ay Mar's force occupied the crest of rising ground on
the wide swell of Sheriffmuir: his left was all disorderly; horse mixed
with foot; his right, with the fighting clans, was well ordered, but the
nature of the ground hid the two wings of the army from each other. On
the right the Macdonalds and Macleans saw Clanranald fall, and on
Glengarry's cry, "Vengeance to-day!" they charged with the claymore and
swept away the regulars of Argyll as at Killiecrankie and Prestonpans.
But, as the clans pursued and slew, their officers whispered that their
own centre and left were broken and flying. Argyll had driven them to
Allan Water; his force, returning, came within close range of the
victorious right of Mar. "Oh, for one hour of Dundee!" cried Gordon of
Glenbucket, but neither party advanced to the shock. Argyll retired
safely to Dunblane, while Mar deserted his guns and powder-carts, and
hurried to Perth. He had lost the gallant young Earl of Strathmore and
the brave Clanranald; on Argyll's side his brother Islay was wounded, and
the Earl of Forfar was slain. Though it was a drawn battle, it proved
that Mar could not move: his forces began to scatter; Huntly was said to
have behaved ill. It was known that Dutch auxiliaries were to reinforce
Argyll, and men began to try to make terms of surrender. Huntly rode off
to his own country, and on December 22 (old style) James landed at
Peterhead.

James had no lack of personal courage. He had charged again and again at
Malplaquet with the Household cavalry of Louis XIV., and he had
encountered great dangers of assassination on his way to St Malo. But
constant adversity had made him despondent and resigned, while he saw
facts as they really were with a sad lucidity. When he arrived in his
kingdom the Whig clans of the north had daunted Seaforth's Mackenzies,
while in the south Argyll, with his Dutch and other fresh reinforcements,
had driven Mar's men out of Fife. Writing to Bolingbroke, James
described the situation. Mar, with scarcely any ammunition, was facing
Argyll with 11,000 men; the north was held in force by the Whig clans,
Mackays, Rosses, Munroes, and Frazers; deep snow alone delayed the
advance of Argyll, now stimulated by the hostile Cadogan, Marlborough's
favourite, and it was perfectly plain that all was lost.

For the head of James 100,000 pounds was offered by Hanoverian chivalry:
he was suffering from fever and ague; the Spanish gold that had at last
b