=Rob Roy.=
ANECDOTES OF ROBERT MACGREGOR.
(_Rob Roy._)
We derive the following interesting narrative from Colonel Stewart’s
admirable work on the Highlands.
“The father of the present Mr. Stewart of Ardvorlich knew Rob Roy
intimately, and attended his funeral in 1736—the last at which a
piper officiated in the Highlands of Perthshire. The late Mr. Stewart
of Bohallie, Mr. M‘Nab of Inchewan, and several gentlemen of my
acquaintance, also knew Rob Roy and his family. Alexander Stewart,
one of his followers, afterwards enlisted in the Black Watch. He was
wounded at Fontenoy, and discharged with a pension in 1748. Some time
after this period he was engaged by my grandmother, then a widow,
as a _grieve_, to direct and take charge of the farm-servants. In
this situation he proved a faithful, trustworthy servant, and was by
my father continued in his situation till his death. He told many
anecdotes of Rob Roy and his party, among whom he was distinguished by
the name of the Bailie, a title which he ever after retained. It was
before him that people were sworn when it was necessary to bind them to
secrecy.
“Robert Macgregor Campbell was a younger son of Donald Macgregor of
Glengyle, in Perthshire, by a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, sister
of the individual who commanded at the massacre of Glenco. He was
born some time between 1657 and 1660, and married Helen Campbell, of
the family of Glenfalloch. As cattle was at that period the principal
marketable produce of the hills, the younger sons of gentlemen had few
other means of procuring an independent subsistence than by engaging
in this sort of traffic. At an early period Rob Roy was one of the
most respectable and successful drovers in his district. Before the
year 1707 he had purchased of the family of Montrose the lands of
Craigrostane, on the banks of Lochlomond, and had relieved some heavy
debts on his nephew’s estate of Glengyle. While in this prosperous
state, he continued respected for his honourable dealings both in
the Lowlands and Highlands. Previous to the Union no cattle had been
permitted to pass the English border. As a boon or encouragement,
however, to conciliate the people to that measure, a free intercourse
was allowed. The Marquis of Montrose, created a Duke the same year, and
one of the most zealous partisans of the Union, was the first to take
advantage of this privilege, and immediately entered into partnership
with Rob Roy, who was to purchase the cattle and drive them to England
for sale—the Duke and he advancing an equal sum, 10,000 merks each
(a large sum in those days, when the price of the best ox or cow was
seldom twenty shillings); all the transactions beyond this amount to
be on credit. The purchases having been completed, Macgregor then went
to England; but so many people had entered into a similar speculation,
that the market was completely overstocked, and the cattle sold for
much less than prime cost. Macgregor returned home, and went to the
Duke to settle the account of their partnership, and to pay the money
advanced, with the deduction of the loss. The Duke, it is said, would
consent to no deduction, but insisted on principal and interest. ‘In
that case, my Lord,’ said Macgregor, ‘if these be your principles, I
shall not make it my principle to pay the interest, nor my interest the
principal; so if your Grace do not stand your share of the loss, you
shall have no money from me.’ On this they separated. No settlement of
accounts followed—the one insisting on retaining the money, unless the
other would consent to bear his share of the loss. Nothing decisive
was done till the rebellion of 1715, when Rob Roy ‘was out,’—his
nephew Glengyle commanding a numerous body of the Macgregors, but under
the control of his uncle’s superior judgment and experience. On this
occasion the Duke of Montrose’s share of the cattle speculation was
expended. The next year his Grace took legal means to recover his
money, and got possession of the lands of Craigrostane on account
of his debt. This rendered Macgregor desperate. Determined that his
Grace should not enjoy his lands with impunity, he collected a band of
about twenty followers, declared open war against him, and gave up his
old course of regular droving—declaring that the estate of Montrose
should in future supply him with cattle, and he would make the Duke
rue the day in which he quarrelled with him. He kept his word, and for
nearly twenty years, that is, till the day of his death, levied regular
contributions on the Duke and his tenants, not by nightly depredations
and robberies, but in broad day, and in a systematic manner—at an
appointed time making a complete sweep of all the cattle of a district,
always passing over those not belonging to the Duke’s estate, as well
as the estates of his friends and adherents; and having previously
given notice where he was to be by a certain day with his cattle, he
was met there by people from all parts of the country, to whom he sold
them publicly. These meetings, or trystes, as they were called, were
held in different parts of the country; sometimes the cattle were
driven south, but oftener to the north-west, where the influence of his
friend the Duke of Argyll protected him.
