CHAPTER V. "The clouds of winter gather: fast the leaves, The just man's bed, with chains, and swords, and death.” ANON. In the meantime, an incident took place in the south of Scotland, which rendered the condition of the covenanters more intolerable. The persecutors in that quarter had laid a heavy fine on a poor old man; and, being unable to pay it, the soldiers bound him, and, regardless of his prayers and tears, were dragging him to prison, when a handful of peasants, who had gathered around, pitying the poor man, and indignant at the cruelty of such a proceeding, set violently upon the soldiers, and rescued the prisoner. Aware that no pardon could be expected for this action, they took arms to defend themselves. Their number, small at first, soon increased to nearly two thousand: and, in the heat of their rage, they determined to march to Edinburgh, to compel the government to redress their grievances. The wise and the prudent among them saw the impolicy of this attempt, and tried every means to dissuade their friends from their rash purpose. They represented the strength and discipline of the king's forces; and their own want of arms and discipline, and the impossibility of procuring skilful commanders, as the gentlemen of their party in the West were either in confinement or had fled out of the country. They exhorted them rather to disperse, and seek shelter from the cruelty of their oppressors in flight and hiding, than thus, unprepared as they were, to rush on certain destruction. Moreover, they affirmed, that it would be more consistent with the spirit of Christianity, yet to try to procure a mitigation of their sufferings by petition and entreaty. Nevertheless, the multitude, afraid to lay down those arms they had once taken up, their minds rendered desperate by suffering, and encouraged by some of the less prudent of their pastors, directed their march towards the capitol. This was the very point which the persecuting government aimed at. They wished to have some better pretext than they yet had to plunder and ruin the presbyterians. They had often attempted, by their emissaries, to excite some insurrection. This their own cruelty had now produced. And a band, which, at the most, was never more than two thousand, and which had taken arms without any previous concertment, was magnified, by the reports of the oppressors, into a general and preconcerted rebellion of all the West. The result of this insurrection is well known. Having reached the neighborhood of Edinburgh, reduced, by fatigue or fear, to less than half of their former number, and having effected nothing to better their condition, they were returning peaceably home by the Pentland Hills, when they were pursued and set upon by Dalziel, at that time commander of the king's forces in Scotland. They fought for some time with more spirit than could have been expected from men in their forlorn situation: but a party of soldiers, from another quarter, coming behind them, they were thrown into disorder, and put to flight. Fifty were killed on the spot, (where a very handsome monument has since been erected to their memory;) some fell in the pursuit; and a considerable number were taken prisoners. These were treated without mercy. Ten of them were executed on the same scaffold, and their heads and hands sent to Lanark, where, in passing, they had renewed the covenant. Besides these, many were sent into the west country, and executed before their own doors. The persecutors had now got, as we have already mentioned, the pretext they wanted; and they hesitated not to proceed to the most wanton and most inhuman cruelties. Dalziel and Drum mond, who were now the commanders of the military in the West, added the ferocity of the Muscovites (in which service they had for some time been) to the cool and inflexible cruelty which characterised the persecutors in general. Dragoons were stationed in every village: and even the private men had power to shoot, without any form of trial, all who refused to take the test to government. In no place were the poor scattered members of Scotland's church safe from the vigilant search of their enemies. The ejected clergymen, especially, were pursued with unremitting diligence; and, among these, none were hunted with greater eagerness than Mr. Bruce. The curate, Mr. Macduff, who had succeeded to his place, as he disliked all the covenanters, so he hated Mr. Bruce with a perfect hatred. He considered this worthy man, whom he knew 'to be still lurking about the parish, as the chief cause of preventing the people in that quarter from complying with the established form of worship. The villagers, too, were sometimes bold enough to contrast, even to his face, his character with that of their former minister. These things were sufficient to irritate an ignorant and cruel being, such as Mr. Macduff was, to implacable resentment against Mr. Bruce; and he determined to have him cut off.-Night and day, the two spies, whom the curate still entertained, were in search of him: and their search was the more diligent, as government had not only offered a considerable reward for his apprehension, but Mr. Macduff had promised them a handsome sum himself, if they. would bring him certain intelligence how this good man might be taken. Mr. Bruce, although he seldom left the bounds of his former charge, had still however, eluded their search. He was so esteemed and beloved by the peasants among whom he wandered, that they would have cheerfully risked their own lives to procure the escape or concealment of their pastor. And what was very surprising, such was the faithful secrecy of the inhabitants of the place |