quarters, nine men, including his kind-hearted entertainer, were bound hand and foot, and then shot; and a boy, twelve years old, who clung to his knees for mercy, was stabbed. Of those who escaped to the mountains, most perished in the snow; but, had the detachment from Ballahulish arrived in time to block up the avenues, as was expected, not an individual would have been left alive. A storm having come on, Duncanson was unable to march from his quarters, and to this circumstance the few that survived that dreadful morning owed their preservation. The same day, every house and hamlet in the glen was destroyed; and the whole of the cattle and other property belonging to the Macdonalds carried off. Such of the women as had not been massacred, nor died of terror, were reserved for a more dismal fate. Driven from their beds, or hunted down by these bloodhounds, and exposed without clothes or shelter in the midst of a snowy waste, six miles from any human habitation, they were found in general either starved to death, or expiring with their children under the frozen rocks and brushwood.

Many traditions of this massacre are still preserved by the present generation, who refer to the judgments which have since been visited upon the descendants of those who were actively employed in this tragedy. They carefully note, that, while the posterity of the unfortunate gentleman who suffered, is still entire, and his estate preserved in direct male succession to his descendants, the case is very different with the family, posterity, and estates, of the laird of Glenlyon, and of those who were the principals, promoters, and actors, in this infamous transaction. A parliamentary commission was afterwards appointed, by order of government, for the thorough investigation of the affair; but this measure had only the effect of placing it in a still more revolting light. The king endeavoured to lighten the odium which attached itself so strongly to himself, by pleading oversight and hurry in subscribing the royal mandates-an excuse which only aggravated the crime. That he was the dupe of his ministers, and had listened with too much credulity to their exaggerated statements respecting the rebellious clans, is certain; but as neither these wicked counsellors, nor the actual perpetrators of the measure, were either reprimanded or punished, the imputation of guilt was strengthened almost to certainty, and it has left an indelible stigma on his reign. It forms a most humiliating contrast to the noble line of conduct pursued by the same monarch towards the persecuted Waldenses of Piedmont. It would be difficult to point out any two features more opposite,

*

The earl of Braidalbane, who was Glenco's private enemy, devoted him to destruction. He represented him at court as an incorrigible rebel, a ruffian inured to bloodshed and rapine, who would never be obedient to the laws of his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign.-Smollett.

than the massacre of his own subjects in Glenco, and the spirited mediation with which he interfered in behalf of these Protestants of the Alps. The facts are totally irreconcilable, and show that the human mind is made up of the most contradictory impulses. The tide of popular indignation against Secretary Stair* ran so high, that he never recovered his standing with the public.

It is only while contemplating this glen in all its native wildness—such as it is in the depth of winter-and in observing how difficult it must have been to escape, that one feels the full force of the "Secretary Stair's cool blood-thirstiness," as manifested in his letters; his earnest anxiety to have the passes well guarded, the work done in the depth of winter, and under cloud of night; when, if any escaped, they must have escaped naked; and if they did not fall by the sword, must have perished in the snow.-But we now take leave of this painful subject, recommending to such of our readers as would wish to examine the facts more in detail, to peruse the documents then published, particularly "the Report of the Commission"t given by his Majesty for inquiring into the slaughter of the men of Glenco.

"Et

From such melancholy details it is a sensible relief to turn once more to the radiant face of nature-to the romantic landscape spread out before us, and now reflecting its rich and varied beauties in the calm bosom of Loch-etive. "Je revenais de Glenco, par le sentier qui longe le bord du torrent . . . Je me retournais souvent pour considérer les ruines de ce malheureux village!" comment trouvez-vous notre pays, colonel?" "Admirable !" "N'est-ce pas ? des vues superbes !"... "Et des femmes charmantes. . . Une, surtout, que je n'ai fait qu'entrevoir." Here the grand and imposing feature is Ben-cruachan, looking from his "throne of clouds," over the vast congeries of hills that form his girdle. This lake, like most of the others so named, is a long arm of the sea, communicating with Loch-awe by means of the river flowing out of the latter. That portion of Loch-etive which expands before the ferry of Bun-awe -the point from which the accompanying view was taken-is strikingly beautiful, possessing that air of tranquil majesty, that union of the beautiful and

In the rebellion of 1745, the Glenco men were accidentally quartered near the house of his son and representative. When the circumstance was adverted to, some apprehension was felt lest the men might seize on so favourable an opportunity to avenge the massacre. But when this transpired, and they learnt that, by way of caution, they were to be marched to some distance, they at once prepared to return home; and being questioned on the subject—“ We will not," they said, "endure insult where we had pledged honourable service! We will not be thought capable of making an innocent man suffer for the crime of his father." The answer is a noble testimony in their favour.

This document was subscribed at Holyrood House, the 20th day of June, A.D. 1693. "L'Orpheline de Glencoë."-Paris, 1836.