Above the north Queen's Ferry there is a promontory called the Cruicks, chiefly noted for a project entertained by some wealthy Jews, in the reign of Alexander III., to fortify and erect upon it a new Jerusalem. Near that promontory Colonel Overton had already landed 1,400 foot and some squadrons of horse, with guns, and encamped unchecked by the peasantry, and shortly after MajorGeneral Lambert joined him, with more horse and foot, making in all 8,000 men. These were composed of the foot regiments of Overton, Fenwick, Sykes, and Ingoldsby; with Harrison's horse and Mercer's dragoons. On the evening of the 16th of July there was some skirmishing among the broken and rocky ground near which stands a tall, square, isolated tower, called the castle of Rosythe, which since the days of Robert III. belonged to that family of Stuart one of whom was the mother of Oliver Cromwell; and in an upper room of that tower she was born, her family having accompanied James VI. to England, and settled in Ely ("Short View of the Troubles of England," Oxford, 1681). trust by standing on the East Ness, at a point still pointed out, and directing the English in their crossing, by means of the speaking trumpet which was then used in all large armies in the field, and was last used at the siege of Gibraltar by General Eliot, Lord Heathfield. In the battle that ensued a battalion of Macleans, 500 strong, after firing a volley, flung aside their matchlocks, and led by Sir Hector Maclean, of Duairt, flung themselves like a living torrent, sword in hand, upon a regiment of English infantry, which had along its front a stand of Swedish feathers, over which its fire was securely levelled. This miniature stockade the Highlanders strove to uproot or wrench away, and flung themselves upon it again and again, with flashing swords and wild tumultuous shouts. In these attacks their aged chief had the grief to see six of his sons fall by his side in succession, and then the clan gave way. "The Laird of Maclean, with most of any account of his name, was killed," says Auchmar, "as also a vast number of the name of Buchanan." George, Earl of Panmure, at the head of the Forfarshire regiment, Thus the old tower had a peculiar interest for fought with great bravery, and had a severe wound, Cromwell, who passed a night in it. while his lieutenant-colonel, major, and many other officers, were slain. Sir John Brown, at the head of the Midlothian regiment, made a stern resistance against both horse and foot, though he was severely wounded; and though the conflict had continued for some time, there was no appearance of Holbourn succouring the outnumbered infantry with his cavalry reserve. Lambert's forces far outnumbered those of Holbourn, for Cromwell had resolved to proceed there with strength, aware that if the expedition to Fife failed, nothing short of some new infatuation among the Scots themselves could save him from destruction; his army, originally less numerous than that of Leslie, being now so weakened by the forces detached into Cumberland and elsewhere, that had he been attacked by the whole power of At last they were seen to cross the hollow which the king he must have been overwhelmed, and had is threaded by Pinkerton Burn, as if to menace to retreat into England, over a country now desert Lambert's flank, when suddenly six pieces of Engand wasted, and even that movement, in the pre-lish cannon, of the position of which Holbourn sence of a victorious and infuriated enemy, might was said to be perfectly cognisant, opened upon have been impracticable. them from the summit of a slope, and mowed them But here again the fortune of Cromwell did not down in heaps, both horse and man. Holbourn forsake him. On the 17th a closer and more severe engagement took place. It was begun near the picturesque old town of Inverkeithing, at a place called Hillfield; but in consequence of the Scottish infantry, under Brown, having to fall back when treacherously abandoned by their cavalry, under Holbourn, it was chiefly fought upon the opposite bank of Masterton. All Scottish historians agree in the misconduct, if not treachery, of Holbourn on this day, as he was believed to have been-like the Governor of Edinburgh Castle-corrupted by English gold. So strong is this impression, that the people of Inverkeithing have to this day a traditionary story to the effect that he betrayed his then wheeled them off, and retreated without firing a shot, "leaving three regiments of foot to the mercy, or rather the merciless rage, of the enemy, and they, after a valiant resistance, were in the end overpowered and cut to pieces." Sir John Brown's force was utterly destroyed. Cromwell, in his official account, says the Scots lost 2,000 men (including the Lairds of Balcomie and Randerston), who were slain, and 500 taken prisoners. Lambert