Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 10.djvu/395

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CAPT. JOHN CREICHTON.
387

But my lord Dundee did not live to see himself victorious[1]: for, as he was wheeling about a rock, over the enemy's heads, and making down the brae to attack them (they making a running fire) he was killed by a random shot, at the beginning of the action: yet his men discovered not his fall, till they had obtained the victory. The next day, though victorious, they suffered their prisoners to depart, on parole, that they would never take up arms against king James: colonel Fergusson only excepted, on account of his more than ordinary zeal for the new establishment.

King William, having heard of this defeat, said, "He knew the lord Dundee so well, that he must have been either killed or mortally wounded; otherwise, before that time, he would have been master of Edinburgh."

I now desire leave to return to my own affairs. About four months after my examination, I was advised, in plain words, by the dukes of Hamilton and Queensberry who were then going up to London, that I should bribe Melvil, then secretary of Scotland; with whom their graces likewise would use their interest, to get an order from king William for my

  1. He was mortally wounded in the engagement. The Highlanders, animated by their commander, gained a signal victory. Upon his asking how things went, he was told that all was well. "Then, said he, I am well;" and presently expired. He was a man of an enterprising genius, and his conduct was equal to his courage. He had a good deal of the spirit of his uncle, the famous James Graham, marquis of Montrose. He died July 6, 1689. (See a characteristick account of him, and an excellent description of the battle of Killikranky, in Dalrymple's Memoirs, p. 342, &c. 2d edit.) Granger, iv, 278. And see Burnet, iii, 37.
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liberty.