[14] Alaster, or Alexander Macdonald, son of Coll Keitach Macdonald of Colonsay. Coll Keitach means he who can fight with either hand. The Lowland corruption, Colkitto, has been improperly given to the son, whose correct designation would be Mac Coll Keitach. Macdonnell, the family name of the Earl of Antrim, is the same as Macdonald. The father of the first Earl of Antrim was Sorley Buy Macdonald, brother of Coll Keitach's grandfather.
[15] Lord Kilpont was the son of the Earl of Airth and Menteith, for whom see p. 28.
[16] An explanation of this strange story has been given in the Introduction to A Legend of Montrose. The welcome accorded to Stewart by Argyll, and the terms in which his pardon was recorded by the Covenanters, certainly lend some colour to the original belief that Kilpont was slain for refusing to join in a plot to murder Montrose. See Montrose and the Covenanters, ii. 323-25.
[17] Memorials of Montrose, i. 215.
[18] It is not clear whether Lord Graham was still a prisoner in the castle, which does not seem to have surrendered with the city. A few days before the battle of Kilsyth he had been committed by the Estates to the Earl of Dalhousie for his education, but it is not certain that his removal had been effected before the surrender. It would not have been safe for Montrose to have led his army into a plague-stricken town. The boy was not among the released prisoners, nor did he and his father ever meet again.
[19] The various accounts of this battle are more than usually conflicting. Patrick Gordon makes out a very bad case indeed against Montrose, whom he declares to have been frequently warned during the evening of the 12th of an enemy's advance, and to have contented himself with transmitting these reports to his officers, relying on their assurances that all was well. He even asserts that one of Montrose's pickets was actually engaged with some of Leslie's men at the little village of Sunderland, four miles from Philiphaugh on the same side of the river, which, and not Melrose, he makes the Covenanters' headquarters for the night; and that Montrose, when informed of the affair, set it down to a mere drunken brawl. This is not credible; but it is clear that Montrose was both badly served by his officers, who allowed themselves to be deceived by the country-people, and himself guilty of gross negligence. I have followed Sir Walter Scott's account of the affair (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, part i. "Battle of Philiphaugh"; ed. 1830), who was evidently writing from local tradition as well as from contemporary narrative. For events which happened in his own neighbourhood the Sheriff of Selkirkshire is, I suspect, as good a guide as can be found.
[20] The revolting details were given at the time by Patrick Gordon, and have been copied by Napier in the Memoirs of Montrose, where the curious, if they will, may consult them.
[21] It was at the execution of Ogilvy ("a boy lately come from the schools," writes Guthrie) that the memorable words, which afterwards passed into a proverb, fell from the lips of the Reverend David Dickson,—The work goes bonnily on!
[22] See the correspondence printed in Memoirs of Montrose, vol. ii. chap. xxxiv., and Memoirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover. If the latter is to be believed Montrose was a suitor for the hand of her sister, the Princess Louise, who afterwards retired into a nunnery. But there is no hint of this in the Queen's letters, nor in any other contemporary authority. Nor is it likely that Montrose at the great crisis of his life should have found either leisure or inclination to indulge in dreams of matrimony.
[23] Napier has printed all these letters and instructions from the Wigton Papers, Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 748-768. It is worth while to note the dates. The despatch enclosing the Garter and urging Montrose "to proceed vigorously and effectually" was dated from Jersey, January 12th (old style), 1650. Montrose was in Scotland on April 14th. He was defeated on April 27th. The despatch ordering him to disband his forces was dated from Breda on May 10th; it reached Leith on May 18th, the day on which Montrose was brought a prisoner to Edinburgh. On May 25th, four days after his execution, a letter was read in Parliament from the King, dated May 12th, at Breda, "showing that he was heartily sorry that James Graham had invaded this kingdom, and how he had discharged him from doing the same, and earnestly desires the Estates of Parliament to do himself that justice as not to believe that he was accessory to that invasion in the least degree."—Balfour's Annals, iv. 24. Argyll was conscious throughout of the double part the King was playing, but was of course careful to keep it secret. It is not agreeable to Englishmen to contrast the behaviour of Charles with that of the young French King. Among the Montrose archives is a letter addressed to the Scottish Parliament by Lewis, acting under the advice of the Queen Regent and prompted by the Cardinal de Retz, in which mercy is asked for their prisoner "seeing he hath done no more than devote himself in a most generous spirit to his paramount duty in fulfilling the commands of the King, his sovereign lord and yours." But Montrose was dead before the letter was sent.