by Charles in his plan
of the campaign. Along with a commission of
lieutenantry for the North granted to that noble-
man, he gave promise of two or three thousand
troops to his assistance, and arms for five thousand
more : Huntly 's first care, therefore, until this pro-
mised aid should arrive, was to make the best of
his local strength, and take measures for the secu-
rity of the district. By his advice the Aberdo-
nians began to construct works of defence about
the burgh. " On the 1st March," says Spalding
" they fell to work and digged deep ditches frae
the Grallowgate Port, down the north side of the
town to the Castle hill, and about the hill ; and
92 THE ROYALISTS AKM.
upon the south side of the town, they raised up
timber sconces auent the Loch, whereby the town's
musketeers might safely stand and molest the
enemy. They had the like sconces upon the Gal-
lowgate Port, upon the hill. They had eleven
pieces of ordnance, which was planted most com-
modiously upon the town streets, ilk piece having
a timber sconce for the soldiers to defend the same;
and thus were they busy, man and woman, making
great preparations to hold them out that would
not be holden out by them."*
Simultaneously with the king's declaration of
war, there arrived at the port of Aberdeen, on the
9th March, a merchant vessel loaded with arms,
under the protection of a royal yacht commanded
by Sir Alexander Gordon of Cluny. The supply
consisted of "two thousand muskets, bandeliers,
and musket-staves ; one thousand pikes, with har-
ness, and arms for both horsemen and footmen
carabines, pistols, lead, match, and powder."f Al-
though disappointed at the non-arrival of the pro- .
mised troops, and the scantiness of the supply of
arms for which, comparatively small as it was,
the king had to thank the bishop of Durham
Huntly proceeded to muster and arm without de-
lay. His commission of lieutenantry, which he
had for some time kept secret, he now proclaimed at
the market cross, on Friday the 16th March com-
* Troubles, 82. f Ibd., 84.
THE BISHOP'S MUSTEK. 93
manding all men within its scope, from sixteen
years to sixty, to join his standard. He also for-
warded copies for proclamation in all the burghs
in the north; and five hundred and thirty of his own
vassals from Strathbogie, Grartly, Enzie, and Au-
chindoir marched into Aberdeen and were imme-
diately armed. The magistrates were supplied
with two hundred muskets, one hundred pikes, and
a quantity of ammunition ; for payment of which
the town treasurer and dean of guild had to be-
come bound. The Old Town folks presented a rather
grotesque muster in presence of their anxious pre-
late significant of the frailty of that support on
which the hierarchy was depending. " The bounds
were mustered," as Spalding informs us,* " and
ranked and numbered with the Seaton men in pre-
sence of the Bishop of Aberdeen and the laird of
Clunie, his Baillie-depute, at the Dovecot-green,
and estimate to the number of eight score men,
for the most part feeble, weak, and unarmed." To
assist in arming these more eifectively, the Marquis
dealt out some additional pikes and muskets, taking
tickets for their price or restitution. Thus equip-
ped these rickety auxiliaries were marched to In-
verury, the place of general rendezvous.
But although Huntly was thus active, he was not
confident. Montrose had been equally active, and
under better auspices. In the brief space of one
* Troubles, 86.
94 ALARM OF HUNTLY.
month, he had raised in the shires of Perth, Fife,
and Forfar alone, about three thousand horse and
foot. These were officered and disciplined by vete-
rans from the German wars well armed, well eladj
and inspired with a hearty and intelligent confi-
dence in the goodness of their cause and the skill
of their leaders. Montrose also intimated the time
of his proposed march northward, to those clans in
Aberdeen and Banif-shires, on whose co-operation he
could depend, and warned the Covenanters north
of the Spey to hold themselves in readiness to join
him if necessary. He secured the services of a party
of Argyle's Highlanders to keep auxiliary loyalists
out of the field, and to fall down on the districts of
Lochaber, Badenoch, and 'Strathdon, lest Huntly
should attempt to draw succour from that quar-
ter; and he quietly, and with the least possible
violence, disarmed all the little groups of royalists
within his influence.
The rumour of these transactions, with the da-
ring musters on behalf of the Covenant, of the For-
beses and Frasers at Monymusk, and the followers
of Earl Marischal at Kintore and Skene, near the
very centre of his own influence, made Huntly
doubt much the strength of his position. The magis-
trates and council of Aberdeen, whose resistance to
the Tables, the Acts of Assembly, and particularly
to the university committee, was one cause of Mon-
trose's march northward, began also to have qualms
as the time of his approach drew near. Urged by
ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS. 95
Mends, on the plea of public safety, to abandon all
resistance, they agreed to attempt negotiation still,
however, relying on assistance from the king.
They accordingly despatched Dr. Johnstone, a pro-
fessor in Marischal college and a Covenanter, and
one of their own nnmber, to propose terms to the
General. Hnntly wishing also to negotiate, and
for the same reasons, despatched on his part Gor-
don of Straloch and Dr. Gordon of Old Aberdeen.
This joint mission made two journeys to the Cove-
nanting camp, both alike unsuccessful. Pene-
trating their design, Montrose received the depu-
ties with great courtesy, but dismissed them with
general and unsatisfactory answers. On their se-
cond visit they found the Earl on the banks of the
South Esk with General Leslie, a staff of officers,
and great part of his army, busy in the stirring
scenes of warlike equipment ; and they remarked,
that notwithstanding their presence and errand,
these preparations were not for a moment inter-
mitted. "With heavy hearts they turned their steps
homeward; and as they journeyed, their dismay was
increased by a prodigy in the heavens interpreted
by their fears as an awful forewarning of impend-
ing calamities.
Pending the second mission, the day of Huntly's
muster at Inverury had arrived. Fearing the result,
he broke up his household at Aberdeen, mounted
with one hundred horse, and taking his lady and
family along with him, marched to Inverury, (25th
96 FLIGHT OF HTTNTIiY,
March). Here he was met by an army variously
estimated at from three thousand to five thousand,
principally his own vassals few having attended on
account of his proclamation as Lieutenant. Great
as this gathering was, Huntly had not confidence
sufficient even to retain it in arms, and after a
night's encampment, and a council of war, it was
disbanded, and the Marquis himself retired to
Strathbogie.
The return of the deputies, the disbanding of the
army, and the flight of Huntly, were signals for
the inhabitants of Aberdeen to take measures for
averting the wrath of the triumphant Covenanters.
Seeing there was no help, and that their soli-
tary resistance would be madness, they resolved
to cast aside their swords, till then daily worn, and
to leave of their musterings, casting of ditches,
keeping of watches, and to abandon their fortifica-
tions. At a meeting of the whole inhabitants, " free
and unfree," it was resolved that the Covenanting:
army be received, harboured, and allowed every
possible accomodation, and that each bailie in the
quarter allotted to him in the recent military di-
vision of the town, should see this resolution carried
into effect. This result must have been highly satis-
factory to the provost, ( Jafiray of Kingswells,) and
others of the magistrates, Covenanters, who had
been a sort of forced into office by the threats of
the craftsmen, and who, singularly enough, had
presided over the anti-covenanting military prepa-
AND 01" THE ABERDEEN ROYALISTS. 97
rations. The influence of these officials had been
as nothing against the royalist predilections of
their colleagues and the great mass- of the com-
munity. It was the terror of invasion alone that
forced the inhabitants into terms. Hitherto they
had looked on war in the distance, shrouded in all
its glittering pomp and circumstance ; and their
feelings had been those of stout and daring; loyalty;
but now that the gaunt monster began to look them
in the face, his proud uniform could no more capti-
vate, than could the tinsel of the sepulchre. "War
" glorious war" with its certain results to them, was
now viewed simply as the destroyer of social hap-
piness and human life. Each began to look to his
own safety. Men were to be seen, running to and
fro, hiding their goods and valuables others re-
moving their families to places of greater security,
and the silent withdrawment of many an old fa-
miliar face and form on which men had looked with
respect from their youth up, threw a gloom over
all. "Among others," says Spalding "there fled
by sea sixty of the bravest men and youths of Aber-
deen well armed with sword and musquet, and
bandeliers : they took one of the town's colours
and their drummer with them, and resolved to go
to the king." About the 28th March they took
ship at Torry. In this forlorn band were Dr. Les-
lie, principal of King's College ; Dr. Barron, pro-
fessor of divinity ; Dr. Sibbald ; the lairds of
Drum, Pitfoddels, Balgownie, and other country
98 THE COVENANTING AEifY
gentlemen. These went to England. Dr. Gruild,
not being of the ting's party, fled to Holland, The
Doctor was in the dilemma common to men of no
decision. He was safe, as he thought, with no
party. He had attached himself to the Covenant-
ers, bnt he wanted courage to act his part; and
there was no cause for his flight but the prompt-
ings of fear on that account.
Meantime all was hearty and spirited bustle
among the adherents of the Covenant in the lower
districts of Aberdeen and Banff-shires. A great
muster was to be held at Kintore, where the Fra-
sers, Forbeses, the retainers of the Earl Marischal,
and Lord Pitsligo, the laird of Delgaty, and others
rendezvoused two thousand horse and foot. Thence
they marched to Old Aberdeen, where they lay in
the fields, waiting the approach of the southern
army.
It was on Saturday the 30th March that Mon-
trose struck his camp on the Tollohill, where he
had lain the previous night, and entered Aberdeen
at the head of nine thousand horse and foot " not
as to a war, but as to a triumph." " They came,"
says the city chronicler, " in order of battle each
horseman having at least five shot, with a cara-
bine in his hand, two pistols by his sides, and other
two by his saddle ; the pikemen in their ranks,
with pike and sword; the musqueteers in their
rank, with musket, staff, bandelier, sword, powder,
ball, and match ; each company, both of horse and
ENTERS ABERDEEN. 99
foot, had their captains, lieutenants, ensigns, ser-
geants, and other officers and commanders, all for
the most part in buff coats, and in goodly order.
They had two cartons, or quarter cannon, with
twelve pieces of other ordnance. They had five
colours or ensigns, whereof Montrose had one, hav-
ing the~ motto ' FOK RELIGION, THE COVENANT, AND
THE COUNTRY.' They had trumpeters to ilk com-
pany of horsemen, and drummers to ilk company
of footmen ; they had meat, drink, and other pro-
vision carried with them." Each of the soldiers
had also " round his craig" a blue ribbon, which
afterwards became the badge of the Covenanting
armies."*
" Now in seemly order and good array," con-
tinues our authority, " this army came forward and
entered the burrow of Aberdeen, about ten hours
in the morning, at the Upperkirkgate port, syne
came down the Broadgate, and the Castlegate, out
at the Justice port, and to the Queen's links di-
rectly." Here they were joined by the northern
Covenanters ; and muster being made of the whole
host, now amounting to eleven thousand, " all men
were commanded by sound of trumpet to go to
breakfast the general himself, nobles, captains,
and commanders, for the most part, sat down on
the links, and of their own provisions, with a
servit on their knee, took breakfast." Others
went into town, but complained that they had but
* In this " whimsy of Montrose," as a contemporary writer
calls it, originated the phrase, " True blue Covenanter."
100 MARCH TO INVERURY.
small welcome, and "paid dear for what they
got."*
The first object of Montrose's pursuit being the
Marquis of Huntly, his stay was short. He sent for
the prorost and bailies and enjoined them to
destroy their fortifications, and to harbour the
soldiers of the Covenant without extortion, under
pain of plundering. He appointed the Earl of
Kinghorn governor of the town, leaving with him
a garrison of fifteen hundred men; and having
made these arrangements he, on the day of his ar-
rival, toot, his route for Kintore and encamped
there the same night. On Monday he marched
to Inverury, where he billeted his men, for the
most part, on free quarters, and, according to the
maxims of war, on the enemy that is, on the
anti-covenanters. Of this policy the complaints
were loud and grievous ; and, most degrading of
all results, we are assured that "the alarm of
plundering brought many converts to the Cove-
nant."f
To Huntly there now appeared nothing left but
flight and all its consequences to his party, unless
he could, by some means, obtain terms from his
victorious opponent. Being then at Strathbogie,
he commissioned Gordon of Straloch to sound the
Covenanting general on the subject of a parley.
The issue was an agreement to a personal inter-
* Spaldinff,30, 91. f Gordon's Scots Affairs, II., 229.
HUNTLY IN THE COVENANTING CAMP. 101
view. The place chosen as the scene of meeting
was Lowest in the parish of Rayne,* a solitary
spot near the road connecting the head-quarters of
the high contracting parties. Pursuant to this
agreement, they met twelve on each side, armed
with swords only. But such was their mutual dis-
trust, or rather such the "barbarism of the times,
that an advance guard from each searched the op-
posite party for arms, in case of intended treachery.
At first meeting, high words passed between the
leaders ; and it was suggested that they should
communicate by proxy. But they stepped aside, and
conferred in private to the great disappointment
of their followers, who expected to be, at least,
witnesses of the transaction, and then, to the cha-
grin of Huntly's company, mounted and rode to
the Covenanters' camp at Inverury. There the
king's Lieutenant was hailed with much respect
and joy by the whole army; his coming being alike
* Gordon's Scots Affairs, II., 229. The place of meeting
the existence of which is little known in the district is thus
described in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, without
reference to the event recorded in the text : " In the South-
east of the parish (Rayne) is a conical hill, called a Law, on
which, according to tradition, trials were held of old, and doom
pronounced, and at times, perhaps, summarily executed. This
little hill, of which the top is now covered with fir trees and
furze, has given the name of Lawesk (now Lowesk) to the ad-
joining farms, extending to several hundred acres." New Statis-
tical Account Aberdeenshire, 424.
102 JUGGLING NEGOTIATION'S.
desired and unexpected. His friends "were also
welcomed and left free to go where they pleased,
without being pressed on the subject of ecclesiasti-
cal differences. Huntly agreed to sign the Cove-
nant in a modified form, binding himself to main-
tain and defend the king, the laws and liberties
of the kingdom, and religion as by law established
Montrose understanding by the latter Presbyterian-
ism, and Huntly Episcopacy each reserving his own
interpretation to a more convenient season. A bond
specially for papists was also prepared with the
sanction of both leaders of whom there were many
in Huntly's district, and who couldnot be expected to
subscribe any of the existing covenants, in all which
their own faith was plainly denounced. The terms
of it were, that the subscribers declared their willing-
ness to concur with the Covenanters in maintain-
ing the laws and liberties of the kingdom. Huntly
also pledged himself to hinder none who might be
willing to take the Covenant in all its integrity.
These pieces of hollow and Jesuitical negotiation
being completed, the parties separated, each re-
volving in his own mind how he could best and
soonest make the other feel how little principle
there was in the transaction.
During these proceedings, Kinghorn had been
busy forwarding the design of his appointment as
governor of Aberdeen. On the departure of Mon-
trose, he had delivered up to him the keys of the
tolbooth, the kirks, and ports ; he had appointed
ABERDEEN : KETUEN" OF HONTEOSE. 103
guards enforced the destruction of the city's for-
tifications, and rendering up of the cannon and
ammunition ; he had quartered his troops on the
citizens, and procured a reluctant pledge from the
magistrates that they would defray all charges.
On the 2d April, a committee sat down in Gray-
friars church comprising Kinghorn, the Master
of Forbes, Burnet of Leys, and other Covenant-
ing gentry David Lindsay of Belhelvie, Modera-
tor. Before it were summoned the professors and
other officials of King's College, the anti-cove-
nanting doctors and burgesses, and all nobility,
barons, and ministers in the district who stood out
against the Covenant to answer for their conduct,
and to make submission, under severe penalties.
Many thus summoned had fled ; but of those who
remained, many, pledged as they were by oath and
bond to stand by the king and the bishops, came for-
ward " through plain fear, and humbly subscribed
and swore the Covenant."* But, although the al-
ternative to the citizens was confiscation and other
severe pains, the great majority still demurred
begging time for further consideration. This re-
fusal of immediate compliance was the signal for,
Montrose to turn his steps southward ; and leaving
Inverury on the 6th April, he encamped on the links
of Aberdeen on the same day. On the day fol-
lowing, being Sabbath, the town's pulpits were
* Spaldinff, 94.
104 DISTURBED STATE OF THE DISTRICT.
occupied by the Covenanting clergy, when the sen-
tences against the bishops were formally and so-
lemnly read. Old Aberdeen had been visited, on
the Friday preceding, by several of the Covenant-
ing barons, attended by soldiers ; and, as a prepa-
ratory step, James Martin, minister of Peterhead,
who had recently been the subject of Episcopal
discipline, preached denounced Episcopacy, and
urged the claims of the Covenant.* After sermon,
the people flocked to the consistory-house and
subscribed many of them a second time, to insure
the safety of their property ;f and, on this general
submission, the keys of their armoury were re-
stored to the municipal authorities. On Sabbath,
the sentence of the bishop and those of his compeers
were read from his own cathedral pulpit, by Patrick
Leslie, minister of Skene.
About this time, many stirring little musters and
acts of violence on the one side, and of submission
or concealment on the other, indicated the critical
state of the country and the superinduced ascen-
dency of the Covenant in the north. Parties were
surprised in various quarters, and seizures made of
arms which they were quietly conveying to the
strongholds of the cavalier leaders. Even the wily
Lord Reay did not escape the vigilance of the Co-
* His text, as Spalding informs us, was Psalm xxviii. 9, " Save
Ay people, and bless thine inheritance : feed them also, and lift
them up for ever."
j- Spalding, 95.
DISTUKBBD STATE OF THE DISTKICT. 105
venant. That cool politician, who was on both
sides, having occasion for a quantity of muskets,
pikes, and ammunition ; these were being conveyed
to Strathnaver, by a barque which happened to touch
at Peterhead. Here they were detained and ap-
propriated by the Covenanters, who, from a shrewd
knowledge of the M'Kay, rightly judged they could
thus better provide for their being used on the right
side. Five hundred of Argyle's highlanders were
quartered on the lands of Drum and Pitfoddels,
where "they lived royally upon the corns and
bestial of the said ground, to the great hurt and
wreck of the country people." The Bishop of
Moray took refuge in his house at Spynie, which
he had previously fortified and provisioned ; and
the unfortunate wife of the Bishop of Ross, not
thinking herself safe in the episcopal residence at
Chanonry, sought protection with her brother in
the more retired parsonage of Rothiemay. The
Earl of Seafield, the Master of Lovat, the Laird of
Innes, and the Provost of Elgin, and others, to the
number of three hundred "well-horsed gentlemen,"
came out of Ross and Moray to salute the army
at Aberdeen and offer their service, and after a
few days' entertainment and exchange of civilities,
were dismissed. The Lairds of Gright, Haddo,
Newton, Foveran, Pitmedden, and Harthill, all
fast friends of Huntly's, seeing no other resource
came in and subscribed the Covenant. Nothing
however could move Ogilvy of Banff, who disdained
H
106 TEKMS WITH ABEKDEEN.
the appearance of submission as much as submission
itself.
On the Monday after its arrival, the army haying
been reviewed on the links, was quartered on the
old and new towns. Next day the whole inhabi-
tants of the burgh were convened by the provost
who detailed to them the terms demanded by Mon-
trose. These were that they should fortify the
Block-house for the defence of the town against
foreign enemies ; subscribe the Covenant; contribute
with the rest of the kingdom to the expense of the
war ; and that, as their contumacy had occasioned
an army to be marched to the town, they were to
be fined in the sum of 100,000 merks, and charged
with the whole expense of its support since its
arrival, but that from this penalty those who had
previously signed the Covenant should be exempted.
"With vain murmurs against these arbitrary impo-
sitions, they agreed to fortify the Block-house, and
most of them to sign the Covenant and contribute
in time coming to the support of the army ; but as
to the heavy penalty for their recusancy, they
begged that if it were to be exacted they should
rather be allowed time to remove themselves, their
families, and property from their devoted town.
At this pathetic remonstrance Montrose departed
from the amount of fine, commanding deputies to
attend the Tables at Edinburgh there to have the
case dealt with. The penalty was fixed at forty
thousand merks, and the deputation detained till
THE COVENANT IMPOSED. 107
they should pay the money or report a favourable
answer from the magistrates ; but the latter de-
clining to relieve them they -were thrown into
prison where they remained five weeks, and even
then owed their liberty to the intercession of the
magistrates of Edinburgh, and their own personal
oath and bond to return within a specified time
under penalty of paying the fine imposed.* The
unsettled state of the times, precluded that strict
surveillance necessary to the rigid enforcement of
all those hard terms. The Block-house was never
fortified ; and, it is due to Montrose also to men-
tion that nothing occurred to the families or pro-
perty of those fugitive citizens whose names had
been demanded and rendered up to him.
One of the terms of safety however, and that the
one most degrading to the moral nature of man,
was immediately and rigidly enforced. This was
the subscription of the Covenant. The simple
picture of the scene by an eye witness, however
revolting, demands contemplation as a naked de-
velopment of principles but too frequently hidden
under the drapery of circumstances, mystified by
the special pleading of imprudent friends of the
Covenanters, or silently left to the bitter remark
of the enemies of civil and religious freedom.
On the day after the capitulation a solemn fast
was held. Douglas of Kirkaldy preached. "After
sermon he read out the Covenant and caused the
* Spaldinff, 98.
H 2
108 PKINCIPLES.
hail towns' people to be convened who had not
subscribed, both men and women, to stand up before
him in the kirk, and the men subscribed the Cove-
nant. Thereafter both men and women were urged
to swear with their uplifted hands to Grod that
they did subscribe and swear the Covenant will-
ingly and freely, and from their hearts, and not
from any fear or dread that should happen." "We
confess our cavalier authority has less appropri-
ate reflections than when he indignantly remarks
concerning this scene " The Lord knows how
thir towns' people were brought under perjury for
plain fear, and not from a willing mind, by tyranny
and oppression of thir Covenanters, who compelled
them to swear and subscribe suppose they knew
it was against their hearts."
It is easy to reprobate such an act. It is natural,
at first sight, to look upon it as an overstretch of
the authority delegated to its perpetrators. But to
view it in this light is to dismiss from consideration
the principal elements which make it interesting to
posterity, and to throw away one of the most expen-
sive lessons of our national history. The defence
of Montrose and his associates is simply that they
acted ministerially. They were the instruments of
the existing provisional government in the adminis-
tration of an ordinance to the effect that every per-
son in the kingdom should forthwith take the Cove-
nant ; and the delegation of an army to enforce
obedience not merely involves, but proclaims, the
PEINCIPLBS. 109
principle of that mode of compulsion competent to
armed men.* The moral right of those in power
to enact such ordinance is another question, and it is
the main one.
Venerating the Covenanters as we do, and be-
lieving as we do that posterity owes them an un-
speakable debt of gratitude, we should be glad
indeed if we could avail ourselves of the charge of
inconsistency on the alleged ground of such proceed-
ings as those at Aberdeen. This charge is the result
of gross ignorance of their principles. It assumes
that they contended for the principles of religious
liberty, as such. But nothing was farther from
their intention. Such an assumption they would
* Baillie is silent on the fact animadverted on in the text. His
only remark regarding the conduct of Montrose during this visit
is, that " the discretion of that generous and noble youth was
but too great," that was in regard to the fine. Both his silence
and this remark seem to homologate the deed. Letters and
Journals, I., 197 Stevenson, who wrote a century later and
who takes his meagre notice of the transaction from Row, says it
was the first instance he had met with of violence used to enforce
adherence to the Covenant, but disavows such methods only so
far as "ordinary practice" was concerned, and records it thus:
" Before Montrose returned south, he would needs imitate the
example of the good King Josiah, who caused all Jerusalem and
Benjamin <etand to the Covenant which lie had made. In like
manner our young hero urged the town of Aberdeen to subscribe
the Covenant with the declaration appended thereto by the
assembly, under pain of confiscation of their goods. At first the
town pleaded conscience and hesitated to obey ; but finding that
Montrose was in earnest they dropped their scruples," II., 708.
110 PEINCIPLES AND EXAMPI/E
have repudiated as an injurious calumny. Nay,
what is called toleration had as yet few representa-
tives in England and none in Scotland.* By inten-
tion the Covenanters fought simply for religious
liberty to themselves, and for those who in after-times
might adopt their religious creed. And if by this they
taught the world then and through succeeding ages
how the tyranny of a ting over the Church was to
be resisted, it was their example, not their theory,
that constituted the noble lesson. They present-
ed the sublime spectacle of many men, and many
leaders of a people, appreciating things unseen
and eternal so truly and so intensely as to peril
for their sakes all earthly good. They held in
theory, that it is the province of kings and armies
to support, propagate and enforce religion; but they
proved in fact, that the religion so propagated -and
supported must previously be the religion of the
majority; as by the same irresistible argument that
of their own successful revolt they showed that the
people is the true source of power. A noble les-
son indeed, in days when it was the fashion to hold
that the millions lived, breathed, and had their
being for the sake of the unit when kings claimed
right and power " by the grace of Grod" to set their
heel on the neck of liberty and of conscience.
Their theory is fast waning under the influence of
* "The world," says Dr. Burns, "had not yet learned the
principles of religious liberty." Preliminary dissertation to Wod-
rows History, p. xx.
OF THE COVENANTEKS. Ill
a clearer apprehension of the spiritual nature of
Christ's kingdom and the brightening influences of
a peaceful civilization ; while their example in re-
sisting it when applied against themselves is ever
potent for good. No one aspiring to power in a
state dare quote the former without modifications
destructive of its integrity ; while the latter hangs
in our national annals like the pillar of cloud and
fire, lowering its stern warning on the oppressor,
but raining out on the oppressed its beams of cheer-
ing hope and bright example. Such however ivere
the principles of the Covenanters ; and involve
what they may, they unfortunately do not involve
the charge of inconsistency with the fact under
discussion. Their inconsistencies were more ho-
nourable to their hearts they consisted in a re-
vulsion, in ordinary circumstances, from the results
to which a severe application of their principles
would have led.
" "We are mistaken," says Dr. Burns,* " if we
suppose that the Covenants were designed as deeds
exclusively ecclesiastical." This however is a com-
mon mistake. Posterity with its frequently unin-
telligent and vague admiration, seems ignorant of
the fact that the projectors of the Covenant in 1638,
had more profound, enlarged, and far-seeing views
of civil rights than of religious freedom. Their
scheme of government was based, theoretically as
well as practically, on the opinions and aifections
* Preliminary Dissertation to Wodrow's History, p. xx.
112 MIXED CHARACTER OF THE
of the people ; and all those institutions and in-
terests of which the people have a moral right to
be politically cognizant were made subject to their
influence. But with these were mixed up the reli-
gion to be professed in the country. And while
" this mixed character of the Covenants" is properly
referred to by the author just quoted as a cause of
their being " so rigorously enforced ;" yet this very
characteristic, combined with those defective no-
tions of religious liberty of which it was the pro-
duct, resulted in such acts as that at Aberdeen. For
what constitutes the evil principle of such acts?
The war was lawful if ever there was a lawful war.
Speaking broadly and most truly, it was a defensive
war, and the last resort of a patient people. It was
in Aberdeenshire alone that it assumed the ap-
pearance of aggression ; but it was obviously one of
the first and most necessary steps in national policy
to see that the small exception to national unani-
mity exhibited there, should not prevent the suc-
cess of national defence. As to the means of se-
curing this by compelling the submission of armed
men, few will deny that the use of arms was the
most obvious. Why then do we shudder at the
scene enacted at Aberdeen? Because the Cove-
nant contained a solemn avowal of religious belief.
Coercive power in matters of conscience this is
the element that, appearing in its naked deformity,
startles and appals us. It is therefore only on the
principle that religion ought not to be the subject
COMMITTEE ON KINft's COLLEGE. 113
of civil, that is, coercive, power that it ought not
to have a place among those things which even
the most enlightened and broadly based govern-
ment, as a government, can touch, it is only on
this principle that the edict of the Tables and the
Assembly, and their legitimate operations at Aber-
deen can be condemned. For, grant that a go-
vernment has a right to denude one man of his pro-
perty or status on account of religious opinions,
or to originate or perpetuate the least inequality
among religious denominations, as such, and all is
granted that is necessary to vindicate any other
outstretch of physical power for the same cause.
The difference is one of degree not of principle.
Refined posterity may shudder at the bare sword ;
but it shudders like a fool, if instead of expelling
the enemy of public liberty, it only insists on his
fighting with a change of weapons.
The day following the enforcement of the Cove-
nant, the committee of visitation for King's college
commenced their sittings Lindsay of Belhelvie,
moderator. Several of the regents and other officials
appeared, and those of them who had received the
communion at the hands of the excommunicated
bishop, were ordained to make public repentance.
This sentence was never enforced, and they quietly
retained their places. The Cantor's office and the
chair of Canon Law were abolished ; but the latter
was restored by the succeeding Assembly, by whom
the duties of the chair were curtailed. The com-
114 ABDUCTION" OF HUNTLY.
mittee adjourned their sittings till the 15th May,
but owing to the non-attendance of all except the
zealous moderator, the business dropped.
On the return of Montrose from Inyerury, a so-
lemn committee was held to concert measures for
retaining the north in peaceable subjection. Under
pretence of taking Huntly's advice on this subject,
Montrose invited that nobleman to attend the con-
vention, and granted, at his request, an assurance
under the hands of himself and the other covenant-
ing lords, that he should be free to return. On the
faith of this assurance, but contrary to the advice
of his friends, Huntly with his two sons, attended
by about forty horse, arrived in Aberdeen on "Wed-
nesday the 10th April. On the day following he
attended council with the covenanting leaders. On
Friday Leslie retired south with the cavalry, and
on the same evening Montrose invited Huntly to
his lodgings, where the whole committee " supped
and made merry." After supper, the General and
his associates, pursuant to their scheme, plied their
guest to throw up his commission of lieutenantry,
urging that as it had not passed nor could pass the
seals the Tables having secured them it was of
no value. To this he agreed, and, retiring to his
lodging with his two sons, prepared for his return
to Strathbogie next day. Finding that they were
baulked in their desire for a ground of quarrel on
which to detain the Marquis, the Covenanters re-
solved on further means to that end, and, as a pre-
ABDUCTION OF HUNTLY. 115
cautionary measure, placed guards on his lodging
and stables. In the morning he was waited on by
two lords of the Covenant, requesting his immediate
attendance on their General. Amazed at these
proceedings, he accompanied the deputation to the
house of the Earl Marischal. Here Montrose re-
ceived him with his usual courtesy, but, having
passed the friendly salutation of the morning, pro-
ceeded to make the following demands : 1st, That
Huntly should contribute towards clearing off a
debt of 200,000, incurred by the Tables to "Wil-
liam Dick, a citizen of Edinburgh. 2nd. That he
should apprehend and bring to justice two noted
robbers, who, with their gangs, infested the north ;
and 3d, That he should be reconciled to the laird
of Frendraught, with whom Huntly was at deadly
feud, because it was strongly suspected that he had
wilfully set fire to his own house, by which Huntly 's
late brother, the Yiscount Aboyne and Grordon of
Rothiemay, with their servants, were burnt to death.
Being urged with these demands separately and
successively, Huntly replied, that to the first he
would by no means consent, for that the money
had been both borrowed and spent without his ad-
vice or consent, and that he had already made great
disbursements in the public service : that in regard
to the second, he had no commission so to act that
as to one of the freebooters, he had received the
king's remission, but that he would join with the
country in securing the other, as he might be em-
116 ABDTTCTION OF HTJNTLY.
ployed : that, as to the Laird of Frendraught, he saw
no force in the reason given for being reconciled to
him, viz., that they had both signed the Covenant ;
for that affected them only in their public capa-
cities, and that he never would " take him by the
hand on any condition."
These rather frivolous pretences being exhausted,
Montrose changed his tactics, and addressing Huntly,
said, " My lord, seeing we are all now friends, will
ye go south to Edinburgh with us ?" to which the
Marquis replied that he had made arrangements for
going that day to Strathbogie. " Your lordship
will do well to go with us," said Montrose, plainly
insinuating that he had as well go with a good
grace. " My lord," replied Huntly indignantly,
" I came to this town upon assurance that I should
come and go without molestation : now I see by
the guards on my lodging, and your present bear-
ing, that you would carry me to Edinburgh whether
I will or no : this in my sight seems not fair nor
honourable. But give me back my bond which I
gave you at Inverury, and you shall have my
answer." The bond being delivered, and Huntly
feeling his position, demanded, " Whether will you
take me as a captive, or willing of my own mind ?"
" Make your choice," replied Montrose. " Then,"
rejoined the other, " I will not go as a captive, but
as a volunteer ;" and straightway retired ,to his
lodging to prepare for his melancholy journey. On
promise of ioining Mm in the south, the Lord Aboyne
ABDUCTION OF HUNTLY. 117
was permitted by Montrose to go to Strathbogie,
but Lord Gordon accompanied his father.
For this piece of treachery Montrose and Lord
Forbes are chiefly, if not solely, liable. The latter
had long borne a deep grndge at the Huntly family,
on account of its paramount influence, and as Gordon
of Rothiemay expresses it, he and his adherents
longed to see the " Cock of the North* get his wings
dipt ;" and their conduct on various occasions gives
reason to suspect that jealousy of his power, more
than religious principle, had been the cause of their
joining the Covenanters. It is to be regretted that
the Tables implicated themselves in this transaction,
in so far as that, instead of repudiating it, they re-
ceived the noble prisoner at the hands of their Ge-
neral, and kept him for some time in confinement.
It is hard, however, to judge men in their circum-
stances by the severest rules of right. They were
threatened with immediate invasion by powerful ar-
mies on the south, east, Shdwest; and we cannotmuch
wonder if amid the bustle of preparation, their zeal
for the public safety and care of their own, they gave
earto the whispers of expediency, which would prompt
them to detain in inactivity their most powerful in-
ternal foe. Montrose himself, in his after career, had
occasion bitterly to regret his conduct in this matter.
Previously to his leaving Aberdeen, Montrose
returned to the municipal authorities the keys of
* A common appellative of the chief of the Huntly family in
former days.
118 DEPARTURE OF THE ARMY.
their ports, tolbooth, and kirks, with their ordnance
and other arms, and placed the country under the
charge of a committee of Erasers and Forbeses.
A few days before, the army had been joined by
fire hundred of Argyle's highlanders, recalled from
some weeks' foraging on the Anti- covenanting
estates of Drum and Pitfoddels : and all being now
ready, the nobles, with Huntly and Lord Gordon,
mounted horse, " the trumpets sounding" the while;
and " the provost and baillies having caused bring
wine and confects to the cross, and humbly en-
treated them to drink, which they gladly did, and
the Marquis with his two sons also,"* the caval-
cade took its march, and rested that night at Dun-
nottar. They arrived at Edinburgh on the 19th
April ; and Huntly having resisted all solicitations
to subscribe the Covenant, was committed to the
castle, where he remained till June following.
* Spalding, 103.
CHAPTER VI.
POSITION OF THE COVENANTERS IN THE SOUTH LORD
ABOYNE DISTRACTED STATE OF ABERDEEN AND BANFF-
SHIRES TROT OF TURRAY THE BARONS' REIGN RAID
OF DURRIS, AND FLIGHT OF THE BARONS MARISCHAL
AND JVIONTROSE ENTER ABERDEEN MONTROSE MARCHES
TO GIGHT ARRIVAL OF ABOYNE, AND RETREAT OF MON-
TROSE PROGRESS OF ABOYNE TO STRATHBOGIE RAID
OF STONEHIVE STORMING OF THE BRIDGE OF DEE
ENTRY OF MONTROSE AND THE COVENANTERS PROPO-
SAL TO BURN ABERDEEN PACIFICATION OF BERWICK.
THE suppression of the northern Royalists was the
last of a succession of brilliant strokes by which
the Tables put themselves in possession, with a
single exception, of all places in the kingdom held
in behalf of the sovereign. Toward the end of
March, by a preconcerted scheme, the castles of
Edinburgh, Dalkeith, Dumbarton, Strathaven, Dar-
sie, and Broderick in Arran, were carried almost
simultaneously, and without bloodshed. Stirling
was already in the hands of the Earl of Mar, a
Covenanter. Caerlaverock was the only strength
120 POSTUKE OF THE COUNTRY.
that stood out against the Covenant. The shores
of the Frith of Forth, where the king's navy was
expected, were cased in sconces, bastions, and other
works of defence, which bristled with cannon.
Leith, the key of the metropolis, was fortified in
an incredibly short space ; and the progress of this
work exhibited a concentration of the national
enthusiasm. The first baskets of earth were carried
and deposited in the foundations by the Covenanting
nobles ; and thousands of all ranks men, women,
and children ceased not till the work was accom-
plished. " Thus," says Baillie,* " in a short time,
by Grod's extraordinary help, we cut the main sinews
of our adversary's hopes ; all the strengths of our
land came into our hands ; no man among us but
swore they were our stout friends ; all otherwise
disposed, both nobles, gentry, ministers, were gotten
away to our professed enemies, and the whole
country put into such an order and magnanimity,
that we fand sensibly the hand of Grod in every
thing going before us ; so all fear of human force
was clean banished away, and a pregnant hope
raised in the hearts of all the faithful of a happy
conclusion of this divine work." " Yet," adds our
authority, "this marvellous success detracted no-
thing of our great desire to give, in all humility,
full satisfaction to all the reasonable claims of our
gracious prince ;" a noble mark of a noble cause,
which the same writer elsewhere indicates in the
* Letters and Journals, L, 197, 198.
ARRIVAL OF THE KINO'S FLEET. 121
expressive saying, that the Covenanters " still held
in their right hands the terms of peace ;" the
sword being, as yet, only in their left.
The repose of this elevated, but, as yet, passive,
conrage, was speedily broken in npon. On the 1st
May, Hamilton entered the Frith with a fleet of
twenty-eight sail, containing five thousand soldiers,
and arms for a much greater number. This, although
it momentarily appalled the country, like the first
sight of blood, was the signal for those beacon-fires
with which the heights on the coast were studded ;
and these, again, for the descent of thousands of
all ranks, armed and prepared to repel the inva-
sion. Among those in whose hearts the enthusiasm
of patriotism beat high, was the venerable Countess
of Hamilton, mother of the commander of the fleet,
who, mounted on horseback, with pistols at her
saddle-bow, rode down to Leith, declaring to the
surrounding multitude, that if her son should dare
to set a hostile foot on the Scottish shores, she
would be the first to fire at him.* In a short
time, the defensive army along the shores amounted
to twenty thousand a force that compelled the
king's ships to lie like logs in the Frith the
commander employing himself in recruiting, on
Inchcolm and Inchkeith his raw troops, who, from
the exhaustion consequent on a sea voyage, were
more fit for the hospital than for active service.
* " And some affirme that she had balle of gold instead of
leade, to kill him withal." Gordon's Scots Affairs, II., 250.
I
122 LORD ABOYNE.
During tins hostile position of the country, and the
mustering of the royal army for its invasion, the
15th of May arrived the day appointed for the
meeting of Parliament. The commissioners met
and constituted, but, contrary to expectation, ad-
journed at the king's prorogation having first
ratified the appointment. of Leslie to he their ge-
neralissimo. They then assumed their previous form
of a committee, or Tables, for managing the na-
tional aifairs. Charles had arrived at York on
the 1st April, attended by the peers of England,
and, notwithstanding many disappointments in his
-warlike preparations, found himself at the head
of twenty-three thousand men. With this army
he marched onward to Newcastle in all the pomp
and magnificence of a royal progress.
It was at this crisis, when the thoughts of the
nation were anxiously turned southward, that af-
fairs in the north began again to assume a threat-
ening aspect. Montrose had not reached Edinburgh
with the captive Huntly, when measures were in
train to undo all the results of his late campaign.
The Lord Aboyne was returning from Strathbogie
with money and other necessaries for his father,
when he was beset by Sir George Ogilvy of Banff
and other cavaliers, who represented to him the
folly of going to share the captivity of his father
and brother, and urged on him the duty of filling
that place at the head of their party which be-
longed of right to the representative of the noble
A tfEW MOVEMENT. 123
family of Huntly. Young and sanguine, and stung
with the indignities heaped on his house, Aboyne
gave way to their entreaties, and abandoned his
journey. Burning with indignation at the late
proceedings of Montrose chafing with jealousy and
rage at being left in the charge of their despised
rivals, the clans Forbes and Fraser, and inspired
with the hopes of enjoying the lands of the Cove-
nanters, which the Mng, with a vain policy, had
promised to those who should arm in his behalf
the Gordons and their associates rallied with en-
thusiasm around the standard of their young chief.
A committee of Covenanters was summoned at
Turriff for the 24th April; before which were
charged to appear all who had not subscribed the
Covenant then and there to subscribe, under pain
of plundering. Such, however, was the demon-
stration of the cavaliers on the subject of this
meeting, that it was adjourned in hopes of a speedy
accession of Covenanting strength from the more
northern counties. Agreeably to the resolution of
adjournment, the retainers of Seaforth, Findlater,
Errol, and Grant in Moray, rendezvoused, in the
same place, to the number of sixteen hundred men,
but dispersed without further proceedings. In
fact, the prompt and energetic measures of the
Gordons at this time, greatly distracted and some-
times non-plussed the Covenanting party. Many
of those who were to have been at Turriif, were
engaged at Aberdeen. That city being naturally
i2
124 THE CAVALIERS' BOND.
a subject of great jealousy, was taken possession of
by Marischal, as governor, supported by Seaforth
and other nobles and barons, with an army, princi-
cipally of Mar and Buchan men, amounting to
three thousand. Notwithstanding this display of
strength, the commands of the new governor were
but little heeded, for an order to transport eight
pieces of the town's cannon to the town of Mon-
trose was not complied with, and the army was
soon dispersed. Aboyne also disbanded his fol-
lowers (April 3) and took ship for England, in-
tending, in person, to sue the king for assistance.
This step, discouraging as it was to his friends-
many of whom had rendered themselves doubly ob-
noxious to the opposite party by joining him after
they had taken the Covenant did not prevent
their taking immediate steps for the advancement
of the royal cause. The arrival of Hamilton in
the Forth, inspired the party with courage. On
the 7th May, several of them held a meeting at
Auchterless ; and, subsequently, they rendezvoused
at Strathbogie. At these gatherings, they entered
into an association "For the maintenance of the
king's prerogative ; and for the duty, service, ho-
nour, and safety of Huntly and his family, and for
their own mutual preservation."*
At this time, the counties of Aberdeen and Banff
presented, over all their surface, one field of in-
numerable little vortices of civil strife. Musters,
* Gordon's History of the Family of Gordon, II., 284.
POPULAK DISQUIET. 125 -
raids, and kindred scenes of menace and violence,
are the only things legible on the pages of our
local history concerning those quiet nooks in our
rural districts with which, from childhood, we have
been wont to associate the ideas of seclusion and
perfect repose. Except from the watchwords of
party, no one could glean from the surface of
things that -religion imparted an element to this
struggle ; yet religious feeling and principle there
doubtless was, in some small degree, even in those
districts. The angry passions are always the
loudest; but even they, like the noisy surges of
the ocean on the shallow beach, give token of the
deeper and more powerful ground-swell that exists
somewhere. It must, however, always be kept in
view, that those counties exhibit, by many degrees,
the worst specimen of the times ; and, also, that
we receive almost all our knowledge of them
through the medium of cavalier historians, whose
colourings, to say the least, are those of strong
partizans. The following are specimens of scenes
of almost every-day occurrence, except that, here-
tofore, no blood had been shed. They will also
serve to show how diligent the cavaliers were in
propagating their covenant.
"Upon the 8th May," says Spalding,* "the
barons, such as Gright, Banff, Haddo, Cromartie,
Foveran, Crombie, and some others, with Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Johnston, about eighty horse, and sixty
* Troubles, 110.
126 THE FIRST BLOOD.
foot, came to the kirkyard of Ellon, and sent to
the laird of Kenmuck, being in Ms own house at
Arduthie, desiring him to refuse the country cove--
nant, and subscribe the king's covenant. There
happened to be with the laird of Kenmuck, the
lairds of "Waterton and Auchmacoy, with about
eighteen persons. He returned answer, he could not
perjure himself and leave his Covenant ; however,
they did no more wrong to him, and some went in
and drank friendly in his house. They urged
others, likewise, to quit this Covenant, but came
no speed." The same party, " upon May 10th,
intended to come to the place of TOwie-Barclay,*
and there to take out such arms, muskets, guns,
carabines, as the lairds of Delgatie and Towie-
Barclay had plundered from the said young laird
of Cromartie, out of the place of Balquholly ;f but
it happened the Lord Eraser and Master of Forbes
to see their coming ; so they manned the house of
Towie, closed the yeats, and shot divers shot from
the house head, where a servant of the laird of
Gright's was shot, called David Prott." The be-
siegers then rode off. This was the first blood shed
in the great civil war. Little did the actors in
this dark little scene know in what a great tragedy
they played the initiative.
* In the parish of Turriff; for many generations the residence
of the Barclays of Towie or Tolly : now in ruins.
f On the site of Balquholly House, now stands Hatton Castle,
the seat of Garden Duff, Esq. of Hatton. Part of the^fcd
house is still preserved..
THE TROT OF TUKEAT. 127
An adjourned meeting of the Covenanting com-
mittee and forces having been appointed for the
20th May, at the village of Turriff, great prepara-
tions were making for it. So early as the 13th,
there rendezvoused there, with their tenants and
servants, the Lords Forbes and Eraser ; the Lairds
of Delgaty, Towie-Barclay, Ludquharn, Cragievar,
Edit, Skene, Tolquhon, and Waterton ; with Mar-
ischal's Buchan men, and the retainers of Errol
and Pitsligo in all about twelve hundred, horse
and foot. Daily accessions were expected up to
the 20th. This meeting the Gordons resolved to
disperse timeously, and for this purpose ranged
themselves under the command of the Lairds of
Banff and Haddo. Their strength consisted of two
troops of horse all gentlemen; five or six com-
panies of Strathbogie foot, making in all about
eight hundred men ; with four brass field-pieces.
Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston, son of Johnston of
Crimond sometime provost of Aberdeen, led the
van. On the evening of the 13th they took their
silent march, and by peep of day came within mus-
ket shot of Turriff. Their project had been nearly
marred by the breaking down of one of their field-
pieces ; but hastily patching it up, they made a
sweep partly round the village, to enter it by the
east end, when their approach was first announced
to the lax guards of the Covenanting camp by a
flourish of drums and trumpets. Taken by surprise,
the latter hastily blockaded the entrance, and in
128 THE TROT OF TUBEAY.
great confusion drew up to receive the enemy. But
the slight barricade soon gave way to the impetuous
Gordons; who, following up their success with a
smart discharge of musketry, were but feebly re-
plied to in kind by the Covenanters. The field-
pieces of the assaulting party being now brought to
bear on the street, a few salvos from those terrible
engines created such a panic, that, notwithstanding
the exertions of Keith of Ludquharn and Hay of
Delgaty to rally their party, the whole Covenanting
host betook themselves to precipitate flight. The
Gordons were so amazed at finding themselves so
soon in possession of the field, that their leaders,
suspecting the hasty disappearance of their enemies
was only a feint to draw them into an ambuscade,
restrained the pursuit a mistake which no doubt
saved many lives.
There fell in this skirmish, generally known as
" the Trot of Turray," two men on the Covenanters'
side, servants of Lord Forbes and the Laird of
Tolquhon. The Gordons lost but one, a, common
soldier, and that by the unskilful firing of his
neighbour's musket. His funeral aflPbrds an incident
characteristic of those days of civil discord. His
party, out of an idle vaunt, would have their com-
rade buried in a vault within the kirk of Turriff,
belonging to Barclay of Towie, one of the fugitive
Covenanters. Thither therefore they carried the
body, and laid it down with military honours quite
unconscious of the terror they caused to two un-
THE TROT OP TURRAY. 129
willing witnesses of the scene. These were the
parish minister and his son, who, alarmed at the
approach of the party in the morning, had fled, dis-
guised in women's clothes, and taken refuge between
the ceiling and outer roof of the church. Neither was
their terror at this strange and unexpected visit to
their place of hiding altogether groundless ; for the
ceiling was pierced in several places with bullets
the muskets of the clansmen having been loaded
with ball cartridge in firing the farewell volley.*
The minister's house,f and the houses of the Co-
venanters generally, were given up to plunder, and
all who could be convened of the inhabitants were
caused to swear and subscribe the king's covenant.
These transactions over, Skene of Skene, and Forbes
* Gordon's Scots Affairs II. 259.
f Mr. Thomas Mitchell, minister of Turriff, had been a staunch
supporter of the bishops, up to the time that the encroachments
of the hierarchy began to be successfully resisted. The decided
and active part which he then began to take on the opposite side,
perhaps gave a show of colouring to the saying of Gordon of
Rothiemay, that he was " a man who had changed with the
times." There is no evidence, however, that his change of sides
was not the result of conviction, although his zeal was sometimes
more active than wise. There was also a fama out against him
of another nature ; and although the Synod found the exculpatory
evidence, as Spalding informs us, sufficient to justify their finding
him "a good bairn," the cavalier writers, when they have occasion
to mention his name which they generally do with great bitterness
7 seldom omit reference to the charge. He suffered severely in
his property by the " Trot of Turray," but was indemnified in
the following year by a public grant of four thousand, merks.
130 THE BARONS ADVANCE ON ABERDEEN.
of Echt, who had been made prisoners in the flight,
were dismissed, and, elated with their success, the
Tictors retired to think of farther projects. The
scattered inhabitants of Turriff soon collected again.
In a few days, those who had taken the king's
bond kneeled before the minister and congregation;
and making severally a solemn declaration that they
had done so by compulsion, they craved pardon for
breach of the country covenant, and were declared
absolved from all obligation on account of the forced
oath.* Such was the distressing and dangerous
moral position in which the circumstances and prin-
ciples of the times placed our forefathers. Charity,
however, and (which is better here) the circumstances
of the case, encourage the thought that the flight at
the " Trot" had left but few available subjects for
this double discipline.
