in bringing about the union, when the succession was settled, as a proof of his sincerity and faithfulness to his majesty, as if his majesty had been ignorant of the attempts that had been made to dissolve that treaty, and of the hearty repentance that Marr himself had professed for the hand he had in bringing it about. Of his willingness to serve the king in the same capacity in which he served the queen, and with the same faithfulness, provided it did not interfere with services that he could turn to a more special account, we see no reason to doubt, and perhaps it had been not the worst policy of the king to have taken him at his word, and continued him in his place. Kings, however, are but men, and we do think he must have been something more or something less than man, who, situated as the king then was, could have looked on Marr, as he then presented himself, without a goodly mixture of suspicion and contempt. Which of the two predominated in the king's mind, history does not say, but the letter was certainly passed over without notice; and in consequence Marr durst not present a flaming address which he had procured from the disaffected clans, some one about the court having moreover told him that the king had been apprized of this address, and was highly offended, believing it to have been drawn up at St Germains for the purpose of affronting him. Though his proffers of service were not accepted, and though he was not on terms of much familiarity, he still continued to hang about the court, carrying on, at the same time, a close correspondence with the disaffected, both in Scotland and England, particularly in Scotland, till the beginning of August 1715, when the habeas corpus act being suspended, as also the act against wrongous imprisonment in Scotland, and warrants made out at the secretary of state's office for the immediate apprehension of all suspected persons, he thought it no longer safe to appear among his fellows, and with general Hamilton, a major Hay, and two servants, after being at court to pay his compliments to the king, took ship in the river, all of them being in disguise, and on the third day after landed at Newcastle, where they hired a vessel which set them ashore at Ely in Fife. Here they were joined by the lord lyon king at arms, Alexander Erskine, and other friends, along with whom they proceeded to Kinnoul, and on the 20th arrived at his lordship's castle of Braemar, where all the Jacobites in that county were summoned to meet him.

Under the feudal system, we may notice here that hunting possessed much of a military character, and was often made the pretext for the superior calling out his vassals, when hunting was but a small part of the object in view; and we find the kings of Scotland frequently calling out lords, barons, landward men, and freeholders, with each a month's provisions and all their best dogs, when the purpose was to daunt the thieves of the particular district where they were summoned to hunt. Often, during the previous years, had this expedient, joined with that of horse-racing, been resorted to, for collecting together the friends of the exiled family; and it was, on this occasion, again employed by Marr. It was but a few days that he had been at Braemar, when, under this pretence, he was waited on by a vast number of gentlemen of the first quality and interest, among whom were the marquises of Huntly and Tullibardine; the earls of Nithsdale, Marischal, Traquair, Errol, Southeske, Carnwath, Seaforth, Linlithgow, &c. &c.; the viscounts of Kilsyth, Kenmure, Kingston, and Stormont; the lords Rollo, Duffus, Drummond, Strathallan, Ogilvy, and Nairn; a number of chieftains from the Highlands, Glendaruel, Auldbair, Auchterhouse, Glengarry; with the two generals, Hamilton and Gordon, and many others of inferior name. To these gentlemen, previously prepared for the purposes of faction, Marr opened at large his whole scheme. He declaimed, with well affected sorrow, particularly upon his own misconduct, and the guilty hand he