“When the cattle were in this manner driven away, the tenants paid no
rent, so that the Duke was the ultimate sufferer. But he was made to
suffer in every way. The rents of the lower farms were partly paid
in grain and meal, which was generally lodged in a storehouse or
granary, called a girnel, near the Loch of Monteith. When Macgregor
wanted a supply of meal, he sent notice to a certain number of the
Duke’s tenants to meet him at the girnel on a certain day, with
their horses, to carry home the meal. They met accordingly, when he
ordered the horses to be loaded, and, giving a regular receipt to the
Duke’s storekeeper for the quantity taken, he marched away—always
entertaining the people very handsomely, and careful never to take the
meal till it had been lodged in the Duke’s storehouse in payment of
rent. When the money rents were paid, Macgregor frequently attended. On
one occasion, when Mr. Graham of Killearn (the factor) had collected
the tenants to pay their rents, all Rob Roy’s men happened to be absent
except Alexander Stewart, ‘the Bailie,’ whom I have already mentioned.
With his single attendant he descended to Chapellairoch, where the
factor and the tenants were assembled. He reached the house after it
was dark, and, looking in at the window, saw Killearn, surrounded
by a number of the tenants, with a bag full of money which he had
received, and was in the act of disposing in a press or cupboard, at
the same time saying that he would cheerfully give all in the bag for
Rob Roy’s head. This notification was not lost on the outside auditor,
who instantly gave orders, in a loud voice, to place two men at each
window, two at each corner, and four at each of the two doors—thus
appearing to have twenty men. Immediately the door opened, and he
walked in with his attendant close behind, each armed with a sword in
his right hand and a pistol in his left, and with dirks and pistols
slung in their belts.
“The company started up, but he requested them to sit down, as his
business was only with Killearn, whom he ordered to hand down the bag
and put it on the table. When this was done, he desired the money to be
counted, and proper receipts to be drawn out, certifying that he had
received the money from the Duke of Montrose’s agent, as the Duke’s
property, the tenants having paid their rents, so that no after-demand
could be made against them on account of this transaction; and finding
that some of the people had not obtained receipts, he desired the
factor to grant them immediately, ‘to show his Grace,’ said he, ‘that
it is from him I take the money, and not from these honest men who have
paid him.’ After the whole was concluded, he ordered supper, saying,
that as he had got the purse, it was proper he should pay the bill; and
after they had drunk heartily together for several hours, he called his
Bailie to produce his dirk, and lay it naked on the table. Killearn was
then sworn that he would not move, nor direct any one else to move,
from that spot for an hour after the departure of Macgregor, who thus
cautioned him—‘If you break your oath, you know what you are to expect
in the next world—and in this,’ pointing to his dirk. He then walked
away, and was beyond pursuit before the hour expired.
“At another collecting of rents by the same gentleman, Macgregor made
his appearance, and carried him away, with his servant, to a small
island in the west end of Loch Cathrine, and having kept him there
for several days, entertaining him in the best manner, as a duke’s
representative ought to be, he dismissed him, with the usual receipts
and compliments to his Grace. In this manner did this extraordinary man
live, in open violation and defiance of the laws, and died peaceably
in his bed when nearly eighty years of age. His funeral was attended
by all the country round, high and low—the Duke of Montrose and his
immediate friends only excepted.
