still unsuccessful, and at the castle of Fyvie, which he had taken, was at last surprised by Argyle and the earl of Lothian, who, with an army of three thousand horse and foot, were within two miles of his camp, when he believed
them to be on the other side of the Grampians. Here, had there been any thing like management on the part of the army of the Estates, his career had certainly closed, but in military affairs Argyle was neither skilful nor brave. After sustaining two assaults from very superior numbers, Montrose drew off his little army with scarcely any loss, and by the way of Strathbogie plunged again into the wilds of Badenoch, where he expected Macdonald and the Irish with what recruits they had been able to raise. Argyle, whose army was now greatly weakened by desertion, returned to Edinburgh and threw up his commission in disgust. The Estates, however, received him in the most friendly manner, and passed an act approving of his conduct.
By the parliament which met this year, on the 4th of June, Argyle was named, along with the chancellor Loudoun, lords Balmerino, Warriston, and others, as commissioners, to act in concert with the English parliament in their negotiations with the king; but from the manner in which he was occupied, he must have been able to overtake a very small part of the duties included in the commission. Montrose no sooner found that Argyle had retired and left the field clear, than, to keep up the spirit of his followers, and to satiate his revenge, he marched them into Glenorchy, belonging to a near relation of Argyle, and in the depth of winter rendered the whole country one wide field of blood: nor was this destruction confined to Glenorchy ; it was extended through Argyle and Lorn to the very confines of Lochaber, not a house he was able to surprise being left unburned, nor a man unslaughtered. Spalding adds, " he left not a four-footed beast in the haill country ; such as would not drive he houghed and slew, that they should never make stead." Having rendered the country a wilderness, he bent his way for Inverness, when he Avas informed that Argyle had collected an army of three thousand men, and had advanced as far as Inverlochy, on his march to the very place upon which he himself was advancing. Montrose was no sooner informed of the circumstance, than, striking cross the almost inaccessible wilds of Lochaber, he came, by a march of about six and thirty hours, upon the camp of Argyle at Inverlochy, and was within half, a mile of it before they knew that there was an enemy within several days 7 march of them. The state of his followers did not admit of an immediate attack by Montrose; but every thing was ready for it by the dawn of day, and with the dissolving mists of the morning. On the second of February, 1645, Argyle, from his pinnace on the lake, whither he had retired on account of a hurt he had caught by a fall from his horse, which disabled him from fighting, beheld the total annihilation of his army, one half of it being literally cut to pieces, and the other dissipated among the adjoining mountains, or driven into the water. Unable to afford the smallest assistance to his discomfitted troops, he immediately hoisted sails and made for a place of safety. On the twelfth of the month, he appeared before the parliament, then sitting in Edinburgh, to which he related the tale of his own and their misfortune, in the best manner no doubt which the case could admit of. The circumstances, however, were such as no colouring could hide, and the Estates were certainly deeply affected. But the victory at Inverlochy, though as complete as victory can well be supposed, and gained with the loss too of only two or three men, was perhaps more pernicious to the victors than the vanquished. The news of it unhappily reached Charles at a time when he was on the point of accepting the terms of reconciliation offered to his parliament, which reconciliation, if effected, might have closed the war for ever, and he no sooner heard
