This party having passed on, they were immediately beset by another, to whom it was necessary to give the same explanation. Kettledrummle, whose fear was much dissipated since the firing had ceased, again took upon him to be intercessor, and grown bold, as he felt his good word necessary for the protection of his late fellow-captives, he laid claim to no small share of the merit of the victory, appealing to Morton and Cuddie, whether the tide of battle had not turned while he prayed on the Mount of Jehovah-Nissi, like Moses, that Israel might prevail over Amalek; but granting them, at the same time, the credit of holding up his hands when they waxed heavy, as those of the prophet were supported by Aaron and Hur. It seems probable that Kettledrummle allotted this part in the success to his companions in adversity, lest they should be tempted to disclose his carnal self-seeking and falling away, in regarding too closely his own personal safety. These strong testimonies in favour of the liberated captives quickly flew abroad, with many exaggerations, among the victorious army. The reports on the subject were various; but it was universally agreed, that young Morton of Milnwood, the son of the stout soldier of the Covenant, Silas Morton, together with the precious Gabriel Kettledrummle, and a singular devout Christian woman, whom many thought as good as himself at extracting a doctrine or an use, whether of terror or consolation, had arrived to support the good old cause, with a reinforcement of a hundred well-armed men from the Middle Ward.
[Note: Skirmish at Drumclog. This affair, the only one in which
Claverhouse was defeated, or the insurgent Cameronians successful,
was fought pretty much in the manner mentioned in the text. The
Royalists lost about thirty or forty men. The commander of the
Presbyterian, or rather Convenanting party, was Mr Robert Hamilton,
of the honourable House of Preston, brother of Sir William Hamilton,
to whose title and estate he afterwards succeeded; but, according to
his biographer, Howie of Lochgoin, he never took possession of
either, as he could not do so without acknowledging the right of
King William (an uncovenanted monarch) to the crown. Hamilton had
been bred by Bishop Burnet, while the latter lived at Glasgow; his
brother, Sir Thomas, having married a sister of that historian. “He
was then,” says the Bishop, “a lively, hopeful young man; but
getting into that company, and into their notions, he became a
crack-brained enthusiast.”
Several well-meaning persons have been much scandalized at the
manner in which the victors are said to have conducted themselves
towards the prisoners at Drumclog. But the principle of these poor
fanatics, (I mean the high-flying, or Cameronian party,) was to
obtain not merely toleration for their church, but the same
supremacy which Presbytery had acquired in Scotland after the treaty
of Rippon, betwixt Charles I. and his Scottish subjects, in 1640.
The fact is, that they conceived themselves a chosen people, sent
forth to extirpate the heathen, like the Jews of old, and under a
similar charge to show no quarter.
The historian of the Insurrection of Bothwell makes the following
explicit avowal of the principles on which their General acted:—
“Mr Hamilton discovered a great deal of bravery and valour, both in
the conflict with, and pursuit of, the enemy; but when he and some
other were pursuing the enemy, others flew too greedily upon the
spoil, small as it was, instead of pursuing the victory; and some,
without Mr Hamilton’s knowledge, and directly contrary to his
express command, gave five of those bloody enemies quarter, and then
let them go; this greatly grieved Mr Hamilton when he saw some of
Babel’s brats spared, after that the Lord had delivered them into
their hands, that they might dash them against the stones. Psalm
cxxxvii., 9. In his own account of this, he reckons the sparing of
these enemies, and letting them go, to be among their first
steppings aside, for which he feared that the Lord would not honour
them to do much more for him; and says, that he was neither for
taking favours from, nor giving favours to, the Lord’s enemies.” See
A true and impartial Account of the persecuted Presbyterians in
Scotland, their being in arms, and defeat at Bothwell Brigg, in
1679, by William Wilson, late Schoolmaster in the parish of Douglas.
The reader who would authenticate the quotation, must not consult
any other edition than that of 1697; for somehow or other the
publisher of the last edition has omitted this remarkable part of
the narrative.
Sir Robert Hamilton himself felt neither remorse nor shame for
having put to death one of the prisoners after the battle with his
own hand, which appears to have been a charge against him, by some
whose fanaticism was less exalted than his own.
“As for that accusation they bring against me of killing that poor
man (as they call him) at Drumclog, I may easily guess that my
accusers can be no other but some of the house of Saul or Shimei, or
some such risen again to espouse that poor gentleman (Saul) his
quarrel against honest Samuel, for his offering to kill that poor
man Agag, after the king’s giving him quarter. But I, being to
command that day, gave out the word that no quarter should be given;
and returning from pursuing Claverhouse, one or two of these fellows
were standing in the midst of a company of our friends, and some
were debating for quarter, others against it. None could blame me to
decide the controversy, and I bless the Lord for it to this day.