had in effecting the "cursed union," which he was now resolved to spend his best blood to free them from-on the miseries attendant on a foreign succession; which, grievous as they already felt them to be, might be expected to increase till their liberties, civil and religious, were totally annihilated; but from which they had now the means of being delivered, by simply restoring James VIII. who had already promised them his presence for that end, with abundance of arms, ammunition, officers, and engineers, so soon as they should have resolved upon the proper place to land them. Money, the grand desideratum in all such undertakings, he assured them he had received, and would regularly receive in abundance, so that no gentleman would find any difficulty in subsisting his men, nor should the country be at all burdened on their account. Finally, he informed them that he had received a commission from the said king James, to act as his lieutenant-general, in consequence of which he intended immediately to set up the royal standard, and summon to attend it the whole fencible men in the kingdom. Though these statements were false, and foolish in the extreme, from the rank of the speaker, the confidence with which they were uttered, and especially from the previously formed habits and feelings of the hearers, they made a powerful impression; each hasted to bring forward his followers, and, on the 6th day of September, 1715, Marr set up the standard of James and proclaimed him king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c., at his castle of Braemar. The same proclamation was repeated three days after at the village of Kirk-Michael, and the people summoned generally to attend him, -for, as yet, they were a very small handful. From Kirk-Michael he proceeded to Moulin, in Perthshire, and thence, by Logie Rait to Dunkeld, where he found his army swelled to upwards of two thousand men. At the two former of these places, James was proclaimed with proper solemnity; at the latter, he had been proclaimed by the marquis of Tullibardine, previous to Marr's arrival. At Perth, he was proclaimed by colonel Balfour and colonel John Hay, who, with two hundred and fifty horse, assisted by two hundred men, introduced into the town, by the duke of Athol, under the pretence of defending it, secured it for the earl of Marr, though the earl of Rothes, with five hundred well-appointed troops, was in the immediate vicinity, intending to take possession of it for the government. James was at the same time proclaimed at Aberdeen, by the earl Marischal; at Castle Gordon, by the earl of Huntly; at Brechin, by the earl of Panmure; at Montrose, by the earl of Southeske; at Dundee, by Graham of Duntroon, now, by the pretender, created viscount Dundee; and at Inverness, by Mackintosh of Borlum, who, with five hundred men, had taken possession of that important place for James; and, after giving it in charge to Mackenzie of Coul, proceeded to join the army under Marr.

While the whole north of Scotland, with the exception of Sutherland and Caithness, was thus, without anything like opposition, cordially declaring for the Pretender, a scheme was laid for surprising and taking possession of the castle of Edinburgh, which would at once have given the rebels the command of Scotland almost without stroke of sword. The prime agent in this affair was the lord Drummond, who, had he succeeded, was to have the governorship of the castle, and his companions, ninety gentlemen of his own selection, were to be rewarded with one hundred guineas each, and a commission in the rebel army. To accomplish their purpose, they corrupted a sergeant in the castle, of the name of Ainsley, with the promise of a lieutenancy; a corporal, with the promise of an ensigncy, and two soldiers, the one with eight, and the other with four guineas. They then provided a scaling ladder, made of ropes, and so constructed that two or three persons could ascend it abreast. This the traitor within drew up with pulleys, fastening it at the top, and a number of the rebel

party were in the act of ascending when an officer, who had been apprized of the plot, walking his rounds, observed the ladder, cut the ropes by which it was fastened above, and all that were upon it were precipitated to the bottom. The sentinel fired at the same time, and the party fled with the utmost precipitation, leaving their ladder, a number of firelocks, a Mr M'Lean, who had been an officer at Killiecranky, Mr Lesley and Mr Ramsay, writers in Edinburgh, and a Mr Boswell, who had been a page to the duchess of Gordon, severely bruised by their fall from the ladder, at the foot of the rock. Ainsley, who had engaged to betray the fortress, was hanged, his accomplices severely punished, and the governor lieutenant, David Stewart, displaced for negligence.

The failure of this undertaking was no doubt a serious disappointment to the rebels, but in all other respects their affairs were prosperous beyond any thing that could have been anticipated. Their numbers were rapidly augmenting, and their hopes were strongly excited by the arrival from St Germains, whither he had gone early in the spring, of Mr James Murray, second son to the viscount Stormont, who brought along with him patents from James, creating himself secretary of state for Scotland, and the earl of Marr a duke, by the title of duke of Marr, marquis of Stirling, and earl of Alloa. He brought also assurances of the presence of James himself, with a powerful army and abundant supplies, furnished him by the court of France. Large supplies had certainly been promised on the occasion, and they were, to a considerable extent, provided; but the death of Louis, on the 1st of September, was followed by a total change of measures, under the duke of Orleans, who acted as regent for Louis XV., then only five years of age; and though a considerable expedition had, by the zeal of individuals, been prepared at St Maloes, through the vigilance of admiral Byng at sea, and the influence of the earl of Stair at Versailles, ex cept one or two, which sailed clandestinely, not a ship put to sea, and not one of them ever reached the Scottish shore. The news of the death of Louis was so discouraging to their hopes that a number of the chiefs insisted upon going home and waiting for a more favourable opportunity. They were, however, overruled, but a messenger was despatched to James, to solicit his presence to the enterprize with all possible expedition.

