should have, though he probably never intended any such thing, for he regarded
him in no other light than that of a very wrong-headed enthusiast. Even his
more particular friends, appalled by the reports of the state of matters in the
north, began to melt from his side, and he was universally advised to give up
his commission, and reserve himself for a more favourable opportunity. The
spirit of Scotland was at this time decidedly warlike. Leslie was in England
with a large army of Scotsmen, who shortly after performed a prominent part
at the decisive battle of Marston Moor. There was an army in the north,
which had suppressed the insurrection of the Gordons, and sent Haddo and
Logie to the block; and the earl of Callendar, formerly lord Almond, was ordered instantly to raise five thousand men for the suppression of Montrose. The commission of the general assembly of the church, in the meantime, proceeded against that nobleman, with a sentence of excommunication, which was pronounced in the high church of Edinburgh on the tAventy-sixth day of April, scarcely more than ten days after he had set hostile foot on Scottish ground.
Not knowing well what to do, Montrose made an attack upon a small party of covenanters in Morpeth, whom he drove out of the town, and secured the castle. He also captured a small fort at the mouth of the Tyne, and stored Newcastle plentifully with corn from Alnwick and other places around. He was requested by prince Rupert to come up to the battle of Marston Moor, but on his way thither met the prince flying from that disastrous field.
He now determined to throw himself into the Highlands, where he still had high hopes of assistance and success. Making choice of two persons only for his companions, Sir William Rollock and colonel Sibbald, he disguised himself and rode as Sibbald's groom, and in this manner, taking the most wild and unfrequented ways, they arrived, after riding four days, at Tullibalton, near the foot of the Grampians, the house of his friend, Patrick Graham of Inchbrackie, where he halted for some days, passing his time through the night in an obscure cottage, and in the day among the neighbouring mountains. His two companions in the meantime were despatched to collect intelligence respecting the state of the country, and privately to warn his friends. The accounts procured by his friends were of the most distressing kind, the covenanters being every where in great strength, and the cavaliers in a state of the most complete dejection. In a few days, however, a letter was brought by a Highlander to Inchbrackie, with a request that it might be conveyed to the marquis of Montrose, wherever he might be. This was a letter from Alexander M'Coll, alias M'Donald, a distinguished warrior, who had been entrusted with the charge of his retainers by the marquis of Antrim, with a request that he, Montrose, would come and take the command of the small but veteran band. This small division had about a month before landed in the sound of Mull, had besieged, taken, and garrisoned three castles on the island of that name, and afterwards sailing for the mainland had disembarked in Knoydart, where they attempted to raise some of the clans. Argyle, in the meantime, coming round to that quarter with some ships of war, had taken and destroyed their vessels, so that they had no means of escape; and, with a strong party of the enemy hanging on their rear, were proceeding into the interior in the hope of being assisted by some of the loyal clans. Montrose wrote an immediate answer as if from Carlisle, and appointed a day not very distant when he would meet them at Blair of Athol, which he selected as the most proper place of meeting from the enmity which he knew the men of Athol had to Argyle. On the appointed day, attended by Inchbrackie, both dressed in the costume of ordinary Highlanders and on foot, In travelled from Tullibalton to the place of meeting, and to his great joy found twelve hundred Irishmen quartered on the spot. They had already been joined