estimated the slain at the same number, but maintains that the prisoners exceeded 1,400, while he limits the English loss to eight (?), "so easy did the Lord grant that mercy;" but, in fact, no confidence can be placed in many of the statements issued by the contending parties in those wars, and this is evident by a comparison of the official returns of the casualties sustained by each in this and other engagements. The rill called Pinkerton Burn "is said to have been coloured with blood for three days in consequence of the great slaughter;" and in the figurative language of the old people of Inverkeithing, the plain was like "a hairst field" with corpses-meaning, a field thickly strewn with sheaves of newly-cut grain (" Scottish Wars," Vol. I.). Major-General Sir John Brown and Colonel the Laird of Buchanan were among the prisoners; and there were found on the field sixty standards, fiftytwo drums, and several sets of bagpipes. Overcome by shame and grief, emotions which caused his wound to gangrene, Sir John Brown died a few days afterwards in the citadel of Leith; but General Monk interred him among his ancestors, in the church of Arngask, with all the honours due to his bravery. Holbourn, who escaped to Stirling, was there cleared of the grave charges alleged against him; but as the united voices of the army were against him, he was compelled to resign his commission. Cromwell-the gate thus opened for him-now passed the Forth with the main body of the army, and he and Lambert lay one night in the fine old tower of Fordel, where they somewhat spitefully 273 turned all their horses loose "among General Brown's standing corn;" and next day they appeared before the walls of Perth, which Cant, the local historian, states surrendered on honourable terms. Finding by these movements that his supplies were cut off, and his position at the Torwood turned, Charles embraced a resolution worthy alike of the race he sprang from and of a young prince contending for empire. He resolved instantly to march into England, where-like Charles Edward in later years--he fondly expected that all his friends and those who were discontented with the present Government would flock to his standard. He easily persuaded his generals to adopt the same views; and his army, little over 14,000 strong, prepared for the great expedition which was doomed to end so fatally at Worcester. The west and south of Scotland and more than all the Highlands were still open to him; but now the summer was far advanced, and Cromwell, for himself, admits that he seriously dreaded another winter campaign, as being likely to prove “the ruin of his soldiery, for whom the Scots are too hard in respect of enduring the winter difficulties of the country," besides "the expense of the treasure of England, in prosecuting this war" (Letters and Speeches, Vol. III., "Cromwelliana," 1642 to 1648, &c.). of which were found 1,100 ells of broadcloth, 700 suits of clothing, 700 red coats, and 750 muskets and carbines, with matches and powder, all of which were given to Sir John Smith, Commissary-general of the army. SOME months before they marched, the Scottish following month another prize was made, on board troops were preparing vigorously for a transference of the war to English soil. In Balfour's "Memorialls of Church and Staite," we find that in January, 1651, a surgeon-general, named Wyseman, was appointed to the army; that each company of infantry was ordered to consist of 120 men, and the price of arms was regulated by Parliament-" muskets to be sold at nine pounds the piece, with bandoleers; the pike at three pounds; the pair of pistols, with spannes and holsters, to be sold at fourteen pounds." In the same month an English ship was captured, bound from London with stores for Cromwell. Among these were 10,000 pairs of shoes, 6,000 pairs of boots, 5,000 saddles, a month's rations of biscuit, and "ten tuns of London biere." In the On the 22nd of July, new colours were presented in state to the King's Foot Guards-the regiment of Argyle-in the court of Falkland Palace, and the Lyon King at Arms thus describes them : "For the Colonel: In a blue field His Majesty's coats of arms, viz., Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, quartered, without any crown over them; on the other side, in great gold letters, these words— Covenant, for Religione, King, and Kingdomes.' "Lieutenant Colonel: Azure, a unicorn argent; the other side same as first. "First Captain: Three fleurs-de-lys in an azure field. On the 6th of August the army entered England by Carlisle, and advanced into Lancashire; but "Second Captain: Or, a lyon rampant; gules in the king was entirely disappointed in his expectathe middle of an azure ensign. "Third Captain: Azure, three lioncells, gradient,or. "Fourth Captain: Azure, a harp, or, fringed, argent." All