Montrose advanced still farther to the south, allured by vain hopes, both of rousing to arms the earls of Hume, Traquaire, and Roxborough, who had promised to join him; and of obtaining from England some supply of cavalry, in which he was deficient.

By the negligence of his scouts, Lesly, at Philipbaugh in the Forest, surprised his army, much diminished in numbers, from the desertion of the Highlanders, who had retired to the hills, according to custom, in order to secure their plunder.

After a sharp conflict, where Montrose exerted great valor, his forces were routed by Lesly's cavalry;[**] and he himself was obliged to fly with his broken forces into the mountains, where he again prepared himself for new battles and new enterprises.[***] The Covenanters used the victory with rigor.

Their prisoners, Sir Robert Spotiswood, secretary of state, and son to the late primate, Sir Philip Nisbet, Sir William Hollo, Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, Andrew Guthry, son of the bishop of Murray, William Murray, son of the earl of Tullibardine, were condemned and executed.

The sole crime imputed to the secretary was his delivering to Montrose the king's commission to be captain-general of Scotland.