There were five more that without my knowledge got quarter, who were
brought to me after we were a mile from the place as having got
quarter, which I reckoned among the first steppings aside; and
seeing that spirit amongst us at that time, I then told it to some
that were with me, (to my best remembrance, it was honest old John
Nisbet,) that I feared the Lord would not honour us to do much more
for him. I shall only say this,—I desire to bless his holy name,
that since ever he helped me to set my face to his work, I never
had, nor would take, a favour from enemies, either on right or left
hand, and desired to give as few.”
The preceding passage is extracted from a long vindication of his
own conduct, sent by Sir Robert Hamilton, 7th December, 1685,
addressed to the anti-Popish, anti-Prelatic, anti-Erastian,
anti-sectarian true Presbyterian remnant of the Church of Scotland;
and the substance is to be found in the work or collection, called,
“Faithful Contendings Displayed, collected and transcribed by John
Howie.”
As the skirmish of Drumclog has been of late the subject of some
enquiry, the reader may be curious to see Claverhouse’s own account
of the affair, in a letter to the Earl of Linlithgow, written
immediately after the action. This gazette, as it may be called,
occurs in the volume called Dundee’s Letters, printed by Mr Smythe
of Methven, as a contribution to the Bannatyne Club. The original is
in the library of the Duke of Buckingham. Claverhouse, it may be
observed, spells like a chambermaid.
“FOR THE EARLE OF LINLITHGOW. [COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF KING CHARLES
II.’s FORCES IN SCOTLAND.]
“Glaskow, Jun. the 1, 1679.
“My Lord,—Upon Saturday’s night, when my Lord Rosse came into this
place, I marched out, and because of the insolency that had been
done tue nights before at Ruglen, I went thither and inquyred for
the names. So soon as I got them, I sent our partys to sease on
them, and found not only three of those rogues, but also ane
intercomend minister called King. We had them at Strevan about six
in the morning yesterday, and resolving to convey them to this, I
thought that we might make a little tour to see if we could fall
upon a conventicle; which we did, little to our advantage; for when
we came in sight of them, we found them drawn up in batell, upon a
most adventageous ground, to which there was no coming but through
mosses and lakes. They wer not preaching, and had got away all there
women and shildring. They consisted of four battaillons of foot, and
all well armed with fusils and pitchforks, and three squadrons of
horse. We sent both partys to skirmish, they of foot and we of
dragoons; they run for it, and sent down a battaillon of foot
against them; we sent threescore of dragoons, who made them run
again shamfully; but in end they percaiving that we had the better
of them in skirmish, they resolved a generall engadgment, and
imediately advanced with there foot, the horse folowing; they came
throght the lotche; the greatest body of all made up against my
troupe; we keeped our fyre till they wer within ten pace of us: they
recaived our fyr, and advanced to shok; the first they gave us
broght down the Coronet Mr Crafford and Captain Bleith, besides that
with a pitchfork they made such an openeing in my rone horse’s
belly, that his guts hung out half an elle, and yet he caryed me af
an myl; which so discoraged our men, that they sustained not the
shok, but fell into disorder. There horse took the occasion of this,
and purseued us so hotly that we had no tym to rayly. I saved the
standarts, but lost on the place about aight or ten men, besides
wounded; but he dragoons lost many mor. They ar not com esily af on
the other side, for I sawe severall of them fall befor we cam to the
shok. I mad the best retraite the confusion of our people would
suffer, and I am now laying with my Lord Rosse. The toun of Streven
drew up as we was making our retrait, and thoght of a pass to cut us
off, but we took courage and fell to them, made them run, leaving a
dousain on the place. What these rogues will dou yet I know not, but
the contry was flocking to them from all hands. This may be counted
the begining of the rebellion, in my opinion.
“I am, my lord,
“Your lordship’s most humble servant,
“J. Grahame.
“My lord, I am so wearied, and so sleapy, that I have wryton this
very confusedly.”]
CHAPTER XVIII.
When pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick.
Hudibras.
In the meantime, the insurgent cavalry returned from the pursuit, jaded and worn out with their unwonted efforts, and the infantry assembled on the ground which they had won, fatigued with toil and hunger. Their success, however, was a cordial to every bosom, and seemed even to serve in the stead of food and refreshment. It was, indeed, much more brilliant than they durst have ventured to anticipate; for, with no great loss on their part, they had totally routed a regiment of picked men, commanded by the first officer in Scotland, and one whose very name had long been a terror to them. Their success seemed even to have upon their spirits the effect of a sudden and violent surprise, so much had their taking up arms been a measure of desperation rather than of hope. Their meeting was also casual, and they had hastily arranged themselves under such commanders as were remarkable for zeal and courage, without much respect to any other qualities. It followed, from this state of disorganization, that the whole army appeared at once to resolve itself into a general committee for considering what steps were to be taken in consequence of their success, and no opinion could be started so wild that it had not some favourers and advocates. Some proposed they should march to Glasgow, some to Hamilton, some to Edinburgh, some to London. Some were for sending a deputation of their number to London to convert Charles II. to a sense of the error of his ways; and others, less charitable, proposed either to call a new successor to the crown, or to declare Scotland a free republic. A free parliament of the nation, and a free assembly of the Kirk, were the objects of the more sensible and moderate of the party. In the meanwhile, a clamour arose among the soldiers for bread and other necessaries, and while all complained of hardship and hunger, none took the necessary measures to procure supplies. In short, the camp of the Covenanters, even in the very moment of success, seemed about to dissolve like a rope of sand, from want of the original principles of combination and union.