these standards bore the same motto. The severe service this regiment had encountered during the first ten years of its existence had by that time reduced it to only four companies, with fifteen officers. It had been at the storming of Carrickfergus, in 1641; at the battle of Benburb, in 1645, when the Scots lost 3,423 men; and in many of the actions against Montrose. The Life Guards were commanded, we have said, by the Earl of Eglinton, with James Livingstone, Viscount Newburgh, as lieutenant-colonel. A new commission, dated at Perth, 31st March, 1651, styles him, "Captaine-Generall of the Horse Guards for our person," with power to regulate the corps in troops, to hold courts-martial and councils of war, and to punish all misdemeanours and offences ("Memorials of the Montgomeries," Vol. II.); and on the 7th of May, when a march for England was first thought of, before the battle of Inverkeithing, the following order was promulgated in the Scottish camp :— tion of recruits, or assistance of any kind from his English subjects. The movement was so totally unexpected by them that the most zealous and ardent of his partisans were ignorant of his approach, and hence were totally unprepared to join him. Crushed and dispirited by a long series of bloody disasters, exactions, and extortions; loaded, too, by the taxations of the Republican Government; they were moreover deterred from offering their services by a proclamation which the inevitable and irrepressible Committee of Ministers-irrepressible in their work of mischief-issued, to the effect that no Englishman should be permitted to join the Scottish army who would not first subscribe the Covenant ! This was a pill which the English Cavaliers were somewhat loth to swallow; and their Presbyterian fellow-subjects, though tolerably favourable to the Royal cause, were unwilling to risk their lives and fortunes in such a desperate enterprise, without some security that their principles would be maintained; and an intercepted letter from Charles to Major-General Massey (who commanded the advanced guard of cavalry, the Fifth Brigade), ordering him to suppress the declaration of the clergy for a "The division of the army of horse into brigades, time, showed them that small confidence could be as they are to go upon service. "First Brigade, Lieutenant-General Sir D. Leslie : Earl of Rothe's Regiment, Lord Brechin's Regiment, Colonel Craig's Regiment. Second Brigade, Major-General R. Montgomerie: Earl of Linlithgow's Regiment, Earl of Dunfermline's Regiment, Lord Cranston's Regiment. Third Brigade, MajorGeneral Sir J. Brown: Earl of Balcarris's Regiment, Sir Walter Scott's Regiment, Charles Arnot's Regi Fourth Brigade, Lieutenant-General Middleton: Earl Marischal's Regiment, Lord Ogilvie's Regiment, A. Erskine's Regiment, Mercer of Aldie's Regiment, Reserve of Horse. Fifth Brigade, MajorGeneral Massey: Earl of Errol's Regiment, Lord Drummond's Regiment, Colonel Stuart's Regiment. Sixth Brigade, Major-General Van Druske: Lord Mauchline's Regiment, Lord Erskine's Regiment, Lord Forbes's Regiment, Colonel Innes's Regi ment. placed in the sincerity of a king whom their reverences had so frequently disgusted by their prayers and rebukes. The Scots began to lose heart. They found themselves in a hostile country, where all men's hands were against them, and where the peasantry barbarously murdered every straggler. Captain Cecil Howard, son of Lord Howard of Escrick, joined them, however, with one troop of horse (Phillips). Charles had certainly been on the march some days (though Clarendon has it but one whole day) before Cromwell had notice of a movement so startling. Though taken by surprise, his measures were characterised by his usual promptitude and vigour. "If he followed with his whole army." says Lord Clarendon, "all the advantages he had got in Scotland would be presently lost. ... If he followed but with part, he might be too weak when he overtook the king, whose army he knew could bear the fatigue of a long march better than Seventh Brigade: The Duke of Hamilton's Regiment (K.G.), Duke of Buckingham's Regiment (K.G.), Earl of Home's Regiment. "The King's Guards to be upon the right of the his could do so." Hence his position in Scotland right wing." Buckingham was an exile in Scotland; but, like Cleveland and other English fugitives, was supported by the Scottish Treasury. was for a third time most critical. He dispatched an express to the Parliament, to prevent them being surprised or alarmed by news of the Scots advancing, and reminded them that a much more Inverkeithing.] 66 MARCH OF THE SCOTS. cannon. 