The fame of this exploit increased the adherents
of the Grordons. Bent on greater deeds, they im-
mediately issued despatches for Huntly's highland-
ers to join their standard, and forthwith marched
to Aberdeen. News from Turriff had reached that
city before them. Filled with dismay, the Cove-
nanters hid their valuables and fled for their lives.
Provost Jaffray, however, although greatly obnox-
ious to the royalist party, on account both of his
Covenanting principles and his plebeian extraction,
stoutly refused to flee. " The barons," as the ca-
* Gordons Scots Affairs, II. 258-9.
THE BARONS 5 REIGN. 131
valier leaders were called, took possession of the
deserted houses of the more "wealthy Covenanting
citizens, and, as far as possible, billeted their men
on the more humble adherents of the cause. They
seized the public keys, set strait watches, and then,
preparatory to a serious consultation regarding far-
ther proceedings, abandoned themselves to some
days' deep carousal the loyal townsmen, as the
parson of Rothiemay pathetically remarks, "find-
ing them but heavy friends ;" for, says the native
chronicler, with a deep dolour in which all party-
spirit is swallowed up, " neither Covenanters nor
Anti-covenanters got payment worth a plack !"
During "the Barons' Reign," as this interregnum
in social order was called, and while no Covenanter
durst be seen on the streets, a meeting of the
Synod came on, and, to their great honour, sundry
Covenanting ministers in the neighbourhood at-
tended. Several of the barons, some of whom had
taken the Covenant at the hands of Montrose,
came up to the usual place of public service, no
doubt laughing in their sleeves at the effect that
their presence would have on the preacher. But
he the bold parson of Belhelvie was not the
man to be thus overawed. "With his usual sturdy
courage, he denounced, to the faces of those his
reckless hearers, "their perjury and promise against
the Covenant oath and subscription" a piece of
service for which, as clerk Spalding naively re-
marks, he would have been " reproved" had he not,
130 THE BARONS ADVANCE ON ABERDEEN.
of Eclit, -who had been made prisoners in the flight,
were dismissed, and, elated with their success, the
victors retired to think of farther projects. The
scattered inhabitants of Turriff soon collected again.
In a few days, those who had taken the king's
bond kneeled before the minister and congregation;
and making severally a solemn declaration that they
had done so by compulsion, they craved pardon for
breach of the country covenant, and were declared
absolved from all obligation on account of the forced
oath.* Such was the distressing and dangerous
moral position in which the circumstances and prin-
ciples of the times placed our forefathers. Charity,
however, and (which is better here) the circumstances
of the case, encourage the thought that the flight at
the " Trot" had left but few available subjects for
this double discipline.
The fame of this exploit increased the adherents
of the Gordons. Bent on greater deeds, they im-
mediately issued despatches for Huntly's highland-
ers to join their standard, and forthwith marched
to Aberdeen. News from Turriff had reached that
city before them. Tilled with dismay, the Cove-
nanters hid their valuables and fled for their lives.
Provost Jaffray, however, although greatly obnox-
ious to the royalist party, on account both of his
Covenanting principles and his plebeian extraction,
stoutly refused to flee. " The barons," as the ca-
* Gordons Scots Affairs, II, 258-9.
THE BARONS' KEIGB". 131
valier leaders were called, took possession of the
deserted houses of the more -wealthy Covenanting
citizens, and, as far as possible, billeted their men
on the more humble adherents of the cause. They
seized the public keys, set strait "watches, and then,
preparatory to a serious consultation regarding far-
ther proceedings, abandoned themselves to some
days' deep carousal the loyal townsmen, as the
parson of Rothiemay pathetically remarks, "find-
ing them but heavy friends ;" for, says the native
chronicler, with a deep dolour in which all party-
spirit is swallowed up, " neither Covenanters nor
Anti-covenanters got payment worth a plack !"
During "the Barons' Reign," as this interregnum
in social order was called, and while no Covenanter
durst be seen on the streets, a meeting of the
Synod came on, and, to their great honour, sundry
Covenanting ministers in the neighbourhood at-
tended. Several of the barons, some of whom had
taken the Covenant at the hands of Montrose,
came up to the usual place of public service, no
doubt laughing in their sleeves at the effect that
their presence would have on the preacher. But
he the bold parson of Belhelvie was not the
man to be thus overawed. "With his usual sturdy
courage, he denounced, to the faces of those his
reckless hearers, "their perjury and promise against
the Covenant oath and subscription" a piece of
service for which, as clerk Spalding naively re-
marks, he would have beeti " reproved" had he not,
132 THE RAID OF DUEEIS.
with his heroic wife, who accompanied him in this
dangerous adventure, speedily withdrawn from the
town. Their escape was a narrow one, for their
horses had "been seized in tbe stable to prevent it.
Still growing in numbers by accessions from the
neighbouring gentry, and fearing that Marischal
intended to come against them with an army, the
barons resolved either to have his assurance to the
contrary, or to waste his lands. This coming to
the ears of Gordon of Straloch, a cavalier of mo-
deration, he hasted to Aberdeen, and endeavoured
to persuade them of the impropriety of such a pro-
ceeding urging their want of a commission from
the king, and offering, at the same time, to proceed
to Dunnottar and obtain Marischal's pledge that he
would not molest them. But the idea of a peaceful
settlement only provoked their impatience and
scorn. " G-o !" cried of Ogilvy of Banff, " since you
are desirous so to do, and be our quartermaster
and harbinger, and let Marischal know that we are
coming."
On Monday, 20th May, Straloch proceeded to
Dunnottar. The barons left the town hard at his
heels numbering a strength of five hundred horse
and seven hundred foot ; but, when they reached
the south end of the bridge of Dee, they turned up
the river side towards Durris. Here they were
joined by Donald Farquharson of Monaltrie, the
laird of Abergeldie, and James Grant, the noted out-
law. These, with a body of highlanders, consisting
THE RAID OF DUKBIS. 133
of nearly a thousand men, had taken possession of
the house of Durris, the property of Forbes of
Leslie, a Covenanter. Previous to their coming,
the house had been deserted, and the principal ar-
ticles of furniture removed; but, says Spalding,
" they got good beer and ale, brak up girnals, and
baked good bannocks at the fire, and drank merrily
upon the laird's best drink ; syne carried away
as meikle victual as they could carry, which they
could not get eaten or destroyed."* They also in-
cluded in their marauding visits, the houses of Echt,
Skene, Monymusk, and the lands of Glenkindy.
At the head of this hopeful band, dressed in high-
land costume, was Lord Lewis Gordon, Huntly's
third son, who, having been left at school, in charge
of his grandmother, had leapt the walls of the house
at Bog of Gight, and joined this rude army, full of
enthusiasm in the cause of his father.
Straloch found Marischal near Dunnottar, guarded
by a few retainers ; and having made known his
errand, was informed by the Earl that he had
no intention of attacking the barons, unless com-
pelled in self-defence, or by an order from the
Tables. With this answer he proceeded to Durris,
in company with Burnet of Cragmyle, a moderate
cavalier whom Marischal had appointed his com-
missioner. The barons, after a coarse supper, and
a night's lodgings in the open air, were found con-
siderably more tractable. They gave ear to reason,
* Troubles, 114.
134 THE BARONS AT SPEY.
although, as the parson of Rothiemay quaintly
says, " they spocke the old langwage ;" and after
a few vollies of "bluster to cover their retreat, they
dispersed their followers. The leaders with a hody
of ahout thirty horse retired to Aberdeen, and the
highlanders retraced their irregular march of plun-
der and outrage, in a repetition of the like acts
a thing, says our authority, "very usual with them."
Thus ended " the Raid of Durris." Marischal
aware of the place of retreat chosen by the cava-
liers, and jealous of their presence there, followed
hard at their heels with an army composed of his
own retainers and the neighbouring friendly clans,
amounting to two thousand men. The barons fled
at his approach. Bishop Bellenden and several of
the cavalier citizens who had returned to Aber-
deen during the Barons' Reign, also left the town,
and the Covenanters again " cropt the causeway
courageously."
The barons had no sooner reached Strathbogie
than they were alarmed at once by the rising of the
covenanting clans north of the Spey, headed by
Seaforth, Lovat, Reay, and others, and an intended
invasion by Montrose from the south. Fearful of
being thus hemmed in, they suddenly crossed the
river with one thousand foot, and three hundred
horse, and, before sunrise, encamped on a rising
ground at Lhanbride, distant a few miles from
Elgin. The Covenanters lay at that burgh, twice
iheir number ; but being averse to fighting, they
IIAKISCHAL AND JIONTROSE AT ABEEDEEN. 135
sent forward the laird of Innes to treat. He was
met by Ogilvy of Banff, and an agreement was con-
cluded that neither party should cross the Spey to
the injury of the other. Both armies then dispersed.
Marischal took possession of Aberdeen, 24th May.
Montrose entered on the day following. He had
prepared to march northward on receiving intel-
ligence of ." the trot of Turriff." His force con-
sisted of four thousand horse and foot, and thirteen
pieces of artillery, attended by three hundred bag-
gage horses. Both armies were quartered on the
town, and the inhabitants groaned deeply under the
burden. The neighbouring country was also fright-
fully plundered : " Meal girnels broken up, eaten
and consumed the corns eaten and destroyed by
the horse no fowl, cock or hen, left unkilled*
the salmon fishers both of Dee and Don masterfully
oppressed, and their salmon taken from them."
These were evils necessarily attending the pre-
sence of a comparatively great army in a poor
country. But they were aggravated by ebullitions
* The " cocks and hens" were not the only sufferers. " The
haill house dogs, messins, and whelps within Aberdeen, killed
upon the streets, so that neither hound, messin, or otter dog
was left alive that they could see. The reason was this :
When the first army came here, ilk captain and soldier had a
blue ribbon about his craig, in despite and derision whereof,
when they removed from Aberdeen, some women of Aberdeen
(as was alleged) knit blue ribbons about the messins' craigs,
whereat thir soldiers took offence, and killed all thir dogs for
this very cause." Spalding's Troubles, 119.
136 THE CITIZENS' COMPLAINT.
of private revenge on the part of some of the neigh-
bouring clans, whose conduct throughout the whole '
of the struggle gives little evidence of any im-
pelling motive other than feudal antipathy. If
society ultimately benefited by their rough in-
strumentality in a cause that notwithstanding all
this, of the two was the right one, it was because
"Grod makes the wrath of man to praise him."
Two hundred of the Forbeses having been quartered
in Old Aberdeen, they plundered and destroyed the
bishop's house, and several outrages were committed
in New Aberdeen. There is reason, however, to
believe that the commanding officers were ignorant
of those proceedings ; for we find Montrose placing
a guard for protection of the salmon fishings, on a
representation by the burgesses of the damage done
to them by the soldiery.
The citizens complained bitterly of the oppres-
sions of the army urging that although they had
signed the Covenant, and were living in peace, theirs
was the only burgh that was thus persecuted. " Ye
have done what you could to have the king and his
subjects unsettled in peace," replied Montrx>se in-
dignantly; and forthwith he produced and read
to his astonished auditors certain intercepted letters,
in which they assured the king of their faithful
service, notwithstanding their recent covenanting.
To this pointed and unexpected evidence the citi-
zens with great simplicity replied, that " what they
had written or done, was done out of a good intent."
THE AEMT AT UDNY. ( 137
This defence being deemed unsatisfactory, the town
was disarmed, the ordnance shipped for th_e ports of
Montrose and Dundee, and a fine of 10,000 merks
imposed, which was paid next day under terror
of a threat that the town would otherwise he
given up to plunder. An order was also issued for
blocking up the harbour, by sinking ships, &c., on
the bar ; the execution of which was happily pre-
vented by the intervention of the Tables, on the
representation of the citizens, and gentlemen of the
county.
The barons having disbanded at Spey, Montrose
determined to reduce their strongholds piecemeal,
that they might have the less j>ower of giving fu-
ture trouble. On the 30th May he left Aberdeen,
and was joined in his march northward by the Earls
Marischal and Errol, who, with the lairds of Lud-
quharn and Delgaty, had taken possession of Fo-
veran house, and the castle of Knockhall, where
they quartered their troops for some days. It was
during this march -that a party of Covenanters took
shelter for a night in the Kirk of TJdny ; a circum-
stance particularly noted by the parson of Rothie-
may as an unusual instance of desecration,* but
" * Montrose came next nigbt to the kirke of Udnye, which was
made use of by the souldiours for a qwarter not only for men but
for horses : and the morrow, at their marching, the churche was
left spoyled with horses' dunge ; a practice then unusual), though
afterwards it grew to be mor in fashione to turne churches to
stables ; especially after Oliver Cromwell, by the treachery of
K
138 KETREAT OF MONTROSE.
which became so common during the troublous times
that followed, especially in England. On Satur-
day, 1st June, Montrose sat down "before the house
of Gight, but had only been engaged in the siege
for two days, when he received intelligence that
the Yiscount Aboyne had arrived in the bay of
Aberdeen with part of the king's fleet. Fearful
that his retreat would be cut off, he raised the siege
and marched into Aberdeen to oppose the landing
of the royal forces. Here, however, his stay was
short. Judging that Aboyne bore the king's com-
mission, and unwilling to do anything having a
tendency to prevent an expected pacification, he
suddenly retired into Angus. Marischal, also, hav-
ing displenished his town's mansion, withdrew to
his strength at Dunnottar; and the principal Cove-
nanters of the burgh, among whom was provost
Jaffray, hid their valuables and fled.
Aboyne, as has been mentioned, had shortly after
his father's imprisonment, gone to the king at York.
Struck with his spirit, and entertaining great hopes
from the influence of the Huntly family, Charles
made him Lieutenant of the North, and gave him a
letter to Hamilton, requesting that nobleman to
transport three thousand men, with arms and ammu-
nition to Aberdeen, there to be employed in the royal
cause. It is strongly surmised by cavalier writers,
unnaturall countrymen, garrisoned Scotland with English soul-
dioures, whom he had corrupted for his owne villanouse and
lewde designes." Scots Affairs, II., 264.
ABOYNE LANDS AT ABEKDEEN"-::: 139
that Hamilton whose misfortune it was always to
be suspected by the party with whom he acted had
no wish to comply with this request. Whether justly
or not, he pled inability; and all the assistance
that Aboyne received was four brass field-pieces,
some officers, and a quantity of arms and ammuni-
tion. These were conveyed by a Newcastle collier,
protected by two ships of the king's fleet, carrying
each sixteen guns. On the voyage northward they
captured a vessel with the arms of the Aberdeen
citizens, and part of the town's cannon, the rest of
which he seized at Dundee and sent the whole to
the Frith, retaining the small arms for the use of
his own expedition.
On Thursday, 6th June, Aboyne landed at Aber-
deen, and with him, besides his own followers,
several anti-covenanting citizens, ministers, and
neighbouring barons, who had taken refuge in
England, or whom he had turned back on their
voyage thither. He proclaimed his commission of
lieutenantry, and issued two other documents, the
one a proclamation forbidding all loyal subjects to
obey the Covenanters, or to pay them rents or
other debts, but to pay one half to the king, and
retain the other half to themselves ; the other, an
oath of loyalty and abjuration of the Covenant,
which the lieges were commanded to subscribe.
These proceedings over, the party retired to " Foot-
dee well," whither they had a guard of honour, con-
sisting of the town's loyalists, armed with hagbutts
K 2
140 DUGAE, OEANT, & FABQUHABSON :
and muskets. Here they supped, and then retired
to their ships.
The rumour of Aboyne's arrival with powerful
reinforcements from the king, having reached Lord
Lewis Grordon, he hastily raised one thousand of
his father's retainers, and marched to Aberdeen.
He arrived in the city on the 7th June, and having
been welcomed by his brother, his followers were
quartered on the inhabitants. This was the most
savage host by which Aberdeen had been yet vi-
sited during those troubles. Among the rest
were John M'Gtregor, alias John Dow Greare or
Dugar, "a notorious robber," and with him his
gang of "about twenty-four arrant thieves and cut-
throats ;"* James Grant, a desperate outlaw, with
his band ; and Donald Farquharson and his train
of rieving highlanders. To these ferocious savages
and banditti, there could be but one object, viz.,
plunder. "We have had occasion to regret the
coarse material of which the Covenanting forces of
Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray shires were composed,
and the low motives that in general engaged them
in the national quarrel ; but it must be confessed
that the so-called gallant, gentlemanly, and gene-
rous cause of the cavaliers had a superior affinity
for the merely ferocious and blackguard elements
of society.f " Thir soul-less loons," says Spalding,
* Gordons Scots Affairs, II., 267.
f Spalding says simply on hig own judgment that Lord
Lewis knew nothing of Dugar 's being in his company, and that
THEIR DEPREDATIONS. 141
in allusion to the followers of Grant and Farquhar-
son, " plundered meat, and drink, and ^heep, wher-
ever they came ; they oppressed the Old Town, and
brought in out of the country honest mens' sheep,
and sold at the cross of Old Aberdeen to such as
would buy a sheep for a groat. The poor men
that ought them followed in, and bought back their
own sheep again, such as were left unslain for their
meat."*
The star of loyalty and of the Gordons being again
in the ascendant, the cavalier barons and their fol-
lowers flocked to the standard of the lieutenant ;
who, finding that he was now strong enough to
trust himself on shore, landed with his retinue.
The keys of the town again changed hands ; the
ports were guarded; flying parties scoured the
country, and apprehended several influential citi-
he was discharged as a " runagate limmar, blood-shedder, and
murderer," whose adherence must have damaged any party. Ro-
thiemay, however, who was a cavalier and a Gordon, and whose
evidence is therefore, in this case, free from all suspicion, fur-
nishes a more likely reason for the discharge of Dugar, in the
statement that " thes two bandits, [Grant and Dugar] though
bothe of them were willing to serve Obyne, yet they could not
agree together ; but whenever they mett, they were lycke to fall
to blowes with ther companyes, and could hardly be kept asun-
der." He also avows Aboyne's cognizance of Dugar *s " service."
These were the two desperadoes that Montrose desired Huntly
to pledge himself to bring to justice. For a detail of the gene-
alogy and exploits of Grant, see the History of the Earls of
Sutherland, Spalding's Troubles, and Gordon's Scots Affairs,*
* Troubles, 127.
142 RIEVINGS AT KINTOKE.
zens in the covenanting interest among the rest,
Provost Jaffray and his son most of whom pur-
chased their liberty by swearing the king's bond.
Aboyne, now two thousand strong and daily in-
creasing, marched with his whole force for Strath-
bogie on the 10th June, and reached Kintore on
the same evening. The progress of his followers
to and from Strathbogie was like that of a gang
of banditti. At Kintore, their very appearance
made the frightened inhabitants fain to swear the
king's covenant ; but this did not shelter them
from the pillage of the soldiery, who, besides taking
what came to hand of the best for man and beast,
broke down the beds and other wooden work about
the country houses, with which, in default of peats,
they made themselves roaring fires.* The measure
of misery with which Aberdeen was served was small
in comparison with that meted out to the country
through which this terrible host marched. All
who were suspected to be Covenanters were plun-
dered at random, without order, by the private sol-
diers for having no pay, plunder was their only
subsistence. Another consequence of these terms
of service was that, in the words of our author,
" Aboyne's party were rather his comrades to be
requested, than soldiers to be commanded ;"f so
* " Peats and fire was very scarce, through want of servants
to cast and win them, and through the troubles in the country."
Spaldinff, 124.
t Gordons Scots Affairs, II., 268.
PROJECTED MARCH TO ANGUS. 143
that their foragings were not the regular levies of
a inarching army, but the rievings of lawless
banditti. Besides the houses of the farmers and
peasantry, Marischal's castle of Hallforest was
plundered of provisions and fire-arms, and the
lands of Fintray were laid waste.
Having returned to Aberdeen, Aboyne had in-
telligence that Marischal was mustering at Dun-
nottar to meet him. He therefore despatched a
small party to reconnoitre, who proceeded over
night, plundering as they went the country peo-
ple running naked out of. their beds, and betaking
themselves to the rocks on the sea shore. Such
was the terror inspired by the approach of those
lawless bands. They proceeded as far as Stone-
haven without opposition, and returned to their
quarters without intelligence.
On the return of this party, Aboyne decided on
marching southward to Angus. The method of
this movement and his expectations from it were, to
augment his numbers by voluntary accessions of the
king's party, and forced levies among the Cove-
nanters of that district, and to maintain his troops
on the lands and goods of the latter ; to break the
force of Marischal and his associates before it be-
came too powerful; and, finally, should a detachment
strong enough to overcome him be sent ofl 7 from the
great Covenanting army, now on the border, he
cherished the high expectation that the remainder,
being so inconsiderable, would yield the king an
144 KAID OF STONEHIVE.
easy victory. For himself and his followers he re-
served, as a last resource in case of failure, a retreat
into the highland fastnesses of his own district.
Aboyne's chief adviser in this expedition, and
indeed in all movements subsequent to his leaving
the frith, was Colonel (run one of those officers
furnished by Hamilton. He was a Caithness man,
who had served with eclat under Grustavus Adol-
phus a good soldier, and of great experience ;
and, as Aboyne himself was but a raw general, he
was enjoined by Hamilton to take no step without
the advice and concurrence of this officer. This
injunction coupled with Gun's subsequent conduct
the royalists quote as a proof of the admiral's bad
faith. At the suggestion of Ghin, all the spare
ammunition, and all the cannon, now consisting of
eight pieces, were put on board the ships, and these
were ordered to attend the motions of the army
along the coast.
The army variously estimated at two thou-
sand five hundred to four thousand, and containing
many Aberdeen's men took its march on the 14th
June, and the same night encamped at Muchals, a
seat of Burnet of Leys, which was subjected to the
usual spoliation. Next day Aboyne took up his
position within a short distance of Stonehaven,
where Montrose and Marischal were posted with
twelve hundred men and some pieces of cannon
a force that the royalists could easily have over-
come, had not the expedition been totally mis-
RAID OF STOtfEHIVE. 145
managed; first, by the shipment of their field-pieces,
which a storm was fast driving out to sea; and now
by the strange and suspicious tactics of Gun, who
drew up the army on the face of Megray hill, within
the range of the enemy's cannon. After some time
spent in idle skirmishing by advanced parties of
horse, during which the main body of the royalists
stood looking on unmolested and without concern,
Montrose opened a brisk fire with his great guns.
The highlandmen hearing the noise of cannon,
which they regarded with superstitious terror, fled
in troops at the first volley, "avowing," says Baillie,
" that they could not abide the musket's mother."*
But although it was found impossible to bring them
back to the field, they slackened their pace as their
distance from the army increased, and found suf-
ficient leisure to collect and drive before them to
the hills, a plentiful store of " horse, nolt, and
sheep, to the wreck of the country people." The
rest of the foot, some in panic, and some in dis-
gust at the conduct of Gun, began to withdraw in
small parties ; and so much was his army reduced,
that Aboyne was forced to retire to Aberdeen the
same night with its discomfited and dispirited frag-
ments consisting only of nine score horsemen, and
few footmen save James Grant and his bandit fol-
lowers. The ridiculous and mortifying termination
of this expedition known in local history as the
* Letters, II., 222.
146 POSITION OF THE NORTHERN COVENANTERS.
" Raid of Stonehive," affords an apt illustration of
of the yalue of a leader, and especially of the es-
sential military qualities of Montrose. "With the
exception of his Irish troops, it was with these
very highlanders, now so contemptible in their
flight at the noise of his cannon, that that noble-
man, after he had changed sides, performed his
most brilliant actions.*
But the dangers of the Covenant were not dis-
persed with the fugitive forces. The Grordons,
with the desultory habits of their class, were not
unused to sudden dispersion and as sudden re-em-
bodiment ; and the Covenanting general had every
reason to conclude that a few days would see them
again in arms. The position of the more northern
and western Covenanting clans was also an equivo-
cal one. Seaforth and Reay, with an army of five
thousand men, with which they had promised to
come to the rescue, stood aloof in the time of need;
the friendly clans of Ross and Moray moved not
because Seaforth stood still; while the Covenanters
of Aberdeen and Banff shires, with exception of
the Forbeses and Erasers, had of late been afraid
to show themselves. This critical state of matters
alarmed even those at head quarters, f who could
ill afford assistance, confronted as they were by an
invading force of twenty-three thousand. Seeing,
therefore, that every thing depended on their own
* Gordon's Scots Affairs, II., 275.
t Baillies Letters, I,, 222.
STOEMIN& OP THE BEIDGE OF DEE. 147
energies and resources, Montrose and Marischal
determined to follow up their success, and, if pos-
sible, crush their opponents before they could have
time to rally. Reinforced by some companies of
Dundee infantry and Angus horse, they advanced
northward from Stonehaven, drawing with them
"their victorious demi-cannon," and some field-
pieces. Aboyne having notice of the movement,
sent out parties to collect his scattered army and
annoy the enemy on his march.
On Monday the 17th June, the Covenanters, now
augmented by the accession of divers north country
gentlemen, and amounting in all to two thousand
foot and three hundred horse, encamped on the
Tollo-hill. Before sunrise on the day following, at
tuck of drum and sound of trumpet, one hundred
citizens of Aberdeen armed with muskets, and a
small party of Strathbogie foot, marched to the
bridge of Dee to secure that pass till they should
be reinforced by the gathering army. This was
a piece of service of great consequence to the
royalists, as the river, at every other point, had
been rendered impassable by recent heavy rains.
A barricade of turf was quickly raised at the south
gate of the bridge, which was flanked by tur-
rets, and the bridge itself manned by musketeers.
Aboyne speedily followed with as many horse as
he could muster, who, as they approached the
bridge by a rising ground, were saluted with a
volley from the demi-cannon, and, as they retreated
148 STOKMING- OF
to cover, by a score of harmless shot from the field-
pieces of the Covenanters. The assailing party
now turned their great guns against the bridge, on
which they kept up a battering fire. One of these
engines astounded the citizens by its great size,
" whilk was very fearful," says Spalding, " having
her ball of twenty pounds weight." This heavy
metal was seconded by vollies of musketry. But
the Aberdeen's men, by whom, by this time, the
bridge was well manned, stood gallantly to their
posts, and returned the fire with muskets, and four
field-pieces planted at the north end of the pas-
sage. Thus they stood during the whole day, hav-
ing but one killed and another wounded. Their
defence, indeed, was a desperate one from a con-
viction that they had little to expect from their
oft-provoked assailants, should they carry their
point. Moved by the same feeling their very wives
and servant-maids, from a few hours after the at-
tack commenced, disregarding both cannon and
musket shot, continued until evening to visit the
scene of danger with supplies of provisions for those
engaged in the service.
Night, which brought respite to the weary com-
batants, afforded also an opportunity for Montrose
to bring his two largest pieces of artillery nearer
the bridge, the south gate and south-west turret of
which had suffered severely from the assault. On
the forenoon of the following day, the cannonade
being again opened, Aboyne's horse advanced to
THE BBIDCHE OF DEE. 149
the bridge to second the. efforts of the musketeers.
Montrose perceiving this, made a feint "with a party
of his own horse as if he meant to ford the river
above the bridge. Notwithstanding what appears
to have been the clear impossibility of snch a feat
and the assurances of the Aberdonians to that
effect ; Grun drew off Aboyne's horse and led them
up the opposite bank to oppose the passage, thereby
exposing them to the fire of the enemy's cannon,
by which Seaton of Pitmedden lost Ms life. His
whole body above the saddle was carried away by
a heavy shot as he rode by the side of Aboyne.
The success of this ruse was also favoured by the
absence of fifty of the town's musketeers at the
funeral of their fellow-burgess who had fallen in
the defence on the previous day. In these circum-
stances and while Colonel Middleton (afterwards
Earl of Middleton) was preparing for a desperate
attack on the bridge, Johnston who headed the
defenders, had his leg broken by a stone struck
from one of the turrets by a cannon shot, and
calling for a horse, shouted to the dismayed citi-
zens, " Do for yourselves haste to the town !"
The news reaching Gun, he exclaimed to the cava-
liers, " Make for the town Johnston is killed and
the bridge is won !" The footmen fled to the town ;
the cavalry after one of their number had charged
their leader with being a " villian and a traitor"
made for Strathbogie ; and an army of four thou-
sand reorganized for Aboyne, and which was ad-
150 THE ARMY ENTERS ABERDEEN.
vancing that night to the rescue, disbanded at
Leggats-den.*
The "bridge thus gained, the triumphant Cove-
nanters marched into Aberdeen with banners dis-
played and sound of trumpet. The Covenanting
citizens once more lifted up their heads, and their
opponents fearful of military vengeance " fled the
town with their wives and children in their arms
and carried on their backs, weeping and moaning
most pitifully, straying here and there, not know-
ing where to go."f Neither were the fears of the
citizens groundless. No sooner was the invading
army quartered than search was made for all who
had been engaged in the defence of the bridge
forty-eight of whom were caught, bound with
ropes, and thrown into prison. The fearful pro-
posal was then made of giving up the town to pil-
lage and reducing it to ashes. This was urged on
Montrose by Fraser and Marischal ; and it appears
there was a warrant from the Tables to that effect.
To this terrible measure the general demurred, and
on a reconsideration of the matter the same parties
next day begged that the town might be spared
a request to which Montrose agreed on their lodging
with him a document, taking on themselves the re-
* Besides Seaton of Pitmedden, whose death is commemorated
in a cotemporaTy ballad, there fell four citizens of Aberdeen,
and several were wounded. On the Covenanters' side two were
killed.
t Spalding, 131.
PKOPOSAL TO BUEN THE CITY. 151
sponsibility of the non-execution of orders. The
intrinsic barbarity of the proposed measure none
will deny ; and the friends of religion and civiliza-
tion will regret that the character of the Tables
should have been at all implicated in it. It was
however to them simply a matter of expediency ;
and as such it must be estimated by all those of
whatever party who hold that war and its usual
accompaniments are the lawful and necessary means
of working out great social purposes. On the part
of the Tables it might be urged, that the struggle
in which they were engaged was a national one,
and that the party with whom the citizens of Aber-
deen identified themselves were in the aggressive ;
that their city and neighbourhood was the nucleus
of a faction and the only one of consideration in
the kingdom inimical to a fair adjustment of the
differences between the king and his subjects; that
besides exasperating the leaders of the Covenant
by their previous bitter, treacherous, and repeated
acts of hostility to the national cause, they had in
aiding Aboyne, assisted in an expedition that once
bade fair by dividing its force to prove its over-
throw, or, at least, to plunge the country into gene-
ral war when it was on the eve of peace ; and that
as to future security experience had proved the
worthlessness of oaths and bonds, for the more
dangerous that their rebellion against the common
cause was likely to prove, the more likely were
they to rebel. Still the revolting and final re-
152 PROPOSAL TO BURN" THE CITY.
source of the sack and utter desolation of the town
does not appear to have been a necessary measure ;
and the high probability is, that to such facts and
arguments as are here suggested had been added
the strong representations of the Forbeses, Frasers,
and the Earl Marischal, by whose advice in matters
concerning the locality, the Tables were almost
entirely guided. There seems no foundation, how-
ever, for the calumny recently revived that the sug-
gestion to burn the town originated with " some
fiery ministers" who accompanied Montrose. The
warrant of the Tables appears to set that matter
at rest ; as that document must have been previ-
ously procured by the parties who produced it. The
language also of Principal Baillie, who was then
with the main army at Dunse Law confirms this,
fairly representing, as we conceive, the feelings of
the Covenanting ministers on the one hand, and
the followers of Montrose and his associates on the
other. "We cannot however extract the passage,
(which is given below,'*) without remarking the
f " At last, with some slaughter on both sydes, we warm the
bridge, we patt our enemy to routt, goes forward that same night
to Aberdeen, lodges without in the fields, being resolved to-mor-
rosv to have sacked it orderlie, that hereafter that Town should
have done our nation no more cumber. But as it pleased God
to keep us from all marcks of the leist alleaged crueltie from the
first taking up of our armes, so there the preventing mercies of
God did kyth in a special manner ; for that same night, by sea,
the king's letters of pacification at Dunce were brought to the
town ; which to-morrow earlie being presented to our nobles
THE MAIN ARMY AT DUNSE. 153
coolness with which even pions men in times of
public commotion are led to view proposals fraught
with so much human misery, and expressing regret
that among the mingled objects for which such mea-
sures were deemed necessary, the propagation and
establishment of religion should have been regarded
as one.
On the 20th May the main army of the Cove-
nant had left the links of Leith, sixteen thou-
sand strong, and on the 5th June encamped on a
little hill behind the town of Dunse, near the border,
called Dunse Law, where their numbers increased to
twenty-four thousand. We regret that we cannot
indulge in a copious extract from Baillie's detailed,
and most picturesque description of that unique
host composed as it was not of soldiery, in the
common acceptation of that term but of the stout
peasantry and yeomen of the country, drawn toge-
ther, generally speaking, by an intelligent and
hearty interest in the cause officered by the flower
of the nobility, gentry, and others of the middle
and educated classes with its complement of grave
ministers, in their strange and warlike accoutre-
ments,* around whom were ranged, at tuck of drum,
made them glad they had gotten that blessed coard whereby to
binde up their sojours hands from doing of mischief whereto that
wicked Town's just deservings had made them verie bent," Let-
ters, I., 222.
* Baillie thus furnishes a specimen of the personal equipment
of the ministers engaged in this campaign : " It would have
L
154 THE MAIN ARMY AT DUNSE.
the soldiers of the Covenant to their morning and
evening devotions, while over each group floated,
iu glittering folds, their sacred ensign with its
motto in letters of gold, " For Christ's crown and
Covenant." Under the masterly training of Leslie,
seconded by the example of the nobles and gentry,
the zeal of the soldiers, tempered by discipline,
acquired the tone of cool, stout, and abiding courage ;
while the exhortations of the ministers, and the
ultimate reference of their cause to God kept their
hopes high. They felt their position to be superior
to that of the adverse army, which was headed by
their sovereign ; " Yet," says JBaillie, " such was
our tenderness to his honour, that with our hearts
we were ever willing to supplicate his oif-coming ;
yea, had we been ten times victorious in set battles,
it was our conclusion to have laid down our arms
at his feet, and on our knees to have presented
nought but our first supplications. "We had no
other end of our wars ; we sought no crowns ; we
done yow good to have fasten your eyes athort our brave and
rich Hill, as oft I did, with great contentment and joy, for I
(quoth the wren) was there among the rest,'*Leing chosen preacher
by the gentlemen of our shyre, who came late with my Lord of
Eglinton. I furnished to half a duzen of good fellows, musquets
and picks, and to my boy a broadsword. I carryed myself, as
the fashion was, a sword, and a couple of Dutch pistols at my
saddle ; but I promise for the oifence of no man, except a robber
in the way ; for it was our part alone to pray and preach for the
incourageuient of our country-men, which I did to my power
most cheerfullie." Letters, I., 211.
PACIFICATION" OF BERWICK. 155
aimed not at lands and honours as our party ; we
desired but to keep our own in the service of our
prince, as our ancestors had done ; we loyed no new
masters. Had our throne "been void, and our voices
sought for the filling of Fergus' chair, we would
have died ere any other had sitten down on that
fatal marble but Charles alone."*
These loyal and pacific feelings and designs of the
Covenanters were, happily, met on the other side by
the necessities of the king, who, with a numerous,
half-hearted, and ill-supplied army, soon found that
negotiation was his only alternative. The leaders
of the Scottish army were indirectly sounded, com-
missioners on each side were appointed, and terms
of peace were agreed upon. The main articles
were, that all ecclesiastical matters should be set-
tled by a Greneral Assembly, and all civil affairs
by Parliament and the legal judicatures ; annual
Assemblies were in part provided for, and for the
settlement of present disputes, it was agreed that
one should be summoned the 6th August of that
year, and a Parliament on the 20th of the same
month both of ~-hich were to be honoured by the
royal presence ; both parties were to disband, the
royal castles were to be rendered, and all persons
and goods detained by the king, in consequence of
the troubles, to be set at liberty and restored.
These terms were not in themselves satisfactory to
the Covenanters, nor such as they might have ex-
* Baillie's Letters, I., 215.
L2
156 EVACUATION OF ABERDEEN.
torted. The Acts of the Glasgow Assembly, em-
bodying all for which they had been contending,
were not acknowledged ; but these questions were
to be referred to another free Assembly, and
of its decisions they had no doubt. The written
treaty was also modified by the king's verbal
explanations, which the Covenanting commissioners
carefully noted and circulated. These the Mng
subsequently denied ; but there is every reason to
believe them genuine.
The pacification was concluded on the 18th June,
and was announced to the glad inhabitants of
Aberdeen on the 20th. The imprisoned burgesses
were immediately liberated the keys rendered to
the magistrates and Montrose, having levied a
fine of 6,000 merks, evacuated the city, and the
fugitive citizens returned to their homes. Huntly
and his son, Lord Gfordon, who, up to this time,
had lain prisoners in Edinburgh Castle, were set
free. The former joined the king at Berwick.
Thither, also, Aboyne proceeded, taking with him
Colonel Gfun. Johnston followed soon after ; and,
in the presence of the king, charging Grun with
treason, challenged him to single combat ; but
Hamilton interfered, and had him conveyed to
Holland.
Previous to the departure of the army from
Aberdeen, there occurred a final and characteristic
piece of tragedy. The day previous to that on which
the bridge was taken, there was killed, on the
DEATH OF PITTODKIE. 15?
Covenanters' side, a gentleman named Ramsay,
brother to the Laird of Balmain. His body was
carried to the town, and, two days after, was at-
tended to" the churchyard by the leaders of the
army. At the same time, Seaton of Pitmedden
was also interred. The soldiers of the Covenant
surrounded the grave of Ramsay, at the door of
the church of St. Nicholas ; and, as they discharged
their farewell volley over it, Erskine of Pittodrie,
who was standing among the rest, was shot through
the head, and instantly expired. " Erskine," says
Spalding, " was a wilful, malicious Covenanter ;"
and there is little doubt that to this circumstance
he owed his death. A suspected person was ap-
prehended, but on examination was set at liberty ;
and no clue was ever found by which to detect the
perpetrator of the deed.
CHAPTER VII.
DEFECTION OF MONTROSE ASSEMBLY AND PARLIAMENT,
1639 COVENANT SIGNED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSIONER
AND PRIVY COUNCIL, AND ENJOINED ON THE COUNTRY
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COVENANTING COMMISSION AT
ABERDEEN ENTRY OF THE ARMY UNDER MUNRO
SURRENDER OF DRUM OPERATIONS IN THE GARIOCH
SURRENDER OF STRATHBOGIE, AUCHINDOWN, AND SPY-
NIE ASSEMBLY AT ABERDEEN, 1640 DEMOLITION OF
IDOLATROUS MONUMENTS, DEPOSITION OF THE DOC-
TORS, AND DEBATE ON PRIVATE MEETINGS OPERA-
TIONS OF MUNRO IN BANFFSHIRE HE MARCHES SOUTH-
WARD HIS CHARACTER.
A TREATY so vague as that which formed the basis
of the pacification of Berwick in which conces-
sions were made with mental reservations, and ac-
cepted with verbal explanations was unlikely to
be the foundation of a lasting peace. The king
soon furnished new occasions for eliciting the watch-
ful jealousy of the Covenanters. His policy now
was to gain by flattery, that adherence of the Scot-
tish nobles which his authority had failed to secure ;
for he rightly judged that, so far as political measures
DEFECTION OF MONTROSE. 159
were concerned, this was the most effectual method
of paralyzing the national movement. One im-
portant conversion he effected, destined soon to pro-
dnce disastrous results, namely, that of the Earl of
Montrose. In this young nobleman, brilliant ta-
lents were united to a soaring ambition, the aspir-
ings of which were alike incompatible with steady
principle, and the subordinate place which he held
in the covenanting army. He returned from court
to Berwick, to watch, and to be watched, until the
proper time should arrive for avowing his change.
Resenting the suspicions of his sincerity evinced
by the proceedings of the Covenanters, the king,
instead of appearing in person at the ensuing As-
sembly and Parliament, appointed the Earl of Tra-
quair commissioner. His instructions were con-
ceived in the spirit of the most refined Jesuitry.
The folly of direct opposition being at last clearly
discovered, all measures of ecclesiastical reform were
to have his concurrence on the ground of present
expediency ; but the bishops were instructed se-
cretly to lodge a protest against the whole proceed-
ings, as vitiated by their exclusion. On a like ob-
jection also, viz., the absence of the spiritual estate,
the nullity of parliament was predetermined by
the king, who assured the bishops that his compli-
ance with their enemies was only apparent and
temporary.
The Assembly* did its work with a firm purpose
* For a list of Northern Members, see B, Appendix.
160 PARLIAMENT AND ASSEMBLY, 1639.
and a nice delicacy. Episcopacy and all its con-
comitants were abolished, but all needless reference
to former quarrels was scrupulously avoided. The
Covenant was extended by an enumeration of those
innovations which in the former draught were re-
served for the judgment of a free Assembly ; and
in this shape, with a slight explication of the bond
of mutual defence, it was, contrary to expectation,
signed by the royal commissioner and privy council.
By the latter its subscription was also enjoined on.
all his majesty's Scottish subjects ; and the whole
proceedings were closed amid demonstrations of
national joy.
The Parliament, which sat down on the following
day, confirmed all the Acts of the Assembly, and
were proceeding with organic reforms which have
been pointed out by enlightened historians as indi-
cating the first dawn of constitutional liberty in
Scotland,* when their proceedings were arrested by
* One measure of organic reform commenced by this parlia-
ment is deserving of notice here, principally as illustrating the
intimate connexion subsisting between Episcopacy, as it existed
in Scotland, and corrupt government, and in part accounting
for the strong passion of the Stuarts for the restoration of the
hierarchy. The Lords of the Articles were a committee of
parliament who drew up all bills submitted to the house, and with-
out whose initiative no measure could be introduced. During
the latter part of the reign of James VI., this important body
was thus constituted: The estate of bishops elected eight nobles,
and they in their turn eight bishops : these, conjointly, named
eight barons; and the whole chose eight burgesses; and, as
the bishops were the creatures of the court, the king had thus a
NEW COMMISSION AT ABERDEEN, 1640. 161
a sudden prorogation. The order to rise was
obeyed under protest, and commissioners were de-
spatched to court to remonstrate. These, Charles
committed to the Tower on the charge of an in-
trigue with the king of France, and on the same
pretext again declared war against his Scottish
subjects. For such an issue the jealous vigilance
of the latter held them quite prepared, and a short
time saw them marshalled under Leslie their old
generalissimo.
Meantime those empowered to receive subscrip-
tions to the Covenant, as enacted by the late As-
sembly, and approved by the privy council, were
busy in all parts of the country, and among all ranks,
especially the ministry. Early in March, 1640,
pursuant to announcement by Dr. Gruild, who had re-
turned, probably on the pacification of Berwick,
Earl Marischal, Lord Eraser, and other commis-
sioners arrived in Aberdeen forthis purpose. These
noblemen with their small retinue were honourably
entertained by the magistrates. The inhabitants
were convened in the town hall, where Mr. David
Lindsay Dr. Guild, and the Sheriif-depute of the
Mearns, took charge of the subscriptions. The
magistrates and council subscribed willingly being
negative on the introduction and discussion of every obnoxious
measure. To restore the election of the constituent members
of this committee to each estate respectively, was q change
proposed and partly effected in this parliament, from which
also the bishops were excluded.
162 THE DOCTORS : DEATH
Covenanters, with the excepton of one of the for-
mer and three of the latter. But notwithstanding
the command of the city authorities at the instigation
of the committee, the success among the common peo-
ple was but indifferent ; and this much must be ob-
served to to the praise of their consistency. The
noble commissioners, seemingly in compassion to the
feelings of some of the subscribers, possessed them-
selves of the bond by which Aboyne had engaged
them to the king and the bishops, and tore it in
pieces. All the ministers of the diocese, and pro-
fessors in the colleges, were also summoned ; and
all subscribed except Drs. Sibbald, Scroggie, John
Forbes of Corse, Leslie, Principal of King's College,
and "William Blackball, one of the regents or pro-
fessors of Marischal College. The latter, about
two years subsequently, avowed his adherence to
Popery, was excommunicated, and soon after left
the country. "Dr. Sibbald," says the parson of
Rothiemay, " sent in a letter of excuse, pretending
that he had catched a cold in his heade, some of
the dayes proceeding." Two of his learned brethren
had recently been removed by death. These were
Dr. Barren and Dr. Ross, both ministers of the
town. The former had left Aberdeen on account
of the troubles, and died in Berwick. It is pleasing,
amidst the disruption of social feeling incident to
the times, to notice the kindly and almost affec-
tionate tribute which Principal Baillie pays to this
misguided but doubtless sincere champion of high
OF DR. B ARROW. 163
monarchical principles. " My heart," says the
principal, " was sore for good Dr. Barren : after he
had been at London, printing a treatise for the
king's authority in Church affairs, I suspect too
much to his country's prejudice, he returned hea-
vily diseased of his gravel; he lay not long at
Berwick till he died. Some convulsions he had,
wherein the violent opening of his mouth, with his
own hand or teeth, his tongue was somewhat hurt :
of this symptom, very caseable, more din was
made by our people than I could have wished of so
meek and learned a person."*
* Letters, I. 221. The "din" made about the case of the
doctor consisted in the circulation of an opinion among the vul-
gar, that the convulsions of his last illness were the special
judgments of God on account of his opposition to the Covenant.
The following entry by Spalding is also referable to the date of
the commissioners' visit: "Dr. Gordon, medicinar, and one
of the founded members of the college of Old Aberdeen, and
common procurator thereof, departed this life upon the 10th
March, in his own house, in Old Aberdeen ; a godly, grave, and
learned man ; singular in public works about the college, and
putting up on the steeple thereof the stately and glorious crown,
which you see thereon, which was thrown down by the wind."
Troubles, 158. The catastrophe which called forth the instance
of Dr. Gordon's munificence here indicated, is thus noted by the
same chronicler: "Anno 1633. Upon Thursday the 7th of
February, there began a great storm of snow, with horrible high
winds, whilk was noted to be universal throughout all Scotland.
This hideous wind was marked to be such, as the like had never
been seen here in these parts, for it would overturn country men's
houses to the ground, and some persons suddenly smored within,
164: MEASURES FOR
Still the only minister in Aberdeen who was
active on behalf, of the Covenant was Dr. Ghiild ;
whose great zeal, " for the time," now that it was
in the ascendant, was sarcastically remarked on by
the cavaliers, who take occasion from his conduct
to insinuate charges against the doctor's honesty in
particulars which facts do not seem to warrant.
There can be no doubt, however, that his tempor-
ising assisted the evil influences peculiar to the
district. In the military preparations of the Cove-
nanting leaders, special regard was had to the state
of the Anti-covenanting districts of the north.
Colonel Robert Munro, a Ross-shire gentleman,
bred in the wars of Grustavus Adolphus, was pro-
moted to the rank of major-general, and entrusted
with a portion of the army to keep in check the
royalists there. The Gfordons, with their adherents,
among whom was reckoned the town of Aberdeen,
had laid aside none of their real animosity to the
popular cause, and were known to be still chafing
under a sense of their disgrace at the bridge of
Dee. " They looked on themselves," says one of
their own party, "not as conquered in any just
without relief. It also threw down the stately crown, bigged of
curious eslar work, off the steeple of King's College of Old
Aberdeen, whilk was thereafter ra-edified and built up, little
inferior to the first." Troubles, 13, 14. Dr. Gordon was one
of the commissioners deputed by the Marquis of Huntly to pro-
pose terms of accommodation to the Earl of Montrose the year
previous.
SUBDUING THE ROYALISTS. 165
victory, but as traitored by Colonel Ghm; and
lived with hope and longing to have their credit
repaired : and to this purpose they wanted nothing
but a head, who might be Huntly, or some of his
sons."* Much dissatisfaction was also expressed
at the imposition, by the Tables, of an assessment
for defraying the expenses of their struggle with
the king. As a security for the peace of the
country till Munro should be prepared to march
northward, Marischal was directed to collect his
friends and vassals in Buchan and the Mearns,
and, in conjunction with the Forbeses and Frasers,
to take such measures as were necessary to keep
the town and neighbourhood in awe. Fearful lest
the principal royalists should escape by sea, Ma-
rischal, previous to entering Aberdeen, issued an
order that no vessel should be allowed to leave the
port ; and, to enforce this interdict, all the ships
in the harbour were stripped of their sails, by
order of the magistrates. Notwithstanding this,
there was a general flight among the non-cove-
nanting inhabitants by both sea and land. On the
5th May, Marischal entered the town, with a hun-
dred and sixty horse, where he was met by several
Covenanting barons. A committee was formed,
and the common assessment was levied to the
amount of 6,000 merks. On his former visit,
Marischal had also enforced a loan of all plate
* Gordons Scots Affairs, III., 160.
166 ADVANCE OF MUNRO, AND
and coined money in the burgh, which, how-
ever, seems to have produced but a small amount.
A muster of the citizens was now ordered; but,
owing to the flight of many, and the unwillingness
of those who remained, only two hundred and
sixty appeared at the links, and even this small
number dwindled to less than one-half in course of
a fortnight.
On the 28th May, Munro approached Aberdeen,
with eight hundred foot and forty horse. He sent
before him a series of Articles for acceptance by
the magistrates, in which, among other things, it
was "desired" that they should deliver up the
names of all those citizens, present and absent,
who had not subscribed the Covenant ; that the
magistrates and whole inhabitants should give their
oath not to correspond with such ; that they should
hear no minister, within the town, who had not
subscribed, " under pain of banishment, both prea-
chers and hearers ;" that they should render up
the keys of the city ports, prison, stores, and
churches, with all the spare arms, ammunition, and
implements of the citizens ; support the soldiery
during their stay, and supply besides, twelve thou-
sand pounds of bread, one thousand gallons of ale,
twelve hundred pairs of shoes, and three thousand
ells of harden.* The Articles were accepted; a
* The " Desire" of this uncompromising taxman anent the last
mentioned articles is so piquantly worded that we cannot resist
TEEMS WITH ABERDEEN. 167
show of welcome was made by a hundred and twenty
citizens marching to the bridge of Dee to meet the
major-general ; and he entered the town with his
men marching " in good order, having bine bonnets
on their heads with feathers waving in the wind."
