it. On his left lay the village of Seton; in his rear the village of Cockenzie, and the sea; in his front the rebels, and the town of Tranent. Between the two armies was a morass full of springs, which forming a run of water, went down in a ditch to Seton, and ended in a mill-dam. Some parts of this morass had been partially drained, and in these places there were several small enclosures, with hedges, dry stone dykes, and willow trees. In the front, but a few paces from that of the king's army, there was a ditch, with a thick and strong hedge. "The position,” says the chevalier de Johnstone, who fought in the pretender's army, "was chosen with a great deal of skill. The more we examined it, the more we were convinced of the impossibility of attacking it, and we were all thrown into consternation, and quite at a loss what course to take. We spent the afternoon in reconnoitring his position, and the more we examined it, the more our uneasiness and chagrin increased, as we saw no possibility of attacking it without exposing ourselves to be cut to pieces."

The two armies, by the abovementioned piece of boggy, and, as Sir John Cope as well as the rebels believed, impassable ground, were separated at the distance of half a mile. Numbers were on the side of the rebels, who, by the addition of one hundred and fifty MacLauchlans, and two hundred of the men of Athol, the day after they got possession of Edinburgh, were at least two thousand four hundred men ; * that of Sir John Cope did not exceed two thousand one hundred. Lord George Murray, who had the sole command of the rebels, examined several people of the neighbourhood upon the nature of the ground between the two armies, to learn whether or not the Highlanders could make their way through it to close with the king's troops, who all answering him in the negative, he sent down Ker of Gradon to survey it, who, after the most deliberate examination, reported that it was impossible to get through the morass, and attack the king's troops in front, without receiving several fires.

After receiving this information, Charles, with a great part of his army moved towards Dauphinston on their left, till they

* M. Patullo, who was muster master of the rebel army, stated their number, in a letter to Mr. Home, to be two thousand five hundred.

came opposite Preston Tower, apparently meditating an attack from that quarter. General Cope observing this movement, resumed his first position, and formed his army with its front to Preston, and its right to the sea. By and by the Highlanders returned to their former ground, and the king's army to its former position.

"The afternoon was spent in various movements," says Home," Sir John Cope always endeavouring to preserve the advantages of his situation. But when evening came, and night approached, his situation did not seem so advantageous as he imagined. It appeared too plainly that his troops were shut up, and confined to a place from which it was not thought safe for them to go very far, whilst the rebels were at liberty to move about as they pleased, and were actually in continual motion, hovering about the king's army to find an opportunity and rush in upon them; the night was at hand, dark and cold, for although the weather was fine and remarkably warm in the daytime, the nights were cold and frosty, as they usually are in Scotland at that season, for it was the twentieth day of September, old style.

"Then, and not till then, some people began to fear that the army which stood upon the defensive, and was to pass the night under arms, would be attacked in the morning with advantage by an enemy, who, secure from attack, and sheltered from the cold by their plaids, might lie down, take their rest, and rise fresh and vigorous for the fight." It appears to have been the fault of Sir John Cope's disposition, that it was calcu lated for defence rather than attack. His enemies, however, were no great tacticians, and were too impetuous to adopt a system of blockade, whatever might have been its advantages. Of this Sir John seems to have been perfectly aware, and expecting an attack during the night, kept his army in readiness to receive them. "He advanced picquets and outguards of horse and foot along the side of the morass, nearly as far east as the village of Seton. He ordered fires to be kindled in the front of his army, and sent down the baggage and military chest to Cockenzie, guarded by forty men, and all the High

* Home's History of the Rebellion, pp. 81, 82.

landers of his army, who were only two companies of newly raised men belonging to lord Loudon's regiment, and the two additional companies of lord John Murray's regiment, that had marched with Sir John Cope from Stirling to Inverness, and by desertions were reduced to fifteen men a company.

"The line of battle formed along the side of the morass, consisted of five companies of Lee's regiment on the right, of Murray's regiment on the left, of eight companies of Lascelle's, and two of Guise's regiments in the centre. On the right of the line of foot, were two squadrons of colonel Gardiner's regiment of dragoons, and on the left, two squadrons of general Hamilton's, having the third squadron of each regiment placed in the rear of the other two squadrons, without any infantry; the cannon were placed on the left of the army, near the waggon road from Tranent to Cockenzie, guarded by a company of Lee's regiment, commanded by captain Cochrane, under the orders of lieutenant colonel Whiteford."* Such, according to Home, was the disposition of the royal army during the night previous to the battle, and it does not differ materially from other accounts that had been previously published. With the exception of the fires kindled in front of his army, which could be of no great service to his own troops, except it was to render the darkness of the night more appalling, and show distinctly how they lay to his enemies, the dispositions of the general were probably as judiciously made as circumstances would permit, Unfortunately he thought of nothing but straight forward fighting, and could he but once come in contact with his antagonists, made sure of an easy victory. He appears, indeed, to have despised every thing in the shape of an army, if it was not composed of regular troops, for he refused the aid of the seceders, and other companies of volunteers from Edinburgh, and the neighbour ing country, lest they should disorder by their irregularity of movement that of his own men, of whose firmness and conduct he does not appear to have entertained the smallest suspicion.

