Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border The Battle of Loudon Hill (also known as the Battle of Drumclog, 1 Jun 1679) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whigs, now become desperate, adopted the most desperate principles; and retaliating, as far as they could, the intolerant persecution which they endured, they openly disclaimed allegiance to any monarch who should not profess Presbytery, and subscribe the Covenant. These principles were not likely to conciliate the favour of government; and as we wade onward in the history of the times, the scenes become yet darker. At length, one would imagine the parties had agreed to divide the kingdom or vice betwixt them; the hunters assuming to themselves open profligacy and legalized oppression; and the hunted, the opposite attributes of hypocrisy, fanaticism, disloyalty, and midnight assassination. The troopers and cavaliers became enthusiasts in the pursuit of the Covenanters. If Mesers. Kid, King, Cameron, Peden &c., boasted of prophetic powers, and were often warned of the approach of the soldiers by supernatural impulse, * Captain John Creichton, on the other side, dreamed dreams and saw visions, (chiefly, indeed, after having drunk hard,) in which the lurking-holes of the rebels were discovered to his imagination. ** Our ears are scarcely more shocked with the profane execrations of the persecutors, *** than with the strange and insolent familiarity used toward the Diety by the persecuted fanatics. Their indecent modes of prayer, their extravagant expectations of miraculous assistance, and their supposed inspirations, might easily furnish one a tale, at which the good would sigh, and the gay would laugh. + In truth, extremes always approach each other, and the superstition of the Roman Catholics was in some degree, revived even by their most deadly enemies.
[Show full text]