Monk invested Stirling; and the Highlanders who composed the garrison,
alarmed by the explosion of the shells from the batteries, compelled[a] the
governor to capitulate. The maiden castle, which had never been violated by
the presence of a conqueror,[2] submitted to the English "sectaries;" and,
what was still more humbling to the pride of the nation, the royal robes,
part of the regalia, and the national records, were irreverently torn from
their repositories, and sent to London as the trophies of victory. Thence
the English general marched forward to Dundee, where he received a proud
defiance from Lumsden, the governor. During the preparations for the
assault, he learned that the Scottish lords, whom Charles had intrusted
with the government in his absence, were holding a meeting on the moor at
Ellet, in Angus. By his order, six hundred horse, under the colonels Alured
and Morgan, aided, as it was believed, by treachery, surprised them at an
early hour in the morning.[b] Three hundred prisoners were made, including
the two committees of
[Footnote 1: MS. letters in my possession. Bruodin, 696. A proclamation
was also issued ordering all nuns to marry or leave Ireland. They were
successively transported to Belgium, France, and Spain, where they were
hospitably received in the convents of their respective orders.
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