275 considerable army, and “ unfoiled," had invaded well covered by cavalry and a few pieces of England when her power was much more unsteady than now," and they had but a weak force to resist it, and yet this army (the Duke of Hamilton's) was singularly overthrown; whereas, "the present movement of an enemy heartsmitten by God was not out of choice on their part, but by some kind of necessity, and it was hoped would have the like issue." Leaving a garrison in Perth, he dispatched Monk with 7,000 men to block up the castle of Stirling. and he ordered the English militia to assemble and harass the enemy. It chanced that at this time, Thomson, one of his commanders, occupied Newcastle with nine battalions of pikemen and musketeers, and a few guns. Cromwell, while following himself with all speed, ordered the whole of his cavalry to proceed by forced marches on the same point, and instructed the generals, the moment a junction was effected, to throw themselves boldly in the king's way. As he had entered England by the western road, no difficulty was experienced in obeying these commands, while the second was accomplished just as the Scottish Cavaliers were about to cross the Mersey. Carrying along with them all the militia they could muster and arm, the two Republican generals had their first brush at Wigan with the Earl of Derby, who, in obedience to a letter from Charles, had left the Isle of Man, where he had hitherto maintained a kind of petty independence, and had levied some forces in Cheshire and Lancashire. These, to the number of only 1,200, were defeated by Colonel Lilburn, with ten troops of horse, after an hour's conflict. Lord Widrington, Sir Thomas Tildesley, and many others were killed, while 400 were taken. "The Earl of Derby was wounded," Ludlow tells us, "and escaped to Worcester, bringing not above thirty tired horse with him; so the townspeople began to repent of their revolt against the Parliament." After this a dash was made by Lambert and Harrison to destroy the bridge of the Mersey at Warrington; but too late, for the Scots were already in possession of it, nor were they more successful in an effort to arrest the progress of the king by a show of giving him battle. A few charges of cavalry alone took place; from these no great result accrued to either party, and it was not the wish of Charles or Sir David Leslie to have their forces weakened by fighting so far from London. They took no notice whatever of the menacing displays made by the Republicans; and, finding the road open to the front, marched steadily and rapidly, keeping their rear Save Captain Howard's slender troop, not a man joined him; and some desertion, with the recent cavalry encounters and the murders of stragglers, had weakened the force of Charles. In spite of the successful passage of the Mersey, the sagacious General Leslie, who from the beginning had seen the desperate nature of this projected march on London, now presaged its disastrous termination. Several towns were summoned as the army proceeded, but without effect; the friends of royalty, either repressed by the high attitude of its enemies, or weary of the long Civil War, hung back on all hands; and now, in a state of sullen despair, the usually volatile Charles II., on the 22nd of August, turned aside, and entered the loyal city of Worcester, where he was immediately proclaimed king, amid the genuine rejoicings of the gentry, and where, partly that he might rest his army-wearied by long marches and occasional skirmishes with the enemy-and partly in hope that the Welsh might join him, he halted finally. But not a Welshman ever came. Some have deemed the halt unwise, and have written that had the Scots pushed on and taken possession of London, fortune might have turned in favour of the king; but the truth was that the native hardihood which had so long sustained both officers and men was beginning at last to give way. Around them they saw a population either totally indifferent to the king's cause, or bitterly hostile to it and to themselves. Of all the hopes held out to them-as to the little Highland army of a later age-not one had been realised; and now the means of retreat in case of disaster became, alas! more anxiously considered than those of obtaining victory. The Scottish leaders had embarked in a desperate game, and now their very existence depended on playing it to the very last card. The house occupied by the king was an old wooden one, having four overhanging gables, in the Cornmarket, and there Eglinton's Life Guards and Lorne's Foot Guards mounted their sentinels daily. Of the advantages of Worcester as a military position, Lord Clarendon writes thus : "It was a very good post, seated almost in the middle of the kingdom; a good city, severed by the river Severn from all the adjacent counties; Wales behind it, from whence levies might be made of great numbers of stout men. It was a place where the king's friends might repair, if they had the affection they pretended to have; and it was a place where he might defend himself, if the enemy |