noul, Panmure, Marischal, and Breadalbane; the Marquis of Huntly, the Lords Glenorchy, Drummond, and Ogilvie (eldest sons of Peers); the Viscounts of Kingston, Kenmure, Stormont, and Kilsyth; Lords Rollo and Nairn; the Masters of Stormont and Nairn; Sir James Campbell of Auchinbreck, Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell, Alexander Mackenzie of Fraserdale, Sir Donald Macdonald, James Stirling of Keir, Robert Stewart of Appin, John Campbell of Auchalader, Sir Patrick Murray of Auchtertyre, William Murray of Auchtertyre, Alexander Robertson of Struan, the Laird (Chief) of MacKinnon, Sir Hugh Paterson of Bannockburn, William Drummond, servant to Lord Drummond, Mr Seton of Touch, Lieutenant Allan Cameron of Lochiel, Robert Roy, alias MacGregor, Stewart of Ardshiel, Mr Francis Stewart, brother to the Earl of Moray, John Cameron of Lochiel younger, the Lairds of Clanranald, Glengarry, and Keppoch, Mr John Fullarton of Greenhall, elder, MacIntosh younger of Borlum, James Malcolm, Sir Alexander Erskine, Lord Lyon, Mr Henry Maule, brother to the Earl of Panmure, Walkinshaw of Barrafield, Colin Campbell of Glendaruel, Sir John MacLean, Graham of Bucklyvie, Lieutenant-General George Hamilton, George Home of Whitfield, and Mr John Drummond, brother to Lord Drummond. To such of these persons as resided on the south side of the river Tay, seven free days were allowed for their appearance; to those residing on the north side, fifteen; and to such as happened to be abroad, sixty days were allowed. The result was, that many persons, who might have otherwise remained at home in peace, were in a manner forced to join

the Earl of Mar; while but a very small number comparatively attended to the commands of the act, and those only such as in all probability would have remained obedient to government, whether summoned or not.

At this very moment, while every thing seemed favourable to the project, and the fiery cross was raising brave men in thousands to fight the battles of the House of Stuart, an accidental and external circumstance occurred, than which none -not the perdition of the Highland clans themselves-could have been more fatal to the enterprise. This was the death of Louis the Fourteenth, the monarch who had proved so steadfast a friend to the Stuarts through all their vicissitudes of good and bad fortune. Louis was bound up by the treaty of Utrecht to afford no assistance to the Chevalier, and the humiliated condition of his kingdom could scarcely permit him to dare a renewal of war by breaking through his engagement. But there were, nevertheless, a thousand ways in which he could befriend the exiled prince, without calling down the vengeance of Britain. Where he could not do much, he might have at least permitted a great deal. He could have been negatively, if not positively friendly. The mere idea that the enterprise was honoured by his countenance, not to speak of the real support which he seemed to be covertly extending to it, was calculated to give it additional force and vigour. So much was this the case, that the Jacobite chiefs no sooner received intelligence of his death, than, declaring that their best friend was gone, they counselled their General to abandon his undertaking for the present. The

worst feature of the case was, that the King was succeeded in his power by the Regent Duke of Orleans, his nephew, who was known to have the strongest personal reasons for ingratiating himself with the existing government of Great Britain, and who was therefore likely to do all in his power to mar the proceedings of the Chevalier. It was with much difficulty, and only by contriving to give them a different view of the politics and intentions of the Duke of Orleans, that Mar succeeded in maintaining their disposition to take the field. 2 Perhaps, also, some of them felt that they had now gone too far to draw back. The death of old Louis was a most unfavourable circumstance; but then, on the other hand, the threats of their own government, now reaching them in the substantial shape of the summons which has just been described, and also the reports they daily received of Jacobite gentlemen in England being seized and imprisoned without the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act, were circumstances calculated rather to edify them in their resolution than to make them give it up. The only thing which seemed indispensable to their enterprise was, that the Chevalier should come over in person; and letters were accordingly despatched, entreating him to do so with all possible haste.

Whatever doubts might be entertained by the chiefs of the insurrection, none seem to have been felt by the Earl of Mar himself. That nobleman erected his standard on the 6th of September, at Kirkmichael, a village in Braemar; being attended at the time by only about sixty men. 3 The standard, on its being erected, was consecrated by prayers. But it was remarked, that at the mo

4

ment the pole was planted in the ground, the gilt ball fell from the top; which, as in the case of the walking-cane of King Charles the First, was looked upon by the Highlanders as a bad omen.

On the 7th of September, Mar addressed a letter to the gentlemen of Perthshire, informing them of his appointment to be Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in Scotland, and requiring them to raise all their retainers in arms, to be ready to march to his Majesty's standard so soon as they should receive advertisement to that effect, which they might expect very soon. They were also to secure the arms of all persons suspected of disaffection to the King; and they were requested to prevent all plundering and free-quartering on the part of their men, under pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure. "The King," so concludes the letter," makes no doubt of your zeal for his service, especially at this juncture when his cause is so deeply concerned, and the relieving of our native country from oppression and a foreign yoke, too heavy for us and our posterity to bear, and when now is the time to endeavour the restoring, not only our rightful and native King, but also our country to its ancient, free, and independent constitution under him, whose ancestors have reigned over us for so many generations." 5

On the day following, he issued what he called a Declaration, very nearly resembling this letter in substance, but having a general application. It was headed with the following pompous sentence: "Our rightful and natural King, James the Eighth, by the Grace of God, who is now coming to relieve us from our oppressions, having been pleased to intrust us with the direction of his af

fairs, and the command of his forces, in this his ancient kingdom of Scotland;" and it was distinguished throughout by a magniloquence of expression perfectly appropriate to the character he affected to bear as the representative of his Majesty. It will amuse the reader to find him, on the night of that very day, writing to the Bailie of his lordship of Kildrummy, in the following familiar terms:

"Invercauld; September 9, at night, 1715. "JOCKE,-Ye was in the right not to come with the 100 men ye sent up to-night, when I expected four times the number. It is a pretty thing, when all the Highlands of Scotland are now rising upon their king and country's account, as I have accounts from them since they were with me, and the gentlemen of our neighbouring Lowlands expecting us down to join them, that my men should be only refractory. Is not this the thing we are now about, which they have been wishing these twenty-six years? And now, when it is come, and the king and country's cause is at stake, will they for ever sit still and see all perish? I have used gentle means too long, and so shall be forced to put other orders I have in execution. I have sent you enclosed an order for the lordship of Kildrummy, which you are immediately to intimate to all my vassals; if they give ready obedience, it will make some amends; and, if not, ye may tell them from me, that it will not be in my power to save them (though I were willing) from being treated as enemies, by those who are ready soon to join me; and they may depend on it, that I will be the first to propose and order their being