The general surprise of the meeting was expressed by an impatient murmur;when Anderson,throwing back the cloak in which his face was muffled,and stepping forward,spoke thus:--"I did not long intend to be a silent spectator of this interesting scene,although my hasty friend has obliged me to disclose myself somewhat sooner than was my intention.Whether I deserve the honour reposed in me by this parchment will best appear from what I shall be able to do for the King's service.It is a commission under the great seal,to James Graham,Earl of Montrose,to command those forces which are to be assembled for the service of his Majesty in this kingdom."
A loud shout of approbation burst from the assembly.There was,in fact,no other person to whom,in point of rank,these proud mountaineers would have been disposed to submit.His inveterate and hereditary hostility to the Marquis of Argyle insured his engaging in the war with sufficient energy,while his well-known military talents,and his tried valour,afforded every hope of his bringing it to a favourable conclusion.
CHAPTER VIII.
Our plot is a good plot as ever was laid;our friends true and constant:a good plot,good friends,and full of expectation:
an excellent plot,very good friends.HENRY IV Part I.
No sooner had the general acclamation of joyful surprise subsided,than silence was eagerly demanded for reading the royal commission;and the bonnets,which hitherto each Chief had worn,probably because unwilling to be the first to uncover,were now at once vailed in honour of the royal warrant.It was couched in the most full and ample terms,authorizing the Earl of Montrose to assemble the subjects in arms,for the putting down the present rebellion,which divers traitors and seditious persons had levied against the King,to the manifest forfaulture,as it stated,of their allegiance,and to the breach of the pacification between the two kingdoms.It enjoined all subordinate authorities to be obedient and assisting to Montrose in his enterprise;gave him the power of making ordinances and proclamations,punishing misdemeanours,pardoning criminals,placing and displacing governors and commanders.In fine,it was as large and full a commission as any with which a prince could intrust a subject.As soon as it was finished,a shout burst from the assembled Chiefs,in testimony of their ready submission to the will of their sovereign.Not contented with generally thanking them for a reception so favourable,Montrose hastened to address himself to individuals,The most important Chiefs had already been long personally known to him,but even to those of inferior consequence he now introduced himself and by the acquaintance he displayed with their peculiar designations,and the circumstances and history of their clans,he showed how long he must have studied the character of the mountaineers,and prepared himself for such a situation as he now held.
While he was engaged in these acts of courtesy,his graceful manner,expressive features,and dignity of deportment,made a singular contrast with the coarseness and meanness of his dress.
Montrose possessed that sort of form and face,in which the beholder,at the first glance,sees nothing extraordinary,but of which the interest becomes more impressive the longer we gaze upon them.His stature was very little above the middle size,but in person he was uncommonly well-built,and capable both of exerting great force,and enduring much fatigue.In fact,he enjoyed a constitution of iron,without which he could not have sustained the trials of his extraordinary campaigns,through all of which he subjected himself to the hardships of the meanest soldier.He was perfect in all exercises,whether peaceful or martial,and possessed,of course,that graceful ease of deportment proper to those to whom habit has rendered all postures easy.
His long brown hair,according to the custom of men of quality among the Royalists,was parted on the top of his head,and trained to hang down on each side in curled locks,one of which,descending two or three inches lower than the others,intimated Montrose's compliance with that fashion against which it pleased Mr.Prynne,the puritan,to write a treatise,entitled,THE UNLOVELINESS OF LOVE-LOCKS.The features which these tresses enclosed,were of that kind which derive their interest from the character of the man,rather than from the regularity of their form.But a high nose,a full,decided,well-opened,quick grey eye,and a sanguine complexion,made amends for some coarseness and irregularity in the subordinate parts of the face;so that,altogether,Montrose might be termed rather a handsome,than a hard-featured man.But those who saw him when his soul looked through those eyes with all the energy and fire of genius--those who heard him speak with the authority of talent,and the eloquence of nature,were impressed with an opinion even of his external form,more enthusiastically favourable than the portraits which still survive would entitle us to ascribe to it.
Such,at least,was the impression he made upon the assembled Chiefs of the mountaineers,over whom,as upon all persons in their state of society,personal appearance has no small influence.