But there was a circumstance still more against him, of which both armies were at first unaware-the marsh which had been considered an impassable barrier between them, was at a par

• Home's History of the Rebellion, p. 82,

ticular place perfectly passable, and this place was well known to a notorious rebel then with Charles, Robert Anderson, of Whitborough in east Lothian, who had often passed it in his hunting excursions, and, at the instigation of Hepburn of Keith, pointed it out to lord George Murray, after a plan of attack had been agreed upon, and the Highlanders laid down in their plaids to sleep. Lord George Murray saw at once the importance of the information, and instantly communicated it to Charles, who had fallen asleep not far from him upon a sheaf of pease. Charles, highly gratified with the intelligence, ordered Lochiel and the other chiefs to be called, who unanimously adopted the plan of attack proposed by Anderson. Orders were immediately sent to lord Nairn, who, with five hundred men, had been detached towards Preston, to prevent the king's troops from taking the road to Edinburgh, to draw off his men and join the main body, which he did accordingly, and long before break of day the Highlanders were in motion. Anderson, with the major of Clanronald's regiment, and forty men, led the way, followed by the whole army marching in column as before, three men abreast. Without uttering so much as a whisper, they came down by a hollow that winds through the farm of Ringan Head, concealed at first by the darkness of the night, and-latterly by a thick frosty haze. When near the place where Anderson was to lead them through the marsh, they were observed by a piquet of Cope's dragoonis, who called out, "Who's there?" The Highlanders made no answer, but marched on the dragoons rode off to give the alarm, and they passed without opposition, the head of the column marching north towards the sea, till it was thought the rear thereof had reached the proper ground, when they formed the line at once by facing to the left. This line consisted of six regiments. That of Clanronald had the right; on their left stood the regiments of Glengarry and Keppoch. In the centre of the line stood a regiment, composed of the duke of Perth's men and the Macgregors, armed with scythes, sharpened and fixed upon poles from seven to eight feet long; on their left were the Stuarts of Appin, and on the left of all, Lochiel and his Camerons. Behind the first line, a second was formed as a body of reserve, under the command of lord Nairn, consisting of the men of

Athol, two hundred and fifty, the Robertsons of Struan, one hundred, the Macdonalds of Glenco, one hundred and twenty, and the Maclachlins, one hundred and fifty. This line was never engaged, and on the head of it Charles took his station.

In this manner, notwithstanding the precaution of fires, piquets, and patroles, was the Highland army formed within two hundred paces of the king's forces, and in the dawn of the morning, emerging from the thick fog, was mistaken by the general for the bushes that skirted his position. He, however, informed by his patrole of dragoons that it was the enemy, lost not a moment in wheeling round his front from the south to the east, whence the rebels were approaching. By this movement the position of every individual corps in the line remained the same, only the artillery which had been before on the left, was now on the right, and a little more in advance of the line, and the outguards of the foot, not having time to find out the regiments to which they belonged, formed themselves on the right of Lee's five companies, leaving space only for two squadrons of dragoons, so that colonel Gardiner's squadron was drawn up behind the squadron commanded by lieutenant colonel Whitney, which was directly behind the artillery. But whatever inconveniences were felt from this change of position, there was not time left to remedy them, for the Highlanders improving the advantage they had gained, were rapidly advancing, and, seen dim through the morning haze, appeared to their surprised antagonists an immense host, and from their dark coloured

*" When our first line had passed the marsh, lord George despatched me to the second line, which the prince conducted in person, to see that it passed without noise or confusion. Having examined the line, and seen that every thing was as it should be, in returning to lord George, I found the prince at the head of the column, accompanied by lord Nairn, just as he was beginning to enter the marsh, and I passed it the second time along with him. We were not yet out of the marsh, when the enemy seeing our first line in order of battle, fired an alarm gun. At the end of the marsh there was a deep ditch, three or four foot broad, which it was necessary to leap over, and the prince in making this leap fell upon his knees on the other side; I laid hold of his arm, and immediately raised him up. On examining his countenance, it seemed to me, from the alarm expressed in it, that he considered this accident as a bad omen."-Memoirs of the Rebellion, by the Chevalier de Johnstone, pp. 34, 35