The soldiers were quartered equally on the citizens,
royalist and Covenanting an instance of impar-
tiality that commended itself to the appreciation
of the former, the enjoyment of which was height-
ened by the view that it was an act of providential
retribution which the latter neither expected nor
relished.
quotation " 10th. Desires that, in testimony of their bon-
accord with the soldadista that had come so far a march for their
safeties from the invasion of foreign enemies, and the slavery
they and their posterity might be brought under, they may be
pleased, out of their accustomed generosity and present thank-
fulness to the soldadista for keeping good order, and eschewing
of plundering, to provide for them twelve hundred pairs of shoes,
together with three thousand ells of harden, tyckan, or sail can-
vass for making of tents, to save the soldadista from great inun-
dation of rains, accustomed to fall out under this northern
climate." Spalding, 170. This appeal to the generosity and
gratitude of the Aberdonians, has at first sight, and on merely
reading Spalding, the appearance of a bitter jest. But Munro
had too much gravity and military mannerism to joke in such a
fashion ; and, whatever might have been the present thankful-
ness of most of the citizens, the ground of his appeal viz., the
discipline and good order of his soldiery is amply sustained by
a cotemporary royalist, who brought less prejudice to his task
than the city annalist, whose account of this visit is marked by
the most ludicrous instances of spite and bitterness. See Gordon's
Scots Affairs.
168 MILITARY DISCIPLINE.
Under protection of this military guard, David
Lindsay of Belhelvie proceeded to administer the
Covenant in Old and New Aberdeen. "After ser-
mon," says our narrator, " the preacher exhorted
the people with many promises, mixed with terror
and threatening to sign the holy Covenant." Many
of the wretched outstanders " perforce gave obedi-
ence." " Myself," he says, with a naivete which
is amusing even in the midst of the misery and
degradation of such a scene " myself subscribed
this Covenant, presented to me by the magistrates,
after I had subscribed the king's Covenant, pre-
sented by the Marquis of Huntly ; and another I
subscribed in the samen place, presented by the
lairds of Benholm and Auldbar."*
During Munro's stay in the city the inhabitants
felt severely the miseries of military government.
He levied one hundred and fifty citizens and dis-
tributed them among his own soldiers ; and finding
that he was but unwillingly served, he erected be-
tween the crosses on Castlegate a " timber mare"
(an instrument of discipline imported from Ger-
many) " whereon runagate knaves and runagate
soldiers should ride."f This military service was
* Spalding, 172.
f " Uncouth to see such discipline in Aberdeen, and painful
for the trespasser to suffer !" ibd. 178. It is highly probahle
that this discipline was generally confined to the military, although
Spalding gives aninstance of its tyrannical infliction on a citizen :
had it been otherwise, our quaint and bitter anti-covenanting
annalist would no doubt have informed us.
PREPARATIONS FOR REDUCING- THE BARON'S. 169
so disliked that at subsequent musters the major-
general was reduced to the expedient of kidnap-
ping the lieges in their beds. To avoid these
hardships several of the town's people fled, and
their goods and chattels were appropriated to the
use of the army. Of those who remained, many
were apprehended and subjected to penalties;
among whom were nine of the most substantial
citizens who were carried to Edinburgh and there
imprisoned till they purchased their freedom with
large sums.
Previous to Munro's entry, and while he lay with
Marischal at Duunottar, several of the royalist ba-
rons, fearing a visitation which they were conscious
of having provoked, were fain to deprecate the
vengeance of the Covenanting general, by suing
for terms of peace. No terms, however, could be
granted, except on submission by signing the Co-
venant ; and this indispensable preliminary being
refused, one of the first measures of the major-
general was to make arrangements for reducing the
royalists by force. A troop of horse was raised in
the county, under the command of Arthur Forbes,
son of John Forbes, minister of Alford, who suffered
for his opposition to Episcopacy in the days of
King James. Forbes had himself been a prisoner
for the good cause, probably more on his father's
account than his own, and this, as was alleged,
was his sole recommendation to his present charge ;
an allegation which the sequel renders highly prob-
170 SURRETOER OF DRUM,
able. The inhabitants of Aberdeen were commanded
to deliver up their " hail spades, shools, mattocks,
mells, barrows, picks, gavelocks, and such like
instruments meet for undermining," and with these
equipments Munro commenced operations by an
expedition against the house of Drum. Sir Alex-
ander Irvine was from home, and his lady, who had
with her " some prettie men," under the command
of a friend of the family, stood to the defence, but
after killing two of the besiegers, surrendered. . The
defenders marched out with military honours, and
the castle was garrisoned by Munro ; but lady Ir-
vine having promised that Sir Alexander should
yield himself up on his return, was allowed an
apartment for the use of herself and family. The
lady's pledge was faithfully implemented, and the
knight was carried to Edinburgh with other gentle-
men of the shire, imprisoned, and subjected to a
heavy fine.
Returning to Aberdeen, Munro was met by
Marischal with six hundred men, and the two ge-
nerals heard sermon, and united in solemn thanks-
giving for the " intaking of this strong house with
so little skaith." A portion of the army was
then distributed over the shire, to " take in" other
houses of the Non-covenanting gentry. They visited
Knockhall, Fdny, and Fiddes were repulsed at
Fetternier, but returned and ." gutted" the house*
the laird having fled. The girnals of Crombie of
Kemnay, who was in England, supplied them with
AND OF STRATHBOGHCE. 171
store of victual ; and the houses and tenantry of
Balbithan, Hedderwick, Lethenty, Newton of Gfa-
rioch, and many others, suffered more or less. Re-
cusant gentry, in surprising numbers, and some
country ministers, were from time to time brought
into the town, and thence sent to Edinburgh, where
they were subjected to fine and imprisonment ; men
ran hither and thither, and were safe nowhere ; and
one cannot read the description of those scenes of
distress and violence without feelings of deep com-
miseration. The major-general was, however, un-
succe'ssful in an attempt to seize Lord Grordon, who
landed in the En/ie, collected his father's rents in
that quarter, put to sea, and eluded the vigi-
lance of an Aberdeen vessel manned and armed for
the pursuit. But the rents and dues of the king
and the bishop were attached, and the national as-
sessment, to which the district demurred so much,
was made to yield from time to time an instalment
to the cause.
Having reduced the neighbourhood of Aberdeen,
Munro next proceeded to invest Strathbogie, or
Huntly castle the very eyrie of the " Cock of the
North," the most powerful enemy of the Covenant
in the kingdom. He sat down with his little army
at the confluence of the Bogie and Deveron, a short
distance from the castle, the keys of which were
promptly rendered by the Marchioness, then dwell-
ing at the other family seat at Bog of Gfight. The
place was immediately taken possession of; but,
M 2
172 OPERATIONS AT STKATHBOGHE.
with a forbearance scarcely to be expected, the
walls and furniture were scrupulously saved from
outrage, with exception, as a cavalier writer informs
us, of " some emblems of imagerye, which looked
somewhat popish and superstitiouse lycke," which
were therefore " hewed and brocke off the frontis-
piece of the house ;" but the arms and other em-
bellishments in connexion with the obnoxious figures
were left untouched. The soldiers bivouacked in
the neighbourhood, in huts constructed of the trees
and bushes that surrounded the castle. Their sub-
sistence was derived entirely from the provisions
found in the strong-hold, and all foraging on the
neighbourhood was forbidden. At the first ap-
proach of Munro, the country people fled, driving
their cattle before them, and leaving their houses
and grain stores to his mercy ; but the plundering
of some of these by the soldiery was promptly pun-
ished. He sent in pursuit of the cattle, however,
which were collected near the castle of Auchindowu;
and his party, under Arthur Forbes, encountering
about the same place John Dugar, with a stolen
drove from Morayshire, after a skirmish with that
notorious robber and the laird of Auchindown, col-
lected the whole, amounting to 2500 black cattle
and horses, and many thousand sheep, and drove
them to their quarters. The sheep and cattle
Muhro caused the owners to redeem ; thereby rais-
ing a considerable revenue, and creating an oppor-
tunity of coming in contact, man by man, with the
SURRENDER OF SPYNIE. ABERDEEN ASSEMBLY. 173
more substantial tenantry of the district; from some
of the more obnoxious of whom he exacted higher
penalties, or took security for their good behaviour.
The horses he reserved for the use of his army.
This exploit was folio-wed by the surrender of
Auchindown castle, after it had been laid waste by
the proprietor, who had collected about four hun-
dred friends and retainers for its defence.
While lying at Strathbogie, Munro made a de-
tour with a party by the castle of Spynie, fortified
and held by Gruthrie, bishop of Moray. This
strength was immediately rendered, garrisoned by
the Covenanters, and left in charge of the Commis-
sion at Elgin the bishop being allowed to remain
with his family, on promise to appear when called
on. Munro returned to the camp, and remained in
the district as long as he judged his presence ne-
cessary for the reduction of the country, and collec-
tion of the common tax. Previous to his leaving,
the country people had returned to their houses,
and were quietly pursuing their usual avocations
for " the countrymen and soldiers were grown ac-
quainted, and peaceable neighbours to one another."
While these operations were in progress, by
which the north country was cleared and quieted of
all suspicion of disturbance, the time arrived for
the sitting of the Gfeneral Assembly at Aberdeen,
pursuant to indiction ; and preparations for its ge-
neral and joyful attendance were common through-
174 ASSEMBLY AT ABEEDEE1T, 1640.
out the country. The general current of public
events was such as to inspire the popular party
with courage, self-reliance, and hope. After an
unsuccessful attempt at a second prorogation by the
king, the Scottish Parliament had met on the 2d
June. No royal commissioner made his :appearance,
and the estates boldly took their seats-^-elected a
president adopted the Articles prepared at the
previous session imposed an assessment for the
service of the country transferred the whole power
of the executive to a committee of estates, and
arose to buckle on their armour. On the 13th
July, the second Covenanting army began to as-
semble at Dunglass ; a declaration of their intention
to cross the border, with their reasons for it, having
been previously published, for the information and
conciliation of the English people.
The choice of Aberdeen as a place of meeting
for this Assembly was dictated by the principles
of a prudent and vigorous policy. The'work had
been commenced at Glasgow promoted a step at
Edinburgh and was now to be consummated at
Aberdeen by invading " malignancy" in its very
lair, and dispossessing it of its last refuge. On
the day previous to that on which the Assembly
sat down, Marischal entered the town with three
hundred horse, and Forbes with a regiment of foot.
The city authorities were also profuse in their ar-
rangements for the convenience and honour of the
venerable court. The Grrayfriars church was fitted
SUPEKSTITIOUS MONUMENTS AT ABEKDEEN. 175
up like a theatre for its sittings ; the " courtesy of
the burgh" was accorded to distinguished commis-
sioners ; and a guard of honour, consisting of a
select number of the city youth, armed with black
partizans, was appointed to wait on the Assembly
during every session. On the 28th July, the sit-
tings commenced : Mr. Andrew Ramsay, minister
of Edinburgh was chosen moderator ; and, there
being no Royal Commissioner, business was imme-
diately proceeded with.
Among the Acts of this Assembly which were
neither numerous nor generally important were
two for the demolition of idolatrons monuments ;
one confined in its application to the city of Aber-
deen and its vicinity the other comprehending
the country generally, but having special reference
to the north. The committee nominated to carry
out the purposes of the former, commenced opera-
tions immediately. As it may be interesting to
those acquainted with the locality, we shall give
some of these in the words of contemporaneous
chroniclers in which the bitter and scornful air
of the cavalier will be readily detected : "Least,"
says the parson of Rothiemay,*"they should seeme
to have done nothing, they knocked down some old
weather-beaten stones which had stood in some
publicke places of Old Aberdeen, which were
grown, sine nomine trunci. Ther was lyckwise ane
* Scots Affairs, III., 218, 219.
176 DESTRUCTION" OF
old crucifix of stone in a ruinouse church (called
the Spittal church, rased since that tyme) that was
broken downe lyckwayse. Ane image ther was of
Sainct Andrew, which, for some years before, had
been sett upp upon the dwelling house of Sir
Alexander Gfordon of Cluny, in Old Aberdeen, for
ornament, it being knowne that the gentleman who
had built the house, and sett upp hard by some
guilded scutcheons, was no papist ; doune went
Sainct Andrew with the rest." "They came all
ryding up the gate," says Spalding "came to
Machir Kirk, ordained our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ his armes to be hewen out of the foir front
of the pulpit thereof, and to take down the por-
trait of our blessed Yirgin Mary, and her. dear
sone babie Jesus in her armes, that had stood since
the upputting thereof, in curious work,, under the
syling at the west end of the pend, whereon the
great stipell stands, onmoved whyle now: and gave
orders to Collonel Master of ' Forbes, to see this
done, whilk he with all diligence obeyed. And
besydes, wher ther was any crucifix sett in glassen
windows, this he caused pull out in honest men's
houses. He caused ane mason strike out Christ's
armes in hewen work, on ilk end of Bishop Graviu
Dunbar's tomb ; and sicklyke chisel out the name
of Jesus drawn cypher wayes, I. H. S., out of the
timber wall on the foirsyde of Machir aisle, anent
the consistorie door. The crucifix on the Old Town
Cross dung doun ; the crucifix on the New Town
SUPERSTITIOUS MONUMENTS AT ABERDEEN. 177
closed up, being loth to break the stone ; the cru-
cifix on the west end of St. Nicholas kirk in New
Aberdeen dung down, whilk was never troubled
before !" The honest clerk finds some satisfaction
in closing his pathetic paragraph by informing us,
that "this diligent Collonel Master of Forbes,
kept not place long time thereafter, but was shortly
cashiered." It is generally agreed that our re-
forming ancestors went too far in the destruction of
such monuments. But waiving all discussion of
the competency of an ecclesiastical assembly to
frame decrees touching property, or of a civil court
to touch the objects or, say, the machinery of worship
it would be difficult for any (other than a Roman
Catholic) to say where they ought to have staid
their hand. The ground of those who condemn,
is, that these monuments we speak not of build-
ings for worship, as such were indiiferent. This,
to say the least, is a historical fallacy. They
were so to neither party. To the one, they were
the objects of a silly reverence, as clearly seen
in the passage last quoted; to the other, they
were the hoof-prints of " the Beast" the emblems
of a religion the imposition of which they feared
above all things. As to results, it is advancing no
fanciful or special plea to suggest, that the simple,
stern, and manly national character of which some
of our objectors boast, may be partly attributed to
the clean sweep which was made in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries of the monuments of a
178 DEPOSITION OS 1 THE DOCTOBS.
fantastic worship ; or, if these national character-
istics are put for the cause instead of the effect, the
argument will he shortened. At all events, if it is ,
difficult now to say where the men of 1640 should
have held their hand, it was more difficult then
only eighty years after the Reformation, with a
Stuart on the throne, and Archbishop Laud in
power.
By an Act for censuring speakers against the
Covenant, those ministers and others who had
signed that document hut continued to jeer at it
of whom there were many in this uncovenanting
district these dishonest recusants were subjected
to severe process ; and by another against " expec-
tants" refusing to subscribe, all such were not only
shut out from preferment in church or school, but
were declared incapable of residence within Burgh,
University, or College.* In consequence of the
latter Act many northern students left the country.
At an early session, a committee was appointed
to try the recusant members of the University and
ministers in the neighbourhood, and before it were
summoned, Dr. John Forbes, of Corse, professor of
Divinity in King's College ; Dr. Scroggie, minister
at Old Aberdeen; Dr. Sibbald, minister at New
Aberdeen; and Dr. Leslie, Principal of King's
College. One circumstance in these proceedings is
remarkable. Samuel Kutherford had spent two
* See Act, Records of the Kirk, 279.
DBS. SIBBALD AND BAKKOK. 179
years of exile in Aberdeen, having been removed
from his charge and banished by the court of High
Commission, for writing against Arminianism and
contemning the power of the prelates. During that
time he had had occasion to hear Dr. Sibbald preach
and inculcate Arminian tenets ; and the once soli-
tary exile now became the impugner of this able
supporter of the hierarchy, by whose act he was
thus qualified to be a competent witness. There
was, however, little difficulty in dealing with the
doctors, as they, in general, maintained their old
positions. They were all ultimately deposed. The
widow of Dr. Barren, then living in Banffshire,
was brought to Aberdeen, at the instance of the
Assembly, to whom she delivered up the keys of
her late husband's library, that his papers might
be examined. Among these were found portions of
correspondence which proved that the Aberdeen
Doctors had been even more deep in the plot of
the obnoxious innovations than was suspected.
" Poor Barron," says Baillie, who was moderator
of the committee, " otherways an ornament of our
nation, we found has been much in multis in the Can-
terburian way : great knavery and direct inter-
course with his Grace* we fand among them, and
yet all was hid from us that they could."f The
Archbishop Laud whom the waggish among the Puritans
used punningly to call "his little Grace" he being a man of
low stature.
| Letters, I., 248.
180 CHAKACTEH OF THE DOCTORS.
writings ofWilliam Forbes, also one of the Doc-
tors, but who had been dead for some years, were
likewise examined. He had been a great zealot
for Episcopacy and liturgical observances ; and for
his good service, Charles had pro i oted him to the
See of Edinburgh, of which he was the first bishop.
He had written a treatise strongly advocating a
reconciliation with Rome. This work was in the
hands of many of the Aberdeen students ; and a re-
view and judgment of it and similar works were,
at all events, judged necessary, partly as a warn-
ing against the errors which they contained.
The fall of the Aberdeen Doctors and the fate of
the University thus deprived of their services, is a
theme of deep lamentation with the royalist writers
of that age, and not of that age and class merely :
men opposed to their high political theories ac-
cord to them the praise of profound learning and
purity of manners and to this praise they were
undoubtedly entitled. But it scarcely admits of
question whether or not a deep acquaintance with
scholastic t eology and metaphysics, and a facility
of reference to the ecclesiastical authorities of the
darker ages, were the most obvious requisites on the
part of those whose office it was to initiate the
rising intellect of a pre-eminently progressive and
practical age.
John Gregory, minister of Drumoak, the first
mentioned of a family soon to become celebrated in
the world of science, was deposed, having pre-
PENITENTS. 181
\
viously been fined 1000 merks by the Earl Marischal.
Andrew Logic, minister of Rayne, a heady and
quarrelsome anti-covenanter, was deposed. Some
of his parishioners, among whom he had carried it
" cholerickely and tyrannously," refused to giye
evidence against him unless they got assurance that
he would be deposed if they told the truth de-
claring that if they did so, and he not removed, it
would be impossible for them to live in the parish.
He was shortly after reponed ; but, being among
those who signed the. Covenant and then " slan-
dered it," he was again deposed.* The ministers
of Birse and Foveran conformed, and were received;
those of Chapel of Grarioch, Aberchirder, Crimond,
and Duifus in Moray, were continued in hope of
yielding ; and, soon after, divers outstanders sub-
mitted, and preached penitential sermons, among
whom were "William Mushet, minister of Slains, and
David Leech, minister of Logie-Buchan.
The harmony of the Assembly was disturbed by
the introduction of a subject the history of which
illustrates the expansive power of a great principle,
and the impossibility of modifying its results to
the stinted boundaries of preconceived theory.
Private meetings for prayer, reading the scriptures,
* He was the father of John Logic, who pelted the Cove-
nanting commissioners at Aberdeen while Henderson was preach-
ing. After various changes of fortune, this tyrannous and ver-
satile recusant was, at the Restoration, inducted the third time
into the parsonage of Rayne, and died Archdeacon of Aberdeen.
182 DEBATE ON
and spiritual conference similar to our modern
fellowship meetings had been for some years very
common and highly popnlar in the south-west of
Scotland. They were introduced by Irish refugees,
to whom, previous to leaving their own country,
they had often supplied the only means of social
worship and edification, owing to the expulsion of
their own ministers by the bishops ; and, in addi-
tion to their value as subsidiary means of spiritual
improvement, they soon became doubly valuable
in many parts of Scotland, from a like cause. They
were, indeed, the only safety-valves for those aspi-
rations after freedom of social worship pent up in
the hearts of a people writhing under the pressure of
tyrannical power ; and a great means of promoting
not only religious feeling, but that form of worship
and ecclesiastical polity with which it had become
identified. As such, these meetings had for some
time been either directly encouraged or winked at by
the reforming clergy. By and by, however, it was
discovered that, the country being now planted with
a faithful ministry, these associations had become un-
necessary ; that they savoured of Brownism ;* that
they were the occasion of many disorders, and had a
tendency to set aside the claims of a regular mi-
nistry. The great leaders, in general, disliked
them, and, if possible, would have quashed them
quietly; but Ghithrie, minister of Stirling, who
had, through his Presbytery, engaged the magis-
* An early name for Independency.
PRIVATE MEETINGS. 183
tracy in dispelling these " conventicles" in that
town, insisted on the necessity of extreme measures.
A compromise was attempted, but unsuccessfully ;
and, to the great terror of the more prudent mem-
bers, the subject was again brought forward at
Aberdeen. The Assembly became a scene of con-
fusion, which subsided into the formation of a
committee only to be there revived. In the heat of
their jangling, as Baillie calls it, Rutherford, who
had hitherto sat in silence, threw a syllogism like
a bombshell into the midst of the combatants
" "What scripture does warrant, an Assembly may
not discharge ; but private meetings, for exercises
of religion, scripture warrants ; (Heb. xii. ; Jaines
v. 16 ; Mai. iii. 16) these things cannot be done in
a public meeting." "A number greedily hanshit
at the argument, but came not near the matter, let be
to answer formally ; and Lord Seaforth," adds Bail-
lie, " would not have Mr. Samuel trouble us with
his logic syllogisms."* The result was, " An Act
anent the ordering of Family Exercise," by which
family worship was declared to be of one family
only thereby disallowing the obnoxious meetings,
for which no broader or bolder ground of defence was
generally chosen than that they were a species of fa-
mily exercise ; and ordained " that it should not be
permitted to any to expound scripture to the people,
but only ministers and expectants approven by the
Presbytery."j" ^^ s measure, of which the northern
* Letters, i., 252. t 76., i., 253.
184 TEAN'SPOBTATIOK'S.
commissioners were chief abettors, gave great of-
fence to the more pions among the people, or, as
Grordon has it, to all that " inclined towards the
Independent, sectarian, fanatic ways." It was, as
to its design, a nullity; as to its real effect, it
placed the Covenanting church in the anomalous
and ungrateful position of a suppressor of conven-
ticles those channels through which she, in com-
mon with every new emanation of religious freedom,
had drawn her life-blood ; and the whole discussion
was the first indication of a schism which, besides
causing fearful internal calamities, greatly assisted
in preparing her for being handed over a powerless
victim to the machinations of the succeeding mo-
narch.
A considerable portion of the Assembly's time
was taken up with transportations ; among which
was the removal of Andrew Cant to one of the
churches of Aberdeen. The commissions specially
for the north were, one for visiting the universities
of Aberdeen, and commissions for the province of
Ross, and the Presbytery of Kirkwall. The first
promoted Dr. Guild to the principality of King's
College.
About the rising of the Assembly, Munro, having
completed operations at Strathbogie, delivered up
the keys to the Marchioness, and turned his steps
toward Banff. Among the enemies of the popular
cause, none, even in the land of its enemies, was so
OGILVY OF BANFF. 185
implacable and impetuous as Sir Greorge Ogilvy
soon after created Lord Banff who Lad his prin-
cipal mansion in the neighbourhood of that town.
It will be recollected that it was he who had headed
his roystering compeers in their mad pranks at Aber-
deen during " The Barons' Reign," and treated
with such contempt the sober advice of the more
moderate cavaliers. The people of Banff being in
a great degree dependent on the Ogilvy family,
were, previous to the breaking out of the troubles,
much attached to it ; but having generally adopted
the more free political and ecclesiastical opinions
of the day, and experiencing by word and deed the
bitter hostility of their patron on that account,
their former friendship gave way to estrangement
and enmity.
The chief seat of this haughty baron was the
object of Munro's movement; and it was, no doubt,
partly owing to the representations of the town's
people that his visit was one of unwonted se-
verity. We are not, however, to attribute that
act to mere party malevolence, as has been cus-
tomary with most writers who mention it. The
inhabitants of Banff knew the power and the
temper of their lord, and they trembled when they
thought of the proximity of his mansion, which
they had reason to fear would, on the first turn of
affairs, be converted into a citadel to overawe or
chastise them. Such an apprehension is alluded to
by Gordon of Rothiemay, but is dismissed as a pre-
186 DESTRTJCTIOH" OF
tence, from a consideration of the capabilities of
the place, and its relative position to the town.*
It should he kept in mind, however, that fear is
not always reasonable ; and that even when un-
fonnded, it is not therefore a pretence. The appre-
hensions of the Banff people may have conjured up
before them dangers which an unconcerned spec-
tator would not think of likely occurrence ; and
the Covenanting general may, partly from motives
of policy, have been induced to remove these by an
act which has called forth the unqualified repre-
hension of our local historians. At the same time,
there can be no question that, even in this view of
the case, the destruction of this mansion was at-
tended by some circumstances of unnecessary bar-
barity.
Arrived at the place of the laird of Banff, Munro
took up his quarters in the garden, which, says
Grordon, " was a great ornament to the town, and,
being gallantly planted and walled, overshadowed
and enclosed the east side of it." Here the sol-
'diers commenced the work of destruction, by making
havock of the fruit and other trees with which it
abounded, " leaving not so much as One tree standing,
young nor old, and cutting up all the hedges to
the root." With these they made themselves huts,
as at Strathbogie. " Adjacent to that garden, in
* The site of Ogilvy's mansion is now occupied by the plain-
stones. New Statistical Account : Banffshire, 28.
BANFF CASTLE. 18?
the very heart of that town, stood Banff's palace,
high built and quarterly ; the structure magnificent,
with two base courts; and few houses in these
places of Scotland comparable to it. Upon it the
soldiers fell next, and, in a few days, defaced it ;
leaving neither any covering, glass, timber, nor iron
work there ; breaking down the hewed work, doors,
windows, and knocking out the iron bars of the
windows ; leaving nothing to be seen but defaced
walls, which," continues the narrator, " yet speak
its beauty, as it now stands, like an old ruinous
abbey. In this industrious defacing of so brave a
palace, the soldiers were helped by the rascality of
the citizens and country people nearest adjacent,
who either bought, stole, or embezzled the ma-
terials thereof."* Among other valuables which
perished or were carried off, was a considerable
library of books.
It is reported, that when the news of this demo-
lition was brought to the king, he said, that for
the house it mattered not much, since it could
easily be rebuilt again ; but that it was a cruel
thing to fall upon the garden, the loss whereof
could not in many years be repaired, and so much
the more cruel, as it had done neither good nor evil,
and could do the Covenanting army no hurt be-
sides, it was an ornament to the country. To this
royal reasoning, a careless reader is apt at once to
* Gordon's Scots Affairs, III., 252, 253.
188 LEVIES.
assent. But the cutting up of the fruit-trees and
hedges, which at first sight appears an act of mere
wantonness or malevolence, assumes another cha-
racter when we keep in view the whole circum-
stances ; for, as a cavalier writer informs us, it was
with these that the soldiers " made themselves huts
wherein to lie all night and defend them from the
stormy wets and rain" a much more humane me-
thod of supplying their necessities than that re-
sorted to by the Royalists at Kintore, the year
previous. As a partial indemnity for his loss by
this affair, Sir Gfeorge Ogilvy received from the
king, the following year, the sum of 10,000 merks,
Scots. Forglen, Inchdure, Rattie, and Muiresk
the three former country seats of Ogilvy were
also visited, "but more leniently than the town's
mansion ; and having passed into Moray, and or-
dered levies for the general army there, and in
Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, Munro returned
to Aberdeen with an increased force.
During his absence, the levies of men and money
had been conducted in the town, and generally
throughout the shire of Aberdeen, by Marischal
and Forbes. Among the means resorted to to fa-
cilitate these levies, was the delivery, by ministers,
of their rolls of communicants. Several of the
Royalist gentry, having the fear of forfeiture before
their eyes, undertook to serve ; but there was no
securing the common people. They fled before im-
pressment, and they fled after it. "With all his
FLIftHT OF ABEKDEEN CITIZENS. CAPTAIK CAIRD. 189
power and influence as a lord of the soil, in Buchan,
Mar, and Mearns, Marischal had to meet muster at
the general rendezvous with eight hundred, instead
of three thousand men. The people of Aberdeen,
in particular, fled in hatred and terror from the
forced levies, while the country resounded with
proclamations against deserters. " Seven score
burgesses, craftsmen, and apprentices," Spalding
informs us, were forced into the ranks by Ma-
rischal, whereupon, says he, " the honest men of
the town, wondering at this manifold oppression,
fled, took fisher boats and went to sea, lurking
about the crags of Downy till the storm past."*
Shortly after this incident, Forbes, proceeding with
the levy in his division, sent through Old Machar
parties of soldiers, demanding every fourth man,
and, in case of non-compliance, quartering on the
inhabitants ; and disgusted with his little success,
he went to the general committee with the com-
plaint that Marischal " had left in the place neither
men nor money." Another evil induced by this
scarcity of willing men was, the collection and
embodiment of much of the refuse of the neigh-
bouring country in the Covenanting ranks. One
Captain Forbes generally known by the soub-
riquet of Captain Caird, from his having been
brought up by a party of cairds or tinkers col-
lected the offscourings of country fairs, and filled
* Troubles, 193.
190 3IUNHO GOES SOtJTfl ',
the quiet town of Old Aberdeen with scenes of op-*
pression and drunken brawls. This outrageous
vagabond, who seems to have been well qualified
for a ride on Ms own "trien* mare" erected for
the benefit of his soldiers was at last committed
for highway robbery, and imprisoned at Edinburgh.
It was an unhappy circumstance, both for the dis-
trict and for the character of the Covenanting
cause there, that that cause was, in some degree,
represented by such desperadoes. The intelligent
reader, however, needs not to be told that such
were rather a contrast to, than a specimen of, the
great Covenanting army of the time. It was to
the local and subordinate leaders alone, whose mo-
tives for adherence to the great cause were more
than questionable, that it owed this stain. A re-
markable proof of this occurred, early in the fol-
lowing year, when a hundred of Huntly's tenants,
designated as "poor, silly, pressed bodies," who had
been induced to offer service to Earl Marischal,
were discharged, as " unworthy soldiers," as soon
as they presented themselves at Edinburgh.
Munro staid no longer in Aberdeen than was ne-
cessary to his preparations for marching southward.
These consisted in raising an instalment of shirts
and shoes for his soldiers ; a loan of 10,000 merks
which was repaid ; and the impressment of all the
horses about the town, for the conveyance of his
baggage on to Stonehaven, which were faithfully
returned. Previous to his departure, he and his
* Wooden.
SIS CHAEACTEE. 191
officers were presented with the freedom of the
city treated to the "banquet usual on such oc-
casions, and, as the custom was, paraded the streets,
each "with his burgess ticket in his bonnet " No
doubt for his good service !" exclaims the indignant
annalist of the burgh. On the 12th September, he
took his departure, to the great joy of the inhabi-
tants; carrying with him the Bishop of Moray,
who, on being presented to the committee of Estates,
was sent to prison at Edinburgh.
It is but justice to the character of this officer to
remark, that his severities in Aberdeen and Banff
shires have been spoken of in a tone of consider-
able exaggeration. He is generally represented as a
mixture of the mercenary and the savage. A mer-
cenary, no doubt, he was ; that is, he had served in
the army of a foreign prince a thing common to
the distinguished military men of his age. But it
does not follow that he was a mercenary, in the bad
sense of the term, in the service of the Covenant.
It appears, indeed, from his subsequent history, that
he took a greater interest in the affairs of his country
than that of a mere soldier. But as a soldier he
visited the north in 1640, having before him one ob-
ject the reduction of a district in rebellion against
the government whose commission he bore ; and if he
discharged his mission with the cool and onward tread
of an iron automaton, he did so with the regularity
and absence of passion proper to such a machine.
Generally speaking, he used no unnecessary seve-
192 CHABACTEE OF MUKRO.
rities. He was a strict disciplinarian, and prompt
in punishing in Ms soldiery those infractions of the
laws of property which were too frequently over-
looked by the military leaders of his time. The
royalist writers who are the only recorders of his
actions mention several instances of this, among
which is the circumstance of his discharging Colonel
Arthur Forbes, the commander of his horse, for an
attempt to speculate on his own account in the way
of cattle-lifting a method of annoying their ene-
mies which, the same authority assures us, would
have been gladly winked at by the local committee.*
* " General Robert Munro, [above-mentioned] (who was
uncle to Sir Robert, twenty-fourth baron of Fowlis,) published
in 1644, an account of the religious war under Gustavus Adol-
phus, in a folio volume, entitled, ' Military Discipline Learned
from the Valiant Swede,' a book of which (though I never
happened to see it) I have heard a high character. I am in-
formed that it contains an exact journal of that expedition into
Germany for the relief of the distressed protestants; and it is
siid to be rilled with the most excellent observations on military
affairs, delivered in a strain of piety, which seems to breathe the
spirit of its brave and worthy author. This worthy general was,
in 1641, appointed by King Charles, I. major-general of the
Scottish forces that were sent to Ireland, to suppress the infamous
and destructive rebellion there. * * * * The general was
a great favourer of the presbyterian interest, and among the first
who established it in Ireland. He sat in their presbyteries and
synods : and adhered to the interest of the parliament, till he
apprehended they were carrying matters to an excessive height
against the king ; on which he accepted a commission from him,
and acted under the Duke of Ormond, to which he was persuaded
EXPEDITION OF AKGYLE. 193
Simultaneously with the expedition of Munro,
another was executed by the Earl of Argyle against
the enemies of the Covenant in Forfarshire, and
the central highlands. He demolished two seats
of the Lord Ogilvy ; razed the chief strength of the
M'Ranalds ; reduced the districts of Athole, Loch-
aber, and Badenoch, in the last of which Huntly
had large possessions ; and retired to the south with
the Earl of Airly as his prisoner. Thus were the
disaffected districts of the north entirely subdued.
The current of great events now rolled in a chan-
nel far removed from the scenes of these sketches ;
but, in as far as those events had a special bearing
by his nephew, Sir George Munro, who had always adhered to
the interest of Charles, L, as he afterwards did to that of Charles,
II." In 1645, the general was taken prisoner by Colonel Monk;
" but continued not long in his hands, for death came and set
him at liberty soon after." See An account of some Remarkable
Particulars concerning the Ancient Family of the Munroes of
Fowlis, by Dr. Philip Doddridge From the same authority
we learn, that in the annals of the Munro Family " there is a well-
attested list of officers, (of which" says the Doctor, "I have a
copy,) wherein there are three generals, eight colonels, five
lieutenant-colonels, eleven majors, and above thirty captains, all
of the name of Munro, besides a great number of subalterns.
Most of these were in that religious war under the great Gus-
tavus Adolphus ; and some of the descendants of this family are
at this day in possession of considerable military commands in
Sweden, and various parts of Germany."
194 PROCEEDINGS Oi"
on the fate and fortunes of our province, it will be
necessary, as briefly as possible, to attend to their
progress, that we may retire to the uninterrupted
contemplation of its condition for a few succeeding
years.
On the 20th August, 1640, about eight days after
the Assembly at Aberdeen, the Covenanting army,
numbering twenty-five thousand five hundred, cros-
sed the Tweed. Still repugnant at the daring act of
invasion, the leaders cast lots for the perilous
honour of first entering the ford. It fell on the
Earl of Montrose, who, knowing the suspicions con-
cerning him, plunged into the stream with a daunt-
less air, and waded to the other side. On the 24th
they crossed the Tyne at Newburn-ford, routing an
advanced section of the royal army, and soon mas-
tered Newcastle, Durham, Tynemouth, and Shields.
The unhappy monarch, who had summoned a council
of peers at York, was again brought to bay, and
commissioners were appointed to arrange a treaty.
The treaty was adjourned to London for the
convenience of those of the English deputies who
had to take their seats in the celebrated Long Par-
liament, (November 3 ;) among the first proceedings
of which were the impeachments of the Earl of
Stratford and Archbishop Laud, as the causes of the
troubles in England and Scotland. The points con-
tended for as the basis of pacification, were the
recognition by the king of the late Scottish Parlia-
ment; the prosecution of incendiaries, or authors
TflE MAIN ABUT. 195
of the obnoxious measures of the crown, including
the Scottish prelates ; and a promise that the sove-
reign, with the advice of the English parliament,
should take into consideration a measure for effect-
ing a uniformity of religion in both kingdoms a
demand, on the part of men whose swords had been
drawn in defence of their own religious freedom,
that would appear incredible, did we forget for a
moment their two sacred but antagonistic prin-
ciples : viz., their right to worship God according
to their own views of religious duty ; and an obli-
gation on them, as the renovaters of the constitution,
to reduce the whole nation to the same religious
model. The principal claims were conceded by
the close of 1640; but it was toward the con-
clusion of 1641, ere the treaty was finally adjusted.
Meantime the Scottish army occupied the north of
England ; and several of the most popular of those
ministers who attended the commission found busy
occupation in the English metropolis. In strains
of fervid eloquence they discussed to earnest and
overflowing audiences, the evils of that system of
ecclesiastical tyranny under which both kingdoms
had so long groaned; and were greatly instru-
mental in forming and cherishing to a national
outburst, those opinions and that feeling which soon
laid the English hierarchy in ruins.
The policy of Charles was now to gain over the
Scots, and employ their army against the English
malcontents, and to this end his ingenuity and
196 INTRIGUES OF
finesse "were taxed to the uttermost. He came down
to Edinburgh, August, 1641, with the ostensible
purpose of attending parliament. He appointed
Henderson one of his chaplains ; affected to treat
that stern but wise opposer of his ecclesiastical en-
croachments as a great favourite ; attended worship
after the presbyterian mode, not only on Sabbath
but at the frequent week-day services, and, as his
panegyrists inform us, exhibited exemplary patience
in suppressing all symptoms of langour and disgust !
In parliament, he approved the Covenant and ra-
tified several important and popular acts ; and he
promoted and covered with honorary titles the most
prominent Covenanting leaders putting with his
own hand an earl's coronet on the head of their
victorious general.
But in the depth of the king's duplicity there
was still " a lower deep." The Earl of Montrose,
whose suspicious position has been alluded to, had
gained over to the royal cause several of the no-
bility,* and, while he remained in the Covenanting
camp, engaged them in a bond for the promotion of
that interest. This bond had been discovered, and
he himself and several of his associates were in pri-
son when Charles arrived. Notwithstanding, that
* These were the Earl of Wigton, and the Lords Fleming,
Boyd, and Almond ; to whom subsequently adhered the Earls of
Athol, Kinghorn, Mar, Marischal, Perth, Kelly, Home, Seaforth,
and Lords Drummond, Erskine, Napier, Ker, and Stormont,
and others of inferior note.
THE KTSTG- AND HONTROSE. 19?
aspiring nobleman found means to engage in a plot
to which the ting was privy nothing less than
to seize the Marquis of Argyle, the head of the
popular party, and Hamilton and Lanark, now as-
sociated with him surprise the castle of Edinburgh
and effect a counter-revolution. The plot was
discovered the three noblemen fled the city was
in consternation the king came to parliament with
a strong guard, threatened to impeach Hamilton for
his needless flight, " professed his utter abhorrence
of all plots, and swore by Grod that the parliament
and the fugitive lords behoved to clear his honour."
The parliament found that the noblemen had not
withdrawn without cause ; but the plot could be
brought home to the subordinate actors only. Some
time after, Montrose and his associates, on an ex-
planation or renunciation of their bond, were set
at liberty; and we shall hear no more of that
nobleman, till we come to the record of that fatal
expedition in which, unfurling his new banner,
"Ton GTOD AKD THE Ki:sr&," he swept our district
in a career of blood and fire. On the news of the
Irish rebellion, the king took a hasty departure,
having previously feasted the nobles, and declared
that he went away " a contented prince from a con-
tented people !"
Notwithstanding these attempts to hide his mor-
tification, it was evident that the king had lost at
the deep game at which he had been playing. His
attempt to seize the three nobles in itself contributed
198 THE SOLEMN LEAGUE.
to those influences by which, in a few months, the
standard of freedom was reared in the fields of
England.
The Scottish leaders at first offered to mediate
between the king and the English Parliament ; but
the identity of their interests soon led them to es-
pouse the cause of the latter. An army of 21,500
men was marched over the border, on a solemn
agreement that a uniformity in religion should be
established over the island. The bond in which
this great object was pledged was the Solemn
League and Covenant, which was ratified by both
Parliaments, and issued for universal subscription ;
and the Westminster Assembly of Divines, attended
by Commissioners from Scotland, sat down to draw
up the creed and constitution of a Church for the
three kingdoms.
CHAPTER VIII.
COMMISSIONS FOR THE REMOVAL OF IDOLATROUS MONU-
MENTS VISIT THE CATHEDRALS OF ELGIN AND ABERDEEN
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST NON-COMPLYING MINISTERS
FILLING UP VACANT CHARGES ABERDEEN I ANDREW
CANT, JOHN RO-W, JOHN OS\VALD THEIR LABOURS
ASSISTED BYDR. GUILD CHARACTERISTICS, AND STYLE
OF PREACHING STATE OF RELIGION THE BROTVNISTS
STATE OF THE NORTH UNCONGENIAL TO THE PRO-
GRESS OF RELIGION.
UNDER cover of the great movements briefly glanced
at in the conclusion of the foregoing chapter, the
north enjoyed a sort of unquiet rest for the space
of three years. During this period, events, pro-
perly so called, are rare in our local history ; but
the minute facts handed down by our annalists are
full of interest as marking the progress of the new
order of things, both in their somewhat rude inva-
sion of the cherished institutions, principles, and
prejudices of the majority in the district ; and the
development of that better element, which, being
heavenly, is immortal, and destined to survive its
200 VISITATION OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL.
earthly concomitants (be they what they may) in all,
ages of the church : this was, evangelical truth.
The extirpation of every mark of the worship
and power of fallen prelacy was among the first
works to which their victorious opponents, in the
northern districts, addressed themselves. On the
28th December 1640, the cathedral of Elgin was
visited by the minister of that town, the laird of
Brodie, and others, by authority of the Act of As-
sembly for the demolition of monuments of idola-
try. In this magnificent pile, which had stood in
a ruinous state since the reformation, was a wooden
partition " between the kirk and the quire," which,
as our authority insinuates, had, by special miracle,
resisted during that long interval the combined
effects of wind, rain, and time. On the west side
of this partition, or screen, we are informed, " was
painted in excellent colours, illuminated with stars
of bright gold, the crucifixion of our blessed Savi-
our Jesus Christ," and on the other a representa-
tion of the day of judgment. These relics fell
before the sentence of the commission. It was
credibly reported, adds the annalist, that the mi-
nister caused bring home the timber thereof "to
burn the same for serving his kitchen and other
uses ; but each night the fire went out wherein it
was burnt, and could not be kept in to kindle the
morning fire, as use is ! whereat the servants mar-
velled ; and thereupon the minister forbore to bring
VISITATION Or ABERDEEN" CATHEDRAL. 201
in or burn any more of that timber in his house."*
In 1642 the back of the high altar in the cathe-
dral of Aberdeen was condemned. " It "was," says
one who had often seen it, " cunningly wrought in
wainscot, matchless in all the kirks in Scotland,
as high nearly as the ceiling." The workman em-
ployed for the work of demolition, seemingly smitten
with compunction, refused to proceed till the Old
Town minister (Mr. "William Strachan) reassured
him by giving the first stroke. Even the minister
thought of saving one of three ornamental crowns
by which the piece was surmounted ; but it slipt
through their fingers, broke " the kirk's great lad-
der" in its descent, and smashed itself in a thou-
sand pieces on the pavement, which was also
damaged by its weight. For this Old Town minis-
ter, however, we must say, that however destitute
he may have been of a taste for " church architec-
ture," he has the testimony of the indignant re-
corder of this transaction, that " he taught power-
fully and plainly the word of God," and that he put
the church into a better state of repair than it had
been in for many years, and enlarged its accomo-
dation by throwing a gallery across the body of
the building. But the last of these proceedings
had in it what was more than sufficient to counter-
balance all the merits of that and his other services
in the eyes of the ritualist ; because that thereby
* Spotting, 224.
202 RITUALISM AND ITS ANTAGONIST PRINCIPLE.
" the stately sight and glorious show of the body
of the kirk" was taken away ; and with the orna-
ments of the back of the altar, adds our authority
contemptuously, " he decored the foreside and back-
side of this beastly loft."* Nothing could furnish
a better type of the old and the new systems now
again contesting their claims than this incident
and its relator. In the one, the temple, next to
the priest, was every thing ; and the vast and the
beautiful in architecture were the ministers of a
half-sensuous half-mystical worship, and a lowly
but unquestioning, and, consequently, degrading
obedience to sacerdotal authority. In the other,
Grod and the people were the radical ideas some-
times indeed obscured ; but always the grandeur
of an immortal spirit, with its claims on our re-
gards, were held to surpass that of temples made
with hands. Let not, therefore, the men of this age
be too critical on the earlier developments of this
new philosophy. Dr. Guild also gave great offence
by removing the organ case that had stood in King's
College, and by dilapidating the Bishop's house
and other ecclesiastical structures, the materials of
which he turned to useful purposes. The house,
however, had become -/his own by gift of the king
on his visit to Scotland in 1641, when the college
received a grant of the episcopal revenues.f
But a more important matter was the purgation
* Spalding, 292, 316-17 f Records of the Kirk, 318.
PUBGATION : SEVEKE POLICY. 203
of the Church, by the reduction or expulsion of those
ministers and others "who still stood out against the
Covenant, or held an equivocal position regarding it.
The fate of the great Doctors had "been decided by
the Assembly of 1640. As teachers they were then
deposed ; but, notwithstanding the strictness of the
Church laws, Drs. Forbes and Scroggie continued
for some time to communicate. The latter con-
formed in 1641 ; but, instead of employing him
again in the ministry, it was thought prudent to
grant him a small retiring pension. The learning
and amiable qualities of Dr. Forbes rendered it
highly desirable that he also should be gained over ;
and it was not till after many anxious and patient
conferences that, in 1643, he was finally cut off,
and a professor appointed in his room. The severe
policy of the Covenant was as dangerous to its own
cause as to the honesty of those on whom it was
exercised. The penalties of non-conformity were
top much both for. honest and dishonest men to
the former as a punishment, to the latter as a
temptation. Many conscientious outstanders suf-
fered the loss of all things; many through fear
conformed dishonestly. Many penitential sermons
were preached by north-country ministers during
the first year after the Aberdeen Assembly; and,
as the sincerity of a sham conversion is in general
ostensibly implemented by an intemperate zeal,
there is no doubt that the severities experienced by
Papists, Malignants, and other non-conformists du-
o2
204 DISHONEST CONFOEMEKS.
ring the ascendency of the Covenant, was aggra-
vated, rather than ameliorated by those dishonest
eonformers. In 1642, Gregory, minister of Drum-
oak, who had only been restored to the church in
the year previous, represented his presbytery along
with Andrew Cant, in the General Assembly ; so
zealously had he set himself to the new order of
things or else such was the influence of pseudo-con-
formity in the presbytery. Regarding the state of
things farther north, Hugh Millar remarks, " There
is a simple fact which ought to convince us, how-
ever zealous for the honour of our church, that the
Presbyterian Synod of Ross, which Sir Thomas
[Urquhart] has termed ' a promiscuous knot of un-
just men,' was by no means a very exemplary body.
Five-sixths of its members conformed at the Res-
toration, and became curates; and, as they were
notoriously intolerant as Episcopalians, it is not at
all probable that they should have been strongly
characterized by liberality during the previous
period, when they found it their interest to be
Presbyterians."*
The filling up of charges vacant by deposition
was an affair of still greater importance, and one
that required to be managed with a steady hand.
The question of nomination was in a state of tran-
sition : so far indeed as the people were concerned,
it was carefully kept in abeyance. Some practical
* Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, or the Tra-
ditional History of Cromarty, 164.
POPULAR ELECTION : GROUNDS AND RESULTS. 205
infractions had been made on the right of patrons,
but in those cases that right was generally appro-
priated by the church courts. " There will be great
danger," writes Baillie in 1639,* "in urging the
people's right from scripture. The men that press
it are too near to the foundation of Brownism
the divine right of the church, that is, of the parish,
to elect, admit, depose, excommunicate their minis-
ter and elders, of which right neither prince nor
presbyter can deprive them." A still more obvious
difficulty in the north was, that to have given the
free election to the people would have been to in-
duct men whose real or suspected sentiments were
as near as possible to those of the deposed, and
thus to foster the elements of a counter-revolu-
tion. At Auchterless the successor of a deposed
recusant was inducted by the presbytery with the
assistance of a party of musketeers, " the parishion-
ers not daring to whisper at it."f
In 1641, Mr. Andrew Cant, who had just re-
turned from attendance on the army at Newcastle ;
Mr. Edward Wright, minister of Olackmanan ; J and
Mr. Greorge Grillespie,! were nominated to the pulpits
* Letter to Warriston," Advocate of 'the Church," Letters 1.241.
f Gordons Scots Affairs, III. 204.
J Nominated also to the cbair of Divinity in Marischal College,
with which the charge of Grayfriars was associated.
[| Author of " A Dispute against the English Popish Cere-
monies." This celebrated treatise was in 1637 prohibited by
proclamation from being read, " being," says Howie of Loch.-
206 THE NEW MIH1STET OF ABERDEEN.
of Aberdeen. The patrons in this case were eleven
ministers and elders within the presbytery, named
by a committee of the General Assembly. Mr.
Cant accepted, at which, as might hare been ex-
pected, "the town of Aberdeen was not full glad."*
The others haying declined, the vacant places were
supplied by Mr. John Oswald, and Mr. John Row,
who entered their charges with the concurrence of
the people, assembled in the town-hall by tuck of
drum.
