attempting to cross, they were so hotly received, although they fought with great fury, that they were driven back in confusion, and ultimately dispersed or destroyed by the royal cavalry in the morning. Thus the glory of the fight belongs chiefly to our countrymen, whose firmness proved the salvation of the royal army, and, in the end, the destruction of the rebels and the overthrow of their cause—completed in the after execution of their leaders, the Duke of Monmouth in England, and his fellow-conspirator, the Marquis of Argyll, in Scotland. So highly did James esteem the services of the “Royal Scots” on this perilous occasion, that, by special warrant, he ordered that the sum of £397 should be distributed among the wounded of the regiment. Sergeant Weems was particularly distinguished in the action, and received accordingly a gratuity of “Forty pounds for good service in the action of Sedgemoor, in firing the great guns against the rebels.” [Illustration: DUKE OF SCHOMBERG, COLONEL OF THE FIRST ROYALS.] When the Revolution of 1688 promised the downfall of the house of Stuart, whose power had been so long built upon the suppressed liberty of the people, the exclusion of James II.—the degenerate representative of an ancient and once beloved race—from the throne, as the minion of the Papacy and the dawn of a better state of things, under the more healthy rule of the Prince of Orange, the champion of Protestantism, as monarch of these realms, it might have been deemed excusable had our “Royal Scots,” from their antecedents on behalf of the Protestant cause, sided with the Prince. The result, however, was far otherwise, and affords us another splendid illustration of the firm fidelity of the soldier in the sterling devotion of this regiment. The “Royal Scots” had been James’s favourite regiment, and well they merited that monarch’s trust. Whilst other troops exhibited a shameful defection, the “Royal Scots,” with unshaken constancy, adhered to the desperate fortunes of their infatuated King. Nor when all else had submitted, save Claverhouse’s Dragoons, and resistance had been rendered fruitless by the pusillanimous flight of James, did they see it their duty to exchange into the service of the new Sovereign. The term “mutiny” is wrongly applied when given to express their conduct on this trying occasion. By lenient measures the 500 men and officers who had refused to tender their submission were at length induced to make their peace with the new king, who, appreciating their ancient name for valour, could admire their unshaken fidelity to one who was even forsaken by his own children; and therefore gladly retained the regiment to grace our military annals. Their conduct was at the same time most exemplary in those days of military license and excess; faithfully they remained at the post of duty, when other regiments, breaking from their ranks, shamefully disgraced themselves by the riot and disorder they everywhere committed.