192 OLD AND PEW EDINBUKGH. [Leith.
on the coast of East Lothian, from whence the way
to England was open and free.
But the daring Mackintosh suddenly conceived
a very different enterprise. The troops under him
were all picked men, drawn from the regiments of
the Earls of Mar and Strathmore, of Lord Nairn,
Lord Charles Murray, and Logie-Drummond, with
his own clan the Mackintoshes. With these he
conceived the idea of capturing Edinburgh, then
only seventeen miles distant, and storming the
Castle. But the Provost mustered the citizens,
placed the City Guard, the Trained Bands, and
the Volunteers, at all vulnerable points, and sent to
Argyle, then at Stirling, on the 14th October, for
aid.
At ten that night the Duke, at the head of only
300 dragoons mounted on farm horses, and 200
infantry, passed through the city just as the Highlanders,
then well-nigh worn out, halted at Jock?s
Lodge.
Hearing of the Duke?s arrival, and ignorant of
what his forces might be, the brigadier wheeled off
to Leith, where his approach excited the most ludicrous
consternation, as it had done in Edinburgh,
where, Campbell says in his History, ?? the approach
of 50,000 cannibals? could not have discomposed
the burgesses more. Mackintosh entered Leith
late at night, released forty Jacobite prisoners from
the Tolbooth, and took possession of the citadel,
the main fortifications of which were all intact, and
now enclosed several commodious dwellings, used
as bathing quarters by the citizens of Edinburgh.
How Argyle had neglected to garrison this strong
post it is impossible to conjecture; but ?Old
Borlum ?-as he was always called-as gates were
wanting, made barricades in their place, took eight
pieces of cannon from ships in the harbour, provisioned
himself from the Custom House, and by
daybreak next morning was in readiness to receive
the Duke of Argyle, commander of all the forces
in Scotland.
At the head of 1,000 men of all arms the latter
approached Leith, losing?on the way many volunteers,
who ? silently slipped out of the ranks and
returned to their own homes.? He sent a message
to the citadel, demanding a surrender on one hand,
and threatening no quarter on the other. To
answer this, the Laird of Kynachin appeared on
the ramparts, and returned a scornful defiance.
?? As to surrendering, they laughed at it ; and as to
assaulting them, they were ready for him ; they
would neither give nor take quarter; and if he
thought he was able to force them, he might try his
hand.?
Argyle carefully reconnoitred the citadel, and,
? I
with the concurrence of his officers, retired with
the intention of attacking in strength next day ;
but Borlum was too wary to wait for him. Resolving
to acquaint Mar with his movements, he
sent a boat across the Firth, causing shots to be
fired as it left Leith to deceive the Hanoverian
fleet, which allowed it to pass in the belief that it
contained friends of the Government ; and at nine
that night, taking advantage of a cloudy sky, he
quitted the citadel with all his troops, and, keeping
along the beach, passed round the head of the pier
at low water, and set out on his march for England.
Yet, though the darkness favoured him, it led to
one or two tragic occurrences. Near Musselburgh
some mounted gentlemen, having fired upon the
Highlanders, led the latter to believe that all horsemen
were enemies; thus, when a mounted man
approached them alone, on being challenged in
Gaelic, and unable to reply in the same language,
he was shot dead.
The slain man proved to be Alexander Malloch,
of Moultray?s Hill, who was coming to join them.
? The brigadier was extremely sorry for what had
taken place, but he was unable even to testify the
common respect of a friend by burying the deceased.
He had only time to possess himself of the money
found on the corpse-about sixty guineas-and then
leave it to the enemy.??
The advance of Mar rendered Argyle unable to
pursue Borlum, who eventually joined Forster,
shared in his defeat, and would have been hanged
and quartered at Tyburn, had he not broken out
of Newgate and escaped to France.
A few days after his departure from Leith, the
Trained Bands there were ordered to muster on the
Links, to attend their colours and mount guard,
?? at tuck of drumme, at what hour their own officers
shall appoint, and to bring their best armes along
with them.?
There is a curious ? dream story,? as Chambers
calls it in his ?Book of Days,? connected with
Leith in 1731, which Lady Clerk of Penicuik ( d e
Mary Dacre, of Kirklinton in Cumberland), to
whom we have referred in our first volume, communicated
to BZwkwood?s Magazine in 1826. She
related that her father was attending classes in
Edinburgh in 1731, and was residing under the
care of an uncle-Major Griffiths-whose regiment
was quartered in the castle. The young man had
agreed to join a fishing party, which was to start
from .Leith harbour next morning. No objection
was made by Major or Mrs. Griffiths, from whom
he parted at night. During her sleep the latter
suddenly screamed out : ?The boat is sinkingoh,
save them !? The major awoke her, and said :
