undred men; this number was afterwards diminished by the
detachment sent southwards by the Earl, and by the number of three
thousand who were dispersed in garrisons. But it was no common force
that was now encamped at Perth.

At this critical moment where was the individual for whom these great
and gallant spirits had ventured their all, the hills so dear to them,
their homes, the welfare of their families, to say nothing of that which
Highlanders least consider, their personal safety? At this moment, the
ill-advised and irresolute James Stuart, was absent. What could have
been his counsels? who were his advisers? of what materials was he made?
why did he ever come? are questions to which the indignant mind can
scarcely frame a reply. The fact, indeed, seems to be that his heart was
never really in the undertaking; that he for whom the tragedy was
performed, was the only actor in it who did not feel his part; it was
reserved for a nobler and a warmer nature to experience the ardour of
hope, and the bitter mortifications of disappointment.

It was not until the middle of October that the Earl of Mar took any
personal share in the contest between the Jacobite army and that of the
Government. Hitherto he had remained at Perth, acting with an ill-timed
caution, and apparently bestowing far more attention upon the ill-fated
insurrection in Northumberland, aided by the low country Scots under
Lord Kenmure, than upon the proximate dangers of his own army. The
detachment of a body of troops under Brigadier Mackintosh, sent in order
to assist the Lowlanders, who were marching back into Scotland,
accompanied by the forces under Mr. Forster and the Earl of
Derwentwater, was the immediate cause of the two armies coming to an
engagement. The Earl of Mar in his narrative thus explains his plans and
their failure.

The detachment under Brigadier Mackintosh having been sent,
"occasioned," Lord Mar says, "the Duke of Argyle's leaving Stirling, and
going with a part of his army to Edinburgh. Now, had the Scots and
English horse, who were then in the south of Scotland, come and joined
the fifteen hundred foot, (under Brigadier Mackintosh) as was expected;
had the Highland clans performed, as they promised, the service they
were sent upon in Argyleshire, and marched towards Glasgow, as the Earl
of Mar marched towards Sterling, he had then given a good account of the
Government's army, the troops from Ireland not having yet joined them,