Every exertion was in the mean time made by the party to increase the number of their followers, and judging from what was done by the earl of Marr, these exertions were of no very gentle character. Writing on the 9th of September, to his bailie of Kildrummy, who had sent up to him the night before, one hundred men, when his lordship "expected four times the number,"—"I have sent," he says, " 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, were I willing, from being treated as enemies, by those who are ready soon to join me; and they may depend upon it, that I will be the first to propose and order their being so. Particularly let my own tenants of Kildrummy know this; if they come not forth with their best arms, that I will send a party immediately to burn what they shall miss taking from them, and they may believe this not only a threat; but, by all that's sacred, I'll put it into execution, let my loss be what it will, that it may be an example to others." This was logic, that, with the poor tenants of Kildrummy, was no doubt perfectly convincing; but it was necessary to use more soothing arguments, with others not so completely in his power; and for this purpose he had a manifesto prepared by some of his clerical followers, and printed at Edinburgh by his majesty's printer, Robert Freebairn, setting forth the absolutely indefeasible rights of the Stuarts; the total annihilation

of the ancient Scottish constitution; the incalculable mischiefs that had attended, and the inevitable ruin that must necessarily follow the "unhappy union, brought about by the mistaken notions of some, and the ruinous and selfish designs of others;" all of which was to be remedied by one single act of justice, the restoring of the Stuarts, through whom religion was to be revived, and plenty,

tranquillity, and peace, interminably established. That James was a papist, this precious document did not deny; but, then there was no "reason to be distrustful of the goodness of God, the truth and purity of our holy religion, or the known excellency of his majesty's judgment," in consequence of which “in due time, good example and conversation with our learned divines, could not fail to remove those prejudices which this clear-headed junto knew, that, even being educated in a popish country had not riveted in his royal discerning mind; and with a parliament of his own selection, they had no doubt but he would enact such laws in behalf of the protestant religion, as should "give an absolute security to all future ages against the efforts of arbitrary power, popery, and all its other enemies." Such was the force of prejudice and pride, and deeply wounded national feeling, and so little were the benefits accruing from the revolution, either understood or appreciated, that this paper made a very great impression; and, Marr after resting a few days at Dunkeld, removed his head quarters to Perth, when he found himself at the head of an army of twelve thousand men.

So far this insurrection had been completely successful; and, but for Marr's entire ignorance of military affairs, it might have been still more so. Having possessed himself of Perth, not to speak of the Highlands, where his principal strength lay, he was master of all the Lowlands, on the east coast of Scotland, north of the Tay, containing the fruitful provinces of Angus, the Carse of Gowrie, Mearns, Moray, Aberdeen, Banff, as well as of the shire of Fife, which, from its maritime situation, afforded him peculiar advantages. By the complete possession of so much territory, he had cut off all communications between his majesty's friends in the south and those in the north, who could now neither act for his service, nor save themselves by flight. In all those places, too, he seized upon the public revenues, for which he granted receipts in the name of James VIII.; and arms and ammunition he laid hold of, wherever they could be found. Fourteen pieces of cannon he brought up to Perth, from the castle of Dunotter, and he surprised a king's ship laden with arms, that had for a night anchored in the road of Bruntisland, boarded her and carried off her whole cargo, which brought him considerable eclat, and a numerous accession of followers.

