boasted himself, of the anti-revolutionary church of England, made a strong impression on those of his party.

Thus closed the Rebellion and its consequences, as far as England was concerned. We must now take a view of its last scenes as exhibited in Scotland.

know who they were, and in a flourishing way made a tender of their services for the cause; which Mr Forster accepting, they withdrew."-PATTEN, p. 92.-Mr Paul ardently begged life, in letters and petitions of recantation and penitence. To the Archbishop of Canterbury he says, "I humbly desire your Grace to use your utmost endeavours to save a poor clergyman's life. If it will not be granted to spend the remainder of it in England, I beg you will be pleased to send me to the Plantations, or any where rather than Tyburn." His petitions to the King, and others, speak of "the late unnatural rebellion against his Majesty which he detests and abhors. He humbly begs leave, in all sorrow of heart, to acknowledge his great and heinous offence; and from the bottom of his soul, asks pardon of God, his Majesty, and the Church and nation." And, at the place of execution, being interrupted in reading, he handed to the Sheriff of London a paper addressed to the people, which has, "I exhort you all to return to your duty. Remember that King James the Third is your only rightful Sovereign, by the laws of the land, and therefore, if you would perform the duty of justice to him, which is due to all mankind, you are obliged in conscience to do all you can to restore him to his crown."-Faithful Register, &c., pp. 305, 312, 323.]

CHAPTER LXXII.

The Arrival of Dutch Troops-Simon Fraser of LovatDesertion of the Clan Fraser to the Whig Interest—A General Council of the Jacobite Leaders breaks up without coming to any Conclusion-An Offer of Submission upon Terms, made to Argyle, and Rejected—Arrival of the Chevalier-Exertions of Argyle to put an end to the Rebellion-His March towards Perth-Exultation of the Jacobite Highlanders in the Prospect of another Battletheir Fury and Despair on its being hinted that it was intended to Retreat-A Retreat resolved on.

[1715-1716.]

WE left the insurgents when the melancholy news of the termination of the campaign of Forster, with his Highland auxiliaries, at the barricades of Preston, had not yet reached them; the moment it did, all hopes of a general insurrection in England, or any advantage being obtained there, were for ever ended.

The regular troops which had been detained in England to suppress the northern insurgents, were now set at liberty, and Mar could no longer rely upon Argyle's remaining inactive for want of men. Besides, the Estates of the United Provinces had now, upon the remonstrance of General Cadogan, despatched for Britain the auxiliary forces which

they were bound by treaty to furnish in case of invasion, and three thousand of them had landed at Deptford. The other three thousand Dutch troops, designed for ports in the north, had been dispersed by a storm, and driven into Harwich, Yarmouth, and elsewhere, which induced the Government to order those at Deptford, as the most disposable part of this auxiliary force, to move instantly down to Scotland.

Events equally unfavourable to the rebels were taking place in the North of Scotland; and, in order to ascertain the progress of these, it is necessary to trace some passages of the life of Simon Fraser, one of the most remarkable characters of his time.

He was by birth the nearest male heir to the estate of Lovat, and to the dignity of Chief of the Frasers -no empty honour, since the clan contained a following of from seven hundred to a thousand men. The chief last deceased, however, had left a daughter, and Simon was desirous, by marriage with this young lady, to unite her pretensions to the chieftainship and estate with his own. As his character was bad, and his circumstances accounted desperate, the widowed mother of the young heiress, a lady of the house of Athole, was averse to this match, and her powerful family countenanced her repugnance.2

["Simon was the son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort, next male heir to the house of Lovat after the death of Hugh, Lord Lovat, without male issue."-SIR WALTER SCOTT, ante, vol. xx. p. 61.]

3

["The Dowager Lady Lovat was a daughter of the Marquis of Athole; and that powerful family was, therefore, induced to

Being a man of a daring character, deep powers of dissimulation, and master of the tempers of the lower class of Highlanders, Simon found it no difficult matter to obtain the assistance of a strong party of Frasers, chiefly desperate men, to assist in a scheme of seizing on the person of the young heiress. She escaped his grasp, but her mother, the widow of the late Lord Lovat, fell into his power. Equally short-sighted as unprincipled, Fraser imagined that by marrying this lady, instead of her daughter, he would secure, through her large jointure, some legal interest in the estate. With this view he accomplished a forced marriage betwixt the Dowager Lady Lovat and himself, and enforced his rights as her pretended husband with the most brutal violence.1 For this abominable and atrocious outrage against a matron widow of his own near connexion, and a sister of the powerful Marquis of Athole, letters of fire and sword were granted against Fraser and his adherents, and being

take great interest in disposing of the young lady in marriage. Various quarrels, during the time that Simon of Beaufort held a commission in his regiment, had made him particularly unacceptable to the Marquis of Athole and his family, who viewed his assuming the title of Master of Lovat, and proposing himself as a husband for their kins woman, with a very evil eye."—Ibid.]

1 ["Having raised a gallows on the green before Castle Downie, where she then resided, to intimidate all who might protect the object of his violence—a lady advanced in life, and whose person is said to have been as little inviting as her character was respectable, he went through the mock ceremony of a wedding, had her dress cut from her person with a dirk, and subjected her to the last extremity of brutal violence, while the pipes played in the next apartment to drown her screams.". -SIR WALTER SCOTT, ante, vol. xx. p. 62.]

outlawed by the High Court of Justiciary, he was forced to fly to France. Here he endeavoured to recommend himself at the court of St Germains, by affecting much zeal for the Jacobite cause, and pretending to great interest with the Highland chiefs, and the power of rendering effectual service amongst them. The Chevalier de St George and the French King were aware of the infamy of the man's character, and distrusted the proposal which he laid before them, for raising an insurrection in the Highlands. Mary of Este, more credulous, was disposed to trust him; and he was detached on a Jacobite mission, which he instantly betrayed to the Duke of Queensberry, and which created much disturbance in the year 1703, as we have noticed in its place. His double treachery being discovered, Simon Fraser was, on his return to France, thrown into the Bastile, where he remained for a considerable time. Dismissed from this imprisonment, he waited for an opportunity where he might serve his own interest and advance his claims upon the chieftainship of the clan Fraser and the estate of Lovat, by adopting the political side betwixt the contending parties which should bid fairest to serve his purpose.

The time seemed now arrived, when, by the insurrection of Mar, open war was declared betwixt the parties. His cousin, the heiress of Lovat, had been married to Mackenzie of Fraserdale, who, acting as chief of his wife's clan, had summoned the Frasers to arms, and led a body of five hundred 1 See ante, page 131.