“How such things could happen, at so late a period, must appear
incredible; and this, too, within thirty miles of the garrisons of
Stirling and Dumbarton, and the populous city of Glasgow, and, indeed,
with a small garrison stationed at Inversnaid, in the heart of the
country, and on the estate which belonged to Macgregor, for the
express purpose of checking his depredations. The truth is, the thing
could not have happened had it not been the peculiarity of the man’s
character; for, with all his lawless spoliations and unremitted acts
of vengeance and robbery against the Montrose family, he had not an
enemy in the country beyond the sphere of their influence. He never
hurt or meddled with the property of a poor man, and, as I have stated,
was always careful that his great enemy should be the principal, if
not the only sufferer. Had it been otherwise, it was quite impossible
that, notwithstanding all his enterprise, address, intrepidity, and
vigilance, he could have long escaped in a populous country, with a
warlike people, well qualified to execute any daring exploit, such as
the seizure of this man, had they been his enemies, and willing to
undertake it. Instead of which, he lived socially among them—that is,
as social as an outlaw, always under a certain degree of alarm, could
do—giving the education of gentlemen to his sons, frequenting the most
populous towns, and, whether in Edinburgh, Perth, or Glasgow, equally
safe, at the same time that he displayed great and masterly address in
avoiding or calling for public notice.
“The instances of his address struck terror into the minds of the
troops, whom he often defeated and out-generalled. One of these
instances occurred in Breadalbane, in the case of an officer and forty
chosen men sent after him. The party crossed through Glenfalloch to
Tyndrum; and Macgregor, who had correct information of all their
movements, was with a party in the immediate neighbourhood. He put
himself in the disguise of a beggar, with a bag of meal on his back
(in those days alms were always bestowed in produce), went to the inn
at Tyndrum, where the party was quartered, walked into the kitchen with
great indifference, and sat down among the soldiers. They soon found
the beggar a lively sarcastic fellow, when they began to attempt some
practical jokes upon him.
“He pretended to be very angry, and threatened to inform Rob Roy, who
would quickly show them they were not to give with impunity such usage
to a poor and harmless person. He was immediately asked if he knew Rob
Roy, and if he could tell where he was? On his answering that he knew
him well, and where he was, the sergeant informed the officer, who
immediately sent for him.
“After some conversation, the beggar consented to accompany them to
Creanlarich, a few miles distant, where he said Rob Roy and his men
were, and that he believed their arms were lodged in one house, while
they were sitting in another. He added that Roy was very friendly,
and sometimes joked with him, and put him at the head of the table;
and ‘when it is dark,’ said he, ‘I will go forward—you will follow
in half an hour—and, when near the house, rush on, place your men at
the back of the house, ready to seize on the arms of the Highlanders,
while you shall go round with the sergeant and two men, walk in, and
call out the whole are your prisoners; and don’t be surprised though
you should see me at the head of the company.’ As they marched on they
had to pass a rapid stream at Dabrie, a spot celebrated on account of
the defeat of Robert Bruce by Macdougal of Lorn, in the year 1306. Here
the soldiers asked their merry friend the beggar to carry them through
on his back. This he did, sometimes taking two at a time, till he took
the whole over, demanding a penny from each for his trouble. When it
was dark they pushed on (the beggar having gone before), the officer
following the directions of his guide, and darting into the house with
the sergeant and three soldiers. They had hardly time to look to the
end of the table, where they saw the beggar standing, when the door was
shut behind them, and they were instantly pinioned, two men standing on
each side holding pistols to their ears, and declaring that they were
dead men if they uttered a word. The beggar then went out, and called
in two more men, who were instantly secured, and in the same manner
with the whole party. Having been disarmed, they were placed under a
strong guard till morning, when he gave them a plentiful breakfast and
released them on parole (the Bailie attending with his dirk, over which
the officer gave his parole) to return immediately to their garrison
without attempting anything more at this time. This promise Rob Roy
made secure, by keeping their arms and ammunition as lawful prize of
war.
“Some time after, the same officer was again sent after this noted
character, probably to retrieve his former mishap. In this expedition
he was more fortunate, for he took three of the freebooters prisoners
in the higher parts of Breadalbane, near the scene of the former
exploit—but the conclusion was nearly similar. He lost no time in
proceeding in the direction of Perth, for the purpose of putting his
prisoners in gaol; but Rob Roy was equally alert in pursuit. His men
marched in a parallel line with the soldiers, who kept along the bottom
of the valley, on the south side of Loch Tay, while the others kept
close up the side of the hill, anxiously looking for an opportunity to
dash down and rescue their comrades, if they saw any remissness or want
of attention on the part of the soldiers. Nothing of this kind offered,
and the party had passed Tay Bridge, near which they halted and slept.
