with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

155
The booty for ought that I sa', man,
For he ne'er advanc'd
From the place he was stanc'd,
Till nae mair to do there at a', man.
And we ran, and they ran, S^c.
Rob Roy, or [Red] Robert, was brother to the laird of M. Gregor,
and commanded that clan in his brother's absence, but in the
day of battle he kept his men together at some distance without
allowing them to engage, tho' they show'd all the willingness
immaginable, and waited only an opportunity to plunder, which
was, it seems, the chief of his design of coming there. This clan
are a hardy rough people, but noted for pilfering, as they lye
upon the border of the Highlands, and this Rob Roy had exer-
cised their talents that way pretty much in a kind of thieving
war he carried on against the duke of Montrose, who had, as he
alledged, cheated him of a small feudal estate." Campbell's Life
of J. D. ofArgyle, p. 205.
The conduct of this gentleman (who, the historian would not
tell us, had assumed the surname of Campbell, his own being
prohibited by act of parliament) was the more surprising, as he
had ever been remarked for courage and activity. When de-
sired by one of his own officers to go and assist his friends, he is
reported to have said, " If they cannot do it without me, they
cannot do it with me." It is more than probable, however, that
his interference would have decided the fortune of that day in
favour of his own party. " He continued in arms for some
years after, and committed great depredations in the shires of
Dumbarton and Lenox, particularly on the duke of Montrose',
lands, defeating several detachments sent to reduce him."
Boyse's History of the Rebellion. He is in the number of those
attainted by parliament.