g that
uncovenanted prince to sign the Covenant, and to overcome the influence
of Montrose, who, with Clarendon, of course resisted such a trebly
dishonourable act of perjured hypocrisy. During the whole struggle,
since Montrose took the king's side, he had been thwarted by the
Hamiltons. They invariably wavered: now they were for a futile policy of
dishonour, in which they involved their young king, Argyll, and Scotland.
Montrose stood for honour and no Covenant; Argyll, the Hamiltons,
Lauderdale, and the majority of the preachers stood for the Covenant with
dishonour and perjury; the left wing of the preachers stood for the
Covenant, but not for its dishonourable and foresworn acceptance by
Charles.

As a Covenanter, Charles II. would be the official foe of the English
Independents and army; Scotland would need every sword in the kingdom,
and the kingdom's best general, Montrose, yet the Act of Classes, under
the dictation of the preachers, rejected every man tainted with
participation in or approval of the Engagement--or of neglecting family
prayers!

Charles, in fact, began (February 22) by appointing Montrose his
Lieutenant-Governor and Captain-General in Scotland, though Lauderdale
and Lanark "abate not an ace of their damned Covenant in all their
discourses," wrote Hyde. The dispute between Montrose, on the side of
honour, and that of Lanark, Lauderdale, and other Scottish envoys, ended
as--given the character of Charles II. and his destitution--it must end.
Charles (January 22, 1650) despatched Montrose to fight for him in
Scotland, and sent him the Garter. Montrose knew his doom: he replied,
"With the more alacrity shall I abandon still my life to search my death
for the interests of your Majesty's honour and service." He searched his
death, and soon he found it.

On May 1, Charles, by the Treaty of Breda, vowed to sign the Covenant; a
week earlier Montrose, not joined by the Mackenzies, had been defeated by
Strachan at Carbisdale, on the south of the Kyle, opposite Invershin, in
Sutherlandshire. He was presently captured, and crowned a glorious life
of honour by a more glorious death on the gibbet (May 21). He had kept
his promise; he had searched his death; he had loyally defended, like
Jeanne d'Arc, a disloyal king; he had "carried fidelity and honour with
him to the grave." His body was mutilated, his limbs were exposed,--they
now lie in St Giles' Church, Edinburgh, where is his beautiful monumen