6. David Steele was dispatched by swords in his absence. (Steele surrendered under promise of quarter and a fair trial. But Creichtoun conveyed him to Steele's house, nearly a mile, and there in the presence of the man's wife and her little babe, Mary Steele, ordered the dragoons to shoot him. To their credit, the dragoons absolutely refused and rode off, but the Highlanders, who probably knew Gaelic only, and were therefore ignorant of Creichtoun's gross breach of faith, fired.)
These six instances are but a sample of the exaggeration and mendacious inventions only too common throughout Creichtoun's memoirs, and the reader would therefore do well to hesitate before accepting what is not corroborated by independent evidence.
NOTE ON GENERAL DALYELL
Immediately after the death of General Dalyell, his eldest son Thomas was created a baronet of Nova Scotia. Considerably over one hundred varieties in spelling this curious ancient Scottish surname have been collected. The General and his father, the Sheriff of Linlithgowshire, uniformly spelt their surname Dalyell, as their descendants are in the habit of doing at the present day.
J. B. DALZELL.
[INDEX OF NAMES]
To save confusion in compiling this list, all military titles have been omitted. Owing to the great mass of names dealt with, it has not been practicable to follow the fortunes of each individual. All identical names, therefore, have been indexed under a single entry, and names that differ in any respect whatever, even when belonging to the same individual, have been dealt with separately.