Red and white book of Menzies

a.d. 1745.] THE THIRD BARONET OF CLAN MENZIES. 375
being lame and unable to do service, excused himself from calling out the clan
just then, on account of which he was called in Gaelic " Rubercht Spagach" —
lame Robert. Cope on his way north was met with reports of the prince's army
having taken up a strong position at Corriearrick, and there prepared to give
him battle. This so upset Cope and his officers, who were at Dalwhinnie on
the 27th August 1 745, that they after a council of war fled to Inverness, giving
the Highlanders a good laugh at their cowardice. They would have followed
but for the prince and chiefs, who considered it better to descend into Athole
at once, and then to Edinburgh. Accordingly, the Highland army arrived at
Dalwhinnie, 29th August 1745, and at Blair Castle on the 30th. From Blair
the prince sent forward 400 men, who captured Dunkeld. The march of Prince
Charles into Athole had been so rapid, that his friends in Athole had no time
to gather their forces to join him on his march on Perth, which he entered
3rd September 1745.
It was at this time that Chief Sir Robert the Menzies having met the
prince, decided to give Charles his aid, but he was lame and unfit for service
in the field himself. He therefore deputed the command of Clan Menzies to
Chieftain John Menzies of Shian and Glenquiech, or, as he was known in Gaelic,
Ian Vohr Meinerich, or in Scotch as " Muckle John Menzies."
In this command he was seconded by his son, Archibald Menzies, who had
the active work to do, and at once set about calling out Clan Menzies for Prince
Charlie. It is this young chieftain who is the hero of Sir Walter Scott in his
Waverley, where he is called by his Gaelic appellation the " Vich Ian Vohr of
Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland " — meaning the
son of big John Menzies of Glenquiech.
Chieftain John Menzies of Shian took part in the rebellion of 171 5, but had
not been brought under any obligation by the Government. He therefore felt
free without dishonour to follow Prince Charlie. Glenquiech was very difficult of
access to Government troops. These facts were evidently known to Sir Walter
Scott, who must have visited Shian before writing Waverley, for his description of
it is very like the glen, which Sir Walter thus describes, with Shian Castle
and Shian, both in his time in a state of preservation. Sir Walter says : —
When Captain Waverley visited this castle, it was " a high, rude - looking
square tower, with the addition of a lofted house — that is, a building of two
storeys," and its surroundings were bleak and desolate enough. " An enclosure or
two, divided by dry stone walls, were the only part of the domain that was
fenced ; as to the rest, the narrow slips of level ground which lay to the west side
of the brook exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredation
from the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent
hills. These ever and anon made an incursion upon the arable ground, which was