The full strength of the Scottish contingent was three thousand seven hundred and sixty-three men.  Douglas was in command, with Claverhouse under him at the head of the cavalry, which mustered eight hundred and forty-one sabres, including his own regiment, Livingstone’s troop of Life Guards, and Dunmore’s dragoons, a regiment which, as the Scots Greys, has since earned a reputation second to none in the British Army.  The infantry was made up of Douglas’s own regiment of Foot Guards, now the Scots Guards:  Buchan’s regiment, now the Twenty-first of the Line, or, to give them their latest title, the Royal Scots Fusiliers; and Wauchope’s regiment:—­two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two men in all.[74] They left Scotland in the beginning of October, the foot marching by way of Chester, the horse by way of York, on London.  Early in November they reached the capital, where they lay for a few days:  Claverhouse, with his own regiment and the Horse Guards, being quartered in Westminster, the dragoons in Southwark, and Douglas, with his Foot Guards, in Holborn.  On the tenth of the month they marched for Salisbury, where the King’s army was now gathered.  During the march Claverhouse received the last and most signal proof of favour James was to give him.  On November 12th he had been created Viscount of Dundee.

In the royal camp all was confusion and doubt.  William was at Axminster, and not a single enemy was in his rear.  Many of the great English houses had already joined him, and each hour brought news to Salisbury of fresh disaffection in every part of the kingdom.  James was at first anxious to fight, but Feversham warned him that, though the men were steady, few of his officers could be depended on.  Before leaving London the King had called his chief captains together and offered passes to all who were desirous to leave him for the Prince of Orange, “to spare them,” he said, “the shame of deserting their lawful sovereign.”  All were profuse in professions of loyalty, and among them were Churchill, Grafton, and the butcher Kirke.  Churchill, we know, continued these professions up to the eleventh hour.  On the evening of the 24th James held a council of war, in which Churchill’s voice was loudest for battle.  That night he left Salisbury for Axminster, and Grafton went with him.  Some of the Scottish officers stood firm, but not all.  Dumbarton offered to lead his regiment alone against the enemy.  Dundee urged James to do one of three things:  to fight the Prince, to demand from him in person his business in England, or to retire into Scotland with his faithful troops.  But the King still hesitated, and while he hesitated the moment passed.  Kirke, who commanded the advance guard at Warminster, flatly refused to obey the orders sent him from Salisbury, and a rumour spread that he had gone over to William with all his men.  The King broke up the camp and began his retreat to London; and before he had got farther on his way than Andover,