"There’s none in the right but we, Of the old Scottish nation"; but they would probably have phrased it a little less baldly. To me it appears as if this song were the work of an onlooker and not a partisan; one ready to see the faults of both sides, and very much inclined to hold back his final opinion till he saw which was going to win. But let the March speak for itself. *LESLY’S MARCH* March! march: Why the de’il do ye na march? Stand to your arms, my lads, Fight in good order; Front about, ye musketeers all, Till ye come to the English Border; Stand till ’t, and fight like men, True gospel to maintain. The parliament’s blythe to see us a’ coming! When to the kirk we come, We’ll purge it ilka room, Frae popish relics, and a’ sic innovation, That a’ the world may see, There’s nane in the right but we, Of the auld Scottish nation. A truly partisan ballad of the day describes the battle of Philiphaugh and exults in the defeat of Montrose, "our cruel enemy," it calls him. As a ballad it has no great poetic merit; the very sober Covenanters probably regarded ballad-making as a frivolity. But it describes rather graphically how an "aged father," from the country-side, led Lesly’s army very cautiously and wisely to the very tents of the foe. These details are no doubt accurate; though the ballad-writer (whoever he was) displays his ignorance of other matters by making the old soldier say that he was at the battle of Solway Moss (which took place one hundred years before) and at that of Dunbar, which was not fought till five years later! The following are the opening verses of the ballad, giving an idea of its plain, straightforward style:— On Philiphaugh a fray began, At Hairhead-wood it ended; The Scots out o’er the Graemes they ran, Sae merrily they bended; Sir David frae the Border came, Wi’ heart an’ hand came he; Wi’ him three thousand bonny Scots, To bear him company. Wi’ him three thousand valiant men, A noble sight to see! A cloud o’ mist them weel conceal’d, As close as e’er might be. When they came to the Shaw burn, Said he, "Sae weel we frame. I think it is convenient That we should sing a psalm." It is not necessary to quote more of it, but it may be remarked that in place of the last line as given here, the _unregenerate_ substituted, "That we should take a dram." In point of actual fact, _both_ versions are probably true! *Chapter XLVI* *The Death of Montrose*