Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 4 - 1819.djvu/173

with the hope of deriving temporary advantage. It also explains the reason why Montrose, with all his splendid successes, never obtained any secure or permanent footing in the Low Countries, and why even those Lowland noblemen and gentlemen who were inclined to the royal cause shewed diffidence and reluctance to join an army of a character so desultory and irregular, as might lead them at all times to apprehend that the Highlanders, securing themselves by a retreat to their mountains, would leave whatever Lowlanders might have joined them to the mercy of an offended and predominant enemy. The same consideration will serve to account for the sudden marches which Montrose was obliged to undertake, in order to recruit his army in the mountains, and for the rapid changes of fortune, by which we often find him obliged to retreat from before those enemies over whom he had recently been victorious. If there should be any who read these tales for any further purpose