Andrew Cant, notwithstanding the equivocal use
that posterity has made of his name,! was a re-
markable man, and in some respects, singularly
adapted to the station which he was called to
occupy. With his robust and fearless courage, he
was the very man to live undismayed amid the
lawless musterings and camisadoes of the cavaliers,
and the rude clans of the north whose chiefs were
attached to the Covenant ; and his passionate and
rough eloquence, fraught with the truths and phra-
goin, " of too corrosive a quality to be digested by the bishops'
weak stomachs." Mr. Gillespie was one of the Scots cominis-
lioners who sat down with the Westminster Assembly in 1643.
It is singular that about five years prior to the date of the above
nomination, Alexander Henderson was also unsuccessfully re-
quested to become one of the ministers of Aberdeen.
* Spalding, 208.
f From it a writer in Addisons Spectator derives the word
cant in its most frequent and much-abused application an,
etymology that the reader will find discussed aud disallowed in
Walker's Dictionary,
ANDKEW CANT. 207
geology of scripture, was, before a popular audience,
too heavy a weapon for the niceties of the Doctors
who had preceded him. But he wanted that gentle
frankness by which courage in its finest develop-
ments is so delicately shaded ; and the acerbity of
his temper was ill-calculated to win the Aberdon-
ians to the severities of the new discipline, which
in itself they considered a great grievance. From an
obscure origin,* Cant had raised himself to the office
of Humanist, or teacher of Latin in King's College,
and was successively minister at Alford, Pitsligo,
and Newbattle. He was no changeling of the time,
having been a Nonconformist under the Episcopal
rule of Bishop Patrick Forbes, who, according to the
parson of Rothiemay, tolerated him because of his
want of learning to maintain his opinions, for which,
also, he was contemptible in the eyes of the Aber-
deen Doctors ; and we can easily suppose that he
was no adept at the play of their small weapons.
When the Covenant was promulgated, he threw his
whole soul into the movement. We have already
seen him on the first Covenanting mission to the
north, braving the assaults of learned doctors, high-
* However humble Mr. Cant's birth may have been, his ex-
traction was what is conventionally called respectable. " Sir
Thomas Burnet, the first baronet of Leys, had a daughter mar-
ried to Andrew Cant of Glendye, and of this family was Mr. Cant,
the Covenanting clergyman of Aberdeen." Pinkerton's History
of British Families, as quoted in the New Statistical Account ;
Strachan, Kincardineshire, 235.
208 ANDEEW CANT.
born cavaliers, and the hootings of an excited rabble.
His peculiar qualities so recommended Mm to the
great leaders, that by the Glasgow Assembly in
1638, he was removed to Newbattle in the vicinity
of the metropolis. There is something in the hot,
but guileless zeal of our unsophisticated northern
apostle that we cannot but admire. If it was often
untempered by discretion, it was unaccompanied by
finesse. While even Henderson and Dickson were
censured by the mass, as being guilty of " too much
prudence" in their sermons before the royal com-
missioner, in 1638 ; Cant, unawed by the same
august presence, "pressed" the ultimate measure
" the extirpation of Prelacy."*
" "Who art thou, great mountain ?" said he,
apostrophising the hierarchy, " art thou of Gfod's
building or art thou not ? I trow ye are not juris
divini but humani ; Gfod nor Christ has never built
thee; thou art only a hill of man's erecting. Zion,
against whom thou art, is a hill of Gfod's building."
He compares Prelacy to the house of Bagon stand-
ing on two pillars the secular and ecclesiastical
the power of the prince and the pens of churchmen.
" Let them be withdrawn. * * * Lead me, says Sam-
* Baillies Letters, I. 86. The text on the occasion was Zech.
iv. 7, " Who art thou, O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel
thou shalt become a plain : and he shall bring forth the head-
stone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace, unto it."
A Collection of several Remarkable and Valuable Sermons,
Speeches, |fc., 25.
ANDKEW CANT. 209
son, to the pillars that Dagon's house stands on, that
I may he avenged for my Wo eyes. The Philistines
were never more evil to Samson in pulling out his
two eyes than our prelates would have heen to us.
They pressed to put out our eyes, and ere we were
aware they thought to lead us to Dagon's house,
even to the tents of popery and idolatry. Let us
come to this main pillar of Dagon's house [the
ecclesiastical] and apply our strength to pull it
down, that we may not only be avenged for our
eyes, which they have thought to pull out, hut also
that the house of false worship may fall to the
ground."
Anticipating the objections of the half-measure
party "It will he said, 'What ails you? Ye
shall have your desires, hut the estate of the
bishops shall stand. The king cannot want an
estate (truly a good one both to kirk and common-
wealth !) Ye shall have them brought within the
old bounds and caveats set down to them. They
shall not hurt the kirk any more.' The Lord
knows," replies the preacher, " how loath I was to
speak from this place ; but seeing Gfod has thrust
me out I must speak the truth. I say to you, these
quarters are not to be taken ; because the moun-
tain is not of Grod's making but of man's : there-
fore, make it what ye will, Gfod will be displeased
with it. Their pride and avarice will break through
ten thousand caveats ! Ye that are Covenanters,
be not deceived ; if ye leave so much as a hillock
210 ANDREW CANT.
of this mountain, in despite of your hearts it shall
grow to a high mountain which shall fill both kirk
and commonwealth. If the kirk would he quit of
the troubles of it, and if ye would have this work
of reformation going up, this mountain must be
made a plain altogether, otherwise the Spirit of
Grod saith, Ye shall never prosper."
There was never any mistaking what Andrew
Cant meant ; and it is no wonder if his Grace the
commissioner was offended at this sermon. It was,
however, well that the preacher was conjoined with
men of more deliberation ; for his method of pulling
down the "pillars of the house of Dagon," partook
of the impetuosity of his own character. On a
subsequent occasion, when the Larger Declaration of
the king, drawn up by Dr. Balcanquhal, came be-
fore the judicial review of the Greneral Assembly,
Mr. Cant, who was the first to give his opinion,
said, "It is so full of gross absurdities, that I
think the hanging of the author should prevent all
other censures !"* Such an instance of violence
showed the leading men that there were vocations
to which he was not adapted ; but they knew his
value as a pioneer of the Covenant. There must
have been considerable power in the following
words, falling on an audience, as they did, with all
the momentum which present and painful facts
gave them. They form part of a sermon delivered
* Records of ike kirk, 268,
ANDREW CANT. 211
at the renewing of the Covenant, at Glasgow, in
1638.
" But" says the preacher, taking up the words
of- an objector " but they (the bishops) call them-
selves servants." " The fox," replies he " may
catch awhile the sheep, and the pope himself may
call himself servus servorum, the servant of ser-
vants ; and they (the bishops) will call themselves
brethren when they write to us ; but they will take
it very highly and hardly if we call them brethren
when we write back to them again. Men shall be
known by their fruits and by their works. But if
they will be called servants and yet remain lords,
let them take heed that they be not such servants
as cursed Canaan was ' a servant of servants, shall
he be ;' that they be not serving men's wrath and
vengeance, and not ' servants by the grace of Gfod,
and by the mercy of God,' as they stile themselves.
Let them take heed that they be not such servants
as Gehazi was. He was a false servant : he ran
away after the courtier Naaman seeking gifts, and
said his master sent him, when, God knows, his
master sent him not at the time he should have
been praying to the Lord to help his poor kirk and
comfort her. The curse and vengeance of God
came upon him, and he was struck with leprosy for
his pains. Such servants are these men who now
sit down on their cathedral nests, labouring to
make themselves great like Gehazi. Let them
take heed that their hinder-end be not like his.
212 ANDREW CANT.
Let them take heed that they be not such servants as
Ziba was to Mephibosheth, who not"only took away
what was his by right, but also went to the king with
ill tales of poor cripple Mephibosheth. Such ser-
vants are these, who not only rob the church of her
privileges and liberties, but also run up to the king
with lies and ill tales about poor Mephibosheth, the
cripple kirk of Scotland. Let them take heed that
they be not such servants as Judas was. An evil
servant indeed : he sold his Master for gain, as ill
servants do ; or like those that strike the bairns
when they are not doing any fault. And they are
ill servants who busk their Master's spouse with
Anti-christ's busking. Wo unto them, and the
man who is the head of their kirk, whose cross and
trumpery they would put on the Lord's chaste
spouse ! If they will call themselves servants and
yet remain lords, let them take heed that they be
not in this category that I have reckoned up.
The Lord make us faithful servants and rid his
house of them /"
Mr. Cant took a prominent part in the celebrated
Assembly of 1638, and was among those who ad-
dressed his brethren in order to reassure them on
the withdrawal of the commissioner. The records
of the Assembly of the following year afford us a
physical trait of our " apostle." "When the Act
abolishing Episcopacy was about to be submitted
to the house, " Mr. Andro Cant having a strong
JOHN now. 213
Toice," was desired to read it.* The duty of this
most appropriate appointment, he no doubt dis-
charged with unusual satisfaction.
It is likely that "both himself and his influential
friends had in view one of the pulpits of Edinburgh
as his ultimate destination. Baillie remarks that
he appeared to be too easily removed from Pitsligo
to Newbattle. If such a view was entertained by
Mr. Cant himself, he was disappointed a result
which the parson of Rothiemay attributes to that
acerbity of temper which we know to have been
the good man's failing, and which, that writer as-
serts, had cooled the feelings of the other ministers
and the people of the metropolis toward him.
John Row, one of the colleagues of Cant, was a
grandson of John Row the coadjutor of Knox, and
second son of John Row the historian. For nine
years previous to his settlement at Aberdeen, he
had been master of the Grammar School of Perth,
then considered the most flourishing institution of
the kind in Scotland. In the second year of his
incumbency, his successful career as a teacher there
was like to have been cut short, by the prelatic
kirk-session ; for, having not only declined to com-
municate according to the established rites, but left
the church on a communion occasion with his train
of pupils following him, he was summoned before
that court to answer for his non-conformity. His
* Records of the Kirk, 291.
214 JOHN ROW.
answer, in the language of the record, was, " That
this twenty year he had been communicating, and
did not communicate where the institution of Christ
was altered in any jot ; and the cause why he did
not communicate with us was, because the institu-
tion was altered by us." This was a bold reply in
the days of a Court of High Commission ; but it is
with regret that we find, that after many meetings
with the session, he so far conformed as to promise
that in future he would communicate with the con-
gregation of Perth.
On the extirpation of Prelacy, Row qualified
for the ministry, and was introduced to Aberdeen
through the influence of Mr. Cant.* He was a man
* The nomination and call of Mr. Row are thus noted in the
burgh records of Aberdeen: " Decimo die mensis Novembris
16*41. The said day the Provest, bailyeis, and counsell, being
coavenit in the Towne's counsell-hous, and haveand consideration,
upon the report maid to thame of the worth and habilities of Mr.
JOHNE HOWE, schollmaster in Perthe, to be ane pastor in the
kirk of God, they had writin for him to repair to this Burghe,
that he might be hard preaching in our pulpitis ; and he accord-
ingly repairing hether, and having preachit thrie severall tymes,
and givin content to the auditouris. Thairfore, &c., &c., they
maid nomination of the said Mr. Johne Rovve to be ane of the
ministeris of the said burghe, autuallie to supplie and fill ane of
the wacant roumes of the tninisterie thairof : the Towne always
giving thair consent and allowance thainanto ; for whilk effect
they ar ordainit to be warnit be the drume to convein the morne
in the tolbuith, iminediatelie after the reading of the sermone,
and lykwayis to be desyrit out of the pulpeit to conveine tyrne
and place forsaid."&c.
" Vndecimo Novembris 1641. The Town being convenit, the
JOHN OSWALD. 215
of learning, and soon after his induction he pub-
lished a dictionary and grammar of the Hebrew
language, they being the first works of the kind
printed in Scotland.*
The incumbency of Oswald was short ; and we
hear little of him but that he was a diligent co-
adjutor of his more celebrated colleagues. He was
removed to Edinburgh in 1643.
Provest, &c., &c., (repeit the forgoing minute) ; and thairfoir
requyrit of the Town, convenit as said is, iff they have any just
exception aganeis the said Mr. Johne, aither in his lyf or doc-
trin, why he ocht not to be thair minister. Quha, for the maist
pairt, consentit, and agreet that he be put to his tryellis and pre-
sented to the presbitrie of Aberdeen, for that effect, and being
found qualifeit be thame, that he be admittit ane of the mini-
sters of this burghe, actuallie to supplie ane of the wacant roumes
in thair ministry." Aberdeen Council Register, as quoted in No-
tices respecting John Row, Principal of King's College, prefixed
to Row's Historic, printed for the Wodrow Club, for which
the present writer is indebted for the information in the text con-
cerning Principal Row.
* " Vigesimo tertio Novembris 1642. The same day the Pro-
vest, baillies, and counsell, thinks it meit and expedient that ane
Ebro ^Hebrew] lesson be teachit weiklie in the colledge of this
burgh, till Lambmis next, and ordanes Patrick Leslie, provest,
and Dr. Patrick Dune Principal of the said colledge to deal with
Mr. John Row, ane of the townes' ministers, for that effect. Ib.
" 20 September 1643. The said day the Counsell considering
the panes taken be Mr. John Row, in teaching the Hebrew
tongue, and for setting furth an Hebrew dictionar, and dedica-
ting the same to the Counsell, ordanes Thomas Burnet thesaurer,
to deliver to the said Mr. John Row, for his panes, four hun-
dreth merks Scots money, quhilk sail be allowit to him in his
comptis." Ib.
216 THE NEW DISCIPLINE IN ABERDEEN.
These men entered into their work with zeal.
The new discipline was rigorously enforced. Two
years' preaching, exhorting, and catechising, were
deemed necessary "before the town's people were
judged sufficiently prepared to communicate. Pri-
vate baptism was refused, even to dying children
to the great horror of the ignorant and supersti-
tious, who looked on that institute as the seal of
salvation. Mention is made of a burgess who, on
being refused that rite in private to a sickly in-
fant, brought it to church and caused the bell to
be rung before the time. But the incorrigible mi-
nister (Oswald) sat still till the hour came ; and,
says Spalding, ere the lecture was done, " the silly
infant deceases in the cummer's arms." It is re-
markable how long these notions of sacramental
efficacy have lingered even in our Presbyterian
communities. We have still those who speak of
the cruelty of refusing baptism to children in
such circumstances notwithstanding denomina-
tional creeds more in accordance with scripture
and common sense.
Public responses in worship, gloria patriots, and
other remaining fragments of the old ritual, were
abolished. Lyke-wakes a species of revel which
commenced with psalm-singing, and generally ended
in debauchery were denounced ; to the great cha-
grin of many ingenuous youths of both sexes, who
discovered in such an innovation one of the evils
of " sour-faced Presbytery," as the phrase went; and
PREACHING AND POLICY. 217
the detriment of the " master of the Song School,"
who had a vested interest in these satnrnalia.
But the exertions of the new ministers were not
entirely or mainly of a negative or interdictory
nature. On the contrary, their labours in preach-
ing, catechising, and expounding the scriptures,
were incessant. In a minute of Council, recording
a resolution for an augmentation of their stipends,
among other reasons for that proceeding is men-
tioned, their extraordinary pains in weekly cate-
chising, visiting the several families of the burgh,
and each of them expounding a passage of scrip-
ture to his flock every alternate evening: not,
however, we fear, " to the great contentment and
joy of all the people," as the record has it ; for
there were then, as there are still, quiet, ease-
loving citizens, who thought one sermon on Sabbath
sufficient for their digestion and good practice, (no
despicable example of self-knowledge, perhaps,)
and who preferred a cup, a gossip, or a lounge in
the suburbs, to attending the second service on the
afternoon of that sacred day. To catch these, the
zealous apostle had recourse to a stratagem founded
on their own superstitious notions. He discontinued
pronouncing the blessing at the conclusion of the
torenoon sermon reserving it till the close of the
whole services of the day. The Old Town minister,
(Strachan) read the names of non-attenders and
non-communicants from the pulpit. As it regarded
the motive appealed to in the recusant, namely,
218 DR. GUILD.
the fear of man, the expedient of the Old Town
minister was identical with the severer proceedings
of the hierarchy. The instrumentality, however,
was ameliorated ; and in effect, this circumstance
marks, in process, the elevation of public opinion
into the seat hitherto claimed by the crowned mo-
narch. In things civil, this is all that freedom can do
for an enlightened people; but in matters of religious
personal conviction, both are alike usurpers, and the
converts of both alike worthless. "While, however,
we condemn such methods for filling the benches
and the communion table, let us remember that they
were the practices of a period only a few years sub-
sequent to the abolition of the Courts of High
Commission. Two hundred years have rolled on
since then : it were well for us to ask, What, in
this age, is our proportionate distance from the
same starting point? The cathedral church of
Old Machar soon required additional accomodation;
but we have reason to believe, from the minister's
acknowledged zeal, piety, and diligence, that the
new gallery was in requisition, partly at least, as
the result of less questionable ministrations than
that of advertising recusants.
Dr. Guild, now Principal of King's College,
threw his weight into the descending scale. He
commenced preaching in English in the college
chapel : a practice which was condemned as un-
academical by those who thought with a sigh
of the palmy days of the Doctors and the dead
LAMENT FOR PASCH. 219
languages. The Principal invited the populace to
mingle with the students at those prelections. This
was censured by the admirers of use and wont, as
indecent. "With such petty fault-findings it is
likely the trials of a more consistent man would
have ended; but alas for this prudent reformer!
the people, who were to be the gainers by these
changes, treated his efforts with great contempt,
and he was soon obliged to close his lectures in
default of an auditory.
Great were the exertions of the ministers of both
Aberdeens, the magistrates, and the Principal of
King's College, to suppress the keeping of Yule
and Pasch the two great festivals of the Prelatic
church marks of the beast that, by reason of
the frolic and feasting that attended them, were
especially difficult to eradicate. Poor Clerk Spal-
ding, among several entries which seem to have
been made with watering eyes and mouth, has the
following : " Pasch-day, the 10th April, no flesh
durst be sold in Aberdeen, for making good cheer,
as was wont to be ; so ilk honest man did the best
he could for himself. A matter never before heard
of in this land, that Pasch should be included within
Lentron time, because it was now holden supersti-
tious ; nor no communion given on Grood Friday, as
was before. Marvellous in Aberdeen, to see no
market of fowl or flesh to be sold in Pasch-even."
Poor Clerk ! he gives a parenthetic wail for the
communion, but begins with the flesh and ends
p2
220 ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS KEEPING YULE.
with the flesh. Ingenuous soul ! the unconscious
type of a numerous class.
At Yule time the Principal refused the usual
vacation : the students took it at their own hands ;
and the doctor was obliged to compound. " This
year," (1643), says Spalding, " Tool-day fell on
Sunday. Our ministers [Strachan and Ghrild] and
the ministers of Aberdeen preached against all mer-
riness, play, and pastime ; and the night before, by
tuck of drum through Aberdeen, the townsmen were
commanded to keep themselves sober, and flee all
superstitious keeping of days. Upon Monday the
bell went through the Old-town, commanding all
manner of men to open their booth doors and go to
work ; but the students fell upon the bellman, and
took the bell frae him, for giving such an unusual
charge : so the people made good cheer and ban-
queting according to their estates, and past their
times, Monday and Tuesday both, for all their
threatenings." There was, however, less of that
over-precise and sour hostility to innocent recreation
among the Covenanters of that age than is generally
supposed even by their admirers. They were ene-
mies to debauchery, and discountenanced and en-
deavoured to suppress eventhe innocent outgoings of
sociality, when these were the tokens of respect for
what they regarded as a superstitious holiday ; but
they were by no means so inimical to innocent hila-
rity and the enjoyment of good things, as some would
- have us to suppose. We have an instance of Dr.
RELAXATION'S OF COVEKANTEKS AND KEFOEMERS. 221
Gruild supping merrily with his friends on the night
before Christmas, and one of Andrew Cant himself
soldering a quarrel with the minister of Drumoak
over a cup of wine. In these cases, however, we
hare the old inconsistent cry, " Behold a gluttonous
man and a winebibber !"*
* In social relaxation and active amusements, the Scottish mi-
nisters of the previous age were, however, less constrained than
those of the Covenanting era a fact which the history of the
intervening period readily accounts for. Speaking of the week-
day exercises of John Dury, a coadjutor of Knox, James Melville
says, "The gown was na sooner af, an the Byble out of hand,
fra the kirk, when on ged the corslet, an fangit [snatched up]
was the hagbot, an to the fields." Academical theatricals were
not uncommon, even after the Reformation ; and the worthy
diarist presents our great Reformer in a character that will per-
haps startle some readers, viz., that of spectator at a play ! The
entertainment was given in the University of St. Andrews :
'' This yeir [1571] in the monethe of July, Mr. Jhone Davidsone,
an of our Regents, maid a play at the mariage of Mr. Jhone Col-
vin, quhilk I saw playit in Mr. Knox presence, wherin, accor-
ding to Mr. Knox doctrin, the Castle of Edinbruche was beseiged,
takin, and the captan, with an or twa withhim,hangitin effigie."
Of his own amusements, Melville, who was then at college, says,
" I lovit singing and playing on instruments passing weill, and
wald gladly spend tyme whan the exerceise thairof was within the
collage ; for twa or thrie of our condisciples played fellon weill
on the virginals, and another on the lut and githorn. I had
my necessars honestlie aneuche of my father, but nocht els ; for
archerie and goff, I had bow, arrose, glub and bals, but nocht a
purs for catchpull [tennis] and tavern." Melville's Diary, 27,
29, 32. These relaxations of our great and venerable countrymen
will suggest to the mind of the historical reader the interesting
222 STYLE OP PKEACHING :
Notwithstanding the heart-burnings attending
these attempts at outward reformation, there is
reason to believe that the more legitimate exertions
of the ministers were not without much good fruit.
Evangelical truth was fully and faithfully exhibited,
and, we may say in the best sense passionately
pressed home on the consciences of the hearers :
" Behold here a wonder ! The great Gfod seek-
ing base man ! the offended Grod seeking offending
man! And is this because he has need of you?
Nay : canst thou be a party for him ? Canst thou
hold the field against him ? Nay : shall the thing
formed say to the thing that formed it, "Why hast
thou made me thus ? Shall the small worm and
the pickle of small dust fight against the King of
kings ? Art thou able to stand out against him,
or pitch any field against him ? Nay, I tell thee,
man, there is not a pickle of hair in thy head but
if Grod arise in anger he can cause it seem a devil
unto thee, and every nail on thy fingers to be a
torment of hell against thee. Lord of hosts and
King of kings, who can stand out against thee !
And yet thou hast offended him, and run away
from him, and rniskent him, and transgressed all
his commandments ; and hell, and wrath, and judg-
peep which Luther gives us into his private life ; when, in the
midst of his tremendous struggle with the papal power, he speaks
of chatting with his friends Amsdorff and Melancthon " over a
tankard of Wittemberg heer." D'Aubigne's History of the
Reformation.
ANDREW CANT. 223
ment is thy portion which thou deservest ; and yet
the Lord is sending out his servants to see if they
can make an agreement. Then, for Gfod's sake,
think on this wonder ! for all this text is full of
wonders. All Gfod's works are indeed fall of won-
ders ; "but this is the wonder of wonders. We
then are Grod's ambassadors : I beseech you to be
reconciled to Gfod ! Should you not hare sought
him first, with ropes about your necks, with sack-
cloth upon your loins, and with tears in your eyes?
Should not ye have lain at his door, and scraped if
ye could not knock ? And yet the Lord hath sent
me to you and unfaithful men about here, crying,
Come away to the marriage !"
Talk as men may about modes of preaching,
there is none so blessed of Gfod, none so adapted
to spiritual results, as undisguised scriptural truth,
flowing through the human sympathies ; of which
this address of Andrew Cant's is a specimen.
The preacher, even in the matter of exegesis, was
in advance of many who boast an age of more en-
lightened criticism than that current in Scotland
in the first half of the seventeenth century : " I
propose not to handle this parable [of The Marriage
Feast] punctually," says he, " because that stands
not with the nature of a parable." "We have our
spiritualizing preachers, who would have " gospel-
ized" the drapery of it to the uttermost fringe.
" The parable," he continues, " runs upon an evi-
dent declaration, and clear manifestation of Gfod's
224 SPECIMEN or PREACHING.
sweetest mercies, in offering his Son : 1. To Jews.
Not because of their worthiness ; ' But even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.' This
offer was the effect of no merit, neither of con-
gruity nor condignity in the Jews ; for they were
like that wretched and menstruous infant, (Ezek.
xvi. 3, 4.) unswaddled, unwashen, uncleansed, lying
in its blood. 2. To the Gfentiles. As for the
Grentiles, ye may see what case they were in, if ye
read this same parable. Some were cripple, some
poor, and blind, and withered, and miserable, and
naked, and leprous unworthy to come to the Lord's
gates, let be to hare them opened wide to us ; un-
worthy to be set down at his table, let be to be ad-
mitted to his royal marriage feast, and to get Christ
our Lord to be our match, and to be the food and
cheer of our souls." What then is the conclusion?
" Let all," says the preacher, cry " Grace, grace,
grace ! praise, praise, praise ; blessing, blessing, for
evermore be to the Lord's free grace ! Fy, fy upon
the man ; fy, fy upon the woman, that is an enemy
to the Lord's free grace ! The fullest, and the fair-
est, and the freest thing in heaven or on earth is the
free grace of Gtod to our poor souls. ' Not unto us,
Lord; not unto us, but unto thy name be all the
glory !' " Such were the strains addressed to the
burghers of Aberdeen in the old church of St. Ni-
cholas, two hundred years ago.
To what extent real personal piety existed at
the period under review (1640-4) it is difficult to
STATE OF EELKHOir. EITTHEEFOBD IN ABEBDEEtf. 225
judge. The history of ecclesiastical change is not
the history of religion, although frequently mis-
taken for it. In any state of society there are
many elements to subduct ere we arrive at the only
true motive to a Christian profession. "When the
question is national, and involves physical conse-
quences, the difficulty is greatly increased; and
these are specific elements in the case before us.
In 1636, Rutherford writes that he knew of only
one pious family in the town of Aberdeen. "We
would fain think, that at this time the good con-
fessor's acquaintance was but limited, or that the
theological and ecclesiastical elements entered too
much into his estimate. There are low states of
spiritual existence that are so bounded by the
existing conditions of social life, that the principle
within may for long escape the practised and in-
quiring eye. True piety will often hold its weak
and silent course under a crust of error, formality
and worldliness; like the ice-bound brook, shut out
alike from the sun's rays and human observation,
pursuing its hidden, barren course, but running
still. Such was likely to be the state of reli-
gion in Aberdeen, under the reign of Episcopacy.
Banished thither by a sentence of the Court of
High Commission, for nonconformity to the Perth
Articles, Rutherford was himself destined first to
break that crust. Scotland contained not so likely
a place of exile for one who hated Prelacy and
Arminianism. There was but little sympathy be-
226 RUTHERFORD IN ABERDEEN".
tween him and the people among whom he was to
have his solitary lodging ; and he had his recep-
tion accordingly. " They are cold and dry in their
kindness," says he " It is counted no wisdom to
conntenance a banished and silenced minister."
As to the general religions character of the popu-
lation, he was, doubtless, not far wrong taking
the word " papist" in its wider meaning " It [the
town] consists of papists and men of Grallio's naughty
faith." Poor Mr. Samuel ! we think we see him
with his pensive, amiable face, his cloak and ruff,
stepping down the Broadgate ; the gossips peering
from corners and half-open doors at " the banished
minister," as they called him. " I am like to sit
my lone here," he writes ; yet, again, " I would
not give my sighing for the painted laughter of the
fourteen prelates." Besides the heavenly conso-
lation here indicated, he enjoyed in his solitude
the friendship and occasional intercourse of several
pious persons in the neighbourhood, among whom
he mentions Lady Pitsligo ; Lady Burnet of Leys ;
Andrew Cant, then at Pitsligo ; and James Martin,
the pious minister of Peterhead. Sundry, also, of
the town's people who were willing to be edified,
began to resort to him. On this, the Doctors in-
trigued to have him removed to Orkney or Caith-
ness, or to have him banished over seas. " The
other side of the sea is my Father's as well as this
side," said Rutherford. The people said, " It is
like Grod is with this banished minister !" Did
BTTTHERI'OKD IK ABERDEEN". 227
ever penal laws elicit a confession such as this
produced by the example of patient and affectionate
endurance ? He was soon able to write, " I find a
little briarding of God's seed in this town;" but
was forced to add "for which the Doctors have
told me their mind that they cannot bear with it,
and hare examined and threatened the people that
haunt my company."
Thus were the seeds of evangelical truth scat-
tered in the city of the Doctors, and the still-life
that faintly existed in the hearts of some of their
flocks called forth, by one who was himself banished,
in the intention of his persecutors, to spiritual
languishment and barrenness. His leisure was
partly filled up by writing the greater number of
those letters which, for a century and a half, have
been a manual of the heart to the more excellent
of the Scottish people. Some persons, with an
ignorance of the literature of that age, a hyper-
refinement that betrays the indelicacy of their own
minds, or a prejudice seemingly malignant, have
denounced those letters as indecent, and called
the writer a fool.* The Aberdeen Doctors found
he was no fool. Barren would dispute with
him. Neither the doctor nor his friends have
told us the result ; but Rutherford supplies their
lack of service : " Three yockings," says he,
* " His Sermons and Letters," says Mr. Charles Kirkpatrick
Sharpe, " are replete with blasphemy, obscenity, and nonsense,"
Note to Kirkton's Secret and True History, 41 .
228 PRIVATE MEETINGS : BROWNTSTS.
" laid him "by." During the vacation thus vouch-
safed to him by the High Commission, he grounded
himself more deeply in those doctrines subsequently
evolved in his writings, which assisted the great
work of the age, and some of which were replied
to at the Restoration by the hangman ; who, on
behalf of those who had no other way of managing
an argument, committed them to the flames.
There had been little more than Eutherford's
" briardings" up to the settlement of Cant, Row,
and Oswald ; for the three intervening years had
been too turbulent to be favourable either for sow-
ing or growth. "Wars, rumours of wars, military
government, and forced oaths, kept men in a state of
anxiety about their lives and goods inimical to the
progress of religious feeling ; but when the com-
munity had begun to settle down under the new
order of things although many did so unwillingly
the truth had a less disturbed reception ; it be-
gan to take root, and we shall meet with its fruits
in subsequent parts of our sketches.
Another influence had now begun to work. The
holders of private meetings instead of being put
down by the act of the Aberdeen Assembly, began
to spread themselves over the kingdom. In 1642,
one Ferrendale, an Irishman, came to Aberdeen.
This man, who was a skinner to his calling, was
" trapped," as we are told, preaching at night in
private houses, with closed doors, something which
the fearful narrator mysteriously calls " Nocturnal
BROWNISTS PERSECUTED. 229
Doctrine, or Brownisme."* Thomas Pont ; Wil-
liam Maxwell, a wheelwright ; Gilbert Grordon,
yonnger of Tillyfroskie ; and John Ross, minister
of Birse, were also delated to the church courts.
Grordon was accused of " haying with his wife,
children, and servants dishaunted his parish kirk,"
and that he " had his devotion morning and even-
ing within his own house." He appeared, confessed,
defended his conduct, and was ordered to he pro-
cessed and excommunicated. He was subsequently
apprehended at Edinhurgh, where he was impri-
soned. Maxwell was intercommuned. To the ho-
nour of Cant and Oswald, they were suspected of
favouring those persecuted men; and notwithstand-
ing the influence of the former, he had to make his
peace with his more rigid hrethren. Eow also he-
came favourable; so that this class of surreptitious
evangelists had some shelter from organized opposi-
tion to their homely and unobtrusive labours, in
the course of which they were successful in dropping
the seeds of the imperishable word and of religious
liberty into the hearts of some, and in eliciting in
their turn the exclamation, " It is like Grod is with
them !"
These elements of individual and social renova-
tion had a hostile influence to contend with in
Aberdeen, which, at the period we are reviewing,
was peculiar to that city ; namely, the presence of
a dissolute army. The late stronghold of loyalty
was considered insecure without the presence of an
* Spalding, 303.
230 INFLUENCES OF THE LOCALITY : DISSOLUTE ARMY.
armed force ; and soon after Munro's march south-
ward, the town was taken possession of by Lord Sinc-
lair with five hundred men. The exactions of this
commander were less severe than those of the
iron "but even handed, officer who preceded him;
but neither was his discipline so strict. His men
had been raised principally in Caithness, many of
them under terror of military execution ; so that
they were as devoid of principle in their service as
the north-country levies generally were, and their
morals seem to have been more corrupt. For two
years they were a source of pollution to the town.
Their numbers having been previously much re-
duced by desertion, they got the route for Ireland
early in 1642, to the great joy of the inhabitants.
They spent their time, Spalding informs us, in
" debauching, drinking, whoring, night-walking,
combating, swearing ; and brought sundry honest
women-servants to great misery. It is said that
there were delated and tried sixty-four of thir poor
women, whereof some fled, some banished, some set
caution and all, and every one brought under
shame and great misery.f * * * *" It seems
a bitter satire to say that the presence of such men
contributed to a uniformity of religion ; yet such is
the satire of true history.
In the towns farther north, and in the landward
parishes., the ecclesiastical revolution was equally
f Spalding, 268.
ROBBERS. PROSECUTIONS FOR WITCHCRAFT. 231
complete, but the change presented fewer contrasts
than in the seat of the universities ; and the facts
are scanty. The contemporaneous annals which
have reached us present little more than striking
proofs of those gross evils against which the gospel
and civilization had to contend. The insufficient pro-
tection afforded to property, inured men to deeds of
violence, and induced a cheap estimate of human
life. The country was infested by bands of robbers,
and " broken men :" so that nobles and barons had
to enter into contracts with certain individuals,
who, on consideration of the payment of sums of
money, became bound for the protection of parti-
cular districts, and who for this purpose kept a
a small army. Even within the pale of compara-
tive civilization, instances are not wanting of church
courts being deterred by fear of vengeance from
the pursuit of ecclesiastical offenders.* One large
and melancholy item in the rolls of all courts, ec-
clesiastical and criminal, was prosecutions instituted
against witches. Covenanter and cavalier were
alike smitten with a vindictive horror at these fic-
titious but traly wretched criminals. James, VI.,
* " One Abercrombie being delate of clear murther, was or-
dained to be excommunicate summaralie. He had been in pro-
cesse for adulterie. The presbyterie of Garioch, for fear of the
man, had been too slack in it; so the man did kill, in a drunken
plie, his wife's sone, who hud married his own daughter. The
synode of Aberdeen was directed to censure the presbyterie of
Garioch for their unhappy slackness." Baillies Letters, II. 88.
232 PROSECUTIONS FOE WITCHCRAFT.
and the General Assemblies, to which he was so
hostile, were united on this subject. It was a mania
of the age; and to detect and punish witches was
a serious and painful business with commissions,
presbyteries, and sessions. History presents us
with the appalling fact that, in 1643, thirty of
these miserable beings were burnt to death in Fife,
in course of a few months ; and if prosecutions for
this imaginary crime were less sanguinary in the
north, and, perhaps, less numerous than in the
south country, it was owing to far other causes than
superior enlightenment.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SOLEMN LEAGUE RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTH-
, ERN ROYALISTS, AND LEVIES OF THE COVENANTERS
LORD ABOYNE TAKES THE COVENANT PRELDDES OF
NEW TROUBLES ABDUCTION OF PROVOST LESLIE A.ND
OTHER CITIZENS OF ABERDEEN SIR JOHN GORDON OF
HADDO, AND ALEXANDER JAFFRAY RISE OF THE GOR-
DONS. THE RAID OF HONTROSE ADVANCE OF ARGYLE,
AND REDUCTION OF THE GORDONS MILITARY OPPRES-
SION EXECUTION OF HADDO AND CAPTAIN LOGIE
STATE OF THE DISTRICT.
THE Solemn League and Covenant was accepted by
the Parliaments of both kingdoms, in the antumn
of 1643. The design of that celebrated bond was
simply the extension of the objects of the National
Covenant of Scotland to the three kingdoms, by
the establishment of a uniformity of creed, church
government, and discipline, after the Presbyterian
model. The first result of this compact was the ad-
vance of twenty-one thousand five hundred Scots to
the assistance of the English Parliament >that
Q
234 REACTION IN THE NORTH.
being the first condition stipulated for by the latter.
The promulgation of the Solemn League in the north,
with its concomitant order for a levy, contributed,
with other causes to be mentioned, to break up that
partial quiet which these districts had enjoyed since
the expedition of Munro. Montrose, who, since the
pacification of Berwick, had intrigued on behalf of
the king, had, in 1643, visited and conferred with
several northern cavaliers, among whom were
Huntly, Aboyne, Lord Ogilvy, and Lord Banff;
Marischal was also present at one of their meet-
ings. The party thenceforth became active ; and,
this activity, to which the unprotected state of
the country was favourable, was nothing abated by
Huntly and Aboyne being denounced as rebels. Their
measures were, however, for some time confined to
organization. With the exception of the protest
of Sir John Gordon of Haddo, at his parish kirk of
Methlic, the Solemn League, so far as open opposi-
tion was concerned, was allowed to take its course.
It was read and expounded by every minister to
his congregation, the male portion of which, in
general, followed his example in signing it; the
females stood up, elevated their right hands, and
simultaneously took the oath of the bond sub-
scription being in their case dispensed with. The mi-
nisters in the country of the Grordons found it stiff
work. The marquis set it at nought ; and, although
no demonstration was made, many of the people,
either through fear or by choice, were disposed to
OUTFIT OF THE ABERDEEN CKAFTSHEN. - 235
follow his example, at the risk of confiscation and
other penalties.
The statutory conscription was that of every
fourth fencible man from the rolls produced by kirk
sessions ; but, though no serious attempt was made
to disturb the leyy, it went on but slowly north of
the Grampians. Jealousy among the leaders, and
the equivocal position assumed by some of the no-
bility, prevented a vigorous and united progress ;
so that when the army marched into England (July
1644) the north had produced but a trilling propor-
tion of its assigned muster. The quota of Aberdeen
(one hundred and thirty men) was not ready for the
field till the middle of February, and finally had to
be made up by the capture, while in bed, of twenty-
eight craftsmen and apprentices. The minute chro-
nicler, so often quoted, furnishes the following de-
scription of their outfit, which is interesting as a
specimen of the accoutrements and camp-living of
troops who contributed to the victories of the re-
nowned " Ironsides :" " Ilk soldier was furnished
with twa sarks, coat, breeks, hose, and bonnet, bands
and shoone ; a sword and musket, powder and ball,
for so many ; and other some, a sword and pike, ac-
cording to order ; and ilk soldier to have sis shilling
every day* for the space of forty days, of loan
silver;f ilk twelve of them had a baggage horse,
* Sixpence Sterling,
t That is, the burgh was to furnish their levy with forty days' pay.
Q2
236 COUNSEL or MONTROSE.
worth fifty pound, a stoup, a pan, a pot for their
meat and drink."*
But it soon became evident that the northern
levies, if too late for the opening of the campaign
in England, would have employment at home. The
news of the Solemn League, and the consequent pre-
parations for an invasion from Scotland, had aroused
the fears of Charles, and induced him, after long
evasion, to listen to the proposals of Montrose for
a diversion in favour of the royal cause in Scotland.
The very cause of alarm to the royal party in Eng-
land, by the abstraction of the flower and chivalry
of the Covenant, afforded unusual facilities for such
an expedition. This was an event to which the
northern cavaliers had been looking forward with
ardent wishes. It had been for some time the
centre of their hopes and plans. It was in expec-
tation of this, that, under the ban of the estates,
Huntly had lingered about Strathbogie, defying the
law officers who came to apprehend him cheering
the hearts of the desponding, and, with difficulty,
repressing the rash zeal of the more sanguine of
his vassals and retainers.
The peace of the north had indeed, for some
years, rested on the hollow basis of a pretended
conversion. Lord Gordon, eldest son of the Mar-
quis of Huntly, pressed by his uncle Argyle to
conform, taking into consideration that he would
* Spalding, 381.
LORD GORDON TAKES THE -COVENANT. 237
thereby save the family estates ; and, says his
panegyrist, " having a most pregnant wit and solid
judgment far ahove his age," dealt with his father
that he might "be allowed, " in show at least," to
side with the Covenant, " for preventing the pre-
sent danger, since he was in effect as true a royalist
as his father" which he would discover to the
world " whensoever the king was able to make a
considerable party in the kingdom." Huntly, it
seems, cautiously avoided any appearance of con-
sent to this proposal; but the youthful cavalier,
" confident that he had an indulgent father, whose
favour and approbation he should obtain when oc-
casion should present him the opportunity to dis-
cover himself," took the Covenant and was promoted
to a high command in the district.* Such is an
example of the melancholy shifts to which power-
ful families of easy principle betake themselves in
times of civil dissension. " A large stake in the
country," assuredly, ought to be viewed in other
lights than that precise one in which it is usually
pressed on our attention. Many of the vassals of the
Huntly family followed their young chief the real
object and result of such adhesions to the Covenant
being to cherish the strength of this powerful clan,
until it should with greater effect be turned in
* A Short Abridgement of jBritane's Distemper from the yeare
of God 1639 to 1649, by Patrick Gordon ofRuthven,p. 46-7.
Spalding Club.
238 PREMONITORY TROUBLES.
vengeance on those who were, after a fashion, the
cause of this mortifying constraint, and whose confi-
dence he had abused.
Things were in this state, when, early in 1644,
the signals of a coming storm again became dis-
tinctly risible. Inspired by hopes from within
and from without, the outstanders against the Co-
venant became more bold ; and the ruling party,
full of confidence, and exasperated by unusual ob-
structions, became more aggressive. Forty mus-
keteers were led out to do execution on the lands
of certain recusants in Buchan ;* and were met at
Tarty by a party of cavaliers : they were routed
and disarmed, and fled in twos and threes into
Aberdeen. The town took fright. The ports were
closed and watched ; the catbands put in requisi-
tion ; cannon were mounted ; the garrison was
drilled; and the Covenanters ran to and fro, hiding
their goods. A general rising of the Gordons was
feared. Country gentlemen took their children
from school within burgh, and shut themselves up
with their families in their strongholds. The laird
of Grant mustered at Elgin a body of one thousand
horse and foot. As in all cases of general panic,
the ludicrous was blended with the pathetic. The
Earl Marischal evacuated the castle of Inver-
ugie, and retired with his family and valuables to
* Among these were " the goodwife of Artrochie, an excom-
municated papist." Spalding.
SEIZURE OF ABERDEEN CITIZENS. 239
his stronger nest at Dunnottar ; ami such was his
terror of the Gordons that he caused his Buchan
recruits to be marched southward unarmed, lest
they should he plundered of their pikes and mus-
kets by the way ! The retreat of Lord Fraser
furnishes a touching example of the insecurity of
the times. That nobleman, previously to shutting
himself up in his castle of Inverallochy, sowed his
lands, untilled, early in the spring, trusting to Pro-
vidence for an opportunity of future and imperfect
culture, rather than leave the precious grain to the
reckless intromissions of his fellow-men.
Huntly still considered that a general rising
would be premature, and endeavoured to rein in the
zeal of the more forward of his vassals, who, on
the other hand, were determined fully to commit
their party. Sixty of the more fiery of them,
headed by Gordon of Haddo and the young laird
of Drum, took horse on the morning of the 19th
March, and by sunrise came thundering through
the Old Town to New Aberdeen, posted guards,
seized the provost (Patrick Leslie) ; the commissary
for the Estates ; Alexander Jafiray, late bailie; and
his brother, John Jaffray, Dean of Gruild. They
plundered the house of the Jaffrays of some gold
trinkets, money, and papers, led off some horses,
and returned the way they came, " none daring to
say it was evil done" Lord Grordon looking on as
they passed through the Old Town. The prisoners
were closely confined, first in the castle of Strath-
240 HADDO AND JAFFBAY.
bogie, then in Auchindown, where they were very
cruelly used. Besides being a Covenanter, Alex-
ander Jaffray had been guilty of a high personal
offence against the imperious Grordon,* having, a
year before, in the discharge of his duty as a ma-
gistrate, committed a servant of Haddo's to prison
for riot in Aberdeen. To revenge this insult,
Haddo, who was what the cavaliers called " a pretty
man," attacked Jaffray near Kintore, as he was
returning from a funeral. Two pistols which he
levelled in succession at the inoffensive burgher
having missed fire, the parties closed, when, " af-
ter some strokes passed between us," says Jaf-
fray, " he left me wounded in the head, and my
brother, John, in the arm."f For this cowardly
assault Haddo was prosecuted, and fined 20,000
merks a proceeding which so exasperated him, that
it would have been atoned for by blood, but for
that all-seeing, and over-ruling Providence, to which
the pious subject of it ascribes all thanks and praise.
* This seems to have been generally understood to be the cause
of the abduction of the Jaffrays. Gilbert Gordon of Sallagh thus
writes : " These prisoners were taken upon dyvers considera-
tions : The provost was taken for alledged being too active in
informing the state against the Marquis of Huntley ; Maister
Robert Farquhar was taken, for being employed by the publick,
and to squies some money from him, wherein they could not
prevaile ; and the bailie, and the dean-of-gild (brethren, called
Jaffrays) were taken upon a private former quarel betwixt them
and the Laird of Haddo." Genealogical History of the Earldom
of Sutherland, 516.
f Memoir and Diary of Alexander Jaffray, 21, 22.
HUNTLY TAKES POSSESSION OF ABEKDEEN. 241
On a subsequent review of these passages in his life,
Jaffray remarks, " I was wonderfully delivered
from extreme danger. The first time that we en-
countered, near Kintore, he fired two pistols at me,
one after another, being then within twice the length
of his horse from me ; both of them misserred ;
whereat he was in great fury, alleging they had
never done the like before. And that same night,
in Old Aberdeen, to try them if they would misserve
again, he put out the candle at which he shot. The
other time was that day when he took me prisoner :
he, having entered my father's study, fired a pistol
at me from the window, whence he pursued me into
another study just opposite to the one where he was.
That pistol also misserved, at which he cursed,
alleging he would never get me felled."*
Engaged by this rash act of his party, and hav-
ing the assurance of early succour from the king,
Huntly took unresisted possession of Aberdeen with
two hundred and fifty horse, and as many foot Lord
Grordon having previously evacuated it, and retired
to Moray. Forty-eight of the principal inhabitants,
Covenanters, concealed their valuables and fled to
the southern counties. At a council of war, Huntly
concluded on raising the country for the king, under
pain of military execution. He issued declarations
setting forth the cause of his rising, and the reasons
for seizing the four citizens, and sent out parties
* Memoir and Diary, 23, 24.
242 RAVAGES OF THE GORDONS.
to search the houses of the towns-people for arms
and ammunition. Then followed the usual train of
calamities; enrolments through sheer terror; plun-
dering the surrounding country, first of arms and
horses, and by and by, as recruits came in, of grain
and cattle. The gentry shut themselves more
closely up, but for the poor commonalty there -was
no refuge. Even the strong-holds of the gentry were
insufficient to resist the attacks of those ravagers ;
and the armories, stables, and girnals of many of
them, as well as the unprotected barn and byre of
the farmer and the cottar, were made to yield their
tribute to the Gordons. Buchan, with all the lower
part of the county of Aberdeen, was ravaged. A
party under the lairds of Gight, Newton, and Ard-
logie, took possession of Banff quartered them-
selves on the inhabitants, seized the town's arms,
and money collected for the government, robbed
the private citizens ; and seized the bailies Dr.
Douglas, their provost, having fled and made
them swear a bond abjuring the Solemn League.
The allies of the Gordons, highland and lowland,
gathered in apace ; and on the llth April, Huntly
was saluted at Inverury by an army of twenty-five
hundred men. Elated by his success, he had ensigns
made at Aberdeen, embossed with a lion rampant,
and the cipher, " C. R.," with the motto, " FOR
GTOD, THE KING, AND AGAINST ALL TRAITORS ;" and
each man in the army had around his neck a piece
ADVANCE OP THE COVENANTING- LEADEKS. 243
of black taffeta, " as a sign that they were to
fight to the death."* The Aberdonians once more
groaned under the burden of an army at free quar-
ters ; and we are not surprised when we are in-
formed that the Aberdeen Synod passed over their
day of meeting for fear that the horses of the mem-
bers would be seized. It was rather a wonder that
any horses were left to them. Notwithstanding, we
are informed that the Marquis " heard devotion" at
the Old Town Kirk, during his stay. It would
appear that he did not care for the ministrations of
Andrew Cant.
In the midst of these exulting preparations, word
was brought to Huntly that the Covenanting leaders
in the south were drawing to a head against him ;
and though the effect of this intelligence was partly
neutralized by the daily expectation of the advance
of Montrose and Aboyne with assistance from the
king, yet it soon began to tell on the courage of
his adherents. As he lingered in the field, his
hopes of success decreasing, and his numbers les-
sening, an expedition was projected and executed,
much in the swaggering and reckless style of the
cavaliers. It had its origin with the young laird
of Drum a hot-headed youth, and son-in-law of
Huntly who, foreseeing the ignoble termination of
the campaign, and being desirous of an opportunity
of signalizing himself, importuned his father-in-law
* Spalding, 398.
244 EAID OF MONTKOSE.
that lie might be allowed to march as far south as
the town of Montrose, " were it but to see what the
enemies were doing, and to see if occasion would
offer itself whereby he might give an expression of
his intention to do his Majesty service."* To this
young gallant was committed the charge of eighty
horse, with three hundred foot under the command
of the noted Donald Farquharson. The forces
joined at the north Esk, and, with sound of trumpet,
came careering on the burgh at two o'clock in- the
morning, (April 24,) intending to take it by sur-
prise. But they were disappointed of an unresisted
possession. The townsmen had been apprised of
their advance ; and, stout for the Covenant, they
kindled beacon-fires in their steeple, rang the bell
to alarm the country, and stood to their arms, in ex-
pectation of speedy relief. But the brave burghers
could not stand the charge of the cavaliers. They
were driven from the causeway, and betook them-
selves to their forestairs, whence they annoyed the
enemy with discharges of musketry : when one of
their bailies being killed in this hap-hazard defence,
they found themselves obliged to give up the contest.