Nothing was now wanting on the part of Marr, but promptitude, and a little military knowledge. The castles of Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and Stirling, were in the hands of the government, and Argyle occupied the last mentioned place with a force which did not yet amount to two thousand men. But this was the whole force that could be opposed to him in Scotland at the time, and with onehalf his troops, he might have shut up or forced these strengths, while with the other half, he subdued the whole open country. Instead of this, he lingered at Perth, where the number of his troops soon occasioned a want of provisions; to supply which, he had recourse to the impolitic measure of imposing assessments upon the country, to the amount of twenty shillings on the hundred pounds Scots, of property, upon those that had espoused his cause, but double the sum upon all who yet were faithful to the existing government, to be paid against a certain day, to collectors whom he had appointed, under the pain of military execution. Argyle in the meantime issued a proclamation, denouncing all who should submit to pay any such assessment as guilty of high treason, so that between the two, there was no alternative for plain country people, but either

submit to be robbed, or run the risk of being hanged. For more than a month did this war of words or manifestoes continue, neither party undertaking any enterprise of consequence, except that Marr, not daring to attempt the dislodging of Argyle from Stirling, conceived the foolish design of sending part of his troops across the Forth, and by strengthening a few malecontents whom he expected they would find in arms in the south, create a diversion which might enable him to elude an army, not a fourth part of the number of his own. For this mad project, he selected upwards of two thousand of his best troops, and committed them to the charge of Mackintosh of Borlum, an old officer of unquestioned bravery, who executed apparently the most difficult part of his task with spirit and despatch. When he arrived on the coast of Fife, he was in sight of his majesty's fleet in the frith, which was stationed there for the very purpose of preventing all intercourse between the opposite shores, and which was perfectly well acquainted with his intentions; but, by a skilful marching and counter-marching, he in one day completely bewildered his enemy, and embracing the chance of a calm and an ebb tide, crossed over in their sight with the loss only of one boat with forty men. A few of his flotilla were cut off from the rest, but they escaped into the isle of May, and thence back to Fife. Borlum, after nearly surprising the city of Edinburgh, proceeded without any interruption to Kelso, when he was joined on the 22d of October, by the rebels from Northumberland, under Forster and Derwentwater, and from Dumfries-shire, Nithsdale, &c., under the viscount Kenmure, when their united forces, horse and foot, amounted to about two thousand men.

At Kelso they halted till the 27th; when, being informed that general Carpenter had advanced to Wooler, and intended to attack them next day, a council of war was called, in order to determine on a plan of operations. In the council there was much heat, and little unanimity. The gentlemen from England were anxious to return to that country, where they promised themselves (on what grounds does not appear) a vast accession of numbers. To this the Scots, particularly Borlum and the earl of Winton, were peculiarly averse, as they wished to return and join the clans, taking Dumfries and Glasgow in their way back. A third proposal was made to cross the Tweed, and, taking general Carpenter by surprise, cut him off with his army, before he should be able to obtain reinforcements. This was the only soldierlike proposal that had been made, and their neglecting to put it in practice can be accounted for on no rational principle; Carpenter had not more than nine hundred men under his command, the greater part of them raw troops, and the whole of them at the time excessively fatigued. The Highlanders under Borlum could not be much below fourteen hundred men, and there were besides, five troops of Scottish horse, and of English noblemen and gentlemen at least an equal number. Overlooking, or not aware of their superiority, it was determined to decamp, for it does not appear whether they understood themselves to be retreating, or advancing to Jedburgh, where they learned, that they were three days in advance of general Carpenter, and, upon the still continued importunity of the English gentlemen, resolved to march into that country. The reluctance of the Highlanders, however, was not abated, and though a captain Hunter and his troop of horse had been sent on to Tyndale to provide quarters for the whole army, it moved on for Hawick; on the road to which, the Highlanders, having been told by the earl of Winton that if they entered England they would be overpowered by numbers, and either cut to pieces, or taken and sold for slaves, refused to march, and when surrounded by the horse, cocked their muskets, faced about, and told them, that if they were to be made a sacrifice of, they would choose to have it done in their own country. They agreed,