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144 THE BATTLE OF LOUDON HILL. |
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But our brave young king is now come home, King Charles the Second in degree; *>
The Lord send peace into his time, And God preserve his majestie I |
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THE BATTLE OF LOUDON HILL.
Graham of Claverhouse and Balfour of Kinloch, commonly called Burly, the principal persons mentioned in this ballad, are characters well known to the readers of Old Mortality, in the earlier chapters of which the skirmish at Loudon Hill is described.
A few weeks after the memorable assassination of Archbishop Sharpe, Robert Hamilton, a fierce Came-ronian, Burly, and a few others of the proscribed " Westlan' men" resolved to take up arms against the government. They began their demonstrations by entering the royal burgh of Rutherglen, on the 29th of May, 1679 (which, as the anniversary of the Restoration, was appointed by Parliament to be kept as a holyday) extinguishing the bonfires made in honor of the occasion, and burning at the cross certain acts in favor of Prelacy and for the suppression of Conventicles. After this exploit, and affixing to the cross a solemn protest against the obnoxious acts, they encamped at Loudon Hill, being by this time increased to the number of five or six hundred men. Claver- |
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