ily in the neighbourhood were
in want of meat, Rob Roy went to the store-keeper, ordered the quantity
which he wanted, and directed the tenants to carry it away. There was no
power either of resistance or complaint. If the parks of Montrose were
cleared of their cattle, the Duke was obliged to bear the loss in
silence. At length, harassed by constant depredations, Montrose applied
to the Privy Council for redress, and obtained the power of pursuing and
repressing robbers, and of recovering the goods stolen by them. But, in
this act, such was the dread of Rob Roy's power, that his name was
intentionally omitted in the order in Council.

The retreat into which Rob Roy retired, in times of danger, was a cave
at the base of Ben Lomond, and on the borders of the Loch. The entrance
to this celebrated recess is extremely difficult from the precipitous
heights which surround it. Mighty fragments of rock, partially overgrown
with brushwood and heather, guard the approach. Here Robert de Bruce
sheltered himself from his enemies; and here Rob Roy, who had an
enthusiastic veneration for that monarch, believed that he was securing
to himself an appropriate retirement. It was, indeed, inaccessible to
all but those who knew the rugged entrance; and here, had it not been
for the projects which brought the Chevalier St. George to England, Rob
Roy might have defied, during his whole lifetime, the vengeance of
Montrose. From this spot Macgregor could almost command the whole
country around Loch Lomond; a passionate affection to the spot became
the feeling, not only of his mind, but of that of his wife, who, upon
being compelled to quit the banks of Loch Lomond, gave way to her grief
in a strain which obtained the name of "Rob Roy's Lament."

Of the exquisite beauty, and of the grandeur and interest of the scene
of Rob Roy's seclusion, thousands can now form an estimate. Dr. Johnson
was no enthusiast when he thus coldly and briefly adverted to the
characteristics of Loch Lomond. "Had Loch Lomond been in a happier
climate, it would have been the boast of wealth and vanity to own one
of the little spots which it incloses, and to have employed upon it all
the arts of embellishment. But as it is, the islets which court the
gazer at a distance, disgust him at his approach, when he finds instead
of soft lawns and shady thickets, nothing more than uncultivated
ruggedness."[112]

From this retreat Rob Roy frequently emerged upon some mission of