in
for the bore, with a coating of leather, all secured by tight cordage. A
horse could carry two of them, and it was their merit to stand a few
discharges before they came to pieces." "History of Scotland," vi. 302.

[97] It is said that one of Dundee's arguments against attacking in the
pass was, that it did not become brave soldiers to engage a foe at
disadvantage, an argument which I should imagine Dundee was much too
sensible a man to employ to Highlanders. Had his force been sufficient
for him to close up the mouth of the pass after the Lowlanders had
entered, it is hard to imagine he would have lost the chance of catching
Mackay in such a trap. But his force was too small to divide: while the
nature of the ground would of course have told as much against those who
made as against those who met a charge, besides inevitably offending the
jealous point of honour which forbad one clan to take precedence of
another. It may be, too, that Dundee was not very well served by his
scouts. Mackay certainly seems to have got well on his way through the
pass before the other knew that he had entered it. See the "Life of
Mackay," and the "Rebellions in Scotland."

[98] Memoirs of Lochiel.

[99] For long afterwards the battle was known among the Highlanders as
the battle of Renrorie.

[100] Mackay's Memoirs: "a quart de conversion" is his own phrase for
this change of front.

[101] "Sketches of the Highlanders."

[102] Among the Nairne Papers is what purports to be a copy of Dundee's
speech. It has been contemptuously rejected by some writers as a
manifest forgery, on the ground that no Highlander would have understood
a word of it. But there were Dundee's own officers and men to be
addressed; and, moreover, his language would have been perfectly
intelligible to some, at least, of the chiefs, who would have conveyed
its purpose to their men. It was still the fashion for a general to
harangue his troops before leading them into action, and it was a
fashion particularly in vogue among the Highlanders. I see no reason,
therefore, to doubt the general authenticity of this speech. Exactly as
it stands in the Nairne Papers probably Dundee did not deliver it; the
style being somewhat more grandiloquent than he was in the habit of
employing. But its general purpose, which I have endeavoured to give in
a paraphrase, seems to be very much what such a man would have said at
such a moment. The authority for Mackay's speech will be fo