Burley, who had now returned from the pursuit, found his followers in this distracted state. With the ready talent of one accustomed to encounter exigences, he proposed, that one hundred of the freshest men should be drawn out for duty—that a small number of those who had hitherto acted as leaders, should constitute a committee of direction until officers should be regularly chosen—and that, to crown the victory, Gabriel Kettledrummle should be called upon to improve the providential success which they had obtained, by a word in season addressed to the army. He reckoned very much, and not without reason, on this last expedient, as a means of engaging the attention of the bulk of the insurgents, while he himself, and two or three of their leaders, held a private council of war, undisturbed by the discordant opinions, or senseless clamour, of the general body.
Kettledrummle more than answered the expectations of Burley. Two mortal hours did he preach at a breathing; and certainly no lungs, or doctrine, excepting his own, could have kept up, for so long a time, the attention of men in such precarious circumstances. But he possessed in perfection a sort of rude and familiar eloquence peculiar to the preachers of that period, which, though it would have been fastidiously rejected by an audience which possessed any portion of taste, was a cake of the right leaven for the palates of those whom he now addressed. His text was from the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
“And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
The discourse which he pronounced upon this subject was divided into fifteen heads, each of which was garnished with seven uses of application, two of consolation, two of terror, two declaring the causes of backsliding and of wrath, and one announcing the promised and expected deliverance. The first part of his text he applied to his own deliverance and that of his companions; and took occasion to speak a few words in praise of young Milnwood, of whom, as of a champion of the Covenant, he augured great things. The second part he applied to the punishments which were about to fall upon the persecuting government. At times he was familiar and colloquial; now he was loud, energetic, and boisterous;—some parts of his discourse might be called sublime, and others sunk below burlesque. Occasionally he vindicated with great animation the right of every freeman to worship God according to his own conscience; and presently he charged the guilt and misery of the people on the awful negligence of their rulers, who had not only failed to establish presbytery as the national religion, but had tolerated sectaries of various descriptions, Papists, Prelatists, Erastians, assuming the name of Presbyterians, Independents, Socinians, and Quakers: all of whom Kettledrummle proposed, by one sweeping act, to expel from the land, and thus re-edify in its integrity the beauty of the sanctuary. He next handled very pithily the doctrine of defensive arms and of resistance to Charles II., observing, that, instead of a nursing father to the Kirk, that monarch had been a nursing father to none but his own bastards. He went at some length through the life and conversation of that joyous prince, few parts of which, it must be owned, were qualified to stand the rough handling of so uncourtly an orator, who conferred on him the hard names of Jeroboam, Omri, Ahab, Shallum, Pekah, and every other evil monarch recorded in the Chronicles, and concluded with a round application of the Scripture, “Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the King it is provided: he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.”
Kettledrummle had no sooner ended his sermon, and descended from the huge rock which had served him for a pulpit, than his post was occupied by a pastor of a very different description. The reverend Gabriel was advanced in years, somewhat corpulent, with a loud voice, a square face, and a set of stupid and unanimated features, in which the body seemed more to predominate over the spirit than was seemly in a sound divine. The youth who succeeded him in exhorting this extraordinary convocation, Ephraim Macbriar by name, was hardly twenty years old; yet his thin features already indicated, that a constitution, naturally hectic, was worn out by vigils, by fasts, by the rigour of imprisonment, and the fatigues incident to a fugitive life. Young as he was, he had been twice imprisoned for several months, and suffered many severities, which gave him great influence with those of his own sect. He threw his faded eyes over the multitude and over the scene of battle; and a light of triumph arose in his glance, his pale yet striking features were coloured with a transient and hectic blush of joy. He folded his hands, raised his face to heaven, and seemed lost in mental prayer and thanksgiving ere he addressed the people. When he spoke, his faint and broken voice seemed at first inadequate to express his conceptions. But the deep silence of the assembly, the eagerness with which the ear gathered every word, as the famished Israelites collected the heavenly manna, had a corresponding effect upon the preacher himself. His words became more distinct, his manner more earnest and energetic; it seemed as if religious zeal was triumphing over bodily weakness and infirmity. His natural eloquence was not altogether untainted with the coarseness of his sect; and yet, by the influence of a good natural taste, it was freed from the grosser and more ludicrous errors of his contemporaries; and the language of Scripture, which, in their mouths, was sometimes degraded by misapplication, gave, in Macbriar’s exhortation, a rich and solemn effect, like that which is produced by the beams of the sun streaming through the storied representation of saints and martyrs on the Gothic window of some ancient cathedral.