Young Drum now proceeded to secure two pieces
of brass cannon one special object of his visit.
For the conveyance of these to Aberdeen he had
bespoken a vessel, and waited by the water-side till
the rising tide should float it to a place convenient
* Britanes Distemper, 51.
,0?HE TOWN" PLUNDERED AND ABANDONED. 245
for loading. Into this vessel a party of the citizens
had conveyed themselves, their valuables, several
pieces of cannon, and forty muskets. All was
silence on hoard the ship as she lay aground in the
dusk. At last she floated, and the cavaliers could
mark with satisfaction that she began to near the
shore ; when lo ! a broadside of cannon and mus-
ketry made them take to their heels, leaving two
dead and several wounded. Finding that he could
not carry off the cannon, Drum broke their carriages,
and sunk them in the harbour, Avhence they were
fished up by the Covenanters soon after. He then
gave the town over to plunder, when a scene of
cruel havoc took place. Fourscore " gallant gentle-
men," and three hundred of Donald Farquharson's
savages, broke up the merchants' booths ; spoiled
them of "rich merchandize, cloths, silks, velvets,
and other costly wares, silver, gold and silver work,
arms," and good " Spanish wine" to add to the
hilarity of the scene. They took prisoners the
provost and another citizen, and left Montrose, says
a historian of their own party, " in the afternoon,
in a woful case." It is said that young Drum had
set fire two several times to the devoted town, and
that the flames were extinguished by Nathaniel
Grordon, whose reason and humanity had not wholly
given way to the frenzy of his madcap leader. A
party of thirty-two Highlanders having remained
in the town behind their companions, loaded with
plunder, and overcome with drink, were seized,
246 THE GORDONS DISBANT>.
handcuffed, and sent prisoners to Edinburgh. The
rest returned to Aberdeen in straggling parties", as
from a drunken rout. *
In the beginning of May- a few days after this
freak of loyalty, Argyle arrived at Dunnottar, to
wait for the northward march of the Covenanting
army. This was the signal for the Covenanters of
Aberdeen and Banff shires to leave their strong-
holds and muster ; whilst disappointed in his hopes
from the projected expedition of Montrose and
Aboyne, Huntly lost heart. His followers melted
fast away ; and in course of a few days, the remains
of this host of the black taffeta were to be seen in
full scamper, each man to his hiding-place, with his
badge of " Death or victory" around his neck. The
marquis betook himself to Auchindown ; and, mak-
ing a virtue of necessity, sent home the provost
and other captive citizens, " who came into the
town," says Spalding,f with greater credit than
they were taken out of it;" an indication of pro-
gress among the towns-people as it regarded the
great question of the times.
No sooner had Huntly evacuated the town, than
it was possessed by a Covenanting army of six
thousand men ; when the tables were turned with
the opposing parties. The Earl of Kinghorn was
once more installed governor; and the army marched
to Udny, and thence proceeded to reduce the strong-
* Spaldinff, 401. f Ib., 405.
REDUCTION OF THE DISTRICT. 247
holds of the cavaliers; Argyle himself, haying
made a detour by the ancient house of Drum, which
he took and garrisoned, joined the main army, and
reduced the strongholds of Kelly and Gight with
little trouble. The former was the nest of Sir
John Gfordon of Haddo, in which had been planned
many of those deeds of lawless outrage that for
years had been the scourge and terror of the country.
Captain Logie, son of the deposed minister of
Rayne, Haddo himself, with some of his tenantry,
and Grordon of Gright, were taken prisoners. The
houses of Gright and Kelly were spoiled and gut-
ted, the lands laid waste, and the goods and cattle
of the tenantry plundered. Huntly fled to Strath-
naver, and his castle of Auchindown was taken
and garrisoned. From Strachan, Aboyne, Grlen-
tanner, and Gflenmuick, over by the braes of
Cromar, round by Banff, and back to Aberdeen,
the country was pervaded by strong military par-
ties, who inflicted the terrible chastisement of fire
and pillage on the wretched inhabitants. Fearful,
indeed, is the responsibility of those who involve
a people in such calamities ; and, if our progress
to freedom has been through such revolting scenes,
with what vigilance ought the first advances of
tyranny to be watched and repelled. This is our
lesson.
But military operations were not all. Many
ministers of the district being suspected, the mo-
derator of the Synod of Aberdeen was required by
248 STKING-ENT POLICY OF AKGYLE.
Argyle to take the oaths of all moderators of
presbyteries present at a meeting of Synod then
held, that they were well affected to the Covenant.
These again were enjoined to swear their presby-
teries, and order that each minister prepare a roll
of all disaffected persons, of all papists, of all
who had risen with the Gordons, and a list of free-
holders, within their respective parishes. These
documents were produced at a great muster held at
Turriff soon after ; when the military gathering of
Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, and Inverness was re-
newed, and means taken for farther levies. The
like order was given to the Synod of Moray. Such
was the dangerous mixture of the civil and the
ecclesiastical which this struggle involved a mix-
ture which, if the Covenanters avowedly acted on
it, we must remember they did not introduce, and
which, once introduced, perpetuates itself. These
rolls of the clergy were promptly acted upon, and
all disaffected persons were compelled to give bond
to keep the peace. Prices were set on the heads of
Huntly, young Drum, and other leaders of the late
rising; but several guilty parties were pardoned
by Argyle at the request of his nephew, Lord
Gordon.
These stringent measures arranged, Argyle went
south ; but the miseries of this visitation were not
over. He had left an Irish regiment in arrears; and
these unscrupulous vagabonds, then engaged in pil-
laging the north part of the shire, being determined
THE " CLEANSERS.*' 249
to find a paymaster, sent word to the magistrates
of Aberdeen that unless they would make good
their pay, they would yisit the town with indis-
criminate plunder. This audacious threat had the
desired effect ; twenty thousand pounds were raised
on the security of the magistrates, and horses were
furnished to carry the wives and baggage of these
"heavy friends" southward. Then there were
Argyle's own highlanders lying on Deeside, who
by their rapacity gained for themselves the soubri-
quet of the Cleansers. They were eight hundred
strong : they " spared neither Covenanter nor Anti-
covenanter, minister nor laick. The hail country
fled that could flee, and left their houses desolate.
They plundered and spoilzied the house of Aboyne
and house of Abergeldie, with their ground ; they
spoilzied and plundered the hail Birse, Cromar,
Grlentanner, Grlenmuick, and left neither horse,
sheep, nolt, ky, nor fourfooted beast, in all these
brave countries, nor victuals, corn, goods, or gear,
that they might lay hands upon."* These are me-
lancholy facts, which, it must be confessed, have been
too much left to be dealt with by the enemies of civil
and religious liberty. But, as facts, they should
have their due weight and prominence. It is a
poor cause that cannot bear the deductions of verit-
able history. These were rough tools to work with.
Sir John Grordon of Haddo, and Captain Logic,
* Spalding, 422,
K
250 EXECUTION OF IIADDO AND LOGHE.
were tried at Edinburgh, found guilty of taking up
arms against the state, and beheaded. There is no
doubt something touching in the. fate of these men,
as there is in that of all political offenders who
thus suffer, especially if they be of high rant ;
and the cavalier writers hare made the most of
their case. They have been called the protomar-
tyrs of loyalty,* and the crimes of Haddo have
been glozed over by vague and specious epithets ;
but we cannot forget that his private and personal
deeds of violence were outrages on even the imper-
fect civilization of his age, and were such as no go-
vernment ought to have passed over. If his treat-
ment previous to trial was reprehensible, and
his verdict perhaps informal, his sentence was sub-
stantially just. The morbid sympathy for great
criminals, like a diseased humour, is apt to absorb
and pervert all the healthier feelings justice on
the one hand, and true pity on the other. The
known miseries which attend the career of such
* George, second son of Sir John Gordon, was restored to
the estates and honours of his family on the return of Charles II.
He was a great lawyer, and on account of his own talents and
the fate of his father, was raised successively to the Privy Coun-
cil ; to the bench, where he sat with the legal title of Lord
Harldo ; to the chancellorship of Scotland ; and, lastly, he was
created Earl of Aberdeen. On his elevation to the bench, a
writer of the times exclaims, with an undeniable perception of
the congruous, " What more suitable than that the son and heir of
of a royal martyr father should advance the son and heir of a
loyal martyr subject !" See Gordon's Gordons, II., 417.
ALEXANDER JAFFRAY. 251
men are overlooked ; and there are thousands un-
told, and known only to the sufferers. The wife
of Alexander Jaffray was ill when he was carried
off by Haddo and the Gordons, and, shocked by the
terrible calamity, died a few days after her hus-
band far away and a prisoner. Poor Jaffray: what
must haye been his feelings ! Beautiful, indeed,
they were toward the man who had done this deed,
and who had attempted his own life; and striking
is the contrast presented by the characters of the
humble yet noble burgher, and the cowardly though
scornful and high-bred ruffian who had so deeply
wronged him. It was after Jafiray's release, and
while Haddo was a prisoner in his own house, that,
says he, " I had leave to go in with an order to the
laird to render me some rights,* and my wife's
rings and chains, and some other silver work he
had taken from me at my seizure in Aberdeen ;
the most part of which, afterwards, I had back
from him. I spoke my mind to him there some-
way freely, exhorting him to repent for the wrong
done to me ; especially that great wrong above all
the rest, his fury and violence in taking me, by
which he had hastened the death of my dear wife,
who, within three or four days after my being ta-
ken, departed this life. I was married to her
twelve years," continues he, carried away by af-
fectionate remembrances, " during which time I had
* Deeds.
R2
252 CAVALIEK TURNED BANDIT.
very mucli contentment, she being a most kind and
loving wife as her life was blameless before the
world, so she was beginning to be a serions seeker
of God, and departed this life having given good
evidences of her hope of a better. I bless God at
every remembrance of her."*
Young Drum, his wife, and brother, were cap-
tured in Caithness and sent prisoners to Edinburgh.
Gordon of Gight, who was taken in his own house,
made his escape from Edinburgh castle. Nathaniel
Gordon, who, besides being at the plundering of
Montrose, had figured in most of the local raids of
the time, seeing the severity with which his friends
were treated, resolved to stand out. His method
of serving the royal cause smacked of the bandit.
Collecting a few of his faction, he lay in wait for
some Aberdeen and Dundee merchants attending
St. James' fair at Elgin, and plundered the peace-
able burghers of 14,000 merks. The Lord Gordon
was sent out to apprehend his loyal kinsman ; but,
as might have been anticipated, he " returned with-
out his prey."
Under the vigorous administration. of the com-
mittees at Aberdeen and Elgin, the country was
assuming a somewhat settled aspect. The fines
and bonds imposed on the parties who had been
active in the late revolt, produced deep and che-
rished indignation among the high cavaliers, and
* Diary, p. 23.
TEMPOEAKT ERANQUILLITY. 253
an occasional military execution on the lands of
a fugitive drew forth their execrations; but as
a party they were reduced, and their leader in
exile. Under favourable circumstances, the dis-
tracted elements of society might have ultimately
subsided into a state of quiet, to be broken only
by the gentle current of a progressing civilization.
But between our fathers of that age and such a bright
prospect, a fearful cloud was about to interpose.
Through that cloud they were soon to pass, and to
undergo a baptism of blood and fire almost un-
equalled in our annals.
CHAPTER X.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION OF MONTROSE
SUPERNATURAL APPEARANCES LANDING OF ALAS-
TER M'DONALD AND THE IRISH THE FIERY CROSS
BATTLE OF TIPPERMXTIR SACK OF ABERDEEN MON-
TROSE PURSUED BY ARGYLE SKIRMISH AT FYVIE
CASTLE BATTLE OF INVERLOCHY MONTROSE JOINED
BY LORD GORDON DEVASTATING MARCH FROM ELGIN
TO KINTORE DEATH OF DONALD FARQUHARSON
MARCH AND DEVASTATIONS CONTINUED TO DUNNOTTAR
AND FETTERESSO RETREAT FROM DUNDEE TO THE
GRAMPIANS.
THE cavaliers were quiet only because they "were
lielpless ; but their straining eyes were turned to
the south and west for that assistance, which, al-
though it had failed them in the day of need, they
still thought it possible some unforeseen turn of
affairs might bring them. The design of Montrose
to raise the royal standard in Scotland was well
known, for he had been defeated in an attempt to
cross the border with a small band; the nucleus
of his intended army. It was also known that this
defeat was partly owing to the non-arrival of some
SIGNS AND POKTENTS. - 255
Irisli auxiliaries, still expected ; and the idea that
such a leader and such a host, were hovering on
the verge of the kingdom, ready to seize an oppor-
tunity of invasion, hegan to inspire fearful appre-
hensions of the coming struggle. Both parties had
forebodings that the conflict would he a terrible
one ; and these forebodings shaped themselves out
to their excited imaginations in strange and awful
visions. It is remarkable that it is to the credulity
of cavalier writers principally, that we are indebted
for a record of those fearful signs which perplexed
the northern parts of the country. Those signs
were to the devout among them tokens of Grod's
wrath on a kingdom that had cast oif allegiance to
its " anointed prince." As a vivid delineation of
a feature of the national mind, at the middle of
the seventeenth century, we cannot resist trans-
cribing the following, from the picturesque pages
of Patrick Gordon, of Ruthven, a contemporary
royalist :
" His wrath being kindled like a consuming fire,
was foretold by divers prodigies: there was strange
motions seen in the air, as of armed men in battle
ranged to fight. Upon the hill of Manderly, four
miles from Banff, two armies were seen to approach,
the one against the other, then to join and fight ;
the thunderings of the shot and clashing of arms
made such a fearful noise as the people round about
heard ; and this vision made such a real show, as
those that dwelt in the towns nearest about the
256 SIGNS AND POETENTS.
hill carried away their stuff and "best things, to the
marshes and bogs, and there buried them under
hanks of earth.
" The sun in divers parts was seen to shine with
a faint he am, yielding a dim and shadowy light
even in a clear heaven, and sometime did show like
a deep and large pond or lake of blood. The beat-
ing of drums and sounding of trumpets, with salvos
of cannons and muskets, was ordinarily heard in
many places, as seeming to foretell the large loss
of blood that was shed soon after. There fol-
lowed soon this some signs, which the most curious
heads ascribed to the change of government either
of church or state."
At Ellon, in Buchan, as the author " was in-
formed," the minister having occasion to go out at
midnight, " did see the sun to shine as if it had
been at mid-day," and called up his beadle and a
number of his neighbours to witness so fearful a
prodigy. " Here," says the devout cavalier, " I
cannot forget one preacher who presumed to divine
this prodigious omen in this sort: 'As the sun,' said
he, ' was seen to shine when the night was at its
deepest and greatest height of darkness, so when
the obscurest and darkest plots of the Covenant
shall reach their zenith, or greatest height, God,
pitying our extreme affliction, shall raise to us the
true sun, or light of true religion.'
" At Rathen, in Buchan, there was, about the
time of morning prayer, for divers days together,
SIGHTS AND PORTENTS. 257
heard in the church a choir of music, both of voices,
organs, and other instruments, and with such a
ravishing sweetness, that they were transported
which, in numbers, resorted to hear it, with unspeak-
able and never-wearied delight. The preacher one
day being much taken with the harmony, went,
with divers of his parishioners, into the church, to
try if their eyes could bear witness to what their
ears had heard ; but they were no sooner entered
when, lo ! the music ceased with a long note, or
stroke of a viol de gambo; and the sound came
from an upper loft, where the people used to hear
service, but they could see nothing.
"And yet these, and many other mysterious
omens, seen in other parts of the kingdom, seem
but ordinary in comparison of the warning piece
that was shot from heaven, as the last and latest
signal that should be given us of our near approach-
ing punishment ; this, I am sure, the whole kingdom
can testify, since the report of that heaven-mounted
piece of ordnance did ring in the ears of every man,
woman, and child throughout the whole kingdom,
as if it had been levelled and shot at themselves,
as well in the houses as in the fields, and in all the
parts or corners of the kingdom, not only in one
day and one hour, but at one moment of time.
And it is remarkable," adds our author, " that in
this moment of time, when this warning piece was
heard from heaven in the ears of all the kingdom,
Alexander M'Donald landed in the west with his
258 LAKDI1TO OF ALASTER MCDONALD.
Irishes, who began that war that afterwards opened
all the reins of the kingdom."
This event was soon announced in a less equi-
vocal manner, by a messenger from M'Donald him-
self, bearing the fiery cross, arousing the country
to join the royal standard. The county committee
of Moray, to whom this charge was sent, forwarded
the terrible signal to the committee at Aberdeen,
and the alarm was passed to the government. The
counties benorth the Spey were ordered to muster
to prevent M'Donald from joining Huntly, who
was lying in Strathnaver ; and the other northern
shires, including the Mearns, commanded to ren-
dezvous at Aberdeen. Repelled in the north by
Seaforth and the laird of Grant, and with Argyle
hanging in his rear, the invading chief withdrew to
the central highlands, and was joined in Athole by
Montrose, who, now marquis and king's lieutenant,
had travelled in disguise from Carlisle. The Athole
men had turned out to oppose M'Donald, but no
sooner heard of the lieutenant's arrival than they
joined his standard. Thus was he at once put in
possession of an army numbering upwards of two
thousand men.
Twelve hundred of these were Irish an apella-
tive in connexion with arms at that time only
three years after the ever-memorable Irish massacre
capable of making the blood of a Presbyterian
curdle in his veins ; and M'Donald's Irish were
rendered, if possible, still more reckless by a series
BATTLE OF TIPPEUMITIE. 259
of desperate adventures since their landing on the
Scottish shores. Their leader, Major Alexander
M'Donald, commonly called Alaster M'Col, or
Colkitto, was a man of great personal courage,
grave, proud, and sullen, with deep and settled
passions, burning for revenge on Argyle, and all
who attached themselves to his party, he having
cause of private quarrel with that nobleman, en-
dowed with immense bodily strength, with which
he wielded a ponderous two-handed sword, that
never fell in vain. The rest of the army were
highlanders men whose peculiar military qualities,
Montrose in one brief and bloody campaign, was
destined to develop.
With this army, with whose savage valour the
raw levies of the lowland Covenanters were ill pre-
pared to cope, Montrose immediately descended on
the low country, his numbers increasing on his march
till they amounted to three thousand. The Cove-
nanting army amounting to six thousand foot, and
seven hundred horse, principally drawn from the
shires of Perth and Fife, awaited his approach on
Tippermuir, five miles west of Perth, on Sabbath the
1st of September, 1644. Their first movement was
ominous. An advanced party under Lord Drum-
mond, being ill-affected to the cause, treacherously
yielded on the first attack of a like detachment of
the royalists. The panic instantly became gene-
ral ; and scarcely had a blow been struck ere the
Covenanting army turned and fled. Not more than
260 MILITARY PREPARATIONS AT ABERDEEN".
a dozen fell on the field ; "but four hundred corpses
strewed the way to the town of Perth cut down
by the broadsword, or their brains dashed out by
the butt-end of the musket. Montrose lost not a
man. The whole baggage and arms of the Cove-
nanters fell into his hands. Perth surrendered;
and having remained there a few days, refreshing
his troops and enriching his exchequer, he fell
down on Dundee ; but that city refusing to receive
him, and Argyle being in pursuit, he turned his
steps northward to arouse to his standard the clans
Ogilvy and Gordon.
The preparations north of the Dee to receive the
royalist army were hollow and spiritless. On the
first alarm of the Irish, the Covenanting leaders
were impressed with the necessity of prompt and
energetic measures. Late in August, the Lord
Burleigh had addressed the magistrates and inhabi-
tants of Aberdeen, convened in the Grrayfriars
Kirk, calling upon them " to stand constantly to
the Covenant work of reformation, and to defend
their lives, wives, and children, and goods, against
the Irish rebels and vagabond people who were
come to destroy their country ;" and the taste of
Irish friendship, which the inhabitants had lately
experienced, enabled them to guess what might be
expected from their visit as professed enemies. But
many of the people were not hearty in the cause.
Lord Grordon, as lieutenant-general of the shires of
Aberdeen, Banff,, and part of Moray, kept rendez-
COVENANTING- FORCE THERE. 261
vous at Kildrummy "Witt three thousand men ; but
the Forbeses, Frasers, and Creightons of Fren-
draught the more legitimate leaders of the Cove-
nant refused to follow their ancient enemy and
pseudo-convert; and the Committee, anxious to con-
ciliate those parties, gave Lord Forbes an appoint-
ment offensive to the high spirit of the Gordon.
Many clansmen of the latter having no heart to the
cause, availing themselves of this insult to their
chief, dispersed ; and he himself, glad of the pre-
text, hung back from the scene of action, and dele-
gated the command of a small party to his brother,
Lord Lewis. That young nobleman he who had,
when a schoolboy, headed Donald Farquharson's
Highlanders at the raid of Durris had just returned
from his travels and military education; and he con-
sented to repress his loyalty for a season to harle-
quinade on the side of the Covenant till he could
with more safety and effect join the hereditary
standard of his house.
The whole force concentrated at Aberdeen under
Lord Burleigh consisted of about twenty-five hun-
dred foot and five hundred horse. Of these, fifteen
hundred foot and three hundred horse were drawn
from the shires of Aberdeen and Banff ; four hun-
dred belonged to a Fifeshire regiment; five hundred
were inhabitants of the town ; and the remainder
was miscellaneous partly fugitives from Tipper-
muir. The peculiar circumstances and sad fate of
so large a proportion of them, attach a melan-
262 GLOOMY FOREBODINGS.
choly interest to that part of the army composed of
the towns-people. "Who can estimate the depth or
amount of conflicting feelings that centered in and
clustered around each individual of those devoted
citizens ? Little, we fear, are such scenes thought
of by their descendants in these days of secure
quiet, purchased with the price of much blood.
Faintly can we estimate that feeling of dismay
which must have seized the heart of almost every
man, woman, and child, in the several congrega-
tions assembled in the churches of the Old and
New Towns, as they sat and listened while a pro-
clamation was read by the minister, enjoining every
fencible man to appear in arms next day, ready to
meet face to face and hand to hand that terrible
host who were now marching on the city triumphant
from the carnage of Tippermuir. Even to those
who had principle, and a trust in God, there was
something appalling in the approaching conflict.
But there were many who cared not for the cause,
who would have sacrificed all done all but die to
purchase peace. Others would rather have fought
on the other side. But all must muster under the
penalty of death, or take the risk of deserting by
guarded roads ; and the poor citizens, among whom
was many a timid, sickening heart, were arrayed
many of them to strew the highways with their
bodies ere the return of another sacred day.
Montrose marched onward, receiving some acces-
sions from the Ogilvies in Angus, and the adherence
ADVANCE 05" MONTROSE. 263
of several outstanding Gordons who advanced to
meet him. Notwithstanding, his numbers -were
greatly decreased by the absence of a great portion
of his highlanders, principally for the purpose of
depositing their spoil, according to their custom
after a victory in the lowlands. His army amounted
only to fifteen hundred foot and forty-four horse; but
it was composed of men who had nothing but their
bare lives to peril, and whose courage was that of
tigers which had tasted blood. Twice before had the
leader of that host entered Aberdeen. His banner
then displayed the motto, " For Religion, the Cove-
nant, and the Country," and men swore the Cove-
nant at the point of his sword. Now he appears
" For Grod and the King" and wo be to those who
swore that Covenant !
Montrose passed the Dee at the mills of Drum, on
Monday the llth September, and toot possession
of the house of Crathes. The same day Burleigh
marched the Covenanting army to the Twa-Mile
Cross, west of the town about two miles ; whence
he returned on the evening of the day following,
without having seen the enemy. But a short time
after Montrose encamped on the same place, and
next morning despatched a commissioner, attended
by a drummer, with a flag of truce, charging the
magistrates in the king's name to surrender, other-
wise " to remove aged men, women, and children,
out of the gate, and to stand to their peril." The
latter alternative was chosen. The army was
264 BATTLE AT THE JUSTICE MILLS :
drawn out ; and as the drummer, whom the magis-
trates had dismissed with a handsome present, was
passing the Fife regiment, he was whether by ac-
cident or design is not known unhappily killed.
The death of his drummer exasperated Mon-
trose, and he immediately put his troops in motion,
giving the word " no quarter." The armies met in
the vicinity of the town, between the Craibstane and
the Justice Mills, The Covenanters' cannon, being
advantageously posted, opened a telling fire on the
ranks of their invaders ; but their right wing, which
advanced under the conduct of Lord Lewis Gordon,
was out-manoauvred, and met by a heavy charge,
before which they wheeled and retreated leaving a
number dead and wounded. The charge of the
other wing was met in a similar manner by the
united wings of the enemy ; and in this repulse
also, a considerable number of Covenanters were
killed, and the lairds of Craigievar and Boyndlie
taken prisoners. The comprehension, decision, and
activity of Montrose, were more than sufficient to
out-general any ordinary opponent ; and the savage
valour and rapid action of his strange and irregular
followers, coupled with the terror of their name,
were too much for their unfleshed antagonists;
many of whom were there unwillingly, and most of
them full of distrust and dismay. Besides these
disadvantages a violent storm of wind and rain
commenced with the action, and, beating the whole
time in the faces of the Covenanters, much dis-
heartened and impeded them.
ROUT AND SLAUGHTER OF THE COVENANTERS. 265
Under circumstances so favourable, Montrose de-
cided on a general charge on the main body ; and,
riding up in front of his lines, called upon his men
to close with "the rebels" hand to hand. Animated
with ferocious enthusiasm, they advanced pell-mell.
The charge was decisive. At the flash of those
swords which had so lately drunk the blood of their
brethren, and the sight of those muskets, poised
club-wise, wherewith their brains had been scattered
on the highway, the Covenanters turned and fled
towards the city. During the battle, which had
lasted two hours (from eleven till one o'clock,) the
loss of life was comparatively trifling ; but the
flight was a bloody one. The fugitives were cut
down without mercy ; and the carnage did not stop
when the gates were passed. " Horrible was the
slaughter in the flight," says Spalding.* "The
lieutenant follows the chase into Aberdeen, his men
hewing and cutting all manner of men they could
overtake within the town, upon the streets, or in
their houses, or round about the town, as our men
were flying, with broad-swords, without mercy or
remead. Thir cruel Irishes, seeing a man well clad,
would just tirr [strip] him, to save his clothes un-
spoiled, syne kill the man. The plundering of our
town, houses, merchants' booths and all, was pitiful
to see. He [Montrose] had promised them the
plundering of the town for their good service, but
* Troubles, 447.
S
266 SACK OF ABERDEEN.
he stayed not, but returned back from Aberdeen to
tlie camp [outside the town] this samen Friday, at
night, leaving the Irishes killing, robbing, and
plundering of this town at their pleasure, and no-
thing was heard but pitiful howling, crying, and
weeping and mourning through all the streets !
The men they killed they would not suffer to be
buried, but tirred their clothes oif them, syne left
the naked bodies lying above the ground. The wife
durst not cry nor weep at her husband's slaughter
before her eyes, nor the daiighter for the father ;
which if they did, and were heard, then they were
presently slain also."
On the day following, Montrose sent his main
body on to Kintore, but remained at Aberdeen
himself, where he proclaimed his commission of lieu-
tenancy, commanding all men to take the oath of
allegiance and renounce the Covenant, under the
highest pains, and gracing his triumph by opening
the jail doors and setting all the prisoners at liberty.
To his Irish troops who remained with him, the
devoted town was entirely delivered up ; and during
their stay, it presented but one continued scene of
licentious and brutal outrage. One of these days
was Sabbath ; but the streets and the sanctuaries
were alike deserted, and no sounds arose from the
habitations of the wretched people, but the voice of
mourning, or the ferocious shouts of the soldiery.
On Monday, Montrcse called off his hell-hounds,
and ordered the wretched inhabitants to bury their
ADVANCE OF ARGYLE. 267
dead. But, as if maddened by blood and rapine,
many of those savages, disregarding the command
of their master, lingered about the town, and re-
newed their deeds of violence, thereby causing such
a terror that the corpses of many of the citizens lay
naked and blackening in the streets, or were carried
to their graves by their wives and daughters, " I
saw two corps," says Spalding, " carried to their
burial through the Oldtown, with women only, and
not a man amongst them."*
There fell of the towns-people, who formed but a
sixth part of the Covenanting force, about a hundred
and sixty; but the proportion of killed could not be
nearly so high in any of the other divisions. The
total loss is not known. The loss to Montrose was
trifling ; but he was disappointed in the immediate
object of his expedition the accession of the Gror-
dons. Retaining a grudge on account of his ab-
duction in 1639, and jealous of his own honour as
lieutenant of the north, Huntly had laid injunctions
on his clan not to join the royal standard under
his rival.
Argyle, following in slow pursuit of the Royalist
general, arrived at Aberdeen on the 19th Septem-
ber, and Montrose immediately struck his camp at
Inverury and marched northward. But such was
his fear of the terrible fugitive, that, although
possessing three times his force, Argyle lingered
several days at Aberdeen. It was thus that the
* Troubles, 449.
S2.
268 .SKIEMISH AT FYVIE.
pursued and pursuing armies the latter always at
a safe distance in the rear of the former made a
circuit by Strathbogie, onwards to Spey, and by
Speyside to Badenoch, thence to Athole, down on
Angus, and onwards to Strathbogie again, each
dealing ruin around it on the lands of such as were
disaffected to its cause. The Gordons still re-
fusing to rise, Montrose fell down on Fyvie castle,
which he took and garrisoned. Here Argyle at
last came up Avith him, and the Royalist general
was brought to bay on a wooded eminence at the
back of the castle ; but such was the consummate
skill of this extraordinary man, that, almost desti-
tute of ammunition, and with only fifteen hundred
foot, and fifty horse, he baffled all attempts of his
adversary with twenty-five hundred foot and twelve
hundred horse, to dislodge him. The Covenanting
army retired across the Ythan, and Montrose seized
the opportunity of escaping to Strathbogie, and
thence by Strathspey and Badenoch to the fastnesses
of Athole.
The leading events in the campaign of this
leader, who, unquestionably, possessed military
genius of a high order, belong more to national,
than to local history. Tet, as the theatre of most
of his terrible victories and as terrible local chas-
tisements, the north has a double and special in-
terest in his career. It is guided by this relation
that we are to attend the remainder of his course ;
indicating by the slightest intelligible outline
BATTLE OF INVERLOCHY. 269
*
what is general, and dwelling with more detail
on those transactions which specially concern our
district which, in one short year, he swept and
re-swept with the "besom of desolation.
From Athole, Montrose proceeded into Argyle's
own country left unprotected, because it was sup-
posed the passes were unknown and there he
spent six weeks of unsparing military chastisement,
leaving nothing undestroyed that would break or
burn, and no four-footed beast alive. A plan was
concerted to bring him up between two armies;
one led by Argyle in his rear, and the other in his
front. At the end of January, as the Royalist ge-
neral was marching to Inverness to attack a force
that was there mustering against him, his progress
was arrested by a messenger with the intelligence
that Argyle was behind him. Undismayed, he im-
mediately conceived the bold design of turning
upon his pursuer, and cutting him oif by a surprise.
For this purpose, instead of retracing his steps, he
turned aside, and, by an almost unexampled march
through tremendous mountain solitudes covered
with snow, and under cover of the second night,
arrived, unsuspected, at his enemy's leaguer at
Inverlochy.
As the sun arose, a flourish of trumpets an-
nounced to the Covenanters the presence of their
terrible foe. It was Sabbath morning, old Can-
dlemas day, 1645 ; Argyle, having a disabled arm,
retired to a yacht on the loch, and his devoted
270 MONTROSE DESCENDS ON MOHAT '.
clansmen arrayed themselves under his cousin, the
Laird of Auchinlech, to receive the charge of Mon-
trose. That charge was decisive. The Campbells
instantly gave way, and in a few minutes were ac-
cumulated in despairing crowds on the brink of the
loch, or flying in dismay along its shores. Fifteen
hundred a full half of the Covenanting army
were cut down by the claymore, or were driven
into the water, where they perished. The carnage,
as in all Montrose's victories, was almost entirely
in the flight ; and the deeds of butchery performed
by some of his ferocious followers are astonishing.
Three individuals of his soldiers slew sixty men
with their own hands.*
Montrose renewed his march in a north-easterly
direction, and, falling down the course of the Spey,
descended on Moray. Before he reached Elgin,
the Covenanting Committee had dispersed, and the
town was desolate ; the people, remembering the
sack of Aberdeen, having fled with their families and
best goods to places of shelter chiefly to Spynie,
a want of confidence which the high-minded
troops of Montrose resented so highly, that, says a
modern Jacobite writer, " they could not be re-
strainedfrom plunder !"f Several of the Committee,
chiefly through fear of military execution on their
houses and estates, joined his standard. Among
* Chambers' History of the Rebellions in Scotland, 1638-60,
II., 21. f Ib; H-> 30.
IS JOINED BY LORD GORDON". 271
these were the Earl of Seaforth (long, however, an
intriguer) ; Sir Robert Gordon; the lairds of Plus-
cardine, Loslyne, and Grant the last with a fol-
lowing of three hundred men. Montrose's threats
were never vain ones ; yet the greater number of
the gentry stood out. " The laird of Ballandal-
lach's three houses Pithash, Foyness, and Ballan-
dallach houses and biggin, and corn-yards of his
haill grounds, and his haill lands were plundered
of horse, nolt, sheep, and other goods." The man-
sions of Grangehill, Brodie, Gowbin, Innes, and
Redhall, were plundered and burnt; the lands of
Burgie, Lethen, and Duffus, plundered ; Garmouth
plundered; and the salmon cobles and nets on the
Spey destroyed.*
Now, also, the time had come for Lord Gordon
to throw off the mask ; who joined Montrose, and
was soon followed by Lord Lewis. The arrange-
ments for this transfer of allegiance had been made
previously by Sir Nathaniel Gordon ; that mirror
of true knighthood having himself, for this purpose,
figured, for the second time, in the ranks of the
Covenant, and now joined the Royalists for the
third and last time. Montrose moved on toward
the country of the Gordons, to receive those ac-
cessions which he had so long desired ; calling on
the inhabitants of those districts adjacent to his
route, to join his standard, under pain of military
* Spalding, 473.
272 CULLEN AND THE BOYNE I/AID "WASTE.
execution on the goods and estates of all recusants
a threat that was invariably implemented. Be-
hind him, reprisals were made on the apostate
gentry of Morayshire, by the Covenanting garrison
of Inverness ; and these, for that reason, were al-
lowed to return and defend their houses, on pa/role.
But no sooner had Seaforth got clear of the camp,
than he returned to the Covenant.
At the Bog,* Lord Gordon mustered five hun-
dred foot, and one hundred and sixty horse ; and
with these accessions, Montrose again moved on-
ward, tracing his march in fire and desolation.
The village of Cullen was plundered. The stately
house of Cullen, inhabited by Lady Findlater her
lord having fled "was pitifully plundered, and
nothing trussable left ;" the flaming brands of the
soldiery were about to be applied to reduce it to
ashes, when, at the entreaty of the lady, a respite
of fifteen days was granted, for the ransom of
twenty thousand merks. The country of the Boyne
was unsparingly plundered, and wasted with fire ;
not excepting " the goods, gear, and books of the
minister." The houses of ministers had, heretofore,
been spared by both parties in the great contest.
But, as a modern writer remarks, by way of ex-
tenuation of another such proceeding on the part
of the " great marquis," Montrose considered that
* Here, Lord Graham, eldest son of Montrose, sickened and
died. He was buried in the kirk of Bellie.
DEPUTATION" FROM ABERDEEN. 273
the ministers were the main authors of the revolt
from the authority of Charles, and, therefore, de-
served to share, at least, the punishment common
to rehels !* In Banff, the amount of sheer destruc-
tion was a " few worthless houses" burnt; but "no
merchant's goods or gear was left, and no man
was seen on the street but was stript to the skin !"
At Turriff, the general was met by a deputation
from the magistrates of Aberdeen, setting forth the
" manifold miseries" of the city, imploring him not
to bring his " Irishes" among them, and declaring
that the whole people of the town, man, woman,
and child, were preparing to flee if they did not
receive his assurance of safety and protection.
This assurance they received ; and the marquis
contented himself with sending Nathaniel Grordon
forward to the town, with a hundred Irish dragoons,
to raise supplies of arms and clothing. He was
successful in capturing eighteen hundred muskets,
pikes, and other arms, under charge of a Cove-
nanting troop at Torry.
Passing from Turriff to Frendraught, the house
of which was kept by the young viscount, Montrose
took ample vengeance on the lands of that leader
of the Covenant, by " plundering threescore ploughs
of land lying within Forgue, Drumblate, and Inver-
keithny, and the minister's house of Forgue, whilk,
with the rest of the haill houses, biggings, barns,
* Chambers' Rebellions, 1638-60, II., 35.
274 A SURPRISE. DEATH OF DOKALD
byres, corn-yards, and plenishing, was burnt up,
and the haill oxen, horse, nolt, sheep, and ky, piti-
fully plundered and carried away, leaving this
ground desolate." His next stage was Kintore,
where he quartered on the minister, and issued his
proclamation for the pecuniary and military service
of the surrounding country, enforced by the unfail-
ing penalty of fire and pillage. While he lay at
this ancient little burgh, Aberdeen was possessed
by Donald Farquharson, Nathaniel Gordon, and
about eighty "well-horsed, brave gentlemen." Like
" gallant cavaliers" fearless and careless of the
enemy these troopers had one evening gone "to
their merriment" with open ports and no sentries,
when they were surprised by the clattering hoofs
of a troop of horse under Sir John Hurry, who, ap-
prised of the Royalist habits, came careering upon
the town from his leaguer at the North Esk, seized
the ports, and fell upon the enemy. Several were
killed, and others taken prisoners ; and the whole
horses of the cavaliers were led off to the camp of
the Covenanters. " The gentlemen," says Spalding,
" were sorry, but could not mend it. They returned
back to Montrose, some on horse and some on foot,
ashamed of this accident." Among the slain was
Donald Farquharson, who was buried with great
pomp in Drum's Aisle " with many woe hearts and
dolefu shots." Doubtless the " woe hearts," as well
as the " dolefu shots," were confined to the rude
soldiery of Montrose, with whom he was a very
SAVAGES AT FUTIIKAY - DUKEIS. 275
likeable man. For the rest Donald with his high-
landmen had long
" Kept the country side in fear."
The town was mulct in the sum of ten thousand
pounds' worth of clothing for the army. Some plun-
dering followed the funeral, and the merchants, in
terror, kept their booths shut.*
The sacred day of rest and peace brought no truce
to the miserable country. On Sabbath, the 17th
March, Craigievar's lands of Fintray including
the manse and minister's steading were wasted
with fire. On the same day the main body of the
Royalist army, advancing southward, burnt the house
of Durris, with all the steadings and corn-yards on
the estate, and pillaged the cattle. On Monday the
marquis encamped at Stonehaven. Marischal lay at
* This affair is solemnly and indignantly related by Patrick
Gordon of Ruthven, as the execution of a "horrid plot, having
merely for its object the murder of Donald Farquharson; whom
that writer extols as a hero possessed of all noble and gentle
qualities caressed by the king, (which is not unlikely,) and
beloved by the people, that is, the Gordons. But, by the account
of Spalding, who lived on the spot, and who was no friend of the
Coven^ters, the matter appears simply as the surprisal, at their
carousals, of a confident and careless party, by a vigilant and
active enemy. (See Srilane's Distemper, 110 112: Spalding,
479.) Farquharson was Huntly's " baillie" in Strathaven, and
always kept a standing regiment ; a fact that, taken in connexion,
with the character of his followers, (see 133, 140, 1-11,) gives a
frightful idea of the times, as it strikingly illustrates the great
power of the Huntly family.
276 STONEHAVEN", DUNNOTTAK, FETTERESSO,
Dunnottar, -with many leading Covenanters, among
whom were sixteen ministers, including Cant and
Row from Aberdeen. The earl himself was irreso-
lute, "but, prompted by his lady, seconded by Andrew
Cant, he refused to surrender at the summons of
Montrose. Forthwith, the farm-steading and corn-
yard of Dunnottar, the town of Stonehayen, with its
tolbooth filled with stores of grain, the fishing-boats,
with a vessel in the harbour, the town of Cowie,
and the manse of Dunnottar all were in flames.
The wretched inhabitants fled before the devouring
element ; the soldiers drove off the cattle ; so that
there was left neither house nor hold, man nor
beast. One solitary building that in which Mon-
trose lodged was left standing alone, as if to make
desolation more desolate. As Marischal and his
company beheld the scene from the walls of Dun-
nottar, it is said that the earl expressed regret that
his conduct should have been the cause of such a
catastrophe ; to which Andrew Cant, encouraging
him, replied, that " the smoke which he saw ascend-
ing from his worthless worldly goods would be a
sweet-smelling incense in the nostrils of the Lord ;"
a saying which a popular modern writer seems to
consider simply as matter for a quiet sneer.*
The mansion of Fetteresso was also partly de-
stroyed by fire, and the " haill corn-yards and laigh
bigging utterly destroyed and burnt up." " They
fired the pleasant park of Fetteresso," says Spaldingf
* See Chambers Rebellions, 1638-60, ii., 35. f Troubles, 483.
AND DEUMLITHIE. 277
- "the hart, the hind, the deer, and the roe skirled
at the sight of the fire, but they were all tane and
slain. The horse, mares, oxen, and ky were all
likewise killed, and the haill baronies of Dunnot-
tar and Fetteresso utterly spoilzied, and undone.
After this he [Montrose] marches to Drmnlithie,
and to Urie, pertaining to John Forbes of Leslie,
a great Covenanter ; he fires the place, burns all
to the vaults, and haill laigh bigging, corns and
barn-yards, and plunders the haill ground. He
sends to his own good-brother, the Yiscount of
Arbuthnot, but, as is said, there was, by his order,
burnt and plundered to him twenty-four ploughs
of land." Such was the progress of Montrose from
Elgin to Angus. His wide path was to be traced by
smoking ruins ; farms depopulated of their cattle ;
and men, women, and children, naked and shel-
terless, bewailing their misery. This fiery career
was checked at the sack of Dundee, and the royalist
army made what has been considered a masterly
retreat, to the Grrampians, before Baillie and the
Covenanting forces.
CHAPTER XL
BATTLE OF AULDEARN BUTCHERY OF FUGITIVES ELGIN
PARTLY BURNT GARMOUTH AND CULLEN BURNT
BATTLE OF ALFORD DEATH OF LORD GORDON RA-
VAGES OF THE ROYALISTS PREPARATORY TO MARCHING
SOUTHWARD BATTLES OF E.ILSYTH AND PHILIPHATTGH
ABORTIVE ATTEMPT TO RAISE THE NORTHERN CLANS
EXECUTION OF SIR NATHANIEL GORDON OPERA-
TIONS OF THE ROYALISTS AND COVENANTERS IN THE
NORTHERN COUNTIES STORMING OF ABERDEEN BY THE
ANTI-COVENANTERS DISBANDING OF MONTROSE AND
HUNTLY.
IN his retreat among the hills, Montrose was
joined by Yiscount Aboyne, who, with a small
band of cavaliers had broken through a besieging
army at Carlisle. Hearing that the northern Co-
venanters were drawing to a head, and that some
of them were beginning to refund their losses from
the lands of his adherents, he sent Lord Gordon
forward to protect his vassals. But Sir John Hurry
had also gone north on behalf of the Covenant, and
was soon to be followed by General Baillie, who
OF AULDEAKN. 279
was then in pursuit of M'Donald that roving sa-
vage having executed a piece of barbarous " ser-
vice" on some lands in Angus, in which the minister
of Cupar was slain. In order, therefore, to crush
the Covenanting forces in the north before Baillie
could join them, Montrose struck his camp, marched
through the highlands, and suddenly appeared in
Aberdeenshire. Hurry, who was inferior in num-
bers, retired to Inverness, and being there rein-
forced by the northern clans under Seaforth and
Sutherland, wheeled round, and at the head of four
thousand foot and five hundred horse, confronted
his terrible pursuer at Auldearn. The Royalist
army has been variously estimated. It is likely
it numbered about three thousand, of which one
thousand foot and two hundred horse were Gfor-
dons. But by many or by few, Grod had still a
lesson for Scotland, and that lesson was, in the
language of a great modern historian, that " the
strength of Christianity is neither in force of arms,
flames, scaffold, party policy, or man's power, but
in a simple, unanimous, and courageous confession
of the great truths which must one day prevail
over the world."*
Montrose had the choice of his position, and in
that choice his genius was conspicuous. The ground
to the south and west of the village of Auldearn
was the scene of conflict. " The Royalists," says
* D'Auligne, III., p. 338.
280 BATTLE OP AULDEA.KKT.
one acquainted with the locality, " seem to have
occupied very nearly the line of the present road
between Newmill and Auldearn ; their right wing
"being posted on the site of the modern village, and
their left resting on the Bog of Newmill." The
village itself intervened between the armies, and
was possessed by a small party of Montrose's in-
fantry, who practised a very common mse in dis-
playing a great number of banners. The attack
was commenced by the Covenanters on the right
wing of the enemy, by which the royal banner was
displayed, and the Royalists began to give way under
the steady charge. But Montrose, perceiving the
danger, advanced to their support with his left, com-
prehending the Irish, and the Grordons with other
Mghlanders. The battle was fierce, but received a
turn fatal to the Covenanters, by a movement of
part of their own horse under Major Drummond.
That officer, being commanded to support the in-
fantry when pressed by Montrose and Lord Grordon,
either by mistake or through treachery, wheeled
about in such a manner as to throw into confusion
those whom it was the object of his movement to
support ; and thus four regiments of the Cove-
nanting foot, " all expert and singular well trained
soldiers were for the most part cut off, fighting
valiantly to the death."* The flight took the direc-
tion of Inverness ; and the ruthless cry of "No
* Spalding's Troubles,
" NO QUARTER." 281
quarter," pursued the flying Covenanters, followed
by the stroke of the broadsword. The loss to the
Covenanting army is variously stated. Spalding
gives it as upwards of two thousand, which is a
medium estimate. The loss to Montrose is gene-
rally reported at so trifling an amount that it is
incredible twenty-four gentlemen and a few Irish.*
There is no doubt that the Royalist general knew
the value of such returns. For the carnage in the
flight several ingenious apologies have been con-
structed proving, alas ! not that Montrose con-
ducted his savage campaign according to the exist-
ing usages of warfare, but that party feeling, in our
own age, neutralizes the finer and more humane
elements of our nature. The great plea is " parti-
cular circumstances." Particular circumstances in-
deed ! There must have been particular circum-
stances in every victory of this inhuman leader,
for every victory was followed by the cry of " No
quarter." One modern apologist, with a naivete
impervious to all sense of the ridiculous, pleads
particular circumstances in the case of Auldearu,
for what he himself calls " the usual advantage"
taken by Montrose's men in "killing everybody
whom they could overtake, and yielding quarter to
none."f
* Gilbert Gordon gives the loss of Hurry as above one thou-
sand, and that of Montrose at about two hundred. Gen. Earls
of Sutherland, 525.
f Chambers' Rebellions, II., 58.
T
282 COVENANTING LEADERS KILLED.
There is a tradition, that the life of Alaster
M'Donald, who headed a desperate charge in the
fight, -was saved by a stroke of cunning that eicites
compassionate interest on behalf of its victim.
M'Donald "was engaged hand to hand with Hay of
Kinnudie, a tall and powerful man; and perceiving
himself about to be overpowered, called out to Hay,
' I'll not deceive you, my men are coining behind you.'
Having by this means induced Hay to turn round,
he saved his own life by stabbing his adversary."*
Besides Hay, the Covenanters left on the field Sir
John Murray, Sir Gideon Murray, Campbell of
Lawers, and thirteen other officers. In a field to
the south-west of the village, is a small enclosure,
planted with trees, beneath whose waving branches
rest the remains of many who fell under the ban-
ner of the Covenant on that bloody day. Some of
the northern clans suffered severely. A more
touching item in the statistics of war could not be
given than that supplied by an old family chronicle
of the clan Fraser : " Besides what fell unmarried,
there were eighty-seven widows in the Lordship of
Lo.vat."f Major Drummond was tried at Inver-
ness, and, having confessed that he had spoken to
the enemy after the sign of battle was given, was
executed. .
Having wasted the lands of Campbell of Calder,
and other Covenanters, Montrose advanced to Elgin.
* New Statistical Account : Nairnshire, 10.
f Chambers' Rebellions, II., 59.
JAMES GORDON" : VENGEANCE. 283
On the retreat of Hurry to Inverness, James
Gordon, younger, of Rhynie,' had been wounded in
a skirmish with his rear-guard. He was carried
to a house near Forres, called the Struthers, and
there lay under cure ; when a party from the garri-
son of Spynie, among whom were several persons
from Elgin, coming in search of straggling Irish,
found the youth, and put him to death.* This in-
human deed, unauthorized by, and unknown to, the
Covenanting leaders, is quoted by the apologists of
Montrose as one reason for the butchery at Aul-
dearn. That they called public vengeance. The
act of private vengeance, which, indeed, had a show
of exaggerated justice, was still to follow. The
general selected the houses of those of the Elgin
people concerned in the death of Rhynie, and those
not compounded for were devoted to the flames
which spread beyond the property of the guilty
parties. He plundered the friary of Elgin, but
did not burn it, because it was church property !
and reduced the village of Garmouth to ashes, be-
cause the landlord of the miserable tenants was
the Laird of Innes. Pausing with his plunder at
Birkenbog, the seat of a staunch Covenanter, he
dispersed parties in all directions to execute ven-
geance on the houses and lands of those attached
to the Covenant ; and there he sat for some days,
contemplating his spoils, surrounded by flaming vil-
* Gen. Earls of Sutherland, 524.
i 2
284 BAILLIE IN" PURSUIT OF MONTKOSE.
lages and farm-steadings. Among the rest, some
lands belonging to Frendraught, that had formerly
escaped, were plundered and burnt. Tombeg suf-
fered the. same fate, and Cullen was reduced to
ashes.
