pets sounded through its streets; to gather together all who were well affected to religion and liberty; and, with the band he might collect, to attack and disperse any body of men who were in arms without warrant of the Convention. All this was promptly executed; and in the meantime, while the noise of a city rising in arms was heard from without, the friends of the exiled monarch sat mingled with their enemies, confounded at the danger which seemed impending over them, and at the impossibility of consulting with each other regarding their common interests. The feeling of that dreadful hour, with both the friends and the enemies of liberty, must have been, that they would require to wait till a conflict took place around their house of assembly between their respective parties of armed friends; after which, they would be relieved or massacred as either party happened to be triumphant, if not previously destroyed without discrimination by the bombs of the Castle.

It being ascertained in time that Dundee had quietly departed with his thirty troopers, and that the friends of the Whig party had mustered so strong as to put them out of all danger from the other party, this dreadful crisis passed harmlessly away. The president, however, judged it expedient to send a messenger after the retiring nobleman, commanding his immediate return to the assembly. A Major Bunting was selected, with a troop of about eighty horse, to perform this somewhat hazardous piece of service; and it is said that he had secret orders, in case of finding Dundee restive, to seize his person and bring him back by force. The pursuers soon overtook the retiring loyalists, who were deliberately pacing along the

road to Stirling by Linlithgow. When Dundee saw them advancing, he permitted his troop to go on before, and, falling back towards Bunting, entered into conversation with him. Bunting delivered the message of the Convention, and mentioned the alternative measure which he was commanded to take, in the event of finding his lordship unamenable to their commands. Dundee only replied, that he would advise him to go back to the Convention, without giving him further trouble, or his alternative measure would be " to send him back to them in a pair of blankets." At this dreadful hint, Bunting, though attended by double the number of Dundee's troop, judged it most prudent to withdraw.

The Convention was dismissed that day, without any attempt being made against the Tory members. Nevertheless, the resolution which had been displayed by their opponents, and the armed force which was now openly arrayed against them, caused many to give up the project of doing any thing for King James at the present juncture. The very men who were to have taken the most prominent part in the counter-convention abandoned the scheme. The Earl of Mar, who was to have been its landlord, attempted to go out of town by the only gate which was guarded, and thus gave himself up to the enemy. The Marquis of Athole, who was to have been its guard, remained quietly in town. In fine, many went over to the ranks of the Whigs; others betook themselves to their country seats; and scarcely any went to join Dundee.7

That nobleman being known next day to have lodged for the night at Linlithgow, the Convention sent a macer to inform him, that, if he would lay

down his arms within twenty-four hours, he should have an indemnity for all he had done; but that, if he did not do so, they would hold him guilty of treason. The man returned, before the rise of the meeting, with a report, that, not finding Dundee at Linlithgow, he had left a copy of their message at the house where he lodged. The message had no effect. Dundee, when he found the scheme of the Tory Convention frustrated, proceeded to his own house, near the town of Dundee, where he lived for some time in apparent idleness, though in reality engaged in active correspondence with the northern chiefs, for the purpose of exciting an insurrection.

Twelve days after his departure from Edinburgh (March 30th), when some other vain attempts had been made to bring him back, he was, according to the ordinary legal ceremonial of Scotland, thrice called for in the Parliament-house, and as often at its gate; and, on his failing to appear, he was denounced as a traitor, both in the Convention and at the market-cross of the city. "

When the Whig members had thus got rid of their Tory associates, they proceeded to settle the nation, by declaring King James to have forfeited the crown, and proclaiming King William and Queen Mary in his stead. This ceremony took place on the 11th of April, by which time James had gone to Ireland, with the intention of fighting his way back to the throne by the assistance of his Catholic subjects.

IT may be proper, before proceeding further with the narrative of Dundee's adventures, to state in express terms the prospects which he had of doing any effective service for his master in this remote portion of the empire.

Scotland was at this time divided, almost locally, into two parties. The inhabitants of the southern and western provinces were generally Presbyterians, and, of course, advocates of a revolution which promised supremacy to their religion. The people of the northern counties, and of the Highlands, were as generally Episcopalians, and, of course, adverse to a measure which threatened their church-government with destruction. Religion, and religion exclusively, actuated all; for there was not then, nor for nearly a century afterwards, any party in Scotland who entertained just or liberal views of civil freedom.

It was Dundee's task to play the Episcopalians against the Presbyterians, the north against the south; and, as the latter party had already been triumphant in the house of Convention, it remained to be seen if it would bear up with equal success against its opponents in the field. That it would do so, must have been at the moment a matter of doubt. A great deal of the success of the Presbyterians at the Convention was owing to the accidental circumstance of their residing nearer the place where it assembled, which enabled them to overawe the Tories with their armed and personal presence; and much more, perhaps, was owing to the countenance they derived for their proceedings from the revolutionary party in England, and the assurance of protection from King William, in case of their also accepting him for their sovereign. Now, however, when the military strength of the Revolutionists was about to be called away to Ireland, and Britain was left in some measure defenceless; now, when the spirits of King James's friends were beginning to rally, and many, formerly of a revolutionary temper, were beginning to feel a little shocked at the violation of all natural feeling upon which William's invasion had proceeded; the chances of ultimate triumph were much more nearly balanced in favour of both parties. There was also this grand circumstance in favour of the Cavaliers. Though perhaps a little inferior in numbers, and even in intelligence, to the Whigs and Presbyterians, their partisans were far more likely to acquit themselves well in the field. The Lowlanders were, upon the whole, a peaceful people. With the exception of the peasantry of Clydesdale and Ayrshire, who had been