Earl of Argyle

“ He blamed the bishops for persuading the king to bring in the English liturgy and canons in so abrupt and violent a manner; that their pride was great, their folly greater. He gives the king his opinion of the character and degrees of the trustworthiness of the different Ministers, and bids him beware of the Earl of Argyle, whom he declares to be the most dangerous man in the State; so far from favouring episcopacy, as had been supposed, that nobleman wished it abolished with all his soul. This was immediately afterwards, as we shall see, made clear by Argyle himself. ”

“ Subsequently the Earl of Argyle, a personal enemy of the Earl of Airly, was charged with the same commission, and raised an army of five thousand men to carry out his trust. Lord Ogilvie was unable to hold out against such a force, and abandoned his father's stronghold, which, as well as his own residence of Forthar, was plundered and utterly destroyed by Argyle. ”

“ If, on the one hand, it is to be regretted that we have not more memorials left of passages so interesting, and that even of those which we do possess, a great part is obscured by time, it must be confessed, on the other, that we have quite enough to enable us to pronounce that for constancy and equanimity under the severest trials, few men have equalled, none ever surpassed, the Earl of Argyle. ”

“ They had a captain of their own, Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyle, who, as chief of the great tribe of Campbell, was known among the population of the Highlands by the proud name of Mac Callum More. His father, the Marquess of Argyle, had been the head of the Scotch Covenanters, had greatly contributed to the ruin of Charles the First, and was not thought by the Royalists to have atoned for this offence by consenting to bestow the empty title of King, and a state prison in a palace, on Charles the Second. After the return of the royal family the Marquess was put to death. ”

“ At length the pride of Allaster MacGregor, the chief of the clan, was so much lowered by the sufferings of his people, that he resolved to surrender himself to the Earl of Argyle, with his principal followers, on condition that they should be sent out of Scotland. If the unfortunate chief's own account be true, he had more reasons than one for expecting some favour from the Earl, who had in secret advised and encouraged him to many of the desperate actions for which he was now called to so severe a reckoning. ”

“ The Earl of Argyle brought to the scaffold by an outrageous sentence, his son sentenced to lose his life on such a construction of the ancient law against leasing-making as no man engaged in political affairs could be sure to escape, the worst system of constitutional laws administered by the worst men, left no alternative but implicit obedience or desperate rebellion. ”

“ Instead of the treasurer designated by the King a commission was named on which sat friends of Hamilton and Argyle. Lesley, who belonged to this party, was created Earl of Leven with all the pompous formalities of earlier times, and Argyle was advanced to a marquisate.
Men could not understand the King’s promoting his adversaries and passing over his supporters, and bitter complaints were uttered against him. But it was not his choice: it was necessity arising from the weakness of his friends and himself. These last concessions, like the earlier ones, originated in his plans for England. ”

“ It was to no purpose they were assured, that there were a great many arms and a good supply of powder in the town, which they might secure, and that the Duke of Argyle, whom they appeared to dread, was in no condition to injure them, as he had scarcely 2,000 men under him, and was in daily expectation of being attacked by the Earl of Mar, whose forces were then thrice as numerous;—these and similar arguments were entirely thrown away upon men who had already determined at all hazards to adhere to their resolution of carrying the war into England. ”

“ About the same time, one Archibald Campbell obtained a privilege to induce him ‘to bring in strangers to make red herrings.’ In June 1613, he petitioned that the king would grant him, by way of pension for his further encouragement, the fourteen lasts of herrings yearly paid to his majesty by the Earl of Argyle, ‘as the duty of the tack of the assize of herrings of those parts set to him,’ being of the value of £38 yearly.—M. S. P.
Mar. ”

“ Argyle, sixth Earl of, Lord Boyd, and other nobles, forsake Queen Mary, i. 76. Argyle, seventh Earl of, becomes a papist, i. 504. Argyle, ninth Earl of, tried for qualifying the test, ii. 354; his letter of fire and sword against the Macleans, 370-372; his expedition and death, 469. Argyle, Marquis of, beheaded, ii. 274, 275. Arminianism, alarm for it in Scotland, ii. 1; spread of, in England, 60. Army, old mode of raising an, i. 36. Arthur, Sir John, a priest, prosecuted, i. 23. Atheism, Antidote against, Dr More’s, ii. 475. Athole, John Stewart, Earl of, entertains Queen Mary at a hunt, i. ”