Baillie had passed the Gairn-a-mont, and was in
Cromar, when he heard of Hurry's defeat. He
pressed on to Cocklarachie, in Strathbogie, ex-
pecting to engage Montrose, and was there joined
by Hurry, who had advanced, undiscovered, through
the Royalist lines. But, next morning, Montrose
was in full retreat up Strathspey. He got safe to
Badenoch ; and the Covenanting general returned
from a vain pursuit to Inverness, thence to Aber^
deenshire. After various movements, in the course
of which he had gone as far south as Angus, Mon-
trose came up with his antagonist, as he was about
proceeding to reduce the stronghold at Bog of Gight,
and challenged him to leave his position on a
hill near the kirk of Keith, and fight a battle on
equal ground. The Covenanting general replied,
that it did not suit him "to receive his fighting orders
from the enemy." "With this answer, Montrose
retired across the Don, and perceiving that Baillie
followed him, took up a strong position on a rising
ground behind the village of Alford. Baillie fol-
lowed with a heavy heart, for he was only fifteen
hundred strong, while Montrose numbered three
thousand. Yet, being pressed by the Estates to
seek out and fight their great enemy, he crossed
BATTLE OF ALFORD. 285
the Don about three miles above the village of
Alford, (June 2, 1645,) and at his appearance
Montrose formed for action. His right was com-
manded by Lord Gordon, and tinder him his kins-
man, Sir Nathaniel; his left by Aboyne, supported
by Sir W. Rollock. In the centre, were Glengarry
and Drummond of Balloch. Behind the rising
ground on which the army was embattled, lay a
reserve, under the Master of Napier.
The Covenanters commenced the attack with a
party of cavalry, under Lord Balcarras, who made
a premature charge on the enemy's horse, which
were led by Lord Gordon, mingled with musketeers,
after the common tactics of Montrose. The spirited
conflict extended to the main bodies of both armies ;
and the Covenanting foot, led by Baillie himself,
maintained an unequal contest three men deep, to
six of the enemy. A reserved party of horse was
ordered to support Balcarras, who also fought
against great odds ; but the fresh troops, instead
of falling on the flank of the enemy, fell into the rear
of their comrades ; while Nathaniel Gordon's mus-
keteers, insinuating themselves among the horses,
hamstrung the animals, or plunged their swords
into their bellies. Thus was that whole division
broken and routed. The victorious Gordons then
attacked the rear of the Covenanting foot Lord
Gordon vaunting that he would seize their general
alive ; and it is said that he had actually laid his
hand on Baillie's shoulder-belt, when a musket
286 BOUT AND SLAUGHTER OF THE COVENANTEKS.
ball laid tlie boaster among his horse's feet. Seeing
their leader fall, the Gordons fought with re-
doubled fury, and their frenzied efforts were se-
conded by the advance of their reserve. The
Covenanters gave way. Some fled, and were pur-
sued by the Royalist cavalry, who returned not
from the chase while they could see a fugitive to
cut down ; others, in detached parties, on or near
the field of battle, maintained their last conflict
amidst the narrowing circles of their foes, till the
last man was reaped down. Of the Covenanting
foot, scarce a remnant was left, and a great por-
tion of the horse also fell.
The body of Lord Gordon was carried to Aber-
deen and interred with great pomp in the cathedral.
At the date of the first Statistical Account of the
parish of Alford, a stone still stood marking the
spot where he fell ; but the traveller looks in vain
for any indication of the resting place of those who
yielded up their lives that day under the banner of
the Covenant.* Such was the last of Montrose's
* Some fields in the parish of Tough, called The bloody faulds,
are supposed to be the scene of the last stand of parties of the
fugitive Covenanters New Statistical Account : Tough, Aber-
deenshire, 613. Speaking of the sixteen hundred Covenanters
whom he reports as having fallen in this bloody and disastrous
conflict, Patrick Gordon exclaims, " But, alas, what ware all
those in comparisone of that noble and magnanimous youth,
that heauine dasleing sparke of treue nobilitie, that miracle of
men, the matchlesse Lord Gordoune ! he who layed downe his
MONTROSE MOVES SOUTHWARD. 287
northern victories ; but Ms sword had still to drink,
and that more deeply, of the blood of his country.
Having ravaged Buchan of horses, and raised a
very few men in that Covenanting district, the
Marquis was joined by M'Donald at Fordun, in the
Mearns, with an immense accession of highland
strength, each clan driving before them the spoils
of the Covenanters' lands through which they had
passed. It was his intention^ after recruiting his
cavalry in Aberdeen and Angus shires, to invest
Perth, and seize the members of the Scottish Estates
sitting in that city because of the plague then
raging in Edinburgh and Stirling. The first act
of government was to issue orders for a new army,
sufficiently strong, as was supposed, to crush their
lyfe in his prince's service, and of whom it may be trewlie said,
that he fighteing died, and dicing, overcame nature herselfe !
In him there was nothing wrong, nothing wanting." Britanes
Distemper, 131, 132. Few things are calculated to give a better
idea, than this solemn and picturesque author's two quarto pages
of panegyric, of those deep and impassioned feelings of admiring
devotion towards his chief, cherished by a clansman of the feudal
ages ; or to impress more strikingly on the reader the character
of indefiniteness inhering in that high sense of honour which was,
and is, supposed to exist by nature in the bosoms of the chival-
rous and high-born, 'when we remember that this same "miracle
of men, in whom was nothing wrong, nothing wanting," by the
testimony of his panegyrist, with no change of sentiment swore
the Covenant, and placed his sword at the disposal of its leaders,
to save the family estates.
288 BATTLES OP KILSTTH
powerful enemy ; and Baillie, with ten thousand
men, came up with him at Kilsyth outnumbering
the Royalists "by four thousand, hut wanting their
discipline, and quailing under their invincible name.
"With inexpressible joy, Montrose observed the
ill-advised movement of the Covenanters to attack
his position, and, in the height of his grim delight,
pulled off his coat and waistcoat, and tucked up his
shirt sleeves, shouting to his soldiery to follow his ex-
ample. In a moment, that strange and terrible host
stood, stripped and panting for the onset, a frightful
incarnation of ferocity. Ere the several regiments
of the Covenanting army, breathless with an uphill
march, could assume their respective positions, the
contest had begun ; and the whole force of the
enemy advancing with hideous shouts and yells, in
one universal and overwhelming charge, turned the
battle into a rout. The pursuit was kept up
for fourteen miles, and six thousand Covenanters
perished. Scotland lay prostrate at the feet of the
victor ; and the cheeks of the patriotic reader are
suffused with blushes as his eye hurriedly runs over
some transactions at this crisis in her annals.
The king heaped honours on his successful gene-
ral. He was made lieutenant-governor of Scotland,
and invested with all the prerogatives of royalty.
But his power a most imperfect specimen of power
the least substantial; that, namely, of the bare
sword was to be of short duration. " He had
over-run the country, in the course of a bar-
AND PHIMPHAU&H. 289
barons and desultory war, undertaken in the most
desperate circumstances; waged by banditti, and
supported by depredations ; but had acquired no
fortified place or pass, nor established any durable
foundation in Scotland, and his authority never
extended beyond his detachments, or the precincts
of his camp. The excesses of his soldiers had ren-
dered his cause universally odious. * * * *
The Gordons retired to the north in disgust ; the
M'Donalds returned to secrete their plunder in the
hills, or to execute some new scheme of revenge on
the district of Argyle. Presuming on the uniform
success of his arms, he advanced with a diminished
force to the borders ; expecting a reinforcement of
cavalry from England. But the national fortresses
remained with the Covenant, and there was reason
to apprehend, that the kingdom which had been
lost by one battle, might be gained by another."*
The day of that battle was at hand. David Les-
lie, a celebrated Covenanting leader, crossed the
border with six thousand cavalry, and caught Mon-
trose, with a small party, posted in profound
security, at Philiphaugh, on the north bank of the
Ettrick. Out-numbered and out-generalled, the
royal lieutenant maintained a short, fierce, but in-
effectual conflict, and, attended by a few followers,
sought personal safety in flight. In the hour of
triumph over their hitherto invincible foes, and re-
membering their many butcheries of their country-
* Laing, I. 300-1.
290 TRIALS OP ROYALIST LEADERS.
men, the victors dealt out unsparing vengeance,
and imitated too nearly some of the revolting
deeds of the fallen enemy.*
Retiring into Athole, thence into Aberdeenshire,
Montrose attempted once more to rouse the Royal-
ists. But the magic of his name had departed.
The highlanders of the western and central districts
refused to rise. Even M'Donald and his clan, whose
ferocious bravery had contributed so much to his
former success, heeded not his call : the vanity of
Montrose had wounded the chief, and his refusal,
from politic motives, in the hour of his triumph to
sack Glasgow, had disgusted the clansmen. As for
Huntly , who had returned from his hiding in Strath-
naver, he aspired to be himself the restorer of
royalty; and Aboyne, after joining Montrose at
Kintore with eighteen hundred men, in a few days
fell off again. It was the design of the defeated
general to march to Glasgow, and disperse or over-
awe the Committee of Estates, who sat there in
judgment on his captured friends. He effected
his march, but was unequal to frightening the Com-
mittee ; and having ravaged the lands of the Cove-
nanters in the neighbourhood of that city, he retired
again to the north.
The trials of the Royalists proceeded. About
thirty of the most active in the late campaign had
* The defeat of Montrose, involving the utter discomfiture of
the royal cause, occured on the 13th September, 1645, the first
anniversary of the sack of Aberdeen.
ATTEMPTS TO SUBDUE THE NORTH. 291
been seized mostly by the country people a cir-
cumstance which shows the unpopularity of their
cause. Six or eight were executed; among whom
was Sir Nathaniel Grordon, celebrated in chivalric
song as
" Nathaniel Gordon, stout and bold,
Who for King Charles wore the blue ;"
from the circumstance, no doubt, that he had twice
worn the badge of the Covenant, and drawn his
sword in its ranks, when he judged that the cause
of its enemies demanded such an expedient. He
was executed at St. Andrews, January, 1646.
" The four northern counties of Murray, Ross,
Sutherland, and Caithness," says the biographer of
Huntly,* " being all, or the greatest part of them,
Covenanted, and infected with this puritan spirit,
it was thought expedient by the two marquises that
they should be brought back to their former obedi-
ence." But as to the mode of effecting this wished-
for result, they differed. Huntly crossed the Spey,
seized on the castles of Burgie, Moyness, and Ro-
thes, and spent three months in reducing the strong
house of Lethen, into which the Laird of Brodie
had retired. Montrose assisted by Seaforth, who
now acted openly against the Covenant laid siege
to Inverness.
Meantime the district between the Dee and the
* Sritane's Distemper, 173.
292 ABERDEEN : LAST 00?
Spey was suffering more severely the last throes
of the civil war. Aberdeen was held for the Cove-
nant, and frequent skirmishes took place between the
garrison and the neighbouring cavaliers. Banff was
taken and retaken. The town of Fraserburgh was
burnt, (November, 1645.) The garrison of Fyvie
castle, held by the Gordons, killed thirty-six of the
Aberdeen garrison, at Esslemont; but that strength,
and the castle of Tilwhilly, which was held by Drum,
was yielded to General Middleton, in the spring of
1646.* Marching north with a body of cavalry,
that officer next raised the siege of Inverness ; and
Montrose, having spent four months before that
town, retired to Ross, thence, by a circuit, to Spey-
side.
"While his rival was thus driven out of the field,
Huntly gathered himself up in all his strength,
resolved to strike a bold stroke for the royal cause.
In the absence of Middleton, Aberdeen was com-
mitted to Colonel Hew Montgomery, with seven
hundred foot, and two hundred and forty horse. The
Marquis, determined to capture the town, mustered
at Kintore on f he 13th May, (1646,) an army of
two thousand men, of which five hundred was ca-
valry. That night, a party of the city garrison,
making an infall on the Gordons, were defeated, and
some of them slain. On the day following, Huntly
drew up his army on a heath by the loch, on the
north-west side of the town. On the refusal of the
* Genealogy of the Earls of Sutherland, 531-2.
ITS MANY FIGHTS. 293
garrison to surrender, " he sends two strong par-
ties of highlanders," says Patrick Gordon, " one to
the Justice Port, towards the east; ane other to the
Grein, towards the wast, to fyr the towne ; and
the third pairtie he setts to the Gallowgett port."
This last being won, Aboyne charged the garrison,
sword in hand, the whole length of the long and
narrow street. At the Broadgate, they were rallied
by Colonel ~W. Forbes, at the head of his troop,
who, encountering Lord Lewis Gordon, possessed
that young gallant with such an admiration of his
noble and courageous bearing, that he offered him
quarter; but the offer was refused with scorn, and
they parted not till Forbes lay dead on the cause-
way.
Twice were the Gordons repulsed : at last, the
town, having been set on fire, was entered, and
the streets swept as with "one continued charge."
The cavalry, broken and routed, plunged into the
Dee, and swam for their lives. The foot, retreating
to Castlegate, shut themselves up, with several
of the country gentry, in the tolbooth and in the
town's mansions of Pitfoddels and Earl Marischal,
but soon after surrendered. Many of the Cove-
nanters fell, among whom were several barons of
the county; and three hundred, and 'fifty were taken
prisoners. The. miserable town was once more
given over to pillage. " This was thought," says
Gilbert Gordon, " to be one of the hottest peeces
of service that hapned since this unnatural warr
294 EXILE or AIONTKOSE.
began, both in regard to the eagerness of the
pursuers, and valour of the defenders." It was
the last of the many fights of Aberdeen. Huntly
soon after marched up the north side of Dee, and
encamped at Cromar. He was followed by Mid-
dleton ; and most of his highlanders having gone
home to deposite the spoils of the city, he retreated
to Strathbogie.
But these exertions availed not the royal cause.
Charles had already been reduced to a hard choice
that of the party to whom he should surrender
his person. In the end of April, (1646,) the un-
happy monarch appeared before the Scottish camp,
disguised as a postilion, and was promised protection
against the English republicans, on conditions one
of which was, that he should command Montrose and
Huntly to disband. The king's order reached the
former as he was traversing the highlands, vainly
endeavouring to induce a general rising. Struck
with sudden grief, by a command that so completely
put an end to his cherished schemes of " glory ;"
he refused to retire until he had ascertained that it
was really the wish of Charles that he should do
so. He then disbanded his army ; and his safe re-
treat from the kingdom having been negotiated
for, he took shipping at the port of Montrose on
the 3d September, and with a few of his associates
landed safely in Norway. Thus terminated the
expedition of Montrose ; an expedition which, for
demon-like ferocity and whirlwind rapidity, has
HUNTLY STAITOS OUT FOR THE KEKG. 295
seldom been equalled in the annals of what is called
civilized warfare ; and one which was peculiarly
disastrous to the north country. Besides the blood
shed in three pitched battles between the Dee
and the Moray Frith, there was scarcely a field
within these boundaries that had not been trodden
black and desolate, and watered with the tears of
a helpless peasantry ; scarcely a mansion or farm-
house that had not been pillaged or left in ruins ;
and there was not a town or Tillage of any note,
that had not been sacked by the most brutal ban-
ditti that ever bore the name of soldiers.
Finding that his concessions came too late, or
giving way to his passion for intrigue, the king
casting his eyes northward, fixed them on Huntly
as his forlorn hope. In December 1646, he sent a
private commission to that nobleman, desiring him
to raise what forces he could in the north to await
his escape from the Scottish army. The Marquis
drew together his friends, garrisoned his own strong-
holds and those in his interest, and seized the town
of Banff, where he rendezvoused, waiting " with
hope and inward joy" the escape of his master
beating back the Covenanting forces posted at
Aberdeen in an attempt to dislodge him.
On the advance of Leslie and Middleton with a
more powerful force, Huntly retired to the hills,
and the cavalier strengths at Strathbogie, Lesmore,
Bog of Gright, Lochtanner in Aboyne, Ruthvenin Ba-
(lenoch, and Inverlochy in Lochaber, wore speedily
296 THE INSUKKECTION SUPPRESSED.
reduced. The leaders were sent prisoners to Edin-
burgh, but the common soldiers were dismissed,
except the Irish who were shot or hanged on
the spot. Grordon of Newton, and Leith of Hart-
hill were beheaded by the Estates. M'Donald,
apprised of Huntly's design to stand out for
the king was lingering about Argyleshire with a
remnant of the Irish and highland troops, of his
late commander. Against these Leslie next ad-
vanced, and, after a rough and ruthless campaign,
succeeded in expelling or exterminating that bar-
barous horde. In November, of the same year,
Huntly was apprehended in his highland lordship
of Strathaven, and lodged in the tolbooth of Edin-
burgh. Aboyne escaped into France, and Lord
Lewis into Holland.
CHAPTER XII.
ALEXANDER JAFFRAY HIS EDUCATION MARRIAGE
TRAVELS CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN ARMS AGAINST
MONTftOSE IMPRISONMENT AT PITCAPLE DEATH OF
HIS FATHER SECOND MARRIAGE DEATH OF CHARLES,
AND OF HUNTLY COMMISSIONER TO THE HAGUE
EXPEDITION AND DEATH OF MONTROSE JAFPRAY AT
BREDA ARRIVAL OF CHARLES II. JAFFRAY AT DUN-
BAR CHANGE OF OPINION ON THE POWER OF THE
MAGISTRATE CONFERENCES ON THE SUBJECT SEPA-
RATION FROM THE COVENANTED CHURCH INFLUENCE
OF CROMWELL'S SOLDIERY REASONS OF SEPARATION
BY JAFFRAY, ROW, AND OTHERS VIEWS OF SAMUEL
RUTHERFORD ON THE SUBJECT JOHN ROW APPOINTED
PRINCIPAL OF KING'S COLLEGE JAFFRAY BECOMES DI-
RECTOR OF THE CHANCELLRY IN PARLIAMENT RE-
MOVES TO EDINBURGH HIS REFLECTIONS ON PROVI-
DENCE CONCLUSION.
WHAT a pious and intelligent mind desiderates
amid the contemplation of such scenes as our local
and general history supplies at this period, is the
companionship of a pious and enlightened mind
which has existed, felt, and reflected amid those
scenes.* Not that the history of an age is best
understood by the people of that age ; but that
from such a companion might be learned how this
or that event, this or that action affected the secret
IT
298 ALEXANDER JAITRAY.
springs of religious feeling in the individual heart.
The estimate, also, of such a companion of the
social and religious state of a district, is worth
more than all that statistics can now do for the
north of Scotland in the middle of the seventeenth
century. The times, however, were too busy to al-
low many such to deposit their thoughts in journals
and diaries ; and the biography of our district has
revealed to us, and that but lately, only one such
companion ; one he is, in whom as his first claim
to lead our thoughts we can trace in rising deve-
lopment, the grandest principles, and gentlest graces
of the Christian character ; one with whom we can
retire to the secret chamber, and there devoutly
ponder on passing events, and on the great prin-
ciples at war in the church and the world ; or, per-
haps, vexed with the turmoil of transitory things,
turn our thoughts to Glod to the promised glories of
the church, or the rest that awaits the individual
Christian. This man is Alexander Jaflray ; whom we
now introduce venturing to anticipate, that, what-
ever many readers may think of some of his opin-
ions, none will either deny him the credit of un-
doubted honesty in their adoption and avowal, or fail
to appreciate his other many and rare excellencies.
Alexander Jaffray of Kingswells,* to whose share
* See Diary of Alexander Jaffray, Provost of Aberdeen, one
of the Scottish Commissioners to King Charles II., and a mem-
ber of Cromwell's Parliament, &c., discovered by the Editor,
John Barclay, 1826, in the house of Urie, Kincardineshire, and
first published in 1833 : octavo, Harvey and Darton, London.
EDUCATION MAKKIAGE. 299
in the troubles of the Covenant repeated reference
has been made, was born at Aberdeen, July, 1614.
His father, a respectable merchant in that town,
had frequently filled the office of prorost, and re-
presented the burgh in the Scottish Parliament.
In his ninth year, the younger Jaffray was sent to
the grammar school, where he made but little pro-
gress; and previous to 1631, he spent a year or
two at a seminary at Banchory, Adhere he was taught
Greek. In the summer of that year he entered the
Logic class, in the university of his native town,
under Hugh Gfordon, regent, and Dr. Dun, prin-
cipal, both of whom, he remarks, " were unfit for
training up youth," so that he had no good example
from them ; but he had been at the university only
one year when his studies were abruptly termi-
nated by his marriage, at the age of eighteen, to
Jane Dun, niece of the principal.
The marriage appears to have been much a mat-
ter of expediency on the part of Jaffray's parents.
His father, although indulgent to him as a child,
kept a tight rein over all the motions of manhood
and personal independence, and while he lived,
treated his son as if still in his pupilage. Re-
garding his own conduct in the affair, Jaffray thus
remarks in after-life, " So brutish and senseless was
I, that I never minded nor sought Grod in the mat-
ter, but went on in blindness as they directed me,
not ever considering the Lord's mind in it, nor the
qualities of the person with whom I was to join.
And yet, such was the goodness of my Grod unto
u2
800 ALEXANDER JAITKAY.
me, that in this engagement he directed me well,
whereas he might hare made the circumstance a
cross and curse to me ; but it pleased him to bless
it, giving me not only much contentment of a meek
and quiet yoke-fellow, "who, all the time of our
being together, was very comfortable and pleasing
to me ; even this is matter of very great mercy,
for which I ought to praise Grod. There was, also,
more in it ; for, I trust, I have good grounds to
say, that the seeds of grace, in good measure, were
begun to be sown in her heart, as her sober and
Christian carriage during her life witnessed."
Shortly after his marriage, he spent a few weeks
in Edinburgh, where he became intimate with his
relative, Robert Burnet afterwards Lord Cri-
mond father of the celebrated Bishop of Salisbury.
Burnet was a man of such piety and strictness of
life, that, although in the subsequent troubles he
adhered to the Royalist party, he was generally
called a puritan. In the company of this good
man, Jaffray "had occasion to hear and see some
good things," not only respecting legal matters
which appears to have been the main object of his
visit " but some things as to the practice of holi-
ness and charity, especially of observing the Sab-
bath-day, for the neglect of which," his relative
often " challenged and reproved him." The same
year he travelled in England for the improvement
of his knowledge of mercantile transactions. In
1633, he attended the coronation of Charles I., at
Edinburgh ; and in company with Jamieson the
TRAVELS. 301
painter, and two of his townsmen, made a journey
to London, visiting the university of Cambridge in
his return. In the two following years he spent
fifteen months in two journeys through several parts
of France ; during which, he tells us that in after-
life he often " thought it a great mercy and won-
der that he was kept from open scandal and
out-breaking. This," he adds and his words are
capable of extended application " This hath many
times given me occasion to think of recommending
to my children not to venture upon such a way of
travelling abroad, until they have first attained to
some more experience, especially in the knowledge
of Grod, and the fundamentals of religion. "With-
out this, to travel to France, or elsewhere, as I did,
and most part of young men do, is to expose them,
not only to the hazard of being tempted to all
abominable vices, but to be ensnared in the abo-
minable and gross errors of popery." While he
sojourned in Paris he nearly lost his life, having
been wounded in the left hand and in the back, by
a drunken soldier ; but " the Lord delivered him"
by the interposition of two strangers.
Tip to 1636, Jaffray lived in family with his fa-
ther ; but at "Whitsunday of that year, being then
twenty -two years of age, he took up house for him-
self. Till then, he tells us, he was very ignorant
and remiss, not only in the things of Grod, but in
the management of his worldly affairs ; so that
when he sat himself down to count the cost of his
travels, he found that he " had not only spent the
302 ALEXAIODER JAETRAY.
rent of what was his estate, "but four or five thou-
sand merits of the stock." His spiritual condition
at this time is thus more precisely indicated :
" My ignorance of Grod made me slow in seeking to
him, and unclose in my walking with him, in my
private conversation, and in my family ; perform-
ing duties, whether in a more private or public
manner, hut very seldom and superficially : though
I durst not omit doing them, yet there was nothing
more than a resting on that, either on the week or
Sabbath days." Reflecting on these circumstances
in the early history of his household, he remarks
to his children, for whose admonition and instruc-
tion they were recorded, " The day in which Grod
is not more than once sought to by prayer is not
well spent ;" and he recommends that not only the
duties of prayer, reading the scriptures, and spi-
ritual conference be performed in private, but also
together with the family, " and more particularly
at some times, with individuals of the family apart,
on a particular observation of their spiritual tem-
per and condition." About this time he began to
take notes of what he read ; and it was probably
soon after that the truth began to make an impres-
sion on his heart so gradually, that he was subse-
quently troubled with mental questionings regarding
the time and place of his conversion ; but yet witt
such transforming energy, that at a later date he was
able, notwithstanding " much corruption and a body
of death," to say, " I dare not but affirm it, to the
eternal, praise of His free grace, through Jesus
DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 303
Christ, that Grod hath had mercy on me !" The
first reason which, in his heart-searchings, he notes
down in favour of this conclusion is one which
illustrates the specific moral excellence and glory
of the gospel a glory, the beams of which must
smite the hypocrite : it is a sense " of exceeding
much vileness and corruption, and a desire to be
holy."
On the visit of the Commissioners from the Tables
in 1638, the elder Jaffray was one of those who
signed the Covenant ; and ever after, from their
position in the burgh, both father and son were
among the first .to feel the rude visits of the ca-
valiers, and had frequently to go into hiding in the
neighbouring country. His mother dying in 1640,
Jaffray again removed into his father's house.
It was while living here, that he was carried off by
Grordon of Haddo a circumstance which hastened
the death of his wife. She had born him ten child-
ren, all of whom he outlived. His singular hu-
mility has deprived us of much of his personal
history that would have been deeply interesting,
and has led him always to speak in a depreciating
way of his own talents. It is but incidentally that
he mentions, in his notice of these occurrences, that
he had been in the magistracy in the year preced-
ing* his brother, John, being Dean of Guild.
* It has been frequently stated that Jaffray was Provost of
Aberdeen in 1636. He was then only twenty-two years of age,
and had taken up house only at Whitsunday that year. That
304 ALEXANDER JAJBTBAY.
In September 1644, Jaffray appeared in arms
with his townsmen in their attempt to oppose the
entrance of Montrose and the Irish. Lingering on
the field after the flight had commenced, and being
" evilly horsed," he had well nigh fallen into the
hands of the most savage portion of the invaders ;
but escaped, saving a pair of the Covenanting
colours. For some time after the battle, while the
country was in possession of the Royalists, he found
refuge, with other Covenanters, in the castle of
Dunnottar. One day, on returning from a visit to
Crathes, in company with his brother and Andrew
Cant, the party were encountered by the young
laird of Harthill, on his way home from the battle
of Kilsyth. Harthill's party, after threatening to
kill Jafiray and his companions especially the
brothers, owing to their connexion with the fate
of Haddo carried them prisoners to the garrisoned
house of Pitcaple. There they were confined for
five or seven weeks, and their keepers, though " a
company of vile, profligate men," " carried them-
selves civilly towards them," some of them, in-
deed, attending their private exercises of devotion;
while on Lord's day, " sometimes all of them
were present, and had something like convictions
at the hearing of the word which was preached unto
them with much boldness and freedom" by Mr.
this is a mistake doubtless caused by the identity of the names
of father and son may be seen by consulting Diary and Me-
moirs, 182 and 568 ; Spaldiny, 36 ; Gordon's Scots Affairs,
Preface, L, 29.
IMPRISONMENT AT PITCAPLE. 305
Cant. The prisoners at last attempted to effect
their escape. One afternoon, when all the men
were abroad except two, " whereof one was an old
decrepid body," they resolved to shut the gate, in
the hope of maintaining possession of the house, till
they were relieved from Aberdeen. On going
down, they found, contrary to their expectation,
" two as able men as any in the company" engaged
in flaying an ox in the very door. But these men
having withdrawn without the door to sharpen
their knives, the prisoners, " after much ado," suc-
ceeded in nialdng the door fast. "Then," says
Jaffray, " having full possession of the house, we
made fast the iron gate, and put ourselves in a
posture of defence. The rest, being advertised,
came about the house, and so continued until night.
By reason of their being there, one of our servants,
who had undertaken to give advertisement to our
friends at Aberdeen, [Middleton and a company of
his men,] that they should come for our relief, was
forced to lie and hide himself all that day, so that
it was the morrow at nine hours before he came to
Aberdeen and then our friends were gone. So
our help that way was disappointed ; but the Lord
provided for us another way." The laird of Leslie,
and some other friends, having heard what had ta-
ken place, gathered a company of thirty horse, and
fifty or sixty foot, and succeeded in overpowering
the keepers of Pitcaple. " We received our friends,"
says Jaffray, " and entertained them the best we
306 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
could ; and parted that night with them, having
set our prison on fire."
In the sack of Aberdeen by Montrose, the dwel-
ling of the Jaffrays had been spoiled of all its fur-
niture ; and for some time after that event, both
father and son were lodged in the house of " their
cousin, Alexander Burnet." Here the elder Jaf-
fray died, in January, 1646. Notwithstanding the
active part which he had taken in ecclesiastical af-
fairs, he appears to have had little sense of religion,
till towards the close of his life. His son, with all the
naivete of his character, and, perhaps, with the con-
fidence that he was writing for the exclusive use of
his own family, remarks that " he was much re-
formed and withdrawn from company-keeping and
taverns before his death." "I trust," he adds,
" he found mercy, and died in favour with Grod
and men."
Having previously represented his native burgh
in Parliament, Jaffray was, in February, 1646,
appointed on a committee for proceeding against
malignants and delinquents. Their sittings were
held for three months at Dundee, and proceeded, as
he subsequently thought, " too rigorously in the
things committed to them." " Sometimes since,"
he says, "I have some desires to repent of that un-
warranted zeal." Next year he married Sarah,
daughter of Andrew Cant, who bore him five sons
and three daughters, all of whom, but Andrew the
eldest, died early. He survived to carry the zeal
of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was
COMMISSION TO THE HAGUE. 307
named, blended with the milder qualities of his fa-
ther, into the succeeding century.
In 1648, the kingdom was rent into two "bitter
factions:!. The moderate Royalists and moderate
Presbyterians, who, under the auspices of the Duke
of Hamilton, formed a coalition known in the
history of the time as " The Engagement" for the
Restoration of the King on modified terms. 2.
The consistent Covenanting party, under Argyle,
who declared his restoration unlawful, until he had
first subscribed and sworn the national Covenant
and Solemn League. Notwithstanding the power-
fully exerted opposition of the church, an army of
upwards of twenty thousand was raised and marched
into England to rescue the king ; but was signally
routed by Cromwell and the bands of the English
Commonwealth. This attempt only assisted in
hastening the death of Charles, who was brought to
the block, January 30, 1649. On the 20th March,
of the same year, his faithful servant the Marquis
of Huntly was beheaded at the market cross of
Edinburgh, and died with a dignity and courage
worthy of a better cause.
On the death of the king, Jaffray was appointed
one of the parliamentary commissioners to negoti-
ate with Charles II., then at the Hague, for his
restoration to the Scottish throne. On the com-
mission was, also, the laird of Brodie, known
by his subsequent law title of Lord Brodie a
man of great piety and integrity, with whom
Jaffray became very intimate. There was, like-
308 AI/EXANDEK JAFFKAY.
wise, a commission from the General Assembly, of
whose attempts at negotiation with the king
Principal Baillie has given a detailed account.
The great objection of Charles to the terms was
subscription of the Solemn League. Some of
the exiled " engagers" advised him to swallow all ;
but the young king threw himself into the arms of
a party, headed by the Marquis of Montrose, who
offered an unconditional restoration by the sword ;
and the commissioners were dismissed without a
decisive answer. This result was more acceptable
to the single mind of Jaffray, than if the terms of
the commissioners had been unwillingly, and, of
course, hypocritically accepted. " Having gone
there," says he, " in the simplicity of our hearts,
minding what we conceived to be duty, it pleased
the Lord to bring us safely off without any snare
or entanglement."
In pursuance of his adopted line of policy,
Charles continued to dally with the terms offered
at the Hague, while he secretly commissioned the
second expedition of Montrose, who landed near
John 0' Groat's, in April, 1650. This expedition
was from the first, disastrous. A great proportion
of his foreign troops were lost by shipwreck ; and
the only addition made to the wretched remnant
was by levy on the simple inhabitants of the Ork-
neys. The people of Caithness and Sutherland
fled before him in terror, so that recruiting was
impossible. He had only reached the margin of
the Dornoch Frith, when he was surprised, and his
COMMISSION TO BREDA. 309
party totally routed. Soon after lie was himself
captured, ignominiously led through, nearly the
whole length, of the kingdom to Edinburgh, where
he was hanged and quartered, and, according to
the barbarous custom of the age, his head and
limbs distributed for exposure at the principal
burghs of the kingdom. Thus perished the Marquis
of Montrose, "a man," as says Gilbert Gordon,
" certainly endowed with great gifts, if they had
been rightly employed."
When Montrose landed in Caithness, his first
proceeding brought to the test the principles of the
gentry and ministers of that remote region. " He
imposed on them," says Gilbert Gordon, " certain
new papers and documents, swearing obedience to
him as the king's generalissimo ;" which documents
the whole presbytery, with one solitary and ho-
nourable exception, subscribed. The man who
thus, " faithful among the faithless," despised alike
the threats and flatteries of Montrose, was Mr.
William Smyth, minister of Bower and Watten.
He was kept in irons in a vessel in Scrabster roads
until word arrived of the defeat of the expedition.*
The following year Jaffray was put on a new
parliamentary commission to treat with the king
at Breda. There were, also, three commissioners
from the General Assembly. Jaffray's heart re-
* The defection of the Presbytery of Caithness, seems to have
been visited by suspension from their judicial functions. See
History of the Clan McKay, 339; Note.
310 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
yolted at . a business, by which, as he expresses
it, " we [the commissioners] did sinfully both en-
tangle and engage ourselves and that poor young
prince to whom we were sent ; making him sign
and swear a Covenant, which we knew, from clear
and demonstrable reasons, that he hated at his
heart. Yet, finding that upon these terms only,
he could be admitted to rule over us all other
means having failed him he sinfully complied
with what we most sinfully pressed upon him :
where, I must confess, to my apprehension, our sin
was more than Ms" So clear were his convictions
on this point " that," says he, " I spoke to the king
himself, desiring him not to subscribe the Covenant,
if in his conscience he was not satisfied."
These conscientious scruples were shared by
Lord Brodie ; and the two friends had tmpleasant
discussions with some of their fellow-commissioners,
whose principles were more adapted to the manage-
ment of an affair of expediency. The church com-
missioners, however, co-operated with Brodie and
Jafiray. One of them, the pious John Livingstone,
(whose faithfulness Charles, on his restoration, re-
warded with banishment,) relates, that in their in-
terviews with the king, the ministers often urged,
that if he had any objections to the Covenant, or
to any part of the proposed treaty, he would freely
state them ; but that no such objections were ever
propounded. Still there was abundant evidence
of the king's hatred of the Covenant, and even of
the convictions of these good men that he was in-
REFLECTIONS ON THE ACTS OF COMMISSION. 311
sincere. Had they acted on these convictions, the
carnage of Dnnbar and "Worcester, and that inter-
lude of vilest hypocrisy, which was enacted during
the temporary restoration of 1650, might have
been spared. Jaffray is honest enough to expose
the bareness of his own plea for concurring in the
measures of the commissioners. In a style of self-
accusation he continues the passage above quoted.
" Yet I went on to close the treaty with him, who
I knew so well had, for his own ends, done it against
his heart. But I may say, so did I desire him to
do it against mine, so weak and inconsistent was
I ; being overcome with the example and advice
of others gracious and holy men that were there,
whom in this I too simply and implicitly followed,
choosing rather to suspect myself in my judgment
to be wrong, than theirs."
In his retrospective notice of this melancholy
transaction, Jaftray traces to it those terrible cala-
mities with which God subsequently visited the na-
tion. The infatuated passion for the restoration
of Charles he attributes to the failure of the So-
lemn League in England, and the consequent as-
cendency of the English sectaries, by whom " there
was likely to be set up a lawless liberty and tolera-
tion of all religions ;" and the fond hope that the
^.'^* i '3* O ? A
' accession of a Covenanted king would " prevent
this deluge and overflowing scourge. But," he ex-
claims, " how has the Lord overturned all these
contrivances and devices of men's wits for uphold-
ing their own devices and inventions ! his work,
312 ALEXANDER J AFFRAY.
and the glory of it, being, as of another kind, so
to be brought about in another manner. This we
might have seen had our eyes been opened ; dear-
bought and precious experience gives us now to
know it."
In the very act of embarkation, Charles contra-
vened the new made treaty, by taking along with
him attendants, who, by one of its articles, were ex-
cluded from attendance on the royal person a
proceeding of which Jaffray, Brodie, and the church
commissioners promptly signified their disapproba-
tion by refusing to embark ; but on second thoughts
they decided on accompanying their fellow-com-
missioners, that they might not be supposed to fail
in the discharge of other important points of their
trust. After a voyage of twenty days, in which
they escaped the danger of encounter by the ships
of the English Commonwealth, the royal party
landed at Speymouth, on the 23d June ; Charles
having previously signed the Covenant with the
most solemn professions. Accompanied by his mis-
tress and suite, the Covenanted king proceeded on
his march southwards.
The arrival of Charles, representing all the claims
of his father, alarmed the leaders of the English
Commonwealth, and brought Cromwell speedily
across the border, at the head of sixteen thousand
men. Jaffray enrolled himself in the Scottish army
of ^thirty thousand, raised to fight for the King and
the Covenant. On the field of Dunbar, so disastrous
to our countrymen, he lay entangled by his horse,
DUNBAR : WOUNDED AND TAKEN PRISONEK. 313
which had been shot under him, having received
two wounds in the head and one in the right hand.
A fourth stroke, aimed at his throat, " with great
passion," was about to have made an end of him,
when it was incidentally turned aside to be directed
at a passing fugitive. And after having been ad-
mitted to quarter, he received a thrust in the back,
by which he was placed in greater danger than
ever ; being thereby rendered unable to walk, and
so narrowly escaped falling among the common
soldiers. Having had his wounds dressed, by order
of the republican general, he was carried to the
town of Dunbar, where he was used with great
kindness and courtesy. Among the three thousand
Scots who fell at Dunbar, were his " dear brother
Thomas, and his servant." Ten thousand were
taken prisoners.
The English Independent or sectarian army, into
whose hands Alexander J affray had now fallen, were
originally of the great puritan party who arose
to throw off the ecclesiastical yoke of Charles I. ;
but, from the same starting point, they had ar-
rived at conclusions very different from those of
their brethren, concerning the power of the magis-
trate in matters of religion. " If it be wrong," said
they, to impose Prelacy, " can it be right to impose
Presbytery?" In short, they denied the right of a
government to impose upon a people any form of
religion whatever ; and with many this was no idle
speculation. For, amid the discussions of the times,
they had adopted views on church government, and
x
314 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
kindred subjects, which it was the object of the
Solemn League to suppress by coercive power. The
result was the first clear and strong evolution of
the grand principle, that " The ways of Grod's wor-
ship are not at all intrusted to human power;"* and,
possessed of the armed force of the country, this
enunciation was accompanied by the determination
never to lay down the sword while there was a
party whose aim it was to establish the Solemn
League.
Conversing on such subjects as these with Crom-
well, Fleetwood, and Dr. Owen, with whom he was
in constant and friendly intercourse during his cap-
tivity, Alexander Jaffray ' ' first had made out to him,
not only some more clear evidences of the Lord's
controversy with the family and person of the king,
but more particularly the sinful mistake of the
good men of this nation, about the knowledge and
mind of Gfod as to the exercise of the magistrate's
power in matters of religion what the due bounds
and limits of it are."f
* The quotation occurs in the proposals of the English army laid
before Parliament, Nov. 1647. Rushworth, in Records of the
Kirk, 492.
j- Of the nature of Dr. Owen's arguments on this occasion, we
may judge from his Essay on Toleration, published a short time
previous, in which these passages occur : " Gospel constitutions,
ia the case of heresy or error, seem not to favour any course of
violence, I mean, of civil penalties. Foretold it is that heresies
must be; but, this is for the manifesting of those that are approved,
not the destroying of those that are not. * * Admonitions,
ami excommunication upon rejection of admonition, are the high-
DISCOVERS HIS NEW OPINIONS. 315
On his release, after a captivity of six months,
during which he was treated with high consideration
by both parties, he committed his thoughts on these
subjects to writing ; but often proposed to himself
to suppress his paper, till " the clear discovery of
the thing was so made out to him that he could not
contain ;" and he submitted it to Andrew Cant,
John Row, John Menzies three of the ministers
of Aberdeen and William Moir.
Andrew Cant, if he ever had harboured any
sympathy for the sectaries of which he had been
at one time suspected was now guiltless of such a
feeling. In 1648, he had opposed the sturdy energy
of his character to the zeal which his provost, Pa-
trick Leslie, displayed in raising levies for the
Engagement, and had even exhibited a libel against
that functionary in the General Assembly. In
1650, he held the moderator's chair in the Assembly
before which the noble engagers, Hamilton, Lauder-
dale, Errol,- and March, pled as penitents. But as
the stern and uncompromising head of the protesting
party in the north, he was no less hostile to the
sectaries. His name appears, accordingly, along
with those of his colleagues, Row and Menzies, at
a series of instructions regarding the public " Reso-
est constitutions against such persons; waiting with all patience
on them that oppose themselves, if at any time God will give
them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth. Imprison-
ment, banishing, slaying, is scarcely a patient waiting. God doth
not so wait on unbelievers." Quoted -in the notes to Juff 'ray's
Diary, 189, 190.
X2
316 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
lutions," in March, 1651, the first sentence of which
is " "We doe look upone the Sectarian partie as
ane eneraie to the Work of Grod."* William Moir,
the other person mentioned, was a pious merchant
in Aberdeen. It is characteristic of the conscien-
tious tenderness and candour of Jaflray, that he
submitted his thoughts to these men, not in the
spirit of disputation, but in that of a perplexed and
humble inquirer. All heard him patiently, and read
his paper, except his indignant father-in-law.
Anxious to obtain the advice of some good and
eminent men in the south, on the subject of his
scruples, he first wrote, and then travelled to Edin-
burgh, where he found fifty or sixty ministers and
others earnestly discussing " the very thing about
which he was desirous of enquiring," namely, " the
causes of tlie Lord's controversy with the land" It
was a meeting of protestors. They had under their
consideration the sad defection of the majority of the
church in supporting the public " Resolutions," by
which the Covenant was practically set at nought,
and the church convulsed with the most heart-
rending divisions. Gibing cavaliers rushed forward
to qualify for situations of trust and power, by
taking the Covenant ; and the army of the Cove-
nanted king contained a great proportion of those
who had fought under Montrose and M'Donald. It
was in the perversion and desecration of their great
instrument of reforming the church and kingdom,
* Row's Hisiorie of the Kirk of Scotland, Appendix, 531.
MEETING AT EDINBUKGH : PAPER. 31?
that these good men saw the national sin. Jaffray
was inclined, with fear and trembling, to giro that
name to the instrument itself, as an unsuitable and
unscriptural method of promoting the kingdom of
Christ. He had begun to think, that swords, even
in the hands of saints, are no part of the armoury
of truth. But, knowing how offensive a statement
of such thoughts Arould be to such a meeting, " and
fearing lest through any temptation or mistake he
had been wrong," he first unbosomed himself to
Lord Warriston, Gruthrie, and Livingstone.* But
finding no satisfaction, and seeing no reason, " ex-
cept it were loathness to offend men," why he should
forbear, he delivered a paper containing a statement
of his views to a public meeting of the party.
There seems to be no copy of this document ex-
tant, but the scope of it may be gathered from his
after reflections. The following passage, containing
his ideas of the origin of the Covenant, states also
with" precision what he conceived to be its tenden-
cies, in relation to a progressive knowledge of the
subjects comprehended by it: "Our. worthy and
zealous predecessors, at the first reformation, had
advanced no small length, according to the dispen-
sation and measure of light of that time ; but the
generations then succeeding did not consider, that
as the mystery of iniquity did not grow to its height
* The Rev. James Guthrie, the protomartyr of the Covenant,
and the Rev. John Livingstone, Jaffray 's fellow-commissioner at
Breda.
318 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
in one age or two, but ire were involved, after a
long tract of time, in that deluge, which at last
overflowed great part of the Christian world, they,
I say, did not consider, that as by degrees we were
involved, so, in the same way were we to wait for
our deliverance ; for, as in Psalm xcvii. 11, ' Light
is sown,' so must the growth of it be waited for by the
righteous. These good men deemed that they had
attained to the full perfection of what was in the
holy scriptures about the government of God's house,
because they were as far on as Geneva, yea, in
some things beyond her and so very far beyond
England, who were still kept under that antichris-
tian form of prelacy, concluded, there was no bet-
ter way for them to keep what they had attained
from being again brought back to popery, or at
least to prelacy, which they so much and justly
abhorred, than by a solemn vow and covenant
to engage themselves and their posterity for ever
to maintain that which they had now attained ; con-
ceiving it to be the only way of Jesus Christ."
His inquiries were stimulated by great national
events : " The dreadful appearance of God against
the nation at Dunbar, after so many public appeals
to him," he took for a loud call, not only to exa-
mination as to the guilt of the land in " the breach
of all the holy laws of God ;" but as *it regarded
himself, " it was this more particularly," says he,
" that was at that time, with a strong hand from
the Lord (Isa. viii. 4) borne in upon my heart
that there was something in the matter and man-
PAPER GIVES OFFENCE. UNEXPECTED ASSOCIATES. 319
ner of carrying on what we conceived to be the
work of Grod, that was more effectually pointed at
by our stroke, as sinful' and wrong, than any guilti-
ness else that we are under."
From a consideration of the Covenant, Jaffray
was led to consider the constitution and govern-
ment of the Christian church, but to what extent
his opinions on these subjects were then modified,
or whether he stated them to the meeting, does not
appear.
The paper gave great offence, and the writer
was left to stand alone. Menzies, Moir, and ano-
ther Aberdeen friend, Alexander Skene, who had
supported Jaffray up to the presentation of the
paper, declined to concur in that deed. By the
mediation of some friends, however, a conference
was arranged between him and some of the lead-
ing ministers. But this also was fruitless.
The more decided measures resorted to by Jaf-
fray, soon after his journey to Edinburgh, were
induced partly by circumstances, which must have
given him great pleasure. Long before he ha'd en-
tertained a thought of them, several Christian men
and women in the town of Aberdeen had been
" convinced of these things ;" and they now "found
themselves obliged to endeavour to have the ordi-
nances administered in a more pure way, than there
was any hope ever to attain to have them in the
national way." Such a community, in such a posi-
tion, was a singular phenomenon ; and few people
at this day can conceive its complete isolation. It
320 ALEXANDER JAFFKAY.
was the product, however, of very apparent causes,
to lie found more remotely in the character of the
age, and more proximately in those private meet-
ings which had found shelter under the wing of
Andrew Cant himself. To what extent the pre-
sence and preachings of Cromwell's troops, who ar-
rived in the town ahout this time, increased the
party, it were now vain to inquire. There is no
doubt that their presence would make the avowal
of such sentiments more easy, while the gravity
and propriety of their own deportment furnished
a practical refutation of those absurd, popular
clamours against the holders of them with which
the countrv had been so rife. " I well remember,"
v 7
says Bishop Burnet, "of these regiments coming to
Aberdeen. There was an order and discipline,
and a face of gravity and piety among them, that
amazed all people. Most of them were Indepen-
dents and Anabaptists : they were all gifted men,
and preached as they were moved. But they never
disturbed the public assemblies in the church but
once. They came and reproached the preachers
with laying things to their charge that were false.
I was then present ; the debate grew very fierce ;
at last they drew their swords ; but there was no
hurt done ; yet Cromwell displaced the governor
for not punishing this."*
Among those who associated themselves with
* " It is true," says the venerable Covenanting historian,
Kirkton, " that because they [the English] knew the generality
of the Scottish ministers were for the king upon any tierms,
HIS ASSOCIATES EOW MENZIES. 321
Jaifray, the following year, were John Row, col-
league of Andrew Cant ; and John Menzies, a des-
cendant of the house of Pitfodels ; one of the town's
ministers; and professor of divinity in Marischal
College. Their first measure was to draw up a
statement of their peculiar sentiments, and their
designed procedure, which they addressed to Lord
Warriston, and Messrs. Dick, Livingstone, Gruthrie,
and Rutherford, to be, by them, submitted to whom
they pleased for advice.* This document, remark-
able as the first proposal to secede from the Esta-
blished Church of Scotland, is in all likelihood the
production of Jaifray ; and it is a pattern of all
that is humble, tender, and aifectionate. The dis-
cussion of its contents is not within our province ;
but an extract or two will throw some light on the
character and sentiments of those who were parties
to it, and on the state of religion in the church at
that period.
" Fear to offend the precious men in the land,"
the writers state, had hitherto kept them back ;
" conscience,-' they add, "will permit them to keep
therefore they did not permit the General Assembly to sit and
in this, I believe they did no bad office." " They did indeed,"
he says, "proclaim a sort of toleration to dissenters amongst
protestants, but permitted the gospel to have its course, and
presbyteries and synods to continue in the exercise of their
powers; and 'all the time of their government, the work of the
gospel prospered not a little, but mightily." Secret and True
History, 54.
* The letter is signed by " Alexander Jaifray, "William Moore,
Mr. John Row, Mr. John Menzies, and Andrew Birnie." See
a copy, 193 193. Diary and Memoirs of Alexander Jaffray.
322 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
silence no longer." "What secret smitings of
heart the people of Grod through the land had,"
they professed 'not to know ; for then, they con-
ceived that by his dispensations towards the land,
the Lord was calling on his people to look more
narrowly than before to two things : " The consti-
tution of the church, and the government thereof."
