he neighbouring county of Sutherland, calling on the natives to
join the standard of their sovereign. But his name had now lost that magic
influence which success had once thrown around it; and the several clans
shunned his approach through fear, or watched his progress as foes. In the
mean time his declaration had been solemnly burnt[d] by the hangman in the
capital; the pulpits had poured out denunciations against the "rebel and
apostate Montrose, the viperous brood of Satan, and the accursed of God and
the kirk;" and a force of four thousand regulars had been collected

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. October.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. Jan. 12.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1650. March.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1650. Feb. 9.]

on Brechin Moor under the command of General Leslie, who was careful to cut
off every source of information from the royalists. Montrose had reached[a]
the borders of Ross-shire, when Colonel Strachan, who had been sent forward
to watch his motions, learned[b] in Corbiesdale that the royalists,
unsuspicious of danger, lay at the short distance of only two miles.

Calling his men around him under the cover of the long broom on the moor,
he prayed, sang a psalm, and declared that he had consulted the Almighty,
and knew as assuredly as there was a God in heaven, that the enemies of
Christ were delivered into their hands. Then dividing his small force of
about four hundred men into several bodies, he showed at first a single
troop of horse, whom the royalists prepared to receive with their cavalry;
but after a short interval, appeared a second, then a third, then a fourth;
and Montrose believing that Leslie's entire army was advancing, ordered
the infantry to take shelter among the brushwood and stunted trees on a
neighbouring eminence. But before this movement could be executed, his
horse were broken, and his whole force lay at the mercy of the enemy. The
standard-bearer with several officers and most of the natives were slain;
the mercenaries made a show of resistance, and obtained quarter; and
Montrose, whose horse had been killed under him, accompanied by Kinnoul,
wandered on foot, without a guide, up the valley of the Kyle, and over the
mountains of Sutherland. Kinnoul, unable to bear the hunger and fatigue,
was left and perished; Montrose, on the third day,[c] obtained refreshment
at the hut of a shepherd; and, being afterwards discovered, claimed the
protection of Macleod of Assynt, who had formerly served under him