Summer at the Lake of Monteith

The Lake of Monteith.
burn, which resulted so disastrously to the English. Im-
mediately after the battle, he was gifted with extensive
grants of lands; and being of a very pious turn of mind,
he conferred upon the Priory of Inchmahome his estate of
Cardross.
There was another true defender of his country, Sir
John, son of the above Malcolm Drummond. This Sir
John had a mortal hatred of his cousins, the Menteiths of
Rusky, the grandsons of the betrayer. And it requires no
great stretch of fancy to imagine how this would occur,
seeing that the family of the Drummonds were warm ad-
herents of their country, and the others its mortal and
direst enemies. Whether it was to revenge his own private
quarrel, or for the purpose of punishing the Menteith
family for the disloyalty and the disgrace brought upon
the country, we have no means of knowing, but history
affords us a clue to the terrible results. The traditions
of the country are, however, that it was a bold and deter-
mined plan, on the part of Drummond, to destroy, at
once and for ever, every seed of the obnoxious family.
Accordingly, early in the year 1360, he attacked the Men-
teiths near Rusky, with a strong band of his chosen vassals.
The Menteiths collected in strong force to defend them-
selves, but were unable to cope with the fierce character of
Drummond, and they received at his hand a terrible chas-
tisement, three out of five brothers of the Menteiths being
slain, besides a great number of their followers. Some
short time after this deadly fray, an agreement was effected
between the families, and Sir John Drummond renounced
to the youngest of the two surviving brothers of the Men-