not taking time on the road to dry their clothes, lest a repetition of their treatment should take place; and upon their arrival there, they represented the usage they had received, with exaggerated accounts of the assassinations and cruelties of the Macgregors, magnifying their own wonderful escape, and prowess in having killed several of the clan, so that the story was reported to the commander of the castle, who ordered a company of soldiers to march into the Highlands, to lay hold of Rob Roy Macgregor. A party of Macgregors, who were returning with some booty which they had acquired along the banks of the Forth, descried the military on their way to Callander, and, suspecting their intention, hastened to acquaint Rob Roy of what they saw. In a few hours the whole country was warned of the approaching danger, and guards were placed at different stations to give notice of the movements of the soldiers. All the men within several miles were prepared to repel this invasion, in case it was to lay waste the country, which had often been done before; but the military had no other orders than to seize Rob Roy, who considered it more prudent to take refuge in the hills, than openly to give the military battle, when they meant no other hostility.
After a fruitless search for many days, the soldiers, unaccustomed to the fatigue of climbing mountains, and scrambling over rocks, and through woods, took shelter at night in an empty house, which they furnished with heath for beds; and the Macgregors, unwilling that they should leave their country without some lasting remembrance of them, set fire to the house, which speedily dislodged the soldiers. In the confusion, many of them were hurt, a number lost their arms, and one man was killed by the accidental discharge of a musket. The military party, thus thrown into confusion, broke down by fatigue, and almost famished for want of provisions, which they could not procure, withdrew from the country of the Macgregors, happy that they had escaped so well.
The tribute of black mail, already noticed, extended, under Rob Roy's system, to all classes of people, to inferior proprietors, and to every description of tenantry; but the more powerful chieftains, though they at times considered Rob as an useful auxiliary, and though their property was often subjected to spoliation, would seldom consent to that compulsatory regulation, as being too degrading to that consequence which they were anxious to maintain. Rob did certainly, as occasion required, exact what he conceived to be his due in this way, with some severity; but he often received the tax as a voluntary oblation. Of this last description was an annual payment made to him by Campbell of Abruchil; but this proprietor having omitted to pay Rob for some years, he at last went to his castle with an armed party, to demand the arrears due to him. Having knocked at the gate, leaving his men at some distance, he desired a conversation with the laird; but he was told that several great men were at dinner with him, and that no stranger could be admitted. "Then tell him," said he, "that Rob Roy Macgregor is at his door, and must see him, if the king should be dining with him." The porter returned, and told Rob that his master knew nothing of such a person, and desired him to depart. Rob immediately applied to his mouth a large horn that hung by his side, from which there issued a sound that appalled the castle guard, shook the building to its base, and astonished Abruchil and his guests, who quickly left the dining-table. In an instant Rob's men were by his side, and he ordered them to drive away all the cattle they found on the land; but the laird came hastily to the gate, apologised for the rudeness of the porter to his good friend Rob Roy Macgregor, took him into the castle, paid him his demand, and they parted good friends.
(To be continued.)
THE PROGRESS OF LEARNING.
MR EDITOR,
Unless early associations mislead me in my judgment of the merits of the following little Poem, I think that you will be glad to give it a place in your Magazine. It was written, a good many years ago, at Winchester College, by a Youth, who afterwards distinguished himself greatly at Oxford, and to me it seems to possess much of that easy and unambitious vivacity and sprightliness which distinguish the lighter effusions of the great wits of Queen Anne's time. N.
