Yet it is probable that the idea of a Highland campaign
had already begun to take shape in Dundee's mind before Mackay's advance
forced him over the Grampians. His orders were, in the event of the
Estates declaring for William, to keep quiet till the arrival of a
regular force from Ireland should enable him to take the field with some
chance of success. And, indeed, he had at that time no alternative. It
was clear to him that the game was lost in the Lowlands, but it was not
yet clear to him that anything was to be gained in the Highlands. The
example of his famous kinsman might indeed serve to fire both his
imagination and his ambition; but it could hardly serve to make him
hopeful of succeeding with the weapons which had failed Montrose. A few
thousand claymores would no doubt prove a useful supplement to the small
body of troops James might be able to spare from Ireland; but even a
mind so ardent and sanguine as Dundee's might well have shrank from
facing the chances of war with no other resources than a handful of
troopers and a rabble of half-armed, half-naked, and wholly
undisciplined savages. And in truth experience had shown that these
fierce and jealous spirits were little less dangerous as allies than as
enemies. Every clan had its hereditary feud, and no one could say that
on the day of battle the claymores might not be drawn against each other
instead of against the common foe.
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