D'Auverquerque, who had so bravely rescued him, with a sword, whose handle was of massy gold, set with diamonds. I forgot to mention that this gentleman received a shot on his head at the battle of Seneff; and truly, in all actions, which were many, he nobly distinguished himself by his bravery. He was father of this present earl of Grantham. The names of the English officers which I knew to be killed in this action. Lieutenant-colonel Archer, Captain Charleton, Captain Richardson, Captain Fisher, Captain Pemfield, Ensign Colvile. With several others, whose names I have forgot. Lieutenant-colonel Babington, who began the attack by beating the French out of the hop-garden, was taken prisoner. Colonel Hales, who was a long time governor of Chelsea College, being then a captain, received a shot on his leg, of which he went lame to his dying day. The war thus ended by the peace of Nimeguen, the regiment in which I served was appointed to lie in garrison at the Grave. We lay there near four years, our soldiers being mostly employed about the fortifications. It was here, and by that means, that I imbibed the rudiments of fortification, and the practical part of an engineer, which in my more advanced years was of no small service to me. Nevertheless, in the year 1684, our regiment received orders to march to Haren, near Brussels; where, with other forces, we encamped, till we heard that Luxemburg, invaded by the French, in a time of the profoundest peace, had surrendered to them. Then we decamped, and marched to Mechlin; where we lay in the field till near November. Not that there was any war proclaimed, but as not knowing whether those who had committed such acts of hostility in time of peace, might not take it in their heads to proceed yet further. In November we marched into that town, where count Nivelle was governor: the marquis de Grana, at the same time, governing the Netherlands in the jurisdiction of Spain. Nothing of any moment happened after this, till the death of king Charles II. The summer after which, the three English and three Scotch regiments received orders to pass over into England, upon the occasion of Monmouth's rebellion; where, upon our arrival, we received orders to encamp on Hounslow Heath. But that rebellion being soon stifled, and king James having no further need of us, those regiments were ordered to return again to Holland, into the proper service of those who paid them. my Though I am no stiff adherer to the doctrine of predestination, yet to the full assurance of a providence I never could fail to adhere. Thence came it, that natural desire to serve my own native country prevailed upon me to quit the service of another, though its neighbour and ally. Events are not always to direct the judgment; and therefore whether I did best in following these fondling dictates of nature, I shall neither question nor determine. However, it was not long after my arrival in England before I had a commission given me by king James, to be a lieutenant in a new-raised regiment under the command of colonel Tufton, brother to the earl of Thanet. Under this commission I sojourned out two peaceable campaigns on Hounslow Heath, where I was an eyewitness of one mock siege of Buda: after which our regiment was ordered to Berwick, where I remained till the Revolution. King James having abdicated the throne, and the prince of Orange accepting the administration, all commissions were ordered to be renewed in his name. The officers of our regiment, as well as others, severally took out theirs accordingly; a very few excepted, of which number was our colonel, who refusing a compliance, his commission was given to sir James Lesley. The prince of Orange presently after was declared and proclaimed king, and his princess queen, with a conjunctive power. Upon which our regiment was ordered into Scotland, where affairs appeared under a face of disquietude. We had our quarters at Leith, till the time the castle of Edinburgh, then under the command of the duke of Gordon, had surrendered. After which, pursuant to fresh orders, we marched to Inverness, a place of no great strength, and as little beauty; though yet I think I may say, without the least danger of an hyperbole, that it is as pleasant as most places in that country. Here we lay two long winters, perpetually harassed upon parties, and hunting of somewhat wilder than their wildest game, namely, the Highlanders, who were, if not as nimblefooted, yet fully as hard to be found. But general Mackay having received orders to build a fort at Inverlochy, our regiment, among others, was commanded to that service. The two regiments appointed on the same duty, with some few dragoons, were already on their march, which having joined, we marched together through Louquebar. This sure is the wildest country in the Highlands, if not in the world. I did not see one house in all our march; and their economy, if I may call it such, is much the same with that of the Arabs or Tartars. Huts, or cabins of trees and trash, are their places of habitation, in which they dwell till their half-horned cattle have devoured the grass, and then remove, staying nowhere longer than that convenience invites them. In this march, or rather, if you please, most dismal peregrination, we could but very rarely go two on a breast, and oftener, like geese in a string, one after another. So that our very little army had sometimes, or rather most commonly, an extent of many miles ; our enemy, the Highlanders, firing down upon us from their summits all the way. Nor was it possible for our men, or very rarely at least, to return their favours with any prospect of success; for as they popped upon us always on a sudden, they never stayed long enough to allow any of our soldiers a mark, or even time enough to fire. And for our men to march or climb up those mountains, which to them were natural champaign, would have been as dangerous as it seemed to us impracticable. Nevertheless, under all these disheartening disadvantages, we arrived at Inverlochy, and there performed the task appointed, building a fort on the same spot where Cromwell had raised one before. And, which was not a little remarkable, we had with us one Hill, a colonel, who had been governor in Oliver's time, and who was now again appointed governor by general Mackay. Thus the work on which we were sent being effected, we marched back again by the way of Gillycrancky, where that memorable battle under Dundee had been fought the year before. Some time after, sir Thomas Levingston, afterwards earl of Tiviot, having received intelligence that the Highlanders intended to fall down into the lower countries in a considerable body, got together a party of about five hundred, (the dragoons, called the Scotch Greys, inclusive,) with which he resolved, if possible, to give them a meeting. We left Inverness the last day of April, and encamped near a little town called Forrest, the place where, as tradition still confidently avers, the witches met Macbeth, and greeted him with their diabolical auspices. But this story is so naturally displayed in a play of the immortal Shakespeare, that I need not descend here to any further particulars. Here sir Thomas received intelligence that the Highlanders designed to encamp upon the Spey, near the laird of Grant's castle. Whereupon we began our march about noon; and the next day, about the break thereof, we came to that river, where we soon discovered the Highlanders, by their fires. Sir Thomas, immediately on sight of it, issued his orders for our fording the river, and falling upon them as soon after as possible. Both were accordingly performed, and with so good order, secrecy, and success, that Cannon and Balfour, their commanders, were obliged to make their escape naked. They were about one thousand in number, of which were killed about three hundred; we pursued them till they got up Cromdale-hill, where we lost them in a fog. And indeed, so high is that hill, that they who perfectly knew it, assured me that it never is without a little dark fog hanging over it. And to me, at that instant of time, they seemed rather to be people received up into clouds, than flying from an enemy. Near this there was an old castle, called Lethendy, into which about fifty of them made their retreat, most of them gentlemen, resolving there to defend themselves to the last. Sir Thomas sent a messenger to them, with an offer of mercy, if they would surrender: but they refused the proffered quarter, and fired upon our men, killing two of our grenadiers, and wounding another. During my quarters at the Grave, having learnt to throw a grenado, I took three or four in a bag, and crept down by the side of a ditch, or dyke, to an old thatched house near the castle, imagining, on my mounting the same, I might be near enough to throw them, so as to do execution. I found all things answer my expectation; and the castle wanting a cover, I threw in a grenado, which put the enemy immediately into confusion. The second had not so good success, falling short; and the third burst as soon as it was well out of my hand, though without damage to myself. But throwing the fourth in at a window, it so increased |