Macgregor now saw that something must soon be done or never, as they
would speedily gain the low country, and be out of his reach. In the
course of the night he procured a number of goat-skins and cords, with
which he dressed himself and his party in the wildest manner possible,
and, pushing forward, before daylight took post near the roadside,
in a thick wood below Grandtully Castle. When the soldiers came in a
line with the party in ambush, the Highlanders, with one leap, darted
down upon them, uttering such yells and shouts as, along with their
frightful appearance, so confounded the soldiers, that they were
overpowered and disarmed without a man being hurt on either side. Rob
Roy kept the arms and ammunition, released the soldiers, and marched
away in triumph with his men.
“The terror of his name was much increased by exploits like these,
which, perhaps, lost nothing by the telling, as the soldiers would not
probably be inclined to diminish the danger and fatigues of a duty in
which they were so often defeated. But it is unnecessary to repeat the
stories preserved and related of this man and his actions, which were
always daring and well contrived, often successful, but never directed
against the poor, nor prompted by revenge, except against the Duke of
Montrose, and without any instance of murder or bloodshed committed
by any of his party, except in their own defence. In the war against
Montrose he was supported and abetted by the Duke of Argyll, from whom
he always received shelter when hard pressed; or, to use a hunting
term, when he was in danger of being earthed by the troops. These
two powerful families were still rivals, although Montrose had left
the Tories and joined Argyll and the Whig interest. It is said that
Montrose reproached Argyll in the House of Peers with protecting the
robber Rob Roy; when the latter, with his usual eloquence and address,
parried off the accusation (which he could not deny) by jocularly
answering, that if he protected a robber, the other supported him.”
We can only add to this animated history of Rob Roy one circumstance;
which, though accredited in the Highlands, has never been noticed in
the popular accounts of our hero. In whatever degree his conduct was to
be attributed to his own wrongs, or those of his clan, the disposition
which prompted and carried him through in his daring enterprises, could
be traced to the family temper of his mother, who came of the Campbells
of Glenlyon—a peculiarly wild, bold, and wicked race.
The mode of escape adopted by Rob Roy in crossing the Avon-dhu, so
finely described in the third volume of the novel, seems to have been
suggested by the following traditionary anecdote, which is preserved
in the neighbourhood of the spot where the exploit took place:—A
Cameronian, in the district of Galloway, flying from two dragoons, who
pursued him hotly, came to a precipice which overhung a lake. Seeing
no other means of eluding his enemies, he plunged into the water, and
attempted to swim to the other side. In the meantime the troopers came
up, and fired at him; when he, with an astonishing presence of mind,
parted with his plaid, and swam below the water to a safe part of the
shore. His enemies fired repeatedly at the plaid, till they supposed
him slain or sunk, and then retired.
PARALLEL PASSAGES.
A resemblance will be discovered between the following passages—one
being part of Bailie Jarvie’s conversation with Owen, in “Rob Roy,”
and the other an extract from a work entitled, “A Tour through Great
Britain, &c., by a Gentleman, 4th ed. 1748”—a curious book, of which
the first edition was written by the celebrated De Foe:—
“We found the liquor exceedingly palatable, and it led to a long
conversation between Owen and our host, on the opening which the
Union had afforded to trade between Glasgow and the British colonies
in America and the West Indies, and on the facilities which Glasgow
possessed of making up _sortable_ cargoes for that market. Mr. Jarvie
answered some objection which Owen made on the difficulty of sorting
a cargo for America, without buying from England, with vehemence and
volubility.
“‘Na, na, sir; we stand on our ain bottom—we pickle in our ain
pock-neuk. We ha’e our Stirling serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen
hose, Edinburgh shalloons, and the like, for our woollen and worsted
goods, and we ha’e linens of a’ kinds, better and cheaper than you
ha’e in London itsel’; and we can buy your north o’ England wares,—as
Manchester wares, Sheffield wares, and Newcastle earthenware—as cheap
as you can, at Liverpool; and we are making a fair spell at cottons and
muslins.’”—_Rob Roy_, vol. ii., p. 267.
