P. 42. v. 4.

George Gordon, second marquis of Huntley, one of the very few nobles in
Scotland, who had uniformly adhered to the king from the very beginning
of the troubles, was beheaded by the sentence of the parliament of
Scotland (so calling themselves), upon the 22d March, 1649, one month
and twenty-two days after the martyrdom of his master. He has been much
blamed for not cordially co-operating with Montrose; and Bishop Wishart,
in the zeal of partiality for his hero, accuses Huntley of direct
treachery. But he is a true believer, who seals, with his blood, his
creed, religious or political; and there are many reasons, short of this
foul charge, which may have dictated the backward conduct of Huntley
towards Montrose. He could not forget, that, when he first stood out for
the king, Montrose, then the soldier of the covenant, had actually made
him prisoner: and we cannot suppose Huntley to have been so sensible of
Montrose's superior military talents, as not to think himself, as equal
in rank, superior in power, and more uniform in loyalty entitled to
equally high marks of royal trust and favour. This much is certain, that
the gallant clan of Gordon contributed greatly to Montrose's success;
for the gentlemen of that name, with the brave and loyal Ogilvies,
composed the principal part of his cavalry.

THE BATTLE OF PENTLAND HILLS.

We have observed the early antipathy, mutually entertained by the
Scottish presbyterians and the house of Stuart It seems to have glowed
in the breast even of the good-natured Charles II. He might have
remembered, that, in 1551, the presbyterians had fought, bled, and
ruined themselves in his cause. But he rather recollected their early
faults than their late repentance; and even their services were combined
with the recollection of the absurd and humiliating circumstances of
personal degradation,[A] to which their pride and folly had subjected
him, while they professed to espouse his cause. As a man of pleasure, he
hated their stern and inflexible rigour, which stigmatised follies
even more deeply than crimes; and he whispered to his confidents, that
"presbytery was no religion for a gentleman." It is not, therefore,
wonderful, that, in the first year of his restoration, he formally
reestablished prelacy in Scotland; but it is surprising, that, with his
father's example before his eyes, he should not have been satisfied
to leave at freedom the consciences of those who could not