348 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



peace. The reply of the Highlanders was to unfurl, on 

 the same date, the King's standard at Killin. Early in 

 August, the Earl of Glencairn had a force of 4,000 men 

 under his command, Middleton, who had just arrived in 

 Scotland with some men and a supply of arms and 

 ammunition, proving a valuable auxiliary.* Seaforth, 

 having left his brother to make the best defence of Lewis 

 he could, was now endeavouring to raise his clan to join 

 the Royalists, and Macleod of Harris, who had hitherto 

 remained neutral, was engaged on a similar mission. Lord 

 Lome, the eldest son of the Marquis of Argyll, had also 

 joined the Royalists, while "the old fox," his father, 

 ranged himself on the side of the Commonwealth. This 

 was a convenient arrangement for preserving the estates 

 of the Campbells from forfeiture, whichever side proved 

 victorious ; a system of hedging not uncommon in later 

 insurrections. Seaforth appears to have succeeded in 

 overcoming the temporary estrangement of his clansmen, 

 who, seeing their chief irretrievably committed to the cause 

 of the King, rallied round him, fired by his appeal to their 

 patriotism and their ties of clanship. He sent the " firdix 

 crosse " before him, summoning the Mackenzies to arms, 

 and by I2th August, found himself at the head of 800 

 men, with whom he marched to the rendez-vous at Inver- 

 lochy.t Reinforcements had meantime arrived from Ireland 

 to join the Royalists, who were determined to have 12,000 

 men in arms by the 2Oth August ; and their determination 

 appeared to be realisable. The moment seemed pro- 

 pitious for a concerted onslaught upon the English in the 

 Highlands, and had Fortune proved kind, the enemy 

 would probably have been driven south of the Grampians. 

 But at this juncture, the news reached the Highlanders of 

 the disastrous defeat, on 2Qth July, of the Dutch fleet by 

 Monck off the coast of Holland ; a defeat which was 

 accentuated by the death of the brave Admiral Tromp. 



* Middleton's arrival in Scotland in 1653 appears to have been overlooked 

 by our historians, who deal exclusively with his second appearance in the 

 following year. 



t Merc. Pol (Vol. XLV., p. 2954). 