Their sentiments on the former of these subjects
are thus plainly stated : " To us it seems, for aught
we can search in the word, that none should be ad-
mitted as constituent members of a visible church,
but such as, with a profession of the truth, join
a blameless and gospel-like behaviour ; as they may
be esteemed in a rational judgment of charity, be-
lievers and their children. Such were the churches
founded by the apostles, which ought to be patterns
for us, as appears by the titles given to them,
saints, sanctified, justified, purchased by the blood
of Christ," &c.
The document proceeds : " It is certain our
churches were not constituted according to this
rule, in the full extent of it : yea, alas ! few of our
most precious men will acknowledge it to be the
rule. But our consciences convince us that we are
under a sinful snare by reason of our mixtures."
Again, " It is far from our thoughts to say, the
Lord has no church in Scotland; but we must
crave leave to say, (and that we had prepared
hearts for it !) that the holy ordinances of Jesus
Christ have been prostituted amongst us to a pro-
fane, mixed multitude. Tea, and for aught we un-
STATE OF BEMGU02T. 323
derstand, the rule of constitution of gospel churches
has never been so looked to as it ought ; and so,
at best, we have but an impure church. And this
we speak without any derogation to those worthy
men who were instrumental in our first reforma-
tion, whose memory is precious to us; nay, we
verily judge that if those holy men were alive in
our times, they would exceedingly ofiend at us,
who have sat down in their dawning light, which
had its own mixture of darkness." A specimen of
homage to the reformers so noble and dignified as
this, is rarely to be met with.
" But, may not a purge remedy all this ? that
it could ! But shall a tenth, shall one of- a city, two
of a tribe, purge a whole nation ? Is not a little
leaven ready to leaven the whole lump? what then
may be expected when the whole lump is leavened,
and only a small remnant, through the goodness of
Grod, kept pure ? * * * * *
Can we have purged elderships or congregations ?
Are there not many congregations where all are
involved under gross ignorance, and public scan-
dals, as swearings, [or sneerings] who shall be
elders there to purge out the sour leaven ? "We have
been, these divers months, endeavouring with our
brethren in the province, and in the presbytery,
, yea, and with some primely interested in our con-
gregations, for a purge, but we have travailed
long, and brought forth nothing but wind. But,
lastly, is it not in vain to speak of purging, when
our best men will not agree upon the rule of purg-
324 ALEXANDER JAFPBAY.
ing ; and therefore, to talk of purging, considering
our posture, seems to us but a specious notion, to
entangle our spirits and keep us from duty ?"
Their reasonings on church government we do
not touch : only the state of mind which they
brought to the inquiry may be safely recommended
to men of all parties in all religious investigations :
" Knowing that truth cannot lose by a search,"
say they, " we brought the matter to the balance
of the sanctuary seeking God, and using all helps."
Their noble resolution on coming to conclusions
different from those of so many whom they highly
esteemed is no less worthy of imitation : " Though
the precious people in this land shall hare hard
thoughts of us, we hope to find mercy to have
tender thoughts of them. They shall loe, through
the Lord's grace, dear to our souls ; ay, though
they persecute us, our hearts shall cleave to them."
This is the desideratum of the best hearts and
minds of our own age, Christian freedom blended
with Christian love.
To those who yield an indiscriminating homage
to that age of religious heroism, the statements of
the Aberdeen associates, regarding the impurity of
the church, will appear suspicious, if not libellous.
To such a surmise it would be no satisfactory an-
swer to urge the character of Alexander Jaffray ;
the simplicity and uprightness of which visible
in all he said and did totally unfitted him for be-
coming " an accuser of his brethren." The cor-
rectness of the charge depends not on his evidence.
STATE OF RELIGION. 325
The annals of the time, carefully purged of the ex-
aggerations of the cavalier party, furnisli proofs,
to which a candid judgment cannot refuse a mourn-
ful assent, that with much piety and godly zeal
there was mixed up in the same religious commu-
nity a vast amount of ignorance, spiritual dead-
ness, and gross immorality.*
Among the many letters addressed to the Aber-
* In the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie we have the proceed-
ings at the presbyterial visitation of five parishes during the
summer of 1651. The parishes were not selected, but came in
course of visitation of the bounds, and they were all that could
be embraced that year, so that they may be taken as a fair
example of the spiritual condition of the district. The limits of
a note will only admit of reference to the results of the examina-
tion on one subject, but it is one which furnishes a pretty correct
index, negatively at least, of the spiritual condition of a people.
In these parishes it would appear that the practice of family
worship was almost entirely unknown. In regard to three of
the parishes it is said that " some" or ' sundry" families had
" begun" to worship God in their families. The principal evi-
dence is, however, confined to the eldership concerning whom
the same language is used evidently showing that even with
respect to them the practice was not merely not the rule, but the
recently introduced exception. This surely was a melancholy state
of things, and furnishes a mournful illustration of the reference
to sessions in an above quoted passage in the Aberdeen docu-
ment, when, not to mention admonitions in reference to
gross vices, the moderator of a presbytery found himself called
upon earnestly to exhort the elders of a church professing the
name of Christ, " to sett up the worshippe of God in their fami-
lies, so that they might learn to fear God." Presbytery Book
of Strat hbogie, 193, 193, 202, 205, 208, 209. Although such
was the state of matters at no great distance from the locality
326 ALEXANDER JAFFRAY.
deen associates on the subject of their paper was
one from Samuel Rutherford. That good man,
thinking of the days of old, his patient sowing-
time and its cheering first-fruits, was troubled at the
report that those whose faith and order had cheered
him had changed to " another gospel-way." After
giving rent to sundry fond and pensive expressions
to this effect, he puts the question : " If ye exclude
all non-converts from the visible city of Crod, in
which, daily, multitudes in Scotland, in all the
four quarters of the land, above whatever our fa-
thers saw, throng into Christ, shall they not be left
to the lions and wild beasts of the forest, even to
Jesuits, seminary-priests, and other seducers ? for
the magistrate hath no power to compel them to
hear the gospel, nor have ye any church power
over them, as ye teach : and they bring not love to
the gospel and to Christ out of the womb with
them ; and so they must be left to embrace what
religion is most suitable to corrupt nature. * *
* * "We look upon this visible church, though
black and spotted, as the hospital and guest-house
of sick, halt, maimed and withered, over which
Christ is Lord, Physician, and Master; and we
would wait upon those that are not yet in Christ
as our Lord waited upon us and you both."
The antagonist theories on this deeply import-
of Jaffray and his associates, it is not likely that referred to in
the text, as an affair in which some of the associates had been
personally engaged.
TWO THEOKIES OF CHTJECH FELLOWSHIP. 327
ant subject were thus at least fairly brought out.
The one party held that the church should be com-
posed of those only with their children whose
lives gave credible evidence of their conversion by
the truth : the other, that the church was also an
institute for the reception of men to all her ordi-
nances, in order that they might be converted.
The concluding portion of the letter shows what
a sacrifice Jaifray and his friends were to make of
the esteem and sympathy of those whom they could
not but still recognise as holy men.
" Not a few of the people of Grod in this shire of
Fife, in whose name I now write, dare say, if ye
depart, that ye will leave Christ behind you with
us, and the golden Candlestick, and will cast your-
selves, we much fear, out of the hearts and prayers
of thousands dear to Jesus Christ in Scotland."*
At the request of these and other friends, a con-
ference, which lasted for several days, was soon
after held in "Warriston's Chamber, at Edinburgh,
at which Jaffray and Menzies attended. The Aber-
deen brethren desired to separate only if they could
not otherwise exonerate their consciences ; but they
had been too sanguine if they had any expectation
that those whom they overtured " should appear
as the head of this business," and allow them " as
poor creatures to come under their shadow." They
could not move their opponents ; and they them-
selves "came to no other conclusion than formerly;"
* Letters, (London,) II. 306310.
328 ALEXANDER JAFFKAY.
which was, says Jaffray, "that we were clearly called
upon to endeavour to have the ordinances, (espe-
cially the sealing ordinances of Christ,) adminis-
tered to us in a way nearer the institution, and
more pure in a way of administration, than it was
possible, or there was any ground to hope, to have in
the national way. Upon this, we, having told them
so much in a very calm manner, and that we were
the more confirmed, in this our resolution since we
came there, parted calmly, they having exonerated
themselves very freely and lovingly to us : only
Mr. Andrew Cant went out, before our dissolv-
ing, in some passion, and left us." This conference
was followed up by a visit of Messrs. Ruther-
ford, Gruthrie, Gillespie, and Carstairs to Aber-
deen ; where they spent a week in holding meetings
with the associates together and apart, but all witl
the same result. It was likely in the same year
it is blank in Jaffray's diary that the new com-
munity partook together of the ordinance of the
Lord's supper in the Grreyfriars Kirk, Aberdeen
The pain of this separation, mollified as it was
by the spirit of Christian love, was still farthei
neutralized by a very different cause to the sepa-
rated. The Covenanted church had within herself
in full play, the elements of a series of harrowing
dissensions. In the disputes between the resolu-
tioners and protestors parties agreed on th(
minutise of church government and discipline
were arrayed against each other names that pos-
terity can never cease to revere. These dissensions
HOW ON CHUBCH FELLOWSHIP. " 329
have long been buried in forgetfulness ; and it
Were ungrateful unnecessarily to " rake up the
ashes of our forefathers." Posterity, however, has
an indefeasible claim to the lessons of history : and
the dispute which then agitated the Church of Scot-
land, viewed in contrast with the discussions we have
just recorded, teaches us, significantly and impres-
sively, that uniformity is not unity, and that sepa-
ration in the spirit of truth and love is not schism.
About a month previous to the date of the joint
letter to "Wai-riston and others, Mr. John Row
brought before the Synod of Aberdeen an overture,
which, among other matters, contained a query on
the qualifications required in a constituent member
of the visible kirk of Jesus Christ.* Notwith-
standing his concurrence in Andrew Cant's opi-
nion on that, and kindred subjects, involved in the
joint signatures of the commission, so late as the
previous year, there seems no reason to question
Row's sincerity. The aspect of affairs in the
church during a time of trouble and debate often
presses home particular practical questions on con-
temporaneous minds in a manner which a critical,
or a careless, reader of history is not prepared
to appreciate.
He had previously corresponded with his brother
on those subjects, and now again writes : " "We
have startled that questione heir anent the qualifi-
* Notes respecting John Row, principal of King's College
prefixed to Row's Hlstorie. Wodrow Society, p., xlviii.
Y
330 ROW AND JIENZIES INDEPENDENTS.
cations required in a member of a visible congre-
gation, and have bad conferences with the learn-
edest ministers beir, for some eigbt or nine -weeks."
In tbe brief bnt comprehensive description of the
points at issne which follows, we have the following,
which seems to have weighed heavily on his heart
as a Christian minister : " All of them [the chnrch
members] must have their children baptized, and
(a blank, in the M. S.) I must take a solemn promise
before God, that the ignorant and profane shall
bring up his child in the knowledge of the chris-
tiane faith, piety, and holy education. "What a so-
lemn taking of the name of the Lord in vain is this !
* * # * Th e multitude are encouraged to
continue in ignorance, security, pride, profanity,
formality, malignancy. Why ? They are members
as well as others, and there is no separating of the
precious from the vile."
In June following, we find John Menzies, pro-
fessor of divinity, Marischal College, and John
Seaton, minister at Old Aberdeen, associated with
Row in giving in a paper to the Synod on the con-
stitution and government of the church, which was
condemned as " contrary to the word of God, the
covenants, and the judgment of the General Assem-
bly." In October, the parties were processed before
the same court for having separated themselves
from the discipline and government of the Kirk to
Independency, and a conference was appointed.
Their case was subsequently remitted to the pres-
bytery, where we lose sight of it.
Menzies, who, by subsequent confession, was a.
DR. GUILD. 331
temporizer, contrived to retain his pulpit and his
chair. What a source of vexation and disquiet
such a colleague must have been to Andrew Cant,
we may easily suppose. It is probably to a feud
springing from this cause, and spreading to the
family of the latter, that Alexander Jaffray alludes
in his diary, where he records the prayer, " that the
Lord would forgive Mr. John Menzies and Mr. Alex-
ander Cant, for their scandal and offence, by their
bitter and unchristian-like carriage one towards
another ; whereby God is so much dishonoured, the
mouths of the wicked being thereby so much opened,
and the hearts of the godly made sad."
The same year, Row was made principal of King's
College, in room of Dr. Guild, deposed by commis-
sioners from the English Commonwealth, for his
prudent attachment to the royal cause.* Dr. Gfuild,
in turn, claimed the vacant pulpit, as that which he
possessed before his elevation to the head of King's
College. But both presbytery and synod demurred ;
for what precise reason does not appear. The doc-
tor liv.ed in retirement till 1657, doing good with
part of that wealth which, it is to be feared, a life of
more heroic consistency would have prevented from
so accumulating ; but which, laid out in benefactions
to the institutions of his native town, has purchased
for him a local fame which heroic consistency does
* Although Dr. Guild was deposed by the act of the English
commissioners, the election of his successor, as Dr. Sheriffs in-
forms us, was left to " the proper judges." Life of Dr, Guild.
Y2
332 .TAFFRAY IN PARLIAMENT.
not so generally acquire. He was mercifully re-
moved before the trials of the Restoration.
Alexander Jaffray had now ceased to be identified
with the Covenanted church. But he did not cease
to exert a cherishing and deeply felt influence on
the piety of his native district ; and this, with the
interest attaching to so remarkable a person, can-
not fail to render acceptable a continuation of this
sketch, down to the Restoration.
In 1652, he was appointed director of the chan-
cellry of Scotland, under the English Common-
wealth, and in the year following, he was one of the
five members for Scotland who took their seats in
Cromwell's Little Parliament. Lord Brodie was
also nominated ; and Jaflray urged him to attend ;
but Warriston gave contrary advice. Their pious
friend sought a conclusion by a process, we fear,
rather uncommon with members-elect. " I spread,"
says he, " Mr. Jafiray's letter before the Lord.
* * * * I got Warristoun's
letters and papers against it : these I spread before
the Lord, and besought him through the Lord Je-
sus, on whose name I believed, for direction, light,
strength, stability, and counsel." Brodie ulti-
mately accepted, and went up to London.
" It was in the hearts of some" in the Parliament,
Jaffray tells us, " to have done good for promoting
the kingdom of Christ."* On the abrupt dismissal
of this assembly, Jaffray was one of those who re-
The contemplated measures affecting religion were, the abo-
lition of tithes and patronage, and the removal of all laws supposed
JAFFRAY IN PARLIAMENT. 333
-fused to leave the house till it was cleared by a file
of musketeers. This perilous instance of indepen-
dence, the magnanimous dictator recognised not
otherwise than by offering him an appointment as
one of his judges for Scotland. He declined the
offer ; but returned to Scotland with the Protector's
order for payment of 1500, towards discharging
the expenses of his late mission to Holland to bring
home the king !
From 1654 to 1656, he spent one half of the year
at Edinburgh and the other half at Aberdeen ; but
in the latter year he removed his family to New-
battle, in the vicinity of the metropolis, and the
year following, to Abbey-hill, where he remained
till the events of 1660 overtook him with depriva-
tion and temporal ruin. During all this time, he
made occasional entries in his diary, in which are
to be seen the exercises of a simple, humble, and
watchful spirit, panting after holiness, and over-
flowing with the spirit of love and peace.
His views of the work of his age were singularly
catholic, and imbued with a profound devotion.
He realised, in an eminent degree, the idea of a
to be hindrances to the progress of the gospel. The contempt
with which this convention is generally mentioned, exemplifies
the power of a nickname. " There was," says Godwin, " much
of puhlic viftue in this assembly ; they possessed no common
portion of that wisdom and penetration into the spirit and con-
sequences of social institutions, which might seem to qualify them
to secure essential benefits to that age, and to the ages which
should succeed." History of the Commonwealth, III. 578.
334 JAITKAY ON PROVIDENCE.
great modern historian : he saw GOB in history-
not working in and for a party, but moulding and
pervading all. His was not that recognition of
Providence, so allied to selfishness, which is at
fault and mortified when a good thing comes " out
of Nazareth." " Oh," he exclaims, " that the good
old men, and some younger also, * * *
would observe, and condescend to see themselves
outstripped, seeing Christ is thereby getting glory :
*********
the providence of Grod is carrying on his work in
the present age, though ordinarily, his dispensa-
tion is obscure and dark to most of those who have
been active and eminent instruments in bringing
it thus far ; the Lord in his wisdom thinking fit
so to dispose, lest any creature should share in his
glory."
"While exercising a high function in the state,
and enjoying the confidence of the great and the re-
spect of all, we find this extraordinary man chas-
tening his spirit in secret, by frequently reminding
himself that the Christian is always either actually
under the cross, or preparing his affections,' so that
lie may meekly bow and bear it when it comes.
" Happy is the man," he exclaims, " who is daily
habituating himself to such foresight !" Happy,
indeed, was it for him that he did so. The cross
was not far distant.
In our brief sketch of this memorable man, we
have endeavoured to imbody the most interesting
DIFEEKENCE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 335
facts which are known relative to this period. All
parties testify that the means of religions instruc-
tion were plentiful. Tet while the religious ma-
chinery was spread over all the country, with all
the uniformity of the Covenant, it was unequally
wrought. In the south, Committees* of trial for
insufficiency of ministry had laboured actively in
their painful, though most efficient vocation, but
scarcely any of these had sat north of the Dee.
The consequence may be imagined, and will soon
show itself in our subsequent history.
* The following may be taken as a specimen of the proceed-
ings of these Committees. It relates to a visitation of Angus
and Mearns, in the autumn of 1649, Mr. Andrew Cant being
moderator: "During the sitting of this meeting, there was
about eghtteine ministers deposed, and five suspended (two of
which number did appeal to the General Assembly.) The causes
of their depositiones werre, insufficiencie for the ministrie ; fa-
mishing of congregations ; silence in the tyme of the leatte En-
gagement against Englande ; corruptions in life and doctrine ;
malignancie ; drunkenness; and subscriuing of a diuisive bond,
and such like." Lament's Diary, 10.
CHAPTER XIII.
CONDITION OF SCOTLAND AT THE RESTORATION PRO-
CEEDINGS AGAINST THE PROTESTING PARTY CONSE-
CRATION OF BISHOPS DIOCESAN MEETINGS THOMAS
HOGG DEFECTION OF MINISTERS AND PEOPLE THE
NORTH COUNTRY CURATES DEPOSITION AND DEATH
OF ANDREW CANT RESIGNATION AND DEATH OF
PRINCIPAL ROW MELDRUM AND MENZIES PERSECU-
TION OF THE QUAKERS DEATH OF JAFFRAY OF MEN-
ZIES COUNTIES OF ROSS AND MORAY THE TEST
THE COMMISSION OF 1685.
NEVER did a nation yield itself in a more helpless
condition to the will of a tyrant, than did the
Scottish people at the Restoration. England made
some sort of terms with the king Scotland none.
The nation had profited much, and would hare
profited more, by the administration of Cromwell ;
"but she had lost what was worth millions of bles-
sings in detail she had lost the noblemindedness
to claim, and the art to practice, self-government.
Her passion for monarchy and her native prince
induced her to throw herself at the feet of Charles
in a fit of frantic loyalty, for which she soon found
cause for bitter repentance,
CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS. 337
Middleton, Lauderdale, and Grlencairn -were the
first trio of Scotchmen to whom the affairs of their
native country were committed; and .their most
obvious moral qualification was the want of prin-
ciple. To their influence was added that of Cla-
rendon, whose point of honour was the restoration
of Episcopacy. The services of Sharpe, and others
of the clergymen, were secured, and the plan for
upsetting the whole government in church and
state was proceeded with ; stealthily at first, but
rapidly.
The first proceedings were directed against the
protesting party only, as being particularly ob-
noxious to the irresponsible power of the king
who also it was judged might be touched without
alarming the other and stronger portion of the
church : but the sagacity and consistency of that
party was made mournfully apparent to every
Presbyterian, in the complete ruin of the whole
framework of civil and ecclesiastical government.
The work went on apace. Demolition by detail
became wearisome ; and a measure, drawn up by
Middleton, in a fit of drunkenness, was carried by
an obsequious Parliament ; and at one fell swoop,
all the Parliaments that had sat since 1633, were
vitiated, and their acts rescinded.
In 1661, four of the bishops-elect, having been
ordained deacons and presbyters by episcopal hands,
were the same day consecrated bishops. On the
4th May following, these consecrated the candi-
dates for the other Scottish mitres winking, how-
338 DEFECTION IN THE NOBTH.
ever, at their presbyterian ordination to the lower
function : a circumstance not undeserving the ^at-
tention of our modern Scottish apostolicals. In
this imposing ceremony, our north country sup-
plied two chief actors ; the arch-apostate, Sharpe,
and the minister of Drumblate, who preached the
ordination sermon.
On the rising of the first Parliament, in which
the bishops took their seats as the spiritual estate,
the privy council issued an act for holding dio-
cesan meetings attendance 'at which, was to be
the touch-stone of conformity. But a still more
practical trial immediately followed, in an act to
eject from their livings all who had been admitted
subsequent to 1649, and who declined to apply for
presentation by the patron and collation by the
bishop. By this measure alone, more than one-
third of the ministers were thrown out of their
charges.
Proceedings in the north gave early indication
that few in that quarter were endued with the
spirit of martyrdom. The only document of the
period in which the northern shires make a res-
pectable figure is, Middleton's list of fines. Bat
here almost universal submission staid the hand of
the rulers. There was, indeed, a " superfluity of
naughtiness" a shameless gratuitousness in the
manner in which some, both individuals and church
courts, anticipated the wishes of the new g;o-
vernment. The celebration of the Restoration
the annual solemnizing of which was a snare to
THOMAS HOGG. 339
many in the south was anticipated "by one rever-
end professor in a manner beyond the conception
of a mere worldly courtier. A few weeks after
that event, Menzies, in solemnizing it by appoint-
ment of the magistrates of Aberdeen, and in their
presence, chose for his text the words, " This is the
day which the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice
and be glad in it." The Synod of Aberdeen ad-
dressed Middleton, praying for the establishment
of Episcopacy. The clergy of Moray in synod
assembled, threw themselves at the commissioner's
feet, as creatures unworthy to meddle with such
high matters as the government of the church
" praying for the spirit of wisdom and right dis-
cerning to his majesty, that he might carry as the
Lord's vicegerent set over them for a signal
mercy."
To degrade and persecute the protesting party
suggested itself to the timeservers as a necessary
removal of obstructions in the advance towards
prelacy, as well as a measure which would be ac-
ceptable to the court. Mr Thomas Hogg, minister
of Kiltearn, in the Synod of Ross, was an eminent
member of that party. He was not only a stum-
bling-block to the very reverend court in general,
but an offence to the moderator, Mr. Murdoch
M'Kenzie, in particular, who was already agape
for 'the bishoprick of Moray. Mr. Murdoch had
sworn the Covenant ten some say fourteen times,
whereas, perhaps, less than half that number had
served Mr. Hogg. But Mr. Hogg was honest, and
340 DIOCESAN MEETINGS.
would strenuously and ably oppose the moderator's
grasping at tlie mitre, and must, therefore, be
removed.
"When the Synod met, the moderator interrogated
his dreaded opponent on the subject of the protes-
tation ; but he, aware of the drift of such question-
ing, declined to answer, a course in which he was
fully justified, for the subject was not before the
court in a regular form. But this availed not.
Mr. Hogg was removed, and M'Kenzie harangued
his brethren. It was an important case. Their
guilty brother was a great man, none could, deny
it, he, the moderator, would not. But then the
KING- had declared in favour of those assemblies
against which the protestation was made, and
they must do their work. Mr. Hogg was called in ;
and, on refusing to disown the protestation, was
deposed. The moderator, however, pronounced
the sentence with an unconscious air of veneration,
as if consecrating his victim to a higher office ; and
so wandered in a discourse with which the solemnity
was wound up, as to remind Mr. Hogg, for his con-
solation, that our Lord suifered many hard things
from the Scribes and Pharisees.
"While in the west and south, the order to attend
diocesan meetings was received with general ne-
glect, in the north, the clergy, with few exceptions,
flocked to those meetings as if they had been ad-
journed sittings of their former presbyterian courts.
It was not to be expected that such men would
stand the severe trial which soon followed ; and a
OEttEKAL CONFORMITY. 341
glance at the list of the noble army of the ejected
the great roll of fame of those days is enough
to bring the blood of shame to the cheeks of a
north country man. In the southern division of
the list, the clusters of nonconformists are large
and full as they stand arrayed under the heads of
their presbyteries. In the north, we hare frequent
pairs and single individuals, interspersed here and
there with a presbyterial heading, comprehensive of
infamy : " all conformed." Such a facile, general,
and disgraceful apostasy as that of the ministers
north of the Dee, it would be difficult to match in
history. It is true, that this particular act of
council did not apply so generally to them, as it
did to their brethren in the south, among whom
there had been more inductions within the specified
time, owing to the labours of the " Committees of
tryers." But every one of these men had taken
the Covenant an instrument by which, " In the
glorious and fearful name of the Lord our Grod,"
they had sworn to maintain and abide by pres-
bytery.
The defection of the people was more than co-
extensive with that of the ministry, and shows, if
farther evidence be needed, the low state of know-
ledge and religion in the north. The people were
either grossly ignorant of those principles to which
they had so solemnly pledged themselves, or they
were utterly regardless of them. It is never pled
that there was a real conversion to new opinions
at the Restoration ; and if it were, the plea would
342 THE NOSTHEBN CUKATES.
be ridiculous. The period prior to that event was
one, not of the development of principles formerly
existing, but of the infusion of principles by exter-
nal influence. Evangelism was not of the north,
but of the south ; and, while its means and appli-
ances were kept in operation, the people were in a
state of training. This, with exceptions to be af-
terwards noticed, applies to the church north of
the Dee. It was a church of catechumens. And
for the country this was much. But the apparatus
was, in most instances, wrought mechanically and
that only for a comparatively short period ; and,
in many places, with interruptions. The real and
apparent progress were, therefore, more at odds
than elsewhere ; and little else was necessary to a
revulsion than a withdrawment of external force.
The Covenant was treated by the mass, both in ta-
king it, and breaking it, as a physical necessity.
As an additional proof of its adherence to the
new order of things, the north country produced,
almost exclusively, that class of men, who were
looked upon by the Presbyterians as especially in-
famous, viz., the " Curates" who took possession
of those pulpits from which the nonconformists
were ejected. As to their intellectual qualifica-
tions, the curates were raw youths, got up for the
nonce with few gifts and little learning : as to
their moral having been mostly all Covenanted
expectants two years previous perjury was the
first ; and this qualification was seasoned in many,
by a practical acquaintance with those debaucheries
DEPOSITION OF ANDEEW CANT. 343
which were fashionable among the loyal ; and all
were characterised by a want of gravity and loose-
ness of conversation. There being few empty pul-
pits in their own country, this northern horde
poured down on the south, and were thurst in
upon the weeping congregations of the high-prin-
cipled nonconformists.
Among those who at once chose the better part
of suffering with a good conscience, was our old
friend, Mr. Andrew Cant. Previous to the intro-
duction of Episcopacy, some of his many enemies,
anticipating the turn of affairs, complained to the
magistrates of Aberdeen, that he had assisted in
the circulation of Rutherford's treatise, entitled
Lex Rex, and had, in the course of his ministra-
tions, uttered anathemas against certain of his
hearers. Proceedings were instituted on this com-
plaint, but no judgment followed. The Synod of
Aberdeen, however, anxious to cleanse their house,
and forestall even the bishops in such a meet sa-
crifice to the genius of the Restoration, deposed their
brother before the establishment of Episcopacy.
As if to heighten the disgrace of this proceeding,
the sentence of the court was formally announced by
a Mr. David Lyall, at whose ordination Mr. Cant had
presided. The latter is said to have cried out, " Da-
vie, Dayie, I tent aye ye wad do this, since the day I
first laid my hands on you !" The good man with-
drew to the vicinity of Edinburgh, and was soon after
summoned before the privy council. But it does
not appear that any process followed ; and he was
344 H&SIGNATION OS 1 JOHtt HOW.
taken away from the evil to come, in April, 1663.
"With, all his faults, no person of candour can hesi-
tate to join in the high meed of praise bestowed by
a friend on this remarkable man that according
to his light " he spared not to deliver the whole
counsel of God before king and state."* His son
Andrew conformed, and seems to have been prin-
cipal of the University of Edinburgh, from 1675
till 1685. Alexander's name appears in the list
of nonconformists ejected in 1662, with other two
ministers in the Presbytery of Kincardine.
John Row, principal of King's College, antici-
pating the result of a visitation, resigned, in 1661.
Several of his writings on the questions of the pre-
vious period were tied to the market cross and
burnt by the hangman a short, easy, and favour-
ite method of answering arguments in that busy
time. Although placed at the head of the college
by the commission of the English Commonwealth,
Row was not a republican ; and at the Restoration
he went fully as far as was necessary to prove his
* Mr. Cant's courage never failed him. In his Royalist zeal,
he used to pray, even when the English were in Aberdeen, that
God would deliver the banished king from the bondage of his
oppressors. On one occasion, " as he was preaching very boldly
on that head," the officers and soldiers who were present got all
up, and many of them drew their swords. All went into confu-
sion. " Mr. Menzies was very timorous and crap in beneath the
pulpit." The soldiers advanced. Mr. Cant paused, opened his
breast to receive their thursts, if they should venture to strike,
and cried, " Here is the man who said it 1"
SUBMISSION OF MENZIES AND 1IELDEUM. 345
loyalty. On his resignation, he retired to the town
of Aberdeen, where he taught a private school,
which was unequal to his support ; and though one
of the most learned teachers of his time and country,
he was compelled to live for the most part on
private charity. At last he went to reside with
his son-in-law, John Mercer, minister of Kinellar.
There he died and was buried, and no memento
distinguishes his grave from those of the obscure
dwellers in that obscure resting-place.
It is painful to think of the colleagues of Cant.
Row had been succeeded,in 1658, by Mr. George Mel-
drum. Both he and Menzies offered their submis-
sion to the bishop on the accession of that dignitary,
but both were deposed; and Meldrum retired to
the country in compliance with the Act of council
which required the removal of the ejected to the
distance of twenty miles from their former charge.
The people of Aberdeen were exasperated at the
loss of their ministers ; and the bishop complained
that he could not appear in the streets with safety.
On the ground of this complaint, as is supposed,
the colleagues were summoned before the privy
council ; but they arrested farther proceedings by
" cordially" subscribing that oath of allegiance
which contained the germ of the king's supremacy
in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil. This
done, they were dismissed with a remit to the
favourable consideration of Sharpe. Both were
restored to their pulpits Meldrum negotiating
346 PERSECUTION Of THE QUAEE&S.
between his conscience and the bishop, in some
points on which the foriner, after all, was never
at rest ; and Menzies surrendering at discretion.
But they did not fall into the obscure shade of
mere conformity. "Want of principle, on the one
hand ; and that sort of principle which owes its
peculiar character to bigotry, on the other, com-
bined to elevate them into a " bad eminence" as
local persecutors. The victims of this not uncom-
mon coalition were furnished by the new and harm-
less sect, the Quakers. By a process not unnatural,
when its causes are diligently traced, that denomi-
nation soon absorbed all the previous nonconformity
of the neighbourhood. The earthquake-like dis-
ruption of religious society which ensued on the
Revolution ; the revolting disregard of solemn
oaths ; the prostitution of religious ordinances, now
shamelessly aggravated ; the insulated position of
the northren dissenters, and their common agree-
ment with the Friends on certain ecclesiastical
principles, prepared the way for this transfor-
mation.
It is while in prison, immediately on the great
turn of national aifairs, that we find in Alexander
Jaffiray's mental exercises the first decided marks
of quietism. In 1662, he joined the Friends, and
most of those with whom he had walked in fellow-
ship soon clustered around him, followed by others,
many of whom were men of property and influence.
The passions of the mob were stirred up from the
PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 347
pulpits of Aberdeen ; and the innocent and unre-
sisting members of tbe new sect were stoned, beaten,
and plucked by the hair in the streets, while the
magistrates looked on with approbation. The
Quakers became, in Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardin-
shires, what the Presbyterians were in the west
and south the especial butt and mark of persecu-
tion. There was indeed no law, even in that age
of blood, that could reach the lives of men holding
their principles, but the mingled spite and bigotry
of the clergy did much, although frequently disap-
pointed by humanity or a sense of shame in the
magistrate. Neither had they the alleviations of
sympathy in their sufferings. They were alike the
scorn of the oppressed Presbyterians and their
persecutors; and even Wodrow and Cruickshank
record it to the praise of the privy council, that
" they made a very good Act against the Quakers."
In 1665, the magistrates of Aberdeen began those
committals which rendered their tolbooth for many
years at once the thoroughfare and head-quarters
of the new sect. But the more the Quakers were
persecuted, the more they multiplied. They were
dragged to prison from their meeting-houses in
town and country ; and they made the streets re-
sound with their exhortations to the everlasting
audience that surrounded the grated windows.
To put down this extraordinary species of con-
venticle, on one occasion, the windows of the tol-
booth were boarded up and every chink closed.
The prisoners were in darkness and near stiffoca-
z2
348 PEKSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS.
tion, being so crowded as to have just room to
stretch themselves when they slept ; but the reply
of the chief magistrate to their remonstrance was,
" that he would pack them like salmon in a barrel ;
and if they had not room to lie in their cell they
might lie on the stair" which was a stone " turn-
pike." Such proceedings, however, could not stay
the plague. For, as the capacities of black-holes,
even thus packed, were inadequate to the reception
of the whole society at once, a partial release be-
came the necessary consequence of every new im-
portation ; and the first resort of the tranquil
recusants, thus set free, was to their forbidden meet-
ings, which they kept up with courage and patience.
Every possible insult and injury was heaped upon
this quiet people. The living were in a manner
intercommuned ; their dead were torn from their
graves, and the walls of their burying-ground
levelled. But all was in vain. Their society con-
tained several landed proprietors, men of educa-
tion and good position, among whom were David
Barclay and his son Robert, the apologist, whose
fame is European. But landed proprietors, mer-
chants, unlettered mechanics, hinds, and country
maidens bore their testimony to the great prin-
ciples of religious freedom with a like simple faith
and dignity. There is a moral sublimity in the
noble and conscious passiveness with which they
received every grievous wrong, and that self-reck-
lessness with which, when at liberty, they pursued
what had become to them a life-work. It baffled
PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 349
their persecutors. " You cannot vanquish us.
You will weary yourselves with very vanity !"
was the language of one cell-full to the magistrates
of Montrose. On one occasion, Sir John Keith,
afterwards Earl of Kintore who was violent
against the Quakers, brought away a party from
Inverury, where they had been imprisoned, and
lodged them in the jail of Aberdeen. It having
been decided that they should go to Edinburgh,
they were brought forth to commence an ignomi-
nious progress from shire to shire, like the vilest
malefactors. They had traversed the streets amid
the indignities of the mob, and had gone a little
way out of town, when an infirm man, named
"William Gfellie, finding himself unable to proceed
farther, sat down by the road-side. The rest of
the Friends, following his example, sat down also,
and, what was worse, the whole band plainly re-
fused to rise till horses should be furnished for their
journey. The attendant bailie, in a rage, com-
manded Grellie to rise, and, on his refusal, struck
him piteously. The Friends, however, all sat still ;
the nonplussed magistrate retired to the town,
and the victorious recusants to their respective
dwelling-places. In 1677, every available place of
confinement being full, the authorities wearied,
and Quakers more plentiful than ever, the local
commission for ecclesiastical affairs, " considering
the extraordinary trouble sustained by the magi-
strates and burgh of Aberdeen, through the many
Quaker conventicles held in the tolbooth, and that
350 PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS.
others have been urged to throw themselves into
the snare of imprisonment, for the purpose of mo-
lestation," decreed that certain prisoners should
be set at liberty ; and that others should be handed
over to the sheriff of Banffshire who sent them
home to their own houses. Such was the " unresist-
ible might of weakness."
In this furious onset on the Quakers, Menzies
and Meldrum bore a prominent part. They chid
the magistrates for their slackness. In a sermon
preached before the judges of the circuit, the
former denounced the sect as one most dangerous
and pernicious ; urging against it all the seve-
rity of the law; and, not satisfied with that,
the colleagues visited the judges at their lodgings,
complaining that neither fines, banishment, nor im-
prisonment had been equal to the suppression of
the new heresy. On being asked what they would
have further, Menzies made a proposal so cruel,
that the bishop was ashamed, and the judges re-
mained silent.* Alexander Jaffray, the ancient
friend of Menzies, was an early object of their
machinations. They knew the influence of his
social position, his high integrity, and blame-
less life; and at their instigation he was sum-
moned before Archbishop Sharpe, examined, and
sentenced to confine himself to his own house. Such
* Memoirs of the Rise, Progress, and Persecutions of the
people called Quakers, in the North of Scotland ; appended to
the Diary of Alexander Jaffray, 287-8.
J AFFRAY ON RELIGIOUS PENALTIES. 351
a sentence was as good as null to one who made no
promises of conformity, gave no bonds, paid no
fines, beheld unmoved executions for their exaction,
and managed to turn his prison into a conventicle.
Providence, however, seems to have kept him for
sometime out of the clutches of the law ; partly by
laying him up sick in his mansion at Kingswells.
Yet we find that he was always busy. In 1668, he
lay speechless of quinsy. Scougal, JBishop of Aber-
deen, to whom he was an object of great solicitude,
discovered that he had forfeited his penalty, by
allowing religious meetings in his house. The
Quaker would recognise no such forfeiture, and was
dragged to the jail of Banff, in such a state of de-
bility that three days were consumed in the journey
imprisonment at such a distance being a refine-
ment on the legal sentence.
"While he thus lay in prison, Jaffray addressed
a letter to the bishop, in which he clearly enunciates
the duty of Christians in regard to religious penal-
ties a duty which, on his own behalf, he asserts it
was his sole desire to discharge, in opposition to
those who accused him of meaner motives. " I am
engaged," says he, " upon far other grounds than
those of wilfulness or peevishness, to decline paying,
or in any way to assent to the payment of that
money, even on that of a real and well-grounded
fear of Grod."* After a nine months' imprisonment,
during which, from the precarious state of his health,
* Memoirs and Diary, 283.
352 BEATH OF JAFFKAY.
his life was in danger, the designs of the clergy
were baffled by the mercy of a privy council of
Charles II. ; and Jaffray was released without pay-
ment of the penalty.
But he was now fast hastening beyond the reach
of persecution. That, indeed, had never touched
'his soul. Man could neither vex nor disappoint
him : he had a surer trust. His last hope from an
arm of flesh, for the cause of Gfod and religious
freedom, seems to have expired with Cromwell ; and
on that event, his thoughtful spirit shadowed forth
but too truly the days of suffering that were to fol-
low : " Grod," he exclaims, " hath written vanity
upon, and stained the pride of all our glory. The
parliament is broken, the prince is broken that
brake them, and they are like to break in pieces
one another." And then the sublime language of
the prophet burst upon his mind with this humbling
but all-sustaining lesson : " Enter into the rock,
and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and
for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of
man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men
shall be bowed down ; and the Lord alone shall be
exalted in that day. Cease ye from man, whose
breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be
accounted of?"* Never did a purer, nobler, or
more self-conquered spirit tread the path of suffer-
ing for conscience sake, or with a clearer apprehen-
sion of its end. And now he lay on that bed whence
* Isaiah ii. 10, 11, 22.
THE TEST. 353
he was never more to rise, in a state of calm sub-
mission and quiet expectation. " Being overcome
in spirit, he occasionally said, ' Now, Lord, let thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes spiritually
have seen, my heart hath felt, and, feeling, shall
for ever feel, thy salvation !' " He died at Kings-
wells, in May, 1673, and lies in his own simple
grave-yard on the family estate. The persecution
which, in all likelihood, was the cause of this se-
lection of a place of sepulture for himself, his family,
and neighbours, has thus furnished the means of
identifying his grave ; thereby affording the lovers
of freedom and true greatness an opportunity of
kindling their aspirations over the ashes of a truly
great man.
How far astray a man may go without being the
utter outcast of principle, it were hard to decide ;
and the difficulty is a practical blessing which in-
volves the exercise of mutual charity. Times of
trial, although oftener to the infamy, are often to
the unexpected praise, of men, eliciting principle
where it was not supposed to exist. Among the
clergy of the prelatic establishment there were, in
1681, no fewer than eighty ministers, who, notwith-
standing the unprincipled compliances of many
among them, chose to brave the horrors of persecu-
tion, rather than take the self-contradictory oath
called the Test ; by which, among other things, the
contracting party bound himself never to attempt
any alteration of the existing government in church
and state. Among these was Greorge Meldrum of
354 CONFESSION' OF MENZIES.
Aberdeen. That conscience whose clamours had been
hushed by an active persecution of the Quakers,
could bear no further imposition. After resigning
his charge, Meldrum remained for some time in
Aberdeen, and was soon after called to receive the
dying confession of his late colleague, Menzies.
That poor man had swallowed the Test; but it was
like poison in his bowels. His former compliances
had long troubled him. This last act of apostasy,
however, aroused his dormant conscience. He soon
became ill ; and, avoiding all communication with
his brethren in the ministry, he opened his mind to
Meldrum, and to Mr. Mitchell, his brother-in-law,
who, for refusing the Test, had been ejected from
the parish of Lumphanan. He desired the latter
to commit his confession to writing, and make it
known for the benefit of all after his death ; but as
his conscience awoke to a still clearer view of the
enormity of his guilt, and the claims of truth and
society for immediate reparation, he directed that
the publication should not be delayed till that event.
He lamented his compliances both before and after
the Restoration, and traced his onward progress from
his first act of unfaithfulness in professing Indepen-
dency. " Alas," he exclaimed, " so dangerous is it
to loose the least buckle in the matters of Grod !"
But taking the Test he looked upon as the crowning
act of his apostasy ; that oath being so expressly
opposed to the Covenant in the cause of which he
had once been so forward aggravating his guilt by
, reference to the case of those of his brethren who
\
\
DEATH OF MENZIES. 355
had never taken that national bond. Then he ex-
claimed, " Though He tread npon me, I will trust to
him for mercy ;" and again, " to have one day
in the pulpit of Aberdeen !" " What would you
do ?" asked his brother-in-law. " I would preach
to the people the difficulty of salvation." Some-
times in his greatest agonies, he would express his
hopes of salvation by Christ, adding, that he hoped
to be saved but so as by fire.
Menzies had the reputation of learning, and dis-
played considerable talent in the popish contro-
versy. His style of preaching was fervid and
popular; but his want of moral courage was a
grievous defect. It was a defect, however, which,
in his case and in that of his colleague, seems to have
been overruled to the preservation of orthodox and
zealous preachers in the pulpits of Aberdeen, (rod
deals not as man; and it maybe, that the ministra-
tions of those men were the source of much good
at the time that their delinquencies shock and dis-
gust us. Menzies died early in 1684. Meldrum
survived the Revolution, and for many years filled
one of the pulpits of Edinburgh, and, latterly, the
divinity chair in the university of that city. "He
was," says Wodrow, " a mighty master of the holy
scripture, and blessed with the greatest talent of
opening them up of any that I ever heard." The
same authority praises his exertions against Epis-
copacy after the Revolution a meed of praise
which is too suggestive of his conduct prior to that
event to be satisfactory. " Should I speak of his
356 CHARACTER OF MELDRTJJI.
singular usefulness in the church judicatories," says
the same authority, " his modest and healing tem-
per, his solidity in teaching, his success in preach-
ing, his excellent conversation, and abounding alms
in charity, I would not soon end. He will make a
bright figure whenever we shall hare the lives of
our Scots ministers."*
We hear little of the wanderings or operations
of any deposed ministers, north of the Dee, until
some years subsequent to the Restoration; yet
there is no doubt that the forbidden mode of wor-
ship in conventicles was frequently resorted to in
some districts. Owing to the general conformity
of that part of the country, it was less the imme-
diate care of government than the southern divi-
sion, and was left to the supervision of the bishops,
who had power to settle with fugitives and recu-
sants of the common sort. In districts not imme-
diately under the episcopal eye especially where
the people were at all favourable there was thus
some chance of a lurking life for the preachers of
the proscribed religion. The traces, for long, are,
however, slight, except in the provinces of Ross
and Moray. In the district of Buchan, in Aber-
deenshire, we merely guess that the conventicles
were not unknown, because of the number of mi-
nisters ejected from the Presbytery of Deer, in
1662, and from the insular position of the county.
* Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, I., 317.
ROSS AND MORAY. 357
But the first, and almost only notice that we hare
of anything of the sort, is in a decreet of privy
council, of date 1674; in which Nathaniel Martin,
an ousted minister of that presbytery, is, along with
others, declared a rebel, for conventicle preaching.
The leaven with which the provinces of Ross
and Moray had been saturated, in some degree,
previous to 1638, had, during the ascendency of
the Covenant, been sustained by the devoted exer-
tions of a few active men, who were, indeed, part
of its own product ; and after the Restoration, the
peculiar energy of highland evangelism was farther
cherished by new banishments. So early as 1666,
we find the Bishop of Ross praying for the removal
of certain westland exiles, resident in Inverness,
Elgin, and the country adjacent, who had " alien-
ated the hearts of many," and " done more evil by
their coming north, by two stages, than they could
have done in their own houses ;" and urging his
prayer by the observation, that, as it regarded the
prospects of prelacy, " the temper of the country
was rather cloudy like." Still, all that can be
gleaned of the history of nonconformity, in that
quarter, consists in a few incidental notices of in-
dividuals.
In 1676, when commissioners were allocated for
the suppression of conventicles, in different parts
of the kingdom, one was appointed to the sees of
Aberdeen, Moray, and Ross ; but of their opera-
tions we have no report. There was a strong under-
current of feeling, in favour of presbyterianism,
358 PROCEEDINGS OF COMMISSION-.
among the gentry of the two provinces last named.
This feeling, which was aggravated by the harsh
measures of government, was, by the same means,
restrained in its development. It did not, in many
instances, show itself in a decided and manly avowal
of the persecuted religion, in the face of all hazards ;
bnt it was experienced by the persecuted ministers,
in a kind and protecting sympathy. One part of
their conduct, indeed, exhibited a mixture of gene-
rosity and prudence which was fraught with danger
to themselves, as it was with safety to the cause
which they loved. In order the more effectually to
discourage field conventicles attendance at which
was a capital offence they threw open their own
houses for the meetings of the persecuted. The
mansions of the lairds of Grant, Innes, Kilravock,
Brodie, Lethin, and Campbell of Calder, were sanc-
tuaries for the oppressed. The gentleman last
mentioned, was at one time bail to the amount of
1500 sterling, for persecuted ministers no small
sum in those days. For twenty years after the
Restoration, the country, by these means, enjoyed
more peace than other districts where presbytery
offered to lift up its head. The Test broke in upon
this state of things, in 1681. This oath^ -the most
degrading that could be offered to a community
was first tendered to all in office, whether civil, ec-
clesiastical, or military ; but, by and by, was made
a fearful engine of persecution against private in-
dividuals. The lives of the poor, and the wealth
of the rich-^-and sometimes their lives also, among
TflE TEST REFUSED. 359
those who had but the least spark of freedom and
common honesty were at once reached by this
tremendous engine. As an oath of allegiance to
" the heirs and lawful successors" of the king in-
cluding, in the first place, the Duke of York, a
fanatical papist it was abhorrent to the feelings
of many who had been subservient enough in other
matters. Even the Bishop of Aberdeen demurred
to its literal and obvious meaning ; and the synod,
with the bishop at their head, condescended upon
a " sense," in which they declared themselves will-
ing to take it. Their first qualification was one
which posterity cannot as yet afford to laugh at ;
it was to the effect, that, in swearing the oath,
as a whole, they were not to be understood as
swearing to every particular contained in it. The
general scruple at this Test called forth an expla-
natory Act from the privy council, and a recom-
mendatory letter from the king. Still, as many
refused it as fairly might have been expected of
the age. Several of the Aberdeen clergy, who had
let the day of grace slip, finding they were about
to be superseded, submitted, and .petitioned the
council to repone them. The petition, with con-
siderate policy, was granted ; and more penitents
came forward. "With the exception of Meldrum,
the whole town's clergy, the professor of divi-
nity in King's College, and several of the country
ministers, thus saved their places.
The north, however, yielded a fair proportion of
ejectments for conscience sake at this crisis. The
360 PROCEEDINGS AT ELGIN".
nonconformity was not confined to the clergy.
Among those heritable jurisdictions which fell to
the crown in consequence of their holders re-
fusing the Test, were the regality of Sutherland,
and the hereditary sheriffship of Cromarty; the
former having been held by the Earl of Sutherland.
The Earl of Findlater, also, showed his fondness
for the good old cause for which his lands had un-
dergone the military execution of Montrose. John
Cummine, minister of Auldearn, and Dean of Moray,
had swallowed the Test. It lay heavy on his con-
science for a whole year ; at the end of which
period he recanted, and retired from his deanry
and his charge. Findlater, to whom he was re-
lated, put him into the church of Cullen ; and
things were so contrived, that he was allowed to re-
main unmolested.
Early in 1685, the progress of the interdicted
opinions induced government to send to the north
a commission for the prosecution of all persons
" guilty of church disorders, and other crimes."
The commissioners were the Earl of Errol, the
Earl of Kintore, and Sir George Munro ; and their
jurisdiction embraced the country lying between
the extreme bounds of Banff and Caithness-shires.
Attended by a troop of militia, they commenced
proceedings at Elgin, the seat of court, by erecting
a gallows, and giving orders that none should leave
the bounds without license. They then proceeded
to receive the addresses and oaths of heritors, life-
renters, and burgesses. Summonses were issued to
PROCEEDINGS AT ELGIN. 361
all known or suspected Presbyterians, and much
pains taken anent certain suspected fugitives, be-
longing to the south ; but no case like rebellion
could be made out against any in the district.
