REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1901 35 



apprise their friends in France of the adventure in which 

 they were engaged, with the result that when an attempt 

 was at last made to blockade the Rock, it was met by the 

 appearance in the Firth of a French frigate, which dispersed 

 Dutch William's vessels and landed provisions for the garrison. 

 By degrees, however, the measures adopted by the Government 

 began to produce their due effect. But the rebels were not 

 yet at the end of their resources. When Commissioners landed 

 on the island to treat with them, they contrived by a lavish 

 distribution of the scanty remnant of their provisions, together 

 with a cunning display of muskets, coats, and hats, to make 

 their circumstances' appear so much better than they really 

 were, as to secure advantageous terms of capitulation. Thus 

 the Bass Rock enjoyed the distinction of having held out 

 longer for the Stuart Sovereign than any other place in his 

 kingdom. Only one untoward incident marred this pleasant 

 little interlude in history. It was the execution of a man 

 named Trotter, who had befriended the rebels, with a view 

 to terrorising the latter. This had been fixed to take place 

 at a spot on the mainland, which was within sight of their 

 stronghold. A shot from the Rock dispersed the multitude 

 which had assembled for the occasion. But this did not 

 prevent the execution from taking place elsewhere. In his 

 novel of 'Oatriona,' Stevenson made the Bass Reck the 

 scene of a somewhat ineffective story of the supernatural. 

 To novelists of his school the present writer ventures to 

 recommend, as a promising foundation for romantic fiction, 

 the siege of 1691-94. As we take our last look from the 

 returning boat of the lonely bird-haunted islet, it rises 

 forlorn and grey amid a grey world of cloud and rain, as 

 when 



' Thro' scudding drifts, the rainy Hyades 

 Vext the dim sea.' 



Perhaps we could scarcely behold it under more characteristic 

 conditions. And so we bid a fond farewell to a wild spot 

 in nature which has witnessed its full share of saintly ecstasy, 

 of stern, uncompromising religious zeal and fervour, and of 



