"A skirmish actually took place at a pass thus called in the Trosachs,
and closed with the remarkable incident mentioned in the text. It was
greatly posterior in date to the reign of James V.
'In this roughly-wooded island [13] the country people secreted their
wives and children and their most valuable effects from the rapacity of
Cromwell's soldiers during their inroad into this country, in the time
of the republic. These invaders, not venturing to ascend by the ladders
along the lake, took a more circuitous road through the heart of the
Trosachs, the most frequented path at that time, which penetrates the
wilderness about half way between Binean and the lake by a tract called
Yea-chilleach, or the Old Wife's Bog.
'In one of the defiles of this by-road the men of the country at
that time hung upon the rear of the invading enemy, and shot one of
Cromwell's men, whose grave marks the scene of action, and gives name to
that pass. [14] In revenge of this insult, the soldiers resolved to
plunder the island, to violate the women, and put the children to death.
With this brutal intention, one of the party, more expert than the rest,
swam towards the island, to fetch the boat to his comrades, which had
carried the women to their asylum, and lay moored in one of the creeks.
His companions stood on the shore of the mainland, in full view of all
that was to pass, waiting anxiously for his return with the boat. But
just as the swimmer had got to the nearest point of the island, and was
laying hold of a black rock to get on shore, a heroine, who stood on the
very point where he meant to land, hastily snatching a dagger from below
her apron, with one stroke severed his head from the body. His party
seeing this disaster, and relinquishing all future hope of revenge or
conquest, made the best of their way out of their perilous situation.
This amazon's great grandson lives at Bridge of Turk, who, besides
others, attests the anecdote' (Sketch of the Scenery near Callander,
Stirling, 1806, p. 20). I have only to add to this account that the
heroine's name was Helen Stuart."
376. No ripple on the lake. "The liveliness of this description of the
battle is due to the greater variety of the metre, which resembles
that of Marmion. The three-accent lines introduced at intervals give
it lightness, and the repetition of the same rhyme enables the poet
to throw together without break all that forms part of one picture"
(Taylor).