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THE TIMES OF CHARLES THE SECOND.
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and Scotch troops fall and in good order, for they might be of use on several occasions, and particularly that he would not let a papist come in. Collier is well with the Prince, and governs the English. Wesley married his daughter, and of his party there is Mackay, a Scotch colonel. Sir W. Temple has a particular esteem for him.[1]
- ↑ And well he deserved it, for, to judge from the character which Burnet has left of him, he must have been one of the best of soldiers and of men. He says:—"Mackay was one of the best officers of the age, when he had nothing to do but to obey and execute orders, for he was both diligent, obliging, and brave; but he was not so fitted to command. His piety made him too apt to mistrust his own sense, and to be too tender, or rather fearful, in any thing where there might be a needless effusion of blood." He had the command of the King's troops in 1689, at the fight at the Pass of Killicrankie, where Dundee fell. He greatly distinguished himself in the campaign in Ireland under William, and was killed at the battle of Steinkirk, in 1692. "We lost," says Burnet, "in this action about five thousand men and many brave officers; here Mackay was killed: being ordered to a post that he saw could not be maintained, he sent his opinion about it, but the former orders were confirmed; so he went on, saying only, 'The will of the Lord be done.' He was a man of such strict principles, that he would not have served in a war that he did not think lawful. He took great care of his soldiers' morals, and forced them to be both sober and just in their quarters: he spent all the time he was master of in secret prayers, and in the reading of the scriptures. The King often observed, that, when he had full leisure for his devotions, he acted with a peculiar exaltation of courage. He had one very singular