“Glasgow is a city of business, and has the face of foreign as well as
domestic trade,—nay, I may say it is the only city in Scotland that
apparently increases in both. The Union has indeed answered its end to
them, more than to any other part of the kingdom, their trade being
new-formed by it; for as the Union opened the door to the Scots into
our American colonies, the Glasgow merchants presently embraced the
opportunity; and though, at its first concerting, the rabble of the
city made a formidable attempt to prevent it, yet afterwards they knew
better, when they found the great increase of their trade by it, for
they now send fifty sail of ships every year to Virginia, New England,
and other English colonies in America.
“The share they have in the herring-fishery is very considerable; and
they cure their herrings so well and so much better than they are done
in any other part of Great Britain, that a Glasgow herring is esteemed
as good as a Dutch one.
“I have no room to enlarge upon the home-trade of this city, which is
very considerable in many things. I shall, therefore, touch at some few
particulars:—
“1. Here there are two very handsome sugar-baking houses, carried on by
skilful persons, with large stocks, and to very great perfection. Here
is likewise a large distillery for distilling spirits from the molasses
drawn from sugars, by which they enjoyed a vast advantage for a time,
by a reserved article in the Union, freeing them from English duties.
“2. Here is a manufacture of plaiding, a stuff crossed with yellow,
red, and other mixtures, for the plaids or veils worn by the women of
Scotland.
“3. Here is a manufacture of muslins, which they make so good and fine
that great quantities of them are sent into England, and to the British
plantations, where they sell at a good price. They are generally
striped, and are very much used for aprons by the ladies, and sometimes
in head-clothes by the meaner sort of Englishwomen.
“4. Here is also a linen manufacture; but as that is in common with
all parts of Scotland, which improve in it daily, I will not insist
upon it as a peculiar here, though they make a very great quantity of
it, and send it to the plantations as their principal merchandise. Nor
are the Scots without a supply of goods for sorting their cargoes to
the English colonies, without sending to England for them; and it is
necessary to mention it here, because it has been objected by some that
the Scots could not send a sortable cargo to America without buying
from England, which, coming through many hands, and by a long carriage,
must consequently be so dear, that the English merchants can undersell
them.
“It is very probable, indeed, that some things cannot be had here
so well as from England, so as to make out such a sortable cargo
as the Virginia merchants in London ship off, whose entries at the
custom-house consist sometimes of two hundred particulars, as tin,
turnery, millinery, upholstery, cutlery, and other _Crooked-Lane_
wares—in short, somewhat of everything, either for wearing or house
furniture, building houses or ships.
“But though the Scots cannot do all this, we may reckon up what they
can furnish, which they have not only in sufficient quantities, but
some in greater perfection than England itself.
“1. They have woollen manufactories of their own,—such as Stirling
serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen stockens, Edinburgh shalloons,
blankets, etc.
“2. Their trade with England being open, they have now all the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham wares, and likewise the cloths,
kerseys, half-thicks, duffels, stockens and coarse manufactures of the
north of England, brought as cheap or cheaper to them by horse-packs as
they are carried to London, it being at a less distance.
“3. They have linens of most kinds, especially diapers and
table-linens, damasks, and many other sorts not known in England, and
cheaper than there, because made at their own doors.
“4. What linens they want from Holland or Hamburgh, they import from
thence as cheap as the English can do; and for muslins, their own are
very acceptable, and cheaper than in England.
“5. Gloves they make cheaper and better than in England, for they send
great quantities thither.
“6. * * * * * *
“I might mention many other particulars, but this is sufficient to show
that the Scots merchants are not at a loss how to make up sortable
cargoes to send to the plantations; and that if we can outdo them in
some things, they are able to outdo us in others.”—_Tour_, vol. iv.,
p. 124.
Though only the latter part of the preceding description of Glasgow
trade refers to the passage from “Rob Roy,” we have extracted it all
for various reasons. First, because it gives, independent of allusion
to the novel, a very distinct and simple account of trade in Scotland
forty years after the Union, when the reaction consequent upon that
event was beginning to be felt in the country. Secondly, because it
details at full length the sketch of the rise and progress of Glasgow,
which Mr. Francis Osbaldistone gives in the sixth chapter of the
second volume of “Rob Roy,” on his approach to the mercantile capital.
Thirdly, for the sake of presenting the reader with a very fair
specimen of the use which the Author of “Waverley” makes of old books
in his fictitious narratives.