certainly far more sinned against in the ruthless persecution to which they were subjected by the government, on account of their religion. To explain the state of the country in one sentence, Scotland was then precisely in the same condition with Ireland at a more recent period. Her people, at least the inhabitants of her most important districts, were zealously attached to a form of worship, which was found to be adverse to the welfare of the state, and which was even adverse, in many of its points of doctrine, to the spirit of public liberty, but which was certainly much more dangerous in a condition of intoleration, than it could possibly have been, if countenanced by the government. Toleration was not then a recog nised principle. The two last of the Stuart sovereigns, therefore, conceived it necessary to repress the religion of these people by extreme means, and to employ as instruments for doing so the inhabitants of another district, who, like the Orangemen in the neighbouring kingdom, were known to regard the recusants and their doctrine with equal detestation. It was thus simply on the grounds of local prejudice, of religion, and of political connections, that Dundee became engaged in this very unhappy war. If he displayed much prompt severity in his management of it, it might be excused by his favourite maxim, “ that, if terror can be made to prevent or end a war, it is the truest mercy." 3

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It is still perhaps to be regretted by those who admire the nobleness of nature which characterized this man, that he should have served his apprenticeship to glory in scenes so much the reverse of glorious, or that he should have at all condescended

to act in a sphere, which was, to say the least of it, unworthy of the soldier's best energies. It should be recollected, however, that, though well connected, and possessed of some reputation, Dundee entered the army in an inferior situation, and bad no prospect of advancing himself except by a diligent performance of every duty which might successively occur to him. Perhaps he may be excused upon the metaphysical principle, that pride is not incompatible, in some minds, with a power of bending to necessity. He possibly was one of those individuals whose souls are such an exquisite compound of lofty aspirations and groundling common sense, that, for the very purpose of elevating themselves out of the irksomely humble situation in which they find themselves placed by fortune, they will heartily grapple with, and perform with the most serene punctuality, every duty connected with their place in society, carrying through degradation and drudgery a spirit which will eventually shine out, when the grand object is obtained, with uninjured splendour. Minds of this order resemble the fairy-gifted tent in the Arabian Tales, which was so small as to be carried in the pocket of the proprietor during the day, but at night could be expanded to such a width as to cover a whole army. The world, which is too apt to judge of men with a mere reference to their origin and early history, is seldom liberal enough to suppose, in the case of a man exalted above his native sphere, that he may have all along, from the very first, possessed a talent and a spirit which fitted him for high situations, but generally accounts for his rise by either the vulgar error of good fortune, or by suggesting that he was tempted forward, step by

step, by prospects which gradually opened before him. It is, however, abundantly evident that such minds often exist, and that their rise is entirely owing to the discretion with which they have managed their powers. Their merit was from the very first equally great, but only it was not prudent or possible, in their earlier situations, to give it ostensible shape. To such an order of mindsso great, yet so humble-so far reaching in contemplation, yet so diligent in minute employment -Dundee unquestionably belonged.

The superior activity he displayed above all his brother officers, is sufficiently proved, if better proof were wanting, by the distinction with which his name is still remembered by the common people in the south-west province of Scotland. Amidst all the heroes of that day-the Dalyells, the Griersons, and the Bruces, -no name seems to be impressed on the popular mind so deeply as that of "the Bloody Claver'se. To such a degree, indeed, did his actions excite public sentiment in that superstitious age, that he was generally believed to have entered into a league with the powers of darkness, by which, in consideration of the abandonment of his salvation, he was rendered invulnerable in this world, and invested with a peculiar power of annoying the faithful. A beautiful white horse, which he generally rode, was supposed to be itself possessed by an evil spirit, for the purpose of furthering his unholy work; and mountain-sides are still shown in the Highlands of Tweeddale, almost as steep and verdant as turf-walls, along which the peasant informs us that Claverhouse could ride on his charmed steed, with such speed and security, as rather to resemble a winged bird

than an armed man. He was led into duties of this perilous nature by a desire of disturbing the conventicles held in these Alpine solitudes, and he no doubt dared much in pursuing the dreadful task he had undertaken. But it is easy to see that his miraculous adventures in this way were no more than what a man of daring spirit could easily perform, with the assistance of a powerful and surefooted horse, and that this supernatural appearance was entirely occasioned by the extreme terror with which his unrelenting character had inspired the beholders.

There was something in the person of Dundee which tended to confirm the superstitious fear with which he was regarded. His figure was slight and of low stature, yet restless and active to such a degree, as might well excite the idea of its being the tabernacle of a demoniac spirit. His visage was beautiful even to effeminacy, and was still farther softened by a multitude of pendulous ringlets which he disposed around it, much after the female fashion of modern times, and which, it is remembered, he trained with much care into their proper arrangement, by wearing them in leads when in undress. Yet, with all his perfect handsomeness, there was a fire in his full dark eye-an eye which looked down upon men like an eagle from his eyrieand, moreover, there was a scornful rigour on his deep upper lip, which testified that his was any thing but the mind generally understood to be indicated by good looks. It was another peculiarity of his person, though one that could excite little more than wonder, that his hands and fingers were singularly long and delicate; a matter on which he seems to have prided himself much, as, in his

portrait by Sir Peter Lely, preserved at Glammis Castle, there is an evident endeavour on the part of the painter to give full advantage to it. *

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The events of Dundee's life which intervened betwixt his entering the King's service in 1677 and his rallying in favour of King James after the Revolution, may be briefly passed over. He was defeated at the skirmish of Loudon-hill, in May 1679, but shared next month in the victory gained by the royal forces over the insurgents at Bothwell-bridge. In 1682, he became, in company with his younger brother David, Sheriff of Wigtonshire, probably with a view, on the part of his constituents, that he should exert himself in a civil as he had already done in a military capacity, for the pacification of that disaffected district. In 1684, he was constituted comander of one of the Royal Regiments of Horse, was sworn a privycouncilor, and had a gift of the Castle of Dudhope and the Constabulary of Dundee. About the same period he married Lady Jean Cochrane, daughter of William Lord Cochrane, eldest son of the Earl of Dundonald; a match considered extremely strange by all his friends, as the family of his wife was distinguished for puritanism. In consequence of his suspicious alliance, he was omitted from the list of privy-councillors made up on King James's accession in 1685, but was soon afterwards restored. He successively reached the ranks, of Brigadier-general in 1686, and of Major-general in 1688; and, on the 12th of November in the last inauspicious year, a week after the landing of the Prince of Orange, he was created Viscount of Dundee.

It is quite unnecessary to detail all the circum