“ On hearing of Argyle’s approach, the Earl of Errol immediately collected a select body of about 100 horsemen, being gentlemen, on whose courage and fidelity he could rely, and with these he joined the Earl of Huntly at Strathbogie. The forces of Huntly, after this junction, amounted, it is said, to nearly 1,500 men, almost altogether horsemen, and with this body he advanced to Carnborrow, where the [108] two earls and their chief followers made a solemn vow to conquer or die. ”

“ Not a single man was of course raised in Argyleshire, and scarcely any in the adjoining part of Inverness-shire, to which the influence or power of Argyle extended. The Earl of Sutherland, who had been appointed a colonel of foot in his own division, declined the office, and Lord Reay was so disgusted with “Duke Hamilton’s failure,” that he took shipping at Thurso in the month of July, and went to Norway, [377] where he was appointed governor of Bergen, and received the colonelcy of a regiment from the King of Denmark, whom he had formerly served. ”

“ Argyle, Archibald, second Earl of, 141.
Argyle, Archibald, ninth Earl of, 217, 249.
Argyle, Archibald, Marquis of, 250.
Argyle, Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of, 247, 249-252, 256.
Argyle, Jane, Countess of, 250.
Argyle, John, second Duke of, 251.
Argyle, John, fifth Duke of, 227, 246 253
Armidale, 23, 167, 214.
Auchans, 268.
Auchinleck, Lord, 18, 56, 62, 74, 79, 80, 115, 146, 189, 234, 271–288, 292.
Auchinleck, 271–290; house, 273–5; old castle, 287; via sacra, manse, church, 288; village, 289; pronounced Affléck, 290. ”

“ Although the Duke of York had been heard to declare that no honest man could take the test,—a declaration which fully justified the course Argyle had pursued,—yet the enemies of that nobleman wrought so far upon the mind of his royal highness as to induce him to think that Argyle’s declaration was a highly criminal act. ”

“ The professions of Argyll, as interpreted by Charles, were to a certain extent carried out in his speech on 25 June in the Painted Chamber before the committee of the lords and commons, in which he deprecated the persecution of ‘peaceable men who cannot through scruple of conscience come up in all things to the common rule,’ but he was careful to add that the personal regard for the king in Scotland ‘hath never made them forget that common rule, “The safety of the people is the supreme law”’ (The Lord Marques of Argyle's Speech, London, printed for Laurence Chapman, 27 June 1646) . ”

“ And, though his conduct after the king's return displayed his accustomed prudence, it is evident that, if he had retained great influence in the council, which he assuredly did not, he would have maintained as much as possible of the existing settlement in the church. The deepest stain on his memory is the production of Argyle's private letters on his trial in Scotland; nor indeed can Monk be regarded, upon the whole, as an estimable man, though his prudence and success may entitle him, in the common acceptation of the word, to be reckoned a great one. ”

“ It was indeed well known that Argyle was a man rather of political enterprise than personal courage, and better calculated to manage an intrigue of state, than to controul the tribes of hostile mountaineers ”

“ Argyll was frequently consulted by the government in the more important matters relating to Scotland, and there are a large number of his letters in the Carstares ‘State Papers.’ By letters patent dated at Kensington 23 June 1701, he was created duke of Argyll, marquis of Lorne and Kintyre, earl of Campbell and Cowal, viscount of Lochow and Glenisla, lord Inverary, Mull, Morven, and Tyree. ”

“ His presence so alarmed the men of Argyle, that they immediately made their submission. Several of the chiefs fled for safety, and to punish them, the king distributed their lands among his officers and their followers. After this invasion Argyle was brought under the direct jurisdiction of the Scottish king, although the descendants of the race of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, still continued to be the chief magnates. ”

