[602] Balcarras.
[603] The authenticity of the letter alleged to have been written by Dundee after he received his wound, may well be doubted. 1st. No contemporary writer mentions its existence. 2d. It is probable that Dundee died as stated in the text. King James says, that “when crossing over the plaine to give some orders on the left where the enemy made the most opposition, he was most unfortunately killed by a random shot.” Clarke’s James II., vol. ii. p. 352. See the authorities referred to by Mr. Smythe of Methven, in a note on the letter in the Bannatyne collection of Dundee’s letters. These are supported by the following note, written on a copy of Balcarras’s Memoirs, in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford, upon the passage relative to a bundle of papers found lying near Dundee on the field.
“N.B.—I spoke with some that were at that fight, and saw the Viscount of Dundee’s corpse naked upon the ground, and was of the number that wrapt it in a pladd, and brought it off the field to the Blair of Athole; they said they saw no papers, nor was there any such rumour among them.” ...
His Grace the Duke of Athole has kindly sent us the following note on this matter. “Lord Dundee is reported to have been watering his horse at a spring within gunshot of Urrard House, and at the same time lifted his left arm to point or give some directions. At this instant he was shot out of a window through the chinks of his armour, i.e. between back- and breast-plates, which must have gaped open. The left side of the breastplate, inside, is stained apparently with blood, and the ball must have passed out from back to front through the hole in the centre (See [Plate]). An old woman who died near here (Blair) within the memory of persons still living, used to relate how her grandfather was skulking on the hill above and saw Lord Dundee fall; and his brother, who was the hostler at the inn at Blair, saw him carried in there, and said that Lord Dundee died in the middle room, upstairs, of the inn. I think I have seen it stated elsewhere that he was taken to the Castle, but I should be inclined to believe the country tradition.”
The alleged letter from Dundee to the King is as follows:—
“Sir,
It hath pleased God to give your forces a great victory over the rebels, in which three-fourths of them are fallen under the weight of our swords. I might say much of the action, if I had not the honour to command it; but of 5,000 men, which was the best computation I could make of the rebels, it is certain there have not escaped 1,200. We have not lost full out 900. This absolute victory made us masters of the field and enemy’s baggage, which I gave to the soldiers; who, to do them all right, both officers and common men. Highlands, Lowlands, and Irish, behaved themselves with equal gallantry to what I ever saw in the hottest battles fought abroad by disciplined armies; and this M’Kay’s old soldiers felt on this occasion. I cannot now, Sir, be more particular; but take leave to assure your majesty the kingdom is generally disposed to your service, and impatiently wait for your coming; and this success will bring in the rest of the nobility and gentry, having had all their assurance for it, except the notorious rebels. Therefore, Sir, for God’s sake, assist us, though it be with such another detachment as you sent us before, especially of horse and dragoons; and you will crown our beginning with a complete success, and yourself with an entire possession of your ancient hereditary kingdom of Scotland. My wounds forbid me to enlarge to your Majesty at this time, though they tell me they are not mortal. However, I beseech your Majesty to believe, whether I live or die,
I am entirely yours,
DUNDEE.”
“The letter is so happily expressed as to be a forgery on its face; for it is not to be imagined that he who vainly struggled after grammar with all his senses with him, would command it when mortally wounded, and utterly unfit for that species of command with which he was familiar.”—Burton, vol. i. p. 134.
[604] Memoirs of Dundee.