twenty thousand men at least, which would be sufficient to enable them to march to London in defiance of all opposition.

Upon this important occasion the insurgents gave a decided proof of that species of credulity which disposes men to receive, upon very slight evidence, such tidings as flatter their hopes and feelings, and which induced Addison to term the Jacobites of that period a race of men who live in a dream, daily nourished by fiction and delusion, and whom he compares to the obstinate old knight in Rabelais, who every morning swallowed a chimera for breakfast.

The Scottish gentlemen, and Lord Winton in particular, were not convinced by the reasoning of their Southern friends, nor do they appear to have been participant of their sanguine hopes of a general rising in Lancashire; accordingly, they strongly opposed the movement in that direction. All, therefore, which the rebels, in their divided counsels, were able to decide upon with certainty, was to move westward along the Border, a course which might advance them equally on their road, whether they should finally determine to take the route to the west of Scotland or to Lancashire. We must refer to a future part of this history for the progress and ultimate fate of this ill-starred expedition.

CHAPTER LXIX.

The Earl of Mar remains inactive at Perth-his Resolution to march upon Stirling—his Advance, Abandonment of the Plan, and Return to Perth-Surprisal of a Jacobite Detachment at Dunfermline-Argyle joined by Reinforcements-Mar also joined by Seaforth, General Gordon, with the Clans of the West, and Breadalbane Both Armies, being now fully reinforced, have no further pretext for postponing Active Operations.

[1715.]

WE must now return to the Earl of Mar's army, which must be considered as the centre and focus of the insurrection. Since his occupation of Perth, Lord Mar had undertaken little which had the appearance of military enterprise. His possession even of Fifeshire and Kinross had been in some degree contested by the supporters of Government. The Earl of Rothes, with a few dragoons and volunteers, had gårrisoned his own house of Lesly, near Falkland, and was active in harassing those parties of horse which Mar sent into the country to proclaim James VIII., and levy the cess and public taxes. Upon one of these occasions, (28th September) he surprised Sir Thomas Bruce, while in the act of making the proclamation in the

town of Kinross, and carried him off a prisoner. The Earl of Rothes retained possession of his garrison till Mar's army became very strong, when he was obliged to withdraw it. But Mar continued to experience occasional checks, even in the military promenades in which he employed the gentlemen who composed his cavalry. It is true, these generally arose from nothing worse than the loose discipline observed by troops of this condition, their carelessness in mounting guards, or in other similar duties, to which their rank and habits of life had not accustomed them.

The only important manœuvre attempted by the Earl of Mar, was the expedition across the frith under Brigadier MacIntosh, of which the details are given in the last chapter. Its consequences were such as to force the General himself into measures of immediate activity, by which he had not hitherto seemed much disposed to distinguish himself, but which became now inevitable.

It happened that, on the second day after MacIntosh's departure from Fife, a general review of the troops in Perth was held in the vicinity of that town, and the Earl Marischal's brother, James (afterwards the celebrated Field-Marshal Keith), galloped along the line, disseminating some of those favourable reports which were the growth of the day, and, as one succeeded as fast as another dropped, might be termed the fuel which supplied the fire of the insurrection, or rather, perhaps, the bellows which kept it in excitation. The apocryphal tidings of this day were, that Sir William Wyndham had

surprised Bristol for King James III., and that Sir William Blacket had taken both Berwick and Newcastle-intelligence received by the hearers with acclamations, which, if it had been true, were no less than it deserved.

But from these visions the principal persons in the insurrection were soon recalled to sad realities. A meeting of the noblemen, chiefs of clans, and commanders of corps, was summoned, and particular care taken to exclude all intruders of inferior rank. To this species of council of war Mar announced, with a dejected countenance, that Brigadier MacIntosh, having, contrary to his orders, thrown himself into the citadel of Leith, was invested there by the Duke of Argyle. He laid before them the letter he had received from the Brigadier, which stated that a few hours would determine his fate, but that he was determined to do his duty to the last. The writer expressed his apprehension that cannons and mortars were about to be brought against him. The Earl of Mar said that he gave the detachment up for lost, but suggested it might be possible to operate a diversion in its favour, by making a feint towards Stirling. The proposal was seconded by General Hamilton, who said that such a movement might possibly do good, and could produce no harm.

The movement being determined upon, Mar marched with a large body of foot to Auchterarder, and pushed two squadrons of horse as far forward as Dunblane, which had the appearance of a meditated attack upon Stirling. It is said to have been

the opinion of General Hamilton, that the foot should have taken possession of a defile which continues the road from the northern end of Stirling bridge through some low and marshy ground, and is called the Long Causeway. The rebels being in possession of this long and narrow pass, it would have been as difficult for the Duke of Argyle to have got at them as it was for them to reach him. And the necessity of guarding the bridge itself with the small force he possessed, must have added to Argyle's difficulties, and afforded General Gordon, and the western clans who were by this time expected to be at Dunbarton, full opportunity to have advanced on Stirling by Drymen and the Loch of Monteith, keeping possession, during their whole march, of high and hilly grounds fit for the operations of Highlanders. In this manner the Duke of Argyle would have been placed between two fires, and must have run the greatest risk of being cut off from the reinforcements which he anxiously expected from Ireland, as well as from the west of Scotland.

Against this very simple and effective plan of the campaign, Mar had nothing to object but the want of provisions; in itself a disgrace to a general who had been quartered so long in the neighbourhood of the Carse of Gowrie, and at the end of autumn, when the farm-yards are full, without having secured a quantity of meal adequate to the maintenance of his army for a few days. General Hamilton combated this objection, and even demonstrated that provisions were to be had; and