“ There you have Duke of Argyll—God bless him!—addressing House of Lords. He is not one piper, but many. As he proceeds, intoxicated with sound of his own voice, ecstatic in clearness of his own vision, he competes with himself as the pipers struggle with each other until at last he has, in a Parliamentary sense of course, swollen to such a size that there is no room in the stately chamber for other Peers. Nothing and nobody left but His Grace the Duke of Argyll. Towards end of sixty minutes spectacle begins to pall on wearied senses ”

“ But the ignominious and savage treatment which he received at the hands of those whose station and descent should at least have taught them to respect misfortune, has left an indelible stain upon the memory of the Covenanting chiefs, and more especially upon that of Argyle.
The perfect serenity of the man in the hour of trial and death, the courage and magnanimity which he displayed to the last, have been dwelt upon with admiration by writers of every class. ”

“ However, Argyle got together above 1500 men, and expected a great many more would have joined him, in order to oppose the King and Council in their bloody cruelties carried on in these days, but he was disappointed, and after several unsuccessful attempts, without ever coming to any total action, and his officers differing among themselves, the most of his men deserted, and finding it impracticable to do any thing to purpose, he dismissed the whole, and put himself in disguise but was soon taken by a few militia at the water of Inchinnan. ”

“ The fugitives were welcomed back to the capital with the assurance that they were honest men, loyal subjects, and good patriots. Argyll on his return carried all before him. The offices of State were filled with his nominees. The Privy Council was carefully weeded to make room for his friends. The unfortunate King, to [Pg 122] fill the cup of his humiliation full, scattered titles with a lavish hand. Argyll was raised to a marquisate; Almond was created Earl of Callendar; bluff old Leslie took his seat among the peers of Scotland as Earl of Leven. ”

“ Son of Argyle, so near to the sceptre,
And Princess Louise fair child of a throne,
We welcome to stand for our Queen in this empire,
Rule us, and love us, and make us your own
Blow, wild pibroch, that welcomes no other!
Shout million-voiced failte, wave banners the while;
She's worthy, fair child of so royal a mother,
He's worthy the name and fame of Argyle. ”

“ The Scottish Parliament, soon after the accession of James, passed a law punishing with death any one attending a conventicle. Argyle, believing, in his exile in Holland, that all honest Scots would be ready to join him against the tyranny of the Government, sailed early in May at the head of a small expedition, and arrived in the Firth of Clyde. He had himself no military skill, and his followers, no less ignorant than himself, overruled everything that he proposed. ”

“ The outposts of either army kept a careful watch, and the soldiers of Argyle slept in the order of battle which they were next to occupy.
A pale dawn had scarce begun to tinge the tops of these immense mountains, when the leaders of both armies prepared for the business of the day. It was the second of February, 1645–6. The clansmen of Argyle were arranged in two lines, not far from the angle between the river and the lake, and made an appearance equally resolute and formidable. ”

“ That there fell out a great dispute
⁠Between Argyle and Airly.
Argyle has raised a hundred men,
⁠A hundred men and mairly,
And he has gone to the back of Dunkeld,
⁠To plunder the bonny house of Airly. ”

“ The Duke of Argyle is a noble and true-hearted nobleman, who pleads the cause of the poor, and those who have none to help them; verily his reward shall not be lacking unto him.—I have, been writing of many things, but not of that whilk lies nearest mine heart. I have seen the misguided thing, she will be at freedom the morn, on enacted caution that she shall leave Scotland in four weeks. ”

“ Argyle have had great success in Scotland, and have already destroyed great part of the King's forces there; and we hear from good hands that he hath sure an army that doth increase so mightily daily that nothing can oppose them; and if they be once up in the West they would suddenly be up in all parts of England, all Protestants being certainly prepared and resolved rather to die than to live Slaves and Papists. ”

“ Unfortunate Argyle. This nobleman, how far soever he may be thought misled in principle, was certainly in his person a very brave and a very gallant hero. They made haste to draw him out and bring him to himself; after which, being delivered up to the officers, the erring, unfortunate great man, was conducted to Edinburgh and there beheaded.
Many gentlemen that followed the fortunes of this great man, though not in his death, they shared in all the other calamities attending his overthrow. They most of them fled into the remotest isles and the obscurest corners of all Scotland ”