March! march:
Why the de'il do ye na march?
Stand to your arms, my lads,
Fight in good order;
Front about, ye musketeers all,
Till ye come to the English Border;
Stand till 't, and fight like men,
True gospel to maintain.
The parliament's blythe to see us a' coming!
When to the kirk we come,
We'll purge it ilka room,
Frae popish relics, and a' sic innovation,
That a' the world may see,
There's nane in the right but we,
Of the auld Scottish nation.
A truly partisan ballad of the day describes the battle of Philiphaugh and exults in the defeat of Montrose, "our cruel enemy," it calls him. As a ballad it has no great poetic merit; the very sober Covenanters probably regarded ballad-making as a frivolity. But it describes rather graphically how an "aged father," from the country-side, led Lesly's army very cautiously and wisely to the very tents of the foe. These details are no doubt accurate; though the ballad-writer (whoever he was) displays his ignorance of other matters by making the old soldier say that he was at the battle of Solway Moss (which took place one hundred years before) and at that of Dunbar, which was not fought till five years later!
The following are the opening verses of the ballad, giving an idea of its plain, straightforward style:—
On Philiphaugh a fray began,
At Hairhead-wood it ended;
The Scots out o'er the Graemes they ran,
Sae merrily they bended;
Sir David frae the Border came,
Wi' heart an' hand came he;
Wi' him three thousand bonny Scots,
To bear him company.
Wi' him three thousand valiant men,
A noble sight to see!
A cloud o' mist them weel conceal'd,
As close as e'er might be.
When they came to the Shaw burn,
Said he, "Sae weel we frame.
I think it is convenient
That we should sing a psalm."
It is not necessary to quote more of it, but it may be remarked that in place of the last line as given here, the unregenerate substituted,
"That we should take a dram."
In point of actual fact, both versions are probably true!
Chapter XLVI
The Death of Montrose
During the imprisonment of King Charles I., at a time when active war on his behalf might do the unhappy monarch more harm than good, the gallant Montrose had retired to France. His bright military fame, his courteous manners, and manly bearing made him friends everywhere, and when he visited Germany the Emperor conferred on him the rank of Marshal. Hearing of the execution of Charles I., Montrose at once placed himself at the disposal of Charles II., now a fugitive in Holland. This prince named him Captain General of Scotland, and the daring hero set out for the Orkney Islands with about five hundred paid soldiers, mostly adventurous Germans and Dutchmen. Only a reckless spirit like Montrose would have undertaken so wild a commission.