nor the near
view of death, had power to disturb the gentle and majestic patience of
Argyle. His fortitude was tried by a still more severe test. A paper of
interrogatories was laid before him by order of the Privy Council. He
replied to those questions to which he could reply without danger to
any of his friends, and refused to say more. He was told that unless he
returned fuller answers he should be put to the torture. James, who was
doubtless sorry that he could not feast his own eyes with the sight of
Argyle in the boots, sent down to Edinburgh positive orders that nothing
should be omitted which could wring out of the traitor information
against all who had been concerned in the treason. But menaces were
vain. With torments and death in immediate prospect Mac Callum More
thought far less of himself than of his poor clansmen. "I was busy this
day," he wrote from his cell, "treating for them, and in some hopes. But
this evening orders came that I must die upon Monday or Tuesday; and I
am to be put to the torture if I answer not all questions upon oath. Yet
I hope God shall support me."

The torture was not inflicted. Perhaps the magnanimity of the victim had
moved the conquerors to unwonted compassion. He himself remarked that at
first they had been very harsh to him, but that they soon began to treat
him with respect and kindness. God, he said, had melted their hearts. It
is certain that he did not, to save himself from the utmost cruelty of
his enemies, betray any of his friends. On the last morning of his life
he wrote these words: "I have named none to their disadvantage. I thank
God he hath supported me wonderfully!"

He composed his own epitaph, a short poem, full of meaning and spirit,
simple and forcible in style, and not contemptible in versification. In
this little piece he complained that, though his enemies had repeatedly
decreed his death, his friends had been still more cruel. A comment on
these expressions is to be found in a letter which he addressed to a
lady residing in Holland. She had furnished him with a large sum
of money for his expedition, and he thought her entitled to a full
explanation of the causes which had led to his failure. He acquitted his
coadjutors of treachery, but described their folly, their ignorance,
and their factious perverseness, in terms which their own testimony has
since proved to have been richly deserved. He afterwards doubted whether
he had not used language too sever