afterwards recorded--
"Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 'twas natural
to please; His motions all accompanied with grace, And Paradise was
open'd in his face." Yet to a strict observer, the manly beauty of
Monmouth's face was occasionally rendered less striking by an air of
vacillation and uncertainty, which seemed to imply hesitation and doubt
at moments when decisive resolution was most necessary.
Beside him stood Claverhouse, whom we have already fully described, and
another general officer whose appearance was singularly striking. His
dress was of the antique fashion of Charles the First's time, and
composed of shamoy leather, curiously slashed, and covered with antique
lace and garniture. His boots and spurs might be referred to the same
distant period. He wore a breastplate, over which descended a grey beard
of venerable length, which he cherished as a mark of mourning for Charles
the First, having never shaved since that monarch was brought to the
scaffold. His head was uncovered, and almost perfectly bald. His high and
wrinkled forehead, piercing grey eyes, and marked features, evinced age
unbroken by infirmity, and stern resolution unsoftened by humanity. Such
is the outline, however feebly expressed, of the celebrated General
Thomas Dalzell,
[Note: Usually called Tom Dalzell. In Crichton's Memoirs, edited by
Swift, where a particular account of this remarkable person's dress
and habits is given, he is said never to have worn boots. The
following account of his rencounter with John Paton of Meadowhead,
showed, that in action at least he wore pretty stout ones, unless
the reader be inclined to believe in the truth of his having a
charm, which made him proof against lead.
"Dalzell," says Paton's biographer, "advanced the whole left wing of
his army on Colonel Wallace's right. Here Captain Paton behaved with
great courage and gallantry. Dalzell, knowing him in the former
wars, advanced upon him himself, thinking to take him prisoner. Upon
his approach, each presented his pistol. On their first discharge,
Captain Paton, perceiving his pistol ball to hop upon Dalzell's
boots, and knowing what was the cause, (he having proof,) put his
hand in his pocket for some small pieces of silver he had there for
the purpose, and put one of them into his other pistol. But Dalzell,
having his eye upon him in the mea
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