The common charges were, absence from the
parish kirk, and attendance at conventicles. These
were pretence enough for the vengeance of the go-
vernment, and its cupidity on behalf of needy in-
struments. Munro of Fowlis, old and unable to
travel, was ordered to be imprisoned at Tain, and
his son, in case he refused submission, at Inverness.
Ludovic Grant of Freughie was fined 42,000,*
because his wife, during a protracted sickness, had
harboured and listened to a Presbyterian chaplain.
Alexander Brodie of Lethin, and Francis Brodie
of Milton, were fined respectively 40,000, and
10,000, because they refused to swear that they
had not heard a Presbyterian minister. Brodie of
Brodie, for having had a conventicle in his house,
was fined 24,000 ; an amount which, by personal
application at London, he got reduced to one half.
Francis Brodie of "Windy-hills was mulct in 3,333
6s. 8d., James Brodie in Kinlee, 333 6s. 8d.,
Mark Maver, portioner of TJrquhart, 300, and
sentenced to be banished; George Meldrum of Crom-
bie, was fined 6,666 13s. 4d., and also banished.
These larger sums were generally allocated to
court favourites or tools of the government. Le-
thin's was gifted to the Scots popish college at
* The fines are all given in Scots money.
2 A
362 PEOCEEDINGS AT ELGIN.
Douay ; Brodie's of Milton, to dray of Cricliy, as
a reward for having deciphered some of Argyle's
letters. But the Revolution was somehow allowed
to interpose hetween him and payment.
Four of the outed ministers were banished, and
orders issued " to apprehend and send Mr. William
M'Kay, a vagrant preacher in Sutherland, to Edin-
burgh ;" and concerning this department of their
labours, the commissioners in their report flattered
themselves that they had " cleansed the country
from all outed and vagrant preachers." Others
were banished, among whom were a married wo-
man and a female servant. The prosecutions were
numerous. Many of both sexes lay in jail at Elgin ;
multitudes were fined ; and more were under cita-
tion, when the death of the king raised the court,
and, probably, preserved the gallows unfleshed.
All the prisoners were liberated, and prosecution
against those under summons was discontinued.
But although the work was far from finished, the
bishop and clergy of Moray could not do less than
attend the rising of the court in a body, and ex-
press "their hearty thanks for the great pains
and diligence their lordships had used to the good
and encouragement of the church and the clergy
of that place," which they not only did, but in
the fulness of their hearts " begged that the lords
[commissioners] would allow them to represent
their sense and gratitude thereof to the lords
of his majesty's most honourable privy vcouncil."
And having recommended to the local authorities
PROCEEDINGS AT ELGIN. 363
a due enforcement of the law against " church dis-
senters" in their respective districts, the conrt took
leave, and the district began to breathe more freely.
Besides the proceedings of this special commis-
sion, the country suffered much from the proceed-
ings of the sheriffs. Many were brought before
the ordinary courts and fined, and others were pro-
secuted by special warrant. But, as already stated,
the long and gloomy period from 1662 till 1688
cannot be said to have a history in the north. The
suffering party was small ; and many pious and
unostentatious men and women lived, suffered, and
died unnoticed in the obscurity of their station,
except by their fellow-sufferers, or their equally
obscure persecutors. The best record of the times
exists in some incidental portions of the history of
some of the more active ejected ministers, which
have been handed down to us through various
sources, and which we shall gather together in the
next chapter.
2 A2
CHAPTER XIV.
SYNOD OF ROSS MR. HOGG MR. MACGILLIGEN PREACH-
ING AT OBSDALE MACGILLIGEN COMMITTED TO THE
BASS HIS LIBERATION MR. HOGG COMMITTED TO THE
BASS NIMMO DEATH OF HOGG PHASER OF BREA
BEFORE ARCHBISHOP SHARPS COMMITMENT TO THE
BASS HIS STUDIES THERE LIBERATED AGAIN IM-
PRISONED LEAVES SCOTLAND RETURNS AT THE RE-
VOLUTION JAMES SKENE CONCLUSION.
THE most talented and rigorous of the outed mi-
nisters in the north, belonged to the Synod of Ross.
Besides Mr. Hogg, whose case we have already no-
ticed, there were ejected from their charges in this
synod, Mr. John Macgilligeh of Alness, Mr. Thomas
Ross of Kincardine, Mr. Andrew Ross of Tain, and
Mr. Hugh Anderson of Gromarty. Mr. Anderson
retired into private life. The names of the others
shine side by side with those of the noblest and
most active confessors of the south and west. To
these was added, in 1672, Mr. Fraser of Brea, a
man of apostolic fervour, tempered by a rare and
guileless prudence.
HOG& AND MACGILMGEN. 365
The histories of these men, in their labours and
sufferings, are so mingled together that it is diffi-
cult to give them separately without repetition.
Their names are generally found together in the
decreets of privy council issued against conven-
ticle ministers, in which their high crime is duly
set forth, with its penalty of fine, imprisonment,
banishment, or, in the case of field conventicles,
death. Meetings in the field were', however, seldom
resorted to ; but when duty called, these devoted
men feared not to collect their few scattered sheep,
and, occasionally, lead them for safety to the bor-
ders of the wilderness. " There is," says Mr. Hugh
Millar, " a little hollow among the hills, about
three miles from the House of Fowlis, and not
much farther from Alness, in the gorge of which
the eye commands a wide prospect of the lower
lands, and the whole Frith of Cromarty. It lies,
too, on the extreme edge of the cultivated part of
the country, for beyond there stretches only a
brown and uninhabited desert. In this hollow, the
neighbouring Presbyterians used to meet for the
purpose of religious worship."* Truly, the prisons
and heaths of that age received a far nobler con-
secration than its cathedrals.
Hogg and Macgilligen were for long the most
noted leaders of this remnant. It was owing to
the latter, that Ross of Kincardine, and perhaps
Mr. Anderson also, left the prelatic establishment
* Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, p. 168.
366 SOLEMNITIES AT OBSDAIiE.
both haying retained their livings for a short
time after the restoration of Episcopacy. Macgilli-
gen was deposed for absence from diocesan meetings,
refusing to appear on the "bishop's citation, and
preaching, praying, and reasoning against prelacy.
Retiring to his own house at Alness, he preached,
as occasion offered, up and down the country, and
had many narrow escapes from his hunters. Bishop
Paterson, however, to mate amends for the bad
success of his secular assistants, threatened to
speed against him an ecclesiastical thunderbolt, by
which he doubted not to arrest the career or mar
the influence of the recusant. A friend acquainting
him with the intended excommunication, Mr. Mac-
gilligen received the intelligence with the greatest
composure, making significant and playful allusion
to a like undertaking on the part of Balaam, and
to the curses of Shimei harmless to all save the
utterer. This cool anticipation of the spiritual
discharge haying got wind, was so much enjoyed
throughout the province, that the bishop, fearing
to expose the awful authority of the church to the
contempt of the people, reined in his thunder.
In 1675, the brotherhood of preaching pastors
were subjected to the more practical and terrible
sentence of intercommuning ; but neither did this
stop their labours. Many serious persons longed
to partake of the Lord's supper; and those intrepid
men resolved to gratify that desire at the risk of
their lives.
The place chosen was Obsdale, at the house of
SOLEMNITIES AT OBSDALE. 367
the dowager lady of Fowlis. It was on a Sabbath
in autumn; and a great concourse assembled. Mr.
Macgilligen presided, assisted by Messrs. Anderson,
Ross, and Fraser. "There was such a plentiful ef-
fusion of the Spirit," says "Wodrow, " that the
eldest Christians there declared they had never
witnessed the like such an evident presence of
the Master of assemblies that the people seemed in
a transport, their souls filled with heaven, and
breathing thither, while their bodies were upon the
earth :" and who will question, that men met for
such a purpose, and at such a hazard, were not
likely to be blest ? " Even," continues the same au-
thority, " some drops fell on strangers ;" and men-
tion is made of one poor man, who had gone to the
meeting out of curiosity, but who had received such
deep impressions there, that when, on his return,
his neighbours told him his temerity would cost
him his cow and his horse, he replied, that if
Grod would keep up his enjoyment of divine truth,
he should be content to lose not only his cow and
Ms horse, but his head also.
"While this solemn scene was passing at Obsdale,
the sheriff, instigated by the bishop on a previous
information, had dispatched a party of officers to
arrest Mr. Macgilligen. Having been misinformed
of the rendezvous, the party went straight to Mr.
Macgilligen's residence, thinking to catch him in
the fact ; but missing their prey, they fell to pil-
laging the orchard. At this employment they con-
tinued till the forenoon service was over, and
368 MR. MACGILLIGEN.
notice of their expedition liad been carried to those
whom it concerned. When at last they reached
the place of meeting, all things "were prepared for
them their prey had disappeared. The searchers
returned to their disappointed masters ; and the
services of the day -were resumed and finished
without interruption.
Living a sort of fugitive life, Mr. Macgilligen
was next year called upon to baptize a child of his
brother's ; and venturing to remain all night in the
house, his mind became unusually impressed with
the danger of his situation. "With a foreboding
heart he went to rest, but visions of danger haunted
his sleeping thoughts. He dreamt a first, second,
and third time, that a party had come to apprehend
him. Being no believer in dreams, he endeavoured
to shake off all gloomy apprehensions ; but all
things combined to impress him with the feeling
that bonds and imprisonments awaited him. He
arose early to commit himself to the care of his
heavenly Father, by a solemn act of devotion ; but
had scarcely got out of bed when three men entered
the apartment, to carry him prisoner to Fortrose.
He was carried thence to Nairn. The latter place
had a notable sheriff at that time Sir Hugh Camp-
bell of Calder. According to information presented
against him before the privy council, this sheriff
took his prisoner into his house in the capacity of
chaplain, and allowed him to preach, keep conven-
ticles, and " commit other disorders." Both were
summoned to Edinburgh ; and Mr. Macgilligen was
MR. MACGILMGEK. 369
committed to the Bass. "What punishment was
awarded to the sheriff is not known ; but the Earl
of Seaforth was severely reprimanded for conniving
at his delinquency. Thomas Hogg was at the same
time conveyed a prisoner from Moray, and com-
mitted to the tolbooth of Edinburgh.
For a time after his committal to the Bass, Mr.
Macgilligen, with other ministers, prisoners there,
was allowed pretty much the " liberty of the rock."
But this did not last long. He was soon shut up
more closely, and compelled to make his bed, cook
his meals, and do all servile offices for himself.
But, says he, " the upper springs flowed sweetly
while the nether springs were imbittered." He
rejoiced in tribulation. " Since I have been a pri-
soner, I have dwelt at ease and lived securely."
Through the intervention of Lord M'Leod, who had
made an incidental visit to the Bass, he was allowed
the privilege of an occasional walk on the rock. It
was by the hardships of this imprisonment that he
contracted a disease which attended him through
many days of pain, and latterly proved his death.
He was discharged in 1679 the friendly sheriff of
Nairn standing his bail.
In 1683, Mr. Macgilligen again appeared before
the privy council, charged with keeping conven-
ticles, and the irregular celebration of marriages
and baptisms. He began a defence, but his accus-
ers and judges, fearing the effect of truth or elo-
quence on the by-standers, cut him short. Being
restricted to the alternative of simply pleading
3?0 ME. MACGILLIGEK.
guilty, or not guilty, to a libel of mingled trutli
and falsehood, he refused to depone ; and his re-
fusal was held to be a confession. The sentence
was a fine of fire thousand merks, with security to
the same amount that his crimes should not be re-
peated, or that he should leave the kingdom. This
was considered too slight a punishment by some of
the more rabid members of council, who happened
to be absent ; and means were used to procure mat-
ter for a new libel, but Avithout success.
In default of the fine, Mr. Macgilligen was impri-
soned at first in the tolbooth of Edinburgh. Here,
says Wodrow, "he was the son of consolation to
many, yea, the jailors themselves grieved when he
was removed to the Bass." On that barren rock
he again rejoiced in tribulation. "While he mused
on the power, love, and promises of God, he " en-
joyed the assurance of pardon," and was comforted
with the hopes of mercy ;" and as to prospects of
deliverance for himself and the suffering church,
his views seem ever to have been bright and cheer-
ful. " This top of the rock," says he, " was to me a
Peniel, where in some measure the Lord's face was
seen."
After three years' imprisonment, he fell danger-
ously ill, and was allowed to be removed to a
chamber in Edinburgh till he should recover; a
favour which he obtained through the interest of
M'Kenzie of Tarbet. Soon after, an order was ob-
tained for his entire liberation. The precious do-
cument, however, by some oversight, had not received
MR. THOMAS HOGft. 371
the necessary subscription ; and when application
was made for a new warrant, Bishop Paterson
availed himself of the opportunity thus alforded to
have it clogged, or rather neutralized, with a bond
for his reappearance on a given day, or to enter his
confinement, as formerly, under a heavy penalty.
On this he returned home, and was received with
unspeakable joy by his people, who flocked around
him from all corners. Being seized with a return
of the disease contracted in the Bass, his appearance
before the council was saved at first appointment ;
and before the arrival of the day to which it was
postponed, the remission of James II., brought in
with the crafty " indulgence" of that monarch, set
him entirely at liberty. A meeting house was now
built on his property, and his people gave him a
complete maintenance. But the hardships of im-
prisonment had taken fatal hold of his constitution ;
and he died, June 8, 1689, at Inverness, whither
he had gone for medical advice.
No less known to the privy council than the good
man on whose history we have just touched, was
Mr. Hogg of Kiltearn. In the warrants of that
terrible tribunal, he is called " a notorious keeper
of conventicles." The walls of a prison were fami-
liar to him. Once, when on the Bass, he became so
sickly that his physician and the lay lords of the
council urged his liberation ; when, in place of re-
lease, he was, on the motion of Sharpe, backed by
the other prelates, thrown into the lowest vault of
that dreary and filthy prison. Here, however, in-
372 HOGG AND NIMMO.
stead of perishing, as was probably expected, he
recovered, to the astonishment of friends and ene-
mies. In aftertimes, when the archbishop happened
to be mentioned in his presence with disapprobation,
he used to say, " Commend me to him for a good
physician." Among his other restraints, we find
him confined to Kintyre under penalty of a thou-
sand merks.
James Nimmo, a refugee from the south, was a
dear friend of Mr. Hogg's, and had such a venera-
tion for him that in his diary he usually calls him
" blessed Mr. Hogg." He speaks of his friend as
a man " endued with much of the mind of Grod ;"
of a clear judgment ; courteous and affable, yet
reproving sin in all with such authority and wis-
dom that the godly loved him, and his enemies
could find nothing against him, except in the mat-
ters of his Grod in which he would not " bate a
hoof" managing all things with such discretion
that they often admired him.
When Mmmo was about to be married, a diffi-
culty occured common to the nonconformists of
those days. The good man was not clear about
having the banns proclaimed by an Episcopal
official ; and, perhaps, scruples apart, that was not
a very safe course for one in his circumstances.
But none of the outed ministers in the neighbour-
hood would venture to marry him without the
necessary preliminary, till at last Mr. Hogg,
although at liberty under bond and penalty, under-
took to serve his friend. The risk was great to
HOGG AND NIMAIO. 3?3
all concerned ; and the newly married pair had to
lire apart for a while to prevent suspicion.
Nimmo was, soon after his marriage, obliged
to flee ; and Mr. Hogg was summoned to Edin-
burgh, and by an Act of council sentenced to leaye
the kingdom within forty-eight hours. He was
indeed offered six weeks to prepare for removal,
provided he would come under an obligation to
cease from all exercise of his ministerial function
during that interval. But he told their lordships
that, " as he had his commission from Grod, he
would not bind himself up one hour, if the Lord
gave him opportunity and strength ;" and calling
a coach to the tolbooth door, drove straight to
Berwick on Tweed where his friend, Nimmo, had
also found refuge. Here, however, the friends
were not out of danger. Their houses were near
to each other; and one day both were alarmed by
intelligence that the town was to be generally and
strictly searched. After dinner, the gates were
shut by the garrison, and the search began.
Dwelling houses, out-houses, and hay lofts were
visited the contents of the latter being carefully
turned over. The searchers began at the house
next that to which the friends had retired on the
alarm, and proceeded onward from it; so that it
was the last visited a circumstance of much im-
portance in the result. Mr. Hogg hid himself be-
hind the curtains in a bed-closet ; and Nimmo
retired to a pigeon house above the forestairs,
where he could only sit or lie. In these awkward
hiding places they remained in suspense till evening.
374 HOG& AND NIMMO.
At last the soldiers came ; and the landlord,
meeting them in the door, with well feigned suavity
entreated them to turn in and have a draught of
beer after their fatiguing labours. To this they
cheerfully assented, when mine host " did carry it
pleasantly and diverted them for some time ;"
among other things telling th.em with great frank-
ness, that " an old woman, his mother, lived in the
lodging beside him, and if they pleased they
might go in and see that there was no one else
there." But they said they would not trouble the
old gentlewoman ; and thinking it unnecessary, or
that it would be ungracious to search at that time
of night the house of so pleasant a fellow, they de-
parted after having refreshed themselves. No
sooner had he got rid of his visitors than the gene-
rous landlord ran to the hiding places of his guests,
seized them in his arms, and acquainted them with
their merciful deliverance.
Soon after this, Mr. Hogg got over to Holland ;
but coming to London about the time of Monmouth's
expedition, he was seized as a spy, and detained a
short time in prison. On his liberation, he retired
to the land of his exile. But even there, fugitives
and banished persons were far from safe. At
Rotterdam, several were kidnapped, shipped for
England, and there hanged or otherwise disposed
of; others, with sword in hand, felt themselves
called on to resist unto blood the invaders of their
personal liberty, so that the magistrates of the
place were obliged to interfere. Nimmo joined
ME. ERASER OF BKEA. 375
his friend at the Hague, haying carried an Tin-
baptized child with him, that it might receive the
sacred rite at his hands. It was the third infant
member of the family to whom Mr. Hogg had
administered the ordinance of baptism ; and these
had been baptized in as many different king-
doms a singular instance of friendship, as well as
a remarkable illustration of the times. At the Re-
volution, King William, in consideration of his
talents, worth, and sufferings, advanced Mr. Hogg
to be one of his chaplains. He died in 1692: At
his own request, his grave was dug at the threshold
of the parish church of Kiltearn, " that his people
might regard him as a sentinel placed at the door ;"
and the idea of the careful pastor was farther
carried out in the singular inscription on his grave-
stone : " THIS. STONE. SHALL. BEAR. WITNESS.
AG-AINST. THE. PARISHIONERS. OF. KILTEARN. IF.
THEY. BRING-. ANE. UNGODLY. MINISTER. IN. HERE."
Mr. Fraser, from various circumstances in his
social position and history, stands at the head of
the persecuted ministers of the north. His father
was proprietor of the small estate in Cromarty,
the name of which is commonly attached to his
own. He was born in 1639 the year after the
celebrated Glasgow Assembly. Having spent his
early youth in fighting against convictions, he was,
in his seventeenth or eighteenth year, brought to
decision in the matter of personal religion. All
the steps in his progress towards this happy con-
376 ME. FEASEE OF BREA
summation, lie details "with a wonderful analytic
power, displaying great knowledge of the human
heart ; and this tracing out of the hidden springs
and gradual progress of the inner life, he carries
down till subsequent to the period of his entry on
the ministry. The writing itself of the book-
which, for some of the higher qualities necessary
to such a composition, deserves to be classed with
that burning record of an awakened soul, Bun-
yan's " Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"
had, as the author's first object, a beneficial in-
fluence on his own heart and intellect.
Being in Edinburgh, in 1663, he fell in with
some Quakers, and was much taken with their
system. On farther consideration, however, he re-
jected it ; and on a subsequent occasion he expresses
his detestation of Quakerism in the strong terms
common to that age. About the same time he began
to have doubts of the propriety, or rather lawful-
ness, of hearing curates ; and soon decided that he
could no longer hear them in the same year in
which an Act of Parliament made it treason for
any one to absent himself from his parish church.
He had made up his mind to cast in his lot with
the suffering Presbyterians.
But his convictions were not set at rest by a
bold avowal of the forbidden religion. By and by,
he felt that God had gifted, trained, and called
him to the work of the ministry ; and after a severe
scrutiny of his own heart, he obeyed its promptings,
and the importunities of the persecuted ministers.
INEERCOHMUU'ED. 377
This was in 1672. In the same year he was
married to a lady, whose friends "being people of
influence, frequently stood him in good stead in the
evil days that followed. There was a lull at that
time ; and there was scarcely a week in which he
did not preach three or four times. He lived then
in the south country.
The days of quiet did not last long. Scarcely
had he taken on himself the responsibilities of do-
mestic life, when he was summoned before the
council for keeping conventicles, and outlawed for
non-appearance. Soon after, we find his name
among those of some hundreds who were intercom-'
muned. By this barbarous sentence, hitherto
attached only to crimes of the deepest dye, the
victims were, by intent, placed beyond the bounds
of civil and social life all men, even the nearest
relatives, being forbidden to speak with, shelter,
or administer to 'them the slightest assistance or
comfort, under the severest penalty. Like all ex-
treme measures, this failed of its desired end. The
persecuted party were thus pressed closer together ;
and most that the bishops gained was a deeper
and still more general detestation. Notwith-
standing this fearful sentence, Mr. Fraser lived
and travelled, ministered and was ministered unto.
He had frequently to flee from one hiding-place to
another, and was often interrupted in the act of
preaching by the approach of soldiers to apprehend
him ; yet he escaped the rage and cunning of his
enemies, Grod adding to the approval of his con-
2s
378 ME. FEASEB OP BEEA
t
science the rewards of a fruitful ministry. His
nest was also warm at home, when he could get
there. He loved his wife with an impassioned
fondness ; and she knew and felt the value of the
extraordinary man whose lot she had made her
own. " In her," says he, " did I behold as in a
glass, the Lord's love to me : "by her were the sor-
rows of my pilgrimage sweetened ; and she made
me frequently so forget my sorrows and griefs, that
I was sometimes tempted to say, ' It is good for me
to be here.'"
But what the arm of persecution failed to reach,
the all-wise and merciful God saw meet to touch
more directly with the finger of his providence.
Only four years after his marriage, while absent in
Northumberland, Mr. Eraser received intelligence
that his wife was sick of a fever. He hastened
home in " an extraordinary cloud of horror," and
found she had died a few hours before his arrival
having in vain " called upon him during the
greater part of her sickness."
Now he was free indeed. The noble principle
which had all along animated him, had unbounded
scope. His affections, having now no earthly lot
or stay, flowed onward with all the intensity of his
ardent nature toward the objects of his spiritual
care. Bold, talented, and popular, he was one of
those whom the government especially feared and
hated, and he was classed along with other two for
whose apprehension large sums were offered. His
prudence, however, was equal to his courage ; and
BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 379
for two years and a half after letters of intercom-
muning were issued against him he contrived to
elude the vigilance of his pursuers. His time at
length came. It was on a Sabbath, in January,
1677- He had spent the day at the house of a
friend, in Edinburgh, where he frequently preached .
Hounded on by Sharpe, the town major had seen ed
out the place of Mr. Fraser's retreat. He could even
afford a little outlay on the affair ; for the arch-
bishop had proffered an addition to the govern-
ment reward from his own privy purse. So he
managed to corrupt a servant of the family. It
was ten o'clock at night ; the domestic supper had
been finished ; and Mr. Fraser was closing the sa-
cred day, by " recommending the house and family
to God by prayer," when he was interrupted by
the entry of officers, and carried to prison.
Great was the joy of the archbishop as he dis-
missed the major, at midnight, with a present; and
much did he long for the morning light, at the
earliest dawn of which, with a morbid anxiety for
the security of his victim, he sent word to the
jailor to hold fast his charge, and keep him close,
that no man might have access to him. That day,
Mr. Fraser was brought before a committee of the
privy council, and verbally charged with sedition,
" rending the church of Christ, and holding field
conventicles." It will give some idea of the "trials,"
as they were called, of the nonconformists of that
age, if it is mentioned that, in most cases, a written
indictment was considered altogether unnecessary ;
2B2
380 MR. ERASER OF BRBA
and as to proof, when that was considered essential,
the alleged criminal was, if possible, made to fur-
nish it, by plying him with ensnaring questions
answers to which were often extracted by the boot
or thurnbkins. The reader will also recollect, that
field conventicles one of the counts in Mr. Fraser's
verbal indictment, to be tffus sustained was a
capital oifence.
The committee, in general, were very civil, and
did not seem disposed to deal towards him with
peculiar harshness ; but Sharpe, who had great in-
fluence among them, opened against the prisoner in
a terrible invective, aggravating all his alleged of-
fences, and making him appear a very odious and
detestable criminal. Mr. Fraser, in reply, avowed
that it had been his practice, as God gave him op-
portunity, and independent of a bishop's license, to
preach " repentance toward God, and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ ;" and that so far was he
from being either terrified or ashamed to own it,
that, although of no mean extraction, yet he gloried
most in, and counted it his greatest honour " to
serve God in the gospel of las Son." As for his
loyalty, he cared not " although the principles of
his heart were as visible and perceptible to their
lordships as the external lineaments and traits of
his countenance." He maintained his right to
preach in the house or in the field; but as to making
any confession on the point of fact especially re-
garding the latter, to which they had attached the
penalty of death he was resolved that no one
BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 381
should make him guilty of such a "weakness. If
they thirsted after his life, he, at all events, should
not reach them the weapon. He also flatly re-
fused to divulge the names of those who had or-
dained him ; that being a matter involving others.
All the other charges and ensnaring questions he
met with a courage, skill, and presence of mind
that drew repeated compliments from his inquisi-
tors. But, determined not to he baffled, Sharpe
turned even the talents and learning of his victim
into grounds of severity ; urging on his brother-
councillors the danger of allowing such a man to
go at large. The progress of the trial had been
very unsatisfactory to the archbishop. The bold
and skilful address of the prisoner, and his frank
and unexpected professions of loyalty, were equally
disconcerting. Mr. Fraser, from principle, had
also withheld his titles from the spiritual lord
during the whole proceedings. A member of coun-
cil, seemingly out of compassion to the feelings of
the aggrieved primate, charged the prisoner with
ill-manners ; to which the latter, while he gave his
reasons for the omission, replied, good-humouredly,
that he confessed he was but a rude man, but
hinted that the charge was scarcely worthy of the
occasion.
He was remanded, and left alone filled, at
first, with melancholy apprehensions; " But, in my
darkness," says he, " the Lord was a light round
about me ; him they could not shut out." He
slept soundly and sweetly till six o'clock the fol-
382 MR. FKASEK OF BftEA
lowing morning ; when he was awakened by his
jailor, and, in company with another prisoner, con-
veyed to the Bass, by a guard of twelve horse and
thirty foot. On that solitary rock, he and his
companion were received by the officer of a garrison
consisting of eighteen to twenty soldiers. Mr. Fra-
ser's description of this djeary Patmos of the Co-
venanters is so interesting, and so illustrative of
many a captivity of those times, that we make no
apology for inserting it.
" The Bass is a very high rock in the sea, two
miles distant from the nearest point of land, which
is south of it ; covered it is with grass on the up-
permost parts thereof, where is a garden where
herbs grow, with some cherry trees, of the fruit of
which I several times tasted ; below which garden
there is a chapel for divine service ; but, in re-
gard no minister was allowed for it, the ammuni-
tion of the garrison w-as kept therein. Landing
here is very difficult and dangerous ; for, if any
storm blow, ye cannot enter because of the violence
of the swelling waves, which beat with a wonderful
noise upon the rock, and sometimes in such a vio-
lent manner, that the broken waves reverberating
on the rock with a mighty force, have come up
over the walls of the garrison on the court before
the prisoners' chambers, which is about twenty
cubits height ; and with a full sea you must land ;
or, if it be ebb, yon must be either cranned up,* or
* Drawn up by means of a. crane.
IN" THE BASS. 383
climb with hands and feet up some steps artificially
made on the rock, and must have help besides of
those who are on the top of the rock, who pull you
by the hand : nor is there any place of landing but
one about the whole rock, which is of circumference
some three quarters of a mile here you may land
in a fair day and full sea without great hazard
the rest of it on every side being so high and steep;
only, on the south side thereof, the rock falls a
little level, where you ascend several steps till you
come to the governor's house, and from that some
steps higher you ascend to a level court, where a
house for prisoners and soldiers is ; whence like-
wise, by windings cut out of the rock, there is a
path leading you to the top of the rock, whose
height doth bear off all north, east, and west storms,
lying open only to the south ; and on the upper-
most parts of the rock there is grass sufficient to
feed twenty or twenty-four sheep, who are there
very fat and good. In these uppermost parts of
the rock were sundry walks, of some threescore
feet length, and some very solitary, where we some-
times entertain ourselves. The accessible places
were defended with several walls and cannon placed
on them, which compassed only the south parts.
The rest of the rock is defended by nature, by the
huge height and steepness of the rock, being some
forty cubits high in the lowest place. It was a
part of a country gentleman's inheritance, which,
falling from hand to hand, and changing many
masters, it was at last bought by the king, who re-
384 MR. FRASER OF BREA
paired the old houses and walls, and built some new
houses for prisoners ; and a garrison of twenty or
twenty-four soldiers are sufficient, if courageous, to
defend it from millions of men, and only expug-
nable by hunger. It is commanded by a lieutenant,
who does reap thereby some considerable profit,
which, besides his pay, may be one hundred pounds
a-year and better. There is no fountain-water
therein, and they are only served with rain that
falls out of the clouds, and is preserved in some
hollow caverns digged out of the rock. Their drink
and provisions are carried from the other side by a
boat, which only waits on the garrison, and hath a
a salary of six pounds yearly for keeping up the
same, besides what they get of those persons that
come either to see the prisoners, or are curious to
see the garrison. Here fowls of several sorts are
to be found, who build in the clefts of the rock;
the most considerable of which is the solan goose,
whose young well fledged, ready to fly, are taken,
and so yield near one hundred pounds yearly, and
might be muchmore, were they carefully improved."*
In this melancholy place Mr. Fraser endured
many sufferings. " It was sad," as he himself re-
marks, " to be cast out of the vineyard of Grod as
useless; to be cut off from the society of those
whose company was sweet ; and to be brought into
close and revolting contact with profane and ob-
* Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. James Fraser of Brea,
written by himself, 291 293 I2mo., G. & R. King, Aberdeen.
IN THE BASS. 385
scene men." " It was then," says he, " that the
days of old, when the candle of Grod shined upon
my tabernacle ; when my wife, children, and rela-
tions were about me, when I went with the multi-
tude that kept holy day ; then, I say, did these
things of old come and assault my remembrance
with a sensible affecting grief." The living was
also hard. Water was sold at an exorbitant price ;
and sometimes in the spring season, the sole diet
of the prisoners was some dried fish, with a portion
of putrid or snow-water sprinkled with a little
oatmeal for drink. The governor, too, and officers
of the garrison made their unfortunate charge feel
the effects of petty tyranny in all its malicious
varieties. They broke up the common meals of the
prisoners, thereby increasing the expense of living,
and forbade at times the exercise of social worship.
Sometimes they would shut them closely up, and
not allow them to speak to each other ; and, again,
they would allow them to meet together, but would
themselves mingle in their company, and vex them
with blasphemous jests, or seek to entrap them
by introducing the discussion of public questions.
The servants of the prisoners were also turned off,
and they obliged to seek the services of others
whose characters they knew not. These, the sol-
diers debauched ; the officers treating such affairs
with malicious ridicule, and in one instance reward-
ing the criminal party.
But even here, his lot, dark as it appeared, was
sprinkled with many blessings ; and he had much
386 MK. FKASER OP BREA
real enjoyment. He had health, a good conscience,
and support under all his trials. "When the caprice
of his jailors did not interfere, he would pace
the solitary terrace walks that skirted the precipi-
ces, and muse in silent joy amid the thunders of
surge that lashed the base of the rock doubtless
feeling that his strength and consolation lay in
Him whose whisper is equally powerful to " still
the noise of the waves, and the tumults of the
people." He had, too, occasional visits of friends ;
and a new prisoner for Christ's sake and the gos-
pel's, brought his contribution of love and social
sympathy to the little circle of dwellers on the
rock. As soon, also, as he was settled in his pri-
son he formed a resolution and plan for self-im-
provement, viewing his imprisonment as a special
opportunity to that end. Besides conducting social
worship and exhorting twice a-day, when " his mas-
ters" allowed it, and writing many letters, and some
religious treatises, he meditated, prayed, and read
the scriptures much in private ; he read in divi-
nity ; and he set himself diligently to the study
of Hebrew and Greek ; so that on his release, at
the end of two years and a half, he left the Bass
a no less zealous, and a more accomplished preacher
than he was at the period of commitment. He
owed his liberty to the lawless justice of Sharpe's
assassins. While that arch-enemy lived, no sup-
plication could avail. His death, and the sad af-
fair of Bothwell induced a sort of indemnity to all
mere nonconformists who were in bonds. Mr.
SUMMONED BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 38?
Eraser, however, refused to give his promise that
he would not continue to preach when and where
he chose, and so had to find security for his reap-
pearance at the call of the privy council.
He returned with renewed vigour to his laborious
and perilous vocation ; and again persecution waxed
hot. The Duke of York, a cruel bigot, came down
to Scotland, apparently to enjoy the luxury of wit-
nessing the application of the boot and thumbkin.
The prelates had scarcely such a leader in the
council, even in Sharpe. In his wanderings, Mr.
Fraser had gone south; and as he returned, he
preached in a barn. Hearing that he had been
guilty of a field conventicle, the council were about
to cite him and his surety but on better informa-
tion the citation was allowed to sleep. At this
time, Mr. Fraser lay sick of an ague ; and his terri-
fied security, naturally desirous of making the most
of this circumstance, represented it to the Lord
Advocate. He mistook the nature of the bishops.
The news had no sooner reached them, than, grasp-
ing with eager delight an opportunity of insuring
a forfeit of the bail-bond, securing a second out-
lawry, and, perhaps, punishing a cautioner who
was something whiggish, they forwarded the cita-
tion in all haste. But they also were mistaken.
It was indeed a serious case. Mr. Fraser had
preached in a barn ; but if only one man, woman,
or child, had stood hearing outside, or lingered
about the door from any cause, it was afield con-
venticle ; the penalty was death ; and the law was
388 ME. TEASER OF BKEA
administered by parties who Lad few scruples about
the means of conviction. But God had unexpect-
edly renewed the health of the noble-hearted con-
fessor. He rose from his bed, and, determined to
die rather than injure his security, he, in spite of
the remonstrances of his friends, resolutely tra-
velled from Ross to Edinburgh in the depth of
winter. To the amazement of the council, he
appeared before them within the time specified in
the citation.
Mr. Fraser was, on this occasion, favoured with
a written indictment, but was denied time to pre-
pare his defence. His extemporaneous pleadings
before the council were managed with such spirit
and talent, that the lay members would have dis-
charged him especially as he was free to purge
himself, by oath, of the heaviest charge in his libel.
The bishops, however, would not part with him so
easily ; and the matter being referred to them, he
was sentenced to pay a fine of 5000 merles ; to find
security that he would preach no more in Scotland,
or to leave the country; and to be remanded to
prison in the meantime till the fine and security
were produced. This sentence was pronounced
amid the murmurs of the by-standers, who were
much affected by his defence; some even of the mem-
bers of privy council were heard to declare that it
was " hard measure."
In Edinburgh tolbooth, Mr, Fraser spent six
weeks rather comfortably, having daily visits from
good people of all classes, not excepting even a few
EXILED FROM SCOTLAND. 389
persons of rank. At the end of that period he -was
removed to Blackness castle, the governor of -which,
being young, ignorant, drunken, and capricious,
frequently subjected his prisoner to unnecessary
and illegal hardships and privations. After seven
weeks confinement here, his brother-in-law, unknown
to Mr. Fraser, seizing the opportunity of the absence
of the Duke of York, and Paterson, bishop of Ross,
presented a supplication to the council for his re-
lease, which was successful. His fine was remitted,
on condition that he should immediately quit the
kingdom.
The thoughts of exile were sad. But behold the
superiority of the Christian citizenship. " A godly
manin England or Ireland," saidourexile to himself,
"is more my countryman than a wicked Scotch-
man ;" and for the rest, adds he, " surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me." He soon became
busy in London, holding meetings in private fami-
lies, and assisting one of the Calamys in preaching.
From the latter he received the first pecuniary ac-
knowledgement that ever he had touched as a Chris-
tian minister. In Scotland, he had ministered and
lived entirely at his own charges, but his circum-
stances were now altered, and his means seemed
unequal to his support.
But he Jiad been in London only thirteen months
when he was (July 1683) seized on suspicion of
being concerned in the Rye-house plot. The khig
and Duke of York were present at his examination,
which embraced subjects innumerable what he
390 MR. ERASER'S DEATH.
knew of this tiling or person, and "what he thought
of that. Mr. Fraser, with a bold and courteous
magnanimity, answered, for it was a question put
by the king himself that called forth the reply,
that as to his actions he frankly submitted them to
the cognizance of lawful authority ; but his thoughts
he reserved for the judgment of a higher tribunal,
and declined being a precedent to any of his ma-
jesty's subjects in giving an account of them judi-
cially, especially when they involved other per-
sons." Refusing to take what was called "the
Oxford oath," he was committed to Newgate.
There he remained sis months ; and after his ex-
perience of Scotch prisons, he found that celebrated
place of durance so pleasant, that had it not been
that he was shut up from ministerial usefulness,
he did not think his imprisonment worthy of the
name of suffering.
On his release, he returned to his former mode
of life ; preaching when and where he had oppor-
tunity, and filling up every interval with diligent
study. At the lie volution, he accepted the call of
the people of Culross to take the pastoral oversight
of them ; and in that charge he lived a useful and
venerated minister till the end of the century..*
v'
*
* It is pleasing to see two such worthies as Fraser and Boston
brought together. When the latter was a young man, he re-
ceived an invitation to assist Mr. Fraser ou a. communion occa-
sion, and preached in the kirk-yard of Culross. This was in
1698. " I think," says Mr. Boston, " that holy and learned
man died not very long after." Memoirs, 40.
MK. JAMES SKENE. 391
"We ought not to omit some reference to Mr.
James Skene, brother to the laird of Skene, in
Aberdeenshire, who was seized in November, 1680.
"He was but lately," says Wodrow, "brought over
to follow the gospel preached by Presbyterian mi-
nisters ; and coming south not many weeks ago,
fell in with some of Mr. Cargill's followers, and
upon hearing him was much taken, and for some
little time he haunted his sermons, but was no way
concerned in Bothwell, Ayrs-moss, or Tortrood ex-
communication, these all being before he came
south. He was soon informed against, and taken
up as a hearer of Mr. Cargill. "When brought be-
fore the council, he could only be staged for hearing
Mr. Cargill, which he owned, as likewise his opinion
anent the lawfulness of the rising at Bothwell, and
Ayrs-moss, and did not disapprove of the Sanquhar
and Q,ueensferry papers. Upon which he was re-
mitted to the justiciary to be tried for his life,
though, except in point of opinion, he was accessary
to none of these." While in the tolbooth of Edin-
burgh, Mr. Skene wrote very faithful letters to
friends in the north, who shrunk from what he
reckoned duty. " ! this hath been many times
a sad heart to me (he said) ; ye have looked more to
the credit of men than the glory of our great Lord
God. * * * Your estates you cannot part
with ; your credit and pleasures, and your quiet in
the world, you will not part with ; you will rather
imagine arguments to cheat yourselves in defending
yourpracticeSj that are clear breaches of covenant.
392 ' ME. JAMES SKEJTE.
If your too great carnal love to the "world did net
blind you, and your unwillingness to quit yonr life
for Christ, which soon will conie to an end, how-
ever, with less comfort than you would certainly
have when you adventure all for our "blessed Lord."
As to himself, he said, " My Lord comforts me,
and I leave all on him to bear me through this
storm, through the valley and shadow of death."
James Skene was found guilty, not of criminal
acts, but of certain opinions in favour of the insur-
rections which had just taken place; and, for these
opinions, was put to death on the 1st of December.
There is not a little in the sentiments which he
avowed on his trial, and which he maintained in
his letters to his friends, which must be given up
as indefensible. The remarks of Wodrow on the
subject are candid and just. " Some of his ways of
expressing of himself as to those heads he was but
lately acquainted with, in his fervent zeal, are so
liable to exception, that the collectors of that book
[The Cloud of Witnesses] find it proper to caution
their readers with some marginal notes, for clearing
the sense in which they would have them taken. I
aui very unwilling to say any thing that may seem
harsh upon the expressions of any of these, who, from
a sincere regard to the truth, suffered in this period ;
no doubt some of them were liable to mistakes in some
things ; for my share, I cannot but loathe the seve-
rity, craft, and cunning of the persecutors, which
drove them to such a length in those matters,
ME. JAMES SKENE. 393
which I yet cannot see how to vindicate."* " Upon
this occasion," says "Wodrow, " once for all, I take
the liberty to notice, that "* * the collectors
of ' The Cloud of Witnesses' have not duly con-
sidered the consequences of propaling such a col-
lection of letters, answers, and testimonies, in such
an age as this is ; and what advantages their adver-
saries, and the common enemies of religion, may
make of several expressions in them now made
public." Our author closes an ingenuous and dis-
criminate digression on the subject, in these words
" I shall only wish that papists and prelatists
may have no ground from what is gathered together
here, to bespatter the Protestant religion, and Pres-
byterians in the general. I have made this reflec-
tion, not as a tach upon the persons who suffered in
the period before me ; for I am sensible much may
be said in their defence, at least for alleviating
what heights they went to, which, in the meantime,
will not lessen the indiscretion of publishing all
they have writ and said ; but merely to prevent, if
possible, the ill consequences which may follow to
religion in general, and to take away any occasion
some may hence take of charging this Church with
what is now published, as the sentiments of Pres-
byterians."
These remarks save us from the necessity of ex-
plaining our own views on the subject to which
they refer. The men whom it has been our de-
light to honour have laid the church of Christ and
* Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, III., 226.
394
their country under the deepest obligations. "We
reap now the fruits of their struggles. But they
were not infallible either in opinion or in action.
" And this we speak," to use the words of Jaffray,
"without any derogation to those worthy men
nay, we verily judge, that if these holy men were
alive in our times, they would exceedingly offend
at us" were we "to sit down in their dawning light."
APPENDIX.
A.
LIST OF NORTHERN MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
WHICH MET IN GLASGOW IN 1638.
[See RECOKDS OF THE KIRK, pp. 110, 11].]
Presbyterie of Aberdene.
M. David Lyndesay minister at Balhelvie.
M. William Guild minister at Aberdene.
lames Skien of that ilk, Elder.
M. lohn Lundie Humanist for the Univer. of Aberd.
Presb. of Deir.
M. Andrew Cant minister at Pitsligo.
M. lames Martine minister at Peterhead.
M. Alexander Martine minister at Deir.
Alexander Fraser of Fillorth, Elder.
Presb. of Alfurd.
M. lohn Young min. at Keig.
M. lohn Rldfurd minister at Kinbettock.
M. Andrew Strachan minister at Tillineshill.
M. Michaell Elphinstoun of Balabeg, Elder.
Presb. of Turreffe.
M. Thomas Michell minister at Turreffe.
M. William Dowglasse minister at Forg.
M. Geo. Sharpe min. at Fyvie.
Walter Barclay of Towie, Elder.
396 APPENDIX.
Presb. of Kinkairne.
M. Alexander Robertson minister at Clunie.
Presb. of GariocJt.
M. William Wedderburn minister at Bathelnie.
Andrew Baird, burges of Bamfe.
Presb. of Forresse.
M. William Falconer minister at Dyke.
M. lohn Hay min. at Raffert.
M. David Dumbar minister at Edinkaylly.
William Rosse of Clova, Elder.
M. lohn Dumbar, Bailie of Forresse.
Presb. of Innernesse.
M. lohn Howisoun minister at Wartlaw.
M. Patrick Dumbar minister at Durris.
lames Fraser of Bray, Elder.
Robert Bailie, Bailie of Innernesse.
Presb. of Tain.
M. Gilbert Murray minister at Tain.
M. William Mackeinyie minister at Tarbet.
M. Hector Monro minister in nether Taine.
Sir lohn Mackenzie of Tarbet, Elder.
M. Thomas Mackculloch, Bailie of Taine.
Presb. of DingwalL
M. David Monro minister at Kiltairne.
M. Murdoch Mackeinyie minister at Containe.
lohn Monro of Lumlair, Elder.
Presb. of Dornoch in Sutherland.
M. Alexander Monro minister at Golspie.
M. William Gray min. at Clyne.
George Gordon, brother to the Earle of Sutherland,
Elder.
APPENDIX. 397
Presb. of Thurso in Caithnes.
M. George Lesly minister at Bower.
M. lohn Smairt.
lohn Murray of Pennyland, Elder.
Presb. ofKirhwalin Orkney.
M. David Watson minister at the Kirk of the Yle of
Wastrey.
M. Walter Stewart minister at the Kirk of Suthronaldsay.
B.
LIST OF NORTHERN MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
"WHICH MET IN EDINBURGH IN 1639.
[See RECORDS or THE KIRK, pp. 237, 238.]
" THE following Roll is incomplete the only copy of it
that we have been able to discover, being defective. It
is in the repositories of the Church ; and several folios
of the MS. in which it is written are torn off. We give
the fragment, however, as we find it, as an index to the
class of persons of which the Assembly was composed."
Presbytery of Abefdeine.
Mr David Lyndsay, M. at Balhelvie.
Mr Androw Abercrommy, M. at Fentry.
R. Elder, Johne Erie of Kinghorne.
Universitie of Aberdeine.
* * * *
B. of Aberdeine.
898 APPENDIX.
P. Deer.
Mr James Marteue, M. at Peterhead.
Mr Wm Forbes, M. at Fraserburgh.
Mr Wm Jafray M. at Acth riddell.
R. Elder, George Blair of Auchmedden.
P. Alfuird.
Mr Aridrow Strachan, M. of Tillinessel.
Mr William Davidstoune, M. at Kildrumy.
Mr Robt Scheme, M. at Forbes.
R. Elder, Mr James Forbes of Hamiltowne.
P. Eilon.
Mr Wm Strachan, M. Muthlick.
R. Elder, William Setoune of Shithine.
P. Turroff.
Mr Thomas Mitchell, M. at Turroff.
Mr George Sharpe, M. at Shyve.
R. Elder, Charles Erie of Dumfermling.
P. Kinkarne.
Mr Robert Forbes, M. at Eight.
R. Elder, Wm Forbes fear of Corsindell.
P. Garroche.
Mr William Wedderburne, M. at Buthelne.
R. Elder, John Erskine of Balbeardy.
P. Fordyce.
Mr Alexr Seatoune, M. at Banffe.
R. Elder, Sir Alexr Abercrombie, Knyt.
B. of Coulen.
George Hempsyd, Bailzie.
B. ofBampfe.
Androw Baird.
APPENDIX. 399
B. Elgyne.
M. John Dowglas.
P. Elgyne.
Mr Gawine Dumbar, M. at Alnes.
Mr Alexr Spence, at Briney.
R. Elder, Thomas McKenzie, of Pluscardy.
P. Aberlowr.
Mr Jon Weymes, M. at Rothes.
R. Elder, Walter Innes.
P. Strdbogie.
Mr Win Mylne, M. at Glasse.
R. Elder, Patrick Gibsone.
P. Forres.
Mr Patrick Tulloche, M. at Forres.
Mr Jon Brodie, M. at Auldyrne.
Mr Wm Falconer, M. at Dycke.
R. Elder, Pa. Campbell of Bothe.
JB. Forres.
Mr Johne Dumbar.
P. Innemes.
Mr James Vaiss, M. at Croy.
Mr Wm Frisell, M. at Canvel.
Ruling Elder, Mr James Campbell of Moy.
B. Innernes.
Duncan Forbes, of Coulloden, Burges.
P. Chanrie.
Mr George Monro, M. at Sidney.
Mr Gilbert Murray, M. at Tain.
Mr David Ros, M. at Logie.
R. Elder, Walter Innes, of Innerbrekie.
400 APPSNJDIX.
B. Tain.
Thomas McCulloche, Bailzie.
P. Dingwall.
Mr David Monro, M. at Killairne.
Mr Murdoche McKenzie, M. at Contane.
R. Elder, Sir Johne McKenzie, of Tarbat.
P. Dornoche^ in Sutherland.
Mr Alexr Monro, M. at Dornoche.
Mr William Gray, M. at Cljne.
Mr George Sutherland, M. at Rogard.
R. Elder, George Gordowne, brother to the Erie of
Sutherland.
P. Thurso, in Kaithnes.
Mr George Lesslie, M. in Bower.
R. Elder, Johne Maister, of Birrindaill.
B. of Wick.
* * * *
P. Shetland.
Mr William Umphray, M. at Brassay.
PRINTED BY
GEORGE AND ROBERT KING,
28, St. Nicholas Street, Aberdeen.
ERRATUM.
IN a note on page 10, the words of Patrick Gordon of
Ruthven, respecting James VI., are, by mistake, ascribed
to James Man. The writer had overlooked at the mo-
ment that they are quoted by Man from Gordon's Bri-
tane's Distemper. It was not satirically, but sincerely,
that Gordon spoke of James. "I do so much honour
that worthy King," he said, " and reverence his judgment,
that I shall never be persuaded but our nobility shall be
one day so fully brought over from the Puritan Faction,
that they shall not only desire to establish again the kingly
government, but they shall also hate and curse the Cove-
nant, and those turbulent spirits who did first invent it."
See Britane's Distemper, by Patrick Gordon of Ruthven,
p. 9 ; and James Man's Introduction to his projected
Memoirs of Scottish Affairs, in James Gordon's History of
Scots Affairs, I. xxxix.,xl. both published by the Spald-
ing Chib.
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